#fighting and flirting is the same for them
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cherrysurf · 1 day ago
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winning you back pt.2
-where haikyu boys try to win back you their ex gf
-this is lwk depressing but maybe it’s bc of the music im listening to rn LMAO
contains; atsumu, tsukishima, kita, sakusa, oikawa, iwaizumi
pt.1 of winning you back here!
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atsumu; He still very much has all your pictures on his feed that he never deleted and never will you had to go minimal contact with him because he kept texting you every other day to try to get back together, he still loves you and thinks your gonna be his wife and that this is just a rough patch, so when you post that you’re going to be volunteering at osamu’s restaurant for a charity that osamu is doing for young kids to get into volleyball he takes it upon himself to cancel his practice for that day and go and join you two and begged and forced osamu to make you too work together so he can talk to you, and those dam miya’s being so good and weaseling there way back into life’s, it worked. You two are now talking again. You told him that you wanted to take this slow, but atsumu later that week posted a soft launch of you two at dinner.
tsukishima; tsukishima acts like he’s so nonchalant but no one’s seen him cry over how bad it’s killing him that you can fully ignore him when he’s usually the one doing that. He hates how bad he fucked up so he decided to make a plan to win you back, what does that mean he had to do? work at the same cat cafe as you, at first you weren’t on the same shifts and maybe hanging out with cats was a plus but getting crushed on by other girls wasn’t. Anyways as soon and he saw you two were on the same shift he couldn’t be more happy, it was a slow shift so he used this time to catch up and be very soft and respectful he saw you weren’t fighting back so he was thinking that was a step forward, until later on when a girl came by to order a drink and was clearly flirting with him so tsukishima ignored her, as she said “can i get your number?” you turned to see what he would do all he said was “no i have a girlfriend she’s right there actually, i don’t what gave you the confidence to think you could ask me” he said laughing which left the girl embarrassed and you flustered.
kita; Kita is forever my yearning man. He writes letters for you and sends them, you kept them all because you still didn’t get over him. He thought it was the right choice to let you go but he couldn’t have been more wrong, and I fear kita is the type to have a romantic scene like the movies. So what? anyways he comes by your hour IN THE POURING RAIN. to apologize “i’m sorry im selfish for breaking up with you yn, i just clean up well i forget myself” OOOO YOU END UP SOBBING BC WHO WOULDN'T?! anyways safe to say you kissed in the rain and he won you back
sakusa; stubborn ass ho. He was shocked when you broke things off even more when you actually stood on business, sakusa was one to keep his composure and not crashout but he couldn’t understand why he was so affected by the breakup it’s like his whole life flipped upside down. He even stopped keeping up with himself for a bit which was totally out of the norm. So when you saw him at your apartment in the lates of the night messy hair, wrinkles in his clothes looking dead you knew something was wrong, he almost felt like he could breathe again once you embraced him, disgusting and all and he didn’t let go since and tried to change for the better
oikawa; He acted happy at first like it didn’t matter because he thought you needed him more than he needed you. Oh how wrong he was, the fan girls didn’t support him the way you did, didn’t cheer for him the way you did, no one could cook as good as you, no one could get him out his depression like you could, so one night around 4am he gave you a call wanting to quit volleyball because he felt like he couldn’t do anymore without you there, which broke your heart because you saw how bad he was struggling without you there and that’s when he finally admits “I needed you more than you needed me. Come back yn, i’m sorry” and you did because you needed him just as much as he needed you.
iwaizumi; it was mutual breakup but not really he just did whatever he could to make you happy he hated fighting with you, he never deleted your pictures, he still kept all your stuff that you didn’t take at his house, he was still loyal even if you weren’t together, He blamed himself for not fighting back. he became very very career oriented that’s when he saw you at a job interview, you had just finished interviewing for the place he works at as a sports medical assistant. you weren’t aware he was working there so he stopped you and asked to get lunch since you were leaving and he was on his lunch break. That's where he apologized for not doing more and still thought about you and asked for a redo and would do anything for a second chance, and you agreed because you felt the same.
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tags; @solarvrse (for the atsumu one) @sahrii (for the iwaizumi one)
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mercurycft · 3 days ago
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‘𝐓𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 (𝟏) - 𝐋.𝐖
## reader x leah williamson (childhood friend) !!
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happy new year pookies!!! i hope you all had a lovely festive season whatever you celebrate, and if you don’t i hope u had a lovely nice break away from school, work or life for a few weeks! hoping 2025 brings lots of health, happiness and love to us and our loved ones!! did i listen to 'you could be happy' by snow patrol this entire time? yes. bit of a long one! buckle up! enjoy this, love always — RGx
this IS a christmas themed fic! <3
pure fluffy flirting, unfinished business hints, angst, rough family-dynamic and parent / child relationship, hinting at past experiences with leah & r, childhood memories.
4.3k words.
PART 1 - christmas eve.
"you promised you would be here for christmas this year!" you shout down the phone, fingers clenched so tightly around the device your knuckles begin turning white.
"y/n, don't act like a brat. your father and i work very hard and you know how important our work is to us!"
"i know that mum, but you promised!"
"well there's nothing that can be done now! it's too late!"
"its only an hours drive mum!"
"well it's not happening y/n! and that is final!"
"so you would rather stay in london and work, rather than spend christmas with your daughter? her first christmas back in the country?"
"don't turn this into a big thing, it's simply how life works sometimes."
"whatever. merry fucking christmas."
"don't you dar-"
you don't hear the end of the sentence before the phone call is ended and your phone is laid screen down on the table in front of you. you pace beside the dining table and your eyes meet the piles of presents you had laid out for them, all labelled and wrapped with love. you feel a bitterness that you know all too well course through your stomach and rise through into your throat with an acidic burn.
it riles you up until you're rushing towards the front door, angrily zipping your coat up and shoving your keys into your pocket. you slam it behind you and begin out into the rain, feet stomping with no real purpose but to blow off steam. the rain is aggressive paired with the harsh winter wind, but you're too focused on the millions of thoughts racing through your mind.
memories of christmas past hit you deep in your chest, stinging and stabbing like a vicious blade. the teenage years you spent begging for your parents to be there, to want to spend time with you. the smaller, more confused version of you that would stay awake on christmas eve but not to hear for santa, instead to hear for their keys jingling through the house.
it only fuels the fire behind your eyes and the pain in your veins. so you walk, and keep walking.
you don't, or can't, catch your breath the entire time. allowing the heavy rain to beat against your skin as you keep walking. you pass the familiar streets and houses, all decked out with festive lights and decorations of joy, but you don't stop. keeping your eyes on the concrete, your vision still blurred by tears. the cold is harsh against the skin of your face and hands, so harsh it's almost oppressive. beneath your coat, your outfit is impractical for the weather, but you don't care.
you fight against the rain as you haul through the town, head tucked down and determined to push through it - which has only gotten heavier and is now beating against your skin like bullets and seeping through the fabric of your coat and onto clothes.
the hours leading up to this blur into a pile of madness in your mind, and you don't realise where your body has carried you until you're standing outside her door. bell already pressed and chest heaving to recover from the brisk pace you managed to keep up through the storm. the roof of the porch providing you with a much-needed break from the rain. it feels familiar, the same as it did all those years ago.
you stand still, clenching your jaw and fists in an attempt to still the chattering of your teeth and the shaking of your limbs as the cold finally catches up to you.
a shadow approaches after a few moments, and you hear the muffled laughter as they move towards the door. the door swings open after a second, and she's not there. instead, her mum stands on the other side of the threshold. a santa hat sat perfectly on her head, you can see the warmth in her cheeks from her familiar smile - though it falters when she meets your eye. her previous look is replaced with one of concern, her brows furrowing and eyes widening as she takes you in.
"amanda," you manage to whisper when you look at her. eyes pooling with tears once more. the realisation of your presence hitting her like a ton of bricks. "im so sorry to just turn up, but i didn't know where else to go and i just kept walking and then i was here and i-" you ramble out a string of words that just barely make sense until you feel her pull you into the warmth of the house.
"y/n, love, breath." she says softly, rushing to push the door shut with her foot as her arms move to unzip the drenched and practically useless coat from around you. she lets it fall to the ground with no regard for the carpet and moves to wrap her arms around your shaking body.
you relax into her embrace and continue attempting to drag deep breaths through your nose and into your lungs while mumbling an array of apologies. suddenly you're no longer an adult to her, you're the same child that would rush around after school to yank leah into the garden to play football. the same child she opened her home to countless times when your parents were away.
"y/n, sweetheart, you need to breathe," she says with more conviction this time, bringing her hand to your back to coax a deeper breath and attempt to warm the skin simultaneously.
you stand against her for a few minutes, until your breathing slows to a manageable pace and you can fathom words again. her hand still drags across your back as she lifts her head to turns it in the direction of the living you.
"bubba, can you come here?" the muffled conversations get louder when a door opens and then shuts with a small thud, and footsteps approach you both in the hall.
"what you doing out here mum? we're about to get uno out.." her voice falls quiet. "y/n?"
you turn to face her with tear-stained cheeks and a weak smile.
its been years, enough to forget and move on. but the look on her face has you cursing yourself for being away for so long, and you know that she hasn’t. she hasn’t forgotten. the way her eyes melt when they meet yours tells you everything you need to know. you go speak at the same time, but your voice is weak. it breaks and cracks and she falls silent, brows furrowed with concern as she shuts the front room door behind her, keeping this moment to herself and confined to the small room.
"they're not coming. no one is coming and I don't expect you to do anything, i haven’t even had a chance to settle in properly- but i didn't know where else to go." you breathe a shakey breath, it's quick and shallow but enough to fuel your next sentence. your voice breaks once more, and your shoulders fall into themselves as a low sob raises from your throat again. she makes her way across the small space between you and catches your cold frame with hers, arms wrapping tightly around you "no one is coming," you sob into her chest.
amanda leaves with a pat on your back to go find you some clothes to change into as the pair of you stand there for a few minutes. you feel small beneath her, her chin resting on your head as it lays against her chest.
"why didn't you call? i didn’t know you were back, i could've come to get you," she whispers,
"i left my phone at the house, and i just started walking, and then i was here im so sorry,"
"stop apologising. you know mum loves a guest, especially you." she jokes softly, and you feel her shoulders rise with her smile when you let out a breathy laugh against her.
after a little while, amanda comes back with a change of clothes and a fresh towel, pushing them towards you and gesturing her head up the stairs. "go and take a nice warm shower, then put these on love. that'll get you warmed up."
you reach out take them hesitantly, then pull your arms back by your side. "i'll make my way home in a minute amanda, thank you though-"
"you absolutely will not." she says with typical mum raised eyebrows, pushing them back to you "now go,"
you smile weakly and take them from her, "thank you." you whisper as she waves you off and up the stairs. you turn back to face them from the top step, both of them still watching on.
“just like old times, eh love?” amanda adds with a wide smile.
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the shower feels like heaven, the warmth spreading across your skin and warming you right to the bone. you take in the few moments of serenity the warm water gives you, allowing your eyes to close and your muscles to relax. you let your mind wander, let it drift away from the sad and harsh reality that has become your life. you use leah's shampoo to wash your hair, recognising the smell immediately and allowing yourself to laugh that she has used the same brand since you've known her.
once you're out you brush your hair, letting it fall down your back as you pull on the clothes amanda had pulled out for you. you recognise an old pair of leah's pyjama bottoms and a smile in acknowledgement of fond memories breaks across your lips.
you make your way back down the stairs a little later, feeling refreshed from your new-found warmth and comfier clothes that lack the ability to stick to every inch of your skin.
the house is the same, and the years feel like they melt away from you. you hesitate outside the door to the front room, a small smile on your lips at the house of laughter from the other side. you reach a knuckle to announce your presence before you open it and enter.
everyone is in their respective spots: david and amanda on the sofa, with leah at their feet sprawled across the carpet; her cousins surrounding her. you feel fourteen again, leah’s clothes still hanging from you in all the same places. you share a smile with everyone, holding up your hands in a make-shift surrender. “apologies for gate crashing, i still like to make an entran-” you don’t manage to finish before jordan and jacob, leah’s cousin and brother are up and wrapping their arms around you hurriedly - tugging you to the floor.
it doesn’t feel different, or strange. you fit back into the same place you left off all those years ago. you play a few rounds of uno with leah and her family, and drink countless cups of tea. amanda always made the best one, even when you were young, so you make use of her skill. it’s nearing 9pm when you finally decide its time to remove yourself from the bubble you’ve been in- and into the hallway beyond the front room.
you try to quietly and quickly slip your still wet coat back onto your frame, but your silent antics are interrupted by leah’s voice.
“where you running off to?” she asks, leant against the small table on the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.
“just getting out of your hair,” you reply, smiling small. “thank you for letting me in, even just for a few hours. it was fun.” you turn back around to zip up your coat and begin dressing again.
“you don’t have to go yet, y/n,”
“i’m sure all of you have so much left to do in prep for the littles tonight so i’ll see you-”
“i mean it, you’re welcome to stay for a bit,”
“plus its christmas, who wants a stranger in the house at christmas?”
it’s as if you’re having two different conversations, at the exact same time. each of your voices overlapping and interrupting - unable to hold steady rhythm. as you speak you pull on your trainers one by one, not really paying attention to the words leah is saying, instead focused on your mountain of excuses to cut the visit short. it isn’t until you hear her voice drop, to barely above a whisper, that you process what she is saying.
“y/n!” her normal voice, calm and collected, snaps you out of your own mind. “please. stay.” its low and quiet, but loud enough for you to hear across the space between you. you whip around to face her, her eyes locked on you and her breathing steady.
“what?”
“stay.”
"leah," you start, head tilted. "i couldn't do that,"
"spend christmas with us," she pauses for a beat, eyes searching yours and your features. "with me,"
you feel like you somehow have managed to travel back in time, transported to the exact moment all those years ago when you told leah you were leaving. you remember how her face fell in the exact same way, how her hands twitched as she fought against the urge to reach for you and keep you with her forever, how she couldn't choke back her tears when she begged you not to go.
the same guilt and pain you knew all too well began to spread through you again, starting in the tips of your fingers and receding up your arms until it sat dormant in your chest.
"i can't." you whisper, unsure whether to yourself or to her.
"you can," she replies anyway. "i already spoke to mum, and to dad, and everyone else. we want you here."
"why?"
"because i'd rather you be here, with us, with me, than alone when you wake up on christmas morning."
you fall into silence, or silence full onto you, you're not sure. taking a deep and quaking breath that trembles through your lips.
you don't say any words, instead, just unzip your coat and slip your shoes off. pushing them back beside the drawers against the wall and hanging your jacket back onto the hook. you turn to face her with a small smile.
"okay."
she lets out a breath you didn't know she was holding and moves to embrace you, you melt into her arms and breathe with her for a few moments. "i would've looked like a real tit if you said no," you both share a laugh. not a small or pathetic breathy one, a proper laugh. a laugh that almost has you snorting like you used to.
"you look like a tit anyway," you add, as you both make your way back into the front room. you don't think twice as you walk towards amanda and david, who sit with their eyes fixed on the tv as an episode recap of eastenders begins to play. you lean between them both, wrapping your arms around the pair of them. it takes them by surprise for a second, before their arms are around you too.
everyone spends the next half hour all huddled around the tv, beside leah. more-so on top of leah. you share the armchair in the corner of the room, your legs on her lap and head fallen on her shoulder. breathing deeply with your eyes closed tight. you don't think you're asleep, too aware of your surroundings to be sleeping properly. but you're calm, very calm.
laughter from the floor is what makes you open your eyes and adjust to the lights again, met with leah's eyes as she nudges you with her shoulder. "alright sleeping beauty?"
"sorry, i didn't even realise i fell asleep," she shakes her head in response, dismissing your apology. "can you take me to mine in a minute, le?" the nickname slips out without you realising, but she doesn’t react.
“thought you said you would stay?”
“i am, i just want to go and get some stuff so that i can actually look nice tomorrow,”
“you always look nice,” she says lowly, looking back out to the distracted room. you roll your eyes, shaking your head at her and lifting a single brow as if to push her to answer your question.
“yes, go and get your shoes on and we’ll go now,” you smile to thank her and rise from the chair beside her.
"where are you two off to?" david asks as you walk past.
"just going to y/n's to grab her stuff to stay over,"
"well, don't be long, love actually will be on soon!" amanda replies excitedly, which david replies to with a roll of his eyes.
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whilst in your house, you took a moment to look at the presents beneath your tree. to look at the gifts you had accumulated through the months in hopes your parents would have the same childlike joy on their faces christmas morning as you once did. you considered leaving them, maybe shipping them off to their london house for them to enjoy alone. but deep down you knew they didn't deserve it. they didn't deserve the effort you had made for them.
you let your fingertips run across the presents, the new appliances and products you bought for your mum and dad alike. your fingers then fell to the labels you had added. you twisted the tag in your hand, reading the words you had written with love. you let it sit in your palm, dazed by the pain of your parents' missing presence.
"i'm sorry they're not here, y/n." you hear leah speak from behind you, leaning against the kitchen island.
"i'm not," you begin. "i'd rather spend it with people that give a shit anyway,"
you let your fingers wrap around the tag, slipping the attached string out of the piece of tape which was securing it down and screwing it into a ball. you did this to all of the presents, taking each of the tags one by one and removing them until they were left in a pile beside you. you took the presents, piling them into bags you had instructed leah to get from a cupboard in the kitchen.
"be a shame to let perfectly good presents go to waste," you said with a small sigh as you carried them over to your front door, making sure to grab your phone and pop it into your pocket.
you're gone and back in less than an hour, with a bag packed of clothes, your own pyjamas as well as everything you'll need for tomorrow and maybe another night in the williamson household slung over your shoulder and two large bags packed with presents in either hand. leah trailed behind from the car with an additional bag of gifts in her hand, helping you through the door and placing them on the floor.
you stand there for a minute, staring at the bags below you, leah locking the door and placing her keys in their spot before she joins you. standing shoulder to shoulder with you, in a comfortable silence. you feel her fingers brush the back of your own when she lets her arms relax on either side of her body.
"i'm glad you're here,"
"you were the one convincing me to stay,"
"no, i mean here, back in england."
you draw in a breath. "me too." her fingers brush yours again, this time she allows her pinky to link with your own. her hands warm against the chill of yours. "im sorry i left,"
"yeah, me too," she replies lowly.
you stay there for a bit, lost in the forgotten comfort of her and her presence. it feels right, normal. no anxiety or awkwardness. so you bask in the stillness with her, away from prying eyes and the events of life that came before this very moment. you enjoy the hush of the hallway together, standing still, pinkies intertwined. you don't know what to say or to do, so you don't do anything or say anything. you just breathe, together.
"come on then," she says quietly breaking the silence after a minute or so. "we better put these presents under the tree, santa's orders,"
you cant help but laugh at her, and nod along to her words. picking up the bags and pushing them through into the front room, leaving the moment to fester alone in the four walls of the hall. jacob and his family had already made their way to the spare bedroom, and jordan and hers had made their way home - so when you walked back into the living room, only amanda and david remained waiting for you both.
"what on earth is all that!" amanda asks from the same position as when you left, eyeing the bags in your hands.
"presents," you push them to the floor and begin taking them out of the bags.
"y/n, you didn't have to do that love." dad says, shaking his head at you.
"i know, but i would rather give them to people who deserve them. i'd rather you guys have them, and use them and appreciate them." you say, rarely looking up from the gifts as you place them into piles, suddenly too aware of the eyes on you. "it's not a big deal, and i don't want to make it one. christmas isn't about that. but i hope you guys will take them, and enjoy them. just think of them as a thank you, for all you've done for me over the last decade." you say the last bit through a laugh, and finally look up to them. each of them looking back at you with nothing but love in their eyes.
"oh, y/n," amanda says softly, waving you over to them both, which you do - pulling yourself up off the floor and to stand in front of them. you don't get a chance to say anything to add to your previous point before amanda's arms are around you for what feels like the hundredth time tonight alone. "i am so, so happy you decided to stay." she whispers for only you to hear, then pulls away. "and to be honest i was sick of leah barking on about how much she missed you," she says in jest and gets up to walk to the kitchen, "every bloody day," which makes you laugh.
david juts his hand between you, and you take his in yours. "welcome home, y/n love." he says, pulling you into a dad-like hug before following his wife into the kitchen.
the living room was a picture of warmth and cheer, the soft glow of the christmas tree lights casting a gentle hue over the neatly wrapped presents beneath it. the smell of pine mingled with faint smell of tea through the house, you turned to survey the room around you - including leah.
"i feel bad that i haven't got you anything," she says, looking at you from her spot beside the tree.
"this is enough,"
"what do you mean?"
"i mean this, being here with you, with all of you."
the four of you spent another hour awake, watching the rest of love actually and chatting about life. catching up on the years missed from either side. when the fill finally draws to a close, amanda and david say their goodnights and head up to bed, leaving you and leah downstairs on the sofa. the room was lit with nothing but the lights from the tree, and the tv.
you yawn, so large it makes your eyes water and turn to face leah. "you can go up to bed, don't let me keep you down here." you say to her, snuggling your head into the pillow beside you for comfort.
"you not coming up?"
"i can sleep on the sofa leah, its fine."
"but what about santa?" she teases, poking you.
"im fine down here, really."
"come up with me," she speaks whilst trying to find the remote that has somehow disappeared. "it wouldn't be the first time we're shared a bed,"
"i know that," you roll your eyes, stomach flipping with the thought of sleeping beside her.
"then come to bed," finally, she finds the remote and shuts off the tv. her words spoken as if they are final, causing you to sigh.
"fine."
you work together to lock the doors and turn off the lights, then make your way upstairs. so now, you find yourself tucked into leah's childhood double bed. laid stiff as a board beside her as she flicks through netflix for something to fall asleep to. it shouldn't feel different, you've been here, in this exact position a thousand times. but it does, it feels so different that it's blinding. the sound of your heart in your ears is deafening, but you try your hardest to ignore it.
she asks what you fancy absentmindedly, unaware of the way your stomach swills when she speaks. you tell her to pick whatever she wants, unable to process a proper answer in your current state. you try your hardest to swallow your anxiety, to not draw attention to the way your body lays entirely still next to her.
she hands you the remote after she has chosen, in case you want to change it. you don't, instead you smile and put it onto the dresser next to you. you feel her shuffle to get comfy, then she's facing you, hands tucked beneath her head and chin.
"stop freaking out, y/n." she mumbled with a sickening smirk.
"im bloody not,"
"liar."
"shut up,"
"lay down and i will,"
"oh i have not missed this,"
"lay down then,"
"yeah i will,"
"come to sleep,"
you roll your eyes at her persistence, nothing has changed. you have probably had this conversation a thousand times in the years you have known her, and you know better than to try and fight it. so, you turn to put your phone on charge and then turn back to her, mirroring her position.
"goodnight, leah."
"goodnight, y/n."
"merry christmas,"
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oh em gee i hope you all enjoyed part 1!! part 2 will either be released later tonight (5/1/25) or tomorrow (6/1/25)! lots of love! x
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zepskies · 2 days ago
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@lamentationsofalonelypotato
Why hello my lovely friend!! 😍 I'm so ready to dive into your thoughts on this chapter. 💜💜
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Right off the bat, the sexual tension with the gambling 👌🏻. I don't know what it is, but I always love in movies or shows or books when they have a poker game/card game between two people who are obviously into each other. I don't think it's a trope, but- the sexy smiles over the cards, the bluffing, the flirting, the teasing, just OH GOODNESS 😮‍💨
Yesss I love those kinds of scenes too! (Clearly lol) I'm so glad you agree. 😏
I'm not going to lie, I would have thought this to myself if I was in her situation. At the same time I feel bad for her because she has all this bottled inside and it's probably even worse that she's in close counters with him, just second guessing everything. BUT I also love that you've given us these wonderful domestic moments between the two of them. ❤️
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The close quarters are a blessing and a curse here, isn't it? 😅 Thank you for that compliment!! I wanted the buildup here to be about the small moments of connection. 💗
DANG IT DEAN STOP HIDING FROM YOUR FEELINGS! Man really out there chopping wood trying to forget all his problems and relieve some tension 👀, while the reader is inside trying to educate herself🤣
Ughhhhh you just wanna throttle him!! loll Meanwhile, she's wasting absolutely no time to learn all the can about this man, because with him it's like trying to pry open an old clam. 🤣🤣
The way you integrated John's journal into this chapter was so good! It adds on to the lore of the story. I'd never read through the official "John's Journal" merch so it was nice to see those little details and honestly made me feel more connected to the reader, because it was the first time that I was reading the entries too!
Aww thank you!! It honestly made me emotional (and sympathize so much more with Jhhn) just reading the journal, so I just tried to infuse as much of my own reading experience in the reader character. I'm so glad it made you feel more connected to her. 💞
Girl it's okay we can cry together- DEAN WAS IN THE CRIB WITH SAM. Nothing is okay. I am made of tears. INCONSOLABLE 😭
Girl when I read that part of the journal, the way I was like:
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(And YES, spray that man like a bad dog!!)
AND he knows that she is supposed to be HIS. For the love of rice krispy treats! SHE HAS A BROKEN ANKLE DEAN. Don't let her leave!!! Sweetie he's a grumpy old onion, you gotta peel him back one gorgeous layer at a time. 🤣
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Girl you took me OUTttt. 🤣🤣🤣
This bit is also so heartbreaking, because it's literally her meeting her mate and her believing that he doesn't want her, when it's probably all he does. There's something so raw about that. The idea of finding someone who was literally made for you and believing that they want no part of you. Oh goodness my fragile heart😭
Yeeeeep, honestly reminds me of If The Stars Wish It So, when the reader has that moment of "is it me? Why doesn't he want me?" But in reality, Dean's fighting his instincts to be with her tooth and nail. 🥲🥲
I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting it to be a Bear. I literally thought this was going to turn into Dean saving her from a Wendigo- because of the allusions to her dad being killed by one, but this was such a (un)pleasant surprise LOL
LOLL you know what, initially I was going to go the Wendigo route for this climactic moment, but it felt more surprising to me to have it be a non-supernatural threat, just a typical bear wandering through his territory. 😂
I LOVE this insight into his head, just a little piece but enough for the readers to see that Dean does in fact care and that he does feel something for her! Not to mention again... HE PICKS HER UP. I've read Dean in so many fics doing that but each time it just makes me *swoon*.
Thank you!!! I thought this window into his head was needed, but also, Alpha Dean is just so....ALPHA. 🫠🫠🫠
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And oh my word, him finally sitting down with her on the couch and allowing himself to let down some of his walls and let the reader in is just so good!! Not to mention now the reader is going to tell him the truth over how she lost her dad! I'm very excited to read the next chapter, but this one was amazing Alex! 🤗
He finally broke down a bit, seeing how much he was affecting her! 😭 I'm so glad you enjoyed that. I tried my best to make it feel like a natural progression. I so hope you enjoy the next chapter, my friend! 🥰💕
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Against the Wind - Part 2
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Pairing: Alpha!Dean Winchester x F. Omega!Reader 
Summary: You wake up in a strange alpha’s cabin in the middle of a snowstorm, all with a busted ankle. He holds shadows in his eyes, even though his hands are gentle. There are iron shutters around his heart, even though he saved you. You might just save him in return.
AN: Thank you guys so much for all the amazing feedback on Part 1! Now, most of your theories and questions will be answered...
Jacklesverse Bingo24 Prompt: True Mates @jacklesversebingo
Song Inspo: “Against the Wind” by Bob Seger
Word Count: 3.8K
Tags/Warnings: Angst, and peril, the other kind of "hunting."
Series Masterlist || Bingo Masterlist
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Part 2: Seems Like Yesterday
“I’ll raise you 25,” you say, tossing five chocolate covered pretzels into the middle pile. It’s a risky bet, considering how much you lost in the last hand. Dean regards you with an amused, if critical eye while he holds his cards.
“Ooh, you’re bluffing,” he says. You pop your brows at him, a subtle smile tugging at your lips.
“You want to test that theory? Put your money where your mouth is,” you challenge.
He tilts his head at you with a raise of his own brows.
“Cheeky omega,” he mutters. His attention returns to his cards as he deliberates on his next move.
You attempt to be nonchalant as you glance down at your cards again. It’s a shitty hand, but he doesn’t need to know that. The alpha’s won the last two hands of Texas Hold ‘Em, but you did win the first one. Though you suspect he let you win.
You want to at least even the score before he resumes his work out in the shed. He spends most of his time there during the day, or making sure the firewood is stocked. It seems like he takes any excuse not to spend too much time in your presence.
More than anything, you want to ask him if he feels what you feel—the same tug in the pit of your stomach every time he’s nearby. You just haven’t found a way to broach that with him.
Hey, I know we just met like two minutes ago, but I think we’re supposed to be together. Do you feel it too?
You nearly roll your eyes at yourself. Yeah, that’ll go over well.
So you have to be content with mornings like this and in the evenings, where he lets you put on one of his records, and you two share dinner together, maybe another round of cards. Or you’ll read a book while lounging on the chaise, and he lays out on the couch, listening to his music with his eyes closed. You like watching him like that, with a relaxed, damn near peaceful set to his face.
Too often he holds that harder, stoic expression, or that divot between his brows that makes you want to soothe two of your fingers there; or better yet, lean in and press your lips—
“It’s your move,” Dean reminds you. He’s finally played his hand, but you were too distracted to hear what he said.
“What’d you do?” you ask, surveying the piles of cards.
“Call,” he repeats, popping a few pretzels into his mouth. He washes it down with beer and more barbeque chips. Those are worth $10 in this little fantasy betting. He points a finger towards you with the same hand that holds his beer, teasing, “You got all the lights on in there? Or am I boring you?”
You glance up at him, fighting a smile. “All right, keep your pants on. Let me see…”
As the dealer, he’s already turned over the River: the last card in the hand. It’s a 10 of Clubs, which means your One Pair is actually a Two Pair. It’s still not a great hand, but it’s decent enough to maybe let you get the best of your opponent.
After you go “all in,” Dean’s lips twitch at a smile, and he humors you, going all in as well. You’re on tenterhooks when he finally reveals his hand.
“Ooh, it ain’t a cheesy ‘90s sitcom, but it’s still…a Full House,” he brags as he lays out each card in a smooth line of overlapping cards, the mix of glossy red diamonds and black spades showing the truth. He won again.
You huff in defeat, your shoulders sinking in your seat at the kitchen table. You turn over your measly hand. Sweeping the winnings toward himself (a mound of chocolate covered pretzels, a stack of barbecue chips, and a handful of Oreos), Dean chuckles and tosses you a wink.
“Ah, don’t beat yourself up, sweetheart. I’ve been hustlin’ poker for a long time. Hell, I’ve been playing this game before I even knew my times tables,” he says as he collects the cards.
“That young?” you reply. “Who taught you?”
“My dad,” he says. “Oh, believe me, I used to get my ass kicked many a’ time, but by the time I turned sixteen, I was hustlin’ grown ass men in skeevy bars out of their daily paycheck.”
“You were hanging out in bars at sixteen?” you ask incredulously. There, Dean seems to realize he’s said too much. He becomes more guarded as he puts away the deck and cleans the crumbs off the table.
“My dad was always working. You could say I didn’t really have a curfew,” he says.
“A latchkey kid, huh?” you reply, hiding the way you’re trying so hard to glean any more hints of truth between his words.
“Heh, yeah.” He gets up from the table and tosses the breakfast dishes in the sink, then travels to the front door to don his jacket and boots.
“All right, I’ll be out back,” he says.
Out back, code for out in the shed. You nod, and in a flash, he’s shutting the door behind him.
You’ve learned another small tidbit about him, one that feels more important than it seems on the surface. And yet, it only elicits more questions you doubt he’ll be willing to answer so easily. He’s more than tight-lipped about his past, only giving vague outlines and general pictures.
Even his stories—like being raised up in a family of traveling mechanics, putting Nair in Sam’s shampoo when he was a kid, or the guy’s serious fear of clowns—feel like they’re missing some key details.
You decide to take up your crutches and head for your room. There you unearth the journal from its hiding place under your pillow. This time, you turn to the very beginning. Before all the jargon about mythology (and an odd footnote about a “Turducken Slammer”), there are actual journal entries. The first one dates back to November 6, 1983. The first line already captures your attention.
I buried my wife today. Even as I write that down, I don’t believe it. Last week we were a normal family…eating dinner, going to Dean’s T-ball game, buying toys for baby Sammy. But in an instant, it all changed… When I try to think back, get it all straight in my head…I feel like I’m going crazy. Like someone ripped both my arms off, plucked my eyes out. I’m wandering around, alone and lost and I can’t do anything.
This is Dean’s father, you realize. The more that you read, with no small amount of dismay, you also realize that this man is writing about his wife, Mary.
Dean’s mom…
He writes about their house burning with all their memories inside, along with Mary. Somehow, he saw her pinned bloody to the ceiling.
Along with these pages is a clipping from a news story:
House Fire Kills Mother of Two
Lawrence, Kansas.
You’re spellbound by it all. You keep reading.
November 13, 1983
…Most of our clothes and photos are ruined, even our safe—the safe with Mary’s old diaries, the boys’ savings bonds, what little jewelry we had…all gone. How could my house, my whole life, go up like that, so fast, so hot? How could my wife just burn up and disappear?
The police don’t believe his story, about how she died before the fire, about what he saw. So he tries to convince himself that what he saw wasn’t real. Still, he can’t find rest, and he worries about his sons’ safety.
December 4, 1983
I haven’t let them out of my sight since the fire. Dean still hardly talks. I try to make small talk, or ask him if he wants to throw the baseball around. Anything to make him feel like a normal kid again. He never budges from my side—or from his brother.
Every morning when I wake up, Dean is inside the crib, arms wrapped around baby Sam. Like he’s trying to protect him from whatever is out there in the night.
Sammy cries a lot, wanting his mom. I don’t know how to stop it, and part of me doesn’t want to. It breaks my heart to think that soon he won’t remember her at all.
You don’t realize you’re crying until a droplet lands on the page. You quickly wipe it away before it becomes a stain, and you dry it all the way with your breath before you move on to the next page, sniffling. Your heart hurts, even as your guilt grows. You know now that you’re really, truly invading Dean’s privacy by reading his father’s words. You just can’t stop yourself from turning the next page.
John becomes convinced that someone, or something, started the fire that destroyed his life and took his wife away from him and his sons. He leaves his job and the remnants of that world behind, to venture deeper into the darker one. But in that darkness, he finds truth.
He visits a psychic, Missouri, who leads him back to his house and senses the echoes of an evil presence—something that shakes her to the core, and John too: the creature that killed his wife.
December 20
…She told me that it was the most powerful, awful thing she’s ever come across.
On January 1, 1984, John makes a New Year’s resolution. He determines to find the answers himself.
A shiver runs down your spine. In John’s words, your heart breaks for Dean, but you also see yourself. You try not to think about why.
You keep flipping through the rest of the journal past January. There are translations of a Latin exorcism, and like you read before, strange drawing of evil looking creatures—as well as what they are, scraps of their history, and how to kill them.
Silver bullet to the heart, can’t withstand iron, salt and burn.
You pause on a certain page, more filled with lore than the rest, and a primitive drawing in the center.
WENDIGO
Cree: Evil that devours.
Wood spirit. Eats live flesh. Lives in forests.
Perfect hunter.
Your breath stills in your lungs as a cold sweat forms across your skin. The more you read, the faster your heart beats.
The crunch of dead leaves. Your father shouting at you to run, and keep running.
The coarse shout of a bear morphs into something other. It’s a sharper, whirring sound like wind howling amidst animalistic clicking, and then bones breaking—your father’s scream cut short. You turn around with your rifle in hand, poised to shoot blindly.
Your stomach churns as bile rises into your throat. You feel sick, and wrong, and you suddenly have the urge to throw the journal against the wall.
“Omega?” calls Dean’s sharp voice. “You okay?”
You jolt badly at the sudden noise. You didn’t hear him reenter the house. He likely caught the scent of your distress. He pushes the door of your room open to find you, but he stops short in the doorway. His surprise quickly morphs into a frown when he notices what you’re holding in your lap.
You gasp, freezing where you sit, but there’s no point in trying to cover up what you’ve done. With an angry purse of his lips, he reaches over and takes the journal from your hands.
“What the hell are you doing with this?” he demands.
“I’m…I’m sorry. I just—” You swallow past the lump in your throat. “I was just curious. I wanted to know more about you. I thought it was…a normal journal.”
“So this is how you go about it, huh? Got everything you wanted, Columbo?” he says, his sarcasm cutting into you. He flips through the journal to make sure all the pages are intact before he tucks the journal under his arm. “Seriously, going into somebody’s stuff? Who the hell raised you?”
At that, you begin to bristle.
“My dad,” you snap back. Though remembering the passages you’ve lived with for the past few hours, you soften with a painful twinge of sympathy in your heart. 
“And it looks like yours raised you to be some kind of…well, what are you, a ghostbuster or something?” you ask.
His jaw locks. “Or something.” 
With an exasperated sigh at his hedging, you swing your legs around the edge of the bed and haul yourself up with your crutches so you can at least match his stance (more or less).
“Dean, please, just talk to me,” you implore, gesturing at the journal tucked under his arm. “The things I read—”
“Are none of your goddamn business!” he growls, making the omega inside you cringe. The alpha’s voice is deep and sharp, and even though he isn’t crowding you, his height and broadness are still intimidating.
“The sooner you heal up, the sooner I can ship you back to where you belong,” he says. “Back to your life, so you can stop sticking your nose into mine.” 
Your mouth actually falls open in shock. His vehement words feel almost as powerful as a physical blow, if to your soul. They make your arms tremble while holding yourself upright on your crutches. Hot tears well up in your eyes, though you try to blink them away. After a moment, you’re able to collect yourself enough to speak.
“I’m sorry for going through your stuff,” you say, in a quiet voice.
You hobble awkwardly past him out of the room. You don’t stop until you reach the front door, where your snow boots are. You manage to get them on by yourself so you can go outside and get some fresh air, not to mention some much needed distance from the alpha’s burning presence. You can still feel him trailing behind you. You hear his heavy boots.
“Where the hell are you going?” he grits out.
You hobble faster.
Dean watches you go out the door without a word in irritation, even though it triggers an alarm deep in his gut every time you leave the safety of the cabin. 
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The snow depth has lightened somewhat since the storm, but it’s still not easy to navigate on your crutches. You get some distance from the cabin, mindful not to go too far. You know you’re limited, and you didn’t even take a gun with you.
Finding a solid tree to lean on, you rest there and try in vain to stifle your tears. You know you were wrong for snooping, and he had a right to be mad, but did he really have to be such a freakin’ bear? 
Fucking alphas. I swear.
You thought you were starting to connect with him, but clearly, Dean wants nothing to do with you. He wants you out of his life. 
Does he not feel the same pull you feel to him? Does he really not realize…that he’s meant to be your mate?
You take in a shaky breath through your nose. If he does, apparently he doesn’t care.
Just then, you hear the crunch of snow nearby. Twigs snapping.
Your body stiffens with a terrible memory—of that day in the woods. Your breath comes out in short puffs on the cold air, your eyes wide as you listen closely.
Hearing nothing, you allow yourself to breathe a little easier. You venture a few paces forward and to the right, but you stop shy of how it slopes downward. Some unnamed feeling tells you to look over the edge.
You lean over and cast your gaze down the slope, but all you see is snow and trees down below. With a shaky breath, you lean back and look out to the north again. Plodding along the trail, heading towards you, is a bear.
Oh shit…
You remember Dean mentioning something about a bear passing by his cabin a couple of days before the storm. Looks like he’s back to make his rounds.
His fur is dark; from this distance, you can’t tell if it’s a black bear or a grizzly. It doesn’t make much difference when all you have on your person is a can of bear spray. His gait is massive, unhurried, but he lets out a braying sound when your gaze meets his, as if acknowledging you. He stops there for a moment, assessing. Your body locks up with fear.
The bear groans again, this time sharper. You finally snap out of your reverie and force your body to move slowly backward with your crutches spearing into the snow. The cabin isn’t that far, maybe thirty or forty yards at most. Still, the bear can probably beat you.
Instead of trying to run, you stand your ground and shout at the bear, hoping he’ll back off. Your voice dies in your throat when he rears up on his hind legs, with a loud roar. Trembling, you miss a step and get knocked back into the snow on your ass, your crunches falling out at your sides. You scramble inside your jacket for anything that might help you. 
Bear spray!
You hurry to get the cap off with shaking hands, but before you can even aim, the creature’s heave paws thudding into the ground in front of you—a gunshot rings out and hits the animal in the chest. 
The bear falters, then roars in pain and anger.
Two more shots finally bring it down to an even heavier thud, not far from your feet.
In this moment, these are the things you don’t know about Dean Winchester:
For one, the scent of an omega in distress always calls to an alpha’s protective instincts. But the scent of your abject fear feels like someone tried to rip his lungs out through his stomach.
Second, when he sees you there, your wide, shiny eyes filled with the remnants of panic, yet relief at the sight of him, it takes everything within him not to drop to his knees, grab you by the hair, sink his teeth into your neck and claim you, right there in the snow. Maybe then you’d start listening to him and stop taking your life into your hands.
Instead, his lips purse as he wracks his rifle and slings the strap of it over his shoulder. He stalks toward you and scoops you up, crutches and all. He brings you back to the cabin without a word.
His jaw is once again locked with silence and strain; he doesn’t trust himself to speak until he’s brought you inside and carried you over to the chaise. He sits beside you there and takes an inventory of you with his eyes.
“You okay?” he asks at last.
You manage to meet his gaze and give a little nod.
“Okay. Don’t move,” he says shortly. He gets up and goes to the kitchen, where he grabs a foldable set of knives and a cooler from under the sink.
You watch him in silence, and you realize he’s going back to gut the bear. You didn’t know that he actually hunted out here…well, hunted to eat. He continues to gather items in silence. It gets to a point where you can’t stand it, or his curtness, any longer.
“Thank you,” you say, halting his steps. Dean glances at you over his shoulder, then continues strapping up his supplies. He huffs in response.
“We’re gonna be eatin’ good for a while,” he says without looking at you. 
His attitude both hurts you and aggravates you, so much that you refuse to take it anymore. 
“Look, Dean. I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have butted into your life,” you say. Frustrated tears well up in your eyes. Expelling a sharp sigh, you amend yourself. “I’m sorry for invading your privacy. I’m sorry about what you went through, and I’m…I’m sorry about your mom. I’m sorry for today. I’ll just…stay out of your way, and I’ll leave as soon as I can.”
Dean finally turns your way, but your lips tremble as you turn your face away from him and shut your eyes tightly against the salty burn of tears. Deep inside, his heart withers in his chest. He sighs and drops his supplies on the couch. He walks over with those heavy boots, and he sits on the edge of the chaise beside you. He hesitates for a moment, but eventually, he rests a warm, calloused hand on your arm and earns your tearful gaze. 
“I’m sorry. I, uh…shouldn’t have yelled at you,” he says. 
You sniff, quickly wiping away your embarrassing tears as they come. Your cheeks are hot with it.
“What is it you wanna know? About me,” he asks, surprising you that much more.
 Your mouth parts, but nothing comes out. It takes you some time to think, but the first thing that comes to your mind is…
“Everything in that journal,” you say, licking your dry lips. “Is it real?”
Dean holds your gaze steadily. You know the truth without him having to say it, but he does.
“I was a hunter,” he says. “Those things you read about, I found ‘em. Killed ‘em. It was my job.”
“And now?” you ask, once that large bit of information has time to set into your brain.
His lips tug at a half smile. “Consider me…mostly retired.”
You exhale softly, and you nod. It earns a furrowed look from Dean.
“You don’t seem all that freaked out by this,” he says, with a more scrutinizing gaze on you.
“Should I be?” you say, with an unsteady laugh.
He raises his brows. “In my experience, yeah.”
You chew on the inside of your lip. You don’t know if you should even put into words what you’ve been holding onto for months. Like John, no one believed you. Even your own mother had started to look at you like you needed a shrink.
“Omega?” Dean presses. His green eyes are perceptive as they take in the conflicted look on your face. “There something you wanna tell me?”
You deliberate for a moment longer. Then, you release a sigh and glance down at your hands clenching in your lap.
“A few months ago, I lost my dad,” you begin.
Dean nods. “Yeah, you said—”
“I lost him in these woods,” you say.
That quiets the alpha.
You shake your head, and you find your words as the memories that have been haunting your nights return to you.
“Like I said, we used to go hiking here every year…”
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AN: Just so you know, all of the journal entries appear in the official "John's Journal" SPN merch. 😉
Next Time:
Unease prickles down your spine, though you don’t know why.
“Dad?” you whisper-yell, trying not to spook whatever animal might be out there.
A gunshot rings out, along with your dad’s voice in a shout. Your eyes widen in alarm, and you call his name louder, taking off in a run to find him.
You end up rising over a hill you hadn’t crossed before, but you see your dad below; you recognize his bright blue puffer jacket that Mom got him for his birthday. You call his name, and he looks up at you with fear in his eyes.
Not for himself, but for you.
▶️ Keep Reading: Part 3
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horsechestnut · 15 hours ago
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I think my ideal Steph, Cass, and Tim dynamic would be that they're all best friends, but they can not all hang out together. Like, if you ask any one of them who their best friend is they genuinely will not be able to pick between the other two, but all three of them together triggers each of their insecurities in the worst way and always leads to a fight.
Like, Steph and Cass are so affectionate with each other, and constantly flirting and Tim assumes their teasing, but what if they're not, and oh god is he third wheeling on a date between his ex-girlfriend and his sister? They don't actually want him here, they invited him to be nice and he was to oblivious to realize it wasn't genuine. He should leave. But before he can come up with a believable excuse they've changed topics and... hang on, did Steph just say her dad threw a book at her once? Because so much of Steph and Cass's relationship is built on an understanding that they won't make a big deal when they mention something messed up about their past that they just say stuff like that, but Tim does not have that same understanding. So Tim hears that and instead of rolling with it, it's "Steph you can't just say that like it's not a big deal... why is Cass laughing? You can't laugh at that it's fucked up! I don't care that it was a long time ago!" And now Cass is confused and Steph is angry and Tim feels like shit for probably ruining what they wanted to be a date and frustrated that he's being treated like he's overreacting despite being the only one with a normal reaction to child abuse. Mostly he's terrified that he screwed this whole thing up somehow and neither of them is going to want to hang out with him again.
Meanwhile Steph and Tim are so intrinsically linked to each other. They've shared things they will never share with anyone else, they were each others first love. And Cass understands that, she does, but it's hard sometimes seeing how easy they are with each other. The way Steph knows Tim's upset without having to read his body langue the way Cass does or Tim can predict exactly how late Steph will be to any given situation. More than that though, what truly makes her want to hide away from them, is the history they both had but didn't share. The sly comments about Tim looking like a character Cass has never heard of or jokes that make no sense but send Steph into laughing fits. The kind that when she asks are brushed off with "it was an old meme" or "just a show from when we were kids". The reminders that she isn't normal, she can never really be like them. If she doesn't ask most of the time it doesn't occur to them to explain, it seems so obvious to them. They start doing a synchronized dance from some movie that came out when they were in middle school and Cass slips away into the shadows. Later she gets a string of concerned text that slowly turn angry when she doesn't answer. Cass never tells them what was wrong.
And it's hard for Steph to look at Cass and Tim and not feel jealous, because more than just being friends, they're siblings. They are full members of the club, Bruce's children, let into the fold in a way she never can be. She doesn't even want to be anymore if she's being honest, but it still stings. They'll casually mention family dinner or reference inside jokes from the last Wayne charity whatever and Steph will feel the growing desire in her chest that she can not, under any circumstances, let anyone see. The desire that has caused her so much pain, she will not give it control over her again. And Cass calls Tim Robin sometimes, and he calls Cass Batgirl in return, and Steph has to bite back the urge to scream at them that she was Robin too! She is also a Batgirl! But it doesn't matter because she wasn't Cass's Robin or Tim's Batgirl, and it drives her insane that they're romanticizing that time, because don't they remember how much of an asshole Bruce was back then? And now Tim is mad at her for bring up the past as if they're not the ones who started it, and Cass is assuring her that Bruce has changed, and maybe he has, but it's to fucking late! He already ruined any chance of Steph every feeling fully comfortable with her place in their lives. So she storms off, fuming, leaving a baffled Tim and Cass to go enjoy their stupid family dinner.
So yeah, they are best friends. They all love each other more than they know how to say, and trust each other more than anyone else in the world. But they can never all hang out together. That only ever ends in disaster.
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"... I was under the impression that I would be fighting someone? Impress? What, am I supposed to court the hero while I'm at it?"
The sidekick groans, pulling at her hair with a grim expression. "Yeah. That's what this is about. You- are you not going to become the hero's archenemy?"
The villain looks confused. "I can't become the hero's archenemy if I don't- court them?"
Shaking her head, the sidekick pulls off the villain's shirt aggressively. He wanted to wear a T-shirt- a T-shirt! To his first official battle with the hero. It'll be broadcast, for heavens sake!
"It's not just about courting, you know. First impressions are important, and your impression was mediocre at best. We're lucky that the hero wants to fight you again at all! Your shoes were tacky, your hair dye was fading and your roots were grown out, and your shirt! Again with the shirts, boss. The presentation saved you, with the explosions and all. This time, I'm not letting you outside until you are fit to be the hero's archenemy."
He looks confused. His sidekick has all but stripped him to his tighty whiteys, and left to fetch clothes out of the closet. What was the point of stripping him if they were going to leave? The air is cold on his skin. He shivers.
Still in hearing range, the villain speaks loudly to continue the conversation. "None of that answered my question! Why am I courting the hero?"
"Well, it isn't really courting," the sidekick calls back. "Just, you have to earn your spot as his archenemy. Otherwise you'll get tossed around between hero associations, with no one in particular wanting to fight you. That's bad rep! Since he will be your first archenemy, you've gotta get it right. No second chances, they say."
The sidekick starts to manhandle her boss into new clothes, fashioning a grey button up with a bow collar and a black cloak, whose inside is lined with red velvet that has various swirly designs inside, giving the impression that the villain is backdropped in blood. His pants are dressy and fitted to his measurements, while the waistband goes higher than he's used to. It makes his waist look small.
"I don't know about this... shouldn't I look, you know, scary? I look like I'm going on a fancy date."
His sidekick mumbles something under their breath while tying his knee high boots. They have a minor heel on them, and he'd like the extra height if it weren't for the slender appearance of his calves. He works out, but this outfit smooths over his defined muscles, and even his dress shirt has loose sleeves. They round out his arms before connecting with his cuffs.
"Look, boss, don't you want to fight him? You told me that you really enjoyed your last encounter. You even licked the blood on your busted lip when you said it. This is just what you have to do if you want him to keep coming back to you!"
The villain grumbles, sliding his palms down his legs to search for some pockets, to rest his fidgety hands in, but to no avail.
"... Can I at least have pants with pockets?"
"Your coat has pockets, boss."
"It's not the same."
"Just deal with it for today. I'd have to redo the outfit if we changed the pants now. You have to be early, so that the hero can witness your silhouette behind the setting sun, with the blood red velvet accented by the orange rays of light. I tagged where to stand on your map; it'll look amazing."
"Right..."
His sidekick finishes lacing up the boots. It took far longer than his normal pairs of shoes. They feel stiffer too, because he hasn't broken them in yet.
"Listen boss, you can flirt as much as you want today-"
"Flirt?"
They continue, ignoring the question. His sidekick points accusingly at his face.
"-but you can't reveal my existence just yet. That isn't for until we get the laser finished. I have a whole plan." She waves her hand in the air, nonchalant. "He finds the laser, you confront him in the building, and when he's preparing to escape after you defeat him, I'll swoop in and knock him out. I'll help you interrogate him while he's tied up in the cell. It'll be a great entrance for me."
"So that's what that cell is for." He hadn't used it yet. She didn't tell him why they needed this facility specifically, only that it needed a place for a laser and a dungeon.
"Yes. I'm still wondering if we should make it comfy or not. Some heroes like the brutality of it, others prefer to keep it simple. Some even want to be taken care of in a fancy room with good food during their stay- they like the demeaning nature of it."
"Should I ask him?" He asks her sarcastically.
"No need. I'll watch the footage from your hidden camera. It's in your collar, the base of the bow? The fabric shouldn't flap around too much. I'll listen to your conversations and make the judgement myself."
"Okay..." the villain feels a little under qualified for his position. His 'sidekick' is starting to feel less like a sidekick and more like an idol manager. "So, if this goes wrong, does that mean I can't fight him again?"
"Basically. The hero corp will watch the footage of your confrontation from the TV or the hero's hidden cam, and decide if they'll assign him to your case. It's phrased in a more, 'hero,' type way, but that's what it means. There's a lot of work that goes into finding a hero-villain match, but I think you two really work together."
"... This feels like matchmaking. I'm not doing this to date him."
"Right."
"You don't sound like you believe me."
"I mean, obviously it'll take a while."
"What does that mean?"
"A bond between hero and villain can take some time to form, it's okay. The frustrating aspect of being defeated or succeeding too much can affect your relationship. If you really aren't a match, we can request a new hero from the committee."
"No, I feel like you're misunderstanding me. I like fighting him."
"So you have to dress nice! To see him again."
"This is not going to be that type of relationship. Fighting and thwarting only."
"Right. I know that. Anyway, you should get going."
"You-"
"If you're late you won't get to meet him again."
The villain runs to the door. "This conversation isn't over!"
"Have fun!"
The door to the dressing room slams closed. The sidekick hums, picking up their boss's previous outfit off the ground. They catch it on fire with their ability. When it is reduced to ashes, she cleans up the mess.
"... I wonder if the hero has a sidekick."
They leave the room to go watch the fight from the villain's hidden camera.
Prompt (466)
"That's what you're wearing to fight the hero?" the villain's sidekick asked skeptically.
The villain looked down at their clothes. "Yeah. Why?"
"Nothing, it's just. . .a little basic. You want to impress them, don't you?"
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lynnaredfield3383 · 23 hours ago
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Not my characters. Aged up 21. Swearing. Established relationship. Angst.
Katsuki's voice came through the line.
“I won't be home the next couple nights.”
“OK. Be safe.”
Katsuki was suddenly alert. Your voice was normal, but your response was nothing he'd heard before or ever imagined you saying. Did you know? How could you know? As fear crept in and took hold of him, he lost control.
“Look you know what hero work takes, and I wish I could be there with you…”
“Kats, it's fine. Really.”
You chuckle genuinely, refusing to comfort or dispel his uneasiness.
“I can change shifts…”
Bakugo's palms were sweaty now, and his hands were beginning to spark with nervousness.
“I took a shift tonight, so it'd be pointless. Now go get the bad guys.”
There was a brief moment of silence before he spoke again.
“Shit. You mad?” Bakugo asked.
You laughed at this and it actually calmed him completely. He knew your genuine laughs, smiles, and tones. Knew them so well, but why until this very moment had he thought he was bored of those things, of you?
Mad had never crossed your mind. Hurt, disappointed, discouraged, and done. Sure. But you'd never been mad at him. Not for a second. Bakugo wasn't cheating on you, just flirting with some woman at his agency. Though you wish he'd tell you he was ready to move on, you weren't mad. Nor were you going to hold him back. You loved him too much for that.
“Never mad. Never.”
“O-okay. I'll see you tomorrow night then?”
“Not sure. Depends on the case tonight. You know how hero work is, Bakugo. Bye.”
Bakugo had been caught on the fact you used the same line he had regarding hero work, but then he swore loudly as he realized you'd used his last name.
“Fucking fuck! Shit!”
Bakugo called you back, but it went straight to voicemail. So he started running redialing every few seconds.
As soon as you'd said his last name you knew you'd fucked up. Which is why you already left the apt. You moved all your stuff from his place into your new place a week ago. As observant as he was, he hadn't noticed because he'd only been home once in the last 3 weeks. Just to shower and grab more stuff. As soon as you ended the call, you rushed to block him, knowing he would blow your phone up in moments. You'd left the letter a week ago when you cleaned the house top to bottom the way he liked it and hadn't been back since.
“You good?” Shinso, your current case partner asked.
“Yeah, let's go.”
Bakugo was on the floor of the kitchen hot tears flowing down his face as he held the letter tightly.
Bakugo, Sorry I couldn't keep you interested. Never thought we'd end up like this, but it's obvious you have feelings for that woman at your agency. I saw you & heard you two flirting the day I dropped your lunch off. It's okay. I'm glad you found someone that makes you smile and laugh like I used to. Move on, be free, and accept that there are no hard feelings. I didn't give you a heads up because I know you'll fight for us. I don't know why, especially since you've already moved on, but that's just who you are. You never fail. You didn't fail me or this relationship. You didn't. It was just time for us to move on, and that's OK. It happens. Wish you the best always, but you need to know I can't be friends with you right now. Maybe in a few months, but let's see how it goes. Be safe, be #1 & live your life with no regrets.
Y/N
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thezombieprostitute · 22 hours ago
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Tech Tuesday: Lloyd Hansen
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Warnings: Implied past abuse, Masturbation, Sexting, Smut. Please let me know if I missed any.
Word Count: ~2k
Tech Tuesdays Masterlist
Previous
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Ever since the Halloween party your relationship with Lloyd has been quite the journey. Even after all these weeks Lloyd still respects your boundaries and only pushes when it comes to your soft no's. And even then, the second you call it off, he stops. Aside from the mustache, he really is the Sir of your dreams. As rewarding as he is demanding. He's strong enough to manhandle you into positions you never thought possible but also gentle enough to provide the aftercare you need.
And goodness you were grateful for your weekend scenes with him. Almost every Friday night Lloyd took you to the Lucky Lady private club that offers a safe space for BDSM practice. It was way classier than any of the other clubs you've been to. It took some work to overcome your memories from the last time you were at a club but Lloyd was patient.
What you didn't know is that Lloyd hired a PI to look into what happened at your last club. Fowler gave him the details and Lloyd made sure the asshole who hurt you was blacklisted at just about every club Lloyd had any influence with. If anyone asked him why he went to the trouble, he'd say it was because he was looking out for his community. Someone like that shouldn't be allowed to hurt others. And he believed that was the only reason.
But now that he was watching Sam Wilson, the CFO, flirt with you during a meeting, he was starting to think there might be more to it.
Lloyd wasn't even supposed to be at this meeting but he knew it was a big one for you. You were presenting a project your department, mainly you, had been working on for Wilson for months. Though Lloyd's entry was greeted with some raised eyebrows, no one had the energy to fight his right to be there. And when you smiled at him, he was ready to fight each and every one of them to stay.
But Wilson could be quite the smooth talker and Lloyd knew people had trouble resisting that smile of his. Every time he complimented you Lloyd wanted to smack the smile off his face. At the same time, you and Lloyd had never promised anything more than sex. You weren't really a couple, doing things that couples did. Lloyd knows, or knew, that was all he wanted. He doesn't actually know about you. So if you were to go off with Wilson, Lloyd would have no say.
That thought hit him like a punch to the gut. This weekend he needed to make sure you sat down and talked about these things. Because he'll be damned if he has to watch another man free to flirt with you.
While he wants to follow your rules about not doing things in public or at work, he still makes a point of rolling his eyes or scoffing, just loud enough, whenever Wilson calls you a nickname. You're Maestro, dammit. His Maestro.
After the meeting, you start packing up your laptop and continuing to answer questions from Sam, as he insists you call him. Most of his questions are good ones, but some of them have you wondering if you didn't explain things well enough or if he's just looking for an excuse to keep talking to you. He's certainly handsome and charming, but you're with Lloyd. Aren't you? Then again, it's all been just sex. Incredibly good sex, but just sex. Lloyd doesn't seem the type to want a relationship outside of the Dom/Sub dynamic. Would it be so bad to start dating?
As you start to head out, Sam walks in front of you. "I was wondering if you might want to go out this Friday? I can get us a table at Andrea's, the newest place in town."
And the most expensive, you think. He's definitely bringing out the big guns right away.
"Thank you, Sam," you smile. "But I've already got plans for Friday that are going to ruin me for Saturday." It's not a lie, your Friday nights with Lloyd are a much needed detox from the stress of the work week.
"You heard the lady, Wilson," Lloyd steps in, his tone harsh.
"I'm still trying to figure out why you're here," Sam shoots back. "This meeting had nothing to do with your department."
"Like I need a reason to do half the shit I do," Lloyd mocks. "Now get back to your cushy office. I think Dennis the Menace is calling for you."
"There's a dated reference," Sam scoffs. "How old are you again?"
"Nowhere near as old as you," Lloyd smiles, showing his teeth.
"Um, if you two will excuse me?" you interject. "I need to get back to my desk?"
Both men break their staring competition to turn to you, all soft smiles. They're almost synchronized as each takes a step back and gestures for you to walk by. As soon as you're out the door you hear their exchange start up again.
Your face is burning from embarrassment. Some of it is from the attention, but most of it is from how turned on you are by Lloyd's intervention. It was quite the turn on to see him step in, to make sure someone respected your "no". To do the talking so you could make your escape. Even though you'd told him you don't want to do anything at work, nor do you want people at work knowing about your escapades, this gentle bending of your rules was actually really comforting.
When you're back at your cubicle, you can't focus on work. You keep thinking of Lloyd and rubbing your thighs together. You're incredibly worked up. You take a deep breath and decide to do something bold.
Taking out your phone you text him, "Sir, please may I make myself cum?"
Lloyd's phone dings with the tone he has reserved for you and he stops mid-shouting match with Wilson to check that you're okay. When he reads your message all the blood flows out of his brain. He doesn't even give Sam the courtesy of an "eat shit" before leaving the meeting room and going to his office.
He brings his phone out again and unzips his pants before he texts back.
Lloyd: You gonna touch yourself in your cubicle, naughty girl?
Maestro: May I do so in the bathroom, Sir? Lloyd: Only if you agree to follow my orders while you're in there. Maestro: Yes, Sir. Of course, Sir. Lloyd: That's my good girl.
He strokes himself as he remembers how you react whenever he calls you that. Remembers how your pussy clenches around him at those words.
Maestro: I am ready, Sir. Lloyd: Start by playing with your nipples. And when they're nice and perky, send me a photo. Maestro: Yes, Sir.
He gently strokes himself for a couple of minutes before send him the photo. He groans as he looks at the under-the-shirt photo you sent, licking his lips at the memory of having those tits in his mouth.
Lloyd: Good girl. Now tell me how wet you are. Maestro: I'm nearly dripping, Sir.
He has to bite back a moan as he mentally hears those words said in your breathy, whining voice.
Lloyd: Well let's get you actually dripping. Set the phone where you can read my instructions because I'm going to have you using both of your hands. Maestro: Yes, Sir!
Part of you can't believe you're doing this. It's not something you'd ever considered doing before but you have needs and this seems the safest way to do so without raising too much suspicion. You squirm as you think of Lloyd in his office jerking off while directing you and set up your phone, awaiting his instructions.
Lloyd: One hand massaging your tit, the other slowly moving down your front until you reach your clit.
While Lloyd is sure you're obeying his orders, he's not familiar enough yet with you to know how long it's going to take you to move slowly so he takes a little time to look back at the photo you sent him while continuing to stroke himself. When he thinks you've had enough time, he focuses again and picturing what he wants you to do.
Lloyd: Use one of those dainty little fingers of yours to start circling your clit.
As you obey you find yourself getting more frustrated than relieved. Lloyd's fingers were so much bigger and stronger. You had to bite back a pout that he wasn't the one touching you. Then again, that's likely the point. Given the wording of the order, Lloyd clearly knows whose fingers you'd prefer to have playing with you.
Lloyd: Now run your fingers along your pussy to gather up that slick. But DO NOT insert them into my pussy.
Your body shakes with the possessiveness expressed, even just over text. You whisper, "yes, Sir," on reflex.
Lloyd: Switch to the other tit. Lloyd: Use that slick to flick your clit while you wish it was my tongue on you instead.
He speeds up his strokes, tightening his grip as he pictures you getting more and more desperate for him. He's never been more happy to have an office with a door that locks. He's not usually one to get off on just text and visualizations but he's got your sounds, your facial expressions, your reactions almost memorized and it's making him feel so good.
Lloyd: Speed up those fingers.
You bite back a whimper as you obey. You're so surprised by how responsive your body is, but when you read those texts in Lloyd's Dom voice they just hit straight to your core. Your hips start rolling but you fight the urge to cum. You don't have permission yet. But you don't have permission to slow down. Your face contorts in frustration as your pussy keeps clenching, begging to be filled with Sir's cock.
Lloyd groans as he pictures your face. Always a good Sub, eager to please, wanting to obey and be rewarded for it. He toys with the idea of not letting you get yourself off but he trusts you've been obeying his instructions.
Lloyd: Cum.
You read the text through blurred vision and slap your hand over your mouth to keep your moans of pleasure from being heard throughout the bathroom. It's not as strong as if Lloyd was with you, but it's stronger than if you were home with toys. You shudder through your orgasm and finally let yourself stop.
Lloyd: Feeling better? Maestro: Yes, Sir. Thank you so much, Sir! Lloyd: Send me a photo with your tongue out.
You're quick to acquiesce. You know he's talking about the face you give him when you're eager for him to jerk off onto your face.
Lloyd gets the photo and quickly cums.
Lloyd: Good girl, Maestro. Maestro: Thank you, Sir. Lloyd: Clean yourself up and get back to work. I gotta make sure no one sees the load of cum you got me to shoot out. Maestro: Yes, Sir.
Part of you is disappointed with his dismissal. Maybe he really is only interested in the sex. Not that you have room to complain, you never expressed a want for more than that. But it still hurts the buzz you just feeling.
You get back to your desk and there's an email from Sam, asking if you have plans for next weekend. You feel unsure. You really like Lloyd. He makes you feel safe and he's a very good Dom. But if he only wants---
Your thoughts are interrupted by a text. From Lloyd.
Lloyd: How would you feel about going out for dinner Friday before we hit the club? Maestro: Are you asking me on a date?
In his office, Lloyd groans with frustration. He hates letting himself get even the tiniest bit vulnerable. But you're worth the risk, right? Besides, if you don't want more than just sex, he can play it off. He's an unfeeling asshole, right?
Lloyd: If you want that.
You smile, small tears of relief forming in the corners of your eyes.
Maestro: I really do. Thank you, Lloyd.
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Tech Tuesdays Masterlist
Tagging: @alicedopey; @delicatebarness; @ellethespaceunicorn; @icefrozendeadlyqueen; @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory;
@late-to-the-party-81; @lokislady82; @ozwriterchick; @ronearoundblindly; @thiquefunlover63
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hunterofartemis7 · 3 days ago
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Adopted by the gods AU pt.16
*2 years after the events of the dinner Zeus planned, Hera comes up to Athena while she’s training Ody and Dio*
Hera: *smirking*
Athena: can I help you? I’m kinda in the middle of something
Hera: remember that deal that Odysseus would go back to Ithaca when he’s 18 or when he becomes king?
Athena: yeah? Why?
Ody: mom what’s going on?
Hera: well that time is now.
Athena: Odysseus is only 13, what are you on about?
Hera: the king has fallen ill and can no longer rule over Ithaca. And since he can’t, it’s up to the heir to take the thrown.
Athena:….
Odysseus: mom….?
Athena: boys go to your room
Diomedes: but-
Athena: now!
Ody and Dio: *runs off to their rooms*
Hera: *still smirking*
Athena: *slaps her across the face* WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!?
Hera: *shocked* how fucking dare you!? Raising your hand to your queen!?
Athena: start acting like a queen and maybe I’ll treat you like one, now what did you do!!?
Hera: I did nothing! This is pure coincidence! I’m just happy about it.
Athena: why!? What have my sons ever done to you in the 13 years they’ve been here that makes you want them off Olympus so badly!?
Hera: they aren’t gods Athena! They aren’t supposed to be here!!!
Athena: it’s not like they’ve caused any problems for us!
Hera: it doesn’t matter!! You shouldn’t have ever brought Odysseus here in the first place, much less Diomedes! It’s time for both to go!
Athena; I am not sending my 13 year old sons to the mortal realm to run a kingdom that they barely know anything about!
Hera: I thought you were teaching them?
Athena: there is only so much I can get those two to pay attention to.
Hera: doesn’t Odysseus have friends in Ithaca?
Athena: that’s two people out of the thousands in that kingdom! And he’s fucking 13!! What 13 year old can run a kingdom!?
Hera: he won’t be alone while doing it. His mother will help him
Athena; THAT FUCKING WOMAN IS NOT HIS MOTHER!!
Hera: whatever 🙄. The boy has no choice. He’s the heir and Ithaca needs a king.
Athena; they don’t need a 13 year old who doesn’t know what he’s doing yet and doesn’t want to be there!
Hera: argue with me all you want, Zeus already approved this for both boys
Athena: WHAT!? He can’t do that!!
Hera: well he did. Go ask if you don’t believe me.😈
Athena:….*runs off to find Zeus* Father!!
Zeus: *flirting with a nymph* huh wha- oh hellos daughter
Athena: did you already approve my sons going back to their birth kingdoms!?
Zeus: yes I did
Athena: why!? They aren’t 18 nor are they near ready to rule a kingdom!!
Zeus: Athena Ithaca needs a king—
Athena: they have a king! And queen, and a fucking princess!
Zeus: the king is sick and you know this. The queen can’t rule alone and their daughter is far too young.
Athena: and 13 isn’t!? They aren’t going!
Zeus; you don’t have a choice Daughter.
Athena: I am their mother—
Zeus: and I am your king and father!! You will obey my orders! If you don’t I will make so you will never see your sons again! Do you understand!?
Athena:………*looks away* yes father..
Zeus; good girl.
Athena: *leaves to tell Odysseus and Diomedes*
Ody and Dio: *play sword fight in their room*
Athena: *stands their watching them from a minute, not being able to bring herself to tell them*
Dio: *notices her* mother! *drops his sword and hugs her*
Ody: mama! *does the same and hugs her*
Athena: *hugs them both*
Ody: mama please tell us you convinced grandmother to not make us go..🥺
Athena:….. *looks away, can’t meet his eyes* I’m sorry..
Dio:..what..?
Athena: I’m sorry….i tried to argue with her but lord Zeus already approved this.
Ody:…mama..
Athena:..you both are going back to your birth kingdoms of Ithaca and Argo. I’m sorry..
Ody: no! No I’m not going!!
Dio: me either! You can’t make us!
Athena: I don’t want to! I would love if you both could stay here but father already made up his mind. If you don’t go willingly than he’ll force you both to go and make it where none of us will ever see each other again.
Ody: *starts crying* mama please don’t make us go! We don’t want to leave!
Athena: I don’t want you two to leave either.,.but we don’t have a choice.
Dio: how do they even expect us to run a kingdom!?
Athena:….i don’t know. Look just because you both are going to the mortal realm doesn’t mean I’m leaving either of you. I will still be there guiding and helping you as much as I can.
Odysseus: it won’t be the same! Me and Diomedes are going to be in completely different kingdoms and you’ll be on Olympus!
Athena: and you think that’s gonna stop me from seeing either of you?
Diomedes: will we still be able to see each other?
Athena: yes. Maybe not as often as you’d both like but yes.
Ody: I still don’t want to go! I don’t want live there with those people!
Athena: you think I do? I fucking hate everything about this but we can’t disobey Zeus’s orders.
Ody:….*clings to her and cries*
Diomedes: *does the same*
Athena; *hugs them both close, trying not to cry*
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epicmarrowbonesoup · 10 hours ago
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Headcannon that postcannon Charles doesnt like leaving Edwin alone for long streches of time.
You know the way he did in the beggining of the show, leaving Edwin alone so that Charles could be with Crystal or just giving Edwin space to be with other people(Monty or Niko). I think post-Hell Charles Rowland would feel uneasy about not having Edwin in his line of sight while at the same time not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
Like how in the last episode Edwin is alone and Charles leaves others to pack so he could check up on Edwin, that sort of thing. Or how he was hessitent to follow Crystals plan at first becouse he has to rescue(see) Edwin ( to me it also looks like Charles was so busy rushing to Edwin he didnt noitice Nikos body but that might just be me)
Anyways i think it would be a fun direction to take Charles's characther in. Considering in s1 he is already weary of Edwin spending time with the Cat King, youd get that whole jealousy thing but doubled and mixed in with his feeling of inadequacy as the brawn. But also s1 establishes Charles as being at least partially insecure about their bond: having to correct Edwin whenever Edwin says how Charles would move on quickly and constanty seeking reassurment from edwin about their friendship (ep 1 when he asks what would happen if death came, ep 4 with his fight with the night nurse, seeing Brad and Hunter the best friends as him and Edwin)
And then you also have the reversal of how Edwin was jealous of Charles spending lots of times with Crystal and now Charles is protesting every second Edwin isnt with him. And ofcourse Charles does it from a place of fear and love but Edwin would maybe interpret it the wrong way, who knows?
And, from what the writers have told us, Edwin in s2 spent at least some amount of time flirting with other men (hopefully without Charles lurking in the background) and from what we know from that one cameo Jayden and George did, there was a lot of tension between the boys...
Now im not a writer i didnt write the s2 script or anything, im not saying this is what would have happened in s2 but.... i think the tension might have come from that. From Charles seeing Hell as a traumatic expirience and his PTSD manifesting as his insistence on Edwin not leaving his side, Charles's insecurities and his fear of losing Edwin being at an all time high. While Edwin, who has learnd how to forget Hell, is acting as if nothing happened at all, exploring his sexuality and making new friends in the process.
It would make Charles confront all of the skeletons he's been hiding in the closet but also it would ask the simple question of why is Charles so insecure in their friendship? Why is he constantly mentioning them being best mates? Why does he need it so much? Why is he constantly searching from reassurences that they are best friends?
And for more angst, from Edwins point of view he is doing everything Charles wanted him to do in s1. Hes accepting and letting the dead boy detectives workplace to grow and change, he is being more open and friendlier, he is encouraging Charles friendship/relationship with Crystal and he is no longer playing trauma Olympics at the drop of a hat. So why is Charles so mad? Hes working through his shame and his supiriority complex, hes growing as a person and Charles is still stuck at the staircase.
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hbpseverus · 2 days ago
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for all that us snape fans say how we love his character because he is flawed and complex, i find it disappointing how many of us can't extend that line of thinking towards lily, while pretending that young severus was entirely innocent. i've noticed this a lot recently and it's been bothering me quite a bit so i've felt the need to defend lily, or to be exact, analyse the downfall of their relationship without basically giving her all the blame and instead looking at both characters and especially lily more critically.
so. let's talk about the conversation between her and severus after the werewolf prank. some snape fans harshly criticise her in this scene because she insists that james saved severus and doesn't acknowledge how serious this prank was, while insisting that at least the marauders don't use dark magic.
and i agree that she should have been more on severus' side in this case. after all he could have died or gotten seriously injured, turned into a werewolf etc and she downplays the severity of the situation and generally doesn't acknowledge how the marauders bullied severus very much. so yes, she could have been a better friend here.
but at the same time, from her perspective, she was already noticing that severus was spending more time with his housemates, all of them aspiring death eaters, how he had always looked up to lucius and was slowly heading down that same path. how he didn't truly disapprove of his housemates disgusting actions towards muggleborns - her own kind. even though it's not entirely logical, since we see through the marauders that light magic can be used to do harm aswell, this also explains her dislike of dark arts, which these (aspiring) death eaters all were fond of and using to do awful things to her friends (and hogwarts also pretty much teaches that dark magic is pure evil). by this point she had most likely also experienced discrimination at hogwarts for being muggleborn. she knew the situation in the wizarding world wasn't favourable for her, and now her best friend was starting to agree with those people?
the next notable event was of course snapes worst memory (sigh, here i go talking about it for the millionth time). and i really don't like how some people on our side of the fandom talk about lily in this scene (of course, this is not all of us).
first of all we saw that she initially smiled upon seeing severus be bullied, and yes, this was honestly quite disgusting. we know that severus saw this and was rightfull hurt, and this very well could be the reason why he snapped at her. but that is her only 'crime' in this scene. because she then does quickly turn against james and this entire crowd and defends severus. only for james to insult and threaten her, and severus to call her a 'filthy little mudblood'.
now, people say she should have done more to defend severus, that her attempt was quite half-hearted. i don't know. maybe she could have done more, but she did tell the marauders to stop, you can't say she didn't try. some say she should have hexed james herself or bring up her prefect role (although i'm not sure it's confirmed she was one at this time). but say she was a prefect, her job would be to stop fighting, which she tried to do, not to get involved in fights herself. and you can tell that james is entirely dismissive of her and clearly won't let her stop him no matter what, even threatening her in the process. lily also genuinely seems to still hate him at this point in time, she is described to have been disgusted with him to the point where even harry questions his parents marriage. so i don't believe it's fair to say she was just 'flirting' with james here.
furthermore, people believe she should have forgiven severus for being called a mudblood. i used to agree that it wasn't that serious, but i feel differently now. because it wasn't just a word, it wasn't a one time mistake or slip up or even the first time she noticed that he was slowly turning into a future death eater. that's why i brought up their conversation after the prank. lily knows that severus' descend into the death eaters arms had been going on for months, years even. being called - not even just mudblood, but hearing the words "i don't need help from a filthy little mudblood like her" out of the mouth of her former best friend was just the final nail in the coffin. it was her confirmation that severus was finally too far down that road, and she, as a muggleborn, could no longer justify surrounding herself with him. so she abandons him at the scene, and i can't blame her one bit.
of course this post is not meant to be severus bashing in any way, he is and always will be my favorite character, but i don't enjoy pretending he was completely innocent, even his younger self. this is also not to excuse the marauders, as their bullying never had anything to do with severus possibly being a death eater and was really just for fun and because they could, and because he was an easy victim. but i truly believe that lily deserves some grace and also to be analysed as a complex character like severus, rather than painting her as one dimensional, either fully good or fully bad.
severus becoming a death eater is the tragic result of his background and surroundings, and when we analyse him we factor all of this in. lily was wealthier, had a better family, was pretty, smart and popular and had a good support system in and out of hogwarts. she couldn't understand why severus made the choices he did. maybe as an adult she would have looked back and understood it all better. but as it was, she was just a teenage girl watching her best friend turn against people like her and not knowing what to do about that. and what's also important to me to point out is that it was not her job to try and stop this, to try and fix him or whatever. it was first and foremost the adults in severus' life who failed him over and over again, not lily.
finally a lot of us can't understand how lily ended up marrying her former friends abuser and use this as an argument against her, but i honestly don't want to go too deep into this topic. i personally strongly dislike this relationship, because james treated lily herself like shit too, aswell as other people. we have to believe that he truly did change, even if there is not much to prove this. even if he did, i personally wouldn't have been able to forgive him. but i don't believe that marrying james makes lily a bad person by extension or anything. ultimately, if she was able to find happiness, i'm happy for her.
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leaawrites · 3 days ago
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Kiss the girl
Liam Gallagher x fem!reader
Summary:
Warnings: bit of angst, Liam calling Noel a cunt, bad flirting, making out,
Wordcount: 1.6k
Masterlist, Part 1, Part 3
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Standing behind the little curtain that separated the backstage area and the bar, Liam felt that his palms were sweatier than ever before. His eyes always finding their way back to the same person, leaning with their back against the bar. Waiting like everyone else. She stood next to him, lips moving in conversation and quirking up in a smile every once in a while.
“Who’s that beside your bird, Gallagher?” Guigsy asked, peeking out beside him, noticing the distant look in his eyes.
“Noel, me brother. Remember him?” Liam had told them endless stories about his childhood with Noel, mostly to complain whenever he called and his mother was all over him once more.
“Think you’ve mentioned him, yeah.” The sarcasm evident in his tone. “Let’s get it on.”
It wasn’t like Noel came in there that night without any expectations. He did, only that they were pretty low. Liam had asked him to stop by to see them play, to see him sing and eventually to make him join the band. It wasn’t his first thought, it wasn’t even in his head until Bonehead proposed the idea, sensing that most of their songs were either shit or covers.
He knew how Noel could get, how he most definitely wanted to make it his band if he was in it. At the beginning they agreed that it was their band, everyone had a say in it. Noel would most likely change that.
The lights seemed brighter than ever before as he stepped out of the shadows. The cheers were drowned by his nerves. He had never felt like this before. His usual over confidence was still behind the curtain, laughing at him as it saw the little hints of fear shimmering in his eyes.
Looking over the crowd once more, counting until his start, he found his way back towards the same direction. Only now, his eyes were drawn to the girl next to Noel. The one who was looking up at him with a faint encouraging smile dancing on her lips while her head bobbed to the beat of the drums. The one who he couldn’t get out of his head since the day at the bar. The one who had him tossing and turning late at night when he couldn’t sleep and just saw her face instead of darkness.
A small smile found it’s way on his face before he closed his eyes, leaned forward a bit more and started singing.
“You seemed nervous up there,” she commented, her mind travelling back towards him standing on the little stage. His lips so close to the mic that it felt like she could feel his breath through the speakers and down her spine. Sending a shock of lightning through her system and making her shiver in the middle of sweating bodies.
They were stood outside, watching the moon instead of walking towards her house like they should be.
After his performance, Liam was greeted by his friends first, claps on his back and ‘fucking hell, you murdered it up there’ falling from their mouths like normal ‘good job’s would sound to anyone else. He appreciated the praise, though he’d heard it from them too often to actually still believe he was as good as they said. They had no idea about music anyway.
Fighting his way through the little crowd surrounding him, he made it towards her. ‘You wanna go home?’ falling from his lips, making her nod. He acknowledged Noel with a small nod of his head before walking after her, his hand sitting on the small of her back to get her safely through the crowd. She’d told him, that she couldn’t stay long after and he promised to walk her home as soon as he was done with the show.
So now they stood in the middle of the street, both looking up at the moon.
“Me brother’s back, said he was coming to see me sing, though I doubted he would actually stop by,” he said, his voice quieter than ever before. He didn’t need to be so loud now that he was stood so close to her with only silence and a few mild sounds surrounding them.
“Noel, right?” His eyes snapped towards her, surprised that she knew his name. “We had a little chat before your performance and he let it slip. He seems nice.”
“He’s a cunt,” Liam corrected her, looking back up at the bright bulb of light lingering over their heads like a spotlight.
“But you still care about his opinion.”
“I don’t.”
“Then why were you so nervous about playing in front of him?” Her eyebrows moved up as she knew that she wasn’t wrong, she never was. Looking at the small smirk on her lips as she realized she’d won the argument, Liam just wanted to lean down and kiss it away. Replacing it with the shy look she gave him when he cleaned the foam from her face and the blush on her cheeks, that appeared because of him.
Taking in a deep breath, he began rambling to keep the other thoughts away. “He’s always been better than me, alright? Always the favourite child, always the one everyone liked more. People like me but they don’t care about me how they do with Noel. I’m just some passing by for when you’re bored. He likes music for way longer than I do, wanted to be in a band and all that. Never got there though, always just a roadie never a part of the band. Now, the others said that we should take him in because he’s a good writer and he can play guitar, all that nonsense. He’ll just ruin it all if he joins.”
“Well, see me as someone who’s willing to stay with you then.”
It was a simple sentence, nothing meant beyond friendship. Still it made his heart jump a beat, a loud tone of silence replacing every other thought in his head. God, why did she have to be so perfect?
“Don’t you write as well?” He asked, remembering the little poems she used to write in their English class. Too afraid to ever read them out loud and too ashamed of her own thoughts to let them be read by anyone else.
“Only poems, not songs.”
“So, you’re a poet?” The smirk she knew all too well by now appeared on his face as he started teasing her again. His eyes crinkling as he held back a laugh.
“No. Just a girl with lots of feelings.” Exhaling deeply, she made it sound more dramatic than it was meant to be.
“That’s nice though, innit? Having things feel important enough to wanna make them last forever?” Liam always envied Noel for having such a talent with words,
“Quite a poet yourself, I see.”
“Nah, love. That’s all you.” Turning towards her, Liam pushed his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Smiling softer than she’d ever seen. “You make a poet.” It was nothing more above a whisper, but with how close he stood, she could even feel his breath fan down her cheeks.
Turning her head away from him, she cleared her throat. This wasn’t what he intended to keep on doing. However sweet it may seem, it was only an act, right?
“Anyway, who cares about guitarists anyway? I’ve seen this band one or two years back, ‘Seymour’ - I think they’re called ‘Blur’ now or summat. Doesn’t matter. Do you think they were all over their guitarist? Hell no. Every girl in that crowd only had eyes for their singer.”
“You as well?” He asked, stepping closer to get her attention back. Not satisfied with only her hearing, he wanted her all. Every little piece and space of her mind, he wanted for it to be occupied by him.
“No comment on that.” A blush crept up her neck, not quite reaching her face but it was enough to make him chuckle and feel a bit of jealousy prickle up in him at the same time.
“So, you like lead-singers, huh?”
“I liked him,” she said, looking at him challenging. Her eyes sparkling with mischievous.
“I like you.”
Before she could properly process his word, she felt his hands on her neck and his lips on hers. His hold making her turn her body towards him fully. The force of his grip making her stumble towards him, her hands resting on his chest to stable herself.
Moving his lips against hers, he noticed his mistake as soon as their lips met. How was he supposed to stop now? With her soft, warm lips fitting so perfectly to his chapped, cold ones that made it feel like it was meant to be like that forever, how was he supposed to not kiss her again after that night?
“You’re a dickhead, Liam,” she mumbled against his lips, not wanting to part but the fresh air in her lungs felt like cold water running down her throat as she breathed in, panting.
“No need to compliment me already, love. I’ve only kissed you once yet.” Liam smiled, not loosening his hold on her face. Leaning their foreheads together and closing his eyes in contempt of the moment.
“So there’s gonna be more of that?” He could hear the smirk in her voice. Chuckling at the image of how they must look to someone walking by. Two idiots standing in the middle of the street.
If they’d die, at least they’d die together.
Moving her hands down his chest and under his shirt, she could feel his heartbeat drumming against her fingertips. Her usual warm skin feeling cold against his. Liam was filled with true warmth for the first time in his life and it was all due to her. He was doomed and he knew it.
“Way more.”
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martincrushcameback · 3 days ago
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LOOK- Varmijet, to me, would be so happy being the most boring guy you'd ever meet with the most boring hobbies that somehow Torty finds totally endearing.
To me, Varmi is the kind of guy who, once he's finally settled with Torty, settles HARD into total boring domestic life. I'm talking dad belly on his skinny body, newspaper, house robe, silly fuzzy dog slippers his wife gave him, morning coffee and toast. I'm talking following the same exact boring routine every single day for the next 50 years.
I'm talking enjoying only the quietest, most introspective, and "old person" hobbies. Bird watching and model train label accuracy levels of mundane. Stamp collecting, paper airplanes, newspaper crossword puzzles, only reading books about 15th century hats or something.
Embracing house husband life because wow he doesn't have to do much to make their lives happy for once and her job is great so he doesn't HAVE to push himself to the extreme all the time. Making his wife breakfast because she is a whirlwind and he burns the eggs every time and every time she eats it anyways and tells him she likes it because they're HIS boring burnt eggs and he will not admit it would crush him if she ever pointed out he burnt them but she knows and she's not a great cook either.
His life sucked until he met her and then they fought because OBVIOUSLY what you do when you're attracted to a person is verbally dis them and cause bodily harm right? That's what his brothers always did??? But like NO she's perfect and soft and passionate and he wants to pull all his hair out and finally she's like ok you know what you're my passion project. And suddenly it wasn't him having to try and figure out How To Flirt And Be A Human Person, now she's just decided they're a couple and they can do couple things and he is massively introverted but she's basically the sun to him an all encompassing and terrifying ball of energy he adores way too much.
And so domestic married life has fixed this pathetic little meow meow of a man. Turns out life is a whole lot simpler when he just wants to chill and pet his weird cat that will not leave him alone and it chews on his slippers and coughs up hairballs on his pillow -never her pillow, how is that fair you little demon?- And he's happy and his wife is happy.
I feel in my heart that he's SUCH A BORING GUY who needs the enrichment of a very introverted and boring life of routines and soft pillows and coffee and crosswords and scrabble. Let the man know too many intricate facts about the history of old war planes that would bore anyone to tears EXCEPT Torty.
He's the guy who only knows how to hype one person: his wife, and nobody else. He will fight you in the pit if you dare look at her the wrong way but also he calls her names and she calls him names and they're allowed to only complain at each other and people think they hate each other and they're like "what gave you that idea i would die for him/her" and like two seconds ago they were threatening to murder each other over spilled coffee and mismatched socks and now she's braiding his hair while he tells her that he thinks "gerbil" is a stupid word.
@ranfordgallus i was having varmi thoughts
Picture him sitting in old-timey pjs with a house robe on and the stupid fuzzy dog slippers and he's eating a bowl of some generic plain oat cereal and he's focusing WAY too hard on the crossword with Zakitty in his lap trying to chew on his sleeve. He calls out to his wife "Torty what's an 8 letter phrase you tell to someone you care about?"
"I LOVE YOU?" She calls back.
He half chokes on his cereal. "TORTY YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT-!"
And she comes in and looks at him confused because- "I'm your WIFE??"
This is a daily occurrence.
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quietstormxr · 1 day ago
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Underestimate
Request: Liam and Bodhi underestimate you in the quadrant after bullying you when you were younger.
A/N: Mentions of bullying, violence, flirting
Word Count: 1.7k
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“You’re going to have to go easy on her.” Liam snarks to Garrick’s left. 
You can’t help the way your ire rises at the insinuation that you’re weak, your eyes shining with indignation. The way he just assumes you’ve glided through life not trying to survive since the last time he saw you. You look up to Garrick who is watching you with a smirk gracing his lips, his quiet confidence in you taking over his features. 
Of all the people here, Garrick knows what you’re capable of and it’s time to show the other’s you aren’t the meek and unprepared girl they seem to think they left behind.
“What do you say, Spitfire? Should we give them a show?” Garrick teases with that gleam in his eye that says he expects your best for this challenge.
“I expect you to go just like you would against Xaden.” You sass to Garrick giving back the same mischievous grin. 
“Unless” you purr. “You’d like to give it a try Liam. Since you’re so confident I’m not much of an opponent.”
Liam looks at you with an over-confident smirk gracing his features. You barely hold in the eye roll that threatens to take over your whole face. 
“You do know that Xaden taught him, right? You really think you’re up for that?” Bodhi joins in on Liam’s jabs walking from the other side of the mat. 
Garrick looks at you and gives you a knowing grin. He was only one who knew you were training as hard as you were. The one there to push you and make sure you were prepared. But clearly the rest of the boys only saw your frame and lack of defined muscle against theirs as the visible definition of your weakness.
“Well, I suppose you’ll all just have to see if I’m ‘up for it’ as you say. Let’s go.” You state determinedly waving Liam forward with your hand.
You watch as Liam shrugs his shoulders obviously expecting the spar to be finished within a few seconds after starting. 
Garrick leans down and whispers in your ear, “give him hell Spitfire.”
You give a smirk back to him before beginning to walk up to the mat. While taking up your fighting stance, you can’t help but think about the last time that these two boys underestimated you. It’s especially frustrating to see the smug satisfaction that’s on their faces thinking that just because Xaden taught them, they are invincible against anyone in the quadrant. 
“I’ll give you one last chance to back out.” You purr to Liam.
He looks back at you, the smug smirk still lining his features the surety of the win plastered on his face. “Never.”
You shrug your shoulders and set down into your stance. You counted on his pride never letting him back down. As you watch him settle into his stance, you focus your mind and analyze his fighting stance. You’ve been watching him spar the last few weeks knowing that it was inevitable you’d find yourself here. Especially with Liam and Bodhi, you knew they would never waste the opportunity to challenge you out of their own arrogance.
You can’t help the flash of memory that hits you. You at the age of 14, crying at the foot of a tall oak tree. You had followed Bodhi and Liam that morning hoping that they would let you join in whatever stupid activity they were planning for the day. You’ll never forget the way they mocked you, laughing at your pitiful attempt to climb the tree and then doubling over when you hit your head on the back of the tree when falling from a limb. Walking home with the burning wound on the back of your head and stinging tears flowing from your eyes, you settled that you would never let them make you feel that way again. 
After that incident, you stopped following them or looking for them at all. That one instance was all it took for you to realize that they would never see you as more than a weak little girl. You realized all too early that they would never see you as anything other than an inconvenience. 
A small huff leaves your mouth as your eyes narrow, the anger that you’ve felt lining every single inch of your muscles coiled tight and ready to strike. If there was one thing that Garrick drilled into you repeatedly, it was to utilize your anger and to not let it overtake your frame and ability.
As your eyes calculated Liam’s frame, you couldn’t help but notice the way he leaned ever so slightly further to his right, leaving just enough for you exploit. However, after a few months in the quadrant, you knew better than to make the first move, especially with an opponent that already underestimated you. 
“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll try not to hurt you too badly.” Liam purred, his signature flirtatious style making its usual appearance.
“Oh darling, I don’t think I’m going to be the one hurting.” You would never usually be this willing to rile up your target, but all the memories of being tossed aside by Liam and Bodhi have reared back. 
You take a deep breath and set in your stance, but you aren’t there long before Liam lunges towards you trying to bring you down at the waist. Anticipating his desire to put you on the ground, you slide to your left side and bring your right leg out to sweep his feet while unbalanced.
Shockingly, he falls hard onto the mat face first. You stand back up going to circle the man that has caused more than his fair share of tears to fall from your eyes. Quickly he is bringing himself back up, his blue eyes shining with a new challenge as if realizing you may not be as easy to take down as he thought.
“Come on Liam, you can’t make it look so easy for her.” Bodhi calls out from the side lines, his usual taunting causing you to roll your eyes. 
For several minutes you both trade blows back and forth. He manages to jab you in the right shoulder, and you land a left hook to his jawline. However, as you continue to spar, you watch as his determination changes as he realizes this fight isn’t so easily won. 
“If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you join him Bodhi?” You issue in challenge the smirk on your face growing wider as you continue to analyze Liam and the best way to win.
“Wouldn’t want us to gang up on you now would we, pretty girl?” You scoff at Bodhi’s retort the would-be compliment dripping derision from his lips.
“I would watch your tongue if I were you Bodhi.” Garrick snips. “You may be taking on more of a challenge than you realize.” 
“Let him make his own bed and lie in it, Garrick.” You yell back, not fazed by the verbal jabs.
As the words leave your lips, Liam rushes towards you again, trying to land a right hook. You easily dip below his arm and twist bringing your elbow into his kidneys hard. Liam immediately grunts in pain while trying to sweep your feet. You quickly jump over his leg before landing and jabbing your boots into the backs of his knees. 
Liam falls hard to his knees but manages to trip you on the way down. He turns and goes to pin you down face first on the mat. His hand comes to your forehead and his other brings a blade to your neck. You look up and see Garrick staring back at you with the knowing gleam in his eyes. You know the next move you make may be dangerous, but that’s the adrenaline you live for, especially with proving yourself to the two men who tormented you as you grew. 
“Do you yield?” Liam asks as he brings his face close to your ear. 
“Never.” You rasp defiantly. 
Before he can retort, you wriggle your right arm free from his hold and elbow him as hard as possible in the side. Liam slashes his hand back and you can feel the drip of blood coming from the small wound, but you don’t dwell on it as you kick your right leg and bring you both into a roll. 
As you roll, you bring your knees up and just as you thought, Liam is now the one with his face to the mat. Jamming your knee in between his shoulder blades and your arm around his neck, you make sure he is entirely immobilized. 
“Do you yield Mairi?” You taunt as you slide your free left hand down the side of his body. You can feel the way his body tenses under you, and he swallows thickly. As your hand reaches his thigh, you pull the dagger that is sheathed there and slowly drag it up the side of his body. 
“Well?” You drawl in a sultry voice as you feel Liam’s body continue to tense.
“I yield.” He says, though you can tell it takes everything in him not to say otherwise. 
“Good boy.” You whisper in the shell of his ear, drawing the tip of the dagger over it to assert the fact that you have bested him. 
As you stand, you bring your head up at the sound of a deep, rumbling laugh of pride. A smile splits your face as you lock eyes with Garrick, and you give him a quick wink. 
As you go to turn, you catch Bodhi’s stare as well. The look of disbelief in his eyes is almost as satisfying as having Liam pinned down to the mat. 
“Whenever you want your turn at being bested Bodhi, you just let me know.” You say as you sheath your new dagger. 
Giving the three men the most flirtatious smile you can, you turn and walk out of the gym swaying your hips as tantalizingly as you dare. 
Before the door closes, you overhear one of them breathlessly exclaim. “Damn.” 
You let a small laugh escape from your lips as you confidently walk your way back to your barracks. 
This one feels like a snippet of a longer one to me, thoughts?
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plethomacademia · 3 days ago
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I spent most of yesterday logged off and that took a lot of the energy out of my veilguard critical sails. It's fine. You can see all the places where they had to cut content. There are lots of ideas with little cohesion.
It reminds me of da2 in that way a lot, but I didn't care about it with that game. Sure people just appear out of crates to hit you and there's exactly one cave. There's something to be said for smaller scopes. I loved Kirkwall and I loved the people I got to know over years there.
Sure, this game cannot be a single city and the stakes are too high to take years, you're fighting at least one god no matter what due to the set up in inquisition. (Which ugh don't get me started on that after credits stinger and how they might have set themselves up for failure again.) But did we need six factions, especially when three of them feel half finished at best? Did there need to be a version of galactic readiness which forces you to engage with each faction to the point that you can see the gaps? Did there need to be so many boss fights that they didn't have time to design so they just threw in another dragon?
I like the characters but I feel the gaps there too. There's enough here for me to play with, but this need for everyone to be nice ... Ugh I really hope this isn't the future of this company. Remember when characters could disagree? Remember when you could literally hate fuck? Remember when Ashley shot Wrex in the head?
I guess since this is a whole thing, I'll get out the last part: the romances are really disappointing. I don't mean this in a where are the boobies way, who truly cares. Bioware was really onto something with their last two games and romances. Veilguard suffers from everyone having basically the same progression: empty flirts that feel weird -> a lock in that feels very late and gets you a kiss -> good job gamer here's the sex. This is the me1 and me2 model!
Their last two games had really started to play with allowing different characters to have different ways to engage in a relationship. Some people will never consummate, some want to fuck on the first date. The thing I remember the most from Andromeda is that it let me play my Ryder like the absolute messy nepo baby that I wanted, which included fucking her friend on the couch after playing scifi FIFA and then calling it what it was: blowing off steam, having fun. After that, she was able to have a long, slow build up romance with a pink alien who helped her stop and think for three seconds and become a better person.
This is good! To use phrases that I think Bioware might care about, this is representation! I have always been a fuck on the first date, catch feelings later person, so the whole building to sex always felt off to me. Let some people lead with their bodies. Let some people lead with the feelings. Let people be people! If nothing, it felt even more video gamey and empty changing it back to this and I have a feeling this is once again a victim of cuts in development.
Apparently my sails were still full. I do plan to play this game again, but with the difficulty turned down, enemy hp set to lowest, and free rein to skip cutscenes that made me roll my eyes the first time. I really hope this did well enough that they get to have another shot at mass effect, but I am also worried that this is their new standard and I am going to have found family everyone is nice in space whether I want it or not.
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electric-plants · 8 months ago
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cyno: dating you has been immensely beneficial to me
alhaitham: wow such romantic phrasing. i’m swooning.
cyno: i mean it, you’re very distracting for me so i’ve been improving my focusing skills while trying to keep my mind off of you at work
alhaitham: no one else would find this romantic
cyno: i wasn’t trying to be romantic, i was expressing my sincere appreciation for your impact in improving skills vital to my job
alhaitham: regardless of your intentions, i am, unfortunately, finding this to be extremely romantic
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oookaline · 2 months ago
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just thinking scary dog priviledge but its tim x kon vs red robin x superboy ig
like in civvies scary dog priviledge goes to Kon when someone is being just a bit too friendly with the Wayne kid
Or when he and Tim go to get some coffee and the bartender slips her number onto tims cup who gets picked up by Kon and thrown across the room in such a speed that you blink you miss but- is that coffee running down the window..?
Or in galas where Tim is charming some old ladies and entertaining their grandkids when suddenly they seem nervous for some reason so Tim turns around to see Kon standing behind him with the biggest smile ever just to turn back around and see that the girl/boy who was so willingly flirting with him earlier has gone pale and gave a quick goodbye, "Human disaster strikes again and fumbles badly-" "Shut it Meatsack-"
Or just walking in general, when Tim Drake isn't Tim Drake-Wayne and he doesnt have to wear gala smiles and expensive three piece suits so he's bundles in a hoodie and hunched and cluching his messenger bag like his lifeline depends on it; but to a passerby all they see is tired cat™ Tim Drake who looks delectable and- is that a monster behind him? (It's Kon who's making himseelf taller and puffing his muscles and making sure to hold intensive eye contact with every passerby who looks in Tim's direction with some kind of interest)
But when if their supersonas? Tim takes the scary dog priviledge to a new level.
They just saved some people from a collapsed building and some person is draping themselves all over superboy and exaggerating their hurt ankle. How do we know they're exaggerating? Well, purelly because Red Robin just appeared out of nowhere and slammed the head of his bo staff so hard on the ground near them that it made cracks on the concrete while makingg the pperson jump up and scurry away as well, ankle suddenly fine enough to move again. Red's excuse? "Oops. bug."
Patrolling toguether one night and people are asking for superboy's phottos and autographs and he laughs and smilles and poses and people question why he's alone while laughing and brushing their hands against his arms and he just cocks his head "alone?" and a presence is suddenly felt in the alley nearby and if you focus just enough you can see the outline of someone who absolutely looks and feels like they're planning a murder and everyone just respectfully tales a step back because what the fuck.
Or when they're either talking with new heroes/heroes who don't know them well and just get a bit too close to Kon and suddenly they feel a murderous aura around them just to look around and see Red Robin just staring them down with no smile on his face and they frown because surely this feeling is not becaause I feel threatened by a human out of all-
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