#got distracted last night with new one piece episode

[quinloki]

Hi imma be greedy too :3

what about worked up, kinks, and another with Sabo/Marco pls and thank you Quin :3333

xD Alright, so I'm assuming Sabo and Marco are the request for Worked up and Kink as well, and then together for Another - or at least that's what I'mma go with

mdni, you know the drill, kinks will get kinky so you've been warned.

-:- Worked Up -:- What is your f/o like when turned on? Are they desperate, tense, barely restrained? How do they handle it?

Marco:

Barely restrained. This man's control is all about keeping himself under control, but once he's worked up he's already started to let go. He wants what he wants, how he wants, and if I've opened the doors for him there's no holding back.

He can cool off in an instant if I need it - but otherwise it's a need that simmers under the surface, flickering flames along his shoulders and fingers, shifting in his eyes. Others might have me feeling like I'm being hunted, but Marco doesn't give that kind of heads up.

It's almost a tangible thing, honestly.

Sabo:

Sabo gets a little desperate. He does trying to keep it under wraps, but if he's had to deal with it for any length of time, his patience is often thrown right out the window. Knowing he's like that, and teasing him further is usually a good way to get myself in trouble >.>

What can I say, hearing those leather gloves just creeeeeak with barely restrained need is a delicious sound.

-:- Kinks -:- are you or your f/o kinky? What kinds of kinks do you and your f/o like?

Marco:

Marco's kinky in the "open to anything" sense of the word. He might have a weakness for a few things like Breeding and roleplays - a solid appreciation for impact play and power play dynamics, but really he just likes knowing his partner(s) is/are enjoying things.

So with me he incorporates a lot of rope and dom/sub dynamics.

The best part is that there's not really a lot of hard No's with either of us, so most of the stuff we do is experimenting and trying new things. It's a helluva lot safer with his devil fruit, for him and me.

Sabo:

Sabo loves power dynamics. He leans more toward being the one in control, but he's also okay with relinquishing that to some extent. I've barely got a dominating bone in my body though, so it's a rare thing for him to be receiving.

Impact play, Edge Play, Sensory Play - there's some madness in him, but he's oh so careful when walking along lines. He's a cruel bastard sometimes, especially with over-stim and denial, but the pay-offs are worth it in my opinion.

-:- Another -:- have you ever considered including someone else in your activities? If so, who would it be?

Marco:

Marco's not against it at all. So long as the person I'm including or he is, is aware of all the appropriate boundaries - safe words, limits, etc.

He'll rarely take on a sub role in group dynamics, however, no matter who else is included. Izou, Rayleigh, Shakky, and maybe a couple others will get him to let go of the reins, but otherwise he'll maintain control.

Which can be a sight to see when you're including someone like Sabo, who likes control more than not, or Kid who doesn't have a submissive bone in his body (Marco'll joke that he'll shove one in his ass if it'll make him feel better.)

Sabo:

He's not against it, but he's not overly open with it either. With Sabo it has to be someone he's gotten to know and trust, and much like Marco the first few times he's not going to be keen on relinquishing control.

Marco, Ace and Law I feel are on his short list. When it's Ace or Law it's always a bit of a power struggle between him and them (I'm just here for the ride lol ) - but it's not really much of a competition when it's Marco. Though to rank it a little more clearly, Law doesn't want to give up control as much as Sabo, it can get heated (they communicate so heated in a good way), Ace is more likely to fold than to fold Sabo, but I don't think he really minds it. I think he just knows Sabo likes the challenge, and I crumble like a house of cards.

Spicy self-ship asks

[spookymystery67]

I Wish I Could Walk in Heels

AN: Alright, finally got this one done! It's a longer chapter than what I've been putting out recently so I hope you all enjoy it. Take it as an apology to make up for my slacking. I had planned to get it done in October, but then I got really hyperfixated on the live action and anime One Piece (still am to be honest). About 109 episodes in on the anime and have A LOT more to go lol. Anyways, enjoy!

Ps, this chapter is a little angsty. Little bit. At least I think it is. Also has gun violence and typical RE stuff. I noticed I gave up on the TW so hope none of you got traumatized. I don't think I write anything too crazy. We should all know what we've signed up for by now, right?

Chapter 23:

“My, you are a popular one, Luis.”

Ada's comment rang very true. Your eyes struggled to see through the harsh rain from the storm that seemed to appear so suddenly. Even so, you could still see the torches and hear the angry chanting of the villagers surrounding the house you and Ada were supposed to meet Luis at. If you had to guess, nearly every infected citizen of Los Iluminados was in attendance of your little get together.

“I don't remember inviting them to the party.” You half-heartedly joked as you ran along Ada's side, falling slightly behind her once you reached a rickety old, wood and rope bridge that groaned and creaked too much for comfort. “You?”

Your love huffed a weak smile, but could not respond when a sudden and harsh shake of the ground shook the fragile bridge and sent you both scrambling for something stable to balance and hold on to, so as to not fall to your doom.

Another shake. 

You both glanced behind you.

Another. 

This time closer. Something big is coming.

Ada tightly grabbed hold of you for what seemed like the millionth time in one night, grappling you both to the closest and safest roof top and off the bridge. This, somehow, gathered the attention of some of the villagers.

You stared in disbelief at the snarling giant that walked into the, already chaotic, scene. 

“What in the actual fuck is that?” Even with all your prior experience with what should be impossible creatures, you are still somehow always shocked and horrified by something new. 

At least you were never bored.

The giant took notice of you and Ada, before charging in your direction. Ada took action and zipped the two of you off of the roof of the now destroyed house, landing you both safely on the ground. The giant yelled angrily at missing, and turned around to face you once more.

“You deal with the villagers while I handle this?” Ada muttered to you, grappling hook in hand and ready to swing on the houses to avoid the creature while simultaneously weakening it.

Noting your inability to deal with such a huge foe, you nodded in agreement. “Be safe.” 

She squeezed your hip in acknowledgment before fully pulling away. “You as well, dear.”

With that, she turned to face the giant head on. “Sorry big guy. Can't let you go that way.” 

And off she went to fight and distract the giant from getting to the house. While she did that, you ran to a safe distance away from the crushing footsteps and the crumbling houses, picking off the infected stragglers that roamed the area as swiftly and quietly as possible. 

You didn't want Ada to have more on her plate than she already has.

Quiet wasn't an issue. If anything managed to hear you over the chanting villagers, roaring giant, and the howling wind and rain, you'd be genuinely surprised. And maybe even a little impressed.

Eventually, the giant fell on top of the two remaining villagers you didn't get to, dead. All was silent at last, with the exception of the pouring rain that was turning into more of a light drizzle, showing some sign of slowing down for at least a little while.

You saw Ada from afar walking towards the giant corpse. A pang of worry went through you when you saw how angry she visibly was. This wasn't normal Ada behavior. She usually managed to keep her emotions in check during missions. 

The closer you walked, you noticed a wiggling creature on the giant's back, a parasite if you had to guess. It moved like it wanted to get away from its dead host. Away from Ada.

Ada stomped her heeled boot onto the creature to lessen its writhing. She took out her pistol and aimed it at the creature. “Now stay down.” 

One. Two. Three gunshots rang out into the stormy night air. The parasite went limp and Ada gave one final kick of annoyance to the felled creature, tucking her gun away before she faced you fully.

“You alright?” You asked her, doing your best to mask your concern so as to not anger her further. She was clearly in a sort of fragile state at the moment. And you knew the infection had part of, if not everything, to do with it. She took a deep breath before nodding a yes.

“I was getting a little annoyed, but now I'm good. Let's go.” She beckoned, leading you away from the giant. “Sweet dreams.” She snarked to the corpse as you left.

More than a little annoyed. That much was clear as day. Every plan and action took during this mission has led to one problem after another. And everything with Wesker and whatever the dangerous virus was coursing through her veins did not help. 

You weren't sure how much time she had left before the virus took full control of her. Ada appeared to become more and more anxious about it too, as time went on and it seemed no progress was really made in retrieving the Amber. 

Still, you kept quiet. You didn't want to further irritate her. And if she didn't want to talk, then you weren't going to force her. 

Your thoughts were put on hold when you saw Luis safely strolling down the path just below the rock formation you and Ada were waiting on. He noticed you both and with a look of relief he sped walked toward you.

“Luis! Glad to see you made it out of that mess safe.” You called out with a grin. He smiled back at your genuine enthusiasm.

“Oh, that? That was nothing, Sénorita.” He gestured behind himself with a careless wave, as if he didn't just get away from a swarm of probably one hundred infected people looking for blood. As if he's dealt with bigger, worse things at some point and this was just a walk in the park. He smirked at your look of disbelief. “Got a smoke?” 

“I do. The kind you like.” Ada remarked, though she made no move to hand over the pack of cigarettes he earlier abandoned with radio numbers written down to get into contact again. 

“Now, where is the Amber?” Ada questioned, done with the pleasantries and wanting to finish the business at hand.

“Unfortunately, it's not on me at the moment.” He sighed as he walked forward and began to attempt a climb up the rocks to get to you both, grunting with the effort. “And you really should be telling me what-” He paused, huffing from the exertion, before continuing.

“What a good job I did. Busted my ass and managed to hide it right before I got caught. Which,” He stumbled during the climb, but saved himself from slipping. “Is why I'm still alive!”

His triumphant tone made the corners of your mouth tug upward in amusement, but it quickly turned into a frown once you glanced to your left and saw how his words affected the already on edge Ada. Hopefully she won't do anything extreme.

He had nearly made the climb, but still reached his hand out for additional assistance from one of you. You went to help, but Ada stopped you with a gentle hand on your arm before crouching down with a sigh to be more leveled with Luis.

“The deal was we get you out of here when you deliver the Amber. No Amber, no 'protection’, Luis.” She reminded him. There was no room for nonsense in her entire demeanor. No more time to waste. 

He gave a forced and slightly annoyed laugh. Likely in irritation from the long day he's had and Ada showing no appreciation for the fact that he was trying. Though in her mind, he wasn't trying hard enough. He was just wasting both of your precious time.

“Such a stickler for details, huh Ada?” Her deadpan expression didn't waver. He glanced at you with a look you couldn't quite decipher, and you shrugged unhelpfully. He let out another sigh before grumbling. “Alright. I'll go get it now, how about that?”

He reached out a hand for help once more, waiting a long moment. You nudged her and Ada finally gave in and helped him up the small, yet hard to climb, cliff.

Once he was up, he patted himself clear of dirt and looked back to the house the villagers bombarded with a tired sigh. “And I do have something else I need to get too.”

Your girlfriend and you shared a look. You gave a huff and shook your head muttering, “This ought to be good.”

—

The castle. Luis had led you both back to the castle. The place where your mission had officially started and where everything had gone to shit pretty much instantaneously. You'd hoped once you left it the first time that you wouldn't have to be back. 

And yet, here you are.

Luis had climbed halfway up the side of the castle he had led you all to enter from before Ada had decided to just grapple you both up the tower, not even bothering to attempt the climb or help the struggling Luis up the rest of the way. He huffed and finished the challenging climb by himself, muttering to himself all the while.

You and Ada remained silent as you waited for him. Ada, not only because she was pissed, but also because she was stuck in her own head, running through the statistics of how many more distractions and side quests she had in her before the virus took over and she lost total control of herself. You just let her be, not having much to say that would soothe her concerns due to you feeling the exact same way. 

You wish you could continue to tell her it would be alright, but the longer this mission takes, the more you see her condition beginning to take its toll. Not just in her behavior. Now it is visible in her physical appearance as well. 

Her eyes had changed. The infection took form in black, vein-like, lines within her eyes. You had noticed prior to finding Luis, when Ada had been manipulated by the bug creature, that similar veins had covered her face while she clutched her head in pain. A clear sign of the virus and its power over her. So to see it remain permanently in her eyes with the monster not in sight… 

It was clear that time was running out.

“You probably didn't plan on coming back here, eh?” Luis questioned as he finally crawled through the hole in the wall you've entered from. 

“I had hoped not.” You admitted. You noticed Ada's calculated silence became more of a simmering, angry, silence. She was not happy with the man. Not one bit.

“Well, plans do change, no?” Luis said, trying to catch his breath from the climb. 

Ada's silence gave him pause. Noting her mood, he turned to you hesitantly before voicing a question you all already knew the answer to. “Are you angry?” 

Her silence spoke volumes, causing you both to grimace. “You're angry.” He concluded. He paused again, debating his next words. You shook your head, knowing by his hesitance that what he has to say won't be good.

He ignored your silent advice, quickly spilling out his next sentence. “There is this one thing I must do before I can recover the Amber.” 

You winced, glancing at Ada who went from a silent simmer to boiling over in about three seconds flat. This won't be good.

Ada was giving Luis a look that could kill, and in return he held his hands up in a placant gesture. 

“Before?” She questioned, voice deceptively calm. And before you could stop her, she had her pistol drawn and pointed right at the man's head. 

“Ada!” Your startled call went ignored by her.  

Heels clicked angrily against the hard floor as she took threatening steps toward Luis, who had raised his hands even higher in an attempt to convince her not to shoot. “This is not a negotiation, Luis. So choose your next words carefully.”

“Oh, woah…” Luis fumbled, taking a shaky breath before taking a slow step to the side. Then another. And another. Ada's gun remained pointed at his head as she turned with him, finger on the trigger and ready to shoot if he gave her an answer she didn't like. 

“Ada-” 

“Stay out of this, Y/n.” Ada told you. Her cold tone gave you pause. While you know it wasn't you she was angry at, you still didn't want to test her when she's like this. 

Especially not with Luis's life on the line.

“It's fine, Sénorita.” Luis said, before giving his full attention to Ada. You listened and backed off. “Listen, there is someone who needs my help… You know me – always the good Samaritan!”

“Let me guess. Leon?” Ada smirked slightly as Luis looked surprised that she knew about Leon. Though her grip on the gun didn't falter.

“Yes! Exactly! Leon and that young woman…” Luis began to slowly back away. Young women? The president's daughter? “They are both infected. They need this medicine. It slows the infection. And I know it works. I used it on myself. So I-”

“And why does this matter to me?” Ada interrupted, quickly closing the distance Luis had managed to make between the two of them. You could think of a few reasons why it matters.

Luis paused, and as if hearing your own thoughts, stated matter of factly, “Because you too are infected.” 

Ada and you shared a look. You were surprised he noticed, given how most of this mission has been spent away from Luis with you and Ada chasing after him.

Luis shook his head, exasperated. “It's what I researched for all these years. And I see the symptoms already showing in your eyes, Ada.”

For the first time since Ada drew the gun, Luis turned his back on her and walked further away with a little more confidence. Even when he was at risk of being shot in the back.

“You must already feel the effects, eh?” He slowly crouched over a trap door, still somewhat mindful of the woman holding the gun on him. “The medicine will stop them for a time. Just, trust me. You have a lot to gain, and nothing to lose!”

Ada seemed to agree with that statement. “Okay. But this is your last chance. We do this first, and then the Amber.” She placed her gun back into the holster with a final stern look, before turning to search around the room for anything useful to be brought with her.

“I'll let Leon know!” Luis exclaimed, happy he convinced her to help. 

You were relieved. And so, so glad Ada agreed. This might be her only chance. Granted, it's not a cure. But it would give you both more time to find the Amber and find an actual cure.

You stood awkwardly in your current place as Luis reached for his radio and made a call. “Hola. Luis here. You guys still around?” He questioned.

A very familiar voice snarked through the speaker of the radio. “Well I wanted to go home, but Ashley just had to see this castle first.”

Ashley. The president's daughter.

Luis grinned. “Perfect, because I have a present I want to give you. Medicine that will help to suppress the progress of your… problem.” 

“Where do we go?” Leon asked.

“Let's see… Come to the courtyard inside the castle. We can meet up there.” Luis decided. “¡Ciao!” 

With that, he hung up the call and turned to speak to the two women patiently and impatiently waiting for him. 

He stood up and set to opening the trap door leading out of the room. “Sorry to keep you both waiting. Shall we?” 

You glanced back at Ada and saw she was ready to go. You nodded as Luis opened the hatch on the floor. “We shall.”

He grinned as he led you both out of the room and down a stairwell. “There's a hidden laboratory downstairs. My stuff should be there.” He explained, jumping down the remaining gap in the stairs to the floor. Likely destroyed due to lack of maintenance in this area of the castle. You jumped down right after him with Ada right behind you.

“Along with the suppressant?” Ada questioned.

“Right,” Luis nodded. “Though first we have to get past this locked gate.” He said, gesturing to the barred area that was preventing you all from going further.

“Leave it to me.” Ada abruptly ran off before you could offer assistance. You shrugged it off, not much you could do given this requires the grappling hook. Which you have yet to get the hang of using and probably never will.

As you and Luis waited, he decided to start up a conversation with you. “So…”

You raised a brow at his hesitance. As if he is trying to figure out if what he is about to say is crossing a boundary. “So?”

He paused, muttering a quick “fuck it”, then proceeded to ask his intended question. 

“Trouble in paradise?” He asked, noting the growing tension between the two of you that you had since excused and ignored.

Not expecting that question, you stuttered and spat out an, “Excuse me?” Wincing slightly at how it came out a little harsh. Not intending to hurt the man in front of you, just taken off guard by the personal question.

Luis scoffed. “Oh please! You two went from the ultimate dream team to practically walking on eggshells around each other.” 

“We still work well together.” You answered, slightly confused by where he was going with this.

“Yes you do, Sénorita.” Luis amended before continuing, “Though I can't help but notice the growing tension between you. What happened?”

You were curious, “Why do you want to know?” 

“Well…” Luis shrugged nonchalantly, leaning against the wall behind him with a grin. “I like to think that, despite our short time knowing each other, we are friends. You did save my life after all. And I think I'm allowed to be a little concerned about my friend.”

Your growing defensive demeanor softened slightly, sensing no lie coming from the man in front of you.

“Does that mean Ada is your friend too?” You wondered. He exaggeratedly pondered for a moment.

“Eh, I'm still not so sure about that one. A little testy, no?” He jested, grin widening when the joke resulted in a laugh from you. “But in all seriousness, is everything alright between you two. What with the, uh, virus.” 

Your smile dropped with a sigh. “I'm just worried about her. She hasn't been fully herself. Not the usual Ada I've come to know and love. I just don't know what to do. I- I don't want to make it worse.” You quietly admitted.

“Has she tried to hurt you?” He asked with concern.

“No. But I can see that she grows increasingly more worried that it will happen at some point. She's been slowly distancing herself from me. Not in the physical sense, but mentally. Like she's preparing for the worst case scenario.” 

Luis hummed, “I see. Well don't worry too much, Sénorita. We will get her the help she needs before the worst can happen. Okay?” 

He grinned with a comforting pat to your shoulder. You weakly returned it. Grateful for his considerate words, but also not entirely convinced it would be so easy.

After all, nothing on this entire mission has been easy yet.

[one-idea]

So my dog has been super sick recently. Which has been really hard. My dad has traveled to be with me and as a distraction I making him watch One Piece for the first time.

We started from the beginning (so it will take me a while to get back to watching Sabaody) and got through the Romance Dawn episodes (1-9) last night.

He really likes it. But this leads me to my point.

I was watching Buggy and Luffy’s first fight. I know everyone is joking around right now about buggy reaching the One Piece first but in that first fight there is an interesting conversation.

Luffy: “I’m going to be king of the pirates”

Buggy: laughs “if you’re king of the pirates then I’m god.”

Do you know how funny it would be if Buffy fails upwards and instead of getting the one piece becomes the new god. Like not an actual god like Nika but everyone believes he is. Peak comedy.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 17 thoughts

hey guys. i need answers…. i need them.

but i have a strict “one episode a day” and “post the thoughts from last episode before starting the new one” rule and!!! i must follow the rules.

i wish this episode relied less on the assumption that the audience knows how planes work. but. i digress.

back to who i was before this episode....

a lot of you may know that it is scully and mulder time. 

ohhhh i’m reading the episode description and i see what is going on here… a two parter!!! well, i am prepared to handle this, yes i am. we have been due for a two parter, so i look forward to learning about this UFO.

let us open with a pretty shot of the sky… we are somewhere over upstate new york… a good place to be

in a plane. this guy seems drunk. i do not care for how he looked at this woman.

“you could fly every day for the next 26,000 years before you’d have an accident”, says drunk guy that will most certainly manifest a plane crash

shaggy redhead sitting next to drunk man seems very afraid of the dude on the back of the plane in a suit. uh oh! let me guess…. alien bounty hunter?

(author's note: nah. it was a good guess, though!)

suit man just locked himself in the bathroom and pulled out the spring in a pen to a dramatic flourish. is the pen spring supposed to indicate something to me? because i do not associate them with danger.

oh! he made a little gun out of pieces. huh. kinda neat. even if it is terrifying. just from a DIY perspective.

sometimes i forget that before 9/11 you could just do stuff on planes and no one really gave a damn

but now the plane is shaking. man with gun is watching all the screaming and jostling go down. redhead seems very scared while bright lights shine into the plane. oh! and then a window/door thing gets sucked outside??

deeply unfortunate.

(cue spooky intro)

WAIT! we are at a restaurant with mulder and scully and someone is bringing out a cake??? and they are singing happy birthday to her!!! oh my gosh, is it her birthday or is this a ploy by mulder to get free cake?

“I DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY, SCULLY” <- JDHDJJDJD IS HE REALLY ABOUT GETTING THAT FREE CAKE LIFE????

no, no, it IS in fact dana scully's birthday, a remarkable occasion indeed. however. there is no funnier thing than faking a birthday to get cake at a restaurant. and maybe i need to write that fic someday.

oh my gosh, she says he has never once remembered her birthday, so he says something about it being the way he likes to celebrate them, every 4 years...... THIS IDIOT 😭😭

i cannot believe this man... he can remember any myth he read when he was 11, but he cannot keep his best friend's birthday in his head. and while that is a tragic flaw and indication of his ahab-ness, the fact that he knew scully was sick so he stepped it up still says a lot.

oh he brought a GIFT shut up!!!!!! and he pulls out a tiny little box... she says “oh you have GOT to be kidding me” and he jokes about turning the alien implants into earrings but it’s an apollo 11 keychain 😭😭😭 STOP this is so sweet!!!!! oh my gosh he wanted to make sure she knew she was loved 

(her birthday is in february so i’m not sure i see the connection to her and apollo 11 beyond her being a general nerd, and i think her birth and the moon landing happened in the same year, but i digress)

someone is talking to them! “oh promise me this isn’t leading to something embarrassing” she says <- HDHSJDHJE 

but no! this woman- sharon- confesses to have followed them there??? well that is very creepy. and that she was told to talk to them if something happened.

GIRL!!!! LET HER HAVE A NICE DINNER 😭

sharon says that her brother, max fenig, was bringing them something that night, but the plane he was on went down.

and how did he know where they were going to be? i am going to assume that he is simply a stalker and not that mulder arranged for a UFO information exchange on scully's birthday. no ma'am. i refuse.

(also, i was distracted by mulder chewing on something this whole scene. at first i thought it was a cigarette, but then clearly it wasn’t, so maybe a lollipop? looked too big to be a toothpick. oh god, don’t tell me he’s a toothpick guy)

anyway. plane crash time. let's go to the conference where the plane people discuss such news.

initial reports say no survivors. people are smoking in here which is crazy. i understand that this show takes place in the 90's, but sometimes i lowkey forget until i see stuff like that and go ohhhhh right right.

this has been a sad turn to date night!!!

they’re listening to the last audio recording from the plane, and the pilot is yelling “my god!” and “mayday!” which is not inspiring any warm and fuzzy feelings

so mulder asks if there was any evidence that the plane was intercepted, because we heard the voice say it was, but plane guy who is in charge of this meeting says hmm, nope, not that i know of.

(is the pilot saying that there was an interception.... not evidence... of an interception??)

mulder says well, there was a famous alien abductee on the plane. which gets the crowd giggling.

scully is watching like ohhh my god and when plane guy asks if this is an official FBI position he turns and looks to her and then says no. plane guy says he is trivializing this tragedy. WHICH I DISAGREE WITH!

IF there was a man claiming to be abducted by UFOs, and the plane he was on mysteriously went down, and the pilot said it was intercepted, but for some reason the fact that the pilot SAID THAT is being disregarded- i'm sorry, my red flags would be going off. for multiple different reasons. if i were plane guy i'd be thinking, gee, maybe this max character was a government target- i mean, if he got famous off of UFOs, who is to say he wasn't up to more shady activities? maybe he was planning a coup in the dominican republic, or smuggling government secrets of a nature that is still important but less outlandish than UFOs, or embezzling, etc. all i am saying, from my reasonable skeptic point of view, is i would think hmm, that's odd. we'll have to note that for our investigation, mr. mulder. maybe max was targeted for a specific reason, aliens or no aliens.

of course, this plane guy claims there WAS no max fenig on the plane, but it seemed pretty easy to lie pre-TSA

“sure know how to make a girl feel special on her birthday” HDHJSJDKSJDJDJDJDJ 

nooo... i feel bad for birthday scully :( why is he always up to some sort of alien shenanigans instead of cherishing her? :( i GET it, i get his life's mission, etc etc but cherishing your friends should be mandatory, especially when it is a friend as lovely as scully

at the crash site, things are looking very very very sad. many bodies are in bags. 

but where is the plane??

poor scully has to shout due to all the helicopter noises, which had to be a pain to film.

what would finding max fenig prove? mulder doesn’t know. but perhaps that 1 life was worth sacrificing 133 others. 

damn. that’s a downer. and we started on such a high note!!!!

the guy who had the DIY gun on the plane has been entirely cut in half. but one of the people from the IIC (and what the hell even IS the IIC?) took his gun!! it was the guy with the big mustache! and they’re spraying him with some stuff? that can’t be normal practice, can it?

scully sees a watch on a corpse’s arm :( mulder sees some glasses :(

they each find a watch!! and the watches from the victims say 8:01, but the time of the crash was listened as 7:52!!!! so… what is the truth??

“nine minutes, scully. do you remember the last time you were missing nine minutes?” <- is that a rhetorical question or a throwback to the pilot

mulder seems to think now that perhaps max was on the plane, but did not finish the journey with the rest of the passengers… hmm… like they shot him??? what do you mean, cryptic man???

oh! one of the people from the crash is alive!!! get a medic NOW!!!! scully is here!!!!! she is telling you what he is going to need and you had better get it quick!!!

now scully is waiting for a plane in the cold. what!!! she is cold!!!! get her inside!!!

she was waiting for sharon from before, who brought all of her letters from her brother max. scully says that they think she isn’t telling them everything, and that she had better do so. NOW. she is not messing around.

oh!!!! the man who was alive has burns that are associated with a high level of radiation!! see, i assumed he just was hit by a piece of flaming sky junk. that foreshadowing went right over my head. 

it was drunk man from before who was burnt!!! so is it whatever max had on him that was radioactive??? they confirm that it was max, he was just using a pen name, which he had a lot of. 

max worked at job with plutonium and uranium. well. maybe that could do it. not sure what he’d to do with all that or how it got on a plane. maybe it could have caused the crash.

mulder is launching into his “max HAD to have been abducted” theory and about how no one will ever believe him and it will go unsolved forever. scully keeps trying to cut him off…

max is back!!!! where from???

oh. he is dead. that is how they found him.

mulder still doesn’t think the crash is explained.

sigh. you just want to have a nice birthday dinner with the guy you've thought was cute for the last 4 years, and he never once remembered your birthday until now, but then he gets an alien call and slips into ahab mode. scully has truly suffered so much.

sharon is reading many many many letters when a flashing and shaking occurs!!! more aliens???? oh man. this is intense. 

CUT TO BLACK??? rude as hell. where did sharon go!!!

(i think i know where sharon went)

okay, now mulder is walking among the many bodies recovered from the crash scene. he finds max and unzips him. and in his pocket he had mulder’s business card!!! despite it being covered in blood, he puts it in his pocket, and seems very sad. it cannot be an easy thing to see. but still. blood-borne illnesses, man.

he is now unzipping more and more bodies. what do you think, you beautiful tortured man?

he is furious that the IIC is going to claim that they don’t know what went on. and i still don't know what the IIC is. maybe they don't even know about the alien stuff. not everyone has CSM levels of alien knowledge.

(side note... why do you think deep throat was snitching to mulder?? was it part of CSM's plan, or did the fight? was it toxic old man yaoi?)

back to the matter at hand. “mulder, why can’t you just accept the facts?” (with his hand on her back, walking her away) “because there are no facts, scully. what they’re telling you, what they’re going to report, they’re the opposite of facts- a claim to ignorance of the facts” oh man, he’s yapping! but he has a point.

“claimed steadfastly, ignorance becomes as acceptable as the truth” <- he’s lowkey right though… he ate with that one thing

still pissed he cannot remember birthdays.

he points out that all of the watches have been stolen that show the difference in 9 minutes between the reported and the actual crash time!!! and that somehow they need to figure out what happened in those 9 minutes. hmm. is this a possible task?

well, with a rental car, you can go anywhere, including to this military base.

oh no!!! someone already came and asked this military man (later revealed to be named louis frish) about the crash, the night it happened! oh no… someone else has a lead

hmm….. hmm…. some discrepancies in stories are occurring here. it must be CSM.

uh oh... the minute they leave, louis frish says to his buddy that he told them “what he was supposed to say”… there is STRANGENESS afoot!!! this other guy says if they come back, he’s gonna tell them the truth.

back to the motel…. well, sharon is no longer there!!! surely you recall the lights and the shaking, etc etc! the landlord seems to think that she trashed the room and dipped, and is telling our agents they MUST pay for it. she was making her 5 seconds of screen time COUNT.

“okay scully, hit me with your best shot, what do you think happened here?” (deep sigh) “i haven’t a clue” <- i love when they admit they don’t know wtf is going on. i think it’s very endearing.

plane guy shows up!!! mulder is being snippy with him about the lack of evidence, but he comes with evidence in hand!!! he won’t make an announcement though, because he’s afraid he’ll sound as crazy as mulder. woah… plane guy redemption arc??

the plane had wear and tear marks, but the gag is it was a brand new plane!!! and all of the cracks radiate from the door they think was blown off!!!

big shoutout to mulder for trusting his door launching instincts. 

back at the air force base….. the one guy who said he was gonna snitch has a bullet hole in his head!!! and three cars are rapidly approaching!!! including one with shady mustache man who was spraying drunk guy’s body!!!

louis frish is hiding on the roof. hmm. hope they don't climb up there to check.

mulder is rocking back and forth, listening to the audio from the flight. then he busts out a rotary phone and spins it with great determination. another forcible reminder of the 90's. also, him rocking back and forth was funny. it was giving old man on a porch energy.

he’s calling scully!! she sounds very sleepy and points out that they have been up for over 36 hours, but he asks if she can please come over, as he thinks he has heard this voice before

yayyy, they can say they know who the voice belongs to, and then fall asleep all cuddled up <3 and everyone lived happily ever after- the end!

NO!!! when she gets out of her room, someone GRABS HER!!! this guy is closing her mouth and saying not to scream, which really makes a person want to scream more, i can imagine.

it’s louis frish??? saying he caused the plane crash???

girl. i was ready for some snuggling.... gtfo with this nonsense.

ooooookay, so it was frish whose voice they heard on the recording! frish says he was ordered to lie about what happened to the flight…. and now he’s fessing up that he saw a second aircraft shadowing it, then an explosion, then the disappearance. 

plane guy is saying that this guy must be a liar. but mulder says there has to be a THIRD aircraft, shot down by the intercept aircraft, which caused this crash. so there has to be a second crash site.

man, i was still thinking about them cuddling, but sure. sure, we have 3 aircraft now. i'm getting lost but i'll just roll with it.

plane guy says that if there is a second crash site they need to find it. i cannot get a read on him. also, frish the whistleblower needs to be kept somewhere safe because the military is clearly gonna kill him.

time to head out…. but cars are approaching!!! can a man who hasn’t slept in 36 hours do a high speed chase? well, he sure can, but the question is more about the ethics than the actual possibility. 

mulder’s crazy idea is to drive straight into a landing plane which just BARELY works and scully straight up was looking death in the face. 

plane guy goes to the OG crash site and sees a UFO!!! it has a beam it is scanning down on the wreckage!!!! he seems entirely gagged and runs towards it, which is not what i would do in that situation. i would be hiding. and then it wooshes away!!!

NO!!!!! it is above him now!!!!!! the beam is shining upon him…. but it wooshes away again. phew. that was very close.

however, a woman is wailing in the trees. SHARON??? is that you??? plane guy is running toward the voice!!!! and it is sharon!!!

plane guy holds sharon as she sobs and begs him not to let them take her again…….. which is a lot of responsibility to place on a random guy, but clearly she has been through a lot.

mulder and scully and frish are trying to get on a plane now. but mulder says what if there IS no second crash site because the second aircraft never fell??

well, i was just getting used to the idea of there being a second crash site, and now it has been taken away from me!!! but i assume he is saying that the UFO must have gotten away fine???

(author's note: no! no, i assumed wrong, for he surmised correctly that it crashed underwater? again, was i supposed to be following that? because i wasn't)

scully does not want to take frish back to DC by herself, and who can blame her? that’s a long drive with a strange man! and surely now mulder is going to run off and engage in some sort of antics!! probably to get himself kidnapped and all that!!!!

aww, but he waves goodbye as their airplane takes off. and then he sets out into the night. 

he drives out to the lake where he thinks maybe the UFO got away, where some guy is telling him there is a hovering light flying over every now and then

scully brings this frish guy back to her HOUSE??? she says she needs to get some stuff before she talks to her agent in charge and i’m thinking no!!! what if he’s lying!?! you brought him into your house!!! what if he gets you?!?

he’s having a crisis of faith on if he’ll get arrested for lying about the plane crash, and i’m sorry to hear he has to live with that guilt, but let’s do this in a place where she doesn't live. 

she says she will do her best to tell his story to someone who can help him. which is very kind of her. but again. let us not bring strangers to our residence.

and he asks to make a phone call to his girlfriend and say he’s safe but i’m thinking noOooOoo why does it have to be on HER phone???? i don’t trust this man at all!!!!!

mulder is sailing out into the lake with this random guy. oh he’s gonna scuba dive. you see, that isn’t something you should do without experience, but here he is. that's the kinda crazy fox mulder brings to the table.

scully takes frish to a restaurant, and who is here but PENDRELL!!! yelling about her birthday. he tries to buy her a drink, and she points out she is with somebody. he laughs and says well let me buy him one too. good for him! 

BUT MUSTACHE MAN IS HERE. he is trying to SHOOT frish. and pendrell is bringing his drinks over and HE GETS SHOT as SCULLY SHOOTS MUSTACHE GUY.

oh my god. is she gonna watch PENDRELL DIE RIGHT THEN AND THERE???

well i thought he was a bit weird, but i didn’t want to see him BLEED OUT!!!

mulder is diving. into god knows what. i’m scared he’ll get the bends or something. or run out of air. or any other horrific scuba related phenomenon. 

but there is something down there!!! something big and metal. i’m scared some sort of evil creature is going to jump out. 

BAH! ALIEN!!!!

okay, he didn’t jump out, but he was unexpected. 

and the light is back!!!! it must be the UFO!!! come to get the alien and maybe the mulder in the process!

end scene.

woaugh…. 

we started with birthday dinner and ended with dead alien and dying pendrell. what a piece of TV.

honestly, the episode was good, don’t get me wrong. but there was so much happening so quickly that i was a little lost. can you blame me? first we had two aircraft and then three and then two crash sites and then one and then two but the other one was underwater. and it was going really fast. 

i firmly believe that in media like this when the world is always about to blow up, you need to take time to make me care about the characters living or dying. you can't replace character development with a ticking time bomb or blow after blow after blow and expect that to be compelling writing. and while i think in the past seasons there has been an excellent balance of character development to character torture or fighting the end of the world, this season has been very heavy handed on the character torture. and i want to make it clear: i am an angst enthusiast. but also, after a certain point, it's like, are we here to just watch these guys suffer? is that what brings us before the TV screen? you don't need an even ratio of character happy time to character sad time- a small amount of character happy time can go a long, long way, so i'm glad we started with some today- perhaps the first all season?

what i'm trying to say is that the opening is going to to get me through a lot of hard times. but still... mulder doesn’t remember birthdays………. this man... i want to shake him like a rag doll and knock some sense into his head.

oh pendrell... how i wonder where your story will go next!

[marshallpupfan]

Marshall Merchandise Update!

Got some interesting new additions for my collection to show off today! Eventually, I need to show everything off again... as soon as I get things organized again. I still have items I bought from early last year that I still haven't found a spot for yet. I've been slacking! lol

First off, this lapel pin... being graciously held up by Wolf O'Donnell. There's probably a "can't let you do that" joke in here somewhere, but I can't think of any right off hand. 😅

This was actually sent to me by a friend, who recently paid a visit to Nickelodeon Universe (an indoor theme park). While she was there, she seen this and got it for me, hoping it was something I didn't have. Fortunately, it wasn't! A fine item for my collection, indeed! She'll likely see this post later, so if you're reading this, thank you again!

Actually, I believe she also went a year or two ago and managed to find the Meet & Greet Marshall wandering around. She even got a picture & video with him, too. I was quite envious! 😄

Next, this "magic towel" thing. It's also being held up by another wolf - this time, it's Wolf Link, from "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess". Can you tell I'm a bit of a Nintendo gamer? lol

Anyhoo, I was just doing some shopping with my mother in a dollar store when I happened to stumble upon this. It was only $1.25, so... why not get it? The artwork isn't the best, but hey, I still like it.

Next, one of those "Good 2 Grow" snack containers! Actually, funny story about this one. I was at a gas station, not expecting to see anything pertaining to PAW Patrol, when I seen one of these that someone left at the front near the cashier. However...

It was actually one of Zuma, which surprised me, since they usually pass him up to focus on the main four. I meant to post about it on Twitter/X, but like usual, I forgot. In any case, I decided to track one down, and I soon found one of Marshall at Walmart. It was the last one, too! Unless I'm mistaken, they also had one of Liberty, so I guess they went beyond just the six original pups this time. Nice!

As you might recall, we've actually seen products like this before, about a year or two ago. Back then, it was just the pups in their regular outfits. This time, they went with a superhero theme, no doubt due to The Mighty Movie. I'm not sure why they went with Super Paws and not the Mighty Movie outfits, but maybe these were easier to mold. Who knows, but hey, I quite like it when older outfits get brought back, instead of them getting forgotten in the sands of time.

I just wish we could see THIS outfit again someday. It had a brief reappearance in that "Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay" video game, but that's it so far. Sadly, at this point, I doubt we'll ever see it again.

Er... guess I got a little distracted here, sorry!

Last, and absolutely not least, is this brand new item! Something I knew about for many months and couldn't wait to get a hold of one for myself! It's "Storytime with Marshall" by Leap Frog!

(In hindsight, taking these pictures in front of my monitor may not have been the best idea. Hopefully they're not too hard to see. 😅)

This thing is legitimately super awesome! They really got his likeness down so well here! I mean, seriously, just look at it! It's so cute! It's easily one of the best pieces of merch I've got in my collection now!

According to the box, it can do quite a lot. It includes 40+ stories, which I assume are based on various episodes (I haven't listened to them yet, but I also assume they focus on different pups, going by the buttons on the front... yeah, it's a shame there's no Rocky or Zuma again, I know). It has a sleep timer, to help lull the little ones to sleep at night before shutting off and all that. Additionally, it teaches "core learning skills" or something, whatever that means. That's cool and all, but of course, for me, I just wanted it because I absolutely love how it looks. It'll look great on one of my shelves! lol

I'll admit, I'm glad this came out before the new animation style got applied. While I like Marshall's updated season 11 look so far (I might make a separate post about that later), his original design is still my #1 favorite. A part of me hopes to keep collecting more merchandise of THIS Marshall, but I know that, by next year, they'll probably retire this design and start using the new one, permanently. Guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts. 😅

And that's all for now! I currently have another item coming in the mail; Marshall's new Rescue Wheels big wheel vehicle + figurine. It's been delayed, but it's supposed to show up at some point next week. Hopefully, the remaining Rescue Wheels merchandise will show up in stores soon enough, and I'll be able to show them all off soon. I might also have to buy a Boomer figurine, too. lol

[reviewdiaries]

Nancy x Ace and the enigma of hope in 4x08

The timeline for this show is insane. Like, we knew it was insane, but this is truly melt your face off crazy fast. In world, Ace and Nancy have had their “we’ll take our space” moment the night before. Game night was last night. Nick is still riding on the high of being freaking awesome, and Rebecca wants to know why Ace snuck back in looking like he’d been crying with two boxes of her silver…

But the speed with which things are happening just makes the start of this episode more painful, because when Ace shows up after Nancy’s text to the group, she truly didn’t expect to see him. She thought they were back to space and not talking and nothing but fissures in her heart where it hurts to see the lack of him. 

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

It also adds a whole new layer of pain to how Nancy has responded over the previous few episodes. When you’re anticipating a tough anniversary it can often be hardest in the days leading up to it when you’re braced for the pain. Suddenly her devastation the night before when Ace leaves her is even harder to watch. Her determination to distract by showing up bright and early at Nick’s door the day before makes even more sense with the context this offers. Her taking a moment to enjoy an uncomplicated moment with Tristan after a traumatic event where she nearly died, even more understandable.

Grief is complex, it layers everything, and how we react to it can often be confusing and inexplicable to those around us. But Ace knows what day it is - of course he does, he absorbs everything about Nancy. And whilst he will almost always show up (work and breakups permitting) there was no way he wasn’t going to be there today, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much he’s said they’ll have some space. He’ll have told Connor he couldn’t work today because he needs to be there for her. Found himself at a loose end after the night before and ended up sat having breakfast with his dad unsure what to do with a day stretching out empty in front of him. He’ll have sat with the thumping insistence of her wanting space to move on juxtaposed against her text asking everyone to meet at The Claw for a few minutes after his dad left, trying to work out what to do, before he follows his gut, trusts his gut finally and goes to her. For all his fears and doubts he cannot leave her this day, not this day.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams 

It’s there in the little moments, the little pieces of understanding. The quiet comprehension in that Ace way of his without pushing. He’s there for her, in whatever way she needs, no matter how it hurts.

GIF Credit @whitefluffyyeti

 And it does hurt, being around her like this with the pain of their words the night before stuck like barbs under his skin. But so does not being around each other. So does the haunted grief he can see in her eyes. And he’s finally starting to trust his gut again, to listen to the quiet thrumming insistence that he stay, that he help, that he hand her the necklace. Because yes everyone expects to see it on Nancy’s body, but if anyone who doesn’t know about the body swap were to see it on Ace he would be the one person it wouldn’t be strange to see wearing it.

GIF Credit @whitefluffyyeti

It’s been a year of the two of them causing mayhem and getting into places they shouldn’t. And Horseshoe Bay are familiar with the sight of the Drew Crew causing havoc, but more so the sight of Nancy and Ace, Ace and Nancy, the two so often in orbit around each other, a silent support at the other's side. Ace’s mouth a stoic line against Nancy’s playful hijinks that tells whoever she’s up against that he’s got her back, that if they mess with her he’ll be there too, that he has her back, always.

But the problem these few weeks hasn’t been a lack of feeling, of not being there for the other. It’s been a lack of communication, of fighting so damn hard to protect the other that they end up hurting themselves and then the other - not necessarily in that order. It’s being so twisted up in the pain of wanting and not having that they’ve forgotten how to be around each other, how to find the words to admit what they want. And they want the same thing, they have all along, too afraid that they aren’t worth the fight to actually stand up and say how much they want the other to fight for them.

Tied up and desperate and there’s nothing like being stuck in the other’s body to clean the dirt away and show what’s underneath. Love and hope and a depth of feeling that feels like they could drown in it if they slip.

It’s the little details. It’s Ace finding out that Nancy was learning ASL - not so much for him, although of course it’s for him too, but so she can talk to his dad, so she can be part of his family, carve out her own space next to him. And for a moment he looks at her head on (it’s hard to look directly at her whilst she’s in his body, too confusing to see the love he’s worked to keep hidden shining so blindingly obvious from his eyes, how direct his gaze is, how sure he is in his own skin - like looking in a slightly skewed mirror. Because this is something new. This is a sign that she thinks he’s worth it. This is not him doing something to be useful for her, this is her spending her free time learning something to make his life, their life, easier. It’s a chink in the armour, a small sliver of sunlight breaking through the clouds. It’s a lifeline for him to hold onto.

GIF Credit @yellenabelova

It’s the way they speak without words again, how even with his own face staring back at him he knows what Nancy is thinking, knows the quiet reassurance she offers him as he leaves her alone with his dad. She’s got this, and he trusts her. Doesn’t trust many people with his dad - protective in a way he can’t quite articulate, but that’s how he’s found he feels about the people that mean the most. Can’t put the words out into the world, just ties them to his tongue and leaves his heart on his sleeve.

GIF Credit @erinchristmaselvis

It’s allowing the frustration at Nancy barging into the club even though it jeopardises the investigation, to bubble to the surface. Biting out the words that she wanted space, she asked for space, and she’s there, looking confident and competent in his skin and it grates on him in a way he can’t fully articulate. Just as the smell of her shampoo being all around him makes him feel electric in this skin that isn’t his. The feel of being close, so close to her, and unable to feel like he can relax, like he’s constantly stepping over unseen lines and it’s too much and too close and makes him want to scream.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

It’s noticing that she’s slipped out the moment they’re in their own bodies again and not being able to say no to the tug under his ribs that tells him to go after her, check she’s ok, check in, show her he’s there and he cares (he still cares).

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

And he’s not thinking about the bannister at the yacht club. Not really. He’s thinking about the little pieces of her he’s seen today. The tension in her body, coiled too tight and desperate to flee, to do something, to keep busy, to push down the memories that keep threatening to surface. He’s thinking about how tired he felt, how she must not be sleeping. How it felt to be working a case with her, trapped into proximity and cut loose to try and be Nancy Drew for an afternoon. To feel useful and wanted and seen. He’s thinking about the weight of her necklace warm and close to the skin by his heart. The knowledge that she’s been learning ASL. That when he comes to stand next to her by the water’s edge she moves slightly closer to him, weight shifting as though pulled on an invisible string.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

He’s thinking about the layers of the conversation. Because they’re talking about the mystery and the yacht club and Nancy’s tendency to slip off and get herself into dangerous situations on her own. But they’re also talking about how Ace wouldn’t want her to change, wouldn’t want her to stop being her, but just needs her to let him be there, let him in, not be alone in this, to lean on him a little and let him help keep her safe. That he sees her, that he understands her, that he can’t do it, can’t bear the space, can’t bear being apart. And so here they are, even when it hurts, even when they rub each other the wrong way, and he cannot stand to leave her. Just wants her to be safe and happy and near him. Selfishly - he just wants to be selfish, just for a little while. And maybe, just maybe, if Nancy was learning ASL, maybe she wants to be selfish too - maybe they can be selfish together, maybe they can find a new way of being that doesn’t pretend that they don’t love each other. That each other are true north, the compass point that never wavers. That maybe they can find a way back to each other. That maybe this thing between them isn’t twisted into something poisoned. Maybe it was just a rough patch whilst they worked out how to be with each other - reminded themselves what they’re fighting for, what they stand to gain if they keep trying to break the curse.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

It’s the slight wince as he knows he has to give the piece of her back. That he can’t keep the necklace, no matter how much it feels like a piece of her next to his heart. That  for all the lightness in her words (her voice, her eyes, her face) he has to tell her he knows. 

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

He’s known all day. And he risks bringing that heartbreak to the surface but he can’t not tell her he knows her, he sees her. Can’t resist the lightest touch of fingertips against her palm as he gives this piece of her back again.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

Can’t take his eyes off her, bathed in the sunset and all fire and fight and beauty and he knows he can’t risk being burned, but god the fight is getting harder and harder to maintain. It’s getting harder and harder to remind himself all the reasons they shouldn’t break the curse when all the reasons why they should are clamouring to be heard.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

It’s the layers to their conversation as he leaves to go fishing with his dad. Because Nancy is talking about her mum, and what it is to lose a parent, but she’s also talking about them. All they’re left with now are memories, messy stupid memories. And he can see in her face the memory of their kiss, has been trying so hard to shutter out the feel of her jaw under his palm, the frantic flutter of her pulse, the feel of her lips rising up to meet his own, the gasp he let slip at the touch of her that she swallowed down along with the longing that he’d kept hidden for so long.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

But he can see the shadow of other memories that she has that he can only hold onto the brief outline she sketched for him - of his lips on her skin and promises murmured into the crook of her neck and waking up together tangled in nothing but sunlight and sheets. 

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

And it breaks his heart as her voice catches slightly on the idea that he gets to make more memories - with his dad, with another woman. And she is left with ghost of her mother and the ghost of his lips. The pain in his eyes, the pain in her voice. As he looks at her you can see how desperately he’s tamping down the urge to pull her close, whisper into her hair that she’s not alone, that he’s there, he’ll always be there, even when it hurts. It’s another promise, another chink in the armour, in the wall that’s ready to crumble at the slightest push.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

He doesn’t want to leave her, feels like she’s sending him away. But crushes that voice under the understanding that she’s giving him a gift, asking him to make memories with his dad for her, for him, for the knowledge that one day there won’t be any new memories to make. That it will just be these to take out and hold in the sunlight and to remember the good and the bad and the hard and know that they are a patchwork of a father who loves his son. That this is a way for him to honour the memory of Kate, for him to embrace the opportunity to spend time with his dad who’s still here, Knows that this conversation isn’t over, it’s just a pause for breath, to regroup, to allow them both to process the day, knows that he’ll go out on the water and talk to his dad and unpick some of the knots of his feelings and come back calmer and clearer and certain of his way forward.

GIF Credit @livelovecaliforniadreams

Because he doesn’t bother with a greeting or telling her who it is. He’s come back to shore knowing he wanted nothing more than to hear her voice, to check she’s ok after an evening remembering her mum. Barely made it into the car after saying goodbye to his dad before he was hitting the call button. Needs to make sure that she understands. That he knows what she was doing and he’s grateful, that he sees her, sees her pain, sees the ways they make each other better and all the ways they might make each other worse, and he loves her, can’t stop loving her.

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

The emotion so thick in his voice that he can barely choke the words out around the tears in his throat and the fear that’s been winding its way around him all day. 

GIF Credit  @nancy-drew

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

Last night they ended on a discordant note, unsure what the other wanted, poised on a precipice that they never jumped from. And he’s been off kilter and unsure for so long, but today. Today has been sunlight on the water, breaking through the clouds, a chance to breathe a full lungful of air and feel the tension drop from his shoulders. Because he’s been there in all the little ways for Nancy, but he’s started noticing all the little ways she’s there for him too, and to listen to all the ways she’s telling him she loves him too, that she thinks he’s worth it, that she wants to be with him, be near him, keep trying. He can see the disconnect between her words last night and her actions, and it fills him with hope.

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

The pauses are filled with all the things he doesn’t feel he can say yet. All the layers he’s starting to peel back.

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

He’s able to be honest, to let some of what he’s feeling come out. And this is why they haven’t spoken on the phone before now. There are too many opportunities for them to misread, to misunderstand, to second guess when they’re face to face and clouded with emotion and want and the pain of seeing the other. But this, he can speak to his phone, speak to the quiet night around him, let the truth out in small pieces as he lets his guard down and the words out from the confines of his heart.

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

He can tell her these things, doesn’t need to hear anything back, just needs to let the words drop quietly into the silence between them, and to feel a little lighter with the admission. Ace is so good at listening, and being there for her, but he’s bad at admitting his own needs, at expressing his own wants and desires. The most confident we’ve seen him was in those first few episodes of the season where he finally pieced together the curse, and they were on the same page trying to break it. Since then he’s been lost and adrift and in pain and doesn’t know how to right himself, how to staunch the bleeding.

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

And then she says the magic words. I’m not happy without you in mine. Not, I need you, not you’re useful, not you make my life easier. Those are all quantifiable things that Ace can do things about by being of service, by being helpful, be being needed. This is something ephemeral, magical, something other that is simply him being in her life. This is Nancy wanting him for him, for the joy and the peace and the love. They make each other better.

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

It’s such a rare and precious thing to see him smile. And he’s not even smiling for anyone, simply cannot help the surprise huff of joy, the way her words fill him up with something new, something missing from the darkness of the last weeks. Can see him begin to say something

I - 

Bites it off, cuts himself off, doesn’t want to say it yet. Doesn’t want the first time he says it to be to empty air and the sound of Nancy’s soft breathing over the phone. Wants to be able to see her face. Simply sits for a moment in the knowledge that he makes her happy simply by being him, no agenda, no need to make himself be anything more or less.

GIF Credit @nancy-drew

And there’s so much more he wants to say. Is filled up with wanting. Could sit and just listen to her be at the other end of the line for the rest of the night. Fall asleep listening to the sound of her voice, the catch of her breath, the way his heart beats out the rhythm of her name in his chest. In the darkness where he can start to unspool his feelings it no longer feels so insurmountable, his feelings, his fears, his desires. He can start to untangle the simple fact that he loves Nancy, and he wants to be with her, and they’re going to break the curse. Together.

[winter-leftovers]

Til The End Of Eternity || Chapter Four: To Catch a Changeling (4/?)

(Douxie Casperan x f!reader)

Summary: Y/n is trying to figure her life out but is going to be hard since her brother is the new trollhunter and she is plagued by dreams and feelings she doesn’t understand.

Chapter Summary: Y/n visit Douxie’s library

Word count: 1902

Warnings: no!

(Season 1 Episode 7)

Song?: Crush by Tessa Violet

Previous — Next

Masterlist

“You look like shit” Randy hit the counter with some papers distracting Y/n from her computer.

“I feel like shit” Y/n closed the seventeen tabs she had opened looking for information about Killahead, all useless “I haven’t been sleeping well”

They shared a look for awhile. Y/n rolled her eyes. She knew her coworker very well by now. There was only one reason why he didn’t interrogated about her sleeping schedule: he needed something

“What do you want, Randy?” Y/n looked back at the computer, a picture of a rat eating a fry stared back at her.

“Okay, remember my idea of a battle of bands?” He didn’t give her time to answer “Well, I need to help to set it up and I know you are a musical genius so your input would be much appreciated and I won’t be able to do it without you…”

“Aha” She cut him off “Would I get paid?” She raised a brow.

“Yes! And…and the free afternoon right now so you can sleep”

“Wow! you really want me to help” she started to pick up her stuff before he could change his mind.

“Great! Thank you! Here, have flyer”

She took the piece of paper. The colorful flyer made her smile.

Randy always loved music. She remembered when his mother told her the story of how Randy had threatened to steal a guitar if she didn’t buy him one. Music was everything to him and he saw the same emotion in Y/n when they met. She always loved music, even before she could remember.

When she was six, Barbara took her to school for the first time and there, on music class, she touched a guitar for the first time and it felt like coming home.

Y/n doesn’t remember her biological parents but as a kid she liked to think that they loved music as much as she did but, as she grew, she stopped thinking about her biological parents and at seventeen she stopped playing completely until last year. Three months into college she got lost, hopeless. She didn’t like what she was studying and didn’t know what she wanted to do. One weekend, while visiting her family, Y/n heard a piano. Someone was trying to tune a piano and awfully failing. She felt like the strings were calling for her, asking her to end its misery.

Entering the music store she had spent too many hours browsing back in high school she saw two guys not much older than her debating if that is how the key was supposed to sound.

“It’s really not” Y/n got close to inspect their work.

“Hello? You need help looking for something?” The man with the long blonde hair asked.

“You’re doing a shitty job” she pointed to the man with his finger in the key.

“No shit. I don’t know I’m doing” he laughed.

She looked back and forth between them.

‘Maybe I can make a quick buck’ she thought.

“How much for tuning it?” She crossed her arms.

The blonde man looked at his watch and back to his friend and said:

“I’ll give you twenty bucks to tune it in half an hour”

Y/n laughed

“It can take up to two hours to tune it after god knows what you did”

“Hour and a half for thirty bucks”

“Forty five minutes and sixty dollars” she stretched her hand.

“Fifty”

“Deal” They shook hands.

She took her jacket off and started to work.

“I’m Y/n”

“Randy” the blonde said.

Tuning the piano made her feel something she thought lost, the feeling of home and she’ll always be grateful to Randy for that.

“Hello, Y/n”

“Hey, Douxie! How are you?”

“I’m fine. How about you?” He looked concerned.

Y/n knew she wasn’t looking her best. No one would be after the night she had.

“Oh, this awful eye bags? Courtesy of my little brother” she laughed.

“I didn’t know you had a brother”

“Yeah, he is still in high school. How about you? Got any siblings?”

“Nah, it’s just me and Archie” he point to the window of the library where a black cat was grooming himself.

“Oooh he is so cute” Y/n crouched down in front of the window.

Archie meowed and rubbed himself on the window as a response, melting Y/n’s heart.

“Don’t feed his ego too much. He’s a total diva”

Y/n laughed “I thought the guy with groupies would be the diva”

Douxie blushed.

She chuckled. She thought guys like Douxie didn’t blush.

“Are you jealous, love?”

Now it was Y/n’s time to blush.

They stood there, smiling at each other. Y/n found Douxie so intoxicating: his hazel eyes, his blue hair, that smile that brought her down to her knees. Even though they saw each other a few times, she was enchanted by him the first time.

“Would you like to say hi to him…you know…without the glass” Douxie broke the silence. He seemed nervous.

“That would be nice” she smiled.

Douxie opened the door to the library, the smell of books, tea and something else filled her lungs making her warm inside.

The moment she stepped inside, Archie rubbed himself between Y/n legs, stealing her attention from the beautiful library.

“Hello, sweet boy” she sat on the floor to pet Archie more comfortably.

“He likes you” said Douxie. He was leaning against one of the few walls that wasn’t covered in books “He isn’t usually that nice, you know”

Y/n swears she saw Archie roll his eyes but assumed her tiredness was playing tricks with her.

“He seems super nice to me” she rubbed Archie’s cheek and he let himself fall onto her hand.

“Oh, don’t let him trick you. He has a temper”

They both laughed and shared a look. The power Douxie has on her made her crazy. Ever since the day they met at Benoit’s, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. Every time she saw him she would stare at him like if she moved her eyes he would disappear.

“Battle of the bands? Are you entering the contest?” Douxie pointed to the flyer long forgotten on the floor.

“No, I’m just helping set it up. Are you interested?”

“Yes, I have a band…”

“Oh! Ash dispersal pattern, right? Randy is a big fan” she tried to play it cool. She couldn’t tell him that she knows most of his songs by heart “I heard some of your songs. You’re good”

She saw a red tint in his cheeks and this time, she was sure her tired brain wasn’t playing tricks on her.

“Thank you” he scratched the back of his neck “I heard you play the piano you have at the store. I thought you’ll enter”

“Mmmh, I’ve played since I’m kid but I don’t think I’m good enough to enter. I’m helping cuz Randy asked” she looked at Archie, he was belly up between her legs, napping.

“What?! I heard you at the store! You’re nuclear!” Douxie crouched next to her.

Y/n turned her head and looked at him “You think?”

With Douxie so close the world seemed to slow down. They were the only people in the world. Their faces just inches apart. So close that a small breeze could change everything.

“Of course” He smiled

The door opened and the world was no longer theirs. Douxie stood as fast as he could and assisted the customer.

Y/n looked down at Archie, who was already looking at her and smiled. Her face was so hot that she thought it would explode.

She yawned and Archie mirrored, the last of her energy left with Douxie.

“Sorry, Archie but I have to go” she stood up and petted his head one last time “Maybe I’ll see you later. Tell Douxie I said goodbye”

—

Y/n fell on her bed like a bag of sand. Her body gave into sleep before she could take her shoes off.

When she opened her eyes, she was in a forest. Civilisation was nowhere to be seen. The air smelled fresh, familiar.

She kneeled in one of the trees and saw a heart with H written inside. A smile erupted from her chest. She mindlessly caressed the indentation, trying to remember something, someone, but she just couldn’t reach it. Only finding a warmth feeling in her chest.

“Y/n! Where are you?” A man’s raspy voice distracted from the tree “Come home, little bird”

A sword made of sadness and forge by loneliness stabbed her chest. Her eyes filled with tears.

“I don’t know where I am” she whispered as a tear fell down her face, burgundy streaks of light surrounded her. Electricity ran through her body burning her fingertips and heart.

She looked at her hands, they were surrounded by red smoke.

Y/n woke up covered in sweat, her heart was racing but she felt fully rested. She looked at her hands and when she saw no red smoke, she relaxed.

Outside the sun had already set. She looked through her phone to see if her brother or mom had sent a text. Jim sent her a text telling her about her study date with Claire. She smiled. Jim had a crush on this girl from his class for a while now and apparently it was going somewhere. She wished him luck even if hours had passed. When she went to answer a text from Randy Toby called.

She couldn’t understand what he was saying, only the words: changeling and dental hygienist.

“Ok, Tobes I’m on my way”

Y/n jumped out of bed and drove as fast as she could to Dr. Muelas office. She would probably get a lot of tickets but she didn’t care. Knowing what she knows now, she couldn’t risk disregarding a call from Jim or Toby.

“Toby? Jim?” She screamed as she followed the sound of struggle.

She got to the door and saw her brother stabbing a troll followed by a flashing blue light.

“There goes proof” said Aaaargh!.

“Oh, my gosh! She’s in my mouth!” Toby coughed. The troll’s ashes were everywhere.

Y/n couldn’t move.

“Oh no! I killed our only evidence of a changeling in Arcadia” Jim pulled his armour off.

“And my dental hygienist” Toby screamed.

Y/n laughed. Toby could make her laugh even on her worst days.

“You finished the fight, Master Jim, and in self defense, for that matter. Vendel may continue to have his doubts but we continue to have our lives. A fair bargain, I’d say” Blinky tried to comfort him.

“He’s right, Jim” Y/n grabbed his brother by the shoulders trying to make sure her eyes didn’t deceive her and he was ok.

“Y/n? What are you doing here?”

“Toby called”

“And just out of curiosity, what are you doing in Toby’s dentist office?” Jim looked at the trolls.

“I thought it was possible that danger may come to either of you should you cross paths with the wrong changeling. So, we followed Tobias as a precaution” explained Blinky

Aaaargh! Fell from the ceiling making Y/n jump.

Blinky started talking about how he was curious about human’s oral hygiene but Y/n didn’t listen. She was more worried about dusting the troll off her brother before getting to her car.

A/n: 👀

[she-karev]

Quarantine (Andrew DeLuca x Alex Karev’s Sister Covid Imagine) (Smut)

Previous Chapter Here

Age Rating: 18+

Chapters: Three of Three

Warning: Smut, shower sex, penetration

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Andrew DeLuca x Amber Karev (Alex Karev’s Sister)

Canon Episode: Before Season 17 Episode 5

AN: Here’s another naughty chapter for you guys, if you feel uncomfortable reading intimate fiction then you should stop while you’re at it. For those of you that are thirsty, like and reblog below and let me know what you think.

Summary: Amber is in her last day of quarantine ready to leave when Andrew comes by. She has grown softer towards him after being checked by him for 11 days straight. She allows him to take a shower in her bathroom where she joins him, and they spend the night together.

Words: 3570

April 26th, 2020

Amber Karev zips up her suitcase on top of her newly cleaned hotel bed. The simple act of standing would take a lot out of her in the beginning but now that she’s negative and ending her quarantine she feels like a whole new person. If there’s one good thing about this virus it’s how great you feel once it’s over. Amber knows she’s lucky to have made it through this and feels sad for those that didn’t.

These last 14 days have been hell for her. The covid made her feel worse than the time she had the flu. Her symptoms were painful as her chest felt like it was filled with water, her nose was stuffy, and her body had aches that forced her to lie in bed all day and watch TV or read books. She can safely say these last two weeks were almost too much to bear. Almost.

The only thing that has kept her from wallowing 24/7 was Andrew DeLuca visiting her every night. She was irritated about him visiting the first time, she was convinced he saw an ample opportunity to get back on her good side when he heard, she was positive. However, when he told her he was visiting to make sure she was okay after his country became a hot zone and three of his family members died, she began to tolerate him.

Their only source of communication was Facetime and talking to each other through her hotel door. He would bring her chicken soup from her favorite restaurant when she realized room service was awful in the soup variety. Even without an actual face to face Amber felt comfortable talking to someone while in isolation. Her family is busy and are only available for a few minutes during the day, but DeLuca has hour long conversations with her through the door. They talk about the latest bad news of 2020, her reviews of the new books he got her and what recipes he’s trying so he can distract himself.

She told him she was considering trying meditation and alternative methods to get out of her covid rut and the next night he brought over healing crystals he got from a hippie store downtown. He tells her his sister is dating a firefighter that she moved in with and Amber jokes with him about the time they walked in on her with Owen one morning. Night after night they talked over the wooden barrier that didn’t stop Amber from enjoying his company, silently acknowledging his visits are the one thing she looks forward to all day.

It's day 14 and the thing she is now looking forward to is the next morning when she checks out and returns to Jackson’s penthouse where she can reunite with her friends. And yet her heart stings at the realization that with the quarantine ends Andrew’s visits. Little by little her anger towards him over the last few months has diminished.

Before she was positive, she made it her mission to ignore Andrew at work. It was easy to do this since they were both crazy busy and Andrew was strict on protocols with her. He tried a couple of times to reconcile with her but she made it clear he wasn’t gonna be forgiven.

She could see he was remorseful, but he pushed her away and kicked her out when she tried to help him. He used every piece of past information she trusted him with to hurt her and it worked. She decided then that he was beyond help like his father. But these last two weeks she could hear that he was doing better like he told her he would.

She was talking to the man she fell in love with instead of the unstable man who verbally lashed out at her every chance he could. Amber missed having him around telling her what she needs to hear to feel better and she missed being around him taking in his calming presence. Before this year Amber understood what it means to find your better half, she found that in Andrew DeLuca.

A knock on the door distracts her thoughts. She grabs her mask to put it on before walking to the door. As she expected Andrew is on the other side empty handed for the first time.

“What? No chicken soup?” Amber complains in amusement.

Andrew chuckles from his side, “I figured you didn’t need it anymore; chicken soup is for the sick and you are at day 14 and you have no symptoms.”

“It doesn’t mean I can’t have soup.” Amber retorts with a grin, “All those time you dropped off that heavenly concoction you never had some for yourself? And you say you have good taste.”

Andrew smiles glad that Amber sounds a lot better, “I’ll pick some up for myself after your final exam, is the room clean?”

“Maid service was here this afternoon and they were very through also I got all my clothes dry cleaned. The room is practically a disinfectant heaven, you can come in.”

Amber opens the door and immediately feels embarrassed that she opted for a gray sweater and black jogger pants with no makeup and her hair in a messy bun. Meanwhile her handsome ex is outside in the hall wearing a black shirt, leather jacket and dark jeans. His surgical mask mostly hides his face but his eyes were always Amber’s favorite part of him and his green eyes stare back at her with light in them.

He enters the room relieved to see that Amber is doing a lot better. He was worried when he visited on day 3 and saw her in bed passed out. Andrew was worried that she was getting worse like Meredith Grey and was close to calling an ambulance. But then he woke her up and it turns out she was just sleepy. His presence made her more snappish around him, but he tolerated it because it meant she was doing better than most of his patients.

He was able to talk to her and get her to be more tolerant towards him once he made it clear his intentions were sincere. He wanted to make sure she would make it out of quarantine with her health intact and was trying to make up for all the pain he caused her.

He knows she’s not the forgiving type especially towards people who have hurt her but it doesn’t mean he’s gonna stop caring about her while in a stable mindset. He knows the chances of her taking him back are very tiny but it’s not gonna stop him from loving her and it’s not gonna stop him from helping when he can.

And now standing here in front of her he feels those butterflies in his stomach people usually talk about in books or in movies. Being in the same physical space with her feels like a gift. However, he can assume she is at best aloof with him after two weeks. He can assume she is not nearly as excited to see him as he is to see her so he jumps straight into doctor mode pulling out a stethoscope and pulse ox fingertip monitor that she hooks herself up to as he holds his stethoscope against the front of her chest.

“Do you have any symptoms?” Andrew asks as he listens to her chest.

“Uh no their gone, no fever, no cough, my nose isn’t stuffy.” Andrew moves to listen to her back, “My energy is back which is good because I feel like running a marathon after this. My rapid test came back negative.”

“That’s great.” Andrew takes off his stethoscope and takes the monitor, “Your breathing sounds on both ends and your oxygen levels are at 97, you are the picture of after covid health.”

Amber is relieved at this news, “Thank god I was starting to think of this room as my home and the maids as visitors.”

Andrew chuckles lightly putting his things away, “Your roommates are all negative and so is your family and so am I. They all miss you I’m not supposed to tell you but their gonna make you a surprise breakfast celebration.”

Amber grins narrowing her eyes, “And you’re telling me this because?”

“Because I know you hate surprises, and I figured they should feel great about their efforts instead of getting reprimanded after you had a massive meal at the nearest diner.”

Amber chuckles at that, “Yeah, I was missing good bacon and orange juice that doesn’t come from a fountain. I’ll try to act surprised don’t worry.”

“Great.” They stand there silently for a moment before Andrew clears his throat, “Do you mind if I use your shower? My apartments water is busted for the week, and I don’t want to walk in on my sister and her girlfriend again.”

Amber grins at that before nodding, “Yeah sure my shampoo and soap are inside the stall.”

“Thank you, I’ll be quick.” Andrew walks inside the small bathroom, closing the door leaving Amber outside.

While she is outside, she hears the shower being turned on and after a minute she hears a belt buckle and clothes shuffling confirming he is getting inside the shower. The thought of him being naked this close to her makes her heart race and her mind to imagine him inside with he water running down his body. The image of him makes her legs quiver and her stomach to flutter.

It has been months since she has been physically intimate with another human being. The last time she had sex was before Andrew was trying to diagnose Suzanne. What happened after made Amber physically ill around him but now…now after being taken care of by him for two weeks she yearns to be close to him again. The yearning is impossible to resist and all her logical reasoning walks out of her brain as she opens the bathroom door.

She sees her ex-boyfriend inside the foggy glass stall gloriously naked. His muscular body is on display for her, and she feels the hunger inside her growing at the sight. He is oblivious to her staring as he is busy lathering his body with the soap. The suds wash down his body into the drain. He doesn’t notice Amber until now and he freezes at her outside the stall looking at him feverishly.

They stare at each other with obvious intent and Amber inhales deeply in lust before giving in to her carnal desires. She silently takes her sweater off as he looks at her with longing having forgotten just how beautiful she is with and without clothes on. Her black leggings are next, and his lust gets higher at the sight of her in her black bra and panties that she quickly takes off next. She is completely naked and his response to her is obvious from his growing lower extremity that she can see through the glass stall.

They keep making eye contact with neither of them blinking even as Amber opens the door and walks inside the stall staring up at Andrew who looks on as his biological urges reach into overdrive. She stands under the rainfall showerhead same as him. The sight of the water running down her beautiful and naked body he knows too well reminds him of all the times they were in the shower together and those memories heighten his already active libido.

He can barely contain himself as he leans down and kisses Amber who responds as well. The shower above them rains down on them as they keep kissing with their tongues colliding each other as well as their wet bodies that are pressed against each other.

Andrew grips Amber’s dark brown hair with one hand holding her head as he keeps kissing her. His other hand slides down her back kneading her soft flesh that he missed touching and unable to resist he squeezes her perfect ass that she obviously likes as she moans in his mouth.

Amber keeps kissing Andrew with her hands in his wet hair relishing in his lustrous locks that she fists. She is overwhelmed with his callous hands running down her body like he has to rememorize all the parts of her he used to know so well. She follows suit moving her hands from his hair to his neck to his rugged shoulders to his biceps. Every part of his body feels like she’s groping a Greek statue and she relishes in it never wanting to come out of the foggy shower stall.

Andrew moans in Amber’s mouth and pulls back to bend down, grip the back of her thighs and lift her up against him causing her to gasp in surprise. She straddles his waist against the blue tiled wall behind her with his hands lifting her and his body pressing her against the surface. She is shocked at this sudden change but is not complaining, instead she wraps her legs around him with her calf’s touching his glutes helping him keep her in this position.

Andrew exhales in lust as the water keeps running down on them and faces Amber stroking her wet hair back with one hand looking into her blue eyes that have more animal in them than woman.

“God, I missed you.” Andrew confesses to her still overcome with her and the scene they are currently in.

Amber blows out a breath her heart escalating in desire and responds back, “I missed you too.”

Andrew smiles at that joyful she’s finally letting him back in and kisses her lovingly still holding her against him. She kisses him back gripping his muscular back with one hand and supporting herself with the other holding the shower handle by her side. The kiss this time is tender, they take their time to enjoy this moment of reconciliation.

Andrew moves to grip his cock and enters her carefully. Amber pulls back from the kiss to gasp as he fills her. The months of abstinence has made her forget what it was like to be filled by him. Andrew groans feeling her tight center around him, he can tell it’s been a while for her as well so he thinks to himself to be gentle with her so she can enjoy this like him.

He kisses her to distract her from the uncomfortable penetration and it works as she holds his back pulling him toward her like she needs to be closer to him. He pulls back moving his lips down to her wet neck kissing her in that one special spot he remembers is her weak spot. His lips kiss that spot and suckles on it leading her to moan clearly enjoying it and he feels her relaxing around him. He decides to pick up the pace as his hands keep gripping her ass to keep her against him feeling her shapely calves around his bottom.

He keeps an even pace thrusting into her with her throwing her head back against the tiled wall moaning with his lips still against her neck kissing her while she grips his back so much her nails embedded into his skin. He doesn’t care all he cares about is this moment with her and how good she feels around him and how much he missed being connected to her in a way only they can understand. It makes him wonder how he was able to survive without her for months because feeling her against him with his pleasure spiking to near completion is like heaven on earth.

His pace fastens and the low sounds coming from her throat tell him she is almost near the end as well. The water running down on them amplifies the intensity and it takes all his restraint to hold back until Amber comes so he can be sure she reaches her climax instead of getting disappointed by him again.

The thrusts from him cause Amber to pant with his lips kissing a trail from her neck to her wet chest. Feeling Andrew against her kissing her as he fills her while the shower runs over them becomes too much for her and she reaches an all-time high in this fever dream made a reality. She stops gripping the shower handle to grip Andrew’s back with both hands as she explodes around him moaning as she throws her head back seeing stars.

When he finally feels her coming with a passion he never felt before he finally lets the dam break and groans against her neck as he pours himself into her. He keeps holding her to him lifting her against the wall both of them try to catch their breath after what just transpired between them.

While his face is against her neck running down small kisses and inhaling her fresh scent Andrew registers her lazily stroking his wet back before she taps his shoulder letting him know he can put her down. He carefully places her on her feet and she pulls back looking at him with a tired face telling him she probably wants to go to sleep. So, he decides to let her relax while he takes care of her, getting her cleaned before they go to bed.

The Next Morning

Amber is curled up on top of Andrew DeLuca in her hotel bed, the sheets cover them both as they lie under it naked. She has her head on top of his chest listening to his steady heartbeat. Her arm is draped around his ribcage with her fingers tracing his upper chest while his arm is around her back stroking it up and down slowly and deliberately. They continue this for a few moments until Andrew speaks up.

“Well, that’s one way to celebrate the end of quarantine.”

Amber chuckles lightly as does he with his chest falling up and down against her head, “Yeah, hopefully the maids won’t be too mad at you ruining the sheets. I mean washing out covid is one thing but you better hope they haven’t forgotten how to remove other stains.”

Andrew grins, “I guess I was a little overexcited last night.”

Amber nods with a sly grin, after their shower Andrew took her to bed and joined her. He woke her up twice throughout the night with kisses all over her body and she responded allowing him to slide into her. She’s had so many orgasms she can hardly complain, not that she has any.

“You were an animal in heat, so was I, I mean we could write a book about last night and it would put EL James to shame.”

Andrew smiles kissing the top of her head, “I have not been touched in a very long time.”

“You’re preaching to the choir DeLuca.” Amber says amused, “But regardless you filled my needs last night in every way possible very nicely.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself.” Andrew teases causing Amber to glare at him, and he chuckles, “I’m kidding.”

“You better be.” Amber falls back on his chest inhaling his musky scent, “I’m glad you visited.”

Andrew is taken back by this confession and his heart flutters at Amber finally allowing him into her life slowly. After trying to earn her forgiveness for weeks and getting cursed at and dismissed cruelly he was close to giving up. So, hearing her admit that she was happy to be around him is a welcome gift he is determined not to ruin. He doesn’t speak, instead he enjoys holding her in his arms. Being around her again is making him the happiest he has been since this year started.

“I was…I was convinced I would keep resenting you and force myself to tolerate your visits.” Amber traces Andrew’s pectorals with her index finger, “But then something changed, I started talking to you and I didn’t see the crazy son of a bitch who kicked me out and made it his mission to make my life hell. Instead, I saw you. And I’m glad I did.”

Andrew inhales and exhales through his nose stroking her back, “Well after I let my mania hurt you I…I haven’t been my best self even with treatment. I’m stable and I’m rational but if I’m being honest…I’ve been a mess without you. These last two weeks being around you, getting you to open up from behind that closed door, it’s the best feeling I’ve had all year.”

Amber places her open palm on his chest, “Same.” Amber checks the clock on the bedside drawer and groans softly, “I should probably grab my bag, checkouts in 30 minutes.”

Andrew frowns as reality hits them like a bucket of cold water, “Okay.”

Amber is still in his arms however and grins at another idea, “But we can fill that time in somehow.”

Andrew grins at her, “Mmm what did you have in mind?”

Amber moves to straddle him and he enjoys the view of her on top of him. She leans down until they are face to face.

“I was thinking this time I take over and you lay back while I do the work.”

Andrew rumbles in approval grinning in lust as she straddles his heated groin under the white sheets, “I like that idea very much.” Amber chuckles before pulling the sheets over them for another round before she leaves.

[kadekuro]

New to the find us alive fandom and you kinda seem like you know a lot about it so um

Got any fanfic recommendations

all of these are on ao3 because that's where i get my fanfixtion, but i'm sure you could find some others on fanfiction.net or wattpad! that said there's only 39 fics on ao3 as far as i've found (i went to the SCP tag and filtered "find us alive" as a term) gonna throw this under a readmore

ok, so we don't have very long fics in the fandom yet, but a lot of fans have made a lot of one shots, so here's some notable authors and my favorite from each:

Apreedulure - lots of mostly fluffy short fics, plays with some AU ideas like superheroes, or like, canon-parallel AUs where like, two characters are secretly married or something lmao, also i think has the current longest fic in the fandom on ao3?

Painted walls Rating: Gen Ships: Harlanc (implied) Summary: Dr. Lancaster and his team scheme behind Director Alves’ back Flufftober Day 6: Corn Maze

Bandtrees - fucking angsty ass, i do not partake in their writing because i have trouble with the content, but i'll recommend their longest fic if you're into that

Somebody Will Help Bandage It Rating: Teen And Up Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Ships: Harlanc Summary: Head dropping limply into a bloody hand, Harley groaned into his palm - the smell of copper didn’t help his racing thoughts, the unfortunate memories it felt these days like the only purpose of his existence was to try to distract himself from. In the bare bones survival objective Site-107 found itself in, nobody was clambering for more speeches about the Body Code, nobody needing tests transcribed or reports read on air - Edmund Harley’s only reason for being, at this point, was to rot in the ground and wonder where his life went wrong. -- Lancaster breaks Harley. Klein and Love try to pick up enough pieces for the both of them.

mabi_lune - 2 hurt/comfort Harlanc fics and the fwuffy one that's my jam

the drive back Rating: Gen Ships: Harlanc (pre-ship) Summary: Before everything, Lancaster drives Harley home after a New Year's party at Site-107.

Reeamathemage - lots of short character introspectives, or just small emotional moments

Taco Tuesday Rating: Gen Ships: RaddLove Summary: They finally get out. Then they have tacos about it.

with these authors pointed out, i'm gonna throw in some other fics i enjoyed!

Our Love is Written in the Stars by Mushymushroomy Rating: Gen Ships: Harlanc Summary: A quiet night in the communications office

If you need to, darling, lean your weight to me by sleepylea Rating: Gen Warnings: Alcohol, Drunkenness Ships: Harlanc Summary: Based on the scene from episode 00 where Lancaster puts a drunk Harley to bed. Harley doesn't remember what he said last night, but waking up with Lancaster’s coat and a bad feeling in his gut, he knows he has to find out. Title from I, Carrion (Icarian) by Hozier

The Observer by TheSaintElectric Rating: Gen Summary: “The feeling of being connected to the cameras grew after moving to England. I felt so in tune with them and how they worked: what areas they covered, how people moved from one camera to another, and where the blind spots were, that they started to feel like part of me. I’d developed a hunger for watching.” Or Statement of Ingrid Raddagher, regarding their career as a surveillance officer

Behind closed doors by greeniebeany Rating: Mature Ships: RaddLove Summary: She drug her hands dramatically down her face, pulling her lower eyelids with them. Love huffed, pushing a loose piece of hair off her forehead with the indigent puff of air. “I can’t just tell you what to say, it doesn't work like that!” Love and Radd spend some time together after hours.

also here's my fic

Redbull, Company, and Sleep by kurobook Rating: Gen Warnings: Alcohol, Drunkenness Ships: Harlanc (pre-ship) Summary: A short what-if from ep 00, on some things from Lancaster's perspective.

Anyways hope you enjoy! And don't be afraid to write something too <3

[thegeminisage]

sigh it is star trek update time. last night we. sigh. watched voy's "heroes and demons" and "cathexis."

heroes and demons:

this episode made us look up how many holodeck episodes there are in voy vs the other shows. i guess i shouldn't be surprised that voy has the most considering it has a main character who IS a holoperson - it's also got the most borg episodes, and seven's only in it for four seasons. still, disheartening, especially considering how much i LIKE the doctor.

this episode DID have a couple of moments. the doctor picking and then discarding a name, him getting to see trees and a sky, and of course him getting smooched. it's great for him! i just wish it hadn't been buried in the dumbest holodeck shenanigan possible. there are surely creative ways to let the doctor get some screentime and see trees without resorting to vikings. vikings, which is exactly what i tuned in to star trek to see.

side note, poor harry. this shit is always happening to harry kim.

the existence of the holodeck in general continues to plague me. firstly, we have seen in voy and ds9 that holo-people are alive. like, they're real. so i can't get over things like that detective asking if his home was still gonna be there after the holodeck shut off, or trapping the fake moriarty in a simulation, or sex slave deanna (barclay die challenge). it's especially jarring, in a show with the doctor, who is alive, to have these holodeck characters running around as though they're less alive than he is. like at the end of this ep after the doctor said the last time his name was spoken it was painful, so he's gonna pick a new one, and janeway is like well it sounds like you had quite the adventure! like, girl, this isn't a character in a novel that died. she is a real ass person!!

furthermore all the CONSTANT safety issues of the holodeck - we quite literally only seem to get an episode about it when something breaks, because otherwise it's too boring to write about. so it's just this piece of tech that's always broken and endangering the crew and they don't have MECHANICS or REPLACEMENTS out there. like, yes, holodeck good to distract them from their predicament or take them back to earth, but HOLODECK BAD IN GENERAL

this will continue to be a struggle for future me, i'm sure - trek can never seem to decide where it wants to land with this holodeck shit.

cathexis:

to be honest, i feel like it wasn't possible for me to give this one a fair chance. we had the one-two punch of holodeck/racism after having JUST finished a holodeck ep and even though i probably would have really liked the other parts of this episode in different circumstances i was just not able to recover very well. i maybe could have suspended my disbelief for one or the other, but not fucking both.

like, we opened with a holodeck novel, which was perhaps the worst possible sin - again, i did not sign up for this to watch some p&p/sound of music mashup. i wanna watch space people doing space shit. and since they did two time travel eps in a row i was TERRIFIED they were gonna do two holodeck eps in a row and totally checked out. like, we were playing chess while this ran

then janeway got called away for plot stuff and i started listening again, only to be IMMEDIATELY met with the medicine wheel. and like, look. i don't pretend to be an expert on native american culture. but i just have the sneaking suspicion that the medicine wheel as presented in star trek voyager was not wholly accurate to any type of medicine wheel used in real life.

actually, the sad part about chakotay's whole deal is, if they do accidentally somehow do something with his culture that IS good and authentic most people would still not know it and assume it was bullshit fed to them by that hack. i probably would.

that said the concept of this episode was good and fun. i love chakotay's brain getting stolen out of his head like he's spock. i also love a good body-hopping ghost. OH YEAH AND IT WAS A GHOST. JUST LIKE JACK THE RIPPER IN TOS. IT WAS CHAKOTAY'S GHOST. i said this about 1000 times during the episode and was met with total SKEPTICISM but i was RIGHT. it was his ghost telling them not to go into that freaky ass nebula

possessed tuvok my best friend. i really wish i'd been able to enjoy this episode...i don't think a rewatch would hit the same since i already know the plot twists, but i just was not in the headspace to meet it. but it was fun watching his feathers get ruffled and watching him get into fights.

the standoff between tuvok and janeway was SOOO fun. harry literally had a choice to make and he did a great job. you could tell he was sweating bullets though. i mean who wouldn't be.

i did like janeway touching chakotay's shoulder and her Very Big Smile when he woke up and was fine. idk how into that i may or may not be but i think almost any two people on this cast could get it as long as one of them wasn't tom paris.

speaking of. tom paris was sooo rude to the doctor in this ep i hope he dies

TONIGHT: ds9's "improbable cause" and "the die is cast." i was tricked into reading the summary for the latter and i'm going to be in anticipatory AGONYYY until we finally watch it. THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 4

Episode 3: The Rock Box Dump

~Swellview Park~

"What the fuck is she doing here?" (y/n) growled after she'd punched a guy and taken a step back for a breather. It was another night, another load of criminals to beat up in the park and things had been going well for Miss Danger, Kid Danger and Captain Man. They'd arrived in a timely manner and had promptly gotten to the ass-kicking, slugging each man as they tried to fight back, but all in all, it wasn't a tricky situation. Well, it wasn't until a certain bitchy TV reporter arrived on the scene.

News of the three superheroes in the park had spread through town quickly and no sooner had they heard about it, KLVY News had sent everyone's favourite reporter, Evelyn Hall, down to get it on camera. She wasn't happy to be there, (y/n) wasn't happy she was there and together, everyone was in for an awkward interview. The ex-flame of Captain Man still hadn't gotten over the bitterness of their split and sought to denounce and embarrass him at every given opportunity, so Ray's current girlfriend wasn't too keen on her either; that, and every time he saw her, Ray seemed to get all emotional.

He never got sad, not even angry, but (y/n) got the picture that knowing Evelyn was another one who got away, irked him and that didn't sit right with her. Yeah, they were going strong and he'd sworn that the reporter had never meant anything to him and it was just one of those stupid, meaningless, little flings he used to have, but seeing him get flustered over her presence and how she claimed to have moved on, well, who wouldn't feel threatened?

"Thanks, Trent. I'm here in Swellview Park, in fact, this was the place where I got engaged last month to a man." She overheard her say as she fought back against a dude who used her momentary distraction to thump her in the back. Yeah, that would leave a bruise if she wasn't Miss Danger, but what concerned her more was how irrelevant that last piece of information was. For fuck's sake, she was rubbing it in Ray's face since he was metres away from her, definitely listening in and it didn't take a genius to know that this was one of her snide little comments.

"Hey, kid, sweet girl, there's a news crew here!... Be right back." Ray shouted, obviously not hearing his girl's annoyed growls earlier. He smoothed back his hair and sauntered off to go get interviewed, even though his two, experienced but not that experienced, sidekicks couldn't fight alone. They needed some of his muscle to take these guys out, 'cause without him, they were seriously outnumbered, not that he was listening. A news crew and a chance to shine for the masses to adore him? He couldn't miss that.

"What?!" Henry spat, looking at his boss and at (y/n) with terrified eyes as the criminals regained their strength and stood back up. With no Captain Man, beating up a skinny kid and small woman would be piss easy, but that wasn't the only thing Henry was worried about.

He knew Ray meant no harm, he knew that his smug, big-headed self just wanted to look good on camera and how he probably didn't recognise the woman holding the mic (she wasn't special enough for him to just know her like that), but he was just making things worse for himself and the relationship he wanted to protect. He should've left Evelyn alone and continued fighting to show his girlfriend that he didn't care about all that shit but he didn't. He wanted to propose for Christ's sake, but he was paying attention to the wrong girl, an idiotic move that would cost him down the line. And the idea of Ray losing (y/n) like that shook Henry to his core more than the thugs ever could.

"What are you doing?! We're supposed to be fighting these assholes--" The young woman screamed at him, feeling speechless at how he gave the reporter one his most charming smirks, fixed his hair and sauntered over to her...like how he did for her. Her words died when a mountain of a man curled his forearm around her neck and crushed her throat, taking her by surprise as Henry was also assaulted and pushed to the floor, but through blurry eyes, she could still see and hear Ray loving his time with her.

"Hey, Captain Man here, what's going onnnn...Emily?" Ray's smirk died when he realised who it was and the realisation that he'd made a huge mistake dawned on him. If it was up to this chick, his name would be trodden in the mud and he'd be missing his balls, not to mention completely loveless for the rest of his life. He regretted it, what he did to this girl, who he only faintly remembered out of the hundreds he used to date, but he was a changed man now, he had a fantastic relationship with the one he'd loved for nearly eleven years...oh, shit, (y/n)!

"It's Evelyn, remember? You took me out on two dates and then never called me again." She spat, smiling into the camera with a passive-aggressive faux-friendliness and all the while, Henry and (y/n) were getting the beating of a lifetime, and the latter was sure her heart was breaking in the middle of it. She couldn't hear Ray's sudden awkwardness over the sounds of her own groans of pain and was too busy to see how his body language said he wanted to run to her and only her, forgetting this Evelyn, Emily, Emelia, whatever her name was. 

He knew who she was now, just one of the faces that he used to know, a long-since crossed out name etched on his bedpost and now he knew that he should've stayed away. What was (y/n) thinking? Was she assuming the worst? What if she was reminded of how much of a dick he used to be, coupled with his seemingly despicable behaviour now, and decided to walk out on him? Fuck, he'd really messed up.

"Yes, I remember." He squeaked, wishing he could just slope off back into the fight, but he'd been seen by the entire city now, he couldn't leave. Not when Miss Hall had her talons pressing into his skin, ripping open wounds that he'd forgotten about after confessing to (y/n) that he had loved her all along. Oh shit, how could he ask her the all-important question with this looming over them? She was probably cursing the day she let him into her bed, fuck, fuck, fuck...

"Uh, good, so uh, what's going on back there?" Evelyn broke Ray out of his panic, making him glance back to the fight where it wasn't going brilliantly, but (y/n) had managed to free herself and landed a couple of hits, but Henry, he was still a human punching bag. Okay, he could leave it a bit longer, he just had to answer some questions and then he could grovel at his sweet girl and beg for her forgiveness for being such a moron.

"Well, we got a report saying there were three thugs in the park, vandalising bushes and shrubs, you know, intimidating squirrels--is that an engagement ring?" Ray started quite calm to say how nervous he was, but it was impossible to ignore the sparkling diamond on Evelyn's finger as she purposefully wiggled under his nose, prompting him to question it. Well, she'd moved on quickly, not that it mattered to him. For her information, he was also engaged, well, nearly, he had the ring anyway and he too had found happiness else. 

"Oh, this? Sure is!" She squealed, loving how she could feel the thin, gold band sitting snuggly on her finger and she took Ray's confusion as jealousy. Yeah, she was so over him, not that you'd know it from the way she acted. What did that Miss Danger woman have that she didn't? Why did he dump her for some dispensible sidekick?

"What? You buy that for yourself?" The hero asked, wondering who the hell would want to marry her. Yeah, she was probably quite nice most of the time, but one mention of Captain Man or superheroes and she didn't shut up about how they dated. She was dumped, it really wasn't that impressive.

"No, a man gave it to me." Evelyn snapped, offended at how he automatically assumed that she was some sad, lonely loser without him. If this was any other circumstance, (y/n) would probably feel sympathy for her, maybe she'd even take her side, but knowing that it was her boyfriend in the fray made it unbearable, so Henry skidded over to try and get Ray back on their side for the sake of their love and their weakening bodies.

"Hey, dude, dude, we really need your help." Henry gasped, feeling like death as two thugs marched over to come and grab him whilst their friend kicked Miss Danger into the concrete ground. Yeah, it wasn't bad when it was all three of them against them, but not when he was talking to this bitch. Of course, Henry couldn't reveal how Captain Man needed to stop "flirting" with someone who wasn't his girlfriend on live television, that would make him look like a horrible person, so he opted for a more obvious route, not that Ray saw a problem. "Just give me a second."

"No, man, these guys are big! They're big! They're really big!!!!" Henry squealed as he was dragged away to be put on the pile of superheroes that needed curb-stomping. Ray wasn't aware of how bad the sitch was, he just wanted to know which sucker had landed themselves with Evelyn Hall for the rest of their lives.

"Who asked you to marry him?" He asked her, promising himself that he'd go help his sidekicks in a minute after he found out this small detail. Maybe he could even rub it in her face that he was also no longer available and steps away from being engaged to the sexiest, most beautiful, cleverest woman in the world, someone who to him, was worth a hundred of her.

"My cameraman, right there." Evelyn smiled at her fiancé behind the camera, not caring if this was the world's weirdest interview ever and it was gonna be her ass on the line when she got back to the TV station with the pissed off producers. He wasn't a bad-looker to be fair, he was actually kinda cute, and she was happy with him, although it did go to Ray's head a bit that she'd downgraded from him, a superhero, to this guy. Why did she feel to brag?

"What? This guy?" Ray snorted, again, offending the couple, not that he cared. Geez, couldn't he just go do some fighting? (y/n) and Henry weren't sure how much more they could take. "So, you went from Captain Man to cameraman? Oh, that's good."

"Shouldn't you be helping Kid Danger and Miss Danger?" The reporter hissed, suddenly wishing she'd kept her nose to herself and left the heroes to their work. Now, she was the one being ridiculed.

"Nah, they're fine." He brushed off her concern, ready to do a little showing off himself, but this time, amid another chokehold as Henry was swung around by his arm and leg, (y/n) heard him and fury rose within her.

"We're not fucking fine!" She yelled at him, her voice hoarse as she clawed for air, but it was too quiet. The man holding her sneered and squeezed harder, freezing her voicebox as she debated what was more worth it; fucking him up or dragging Evelyn around by her hair.

"Y'see, I am also in a very happy relationship with my girlfriend, Miss Danger and she has this superpower, super-regeneration, not to mention she's really hot and was my best friend for ten years, so y'know, I'm doing good. And Kid Danger's got hyper-motility, so, uh..." Oh, that stung deep. Ray smirked as Evelyn got all pissy as he gushed about his sweet girl and how his life couldn't get any better. He had a great girlfriend, a great home, great friends, he was doing just fine without her.

"I'm sorry, they have what?" The woman gasped, suddenly switching her focus to the sidekicks. Wait, this was hot news and if she was the first to report it, then maybe this interview wouldn't flop after all. No one knew that Kid Danger and Miss Danger had something wrong with them, or that's how she interpreted it.

"Super-regeneration and hyper-motility. They have those." Ray answered honestly, not thinking anything about her concerned face. This was another one of his smaller fuck-ups, not realising that he was portraying the superpowers in a bad light; an explanation would've cleared everything up.

"And is it serious?" Evelyn probed deeper, knowing a scoop when she heard one. She had to ask all about the grotty details, even though the city would lament for their resident sidekicks. "Yeah, really serious."

"Well, are super-degeneration and hyper-motility deadly?" Her next question came and Ray didn't notice that she'd misheard him, so he just kept making it worse and worse. "Uh, they can be...and I just want you to know that I'm happy for you, 'cause you've found someone else, I've found someone much better--"

"Captain Man, can you come here right now, please?" (y/n) yelled, gulping when she heard the last part. Maybe it wasn't as bad as she'd previously thought, perhaps what he'd said about barely knowing Evelyn was true. Hearing him say that she was the better date was certainly something, but enough about that. She could use some of her dumb boyfriend's help before her healing shit packed in and Henry puked up his mangled intestines.

"Excuse me, my hot girlfriend needs me, so I gotta go." He smiled at Evelyn, clapping her on the back briefly as you'd do with an old friend. She wasn't a friend, not even an acquaintance at this point, but seeing that perturbed look on her face (something he thought was pouting) made it worth it and so damn sweet. Speaking of sweet, his girl was kicking ass and he was more than happy to tell her he loved her whilst helping.

"You heard it here first. Kid Danger has hyper-motility and Miss Danger has super-degeneration." The reporter turned to face the camera, her mood sombre as she told the world that the superheroes were dying or diseased well before their time. Well, this would cause a shitstorm.

"How's it going?" Ray grunted after punching the last guy, feeling like he'd really helped out, despite having only thrown one fist. Somehow, through the skin of their teeth, Henry and (y/n) had managed to work together to take two out, leaving the third for his flirtiness. 

"Have fun flirting with your ex?" (y/n) asked quietly and bitterly, Henry's arm stretched over her shoulders as she helped him limp across the park. Fuck, they were tired, some more than others after battling with a heavy heart and a mind swirling with doubt. Had he really left her for some ex-flame, right when she was ready to give him everything, anything she could offer?

"I wasn't flirting with her, I promise. You know I only love you, sweet girl." He carefully put his hands on her hips, worried that she'd push him away, say she wasn't interested in someone like him who had old relationships in practically every street, but (y/n) just stayed quiet, staring at his tunic. She trusted him and had no doubt that he was telling the truth when he promised that he loved her, she just didn't trust Evelyn.

"What were you talking about?" She questioned, feeling Henry slump as he took a moment to gather his strength. He couldn't rush them when they were being lovey-dovey and honestly, he wanted Ray to clear the air so everything stayed okay. He could wait, it was fine.

"Well, I told her that I'm happy that she's engaged to some loser and that I don't care about her because I'm dating my sexy, superhero best friend who means more to me than anyone else in the world." He blushed, feeling like a right old sap, but to see how she visibly melted into his embrace, dropping Henry's arm and curling into his body made it all worth it. Yeah, it was mushy and the kid listening wasn't sure if he could listen to it, but with her, being tender and honest with his emotions was easy. It was just too powerful to keep inside anymore.

"Evelyn Hall is engaged? Poor guy." She giggled, leaning her forehead against his chest as his arms covered her back and brought her in closer, something he'd wanted to do the minute he walked into that damn, interview trap. This was nice, just a moment to patch things up, settle any grudges and a little reward after a job well done.

"Yeah, I know, right? I'm so glad I'm with you instead." He chuckled, craning his neck downwards so he could kiss the crown of her head, thrilled that she wasn't mad. They were gonna be just fine.

"Me too. I don't know where I'd be without you, doofus--" (y/n) smiled, reeling from his affection, although the kiss mixed with the sappy words was the final straw for Henry. He could deal with their grossness for a bit, he knew that being touchy and sentimental was just what they did, but he had a limit. 

"All right, all right, I get it, you love him, he loves you. Now, do you have any water?" He butted in, wanting to have some attention on him now they'd kissed and made up. He was pooped and his throat was scratchy; he'd taken the most hits, after all.

"Oh, yeah.'" Ray nodded, pulling a bottle of cool water from the back of his utility belt, but rather than offering it to Henry like the kid wanted, he just started gulping it down himself, prompting a small whimper to escape Henry's mouth. He wanted that crystalline goodness.

"Oi, give the bottle to the kid, you doof!" (y/n) slapped his arm, making him stop drinking and look at her with chubby, water-filled cheeks. He swallowed slowly, looking a bit guilty at how he'd messed up again, so slowly passed the half-full bottle to Henry, who was glad that the woman was around to keep him in line. That was more like it; sharing is caring and when she gave him a proud smile and subtly flirtatious praise, it made a shiver go up and down his spine. "Good boy."

~The next day, in the Man Cave~

After the incident in the park, Henry had been sent home to sleep off his injuries (the best remedy) and Ray and (y/n) went home to fully make up after the argument, something they did extremely well. From the kid's snoozing to the couple's not-snoozing, no one saw the news reports flooding social media; hashtags, videos, updates, all of them panicking about what was happening to poor Kid Danger and Miss Danger.

Henry walked into Junk-N-Stuff like he did nearly every day, strolled into the elevator and entered the Man Cave with a spring in his step. Okay, something smelled great and he realised how hungry he was as he saw Jasper and Charlotte sitting at the couch, nibbling away and watching the news. Ray and (y/n) were notably absent too, probably sleeping in after their vigorous activities, but that didn't matter; the kids could hang out until they showed up.

"Hey, what's up, crimefighters? And, oh my god, I smell chicken wings!" Henry gasped as he dumped his bag and walked over to them, but his friends were much more interested in whatever Trent was saying on the TV. They just shushed him, wanting to hear every little word said since it was...personal to them. 

"What's going on? What are you guys watching?" Henry asked, frowning when they wouldn't let him speak. Why would they care about the dumb news? It was just full of boring grown-up stuff, that's why hadn't bothered to check it that morning after he'd woken up.

"It's the news report about you and (y/n)," Charlotte told him, turning around briefly to look at him before refocusing on the monitor. She wasn't completely sure about what was happening, but if they all shut up and listened, they'd find out momentarily.

"Yeah, and they're talking about how—" Jasper was about to tell him all about it, having seen some of the story on his Twitflash earlier, but Henry made him be quiet as Trent started talking and it was like his stomach fell to the ground as the muddled story got back to him.

"According to Captain Man himself, Kid Danger has been stricken with a serious, rare disease, known as hyper-motility. Miss Danger has also been infected with something equally deadly, an illness Captain Man called Super-degeneration." Trent told the viewers in a sombre tone, shocking Henry at how they'd taken Ray's words, mushed them up and spat them back out completely wrong. The public thought he and (y/n) were sick? What the hell?

"Wait, disease? What are they talking about, disease?" Henry stammered, trying to wrap his head around what the man had just said, but Charlotte just shushed him again as the report developed. Maybe it would be a good time to go and see what Ray and (y/n) were up to since this was also about the young woman. On second thought, maybe it was best to just let them finish on their own...

"Here with us now, in studio, is rare disease expert, Doctor Andrew Skurvay. What can you tell us about these diseases, hyper-motility and super-degeneration?" Trent asked the bald man, who definitely looked like a respectable, medical man, but as the superpowers weren't illnesses or anything to be worried about, he was out of his depth, to say the least.

"I've never heard of them. But I will say diseases, in general, can cause big problems." Doctor Skurvay answered honestly, not caring that no one was watching for general facts, they wanted the nitty-gritty about this hyper-modiddly and super-vegetation crap. 

"I see. And in what ways do you feel hyper-motility and super-degeneration might affect Kid Danger and Miss Danger?" Trent pressed on with the interview as Henry slumped into the supercomputer chair. This was just crazy, what had Ray said to Evelyn Hall that ended up with this amount of confusion? He just wanted to scream at the screen and tell the stupid news anchor that he nor (y/n) were dying, in fact, they were doing better than ever.

"Well, it could lead to an increase or decrease in their appetites, high or low blood pressure, it could cause weight gain—" The doctor started listing every little symptom of any disease he could think of. Some of them weren't even things caused by sickness, some of them were just natural. He was bullshitting his ass off, which was the most irritating thing.

"Or weight loss?" And when Overrunder started joking in, it got even worse. Why could KLVY News never be sensible and ask for an official statement from the Man Cave before they started spreading vicious rumours? Yeah, it had come from Ray's mouth, but it had been wildly altered by a woman with a grudge and then spoken by countless lips until it was nothing like it was originally, like a game of Chinese Whispers. "Possibly."

"Okay, you know what? I'm turning this off." Henry sighed, slamming his hand down on the console so the dumb news clip would go away. He'd heard enough and it was safe to say that he wasn't best pleased about how the entire city was freaking out about something completely untrue. 

"How come you're so upset?" Jasper asked through a mouthful of chicken, uncaring about the fact that he had barbecue sauce smeared all over his lips like some smoky, sticky lipgloss. He looked like a toddler who hadn't learned to eat yet, but he just ignored it - the wings were just so damn good.

"'Cause! Everyone in Swellview is gonna think me and (y/n) are seriously sick." Henry answered, thinking that this was gonna be a huge mess that they'd have to sort out. Captain Man and his sidekicks had extremely loyal fans, from tiny children to even elderly grandparents and many of them would be devastated to know that not only was the man losing his best friend but his beloved girlfriend too. Would they take extreme measures?

"No, they won't. Nobody under sixty-five watches the news anymore." Charlotte calmed his nerves and she was right. The cool, hip youth couldn't be assed to actually watch a video, not when they could see the thirty-second clip online with the added bonus of emojis. 

"Yah, so check social media," Jasper added, reminding Henry about how they were young too. They could see what people actually cared about on their phones, not the boring shit on the TV and honestly, sometimes it was better than whatever Trent or Mary were rambling on about.

"Oh, yeah...social media's the real news. Check it, check it, check it!" He told Charlotte eagerly, making her take out her phone so she could start scrolling. Jasper just kept on nomming as she opened one of her apps, loading it up before going onto the trending page. That was where they'd see if Henry was worrying about nothing or not.

"Oh, dude, you have wing sauce..." Henry told Jasper as she searched and gestured to the side of his mouth so he'd know where the barbecue sauce was. He couldn't let him just walk around like that, someone, probably Ray, would take the piss.

"Oh, hand me a wet ragette," Jasper instructed him and the kid yanked one from the top of the tub, throwing it to him so he could get cleaned up. These wings were good but messy, and when Jasper went to rub it off, he missed completely, thinking Henry was pointing to the opposite cheek. 

"It's, like, right here—no, like—on the side—and, no, but—you gotta...you got it." Henry gave up at that point. If his best friend wasn't going to listen to his directions then he'd just leave him. He'd get it eventually and he had more pressing matters to worry about, like whether the city was going insane or not.

"Okay, trending topics. Number five, goodbye-Kid Danger-Miss Danger." Charlotte cringed as she read it out, seeing that, unlike her previous theory, Ray's words were starting to spread in a concerning way.

"See? I knew it! What's number four say?" He exclaimed, leaning over the back of the couch to get a good look at her phone. Number five was bad but not terrible, he could live with it if that was it and if it didn't climb any higher. Number five meant people would forget about it, but that wasn't the worst of it.

"Pray-for-Kid Danger- and-Miss Danger." She answered, crushing his hopes there as he started to get the idea that this was a tad more serious than just a number-five, trending topic. This was the hot story of the week. "And three?"

"Kid Danger-Miss Danger-RIP" Well, this was just getting silly now. It was nice to know that their passings were generating a lot of love and support, but knowing that some dumb mistake had been blown up into something this was crazy was just irritating. Why couldn't people just think? "Two?"

"Remembering-Kid Danger-and-Miss Danger." 

"Number one?" This was the biggie. Maybe, just maybe, by some miracle, the biggest trend wasn't him and (y/n), perhaps it was just hashtag-happy-Caturday or hashtag-just-girly-things. A guy could hope, right?

"Hyper-motility-and-super-degeneration-kill." Well, that went down like a lead balloon. That proved it, everyone was talking about him, thinking he was gonna die or be crippled or something when in reality, he was better equipped to take down any assholes who threatened the city. (y/n) too, did she look sick? No, she looked great, so great that Captain Man wanted to fucking marry her, this disease bullshit was really dampening that shine.

"Dang it!" Henry growled, upset that everything had gone wrong, but at least he could still eat some chicken wings. He reached for one of the sticky things, ready to chow down and munch away his sorrows, but before he could take a wing from Jasper's plate, his friend snatched it away like he had cooties. Which he didn't, he was perfectly healthy. "No, don't touch me!"

"What? No, dude, I'm not actually sick, neither is (y/n), whatever she and Ray are...up to." Henry tried to reassure him, screwing his nose up a bit as he thought about the couple's absence. His mind did not wanna go there, so he just thanked Schwoz for soundproofing every room; the guy was a little genius.

"I don't take risks," Jasper replied, his body stiff as he looked at his best friend's possibly-plagued-possibly-not figure and he decided that even if he knew what hyper-motility was, he didn't want to die. He got his facts from social media and Twitflash never lies. Right?

~Later that day~

Okay, it was official. The city had actually gone bat-shit crazy. And not just a bit, like full-on, probably should be sectioned, dangerous lunacy. 

Some "genius" had decided that since no one had ever heard of this hyped-up-motiddly and soup-ear-degenerate-nation disease thingies, they were gonna start a campaign to raise awareness and possibly set up a foundation or support group for those affected by it. Of course, it didn't exist, but that didn't stop the dumb craze from going viral.��

Now, it wasn't something cute and genuinely helpful, holy shit, no. That would be too easy; to mirror the agonising pain that Captain Man's sidekicks must've been experiencing, the youth of the modern era, the generation of tomorrow had decided to screw those soft, squishy, delicate things they called brains and had taken to dumping boxes of rocks onto their heads, which made sense to no one, but everyone did it anyway. It was stupid, dangerous, not helpful in any way, but that's what made it so great for social media; it was fun to watch people get hurt and if you didn't do your own version, then you were just a cruel asshole who didn't care for poor, poor Kid Danger and Miss Danger. Hashtag-you-will-be-missed. 

"I honestly can't believe you, Raymond. How could you not know you were telling Evelyn Hall that mine and Henry's superpowers are diseases? When she got all sad, why didn't that ring any alarm bells?" (y/n) groaned at her boyfriend as she paced around the Man Cave and he stuffed his face full of fruit, candy and other baked goods that had been sent in as tributes to the falling heroes. Hashtag-gone-before-your-time. 

"I don't know, sweet girl. Just wanted to get back to your sweet ass so we could go home and fu—" He garbled through a mouth of something sweet and spongy. Yeah, technically, the food, bears, balloons, flowers, gift baskets, toys, jewellery, bath sets, cards, letters, streamers, confetti and purses were for (y/n) and Henry to split between them, but since she was so mad, Ray could help but nibble on a tad of her half. Okay, maybe more than a nibble, more like enough chocolate and cake that it felt like he was gonna explode as he chucked another wrapper on the floor and smiled up at the woman through a food-coma-haze. Hashtag-sorry-not-sorry.

"Yeah, and even after we did that, you insisted on doing it again three times this morning, so now, the whole, damn city thinks I'm dying! And stop eating my candy!" She snapped, watching as he laid back and chuckled at how insatiable the pair of them had been. It was entirely his fault, she'd been an equal participant and was only shouting because he'd depleted her half of the food. If he carried on eating, he was gonna puke. Hashtag-food-baby-proud-mama.

"You loved it. Wouldn't stop screaming my name, even after your fourth—" He bragged in a tight voice, cracking open his tired eyes to see her standing there with her hands on her hips and a bored expression on her face. Yeah, she loved it, she could hide that smiley blush all she wanted, but he knew if he asked her again, she wouldn't say no. His perfect girl. Hashtag-bae-for-life.

"Wait... I think Henry's coming down the tube, so stop talking about sex before you scar that boy for life. He already knows what we were doing this morning, he doesn't want to hear any details." She warned him, just as the tube came down, confirming her suspicions. All the teens had blushed when she finally crawled out of bed that morning for some breakfast and had avoided eye contact as they told her all about Ray's fuck-up with the reporter the night before. Well, that was her perfect morning ruined. Hashtag-awkward.

"Hey, guys I really need you to—whoa." Henry started in a panicked voice, having just come from his house with terrifyingly alarming news, but stopped at the top of the steps when he saw the gifts and mess surrounding the large man, eating himself to death on the couch, his girlfriend standing over him with a semi-annoyed, semi-amused face. She thought he was cute when he ate the cookies or chocolate buttons, but when he kept going with his shirt riding up and crumbs all over the cushions, that made him dumb, like a doofus. Her doofus. Hashtag-when-your-boyfriend-drives-you-insane-but-you-love-him-anyway. 

"Hey, Henry. Ray can't speak like a human right now, so I'll interpret whatever this caveman shit is. Hi, Henry, I'm Ray and I love to flex my muscles and eat all my girlfriend's presents, duhhhhh." (y/n) joked, putting on her best thicko, Jeff Bilsky-style, voice to tease her boyfriend and that at least made him move a bit with indignation, but wasn't enough to stop him eating. He just kept shovelling things into his mouth. Hashtag-haters-gonna-hate.

"Dude, what's go—is he okay? What happened?" The boy asked hurriedly as he dashed over, thinking that man was in pain or poisoned or something, but really, he was fine. Just a little bloated from the non-stop eating and (y/n) waved off his worry as she sighed and looked at the handsome man. Aw, his hand on his swollen tummy was cute and now she remembered why she'd agreed to spend all night and half the day in bed with him, because no matter what he did, she couldn't stay mad, not for long and not when he looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing in the world. Hashtag-one-true-pairing.

"Chocolate-covered grapes!" Ray exclaimed in an exhausted tone, his stomach clearly telling him that it couldn't take much more, but everything tasted so good. Swellview had some amazing chefs and bakers, and he just wanted to try it all, even if his sweet girl wouldn't go near him when he was lying in all that filth. Oh, and look, a little grapey had decided to run away from his mouth, silly, little grapey, he wanted that chocolate sweetness. Granted, they weren't the best thing he'd ever tasted, nor were the cakes, the muffins, the fruit or any of the pizzas that had been ordered to the Man Cave on behalf of some families. No, his favourite taste was a little sweeter, like honey; he'd been craving it for years and last night he had drunk it in like a man dying of thirst. Hashtag-I-would-die-for-her. "This little guy tried to escape. Well...no more room in me!"

"(y/n/n), what is going on? What happened here?" Henry asked the woman as she rolled her eyes at how he was talking to a grape, but she was a bit happy that he'd given up with the food. She opened he mouth to answer, but Ray decided that through his dire need for a stomach pump, he could explain it perfectly well. Hashtag-a-fucking-dumb-idea.

"People sent you two—I mean, people sent Kid Danger and Miss Danger all these gift baskets full of food." He grumbled, rolling over on the couch so he could get comfy, and he'd taken the liberty of shoving a large, sturdy ottoman in between the gap so his spine wouldn't snap in half, but even so, he much preferred snuggling on a feather mattress with his sweet girl. Hashtag-she's-the-one.

"Yeah, they started arriving just after you, Jasper and Charlotte left. I would say we should halfsies but someone has already eaten most of mine, so just take whatever you can find. I'm definitely having that teddy bear though." (y/n) pointed to a large, particularly fluffy bear that, in her mind, would be the perfect addition to her life and waded her way through the junk so she could get to it. However, before she could even reach for the stuffed animal, Ray was yanking on her wrist and grunting at her incoherently, something about love, hot, food, hurt and a wedding? She had no idea what that was about. Hashtag-random.

"Kid Danger and Miss Danger, we hope these banana-nut muffins will give you both comfort and joy in your final days." Henry frowned as he read out one of the condolence cards, making (y/n) nod in sympathy as she understood the feeling. She'd read pretty much all of them and they were all saying roughly the same thing; we're sorry, death, disease, have free food. It was so annoying, but hey, it tickled Ray's funny bone.

"Yeah, everybody thinks you're both doomed." He chuckled, earning a slap on the shoulder from his irritated girlfriend, who couldn't believe that he was laughing at his mistake. Of course, if she was doomed, he'd be mortified and grief-stricken, but since neither of them was and people were freaking out over nothing, then he found the whole thing pretty funny. Plus, he got to see his girl getting all feisty, sassy and...hot. It was a win-win.

"Oh, dude, I can't believe you ate all these baskets." The boy grumbled, fishing through the static wrappers and brightly-coloured paper to see that whatever was there had long since been wolfed down, something that was oddly impressive when you took in the fact that he'd eaten almost everything in such a small time and fitted it all into such a small space. He didn't care, he'd just work out and burn off the calories later. Hashtag-do-you-even-lift-bro.

"Didn't even save me a bite but it's fine. I'll just be the one to rub his back and tell him it's okay when he's vomiting for the next five hours." (y/n) sassed, folding her arms and wrinkling her nose at the thought of having to deal with an actual illness later on when all the food came back up. She could never resist stepping in to be his carer when he did this and had a lot of experience of trying not to wretch when he was over the toilet, puking his guts up. But then again, he'd always held her hair back, brought her soup, tucked her in, rubbed her swollen tummy, cancelled all his plans and snuggled with her when she used to get the flu, so could she complain? Did she want to?

"Don't worry, sweet girl. I'm oka—oh, I'm gonna puke." Ray tried to stand up, thinking that his stomach had it completely under control, but the sudden change from laying down to being upright didn't sit right with his digestive system, and he felt woozy as things got shaken. He stumbled, bending over to try and stop his stomachache, which forced his girl to stop being smart and rush over to help him, one arm going around his waist and the other bringing his head to rest on her shoulder as she took his weight. The discomfort on his face was too much to ignore and she just knew she had to help him, even if he'd done it to himself. Henry though was less sympathetic.

"You can puke after we—oh, is that a—oh, come one. Now, there's a bee in here. Now, there's a bee in the Man Cave." Henry gasped as he saw the flying insect circling the many bouquets of flowers that had been brought in, but the more he tried to swat it away, the angrier it got. Seriously, it was just a bee, what was the deal?

"So? Just stand still and it won't hurt you. Or find a glass and a piece of paper so you can take it outside." (y/n) told him calmly as she helped Ray sit down, but Henry's fight or flight instincts were telling him to swipe at the air until he was safe, despite the woman's advice being the best thing he could've done. Bees only attack when threatened, and he was being very threatening. 

"Can't you come help me?" He asked, the fear evident in his voice, but she didn't even spare him a glance, preferring to sit on the edge of the couch and soothingly stroke Ray's stomach and forehead to try and make him feel better. His skin was clammy from the pain, but behind the dull ache, his tummy was fluttering with butterflies as her hand slipped under his shirt and trailed over his belly button. God, she still made him feel like a teenager like he was still just crushing on her, waiting for some miracle to tell him that yes, she loved him too, even after nearly a year of dating and countless confirmations that all of this was real.

"No, I'm caring for my dumb boyfriend." She mumbled, smiling when his hand slid over hers, his arm curled around her back to pull her in closer and he gazed at her with dilated pupils, eyes full of love rather than pain. It was like she was numbing it, healing him like her not-deadly superpower did to her, only this wasn't a gift, it was all her, just his sweet girl taking care of him, no matter what.

"Oh, my tummy hurts so bad, sweet girl." He groaned, causing her to lean down to kiss it better, making his breath hitch when her lips brushed against his skin, only briefly but it was enough to make his heart race. Henry, however, was still having bee issues, backing away and focusing on the bees so intensely, he was going a bit cross-eyed.

"Get outta here, bee. I hate bees, guys. Oh, oh, oh, arghhhh!" Henry screeched when the bee dive-bombed into his mouth, making him splutter and panic when he felt a sting/fucking, painful stab on his tongue. Ray and (y/n) took one look at each other before bursting into a fit of giggles, thinking he looked ridiculous as he pawed at his tongue, the bee flying away now that he'd learnt his lesson. Hashtag-bee-one-Henry-zero.

"Guys...the bee just stung my tongue!" He spat, feeling the tip starting to swell as the mild poison attacked his body and hearing his slurred speech was hilarious, making the adults laugh even harder at how he'd been terrified and taken down by a tiny insect. (y/n) would help him in a bit, but she still had Ray and his stomach to think about.

"Ohhh, don't make me laugh" He moaned, instantly grabbing the woman's hand and putting it back on his body after she'd absentmindedly removed it. He needed her to rub away the swelling, his own hand was useless; too big, too manly, too calloused. He needed small, soft, delicate fingers to work their magic and honeyed lips to kiss his pouting, quivering lips.

"Next time, please don't eat so much." (y/n) begged him, fluttering her eyelashes as she leaned down to press their lips together momentarily, just enough to let him taste her sweetness, but not enough to leave him satisfied, so his head craned up to follow her as she pulled away. Not fair, he wanted more kisses, god knows he spent years dreaming about what he'd have to give to get just one, now, he had them on demand, but he still couldn't enough. And his belly hurt. Give him a break. "Okay, sweet girl, kiss me again and I'll think about it." 

"Doofus..." She muttered, suppressing a smile as she went back down, this time letting him linger for as long as he wanted, even when his tongue ran against her bottom lip, begging to be let in so it could fully taste the honey, but she remembered that Henry was in the room. They had to keep some level of decency, no matter how far his desires ran, and the long wait was really starting to piss the kid off. Okay, it was fine at first, be he didn't want to see everything. Hashtag-face-eaters.

"All right, stop eating each other's faces. I need you to help me do this livestream." He sighed, making them break apart as (y/n) realised how long and how carried away they were getting, not that Ray cared. He was up for round...he'd lost count, but still, he didn't mind and his tummy could make an exception. What was this about a livestream? He just wanted to lie back, let all the food digest and casually make out with the hot girl next to him, why did he need to be bothered? "Why?"

"'Cause, I, no, me and (y/n) need everyone to know that we—well, that Kid Danger and Miss Danger aren't sick." He answered and it checked out. The reminder made (y/n) ponder; yeah, kissing Ray was amazing and making out did sound like bliss, but this was a problem and the sooner they went on air, the sooner people would stop freaking out. They could kiss and most likely end up fucking later.

"All right, bossy pants, go set up the livestream. I'll be over in a bit." She told him, pointing her thumb back at the computer as Ray groaned and clutched at her dress. Her boobs and thighs looked great in it and he didn't want to lose her to a dumb livestream, he wanted her to be his sexy, little nurse. She giggled at how dramatic he was being, checking to see if Henry wasn't looking, and he wasn't, and that meant she could give him one more long kiss, just enough to stop him moaning for a while.

"All right, on it." The boy mumbled, holding his cheek as he remained oblivious to the couple's shenanigans. It was a nightmare trying to navigate the crap, plastic and baskets on the floor, even more so when his tongue was throbbing, but he thought he'd done okay and swaggered over to the computer as usual. There was a slight problem though, he didn't see the pesky, rogue, chocolate-grape from earlier still on the floor and the moment he stepped on it, the slimy skin made him slip backwards and land harshly on his back as the world seemingly lost gravity. Hashtag-grapes-have-an-agenda.

"Ooohhh, ding, dong, dang it..." The kid groaned in agony as his entire body throbbed and he writhed on the tiles as Ray chuckled and (y/n) whipped around to check if he was all right. They really needed to clean this place up before there were any more accidents.

"Told you not to make me laugh," Ray grumbled as his chuckles made his tummy ache again, causing his girl to return to stroking it to make it better. A kiss too? That would make him feel a lot better, even if he was just being greedy now.

"And I told you not to eat so much." The woman retorted, her thumb brushing against the coarse hair that grew on his navel and lead all the way down to...you know what. She knew that path well, but her actions were purely innocent and all in the hopes that he'd feel better soon. Well, they were innocent until Ray's mind turned to filth, forgetting that his youngest sidekick was crippled on the floor thanks to his grapes.

"You know what would make me feel better?" He asked quietly, the air around them suddenly shifting as he tugged her ear closer because if Henry heard, he'd just wither and die on the spot. This was for her ears only and a sure-fire way of making her cheeks scarlet and her lips part in shock. And that was his fourth favourite thing to do, before kissing her, making love to her and numero uno, just being with her, doing the basic boyfriend shit that others overlooked. He loved all of that because he did it for her and when they were together, it was like no one else was in the room. "What?"

"If your hand moved down by about three inches." He smirked, eyes lighting up gleefully when, as predicted, her cheeks flared and she nervously looked to see if Henry had heard. He hadn't, thank god, he was still dying, meaning she was free to let the comment fluster her and he could watch her flounder, knowing every move she'd make. Here came the mouth-drop, three...two...one...there it was.

"Raymond, I—I—you—we—" And next came the stuttering, the desperate search for a reply as she processed how he could switch from being normal to pouty to a man with the filthiest mouth on Earth in about five seconds. He just stared at her with a soft expression, loving how the redness still hadn't gone, even when her juddering jaw came back up and she put her thoughts back together. Sweet girl, he knew her so well, but her next move was a surprise.

"If you insist." It was (y/n)'s turn to be smug when her hand drifted down three inches exactly, over his belt and...well, he wasn't expecting that.

~Half an hour later~

Well, Henry stopped dying a lot sooner than expected, meaning despite their bodies saying, no, please don't go!, they had to get up and pop a gumball for the all-important livestream. Ray set up the computer, sent a message to the team at KLVY News that they had something to say and made sure his hair looked great as (y/n) helped Henry with his tongue issue.

It turned out that his reaction to the bee sting was a bit more dramatic than previously expected and he could barely talk, so being the lovely person she was, the young woman dug through her first-aid kit and brought out some numbing gel stuff that should've numbed the pain and stemmed the swelling. Well, that was the plan anyway and they'd better hurry, 'cause they were going live in five, four, three, two...

"Hi! It's me, Captain Man... Uh, hey, Miss Danger, Kid Danger, are we gonna do this or what?" Ray introduced himself to the viewers as the feed flickered to life, not that he needed any introduction. Everyone knew who he was, but the ones they really wanted to see were next to the elevator, dabbing Henry's tongue with the medicine so he'd stand a chance at appearing healthy. Fat chance, his leg was all fucked-up too, bruised and tender from the fall thirty minutes ago, so what with his tongue and limp (both of which cracked (y/n) up to no end - cruel, but true), he was having a tough time of it.

"Wphang won, pe fottah plutt dhish omn mha tchongue." Henry replied, making (y/n) snort and laugh uncontrollably at how silly he sounded. He had to steady her hands as her body shook and her lungs wheezed for air, but it was just so funny. The kind of funny that's so damn hilarious, it renders you powerless and unable to breathe, shaking like a leaf.

"Well, we're live-streaming right now, so..." Ray told them, his eyes softening when he saw how happy his girl was, how rosy her cheeks were and how she went into another round when Henry started talking again. He couldn't help but snap a quick picture on his phone.

"Whah? Wite wow? Cude, we wolde woo cho gwiv usch ah headsch wup!" He complained, waving his hands around madly, which only made it worse for (y/n). She was in tears at this point, holding her tummy like she was in agony and little gasps passed through her teeth as she tried to not to laugh, tried not to make Henry's minor injury seem stupid, but she couldn't help it. He sounded so fucking funny.

"Heads up." Ray noted, understanding what the kid was saying even through his garbled nonsense and extra syllables. (y/n) finally, somehow, just about managed to finish applying the numbing gel, leaving the tube on a cabinet as Henry quickly pulled her along, eager to get on TV and straighten this whole thing out. Well, I say quickly, as quickly as he could hobbling on one leg, limping in front of the camera and the way he was dragging the woman didn't do her much favours either. She was still light-headed from the laughing and was tripping up over her yelled boots as they approached the screen, the pair of them making a sorry sight in front of the concerned viewers, especially when they tripped on some of the gifts lying around.

"Whe'ur wokay, whe'ur wokay." Henry told Ray as he helped them both up, ensuring to keep a tight hold on his girl's hips as she started laughing again, attempting to suppress it now that they were live, but it just wouldn't stop, a tear fell from her eye and despite making no noise, she was still cracking up. She had no air left to make her vocal cords work, so what should've seemed quite cute, appeared like she was in agony. Right, okay, be cool, be cool, it was time to set things straight.

"Whi, whevwywon, hit's wus, Kwid Dwangur ande Mwiss Dwangur. Ande, uhhh, wee jwust wahnted to sway vhat we'ur wokay! Dhere's nwo nweed to wowwy, we'ur fwine. Whwypur-mowiwwly ande schooper-wegenewaschion waren't diweases, the'ur sootherpowwersth. Stho, theur'sth, nwo nweed for weverywon choo kweep dwopping wocks won yurr headsch, 'causech, we'urr fwine." Henry announced, making Ray genuinely worry for his girlfriend's health as she reached the two minute mark of not stopping for air. Every "word" the kid spoke just made it worse and even though she could survive without air, it didn't make it any less alarming. And the people at home, well, they were so worried! Kid Danger was a shadow of his former self and Miss Danger was in crippling pain, they needed more rocks.

"Ta—hank—youuu—-and—anddd—G-Godd—b-blesss—the-the—ci-ci-ty—-of—of—Swe—ll—view." The young woman managed to get out the last line they'd rehearsed but each word was followed by a desperate gasp for air as she kept squealing. People guessed from the way she was holding his stomach that her intestines were super-degenerating and it must have been agonising. Why else would she not be able to speak normally otherwise?

"Uh, yes. Gobbledy-goo to everyone." Ray finished the livestream in a highly amused mood, reaching for the off button with the knowledge that they'd just made it ten times worse, but seeing his sweet girl so happy made him uncaring. Henry would be disappointed but that smile made it all worth it.

~

"Okay, tongue out again." (y/n) instructed Henry as he got comfortable on the computer chair for another dose of the medicine. Obviously, it hadn't worked well last time, but a second dose was enough to numb his tongue into normality again. He just needed to stay quiet so she could focus and get it done.

"And don't talk. You know that she finds it hilarious when you do the mumble tongue thing." Ray told him firmly, making the kid nod solemnly. The man didn't need to worry, he'd already worked that one out and remained perfectly still as she spread a small blob of gel across the bump, ensuring that she used enough and got it everywhere this time. Laughing was fun, but not when it left her ribs aching and her face blue.

"Okay and...there you go. This stuff should make your tongue swelling go down in fifteen to thirty minutes so just wait whilst I put in some earplugs." She told the kid, handing the tube and spreader to her boyfriend as she swiped two little, orange buds from the console and jammed them in her ears. It seemed a bit weird, but she wasn't going to risk hearing him talk funny, she actually wanted to stop chuckling and spluttering now. 

"I schure hopes stho. Ande it'sh gwood vhat you'ur weawing wear wugs 'cwause whenn wou waugh, woo wook wealwy stwoopid." Henry answered, just after she put them in and it was like someone had turned the noise of the world off. Shit, these earplugs were great (courtesy of Schwoz) and all she could see was the boy's mouth moving and hear the blood rushing through her head. Weird.

"I don't know what you just said, but...okay." Ray nodded, not catching the meaning there but...no laughter! It was a shame to see her spirits dampened, but also interesting to see how she reacted to not being able to hear. It was weird, the Man Cave always made some kind of noise, whether it was the rowdy residents, noisy guests or just the whirring machine, it was never silent, so hearing nothing was new.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" (y/n) asked her boyfriend in a fucking loud voice when she saw his lips move, thinking she was speaking in a normal tone, but really she bellowed in his face. Henry and Ray cringed at her volume, wondering how such a usually reserved person could be so deafening, but it wasn't like they could tell her to be quiet, so the superhero just put his finger on his lips before kissing her forehead. She got the message, snuggling into his chest so she could feel his heartbeat, and the silence was peaceful, until Charlotte stepped out of the elevator, PearPad in hand and she did not look happy.

"Hey, guys." She greeted, expecting things to be normal in her workplace, well, as normal as things got around the headquarters of a secretive superhero, but things were getting weird. Henry needed to get his tongue sorted and fast.

"Hey, Charlotte." "Hwey, what'sch wup?" "HI, CHARLOTTE!" The girl cringed at the sudden shouting, wondering what the hell was up with (y/n) as she stood there with a pleasant smile on her face as if she hadn't just yelled at the top of her lungs. Was this something to do with that car crash of a livestream?

"What's wrong with her?" She asked Ray, who slinked an arm around his girl's shoulders so she'd relax and not shout at anyone else. Fuck, how long did that gel say it was gonna take? He loved her with all his heart, every fibre of his being, but even he couldn't tolerate being deafened every time he got close enough to kiss her.

"She laughs uncontrollably every time Henry talks so she's got Schwoz's fancy earplugs in. Can't hear a thing, not even hers—" Ray answered, trying to make it brief so his girl wouldn't try to add something to the conversation, but she interrupted, thinking no one was talking 'cause she couldn't hear them or see Ray's lips moving.

"SORRY, CHARLOTTE. I WOULD TALK TO YOU BUT I'VE GOT THESE EARPLUGS IN AND I CAN'T HEAR A DAMN THING. YOU CAN TALK TO RAY THOUGH, AND HENRY, BUT HE MAKES ME LAUGH SO I HAVE TO WEAR THESE!" She bellowed, making everyone jump as she explained her situation, thinking nothing about how the girl in front of her was wincing. Seriously, she wasn't even that tall, how could be so loud?

"Quiet, sweet girl. Hey, did you see our livestream?" Ray asked, petting (y/n)'s head and signalling for her to be quiet, which she got. Maybe her voice was going crazy since she could hear herself, crazy being the understatement of the year. She just hugged Ray's waist, happy to lean her cheek against the crevasse between his pecs where she could feel his strong heartbeat against her skin. When one sense goes, the others elevate, and she was loving it.

"Uh, yeah. They're talking about it on the news right now." She told them, intriguing Henry, who was eager to see if his little plan had worked. Come on, the people of Swellview had to think he was okay now, they'd heard it from his own lips. Or had they?

"Oh, yeah?" "Woh, weah? Won wha nwews?" Ray and Henry asked, but no one had told the girl why he sounded like his mouth was full of marbles. She understood (y/n) and got why she laughed every time he talked, but why he was talking like that was still a mystery to her and everyone else in Swellview. At least she knew it wasn't because of a fake disease.  "Hey, why are you talking like that?"

"Bee stung his tongue, now, it's numb," Ray replied, making her giggle for unknown reasons. Had he said something funny?

"Ha, that rhymed." She giggled, making her chuckle too. He was a poet and he didn't know it, the modern-day Shakespeare, well, Shakespeare if he was born in America and wore a tight, red and blue super suit. Sometimes, his genius was so big, it generated gravity, at least it did to him. "Oh, yeah. I am awesome!"

"Plut won vthe nwews." Henry interrupted his little self-praising session. He didn't care about how big-headed Ray thought he was, he just wanted to hear what people were saying about him, which made it a bit ironic. If only (y/n) could talk without bursting their ears drums. 

"Wokay!" Ray mocked him, leaning over and hitting the button since he had to stay still. The gel was beginning to work, but not enough to make him normal. Hopefully, he'd be all right again after they watched Trent, Mary and that stupid doctor. And it wasn't nice to make fun of his temporary condition, Ray didn't tolerate being mocked, so why should he?

"Whow, wokay. Kweep dwoing vhat ande I weel twell youer gwirlfwend abwout youer pwans to mawwy hurr." He snapped, making Ray clamp his hand over his mouth as he looked at (y/n) with terrified eyes, scared that she might have heard in some impossible way. She hadn't, duh, Schwoz's tech was way too sophisticated to just stop working and she was in her own little world as she twiddled her thumbs, waiting to stare at the news. Thank god for that, Ray would've died on the spot.

"You can't tell her anything, it's a secret. Understand?" The large, fairly intimidating man growled at the boy, his eyes burning into him as he nodded slowly, knowing that he poked a very sore spot. Of course, he'd never spill the beans when she could hear him, he'd never forgive himself, but it was also his reminder for Ray to hurry the fuck up. Everyone was waiting for the big moment when they got to see him drop to one knee, but he kept saying the timing was wrong, but there was never the right time. Couldn't he just do it?

"Now, let's take a look at the next clip. "We'ur wokay! Dhere's nwo nweed to wowwy, we'ur fwine."" Trent introduced a clip of Henry's speech and the doctor took a big interest in how the boy sounded terrible and how Miss Danger was twitching from her "agonising seizure". Okay, yeah, it did sound really bad on TV, maybe a live-streaming straight after a bee sting wasn't the best idea.

"Well, now it seems that his hyper-motility is affecting his tonguial motions, which is why he sounds like ahbobobubabobobab. And Miss Danger appears to be suffering from super-degeneration of the stomach, that's why she's so clearly in pain." Doctor Skurvay described, giving some semi-competent analysis for the video. It wasn't perfect, but then again, he didn't have the facts and was just making some hypotheses based on what he could see.

"Right and obviously, the only reason Kid danger is denying his and Miss Danger's illness is to be brave in their battles against certain doom. Sadly, I think their next livestream might be a dead-stream." Trent theorised, making Henry groan. He hadn't done a bit to help anything, in fact, they'd made it ten times worse. Now, people thought they were actually on the verge of death and that made Ray chuckle as (y/n) tried to lipread the news anchors. Something about their rattle against a celery baboon?

"But here's some heartwarming news. Local tween, Piper Hart, president of Captain Man's fan club, is planning the biggest rock box dump of all. She's heading to Swellview Park, where fifteen-hundred and twenty-four rocks will be dropped on her head." Oh, fuck. What the hell was Piper doing? Why were teenagers so dumb these days? That many rocks on anyone's head would kill them and Piper would be crushed under the torrent, dead or at the very least, severely brain-damaged. Oh god, Henry had to do something and he had to do something quickly.

"That's really sweet of your sister," Ray mentioned, obviously thinking it was a bad idea, but still, the thought was there. It was the only thought in the desolate wasteland of her brain, but still, it was nice that she was trying to help out.

"Sweet?!" "Dude! Wee gwotta gwet two Swewllvoo Parghk ang gwo swave hwer!" Charlotte and Henry argued, making (y/n) wonder why they both suddenly looked so angry. She'd been zoning out for the past few minutes, living in her own head since everything was so quiet and she wondered if it was safe to remove the earplugs yet.

"Why?" Ray asked, thinking that Piper wasn't actually gonna do it. It was so dumb, that and often he forgot that people weren't him or Miss Danger. Normal, squishy people could get injured, especially petite little girls and sometimes he didn't keep that in mind.

"Because she's about to drop fifteen-hundred rocks on her head!" Charlotte yelled, trying to get it into his thick skull. Geez, how did (y/n) do this? She must've had the patience of a saint, 'cause he was difficult and Charlotte was tempted to bring her back to reality if it meant she didn't have to do the explaining anymore.

"Let'sch gwo!" Henry told Ray, marching off towards the tube pads with determination in every step, but he was forgetting a very important member of the team, one who had a cool superpower, whose gut-feeling was never wrong and the only person who could keep Ray's childishness under control - (y/n).

"Hold on a minute." Ray groaned, not wanting to leave the sanctuary of his home, therefore, he'd take home with him. And no, he wasn't packing up the Man Cave and dragging it along in a suitcase or something, he was gently cupping (y/n)'s cheeks, drawing a soft, rogue gasp from her lips at his sudden touch. She hadn't expected it, being lost in her head and didn't know what her voice was doing until his fingers brushed against her ears and carefully removed the plugs, causing her to wince as sound burst back into her life. "Come on, sweet girl. We need to go."

"Fuck, that's loud. Wha—where are we going?" She stuttered, getting used to hearing things again. She had never realised how noisy the machines around the room were or how easy it was to hear someone breathing if you paid close enough attention. Anyway, they had a mission and she had no clue what was going on.

"Piper is about to dump one and a half thousand rocks on her head because she thinks you and Henry are dying. You need to go stop her before it's too late!" Charlotte exclaimed, bringing her up to speed very quickly and the young woman's eyes bulged out of her head when she heard the news. Sweet, little Piper Hart was about to do what now?

"Sweet cheese, we gotta go! Come on, handsome, Piper needs us!" (y/n) gasped and grabbed Ray's hand before he knew what was happening. His sweet girl was back in the game and yanked him swiftly across the room, heading for the tubes, which gave him just enough time to grab a meatloaf before they left. He'd digested all the stuff from earlier, he just wanted a small snack for the road, something Henry and (y/n) weren't happy about as they prepared to shoot off.

"Hey! That's ours!" The woman complained, spotting the cling-film-wrapped hunk in his hands as she put her arms around her neck and squeezed against him so they could share a tube, an always delightful experience for both of them.

"Wha? Dwude, woo cwan't bwing ower mweatwoaf." Henry complained too, only making (y/n) giggle against Ray's chest this time, a markdown from the side-splitting laughter she'd experienced earlier. Okay, it wasn't as funny now, that was good, still amusing, but getting better. 

"Uh, yes, I can bring a mweatwoaf. It's my girlfriend's too." The man argued, rolling his eyes as Henry whacked his belt buckle and (y/n) did the honours for Ray since he already had his arms around her, plus the loaf in one of his hands. He never minded her hands down there, he'd be a fool to complain. 

"Wup dhe chwoob!" Ah, slight problem. Henry's speech was so bad, the fancy tube microphone didn't register it as a command, it just made (y/n) giggle a bit more. Ray looked at Henry in annoyance and then down at the girl in his arms with pure adoration, wondering how lucky he was to have someone so darn cute as his hopeful, future wife.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that." An automated voice stated, making Henry shout badly with no success again. In fact, it thought he was saying something completely different, which was extremely irritating. "Searching for cup of soup."

"Up the tube," Ray said it for him, his voice smooth and clear as the computer finally got the message and activated the tube suckage. They blasted off, going higher and higher until Ray couldn't hold onto both his girl and the meatloaf at the same time, so h had to choose between who/what to save and the answer was obvious.

"Ah, my meatloaf!" He cried as the dense loaf dropped onto the tube area below. He couldn't let his girl fall and it would be there when they got back, he'd just be slightly peckish in the meantime.

"Ha!" Henry laughed as he heard the conundrum and was glad that Ray had been taught a lesson, leaving Charlotte to roll her eyes back in the hideout. Thank god they were gone, loneliness meant an easier life.

~Swellview Park~

Well, Piper was pretty much ready to go. She'd gotten all her rocks in one big box, she had a forklift to tip them onto her head and she'd even hired Jasper to operate the dangerous, complex machinery. What could go wrong there? 

A crowd had amassed in the area, holding signs of support and love, wanting to see this girl go through with her promise, such a brave act in memory of Kid Danger and Miss Danger, the ones who would soon no longer be with them. It was thanks to people like Piper that awareness for hyper-motility and super-degeneration was spreading and if she died, then she'd be as much of a hero. A stupid hero, but a hero nonetheless. 

The little girl stood at her podium, a mic in her hand and she beamed at the crowd. She had no idea how big this would get; yeah, she was a bit nervous, but she'd do anything for her favourite sidekicks and didn't know what Swellview or Captain Man was gonna without them, especially Miss Danger. They were in every gossip magazine, each detailing how loyal, passionate and committed to one another they were, which was true, they'd just never get the full story. How would he fight crime without her?

"Hello, everyone in Swellview and beyond, I wanna say that it doesn't matter th—" Piper began her introduction to the livestream after the lame countdown of her camera, shaking off the shock of starting so quickly like a true professional. Her voice was steady and her smile was bright, everything was going good...until Jasper started to mess about with the forklift.

"Okay, I got this. Backing up!" He shrugged, thinking he was about to go backwards and get into position for the rock dropping, but he hadn't got it. He pressed the wrong button, making the forklift shoot forward uncontrollably towards a group of civilians snacking at a group of picnic benches. Thankfully, they all managed to get away before he ploughed through them, leaving nothing but splinters in his wake. Giving him such heavy machinery to handle was a huge mistake on Piper's part. "Uh, it's okay! I have an uncle who repairs picnic tables!"

"Please just move the forklift into position!" Piper yelled at him, hating how everything he touched turned into a farce. They were doing this for two of the greatest superheroes of all time, therefore they needed a little decorum and terrorising picnicking families wasn't helping. Still, she shook off the embarrassment and smiled into the camera again, picking up from where she left off. "Cool. And now, get ready for the biggest rock box dump of all time. Fifteen-hundred and twenty-four dropped right on my head!"

"Okay, Jasper! Get ready to pull that dump lever!" She told the teen as the crowd cheered and he was ready to help out. 'he'd never do it himself, but Piper had determination and he just wanted to get on her good side. "If you say so!"

"Drum roll!" She ordered, making Oliver Pook play a pathetic beat on a shitty drum set that weirded out the audience more than thrilling them, but Piper had the enthusiasm to make up for it. It was time, the moment she'd waited for, the moment she'd entered the history books for the biggest well-meaning idiot of all time.

"Okay, everybody! Five, four, three, two—" Piper braced herself for the pain she'd seen on everyone's faces and adjusted her flimsy hat over her honey-coloured hair so she'd have some protection. Yeah, like that was gonna save her, or maybe, someone else would step in at the right time and...

"Stop the dump!" Henry and (y/n) yelled in unison as they ran onto the scene, Ray jogging behind them since it wasn't him who the crowd needed to see. Henry used his laser to zap Jasper's hand away from the controls, saving his sister's life at the last minute as the woman guided her away from the drop zone.

"Kid Danger! Miss Danger!" Piper exclaimed as she saw the heroes walking, breathing and perfectly all right. They seemed fine as Captain Man caught up with them and she was flabbergasted as to what was going on. Shouldn't they be dead by now? Or as one kid put it, in the hospital?

"NO!" Henry told the boy who spoke up, making him frown as (y/n) noticed all the phones in the area, pointed straight at the,. There was no time to be nervous, if they were live then that meant that people could finally learn the truth.

"Hey, little girl, are all these kids live-streaming?" She asked Piper, gesturing to all the PearPhones and the girl took a moment to respond. Miss Danger was talking to her, she was okay! Only hours ago she was writhing in pain, what had happened? "Yeah."

"Good. How's your tongue?" Ray asked the boy next to him, who wiggled the muscle around and decided that it was fine now. No swelling, no bump, the gel had worked a treat and he could speak perfectly normal now, which was good news for everyone. "Better."

"You and Miss Danger, go talk to 'em." He told him, his hand hovering on his girlfriend's back as she reached over to grab the mic from Piper. She wasn't going to be shouting again, so this would work just fine because everyone in Swellview, or maybe even the whole world needed to hear about how they were okay and their superpowers were chill.

"Okay, let's do this. Right, so, hi, everyone. Please, listen to me...we are not sick! Okay? We are perfectly healthy." (y/n) told the people calmly, who didn't react with the same levelheadedness. They erupted into gasps and disbelief, with one boy even going as far as to label her a liar, something that made Ray growl. This little punk thought what? No one, not even a little kid insults his girlfriend, did he want to die? 'Cause he was gonna hurt him, well, he would if (y/n) hadn't put a hand in front of him, telling him that she and Henry could handle this.

"What? No, she's not lying. She's telling the truth." Henry backed her up, raising her hand to his face so he could use the mic, not that anyone was gonna believe them that easily. They thought they were just saying it to be brave in the face of death, something that was admirable, but stupid if they thought they were gonna fall for it. 

"Kid Danger, Miss Danger, you don't have to pretend for us." "We know you're doomed." Piper and the evil child from before countered, wearing ray's patience thin. Seriously, did he have to use his Captain Man status to make them believe his sidekicks? He really thought Swellviewians were more intelligent than this.

"No, they are not!...doomed." Ray rolled his eyes, knowing that the entire city would know if his sweet girl was dying. He'd fight a thousand men and walk across the Earth barefoot if it meant he could save her and his unflappable face spoke volumes. Neither one of them were dying, there wasn't a shitstorm to prove it.

"But Captain Man said that you have hyper-motility and super-degeneration," Piper stated, remembering the hero's exact words from his terrible interview with Evelyn Hall, a moment Ray would prefer to forget since it made him so uncomfortable and made his girl feel sad. Stupid Evelyn, stupid news crew...

"Yeah, hyper-motility isn't a disease. Okay? It's a superpower." Henry replied, sending everyone in shock and confusion as he passed the microphone to (y/n) so she could explain her situation too. Her power was the opposite of a disease, she couldn't even get sick, how ironic.

"And it's super-REgeneration, not degeneration. It's also a superpower, so for the last time, we are not dying." She stressed, wanting to make it absolutely clear that she didn't destroy her own body, she replenished it, healing over wounds and afflictions with such lightning speed that it made her nearly as powerful as Captain Man, minus the bulk.

"Kid, sweet girl, why don't you go show 'em?" Ray suggested. He knew that a demonstration was the only real way to drive this home, seal the deal once and for all so no one would get confused ever again. 

"All right, guys, check this out," Henry said, nudging the woman and passing the mic to Ray as they made their way into the centre of the crowd, some plans forming in their heads on how they were gonna do this. Henry was easy, he could just swipe something, but (y/n)'s would be a little more dangerous...

Henry sauntered up to a nervous-looking gentleman next to Jasper's forklift and in the blink of an eye, snatched his terribly-fitting toupee from his head, shocking everyone at how his arm was a blur and he wasn't finished there. In another flash, the toupee was back on the man's head, if slightly mussed from the speed.

"Okay, see? That's hyper-motility. It makes me have super fast reflexes. Now, Captain Man will demonstrate Miss Danger's super-regeneration." Henry explained, gesturing to Ray as (y/n) nudged a blaster into his hand and took a few steps back, making him look at her with petrified eyes. She didn't want him to...did she?

"Okay, everyone. Captain Man is gonna blast me in the chest." She told them calmly, waiting for her boyfriend to do his part, but even just pointing the thing at her was impossible, he couldn't even contemplate hurting hurt, even if it would be a scratch, nothing more. He protected her, he didn't want to lay a finger on her ever, even if she wanted him to, it was against every promise he'd ever made for her.

"I—I can't shoot you, sweet girl. I don't wanna hurt you." He whispered, feeling his fingers tremble as they touched the trigger, but her eyes were gentle even as she toyed with death and her gaze told him, it was okay. She knew that he'd rather hurt himself than her, preferring to shelter her from the worst things in life, but it was okay. She could do this. 

"You won't. Come on, do it." She ordered, placing her hands on her hips and standing proudly as Ray screwed his eyes tightly shut and fired a bolt of scorching plasma at her, the crowd screaming Bloody Mary when it hit her in the heart. She stumbled forwards, her hand flying to her clavicle as someone shouted for an ambulance and Ray and Henry waited with bated breath for her skin to stitch itself together again. It was a painful few seconds, (y/n) waiting patiently until she felt nothing, just her smooth, unmarried skin once again as the gaping wound faced away and the blood evaporated as if it was never there. Wicked.

"In the words of Captain Man, I'm okay!" She smiled at everyone, giving them a twirl to show them that she was back to her old self, not even a scar on her chest as they gasped and applauded, cooing when Ray walked over to give her a gentle kiss. He was scared for a moment there, knowing that if something had gone wrong with him pulling the trigger, his entire world would've collapsed at that very moment.

"Do you see now? Super-regeneration means I heal really, really quickly. I can survive any injury and I don't get sick, so it's basically the opposite of a disease." She told the crowd, taking the mic from Henry as Ray tucked the blaster into his belt and kept an arm around her waist, so proud that he had such an amazing woman as both his sidekick and his lover. Not to mention, Henry; that kid had skills.

"But then, how come you were clutching your stomach in agony and Kid Danger was talking so weird?" Piper asked, wondering how that fitted into everything. The livestream revealed everything and everyone believed it, but maybe there was a reasonable explanation after all. "And what about your limping?"

"That was just—uh, I fell on a grape and I twisted my ankle," Henry replied, stretching his healed foot to show them that he was fine now. A little stiff, but he'd make a full recovery, after all, the Man Cave had a great resident nurse.

"And before that, he got tongue-stung by a bee and Miss Danger was laughing at him. Really hard." Ray finished, smirking down at his girlfriend as she got a bit bashful. Maybe she'd found it a little too funny, but things had worked out just fine.

"Yeah, that tracks." Piper nodded, her and the crowd realising that they'd all made a huge mistake in listening to gossip without checking the facts. Geez, now Piper was feeling dumb about the whole rock thing and was super grateful that they'd stopped her before she'd...y'know, rocked herself to death.

"And by the way, it is very dangerous to drop rocks on your head, so no kid should ever do that, ever," Ray told all the gullible kids in the crowd, knowing that a lot had them had already done just that or were gonna after they'd watch Piper. If Captain Man said no, then they were gonna listen; he was smart, well, he was most of the time and when his girlfriend was around.

"Even if you see some idiot doing it on the TV or the internet, understand?" (y/n) added, getting the message across that just because someone is famous, it doesn't mean they're intelligent. Kim K is one, great example of that.

"Now, you, boy. Move this forklift outta here. These things are dangerous." Okay, with all the safety stuff over, Ray gestured for Jasper to go take the rocks somewhere they couldn't hurt anyone and since he was his boss in every sense of the word, Jasper immediately started fiddling with the controls, which he still hadn't mastered.

"You got it, Captain Man. Oh..." He tried to do his best, but everything was so complex, he hit the wrong button and was powerless to stop the forklift raising the tons of rocks and dumping them over Ray's head, just as (y/n) had momentarily left his side to pass the mic back to Henry. The man cried out in agony as the rocks rained down on him, a small part of him grateful that his girl was nowhere near him when this happened, 'cause it was horrendous. His body was pinned against the concrete as it was pummelled with stone with enough force to kill a man, but thank god, he wasn't just a man, he was Captain Man.

(y/n) stood there in horror, frozen as she lost sight of her boyfriend's iconic costume and Jasper as he immediately jumped out of the machine and legged it to a safe distance where Ray couldn't kill him. That is if he was all right. Was he breathing? The crowd gathered around, ready to get some pics for the socials, but Henry just had to hold onto (y/n)' shoulder as she prayed that he was okay. Just a sign, just a little sign since he wasn't letting her run forward.

"Oh my god, Captain Man! Are you—" She whimpered, stumbling closer with Henry's arms still keeping her from doing anything rash, but it was all fine. Slowly, a trembling arm poked through the rocks and Ray made the okay sign with his fingers and thumb to tell them that of course, he was okay. He was the Captain Man, nothing could destroy him, well, losing his girlfriend could, but come on, like that would ever happen.

~A couple of hours later, in the Man Cave~

What a damn, eventful day. After digging Ray out from his burial of rocks (with the help of Piper and her Twitflash-addicted friends), (y/n) had convinced him not to kill Jasper, whispering something in his ear that Henry decided was not worth knowing as they drove home. Where were Schwoz's earplugs when he needed them?

Anyway, they'd made it back to the Man Cave and as a treat for being so brave and taking fifteen hundred rocks to the face like a man, Charlotte and (y/n) had melted some chocolate in an old fondue set, bought some grapes from the local grocery store and had gathered the team together for a snack session. The raspberry Kool-Aid was flowing, the chocolate was great and it was the perfect way to spend the evening. Plus, it gave (y/n) a great excuse to snuggle into Ray's side as they fondued (not like that), his arm around her shoulders as she rested her head in the crook of his neck, the perfect position for him to press kisses into her hair.

"All right, now, come on. We just need, like, a cool, easy-to-remember name that really says super fast reflexes." Ray prompted the group as they shoved the gooey grapes into their mouths. This was the latest topic, deciding what to call Henry's reflexes since their current name was a bit mouthy, even if it did the job just fine.

"How about we just call it, SFR?" Jasper suggested, thinking that an acronym would save them time, but it wasn't good enough for Ray. It had to sound cool and three letters didn't sound cool.

"How about you just stop talking?" The man replied, turning his nose up at the idea and the other two teens were in agreement. It did sound shit, despite (y/n) sticking up for the boy against her doofus.

"Oh, watch it, you." She warned, jabbing her finger into his chest as she stirred another grape through the chocolate, causing Ray to kiss her head again as a way of an apology. He didn't want to upset her, this was way too cosy to pass up or ruin.

"What about...lightning fightning?" Henry suggested, waving his hands around mystically as if his suggestion was magical. Newsflash, it wasn't, it stank and his friends were quick to tell him.

"That is awful and if you call it that, I'm never fighting crime with you again." (y/n) wrinkled her nose as Charlotte threw a napkin at him. Well, Ray couldn't have his sweet girl not fighting by his side, she looked way too hot in her costume for her to lock it up and leave the hero life behind. Luckily for him though, Charlotte had a much more sensible idea.

"Hey, I know what we could call your super fast reflexes." She stated, piquing the boys' interest as they dipped more grapes. Okay, she was smart, maybe it was a pun, or even better, maybe it was something epic and dramatic... "Yeah?" "Hit me."

"Super fast reflexes." She told them simply, knowing that it's what they'd been using since Henry had received the powers last year and it had been great up until now. Why not just stick with what they knew and avoid complicating things?

"It works." "Love it." "Done." Jasper, Ray and Henry agreed, making the girls smile as they finally agreed on a name, chinking their glasses together so they could make it official. God, it felt good to get shit done and super fast reflexes would be the forever name of Henry's superpower, something that was now irrefutable.

"Glad we've cleared that up. Now, I'm off to the bathroom, so don't miss me too much." (y/n) chuckled, swallowing a swig of her raspberry drink just to be polite since she really needed to pee. She'd sat through the debate to make sure nothing bad would happen and now she could go, much to Ray's disappointment. The woman untangled herself from his embrace and lifted herself over the back of the couch, pressing a kiss to Ray's cheek as she skipped over to the secret door and the small bathroom hidden down the corridor. 

"Hurry back, sweet girl!" He grinned, not noticing the kids' smirks as he watched her leave, not missing one sway of her hips until she was completely out of sight and it was then that he noticed the stares. What was up with them?

"What? Do I have chocolate on my face?" He mumbled, reaching to wipe away the offending smear, but his skin was clean and they just shook their smirking heads. Okay, what was happening? Why did this feel like an ambush all of a sudden?

"No, we're just curious..." Henry started, fighting back the urge to straight out smile at how they were worming their way onto their favourite topic since (y/n) was out of the room. They hadn't just sat down and talked about it openly yet, not altogether at least and it was time for him to spill.

"About what?" Ray asked calmly, knowing what they getting at, but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction just yet. He merely ate another grape and sat back to each one of them like he was the one in control even though his heart rate was skyrocketing. She was just in the bathroom, what if she overheard? 

"Oh, you know...you proposing to (y/n)." Jasper sighed, trailing his finger around the table like he was being casual and hearing it out loud made Ray snap his dipping skewer in half. Fuck, just the thought of doing it thrilled and terrified him; he wanted to, honest to god, he did, he knew he was ready. Scared shitless, but ready, but nothing else seemed to agree. He'd thought about just getting down on one knee at random moments, but nothing had felt special or right. Everything had to be perfect for her, including where, when and how he went about it, and so far, nothing had screamed "Now! Now! Now!" To him.

"And how you haven't yet," Charlotte added on the end, meeting his eyes by dipping her head and deliberately seeking them out. She wouldn't normally pressure him, being the most sensible and knowledgeable about girls in the teen lineup, but even she was getting bored and curious about the hold-up. He wasn't having second thoughts, was he?

"Rub it in, why don't you?" He mumbled, messing with the broken skewer as Henry leaned in, taking the leading role since he was arguably Ray's best friend since (y/n) was now his girlfriend and he knew that he'd be the one to get through and come out of it alive.

"Well, why haven't you asked her yet? You're are gonna do it...aren't you?" The kid asked nervously, not wanting to poke the grumpy bear too much, but they were on a time limit here and needed answers fast. Plus, he could handle pouty Ray, he'd just make up some excuse and fetch (y/n). Simple.

"Of course, I am! I love her, don't I? I just...haven't found the right moment." He confessed, sighing as he thought about how much harder this whole charade had turned out to be. For once, he was sure about what he was doing, knew where his feelings were and wasn't afraid to admit them; it was the world working against him this time, not himself.

"What do you mean? Just get down on one knee and say "(y/n), will you marry me?" Charlotte advised, thinking that it always seemed so easier in the movies and Jasper agreed. Just say it, get it out there, wait for her to say yes, 'cause she was obviously gonna say yes, and then go off, get married, have loads of kids and live happily ever after. Why couldn't he do that?

"It's not that simple. I've tried, I'm taking the ring everywhere we go, but, it's always too busy, or we're on the brink of death, or she's distracted or I'm distracted. I just need the right moment and then I'll do it." Ray groaned, rubbing his eyes as the kids finally understood. Yeah, a crap proposal would be bad luck and if any couple deserved happiness, it was these two. If soulmates existed, they would've found each other at the end of the little red string wrapped around their pinkies.

"Look, man. You've found the right girl, so...you're gonna find that right moment. You—we've just got to be patient, right, guys?" Henry put a hand on his shoulder and looked at his two friends, who nodded vigorously. Beneath the sentiment, he was right, (y/n) was perfect for Ray and everything always worked out in the end for them.

"Yeah." "Totally. It'll happen." Jasper and Charlotte reassured him, smiling and almost choking on their grapes as (y/n) happily came back into the room all of a sudden, wafting her damp hands. She didn't notice their slight panic and merely smiled brightly as she approached her friends and shimmied back over the couch, fitting into Ray's side again as if she'd never left.

"So, what's been happening?" She asked, allowing them all to jump back into a conversation about random things, from helicopters to kangaroos, with all eyes on her for some reason. She couldn't put her finger on it, but they were all looking at her like she'd brought world peace and ended world hunger, like she was...perfect as she snuggled back into her boyfriend and relished the kiss he pressed to her forehead.

Ray could wait, it would be frustrating but he could do it. He'd waited for her for so long and just knowing that his time with his perfect girl would come, was good enough for him.

[1yuuki3]

All because of a stomach ache

Fated to Love You Genre: Strangers to lovers, Fluff, Angst, YoongixReader

TW: none

A/N: Cross posted on wattpad, Chapter contains both Yoongi and Y/N's pov

Wc: 1355 words

Synopsis: You were never one to believe in fate, You're life was made up of plans and bullet points , Organized to the very end. Until fate played a cruel joke and left your life in shambles. Nursing a broken heart in Spain, will this make you change your view on love and fate?

Yoongi and the others were waiting in the conference room for the mysterious producer to arrive.

"I'm hungry,can we order something?" A boy with doe eyes and bunny smile asked.

"You're always hungry Jungkook" Jin replied laughing.

Before he can even make a reply. The door to the conference room suddenly opened.

Time at that very moment felt very slow for Yoongi. He didn't even notice that he was holding his breathe in anticipation. When a young man entered the room.

"Hi? Are you the new producer?" Jin asked.

"No sir, I just came here to tell you that there was a mixed up and the meeting is moved on Friday" The young man answered.

"Oh" was the only thing that escaped Yoongi's lips. Frustrated was an understatement.

"Who are you expecting you coward?You had your chance, but you didn't take it" Yoongi thought.

Jin sensing the change in Yoongi's demeanor gently said "Let's go eat ramen, my treat"

And the room erupted with cheers and laughter as the seven boys went out to eat.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Y/N's and Yoongi's POV:

"Y/N how was your first day of work?" Your father asked.

Days like this when you are together eating are rare, since he is busy with managing the company.

"It's on Friday dad" Y/N replied.

"Oh! I thought it was today?" confusion clearly etched on his face.

"It was supposed to be today, but Mr. Bang had a prior engagement, the schedule got mixed up" You replied, before going back to your meal.

You were excited to meet the group you were working with. The management and Mr.Bang were telling you how talented and hard-working they are. And when you got the call that the meeting was rescheduled, you felt a little sad.

To distract yourself, you decided to bake cookies to bring on Friday to give to them, and hopefully they won't eat you alive.

Even with you being one of the end demand producers, you still have a episodes in which you feel insecure, and when this happens you stress bake to calm your nerves.

The days passed and you noticed it's already Friday. "The day"as your friend Aya jokingly calls it.

She's still off somewhere doing her modelling gigs and you miss her and her laugh.

Lost in thought, You didn't even notice you're already standing in front of BH Entertainment Office.

No one even spared a glance at you, with your baggy pants and oversized shirt carrying a bag full of cookies and coffee in one hand, You look like an intern among the serious looking people in suits.

You took a deep breathe and thought "This is it, my new chapter" .

You were welcomed with a warm smile by the receptionist and lead you towards the conference room.

You don't know why your heart was beating fast, could it be excitement or something else? If you learned something in that night with Yoongi in Spain. It's that everything happens for a reason and nothing is ever a coincidence.

You smiled, as you remember his gummy smile that makes his eyes disappear, and wondered if he's doing ok.

You were pulled out of your reverie by the receptionist tapping you on your shoulder.

"Ms. Y/N we're here" She said with a smile.

As she opened the door, you were greeted by six chaotic boys fighting over the last piece of chicken.

You can't help but laugh out loud and that caught their attention. All eyes were on you and you felt like a specimen under a microscope.

"Hi, I'm Namjoom" a blue haired guy, with eyes that can pierce your soul said.

"I'm Seokjin, Worldwide handsome, you know" with a wink and a smile from the most prettiest lips that you saw.

"Hyung,stop that, you're embarrasing us" with a deep voice and boxy smile said "I'm Taehyung"

ou feel the sincerity and welcome in their voices and you knew right there and then that you made the right decision.

"Hi I'm Hoseok" A guy that can be like a sunshine on earth said.

"Hi, I'm Jimin" another one shyly said, whose voice can make any girl swoon.

"Me!Me!, Hi Noona! My name is Jungkook" A doe eyed boy looked excitedly at you. "Are you the new producer?" he asked.

You couldn't help but be infected with his energy and smile.

"Yes, Hi I'm Y/N the new producer" You said with a bow. "Are you the team I will be working with?" You asked while looking at them.

"Yes, that is correct, but we still lack one member, he just went out" Seokjin replied.

"I bought cookies and coffee for you guys" You quietly said.

The room burst with joyous screams and thank you's as they took the cookies from you.

And this is how Yoongi saw the guys as he entered the room. Mouth full of cookies and talking.Jungkook said with a mouthful of cookies "Hyung, you should try these cookies Y/N noona bought".

Yoongi felt like cold water was poured all over his body at the mention of your name. Could it be? Is this the universe's way of giving him a second chance?

Yoongi scanned the room,looking for your familiar face but you were nowhere to be found. Namjoon noticing this said

"She already went home hyung, but she'll be back again tomorrow"

"What happened hyung?what took you so long?" Jimin asked

"I got a stomach ache, that's why It took me this long" Yoongi replied

He used this excuse to leave the guys and went to his studio, thinking that the universe is still mad at him for being a coward and making him miss the chance to see you again.

He then poured his heart our doing what he do best and that is to write.

I was lost in translation when we met

Funny how the universe plays.

You helped me,when you could have left.

A cold drink, for a thirsty soul,

You ignited a fire that I thought was gone.

Drowning in darkness, A solitude I welcomed.

But you took my hand and along with it my heart.

I won't say this is love,

But I know that what we had was kismet.

A meeting of souls, in this vast ocean,

Two lonely comets in the milky way.

Will our paths cross again?

Will you still remember me?

If ever you see me again.

Or will I just be a memory long forgotten.

Yoongi sighed deeply, cursing himself

"Of all the days to have a stomach ache, aish!"

He laughed bitterly with his stroke of bad luck, seriously thinking of sending you a message over social media, but erasing it, too scared to even press the send button.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Y/N's POV:

You felt happy and was even humming a tune on your way home. Meeting the boys felt like having younger brothers, something you never experienced, since you were an only child.

You felt sad because you've missed meeting the 7th member of the group. You had to catch the bus or you'll end up walking home.

Your dad is annoyed, why you don't want to use his car. You explained to him that it's expensive owning a vehicle and you just started your job.

They even added you in their group chat, so they can contact you anytime.

The management stipulated you would also be one of the group's manager, to create a bond with the group. After meeting the guys you made your decision of accepting the offer to be one of their manager's aside from being an in-house producer.

Your phone rang with notifications coming from the boys after they added you in their group chat.

Namjoon: Noona! Update us when you get home

Jungkook: Noona!thanks for the cookies.

Y/N: already on the bus,thanks for the welcome guys

Jimin: You should have allowed us to bring you home.

Y/N: maybe next time :) you guys need rest

Taehyung: Yeah! Next time we'll bring you home.

Jin: we should hang out all of us

Hoseok: dinner would be fun, right? what do you say Yoongi hyung?

Yoongi: yeah, sure..

You could couldn't believe your eyes, Could it be? Could this be your Yoongi? Did fate really exist? You almost missed your stop, because you're trying to process the information that you had.

You almost bumped into your father not realizing you are already home. You hurriedly took your phone out to update them.

Y/N: I'm home guys, dinner sounds great, see you tomorrow :)

Tomorrow would be interesting you thought to yourself, as you will yourself to sleep.

[adultswim2021]

Xavier: Renegade Angel #13: “Free Range Manibalism” | March 13, 2009 - 12:15AM | S02E05

I’m sorry, but this one is simply too crazy. Xavier finds a restaurant that very snobbishly turns their noses up at his offer of meat. The meat in question is splattered stuff from roads. He is accused of being a bathroom user, and truly, he is. So, they throw him out and he encounters two bums, whom he convinces to pose as pigs so he can offer them to the restaurant. The restaurant’s whole deal is that they pamper their livestock until they pass away from natural causes. Then, and only then, are they turned into a nice meal.

From there it goes off into a direction that I’m not even that sure I can adequately summarize. So, I won’t. Like, no, really, the episode was great, and I laughed at it a bunch, but I genuinely felt like I missed a key word or something that would have explained, sorta, what was going on. 

The honest truth is, sometimes I just don’t want to write about Xavier. That’s because the show is just one incredible joke after the next, and I tend not to enjoy write-ups where all I do is list jokes I like. Here’s some I wrote down, to shut you up: Xavier’s belabored pun of “Heil-er Meatler”. The part where he distracts the sporting goods store (to steal footballs from, so he can sew up new pigskin for the hobos) by getting them to chant “sports” over and over. “Spreading like a mother’s legs on free peanut butter day”. There’s like, way more insane wordplay in this episode than most others, I think. 

This is a wild one, and I probably should have watched it twice before covering it here. Oh well! Merry Christmas, everyone!

MAIL BAG

I definitely took a couple days off so I could use the above screenshot on Christmas Day, and no other reason. Time to shine a spotlight on the man of the hour, Mr. Ho-Ho-Ho himself, Santa Claus:

I don’t think you’re nuts! By the time Delocated season 1 started airing, 30 Rock already had appearances from faces familiar to Late Night w Conan fans, like Brian Stack, Brian McCann, Andy Richter, ofc Jack McBrayer, Conan. i wondered too if they hoped to get those Conan fans who gave 30 Rock a chance bc of those cameos. Good theory!

Hey, thanks for that. 30 Rock was definitely a movement, and it's something we could all get behind.

hey man i dunno who told you that SH*T about robot chciken being canceled but creator-whos-not-seth-green just said in a interview two weeks back that its still going so get your hopes down

The funniest case scenario is that Seth Green is too mad about his monkies that he refuses to do the show, and they try to continue without him. He was probably running around the writers room doing nut taps and throwing Nickelodeon Gak on people so they couldn't write funny sketches ever. Maybe this made-up thing that I'm making up right now is just what the show needs.

Tommy Wiseau is an absolute nut job. Mike Lazzo was playing with matches letting that guy in the adult swim ecosystem. Wish he got burned, boyo.

True that!!! Tommy Wiseau is not "WISE" at all... he is a menace

If Santa could put on piece of Adult Swim swag in your holiday stocking this year what would you want it to be?

A new Space Ghost Volume 5 DVD. The second disc on my copy stopped working. I can't even sell it on eBay anymore! WAAAH! Also, the actual plastic case it came in got extremely brittle and it caved in when I tried to open it last time. It's just all the way fucked. I have a digital backup of it, at least. But, I prefer tactile sensations, and the crackle of the vinyl record.

Santa has just left my house. He left 10 presents and ate all four cookies we left him. I was telling my dog who sleeps in my room how great a deal that was. 10 presents for four cookies? My dog didn't seem to care but enjoyed all the attention he was getting. Welp, back to bed.

I'm glad Santa came. I have a question about dog ownership for you: do you have a dog door and do you ever go through it for fun? I feel like if I had a dog and a dog door I would be going in and out of that thing constantly.

If you got bit by the Santa Claus bug, what would you do? Merry Christmas from LA

Hey, thanks, cool to hear about the move. If I was bit by the Santa bug, I would be in heaven, and I hope that answers all of the Christmas Day questions for AdultSwim.Com (my blog).

[damnhotmsimmons]

Episode 7-What Doesn’t Kill Us..

...makes us stronger. Lol, kidding. Though why the hell did they changed the title at the last minute (it was supposed to be Pieces of Me), it’s not giving the show any favors considering how 16x06 end up. Anyway, here are my thoughts for this episode

caution, spoilers below:

so a woman is trapped somewhere

are those air vents?

For a second, I thought that lady was Nicole Kang from Batwoman

There’s another victim somewhere? 

Now I can why this has a horror movie feel to it

wtf?! Bailey reciting the bookend quotes?

Emily looking fine as always

wait, Garcia is gonna confide to Emily about Tyler?

nvm, Bailey interrupted them. Dammit Bailey, why did you had to had to interrupt some meaningful lady bonding?

Bailey being nervous talking to the Attorney General is not what I expect from him after being an Obstructive Bureaucrat

Emily being so done with politics and getting after nearly dying multiple times is hilarious

not to mention her confusion when Bailey admits he’s nervous and not liking these types of meetings

Again, why is it always the men interrupting any lady bonding, why couldn’t JJ be the one to talk to Tara about her and Rebecca. No offense to Rossi, plus we could have gotten Tara and JJ bonding

You’re not an idiot Tara, Rebecca is being stubborn regardless of her reasons

Rossi being a dad and telling Tara to take three days off

Emily being dramatic af and threatening to resign with Bailey (surprisingly) defending her

Not the Attorney General accusing the BAU of being “distracted” by the Sicarius case

wait, so the case in West Virginia isn’t connected to the Sicarius storyline?

lights? What is this, stranger things?

“Help me.” oh shit, and it’s in blood

Rossi being a dad

So Tara is working on a separate case, which has to deal with Moose based on the sneak peek

Rossi being so done with Bailey, and his reaction to Bailey joining him on the team is hilarious

“Thank you for welcoming us.” “I didn’t” I can’t lmfao

Bailey debriefing 

“What Agent Jareau”

Seriously, not the bureau taking away their jet again, they just got it 

Bailey is me in a group project

So we’re back to some domestic!Elias, reminding the viewers that he’s still a family man

“I will literally murder you.” Sydney sweetie, your husband is a literal serial killer

not these flashbacks

wtf?! another vision

Luke’s reaction to Rossi knowing about whips

another Reid reference

Luke knowing his scriptures, and his grandmother being religious

so the victim is an ex-convict

Bailey taking

Emily stopping Garcia and wanting to know about her and Tyler Green

Emily being a mood when she hears about the kiss

New back at the BAU Garcia being more impulsive and committed to pleasure, she couldn’t have done that to Luke?

Emily telling Garcia she gave her a migraine instead of a headache with the kiss imfao

“You have to break it off with him.” Emily being the majority of the fandom

“Unless you have a time machine..” gotta love sassy Emily

Emily being grossed out when Garcia tells her Tyler spent the night at her place even if it’s not sex haha

Doug being very sympathetic in the interview is not what I’d expect

his father being a hippie in the 60s was also interesting

so the blonde lady, Grace, is still alive, so far and is trying to help the other captive lady, Ashley

at the sneak peek

Tara sa

Garcia telling Tara to call Rebecca and apologize. I appreciate Garcia trying to help Tara

Not Garcia hanging up on Tyler after telling Tara to call Rebecca

The BAU and Bailey delivering the profiler to local police and the campus 

this headmaster being an ass

so Grace has been there for a while

Not another Elias vision, where he kills his family (again)

no, don’t hurt Grace, and Ashley

Tara interviewing Tawny, surprised she didn’t suspect Elias yet. I loved how she called Tara out for being distracted while praying

oh no, not Sydney confronting Elias outside and at night 

Sydney has a rough childhood?

What does Sydney know about Elias?

Shit shit shit, Elias almost tried to kill his own wife till he learns that she knows he got fired

no, please don’t die Grace

Bailey not in a suit makes him look like a suburban dad with that shirt

So it’s the first time seeing him in the field

Bailey’s dad seems like a much bigger asshole than him

of course Emily would tell Rossi and Rossi seems more delighted to be disappointed in Bailey. Matt, Luke, Reid and Morgan are his favorite “sons”

“Come and get it motherfucker.” Get it Ashley, justice for Grace

oh shit, Grace is alive (barely)

Emily and Bailey going in to save the girls

I got anxiety seeing Ashley struggling to find the right key

Thank god she escaped, moreso that she found Emily and Bailey in time

Them inside the building feels like a horror movie

I wished Emily didn’t go alone to stop the unsub

Never thought I’d be relieved to see Bailey there and stop the unsub

Bailey being shaken after seeing blood in his hands

Elias is losing his family, it was inevitable but it’s a pain to watch

I still want to give Tara a hug

Aww, Will waiting for JJ by the elevator

“adult supper” willifer having date night

Tara watching JJ and Will having a moment, my heart. She’s thinking about Rebecca and wished it was them

Tara and Rebecca deserved to go on a date night, fuck you cm writers

Poor Emily, the attorney general closed the Sicarius case

ugh, Tyler at Garcia’s apartment. Also, the messy hair looks bearable than the slicked back hairstyle he got

oh no no no no no, please are they about to-

Emily is somewhere losing her shit and having two migraines again

It should have been Luke, this is bullshit

So Rossi found Elias in the cctv footage, while Elias is trying to hide and bury more evidence

I swear if this sets up a final confrontation between Rossi and Elias, I don’t want it, Garcia should do that

I had to be informed by @marvelfanlife that there was a post credits scene in this episode. I watched it and....yea, aftermath of the “love scene” *vomits*

I will say that while I still don’t like Greencia, the post credits scene was undeniably hilarious. “Redecorating” my ass. Garcia’s neighbor was funny. Still, it could have been garvez

They fucked on the table? Is Garcia a top? The same table where Luke gave Garcia a kiss on the cheek. Thank god for those books to cover up Tyler

again, does that mean top/dom!Garcia confirmed?

  I wil say that this episode was a slight step up compared to last week’s episode, though I still have some issues with certain stuff like the greencia scenes, the Rebecca drama, and the lack of JJ and Luke in this episode. I don’t know how to feel about Bailey, I guess I hate him less since he does have a conscience, though this doesn’t erase all the terrible things he said to Emily and I wished she doesn’t forgive him so easily. At least this episode has some more good moments to balance out the bad stuff (like the greencia scenes). I was relieved to see some female interactions after having so little in the past. Seeing how Aisha directed this episode also explains the slight improvement this episode had. It’s not perfect but I’m more likely to rewatch this episode more than 16x06

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

another month, another… misleadingly high word count. though this was due more to Being On Vacation than being sick, so that’s something! all one piece words, yet again; this makes 135 straight days of one piece writing, for anyone who’s counting.

no new badges this month, just repeats—i got my 18th, 19th, and 20th hamster badges, because it’s a very rare day where i get distracted in the middle of my words, and my 3rd and 4th night bat badges because a lot of the time i forget to write my words until just before bed.

words and days breakdown is as follows:

opfwex ideas: about 11,900 words across eight days

near miss fics: about 7,700 words across five days

the pre-canon uta fic: about 3,000 words across two days

this ask box fic: 790 words on one day

i put a little note in my metadata on the day i finished the buggy pov post-marineford fic that makes me laugh to look at now. that last chapter took me forever, and i was as excited as anyone else to be done with it. maybe too excited?

most of the opfwex idea words were for my proper exchange assignment, which was hell to figure out how to frame. i knew from the beginning the concept i wanted to tackle, but to do it properly would require, like, 20k at least. so i had to narrow my focus, and figuring out the right way to frame it so it still felt like that 20k of story happened in the wider world of the 2-3k i was posting… that took at least five of these days, just writing one false start and scrapping it to write another false start and scrapping that. idk that i’m fully satisfied with the end result… but that’s what happens when you write on a deadline.

the other opfwex days went to treat #2, which also wants to be, like, 20k, and i want to write them so bad. i was tempted to just forget about the exchange and write this fic on my own schedule, and gift it to the prompter at that time, but… idk. i want to gift the prompter something now, just so they know how cool i think their prompt is. so i’m gonna try and get the set-up written so it feels like a prologue to a larger work, and gift them that. i have until the 11th! i might be able to pull it off!

the pre-canon uta fic is… still very vaguely outlined atm (i really do need to watch the uta backstory episodes, if not also movie red, before i attempt this one), but basically: what if shuggy divorce happens and then, about a decade later, shuggy coparenting happens? i’m certainly fudging timelines to make it work, which i hate to do, but the concept is too fun! uta’s gonna parent trap these idiots without even knowing that’s what she’s doing.

[hannukahmatata]

🦅💕😑 for both ships again!

🦅: How good are their friends at being wingmen? Do they even help at all or just sit back watching the pining with a bag of popcorn?

Doc Ock x Luminous:

They have exactly one person in common and it's Spidey. He is so on board because, honestly, he needs something happy in his life and they're both really good allies post-movie (Ock lives in this verse) and like... he's trying. He is. But calling attention to the very obvious energy between them kind of makes things worse for a long while.

Miss Naomi x Sportacus:

So the kids in Lazytown do not notice what's going on until they do, but one very funny wingman is Robbie. It only lasts an episode - his logic was that "Sportaflop" wouldn't be able to save the day if he was distracted in love, promptly disproved by both when his alarm went off and both rushed to help - but he was actually pretty effective at orchestrating time for them to be alone, which they mostly spent talking and working up the nerve to ask each other out.

On Naomi's side, her library (yes it's alive) had a weird tendency of locking Sportacus in whenever he visited, but only when Naomi was also inside. It's not subtle about it.

💕: Who confessed first and how? Did it go as planned or did shenanigans ensue?

Doc Ock x Luminous:

Shockingly, Ock did. It was post-movie, when he'd finally gotten a new inhibitor chip and was able to think clearly. Learning he'd been under the control of an AI really messed with Lo, and basically threw every interaction, especially the flirting, into question.

She'd essentially tried to avoid him for weeks after that, feeling confused and guilty, until he finally got her to talk with him while cleaning up the remains of the machine. That was when she explained how confused and conflicted she felt, because if he was controlled by an AI, how much of that was real? And his response was that was the only thing that was real, the one thing the actuators didn't push him to do. And he didn't want to lose any chance at still knowing her when he was finally free to do so as himself.

They had their first proper kiss that night.

Miss Naomi x Sportacus:

Another surprise, but it was Naomi! Sportacus knew he was in love with her way early into their friendship, (elves are just kind of like that), but he also just enjoyed the process of getting to know her and finding more things to love.

Naomi, meanwhile, was pretty fresh out of a journey of self-actualization and finding herself in the wake of delayed but immeasurable grief, so her experience with love was a bit more rocky. It wasn't that she didn't want to fall in love, it's that she didn't know that's what was going on. Her life had essentially been on pause for the last decade, so piecing herself back together was an ongoing process.

Anyway, she figured it out in the middle of the night while talking to the library and her companion puppet, Ragamonster, who's also alive. She spent a week trying to find the right words to say to him before settling on her usual strategy - being indirect while thinking she was being direct.

Sportacus got a lot of oranges for a couple weeks before realizing she was trying to flirt with him.

😑: How easily do they get jealous and how do they handle it?

Doc Ock x Luminous:

So the funny thing is both get jealous, and handle it very differently; Doc gets territorial while Luminous gets self-conscious. Otto tends to become much more aggressively flirty and hands-on when he's making a point - not to the point of being threatening, but enough that the back off is heard loud and clear.

Lo, meanwhile, tries to improve herself - styling her hair, dressing more provocatively - and Otto has to scoop her up and dote on her until she's reassured that she's the only one for him.

Neither ever takes it out on the other, though. That's not the kind of relationship they have.

Miss Naomi x Sportacus

This is such a complete non-issue it's not even funny. Naomi trusts Sportacus too much to ever get jealous and, like, the absolute biggest risk is Robbie getting roped into a sickeningly sweet throuple. There is zero concern about potential rivals for their affection on either side.