#guns vs guns it's gonna be lit

[neo-zone]

If he can bring back Arrancars, I genuinely need to know the answer from Mayuri himself

Why he didn't resurrect Starrk too?

[cameronluvr]

BABY TRAPPED — dark!rafe x fem reader

summary: rafe purposely gets you pregnant against your own will after you choose the pogues instead of him.

warnings: 18+ !!, DUBCON, forced pregnancy, toxic relationship, abusive relationship, dark!rafe, arguing, fighting, choking, SMUT, fingering, slapping, unprotected sex (p in v) forced sex, jealous!rafe, kinda stalker!rafe, kidnapping(?), creampie, teen pregnancy. (lmk if anymore!)

: ̗̀➛ 𝓶𝔂 𝓶𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽 ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ PART 2

you had been at john b’s chateau for most of the day hanging out with your friends, but you’d promised your parents you’d be home before midnight. looking at the time on your phone, you noticed it was 11:13 pm.

you’d been drinking a little bit, and so had your friends, so driving home wasn’t an option. “guys, i’m gonna need to leave soon” you say over the mild volume of music playing.

“why?�� kiara asks. “my parents told me i had to be home before 12. they’re kinda worried about me because of the whole.. you know.. rafe thing” you reply.

over the past few weeks you’d been going through a rough breakup with rafe. you couldn’t handle him anymore. his anger, his jealousy, his everything. he was no good for you anymore, and with the whole rafe vs pogues situation, you had to pick a side. your boyfriend or your best friends.

you had to pick your friends. there was no other choice, no other way out. rafe had tormented your friends for months. he pulled his gun on them, he beat them up, he attempted to kill kiara and his own sister sarah. and he almost killed you.

you’d lost track of how many fights you had with him, how many times he hit you and you hit him back. the screaming wars you’d have always ended up with him choking you or slapping you, and ward having to physically pull him away from you.

you just couldn’t put up with him anymore. he was manipulative, toxic, and most of all abusive. your friends knew about all of this, and tried so hard to get you away from him, but you couldn’t escape from him. he’d always convince you otherwise, guilt trip you, lie to you, twist your words…

“ya’ want me to walk you home?” jj asks, sitting beside you, smoking his blunt. you think about it for a second, but decline his offer. “thanks, but i’m okay, really. i’ll be fine” you nod and smile. “you sure?” sarah asks from across the room as they all practically look at you as if you were crazy. rafe was crazy, and if he saw you alone, only god knows what he would do…

“yeah, i’m good. i think i need to be alone anyway. take a nice walk by myself” you shrug. you hadn’t really had much alone time in months, considering you had a boyfriend glued to your hip out of distrust.

“okay, well, please call us if you need us, m’kay?” sarah says, walking over to you to hug you. she’s worried for you the most, you’re her best friend and her own brother is ruining your life. “i will, promise” you smile, standing up to hug her tightly.

“love you, y/n” kiara says with a smile as you walk out the door, saying bye to them all. you blow a kiss to kie before shutting the door behind you. they all know you’re going through a tough time, so they’re trying their best to be there for you and look out for you. they all love you.

walking home now, you stroll down the dark, long road ahead, with nothing surrounding you but tall trees and dim streetlights. no people, no lit-up houses, just dark and quiet streets with people in bed.

you walk for ten more minutes before you hear a car approaching from behind you. you give it no thought though, not wanting to worry yourself. the car gets closer, as if it were going to drive straight past you, but suddenly, you hear the car slowing down and eventually stopping right next to you. you don’t want to look, but you have to.

your heart sank into your chest when you noticed rafe’s black range rover, right as the window rolled down. it was rafe. “y/n get in.” his tone demanding and angry. “no, leave me alone.” you quickly turn around, power walking away. however, he only follows you. he slowly drives, following you, speeding up and slowing down whenever you do.

“y/n just get in i wanna talk” he says out the window, resting his arm on it as he watches you, attempting to talk to you. “rafe, leave me the fuck alone.” your voice gets louder, but you’re not yelling, yet. “save yourself the hassle and get in for fuck’s sake” he says, getting more frustrated by the second.

“no” you say, not looking in his direction at all. “oh my god” he says, sighing before putting the car in park and getting out. “no, go away!” you say, attempting to run but he grabs you before you can. you thrash around in his arms before he picks you up and drags you to his car.

“put me down!” you yell at him, trying to fight him but he is much stronger than you are. he opens the passenger door, shoving you inside before quickly getting in the drivers seat and locking the doors.

“what the fuck are you d—” you scream at him before his hand roughly covers your mouth, shutting you up. “i just wanted to talk, but you always have to make it hard, don’t you?” he says, eventually letting go of your mouth and seeing a mark left over from how tight his grip was.

“i don’t want to fucking talk! you yell as he rolls the windows all the way up so nobody can hear you fussing. “i don’t care. who the fuck do you think you are?” he yells at you, making you flinch. “what?” your eyebrows furrow.

“choosing those fucking trash pogues over me. are you serious? dumping me for them?” he argues. you’ve had this argument with him plenty of times, he seems to not be able to let it go. or let you go. “rafe. i didn’t want to be your girlfriend anymore, okay? you’re abusive, you’re mean, you’re—” you say, only to be cut off by his laughter. “abusive? for wanting to protect you? for wanting the best for you? right” he squints his eyes. “wanting the best for me? are you serious? you’ve done nothing but hurt me, and hurt my friends, including your own sister, by the way!” you argue, but he scoffs and tuts, as if they were nothing.

“because i told you so many fucking times to stay away from them, didn’t i?” he screams in your face, watching as you flinch with fear. “yeah, you did, but they are my friends, rafe, sarah is my best friend and you tried to kill her? she’s your fucking sister you should love her more than you love me” you say, voice getting higher out of frustration for him. how can he be so naive and cruel?

“her? she’s no sister of mine. that bitch has always been against me” he scoffs, speaking so lowly of his own little sister. “no she hasn’t, rafe!” you try to tell him, but every word that comes out of your mouth is a lie according to his delusions.

“right, whatever.” he rolls his eyes at you and your ‘lies’, but he just doesn’t want to accept the truth. he’s the problem, he turned everyone against himself. “i love you, yeah? i never stopped” he suddenly says, looking at you.

“well i have.” you say, but hearing those words were gut wrenching to him. you crossed the line. he unexpectedly and quickly reaches over, grabbing you by the throat and squeezing his fingers.

“i never wanna hurt you, y/n. you make me do it. i want to love you, but when you’re running off with your little friends behind my back, you make it hard to trust you, yeah?” he explains in his usual manipulative tone.

“rafe…” you force out, feeling as his grip tightens, his nails basically digging into your skin. “can you let me love you like i want to? like i’ve been trying to?” he asks, watching as your face turns redder and redder.

he loves watching you struggle, it was his favorite part of having power over you. it’s like it turns him on to hurt you. “please.. stop…” you struggle to say as he just keeps begging for your love.

“y/n, let me show you how much i really love you. please?” he asks softly, looking at you with adoration as if his own hand isn’t almost causing you to lose consciousness. he was psychotic. “ok.. ok.. yeah.. just let me go” you choke, nodding your head as fast as you can. you didn’t want to agree, but you had to otherwise he wasn’t going to stop.

and who knows what he would’ve done if you had passed out? you’d dread to think. “yeah? atta’ girl. i knew you’d come to terms with me sooner or later” he says, smiling as if he didn’t force the right answer out of you. he lets go of your throat, loving the sound of you gasping for air and regaining your breath.

you wanted to hit him so bad, you wanted to insult him and call him names but most importantly, you didn’t want him to actually kill you. “let’s go somewhere private, hm?” he suggests, like you could say no. you stay silent in his passenger seat, nodding at everything he’s saying, submitting to your fear of him.

he puts the car into gear and begins driving off. he drives five minutes down the road before turning down an off road path which lead to the lake, but he stopped in the secluded path surrounded by more trees, and more darkness.

turning his engine off, he turns to face you. “do you love me?” he asks. you’re terrified to answer. you’d be lying if you said yes, but if you said no, you’d find out. “…yes” you gulp, fearing him deeply. “good girl” he smirks, smelling your fear like a dog could.

he loves it. he loves you being afraid to say something he doesn’t want to hear, that’s the first step to being the perfect girlfriend in his eyes, you always know the right answer.

he turns in his seat to face you, reaching his hand over to your thigh. he rubs it, trailing his hand up and closer to your pussy, but you shift your legs the other way to move his hand away, making him grab your thigh and moving it back to where it was.

“don’t act like you don’t want it. you just said you love me” he leans over, darkly whispering in your ear which sent shivers down your spine. “i.. i do” you lie, not wanting to send him over the edge. he smirks at your words, leaning his head down to your neck to kiss it. you don’t want his touch, but you need it.

“rafe…” you whisper, trying your best not to want it but it’s difficult when he’s kissing your neck and moving his hand up your thigh again, only this time you don’t move your legs when he gets close to your pussy. you’re wearing jeans, so you feel his hand unbuttoning them which made you nervous, but you let it happen anyway.

“what baby?” he whispers, lifting his head from your neck to look at you. “i—” you say, cut off by the feeling of his cold hand slipping into your jeans. you jump at the temperature of his skin, which made him laugh. “come on, just take it” he licks his lips, looking at yours before kissing them. you kiss him back, and eventually start making out with him.

mid kiss, his hand slips into your panties, making you hum a moan. “you like that?” he asks, rubbing circles on your clit before breaking the kiss. “mhm” you hum, but his other hand reaches behind your head and grabs a fistful of your hair, pulling your head back. “use your words, princess” he tells you, his dark eyes staring into yours. “…yes.” you hesitate to say, but you go along with it for your own safety and his sanity.

“hmm.. good” he smirks, letting go of your hair and kissing you again before his hand slid down your pussy, to your hole. you gasp at his sudden movement, but he chuckles at you. “you’re so wet. i’m always turning you on, huh?” he says, opening his mouth and mocking your gasp.

you chuckle too, wanting him to know you’re on the same page. after seconds of his fingers teasing your hole, he slides two of them into you. you gasp, moaning as his fingers fill you up to his knuckles. “so deep..” you moan, tensing up in your seat at his touch.

but it wasn’t long before he had you stripped off and sitting on his lap with the seat pushed all the way back. “fuck” he moans at the sight of your pretty tits, his hands grabbing your ass cheeks.

“if we do this… will you leave me alone after?” you ask, terrified to say but it needed to be said. “yeah, of course, i promise” he says like it’s nothing, like he didn’t even hear those words come out of your mouth. you were expecting a different reaction, but he had a different plan.

you felt like you had to have sex with him one last time for him to be able to move on from you. or so you thought that’s how it would be. “i love you, but if i need to leave for you to be happy, then i will” he says, almost believably.

but that was a lie.

pulling his boxers off allowed his hard dick to spring out, hitting your leg. you both giggle before starting to make out again, where his hands slid from your ass cheeks to your hips, his fingers twirling the sides of your panties before pulling them down and off your feet.

“ride me, princess” he says, both of your warm areas touching. you nod, lifting yourself up and positioning yourself above his cock before his hands roughly gripped your waist, pulling you to sit down on it.

you let out a loud moan of pain and pleasure. “fuuuck” he drags, closing his eyes as he pulled you up and down, choosing the speed and roughness for you. your moans cried out, you didn’t know if it hurt or felt good more.

“i missed you so much. i missed this pussy” he tells you, his hands roaming your naked back as his dick harshly thrusts up into you. “i missed you” you say, knowing you didn’t mean a single word. your horniness and desire to please him took over.

“you’re mine, baby” he tells you, his fingernails digging into your hips, making you cry out. he was so good at pleasing your pussy that you ruled out the pain he caused. “…always” you say, starting to question whether or not he was being honest about leaving you alone.

his pace is rough, he’s fucking you so harshly that you don’t think he’s ever gone this hard on you before. it hurts, but it hurts so good. “ow.. fuck.. rafe” you moan loudly like a porn star. “that’s it, baby” he says, feeling closer and closer to coming each time he thrust up into you.

your legs start to burn and ache, and he can tell by how much your legs are shaking. so he pulls you off of him, and guides you into the back seats where he climbs over after you.

he lays you down on your back, spreading your bodies over the three seats. he positions his cock near your pussy again, before sliding in with no warning. you moan, wrapping your arms around his back and gripping his shoulders. “fuckkk” he moans in your ear, making you much wetter. no matter how much you hate rafe cameron, his moans were your weakness.

the rougher and meaner he got, the more aroused he was. it wasn’t long before he started choking you, and slapping you around. it’s what he does during sex. he loves the power, he loves the dominance he has over you. you allowed it, though, because this was the last time. right?..

minutes later, you you felt him speeding up and becoming more tense, which meant he was gonna finish any second now. you, however, weren’t even close to finishing. it did feel good, but it didn’t change your feelings for him. you can’t come over somebody you hate so much.

“fuck baby.. ‘m gonna cum…” he says, twitching his dick as he empties his load into you. you moan at the feeling of his warm cum filling you up and leaking out after. he slowly pulls out, smirking knowing he’s hiding a huge secret from you.

he snuck into your house a few days ago while you were out with the pogues, and swapped your birth control pills for fake ones. but you had no idea…

it wasn’t until two weeks later when you were throwing up in your toilet, and crying your eyes out when you realized you’d missed your period. “fuck” you say, grabbing an emergency pregnancy test from the cabinet above the sink. you had them hidden in there just in case.

you take the pregnancy test, pacing around your bathroom for five minutes straight, waiting for the results. boom. the alarm you’d set on your phone goes off, five minutes is up. you switch the alarm off and gulp, slowly reaching for the pregnancy test. you pick it up, and gasp when you read the answer.

POSITIVE.

what the fuck are you supposed to do now?…

NOT PROOFREAD. probably some mistakes, but my FIRST smut writing?!?!😩😩 plssssss lmk what y’all think! <333

@cameronluvr

[certifiedlovergirlsstuff]

vampire king

pairing: dick grayson x batgirl!reader

wc: 745

warnings: blood i think. should be clean

A/N: idea came from the dc comics event DC vs Vampires. yall should read. prompt "one way or another, you're gonna die tonight" from@nightprompts

divider from @firefly-graphics

masterlist / dick grayson

🎧 vampire

vampires were taking over the streets of gotham. it was quiet at first, only the upper class had already been the mythical creatures or they were turned at the idea of mortality the greed of being young and rich forever.

slowly people were disappearing off the streets only to come back looking ghostly, sunken cheeks and pointed teeth baring two holes into victims skin to suck them dry of blood.

when you first heard batman talking about it you thought it was some prank he was actually in on, but when you visited the ME office and saw the bodies for yourself you quickly realized the severity of the situation.

batman called the justice league for a worldwide level emergency. gotham was the main priority since it was quickly being swallowed by the monsters, you and the others could only do so much with only gadgets and stun guns.

“nightwing and batgirl, both of you take lower gotham. the docks, shipping yards, junkyards. any place dark and dangerous for the normal person.” batman gave commands to groups and duos quickly, everyone split up to their locations.

“you think theirs a higher up?” questioning nightwing through your helmet comms. your motorcycle zipping through the top quiet streets while heading to a north-east shopping yard. the two of you were side to side, nightwing zooming just a little quicker ahead.

“probably. usually there always needs to be one to grow more vampires. they always need a king or queen.” he sounded bored while replying. “keep your head clear, almost there.” then revved his engine and sped off.

powering down your cycle killed the sound and lights leaving you in a dimly lit space with only the sounds of the water close by. pulling your helmet off slowly and clipping it to your handles, you noticed he wasn’t anywhere nearby. it kept you on alert.

“nightwing,” pressing on your wrist com. you waited two seconds before calling his name again. “nightwing, come in.” cautious steps deeper into the maze of shipping containers.

a sharp thud stopped you short, gadgets at the ready. no noise followed so you continued further in. then it came again so you called out, “come out and this will be over quickly.”

no response. “i’m not here to play games. either cooperate or get ready for a fight.” flicking a batarang open.

a deep lifeless chuckling filled the air, a large shadow stalking over white and green containers. “you’re very funny, batgirl.” small knocks echoing out, “thinking you're a threat to anyone. such a small human, weak boned girl. i can easily snap you like that of a toothpick.”

“why don’t you step out of the shadows and follow thru with that threat.” shuffling your feet and legs into a combat stance.

another low chuckle followed by a sign, “oh i will. can’t wait to see your reaction to this news.”

your face screwed up and before you ask what they were talking about, they step out the shadows and stood illuminated by over headlights. hands held out at their sides, a twist grin.

“dick?” body relaxing itself. not understanding what was happening. “this- this isn’t funny, dick!”

his grin twisting further, “oh, this isn’t some joke, y/n. you were asking about a higher up. so i thought you deserved to know who that was.” stepping further in, your heart pounding.

“i’m the king. and no matter what happens tonight, your gonna die. whether that be permanent or immortal is up to you.” hands sitting on his hips with his head cocked. white eyes emotionless and face stone still.

you couldn’t help the quiver to your lips or the crack in your voice, “this isn’t you, dick.”

he pouted and kissed his teeth, “oh sweetheart, this is me. well, dick has been gone for a long time, probably six months at this point. but that doesn’t matter, time is nonexistent when you’ve been alive for thousands of years.” he took slow, calculated strides closer. his hands now held behind his back, still carrying himself strong and high.

a sniffle of your nose before sitting back to your defensive position. eyes steeling hard and flexing your muscles hard, the sharpest point of your weapon aimed at the enemy. dick, the vampire king stopped short of a foot away. arms still held tight behind him as he cocked his head again, a mirthless quirk of his lips.

“are you ready to die tonight, mighty batgirl?”

-

[strmborns]

TLOU: Left Behind

The Last of Us episode 7 spoilers bellow

.

.

.

.

.

Joel wanting Ellie to leave… my man she is not gonna leave you… ever

We get a glimpse of Ellie’s drawings and her love of space

Bella Ramsey is so tiny I love her

Ellie and her guns

Ellie face lit up just like the lights when the mall lit up

The escalator scene was amazing, she is just like a 5 year old seeing them for the first time

Them judging Victoria secret is amazing. But I’m not gonna lie, I would raid VS, in the apocalipse with no clean underwear left seems like hell to me 😂

I would totally raid the body shop

Ellie s so clearly in love with Riley, she can’t even hide it

The photo booth scene 😍

I loved to see Ellie and Riley just be kids, even if it was very short lived

I love Bella’s giggles so much

They not knowing what a screenshot is 😂

I feel bad for Riley with her wish to belong, it’s just like Tommy

THE FUCKING KISS I WAS WAITING FOR IT

“What do we do now,” Ellie’s face she was so in love

I was waiting for the Left Behind episode and it did not disappoint

JOEL AND ELLIE HOLDING HANDS

Joel looking at Ellie like he was thankful for her staying behind

[luvrrgirl444]

chapter 25: LASER TAG DEATHMATCH

IRL!

*italics are edits in the video !

“yooo, wassup guys!” as usual, connie screamed into the camera. you, sasha and jean all stood by him.

“yo, wassup guys,” eren, who was behind the camera, mocked. in a terrible american accent.

“looks around awkwardly” armin said, from behind the camera as well.

beep!

“yooo wassup guys!” connie screamed into the camera once again.

“it’s us, big cheese 4000 back again with another motherfuckin banger,” jean followed. you and sasha snickered. “why are you a cornball?” sasha asked him.

“man fuck y’all.” jean rolled his eyes.

“anyways! wassup guys! today we finna play laser tag! and..” you pointed to sasha.

“what you pointing to me for?” sasha asked, confused. armin cleared his throat behind the camera. “oh!”

beep!

“so, today we’re gonna play laser tag! and..” you pointed to the brunette again.

“and we got some special guests with us today!”

the camera flipped and the entire “brit gang” was shown. the royal entrance fanfare music played when the group was showed. all of their names and @‘s were placed onto their respective faces.

“we got big cheese 4000 vs the brit gang. this is the battle of the century.” connie exclaimed.

ymir groaned. “mate, there’s no way that’s what you’re calling us.”

connie shrugged. “the fans chose it, not me.” he looked around suspiciously. “-mate.” he added.

the singer rolled her eyes. “the fans won’t like it when i kick my foot up your ass, you idiot.”

connie’s eyes widened. he flipped the camera back to his face. “guys, ion feel safe right now.”

“that’s how i feel at every rehearsal.” eren chimed in. ymir jokingly glared at him.

beep!

“okay guys, we inside!” connie panned the camera around the building, recording every part of the neon interior.

“ooo, this is nice!” sasha said, reciting the tiktok audio.

“it’s kinda blinding me, actually.” historia piped up from beside her girlfriend. there was neon everywhere. and they weren’t even inside the laser tag arena yet.

“oh for sure. there’s fucking neon everywhere.” armin added, slightly squinting.

beep!

the video then cut to the group putting on their vests for the game. out of the group, connie was the only person struggling. jean panned the camera to the boy with the buzzcut, struggling to properly put on his vest. jean snorted. “need some help?”

connie rolled his eyes. “don’t fucking laugh bitch.” jean passed the camera to you, so that he could help his friend. you recorded and laughed. “this is mad embarrassing connie. what are the hoes gonna think about this?” you asked connie. in response, he stuck his middle finger up and rolled his eyes.

the rest of the group laughed. you then turned the camera towards them. “are you guys excited?” you asked. since there were four of you in big cheese 4000 and five in the brit gang, they had an extra person.

“yes!” sasha screamed. “i can’t wait to cook them!” mikasa and armin side eyed her. “um. okay.” mikasa said. “you’re not cooking shit.” she finished. sasha gasped. “just for that, i’m getting your fuckass first.”

you flipped the camera to show you and eren looking around. “awkward.” he said.

it then cut to a montage of you, sasha, jean and connie posing in the black vests with blue leds on them and blue lit laser guns in your hands. the lyrics of ‘barbie’ by jaidyn alexis and blueface played in the background.

BIG CHEESE 4000 😍😍

another (shorter) montage followed. eren, armin, historia, ymir and mikasa posed in the black vests as well, but with red leds and laser guns. the disgusted spongebob fog horn sound played in the background.

BRIT GANG 🤢🤢 (AKA THE OPPS)

beep!

SASHA

“okay, i hope you guys can hear me right now.” sasha said, whispering. you guys had bought some cheap ass smart glasses from amazon, in order to try to film the battle.

the footage was dark, but you could see parts of the neon led lights on the walls. “i’m hiding in a corner. i’m like deadass scared right now.” she said. “if someone fucking finds me i’m so cooked.”

a clip from earlier replays in slowmo. “i can’t wait to cook them” FRAUD in big, bold letters is edited onto her face.

ARMIN

“these glasses are so stupid. i feel like an idiot right now.” the blonde complained. “no shade to any glasses wearers out there.”

CANCEL HIM was displayed on the screen.

CONNIE

“everyone’s prolly hiding right now, but fuck that. yolo. you only live once.” he whispered, sneaking around the arena to find someone. after a minute or two he saw a red glow and prepared to attack.

“i’m locked in right now, gang. watch me get this easy kill.” he snuck around to the red that he saw, before raising his laser gun and shooting whoever was there. it was historia. she screamed, before her red lights went dim.

HISTORIA

she rolled her eyes. “bitch, you’re finished.” she said, before ymir came from out of nowhere and shot him in the chest. his blue light turned gray.

“WHAT THE FUCK???” connie exclaimed. historia laughed. “bro really thought he was gonna get away with it.”

“that’s literally cheating.” he argued. “no it’s not! we’re literally on a team????” historia argued back as they walked out of the arena.

YMIR

“connie’s such a little bitch, oh my god.” she snickered. “bruv thought he was getting away. ‘watch me get this easy kill’” ymir mocked.

SASHA

“oh my god, y’all. i just heard a fucking scream. what the fuck.” she whispered shouted. she heard footsteps and froze. “i fucking know there’s someone out there. i’m actually hella scared right now.” the person’s footsteps got louder and louder. sasha was scared shitless. until she saw the blue lights.

Y/N

“you scared the shit out of me, bruh.” sasha whispered, rolling her eyes. you sat beside her in the corner and giggled. “i’m sorry. i heard a scream and i got scared as fuck. i ran.” the brunette beside you laughed.

“should we just stay here until it’s like one british person left?” you looked up at the ceiling and saw that the count was 4 3. sasha nodded and snickered. “fuck yeah. that’s not cheating..right?”you shrugged.

JEAN

“i hear someone.” he whispered and looked around. “bro, this is like the fucking hunger games. whoever’s editing this, can you put the whistle?” he asked.

NO 😂😂 was put on the screen, before the iconic whistle played.

“i can literally hear someone moving right now. guys, should i go for it?” jean asked rhetorically. “nah, fuck that.”

EREN

“i’m honestly chilling right now.” he said. “i haven’t seen anyone, anyone hasn’t seen me.”

“i did hear a scream though, which was crazy. sounded like a girl, but it could’ve been connie. who knows?” he laughed.

KARMAS A BITCH. was put onto the screen, as well as a countdown.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

TO BE CONTINUED..

🫧

- im a bad lil bitch n im snipped like a BARBIE

taglist <3 : @greeniegreengreen @bakuhoes-bxtch @itzgabz22 @princess-jaeger @marsandsaturn @violenthots @roses-arerosies @conniesbbymama @llovergirlll @iheartamajiki @clipperlighter @liliorsstuff-blog @hoohoohope @akvrae @rinslutz @miniaturelunar @sheluvzeren @shigamiryuk @chamomilespetal @booistoleyou @asp7n @heartz444skz @thatartistshar0n @vintagexparker @tsukkisukkii @venusinx @seeingivy @cyberkitty1 @anitatvd @blamemef0rit @crvzy-fujoshi @dazaisfavgf @bubbabobabubbles @erenspersonalwh0re @imaniitheoneee

[dinitride-art]

Lighting and Stranger Things Season Four - Full Analysis (Pt.38)

Nancy’s got a gun. Let’s talk about that. Also more fire. And windows. And, actually, there’s a lot of things going on here. 

S4:E9 - FIRE!!!! (#2)

Vecna bursts into flames after Robin throws the second molotov cocktail at him. And Nancy’s heading in. Now we’re moving into some blue and yellow lighting, as opposed to the red and blue lighting. 

With the fire, more yellow is introduced and overpowers the red a bit. The blue doesn’t change all too much.

Then Nancy moves foreword with her gun, and she’s positioned so we see her red vest- or at least it looks red. Either way it looks like Will in season one. The gun, the vest, and the red are all Will.

As Nancy moves forward, we get some cool lighting. Red and blue and red and green. This reminds me of how Will’s been lit in season four. Soft and overwhelming. 

When Nancy shoots, it’s just more fire. This is Will the Wise’s whole thing- fireball. And that’s what everyone is doing. Except Will.

The light streaming in from the holes in the roof is blue. And now Nancy is red. When Robin threw fire at Vecna, we moved away from red for a bit- but now we’re right back where we started. Red and Blue. The Snow Ball. Mike’s shirt pocket pointing to ice instead of Will. Will needs to be the one casting the spell, but Mike and Will can’t get it together (they’re also not anywhere near Hawkins so. They’ve got an excuse but. If they were in Hawkins things would have been different.)

Hopper cuts of the head of the demogrogon with the sword. Like when Hopper cut off it’s arm, it’s shot in a way that emphasizes which specific part he attacks. His right arm wasn’t the right move, so his head probably isn’t the right one either. 

Maybe he should’ve stabbed it in the heart. Maybe they shouldn’t have confronted Vecna head on. Maybe they should’ve gone for his heart.

Because he seems to be doing alright. He’s not dead. Or like. Keeled over onto the floor and screaming because he’s on fire. So what they’re doing isn’t working and doesn’t seem to be having very much of an effect on him. They’re hurting him- but he’s still very much alive.

A close up of Nancy’s gun and her pink nail polish. Again, more Will.

And we’ve got more yellow and blue. But the red is a bit more prominent this time around.

They send him flying through the boarded up window behind him. Windows have been a thing this season. The windows in the van scene, the windows wuth the light behind Will at Suzie’s house, the window behind El with the yellow curtains when Mike and El were fighting, the windows earlier in the scene behind Max and El- there’s a lot of windows that hold meaning. And Vecna breaking through a boarded up window? Seems along the same lines as, “your dominos are gonna fall.” 

Hopper and Joyce are under a bluish green light. And are in blue and red. And are surrounded by bodies on fire as the snow falls. Snow and ice and water, all come up this season. Mike and the ice box at the gas station, Mike and Will being the ones to fill the pizza dough freezer with water, the bath literally being a pizza dough freezer. They’re putting out the fire, even though that’s what everyone is using to fight Vecna. Will being out of Hawkins during all of this seems to be a very big part of the reason they lost.

Red and green lights on the helicoper. Green as connected to Mike and Willl, adn red connected to red vs. green/covering up romantic feelings with green. 

Four points of fire. One dark spot in the middle. Four gates, but somethings still missing.

The blue Creel house. The vests. The door behind them. 

Vecna broke through the boarded up window. The door is open. They have the appearances and actions of Will. 

Hopper went for the head instead of the heart. Mike’s monologue being logical, but not from the heart. Will telling Mike he’s the heart. (this ones a little bit of a reach. Maybe. But it intrigues me)

The red and blue. The Snow Ball. Forced conformity. The monologue. The painting. 

The heart vs. what you’re supposed to think. 

Fire vs. ice.

Light vs. shadow.

Will vs. El.

There’s a lot of contrast this season, huh?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 25.1 25.2 25.3 26 27 28 29 29.1 30 30.1 31 31.1 32 32.1 33 34 35 36 37 38 (to be edited)

[ameliterature]

CONGRATS!!!🎉✨For the celebration asks: the dead poets play laser tag HC. You can do anything you like with it, but for some ideas, any thoughts on who wins, loses first, gets distracted/accidentally injured, teams up or switches sides? <3

daslkdjlak Thank you!! I love this prompt!!

Ahahah ok so they actually randomly draw the teams so it's fair

so the teams are:

meeks, neil, cameron, charlie, stick

vs

todd, pitts, knox, ginny, chris

Stick was literally just working there part time and they needed an extra player lmaooo

almost immediately Stick snipes Knox because Knox isn't used to laser guns hahah, but he also died in honor protecting ginny and chris

at first cameron and charlie are constantly fighting about the strategy but neil and meeks used them as bait and sniped pitts trying to target them, it was bittersweet when meeks sniped pitts but chris immediately avenged him "sorry meeksie"

So uhm

Todd was hiding and camping the whole time. He's great at running away so he's always moving and camping

He almost yelps when he sees ginny all defeated because chris sacrificed herself as stick aimed at ginny. Ginny was able to escape crying as chris literally said "it's literally just a light, im not dead" "sometimes i can still hear her voice"

now it's just neil, cameron, charlie, stick vs todd and ginny

luckily todd got lucky as stick passed by their hiding spot and pointed his laser at him "aw dang, you're the first guy to ever get me haha"

Todd's happy for now but as stick walked away, ginny and todd celebrating, neil appears from behind them

"Hey Todd" Neil smiled and ginny pushed todd away "RUN"

Ginny and Neil have a semi epic foot chase around the area, their shirts glowing in the dark and their blue and green vests zipping everywhere

Todd was able to hide but he also did spot Cameron and Charlie making out in one of the hiding spots.

Instead of commenting, he sniped charlie in the chest. "Wha--NOOOO"

Cameron turns around and sees todd and he gets shot too. "CAMERON NOOOO" "charlie, you died first" "HE WAS SO YOUNG" "charlie, we have to get out now" "I DIDNT EVEN GET TO SAY I LOVED HIM--" Cameron cuts him off with a kiss and Todd bolts

So at the end of their foot chase, Ginny and Neil are cornered and ginny points her laser at neil

"This can all end peacefully, you can rejoin chris in heaven!" Neil shouts

"I'm still here!" chris said from outside.

"YEAH AND DEAD, BE QUIET." and neil shoots his laser while ginny was distracted from chris' joke

"Aw man! Babe you distracted me!" "when did i not??"

So now it was just Neil and Todd roaming the arena, the many hiding spots seeming quiet.

"Tooooddd, you know if we don't finish this in 5 minutes, it's a draw right?" Neil teased before he heard sniffling

He saw Todd tucked away under some dimly glowing stairs

"T-todd? Hey... are you ok?"

"I... I dunno why i feel so scared. you're not gonna shoot me now, are you?"

"No, not yet, not until you feel better." Todd then threw himself over neil and Neil's already flushed face became hotter. No one knew of his crush on Todd (except everyone did know except for todd), even if this laser tag game was his idea, he didnt think it would lead to todd clinging on to him desperately.

"thank you neil." todd said, lifting his head slightly, meeting neil's gaze. his eyes were searching his own, their faces so close...

"Todd.. I..." Neil gulped as Todd's parted lips got closer to his.

BZZZZZ "Blue TEAM WINS"

Neil looks down at his now-unlit vest before looking back at todd. Todd's laser was right at his sensor too. Sneaky.

"Looks like we won." Todd smirked, making neil swoon over his expression. He didnt have time to feel betrayed at all.

"Y-yeah... You won." Neil mumured.

Todd helped him up and they walked back outside into the brightly lit lobby.

Todd's team hugged him and patted his back while Neil's team:

"Damn it, see, I knew Neil would blow it!" Charlie sulked.

"Hey at least I wasn't the one who was making out with my roommate"

"Bet you wish you were." Charlie commented before Todd appeared.

"Hahahah Suck it, Neil!" Todd said playfully.

"hahah yeah, suck it, Neil." Charlie sneered at Neil before Neil politely strangled him.

As they took a picture, Todd and Neil were arm in arm, red and sweaty, Neil smiled in the memory of what could've happened in that dim room. Little did Neil know Todd was going to confess to him later in their dorm.

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

There's a team of heroes vs one villain in the town and one of the heroes gives the others away when they all decide cover up something awful. Villain applauds the hero for coming forward, showering them in praise and affection, but Hero is apprehensive about everything because under the masks they still were friends with the other heroes- and they betrayed them. With no friends and no job, however, they keep coming to Villain for their needs.

Request #16

Warning: torture, descriptions of harm & wounds.

Here you go! 💖💖

~~~~

Hero couldn't believe what lay before their eyes. While they were out on patrol, their teammates had called them, telling them to get back to base immediately. Apparently, they had caught one of Villain's henchmen and were in the middle of interrogating them.

This, however, was not how Hero imagined their 'interrogation' would look like. Henchman's bruised and bloodied body was lying on the cold stone floor, shaking, their breathing dangerously heavy. "W-What happened?!"

"Oh, yeah, they didn't wanna talk, so we had to uh... get a little rough, ya know?" - Second Hero answered, calm and unbothered, Third Hero and Fourth Hero equally unconcerned.

"Anyway, where were we?" - Third Hero asked no one in particular as they moved closer to the fallen henchman. Calling forth their power, they continued, "This bitch still hasn't said a word."

Henchman tensed up, preparing for more pain, before Hero suddenly interrupted, "Hold on, uh- How about you let me take a crack at 'em, ay? And you guys go take a break; it looks like we're gonna be at it for a while."

The third hero considered their suggestion for a moment, not noticing the bead of sweat going down Hero's forehead, and then responded with a grin, "Aight, leave some for us to play with later, though."

The three blood-covered heroes exited the room chuckling, leaving Hero and Henchman alone. As the hero neared the beaten-up crook they tensed up, jaw locking tight.

They did flinch, however, as Hero's hand gently landed on their shoulder. The henchman dared a glance at them, and their confusion only grew as they saw the worry on the other's face. "Are- Are you alright?"

"..."

"Right, okay- you don't want to talk- uh... here." - Hero continued the one-sided conversation, carefully lifting Henchman into a bridal carry. The criminal tried to fight against them but only hissed as pain shot through their entire body. They rested their head against the hero's shoulder with a groan, letting them do as they pleased.

Hero called upon their power, their eyes glowing in the dimly lit room. Henchman was ready for pain, but to their surprise, the hero did not use their power to hurt them. Honestly, they weren't even sure what their power was, as they've never seen them use it.

The faint sound of pitter-patter caught their attention. The room's door opened, and through it came a... spider-shaped machine...? It was quite odd-looking, a short cylinder with some pointy legs attached to it, alongside what was probably cameras going all around its side, giving it three-sixty vision. The contraption was big, too, and apparently sturdy enough for the hero to stand atop it with the henchman still in their arms.

"W-Wha...?" - Henchman tried, but the Hero quickly cut them off, "I can control machines with my mind."

With a surge of power from the hero, the odd metallic spider moved again, taking them out of the interrogation room. It skittered along the ground before suddenly climbing onto the wall. Henchman yelped as they expected gravity to drag them to the floor but were surprised yet again as both humans and the robot moved horizontally to the ground without issue.

The henchman didn't even bother asking as they moved along the ceiling, traveling upside down; they just assumed it had something to do with magnets. They were very high up. The heroes' base had some awfully tall ceilings, but they supposed it was convenient in this scenario, as the two wouldn't easily be spotted. Upon looking up- or down? Whatever it was, they noticed they were currently in a lounge room, the other three heroes chatting amongst themself below them.

Both Henchman and Hero kept their mouths shut tight as they passed over the team and slithered into another room. Once the human chatter faded from their ears, they both let out a breath, the hero's machine speeding up, crawling to a nearby window.

As the cool outside air hit their face, the henchman let themself relax a bit in the other's hold, still confused but now more convinced that they were being helped. The sun had nearly set, and nighttime's darkness was slowly enveloping the city.

As the moon began rising into the sky, Hero and Henchman moved across rooftops and between alleyways, headed straight for Villain's lair.

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

"You know, I probably should've asked earlier..." - Henchman began. The two were standing atop a building, looking down at the villain's lair. " But why are you... helping me?"

"..." - Hero was silent at first, a pained frown taking over their face as they thought about their teammates, their friends. They never expected the three would do something like this...

"I... I couldn't just let them hurt you like that. It- It wasn't right..."

Without another word from either of them, they descended down the side of the building and moved closer to the guards stationed outside. Before entering the henchmen's line of sight, Hero moved off their machine, hiding it nearby, and walked closer.

They immediately became surrounded, power-enhanced guns pointed right at the hero. They stood still as a rifle was pressed against the back of their head, and Henchman was carefully taken from them. Their arms were then forced behind their back and put into power-suppressing cuffs.

As the henchmen dragged them along, they could only ponder whether this was a good idea or not. Hero should've thought this through a little bit better, shouldn't they have? It was a very rash decision on their part, but they couldn't just stand by and let the poor henchman get tortured!

They- They were a hero. Their teammates too! All four of them were, or rather, they were supposed to be. And heroes- Heroes weren't supposed to hurt people...

Lost amidst their thoughts, Hero failed to realize that they were already standing before the villain's office. The doors swung open, and they were thrown inside, falling to their knees. Villain looked unsurprised; their henchmen had no doubt informed them of the intruder as soon as they had appeared.

The doors closed and locked, and Hero was now alone with the enemy. The villain was staring down at them, arms crossed and a calculating look in their eyes as if they were trying to figure something out.

Villain was the first to break the silence, "You brought Henchman back."

"So I did."

"...Why?"

Hero went to answer, but a frown returned to their face, the memory of seeing their friends being so casual about hurting someone... It... It just...

"It wasn't right..." - they muttered, the villain barely understanding their words. "They were hurting them... Torturing them..."

"And even though they're your teammates, you still went against them and saved one of my henchmen." - Villain said, a grin taking over their face as they knelt down to the other's level. The hero grew confused as the villain took hold of their chin, locking their eyes.

"I must say, Hero. This was very unexpected but brave of you."

"H-Huh?"

"So, what are you going to do now? Do you have any... evidence of what your little friends did?" - Villain continued as they undid their restraints, letting them stand.

Hero's eyes widened both at the villain's actions and as they realized that they did, in fact, have something, "The security footage..."

"Well, there ya go!" - the villain exclaimed, giving them an oddly reassuring pat on the shoulder. Why were they suddenly being so friendly to the hero? Not to mention they just... uncuffed them like it was nothing!

"Hey, uh... Villain?" - Hero started, uncertainty clear in their voice. They watched as the criminal moved to their desk and sat down. They trailed after them and continued, "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but um... why the sudden... friendliness?"

"You saved one of mine and returned them to me. Is it bad that I'm grateful?" - Villain responded, tilting their head to the side and observing the hero curiously. Hero seemed a bit shocked, if not flustered at their reply.

"Ah, well, no- it's not a bad thing! I just- uh-" - Hero attempted a reply, but the villain's chuckle ended their ramble. They stood there unsure of how to proceed and just let the other talk.

"Why don't I repay you, hmm?" - Villain asked with a smirk and a look that made Hero's face hot.

"Uh- Repay me h-how?"

"I'll help you bring your friend's misdeed to light." - they answered, adoring the slight embarrassment the hero couldn't hide. They obviously knew where Hero thought that was going to go; they made them think that on purpose. Villain just couldn't help themself; the hero was always so adorable when they tried to avoid their gaze in that shy manner of theirs.

"O-Oh, right."

Giving Hero an amused look, the villain stood and went for the door, motioning for them to follow. Together, they went to expose the hero's teammates.

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

A few weeks had gone by, and the footage of Hero's teammates torturing Henchman had gone viral online. Millions of people had seen it already and were raising hell, demanding answers from Organization.

The hero had also stepped forward and spoke about it. They thought that this was the right thing to do. They thought that the higher-ups would be pleased with them for bringing such a crime to light. But instead of praise, Hero was met with hostility and threats. They had no choice but to leave behind their heroic work and go into hiding.

As the days went by, they became more and more paranoid, terrified that the organization would find and catch them. Luck, however, seemed to be on their side. A little while after they had gone off the radar, the villain had found them and offered them their help.

Hero was very apprehensive about taking up their offer but nonetheless found themself regularly coming back to Villain's lair. With no job and no friends of any kind, the villain was now, ironically, their only ally.

You'd think that Hero could just find a new job, right? Something normal for a change, but no. That was unfortunately not an option; not only did their teammates know what their face looked like, but so did the rest of the world now. Organization had exposed their face to the globe, and now there was no going back.

They pondered over all of this, questioning what to do. At first, Hero had been living off of whatever scraps they could find, only occasionally coming to Villain for help. But now? They were practically living in their lair, and they hated it. It made them feel like a leech.

Another thing that bothered the hero greatly was that not only did the villain supply them with food and shelter, but they also, at some point, started to take care of their more... emotional needs. Reassuring them, praising them, holding them, it- it was confusing but... welcome...

And it was actually happening right now. The two were currently in Villain's courters, lying on their bed. The villain was on their back, with the hero on top of them, their bodies facing each other. Hero's face burned hotter than the sun as they cuddled, the other's arms wrapped around them, one hand petting their head. How they got into this situation, Hero did not know.

"You know my other offer still stands, right?" - Villain asked softly, breaking them out of their thoughts. The hero snuggled their face deeper into their chest, too embarrassed to look at them before muttering, "I know..."

"Then why not take it? I'd love it if you joined me." - the villain whispered in their ear, making them shiver a bit. Hero had to admit, they have considered the offer quite a few times now. They just... weren't sure if they'd be...

"Would I even be good enough for this...?" - the hero questioned, slightly tilting their head so that they could glance at the other. Villain's hand moved from their head to their chin, lifting it and locking their eyes.

"Oh, of course, you'd be good enough! You'd be even better than that!" - the villain reassured, a gentle look overtaking their features.

"R-Really?" - the hero was still unsure, but they couldn't help but relax under the criminal's gaze and touch.

"Yes, really. After all, you saved my henchman so exceptionally! Sneaking around those heroes and through the city like it was nothing!" - Villain praised, and Hero found themself slowly believing them.

They lay there silently for a moment, Hero battling internally before finally deciding, "A-Alright, I... I'll join you!"

"Marvelous~." - the villain purred, and a new chapter began for both of them.

[warsamongthestars]

BAD BATCH (+1) INCORRECT QUOTES - RVB EDITION

BAD BATCH (+1) INCORRECT QUOTES RED VS BLUE EDITION

#=#=#=#

WRECKER: WHAT DO YOU THINK HUNTER WILL DO FOR A DISTRACTION

CROSSHAIR: he'll probably throw a rock or make a noise.

[ explosion in the distance ]

CROSSHAIR: or he'll do that.

HUNTER: Okay, come on out. But come quietly.

WRECKER: UH WRECKER: DO WE HAVE TO USE THAT UH WRECKER: GRAV LIFT

CROSSHAIR: don't be a baby, Wrecker. CROSSHAIR: how bad can it be-EEEEEEEEEE

[ Crosshair steps on the Grav-Lift and is sent flying ] [ He lands, bounces, skids, hydroplanes ] [ and eventually smacks against the side of a speeder ]

CROSSHAIR: KARKIN BANTHASHIT

DROID #1: Did you hear something? DROID #2: ... Whuh?

HUNTER: I said quietly! What part of quiet don't you understand!?

CROSSHAIR: WHAT PART!? CROSSHAIR: how about the part where i got thrown EIGHTY FEET IN THE KARKIN' AIR CROSSHAIR: BY THE STARS DAMN THROWING THING!?

# # #

AZI: Alright gentlemen. AZI: I am going to be giving Sergeant Hunter his physical now. AZI: Would anyone like to assist?

TECH: I can assure everyone that it’s merely holding the vomit bucket.

CROSSHAIR: sorry, i'm busy.

AZI: Specialist Brexpy?

BREXPY: i cant

AZI: Why not?

BREXPY: because im allergic to things i dont want to do BREXPY: [ fakes coughing ]

# # #

AZI: I have discovered the problem!

ECHO: What is it Azi?

AZI: You may not like the diagnosis.

TECH: I believe we will be able to take it, AZI. Just tell us.

AZI: Sergeant Hunter is--

BREXPY: dying

AZI: No, he is not dying. He--

CROSSHAIR: has no chance to live.

WRECKER: GUYS STOP INTERUPTIN!

# # #

ECHO: I thought it lit up green for flesh wounds.

TECH: And infectious diseases.

AZI: It is a general alert, with meaning about any number from a list of health and error codes. For example, this error code alerts us to anger stemming from suppressed feelings of inadequacy from a clone trooper!

WRECKER: IF THAT THING KEEPS TALKIN BAD ABOUT ME WRECKER: IM GONNA SMASH IT

# # #

TECH: I have read reports that natborns can get enormous strength in stressful situations. TECH: There was a human woman that lifted a crashed speeder off her infant child.

BREXPY: you want me to call the generals mother?

# # #

RANDO REG: What, this ship?

TECH: No, another ship. TECH: And then that ship left, and this ship crashed in the same spot.

RANDO REG: Where did it come from?

BREXPY: its a spaceship BREXPY: it came from space

# # #

WRECKER: BUT I WAS SO YOUNG WRECKER: AND VIOLENT

CROSSHAIR: and thats what makes this tragic.

#=#=# EMPIRE EDITION ADDITION #=#=#

BREXPY: yknow BREXPY: we couldve taken that jedi if id have just hit him a few more times

CROSSHAIR: a few more times? how about one time?

BREXPY: well i think i landed at least two or three shots

CROSSHAIR: yeah right. CROSSHAIR: you didn't hit anything but the wall.

BREXPY: hey BREXPY: i need distance to aim to use a gun effectively

CROSSHAIR: where were you planning on shooting him from? CROSSHAIR: the moon? CROSSHAIR: if you had backed up any further you would've had to mail them the bullet.

# # #

CROSSHAIR: brexpy, sitrep.

BREXPY: well BREXPY: theyve had the prisoner in there for far too long BREXPY: theyre probably subjecting them to all manner of unbearable torture BREXPY: i figure that in a manner of hours BREXPY: the prisoners spirit will be just as broken as his body BREXPY: completely unable to cope with the never ending stimulation of pain and horror BREXPY: but to answer the question BREXPY: things are fine BREXPY: could be a little warmer but i cant complain

# # #

BREXPY: well if youre the judge and DA BREXPY: and im the defense BREXPY: you know that e03 is gonna want to be the bailiff BREXPY: and that means hes gonna wanna wear the shock trooper uniform with the short shorts

CROSSHAIR: great, officer hot pants.

BREXPY: and we all remember the emperors birthday holiday party

[ flashback ]

BREXPY: that cake is karkin huge

E-02: Its big enough to fit a person!

CROSSHAIR: why does it smell like baby oil?

E-05: Oh fuck where's E-03?!

#=#=#=#

[anika-ann]

No Strings Attached - Pt.5

Bucky vs. The Redhead

Type: Modern-college-professor AU x CHUCK, part of Attached series More info here and on the Attached masterlist

Pairing: professor!Steve Rogers x reader, Bucky Barnes x Natasha Romanoff  

Word count: 6600

Summary: Bucky’s secret is out. But how did it happen that he was keeping a secret to begin with? 

Warnings: a lot swearing, brief hand-to-hand training, mention of gun violence and a gunshot wound, men having some serious heart-to-heart

A/N: Enjoy and thank you if you’re giving this crossover a chance. You don’t need any knowledge of Chuck, not really. But if want to know a bit, check out this post.

A/N 2: We’re getting Bucky’s POV for the whole (long) chapter! YAY? Also! Many MANY thanks to @chase-your-dreams-away​ for helping me work through this chapter. She insisted it wasn’t ‘help’. It was. Thank you, sweets 💕

Attached & No Strings Attached masterlist

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

-.-.- Bucky’s POV -.-.-

Sitting in a car with Steve in complete silence, Bucky slowly threated in the streets of New York, heart having leapt to his throat. He hated this; but there were very few things he could do.

Obviously, he was the one driving. For one, Steve had no clue where they were going and if Bucky had been proper and thorough, he would have already covered Steve’s eyes. He just hadn’t found the guts to do that and despised the idea to begin with. The second reason was as clear as day too: Steve was in no condition to drive. Yes, he was staring at the road as if it was the most interesting thing he had even had the chance to see, but his gaze was absent.

The brief phone conversation Steve had with his--- well, kidnapped fiancé, the very same fiancé who had been shot at earlier that day had taken a toll. Bucky imagined that learning about his extracurricular activities didn’t help Steve either.

Bucky fucking hated this and he was feeling sorry for himself, because frankly, he was kinda pissed at Steve for his behaviour.

Bucky believed that this was pretty damn unfair to him because it wasn’t like he had much choice in telling Steve about his spy life, but he could also see that his best friend was a mess and was getting caught up in a spiderweb of dark thoughts his own mind created for him.

And Bucky couldn’t let that happen, as hurt as he felt.

Clearing his throat, he glanced Steve’s direction when he stopped at yet another red light.

“What, you’re not gonna say anything? Gonna give me the silent treatment?” Bucky asked, his attempt at a joke in order to distract Steve not coming off as funny at all.

His nerves, on the other hand, were perfectly on display.

“What do you want me to say, Buck?” Steve sighed, not bothering to look at his designed driver, who once again moved forward on the road.

There was a strange ambivalence to what Bucky felt at Steve’s reaction. On one hand, it hurt, because Steve was clearly pushing him away. On the other hand, Bucky wanted to pat himself on his back for succeeding at pulling Steve out of his head even if for a moment.

“I just thought you’d be curious or something…” Bucky shrugged. “But I guess you have a lot on your plate right now and-“

“Yes, yes I have! I’m worried, Buck! I’m fucking terrified!” Steve burst out, finally looking at him. “In my world, people don’t get shot at for some inexplicable reasons! They don’t lie about where they are and why they are there, most definitely not to their supposed best friends!”

Bucky winced at the verbal blow, swallowing dryly. He had expected Steve lashing out might be the outcome of him poking around, but it still hurt.

“You are my-“

Steve just scoffed before Bucky could even finish the sentence and under the pang in Buck’s chest – the fear of losing his best friend over this – a flicker of anger lit up.

“Steve-“

“Look, it doesn’t matter. Just… please drive, I--- I need to see with my own eyes that she’s okay. Jesus, what the actual fuck.”

Bucky understood. Well, he tried his best; he never had a fiancé in a danger like that himself. Or had a fiancé to begin with for that matter.

But there was one thing Steve was wrong about: it fucking did matter. It sure as hell mattered to Bucky and he genuinely hoped – desperately hoped – that despite what Steve was saying now, their friendship mattered to him too. He knew it did. Right?

“You are my best friend, Steve,” Bucky said lowly, ribcage suffocatingly tight. “I just couldn’t tell you. But it’s not like I’m some high-level operative anyway, some superspy. I just do some recon here and there… I’m not getting into gunfights-“

“But my fiancée did!” Steve snapped back, ignoring the way his voice broke at the last word. “And I have this feeling I can’t shake that that’s on you!”

Bucky’s heart stopped before kicking in with a furious pace, the flare of anger in his chest burning hotter. Steve just said what?!

Bucky spared one glare at him instead of on the road, genuinely insulted and pissed beyond measure at such implication.

Yeah, he got it, Steve was tired and angry and maybe a bit desperate, but he didn’t get to throw all the blame on Bucky!

Ah-uh, nope, not happening, pal.

“Hey now, that’s not fair! Yes, I’m keeping secrets. But this one isn’t on me. She just got a real high score on a test that’s meant to determine potential recruits-“

“I’m sorry, she what?! Recruits? To what? CIA, FBI?! Are you crazy?! She’s not some-”

“Well, she could be!” Bucky interrupted him harshly as his voice kept rising in volume. Steve bristled at that and Bucky realized his mistake in the choice of words. “I’m not saying she should be. But as far as I know, once again, we’re not talking gunfights. It’s an analyst position.”

“Then why did someone tried to shoot her, Buck?! Why is she kept in some… some secret bunker or whatever and you just got off the phone with a Major? Why the fuck could she barely even talk to me, why-”

Ignoring the honks sounding around him as he passed the lights just as it switched to red, Bucky shot his friend a look from the corner of his eye, not that he needed to. He knew the sound of a panic-attack in making – or was it an asthma attack? Neither was good.

And just like that, Bucky’s anger was gone, like a candle flame blew out by a single whiff of breath.

“Dammit, Steve! I need you to breathe!” he instructed firmly, catching Steve closing his eyes, jaw tight, focusing on following his advice.

Honestly, despite how messy this was, Bucky actually thought Steve was doing remarkably well. He was kinda proud of him for keeping his shit together this shit so far.

“Steve… sadly, I don’t have all the answers. Breathe, slowly. In and out. Good. I’m sorry, but like I told you, I’m not exactly a high-level operative.”

“Well, you are something! You have some crazy double-life!” Steve spat.

“Steve.”

“What the hell, Bucky?! And could you--- how could you even keep something like that from me?”

Bucky spent about three seconds being glad Steve was more agitated than anything else now, before he thought about what Steve said. Well, that was an excellent question, wasn’t it?

Bucky couldn’t have told Steve, it was as simple as that. He couldn’t tell anyone. The thing was, for Steve, he would have been able to make an exception, rules be damned.

But Steve never really asked, had he? He wasn’t exactly prying when Bucky had to cancel plans last minute, hadn’t been making man-plans with Bucky to begin with.

And if Bucky was being honest with himself, it stung a little. He understood – but it hurt anyway.

“It wasn’t exactly hard.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Steve shot back, noticing the hint of accusation in Bucky’s voice.

“It means you weren’t exactly paying that much attention lately. You got--- busy enough,” Bucky said in the end, not wanting to call it what it was.

Maybe he was being unfair. Maybe… maybe he was a little jealous. But only a little and it didn’t change the fact Steve should have been asking more questions. Because that’s what best friends normally did. Bucky managed to be smitten with his own femme fatale (not that he’d admit it) and to pay attention to Steve.

“…busy. What are you talking about, Bucky?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” Bucky sighed, side-eyeing Steve only to see pure confusion on his face. Really? “Who I’m talking about.”

“Whoa! Wait, are you--- are you jealous?”

“No!” Bucky blurted out instinctively. Liar liar pants on fire. “I mean, I miss hanging out with my best friend as often as we did, sure, but that’s not… ugh. That’s not it. It’s… complicated. I’m happy for you, Steve. I really am. You found your princess charming or whatever and--- I get it.”

He did get it. Kinda.

Now, though, Bucky was rather insulted Steve would think that he’d join an intelligence agency just out of spite. No, that wasn’t it.

It was to make a difference; and maybe he was thinking with his lower brain a bit too, maybe it was a little out of spite, maybe also because he saw an out from the small existential crisis which he had been having for a while…

But not just because he was jealous, uh-huh, nope.

“So why—I’m--- what the hell, Bucky?”

Bucky couldn’t blame Steve he had trouble following his train of thought. But at least he was listening, which was more than a few moments ago, so… Bucky supposed that while talks about feelings were exhausting and not exactly their forte, he had to grab his chance.

“Look. You and I not being as we used to… that’s not it, Steve, it’s not the main reason why I joined.”

“Not the main reason? And joined what? What exactly are you, Bucky? Look, I’m sorry if I’ve been…. neglecting my duty as best friend. I… I guess I do sometimes get too wrapped up-“

Dammit.

Bucky really would Steve get away with murder if it came to it, wouldn’t he? Having a best friend sucked.

“You love her. That’s fine, Steve. Yeah, you could be spending a teeny tiny bit less time with her, but that’s not the problem. I honestly am happy that you found someone to be so crazy about and frankly, she is worth being crazy about and crazy for. It’s…” Bucky hesitated, his heart skipping a happy beat when he found Steve genuinely interested in what he was saying.

That man was on the verge of insanity, his whole world breaking apart, but he still tried to listen. Because he was Bucky’s best friend. Having a best friend was great.

Bucky would deny it till the end of his days, but relief hit him like a sledgehammer in that moment and his eyes actually burned with unshed tears.

“It’s not just you, it’s me. Yes, that cliché. But it’s the truth. You moved on with your life towards something and I realized I don’t really know what I’m doing with mine.”

“Bucky… you’re teaching at one of the best universities in States. Does that count like something less these days?”

“No. Of course not. But… hey, look, I’d expect you to understand. You wanted to join the army at some point to do some good too,” Bucky gestured vaguely, keeping one hand on the wheel, earning a glare so unimpressed he could feel it even without looking at Steve.

“Yeah, mostly out of spite, knowing all too well that I couldn’t. Before I realized I’d rather learned and taught about than battles than fought them.”

Bucky snorted in amusement. He couldn’t help it.

Well, that was just a big fat lie.

You just learned to pick your battles better with age, punk, thank god.

“Oh you always fought them and you still do, alright, you can’t bullshit me. You go and try to deny it when the biggest bullies who happen to appear in your class tend to fail.”

Somehow, Steve’s glare was now burning a hole into his head.

“Anyway, I did some snooping around places where I shouldn’t have, maybe some brief soul-searching and… here we are. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I couldn’t and you didn’t ask-”

Bucky realized how badly he chose his words when Steve interjected, voice incredulous at the absurdity.

“Because it never occurred to me to ask something like that! Oh Bucky, did you recently join CIA or something?? Come on! Whenever I did ask about you and what you were up to, you told you were hooking up with this girl and you weren’t sure what exactly you were… wait, was that some kind of a cover story?”

Now Steve was caching on! Bucky would have been almost impressed, hadn’t been for the fact that he was mostly wrong.

“Eh… not always. Sometimes it’s conferences that don’t exist too,” Bucky admitted, staying as honest as possible, desperate to prove that he hadn’t been keeping secrets on purpose – and that he would try his best not to keep them in the future. He couldn’t lose his best friend. “And it is true that we don’t really put a label on the thing we have with Natasha.”

“Natasha?” Steve exclaimed, somehow excited, which warmed Bucky’s heart. “So she has a name now? When you didn’t want to tell me I thought it was because I knew her. Hell, I suspected you got together with Penny or something. But I don’t recall any Natasha.”

“Yeaaah, well, she’s gonna kill me for telling that to a civilian, but she’s kinda the whole reason why I’m in this business.”

“I… don’t follow. So she’s a spy or something?” Steve guessed, earning a smirk from Bucky, a flare of pride lighting up his chest at both Steve’s quick brain and at the ‘spy or something’ he was talking about. Because damn, Natasha was not just any spy, she was the best spy.

She was also going to kill him, but Steve was his best friend and he deserved to know the truth. Frankly, if she knew Steve and Bucky were coming to the base, she probably already figured it out Bucky would tell Steve anyway.

“You could say that. And you know what? I’m giving you the permission to say I told you so.”

“What? Why?” Steve asked, confused again.

“Because you’re not as paranoid as I thought – but you already figured as much, considering there are spies at the university. But mostly because you know Natasha as Natalie Rushman. You were right – she’s a spy.”

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

Bucky’s ears were ringing as he slowly returned to consciousness, confusing images flickering behind his closed eyelids.

The graduation ceremony. The ridiculously theatrical reunion – good for Steve. Sharon Carter’s impressive speech. A flash of red hair behind the tress in the distance, catching his attention – and not only his.

His stupid idea to follow the only other person who had seemed to notice, no other but Sharon Carter herself. Her being handed an envelope from a redhead who was all too familiar, because she most definitely looked like Natalie Rushman, even if her hair was considerably shorter now.

His absurd need to see what the hell was that about and making a second mistake – trying to follow the redhead as well, without being noticed. Ha!

Catching the words ‘payment’ and ‘results’, and ‘informal operation successful’—losing sight of Rushman and then darkness.

And now this – he hadn’t dared to open his eyes just yet, a conversation between a woman and man capturing his attention and making him want to listen in, because both of the voices sounded familiar.

Not to mention the intrusive feeling that he was the ‘him’ they were talking about. So he just focused on keeping his breathing even, his eyes remining closed.

“What do you want me to do about him?” the woman asked, sounding unimpressed.

A tired and somewhat amused sigh was the answer.

“Well, he was onto you. He’s not stupid for sure, but we already knew that. Physique’s not bad either. Maybe he could be useful,” the man suggested, clearly the one in charge.

In charge of what? Because Bucky had this nagging thought in the back of his mind – something about Rushman Steve had once said – and this was all mysterious and shit and what Rushman had said before the world went black sounded awfully like a very specific jargon and HOLY SHIT, Bucky did know the man!

It was Director Fury. Fury was talking to Rushman and heck, it sounded a lot like they were discussing spy stuff.

It was so absurd Bucky almost burst out laughing, even as his heart raced with the startling realization.  

“Sure, he could be useful…” the woman hummed, now amused as well. “Once he actually learns how to be sneaky or how to fake sleep properly.”

Dammit.

Bucky opened his eyes, slowly for show, but once his gaze fell on the pair, he knew his attempts were futile. They didn’t buy his lame act – probably because they were spies. Actual, real-life SPIES.

Bucky cleared his throat, gaze flickering around the empty dark room with nothing but a mattress – which ew, it smelled of piss and mould – and a small poorly boarded-up window.

“Director Fury. Professor Rushman,” Bucky greeted them, ridiculously polite as he sat up, nose scrunching in disgust as he felt the texture of the mattress under his hands. “Or… whatever it is you both are.”

“Professor Barnes,” Fury replied, mirroring his tone, while the redhead just smirked.

Bucky rose to his full height, dusting his pants off – though he doubted that the smell would go away. It was imprinted on him forever. Capital letters BLEH.  

“So… you’ve been keeping secrets,” Bucky started off, trying to sound nonchalant. “Hoggin all the fun, huh? Damn, Steve was right---he’s gonna lose his mind when I-”

“Well, now I’m doubting we want this one on board, he talks shit,” Director Fury interjected, sharing a look with Natalie which spoke thousand words and shut Bucky up for a moment.

“You’re not gonna tell anyone, Barnes,” Rushman explained as if annoyed.

Bucky did not like that. For one, she was acting like she was so much better than any person walking this Earth and more importantly, better than him. For two, he was so gonna tell at least to Steve, because damn, that punk was right. And lastly… he knew stuff now. He was the one with leverage and he might as well use it… perhaps even to solve problems he hadn’t found solutions to just yet.

As far as he was concerned, this absurd situation was a blessing in disguise.

“I’m not, but only if you tell me more and maybe let me join.”

Fury deadpanned at his words, clearly not impressed at all with his bargain. He shot Natalie a glare that was somehow more telling while only delivered by one functioning eye.

“Or I could just snap your neck,” the redhead presented her counteroffer smugly, a predatory smile on her red-painted lips that had Bucky both internally flinch and stirred something within him he couldn’t address right now unless he wanted to embarrass himself with a hard-on.

Damn, what a woman.

“I’d rather have you break my heart, Rushman,” he hummed in response, satisfaction warm in his gut as she responded to his flirting with raised eyebrow – and she didn’t seem entirely uninterested. “I’m kinda fond of my neck”

“Splendid. He’s all yours,” Fury decided, the slightest trace of humour in his voice as he watched the interaction. “You teach him, you determine whether he can be useful. Looks like you’re staying in New York for a bit longer.”

Rushman clicked her tongue, her gaze intent as she slowly looked Bucky up and down. And for the first time in a long time, Bucky actually felt himself blush. Fucking blush. “I’ll see if I can beat him into shape.”

As if she only realized what she said, her eyes turned hard when Bucky took in a breath to retort – as if she had read his mind and did not approve of the innuendo forming in his mind.

So Bucky swallowed the ‘don’t threaten me with a good time’ and grinned as Fury exited the dark room with her hot on his heels.

Rushman didn’t say what was happening and when – but Bucky quickly understood that she’d find him on her own, perhaps more easily than he was comfortable with knowing.

Then again – he wouldn’t mind getting close and personal with her for sure.

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

His fist stopped before it could connect with her face, but it was of his own volition. She would have got punched otherwise – and that was not the goal. Her usual goal was to hand his ass to him with a smirk, barely breaking a sweat.

It wasn’t that she was stronger or that he was particularly slow. She was just… faster. And lighter on her feet and really limber and she knew all the dirty tricks and--- but not today.

This was the first time during their training when she didn’t seem to have her head in the game, which was both admirable since they had had over forty sessions together and slightly terrifying, because damn, normally she would have given anyone a run for their money.

“You’re distracted today,” Bucky hummed teasingly as he dropped his fist.

Natasha – because that was her name, probably – only scoffed and jerked her head to encourage him to try again.

“Barely. Again.”

The next punch she dodged easily, eyebrow arched as she proved her point. Bucky rolled his eyes and wiped his forehead with the back of his glove. He liked this part – combining boxing with neat tricks he hadn’t known before. It was a great confidence boost – though some would argue that he didn’t need any, having already a big enough head.

But almost succeeding at punching Natasha Romanoff to her face twice in the span of five minutes? That didn’t do his confidence any good; in fact, it made him worry.

Did it mean that he cared more than he should for his senior officer, for his trainer? Maybe. So what? As long as he kept it light…

“Yep, you totally are. What’s that about?” he pried, tuning down the humorous note only a notch.

Before he could as much as blink, he had his arm twisted behind his back in an unnatural and very much painful angle, causing him to hiss. Natasha’s free hand was pressed against his shoulder as if ready to pull his arm out of its damn socket, causing him to rethink ever ever teasing her again.

“Not distracted and none of your business, Barnes,” she hissed to his ear, releasing him with a push that sent him stumbling forward, so he barely caught himself before faceplanting.

Yep, Bucky would never tease her again. But it also made him worry more, because while capable and deadly, Natasha Romanoff didn’t lose nerve easily – in fact, it was next to impossible to make her lose her cool.

Still, Bucky apologized; annoyed but sincere.

“Geee, sorry.”

And yet, a few moments later, he couldn’t but comment again when they moved on to other punches and evasive manoeuvres and he almost landed a punch to her ribs.

“Point still stands.”

“Fuck off,” she spat, slapping his hand away and Bucky’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at the amount of hostility and the swearing.

“That’s real nice, Romanoff.”

“Oh, go to hell, Barnes! It’s high above your paygrade. I can’t tell you even if I wanted to. And that’s a real big if. Try again. Come on.”

Oh he was getting somewhere now. Something was bothering her, serious enough to affect her performance and it was clearly mission-related. Of course it was. He should have known.

The thing was, as far as he knew, she had been in New York for the past few days, no impromptu trips over half of the globe. Not that she was telling him details – ‘high above his paygrade’, after all – but Bucky’s training schedule always changed to working out alone when she went.

And she was truly helping him, even with her snarky attitude and Bucky did like her, even if he’d deny it for the rest of his days simply so she wouldn’t eat him alive. It was embarrassing to have a crush at his age, but here he was.

Anyway. Maybe he could at least be her confidant? Repay her? Not to mention he’d… yeah, he’d love to hear it.

Light, Barnes, keep it light, he reminded himself.

“So? Leave out the classified bullshit. Be vague,” he shrugged, but continued to try the combination she was trying to teach him.

“What does it matter?” Natasha rebutted.

“Well, you’re upset-“

“Am not-“ she protested, earning a glare from Bucky as he stopped trying to assault her. He hoped he managed to glare in a way that screamed ‘bullshit’ in a really high volume.

For few brief seconds, she reciprocated his gaze, something flickering in her eyes which usually told Bucky nothing of her emotions – but not now. She gulped, evading his gaze then and shook her head.

“It’s none of your business.”

Just like that. None of his business his ass.

He was not letting it go, not now. Not when she opened herself up, even if only for a crack. He shrugged, seemingly accepting her decision, moving to continue his assault, keeping the rhythm.

“Fine. Suit yourself…” he hummed between the rounds. “But distracted or not, you’re still handing my ass to me. Might as well let it out of your chest.”

She groaned, slapping his fist away while she moved to the left, stepping out of his immediate reach.

“Bozhe moy, you’re an insistent little shit, Barnes!” she groaned, grimacing, her face the most expressive he had ever seen.

Oooooh, and she was swearing in Russian now!

Bucky mentally patted himself on the back, unable to help the grin creeping to his lips.

“It’s one of my many charms.”

She snorted, one corner of her mouth rising until her lips pressed into a thin line again and she grew more serious.

“Yesterday’s assignment was shit. My… a friend of my caught a bullet,” she admitted reluctantly, her voice even, with only the slightest lilt of regret.

Suddenly, Bucky felt like shit for teasing her earlier. Especially with the way she said the word ‘friend’. Fuck his jealousy for the moment.

“Shit. I’m sorry. Is he-“

“He’ll be fine,” Natasha said too quickly, erasing the distance between them again, beckoning to him to continue the practice. “Come on, again.”

Bucky obeyed. But he refused to leave it at ‘he’ll be fine’. She so clearly needed to talk about this – and he was still more of a stranger to his life that anything, but he had a feeling that she didn’t get many opportunities to talk.

Christ, look at him, wishing to be a shoulder to cry on, just to know more about Natasha…

He wondered how to best push the subject without being pushed away completely – or earning a broken nose.

“I’m not an expert and not to sound insensitive, but… that’s an occupational hazard, right?”

“Bullets still hurt, Barnes,” Natasha cooled him with a glare, blocking his next hit and shoving him away a little more forcefully than necessary.

Not the best choice of words then. Congrats, Barnes, you’re officially speechless because of a woman. The hell must have froze fucking over.

“Yeah, I bet,” he hummed noncommittally and continued throwing punches. “But even if he was your friend… you don’t strike me as someone who would be thrown off by that since he’s gonna be okay.”

“…He was my senior officer,” Natasha whispered after a short moment.

Oh. Bucky might not be expert in ranking and other CIA stuff, but this he understood. Natasha was his SO – he couldn’t imagine going on a mission with her and seeing her getting hurt.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“He found me at a really low point in my life, but never mentioned it again. He taught me most of the things I know.”

“And you feel like you let him down,” Bucky finished her thought instinctively, trying to hide his surprise at the amount of information she shared.

Shit-- that was heavy. Something flashed in her eyes, a brief moment of vulnerability, before it disappeared and she merely raised a sceptical and slightly mocking eyebrow.

“You a shrink, Barnes? Been taking lessons from Wilson?”

“Nah,” Bucky chuckled, grateful for the shift in her tone towards playfulness. “You just have guilt written all over your pretty face. Tell me about it. Tell me about the mission.”

The redhead studied him for several moments, head minutely tilting to side; curious, observant eyes.  And then did start talking.

“You’d better not get yourself distracted as we train, Barnes.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

…

“So… you think it was your fault,” Bucky summed up, rather flatly despite his better judgement.

If he was being honest, he should have seen it coming – but it had taken him a bit by surprise, hence the unimpressed tone.

“It was,” Natasha retorted matter-of-factly, face scrunched as he faltered in his kicks to just above her thigh.

“Sounds like a load of bullshit to me, dollface.”

“Excuse me?!” she spatted out incredulously, taking a step back after gracefully dodging yet another of Bucky’s advances.

She had indignation written all over her face, only diluted with shock at his blatant call-out.

Bucky knew it was a mistake, but he couldn’t help it. He chuckled at her expression of utter awe.

“You think this is funny?!” she hissed like an angry cat. “This isn’t a game, Barnes! A man got shot, he has a damn kid at home-“

Bucky raised his hands in defence, pressing his lips together so he wouldn’t cackle more. That indeed was serious. But if she could see her own face!

“Sorry, it’s not--- I’m not laughing at you or at that. I know it’s serious,” Bucky said, dropping his hands, tone softening. “But honestly, it’s still bullshit.”

She crossed her arms on her chest, chin slightly raised.

It was the most endearing thing Bucky had ever seen, this almost childish display of defiance. Natasha Romanoff didn’t do childish – so this was simply cute.

“How would you know?” she challenged and Bucky sobered at her icy voice, levelling her with serious eyes as he observed her.

It really was a touchy subject for her, understandably so, and the last thing he wanted was to truly offend her.

“Hey… I might be a new to this spy thing, but you’re not. It sounds to me that you were supposed to follow protocol, but if you had, you’d both be dead now. Instead, you used the years of experience you have, you went with your gut and thanks to that, your SO only ended up with a bullet in his calf.”

The redhead shifted minutely, curling more into herself under Bucky’s intense stare. She gulped, averting his eyes.

“I still wasn’t fast enough.”

“Natasha,” Bucky addressed her gently, careful not to sound condescending.  

Nothing. She wouldn’t look at hm, clearly lost in thoughts. It made his stomach clench unpleasantly. He hated it was bothering her – he meant what he said. And she wasn’t hearing him.

“Tasha.”

Her head snapped to him in surprise; Bucky knew why.

They didn’t even call each other their first name – let alone a nickname. Did she look offended? Bucky honestly couldn’t tell. He apologized, just in case.

“Sorry. But… you train me for what? Two months?” he estimated, pretending he didn’t know precisely the day his world turned upside down – and better. “I may know next to nothing about you, but I know this: you’re a person who pushes themselves really hard. I have faith that there’s not one spy in this world that could have gone faster than you did. No one would be fast enough. That’s not on you.”

Bucky thought he might have imagined the flicker of a warm emotion in her eyes – but it lingered, just for a moment, as her lips curled in a brief unsure smile.

“Thanks.”

He couldn’t but lift one corner of his lips too, genuinely happy his words seemed to get across.

“No problem. Glad we cleared that out.”

“Sure,” she hummed, her small smile growing into a wolfish smirk that turned the warmth in Bucky’s chest into a damn boiling heat that headed south. ”Since we’re clearing things out… you call me dollface again, I’m shooting you in the calf.”

Bucky was fairly certain this threat should have not sounded so sexy, but here they were. He nearly chocked on his next words.

“Oh you charmer, you.”

“Come on. You got your breather. Come at me, Buchannan.”

Bucky’s jaw went slack as she used his middle name, the one he did not want to hear, ever if he could help it. And he had a hunch that she knew.

“Really? That’s how it is?”

I help you vent your pain and this is how you repay me?! Oh it’s on, Romanoff…

She just winked at him playfully as she lifted her arms to defend her face and Bucky swore that he might have fallen a little in love with her right there.

“That’s how it is.”

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

Bucky grinned at her over the table, having learned to ignore the way his heart skipped a beat when her eyes sparkled in amusement – this time, her eyes managed to speak of good humour and a good portion of annoyance as she delivered what her initial assessment of Tony Stark had been.

Bucky told himself he learned to ignore a lot of things when around her – it was the only way of keeping himself sane. Because Bucky Barnes did not fall in love, oh no. He liked to play with women like her who liked to play too, he liked what had both the heat of the challenge and yet was the safe game where there were no losers. Because everyone who had fun was a winner.

But here, he somehow fell down the hole of catching feelings for Natasha Romanoff and they hadn’t even slept together yet. Hell, they hadn’t even kissed. All he managed to do was to change her answer to his dinner proposals from ‘you wish, Barnes,’ to ‘maybe some other time’ and eventually to ‘alright, why not.’

It was an easy friendship, full of snarky retorts between his easy-going nature and her seemingly cold exterior. Women like Natasha Romanoff were tempered in fire and made the Iron Lady look soft and fluffy like a cotton candy, but her strength didn’t deter Bucky nor he wanted to break her for fun which he imagined certain men would.

No, Bucky, embarrassingly enough, would be ready to worship the ground she walked had she asked him to – or joke back and forth as long as it meant being allowed to enjoy her company. And man, did he enjoy it.

“Alright. I’ve been holding this back for way too long and it’s killing me,” Bucky started off as they wrapped up the story of Natasha’s first mission at the university.

She just arched her left eyebrow, one corner of her lips rising. “The self-restraint on you. What?”

“What the hell were you doing with Steve?”

Her right brow joined the left one and Bucky shook his head at his own wording.

“I mean… that whole graduation ceremony thing. Clearly, Carter was paid to make that speech and you had some interest at getting Steve and his girl together again. Why?”

“What, you didn’t like the American rom-com vibe of what happened?”

“Har, har,” Bucky grunted as Natasha pursed her lips playfully. “A – it was all very flashy and stressful as hell for them, because of the publicity, so kinda, yeah. B – seriously, why get involved at all? Was that some kind of a fun game for the bossman?”

Natasha couldn’t but smile for some reason – Bucky guessed she was amused at him being exasperated at his best friend behalf. And yeah, Bucky was. Yes, he was curious about that, but it wasn’t that simple. He also didn’t like the idea that Fury could be toying with Steve’s life to reduce his own boredom or something.

“Down, boy. It wasn’t like that. He actually likes Rogers,” Nat said in a way of explanation.

Bucky didn’t buy that. Not that Steve wasn’t a loveable person – in fact, there were a few group-chats dedicated to this subject around the university, Bucky checked… when looking for his own fanclubs and for material to make Steve blush like a schoolboy. Steve was great. But that couldn’t be it.

“Somehow that doesn’t sound convincing.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, sipping at her wine.

“Well. He’s also a pretty good professor, adding to the good name of the school.”

“…okay?”

Romanoff sighed, levelling him with a look that spoke volumes.

“Think about it, Barnes. The publicity of the event, however small, spoke of friendly environment and the ability to unite for a cause,” Natasha said slowly, emphasizing every word. A metaphorical lightbulb flickered over Bucky’s head, but not quite lighting up yet. He narrowed his eyes at her, listening further. “And Steve Rogers is a great professor who is rather respected in his field, so Fury doesn’t want to lose him.”

Almost there. Bucky was almost there. Also, he could smell Natasha’s perfume as she leaned closer and maybe it made his head swim a little.

He was so thoroughly fucked.

Natasha sighed, shaking her head as if she was disappointed. “Should have asked before you started stuffing yourself with pasta, all of your blood left your brain and is in your stomach now.”

Stomach was not the only place his blood went, alright…

“It’s about the reputation. Got it,” Bucky said.

Did her get it? Partly. But why was it so important to Director Fury? To keep up appearances, so no one would notice he was recruiting-

OH.

“It’s about luring in the best students so his pool of potential recruits is high-quality,” he whisper-yelled, astonished and actually feeling a little bit stupid for not figuring it out faster.

Well, that made sense.

“Atta, boy. But yeah, Nick just likes Rogers too,” Natasha hummed, a tiny secretive smile that Bucky found entirely adorable playing on her lips.

“Is it the all truth and justice, American way vibe he’s giving off?”

This time, she burst into a fit of subtle laughter that made Bucky’s heart warm and gave his ego a gentle stroke.

“That might be it… but hey. We all know you’re not that far from that image yourself, are you?” she teased, this time making him burst in very unsubtle laughter.

But he didn’t care. Somehow, what she said felt like a compliment. And the way she glanced at him, that was a statement on its own.

So was the fact that it was the first night they ended up in his apartment, fooling around, no strings attached – so they agreed.

But fuck, Bucky knew that night already that his stupid heartstrings didn’t get the message. At all.

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

Despite time being of the essence, Bucky found himself slowing down the car, only to finish telling his story. Because frankly, the moment from which he’d have to follow the protocol, truly had to, was quickly approaching and he knew Steve was not going to appreciate it.

“…I’m still mad as fuck at you, you know,” Steve hummed from the shotgun seat and all Bucky could do was sigh.

Could have been worse, he supposed. At least Steve had let him speak.

“Yeah, I gathered as much. Don’t blame you, but you can’t exactly blame me either,” he protested lightly, taking a deep breath as he eyed his friend, and started to pull over. Steve looked at him with hope lighting up his face when he did that, the poor fellow. “And you’re gonna get more pissed, because now I gotta blindfold you.”

“…seriously?” Steve deadpanned.

“I should have done that right away, but now there are gonna be cameras and they need to see you… not seeing anything.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, I’m already so fed up with this bullshit,” Steve muttered under his breath upon Bucky’s explanation, raising his gaze to the roof of the car as if pleading heavens to give him strength.

“Hey. Not like I’m happy about doing that to you. But we do that, we get to see your girl. So what’s it gonna be, Steven?”

Something between a growl and a resigned sigh left his friend’s mouth. “Fine. Just… get it over with. Put some stupid thing over my eyes.”

Bucky couldn’t help it. It was an instinct, a knee-jerk reaction really, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

“Kinky.”

“Bucky I swear to god-“ Steve snapped and Bucky just chuckled, reaching for the a hoodie lying around on the backseat.

In all honesty though, he understood Steve’s irritation – and impatience. He’d probably be a lot worse if in his shoes.

“Sorry, sorry. Don’t get your boxers in a twist. I’m taking you to your girl, you know, you could be a little more grateful…”

Steve sighed again, turning to face the side window so Bucky could cover his eyes.

“God help me, I am.”

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

 Part 6

⊱-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦ ✉ ◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-◦-⊰

Shout out to Bucky’s distraction skills. Shout-out to Steve for not punching Bucky. But maybe he will give him some more shit at least :D

Also, to remind to those who forgot – an excerpt from chapter 2 of Attached:

“Steve, you gotta let that go. There are no bugs in our offices. Fury is a bit of a creeper but he’s no spy.”

(…)

“Sure. It’s not suspicious at all that Natalie Rushman was hired when the rumours started and left soon after Hammer was exposed for stealing Tony’s designs.”

Bucky chewed for a bit, thoughtful, and then grimaced. “…okay, good point. But still, relax, Grumpy.”

“Whatever you say,” Steve muttered, still convinced that Rushman was as fake as Fury’s eye. She had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of semester, disappeared before its end and on top of that, spoke Russian. Steve knew enough about Cold War not to trust a beautiful mysterious woman talking nuclear physics in Russian accent.

…

Thank you for reading 💖

[b-rainlet]

I promised to answer this in a seperate post so here it goes!

(Sorry this took forever but...I think the length explains why ajsnsns)

For @honestmrdual who asked for Alice +/vs/or Jervis!

Slight warning??? For the discussion of kidnapping since I mention Alice and Jervis within my Rotten AU

Also Murder. And Suicide.

Also Incest. Duh.

Jervis vs. Alice

That's...a hard one but also super simple? Like, I don't think either of them would want to fight the other, you know?

Of course Jervis doesn't wanna hurt his love but Alice also would rather avoid a confrontation with her brother.

But since as long as one of them is alive, they're gonna play an eternal game of cat and mouse, it would've come down to a fight eventually.

And even though in canon Alice dies, I think she would win.

Because canon seems more like an accident than a strategic suicide (even though Gordon words it like it's one).

But if it came down to a one on one fight?

I mean, Alice is shown to be willing to shoot Jervis whereas Jervis never truly threatens her.

Like yeah, she's tied up but he doesn't threaten her with a gun (like he does at the Lee/Valerie/Jim tea party for example) and when they meet on the roof he's mostly super happy to see her, he doesn't even think about defending himself??

He just stands there, arms up and obviously wanting to touch/hug Alice.

(Which…I think about often ansnsnsn)

So if they didn't need Jervis around for longer, Alice would've definitely killed him.

Shot him. Stabbed him. Lit him on fire. Whatever she could think of at that moment.

And Jervis probably would be super surprised because?? Alice??? His dear sister?? Why would you hurt him like this if he only wants to keep you safe???

Also I have made a post before about how he never once tries to hypnotize her - possibly because she's immune but that's never outright stated so maybe he also just...wouldn't do that to her. And I lose my mind every time I think about that for more than two seconds).

Also also, if I am already rambling - when am I not - the way it would've given Alice way more agency if she would've chosen to die the way Jim seems to imply she did.

Since he goes 'She would've rather been dead than spend any more time with you' or something like that and you could argue that yeah, she does pull away from Jervis but I think that was more 'I need to get away' and less 'I'm actively choosing to get impaled now'.

Just imagine!!

Jervis once again pressing Alice to his chest, watching Jim and Harvey fight tweedle dee and tweedle dum, when suddenly Alice pushes away, frees herself and stumbles into the room.

And everyone freezes for a moment because she's yelling at them to stop and Jim's telling her to go hide somewhere while Jervis is trying to reach for her without getting shot but she's having none of it.

She's sick of running, sick of hiding, she doesn't wanna live the rest of her life like this, always looking over her shoulder, always ready to vanish again, never truly able to build herself a life, to make any friends, to do more than survive.

Mostly, she wants to be able to wash all the blood from her hands, wants to stop being responsible for people getting hurt, the ones close to her and the ones unfortunate enough to be in her brother's way.

It's her fault Jervis is in Gotham, it's her fault Jim nearly died, it's her fault Jervis manipulated and maimed and murdered his way to her.

Not to mention she's a killer too! It's in her blood just as much as it is in Jervis' and she's tired of it, of all of it.

And it seems for a second she's gonna go to Jervis willingly and stay with him (which is an option she knows, but it wouldn't stop the running and the hiding, wouldn't stop the detectives from coming after them) but no.

Instead she picks up Jervis' gun (that I think he discarded in that scene? If not, he did now ajsjsjs) and she shoots herself.

And everyone would yell at her not to do it, voices shouting and people running toward her before there's this loud bang and then there's silence.

For a very long time.

Anyway, since Alice made it very clear she chose to die, it would be harder for Jervis to delude himself into thinking Jim somehow forced her or tore her away from him (although he would probably still manage, it's Jervis after all) so maybe, they'd actually get to arrest him (because I can see him just...falling to his knees and not moving after Alice is dead. Maybe cradling her in his arms. There's no real reason to go on now after all).

But even if he gets dragged away like in canon, this minor change would've made Alice' death a lot more driven in my opinion.

(And if we still need her impaled then imagine her speech and then she lets herself fall backwards with her eyes closed and her arms outstretched and she still ends up on the pole).

(Plus, because I like multiple endings, two possibilities I would also consider very sexy but wouldn't make sense in canon since they need Jervis around:

Jervis kills himself after seeing Alice die - much like Victor Fries tried to do, because what kind of life is this if the one person worth living for is dead?

 Alice pretends she's willingly going with Jervis but she used the time she had while she was monologuing to acquire a weapon (maybe one of the needles Jervis used to draw her blood) and once she's close enough she goes for a hug and ends up stabbing him in the neck multiple times until he's falling down in front of her, slowly bleeding out, murmuring her name with his eyes open in shock.

Just....some musings you know akjssksm).

Jervis + Alice

Do I even need to answer this? xD

They're on my top ship list, they're right up there next to Jecco and Jerelina, but they also have scenes within canon that make my mind go !!! like Jerome/Lee and Jervis/Ecco do.

They're just....good. Very good.

I have...a lot of thoughts and AUs for them but I think I shared them all already because I can't stop blabbering about them lmao.

Although I gotta say I've been thinking about them within my Jeremiah/Ecco/Jerome AU (aka the Rotten Fic)

Specifically about Jervis being Alice' legal guardian since she was about 10 or even younger (since their parents died very early in her life) and Alice isn't exactly being held captive but everytime she tried to run away while she was growing up, the police simply brought her back to her brother.

Because she was a minor and he was her 'loving and worried' big brother - who also could be very persuasive and knew how to manipulate people in his favour - and soon she was known as a 'notorious runaway' and the people she tried to plead for help only smiled at her in that condescending way people do when they pity you.

'Ah there she is, the little Tetch Girl, poor thing, lost her parents so soon. Now she's a troubled kid, running away, telling lies. She can be thankful her brother is so patient and loving with her.'

And surely all the tales she likes to spin about her brother crawling into bed with her or giving her 'special baths' are simply a sign for her overactive imagination, a hurt child making up all sorts of morbid things to get some attention.

And now she's around 20 and she knows she's old enough, an adult now, they would have to at least listen now.

Or she could simply try and get away, out of town, the police can't escort her back to her house anymore, they can't stop her at the train station and tell her she's a bad girl for worrying her brother like that.

But she also knows Jervis would never let her, he would come after her and he would kill everyone she would dare to care about besides him.

He would find her no matter where she hides.

It's safer when she stays, for her and for all the people out there she will never get to meet.

I simply like the idea of Alice basically being in a kidnapping situation but no one realizes. She's the sweet girl living with her brother, she belongs at home with her brother, what is she talking about being 'at her brother's mercy'.

And it's gotten to a point where he put her out of school with the promises of 'homeschooling' to 'help her anxiety' and oh, isn't he such a sweet and caring brother?

Taking it upon himself to teach her at home, what a big sacrifice it must be for him to completely focus on his little sister like that, to make sure she doesn't get left behind!

(And of course, since Jervis can be...persuasive, no one questions whether he actually has a teaching degree or anything of the like, no, Alice is shoved into his arms with smiles and waves).

And as Alice grew up, got to a point where her words couldn't be brushed aside as child's talk anymore, she learned to play her part. Made some…mistakes, said the wrong thing to the wrong person and had to live with the consequences.

(Consequences the other person can't live with anymore).

So if some newer neighbours notice that Alice is never seen outside? Well, she's a shy girl, no need to be worried!

Her brother is such a gentleman and he does make it a point to introduce the both of them to everyone who moves into their street, did the same when they first moved to Gotham, going from door to door with little Alice on his hand to prevent any rumours from spreading to make a good first impression!

And even if someone does worry, they only need to wait until Jervis is gone for the day to ring the doorbell. Alice will open and invite them inside, will play nice and portray the little sister Jervis told her to be.

The neighbour will come back home thinking 'Oh well, the girl is a shut-in, nothing too out of the ordinary. It's a dangerous city after all' and Alice will remain in her room and fight back the panic inside her, knowing that if she didn't do her job right and they get suspicious....accidents happen all the time.

Of course this routine is gonna get disturbed once Ecco enters the scene but let's not get ahead of ourselves👀👀👀

(Anyways the inherent horror of being kidnapped and used by strangers - aka Ecco and the twins - vs. Being permanently kept in a glass cage that no one else can see except you and no one can ever hear you scream for help - aka Alice and Jervis)

Jervis or Alice

Okay that's a hard one! Like, harder than choosing between Ecco and Jervis because Jervis and Alice are kinda on the same level here.

I love Jervis. You know if you've seen even just a fraction of my blog lmao.

But Alice.....so much potential. Such a good fucking storyline.

(Jervis and Alice as two sides of the same coin? I'd even say they have a big 'star-crossed lovers, one can't truly exist without the other' vibe. I mean, you could even compare them to 'B*tjokes in a way - only the who hunts who down is flipped).

Also Alice is very pretty and I have an obvious preference for girls in pretty much any piece of media I consume.

But then you have Jervis, who isn't only involved in the Alice storyline but is also part of the J Squad.....you have the legendary Jerome/Jonathan/Jervis team up and all three of them being horribly into each other....Jonathan and Jervis basically being an old married couple....the way Jervis looks at Jerome which still has me losing my mind....also you have the Ace Chemicals Episode which single-handedly saved the 5th season......the superb Ecco/Jervis interaction......fuck, this is hard.

I love Alice and I need to talk about her more often but I think Jervis wins simply by having more interactions with other characters (and oh to have Alice around for longer.....have her face off against Jervis on the regular.....Bruce deserves a little ragtag team of protoheroes in my opinion so why not add Alice...).

...But I am getting off track :D

[wafflefries13]

A Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing

Hey there, it’s your girl, back at it with another story that probably took way too long to finish. 

Warnings: Fighting, cursing, threat of violence. 

~~~

It was fine. This was fine. Staying in a small cabin in the middle of the woods, getting back to nature, away from the city, away from those yakuza who were tracking you down because your dad had skipped out on the massive amounts of gambiling debt he had, and seriously, Dad, you knew he had a problem, not that he would ever listen to you, but did he really have to go and play mahjong, freaking mahjong, with some super sketchy people and really think everything was just going to be fine that he was going to be okay when he already had a massive pile of debt from that pyramid scheme that you told him was a pyramid scheme or the loss from that horse race last month, and seriously, Dad, this is why mom left-!

But it was fine. You were fine. 

The cabin was small, a one room structure that gave you flashbacks to ‘Little House on the Prairie.’ Thankfully, the owners had attached the outhouse to the actual house a few years back, installing a slim standing shower. Electricity came from either solar power or a gas generator hook-up out back, but there was no way you would ever get an internet connection all the way out here.  But it had a fireplace! That was pretty cool, right? 

You weren’t exactly sure how long you’d be out here. The detective from vice told you to stay off the grid as much as possible, that they’d get in touch with you, not the other way around. The police officer had dropped you off about an hour ago after bumping over an unpaved road tangled by tree roots and overgrown underbrush. You would never have been able to find this place by yourself. But you supposed that that was the whole point. 

You’d spent your first few hours there getting the cabin to an actual livable condition. Vice had told you that this place wasn’t used a lot, and you could immediately see it. Every surface was coated in a thick layer of dust. The windows were covered in who knows how many years of grime. Cobwebs littered with tiny insect carcases huddled in every corner and crevice. You were lucky you hadn’t found a racoon nest in the chimney flue. 

Finally, as the sun set, your muscles aching from the work, you decided that your temporary home was livable enough. You summoned all your knowledge from watching ‘Man vs Wild’ and lit a fire. You heated up a can of chicken noodle soup on the gas stove. The cabin didn’t have a bed, so you stacked several thick quilts stored in a cupboard, rolling out your sleeping bag on top. 

You sat on your makeshift bed, back pressed against the wall, slurping your soup. Outside the window, you watched as the light slowly faded away. Wow, you didn’t realize how dark it could really get out here. You put way too much stock in the light you could get from the moon and stars, apparently. There was no accounting for the noise, though. It sounded like a million different insects were screaming from the woods outside. You thought cricket noises were supposed to be comforting, like listening to the ocean to try and fall asleep. But this just made you itch and wish for another can of bug spray.  Man, vice really sent you out here with nothing, didn’t they? 

Sitting back and contemplating your possible execution via yakuza boss in the near future, it took you a while before you recognized the change. Every noise outside your four walls had fallen silent. The popping of logs in the fireplace was tantamount to gun fire. 

Slowly, you set down your half-finished can of soup, dragging a wooden bat out that you had snagged before the vice police shoved you in the car to bring you here. Staying as low to the floor as possible, you crawled to the front window. You pressed your back against the wall, like you had seen spies do in movies, and slowly lifted one corner of the thick curtains. You tried to crane your head to look out, but it hurt more than you thought it would and your visibility was cut by way more than half. 

Why hadn’t vice at least given you a gun or something? 

Taking a deep breath, you stood, holding the bat in front of you like a sword. Before you could convince yourself that this was a bad idea (too late) you burst open the front door, ready to swing at whatever you saw first. 

Noise exploded back into existence as soon as you stepped into the small clearing around the cabin. Panting heavily and breaking out in a cold sweat from the adrenaline, you whipped your head back and forth to look for intruders. Left? Clear. Right? Clear. Front? Clear. Behind-?! Wait, that was the cabin, you were just there. 

You felt all the energy leave you at once. The bat suddenly felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. You slumped forward, bracing your head on the backs of your hands settled on the pommel of the bat. 

You heard something from the other side of the cabin. A low groan, the result of footsteps. Gulping hard, you raised the bat again, silently making your way to the corner of the house. You whipped around the corner. 

A giant furry shape was slumped in a pile in front of you. It let out a low whine. You could see the powerful muscles under its thick fur coat ripple and stretch as the thing tried to get comfortable. Sensing your presents, it reared its large head, pinning you down with ruby red eyes. 

A wolf. There was a wolf in front of you. You had always assumed wolves would sort of look like giant dogs, but this close you could see how different they really were. This thing was huge, first of all. Its head would come up to your shoulder when it stood. It also had long thin legs, built for fast running and careening over obstacles. The wolf snared at you, its lips pulling back as a deep growl emanate from its throat. You could almost swear it was glaring at you. 

Its threat was cut short, however, by a pained yip. As it tried to stand, it faltered and fell over, back into a furry heap. You could see a patch of mismatched fur coating its back leg up along its haunch. The fur was matted, dark with something wet. 

You dropped the bat, holding your hands in front of you in what you hoped was a non-threatening pose. “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” You said softly. “I’m just gonna… I’ll be right back.” You ducked back around the corner, heading into the cabin. You threw open the cabinet doors, rummaging for a first aid kit you could have sworn you saw somewhere while cleaning. You found the small white box, hoping that whatever was inside was as suitable for giant wolves as it was for people. 

You headed back out. Going around the cabin, you saw the wolf trying to stand and limp away again. He didn’t make it two steps before collapsing. Instead of a pained noise, this time he just left out a frustrated humph. You giggled despite yourself. The wolf’s head reared back around, locking eyes with you again. It growled at you. 

“I don’t think you look as menacing as you think you do right now,” You said. You tried to talk calmly in a low voice. That’s what you were supposed to do with frightened and injured animals, right? Well, you also were supposed to leave them alone and call animal control or something, but you didn’t really have the option of doing that right now. And you didn’t think you could sleep, much less live with yourself, if you knowingly just let this wolf suffer right outside your door. 

You took another step closer. The wolf snapped his jaws at you but didn’t move from his heap. “Hey, easy, big guy. I just want to help.” You held up the first aid kit, as if that was supposed to mean anything to a wild animal. The wolf glared at you, but didn’t make any movement as you took another cautious step forward. As you knelt down beside his injured back leg, he huffed again, turning his head away and resting it on his massive paws, resigned to accept you unasked for help. This close up, you could see his fur was an unusual blond. It reminded you of wheat fields just before harvest (not that you had ever seen that, being such a city kid, but pictures and imagination counted for something, right?). 

You opened the kit and pulled on a pair of gloves. Parting his fur, you hissed in sympathy at his wound. There was a gash slicing through his entire haunch, more wide than it was deep, but still bleeding profusely. You could see smaller cuts and bite marks, punchers in his flesh, littering the rest of his leg and up his back. Some of these wounds had already half-healed, but had reopened again, oozing and clotted. 

You threaded a hand comfortingly through his fur, speaking softly as you dabbed an antiseptic wipe along the largest gash. The wolf winced and barked at you in annoyance at the sting, but after a glare (you didn’t even know wolves could glare with such intensity before this), he resigned himself and plopped his head back down. There were some butterfly sutures that you hoped would stick on with his fur. You pushed them down, pulling the edges so the flesh closed. You tried your best to clean the other injuries, but you didn’t have a lot of butterfly sutures, and bandaids certainly weren’t going to stay down. 

As you were contemplating this, a chorus of howls erupted from the woods around you. The blond wolf sprung into action immediately, jumping up and circling himself around you. You probably would have thought that was amazing or cute or something if a sense of panic hadn’t seized you. The wolf was still limping, trying to keep his back leg off the ground. His head jerked from side to side, ears constantly twitching. Whatever was out there, you could only imagine that it was closing in, and it was out for blood. 

“Oh, this is going to be a bad idea,” You said to yourself. The wolf cocked his head at you. “But, hey, I’m not making any good choices tonight, I guess. Come on.” You picked up your abandoned bat, standing to guard the wolf from the tree line. You started backing up, genteling nudging the wolf with your hip in the direction of the cabin door. He seemed to get your meaning, limping along, but trying to maintain his sense of canine bravado by making threatening growls and fangs bared. 

Backing your way into the cabin, you quickly locked and barred the door. You had no idea if conventional locks would keep out blood-thirsty wolves, but you figured it wouldn’t do much against determined yakuza members either, so maybe you should just cut your losses. 

You heard a loud slurping and turned around. The blond wolf had his muzzle buried in your reheated soup, lapping it up and spilling everything that didn’t immediately make it into his mouth. 

“Hey!” You chastised. You could have sworn he rolled his eyes at you. Could wolves do that? Like, physically? His long tongue licked his chops when he was done. He took a few stumbling steps then collapsed by the fire. 

“Alright,” You said to yourself. “I guess this is happening, huh?” You could have sworn the wolf made a sound of agreement. 

~~~

You woke up to the sound of bird song and a mouth full of fur. 

Sputtering, you pieced together the events of last night in your head. The wolf had you pinned against the wall of your makeshift bed, his back pressed against your stomach and chest. You had a fleeting thought that he was putting himself between you and any danger that might break in. You had heard stories of mother wolves protecting human babies, maybe this was something like that? Or were you thinking of The Jungle Book? The founding of Rome? Whatever. 

Either way, it made you smile a bit, petting his fur. Wow, you had no idea wolf fur was so thick! Your hand just seemed to drop forever through his soft coat. Your action was enough to rouse the wolf from his sleep just a bit. He cast a tired glance over his shoulder at you. You could have sworn you could read his expression. “Really? You’re waking me up for this?” 

“Hey there, sunshine,” You said. “I should probably take another look at that leg, huh?” 

The wolf huffed, rolling over. You thought for a second he was giving you room to get up, but when you started to move he rolled back over, landing heavily across you and pinning you down. “That’s, uh, that’s a no then, huh?” The wolf just shuffled to a more comfortable position (on top of you) and closed his eyes. 

You sighed, reaching up and rubbing the fur between his ears. “This is my life now, huh?” 

He blinked open his eyes, staring right into yours. They were a deep red, almost like uncut garnets. You had no idea animals could have eyes like that. Not just that, but something about them looked almost too… human to you. The proportion of iris to whites just sort of off from what you would expect from your average dog. Before you could put your finger on it, the wolf closed his eyes and rested his head again. 

His heat radiated through you like a miniature sun. You pet through his fur, deciding to narrate your thoughts out loud. You told him about how you came to be in these woods, in this cabin, your struggles with dealing with your father's gambeling addiction for so many years, the fall festival you had gone to last year, how you wanted to start hiking now that you were trapped out here, this song you couldn’t remember the words to, summarizing the plot from some book you had to read for English class. 

After the sun had already started to rise high in the sky, the wolf (you really needed a name for him, huh?) slinked off of you. You let out an exaggerated breath, thumbing your chest a few times. He flicked his tail at you. 

You opened up the cooler you brought with you. Take two slices for yourself, you handed the wolf the rest of the sliced turkey you had bought for sandwiches. He ate the entire pack in one massive bite, looking at you expectantly for more. Huffing in mock annoyance, you tossed him the other two slices. He caught them in the air, flicking his tongue to get the juice from his canine maw. 

He tested his weight on his back leg. You could tell it still hurt him, but he still tried to walk with his other three legs. He stretched out, arching his back. “Oooh, big stretch!” You said. There was that glare again. 

He limped over to the door, scratching it. You opened it for him, assuming he had to do his doggy business or something (wait, was he trained to go outside? That would explain some things). But when you tried to close the door again, he barked at you. He scratched the door frame until you followed him outside. He would walk several feet ahead then sit, looking over at you and barking. You went back inside and tugged on your hiking shoes, spraying yourself down with a healthy dose of bug spray. 

The wolf was still pretty unsteady on his feet. He would stumble occasionally, but when you would put out a hand to help him, he would snap back at you. Whatever the case, he at least seemed to know where he was going. Even in his injured state, he could keep a good distance ahead of you. 

You heard water rushing as the wolf dropped out of sight. Thinking he might have fallen, you rushed to where you last saw him. The trees broke away, revealing a rippling river with cool pools stretching through the forest. You took in the beautiful scenery, the ice blue water cascading down tiny waterfalls, when sudden movement caught your eye. You focused where you saw it and gasped. A salmon jumped from the water, swimming upstream. That one was joined by another, then two more, until the whole river seemed to burst with fish. 

You laughed in shock and amusement at the sight, but were cut off short by something cold and slimy hitting your face. You sputtered against it, swiping it away from you. Looking down, you saw your assailant was flopping on the sandy river bank. A giant salmon, mouth gapping and scales shimmering in the sunlight. 

You heard a huff that you could have sworn sounded amused. Looking up, you saw the wolf at the edge of the bank, dipping his paw in the water. He looked deeply into the river, still as a rock, before striking all at once and bringing his paw up. He batted another fish out of the water. You put your hands up, catching it in a slimy, uncertain grip. The fish thrashed around and you ended up dropping him on his friend. 

“You know all the best places, huh?” You said. The wolf shook water off of his fur and went back to focusing on the river. “I’m going to run back and get the cooler! We’ll be able to carry a lot more that way!” You weren’t sure why you were telling a wolf this, as if he could understand you, but it felt right somehow. 

You carefully followed your footsteps back to the cabin, breaking a twig or making a mark on a tree as you went to make a path. Back at the cabin, you quickly pulled the food you had brought with you out of the cooler, shoving it in the mini-fridge. You didn’t have an ice maker in the cabin, so you hoped the already half-thawed cold packs would work. Almost as an afterthought, you grabbed the first aid kit, tossing it in the cooler. Luging the cooler over your shoulder, you followed your improvised markers back to the river. 

You set the bulky cooler down heavily on the bank, looking up with a wide grin for your new companion. Scanning the banks and treeline, your face gradually fell as your search turned fruitless. Your new wolf buddy was nowhere to be seen. 

At first, you felt sad that he had just up and left, then scared for his injury. He was still having trouble walking. What if whatever was prowling around your cabin last night came back and tried to take a bite of him? 

“Wolf?” You called out, almost immediately feeling like an idiot for doing so. You knew you should have named him. Although, it wasn’t like he was trained to respond to your call. You had to remind yourself that this was a wild animal and not a trained dog from the pound, despite his reluctant friendliness. “Wolf? Where’d you go, big guy? Hello?” 

“If you keep yelling like that, a whole pack is going to come and tear you apart.” 

You nearly jumped out of your skin at the very human response. Bracing your hands on your knees, you looked down the drop away from the bank to the river. There was a tiny beach there. Leaving against the sandy drop was a boy, head tilted back and face bathed in the sunlight. Despite his relaxed body posture, one leg spread out in front of him, the other bent to his chest, arms loosely crossed, he had an annoyed if not pained expression across his face. His hair was the color of fresh cut wheat, but as spiky as a porcupine. Lolling his head in your direction, he opened his eyes under furrowed brows. You thought it was a trick of the light, but you could swear they were a deep red. ‘Like garnets…’ You thought, memory jumping back to your missing wolf friend. 

“Uh, sorry,” You said. “I was just looking for-” 

And then your heart stopped as you suddenly remembered why you were out in the middle of the woods. The whole reason you had come here, why the police had dragged you away from your everyday life for your own protection. 

You tripped over your own feet flinging yourself backwards. You landed heavy on your butt. Scrambling back, your head whipped from side to side looking for something to defend yourself with. Damn it! You should have grabbed your bat when you got the cooler! 

“Hey!” He yelled up at you. “You going to keep spazzing out or give me a hand here?” 

“Depends,” You said. “What are you doing out here? We’re in the middle of nowhere.” 

“The hell do you think I’m doing? I work out here.” You saw his hand come up and grip the edge of the bank. He pulled himself up, but winced in pain. Bracing his arms against the bank, he said, “I’m a forest ranger, kind of. Tag some of the animals, make sure no one’s starting forest fires, keep poachers away, that sort of thing. I kind of got banged up here, though, can’t put a lot of weight on my ankle.” He rolled his eyes, leaving the statement hanging in the air for your response. 

“Oh!” Of course, you thought to yourself, you had no real reason to trust what he was saying. He didn’t look like a ranger, dressed in a black muscle shirt and dark green cargo pants. But you could tell he was having trouble standing. But then, that could be an act too… 

“Sure,” You finally decided. “Hang on.” You looked through the brush until you found a fallen tree branch. You lugged it over, dropping half down the bank and keeping it ancored under your foot. You held out your hand to him. He grasped just beyond your wrist, pulling up and using the branch and a foothold to push himself up. Once he was up on the upper bank, he tried to take a step. You could immediately see his ankle give out, crumbling like wet paper. He fell to his knees with an annoyed sound, catching himself on his palms. 

“You okay?” You said, retrieving the branch and not so subtly holding it in front of you. 

“Yeah, fine. Whatever.” He tried to brush you off. You could see his entire calf was wrapped in bandages. It looked like some wound had reopened and was bleeding through. 

“What happened?” You ask, nodding to his leg. 

He looked down, growling at the red soaking through the bandages. “I have to get pretty close to some animals for my job. Checking tags or making sure they’re not hurting themselves. I thought I’d tranquilized a bear, but I guess he wasn’t all the way under.” 

“A bear?! You fought a bear?” 

He waved a hand at you. “I didn’t ‘fight a bear.’ I was just trying to get a blood sample and must have spooked him. He took a swipe at me. I’ll be fine.” 

“That sure doesn’t look fine.” You pointed to his bandage. 

He clicked his tongue. “Damn it.” 

You rung your hands around the branch. “I have a first aid kit. I’m pretty good at it. I could take a look if you want.” 

He practically snarled at you, trying to stand up again. “I don’t need some-” As he tried to put weight on his ankle, he let out a choked yelp, cutting into that tough guy persona he obviously was trying very hard to portray. He lost his balance, wheeling his arms. You dropped your branch, lunging forward just as he fell. You caught him under his arms, throwing your balance off. You both fell, you landing on your back. You groaned, rubbing the back of your head. Opening your eyes, you squeaked seeing his face so close to yours, bright red eyes locked on to yours. Your mouth suddenly went dry and your face went hot. He was practically pinning you down. 

His face burst into a blush as he threw himself off of you. He crossed his arms stubbornly.  Looking away, he said, “Yeah, fine. Maybe I need a new bandage.” 

“C-cool! Yeah! Great!” Well, at least you were pretty sure he wasn’t here to kill you. That would have been a pretty good opportunity. Unless he wanted to slay you with embarrassment, which seemed like a possibility. 

You silently checked out his ankle, spraying it out with antibacterial and put a fresh bandage on it. At this rate, you were going to run out of medical supplies before the week was over. 

“Hey,” You said in an effort to break the tension. You noticed the tips of his ears were still a blushed red. “I don’t suppose you know anything about the wolves around here?” 

His eyes snapped back to you, suddenly suspicious. “There haven’t been wild wolves in this area for over a hundred years.” 

You blinked. “Wait, no, that can’t be. There was a wolf at my cabin last night. It sounded like he was being attacked by another pack or something.” 

He looked at you hard. “There haven’t been wolves here in a long time. If you think you saw one, you didn’t.” 

You huffed. “I’m pretty sure I know what I saw, not to mention felt. He spent the night in my cabin.” 

“What kind of idiot lets a wolf spend the night in their cabin with them?” 

“Ha! So you admit it could have been a wolf!” 

“I didn’t say that!” 

You smiled, leaning back on your hands and looking out over the river. “It was fine though. He seemed trained or something. A little prickly, but he was hurt so I didn’t mind.” You heard him mutter something that sounded like “not prickly.” You continued, “He disappeared this morning, though. Around here. I’m kinda disappointed. It’s kind of lonely out here. But hey! I guess I have a new friend now!” You good naturally punched his shoulder. He winced and you just now noticed the fading bruise. “Oops. Sorry.” 

“Sure you are. And who said we were friends, anyway? You don’t even know my name.” 

Putting on your most welcoming smile (and trying not to grimace at his tone), you held out your hand. “(Y/N) (L/N), trapped out in the middle of nowhere for the foreseeable future for reasons I cannot currently disclose. Very nice to meet you.” 

He looked from your hand to your face a few times. He looked like he was turning something over in his head. Flexing his hand, he lifted it up and gripped yours strongly. You could feel the heat radiating from it, like he was a living space heater. “Bakugo. And that’s all you’re getting.” 

You fake pouted. “We will be friends, mark my words.” 

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “What were you doing out here anyway?” 

“I told you, I cannot currently discloses that information.” 

He huffed a laugh. “What, are you a spy or something? Lost princess?” 

If only, you thought. “Something like that.” 

“Hmm. You don’t have a fishing rod.” 

“Uh, yeah. I was kind of counting on my wolf friend to help me out. He did this thing where he just sort of whacked them out of the water.” You mimicked the motion in the air. 

“For the last time, there aren’t any wolves around here. Just drop it.” 

“Fine, fine. There wasn’t a wolf even though there definitely was. And I don’t know what I’ll do, exactly. I suppose I can survive on canned soup, saltines, and beans for however long I’m stuck out here.” 

“That’s disgusting.” He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head and looking up at the clouds. “Alright, here’s what you do. You at least have a knife, right? Good. I’m going to teach you how to make a fish weir.” 

For the next hour, Bakugo talked you through cutting reeds and shaping them into a W-shaped trap in the river. According to Bakugo, the V-like entrance made it easy for fish to get in, while the indented center made it hard or impossible to get out. After some (a lot) of trial and error,  you successfully trapped a huge salmon. 

“I got one!” You yelled in excitement. “I got it!” 

“Good for you,” Bakugo said. “Now take your knife and stab it.” 

“Yeah, what?” 

“Right behind the gills.” 

“Uh, right, okay.” For a few blissful seconds there, you forgot you had to kill a fish to be able to eat it. Using another reed you cut for an unsuccessful weir, you pinned the fish to the side. Wincing, you stabbed the fish’s gills, trying to ignore how it flopped around the trap. Spearing it on your knife, you hoisted it out of the water, flicking it onto the bank. 

“Oh, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!”  You flapped your hands. Bakugo laughed at your distress. You tried to ignore how much you liked the sound. “Oh, shut up. It’s my first time.” 

He smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Your first time, huh? Glad I could walk you through it.” 

You felt yourself flush. “Oh my god!” Without thinking too much about it, you speared another fish in the trap, using your knife to fling it. The half alive fish landed smack on his chest, flopping around in a mess of falling scales and fish slime. 

He sputtered, slapping it away. He snarled, “Hey!” 

You laughed, hands resting on your thighs. “What? Now we both have dinner.” 

Catching a few more and storing them in your cooler, Bakugo taught you how to make a box-like campfire. Creating a grill with your reeds, you roasted some of the fish over the fire, picking it off with your fingers. You both sat by the river and watched the sun set. 

Not wanting your time together to end, but becoming too aware of the late hour, you said, “I should probably get back to the cabin. Not sure I could find it in the dark.” 

Bakugo shrugged. He struggled to stand up, waving you off when you tried to help him. Taking a few separate steps, he gripped a low hanging branch from a tree. With a thunderous crack, he ripped the branch off. Pulling off a few twigs, he held it under his arm as a makeshift crutch. 

“Hey,” He said, not looking at you. It sounded like he was deliberating something. “If you ever need help, I’m usually at the fire watchtower. See? You can see the roof from here. It’s about two miles that way.” He pointed over the tree line. You could just make out the top of a brown corrugated roof. 

“Sure you don’t want to take any of these back?” You asked, motioning to the cooler of fish. 

“Naw. You need all the help you can get.” 

“Hey!” As he wandered off, you yelled to him, “Watch out for the wolves!”

“There aren’t any wolves!” 

“You’ll believe me eventually!” 

~~~ 

You methodically tapped your fingers against the mug you held, letting the heat of your hot chocolate seep into your fingers. You were sitting in a folding chair just outside the cabin, bat leaning against the chair’s arm. You were snuggled up in a heavy blanket, watching the fireflies dance through the heavy trees, trying to remember consolations. 

But really, if you were being honest with yourself, you were waiting for the wolf. 

It didn’t matter if Bakugo said he wasn’t real. You knew what you saw. Maybe he had escaped from some conservation area or zoo? And he seemed used to people, so maybe he was trained? But that didn’t explain the howls you heard as you tended to the wolf’s wounds. It definitely sounded like some rival pack was hunting him down. 

It broke your heart to think of him all alone and injured out there. 

As if called by your thoughts, a round of howling rose from the depths of the forest. You jumped to your feet. The hot chocolate sloshed from your mug, burning your hand. Frantically waving your hand to ease the burn, you didn’t notice the heavy foot falls until it was too late. You turned as the thumping was right behind you. 

It felt like you were hit by a train. Your breath left you with a ‘woomp.’ Falling hard, your arms came up to wrap around what had just barrelled into you, catching it like a football. You would like to say that you were more surprised than you actually were  when your fingers dug into thick fur and bursts of dog breath panted in your face. 

“Hey there, Golden Boy,” You said, rubbing between his ears. You had decided on his name, Golden Boy, while trying to convince Bakugo of his existence. It seemed apt given his brilliant coat.  Your wolf friend yipped at you. Scrambling off, he crouched down in an attack position, growling at the trees. “Come on, bud.” You juggled your folding chair, blanket, bat, and (now empty) mug, pushing open the cabin door with your hip. The wolf backed into the cabin, eyes never leaving the tree line, lips curled into a snarl, until you closed and locked the door again. 

You took out a bowl from the cabinets. Opening a bottle of water, you filled up the bowl, placing it near the tired wolf. Crawling over on his stomach, he didn’t even lift his head as he started to lap at the water. 

“Yikes,” You said. “Rough night, huh?” You ran a hand along his back. He managed a half-hearted glare at you before deciding it wasn’t worth it and going back to his water. 

“So, you’re a wolf, right?” He ignored you, which is what you expected. But you always had a habit of talking to animals like they could talk back. “Because I met a guy today, yeah, I’m not the only person stranded out here, can you imagine, and he said there aren’t any wolves in this area. I mean, I guess you could just be a really big dog. You ever seen an Irish wolfhound? Probably taller than me. Or a Caucasian shepherd dog? I hear they used to breed those in Russia to hunt bears.

“I guess it’s kind of nice to have someone else around. Not that you’re not great company.” Could wolves roll their eyes? “Just… It can get kind of scary out here, you know? Well, probably not, you live in the woods and all. No offence and all, but this isn’t really my idea of a vacation.” 

You leaned against the wall, sitting cross-legged on your bed pallet. Golden Boy shuffled to you, resting his massive head in your lap while you checked his wound and changed the dressing. It seemed to be healing rapidly, way faster than you would have expected. 

“The truth is,” You continued. “I’m actually in hiding. There are some people who, uh, I’m pretty sure they want me dead. Maybe not me specifically. My dad made some bad choices, hey, that can be the title of my autobiography, and now I’m paying for it.” 

You felt your throat tighten up as a wave of emotion snuck up and crashed over you. You hiccuped, pressing your lips together as you tried not to cry in front of your canine audience. He looked up at you, wide, deep red eyes. Your eyes burned as tears threatened to spill out. 

Without warning, Golden Boy jerked his head up, wiping his long, wet tongue across your cheek, ineffectively wiping away your tears. You sputtered at the dog drool, breaking out into a giggle fit as he kept licking your face. 

“Okay, okay, I get it, stop already! I have a big, strong protector here to take care of me, huh?” He buried his head in your lap again. You  rubbed his ear between your fingers. “And I’ll take care of you, too. You know that, right? We’re in this together.” 

~~~

“Bakugo! I’ve come to pester you!” 

The next day, you awoke to find your wolf friend missing. You weren’t exactly sure how he managed to get out of the cabin since all the doors and windows were still securely closed, but you’d seen videos of pets doing weirder things. Maybe you should have named him Houdini. After cleaning up the cabin a little and finding a more stable storage space for the salmon you caught yesterday, a deep loneliness started gnawing at you. Stowing a tin of shortbread cookies under your arm, you set out in the direction of the river to find the watchtower Bakugo had pointed out to you yesterday. 

You finally found it about midday, only being scared to death at the possibility of getting hopelessly lost twice. You climbed up the high stairs to the box structure on top. The sides were made up of mesh screens, covered from the inside by thick curtains, you guessed so that he could keep an eye out for possible forest fires. 

“Hello? I brought an offering!” 

You heard some grumbling and banging around from inside the box. You heard a heavy lock slide open as the door cracked open. Bakugo’s ruby eyes met yours and you felt a pang of worry for your Golden Boy. 

“An offering, huh?” Smiling, you held up the tin. “Fine. I guess that’s a good enough reason to bug me.” 

You practically skipped inside. Bakugo pulled at the curtains causing them to zip up and spin on their rollers. The room was cluttered, which you mostly expected from going over to your bachelor friend’s houses. What you didn’t expect was exactly how it was cluttered. It wasn’t like clothes had been dropped on the floor and forgotten, a pile of dirty dishes and overflowing trash. The reality was more chaotic, like someone had turned over the place robbing it. Papers about the geography, flora, and fauna of the forest were strewn on every flat surface. The cot bed was stripped bare, looking like it hadn’t been slept in in days. There was a tall stack of books stacked on a table next to a wooden folding chair half pushed under a desk. A cork board was above the desk, red string connecting bits of cut-out newspaper articles, Polaroid photos, sticky notes with chicken-scratch handwriting, and marked-up calandras. 

Bakugo half-heartedly picked up a shirt from the ground. “Wasn’t really expecting company.” 

You shrugged. “You a big reader?” 

You set the cookie tin down, picking up one of the books. Its pages were marked with various colored tabs. Flipping through the pages, you saw blocks of text that had been highlighted. The book fell open to reveal a copy of a wood-cut illustration of a large man with a wolf head. His snout was pointed to the sky, jaw open in mid-howl. In his meaty hands, tipped with razor sharp claws, he cradled a woman in some medieval German peasant dress. Her head was fallen back, eyes rolled back in her head, a blood stain spreading across her neck and chest. In the background, a mass of angry villagers marched forward, armed with the standard torches and pitchforks. A bone white full moon hung overhead. 

Bakugo snapped the book closed in your hands. “Didn’t your parents teach you not to snoop through people's stuff?” 

“I wasn’t snooping,” You said defensively. “And just so you know, no, they didn’t. My folks weren’t exactly the etiquette type.” 

“Clearly.” 

“Hey!” 

He smirked at you, prying open the cookie tin and munching on a piece of shortbread. You sat down in the folding chair, looking down dubiously when it creaked under you. 

“So, how does a guy get a gig hanging out in the middle of the woods, anyway?” 

“How do you?” 

You pressed your lips, trying not to let Bakugo feel the sudden drop in your mood. You blinded him with a smile. “Maybe I just really like bird-watching.” 

“Sure. Bird-watching.” 

You swallowed a lump in your throat. Standing, you turned away and looked out the messy windows, taking in the acres upon acres of unspoiled wilderness. “Wow, you can see for forever up here.” Squinting, you saw the dip in trees around your cabin, the red roof just barely visible. “Hey, that’s my place!” You looked over your shoulder at him and winked. “You’re not spying on me, are you?” 

He popped in another cookie, wolfing it down in one bite. “You wish.” 

You hummed, looking back out over the trees. “Can you..” You trailed off. “Can you see if people come into the woods?” 

He came over to stand next to you, hiding the tin in the crook of his arm. “I don’t get records of who comes in or out, if that’s what you mean. That’s for the rangers at the front gates. I see campfires, sometimes. Need to make sure they don’t get out of control.” 

“And if someone, or, like, a group, maybe, was trying to sneak in? Like, not going through the front gates so there was no record of them being here?” 

He paused mid-bite and looked at you sideways. “You’re hiding.” 

You mock-laughed. “What? No, no. Of course I’m not hiding. Why would I be hiding?” 

“(Y/N),” He cut you off. He moved his head so you were forced to look directly into his ruby-red eyes. 

You crossed your arms and looked away. “I’m not supposed to talk about it.” 

He leaned back. “That’s okay. But, hey, we can look out for each other, yeah?” He curled his biceps, flexing his muscles. “Besides, you got a big, strong protector here, don’t ya? You don’t have anything to worry about.” 

“Big, strong protector, huh?” You echoed. 

He leaned closer, eyes half lidded. His tongue darted out to wet his lips. “Yeah.” 

You suddenly became away of how close you two were standing, how you could smell the remnants of the sweet cookies on his breath, about how soft his hair looked and thinking about what it might be like to run your hand through it, about how his muscles looked when he flexed them. 

You blinked hard, jerking yourself out of this impromptu daydream. You felt the tips of your ears burn as your face flushed. 

“The wolf came back last night,” You blurted. 

His eyebrows furrowed, mouth falling from a sultry smirk to a frustrated frown. “He did, huh?” 

“Yup! I named him, even. Golden Boy. Cause his fur is this really pretty yellow, you know? Kind of like your hair, but less shaggy.” Before you could stop yourself, you reached up and messed his bed-head. Good god, it was just as soft as you thought. 

He pulled away, scrunching his nose and fixing his hair. “Th-that’s stupid. Why would I look like some dog?” 

“So you admit he’s real?” 

“I said dog, not wolf. His owner probably just dropped him off in the woods somewhere. It’s sad, but it happens. Sounds like he’s doing alright for himself.” 

“I wouldn’t say that exactly.” You leaned on your elbows. “Every night he’s come to my cabin he’s been pretty beat up. Could another animal be targeting him? A bear or another wolf - sorry, abandoned dog?” 

Bakugo looked away, scratching the back of his neck. “I mean, maybe. There’s a lot of dangerous creatures out in those woods.” His voice dropped low. “A lot of dangerous creatures.” 

You looked over at the stack of books, the one with the werewolf illustration placed haphazardly on the top. “Like werewolves?” You joked. 

He didn’t answer you. 

~~~

“Buckle up, Golden Boy, we are going on a field trip.” 

It was night again a few days later. You’d spent almost two weeks in the woods by this point. Your days were mostly spent hanging out with Bakugo in the fire watch tower or hiking through the forest with him. He’d given you a blank mole-skin notebook. You’d started sketching and labeling plants and animals you saw on your hikes with him. He’d ramble off information he’d learned from preparing for this job. While your drawing skills needed some improvement, you liked the calm, methodical motions and scratch of pen on paper, taking note of the tiny details that made one plant safe to eat and different from the poisonous one. 

Your nights were spent with Golden Boy. His wound had long since cleared up, surprisingly fast, but don’t look a gift horse in the mouth and all. You weren’t exactly sure why he kept coming to you at night. He obviously didn’t need any help finding food. Maybe he felt safer with you behind protective walls? A few times, you thought you saw reflective eyes in the depths of the trees, watching as you let Golden Boy inside the cabin as the moon rose. Or maybe he really did used to be someone’s pet and just felt lonely abandoned out here. He’d always be gone by the time you woke up, no matter how many times you’d fallen asleep leaning against him or curled under your arm. 

You’d also  kept arguing his existence to your hot-headed friend. Tonight, you finally decided to prove yourself right. You were going to bring your proof right to his front door. 

“Come on,” You said, clapping your hands at the wolf lounging by the fire. “You’re going to help me rub some sweet ‘I told you so’ in a cute guy’s face.” He raised his head at you, giving you a look you had come to read from his doggy face. “What? He is. Or maybe I’ve just been stranded in the woods for too long.” You shrugged. Golden Boy let out his ‘you’re ridiculous’ puff of air noise and flopped over so the fire could warm his belly. You took two quick steps forward and rubbed your hand over his belly, it sinking into the thick fur. He let out a surprised yip and curled up, nipping at your hand before licking it and resigning himself to your attention. 

You laughed, heading back to the door. “Come on! I haven’t gone hiking at night before. Think of all the cool nocturnal animals I can record in my journal. And I need my bodyguard, right? It’ll be fun-“ 

You cut yourself off. You opened the door, freezing as you came face-to-face with a fist, poised to knock. Looking past the fist, your throat went dry, heart dropping into your stomach, head going fuzzy. A man stood there in an expensive looking suit. He looked a little surprised, then flashed a wide used-car-salesman smile. One of his teeth was golden. You could see scars criss-crossing his knuckles and up one of his cheeks. His hair was practically a helmet with all the pomade in it. 

“Well, hello there!” He said, chipper. That somehow made it worse. “I don’t suppose you’re (Y/N) (L/N), are you?” 

The door blurred as you slammed it shut. Just before it closed, the man stopped it with his hands, which now seemed way too large and strong. You tried pushing it closed, but your muscles, even flooded with the adrenaline shooting through your veins, were no match for his. 

You stumbled backward as he threw the door open. You saw several more equally if not more menacing men behind him. One was rolling up his sleeves, one checking the knuckle-dusters shining on his hands, one methodically fiddling with the safety on a gun. 

You backed away, stopping when the back of your calves nudged into Golden Boy, who was now standing, a low growl emanating from his throat. 

“Hey there, pup,” The smiling man said. He leaned down, rubbing his fingers together to encourage Golden Boy to come forward. Your wolf just snapped his fangs. “Aw, well. You hate hurting animals, but sometimes it’s just a hazard of the job.” He drew out a long hunting knife from a sheath shoved in his belt loop. It glistened in the fire light. 

You were going to throw up. 

“I don’t know anything,” You said, hating the waver in your voice. How could you have become so comfortable, so careless? Where the hell was your bat? “I don’t know where my dad is, I don’t know where your money is. I don’t know anything, I promise.” Tears were blurring your vision, stinging the back of your eyes. 

“I’m sure you don’t, sweetheart,” He said. The other men crowded in through the door. The cabin suddenly felt ten times smaller. “But, you know, loose ends.” 

Yellow blurred in your vision. Golden Boy flashed in front of you, powerful jaws clamping down on the man’s knife hand. He yowled in pain and shock, the knife clattering to the floor. The other men were stunned for a moment before lunging forward. One hit Golden Boy hard on the back of his head, another grabbing his back legs and yanking hard. Golden Boy kept his death-grip, red oozing from his mouth. 

You scrambled backward, head whipping around to look for your bat. It now felt woefully useless. There, cast off in a corner. You’d been using it to dry dish towels. 

It felt like 100 pounds in your hands. 

You heard an unsettling thump followed by a yelp. Whipping around, you saw the man had managed to dislodge Golden Boy, throwing him against the wall. You cried a broken noise. You felt a hand grab the scruff of your neck. You jammed the bat behind you, connecting with the soft bulge of the man’s stomach. He “oof”ed and his grip loosened. You flung yourself forward, landing hard on your knees, and scrambled up. The door was wide open, the men temporarily distracted. You didn’t think twice. 

You shot up, sliding like a baseball player going to home plate in front of Golden Boy. You held your bat in front of you like Excalibur itself. 

“Don’t you fucking touch my dog!” You’d never said anything with such venom in your voice, but you still didn’t feel like it was enough to appropriately express your rage. Golden Boy shook his head, getting back to his feet. He stood by your side, head lowered between his shoulders, baring his teeth stained with blood. 

The smiling man, who was now scowling in disgust, wrapped his bleeding hand with a way too expensive handkerchief. “God, typical. I hate dogs. Let’s hurry up and finish this.” 

The one with the gun raised it, pointing it right between your eyes. You stood fast, gripping the bat so hard your hands were turning white. 

You wanted to see Bakugo. It hit you like lightening that that was who was coming to your mind. You wanted to say something to him, an explanation of why you wouldn’t wake him up tomorrow morning. You wanted to make him promise he would take care of Golden Boy, after making him admit that you were right about the wolves. You wanted to hug him, to go on a walk someplace other than the woods, you wanted to cook a real meal in a real kitchen with him, you wanted to wake up in the morning with him at your side, Golden Boy at your feet. 

You wanted so many things you knew you wouldn’t be getting. So you had to focus on what you could get. You wanted Golden Boy to get out of here, to be safe. And by hell or high water, you were going to do that. 

You swung the bat back, aiming for the gunman’s wrist. You would knock the gun out of his hand, grab Golden Boy, kick him if you had to, get him out the door to get a head start. You’d probably get shot in the back doing it, but maybe the loud noise would startle him into running away. As long as he was safe, what else mattered? 

One second you were staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, making peace with yourself. The next, the gun was gone, and so was the man. Blinking, you looked around to see where he had disappeared to. The other men, equally baffled, didn’t have time to react as they were tackled to the ground along with their firearm friend. 

Golden Boy was in front of you, pushing you back by leaning his weight against your legs. You watched as your tiny cabin filled with giant wolves, gray, red, black, brown, all with flashing fangs and claws. One man with a knife reared up, pulling his arm back to throw the knife at you. Materializing out of thin air, a new man, one you hadn’t seen before, appeared behind him, catching the first in a headlock and pulling him down until he went limp in a choked-out sleep. 

The new man snarled, whipping his head around to stare right into your soul. And he was naked. How did you not notice that? The man looked like he threw full grown trees around for fun, and cut them down for work. Every inch of skin, and there was a lot of skin, had some scar tissue or mark indicating a life of hard-scraps. 

His eyes snapped down to Golden Boy, still setting himself firmly between you and the raucous crowd. The man jerked his head to the open door. “Wait outside,” He said, voice unbelievably gruff and low. “We’ll take care of this.” 

“Okay?” You said, voice loose. You felt like you were going to faint. You grounded yourself with a tug on your sleeve. Looking down, you saw Golden Boy, his teeth gently closed around your sleeve. He somehow managed to avoid looking at you, pulling you on unsteady feet out in the cool night air. He kicked the door shut with his hide leg as soon as you were out. 

All of your energy left you at once. You slumped against a tree, forehead leaning on your knees and blood rushing back into your hands as you dropped your bat. You sat there, still save for the involuntary tremors that racked your body, for who knows how long. 

You heard a quiet whimper. Peeking your eyes through your fingers, you saw Golden Boy. He was pacing, eyes downcast and tail tucked between his legs. He was limping a little, his old wound bothered in no small part due to being bodily thrown against the wall. 

“Hey,” You said softly. He jerked to a stop and looked up at you, bringing his eyes back down in a guilty expression. “It’s okay. Come here.” You held your hands out, palms up and fingers splayed. He trotted over to you, resting his enormous head in your hands and laying down, his chest pressing on your legs. You buried your face in the thick fur on the back of his neck. “It’s okay. We’re okay.” 

When the cabin door creaked open, panic seized your adrenaline abandoned muscles. Your hand shot to the bat, its strange weight now frighteningly familiar. Golden Boy barely stirred in your lap, only lazily opening his eyes and shifting closer to you as if hiding from some sort of punishment. 

The burly man stepped out first, still naked, you (unfortunately) noticed. He had two yakuza members with him, one slung over each shoulder, limp and unmoving. Next came three huge wolves, one of them walking backward while pulling along another gang member by the cuff of his pants. A woman came out with him, also naked, with the longest hair you had ever seen, similarly scuffed and scraped as the first man. She was followed by two more wolves. The strange group dumped the bodies of your attackers in a haphazard pile near the tree line. Were they dead? You couldn’t tell. God, which option was better? 

The man stretched, thick cords of muscle rippling under his skin. He sighed, like a tired parent, and turned to you. You cut your gaze away quickly, making sure to keep your eyes above a certain level. 

“Are you badly hurt?” His voice was the same low rumble of an earthquake. 

“Um, no. I-I think we’re okay. Thank you.” 

He hummed, rolling his shoulders. “No thanks necessary. We stand for our own, no matter the pack.” 

“I’m sorry, pack?” You asked, voice squeaking. Your brain was working overtime to process everything. 

“Hmph.” The man looked disappointed but not surprised. He nudged Golden Boy with his foot. The wolf whined again, turning his head away. “You still can’t shift on command? How are you meant to lead your pack when you can’t do the most basic things?” Golden Boy whined and grumbled. 

“I-what? What does any of this have to do with my dog?” You wrapped your arms protectively around him. 

The man quirked an eyebrow. “A wolf without a pack is a dangerous thing. A lone creature who can’t even control his own body needs to be culled. Now that he has found a pack, he has a greater responsibility. He’s part of a whole, not only himself.” 

“Hang on-” You tried to stand up only for Golden Boy to shove his weight down on you harder. “Were you the ones hurting Golden Boy? What’s the matter with you? Why would you hurt an animal? And, sorry, but why are you naked? I tried not to say anything but it’s kind of bothering me a lot.” 

The man stared you down, looking back to your wolf. “You didn’t tell her anything?” Golden Boy whined. The man sighed. “This will be more difficult than I thought. Our pack must move. We’ve completed our duty.We’ll deal with this… refuse.” He looked at the unconscious yakuza. He nudged Golden Boy again. “Take care of this one. He has a lot to learn.” 

The man turned, a yell building in your throat. In front of your eyes, he shifted, skin sprouting silver gray hair. You heard the pop of bones as the man seemed to fall over, but you quickly realized his entire body structure had changed. Where a person had once stood, a wolf walked. The woman from before was also gone, now just the group of wolves. The gray wolf looked back at you, nodding once, before raising up a howl with the rest of his pack. 

When you finally managed to feel your heartbeat slow to a non-life-threatening level, you looked down. “Alright, we have a lot to talk about, because apparently you can do that?” Golden Boy turned away from you. “Yeah, alright, nap first. Nap sounds good.” 

You passed out. 

~~~ 

You woke up with a headache knocking at your temples. Your mouth felt thick with cotton. You felt warm, gradually taking note of the blanket that had been carefully draped over you. Blearily opening your eyes, you watched dust motes float through shafts of light that filtered through the curtains on your cabin windows. You must have forgotten to dose the fire before you went to bed. It was still crackling in the fireplace. 

“Golden Boy?” You said, voice craggy. Why were you still wearing your day clothes? “Yout there, bud?” 

A knuckle rapped gently on your forehead. “Exactly how hard did you hit your head?” 

You shot up, immediately regretting it as pain flared up your spine to bloom in your skull. “Whoa, hey, take it easy.” A pair of hands steadied your shoulders, helping you sit up. 

You blinked hard, looking up into now familiar red eyes. “Bakugo?” 

He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. “You can call me Katsuki now, you know. I think we’re close enough, after everything.” 

“Everything-? Oh. Oh! Oh my god!” You tried to jump up, knees giving out underneath you. Your limbs felt like they were encased in lead. 

“I told you to take it easy, dumbass,” Bakugo, Katsuki, said. He caught you before you fell, helping you sit back down. He stood up, going to the stove and sliding a pancake on top of a stack, still steaming. Pulling half onto a separate plate, he came back, handing one to you.

Numbly, you took it, tearing a piece off and shoving it in your mouth. “You have pecans in here.” 

“We didn’t have any syrup, so I thought this would be a good substitute. Having pancakes on their own is kind of boring.” 

“Sure. Yeah. So.” You let it hang there, watching him avoid your eyes and much on pancakes. 

He swallowed. “So.” He ate half of another one before continuing. “I’m a werewolf.” 

You blinked. “Okay.” 

He scowled. ‘There it is,’ You thought. “‘Okay’? That’s all you have to say?” 

You shrugged. “I mean, what else am I supposed to say? I’m pretty sure a group of werewolves saved my life last night. I literally saw a guy turn into a wolf, so that checks out. I might still be in shock a little bit, to be honest. So, uh, werewolf, huh?” He scoffed, rolling his eyes and shoving another pancake in his mouth. You cracked a smile and joked, “Well, you sure eat like a dog.” He punched your shoulder. You both laughed anyway. 

“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” He said eventually. “I don’t think anyone does. I got bit by a rogue wolf. Turned pretty soon after. I’m not going to lie, I did some pretty bad stuff. I was freaked out, half out of my mind, those wolf instincts kicking in. It’s not an excuse, but… I got a job out here, thought I could isolate myself, research to see if I could find a cure or something. The pack found me almost immediately. I mean, I practically waltzed right in to their territory, so I can’t blame them. That rule they have, it’s true. A lone werewolf, someone without a pack, they’re dangerous. Unpredictable. They tried to… put me down. I usually managed to get away, but one night I made a stupid mistake. I should have died.” He looked up at you. “And then I ran in to you.” 

“And then you ran in to me.” You reached out, petting your hand through his hair. It was still soft, whether as a golden wolf or a human. “So, I’m your pack now? That’s what that guy said, the other werewolf. What does that mean, exactly?” 

He blushed, pulling apart his remaining pancakes. “A pack is like a family. They look out for each other, stand with each other. I didn’t tell them we were a pack or anything. I guess they just sort of inferred. Since, like, we’ve been spending a lot of time together, no matter what form.” 

You grinned. “They think you’re my boyfriend?”  He punched you again, with less malice this time. “Hey, I didn’t say I minded.” 

“It’s a lot,” Katsuki continued quickly, the words all rushing out as if he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to say it all. “I still don’t know a lot about all this. I always shift at night. I’m trying to get better at controlling it, but it’s hard. And it’s hard to go through all the history and stuff and pull out fact from fiction. I feel like I can’t control anything and I’m so fucking useless and I-“ 

You pressed your lips against his. Finally. His lips were chapped, and your teeth clacked together at first, but the warmth that spread through your chest made it all worth it. A plate clattered against the floor as he shifted closer to you. His hand came up to cradle the back of your head, bringing you closer. Your fingers clenched the fabric of his shirt, pulling. 

He pulled back, your breath mixing together. 

“I think I like the woods, now,” You said, softly. “It’s nice out here. Good company.” He chuckled, lowley. “And I like you. A lot. And I love dogs.”

He laughed loudly, once, before pulling you back in for another kiss.

[seita]

how do you generally beat ruin hunters? like i’m rank 24 and maybe i’m seriously dumb but

oh!!! ruin hunters!!! i'm gonna take this opportunity to also mention ruin guards bc i have a good bit of people who have told me they started playing bc of me and so!!! ruin guards + hunters r scary at first!!

so what's i've discovered is for ruin guards, its best to use archers. ik some people prefer to just run at them with melee (i do sometimes if i'm feeling brave) but aim for the glowing gem thing on its face or the similar thing on its back. the face is generally pretty easy bc it's usually always coming at you.

but archery works well bc a lot of its most powerful attacks are close-ranged aside from the missiles which are very easy to dodge or avoid in general. depending on the landscape i hide behind pillars when the missiles come so i don't use stamina or risk getting stranded in the middle of the arena with it.

but anyway ruin hunters: i actually go at them with melee as opposed to archers. it's most annoying attack are those stupid fuckin guns it brings out. those KILL me so fucking bad when i'm at far range with them. for some reason i find it easiest to be up under them and hit them with elemental and melee attacks - the guns don't really do much when ur like lit under the fuckers.

but i think the "proper" way is...archery aim for the same weak spot in the face but....i take way less damage beating hunters with melee vs archery.

ruin guards > ruin hunters

[allywrites360]

Red Shoes - Analysis/Review

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world… whether my eyes are open… or closed.” - Merlin

““But I’m still that Merlin inside.” - The one who grew. The one who changed, and learned to love himself and others for more than what’s on the outside. I know Snow is the main example of self love in this film, but Merlin provides a great example of this; something we don’t often see in male characters.”

--

So this film just released in North America, and I thought I’d share some thoughts and overall themes/metaphors from this film. But first, I’d just like to encourage you (if you haven't already) to go and support this film. It pretty inexpensive, and was made by an independent animation studio, which I think is absolutely amazing. Now onto the analysis!!

Love the concept of everyone being an adaptation of a fairytale character; adds to the society being shallow and appearance focus as a whole, as fairytales were traditionally focused on dichotomy and physical beauty.

The lighting, and really animation as a whole, is phenomenal for a film made by an independent studio. The shading and colour grading is a real standout, though. And the landscapes!! They feel really three dimensional, and gorgeous.

[ID - A shot of a sunrise, beautifully lit behind a belltower - End ID].

Scoring/motif for the main villain is amazing.

Introduction to the protagonist is really not setup well. Did she actually get sent away from the palace? How long was she gone? How desperate is she to save her father? All of these questions are left unanswered, and no prominent character traits are shown through her first scene. She could be clever? All she did was change her hiding spot, so even that’s a stretch.

I hate the king’s narration. The dialogue is choppy, and repetitive in a completely irrelevant way.

The lore around the tree is really unclear. Why haven’t the shoes worked for Regina? Why do they work for Snow? Will they not regrow?

Love the transition scene to the dwarfs; makes it feel as though they’re just been walking listlessly since the spell was cast. Which, y’know, more or less true.

[ID - A shot of the seven dwarfs walking together through the centre of a forest in midday, looking slightly dejected - End ID].

Love the fact the mirror points out that ‘wisdom’ and ‘kingdom’ don’t rhyme; I paused to point that out.

I will say that the action scenes are really well directed/choreographed. The camera flows really nicely, and always follows our protagonists (ooh, tying into the dichotomous nature of fairytales overall?), which makes the stakes and emotions feel higher/more personal.

The villain’s voice acting and dialogue is really sharp and entertaining. She feels like a real threat (and also uncannily similar to Gothel but).

Love the wooden front on their house disguised as a castle. Really nicely done metaphor for them clinging on to a cheap version of their pasts; refusing to move on, which is torn down when she arrives. Also ties in to the “what’s on the inside outweighs what’s one the outside” moral.

[ID - The seven dwarfs’ house, which is a cave, with a wooden cutout shaped and painted like a castle sitting in front of it to give the illusion of a grander living space - End ID].

Can I also say I love that her first reaction isn’t insanely positive to her new appearance? In general, she just notes there’s been a change, which is a really nice subversion of the ‘overweight people have to be unhappy at the outset’ trope.

Her facial expressions are also really animated, which is something I’ve always loved (see Ariel, Anastasia, etc.), especially her eyes. Really well designed. Actually, all the expressions suit the characters’ personalities really well. Great job, animation department!

The fact that all seven dwarfs are names after popular mythical characters is really inventive (much more so than simply naming them after a character trait), as well as having their diverse fighting style be built from that, which I loved. Could even be allusions, but I don’t know enough about the original stories to say.

Hate the electric guitar of Prince Average. Highlights how much he doesn’t belong in this movie. His name is horribly uncreative, and his pop culture references break the forth wall, and aren’t funny, as they aren’t used properly. With him as the involved antagonist for most of the film, I can’t take the threat seriously. Other comic villains have been done so much better, such as Prince Charming from Shrek. The only valid line he has is about ‘dwarfs’ vs. ‘dwarves’; I never know which to use. “Finally, the big guns, thank you!” One more fourth wall break from this man I swear.

Love the added detail of the shoes not being able to be removed once you place value on the beauty they give. It’s hard to let go of that temptation; and if you don’t, you won’t be seen as your true self. It also highlights how she loves herself at the outbreak of the movie, and is therefore able to remove them freely. Also gets rid of the the deus ex machina of her shoes coming off freely in the water.

Wish we could’ve seen her doubt grow as she realizes they wouldn’t have helped her in her original form. Feels like we were a bit disconnected from her emotions. Which might not be a bad thing… if we assume Merlin in the protagonist.

Nice foreshadowing to her father being the bunny; if you know to look for it.

References such as ‘#blessed’, or ‘Pablo Picasso’, don’t work in the slightest. They serve no purpose, and aren’t funny simply because most would recognize them.

Normally I would make a note about Merlin and Snow having really standard, basic designs, but one, this animation studio is small, and on limited resources, and two, it, again, relates back to the shallow, uninteresting societal expectation of beauty that refuses to be unique.

Ahh, nice that apples are what trip the guards up in the chase scene through the market. Symbolic.

Love that she’s willing to defend the dwarfs even when she realizes they won’t help her in her original form. Again, wish we could’ve seen her emotions pertaining to that a bit more, although the reflection shot in the mirror (reflected from the shot at the start of the scene) was nice. Speaking of that, the broken, fragment reflection of her ‘fake’ self, is beautiful, because it isn’t a representation of herself, however at the end of the scene, we see the reflection in the same manner, but with her original self, but due to newly inflicted self doubt, we get a split second of that reality being fragmented too.

[ID - Snow White frowning as she looks into a shattered mirror leaning against the wall of an alleyway in her society-dictated “beautiful” - End ID].

[ID - Snow White looking into the same mirror, frowning, and having removed the shoes, restoring her to her original appearance - End ID].

The three bears (I’m assuming an allusion to the Goldilocks mythos) don’t really serve any plot relevance… however they are cute, so make of their inclusion what you will.

Again, the scene where she exits the dwarfs’ home; it would’ve been great to see a shot of her internal conflict before she submits herself to giving up her freedom for Merlin and Arthur’s. Relating to that, I have noticed that the hostage situations have shockingly low stakes in this film. For instance, at the end, Merlin is simply held in a branch, and a second later, Snow is willing to give up her life to set him free.

The movie didn’t end up using this (which was a nice subversion of expectations), but if Merlin had used all his spells in the final battle, and needed just one more shot, it wouldn’t have been a deus ex machina, because we establish previously he has the one Snow gave him for luck. I assumed it’d comeback again, but turns out they just used it as a symbol (for having the flower, a symbol of outside beauty, float out of his hand), for him letting go of his shallow mindset.

[ID - Snow White (wearing the shoes which change her appearance) smiles at Merlin, in his dwarf form. In his hand there’s a paper flower she folded from one of his spells - End ID].

Really love the joke about the mirror being hurt by smoke. Get it? Smoke and mirrors? Now that reference is funny; and also ties into the theme of false fronts/illusions. But not gonna lie, all that was an afterthought. It genuinely made me laugh.

Love that they rebuild the house too. It’s not beautiful, at least in a traditional sense. It’s cracked, uneven, but personal to them; they did it as a family. I’ll give the writers credit for so fully entrenching the theme into every frame and action. Nothing is meaningless in this film. Well, at least surrounding the protagonists.

Ooh, ooh, I could forgive the use of pop as their love motif if at the end, when there are no facades, it’s replaced by original scoring. I don’t remember that scene in all that much detail though.

The tree thing is… strange, I’ll admit, but considering Regina puts all her stock in the beauty which comes from the magic tree, it makes sense it’d be rooted into her magic in some way. The apple details are cool (notches shaped like seeds on the trunks), if nothing else, considering the scene with the three attacking is not investing the slightest, beyond some inventive attacks from Merlin (the action and attacks surrounding him aren’t executed all that poorly).

The directing in general is phenomenal in this movie; which is something I’ve been trying to put a bit more attention on lately.

Love small details like Merlin holding his back after the fight, circling back once again to the fact these characters are more similar than they realize (if you remember, that’s what she used as a cover when she first woke up).

[ID - A shot of Merlin running, pressing a hand against his back as he does so - End ID].

Okay, I can suspend my disbelief for a lot of things in this movie, but when Snow dives into the lake, that surface tension would’ve seriously hurt her. If even some waves would’ve been added, it would’ve not only added suspense to the scene, but made it a bit more grounded as well.

“Who do you like more, Snow White or Red Shoes?” “Easy, it’s Red Shoes.” “Who does Red Shoes love more?” “Easy, it’s me. Wait… no. It’s you.” That line is by far my favourite from the film. I love that it shows his guilt. She’s chosen to love him despite his appearance, but he won’t do the same for her. And now he has to look in the mirror at that ugly part of his personality.

[ID - At night, Merlin in his dwarf form stands beside Merlin in his human form. The dwarf version of him looks irritated as he looks up - End ID].

(Assuming Merlin named the rabbit, and if I’m being honest I didn’t pay attention to that) It’s sorta fitting to his character that he named it ‘Long Ears’ - a notably physical attribute.

While I do like that, just because the climax called for it, the sword didn’t suddenly lift from the stone, I really dislike that it was broken out by sheer force; which goes goes against the entire magic system/point of the sword and who gets to hold it.

Kronk as the magic mirror is hilarious. I want to credit the screenwriters for his lines… but I have a strong feeling it was mostly improv. Well done whoever is to credit for that.

Now this action scene, with Merlin being attacked by the tree roots, is insanely well done. For maybe the first time in this movie, I feel the suspense I’m intended to, and the setup and just character movement in general is really inventive. You feel his emotions and breath in this scene, which takes serious talent.

“How could she possibly want to save you more than she wants to be beautiful? Did you cast a spell?” - On a related note, I’m proud of this movie for not falling into the traditional ‘misunderstanding breaks up characters before the final battle’ (they technically do split up, but it’s the fault of Merlin’s unresolved selfish intentions rather than a petty matter) through Snow seeing the love spell, and assuming the worst even though Merlin never uses it.

The vines could be a metaphor as well; in this battle, they’re the shallow desires holding him back, while he, with the assistance of others, has to break his own way out (as shown by him using his lighting to crack a small hole in the doors (or exit) of the room.

[ID - Merlin is running towards the “camera”, however, he looks surprised as a vine grabs his waist, and attempts to drag him back into the castle - End ID].

“I’m sorry, Snow White.” That’s the first time he uses her name; and he does it mentally; in a voiceover. It isn’t to impress her, or win a competition. It’s how he truly sees her now. Also, so beautiful how his motives go from being self centred, to focused on her; he changed because of her influence. It’s been done before, but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful here.

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world… whether my eyes are open… or closed.” That wasn’t his final line (he survives), but if it was… that would’ve been so powerful. Still is, just in a different way.

“I kinda liked the short and green Merlin.” “But I’m still that Merlin inside.” - The one who grew. The one who changed, and learned to love himself and others for more than what’s on the outside. I know Snow is the main example of self love in this film, but Merlin provides a great example of this; something we don’t often see in male characters.

And I loved that it was a hug immediately after his spell is broken. He isn’t trying to gain anything, he’s just happy to be with her, which is super romantic. 

[ID - Both now restored to their original forms, Merlin and Snow White sit on the ground just outside the palace hugging each other, both smiling with their eyes shut. The king, and a few of the dwarfs stand in the background - End ID].

Onto a few of my favourite lines;

“I was worried about you!” “I was worried about me too. But- but mostly you!”

“If you could see the real me…” “I think I can see the real you… eyes open or closed, I still see Merlin.” What a great line. What a great theme. You don’t need to know the facts about someone, or see their original appearance, to know who they are. And I think that’s beautiful.

“Someone you’l be proud to be seen with.” “I think you’re right.”

“I thought that we were both under the same spell… but I was wrong.”

“He likes you more than he likes me,” as she looks down at the shoes.

“Who do you like more, Snow White or Red Shoes?” “Easy, it’s Red Shoes.” “Who does Red Shoes love more?” “Easy, it’s me. Wait… no. It’s you.”

“How could she possibly want to save you more than she wants to be beautiful? Did you cast a spell?”

“I’ve never been so glad to be chubby and green again.” - Because it means he’s not alone.

“I’m sorry, Snow White.” 

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world… whether my eyes are open… or closed.”

“I kinda liked the short and green Merlin.” “But I’m still that Merlin inside.” 

I’ll just say, as an ending thought, that the 2D animation of their wedding is adorable.

Overall, I’d give it 8/10. Nothing phenomenal that was entirely groundbreaking, but there’s a lot of heart to be shown here, with some truly amazing characters, even if some of their universe isn’t all that intriguing. Would highly recommend.

[malewifekane]

be honest.do you think it’s possible for them to be consistent with their current performance?looking at the matches schedule i can’t help but worry,the dates are so close to each other im afraid they won’t be able to perform as well.i want them to win so bad but it sounds too difficult.sorry for being a negative nancy but when it comes to spurs every time something good happens it always goes downhill from there.im too scared to be optimistic.am i being too negative here

no need to apologise at all!!! unfortunately its been conditioned in us spurs fans to always expect the worst in the end 😭

but imo, i deffo think the mentality's changed. jose's lit a fire underneath everyones asses and he's not letting the team get away with lackluster performances anymore. im actually really excited for the challenge we've got in the next couple of weeks. it'll be a chance for spurs to show they're not gonna sit back and be the premier league punching bag, and seeing as our morales been high if we win on thursday we'll be goin in guns blazing vs chelsea

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of January 22nd, 2020

Best of this Week: Amazing Spider-Man #38 (Legacy #839) - Nick Spencer, Iban Coello, Brian Reber and Joe Caramagna

I can read the headline now: Spider-Man vs. Fake News.

At least that's what it seems like this next Spider-Man arc will be about as the titular hero has to deal with his "biggest supporter," J. Jonah Jameson, and his new job as a clickbait hound in the age of modern online journalism. Who knows what hijinks will ensue?

This issue exemplified the kind of humor that Nick Spencer excels at: the hilarity of hypocrisy when it comes to some of Spider-Man’s supporting cast. This was best shown in Spencer’s hilarious Superior Foes of Spider-Man (2013) as Boomerang did everything in his power to create a new Sinister Six while selling them out at every turn and not learning from his actions as everyone in his sphere suffered the consequences of his betrayals. Spencer channels that same energy as Jameson has to face the fruits of his journalistic practices in the form of Norah Winters and the new Threats and Menaces blog office.

After Jonah launches into a (Boomer) rant about today's journalists, calling them soft, self-obsessed and lacking the edge that made him what he is, Norah tells her team to sound off about the stories they’re working on. Without missing a beat and with faces of malice, thanks to Coello, they tout their intentionally misleading headlines.

Norah explains that in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, they need to get those clicks by any means necessary and that Jameson was the inspiration for this because of his past headlines calling Spider-Man a menace usually without real evidence. She expects villains to repost it to their audiences and heroes to quote it with malice, giving them more clicks.

Everyone likes to take the piss of millennial journalists and can often come off as cringy, but somehow Spencer, Iban Coello and Brian Reber manage to really capture the essence of modern open architecture office spaces filled with young kids and their kooky hair colors. Coello draws a really good shot of this with the addition of a space for video games, two bright green vending machines and tables full of people either on desktops without dividing walls or on personal laptops. Of course, all of this comes after Jonah is nearly hit by a douchebag riding an electric scooter.

Reber colors everything in contrast to Jameson who wears a professional brown suit. The office itself is brightly lit, all of the freelancers and employees are given brighter clothes with striking reds, pinks, blues and purples. Even the basic Threats and Menaces banner is a bright red, kinda signalling how bad this company might be. It’s really fun to see how out of his element Jonah is among these kids and how much more awful they are in comparison to him… aside from creating supervillains.

As all of this is going on, Spider-Man is robbing a bank. One can see how this might be a problem as Jonah is doing his best to defend Spider-Man to Winters who wants him to write a smearing headline about the crime. Coello and Reber introduce us to the act with an amazingly dynamic splash page of Spidey zipping into the sky carrying bags of cash. The webs are slung so hard that they blur, laser gun blasts almost fly off the pages with vibrant red and orange colors and Spider-Man’s posing makes him look like he’s avoiding danger with ease.

We get a sidestory with Silver Sable trying to regain her strength with the help of (former?) Spider-Man villain, Foreigner, as the two are now lovers. After helping her, Foreigner goes to a secret casino where the use of superpowers is encouraged and there’s betting on the battles between superheroes, villains and everything in between.

Foreigner still maintains his supervillain connections, but he seems to be using it towards helping Sable. Minor supervillain and assassin, Chance, has set up the robbery and casino in order to place bets on Spidey's performance and potential property damage. Of course, he also rigs it so that surprise drones appear to make things harder. As things begin to get hectic, lo and behold we get the best shot in the entire book: J. Jonah Jameson riding in to save Spider-Man on an electric scooter.

Coello and Reber make Jonah look like an absolute mad lad as he rushes into danger without a second thought to save Spider-Man. Fiery explosions ring out behind him, his pose makes him look like he came straight out of a Tony Hawk game and Spider-Man is absolutely shocked at all of this. Legitimately, it’s a really badass panel and one that should go down as one of the best out of context shots in comic history. 

Spider-Man reacts as we would expect, chastising Jonah for putting himself in danger. Jonah retorts that he and Spider-Man were supposed to be a team after Jonah owned up to his some of his worst actions after a gang of supervillains confronted him and Spider-Man earlier in the series. Though he was supposed to keep it secret at the request of his sister, Teresa Parker, Spider-Man reveals to Jonah that the bank he robbed was a front for a criminal organization and that he needed to run because there were too many bad guys. As Jonah flees, he vows to Spider-Man that he’ll make his life easier one way or another.

Soon after, we get an amazing double page spread of Spider-Man taking down these nameless villains as Chance counts down. He thwips, kicks and smashes these clowns over the head with his signature Spidey style before Chance announces that the house wins after Spider-Man takes them all down.

As far as art showcasing goes, Coello, Reber and Joe Caramagna smash it out of the park here. The panels flow as the action moves between Spider-an acrobatic antics and Chance’s excited facial expressions. Colors are rich and switch between explosive oranges to dynamic blue skies. The lettering is truly amazing as every sound effect is emphasized and given proper placement for effect.

Spider-Man wins, but soon gets a call from Teresa, asking him if he knows what Top Secret means. He questions what’s going on and then sees the headline from J. Jonah Jameson exposing the plot and why Spider-Man is a hero for it, accompanied by Jonah raising his arms into the air with childlike excitement. This is gonna be a wacky adventure.

This book was a lot of fun and I’m glad Nick Spencer is writing it. He’s able to bring the funny and really works with his artists to give each issue and story its own identity. None of them feel exactly the same and that’s commendable. With much thanks to Chip Zdarsky, Nick Spencer continues to build on the relationships established in the Spectacular Spider-Man series with Jameson doing his best to repay Peter for all the times he’s called him a menace after revealing his identity to his former biggest antagonist. At the same time, it’s nice that Peter’s also keeping in contact with his sister Teresa, a character that absolutely has a lot more going on that people might expect.

Iban Coello is an amazing artist and makes every page look so dynamic and fun, combined with Brian Reber’s coloring, this is an awesome looking Spider-Man book. Joe Caramagna as always does a stellar job by placing each balloon so that the dialogue is easy to follow without cluttering up the pages, emphasizing words to give every character a unique voice and placing sound effects so that one can almost hear the pages as they turn. I enjoyed all of this immensely.

If there's any criticism I could level at this book, it would be the drawing out of the eventual conflict between Spider-Man and Kindred. I know Nick Spencer is playing the long game and he's very good at it, making me anticipate it with every issue the creepy villain appears in, but there has to be substantial storytelling in the mean time. Hunted was an amazing story from start to finish, but the 2099 crossover left a lot to be desired.

In between, there hasn't been much to rave about. Even the Absolute Carnage crossover and the Sinister Syndicate storyline have been on the lower levels of Spencer's stories during his time on Spider-Man. Sure they were fun, but unlike the absolute hilarity that is the storyline with Boomerang, they feel a bit disjointed from the rest of the stellar story that Spencer is telling. I get a similar feeling from this issue despite how fun it was.

But don’t let my impatience stop you from buying this book!