#hands the mic to Shan

[moony-t0ast]

ARE YOU AND SHAN MEETING?????? OMGGGGGGG

👀

[blazingstar29]

so on the voice another night an military vet came on (no one turned it was so sad bc i loved his voice, i hate this show ever since they got rid of seal and ricky martin) and i hate myself because it made me think of an icemav au about the voice and i have thoughts

mav auditioning and only ice turns and everyone thinks it was a mistake because yeah he’s good but like, country pop radio good not nashville good (he’s a country singer change my mind i dare)

he sings Khe Shan (i think)

he introduces himself as maverick, his stage name which he kept from the time he was in the Navy

and ice isn’t all that impressed, he thinks mav could be better but he had more empty spots than the other judges (slider, charlie, cylone??) and the producers worded him up about turning

anyway on stage mav has this huge presence, he’s a crowd favourite even if he leans on a bit cocky

ice has always kept a low profile as a singer, he didn’t expect to get big and it just kind of happened, like adele

so he’s not enamoured by mav in the beginning but they work together for the show

when it gets to the next round he discovers something about this cocky little country singer

his stage fright is crippling

shaking, on the verge of tears, nauseous and not becuase of the show: this happens any time he performs

he comes across on stage as cocky because the only way for him to do it is to be hyperbole

ice resolves to fix this problem because it’s the reason maverick holds back is because he’s scared

(one of the fixes in a later round is a hand job in a closet between performances and ice ‘goes to the bathroom’ and mav’s face mic might come on any minute so he has to be SILENT)

maverick doesn’t win but he makes it to the final round and it’s the upset of the year. maybe he’s outer and it upsets his country fan base or maybe there’s someone they love more

afterwards ice puts him in touch with with a record company run by Mike Metcalfe

[the-ravening]

*blinks* ...Michelle's Bday fic? ("It's a common name," she murmurs to herself, "so go ahead and put those hopes down.") (I have a doc on my desktop named 'For Shan' and no mistake about it it's something you will get someday. 😂 )

Thank you to everyone who tagged me in the latest round of the WIP game going around. I will not be participating this time because I never even finished answering my asks from the last time and it’s been dragging on my conscience ever since.

Speaking of which… Michelle! I’m sooooo sorry it took me this long to answer your ask from last year. Of course “Michelle’s Bday fic” was for you!!! You and me 🤝 starting bday fics for each other and not finishing them.

It was supposed to just be a small little hurt/comfort wound cleaning in the shower thing, but I didn’t get it done in time and I felt so self-conscious writing for you because your words are always so beautiful.

Anyway, I have almost 3k written but doubt I’ll be finishing it any time soon, so please accept this meagre offering of a long snippet (aka the first 1.6k of the fic).

Hope you’ve been doing well! Sending you love and kisses forever 💗💗💗

Three sets of heavy footsteps trudged through the front door of the safehouse, slow and lumbering in their exhaustion. The air around them was thick with the iron tang of blood and a persistent tingle of burnt gunpowder rattling around in their sinuses, as they slipped into the kind of quiet torpor that always followed a difficult mission seen to its end. Though it had gotten a bit dicey at times on this one, they’d earned the satisfaction of having completed their objective and made it back alive in one piece. Well, mostly in one piece, Bucky thought, running his eyes critically over Zemo’s broad back as the man stepped into the apartment’s living area ahead of him. There was a conspicuous tear in his beloved long wool coat, the fabric slashed and stained dark with blood below his left shoulder blade.

“All right,” Sam said, voice deep with weariness. “Let’s take a look at your back, Zemo.”

“Merely a shallow flesh wound. I’ll be fine,” Zemo demurred.

“Knowing you, that means they probably hit a major organ and you’re about to pass out on your own carpet,” Sam grumbled.

“Really, is there so little trust between colleagues these days?”

Sam and Bucky took simultaneous deep breaths and sighed heavily at the irony of this statement rolling off the tongue of this particular colleague of theirs.

Before Sam could come up with any further argument though, they were interrupted by a tinny sound blaring from somewhere in the depths of his leather jacket. It quickly developed into the sunny tones of a song Bucky only knew because Sam had once told him it was called “‘Fuck You’ by CeeLo Green… C’mon, man, you don’t know that one?” and only recognized from how often this personalized ringtone went off on Sam’s phone.

“Man, already? Doesn’t this guy have anything better to do than stick his nose up our asses after every mission?” Sam groaned as he fished his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen with his thumb to answer it. “Secretary Ross. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

He turned to Bucky and rolled his eyes as he held the phone to his ear, no doubt listening to Ross droning on on the other end of the line. Putting his hand over the mic, he stage whispered to Bucky, “Take care of Zemo for a few minutes, would you? I have to deal with this,” and then he wandered off into the office and closed the door behind him.

Left alone with Zemo, Bucky glared at him, wanting nothing less than to have to babysit him in Sam’s absence. On the other hand though, he really didn’t want Zemo to die of organ failure today either.

“If it were serious, I wouldn’t be standing right now.” Zemo lifted his hands in that placating gesture he liked to do so much, the one that Bucky found particularly annoying when directed at him. But he couldn’t help noticing Zemo holding back a small wince of pain as his arms came up.

Bucky sighed. “There’s a whole lot of possibilities between ‘okay’ and ‘dead’, Zemo. At least let me take a look and help you clean it out. There’s no way you’ll be able to reach back there.”

“More than anything, what I need right now is a shower,” Zemo huffed and turned towards the bathroom, effectively ending the discussion.

Bucky scrubbed a hand over his face and wondered if this would be the day Zemo finally died for real on his watch. After everything they’d been through today, he didn’t have the mental energy to argue with the man, but what was slightly worrying was that it seemed Zemo didn’t even have it in him to bite back in that flirty, teasing, infuriating way he normally did. Bucky hoped that wasn’t a sign that he was secretly bleeding out internally. They were both covered in sweat and blood and grime and gunpowder, so maybe he could let this go for now and they could pick it back up once Zemo finished his little beauty spa routine in there.

“Well?” Zemo drawled, and Bucky glanced up in time to see the man looking over his shoulder at him as he stepped through the doorway. Zemo raised an eyebrow. “Are you coming?”

Bucky stood in stunned silence, watching Zemo disappear into the bathroom, leaving the door wide open behind him. The innuendo was clear, but Zemo was all innuendo all the time, and maybe Bucky was the one misconstruing it by considering for even a moment that there was any serious intent here.

He really did want to check out Zemo’s injury—though maybe want was a bit too strong a word there. What he wanted was to pour himself a whiskey neat and sit down on the couch and forget for five minutes that Zemo was his responsibility. But what he’d gotten instead was an opportunity to make sure their notoriously secretive parolee didn’t end up with sepsis down the line from an infected knife wound, or worse. Bucky sighed again and reluctantly made to follow behind Zemo, as if drawn forward on a persistent leash that he could never quite shake off.

The bathroom was overly large and opulent, as tended to be the case in Zemo’s scattered family properties-turned-safehouses, which they now took advantage of whenever their missions allowed—though a more pretentious person might call its design spacious and modern. As he stepped into the room, Bucky was hit with the loud hiss of the shower, its rushing spray battering the black tiles as it heated up to temperature in its glass enclosure.

In the centre of the room, Zemo stood like a dark and ragged headland dropping off into the sea, as he slid his coat over slumped shoulders to land in a heavy tumble of eroded rock at his feet. Bucky was certain that no matter the air of indifference that Zemo put on, he was well and truly far along the road of fatigue, because under normal circumstances the man he knew would never treat his favourite things with such lack of care.

Zemo drew a sharp breath between his teeth as he brought his shoulder blades together in a weak attempt to shrug his double shoulder holster off. Even the most incremental of movements seemed to exacerbate the pain of his injury.

“Here, let me just—” Bucky muttered as he strode up to Zemo and stopped him gently with a hand on his shoulder. He tugged carefully at the slide adjuster on the back of the harness, loosening it, and then reached around to slide his fingers underneath the leather straps, tucking them snugly against the meat of Zemo’s chest. Slowly and gingerly, he worked the straps over Zemo’s shoulders and slid them all the way down his arms, finally dropping the holster with its guns atop the heap of Zemo’s coat on the floor, gun safety be damned. It really was that sort of day.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Zemo fumbled at the buttons of his ruined shirt with tired fingers. Bucky tried not to let the worst of his imagination run wild as his eyes tracked over the torn and blood-soaked fabric, hoping it looked much worse than it really was. Once Zemo got the shirt spread open, Bucky helped him slide it off too, revealing the expanse of his pale shoulders and a Pollock-esque smear of blood down his back, red speckled all around like so many more lurid stars dispersed amongst his freckles.

Bucky squinted scrutinizingly at the wound, its raw and red gape a wrathful mouth, lips split and spitting vitriol. Despite its gory appearance, it looked clean and fairly shallow—the blade had likely caught on a rib, sparing him from any deeper damage. It was still bleeding sluggishly, though not enough to be dangerous, already clotting. It’d certainly need a few stitches, but Sam could take care of that easily once they cleaned it up.

While Bucky was focused on assessing the cut, Zemo was dead set on shedding the rest of his soiled clothing, like a birch tree unraveling its bark layer by layer, to expose the smooth and fresh golden skin beneath. Muscular thighs flexed as he kicked off his boots, tac pants following in their wake, slipping his thumbs into the elastic waistband of his underwear and tugging them down over the firm globes of his ass. Bucky caught sight of a deep pair of indents on Zemo’s lower back—his dimples of Venus, his brain supplied unhelpfully—before averting his eyes. He told himself the flush of heat he felt on his face was a result of the rising temperature in the room, a consequence of the roaring shower. He swallowed around a lump in his throat that definitely wasn’t there.

Now shamelessly naked, Zemo tugged open the shower door with his right hand, muscles rippling over the uninjured side of his back, and stepped into the spray of water.

Bucky had a brief moment debating with himself the merits of just leaving Zemo to his shower and going to get himself that drink after all, but that was promptly quashed as Zemo let out a loud moan at the first cascade of hot water hitting his body from the rainfall showerhead above him. That deep, throaty sound hit Bucky dead-on and proceeded to run over him like a high-capacity freight train, and got him dropping his pants pretty fucking quickly. Making quick work of the rest of his clothes, Bucky stepped into the shower and pulled the glass door shut behind him with a soft click.

[kantostarter]

—“Besides, I don’t have enough MP left...”

🎤 stimboard for himiko yumeno!

💌 requested by @vespertin-y!

➢ no kin tags, unless you’re the requester!

( x. x. x. / x. x. x. / x. x. x. )

[the-night-writer1]

MK and Red annoucing that they're expecting?

It had two weeks since they found out about their baby. They were so excited that they were going to be parents but then there was concern. The fact they had to tell everyone, the monkey king, red's parents, Pigsy and Tang, everyone they knew. It had MK a mess of nerves.

Red son reassured him everytime things would be fine. However, now that the night had come he was also racked by nerves. The fact the monkey king and his father where in the same room for a couple hours caused him some concern as MK fixed his hair.

"hey easy your hairs heating up" Mk said softly as he shook his hand out. Red took a calming breath and kissed the hand that mk had been shaking out.

"Sorry love, just thought about the fact our fathers be in the same room for a bit" Red apologized as he gave MK his hand back so Mk could finish up.

"hey everything should be fine if anything Monkey king should be distracted by little Shanyao since he's learned how to fly like Macaque. Little bro can be quite the distraction" MK said as he finished Red's hair and kissed his partner's shoulder," bless the three year old distraction."

Red snorted and nodded in agreement," Yes thank your baby brother."

__________________

The stage was set, party in full motion. Indeed Wukong and Macaque were distracted with their three year old son as MK predicted. It was rather adorable to see his baby brother float around without a care. Thankfully they chosen a venue with a ceiling.

Surprisingly the demon bull king provided them some assistance, carefully grabbing the three year old and handed him to Wukong. Mk couldn't hear what was said but he was relieved none the less.

Red walked up behind him, red wrapped his arms around Mk and kissed his cheek.

"you ready? We can wait a little longer if you're not" Red said as he rested his head on his beloved's shoulder. Overall he just wanted Mk happy with the choice.

"I mean I want to see Shan's reaction and he's about to pass out" Mk said as he kissed Red's cheek, he was teasing of course. MK highly doubted his baby brother understand what was going on.

"then let's get started" Red said lovingly as he dragged his love to the stage. Yes there was an actual stage. Mostly because they needed the sound equipment so everyone hear them. The mic flared to life grabbing everyone's attention before Red started to speak," You all are probably wondering what we're celebrating tonight. I assure you it's great news."

"your getting married!" Mei yelled out cutting red off. Red rubbed his brow as he handed MK the mic.

"not yet." Mk mumbled his nerves getting to his throat," we're having a baby"

There was a moment of silence that ate the couple for a moment before three year old yelled," I's right!"

Which caused his parents bursts out laughing before the crowd started cheering. MK put the mic on the stand before red scooped him up and covered him in kisses.

[shijiujun]

“you know you’re singing to your headphones out loud, right” au for moshang plz sqh singing modern songs that mbj doesn't know and being hella confused 🥺

Featuring karaoke-loving Shang Qinghua who gets a bit too drunk at a Cang Qiong mountain gathering, and he goes all out. 

Or when Mobei Jun wonders why Shang Qinghua is singing about another man called Liang Shan Bo.

---

Sometimes, he thinks about his old life before he ever had the misfortune of landing in a world of his own creation, with an annoying gaming AI system of sorts hounding his every move (in the beginning) or turning up at the most inopportune times just when he thinks it’s finally gone and left him alone (more recently). 

Shang Qinghua remembers not having many friends when he was still Shang Qinghua, when ‘向天打飞机 Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky’ was still merely his writing Weibo account moniker and when he had millions of people looking up to him for his crucial contributions in writing this amazing story about his son Luo Binghe and the way he overcame all odds to become a success with a harem of gorgeous women at his feet (damn you, Peerless Cucumber bro!).

Back in those days, he lived off cup noodles and instant coffee. If he didn’t have to leave the house, Shang Qinghua would simply curl up in front of his laptop, either writing for his novel or watching shows (clears his throat) - actual shows! Chinese period dramas were his favourite, where a skilled and intelligent consort in the harem would outwit all the other women to be with her one true love, the Emperor, who falls irrevocably in love with her.

And when he got bored, he switched from the laptop to his television to engage in his second most favourite hobby - Chinese karaoke. Going out to a karaoke bar would require some level of socializing, and also a few friends so he gets more bang out of his buck from what he pays for the room, but at home? 

With advanced technology and a tiny ass microphone in either shining gold or silver, Shang Qinghua’s home entertainment system was his very own personal karaoke room, His tiny mic even had that echo-y effect on.

Shang Qinghua has a thing for classic Chinese songs - ‘The New Butterfly Dream’, ‘Liang Shan Bo and Juliet’, The Moon Represents My Heart‘ - and contemporary karaoke must-haves, like Wang Fei. For an embarrassing few days, the Chinese version of Baby Shark was a veritable earworm as well.

After transmigrating into his own story set in ancient times, where he lives without technology, Shang Qinghua would be lying if he said he didn’t miss the Internet. Laptops would be incredibly handy, and so would switches for lights, definitely indoor plumbing for toilets, and induction stoves. Phones too, that would be nice, rather than having to ‘send word’ with letters. 

Of course, there is no karaoke bar or machine for him.

Not all is bad though. At least he transmigrated to Shang Qinghua in this world as a baby, so it’s not as if he was surviving on Internet and technology one day and left to do everything manually the next day since someone was always taking care of him. Peerless Cucumber bro, of course, wasn’t as lucky, but the man has definitely taken to this world (and his son!!) like a fish to water.

And as for himself, Shang Qinghua does not need to envy Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe either, because somehow, he has gotten the man of his dreams too, even if said man was a little cruel and rude to him in the beginning.

He has the love of his life (coughs coughs) and they’re stuck in this world for the rest of his life. What more is there to want? Not to mention how his cup of instant noodles betrayed him at the last moment, resulting in his death! It is slightly safer, ironically, to be in this world instead.

All is good except... well...

===

Shen Qingqiu marvels at the sight before him, torn between wanting to step in to stop Shang Qinghua, or watch this farce unfold. 

He sometimes forgets where he, or where Shang Qinghua, who has been in this world longer than he, came from. They don’t always talk about the past when they meet, and aside from the occasional meetups, Shen Yuan is a part of him that doesn’t surface, not when he is with Luo Binghe. 

Shang Qinghua, on the other hand, grew up here, and aside from referring to Shen Qingqiu by his Weibo account name, he seems otherwise well-adjusted, no hint of modern online writer Shang Qinghua in sight. It doesn’t feel as if he misses their original world either.

This evening, however, memories of modern times slap him in the face, quite literally.

“Shizun!” Luo Binghe calls, frantic, tugging him back into his embrace out of Shang Qinghua’s way. Once Shen Qingqiu is safe in his arms, his eyes narrow at the bumbling, drunk idiot causing a scene in the dinner hall, “Shang Qinghua...”

Shang Qinghua stops where he is, and then before any one can stop him, he picks up a pair of chopsticks, brings it to his mouth, and begins bellowing his way through-

-Jay Chou’s Hair Like Snow.

“Shizun, are you alright?” Luo Binghe fusses, his hands coming up to cup Shen Qingqiu’s face when his Shizun doesn’t so much as respond to him. “Were you hurt? Did he hurt you? How’re you feeling? We’ll go back home now-”

“What is he singing?” Qi Qingqi frowns in disgust.

They all wince when Shang Qinghua attempts to hit a high note, but fails miserably.

Fuck me, Shen Qingqiu thinks, his eyes impossibly wide, who knew Airplane bro was such a karaoke fanatic?

“... maybe he is possessed by a malevolent spirit? Or perhaps this is an unidentified curse?” asks Ming Fan. 

“Or is this some new form of cultivation?” asks Ning Yingying, curious.

Yue Qingyuan, seated at the front of the dining hall, cannot help but be concerned for him as well. “Shall we call Mu-shidi to take a look at him-”

They’ve gathered for their annual meeting - a condition that Yue Qingyuan has set in place a few years ago after Luo Binghe ‘stole’ (married!) him away from Cang Qiong Peak - and although Shang Qinghua said he didn’t mind that Mobei Jun was unable to accompany him today, he spent most of the dinner drinking alcohol while in a melancholic state instead.

Who knew that Shang Qinghua was a singing drunk?!

Hence their current predicament.

At the Sect Master’s words, Shang Qinghua suddenly turns around and looks at Shen Qingqiu. HIccuping twice, he then beams, “Cucumber-”

Shen Qingqiu has never moved that fast in his life. Within a fraction of a second, he has his hand pressed over Shang Qinghua’s mouth, holding onto him from the back.

“Cucumber?” everyone choruses in confusion.

“I believe your Shang-shishu has had a little too much to drink,” Shen Qingqiu clears his throat, nodding at everyone else. “We should... send him back to Mobei. Isn’t that right, Binghe?”

His disciple, his husband, still has on an affronted, murderous look for how Shang Qinghua almost brained Shen Qingqiu with his flailing arms in his drunken fit. The moment Shen Qingqiu asks, however, his expression morphs into something so soft and full of love that everyone who sees it chokes.

“Of course,” Luo Binghe smiles, devotion apparent in his eyes. “Anything Shizun wants.”

===

The words that are tumbling out of Shang Qinghua’s mouth are entirely incomprehensible, and so are the tunes he’s humming into his ear.

Mobei Jun thought he had gotten used to Shang Qinghua’s eccentric mannerisms, and also thought he knew everything about his husband, so many years later. Shang Qinghua is mumbling Chinese alright, but none of the characters put together make any sense.

Who is Liang Shan Bo? And who the hell is Juliet?!

His mood taking a turn for the worse, Mobei Jun hoists Shang Qinghua up further on his back.

After getting so drunk, the idiot had the gall to demand for a piggy-back from the throne room to their bedroom. Mobei Jun has never once suffered such indignity in his years of living. A bridal carry? Of course, anytime. A piggy-back? As if he was some beast to be tamed? 

Well this definitely has to be a first.

While he was stewing in his thoughts, Shang Qinghua switches from that song to another one, and a stream of ‘du du du lu du lu’ emerges from his lips... AND something about... a sha yu? What the hell is that?!

Shang Qinghua lazily lifts his right hand as they approach their room, balls it into a fist and puts it to his mouth, as if he’s holding something, and whatever monstrosity Shang Qinghua is singing, his voice gets even louder.

Mobei Jun tosses Shang Qinghua off his back unceremoniously and onto the soft bed. Interrupted, Shang Qinghua blinks, his vision blurry, and is about to catch his breath and start singing again when his husband climbs in after him. Trapping Shang Qinghua with his entire weight, Mobei Jun seals his lips with a kiss.

“... My king...” Shang Qinghua murmurs in a daze, when Mobei Jun pulls back a few minutes later, his breaths coming out as short, harsh pants. “My king...”

“That’s right,” he says with a glower. “I’m your Da Wang, your husband.”

Mobei Jun doesn’t know who Liang Shan Bo is, but he’s going to make sure no other man’s name ever leaves Shang Qinghua’s lips again when they’re together.

And when his husband finally sobers up, he’s going to have a lot to answer for.

---

Songs Mentioned (YouTube Links in Comments):

The New Butterfly Dream 新鸳鸯蝴蝶梦 － A Chinese classic, sung by Huang An but done beautifully by legendary god of singing Fei Yu Qing and singing partner for the song A Yun Ga

Liang Shan Bo and Juliet 梁山伯与朱丽叶 － A Taiwanese contemporary classic of sorts by Genie Zhuo, most Chinese millennials would definitely have sang this at a karaoke once in their lives - Song is inspired by Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai, the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet to some extent - They both die in the end and become butterflies, so they’re also called the Butterfly Lovers.

The Moon Represents My Heart 月亮代表我的心 － ANOTHER CLASSIC CLASSIC!!!

Baby Shark (Chi. Ver) － ˆThe baby shark hype did move to China, and it’s pretty hilarious LMAO and in Chinese, shark is 鲨鱼 (sha yu) but I’m assuming that in this world, there isn’t a shark kind of animal of sorts? So Mobei Jun and everyone else except SQQ wouldn’t know what a shark is or looks like?!

Hair Like Snow 发如雪 － By Jay Chou, another classic that all Chinese millennials would have sang in a karaoke bar 

Wang Fei 王妃 － Jam Hsiao’s version is known best, and it’s pretty epic, not that anyone can reach any of the high notes in the chorus, but does that stop us from trying?!! Hell no!!!

---

Notes: My first Moshang?!! That didn’t really have a lot of Moshang time?! But thanks anon, hope this sort of works?!

[agapaic]

tianshan drabble. 💞 on behalf of an anonymous donation to the BLMUK organisation, this was created (with permission) for Eylül @eed752. if you would like to donate to an organisation supporting black lives in return for a drabble, please see here for more information. 🌸

tags: chef!guan shan, media exec! he tian, reality TV. tw: non-consensual kissing

///

‘I don’t need your fuckin’ help,’ Guan Shan says, teeth gritted. ‘I didn’t ask for it.’

On the other side of the resaurant’s foyer, Zhengxi lowers the camera. He’s familiar with Guan Shan’s belligerence, and he knows when to stop rolling without waiting for anyone’s call. He turns to He Tian, who’s already making his way over to Guan Shan while he rolls up the cuffs on his shirt sleeves. His smile is tight.

‘Do you want to say that off camera, hm?’ he says quietly, when he’s only a few feet away. There’s something sharp beneath his words that makes Guan Shan’s spine straighten. ‘Stop being a prima donna because you don’t want to follow my suggestions. You and I both know you couldn’t do this without the show.’

Guan Shan looks away. This. His father’s old restaurant had been an empty husk until he bought it, the inside like walking into a warzone. There was graffitti on the walls, smashed crockery covering the floor, burst pipes in the bathrooms and kitchen, some scene from an apocalypse movie. 

The PAP had done nothing with it since they seized the property fifteen years ago; when it came to auction, Guan Shan bought it without thinking, emptying the savings he’d been stockpiling from his job as a waiter. He’d planned to give half to his mom and pay off her mortgage.

He doesn’t have the money to rennovate now, or to repair. He barely has the strength not to revisit the memory of the raid each time he walks through the restaurant doors, bile burning his throat, nausea rolling through him as if he’s at sea. Sometimes, it feels like it, the earth unsteady beneath his feet, his surroundings beginning to spin, a high-pitched ringing starting to keen in his ears—

‘Hey,’ He Tian says, brows drawn in. ‘Hey, did you hear me?’

Guan Shan mumbles something, and his expression must throw He Tian enough because he calls out for a break in the shooting. The crew lower their cameras and mic booms—Take five! someone shouts—and a caterers rolls out a trolley with cans of soft drinks and snacks. 

Guan Shan doesn’t go to it; nor does he collapse into the fold-up chair that has his name printed across the back. Instead, He Tian grips him by the elbow and steers him, not ungently, out of the main restaurant and towards the kitchen.

It’s a building site still, most everything covered in sheets of plastic and a dusty layer of concrete residue. They’ll start filming this part of the show in a couple of weeks, and use a demo kitchen for now while they work on the recipes for the menu. It’s the nature of the show—Overhaul, it’s called, building someone’s business quite literally from the ground up. 

You couldn’t do this without the show, He Tian had said. He’s right. Guan Shan couldn’t have afforded anything on the scale that He Tian is giving him. That’s the whole point of this fucking venture. The furniture, the esteemed clientelle, a Shanghai-based HR agency to find the staff. Some chef from SHIC will help him with the menu, and his contract promises the review of a Black Pearl critic who will visit a year after opening. The restaurant will be a success, by default of He Tian’s purview. He’ll allow nothing else to damage his name.

When the kitchen doors swing to a close behind them, He Tian releases Guan Shan and leans against an old counter with his arms folded. He’s frowning. In here, with the dust and the absence of windows, Guan Shan finds it difficult to breathe. He rubs at his chest, easing a pressure that refuses to dissipate. He’s trying to imagine himself running this place one day, cooking in here, where his father used to—and he fails. 

‘You asked for my help,’ says He Tian, slowly. ‘You went to Jian Yi, who came to me. You signed the contract. You agreed to this.’

‘I know what I fuckin’ agreed to,’ Guan Shan mutters.

He Tian is unimpressed, and Guan Shan realises he hasn’t brought him away from the eyes of the crew because he pities him. He’s just making an attempt not to air any dirty laundry. He’s being professional. 

He says, ‘Then you can stop with the chip on your shoulder and stop being a bitch to the rest of the crew. They’re not your enemy. Neither am I.’

‘I’m not—’

‘If you want sympathy, then play it up. Start crying. I don’t give a damn—the audience will love it.’ He Tian stares at him flatly. ‘Maybe at the end we can have a father-son reunion—’

‘Don’t you fuckin’ dare,’ Guan Shan growls. The thought sickens him. Already, he knows that his father might see this in the papers, or have access to the show on the prison’s communal TV’s. Guan Shan hasn’t told him. He hasn’t visited in over a year. By the time the show airs, He Tian’s name will be emblazoned in lights; it wasn’t written in the contract, but the restaurant will become He Tian’s has much as it has ever belonged to the Mos. 

‘You’re in the entertainment business, Mo Guan Shan,’ He Tian reminds him coldly. ‘You should take what you can get and don’t stop.’

‘Is that what you’ve done?’ Guan Shan sneers.

‘Isn’t it obvious? Look at me.’

Guan Shan is looking. He’s spent two months looking, and he could spend even longer doing so, if only for the fact that he doesn’t want to. His preocuppation with the looks of a pretentious media executive worth millions is really fucking unfortunate. He hates himself for it. 

Granted, sometimes things are good. Sometimes they joke with each other and have moments off-camera that make Guan Shan’s spine tingle. Sometimes he thinks He Tian’s hand touches him when it shouldn’t, and sometimes Guan Shan’s eyes linger longer when they shouldn’t, too. There have been no sordid, insidious rumours staining He Tian’s name as with other media execs in the industry, but that means nothing. He Tian has the money and charm to keep it quiet. Probably, He Tian plays this game with all his entreupeneurs. Probably, Guan Shan is being fucking stupid. He hates himself for that, too.

‘I don’t wanna be like you,’ Guan Shan tells him eventually. ‘You look at people like they’re ratings.’

‘Spare me,’ He Tian remarks dryly. ‘If you had enough of a moral backbone you wouldn’t be using me at all for this. You would’ve worked and worked until you had what it took to make this place work.’ He smiles, almost tenderly. ‘And even then it wouldn’t be enough.’

‘Fuck you.’

‘No, fuck you, Mo Guan Shan. You’re going to be whatever the camera makes tries to make you.’

‘You mean what you make—’

‘Shut up. Do you want to be the arrogant, angry chef with an overruling passion for food? The kid from a broken home with too-high dreams of running a business? Is this all some grand venture to repair your paternal relationship? Or maybe something else entirely. You have the opportunity of a life time. If I were you, I’d think about taking it.’

Guan Shan opens his mouth to argue, and He Tian swears—in frustration, in anger, in bemused disbelief that Guan Shan still won’t back down from the fight when he knows he’s lost. The outcome was pre-determined, and Guan Shan’s still wincing at new bruises and spitting blood onto the tarpaulin of the derelict kitchen. 

He can only stare as He Tian marches forward, and he only thinks to take a step back when He Tian is a few feet from him— In front of him now—  Grabbing his shoulders with two hands—

He Tian’s kissing him. 

He Tian doesn’t wait for Guan Shan’s too-slow reaction. He takes what he wants, pillaging the intimacy, tongue forcing itself between Guan Shan’s lips—and lets him go. Immediately after, He Tian staggers back slightly, narrowly avoiding the fist that swings in his direction. 

Guan Shan heaves. He doesn’t have the energy to try a second time. ‘You—’

‘There,’ He Tian says thickly. ‘File for harrassment. Put my name down in the mud and rebuild yourself from the ashes.’

‘You fuckin’... You...’ Words fail him. His head is reeling.

He Tian lifts his hand as if to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, but his fingertips linger on his lips. His face is slightly flushed. 

‘I’m giving you power over me.’ 

He says it like an apology.

‘I’d never win,’ Guan Shan chokes out. ‘Me against you in court? I’m nothin’.’

‘I’d agree with your story. If nothing else, I’ll pay out a settlement fee and you can do this whole thing yourself.’

Guan Shan shakes his head. His mouth feels bruised. The worst part is that he’d imagined this before. Different. Better. He’d wanted it. No, the worst part is that he wants it still.

‘Still dirty money,’ he whispers.

‘It doesn’t have to be,’ says He Tian. Guan Shan realises he sounds a little shocked—as if he hadn’t had control over his actions. As if he hadn’t expected its consequences. Guan Shan realises: He Tian hadn’t done this with the others. ‘Make your choice, Mo Guan Shan. You can quit, you can file a claim—or we can carry on and get this thing finished.’

‘Shit,’ Guan Shan breathes, dragging a shaking hand over his face. ‘How the fuck am I gonna just... carry on after you...’

He looks to He Tian, expecting some cool answer, something stemmed from exploitative experience, but He Tian only grimaces and says, ‘The same way I’ll have to.’

///

🌸 in the footsteps of @nightfayre’s wonderful initiative, i’m filling any drabble requests following a donation to causes in support of black lives. please read here if you would like more information! ✨

[jiminieloved]

Ultimate Jikook Timeline Part 41

HYYH1 Era Pt 10:

1. August 8, 2015: 

The Red Bullet Tour in Bangkok

Jimin playfully lifts JK’s shirt at 0:48

Jimin almost sits on JK’s lap at 0:25 of this video

JK grabs Jimin’s butt during the choreo at 1:50 of this video

2. August 10, 2015: 

MBC Chuseok Special 2015

400-meter Relay Race at ISAC

Jimin hugs JK after BTS’s epic win

Bangtan Bomb

Jikook cheering for Yoongi

Fan video of Jikook cheering for Yoongi

3. August 11, 2015:

BTS Gayo Track 1

2:52 they are playing a game of guessing the song title by the choreo, JK says he doesn’t remember the song title so Jimin laughs and pats his arm

4. August 12, 2015:

Fantastic 4 Premiere with Army

2:26 small moment, JM grabbing mic from JK

5. August 13, 2015:

a) Gimpo Airport departure to Japan

b) Japan Fanmeeting Vol.2 Undercover Mission in Tokyo

6. August 14, 2015:

Japan Fanmeeting Vol.2 Undercover Mission in Tokyo Day 2

27:30 JK teases Jimin pretending he is not seeing him

7. August 15, 2015:

Summer Sonic in Osaka

8. August 18, 2015:

Osaka Fanmeeting Day 1

a) Bighit Twitter Post

Hello. This is Big Hit Entertainment.

Today at the Japan Osaka fanmeeting ‘Japan Official Fanmeeting Undercover Mission,’ an incident took place in which member Jimin fell from the stage.

After going to the nearby Sumitomo Hospital and receiving consultation from the medical staff, the results were that during a game, Jimin held his breath for a long time, which triggered his parasympathetic nerves and affected his balance, which resulted in a drop in blood pressure that led to his fall from the stage.

There was no injury other than light bruising, and Jimin is currently resting at the hotel.

We would like to sincerely apologize to those who were watching the concert and to all the fans for giving you cause for worry.

We, Big Hit Entertainment, promises that we will prioritize the health and safety of Jimin as well as the other members of BTS.

Once again, we apologize for causing worry

b) Jungkook filling in for Jimin’s parts

c) Jimin Twitter Post

Caption: I’m sorry for worrying the people and ARMYs who came to the fanmeeting today. It’s really embarrassing to not have been on stage. I’m resting well right now so don’t worry! -JM 

9. August 20, 2015:

b) BTS Live in Osaka

Interaction 3:09, 9:09

a) Undercover Mission in Osaka

Very cute interaction. Jungkook is given the challenge of making Jimin say “thank you”, which he achieves very easily by saying Jimin is handsome, so he has to make him say “thank you” one more time. Jimin’s reaction at 05:35 is very interesting.

30:00 after celebrating JK’s birthday they share some sort of hug? (this might’ve been part of a game they played on stage)

c) Osaka Fanmeeting Day 3

JK sings lyrics directly to JM, JM can’t stop smiling for the rest of the song

d) Official Japan Twitter Post

e) Gimpo Airport arrival from Japan

10. August 23, 2015: 

Jungkook Song Recommendation

Lyric translation: “I will pick off the stars and into your two hands, I will give them fully to you”

11. August 24, 2015: 

Jimin Twitter Post

Translation: The star in the night sky 🎶😳

Information compiled by Shan and @lagalaxiedemochi

previous...next

[thorne93]

Unforeseen Chasm (Part 48)

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together.

Word Count:4613

Warnings: Language, last part that deals with Ultron movie, reader fights bff, mind control, widow protocol reactivated, song for this part: Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my novels). It’s a collaboration with the amazing @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​. It started as a funny “What if…?” and it evolved and got huge. This took two years to write. We are both proud and happy and we hope you enjoy it. It follows from Thor 1 to Endgame in the MCU. Some of the timelines may be off in order to fit certain people, and some characters may show up earlier or in different ways than they have in the movie. But for the most part, it follows the MCU. It also has a bit of crossover with some other Marvel characters throughout the story.

Masterlist for Unforeseen Chasm

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

Only two hours later, you got a call -- from Tony… This was either great news or really bad news.

“Hello?”

“You and Reindeer games busy?” he asked, his tone serious.

“No, why--”

“We’ve got a crack at Ultron, but we’re gonna need all hands on deck. I don’t like having to ask, but it may mean we can save Shannon. You in?”

“Of course, yeah, what do you need?”

“Be combat ready in five minutes. We’ll swing by to get you. We’re going to Sokovia, taking the fight to him.”

“Got it. We’ll be ready.”

You two hung up and you turned to Loki. “Get on your battle gear, we’re going to fight,” you informed.

He gave you a puzzled look but it quickly vanished when he followed your lead. He became clad in his old leather fighting gear, and you threw on the clothes Shannon had given you. A hooded robe, skin tight pants, and black t-shirt with boots.

The jet landed on the roof of your apartment and you two climbed in. No one gave you any warm looks, or nods of approval, except Clint. In fact, one face was new -- a dark red man, or… android? He had a stone in his head and he eyed you up and down with curiosity, and also… knowledge, as if he understood you. Suddenly, it dawned on you that he must’ve been what was in the cradle. Somehow, the Avengers gave him life, and trusted him enough to pit him against Ultron.

And clearly, the twins were now a part of this group, curiously enough. No one had taken the time to explain how or why they were here though.

Steve began his speech, and ultimately told you what your top priority was.

“Tony wants to take first stab at getting Ultron. The rest of us, our job is to evacuate the city. We find Shannon, we find what Ultron has been building, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. The people of Sokovia didn’t ask for this.” He took a moment to think, to pause. “Ultron thinks we’re monsters, that we’re what’s wrong with the world. This isn’t just about beating him. It’s about whether he’s right.”

And so it began. You landed just outside of the city, Wanda and Pietro got the civilians going, they began the evacuation and you tried to help, going to homes and apartments, encouraging people to leave. Letting them know the city was under attack. Clint found you and walked up to you as if he had something important.

“I’ve got the coordinates for Shannon, I figured you’d want to be the one to go get her. Take Banner with you in case it’s a trap.”

“What about the people?” you asked, frowning.

“We’ve got them. We’ll fight him. Go get her and then she can help us.”

“Thanks, Clint.”

He nodded. “Move your ass, kid.”

You smiled at him and ran off to find Shannon. She was in an abandoned church, where you dashed down the stairs, Banner right behind you.

“Shannon?” you whisper-yelled.

“I’m in here! He’s not here,” she replied making noises with some chain.

You immediately dashed over. “Oh thank God!” you said with a sigh of relief. “Hang on. Stand back,” you ordered. Shannon immediately backed up and you put your hand on the gate that divided you two. You charged the metal and blew it off the hinges. She ran out and hugged you tight.

“Hate to break this up, but we need to get back to the team,” Banner said from right behind you.

“You’re right,” you agreed, letting her go.

“Where are we headed and are people being evacuated?” She instantly got into Avenger’s mode. She started walking with you two through the way you entered. “What’s the situation right now?”

“City is being evacuated. There is some kind of core on the high ground, at the entrance of this church. We can’t tell what it’s going to do, but Ultron seems like he wants it,” you explained. “Tony’s going after him himself first.”

“Tony is doing what!? Is anyone else with him? Who told him it was okay to go on his own? He doesn’t know what Ultron is capable of.” She looked panicked and began scanning the area hoping to find the flying red suit of armor. “Give me a new mic to communicate with the team. I had mine taken by one of his bots.”

You fished one out of your suit and handed it to her.

“Thanks, Y/N. Alright, team it’s good to be back. Now give me an update. Cap, what’s going on?” Shannon flew off into the air to get a better look at things. “Tony, what is God's name are you doing trying to take on Ultron?” She turned to you and Bruce. Y/N, help the twins evacuate the civilians. Bruce, honey, I need my big guy to come out and help if you could.”

Bruce nodded and proceeded to remove his shirt and place it somewhere, turning to look at the two women, he winked at Shannon and began changing into the Hulk.

“Alright, big guy, go smash the robots,” she ordered the Hulk.

He smiled and ran off.

“I need to find out what he’s up to. Babe, what’s he hiding in the middle of town?” was all he said before it when quiet on his end.

“Damn it, Tony.” She shook her head and she flew back down to you.  “Alright, Y/N, let’s go get ourselves a slice of this fight.”

“Sounds good to me,” you said with a firm nod.

“Shannon, it’s good to have you back. We’re in the middle of town, the twins are helping evacuate the people--” he got cut off while fighting a robot.

“The twins? As in the Maximoffs, they’re helping us now?”

“Yes they seem to have taken Clint’s words into consideration and have decided to help us,” Natasha responded from some other part of the town.

“Alright we’re heading over to the center and see if I can get any of the people out of there.” She flew back up into the air. “You’re welcome to join me or any of the other’s if you want, Y/N/N” Shannon waved at you to come up with her to the sky.

“I’ll go wherever you need me,” you responded into the coms. “Do we need combat or civilian evacuation? Someone tell me where you want me to go, and I’ll go.”

“Come give me a hand getting them on the carriers. I can only do so much with my arrows,” Clint says. “I’m near the hospital. There’s too many people to get evacuated from here.”

“On it,” you said quickly before launching off, using your powers to lift you off the ground. To your knowledge, Loki was fighting off robots near the church, using his illusions and tricks. Normally, you’d be worried for him, but a fight like this was nothing compared to battles he’d faced in Asgard. Not to mention, you couldn’t be your best self if you were too worried about him. So you put your faith in your beloved and found Clint. “You get the people on the boats,” you said before lifting your hands, your power extending from your fingers. The dark purple power electrified twenty bots at once, disabling them. “While I stay here and fight.”

Clint stared at you for a second, befuddled. “Looks like you’ve got it,” he said before running off.

You laughed slightly before going into battle mode, slinging robots with your power, charging nearby items and throwing them, electrifying anything flying above you.

After five minutes of fighting, all of the Avengers and you and Loki made it back to the main part of the church, asking Stark what the drill was. To this, he informed you the core was important. If Ultron got to it, it meant you lost. This was your ultimate mission now. All of you guarded it with your life, surrounding it, readying yourself for whatever Ultron had planned.

“Is that the best you can do?” Thor yelled as the last robot got destroyed by Hulk as he entered where the drill was located.

Ultron stopped trying to get close and in an instant called all his robots to where he was.

“You had to ask,” Steve remarked toward the god.

“This is the best I can do.” Ultron began saying, spreading his arms wide to show his army. He pointed to everyone around the drill, stopping right at Shannon. “This is exactly what I wanted, All of you against all of me.”

Shannon seemed to harden her gaze and began to walk towards Ultron and turned to face everyone else, her eyes were looking directly at you. There was something unreadable in her gaze. It confused you. You’d never seen that look on her face before.

“How can you possibly hope to stop me?” Ultron smirked, watching as everyone was confused as to why Shannon was moving away from them. “When your two strongest are going to fight head to head to survive.” He flicked his wrist and Shannon charged at you, completely emerged in the dark swirls of her powers.

Everyone was fighting off the robots as fast as they could to try and contain Shannon from doing damage to anyone.

Your eyes went wide as you tried to dodge her oncoming attack.

“Shannon, stop!” you screamed. Suddenly, deja vu hit you. You’d been here before, only before, it was Shannon begging you to stop attacking her and New York. You were brainwashed so what was making her… Suddenly it hit you… The Red Room. Her training had been a mixture of Natasha’s and the Winter Soldier’s. This would be hard to crack.

“Shan,” you begged, backing up, stopping your powers from attacking her. “Listen to me. You don’t want to do this. He’s in your head. Don’t let him win,” you pleaded. But she kept stepping towards you, forcing you to back up. You didn’t want to fight her. Not again. Why was everyone always trying to pit you two against each other?

Shannon kept quiet, only the slight grunt here and there from throwing her powers at you. Seeing as this was leading nowhere, she jumped and threw herself into you at full force, knocking the wind out of you. “Why won’t you fight me? Too scared because you’ll know I'll beat you?” She smirked and threw a punch after punch at your face, which hurt like hell. “You always were a pathetic little thing needing someone to keep you safe.” She laughed not even caring that she had gotten blood to come out of your mouth.

You closed your eyes in frustration before letting your body electrify itself, blasting her off of you. You stood up wearily. “Please… don’t do this.” You held your hands up, ready to defend yourself.

“Get up, Y/N.” Shannon stood up, not getting thrown too far. “GET UP!” She laughed. “What happened to us fighting to see who really was the strongest?” She ran towards you pushing you into the wall of the side of the church.

“I don't have anything to prove, Shannon,” you grunted, staring her down. You tried to push her off but she was just too strong.

“And why not? Aren’t you tired of living in everyone's shadow?” She kept pushing, causing the brick to crack around your body. “Show me those Asgardian powers of yours or are they really just those hat tricks your little Loki can do?”

Your eyes grew dark as you glared at her. “Tired of people thinking the wrong things,” you said with a huff before finally pulling some power. You put your hand on the bricks beside you, charging all of them and blasting the wall at her, effectively getting her off of you, but that was it. It only backed her up a few steps. You spit out some of the blood pooling in your mouth. “We don’t have to do this. You’re the strongest. There, I admit it,” you tried, holding your hands up in defeat.

Your eyes flashed to the team, they were all so busy fighting Ultron and the bots, they couldn’t watch you two as well. You just needed to keep Shannon on you if you could, or hopefully wake her from this.

Shannon brushed the dust off her face and hands. “Oh, Y/N, poor little Y/N, always so quick to admit things rather prove your worth. It’s no wonder Thanos was able to manipulate you so well.” Her eyes began to change to their milky white with swirls of red. Causing the sun to disappear.

Some of Ultron’s bots had shown up and had begun to grab ahold of you but they failed to do so.

“Shannon, no!” you screamed, lunging at her to knock the sense out of her. “Don’t!” you said, not thinking, only reacting. Your hand went to her head, all of your energy electrifying her scalp. At first, a scream ripped from her throat, causing Loki and Tony to both look your way. But then her senses overcame your power.

“You think your little shocks will stop me!? It’ll have to take much more than that.” She changed shape becoming Loki. “Love, please don’t hurt me.” His voice came out of her mouth, she laughed watching your expression change.

You knew it was a trick. She transformed in front of your very eyes. You could see your real mate across the field. Tears formed in your eyes.  But Loki or Shannon, you couldn’t hurt the person standing in front of you. You took a deep breath and stood up, relaxing your shoulders.

“You’re right, Shannon. It is going to take a lot more to defeat you. And I don’t have it in me. So you’ll have to kill me. I’m not going to fight you.” You let down all of your guards, all of your defenses, going against every survival skill you’d picked up throughout your entire fucked up life. You couldn’t hurt or kill Shannon. Your power against hers, maybe you could slow her down, maybe you were a match for her -- but you didn’t want to be. Hurting her was not worth it.

“You’re no fun. Let’s kick things up a notch. If you won’t fight me like this, then let’s see if you will for the sake of his life.”  She pointed to Loki as he was lifted up into the air by multiple bots. Shannon turned to him and was charging up her hands with electricity and there was black and red swirling smoke surrounding her. “Will you save his precious life, or will you stop me for the sake of making a good impression on the team?” Her hands began to close and Loki struggled to move and breathe. She was crushing his windpipe with the smoke.

As much as you wanted to fight it, you wanted to hold her off and save him, your brainwashing was still in there. All it took was the pained look on Loki’s face to fully trigger you. You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath, and when you opened them, a white purple glowed inside them.

You ran and hurtled over Shannon’s head, standing in front of her and blasting her back with your powers nearly at full capacity - dark energy and electricity slammed into her. The shock alone could’ve made her heart burst. The blast was enough to get her to let Loki go, but the bots still had him. You spun quickly, casting your energy to them, ripping them apart piece by piece, finally forcing him to fall to the ground. You ran to him, checking on him. He was gasping for breath. You knew Shannon wouldn’t be down for long so you looked back to where she was getting up.

Shannon took that moment that you were distracted to let Ultron know she could grab her. She saw you turn over to look at her but at that moment you were met with Ultron standing in front of you. He grabbed you by the neck and pulled you up and had her facing Shannon. “Now to end this at once. Finish her,” he commanded Shannon.

“With pleasure.” She got up and pulled out a gun from her thigh holster. “If you’d just fought me like you should have, your death would have been different.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Not everyone is made to be a hero, some are just martyrs.” She aimed the gun right between your eyebrows.

Just as she was about to squeeze the trigger, Loki manifested a dagger, flinging it towards Shannon. It only nicked her arm though, because Steve charged at her and slammed her into the ground.

“Banner! I need some help over here!” he shouted.

“Let me go!” Shannon screamed shocking the captain but it did nothing. “You can’t stop me. I will kill her!” She began letting her powers take control but they were no use, the shocks did nothing to him and she couldn’t take anything from him.

You electrified Ultron before slamming a spike you manifested into his cheek. He jumped back, letting you go.

“Steve, no,” you said. “I’m not worth it. Go save the civilians. Fight Ultron. Save the world,” you insisted as he struggled with Shannon. “I can hold her off,” you assured. But you weren’t sure, at all. Shannon playing fair - yes, she was a match for you. Red Room Triggered Shannon? Not so much. That Shannon had a no holds bar attitude, and could very well kill you.

All she could think of was changing into Peggy. “Steve, you’re hurting me, you promised to keep me safe.” She had tears running down her cheek.

It was enough for him to let go in fear that he had hurt her. Shannon took his shield and powered it up with enough volts to kill a pod of whales and threw it at him. He was thrown into Thor’s way.

“Looks like he can’t stop me now. Better run, little Y/N.” Her hands had swirls of fire that kept growing higher up her arms. “Fight me once and for all! Show me everything you’ve got!”

You raised your fists, letting out a breath of air. Just as you were about to unleash fury on her, Hulk came charging up, and grabbed her in his giant hands, pinning her to the ground. You ran up near him, your hands ready. “If I put any power into her, she’ll just use it on you,” you informed, standing beside Hulk. Your eyes scanned quickly for Ultron, but he was back, preoccupied with the rest of the team. At least you had that.

She was screaming, fighting Hulk. You knew he was powerful, but even Shannon could kick things up to the point of getting him off of her. You’d never done this before but you decided to aim your powers in a different manner. The energy trickled from your fingertips calmly into her head, slowly making her vision, hearing, and smell go, disabling her.

Shannon struggled to get the giant hand to let go, he seemed to flinch at the waves of electricity but she seemed to have lost the ability to keep shocking him. Frustrated, she tried her other powers but none of them worked. She tried looking around but her vision had disappeared as had her other senses. She stopped moving for a bit and stood completely still almost as if she’d become unconscious. Seeing her limp form in his hand, Hulk stopped squeezing too tightly, fearing that if he had hurt her too much the doctor would get mad at him.

“Boss, your wife’s vitals have dropped some and she’s gone unconscious,” FRIDAY told Tony inside his suit. He stopped everything he was doing and spun in the air to check on her. “She’ll be fine, but we gotta get Ultron or she won’t be.”

“Right,” he agreed, as much as he didn’t want to leave her. Ultron had sicced all of his bots on the team now, they were scattered, but now it appeared the core was the main objective. The city was already floating, and the team was working hard to figure out how to keep it from exploding and ending the world. There were boats loading the leftover citizens. Now that Shannon had appeared unconscious, you focused your energy elsewhere, deciding to help the team.

“Are you alright?” Loki asked, a bad bruise forming on his cheek.

“As soon as this piece of shit Terminator is dead,” you grumbled before ripping apart a few bots. Your sights set on the big man himself. “Keep him distracted,” you said before slinking off to go around the back of him. “Vision, keep him talking,” you instructed into the comms. Vision did just that, he kept him busy, kept him focused. While you snuck up behind him and began electrocuting him. He reached onto his back and flung you off, slamming you into a brick column. You groaned in pain but stood up.

Vision attacked him with his mind stone, casting a beam at him, while Tony hit him with the repulsors, and Thor lit him up with his lightning. You hobbled your way over to stand beside them, letting your dark energy and electricity pour out of you like a rushing river. His body began to heat up, and you could tell he was melting from the inside as you cried out in pain of trying to keep your power going at this level.

Finally, his form exploded -- but it wasn’t over yet. The bots were still coming. Wanda was manning the core, while the rest of the Avengers got people to boats to safety. You wanted to help, but currently, you were on the ground, panting.

A bot came up, one that Wanda didn’t see, because she was distracted by Pietro getting shot in the shoulder. He wasn’t hurt fatally, but at first she couldn’t tell. You raised your arm to fight him, but you were too weak, and he got to the core.

“No! Wanda!” you weakly shouted and she spun, killing it too late. The core was activated now.

You turned your head to Hulk, immediately. “Hulk, carrier, now! Wanda, get your brother and get out!” you shouted, using all your strength to get up. Hulk nodded and wasted no time picking Shannon up and launching onto a nearby carrier. Wanda ran off to find Pietro, and from what you could see, they made it onto a boat. Loki was already on a safety boat, you could see him from where you were at. A look of terror crossed his face as he realized you were still on the flying city.

“Steve, Clint, you two on a boat?” you asked weakly into the comms, out of breath.

“Yeah, where the hell are you?” Clint asked back.

“Just make sure Tony gets away from here,” you replied. “I’m finishing this.”

You stood up and killed the bot. Ultron wasn’t dead. He still had something out there driving that thing. You narrowed your eyes, about to fly off when suddenly the ground shook beneath you and opened up, causing you to fall in. A scream escaped your throat, you couldn’t help it. You were free falling between ground, rock, roots, and now, you hit the open sky. There wasn’t enough energy for you to fly, so you closed your eyes, waiting for impact - surprised when you were suddenly in someone’s arms.

In shock, you opened your eyes to find Vision.

“Vision?” you breathed. “But what--”

“I’ll find Ultron. Mr. Stark’s instructions were clear -- keep you alive.”

All you could do was frown, but he lowered you onto a boat, next to Hulk who was slowly turning back into Banner.

You took a deep breath, looking around at the Avengers, Shannon… They were safe. The people were safe...Loki was safe… that’s all that mattered.  

The boats got onto the helicarrier, and the Avengers gathered around Shannon, who was still knocked out. At this point, you were terrified you’d done something wrong. You’d never disabled anyone like that with your powers and weren’t sure you’d done it right or safely.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, wincing at the sudden sunlight. All eyes were on her as she gasped and sat up.

“Gahh! What happened tell me? I didn't kill anyone, did I?” Shannon looked around, she was afraid that she’d hurt anyone, especially from the team. “Don’t come near me. I’m not sure I’m stable enough to be in contact with anyone.” She started scooching back and hit the back of a seat.

Tony, obviously worried about his wife, rushed to her and was looking everywhere for visible signs or injury. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself in any way?” He started grabbing her hands.

“No! Don’t touch me,” she shrieked, yanking her hands away. “Please don’t come near me. I don’t want to hurt you.” She hugged her knees to herself.

“Shan,” you tried, kneeling, getting on her level. “It’s alright. You won’t hurt us. You’re not activated any more. You’d never do anything to us,” you assured, giving her a warm smile, trying to scoot closer.

“I don’t know that, none of us do. I can still feel it’s inside me.” Her hands shook as she tried to move her hair from her face. “I just need to be alone. If I need anyone Stevie can help.” She looked over at Steve pleading with her eyes.

“I’ll do whatever you need, doll,” he assured with a slight shrug. “Just say the word.”

“Thank you, Stevie. For now I’ll just go rest.” Shannon got up or tried to get up but she was too weak.

“Here, I’ll give you a hand.” Bruce went to help her get up. “Let’s get you to one of the seats.” He took her to her seat.

“Thank you, Bruce, I’ll get some sleep.” She buckled in her seatbelt. “Can I have some painkillers?”

“Sure thing.”

You glanced to Tony as you stood up, worry on your face. He thrust his head over his shoulder to signal he wanted to talk away from everyone. The two of you stepped far out of hearing distance.

“I had no idea she still had that shit in her. That protocol. Those… That trigger.” Tony shook his head, no doubt blaming himself.

“I didn’t either. I thought SHIELD got that out,” you mentioned. ‘What do we do? Tony, she looks like a wounded animal,” you said, pity in your voice. “She’s terrified to even look at us.”

“I know,” he noted before chewing on his lip, watching his bride. “What do you say we take her back to the X-Men? They were making some headway before, right?” he asked.

“Yeah. Her powers are still killing her,” you reminded. “Every time she uses them, and she just let a canon loose,” you remarked. “She needs to be healed.”

He nodded. “Yeah, no, you’re right. We’ll get the rest of the team back to the tower and then I’ll take her to the mansion.”

“We both will,” you asserted softly. “You’ll need to bring Bruce too,” you said.

“Banner? Why?”

“He comforts her. He’s been her primary care doctor. If you’re going to take Shannon there, she’s going to want Bruce by her side too,” you stated matter-of-factly.

“Okay, you, me, Banner, and Shannon will go to the mansion,” he corrected, with a bit of an eye roll.

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

Tag List: @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @missinstantgratification @thejemersoninferno @rda1989 @munlis @thefridgeismybestie @bubblyanarocks3 @igiveupicantthinkofausername @kaliforniacoastalteens @feelmyroarrrr @kaelingoat-blog @friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo @damalseer @heyitscam99 @yknott81 @sorryimacrapwriter @glitterquadricorn @xxqueenofisolationxx @little-dis-kaalista-pythonissama @bittersweetunicorm @alyssaj23 @sea040561 @princess76179 @thisismysecrethappyplace @sarahp879 @malfoysqueen14 @ellallheart @breezy1415 @marvelmayo @random-fluffy-pink-unicorn @cocosierra94 @hardcollectionworldtrash @capsmuscles @marvelloushamilton @paintballkid711

Loki: @lostinspace33 @ultrarebelheart @lenawiinchester @esoltis280 @tngrayson @wangdeasang @harrymewmew @jayfantasyatyourservice

UC: @lokis-high-priestess

[greyias]

FIC: Smoke and Mirrors - Chapter 4

Title: Smoke and Mirrors Fandom: SWTOR Pairing: Theron Shan/f!Jedi Knight Rating: T Genre: Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn Synopsis: Something’s rotten on Carrick Station, and Theron won’t rest until he finds out what. But picking at the frayed threads of suspicion quickly unravels a conspiracy much larger than even the Republic’s top spy can handle on his own. (A mostly canon-compliant retelling of the Forged Alliances storyline, as seen through the eyes of Theron Shan.) Author’s Notes and Spoilers: See Chapter 1.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Crossposted to AO3 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

Carrick Station was a hub of activity as usual. The little T3 unit navigated through the crowds of soldiers, Jedi, privateers, and every other walk of life in between as it sought its quarry. 

It was sending a feed directly to Theron via his implants, but he was only half paying attention to its progress as Darok briefed the essential personnel on the strike plan. They’d already gone over it with everyone in person, but the SpecOps officer seemed like he didn’t want to leave anything to chance. Theron could almost admire that. Almost, because if the man asked one more time about the status of their guest of honor he was going tell the Colonel exactly what he could do with that stick shoved up his ass.

The Defender was already docked on Carrick Station, it was just a matter of finding its commander so Theron could formally extend the invitation to their little party. Technically she and the crew were here on R&R after their latest mission, a somewhat clerical error that had accidentally been slipped into their duty roster the moment he’d gotten authorization to bring her in on the operation. Ideally he preferred to try and recruit assets face-to-face when at all possible, but the short timeline on this mission made that difficult.

“Oh, hello there.” An amused feminine voice drifted across the feed from the astromech. “Are you looking for something?”

“You = act casual,” the little astromech beeped at the woman seriously, “T3-G2 recruiting for classified operation.”

“Of course.” 

It was hard to tell just from the voice, but Theron thought it sounded like she was humoring the astromech.

“T3, get me a visual confirmation,” he muttered to the droid, slipping out of the main room as Darok shot him an annoyed look for speaking out of turn. He ducked into an alcove just as the video feed treated him to the image of a woman a few years his junior kneeling in front of the droid, unsuccessfully hiding a tiny smile at it. The freckle-kissed complexion and light hair swept back up into a neat ponytail matched the holo in the file. The indulgent smile she treated the droid with was more unexpected. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting from his first look at the famous Jedi, but it certainly wasn’t that.

“That’s her. Good job, T3.” Theron quickly pulled out his holocomm before she lost interest and established an encrypted two-way video link.

As soon as his image shimmered to life in front of her, he saw her brow raise in curiosity, and she pulled herself to her feet so she was on an even height with the holo in front of her. The fond amusement smoothed into a carefully neutral expression as she tucked her arms behind her back in a composed stance more typical of a member of her order.

“Ah, just the Jedi we’ve been looking for,” he said by way of greeting. “You know, you’re a hard woman to track down.”

“I see you brought a friend on your recruitment drive.” The comment was directed to the droid.

“T3-G2 = muscle,“ the droid whistled. “Recruitment = new job duty.”

“Well, you’re doing a very good job.” She graced the astromech with another smile.

“Hey, remember me?” Theron waved to regain her attention, acutely aware of the lack of security of an extended conversation in even a relatively deserted corner of an open hallway.

“And you are?”

“SIS.” He saw the careful expression slip for a moment, brows drawing together in concern for a moment before smoothing back out again. “We’ve got a little bit of a special event coming up. The guest list is very exclusive.”

“That sounds very nice. I hope it goes well for you.”

“Well, seeing as you’re on the guest list, I’d hope you might make an appearance.” A flare of irritation began to light up in him, but he tamped it back down, suspecting she might have been trying to gain some sort of reaction from him. That calm politeness was surely some sort of facade.

“I don’t recall ever receiving an invitation.” She arched an eyebrow. 

He snapped his fingers. “I knew I forgot something.” 

“That’s usually an important step in party planning.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for my next shindig. Are you interested in attending this one?”

“That all depends. What kind of party is this exactly?”

“The kind the Empire won’t enjoy.”

That got a reaction, her neutral expression smoothing away into concern. “Exactly what’s the dress code for this event?”

“Come as you are,” he said casually, waving a hand at her armor and the lightsabers clipped to her belt. “Besides, I have a feeling our hosts are going to be too busy to be very picky about fashion.”

“Uh huh,” she said disbelievingly. “Are you going to be joining this affair, or does your astromech need to finish taking you on your walk first?”

Darok peered over into the alcove, flashing him an impatient look for the lengthy conversation. Theron pressed his lips together in a thin line as he turned back to the call. “More details when we meet in person—see you soon.”

“Wait, you didn’t—”

Theron cut the line, trying not to roll his eyes. “T3, will you escort our guest to the briefing room?”

He heard the droid beep an affirmative, and dialed down the audio on the feed so he could address the impatient SpecOps officer glaring at him.

“Are you finished?”

“Just wrapping up the guest list,” he tossed back.

“About time.”

“Yes, well, if I’d had more than a few days notice on this entire operation and the ability to speak somewhat freely, maybe that would have gone faster.”

“Neither of which is a luxury we have.” The taller man crossed his arms, gaining a few extra centimeters as he pushed his shoulders back. “What’s our ETA?”

Theron’s teeth ground together as he reminded himself of the larger objective, that unfortunately at this moment, wasn’t taking the uptight soldier down a notch. He stalked back over to the holo-table that had the battle plan mapped out and swiped at one of the holographic representations of the ships to relieve some frustration — but the image just flickered at his touch.

“My astromech is bringing her here directly for the briefing.”

“Good.” The response was just as curt as the rest of the man’s demeanor. He returned his attention back to the holograms depicting the strike team’s narrow window of opportunity, and re-enabled the mic on his earpiece. “Yes, yes that’s correct.”

Theron crossed his arms, listening to the fifth recitation of the battle plan. He kept an eye on the progress of T3’s journey across the station, absently pacing as he listened to Darok with half an ear. 

“…bombing commences on signal ‘aurek’.”

A quiet trill echoed across the line, and distantly Theron thought he heard it outside of the room. He shot a glance back at Darok, who was still aggressively pacing in front of the holo-table.

“Wave one shuttle will land on Korriban’s surface and secure the landing zone—”

“And then wave two comes in,” Theron piped up, just as the doors swished open to reveal the woman he’d been talking to on the holo. He caught her eye, nodding ever so slightly in greeting. “Perfect timing.”

 It would have been inaccurate to say that time itself seemed to slow as the Jedi swept into the room — time didn’t work like that. The chrono continued to tick on regardless, but maybe it was just the perception of time itself that seemed to stop for just a few seconds.

Highwind only glanced at him briefly, gaze zeroing in on Darok. While holos were good at capturing the likeness of someone, they usually did a poor job of communicating the presence of a person. Each step she took was deliberate, confident, with her shoulders thrown back and a resolute set of her jaw transforming what should have been a graceful flow into a commanding presence. Her armor glinted as she passed under the overhead light, the brown embroidered cape billowing behind her, and the air of authority in every step left no doubt that this was the famed Hero of Tython.

She didn’t demand attention out loud, but she had successfully captured the attention of every eye in the room without having to utter a single word. It really was quite the trick.

“Did I hear you correctly?” Her words seemingly broke whatever the spell she had weaved with her entrance, time jerking back into motion. While her tone was cordial on the surface, there was a hint of underlying reproach. “You’re actually planning to attack on Korriban?”

“Yes,” Darok turned to face her, crossing his arms as he drew up to his full height, “we are.”

Despite that he practically towered over her, she didn’t look the least bit intimidated or even moved by the taller man. She crossed her arms, the large shoulder guards seeming to add an extra bit of presence to the petite form as she gazed at the colonel placidly. “I see.”

“You’re critical to this mission’s success, Master Highwind.”

“I don’t recall us having been introduced.”

“This is Colonel Darok,” Theron chimed in, “he’s in charge of our little shindig.”

Her eyes cut across the table at him, recognition dawning on her expression. “Ah, the party planner from the holo.”

“In a way.” He shrugged, tilting his head to side. “I’m Theron Shan, SIS.”

He saw it the moment the words left his mouth. Her blue eyes widened ever so slightly, blonde brows arching together as she suddenly took a second, closer look at him even from across the distance. A recognition lit in her eyes, and she didn’t need to actually speak for him to know what she was going to say next, but that didn’t stop her. “Shan—you look—you… don’t happen to be related to Satele Shan, do you?”

To his credit, he didn’t groan, but he couldn’t check the annoyed mutter. “This is why I keep asking for a codename.”

A really cool one too. One that distracted anyone from any stupid family resemblance.

Her guarded expression softened into open curiosity, and she looked like she wanted to continue that line of questioning further. Theron was saved from further scrutiny by Darok of all people, who cleared his throat to regain the attention of the room.

“You two can discuss genealogy later,” he said firmly, “at a less critical time.”

“Of course.” She gave just the barest of nods to Darok, but didn’t tear her gaze away from Theron. “Why did you not tell me the target up front?”

“Open comms aren’t the safest place for honesty.” He frowned, getting the feeling she was still trying to puzzle out his connection to the Grand Master. “And considering the target, I didn’t want to take any chances.”

“And if I had walked away?”

“I would have gone for the direct approach, if I needed to.” He shrugged lightly. “I can be very convincing when I want to be.”

“Can you now?” One of those blonde brows arched again, obscuring that brief, soft expression that had crossed her face the moment she suspected he was related to Satele. 

That familiar annoyance was trying to surge to the front, but he was able to keep it tamped down. They needed her for this operation, so he needed to stay on her good side. “I have my ways.”

“Invading the homeworld of the Sith is not a task to be taken lightly,” she admonished.

“Oh, we’re quite serious, Master Jedi,” Darok rumbled. “This is a chance to make history.”

“A Jedi does not seek fame or glory, Colonel.”

Theron’s lips twitched, but he managed to suppress a smile even as Darok glowered.

“We’re not here to seek glory—”

“Then what is your purpose? And exactly how am I to factor into it?”

“We’re raiding the Sith Academy,” Darok rumbled. “More specifically, the databanks held inside the Dark Council chambers.”

“Really… the Dark Council. Is that wise?”

“Considering who you’ve gone up against,” Theron said lightly, “I’m going to lay a bet that you’d be able to pull it off.”

A brief shadow passed across her face, so quick Theron wasn’t sure if he hadn’t just imagined it. “You certainly seem to know a lot about me, Agent Shan.”

“I read a lot, what can I say?” He crossed his arms as he sized her up, trying to find the best tactic to get her to agree. “The information inside of those databanks could be the key to ending the war.”

He didn’t mention the benefits of ending the war, instead let her fill in the blanks herself. It was a stalling and fishing tactic. Let out the line, see if the target took the bait. Adapt and hone in from there. 

This was the problem with only getting to know an asset through a file and public records — it was difficult to tell what exactly motivated her. She could have been a glory hound, a uptight traditionalist, or anything really. Ideally he’d have observed her for a lot longer time, would have sliced her communications, studied her before ever initiating contact. But he didn’t have the time for that, and this was why he was the best. Because he was adaptable — which was good, because thus far, she was not lining up with any of his expectations.

Whatever the complicated machinery that made Highwind tick, apparently he’d hit the right note. The lingering resistance drained out of her expression and she gave him the barest of nods. “What do I need to do?”

“The first attack wave is going to clear the landing zone. You’re in the second wave, just head into the Academy and go get the plans.”

“I doubt I’m going to just be invited in.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you’ve got those, then, isn’t it?” Theron indicated the set of twin silver sabers clipped to her belt. “Word is you’re pretty handy with them.”

She gave him a look, expression indicating she was about to say something, but pressed her lips together in a thin line instead. After a moment, she glanced at both of the men. “Have the Empire’s forces really become so weak that we can charge straight in like this?”

“Not exactly,” Darok said, “we’re exploiting a brief gap in their patrols, which is why we have to move immediately.”

“I take it this gap doesn’t occur often then?”

“No,” he said flatly. “And before you ask, we won’t have time to land necessary hardware for a full-scale demolition.”

“I wasn’t going to ask that,” she said, almost sounding offended. “That seems unnecessary for the task at hand.”

Ah, so she was one of those kind of Jedi, Theron mused. He probably needed to guide the conversation back on track before Darok derailed it with his military overzealousness. “What I believe the colonel was trying to say, is that we need you to be quick about this”

“I don’t really wish to spend a great deal of time on Korriban. Once I find my way into the inner sanctum of the Dark Council and retrieve this data,” she was choosing her words carefully, but the tone was laced with skepticism, “exactly what am I supposed to do at that point?”

“Exfiltrate immediately and rendezvous back here,” Darok said. “With a payload this sensitive it’ll need an escort.”

“And what of the Sith Academy?”

“My associate, Commander Jensyn will be securing the rear. He’ll remain behind to collect secondary objectives as time allows.”

“And what are those?”

Darok’s rebuke of the question came quick and sharp. “Your immediate concern should be securing our primary objective, Master Jedi, and any obstacle that stands in your way of achieving that.”

She frowned at him, crossing her arms and raising her chin up defiantly. “You mean, the people standing in my way, Colonel.”

It appeared Darok wasn’t very good at first impressions in general, not just with overworked SIS agents. On one hand, it was nice to see someone else stand toe-to-toe with the blowhard, but unfortunately he was right about one thing, and that was the ticking countdown on their opening.

And since Highwind was his asset, it was his job to keep her focused on the mission at hand. Factoring in what he’d observed so far, Theron decided that the softer approach would probably yield the best results. “Look, I know it’s a tough job — this is one of the most secure facilities in the galaxy. And that’s even before you get to the Dark Council chambers.”

Highwind shot him a glance, a little bit of the umbrage bleeding away as she met his eye. “I really hope you have a map. It doesn’t sound like there’s much time to get lost.”

“I’ve got a schematic of everything right here.” It was only a little bit of a white lie. But he’d be able to fill in the blanks once the strike team got on the ground. “I’ll let you know if you’re about to take the scenic route.”

“You know what kind of scenery I should expect?”

“You mean other than sand?”

“Funny.” Her nose wrinkled as she tried to keep from smiling. There, that was the right reaction. “Are you planning on coming along, or is your astromech going to take you on another stroll?”

“Figured I’d stay here. I’ve gotten plenty of exercise for the day.” He motioned for her to join him on his side of the table, and she seemed glad to put some distance between her and Darok. “Let me take a look at your comm before you go. That way we can stay in touch.”

She handed over her earbud, and he quickly began to make some modifications to it. It was standard-issue fare, which would suffice for most operations, but since no one in the Republic had actually set foot on Korriban it was hard to tell if anything would interfere with the signal once she got out of range of the landing zone. There were a few extra bands that were typically locked out that he could route to if they encountered any interference. He paused in his work, feeling her watching more than just his work on the earbud.

“Sorry,” she said quietly when he met her eye, face flushing ever so slightly, “just now that I’m looking for it, I really can see the family resemblance.”

He narrowed an eyebrow, trying to keep the normal rise of irritation to a minimum. They were getting along so well, what with their mutual dislike of the colonel glowering at them both from the other side of the room. “I really wouldn’t know. It’s not like she and I have spent much time together.”

“Is she your…?”

He rolled his eyes, but decided that satiating her curiosity would probably cut the conversation short in the long run. “Yes, she’s my mother.”

On the other side of the room, he thought he saw Darok perk up, as if listening in, but when Theron looked the other man was occupied with something on a datapad. He returned his attention back to the Jedi, whose expression had taken on a curious softness as she studied him. Recalling that their names seemed to crop up together a lot in the file, he wondered again exactly how close this woman was to his mother.

“It’s not something I like to advertise,” he added. “For obvious reasons, on both sides.”

“I understand,” she intoned quietly. “I apologize for prying, Agent Shan.”

“Call me Theron.” Perhaps she’d be a little more apt to let the subject drop if she wasn’t constantly reminded of it by the use of his surname. He made a few final adjustments before holding the earbud back out to her. “You should be good to go. Now I’ll be able to hear what you hear.”

“Will you now?”

“Every word.”

“I was hoping to speak with my crew before I left. I hope that you will not begin eavesdropping until we reach Korriban.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. Any reason I should?”

“No.”

“Fair enough.” He shrugged. “Just keep your head up. If we’re successful, we could learn more about the Empire’s moves than every SIS operation from the past decade combined.”

“This is not the first mission of this kind that I’ve gone on, Theron.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She fixed the earbud back into place, and gave him a measured look. “I’m starting to feel like you know a lot more about me than I do about you.”

He returned the look in kind. “We can always exchange backstories when you get back, if you really want to.”

“Why do you not sound so enthused about your own idea?” She shot back easily.

He grimaced slightly, not expecting to be caught and tripped up by his own sarcasm. “Fine, how about this? If you pull this off, the first round’s on me.”

“The first round of what?”

“Drinks.” He rested a fist on his hip. “To celebrate.”

“Let us not get ahead of ourselves.”

“I’m going for optimistic here.”

She pressed her lips together, unsuccessfully smothering a smile. “Very well.”

“Our forces are ready,” Darok barked. “Victory for the Republic depends on you.”

“No pressure,” Theron added.

That did summon a smile. Just a small one, but it still seemed to light up her face, the freckles on the bridge crinkling with the motion. “Then I should probably go now. I need to inform my crew of the change in plans.”

“I’ll be in touch,” Theron tapped his ear. He hesitated for a moment, the standard phrase feeling awkward on his tongue, but he forced it out anyway. “May the Force be with you.”

She dipped her head gratefully, that small smile still playing at her lips. “And with you both as well.”

Next Chapter

[bakudekuficlibrary]

Any beach related fics? I remember seeing a fic where they entered a gameshow for childhood friend lovers where it was beach related and It'd be nice to see some where they go to the beach :p

I found a few that included a trip to the beach! Hope you enjoy these as much as I did when reading them!

~ Shan 

Also, whoever’s curious to what fic this ask eludes to it’s either of the two fics listed directly below!

~ Eve ❣

The Childhood Friends-To-Sweethearts Contest by Merrywetherweather( G | 3,064 | 1/1 )

Present Mic just wanted to throw together a little event for couples and soon-to-be couples and these two 3rd year idiots come in and utterly destroy the competition while remaining 100% oblivious to everything that’s going on around them.

This is more of a comedy piece than anything. I wanted to play around with the idea that Katsuki and Izuku probably still know a lot about each other and are ultimately still on the same wavelength. Like, you expect them not to know as much about one another, since they appear to not get along, but they know each other like the back of their hands.

Bakugou’s Childhood Sweetheart Survival Guide by Butterfree( G | 28,333 | 4/4 )

Childhood Sweethearts is a Japanese game show series inspired by the popular book The Childhood Friends-To-Sweethearts Contest by Merrywetherweather originating as far back as 2018. Childhood friends who are now lovers from all over the world compete in what is known as the ultimate challenge to prove your love to that girl next door, or to gain confidence to propose to the boy you’ve been protecting since you were both toddlers. Gaining a huge following and recently signing a contract to have their show aired internationally, the organizers opted to set up camp for the fifth season off the beach that Class 3-A happened to be spending a vacation on.

“Kacchan.”

“No.”

Deku gave him a look. “But I didn’t say anything yet.”

“You were thinking it. That’s enough incentive.”

Otherwise known as that other fanfic where Izuku and Katsuki sign up for a childhood sweethearts competition while remaining 99% oblivious to their growing feelings for each other.

6 Works.

There’s Nothing Nicer Than a Good Pair of Legs by Pop_Rocks

( M | 2,773 | 1/1 )

So Midoriya — of course — loves when Bakugou wears shorts that are a little shorter than normal, or when they’re lose and during quirk training or workout sessions they slide up and reveal more of his thighs. Hell, he even likes it when Bakugou wears those tight ass jeans that makes Midoriya dream of ripping them off. If anything, Midoriya kisses the ground that Bakugou walks on just to see him walk.

He also loves when the muscles are being used and you can see just how far the limits of them are being pushed. He loves when during intimate sessions Bakugou’s legs shake out of sensitivity. And more importantly, Midoriya always wants to wear those thighs as earmuffs.

—-

In which Midoriya has a thing for Bakugou’s thighs.

Square root equations and promises by the sea by Sof( T | 3,076 | 1/1 )

“I want to go to that place and look at the clear horizon together with you, Kacchan”

The boys keep walking side to side towards their future. Midoriya feels the need to make promises and Bakugou starts understanding his feelings a bit better.

the sky is more blue, next to you by yabakuboi ( G | 1,835 | 1/1 )

Beach day and an impromptu proposal.

stay-cation by WattStalf ( T | 1,205 | 1/1 )

Katsuki needs a vacation and Izuku does what he can for him.

[mrs-dragneel-stark-solo]

Unforseen Chasm (Part 48)

Part 48 of Unforseen Chasm

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together. Word Count: 4613 Warnings: Language, last part that deals with Ultron movie,  reader fights bff, mind control, widow protocol reactivated, song for this part: Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my other fic series). first major Collab with my best friend @thorne93​​ what was first a simple “what if” moment turned into a two year writing session and I’ve never been more prouder of myself than when i started my first series. goes through most of the MCU plots there are some changes to accommodate for what we wanted and there is a bit of a crossover between the MCU and other characters. I hope you guys enjoy reading this just as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Only two hours later, you got a call -- from Tony… This was either great news or really bad news.

“Hello?”

“You and Reindeer games busy?” he asked, his tone serious.

“No, why--”

“We’ve got a crack at Ultron, but we’re gonna need all hands on deck. I don’t like having to ask, but it may mean we can save Shannon. You in?”

“Of course, yeah, what do you need?”

“Be combat ready in five minutes. We’ll swing by to get you. We’re going to Sokovia, taking the fight to him.”

“Got it. We’ll be ready.”

You two hung up and you turned to Loki. “Get on your battle gear, we’re going to fight,” you informed.

He gave you a puzzled look but it quickly vanished when he followed your lead. He became clad in his old leather fighting gear, and you threw on the clothes Shannon had given you. A hooded robe, skin tight pants, and black t-shirt with boots.

The jet landed on the roof of your apartment and you two climbed in. No one gave you any warm looks, or nods of approval, except Clint. In fact, one face was new -- a dark red man, or… android? He had a stone in his head and he eyed you up and down with curiosity, and also… knowledge, as if he understood you. Suddenly, it dawned on you that he must’ve been what was in the cradle. Somehow, the Avengers gave him life, and trusted him enough to pit him against Ultron.

And clearly, the twins were now a part of this group, curiously enough. No one had taken the time to explain how or why they were here though.

Steve began his speech, and ultimately told you what your top priority was.

“Tony wants to take first stab at getting Ultron. The rest of us, our job is to evacuate the city. We find Shannon, we find what Ultron has been building, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. The people of Sokovia didn’t ask for this.” He took a moment to think, to pause. “Ultron thinks we’re monsters, that we’re what’s wrong with the world. This isn’t just about beating him. It’s about whether he’s right.”

And so it began. You landed just outside of the city, Wanda and Pietro got the civilians going, they began the evacuation and you tried to help, going to homes and apartments, encouraging people to leave. Letting them know the city was under attack. Clint found you and walked up to you as if he had something important.

“I’ve got the coordinates for Shannon, I figured you’d want to be the one to go get her. Take Banner with you in case it’s a trap.”

“What about the people?” you asked, frowning.

“We’ve got them. We’ll fight him. Go get her and then she can help us.”

“Thanks, Clint.”

He nodded. “Move your ass, kid.”

You smiled at him and ran off to find Shannon. She was in an abandoned church, where you dashed down the stairs, Banner right behind you.

“Shannon?” you whisper-yelled.

“I’m in here! He’s not here,” she replied making noises with some chain.

You immediately dashed over. “Oh thank God!” you said with a sigh of relief. “Hang on. Stand back,” you ordered. Shannon immediately backed up and you put your hand on the gate that divided you two. You charged the metal and blew it off the hinges. She ran out and hugged you tight.

“Hate to break this up, but we need to get back to the team,” Banner said from right behind you.

“You’re right,” you agreed, letting her go.

“Where are we headed and are people being evacuated?” She instantly got into Avenger’s mode. She started walking with you two through the way you entered. “What’s the situation right now?”

“City is being evacuated. There is some kind of core on the high ground, at the entrance of this church. We can’t tell what it’s going to do, but Ultron seems like he wants it,” you explained. “Tony’s going after him himself first.”

“Tony is doing what!? Is anyone else with him? Who told him it was okay to go on his own? He doesn’t know what Ultron is capable of.” She looked panicked and began scanning the area hoping to find the flying red suit of armor. “Give me a new mic to communicate with the team. I had mine taken by one of his bots.”

You fished one out of your suit and handed it to her.

“Thanks, Y/N. Alright, team it’s good to be back. Now give me an update. Cap, what’s going on?” Shannon flew off into the air to get a better look at things. “Tony, what is God's name are you doing trying to take on Ultron?” She turned to you and Bruce. Y/N, help the twins evacuate the civilians. Bruce, honey, I need my big guy to come out and help if you could.”

Bruce nodded and proceeded to remove his shirt and place it somewhere, turning to look at the two women, he winked at Shannon and began changing into the Hulk.

“Alright, big guy, go smash the robots,” she ordered the Hulk.

He smiled and ran off.

“I need to find out what he’s up to. Babe, what’s he hiding in the middle of town?” was all he said before it when quiet on his end.

“Damn it, Tony.” She shook her head and she flew back down to you.  “Alright, Y/N, let’s go get ourselves a slice of this fight.”

“Sounds good to me,” you said with a firm nod.

“Shannon, it’s good to have you back. We’re in the middle of town, the twins are helping evacuate the people--” he got cut off while fighting a robot.

“The twins? As in the Maximoffs, they’re helping us now?”

“Yes they seem to have taken Clint’s words into consideration and have decided to help us,” Natasha responded from some other part of the town.

“Alright we’re heading over to the center and see if I can get any of the people out of there.” She flew back up into the air. “You’re welcome to join me or any of the other’s if you want, Y/N/N” Shannon waved at you to come up with her to the sky.

“I’ll go wherever you need me,” you responded into the coms. “Do we need combat or civilian evacuation? Someone tell me where you want me to go, and I’ll go.”

“Come give me a hand getting them on the carriers. I can only do so much with my arrows,” Clint says. “I’m near the hospital. There’s too many people to get evacuated from here.”

“On it,” you said quickly before launching off, using your powers to lift you off the ground. To your knowledge, Loki was fighting off robots near the church, using his illusions and tricks. Normally, you’d be worried for him, but a fight like this was nothing compared to battles he’d faced in Asgard. Not to mention, you couldn’t be your best self if you were too worried about him. So you put your faith in your beloved and found Clint. “You get the people on the boats,” you said before lifting your hands, your power extending from your fingers. The dark purple power electrified twenty bots at once, disabling them. “While I stay here and fight.”

Clint stared at you for a second, befuddled. “Looks like you’ve got it,” he said before running off.

You laughed slightly before going into battle mode, slinging robots with your power, charging nearby items and throwing them, electrifying anything flying above you.

After five minutes of fighting, all of the Avengers and you and Loki made it back to the main part of the church, asking Stark what the drill was. To this, he informed you the core was important. If Ultron got to it, it meant you lost. This was your ultimate mission now. All of you guarded it with your life, surrounding it, readying yourself for whatever Ultron had planned.

“Is that the best you can do?” Thor yelled as the last robot got destroyed by Hulk as he entered where the drill was located.

Ultron stopped trying to get close and in an instant called all his robots to where he was.

“You had to ask,” Steve remarked toward the god.

“This is the best I can do.” Ultron began saying, spreading his arms wide to show his army. He pointed to everyone around the drill, stopping right at Shannon. “This is exactly what I wanted, All of you against all of me.”

Shannon seemed to harden her gaze and began to walk towards Ultron and turned to face everyone else, her eyes were looking directly at you. There was something unreadable in her gaze. It confused you. You’d never seen that look on her face before.

“How can you possibly hope to stop me?” Ultron smirked, watching as everyone was confused as to why Shannon was moving away from them. “When your two strongest are going to fight head to head to survive.” He flicked his wrist and Shannon charged at you, completely emerged in the dark swirls of her powers.

Everyone was fighting off the robots as fast as they could to try and contain Shannon from doing damage to anyone.

Your eyes went wide as you tried to dodge her oncoming attack.

“Shannon, stop!” you screamed. Suddenly, deja vu hit you. You’d been here before, only before, it was Shannon begging you to stop attacking her and New York. You were brainwashed so what was making her… Suddenly it hit you… The Red Room. Her training had been a mixture of Natasha’s and the Winter Soldier’s. This would be hard to crack.

“Shan,” you begged, backing up, stopping your powers from attacking her. “Listen to me. You don’t want to do this. He’s in your head. Don’t let him win,” you pleaded. But she kept stepping towards you, forcing you to back up. You didn’t want to fight her. Not again. Why was everyone always trying to pit you two against each other?

Shannon kept quiet, only the slight grunt here and there from throwing her powers at you. Seeing as this was leading nowhere, she jumped and threw herself into you at full force, knocking the wind out of you. “Why won’t you fight me? Too scared because you’ll know I'll beat you?” She smirked and threw a punch after punch at your face, which hurt like hell. “You always were a pathetic little thing needing someone to keep you safe.” She laughed not even caring that she had gotten blood to come out of your mouth.

You closed your eyes in frustration before letting your body electrify itself, blasting her off of you. You stood up wearily. “Please… don’t do this.” You held your hands up, ready to defend yourself.

“Get up, Y/N.” Shannon stood up, not getting thrown too far. “GET UP!” She laughed. “What happened to us fighting to see who really was the strongest?” She ran towards you pushing you into the wall of the side of the church.

“I don't have anything to prove, Shannon,” you grunted, staring her down. You tried to push her off but she was just too strong.

“And why not? Aren’t you tired of living in everyone's shadow?” She kept pushing, causing the brick to crack around your body. “Show me those Asgardian powers of yours or are they really just those hat tricks your little Loki can do?”

Your eyes grew dark as you glared at her. “Tired of people thinking the wrong things,” you said with a huff before finally pulling some power. You put your hand on the bricks beside you, charging all of them and blasting the wall at her, effectively getting her off of you, but that was it. It only backed her up a few steps. You spit out some of the blood pooling in your mouth. “We don’t have to do this. You’re the strongest. There, I admit it,” you tried, holding your hands up in defeat.

Your eyes flashed to the team, they were all so busy fighting Ultron and the bots, they couldn’t watch you two as well. You just needed to keep Shannon on you if you could, or hopefully wake her from this.

Shannon brushed the dust off her face and hands. “Oh, Y/N, poor little Y/N, always so quick to admit things rather prove your worth. It’s no wonder Thanos was able to manipulate you so well.” Her eyes began to change to their milky white with swirls of red. Causing the sun to disappear.

Some of Ultron’s bots had shown up and had begun to grab ahold of you but they failed to do so.

“Shannon, no!” you screamed, lunging at her to knock the sense out of her. “Don’t!” you said, not thinking, only reacting. Your hand went to her head, all of your energy electrifying her scalp. At first, a scream ripped from her throat, causing Loki and Tony to both look your way. But then her senses overcame your power.

“You think your little shocks will stop me!? It’ll have to take much more than that.” She changed shape becoming Loki. “Love, please don’t hurt me.” His voice came out of her mouth, she laughed watching your expression change.

You knew it was a trick. She transformed in front of your very eyes. You could see your real mate across the field. Tears formed in your eyes.  But Loki or Shannon, you couldn’t hurt the person standing in front of you. You took a deep breath and stood up, relaxing your shoulders.

“You’re right, Shannon. It is going to take a lot more to defeat you. And I don’t have it in me. So you’ll have to kill me. I’m not going to fight you.” You let down all of your guards, all of your defenses, going against every survival skill you’d picked up throughout your entire fucked up life. You couldn’t hurt or kill Shannon. Your power against hers, maybe you could slow her down, maybe you were a match for her -- but you didn’t want to be. Hurting her was not worth it.

“You’re no fun. Let’s kick things up a notch. If you won’t fight me like this, then let’s see if you will for the sake of his life.”  She pointed to Loki as he was lifted up into the air by multiple bots. Shannon turned to him and was charging up her hands with electricity and there was black and red swirling smoke surrounding her. “Will you save his precious life, or will you stop me for the sake of making a good impression on the team?” Her hands began to close and Loki struggled to move and breathe. She was crushing his windpipe with the smoke.

As much as you wanted to fight it, you wanted to hold her off and save him, your brainwashing was still in there. All it took was the pained look on Loki’s face to fully trigger you. You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath, and when you opened them, a white purple glowed inside them.

You ran and hurtled over Shannon’s head, standing in front of her and blasting her back with your powers nearly at full capacity - dark energy and electricity slammed into her. The shock alone could’ve made her heart burst. The blast was enough to get her to let Loki go, but the bots still had him. You spun quickly, casting your energy to them, ripping them apart piece by piece, finally forcing him to fall to the ground. You ran to him, checking on him. He was gasping for breath. You knew Shannon wouldn’t be down for long so you looked back to where she was getting up.

Shannon took that moment that you were distracted to let Ultron know she could grab her. She saw you turn over to look at her but at that moment you were met with Ultron standing in front of you. He grabbed you by the neck and pulled you up and had her facing Shannon. “Now to end this at once. Finish her,” he commanded Shannon.

“With pleasure.” She got up and pulled out a gun from her thigh holster. “If you’d just fought me like you should have, your death would have been different.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Not everyone is made to be a hero, some are just martyrs.” She aimed the gun right between your eyebrows.

Just as she was about to squeeze the trigger, Loki manifested a dagger, flinging it towards Shannon. It only nicked her arm though, because Steve charged at her and slammed her into the ground.

“Banner! I need some help over here!” he shouted.

“Let me go!” Shannon screamed shocking the captain but it did nothing. “You can’t stop me. I will kill her!” She began letting her powers take control but they were no use, the shocks did nothing to him and she couldn’t take anything from him.

You electrified Ultron before slamming a spike you manifested into his cheek. He jumped back, letting you go.

“Steve, no,” you said. “I’m not worth it. Go save the civilians. Fight Ultron. Save the world,” you insisted as he struggled with Shannon. “I can hold her off,” you assured. But you weren’t sure, at all. Shannon playing fair - yes, she was a match for you. Red Room Triggered Shannon? Not so much. That Shannon had a no holds bar attitude, and could very well kill you.

All she could think of was changing into Peggy. “Steve, you’re hurting me, you promised to keep me safe.” She had tears running down her cheek.

It was enough for him to let go in fear that he had hurt her. Shannon took his shield and powered it up with enough volts to kill a pod of whales and threw it at him. He was thrown into Thor’s way.

“Looks like he can’t stop me now. Better run, little Y/N.” Her hands had swirls of fire that kept growing higher up her arms. “Fight me once and for all! Show me everything you’ve got!”

You raised your fists, letting out a breath of air. Just as you were about to unleash fury on her, Hulk came charging up, and grabbed her in his giant hands, pinning her to the ground. You ran up near him, your hands ready. “If I put any power into her, she’ll just use it on you,” you informed, standing beside Hulk. Your eyes scanned quickly for Ultron, but he was back, preoccupied with the rest of the team. At least you had that.

She was screaming, fighting Hulk. You knew he was powerful, but even Shannon could kick things up to the point of getting him off of her. You’d never done this before but you decided to aim your powers in a different manner. The energy trickled from your fingertips calmly into her head, slowly making her vision, hearing, and smell go, disabling her.

Shannon struggled to get the giant hand to let go, he seemed to flinch at the waves of electricity but she seemed to have lost the ability to keep shocking him. Frustrated, she tried her other powers but none of them worked. She tried looking around but her vision had disappeared as had her other senses. She stopped moving for a bit and stood completely still almost as if she’d become unconscious. Seeing her limp form in his hand, Hulk stopped squeezing too tightly, fearing that if he had hurt her too much the doctor would get mad at him.

“Boss, your wife’s vitals have dropped some and she’s gone unconscious,” FRIDAY told Tony inside his suit. He stopped everything he was doing and spun in the air to check on her. “She’ll be fine, but we gotta get Ultron or she won’t be.”

“Right,” he agreed, as much as he didn’t want to leave her. Ultron had sicced all of his bots on the team now, they were scattered, but now it appeared the core was the main objective. The city was already floating, and the team was working hard to figure out how to keep it from exploding and ending the world. There were boats loading the leftover citizens. Now that Shannon had appeared unconscious, you focused your energy elsewhere, deciding to help the team.

“Are you alright?” Loki asked, a bad bruise forming on his cheek.

“As soon as this piece of shit Terminator is dead,” you grumbled before ripping apart a few bots. Your sights set on the big man himself. “Keep him distracted,” you said before slinking off to go around the back of him. “Vision, keep him talking,” you instructed into the comms. Vision did just that, he kept him busy, kept him focused. While you snuck up behind him and began electrocuting him. He reached onto his back and flung you off, slamming you into a brick column. You groaned in pain but stood up.

Vision attacked him with his mind stone, casting a beam at him, while Tony hit him with the repulsors, and Thor lit him up with his lightning. You hobbled your way over to stand beside them, letting your dark energy and electricity pour out of you like a rushing river. His body began to heat up, and you could tell he was melting from the inside as you cried out in pain of trying to keep your power going at this level.

Finally, his form exploded -- but it wasn’t over yet. The bots were still coming. Wanda was manning the core, while the rest of the Avengers got people to boats to safety. You wanted to help, but currently, you were on the ground, panting.

A bot came up, one that Wanda didn’t see, because she was distracted by Pietro getting shot in the shoulder. He wasn’t hurt fatally, but at first she couldn’t tell. You raised your arm to fight him, but you were too weak, and he got to the core.

“No! Wanda!” you weakly shouted and she spun, killing it too late. The core was activated now.

You turned your head to Hulk, immediately. “Hulk, carrier, now! Wanda, get your brother and get out!” you shouted, using all your strength to get up. Hulk nodded and wasted no time picking Shannon up and launching onto a nearby carrier. Wanda ran off to find Pietro, and from what you could see, they made it onto a boat. Loki was already on a safety boat, you could see him from where you were at. A look of terror crossed his face as he realized you were still on the flying city.

“Steve, Clint, you two on a boat?” you asked weakly into the comms, out of breath.

“Yeah, where the hell are you?” Clint asked back.

“Just make sure Tony gets away from here,” you replied. “I’m finishing this.”

You stood up and killed the bot. Ultron wasn’t dead. He still had something out there driving that thing. You narrowed your eyes, about to fly off when suddenly the ground shook beneath you and opened up, causing you to fall in. A scream escaped your throat, you couldn’t help it. You were free falling between ground, rock, roots, and now, you hit the open sky. There wasn’t enough energy for you to fly, so you closed your eyes, waiting for impact - surprised when you were suddenly in someone’s arms.

In shock, you opened your eyes to find Vision.

“Vision?” you breathed. “But what--”

“I’ll find Ultron. Mr. Stark’s instructions were clear -- keep you alive.”

All you could do was frown, but he lowered you onto a boat, next to Hulk who was slowly turning back into Banner.

You took a deep breath, looking around at the Avengers, Shannon… They were safe. The people were safe...Loki was safe… that’s all that mattered.  

The boats got onto the helicarrier, and the Avengers gathered around Shannon, who was still knocked out. At this point, you were terrified you’d done something wrong. You’d never disabled anyone like that with your powers and weren’t sure you’d done it right or safely.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, wincing at the sudden sunlight. All eyes were on her as she gasped and sat up.

“Gahh! What happened tell me? I didn't kill anyone, did I?” Shannon looked around, she was afraid that she’d hurt anyone, especially from the team. “Don’t come near me. I’m not sure I’m stable enough to be in contact with anyone.” She started scooching back and hit the back of a seat.

Tony, obviously worried about his wife, rushed to her and was looking everywhere for visible signs or injury. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself in any way?” He started grabbing her hands.

“No! Don’t touch me,” she shrieked, yanking her hands away. “Please don’t come near me. I don’t want to hurt you.” She hugged her knees to herself.

“Shan,” you tried, kneeling, getting on her level. “It’s alright. You won’t hurt us. You’re not activated any more. You’d never do anything to us,” you assured, giving her a warm smile, trying to scoot closer.

“I don’t know that, none of us do. I can still feel it’s inside me.” Her hands shook as she tried to move her hair from her face. “I just need to be alone. If I need anyone Stevie can help.” She looked over at Steve pleading with her eyes.

“I’ll do whatever you need, doll,” he assured with a slight shrug. “Just say the word.”

“Thank you, Stevie. For now I’ll just go rest.” Shannon got up or tried to get up but she was too weak.

“Here, I’ll give you a hand.” Bruce went to help her get up. “Let’s get you to one of the seats.” He took her to her seat.

“Thank you, Bruce, I’ll get some sleep.” She buckled in her seatbelt. “Can I have some painkillers?”

“Sure thing.”

You glanced to Tony as you stood up, worry on your face. He thrust his head over his shoulder to signal he wanted to talk away from everyone. The two of you stepped far out of hearing distance.

“I had no idea she still had that shit in her. That protocol. Those… That trigger.” Tony shook his head, no doubt blaming himself.

“I didn’t either. I thought SHIELD got that out,” you mentioned. ‘What do we do? Tony, she looks like a wounded animal,” you said, pity in your voice. “She’s terrified to even look at us.”

“I know,” he noted before chewing on his lip, watching his bride. “What do you say we take her back to the X-Men? They were making some headway before, right?” he asked.

“Yeah. Her powers are still killing her,” you reminded. “Every time she uses them, and she just let a canon loose,” you remarked. “She needs to be healed.”

He nodded. “Yeah, no, you’re right. We’ll get the rest of the team back to the tower and then I’ll take her to the mansion.”

“We both will,” you asserted softly. “You’ll need to bring Bruce too,” you said.

“Banner? Why?”

“He comforts her. He’s been her primary care doctor. If you’re going to take Shannon there, she’s going to want Bruce by her side too,” you stated matter-of-factly.

“Okay, you, me, Banner, and Shannon will go to the mansion,” he corrected, with a bit of an eye roll.

Unforseen Chasm Tag list- @reigningqueenofwords​ @oldfreakything​ ​ @adefectivedetective​ @dontbetooobvious​

Tag list- @cas-you-assbutt-dean-needs-you​ @winchester-writes​ @winchesterenthusiast​ @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog​   @sammysbuttcheek​ @misz-adrii​ @sandlee44​ @womanxofletters​ @natsuccs​ @childishhoebinoo​ @expecteddifferent​ @girl-next-door-writes​ @fanaticfanfiction​ @dakotapaigelove​ @sassy-spn-knight-of-hell​ @reigningqueenofwords​ @oldfreakything​

Marvel: @reigningqueenofwords​ @flowerbunbunny​ @zelda2248​ @misz-adrii​

[kantostarter]

OMG OMG OMG imma try to download it again when my classes end!!! thank u for telling me i have not kept up w everything elsword in a while. and im glad nisha enjoyed hearing me talk endlessly abt my favorite singing pixels sob i had to stop myself halfway bc i wouldve said TOO MUCH and scared her KFHJDGD ALSO GO TO SLEEP

i'm not gonna lie.. i actually wish i could sleep! we were trying to sleep off that migraine from earlier and. tldr: i woke up at like.. around 8pm..? so i'm still super awake!! my body: no <3

ANYWAY yeah!! a few of the characters have their 4th paths (why did i say job. it's a 4th class you can pick. anyway..) already! i think, so far.. uhh, elsword, aisha, raven, eve, and ara have their 4th paths available already (on NA at least) and lu/ciel's is apparently dropping around the 25th of this month, over here? pretty exciting!

honeyworks does seem interesting though! i also do not know much about it, personally, but. i vibe with a lot of like, idol.. media and whatnot despite knowing Absolutely Nothing about it, so getting to edit for bandori tonight was a pleasant surprise! speaking of. if there's any other idol things besides honeyworks you're into? i'd be happy to hear about it, since most of my alters.. do not consume much Idol Content and i am left in the dark LMAO

[angelkurenai]

Imagine you and Jared, you boyfriend, making an important announcement during a concert and surprising the fans.

“Alright everyone, so this next one is very special and very dear to me so I want you to give everything you've fucking got into this! And I'm not talking about a song, I'm talking about the person that I love more than singing, acting and my own life in the first place!”

“Cheesyyyyy!” Shannon teased his brother through the microphone but still grinned, as all the fans laughed too.

Jared laughed and stuck his tongue out at his brother before turning back to the audience “He's just jealous I'm her favorite Leto.” he shrugged “Alright, listen up! Listen up here, I know you can already tell who it is, you eager ones over there I see you!” he pointed at a group of fans already excited “But I gotta introduce her so- Cheer, scream, clap and get all around real fucking crazy the way I do every time I see her because this woman deserves it more than anything in-” but he didn't get to complete his sentence because all the fans went wild and cheered for you as you appeared on the stage.

Jared paused, turning to look in your direction to see you approach him and spread his one arm, grinning before speaking into the microphone “Hey, I didn't finish!”

You stopped in your place, raising an eyebrow at him before you turned to the fans “Weird. That is the first time I've ever heard Jared say this. Ever.” you looked back at him, only to see him burst into laughter just like the rest of the people there.

“Hey, you have never complained about any of it. Ever!” he pointed at you and you giggled, shrugging.

“Nope, I never had a reason to.” you shook your head, turning back to the fans with a wide grin “I almost forgot- Hey everyone!” you waved and they all cheered back just as loudly.

“What are you doing here, though?” he looked at you, still speaking through the mic “I didn't finish your introduction!”

“Your speech was turning out to be longer than your beard, J, so I got bored!”

“I only wanted to brag about my girl! Take pride and show people how lucky I am!” he gave you a small pout that just made you giggle.

“Alright, alright. Let me say hi to my favorite Leto, now.” you walked towards him with spread arms before, only when you were a couple of feet away from him, turning around you hurry towards Shannon and jump in his arms and hug him, the both of you laughing when Jared fake-sobbed “Shan!”

“Alright, that's it. I quit.” he pouted and with a giggle you let go of your best friend to run to your boyfriend and wrap your arms tightly around him.

“Aw come on, baby boo, I was just kidding. You know I love you the most.” you kissed his cheek and that was enough for a wide smile to spread on his lips before turning to wrap his arms around you as well, kissing the top of your head.

“(Y/n) (Y/l/n) everyone!” he exclaimed, full of pride and happiness into the microphone and the crowd cheered loudly “Or as you guys love to call her, say hello to Mamma Bear!”

“I think he loves the nickname a little more than you guys actually do!” you said into your own microphone and he shrugged innocently.

“Of course! Because I will always love her more than you guys do, so don't fight me on it!” he said with a smirk before kissing you lovingly on the lips.

“Oh and now he's getting possessive, he's getting possessive. Oh prepare, some panties are about to drop!” you glanced with a smirk at him as he grinned widely “Wait, just wait the best is yet to come!” you said with a grin, giggling when his beard tickled your neck when he kissed it.

“Whoa PG-rated you guys, keep it PG-Rated!” Shannon said into his own microphone and you laughed.

“I can get pretty possessive sometimes, I won't deny it. But this one is different.” he tried to get serious but was failing miserably “Are you guys trying to compete with me or something?” he asked and got laughs in return from the fans.

“I think you should explain, honey.” you said, resting your head on his shoulder “But before you do, I need to point out it's certainly one of the sweetest things to come home to, other than this dork trying to set up a romantic dinner for our anniversary. So I feel like I really need to say this, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making me feel so welcomed and loved into this bigger family of yours. It warms my heart in ways you can't imagine.” you got a couple 'aw's from fans and softer cheering from everybody else.

You soon added “I was a fan just like all of you before I met Jared in person and the rest of it just history, but my place kinda changed when we started dating. And it's certainly not unheard of girlfriends of famous to get, well, hate sadly. And I feel truly blessed that, not only I have this man in my life, but also so many great people to support me and us together, in the way an actual family does. Respecting us, our choices and our privacy when we need it. And for that I can't thank you enough.” you finished with a gentle smile, getting lots of cheering in response from all the fans and a kiss on the lips from your boyfriend.

“Alright, alright before we all start getting emotional- Story time!” Jared said with a soft smile “I was trying to clean up the mess our bedroom had become the other days, don't ask me why, I surprised even myself with that. But I spotted several of (Y/n)'s things laying around and when I asked her she told me it's all from you guys! I tried to search hard to find any of the ones I gave as a gift to her but only found one or two in a pile of nearly 80 things if not more!” he exclaimed “I swear, you guys either want Mamma Bear to join the band and are trying to say it subtly to us or are trying to seduce my girl which let me tell you is not sitting well with me! So prepare, I've put my A game on now!”

“Which also means, spoiling the heck out of me.” you explained with a laugh.

“Which also also means marking my territory, and not just by giving her gifts. If you guys know what I mean, which again you probably do cause you're all dirty little shits like me.” he chuckled.

“I think, in every way possible too!” you said with a smirk and he grinned slyly, turning to look at the fans.

“Oh I was definitely going to mark my territory in that way, and for you guys that don't get it yet, I'll speak as a singer.” he took hold of your hand, locking finger with yours before showing the back of it to the audience to admire the beautiful big engagement ring n your finger “I put a ring on it!” and with those words went crazy in excitement and happiness.

[perfectfitmbj]

C5. No Judgement

Xavier’s Story

October 2014

After Tristan told Ashanti he wasn’t with the whole dating others while they were dating each other, she was heartbroken but not surprised. The lifestyle she wanted to live was different from the norm and she knew that. She had prepared herself to have heartbreak during her journey to find love, just not so soon did she think she’d fall for someone. One thing that Shan did in her spare time was attend a local Open Mic Night where you could sing or spit a little spoken word and poetry was a platform she used to get out her feelings so she wouldn’t keep them bottled in. Ashanti learned at an early age to get out whatever she was feeling because keeping them in only resulted in harm to herself. As she was called to the stage, Shan grabbed her notebook off of the table along with her drink and headed to the stage. Once she was situated and comfortable, she took a few sips from her Long Island Iced Tea and closed her eyes for a brief moment.

When she opened her eyes, she smiled.

“How’s everybody doin’ out there tonight. For some of you, you already know my name and but for those who don’t, I’m Ashanti. I’ll let my words tell you the rest.” She said into the microphone.

Love blossomed

At the intersection of lust, dreams and desire,

Where crowded clouded skies

Yield to chocolate cream sunsets,

Harbors can’t harness the depths

Of passion

So pervasive you can taste it

When you came through

Everything I thought I knew

Was interrupted like

Trojan air by arrows…

Xavier POV

Xavier sat at the bar as this beautiful woman stood on stage. He was caught off guard by how her words just seem to flow like a light stream into a pond. She stood there under the dim lighting with a glow around her.

“What’s a fine ass man like you sittin’ alone at the bar? I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t come keep you company.” The random woman said to Xavier as he watched the beautiful as she took her snaps in and walked off of the stage.

She headed straight to the bar on the opposite side of him. Seeing her up close made him to a double take. Her eyes briefly locked with his as she looked at him and gave him a small smile.

“You wanna buy me a drink?” The random woman asked Xavier to get his attention.

Xavier looked at her and then turned to the bartender who was walking over to the beautiful woman who stood beside him.

“Say, my man! Lemme get a ice water...she thirsty as fuck!” Xavier said as he tilted his head to the left where the random woman sat.

The bartender laughed as did the beautiful woman.

“Fuck you wit yo’ ugly ass!” The random said she walked off.

“I guess she wasn’t that thirsty after all.” The beautiful woman said as she grabbed her drink from the bar.

As she went to pay, Xavier put his hand out to stop her.

“I got it! You good.” He said.

The beautiful woman smiled at him. “Thank you. That’s really sweet. I got you on your next round.” She said.

“Na. Just tell me your name, then we even.”

“Ashanti. And you are?” She asked.

“Well Ashanti, I’m Xavier but you can call me Zay.” Xav told her.

After the two talked for a few minutes and Xav ended up joining Shan at her table for the rest of the night. They hit it off instantly and had tons of things in common. From being the only child to spending their childhood summers in Compton, California.

Ashanti’s vibe was chill and Xavier liked th\at. She reminded him of back home and that made him feel comfortable.

“I’m diggin’ you a lot, I gotta be honest.” Xav told her as they walked down Milwaukee Avenue.

“I’m diggin’ you, too. Your aura is really attractive.” Shan replied.

“Oh, so you one of those, huh? You read auras n’shit?” Xav said with a laugh.

Ashanti looked at him and stopped walking. She turned and looked to her right where a park bench was. She started to walk over and Xavier followed close behind. As they both sat, Ashanti looked over at Xavier and told him what he was curious to know.

“Yes, I can read auras. I’ve been able to do so since I was 13yrs. old thanks to my mom. She thought it was a needed gift in the world, so she made sure she taught me how to feel out the people I’m around. You are a You are very passionate. Sexual is just scratching the surface of you behind closed doors. You’re very competitive and you hate to lose. Bet you didn’t know that you were being covered by angels, did you? I don’t know what happened to you, but whatever it was has you surrounded by a higher power that keeps you safe.” Ashanti told Xav, who was hanging on to every word she said as if his life were depending on it.

He knew exactly what she was talking about when she mentioned something happening to him and it threw him. He had a secret that he never told anyone. He never felt safe enough to, so he didn’t. Yet, here he was sitting with this beautiful soul of a woman and he felt so connected to her as if he could tell each other anything. He had never had that before and he didn’t want to lose it.

“Can I see you again?” Xav asked as the two just sat on the bench looking at each other.

“I would love that.” Sha responded.

Xavier ended up walking Ashanti to he apartment that wasn't too far away and the 61-degree weather wasn’t bad either.

“Thank you! I came out tonight in my feelings about basically getting ready to be dumped and you helped me forget all about it.” Sha told him.

Xavier leaned up against her front door frame as she turned her keys to unlock the door.

“His loss. You on to bigger and better things now.” He said as Sha walked closer to him, closing the space between them.

She looked up at him as he looked down at her. Like two magnets, their lips were drawn to each other and the moment their lips touched, sparks flew.

Xav left Sha’s apartment building with a smile on his face. He wasn’t even going to go out tonight after the day he had had at work, but he was glad he did. As soon as he made it home, he sent her a text asking her if she was free for dinner the next night which Ashanti declined due to having a lot of work to do. Before Xavier could lose his smile, Ashanti asked him if the night after would work instead.

“That would actually be better for me, too! Pick you up around 7:00 p.m.?” Xav asked.

“I’ll be ready!” Sha responded.

The new acquaintances talked on the phone for a bit longer before the call ended.

…………………

The date Xavier and Ashanti went on was the start of steady dating for the two. Nothing had been made official because Ashanti was still in her feelings about her ex-boyfriend. Xavier wasn’t pressed because he had his starting line up and was content with having his choice of who he wanted to spend time with. He was a young, successful engineer with an amazing salary. Settling down with one woman wasn’t what he had on his list of immediate things to do.

When Xavier arrived at Sha’s apartment to pick her up for their date, she was on the phone with someone who clearly was going off on her about something. Sha looked as if she was on the verge of tears as the other person could be heard yelling through the phone. Xav didn’t like seeing her this way but all he could do was sit on her couch and wait for her to end her call. Once she had, she sat excused herself and left the living room. When she came back in, Xavier asked her if she was okay.

“If I need to fuck a nigga up, lemme know who!” He said making Sha smile a little.

“I’m okay. That was my dad. He isn’t too happy with my life decision to be in a polyamorous relationship. Well, let me take that back. He doesn't have a problem with that, he has a problem that I want two husbands and not a husband and a wife.” Sha told him.

Xavier looked at her confused.

“Polyamorous?” He asked for clarification.

Ashanti laughed. “It basically means that I want to be in a relationship with more than one man. I grew up in a polyamorous household and my father was the only man. He feels like me having two men in my life will make me look like a whore and he’s 100% against it. It’s okay to have one husband, but not two.” she said.

“Having two men you're with doesn't make you a whore. If you real about shit wit’ both of ‘em, it’s cool. Do you and what makes you happy. Fuck pleasin’ everybody else.” He told her as he pulled her into his lap.

Sha looked at him. “So, you could see yourself in that type of relationship?”

“If I’m really feelin’ the chic and she straight up wit’ me...maybe. But, let’s be out I’m starvin’” Xavier tells Sha as they both stand to leave her apartment.

When Xav and Sha arrived at their favorite Downtown hangout spot that had strong drinks and good food. They loved to sit by the window and talk about people as they walked past. Xavier was laughing and as he looked up, he saw this guy mean mugging him like he had a problem. Xav had never seen the guy before so he returned the mug right back. Ashanti saw that Xav’s facial expression had changed and didn't know why until she followed his stare to her boyfriend.

“Xav, excuse me for a second.” She tells him as she stood up and walked over to the guy and pulled him to the side.

They had an exchange of words before Ashanti walked back over to the table.

“Sorry about that. That was my boyfriend...or ex-boyfriend at this point.” She told him.

Xav kissed his teeth. “That would explain why he was muggin’ me so hard. Lame ass!” He said as Sha’s boyfriend/ex-boyfriend walked past the table.

Sha and Xav finished their night as if nothing happened. After they had gotten back to Sha’s apartment Xav hung out for a bit until he received a text from one of his starting line asking to see him. He had debated on ignoring the chic but decided to go have one last ride before he ended things with her afterward. The Chic was becoming a bit too clingy for his liking. Xavier told Ashanti he would call her the next day and left with a pit stop at a corner Walgreens for a box of condoms before he made it to his destination.

………………

A few days later, Xavier had gotten a call from Ashanti. He hadn’t spoken to her since he had left her place and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Every time he would call, she would rush him off of the phone. Even their text message thread was different. Her text responses were short compared to her normal responses. When he pulled into his parking space in the garage, he noticed a figure standing in front of him in the lobby. When he opened the door, the figure turned around and it was Ashanti. Standing there looking as beautiful as always.

“Hey! What you doin’ here?” He asked as he leaned down to kiss her lips.

She turned slightly causing him to catch her cheek instead. Xav frowned his eyebrows.

“Hey. Can we talk?” Sha asked him.

Xavier nodded his head and walked over to the elevator waiting for her to follow. Once they were in his apartment, she sat on the couch as he went into his room to change into more comfortable clothes. Ashanti sat. Nervous for what she was about to tell him. When Xav came back out into the living room, he took a seat next to her.

“Sup?” He asked with a concerned look.

“I’m not one for keeping secrets or holding in my feelings. So, I haven’t been feeling the same between us and I’m sure you can tell. Xavier, I really like you! I tried to stop myself from catching feelings, but I did. Now, I’m in a messed up situation because I know you don’t feel the same way. On top of that, when you left the other day my boyfriend showed up and he told me he wanted to be with me no matter what. We slept together.” She tells him.

Xavier felt his heart start to beat faster and couldn’t understand why. He left her and went to another chic’s place and fucked her three times that night, so how could he be mad at the woman he was seeing who made it clear from the beginning that she was in a messy situation.

“I’m telling you this because….after I slept with him I realized that I...I have feelings for you. I don’t really know how you feel about my lifestyle choice but I want to be with you, too! No one makes me feel like you make me feel and I don’t want to not have that in my life.” Sha said as Xavier looked at her. “I know this is a lot and I will understand if this isn’t something that you want. Can you please think about it and let me know?” She asked as she stood up.

Xavier watched her get up and head for the door. He didn’t know why he didn’t stop her as she walked out and closed the door behind her. He didn’t want her to go. He wanted her to stay. In fact, he wanted to tell her he was down with it. He had felt the same type of connection that she did. He since their second date, he had slowly started cutting off the women he had been dealing with only leaving a couple and those two would be easy to sever ties with because they were in California. Sha was the only woman that he felt the connection with that he had and she was the only woman that he had been able to be himself with. Xavier threw on a pair of his Nike Air Max 95’s and ran out of the door after grabbing his cell and his keys. He jumped into his Range Rover and headed for Ashanti’s place. He had to tell her but he knew he needed to make sure he was clear to really give them a try. No side pieces. No secrets. Xav pulled up just as Sha was getting out of her car. He got out and walked over to her.

Sha stood there and looked at him. She saw the seriousness in his eyes and knew he needed her to go with him for whatever reason. “Okay. Let me go inside so I can book a flig-”

Xav cut her off as she was speaking. “I got that. Just be ready to go at 9:00 a.m. okay. Thank you.” He said to her as he turned and walked back to his Range.

When he pulled out of the parking spot, Tristan pulled in right after him. Ashanti looked down the street at the stop sign where Xavier had stopped. He waited there for a bit before he pulled off as if he was watching her. Ashanti wasn’t surprised. Xavier was an alpha male just like Tristan and neither one played about their territory. If Xavier indeed makes the choice to be with her while she was with Tristan, she knew she was going to have her work cut out for her trying to manage both men but she had her fingers crossed and ready if she needed to be.

“Good morning.” Sha greeted as Xav leaned down and kissed her.

This time, she didn’t turn her lips away.

“Mornin’. You ready for this flight? I’m sleepin’ the whole way there, so you on yo’ own.” Xav told her as they both got into the Lyft.

The two had a light conversation up until they boarded the plane. Xavier watched Sha text her boyfriend that she was on the plane. He was fine with it until he read the “I Love You” in her last text where his message popped up returning the words. He was fighting himself from getting jealous. Technically she wasn’t his to be jealous about. He just sat back and closed his eyes as the flight attendant started going over the safety demonstration before the flight took off. Once they had been in the air for a bit, Ashanti put her head on Xavier’s shoulder and went to sleep making him smile at her innocence and drifting off to sleep with her himself. After they landed and got settled into their hotel, Xavier made a few calls and found out one of the females he was out there to end ties with were over in his old stomping grounds.

“You up for meeting some of my people? I need to handle somethin’ real quick before we get to the real reason I wanted you to come wit’ me.” Xavier told her.

Sha nodded. “My aunt still lives in the same house. I could go visit with her while you handle whatever it is you need to do so I won’t be in your way.” She answered.

“That’s cool, too. C’mon. I wanna get over there and done real quick. I got somethin’ planned for us later.” He tells her as they grab their things and head out of their room.

The ride to Xavier’s cousin’s house was quiet. Not many words were said. Once they pulled into the neighborhood, Ashanti noticed the familiarities.

“My aunt stays like two blocks over from here if I remember correctly.” Sha told Xav as he pulled into a driveway.

He gets out of the car and walked to the passenger side to open the door.

“Damn! Nigga opening the door n’shit! Aye, momma! Bam here and he got a girl wit’ em!” His cousin yelled back into the house from the porch.

“Don’t let him bother you. He’s my lil’ cousin.” Xav told Sha as they walked into the house. “Gimme a sec. I’ll be right back.”

Ashanti nodded and sat on the couch quietly and waited. A woman that looked to be around her age, if not older, walked in.

“And she’s cute, too! Yeah, he really likes you if he brought you HERE! Welcome to my home. I’m Rita.” She said as she extended hand which Sha accepted.

“You know, Bam hasn’t brought a girl home since we were little. After what happened, he changed and I’m glad he did because we would have lost him next.”

Ashanti watched Rita as she walked back out of the living room. She had no idea what she was talking about but was curious as to what it was. She had to use the bathroom so she got up and to ask Rita where it was.

“Oh, just go down the hallway and it’s the first door on the right.” Rita said.

Sha went down the hall as told and stopped when she had gotten to the bathroom. She heard Xavier talking with another person.

“Na, I been out the game. After that shit wit ‘Dre, I promised my momma I would make somethin’ of myself and that’s what I did. Ain’t shit we can do to bring him back.” Xav said.

The other voice started cursing loudly. “Fuck that shit! That night killed Dre’ on some dumb shit! We still ain’t take his ass out and he walkin’ ‘round here wit’ like he da shit! Mark ass! You here now so I say we all roll through and blast his bitch ass!” The voice said.

“Na! I listened to you the last time and I ended up shootin’ that kid! I told you I’m out! And don’t be bringin’ that shit over here to my cousin house neither!” Xav said as he turned to leave the room.

Sha has closed the bathroom door just in time so that she wasn’t seen. Once she was finished, she walked back into the living room where Xav and another man sat with his younger cousin.

“Babe, you ready?” Xav asked as he stood.

Sha nodded as she walked over to him.

“Damn Blood! She thick as fuck! Say girl, what’s yo’ na-“

“SHUT THE FUCK UP BEFORE I KNOCK YO’ FUCKIN’ HEAD OFF YO’ SHOULDERS!” Xavier snapped.

The man immediately shut his mouth and sat back in his seat as Xav grabbed She’s hand and pulled her closer to him as they walked out of the house.

“He serious ‘bout that one Blood!” A voice said from behind them.

Ashanti got into the car as did Xavier.

“We don’t have to go to my Aunt’s. We can get away from here if you want.” She asked as Xav backed out of the driveway.

“I’ll bring you by your Aunt’s tomorrow if that’s cool. I jus’ really need to get away from here..I forgot why I stopped comin’ back..now I remember why.” He said as he drove onto Crenshaw.

The car ride back to the hotel was quiet but not awkward. Ashanti kept thinking about what was said on the house and she was itching to ask him what were they talking about. As they pulled into valet at the hotel and went inside back to their shared room, she took a deep breath and asked.

“When I went to the bathroom at your cousin’s house, I overheard you and the other guy talking. Who is Dre’!” She asked.

Xavier sat on the bed and looked straight ahead. The room was silent until he spoke.

“Dre’ was my brother. He was killed by a rival gang. I was into some cold shit when I was younger..so when my big bro joined the Pyrus..I followed right behind him.” Xav said.

“What made you get out? That couldn’t have been easy..” Sha asked.

“After my brother got shot, me and some of our crew went to shoot up the bitch ass nigga that shot Dre’..I’m the one that wanted to pull the trigger..when we found one of ‘em in front of his broads house..I jus’ started firing..ended up hittin’ this little kid..”he told Sha.

She sat next to him as he stared at the wall.

“How long ago was this?” She asked Xav.

“About 10 years ago..shit still fucks wit’..”Xav said.

“My parents stopped letting me come visit my aunt after my baby cousin was killed in a drive by...she was four..” Ashanti said. “My cousin Jamal was a Crip and went around doing stupid stuff all of the time. He took the blame for her getting killed and my family forgave the guy that pulled the trigger. You made a mistake. We all do.” Sha told him.

Ashanti didn’t have to say anything else. Xavier knew that she didn’t want to just come out and say it, but he shot and killed her little cousin in the drive by he pulled the trigger in. He was preparing himself for her to get up and leave, but she didn’t. She moved over closer to him and grabbed his hand.

“Whatever you did in the past is in the past. You changed your life and because the person you were meant to be. There’s no shame in that.”

Xav looked at her as she said those words to him. It was then that he knew what choice he was going to make.

“I brought you out here because I wanted you to be here when I cut ties with a couple females I been dealin’ wit’. When I’m wit’ you..I feel untouchable. You get me and you don’t judge me. I ain’t never had that before and I wanna see where this whole poly shit whatever goes..I wanna meet ol’ boy tho..” Xav told her making her smile.

He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately. The rest of the day was spent in their hotel room. As of today, Xavier and Ashanti have been together for a little over four years and married for three.

Wonder how the official meet went between Tristan and Xavier? Stay tuned.

[shannonfreakingleto]

Do Or Die: Part Thirty One

Jared’s POV

Swallowing hard as the past few months went past in a flash I couldn’t believe the day was here, after planning it for so long I glanced at Shannon who gave me a big grin and a thumbs up before disappearing around the back. Standing under the alter I looked around at my friends and family, fixing my bowtie I was nervous, smiling as the backyard looked great Torrie and I decided to keep it small.

Smiling as the wedding party took their seats I licked over my lips as the bridal march started, seeing everyone standing I took a deep breath. Clearing my throat Tomo slowly walked down the aisle, smiling he pulled the babies in by cart. Waving at them they giggled blowing each of them a kiss Tomo sat the cart beside me, smiling as the twins and Ryder babbled I waved at them. Smiling as they clapped their hands I quickly kissed their heads, smiling as I stood up again Taylor started to make her way down the aisle. Smiling at her she winked as she slowly walked down, feeling my heartbeat in my ears my palms began to sweat.

‘You look absolutely gorgeous Taylor’ I whispered into her ear as I hugged her.

‘Wait until you see Torrie’ Taylor smiled as she took her spot

Looking for Shannon I gasped as he walked out with Torrie on his arm, wiping my eyes she looked even more beautiful than what I imagined. Looking up at Shannon he had a smile plastered on his face, watching them slowly walking down the aisle the tears burned in my eyes. Smiling as they made their way down I stared at Torrie in awe, taking Torrie off of Shannon he hugged me before taking his spot beside me, waiting until Torrie gave Taylor her flowers I smiled. Holding her hands as she turned around I squeezed them softly, blinking her tears away my own burned in my eyes. Smiling she mouthed ‘Hi’ laughing slightly I wiped my tears away as I looked down at her, mouthing ‘Hi, I love you’ I forgot about everyone else that was watching.

Staring into each another’s eyes I wiped my thumb over the back of her hands, smiling as the vicar addressed everyone they sat down. Looking down at Torrie I knew both of our nerves had left and all we saw was each other. Turning to Shannon I took the rings off of him, feeling my fingers shaking I took a deep breath. Turning back to Torrie I lifted her right hand, slowly sliding the ring on her finger I smiled as I spoke.

'I Jared Joseph Leto take Torrie Lynn to be my beloved wife. To have and to hold you, to honour you, to treasure you, to be at your side in sorrow and in joy, in the good times, and the bad, and to love and cherish you always…I promise you this from the bottom of my heart honeybee…I will stand by you, protect you from everything. I will help raise our family and do whatever I can to give you everything I have…for the rest of my life’ I smiled

Rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand she smiled as the tears fell from her eyes, brushing them away carefully I let my own fall. Resting her cheek in my hand I smiled, turning to get the ring she slowly recited her vows to me as she slid the ring on my finger. Holding onto her hand the goose bumps scattered across my skin, smiling as she slid the ring on my finger she mouthed ‘I love you’ as more tears fell down her cheeks. Mouthing ‘I love you too’ I couldn’t stop smiling, squeezing as the vicar talked I closed my eyes briefly trying to contain my composure.

‘I now pronounce you Husband and Wife’ He smiled

Looking down at Torrie I lifted her chin up looking her directly in the eye I pressed my lips to hers softly. Feeling her smile into the kiss she put her hand on my chest, pulling away as everyone cheered I rested my forehead against hers.

‘I love you Jared’

'I love you Torrie Leto, always and forever’ I smiled

Turning around beside Shannon I picked Ryder up out of the cart kissing the top of his head I held Torrie’s hand as we walked down the aisle as husband and wife. Laughing as people threw paper hearts Shannon took as many photos as he could. Smiling as Shannon took photos we stopped at the end of the aisle, putting Ryder between us we both kissed his cheeks softly. Smiling as Ryder moved in my arms the sound of camera’s flashing made me smile. Resting my forehead against his cheek I smiled as I held my little family in my hand. Holding onto Torrie’s hand we started to walk down the trail, kissing the back of her hand it couldn’t have been more perfect.

'I love you husband’

'I love you too my beautiful wife’

Waiting until everyone had walked down the trail into the barn Torrie and I had a few quiet minutes in the house. Kissing her softly I played with the ring on her finger, slowly walking to the barn we smiled as everyone was settled in the barn. Walking into the room everyone cheered; pulling Torrie to my chest I kissed the top of her head. Walking to the big table, Constance took Ryder from us, helping Torrie into her chair it was time for the dreaded best man speech.

Torrie’s POV

Looking up at Jared I couldn’t believe I was now officially a Leto, laughing as Jared closed his eyes preparing himself for Shannon’s speech. Kissing his cheek I held his hand as Shannon stood up, getting a mic I saw how nervous he was to talk. Holding onto Taylor’s hand he squeezed it quickly.

'Well…I guess it’s my turn to take the floor and give the best man speech….I mean give the quietest man the big speech thanks for that bro! Anyway….I’m going to take this very seriously. I have only a few years ahead of my brother but oh how many fun stories to tell….such as his first kiss behind the bike shed with a girl names Susie who had braces…yeah bet you don’t tell everyone that story bro’ Shannon laughed, looking at Jared his face turned bright red, giggling the whole room laughed. Looking up at Shannon he winked.

‘Or…the time a spotty 12 year old Jared came to talk to me about growing older and telling me about how his “little guys” were different. He then proceeded to tell me about how his di…well you get the point there are children in the room. Yeah you sure worked that out baby Jay didn’t you…’ Shannon smirked, hearing the room burst into laughter I kissed Jared’s cheek looking up at Shannon I saw him relaxing nodding my head I smirked.

'Oh he surely worked that out alright’ I said loudly, laughing as Shannon winked he looked down at his paper again.

'I remember when I got a new camera for my birthday I wanted to take shots of Jared. He took it all seriously and posed from the camera, he climbed in the bath bit a rose you name it he did it. I didn’t have the heart to hell him he looked like a fool. But on a serious note, if it wasn’t for my baby Jay I wouldn’t be where I was today. Yes we fight…a lot. But I wouldn’t change him for anything, he’s grown into a gentleman and an amazing father….didn’t think that would happen huh mom when he stuffed the fake baby in the garbage when he wanted was fed up “playing dad"’ Shannon smiled as he turned to Constance

Putting forehead on Jared’s shoulder I could tell he was embarrassed, kissing his neck I felt him relax beside me. Looking up at Shannon he smirked down at the two of us, looking to the room he bit his lip.

‘Oh but ladies and gentlemen it gets better. The great Jared Leto got turned down. Not once but three times by the same girl…and could you imagine who it was? The beautiful crazy and talented

'And I’d turn him down again! But not tonight it’s my wedding night! I love you too Shan!’ I giggled, smiling as Shannon laughed loudly he threw his head back as the whole room erupted with laughter

'As long as he remembers what I told him all those years ago he should be good tonight sis…there are a 1000 more embarrassing stories I could tell you of Jared and I growing up but I think we should put him out if his misery. I am proud to call you my little brother Jared. You inspire me every day and I love where we are in our life, personally, in the band and the things we have around us. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have any of that so thank you. And one last thing before we toast….I thought it would only be right of the best man got the groom a present so….here you go Jared I found these the other day and had to buy them. There like the spider man boxers you wore when you were five, I stole them and got them wrecked when I was playing mom threw them out….I’ve never seen you so heart broken. So now…here you go you can get a new pair and you can wear them tonight for Torrie! Now remember to change them every day! I love you bro…To Jared and Torrie’ Shannon smiled as he lifted his glass up

Toasting I smiled putting my glass down I pushed Shannon as he went to sit down laughing as he stumbled he grabbed the table. Smiling as Shannon sat down I kissed Jared softly as he was still embarrassed.

'it’s ok baby I love you….even with the boxers’ I giggled

Hugging Shannon I couldn’t believe he was now officially my brother, feeling the tears in my eyes I knew I wouldn’t have anything I had now if it wasn’t for Shannon. Pulling away slightly I kissed his cheek softly, smiling down at the ring on my finger I couldn’t believe I was now Torrie Lynn Leto.

Jared’s POV

Spending the rest of the night dancing and posing for photos the smile never once left my face. Saying bye to a few of the guests I was ready to call it a night and go to the hotel we had booked for the night. Kissing Ryder on the head I handed him over to my mom who was going to watch him for the first night, kissing her cheek softly she smiled at me happily. Taking Torrie’s hand we left the barn getting straight into a car to go to a hotel, laughing as people threw more heart flowers at us I squeezed Torrie’s hand.

Making the short distance to the hotel I held Torrie’s hand as we booked in before going up to our room, taking the elevator up I kissed the top of her head. Walking along to our room I put the key card into the lock pushing the door open I picked her up and carried her into the room kicking the door closed I pressed my lips to hers. Kissing her softly I walked straight to the bed laying her down on it I dragged my hands up her sides. Pulling her to sit up I kissed her neck as I slowly unzipped the back of her dress, pulling her to her feet she clung to the front of her dress holding it into position. Kicking my shoes off I quickly undressed, standing in my boxers Torrie winked at me. Undoing the button at the front she let her dress fall to the floor. Biting my lip I moaned loudly looking her up and down I felt my dick twitch.

'So? Now you see all of it…Do you like it?’ Torrie smirked, groaning I grabbed myself

'I fucking love it!! God you look so fucking hot….I’m making love to you with it on’ I smirked

Holding onto her hips I slowly walked us back to the bed, kissing her softly I slowly pushed her back to lie down on the bed. Dragging my hands up her sides I kissed down her chest softly, smiling as she moaned at my gentle touch she ran her hands through my short hair. Nipping at her skin Torrie’s breathing started to pick up smirking I felt her melting in my hold as I kissed her neck. Kissing down her body again I slowly pushed her legs open. Standing up I pushed my boxers off throwing them across the room moaning as I looked at her again I grabbed a condom as I ran my fingers through her I smirked. Seeing the chills spread across her body I rolled the condom on, running my fingers through her I rubbed her clit softly.

Moving in front of her I ran my tip up and down her length, pushing at her entrance I slowly slid in. Resting my forehead against hers, her back arched off of the bed. Smiling as she pressed her body to mine I wrapped my arms around her leaving no space between us. Kissing her neck softly I pushed all the way in, slowly dragging my hips back I kissed her neck again as I slid into her. Holding onto her as tightly as I could she hid her face in my neck, picking the pace up a little I bit my lip as her moans sounded around the room. Dragging her nails down my back Torrie pushed her hips closer to mine, moaning I slammed into her hard. Biting on her neck I sucked on it, moving our bodies against each other my fingers danced across her skin. Slowing my hips down we both enjoyed the feeling of each other, picking the speed up a little I thrust into her with long and hard strokes. Taking my time we got lost in each another’s movements kissing and caressing every inch of each another’s body.Feeling Torrie trembling underneath me I knew she couldn’t  hold off much longer, sucking on her neck I kissed her softly. Smiling as she ran her fingers up and down my back she melted into my embrace.

'Baby…’ Torrie moaned

'I love you’ I whispered, opening her eyes again she smiled

'I…love you’ Torrie panted as I rubbed her clit

Pressing my lips to hers softly I lifted her hips slightly, pressing against her g stop I thrust in as far as I could grinding against her clit at the same time. Feeling Torrie’s body trembling under mine I sucked harder on her neck. Slamming into her one last time her eyes rolled back, arching her back off of the bed she pressed her chest to mine. Feeling her hitting her climax she grabbed the bed, dropping my head back I held onto her hips as I came hard as I let out a shaky breath. Kissing Torrie again softly I knew it was going to be a long night of love making.

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