#home invasion trope but they never leave. they just fuck with you.

[nero-neptune]

starting to think the reason i don't quite believe in ghosts is bc i read an article in middle school that talked about a Whole Alive Man who lived in someone's house for like. Several Years. stuff would go missing, things would be out of place, there'd be bad smells that couldn't be explained, odd noises. whole time, this oldass squatter (is it still "squatting" if the home is occupied?) would move around the house at night while the family was sleeping.

i forgot how/when they discovered that guy, but that story scared kid me more than any ghost. like, sometimes ghosty horror movies can make me jump bc that's the power of good effects and suspense. i like a good ghost story. but that's fiction. i doubt a ghost is haunting You. check your carbon monoxide detector lol. but the idea that an unknown silent creep could be living in your house under your nose for years? that's scarier than a ghost lol.

[holylulusworld]

Entitled rich people

Summary: Your boyfriend and his family are the worst.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader, Ransom Drysdale x fem!Reader

Warning: snobbish rich people, cocky Bucky, running away with a stranger trope, a break-up

Your boyfriend and his family are the worst. Entitled rich people at their best. 

One moment they greet you sweetly, and the next they ask about your father’s business, and if the rumors are true.

To hell with rumors. Your father’s business was in trouble for a while, but he’s a smart and eloquent man.

He mastered the challenge and saved his company. But this doesn’t matter to people like Linda Drysdale.

If she finds a weak spot, she’ll hit you hard, and without mercy. 

“Oh, it’s so sweet of you to visit us with Ransom while your father’s business is in trouble. I thought you’d prefer helping your father,” Linda coos, her eyes set on you next to your boyfriend. 

“Business is fine,” you are your mother’s daughter, and never back down. Especially not in front of Linda Drysdale. “Sometimes the sea gets a little rougher, you know.” You flash her a perfect faked smile. “Luckily my father is a very good sailor and knows how to run his business. Unlike other people.” 

You dip your head to glance at Joni and her daughter. Two perfect examples of people who know how to live off the money of someone else. In their case, Harlan Thrombey. The only bearable member of this fucked up family.

“Sure, sure,” she waves your words off as if you are only an insect to her she can squish with her boot. “Your father knows best.” Linda sneers. “I hope he can save his business.”

“I think he already did.” You dip your head to look the man’s way. “Or so I heard. It was all over the news. Something about a fusion, and Miracle Inc. doing better than before.”

“Who asked you?” Linda’s nostrils flare, and she glares at the man daring to talk without her allowance. “I hired you for the garden, not to interrupt my conversation. People these days.”

“Right, people these days,” the cocky man mirrors her attitude. You chuckle. This guy doesn’t bow in front of Linda Drysdale, and it’s refreshing. “And you didn’t hire me for the garden.”

He steps closer, giving you a once-over while passing you by. He’s wearing black jeans, a matching black leather jacket and black boots. He looks like a bad boy, but his soft blue eyes tell you there is so much you don’t know about him…yet.

You glance in his way, waiting for him to say more. His voice is deep and rough. Something you like about a man.

“What? Of course, I hired you to take care of the garden. I remember our conversation,” she argues, but the stranger won’t have it.

“Lady, you didn’t hire me,” he points his index finger at her. “Your son,” the stranger now jerks his head toward Ransom standing next to you. Your boyfriend stiffens, and he shifts from one foot to the other, “came to my store, bought a bike, and never paid for it. I’m here to get either my money or the bike back.”

“You bought a bike like some vulture?” A gasp escapes Linda’s mouth. She stares at her son, shell-shocked at the news. “Y/N! Why didn’t you stop him? I knew you were trouble when Ransom brought you here for the first time. Before he met you, Ransom would’ve never done such a thing.”

“I’m not his mommy,” you huff, frustrated. “I have better things to do than watching your son’s every step. Unlike him, I got a job.”

“Because your daddy is bankrupt,” Ransom huffs, and pouts. He glares down at you, making sure you know your relationship just ended.

“No. Because my parents raised me right. They gave me roots, but freedom. I work because I want to make my own money, and not live off my trust fund. Which,” you grit your teeth, “by the way is way bigger than yours.”

“Back to the bike,” the stranger interrupts your break-up scene with Ransom. “Money, or my bike. Now!”

“I’ll call the cops. This is a home invasion,” Linda points at the stranger. “You better leave my house.”

“You better teach your son how to pay for the shit he buys,” the man grins. “Don’t you worry. I know where he parked my bike. The pretty boy fell off the bike the first time he tried to get on it.” The man chuckles now. 

“I want you to leave. Now.” Linda repeats. “Or I’ll call the cops.”

“Do it,” the man says. “We will see if you get away with stealing my bike.” He crosses his arms over his chest and quirks a brow. “I bet all your nice little friends would love to hear that your son is a thief.”

“No one will believe the likes of you,” she sneers and looks him up and down. “I’ll call my lawyer.”

“How about you call your lawyer, and I'll call mine,” he smirks. “If you want the public to know the Thrombey’s cannot pay their bills any longer.” 

You sigh deeply. “As much as I enjoyed this get-together, I’ll go home now. Ransom, lose my number.” The stranger looks at you when you throw Ransom an angry look. “Never call me again. I’m tired of being your arm candy, and to bear your family.”

“If you need a ride, I can help you out.” The man jerks his head toward the door. “It’d be my pleasure to offer my help to a lady in need.”

“Y/N,” you take his offered hand.

“James,” he says, eyes dropping to your hand in his. “You can call me Bucky, though.”

Bucky promised to drive you home, but he had to stop at this bike shop first. One of his partners called him on his way out of Harlan’s house.

“Y/N, this is Steve,” Bucky points at his friend. “He’s my partner and best friend.”

“Hey, what about me? I got the bike back!” Another man holds out his hand. “Name’s Brock, sweetness.”

“I hope you got it back in one piece,” Bucky jokes. “And no flirting with the lady.” He suddenly wraps his arm around your shoulders. “This one is mine…”

Tags in reblog.

[xhaotixaesthetica]

Yandere!Stray Kids Headcanons

Starlink Intergalactic Navigator

You are in: the Asteroid Belt

Author's Note: This is different from the Yandere Ateez headcanons. While they're way less violent, I feel like they're more fucked up in a way. Maybe because they're more sexual?? IDK, just don't go into those expecting the types of yanderes I outlined in the Ateez Headcanons. BEWARE OF HYUNJIN, JISUNG, AND JEONGIN'S, ESPECIALLY JEONGIN'S. SERIOUSLY I DON'T WANT YALL TO GET TRIGGERED FROM MY WRITING.

READ THE TRIGGER WARNING: This post contains DUB-CON, KNIFEPLAY, BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, STALKING, HOME INVASION, GROSS INVASIONS OF PRIVACY, STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, DESCRIPTIONS OF ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, MURDER, NONCONSENSUAL GROPING AND DEGREDATION, SEVERE BULLYING, AND BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF PHYSICAL ASSAULT. The behaviors and relationships depicted below are abusive and unhealthy. These are not examples of healthy relationships, it’s actually the opposite. This is meant to imagine the members of Stray Kids in a popular anime trope and it in no way represents their real-life personalities and characters. Real-life Stray Kids are actually known for being some of the kindest, most respectful idols in the industry. It’s fiction, it’s for fun, PLEASE DON’T READ IT IF YOU KNOW YOU WON’T LIKE IT OR THIS KIND OF STUFF DISTURBS YOU!

Genre: angst, smut, fluff

Word Count: 7.0K+

Chan

The Keeper of the Gilded Cage

Chan as a regular person is very caring and protective of those he loves, and I don't think it would be ridiculous to think that these qualities would also translate over to his yandere side. A relationship with Yandere!Chan would very much start out as a normal relationship with thoughtful dates, caring texts, loads of affection, and overt displays of his more gentlemanly nature.

Chan is smart and Yandere!Chan would be even more so from all the years of hiding his deviant urges.

The isolation would begin gradually, mostly in the form of events that Chan has orchestrated behind the scenes to cause you so much anxiety in your daily life without him that you're too afraid to leave his side. From freak car accidents after him tampering with your car in the middle of the night to your own friends physically attacking you in outrage at the drama that no one knew Chan had started between you and your friends behind the scenes, you would slowly find every aspect of your life devolving into chaos.

But nothing bad would happen when you were with Chan. With him, you never hung out with anyone else so there was never any drama. And any time this "drama" found its way to you and Chan's relationship, he would always talk to you about it and clear up the misunderstanding, better than your friend who had fought and abandoned you without a second thought. With him, your car never had a chance to break down and land you in the hospital because you always rode in his and he would always drive. With him, your card never got declined because he would always pay.

Without your noticing it, your brain had created an association of safety with Chan. Everything always seemed to go wrong in your life, but not him. He was caring and sweet and nurturing and everything was always right in your world when you were with him.

Of course, it was natural that you would begin to stay with him so much.

And Chan loved it. He thrived on your dependence, on being seen as your protector, your knight in shining armor. He loved being needed, being the number one source of love and safety in your life. He knew it was wrong, but to him, being in love, being in a truly committed relationship meant being the center of each other's whole world. You were already the center of his and he didn't particularly mind all of the strings that he had to pull to make sure that he was the center of yours.

I don't see you ever getting punished, because you would likely never find out what Chan had done to orchestrate the dynamic the two of you had. He had created the most impenetrable kind of gilded cage to imprison you in, a cage that existed only because of your own fear and insecurity of your own abilities.

"It's okay to be weak, angel. Everyone's weak, sometimes. But we're strong together. As long as you're with me, I promise that everything will be okay."

Minho

The "Eccentric" Control-Freak

Anyone could get a whiff of trouble from Yandere!Minho from a mile away. It's not hard to tell that there's something dark and burning, like the flames of hell behind his eyes, and he has an intense gaze in those pretty feline eyes that's as much magnetic as it is terrifying.

I think that those qualities would be the very thing that would attract you to Yandere!Minho. Minho, as a normal person, doesn't make any effort to force himself to conform to what society says he should be. He's unapologetically weird, loud, and true to himself, going to any lengths to follow his passions and do what he wants to do, and I think that would be the defining characteristic of Yandere!Minho.

Unlike the vast majority of yanderes, Minho is very upfront about who is is and his nature. Unlike Seonghwa, he's aware his behavior is deviant, out of the normal, and unaccepted by the vast majority of people, and I'm pretty sure that he also knows that it's wrong. He simply doesn't care.

I think there would be less tension in you and Minho's relationship, simply due to the fact that it takes a minute for Minho to get attached enough to someone for his yandere tendencies to begin to show. It's not going to be something that automatically comes out on the first date, and the time it takes for him to develop feelings for you is really your only window of opportunity.

To stay with Minho long enough to develop feelings for him, I would think you are either someone used to being in controlling relationships, or maybe you just don't go places that much so you're not that bothered by it. Or you're just incredibly naive. Either way, you're probably someone that would find themselves acquiescing to his whims a lot.

Minho is quite controlling. He will let you go out on your own, but you have to constantly call and tell him how much you miss him and text him your exact location, what you're doing, and who you're with. If you're not doing those things, then his trust issues will flare up and the moment you get home, he'll be interrogating you about who you were with and what you guys were really doing together.

Minho is quite a sexual yandere, and I see your home life being full of a lot of 24/7 kinks. He would make you walk around with no clothes on so he has easy access, sometimes make you crawl on all fours and act like a cat, make you call him master, etc.

He would be quite affectionate and possessive, often touching you inappropriately in public to prove a point and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary to see him get in an altercation with someone he thought was looking at you too hard.. He would call you lots of pet names and keep you as close to him as possible, often bringing you with him to work or outings with his yandere friends, who had no problem with you and see you as more of an ornament on Minho than an actual person.

I see all of Yandere Minho's punishments involving some sort of sexual element: him carving his name into you while you're tied to the bed, choking you until you pass out during sex, sometimes even going as far as to fuck you in front of the person that he was about to kill for getting too close to you.

Minho doesn't have a problem with violence or killing others, but he definitely has to be in a certain mood for it, otherwise he'll just beat them into a hospital bed or give them a good scare. Most people are aware that you're Minho's significant other, and wouldn't be caught dead around you anyways, so Minho doesn't have to resort to these things often.

Overall, if you're willing to succumb to all of Minho's rules and regulations, he'd be one of the easier stray kids yanderes to get along with.

"It doesn't matter how other people say that we should treat each other. You belong to me, and neither one of us are going anywhere, kitty."

Changbin

The American Psycho

While it's pretty easy for yanderes like Chan and Seungmin to fly under the radar, Changbin is undoubtedly the yandere that people would least expect.

He's known in the community for being a friendly albeit kind of dim-witted guy. He's somehow friends with everyone, wouldn't hesitate to give the shirt off his back when it came to his friends, and was known for throwing incredible parties. Yes, he may be a little dumb but he was bright and optimistic and kind and well-intentioned, right?

No.

Because let's get one thing straight, Yandere!Changbin is far from stupid. In fact, I'd argue that he's one of the most calculating yanderes on this list.

His whole persona: the generosity, the dim-wittedness, his extroversion, even the parties, it's all a part of his facade.

Changbin is very observant, especially when it comes to noticing people's weaknesses and desires. He has an uncanny habit of providing what people want or need the most and that's part of why he has so many friends. And none of his friends are chosen lightly. They're all picked strategically based off of what they can provide him when he most needs it, whether money or access to their resources or even alibis should he be in a particularly tough bind.

It's this facade that makes it particularly easy for him to get to you. In the beginning, he starts off very much like Yandere Chan, courting you with extravagant gifts and dates and attention. But unlike Chan, Changbin would have no problem with showing his true colors.

It wouldn't be for a while, not until he knew you were utterly, madly in love with him.

The next day, you would be walking by yourself, maybe to work or to get a cup of coffee. And the next thing you knew, you were being pulled into an alleyway and pressed against a wall, the hot breath of a man that you had never seen before invading your sense. You could barely hear him through the blood pulsing in your ears, adrenaline short-circuiting your nerves as tears clouded your view of the man. Though you had one idea what he said, it was easy to understand his intentions as his hands roamed your lower back.

His face was leaned down so far that you could almost see each and every one of his clogged pores and just as his disgustingly chapped lips were about to reach yours, his body was wrenched away from you. And as you collapsed in relief, you saw that, against all odds, It was your loving boyfriend Changbin who had rescued you, fists raining upon the man with a vengeance.

And how were you to know that he's staged this whole thing? That he's paid this man to hurt the very person he claimed he would give his life to protect. How could you know that the man you adored was capable of such cold-blooded evil?

The situation had a dual purpose.

Yes, there was the added plus of our undying devotion, your grateful smiles, and loving words as you saw him as your savior.

But the real show came a few weeks later, when he was beyond sure that he had your complete love and trust.

That was the day that you walked in on him killing someone.

And he would be his true self, unapologetic and calm, urging you to look at the man's face. And when you did, you recognized him. It was the man who had assaulted you weeks earlier.

Changbin had already cut out of the man's tongue so he was unable to warn you that your lover was the very man who had caused you to be assaulted. And Changbin kept justifying it, saying how could he allow the man who had wronged his love so badly to continue to breathe. How could he allow this man to keep roaming the street when he knew he would likely do it to someone else?

And considering how hed over heels you were for Changbin, he knew it would be a lot easier to accept murder if it was for a reason you perceived as being righteous.

Maybe it would take you time to accept and Changbin would pretend to give you that time, all the while hiring private investigators to follow and keep tabs on you and make sure you didn't do anything rash.

And when three days went by and you still hadn't gone to the cops, he knew that he had you.

After this, the reasons for murder start getting more and more insignificant, until eventually, you'd walked in on him killing so many people that it was nothing more than background noise to you. The reason didn't even particularly matter. You knew, deep-down-was that the reason was nothing more than the fact that Changbin simply wanted you to see it so that you would be desensitized to it.

And it got to a point where you found it hard to care.

No matter whose flesh he had sunk his blade into the night before, when the sun rose and he crawled back into your bed, hair still wet from the shower that washed the sticky blood off of him, he still kissed your cheek so tenderly that one would think you were made of glass. He still put his arms around you so tightly that all the world knew how afraid he was of losing you. He still made love to you like you were the last person on earth.

While Changbin does meet the qualifications for a serial killer, he isn't necessarily putting these things in your view because he likes killing so much that he can't stop. He's doing it because it's the only way he knows to show you the darkest parts of him that do not shy away from doing things like this.

And once he knew you understood that, that you had accepted him at his worst, you would stop walking in on killings. You knew the monster that hid under your boyfriend's skin and you kept his secrets. For that he would give his love only to you for the rest of your lives. Whether you wanted it or not.

While Changbin would never hurt you physically, he is by no means above kidnapping, maiming, or even murdering one of your friends or family members if that's what it took to keep you in line.

"Always remember what I am, precious. Always know the evil that lies next to you in bed, protecting you while you sleep. And always remember that if you ever betray me, it could be your loved ones under my knife next."

Hyunjin

The Sadistic Secret Admirer

Hyunjin as a yandere would be extremely scary, because he is unused to feeling so intensely about anything as he does about you. He doesn't know how to handle the intense emotions you well up inside him and it can cause intense mood swings on his part.

Most confusing to him are the urges you bring out in him that he never knew he had.

Hyunjin has always been considered a good person, by himself and by those around him. Yes, he's a little shy, but he's friendly and knows how to use his naturally dramatic personality for comedic effect to sheer people up. He's artistic, kind, sensitive, talented, and, not to mention, drop-dead gorgeous.

Hyunjin had dated before, even fallen in love a few times, but it had never seemed to work out. There was always something missing, some invisible roadblock between him and the object of his affection.

For the longest, he couldn't figure out what it was.

Until he met you.

And, all of a sudden, it was like the love he had heard about in the movies. He couldn't breathe, couldn't move. His vision tunneled until you were all his eyes registered, and a sort of still haze fell over his mind as he knew. Nothing else mattered but you.

And Hyunjin knew you had to be his soulmate.

In that one moment, he completely unraveled at the seams, his grip on reality being replaced with one built on fantasy and delusion and you.

Hyunjin had to go to the nearest bathroom on campus to get away from you. The only way he could pull himself together was to be away from your intoxicating scent and your hypnotic eyes.

As he looked at himself in the mirror, he could swear he saw your whole future together stretching out before him in every breath he took and every dilation of his pupils. He saw every kiss, every touch, every declaration of love, a grand wedding, kids, and...crying??

In every fantasy of you, Hyunjin saw you crying every time you made love. He saw fear and love warring in your eyes, tears pouring down your face that made him pop a boner right there in the middle of the restroom.

Hyunjin was confounded.

He'd never thought things like this. He'd never thought of his previous lovers being as afraid of him as they were in love with him, much less him purposefully being the cause of their fear.

Hyunjin avoided you the whole day, disturbed at this new development in his mind, and yet he couldn't get the image of you crying out of his head. He couldn't stop thinking about how you would look when you were afraid of the man you loved, feeling complete and utter power over you, and knowing that the life of the person that gave his existence meaning was completely in his hands..

After a week, the disgust had ebbed, replaced by the devouring need to see you, to be in your presence again. Each second away from you felt like agony and Hyunjin was noticeably weaker, unable to eat or sleep properly when he couldn't see you. Were you okay? Had someone hurt you since he'd last seen you? What if you'd gotten a boyfriend or a girlfriend?

Hyunjin knew he had to make you his. He was afraid of what he would do to you or the people around him if someone else got to you first.

It wasn't hard for Hyunjin to befriend you. Even you, a new student to the university, knew of the reputation that Hyunjin held and you were flattered at the attention he was giving you, grateful for a friend there to make your transition from universities easier.

It wasn't long before you started to fall for him, and Hyunjin was well aware of it, but he was enjoying the pining, so you both continued on, best friends with obvious feelings for each other but both two scared to do anything.

It was a few weeks afterward that the secret admirer gifts started. They were innocuous at first, short love letters with candy and bracelets and flowers.

They would be left in harmless places, the seat you always sat in in your poli sci class, on your library book when you got up to get a book while studying, in your backpack if you left it open at the cafeteria.

It was something sweet for Hyunjin, and yet, all the while, he couldn't help but wonder how you would look all paranoid and scared if he upped the ante.

So, one day, he randomly starts leaving the gifts at your house.

It has the effect he desires.

You vent to him about this secret admirer who you once thought was sweet and now you couldn't help being scared that they were a creep.

And Hyunjin played the role of the understanding, protective best friend, taking you into his arms and hugging you, knowing full well that when he was staking out your house and saw the fear in your eyes as you opened his gift, he jerked himself to completion right there where he was standing in the bushes.

Your fear was even more intoxicating than he thought it was.

He tells himself that it's harmless, just a bit of fun, that he's making up the terror he's bringing into your life by being a good friend. He tells himself lie after lie, but deep down he knows the truth.

He knows that he'll have to put his cards on the table some time soon. And after that, he would never let you go ever again.

When Hyunjin sneaks into your apartment one fateful night, stealing you away, he gets the exact look he dreamed of on that very first day you met and he feels in his bones that this is how it's supposed to be.

He stands you in the mirror, his front to your back as he restrains you firmly in his arms, one hand over your mouth as he forces you to watch as the man who was once your best friend and your closest confidant reveal himself to be your biggest threat. He sees the fear for this man who had stalked you for months war with the adoration for the man who had been there when no one else was.

And he knew that, once he got you to his home, isolate and alone, it wouldn't be hard to make those ideas of him merge, twisting your mind until you were as sick as he was. Until you got off on your fear of him even more than he did.

Whatever sanity Hyunjin had left was well and truly gone.

Now, Hwang Hyunjin lived for your fear and your love.

"It was so hard to keep the secret that it was me all along, angel. I just can't fucking help myself! Don't you see what you do to me? Don't you see how fucking crazy you make me?!"

Jisung

The Pervert Next Door

Not to say that the other yanderes aren't, but Yandere Han Jisung is an absolute fucking weirdo.

Jisung would be what you typically think of when you think of a yandere: a socially-awkward incel with no social life/skills, a "nice guy" mentality, a porn addiction, and an obsession with boobs to rival that of a prepubescent boy.

When you first move into the house next to his, you don't think much about the fact that you've never seen your neighbor to the left of you. It's quite normal to not know one's neighbors nowadays, and you're so busy with your day-to-day life that you don't even really notice much.

To be fair, in those early days, Jisung didn't know about you either.

He's quite the shut-in, working on music in his dark bedroom when he's not binging anime and about to burn his apartment down trying to make spaghetti. He rarely leaves his place, unless he's being dragged out by Minho, Hyunjin, and Felix to get some air or Chan and Changbin so they can actually get some music done in a real recording studio.

Jisung, undoubtedly, knows that a new neighbor has moved in, but plenty of people have come and gone in the neighborhood since he's been there, and he doesn't see how that's any of his business.

It's not until one day when the stars aligned that you happened to be coming back from grocery shopping at the same time Jisung happened to be coming back from a long studio session with Chan and Changbin and Jisung got his first-ever glimpse of you.

In that moment, Jisung would swear that his entire life had changed. He was enamored by your mind, body, and soul (though mostly your body at first) and he knew that he had found the one, his person, his soulmate. Whether you reciprocated or not.

Jisung is the only yandere in stray kids that, if he had his way, would never enter a formal relationship with you.

Jisung wants to be delusional. He tells himself that you are fully aware of him, his existence, your "mutual attraction", and your "relationship. He wants to believe that you both are in a committed relationship, it's just part of your "relationship dynamic" to be in this sort of cat and mouse game where you both are never in the same room and hardly speak and you even see other people but you're both still in love at the end of the day. (I'm telling y'all, he watches way too much anime.)

In reality, Jisung likes the hidden power he holds over you by hardly ever being in the same room as you, yet being able to break into your house when you're gone and jack off to the scent of your underwear or steal your bras. He loves that he can watch you sleeping or getting dressed through the cameras he's installed and the little peepholes he's cut into the wall and you're none the wiser. He loves that he knows all the sweet spots of your shared walls where he can best hear you pleasuring yourself at night. He loves that no matter who you have over to sleep with, he's the one who can sneak into your home at night and use you while you sleep at the end of the day.

Jisung is also 1/3 of the Shrine Line, collecting any disused intimate wear like bras and panties that you might be about to toss or haven't worn for a while as well as used pillowcases and absolutely anything with any of your bodily fluids.

No matter how many times Jisung feeds those delusions about your "unique relationship dynamic" to himself, he knows deep down that the power he has over you, the fact that he can do all these things to you without you knowing about it or even knowing he exists, is what gets him off the most.

While, in my opinion, Jisung is definitely one of the grossest yanderes on the list, considering his long rap sheet of what, frankly, mostly consists of sexual assault and disgusting invasions of privacy, the silver lining is that he is the least lethal yandere on this list. His obsession with fucking with you from afar means he places a to less value on jealously or restricting your movements or controlling you.

The only thing that could happen to trigger a turn for the worst would be if you ever decided to move, but I find that unlikely to happen since Changbin is good friends with your bank that you pay your mortgage to and Jisung could get him to pull out all sorts of tricks to get the bank to force you to stay there.

"My sweet, stupid little Y/N. I own you and you don't even know."

Felix

The Clingy People-Pleaser

Felix is definitely uh...one-of-a-kind.

Felix, like Hyunjin, gave no indication of yandere behaviors to absolutely anyone, including himself, before he met you. Unlike Hyunjin, however, Felix has a major character flaw that is painstakingly obvious to anyone that knows him even remotely.

Felix is a massive people-pleaser.

Felix will go out of his way to do things for people, sometimes helpful, sometimes drastic, just to be liked. Felix has even been known to change aspects of himself just to make his significant others or friends like him more. No to mention the fact that he's clingy, but due to the people-pleasing, he's better at hiding that if it means being well-liked.

Most of this definitely comes from low self-esteem. Felix always felt like he had to try harder as a kid to make friends or not be seen as weird, and it's translated very poorly and prominently into his young adult life, often impeding and ending his relationships which only makes him more paranoid and insecure.

With Felix, your relationship was normal for a long while. Felix has dated plenty of times before without going yandere mode, so I feel like for him to find himself in a relationship where those tendencies are prominent, his significant other has to have shown some sort of attraction to those qualities in himself that he tends to blow out of control.

This isn't to say that it's his significant other's fault that he's acting this way, but more that he can tell that his significant other likes affection, being doted on, taking a lead in relationships, and someone who's flexible and Felix thinks that he's being a good partner by exhibiting these qualities to the full extent that he's capable of, but really he's just making everything uncomfortable by blowing reasonably desired relationship qualities way out of proportion.

Unlike any of the other yanderes on this list, Felix doesn't enter the relationship with bad intentions or ulterior motives, and he truly thinks he's doing the right thing.

It starts off somewhat innocuous, his usual clinginess, acquiescence to whatever you want no matter if it makes him uncomfortable or not, hiding or creating parts of his personality on a whim to make himself more attractive to you. It progresses further into his usual relationship-ending territory, calling you every hour, texting every ten minutes, requiring constant reassurance, changing his behavior or appearance to a disturbing degree once you mention you like something about a celebrity or someone you admired, and getting outrageously unreasonably jealous.

The change to yandere territory would come if you showed yourself to be comfortable with or attracted to these behaviors. This would rock Felix's world, and he would see you as someone who he could be more himself around, which would only make him worse.

Felix isn't particularly a violent yandere, especially not at this point. But he does start crossing a lot of boundaries.

He has a lot of newfound, extremely intense emotions for you that he finds himself completely clueless as to how to handle.

He starts breaking into your house, though for a lot more innocent reasons than Jisung. Felix wants to watch you sleep and just soak in the presence of being around you. It's an insatiable need for him to be around you, one that he finds little to no shame in indulging in the more the relationship goes on.

Felix is another member of the Shrine Line, stealing random things from you with little to no rhyme or reason and placing them on a little table he has stored in the back of your closet along with a bunch of pictures of you from your dates.

Yandere Felix wouldn't really be that dramatic, and for the most part, the relationship would actually be normal, albeit a little toxic and codependent if not for Felix's massive invasions of privacy.

The only time I see Felix's behavior escalating is if you were to ever start spending so much time with another person that he began to seriously think of them as competition for your affection.

Felix isn't like other yanderes, who would meticulously plan these things to a tee. His crimes would be unpredictable, crimes of passion when he was in the throes of dramatic, unjustified fits of panic, anger, or anguish at the thought of this person having the audacity to try and come between you two.

Maybe you find out, maybe you don't, but to be honest, I can't imagine Yandere!Felix turning yandere for someone who isn't at least half as yandere as he is. You'd probably find it romantic, the lengths he would go to be your one and only.

"I-I-I didn't mean to. I hope this doesn't make you think of me differently, but I don't regret it. I adore you, this is nothing compared to the things I would do to be worthy of your love."

Seungmin

The Wolf in Gentleman's Clothing

Seungmin is, without a doubt, the most dangerous man on this list.

His life is perfectly put-together.

He's attractive, he's well-connected, he comes from wealth, he's smart, he's cultured, he's kind, he's respectable, he's athletic, he's generous.

And he's been stalking you since you both were children.

Maybe stalking isn't the right word.

It started as an innocent crush back then in kindergarten, the first time he ever laid eyes on you. Even back then, your school had been intense. As the gifted division of an already prestigious school, most of the time other kindergarteners would have spent or learning to read was filled with vigorous study and competition for you all.

You were one of five students there who weren't nepotism babies, earning your spot there with plenty of pressure from your parents and an academic scholarship that you could maintain only through hard work and sacrifices.

You and Seungmin were top of your class, and, though you would think it wouldn't be the case, Seungmin had never been bothered by competition. Why would he be focused on that when all he t=could think of were how sparkly your eyes were?

As you and Seungmin got older, no matter where you headed in life, whether you maintained that gifted kid status or became a troublemaking victim of gifted kid burnout, Seungmin would always remain devoted to you.

Ever since you were kids, he had only ever wanted you and every single thing he had done since then had been to one day make you his.

Maybe it was a reasonable response psychologically. Maybe it made sense that he would be obsessed with something he could have for his own sake and not for the sake of being perfect or making his family look good. Maybe he could have had a normal relationship with you and grew into a man as well-adjusted on the inside as he seemed on the outside if he took advantage of the therapy that was so easily within his reach that other people would kill for.

But he didn't.

Seungmin was well aware that his urges, the burning desire for you and him to possess each other wholly mind, body, and soul were strange and healthy, but he completely and utterly didn't care.

As far as Seungmin was concerned, he lived every aspect of his life for the benefit of other people. You were the one thing he could have for himself. The one thing that brought him direct joy.

If you eventually started making trouble at school, it would be a large point of speculation as to how you were getting away with such things with your scholarship intact at a school that wasn't even as lenient on its nepotism babies as it was on you.

The answer would be Seungmin.

If you ever fell in danger of losing your scholarship, he would swoop in to save it at the last minute, unable to tolerate the thought of going through the motions without you there to make him better.

He would probably befriend you in your last two years of high school, building such a bond with you that it would be impossible for you to resist his persuasion to try for the top university in Korea, the one his parents would be forcing you to attend.

And who would be stupid enough to say no when the university accepted you, offering you a full four-year ride with room and board.

It was a dream come true for you and for him.

Your relationship would flow quite naturally, progressing from best friends to mutual pining to significant others to fiances to spouses in the span of a socially acceptable amount of time.

Life with yandere Seungmin would be probably the easiest of all the yanderes on this list. He would treat you like royalty, paying for everything and taking care of you no questions asked. He would be supportive of anything you did and pull whatever behind-the-scenes strings he had to in order to get you what you wanted.

You could even have a small group of two or three friends, most likely the significant others of the other stray kids yanderes.

The only problem is that you would never really know how much of your life Seungmin was controlling without your knowledge. You really wouldn't know he was controlling anything.

But he was.

Every job you ever got was only because Seungmin approved it, because your working there wasn't a threat to your relationship. Same with your friends. And your family. And any life opportunity that ever came your way.

Seungmin has a bodyguard and private investigator following your every move, reporting your every action and whereabouts to him every hour on the hour and he keeps up with you diligently. You don't sneeze without him knowing about it.

On the off chance someone manages the slip through the cracks and hurt or upset you or jeopardize you two's relationship, they are dealt with swiftly. While Seungmin doesn't have an intense proclivity for violence, he definitely sees it as a way to release his stress every once in a while, especially when it comes to someone who's messed with you.

The biggest change would come once you and Seungmin were married.

It was noticeable during the engagement: increased possessiveness, him getting more handsy, rougher with you during sex, restricting your independence little by little, him going less and less time without you by his side, making strange almost disturbing comments.

And then, on your wedding night, he would turn into a completely different person.

Sweet, doting Seungmin still remained, but he was now accompanied by a domineering Seungmin that kept you on his lap all day and touched you inappropriately inboard meetings just to show others you were his and carved his name into the skin of your inner thighs when you guys fucked.

The thing is, he would want the same treatment. He would cream his pants when you carved your name into his skin, want you to touch him inappropriately in public to show your ownership of him, and would question your love for him if you didn't try to fight every single person who flirted with him or even looked at him suggestively.

Seungmin would gradually pull away from the public eye, running much of his inherited company from home and sending underlings in his place to all but the most important PR events while you and he either stayed home or jetted around the world, always in each other's embrace.

Any time not spent with you is viewed as wasted time in Seungmin's eyes. He feels absolutely no desire for privacy and expects you to feel the same.

Seungmin is so wealthy, powerful, and seemingly completely normal that the both of you would never be caught, and you would likely be so enamored by him and his devotion to you that you would never want to leave anyway.

He won't stop until he has fulfilled his lifelong dream of you and he merging with and possessing each other mind, body, and soul.

"Go on, puppy. She looked at me. I'm yours and she tried to take what belongs to you. What do you think her punishment should be? I think it would be hot if you cut her eyes out. Then she couldn't ever look at other people's property again."

Jeongin

The Bright-Eyed Bully

Jeongin would be the most unstable, unpredictable, and probably the most unhinged yandere on this list.

Everyone on campus loves him. He's hot, athletic, sweet, and hilarious.

With you being the relative nobody you are on campus, no one knows or really even cares why would always seem to avoid him or be uncomfortable with him.

And for good reason, Jeongin's favorite threat was that he would sneak into your dorm and kill your pet if you ever told anyone how he was bullying you.

Because the reality is that Jeongin treated you like a careless child with a worthless toy.

Any time of any day, you would be subjected to being whisked away to an empty lecture hall or storage closet by Jeongin and he would tap into every insecurity you possessed, a sadistic smile on his face as he said the meanest things he could think of, sometimes while slapping your face, kissing you, groping or grinding against you.

The way Yandere! Hyunjin gets off on your fear, Jeongin gets off on your tears.

It's why he makes fun of you, why he tears down your self-esteem, part of why he touches you inappropriately knowing there's nothing you can do to fight him off. Jeongin absolutely adores the way you look when you're crying, especially because of him.

He pulls your hair, slaps you around, yells at you, touches you, and sometimes forces you to touch him, all so he can see the addicting tears and facial expressions you make that haunt him in his dreams.

Jeongin is incredibly possessive over you. In his mind, you two are together, whether you know or want that or not. He doesn't allow anyone to touch or talk to him in a flirtatious way, so you shouldn't either. Except to Jeongin, when it comes to you, someone simply complimenting your outfit or sitting next to you in the campus cafeteria is considered flirtatious to him.

And he makes you pay for it ten times over when the two of you are alone, while also shattering your psyche with the knowledge that he's killed or maimed whoever had been "flirting" with you earlier.

Jeongin could never get bored of your tears, but eventually, he will find himself wanting to be the subject of your affection as well as the cause of your distress.

Since he's already isolated you by punishing you whenever someone "flirts" with you, it's easy for him to scramble your head by suddenly being so nice to you and obviously pursuing you in public. He brings you snacks, pays for your meals, hangs out with you, forces you to go on dates with him, hugs you, pecks you on your cheek, and eventually starts making out with you in public and bringing you everywhere with him.

Jeongin is also the last member of the Shrine Line, taking the things that are most important to you both because he wants to torment you and because he wants to be among the things you consider the most important.

This isn't to say that the bullying and cruelty have slowed down, if anything, it's increased.

But now he's bullying you and dating you in equal measure, and it's only so much the human brain can take before it has to do some fucked up stuff to survive, so now you've grown dependent on Jeongin, seeing his cruelty and degradation as acts of love equivalent to his kisses and his hugs.

Jeongin has you right where he wants you, the "love of his life" a pliant doll to give him all the tears and affection he could ever want.

In Jeongin's mind, it was a fair trade. You do whatever he wants and feed his sick urges and he "loves", cares for, and protects you from others for the rest of your life.

"See, butterfly? You're as fucked up as I am. You like when I hit you, when I tell you how fucking stupid you are, when I hurt you. You're even sicker than I am, hmm? Who else is going to love your little pervert self better than I am?"

The Asteroid Belt

[alfredolover119]

I looooove your zukka rec lists! I recently became Avatar-obsessed, never got a chance to watch it as a kid and only just got through it all! I was wondering if you'd consider doing a specifically angst rec list? I love fluffy zukka everything, but sometimes you just gotta have your heart ripped out of your chest and put back in after being thoroughly blended.

thank you! i relate heavily to “recently became Avatar-obsessed” haha. as for the angst list, i sure can try! warning: all of these have happy endings because im a crybaby who can’t read unhappy endings. also, p much all of the fics in the completed section were featured on my other lists but this is specifically the ANGSTY ones >:^)

angsty zukka wips

first, most obviously, feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe

-currently at 102k with 19/27 chapters posted; rated teen

-the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. you know. i haven’t actually read it yet because, as previously mentioned, i’m a crybaby and am waiting for it to finish up but, from my understanding, this fic will murder you in a dark alleyway with no remorse. if u like zukka angst, you’ve probably already read this, but just in case!

An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. // But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends.

Yeah, nah.

and i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by @goldrushzukka

-currently 38k with 6/8 chapters posted; rated mature

-holy shit. holy SHIT. modern au based on the “my cat likes my fuckbuddy and i am falling in love” trope(?). maybe it’s just because of how the last chapter ended, but oh my god. this one made me cry. made me want to commit violence. when it’s not angsty as hell, it’s pretty funny, but holy shit. ao3 user nebulastucky please.

It’s supposed to be a one night stand. Pick up some guy at a bar, barely remember his name and never learn anything real about him, send him packing in the morning with a thanks for the ride and a cup of coffee to-go. That’s how it’s supposed to go. // But then it’s the best sex Sokka has ever had, and he thinks he’ll hate himself if he never gets to have it again.

Violet Blossoms and Celestial Objects by @hollypunkers

-currently 15k with 2/? posted. rated teen.

-this is the sequel to blue (an angsty, zukka rewrite of book 2-- go read it if u havent!)! !! this is a book 3 rewrite. only two chapters in and mrs hollypunkers is really abusing the miscommunication tag, as zukka writers seem to enjoy doing. im excited to see how the world and story develops with the changes to the story! you should be too!! its very good! obviously spoilers for blue lmao

Having sided with the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, Zuko not only must navigate his new relationship with Sokka but returning to the Fire Nation as a banished enemy. His own journey of self discovery and personal growth must now coexist alongside the personal struggles of every other member of the Gaang as together they blaze a treacherous path toward an unsure victory against Zuko's own father and nation.

breakable heaven by @fruitysokka

-currently 71k with 9/11 chapters posted. rated teen

-swt ambassador zuko! soon to be chief sokka! fake dating ur best friend to get out of an arranged marriage! what could go wrong!!! i also haven’t read this one ((see: i’m a crybaby who is being hurt by too many zukka wips already)), but it has been hanging out in my marked for later for months. from what i understand, this fic has: angst.

With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? // Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

angsty zukka fics (completed!)

(i’ll put these in wc order)

lighthouse beam by @incorrectzukka

-7k, rated g

-a modern college au!! zuko’s inner-monologue is very angsty in this fic. typical zuko. also per usual, theyre both fucking dorks. they sort themselves out in the end, but not before The Angst. zuko is semi-deaf in this fic and also he has a bit of internalized homophobia.

Sokka’s breathtakingly beautiful and he’s smart and makes other people laugh. Zuko has a half-burnt face and a deaf ear. It’s not rocket science. // Or, Zuko falls in love with the boy in his Philosophy class.

This Isn’t My Idea of Fun by @khaleeseas

-9k, explicit

-moon spirit/nwt prince!sokka, no war to be found here! admittedly this isnt THAT angsty but like. the angst IS present. zuko is still the prince. a lovely childhood friends (though they hated each other for a minute haha) to lovers story. 

If you asked Zuko, he and Azula saw far too much of Chief Hakoda of the Northern Water Tribe’s children growing up. It wasn’t until they were older, and Azula pointed out that - duh - their families were trying to set them all up, that he realized why. // He was told by his mother to be polite. These people were their friends and allies, and though their nations were as different as they came, harmony between nations was the most important thing. // It wasn’t his fault the Chief’s children were so annoying.

put your lips close to mine (as long as they don’t touch) by @celestialceci

-9k, teen

-modern au! zuko and sokka are college roommates. zuko goes to spend the summer with sokka. again,, not really that angsty but-- its there!! the detail and feeling of Home in this story make me happy. zuko is insecure as hell here too. if ur into that. 

Zuko hates his home. He likes college alright, but he likes Sokka even better, his assigned roommate turned best friend. Spending the summer with Sokka will be fun, a welcome change of pace he desperately wants. It probably won't awaken anything in him... right?

the thing about dancing by anodymalion

-9k, teen

-yes. this one right here officer. it makes my heart ache. also trans sokka! which is cool. but the zuko angst in this one. hurts me. not so much relationship angst as it is zuko learning he deserves happiness angst. i’m sure u know The Type.

The first time a attendant spills Zuko’s tea and doesn’t immediately fall to her knees, begging the Fire Lord’s forgiveness, it is not anger but a resounding warmth that fills his chest.

i could (never) give you peace by @zukkababey

-10k, mature

-OUCH. OUCH OUCH OUCH. boys please learn to communicate im begging u. also zuko.. zuko, dude. as the tags of the fic say, hes “really going through it” in this one. YOUCH. post-canon.

Zuko almost said it. He almost said the words I think I’m in love with you, but he choked them back down at the last second. // Zuko would never be able to be what Sokka wanted. They might have needed each other during the summer, when two boys with too much weight on their shoulders found comfort in each other in the only way they knew how. // But now Zuko was Fire Lord, and Sokka was leaving.

this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in its time, exploding) by @meliebee 

-18k, teen, major character death 

-i lied. THIS is the one, officer. found family.. good mai and zuko and toph friendships.. . ozai escapes prison and tries to overthrow zuko. OBVIOUSLY angst ensues. poor boy. he Does heal in this but it gets worse before it gets better. angst angst angst angst.

Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup.

Anything for You by beersforqueers

-23k, explicit

-istg. this is probably one of my favorite zukka fics. its PAINFUL. modern au where theyre broken up but sokka hasnt told his family yet so zuko goes home with him for kataang wedding. a bit smutty, but the plot oh my god ohgm y fuvk. made me cry the first time i read it. (see: crybaby!me) insert that one picture of the horse with the caption PAIN. 

In which Sokka and Zuko have broken up but Sokka hasn't told his family yet. So when Katara and Aang's wedding weekend rolls around and he doesn't want to break Gran-Gran's heart, he asks Zuko to pretend to be his boyfriend for one last weekend. // Things don't go as planned.

Moving Mountains by @thefangirlingdead

-64k, mature

-so. when i read this the first time it was in one sitting. soulmate au set within canon era / the comics, to an extent. soulmates can hear each others thoughts. i will happily say this is slowburn, jesus christ. champagne without the cham. 

Soulmates are chosen by the spirits and can hear each other’s thoughts. Sokka thinks it’s cheesy and dumb. Zuko thinks it’s poetic justice that he doesn’t have one because he doesn’t deserve it. Cruel irony is finding out that the prince of the Fire Nation (and the person currently hunting you) is your soulmate.

In the Soft Light by @voidcenturyscholar and @romancedawning

-83k, teen, graphic depictions of violence

-moon spirit!sokka living in the northern water tribe. zuko is sent to the northern water tribe as a cultural liaison. iroh is the fire lord but while he is away taking care of lu ten after his injury ozai steps up. i cannot express how many emotions this fic made me feel. background yuetara. i would almost say found family?? but. anyway. plenty of angst to spare here with a healthy dose of enemies to friends to lovers.

As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city's walls in nearly a century. He's determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe's spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him.

That Midnight Sky by @zukkababey

-103k, teen

-now now now. tms... modern college au where sokka agrees to tutor zuko in physics because zuko has to maintain straight a’s and physics is just not doing it for him. so. thats cool but THEN azula moves in, randomly, with zuko. to hide the fact that sokka is tutoring zuko, they fake date! what could go wrong!! the mutual pining in here combined with the angst... wonderful, tasty. everyone read it rn. also SLOWBURN 

In Zuko’s strict family, needing a tutor is just about the worst thing you could do. Failing a class, however, is even worse. The only rational solution? Take up Aang on his offer to find him a physics tutor and have Sokka—beautiful, smart, handsome Sokka—tutor him in secret. // When Azula’s arrival threatens to reveal Zuko’s secret, it’s up to Sokka to convince her this definitely isn’t what it looks like. See, he’s actually… Zuko’s… boyfriend? // Hmm. There’s no way this could get complicated, right?

[geode-to-joy]

The Owl House Season 2 Episode 11 – Follies at the Coven Day Parade

When you try to show off your friends to you family and they end up proving how fucking weird they are? that’s the vibe of Luz’s home-video to her mom.

G:“I think that he does it because he’s shy. he’s evil and shy” W:“The real emperor was society all along” .....we live in a- G:“Maybe he’s so handsome that people have a hard time focusing on what he says” I’m surprised that they didn’t fully go with that

Hi Amity “I heard that he’s scared from wild magic”

that seems the most likely tbh

AWW AMITY IS LEARNING SPANISH

A COOKING BOOK OH MY GOD GUS

He’s confused but he’s got the spirit. He’s good wing man though

They’re ADORABLE

Luz she’s gonna combust!

“Promise me when you come home, you’ll stay with me and you’ll never go back to that place.”

Wait, Camilla never said that last part!

I’m still not over this

who are you?

“Mother pleeease, no I’m not seeing anyone”

“no I can’t chose”

relateable conversation for the MC is relateable

interesting, they don’t have a palisman

Forshadowing

they literally walked over her

Girl’s two options is banishment from home of banishment from her life’s passion. Both options sucks

“What are you getting out of this?” A sense of fullfilment through projection onto someone in a similar situation that she’s in?

“I’m just a sucker a romantic reunions?” ....That’s true

Not a bad plan really.

“She’ll get the best of both worlds. She’ll set an example for us all!”

Ahhh there’s the projection

Get those gains girl!

Oh i am LOVING this interaction. Because clearly they ahven’t hung out with each other alone without Luz as a buffer. this will be the best time for them to do so!

Please don’t do the invasion of privacy trope

“I’m not going to invade her privacy. would you?” BLESS

AWWWW

Raine’s stare is.... a little intense here

And they seem calm for someone who hates public speaking and performance

“You seem so much more calm than before” Even Kiki noticed!

Poorly aged Poision Ivy

Oh

Their name is Terra!

oh they are having memory whipping headaches!

I don’t trust her and her tea!

Calling Raine sprout...leaves a weird taste in my mouth

Don’t like that

Don’t like her

Ok so Raine is still in there

AHAHAHAA

BAHAHAHA

Raine seems to recognize that joke

Eda realizing that Raine doesn’t remember :(

Terra Snapdragon is a cool name I guess

invisibility spell glyph!

Amity coming in clutch to save her girlfriend and Kiki just wondering how she kept losing to them is glorious

[softboywriting]

Gravitation | Nathan Bateman | Ex Machina

Summary: Twin Flames; a single soul that is split into two bodies. You and Nathan have a connection like none other. He has an idea why, and you’re about to find out. [Soft!Nathan] [Soulmates Trope] [No Use Of Y/N] [Assistant!Reader] [F!ReaderxNathan] [Swearing] [Pet Name] [Invasion of Privacy - Mentioned] [Drunk Nathan] 

Word Count: 5k

|Masterlist in Bio|

The moment you met Nathan you knew there was something about him that was unlike any other person you had met up until that point. It wasn't his massive ego, his minor God complex, or his genius intellect that got your attention. It was his eyes. Something in his eyes held more than his big mouth could ever express, something familiar like you've known him since the day you were born and even before that. You doubt he knows it, that his gaze tells you every truth, every lie, every moment of his history leading up to the moment you met. He feels it though. That you can confirm. He feels something when you stare at him as he speaks and you know that it makes him uncomfortable in a way he doesn't know how to explain because he gives you looks as if you're something he's never seen, something he can't quite figure out. You are an enigma to him some days and it keeps him on his toes.

Two months pass as you live out your days with Nathan in his sprawling complex of a home slash research facility. It was strange how you came to be here, a memory almost it seems. You had been receiving emails for weeks from an unknown sender, something about a research assistant position. You didn't pay much mind, as you weren't looking for an assistant position. You wanted to land a job doing website building for Blue Book. That is what you applied for and that is what you have skill in doing. So when your phone rang in the dead of night and you found out it was the CEO, Nathan, calling you directly about the emails and the assistant position, you were shocked. One thing lead to another and you found yourself living with Nathan while he began building AI.

Being Nathan's assistant isn't exactly what you hoped for, but it's not bad. You get to see how he works, what makes that genius tick. He's not as bad as you had heard, not as full of himself, but maybe that's just because he likes you. Working with him consists of observing him, helping him document things, getting tools and equipment while his hands are full, doing facial tracking studies, talking out loud in long sequences while he records your speech patterns. Some days it feels like he studies you more than he works on the AI. Not that you mind, his gaze is undeniably attracting, so much fascination and wonder behind those wire frame glasses. He leaves you with butterflies and longing for more than casual touches.

______________________

"Nathan?" You call softly from across the lab table he is sitting at, pushing wires into the gel mass brain unit to hook it up to his laptop. "I have a question."

"Shoot."

"Why did you choose me?"

He looks over his glasses as his hands still against the gel mass. He's going to lie, you know this look. It's so easy to tell. "I didn't choose you, it was random, I needed an assistant and you were a good fit."

"That's not like you. You wouldn't have some random mediocre website builder be your lab assistant."

"It's not like me? How would you know?"

"Well, I've been here for two months and I've worked and lived with you nearly every day for all hours except for when I'm sleeping. You're too calculated, precise, and prideful of your work to allow some random person into your life like this. So again, why did you choose me?"

Nathan sits up, folding his arms over his chest as he looks at you with a small smile on his lips. His eyes meet yours and you can tell he's intrigued. He has that look, like you're something shiny and new that he has yet to figure out. God you love that look.

"Well?" You push insistently. He sucks at lying to you and he looks as if he's going to try again.  

"I chose you because I studied you. For weeks I went through your data, your work, your photos and posts on social media. I selected you because I could see something in you that terrified me."

You raise your eyebrows. That was not the response you expected. The data thing did not surprise you, it's Nathan and he can do almost anything on the internet with the software Blue Book is built from. You expected an answer regarding your physical appearance, reducing you to the beautiful assistant, eye candy. Not that you terrified Nathan, which in turn terrifies you because you're not sure what about yourself would ever be deemed as such.  

"Cat got your tongue?"

"Yes." You smile softly, turning your head away to break his gaze. It's too much. Too intense. "You've thrown me for a loop."

Nathan pushes away from the table and walks around it to sit beside you. He turns on the stool and tilts your head to look at him, fleeting fingers careful against your jaw, eyes meeting, faces only a few feet away from each other. "I chose you because I see myself staring back at me."

"What?"

"The eyes are the window to the soul. When I saw your photo I knew I had to meet you in person. I would have done anything to meet you, to see you face to face because I wanted to be right."

"Right about what?"

He gathers your hands into his and your heart beat picks up, cold sweat prickling at the back of your neck. "There is a theory that a human soul can be split into two people. It's interesting to consider, not that I believe it entirely. It's a bit of a fairytale and all. I'm curious though and I wanted to study it."

"So you brought me here to study me?" You swallow harshly. This whole time you've been part of an experiment it seems. Wonderful.

"I did."

"So I'm not your assistant. I'm your specimen."

Nathan drops your hands and stands up, walking around the lab slowly, pacing almost. He has never seemed so nervous. "You're still my assistant. You assist me do you not?"

"Yes."

"Then you're an assistant."

"Nathan. You know that isn't what I mean."

He chuckles. "Don't worry about it too much."

"I'm going to worry. You're studying me!"

Nathan sighs and walks back over to you, cupping your face in his palms as if to make you listen to him better and your heart threatens to explode. He has never been this physically affectionate with you ever yet his touch is so familiar. "I would be studying you anyway. You're my assistant, my little poseable doll, my muse which I collect data from."

"This isn't making me feel any better. Actually, I feel insulted."

"I'm not insulting you."

"Doll?"

"Fine." He says harshly. It's as close to an apology as you will ever get.

"Thank you."

Nathan drops your face and walks away again. He seems anxious now. He strides along the length of the brightly lit lab tables, hands in his pockets. The silence that fills the room is stifling, awkward, and increasingly thick with unsaid thoughts.

You slide off of your stool and wander toward the table in the enclosed chamber at the back of the room. There are mechanical body parts on the table, like a person laid out for an exam or a surgery. It's strange to think that eventually these parts will be a working form, these wires and plastic and metal plates will be an artificial life form that looks and sounds like a real human. You turn suddenly and look back at Nathan. He's staring, your fingers touching the shoulder of the body before you. It's as if you could feel his eyes on you, as if you could see yourself through them actually.

"What're you doing?" Nathan asks as he leans against the entryway, his tone far calmer than his eyes would portray.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? Let me tell you." He steps in the room and around to the opposite side of the exam table. "You're breaking my rules."

You pull your hand away and curl it against your side. "Am I?"

"Yes." He leans on the table, arms open, hands pressed to the cold top. "You're touching my work."

"Nathan I touch your work all the fucking time. I literally carried a leg across the lab for you earlier. What the hell are you talking about?"

"With permission. I gave you permission to carry that leg."

"Okay?"

"Did I tell you that you could come in here and touch this?" He gestures to the parts on the table. "Did you consider that it might not be a good idea to do that?"

"It's just laying here Nathan."

"But do you know that? Maybe I have something going on that requires these to be perfectly still."

"I put these in here yesterday. I laid them down and you haven't moved them since." You cross your arms and stare him down. "You're just trying to start a fight because you don't like the awkward tension in the room and a fight will change the subject off of why you hired me."

Nathan's head snaps up and he glares. Oh how he glares daggers right through your soul. You know you're right and he knows you're right. It's killing him not to have a comeback ready. He was so ready to fight about the AI parts that your breakdown of his thought process has destroyed all means of retaliation. It's satisfying, watching him flounder for a second.  

"Cat got your tongue?" You say with the biggest smirk. His own words, his own choice of phrasing thrown back at him.

"See this is why you terrify me."

"Because I called you on your bullshit?"

"Yes." He turns and heads for the entryway. "You call me out before I even realize what I'm doing."

"So you didn't plan on coming in here and trying to start something?"

"No, I mean I did I guess but it wasn't a coherent thought. I didn't go "oh I'm going to start an argument now because I want to deflect this awkwardness", I just did it because....well I guess it was my instinct." He runs a hand over his head and braces it against the back of his neck. "I need to go for a run."

"It's raining."

"So?"

"Wear a coat."

"Are you my mother now?"

"You're doing it again." You point at him and he scowls.

"I'm leaving."

"I'll run a hot bath."

"For what?"

"For you when you get back inevitably cold and sore because you over do it on the trail."

Nathan growls, literally growls and looks pissed. "Stop! Just stop! Get out of my head!"

You walk out of the chamber and past him toward the hall door. "You'd like that wouldn't you?"

"Don't."

"Didn't do anything."

"You will."

"Maybe. Go run."

"Fuck."

______________________

You decide to do some research of your own while Nathan is gone. You're not supposed to get on his computer, or really contact anyone in the outside world as per your non disclosure agreement. There are exceptions though. You technically cannot discuss anything that happens in the complex but you can discuss everything else. You could call your parents but you've not had the best relationship with them since you took the job with Nathan. They didn't understand, thought you were being coerced by him and they never wanted you to be in the tech field. They wanted you to be a doctor or a nurse. If only they knew how much Nathan paid you. They would forget about that medical field shit so fast. Unfortunately your pay is related to the job so you're not able to discuss it.

You take a seat at Nathan's desk and bring up the center screen. You can see him on the security camera on the backside of the house. He's sitting on the open air deck, rain pouring down on him. Not running. This is actually perfect, you can make sure to get off the computer as soon as he leaves the camera view.  

You pull up Blue Book and search "split soul theories". Tons of information pops up. You wade through the crap. Book titles, movies, songs and stuff. The only information you want is about the actual theory itself. Finally you find it, some spiritual website has the explanation you're looking for.

"Twin flames?" You mutter, skimming through the paragraphs of text.

The pages tell you about the theory that a soul can be split in two and those people are drawn together and are like two sides of the same coin. Kind of like soulmates but deeper, more connected, lives spanning every reincarnation. You shake your head. There is no way this is what Nathan is interested in investigating. It's too wild. He's a man of logic and science and biology. Not spiritual at all. Besides, you're not like him. At least you don't think so. Maybe you are...in some ways you can see how you're similar. That's disturbing and you're not going down that road.

The screen on the left is empty, the camera showing just a feed of the empty deck. Shit. You scramble to close the tab but it's too late.

"Oh dear, what are you doing?"

"Fuck," you whisper and turn around slowly to see Nathan standing in the doorway to the office. He's changed into his favorite white long sleeve and some sweatpants.

"Should I pretend you aren't on my computer with the browser open or should I just fire you now?"

"I wasn't doing anything against my NDA." You stand up and he gives you a look over his glasses.

He moves past you and sinks into his chair, turning abruptly to pull up your closed tab on the browser. "Twin flames huh?"

"Yep. Just looking shit up."

"Uh huh."

"Is that what you think we are?"

"No."

"Then what do you-"

"It's what I know we are." He turns back and raises his eyebrows. "You were watching me on the cams?"

You shrug. "Maybe."

"You're a little shit."

"As if you don't watch me when we aren't together."

"Touché." He stands and circles around to grab a book off the shelf behind you. He flips it open and starts scribbling something down.

You lean over trying to see and he tilts the book up. "What is that?"

"A notebook."

"Smart ass."

"I am." He gives his butt a smack and grins at you cheekily. "Don't worry what this book is."

"Secrets make enemies, don't you know?"

"Yes," he puts the book away on the shelf in plain sight. He knows you won't try to get it. You wouldn't disrespect his things like that, even though the lack of respect for your own is considerable in this house. "I have lots of enemies."

You roll your eyes. "That's because you're insufferable, Nathan."

"No it's because I have secrets."

"Wait, you just changed the subject...circle back here. What do you mean you know we're twin flames? How did I miss that?"

Nathan chuckles and puts his arm around your back. "You'll see, one day."

"What? That doesn't make any sense."

"Oh no it does." He guides you into the hall and closes the door behind him. "Once you think about it long and hard you'll realize it."

You walk ahead of him. "I don't get what that means and you're talking in riddles. I'm going to bed."

"I'm going to make dinner."

"And you're going to eat alone. Goodnight Nathan."

___________________

"I know you're awake." Nathan's voice floats through the door to your room. It's some time after midnight, days since you got into it with him about the twin flame nonsense. Yet it's been playing on your mind nonetheless. "Mi luna, can I come in?"

Mi Luna? What the hell is that about? He must be shit faced drunk. You know if you open that door you won't get any sleep. You also know he could just open it since his card is all access, but he is still asking. It's the little things.

"The door is open!"

Nathan peeks in, just his face appearing around the heavy glass door. "Mi luna, it's so bright in here."

"Yeah? I've got the lamps on. It's subterranean, remember? No windows."

He slides in and closes the door. As if someone were ever going to interrupt the two of you. "Lights off."

The lights go down to just the night lights under the vanity and in the bathroom remain on. You raise your eyebrows at the man walking so carefully across your bedroom. He doesn't seem to be stumbling. That's a good sign.

"What is mi luna all about?"

"Do you like it?"

"I don't know?"

"It means My Moon."

"Okay?"

Nathan flops down on the bed and crushes your feet under his butt. "I was thinking about pet names earlier. I hate them all." He's definitely drunk.

"But you like mi luna?"

"Yeah. Mi Luna y mi sol." He extends his arm up as if to touch something out of reach on the ceiling. "My moon and my sun. Sounds romantic."

"Romantic? Since when do you like anything romantic?"

He turns his head to look at you. You're glad you can't make his face out clearly in the darkened room. You fear his eyes will tell you more than you wish to know. "You make me soft."

"I make you soft? How?"

He lets his arm go limp, falling behind him on the bed. "You're so pretty, and you're smart too. So smart." He sighs heavily like a man with much on his mind. "I've had too much tequila."

You chuckle softly. "Oh boy."

"What?"

"I've never seen you drink it, tequila makes you a different kind of drunk."

"Yeah." He reaches out to you and you take his hand. He wiggles his finger tips against yours and makes a little do-do-do noise to go with it. "I wanna marry you."

"What?" Your heart stops and his hand goes limp under yours. "Nathan, what did you just say?"

"Nothing?"

"No you said you wanna marry me."

"If you heard it then why did you ask?"

"Because I wanted to see if you'd lie."

He scoffs and sits up. "I didn't say that."

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't. You misheard me. I don't even believe in marriage."

"Nathan."

"I'm going to the lab." He pushes off the bed and wobbles on his feet.

You kick his butt and he stumbles forward. "You're an asshole."

He looks back and even in the darkened room you can see his smile. "Am I?"

"Yes! Now get out of here. I want to sleep a few hours before you inevitably wake me up at an ungodly time despite having slept about three hours yourself."

He chuckles as he pads softly to the door.

"What's so funny?"

"I like waking you up early." He leans on the door frame, allowing it to support his body entirely. "It's my favorite part of the day. Your sleepy little yawns, heavy lidded eyes, they way your voice sounds so soft."

You ball your fists in the comforter and force down the butterflies that stir in your stomach. This isn't Nathan. This is a drunk lonely idiot. You can't catch feelings for him, he's your boss. It's honestly too late but that's not any of his business. "Go!"

"You like meeee!"

"Nathan please just go away!"

"It's my house. I don't have to." He teases and you throw a pillow at him. He laughs and slips out the door to avoid further projectiles.

You pull a pillow over your face and scream into it. He's frustrating, whiplash embodied. Fuck him and fuck how he makes you have butterflies in your stomach.

______________________

"Can I ask you something about the AI?"

"Any time." Nathan says as he punches at the bag hanging on the deck. He's been going at it for about an hour now.

You've been sitting and watching him, curled up on the bench wearing his white long sleeve shirt because it's cool out and you didn't want to go get something of your own. You've been sketching the scene of him boxing as if to preserve the memory. As if you won't be here again in a few days doing the same thing.

"Is this your first? The one on the table that we- you are building?"

He stops, steadying the bag a moment and giving you a troublesome smile. "No."

"What was the first one like?"

He returns to punching the bag in a steady rhythm. "She's human like. A little taller than me. I didn't get to make a head before the body malfunctioned."

You raise your eyebrows. "It was a woman?"

"Is. She is a woman, yes."

"She's still in around?"

"Yes." Nathan hugs the bag and looks at you almost lovingly, clearly excited to show you this AI he's kept a secret. "Do you want to see her?"

You stand from the bench you've been watching him on and he starts unwrapping his hands. You take note how his fingers look a little bruised, as if he were going too hard on the bag. "She's here?"

"Mmhmm."

"Why haven't you shown me?"

"You haven't asked."

"But we've been building a new one for this long. Why wouldn't you tell me you had another?"

Nathan grabs his glasses from the counter in the dining room as you pass through, following close behind him. He chuckles. "This new one is not going to be like the others."

"Others?"

"Yeah, the others."

"Nathan, how many are there?"

"Five?" He glances back and does a little hand motion to signify that he wasn't sure. "No, six."

You stop dead in your tracks outside the lab door. "Six? You've made six?"

He turns at the end of the hall and puts his hands on his hips. "I've been here for three years. Of course I've made six. Come on, do you wanna see them or not?"

You hurry ahead and step into where he's leading you. A lounge with big rock walls and built in cupboards. He scans his badge at the first cupboard door and opens it. Inside is half of a bot, no head, just a mechanical body with legs and no arms.

Nathan opens the next one. It has a head with a face, no legs but a torso and an arm. He opens the rest and you walk down the line. The closer you get to the end you realize they look more and more human. They have skin, and unique features, hair and everything. It's when you reach the last one that your heart stops.  

Before you is a spitting image of yourself. It's as if you were made of wax. Not quite right but not off the mark. She's complete, no missing parts, but only her face is skin, the rest is the robot base model.

"Do you understand now?"

"I don't understand anything. What the hell is this?" You step back, hands clinging to your sweater at your stomach. "Nathan what is going on?"

"I built her last year. This is part of the reason why you terrify me."

"But you said...you said that you saw yourself in me and that's what terrified you?"

Nathan closes the door and stands in front of you. "You're freaked out, I get it. When I said I saw myself I meant my mind, my vision. Not like me, obviously you don't look like me. I see my soul reflected back at me."

You stumble back onto the futon and stare up at the man before you. "You brought me here because of that? Because you made a bot that looks like me?"

He steps forward and sinks down, squatting in front of you, hands landing on your thighs. "I saw you in a dream, a very vivid dream like I was in another life all together and I modeled her after what I saw because I couldn't forget. I had no idea you were real until I came across the twin flame theory while researching dreams and I decided to try and find you."

"But how did you find me?"

"Blue Book. Once I made her I scanned her face for recognition and found hundreds of matches. I cross referenced her specific features, rough age estimate, a few other things and then I found you."

You shake your head in disbelief. "I was trying to work for Blue Book. I put in dozens of applications. I was gravitating toward you all along."

"Yeah." He says breathily. "Yeah you were."

"You're my soulmate?"

"Mmmhmm." He rubs your thighs comfortingly. "It's more than that. Soulmate is a pretty blanket term but what we are is twin flames. A soul split in two that rejoins in every lifetime. I never believed in something like that, but that dream was so unlike anything I've experienced it changed my mind. I'm a man of logic and science not fairy tales and fantasies. It tore me up for a long time."

You let out a little bubble of laughter and you quickly cover it up because it's not funny, it's disbelief. "You? Nathan Bateman is my other half?"

"Don't say it like that. It's not funny."

"This is a gag right? You made that mold of my face and slapped it on the AI for this. You're fucking with me." You push him and he falls back onto his ass. "You're an asshole."

"What?!" He gets to his feet as you stand from the futon. "You think I'm lying to you about this?!"

"Yes! Why would a man like you ever believe in that stuff? You don't even believe in marriage. You're lying to get me to sleep with you or something. You're playing into my feelings and fantasies and hopes of someday finding someone to share my life with forever." You head for the doorway and Nathan grabs your hand to stop you. "Let me go. This is cruel. I never thought you would go this fucking far as to-"

"I would never do that to you." In one fluid motion he pulls you close, cradles your face and presses his lips to yours. Fireworks explode behind your eyes as they fall closed. Your heart races, body frozen against his as the world comes crashing down around you. All at once you're dizzy, breathless, excited. You're overloaded, overwhelmed and you don't know what is happening.

"Do you feel it?" He asks and you open your eyes to find him only inches away. The moment your gaze meets his you know he isn't lying. "You're the only person who I've ever felt this connection with. You know how picky I am."

"You're not lying." You mutter, remembering all the times you couldn't stop staring at him. The times when you couldn't remove your eyes from his once they met. The way you move seamlessly around each other, as if you knew each other's next move every step of the way. And most of all how you can't imagine being away from him, how you never get tired of being in his company. "Since we met I've had this feeling, and when our eyes meet-"

"We can't look away."

"Yeah." You lay a hand on his cheek, fingers fanning out over his beard. It's a strange feeling, foreign under your touch. "What do we do now?"

"We keep going."

"Keep going? Going where?"

"Ahead, with the AI, with our relationship." Nathan presses his head to yours. "Together we're going to make a perfect AI. If I hadn't started this, gotten this far into it and made the AI I based off of the dream I had of you, we wouldn't be here right now. You wouldn't be here, we wouldn't have met. I wouldn't be able to make the newest model without you."

"Yes you could. This isn't like you to say you need someone. Have you slept?"

He chuckles. "Yes I've slept."

"You could make this AI without me. You don't need me."

"But I do." He steps back, cradling your face in his hands, thumbs on your cheeks stroking softly. "You've been the key to everything. I can study your features, your expressions, your eyes...fuck your eyes, man. Sure I can get all the data from Blue Book like I did before but you're different. You make me think differently about everything."

You lean into his hand on your cheek. "Kiss me again."

"Don't have to tell me twice." He slides his arms around your back and pulls you flush against him. His mouth covers yours, a sweet kiss turning hungry quickly. He backs you against the wall, arms caging you in as he licks into your mouth. He lets out the softest moan as your hand explores his chest. It's the most vulnerable you've ever seen him.

You arch against him and he lifts your leg up as you hook it around his. You run your hand over his back and stop at his shoulders, cradling the back of his neck. "This is what Nathan in love looks like?"

He kisses along your jaw and pulls back, glasses a little askew. He looks wrecked, completely gone. Like he's drunk but on you instead of liquor. He smiles, pressing another kiss to your lips.

"You're damn right it is."

End

______

Thank you for reading. Please reblog if you enjoyed! - A

Header by delicate-venus

*****Note: none of my works should be posted anywhere outside of my linked accounts. I do not give permission to repost with or without credit to my accounts. Please notify me of any reposted works.*****

[lemonpeter]

STARKER, by Peter B. Parker

Chapter 8: Bondage

That’s only the tumblr title so it shows up in tags, the real one is on ao3 I believe

A/N: how do these chapters always end up so long? we don’t really know. peter’s going through it, yall. we’re officially halfway through this story, and we can’t wait to get the rest of it up for you to read. big things are happening!! - bloo and bri <3 💕

(also- you may have noticed, but for every chapter, the title is in reference to the au or trope it features. we aren’t just lazy and unoriginal lol...there’s a method to the madness)

Warnings: privacy invasion (Peter dealing with the fallout of the previous chapter), very nff, d*m/s*b relationship

Masterlist ao3

————

With shaking hands, Peter slid the glasses from his face. He closed his fist around them as he tried in vain to steady his breathing. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. What the fuck was he supposed to do?

Once again, it felt like the world had shifted on its axis and everything was closing in on him.

What the fuck was that? How had SHIELD infiltrated EDITH’s programming in order to allow May into his illusions? How long had she been real? If she’d been the May he’d conjured every time...

That would explain why his spidey sense had reacted so strongly that first time, when he introduced his family to Tony. He had known that something was wrong, but hadn’t been able to discern what. Because he was looking for a threat in his environment, not a digital one.

Hindsight was always fucking 20/20.

May’s presence in the illusions aside, the fact still making his skin crawl, how long had SHIELD been watching him? What had they seen? Were they always watching?

The thought made Peter feel sick to his stomach. They all knew what he was doing, they saw him with Tony. That meant that they...they *knew how he felt about* Tony. Fuck, they’d seen them having sex, something that was not meant for anyone else to even know about, much less witness. If they’d been watching at all, they had to have seen it, there was no way they hadn’t.

Tears began to sting in the teen’s eyes, and he swallowed thickly around the bile that was making its way up his throat. He felt...dirty. Violated.

Betrayed.

This was supposed to be just for him, just for him and Tony. But instead, a bunch of people he didn’t even know were watching his deepest fantasies play out with an illusion of a man who was thirty-odd years older than him. Not to mention the fact that said man had been…gone for nearly a year.

...That meant that even May had seen.

The reality of that fact made his stomach flip, shame and disgust burning in his veins.

Not only had his aunt seen him cuddled up to Tony, watched as he married the man, not holding anything back... She’d probably seen him in every vulnerable moment, any time they’d slept together, even the less explicit intimate interactions the two of them had shared. Just like the people at SHIELD had.

He wrapped one arm around his torso in a weak attempt to comfort himself and soothe his churning stomach. He hadn’t eaten anything in a few hours, but the meager food he’d had was threatening to make a reappearance. The more he thought about the reality of the situation, the more it sunk in, the worse he felt.

Guilt piled on top of shame, disgust was added onto betrayal, violation was added to the entire mix. And it all made him want to crawl out of his own skin and be sick.

He wanted to disappear.

The only consolation he had was that they wouldn’t be able to get in again. There was no way for them to influence him or have any sort of impact on the illusions. He couldn’t control anything else they might do, but EDITH had guaranteed that the new 24/7 monitoring and firewall improvement would ensure that they wouldn’t be able to get back in and mess everything up.

He couldn’t believe May had done something like that. Well. He could, but he didn’t want to. He knew that she wanted him to go back to New York, back to her and Happy, but it hadn’t crossed his mind that she’d actually get involved enough to try to intervene.

He’d thought that maybe she of all people would understand why he was doing it. She had lost so much herself. Maybe she would get it and let him be. Since he was finally truly happy, for the first time in a very long while.

But apparently not. She’d somehow come in without permission, lied to him in order to get him to trust her and then proceeded to try to take him away from the one thing, the one place, the one person that made him feel safe. She obviously didn’t give a fuck about Peter’s actual happiness and well-being. She was just being selfish, not thinking about what he actually wanted but rather what she wanted for him.

He still missed her, though. What she did... really hurt him. He wasn’t going to get over it anytime soon. But he still loved her. He knew that in reality, she was the only living family that he had left. He wished that she could have just understood, could have accepted the choices that he’d made and would continue to make. Maybe they could have even coexisted, in the new world he was creating for them. He could have had his family back, all of them, together and whole, just the way it should have been.

He was doing everything in his power… How was everything still falling apart? The whole point of leaving, of coming to the compound, of not communicating with anyone, was so that he could get away. So that he could have some peace.

And he’d found some, or at least he thought he had.

But his happiness was once again being stolen from him.

He was so tired of having to deal with the utter crock of bullshit that was his life. Fucking Parker luck.

He didn’t want to be in charge anymore.

Maybe he didn’t have to be.

(In the back of his mind, he thought briefly again of the fact that everything he did had spectators, whether he liked it or not. Despite feeling massively uncomfortable, he knew there was nothing he could really do about it, not without having to rewrite part of the program. And there was no way he was going to do that. There was always a small chance that he would lose any existing data. He couldn’t risk losing what he had built with Tony.

If they were going to watch, then…..well, he was going to put on a show.)

***

Peter had decided that he was going to bring his idea up to Tony. Even after thinking about it for a while, he wasn’t sure how to go about it. What was he supposed to say? “Hey Tony, I want you to be my dom?”

If he was being completely honest, that probably would have worked. (In fact, he knew it would have.)

But Peter couldn’t make himself just come out with the words like that. It wasn’t him. That wasn’t how he did things.

So instead, when it was time for Tony to come home from work, and he had gotten himself ready, put on some of the lingerie he’d bought during the honeymoon, Peter positioned himself on the floor in front of the elevator, kneeling on a pillow he’d taken from the couch.

He was only there for a minute or two when the doors opened and out walked his husband, making his heart beat wildly in his chest.

“Peter? Baby, what’s going on? What’s wrong? Why are you in the floor?” He paused, taking in the fact that Peter’s body was clad in only a lace bralette and matching panties, the aegean blue material popping enticingly against his skin. The man blinked, letting his eyes roam over the man’s submissive form before they snapped up to meet his husband’s. “Pete?”

For a moment Peter just sat there, searching Tony’s face. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to steel himself for what he was about to do. His gaze met the older man’s once more. “Daddy.”

Eyes flashing, Tony reacted to the title much like Peter had hoped he would, and he recognized the dynamic that the boy was trying to set up. But he still wasn’t sure what was happening. “C’mon, baby, talk to me.”

That was the last thing Peter wanted to do. He shook his head minutely and closed his eyes again, sighing heavily.

Why couldn’t Tony just roll with it? He never had a problem indulging his kinks with no conversation before. They never needed to talk about it. Or so Peter thought. Why was the man insisting that he come out and say it this time?

“If you really want this, I need to hear you say it, Peter.”

“I’m tired,” he said finally, voice soft. “I don’t want to think anymore, I don’t want to think about any of it. I want…” Peter let himself trail off, swallowing. “I want to give control to you, Tony.” He let his eyes meet his husband’s again.

The man watched him for a moment more, face neutral. Whatever he saw must have satisfied him, as his eyes darkened and his stance shifted almost imperceptibly.

But Peter definitely noticed.

Something about the subtle change in his posture made Tony immediately appear more dominant, and Peter felt something deep within himself give. Yes, this was exactly what he wanted. To give himself to Tony, all of himself, until there was nothing left of him that wasn’t Tony’s, too.

A low hum emanated from the taller man’s chest as he crossed his arms, sharp yet caring eyes still trained consideringly on Peter’s kneeling form. “You need Daddy to take care of you, honey? Show you that you don’t have to do everything on your own, that it’s all gonna be okay?”

Peter was nodding before he even realized it. “Please,” he whispered. “Tony, please, yes.”

“Ah-ah,” Tony chided, walking forward a few steps until he was standing right in front of the boy. He reached down, taking Peter’s chin in his hand. His grip was firm, but gentle enough that it didn’t actually hurt. “That’s not my name right now, kid. What do you call me?”

Mouth suddenly dry, Peter swallowed. “Daddy.” The word had the muscles in his lower stomach clenching as he felt that molten heat begin to pool deep inside of him.

Tony smiled down at him as he ran the pad of this thumb over Peter’s bottom lip. “That’s right, baby.”

Peter let his lips part and he pushed his head forward slightly so that the finger entered his mouth. He gently sucked on the digit, enjoying the weight and warmth of it on his tongue.

“Do you trust me, Peter?” Removing his hand, Tony shrugged off his suit jacket, letting it fall to the floor and rolling up the sleeves of his white button-up.

“With my life,” Peter said automatically, still staring up at the man with wide eyes.

“Good.” His hands moved to pull at the knot of his tie, feeling the boy’s gaze burning into his skin. The gold of his wedding band glinted in the light. “Now crawl to the bedroom.”

Tony watched as Peter did just that, adjusting his position so that he was on all fours as he began making his way across the entryway and through the living room. A shiver ran through Peter’s body, and Tony knew that the hardwood floor was cold, especially with practically all of his skin exposed.

But he knew that his baby could take it.

Peter would take whatever Tony wanted to give him.

Staying a few paces behind his lover at all times, Tony’s eyes roved over Peter’s ass, watching the way it moved as he began ascending the stairs. He licked at his bottom lip, already imagining all the ways he was going to take his boy apart, break him down until he was begging for Tony to fill him up, to stuff him full of his cock.

The heat of Tony’s eyes on him had Peter’s blood thrumming in his veins as he reached the top step, turning the corner where he could see their bedroom door a few feet away. He felt...anxious, but in a good way. He didn’t know exactly what the older man had planned for him, but he was being honest when he said he trusted Tony.

(He didn’t say that Tony was probably the only person he trusted at this point.

Once they had both made it into the room, Peter now kneeling down on the floor at the foot of the bed, Tony didn’t let the teen out of his sight even as he pushed the door closed, arm extended out behind him. It shut, the sound nearly deafening in the quiet.

Shifting his weight, Tony opened his mouth, making no moves to get closer to his partner at the moment. “How you doing, baby?” The man tried to keep his voice soft, so as to not startle Peter, but as he had already allowed himself to slip pretty far into his dom headspace, he couldn’t completely get rid of the deep, commanding rasp.

Peter swallowed. “I’m okay,” he said quietly, making eye contact for a second before lowering his gaze to his knees, where his hands were loosely clasped.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Just okay?” He paused and ran a hand through his hair, resulting in him looking slightly disheveled. It was at odds with the rest of his put-together appearance. “I’m gonna need more than okay, Pete. What are you thinking? Tell me.”

Eyes wide, not able to explain why he felt so compelled to comply, Peter did. “I’m great, Daddy. I’m just...nervous, I guess. I trust you, more than anything, and I want to know what’ s going to happen. Also I just,” he paused, a flush coming to his cheeks. “I love you so much.”

The older man’s eyes softened, and then he did take a step towards Peter. Then another. “I love you too, Peter.” He kept walking until he was standing right in from his husband, staring down at him, the tips of his shoes not even an inch from the bare skin of Peter’s knees. “Your safeword is ‘rhubarb’, okay baby? Repeat it back to me.”

A hint of a smile tugged at Peter’s lips at the word. He took a deep breath to compose himself before peering up at Tony again and speaking. “My safeword is ‘rhubarb’,” he intoned lightly.

“Good boy.” Something ignited in Tony as he witnessed the other’s reaction to the words. “You like that, don’t you, baby?” As if he didn’t know the answer from the barely audible mewl that escaped his lips and the way the ruddy tinge to his cheeks intensified. “Like knowing that Daddy’s pleased, that he’s happy with you?”

Peter nodded softly. “Yes, Daddy.”

“That’s all you want, isn’t it baby?” His hands moved to his tie, which was draped over his neck. He pulled it down and held it out in front of him, an end in each hand. “Close your eyes, Peter.”

Obliging after only a moment of hesitation, Peter’s lids fell shut. He sighed at the feeling of the soft, cool silk on the heated skin of his face.

“How does that feel?”

“It’s nice. I like it.” He paused. “There’s no strong smells in here which is nice but I can hear everything. I mean I already could but- This is so much more-”

Tony tutted softly, seeing the way the boy was getting frustrated with himself for rambling a bit, the nervous energy needing some way to escape. “Shhhh, relax baby. You don’t have to think, remember? Turn that little genius brain of yours off for a bit, huh? Let Daddy handle it, I’ll take care of everything, Pete.” He made a point not to touch him, not wanting to overwhelm him any further.

Peter sniffed, his nose twitching. “Okay.” He shifted his posture, rolling his shoulders and leaning to the side a bit to adjust his legs. He focused on the beating of Tony’s heart rather than his own, finding it more reassuring. “Okay,” he repeated, quieter this time, mostly speaking to himself.

Tony let them sit in the quiet for a moment, until he was satisfied that Peter had calmed down. “Good job, baby.” Hands dropping to his waist, Tony began to unfasten his belt. The sound of the metal clink might as well have been a gunshot with the way that Peter jerked. “Easy, kid, it’s just me.” After he pulled the leather through the loops on his pants, he let it drop down to the carpet where it landed with a thud. He undid his button and zipper before pulling his cock out so that he could stroke himself to full hardness.

“Look at you, baby. So pretty, down there on your knees for me,” he groaned. He circled his thumb around the head a few times, spreading the wetness there as he took in the sight before him. “So perfect for Daddy.”

Peter’s nipples had hardened underneath the dark lace and he pressed his thighs together at the sound of Tony’s hand moving over the slick skin of his shaft. Saliva was beginning to pool in his mouth; he could feel the heat of Tony’s erection in front of his face, the deep musk of the man’s scent like a drug to him. He made a soft noise in the back of his throat. “Please,” he whispered.

Now fully hard, Tony grabbed at Peter’s mussed curls with his left hand. He used his right to guide his cock to the boy’s lips, letting the tip rest there before tapping it against them a few times. “Open up, sweetheart.” When Peter did as he was told, Tony let out a deep sigh at the feeling of his mouth suckling on the head.

Peter whined again. His tongue danced around the tip of his husband’s cock and he sucked greedily at the salty fluid there. It was so heady, and he could already feel himself slipping down, bleeding into that space he’d always wondered about. His jaw began to go slack, the rest of his body relaxing in kind.

“There you go, baby,” Tony groaned, starting to cant his hips, pushing himself further into the wet heat of Peter’s mouth. He could tell from the way Peter suddenly went more pliant that he was starting to drop. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”

The boy took him readily, even unconsciously reached a hand up in an attempt to find Tony’s hip and pull him closer. He keened in displeasure when Tony gently nudged him away.

“Hey, uh-uh, hands behind your back, kid. No touching.”

Another whine, but the young man once again followed the instruction. He began to bob his head, the lewd sounds of his mouth moving on the slick flesh filling the air.

Tony kept his fingers tangled in Peter’s hair as he cursed under his breath. “*Fuck*, Peter, that’s it baby. So perfect, you suck Daddy’s cock so good.” He started to thrust his hips again, shallowly at first but then getting deeper. When he reached the back of Peter’s throat, the boy’s muscles contracted around him as he gagged, desperately trying to swallow. “Shit, shit,” Tony muttered, eyes slipping shut at the sensation.

When Peter started to tense up, rising on his knees slightly, the man pulled back, leaving him spluttering as he tried to catch his breath. Thick drool was running down his chin as he coughed, and Tony didn’t hesitate before running his dick through it. “Open,” he commanded, scooping some of the liquid up with the pads of his fingers so he could push it back into the boy’s mouth. His cock was quick to follow, immediately going as deep as he could in order to make Peter’s body jerk again. “Swallow.”

Peter did his best, trying not to choke as the muscles in his throat contracted weakly around the intrusion. He tried to focus on breathing through his nose, but he gagged anyway, lurching backwards even though he was unable to get away, tethered by the firm grip of the hand clutching at his head.

Pulling back to let him breath for a moment, the sound of the frantic gasping making him grow impossibly harder, Tony only waited a few seconds before snapping his hips forward again. He fucked gently in and out of Peter’s mouth, praises falling unbidden from his own. “So perfect, Peter, god, you’re perfect. So good for me, kid.”

He could feel himself getting close, too close, after a minute so he roughly pulled Peter from his dick. “Shit, baby, almost made me cum,” he breathed heavily, almost as loud as the boy’s hurried lungfuls of air, and slowly tucked himself back into his slacks, still slick with spit. “You did so good, Peter.” His fingers released Peter’s hair, running through it soothingly a few times instead before moving to the lack of his head to tug at the blindfold.

Peter was firmly in subspace now, so the older man felt that the sensory deprivation wasn’t necessary anymore. And he wanted to see those big brown eyes for what he had planned next.

Kneeling down in front of him, Tony kissed the teen’s forehead and then his lips. His thumb swept over the apple of his cheek. “Hey, baby, can you look at me? How are you doing?”

Said eyes blinked up at him tearily, and Peter sniffled before coughing wetly. “Good,” he said, voice soft and wrecked, only able to meet the man’s gaze for a moment before his eyes fell. They paused on Tony’s clothed erection for a moment until they were trained on his own knees again. He blinked a few times before his mouth opened. “Knees hurt.”

Tony immediately moved, scooped the boy into his arms. “Thank you for telling me,” he said into Peter’s temple, pressing a kiss there before he gently deposited him on the bed. “Lay down for me, honey.” His eyes ran over the slight body sprawled out on top of the sheets, taking in the flush that seemed to cover most of Peter’s skin.

He looked absolutely delicious, slightly dazed with his cock hard and leaking in the dark blue of the lace panties.

Leaning down, Tony pressed gentle pecks over each of Peter’s red kneecaps, then switched to leaving a trail of them up the inside of his thighs.

Peter sighed happily, squirming a bit at the touch. He inhaled sharply when he suddenly felt the heat of Tony’s mouth over his fabric covered erection. “Daddy,” he whimpered, hips automatically twitching up in an attempt to find more stimulation.

“Shhhh,” Tony soothed, pulling away. He rubbed his thumb over this inside of Peter’s ankle. “Think you can kneel again for me, baby?” At Peter’s slight frown, he clarified, smiling softly. “Not on the floor, up here on the bed. Can you do that?” When he received a soft nod in response, he helped get the boy into position before climbing off the bed to rifle through one of the drawers in the nightstand, reassuring Peter that he just needed to grab something.

Peter watched him for a moment, mind drifting. He felt floaty, like he wasn’t quite in his body. It took a lot of effort to wiggle his toes, they felt...far away. Moving his fingers was easier, but it still took a good bit of concentration. Everything was soft, muted, like his head was stuffed full of cotton. Or something thick, like molasses.

It was a feeling that he decided he liked.

Suddenly Tony was back in front of him, stroking his cheek. “There you are, kid. Gonna tie you up now, okay honey?” He waited until Peter made eye contact with him before accepting it as consent, pressing a soft kiss to his lips and beginning to fiddle with the bundle of soft, black rope in his grip.

Peter smiled dopily to himself as he watched how Tony wrapped the silky cords around one hand before unwinding them again.

His gaze stayed on the man’s hands. He trusted those hands with anything. They were strong, capable. He never worried that those hands would hurt him. Not unless he wanted them to.

His eyes snapped up to Tony’s face when the dominant cleared his throat, calling Peter to attention once more.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, not breaking the heated eye contact that followed. He was getting lost in the depths of Tony's dark irises.

Tony hummed softly, fingers sliding against the soft rope that he was holding. “Don’t be, baby. It’s alright. What were you thinking about?” It was asked gently, but was clearly more of a command to answer than just a casual question.

“Your hands,” Peter answered instantly, cheeks heating at how eagerly he responded. He wanted to look away but found himself unable to.

“Uh huh. And what about them?”

“How strong they are. And beautiful. And how much I trust them. How much I trust you,” he whispered. He finally broke the eye contact, face burning. He probably sounded ridiculous.

“Look at me, honey.” Tony watched him, moving closer until he was kneeling on the bed in front of Peter. “I’m so glad you trust me.” He leaned in and pressed a gentle yet firm kiss to the sub’s lips as his hands moved to remove the blue lace from Peter’s chest. “Gonna take this off okay?”

Peter nodded slightly, melting into the kiss and whining when the heat of the other man’s lips left his.

A low chuckle came from Tony when he heard. He let the bralette fall to the floor at the side of the bed. “Sorry, baby. I’ve got something else I need to do before I can keep kissing you. Is that okay?”

“Yes, Daddy.” Peter’s bottom lip poked out slightly in a pout, despite his words.

“Thank you. Now, can you work with me here? I’ll need you to stay still for this part. Then we’ll lay you back down to do the rest.”

Peter nodded obediently, fixing his expression as he gazed at his husband.

Tony got to work quickly, staying silent as he focused.

The rope was looped around Peter’s chest, resting snugly on top of his pecs as it was brought back around and secured.

It was wrapped around again, underneath this time. The rope was tight around him, but not enough for it to hurt or even dig into his skin uncomfortably.

All he knew was the firm pressure of the cords around his body, holding onto him. He knew that he felt safe.

His eyes slipped shut as he relaxed, letting Tony artfully secure the silk rope around his body.

He didn’t open them again until he felt the warmth of his partner’s hands pulling away. He wasn’t quite sure how long he’d been spaced out, peacefully floating in his mind while Tony worked on him.

Tony leaned back to admire his handiwork, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “How does that feel, baby?” It certainly looked gorgeous, the black silk contrasting perfectly against Peter’s pale, lightly freckled skin.

“It’s-“ Peter’s voice was crackly as he started speaking. How long had it been since they started? Much longer than he’d realized, it seemed. “It’s really nice. Tight. But not too tight. Huggy.”

The older man laughed softly, rubbing a finger over one cord. If it was obvious that Peter was deep into subspace after the blowjob, Tony didn’t even know how to describe the boy’s current state. He loved it. It was nice to see him so relaxed and content.

He’d obviously needed someone else to take control of him for a while. And Tony was happy to help. He’d do anything for Peter.

“That’s good, honey. I don’t want it to hurt you. It’s supposed to be calming. Is it working? Do you feel safe?” He couldn’t keep the amused note out of his voice.

Peter nodded sluggishly, like the movement took all his focus. And it honestly did, given how deep he was in his headspace. Everything was soft and warm around the edges and nice.

“Good. Let’s lay you down now, okay? I’ll do your wrists next. Then your feet.” Tony walked the boy through the plan, letting him get used to the idea. He rubbed at his back as he straightened up on his knees, humming. “Not as young as I used to be, huh.” It was more to himself than anything.

“That’s okay, Daddy,” Peter spoke up gently as he moved forward on the bed a bit. It was hard to do so without being able to put his arms out to help steady him, so he was a bit wobbly on his knees, but managed to get to the center of the mattress. “I like you just the way you are.”

Tony chuckled, nodding. “I guess I’m glad for that, huh.” He placed a hand on the small of Peter’s back, helping guide him first into a sitting position, legs out in front of him, and then so that he was laying on his back. “Come on, baby. I know you’re all relaxed and everything, just need you to help me out a little with this.”

Once Peter was settled, he relaxed into the down comforter, content to just watch what the dom was doing.

Tony grabbed the final lengths of rope that he’d need to finish up. One for Peter’s wrists, then two others: one for each of his ankles. Those would be used to tie his feet to the end of the bed, keeping his legs spread. Less calm-inducing than the others, but it was infinitely more functional given his plans.

He took the longer cord first, humming as he tried to think about how he wanted Peter’s hands tied.

Typically he’d go for behind the back, it always had a nice, clean look and made the temptation to touch lessen. It also did a lot for making one feel truly restrained. But he needed the sub to be on his back, so he ultimately decided that his hands would be tied in the front.

He mentally went through the rope work he was planning, wanting to make sure he didn’t overlook anything, before he began executing the action on his husband.

It took only a few minutes for Tony to secure his hands in front of him, before he was moving on to his lower body. He tied the rope around his ankles and feet, so that the pressure wasn’t all in one spot and making the boy sore, and then finished by securing it to the footboard of the bed.

Peter tugged at the bonds slightly when he noticed that Tony was done, looking down at the loops around his ankles from where his head was propped up on the pillows.

He knew that he could easily get out of the restraints if he wanted. But the thing was...he didn’t want to.

He was finally able to give up control, not having to constantly have everything in his grip. He was able to hand it all off to Tony, letting himself relax.

And it was absolutely perfect.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as Tony’s hands started sliding up his sides, stopping when they reached the harness wrapped around him.

“You look amazing, baby,” Tony mused. Then he leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to the center of his sub’s sternum. Right above the place where the harness was divided up the middle and split to loop over Peter’s shoulders.

As he pulled his lips away, his hands came up to cup at Peter’s chest. His pecs were pushed out from the way the rope was tight around them. Tony was entranced.

“Look at these gorgeous tits,” he teased, thumbs quickly swiping over Peter’s peaked nipples.

It caused Peter to flush and shiver, arching up into the slight contact. It was nothing too serious, but he needed it all the same.

“Daddy,” he whined, breath catching in his throat. “Please….”

“Please what?” Tony asked, smirking slightly. “Use your words, kid. What do you want?”

Peter huffed. “Want you to touch me,” he breathed.

Tony’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Oh, is that all? Want me to touch you? Well, baby, I’m sure I can do just that.”

The gleam in his eyes made the teen slightly nervous again, but-

No, maybe nervous was the wrong word. He still couldn’t quite come up with a better description, though. Maybe he was… He was excited. Tony obviously had plans for him. And he still couldn’t wait to know exactly what they were.

“Thank you, Daddy,” he said sweetly.

Tony hummed softly, quickly pinching one of Peter’s nipples before withdrawing his touch entirely. “You remember that, okay? You wanted me to touch you. Acted like you’d die without it.”

Peter whimpered at the sharp stimulation and then again at its absence, hips rocking up unconsciously. “I’ll remember, Daddy, promise.”

“Good. I think it’s about time we start.” He paused for a moment, sitting back as he looked over his boy. “You remember your safeword?”

He shook his head as Peter nodded. “I need you to tell me what it is, kid. So I know that you know.”

Another little huff, the teen squirming impatiently. “It’s ‘rhubarb’, Daddy. Please-”

Tony smiled. "Alright, baby, thank you." Reaching out, he caressed Peter's cheek before leaning down to press their lips together. He let his tongue swipe over the teen's bottom lip and he was instantly granted access.

Peter mewled when Tony’s tongue licked at his own, body going boneless when a hand also began to apply a gentle but firm grip on his neck. He could feel the metal of Tony’s wedding ring. The soft, plaintive sounds just kept coming while Tony explored his mouth and a punched out little gasp left him when he suddenly found himself under the pressure of the man’s bodyweight. Without his permission, his hips jerked forward, desperately seeking more friction than the snug press of the lace panties against his leaking cock. The differing textures of Tony’s shirt and pants sent a shiver down his spine, and while the pace of his rutting was slow, the amount of force behind it increased.

Breathing heavily, Tony pulled back for a minute and turned his head so that he could mouth wetly at the side of his husband’s neck. He sucked a bruise into the skin there, drinking up the high, whines that the action elicited from Peter. “That’s it, baby, you gonna use Daddy’s body to get off?” He let out a groan when Peter’s erection slid against his own where it lay trapped in his briefs and suit pants.

Nodding, the boy shifted as he tried to move his limbs to wrap around Tony’s neck and waist. He cried out softly when he couldn’t, pulling at his restraints. “Daddy,” he whined, voice thin. “I want- I need-”

“Shhhh,” Tony soothed, lips capturing Peter’s again before pulling away, a strand of spit connecting them. “I know what you need, Peter.” He licked filthily into the teen’s open mouth. His dick throbbed at the way Peter went boneless underneath him again, offering himself up and letting Tony explore his mouth in a way that was truly indecent.

Their bodies undulated against each other as they made out, and Tony could tell that the younger man was getting close by the way his muscles would clench every couple of seconds.

He ground down against the soft, pliant body on the mattress, groaning. “Fuck, baby,” he breathed, looking into Peter’s moony eyes as the boy rutted desperately against his abdomen. “You’re so perfect, Peter, so beautiful. Shit, c’mon kid, make yourself cum for Daddy. C’mon baby.”

“Ahhhhh,” Peter whined, squeezing his eyes shut. “Daddy, please, gonna- I’m gonna-,” the words were cut off by a choked gasp as he tensed, toes curling. Still trapped in the panties, and in between their bodies, his cock jumped in its confines, hot spurts of sticky cum pooling underneath the head and smearing with his movements.

Tony could feel a wet patch forming on his thigh and he moaned low in his throat, his own erection almost painfully hard. But this wasn’t about him, it was all for Peter. He’d get his turn eventually. “Good boy, Peter,” he whispered roughly, pressing kisses wherever he could reach, taking in the blissed out look on his boy’s face.

“Daddy,” he sighed, heart thumping wildly in his chest. Peter’s body continued shuttering through the aftershocks, hips twitching up weakly as Tony pulled away.

After one more kiss, Tony started sitting up again to look over the teen’s body. His mouth watered at the sight of the cum against the lace covered hipbone, and the corresponding stain on the dark fabric of his pants. He ran a hand lightly over his own cock, adjusting it. “How did that feel, baby? Happy now?”

“Mhm….” he mumbled, again going limp against the bed. He felt like he was melting, disappearing like wet spun sugar. Everything felt slow. “Jus’ what I wanted, so good Daddy….” but he couldn’t deny that he still wanted more. He wanted his Daddy’s hands on him, possessive and guiding. Although he already felt the sensitivity creeping in, making him think that maybe waiting for a little bit before going again would be a good idea.

“Uh huh. That’s good, honey. You were so good for me, Peter.” Tony’s fingers trailed up Peter’s thigh, watching the muscles flex and tense underneath his touch. “But I’m not done with you yet, kid.”

Peter made a confused noise in the back of his throat before he started whining as his Daddy’s fingers brushed over his slowly softening cock. He arched his back, pushing his ass down into the bed in a fruitless attempt to get away from the touch. “Daddy, too much.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. He didn’t move his hand away, since Peter didn’t safeword, but he did pause, not doing anything more. “Too much? Do you need to use your word?”

The teen slowly shook his head, breathing hard. He didn’t want Tony to stop. He was just sensitive and he knew that the feeling would only increase.

“Okay, baby. If you’re sure.” He hooked his fingers underneath the waistband of Peter’s panties, slowly starting to tug them down his thighs. He grinned at the sight of the teen’s flushed cock laying against his hip, skin slick with streaks of cum. “You look gorgeous, Peter. You know that?” He brushed over the half-hard length, chuckling at how the boy twitched. “I know, I’m sorry. But I’m just doing what you wanted.”

Peter figured that was right. He had wanted to be touched. He should have known that was going to come back to bite him in the ass. A soft whine left him as Tony’s fingers started massaging his cock back to hardness. Although it didn’t take much.

“There we go...I knew you could go again. With that incredible recovery period of yours,” he teased.

Suddenly his touch was gone and Peter squirmed, hips rocking again. But he stilled when he noticed what Tony was doing.

The older man started with a chaste kiss to his lips, trailing presses of his lips down the teen’s body slowly. He moved down the bed as he worked, settling between Peter’s thighs with his lips on his hip bone. Hardly an inch away from where Peter wanted him.

Peter’s cock twitched against his stomach, like it was trying to reach Tony’s mouth. “Daddy….”

“Uh uh,” Tony chided, blowing a gentle breath across the sub’s damp skin. “You stay still. I’m doing things at my pace, you need to be patient.”

Dropping his head back against the pillows, Peter let out a shaky breath. He had a feeling that it would be a long night.

[scuttleboat]

Parenthood as a Major Theme in The Witcher

aka a defense of Yennefer's fertility arc

In some commentary on The Witcher season 1, I've read about disappointment that mid-season Yennefer spends her story time dedicated to hunting a fertility cure. The primary critique of this 2-episode arc for her is that it appears to conform too readily to a trope that "all women eventually want babies", and also seems counter to her previous disregard and cynicism for the idea of motherhood.

I think there's two cases that can be made that demonstrate why this element of the series deserves more than to be judged as "lazy or reductive writing". The first is Yennefer's personal journey--which after two viewings I believe holds up strongly. The second, even bigger case is what the theme of parenthood means to the show, and why Yennefer is only one of several aspects of it. That's what I am going to talk about in this post. Expect full spoilers for season 1.

Birth, Babies, and Legacy in Season 1

To put it bluntly, the topic of reproduction is all over The Witcher. The show is kind of obsessed with it. Let's go through the ways that parenthood and/or reproduction feature significantly in every episode:

1 - The conflict in Blaviken is a result of Stregobor's murderous obsession with killing babies born under a supposed curse. Those  infants and girls represented power that he wanted to terminate. In Cintra, Ciri becomes an orphan.

2 - Yennefer's mixed elven parentage is the source of her power and her physical deformity. Trauma is inherited generationally, seen again in Fillavandrel's outcast society, stripped of heritage and legacy. Jaskier's first song references abortion.

3 - A striga is made when a pregnant woman is cursed and her undead fetus becomes a ravenous monster. Foltest wants her to be rescued to live as his child and heir. Her monster body still has its umbilical cord--a gnarly cosmetic flourish that drives the point home. In Aretuza's scary gyno chair, Yen is sterilized in exchange for ultra-performative femininity. Although she consents, it is a corrupt bargain designed to exploit her.

4 - The Queen of Aederin and her newborn are assassinated for being unable to birth a male baby. Yennefer almost dies trying to prevent it, then gives a monologue about how the patriarchy only sees women as vessels.  Queen Calanthe tries to protect her daughter from the Law of Surprise, only to see it initiated again on her grandchild.

5 - After some 50 years as a mage Yen goes hunting for a fertility cure, using alchemy and then a djinn. She tells Tassaia that although she knew what she was giving up in Aretuza, "I didn't know what it would mean to me." Also, wow a lot of sex is had.

6 - Geralt and Yen talk about parenthood and their respective lost opportunities. The episode mcguffin is a dragon egg, whom they both fight to defend. Borch Three Jackdaws states the theme of parenthood outright. On the surface he is proclaiming his own motivation, but in the context of Geralt and Yennefer's prior discussions we know that he is speaking for both them and the show as a whole:

"This is my final 'first'. A child. This treasure, this legacy, must endure. There is no other reason to go on."

Episode 6 also shows how Geralt and Yen have grown since episode  4. She is forced to accept that natural birth is impossible, and Geralt is forced to reflect out loud that it's only fear of parental failure that has prevented him from claiming his own child. 

7 -  On getting news of the Nilfgaard invasion, Geralt decides to claim Ciri. Calanthe and Eist go to extremes to keep their child in their family.

8 - Everyone wants to be Ciri's new family, including this nice woman who doesn't have any daughters. In the end, Geralt finally becomes a father. 

Destiny = Family 

I firmly believe that the show is leading us to a point where Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri form an eventual family. The desire for family is verbalized multiple times for Ciri, notably in Brokilon Forest when she calls Dara her family, and then when Dara leaves her and tells her find another family. Twice in the show women try to adopt Ciri, promising safety and care. Yet she's driven by a strong directive to find Geralt as "he is your destiny".  She is his Child Surprise, essentially this universe's fucked up version of a godchild. And the Law of Surprise is not just tradition, but a cosmic binding with tangible consequences. Geralt initially denies this, but Duny, Eist, Mousesack, Yennefer, and Borch all vocalize it, and season 1 events bear it out.

If Ciri is steered by a bond of destiny, so is Geralt. When he rejects the Child Surprise at Pavetta's wedding, Mousesack warns that doing so will bring ill fortune. Episode 5 and 6 subtly but persistently imply that this prophecy is true, as the witcher's next several years are filled with sleeplessness and an undefined longing. Magically binding himself to Yennefer alleviates some of that (essentially by making him happy), but I don't think it's only because of love, but also because his destiny being intertwined with Yennefer is a step towards his destiny being intertwined with Ciri. Because even after getting some peaceful nights with intermittent Yennaffairs (get it? hah!), something still seems off with Geralt.

"You feel it just the same as me that hole inside you. That itch inside your brain keeps you awake at night. Come with me, I'll show you what you're missing." - Borch Three Jackdaws

This is a cute screenplay trick because we assume that he's talking about nostalgic adventure, but on review he's actually talking about parenthood. Later when Geralt gripes that the thing he was missing is Yennefer as she walks away again, Borch replies, "What you're missing is still out there. Your legacy, your destiny. I know it." (hello Ciri!) We never get a clear idea of why Mr. Three Cool Names knows all this stuff, but I didn't care because a dragon being cryptically omniscient is exactly the sort of thing I want from my fantasy shows.

Conclusion 

So it's family, family, family. Yennefer is just one corner of this thematic tapestry; the other three are Geralt, Ciri, and #destiny. Their journey to find each other, to accept these bonds, is what the show is about. I expect the theme to cement even more in future seasons.

Consequently, to reduce Yennefer's storyline to cliché alone is to miss the way everyone on this show is obsessed with parenthood in some form. It also misses how much fatherhood will be central Geralt's journey.  Even if he came to the same decision 2 episodes (and 13 years) later than Yen did, Geralt actively decides that he want to claim his role as a parent figure. That isn't the easy gripe target of "women want babies", but the point is that Yen and Geralt are both on the same path, with Ciri as the destination. A character can have something that resembles part of a cliché without being negatively defined by it. In The Witcher, the greater context is relevant to this critique.

So I urge you to look at the full season and see how her fertility arc fits into the big picture. If you still wish that Yen had continued to be proudly child-free, then I respect your desire to see that story told. However, it would be worth it to recognize now that this probably isn't going to be the story you want. Parenthood is a big part of it. This story is going to be about two magical adults and one magical child becoming a family.

A family of total badasses, adopted through destiny and love.

[monsieur-hadrien]

Harry Potter Fanfic Recommendations continued...

I did one of these lists back in June, and y’all KNOW! that I have even more to share with the world.

This list is a mix between crossovers and single-fandom fics, and are drarry or rarepair-centric, but either way I’ll mark which are which when I get to it.

If you want to see what I’ve been enjoying lately, check out my bookmarks on the Archive

Man of Iron, Child of Magic by zathara001

Harry Potter and MCU, no slash, 107k word count, 32 chapters, completed, teen

In the aftermath of the Chitauri invasion, Tony Stark sorts out his priorities - including one he didn't think he had.

Okay I followed this one from the beginning as a WIP because this is exactly the fic that I was looking for. Tony being Irondad for Harry is the most wholesome thing ever, and Uncle Steve is also 20/10. I will say, this fic is not as dark as a lot of this hp/mcu fics of this trope because it happens in Harry’s younger Hogwarts years and his childhood isn’t too ruined just yet. It focuses a lot on Tony’s growth as a father rather than working through Harry’s trauma (which, don’t get me wrong, that happens as well). Harry still has the naive outlook on life that a child should have and it just makes my heart swell.

Although this fic is done, the sequel has not been uploaded yet, as this fic was just completed late August, but don’t let that deter you. The author is a sweetheart to interact with on new updates (which were quite frequent).

Golden Boy’s Dance by Madriddler

Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy/Blaise Zabini, 57k word count, 13 chapters, completed, explicit

Two years after the defeat of Voldemort and Harry is feeling useless. Jobless and suffering from PTSD, Harry spent his days going from horrible interview to horrible interview hopelessly looking for a job. Feeling completely useless, Harry, with the help of George, turns to a new profession that Harry never even thought of : being a camboy. Pleasuring himself for money and people's entertainment, Harry hopes to find a use for the Savior of the Wizarding World in this Peaceful Era.

Yeah so uh,,, this is a total guilty pleasure kink fic and I’m not at all ashamed for putting this fic on here. I won’t even lie, sometimes it felt a bit cheesey, but the porn was so well written it didn’t even matter. I swear to you this is porn with plot and lots of it. Harry works through his post traumatic stress disorder in ways that may or may not be slightly unhealthy, but beyond the porn, it’s really about Harry being okay in his own skin, as someone with mental health issues and as a sex worker. It was a hell of a good time to read and I definitely cried for Harry a time or two.

A Dented Old Street Sign by orphanghost

Harry Potter, Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy, 27k word count, one-shot, completed, mature

Draco knows they aren't the only students who will be completing their NEWTs this year, but they are the only ones whose home fireplaces were disconnected from the floo network by the ministry.

At least, Draco assumes as much until he sees the light falling out from the front door of one of the other rickety old houses in front of them and the three figures cast in its warm glow. For a moment they look like some sort of strange, many legged creature. An acromantula, or a particularly massive Blast-Ended Skrewt. Then Draco hears Pansy make a disgusted sound beside him and the light falls in a less blinding way, and Draco can see that it is actually Potter and the Weasel carrying a large couch between them, and Granger fluttering around them with her wand out, seeming concerned.

I don’t think I’ve laughed this much reading a fic in a long time. The golden trio and the Slytherin gang live in the same neighborhood while attending their 8th year at Hogwarts and i swear to fucking god, the amount of mutual pining and angst between Harry and Draco is fucking ridiculous, but you can’t help but love them anyway. Sometimes I wanted to throttle them and then shove them into a closet together so they would just t a l k but like in a good way. also the Christmastime atmosphere is something I just live for.

Words Unread, Things Unsaid by PinkCrupps

Harry Potter, no slash Harry & Snape, 18k word count, 7 chapters, completed, teen

What if the Dursley’s were a little crueler, and a little smarter? What if they didn’t want Harry going to school because they didn’t want anyone to see the bruises?

What if Harry had to leave for Hogwarts, carrying a shameful secret? One that Severus Snape is determined to discover.

When I say this one hurt, I mean it h u r t. I feel so bad because when I first read the tags I laughed when I saw the illiterate tag because I make the “I can’t read” jokes often but then I read the fic and i felt SO BAD OMG.

I am no fan of Snape, let it be known, but this fic, I think made me feel like he actually deserved a bit of a redemption arc (even if it’s fanon). This whole time, all I could think of is giving harry a big hug and never letting him go.

I said this in the notes of my bookmark, and I stand by it: “

I feel like the hurt/comfort tag on this one is also meant for the reader”

What Happens to the Heart by Mossycoat

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, 33k word count, 18 chapters, completed, mature

With no girlfriend, no job, and no idea what he wants, Harry has decided to let life go on without him. If only prophetic dreams, demanding ghosts, and Draco Malfoy would let him.

If you need a pick-me-up after the sadness for the prior fic, may i recommend this one. Seer!Harry is a headcanon that I had never seen before this fic, and I was not let down whatsoever. We love a fic where the OCs are wonderful and the writing style is immaculate. The incorporation of tarot and divination into the chapter names and plot also makes my babywitch heart s i n g!!

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Relevant_Peach

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, 70k word count, 15 chapters, completed, no rating specified, but probably teen/ mature for mental health tingz

Draco Malfoy would do anything to find a cure for his son's life-threatening disease. When he crosses paths with an old acquaintance, it unleashes a string of events that will uncover secrets and deceptions. Will Draco be able to look past the misdeeds of his old lover's past? Will Harry ever find the family he longs for?

Ah yes, who knew that pain could feel so good. Everything seems to be fine until it isn’t with this one.

Turn by Saras_Girl

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, 306k word count, 14  chapters, completed, explicit

One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.

oh my goD yes a classic we love to see it. This is one of those fics that is long but doesn’t reallly feel like it is? This is definitely another feel-good fic, even if it doesn’t seem that way in the beginning. Not only does it focus on Harry and Draco’s relationship, but also their relationships with their family, specifically their children. It’s just really heartwarming whenever Harry get’s all fatherly with his kids. ugh I swear I don’t want any but this is just SO ADORABLE! Plus Blaise Zabini rights thank you very much.

Also Boris can suck my left toe.

There’s a Pureblood Custom For That by Lomonaaeren

Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, 105k word count, 36 chapters, completed, mature

The day that Harry stops Draco Malfoy and his son from being bothered in the middle of Diagon Alley starts a strange series of interactions between him and Malfoy. Who knew there was a pure-blood custom for every situation?

This is another fluffier one, and I have absolutely no shame. Draco is just trying so hard to get through Harry’s thick, clueless skull and Harry is just trying to understand. They’re just so adorable I can’t. And Harry defending Draco’s and his relationship after people are like fuck naw just warms my heart. Like yes Harry, protect ur mans you adorable himbo you.

Our Own Demons by Emmalie22

Harry Potter, MCU, Harry Potter & Tony Stark, Harry Potter/Peter Parker, 119k word count, 24 chapters, WIP, teen/mature

Tony Stark. Genius. Billionaire. Philanthropist. Ironman. (Reckless. Lonely. Father.)

Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. The Chosen One. Wizard. (The Master of Death. Survivor. Breaking.)

Tony Stark never thought he would be a father. But when a lawyer comes knocking and truths become evident, he realizes that he can’t let his son walk out of his life. For Harry, acknowledging his relationship with Tony is a last-ditch effort to gain freedom and control over his life. Although the journey might not be easy, Tony and Harry learn to heal and become a family, facing trials and tribulations on the way such as a scheming Death, a Mad Titian, Dark Wizards, dangerous Doctors, and living Wards.

I’m so sorry to give you a WIP that hasn’t been updated in 10 months, but I couldn’t let this one slide. I’m so attached to these characters it’s unhealthy. I’m not gonna lie, this fic was the product of a very hyperspecific filtered search on AO3 but I’m not even mad at it. Tony is Harry’s father but unlike the other fic on this rec list, Harry is a bit more grown up and bears a lot of the scars of 5th year (y’all don’t need me to specify with that one). It’s a lovely family dynamic and super fluffy Peter and Harry wow we love to see it. Harry is also super fucking smart AS HE IS! I will never get over people calling him stupid ugh Harry rights. But yes, author friend, if you see this, update when you can I’m so in love with this.

If anybody wants me to do more specific lists, I will totally do so. Just reblog or private message me. And if you have any other fic recs, please do so too because I’m always looking for something else to read.

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 17: 2x07 Catspaw

It’s not Halloween but it is my mom’s birthday so a very good opportunity to watch Catspaw.

So we start with Sulu and Scotty missing on an away mission but why exactly the Enterprise is here and what the away mission was is not explained...

Also speaking of interesting and unusual combos--Scotty and Sulu!

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

I like Uhura’s nails. They go so well with her communications board. Even her job is stylish.

Oooh, possessed dead mannequin crew member warning the ship that it has been cursed?? Very promising.

Also falling like that was an impressive stunt.

Lol Assistant Chief Engineer Dealle is in charge because the first and second in command are going after the third and fourth in command. What would TNG have to say about that??

According to the Amazon trivia, Uhura was supposed to be the next in command and in charge of the ship in this ep but NBC didn’t want a woman in charge and can I just say that if this is true we were ROBBED.

Oooh mysterious fog.

Chekov and his terrible wig. Should have left him in charge.

Also it’s interesting that this is the first Chekov episode in production order and he’s actually not the navigator. He’s Spock’s backup.

This is like a game of telephone: Chekov tells Desalle to tell Uhura to tell Kirk.

This is a very serious, creepy, mysterious opening in a lot of ways (the dead crewman mystery) but I remember this as more of a goofy, silly episode. (But actually upon having now seen the whole thing... it’s more serious than I remembered in its sci fi concepts! I guess I was just remembering the witches lol.)

Honestly those witches... I guess Macbeth is a pretty big part of Earth Lore lol. I think McCoy is alarmed and unsettled by this while Spock is more intrigued and Kirk just thinks it’s dumb.

I love Kirk’s face when Spock’s only comment is “bad poetry.” Hilarious. Like “I love you but please be more helpful. This is Serious Time not time to play games and fuck with me.”

I really like Kirk in this episode. He’s giving off smart, curious explorer vibes. (Although I will say, with the whole episode down... he is very harsh on the aliens. I mean he lost a man in the opening and so he’s not down to clown but still.. I think he overestimates their hostility some.)

Creepy castle. Trick-or-treating. I want the deleted scene where Kirk explains Trick-or-Treating to Spock.

Kirk looks so frustrated by the cat.

“I’m not that green.” Lol.

What a talented cat actor!! Trot trot trot.

“Bones? I mean...the other Bones?” Maybe a different nickname today. That’s a really underrated joke.

I wish they’d picked up on Spock and put some Vulcan horror in there too. (Although I guess creating horror tropes wasn’t exactly their intention...) I wonder what Vulcan subconscious horror is like.

That was actually a pretty cool transition from the dungeon to the dining room.

Kirk would be more impressed with all this if they hadn’t killed someone. He’s never up for fun and games when someone’s dead. He’s very dubious about all of this, especially the cat.

Hmm, they are not native.

Kirk’s face just screams: “So the cat...is talking...to you?” (Actually you know what, I do think it’s very interesting that Korob can understand Sylvia even when she’s speaking in a different language.)

I bet young Spocks read about wizards and familiars and was super taken with the idea.

I don’t believe for one second that Spock’s thoughts are black and white lol. This decadent bitch? No way.

None of this is Kirk’s interest. Illusions, weird tricks, people who don’t give straight answers. This is not the way to impress him or make him want to help you in any way.

McCoy the jewel expert. These look real!

You like shiny stuff right humans? Pretty crystalline forms for you?? Not in a post-scarcity utopia!

McCoy has just realized this woman IS the cat.

Hmmm, telepathy, like Spock’s?

I want that Enterprise necklace!!

“You do with your minds what we do with tools.”

Lol at Kirk thinking he’s won because he can send another search party. Like... how’d the last search party work out for you?

Mmm, Kirk looking at the necklace. That’s some Acting.

Credits to navy beans.

“An Earthman like yourself...”

These aliens are very interesting. Very, totally alien, as Spock says. This idea that they tried to read the humans’ minds and missed their target is just so cool. Like, they weren’t trying to create a weird Halloween experience, they thought they were creating a familiar home for the aliens. “Oh, a castle, just like home!”

So it sounds like this planet is not that far away from Earth. The aliens are coming closer...

Haha Sylvia says she’s not a puppet but ironically--she is exactly, literally a puppet.

I’m just going to say it: Sylvia is one of the best female characters in TOS. Like should I be insulted that the lady alien went insane and emotional and messed everything up? Probably but I prefer to think of it as her being intrigued and invested in her own power and possibilities and then she goes overboard.

Anyway this is Macbeth whoops

“You torture our specimens.”

So what is their mission??

Hmm, she’s really into Kirk. And he knows just how to manipulate her: telling her she’s not really a woman, she’s not real, then transitioning into Honeypot Mode.

“I can be many women,” she says and just puts on different wigs.

Whoops she found his conscious mind. So much for manipulating her.

And so the familiar becomes the wizard.

This is sad; they could have become friends with the aliens. Korob doesn’t seem so bad.

Big cat!! Really big cat! Not the most terrifying creature at all; the nicest and softest. I'm not convinced that cat is big; I think it's pretty obvious the hallway is just small. However, I like the idea. I wish I had a super big cat to be friends with.

[Cat screams continue]

“Well at least we found them.”

Spock is so unruffled. "Hmmm, this is most unpleasant. If only we had some kind of weapon or something..."

“I got the transmuter. It’s mine now.”

Sylvia is obviously still into him lol.

“Don’t let her touch the wand.” It’s a transmuter Spock have you not been listening?

THE PUPPETS.

Spock wants to study them. Of course he does. And so the specimen becomes the scientist and the scientist the specimen.

...Overall an interesting ep. But I do have some questions. One of those eps that leaves a lot of world bulding unsaid, which leaves room for fun speculation.

So, first, these aliens came from very far away, and now they’re in our galaxy. Mom question if it was an “invasion.” I think so, at least in a neutral sense. But what was their purpose? Why were they traveling to new planets? Do they need something their planet can’t give them? Or are they just exploring for fun/curiosity--as we ourselves do?

Sometimes they’d speak as if they had some greater mission--the references to the old ones, their insistence on getting the humans’ help as if they relied on it, their “tests” like they were looking for something specific--but the actual mission was never stated or even hinted at. So I guess it’s just as possible they were exploring as intelligent beings do, and then found these humans, and came to really like them and just thought the alliance (or possible further study) could be advantageous.

Are these two the only aliens left or are there others back home? I assume there are others but it wasn’t completely clear if the “old ones” were memories or beings with, like, literal oversight.

Also, why were Scotty and Sulu on the planet in the first place? Spock says the planet has never known to have beings on it. So was the Enterprise just like triple checking that or did they have a reason to go down? Did Korob and Sylvia lure them? Because I felt like Kirk's annoyance with them was rather unfounded if his men just invaded their home first. I tend to think that they were in the area and something on the planet attracted them--that the aliens specifically wanted them to come down. That, and the killing of Jackson, would make Kirk’s reaction to them more reasonable.

I’m not saying I don’t have sympathy for the aliens because I definitely do. Like, we would absolutely do the same thing: find the interesting specimens and examine them. These are curious aliens. A lot of what they do seems to be in fun also--providing the humans with a setting they think the humans will like; offering them things; playing around with illusion. Of course then there are hostile actions--like killing Jackson, manipulating Scotty, Sulu, and Bones, and harming the Enterprise. But it’s not entirely clear to me if these are meant to be hostile actions, or if they just don’t see them as that serious--or perhaps, serious but worth it. Also some of it might just be Sylvia going power-mad (like the Enterprise torture, which Korob didn’t like).

I wonder what the aliens were doing on the planet before the Enterprise arrived. Were they in their real forms, or were they creating other illusions? They took these forms (human and cat) from the Enterprise crew’s mind so one would assume they looked different before the Enterprise got there. Were they on their way somewhere else? Could they have already known about Earth, even?

I like these aliens because they really do feel alien. I think that’s very difficult; a lot of sci fi (including Star Trek, often) presents aliens against the bar of humans: how are they different from humans, as opposed to, what are they like? These aliens have some very impressive powers: mind-reading, mental control, shapeshifting, “magic.” But their powers also have limits: they don’t always read minds correctly, for example, and Sylvia is so easily corrupted by her newfound love of sensation. And like I said before, their actions seem erratic and the morality of them hard to parse, perhaps because they’re just operating on a completely different moral plane than people.

Like, why DID they kill Jackson? Did Sylvia do it just because she could? Was it part of the test? Korob says later “you were warned not to come and you came anyway, that shows loyalty,” and the nature of the warning--the curse--was also taken from the horror subconscious. So maybe they thought this is how you communicate with humans, and the idea that killing one of them was so egregious didn’t occur to them, either because they see the humans as specimens, and would no more mourn our deaths than we mourn the deaths of lab rats (or than Kirk et.al. mourned the aliens tbqh), or because they just have a different relationship to death on their planet.

And what was the purpose of taking control of Scotty, Sulu, and Bones? Some of the dialogue implies that control is part of their telepathy--and yet they seem more than capable of reading minds without actually altering what the object of the mind reading does. Do they gain control when they go particularly deep in their interrogations? Why are they interrogating that deeply at all, and what are they STILL looking for after taking control of 3 people?

Another possibility is that they had too many specimens and didn’t know enough about them to feel comfortable letting them all roam free. They were outnumbered 5 to 2. The fewer people who are free, the easier to interrogate them and learn about them--they also use physical restraints at times, and after they try talking to 3 and find it too much, they switch to talking to 1 at a time.

And then finally, as with the killing of Jackson--it might just be something they did because they can. And I have to say, humans would be the same. Like if we had a group of aliens, we’d use the tools at our disposal to corral and restrain them and then learn about them, not necessarily malevolently, but for our own safety and sense of power and control. And some people probably would cross lines. Like, Korob and Sylvia aren’t entirely benevolent OR malevolent. They’re just alien.

The transmuter was very weird. I have to say, it didn’t really make sense. They seemed to use their powers just fine without it most of the time, which is why I’m inclined to think Sylvia wasn’t lying when she said it just magnified their abilities. BUT then why did destroying it destroy all the illusion? It seems pretty obviously just a plot device that would allow the episode to wrap up in an hour.

I’m also confused and intrigued by the line that they used the transmuter to get to the planet. How do you use it to travel?

And...why did they die in the end? If those were their real forms, you’d think being returned to them wouldn’t harm them in any way. And yet they seemed to disintegrate right there. They did seem very delicate and we don’t know what their native planet was like. Perhaps they needed the transmuter/their shape-shifting abilities to survive on this planet at all.

Actually just occurred to me--the transmuter. Maybe their mind reading abilities are inherent but their shape-shifting isn’t. Although that raises the question of how they could have built something so big when they are so small--does the wand itself change shape and size?

One interesting thing about these aliens is that even though they appear as humans without being humans, they are NOT energy beings like a lot of other aliens who shape-shift to human forms. They haven’t transcended to a state beyond teh physical form. Unlike the Organians or the aliens from Return to Tomorrow, there’s no sense that they are purposefully evolving or striving toward being so mentally powerful that they no longer need the body--they do have bodies and they are physical beings, but one of their, imo, inherent powers is this extreme mental capacity, including a version of telepathy and a version of shapeshifting.

The Amazon summary says they are “aliens on a mission of conquest” but I don’t think that’s true.

Anyway idk if I had other thoughts but I’m becoming decreasingly coherent so I think it’s time for bed!

Next up is I, Mudd. I’m not a big Harvery Mudd fan but I seem to remember there were some funny bits in that ep so it should be fun.

[animegenork]

Thoughts on Ivan Chapter 5

And so, here we are. I’m finally doing this.

As a disclaimer: I’m very very very very very very late, and I know that. But I also needed to finish the chapter before having official thoughts on it. (Because that makes sense.)

And now, I can.

I made a Google Doc to write down my reactions each day I played, as I am free 2 play and needed to keep track of this stuff. So here is the entirety of the mess that is my reacting to this chapter. (I’m putting all this under the cut so those who don’t care don’t gotta deal with this.)

TL;DR: Eloise and Ivan both fucked up. Eloise didn’t trust Ivan enough and ended up breaking Ivan’s trust. Now they’re at a bit of a stalemate because valid feeling vs. valid feeling = hella heated argument. [You’ll have to actually read to get the full story behind this.]

There we are. This was about 11 pages in Google Doc form. I had a lot of thoughts about this chapter.

I’m probably going to reference a couple things from this post I did where I dove into Ivan’s head a little bit. If you want to know more, take a read. I, uh... I ended up being really accurate, and I’m still freaked out.

To be clear, I bounced back and forth throughout this chapter on how I felt about Eloise and Ivan’s actions and words. And let me make a defining statement about my stance:

Eloise and Ivan both fucked up.

They did. Don’t try to convince me otherwise.

Eloise

I made a post once wondering why people were mad about Eloise being jealous. Because let’s face it: jealousy exists. I can tell you a story of a coworker of mine whose ex-girlfriend would consistently harangue him about our other coworker simply because she existed in the same room as him. Jealousy is some powerful shit.

Fans of otome games may not like it or want to deal with the past lovers/jealousy trope, but honestly it’s necessary. Romance ain’t a perfect science, and the more obstacles you have to go through to be with the one you love, the better it’ll be. But this post isn’t about that.

I understand Eloise a lot here. She’s met this Constance, who meant the WORLD to Ivan, and she knows how (seemingly) perfect she is. HELL, I WOULD BE INSECURE TOO. Eloise is insecure; she wonders if perhaps she can ever measure up to this past lover that Ivan had. She’s starting to experience feelings she may not quite understand, and that’s perfectly okay.

However, she kinda went about it all wrong.

Okay, sure. If I heard about my crush going and seeing his past lover during the day (risking life and limb to do so), I’d be a little suspicious. Maybe the “stalker” or “obsessed” thought would cross my mind. BUT if I remembered that Ivan was clinging to humanity AND realized that letting someone go who means the world to you is incredibly difficult, I would probably be more rational than Eloise. Honestly, Ivan’s big mistake here is letting Eloise find out about this outings because they poisoned her mind a bit.

Now, she could have asked him, “Okay, but why follow her?” Because that would have made more sense than doing the exact thing she was (mentally) calling him out for. But no. She did the same thing. And she found she was unable to hate this woman who, now remarried, used to completely hold Ivan’s heart.

What really ticks me off is that she did this because she didn’t believe him when he said he doesn’t feel the same way about Constance as he used to. She didn’t trust him enough to take him at his word. I mean, he’s a vampire, so I guess fully trusting him is off the table, even though she was fully admiring his shirtless form like 6 seconds ago (I mean, so was I), but anyway.

In the end, Ivan gets mad (UNDERSTANDABLY), and they argue because Eloise has somehow become a little obsessed with this Constance idea. Do you remember what I said about my coworker? His ex was ALSO obsessed with the idea of someone else in his life. It’s a pretty valid concern, and honestly, considering the way I argue with people, I don’t think Eloise’s freak out during the argument is completely unjustified. When you’re insecure, you are trying your DAMNEDEST to prove that there is merit to your worries.

I really sympathized with Eloise at the end of the chapter. She was convinced she’d ruined whatever it is she has with Ivan and that she should’ve kept her big mouth shut. This is exactly how I feel at the end of really bad arguments.

Poor Eloise. She’s never been in a relationship, right? So of course things would go wrong in the first one. But that doesn’t mean she needs to lose hope!

Ivan

I might get rant-y here. Only because some things people have said have PISSED. ME. OFF. Especially in relation to what I now know. (I’m not about to address the claim that Ivan needs a straitjacket now, but it might come in the future, if my newly-acquired knowledge of the definition of psychopathy has anything to say about it.)

Okay, so. Ivan definitely could have been a little clearer when he explained his relationship with Constance. He certainly could have clarified his exact reasons for going to the Village during the day. But with the bits and pieces I gathered, it was... I don’t know, obvious? When you care for someone as much as Ivan cared for Constance, you’re going to wonder how they’re faring after your sudden disappearance. It’s a thing in fiction where if X Character disappears, they wonder how life back home is going.

That might just be me over analyzing character motivations again. Sorry. (It’s an English/Creative Writing major thing.)

Still, this boy trusted that Eloise would give him space after he dug into this painful wound of his. He trusted that she wouldn’t ask anymore until he was ready to go back to poking it. But instead, she went and investigated on her own. Not only does that speak of her not trusting him, but now, how can he trust her when she did this?

I wanna note that before shit hit the fan (i.e. the argument), Ivan was perfectly content with Eloise visiting him. He was ecstatic that she would come to him so early in the night. When she gave him the plant, he BEAMED! He told her that he didn’t think he deserved to care for something like a plant! HE TOLD HER THAT THE FACT THAT SHE GAVE IT TO HIM MADE IT MORE BEAUTIFUL!

Have I mentioned I was sobbing at this part?

I’m not about to go into the nuances of the Chalice-vampire bond, because not much has been explained about it. However, Eloise did, in fact, say something that was very like Constance (all flower-knowledgeable and such), and the fact that that BRIEF tidbit clued her in to Eloise’s actions is interesting. So, yeah. He gets mad that Eloise went to see Constance in person, because that is, in fact, an invasion of his privacy in many ways. It’s like if I went to see my boyfriend’s ex in person just because he gave me a name. (I don’t have a boyfriend, and I wouldn’t do that. Just by the way.) But before that...

You know what I didn’t see in people’s reactions to Chapter 5? How worried Ivan was about us. He saw that Eloise wasn’t acting like herself. And he asked THREE TIMES (count ‘em in my reactions above, he asked THREE TIMES) if she was okay. The THIRD time, he said, “Did I do something wrong?”

I want someone to explain to me how in the fucking world this clues us in to him not caring about us. But anyway.

This concern, in fact, comes up when Ivan starts yelling at Eloise about being reckless. Because she was. Going too far from Ivan fucks with the Chalice bond, AND she did it during the day (and nearly got burnt real bad), AND there’s a murderer on the loose, AND Vlad could’ve found out. What I think a lot of people looked past was that there was concern behind Ivan’s anger. Anger based on concern is a helluva drug, and Ivan was high on that.

So, Eloise broke Ivan’s trust and endangered herself while doing it. And people are mad at Ivan? Okay. Cool. Good to know.

You know what was really crazy about all of this? A lot of the things Ivan said in this chapter really resonated with the post I linked above. I didn’t actually know Ivan didn’t take change (which had fucked him over in the past) well, but he directly said so. I didn’t actually know for sure that Ivan saw Constance as the embodiment of what he’d lost when he turned vamp, BUT HE ACTUALLY SAID IT (the part labeled, “OH MY GOD. OH. MY. GOD.”). I only vaguely understood that Ivan had a hard time coping with his transformation and feared that he was gonna ruin his relationship with Eloise. And yet! I ended up hitting the nail right on the head! I can’t tell if this means I’m magical or that I’m too good at diving into character’s heads.

The best part is that Ivan is the one to call an end to the shouting match. I’m kinda glad he kissed her, first of all, because there were some logical fallacies and circular arguing going on PLUS all of the emotions both were feeling PLUS the Chalice bond fucking them up a bit, SO it kinda served to tell him, “We gotta stop.” He basically says (and this is a paraphrase), “Okay, you go chill, and I’ll stay here and chill, because we’re both very angry and should probably calm down.” RATIONAL IVAN.

I’m really, REALLY confused why people are bashing him left and right (and I WOULD bring up the straitjacket thing again BUT).

[Side Note: I think at the beginning of Chapter 6, he ended up going out anyway because after an argument like THAT, how do you NOT get stuck in your own head and need to leave?]

Final Thoughts

This could all be bullshit. Even the parts where I directly quote what the English version of this chapter gave me. I could be going in too deep for the sake of defending Ivan. But what the Moonlight Lovers fandom needs to remember is that nobody ever said Ivan’s route was going to be easy. I got my fluff. I got some damn good fluff in this chapter, too. I NEVER expected things to NOT go to shit for the sake of the overarching plot. I expected it. That’s the point of this game, for God’s sake: things go to shit because of [PLOT].

There are two main things I think some people may have forgotten.

1. Eloise is allowed to be jealous. I’m sorry the past-lover-jealousy trope isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but I, personally, find it realistic. Maybe she went about it in the wrong way (although we got some hefty dramarama), but I empathize. I’m hecka insecure; I would be acting very similarly to her.

2. Ivan does, in fact, have a point. He has multiple, actually. I don’t blame him for going further into the “so I would go out to see her-” thing, because how does one properly explain something like that to someone who doesn’t know them that well?!?! Plus, his concern is very clear throughout this chapter, so treating him like he has no emotions/doesn’t give a damn about Eloise is pretty fucking stupid. Perhaps he’s acting rather selfishly most of the time, but do you think Vlad and Bel were entirely selfless 24/7? HELL, I’D BE SELFISH TOO. LOOK HOW FUCKED UP HIS LIFE HAS GOTTEN SINCE HE BECAME A VAMP.

I didn’t really ever plan on doing this post, not until I saw people giving Ivan a lot of shit. Frankly, I’m giving him some shit as well. Considering how close in age Eloise and Ivan are, I’m really not surprised shit hit the fan in this chapter, especially with the decisions both of them made.

But then, I still enjoyed it.

So, yeah. I actually enjoyed this chapter. I was tossed back and forth between empathizing with Eloise and Ivan so much that my conclusion - that both of them had a point and both of them had valid feelings and reactions - was not one I thought I’d make when I went in.

And if anybody else actually happened to find merit in this chapter, don’t be afraid to say so. Hell, you can DM me and tell me EXACTLY why you found merit with it. I don’t mind.

Final Final Thoughts

This is a stupid random thought, but. When did Eloise and Ivan become parts of my psyche incarnate??? Like I empathized with them WAYYYYYY too much. Was this chapter written specifically for me? For a real person who’s felt many of these things before?

Beemoov, did you specifically write Ivan’s route for me? As flattered as I am, this is kinda weird. I didn’t expect to see myself so much in the MC of this game, but here we are.

I’m just bullshitting please no one roast me for having a huge ego it’s just that the coincidence was too uncanny

[bitchynaruto]

Hey, not exactly related to ur fic maybe but I saw ur post about naruto being obsessed with sasuke as a manifestation of his trauma( I saw it the same way too). Do u then think it's like a character flaw that is never actually addressed? Like later on obvio he gets a broader justification as in Indra/Ashura reconciliation being imperative to world peace but if we take out the sog6 path folklore it becomes a repurcussion of his emotional issues. In that light what do u think if a fic where (1/2)

he learns that to "let go" would be a healthier alternative to his growth? In that light him being rewarded w what he wants(sasuke acknowledging him)leaves his issues unaddressed? This is a naruto centric ask like mostly abt his saviour complex/emotional codependency/acknowledgement complex if he isn't a messiah( if u take away the mythological folkore). Sorry if it comes across as stupid if u don't want to answer u can ugnore it( end).

thats a good question because its one that ive been rolling around in my brain, bc in the fuck konoha series i havent like fully comitted to them being reincarnated (even tho i love that trope lol). BUT ITS DEF NOT BORING TO ME AT ALL LOL. i mean part of the reason i started fuck konoha series is because of his unacknowledged flaws along with becoming a bootlicker 

anyway, the short of this answer is i definitely think naruto’s savior/acknowledgement complex and his codependency for sasuke are flaws that are masked as positive traits in the writing! this is one of those situations where the author’s intent/background is imperative to why these choices were made and the direction of the storytelling went the way it did.

my naruto essay is under the cut for further rambling on this subject cause idk how to shut up:

with a well rounded character , a character’s traits can easily be a positive or a negative. for example, naruto’s loyalty is considered generally positive, but the loyalty to the village is less admirable and more negative, considering we know how shitty the village is. his want to save sasuke is noble, until it gets to the point where he’s allowing himself to be a martyr, offering himself to be beat up by karui and sasuke bc hes the only one who can bear the pain and hatred of those two respectively. its the same with sasuke too, his determination is admirable because we can see his hard work, whether it be training or saving a comrade, but it becomes negative when it turns into tunnel vision and he doesnt care who he hurts in the aspect of his goal. its what i love about them, how their flaws and positive traits are really from the same source 

so in canon naruto’s issues regarding the big three as you said, his saviour complex/emotional codependency/acknowledgement complex, is addressed but in the terms of the narrative... it is actually considered positive traits of his. it’s why they’re briefly addressed following the pein invasion, but when it comes to a head at the waterfall of truth scene... naruto swallows it down and instead chooses to consider these things as what the village admires and expects of him.

the positive traits of a hero for konoha AND for naruto and co.:

the village is your home. protect the village over your own blood, bonds, and everything else.

not following the rules makes you scum, but abandoning your friends are worse than scum.

conforming to the village despite its atrocities > rebelling against the village

(abandoning friends is what will lead you into danzo territory, the other 2 is what lands sasuke in villain territory)

but that’s where kishi writes himself into an oxymoron with his themes, and why naruto’s character takes a turn for the worse after the waterfall of truth.

now his choice to continue being the village’s savior is in his own way of ‘letting go’ of all the pain and resentment and hatred he has for the village is seen as a positive trait and positive action, especially when you compare sasuke’s want vengeance and retribution for his clan. sasuke’s set up to be the antagonist, the opposite of naruto. if sasuke hates, naruto forgives. where sasuke refuses to forget, naruto insists on him AND sasuke ignoring their pain for the sake of the village (i.e. the greater good). 

the thing is... at a narrative standpoint, i understand why naruto makes this choice. its not really surprising. honestly narutos choice of swallowing his anger for the sake of the village or rejecting the village and following a path more similar to sasuke had both been set up in regards to kishi’s writing

to anyone with a brain and who isnt a nationalist, we actually see narutos choices as kinda horrific and impeding on his mental health. we see these as flaws, naturally. but to kishi, naruto’s choice is the ultimate one of sacrifice and heroism. turning the other cheek. it’s why sasuke’s redemption includes him allowing for naruto, kakashi, and the rest of the konoha to bury the truth of the uchiha massacre, for the sake of the village. a parallel to naruto accepting what the village has done to him for the sake of the village.

naruto is the hero, so he must forgive. sasuke is the villain, so he wants revenge. where sasuke cuts off bonds, naruto chases after him at the expense of himself. sasuke, according to the series, is selfish, whereas naruto is selfless. ultimately as a protagonist, naruto is given a choice between saving the village and saving sasuke. kishi lets naruto get out of that choice by allowing him to choose the village and sasuke

(which, ultimately, is seen as good. considering sasuke’s the ‘villain’, hes the one whos going to suffer from this decision i.e. no justice for his clan, not naruto, who gets to become hokage and have his best friend back)

so kishi’s plan is just to ignore the acknowledgement issues as a flaw and instead of like... growing past the need for acknowledgement, he gives naruto the acknowledgement from the villagers as a reward for his heroism. instead of dealing with the savior complex, he writes naruto as a messiah, so of course hes going to be self sacrificing for the sake of others! instead of dealing with narutos codependency and how  that negatively affects not only him, but sasuke (not in the way most sasuke stans say, i.e. not thinking of sasuke as a person. wanting to control him, etc. but in the way of.. sasuke give up your anger like me and return to the village, lets move on together), sasuke gives into the forgetting and forgiving aspect naruto falls into in the waterfall of truth. 

anyway tldr; to answer your question i definitely think these are flaws that are never addressed but instead are disguised as narutos positive aspects in regards to the narrative and direction kishi went in. allowing naruto to grow past these would’ve made a more compelling and less depressing arc than the one we got. but ultimately it falls into kishis themes of the village > everything

[thatgoddamnflipphone]

Steve/Tony Fic Rec List Part 1 - MCU Canonverse

Over 70 fic below the cut -- some in the middle still need summaries I will add over time.

These are listed in approximately the order I read them, so mostly random.

(MCU Verse. Comics Verses. Semi-Canon AUs. Full AUs. Post-IW. Still to come: a crapload of under 10k fic! To see the whole list as a Google Doc, go to tinyurl.com/streclist)

LAST EDIT: 8/30/19 - NEW FIC MARKED WITH ~

Guys and Bots by Scaramouche (@no-gorms). Follows the movies with the difference that they kiss at the end of AoU. Series with a hopeful ending (hey it’s CW it can’t be ALL happy). 32k https://archiveofourown.org/series/727023

Gained in Translation by Scaramouche (@no-gorms) . Short getting together fic between TWS & AoU. 11k https://archiveofourown.org/works/14020488

The Last Love Song of Anthony E. Stark by Jibrailis. Tony is infected with an Asgardian disease that causes slow memory loss. They travel to Asgard for a cure while he slowly forgets who and where he is. ANGST. 42k https://archiveofourown.org/works/349478

The Act of Creation Will Be Your Salvation by @scifigrl47. This is the first in a looooong series, the whole thing is pretty great but if you’re not into kidfic you can just read this first one, it’s self contained and phenomenal. Follows Tony from when he first creates Dummy through Avengers and beyond, focusing on his relationship with his bots (and then of course Steve). You WILL cry about robots. 85k https://archiveofourown.org/works/401961/chapters/662516

Four (Or Five) Reasons for Kidnapping Tony Stark by @scifigrl47. Also part of a long series, you can read the first two also but this is where it really picks up and she really gets a feel for the characters. Kidnapping! (Fairly mild) Torture! Tony being brilliant! Pining! Presumed dead! It’s tagged pre-slash but there is smooching so it’s really not. 78k https://archiveofourown.org/works/391599/chapters/642784

Sixpence In His Shoe by @scifigrl47. (Yes this is the same author again, get used to it I am a completionist and read everything.) This is one of the BEST accidental marriage fics I’ve read, omg. This ship is complicated by the fact that they are FAMOUS, so fake or accidental marriages have far reaching consequences that are fascinating to explore. This hits all my sweet spots. 103k https://archiveofourown.org/works/11443803/chapters/25647162

Lessons on how to be Worthwhile by @pensversusswords A beautiful Tony character study, hurt/comfort. 19k https://archiveofourown.org/works/2306576/chapters/5075171

Truth Behind Masks by @scifigrl47 MCU/comics fusion where Tony takes Coulson up on the “bodyguard” alibi at the end of IM1. The team thinks Tony & Iron Man are sleeping together, while Steve, of course, is falling in love with “both” of them. I adore Sam in this, there’s a scene with him and Steve that makes me cry every time. 98k https://archiveofourown.org/works/1523327/chapters/3221816

Christmas Holiday by @scifigrl47 A proposal, wedding, honeymoon fic where literally everything goes wrong in hilarious ways. Cracky but amazing. 19k https://archiveofourown.org/works/5474990

My Lost City by elise_509 42k https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008115/chapters/1999662

In the Stillness of Remembering by elise_509 A fandom classic. Just read it. 70k https://archiveofourown.org/works/557155/chapters/993923

As Sharp As Any Thorn by RurouniHime (@thegertie) Holy shit this fic. The angst is THROUGH the ROOF I had to stop reading a few times but damn it’s good (and happy ending!). Basically someone hacks Tony’s suit while he’s in it, causing him to attack the team and almost-fatally injure Steve. Steve spends a good bit of the fic in a coma and they don’t know if he’ll make it, while the public calls for Iron Man’s head, and Tony can’t get the memory of beating Steve out of his head. Damn. So good. 47k https://archiveofourown.org/works/725234 

With Words Other Than These by RurouniHime (@thegertie) Post-mission adrenaline fueled comfort sex. Yes please. 14k https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012230

When Our Day Comes by @thepartyresponsible Ok this is super short but HILARIOUS so if you need something to read after some of the above angst … 6k https://archiveofourown.org/works/14764490

Evening Comfort by ann2who (@stark-spangled-lovers)  Steve & Tony run into each other at a gay bar, decide to roll with it and pretend they are strangers. 21k https://archiveofourown.org/works/4734002/chapters/10819700

A New Way For Us by ann2who  (@stark-spangled-lovers) TIME TRAVEL SHENANIGANS Strange sends Tony back in time to try and fix things before Thanos, prevent Civil War, etc.  24k https://archiveofourown.org/works/9825590/chapters/22062992

Serenity Oasis by @festiveferret Omggggggg. So they wake up at a couples resort with amnesia. Are they undercover? Did they get married for real? We Just Don’t Know, and neither do they! 20k https://archiveofourown.org/works/13147377/chapters/30070665

(what is hate) but jilted love by LemonGrenade Post-Civil War Fix-it, Tony is injured and recovering away from it all in a cabin. Enter the Snowed In In A Canadian Shack trope! 27k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15344694

Flower Child by @itsallavengers Tony overcoming toxic programming from Howard, learning to be soft, oh and Steve punches Howard when he shows up in the future so. That’s really all I needed to love this. 24k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15399303

Lost Together by @festiveferret A fun take on the soulmate mark trope - Steve & Tony end up in an alternate universe with soulmate marks, and have to both hide that they don’t have them and pretend to be a couple because Reasons. Tropey goodness! 68k https://archiveofourown.org/works/12282594/chapters/27918672

More Than the Average Good by @royal-chandler Tony is the one to find Steve after Bucky pulls him out of the river in TWS. He convinces Steve to come back to the Tower with him, where they grow closer but eventually the truth about Tony’s parents needs to come out. 16k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15219425

Guessing Game by @itsallavengers Sort of an ambiguous universe but it’s close enough to MCU. Tony wakes up not remembering the last 24 hours, with a hole in his leg, and Steve carrying him through underground tunnels to escape a Skrull invasion. But is it really Steve? 21k https://archiveofourown.org/works/12746256

Butterfly Dreams by Teyke This fic is a mind fuck with a happy ending. Steve is switching between two universes every time he falls asleep - in one, it’s post-CW and Tony is missing. In the other, Steve & Tony are on their honeymoon. Each feels real - which one is? 38k https://archiveofourown.org/works/8677540

Semaphore by DevilDoll "I’m trying to like you, Tony. You’re just making it very hard." 40k https://archiveofourown.org/works/314102/chapters/503103

All the Time in the World by missbecky (@missbeckywrites) Post-TWS, Steve’s team needs a place to land and end up at the Tower. When Steve & Tony quickly grow close, a stalker gets very irate. 38k https://archiveofourown.org/works/2646503

To the Victor by @thegraytigress OH BOY. Steve “dies” on a mission. Tony is certain he’s still alive - is he in denial? Everyone else thinks so. Hmm. BRING ON THE ANGST. 242k https://archiveofourown.org/works/8162986/chapters/18705922

The Trial Run by scaramouche (@no-gorms) 14k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15027899

Fix You by @thegraytigress 74k https://archiveofourown.org/works/5900494/chapters/13602163

Shiver by @thegraytigress 54k https://archiveofourown.org/works/10868364

Equivalence by @thegraytigress 28k https://archiveofourown.org/works/7312558

Falling Into You by @sabrecmc Fuck buddies until Steve loses his memory (yay Loki), Tony doesn’t tell Steve about their “arrangement.” Then feelings happen. 53k https://archiveofourown.org/works/3731302/chapters/8269387

I wanted to fix this (but couldn't stop from tearing it down) by @missbeckywrites 51k https://archiveofourown.org/works/529127

Better Angels/Lesser Demons by @sabrecmc A CW fix-it where Peggy leaves some home videos for Steve in her will. 34k https://archiveofourown.org/series/891720

Good For You by @orbingarrow “Steve doesn't understand why Tony dates people who abuse him. Tony doesn't understand why Steve cares.The rest is bad choices, good choices, rehab, milkshakes, paintball, YouTube videos, couples therapy and learning to put the past in the past. Or: How Tony finds his happy ending.” 42k https://archiveofourown.org/works/6093591

Into Words by @dirigibleplumbing 32k https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817710

I Am With You by @dirigibleplumbing Steve tries to adjust to life in the 21st century, with the help of his new team/family, and especially Tony. Great Steve character stuff. 25k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15166046

Never for the Dragon by @ladyshadowdrake (MCU/616 fusion) READ THE TAGS you will definitely cry. Like really seriously full on sobs. But it’s extremely worth it. 89k https://archiveofourown.org/works/7120420

Tensile Strength by sahiya 21k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15779712

all warm-blooded creatures by nanasekei (@elcorhamletlive) “From a very early age, Steve Rogers was aware that he was going to die of cold.” 13k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15196187

Hating Steve Rogers by nanasekei (@elcorhamletlive) I loooove fic where post-Avengers Tony goes from a lifetime of hate and resentment towards Captain America to falling in love with Steve Rogers. 16k https://archiveofourown.org/works/14813219

'Til Death Do Us Part by @itsallavengers Steve has to fake his death on a mission. SHIELD “forgets” to tell his husband. 15k https://archiveofourown.org/works/15905544

Home Is Where the Time Machine Is by @wordsplat There is NOT ENOUGH of this trope in this fandom! Steve & Tony’s daughter from the future shows up, tries not to spill the beans about them getting together. 23k https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030540

Stay With Me (home is where your mind is.) by sara_holmes (@captn-sara-holmes) 67k https://archiveofourown.org/works/1246060

Bond Has It Covered by sara_holmes 66k https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104870

Counterpart by sara_holmes 217k https://archiveofourown.org/works/1659452

when i run out of road, you bring me home by quidhitch 18k https://archiveofourown.org/works/16153091

Over Sea, Under Stars by vorkosigan 36k https://archiveofourown.org/works/8635870

Unintended by sheron 37k https://archiveofourown.org/works/13446870

i found a way to let you in, but i never really had a doubt by quidhitch 16k https://archiveofourown.org/series/1191442

In Your Warmth I Forget How Cold It Can Be by izazov 29k https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137222

In Dreams (Everything Makes Sense) by msermesth 42k https://archiveofourown.org/works/9924365

Die Hard (But Only If No Other Options Are Readily Available) by JenTheSweetie 24k https://archiveofourown.org/works/4702037

Things We Learned at the End of the World by JenTheSweetie 13k https://archiveofourown.org/works/14867777

An Infinite Number Of Monkeys At Typewriters (Or, Steve and Tony Finally Get It Right) by JenTheSweetie 19k https://archiveofourown.org/works/8310553

More Than Gravity by JenTheSweetie 21k https://archiveofourown.org/works/5502959

Of Things Lost in Time by erde Post-IW Steve gets caught in an AoU groundhog day ahhhhh! 16k https://archiveofourown.org/works/17217959

Love's Such an Old-Fashioned Word by scaramouche 11k https://archiveofourown.org/works/17344631

Never Eye To Eye by vorkosigan 26k https://archiveofourown.org/works/8776729

Of Books and Memories and Snow by vorkosigan 22K https://archiveofourown.org/works/10876335

Lost in Transcription by Veldeia Cool science-based canonverse soulmate AU - science has recently discovered genetic markers for soulmates. Uh oh. 25k. https://archiveofourown.org/works/13982646 

And The Void Would Be Calling. by jadedoll 17k https://archiveofourown.org/works/387387

Sticky Business by OftheLilies 19k https://archiveofourown.org/works/12976434

All These Half-Tones of the Soul by nostalgicatsea Angsty retelling of canon as a soulmate au. 23k https://archiveofourown.org/series/994596

Overhaul by Annie D (scaramouche) 19k https://archiveofourown.org/works/17846375

Northwest to Nowhere by Veldeia 17k https://archiveofourown.org/works/5456477

Untapped Opportunities by Serinah The classic “they meet on a cybersex site but don’t know who they are talking to” with lots of fluff, angst, and porn. BDSM. 62k https://archiveofourown.org/works/16106627

the things we invent when we are scared by nanasekei 18k https://archiveofourown.org/works/17946077

Resistance by thegraytigress The worldbuilding and OCs are amazing in this, but mind the tags - loooots of torture and hurt/comfort. 426k (no that’s not a typo lol) https://archiveofourown.org/works/7469145/chapters/16973895

Symmetry Breaking by scaramouche (@no-gorms) I probably have this down with EG fics too, but it mostly belongs up here. Takes place in the branched 2012 timeline where Loki took the Tesseract. I want a million fics in this universe! 10k https://archiveofourown.org/works/18627655

The Butterfly Effect by @itsallavengers Same as above, 2012 branched timeline. YES MORE PLEASE! 20k https://archiveofourown.org/works/18617755

To Have My Time Again... by @wilmakins A post-CW rewrite of Infinity War, including accidentally dragging Howard forward in time, and addressing Steve choosing between the past and the future in a much more in-character way than EG did <cough>. 166k https://archiveofourown.org/works/16654939

Name Recognition by OscarTheSlouch Steve wants to take Tony’s last name. Tony has a bunch of hangups about it. Featuring sad baby Tony flashbacks! 14k https://archiveofourown.org/works/11690337

Even the Light is an Illusion by Mizzy This is technically MCU, but was written very early so borrows a lot of characters and canon from 616. Tony has to fake his death for reasons, angst ensues. 102k https://archiveofourown.org/works/507292

Though Your Face Is Lovely by @chibisquirt Noir!Tony ends up in MCU!verse. Cue jumping into bed with Steve and MCU!Tony extreme jealousy! MCU SteveTony is endgame. 14k https://archiveofourown.org/works/10930653

He Knows More Than You Do by ChibiSquirt Pretty much 35k of cracky porn with feelings. A lot of medical kink stuff, pay attention to tags. 35k https://archiveofourown.org/works/11683599

If the Words Are True by @msermesth Someone leaks old love letters from Steve to another man to the press. Tony helps deal with the aftermath. 10k https://archiveofourown.org/works/11249832

For the Wheel's Still in Spin by Arukou A retelling of early canon, Steve’s months after getting thawed and the Battle of NY, and how the Avengers slowly became a team. 57k https://archiveofourown.org/works/2680208

Binary System by scaramouche 13k https://archiveofourown.org/works/19077304

In a Different Light by marinarusalka 20k https://archiveofourown.org/works/542966

Here's Looking At You by mariana_oconnor I love post-Avengers Tony learning to see Steve for who he really is, and not just the hero from history. 12k https://archiveofourown.org/works/19349692

Fireside ‘verse by @gotthesilver A very real and human look at a post-Endgame world where Steve & Tony can’t quit each other, but Tony still has a family. Love is complicated and messy. 29k https://archiveofourown.org/series/1429378

we must love one another and die by @theappleppielifestyle Tony realizes Steve was frozen when Lord of the Rings came out, leading to mutual bonding, book club, and lots of Frodo-related Steve feels. Don’t miss this one, it’s phenomenal. 14k https://archiveofourown.org/works/20168623

~Playing the part (remix) by nanasekei (@elcorhamletlive) A fake marriage post-CW fix-it? Sign me the fuck up! 10k https://archiveofourown.org/works/20330893

~All the Love You Hold and Hide by Mireille Fuck-or-Die trope with feeeeeelings! 17k https://archiveofourown.org/works/14402436

[virginlimbs]

On the film “Us” by Andrew Haworth

Us is the greatest movie of the decade and I have seen it five times so I figured I owed it a review.

When I saw Get Out, my audience was quiet and disturbed the entire runtime but cheered at the end. Us had people jumping and laughing the whole time, but when it got to the end: silence.

My sister turned to us and said, “I loved it until the ending.” I wasn’t sure what to think. The ending hit me like such a freight train that I was in denial. There was no way they were switched, that didn’t make any sense.

We talked for an hour outside the theater unpacking the implications of the ending. As we talked, we realized the ending not only worked, it made the movie even better.

The movie begged me to watch it again, and I obliged. I went to a different theater and saw it in Dolby Prime and told the person next to me to stop talking. I was not fucking around. This movie was a powerful object and it demanded respect and thought and patience.

Details that were cloudy the first time came into horrifying light on a rewatch. Red’s opening monologue, which at first seemed like scary gibberish, was now full of pathos and horror. I had seen what it was like down there. I knew the rules of the world. And now I had to picture a fully conscious woman performing her own C-section.

I saw the movie twice more in theaters. I was so drawn to it, like we were te-(glottal swallow)-ethered together. The week of its release, it was all I talked about with people. “Have you seen Us?” “It’s about capitalism.” “No, that theory’s bullshit.” There were people who were as shaken as I was, and as overjoyed that a movie this powerful and exciting and thought-provoking could exist and be released and make a bunch of money. And then there were people who wondered why there was an escalator in an amusement park.

None of their hole-poking diminished my enthusiasm for the movie. I knew I was being tested by God *looks up and cries* and it was their loss. But it was a frustrating and thankless task to try to convince them otherwise. We had seen the same movie. Unpacked the same ending. But they were hung up on details, questions left unanswered. They felt the movie was pretentious, alienating, and implied they were dumb for not getting it.

Us would only be condescending if it explained its world in full. Like Star Wars, it is so steeped in such a rich mythology that if you get on its wavelength, you will not worry about why certain things in the background are not explained. You will want to watch it again and again to figure it out, and the mystery will excite you. Us is ambiguous about certain things, but not others. The characters are clear. The family dynamic is clear. And the message is clear. For every “us”, there’s a “them”.

I get it. Us either REALLY works for you or it doesn’t. And I have no interest in trying to convince naysayers. I have a lot more fun talking with people who actually liked it. But when I turned it on this fifth time, wanting something I’d seen before as I digested a pint of ice cream after a long day of work, I was under its spell once more. And I couldn’t just sit there and let it wash over me. Every shot was full of meaning or an interesting idea and they bubbled up in my head until the idea of a relaxing evening was out the window and I was frantically taking notes on my phone. I’ve read a lot of articles about this movie. I’m in no way an expert, but I have a lot of thoughts about it and a lot of enthusiasm for it. It moves me and brings me so much joy and reminds me why I fell in love with making and watching movies.

On a technical level, it’s unsurpassable. Shots are poetic but never flashy, always in service of a story beat or character reveal. The shot compositions are in the tradition of classic Japanese movies, and the final shot even mirrors the ending of the great Sansho the Baillif (which I saw yesterday for the first time.)

There is not a score that is quite like the one in Us. The music feels like it has been around since the beginning of time. And the I Got Five on It remix? Come on.

I love every performance so much. Everyone understands their character so well. Everyone feels like a family member. You feel every awkward moment, every victory, every horrified stare. And Lupita Nyong’o gives the greatest performance(s) of all time.

The script is generous with its humor and its horror. And in any other movie, all of this would be plenty to make an enjoyable ride. But Us gives you so much more, so much you didn’t realize you needed. I’ll do my best to tie all of this together, but here’s what I noticed this time around.

Chronologically, Red and Adelaide meet as children. The tethered chokes her, pulls her down, handcuffs her to the bed, and waits for her to wake up so she can give an evil grin and rub it in her face that she gets to leave. This is not a quick, desperate act to get what she wants. It is malicious and sadistic.

Now Adelaide’s got a family. But she feels scared and maybe a little guilty, like most people who’ve committed a crime and have to keep running. She can only express this in half-truths to her husband, how she’s worried the “mirror girl” might come back. On our second viewing, we realize she’d be coming back for revenge.

Red’s parents were very lax with her which allowed her to wander off. Adelaide is protective and paranoid, like a drug dealer or the Irishman, someone who cannot enjoy to the fullest what she has fought so hard to win because she knows what’s out there. She knows what could happen to Jason if he gets curious about that funhouse.

Enter Red. Adelaide’s worst nightmare. The girl she trapped down there finally found a way out, and she’s pissed. She moves like a ballerina, calculated and efficient.

The Wilson family dynamic is so well expressed through their actions and teamwork and love for each other in this scene. Adelaide grabs her kids, yanking them out of frame away from their tethereds, keeping them safe. She cares so much for them and just wants to survive.

In comparison, Red is unfeeling and sadistic. Her husband and children are her pets. She has trained them like dogs to move at her command: a horrifying hand gesture and clicking of the tongue. She even pets Pluto as he stands on all fours by the fire. They are tools, like scissors.

She hates her family because they are not her choice. They are horrifying reminders of the world she was dragged down into. And Adelaide’s family is a reminder of what she could’ve had, so she resents them as well. She doesn’t care if they die, she doesn’t see them as surrogate children, they are a “fuck you.”

But her outlook makes total sense. She was taken from her normal world and trapped in a nightmare. Forced to have sex, give birth, mimic the privileged actions of the girl up above with whatever surrogate was available underground.

“The shadow hated the girl.”

Gabe interrupts her monologue. He thinks we’re still in a weird home invasion movie. These are random dopplegangers, the only ones, and they’re just crazy. But Adelaide knew this was going to happen all along.

“You want ME, right?”

The family is split up to fend for themselves. But apart from Red, the other tethereds are just under orders from up top. They have no personal stake in this, they just like killing. Red is the only one who has a score to settle. She wants to take her time, rub it in Adelaide’s face just like it was rubbed in hers.

Jason realizes early on in the closet that he can control Pluto, but Pluto cannot control him. Pluto has to move Jason’s arms up and down physically to mirror his. This is frustrating for Pluto. Jason saves this information for later.

Everyone escapes their tethereds, for now. They hop on the boat, their previous laughing stock, now their life raft, and head to the only other house they know. As the boat drives away, Jason is the one we hold on as Red stares at him. She is getting the idea to kidnap him to lure Adelaide to her. This is the advantage she has over Adelaide, how untethered she is to emotional baggage. Jason is just a tool for her to manipulate how much Adelaide cares for her children.

“They look like us.”

“They don’t even know that yet.”

Earlier in the film, Adelaide tells Zora to turn her phone off and go to bed. Zora waits for her mom to leave the room to secretly use her phone under the covers. Later, when Adelaide needs Zora’s phone to call the police, Zora pretends like she doesn’t have it to avoid getting in trouble, but Adelaide knows she does. Adelaide’s not dumb, she’s just a mom stuck between trying to raise her kid well and letting her have fun. These are sweet games we play with our parents and the subtext is “I love you.”

The white family, on the other hand, is full of hate. Their kids do not play these cute games. “Just because we’re in our rooms doesn’t mean we’re sleeping.” They are filthy rich with a backup generator and they are miserable and they die the quickest. This, even more so than Get Out, is perhaps Jordan Peele’s ultimate comment on white horror films. Their characters last for less than ten minutes while the Wilsons survive the whole movie. And when Elisabeth Moss asks Ophelia to call the police and it plays “Fuck Da Police” as her tethered slits her throat, it’s a master filmmaker taking back years of stereotypes and tropes, stomping on them and proclaiming that there is a new era of horror underway, horror so full of ideas that you (like me) will have to watch the movies 5 times.

The murder of the white family is the most hardcore scene in any horror movie of the decade. It is truly shocking how matter of fact it is.

The Wilsons arrive and Adelaide is taken captive. The kids go in to save their mom.

Jason puts on his mask as he grabs a weapon to make his first kill as if that will absolve him of what he is about to do, rather than accepting his ability to kill as part of himself. Zora, not wearing a mask, rolls her eyes. She’s accepting who she is. Jason immediately removes his mask after killing Elisabeth Moss.

Jason watches Zora kill the second twin and beat her way past being dead. She is her mother’s daughter. Jason’s arc is beginning to illuminate: he is slowly noticing how violent his family is. Could that be inside him as well?

“We’re Americans.”

Weapons used in the film:

Golf club

Baseball Bat

Flare gun

Scissors

Boat motor

Geode

The stick you use to move logs in fire

Once they’re in the fancy house, Gabe wants to settle down. They’ve made it. But Adelaide knows they have to keep running. Capitalism! But everyone’s excited to drive the fancy car.

Jason sees his mom kill one of the twins.

Umbrae hops on the car and Zora slams on the breaks, sending her flying into the trees. Adelaide leaves under the guise of making sure she’s dead. But when she sees defenseless Umbrae, hanging upside down from a tree, laughing but clearly bleeding to death, Adelaide does nothing.

She sees herself in Umbrae, ruthless, doing anything to survive and get ahead. But she also sees the daughter she would’ve had if she had stayed down there. This is also why she’s so upset about Pluto dying. They are all her children. She has grown up and matured in real society with real parents. She is a mother and her heart is full. But Red has the heart and mind and priorities of a 9 year old. She doesn’t want kids. She wants parents.

Jason backing up to kill Pluto is like in the Matrix Revolutions when it’s revealed that Neo has powers outside of the Matrix. It is a great, haunting, ambiguous moment that I’m sure made a lot of people frustrated in the theater, just like the Matrix Revolutions.

Then Red naps him. Her gamble worked, and Adelaide was distracted by caring about all these kids.

Adelaide goes after him. The shot on the beach when she sees the line for the first time? COME ON!!!

Us is very biblical. Abraham. 11:11. “God is testing me.” Jason holding up his arms like Jesus on the cross as he backs Pluto into the fire. Red becoming a religious figure to the tethereds. Red has CREATED a mythology for the tethered, but of course neither her nor Adelaide know what really created them. Humans play God in her theory about government experiments. And “God brought us together that night.”

Adelaide has spent her whole life trying to forget the tunnels. Red has been forced to spend her life trying to make sense of it. Her social learning ended at 9 years old. Her theories about government experiments seem based on sci fi movies she probably caught on TV as a kid, right before she was pulled down there.

No one was there to guide her. She became tethered long after the “experiment” had been abandoned. She believes in God because her parents probably took her to church and she’s latching onto any explanation. But the situation is unexplainable. Does it matter if it’s a government experiment? There are many aspects of the film that imply it might be supernatural. We can only see it how she sees it: God testing her as she becomes the savior of the tethereds.

But the important detail she skips past because she really doesn’t have any proof of it until this past night is that the tethereds are not monsters. They are products of a nightmarish environment. If given a chance in society, they can learn to talk and function normally and dance. The film doesn’t even imply that there is a good twin or a bad twin. Both are capable of violence and vulnerability.

Red steals the word “tethered” from the Hands Across America commercial at the beginning.

Cutting between the tethered stuff mirroring the above ground stuff? Pure cinema. Get the fuck out of here. Adelaide having a whole stage to dance on while Red is forced to run into walls is the perfect visual metaphor for every idea the movie is throwing at you.

“If it weren’t for you I never would’ve danced at all.”

Red hugs Adelaide as she plunges the stick into her.

You are forced to remember Red has the mind of a nine year old as she whistles a mouth-full-of-blood rendition of itsy bitsy spider. Then Adelaide strangles her to death.

Adelaide laughs with relief when Red is dead because now she is free to enjoy the life she had always imagined without looking over her shoulder. Their tethereds are all dead. Jason can run free.

“The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout

Down came the rain and washed the spider out”

Jason puts on the mask at the end, keeping Adelaide’s secret. He’s horrified by the realization about his mother. Earlier she told him, “Stick with me and I’ll keep you safe.” Now she smiles. They’re driving through a post apocalyptic wasteland. He doesn’t really have a choice. He’s sticking with her.

[soflsms]

hey sweaties , its ya  boi  skinny penis  chloe  :-)  under  the  cut  are  a  bunch  of  wcs  i  want  filled  asap  rocky  so  !!  give  this  a  like  &  ill  come  pester  you  or  its  easier  for  the  BOTH  of  us  if  u  come  msg  me  if  you  see  something  u  like  :-)  I'm  going  to  sleep  now  bc  im  #dying  from  this  dumb  a$$  #polisci  paper  #prayforchloe

SONG-BASED

come  out  &  play  !!  this  person  acts  as  a  good  influence  to  sofie  .  they’re  level - headed  &  very  grounding  ,  & sofie  doesn’t  let  it  show  but  they’re  really  important  to  her  .  this  is  the  Softest  billie  song  (  prob  bc  it  was  for  an  ad skdj )  &  they  inspired  it  bc  it’s  how  she  feels  when  shes with  them  .  they  encourage  her  to  be  all  that  she  can  be   &  they  believe  in  her  ,  &  they’re  prob  the  one  person  sofie  trusts  the  most  which  is  SAYING  something !!

* LOVELY  !!  -  i  need  a  male  voice  for  khalid’s  part  in  lovely  bc  i  need  this  song  in  my  life  bc  its  a  whole  ass   sofie  mood  ok  .

* WHEN  THE  PARTY’S  OVER  !! - these  two have  been  hooking  up  for  a  while  no  strings  attached  but  recently  feelings  have  been  caught  !!&  now  they  still  hook  up  quite  often  but  sofie’s  kinda  harboring  feelings &  pretending  all  is  well  but  she  rly  hopes  they’ll  just  stay  the  night  from  time  to  time  ,  &  gets  secretly  heartbroken  when  she  sees  them  flirting  or  leaving  with  someone  else  . they  can  also  have  feelings  if  u  want  that  angst :~) TAKEN

*** ilomilo  !!  okokok  so  !! sof  &  this  person  were  dating  when  they  were  still  kinda  up &  coming  &  it  was  all  good  at  the  start  but  once  they  started  gaining  more  fame  she  noticed  them  becoming  more  distant  and  infatuated  with  the  spotlight  &  a  listers  .  &  she  acted  like  it  was  all  good  for  a  while  ,  just  smiling  through  it  but  would  go  home  early  from  events  alone  &  stuff  &  feel  lonelier  than  ever  when  she  was  with  them  but  their  mind  was  on  other  celebs  or  their  public  image  or  smth  .  eventually they  just  kinda  mutually broke  up  bc  they  both  realized  they  weren’t  in  love  anymore  &  she  def  still holds  a grudge  towards  them  even  if  they  agreed  they’d  be  friends  after  the  break up  . (  lyrics: remember not to get too close to stars they're never gonna give you love like ours. where did you go? i should know, but it's cold and i don't wanna be lonely so tell me you’ll come home , even if its just a lie  )

*** MY BOY ( HIGH SCHOOL BF ) !! - ok  tea  this  song  is  the  one  that  broke  her  into  the  industry  .  she  produced  it  all  herself  &  just  relased  it  to  her  soundcloud  thinking  it  wouldn’t  rly  go  anyway  but  !!  joke’s  on  yung sofie  .  essentially  he  thought  the  relationship  was  going  well  ,  she’d  met  his  family  &  they  rly  liked  her  but  !! sof  was  feeling  kinda  smothered  &  told  herself  he  was  lying &  cheating  on  her  n  shit  so  she  wrote  a  song  about  it  !! &  once  it  was  starting  to  get  attention  he  was  like  ….. uhhh  what  the  fuck  & she  was  like  haha  sorry  !! so  they  broke  up  &  ever  since  its  been  animosity ,  but  she  realizes  she  fucked  up  but  it  launched  her  career  so  she  doesn’t  know  whether  to  keep  up  the  idgaf  i  hurt  you  or  apologize  .  

***mutual  dislike  /  COPYCAT  !!  self - explanatory  ,  sofie  thinks  this  person  is  copying  her  in  everything  she  does  &  thinks  its  annoying  af  so  she  wrote  a  song  abt  it  &  hopes  they  indirectly  get  the  message  even  if  she  drops  not  so  subtle  hints  .  skfldjh  itd  be  messy  pls !!

*** 8 !! - someone  who  kinda  reluctantly  got  into  a  relationship  with  sofie  out  of  maybe  a  desire  to  save  her  from  herself  ?? like  u  know  that  good  girl  bad  boy  trope  where  the  girl  tries  to  save  the  boy  from  whatever  he’s  struggling  with  ? that’s  them  but  the  roles  are  just  reversed  -  good  guy  ,  bad  girl  .  it  was  kinda  just  filled  w  her  being  self - destructive  &  confiding  in  him  but  not  rly  reciprocating  the  care  so  he  became  kinda  distant  bc  of  it  .  tbh  she  prob  knew  he  was  too  good  for  her  but  had  a sliver  of  hope  he  wouldn’t  leave  her  even  tho  eventually  she  became  too  much  for  him  . (  lyrics : you said, “don’t treat me badly”, but you said it so sadly, so I did the best I could, not thinkin’ you would have left me gladly. i know you’re not sorry, why should you be? 'cause who am I to be in love, when your love never is for me?” ) TAKEN

FRIENDSHIP

the  paris  to  her  nicole  !! -  ok  i  f*cking  hate  that  i  said  this  but  she’s  nicole  richie  its  true  !! she  needs  a  messy  gal  pal  exactly  like  how  paris  &  nicole  are  i  stan  them  (  X  ,  X  ,  X  ) TAKEN

* roommate  !!  -  bc  of  her  abandonment  issues  she  rly  doesn’t  like  living  alone  so  prob  is  the  roomie  who  will  sleep  in  their  bed  from  time  to  time  bc  she  doesn’t  like  being  totally  alone  .  TAKEN

party  buddies  !! -  someone  who  encourages  sofies  wild  ways  .  when  the  two  get  together  its  usually  to  get  drunk  or  high  &  thats  the  way  they  like  it  .  sofie  doesn’t  feel  judged  by  them  as  she  does  by  others  who  don’t  get  obliterated  at  every  social  event  (  what  an  idea  !!  )  so  she  rly  values  them  ,  even  if  she  doesn’t  express  it

good influence  !! this  person  can  tell  that  her  beahvior  is  unhealthy  &  are  trying  to  gently  nudge  her  abt  it  .  she  can  tell  what  they’re  doing  but  her  addict  brain  is  telling  her  its  invasive  & threatening  so  shes  not  the  fondest  of  this  person  ,  but  deep  down  she  really  appreciates  them

girl squad  !!  cmon  cmon  everyone  loves  a  girl  squad  !!  sofie  rly  isn’t  the  biggest  stereotypical  girly  type  so  she’d  prob  complain  about  shopping  for  hours  or  putting  false  eyelashes  on  but  she  really  adores  and  values  the  group  .  inspo  :  X  ,  X  ,  X  ,  X  ,  X

fwb  !!  -  sofie  is  pretty  transparent  when  it  comes  to  what  she  wants  &  she’s  got  a  bad  habit  of  replacing  dealing  with  problems  with  getting  laid !! like  u  know  in  movies  when  the  man  opens  his  wallet  and  a  row  of  like  20  pictures  of  different  women  fall  out  ??  that’s  sof’s  aesthetic  .  she’s  got  a  bunch  of  fwb  of  all  genders  so  bring  me  some  pls

music buddies !!  these  two  are  both  in  the  music  industry  &  rather  than  it  being  competitive  ,  they’ve  developed  a  friendship  from  it  & enjoy  working  together  .  

* someone  sofie  ghostwrites  for  !! for  whatever  reason  ,  this  muse  doesn’t  write  their  own  songs  & instead  pays  sofie  to  write  them  for  them  .  she  doesn’t  love  it  but  its  a  way  to  make  money  & give  away  songs  she  doesn’t  feel  attached  to  but  are  worth  something  .  maybe  its  tense  bc  they  claim  the  songs  as  their  own  &  sofie  doesn’t  like  it  ,  this  could  be  ~escandolo~  later  !!

friends  from  high  school  !! -  people  sof  stayed  with  in  the  summer  bc  she  wasn’t  going  home  to  brazil  .  

friends  from  music  school  !!  -  she  def  felt  like  an  outsider  among  the  music  prodigies  at  this  school  ,  &  maybe  this  person  was  one  of  the  ppl  she  actually  connected  with  .

EX WHATEVAS

* ex - friends  !!  ok  pls  i  have  this  hc  where  sofie  got  way  too  high  one  night  &  slept  with  this  person’s  dad  or  sibling  or  smth !! u  know  that  line  in  ‘ bad guy ’  where  she  goes  ‘ might  seduce  your  dad  type  ? ’  ya  that’s  got  sofie  written  ALL  over  it !!   &  now  they’re  not  friends  bc  sofie  can’t  keep  it  in  her  pants  but  both  sides  kinda  misses  the  other  but  are  too  stubborn  to  say  anything  :~(

exes from college / high school  !!  - ok  honestly  i  just  love  all  the  exes  plots  .  gimme  someone  who  like  maybe  they  were  hooking  up  (  she’s  from  nyc  )  &  decided  to  give  it  a  shot  dating  &  it  worked  for  a  while  but  ultimately  fell  apart  bc  of  sof’s  inability  to  open  up  .  maybe  there's  still  tension  or  maybe  theyre  friends  now  !!

[americanphancakes]

For a prompt how about: home invasion

Anonymous saidpick your favorite kind of au and do a spin on it 

OKAY so I only wrote a part one for this because I’m not sure where I want the plot to go exactly. But I wanted to share the first part of this because it’s kind of hilarious, haha.

But my favorite trope is fake relationship, and I figure “home invasion” would be an interesting spin on it… plus, I got to put a fun spin on home invasion too? :)

Word count: ~1.3k

***********

Dan crouched behind the hedge and held his walkie talkie up to his mouth, ready to let his partner know when the posh couple inhabiting this ridiculously ornate house had left for the night. He waited a moment as he watched them walk back and forth across the front window, adding more outerwear and accessories to themselves with each pass. Eventually they were ready, but they seemed to disappear between the window and front door. That means the security system panel is right there, Dan thought with a smirk. Finally, the front door swung open.

“Door is open, get ready.”

“Roger that.”

The posh couple, layered with outerwear and hats to brave the cool midwinter evening, finally left the house. They got into their car, started it up, and pulled away from the house.

“It’s clear, go now! Go go go!”

Dan watched the house as his partner, Phil, emerged from an adjacent patch of landscaped trees and approached the front door. He picked the lock on the front door with ease, and Dan quickly followed as he entered the house.

While Phil looked for any handheld electronics that might be lying around, Dan applied a clear sticker to the security panel to see which keys had the most oil from finger contact on them.

“Thank God it’s a Lockwizard,” Dan said. “Makes this much easier.”

This particular brand of security panel required a minimum four-digit pin to arm and disarm, and most users didn’t go any further than that. It also had a time-based lockout of 1 minute rather than a number of tries. Dan could literally brute force the alarm system using the digits the user typically hit (1, 3, 7, and 9 in this case) as many times as he liked without fear of lockout as long as he got it in under a minute, and it wasn’t hard for him to enter 16 combinations in under 60 seconds at this point in his thieving career.

So Dan tried the first possible combination.

“One… three… seven… nine,” he muttered as he typed. He hit the star key.

“Disarmed,” the LCD screen read.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dan said aloud.

“What?” Phil asked.

“One three seven nine,” he said.

“You’re joking!”

“Nope!”

“Amateurs.”

“Right?”

Dan and Phil proceeded to quickly track down as many small-but-expensive items as they could find. They were only a two-man team so stealing televisions and computers was out of the question, but they knew a house like this could land them a ton of jewelry.

After eight years of working together, they had a pretty good system - one looked upstairs, the other down, making sure not to leave a mess as they went through the home. Then, as they left, they reset the alarm. This made it less likely that their targets even realized they’d been robbed until they looked for something specific and couldn’t find it. Dan and Phil worked in sync, moving as fast as they could to make sure they had enough time to cover their tracks.

Once the home was cleared of the priciest things, they headed out, resetting the alarm and locking the door.

***

Phil, unfortunately, had a bit of a weakness for jewelry. So, for a few of his favorite pieces, he often held onto them rather than selling them like he was supposed to. This bothered Dan, who had anxiety issues and was sure Phil would wear something in public that gave them away. In the end, though, he always let it go, finding Phil’s love for all things shiny more endearing than anything else. Besides, the pieces Phil normally wore were understated and didn’t draw much attention.

What Dan didn’t notice is that when Phil’s mother came to London to visit them, Phil had slipped on a very elegant ring he rather liked. While Dan may not have seen it, a mother’s eye often tends to gravitate toward one particular finger on one particular hand whenever she visits her child.

“Oh! Phil! What’s that I see?” Mrs. Lester said over dinner, holding her son’s left hand up so she could get a look at the delicately-gemmed gold ring on his ring finger.

“Uh… it’s a ring!” Phil said.

Dan’s eye moved toward Phil’s left hand, and he saw it. A ring he recognized from their last job. He choked on his wine but did his best to cover it up. He smiled politely, trying not to give away the amount of internal screaming he was doing.

“You two?” Mrs. Lester continued with a delighted gasp, her eyes wide and face bright with hope. Phil still hadn’t quite caught on yet. “Oh, I always knew you were in love. A mother can always tell, you know!”

Now Phil had caught on, and was rendered speechless.

“Yep, us two!” Dan said, his teeth clenched. “Actually, do you mind if he and I talk for just a minute?”

Before Mrs. Lester could answer, Dan yanked Phil up by the arm and dragged him over to the corner where the toilets could be found.

“You’re wearing a ring from a job?” Dan hissed as quietly as he could while still conveying his anger. “On THAT hand?! What were you thinking?”

Phil, red-faced, was still mostly frozen in panic. “I don’t know! I was just putting it on because I liked it.”

“What, did you just not realize that was the engagement and wedding ring hand, you complete and total spork!?”

“I was in a hurry!”

“What the hell are we gonna do? Your mum thinks we’re engaged now! It’s not like we can tell her ‘oh no, we’re just professional thieves who stole that ring and your son is a dumbass who didn’t know what finger that was’ now can we? We’d be disappointing her on three levels! And honestly I really don’t wanna do that to your mum, she’s way too nice.”

“Well, you heard her, she’s thought we were dating for ages already. We’ve worked together so long, we never date anyone else since our job makes that so tricky… we should just… pretend we’ve really been together?”

Dan took a calming breath and folded his arms. “Just for tonight?”

“Just for tonight. Then in a couple of weeks when she calls to see how we’re doing, we can say we broke up. Decided we were better as friends or whatever.”

Dan sighed loudly, throwing his arms to his sides in resignation. “What other choice do we have?”

Phil shrugged, his face hopeful. “We’d better get back out there.”

“Alright. She’ll ask how I proposed though, what should we say?”

“You got down on one knee in the lounge while we were watching a particularly sexy episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer?”

“Works for me.” Dan smirked. “It sounds like exactly what would happen with us, too.”

Phil chuckled in response.

“Shall we, then?” Dan asked.

“Yes. Let’s… shall.”

Dan smiled and rolled his eyes. “You really are a spork.”

“Hey, sporks are useful!”

***

They went back to the table, where they found Mrs. Lester smiling kindly. “I’m going to guess I wasn’t meant to see that just yet,” she offered.

“Ah, yeah, well… you know how it is.” Dan chuckled nervously and drank more wine.

“We weren’t planning on telling everyone yet, is all,” Phil said by way of half-assed explanation.

“It’s okay,” Mrs. Lester said. “I won’t tell your father just yet!” She winked and looked at her menu. “I do feel like this is a special occasion that calls for a nicer-than-usual dinner, though, don’t you agree?” She leaned in towards Phil. “I’ll pay!” she whispered loudly.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Mu–”

“I insist, Philip! I want to celebrate my boys finally making it official.” She reached across the table and held one of each of their hands and smiled warmly.

Dan winced a bit at her calling them “my boys.” He felt a bit nauseous. It felt as though he was in for the greatest, most difficult heist of his entire life.