#how much is a bad amount of sugar bombs

[vault-kid]

what do u think your fallout oc's search history would be?

[dark-frosted-heart]

Memories of the Beasts - Clavis & Sariel (main route)

We start off with a literal bang in the castle. The trap of the day's an extra large confetti cannon in the drawing room. Fortunately, no guests were hurt; however, several servants were buried under the confetti. While the castle is by no means understaffed, Sariel would like Clavis to stop creating so much unnecessary work.

Clavis: But that trap made our stuffy guests laugh, didn't it? Tomorrow, Nokto should be reporting that negotiations have concluded. A job well done, wouldn't you say?

Sariel: If what you say comes true, then I would be happy. But please improve your methods...is what I've asked at least 1000 times already, but you never learn, do you?

Clavis: Never learn? That should be my line. You're getting old. All that chasing's bad for your lower back.

Sariel cracks his whip at Clavis. His stomach will be the first to suffer before his lower back. Yves, who's also present along with Jin, flinches away from the force of whip. Sariel has to be forceful for it to have any effect on Clavis, Jin says. And then sighs at how neither are acting their age.

Suddenly, another explosion goes off. Oh, Clavis threw a pepper bomb and fled. And there goes Sariel chasing after Clavis again. Jin recalls hearing about how sprinting strengthens one's lower back. But at the cost of exponentially increasing stress, Yves responds back. Once the footsteps fade, Jin decides to get a drink.

~~

That night, Jin, Sariel, Leon, Yves, and Licht are at a bar. For a job well done on clearing up all the traps today, drinks will be on Jin. Sariel's drinks, not Leon's. Yves ordered some food for Sariel so that he doesn't drink on an empty stomach. He also cancelled Jin's cake order because he already reached his daily sugar intake.

Sariel's already downed his ale in a matter of seconds. The bar's got a great selection so he'll be trying them all out...is what he'd like to do. Clavis has been giving him a very hard time recently. Leon points out that his cup's creaking. Jin tells Sariel to take a deep breath, the cup did nothing wrong here.

Yves brings up how despite being on bad terms nowadays, Sariel and Clavis used to be teacher and student. They'd been together for so long, Yves wonders if they were false memories from when he was a child. Leon adds that Clavis learned how to pick locks from Sariel. The bureaucrat had no idea that would be the start of a teacher-student relationship or turn Clavis into a hellcat. Jin still remembers the time when Clavis would follow Sariel around like a duckling.

To this day, Sariel still sighs and finds himself wondering what happened. He pauses, as if a thought came to him, but brushes it off. Since Clavis has become full hellcat, he can't go back to the way he was as a kid. The best he can do is be a step ahead of him to minimize casualties. Jin says that without Sariel around, every day would be traps galore. Licht agrees and asks if there were traps that have failed that they're unaware about.

Jin says Clavis has always been a pain, but according to Sariel, Clavis was more difficult to deal with back then than he his now. Because back then, he was an innocent and reckless child. That reminds him, there was a day where Clavis cried in front of Sariel for the first time.

~~

The story cuts to Clavis with Nokto. The latter's home earlier than usual. Nokto tells Clavis that he's just back for dinner; he'll be going out again later. Clavis reminds him to enjoy his nightly entertainments in moderation and Nokto counters that Clavis should take things in moderation himself. Is he talking about the confetti cannon? Clavis controlled the amount it'd fire. The negotiations went well, didn't they? Nokto agrees, they signed a contract on good terms.

Clavis: That's great. I'm glad to be of service to my younger brother.

Nokto: At the cost of increasing the wrinkles between Sariel's brows.

Nokto asks how he's on such bad terms with Sariel. Clavis says that they have different values. Clavis wants to feel joy and a sense of pleasure every day while Sariel just wants safety and peace. While Nokto agrees that joy means stimulation, he doesn't think they can continue being friends if he takes it too far. Must be hard for Sariel.

Clavis: I'm having one of those days when I'm feeling depressed because my joy was interrupted, you know?

Nokto: Not sure I can say much to someone who redecorated my room with bright colors. Surprises are supposed to make our days better, but I guess that didn't work out for you, Mr. "I used to love Sariel as a child".

Clavis: Next time I'll...

Nokto: Don't. I'm pretty sure you've cried at least once or twice when Sariel got mad at you.

Clavis: Never! On the contrary, I'm the one that made him cry.

Nokto doesn't believe it but Clavis claims that he saw it with his own golden eyes.

The story goes back to a time way before they met Emma, a time when the pleasure-loving leopard and the court devil were teacher and student.

~~

Clavis: Sariel, it's morning! It's morning already! Your apprentice is here so wake up! What are you gonna teach me today?

Sariel: Ugh...Prince Clavis, we don't call it morning when it's before 4 in the morning when the sun hasn't even risen yet. For now, please get off.

Clavis: If you wake up then I'll get off! How 'bout that?

Sariel: I'm the master here aren't I?

~~

Clavis: Sariel, wake up! This time I came when the sun rose. Aren't you proud?

~~

Clavis: Since I'm your apprentice, it's only right for me to help my master!

~~

Clavis: Listen to this, Sariel! I was able to unlock all the boxes in the treasury!

~~

Clavis: This vial may look like it contains water, but when you smash it against the ground...!

Sariel: Your invention's potency is strong, so please show it to me in the gardens.

Clavis: Right?! My inventions are amazing!

~~

Sariel!

~~

Sariel!

~~

In common room, Sariel lets out a long, long sigh. Jin's impressed by his lung capacity. Sariel suddenly flinches as he hears Clavis calling for him. Jin assures him that the prince isn't around. He's just starting to hear things. His younger brother's more attached to Sariel than he thought and he finds it cute. Only because it's not his problem, Sariel says. Regardless, he'll continue to act as Clavis' mentor since it's part of his duty to educate the princes and something Chevalier had told him to do. It's worth anyway since the prince is always eager to learn. Still, Sariel hopes that Clavis gets bored of it soon so that he can go back to his other duties. Jin's unsure about Clavis being one of those kids that frequently change interests.

One night Clavis ambushes Sariel and asks him to let him join him on a mission. Sariel regrets telling Jin that he'd be going on a mission. To Clavis, he tells the prince that he'll be in the way so he can't bring him, but Clavis insists that he won't.

Clavis: A apprentice grows by watching his master's back.

Sariel: You've seen it plently already.

Clavis: It's not enough because I'm still growing!

Sariel: What is that logic.

Clavis: You know what? I'm gonna tell everyone that you picked a lock.

Sariel: Be my guest.

Clavis: No! I'm comign with you.

Sariel: Where did the blackmail go?

Sariel tries to usher Clavis back to his room and have him wait for his return but the prince won't budge. He wants to watch Sariel and be of use to him. He promises to be good. Sariel relents; Clavis is going to follow him regardless. Fortunately the mission's just an inspection, but it's still dangerous so Clavis will need to listen to Sariel's every word.

~~

Clavis is in a wonderful mood because he's going on his first mission with his master. Sariel reminds the prince to hold on tight so that he doesn't fall of their horse.

For their mission, they'll be going in to town to visit a baron who invites orphans to his mansion to provide them with meals. He sounds like a good guy and the town has a good reputation. However, there's something suspicious going on because the baron shouldn't have the funds to actually do this so they're investigating.

Sariel can feel a stomachache coming.

Clavis points at some beautiful flowers and Sariel tells him about what kind of flowers they are. Speaking of flowers, Clavis brings up how his mom once gave him sweets and flowers as a gift for getting a perfect score on a test. He says his mom makes the best sweets; he'll give some to Sariel next time because he's his master and Clavis wants to share what his favorites. And it'd make him mom happy too. The prince just loves his mom so much.

Clavis asks Sariel about what his mom's like, but Sariel wonders about that himself. He has no memory of his family. Clavis goes quiet for a bit before imagining what Sariel's parents are like. He says that Sariel got his beautiful black hair from his dad and eyes from his mom. He could've inherited his meticulousness from either parents. Do his parents wear glasses, are they early risers like Sariel, are they strict about manners? Or are they surprisingly crude? There are so many possibilities. Clavis then asks Sariel if he's looking forward to seeing them again, but that's not something he's ever thought about. But thanks to Clavis, he's going to end up imagining what it'd be like.

~~

In town, Sariel disguises the both of them as street urchins. The baron will be providing meals today so they go to look for his mansion.

Sariel: Now then, is the baron black or white? We shall see

~~

Sariel and Clavis: ... Black

The two spy on the mansion from outside. The way the baron looks at the children is as if he's appraising them and the servants look like they're in pain, like they're being forced to do bad things. Clavis takes a step closer but Sariel stops him or else they'll get caught. Clavis says that if they don't do something, both the children and servants will continue to suffer. Sariel says there's no point in going in blind. The baron's going to keep an eye out for them and they won't be able to gather evidence. He suggests waiting until nightfall but is cut off by Clavis saying that the kids might end up being dragged into bad things so it doesn't feel right to just wait.

The prince continues toward the mansion and a servant takes notice. They ask him if he's here for a meal. Sariel starts to say they're not, but Clavis interrupts to say that they are.

Clavis: We came from the next town over because we heard that this mansion served free meals. Right, big brother?

Sariel: Huh...?

Clover End (Clavis POV)

Heart End (Sariel POV)

Epilogue

[drvitaltips]

Is eating dry fruits at night, good or bad?

We all get those late-night cravings. You've had dinner, maybe even a healthy dessert, but there's still that little voice in your head asking for something sweet and satisfying. You don't want to totally blow your healthy eating plan... could dry fruits be the perfect solution?

As it turns out, there's a lot more to the story than a simple yes or no! Let's break down why a little bowl of dried fruit can be both a good idea and a potential problem if you're reaching for them before bed.

The Good Stuff About Dry Fruits

1. Nutrition in a Tiny Package Think of dry fruits as little nutrient bombs. Sure, they're sweet, but they're also packed with vitamins, minerals, and a whole lot of that good-for-you fiber. Need energy? Dried apricots might be your new best friend with their iron content. Having trouble, um, staying regular? Prunes (which are just dried plums) are famous for helping with digestion. 2. They Help You Feel Full Since dry fruits are loaded with fiber, they make your tummy feel satisfied. That means you're way less likely to be tempted by that leftover pizza in the fridge. Plus, for anyone trying to manage their weight, feeling full can make it easier to say "no thanks!" to extra snacks. 3. Could They Help with Sleep? Here's a cool fact: Some dry fruits, especially almonds and walnuts, have a little something called tryptophan. Your body uses this to make melatonin, which is a hormone that's super important for helping you relax and fall asleep. So, a few munchies might be just what you need to wind down.

But...There's a Catch (There's Always a Catch, Right?) 1. Surprise! Lots of Calories Remember those tiny nutrient bombs? Well, they also pack a surprising calorie punch! Think about it: when you dry out fresh fruit, it shrinks. So, it's easy to mindlessly eat way more than you'd think. If you're watching your weight, or have blood sugar problems like diabetes, keeping an eye on how much you're eating is key. 2. Beware the Tummy Troubles! All that fiber, plus the natural (and sometimes added) sugar in dry fruits can cause some digestive issues, especially if you overdo it. Gas, bloating, and a not-so-peaceful night's sleep are possible problems. If you have digestive problems like IBS, or piles, dry fruits might make things worse. 3. The Sugar Situation Dry fruits have natural sugar. That's fine in small amounts, but some brands add extra sugar, making them more like candy. If you're worried about your blood sugar – like if you have diabetes or fatty liver – sticking to the plain, unsweetened types is a way smarter move. The Verdict? It All Depends on YOU! Let's look at some common situations: - Diabetes: Choose low-sugar dry fruits like almonds, walnuts, and pistachios. Stick to small portions and always check your blood sugar levels afterward. - Pregnancy: Dry fruits can be a great way to get extra nutrients. Just remember, even the healthy stuff has calories. Chat with your doctor about what they recommend for you. - Piles: You might want to skip the high-fiber dry fruits. Opt for softer dried fruits like apricots and figs and always consult your doctor for advice tailored to you. - Fatty Liver: Focus on controlling your total calorie intake and prioritizing low-sugar, low-fat options like almonds and walnuts. Consider asking a registered dietitian about portion sizes and which dry fruits may work best for you. All Things Considered: Dry Fruits CAN Be a Healthy Nighttime Snack Important Tip: The Soaking Secret When enjoyed in the right amounts, and when you pick options that suit your health needs, a small amount of dry fruits can be a great way to curb those nighttime cravings. Want extra staying power? Try pairing them with a spoonful of plain yogurt – the protein will keep you feeling full even longer! Did you know that soaking dry fruits before eating them makes them better for you? It sounds weird, but soaking helps to reduce "anti-nutrients" (things like phytates), which can block your body from absorbing all those good vitamins and minerals. A good overnight soak is ideal! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMKWOmBLG5s My Grandma's Secret Stash You know that feeling when you walk into someone's house and it just smells warm and cozy? My grandma's place was like that, and a big part of it was the enormous wooden bowl on her kitchen table. Inside was a treasure trove of dried fruits and nuts – apricots like little bursts of sunshine, wrinkly prunes, almonds, cashews...you name it! She'd always tell me, "Go on, dear, have a handful! They're good for you." Honestly, at first, I wasn't so sure. I was a kid who thought candy was the best food group. But it became a kind of ritual, and as I got older, I really started to love it. Now, I always have my own mix ready to go. That sweet, chewy goodness, the slightly nutty flavor – it's the perfect little pick-me-up. Plus, knowing I inherited my grandma's healthy snacking habit makes it extra special. Do you have a similar memory? Maybe a special snack someone you loved shared with you growing up?

- Dry fruits make a healthy and tasty snack when you're smart about them. - They're packed with good stuff like vitamins, minerals, and fiber. - They can help satisfy cravings and even help you get sleepy. - Even healthy food has calories – don't go overboard! - Choose low-sugar options if you have blood sugar concerns or fatty liver. - Soak your dry fruits overnight to make them easier to digest. - Pay attention to your portions and listen to your body! The Final Word The "good or bad" debate about dry fruits at night depends on factors that are totally unique to you. Think about your own health, listen to how your body reacts, and remember: a little bit goes a long way! And sometimes, a satisfying handful of your favorite dry fruit is the perfect way to end your day on a sweet note. Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions about your health. Read the full article

[vitaminwaterreviews]

Sugar - Shine

I’m not too sure what to think about this album. Parts of it felt kind of SNSD, but most of all it just felt … old? Or maybe boring? Not old in the kind-of-endearing retro way, but old in the just … really boring way. Then other parts felt weird, and also not weird in a good way, but weird in an annoying way. It was synthy, but not Gee synthy; more like … boring synthy. The average score is 6.2 which is fair enough, it really wasn’t bad as an album, and I did learn from it. But ultimately I probably won’t save a single song from this album – not that I could anyway, they aren’t on Spotify haha

I just wanna say, it was surprisingly difficult to find this album. Not only was it not on Spotify, it looked at first like it wasn’t on YouTube either! But I found a playlist. This album apparently didn’t chart in Korea, sooo make of that what you will.

Let’s Feel The Music

Alright, nice disco feel

I’m gonna be comparing this album to SNSD because I just listened to a ton of SNSD yesterday

And this does actually feel like something that SNSD might release – not as a title, but as a b-side. And this is a b-side for this album, so maybe that bodes well

Nothing too interesting musically yet. I’ve heard a bunch of songs with similar vibes

(Now all we need is some unnamed male rapper to make an appearance!)

Bridge slows down for a few precious seconds, just to immediately speed right back up to where we were

Could’ve used a bit more dramatic effect personally

6/10

Summer Sunset

Oh this is interesting

Unnamed male vocalist, appears a decent amount in harmonies but doesn’t seem to have his own lines

This seems less SNSD to me. It’s a bit lower-energy, if SNSD did this song then it would be Louder

Actually, just having the male vocalist there for the harmonies is a pretty cool addition, more songs should try that

6/10

Shine

Kind of an artsy MV in the intro at least

Unfortunately this song appears to be a slow jam

I love the aesthetic though. White background and outfits with bits of saturated color around the environment

Oh ok, this isn’t like, true slow jam, it’s more slow jam plus

The vocals sound kind of jpop to me

The instrumental / dance break was kinda fun

I’m starting to buy into the chorus, the “lalala” section really helped

Oh god the outro though with those smiles

7/10, why not

Hang on one sec I have a sudden urge to watch the Cherry Bomb dance practice

Okay I’m back

두번째 사랑 (Second Love)

Oh that’s interesting, we don’t usually hear songs about second loves

Unfortunately this song is in a very similar slightly-upbeat-rnb synthy space as the rest of the album

This synth feels like it’s trying to put me to sleep haha

Yeah sorry but I just could not get into this song because of that

5/10

Unpretty

Slow intro, group chorus

The default sound of this album is like, “music to listen to while lying down in a meadow on a sunny day” and unfortunately that type of music happens to put me to sleep

5/10

Hold on Harry Kane just scored against North Macedonia let me go watch the replay

Wow that was a terrible goal, very much worth putting off the next song

Just For My Love

How much are we gonna skirt with slow jam vibes without actually having a proper slow jam?

What even is the name of this genre? Is it just like, early 2000’s pop?

The guitar at least is cute

The outro is nice too

6/10

레인보우 (Rainbow)

The thing is – could we have gone from this album to SNSD in 3 years? Yes, absolutely. Gee is not a million miles away from this album, and Into The New World was apparently pitched for M.I.L.K., so this sound definitely carries over

Wow, random electric guitar hit

Also I do appreciate the piano, vocal harmonies too

6/10

선물 (Gift)

Is it finally slow jam time?

The electric piano suggests it

The violins suggest it

The drums suggest it

The vocals suggest it

Well, you know what they say. If it sounds like a slow jam, and it sounds like a slow jam, it’s probably a slow jam

Actually though I kinda like this. It feels way prettier than the other slow jams we’ve heard. Maybe meadow jams are more my thing

Oh that ending totally got me

6/10

비치 (Beach)

Spoken intro, very quiet, not quite whispered

And now it’s all bouncy and synthy

Some horns here and there, alright

Kind of excited for the chorus if they stick around

Lol

Okay, I like it, it’s not bad at least

Very curious about the lyrics, let’s see what we can find

Okay, I see

Wtf with the harmonies

Y’know what? This is good

8/10

굿나잇 (Goodnight)

Wait this isn’t the last song on the album, why are they telling me goodnight?

Bells? Chimes? Harmonies? What is this, christmas music?

And then, as is par for the course on this album, it suddenly gets groovy

Group chorus, very SM

That’s something I’ll have to do, go back and figure out when all the group choruses started

Honestly I should’ve been paying attention to that from the start, silly me

6/10

Winter Dream

More christmas music then?

This one definitely sounds – oh they’re literally sampling Jingle Bells haha

And now it gets all excited

“Everybody scream” followed by cheers haha

Why does this sound so AKB to me

Idk why but these synths really annoy me haha

I do hear the guitars, not a big fan of the instrumentation in general though

Like this sounds Nothing like a winter dream

This group chanting part is kind of fun, not sure if that’s the chorus or what

7/10 I guess?

From Sugar

Ending on a slow jam, fineee

Does make me wonder if it’s a fan song

And also if the members have writing credits

Wikipedia doesn’t have an individual page for this album unfortunately

6/10, not bad

[lunarmote]

Week 9? I’ve lost track: It’s getting difficult.

This week, I: scouted out a new cafe on a high school friend’s recommendation, with new friends, hung out with dormmates, went to a Thai restaurant with friends, panicked over Japanese class, went to Gion, and experienced a typhoon warning.

This is going to be a scattered entry; I can feel it x___x

I had a very worthwhile conversation with two new friends here, in Cafe Bibliotic Hello. I think a lot about how our stay is halfway over and we don’t really have that much time left; and it’s true we can choose to make the most out of the moment, but the ultimate question is how?? How quickly time passes by and how unflinchingly. In the end, the amount of minutes in an hour is constant.

By thinking evaluatively we are placing ourselves in the future. We baby our present (”past”) selves by coaxing them to do something that future us will remember fondly. What even is that? The second you start thinking this way, everything and anything becomes pointless. 

This cafe had so many plants on the inside. The menu was handwritten, with a few laminated, half-sized drawings of individual tarts. It is often the case here in Japan that you will not be allowed to order dessert unless you order an entrée as well, or a beverage. A bit problematic for me going to cafes as someone who can’t drink caffeine and doesn’t want to ingest a sugar bomb. The lunch sets were relatively expensive; alas, you pay for ambience here, not just sustenance. 

Many items on the menu have katakana names, including the word for “hot” beverage:  ホット.

What was I going on about? While I was sitting in the cafe with friends I started zoning out a little bit just thinking about what I was doing here. It’s quite laughable that before I came here I had these grand plans to be circumspect and scribble down every minute detail of my life here, and when I’m here for real, so many of my moments blur together and I barely have the energy to do anything. My priorities are completely shifted. Not even in the sense that I have 898,735 things to do and keep putting them off. More in the sense of feeling like everything on my to-do list is pointless.

To take a random example: I was inspired by photobashers in the early days of deviantART who would release stock packs. They had an eye for eccentric textures, taking pictures of bad graffiti and stucco and dilapidated buildings, and making beautiful art out of these. I had told myself if I ever moved to a foreign country to start taking pictures of everything.

I think I did that for about a week here and then I forgot. Now I’m so familiar with the way to school and the traffic lights and the narrowness of the streets that I have lost my “curator’s” eye. I feel like you could get used to anything astonishingly fast. I don’t even remember what the San Diegan counterpart of these things look like, but I’m sure 2 weeks back in San Diego will have me forget Kyoto.

Am I satisfied with how I’ve spent my time here? If anything, I am disappointed by could improve at living for me. Even here I am driven by my desire to make things right, for other people to be happy. I need to ask myself if doing things for other people is truly who I am, or if I’m doing things to get a reaction out of them.

On Tues evening I went to a Thai restaurant with two friends from my dorm. It’s interesting to me how “spice” scales never really tell you anything because different parts of the world have different standards for spice. Taking into account that this was a Thai restaurant in Japan, which is not really known for its spicy food. But I love Thai food so much especially papaya salad, which we ordered, along with seasoned squid, basil chicken, and Tom Yum-flavored fries.

In the middle of the week I realized we had a test and I started panicking over it. I typically (at home) have a hard time studying for things anyway, but being in Kyoto doesn’t help when you are surrounded by people always doing things and inviting you to things. I tried to combat this by staying in the lounge area where people coming out of their rooms could see me. It worked, kind of.

There are a few other habits that are slipping, such as doing laundry on time, getting healthy groceries, even paying bills at the 7-Eleven. It’s always because there is one minor step that is an inconvenience and that makes me forget/put it off until it officially becomes “late.” Like, laundry for instance. Our laundry machines only take 100 yen coins, and 100 yen coins are a bit high in demand when you consider their many uses. Thankfully there is a vending machine next to our dorm which takes 1000 bills, but then I’m stuck with a sugared drink I don’t want and an extra plastic bottle I have to recycle, which then I have to buy more trash bags for. I think I collected over 20 plastic bottles before I realized this was a little bit unsustainable and I should probably start saving 100 yen coins.

Groceries I think I unconsciously started dreading when I first moved here because the cashier would say a bunch of Japanese to me that I didn’t understand. Now I understand what they’re asking and an additional problem has popped up: it’s awkward to cook here. We have a single induction stove in our rooms, no vent fan and no closet door so odors stick to your clothes, plus the length of our stays is awkward (4-6 months) and buying cooking utensils may not be a good investment, plus it’s cheaper to buy onigiri at 7-Eleven anyway, but, but-! This is not the type of reasoning you want to stick with for long. You start slipping a little and then more, and eventually, you lose all your healthy habits.

Anyway, I was panicking over Japanese class for two to three days. Why? You see, there are some people in my class with prior knowledge (I confess that I am one of them, but it takes longer for me to retain information than most people anyway) and the teacher takes them as the benchmark for speed. Lessons are too short for the amount of material we’re supposed to memorize. I say I want a study buddy but I don’t really, because I can’t study with people - the only good being in company does me is keeps me from going on instagram/reddit. Not to mention the felt futility of studying grammar in class when you are in the country surrounded by people who speak the language.

Aah, I’ve been talking about random things for so long. Here’s some more: 

This morning we received a typhoon warning for the Kansai region: landslides in northern Sakyo-ku as well as the flooding Kamogawa river. I have to say, as someone who lives in mild California, I have always found extreme weather conditions fascinating. I was a bit in awe when I stepped out of the classroom today and saw the relentless downpour - the drops melted together like a heavy blanket. 

A couple of days ago I went to Gion with a new friend. I’ve always wanted to see it for myself and, despite living 20 mins on foot from it and having known about it for so long, never got the chance to... The sun was setting in the most beautiful way, casting its light over Yasaka shrine.

[lemliv]

SUGAR RUSH AU CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

this is. Very long.

Ranboo (Aka Ranboo Le Quorish)

Candy: Licorice and Taffy !

Powermove: String-Shot

A speed boost that starts fast and gets gradually slower - two licorice poles shoot up from the ground while a string of taffy wraps around them, acting as a sling shot to propel him forward!

Racer type: ??

Go to phrase:

Description:

Ranboo is a racer- at least he thinks he is. Sure he’s never completed a race and glitches the ones he is in but he can’t escape the nagging feeling that he belongs on the race track. That things will be better once he proves that he can finish a race.

For now, however, he’s learning how to be content with his foggy memory, constant glitched state, and watching from the side lines. It’s all he can do after all.

Tubbo (aka Toby Jollypop Jr)

Candy: Green apple Jolly Ranchers and Jaw Breakers

Powermove: Jolly Rollers

A protective shield that forms around Tubbo’s Kart to temporarily make him invincible and causes other players to bounce off

Racer type: Tank

can take a lot of damage at the expense of speed

Go to phrase(s): “Let’s break some jaws!” / “Sugar!”

Description:

Tubbo has a good life. He places well in races, he has a best friend, a nice house, really anything a video game character can ask for. But he can’t shake the feeling of something being wrong. And all signs point to the figure who disappears mid race after messing something up.

With enough determination, and some would argue carelessness, he is determined to figure out who the glitch really is. And more importantly, he’s determined to help him.

Tommy (Aka Tommy Sowers)

Candy: Sour Patch Kids

Powermove: Sour-Sweet-Swift

A basic speedboost! He maintains a higher speed for a short amount of time - its extended the further behind he is

Racer Type: Starter Racer

A type exclusive to Tommy. It makes him available on easy mode at all times (booting out the 9th spot if not on the roster already) Overall he’s a very well rounded but middle ground racer who is assisted by who he races with

Go to phrase(s): “Patch up your karts and let’s get sour!” / “Spice!”

Description:

Tommy is a racer in every meaning of the word. He likes competition, he’s loud and energetic, and he always seems to be going. Tommy loves his life and doesn’t get why others wouldn’t. He gets along with everyone, and wouldn’t mind if everything stayed the same.

Wilbur (aka Wilbur Cin O’Spice)

Candy: Cinnamon Discs

Powermove: Cinnamon and Spice

Wilbur throws up a cloud of spices temporarily blinding nearby racers

Racer type: Skill required

A moderate to eh racer when not properly used, but an amazing one to a devoted player. Has great handling, the kart flows through shortcuts easily, and power move is useful when applied right

Go to phrase: “Let’s spice things up!”

Description:

Wilbur is analytical, if you ask him he was simply coded that way. Always trying to find the best route and path, and figuring out solutions. It’s what he’s known for! So when Phil retired unexpectedly, giving no answers nor reason, Wilbur has determined that it’s now his job to find out why. More importantly, to get him back.

Techno(blade)

Candy: strawberry bon-bon (strawberry granny-candy)

Powermove: Straw-brawl

Temporarily gains more spikes on his kart, making him harder to hit and causing more damage to others

Racer type: Tank

can take a lot of damage at the expense of speed

Go to phrase: less lines - more so lots of noises like HEH when he gets hit and laughter when he hits others

Description:

Techno loves a good challenge, and as of recently races have been lacking. He doesn’t find the same enjoyment that he used to back before Phil stopped racing. So instead, he focuses on studying. Namely other games, but really anything he can study will do. He claims he’s read countless books from around the arcade, and will gladly give the information out if asked.

Phil

Candy: Green Peppermint Candy Canes

Powermove: ?

Racer type: ?

Go to phrase: ?

Description:

Phil used to be a racer. Arguably the best racer in the game prior to his retirement. After disappearing mid race, and not coming back until a week later he made a simple announcement. He would be stepping down as the leader of the racers and wouldn’t be racing for an undisclosed amount of time. Anytime anyone begged for the whys or whats, his lips were sealed, and still are.

Dream

Candy: Toxic Waste and Juicy Drop Pops

Powermove: Toxic Sludge

His kart lets out a liquid that causes racers behind him to slow down, it disappears after a short amount of time

Racer type: Speedy

Fastest karts at the expense of less handling and can't take a lot of punches

Dream has the fastest kart

Go to phrase(s): “Oh come on now- Smile!” / “Some people just can’t handle their sour candy”

Description:

Dream is the new leader of the Sugar Rush racers. When Phil disappeared he noticed how disorganized everything became and jumped to fix it, figuratively keeping the game running during hours. When Phil returned and didn’t take back the position, no one had any opposition to him staying. Dream runs the game democratically, seeing himself as someone to enforce rules rather than solely make them, and he tries his best to make sure everything is fun and perfect for the racers.

Sapnap

Candy: Red Hots

Powermove: Too Red-Hot to Handle

A speedboost that involves flames bursting out of Sapnap’s exhausts speeding him up until they burn out and he slows down quickly

Racer type: Well-rounded

Doesn’t have a particular strength or weakness - just well rounded!

Go to phrase(s): “BOOM BABY!” / “If you can’t handle the heat - get off the track!”

Description:

One of Dream’s closest friends, prior to Phil’s retirement, he was known as a dedicated and passionate racer. Now he’s one of the most trusted advisors for Dream, letting his opinions be heard with a blunt yet passionate emotion-fueled manner.

George

Candy: Blue Raspberry Gummy Rings

Powermove: [unnamed - send in suggestions!]

Temporarily gains the ability to bounce off of objects / racers rather than hitting and slowing down- repeated bouncing also causes a small speed boost

Racer type: Skill required

A moderate to eh racer when not properly used, but an amazing one to a devoted player. Has great handling, the kart flows through shortcuts easily, and power move is useful when applied right

Go to phrase(s): "I could beat you in my sleep!” / “Guess I’ll have to bounce back”

Description:

Dream’s other closest friend, standing in opposition to Sapnap, George could be amazing if he tried at racing a bit more. He’s known for sleeping in and showing indifference towards most things. Though for Dream, he knows George provides an analytical and logical thought process that can’t be beat.

Fundy

Candy: Candy Corn and Caramel

Powermove: Trick or Treat!

Fundy throws a random item from his cart that looks noticeably self made - sometimes it’s catastrophically bad, sometimes it just helps him, and other times it actually might assist a racer nearby !

Racer type: ??

Mysteriously - Fundy’s stats seem to change every so often though, surely it's just people remembering wrong?

Go to phrase(s): “Stay crafty and stay ahead!” / “Clever as a fox and just as sweet!”

Description:

Jack of all trades - master of none suits Fundy relatively well if you don’t take coding into account. Fundy used to be Phil’s advisor on coding when he was the leader, but since his retirement and Dream’s decline of Fundy’s offer to be his advisor, he’s picked up new hobbies. He fiddles and invents things, including messing with his own kart.

With experience that no one else has but his own reservations, Fundy has his own opinions on what’s going on in Sugar Rush.

EXTRA CHARACTERS

Kristin (non-racer)

Description: Bartender at a different video game called Tapper - her and Phil grew close during his break from racing and are now dating. She doesn’t play a big role in the story I just wanted to add her because they’re so sweet.

Jack Manifold (aka Jack Manifold)

Candy/sweet: Bomber pops

Powermove: [send in name suggestions}

Not so much a temporary boost as it is that when you fall off the map with Jack - instead of dying you’re placed back on the track!

Racer type:Speedy

Fastest karts at the expense of less handling and can't take a lot of punches

Go to phrase(s): “The Manifold always comes back!” “Bombs away!”

Description:

Minor rival to Tommy - just designed him because I wanted to. Does have his own track though - it’s cold / ice cream themed.

[theomnicode]

Too good to be true?

Yanno new chapter is so frikken wholesome it's like I'm eating sugar in raw form. Very cute, very wholesome, just idyllic in it's pure form.

Almost...too idyllic because stuff doesn't add up. And other signs. I'll go over some symbolism stuff later.

I love eating sugar, but it's also bad for me. Too much indulgement leads into bad things.

Spoilers below.

Seems correct. He doesn't even remember the guy who decked him. And anything past the monsterization after Saitama decked him. He even forgot his own martial arts skillset, which is something you'd think would be impossible because it's muscle memory too. Something he got before he was beefed by God.

But how...the biggest red flag.

How do you remember fighting Blast then? And how good he was at fighting?

You NEVER fought Blast in this timeline. It was reversed. IT DID NOT HAPPEN.

(He consciously BARELY even recalls Saitama's name like, when he ACTUALLY FOUGHT HIM in all timelines before God's interference...the cognitive dissonance here is something else)

You didn't even remember fighting Bomb and Bang! You were unconscious and legit just dreaming!

The only ones who remember, according to the objective truth narration of Genos, are him and Saitama.

Because Saitama got fused to his younger self, but Garou's soul did not. Garou's soul, with all the memories it retained, disappeared into the aether and only ever influenced the past Garou's actions.

So how? How do you supposedly CONSCIOUSLY REMEMBER fighting Blast and how good he was?

Lord knows Saitama doesn't remember a single thing. Garou shouldn't either.

Garou... are you just dreaming again or something?

Is this some hypothetical dream scenario we're seeing? Where everything turns out perfect for him?

All the desires and wish-fulfillment scenarios he could ever hope for coming true?

Where he can spout his message about absolute evil making the world a better place, Bang acting as an actual guardian and listening to him and his interests, not getting any kind of punishment for his actions (like ripping a guy's arm off), introducing a complete out of the blue love interest into the mix and Bang suddenly being healthy and his back no longer paining him??? From magic massage or something when everyone would have previously died to radiation in mere moments? And Metal knight no less? Did the guy get his hands on de-aging procedures or something? I want some of that too.

Tareo getting friends (waganma of all people?) and being able to stand up to himself in a week too... and finally walking into the pictoresque, dreamlike scenario with Bang, where other people don't really exist nor matter. Just more faceless people when he can just chat with Bang who finally listens to his hobbies.

(Also can we talk about how Bang somehow knows a sentai show actress aimed for kids/teens when he doesn't even have a tv?)

Nothing bad happened? After he gave everyone a healthy amount of cosmic radiation, entire Z-city got pulverized, heroes got maimed and time was reversed so there would not be a complete apocalypse.

No consequences whatsoever?

Just a tiny bit sus here.

I don't buy this. And not just because there's a completely random reverse pentagram when Bang hits him, which is not a sound vfx. It's just there.

We very much know real world does not work that way and is not painted that way by ONE.

"What was gained" chapter title is phrased like a question, rather than the definite answer.

What did we even gain? Nothing. Future and character development was erased when Saitama came back in time. It was a "what if" scenario.

Just like Genos summer body and his red shirt, this chapter feels like a red herring to me.

[heli0s-writes]

lights up*

A/N: Stucky (primarily Steve)/Reader. 2k words of idkwhatthisisi’msorry. There was a prompt from six months ago that I wrote this for but I lost the message and I can’t remember! All mistakes are my own, please stop reading if you are not 18+

brooklyn after dark masterlist

You wake up in scattered shock.

Knee-jerk reaction to fast hands sliding between your thighs, fingers carelessly ticking sensitive skin.

You wake up to a groggy voice, slurred with sleep and raspy-raw.

“Baby,” it croaks from between your legs, “Honey, sweetheart, sugar. Please, please, please let me eat your pussy.”

Wha—

A few disbelieving blinks as you scrabble for your bearings—can’t see shit—still dark—head throbbing.

“Oh god, I wanna sosososo bad,” and then hands are between your knees, spreading your legs apart. “So… damn... tasty. Uh-huh… Come to daddy.”

Who the fuck is—damn it, Bucky.

In the dead hour of four-something when nothing should be moving so intentionally, an unsteady moan tumbles out of him when he starts groping for your ass.

“Buck!” You whisper, kicking your leg to shake him off. Grabbing the covers with one hand, you reach under with the other, swatting his head and trying to get a firm hold on him. Slippery fucking man.

He pauses for a second before his body goes limp, half hanging off the foot of the bed and you groan at his weight. Idiot boy. Two hundred pounds of horny somnambulist dropping like an anchor on your poor legs.

Fiddling now with how to get him back up to his regular spot, you try to do it quietly, the warmth radiating next to your left shoulder a compelling incentive. Even with your wits barely about you, you know better than to wake—

“Whassit? Whas goin’ on?”

Steve. Ah.

“Nothing,” you sigh, reaching over and stroking his arm absently, one foot tapping against Bucky’s waist to urge him upward. “He’s just sleep-talking again.”

Steve makes a groggy noise of comprehension. “Sleep-talking or sleep-fucking?”

“Just sleeping now. Ugh… didn’t mean to wake you.”

He’d come in late again—meetings and paperwork keeping him well after hours. Not even able to do it from home, which would have been nice. At least here you could make sure he was eating, or drinking enough water, or at least be in the presence of good company.

Instead, you and Buck watched a movie, took a few rounds of shots (because he likes the taste and how you look dancing all over the coffee table), fooled around in the kitchen, and turned in around two—Steve nowhere in sight. Some jobs were Captain-Only, which meant you’d have to make peace with being useless.

That’s generally not a task that goes over well. The amount of untamed energy Bucky exudes without Steve’s guidance is… close to being categorized as a natural disaster and trying to stay up with him is always a double-edged sword. Lots of fun, sure, but he requires less sleep than you do and can finagle you into getting piss drunk with a single smirk.  

“Wish you’d been more responsible.” Bone-tired and Steve’s still bossy. His arm is heavy as it snakes over your tummy. “You know he needs direction.”

“Hey, I tried.”

“Issat right? That why your panties’re on the counter? Shirt in the sink, too. Come home close to four and still gotta clean up after the two of you.”

His raspy breath tickles, plump lips crushed just below your ear—enough to start a chain reaction of shudders.

“Go back to sleep,” you huff, embarrassed. It was only a few hours ago so your head’s still a bit fuzzy—vague memory of playful touches before hearing, hop up, baby, from Bucky. And you, tittering and zealous the whole way, kissing him like he’d never been kissed before.

YouTube blinking on the T.V., stuck on some ad because the streaming’s a snail’s pace from when Steve set up the internet and tried to pinch pennies at the same time. Bucky’s specially crafted “Wine, Dine, and Sixty-Nine” playlist refusing to load even half a song afterwards so neither of you could spare your neighbors from hearing all the noises.

Hopefully the laughter was loudest, and not the primal fucking, or the crashing when you slipped off the counter and knocked Bucky on his ass.  

You giggle at that. Years and years together and some nights still feel brand new.

“Have fun without me?”

There’s no real jealousy in Steve’s voice, but there is greed behind the question. A single night away and he acts like he’s never been kissed either.

Your eyes start fluttering when his fingers curl around your hipbone. Je-sus. Hell. It’s too late—early—for this.

You grumble his name, asking him to save it for a couple more hours when your brain doesn’t feel pried free, but, Captain-Only mode activated and he’s not deterred. A bloodhound on a fresh trail.

The hand on your hip turns inward and you’re suddenly aware of him pressed against your body, that hot line of him, pulsing on your upper thigh. He tilts forward, one knee rubbing up your leg. Bucky stirs a little and makes another declaration about how he’s fit for the CEO position of Eating Your Ass, but nothing more after that.

“He do you good?” Steve wonders, apparently not giving a fuck about whether Bucky’s dead or alive down there and instead only worried about repositioning you, rolling you on your side, “That why you’re so happy to get me out of the house? So you two can fool around unchecked as much as you want?”

“Steve, you know damn well—"

His hand slips around the side of your neck, four thick fingers drumming over the ridges of your throat. “Watch your mouth,” he whispers, “before you get yourself into any more trouble.”

He gets mean without enough sleep. And no one would ever guess, but other than working over some poor punching bag that’ll never see the light of day after he gets his hands on it, Captain America likes to fuck it out. You and Buck have properly come out of a few sessions barely alive, feeling like two ends of a slinky that’s taken one too many tumbles down a flight of stairs.

You squirm as he palms your bottom with his free hand, kneading the bare flesh a flimsy pair of sleeping shorts can’t cover.

“Gotta be quiet,” he tells you gently, “Can’t wake him, can we.” Christ help you. What a time to play a game. You mumble under your breath, “Do I have a choice?”

A prod at your already sore entrance, and Steve says, annoyingly convinced, “I think you’ve already made your choice.”

He stills for a second when Bucky flops around on the mattress and then he starts pressing his mouth to your back, your shoulder, other hand holding you steady with expertise. It’s Steve’s favorite position when he wants to be in charge—you, writhing and turned away, usually leaned about 50 degrees and pawing at Bucky’s chest—this morning, feebly snatching sheets instead.

It doesn’t take any buildup. He’s achingly ready; you’re willingly wet. Clothes moved just enough out of the way and his two fingers slide upward, pushing barely to spread you before he quickly replaces it with something much thicker. It’s only been a few seconds. He’s too fast for you to get a word in edgewise, your brain still muddled, body cooperative.

“Huh,” Steve mumbles, slowly feeling his way into position, “A bit fucked loose, aren’t you?”

“Steve,” you hiss in reply, clenching up reflexively the same time mortification bursts across your scrunched- up face. “Don’t say that.”

“Hush, baby.”

“I’m trying—”

“Try harder.” And he’s evil incarnate, you swear. Satan himself packaged up in the neat body of a demigod. He rolls his hips slowly until the tops of his thighs are pressed against your ass, fingers holding so tight you think he’s going to spear right into bone. “Stay still or you’re gonna knee Buck in the cheek.”

You twist your head around, instead, shaking your chin free from his hand, hoping that once he sees your pitiful expression, he’ll find it in his heart to maybe not pound you into oblivion with bells on.

Of course, Steve’s not looking anywhere but down the line of your back and further to where he’s opening you up, bottom lip tucked into his teeth.

You constantly rib him about how he’s making up for all the years he spent with the two working eyes of a mole so now he’ll break his neck to watch. Bucky’s confirmed it multiple times to Steve’s chagrin, cackling at the way Steve goes purple defending himself. You love the stories they tell and retell; you try to spend most your time making up for all those years you weren’t there to find out.

Who isn’t in this relationship? Violently horny like teenagers, the three of you, spending every idle hour mishandling for each other like it’s the first time. Excitement primeval like animals in heat, apparently instinctual enough for one of you to do it in his sleep. Years and years and it still feels brand new.

The bed’s rocking surprisingly moderately for Steve’s usual pace, and it’s a bit heartwarming to know that he’s doing it because he really doesn’t want to wake Bucky, but he ramps up his game. He starts whispering again, meaner, hotter, the damn mouth on Steve Rogers continuing to give you hell this early morning.

He pinches your nipple hard, letting you gasp at the brief sting before he goes back up to your chin, your mouth, and then he puts the entire hand over it.

“Quiet. Not another fucking word out of you. Gotta teach you how to behave this morning, don’t I?” He’s working himself up, working you over, even pulling you back on him by the hips and then wiggling you up and down on him like he’s adjusting you on a saddle. Motherfucker.

Your toes curl, knees grinding, legs folding up to get simultaneously closer and away from him and it feels—it feels so excruciatingly good—the effortless glide of his cock, the burn of friction dragging itself out the more you wriggle. Whatever indelicate sounds falling out of your mouth are getting mashed back in, Steve ramming himself into your body, shaking your brain further loose.

He’s probably louder than he intends to be—you know how he gets when he’s close— bombs could be dropping two feet away and Steve Rogers would hear nothing but the roar of his own wanting, chasing it until he crashes into bits. You’re chasing too, both hands clamped around his wrist, arching your back to near breaking.

“Yeah,” he rasps out, “That’s it, that’s good, baby. Ugnn—back up on me, stay—right there.”

More uneven jerking, he releases your face and starts rubbing your clit, saying, you like it like this? Like me givin’ it to you good like this? And you’re shaking in his arms, the both of you tipping over the edge.

-

“I wasn’t serious,” Steve says later after a few moments, lips all soft and gentle on your neck, rather than fierce like before, “Bout you bein’—” you can feel him shrugging, “Y’know… fucked loose.” He whispers the last part like it’s a sin.

You snort, “You turning decent on me? After railing me to death?”

“You sound pretty lively to me.” He pokes your side, “I just… woke up and remembered how much I missed you last night.”

“I’m not going anywhere. You’ve got both of us here—shit!”

“Steeeeeve,” and the sound of it slaps both you back to reality. Sleep-smashed, more tipsy than any alcohol could make him, Bucky’s giggles break the steady pattern of muffled conversation. His vibranium hand pats around for a new destination, undeterred by the disruption of his previous mission.

You can’t believe it. He’s still asleep.

“Steeeevie,” Bucky mewls again, “Lemme— lemme suck your dick, sweetheart.”

What a menace. Your shoulders start quivering as you poorly hold it back, pfffftppblffpt’s kickstarting Steve into a tizzy right alongside you.

Bursting laughter finally wakes him up. Bucky yelps once, twice, flailing like a cat caught unawares and rolls himself right off the goddamn bed.

Two hundred pounds of newly conscious pervert wallops the hardwood floor and you’re sure the entire apartment complex—if they didn’t hear the ruckus last night—certainly heard it this morning.

[moxfirefly]

I!! Have an request!! If you want, thats up to you! But how about the turtles have a friend (the reader) and no matter what they see hints of or how it seems she just doesnt seem to be in a relationship ever and then leo starts acting "odd" (in love) and one day michelangelo of all people catches leo and the reader in a romantic (or heated) moment! What do you think would happen? How would they handle their older brother in love? 😂 i just thought itd be a funny one-shot

Ok I’ve been wanting to tackle this for a while now and ima do my best for you friend, also I hope this reaches cause I know it’s been tough so I send you lots of love💕

Blue boi all in lovey dovey

Rated Mature (Romance but will a little sprinkle of smut) 18+ Only

Raphael squinted his eyes.

For the past twenty-two minutes he’d been wondering what was wrong with this picture. His breakfast was getting cold and he’d even neglected to smack Mikey’s hand away when he stole a piece of bacon off his place.

Raphael took pride in his observation skills, often he noticed plenty of things in his environment but while Donatello ran commentary on it he usually kept the information to himself. He shared a room with his youngest brother so he knew any odd shift when it came to Mikey. He is very close with Donnie, spending a few sleepless nights by his side while the genius tinkered away at projects, even lending a hand here and there.

Leonardo for all of his hard headed ways and their personality clashes, he felt he knew him well enough too. The leader though, was much more guarded in his emotions which made for some difficult moments to completely gage his older brother.

You on the other hand were an open book, plenty of times he’d spent time with you, getting to know plenty of your ticks and thoughts. Raph considered you a close friend, a confidant he could turn to.

But as you all sat together for a late breakfast. Mikey inhaling his while Donnie’s overworked eyes looked into his coffee cup as if lifes answers laid there, Leo and you were just sitting there, suspiciously.

You were still in your sleep wear, Leo’s groggy movements mechanical as he ate on autopilot. You yawned reaching for a coffee refill and without command or hesitation Leo had pushed the creamer and sugar towards you, going so far to place the exact amount of both in your mug. You had given him a sweet smile, reaching a hand to thumb a crumb away from the corner of his mouth.

Raphael raised a brow ridge, well naturally that could translate to common kindness. You all knew each other, often April had in some form or shape probably done something similar. He poked a few pieces of eggs into his mouth, now he was intrigued.

He picked up a few more instances where his curiosities got the better of him.

For instance one afternoon while you were over he had decided to gather info. Raphael had kitchen duty and you had stuck around to help him out. “What’s up with you?” A common not so invasive question, you shrugged. “Same old, same old” You gathered plates to set the table. Raphael kept his gaze at the task at hand, cutting tomatoes for the sauce he was preparing. “Yeah but have you done anything? Gone out with friends? Maybe found your future husband?” He chuckled even more so when you nudged him with an elbow. “A forget you have a sense humor under all that angst” Raph smiled, the two of you often bickered Iike this.

Truth be told you had never mentioned a boyfriend or a girlfriend, the subject was never really breached. With the amount of time you spent in the sewers with them it never came up if you had some partner or if you even were dating. Raphael added the tomatoes into a pot, you joined his side ready to help with more cutting of condiments.

Then Leo arrived and he felt the air shift, he peaked a glance at you, a small smile playing on your lips. Leo in turn greeting the two of you before he made his way towards the fridge to retrieve something to drink. “Want something?” He asked from the fridge and honest to God Raph was very sure he wasn’t asking him. You nodded extending a hand for the soda he gave you, he leaned against the fridge and chatted you up as nonchalant as ever.

Nothing in the small chat raised any flags, Raph’s sauce almost burning from how intently he was concentrating of quite literally eavesdropping on you two. You laughed at something he mentioned, that was bizarre because Leo was seriously not even funny but he could be biased on that end.

“Your hair looks pretty that way” Leo spoke, a tad bit shyly. Raph stirred the sauce, brow ridges shooting up, ‘real smooth big bro’ he couldn’t help but think. Then again he had probably at some point told April the same thing, well they all had commented on April being pretty in all manners of ways.

But this felt just the taddest bit different?

He excused himself having to get back to whatever he was doing. Raph squatted to get something from the bottom cupboards, he didn’t miss the blush on your cheeks.

“Yer hair does look nice like that” He tested, you beamed brightly at him. “Thank you, you’re very sweet when you put your heart into it” She teased smacking a hand towel at him.

Inconclusive results.

For now.

This stupid notion continued to bother Raphael, curiosity would kill the turtle in this case. He wanted to know if truly something was amiss there and you both being friends he wondered why you just hadn’t flat out told him what was up. Nevertheless he couldn’t drop the bomb on you, you could be motorfide or maybe deny it to high hell. Asking Leonardo was out of the question, he sure as hell wouldn’t say a thing.

So Raphael kept his gaze glued as you parted ways for the night. You gave a hug and kiss to everybody, quite normal for your loving nature. He got his hug and kiss, so did Donnie, April and Mikey. Once you landed on Leo you did the same.

He could’ve sworn you lingered a little more, going so far as to whisper something to him because Leo gave a little huff of a laughter and smiled. He definitely slid his hand away from your lower back quite slowly.

Maybe, just maybe...

One patrol night he got stuck with Leo while Mikey and Donnie were doing rounds on the truck. They were scouting out a bank that was rumored to be hit soon by a group of robbers. Raph didn’t mention you, in fact he patiently waited for these robbers to possibly show up.

Something vibrated and his gaze landed on Leo who was reaching a hand into his pocket to pull out his phone. His concentrated and serious featured softening with whatever he read on the screen. He typed back something quick, shaking his head from whatever image or words or whatever had been provoked out of him. “Everything good?” Raphael asked, Leo nodded as if back to ‘normal’ and that absolutely was suspicious in his book.

That night didn’t yield any resolution and honestly it’s around this time that Raph regrets this little task that had occupied his time. He had originally decided to leave it as inconclusive, at some point You two dummies had to say or do something. He had been rummaging his room for his hand wraps, more than ready to get his nightly workout in order. When he had come up empty handed he exited towards Leo’s room, he always had them which annoyed the red banded brute.

His first mistake was not knocking or making his incoming presence known. A rookie mistake considering he lived with three young adult brothers.

His second mistake was just barging in like he owned the place. An annoyed “Jesus Leo quick taking my shit” spewing out of him.

If mistakes One and Two had been adverted he wouldn’t be standing here, wide eyed and frozen.

Because he really didn’t need to see his brother stark ass naked on top of his best friend who he basically considered a little sister, equally naked to boot. There was a solid fifteen seconds where Raphael didn’t know if he running out was the best option, mumbling a ‘shit my bad’ was better or if covering his eyes and screaming at his brother that he better be a gentlemen to you cause you’re a great gal.

Leonardo’s hands cupped your exposed breast for modesty sake, the need for the ground to dramatically open up and swallow him whole heavy in his mind. You had squeaked when Raph barged in, hands super glued to Leo’s rear and god why couldn’t you scream and let go and scream some more.

Raphael finally turned around, an embarrassed heat breaking over his body as he groaned in disgust. “Shit fuck, sorry sorry! I didn’t see shit!” Oh but he did and oh did he crave bleach. “Raph get out! This is why you knock!” Leo chucked a pillow at his brothers shell. You had finally let go of Leo’s rear, covering your face in mortification. “Hang a sock or something outside then!! I can’t read minds!” Raph bellowed.

Mistake number 3 happened because Raphael was a drama Queen through and through and the shouting only helped to alert his brothers towards the room.

“Can you two not fight for five whole minu-OH GOD SORRY!” Donatalleo had exited as quickly as he had approached the room. Mikey thankfully barely saw anything since Raph and Donnie yanked him out which Leo was thankful, he knew Mikey would never let this situation go.

A very quiet hour passed by.

Nobody wanting to say anything. Mikey had left for the tunnels to skateboard for a while. Donnie had thrown himself into truck repairs not even wanting to discuss what his eyes had briefly seen.

And Raphael had sat on the couch, every few minutes making a face whenever his brain decided to bring back the nights events. He heard movement from Leo’s room, the small pitter patter that belonged to your feet. Raph kept his gaze down, whatever playing on the tv long forgotten, he saw your feet when they tentatively approached the couch.

“Um Raph” Your tone was hushed.

“Didn’t see anything, matter of fact nothing happened” Raph grabbed the remote, you sat down and sighed. “Listen you weren’t the one with your tits out here” You crossed your arms grumbling, Raph almost chortled but then he remembered Leo and simply made a face.

“Why didn’t you tell me you and him were a thing? We’re friends, I mean you can do better but you know” He smiled when he felt your elbow smack his arm. “He’s really nice don’t be so mean” You sat back on the corner, Raph looked at you, you were wearing an oversized shirt clearly spending the night.

“Sorry for ah, not knocking” Raph spoke softly.

“Sorry for no telling you I had it bad for your brother” You smirked, enjoying Raph’s disgruntled expression.

You scooted close and hugged his massive arm, Raph smiled. “He better be good to ya... and well, don’t break his heart, he’s an ass but he’s my big brother” You nodded against his arm.

You had stayed for a little before returning back to Leo’s room, the leader was reading on his bed but quickly looked up when you came in. “Everything alright?” He asked tentatively. You nodded climbing into bed and in between his legs to lay on him. “We could’ve so gone a better way telling everybody, at least it’s out and we can just be ourselves” You rested against him, Leo’s chin a top your head.

He wrapped his arms tightly around you and smiled. “I’m never living this down but I’m happy we can just be ourselves” He poked your sides earning an earnest squeal from you.

Outside Raphael could hear the quiet giggling and laughter. He was happy for the two of you, it made sense.

Mikey walked in, board in hand and sweaty from skating for hours.

“So Leo loses his V card first, huh brah?”

Raphael groaned.

[feysandfeels]

I gathered you read the chapter... how are we feeling, any thoughts you might want to share?

There I was, writing on my journal after a decent day at work when this fucking bomb exploded quite literally on my lap. But fear not I am here and we shall discuss until we can make fucking sense of it.  Should I even warn you of the length of this post, or are we all on the same “Luisa can’t synthesise for shit” boat now?

I. Azriel

I will start by saying that this does not make me hate Azriel or stop caring for him and wanting what’s best for him. I still do very much love him. This however does not mean I applaud or get behind how he expressed himself during this specially chapter. For me it was quite disturbing to see how he saw Elain merely as a sexual partner and thought that that translated into love. If he had made the distinction between being physically attracted to her and being in love with her, then I don’t think we would all be feeling like we are. Because it is fair to be sexually attracted to someone but not necessarily in love with them.

From what we saw I think we can gather that Azriel knows Mor is not into him and in his grief from all those years being in love he wants something immediate and there. On top of that he sees his brothers settled and feels like he is owed from the cauldron, so of course he starts seeing Elain as the perfect “solution” to his pain. Now, of course Elain (and no one for that matter) should be seen a solution to anything really. Much less he should jump on that boat and already think of her as his. Az, my sweet, possessiveness is not love. 

When I first read the chapter something stood out for me, he said he’s envious of his brothers and the emotional stability they both have, the fact that they were both chosen by the ones they love. We know Az loved Mor with all his heart and although she loves him too, it was not corresponded on the same energy since she is well bisexual homoromantic. He, so far, does not feel chosen in that same sense, which only feeds his insecurity of being unworthy.

In his envy he oversimplified things, he saw what both Rhys and Cassian now have and did the simple most stupid math ever: he went Rhys+Feyre = love, Cass+Nesta = love... hummm then If I’m single and Elain is single then it must mean Az+ Elain = love. (Sugar I love you but that is dumb as fuck). This has the same energy of when you are in high school and you let your friends convince you that you are actually into someone when you are really not, but then you buy into it and start believing in it yourself. In this case he was the one who created that push and convinced himself that it was the right thing.

I think so far we can gather a few things of the place Az is at right now: he is feeling extremely lonely, extremely envious and extremely sad. I do not think this excuses his behavior at fucking all, but at least we know where he is coming from. He is clearly mistaking sexual attraction and possessiveness as love. But I do think it all stems from this turbulent place he is at emotionally, not because he is a bad person. 

I do not thing he is a bad person for thinking of Elain as he does, because I truly think this is a set up for the growth he will experience. Is it a good look? honey no. But is it a realistic one? I dare say it is. As I said when I read this I got full on high school bull shit vibes, I thought “ohh I’ve seen this film before and I have lived it”. He is being immature and there is no denying. Which was only confirmed with him regifting that necklace... sugar... that was a dick move, very fucking dickish move -specially since it was alluded that they might have feelings for each other–. My man needs to do some emotional growth because yikes. 

II. The Narrative

Now, I have said before that for me, Sarah’s strength lies not so much on her world building or the originality of her works (which is not to say that her worlds suck or her narratives are not interesting and offer something new), but it lies more on her characters. To me she has always excelled at creating characters that do exemplify the range of humanity in its good, its bad, and all that’s in between. Even you can look at stuff that your fave did and go “yeah not cool at fucking all”. At least I know I can and I adore almost every character in this series. I love characters not because they are perfect but because I can either relate to them or because they allow me to understand and experience points of view that are alien to my own experience. Sarah has never made characters black and white. Your faves will make mistakes. Feyre has, Rhysand has, Cassian has, Nesta has, Elain has, Lucien has, Mor has and Az has. 

What make her books interesting from this perspective is that she says “characters development does not equal character growth”. Take Chaol for example –if you haven’t read ToG do yourself a favor and read it– his character arc is one of the most interesting and best fulfilled ones in that series because we saw him at his lowest, when we couldn’t empathize exactly and he was being an ass, and then we saw him question his problematic behavior and move past it. Character development means just that: that the character move from point a to point b. It doesn’t mean he will be better by the end, but it means movement. Character growth does mean he will hopefully get  to a place where they are “good”.

I think she knows exactly what she is doing with Az and with this teaser. Need I remind you of the chaos the bonus chapter in ACOFAS left this fandom in for a solid two years. This got our emotions high and got us one way or another expecting to see where this will all lead. I don’t think any of us were expecting this chapter when it was announced that Az would get a pov. 

III. Conclusion

To conclude I just want to reiterate that I don’t support how he’s is behaving. I think I am accepting how he is behaving. Acceptance however does not meant that I am behind it, it means that I accept it and I am willing to stick around to see him grow out of this and realize why this is all so wrong (because well you know I can’t actively engage with him since he is... you know... fictional). I have had moments like this with some of my closest friends irl with whom we’ve had talks about previous behavior and have had the “be fucking better” talk, which is something that Rhys essentially said (GOD BLESS YOU BOO), and is also a sentiment most of us shared, even Feyre, when Rhys forced Mor to face both of her abusers and then didn’t consult her when selling Velaris off to her dad. And to me that is part of what friendship means, it means being there through the growth.  

Everyone has their own limits of what they can understand of a character/person. If this is your own then it’s fine, no harm no foul. If this is what makes you jump ship from Elriel (that’s their ship name right?) then hey all good, I’m sorry for your loss.  

I am not an Azriel hater, nor I think I will ever be. At least not from the information I have right now. I do still love him and as I have said before I want to see him happy and with a healthy amount of self confidence (and no Azriel saying you could easily kill Lucien is not the healthy self confidence I am talking about). So if anything I am interested in the arc his character will face, we just caught him at a moral low –which to me still has a solid chance of growth–.

I hope this offer some light or whatever. And remember take it easy, it’s okay to feel things deeply but don’t quit in the middle of the war, we still have his book coming up and I am 100% that will enlighten us more. 

ANYWAYS, LONG LIVE ELUCIEN BITCHES.

[fandomcrysismoves]

Rooming with the demon bros

Broke uni student version

A/n:

First of all I’ve never lived alone (yet) so idk how it works irl but this is what i think

Secondly I imagined that you pay rent the place and the boys joined in and you pay it together so you know if they payed it or not

And one more thing all the boys are good looking but wrote ‘eye candy for those who are mentioned to be really good looking namely Asmo (duh), Mammon (he’s a model) and Lucifer (it’s his whole thing that he’s really beautiful and perfect, right?)

Lucifer

Pros:

- Will never have a problem with paying rent on time or anything like that

- He won’t be home a lot

- He will do half of the chores no matter what, even if he can’t do it at the moment he will make it up next time

- Pretty flexible with the chores. If you can’t make it (and he can) he will do them. He knows how life gets, you are busy, he is busy too usually

- Won’t eat your food or use your stuff

- He won’t bother you unless something affects him too

- He will keep to himself mostly so he won’t be invasive

- Won’t be loud at night or take home random people to hook up with

- Is chill and you can have a good conversation or just do your thing silently together

- He has a lot of pretty fancy acquaintances which can be pretty useful if you want to make some money as a sugarbaby

- Is an eye candy

- Has really good music recommendations

- He is pretty stoic and emotionless but has a soft spot for you

Cons:

- He doesn’t want you to touch is stuff

- Or be too invasive especially with you entering without knocking

- Will absolutely murder you if you accidentally see him without any if his clothes on

- While he is flexible with the chores you need to get even, he refuses to do the chores alone

- He doesn’t care about your room but the space you use together NEEDS to be clean and proper no matter what

- Can have a bit of a temper

- Easy to get in arguments with because of his pride and for the same reason he won’t be the first to say sorry or say sorry at all

- He won’t admit if he is wrong just if he can’t deny it anymore

- You can’t be loud when he wants to sleep but he goes to bed pretty late usually so that’s not a real big problem

- Doesn’t like other people around the house so if you want friends around make sure he won’t be home

- Hook ups a big no no to him, even if you are quiet there’s a possibility that he will meet some hung over stranger in the kitchen in the morning and he’s not about that so please go to their place

- Will be really hard to convince him to introduce you to his rich friends, he doesn’t want any drama

Mammon:

Pros:

- He’s really fun to have around your friends really like him

- He’s really a sweetheart if you are down and is genuinely a really good friend

- You can go partying together

- You can go viral on the internet with the amount of meme material you get living with him

- He has a lots of useful connections (he is a sugar baby and a model if you interested) generally knows people, like you need a bomb ass website he knows a guy, need a snake charmer to a birthday party he went to high school with this guy

- Is an eye candy too

- You’ll never be lonely while rooming with him

- He won’t take home random people to have sex

- He has the patience of an angel and it’s really hard to get in an argument with him

- Doesn’t make a big deal out of you not knocking (but will furiously blush if you walk in on him shirtless)

- Doesn’t mind if you leave stuff around or if things are messy

- He is okay with you having your friends around

- Probably has a really obvious fat crush on you

Cons:

- Always late on rent and is unreliable if it involves money

- There are a lot of shady people looking for him

- He will probably neglect the chores until you make him do them

- Will eat your food and use your stuff

- Lock everything away if you don’t want him to sell it

- Doesn’t know personal space

- Usually enters without knocking

- Sometimes he’s pretty loud at night

- He needs a lot of space for his stuff

- Is pretty possessive of his stuff but he won’t mind you eating his food as much if it happens occasionally

- Can be possessive of you too so he will probably be pretty jealous if you get involved with someone

- Pretty messy

- He sometimes has people around

Leviathan:

Pros:

- He will be in time with rent and such although there are occasional slip ups

- Helps with chores

- Doesn’t really leave his room so you get the house mostly for yourself

- He will help you beat a level in videogames if you need it

- He has really good anime recommendations

- He will watch anime with you even if he’s seen it before

- KING OF NOT SPOILING ANYTHING !!!

- Has some interesting connections through games (he somehow knows the statistics teacher from your uni? He kicks ass in Overwatch)

- MEME LORD, he has the best memes and that’s a fact

- He’s pretty good with computers so if it’s not too complicated or not hardware problem he can fix it

- Can sew and that’s always handy

- You won’t fight unless it involves anime

- He doesn’t mind the mess but if you leave a bra or underwear around he will combust

- Never has anyone over beside his brothers visiting sometimes

- He won’t take home random people to hook up

- Has the fattest crush on you

- (If he accidentally walks in on you in underwear or naked he will pop a boner right then and there 👀)

Cons:

- He never leaves his room and that means he’s always home so you can never really be alone in the house

- Although usually helps with the chores if there’s an event you are by yourself

- Can smell sometimes if there’s a new release or an important event

- You have to go in his room and open the windows once a week because he never does it

- He cannot take care of himself and you have to do it for him

- Never goes grocery shopping or anything that involves leaving the house so you make a deal that you do the shopping and he cooks for you

- He sometimes throws tantrums

- Pretty jealous of everyone who comes in contact with you

- If something embarrassing happens won’t be able to even look at you for DAYS! (If nothing happened after the boner popping thing)

- If you have friends over he refuses to leave his room and it can be pretty awkward after

Satan:

Pros:

- Is on time with rent and everything so you don’t have to worry about that

- ALWAYS does the chores, sometimes all of them if he’s in the mood but at least half of it

- He is a really good cook

- Really knowledgeable which can come handy in most situations

- Really good company you can have really good conversations or just chill together

- If you don’t want cats you probably won’t room together because he looks for someone in particular who likes cats or at least don’t mind them

- He would take home any and every stray cat but you convince him to settle for 2 shelter cats (he wasn’t willing to go lower because he didn’t want the to be lonely)

- He has lots of friends everywhere, so connections

- Really good friend and he’s really understanding, listens to you if you need it

- He takes you out to a lot of interesting places even if you are just friends

- Can tutor you (or if you major in something completely different then he probably has a friend) if you need it

- Really respectful of your things so he doesn’t use anything unless he asked and only uses your food if he doesn’t have some ingredient to cook and even then he asks

- He is protective of you and makes sure you don’t walk home alone at night

- He really rarely takes home one night stands

- He is away a lot so you can have alone time while he’s out

Cons:

- So many books, like he has books all over the house and even convinced you to put his books on one of your shelves

- He has a really bad temper even if he keeps it in check most of the time sometimes he snaps and he breaks things and it’s pretty scary

- Has some friends over semi-regularly but tries to make sure to do it when you are away

- He will definitely sass you and tell you that you’re wrong and he will probably be right

- If you are messy you might drive him crazy because he likes things in order (everywhere except his room)

Asmodeus:

Pros:

- Really easy to get along with and has a really fun personality

- Living with him is like a permanent sleep over

- He gives you a lot of advice on everything that involves beauty from the ideal haircut to which brand’s jeans cup your ass the best

- Will play dress up with you and do your hair make up and nails

- Has a million and one self care products

- (Has a lot of money from being a sugar baby and onlyfans but spends it)

- Helps in with the chores but really picky about what chores he’s willing to do

- Really good friend and helps you with your love life

- He has so many connections just like Mammon and Satan (but a story goes more like i slept with this guy...)

- Gossip king, you will know everything and have dirt on most people

- He is sooo gorgeous the expression eye candy is not enough

- Doesn’t mind if you walk in on him unexpectedly, it doesn’t bother him if you catch him doing something “inappropriate”

- Is open to being friends with benefits

- If you become friends with benefits things won’t change at all except for more really dirty jokes and flirting and good sex

- He is away a lot so more alone time to you

- You can go party together

- You can talk about fashion make up and hair with him

- Won’t use your stuff or eat your food

- He loves having your friends around

Cons:

- He takes home people to hook up with but tries to be as quiet as possible or go to their place

- Has people over all the time so if you don’t like that maybe look for someone else

- If you have your friends over and one of them falls for him (which is very likely) it can effect your friendship with that friend

- Has way too many clothes, make up and skin and haircare products so he takes up a lot of place

- Sometimes loud at night

- Pretty bad at keeping secrets

- Doesn’t know the word privacy, he will NOT knock (he may or may not does it on purpose so he can catch you without your clothes)

- Really self centered so that can lead to arguments

- He takes a lot of people home so he needs the place to look at least presentable

Beelzebub

Pros:

- He is an absolute sweetheart (that’s it that’s all the pros you need)

- Really pleasant to spend time with and a really good friend

- He is an amazing cook

- He will help with the chores and even do all of them if he sees that you are tired or unwell

- He will be your gym buddy if you go to gym

- If you are sore he knows about 5 different stretches to help

- If it’s hot he will walk around shirtless and omg his body is 🥵🥵🥵

- Really big and tall so he can reach everything in the appartement without any problems so if you’re short it’s a lot less chair dragging

- Really helpful with everything

- He knows every good restaurant in the town

- Takes you out on dinner dates even if your are just friends

- You can make him do anything if you offer him food

- He’s buff so he can scare off anyone who’s bothering you

- Pretty protective of you

- Respectful of your privacy and will always text you or knock before he goes into your room

- He is really hard to have fights with

- He is out a lot because of American football (i refuse to call it football it’s not)

- Doesn’t mind if things are messy

Cons:

- Let’s address the elephant in the room, he will eat everything and anything he sees it doesn’t matter if it’s yours, he will feel guilty though so he probably tries to replace it

- He has Belphie over a shit ton or more like: If Belphegor makes the effort to visit his brother he won’t leave for days to make his trip worth it

- It’s an endless cycle of you have something in the fridge for more than half an hour, Beel eats it, he feels guilty, you find out, you scold him because it gets really annoying real fast, he looks like a kicked puppy, you feel guilty for hurting him and then tell him that you aren’t angry just don’t do it again (but he does but he’s a hungry baby what can he do? 🥺)

- Sometimes has his teammates over (which isn’t a bad thing if you like hot jocks)

- The mess that they leave is definitely is a bad thing

Belphegor

Pros:

- He won’t bother you a lot

- He will help with the chores after you made him to do it

- He is totally okay with you having friends around

- He’s never loud (if he can’t sleep at night he’s pacing but that’s all)

- He won’t use your things

- If he’s not asleep he’s really chill and you can have nice conversations

- He has a really hot jock twin

- Amazing naps together

- This baby is made for cuddling so if you have a bad day you can just go for it without it being awkward even if you’re just friends

- He can literally sleep through anything so you don’t have to be that careful with the noise

- He’s really thoughtful and watches out for you like the type to call you if you said you’re gonna be home at 4 and it’s 5 and you aren’t home yet

Cons:

- You have to chase him down with rent because he forgets (and now he doesn’t even bother to try to keep it in mind because he knows you will come to him)

- You have to pester him because otherwise he wouldn’t take care of himself (he wouldn’t eat for 2 days straight because he’s lazy to cook)

- He will nap anywhere and everywhere not even your room and bed is off limits

- Said hot jock twin comes over a lot because Belphie is too lazy to go to his place

- Beel empties out the fridge a lot of the time even with Belphie stopping him

- He is really chill most of the time but if you talk about certain subjects he is surprisingly short tempered which can lead to arguments

- Really angry Belphie is scary af

A/n: Oh wow this was soooo long and at Belphegor I had a brain fart and it took 2 days to come up with more things for him

[junglekookbook]

Papilionem

Yoongi × reader

Genre: crack, yandere, angst

A/n: I write for my one muse and one muse only, I am scared to be posting again but it really helps to have a friend always have your back and support you. Hopefully I don't disappoint people with my writing. @cosmostae

Prologue (for context)

The human species as Y/n would soon come to understand was extremely selfish and pompous. Not a week had passed since she had crashed onto this planet and suddenly it became her job to save them. Like she owed it to them, when she barely managed to survive there was not one huan that worried about her but only criticsed her and called her incompetent and said that she was bad at her job. Duties aside, she did not deserve this. Why was babysitting this ungrateful species her responsibility. Her duty was to protect earth, the planet not it’s inhabitants. Maybe she should let these pitiful creatures just freeze to death. She hated Yoongi, but somehow she had grown to loathe the human species more. She had managed to secure a home in a rundown building far away from the city. Really far away. Something called ‘radioactivity’ or something was present in the area. She found it funny. ‘Just another one of those superstitions’ she thought. Her large crimson wings shimmered in the golden light of the setting sun. The warmth soothed her skin and helped her take away her attention from the pain from all her injuries that she had sustained while duelling with Yoongi. Her species was really not equipped to handle the cold. A cold dry laugh escaped her lips, finding it comical how over the years while the species of other planets focused on evolving traits that could be weaponized, hers had focussed on peace and aesthetics. Look where that got them. Cryonovians had evolved a trait to specifically destroy her planet and win the long cold war while her planet focussed on stupid things like ‘what is the meaning of life?’ “Mass extinction” She blurted out bitterly. Whilst it was true that her loyalty would always be with her home planet she could not help but be filled with disdain at the pompousness of all those philosophers. Sounds of cracking glass shook her out of her thoughts, straightening her back she poked her head from the sill to survey the surroundings. It definitely was not a human, they were very rigid with this superstition. Swinging her legs off the window sill she floated over the floor to the source of the sound. Her hands were already preparing a small ball of energy. 

Yoongi stood leaning against the door frame, a plastic bag in his hands. Y/n was in no shape to fight and he knew that. If she chose to fight now, she could die, only he wouldn’t let her. He had always found them to be like lamb and lion. There was no winning chance for the lamb but he found it cute how it still tried. His amusement had developed into an infatuation that he had denied for a very long until Hoseok, his closest friend from the neighbouring planet had made him realize that he was smitten with the lamb. It was from then that he did everything in his power to get the two of them together on Earth, away from all the dirty politics, of course he did not want the annihilation of her planet, but then that Jimin showed up and suddenly that planet needed to go. The first time he saw her on this filthy planet, looking so vulnerable, he was ready to recite the confession he had spent days preparing. He expected her to be angry or cry but he really did not expect the way his throat constricted and heart raced at the sight of her. His words formed a lump in his throat that made it hard for him to breathe.  That night she had knocked him off his feet, in every sense of the phrase. The days that followed seemed like a fun show to put on. He realized that watching her lose made him happy. This part of himself he was still battling with. How could he enjoy hurting someone he loved? Was it the fact that he hurt her or the fact that he never killed her? He enjoyed the control and the act of mercy he showed her everytime they duelled. It felt like a bonding activity to him.

“What? What are you here for? You are going to kill me aren’t you?” Y/n asked when she saw him leaning against the door. Yoongi took in her bruised body, and ripped wing, the bruises on her knuckles when she had had the grand idea of using physical attacks with him, it had felt like punching a brick of ice. It pained him to see her like that, knowing that he was the reason for it. That is not what he wants their future to be, when they do get married he would not be caught dead hurting her. “Why would I do that?” He asked, furrowing his brow. Y/n’s lower lip jut out in annoyance, eyes glaring daggers at him. “Oh, right I forgot, you prefer to mock me publicly everytime we fight.” She spat. “Mock you? I-” Shaking his head, he chose not to talk about it, “I came here bearing gifts.” He said raising his hands and showing her the plastic bag, the act making her flinch and making a dull pain settle in his chest. She did not feel safe around him, but he would fix that, starting with these juice boxes and packed potato chips. “I want nothing from you.” she said, moving away to create distance between them. “No, don’t say that! I had to freeze the cashier for these!” He protested, walking towards her again. 

“I don’t have a home to go back to. Do you know what that is like?” She blurted out, her eyes welled up and voice broke at the end of the question. Yoongi felt his heart constrict, “I would not go back either, I will stay here with you.” He offered, he did not want to see her in more pain, he had already caused her enough of that. His offer was met with the faint feeling of getting hit by her energy blasts on the arm. She did not have the strength to hurt him, it felt like a slight tap on the shoulder at best. “You have people to go back to. People who love you, care about you, who are waiting for you. I- I am alone on this planet, trapped with no where to go, their stupid atmosphere feels like a glass jar. I have no one to go to and no one who would take care of me! I can’t live with this loneliness forever!” She screamed, tears streaming down her face, she hid her face in her hands, falling to her knees, cutting them against the glass shards. Green blood dripped from her wounds, unlike the humans it was nitrogen her species needed. Most species relied on nitrogen and helium, luckily earth had enough nitrogen to sustain her. “You’re right, I don’t know what that is like.” Yoongi finally admitted, he took slow steps when approaching her, with great caution he wrapped his glacial arms around her “but I am willing to understand. We are away from all the war, away in a world of our own, maybe sometimes we just don’t have to fight,” He cooed at her, running his hand through her hair. He did not receive an answer from her, but as the sun set, Y/n cried herself to sleep inYoongi’s embrace. 

When she woke up in the morning, Yoongi was not around, a cool sensation lingered on her arms but it wasn’t the kind that caused discomfort, it made her understand why humans used ice on wounds. After breaking down last night in front of the man she had sworn to kill, she felt the pain fade and dull in a manner that fomentation with ice could only do. His words played in her head “A world of our own” he had said, no one would know if they fought or not, last night she felt a comfort she had not felt in a long time, but then again, she had not been shown kindness in a long time. It was the bare minimum on Yoongi’s part, she brushed it off as basic courtesy, as for what he said, she would give him an answer once her wounds healed. In the words of the human philosopher, Taylor Swift “Band aids don’t fix bullet holes” and she had just endured air bombings. 

The wings took the longest to heal, it took great patience to see them come together and for the scar to disappear. She took a day for herself, tried those potato chips and almost gagged at the ridiculous amount of sugar in that litchi juice box. Given that she hated sugar so much, she figured that she would use it to address Yoongi. She was growing tired of using that Cryonovian name. She wrote him a letter that day, to be fair, she wrote him at least thirty but sent only one. 

“Dear Yoongi, Yoongi, Suga,

What happened between us, nothing happened betw Maybe it is easier for you to ask for a few moments of peace, you have not lost everything that you had known to be true about your existence or purpose. With my planet no longer existing, I have often questioned why I must still keep the promises of an extinct species, but I understand it now. You froze a man to death for some edibles, something I could never do, these humans, they are so fragile… they need my protection, I must protect them from people like you who simply take and take and take. You took my home and my love, you are taking from these people too. I may not be strong enough to defeat you yet, but I will never stop trying, so long as humans can see that I am good and you are not, I will fight. When next we speak it will be as rivals.”

They did meet as rivals again. High above in the sky, a crimson winged fairy fought a white haired cryokinesis wielding assassin. With new found motivation coursing through her veins, she fought Yoongi. A part of her acted impulsively, filled with denial for finding comfort in his arms. She was relentless in her rain of energy on his figure. She knew that she was doing better than she ever had, she might just win, maybe she would mock him too. Let him live to be defeated again. Make a spectacle out of him like he did everytime. She allowed herself a small glance at the crowd gathered below that cheered for her today. That believed in her after so long. Only… they didn’t. They hated her for doing well against the mysterious bad boy villain with ice powers. They hated her for trying. They hated her no matter what she did. A sudden sense of despair consumed her, making her mind go numb, a window that Yoongi used to gain the upper hand. He had not intended to hit her heart, he aimed for her arm, he watched with dread filled eyes as her unconscious body started falling through the air. In his panic and desperation he reached out his hand to hold her, letting her survive that fall. Losing control of his powers in his state of distress he watched the icicle impale her heart in horror. The screaming of the crowd died down and the sound that echoed in his head over and over was the thud that had accompanied Y/n’s fall. He had killed her.

[cuddlepilefics]

Balloon party

Fandom: Stray Kids, 3racha

Sickie: Jisung

Caregivers: 2basco (Chan, Changbin)

 Jisung’s POV.:

It had been a while since we’ve last been on a game show, so the entire group was hyped for our afternoon schedule. Those shows were usually the most fun to participate in, so not even the grueling dance practice this morning could dampen my mood. I was really looking forward to a fun afternoon, using this thought to keep me going, ignoring the burning in my muscles. “Alright, we’re done with practice for today. Let’s head back to the dorm. Make sure you shower quickly, so everyone gets a chance to freshen up before we need to leave again”, Chan announced and I dropped down next to my bag. My sweaty back against the wall, I pulled out my water bottle, chugging the small amount of water that was still left. We didn’t really get a chance to rest very long before Chan dragged us back home to ensure we wouldn’t be late. I was starting to get more hyped up, the more time passed. While waiting for my turn to shower, I wanted to help Channie-hyung make lunch but apparently, he didn’t trust me to be of much help, so he sent me away. I passed the time playing games on my phone, hearing the leader chuckle: “He’s already bouncing off the walls now, what am I going to do with him after the show?” A small giggle escaped my lips. I wasn’t sure who my hyung was talking about, it was either me or Felix, the younger Aussie seemed to be just as excited as me.

Lunch was filled with lighthearted chatter and I noticed that everyone had missed going on game shows. They were a welcome change from all those serious interviews and way less tense than most public appearances, so it’s not too hard to see why we liked having them in our schedules. We finished our meal and cleaned the dishes. Before heading out, I grabbed a chocolate bar as dessert which I devoured on the way to the car. I startled a bit when I heard a loud voice behind me: “Yah! Who gave the squirrel chocolate? You know what sugar does to him.” Afraid my dessert would be taken away from me, I stuffed the last few bites into my mouth and turned around to give Changbin an innocent smile, with my cheeks still puffed up. “Sung, you know how energetic you get when you eat candy. Who gave you that?”, my hyung frowned. I swallowed and giggled a bit: “I gave it to myself. You know, Jisung is a big boy. Don’t worry, the fans love my energetic self.” – “Yeah, maybe the fans do but what about giving your hyungs a hard time?”, Changbin argued. I looked at him innocently, pretending not to know what he was talking about, and asked: “You mean like that?” Then I started to chase him in circles around the rest of the group, who just rolled their eyes at me.

We made it to the car and I collapsed into my seat still panting from our little chase. Changbin plopped into the seat in front of me, turning around to give me a death glare. Probably a warning to not sneak my hand forward to tickle his side. Did I care? Nope, I didn’t. Instead I continued to bother my hyung for the rest of the ride. At some point, even Chan turned around to warn me and I felt a bit sorry for not being able to keep my overflowing energy under control. I managed to pull myself together right as the car came to a halt. From now on I need to be professional, I reminded myself, as we went in to get our hair and makeup done. It wasn’t that hard to do, since the effects of my earlier snack were slowly tapering off. Especially the hyung-line kept watching me warily, expecting a prank from me at any time now. They weren’t wrong but I refrained from doing anything, instead just looking forward to the games we were going to play soon.

The first few games were really fun and I was truly enjoying myself. Until the third game of the afternoon was announced. We were supposed to pair up and dance with a balloon stuck between our bodies. The team whose balloon dropped or popped last wins the game. I cringed and barely had the time to mentally prepare myself before the staff brought in a bunch of balloons, a lot more than we’d need for the game, probably for aesthetic reasons. I didn’t care about those reasons, my eyes going wide at the sight of the colorful party decoration. Balloons, I had always despised them. The colors were always way to bright and unnatural, they felt weirdly squishy and made those awful squeaking noises when you touched them wrong. Worst of all, they were like a ticking timebomb, ready to explode at any given moment. I couldn’t touch them. ‘No! Not going to happen.’ They even said the balloon would probably explode between us while we dance. My hands started to shake and I shoved them into my pockets, so nobody would notice. Of course, we had some time to fool around before the actual game started but unlike earlier, I didn’t join my friends. I tried to stay as far away from the dangerous balls, squinting my eyes at them as a warning. ‘Don’t you dare explode on me!’

Hyunjin chased after Jeongin, waving a bright orange balloon in the air. He dragged his hand over the rubber material, triggering a shrill squeak. I flinched as a shiver ran down my back and I pleaded in my head for them to please be careful and not accidentally pop the balloon. Changbin must have seen my face because he suddenly appeared next to me, a pink balloon in his hand. Smirking, he dragged his fingers over it and I jumped at the sound. I was starting to flush hot and cold and my hands were sweating. “What? You don’t like that sound?”, the older asked innocently, “Guess what, I don’t like being tickled either.” – “H-Hyung, please don’t do this”, I pleaded, backing away. He gave a fake-confused look, dragging his finger over the rubber again and asking: “You mean this?” I nodded, backing away further as my shaking hands went up to cover my ears. Changbin only laughed and I thought I heard something along the lines of ‘too bad, this is your payback’, but I wasn’t sure because it was muffled by my hands. He held the pink bomb closer to me and instead of covering my ears, I shielded my face with my arms. He couldn’t see the tears stinging in my eyes as he went to produce that awful sound again. Except this time, it was different. The last thing I remembered was a loud ‘BOOM!’ before everything went black.

 Changbin’s POV.:

I was just getting Jisung back for being an annoying squirrel on the way here. It was funny, he really seemed to hate the noise and I was certainly using that to tease him. Apparently, I had gripped it too tightly because the next thing I knew was the balloon popping in my hands. There was barely a second for me to get over the shock myself before a movement caught my eye. I cursed, jumping forward to secure my arms around Jisung’s waist to keep him from hitting the ground. Carefully, I lowered his to lay down on the floor and tapped his squishy cheek. No reaction. I shook his shoulder and called out his name, catching the attention of the remaining members. “What happened?”, Chan frowned crouching down next to us. I was starting to freak out and I cursed my voice for wavering when I replied: “I-I don’t know? The b-balloon popped and suddenly he was out.” A staff member joined us and felt my dongsaeng’s pulse, announcing that it was strong and fast. “Why don’t you take him back to the dressing room. There’s a couch you can put him on”, she asked and I immediately scooped the younger up. I couldn’t help but feel like this was all my fault.

I placed Jisung on the couch and studied his face. Chan put a comforting hand on my shoulder and it was only then that I noticed I was crying. He took Jisung’s wrist again and checked his pulse. It was still strong but beating steadily at an only slightly too fast pace. The rest of our group was asked to stay out of the room to give Jisung some space and I could only imagine how worried they must be, not being able to see him. I took Jisung’s limp hand in mine and cringed at how sweaty his palm was, was he scared? I gave it a gentle squeeze, mumbling ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again, till I felt his hand twitch in mine. Suddenly, the younger shot up and pulled his hand away, scaring me. His eyes darted around the room and he looked so small and so stressed. His breathing quickened and I patted his arm to catch his attention. “Hey, you’re okay, Sungie. You’re okay. Look at me!”, I said and he turned to face me. There were tears streaming down his puffy cheeks and I was almost thrown off balance when Jisung crashed into my chest, sobbing loudly. Taken aback, I wrapped my arms around him and stood up, pulling the shaking boy with me. I sat down on the couch, keeping the younger in my lap as he cried into my shoulder. Chan returned with some water and sat down next to us. “Hey Sung, can you tell us what happened?”, he asked carefully. The younger only continued to cry and I sighed: “It was the balloon, wasn’t it?” Jisung nodded against my shoulder, trying to pull himself together.

We waited in silence for our dongsaeng to calm down, so he could explain more to us and so I could apologize. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this guilty in my life but it didn’t seem like Jisung was mad at me, if he was, he’d be clinging to Chan and not me. Jisung’s cries quietened to soft sniffles and he looked up at us with swollen eyes, admitting: “I-I’ve always had that fear, I don’t think it’s bad enough to be called a phobia, -“ – “You passed out! I’m pretty sure it is bad enough to be called that”, I interrupted. “I don’t like balloons. I don’t like anything about them, not their color, not the way they feel or the sounds they make and even less the fact that they can explode at you any second. I’m pretty sure balloons are made by Satan to eliminate us”, Jisung rambled and I couldn’t help to feel even worse. How scared he must have been when I cornered him like that. My arms tightened around him and I buried my face in his hair mumbling ‘I’m sorry’. Jisung gave a weak smile and patted my head, whispering: “It’s okay, hyung. You didn’t know and you deserved to pay me back.”

“Talking about knowing. Why did you never tell us?”, Chan question his forehead creased. Jisung shrugged, blushing a bit, and replied: “One, it’s quite embarrassing and two, we do have a few pranksters in this group, so I guess I was afraid of the teasing and having that information used against me.” I nodded, it made sense but I could promise him: “Seeing how bad it is, none of us would ever dare using this against you, Sung.” Yes, we could tease each other endlessly but we knew our limits and wouldn’t harm any of our friends. He nodded and smiled when the rest of the group joined us. Not having heard our conversation earlier, Seungmin brought one of the balloons with him. I felt Jisung tense in my arms and was quick to ask Seungmin to take the balloon out of the room. He didn’t understand why and pouted a bit because he had planned to take it home with him but he sensed the seriousness in my voice and complied. Jisung hugged me closer and whispered a quiet ‘thank you’ in my ear. I squeezed his shoulder in reply. He didn’t have to tell the others about his situation right now and I totally understood if he’d rather explain it to the at home. Our manager came in and announced that we could go home now. “Why don’t you guys go first? I’m going to take Jisung for some cheesecake on the way home”, I asked, wanting to make it up to my dongsaeng. A wide smile spread on the younger’s face and he giggled: “You’re giving me sugar, hyung?” My eyes met Chan’s in horror. “Channie-hyung, help! What have I done?”, I panicked. He just laughed at me: “Nope, you brought that on yourself. I’m taking the others back to the dorm. Have fun!”

[batfamilysays]

NUMBER NEIGHBOR

in which damian wayne meets his number neighbor

old draft of oc x damian

wc: 3468

GOTHAM CITY

TINSLEY'S APARTMENT 

06:32 PM

Friday comes too quickly and Damian is nowhere near ready.

His lips are still busted open from the preceding evening’s scouting and his hairs grown out far too long, hanging in tufts right below his brow and curling the daintiest bit in a mess of matte black. Small dark rings kiss his tanned skin and tug at the lids of his jade eyes, dulling the color every so slightly to a muted green.

Nothing is right.

Every article of clothing in his wardrobe suddenly seems inadequate for meeting the girl he has been anxiously anticipating ever since he sent the text. He’d probably still be trying to decide on what garment to wear had it not been for Jason chucking a pair of jeans at him and telling him to leave.

Damian isn't dense, he recognizes he's quite aloof at first, he knows his demeanor is unsettling, so as he stood in front of her apartment complex, arm raising to knock, his mind begins to wander.

Was this worth it?

Was the prospect of her getting hurt enough to make Damian turn around, could that ever-growing cavity in his stomach be filled by someone else’s presence? Someone, he doesn’t care about half as much as Tinsley? Someone who didn’t fill it with maddening butterflies and a troublesome warmth. Or could perhaps Damian be allowed this? Allowed this small wedge of pleasure in a world that seemed to grant him nothing but iniquity and desolation?

Fortunately for everyone involved, he didn’t have time to decide for himself as the door swung open and a pair of arms encased his torso with enough force he stumbled back against the hallway’s stained walls and knocked his head against the plaster with a disquieting thud!

An instinct burned into him since childhood shouts, screams at him to push whomever this was away, and retaliate with tenfold that amount of brutality. Yet somehow he can’t quite hear outcries, they seem muffled against the vanilla and honey redolence that embraces him, filling that basin in his stomach to the brink with warm marmalade and crystalized sugar.

“Damian!” such a faint voice whispers, so soft the Wayne almost doesn’t catch it over his shooting heart at the close proximity with the girl he was only just now identifying as Tinsley Nolans, his number neighbor, ‘“Oh my god this is such a surreal experience.”

Hesitantly Damian returns the embrace, his hands engulf the shorter woman in his arms and the scent of her fragaria shampoo and conditioner saturating his senses in a wonderful mellow mix. Her hair blinds him and Tinsley couldn’t help but notice how delicately he was touching her, it was as though she was glass and he was a man destined to shatter it.

It was as though the lion had fallen in love with the lamb.

“You smell really good.” Damian says through a sigh, only belatedly realizing just how awkward that was after the words leave his throat, “Oh my god that sounds so creepy I didn’t mean it-”

“You smell really good too,” It wasn’t what Tinsley had planned to say but if it would make Damian less uncomfortable she was okay with scraping her original sappy speech - besides he really does smell good, “Like mint and smog.”

He knows the smokey fragrance is from the gas bomb he had used the night prior on a few of the riddler’s henchmen, but Damian lets that thought drift peacefully from his head as her hands began playing with the fabric of his shirt, her lips moving in small puffs as she says, “It’s really crazy to see you, it’s like I’m meeting my best friend for the first time.”

The reply he goes with is cheesy, but he can’t find it in himself to care, “I am seeing my best friend for the first time.”

Drawing away with a grin Damian allows himself this one self-indulgent act, allows himself to drink in the slightly shorter girl in front of him, her sandals adding at least an inch in height with their white chunky heels and strappy bases. Tinsley’s hair was laying in long strands across her shoulders, each perfectly curling at the end and crooking up at the base of her neck. A flannel was thrown indolently around her shoulders to add a bit of warmth to the grey cropped shirt and ripped black jeans and Damian couldn’t help but inhale at the peaks of bronzed skin that appeared with every movement she made.

Shaking his head Damian attempts to refocus on her smirking face, a smug look gliding across her eyes like koi fish swimming their deft routine. With the quick realization, he hasn’t said anything for a good two minutes, Damian quickly spouts out, “You look um-nice Ley,”

“You don’t look too bad yourself edgelord,” She adds a playful wink and loops their arms together with comfortable ease, almost as though she knows that’s how they’re meant to be, connected, “C’mon let’s go I’m dying for taco bell,”

Damian, without reluctance, permits his body to decompress, the tension and nerves seeping out with every warm glance she offered and the soft touch of her skin against his flesh, “I don’t know how you can stomach that garbage,”

“Tsk. Such a rich boy thing to say,” Stopping briefly to pop her head inside the flat Tinsley yells, “See you tonight!” To her mother - who roars a warning to Damian - and resumes dragging the much larger man down the corridor with her.

“I’d be careful with what you say, I’m the one with a license after all,” Damian simpers and extracts the keys from his pocket, wagging them in front of Tinsley face teasingly, satisfied with himself as she lets out a childish huff and pouts in a fashion he finds sinfully adorable.

“I regret telling you that wholeheartedly, besides I’ve got my redo in two weeks soo I’ll be the one driving you places, “ Tinsley snatches the keys from his arm and dashes down the hall, only turning back around for a second to stick out her tongue and wink, emitting a boisterous, “Race ya!”

With a playful roll of his eyes, Damian pursues her, knowing full well he can catch up to her with ease if he so chooses to.

He doesn’t.

Instead, he watches from behind as Tinsley twirls and titters as if a ballerina executing a routine only she knows of. Damian wasn’t religious by any means, but this - this was something eternal, something sacred. That carefree expression etched into her face as she reaches the end of the hall, those teasing insults she spews at him while walking to the elevator, the warmth of her skin against his own as she places the keys in his hands and climbs into the passenger side of the car.

It prompted a feeling to froth in Damian’s chest, a feeling he never wanted to be rid of, a feeling that made the pit in his stomach seem not so deafening after all.

GOTHAM CITY WAYNE MANOR 07:02 PM

Driving back to the manor was an experience - to say the least, and Damian found himself learning a few different things. 

Firstly, She was a wretched singer, throughout the complete car ride her bellows of off-key glee songs left Damian to regret not insisting control of the aux. 

Secondly, She really was awful on the road, she screamed every time the car went over train tracks and went on and on about being crushed by two trucks and becoming a truck sandwich if Damian ever got too close to other cars.

Lastly, Damian is absolutely smitten with her.

The sky had turned frigid in the half an hour it took to arrive at the manor, it lays across them like a white blanket of frost and punctuates each of their breaths with puffs of grey- something Tinsley took benefit of when doing her red hood impression with the mock smoke of a cigarette. 

Damian walks up to the house, his hand interlocked with Tinsley’s for what he would never admit to being for anything other than warmth. 

The manor really is quite fantastical, with noble pedestals of brown and beige driving up to the roof, complex patterns incised into the granite walls and alabaster steps, each window a darkened hue that makes them seem all the more ambiguous than Tinsley already thought them to be. 

A key is fitted into the cold doorknob and Tinsley smiles as Damian yanks her inside, a small yelp leaving her lips as he does so with a probably unnecessary amount of force. Though, in his defense, he didn’t want to waste any time that could be spent inside with her instead of in the freezing night.

“I cannot believe you live here…” Tinsley allows herself to drink in the magnificent interior design, her heart swelling when she directs her gaze back at Damian, whose own eyes have been locked on her the whole time, the same expression coating his eyes when looking at her that she had looking at the structure, “I can’t believe you’re here.”

Damian swears his heart skips a beat, and so he rather than confront the emotions and pressure fabricating in his gut he releases her hand and walks over to the couch, his back turned to the dejected expression Tinsley holds.

“Soooooo,” Tinsley trails off and plops onto the almost comically large couch, the pearly white cushion sinking under her weight and fluffing out around her head, “I’m still a firm believe we should order Taco bell and watch Twilight.”

Setting next to her Damian kicks off his converse, facing her with one eyebrow raised, “Ah yes cause I’m a well-known vampire fanatic.”

Tinsley sits up and punches his shoulder without any malice, her fist barely being felt through Damian’s thick jacket, “Ya know what buckeroo it’s good! Yeah, the acting is less than subpar but the story arc is great!”

With a swift flick of his wrists, he grabs her hands in his own, “Doesn’t an 18-year-old end up with a literal fetus?” 

Though Damian may not have been the biggest movie watcher he had read his fair share of cheesy romance novels - for research purposes of course - and twilight was most certainly included in that list.

“That’s not canon!” She argues, twisting so she was on top of him, arms still pinned to his.

“Didn’t the author write it?” Damian easily flips them a second time, the urge to be tender overwhelming despite the usual harshness in his fighting. But this wasn’t a fight - not really - and he needed to get used to that. Because with Tinsley it never would be a fight. 

Scrunching her eyebrows together in thought Tinsley groans, pouting out her bottom lip as her list of arguments ran out, so instead a simple “Shuddup!” would have to suffice. 

It was only then did Damian realize the position they were in. Tinsley pinned under him, her brown hair a makeshift halo under the fluorescent yellow lights and casting a yellow glow to her face, which almost seems to radiate pure rapture as she beams at him, such heat and affection it makes Damian want to cry. 

He’s a murder. And murders don’t deserve this. No matter how much he wants too. 

Getting up Damian turns his attention back to the screen, face heating up as he flicks the screen on, “So what do you want to watch?

GOTHAM CITY

CITY ROOFTOPS

12:57

Wind ruffles through his matte black hair and the cold brings his jade eyes to tears, the stinging of wetness against his eyelids burning like chlorine and sunscreen on a blistering summer’s day. Everything seems to anger him nowadays, the way the sun sets far too late on the horizon, how it barely caresses the moon and instead engulfs it, not a bit of fragility in the proficient routine they continuously dance. Even his telephone appears to be in opposition with him, invariably buzzing to life with sweet texts from the one person he refuses to be in contact with but so desperately desires to. 

Perhaps he was a bad person, Damian, had mulled over this thought all of last night, the words replaying in his head until they didn’t taste correct on his tongue or sound right for his ears. They reappear at the forefront now, when he is dawned in his vigilante attire and perched on Tinsley’s rooftop with the claim to be patrolling for crime when everyone knows that was most certainly not the reason for him being there. 

Seven Days. For seven days Damian has ignored every one of Tinsley’s persistent calls and texts, the fear of falling too deep for a girl who could most certainly do better than him devouring every bit of his soul. Eventually, the calls had trickled out and the texts became sparse until she finally cut him off altogether. He wanted to blame Tinsley at first, wanted so badly to make their devastating separation her fault when in actuality it was all Damian.

He had been the one terrified of getting hurt. He was the one who was scared she’d leave him. He was the one who knew she could do better. He was the one everyone abandoned. He was the one no one wanted. He was the one who had fallen in love with a girl on the internet. 

Everyone had tried to help in their own ways, Bruce had tried for days to figure out what was wrong, even threatening to take him off duty if he didn’t tell him. Dick had taken him out for ice cream in the hopes of cheering him up. Jason took Damian to shoot things, Duke spared with him to let him relieve stress, Stephanie had bought him cat toys for Alfred, Barbra had gotten him a fresh set of katanas, and Tim had sat down and just talked with him. In a way Damian couldn’t explain, this warmed his heart and filled the bits and crevices of the basin in this stomach (Especially Tim who - in a weird way -  Damian was closest to)

None of the attempted persuasions worked though and eventually, Damian stopped checking the messages and the hole in his chest expanded tenfold, so large and opaque he was fearful it would swallow him whole if he didn’t find something to fill it, this would likely prove to be challenging seeing as though only two people had ever been able to completely fill the irksome hole.

His mother was the first and most prominent, but after using him for years she threw him out, discarding the son to his father after training him to kill and feel nothing but a wave of numbness. After training him to be a monster. His father hadn’t wanted him at first, he was the product of manipulation and abuse, why would anyone want that? But Bruce had to take him, despite his original wishes, and even if Dick assured Damian that Bruce did love him the youngest Wayne couldn’t find it in himself to believe that.

Tinsley Elowen Nolans was the second. But now that she was gone Damian felt as though the hole had grown in size, the only parts in him unconsumed by the darkness where the spots reserved for his family. He knew that if he had simply allowed himself to open up to Tim, Dick, Jason, even Duke that they could possibly fill the cavity. But he didn’t want their warmth. He wanted hers.

Except he couldn’t have hers. 

He watches silently as Tinsley walks up to the building, fiddling with her yellow keychain to find the correct one to unlock the apartment complex doors. This was the usual routine she took, what wasn’t usual was what she does next. Damian quirks a brow under his mask as she takes out her phone and types a quick message, only understanding when his phone beeps with a message

TINSLEY

i miss you.

He shouldn’t have checked his phone, not when Tinsley was collapsing to the ground with quiet sobs escaping her lips. Her hair had been thrown into a lopsided ponytail and her mascara was starting to smear down her face with every trail of snot and whimper of inner torment. Damian wanted nothing more than to forget their fight, forget his stupidity, and jump down and make her forgive him, make her stop hurting, make her stop caring about him.

It was exceedingly critical for him to help her, comfort her. However, just as he goes to support her something pulls him back, maybe his insecurities, maybe the knowledge he was still in his uniform. Or maybe a sympathetic group of orphans who look at him with too much pity. 

With a scowl Damian shakes Dick’s grip off his shoulder, turning towards them with harsh eyes, blinking away the small tears that had managed to form in his irises. A disgruntled cough leaves his throat and he adjusts the black fabric of his mask to cover his bleary eyes, “Tsk. What is it? Don’t you all have neighborhoods to patrol?” 

“Bruce - I mean Batman,” Stephanie corrects after a glare from Cassandra, “Told us you refused to patrol any town but this one and

it seemed suspicious so Tim and I looked into it and that building,” She juts out a thumb to the sobbing girl and blue apartment complex, “Is not-so-coincidentally the same place Tinsley lives.”

Huffing Damian crosses his arms, “You’re right, it is a coincidence. Now shouldn’t you be swapping spit with that ugly bastard,” despite the words he isn’t trying to be malicious - he was just genuinely upset with the situation he has found himself in and is lashing out in the only way he knows how. (Okay and maybe he said it a bit to be mean)

“Robin we just want to help,” Barbra tries, dawned in her Batgirl suit, “With everything that’s gone down we don’t think it’s healthy for you to be ‘patrolling’ here. You’ll never be able to move on from Tinsley if you’re constantly seeing her.”

“Oh please he isn’t trying to move on, he’s trying to get her back.” Jason cuts in, rolling his eyes and clicking a finger against his red helmet, “Which is the right thing to do considering she made him less … well ... him”

“Red hood don’t be mean,” Dick scolds, a pitiful smile on his lips as he turns to Damian and engulfs him in a forced hug, “Whatever you need we’re here for you little D.”

“I need you all to leave me alone!”

Tim steps forward and pries Dick off of Damian, mumbling a barely audible, “He doesn’t want a hug, you’re making him uncomfortable” before turning his attention back to Damian, “Okay well anything except that.” 

“Robin, what happened between you two anyway?” Cassandra finally asks, easing the question on everyone's mind with a few words, “You seemed so ... I don't know … happy? Though I have to admit I’m slightly relieved you aren’t gushing over your phone during training sessions anymore.”

“Black Bat, you straight up skip training sessions what the fuck are you on about?” Duke’s eyes go wide as Cassandra throws a knife at him, his hand shooting up and catching it with ease, “Okay damn girl.”

Cassandra snatches her knife back and throws a glare at the yellow-suited man, “Watch it Signal.” 

“Can we please get back to Robin and his saga of love?”

Damian can’t help it, the tears push heavily against his eyes and finally break free from the trap of his green irises, small uneven blobs of wetness trailing down his face and plopping onto the ground with a deafening noise. It wasn’t that loud, but Damian's fuzzy head and fast-beating heart augment the noise tenfold.

Everyone goes silent, possibly from a shortage of anything to say, or perhaps from seeing such a austere boy collapse down into pitful bewailings in front of them. His legs buckle and the dark haired man fallsl to his knees, arm covering his face in pure agony as every text he ever sent replays in his mind, a broken record forcing him to relive what he’s done.

So much pain he doesn’t notice the same rag tag group of orphans engulfing him in a hug

TAGLIST !!!

@pretendthisusernameisgoodd @dickgraysonhasanicebutt @multiverseofwonders @emmaleilani96 @mcgonagalls-witches @pleasestophoney @kurosstuff @liltleaderofthelameones @water248 @blackrippedskinnybeans @evalynanne

[inhibited-irregularity]

EUROVISION 2021, personal favorites:

- Russia 🇷🇺

Manizha, Russian Woman: Absolute favorite. The sheer originality of the song! Her energy and the level of absolute badassery! She can sing, she can rap,and she's a bomb of energy. The way reggae and brass and hiphop and Slavic melodies overlap and it somehow works, the transitions between fun and "I'm bitter about the sexism and I'm mocking it unapologetically and making a stand" and the anthemic, emphatic and powerful message to Russian women; I was swelling with emotion while watching her. While to an American or a Westerner it may seem like performative feminism, I'm gonna remind you that in Russia and other Slavic countries that's very much not a thing and actually a very unpopular stand to make, and in Russia, The Balkans, and Eastern Europe in general, hundreds of women face domestic and sexual abuse on the daily, and those who do come forward rarely get support and are mostly dismissed. Let's not forget that Manizha got a huge backlash from the Russian government officials, and a big part of it was for her Tajik roots. The honesty of her message is real, and she's speaking from personal experience and the experience of women around her - nothing performative about her song, and you can tell from her delivery that the fire within her is true and she leaves her heart on the stage and pours it into the song. The staging and costumes are great as well, and symbolically well thougt-through. I would really like her to win, or at least get to the top 5. Most of all, I hope her message is heard and felt. 10000/10

- Italy 🇮🇹

Måneskin, Zitti e Buoni: definitely the closest thing to my actual music taste this year, so liking them off the bat wasn't a surprise. However, they're not just your regular Franz-Ferdinand-ish young alt rock band that wants to do rock "properly" - they have IT. The X factor, the Je ne sais quoi. I've been exposed to that particular genre, and I can confidently say that the song still manages to be refreshing and original (that bridge, those riffs!) The band has a great energy and no matter how much Damiano steals the show, they are still a unit and nobody is left in the shadows. They have the spirit of great rock bands of the previous century, and yet they don't try to copy anyone (khm,Greta Van Fleet, khm). Damiano's vocals are both powerful, seductive and provoking, and I'm still admiring the sheer amount of emotion he can pack into a single line and the nuance and yet rawness behind it. I'm not gonna state the obvious lol (the obvious being yes, I'm thirsty as well, he becomes yet another unattainable rockstar for me too,and yes they all look great) Anyway, great song, and maybe the clearest and most serious candidate for the number one spot, taking both the jury and the public into consideration. 10/10

- Iceland 🇮🇸

Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið, 10 years:

What can I say about this masterpiece that hasn't already been said? A clear fan-favorite (hi, Valentina), but with the guns to back it up. The song is contagious, fun and campy, and unlike some other songs with said qualities, actually good from a musical perspective. Daði is incredibly charismatic and his sense of humor shines through, and even though he's the star of the show, the same can be said about the other band members. The synergy Måneskin has can be applied to Gagnamagnið as well, even though the energy is entirely different. They're serving us fun, sunshine, kitties rainbows sugar spice and everything nice, and manage to do it with zero cringe factor (plus those funky keytars). I'm one of those Eurovision fans that lament the golden age's (2004-2009) campiness (We'll never forget you, Verka), and Daði managed to bring it back, but modernised, polished and still sincere. I personally preferred the epic dad joke that slightly more commercial Think About Thing was (but that's one tough act to follow), but I'm always down for a husband adoring his wife and singing praises to their relationship. Since we're on tumblr, I feel obliged to use the term "cinnamon rolls" in describing Daði and the band. 9.5/10

- France 🇫🇷

Barbara Pravi, Voilà: She brought the theatrics, she brought the drama, and she brought the 101 in "that's how you perform". Her personality leaps through, and her voice is both beautiful and full of emotion and power. I'd hire her to star in a serious and artistic movie. Despite the fact that Voilà is from its melody to the singing style to the video to the vibe and the aesthetic hands down the most French thing I've seen since Amélie (do not come for that movie), it miraculously doesn't come across as a cliché, but rather an homage, and an individualistic one at that. It's not entirely my cup of tea, since I'm usually biased to songs that may come off as snobbish (I mean, the jury is going to lap it up), and are all about being proper and technical and oh how ~artistic~, but Barbara puts the soul into the immaculate. I'm not giving her the highest mark because I'm yet to see the performance, but I'm rooting for her. If she delivers the performance, we might have a clear winner. 9/10

- Ukraine 🇺🇦

Go_A, Shum: I'm a sucker for all things ethnic and mytological, so this was a no-brainer. I want that song played at every party. I want to go to the forest in the video and chant and summon the spring with flute and hard-bass. Kateryna Pavlenko has some unexplainable power over me, and her eyes are simply hypnotizing. The vocals are great, proper Slavic ethno right there (seriously, check out Slavic folklore and traditional music), and she has a subtle punk quality too(?). Ukraine came to save the spring and make us forget about the pandemic, and minus the Maruv fiasco (justice for her!), they always deliver and I expected nothing less. On the other hand, I loved the original version much more and couldn't help but be a bit disappointed with the revamp (yes, I know they had to), and while I personally love Shum, I think some other acts are more deserving of the higher placement. Go_A are not my winner, but definitely soon to be in my playlist. 8/10

- San Marino 🇸🇲

Adrenalina, Senhit ft. Flo Rida: You know that golden age of Eurovision I mentioned? THIS. I'm Serbian, so I can't resist a banger reminiscent of our horrible turbo-folk elements (and I say that endearingly,takes me back to 18th birthday parties (boy I'm glad that's over)). Let's just crown Senhit this year's Queen of Camp. The wild factor of Flo Rida...just?? Amazing. Can't wait to see how the performance goes (EDIT- it went great, I had a grin on my face the entire time and couldn't help but dance along). A certain refreshment after Serhat and Valentina Monetta endless loop. They didn't dial down the weird, but made it catchy af, and the vocal can rival any Balkan folk diva. While I think it's definitely the most entertaining entry this year, it's far from being the most original, and it's not really my genre of preference. Will vote for Senhit and root for her to qualify. 7.5/ 10

- Sweden 🇸🇪

Tusse, A million voices: As I mentioned before, I'm the first person that starts complaining about Sweden Superiority as soon as Eurovision season begins, and I'm with you all with being tired of Sweden qualifying just because they're Sweden and usually just bringing the same brand of MTV/Calvin Harris/American pop, or a successful and not-so-subtle imitation of the performances that did well the previous year,but listen: A million voices is a solid pop song and I'm going to die on that hill. It actually embodies the essence of pop - a catchy, pleasant melody sung by a good vocalist, with a short,sweet and uplifting message. It's not the same as previous years, it's not commercial, just good pop - good pop being something you immediately like and vibe to no matter how many common elements of the genre it checks. It relies on RnB rather than electronic sounds, auto tune or various DJ effects. Tusse is charming and charismatic af, and he's a 19yo kid doing an amazing job on a global stage. You don't have to like it, but there's no need to hate on it (ask Jendrik). Imo, Tusse deserved to qualify. Not winner material yet, but I wish him a fun time and a successful career. 7 5/10

- Switzerland 🇨🇭

G'jons Tears, Tout L'Univers: I saw the video first, and I HATED IT. It came across as a Duncan Lawrence-high-art wannabe, something technically perfect, but empty of soul or meaning, another soft boy with a sad falsetto, another jury-points bait. BUT. I changed my mind entirely after seeing him perform. Hands down, it was touching and epic. Reminding me of Hamlet aside, he DELIVERED, and made me love him, and actually enjoy the song. I still think the song is less original than Tusse's voices, but I enjoy the troubadour vibes of the pre-chours. G'jon is absolutely adorable, and I'm not gonna be mad if he wins. 8/10

shout-outs&honorable mentions:

- Serbia 🇷🇸 Yes, some national bias, but I'm proud of our girls. Ever Since we placed 2nd with Željko's Lane, we had that goddamn flute e v e r y year, and the same outdated scenography with a side of extra pathos (I'm sure that ruined Sanja's chances and her otherwise great performance back in 2016.) Finally something fun and actually representative of the music popular here. They looked flawless and the energy was off the charts. Go, Hurricane!

-Finland 🇫🇮 Yes, cheesy and corny and I cut my finger accidentally from watching the video on all the edge, but I'm biased because they're bringing emo and nu-metal back, and that's the music of my early adolescence (hello, Kaulitz brothers and Andy Biersack,hello Gerard Way and Linkin Park) Call me grandma lol

- Malta 🇲🇹 DESTINY CAN SIIIIIIIIING! I wasn't impressed with the song initially, but the performance blew my mind.

- Ireland 🇮🇪 A for effort, and so nice of her to try and give us something unique! While it wasn't good enough to qualify, it was super fun and she seems so nice. Also, we all know that she was out of breath an can sing much better than that. Still wasn't bad.

- Romania 🇷🇴, for being so young and brave enough to put on a show. The nerves got the better of her, but the song itself is good and no doubt she'll do well in the future

- Lithuania 🇱🇹, thanks for the memeries

- Croatia 🇭🇷, Not my cup of tea, but Albina gave a great performance

-Norway 🇳🇴, for embodying the spirit of Eurovision

- North Macedonia 🇲🇰, for the disco chest

- The UK 🇬🇧, for putting some effort

(Might edit later)

[wienerbarnes]

Left for Dead (2/2)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader (Cheek to Cheek)

Word Count: 2,991

Warnings: mentions to bombs and ships and stuff, baking 

A/N: yay pt 2 enjoy!

MAIN MASTERLIST | CHEEK TO CHEEK MASTERLIST

“Her clothes came back with traces of bomb ingredients and she still has no memory of anything that happened to her or anything about this bomb.” Sam briefs the three of you.

It’s later in the day, now, about five in the evening when Sam gets word back from his agents.

“What if she was forced to make the bomb?” You find yourself offering.

Sam waits a moment while looking at you before he responds, “How sure are you that she didn’t do it?”

“Very.”

He sighs, “You were seeing German but my agents said she told them she doesn’t know a lick of any language other than English,”

“That she remembers.” Bucky interrupts.

“That she remembers. Sharon, I want you to look into German bomb manufacturers around here.”

Sharon nods and stands and makes her way out of the room. The three of you occupy a smaller conference room, about a third of the size of the one you were in this morning.

“I want to try again. With my visions. Maybe, with something from evidence.” You suggest.

“Are you sure?” Sam asks, more out of concern than of skepticism.

“Yes.” You reassure him. You haven't paid much attention to Bucky since Sam called you down just now, you find yourself getting a bit invested into the cases and wanting to solve it and figure out what happening, and you don’t want to let Bucky’s pretty face distract you. Such a pretty face it is.

You roll your eyes at that voice again. Being surrounded by so much information is kinda making your brain go haywire, you find. These voice haven’t bothered you since prison, only every once in a blue moon, but they’ve been non-fucking-stop since you’ve gotten on the case.

Makes for a good seat, too. “Shut up, would you?!” You yell, quickly realizing that you said that out loud instead of in your head. Embarrassment floods your body immediately and you look up to see both men staring at you in surprise.

“Uhm, sorry. It’s nothing, can I see the box?” You gesture towards the large brown box labeled evidence.

Sam plops it at your feet and you sift through the copious amounts of plastic bags until you come across a piece of fabric.

“It’s a piece of the dress she was wearing when she was found. Another piece was sent off to the lab which is where they found all those bomb-making chemicals on it.” Sam informs you.

You take a deep breath and remove the cloth from the bag and roll it around your fingers. You’re fingers grip it hard and feel it softly, trying to conjure up something, anything, in your head.

“It’s not a carrier,” You begin, the ship showing up in your mind, but your knowledge is foggy from when you were a Marine.

“Submarine?”

“Destroyer?”

“Cruiser?”

“Battleship?”

“I - I - don’t know… fuck,” You clench the fabric in your fists in an attempt to cease their shaking. All these ships look the fucking same anyway.

Not to the Navy, they don’t.

You ignore it and continue, “I - I - I see a man,” A whine escapes you as the emotion becomes overwhelming, “He’s bald and - and white and like forty? Maybe? Uh,”

You sniffle, “Prince, Prince, Prince, Prince, I don’t know why I’m seeing Prince.”

“Like the singer?” Sam questions.

Bucky gently takes the cloth from your hands, “I think that’s enough for now.”

You try to catch your breath and hastily wipe the tears that escaped your eyes. “I was a Marine, why can’t I remember the ship?” You ask more yourself than the other two people in the room.

Maybe it's all the crazy taking up so much space it’s gotta push some of the older info out.

Ignore. It.

“Cruisers are named after battles and destroyers are named after names, maybe Prince is a destroyer ship. I’ll have an agent look into all current operating ships and see if any matches come up. Barnes, go give Sharon the description of this bald white guy, see if she can use it to match with a bomb manufacturing place.”

“Yes, sir, Cap.” Bucky stands from his seat beside you and exits the room.

The two of you sit in silence, now; you’re not really sure what to do. Should you leave again? Wait until they need you? Stay? Make small talk with Captain America?

“Can I ask you something?” Sam interrupts the quiet.

“Sure.”

“Why are you so adamant about being here? You’re pretty good at this investigative stuff and I think you have a lot of potential for it.”

You give an appreciative smile at his compliment before answering, “I was a Marine for two years where I followed orders from assholes and worked alongside people that treated me like I was garbage. Then, I was kidnapped by HYDRA and tortured to comply working under an organization I didn’t want to with people who didn’t even treat me like a human being. And now, I’m brought here to live and work in a place I don’t want to be at with people who don’t and will never know who I actually am. So, you can kind of see why I’m adamant.”

Sam looks down, and you don’t want to make him feel bad, because he gave you the best scenario he could given the circumstances of everything.

“I just want a little bit of control with my life for once, is all. But, I know what I have now is very lucky for me, so I’m grateful, even if it’s not what I want.”

He looks back at you and now it’s your turn to give him a reassuring smile. You have a feeling you’ll grow on each soon enough.

…

You’re glad your powers didn’t fail you for your first case, because that would have been terribly embarrassing. Sharon was able to find a German bomb-making company with employees who have recently gone missing that match the descriptions of the man you saw and the Jane Doe.

Now that their identities have been found, there’s still the question of where this bomb is and if it’s even real.

You can’t help but let it keep you up that night. When you were doing jobs for HYDRA, it wasn’t a matter of making sure every rock was left turned over; you performed the job because the alternative was being tortured.

You glance at the clock, 1:32.

You remember one particular mission you didn’t complete because it involved you having to kill kids. And when you returned with an unfinished mission they tortured you so bad that you begged them to just kill you. And they said that they would never kill you because then the horrors would end. It was the easy way out; and they would torture you for the rest of time before they ever kill you. It was too much mercy to be shown to a prisoner.

Another glance at the clock that tells you only six minutes have passed causes you to get up. You can’t get too deep into your thoughts, especially if tomorrow is going to have you busy helping with this case. You have to make yourself busy.

So you cook. You go through the pantries and cupboards for ingredients; brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, flour, vanilla. You became very good at estimating and perfecting the things you wanted to cook. You never had a phone or laptop to look up measurements for something or a cookbook to follow, so you had to experiment yourself until you got it right. When you lived in your apartment, sometimes you would venture out to bookstores and try your hardest to memorize the recipes in cookbooks in order to replicate it at home.

You quietly mix together all of the ingredients until a thick dough forms. Cinnamon and brown sugar cookies. One reason you liked cooking so much is because, even though it was hard without any instructions to follow, it was one of the few times your voices were quiet. Actual silence. You cooked without any electric supplies or music for this reason, too.

You sit on the ground in front of the oven and watch as the balls of cookie dough slowly melt and rise up again, forming the perfect circular shape with the perfect amount of chewiness and crunch when you take a bite.

You softly unstick the cookies from the pan with a spatula and glance at the clock again. 3:02.

You remember Bucky’s words from this morning; how he sticks around for these kinds of missions in his spare room.

“Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Yes, Agent?”

“Is… Is Bucky here?”

“Yes, Agent.”

“Is he awake?”

“Yes, Agent.”

“But, is he, like, awake - awake? Or like falling asleep, but still technically awake - awake? Or is he -”

“Would you like me to lead you to where his quarters are, Agent?”

The hallways are quiet, but you’re grateful that there are lights along the floors so you’re not completely walking through the dark. Seeing a sliver of dim light show underneath his door makes you feel a little better about the late hour. After about five minutes of contemplation, you raise your fist and leave three soft knocks on the door.

Bucky opens the door a few seconds later and seems wide awake. You see behind him a notebook open on his desk with some music playing softly in the room.

You speak before he gets a chance to, “I made too many cookies, do you want to help me eat them?”

A smile grows on his face as he silently nods after a moment.

“Hey F.R.I.D.A.Y., mind turning everything off, please?”

The lights turn off and the music stops as he closes the door behind him. The two of you quietly walk side by side back towards the elevator, because it seems like Bucky’s room is right below yours.

He wears a black long sleeve shirt and dark gray cotton shorts, paired with white socks on his feet. What you would do to add some color to this man’s closet, you think.

A cloud of sugar and warmth hits him in the face when he enters your room. The combination of your smell and the smell of cookies and the sight of you in cute little pink shorts and an oversized college sweatshirt that has a big bear on it and the yellow and orange polka-dotted socks on your feet and all of your things everywhere makes him feel like he just entered his dreams.

“It smells amazing in here.” He compliments.

He watches you smile and grab the pan that has since cooled enough for you to grab it and walk over to plop down on your bed. Bucky follows and sits himself down utop one of your soft fuzzy blankets.

“Are these brown sugar cookies? These are my favorite,” Bucky says as he shovels one in his mouth whole.

I know they’re your favorite.

“Mmm - almost feels like I’m back at your apartment.” He smiles nostalgically, looking around and taking in the wonderful colors of your personality that brighten up this room.

“Good, means I did a good job redecorating. It’s okay that I did decorate, right? There isn’t a security deposit I’m going to lose?” You joke, and for a moment, it really does feel like the two of you are back in your apartment, before all of this chaos hit the fan.

The two of you eat and eat and eat, sharing playful small talk in between bites, until the two of you are  stuffed to the brim with dough and are laying side by side on the bed, empty tray by both of your feet.

“Hey, Bucky?” You ask out into the calm, open air.

“Mmm,” He hums.

“I’m sorry for spitting on you. And then avoiding you. And then yelling at you and saying those awful things,” You turn on your side and lay a hand on his arm, “I didn’t mean it, I was just upset.” Your eyebrows quirk up at him, silently begging him to forgive you.

He sends a playful smile at you before mirroring you and turning on his side as well to face you, grabbing your hand from his arm and holding it in his large one, “It’s okay, doll. I would’ve been just as upset as you if I were in your position. I’m sorry things didn’t… work out the way they should’ve for you.”

“Not something you gotta apologize for, Bucky.” You whisper.

The two of you lay there, hands intertwined in each other, eyes locked. You’re not sure how long the two of you lay like that, or how long Bucky stays, but sleep finally comes to you at 4:55 in the morning.

…

The next few days pass in a bit of a blur. One of the private hackers was able to get a list of ships in communication with the found German bomb-manufacturing company and Sharon was able to find one of the ships, named The Princeton - which is why you kept seeing something about prince in your head, not because of the late musical artist - which was having a scheduled bomb test aboard. A bomb testing that was swapped with real bombs instead of fake ones, seemingly by the man you saw in your visions, the same one who tried to bury Jane Doe. All of the Marines aboard remained safe and unharmed, and you officially closed the case on your very first mission.

Sam thought you did very well, but still wanted to keep a slow pace with your advancements on the team. He set up for you to train with him a few times a week in a private training room, and perhaps with the next set of agent trainees Bucky will be tasked with at the beginning of the year in a few weeks.

With the mission being completed, Bucky returned home to his apartment to sleep and stay until he’s called once again for another mission. He kind of… can’t wait? After Steve retired, he didn’t see a big reason to continue with all the fighting; he didn’t really see a reason even before Steve retired when he was still staying in Wakanda. He enjoyed that quiet lifestyle, tending to his gardens, feeding his sheep, cleaning up around wherever he could, talking to those that lived around him, hanging out with the children. It was paradise for him.

But now, with you around, actually around where he doesn’t have to hide you from his closest friends, the prospect of more missions doesn’t seem all that horrible. Maybe it’s the thought that you’d be around him that makes it more bearable for him, or maybe he’s just simply had a change of heart over time.

He finds himself returning more and more to the tower when he doesn’t have to; finding the smallest excuses to go - sometimes he doesn’t even run into you when he does. But he tries to.

He’s roaming around the open gym, opting for thirty miles on the treadmill instead of out and around his neighborhood, panting a bit while he wipes down the machine before leaving to go work with the weights. He feels a tap on his shoulder and he turns and plucks a headphone of his ear, coming face to face with an old trainee, now trained agent.

“Nuñez, what’s up?” Bucky greets him with a rough shake of the hand. Don’t get him wrong, he was a fantastic soldier to train, and he turned out to be an even more fantastic agent. But he has no idea why he’s talking to him while he’s in the middle of a workout.

“Hey, Sergeant, sorry to bother you. I - uh, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?” He stutters out.

Why is he so nervous?

Bucky urges him to continue with a nod of his head.

“So, uh, I wanna ask you something, y’know, man-to-man, rather than Sergeant-to-Agent, and - and - feel free to tell me if I’m overstepping with this! I just didn’t - didn’t -”

“Spit it out, Nuñez.”

“Okay, okay. Remember the last briefing we had?”

“It was about five days ago, yes, I remember.”

“Right, right, of course. Well, there was… this girl sitting next to you.”

A part of Bucky freezes and he hopes he’s talking about Sharon.

“Agent Carter?” Bucky asks.

“No, no, not Agent 13. The other girl sitting next to you. Black hair, kinda short.” He tries, but Bucky knows exactly who he’s talking about.

“What about her?” Bucky tries to turn on a bit more of his Sergeant voice, anything to end this conversation because he has a feeling where it might be going.

Agent Nuñez pasues, “Well, uh, who is she?”

“Why?”

“She’s pretty.”

“She’s pretty?” Bucky repeats.

“Yeah. I wanted to know who she is, I haven’t seen her around and I don’t remember her from any of the trainings.”

“She’s a new agent in training, she’s being trained under the Captain.” Bucky tells him.

“Oh… What’s her name?”

“Nuñez! Enough with the twenty questions!” Bucky bursts out, because why does he have such a fascination with you? It’s like he wants to -

“I just wanna ask her out or something, but I don’t know anything about her!”

“Well, that sounds like a good reason to -” Bucky stops himself when an idea comes into his head, and before he can think twice about it, he’s speaking once more,

“Actually, I just remembered, Nuñez. She’s taken. She’s in a relationship. So, yeah. Sorry.” Bucky slaps a hand on the Agent’s shoulder for good measure.

“Oh… that sucks. It’s always the pretty ones that are taken, huh?”

“Yeah, buddy. Anyway, see you later!” Bucky breathes out, desperate to get out of that conversation and just continue with his damn workout…

Why did he just lie like that in order to stop a guy from asking you out?