#i dialed it back a TON and now in my head he is played by noel fielding.

[nocaptainonthisship]

The Festive Seasoning

Advent 2023

Haladriel (M)

Galadriel Noldor is a talented chef, with a cowboy-cute boyfriend who drives her up the wall.

Halbrand Mairon is a cutthroat TV producer, with a small-town pretty girlfriend who makes him a little crazy.

Celeborn Sindar is a dedicated data reconfiguration specialist, with an arrestingly gorgeous girlfriend who makes his life hell.

Shelob Webb is a gifted textile artist, with a cunningly-charming boyfriend, who makes her question everything- but most of all herself.

Or: a slanted Hallmark AU where one person’s villain is another’s hero.

[fluentmoviequoter]

i was wondering if you can do like a secret admirer / friends to lovers thing with tim bradford? like reader or tim are sending each other notes and get them something that they’ve mentioned before but never had time or the resources to get. sorry if that sounds confusing

I hope this is along the lines of what you wanted; if it's not, let me know and I'd be happy to try again! Thanks for the great request and please feel free to let me know what you think!🤍

Secret Admirers

Warnings: fluff, brief angst, friends to lovers, obliviousness, brief LA Rams slander

Word Count: 1.9k+ words

Masterlist | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

“How am I supposed to consider you a friend when you say things like that?” you ask.

Tim shakes his head. “You’re just mad because I’m right.”

“There are other things to do besides football,” you argue.

“I thought it was my night to pick.”

“You always pick football.”

“The Rams are playing.”

You sigh dramatically, leaning against Tim’s shoulder. “Fine, turn on the game, let me lose a few more IQ points.”

Tim’s shoulder moves below you, the only sign that he’s laughing at your actions. If you didn’t want to watch football, he wouldn’t make you, because he’s a good friend. No one knows; you only got close to him because of your relentless pursuit of getting to know him. And now you’re inseparable.

“You know you’re my closest friend?” you ask.

“Then you should get out more,” he deadpans.

“You love me.”

“Whatever you need to hear.”

“Tell me I’m your best friend and I’ll tell you the Rams are making it to the Super Bowl.” You lower your voice to add, “For once.”

Tim’s eyes narrow as he moves to look at you. “You have to mean it.”

Nodding, you put on your most serious expression.

“You are my best friend,” Tim says.

You smile brightly, and Tim presses his lips together to hide his smile.

“The Rams are going to the Super Bowl. Guaranteed,” you tell him.

“Well now they are. You’re our luck,” Tim mumbles, leaning back against the couch again.

“Heard that.”

✯✯✯✯✯

You haven’t seen Tim in almost a week. After the game ended, a win for the Rams, he got called into work and has barely been home since. Just long enough to sleep and eat each night before he’s gone again. Los Angeles has been dealing with numerous crime sprees, like a miniature version of the Purge that the Mid-Wilshire Division faces singlehandedly.

Your stomach rumbles around lunchtime, and as you reach for your bag, you realize Tim probably hasn’t had a good meal this week. Dialing the number of his favorite restaurant, you place a huge order to be delivered to the station, not even thinking about letting Tim know who it’s from.

Knowing Tim has food he’ll enjoy, you rest a little easier and continue your day with a small smile.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Hey,” Tim sighs, letting you inside. “Sorry I’ve been so busy this week.”

“No problem, glad you’re home.”

“You’ll never guess what happened,” he says. “Someone sent a ton of food from my favorite restaurant yesterday afternoon. The timing was perfect; we were all exhausted and starving. And… it’s been so long since someone just did something nice for me like that.”

Tim smiles as he shakes his head gently.

“I wish I knew who it was from so I could thank them properly.”

You consider telling him, but first, you ask, “Think it’s a secret admirer?”

Tim barks out a single laugh. “Yeah, because this is going to become a regular thing.”

That’s all the answer you need. Keeping your mouth closed, you nod and become Tim Bradford’s secret admirer. He deserves everything and more, and it’s up to you to show him.

You’ve always felt something for Tim, and as you start taking note of little things he likes or wants, you avoid confronting what these feelings could really be.

✯✯✯✯✯

“More to come,” you say as you finish writing the letter.

After a few days of giving Tim small gifts and becoming more attuned to his wants and likes, you add handwritten notes to your deliveries to add a personal level. He hasn’t seen your writing enough to determine you are his secret admirer, so you give him the acknowledgment and words of affirmation he craves, often without knowing.

Securing the note to the top of the box, a new Rams jersey, you smile. Being Tim’s secret admirer makes you happy, but more than that, it makes Tim happy, which is the one thing you want in the world.

✯✯✯✯✯

Tim opens the box before the letter, his eyes widening at the brand-new, once-worn Rams jersey. Closing it quickly, he reaches for the letter before stopping. Tim feels strange accepting the gifts, especially one that is so expensive. But, if whoever this is wants to do something so kind, the least he can do is accept them. It’s not just about the money, though, Tim realizes. His thoughts often drift to you, and he can’t place why, but he still wonders if accepting something from others will create a rift in his relationship with you.

First, it’s not too expensive. You deserve so much more than you would ever be willing to get for yourself. So, accept it and enjoy it.

Tim shakes his head; whoever wrote this knows him better than he thought. They’re probably close.

Happiness isn’t something you have to earn or prove you are worthy of.

Closing the card and tucking it underneath the jersey, Tim prepares to leave for the day. After stowing the thoughtful gift from his secret admirer in his backseat, he drives to a nearby store to pick up a few things for dinner.

While shopping, Tim sees something you have always wanted but have never been able to afford. After receiving so many kind gifts and hearing the exact words he unknowingly craves, he feels a strong urge to give you something you want and deserve, too.

It's after dark when he leaves the store, so Tim decides to put it on your porch in the morning as a surprise. You’ll know his writing, so he prints a note that you deserve nice things, even when you don’t feel like you do.

Once it’s safely on your porch before sunrise, and Tim is driving to the station, he realizes that he doesn’t like having a secret admirer. Not because he doesn’t like the gifts or the money spent on him, but because he doesn’t want to lose you if the secret admirer wants more.

✯✯✯✯✯

Tears gather in your eyes when you see the gift on your porch. After years of daydreaming about spending that kind of money on something you love and then talking yourself out of it with an argument that you don’t deserve it, you don’t know what to do. The note attached to it silences each of the thoughts racing through your mind.

Being a secret admirer and having one are very different things, and you’re not sure you like this.

✯✯✯✯✯

Each gift Tim receives over the next week deepens his frown, even as he reads the kind notes attached. He wants to know who it is, so he can explain that he’s grateful, but it needs to stop. You’ve stayed at his side through each letter, glad that someone is being kind. Tim’s contention comes from the fact that when he gets something, he wants to call you and share it with you, but that may not be fair to you. Yes, he’s your secret admirer, but he doesn’t want to lose you because of his. It’s probably an irrational fear, but if someone is doing this and expecting to move forward into a real relationship with Tim, he can’t. He won’t.

On Friday, the end of his first week as your secret admirer, he sends you a bouquet, not made of flowers, but of things that constitute your favorite hobby. It’s incredibly thoughtful, and the note comes straight from his heart. He mentions something specific about your past, smiling as he pictures your excited smile.

✯✯✯✯✯

When you accept the large arrangement, your eyes widen as you reach for the card first. The last line mentions something you’ve only talked about once. The one time you confided about it to someone was to Tim Bradford.

Your jaw drops as you realize that Tim is the only person who could have been doing this over the last week. That means he probably knows that you’re his secret admirer, too. Grabbing your car keys, you drive straight to the station, ready to tell Tim it’s been you and you meant every word you said.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Who dropped it off?” Tim demands.

“Sergeant,” the woman begins.

“Don’t tell me that it was a delivery, they have to give a name. I need to know who is giving me this stuff because I can’t accept it!”

You stop in the hallway, listening to Tim’s raised voice as he refuses to accept a gift. 

“I can look into it.”

“Please do,” Tim says, quieter.

Stepping out of the hall and walking toward the bullpen, Tim sees you, and his shoulders drop in relief. He walks to your side and leads you somewhere private to talk.

“You don’t want a secret admirer anymore?” you ask softly, your fingers brushing the edge of the envelope hidden behind your back.

“No.”

“Why not?”

 Tim sighs, rubbing his hand on his jaw before answering, “Because I’m in love with someone else.”

Even though you were sure the letter was from him, you drop your eyes and begin second-guessing yourself. Maybe you mentioned it to someone else, or they just found out. Tim notices your change and steps closer.

“What’s going on?” he asks gently.

“Nothing, I just- I should go.”

You rush out, and Tim can’t chase you because he has to work. He calls and texts you throughout the rest of the afternoon, growing grumpier with each ignored message and ring.

When he finally gets off work, he drives straight to you and knocks on your door, determined to get answers.

“I thought it was you,” you admit, opening the door and not letting him speak. “I was getting letters too and I thought they were from you.”

Tim’s anger dissipates nearly immediately with your soft voice and downcast eyes. “They were. The letters were from me.”

“Then-“

“That’s why I can’t let whoever is sending me such thoughtful gifts continue,” Tim interrupts. “Because I have feelings for you.”

You pull Tim inside, leaning against the door as you say, “But it's all been from me.”

Tim’s eyes widen, and his mouth gapes open as you pass him an envelope. He opens it, nearly choking on air as he sees two tickets to the next Rams game.

“Why didn’t you just tell me at the station?” he asks, looking between you and the tickets before moving toward you.

“You said you were in love with someone else,” you answer with a shrug.

Tim chuckles, letting you see his smile as he bends to look into your eyes. “Because I didn’t know it was you.”

“I was going to tell you. At the game, if you’d let me go.” You fiddle with your fingers until he slides his hand between yours.

“I have a better idea.”

“What?”

Tim sets the tickets on the table behind him. Turning toward you, he takes your face between his hands and kisses you. His slow, languid movements reinforce everything he has expressed through his actions and written words over the past week.

You gasp when his lips meet yours, clutching his shirt in your grasp as you kiss him, letting your actions speak yet again.

“Will you go out with me?” Tim asks, breathless as he pulls back, his hands dropping to your waist. “Some walking angel gave me a few Rams tickets, and I’d love to take you.”

“Depends,” you answer with a hum. “What are your thoughts on secret admirers?”

Tim squeezes your waist gently. “I love mine.”

[psyphigirl]

"May I See Her?"

TW: Immobility, Health Play, Hospital Setting, "Asphyxiation"

A person is admitted to the most advanced bariatric health center, where they must be subjected to constant and intense mechanical medical care

(I'm not sure the tw list is entirely exhaustive as I don't know how to define some of the things I wrote about. Please feel free to give any suggestions you feel I need to include!)

The doctor looked at me as though I had two heads, he just didn't understand the question.

"I- I don't know. There ... there isn't a lot left to see. You didn't really ... leave us with a lot ..."

I had weird mixed feelings about how he said that. Shame, guilt, fear ... pride, wonder, lust. What could they possibly have done to her?

"You can come in about 11.00 on Thursday morning, if you really do want to see her", he said flatly

"Thank you, Doctor. I'll be in then."

I hang up and sit back on my bed. I should really be getting to bed soon but I can't bear the thought of going to sleep just yet, so I go in to her old room. Just to remember her.

The room looks so much smaller without her in it. For the first time in years I can actually stand anywhere I want without fear of standing on her flesh or on a cable or tube she needs to function. The room's been stripped almost bare from the kit I used to tend to her. The oxygen pump is gone, the feeding tube has been retired, even the fridges have been wheeled away. I can see an almost perfect outline of her rear on the wall behind her, painted with sweat into the wallpaper. Her mattress is still here, it's been crushed to about a quarter of it's normal height after years of propping up a mass measured in metric tons.

I'm almost glad to see her in a proper care center: All this tech is ancient. Held together with tape and staples. It's a wonder it failed as infrequently as it did...

That's enough remembering for tonight

...

Beep beep beep

That's the alarm. Seven o'clock. Get up, get dressed, go to the kitchen. What's in the fridge? Not a lot. A dozen eggs and half a loaf of toast should be fine. I can fit two slices per slot in the four slot toaster and have them done in two minutes. I can fit three eggs in a pan per two pans. It takes five minutes to cook them and have them done in ten minutes. Hopefully I can have this done before she wakes up-

Oh.

I turn the stovetop off and unplug the toaster. For the first time in years I don't have to center my daily schedule around caring for my helpless other half. It takes about an hour to get to the hospital. So I have three hours to kill ... somehow

...

"Oh, it's you. It- She's right this way"

The doctor lead me down a corridor, with a sign above it reading "ICU". Is it that bad? It must be. I was lead all the way down to the end of the corridor. The very last door in the ICU of the most advanced bariatric care center the fattest country in the world has to offer. I really did a number on her.

"Now. I should warn you. She's very ... fragile. You just need to be careful. Do you understand?"

"Yes, doctor, I think so"

His mouth jerks to the side and he turns away from me. I could have sworn I heard him say "I'm sure"

He opens the door and I see her.

She's nothing more than a mound of flesh, decorated by a spidersweb of wires and tubes, moniters and dials.

"Jeez, doc. Is this all really necessary?"

He looks at me with a subtle and frightening rage, "Yes. If even one of these machines failed, or one of these cables disconnected," he looks almost disappointed, "She wouldn't last long."

I don't respond. All I can do is gawk at her.

"This one here, for example", He gestures to a machine containing a series of combustion pistons, "That's her heart. There's no way her actual heart can pump blood around the rest of her body without assistance."

He points to another one, a pair of pumps under a turbine, "Those are her lungs."

And another, "That's her liver. There's no machine in here that isn't essential to her continued survival. Her body just doesn't work anymore. Technically ... she ... isn't that person in the center of this room anymore. She's ..." He struggles to find his words for a minute, "She's pretty much the room itself"

I take a minute to comprehend what that means. I'm inside her. Staring at her bare soul

"Doctor," I inquire, "Could I be left alone with her for a little while?"

He looks right through me and approaches, "Her diet is automated. Don't think you can do any more damage"

He leaves heavyfooted and disgusted at what I did to her. I almost don't blame him

"Hi dear. Can you hear? It's me."

I wait. I get no response.

"I know you may resent, or even fear me. But you're safe now, love. I can do you no harm. Now that I say it out loud I'm even sure that's entirely true. If that's your lungs, then that tube must be intake. So which tube feeds you the oxygen? This one here? Next to my boot?"

Her heart beats visibly faster.

"That's a yes. What happens if I ..."

I lightly squish the thick clear plastic tube with my heel. The rhythm of the machinery is changed, tarnished even.

Her heart beats visibly faster again.

"I like that response. See it could be fear, couldn't it ..."

I press a little deeper

"Your mouth feels dry. Your temples feel tight. Your lungs, your real ones I mean, are burning. It hurts and you're afraid."

I press a little deeper

"Or maybe. Just maybe ..."

I connect my heel all the way to the floor

"It's lust?"

[asteria7fics]

I've got a few questions for ya! Where did you learn to write like you do? I read through your newest fic and I'm blown away from how could you write!

And the other question I have, do you ever get worried? I hurt my brain and went down the SP confession rabbit hole, and now I'm worried about my writing now. I'm afraid of falling into tropes and writing these characters to be one dimensioned. How do you get past that?

First of all, thank you!! I never really know how to react when people compliment my writing as a whole, because truthfully I’m still very insecure about the way I write! It really does help to hear that people enjoy my writing style! (,,> ᴗ <,,)

I have a couple of answers to your first question. Learning to write has been a weird process for me if I’m being honest. I’ve always been told that reading is the best way to learn, and while I think reading lots of different things is a huge factor in being able to write confidently, there’s really no substitute for actually doing the thing.

I’ve always loved storytelling, but only really began writing stories down in middle school. Then I started finding RP partners online, and spent several years writing all kinds of stories and absorbing tons of skills from those people.

I’ve also spent an embarrassing amount of time listening to people talk about writing. Story structure, character development, all that jazz. There are several really great YouTube channels that discuss different writing techniques that I’ve taken bits and pieces from throughout the years.

Writing style is a very personal thing though, and while I’ve learned a lot from the way other people write, I’ve also spent a lot of time experimenting with my own voice. I’ve drafted tons of unfinished projects just to see what perspectives I enjoy writing from the most, or what sort of narrative voice I prefer to have. As you may glean from both TSOB and EWILY, I tend to take on a sort of sarcastic tone as a narrator, and for the most part I do that because that’s just kind of how I talk! I’m a smart ass by nature I’m afraid, though I think it also works well in the context of the sillier stories I tend to tell with my SP inspired works.

To answer your second question, yes! I’m always worried that my interpretations of certain characters won’t be enjoyed by the greater fandom, especially as someone who tends to not really vibe with a lot of really popular head canons. My solution to that? I pretend not to care!

Seriously though, I have spent a truly, horribly embarrassing amount of time studying these characters. Between watching the show, playing the games, listening to the episode commentaries, watching character analysis videos on YouTube (I’m a Johnny2Cellos girly myself), and reading some really, really good fan fiction I have put in the time to feel at least a little bit confident in my characterization of the main four boys, and sometimes Butters.

The fun thing about SP is that even Those Bastards play pretty fast and loose with their characterization, though.

Characters like Cartman who tend to have very consistent traits are usually the easiest for me to write. When I ask myself the question “how would Cartman respond to this?” the answer is usually whatever the worst possible response I can think of would be. Then I dial it back a little bit because I’m not trying to get cancelled.

But characters like Stan or Kyle are a lot more fluid. Sometimes they care very deeply about things, sometimes they don’t give a single shit. Sometimes they support one another through everything, sometimes they’re very quick to part ways. Characters like this can be really challenging, especially when you have them alongside characters who are often so cartoonishly villainous like Cartman.

My best advice for writing any characters, but especially for these particular characters, is to lean into their positive traits and flaws equally.

Cartman is actually a great example of this. He’s bigoted, crass and quite frankly kind of terrifying if you think about the things he’s done for more than thirty seconds. But he’s also extremely creative, pretty smart when he wants to be and, in many instances, is shown to actually care about his friends. Balancing all of these traits can be challenging, but it can also result in a more fleshed out, well rounded character.

Another character I see a lot of discourse about is Butters. To avoid making him too ‘uwu sweet baby’, as I often see it said, I balance a few things with him. Yes, Butters is generally very kind and sensitive to others’ feelings, but he’s also extremely gullible and can be a real asshole when he’s around the wrong people for long enough.

Of course, you don’t need to take my advice as gospel. I’m someone who has tried to keep the characters pretty close to canon (less so in EWILY than I did in TSOB, truthfully), but I’ve seen many incredibly written, extremely interesting SP fics that throw much of canon in the trash. Do what feels right for you and helps you to express the kinds of stories you want to tell!

At the end of the day, if you write for you and you enjoy the content you’re creating, then it shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks of the interpretations you make. I especially don’t take anything on confession blogs personally, because if one of my head canons really offends someone they can talk to me about it. (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

Thank you so much for this ask! I had a lot of fun thinking about my own journey with writing these fics, and I hope some of my advice will be helpful for you! Much love, anon! ♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡

[tinyinvadr]

Still freaking out over the fact that more people are posting Psychonauts g/t. Y’all, please, if you haven’t already, play these games or watch a play through, there’s a ton of canon g/t in them! We as a community have been sleeping on this series for too long!

Psychoborrower

Chapter 12

There was something truly haunting about the upper floors of the asylum. The building was barely holding itself together, with unstable twisting staircases and gaping holes in the floor. Just one misstep could be deadly. And the exploding mutant rats didn’t help.

As we made our way up the tower, I noticed someone watching us from around the corner. She appeared to be another patient of the asylum, but she ducked away whenever Raz got even remotely close to her.

We eventually reached the creepy, brain-shaped structure at the top of the tower, which housed Dr. Loboto’s lab. Inside, he was working on one of the Brain Tanks that Raz mentioned before. And behind him, sitting on a workbench, were two jarred brains, one labeled with a photo of Sasha, the other with Milla.

“I’ll kill him…”

“Shh, he’ll hear us!”

Off in the corner stood the woman who was watching us earlier, and she was shuddering in fear as she stood in front of a terrarium with a turtle inside.

“Sheegor! Bring me another brain! This one’s no good!”

“B-But… it’s a nice brain!”

“I don’t want ‘nice’ brains! I want mean ones! Angry brains!”

“No! I won’t help you do this anymore!”

An insane grin spread across the doctor’s face as he shoved Sheegor aside. He turned a dial on a stove positioned underneath the terrarium.

“Fine then! I’ll just have to whip up a batch of turtle soup!”

“No! Please! Not Mr. Pokeylope!”

“What’s that? I can’t hear you over the sound of this delicious soup sizzling! It’s made from turtles! Turtles that you love!”

Sheegor began hysterically crying, ultimately agreeing to bring him another brain so he would spare her turtle. With that, she fled the lab.

It was clear this guy was an absolute monster. Dealing with him would be a difficult task. We couldn’t chance confronting him outright due to how dangerously unstable he was, so we’d need to find some way to stop him without him seeing us.

We decided to follow Sheegor and try to convince her to help us, and we found her out on the balcony on the opposite side of the lab.

“I tried to warn you! He’s evil! Oh… poor Mr. Pokeylope…”

Raz gave her a reassuring smile. “We’ll help you save him. Then we can get rid of Dr. Loboto and give everyone their brains back.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you! And I’m sure once Mr. Pokeylope is back, he’ll know what to do! He always does!”

Someone would inevitably have to break the news to her that Mr. Pokeylope is just a turtle, but it wasn’t gonna be me. Nope. Not unpacking that.

She led us into the room behind her where three chairs were set up. Two of them seated the mindless bodies of Sasha and Milla. In the third chair was Lili, who still had her brain, but she was locked up and had a helmet on that was suppressing her powers.

“Raz! You’re here! That creepy doctor already got Sasha and Milla, but my nose is too stuffy for his sneezing powder to work!”

“That’s good. I mean, not good that you have a cold, but good that you still have a brain.”

There was an awkward silence that felt like it lasted way longer than it actually did before Raz spoke again.

“So… what you said earlier about us making out-”

I gave him a swift kick in the jaw before he could finish talking.

“Now’s not the time for this, lover boy.”

Lili tilted her head, noticing me on his shoulder and putting the pieces together.

“Flint? Is that you?”

I nodded. “Yep. No time to explain, though. We’ve got a turtle to rescue.”

She was clearly confused, but shrugged it off. She’d been through enough to where it didn’t matter if anything made sense anymore.

Before we returned to the lab, Sheegor gave us a slice of chocolate cake and requested we give it to Mr. Pokeylope, since it’s his favorite. Not sure that’s the best thing to be feeding a turtle, but we just went with it.

Dr. Loboto was still preoccupied with the Brain Tank, so we were able to sneak over to the terrarium without him noticing. Using the cake to lure him out, Raz pulled Mr. Pokeylope out through the top hatch with TK.

We returned to the room on the other side, and Sheegor was overjoyed to have her turtle back. She showered him with hugs and kisses, and even sang a little song for him.

“Now that you’re back, you can tell us what to do!”

“That’s right, baby. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

He talks. The turtle talks. Under normal circumstances I would have been more surprised, but nope. The giant mutant fish can talk, why not the turtle? Makes perfect sense. Yep.

As it turns out, Mr. Pokeylope did in fact have a plan, but it was risky. Sheegor was also hesitant to go through with it since it involved removing his brain and giving it to Dr. Loboto. But we were running low on options, so this was our best shot to take him down.

I still can’t wrap my head around how Mr. Pokeylope’s brain fit inside his tiny turtle skull. It’s the same size as a human brain, so unless it’s stored inside his shell… Yeah, no, this is too weird to think about.

All was going according to plan. Dr. Loboto took the brain, and Raz and I watched with bated breath as we waited for him to load it into the tank. But then…

“No, no, I have too many projects right now, I’ll test it out later.”

He put the brain down and walked off to the opposite corner of the lab. Damn, so close.

Raz took matters into his own hands, giving the brain a telekinetic boost into the tank, and from there, Mr. Pokeylope was in control.

One strong PSI-Blast from the tank was all it took to send Dr. Loboto plummeting from the tower. It was hard to say what happened to him, but we couldn’t afford to dwell on that. Coach Oleander was the real mastermind, after all.

Raz grabbed the jars with Sasha and Milla’s brains, and we brought them to the other room. With some guidance from Sheegor, he was able to re-brain them.

It felt like time itself slowed as I watched my mentors return to their senses. It was only a few short seconds, but it seemed to last forever. Those final fleeting moments before they were conscious enough to see me. Once that happened, there was no going back. We had to talk.

“What… What happened? Razputin?”

Milla’s eyes locked onto me, and it took everything in me not to panic. I wasn’t sure why this felt different. Why this somehow felt scarier to me than being seen by Raz or any of the asylum patients.

“Flint…”

My heart sank. That was it. That maternal tone in her voice I knew all too well. I needed to rip the bandage off, as much as it hurt.

“I-I’m sorry… I know this was stupid and dangerous and I shouldn’t have come here. I just… I wanted to help…”

She exchanged a glance with Sasha, then turned her attention back to me, warmly smiling as she got up from her seat.

“Darling… you don’t have to apologize. We’re just relieved that both of you are alright.”

“And impressed, if I may add. It seems your training paid off. Not only have you both strengthened your psychic abilities, but you have also proved that you could put aside the conflict you initially had and work together. I see a bright future head of you. I’m sure you’ll make great Psychonauts someday.”

It felt unreal hearing that from Sasha. While he was fair in his judgement and wasn’t one to dish out overly harsh criticism, he also wasn’t someone who gave out praise lightly. That should have been enough to convince me, but I couldn’t help but continue to doubt myself.

“Are you sure? Even though I’m… you know…”

Sasha offered his hand to me, and Raz gave an encouraging nod. I stepped onto his hand, and he held me up at eye level. Not that I could really see his eyes behind those tinted glasses. How did he even see out of those things?

“Flint. You being a borrower was never the issue. You are one of the most promising students I have ever taught. Intelligent, resilient, resourceful, you’ve had the makings for a Psychonaut from the very beginning. The only thing that you were missing was the ability to work with others, but that wasn’t something we could teach you. It was a journey only you could take, to face your personal fears and doubts head-on and overcome them. And Flint… you’ve done it. You’re here now, talking to us in person. Believe me when I say that is something to be proud of.”

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, the emotional weight that had been building up finally feeling like it was lifted. I bridged the gap between myself and the Psychonauts, something I was convinced would never be possible.

They saw me… and they saw someone worthwhile.

“Thank you…”

Sasha smiled, lowering me to his chest and gently holding me there as if giving me a hug. Milla joined in, placing her hand over his and wrapping her other arm around his shoulders. They both looked at me the way I wished my parents did. Not with fear and shame, but with genuine love.

“There, there, little one. Let it all out.”

I noticed Sasha seemed the slightest bit flustered when Milla got close to him. He hid it well, but it was pretty obvious to anyone who saw them that they were madly in love with each other. They were both too shy to admit their feelings, but maybe one day they’d be together.

“Yes, well… we’ll have plenty of time to sort all of this out later. Right now we have to focus on retrieving the stolen brains and freeing Miss Zanotto from her restraints.”

Sheegor was more than happy to get the brains for us with Mr. Pokeylope safe and Dr. Loboto out of commission. Sasha even offered her a position as his lab assistant, which she gleefully accepted.

The only thing left for us to do was break Lili out of the chair and destroy her helmet.

Sasha handed me back to Raz, who also gave me a quick hug before putting me back on his shoulder.

“I knew you could do it, buddy.”

The counselors started PSI-Blasting at Lili’s restraints, but they seemed to be pretty durable. Makes sense, since the whole point of them was to suppress psychic powers. Still, with enough force from the four of us combined, we were able to break her out.

Everything was going so well, I almost forgot there was one loose end that still needed to be tied up. And… it was a big one.

“Wait… what about Coach-?”

“I’m right here, soldier…”

We turned around to see Oleander standing in the doorway, glaring us down.

“Y’know, Flint, my offer still stands. You’ve got a lot of potential in that little brain of yours, you don’t have to settle for these people who will never respect you.”

“Yeah, no… you kind of just missed a heartfelt reunion, so any and all attempts to manipulate me into joining you aren’t gonna work. And once again, kidnapping people and stealing their brains is bad no matter how you try and spin it.”

“How disappointing. But once I get those brains out they’ll all be good for something!”

Raz and I exchanged a glance. We were so ready to kick this guy’s ass. He got into a fighting stance and…

“Kids, let the grown-ups handle this!”

Milla had created a psychic bubble around Raz, Lili, and myself, lifting us into the air.

The three of us shouted out in protest, but she and Sasha couldn’t be swayed, so they sent us all the way down to the lower floor of the asylum.

I understood why they were being protective, but it was beyond frustrating. We were fully capable of helping them, especially after everything Raz and I went through. At least I knew it was about me being a kid and not about me being a borrower, but I still couldn’t help but feel insulted.

What did we have to do to prove to them that we were ready to be Psychonauts?

[imperfect-tomorrow]

Do you have any head canons for Norm?

oooh a dial town question!! oh man it's been so long I've forgotten most of them but yeah I definitely have some!!

back when I was still pumping out dialtown ocs like there was no tomorrow I thought of a backstory for norm like. getting exiled from dialtown by Mingus where he gets shot in the face and thus is why he wears the paper bag. I actually have the scar featured in like 90% of my artworks of him!

I like to think he has a pretty big gun collection. like yeah he has his trusty revolver that he keeps with him wherever he goes but he is DEFINITELY the type of man to geek out over guns to some poor guy at the rundown shooting range just trying to have some peace

now with norm's plushie reveal having featured bi colors I can safely put out the HC that his wife was his Beard (a cover up because gay rights weren't a thing back then; look it up if you're interested in a more thorough explanation!)

did he love her? yes, but very little in the romantic sense. did he adore his children? very much so, they were the light of his life. his wife knew of his situation and they mainly stayed married to conceal the truth but she was fully okay with it

he still mourns them like his family despite them having passed long ago. no matter if his relationship with her had been fake, he truly cherished her presence in his life every moment he got

also. I used to HC that he definitely had some Feelings over Callum. the way he had spoken about him in some dialogue was... Interesting.

Norm is definitely a family man. I mean have you seen him?? his backstory just proves my point even further.

I like to believe that he had seen some of his children's erratic behavior in Gingi back when they first met and that's why he didn't shoot them and why Gingi was able to bring back Norm's faith little by little

he smokes. a lot. his voice might not sound like it but coping with being stuck in a wormhole for long enough to be considered 'legally dead' is definitely hard without them!

he also drinks like. a shit ton of beer. blonde beer to be exact!

this man definitely plays board/card games in his spare time. if you check the bar when office hours are closed you'll find him at a table playing Remy(Rummy) or Makaua

I also HC him to be Romanian/at the very least from the Balkans bcs I'M ROMANIAN!!!🇷🇴🇷🇴🇷🇴

ahh that's all I can think of off the top of my head? Maybe I'll add on more. it's been a while since I've thought of him really so most of this is just vibes™ and how I see him interacting with others. shrug

[saiilorstars]

Ch.14: The Final Line 

Steve Rogers x OFC fic • squeeze your eyes for a Bucky Barnes x (2nd) OFC

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Story Masterlist • Seren’s Masterlist• Chloe’s Masterlist​​

Also available on Fanfic ○ Ao3 ○ Wattpad

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

"We're going to start talking strategies in a bit...if you're interested..." Natasha stood by the doorway of the room Seren had recused herself to. It was as shabby as the rest of the rooms in the base.

"If it involves Fury, then I can't be sure he won't try to do something in the shadows," Seren retorted, turning around to Natasha. "He might just let Chloe die for the 'bigger picture'."

"He wouldn't let that happen, Seren."

"He was prepared to shoot me down when Loki brainwashed me," Seren snapped. It all made perfect sense now. She was always so blind focusing solely on the mission that she never considered what was going on behind it. "Everyone at SHIELD is disposable, Natasha. Everyone. I finally got that. Me, you, Steve, Chloe...if we're in the way of the bigger picture, we're disposable."

"Dial back the identity crisis before you really hurt your head," Natasha said.

"It's not funny, Natasha. This is something truly hurtful to realize and, yes, I know it took me forever to realize it. It's my fault for being so blind."

"You weren't 'blind', you were just painfully optimistic," Natasha flashed Seren a little smile. "You have and will always look for the brighter side of things. It's in your nature. Always has been."

"Making me stupid," Seren said with a huff. "Honestly, I should be taking lessons from you. You don't even seem affected by everything we've learned."

"Seren, the things I have seen and done in my life make this whole thing just another passing-by situation for me. Does it affect me that SHIELD turned out to be another red room? Yeah, of course it does. But in the grand scheme of everything, it's not the worst thing that's happened to me."

"You came up with that yourself?" Seren said, slightly unconvinced. Natasha chuckled.

"Steve may have had a hand in the realization."

Seren playfully rolled her eyes. "Of course."

"For what it's worth, real or not, you have always done the best damn job for SHIELD."

Seren lowered her head. She used to like thinking the same thing. "Except now I wonder when I was doing my best for HYDRA, and how much of their agenda I helped push through."

"I wouldn't do that...it's not going to lead you to better thoughts."

"But how do I do that, Natasha? How do I stop wondering when the bad guy was actually the good guy and when the good guy was actually the bad guy?" Seren rubbed her forehead. "I keep thinking about it and I feel horrible. How do I make it stop?"

"By not holding yourself responsible for what was out of your control!" Natasha exclaimed. "You're suffocating in senseless guilt. It's not your fault. You didn't know that HYDRA still existed. None of us did! Not even Fury!"

"He should have said something, Natasha," Seren muttered.

"Maybe, but then what? We were outnumbered, girl. He played the cards he had; they weren't the best cards but it is what it is."

"So I'm supposed to forgive and forget?"

"That's up to you, Seren," Natasha shrugged. "Right now, I just think that we should pull our numbers together and get Winters the hell out of there."

Seren sighed. "Yeah, that...that would be a good idea. I just don't think I can follow Fury this time."

"Then don't," Natasha said like it was obvious what she should do. Apparently, Seren didn't know that it was obvious so Natasha helped. "You've led a ton of missions. You led the Avengers. Do it again."

Seren didn't hate the idea...in fact, it sounded right up her alley.

~ 0 ~

"We have to stop the launch," Steve had said just as Natasha had led Seren into the room. He was grateful with Natasha, and relieved that Seren was more or less alright. It seemed like he was running out of words to comfort her with and so this time he thought maybe Natasha would be better suited to persuade her to return.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," Fury sarcastically said. With a lot of help, he had moved over to a chair and reached over for a case at the edge of a table. He pulled it open to reveal three chips inside.

"What's that?" Sam couldn't help but look at them warily.

"Once the Helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized," Maria explained.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," added Fury.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die."

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We need to get pass them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left—"

"We are not salvaging anything," Seren's hard voice cut Fury off. Everyone's head turned in her direction but the only person she was looking at was Fury. "We're not just going to take down those carriers, we're going to take down everything, SHIELD included.

"SHIELD had nothing to do with it!" Fury argued.

"How do you know!?" Seren countered. "You yourself said you never knew who was HYDRA and who was SHIELD. The only sensible thing is to bring it all down. And we will, because there is no way I'm going to help if that's not the plan."

Fury looked like he couldn't believe it. "Seren—"

"There's no other way, Fury," Seren reiterated. "Because even if, somehow, we managed to pluck out every single HYDRA agent from that building, where's our guarantee that there's no other HYDRA agents in the other SHIELD bases, hm? Have we even thought about that? About all the other bases around the country?" By the silence, it was clear that the answer was no. "I'm not letting honest SHIELD agents work alongside HYDRA for another single day! It's all coming down!" The second round of silence was actually rather loud and for a split second Seren wondered if she'd crossed the line.

"I agree." Steve unintentionally brought her some relief. He was already looking at her when she glanced his way. He stood firm on his choice and he hoped that she would stick to hers without fear.

Seren nodded her thanks to him then looked over at Natasha to see what she was going to do. She gave a tilt of her head and her usual smile. Seren then looked at Sam.

"I do what you guys do, just slower," he said, "And I'm not going anywhere until we get Chloe back."

"I think she's right, Fury," Maria said, surprising the others. Even she looked tired of it all.

Seren smiled, more than relieved with the support of her friends. She set eyes on Fury again and walked up to him. "It's going down," she said with finality. "So right now, you are going to tell us everything you know that you haven't told us. And I mean every thing. About the secret projects, the inaccessible files, but more importantly everything about Chloe's file." After a moment of hesitance, she added one more thing. "And everything about Sergeant Barnes."

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes, alright?" Fury retorted.

"Even if you had, would you have told us?" Steve said, and walked up to him as well. "Or would you have compartmentalized that too?"

Fury was at a loss between Steve and Seren. Neither one of them was backing down.

~0~

"You know it would've been wise to go down for a nap or something," Seren's voice reached Steve seconds before she did.

He looked away from the river to see her coming down the bridge. He'd disappeared shortly after finalizing their plans inside.

"I could say the same thing for you," he said when she came to stand beside him.

"Ooh no, I am done sleeping," Seren said. She watched the river for a minute, actually envying how calm and peaceful it looked. It made her realize she had never truly experienced those phenomena. She was always...working. "Steve, if I had known...if I had ever had a doubt that...that he could've been..." she looked up at him, "I would have said something. I swear."

Her worries lessened as a warm smile spread across Steve's face. He met her gaze and nodded. "I know. You were never like the others. Knew that from the start." Seren flushed with his look. "I just can't believe I never noticed."

"How could you?" Seren said. "You only just started working with SHIELD—"

"Two years ago, Seren. And that was on top of the time before I got to work." Steve shook his head. The more he thought about all the time he wasted while Bucky was out there suffering made his blood boil. He was angry at himself for being so blind and...naive. "I was doing all the wrong things..."

"No, you weren't," Seren said gently. She sensed the underlying anger in his voice and honestly couldn't blame him. She felt exactly the same when she thought about Chloe. "You were adjusting to your trauma, to your situation. Even if you had known about Bucky, you wouldn't have been in any condition to go look for him. You needed that time to get better — you deserved that time."

"Maybe...but it doesn't change what Bucky went through in the meantime..." said Steve, and for that he would never forgive himself. "I got lucky. I was asleep for 70 years. I can't even begin to imagine what those years were like for him."

Seren rubbed a comforting hand on his arm. Working through that mentality would take a lot of time, but she would be right there with him helping him get through it.

"I-I know that it's hard to believe it after that fight but...that wasn't Bucky, not the one that I knew. The real him..." Steve looked down at Seren again, feeling an overwhelming urge to explain who his best friend truly was, "He would never hurt anyone, Seren."

"I know—"

"He was kind—"

"I know—"

"—and helpful—"

"Steve, I know," Seren said with a soft smile. "You don't have to tell me twice. I believe you. I swear."

Steve moved his arm down to wrap around her waist. "Bucky wasn't like a brother, he was...is." He would have to get used to that now. He always talked about his life in the past tense, including those he thought he left behind. "To know that all this time he's been alive and brainwashed…"

"We're going to get him out," Seren said to him. "Him, and Chloe. We're going to get them out. I don't know how but we're going to."

"Question is, will either of you be able to fight them?" Sam regretted making his presence known in this way but he didn't think anyone else would have the courage to ask the question. So far, no one had. The pair looked over at him with similar pained expressions. "Listen, I've talked to Chloe plenty to know her so me fighting her already feels challenging. And I just met her. I can't imagine what it must feel like to both of you."

"Hard," Seren said, "But we'll manage."

"Will you?" Sam raised an eyebrow at them. "What if they already put that other chip in her head or wherever it needs to go? What if she's already brainwashed like Barnes? She will shoot to kill. We already know Barnes will definitely kill us if he gets the chance. I hate to be the one to tell you this but you cannot go easy on them by any means."

"We get it, Sam, we do," Steve said quietly, "But we're going to do our best to try and save them."

"Chloe might have a chance but I don't know about Barnes, to tell you the truth," Sam said. "After decades of brainwashing, he might be the guy that needs to be stopped rather than saved.

"I understand what you're saying but we can't abandon them," Steve said. He already left Bucky for dead decades ago, he was not walking away this time. "I'm going to do what it takes. Even if it takes a long time to get there."

"Alright," Sam nodded. He had said what he needed to. "So when do we go?"

"Now," Steve replied. "Gear up."

"What, and you're gonna wear that?"

For a moment, Steve actually chuckled. "No. If you're gonna fight a war, you gotta wear a uniform."

"Well, my suit's probably already been destroyed at S.H.I.E.L.D," Seren said, although she didn't sound very upset about the matter. "You know I never even got a say in the design? SHIELD just did it for me and that was that. Just one more thing it took from me. I'll get a normal one from the base."

~0~

The entry into the Triskelion wasn't that difficult. Because everyone was busy looking for them outside of it, no one ever really thought about checking inside their own walls first. Before they would actually put a stop to Project Insight, they thought they should at least give those Agents still working humbly a chance to choose their side after hearing the truth about S.H.I.E.L.D. Seren had faith that they would choose the right side. They had just reached the door when it opened for them, almost like fate, and a young tech guy nearly crashed into the group.

"Excuse us," Steve promptly said before leading the way inside. The others walked in behind him with the exception of Seren.

She lingered behind to address the entire room. "It would bode well for you all not to activate any alarms," she warned with a serious face. "Just listen. That's all we want." She put a finger over her lips. "Listen."

Because in the next couple of minutes, Steve had taken over the entire communications system. "Attention, all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days, some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was, it's been taken over by HYDRA…"

The room had gone absolutely still. Seren, Maria and Sam looked around to see which techies were looking guilty and which ones were looking afraid. The latter were the ones they would try to help.

"...Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want: absolute control. They shot Nick Fury and it won't end there. If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way, unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high, it always has been, and it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."

Steve let the communications go and waited, though for what he wasn't quite sure. Maybe it was more to catch his breath for what was going to come in the next couple of minutes.

"Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?" Sam came to ask him, earning just a small smile in return.

Seren stalked her way up to the closest technician and grabbed him by the lapels of his shirt. "Winters. Where is she?"

"I-I don't know!"

"There hasn't been any sign of Chloe around here!?"

"I—no! Nothing!"

"Seren!" Steve called to her, frankly unsurprised with the abrupt manner she was 'questioning' the poor man with. If he could, he would probably do the same thing to find Bucky...but he had a feeling that Bucky would be finding him very soon instead.

Seren let go of the man and stepped back. "I need to find Chloe."

"C'mon," Steve motioned her to the doors. He held his hand out for her. They would go find Chloe together.

Seren came over to take his hand, squeezing it as soon as she could, and headed out with him. Sam followed behind while Maria stayed behind to man the controls. It was easy getting out to the Helicarriers but that was probably going to be the last easy thing they did for the day.

"Not one sign of Chloe," Seren was fiercely looking on either side of them. "Not even Bucky. What do you think they're waiting for? HYDRA must have given Bucky the order to kill already, but what about Chloe?"

"I'd rather not think about the mechanics of those plans..." Steve admitted. If he allowed himself to think about the many reasons why they were lacking in their presence, he would spiral and he wouldn't be able to focus on their plans.

"Okay, now wait a minute," Sam said once he saw the Helicarriers in sight, "Before we split up and all, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys? We haven't exactly identified them yet."

Steve had the perfect response. "If they're shooting at you, they're bad."

Sam deadpanned Steve for a second. "Oh, funny guy." He activated the wings of his suit and flew into the air.

"That was pretty funny," Seren said afterwards with a little smile.

"We'll discuss my 'funny' afterwards," Steve said, turning to her, serious. "You need to be careful, alright?"

"I know," Seren nodded, swallowing hard. "It's going to be tough fighting familiar faces, but if they're HYDRA then they'll need to be careful." She raised her fists that were already glowing with power.

Steve could smile at that. It was surreal fighting HYDRA all over again but this time he could believe that things would end very differently. Last time had an era of disadvantage, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Today, they had better weapons and technology backing them up, and a lot more knowledge. Plus, he also had one magnificent star with him this time.

"Gotta run," Seren said but then shook her head, "Or fly, I guess?"

"Fly," Steve said. He wondered when, oh when, would it stop being weird saying that so easily.

Seren nodded and, like Sam, jumped into the air (sans the wings). Steve watched after her for a few seconds until he ultimately decided that it would never stop being weird watching someone fly.

He hopped off the ledge and landed on the lower deck. Very quickly he had to run for cover as HYDRA agents spotted him and began firing. He ran behind a crate only to find another agent much too up close. He grabbed the agent by the neck and smacked him against the crate, stealing a grenade from the unconscious man just before he collapsed. Steve threw the grenade behind him, taking out a group of agents with it.

Up above, Sam had to swerve to avoid getting hit with some serious tank firepower. "Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about!"

Steve had a chance to look up and see Sam just narrowly escape the last blow. "You okay?"

"I'm not dead yet!"

"Seren?" Steve called. He had yet to see her in the sky. There was no answer. "Seren!"

"Here!" he heard soon after he caught a swirl of star matter striking one of the tanks and destroyed it in a go.

Seren zoomed by to catch up with Sam who'd gotten himself even more attention. Must be the wings, she theorized. Several quinjets had been deployed and were relentlessly firing after him. Her arms started glowing strongly the closer she got to one jet.

Purposely lingering behind one, she waited for her opportunity. "Sam, focus on your left!" she warned and was thoroughly confused when he groaned a 'Oh, c'mon!' in return. Had she said something wrong? She headed for his right and landed on the jet in that direction. The two pilots gazed up in time to see her shatter their glass with her star matter. She then reached inside and forced their ejection button to work.

One down...several more to go.

Sam managed to land on the Hellicarrier bay for a second before another jet forced him off. Seren sighed heavily from the sky. They would never get their feet into one of the Hellicarriers at this point.

From the ground, Steve was having the same problems. He zoomed through the HYDRA agents, knocking them down as quickly as possible but the more he got through the more agents appeared.

"Eight minutes, Cap!" Maria warned him.

"Yeah, working on it!"

"I gotcha!" Seren said, coming down in a rush.

"Seren, you need to get your Helicarrier—" Maria tried to say when Seren cut her off.

"They're everywhere—I'm multitasking!" She created a string of starmatter spheres between her hands then sent each of them towards the agents in the vicinity. With each section covered, Steve was able to make the rest of the way even quicker than before.

"I'm in!" he would later say after giving her a special thanks. "Alpha locked!"

"Seren, Helicarrier!" Maria said again.

"Yeah!" Seren shot for the second Helicarrier, this time determined to make the trip with no interruptions.

"Falcon, where are you now?" Maria checked in on the man who'd been pretty quiet for a few minutes.

"I had to take a detour!" He was in the air again, closer to the third Helicarrier, when heat-seeking missiles fired after him.

"Sam, are you good?" Seren had caught sight of the missiles and couldn't help but stop again.

"Yeah, yeah, you go!"

Seren's gaze lingered on the missiles but she ultimately decided to keep going. She couldn't afford another distraction. Plus, she still needed to find Chloe. Thankfully, a short moment later, she heard Sam give the clear for the second Helicarrier. One more to go.

Seren landed on the last Helicarrier and was surprised to see no agents around. She balled her fists and cautiously proceeded towards the center. "There's no on here," she told the others. "That's not right..."

"No, it's not," agreed Steve. It sounded a lot like a trap. "Wait for us!"

"Can't do that, lovey. Five minutes left," she reminded him with a perfectly good point. She started running for the center when a bright blue blast of energy hit her from the side. She screamed as her body went into a tumble near the edge.

"Seren!" she heard her name through the comms but everything seemed to ring in her ears for a few minutes while had body felt the horrible sting on her side.

Her vision may have blurred there for a second too. She'd never been hit with energy like that and it took her a minute to realize why...They were always on the same side.

"There would be a 98% chance of a victory if Stardust, Captain America and Falcon were to disappear," she heard from behind. As she began to pull herself, a second blast struck her back and forced her back down. A psionic blast. "The other 2% remains with Black Widow and other vigilantes but it's not much of a threat."

Seren scrunched her face, swallowing down her groan as she once again attempted to stand up.

"You will be alright. It's only a minimal laceration for your kind. Even half Celessians count with a higher healing factor than the enhanced."

Seren wobbled on her feet as she turned around, one hand wrapped around her stomach. She saw Chloe standing across her, smiling in a way that gave her chills. Chloe's face was covered with blue streaks that were seemingly constantly pumping energy. Seren saw the same blue lines peeking out from Chloe's sleeves and neck.

"Chloe, what's happened to you?" Seren felt even worse when her eyes fell on Chloe's left hand. "What is...what is that?"

"I've been upgraded." Chloe raised her left hand and showed Seren her palm. There was a small tech piece lodged in the middle of her palm and it seemed like her flesh was trying to merge with it, or perhaps absorb it. "I will finally gain full access of the Hive Mind, whether they want it or not."

Seren quickly picked up on Chloe's last words. "Whether they want to or...not...?" Could it be that the Hive Mind was rejecting the process? If that were the case then maybe, just maybe, the Hive Mind didn't accept what HYDRA was doing and...maybe they would help her instead. Maybe they would help her reach Chloe.

"HYDRA had to make some modifications in order to fulfil their goals," Chloe said, turning her palm over to see for herself. "The Hive Mind wasn't very compliant but...I can win."

"No, you can't," Seren said quietly, eyeing the relentless glow around Chloe's face. The energy was fighting to keep running through. "The Hive Mind doesn't want that, Chloe. It doesn't want HYDRA to gain access to their knowledge, to their power. Chloe, you don't want this either. You never have!"

"Because I didn't know that this is what I was missing!" Chloe exclaimed with an unnatural glee. "To see the future, to see all the calculations — it's mind blowing! All the power, it's..."

Seren started shaking her head. "Now I know this isn't you. Chloe was always terrified of what the Hive Mind could do. HYDRA made its modifications but not for the Hive Mind. They made them for you. They took your will, your freedom to think for yourself. It's exactly what they did to Sergeant Barnes.

Chloe's lips stretched into another wide smile. "My mind has never been more clear." She suddenly fired and hit Seren square in the chest. She dashed forward as Seren landed harshly on the ground. She turned Seren on her side while the latter was groggy, and plucked out her ear comm, smashing it to pieces in her hand.

"Chloe what are you—?"

"I knew you wouldn't expect that." Chloe dug through Seren's pockets around her waist until she pulled out the last of the targeting blades. "See? The Hive Mind is already accepting our new fate." She straightened up on her feet and turned, walking a few steps away from Seren. "Getting rid of the blade won't minimize the chance of failure. I'm 100% sure of this. Don't destroy it."

It took Seren a couple seconds to understand that Chloe was talking to someone else. When she sat upright, there stood Chloe in front of the Winter Soldier. "Chloe, don't..."

Chloe smiled and handed Bucky the blade. "They'll be landing on the Helicarrier in 10...9...8…"

"No!" Seren fired at the pair without thinking. Bucky made a run while Chloe held off the star matter with a psionic forcefield.

Seren stumbled up on her feet and only then saw Chloe talking to Bucky of all people. He held the targeting blade in his hand. "No, give that back!" Seren ran for the pair. Chloe spun around and clapped her hands together, creating a psionic wave. Seren crashed into a wall.

~ 0 ~

Steve landed with a rush next to Sam. The communications with Seren had gone out minutes ago, not even Maria could get through, and he knew that she was with Chloe. He looked around for a sign of her but it was just as she had said earlier. There were no agents on board. He then heard the distinctive crash of a body nearby. "Ser—"

A hard boot collided with his side, throwing him off the Helicarrier. He managed to hang onto the side at the last moment and then saw Sam flying off the edge (or attempting to). A metal arm reached for his wings and yanked him back.

Steve swallowed hard. Bucky was on the Helicarrier. What had he done with Seren? He started climbing back up as quickly as he could.

"Cap? Cap, come in!" He soon heard Sam through the comms. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm here! I'm still on the Helicarrier!"

"Good, cos so is your friend. I think I saw Seren on the higher deck. She's with Chloe."

"Where are you, Sam?"

"I'm grounded, the suit's down. Sorry, Cap."

"Don't worry, I got it." Steve took the last climb up to the Helicarrier. As soon as he was on his feet, he searched around for anybody at this point, whether it be Seren, Chloe or Bucky. He heard Seren first, maybe a slight divine justice for the moment, so he dashed towards the noise.

Seren had dodged Chloe's psionic blast and, unfortunately, delivered her own starmatter sphere in return. She hated the idea of hurting Chloe on any level. "Chloe, c'mon! It's me! It's Seren!"

Chloe's lips quirked into a smile. "Of course I know who you are. Agent Seren Soul, Stardust, prized agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., blah, blah, blah." She lunged on Seren with all her strength and managed to knock the ginger down. "You know what I thought when I first met you? 'Oh god, it's an alien. How could she ever be trusted to fight for Earth?"

Seren sucked in a breath then smacked her own forehead against Chloe's. The blonde groaned and fell back. "Funny, cos when I first met you, I thought: what the hell is this kid doing? Story of my life, I guess."

Chloe rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand, inadvertently allowing Seren to see her palm again, and clearer.

"Seren!" she heard Steve. Her head flipped to the right and saw him coming towards them. "No!" she yelled at him, forcing him into a skidded stop. "Bucky! He has the-the targeting blade!"

"What?" Steve automatically looked around as if Bucky himself was about to jump out, and he possibly would.

"I'm sorry, they took it from me!" Seren said. "Go get it! I'll take care of Chloe!"

"The hell you will," Chloe spat. She roundhouse kicked Seren but the latter proved quicker by grabbing Chloe's leg and using it to push her backwards. "Sorry! Steve, go!" Seren yelled at the man still conflicted with his choices. "Chloe's my sister. I'm gonna get her back!"

Steve's eyes flickered to Chloe groaning as she pulled herself up from the ground. As much as he loved Chloe—and he really had learned to—he agreed that this was on Seren, much like he had to help Bucky. He turned for the center of the Helicarrier and ran.

Chloe stumbled on her feet for a few seconds. "Can you really fight me?" she asked Seren.

Seren raised her head. "I could never fight Chloe Winters, but you're not her right now."

Chloe snorted. "I am."

"No, you're not," Seren's voice was sharp and final, wiping off any trace of amusement on Chloe's face. "HYDRA has taken your mind and forced it to accept that new tech piece, but it's not working, is it? Because if it had, you would've turned into another puppet like Sergeant Barnes. Your mind is having trouble fitting in a whole new piece so it's altering your personality, your thoughts, your actions. That is not my friend. But don't worry, I'm gonna get her back."

"Yeah? And how are you going to do that?" Chloe raised an eyebrow.

Seren balled her fists, letting them practically shine with power. "By giving you a good smack in the head." She flashed a smirk.

~ 0 ~

Bucky was waiting for Steve. He held the targeting blade in his hand, an act alone that had Steve genuinely surprised. Why not destroy it already?

"People are gonna die, Buck. I can't let that happen," Steve decided to break the silence first. He kept his safe distance but was prepared to attack as soon as he had to. For the moment though, Bucky only stared at him. "Please, don't make me do this. Give me the targeting blade." But still, Bucky did not budge.

Time was running out.

Without another thought, Steve threw his shield at Bucky. Like last time, Bucky caught it swiftly in his hand and chucked right back to him. They ran down the catway to meet each other in the middle. Bucky had two guns firing on Steve but with a swift kick, the latter was able to throw them to the side (though he did get one graze on his side in the process). He got a quick opportunity and shoved Bucky to the side to get into the targeting blade system. He could at least bring it up then swipe it from Bucky.

Bucky yanked him back with the intentions of pulling his knife on him. In doing so, however, Steve was able to reach for the targeting blade. He got it for a split moment before Bucky threw him back. Steve heard the fall of the targeting blade from a distance. He raised his head to see the blade dangerously on the edge. He pulled himself up and ran for it only for it to fall below. He picked up his pace and jumped over the edge as well, landing on the ground below.

~ 0 ~

Chloe raged against Seren with fists in the air. Seren would admit that Chloe was stronger with this new tech piece but her fighting was all over the place. If she had to take a guess, she would say that the Hive Mind was interfering. "Don't let them win, Hive Mind!" she called. "If HYDRA gains access to your power, they'll know everything about your species. All your secrets in human hands!"

Chloe shoved Seren and angrily shouted at her to stop. "The Hive Mind doesn't speak to you!"

"No, but I bet everything that it's listening!" Seren snapped. "And I bet that it's messing with you right now!" Chloe growled and threw a sloppy jet of energy at her. Seren crossed her arms in front of her and produced a shield to block the blast. "So much for calculating," Seren smirked. "And that's sad considering you've trained with me, with Natasha, Citlalli — you've had all kinds of training and right now, you seem like a clumsy high school cheerleader right now." She got what she wanted with that jab. Chloe's anger made her blind and thus more open for attack.

Chloe started throwing psionic blasts again. Seren shot into the air, dodging each blast.

"Get back down!" Chloe ordered.

"Okay!" Seren decided to swoop down and grab Chloe by her shoulders. "I love you, Chloe, but…" She unceremoniously dropped Chloe. The blonde tumbled on the ground but when she stopped, she was more furious than ever.

She jumped on her feet and dodged the following star matter spheres Seren sent her way. Her vision blurred as numbers sprouted from every corner in her mind.

Left, right, under, another left—

She shook her head as she followed the instructions to avoid the spheres. She wanted the specific sphere to…

Third!

When the third star matter sphere came her way, Chloe captured it with a shield. Seren gasped, eyes blinking wide. Since when can she do that!? With a smirk, Chloe sent it right back to her. Seren barely dodged it with her surprise.

~ 0 ~

Steve couldn't remember another time where the fight was too close. As skilled as his opponents were, in the end he always won. Today, he couldn't be sure that would be the same story. Bucky had similar strength to him, similar skills and Steve was almost sure that those skills could outwit him if he wasn't careful. HYDRA played dirty, a known fact and Bucky had always been an agile fighter anyways. A deadly combination.

Steve landed on the same level as the blade and ran for it. Just before he could reach it, his shield hit him in the back. Bucky had come down as well and caught up with Steve. He plunged a knife into Steve's shoulder then headed for the targeting blade. Steve forced the knife out of his shoulder, ignoring the blotch of blood that surged from it, as well as the wicked pain he felt, and started running. He reached for Bucky just as the latter had grabbed the blade. He dodged Bucky's attempts of a clean punch and in return headbutted him several times. As much as it pained him (both emotionally and physically), he grabbed Bucky by the throat, raising him for a second before slamming him down on the ground.

As groggy as Bucky was, he had yet to let go of the blade. Steve grabbed him from behind in an armlock. "Drop it!" he yelled, but Bucky kept a tight grip around the blade. Why couldn't he just make things easy this one moment?

Bucky possibly squeezed the chip in his hand even more. He was stubborn, that much was still in him. He reached an arm back to try and pry Steve off him but instead of managing that, Steve broke that arm. The two fell back on the ground but even then, Steve still held Bucky by the neck. If he wasn't going to willingly let go of the blade, then he would have to by force. Steve tightened his grip around Bucky's neck until he passed out. He felt terrible about it but it had to be done, thousands of people were counting on him.

~ 0 ~

Chloe grabbed Seren's arm and pulled her up. "Sixty percent chance of your demise right here and now."

"Just 60%?" Seren raised an eyebrow, ignoring the ache in her chest. Now she knew what her opponents felt like when she attacked them. "Could it be maybe the Hive Mind is gaining the upperhand, then?"

Chloe seemed to twitch as she tried to think about the calculations. "The other 40%" — she twitched again — "is unaccounted now..."

Seren took advantage of the next time Chloe twiced and used the grip Chloe had on her arm to throw the blonde over her and onto the ground. Chloe fell with a thud, eyes squeezed shut in pain.

"I'm no expert but I think you're going into overdrive," Seren said, none too pleased with the fact. She didn't want to Chloe to suffer an irreversible effect. "The tech piece needs to come out, Chloe. Let me help you."

Chloe struggled to get back on her feet. She rolled her shoulders over to shake off the pain. "I don't need any help." She went to throw her fist but Seren caught it with one hand.

Seren's eyes flashed colorfully. "I love you, Chloe, but I know a lot more than you. And if I have to burn that tech out of your hand, I will."

Chloe felt the sizzle of her skin and started screaming.

~ 0 ~

"One minute!" Maria's voice rang in Steve's ear, along with everything else.

He was climbing his way back up to the systems when a bullet was fired and grazed his left thigh. He used all his strength to finish the trip up. Bucky was still a bit lost with his own balance too. The system was just as he'd left it earlier. He rushed inside as best as he could, which was a series of wobbles and sprints.

"Thirty seconds, Cap!" Maria went again.

"Stand by!" He pulled the targeting blade out and reached for the system when Bucky fired again, this time hitting him straight in the stomach. That one forced Steve down for a moment. He looked down at himself to see another blotch of red on his stomach. No matter, he literally didn't have time for it.

"Twenty seconds!" Maria could already see the algorithm targeting potential victims. The White house, the Pentagon, the C.I.A., Stark Tower were just a few of those places.

Steve climbed up to his feet again and pushed his arm forwards, placing in the targeting blade just in time. "Charlie locked." At least whatever happened afterwards, he would know that the people were safe. He, however, had no idea where he stood.

~ 0 ~

Chloe screamed as her hand burned. She slapped and smacked Seren as much as she could but the Celessian proved her superior biology.

"Help me, Hive Mind," Seren called, "Please."

Chloe emitted a force of a shield, shoving Seren across from her. With a heavy breath, she took her hand and studied the damage on her palm. She felt it hard to blink and focus as so much information started flashing in front of her eyes.

~ 0 ~

"Okay, Cap, get out of there!" Maria said once she had successfully locked the Helicarriers onto one another. "Get Seren too!"

Steve felt like that would be an impossible task. He was stumbling to stay on his feet. "Fire now!"

"But, Steve…"

"Do it!" Steve snapped. He looked up above as if he would see Seren or Chloe, but of course luck wasn't that easy right now. He had to believe that Seren would be able to get out of there in time with Chloe.

Each of the Helicarriers started firing at one another.

Up above, Seren saw the mess that was starting to come down on them (literally). She pulled herself up to her feet then looked at the ground underneath her feet and wondered where Steve was right now. Had he gotten off? He had to. With or without Bucky, he had to get out. She believed he would which was why she turned around to Chloe.

"Need a ride?"

Chloe only glowered at her. She lowered her injured hand, angrier than ever. She knew exactly what Seren was going to do. "Don't you dare—"

Seren zoomed towards Chloe like she would ram her down but instead, she jumped off the Helicarrier with Chloe in her arms.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Chloe screamed all the way down until Seren did just that. She let Chloe fall from a safe distance on the ground. The force of it was enough to knock her out.

Seren landed beside her and fell to her knees. Her arms hovered over Chloe, going back and forth as she decided what to do. Her hand was badly burned and the tech piece was still lodged in her palm and by the looks of it, it was only getting worse. It wasn't absorbing the right way and now with her interferance, it looked like it was sparking from the inside. "Oh Chloe, what do I do? What do I do?"

~ 0 ~

Against his own injuries, Steve managed to help Bucky free himself from the fallen rubble. "You know me," he insisted afterwards.

Bucky lashed out at him in anger. "No, I don't!" He raged. It was an entirely new reaction that Steve would take with hope. If Bucky was angry and not stoically cold then it meant he had an inkling doubt that what he was saying was true.

"Bucky, you've known me your whole life!" Bucky continued to punch him but he wasn't going to fight back. If he did, then Bucky would never listen to him. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes!"

"Shut up!"

Steve pulled off his mask and let his shield fall which, in turn, let it fall out of the Helicarrier altogether. "I'm not gonna fight you. You're my friend."

Bucky ignored him and shoved him to the ground. "You're my mission!" He delivered the worst punches he could to make his point. He couldn't remember something that wasn't there—

He scrunched his face when a blip of a distorted image clouded him for a second. Absolutely not. "You're my mission!"

Steve let his body fall limp. His energy was already dwindling with his injuries catching up to him. He couldn't fight and he didn't want to. "Then finish it," he said, all too much defeated. Bucky held his fist up, looking almost hesitant for a moment. "Cause I'm with you to the end of the line."

Something about those specific words forced Bucky to stop for a full second. The distorted images were trying to push back, too fast to actually see anything but the point is that they were there. There were images to have. He felt the same when Chloe had eased his mind earlier...

The bottom of the Helicarrier lurched on its side and forced Steve down into the river below. Bucky managed to hold on from his side but there was still something he was trying to see. He couldn't...whatever they were, those images had come because of the words that that man had said.

"I knew him," he said, inadvertently proving her point.

Chloe very quickly confirmed it. "You did!" After that, she had agents coming to retrieve her. She thrashed and yelled at them to leave her alone.

He had thought Chloe was telling the truth. No one else around him showed emotions. She did and she was very confident in it too.

~ 0 ~

Seren had Chloe's hand in hers. She couldn't imagine the type of pain Chloe was in from the burn injuries. From the side, she heard a series of splashes. When she looked over, all she saw were the pieces of the Helicarriers finally touching water. She really wished she had her ear comm. still in place. Chloe would need medical attention fast.

She froze altogether when she saw Bucky emerging from the water. For a moment, she thought she would have to fight yet again. The feeling intensified when she realized he was pulling Steve's unconscious body with him. As much as she knew Steve loved him, Seren wouldn't hesitate to fight Bucky too. He was not going to take Steve anywhere.

Seren had just stood up when Bucky met her gaze. He had pulled Steve to the ground and left his body beside Chloe's. Seren stayed where she was for the moment, shocked as he seemingly stepped away from the two unconscious bodies. She dared to even say that Bucky was confused with himself too.

He looked up from Steve, meeting Seren's gaze again. She was breathing heavily, probably wondering what he was going to do next. That was a good question, what was he going to do now?

Chloe started shuddering and twitching again. Seren quickly fell on her knees beside Chloe and tried helping keeping her still. The blue lines around Chloe's face was glowing much too bright and the tech piece in her palm was sparking on the outside now, adding more sting to her burned flesh. Helpless, Seren looked up to Bucky.

"Please, you don't know me and that's fine, but you know him." She swallowed hard when she saw all the injuries that Steve had. "I know it doesn't seem like it but he tried to help you and...and maybe you just did it too. If could help her too…" She motioned to Chloe. "Please...HYDRA hurt her the same way it hurt you. She didn't want for this to happen. Please help her."

Bucky looked down at Chloe. Even with the mind wipe, he still remembered parts of her from his missions before. It was funny how HYDRA thought he was always back at zero when they "started over with him". That was his secret. He was never back at zero. There were always bits and pieces he was left with.

Chloe smiled slightly at him. "Can I?" She gestured her wrists still bound by his hands.

The shock wasn't enough to cover his expression when she asked for his permission. Because of that, Bucky gave a slim nod of his head. Now he was curious and that was a novelty. He hadn't been curious about anything in...he didn't know how much time had passed.

Chloe focused all her power on Bucky. Never had she tried so hard to make it work. While Bucky had no idea what was supposed to be happening, he felt it. It was strange. His mind, as fuzzy and conflicted as it was, started to shift. Every thought, no matter what it was, was dissolving to allow this wave of serenity to wash over him. How could this woman be producing that level of calmness? As much as he had planned to stay alert, his eyes fell shut. For the first time since he could remember, everything dark around him slipped away. He knew nothing but sweet bliss and calmness.

Chloe watched the people around them hurriedly move to do whatever Pierce instructed them to do. "What...what are they going to do?"

Clamps shut around his arms.

"Woah, woah, woah, wait!" Chloe pushed herself towards them, forcing the agents around her to hold her back. "Leave him alone! It's my fault! I did it — leave him alone!"

Bucky's eyes lowered to Chloe's burned hand. That tech piece had been recently implanted. He still remembered her screams when they carried her away while he was to be "prepped". She had tried fighting for him, tried to defend him. After being prepped, he was introduced to HYDRA's newest asset and according to them, the Winter Soldier would be working closely with this asset. She would provide all the insight on their missions while he carried them out.

It had been a very long time since he had met someone who didn't want to instantly "work" on him. Chloe was almost like the rest of HYDRA's assets, those who were brought in against their will. He would have to run, he knew that, which just begged the question of what Chloe would have to do now to take care of herself.

He would pay her back with the same coin, almost.

He moved around, startling Seren in the process, and stopped by Chloe. Seren's breathing couldn't possibly be harder. She watched him with hawk eyes, hands at the ready to commence a fight. He lowered his metal hand to Chloe's burned one. His fingers touched the tech piece in her palm and with one swift pull, he forced it out of her hand. Seren scrunched her face when he saw Chloe's skin pull apart to leave a big hole in the middle of her palm.

That's one way to do it, she swallowed hard.

Bucky stepped back with the tech piece in hand. Seren quickly sought Chloe's hand to try and stop the bleeding. She would then glance over to Steve and seeing him unconscious and Chloe's bleeding not stopping made her all the more frantic.

"We need to get them to the hospital! Can you….?" She looked up to find Bucky gone. She scanned the area and saw nothing. He was just gone.

~ 0 ~

Steve felt the ache of his body before he was fully conscious. He could hear the faint noise of music in the air and a few seconds later, he realized he was on a bed. Considering how bad he felt, it had to be a hospital. He turned his head as much as he could and was able to see Sam sitting next to his bed. He should have figured the music was Sam's. "On your left," he said, making Sam's head flip in his direction.

He smiled. "Good, you're being funny again. Seren will like that."

At the mention of Seren, Steve tried to move a bit more. "Where is sh—"

Sam snapped his fingers in a direction Steve couldn't see. It was the open doorway to the room because Seren was standing outside, conversing with a doctor. At the snap of Sam's fingers, she looked back and immediately waved the doctor away. Sam got up and moved his chair just as she hurried inside the room.

"I'll go join Natasha in Chloe's room," Sam told her as he left the room.

"Hey there," Seren took Steve's hand. Though groggy, he met her gaze. She was smiling softly at him. "We have got to stop meeting like this."

It hurt to laugh so Steve only managed a little one. "Somehow I prefer it this way more than the other way around." It then struck him that Seren hated hospitals of all things. "Hey, you conquered your fear..."

Seren smiled solely for the look on his face. "Oh, don't be fooled, lovey, I still hate these places. But you're here, and so is Chloe, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm watching these doctors like a hawk. I'm not letting them pump anything into either of you without me knowing what it is." Steve wanted to bring her hand closer and when Seren caught on, she saved him the work and picked up his hand to press a kiss over it. Steve started recalling things and one of those was the image of Chloe's face with some strong blue streaks. "Chloe, where is she…?"

"Shhh, she's in another room," Seren told him before he got too antsy.

"What's happened to her?"

"Uh, you know, the tech piece HYDRA implanted on her palm wasn't absorbed so well into her body."

"Did they get it out?"

Seren bit her lower lip. She'd been going over in her head how to answer this question. "Umm...yes…" She could keep quiet about it, she knew, but in the end the guilt would gnaw at her head. "Bucky sort of did that."

"What—?"

"I asked him to help and he did. I don't know why but I'm grateful with him." Seren hesitated her next words. "He's gone, Steve. I'm sorry."

Steve wasn't all that surprised. He didn't remember much after the Helicarrier sent him down. "Did he...did he say anything?"

Seren shook her head. "No, I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," he tried to squeeze her hand but his strength wasn't all that good at the moment.

Seren still felt his intentions and squeezed his hand instead. "I'm here, lovey. I'm not going anywhere." She leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek, careful to avoid his bruises.

"Hm, even if I'm here for days?" Steve challenged with a hint of a smirk on his face.

"Well, that's the lucky thing when your boyfriend is all super-serumed...his injuries don't last very long."

"So that means you won't get to be my nurse for a long time..." Steve pretended to sigh disappointingly. Seren blushed and would've smacked him if he hadn't gone through hell already.

"Oh, hush already." Seren took the chair Sam left and scooted it close to the bed.

"Aren't you supposed to be in one of these?" Steve said once he noticed the faint bruises on her neck. "Not that I would want you to be but..."

"I'm okay," Seren assured him. "It turns out that I do in fact heal faster than most. Chloe was right about that. Or, I guess it was the Hive Mind." She cleared her throat and began to think about things. "I really hurt her, Steve. I burned her hand trying to get that second tech piece out of her..."

"Seren, you did what you had to to save her..." Steve said, managing to squeeze her hand a bit that time.

"I gave her a serious burn," Seren said, "She's going to hate me."

"No, she didn't want any of this stuff. She'll understand."

Seren wanted to believe it as much as Steve did. "For now...let's just make sure that you are okay. You and Chloe."

"And you," Steve said, prompting her to remind him that she was already healing. "I don't mean the physical injuries. SHIELD is gone. You are not okay." Sure enough, with his words the smile on Seren's face slowly waned. "We all have some work cut out for us."

[joe9cool]

Collide-Justin Herbert-21

A/N:I do not know Justin, or anyone associated with the LA Chargers. This is just fanfiction

The rest of the week was a Rollercoaster.

AnnSophie didn't go to workout with Sara at the practice facility, always playing it off like she had somewhere to be, something to do. She claimed it was due to helping her friend get ready for her calendar shoot but she could put money on it being the 6 foot 5 defense end. Who by the way, was asking if she was coming back and how long she was in town for. Not that he cared or anything.

She was on Justin to find out what happened. Sure she got some details from AnnSophie, but she was nosy. All of her girlfriends shared this trait. They were all like sisters. 

Speaking of, there was some communication from the ones from Pittsburgh and Missouri. They all had a three way chat on the phone. Their dad was being stubborn, which led to an explosive fight between him and mom. Aunt Willa was shooting her mouth off to anyone who would listen about what an ungrateful Hollywood brat Sara became. It didn't make any headlines that she knew of. But Heidi was still checking.

Then Christine McVie died, which devastated Sara. She had met her a handful of times through Stevie, and they had developed a close relationship. One of her favorite moments was introducing her father to the band, in which he raved about the backstory behind his youngest  name that he picked out personally. Fleetwood mac was something she and her dad bonded over.

That night when she got the news she stared at her phone, wondering if she should reach out to her dad. After a couple of hours of debate she sent a simple text.

Christine died. 

She knew her dad would know by the first name. He responded an hour later 

I know. Thanks.

That was it. No I'm sorry no I love you. Justin walked into her house to find his girlfriend sobbing on the couch, holding Nova . Setting down his bags, he rushed over to her and pulled her close. He was silent, letting her cry it out before she told him everything that transpired. Justin shook his head when she explained what had happened with her dad.

"He's a fool Sara, I don't want to trash him because I never met him, but what kinda man doesn't choose his own child." He shook his head. She sniffled and looked up at him. "Thank you, I just don't understand. We were so close growing up and now it's like we are so far apart."

He rubbed her back. "Wanna have pizza and wine tonight?"

"Justin, that's not in your diet." He got up and grabbed his phone. "Two slices and a glass of wine won't kill me." He dialed the place. "What do you want?"

She smiled. "Deep dish, with spinach and mushrooms." She laughed at the face he made before turning to social media to post a picture of Christine and her. She wrote her tribute on Instagram before sharing pictures of her that they took together. She was scrolling through the tributes and saw Harry liked her post, as well as posted a tribute of his own.

Scrolling through everyone's tributes got her thinking. Fleetwood Mac has many fans, they're career spanned through decades. They had tons of fans young and old.

What if they put on a tribute concert?

She jumped up from the couch, having a sense of clarity since yesterday. She ran outside to Justin's backyard. She dialed Steve's number.

"Hello?"

Then she realized Stevie's time zone was a few hours ahead of her. "Oh my god I'm so sorry I can call back later "

"It's fine hun, I know you are calling to discuss Christine." Sara smiled. "How are you doing? How's John doing?"

"We are all doing as well as can be. It was very unexpected. We didn't know she was sick." 

"Stevie, I had an idea. What if we did a memorial tribute concert for her memory? Any money we make can go to her favorite charity?"

It was silent, Sara was afraid it was going to get shut down. Finally, "I think it's a wonderful idea. I can get some of the band to perform her songs and ours." Things were still tense with Lindsey Buckingham and Sara had never met him. "I mean we could do other bands as well. "I don't know if we would sell tickets to fans or have an event sponsored. I have some connections, but I don't know."

"I have faith in you Sara, you were always an ambitious woman. I'm proud of you, you are like the daughter I never had." Sara smiled at that, tears in her eyes. She played with the moon necklace that Stevie gifted her and Harry one Christmas. It was for close friends. "Well I got named Sara for a reason."

They spoke a little regarding the details. Obviously it would take a lot of time and effort, but she was dedicated to this. It would be an amazing tribute to an amazing woman who made a tremendous mark on the music industry.

Feeling better, she headed back inside. A lot of time must have passed. Because the pizza was set up at the table. Justin served the slices. "Who was that?"

"Stevie. I was thinking about putting on a tribute concert for Christine ." Justin stopped what he was doing.

"As in Stevie Nicks?" She nodded. "Wow." Sometimes it was easy to forget how famous his girlfriend truly was. "My parents listen to them all the time."

"My dad is a huge fan."

They both sat down to eat. Nova took her spot on the coach to overlook the gathering. "So you never told me the full story on how you got your name." Justin took a swig of his wine. Sara smiled. "I'm surprised you didn't look it up."

Justin grabbed her hand. "I wanted to hear it from you."

She squeezed his hand. "Well, my older sisters are nine, six, and four years older than me. My parents always say they didn't have a fourth to try for a boy but I call it crap." She laughed. "Well when they were at the ultrasound the tech told my mom I was a boy. It was a national celebration in my family. But my dad wasn't sold. He even told me 'I had a feeling you were a girl, it didn't matter how much blue stuff your mother bought.' "

Justin smiled. "What did your mom say?"

Sara laughed. She always told him he was crazy. But he maintained his stance. My mom went into labor early morning June 29th and when they were on the way to the hospital they were still arguing about my sex. My mom told my dad if he was right he would get to name me since she had no names picked out for a girl.

"What was your name supposed to be if you were a boy?"

"Derek Michael Wozniak. Michael after my dad, Derek after her brother and my grandfather."

Justin smiled. "So where did the name Sara come in?"

"Well my dad is a huge Fleetwood mac fan. He was flipping the radio while they were en route to the hospital and the song 'Sara' came on. Well he thought about it and his favorite band member was Christine McVie. So he thought 'Sara Christine'."

"It's a beautiful name, it suits you. What did your mom think of it?"

She laughed. "My mom is trendy, she wanted me to be Jessica. My dad always points out though that Sara was popular but with an 'h'. I hated it when teachers and classmates automatically assumed I spelled it with an H. My aunt Willa would purposely spell it with an H just to piss me off. She said it was prettier when it was spelled how the Bible spells it.

Justin smiled. "Your name suits you."

"How did your mom come up with your names?"

"Well Mitch is actually Mark Mitchell Herbert after My dad, but they called him Mitch so he has his own identity. She liked my name and my brother's." Sara nodded, her phone buzzing with a message interrupted them. She looked. "It's Joey." 

Justin's face hardened. "What does he want?"

"AnnSophie's number." She turned her phone around to show him the text. Sure enough it was Bosa straight to the point. Justin relaxed. "So what exactly happened between them?"

Sara shook her head. "Annie told me she had a 'fling' with him in high school. Don't know the backstory or nothing."

Justin was confused. "Well that's odd. His last girlfriend Jackie he was with since high school up to a few years ago. So I don't know when that thing went down."

Now it was his girlfriend's turn to be baffled. "I want to ask but it seemed like a sore subject. I don't know if she would like me giving him her number."

Justin shrugged. "Just don't reply to him. Eventually he will get the hint to leave you alone." He said that part with a little bitterness. She gave him a look. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to upset you by texting him. I do consider him and your teammates friends. Since I'm around you I'm going to be around them."

Justin looked down. "You're right. I don't need to be upset." She grabbed his hand. "Hey if you're upset talk to me okay? I want us to have open communication." He smiled and rubbed his thumb over her wrist. "Same goes for you."

—-----------------------------------------------------------

December. No matter how many years Sara had resided in California it was weird not to be bundled up with hot chocolate as you're running errands.

She was out and about on rodeo drive, trying to do some quick shopping before the photoshoot AnnSophie had set up for her. They had to do it fast as her friend was only in town for a few more days before heading back to Florida to retrieve her daughter. 

Luckily no one had seemed to recognize her. The cameramen weren't even around to take photos. She had her hood up, hair in a bun with sunglasses and a mask.

Justin was at practice before leaving for the game against the Raiders. He was clingy for the rest of the week, which was nice, and unusual for him but she remembered that she had told him when she was leaving for overseas.

January 5th

Everyday the date was getting closer. It was a countdown. She wouldn't be back in Los Angeles til March 12th, missing his birthday by a couple of days. Sara had already begun packing for the three months away. Erika was back in town with a few plates of cookies that her mother sent from the cookie day that was a part of the Thanksgiving fiasco. Erika had said that her trailer and hotel were all set up for her arrival on the Dune 2 set. 

It was funny, because Sara liked going to different places for filming, and if had asked her six months ago, she would tell you she was looking forward to being away from everything, to get lost in her character. But now things have changed due to a freakishly tall quarterback that had stolen her heart.

Once her shopping haul was done she went back to her house where the scene was set. The only thing she had to go back to Justin's house was for his jersey that she had to take out of his closet for one of the months. She had texted him asking him if he had left yet. He responded with a yes and a question mark. She played it off as it had something to do with Nova. 

As quick as traffic would allow she ran in, made sure Nova had enough food in her automatic feeder, grabbed the jersey and went back to her house.

She had to admit, her best friend did an excellent job with making her basement look like a professional photo shoot. "Annie, how did you get all of this together?"

She shrugged as she was testing out the lens. "You don't work in fashion and don't crossover behind the scenes. I called Bella and she gave me some tips and connections. Speaking of." She grabbed her phone and called the other model on facetime. When Sara looked at her funny she smiled. "Bella wanted to see the shoot"

All three of them went over how Sara should pose. Some pictures had a theme such as February was red lighting with her posed nude, a teddy bear hiding all the good parts. She did flash some boob, but only one in March, cake smeared on her body with the icing reading 'Happy Birthday baby'

They went through many poses and lighting. Sara made sure to have good angles of her ass since Justin was lowkey an ass man (he always says it didn't matter but she knew by the amount of bruises on her tush)

After a touch up of her makeup she slipped on his Oregon jersey. Turning towards the camera she lifted it up to reveal her bare ass, green body paint spelling out ‘Go Ducks!’ she laughed as she heard the click of the camera. "Did you think when we met on the Victoria Secret red carpet five years ago you'd be doing this?"

Her friend and Bella laughed.

The shoot in total took over six hours, and they still weren't done. They did need a break, and they promised to pick back up the next day while watching the Chargers hopefully beat the Raiders

—-----------------------------------------------------

They did not beat the Raiders.

They had the big screen television as they resumed the shoot. AnnSophie was making it obvious that she was looking for Joey's number on the field.

Sara rolled her eyes as she changed outfits. "You know he's injured? So he won't be out there."

Her friend tried to play dumb. "Who?"

"You know who. You're Joseph Bosa.” She mocked. AnnSophie rolled her eyes.  “Please. He likes you Sara."

"No he doesn't. We are just friends, he has friendly mannerisms with everybody. You know that." AnnSophie shut up. She knew Joey longer than anyone.

"So tell me did you guys date or was it just sex?" Sara was probing, not expecting any real answer. 

It was quiet for a moment, Sara was going back to the set to pose for another photo before her friend answered.

"It was just sex, for him at least. He had a girlfriend that was on and off. When it was off I was his comfort person.”

Sara was stunned. She didn’t think her friend was that type of person.  “Well you must have left an impression, he keeps messaging me asking for your contact information.” AnnSophie whipped her head towards the brunette so fast. “Sara please tell me-”

“I didn’t give him anything. I told him I wasn’t comfortable giving out personal information like that unless it was okay with you. I guess I have my answer then.” They dropped the sore subject after that.

They finished the shoot to see  a few minutes in the 4th quarter. However, they couldn't get it done. 

Shit. 

Shit.

Sara checked the standings. Chargers were still in the hunt, but their chances were looking slim. They now had to win all of their upcoming games, which Justin would never admit but Sara and everyone else saw that their defense is trash.

While she and AnnSophie ate the pizza they ordered and went to edit the photos, she decided to stay at her house for the first time in a while. She didn't want to ditch her friend.

She had messaged Justin that there were leftovers in the fridge from when she made stuffed shells and a Ceasar salad.

Like the last time the team lost she expected extreme silence. And for a moment she thought that was what she was going to get

Until a text came in late

Where are you?

She was on the couch with AnnSophie, she was doing some last minute retouching while Sara was ordering Christmas gifts for her family.  She was confused when she read the message

S:I am at home with Annie, why?

J: Since when do you go to your place?

S: I was busy with work, plus I thought you needed space after the loss

J: I don't need space, I need you

Sara felt bad, because she didn't want to leave her friend hanging. As much as she hated to realize it, she was losing herself in the relationship, which she swore she would never do again. Well that was what was happening. Also she made so many sacrifices for him.

S: I'm available on facetime if you want to talk.

He read it quick, and then the text bubble

J: I'm coming over.

Her eyes widened, and she looked over at her friend. Who was unaware of the situation at hand. She swallowed thickly.

S: Justin, that's too far to go at this time. Plus you still have to be at the facility in less than a few hours.

J: I don't care, your place is a bit closer, so it will work out.

She looked over. "Hey, so I guess Justin is coming over." AnnSophie was surprised. "I thought he wanted to be left alone."

Sara shrugged. "That's what I thought as well. He's not taking no for an answer. I'm sorry."

"Sara I don't give a shit. I like Justin, I just don't wanna hear you two fucking."

"Please, I don't think he's in the mood. Also he wouldn't do it while you were here."

Sara had another thought. "Shit I hope he doesn't go into the basement." She ran into her room which was messier than usual. It had outfits everywhere. Justin's Oregon jersey was laying on the bed. With a quickness she didn't know was possible she threw all of her 'props' underneath the bed. Going around the room, she fine toothed, and combed everything so it was pristine. 

It had been almost an half an hour after their last exchange before she heard the key in the lock. She came out to the living room to see Justin walk in and say hi to her friend. As soon as he saw her he dropped his bag and wrapped his arms around her. She rubbed his back as he held her in his arms. "I'm sorry baby." She murmured as she felt him plant a kiss on top of her head.

He was silent, the room was silent. Until she heard his stomach growl. "Did you eat the leftovers?" She felt him shake his head. "No, I didn't even check. I just saw you weren't there and I came here."

That was sweet, but he needed food. "I have some leftover pizza in the fridge. It's not healthy but." He headed towards the fridge and began to take out the plastic bag. He moved around like he knew the place pretty well considering they didn't spend much time at her place. Which was funny, cause the first month of their relationship he was over at her place all of the time.

AnnSophie looked over at Justin. "Your teammate Joey, is he injured?"

 Justin nodded with pizza in his mouth. Once he swallowed he spoke. "Yes. He has a tear in his groin. Hopefully he will be back before the playoffs. If we even make it." He muttered that last part.

AnnSophie excused herself to go to the bathroom. She made the mistake of leaving her laptop open with a couple of the photos. Justin sat down on the couch and looked at the blown up photo that was being edited. 

Sara was finishing brushing her teeth and came in and saw that. "Shit!" He turned to look at her. "What's this for?"

The photo on the screen was her in scantily clad lingerie on a red plush beanie bag. It was for the month of February and the bra was revealing. It was see through, as well as the panties, so you could see her waxed mound.

She had to think of a lie so she didn't blow her gift. "It's for the fenty shoot, promotional shots."

"So everyone is going to be seeing this?" She almost wanted to laugh as she saw his jaw clenching. "Well it's still being edited. It might not make the final cut. But it might."

She saw his hand go on the laptop and click another one. The one where her left boob was out. "They would allow this? Your whole tit is out!"

Luckily he was so absorbed in what was on the screen he couldn't see the smile on her face. "I mean it's whatever they chose. Why what's wrong?"

Justin shook his head. "I just don't know if I'm comfortable with everyone seeing you like this."

"I've had sexy photoshoots. Esquire magazine had me nude."

"Yeah but you were covered by a coat." She was surprised that he knew that. She didn't think he would pay attention to past shoots. "This is you practically nude! Everyone is going to see this!" He finally turned towards her. He noticed her laughing.

"You think it's funny that everyone gets to see you the way I see you?" She was taking steps backwards as he stepped towards her. Finally her back was against the counter. She was trapped by his hands on both sides of her. "Well if this was published. It wouldn't be in a magazine - it would be online."

He groaned. "And that's supposed to make me feel better?" She laughed. "Well what do you want me to do about it?"

Sara was loving this. Justin didn't come off as a jealous type. Or at least someone that expresses it. "Can you tell someone you don't want to use any of those photos where you're practically nude?"

She shrugged. "I think it's too late, plus it's not up to me. Just tell your teammates not to look."

Justin growled. Before she knew it she was being picked up and in a flash, thrown on her bed. She laughed as her oversized tee-shirt (courtesy of his closet) was thrown somewhere. She opened her legs but instead she was thrown on her knees. Before she could say anything he slapped her ass hard enough to where she fell forward on the bed. She felt his fingers hit her spot between her legs.

She moaned as she felt his tongue combine with his hands. "Baby please I need you inside of me." He moved and she heard him undress. Justin was inside her and found a rhythm quickly, not having the patience either.

Sara forgot they weren't alone. Justin was rough and fast and she loved it. "Uh uh uh." Along with skin slapping was sound throughout her room. She heard Justin's soft moans behind her. Oh how much she loved the noises Justin made, he wasn't the most vocal, but the noises he did make were so hot. It let her know he was enjoying it as much as she was. Eventually she found herself getting close, which she knew he could tell based on his movements and noises. "Oh fuck Sara."

Her front collapsed on the bed as the orgasm washed over her, Justin right behind her. Moaning, he filled her up before putting his weight on her. Eventually he rolled off and onto his stomach. Taking the opportunity of him exposing his backside, she slapped his ass. He flinched. "What the hell was that for?" She laughed. "Oh so Crosby and Carr get to do it. But with me that's different.?"

"It's part of the game. I do it with my teammates all the time. With you it's different." She saw him raise his hand out of the corner of her eye and quickly tried to roll on her back but he was faster. "OWW!" She cried out and glared at him. "My hit wasn't that hard asshole." His hand rubbed the spot he hit with also a couple squeeze thrown in. They cuddled together and Sara ran her fingers through his hair. His breathing evened out and she had thought he'd fallen asleep. "I love you," She whispered.

He mumbled. "I love you too"

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sara woke up late, he was gone. Which was to be expected. She decided not to go to the facility today. Instead she had more runway practice and she was going to attempt kickboxing with her friend.

Speaking of, she found her in the kitchen drinking a breakfast smoothie. She was on the phone speaking in a low voice so Sara couldn't hear. AnnSophie was giggling, when she looked up and saw Sara standing in the doorway with a questioning look on her face, she quickly said bye and hung up. "I didn't know you were up. Well get ready,we are meeting Stephanie in an hour."

"And just who was that?" The blonde shook her head. "It was nobody, come on let's go."

They got ready and headed to West Hollywood. They did a couple hours of training. In which Sara looked and felt more confident. Granted, she wasn't supermodel material like Bella and AnnSophie, but she wouldn't be made fun of out there.

The paparazzi was out in full force, they did keep their distance while snapping pictures of the two of them. Sara was appreciative and gave them a big smile. 

She went about her day, not thinking anything of the photos. But people were talking

Tiktok

User video : *Sara smiling at camera* "You cannot tell me she isn't in a relationship. Look at that smile. 

Comments:

User 1: ooh maybe her and Harry are back together!

User 2: doubt it. He's been all over the place touring its not going to happen

 User3: My 2023 predictions have them reuniting. I would love that!

Twitter:

User 1: she's in a relationship. Girl is getting dick on the regular. She's is glowing!

User 2: who you think she's seeing? People would have figured it out by now.

User 1: I don't know but whoever it is is a lucky motherfucker.

User 3: there's rumors of her seeing Dylan O' Brian. They were flirty on the tonight show a few months ago!

User 4: oh my god what if her and Harry are back together! #Hara 

The hashtag #Hara trends on twitter 

FANS HOPE SARA WOZNIAK AND HARRY STYLES REUNITE.

Ever since Director Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles split. Fans have been excited to have the possibility of Harry and Sara Wozniak's reunion. Fans, who dubbed them the couple name Hara, shared how thrilled they would be if the couple were to reunite.

To be fair, it wouldn't be a far off reach. Sara and Harry have been liking each other's Instagram posts. Sara was spotted at Harry's concert in New York before Olivia and Harry's split.

—----------------------------------------------------------------*----

Jack wasn’t making any progress, anytime he thought he had a lead it would end up a dead end, and he would tread elsewhere, vowing to go back to Sara’s relationship.

He was browsing through Instagram, a bottle of wine next to him. His boyfriend was working late, and he had his cat to keep him company. He was mindlessly scrolling through the recommended pages of celebrity gossip. His account was on lockdown, after exposing a number of celebs personal lives and being hit and threatened with lawsuits it was a good idea to keep things on the down low.

He clicked on a paparazzi picture of Sara. She was at what looked to be a dunkin donuts. In colorful sweatshirt and jeans. She had a  mask on and a baseball cap, but you could tell it was her. The account was @whatsarawears, dedicated to finding details on her wardrobe, and where to find dupes for the designer items. 

There were two pictures side by side. One of the coffee place, the other at a grocery store. Caption read Sara spotted at the Dunkin Donuts at the Oregon/California border. Also later that day in the same Louis Vuitton sweatshirt. November 6th.

Jack's eye furrowed, what would she be doing in Oregon? He typed her name in the IMBD and saw no upcoming projects announced to wear she would be in Oregon?

He grabbed his laptop off the coffee table and opened google chrome. Typing in 'Oregon'

All the basic information about the state came up. He tried to click through things but to no avail. He tried 'Things to do in Oregon' 

He scrolled to find nothing a celebrity like her would be interested in. Granted, Oregon was beautiful from the photos, but nothing that would catch the attention of a mega celebrity like her. Maybe she had a getaway home like most celebs did in another state. But then again, who would choose Oregon?

He thought about it. Well it was close to Cali. Maybe he should try a different approach

'Best neighborhoods for young people to live' 

It was stupid, but he was desperate. He clicked and clicked and looked up neighborhoods closest to her home base in Los Angeles. Nothing, not a single fucking thing. Frustrated, he was ready to throw his laptop.

Sara Wozniak was in a relationship and he was going to find out every detail.

A/N: Thought I would get this one out before tomorrow nights game. Y’all remember Jack? Well we are slowly setting the scene for next month

[trulyinspiringmovies]

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

“John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum” dials up the action but tones down the story.

John Wick now has a $14 million bounty on his head while being labeled as excommunicado. This means he cannot receive help from his allies anymore. With the whole world hunting him, he must try to find a way to get reinstated. Meanwhile, the high table is punishing those who helped John Wick in the past.

I was excited to see this movie despite my gripes about the other two movies. It felt like a big promise was made in the last movie and I was wondering how this movie would deliver. Initially, I was actually enjoying the movie. The action was elevated once more and it felt more visceral. For the first time, I forgot these were just actors playing out choreographed moves and instead were world-class assassins fighting for their lives. The knife-throwing scene was definitely the highlight for me and I was eagerly waiting for what else this movie would throw at me. Then the action got downright ridiculous and John Wick started fighting with horses. He uses horses like weapons and that’s when the movie lost me. I still appreciated how the movie just threw me into the story, but I quickly realized that it wasn’t interested in doing anything more than the initial setup. A huge bulk of this movie is John going to a bunch of places to ask for help and killing a bunch of people. We’re never told what his ultimate goal is so I ended up feeling like a passive observer of his journey rather than being a part of it. After the entire adventure, he finally gets what he wants and solves the problem that started in the last movie. After one more fight scene, John completely throws away everything he worked for in the first half. The second half then just devolves into a mindless war in the same location with fewer options to kill the enemy. I couldn’t believe how much the movie took a step back in terms of the action. The war felt lackluster too because the enemies basically came in waves like a video game. There’s even enough time for John and Charon to go back to the gun bay and re-arm themselves. There are also a ton of times when the enemy fumble around like idiots in order to give John enough time to reload and kill them. It took me right out of the action and it happens often. I know a lot of people like to praise these movies for having action without any cuts, and that’s cool for certain scenes like the knife-throwing scene, but the lack of cuts clearly shows the holes in each action scene. I’d rather have a few cuts that hide moments where enemies just stare at John until they get hit again. I also know people excuse these movies for having a lack of story because they enjoy the fights so much, but it’s extremely hard for me to sit through two hours of meaningless action, especially when it feels fake more often than not.

★★★

Watched on April 12th, 2023

[anothermansjeans]

“I need a minute. My favorite character just died in the show I’m watching and I don’t know how to properly cope.” watching infinity war with spencer?

pairing: spencer reid x fem!reader

masterlist | wc: .5k | prompt list

content warning: just tiny infinity war spoiler :)

++

Once it came to the attention of Penelope that both you and Spencer have yet to see any Marvel films, she demanded you two to use any date nights in to watch any and all movies in the MCU.

Tonight was like any other night. You two sat on your couch, Disney+ queued up with the next movie, and Penelope on speed dial for any questions. Only this time, when you started the movie you were confused. Really confused. Like, why the fuck is this happening confused, and once the worst possible fucking thing happened, you snatched the remote from your coffee table and started to pace, holding your head in your hands.

“Y/N?” Spencer looked up at you, worried. You had this crazed look in your eye and kept mumbling.

“Why the fuck would they— they just fucking killed him like that? He’s like, dead dead. Oh my god. What the hell?”

The more you talked to yourself, the closer his hands got to his phone, pulling up Penelope’s contact to call her.

“Hello, Boy Wonder! How is movie night going for you two lovebirds?”

“Um, Y/N, she’s… I don’t know what’s wrong…”

“What do you mean, Spencer? Are you guys okay, are you hurt?” Her frantic voice made Spencer focus on talking to her rather than spacing out while watching you.

“The movie, something happened in the movie and she’s freaking out.”

“God, this stupid fucking asshole little bitch of a franchise”, you cursed.

“Penelope, I don’t know what to do.” He chewed on his bottom lip, watching you pace your living room floor.

“Give her the phone and I’ll talk to her.”

Tentatively, he stood up and walked over to you, placing a hand on your shoulder to turn you around and hand you the phone.

You were quiet as he heard Penelope on the other side, asking you tons of questions. “Yeah Pen, I’m fine. I just need a minute. My favorite character just died in the movie I’m watching and I don’t know how to properly cope.”

“Oh, my sweet summer child. What movie?”

“Infinity War.” Your voice was small, which made it easier for Spencer to hear the loud gasp Penelope let out through the phone, followed by her asking which part of the movie they were on. “The beginning, Pen! Right at the damn beginning. How am I supposed to continue this damn franchise now that this Thanos bitch killed Loki?”

“Y/N, sweetie, I promise it gets better. You’ll see Tom Hiddleston’s fine ass very soon if you continue going on with the movies.”

Spencer watched a huff of annoyance come from you as you grumbled an “okay” and listened for a few more seconds before saying “goodbye” and handing him his phone.

“Are you okay”, he asked, opening his arms for you to step into, giving each other a long hug.

“Yeah. I’m just really pissed off.”

He let out a soft chuckle and kissed the top of your head before leading you back to the couch and taking the remote. “Well, I heard her say that it gets better. Let’s finish this movie and move on so we can see for ourselves?”

You looked up at him with a delicate smile and cuddled into his side, placing your head on his chest and continuing the movie once he pressed play.

++

permanent tag list: @wandasylvie @averyhotchner @ssa-m-187 @nomajdetective @pastelbabygirl19 @cacoetheswriting @nyx2021 @openheart12

spencer x reader: @sultrypotter @goose-eats-god

want to be added to a list? tag list form

[altagraye]

Big Big Love part 11

part 11: Send Her my Love in Bedroom Hymns

Maia Age:28 

Sam age:31-32 

Dean age:35-36 

Roslyn age: 3 

Approximate year: 2014-2015 

Approximate season: 10 

TW!: SMUT, Cussing, depression, self-harming behavior (I don't condone or recommend, it's terrible), Alpha!Demon!Dean

Maia: 

Roslyn is three years old now. She grows so fast. Bringing her home from the hospital was no walk in the park. I had a lot to learn even with my built in Omega-mommy skills. There were tons of restless nights and don't even get me started on the teething! Raising a pup is definitely a team effort, Dean and I switching off so one of us can get some kind of sleep. Sometimes it was even a pack-wide effort. But I feel like I've gotten the hang of things by now. I'm so glad I have a multitude of cups of coffee to keep my engine running throughout the day. We moved into this inherited Bunker not too long ago, just last year I think it was? I like the layout, tons of rooms and a huge kitchen so I can actually learn how to cook something edible. It's like a maze down here. The only thing I hate about it is that there aren't any windows to the outside. I miss looking out the glass on rainy days. Oh well, It's easy for me to lose track of time. 

I was so relieved that, on the day that shook my core, Ros had stayed the weekend at Bobby's. I was sitting at the mapped table reading through some of the archived Greek literature books from the library of the bunker, late at night when I felt this terrible searing pain in my neck, where Dean's claim was. Sam told Dean to stop hunting but they never did. Can't take the hunter out of the Alpha after all. Now they were trying to stop the new big-baddie, Metatron. Dean, my poor Galahad was afflicted by this dumb Mark-of-Cain thing.  

But not even that would drag me away from him. We're soulmates. Dean tried to push me away from him but that only made me love him harder. I wasn't going to let him think that after all we've been through, that I was going to let some dumb scar come between us. 

The pain in my neck grew and grew like someone had been cauterizing it. I looked at it as best I could in a mirror but it was fading away. It felt like smoke slipping through my fingers, unable to grab it back. I wasn't a worry-wort or negative-Nancy but I knew something was gravely wrong. i called Dean's phone and all I got was a snooty answering machine and a dial tone. I must have called him twenty times before I went to Sam's phone. I left tons of messages on his cell and other cells he had.  

"Sam! What the Hell is going on?! Dean always answers when I call. My claim is breaking, please I'm terrified. I don't know what's happening. Call me back or text me fuck's sake, you have your hands off the wheel anyway." 

"Gods-dammit, Sam. How many of these do I have to leave? I thought you were the smarter one? I'm gonna slash you up when you guys get home!" I ended the phone call, with my blood boiling. I checked on my claim again, the last raised bump fading within seconds, into smooth skin. Like it had never happened. What the fuck is going on? I prayed to Cas multiple times and he didn't answer me either. Not even a poof or a flap of those unruly feathers.  

I sat with my head in my hands and started to cry when I heard the distinctive creak of the front door of the Bunker come open. I was beyond pissed. So I let loose. 

"Sam!! Where in the fuck have you guys been? It's 2 o'clock in the morning. You've better smote the shit out of this dick-bag Angel or I'm going to explode." I turned to see Sam carrying Dean down the steps. My mate's body was limp, he had gashes on his face, now pale. And I could smell iron in the air. Whatever it was it must have been a rough fight. My hand covered my mouth and I started to cry. Who dares to hurt my Alpha? My mind was down playing the scene. Sam looked exhausted and his eyes were red and puffy like he'd been weeping for a while.  

I followed them down to our room where Sam set his body down. His clothes covered in patches of his own blood. A deep hole burrowed into his chest.  

"Wh- wh- what happened??? Alpha? D-dean Winchester you better answer me! Wake up!" I slapped his face for good measure. His head cast to the side and didn't bounce back. It was then that I knew he was gone. I wept into his cold chest for hours, gripping where my claim used to be, until Sam came and pried me off him.  

It was easy for Sam to do judging by my small size and my natural Omega-ness. I could smell the liquor on Sam's breath. I never knew him to be much of a heavy drinker. Usually he'd share a beer or two with dean on occasion.  

With the door closed I couldn't bring myself to open it again for any reason. I cried myself to sleep. Only getting about three hours of Z's. I slept on the cold ground of the bunker unable to let myself be soothed by the softness of a bed. I heard Sam gathering supplies and keeping them down in the basement part of the bunker. He stayed there for a while. I didn't know what he was up to but I didn't care about anything.  

How am I going to tell this to Roslyn? I can't just say, 'Daddy's dead.' At that thought I broke even further, the reality sinking down deeper, bringing me to the bottom of the coldest seas.  

I thought about dying and all the different ways I could have done it. I knew where the silver bullets were stashed. Maybe I could take one of the cars from the garage and wrap it around a tree trunk? I couldn't bring my cowardly Omega ass to do any of it because of Ros. She still needs me. She can't lose both her parents at the same time.  

So to feel something once the sobbing had stopped I took one of my claws and made line after line of shallow cuts from my wrist to my elbow. I watched as the red beaded up to the surface to form a line.  

Dawn came and Sam was standing over me. I knew he was there but I didn't acknowledge his presence. I began to cut myself again and Sam held me up by my mutilated arm, examining it and my state of mind. I was crying, again, from shame.  

Sam lifted me up, one of his arms firm underneath my knees. He carried me to his bedroom, where I was nearly choked out by the intense pine smell. He put me on his bed. I stared at the fresh blood I had created trickling down from my wrist onto Sam's sheets.  

He'd undressed himself, wearing only boxers. And joined me in bed. If he wanted to claim and ruthlessly knot me so hard that I couldn't walk for three days, I would have been fine with that. But he didn't do either. Instead he licked my wounds to heal them. Apparently some Alpha's saliva has minor healing properties.  

We'd slept in his bed like normal impossibly broken people. Shattered into little tiny sharp shards. We picked each other's pieces up, little by little. Since I was now sharing Sam's bed, I had to bathe myself in scent blockers. I didn't want Roslyn getting the wrong idea and start calling Sam her dad instead. During the day I would put on a faux brave face for my daughter but at night when she was out like a light I would break again. Returning to Sam's bedroom, engulfing myself in pine and resorting to making slices in my arm. Sam would lick my wounds, so that Ros wouldn't see that I'd hurt myself.  

This was the routine for a while. Brave mask in the morning, Pine and blood at night. I was so broken that I didn't have room for tears anymore, just chronic dull numbness. My heats were back to a monthly cycle once Ros was born. So Sam was apprehensive the night my heat hit, without Dean's claim to protect me.  

When I'd just finished carving myself up, waves of fever wracked my body. I tried hard to muffle my ecstasy filled moans, not wanting to wake Roslyn a few rooms over. I managed to remove all my clothing. My slick covering my inner thighs and making a mess on his bed.   

I didn't even try to masturbate, knowing it would only make my heat worse. Every inch of my body was covered in a layer of sweat. Sam came in. All it took was the opening of the door and a waft of my thick strawberry scent and a look of my naked form to send him into rut.  

He'd closed the door and locked it. He took he clothes off down to his boxers and let his form overshadow me. His pine scent was purely intoxicating. It made me moan louder. He licked my wounds, like he did every night, but this time it was different. I made my core twitch with want. Once all the little cuts were healed up, he'd looked at my face, hazed over with need, my cheeks flushed and burning.  

"Must you make me beg?" I asked breathily. I knew even after all this time and his attempted rape, deep down, buried beneath all that debris, Sam had genuine feelings for me. With the obstacle gone, why not sprint for first place and get that gold trophy? He took the bait, unable to resist.  

He smashed his lips against mine into a sloppy, wet, kiss. I moaned softly into his flesh. I could feel his member aching to be inside me. He raked his clothed cock against my slickness. And nibbled at the right side of my neck, the opposite side of where Dean's claim had been. I could feel his fangs start to sink in, pricking into my skin. But he let go, instead moving down to my breast, taking my aroused and hardened nipple into his mouth. Biting the nub forcefully. His hand slithered down and found my folds.  

Long fingers dragging up and down my strawberry scented slick drenched core. He started to play with my clit when he stopped completely. Sam's style was rougher than Dean's. so I could only imagine what it was like with him in bed, and I wanted more. My heart skipped a beat at thinking about the size of his knot, wanting it to be at my base. Sam sat at the edge of the bed, contemplating.  

I came over to his back, looking over every toned muscle wrapped my arms through his and hugged his back tight to my breasts. I kissed his vertebrae where it met the bottom of his neck, that's as far as I could go with my height deficit. His long hair ticking my nose.I didn't want him to feel like I saw him as just happenstance. Just another Alpha opportunely placed in my path when I was feeling the absence of Dean. 

"Whatever is happening between, us, It's real." I tried to make him listen to truth. His hand touched mine and he'd escaped my hug. Grabbing his jeans and his plaid shirt. "Sam!" I started to plead. 

"I got to take a shower. Don't want her smelling you on me." He said leaving me in his room. Rejection again, by my second Winchester, for different circumstances. I don't understand, he was the one who had it going for me first and for a long time before I was finally sharing feelings for him. And now he won't take me up on my offer? Am I that much of a complicated Omega? That every man I've been with has to have a moral dilemma just to realize that they love me? 

He practically treats Roslyn as his own, especially after Dean's death. But he's tentative with that also, it's almost like he knows something I don't. Is there a secret he isn't telling me? I can't read Sam as easily I could Dean. And that frustrates the Hell out of me. Regardless he should know that he can talk to me. About Gods-damned anything. For the remainder of my heat that week he never joined me in his bed, so I resorted to wearing long sleeve shirt in the swelter of summer to hide my cuts. He took out his rut on vanquishing some Alphas who'd smelled me near by the bunker.  

Another month has passed since our buzz-kill. We haven't talked much since then. I started set out some of his favorite books for him since he got into that fight with some random demon, rendering his shoulder useless for time being. it was a bit funny seeing his arm slung up in that ridiculous looking fabric contraption. I continued my nightly ritual of scraping my claw against my flesh. Maybe if I do this often enough it'll leave dark lines? Tonight, I could feel my heat hitting again, with the blazing of sundown. Ros was fast asleep and Sam came in joining me in the kitchen. I was just finishing up washing dirty dishes that I made from a late dinner smorgasbord that I prepped for myself. The famous glutton-phase, numero-uno at the beginning of my heat.  

I inhaled his Pine, this is probably the last time I'm going to smell it tonight. Saddened by the thought of him leaving me, I extended my index claw and began my macabre work on the lines, digging in a bit deeper this time.  Sam growled low, his steps were full of purpose. He grabbed my bleeding arm and spun me around, pinning my lower back into the edge of the sink.  

"Maia! Stop this. Stop hurting yourself! Do you have any idea how disappointed seeing you like this makes me? What if you cut too deep and I'm not here? Cas is sick and out of the question. What if Ros found you, blacked out?" His pine was so overbearing now, it was hard for me to focus.  

"You don't think I haven't thought that through already? I can't stop. I can't stop it. Sam, can you help me feel something? Anything that isn't this noose around my neck? Don't you love me just a little?" Sam was a man of few words when it came to his way of loving. Instead he let his actions talk for him. He licked my fresh wounds until they'd healed. I kissed his lips needing that kind of tenderness from him. breaking the kiss I sucked in, he hasn't been this close to me in a month. I let his scent fall into my lungs and on the exhale I had to clench my legs together. I let out a controlled moan. I braced myself on the edge of the sink. My insides tightening and trembling for him.  

His eyes were mesmerizing like a bright kaleidoscope of hazel. He initiated more contact first. I didn't want to influence him, I needed us to be transparent. He sucked at the right side of my neck and slipped his free hand under my shorts and underwear, grabbing a fistful of ass. I was panting against his kneading touch, feeling my slick get thicker. I knew he could smell me.  his jeaned member present and grinding against my clothed slit. 

He left a hickey on my neck, marking it. I let out very breathy moans, needing to be quiet. He growled, leaving a sloppy kiss on my lips. His warmth left my ass cheek, making me think he was going to stop for the night a leave, again. Instead he held out his hand, "I know a place where we can be loud." I took it without hesitation and he walked me down past darkened corridors into the garage of the Bunker.  

He had some difficulty taking the Impala keys out of his breast-pocket but got it eventually. He opened up the back before he let me hop in, he raked a loving hand through my hair his eyes locking with mine.  

"Sam? You know this is real, right? We're authentic." I needed him to hear that. to know that our feelings weren't sparked out of our shared grief alone. he gave me a small smile and leaned down, his back bending, giving me a sweet- pine filled smooch. That's a yes. I took my shirt and shorts off, leaving my sandals next to the rear passenger tire. My undergarments were lacy and red. 

I helped out, gimpy, and took his pants off. I kissed and nibbled at his light stubble on his Adam's apple when I unbuttoned each of his buttons on his plaid shirt. That made him buck into me and send his free hand exploring into my underwear. He inserted one digit, making me gasp at the sudden penetration and wanting much more than just that. I took off his sling to completely remove his shirt and then replaced the odd contraption.  

He took out his finger and licked it clean, the look in his eyes as he did made me mewl against his chest. He let me get in first and he followed closing the door. I sat down in the middle like I normally would, my skin making contact with the cold leather seat. My cheeks were flushed again and I was near trembling. I scooted my butt forward in the seat, bringing my center to the forefront and resting the back of my neck against the edge of the seat.  

He kissed me again but this time he was much more forceful, letting his control slip a little. He ended the kiss by biting my lower lip, possessively and thrusting two digits as deep as they could go into my slick ridden vagina. I moaned loud, not worrying about anyone hearing my sex-filled moans. He was knuckle deep, curling his fingers in and out making me shudder and gasp with each aggressive thrust.  

"Got to stretch you out a little, I'm big and your damn, tight." He explained. I moaned getting excited at the thought of him filling me. I whimpered, missing his touch when he removed his fingers and turned around grabbing something from the glove box of the Impala. I took this opportunity to remove my undergarments and cast them to the floor of the car. He turned around, taking in the scenery. I didn't conceal any part of me, opening my legs for him. he seemed a bit shocked by this at first with my straightforwardness, but his gaze quickly returned to a rut-filled haze. 

he tore a small foil package with his teeth, a condom. A flash of anger came across my features and took it from him throwing it, landing in the far reaches of the dashboard. I embraced his scalp with both hands and kissed his lips. he growled sexily at my actions.He'd gotten more ridged both with his actions and where it mattered. I helped him take off his boxers and he sat down next to me.  

"Ladies first." he insisted wanting me to act as the top, or at the very least equal. maybe this was to do with his length and girth. It made my mouth water. I straddled myself on top him, guiding my hand down to position him at my entrance. I lowered myself down on him, the slick helped but I could still feel just how different having another man inside me was. It wasn't necessarily better than Dean just different.  

He moaned from the pressure. His head scraped against my cervix, making me whimper. In all honesty it hurt a little bit, but with the pheromones flowing through my veins and my heated state I didn't mind some pain mixed with pleasure. Unable to hold back any longer, he used his free hand to grab at my shoulder pinning me to him and forcefully bucked deeper into me. Deeper than I even thought possible, his head dipping into my cervix, making me see entire galaxies. 

"Ahh! Sam." He kept at a relentless pace, each thrust harder than the last, more passionate. I felt his knot swell at my base, ready to burst. I dragged my tongue across his scars displayed on his chest, the ones Dean gave him. My walls clench down like a vice. He lifted his torso off the backseat away from a resting position. his hand cradling the base of my neck and dragging it in. His knot locked inside me and load after sweet boiling load released into my deepest parts. Not wasting another second he sunk his fangs into the flesh of the right side of my neck, claiming me. I'd screamed, climaxing from the combination of his knot, seed, and pine intoxicating me all at once. We sat there panting out our arousals, still connected for about half an hour. He lapped the blood away from his claim but made sure not to touch the puncture marks, wanting them to scar over. We waited for his knot to calm down before talking.  

"I've waited a long time for this." He said rubbing my cheek with his thumb, his eyes mulling over my beauty. "Doesn't feel real, but I'm happy it is." I smiled back at him, moaning and wincing from his exit.  

"Me too. I need a shower." I definitely smell like him now. Both of us wanted to start round two but were unable to with the possibility of Roslyn waking up in the middle of the night. We left the Impala in her steamed state and headed off to the shower stalls. Oh man, I'm going to feel this in the morning. Together we bathed, needing each other as support. Me nursing his gimp shoulder and him, making sure the shower water didn't sting my fresh claim. it was a miracle at all that we by the end of the cleaning we didn't still smell like each other. Now dressed, we headed off to the bedroom section of the Bunker. We stopped at his room. He landed a kiss on my forehead.  

"Don't hurt yourself anymore." he said, demandingly, already exerting his Alpha nature onto his new mate. I gave him a weak smile, "Okay. Good night." That was the one thing I don't think I can promise. I'm going to sleep very solidly tonight. He rubbed my cheek with is thumb again.  

" 'Night. 'Mega." Hearing him utter my dynamic, really felt like setting our actions in stone. It felt good and right. should I feel guilty for this? Being my recently deceased mate's , whom I've bore a pup with, brother? my omega instinct was telling me, no I shouldn't be ashamed. Dean died. It wasn't really cheating after all, was it? it was too late to get cold feet now. I hopped into my bed in my room, cocooning, I was starting to get too much in my own head. I couldn't help but place a hand on the crook of my left neck, where Dean's claim used to be. I wanted to cut, but didn't so I had my fill of crying until I fell asleep. 

The next morning felt so odd to me, because it was like there was a light-switch that had been flipped on inside my brain. For the first time in a very long time, I felt happy. Dean and I had bonded through our emotions, I and Sam, however bonded intellectually. Not to say that Dean was dumb, he wasn't. Just the way Sam and mine brain operated was different than his. Dean thinks...thought with his heart. Sam puts that pre-law beautiful nerdy mind to work constantly. He needs to do that actually otherwise, he'd be bored out of his wits. Sam is governed by reason and thought.  

I was the first person up, getting some pancakes ready for Roslyn, those were her current favorite. In a few more weeks she'd have some other favorite fad to please her palette. Pups, Gods help me.  I was sipping on some coffee and got Ros up, heaving her groggy little booty out of bed and putting her in her high-chair. It was hard to get her to eat, even though she liked the stuff. She only ate about half of it, but I settled for that. In another three hours she'd only be tugging at my leg wanting more food. Her little face scrunched up in a frustrated manner. Sam, finally out of his slumber came in, fixing himself a cup of coffee from the batch I made. 

"What's up buttercup?" I asked Ros, she has been talking for a little while. Mostly baby nonsense talk that only people who were close to her could comprehend. but other than that she can string very minor sentences together to get her point across. I tucked her fine hair out of her face and behind her ear. It hurt to see Dean's eyes reflected in those tiny eye sockets and his freckles on her face.  

"Bored. Wanna play hide seek. Miss Daddy." I smiled as hard as I could, because that sentence coupled with the look on her face made me hurt so damned bad. Sam was silent, turned around tending to his coffee. "Daddy will be home soon, pumpkin. I promise."  her eyes tensed on me. 

"Wiar." Liar. I almost broke right then and there. but I used that hurt to heave myself out of the kitchen chair and pick her up.  

"Somebody needs a nap, huh grumpy-face?" I told her. she didn't say anything back. I put her back to bed and rubbed her back and hummed Landslide to soothe her to sleep. that worked every time. I closed her door without a sound and Sam was in the hallway staring at me, looking guilty. I walked away from her door and collapsed down into Sam's chest, a bawling mess. 

"Sam, how are we gonna fix this?" I asked him, not knowing where else to turn. He sighed but didn't answer me. He kissed his claim, the flesh still tender. Sam gave me some room, knowing I needed time to think and stir. I let my emotions fester inside me before settling down and coming to streamline. The morning faded into the night-time and I had noticed Sam's laptop open and a tab closed down. Sitting next to his laptop a stack of papers, notes upon notes of demonology.  

I skimmed through them, not thinking much of it until I saw he'd written a sentence. how to become a demon with an anti-possession tattoo? Why was he so invested in this? I thought he was keeping hunting to a minimum with his shoulder. at least that's what he told me. I tried opening the window but of course it was password protected. with a tiny security question to answer.  

Circles infinity expecting differently. I mulled it over for a little while before cracking it. Insanity! Circles being a cycle, for infinity so repeating the same actions over and over expecting a different outcome. It's the famous saying from Einstein, and the definition of insanity. You'd think Sam would have thought of something more difficult? 

The file was titled, 'Gas-n-sip footage DD'. That's weird. maybe he's stumped on a case? since I cracked his riddle, I can help him with this. I clicked on the file and view the video. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, just some guy looking over the magazines on one isle. almost all Gas-n-sips are the same, so seeing this brought back memories of before the Mill. Crazy to think how much my life has changed since then.  

another man came on the screen and caught my attention. He had bowed out legs and dressed a bit plainly, with a cap on. The taller man suddenly attacked the other one and threw him into the shelf, for no reason. He looked right at the camera and I froze in place. I'd know that face anywhere. it was Dean, in the flesh. No can't be, has to be a shifter or something, right? for a second his eyes flashed, pure black like they'd been covered in soot. and then returned to normal. I closed the laptop horrified, appalled, excited, elated, terrified for Dean, and then livid. I took Sam's laptop and ran to his room where he was sleeping.  

I threw it purposely on his shoulder making him wake from the pain. I mounted him and pounded on his chest. "How long? How long did you know?! You told me he was DEAD! He's alive! Breathing. Walking. and a black eyed fool!" by the end I put my forehead to his, headbutting. I shouldn't have done it because it hurt like hell.  

I dismounted him, falling to the floor with a thud. He got up from bed, sitting with me on the floor.  

"I haven't known for long, only a few days. I was going to tell you. I just didn't know how. I'm afraid of losing you. I thought, if you knew, you'd go running back to him and leave me. Everyone leaves. Go! Go see what he's become!" he said his mood changing mid-speech. 

I grabbed his face in both my palms, surprising him with my actions. I kissed his forehead, the way he did to me. "I can't leave you. I won't. Mates for life. That goes for dean too. I'll be back. I need to go rescue my Galahad Sam. Can you do me a favor, and don't follow me? Watch over Roslyn, please. If something goes wrong, I have you on speed dial." I had a mission now, a purpose.  

Sam closed his eyes savoring my touch and thinking through my promise.  

"Come back in one piece." he demanded from me. "Always." I answered my new lover, before giving him a kiss tasting his pine. I gathered my things quickly, packing a demon knife and all the love and courage I could muster within me. I took one of the random working vehicles from the garage and drove to the Black Spurs bar pulling in to the a parking spot and turning off the engine. I exhaled, Zeus give me strength, resting my forehead against the steering wheel. Here goes nothing. I exited the vehicle and locked it, keeping aware of my surroundings. I'm walking into a demon bar, where there are guaranteed to be Alphas of some kind.  

Demons are not below rape, if anything they are encouraged by it. I'm still in my heat cycle so the fact that I'm still standing in this musky cesspool is a miracle. Maybe Sam's claim helped me out with that? I swung the door open, my only goal being to find Dean. The music stopped every pair of eyes on me and my Omega body. the music returned and some of the Alphas nearby were calling for me. 

"Come over here, 'mega, wanna ride this pony, cowgirl?" the first alpha whistled. 

"Got a fat knot, waiting for ya, Darling!" One fisted his clothed dick in my direction. I gave him the bird, not exactly intimidating considering my tiny fingers. 

"We can fuck that cunt, two for one discount, Baby-gal. Awhoooooo." Another mock-howled banging on the chest of his buddy. 

I didn't acknowledge them at all. instead payed attention to Dean, seeing his back turned to me. he had a red shirt on and jeans, boots. His hair grown out a little and combed over semi-neatly. I could smell the liquor that emanated from him as I closed the space between us.  he was sucking face with a blonde. I crossed my arms and dragged my tongue across my canine. 

"Didn't know they made Barbie the black-eyed-bitch edition. Must be new." that got her attention. She broke the kiss, get your filthy lips off my man. Dean laughed, entertained by my insult. I let my eyes pierce into his, wanting  to peer into his soul, if there was one left. 

"Why don't you get your own knot, you reek of sex, Omega slut." I wasn't going to show weakness, especially not here. plus the fact that I was already vexed. I took the demon blade out of my black suit jacket, pinned her hand to the table and impaled it to the wood, making her scream. for good measure I made sure she would need plastic surgery to fix that up-turned nose of hers. Feeling it break underneath my knuckles.  

Dean was smiling from ear to ear, revealing his perfect rows of teeth. He whistled after taking another shot of liquor.  

"You, me- need to fuck. Right now. You make me all tingly when you take control like that, M." just hearing his voice again, made me so happy but I knew the fact that him being here for all this time and not in the Bunker meant something was astray. He rose from his seat. I couldn't tell if the whiskey scent was coming from his body or the exuberant amount of alcohol he'd been consuming. His hand took mine and led me out of the bar, I needed his touch so much. What have they done to you, Love?  

He took me across the street to a dingy looking motel. He took me into his arms, bridal style. Shifting his weight to one foot, he kicked the door in. He set me down on the bed and topped me. Taking the collar of my jacket into his hands dragging me up to meet his lips I could taste the poison on his lips, still lingering. I couldn't help but moan into him. I had missed him for so long and that made a deadly combo with my heat being active at the moment. He was rougher than usual, like he'd lost his inhibitions.  

"That's what I like to hear." His hands stroked down the fabric of my jacket, reaching the juncture of the button that connected the two sides, and jerked ripping the button off. I wasn't going to let my heat distract me from why I came here. he took my heels off along with his reddish-rusty colored jacket and black shirt. he unzipped my jeans with his teeth, growling at the scent of my slick beneath them. 

"Dean, we need to talk." I said. He undid the metal button of my jeans and licked at my clothed slit, making me moan again. He descended and hopped off the bed taking the bottom of my jeans and tugging them off my legs. He cast off his boots and yanked his pants down enough to where his length fell out, slapping firm against the base of his stomach.  

"Sure, let the skin do the talkin', Baby." He said in a lustful tone, returning to the bed. The abused springs creaking under our combined weight. I was already slick as all Hell. So he wouldn't need to prep me or anything. Before that plane could come in for a landing, I needed to get my point across before I wasn't able to talk. he started to remove my silky pink underwear. I need to say it now. 

"Dean! You died. and came back, why not come home? Do you miss me at all? Or Ros?" He had begun working on eating me out, taking in my slick with an aggressive appetite. I felt waves of heat wash over me. Fucking Cerberus in a handbasket! I couldn't lose track of my objective. I stared at him through the valley of my breasts, needing his answer, before I couldn't make conscious thought. 

He was staring back at me, his tongue scraping at my walls. His eyes were filled with rut and then turned as black as coal in a millisecond. My chest heaved and my heart was drumming in my body, pumping my heat through me. Out of my core, down through my thighs and into my toes, making them curl. I was close to cumming, feeling my heat searing into my cheeks. He still had enough Dean in him to tease me, like old times and didn't give me a chance to release. he licked my slick off his lips and stalked further up to me.  

He looked at me like prey. His eyes still blackened. He swallowed, and I could feel his hot breath on my neck.  

" 'Course I do. What I can't take a vacation? Oh, am I scaring you sweetheart? Want the green ones back? Personally I prefer these. Think they look better on me." He answered. I was about to open my mouth when. His bullshit reply made me angry I took his throat in my grip, my claws scraping with his skin.   

"I'm not afraid, I'm sad. This isn't you. Death is no holiday, it's finite! I felt your claim sever!!" I let my feeling spill out. He cackled against my grip. His eyes returning to the shade of green that I adored and knew so well.  

"Welcome to the Dark-side, death is only a new beginning, Maia." His brows furrowed for a second. Laughing again but it sounded more like a scoff. He grabbed at my neck with one hand to pull me up to him so he could take my jacket off. He threw it, landing on a lampshade, darkening the room a bit. He set my neck down, and put his lips next to my right ear. His hand stroked at Sam's claim.  

"Somebody's getting on the naughty list this year. You think I couldn't smell him on you? Taste him inside you? It's pretty sad really. He gave you a pity fucking. And This ain't no pity fuck." he  said making his eyes return to black. He plunged himself into me, making gasp after gasp escape me. His fangs extended and tore into the left side of my neck. His Whiskey coursed throughout my entire body, spreading from cell to microscopic cell. The claiming hurt but it felt exhilarating at the same time. My veins were filled with Pine and Whiskey melting into my own strawberry scent. A potent triquetra. Throughout the sex, I felt something burn into my wrist. I stared at it and watched dark lines, as if someone was giving me a tattoo, form a symbol I had never seen before. I noticed the same thing sting itself into dean's wrist. on the same spot. 

Dean knotted himself into me more times than I could count. He fucked me senseless, ultimately and literally reclaiming what was rightfully his. At some point I had passed out. I woke up to find Dean snoring next to me. My eyes welled up but I couldn't let myself cry. I got up from the motel bed and collected my things and left. I forgot that I drove here, unable to focus on anything but what had just happened.  

I limped down the highway, the night and moon still high in her resting place among the stars.  Dean screwed me so hard it made walking a challenge. I don't remember how long I walked down the desolate road, casting my feet between the two yellow lines. I felt more numb than I had ever been. My mission had failed and I don't know how to fix Dean. I'm back at square one. I flopped down on to the cold blacktop staring into the dark abyss, a halo of white light ringed around the full moon. I closed my eyes, waiting for a car to come and crush me under its tires. I felt so used. I hate what heat makes me, lets me accept. my phone rang multiple times but I ignored it.  

I watched the moon creep across Nyx's cloak. Until bright lights made me wince and screeching tires skidded to a halt, stopping in the knick of time. A heavy door opened and closed. Boots running heavy across the asphalt. a warm hand caressing my cheek. Pine filling my nostrils and lungs.  

"Maia?! What happ-" he stopped mid-sentence, his glossy hazel eyes noticing two claims, one for each side. I lost it, tears searing stains into my cheeks. "Take me home, Sam, please." I begged. that was the one thing I was good for, begging. I begged for love. I begged for happiness. I begged for knots. Sam got me into the passenger seat ignoring the pain in his shoulder as he rose me from the ground. I kept staring at the moon on the way to the Bunker.  

Alphas, Omegas- such an overrated shit-show. 

End chapter 11. Start Arc B of series. 

Quote: 

"And I've moved further than I thought I could  But I missed you more than I thought I would  And I'll use you as a warning sign  That if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind 

And I found love where it wasn't supposed to be  Right in front of me  Talk some sense to me" 

-'I found,'-Amber Run 

Quote: 

"The sweetest submission  Drinking it in  The wine, the women, the bedroom hymns" 

-'Bedroom Hymns,'-Florence + the Machine 

[robinofgothamcity]

♡ prompt: "Do you want me to hurt him?" / inspired by 'telephone' by lady gaga

♡ pairing: bart allen ( impulse ) x fem! reader

♡ note: not checked for grammar or spelling mistakes / my schedule is going to become more sporadic starting next week :/ i'm going to keep the warning up until next week.

"Bart, shut up," you said, jokingly pushing him. he laughed, handing you the ice cream, "what? I'm serious! I just think that mint chocolate is better. if you have just mint, it'll taste like toothpaste and if you have just chocolate, it's too sweet so mint chocolate is a good even ground," he explained.

you felt your phone vibrate as Jinny spoke up, talking about how Bart and Connor shared one brain cell outside of the field. looking down to see who was ringing you, you saw that it was your god forsaken boyfriend for the 100th time.

"oooo, who is that?" Bart asked, looking over to your phone. he read the wall of text you had received but you quickly shut your phone off, not bothering to read it, "you gonna answer that?" he asked, a small bit of jealousy bubbling up inside him.

"don't really feel like it," you quickly said, trying to remain off that topic. Bart, clearly annoyed, snatched your phone and put it in his pocket, "than let's forget about him, right?" he asked, putting on his annoyed fake smile.

Tim and Jinny saw the very irritated face Bart had and looked to each other as they shook their heads, "those two I swear," Jinny huffed out in annoyance. "more like ( your name )," he replied, "Bart could admit his feelings to her face and she still wouldn't do anything about that horrid boyfriend of hers."

the two of them stifled giggles from each other as they watched the two of you continue to flirt openly. it was no secret to anyone on the team. it was very clear to everyone on the YJ team, the Titans, even the JLA knew that the two of you liked each other....a lot but it was that stupid boyfriend of yours that got in the way of Bart ever truly expressing his feelings for you.

"what is everyone's plans after this?" you asked the team as they all murmured different answers, indicating that they were all busy. you sighed, trying not go straight up at the moment because you knew that you'd have to deal with your boyfriends calls when you got there, "I'll stay out with ya!" Bart replied as he saw the empty park bench.

you gave him a grin, "thanks Allen. you're a life saver," you exclaimed, waving everyone off goodbye. you walked to the bench, Bart following right behind you as Bart felt your phone ringing again.

there had been a scarce few times where you did call Bart with your boyfriend problems. it was usually late at night. probably inching near three in the morning when you called him sobbing, asking him if you deserved to go through the bullshit you were dealing with your boyfriend.

Bart always felt himself getting angry whenever he received those calls. you sounded so heartbroken, tired, and emotional. he was always there to help pick you back up but not even a few days later, you were back with him, telling Bart that your boyfriend needed you now more than ever.

"he's still angry that you're hanging out with me? do you want me to hurt him?" he asked, finally taking your phone out of your pocket. you nodded, rolling your eyes, "Bart no. he thinks that my 'job' is taking too much time away from him and I being together. I swear, it's like hearing a broken record. one minute, he's mad and wants to break up and the next second, he's at my door asking for forgiveness," you explained, frustrated.

Bart squeezed your hand, tapping his fingers on top yours, "you know what you need to do," he replied, giving you a serious look. you stared at him, biting your lip, "it's hard, Bart. he's going through a lot and I'll feel guilty if I just leave him," you whispered taking his hand and holding it.

"you literally fight villains for a living and you're scared of that? you know you deserve more," Bart said, "and I've seen the way you look at other girls who decide to flirt with me," he joked, trying to break the tension. "shut up, it's not even like that," you lied, making Bart even laugh more. "but seriously, you know it's not secret that I like you." you sighed, not knowing what to say as you put your head on his shoulder.

the silence wasn't exactly awkward but it wasn't comfortable either. there had been multiple times when Bart had told you his true feelings for you and every time he did, you responded with a hum or a 'okay Bart'.

it wasn't that you didn't accept his true feelings. it was far from that. you actually did like the speedster but you knew Bart could do a lot better. you knew Bart deserved someone who actually deserved him and that person wasn't you. you weren't as cute or funny as he was. he deserved someone like Cassie. smart, funny, and cute.

+

the YJ tower was completely empty aside from you and Bart. everyone was out doing their own thing. Tim and Connor were at their respective homes. Jinny and Amethyst were out doing god knows what meanwhile Keli and Cassie had gone to the movies to watch a film they both had been dying to see so that just left you and Bart in the lair to do as you pleased.

"Bart, hand me the remote," you said lazily. he handed it to you as you turned it off, getting up and stretching yourself out. Bart stared at you confused, "why'd you turn it off? I was watching that!" he exclaimed. you threw the remote across the couch and getting him up, "lets do something productive and make dinner or something," you replied enthusiastically.

Bart rolled his eyes but got up nonetheless. he followed you to the kitchen as you played music through the speakers that were built on the wall. "what're you making?" he asked, seeing you take out things that made no sense.

you looked over your options and realized you could make some kind of stew or a soup of some kind. "beef and gravy stew! we have enough things to make enough for the team and seconds for the both of us," you said, getting the things from the cupboards and having Bart start to chop every thing up.

you knew Bart was dumb but that didn't mean he wasn't a kick ass cook. there had been multiple times where he had made everyone dinner or dinner even for the two of you and it always turned out amazing. you dumped every thing that Bart had chopped up and proud it into the pot before grabbing a few things from the fridge and making the gravy that had to poured in. it didn't take long but the two of you had to wait until the pot boiled up in order for it to be ready.

the song 'telepatia' by Kali Uchis played over the speakers as you finally turned over to Bart and smiled, "we just need for it to boil and it'll be ready!" you exclaimed. he nodded as you started singing the song out loud. not particularly towards him but a warm feeling in his gut made him get butterflies as you continued.

"you know I'm just a flight away, if you want it, you can take a private plane."

you looked up to Bart, wanting to give him another smile but he quickly got rid of any questioning thoughts and went in for a kiss. you were taken back in surprise. this was the first time Bart had ever put his feelings forward and actually gave you a kiss.

his kisses were soft. they weren't rushed which was ironic considering all Bart was, was being fast and always on the move. you had placed your hands on his thighs as you made the kiss even deeper. it took you a few seconds to register what you were doing when alarms rang off in your head. you had a boyfriend and by continuing to kiss Bart, you were technically cheating on him.

"Bart no, I can't," you murmured, pushing yourself off of him. he gave you a defeated look, understanding where you coming from, "I'm sorry," you replied, going back to the food and trying to forget that you even made the move to reciprocate the kiss. in the back of your mind though, knew it that kiss meant that you had fell for Bart and hard.

+

"I have to head home, it's getting late and we patrol tomorrow night so I think it's best we head back," you whispered knowing you'd have to deal with your stingy boyfriend when you got home. Bart gave your hand one more squeeze before getting up, "see you later," Bart murmured, getting the inkling feeling that he'd probably receive a phone call tonight from you.

you nodded, making your way towards your apartment. you had a fuck ton of messages from your boyfriend and over ten missed calls by the time you sat comfortably in your couch. you finally dialed him back, instantly getting a bunch of curse words thrown at you for not picking up.

it felt like hours when the two of you finally stopped arguing with each other. it ended with you in tears and your voice hoarse as you had finally grown the nerve to break up with him. you knew for your mental health that it was time to do it and truthfully, your feelings for Bart were growing more and more every time you saw him. there was no point in continuing the relationship if you were no longer having feelings for him and although you felt guilty by doing it, you ripped it off like a band aid.

you grabbed your phone and clicked on Bart's number. Bart on the other hand shifted in his bed, seeing your contact light up his phone. he groggily picked it up, "hey," he said in that sleepy tone of his. you hiccuped, trying to control your tears, "can you come over?" you whispered, the crack of thunder scaring you shitless, "I really need someone right now."

Bart sighed, telling you to give him a minute before hanging up. Bart had no idea how many more of these late night sleepovers he had left in him. he sped over to your place, grabbing the secret key from the back of the broken piece of wood that was attached to your door frame. he opened it, seeing you sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in one hand and your hiccups still overcoming your body.

"what's wrong?" he asked. you stared at him, tears instantly rushing down your face, "I deserve to be happy right?" he nodded almost immediately, "than why do I feel so shitty because I broke up with him?" you asked.

Bart stared at you, not believing what he was hearing. you had finally broken up with that shitty boyfriend and he was the first person you contacted.

"because that's what manipulative people do ( your name )," he whispered, "they make you feel like shit for things that you didn't even do. you're perfect and he didn't deserve you or anyone like you. especially you though," he joked, bracing you even harder for a hug. he knew it would be wrong to try and make a move but gave you a kiss on the top of your head and whispered nothing but supportive things into your ear as you tried to calm yourself down.

the rain happening outside and Bart's words were lulling you to sleep as Bart hadn't even realized that you were passing out on his side. it wasn't until you hadn't moved that Bart realized you were not longer awake. he grabbed your body, lifting you up bridal style before making his way to your room.

he placed you down on your bed with every intention of just letting you sleep and him heading home but you grabbed onto his body, sleepily saying that he was going to stay here. you hadn't even said it as a question but more as a statement. he didn't argue with it; however, and he had thankfully came over in his pajamas as he scooted you over a bit and crawled in.

you smiled softly, hugging him instantly and passing out once again. Bart placed a small kiss on the top of your head before whispering into your ear, "you'll be mine one day, didn't I tell you that?" he murmured before trying to fall back asleep.

[b0hemian]

"Sleepy"

Sambucky

Fluff

Warnings : A but of cursing and a shit tone of gay <3

[ author's note: ] I've been really into Sambucky again recently, and at this point I'm so done with trying to think of other ships. This ship will forever have my heart despite other ships that come to sail.

James Buchanan Barnes loathed the empty space of the mattress next to him. He loathed how prim and neat the cream sheets were. He despised the rightly order of the pillows. But most importantly, he hated the missing presence of Sam.

Despite what others thought, Bucky longed to be cuddled and caressed. He loved the sudden gestures Sam would provide out of the ordinary blue. He loved the surprise of Sam's arms around his stomach. His head, dangling with tire or snuggly warmth, resting on Bucky's vibranium shoulder.

It's been a week now since Sam had left for Egypt. A week too long for a home of two with only one in its vacancy.

Bucky knew that being apart from your parter every once in a while was okay, healthy, and suggested. The first few days were of total peace. It was nice lounging about in the house without the worry of the world apart from the occasional missions and precautionary runs he ran to secure the city. But as time went on and Bucky's thoughts clouded him and his longing for Sam grew, he grew frantic and needy. He missed Sam Wilson more than anything, and if Sam can't be home right now in this very bed, he wished that he was at least safe. With a roof over his head. With food in his plate. With a smile on his lips that gave everyone, him especially, hope of a better future.

Bucky inhaled the sharp cool and crisp air. Exhaling not long after. He pulled down a pillow from the mound of them on Sam's side. He chuckled. Sam always had a shit ton of pillows with him. He called it, "the bird-ly habit of a nest." At this thought, Bucky chuckled and cuddled the pillow into his chest. His head bowed down as he inhaled its scent- Sam's scent of the oceanic blues of the cologne he had given him. He missed it. His smell. His snores however small and adorable they are. He missed the way Sam's thumb would move back and forth on his neck as he held him dear in his arms. Comforting him through his occasional, but rarer occurrences of nightmares.

He closed his eyes expecting to finally fall asleep until a ringing blew into the closed room. Bucky hummed with a tinge of curiosity and immediately hoped that whoever was calling was his boyfriend. He sat up with the pillows on his lap and reached to his left, grabbing his phone. And as the words "Idiot Bird" appeared on the blurred familiar dialing screen, Bucky's wistfulness vanished and a smile, as bright as the moon's crescents, appeared. He pressed the green button in an instant and played Sam up on speaker.

He waited until a loud crackling sound bursted from the speaker. Then, a laugh.

"Bucky!" Sam proclaimed, although in a more whispered tone than a shout.

God he missed that voice. That call of his name in a tone so beloved to him, so familiar.

"Hey, baby. I miss you."

"I miss you too, so much. It's been a hell of a whirlwind back in Cairo. Barely had any time to sleep."

"Im sorry," Bucky apologized as he laid the phone down on the empty space next to him and rested his head down the pillows. "You should probably sleep then."

"Yeah.. But you know how it is with me and planes. I can't sleep for shit."

"Wait, planes?"

"Yep. Got the whole situation sorted sooner than I thought and after a few debriefs on the actual witnesses, I can finally go fucking home."

Bucky closed his eyes and breathed in a shaky breath. Exhaling a long moment after with a stuttering chuckle. "Good good.. I miss you so much you, Sam." You have no idea.

"I miss you too, Bucky. A lot. I think a part of the reason why I could barely sleep with the time they let me go to my hotel was because all I could think about was you."

"Oh?"

"Mhm, I was scared. I was scared that I won't be there."

Bucky didn't need Sam to say it, nor Sam need to say what I meant for Bucky to know. It was a silent knowledge between them and Bucky was thankful for Sam's silence and patience about his struggles. Bucky's nightmares weren't as prominent as it once was, but they lingered like a guilt. Even though he made his amends long ago, he was still terrified of what his monster had done. Who it had killed and who's lived it had destroyed for the purpose of others. The Winter Soldier was the past and as much as he intended to forget all of what happened, he knew Sam was right when he said that sometimes forgetting the past can only lead to more suffering. Bucky smiled to himself as he thought of what else Sam had told him. Healing meant facing your fears, not abandoning them.

"Don't worry, I haven't had one since the week before you left," Bucky answered truthfully with pride knowing how long its been since he had such horrible recollections.

"Good good. Don't worry, I'll be home soon. I'll make you steak, we'll stay up till 2 watching Disney movies, and stay up for another 30 minutes stuck like tape."

Bucky, imagining every moment Sam had described, smiled. "I'd love that. Will there be kisses?"

"So many."

"Perfect."

A yawn wrapped around the air a Bucky felt sleep pull him closer and closer. Knowing Sam's voice was close and knowing the whole of him was closer, he was finally in a state of peace against the restlessness. His body relaxing. His eyelids refraining from wanting to open.

"Sleep, baby. I'll be here."

"Promise?" Bucky whispered.

"I promise."

Pulling the blankets closer and Sam's soft pillow even closer to his chest, Bucky slept off with a sentence last spoken in a whisper. A whisper loud enough for the receiving end to hear and giggle at his boyfriend's sleepy and adorable voice.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Bucky."

[marvelmadam08]

Promises, Promises

Part of 100 Days of Marvel

Prompt 45. How could you say that/ Prompt 74: Don’t make me regret this

Steven Grant x Black!Reader, Marc Spector x Black!Reader

Warnings: Angst, swearing, SEASON FINALE SPOILERS!!

~~~~~~~~

You felt a strong tug at your jeans, your four year old daughter Leah, was awake from her nap and demanding your attention.

"Hey sleepy head, you want a snack?"

"No!" She pouts

"Excuse me? Is that how we talk to others now?" You knelt down to look her in the eye "What's going on love? What's got you upset?"

"I wanna see Daddy." She sniffled

You frowned this time "Daddy's at work right now, but we can call him before bedtime and see if he can read you a bedtime story. How does that sound?"

She shrugged, no longer in the mood to talk.

“How about I make us some sandwiches, and you get a tea party set up for us?”

It broke your heart to see her frown grow as she muttered out a soft 'kay', and clung to her stuffed hippopotamus as she walked over to her play area. You pulled out your phone, dialing the number you swore you wouldn’t unless it was an absolute emergency. 

It went straight to voicemail.

“Steven, it’s me- again. I know I said I wouldn’t call but... Leah really misses you. She keeps asking to see you and I’m running out of excuses. I know you’re dealing with a lot right now-”

That was putting it mildly, the last time you spoke to Steven, he was going on about how he got dragged into trouble because of his alter Marc Spector. He said he couldn’t go into details for ‘safety’ reasons, but he also said he couldn’t be around you or Leah until it was all ‘sorted’. That was nearly three weeks ago, and it had you absolutely sick to think something had happened to him and you didn’t even know where- or who he was.

“Anyways, please call me back. Let me know you’re alright.”

 It was a few hours before you got a response. Steven asking to come over to your place to see Leah and to talk with you. You agreed but didn't get your hopes up. Steven wasn't always the most reliable guy, when you first started dating, he openly admitted to you about his insomnia and sleepwalking dilemma. Once the two of you found about Marc and his 'profession', things made a little more sense and got a shit ton more complicated.

So when he does show up, you were both grateful and surprised. It was just before Leah's bedtime when you heard Steven let himself in, the way your daughter's eyes lit up when he came in the living room was the happiest you'd seen her all day.

"Daddy!" She wriggled out of your arms and ran to Steven, launching herself into his open arms "I missed you!"

"I missed you too Bug! And your hugs, I tell all my best mates, ‘My Bug gives the best hugs’!" He kissed the top of her head before holding her close once more. Steven’s eyes locked on yours, giving you a friendly smile then gave his full attention back to Leah "You've gotten so big, are you eating your veggies?"

"Yes! Even the icky ones.”

“I’m proud of you Bug. Did you have a good day?”

You let them have their moment alone, Leah chatting Steven’s ear off until she couldn’t fight off her sleep anymore. Steven found you in the kitchen, shuffling things around only to put them back where you got them.

"She's fast asleep."

"That's great- thanks." You continued to move about the kitchen, filling the awkward silence with shuffling the silverware around in the drawer.

"How's it- How've you been?"

You smirked- he was stalling “I’m fine, Steven. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Right, right- I know these last few weeks have been a bit of a challenge for everyone involved. But I just want you to know, I'm gonna be around more (Y/N), for you and for Leah. I promise."

"Yeah well your promises always come with a fine print don’t they?” you regretted the words the moment you said them, seeing the hurt in Steven’s eyes, but it was how you felt.

“How could you say that? You know I’ve been trying Y/N, you know that!”

“I know, I’m sorry, but Steven, saying you’ll be here is one thing- actually being here is another. You and I both know that you can never fully commit to your promises. Who knows when Marc is gonna drag you off on another one of his missions.”

“I’m telling you I have a handle on it. Marc and I- we worked it out and- and he wants to meet Leah.”

“Absolutely not." You shook your head "He's a mercenary and a murderer and an asshole."

Steven's head whipped around to his reflection in the mirror on the wall. To you he was just looking at himself, speaking half a conversation. 

“He’s a little offended by the arsehole remark, but he sees why you’re skeptical.” Steven explained “But he’s honestly only trying to help.”

“Fine then let me talk to him.”

“Y-you... you wanna talk to Marc?”

“I talk to him first or he doesn’t meet Leah at all."

Steven looked over to his reflection again, nodding softly. You watch his body language change on the spot. He stood taller, the worry line between his eyebrows faded, and the look in his eyes hardened. It was like watching Christopher Reeve’s Clark Kent take off his glasses to become Superman.

“Marc?”

“Yeah.” the American accent always caught you off guard “It’s nice to officially meet." He extended his hand towards you, he eventually lowered it when he realized you weren’t gonna shake it. “Steven talks about you and Leah all the time.”

"Can Steven feel what you feel?"

"Um- we're not a hundred percent sure about-" You smacked him across the face mid sentence, Marc held his cheek in shock. "What the hell was that for?"

"I called Steven one day and you picked up, you remember? He just missed his weekend with Leah.... And you told me 'fuck off you damn over grown chicken'."

"No!" Marc shook his head "No I wasn't talking to you I was talking to Khonshu. He’s the-"

"The God of the moon and vengeance."

His brow furrowed “You know about Khonshu?”

“I have my Bachelors in Egyptology, and my Masters in Religion. Yes I know about Khonshu.”

Marc crackled a smile “Steven’s right, you are cute when you get huffy.”

“Well I’m going be fucking adorable if you hurt my daughter. I don’t know what type of arrangement you and Steven have, but if it effects Leah’s life and puts her safety at risk-”

“I swear to you I would never put Leah in harms way. I told Seven to stay away because my life was so- complicated.”

“Complicated? Didn’t you rearrange the night sky?”

“Technically that was Steven and Khonshu.”

“Well he wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for you.”

Marc started to say something when he turned to the mirror again “No- it’s fine she has every right to be upset with me.”

“So he’s defending you now? I guess you two are just the best of mates.”

“Jesus, Steven where did you find her?” he paused again and smirked “Of course you did.”

“Excuse me.” you went to stand between Marc and the mirror “This is what I’m talking about. How am I supposed to explain you talking to your reflection to Leah? How do I tell her, that her father is possessed by an ancient Egyptian god?”

"That's the best part, Khonshu is gone now. He released us, we can have a normal life now.” Marc glanced over you at his reflection again “Somewhat normal.”

“Why? No offense Marc but you don’t seem like a family man to me. If you and Steven can switch back and forth at will, then why would you want to be here at all?”

“Because she’s my daughter too.” Marc stated firmly “I had a pretty shitty childhood, and I never thought kids would be in the plans for me, or Steven if I’m being honest. Leah is my second chance, and I’d like to spend time with her. I’ve watched Steven with her, and I want you to know that I would- sorry, we would- die all over again to protect her."

You blinked “Did- did you two die?”

"Daddy." You and Marc turned to see Leah wandering into the kitchen, hair disheveled and yawning. 

"What are doing outta bed love?" you asked her

Leah went right over to Marc, holding her hands out for him to pick her up. Marc waited for your permission before he did so. 

“I had a bad dream.” Leah rubbed her eyes, finally getting a better look at Marc “Daddy?”

“Yeah Leah, it’s me.”

She still looked skeptical, but didn’t try to move away “You sound funny.”

Marc chuckled "Yeah I know. Listen Leah, it's probably hard for you to understand right now, but sometimes I’m gonna sound and act a little different, and I’ll have a different name but it's still me."

“Like playing pretend?” 

“Yeah- something like that, but I’m still your Papa- and I love you no matter what.” He nods, tears building in his eyes

Leah wrapped her tiny arms around Marc’s neck, hugging him “Don’t cry Daddy.”

"You really do give the best hugs.” he sighed, still holding her close. Almost afraid to let go. “You wanna tell me about your bad dream?”

“You left.” was all Leah said

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that sweetheart.” Marc locked eyes with you “I’m not going anywhere.”

Marc held Leah until she fell asleep again, and even for a little while after that. You found them both sleeping on the couch, Leah tucked protectively in Marc's arms. You tried to slip a pillow underneath his head when he woke up again.

“Sorry, didn't mean to wake you.” You whispered before pulling the blanket over them

"I didn't mean to fall asleep." He yawned

You shrugged “It’s late, figured you’d be tired. Besides, Leah would hunt you down if you weren’t here when she woke up in the morning.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Marc chuckled “Thank you.” 

“Of course, you're her dad too." You didn't miss the softness in his eye when you said that. "Marc- don't make me regret this."

"I won't. I promise."

[saberstars]

Hide & Seek

A pt 2 of this Fic HERE

Pairing: Loki x Y/N

Warnings: Implied Smut, primal kink/ play?? Idfk

Word Count 1247

Summary: Loki had played a prank on you the previous weekend, you decide to get back at him, but pranking the god of mischief may not be as easy as it seems.

Notes: I made doodles and it inspired a part 2 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’ll probably share doodles in a separate post a little later have fun reading…. bro this ain’t even a scary story I just started typing and this is what came out omg

It was attempt #2 at having a somewhat relaxing evening with Loki. For the next month you’d be watching scary movies every Friday setting time aside for the wicked evenings. The previous one was nice, despite the prank he had pulled but that only gave you a few ideas of your own to get back at him for the stunt. You had let Loki pick the movie “Final Destination” not really a horror in your opinion per say but it did leave you with a shit ton of anxiety afterwards. The raven haired man also took it upon himself to make snacks for the evening, he even made homemade apple cider with lil cinnamon sticks in the glass mugs.

Loki made his way to the living room with a bowl filled with popcorn & m&m’s as well as the two mugs noticing that the movie was passed in the opening credits. He assumed you went to the bathroom beforehand like you usually did so he placed himself down on the couch.

Unbeknownst to him you had actually taken the time to destroy your room silently making it look like a struggle had occurred as well as spritzing the air with a concoction of your perfume. Leaving your phone behind. Afterwards sneaking your way downstairs to hide in an empty cupboard underneath your shared bookshelf clutching a flip phone and a voice changer of her own.

After about 10-15 minutes had passed Loki stood up making his way towards the bathroom to find the door open & empty. “Darling? Everything’s ready for the movie.” He spoke, receiving no response from you. Loki sighed heading towards your shared bedroom before turning the knob in an attempt to push open the door, but he was met with some resistance. The god let out a chuckle assuming you were the resistance he was met with. “Come on Darling, what are you playing at?” He teased before giving the door a bit more of a push causing it to completely open up revealing the disaster inside. The bed was in shambles, one of the pillows tore to shreds with feathers sprawled about around it. One of your dressers toppled over. The scene looked as if a struggle had taken place. Loki chuckled, placing a finger in between his teeth.

“Oh darling, you’ll have to do better than this.” He whispered. Loki turned swiftly on his heels heading back to the living room at a fast pace making his footsteps sound louder, as if he was distraught.

“Y/N!!?” He exclaimed playing into the ruse you had planned out. Loki had seen plenty of struggle scenes in his time & this one was so obviously fake. Not to mention he hasn’t heard a thing.

You heard his exclamation from your hiding spot, placing a hand over your mouth to muffle your giggles. You truly believed he believed. That set your next step in motion, your fingers grazing over the numbers on the phone dialing in Loki's number before pressing the call button.

Loki’s phone buzzed on the coffee table next to your shared snacks & he immediately picked it up with a slight smirk. “Hello?” He simply said

You paused for a moment unsure of what to say, you knew this would cause the god to grow suspicious.

“Darling, we both know this is you, now If you suggest playing such childish games, why don’t we turn this into a bit of hide & seek?” The raven haired suggested with a click of his tongue.

“Why do you always have to ruin the fun?” You whined in a whisper as to not give away your hiding spot.

“Ruin? My darling I promise this will be fun~” Loki snickered through the phone before hanging up & pointing his nose into the air. “Ready or not, here I come”~ Loki bellowed in a singsong voice throughout the house before beginning his hunt.

Loki started his search on that floor level gracefully. Weaving in and out of the rooms dramatically pulling back curtains from the bathtub, opening closet doors with a predatory smile. He was genuinely enjoying this game. All the while you sat so still & silently afraid to make a noise as you listened to the god upstairs make his way closer to the stairwell to make his way down. If a pin had dropped both of you would have heard it at this point.

Loki slinked down the creaking stairs humming to himself softly. “There are only so many places down here you could be hiding love. Do you wish to surrender?” Loki exclaimed as he placed his feet on the floorboards. You didn’t respond. You silently shifted instead wanting to take a peek out through the door but you surely knew better. Loki took a painfully loud step forward, weaving his way through the room until he paused in front of the cupboard you sat in. Your heart raced as sweat began to form on your temple trickling down the side of your face. You held your breath for what felt like forever until you heard the god take a few steps away. Which allowed you to exhale slowly and as silently as you could. Loki paused, catching the sound of your exhale laughing to himself slightly before swiftly walking into the bathroom adjacent to the room. He knew where you were. Now it was solely just a game of cat & mouse for him to enjoy.

You shifted nervously, creaking the door open causing you to wince, peeking out. You didn’t see your raven haired boyfriend. This gave you an idea. Maybe you could surprise the god. Give him a lil jump per say. A devilish grin grew on your face as you crawled out from your space tip toeing over to the bathroom you assumed he went into. Pressing your back against the wall slipping in.

Loki licked his lips for he had casted an illusion spell to make it seem as if he wasn’t there keeping him hidden from your sight. He watched you leaning against the wall by the tub as you entered with a fairly amusing confused face. Your face changed suddenly to one of pride as you thought he was hiding behind the shower curtain which made him snicker silently. He watched you rip aside the curtains watching your face drop at the missing sight of him. You frantically turned around scanning the room. You were sure he was there; it was the only room downstairs besides the main area. It was at this point when Loki dropped his illusion, grabbing your wrists and pressing you against the wall pecking your nose as he did so.

“I win darling, I made you come out to me you see.” He teased taking pride in how he played this little game.

“Yes yes, though one could say you cheated Mr. Magician.” You retorted, rolling your eyes with a grin.

“I don’t recall asking for your sass. You lost dear plain & simple.” Loki rebuttaled ignoring your complaint placing a finger over your lips silencing you.

You obviously obligated contorting your lips into a little pucker kissing his finger in response to his shushing with a playful wink. Loki chuckled to himself looking down before looking back up again staring into your eyes with hunger. “Being as how I won, I think I’ll claim you as my prize.” He plainly stated before gripping your waist and tossing you over his shoulder for a bit of fun upstairs.

[smutty-ki113r]

🌐Discord🌐||

Comfort one-shot reader x creepy pastas (Slenderman, Jeff, Toby, E.J, BEN, Sally, Masky, Hoodie, Jane and L.J.)

Inspired by: The living tombstone

You woke to excessive yelling, turning over and pushing the pillow over your face groaning. The voice got louder and you felt a pair of hands shake you awake, throwing the pillow at them you found that it was Toby. He let out an abrupt gasp and continued to jump around the hotel room. You understood why he was so excited, it was the first day of your trip to Disney world after all.

I know it seems unconventional but you had managed to convince slender to let you guys go. Obviously it was on Halloween weekend, the only time they could go into the parks without being questioned for their looks. That day you would all be going to Epcot.

Masky was probably the most excited about that park even though he had an expressionless face on the ride there. He had been so against going, at least it seemed like it. But you saw him putting ciggarates in a fanny pack when getting ready to leave.

Smiling fondly at the memory you got up and dressed. After breakfast you all drove to the park, seeing the Halloween decorations in orange and black with the shapes of Mickey Mouse. You groaned at the bickering going on in the third row of seats with Jeff and E.J, who was trying to convince Jeff to leave his knife in the car.

“They’ll stop you at security” you called back to him.

“I can hide it” he protested.

“Jeff they have literal metal detectors” E.J rebutted.

“What if I put it in my pants” he said smartly.

“NO” you yelled. After a death glare and a small tug of war between him and E.J he left it. He walked at the back of the group, slumping with his hands in his hoodie pocket. At the entrance the whole crowd was met with “oohs” and compliments about your “costumes”.

There was so much to do, but Hoodie (secretly Masky too) and BEN wanted to go to Spaceship earth. They were all so amazed on how there was a ride inside of the Epcot ball.

“It’s an XXL golf ball” BEN kept saying, convinced that there was nothing inside. There wasn’t much wait but since you were all a big crowd it took a bit to get in. Slender had the hardest time getting in the cart, he had to crouch excessively to fit. You rode with BEN, who was really excited at first because he thought there was going to be a drop but it turned out bore him. He thought it was going too slow, and so he had the bright idea to tamper with the manuals. “Time to spice things up” he said rubbing his hands maliciously. At one point all the carts started spinning, he lifted his hands and “wheeed”. You could hear Sally yelling from the back with Slender holding her in the seat since there was no restraints. At the end he scolded Ben, rushing him out of there as the cast members apologized for the inexplicable inconvenience.

He came out of there with a proud grin, cackling as he pointed out the dumbfounded face E.J made in the picture and the one with Jeff with his tongue out. The smiling killer joined him, watching Toby spin from the dizziness- it was pretty funny though.

Slender admired the late October scenery until Sally pulled him into a stand and graced him with a Mickey Mouse hat. Jeff was yet another unfortunate victim of Sally’s plan, wearing the mickey ears that had a pastel veil. BEN was throwing fits of giggles at this, but you knew Jeff was fucking insecure so you put on ears along with Sally.

The first country you stopped at was Mexico, where you went inside the pyramid. Jeff traded his ears for a big Mexican hat, Ben too. They played with the maracas while Toby, Sally and Hoodie went into the glass shop. It was a recipe for disaster, but you followed regardless. Sally tried on every. Single. Princess crown while Toby looked at the glass pieces a bit too closely. He started ticking while holding one, even though the sign said not to touch them. It flew across the store and collided with a whole other shelf, all of them broke and he started apologizing furiously as Slender messed the employees’ mind to make him forget about the accident.

He had to pull Toby out of the store and drag him to the boat ride, you patted him on the back daringly as he had the guiltiest look. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea for slender to go on the boat ride, he was far too tall and had to bend his knees to look like a grasshopper while Sally smiled and sung along with the cartoon characters. When you got off you could hear Slender mumbling something about his back.

Norway didn’t have much to do but Sally begged to go on the Elsa ride, Hoodie accompanied her happily. Toby as well, but he was really enthusiastic about the songs- he knew all of them. Him and Sally harmonized during the chorus for “let it go”. Since there were a shit ton of little kids there L.J was about to combust. Surprisingly he stayed super silent with occasional grumbles, making mental notes for when he got out of the park. He had to ditch the group to shop for Candy, which he found in China.

Jane was absolutely fascinated with the Zodiac garden there, watching the beautiful plants in the morning sun. Masky tried to relax by watching the show inside the pavillion but Toby caught up to him. He really couldn’t sit still and Masky had to scold him for sitting on the rail he wasn’t supposed to sit on. After, you found E.J playing with Sally with the marionettes and BEN with a cup of Boba. He seemed to be enjoying it- a lot. It was the funniest thing to watch him suck up all the tapioca stuck in the ice, his cheeks got super red and you couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Jeff was gladly giving Toby his Mickey Mouse ears. In the afternoon you moved to Italy, where L.J was getting complimented for his “stilts”. There wasn’t much to do in Germany or America so you guys went to Japan. Laughing Jack was a lost cause, going straight for the candy while Jeff was mesmerized by the samurai swords. He was looking around to see if he could steal one, but how in the world would he hide that- definitely not in his pants. You caught on quick.

“Just ONE” he pleaded with you as you pulled him away from the glass. “Don’t do this to meeee” he screeched at you like a starved man asking for food.

Trying to throw hands and hit you while you grasped onto his hoodie. You managed to bring him with you as you walked out of the store. Passing by Masky who was trying to get away from Toby- he was fanning masky with those big fans. Jeff sat sourly as you ordered food, a stressed Masky came soon after. He was glad to have some quiet from the ruckus outside, enjoying a meal with you. When he was done he went outside to have a smoke from his fanny pack.

Going back to the store with Jeff on a tight leash AWAY from the swords you found Sally playing with the plushies and L.J taking packs and packs of candy. You stood and stared at him as he loaded up on the strawberry gummies. “What?” He deadpanned as a few fell down from his pile. You just laughed and helped him hold some of them, putting them in your backpack and walking out of the store because- y’all are criminals, and you steal.

It was now late afternoon, and you only had a few countries left to complete the full round of the park. Toby got lost in France, you all spent about twenty minutes looking for him and apparently Slender too who disappeared soon after. Then out of some room came one of them.

“where where you?” Jane asked.

Slender stepped forward “at the show, there were some magnificent castles and I think I’ll have to visit. Maybe even take ideas for house redecoration” he nodded.

Then out of nowhere appeared a cast member holding the hand of one shaking Toby, whose eyes were puffy and cheeks red. “Did you lose this little boy” she asked slender, he shook his head yes and gave a sigh.

The lady was in absolute awe of the group, especially daddy dilf slender. “How IS it that you see through that mask” she mused, taking slender’s head in her hands even though he was super tall. Her mouth was open as she pulled him super close to observe his (non-existent) face. BEN was snickering and you looked back and forth to see slender pretty flustered at the lady’s proximity.

“Leave him alone” Jane smacked BEN behind his head and took him by the ear. You followed them to the U.K. She threw him in one of the phone booths and held the door so he couldn’t escape. You could hear him complain from inside “let me outttt” he said muffled. Jeff caught up and went into the one on the opposite side, playing with the buttons on the dial. When Slender came back he took out a Camera to snap pictures of BEN and Jeff. You stood to the side while he did, obviously both of them didn’t notice. They were pretty candid and when they saw what was happening they ran out of there, only to have their spaces replaced with Sally and E.J, who had to pose with her for the picture.

The sun was starting to set and you guys only had a couple things left to do, one of which Jeff almost exploded in wait for. He wanted to try test track so bad, the line was gruesome and he tapped his foot impatiently in wait. BEN kept tampering with the car parts on display, making doors open and lights flash in boredom. Toby waited outside with Slender because he had anxiety around going too fast in a car and possibly reliving trauma. Jeff, on the other hand, was so excited when it was finally time to go on. He let you sit next to him in the front with BEN in the back. The ride was entertaining sure but the best part was probably Jeff’s face at the end. The car went so fast that Jeff’s cheeks were pushed back with the wind, stretching out his carved smile and flapping as he waved his hands in the air.

Then when it ended he wanted to steal one of the cars from the display.

“I can turn it on and take the safety off” BEN tuned in cheekily.

“Yessss” Jeff said with a fist pump, “which one should we get?” He asked.

“The red one” BEN decided.

“Guys nonononon” you tried complaining but they were dedicated.

“Stop complaining” BEN said, distracting you while Jeff snuck up on you from behind. Covering your mouth with his hand and restraining your arms with another “This is for not letting me take that knife”.

Picking you up and throwing you in the backseat of the car before revving the engine. With tears of joy in your eyes you saw Slender appear in the rear mirror of the car, tendrils waving around in fury. If BEN wasn’t dead yet he would definetly be now, Jeff turned paler than usual. Thank goodness he saw what was going on. They were about to drive off in one of those Toyotas- forget about mass murder, they were about to commit grand theft auto.

Next was the Nemo ride, but BEN was absolutely petrified of being near water so he waited outside with Slender-who very much could not fit in that shell car as much as he tried. Sally really liked it, she went with Toby and you went with Jane. Masky and Hoodie went together. Needless to say all of you enjoyed it very much, and the aquarium after was great too. Jane sat where she could watch the Dolphins and you could hear Toby and Sally’s footsteps running around from tank to tank.

“Do you think Slender will let me take a shark home?” He asked Masky, who told him no. But when they were outside Toby went straight to Slender. “Can I take a pet home?” He pleaded. Slender gave him a strict no but Toby continued to beg, “how about a seahorse?”, “not even a starfish?”. He got shot down but quickly recovered when you guys went to Soarin.

All of them- they loved flying. Even through it was just a ride, it was exhilarating. Passing through the sea and waterfalls, even the castles where Slender would have smiled at (if he had a mouth). Toby yelled like a mother fucker the whole time, luckily Masky was sitting next to you and hoodie- away from earshot. Jeff got the bad end of his shouting, making a face like he was about to murder poor Toby. But the brunette was so distracted by the lights and scenery he didn’t notice. E.J was pretty fascinated too, the height scared him a bit- he was used to being on the ground. Then you all shared some food from the cafeteria and went outside to watch the light show from Canada.

It was such a nice moment, with the sun already set and a hazy glow lingering in the air. You took a deep breath in, the ambiance felt like something unreal. The Epcot ball was illuminated by purplish lights in the background and across the lake you could see all the countries monuments lined with white lights. Slender had Sally on his shoulders so she could take in the view. It made you so happy to be with all of them in an instance like this. You looked back to find L.J eating his candy. With BEN and Hoodie next to you, Masky was leaning on the railing with his elbows next to E.J. and Toby was about to fall asleep. He got pretty startled when the fireworks started, but Sally’s eyes lit up with happiness. She cheered as you watched the group, it was such a kindling time with them. You couldn’t wait for the next day of the trip.