#i do think if bill had told him this in canon he would have stayed on bills side and wanted to help

[iowntheworldandyou]

Gravity falls au where bill convinces ford to keep working on the portal after fiddleford leaves by telling him a half truth that he only lied because his dimension is dying and he and his friends are scared and need a way out. Ford is sympathetic and agrees to help house them in his dimension and bill is like ‘heh. Idiot is too naive.’

When the day comes the portal opens bill and his henchmaniacs are ready to cause havoc but ford is there with food and shock blankets and he starts enthusiastically greeting them and talking about sleeping arangements in his living room, asking if any of them have food restrictions ect. And everyone is so taken off guard they’re tucked into sleeping bags in fords living room eating a warm meal before they can resist

[atinylittlepain]

alright hear me out. you’re secretly in love with joel. and joel is ridiculously attracted to you and he’s so protective of you and has this massive crush that he refuses to acknowledge. but Tess can totally tell and either

a. she is super jealous and annoyed about it. she confronts joel in some way and maybe treats you shitty. but joel totally calls her out and basically admits that he does like you.

b. she wants you two to get together. and tries to force you two to spend more time alone with each other and maybe she confronts joel and you walk in on their convo or she just tells you outright that joel is into you but will never admit it.

tesscue part two! i love it

Better Off

Joel Miller x f!reader

joel miller masterlist

Joel's trying to keep his distance from her. But Tess has other plans for him and the girl he's trying so hard to forget about.

warnings | 18+ canon-typical violence, angst, feelings

a/n | this can be read as a standalone or as a part two to Looking, either way it's fun :)

.................................

She would never admit it, but she’s disappointed that things haven’t changed all that much with Joel, not since that night he came looking for her and all but murdered that guard that had been giving her trouble. Not since she kissed him on the cheek and told him how she feels about him.

He still won’t really talk to her, not unless it’s business. But now that she’s working almost entirely with Tess, even those opportunities are few and far in between. When they do speak, he keeps his eyes anywhere but on her. His hands in his lap, the laces of his boots, something just over her shoulder, but he never quite meets her gaze. More than anything, she feels embarrassed that she had been so forward with him that night. She had thought that he felt similarly, with the way he was blushing like a teenager at her flirting, but now it seems pretty clear that Joel Miller wants nothing to do with her outside of their business partnership. 

She’s trying to not let it get to her, but her mind can’t help needling at it. Does he think she’s too young for him? Too talkative? Too crass? She flits away these questions easily, but her mind always settles on the fear that Joel just doesn’t take her seriously, not really. So, she’s resigned herself to the reality that her little crush is going to have to stay just that, focusing on her work with Tess as a distraction from him. 

While Joel may be getting more distant, she and Tess have become quick friends in their work establishing a new trade partner right on the border of Vermont, often staying up late into the night when the talk shifts from smuggling routes to loose gossip and life. Joel had often passed by them, sitting at the kitchen table in his apartment, grumbling to himself before closing his bedroom door with a definitive thud. Tess would always apologize for her “dumbass associate,” and she would just shrug, trying not to take his clear hostility personally, though it sure seemed to be directed toward her. A few months passed like that, and with each day she convinced herself a bit more that she didn’t care about Joel Miller. 

With summer creeping in, it’s just about time for Joel and Tess to make another seasonal trip out to Bill and Frank, and when she gets back to his apartment a few nights before they’re supposed to go, she’s surprised by the conversation he and Tess are having.

“Then we’ll just push it back.” Tess shakes her head in her hand where she’s sitting at the kitchen table.

“We can’t, Joel. Bill and Frank are already skittish as it is, if we go changing dates on them it’s just gonna raise their hackles.” Joel looks at her blankly, slumping back in his chair.

“Then you gotta push that meeting back instead.” Tess scoffs.

“I can’t. It’s time sensitive what I got worked out with Marlene. It’s now or never. You gotta go to Bill and Frank’s without me. She can go with you.” Her mouth goes dry when Tess nods over to where she’s still standing in the doorway, and her stomach twists when Joel is so quick to protest against the idea.

“Tess, I’m not going with her.” Tess looks ready to smack him upside the head, but she interjects, walking further into the room and fixing him with a steely look.

“What? You don’t think I can handle it, Miller? Well I can assure I manage just fine out there. Been running the route to Vermont nearly every week so don’t worry about me. I’ll go with you, and you’ll be lucky to have me along for the trip.” She shocks even herself with that outburst, but obviously not as much as Joel whose mouth is hanging open, eyes wide as he looks at her. Tess claps her hands together, startling him out of his surprised stupor.

“Well, that settles that. Thanks for taking on asshole duty, I owe you one.” Tess grins at her as Joel scoffs at her words. She however, is starting to realize exactly what she just signed up for.

It’s going to be a long hike.

…

Her mind has been swirling ever since they left the QZ. Now, pacing back and forth outside the hollowed-out gas station that Joel is rummaging through for supplies he had stashed, she keeps replaying the conversation she had overheard the night before between him and Tess. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but when she heard Tess say her name, she had stopped in her tracks, leaning back behind the door frame of Joel’s bedroom to listen in.

“Joel, you’re being fucking ridiculous.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tess laughed at that.

“Oh, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re gonna scare her away with the way you treat her, is that what you want?”

“No. I just– just don’t care to be around her, that’s all.” Her heart dropped at that, but Tess was quick to reply.

“Well I don’t believe that for one second. It’s kinda hard to scowl at someone while you’re also giving them puppy dog eyes. Joel, it’s pretty fucking clear that you’re sweet on her. And I know for a fact that she’s had a little thing for you too. But if you keep treating her like shit, whatever chance you have left with her is gonna be gone. Or worse, you’re gonna cost me my best business partner.” A heavy silence fell after Tess’ rant, Joel clearing his throat a few times before he answered.

“Look, it’s better off this way. She’s better off not getting– tangled up with me. Fuck– I’ll try to be– polite, I guess. Not gonna lose you a business partner, but it’s better for everyone if I keep my distance. She’ll get over it– tough as nails, that one. It’s better for her, Tess. Alright?” Tess sighed.

“Fine. But I still think it’s a shame that you’re just throwing away a chance at something actually good in this world.”

She had scurried out of his apartment at the sound of their conversation dying out, and ever since, her mind has been replaying it on an infinite loop. It had shocked her, hearing Joel all but openly admit that he had been harboring his own feelings for her. But that shock quickly rolled over to dismay that it was made explicitly clear that he wasn’t going to do anything to act on those feelings.

“You good?” She’s startled out of her thoughts by Joel shouldering his way out of the gas station, wordlessly passing her one of the guns he had stashed before. She nods as they already step back into stride, turning back to continue following the highway toward Bill and Frank’s. 

Their hike so far has been quiet, save for monosyllabic communication, and the silence is starting to get to her, just enough that she finally opens her mouth. Anything’s better than staying stuck in her head.

“Joel? Can I ask you a question?” He hums out a reluctant permission, his head tilting slightly to look at her as they keep walking.

“What did you do before– well, before?” She knows he doesn’t like talking about the past, and judging by the way his face screws up at her question, she guesses he might not even answer, but she’s so sick of conversations about FEDRA guards and trade routes. She’d give anything to talk about something normal.

When he doesn’t answer, she sighs.

“Oh c’mon. We’ve got like another four hours of walking, might as well fill the time with something.” Still nothing, his eyes staying fixed forward on the crumbling road ahead of them. She huffs.

“Well I was a nurse– ER, if you can believe it.” That seems to pique his interest, finally glancing at her.

“Were you on shift when everything–?” She nods to his trailing off question.

“Sure was. Booked it out of there when my patients started taking bites out of doctors. Pfft, I remember one of my coworkers refusing to leave because she was worried about getting paid for her overtime.” She lets out a weak laugh, shaking her head at the strange memory. Joel clears his throat.

“I was a contractor. Me and my brother had a little business– building homes, that type of stuff. It was, um, good work.” She offers him a smile, surprised when he offers her one back. The moment is short lived however, when two infected come darting out of the treeline. 

It’d be foolish to waste ammo, both of them scrambling to pull out knives. She makes quick work of the one coming up on her, turning to see Joel struggling on the ground with the other. But before she can help him, she gets tackled to the ground by another screeching infected, her knife skittering out of her hand at the impact. She rolls on the ground with the snarling creature, fighting back its snapping jaws as best she can, though it continues to press closer and closer into her. And then its body goes slack over her, and she can’t help the stifled shriek she lets out when it slumps heavy on top of her. Her whole body trembles as she shoves the body off of her, finding Joel standing over her, a wild look in his eyes.

He kneels down between her legs, helping her sit up as his hands dart anxiously over her, checking for bites. There’s a loud rushing in her ears, her hands shaking as she grasps onto the front of his flannel. His palms cup her face, warm and steadying as he coaxes her to look at him.

“Are you ok? Not hurt anywhere?” She’s never gotten so close to death, the shock of it settling icy and slick in her bones. She takes a shuddering breath before answering.

“I’m– I’m fine. I’m ok.” The worry rounding his eyes dissolves, his face setting back in a gruff, empty expression. She hates how she tries to lean into him when he takes his hands away from her face. He gets up with a groan, offering her a hand, but she has enough dignity to refuse to take it, scrambling onto her still unsteady legs.

“We should keep moving. There’s probably more where those came from.” She doesn’t respond to his words, just starts walking again, trying to steady the persistent shake in her hands. 

The rest of their hike is silent until Joel suggests they break for the night, setting up camp in a thicket of trees just off the highway. They eat their rations silently in the slow-darkening summer dusk. She’s surprised when he offers her his flask.

“Helps with the nerves.” She swears she could get whiplash with the way he’s swinging from seeming to not give a fuck to acting like he cares. She wordlessly takes the flask from him, ignoring the flicker of his fingers brushing hers as she takes a hard swig. 

“You sure you’re alright?” She can’t help but scoff at that.

“Careful, Miller. A girl might start to think you actually give a fuck about her.” He looks stricken by her harsh words, the fading light of day casting shadows over his furrowed expression.

“I– I do give a fuck about you.” She shakes her head, wrapping her arms around her shins where she’s sitting on her spread out sleeping bag.

“Oh I know. But you don’t want to, do you? That’s the problem. You don’t want to care about me. You think I’d be better off if you kept your distance from me.” His jaw goes slack at her words, leaning over his knees where he’s sitting across from her.

“I thought I heard you– you were listening in, weren’t you? To me and Tess? How much did you hear?” She sighs, turning her gaze down.

“Heard all of it.” It’s more of a mumble, but Joel hears it.

“Look, I’ll admit it– I like you– probably more than I should. But I’m right, darlin. It’s better this way. I’m no good for you. You best just forget about this.” Her head whips up at that, finally meeting his surprisingly sorrowful gaze.

“How can you say that, Joel? How could you possibly know what’s best for me? This isn’t about what’s best for me. You know what I think? I think you’re scared to let anyone get close to you. This isn’t better for me, it’s easier for you.” His expression has hardened, and she knows that she just pissed him off.

“That’s bullshit. You think this is easy for me? Pushing you away? Maybe you’ll understand when you’re a little older, darlin, but there ain’t anything easy about any of this.” She scoffs at that, anger coaxing up her spine.

“Oh please. That’s a weak excuse and you know it. Pulling the fucking age card. I’m not the one that needs to fucking grow up.” Somehow, in the heated volley of words, they’ve both ended up kneeling in front of each other, inching up into each other’s snarling faces.

“Oh, I need to grow up? That’s rich coming from the girl who just a few months ago was flirting with fucking feds for a few extra ration cards.” She does it before she can even think, her hand arcing with the goal of smacking him clean across his face, but before she can make contact, he grabs her wrist, holding her hand between them as she struggles in his grasp.

“Let go.” She can feel her anger seething off of herself, but Joel just cocks an eyebrow at her, firming up his grip on her wrist.

“No.” He says it so casually, she can’t help but laugh.

“What are you, a toddler? I said, let fucking go, you–” She’s cut off by his lips smashing into hers. Though she initially tries to fight it, she can’t help but mold her lips to his, seeking out the upper hand when she swipes her tongue over his bottom lip, causing him to groan lowly. He lets go of her wrist, his palms coming to squeeze at the curve of her hips as he topples back onto his ass, taking her with him as she straddles his thighs. It’s an angry, demanding little thing of a kiss, both of them fighting for dominance between swallowed gasps. He finally pulls back with a lewd smack, his eyes blown wide.

“You drive me fucking crazy, woman.” She snickers, tugging lightly at the hair at the nape of his neck.

“So much for not caring, Miller.” Tess was right. Tess was definitely right.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if Harry wasn't rich? Like, say James gave away the Potter fortune to the Order or the Potter's never made their fortune thanks to that hair growth potion. Do you think things would change in canon, or would it be about the same?

Canon I imagine would change in small but mostly inconsequential ways.

The thing about Harry and money is that he has enough of it that he never has to worry about it but he's also a boy growing up who doesn't really think about it or handle it. He's in school most of the time where his expenses are covered, when he needs a thing he pays for the thing, but otherwise he just doesn't handle money that much throughout the series.

But there would be some effect.

Harry's trip to Diagon Alley would be made a bit awkward when they go to buy everything and he... blows all his money on the wand. He then gets to get second hand equipment (or else forgo textbooks and be told he can get them at school) and I imagine is much more :/ now that he's getting beaten up and not new shiny things.

He probably hates Malfoy even more for being rich now that Harry's not rich and Malfoy in turn makes fun of Harry's robes. Similarly, I imagine Harry and Ron bond over being dirt fucking poor.

Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban would have a time where, upon running away from home, he doesn't have the funds to rent a room in the Leaky Cauldron the way he did in canon for the last few weeks of summer. Harry instead has to... stay on... the Knight Bus... We'll just say the Weasleys manage to pick him up before anything happens there.

Harry might be more tempted to keep at least some of the prize money in Goblet of Fire, and that could be the reason he wants to participate in the first place much like Ron, and Ron in turn could be less in a snit as he gets it/Harry's not just doing it for honor and glory presumably but needs the money as much as Ron and "hey if you win can I have some" but would probably ultimately give it to Fred and George out of guilt of what had happened with Cedric.

Harry can't really spend money in Hogsmeade the way he did canonically and is likely quite upset about this and is probably even more pissed about his Cho date because he can't afford Madam Puddifoot's like that.

He still gets the Nimbus 2000 as that was a gift from McGonagall, the Firebolt as well as that was a gift from Sirius.

He probably doesn't take Apparition lessons (12 galleons!) but Ron or Hermione could help cover the bill since the Weasleys are still burning through their lottery money by book six. If he doesn't then Dumbledore probably dies out in the ocean from poisoning as Harry is unable to get the pair of them back to Hogwarts (which would then completely derail Deathly Hallows as well as the end of HBP).

[randomfoggytiger]

I’m reading a book about txf called Deny All Knowledge, and one of the essays says that Mulder “clearly dislikes [Scully’s] New Age sister.” What do you think of this? It’s been a long time since I watched the Melissa episodes, but I certainly never thought Mulder disliked her that much

I wholeheartedly agree with that take.

Mulder first meets Melissa under suspicion-- who is hovering over Scully's hospital bed?-- and the first thing she says to him-- "I've been told not to call you Fox. By Dana, just now"-- gets his hopes up and down within seconds. Next, Melissa greets Maggie and immediately proclaims that Dana's deciding whether to stay or pass on. Maggie leaves, not able to take this from her daughter right then; but Mulder stays, part vigilance for Scully and part giving Maggie her space. Melissa then catches his hand, and he tries to believe in her unfettered, untamed, unquenchable, unquestioning belief... and finds he can't.

Then, Melissa advocates for Scully's medical wishes, getting her taken off life support. Then Melissa calls him "Fox... sorry, Mulder" while trying to talk him into accepting Scully's wishes (before he confronts Cancer Man.) Then she shows up at his apartment, faltering over "Dana's weakening", which A. reminds Mulder it was her and Maggie's decision to pull Scully off life support which would, of course, lead to her death, and B. makes him more determined to get revenge.

Melissa then (rightfully) reams him out, demanding courage and honesty for Scully's sake: "And so will you"-- becoming the second Scully (after Maggie) to recognize how lovesick Mulder was before he did. Even still, Mulder is uncomfortable under her scrutinizing, "I see what's going on here" gaze at the end of the episode; and makes his quick escape even quicker.

I think Melissa's a STRONG cup of tea that you either tolerate if she's family (or tangentially family, in Mulder's case) or love but are exasperated by and need space from (Scully and Maggie.) I can see she and Mulder getting in fights over their paranormal/supernatural leanings, Melissa erring on the side of "vibes" and Mulder erring on the side of "provable fact"; and Scully erring on the side of "you're both nuts but you're my nuts." Ultimately, Mulder would need the truth-- he has the same doubts as Scully, after all-- not what one feels is the truth, especially after his speech in Little Green Men ("I need proof-- you taught me that, Scully"); and this would lead him to question and/or discredit whatever Melissa had to say. Melissa, meanwhile, would be so blunt that people would (did) distance themselves from her, which would (did) lead to a cycle of earnest effort, hurt, withdrawal, and pain she would fall (fell) into over and over (part "not again" and part "why?") I think it was one of Chris Carter's wisest decisions for Mulder and Melissa not to become a thing in One Breath (if I remember correctly) because Mulder's changed so much already in one year-- and irrevocably in ways closer to Scully's way of thinking-- that to be drawn towards Melissa's ungrounded view of the world would be to drag him kicking and screaming into incoherent madness. Not to mention how much it would damage his character growth.

On a side note, I have a head canon that Bill is the only one who could really tolerate or truly enjoy Melissa's company despite her woo woo talk, solely because Melissa gifted him a picture she gave to no one else while traveling up the coasts the year Scully was abducted. I don't know why it makes sense other than Bill might see Melissa as unfettered and still "finding her way" and therefore be more easy on her rather than Scully who "knew better" and deviated from the "right" path. Although Bill never blames Scully for Melissa's death in canon (hallelujah that Memento Mori scene was deleted) and tries to smooth over a lot of their rough patches in Season 5 (perhaps even overdoes it a bit, but he was trying), he seemed to "know" more about Melissa than Scully did in A Christmas Carol (just "knowing", like Maggie, that Melissa wouldn't do what Scully speculated of her.) Interesting thought, nonetheless.

[instructionsnotincluded]

Are you able to give us one last snippet of Wilds Winds? I've been loving the last few! It's absolutely okay if you can't though! Only if you want to 💖

Yes!! Let's do another!! I'm so glad you're loving it!!

18+ | MDNI | References to canon drug use and underage drinking.

It wasn’t long before a third person joined Topper and Kelce at the end of the bar, the boys clapping hands and giving one armed hugs, greeting each other loudly. A glance to her left told her it was nineteen year old Rafe Cameron, recently back from his first year at UNC-Chapel Hill. Although, rumor has it that it was his first and only year at college. Apparently the university had a zero tolerance policy on finding coke in their student’s dorms, even if it was during the end of the year bash. 

He rested his hands flat on the bar, half smile across his face as he listened to whatever Kelce was animatedly telling him, both high school boys excited to talk to someone older. While they told their story, laughing and nudging each other with the backs of their hands, Rafe’s eyes wandered slightly, only a little unfocused as he took in his surroundings. Logan reached down to grab onto one of the cocktail glasses, pouring the measured gin into the glass when she felt his eyes on her. 

She turned her head, meeting his gaze briefly before reaching for one of the long spoons to stir the drink with when his voice sounded from the far end of the bar, successfully cutting Kelce’s story off. “Logan!” She passed off the beverage to one of the pool-side servers when she was done with it, smiling kindly at the girl before she tossed an unamused look towards the boys. “Did you suddenly age two years, Rafe?”

“Cute,” he called back, leaning his forearms onto the bar, smile still pulling at his lips, his hand lifting to brush his hair back and out of his eyes, “What do you have on tap?”

Logan glanced towards the bar, eyes running across her beer selection before she turned back to him, “Water.”

Kelce and Topper cackled and hooted beside him, the former reaching over to slap Rafe across the back, “Tough luck, Rafe. Look, there’s a new girl inside who doesn’t card. She made me a spicy marg last week…”

Kelce and Topper wandered off but Rafe remained leaning against the bar, his eyes trained on her, watching as she reached down to grab one of the pint glasses and filled it up. She slid it down the bar to him, the liquid sloshing over the side as she reached down to grab one of the tiny paper umbrellas she used for the fruity and blended drinks, “Would an umbrella make you feel better?”

Rafe picked up the glass, taking a sip of the water as he walked around the bar, sliding the glass along with it until he reached her, “You know what’s gonna happen, right?”

“What?” Logan rested her elbows on the bar, chin placed delicately in the palm of her hand as she humored him, “I’m going to stay out of jail and not lose my liquor license?”

“You’re gonna pour me that beer,” Rafe held her gaze and she lifted her eyebrows. “We all know how this works here. You’re the only one who refuses to cooperate. You think the club manager’s gonna be happy when he gets a call from the Cameron family about not being served?”

“I could call the police.”

“Yeah and you’ll lose your job and any other you have on the island.” He pushed the water back towards her before his blue eyes met hers, “Pour the drink, Logan, and I’ll still tip you.”

She watched him pull his wallet out, Benjamin Franklin’s face flashing her direction before he placed it on the bar and shoved it towards her. Logan reached forward to grab onto the bill, dragging it towards her before she reached down and grabbed another pint glass. She had to turn her back on Rafe to fill it, making sure to block his view of what she was doing as she poured the non-alcoholic beer into the glass. When she spun back around and placed Rafe’s drink back on the bar, she only smiled politely as he took it from her, their eyes meeting once more, her voice low enough only he could hear, “You’ve got a bit of cocaine around your left nostril. Just FYI.”

[inkdemonapologist]

Do you ever think about how Nathan Arch is canonically Joey’s sugar daddy?

YALL HAVE A WILD DEFINITION OF “CANONICALLY” SOMETIMES

What we know (assuming there's no exciting new nathan lore im gonna discover when i read FtB, in which case don't tell me lmao), canonically, is that Nathan gave Joey a lot of advice about starting his company, some more advice while JDS was running and looked over the land for the Bendyland park with him, and that when things got real bad for JDS, Joey wrote to Nathan, hemming and hawing about how he normally definitely wouldn’t do this, to ask for a specific amount of money to help with the bills. We also can assume he’s a little older than Joey, since they were in the military together when Joey was too young to be in the military. 

What is not hard AT ALL to read between the lines is that Nathan had a big crush on Joey Drew, source: every footnote in the Illusion of Living, several audiologs in BatDR. 

What is certainly possible to believe is that Joey would never mention if Nathan was giving him consistent financial support, and that Nathan would similarly gloss over it, because he likes the image of Joey as a clever self-made man who deserves his success and wants to preserve Joey’s good name. 

We actually don’t know if Nathan gave Joey any money, we just know that Joey asked for it, and that everything we know about Nathan suggests he would’ve been happy to help (and everything we know about Joey suggests he would’ve downplayed how much he really needed and thus the studio going under anyway does not mean Nathan ignored the request.) So it’s quite reasonable to suspect he did, but even THAT isn’t canon confirmed.

And, like, not to be That Guy except that this is my blog and I can That Guy to my heart’s content — giving someone money does not make you a sugar daddy. SUGAR DADDY IS A TRANSACTIONAL RELATIONSHIP and gay relations between Joey Drew and Nathan Arch are the realm of headcanon. LIKE, A HEADCANON THAT CAN BE VERY STRONGLY SUPPORTED AND ARGUED FOR, if someone told me "wow joey and nathan DEFINITELY had something going on" I would laugh and agree, but it's an interpretation nonetheless. You could make an equally strong argument that Nathan is closer to what the kids call a simp, praising Joey’s brilliance and helping him with his problems and eagerly paying his bills because of a huge unrequited crush that Joey took advantage of but never returned. There's several ways to read it. 

But... I do think a lot about how these two stayed in contact, stayed friends, even though Joey always seemed to be playing a role around Nathan, never quite felt comfortable explaining the things he felt most passionately about. He tells him about Bendyland, but clams up when Nathan doesn’t understand why it matters so much to him. It doesn’t seem like Joey ever tells him about Audrey; even though Nathan can hear the joy in his voice and notes that his old friend sounds more like himself than he has in a long time, he never knows why. Nathan is so so so taken with Joey, but there’s something about Nathan that Joey doesn’t trust. 

Interesting that Joey never does brag about Nathan investing in him as proof of his own business acumen, though he doesn’t mind bragging about the investment of a grief-stricken mother who only regarded him as a polite young man. What’s threatening, then, about the idea of Nathan supporting him? It’s interesting the way Nathan is fascinated with every part of him and Joey always holds himself at arm’s length. Interesting how Joey enjoys his company, but gets uncomfortable and changes the subject whenever Nathan regards him, positively, as someone who pulled himself up to success out of nothing. Interesting to compare Nathan to Kyle, the other rich friend of Joey's who gets called a “sugar daddy” by the fandom (despite being younger than Joey), how Joey is uncomfortable when Kyle prods him about his status and tries to take credit for him, and then the way Nathan doesn’t do this but Joey still shies away whenever he hits the edges of those topics. ...It’s almost more interesting if Joey was trying his absolute hardest to avoid Nathan funding him, despite the fact that Nathan was clearly taken with him and probably would have been happy to help. What strings were attached to Kyle that Joey was afraid to find in Nathan?

[startanewdream]

#6 - DANCE, for @hinnymicrofic

Is this a canon missing moment? Possibily not, but bear with me.

The Burrow was eerily silent as Harry walked down. He wasn’t really paying attention, but as he passed in front of the bathroom on the second floor, the smell of flowers overwhelmed him; the door of the bathroom was ajar, showing the remains of the mist inside, and he knew that Ginny had just taken a bath.

The memory of everything they had shared that day — his birthday kiss — popped up in his mind, almost as if that hadn’t been the reason why sleep eluded him; his creative mind kept insisting in showing scenarios of what might have been if they hadn’t been interrupted—

Stop that, he told himself severely. They had broken up for a reason and that kiss — and everything else he wished they had done — would not change it.

He forced himself to keep walking down, and avoided looking in the direction of her room as he passed the first landing, even though he could see the light was up. But when he reached the kitchen, he realised that all his effort was for nothing; Ginny was there, mumbling to herself as she went around to finish a tea for herself. 

For a moment, he just stared at her profile, at her face lit by the lights of the stove: the blue and red flames cast shadows over her face, made the brown of her eyes shine warmly, highlighted how gorgeous she was, standing there in her slightly too short nightgown, her wet hair combed in a quick braid. He could stay there and look at her forever, without tiring, but the minute that Ginny’s head turned to him, Harry looked away.

There was a moment of silence; he could still feel the feel of her lips against his.

“Do you want some tea?” She asked calmly, and once again Harry envied how she could pretend nothing had happened earlier that day.

“Sure,” he agreed, sitting on the other side of the table while she served two cups. “Thanks.”

“It helps me sleep.”

“I could use that.”

“Bad dreams?” She asked, with a sympathetic look that Harry couldn’t face.

“No, I—” I dream about you. “Just everything.”

“I know.” He didn't doubt that she knew. “I—”

But her voice shutted down as they heard the sound of boards creaking somewhere in the house, then a door being shut quietly.

Harry felt guilty at once; he promised to stay away—

“Don’t worry,” Ginny told him as if she could read his mind. “This is just Bill, probably.” She was rolling her eyes. “Something tells me he doesn’t care about the tradition of not seeing the bride before the wedding.”

He flushed with the implication in her words; Ginny chuckled.

“Well,” Harry tried, “it’s not midnight yet, so it doesn’t count.”

“So it’s your birthday still,” she noted, and for a second their eyes met; Harry thought about her birthday gift, at that blissful moment they shared, and he wished there wasn't a table between them, that he could pull her closer and—

He looked away.

“How does it feel, being seventeen?”

Harry breathed slowly. “I thought it would be different, but honestly, other than this—” He flickered his wand, turning on the lights of the kitchen. “It’s the same. You’ll see next year.”

He intended to say it with a smile, but a strange melancholy took control of him. Next year. He didn’t know if he would be there for her seventeenth birthday, he wouldn’t share her joy with silly spells, he wouldn’t give her a birthday kiss—

“Oh, I can’t wait,” she said, her voice bright even though her hands were gripping the cup tensely. “Fred and George won’t know what hit them.” He laughed, letting her words dissipate his worries. She rested her cup on the table. “I should go—I have to wake up ridiculously early tomorrow. Perks of being the maid of honour.”

“Why?”

“I have to look presentable—Merlin knows it's pointless, between Fleur and Bill this wedding will already exceed the quota of beautiful people—”

“You are beautiful,” he said without thinking, and even after he did think about it, Harry didn’t want to take his words back, feeling bold even as his heart was racing in his chest. Ginny hesitated for a moment, then she seemed to dismiss his words.

“That’s just makeup,” she said calmly. “You will wear one as well, cousin Barny.” She took a deep breath. “Save me a dance, will you?”

“I—I can’t.”

Her eyes betrayed her annoyance. “No one will know—”

“I will know. And this… this is hard enough without—” Without being close to you, Harry thought. Without sharing a dance with you fearing all the time that I won’t share anything else. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be, I—” Ginny forced a smile on her face; Harry hated it—they had shared too many happy, beautiful, truthful smiles before. “It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“No,” she agreed. “But there will be other dances.” And when Harry opened his mouth to remember that he couldn’t make any promises, her eyes blazed with defiance. “There will be, Harry.” She left no room for argument. “Good night.”

“Night,” he replied belatedly, watching her go away.

[teecupangel]

Was thinking of Desmond angst and was reminded of a DC character nabbed Cassandra Cain whose father raised her since birth to be only an assassin to the point where she doesn't understand any spoken or written languages but can read body languages to such a degree that she pretty much can't be lied to or beaten in a fight because she knows what you're going to do before you do it and I was thinking Bill would try that if he were an even worse father

You know what would be so fucked up?

If we add in more of Cassandra’s storyline into Desmond. Make his birth be more of a business transaction between Bill and his mother.

We can change the whole ‘father kills mother’s sister because the sister was limiting her potential’ into being an Abstergo kill instead and Bill rescuing her before she dies as well, leaving some ambiguity that Bill waited until the sister is killed. (He didn’t, he tried to rescue them as soon as possible but she will never believe that)

By recreating that part of Cassandra’s storyline, we can give Desmond a much more isolated childhood than the original. No more mother who tried to find him when he ran away because this version of his mother left the moment she could leave after giving birth to him.

Also… in this setup, I think it would be better if the ‘Farm’ is not a community but an actual farm where only he and Bill lives. This further isolates Desmond and the other people in the canon Farm (which we know nothing about other than the fact that the ones who tried to save Desmond in AC1 are implied to be from the Farm so we at least know that they care for Desmond). 

With this, Desmond would be completely isolated, left only with Bill to raise and train him.

He’s trained to be the ultimate Assassin to ‘compensate’ for his lack of the Eagle Vision. 16 years of training made him develop the foundation of his skills and techniques and that’s when Bill knows he has nothing else to ‘teach’ Desmond. 

And so he begins to give Desmond missions.

Easy ones first.

Infiltration to sabotage or intel retrieval.

Then…

When Desmond was 18…

He assassinated a Templar in cold blood.

He felt nothing.

He had been told of the Templar’s high standing in Abstergo. Of which inhumane projects he had supervised. What profits he received from the suffering of the innocents. 

He had been raised to feel no remorse or pity for any Templar.

So he left and returned to ‘Father’ for his next mission.

Soon enough, he became known as the White Ghost. A ghost of the Assassins of old, dragged back from its rest by the many deaths of the Great Purge.

He didn’t talk to anyone, always having Bill as his ‘support’.

He only went outside when he was ordered to. Otherwise, he stayed in one of the many safehouses the Brotherhood had, memorizing floor plans and anything that might help him in his next mission.

Until…

Bill received an SOS signal from Lucy Stillman, requesting immediate retrieval for both her and Clay Kaczmarek.

Bill sends Desmond because this was a matter of most importance. Clay and Lucy would have information vital to the Templars’ plan concerning the Animus.

But when Desmond got there.

He knew immediately that Lucy Stillman was hiding something. Her body movements gave her away. Her concern for Kaczmarek’s life was genuine.

But her fear…

… was not.

.

.

That’s as far as I got.

The next setup would be that Desmond’s ‘skills’ immediately clocked that it was ambush and managed to get Clay and Lucy out. Lucy’s betrayal is outed by both Desmond and sorta-unstable-sorta-stable-flip-of-the-coin Clay. Clay’s the one who tells them they planned to kidnap Desmond because he was the descendant of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

Since his ‘mother’ was out doing whatever she wanted for the Brotherhood, Bill orders Desmond to relive Altaïr’s memories and that’s when Desmond becomes more fucked up.

Because Altaïr feels so much. He feels too much for someone like Desmond.

So everyone thinks Desmond is suffering from the Bleeding Effect too quickly to be normal but that’s not it.

Desmond just…

He’s beginning to become human.

[sequinsmile-x]

Took a Tour of the Stars

It happens quickly. A glint of the knife, a familiar grunting sound from her husband, and the flash of red against his shirt that spreads quickly. She barely has time to react before the men are gone with their belongings and Aaron slumps against the wall, his hand pressing into his lower abdomen as his blood spills out onto the ground. 

It was just supposed to be date night. 

-x-

Hi friends,

I had honestly planned on updating SGW today (don't worry, there will still be an update over the weekend) but I had a ROUGH day and decided to write something where I could get some of the feels out and...here we are.

I hope you like it, please let me know what you think, feedback always makes me so happy!

-x-

Words: 4.2k

Warnings: Canon typical injury/violence, pregnancy

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Emily smirks at her husband as he jolts in his seat, sitting up straight as he tries to get away from her foot, how she’d run it up the inside of his thigh. 

“Emily,” Aaron says, trying, and failing, to hide how affected he was by her, how affected he’d always been. 

“What?” She asks, feigning innocence as she smiles slyly, one of her hands holding her mocktail and her other on her bump, “I’m not doing anything.” 

“We’ll be going home soon-”

“Excusez-moi,” she says, cutting over him and finally removing her foot from his lap as she gets the waiter’s attention, “L'addition, s'il vous plaît.”

She ignores her husband’s gaze, how it burns into her, making her shudder with anticipation as the waiter nods at her. 

“French, really?” Aaron asks, raising his eyebrow at her as she finally turns to look at him, a glint in her eyes that only ever meant good things for him. She shrugs nonchalantly, as if she didn’t know exactly what hearing her speak French did to him. 

As if she wasn’t fairly sure it was the very thing that had led to the night she got pregnant. 

“You’re the one who picked the restaurant this time,” she says, finishing her drink and placing the empty glass on the table, “It’s not my fault you picked a French one.” 

Date night had become a regular thing since just after she’d had their daughter Alice almost four years ago. At first, it had simply been Aaron’s attempt to get his wife out of the house, to get her used to spending time away from their baby daughter before she went back to work, but it had quickly become more than that. Alice’s birth marked the end of an era for them working together and the start of Emily’s job in another department. Date night had become something important to both of them, time when they could reconnect, when they could just be Emily and Aaron, instead of Mom and Dad or Hotch and Prentiss, and it was something she always treasured. 

Especially since life was about to get a whole lot busier in four months when she had the baby she was currently carrying. With Alice, they’d found out as soon as possible what they were having, the knowledge easing Emily’s anxiety throughout her pregnancy. She’d been told when she was in Paris that she might not be able to get pregnant, let alone stay pregnant, so every little twinge, everything that felt strange, had made her worry. She felt calmer this time around, although she was still cautious, already assigned to strict desk duty. They’d made the decision not to find out what they were having, the two of them determined to find out when their child, the one they both knew would be their last, was born. 

“What can I say, I’m a martyr,” he says dryly, pulling a laugh out of her as the waiter puts the bill down on the table. Aaron grabs it before she can, raising his eyebrow as she rolls her eyes and sits back in her chair, rubbing a circle on her belly.

“It’s my turn to pay,” she grumbles, narrowing her eyes as he pulls his card out of his wallet and hands it to the waiter. 

“And I want to treat my pregnant wife.” 

“You can treat me when we get home,” she says, biting her lower lip as he leans forward, his hands linked together on the table in front of him, his wedding ring glinting in the low light of the restaurant. 

“I plan on it,” he replies, purposely making his voice deeper, well aware of the impact it had on her. He pulls back as she leans in for a kiss, playing the game she had started, and smiling as she huffs out a breath, “If it makes you feel better, I used the card to our joint account. That way we’re both technically paying for dinner.” 

She smiles at him, pressing her hand into her belly where she feels the baby moving, and she allows herself to bask in how well her husband knows her, “That does make me feel better, thank you.” 

Once they’ve paid, Emily makes the point of thanking the waiter in French purely to get a reaction out of her husband. Aaron helps her into her jacket, his fingers purposely lingering on her shoulders as he does so, a smile spreading over his face as she shivers. 

Emily smiles as he opens the restaurant door for her, forever a gentleman in ways she’s sure would have once annoyed her. As they step out onto the street she wraps both of her arms around one of his and presses her cheek into his shoulder. 

“I hope Alice and Jack behaved for JJ and Will,” she says as they start the journey towards their car, she tugs him towards an alley that she knows is a quicker thoroughfare to where they’d parked, two streets over, her feet hurting too much to even think about walking the long way around, “This way is faster.” 

Aaron nods and they enter the alley, “Jack would have behaved, Alice on the other hand…she’s just like you so who knows what she’s been up to.”

She acts offended, scoffing like this wasn’t a conversation they had every time they did this. A script of sorts that they both knew the words from, a part of their comfortable, ordinary life. 

“She’s perfect,” she says, defending their three-year-old, well aware that when Alice was in full-blown toddler mode she could raise hell. 

“I know she is,” he says, kissing the top of her head, “Like I said, she’s just like you.” 

Emily blushes, but any response is cut off as two men block them off in the alley, seemingly appearing from nowhere. They were dressed in all black, hoods pulled up over their head and obscuring their faces. She looks down and sees both of them are armed, a large knife in each of their hands. She doesn’t react outwardly, and neither does Aaron apart from the slight step forward he takes to put himself in front of her. She grasps his arm tighter, her nails digging into his skin through his jacket, a silent warning not to do anything stupid. 

She thinks of their guns locked up in the hidden safe they have at home. They hadn’t brought anything with them tonight, they never did unless they were working anymore, both of them so safe and content in their day-to-day lives that they didn’t feel the need to. 

It was just supposed to be date night. A nice meal with her husband before they went home and had sex before their toddler inevitably crawled into their bed in the middle of the night, a habit they knew they needed to kick before the baby arrived. 

It was just supposed to be date night. 

“We don’t want any trouble,” Aaron says, his voice even, the years of practice he’d had thanks to his job overriding the fear he was feeling. He couldn’t protect Emily right now, not in the way he wanted to, but he’d let the world burn before he let one of these men near her. 

“Just give us your wallets,” one of the men says, stepping closer, pointing his knife towards Emily’s hands, “And your purse and all your jewellery, and no one will get hurt.” 

She looks at her wedding rings, at the bracelet Aaron had bought her for her most recent birthday that had slipped past the cuff of her jacket and was on display, and she shudders out a breath. She nods as she does what she’s asked, removing them with fingers that don’t shake and passing them to Aaron who has taken off his ring too. 

Aaron steps forward and puts everything they’d asked for on the ground, taking Emily’s purse too and doing the same. He stands back up straight and makes sure he’s in front of his wife again even though he’s still several paces ahead of her, using his body like it was armour, shielding her from harm like he had been doing with his love for years now. 

One of the men steps forward, but freezes at a sound at the other end of the alley, another voice is added to the mix as it breaks through the tension. 

“Is everything okay over there?” 

It happens quickly. A glint of the knife, a familiar grunting sound from her husband, and the flash of red against his shirt that spreads quickly. She barely has time to react before the men are gone with their belongings and Aaron slumps against the wall, his hand pressing into his lower abdomen as his blood spills out onto the ground. 

It was just supposed to be date night. 

___

Her eyes are fixed on the ground, her knee bouncing as she bites at her cuticles, the blank space on her ring finger catching her attention. The skin was paler where they’d been, a band of light skin because the last time she’d had them off for any length of time was when she was pregnant with Alice and her fingers had swollen. 

Aaron had bought her a chain to keep them on, a soft smile on his face as he handed it to her, well aware that even though she wasn’t one to attach meaning to physical objects the rings were important to her. Now they were gone, forever tarnished even if they got them back, and the thought of it made her feel sick. Her stomach was churning and she knew her stress was making the baby kick more. It felt like a soft reassurance from within, a reminder from her son or daughter that everything would be okay. 

Aaron was in surgery. He’d remained conscious the entire time, desperately reassuring her as if he wasn’t the one who had been stabbed, whilst she yelled at the person who had interrupted them being mugged. Her voice cracking as she asked for an ambulance, her own cell phone in the purse that had been run off with. The doctor who had come out to speak to her had assured her everything was as good as it could be, that they had to control the bleeding, but it was all too familiar. A ghost of the past haunts her as she sits waiting for news, memories of a time when she hadn’t been loved by him yet overwhelming her as their baby shifts under her skin. 

“Momma!” 

She stands at the sound of her daughter’s voice, fixing a smile on her face as she sees her children come into view. Jack runs at her, his arms tight around her middle as he buries his face in her chest, a tension in his shoulders that is tight enough to break her heart, a vice around it that she can physically feel. 

JJ and Will aren’t far behind, Alice in Will’s arms and her tiny fists reaching out for her mother. Emily wraps an arm around Jack and holds him just as fiercely as he is holding her. She shifts him just enough so she can take Alice from Will, settling her on her hip, some of her anxiety lessened by having all of her children within arms reach. 

“Emily, what happened?” JJ asks, her hand on her friend's shoulder and squeezing tightly, providing what little comfort that she can. 

“We…” she swallows thickly and clears her throat. She knew she hadn’t given many details over the phone, just that Aaron was in the hospital and a request to let the rest of the team know and to bring the kids to the hospital. She wanted to see them, she needed to, and she knew Jack in would rather know when something was happening rather than being kept in the dark. 

When she became his mother she promised she’d never lie to him, and it was a promise she intended to keep.

She smiles tightly at her friend and then looks down at Jack, encouraging him to shift enough so he can look at her, “You stay here with Uncle Will, okay?” 

He frowns, “Mom-”

“I’ll be right back,” she says, running her hand through his hair, “I just need to speak to Aunt JJ,” she says, seeing that he’s still unsure. She looks at her daughter, the toddler too young to understand what was happening but clearly stressed by the tension around her, her little hand tight in the neckline of Emily’s dress, “Can you sit with your sister and Uncle Will for me? I know Alice likes it when you sing to her.” 

She feels bad for playing dirty, for counting on the endless empathy that he had inherited from his father, but he nods and she feels relieved. She kisses his forehead and then guides him over to where Will is now sitting, an understanding look on his face as Jack sits next to him as closely as he can. Emily hands over Alice who resists, her grip on her tightening, and Emily smiles at her before leaning in and kissing her cheek.

“Mommy will be right back, sweet girl,” she says reassuringly. She nods gratefully at Will as he takes Alice from her, already talking in the tone she knows her daughter finds comforting. 

She walks several paces away with JJ, still in sight of the kids but far enough away that they can’t hear them.

“We took a shortcut,” Emily says, crossing her arms over her chest, holding herself together because she had no other choice, “It was my idea, I…I didn’t want to walk the long way around.” 

“Em,” JJ says fiercely, reaching for her hand and linking it with hers, “This isn’t your fault. It’s the fault of the men who did this.” 

Emily nods even though she isn’t sure she believes it, and she blows out a steady breath, “They came from nowhere. I wasn’t paying attention, I wasn’t looking for threats I was…I was just on a date with my husband,” she says, her voice cracking for the first time all evening, giving way under the weight of guilt she couldn’t shake, “They had knives, they took our wallets, my purse. Our rings. Then they got spooked and…one of them stabbed Aaron.” 

JJ squeezes her hand again, smiling encouragingly at her, a kindness in her eyes Emily wasn’t sure she’d ever deserved, “Well, Pen is at mine watching the boys and by the time she arrived she’d already blocked all your cards and started tracking your phone. Derek is poised to get the bastards that did this the second she finds them.” 

Emily chokes on a laugh, the sound catching in her chest, held in place by the sadness that wouldn’t let it escape. It was strange to think sometimes she’d found her family, her people, in the most unlikely of places. People she had been to hell and back with and for more than once. 

“That’s good,” she says, looking over at the kids, smiling softly at the sight of Alice already getting sleepy in Will’s arms. 

“Are you okay?” JJ asks and Emily looks back at her, her eyebrows furrowing. JJ rolls her eyes lovingly and points at her bump, “Physically. You and the baby.”

She nods and rests her hand on her belly, “Yeah, we’re fine they didn’t get near us.” 

“And you had that confirmed by a medical professional, right?” JJ asks knowingly, raising her eyebrow at her friend whose silence was the only answer she needed, “Okay, we’re getting you looked at-”

“JJ-”

“Look, we both know when Aaron wakes up it’s me he’ll be pissed at if you don’t get checked out,” JJ reasons, tilting her head slightly at her friend, “He is entirely incapable of being pissed at you.” 

Emily still feels resistant to it, wanting nothing more than to sit with Alice and Jack until the doctor comes out to update them, but she knows her friend is right. She sighs and nods, “Okay.” 

JJ smiles at her and walks back towards Will and the kids, speaking to them but ensuring Will knew she was actually addressing him, “I’m just going to take Mommy to have the baby looked at, okay?” She says softly, her eyes flicking to her husband’s briefly, “And when we come back we’ll have lots of new pictures of the baby for you to look at,” she waits for Jack to nod, Alice already mostly asleep, and she stands back up straight, directly addressing Will this time, “If there are any updates-”

“I’ll make sure you know them, darling,” he says, “I’ve got it here, you go make sure she looks after herself.” 

She smiles lovingly at him, reaching out and briefly squeezing his hand, “As always, you get the easy job,” she jokes as she winks. She walks over to Emily and puts her arm around her friend as she leads her to the nurse's station. 

“I heard that you know,” Emily grumbles and JJ chuckles.

“Good. I meant you too.” 

They are sent by a nurse to an examination room and told a doctor will be with them shortly, a promise made after JJ made no secret of what they did for a living. 

Emily slips off her shoes as she gets up onto the bed, her hands on her bump as she blows out a breath, “I really am fine. Baby hasn’t stopped kicking.” 

“I know,” JJ says, taking a seat on the chair next to the bed, “But we both know you’d never forgive yourself on the off chance something did go wrong.” 

She knows she can’t argue with that, so she doesn’t, simply nodding at her friend as the door opens and a doctor walks in. 

“Emily Hotchner?” He says as he looks at his file and Emily nods, smiling tightly at him. She usually felt a spark of joy whenever her married name was used, something that only ever happened in personal circumstances like this, but tonight it was nowhere to be found, “I’m Doctor Covey, I hear you had a bit of a scare this evening?” 

She clears her throat, “My husband and I were held at knifepoint, he’s in surgery right now but I didn’t get hurt.” 

“Still,” Doctor Covey says as he walks over, tugging the ultrasound machine with him, “It’s always best to get these things checked out,” he says, and Emily doesn’t have to look at JJ to know she’s smiling smugly, “Is this your first?” 

“No,” Emily answers, “I have a little girl, she’s three.” 

He smiles, “Then you know the drill,” he says, pulling a paper blanket from the dispenser above the bed, “If you could pull your dress up over your bump we’ll have a look at your baby and see what's going on.” 

Emily hesitates, looking at her friend as she’s handed the small, paper, covering she’s been given to cover her lap, and JJ laughs. 

“Em, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. You do remember your bachelorette party, right?” 

She blushes slightly, her teeth clenched as she narrows her eyes at her friend before she nods, shifting so she can hike her dress up as needed. 

“I thought we said we’d never speak about that,” she grumbles, wincing slightly as Doctor Covey puts some of the cold gel on her skin. 

“Sorry,” he says, already looking at the screen of the machine, the wand pressed into her belly, “Just a few seconds and we’ll be able to see your baby."

She closes her eyes as she feels anxiety set in. It felt wrong to be doing this without Aaron here. He’d been to every scan, every appointment, making it a point to never miss any of it, and she hated that he was somewhere else in the hospital. Once again being stitched back together because she hadn’t been able to stop him from getting hurt. She smiles softly as she feels JJ grab her hand, and she squeezes back tightly, grateful for the presence of her best friend if she couldn’t have her husband with her. 

The relief she feels is palpable when she hears the familiar swoosh of her child’s heartbeat, the sound forcing her eyes open as she looks at the screen. She can’t help but smile at the sight of the baby on the screen, how their hand was up near their face, almost as if they were waving.

“Everything’s okay?” She asks, and Doctor Covey nods smiling as he turns to look at her. 

“He’s perfectly healthy, exactly what I would expect to see for how far along you are.” 

She freezes, all of her focus shrinking down to one word he’d said, the laugh that had been trapped earlier in her chest finally escaping.

“He?” She asks, her voice full of wonder as she looks at her stomach, “It’s a boy?” 

In any other circumstance, she’s sure she’d find the way the doctor’s eyes go wide funny, but it’s the last thing she can think about right now. He stutters as he puts the wand back down.

“I’m so sorry, I should have checked if you knew-”

“No,” she says, smiling as she cuts off the unnecessary apology, “That’s okay…” she turns to look at JJ, unsurprised to find tears shining in her friend's eyes, “A boy. I’m having a boy, JJ.”

It’s joy she didn’t think she’d be able to feel at the moment, and it’s fleeting, immediately replaced by the nagging fear she’d never be able to tell the one person she wanted to tell more than anyone.

___

When Aaron wakes up, the first thing he feels is pain. 

It’s familiar, greeting him like an old friend. A burning sensation low in his abdomen pulls him awake, concern for Emily, for his family, overriding anything else. He feels a hand he’d know anywhere squeeze his and he turns his head to look at his wife. She looks tired, worn down by the last several hours, but she’s still beautiful. All of the features he’d loved for much longer than he should have ethereal even in the fluorescent hospital lighting. 

“Hi,” she says, keeping her voice low, the tightness in her chest that had taken residence there the moment he was hurt easing slightly. 

“Hi,” he repeats, his voice sounding rough even to him. He looks around, “The kids…” 

“They’re okay,” she says, smiling softly as she rubs her thumb back and forth over the heel of his hand, “It took some bribing to convince them to go, but they are at JJ and Will’s tonight. Will promised to make them breakfast which did a lot of the heavy lifting.” 

He nods, his head swimming as he does so, “You’re okay?” He asks and she smiles and nods. 

“I’m fine, baby is too,” she says, “We’re fine,” she says, shifting so she’s sitting on the edge of his bed, placing his hand on her belly so he can feel their son move. “Derek called, they got the guys who did this,” she says, blowing out a breath, “Apparently they had a truckload of things they’ve stolen, they’ve been working those streets for weeks.” 

He looks down at their hands and looks at the empty space on her finger, the one on his, and he squeezes her hand, getting her attention so her eyes meet his. 

“I’ll buy you new rings,” he says, his voice so serious that she laughs, the sound wet as she shakes her head and wipes stray tears from her cheeks. He knew her so well that it made her ache, aware without her saying something that the meaning the rings held would change after this. That every time she would look at them she’d think of this, of how she could have lost him in a way she had never seen coming.

“We’ll buy new rings,” she corrects and he smiles.

“I’ll put it on the joint account,” he jokes and she laughs again, nodding because she knows there is no point in arguing with him. He looks her up and down, his eyes fixed on her bump, “You're both really okay?”

“JJ made me get a scan, I’m fine,” she says, pressing her lips together to suppress her smile, “He’s fine.” 

It takes a second longer than it usually would for her words to register because of the medication in his system, but she sees the moment it does. His eyes going wide, immediately filled with the same joy she’d felt earlier. This time she lets herself enjoy it this time, lets it settle over her now she knew Aaron was okay.

“He?” He asks, the same wonder in his voice that she’d had when she asked the same question, “The baby’s a boy?” 

“Yeah,” she says, her smile so wide she swears her cheeks could split with it, “It’s a boy. We’re having another son.” 

The joyous laugh that escapes him, the one she thought she might never hear again today, and it eases the last bit of tension that had existed in her chest, the feeling immediately replaced with love for him and their family. 

-x-

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[hiraeth-witch-11]

Bond to Happen: Part 15

Trigger Warnings: canon typical violence, magical self harm, technical suicide (feel free to message me for details) Word Count: 3000ish

You call Matt that afternoon. “Do you really think that going to the WBI is a good idea?”

“I think it’s worth the chance, all things considered.”

“And you really think you and Foggy can protect me? At least give me enough time to find a way out if things go bad?”

“I do.”

“Then I’m in. What do I need to do?”

“Paperwork, and a lot of it. Then we go to the WBI, file for a Review of Identification,

submit some of your blood, and a formal reading of your magic.”

“When do we start?”

Matt made room in his schedule so the two of you could begin that evening. It was a lot of paperwork and you were grateful when Foggy came by to help, no questions asked. Much of it had information only you could answer. When your abilities had begun to show up and how they progressed. Family information with as many details about any nonhuman members as possible. Sleeping habits, eating habits, sexual habits, fears, hobbies. Even your favorite color. The more personal things you filled out on your own, but much of it you let Foggy and Matt record in their professional interpretation of your words.

You call Billy before it gets too late. “Hey Bill, would it be okay if I took a few days off? There are a few things I want to get done before I come back to work.”

“Of course, take as much time as you need. My offer still stands, if you want a couple weeks paid time off, it’s yours.”

“Three days should be fine, no longer than a week. I’ll keep you updated in case things change.”

“I’m here if you wanna talk or if you just want some company.”

“Thanks, Billy.”

“Bye, sweetheart.”

You hang up and turn back to Matt who has a strange look on his face. 

“What’s that face for, Matt?”

“You and Russo have gotten pretty close.”

“That’s not a question,” you point out.

“He seems… nice.”

“He is. He’s actually a really good guy.”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Yeah…”

“Do you ever think it might be a bit much? The presents, the whole ‘shoulder to cry on’ act, catering to your needs? That inhibitor cuff alone is a pretty big gesture to come from a friend who also happens to be your boss.”

You have to fight the urge to be defensive. “I’ve known him for a while, Matt, it’s not like this all came on overnight.”

“You’re right. You’re right.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’.”

“Sometimes he just seems off to my senses. Like there’s something I’m missing. I can never catch him in a lie, his heart stays steady all the time. It’s just strange, is all.”

“Maybe you can’t catch him in a lie because he isn’t lying to any of us, Matthew.”

“Maybe, Blue. Just be careful with him?”

“I’m always careful, Matt,” you bristle before softening your tone. “But I’ll keep what you said in mind.”

*********

You wore your most professional outfit that Monday morning as you, Matt, and Foggy went to the WBI New York office. You were grateful that Matt and Foggy never left you alone through the whole process. The investigators took a few samples of your blood and hair, which was the easiest part of all of it. The magic scan was uncomfortable as they asked you to activate your abilities and hold them in that state. You were honest and told them you were magically exhausted. The technician assured you that as long as you could use a small amount of power, the scan would work. It just needed to see what pathways were lighting up and how.

The technology was a beautifully intricate combination of something like an x-ray with complex spells woven into it.

The whole process took the better part of the day and you were dead on your feet when you finally got back to your apartment.

*********

“Russo.”

“Hey, Billy, it’s me. Are you busy?”

“Hey, sweetheart, not at all. How are you doing?”

“Better actually. The cuff has been a lifesaver. I was wondering if you were free to hangout sometime in the next few days? I was thinking of visiting Central Park since I won’t be as overwhelmed anymore and thought maybe you could come with me?”

“I’d love to, are you free tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yup, I’ll just be home relaxing all day.”

“You deserve the rest, sweetheart. I’ll swing by and pick you up at around 3?”

“That works, I’ll see you then.”

“I look forward to it.”

“Me too. Bye, Billy.”

“Bye, sweetheart.”

You smile to yourself as you hang up. 

*********

“It’s so nice to be able to enjoy being outside, Billy. You have no idea how loud everything was before the cuff.”

“I’m glad it’s been helpful.” Billy holds out his arm for you to take as you stroll through the busy park. You take it with a little laugh.

“What?” He asks.

“It’s just nice to feel like a real person again.”

“How long has it been that bad?”

“Most of the time I've known you,” you admit.

“Shit, sweetheart. You shoulda said something.”

“I kind of just accepted it. For a while there at least.”

“And now?”

“Now… I’m trying to hope for something better.”

“You deserve the world. One day, someone will give it to you.”

“Maybe. I’m taking baby steps for now. Matt and Foggy are helping me with some witch stuff, I’ll let you know if anything comes of it.”

“Is this walk part of those baby steps?”

“Yup,” you say, popping the ‘p’ as you speak. “Karen says I need to spend more time with people outside of work.”

“And I was the first person on your list. Aw, sweetheart, I’m touched.”

“Don’t let it go to your head.” You roll your eyes at him as he grins at you.

“I’ll do my best.”

“What have I missed over the last couple days? Fill me in on the office gossip.”

“I’m the CEO, I don’t gossip.”

“Of course not.”

“But now that we’re on the topic, I did hear that Anvil has been divided by some strong opinions on the espresso machine.”

“I knew it. Did Josie end up going through with her plan?”

“She did, no one could tell the difference.” Billy continues sharing how everyone reacted once Josie came clean and how it led to a mild prank war the next day. The two of you were laughing and leaning into each other, enjoying the afternoon when the hair on the back of your neck prickled.

“Stop for a second, something feels wrong.” Your words halt Billy’s animated rambling and his expression turns serious. The sun has barely started setting, warm light still breaking through the trees of central park. There are few things that should be able to penetrate the protection of the cuff. The first and only one you think of in that moment, is if your life is in immediate danger.

“I thought you were wearing your cuff?” He looks down at your wrist and you shake your head.

“I am, I don’t know what it is.” You pull off your cuff to try and get a feel for what’s setting the hairs on the back of your neck on end.

“What do you see?” He asks, leaning down to look into your eyes.

“I can’t see anything, but I have a bad feeling, Billy.” It’s pure instinct, something deep in your gut urging you to run.

“Let’s get back home. You stay right next to me. Got it, sweetheart?” His words leave no room for argument and you nod your understanding. He takes your hand in his, keeping his free hand near his hip, where his gun is. You are almost out of the park, you had mostly stayed on the outskirts anyway. You can just barely see the street when a jolt of fear runs up your spine, telling you to hit the ground. With an unnatural burst of strength, you jerk Billy towards you, dropping to the ground as a gunshot pierces the air, the bullet flying right through the spot the two of you had been.

“Stay low, move behind those trees-”

“There’s more than one, others on the ground around us,” you tell him as your Sight flickers in and out. Billy nodded, pulling out his gun. He didn’t seem rattled at all. He was focused, with a terrifying lethal look on his face. You were glad it wasn’t directed at you.

“Go to those trees and hide, text Frank, but stay very quiet and do not move. Do you understand?” 

“I understand,” you say and make a low dash for a thick pocket of trees with enough bushes around the base that you would be out of sight. By the time you could peek between branches, Billy had already disappeared. You shoot off a quick text to Frank, including your live location and switching your phone to silent.

We are being attacked, multiple armed assailants, Central Park.

Then you stick your phone firmly into the waistband of your jeans, under your shirt and jacket so you don’t lose it in case of a struggle. It is eerily quiet for only a few moments, but those moments seem to drag on for an eternity. Your breath sounds as loud as thunder to your own ears and you work on slowing your racing heart. Your Sight is erratic, like a TV with a bad signal, only blurry images are coming through and so much of them are filled with blood. 

The sound of gun fire ruins any hope you have of calming yourself and now all you can think about is Billy. You can’t see him, in any way, you can’t feel his aura. You can’t hear him, only the occasional unrecognizable yell or grunt mixed in with so many gunshots. In hindsight, you were a little too focused on what might be happening with Billy and not worried enough about your own surroundings. With your Sight, no one with the intent to harm you should have been able to get so close without you noticing. 

You guess you have to accept that your Sight is officially broken when you notice the masked man creeping towards you, not even a dozen paces away. He sees you, you know he does when your eyes lock. You move to run, blood rushing through your ears in a feeling so strangely reminiscent of the ocean. Your panic is all consuming. You are weak. Alone. Unarmed. Sightless. Likely magicless. With no self defense training. All you could do was run, and even that wasn’t enough. The man caught you in seconds, tackling you to the ground as you let out a scream. Your attacker wrenches you onto your back and grips your face.

“What’s your name?” He yells. You shake your head, mouth frozen in fear. He doesn’t like that. The man backhands you causing your head to jerk sharply to the left as you see stars, bright blotches of light to contrast with the dark tinge to the edge of your vision. He jerks your head so you face him again, this time, he presses a knife to your neck. You can’t see it, but you can feel it as it shallowly cuts the vulnerable skin of your throat.

“Your name! Tell me your name!” He demands, spittle flying. You give your legal name carefully and it seems to be what he wants to hear as he drags you upright, keeping the knife close to your neck as you stand. He pulls your back to his chest, free arm pinning you as the other shoves the knife until it connects with skin. You don’t think he intends to kill you in this moment. But he isn’t being very careful with the blade and you’ve been cut twice now. You can feel the blood oozing down your throat.

“RUSSO!” He roars. The only thing keeping you from flinching at the sound is that sharp knife.

“Let her go, Mills.” You can’t see him, but you recognize Billy's voice. You’re relieved that he’s still alive. You knew he was capable, likely as capable as Frank when he acted as the Punisher, but you’d never seen him in action before.

“Drop your weapons first,” your captor orders.

“You know you aren’t making it out of here, Alex. Your team is dead. You only have two options, kill her or let her go. You’re gonna die either way. You just get to pick how quick it is.” There’s a quality to Billy’s voice that you have never heard before. Not when he argued with Frank, not when he yelled at his team for messing up, not when he was trying to scare new recruits. It held his usual confidence, but where he usually sounded playful, now he sounded like a predator toying with his food. Confidence, amusement, anger, murderous intent. A combination you had never expected to hear from the man you knew. 

Billy slowly moves into your view. You admit, your vision is still a bit blurry, but you swear his eyes are completely black, the color spreading into the white of his eye. He’s holding a gun, different from what you originally saw him with, and it’s aimed carefully towards your attacker- and you, given the position you are in. 

Two bangs go through the air and Billy lets out an animalistic snarl of pain as he drops to his knee, trying to see where the shots came from. You struggle as you see blood pooling from his stomach. He moves to stand, to at least aim his gun at the new enemy before they can shoot again. He isn’t fast enough. Another bang and his right shoulder jerked back.

“Not the whole team, Russo. Guess that cozy desk job made you sloppy,” a feminine voice calls out. “Don’t worry, your pretty little pet witch will live. The Boss wants her unharmed, for now at least. You know how he gets. Go ahead and say goodbye before I put you down.”

Time seems to slow to a halt and you are hyper aware of the blood on your skin, the knife at your throat, the throbbing of your cheek. Billy is going to die if you don’t do something. You are going to be abducted and Billy will be dead. 

You refuse to lose him. So you end up doing something positively insane. Something that will kill you. Better to use your death to save someone you love, than live with his death. Your magic reserves are low like usual. Not enough to help in this situation. You need another source of life, another aura that is easily accessible in this moment. The man holding you has no exposed skin for you to grab, and even if he did, you quite literally are not strong enough to pull from his aura forcefully. It’s an unfamiliar practice with an unfamiliar aura. No, your would-be abductors are not an option. You need an aura you are intimately familiar with, one you use and manipulate on a daily basis. 

Blood magic is illegal, and energy cannibalization is used only by the most desperate, inane witches. Well, you never claimed to be smart. In this moment, this heartbeat drawn on into a thousand, you’ve made your decision. You slowly press into the knife, quickening your blood loss without killing yourself immediately, and you draw on the power of your own life. As soon as the connection via blood is made, you force your magic to draw from your own life force. Electricity runs through your skin and you’ve never felt more powerful. A bright flame that will burn out quickly, so you need to be precise. 

A touch of magic to heat the handle of the blade, swiftly catching it as the man holding you drops the weapon in pain. You pull the bangle off your wrist to reduce the block on your energy. You throw a wall of energy in front of Billy, protecting him from any attacks as you whirl around and slash the throat of the man who held you. The knife is light in your hand, the spray of blood warm on your face, the feeling of ending a life a twist in your skull. The woman has opened fire on you, but your magic pushes it off course as you charge her. She meets the same fate as her comrade. You force your Sight to work, checking for immediate threats, before turning to Billy, dropping the wall of energy. You can’t hear his words. You don’t have time to listen anyway. Your heart rate is already dropping. Your hands grasp his shoulder and stomach. You don’t hear the hiss of pain, but you register the movement and order him to stay still. The voice that comes out of your mouth is not your own. It’s empty, emotionless, overlapping in echoes upon itself. The shot to his stomach has done significant damage. Your magic pulls out the bullet and prevents more blood from escaping his body. You are running out of energy, so you take your stolen knife, coated in the blood of your enemies, and drag it against your inner forearm. A movement swift and precise, intended to draw blood, but not deep enough to kill. Your Anima Viverra will kill you soon enough, no need to make it any messier. With the final draw of life from your blood, you place your hands over Billy’s stomach wounds and force every last drop of magic you have into them. 

You don’t hear his words. You don’t feel his hands as they try to stop you. As they try to stop the flow of blood from your skin. As they beg you to stop, to focus on him.

The once fatal, toxin filled wounds are now mostly healed. Satisfied with your work, you allow the exhaustion to consume you as your body tries and fails to heal itself. Then you die. ------------- I don't have it in me to keep up with a tag list right now. Thank you for your interest and support.

[queen-of-the-avengers]

The Avengers: Part Five

Pairing: Loki x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.2k

Warnings: canon violence and angst

Author’s Note: any and all comments are appreciated <3

x

Natasha escorts you three into the bridge where a ton more people are. Computers on both sides with people working on all of them. There is a long table in the center of the room with Nick Fury and Maria Hill posted on a small platform with a control desk.

"Gentlemen. Ladies," Fury greets. Fury moves to go past Steve when your friend stops him suddenly. He pulls out a ten-dollar bill and hands it to Fury. Nick takes the money and walks over to Bruce who is still shy about everything. "Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thank you for asking nicely." Bruce looks at you and shakes Fury's hand politely. "So, uh, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

"Where are you with that?"

Fury points to Phil so he can explain it to him. Natasha looks at one of the computers that has Clint's picture on it. Clint is her best friend whom she owes everything to. She's not going to go down without a fight. She is going to bring him back home.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet--cellphones, laptops, tablets. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time," Natasha sighs.

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Bruce asks Fury.

"How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr.Banner to his laboratory, please?"

Natasha walks past you without a look in your direction.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys."

It's going to take a while to track down Loki, and you're not needed for that. The computers will do it for you, so you decide to take a little break to gather your thoughts.

"Hey, are you okay?" Steve asks when you walk past him.

"I just need some air. I'll be back."

You walk out of the bridge and onto the long airstrip. This process is going to take all day but you'd rather enjoy the sunset from out here than in there. You're high above the clouds so that you can't see the world below you. There is nothing preventing you from seeing such a beautiful sunset. You walk to the edge of the helicarrier and sit down so that your legs dangle off the edge and right above one of the wind turbines. The sky is beaming with pink, orange, and purple colors. The clouds look like a blanket you can just walk over.

It's truly beautiful.

"They told me you were outside."

You look back to see Natasha walking out to you.

"Hi," you say and immediately get up. "I needed to get away from everyone for a bit. You know how that goes." She nods and uncomfortable silence fills the space between you two. "Nat, I am so sorry."

"What happened? You were just... gone."

"I don't know. I was sent to Asgard. I don't know why I ended up there. I tried to leave but Thor just dragged me along with him. I--I don't have an excuse. I didn't realize two years had passed. Time works differently on Asgard than it does here."

"I thought you left me like you didn't want to be with me. It's hard for me to let people in, and I thought you... I was pissed at you for a long time."

"I know. I really am sorry." Again, more uncomfortable silence. "Just because two years have passed, doesn't mean I don't think you're still gorgeous. You are."

"Does that mean...? You know, between us...?"

You fill in the missing words of her questions on your own.

"I think you're amazing. I think you deserve all the love in the world, as cheesy as that sounds. I think if given another opportunity, we can be something, but I don't think it's right now." Loki pops into your head, and you try to will it away. "I have to figure out my feelings for someone before I try to enter a new relationship. I don't want to string you along or take advantage of you. If we do date, I want you to know you have my whole heart. My heart just isn't whole right now."

"You really know how to let a girl down easy," she chuckles.

"I do really want to be your friend. Do you want to be mine?"

"Yeah," she nods with a smile.

"Good. I can't wait to tell you what I've been up to for the past two years."

"If it has anything to do with what happened in New Mexico, I kind of have an idea." You two walk back inside the bridge to see people running around like they have their heads cut off. "What's going on?"

"We got a hit. Seventy-nine percent match."

"Location?"

"Stuttgart, Germany. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain. Y/N. You two are up," Fury says. "Y/N, we made a suit for you while you were gone. It might help with the fire and ice powers. Plus, it looks cool."

"Thanks," you say.

You've never had an issue with your clothes burning off whenever you used your fire powers, but it'll be nice to have a uniform like everyone else. It's nice to have someone who cares enough about you to make you one even after being missing for two years. It's very form-fitting but has a material that allows you to move comfortably and breathe properly though. Fury though it was funny to make the colors match your powers... kind of. 

You and Steve arrive in Germany before more people can be killed. Natasha is on standby in the Quinjet just in case she needs to be the big guns. Tony still hasn't shown up to help, and now you're not so confident Phil got through to him. If you know Tony, and you do, then he'll join this team on his terms.

When you fly in, there is a crowd of people at Loki's mercy. They are all kneeling in front of him, and he's put up illusions of himself around the perimeter to keep them in check. Even from where you are in the sky, you can see how much pain he's in. He's broken and angry and someone is manipulating him for their own selfish greed. Everyone around him is quiet as they don't know what he is going to do next, and he holds his arms out, smiling.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

An elder German man stands up despite how fearful everyone is of Loki.

"Not to men like you."

"There are no men like me," Loki grins.

"There are always men like you."

"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example."

Loki raises his scepter to blast the old man back when Steve comes barreling in like a hero. He slams to the ground in front of the old man and deflects the blast from the scepter. The blast ricochets off the shield and back at Loki who crumbles to the ground. You fly in next to Steve but stay in the air with your hands up in flames.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"The Avatar," Loki sneers and looks up at you. "The soldier. A man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

Natasha comes swooping down with the Quinjet and a machine gun slides out of the bottom of it and points at Loki.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down," she says over the PA system.

Loki blasts the Quinjet but Natasha quickly maneuvers out of the way, giving Steve time to throw the shield at Loki. Loki shoots the shield with the scepter while Steve runs at him at full force. You muster up fireballs and throw them in Loki's direction, causing him to be smart about how he is fighting. Where Loki uses his scepter to fend off Steve, your best friend is using hand-to-hand combat to defeat Loki.

Still, Loki is a much more skilled fighter than Steve is and knocks him down completely. Steve is on his knees with his head bowed and Loki shoves the end of the scepter into his helmet to keep him there.

"Kneel."

"I don't think so," you say from behind Loki.

Loki turns just in time to see the shield coming right at him. You have grabbed it and are now using it to whack some sense into him. You smack the side of the shield into his body and he goes flying off to the side, freeing Steve. You hand him the shield back before walking over to Loki who is just now getting back on his feet. He quickly points the tip of the scepter to your chest to mind control you, but it doesn't go quite according to plan. When the power inside the scepter collides with the power inside you, it explodes as if they aren't meant to be mixing together. You and Loki go flying back, and you hit your head on the concrete.

Steve rushes at Loki but the God grabs your friend and tosses him to the side like he's a ragdoll. Natasha comes swooping in to try and help, but Loki has cast a bunch of illusions to make it more difficult for her to figure out which is the real him.

Suddenly, the loudspeaker on the Quinjet roars to life, and ACDC's Shoot to Thrill starts playing loudly. That can only mean one thing. Tony comes flying in like the hero he is and blasts Loki away with the repulsor on his chest. Loki smacks the stairs leading up to a building. That is enough to take him down, especially when Tony aims everything he's got at the God.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games." Loki puts his hands up in surrender, and his golden armor shimmers away. "Good move."

"Hey, Tony," you say and join the duo.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know, had to come back."

"I thought you were dead."

"I'm not."

"I can see that."

"Mr. Stark," Steve says.

"Captain."

Loki is taken as a prisoner onto the Quinjet. With him in custody, Fury wants him back at the Helicarrier as soon as possible. Natasha is piloting the aircraft, Steve and Tony are whispering to each other by the cockpit like school girls, and you're sitting next to Loki on the side... just staring at him. He can't seem to look you in the eyes now that he's forced to be with you. He can't take the heat of you burning holes in his head.

"Y/N..."

"Shut up," you immediately cut him off. "Fuck you."

He looks into your eyes, and much like before, your reality is swirling into the past.

Asgard is known for many things, but the one thing they love to uphold is their annual balls where they invite everyone in the kingdom to come and celebrate in the castle. People of all classes show up to enjoy good food and delicious wine, and to laugh among their peers. The royal family can get so many things wrong, but this is one thing that everyone looks forward to.

You obviously don't have any clothes since everything you own is back on Xenia, but Loki pulled something out of a closet that is just your size. It's a beautiful gown that reaches your feet. Even in the heels he's given you, your feet are barely visible. The color is a dark forest green that doesn't puff out like most ball gowns. While it does have a bit of volume, it's relatively close to your body. The straps are ones that you tie together like a bow, and the top of the dress is covered with even darker-colored rhinestones that seem to drip down as if it's melting.

It's perfect for someone who is Loki's date.

Once you're done getting ready, you walk over to Loki's room to see if he is. You knock once and enter without waiting for his permission. He is facing the floor-length mirror in an all-black suit including the undershirt. The jacket he's wearing over it is unbuttoned so that you can see how form-fitting the undershirt is. He is working on his tie that he can't seem to get right away. When he does, he buttons up the rest of his jacket to complete the look.

His eyes shift from his task to you, and his breath is taken away. You walk closer to him until he is forced to turn to face you in order to see things more clearly.

"You look very handsome," you grin and wrap your arms around his neck.

"You look stunning. Absolutely ravishing."

His blue eyes shine brightly against the darkness of his suit.

You open your mouth to say something but nothing comes out. You shake your head in disappointment and leave his side. Steve knows how overwhelming this is for you and welcomes you into his arms. You look over at Loki to see him watching you with careful eyes.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[teiasviago]

Saw your tags-- I don't disagree about the depression angle you presented. In this corner of the fandom, we take it for granted that MSR breakup was only a temporary bump; but that's not how it was presented canonically. The canon doesn't make ANY sense; so whenever I talk about the breakup dismissively, I'm exclusively bashing CC's nonsensical mess. :))))

Also: depression/listlessness/mentally instability and Mulder is a VERY possible angle, and one that DD wanted to explore in the 5? or 6? season; but the writers never got around to it. I just don't see Mulder sacrificing his relationship with Scully to it-- yes, depressed, yes giving up, no Scully. Their entire history is built by him going to an edge and her pulling him back: literally or logically. If he were to get to a place he can't be reasoned back from, that would be a serious, SERIOUS mental health break requiring, most likely, a hospitalization stay (that Scully would have to go over his head and call in for his own safety.) The Revival didn't treat ANY of that with dignity; and it infuriates me.

OH, WELL! We have fanfic-- positive thoughts~! :DDDD

Oh, the explorations we could’ve had if the writers gave a damn. 😩 I always interpreted it as a split-up that was meant to be temporary but like in that unspoken way that no matter what arguments they got into, they never led to Scully leaving the X-Files. Like they weren’t broken up, they were still together, they just had to split up geographically so that Scully could prioritize her own mental health. Granted, that’s obviously much more thought-out than canon, but I always get upset when people write off the entire idea of their relationship being harder to maintain when they’re not working together anymore/Mulder developing depression (not that you did) because they’re good concepts. They were just, in normal X-Files fashion, executed terribly. Any good we got from the break-up in the revival was definitely from David and Gillian because they definitely weren’t acting broken up, they were acting they split in spite of remaining in love—and that the difficulty of resuming their physical intimacy was precisely because of their love for each other.

I don’t think in canon or fan interpretations it’s really fair to frame it as Mulder sacrificing his relationship with Scully because that implies it’s a choice, and like you said, he wouldn’t choose to do that. But often with depression you’re not making a choice, and you feel like you’re six feet under emotionally, or are overwhelmed with sadness constantly. It makes me sad because a lot of the times Mulder got really depressed were linked directly to their work which was generally in fast-paced bursts that generally resolved themselves, and when they didn’t they still had to pay the bills and go to work every day—a stability Mulder lacks post-og series.

But anyways, Mulder was never depressed in good faith and they were never separated in good faith. It was all about how can we justify having more will they/won’t they the fastest with the least explanation necessary? (Endogenous depression my ass. It wasn’t random, he was told the world was gonna end and then it didn’t—just another big damn lie.)

But like you said, fanfic and positive thoughts!

[below-average-fangirl]

i finally watched the mummy (2017) the other day and nick morton really was made to be objectified omg why did i not watch it earlier 😭😭 my brain is SO rotted for him now i can’t stand it

anyway… mummy thoughts? 🎤

Ah, Nick Morton, my beloved HIMBO of a Golden Retriever explorer. Look at his dumb, confused face, he's adorable. 

So, when this film was released, it was trashed, like, royally kicked around by critics and, apparently, general audiences. I remember Mark Kermode being so unimpressed with it that he almost wondered if it was time for him to stop reviewing films because he found it so dull, so tbh, I doubt I would have sought it out if I hadn't become a TC obsessive; thank you, TGM. I'm pointing all that out because my expectations for this film were low, but even then, when I watched it, I was genuinely surprised that it received the hazing it has because I found it so much fun and I was not bored at any point.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know there are problems with it, mainly that they're too focused on setting up a shared universe when they should have simply focused on making one film; also, the CGI is a little dodgy in places and they don't utilize Vail at all once he's dead. It's unclear as to why Set wants to become human, especially if that will make him easier to kill despite his powers. Some of the dialogue is a little clunky. Annabelle Wallis has the thankless task of doing all the exposition, but she does it well. And they don't play up Nick and Ahmanet's connection nearly enough, but despite that, I had a great time watching it; it's a solid three-star film, not brilliant but not the dumpster fire that some made it out to be. And I absolutely love how much fun Tom Cruise is having playing Nick.

Look at him! He is having so much fun, and I dig it. And the film is funny. I love the opening sequence with Nick and Vail as they're running for their lives; it's so chaotic. But it's also sentimental in places. The scene where Nick and Jenny are in the water and he's holding her face and asking if she's okay and trying to reassure her that they'll figure it out and pleading for her to stay with him makes my heart hurt. And I think that underwater sequence with the knights coming out of the tombs is beautiful and scary because the sets are amazing.

Also, like Bill Cage, Nick is not an evil man, nor is he as selfish as he believes himself to be. He stands in front of Vail when the other soldiers are pointing guns at him, and he saves Jenny. Whether or not he thought it was the last parachute is irrelevant because as soon as the plane begins to fall, he assists her in finding a parachute and ensuring she is strapped in one, saving her life. My head canon for Nick having such a low opinion of himself is that an authority figure, such as a parent, grandparent, or possibly a teacher, disliked him and turned the smallest transgression into the biggest sign that he was a terrible person, when he probably wasn't any worse than most kids, but he's been told his entire life that he's a terrible person, so he's just thought, "Fuck it. If you think I'm that worthless, I'll be it." Even Jekyll just sees him at face value and uses that as an excuse to justify wanting to sacrifice Nick so they can kill Set. Fuck you, Jekyll.

So yeah, The Mummy's not the best film ever made, but for what it is, it is fun and better than it's given credit for, and Nick Morton needs to be protected, mainly from himself, at all costs.

[queenxxxsupreme]

Defender, Protector, Keeper

Part 3

A/N: This is the 3rd part of the mini series! Here is part 1 and part 2 in case you missed it or would like to reread any of them :) Here is my rdr2 masterlist in case you haven’t checked that out!

Warnings: nothing outside of canon for the game, name calling, Micah being Micah

Word Count: 1.9k

Summary: Arthur comforts you after you’ve had a rough day. 

***

A cool breeze blew through Clemens Point. The leaves in the treetops rustled as they swayed. 

You watched from the edge of John and Abigail’s tent as Abigail tucked Jack into bed. 

The two youngest members of the Van Der Linde Gang were having a sleepover, or as best of one as they could do with living in the same area. Ben was spending the night in Jack’s tent. The boys would often switch back and forth between the tent you shared with the girls and the one the Marston family stayed in. 

Abigail smiled at you as she left the tent. 

“I ain’t seen Jack this happy in a long time.”

“I’m glad he’s gotten along with Ben.”

“He was asking me earlier how long you two would be staying.”

You looked out across the camp, your eyes coming to find the fire that you were heading towards. 

John, Charles, Sean, Micah, Sadie, Bill, Javier, Karen, and Arthur sat around the fire. 

“I’m not sure, Abigail. I hope not for long. I just want to be able to get somewhere better for him, for Ben.” 

“I know.” Abigail nodded. “I’ve been telling John that since he came back. I don’t want my boy growing up in this.”

The topic was dropped as you neared the fire. 

“Ah, Miss Y/L/N!” Sean waved you over, motioning to the empty seat beside him. “Come have a drink with us!”

You would have happily gone and sat next to him, but then that would put Micah Bell on your other side. 

Arthur noticed this before Sean even finished his sentence. 

“Here, Miss Y/L/N.” He stood up, placing his hat on his head. “Have my seat.”

“Oh, Mr. Morgan. I couldn’t do that–,”

“It’s quite alright. I’m gonna go over here and sit with Sean.” Arthur took the drink in his hand and walked around the fire. 

“Come on over, Y/N.” Sadie motioned to where Arthur had just been sitting next to her. 

“Why didn’t you just get up so they could sit next to each other?” Karen whispered to Sadie. 

“If I sit beside Micah, someone might get hurt.”

“I hear you did rather well on the job yesterday, Y/N.” Karen looked around Sadie to you. “How well did you handle the boys?”

“Oh, they were rather well.” You smiled, brushing your fingers along a stitch on your skirt. “I think everything went smoothly for the most part.”

“Except when Sean decided to announce to everyone in town that we were there to steal from them.” Javier grunted. 

“Hey! Everyone made it back in one piece!” Sean proclaimed. “If anything, I think what I did helped us. Had to do all the hard work myself. As always.”

“Miss Y/L/N had to do all the work, Sean. Talkin’ sweet to that old man.” Arthur chuckled. “That ain’t something you can do, friend.”

“Gimme a pair of high heels and a skirt, and I’ll show you!”

“Last I knew, we didn’t go around praisin’ people who did nothin’ but lay on their back.” Micah stood up and moved to put a piece of wood on the fire. 

“Choose your next words wisely, Micah.” Arthur warned him, flicking the ashes from his cigarette on to the ground. 

You watched as Micah tossed the chunk of wood into the fire, drawing thousands of fireflies from the flames. 

“Y/N’s put in more work than you, ya lazy bastard.” Abigail snapped at him.

“Of course you think she does. You workin’ gals gotta stick together, don’t you?” He laughed. 

“Watch what you say to my wife, Micah.”

“Oh, come on, Marston. I’m just joking with the ladies. Don’t mean any harm.”

“You’re doing a fantastic job at working your way to a broken nose, Mr. Bell.” Sadie told him. 

“There’s no need to talk down on Y/N or Abigail, Micah.” Charles said. He was going to make an attempt to settle things between everyone before it could get out of hand. Micah was just looking for a way under everyone’s skin. “Their jobs are just as important as mine or yours.”

“They’ve earned their stay.” Javier agreed. “No need in bothering them about it.”

Micah returned to his seat, displeased with how things had played out. 

The tension that still resided in the air made your stomach twist up. 

You stood to your feet and began to leave. But you didn’t get more than two steps before Sadie was stopping you. 

“Where are you goin’, Y/N?”

“I have a few things to finish up before bed.”

“Don’t let Micah Bell being Micah Bell scare you away.” Sean shook his head. 

“Mr. Bell doesn’t scare me, Mr. MacGuire.” You gave the Irishman a little smile. “I want to finish the chores before I get too tired to do anything else.”

Arthur shook his head, dropping his gaze to the fire as you left. 

“Bastard.” Sadie cursed under her breath. 

“Now why do you have to be like that, Micah?” Karen sighed.

“‘Cause he’s a sad little man, Karen.”

“What did you just say?” Micah jumped to his feet, ready to jump over the fire to get to Charles. 

Arthur stood up, ready to step in to help Charles if needed. 

“Sit your ass down, Micah.” Javier said. 

Arthur left the fireside as Micah slowly sat down. Arthur just wanted to get away. Maybe he’d throw in the towel early tonight. 

As he was crossing the camp to get to his tent, something moved out of the corner of his eyes. 

You were folding down the laundry that had been handing on one of the clothes lines. 

The gunslinger came to a stop for a moment, letting out a sigh. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep if he didn’t at least check on you. 

He took his hat off as he approached you, fixing his dirty blond hair. 

“Miss.”

You turned your head, a light smile coming to your lips. 

“Mr. Morgan.”

“It’s awfully late. You don’t gotta be doin’ anyone’s chores at this time of night.” He noticed that the shirt you were folding belonged to Dutch and the pants on top of the pile that was already folded belonged to Lenny. 

“You should be sleeping. Getting some rest while Benny’s over with Jack.”

“I’ll sleep when this is done. There isn’t much more left.” You assured him. “Besides, I wouldn’t want anyone to think I wasn’t pulling my weight.”

“Ignore anything that comes out of Micah’s mouth. That’s what I do. Hell, I think most of the gang does. He’s just a sour bastard.”

“I know.” You placed Dutch’s shirt on the pile of clean clothes then picked up one of Jack’s shirts. “I know his kind. I just don’t want to stir up the waters.”

“The only ones whose opinions matter are Dutch and Hosea’s, and as far as they are concerned, you pull your weight just fine. In my opinion, you pull more than just your weight.” Arthur pulled out his carton of cigarettes and offered you one when your eyes flickered to him. 

“No thank you.”

“I never see you sittin’ down.” Arthur lit his cigarette and tossed the match aside before putting the cigarette between his lips. “Every time I see you, you’re movin’ around camp carryin’ somethin’ or cleanin’ somethin’.”

He took the pants from you that you were folding and put them aside. 

“This ain’t a labor prison, Y/N.” His words were a bit muffled by the cigarette he held between his lips. “Why don’t you come sit with me? That way we don’t gotta deal with Micah or nothin’?”

“I’m…. I’m not sure, Arthur.” You rubbed your hands together nervously, bringing your eyes back to the clothes that still needed to be finished. 

“Trust me, pumpkin, these fellas here don’t mind unfolded clothes.” Arthur took your hand and tugged you gently away from the mess of laundry. 

When you began to willingly walk with him, he let your hand go and instead shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. 

He led the way down to the edge of the lake, opting for a seat on a washed up log. You sat next to him, resting your hands in your lap. 

A silence filled the space between you and Arthur Morgan. Crickets chirped quietly over the sound of the water brushing against the shore. 

“You know…. I, um, I wasn’t always….” You trailed off, unsure how to word what you wanted to say without being too blunt. “I wasn’t always like this.”

Arthur took the cigarette from his mouth, steadily blowing smoke from his lips. 

“I-I mean, I guess I was. That’s how I met Ben’s father….” A sad smile tugged at the corners of your lips. “When I found out I was pregnant, he insisted that I stay with him. He took care of me.”

You dropped your eyes down to your hands. 

“While he was around, I never had to be that way. But after he passed….” You trailed off. 

“M’sorry for your loss, Y/N.”

You turned your head to look at Arthur, a twinkle coming to your eyes even in the dim moonlight. 

“Everything happens for a reason.”

He nodded softly. 

“Can I ask you somethin’ about Ben?” Arthur asked, his eyes flickering up to meet yours. “I-I don’t want to cross any lines, so just let me know if it’s–,”

“You can ask me anything, Mr. Morgan.” You smiled gently at him. 

“Has he always been…. Has he always been so quiet?”

You shook your head a little. 

“No. He was a talkative little boy for a long time. Ever since he started babbling and cooing as an infant. But…. A few months ago, he stopped talking. He’s been through a lot.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it.” Arthur nodded his head gently. “He’s a strong boy.” 

“He is. We’ve…. We’ve come far, you know.” You looked across the lake. “I-I’ve tried to do everything I could for him.”

“You’re a great mother to him, Y/N. Don’t doubt that.”

Your eyes briefly met Arthur’s before you shook your head, tears blurring your vision. 

“He deserves better than this. Better than…. than this lifestyle. But this…. Arthur, this is all I can give him right now. This is the safest place we’ve been in a long time.”

“You are doing your best, Y/N. Sometimes the best ain’t ideal but it’s all we can do. You are trying and that’s all that matters.”

You shook your head again, brushing the tears from your cheeks with the sleeve of your coat. 

“What kind of mother lets their child stay in a camp of wanted folks?”

“You know, my mother died when I was young. My old man never tried to take care of me.” Arthur flicked his cigarette on to the ground and stepped on it. “There are parents out there that don’t give two licks what happens to their children, Y/N. I know this place ain’t much at all and it ain’t ideal for a young one, but that little boy has a place to lay his head at night, he’s got food when he’s hungry, and he’s got a whole handful of us lookin’ out for him when he needs it. That’s all because of you.”

You took a deep breath through your nose, sitting up a bit straighter as you forced yourself to stop crying. 

Your eyes found the thin, crescent shaped moon hanging above the lake. You reached over for Arthur, your hand finding his forearm. Your hand traveled down his arm until you reached his hand. Wordlessly, you laced your fingers together. 

Arthur let out a small breath and gave your hand a squeeze. 

“People like us, like you and me, we do what we got to do so we can survive. Sometimes it ain’t pretty and it ain’t what we want, but it’s what we have to do.”

Taglist:  @winterwolf @lauramb7 @caraqas @bluscryn @nonodino @krenee1drful @thefirelordm @sargeantsea @sokkasdarling @thecollection @mayday1284 @misskrql @micahs-bird @antoinette-2131 @fuzzyfangirl @the-average-mastermind @onespookykid @sheisweeping @laneyr14  @hufflepuffing-all-day-long @jessa-hub   @zodiacaldust @cal-lifornication @kashasenpai @brooke-supernatural16 @lassiee @hocdolliday @chrysanthykios  @reederarwen

If your name is in italics, it wouldn’t let me tag you :(

[nyx3927]

 @musicfeedsmysoul12​ and @lurking96 this is both of y’all’s fault with that thread about how too many fics where Izuku jumps, gets a quirk and just make Bakugo regret it without any actual character change. Just: Izuku goes splat, and now Bakugo is an uwu soft boy who’s really sorry but had no character development visible.

Y’all both get some of the blame for this fic outline I created after a bang, chocolate, and on 2 hours of sleep. It’s still a really rough outline and I don’t have time to polish it up into an actual outline, draft, then fic with my summer classes and job right now. Enjoy my stream of thought with no filter

The Ripple

Izuku has a concussion from Bakugo attacking him at school so his eyesight is off. Everything else is the same up to when All Might leaves him on the roof.

The concussion fucked with his vision, balance, and depth perception. So he ended up accidentally stepping off the side of the building. (Hush, I know that there’s a railing. We’re pretending that when All Might jumped away from Izuku on the roof, he accidentally took like half of it with him.)

Crash, boom, blood. Ambulance carted him off to the hospital and that’s the last we see of Izuku for a while.

They don’t know that All Might was the one who got him up to the rooftop because the notebook with the signature was blown off the roof and into the river. By the time that it was found, it was nothing but mush and the writing was illegible, all runny and blurry. They also just assumed that a villain ripped the railing off in a previous battle and the owner hadn’t gotten it fixed yet.

Inko tells Mitsuki that they think it was suicide because he couldn’t have accidentally gotten up on the roof (No evidence of All Might). Katsuki hears that but refuses to tell anyone that he told Izuku to jump off a roof because that could hurt his chances of being a hero.

Entrance Exam

Fast-forward to the entrance exam, everything proceeds as canon except for the bits with Izuku, which never happened.

Uraraka is stuck under the boulder with the zero pointer bearing down on her. Canon shows no evidence of any pro except Present Mic at the site, and he was last seen at the gates so he isn’t close by to Uraraka.

Uraraka couldn’t escape from the boulder in time and the kill switch takes up to 30 seconds to receive and process. So, the robot steps on the boulder and crushes her leg. She’s rushed to Recovery Girl but the damage is so severe that they have to amputate a leg.

As compensation, UA takes care of all the medical bills and offers her a spot in the Hero Course at UA with her entire tuition paid for all 3 years. Uraraka accepts to make it easier financially on her parents, so she shows up to the first day of classes with a prosthetic leg that she painted pink in an effort to make it less sad.

Quirk Assessment

A random extra is put into 1-A, but they and Mineta are promptly expelled. The extra just didn’t try at all, relying upon the idea that the teacher wouldn’t actually expel anyone on the first day. Mineta was just too pervy/not heroic enough so he got the boot.

Aizawa was reminded of the death of Oboro when Uraraka nearly got crushed, so he’s on high alert to expel those that he believes would never be good at heroics/ would just get themselves killed. Extra not trying and Mineta just focusing on being a perv, made him convinced they would get killed so he just expelled them straight away [No readmission for them]

This shocked Momo who thought he was bluffing and made her more cognizant of the fact that not everyone plays by the same rules as her.

Battle Trial

Battle trials happen. Momo and Uraraka are paired up together and fight twice in the trials. They won both times because Uraraka floated the bomb and Momo in the fight against Todoroki so that it was impossible for Todoroki to capture them. They win against Iida and Bakugo because Uraraka takes advantage of Iida’s unwillingness to hurt someone he views as disabled/helpless and knocks him out with a bat from Momo, then touches the bomb, Momo just created water and soaked Bakugo so he couldn’t use his Quirk and then ran from him.

All other trials proceeded as in canon.

USJ

Since Tsuyu is the only one in the Water Zone [Midoriya not in the story and Mineta expelled], she just went straight for the shore and got back to the entry area via the river. She witnesses the entire beatdown of Aizawa and his fighting, so she’s very traumatized. But because she’s amphibious and is completely underwater [In my hcs, she can breathe underwater as long as water can access most of her skin. So her suit is very permeable and water can get through it], Shigaraki never sees her and so he doesn’t try to kill her.

Rest of the USJ goes as canon dictates including Aizawa getting his head smashed by the Nomu

Sports Festival

Because 1-A has 2 less students, only the first 40 to get to the finish line can pass on. Todoroki ended up getting first place by icing over Bakugo’s legs at the tunnel entrance. Everyone else that originally passed in canon, also passed.

All the teams are the same, except for Uraraka’s team which doesn’t have Midoriya, and Shoji’s who doesn’t have Mineta.

Bakugo is going after Todoroki instead of Uraraka’s team because he’s focused on snagging the winning headband. 

Uraraka uses her Quirk on her team and they just hang out in the sky for awhile, since after the boulder, she practiced to be able to lift more weight so that never happens again. 

Shoji’s team is the same as canon, especially because Mineta never actually did anything important to the team.

Todoroki never uses his fire because he used his ice to create a dome that kept everyone else away from his team. Bakugo runs around stealing other headbands since he can’t get to Todoroki.

At the end of the round, Todoroki is in first, Bakugo is second, Uraraka is third and Shinso is fourth.

Ojiro and Shoda both drop out citing the fact that they couldn’t remember the event as the reason. Shiozaki Ibara and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu replace them

So now we have the 1v1 battles with the following students.

Uraraka Ochako

Tokoyami Fumikage

Hatsume Mei

Bakugo Katsuki

Kirishima Eijiro

Ashido Mina

Sero Hanta

Todoroki Shoto

Iida Tenya

Yaoyorozu Momo

Kaminari Denki

Shinso Hitoshi

Aoyama Yuga

Shiozaki Ibara

Tetsutetsu Tetsutestu

Shinso gets a free pass onto the next round because he is a gen ed student so they wanted to allow him the best chance possible and it’s better for the optics of UA for watchers to see a hero student beating up another hero student instead of a gen ed kid.

Todoroki v. Sero -Todoroki won ala iceberg

Kaminari v. Shiozaki  -Kaminari won by sending electricity through her hair and knocking her out because Aizawa forced him to start thinking outside of the box after he nearly died during the USJ [shiozaki has to have nerves to control her vines and nerves have electricity traveling through them. So they’re a conductor and Kaminari can send his electricity down them]

Iida v. Hatsume -He doesn’t accept her gadgets and just pushes her out of bounds. After the Uraraka debacle in his battle trial, he realizes that he can’t just go off his perceptions and has to be wary of them.

Ashido v. Aoyama - Ashido won

Tokoyami v. Yaoyorozu - Yaoyorozu won by creating an explosion of light and blinding them, then pushing them out of the ring. Uraraka taught her to take advantage of what she can do and Aizawa forced her to realize that others don’t have the same rules.

Tetsutetsu v. Kirishima - Kirishima won by charging Tetsutetsu and knocking him out of the ring. Again Aizawa forced him to not just behave as a shield because of the USJ

Uraraka v. Bakugo -Uraraka won by taking off her prosthetic, leaving it as a decoy and floating herself so that he couldn’t hear her coming, and the dust from his explosions had blinded him. She tackled him from above and hurled him out of bounds. He got a concussion and Recovery Girl forced him to stay in the infirmary.

Todoroki v. Shinso -Shinso won by coming after Todoroki’s weak spot and making him talk

Iida v. Kaminari -Kaminari won by shocking Iida’s engines when he tried to grab him. Made him collapse, and then just dragged him out of bounds.

Tokoyami v. Ashido- Tokoyami won by Dark Shadow kicking her out of bounds

Uraraka v. Kirishima -Uraraka won by preying on Kirishima’s desire for manliness and to not hurt a girl. Got close enough to float him and then just push him out of bounds. Aizawa has plans to lecture Kirishima about when to be manly and when to not be.

Shinso v. Kaminari -Shinso won. He could tell that Kaminari was a memelord, so he just took advantage of that and said a meme that Kaminari couldn’t resist completing. [Don’t know what yet, I’ll figure it out later]

Tokoyami v. Uraraka -Tokoyami won. Uraraka lost because she couldn’t use her Quirk on Dark Shadow and Dark Shadow was the one to attack her. [See doc of quirk analysis for more in depth in case we forget]

Shinso v. Tokoyami -Shinso won by mirroring Tokoyami’s speech patterns which knocked him off guard and got him caught into Shinso’s Quirk.

Shinso got first place, Tokoyami got second, Uraraka and Kaminari shared third place.

Hero names

Todoroki -Shoto

Bakugo -King Explosion

Iida -Tenya

Uraraka -Weightless [As a pun on weigh less because of her amputation and her quirk. She’s not quite as bubbly and didn’t feel like uravity reflected her anymore]

Tsuyu -Froppy

Kirishima -Red Riot

Yaoyorozu -Creati [I really want to change this but I don’t know to whaaaat!!! I’ll come back to it later]

Tokoyami -Tsukuyomi

Jiro -EarJack

Shinso -Silencer [Stupid but his quirk makes people silent plus I love MLB silencer design of the , not the helmet tho that is ugly looking and the coloring needs to be more muted imo]

Internships

Shinso gets an internship with Aizawa to assess whether or not he’s fit for heroics. Aizawa also prescreens all of his students' internships to make sure that it’s a good fit for them. [He’s a lot more protective of where they because he wants them to be actually learning useful heroics not shit like how to clean and pose for a camera.]

Mirko offers an internship to Uraraka because she wanted to teach a fighting girl that was perceived as helpless by society. [Society views disabled as helpless, a girl is also viewed as helpless, both is bad combination. Mirko wants to prove anyone can be badass with the right training]

Yaoyorozu gets put with Fatgum because Aizawa sees that she’s struggling with the fat part of her Quirk and knows that if she went with Uwabami, she’d develop more insecurities. [Uwabami is a TV actress/model. She’ll pass on weight/beauty related insecurities because that’s what a lot of actresses have and she seems focused more on a fanbase]

Kirishima goes with Rock Lock to be faced with the blunt truth that ideals are nice, but you can’t have them rule your life as a hero. [Canonly, he’s very blunt and pragmatic, so he’d believe that trying to be manly is fine, but there is a time and place for it.]

Everyone else goes with their canon internships.

The Nomus attack Hosu. Because Gran Torino isn’t there, the Nomus are more dangerous and more civilians die. All the heroes are focused exclusively on managing the Nomus and the interns kinda fall to the wayside since they can’t do anything.

Iida slips away and Manual is too busy putting out fires to notice.

Iida runs off and finds Stain. Battle commences and Iida loses.

Stain calls him and Native fake heroes. Native gets a sliced throat. Stain is a little more lenient with Iida because he is a kid. He goes through the fabric pants and slices the femoral artery to the bone. [Femoral artery cuts can lead to death within minutes especially with Iida running on adrenaline which kicks up the blood pressure and rate of bleeding.]

Endeavour comes through with Shoto burning all the nomus and destroying them. Finally the city is quiet and the search for the dead begins.

Every hero in Hosu grid searched the entire city to retrieve the dead and bring them to the morgue for claiming. 

Manual was the one to find his dead intern and Native. He had to call UA and tell them that he got a student killed while under his supervision. He gets blacklisted by UA and Aizawa puts out a warning on the Underground network that if others are under his care, that he might lose track of them.

Once everyone returned from their internships, they left red spider lilies on his desk as a way to guide him to the afterlife.

Training Camp

The villains still want Bakugo because they saw his aggression, violence, and determination to be the best during the sports festival and the internships. So they think he’d be an easy switch to flip.

This time, Aizawa doesn’t dump them out in the middle of the forest because he’s focusing on forcing his students to interact and bond with each other instead of doing their own thing. So they all stay on the bus and Aizawa makes them talk about something semi-important with a seat partner for 10 minutes before switching so that everyone talks to more than just their friend groups.

When they arrive, Kota is his bratty self and Aizawa shuts that down fast. He tells him that he has two options, one: stay with his aunts and uncle or two: stay with Aizawa. Aizawa can’t have an itty-bitty child running around loose in the forest when 17 hormonal teenagers are letting off their Quirks which are dangerous. [it was an awful idea in canon to let Kota hide in his treehouse. Imagine if one of the kids near the mountain lost control of their quirk.] Kota chooses to stay with his aunts and uncle at all times because Aizawa is scary.

Once the training starts, he pairs everyone up with different partners to force their Quirks to improve.

Ashido-Kirishima to strengthen her acid and his hardening by hurling acid at him

Tokoyami-Kaminari-Aoyama to force Aoyama to maintain his laser beam for longer, Tokoyami to force him to strengthen Dark Shadow against light, Kaminari to power multiple light sources without burning them out and not going into whee mode so he can avoid the laser beam and Dark Shadow

Ojiro-Koda to force Koda to vary the animals that he calls and Ojiro to give him experience with fending off multiple opponents of varying sizes and skill levels without seriously injuring them.

Todoroki-Bakugo-Tsuyu to force Todoroki to be able to control both sides of his quirks and switch them easily, Tsuyu to force her to get accustomed to varying temperatures and making sure they don’t knock her out, Bakugo to force him to sweat more in both cold and hot temperatures so that he’s more versatile.

Jiro-Shoji-Hagakure to force Hagakure to improve her stealth and fighting, Jiro to make her be able to detect people sneaking up on her, and Shoji to improve his locating skills and stealth. [Shoji is a big boy and needs to work on stealth]

Sero-Sato to help Sero with his dodging and speed, and Sato to help him retain more of his planning and forethought while his Quirk is activated

Uraraka-Yaoyorozu to make Uraraka work on her sickness and weight limits and Yaoyorozu to adapt to planning on the fly and create items quickly.

Aizawa forces them to break away from their training partners when it’s time to make dinner and everyone is required to help in some way during the meal. The help can be gathering the ingredients, preparing them, doing the actual cooking, plating, setting the table, cleaning up after, anything as long as they contributed.

Repeat until the trial of courage.

Vlad wants to do the trial and Aizawa refuses to do it. Aizawa is actively trying to squash out the competitiveness of his students in order to make them work together and ask for help so that they’ll survive longer in the hero society. Uraraka lost a leg because people wouldn’t cooperate to help her in the entrance exam and Iida died because he was too focused on himself and didn’t ask for help. The trial would just reignite the competitiveness and ruin his progress.

1-B does the trial on their own while 1-A is given a maze they have to navigate.

The maze is created by Pixie Bob and is huge. It’s large enough that the students on the ground can’t peek over the walls to see the path. There are two students on the ground, the leader and the guide. The leader can see the walls and the turns but has earplugs in so they can’t hear the guide if the guide tries to talk. The guide can hear the directions from the person who sees the entire maze but is blindfolded and has to guide through tapping the shoulders of the leader. The person outside and looking down has to direct their team through the maze quickly without crashing into other teams. The leader can’t just guess a direction because Pixiebob will shift the maze if they try to do that so they can’t backtrack. It’s in teams of three so Aizawa is directing the last team. [Kinda inspired by survivor but with my own twist]

All of them rotate through each position with different teams each go round to impress on them the importance of all the roles.

In the last round, Bakugo was the person issuing instructions, cursing and screaming through the mic the entire time.

That’s when the villains attacked. But there were a few changes in the lineup. 

Toga wasn’t there because the police picked her up and Inko got her case taken on to get her on parole and took her into her home when she saw her at the station while continuing with the criminal charges levied against the owner of the building that Izuku had fallen off of. The appearance of a girl bullied and ostracized for her Quirk, who was going down the path of no return, Inko saw Izuku in her. As such, she wanted to care for her and show her that villainy wasn’t the answer and that there are people who cared for her in spite of her blood Quirk. [Toga is stuck with Inko at this point in time and has a tracking anklet to make sure that she’s behaving. Rehab is going really well with the unconditional care that Inko is providing.]

Dabi got an infection and landed in the hospital ER as an unknown patient and wound up in a coma while his body was busy trying to fight the infection of his staples. [The man’s a walking open wound. You can sneeze in his general vicinity and have a high chance of taking him down in a couple weeks. Haven’t decided if I want to wake him up or not. Depends on my feelings]

Mustard joined the attack via Toga due to them being closer in age and talking. No Toga, no Mustard. [He’s sulking in detention right now.]

So the only ones left are Mr. Compress, Magne, Spinner, Muscular, Moonfish, Twice and the Nomu. Much smaller and no long-range attacks.

Their mission is to get in, extract Bakugo and get out with minimal damage. That’s what happened.

Muscular, Moonfish, and the Nomu all rampage on the opposite side of the mountain to draw attention to them. Magne and Spinner break up the 1-A class and drive them apart. Twice and Mr. Compress work together to snatch up Bakugo in a marble and then they all book it. Muscular and Moonfish are both left behind to keep the heroes distracted long enough for them to get back to Kurogiri and through the portal. Nomu ended up buried in a mountain via a very anger Tiger at the disruption of his naps. The students all worked together to try and bring down the villain to retrieve their classmate, but when that failed, Yaoyorozu managed to attach a tracker to the villains top hat.

Injuries were minimal and the three heavy hitting villains were arrested and locked up. The only casualty was Bakugo being kidnapped.

Kidnapping Arc

Blah, blah, join us you can be stronger and win a villain-Shigaraki

No, fuck off, go fuck yourselves-Bakugo

Repeat until All Might shows up

Then AfO activates goop Quirk [really need a better name for that. better than vomit transport quirk at least. That was my first thought], drags the league and Bakugo to him. Bakugo is held by him, hand on his temple ready to crush him.

Rest of Heroes all show up on the battlefield but aren’t moving so that Bakugo doesn’t get hurt. Essentially a stand off.

You know, you can tell whether or not someone has the potential for villainy by their greatest regret -AfO

AfO has a quirk that allows the user to see someone’s greatest regret, with more details the longer that the quirk is activated. He also has a quirk that allows him to project whatever he’s thinking about in a video format for everyone to see. [the man is old. he probably had a habit of taking whatever quirk he wanted when he was younger before all might turned him into a very ugly potato/alternate darth vader]

Quirks activate and it’s the scene of Bakugo telling Izuku to get jump off a building spliced with the news from Inko that Izuku was suspected of jumping off a building

Interesting. Why is that your greatest regret?-AfO

Quirk gives him more details. 

Bakugo only regrets saying that because if it ever became public, he'd never reach the spot of number one hero which is his only goal in life.

Guess you are nothing but a villain after all. Too obsessed with yourself to see the damage you caused.-Afo 

Afo shoved the boy away from him and forcibly activated Kurogiri’s Quirk to allow the league to escape.

Every hero on site is frozen in shock at the reveal of what a hero student of UA, the most prestigious hero school that graduated most of the top heroes in Japan, actually believed.

At that point, AfO flips All Might the finger and just goes through the portal because the news would shake society’s faith in UA which is really good. He can kill All Might later. [or just wait for any infection to take the man out. He lost his stomach so he probably lost his spleen too which is kinda important for the immune system.]

Fallout

Bakugo is booted to gen ed because Aizawa refused to teach someone that was just going to end up hurting someone later in life. Because Aizawa is an Underground Hero who specializes in information and predication, schools tend to believe in what he says about the potential/future of heroes in training especially when he has evidence to back up his beliefs. So no other school will take him on as a hero student.

Bakugo is essentially blacklisted from heroics because everyone wants to believe that a hero is good and just. And when the illusion is broken before it has a chance to solidify, they have no chance of becoming a hero. 

Aizawa goes and apologizes in person to Inko. Because even though he had no way of knowing, he feels like he should have recognized the abusive tendencies and/or egocentrism  of Bakugo earlier. So, allowing it to continue was a slap in the face to his victims.

Inko accepts his apology because she didn’t know about it either so how could she blame him when she was closer and still missed all the signs. She offers to let Aizawa visit Izuku because Eraserhead was one of his favorite heroes because of how much skill he had. But because Eraserhead was underground, he didn’t have any merch or enough information to write about him.

*Split path here depending on the angst level I want

1. Izuku is in a coma, all healed up, just hasn’t woken up. When they came, Izuku had just woken up a half hour ago so the doctors were busy checking all his vitals, memory, joints, etc. Inko cries, Aizawa stands away because he’s allergic to emotions, and Izuku is just silently fanboying because he sees one of his favorite heroes.

2.Izuku is in a coma and doesn’t wake up. Inko introduces Aizawa to him and tells Aizawa about his dreams and his story. Aizawa makes sure that at least once a week, he comes and visits to talk to him. He also brings other heroes to introduce to Midoriya to make sure that others know about him.

3.Aizawa and Inko go to a graveyard and the name Midoriya Izuku is carved into a family grave marker with flowers and an All Might figure in front of it. Inko tells Aizawa that Izuku died from falling from the building. They thought he jumped randomly, but with the new info, Inko is thinking that Bakugo might’ve pushed him verbally over the edge. Aizawa promises to investigate more.

[dipperdogrpg]

Holy crap where do I even begin with Traces Of Two Pasts.

Ok let's simplify what's now canon.

Tifa and Cloud use to play as neighbors before Thea, tifa's mom passed away.

Thea use to say how handsome Cloud is and see that made Tifa happy. Tifa's dad was not impressed. Lol

The boys made a pact no one is to go after Tifa and Cloud declined so was left out of the boys groups without Tifa knowing.

Tifa was seen as a prize to be won in her hometown when she got older.

Cloud helped Tifa search for Tifa's cat Maru many times.

Tifa and Cloud both admire eachother from a distance when their friendship drifted.

Tifa felt Cloud was not reachable, like a star. Similar how we view idols I think.

The boys lied that Cloud insisted Tifa should continue up the mountain and that they tried to bring Tifa back to the village.

Cloud accepted the blame and Tifa couldn't remember that day the bridge fell and went into a coma.

She knew Cloud was lying and felt he was protecting her. But she never got to hear Cloud's truth because he refused to tell her what actually happend that day.

The three boys tried later to have single time with Tifa but she would dodge their invite.

Cloud gathered his courage and awkwardly asked Tifa to meet him at the water tower and then ran away... Tifa ran away too blushing lol

Tifa went to maru, her cat, and asked what she should wear for their special date.

She snuck out late at night while her dad was sleeping to meet up with Cloud.

Tifa was wondering if Cloud was going to confess to her.

After talking with Cloud at the water tower and understanding how normal Cloud is, she thought she could see herself living with him and realized she loved him. (She loved Cloud for being Cloud. This debunks that dumb theory that Tifa only noticed Cloud because he joined SOLDIER)

Shrina picked up Cloud in the middle of the night.

When Cloud left Tifa cried.

Tifa recieved a letter from one of the boys that felt insulting like she is just a prize and needs to be taken care of. So she learned how to fight.

When she received news Shinra troops were coming to Niblehiem she went to check with Claudia if Cloud was coming

Claudia discovered Cloud only told Tifa he wanted to be in SOLDIER after Tifa asked her if Cloud made it in and 😏. Yeah mama Cloud totally picked up on the two teenagers liked/loved eachother.

Claudia and Tifa cooked together.

Tifa had a "dream" and think she heard someone calling her during the sephiroth incident. Familiar but also different. Headcanon it's puberty voice Cloud.

She was taken to corel first for treatment and then Midgar to also remove possible scars. DR. patched her up but her and then she needed work to pay her debt.

They also inflated the bill so it's was double the price.

To save money Tifa use to work at a bun stall as a vendor

She did this for years and cried when she saw Jessie Biggs and Wedge enjoying their time together. She didn't realize she was feeling so lonely.

One day she bumped into Jessie and they talked and became friends. From that point on Tifa was learning about Avalanche.

Marle found Tifa a second job at Seventh Heaven until the owner got sick and then passed away.

She met Barret and Marlene at Seventh Heaven and bought it to give Barret and Marlene a place to stay because they were homeless.

She used her life savings to buy it instead of paying off her surgery bill. That's why we don't see a scar when she wear her dresses.

Barret was the last member to join avalanche.

When Tifa discovered the doctor's son tricked her and stole the money she needed to buy 7thHeaven, Tifa was very angry. She went to go kick his ass so she could buy Seventh heaven once she got her stolen money.

Direct translation about the promise scene.

"It was just an idea, but from the moment it was made, it became an irreplaceable promise. And that night, when Tifa realized that the Cloud she admired was just an ordinary boy, she fell in love with him. The kind of 'love' that makes two people want to spend time together."

I'll keep updating when more gets translated. Enjoy!