#i get that streaming things you maybe don't like as much is a concrete way to help your faves IF YOU WANT TO

[xcziel]

if you have to compose a thesis defense before giving your opinion on a song, and preface that by saying whether you like or dislike something is "the least of the discussion" then i'm sorry

you don't really care for the song and you are afraid to just *say that*

it's a pop song about sex

either you're gonna put it in your playlists or dance around to it or it's not your thing - it's not a binding personality test or resume entry

this new trend of listening to stuff because you feel obliged to out of some approach to moral purity or as some kind of "support" or whatever blows my mind

it's the "not reading fanfiction unless it is morally and politically correct" thing taken to the next level

like??????

[redr0sewrites]

Hi Rose! I hope you're still writing for Hazbin because I have a Vox request! I enjoyed your Vox fluff/comfort hcs from a while ago and it made me need more soft!Vox if that's something you're comfortable with writing. Specifically I've been going through a pretty major depressive episode lately (not in a dangerous way, just in the sense that something happened where I feel like I've failed one too many times and it's past the point where I can just pick myself up and try something new), so maybe something with Vox comforting the reader through that? I feel like he might be able to relate given that he's such a perfectionist and clearly doesn't handle rejection well, so I can see him having practical advice and guiding me through concrete solutions, but also I just want him to hug me and let me cry on his shoulder for a long time😭 Thank you!!! I appreciate your writing so much!

🥀A/n: i've had this in my inbox for a WHILE (sorryyyy <\3) so i hope ur feeling better now nonnie!!! i totally get the feeling, and i loved writing this request <33

🥀Cw: fluff, angst w comfort, negative self views, mental health themes

🥀Character(s): Vox x reader

your breath came out in hiccuping gasps as you struggled to maintain any sense of control. you sat hunched over on your bed, shaking uncontrollably as tears stream down your face. it had been another long day, and god, you just felt like a screw up. it seemed no matter how hard you tried, every day always left you with that same feeling of emptiness, just as it had been every other day for the past few months. you were so, so tired of everything, of getting no satisfaction from things you usually enjoyed, and of having to fight just to remain somewhat sane. it was truly and utterly exhausting. you lean back against the headboard, a soft thump accompanying your heads' collision with the sturdy wood. as your tears continue.

the slam of your bedroom door causes you to pause, and you flinch from the sudden illumination of your hunched figure.

"where were you? i called you twice, what-" Vox storms in, hands waving about, only for him to pause at the sight of you. his harsh tone only makes you cry harder, pulling your knees up to your chest.

"i'm- sorry, i-i turned my phone off-" you force out your words, fighting to keep yourself from bursting into tears again, but its no use. your shoulders shake in silent sobs as you cover your face with your hands, embarrassment overcoming you.

"oh, oh its okay, its fine-" Vox struggles with his words. for all of his blustering confidence in public, when it came to genuinely comforting someone, he was clueless.

"i'll be right back, i promise!" he practically shouts, racing out of the door. in the few seconds he's gone, you can't help but spiral deeper. why couldn't you just try harder, be better than this? you're so fucking stupid, god, of course he was angry at you. you don't hear Vox when he returns, and you jump when the mattress dips and a clawed hand begins gently rubbing your back. you sniffle softly, and the only sound in the room is your heavy sobs.

"shh, i brought you some water," Vox murmurs, voice uncharacteristically low. "did someone hurt you? because i swear, if someone even laid a finger in you im going to fucking-"

"no one hurt me, Vox," you swallow hard. "m fine, really, i just- its fine."

Vox is silent for a few more moments, and even though you can't see him as your face is still buried in your hands, you can practically feel his gaze on you.

"was it.. me? did i do something?"

this startles you, and you raise your head to look at him.

"w-what? no, of course not, 'm just- i had a long day, is all. i just feel so... stuck."

you blink at his screen, tears settling on your lashes. he stares back, studying you with a concerned gaze. he doesn't offer any words of encouragement, you know that's not his strong suit anyway. instead, he gently takes both of your hands in his, handing you the glass of water and slowly guiding it to your mouth. he watches as you take a sip before placing it on your night stand, before opening his arms and motioning for you to come closer. you happily oblige, melting into his side and wrapping your arms around his waist. he leans back against the headboard and you stay like that for a while, softly crying into his shoulder as he rubs your back and holds you steady. as your sobs begin to subside, you pull away to look at him again.

"i'm just so.. tired. tired of this, tired of feeling weak and overwhelmed. fuck, i just wish..." you trail off, melting back into his embrace again. Vox is silent for a few moments, contemplating what to say.

"i think your great, y'know that?"

"what..?"

"i think your great, wonderful, and so talented. you're the best partner i could ever ask for, and im so lucky to have you. you know that, right?"

"mhm..?" you hum questioningly, unsure of his objective.

"now, i know i'm not good at this sort of thing, and i know its tough, but i want you to know that, i'm, i'm here, y'know? and if you're ever, like, having a moment like this, you don't need to hide. i'm here, and i understand." Vox waves his hands as he talks, and you reposition to lean against his chest.

"i know, and its okay. 'm lucky to have you too," you mumble, and he chuckles lowly.

"is that so? you're going to give me a complex if you keep this up, baby."

"good. 'cause your the best."

"only for you."

you giggle at that, knowing that its true, and Vox smiles. he'd do anything for that sound, for your happiness. and, as you slowly drift off to sleep, you know that you'll be okay for that exact reason. you may not feel okay now, but you will, because he'll be right there beside you, on both good and bad days.

erm. hello hazbin hotel community. im slinking back like a toxic ex rn...... ANYWAYS !!! HOPE U ENJOYED !!!! its been a hot minute since i wrote for HH in general, esp for vox, so apologies if the characterization is ehhhh. PSLPSLSPSLSPSL SEND IN REQUESTS IVE BEEN DYING RECENTLY MY INBOX IS BONE DRY IT COULD BE FOR THE 2K EVENT OR JUST SOMETHING RANDOMMM (also especially some vox, lucifer, adam, or lute requests plspslsps)

[soaringthoughts]

:: A MISFORTUNE'S VESSEL. ( chapter 1 )

lowercase intended. CONTENT WARNING: depressing topics, implied deaths. PAIRINGS: aqua hoshino x reader A/N: MINOR changes on the plot in order to squeeze the reader in and make the plot make sense, such as: reader is the daughter of Miyako and Ichigo Saitou. this is the only change I made in the plot so it doesn’t affect the main stream of Oshi No Ko that much. POV is second person pov. reader is AFAB. english is not my first language so expect some grammar errors. usage of [name] instead of Y/N. reader is addressed by name instead of pronouns.

story starts with the reader already knowing Aqua from his past life (Goro Amamiya) and will only focus on that for the meanwhile, next chapter will be Aqua.

my first fanfic! open for criticisms. word count: 3,079 words

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a disappointment. that's what you're always labeled as. you've already reached the age range wherein you're finally capable of getting hired in a job, but of course, you can't get yourself one. didn't finish college either, makes you wonder how vast your parents' patience must be to let you keep living under their roof despite not returning the favor of their great care by accomplishing something. and just as if the world was opposing you, you got caught in a car crash on your way home from a job interview.

perhaps you are binded by fate to just stare at the solid concrete ceiling of your hospital room.

………….

“my [name]..” the guttural whines of worry from your mother will live rent-free on your head. it was the hint of concern and worry in your parents' words that's evident in their voice, but it was only the glint of dismay in their half-lidded eyes that you saw.

you absolutely see no point in living now. you've always been a disappointment for your family the whole time, and now, you even made things worse by practically forcing them to charge for your hospital fees.

dealing with both fatal, incapacitating injuries, and heart failure was a rough circumstance for you, and it only doubles the fees that your parents need to charge.

your mind was all stirred from all these heavy thoughts as the guilt continued to consume you, perhaps the world got stuck in an endless time loop to maintain your suffering on purpose.

“I won't be surprised if your body stays frozen like that for hours.” it's almost as if a shrieking noise snapped you out from your thoughts the moment you heard your doctor spoke. you remained silent however, not the slightest bit of word slipping out of your mouth. this doctor was getting on your nerves lately. you were never a fan of small talks nor a conversation itself. you always thought that drowning in your thoughts while getting lost in your own little world as your eyes are solely focused on the scenery across the window was better.

“Do I have something to say?” your remark was thrown off in a sarcastic manner as your gaze was still fixated on the window, which only raised a hint of concern on his face further. but his expression remained neutral.

“You've been staring at the window for an hour. It wont hurt to initiate a conversation from time to time.” he let out a ragged exhale. was he also getting tired of you? of course. he's been guarding you in your room for hours after all, you still don't know why but perhaps it's to keep you company and to have someone present in case there's something wrong with your injury.

“…” it was the pause of silence that's somehow clear and tranquil within the walls of the room. he was right. you are worn out by the boredom, too, so maybe, just maybe, you'll get some source of entertainment if you finally speak. “Doc, have you ever felt like the whole world is against you?” maybe his eyebrows raised in amusement. maybe it was because he found you weird. but it's either of the latter.

“..The world has to be unfair to everyone in some aspects. It's not just us who experience it.” you aren't sure whether it was the answer you were looking for, but his response intrigued you. he isn't so bad for an 'old' doctor after all, you thought. "And if you please, just call me Goro." he followed up after.

“Wouldn't that be unprofessional?” you immediately detached your eyes off of the window to dart it at his for a moment, and the first thing that you saw was the startled and surprised expression written all over his face. “Are you serious all the time?” he shot back in a questioning manner. although it might sound a little offending, to you at the least, you only let out a slight laugh at his remark. “I thought we're supposed to be professional with doctors. It would sound off to refer to you as a mere friend.” you asked back again with that slight smile now evident on your face.

“Well, that's for other doctors, I suppose.” Goro responded with a shrug. you hummed at the answer, maybe he prefers to be casual unlike the others. that would indeed open up a path for you two to get along. "I'm-" just as you were about to say your name in return, he interrupted you. “[Name]. I already know from your documents, so no bother.” I can't tell whether he is bragging about that or.. you thought to yourself as you felt your eye slightly twitch at his straightforwardness.

“So, [Name]. What do you think of the entertainment industry?”

“Why'd you ask?”

“Just a question, really. I have this patient of mine that's obsessed with a certain idol.”

“Ai Hoshino?” Goro's eyebrows raised at your sudden response. it's almost as if he wasn't expecting it, but deep down, he knows that Ai is way too popular to not be known by everyone.

“Don't tell me you're obsessed with her too?”

“Not obsessed. I just admire her.”

“As for the entertainment industry, I know for sure that the way they operate behind the scenes is a mess. I'm not even an idol nor an actor myself but I can tell that the impression they display in public is fake.” Goro seemed to be fascinated by your words, his face obviously plastered with a look of both amusement and interest as he stared at you in silence for a brief moment.

“How can you te-” you could've sworn that the time was ticking slow. but before you realized it, the sun was about to hide behind the arms of the horizon as the rays of the sunlight lit through the window. Goro was interrupted mid sentence as well when he noticed this. “Ah, too bad I have to go.” he simply said as he got up from his seat and dusted off his coat.

"Already?" you frowned a little at this, considering that you're finally intrigued to talk to someone after for what's been like years.

"It's just the end of my shift. I'll be present tomorrow." there was a slight smile curved up on his lips before leaving the room, and boy, you felt at ease hearing those words.

………………………………………………..

you didn't know whether to feel happy or upset now that you only have a day left before you'll get discharged from the hospital. you didn't want to burden your parents anymore longer, but why are you upset now that you're finally free once again? there's this something in you that makes you want to stay more. or maybe it's just your attachment to Goro? you don't know.

just as when you are once again drowning in your thoughts, you got snapped back to reality by someone's voice. it's him.

"What are you doing all the way up here at this hour?" you immediately recognized his voice. you wanted to hear it more often─ but too bad, you just can't stay here just because you want to.

the gentle breeze of the countryside air softly swayed your hair locks back and forth. the rooftop of the hospital was dim and was only illuminated by the ray of the moonlight, hovering over the figure of the both of you as Goro kept staring at you from a distance.

and of course, you just felt like being sarcastic for one more remark, "Is it so bad to chill on the hospital's rooftop before my discharge?" his chuckle was completely audible despite the soaring roars of the wind and the continuous noises of the vehicles over the roads.

sure, it's loud here on the rooftop caused by those sounds, but that doesn't matter since it's his voice that your ears can only hear well.

"I suppose it would carve a memorial to make this our usual spot before your discharge."

"I'm not yet dead, you know." you surely are going to miss his jokes once you get out.

"I know, I know." the rooftop was immediately radiating with a positive aura as you both laughed. "Well? What are you gonna do now that you're back to your usual life?" he closed the stairway door and made his way to you, leaning over the railings as he stared into nothingness.

"…" there was a brief silence once again as the wind continued to leap through the garments of your clothing and hair. your chest heaved as you exhaled, also walking over the railing as you leaned on it beside him. "I don't even know. Not like I had a plan anyway." just the thought of getting discharged and living back to your normal life irks you. the same old, repetitive, dull, and 'being' a disappointment days will return. It will return now that you're out of the hospital just right when you already found someone who understands you well. you expected this from the start. good experiences come and go, but you still can't gather the wits to accept it.

"You know, I can't seem to do anything right even if I try hard. I always surge into actions with preparation and always come back empty-handed. It must be nice to live a life wherein you are blessed with skills and luck."

Goro knew that you had some depth in your words. you've told him about your struggle in finding a job and the results of your entrance exams in college before, so he immediately knew how to respond to you.

"A caterpillar must undergo a dissatisfying process before eventually blooming into a beautiful butterfly." his eyes were glistening with sincerity as he muttered those words out. although he was still staring into nothingness and eventually into the starry night skies, you just fixated your gaze on him.

"You can't be saying that."

"I can be saying that."

"But the caterpillar's progress will go to waste when a human steps on it."

"That caterpillar will remain wounded but still manage to live."

"It can still die after being stepped on."

"And it can still live after being stepped on."

"Why are we talking about caterpillars?"

"Because you're the caterpillar we're pertaining to." you quickly lost it and let out a laugh at Goro's remark this time. you knew he was referring to you, but why were you two talking about caterpillars instead? "Seriously, the caterpillar will die."

"Then that caterpillar will get reincarnated." his response this time was tacky, you can't help but laugh at it. of course his words were obviously laced with sarcasm, but you couldn’t help but see a fragment of hope in his words.

and for the first time in your life, fate resided within you. because guess who got reincarnated as the child of the president of an entertainment production.

“She is beautiful.” those were the first words you heard the moment you regained your consciousness and maintained the track of the world. and a pair of rosewood eyes were the first thing you laid your eyes on.

your mother was welcoming. your father, on the other hand, “Let’s just hope this won’t hinder our work.” you didn’t really have anything to say to him. perhaps he was just worn out from his work. he is the president of his company after all.

“Sorry about that, [Name]. Your father’s just immersed in his work. I’ll be the one who will take care of you by then. Although I’ll have to take you with me to the home of our company’s prized star to also keep watch for two of her children.”

not only is your father drowning in a stack of work to do, your mother is also forced to be in charge of taking care of children. it seems like she doesn’t like the duty of being a babysitter, you can tell it by her face and the way her chest heaved when she sighed. so you swore to yourself that you will behave well and remind the 2 other kids to do so as well.

strangely, you still remember how you lived your past life. your family, your memories, the time of your death, the place of your death. all of it is still fresh on your mind.

the world really does hate you, from your beginning and even until your end. you can’t accept the fact that the last memorable thing you had before your death was that conversation you had with Goro on the hospital’s rooftop. he told you that he’s in charge of delivering the babies of Ai the day before that, and that he is also supposed to guard you afterwards. but you never saw him come.

it was as if fate was playing you in its hands that they decided to give you a heart attack at that exact time. there were no doctors present as the rest of them were dealing with the other patients, so you were only treated by the inexperienced nurses.

you expected Goro to come, but you remembered that he is dealing with the giving birth of Ai.

“Then that caterpillar will get reincarnated.” it’s silly how those were the last words that flashed on your mind before your heart gave up. perhaps that interaction you had with him on the rooftop really was something special after all.

“Are you ready to meet them, [Name]?” it hasn’t been long before Miyako arrived with you at the home of the prized star she referred to. you could’ve sworn you’ve been blessed by the deities when it was none other than Ai Hoshino. this new life you have is definitely better than the former one you had.

your eyes met with hers. and of course, you got lost in it. “Is that [Name]? She’s adorable!” well that was a side of her that you expected. she really is carefree even when behind the screen.

“This is my daughter Ruby, and my son over there on the couch is Aqua. You guys will frequently spend more time here while I’m away so I hope you three will be the bestest of friends!” you didn’t appreciate how Ai shoved Ruby in front of you for the introduction, but liked her welcoming energy either way.

this was really a new experience for you. you didn’t expect to be close with your idol in your new life at all. but you’re not complaining either. this is your new life now, you’ve decided to just enjoy your life as a baby once again despite the big contrast between your true mental age.

“Come on. It’s time for work.”

“I’m out~”

the room was immediately confined with tranquility the moment your father, Ichigo, and Ai, headed out for work. while your mother, Miyako, just laid face-down on the sofa and groaned in distress.

‘I probably shouldn’t bother her.’ you can tell how frustrating it could be to take care of three children, so you just let Miyako be and sat on the clean mattress on the floor just in front of the TV.

Ai’s son, named Aqua, was also sitting from a distance on the mattress with you. there was an awkward silence between the two of you as expected. you didn’t feel like you’ll get along with his sister either, since you’ve been told that she’s younger.

that silence remained for what felt like an eternity before broken by the sounds of the TV when Aqua turned it on without a word. and oh boy, your eyes lit up with particles of stars when you saw Ai on the screen. you both watched in silence, admiring the appeal Ai has when performing. eventually, you two were distracted with a familiar whine from the crib.

“N station has already started! Why didn’t you wake me up?!” you have to admit that you didn’t like Ruby at first, but the interests that you two share just now made you want to get to know her more.

she quickly hopped off the crib and sat next to you, all the while squealing and rambling about how remarkable her mom is.

unlike you, Aqua just gave her a look with that neutral expression of his. he seemed too composed for his age, you thought. but you shrugged that thought off.

“Well, I suppose the three of us would be acquaintances considering that we all look up to the same person.” you simply said before fixating your focus back on the TV.

“Do you normally talk like that?” Aqua’s question caught you off guard. ‘shoot. were my words formal? not like it will blow me away anyway, right?’ living on a child’s body completely slipped out of your mind. you just prayed to yourself internally that this boy wouldn’t think of something bizarre.

“Huh? Talk like what?” your attempt at trying to dodge the question was poor. especially the awkward clearing of your throat and the laugh you did that added up to it.

the confusion and skepticism was evident on Aqua’s face, you can’t tell whether he is judging you or just trying to process that hell of a formal usage of words you did. either way, he just stared at you in disbelief for a couple of moments before shrugging it off.

“Looking forward to getting along with you, then.” of course, you were also surprised by his response. but held your tongue back. there’s no way this boy is also a reincarnation of someone simply because of how he talks or acts.

maybe he just learnt how to speak properly at such a young age.

[heeliopheelia]

"don't give me that look" + "i know you feel how i feel" (niki x fem! reader)

genre: fluff word count: 1.1k requested by @i-am-confused-about-life ♡

warnings: swearing, a tiny mention of blood

a/n: it's currently after midnight and i had 4 hours of sleep today 🧍i know you suggested for it to be angsty as well but i just couldn't think of a way to mix these two genres together in here 🤓 hope you still like it tho, love!! 💜

"Tie your shoelaces, loser."

Taking a discreet glance at your sneakers, you roll your eyes as you notice that they're, in fact, loose and dragging on the concrete. Not wanting to disturb people on the sidewalk, you take two steps to the side to tie your shoe in there, only to end up tripping over the ungodly long shoelace and nearly falling face flat to the ground.

"Do I need to teach you how to walk or something?" Riki teases from above you, hands on your waist as his grip on you is the only thing keeping you away from the concrete.

Once he's sure you're balanced again, he sighs heavily before crouching down in front of you.

"What are you doing?" You ask in confusion, watching as he grabs your white shoelaces in between his long fingers.

"So damn incompetent," he mutters, finishing tying your shoe with a neat bow at the top. Raising back to his feet, he flicks your nose playfully. "Would a simple thank you kill you? Strip you from your honor?"

"I'm not a child, Riki," you grumble, fervently tugging on your hair to cover up your reddening ears.

"And yet it's you who almost kissed the ground just a minute ago," he bites back with a light scoff.

Shoving him to the side, you miss to spot the large crack in the sidewalk, causing you to trip again and lurch forward, falling on your bare knees. You whine quietly, glaring at the gap in between the concrete tiles.

"Fuck, are you okay?" Riki asks, rushing to grab you under your arms and pull you back on your legs. You wince at the soreness in your knees and you look down, noticing the thin stream of blood seeping through the broken skin. "Jesus, you're such a clutz."

"It's all your fault," you pout, putting the blame on your best friend. "You were so annoying, I forgot to look where I was going!"

Riki scoffs at your poor excuse before stepping away to take a better look at your hurt knees. A slight frown appears on his face and you shift in your place, not used to being an object of such intense attention. Before the butterflies in your stomach have the chance to drill your stomach through or before the blush blossoming on your cheeks devours your entire face, you poke his shoulder.

"It's just a small cut, nothing big," you try to dismiss it, eager to start walking again. "It's probably only gonna bruise, that's all."

Riki raises his eyebrow. "Or it can get infected and do some real damage, stupid," he scolds, flicking your forehead. "You need to be more careful."

"Watch out or I'm gonna believe you're actually worried about me," you tease, impatiently tugging on his elbow to start moving.

"I just don't want you to get hurt," he replies with a voice uncommonly soft for him before getting back to his usual cheeky self. "You're so ugly when you cry. Scares the living shit out of me each time."

His words echo through your head and your face is already burning by the time you realize that you were right and he's actually genuinely concerned for you.

"Shut up, you sound like you have a crush on me or something," you mumble out, embarrassed.

"Yeah, maybe I do."

He's so sickeningly composed as he looks at your face being struck with shock - eyes widening, mouth dropping slightly as you gape at him.

"Y-You what?" You involuntarily stutter, instantly abandoning your cool facade. Your heart is in your throat right now and no matter how much you swallow, it doesn't go away. "Stop joking around like that. It's not funny."

"It wasn't supposed to be," he huffs, eyes bright and confident as he pierces you through with his gaze. "Don't give me that look. Are you really that slow? I thought you already knew. All of our friends caught up last year."

"Last year?" You exclaim. You grasp onto any sanity left in you after his confession, absolutely convinced you're about to faint.

"Well, yeah. But I've liked you way longer than that."

And suddenly you it all connects together in your head. How he smiles a little too much whenever you're around. How you've caught his gaze across the classroom one too many times before he he tried to play it off and roll his eyes at you. The way he claims all of your jokes are so 'stupid' and yet he never fails to laugh his heart out after hearing them. As you start putting all the puzzles together, you realize that perhaps he's not lying after all and maybe you're really that oblivious.

"Damn, you must like me a lot, huh?" You tease him, trying to turn the tables and catch him off guard for a change.

"That I do. But probably not as much as you like me," he says and your heart suddenly forgets how to work properly. You gawk at him in confusion. "Sunoo spilled. I know you feel how I feel," he explains, earning a betrayed gasp from of you.

"That big-mouth traitor!"

"Hey, at least that gave me the green light to come clean to you, no?" He asks, pulling you closer by the waistband of your shorts. "Cut him some slack. It's not like he meant to snitch on you anyway. I kinda put him against the wall."

You can't stop the big smile from crawling onto your lips as you let out a giddy laughter, one that nearly has Riki's knees buckling here and there.

"So what are we gonna do with this anomaly now?"

You watch as the corners of his mouth irk up as he leans down and brushes his nose against yours.

"Well, I think a date is what you normally start the relationship with. But since when are we normal?"

You fail to suppress your smile again. Riki's just too charming for his own good, you both know that. Raising on your toes, you gently brush your lips against his, pressing a butterfly kiss on his plush mouth. You need to pull away because you're sure your heart is about to explode in no second. Kissing him feels like too much and not enough at the same time, making your mind go in a haze.

"Thought you could do better than that."

You gasp at his statement, hitting his arm at his boldness. He rubs the itching place with a wince and sends you a pointing look. "Be gentle, please. You wouldn't want to give your boyfriend a sore arm now, would you? How else would he carry your bag every day after school?"

You scoff and bite back a smile as you take a glance at your backpack hooked over his shoulder. "Boyfriend?" You ask instead.

"Yeah. You're my girl now," he says as if it's the most obvious thing in the entire world. With a shrug, he envelops your hand in his, intertwining your fingers together before he starts walking again. "Come on. I should probably take you out for dinner now, huh?"

permanent taglist: @bambisgirl @arizejkt19 @luvmura @milisabunny @cathy-1997

[contentloadingandstuff]

Dark Days - Yoimiya x Male!Reader

A/N: Angst is back on the menu! Seriously though, this might be one of the angstiest things to ever appear on the blog. CW: Modern AU, reader death, swearing, war-time violence. I'll leave it at that, but do know that it's heavy stuff, even if non-graphic in nature.

You place your feet one after the other. The gypsum and sand crunches under your feet as you make your way to the gray, damaged concrete wall of some unrecognizable building. If it was a shop, the storefront must have broken, just as every bit of glass inside, currently in the form of crystal shards littering the street. 

Slowly making your way to the edge of the wall, you take a deep breath. You stick your head out slowly from behind the corner. The view in front of you would be very frightening just a few months ago, but now it has been woven into your daily life. The street was filled with rubble - smaller or larger chunks of stone and concrete, ripped out of various buildings but the explosions of rockets were scattered everywhere. A small tree, once standing proudly in a walkway flower pot, has been uprooted and thrown several meters away. The burnt car to your left, stripped of wheels and even the interior seats, completed the image of misery. 

Your eyes dart across the windows and roofs surrounding the small, plaza-like area. Much to your relief, they don't spot as much as a patch of green uniform anywhere in sight. You turn around and speak out in a restrained voice. 

“I don't see anything. I think we can go.”

Yoimiya nods and gets out from behind the ruin wall. She steps hastily over the rebar and concrete of the structure, the wind having already painted her delicate face with ash and plaster. Her hair is messy, tied in a makeshift ponytail that barely contained her dirty mane. The bags under her eyes speak of the many sleepless nights she had endured, of the hours spent in the basement and of the stress. The same stress that has soured her resting smile into nothing but a blank line of cracked lips. 

She takes her spot behind you. You pat her shoulder, making sure she stays where she is supposed to. Another deep breath. You move out from behind your cover and begin nervously jogging to the destroyed interior of the shop. You can hear her footsteps behind you. 

Your eyes glance nervously at the paneless windows of the buildings staring down at you. It's alright, you tell yourself. Nobody would be watching this random street. There hasn't been a single firefight here since two days ago, nor did you see a single team of soldiers - friendly or otherwise - moving across. And if there would be someone, they would certainly hold their fire. You're not armed, you're not wearing camo, you're clearly civilians. 

Somehow this doesn't give you any comfort. You glance back at Yoimiya, who is hopping across the street, carefully glancing around. She's keeping her distance, just as you instructed her to, and this eases your mind. She's with you. She's going nowhere where you aren't. She is safely behind you, and if someone starts shooting, you'll be the one to take the hits. 

It's your obligation to protect her. 

You quickly step over the shop's missing display, pushing apart the cheaply made, wooden stands that once housed clothes and handbags. They have been either secured by the owner or just looted by the soldiers, maybe even the people passing by. You smirk to yourself. If the electronics's shop wasn't burnt by napalm, you might have snatched yourself a nice console. Well, you'll be lucky to even survive this ordeal. 

The interior is just as you pictured it - empty, with broken furniture scattered around. The store is empty, obviously, but you notice a set of tiled stairs leading to the second floor. After a quick look to make sure Yoimiya is following you, you start ascending the steps. 

A dull stream of light is cast on concrete through a small window overlooking the entryway. You glance at it. The glass is gone, as customary for the city of today. You turn your eyes back towards your destination and freeze. 

Silence falls in the room as you remain motionless. Before you is a body, clad in anachronistic, green camo. Both the colors of the clothes and the stain of dark, dried blood underneath contrast with the ever present dust and monotony of the ruins. His rifle is still in his hand, but there aren't any shells around. He lies face down, but his neck is visible just enough for the paleness of his skin to indicate he hasn't died recently. 

“What's going on?” Yoimiya whispers, alarmed. “What do you see?”

You shake your head sideways. “Nothing. There's a body… It's one of ours.” A brief look at his arm confirms this - the Inazuman flag patch is attached to the velcro area of his uniform. 

His backpack is gone, but his combat straps are still there, holding up pockets likely filled with first aid supplies or snacks. Maybe his canteen is still intact, you hope. 

“I’ll check the body. Stay on the lookout, Yoi.” You turn around and place a hand on her shoulder. Your eyes do their best to cover your nervousness. “Can you do that for me?”

She nods. “Okay. Just… Just please be careful. Please.” 

You wink at her pleading eyes, making a small smirk find its way to her face. “I promise.” 

You turn back to the second floor. Just a few steps and you'll be in front of the window the man was shot from. Judging by how old the body looks, it doesn't seem like the enemy is around anymore. You muster up the courage and continue your ascent, moving almost prone to keep yourself low. Your heart is beating loudly in your ears with each traveled meter, still going as you get down on one knee and lean over the body. The body doesn't reek of decay, at least not yet. 

The nature of what you're about to do sickens you. 

You pull your sleeves over your hands. There was no time to think of morality now, especially that your supplies were running low. There wasn't a chance to evacuate either now that fighting has gone into full swing in the city. 

Wasting no time, you get to investigating his equipment. You quickly locate a particularly stuffed pocket, opening it and, to your delight, finding a bright red pack with a white cross inside. Moments later his canteen is uncovered, filled to the brim with fresh water. What's even better - amongst his documents in the inner pockets of his vest you find a small, stainless steel flask. 

You open it and wipe the dust and speckles of blood with your sleeve, hopes growing. You put the metal to your lips and take a small swing. Alcohol burns your tongue oh so pleasantly. It has been a fair few days since you had even this simple pleasure. Anything to break the monotony of water and old juice was very welcome. 

You smile. Such a little thing, and just how much happiness it can bring! 

Overcome with excitement, you straighten out. 

Before you can turn around and tell Yoimiya about your discovery, let alone blink, your world goes dark. 

A gunshot rings out and before Yoimiya’s very eyes you fall to the ground. 

“Y/N!” 

She dashes forward but her shoe catches on some rubble. Yoimiya faceplants into the floor just in time to avoid another bullet, this one directed her way. She recovers and starts crawling towards you. Her hands latch onto your ankle and with all the strength pulls your body towards her. The crimson that drags behind you is sickening. 

As soon as you're out of the sniper's line of sight, she throws herself at you with desperation in her every movement. She cups your cheeks, already stained red with the blood pouring from your mouth. 

“No no no no, baby, please, please you'll be alright okay?” She rips your blood soaked shirt open, revealing a large wound near the middle of your chest. “Please, please just talk to me!”

She throws down her backpack and pulls out the small medkit. With shaking, red fingers she breaks it open and rummages for the gauze. She grabs a fistful of it and turns back to you. Yoimiya forces the bindings into the wound, hoping to stop the blood from pouring out. More and more of it is pushed deep into your wound, but it does nothing to help. Tears gather in her eyes, but her will powers through. She can still save you. She still can. You'll be okay. 

“Talk to me, please!” 

She looks into your eyes and finds them wide open. Unblinking. Frozen. 

Lifeless. 

Her movements grow weak as the realization falls upon her. 

“No… No…” 

She wraps her arms around your lukewarm body and sobs softly. 

Suddenly, the closer door on the left of the corridor bursts open, two enemy soldiers coming through with their rifles raised. They aim at her. 

“Hands up!” They shout, but she doesn’t obey. She just looks up at them, tears streaming down her face. 

The soldiers glance at your body in her arms. The men lower their weapons. 

She stiffens as they approach her. One of them crouches down to meet her eye-to-eye. His face is obscured by a balaclava, leaving only a small window above his nose to see through. The smell hits her right away, the stench of alcohol and a long-unwashed body. 

“Fufu~ Would you look at that? Our sentry told us he saw the enemy, but we didn't expect to go up against such a pretty thing.” 

Yoimiya swallows a sob and pulls your body closer to hers. Her eyes narrow through the tears. The other soldier audibly hangs up his rifle and walks behind her. She doesn't bother to look. 

“We've been a little cold here you know? A girl to warm us up at night would be quite nice, especially such a young hottie as yourself.” He chuckles to himself. “That won't be a problem now that you're free, right-”

She lashes out with her hand, activating her vision and scorching his face with Pyro. He screams and falls back. Right away, Yoimiya feels a powerful blow on the back of her head. Her eyes fill with black spots as she's grabbed by her hair and violently yanked up. She screams and tries to fight back, but soon feels the business-end of a pistol pressed against her back. 

The wounded soldier rises up, covering his burnt face with his other hands. He growls. “You fucking bitch.” 

Yoimiya’s chin is grabbed by the man, hard. She whines in pain as her whole head is forced to face the man. The fire revealed his face. He is no older than herself. 

“I wanted to be nice to you, we could have had a nice night, but you fucking spoiled it. We'll fuck you dead, like a street whore.” 

Yoimiya spits in his face. Her head throws back as she receives a powerful strike across her cheek. She can feel a tooth has broken loose. She is hoisted up and despite her best efforts, her resistance is fruitless. They drag her towards the room they came out of. Her hands grasp the door frame, but a punch easily breaks her grip. 

Yoimiya sobs. 

Before the door closes, the last thing she can see is your lifeless eyes.

Thank you for reading.

[disfrutalakia]

Can we talk a bit about how Cucurucho doesn't make any sense? When the eggs disappeared Forever asked where are they and he answered "Classified". Forever tries to explode everything and comes back with drugs and the knowledge that "they ran away, there's something worse than the codes and the federation". Forever is out of the drugs and Cucurucho tries to give him again, saying it's good for his health. He says no and the bear doesn't try to force him to take them again. A few days later: "How is your health? How are you feeling? No, it's not about the drugs. We need you to investigate the black concrete in the Nether. We don't know where it's coming from but you might find a clue there and about your son too. I'm not playing with you. Someone else is. Besides, you wouldn't want to work with 'them', would you?" For someone so clueless abou the black concrete he is very specific with that "them". And why wouldn't he want to work with 'them'?

One trip to the nether, an infection, a meeting with a black bear, and a demonic book later, Forever is back with no clue on what's going on or where his son is. He wants to talk to Cucurucho but doesn't get the chance before being thrown in Purgatory. Even then he appears in a video saying "Oh you should go to see your kid" and showing the kids dirty and hurt. Even Forever said "you make it hard to like you, Cucurucho." At the same time Cucurucho appears to have no idea of what's going on and wants his help asap. He also talks about stopping protocol AB like he knew about it all along even though CodeFlippa (from the resistance) and the three dudes activated it and Walter Bob (also from the resistance but working for the fed too) said it shouldn't have been activated.

Cucurucho needs to work on his communication skills. He asks for help but explains nothing, says not to trust "them" but not why and now Forever will be a Judas and make things worse for the Federation.

He either knows way more than he shows at his stream but doesn't let the other workers (including Forever) know (very possible) or he's really blindsided now and will be screwed because of it.

Cucurucho is very odd, for lack of a better word that's for sure. And I do believe that he knows more than he lets on but at the same time not enough.

Like the nether thing was so so weird the day it happened, I remember that day and not even Forever himself believe that was the Cucurucho that he knew and was used to, but somehow it was? Even though it spoke so weirdly and was probably the most desperate we have ever seen a Cucurucho be.

And personally that occasion with the pills I see more as a classic manipulation thing, trying to make Forever believe that he should take the pills than trying to actually get him back on them. Might be wrong about that, but it's the impression I have mostly.

But yeah, mainly I think that Cucurucho knows things but not that many things, while he knows about project AB maybe not enough? I don't know, it's odd definitely but it's so hard to fit the pieces on things about the feds.

But I hope Forever makes things so much worse for the bear, I hope the bears gets chased with a chainsaw again <3

[lovelanguageisolate]

One of the things about Paradise Lost that works extremely well for me: the stream of consciousness blur of it all that elevates feelings, intentions and sensory experiences over concrete places and instants.

The demons are described as in a "lake with liquid fire" at one point and then in frozen and icy continent in another. Pandaemonium where the demons are forced to meet and co-mingle is cramped and dark, but hell is also a boundless, barren waste.

Satan himself is simultaneously grieving the loss of God's approval and resolving to get as far from God as possible. None of the fallen angels is ever like, "dude, maybe calm down and figure yourself out," even though the devil is, ostensibly, in the details. The choice coheres—congeals—like the keen of an estranged child or bitter screed of a jilted lover, but it is always off-balance, unable to stand on itself, doomed to sink and fall apart, like a foundation lain in quicksand.

And all the while, there are so many embedded clauses that it's often impossible to tell who is doing what or what is being referred to or in what order anything is happening. I'm not an English major and never was, and maybe I don't know how normies wrote in Milton's day, but I'd hazard this is very deliberately chosen and not in the service of the meter.

I think this choice—to be temporally, spatially, causally vague, if not incoherent and contradictory—serves the narrative extremely well.

We get away from the stupid, childish literal-mindedness that plagues so much religious art, especially, I think, in Christianity.

Hell, in Paradise Lost, isn't a particular bat-roosting cave where the AC has gone out. Nor is hell a perpetual time-out room when we don't do what God "wants". Hell is the totality of every way you can be out of harmony with the world, nature, and God at once. We descend deeper into it as Satan's choice to estrange himself from the divine runs to its logical conclusion. This bad conscience, maybe existing from the instant choice entered the picture and it became possible to choose pride over God, doesn't happen once but reverberates throughout mankind's fall too and is replicated in every prideful and obtuse act humanity takes. And in this way, the real spiritual pattern of Milton's Christianity comes to the fore, palpably, where parochial details buttress the story without trapping us.

---

It's appropriate for me to acknowledge and recommend C. S. Lewis' Preface to Paradise Lost, which besides being very good has surely influenced my impression.

[mdhwrites]

So, are you the kind of person who thinks MLP Friendship is Magic should have ended in season 3 with Magical Mystery Cure since you think it went downhill in season 4 onward?

I'm going to answer all three MLP asks you sent together, this, the one asking what I think made S4 start the decline, and if I might go back to Equestria Girls at the same time because the S4 one is short and so is the EqG one: Season 4: I can't say exactly. It's been over half a decade since I watched literally anything MLP:FiM related. I remember thinking the plots were more boring, that characters acted like assholes a lot more and just that I enjoyed it less. Like I remember people praising Rarity in Manehatten while that episode in my opinion killed the interesting elements of Rarity's character. I can't say a lot of specifics though because I just haven't even had other people talking about the show to refresh my memory like with stuff like Avatar. EqG: I have been tempted in the past to go back to it but would honestly rather not do the coin flip for it. After all, Rainbow Rocks, maybe the one MLP thing I could talk more concretely about because I talked about it a lot, I consider to almost be the epitome of all that went wrong with the show. The girls are half the problem, no one actually seems to be nice or give a fuck about one another (Rarity broke down sobbing on stage for some reason, let's YELL AT HER despite being IMMUNE to the anger magic), and the jokes, voice acting and pacing are all just worse than they used to be. So yeah, Sunset is great, I like Sunset, but... I don't want to risk just ending up liking everything less by watching more of it.

ANYWAYS, this ask:

I like S3 a LOT more than I think a lot of people did but I did agree that Magical Mystery Cure had a finality to it. The thing was that it wasn't a series finality to it: It was a character finality. It was the exact opposite of what Twilight had been like when she first entered the show (see why her regressing to make Starlight look better might have pissed me off?) while also still having her intellect. She literally joins her mentor as a peer and is no longer the student. It is a great way to end her journey and potentially bring in a new character.

Even if they didn't, there was still stuff they could have done. Her tackling what being a princess means. Her tackling the power imbalance between her and her friends. How her worldview changes. S4 is even smart enough to start with some of that. Then... Yeah, people are right to call out that they do nothing with this and seem to mostly just ignore that she is a princess.

Honestly, that lack of depth and nuance and interest in exploring the characters is part of the problem I had in the long term with MLP. Everyone was an archtype, yes, but there was a little more. Not so much to make them ever purely escape their archtypes but enough to make them feel vibrant and alive while still being malleable which made them good for the fandom. I feel like S3 was the last time, and this is the ONLY thing I might give the Fausticorn assholes, when a lot of that spark to the characters was in full force. Even then, Faust has freely admitted that other members of her team were helming the show long before she left anyways because she didn't get to do the adventure series she wanted.

The show didn't have to end at S3. Not by any means. But... It sure does feel like they started struggling for ideas more after that half season. At least that's how I remember it.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[nocek]

Hello, do you have a guide to drawing faces? I'm going through an artstyle revision to be more soft around the edges and less sharp and I've always struggled with faces...

oh my... that's a very broad question to ask and hard to give any usefull answer without actually seeing your work. But it's good that you have concrete goals and can pinpoint what exactly you want to change about your work. It's a very professional attitude.

Which is why I may be a bad choice of person to be asked for advice. Because I'm not a professional and I want very much for drawing to stay just my hobby to keep me sane. I never consciously thought about my artstyle beyond maybe making it less manga (but residue it's still there, art teachers were right lol XD). It's about having fun in the process for me.

That's why I can only give you some fun things to try out. Maybe one or two will work for you.

If you want to soften your faces in generally paintery way best way I tried is to gradually unblurr your picture. Like take the most basic round brush with soft edges and make it very big. Turn down the opacity a bit and try to sculpt basic shapes of the face using the main limited pallette colors of your reference. Then use slightly smaller big brush to add bit more details. Then gradually make the brush smaller and smaller. And gradually add new details and colors if necessary.

This actually does wonders because helps you stop being precious about some sketch details because there is no sketch. It helps you stop seeing face as face so you don't draw what you know but what you actually see.

Actually speaking of that. Another great trick is to put your reference upside down. Our brains are lazy and just extrapolate the information and our brains are great at face shapes so it's actually harder to draw them. But if you put them upside down you actually need to focus on proportions of this new unknown shape. It actually does wonders!

When it comes to lineart (because after all this rambling I figured that's most likely why you've written to me, sorry) i have 2 suggestions.

Try to figure out if you draw with only your wrist. It doesn't decide if you draw more in straight or in curved lines (I guess in that department we have opposite problems :D) but it's good idea to try consciously draw using more of your elbow. It works well with bigger canvases and actually taught me to draw really long straight lines (yay architecture, it was useful for that and learning how to do really tough boxes XD) but actually it's about stability which is crucial in doing curved lines too.

On smaller scale try using different media or have fun with new pens. It will help you get out of your used path and is an excuse to raid nearby cheap art store.

I guess many people would recommend doing lineart with brushes. The varying thickness will encourage you to use more round lines and so on buuuuut.... actually I think brushes are very discouraging when you don't have the muscle memory to control them properly. My advice here would be to use felt tip pens actually. They are more springy thus more forgiving. Try the ones that are soft and more spongy than actually felt. Idk how to describe them. If that's something you think may be interesting let me know and I'll try to dig up the ones I used.

Generally let me know if you want more details in certain direction because all above is kind of rambly stream of consciousness answer and idk how usefull it actually is but I prefer to post it that way otherwise I'll get stuck in perfecting the reply limbo >.<

[the-fengqing-podfic-agenda]

About this Blog

What is the purpose of this blog?

The purpose of this blog is to highlight podfics of the ship Feng Xin/Mu Qing from Heaven's Official Blessing, as it can be quite a chore to find podfics sometimes. I will provide all the necessary information, including title, name of the author, name of the podficer, tags, summary, rating and length of the podfic in the posts. The posts will not include the soundfiles themselves, but links to where you can find them. Hopefully, this will make podfics more accessible than what platforms like Ao3 have to offer.

Why did I make this blog?

I am a big fan of podfics and I noticed there is a bit of a shortage in podfics within the FengQing community. To help this I want to maybe record my own podfics in the future, but in the meantime I want to bring more attention to the already existing podfics, so more people can enjoy them and might also be inspired to record their own.

On this blog, I will try to assemble any and all podfics centered around the ship FengQing. In the future I will work on a tagging system, but for now there's not that many podfics, so you should be able to work your way through them. I use my own tag #fqpodfic for all future posts, so feel free to block that if you're not interested in it. All posts will also be tagged with the fengqing tag. The posts are not automated, I assemble everything I post myself and rely heavily on things that people are sending me.

If you find a podfic centered around FengQing (or have recorded your own) on any streaming platform or fanfic archive (including but not limited to Spotify, Soundcloud, Youtube, Ao3), please send them to my inbox here or to my main blog @raindrops-on-concrete. If it's uploaded to tumblr, I'd love if you could tag my main blog in the post, so I can reblog it on here.

About the admin:

The only admin of this sideblog is me, Rain. My main blog is @raindrops-on-concrete where I talk about Star Trek, danmei novels, Doctor Who, Minecraft Youtube, asexuality and all kinds of other fun things and sometimes do small literary analyses. Please send any questions to my main blog as I'd like to keep the inbox of this sideblog strictly for submissions of podfics. You're also welcome to just chat to me on my main blog.

If you feel inspired to record your own podfic, keep the following in mind:

always get permission from the author of a fic unless you yourself are the author. Some authors give blanket permissions in their bio or add a tag that gives permission for a specific fic. If you can't find any sort of permission to record a podfic anywhere, reach out to the author either on social media or in the comment section of a fic. If you don't have a permission, don't record the podfic.

this is very much just for fun so don't stress about sound quality or editing much. Some podficers just sit down and do a recording in one sitting.

typically podficers just like fanfic authors are also nice and approachable if you ask them for help nicely.

Also remember to leave kudos/likes and comment if you liked a podfic. Comments can be specifically about something you liked about the recording or about the fic itself, just be nice. Never leave any negative comments, podficers just like fanfic authors are doing this work for free in their free time.

Regular posts will start on the 8th of April and will be spaced out by a few days until we reach all the podfics I've found so far.

[themickey]

admittedly, mickey wasn't that cold, she enjoyed a good chilly night, but they probably shouldn't spend all night outside. she was sure they would have a big day tomorrow, mrs. tristian would probably have something for them to do, maybe begin to get all of the affairs with the house in order. "it's a bit chilly, we can head in if you want," she says, assuming that was why naomi was asking her, always too polite to push. she always liked naomi, even if they were pretty opposite with most things. she was glad they got to share this moment together.

"yeah, they kinda are," mickey says with a laugh. she didn't really mind it though, she liked her team and was used to men who thought they were better than everyone else. she wondered if richard was like that when he was younger, he was so smart and from a completely different time. thankfully mickey never saw him as one of those men. "you too, i hope those other chefs don't underestimate you either."

"you got yourself a deal!" she gave naomi a wide smile. it may be selfish to say, but she felt a lot better now than she did before naomi came out here. she was glad they were able to talk and distract each other. she just hoped naomi felt a little better too. giving a shrug of her shoulders, she grabs the bottle of whiskey and her pack of cigarettes, ready to head inside as she spoke. "i don't really know. something to leave our mark here and remember all the time we spent here. we could plant a tree or, like- oh! you know when people put their hand prints in a fresh concrete drive way? hmm well we'd have to rip up the drive way and hire people to put a new one, that may be too much work," she thought out loud in a stream of consciousness ramble like she typically did when she was younger. "i'll think of something." mickey waved her hand, waving away her ideas before heading to the door.

she knew it was a risk asking naomi how she was, she knew it had to be hard. it was hard enough for mickey but naomi couldn't even make it through her speech. she didn't want to push too hard, but she wanted her to know that she was there for her. "well if you're ever not fine, you know where my room is. my door is always open."

Naomi's eyes went to Mickey's cigarette as she put it out, realizing they were both finished smoking. She shifted her weight as she wondered if she should suggest that meal for Mickey again. "Are you warm enough?" Autumn in New York could be tricky.

She nodded when Mickey thanked her for coming out. It never felt right for Naomi to announce things about herself, sexuality included. Despite their age difference, being authentic in expressing herself was something Naomi looked up to in her. "Thanks, I'm just happy we're being us." She thought back to Mickey's suit, and a wide grin followed.

"Those men sound really stupid." She was familiar with the type. Despite the stereotypes of women and cooking, the culinary world still took men far more seriously. It was another way that Taro was a benefit and a curse, a man to act as armor from the misogyny that also also overshadowed her individual achievements. "I get that too sometimes. I hope they don't underestimate you."

"I will cook for you anytime. The only payment I want is for you to point out things in the sky for me after." Doing something, was very vague and Naomi instantly felt a wave of dread rush through her. "What kind of something?" Her worries of a party or something that would require her to speak in public again were nagging in her head, even if Mickey assured less pressure.

She had feared that mentioning Mickey's eulogy would prompt a comment on her own or a lack there of. Naomi stared straight ahead, not wanting to relive when she fell apart earlier. "Yep, I'm fine."

[zmayadw]

Promise Of A Fool In Love

▫️ Duskwood Oneshot ▫️

‼️ CONTAINS EPISODE 10 SPOILERS ‼️

Characters: Jake / GN!MC / Alan Bloomgate

Words: 2694

Warnings: Beside containing ep 10 spoilers, some swearing and I believe nothing else, but as usual, if you stumble upon something, please let me know 😊

A/N: Ok, I'm sorry, but I just cannot come to terms with not knowing 100% what happened to our beloved hacker at the end, so here I am! 😁

Oh, and this is the first time I am writing a GN!MC, so please, if you see any mistakes concerning that, do let me know so I can correct it :) Also, thank you @yuvon-augold79 for your advice and help!

A/N2: Ok, please, I beg you, as you read this, just don't go searching too much credibility for the mine events part, this is just fiction/fanfiction after all, and I just wanted to give me some concrete closure, be it possible or not. Thank you in advance! Hope you will like it! 💚

Jake: If I could deactivate the fake stream and transmit the cameras' real images instead

Then that way we might be able to find Hannah and Richy.

Jake press send on his chat with Mc focusing quickly back on the comptuer in front of him. He already spent way too much time in this room but if he succeeds doing it, the chance for him finding Hannah and Richy grow exponentially.

MC: Oh, you haven't heard yet

Alan just escorted Hannah out of the mine

„What!?“ he blurts out not believing his eyes and grabs his phone.

Jake: Hannah is safe?

MC: Yes :)

Closing his eyes for a moment, he takes a deep breath and exhales relieved that Hannah is finally safe. But she wasn't the only one they needed to find.

Jake: But what about Richy?

MC: Alan will find him

Jake: All right.

I must leave this mine immediately.

~ ~ ~ ~

Reluctantly, he peels his eyes from his phone screen and tucks it to his pocket. It was time to get the hell out of this place. And fast.

Unfortunately, that is not going to be an easy task.

With no knowledge in what part of the mine Michael might be exactly, the map of the mine on his phone being of no use and the hatch at the Grimrock  locked, it's going to be extremely hard to leave this place.

Not to mentione that most likely all the known exits are probably guarded with cops, or the FBI agents, it's going to take a miracle for him to leave this place unnoticeable.

But that's not going to stop him from trying. He made a promise to Mc, and there was nothing that's going to stop him from keeping that promise. Especially not now when he finally managed the courage to confess his feelings to them.

It's been so long since the last time he felt like this – since he felt so alive. With everything that happened to him, he forgot how good that feeling was, how everything gets a different meaning when you have something to look forward to. Or rather to say someone.

And it is amazing how fast one can get used back to that feeling again, especially with the right person. So damn right he will do everything he can to get out of here alive.

But first thing first – he needs to get back to the higher level, it will definitely be more probable to find a way out from there. And even if it was a big risk, he should try to use the same ladders he took to get down here. Finding a new set of ladders blindly might take him way too much time.

Reaching the ladders, he carefully starts climbing. He tries to focus his hearing for any signs of movement, but the sound of his own heart beating uncontrollably made it hard for him.

While climbing, he remembers he saw a side tunnel not that far down from the beggining of the shaft. He should try using it rather than going back all the way up and risk getting caught immediately.

When he reached the side tunnel, he carefully takes his phone out from his pocket, holding the ladders tightly with his other hand. He turns the flashligh on and points it at the tunnel.

The side tunnel was definitely used in the past – there were still wires with the lights on each side of it, and that kinda gave him some hope that this tunnel could maybe take him to some other useful part of the mine. Hopefully.

There was only one way to find out.

Not even a few steps in, he had to get into an uncomfortable half-crouching position to continue through it, slowing him down. He just hoped it won't take him long to reach the end of it – this place was very unstable, it was hard to keep the thought of this tunnel collapsing out of his head.

Luckily, he soon found himself reaching the end of it, ending up in what looked like another main tunnel. Streching a bit, he notice that the lights on the wall in this part of the tunnel are working, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. But what he did know was that he needs to keep moving.

The tunnel had only two options – either take left or right – and if he calculated correctly by the position of the shaft and the side tunnel, it would be better to continue on the left and make some distance from the Grimrock entrance.

The eerie silence of the tunnel was not helping in making him any less jittery, and the sudden thought how he told Mc earlier about the catastrophe that happened here all those years ago, and allegedly 'calls of the deceased workers' still being heard echoing through the mine makes his skin crawl.

Get a grip, Jake, and focus! he scolds himself and shakes his head with a low chuckle, focusing back on the path in front of him. He knew better than to believe in some old ghost stories, but he couldn't deny the fact that this place was definitely creepy.

„Oh, fuck!“ he curse outloud after a while, coming to a dead end. The semi circular room he reached was blocked at the other end, and after a bit more thorough examination, he had no other option but to retrace his steps.

A sudden loud boom of an explosion cuts through the eerie silence of the mine.

„What the...“ his eyes turn wide, both from fear and unexpectedness of it. What the hell was happening? He better ask Mc what is going on, and make sure everyone is fine.

But the moment his hand went for his pocket, the whole place started vibrating, immediately followed by a violent shaking, and he barely managed to keep himself from losing his footing.

The walls around him began to crumble, and he had just enough time for the thought how, after everything, his promise to Mc might end unfulfilled. And that thought pained him extremely.

Then everything went dark.

~ ~ ~ ~

His eyelids fly open and he gasps for air, instantly followed by the rapid coughing attack. His mouth were full of dust and he definitely didn't want to swallow any of it.

When his cough subsided and his eyes adjusted to his surrounding, he tries to sit up and immediately wince in pain clutching his shoulder. He had no idea if his shoulder was dislocated or just extremely bruised, but the pain in it was strong. He desperately needed his backpack.

Being on a run for all these years at least thaught him one thing – always keep some essentials in you backpack. So knowing that he had some strong painkillers and a bottle of water in it relieved him a bit.

Pushing some rocks and debris of off his legs, he was able to move more easily. Slowly, but not withouth some more painful wincing, he manages to take the backpack off his back.

Thankfully, the water bottle survived and he immediately takes two painkillers with as little water possible. He had absolutely no idea how long he might be here, so being cautious with his water consumption would be a smart move.

Allowing himself a moment, he close his eyes and leans on the wall waiting for the painkillers to do their magic. He was aware they won't help completely, his shoulder was pretty beaten up, but it was better than nothing. And he couldn't actually believe how extremely lucky he was to come out of this with only a beaten up shoulder and some negligible cuts. It really is a miracle he is still alive and kicking. Well, not kicking maybe, but close.

Few minutes later, he reach for his pocket only to take out his completely borken phone. He snorts at the sight of it - he was already lucky enough as it is, so something was bound to go against him.

Taking the flashlight from his backpack, he push himself against to wall to stand up. This place was now even more unstable than before, and he definitely didn't want to stick around here more than it was necessary. Turning the flashligh on, he start to inspect the place.

His hope in finding a way out of here soon began to fade the more he looked around - no matter what side he turned to, everything was completely blocked. But when he turned his gaze up, his heart jolted with excitement.

The collapse revealed a hole in the ceiling of the wall, or he just didn't had a chance to notice it before, but that was irrelevant now.

Upon taking a closer look at it, he saw that there were some kind of a wooden boards, placed conveniently to resemble a ladder, and surpisingly looked pretty sturdy, too.

Now, he only had to figure out how to climb up there, and fast - the pain killers did start to work and his pain bacame much more bearable, but he was positive that won't last for very long.

With again some unknown luck on his side, there was just about enough stones and debris laying under the hole already, so it didn't take him too long to add some more and make sure it is safe enough for him to climb it and reach the boards.

Collecting his stuff, he slowly starts up the pile and peeks head first into the hole. Straightening up, he see that the first board is at the level of his hips, wich made it much easier for him to start climbing considering his shoulder injury.

Carefully making his way up, the thought that his climb will soon end in another dead end scared him. And that was exactly what happened.

Screaming out every possible curse that he could think of didn't really help in changing his sittuation, but what else was he suppose to do.

And when the place once again rapidly began to shake, there was notthing else for him to do but to laugh "I guess my luck finally ran out."

The pieces of the wall crumbling and hitting him gradually became larger and larger, one of those hitting at his injured shoulder almost making him loos his grip of the boards. Not that it would matter anyway, because if the shaking doesn't stop he is screwed either way.

Unfortunately, the shaking just intensified, but that was actually a good thing - because in that moment another hole opened up above him, and without giving it much though, he rush towards it, and soon fills his lungs with a breath of fresh air.

Hastily, he pulls himself out taking a few steps away from the hole just to be on the safe side before collapsing to the ground.

Turning on his back he tries to calm his rapid breaths, and finally, as he gaze at the starry sky above him, it hits him that he made it out alive and kicking.

Not a second later, he again begins to laugh, a bit hysterically this time, not noticing that the tears started rolling down his face "Piece of cake."

🟢 🟢 🟢

TWO MONTHS LATER

„Hello, Mc.“ Chief Alan Bloomgate answers his phone without bothering to check at the caller's ID. He knew who it was the moment his phone started to ring - they've been calling every day, at the exact same time in the evening for the last two months, inquiring the same thing. And each time his heart sank lower for giving them the same damn answer.

They might had a shaky begining, but he grew more fond of them with each passing day. Not to mention, that he did feel bad for not believing them from the start of this whole thing with Miss. Donfort, but what's done is done, he can't change any of that.

And nothing of that can change the fact that he had no new information to tell them. Not yesterday, not today, and probably not tomorrow.

He takes a deep breath „You know, Mc, maybe you should head back home for a while, hmh? I understand, you want to be here in case something changes, and I know you think you're doing what is best, but you're just torturing yourself like this.“

He couldn't bring hiself to say exactly what he meant, but he knew Mc were smart, and they perfectly understood the hidden meaning behind his words.

It's been two months, and with the rainy season that started in Duskwood, it would take them forever to safely check every part of the mine that collapsed. And lets be honest here, how long can one survive in such harsh conditions after all.

„Thank you for your concern, Alan, but I think I'll just stick around for now.“

Ofcourse they will, he already knew that was the answer he will recieve from them. And honestly, he couldn't blame them, he would probably be the same if the roles were reversed. He himself knew very well how difficult it was to give up on something. Even harder on someone.

„Very well, Mc. 'Till tomorrow, then.“

~

At the other side of Duskwood, Mc desperately lowers their phone on the bed after the call with Chief Alan. It's been three weeks since they arrived here and made Mrs. Walter's motel their temporary home.

They knew Alan was right, but how could they just leave!? No, that is out of the question! The chances might be close to zero, but until there are some firm evidence, they are staying right where they are.

They grab back their phone and opet the chat with Jessy - some distractions would do them good, and they were positive Jessy would feel the same.

Just as they were about to start typing, the screen of the phone turns completely black. "What the hell!?!" they protest, pushing nervously on the side button in hope to make the phone working again.

Suddenly, the screen flashes and a familiar symbol appears on it.

They stare in awe at the Nymos eye floating on their phone screen, grabbing the phone tighter with shaky hands as the loud sound of their heart frantically beating echoes in their ears.

The screen flash once again and Nymos eye disappears, but there was now a pointer flashig and the letters begin to appear on the screen.

I apologise for my lateness

:)

But it is as I promised you

We shall see each other in Duskwood

They waited nervously for another message to come on, but the screen stayed unaltered. Frustrated, they groan out loud "Arghh, what's that suppose to mean!?"

A few seconds later, all the previous messages disappear and another one starts forming.

Knock, knock, Mc :)

They watch even more confused than before as the screen gets back to normal as if nothing happened. But when a knock came at the doors of their motel room, in a flash they cross the distance to it and open them abruptly.

With one hand on the door, and placing the other defiantly on the hip, they glare at the young black-haired man in front of them "You're late!"

The young man nods his head respectfully "My apologies, again. But there were some...inconviniencess I had to take care of first."

Mc raise their eyebrow "Inconviniences you say. All right. And is that over and done now?

"It is." the young man shortly comments.

"Good." Mc replies. "So, what now?"

"Now" the black-haired starts taking a step closer to them, his eyes flashing with a devilish glow "I will ask you one last time."

His closeness made their skin crawl with goosebumps, and his eyes were so hypnotizing, it was hard for them to concentrate. Swallowing hard, they manage to find their voice "Ask me what?"

The young man smiles "Do you still want to be with me?"

Mc smiles back and close the remaining distance between them, wrapping their arms around his neck. Before their lips finally met, they softly whisper "Always."

[fatgumxreader]

Hi, Sorry if you don't want to write this request. You don't have to if you don't want to or don't have the time to do it. But if you want, can you perhaps write one where taishiro and reader gets in an argument and he gets angry and hits the reader. But is extremely sorry for doing so and trys to fix it as best he could. Angst, fluff.. You can add if you want. 🌺(^o^)

I love angst y’all not gonna lie to you so this made me think “yes 100%”

Also I don’t think he would ever do this but like I said ANGSTY IS GREAT!!

Reader: gn!

Occupation: hero!

Warnings?: yea a backhanded slap! And a punch!

~~~~~

You didn’t even remember what the argument was about anymore. It was now just yelling and retorts, and then it happened.

It was strong and it hurt, you even were pushed to the ground.

Shock strung through you, it tightened you whole body. Without even thinking what was next you balled your fist and swung. You were no weak little thing, you packed a punch.

When he felt his hand move basically on its own he felt his stomach clench in regret. Seeing you on the floor made everything go silent. He knelt down to your height on the ground and put his hands up. “Honey I’m-“

It cracked into his jaw, your fight or flight sense kicking in. You grabbed your purse and your hero outfit that was hanging by the door and bolted out the door.

Looking in your purse after you made a distance from your house you, your wallet and keys.Your phone was not there. You found yourself at the place where taishiro had taken you on your first date.

The beach.

“This damned place…” looking out as the winter air nipped at your exposed skin.

Placing your things down and slipping off your shoes. You walked into the water just to your ankles, feeling the chill bite at your feet still didn’t hurt as much as the sting still lingering on your cheek.

Tears spilled over your lower lashes, softly dropping into the freezing ocean.

You heard a panicked voice yelling your name.

“(Y/n)!!!!” You recognized the voice as taishiro.

Your instinct was to hide by one of the ocean wall barricades but your feet didn’t move. They stayed still, maybe your body liked the cold.

The voice got closer and closer. When you heard his footsteps slow, then they went from sounds of concrete steps to the sound of sand being stepped on.

You heard a soft call of your name, “y/n…”

You turned, silently and just made eye contact with him.

All that came from his mouth was one apology after the other. Tears streamed down his face at one point, his skinny body gave off the fact he was running around like a mad man looking for you.

His feet were bare, probably from bolting out of the house after he woke up from the punch to the jaw. He stepped into the water and you watched. He slowly raised his hands to where you could see them in his attempt to show he meant no harm.

You watched his cautiously and stiffened when he hugged you. Tears spilling out once more, and you hugged him back crying into his chest.

Soft I’m sorries we’re said as he picked you up, you realized how cold you really were.

Once you made your way back to the house, he placed you softly into the bed. He pulled out the electric blanket you loved and placed it on you. Turning it on it slowly warmed up your toes and torso. He left the room after saying he was going to get some food for both of you.

At some point you didn’t know when you fell asleep, maybe you were more tired than you thought. When taishiro came back into the room with instant ramen and saw you were sound asleep he put the plastic bowls down. Crawled into the bed and held you close, “I’m so sorry, i don’t know what came over me.”

When the morning came you opened you eyes slightly. A throbbing in your throat and head, you recognized it as the common cold. You groaned, and rolled over cuddling into the blankets.

Eyes leveling you looked out the window a small snow falling outside. When you heard a knock, “can I come in?”

You squeaked out a “yes” which hurt because of your throat. When the door opened it was taishiro, holding a bowl of warm oatmeal and a cup of your favorite tea. Placing the bowl by your side with the tea.

You both talked and cried.

Then embraced in a hug it was tight and firm.

He went in for a kiss but you stopped him, “I don’t want you to get sick”

~~~~~

I hope that lived up to your expectations! And it’s not proof read! But I still hope you like it!

[wlwmarvelenthusiast]

Darkest Secrets

Requested by @mcmorgan9794

Summary: Keeping this secret from Wanda has been hard, but you don't have a choice but to come clean when everything is brought to light.

Warnings: None

Word Count: 3,446

You’d always wanted to tell Wanda your deepest, darkest secret. You had been with her for well over a year, after all. A secret like the one you harboured wasn’t something that you should keep from someone you loved so dearly. But your secret was the ugliest part of yourself. It was something you hated, lurking deep within every inch of your body. It brewed in your blood and rested in your bones, uncontrolled at the best of times and unstoppable at the worst. It was a burden you’d never wanted to place upon the girl you loved.

Yet, keeping it from her hurt too. She’d look at you with those soft green eyes, spilling everything to you. Tears would stream down her cheeks as she’d tell you all about how much she hated the powers she’d been given. You’d hold her close and whisper soft words of comfort, wiping her tears away with the pad of your thumb, refusing to tell her you felt the same about your own. She would tell you everything. You wouldn’t tell her anything. You couldn’t tell her anything. She thought she was a monster. In reality, you were the monster. If she knew that, her heart would shatter.

Sometimes, these facts were all you could think about. It was the quiet moments. Wanda was away getting coffee with Natasha, Tony and Bruce were in the lab, Thor was on Asgard, and Clint was home with his family. You were left alone at the compound. You hardly ventured out of your own room. While silence screamed in the dark room, you tried to distract yourself with a book or a movie, but it didn’t last. Instead, the weight of your secret was crushing the oxygen out of your lungs. It always did. You longed to have Wanda back, to have her by your side and thread your fingers through hers. She didn’t know how agonizing solitude could be.

You curled up in your armchair, pulling your knees up to your chest and curling your arms around them. You squeezed your eyes shut, wishing you could will the overwhelming thoughts out of your head. They were screaming at you. They were reminding you of the monster that lay dormant in your very soul, cackling as they pushed images of what you were capable of. Then you imagined Wanda. You could do her so much harm and she didn’t even know it. Were you putting her in danger every day you lay by her side? You swallowed as you tried to force back the tears.

The dark thoughts came next. They always did. You wondered how much better off the world would be without you. You wondered how much better off she would be without you. She loved you. Losing you would break her heart, but she’d be okay eventually. If you hurt her in the way only you knew you were capable of, you knew she would never be okay again. None of them would. The dam broke and tears spilled down your cheeks. Hurting Wanda Maximoff would kill you.

And as you were about to imagine all the ways you could take yourself and your monster out of this world, your phone rang.

You grabbed the phone off the table, wiping the tears from your eyes with the back of your hand. You took a steadying breath before you even dared look down at the screen. The first thing you noticed wasn’t the person who was calling, but the time. It hadn’t felt like it had been as long as it had since the other had left you alone in the compound. The darkness in your head could do that. You lost track of time often when you reached that place. An hour could pass, then two, and then six.

It was Natasha’s face that was flashing on your screen. Worry filled your gut. Was Wanda okay? She had to be okay. You forced a deep breath in, and then out. Her phone had probably died. The Sokovian was notorious for remembering to plug the charger into her phone, but forgetting to plug it into the wall on the other end. After reminding yourself of that a few times, you finally found the ability to slide the answer button and hold the phone up to your ear.

“Hey.”

“Thank god,” Natasha’s voice said. There was a loud screech in the background, the sound of metal grinding against metal. “Listen you need to get to the hospital.”

Your heart dropped into your stomach. Oxygen caught in your throat and you were barely able to let words squeeze past the lump that had formed. “The hospital?”

“The ambulance is almost there. She’s hurt bad. Don’t come anywhere near Midtown.”

You didn’t even bother to respond. In fact, you didn’t even bother to hang up the phone. You simply slammed it down on the table that you’d only just picked it up from, heading for the elevator. A million thoughts were racing through your head. There were so many emotions tugging at your heart that you could hardly decipher one from the next. Fear, anger, and worry were all fighting to take over every one of your senses. You couldn’t breathe. It was as if on autopilot that you made it to the garage and hotwired one of Tony’s cars.

Scenery was flashing by you, mere streaks outside the windows of the car. The pedal was on the floor beneath your foot. You flexed your fingers; knuckles having gone white with the force of your grip on the steering wheel. Your brain was showing you visuals of Wanda lying on the table, shining green eyes dulled in the absence of life. Head too wrapped up in the thoughts that ran through it, you didn’t realize you weren’t headed for the hospital at all. You were headed toward midtown, exactly where Natasha had told you not to go.

You’d never been an Avenger. You would never be an Avenger. Maybe it was selfish, refusing to help others when you had the ability to. People died and you might have been able to stop it. Your own powers scared you too much to allow you to. It was something you’d decided long ago. The lives of every civilian that you could have saved were worth it. You couldn’t unleash that sinister thing that lived inside you. Yet, here you were, rushing toward the fight like you were Tony Stark in his suit of armour, or Steve Rogers with a vibranium shield strapped to your back.

The car screeched as you slammed your foot down on the brake. The seatbelt dug so hard into your ribs that you weren’t sure a few hadn’t snapped beneath the pressure. The adrenaline pumping through your veins assured you wouldn’t feel it even if they did. You fought to keep your breathing under control as you stepped out of the car and took in the destruction around you. Someone here had hurt Wanda, and, honestly, you couldn’t find it in you to care which one it had been. You’d kill every single one.

Gravel and rubble crunched beneath your feet as you ventured further and further into the warzone that had broken out in Midtown New York. They looked human, whoever they were. They were armed to the teeth and attacking every moving thing in sight. None of them had noticed you yet. That was better for both of you, for the time being. You shut your eyes for a brief moment and listen to the sounds around you. Civilians were screaming and car alarms were blaring and explosions roared. Then there was running, and it stopped at your side.

“I told you not to come here. Wanda’s at the hospital.”

You opened your eyes. Natasha was at your side. Blood trickled down her temple, staining her pale skin. She flinched as she put weight on her left leg to move a little closer to you. Wanda might have been the woman you called your own, but the Avengers were your family. Seeing one of them hurting in the way Natasha was only stoked the fire that was beginning to burn hotter and hotter inside of you. Your gaze moved away from her and back to the oncoming forces. They were getting closer.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Tony’s cars have trackers. We got an alert the second you left the compound and another as you came here. Get to the hospital.”

But you’d already stopped listening. The incoming threat had gotten close enough to notice you now. Green eyes followed your gaze until she, too, noticed the men approaching the two of you. She raised her arm, the gun still clutched tight in her grip. You could tell by the bewildered expression on her face that she hadn’t at all been expecting you to stop her. Your hand grabbed her wrist, lowering her arm until it was back against her side. You suspected it was the crimson gleam in your eyes that was the only thing that was keeping her weapon lowered.

You turned back to her once more. Surprise was written across every feature on her face… no, it was fear. She was afraid. She should be scared of you. Your skin began to blacken as you began to fade into nothing. Her eyes were still able to find yours, glowing bright as ever. She flinched when you reached out, backing up as you reached for her hand in an attempt for a final goodbye. You bowed your head, wishing she’d let you feel the warmth of her skin beneath your hand one final time.

“I’m sorry, Natasha.”

Then you turned away from her. The last of your human form faded away. It was hard to make out any shape in the tall, dark shadow that you’d become. Haunting golden eyes cast to the men that were racing toward you. As if to match the scene, a dark cloud rolled in front of the sun. Its shadow cast down onto the city, the darkness concealing you even further and making your eyes glow seemingly brighter. They continued to approach. They didn’t know their mistake. You did. You were dangerous at any time. You were more dangerous now that they’d hurt the person you loved more than you had ever loved before.

You raised your arms into the sky, feet leaving the ground. When your feet had been touching the concrete below them, you’d already been towering over the oncoming men. Now, you looked down upon them. Guns raised to where you hovered in the sky. It was almost comical. One of them screamed, and suddenly they were all firing. Their bullets tore through you, yet they didn’t touch you. Your head tilted to the side ever so slightly as an unsettling grin appeared in your dark shadow, disrupted by the whiz of dozens of bullets flying through it.

“Knock knock,” you said. Even your voice was sinister, a deep rumble that felt like it emanated from every direction, or deep inside of any listener.

The laughter that burst from their chests was strange, at first. It seemed out of place in such a setting. Confusion flickered across each of their faces. Then they laughed harder, and harder. Guns fell to the ground and they howled with laughter, but it contrasted their eyes. There was no sparkle of amusement in even one. It was pure, unbridled fear that you could see shining in them. One by one they fell to their knees, clawing at their throats as they tried to stop. One had tears streaming down his cheeks as he covered his ears, trying to block out the sounds that were torn from his own throat.

They couldn’t get in their comms to tell their men to keep away.

The next group that came for you met the same fate. Soon they, too, were on the ground. You got some sort of sick satisfaction as you watched them fall, unable to control their bodies. You’d taken over, grabbing hold of their heads and their bodies. You’d grabbed onto their lungs and ripped laughter from their chests, absolutely uncontrollable. When they lost control of that, that was when the fear started to take over. Fear would grip at them; you could feel it emanating off them. It would only get worse. You’d watched men take their lives as they lost their minds.

There was a reason you never used your powers. You were afraid of them, sure. The reason you were afraid of them, however, wasn’t because of their strength. Their strength could have saved lives. It wasn’t even because you couldn’t control them. You were addicted to your own powers. You took pride in watching grown men reduced to tears, curled up on the ground, shaking like an abused puppy. Your sick satisfaction was what you feared.

Was this what it felt like to be an Avenger? Were you taking pride in watching the civilians able to run from the scene, or was your pride in the fact that they no longer feared the invading forces, but you instead? The men were rendered immobile as the New Yorkers ran far from the scene. There you were in the centre of it, arms outstretched eyes gleaming, and grin growing wider and ever more evil. Natasha was still hovering just outside of your reach. You could feel her. You turned to face her. You could tell by the look in her eyes that she no longer recognized you. She put her lips to her comm.

“Evacuate the area. Don’t come down this way. Clint, go check on Wanda.”

Wanda.

Your powers ceased. No one rose right away. It would take some time for them to recover. They were gasping for breath. Their arms were too preoccupied hugging themselves tight to bother even trying to wipe the tears that covered many of their faces. Some of them were even rocking back and forth as the effect wore off. You dropped to the ground, human form taking back over. Your eyes were back to normal as you looked to Natasha once more. Neither of you said anything, but you took off running.

*

You pulled your hood up further, gaze locked to your black running shoes. You couldn’t help but feel like every set of eyes was on you. That’s how it felt, you supposed, being wanted by every agency on the planet. With the ability to change your form, though, it was pretty easy to hide in plain sight. Your footsteps echoed on the hard floor beneath your feet as you kept forward. Anyone who saw you would know you were on a mission. You knew exactly where you were going.

She was sleeping when you arrived. The cuts on her body had been stitched and bandaged, and her broken arm had been cast. Sam’s signature was already present on the red material, accompanied by a bad drawing of a bird. You couldn’t help but smile a little to yourself at that. Hopefully, it had kept a smile on her face as her world fell into turmoil, something undoubtedly caused by you. That simple fact would always break your heart. You had to turn to the window to keep the tears at bay.

When you turned back to Wanda, her green eyes were on you. There was something in her eyes that you couldn’t quite read. Her head tilted to the side as she looked at you, in a form that would be unrecognizable. It wasn’t just hiding you from the authorities, but it was hiding you from her. It was protecting her from you. She didn’t need to know that it was you, the woman who had never for a single second deserved to love her or be loved by her. A small smile grew on her lips.

“You forget I can read minds, my love.”

Of course. Wanda had always promised you she’d never read your mind. She would never violate your privacy like that. Right now, though, standing in her hospital room, you hadn’t been you. Obviously, she’d found it appropriate to peek into the mind of the stranger who had been watching her sleep. You should have been mortified. You’d never wanted her to know that you were here. Instead, a large part of you was relieved.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” she breathed out. “So, that was quite the secret.”

Even though you deserved it, it still felt like a knife to the heart when she said it aloud. You nodded slowly, cracking your knuckles nervously. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

You studied her face. Wanda really was a saint, with powers like the ones she had. She was kind, thoughtful, and respectful. You were sure if you’d had her powers right then, you’d be digging through her mind trying to find out what she was thinking. Her eyes weren’t showing you enough. They were calm, though, and it was keeping you calm. Your breathing was level and your head was steady on your shoulders, something you wouldn’t have had been able to say only five short minutes ago.

“Are you afraid?” You managed.

“No,” she assured instantly. “Confused. Why didn’t you tell me?”

You breathed out slowly. “I didn’t want to hurt you. My powers? They’ll hurt you.”

“Will you hurt me?”

“Never!” You insisted. “I… I only hurt them because they hurt you.”

She smiled. “Then I’m not afraid.”

She beckoned you. You padded slowly toward the bed, watching as she stared up at you with an amount of love and adoration that you didn't deserve. Wanda glanced at the door, making sure no one was there to see, and then took your hand in hers, tugging on it to get you to sit down next to her. Instant calm washed over you, drowning out any negative, scared thoughts that had been in your head for days previous. It was like her hand was a lifeline, keeping you anchored on the spot. In the last few days, you’d been anything but calm and present.

You’d been a wreck without her, not knowing if she’d hate you… if you even saw her again. You didn’t know if you’d be able to feel her touch again, to feel her hands on your cheeks or to feel her grab onto you and pull you into a searing kiss the way she did. But you had seen her again, and, somehow, she didn’t hate you. Now, it seemed now you could get oxygen flowing through your body again. Still, you were uncertain.

“And can you forgive me?” You asked, voice so quiet she almost didn’t hear it. “Can you ever love me again?”

Wanda took her free hand and put it on the underside of your chin, tilting your gaze up to hers. “I see nothing that has to be forgiven.” She brushed her thumb across your cheek, wiping away a stray tear. “I love you. I will never, ever stop loving you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise you,” she assured.

She leaned forward and then her lips were on yours. It took you a second to realize the salty taste was from the tears that were streaming down your cheeks, but it didn’t seem to be bothering the Sokovian. Both of your hands found hers and you held tight, as if afraid you’d never see her again if you dared to let go. She slipped one hand out of yours as she pulled back, using it to brush a strand of hair behind your ear.

“I’m sorry I kept it from you,” you muttered.

“I’m sorry you were so scared all alone.”

Your heart swelled. You really had found the perfect woman. “You’re really too good to me. You know that?”

Wanda laughed. “You deserve the world. You know that?”

With the way you tucked yourself against her in a hug, it was obvious she knew you felt the same of her. Her hand stroked your hair as you finally, for the first time ever, felt absolute ease and a sense of peace. Hiding that secret from Wanda had been the second hardest thing you’d ever done. The hardest had been coming clean with it. You snuggled a little closer to her, burying your head into the crook of her neck and mumbling against her skin.

“I’ll never hide anything from you again. I promise.”

Wanda pulled you away so she could look at you. “While we’re revealing secrets, I suppose I should tell you about the engagement ring in my jacket pocket.”

[darcyxpalmer]

A coincidence for some of this - no, all of this - really did feel just too easy, almost impossible of an assumption, but she didn't have any better theories for now, so even if they were her finite explanations for everything, Darcy still kept them in the running at least. Even if a mass grave above a tunnel leading into what seemed dark nothing was probably extremely intentional.

"Yeah, coincidence feels-- yeah, agreed, but I haven't managed to figure things out enough to have anything more concrete to go off. It all just-- doesn't makes sense, really." None of it did, but truth be told, considering that it was a mass grave, Darcy also hasn't had the stomach to dig around everything so closely. They'd have to, eventually, the place could have clues, but for now... the tunnel it was. "But as for the tunnels, I am pretty sure there is a bigger tunnel system all under us than we can even imagine. I mean, Tej and I found one that leads to the vulcano somehow. And we're in this one now, which leads to who even knows where." Hopefully they'd know soon enough.

She didn't like the idea of other people either, but it was something they had to think about. "What are we even going to do, if we end up running into somebody who was absolutely nowhere near the beach? Who is clearly part of everything behind the scenes?" If Darcy could do anything, she'd probably capture them and bring them back to the beach to prove her point, to get help from the others about getting as much information out of the person as possible. But it was also kidnapping, which might not go over too well with other people. With Ash.

She gave a small shake of her head at Ash's next question. "No idea. But somebody extremely wealthy and with a vision. That, or the government."

And even though Ash dismissed her own theory already even as she was telling Darcy about it, Darcy tilted her head, giving it a bit more thought because there were elements of it that would make sense. "Maybe-- okay, no, I don't think we are in a survival tv show in the same sense that you thought, like I doubt it's something similar to what Alex ran in the simulation, but there are cameras everywhere, they are monitoring us from the getgo. Maybe they do stream what is happening here to the public. Maybe they are legally obligated to - kind of how NASA has 24 hours to release any satelite photos and footage they make. Or they aren't just recording us to observe us but have the intent to release some of it once the experiments reached certain parts or we are finished." And then another thing popped into her head, "And maybe there is actual footage of what happened to those who we found at the entrance of this tunnel, too." If they could get their hands on those footages...

"Have you been in these kinds of shows before, by the way? It sounds like you know a lot about how they work and what goes on behind the scenes."

Ash raised her eyebrows when Darcy mentioned being into a different kind of fun. Yes, hydroslides were fun, but Ash was used to a different meaning of the phrase. Ash let out a breathy laugh, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm game for all sorts of fun. I mean…" She motioned with her flashlight against the walls of the cave. "If you couldn't tell." But it was a definite green flag that Darcy was just as game for the cave system as she was.

Ash had been on weirder first dates.

The temperature plummeted even a short distance into the rocky tunnel. Ash's questions had incited Darcy to rattle off a few theories. Ash loved it when people got talking about something they were passionate about. That was how she now had a good working knowledge of microphones and aerospace tragedies.

"A coincidence feels too kitschy…" she said, screwing up her nose. "Out of anywhere to dig a mass grave they put it on top of this tunnel? Unless the whole island has a tunnel system like Swiss cheese?" That wasn't a comforting thought. "I don't like the thought of other people being in this tunnel system with us." But as she cast her flashlight about the tunnel, it was obvious that this place was man made. The walls were too straight, too level. She could even see a few scrapes along the wall, the kind she imagined heavy machinery would leave behind.

"Whoever is behind all of this?" Ash asked Darcy, hoping to get her to elaborate. She went on first; "When I first got here, I thought for sure this was all a reality TV set. Like, with some fucked up ethics board approval, but still, a TV show. I don't know how they'd swing those murder-robo-hornets, though. Or the powers. But anyway, earlier I wanted to go exploring the tunnels earlier, because I figured if the producers wanted to set up a covert HQ it had to be there. It's the only place to hide the light pollution, generators and crew. And it would be easy to secure." Ash felt a little foolish with her pet theory, given how resolutely it had been slammed by those she told it to. "I'd just been signed to one of those island survival shows before coming here. Timing, right?"

[whumpy-arts-and-crafts]

Bound 7: Consequences

I may or may not have stayed up till 5 am to finish this. But alas, we have whump. A lot of whump. I am sorry it took so long. Hope y'all enjoy!

@equestrianwritingsstuff @epiclamer @itsleighlove @jadeocean46910 @flywhumper @suspicious-whumping-egg @onlywhump @dont-touch-my-soup @befuddled-calico-whump (tell me if you want to be added/removed)

Continued from here

The visits became weekly. Then daily, even twice a day sometimes. Vari told himself it was because Blake needed it. He needed treatment, food, company, and Vari was only repaying the favor he owed him. He knew, however, that deep down, he was starting to need it too. He needed it, perhaps even more than Blake did.

"Hey, Blake?" He half-whispered, the word echoing through the empty hallway, getting the hero's attention.

Blake smiled at Vari's sight, like he always did. It used to upset him, but without realizing, that feeling lessened overtime and was replaced by something else, something pleasant. Vari felt his lips curl into a similar smile.

Blake eyed him as he stood outside the cell fidgeting, with his arms behind his back. "Cookie boy!" He said and patted the concrete next to him. "Come here."

Sheepishly, Vari did. He sat next to Blake and revealed the object he had been hiding behind his back. It was a purple, purple and cream rectangular shape... a box, no... a book.

"You, you always say you're lonely down here," Vari explained, "so I, I thought you would like it."

Taking the book in his hands, the hero studied it carefully. It looked like it had been read over and over again, but by no means was it torn or dirty. It had been handled with care, like a precious item that was worth millions.

"It's the one thing he, he hasn't taken from me." Vari spoke, "It's like a friend. So I thought, maybe it would make you feel less lonely when I can't visit."

"I've never been much of a reader." Blake confessed, turning his gaze to Vari. He stared at the book he had been trusted with, almost scared to open it. Like it would break if he did. "Are you sure it's okay to give me this? It seems pretty important to you..."

"It's okay." Vari replied, "I-I can take it back if, if you don't like it, I just thought it could help you pass your time."

Blake dared to open it to the first page. He laid against the wall, turning it so Vari could see it too. "Read with me." He offered.

Vari felt his pale cheeks redden. He stiffened for a moment, but nodded, making his way to Blake's side. He didn't need to read; he knew what was written in every page down to the last comma. He could probably recite the whole book on a whim, but there was something so calming about being on Blake's side as he turned over the pages, as he explored the world Vari loved so much.

Hours that felt like minutes passed like a breeze, with the two bantering and commenting on the story like little kids discussing their favorite show, completely forgetting where they were, or what time it was.

They forgot, but someone else did not.

Vari shot up, his whole body convulsing and exploding with burning pain. Everything blacked out and the only sensation in his world was agony. He didn't need to look up to know what was happening.

"So that's where you've been dissapearing to!" Aurum growled, hauling him by the neck of his shirt.

Vari writhed in his grasp, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks. "I-I didn't-" he tried to find his voice, "I-It's not- I'm s-sorry, please!"

"Save it." The supervillain replied nonchalantly, "I am tired of you lying to me. I've given everything to you, and this is how you repay me?"

"I'm s-sorry, I-I'm so sorry, please, please don't-" Vari kept whimpering, squirming. He felt like he might pass out from the pain, but Aurum wouldn't grant him that favor. The electricity stopped, and Vari was violently shoved on the hard floor, panting and sweating.

Now that his every cell wasn't screaming in pain, he could hear a voice other than Aurum's shouting. It was still a fuzz, but it slowly became clearer.

"-him alone! He didn't do anything, I asked him to come here!" came Blake's frantic screams, along with the rattling of the cell bars. Vari mouthed a silent "Don't..." but it never reached anyone's ears.

Aurum's attention was now turned to Blake. "And he chose to listen to you, than obey my very clear orders?" He grabbed Vari by his hair, pulling so hard Vari thought he might go bald. "Is that what happened, mutt?"

"I-I... I-I didn't-"

"Stop it!" Blake cried, "It wasn't his fault! If, if you want to punish someone, punish me!"

There was a pause. A pocket of tense silence with only Vari's hard breathing and Aurum's piercing gaze cutting through Blake. Then, the supervillain began to laugh. He laughed and laughed, like he had just heard the best joke in the world.

"Oh, Ignis." He cooed, "Such a hero, aren't you? You'd hate not being able to save someone, wouldn't you? Even him." His boot connected with Vari's ribs, forcing a pained cry out of the villain. Blake clenched his teeth so hard he thought they'd crack.

"You care for him." Aurum continued, "It's adorable, how hurting him hurts you too. You're making this so easy for me."

Then suddenly, Vari was moving, his tired body being dragged across the hard floor. Aurum was mad. Vari could feel it in his grip, hear it in his tone. The last time he had made Aurum mad... the scars still stung, even though they had long since healed.

Blake's pleas felt further and further away, until Vari couldn't hear him anymore. He kept his hand outstretched, even as he was dropped into the dark room at the end of the hallway, with Aurum locking them both inside.

"Now, now." he seethed, grabbing a rodlike object from the wall. It resembled a cane, only its tip was coated in metal. "You grew attached to your new little hero, didn't you?"

Vari cried out when the cane hit his jaw with a sickening crack. "Do I need to remind you what happens when you do that?" Aurum snarled, "Have you forgotten about last time, useless scum?"

Another smack. Another crack from Vari's skull. Aurum's form began to become hazy and unfocused, and Vari couldn't tell if it was because of the pain, or the unshed tears.

Of course he remembered. He could never forget the blood, the tears, the screams, the pleas. He would always remember, and it would always hurt the same, no matter how many years passed, no matter how many of his wounds healed.

"N-No!" He shouted, "No, no, please! I-I didn't- I'm sorry! Please, please don't, don't do this. I-I'll never do it again! I'll forget about him, I swear!"

Aurum lowered to Vari's height to cradle his cheek, his thumb wiping away some tears that had been mixed with blood. "Oh, sweetie..." he cooed, "The fact that you're so worried shows that you still care. If only you would stop lying me."

Crack.

This time, Vari was knocked on his side, clutching his throbbing head. Aurum did not give him time to ease his pain. He stomped over and delivered a hit to his now exposed ribs. Then another. And another, he didn't stop until Vari was out of breath, shivering and crying at his feet.

"Now," he grabbed a handful of his hair, that had now come out of its bun and fallen into his bloody face, "what did we learn?"

"I-I'll n-never..." Vari sobbed, "I'll never d-disobey Sir again. I'll f-follow your o-orders, word for word."

A content smile spread across Aurum's face. He took out a handkerchief and wiped Vari's blood off the tip of the cane, then placed it back onto the wall. He spared him one last glance before exiting, leaving the metal door open.

Vari daren't get up, not then, not for the rest of the night. He remained curled up on the floor, shaking with sobs wracking his body. He was in so much pain he could not locate where it was coming from. Any minor movement made him whimper and cry harder.

He had known there was no other ending for him than this, that the safe place he found in Blake would be snatched from him, sooner or later. He had been expecting it, but it hurt just as much.

There was no safe place, no comfort to be found. He was a fool to think he could get away with this. He had learned now. He would obey, he would obey and he would be good. He would forget about Blake.