#i had better tags but tumblr broke them all. so!

[an-impossible-theorem]

Hopefully tumblr won’t ruin the quality of this—my character sheet for my Fallen London character! A correspondent who came to the Neath to find the secret of immortality, and is willing to take a lot of risks to attain it…

[osaemu]

GOJO SATORU: KISS & MAKE UP

✩ ‧ ˚. streamer!au: after the breakup, you two decide to make up in the traditional way—by having sex! NSFW

contents: fem!reader. oral (f. recieving), p –> v, teasing, praise, hair pulling (m. recieving), missionary, unprotected sex, creampie, squirting, use of pet names (too many to list here). not proofread bc you couldn't pay me to read all this again. 2.5k words. read this fic beforehand for better understanding of the context, but you don't have to.

author's note: tumblr hates me and that's why the banner quality's trash. if u wanna see the details, click here. anyways the streamer!gojo smut has finally arrived, tagging @satorena @screampied @cultrise, enjoyyy ;)

“did you tell them we’re back together?”

satoru nods in response to your question, plopping down on the couch next to you. he's spent the last hour chatting with his stream, and eventually he broke the news that you and him were back together after the breakup.

“yeah, i did,” he confirms, wrapping his arms around you and burying his face in your neck. your hands automatically move to his hair and you thread your fingers through the soft white strands, pausing after a couple seconds to give him a quick kiss on the forehead.

a week ago, you and satoru had an admittedly messy breakup—not messy in the sense that it got toxic or dramatic, but messy in the way that it could’ve easily been avoided. it wasn’t that big of a deal, but thankfully, you and satoru resolved your misunderstanding within a relatively short time.

since then, things have been a little different—satoru’s been taking a break from streaming, which gave him move time to spend with you and away from his thousands of fans. it was his suggestion, and not surprisingly, it worked. but all good things have to come to an end, and your “honeymoon” away from satoru’s stream seems to be coming to a close.

“something smells good,” satoru notes, lifting his head and glancing at the kitchen. “wait, is that ramen?” your boyfriend gasps, eyes rounding as he looks at you hopefully. 

“yeah, you said you were craving it, so i made some,” you reply with a smile, untangling yourself from his arms and walking over to the kitchen. satoru blows you a flurry of kisses that you see out of the corner of your eye as you check on the ramen, which looks pretty much done.

“y’know, i still haven’t forgiven you for the shit you pulled last week,” you say dryly, turning off the stove and draining the water from the ramen into your sink. the steam rises up as the boiling water slips down into the drain, clouding your face for a moment before it dissipates into thin air. 

“...does that mean i don’t get to eat that ramen?” satoru asks tentatively, a nervous smile on his lips as you empty a packet of flavored powder into the ramen. you shoot him a look and raise an eyebrow, turning back to the stove to hide your smile.

“maybe, maybe not,” you reply coyly, not wanting to give in too soon.

“boo, you whore.”

you roll your eyes and divide the ramen into two bowls, one for you and one for your boyfriend. “you’re lucky i’m too nice to let you starve, regina,” you say pointedly, walking back over to the couch and handing one of the bowls to him, which satoru takes with both hands—a habit from his childhood that never went away. “otherwise you’d be—”

satoru cuts you off by poking your lips with his chopsticks, steaming hot ramen wrapped around them. you reluctantly open your mouth and let him feed you, smiling when he seals the bite with a kiss. 

“best girlfriend ever,” satoru proclaims when he pulls away, a lazy smile playing on his lips. his soft blue eyes study your own, observing your unusually guarded expression and frowning.

“how many times do i gotta apologize for my bullshit before you stop making that face at me?” he grumbles, twirling his chopsticks in his bowl and taking a bite of the ramen. it’s cute how satoru’s face lights up at the taste, and it’s even cuter how his eyes round at you in awe when he takes another bite. “i didn’t know instant ramen could be this good,” he muses, licking any lingering flavor off of his lips.

“very funny, satoru,” you laugh, swirling your chopsticks around the broth and watching the rest of the steam rise from your bowl. “and to answer your question, i don’t really know.”

satoru tilts his head and takes a sip of his water, ice clinking against the side of the glass. when you respond to his question, he pauses and tilts his head in confusion. “...wait, what does that mean?”

you think for a second, choosing your words carefully. “i’m not sure how long it’ll take until we’re back to… normal,” you say cautiously. in all honesty, you weren’t that pissed off at him—you never were. but the fact that satoru was so ready to throw your relationship away over something as small as that was upsetting, to say the least. and you weren’t entirely sure it wouldn’t happen again.

satoru looks at you thoughtfully, more serious than you’ve seen him in a while. you can almost see the gears turning in his head before he replies. “any idea how i can make it up to you?”

you shrug, swallowing another bite of ramen before you meet his eyes. “you tell me. actions speak louder than words.”

your boyfriend drops his chopsticks, letting them clatter around in the bowl before he stands up. he extends a hand to you, a determined glint in his eye. “then lemme prove it to you.”

“satoru, you can’t bribe me with sex.”

“that’s not all i’ll be doing, sweetheart. trust me.”

and that’s how you ended up in his room, hands tangled in satoru’s soft white hair as he eats you out. his tongue laps at your cunt with quick, kitten-like strokes, and he presses a gentle kiss to the inside of your thigh. “feels s’good, satoru,” you breathe, involuntarily tugging on his hair and dragging out a groan from his lips. “sorry—”

“don’t apologize,” satoru mumbles in reply, nose brushing against your dripping thighs as his tongue slips past your folds and goes in deeper. he looks up and locks eyes with you, unable to resist smiling at the way your legs tremble around him. “aw, you’re so fuckin’ cute,” he murmurs, flicking his tongue in and out of your cunt with a grin. “and i’m the one who should be—fuck, you’re gorgeous—apologizing.”

this isn’t the first time satoru’s eaten you out, but it feels like it every single time—somehow, his tongue has a talent of rendering you unable to focus on anything else but him. you grind your hips against satoru’s face, eyes squinted shut as your boyfriend flattens his tongue before lapping your slick up with cloudy eyes. “shit, i don’t know what i’d be without you,” he murmurs, voice low and steady—and something about his tone makes you certain he’s being completely honest with you.

“you’re so—fuck, satoru, i’m gonna cum,” you breathe, back automatically arching when satoru’s tongue reaches that spot inside you. he laughs, and the vibration of the soft sound against your puffy, sensitive cunt almost makes your legs give out—but thankfully, satoru’s hands are secured around your thighs, holding you in place. “‘toru, i can’t—”

“yeah, y’can, just relax that pretty pussy for me,” he cooes, licking up the slick dripping down his chin. “c’mon, you’re doing so good f’me, keep going, baby.” and just like that, his tongue slips out of your cunt and he lets you cum—the sheer force of your orgasm hits you like a truck, and your hips roll against satoru’s face in a choppy rhythm as you desperately ride it out, hands gripping and accidentally yanking his hair.

you stutter out his name a couple more times, unable to focus on anything but the feeling of satoru’s mouth on your sensitive, gushing pussy. your boyfriend praises you the whole way, gently murmuring soft words about how sweet you are for letting him taste you, even while your relationship was rocky. when your voice steadies enough for satoru to make out what you’re begging him to do, he’s not at all surprised to hear you plea for him to fuck you—so stands up and tugs you down onto his bed, hand intertwined with yours as he pulls the sheets over your bodies. 

you squeeze satoru’s hand and lean in to kiss him, chest still heaving from your earlier orgasm. naturally, you miss his lips and end up kissing the side of his face, which is flushed bright red from the way his body reacts to the taste of your pussy. “don’t ever leave me like that again,” you whisper, tears pricking at your eyes for some reason—maybe it’s the lovesick way satoru looks at you, or maybe it’s the way he’s holding onto you like there’s no place he’d rather be.

“i won’t,” satoru promises, pressing an affectionate kiss to your forehead and pulling your head into his chest. his lips touch the top of your head as he murmurs, “and if i do, shoot me.” it sounds like a joke, but you both know that he’s dead serious.

“good thing i won’t have to do that,” you say with a soft giggle. your smile is heart-achingly familiar to satoru, and it feels like home—and that’s the realization that has him stripping off what little clothing the two of you still have on before he climbs on top of you. 

satoru touches the tip of his dick to your pussy, waiting for your nod to allow him to go in all the way. after a second, you dip your chin and trail your fingers down satoru’s jaw, grabbing his chin and pulling him down into another kiss. his lips linger for a couple seconds, still-minty breath tickling your face, before he pulls away. satoru slowly lowers his hips and nudges his dick inside of your desperate cunt, hands resting on either side of you.

even though it’s only been a little over a week since you last had sex with satoru, it feels like it’s been forever—your boyfriend curses when he feels how tight you are, mumbling something about missing you “so fucking much” as he goes in deeper and deeper. it hurts a little at first, but you quickly get used to the feeling of him inside of you. 

“fuckin’ hell, i’m never gonna get tired of this,” satoru breathes, dipping his head and kissing your collarbone. a single drop of sweat drips down the side of his face as he watches you squirm, eyes soft and endearing as you do so. he starts rolling his hips back and forth against you to loosen you up a little, dragging out soft moans from you as he does so. 

“yeah, you better not,” you mutter, tilting your head back and drawing in a long breath of air. you can’t remember the last time you felt this good—maybe it was the last time satoru fucked you. “satoru, y’re going so slow—”

your boyfriend cuts you off with a particularly harsh thrust, making your body jolt against his mattress. satoru lifts his head and looks you in the eye, a breathy laugh slipping out of him when he sees the pout on your lips. “the fuck you mean, i’m going slow? you want me to tear you apart? silly girl,” he tuts, back to his usual cocky self. he shakes his head and goes deep enough in you to force you to arch your back, starting to grin at the way you paw at his chest. “always so selfish, aren’t you?” he cooes, dipping his head and giving you a sloppy kiss on the forehead. “but you’re always—so—fuckin’—sweet,” satoru whispers, punctuating each word with a thrust hard enough for you to moan out his name more times than you can count.

“you’re the selfish one,” you mumble, lips trembling enough to muffle your voice. satoru huffs out a sigh and kisses your mouth, teeth gently brushing against your bottom lip. “you broke up with me for no reason,” you continue, tears pricking at your eyes again. “you think i’m gonna forgive you this fast?” 

satoru shakes his head again and caresses the side of your face. “will you?” he asks, slowing his pace enough for you to notice. you mutter something about him edging you on purpose, to which satoru shushes you and repeats his question.

“maybe.”

“you gotta stop giving me maybe’s, baby—y’re drivin’ me crazy here.”

in the past week, satoru’s done so much for you, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. on the day after your breakup, he picked you up from your house and took you for a picnic entirely curated by him. on the second day, he made you breakfast, lunch and dinner—it wasn’t the best food you ever had, but it was definitely the most memorable (in more ways than one). on the third day, he took you out to your favorite amusement park and did everything he could to make you smile—by then, you had pretty much forgiven him, and the giant teddy bear he dropped in your bedroom only made you love him more. the rest of the days were filled with longing glances and little gifts left around your house, which only helped him earn more and more of you back.

so, you figure that satoru deserves what comes next.

“okay,” you whisper. 

satoru’s eyes widen and he hesitates before he tentatively asks, “does this mean—”

you don’t let him finish his question, instead grabbing his face and tugging him down into a full kiss. he lets out a soft hm? in surprise, but kisses you back more than gratefully. “c’mon, make me cum,” you breathe when he finally pulls away. satoru nods dazedly and mouths “i love you” before he goes back in you, pace faster than before.

one of his hands snakes down to your waist, holding it in pace while the other caresses your face. you gaze up at him with a soft smile, eyes fluttering open and closed every time his dick hits your sweet spot—which is more times than your body can handle, but you welcome the feeling of him deep inside of you. after barely a couple thrusts, a coil forms in your stomach, growing tighter and tighter with each movement of satoru’s hips. 

satoru laughs, chest heaving as he grins down at you cheekily. “i knew you’d forgive me,” he murmurs, pinching your cheek affectionately. “m’ so sorry—”

“shut up and fuck me,” you interrupt, tongue starting to loll out of your mouth as you feel yourself getting closer and closer to cumming all over satoru’s dick. 

“as you wish, princess.”

satoru’s breathing slowly changes, becoming more choppy and uneven the closer you watch him get to his high—it’s so, so close for both of you, and when it comes, it takes over both of your minds like a drug. satoru curses and groans out your name, thrusts growing sloppy as he desperately rides out his orgasm. cum shoots out from his dick and coats the inside of your cunt white, dripping out once you physically can’t take any more.

you run your hands all over satoru’s body, clawing and gripping at every inch of skin you can latch onto—satoru’s always been your anchor, and you hope that he always will be. one of his hands leaves the side of your face and tangles with your fingers, holding it down against the mattress as he promises to never screw you over like that again, and you’re only too welcoming to him and his words as you squirt all over his dick. “fuck, satoru—”

he lifts his eyes and meets your own, and unlike you, his vision is clearer than ever. “shoot me if i ever leave you again, baby. i’m serious.”

you raise a shaky hand and touch the side of his face, eyes fluttering shut as you murmur, “i know i won’t have to.”

[hungermakesmonsters]

(Once Bitten) Twice Shy

Chapter Four

Plot summary : Desperate to get away from your controlling family, you take a job in New York as a wealthy vampire's blood source. A million dollars awaits if you can make it through a year, but life with Billy Russo is not going to be as simple as you think.

Pairing : Billy Russo x Reader

Story Rating : R  Chapter Rating : PG

Warnings : [This is a fic for 18+ only, minors DNI] Nothing of note this chapter, except a moment of sickeningly awkward cuteness (I'm so sorry). All chapters will contain mentions of blood. Please check the warnings on each chapter if you choose to follow this story. 

Word Count : 4.8k

A/N : The aftermath of last chapter. Tumblr is still only letting me tag five people at a time, so tags will be in comments again.

CHAPTER ONE | CHAPTER TWO | CHAPTER THREE

Chapter Four

You woke to find yourself on the sofa, covered with a blanket, alone and with only a vague recollection of what had happened the night before. Your hand had been bandaged and you felt worse than ever. The room was spinning, your head pounding, and finally you understood why; blood loss. You’d drawn blood and, then, you’d let him drink from you; it had been too much and you’d lost consciousness.

It took a moment more for you to remember everything else that had happened; how he’d pressed his body to yours, how he’d kissed you, and how you’d - oh god, your boss had made you come. 

Panic washed over you for a second, your hand reaching between your thighs, terrified that something had happened after you passed out. No. You breathed a sigh of relief and found yourself feeling silly for even thinking that Billy would do something like that. From what little you knew of him, you didn’t think he was capable of that.

Despite being completely alone, you pulled the blanket up, hiding your face and your embarrassment. You closed your eyes and all you could see was his face, blood covered lips and dark eyes filled with hunger - and not just hunger for blood.

You remembered his lips on your neck, the scrape of teeth - fangs - as you came. Gingerly, you ran your fingers over your skin, searching for puncture marks but, thankfully, found none. 

As much as you wanted to move, to go back to your bedroom, you were too exhausted and, soon enough, you ended up falling asleep again. 

Hours must have passed and you certainly felt better for it when you finally opened your eyes again.

At some point a bottle of water and a note had been left on the floor next to the sofa, though you couldn’t say if they’d been there the whole time or if he’d placed them there after you’d fallen asleep again.

You decided to start with the water, taking a slow drink to steady your nerves before reading the note. It was impossible to stop your mind from going into overdrive, from thinking of all the things that the note might contain; was he going to fire you for your unprofessional behaviour, was he angry that you broke the rule about being in the penthouse after 9pm?

Your fingers shook as you unfolded the note and started to read.

I want to apologise for my behaviour last night, it was unacceptable and I understand if you want to terminate your contract because of it. If you want to leave, please let Lissa know and she will retrieve your things from storage. If you choose to stay, you will have the next couple of days to yourself to recover. I’ll be gone until Friday and won’t need blood before then. 

Whatever you decide, I’ve arranged for my friend Karen to visit you tomorrow and, if you still want to, you have permission to go out with her for the day. If you want to leave, she will help you with whatever you need to do so. Please take care of yourself.

Billy.

You read and reread the note, trying to figure out what he wanted from you. The note felt so detached, almost like he was assuming you’d want to leave. 

(Did you? Was that really what you wanted?)

You read it again before sitting up, noticing the dried blood on your pyjamas. Common sense told you to leave, to get your things and get out of there as quickly as possible. Last night had been stupid and reckless, you’d done the one thing you’d promised yourself you’d never do; you’d let a vampire drink directly from you.

Okay, so he hadn’t bitten you, but what was to say that next time he wouldn’t? But, by the same logic, what was to say that he would? He could have done anything he wanted to you, but he hadn’t. And what he had done you’d allowed. No, you’d been an active participant. You’d enjoyed it. (Who were you trying to kid? You’d wanted it.) He’d told you to stay away and you’d ignored him. It had been your choice to feed him, your choice to let him kiss you, even though you knew he wasn’t in his right mind.

Embarrassed as you were, some part of you had wanted what had happened last night and, now, you had to live with the consequences. 

You read the note one last time. Please take care of yourself, you weren’t sure if those five little words made it better or worse. He always seemed so concerned with how fragile you were, and you still weren’t sure if it came from a place of caring or of liability, but it felt like he was staying away from his own home because of you.

No, you quickly decided, you didn’t want to leave. You couldn’t. You needed the money and last night was as much your fault as Billy’s. 

Staying was still far better than the alternative.

Eventually you managed to get up and move to your rooms, grabbing yourself a bowl of cereal on the way to bed. You put the TV on, but more for background noise than anything and spent the rest of the day dozing, only getting up to get more cereal.

Instead of thinking about what had happened, you started thinking about tomorrow, about finally being able to go outside and see some of New York City. What would his friend Karen be like? Would she be able to tell you anything about Billy? Finally, you had something to look forward to, even though you were worried that Billy had only arranged it out of guilt.

You felt much better the next day when you woke up, in part because you were excited to finally go outside and see some of the city but, also, because you were looking forward to meeting Billy’s friend and having someone new to talk to. The weather outside looked cold and wet, so you dressed accordingly, pulling a lovely blue jacket and pair of boots from your wardrobe to put on over your jeans and blouse.

Just before midday, you heard someone calling your name, and you quickly went out to greet them. She had stunning red hair and skin so pale you might have thought she was a vampire if you weren’t about to go out in daylight with her. It was enough to make you pause, to make you wonder how she knew Billy, an odd twinge of jealousy filling you for a second.

“Hi, I’m Karen,” she smiled and held out her hand. You took it and introduced yourself properly, even though she already knew your name. “Oh, what happened to your hand?”

Your cheeks warmed a fraction, looking down at your bandaged hand for a second. “I caught it taking some cookies out of the oven.”

“Ouch,” Karen winced sympathetically, seeming to buy the lie. “Billy said you wanted to go for coffee?”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” you answered, feeling overcome with relief the moment you stepped into the elevator.

“You got any place in mind?” Karen asked, subtly looking you up and down like she was trying to get a measure of you.

“I - I don’t know. This is my first time in New York, I don’t really know where anything is.” 

“And this is the first time he’s let you outside,” she stated.

For a second you looked at her, confused, wondering how much she knew, how much she was supposed to know. Lissa had told you that Billy valued his privacy and you weren’t sure what you were supposed to say in this situation. The uncomfortable look on your face must have been enough to tip Karen off that you didn’t know how to answer.

“He has his reasons,” she started again as the elevator arrived on the ground floor and you stepped out, “I know it probably doesn’t seem like it right now, but he is trying to look out for you.”

“How do you know him?” You asked.

“I met him through his best friend when we started dating.”

“Oh. And is he...?” You left the question unfinished, not sure if it was polite to ask.

“A vampire?” She smiled the sort of carefree smile that you couldn’t help feel envious of, like she didn’t care what anyone thought of her. “Yes, he is.”

Stepping out onto the street, you couldn’t help but stop for a moment, turning your eyes skyward and taking a deep breath. It took a second for your eyes to get used to natural light and, all the while, Karen stood watching you.

“How long has it been?” Her question pulled you back to the moment.

“A couple of weeks, I think?” You tried to remember, but you’d lost track of how long exactly it had been after the first week. However long it had been, it wasn’t really long enough to warrant that sort of reaction from you. Your cheeks warmed a fraction as you looked at Karen. “I’m not really used to being cooped up indoors all the time.”

Karen just nodded, waiting a beat before starting to walk. You fell into step beside her, your eyes taking in the sights of New York. You had no idea where she was leading you but you didn’t care. You were finally seeing the city and you couldn’t be happier.

Less than five minutes later, you found yourself in a little coffee shop, looking at the pastries and cakes on offer before you realised something.

“I don’t have any money,” you told Karen, your cheeks turning red, an uncomfortable sense of shame filling you.

It hadn’t even crossed your mind; you always had a purse with you or your phone, but Lissa had taken them and you weren’t going to be paid until you’d completed a year in Mr Russo’s service. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Karen replied, starting to fumble around with her purse before pulling out a black credit card and handing it to you. “Billy asked me to give you this for anything you need.”

The card had your name embossed on it but there was nothing else to indicate - well, anything at all. You didn’t know if it was a prepaid card or if it had a limit, and there was no way of telling where the money would be coming from.

“The PIN is your birth year,” Karen continued, though she seemed more interested in eyeing the food selection than she was in you.

After a moment more, you decided that you’d ask Billy about it when you next saw him (assuming you ever saw him again, after the other night). You choose modestly, not wanting to spend too much on a card that wasn’t yours and that you couldn’t control. For all you knew, you were spending Billy’s money and the last thing you wanted to do was take advantage of this gesture of kindness.

And that was something Karen did notice, watching you from the corner of her eye with a somewhat bemused expression on her face as you calculated just how much money you’d be spending getting a drink, a panini, and a muffin. Then, you held your breath as you used the card for the first time, preparing yourself for the embarrassment of it being declined.  It wasn’t. You breathed a sigh of relief before following Karen to a little table by the window.

Your eyes were fixed on the street outside, watching as it started to rain, but you could feel her eyes on you.

“You’re not like the others,” she finally broke the silence. 

“What were they like?” You asked with a healthy degree of caution, still not knowing what the rules were and what you were allowed to talk to her about. “Lissa said that they disappointed Mr Russo?”

She sat back, biting her lip and trying to suppress a smile. You couldn’t tell what part of it she found amusing and you didn’t want to ask.

“Disappointed is one word for it, I guess?” she took a breath, obviously composing her thoughts before continuing. “Did you know that you’re the first one he didn’t interview himself?”

You shook your head; you’d applied for the job by email and had spoken to someone (you now assumed to be Lissa) very briefly over the phone. In retrospect, it seemed strange given the amount of money that was at stake.

Unless he didn’t bother because he assumed you’d disappoint him like the others…

“The problem with Billy - with the whole job, really - is that it usually attracts a... certain sort of person. Most of them have only been interested in the money and spending a year living in the lap of luxury. The others are...” she fell silent, smiling as the barista brought your toasted paninis over and, when you were alone again, she looked like she really didn’t want to finish her thought.

“The others are...?” You prompted cautiously.

“They’re the sort of people who want more from the arrangement than Billy is prepared to give,” she answered and, when you obviously didn’t catch her meaning, she continued. “Billy is a very rich man and he’s going to live forever. A lot of people find both of those prospects very attractive.”

“They want him to...” you couldn’t bring yourself to say the words, a lump stuck in your throat at the thought. Karen nodded. “And you’ve done this before? Gone for coffee with... someone like me?”

“Not quite like this, but I did spend time with some of them.”

“What do you mean not quite like this?” 

She paused half way through lifting her cup to her lips and, for a second you could have sworn she winced. Still, she took a drink and didn’t try to answer until her mug was back on the table again.

“His rules weren’t always so strict.” Her head shook. “Look, it’s not my place to tell you any of this. Billy has his reasons for why things are the way they are; it’s to protect you as much as it’s to protect him.”

You opened your mouth to ask more questions but no words came out. Ultimately, it didn’t matter how or why the rules had changed because you’d agreed to them. You’d agreed to the job and you needed the money, so the last thing you wanted to do was get Karen in trouble and maybe jeopardise future outings like this.

“Thank you,” you told her, then quickly clarified; “for telling me.”

Karen smiled, considering her words for a moment. “Billy is a friend, but trust me when I tell you that if I didn’t believe what he was doing was necessary, I would have told him so.”

“It’s okay,” you conceded quietly, shrugging, “I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to do this.”

You turned your attention to your food, cautiously picking up your panini, trying not to burn yourself on the molten cheese that was leaking out the side as you took a bite. It was heavenly; toasted just the right amount, the cheese was sharp, and the tuna -

You dropped the panini back to your plate, horrified with yourself.

No. No-no-no. How could you have been so stupid? You felt your chest tighten a fraction, your stomach tying itself in knots. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Karen asked, obviously concerned.

“Tuna,” you stated, your voice breaking. “I’m not supposed to eat tuna. It’s on the list. He’s going to -”

“Whoa-whoa, back up. What list?”

“The list of things I’m not supposed to eat,” you tried to explain, unable to conceal the panic from your voice. 

This wasn’t you - you didn’t break rules, you always tried to stay in line - and, now, you’d messed up. All you could think was that you were going to lose the job, that Billy would kick you out and you’d have no choice but to go home. You were going to end up back where you started all because of a stupid toasted sandwich.

“Hey-hey, calm down, it’s okay,” Karen tried to settle you.

“You don’t understand I can’t lose this job.”

“You won’t,” she reached across the table, taking your hand in hers, “if Billy finds out, we’ll tell him it was my fault, okay?”

“But -”

“No, buts. Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise.”

You didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to explain the panic that was clawing beneath your ribs. You’d been raised to be good, to be decent, to follow the rules and not cause problems. You’d been raised to fear consequences and, even though you were far from home, that mindset was difficult to escape.

“Here,” she offered, sliding her plate towards you, “we can swap, I got ham and cheese. You only had one bite, Billy will never know.”

It was like she understood, like she could tell just by looking at you how desperately you needed to keep the job - not just because of the money on offer but because you had nothing and nowhere else to go without it. 

Taking the offered plate, you ate slowly, quietly. From time to time, you’d catch her looking at you, concern on her face. Conversation that followed was stilted and awkward as you picked apart your muffin until it was gone. And, once your mug was empty, the outing was over.

“I’m sorry I can’t stay longer,” she apologised as you started back towards the penthouse. “I’ll make more time next week; we can spend a whole afternoon doing whatever you want. We’ll make it a regular thing, every Thursday.”

Agreeing, you thanked her as she rode the elevator back up to the penthouse with you, making sure you were okay before leaving you with the promise of seeing you again next week.

It was strange to know that you were completely alone in the penthouse for another day but, after the incident with the panini, you were very deliberate when it came to the rules. You sat on the sofa until just before 9pm, watching the cloudy sky slowly darken and give way to night before returning to your rooms, even though no one would have known if you’d stayed in the penthouse longer.

That night you laid in bed thinking about Billy - or, rather, you thought about what it was going to be like to see him again after what had happened. Was he as embarrassed by it all as you were? Did Billy Russo even get embarrassed? Maybe it would be better for the both of you if you just pretended that it never happened.

Friday passed in a blur. Every time you heard a noise in the penthouse, you would creep to the door to your quarters and press your ear against it, trying to hear if he was back. Of course, some part of you understood how ridiculous you were being; Billy was so light on his feet that you’d never be able to hear him. But, still, time and time again you found yourself pressed against the door.

After drawing blood, you moved across the penthouse as quietly as you could, looking for signs that he was home and finding none. Once you reached the kitchen and placed the blood in the fridge, you allowed yourself a sigh of relief before turning and -

There he was.

Standing between you and your rooms, a look on his face that you couldn’t decipher.

For a second your lips parted, wanting to say something, but the words just wouldn’t come. Your cheeks started to warm and the silence dragged on for at least ten seconds. Billy looked uncertain, so uncomfortable in your presence. His normally calm and collected demeanour was gone, replaced with a look that made you feel unsettled, guilty even. More than that, you couldn’t help but notice how tired he looked - you hadn’t even realised that vampires could look tired before now.

“You decided to stay,” part-statement, part-question. All you could do was nod, letting your feet carry you a couple of steps closer to him. “I’m glad. I didn’t think you would.”

“I want to stay,” you offered quietly, breathing slowly, trying to keep your heart from racing.

“I’m sorry for the other night. I never wanted you to see me like that,” he said, standing a little taller and seeming to regain some of his usual composure. “It won’t happen again. I never wanted to make you feel unsafe here.”

“You didn’t,” your voice still small as you struggled to find a way to describe any of the things you were feeling right now. “You told me to stay away and I didn’t listen, and I didn’t ask you to stop when I should have. But I just...” you trailed off, not sure how to say the next part.

“What?” He prompted softly, his attention entirely fixed on you.

“I need to make it clear; just because you’re paying me, it doesn’t mean you’re entitled to -”

“I would never think that I’m entitled to fuck you just because I’m paying you,” he interrupted, just as offended by the notion as you were. “Anything that happens here only happens with your consent.”

Did that mean it could happen again if you wanted it to? You didn’t dare voice the question, instead you just nodded.

His gaze dropped awkwardly and yours followed it, noticing something tightly gripped in his hands. A stuffed toy. Before you could ask, Billy had cleared the distance between you, holding out the toy to you. After a moment of confused hesitation, you took it, frowning first at the toy then him.

“When you said you were lonely, you mentioned a dog and I -” he let out an uncomfortable huff of laughter, “- well, obviously I can’t let you have a real dog here but I thought - I hoped - maybe this would help.”

Your gaze dropped to the stuffed toy in your hand, shaped like a beagle with floppy ears and a little pink tongue lolling out of its mouth. You couldn’t remember the last time someone had bought you such a thoughtful gift and that sad thought caused your heart to give an uncomfortable squeeze. When you looked back to Billy, you started to realise that there was far more to the man than you’d originally believed.

“I didn’t know what kind of dog you had, so I just...” he continued, trailing off when he saw your smile.

“Thank you. It’s perfect.” 

It was Billy’s turn to simply nod, seeming just as lost for words as you were for a few seconds before deciding to let you go about your evening. “Anyway, I won’t keep you.”

The conversation was over giving you the perfect opportunity to walk away and recover from whatever this had been, only -

“I broke one of the rules,” you blurted out without thinking, not wanting to carry the weight of it after Billy’s gesture.

A flicker of discomfort crossed his face but was quickly reined in. “Which one?” 

“I ate tuna in a panini when I went out with Karen,” you stated, sounding so ashamed anyone would have thought you were confessing to murder. “It was just one bite. I forgot tuna was on the list. I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again, Mr Russo. I promise.”

You didn’t expect the laugh that followed, or the way the tension seemed to leave his body. His hand found your shoulder, offering a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t matter.”

“But the list -”

“Tuna is on the list because I don’t like it. If I’d been here and had your blood, it would have been unpleasant for me, but I wasn’t here so I’m willing to forgive it.”

(Well, that explained why certain foods were on the list. They were things he didn’t like - did that mean he could tell what you’d been eating from your blood?)

“I spent twenty dollars,” you admitted a moment later, like you were confessing all of your sins to him. (Or maybe you just wanted to keep the conversation going a little while longer, keep his hand on you a little longer.)

His hand moved to your neck, his cold touch on your skin causing your heart to beat a little faster. And you knew he could tell, you knew he could hear the effect he was having on you. 

“You spent eighteen dollars fifty-five,” he told you, amused by whatever this was. “I don’t think you’re going to bankrupt me.” When his little joke didn’t manage to draw a smile from you, Billy sighed. “I’m the one that should be sorry. I haven’t really explained things to you, I guess because I didn’t think you’d even make it past the second week.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m asking a lot of you. Maybe too much,” he told you as his thumb began to softly brush against your jaw. “The truth is, I need things to be like this. I need to have control. I need to stay in control because when I don’t...”

He didn’t have to say it, you could fill in the blanks. The other night was what happened when Billy lost control, it was what happened when the monster overwhelmed the man.

“But,” he continued, “I know it’s not easy to be the person who’s being controlled. I know you don’t really want this.”

“No, I -” the words started to slip out before you could stop them. Billy looked at you expectantly, silently demanding you finish the thought. Your cheeks felt like they were burning, but he was giving you honesty and you needed to do the same in return. “I’m used to rules. I like knowing what’s expected of me. It doesn’t make things easier for me, but I like knowing where I stand. So, I guess I don’t mind following your rules.”

It was clear he had questions but clearer still that he didn’t want to ask them. You were grateful for that.

“You always have a choice here, little hummingbird, even if I sometimes make it seem like you don’t,” he told you, leaving his hand to linger on your neck a moment more before it dropped to his side. Somehow, you felt colder for the loss of his icy touch. He was quiet a moment before; “do you like Thai food?”

You nodded despite the very sudden change in conversation. “I love it.”

“I’ve got nothing planned this weekend, perhaps we could spend some time getting to know each other a little better? Maybe that would make things a little easier,” he offered, a small smile on his lips. “We could order from a great Thai place I know and I could try to answer some of your questions about things.”

Your fingers tightened on the stuffed toy as you smiled. Finally, you felt like you were getting somewhere, like this could become something bearable, something good.

“I’d like that,” you answered.

“Okay then, tomorrow evening at sunset,” he nodded and looked ready to leave.

Nodding in return, you finally stated to move back towards your rooms. Your hand was on the handle when he spoke again.

“Why did you help me?” You could tell from his tone that he didn’t want to ask the question, but the curiosity had gotten the better of him. “You didn’t have to help, you could’ve stayed in your rooms. Instead you put yourself in danger to help me. Why?”

You turned back, despite not knowing how to answer him. And, for a few seconds you found yourself looking at him. There was something there, something about his expression, something that made you wonder if anyone else had ever helped him before. It seemed like such an alien concept to him that anyone might go out of their way to do anything for him.

“You looked like you were in pain,” you shrugged, “and, even though I haven’t always felt completely comfortable here, I think you’ve always tried to be kind... in your own way. So, I couldn’t just stand by when I thought there was a chance I could help you.”

Billy swallowed, like he was trying to rid himself of a lump in his throat. Then he nodded, clearly lost for words. That look you’d noticed only seconds before seemed to intensify and Billy didn’t seem to know what to do with it.

“Thank you,” he finally managed, before giving you one last look and turning away. 

For a second you allowed yourself to watch him as he made his way towards the kitchen but you knew you couldn’t linger, not when the pounding of your heart gave you away. Slipping through the door, you quickly shut it behind you, pressing your back against it for a moment. Looking down, you realised that you had the stuffed dog clutched to your chest. It was silly, such a ridiculous gift, but the fact that he’d listened to you, the fact that he’d thought about what you’d told him, it meant so much.

End Note : Billy was having a Mr Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen version) moment when he handed over the stuffed toy. Place your bets on what she’s going to to call it. I know this one was slow and a little cutesy but I wanted to build some more tension before things start to ramp up next chapter.

As always thank you so much for reading! And thank you so much to all my new followers (I did not expect 200+ followers when I started posting on tumblr). I hope you all have awesome weekends!!

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged in future chapters! If tagging doesn't work for some reason (aka Tumblr being dumb) I post most Fridays around 7:30 gmt. (Note: Tumblr is currently being stupid and only letting me tag five people at a time, so I'll be tagging people in the comments. Sorry if you get tagged twice!!)

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[whatdoeseverybodywant]

All Falls Down - Chapter 6

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“Go ‘head baby, cum on my fingers.” 

“Hey, you alright?” Kiyana jumped as she was forced out of her daydream. She snapped her head over to Josh who was standing in the doorway of their ensuite bathroom. “You been spacing out all day, you good?” He stepped closer to her, worry written all over his face. 

Since the ‘club incident’ she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Joe and she felt like shit, because here she was mad and talking about divorcing her husband and she was no better than him. She had decided to keep what happened to herself. Even when Samara asked she kept quiet. 

She 100 percent did not mean for that to happen. Everything happened so fast, one minute she was drunk and dancing then next thing she knew she was getting fingered by her husband's cousin and she sobered up almost immediately. Kiyana had chalked it up to the fact that she and Joe were both drunk and that was that. They were drunk and clearly weren’t thinking straight.  She was drunk and if she was sober none of it would’ve happened. But, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

Her mind also kept going back to graduation night ever since Joe brought it up. And while yes, she and Joe did some things. She didn’t technically cheat on Josh- it was still wrong considering what happened between her and Joe took place 30 minutes after she broke up with Josh. But They were kids back then  and they both promised that neither one of them would ever bring it back up especially since she got back together with Josh the next day and not to mention the fact that Joe and Josh were family. 

“Key.” She jumped again and looked at Josh. Shit I spaced out again. She thought as she cleared her throat. 

“I’m fine. Are you ready?” She asked to which he nodded his head. “Okay, I'll meet you downstairs. He nodded again before hesitating as he took a step closer to her, bending down to place a kiss on her cheek but she moved back. Clearing her throat again, she turned back towards the mirror and finished doing her make-up. 

Josh had somehow secured them an emergency counseling session with the same counselor that tried to help his mom and dad before their divorce. The whole ride to Dr. Anderson’s office, Kiyana could feel Josh staring at her every so often and would try to place his hand on her thigh and she would fling his hand off of her. 

“Are you going to at least try and listen to what Dr. Anderson has to say?” He asked once he put the car in park and she inhaled a deep irritated breath. 

“I’m here aren’t I?” Was all she said before she exited the car, slamming the door behind her. 

Dr. Anderson stared at the couple in front of him. Kiyana had scooted herself all the way down to the other end of the couch and had basically tucked her body into herself. Her body language was telling Dr. Anderson that she didn’t want to be there and she would not be open to anything he had to say. While Josh on the other hand had a semi-relaxed posture, he was nervously  tapping his fingers on his knees but he was open and he wanted to see a change. 

Dr. Anderson cleared his throat, getting the attention of the two of them. “Thank you for coming.” 

“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice.” Josh said, wiping his hands on his pants. Dr. Anderson observed Kiyana roll her eyes. 

“Now, you told me a little bit over the phone.” He said, bringing his attention back over to Josh who nodded. “There was some infidelity?” Josh nodded again and Dr. Anderson hummed and wrote something down in his notebook. “From who?”  Josh cleared his throat and raised his hand tentatively. 

“I uh- I had a four month affair. But it’s over now and if I could I would go back and never give that woman the time of day.” 

Kiyana snorted and rolled her eyes. “So hearing that your husband just said that, how does that make you feel?” Kiyana shrugged. 

“I think he’s talking out his ass and I believe everything he’s going to say today will be a load of bullshit.” Dr. Anderson nodded again and wrote another note in his notebook. 

“Okay, so tell me how was your relationship before the cheating and were there any noticeable signs of the cheating?” Kiyana inhaled a deep breath and snuck a glance over at Josh who was already looking at her. How was their relationship?  

“It was normal I guess,” She shrugged. “I mean we were together since high school but I never thought that he would actually cheat on me, you know? We’ve had our problems in the past but it’s never led to anything like this.”  Josh felt like his heart was being ripped out his chest as he watched the tears trinkle out of her eyes. 

“Were there any noticeable signs of cheating?” Dr. Anderson asked again. 

“No,” Kiyana shook her head. “Everything remained the same. I had no reason to suspect that he was cheating.”

Josh sank lower in his seat as he listened to Kiyana tell Dr. Anderson how good their relationship used to be, the more he listened, the more he felt like complete shit. All he wanted was to forget about Shanté and move forward with his wife. Because if he was being completely honest,  He didn’t know how to live without Kiyana. So he hoped and prayed that this first session with Dr. Anderson would get them back on the right path. 

Shanté stared at the house in front of her, she could actually see herself living there when Josh got rid of Kiyana and their kids. Nikkita had told her this was a bad idea but obviously she didn’t listen. She wasn’t let Josh go without a fight. He had blocked her on almost everything and this was the next step. She needed him to see that they belonged together and that she was the right one for him.  She made sure her make up was right before stepping out of the car and walking up to the front door and knocked. 

Kiyana had just left the kitsch after making her and Trin a drink so she could tell Trin all about the counseling session when there was a knock at her front door. She and Trin had stayed back at the house with Kairo while Jon and Josh took Kamari and Kaiden with them to go get food. 

“Sis, you expecting someone?” Trin asked as her and Kiyana both looked in the direction of the door with confused looks on their faces. Kiyanna shook her head and placed both of their drinks on the coffee table before going to open the door. 

“Hi, can I help you?” Kiyana asked with a friendly smile, but that smile quickly vanished as the women in front of her seemed irritated by her presence. 

Shanté rolled her eyes when Kiyana opened the door. “Yeah, is Josh here?” She asked, crossing her over her chest and Kiyana felt her heart drop into her stomach. She took a good look at the woman and immediately knew this was who her husband had an affair with. 

Shanté had a smirk on her face now. “Yeah, you know who I am don’t you?” She asked cockilly, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She looked Kiyana up and down with a look of disgust on her face. This is what he had to come home to? No wonder he decided to cheat. Shanté thought. 

Kiyana closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. “He ain’t here.” She tried to close the door in her face but Shanté pushed it back open. “Girl, i’m warning you, get the fuck outta here.” 

Shanté pouted. “Is that anyway to talk to your kids' step-mom?” She cackled and Kiyana snapped, she landed a perfect right hook on Shanté’s jaw, knocking the other woman down to the ground. Trinity came running towards the door when she heard the commotion. She pulled Kiyana behind her and glared at Shanté. Before she could say anything Josh’s car pulled into the driveway. He rushed out of the car and over to Kiyana who pushed him away from her and stomped into the house. 

“Hi baby,” Shanté said as she pulled herself up off the ground. “You miss me?” 

IM SORRY IF THIS SUCKS 😭

NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE BETTER I PROMISE 🤞🏽

FYI: Kamari is 6

Kaiden is 3

Kairo is 2 (almost 3) months.

[glossysoap]

ready to comply ii - пропал без вести

you get reported as пропал без вести, or missing in action.

warnings/tags: so much angst.

prev chapters here!

word count: 3,973

inclusivity note: no mention of flushing or hair type. the woman can drag you/lift you because she has super serum, so you can imagine any body type for the reader.

🏷️ : @viylikescats @warenai @fullmoon-94 @breadboyye @kiroshang @lunitalloronaa (if you’re not on the tag list it’s bc tumblr won’t let me tag you)

2 weeks.

It’s been two weeks since you left the team behind, riding in that helicopter. Two weeks since Simon and Johnny saw you, heard your voice, your laugh. The two men were practically crawling out of their skin, itching to see you again.

Not only that, but they were planning on telling you how they felt about you. They would finally confess that they loved you, that they were in love with you.

Today, the 141 were finally finished with their mission in Russia and the weather had improved just enough so it was safe to fly. Currently, the team was preparing to return to their home base in the United Kingdom.

Warmth filled Simon's chest as he remembers the last time you were waiting for them to return from a mission.

It was a few months prior to the Russian mission, and they were returning after a 3 week long mission in Germany. They couldn’t wait to wrap you up in their strong arms and feel your warmth against them after being stuck in rain for weeks. They always made a point to do that when they returned from missions without them with you. It was their little tradition.

The two men would immediately sprint to your quarters, day or night, and they would wrap you up in bear hugs.

Johnny would always squeeze your waist just before letting you go, sneakily rubbing circles on your hips at the same time. “Gotta make sure I don’t lose you. Precious cargo and all that.” He’d use something like that as an excuse for his handsy behavior, though judging by you biting back a grin, he was pretty sure you weren’t bothered by it.

Simon would always be leaning against the doorway of your quarters, watching the whole scene unravel with a grin under his mask. Seeing his two favorite people in the world in an embrace made warmth bloom in his chest.

Simon's dark eyes would always be burning into you as Johnny let you go, noting how you laughed nervously and your eyes crinkled at Johnny's comment. Simon cleared his throat to get your attention, making Johnny's eyes dart to his. You followed his gaze to meet SImon's eyes and if it were even possible, your eyes brightened even more when they landed on the Brit.

When you broke from Johnny;s tan arms and ran into Simon's, he hugged you without missing a beat. His tattooed arms would always wrap around your midsection and hold you tight. Your arms would wrap around his neck and you would breathe him in, all leather and smoke. All Simon. You would let out a pleased noise as you snuggled into the crook of his neck.

“Little clingy today, are we?” Simon murmured against the crown of your head, his smile apparent in his voice, even if he tried to seem annoyed.

“Not that we mind.” Johnny's voice crooned from behind you, a lot closer than where you left him. While you were hugging Simon, Johnny had snuck up behind you to almost sandwich you between their hulking bodies.

Ghost couldn’t think of a better position, in every sense of the word.

“I’m glad you guys are back. Safe.” You mumbled against Simon's vest, voice slightly muffled. You were still hugging the masked man, arms wrapped around his midsection now.

“Couldn’t keep us away even if you tried.”

Simon was pulled from his reminiscing thoughts by the loud noise of the plane landing at the hangar. Along with the rest of 141, him and Johnny were waiting at the hangar for the plane, luggage in hand. When it finally touched down, Johnny nudged Simon's side and threw him a cheeky grin that radiated his excitement.

“What’s on your mind, LT?” He asked as they all start heading to the chopper.

“Take a guess.”

“Thinkin’ about 'em waiting for us back home?” Johnny guesses as the two of them walk up the plane’s ramp, duffel bags slung over their shoulders.

“Smart man, Johnny. Smart man.” Simon mutters as they both sink down into their seats on the plane.

Once the team straps in, the overhead comms crackle to life for the pilot to announce wheels up. As the turbulence began shaking the aircraft, Johnny noticed how Simon's knee bounced and how he began fiddling with his hands. A nervous habit.

To calm his boyfriends’ nerves, Johnny entwined his fingers with Simon's gloved ones. Then he rested his head on Simon's shoulder to ground him with his weight, something akin to a weighted blanket.

“How’s that?” Johnny asked, eyelids feeling heavy as he glanced up at Simon. He noticed that Simon stopped fiddling with his hands when Johnny squeezed his hand, and his knee stopped bouncing when Johnny rested against him.

“You always know what to do, Johnny.” Simon hummed.

Johnny’s eyes fluttered shut and fell asleep against Simon's shoulder with a grin on his lips. Simon glanced down at Johnny when we heard his deep, even breaths.

A smile pulled at the Lieutenant’s lips as he admired his boyfriend’s relaxed face. Small breaths coming from his parted lips, all pink and plump. His full brows that were relaxed and unfurrowed. His tan skin was flushed pink from the cold weather and some snow flakes were still stuck to his mohawk. Carefully, Simon reached his free hand over to ruffle the snow out of Johnny’s hair.

Johnny’s eyebrows scrunched in his sleep, almost waking up because of Simon's touch.

“Easy.” Simon said lowly, trying to coax the Scot back to sleep.

The Sergeant hummed as he nuzzled further into the Lieutenant’s shoulder, breathing in his comforting scent of leather and musk.

While Johnny was asleep, Simon's mind ran wild with possibilities about you. He thought about how him and Johnny could confess to you and how you would react.

Would it be better to just come out and say it? Or ease you into it? He didn’t want to overwhelm you or scare you away. He wanted to do this right.

He bounced ideas around in his head while the time passed. He could pull you aside with Johnny and tell it to you straight, tell you that they both loved you with every fiber of their being.

If they were feeling especially bold, Simon or Johnny could just kiss you.

Sure, to you it might be out of the blue but he couldn’t help but ponder the idea. He couldn’t help but fantasize about your soft, plump lips against his scarred ones. Would your lips taste like the mint chapstick you applied religiously? What kind of kisser were you? Were you shy and timid, kissing him back with a gasp and glazed over eyes? Or were you confident and passionate, arms wrapping around his neck and teasingly bite at his lip? His heart pounded at the thought.

Ultimately, he decided against it, no matter how much he wanted to just pull you into his arms and smash his lips against yours without abandon. The last thing he wanted was to scare you away from them, especially after making so much progress in your friendship.

So with that, he started thinking about other options, safer options.

He thought about writing a letter professing his love for you and leaving it at your quarters along with a vase of your favorite flowers. Then he considered axing the flowers and giving you a new set of sparring gloves with the letter just in case you weren’t the flower type.

So many variables ran through his mind. After a few minutes of racking his brain for ideas, he gave up. He knew that once Johnny woke up, they would be able to create a plan together. Johnny was always the voice of reason.

Heaving a sigh, Simon glanced at his watch and noted that they were nearly an hour into the flight home. He resigned to closing his eyes and letting sleep take him for the rest of the flight.

In the short three hours that he slept, he dreamt of his two favorite people — Johnny Mactavish and you. His Sergeant and his surgeon. He dreamt of cerulean eyes and wolfish smile, and your sparkling gaze and shy grin. He dreamt of Soap’s booming laughter and muscular arms. He dreamt of your excited rambling about medical procedures and the scent of your (perfume/cologne).

He was woken a few hours later by Captain Price’s booming voice echoing through the plane, “Touch down in 2!”

Simon reached down to gently shake Johnny's shoulder, rousing him from his slumber. The Sergeant rubbed the sleep from his eyes before standing with Simon. Johnny stretched his muscles and cracked his neck before slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder.

The 141 jogged off of the plane and onto the solid concrete of the hangar.

The team stood at attention, lined up in a row while Price and Laswell stood off to the side.

“At ease. I know you’re all itching to wash up and rest but I expect you in the conference room in 15 for the mission debriefing. After that, you’re free to go.” Price informed, as it was custom to give mission reports to Laswell and Shepherd after a mission was completed.

“Yes, sir,” was echoed by all of 141 before they all started walking to the base entrance. Johnny gravitated back towards his Lieutenant and once they were inside the base, they both began the trek to your quarters. It only took about five minutes to get to your quarters so it would give them plenty of time to say hello to you before going to the briefing.

As he walked, Johnny fished his personal phone out of his cargo pants pocket before finding your contact. It was one of the first ones, as he texted you and Simon the most. He clicked on your picture, a candid of you smiling up at Simon, and began typing up a text to you.

> just landed. see you in a min.

He smiled to himself as he pressed send before pocketing his phone again.

Meanwhile, Simon's cool, calculating eyes were trained on Laswell, who he could still see walking with Price. The second he got off the plane, Simon immediately noticed her nervous demeanor. She was picking at the skin by her nails as she walked. She avoided eye contact with everyone except for Price, and even that seemed forced.

Alarms sounded in the Lieutenants’ head and Simon's eyes narrowed under his mask. This was more than just a personality quirk of hers, he thought.

After a few hallways, your two best friends arrived at your quarters. Simon raised his gloved hand and knocked on your door. The two men waited for a response for a minute before Simon knocked again, louder this time. Johnny was behind him, glancing down at his phone to see if you had responded. Only to see that his text bubble had turned green.

His grin dropped into a frown and his brows furrowed in confusion and concern. Had he done something wrong that made you block his contact? Or did you lose your phone in the last two weeks? Either possibility made his heart race with anxiety.

Minutes passed and Simon was still pounding on your door, raising the attention of a few privates walking the halls. Johnny stopped him.

“They haven’t texted back. Something’s not right, Simon.” Johnny muttered, making the Lieutenants’ heart drop.

The combination of Laswell behaving out of character and you being nowhere to be found, he knew there was something going on.

The two soldiers jogged to the elevator where they saw Price standing with Laswell. Price glanced away from Laswell to look at the men with a relaxed smile.

“You went to go see Doc? How’s our medic?” Price asked them, knowing you were their closest friend and who they spent most of their time with. At the mention of your name, Laswell’s eyes widened just a fraction, but just enough for Simon to notice.

“Funny you mention that. We were just at their room and no one answered. Matter of fact, they haven’t answered their phone at all. We were coming to ask you if you’ve seen them.” Johnny explained, hopeful that maybe his Captain had information on your whereabouts. Those hopes were quickly dashed when Price’s eyebrows furrowed and his relaxed smile fell into a confused frown.

“Haven’t heard a word from them since they left on that med-evac, I’m afraid. I’ll be sure to ask Shepherd in the briefing. If there’s anything going on, he should have an idea.”

With that, Price, Laswell and the two soldiers continued to the conference room.

After a few hallways and elevators, Laswell and 141 all arrived to the conference room where Shepherd was waiting. One by one, the soldiers plopped into different chairs, fatigue from the long mission catching up to them. Price had taken to leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

Laswell turned the projector on and connected her laptop before pulling up mission notes. She began the mission report by listing all intel that 141 collected as well as any supplies along the way. She listed all targets that were eliminated, whether they were arms dealers, cartel members or just Russian soldiers.

Once she was done using the projector, she turned on the lights.

Lastly, Laswell began rifling through different files to find more information, and Simon noticed how her fingers shook while she was skimming the documents. She found the manila folder for the next mission and haphazardly pulled it out of the stack and set it onto the table. So haphazardly, in fact, that another folder came out with it. A particularly thick folder that had a big, red stamp on it, reading “classified”. Your full name was written on the tab of that very folder.

Immediately the air in the room shifted. Price kicked off his spot at the wall and stomped to the table. His intense blue eyes were staring daggers as he glared at Kate and Shepherd. Kyle's usual grin was replaced by a frown.

Beside Simon sat Johnny, who’s usually bright eyes had darkened to a considerable degree. His jaw tensed at the mention of your name being in a classified file.

Simon's gloved hands were clenched into fists under the table, white knuckling with how tight they were. His nostrils flared under his mask.

Laswell cursed under her breath and scrambled to retrieve that folder but Price beat her to it, snatching the folder up with furrowed brows and a clenched jaw.

“Since when does my medic have a fuckin’ classified file? Hmm?” John waves the file in front of Laswell and Shepherd. Laswell crossed her arms and shot a conflicted look at Shepherd who gave her nothing back in return, effectively throwing her to the wolves.

“So let me get this straight. Not only is the medic of my fucking task force nowhere to be found but their name is plastered on a damn classified file.” He continued, all but roaring at Shepherd.

“I’m afraid it doesn’t concern you, John. It doesn’t concern any of you, actually.” Laswell forced out with a mask of faux professionalism. Simon could tell that she didn’t even believe what she was selling, not for one second.

“Don’t give me that, ‘doesn’t concern you’, bullshit!” John shouted, face burning red with unbridled rage, his index finger pointed in her direction.

She flinched at his finger in her face and his voice dripping with malice.

“Laswell’s right, Captain. This is purely need to know. And you all, don’t need to know. End of discussion.” General Shepherd interjected with a cold, detached tone.

“That’s the medic of the bloody task force! My task force! If anyone needed to know, it would be me!” John fired back, nostrils flared and lips pursed.

Throughout their Captain’s shouting, the rest of 141 had their hackles raised as they assessed the situation with clenched jaws and narrowed eyes.

“Negative, John. If they were still your medic, then you would need to know. But they’re not.” The room had fallen silent the second that the words passed General Shepherd’s lips. You could hear a pin drop.

In the blink of an eye, the room unraveled.

Captain Price’s eyes darkened as he turned his wrath completely towards Shepherd instead of Laswell. Curses went flying as he spat insults at the General, giving absolute fuck all about ranking at this point.

Kyle immediately followed suit, pointing accusatory fingers at the General and shouting across the room.

“What the fuck!” Johnny growled, his husky Scottish accent echoing across the room. He hits his fists against the table before jumping out of his seat.

Simon launched out of his chair and crossed the room in two seconds flat. He charged at Shepherd, gripping him by the collar of his uniform and dragging him out of his seat. No one made any move to stop him as he yanked the General to his feet. No one made any move to stop him as he spat in his flinching face.

“Give us answers now,” Simon spoke in his ear, dangerously calm, “or you’ll wish we still had a medic.”

Shepherd didn’t have a chance to open his mouth before Laswell finally spoke up, interrupting the chaos.

“They’re missing! They’ve been missing ever since the helicopter left that day.” Her voice shook as she spoke. “I couldn’t say anything until the mission was finished successfully. He thought it would be a distraction. I wanted to. I really wanted to, John.” She directed the last sentence to her friend, her voice breaking.

“Prove it, Kate. Prove it and tell me, us everything.” He pleaded. He knew deep down that she was just following orders from the bloody General.

“Laswell, don’t you d-,” Shepherd was cut off not only by Simon tightening his grip around his neck but by Laswell shouting at him.

“I am telling them everything, orders be damned. I have had this stuck in my head for two weeks and I couldn’t say a fucking thing because of you. None of them trust me anymore because of you.” She seethed from across the room. Somehow, even if she wasn’t screaming like the soldiers, her anger was vengeful and scorned. It was burning and searing, like fire and brimstone.

“I’m showing them everything.” Kate spat at Shepherd while she keyed a code into her laptop. She searched her computer to find the task force’s security page, which was filled with different cameras and protocols.

One camera she was searching for in particular, the recovered camera footage from the crashed helicopter two weeks ago.

Once she found it, she reached to turn off the lights for the projector, and pressed play on the footage.

The boys looked at the projector screen and were taken aback at the footage. For the first time in two weeks, the 141 team saw you.

Simon and Johnny saw you.

You had wheeled the female patient’s gurney into the helicopter before climbing in yourself. You said goodbye to your assistant before closing the door.

“You’re the 141’s surgeon, I presume? Nikolai at your service.” They could hear Nikolai say, a bit muffled but still audible.

“Yeah, Price talks about you a lot! It’s nice to have a friend in high places.” They heard you respond with a grin, which made the Lieutenant and Sergeant’s chest tingle.

You were soon strapped in and lifting off, making the camera shake a bit from the turbulence.

The team watched with bated breath as you looked down at your patient who was wincing in pain.

Simon felt his lips quirk into a grin under his mask as he watched you take the injured woman’s hand in your own. He admired how you were able to keep your warm and sympathetic nature after seeing so much bloodshed in your line of work. He loved how you never failed to comfort your patients while you treated them.

Johnny watched as you looked down at the injured woman with sympathy in your eyes and squeezed her hand in yours. He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, chest warm at the pure sight of you.

The woman pulled you close in some newfound strength and whispered something in your ear, making your eyebrows furrow in shock and confusion.

The team saw Laswell take a breath and look away from the camera. They were confused but only for a second.

A metallic glint right next to you made Simon and Johnny heart drop to their feet. You didn’t notice it, at least not quickly enough, because your patient was soon jumping out of her gurney and twisting your left arm into an impossible angle. The crack that echoed from your broken bones and your cry of pain made everyone in the room wince.

“No, no, no..” Johnny pleaded under his breath, voice cracking at just the sight of you injured. He felt his throat tighten when he saw your eyes scrunched shut in pain.

Simon was frozen. He couldn’t blink, he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t move. All he could do was watch as another person he loved was hurt in front of him.

You had no reprieve when, to the teams horror, the woman shoved a knife right into your stomach. They saw how your eyes widened in horror and shock, much like Simon and Johnny's. They heard your initial noise of pain that quickly turned into a guttural scream when the woman yanked the knife out of you with a brutal twist.

Simon couldn’t fucking breathe. All he saw on your uniform was red. Blood fucking red. It soaked your tactical jacket and quickly trickled down your pants and onto your seat. You were going to die. He just knew it. Just like his mother. Just like Tommy. Just like Beth. And just like little Joseph.

Johnny's eyes were so blurry with unshed tears that he couldn’t see the footage anymore. He almost didn’t want to wipe his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see your bloody figure again, or see how your crying face mirrored his.

They both wished they could just yank you through the camera and take you in their arms. They wish they could shield you from any knife or any broken bones. They would cup the crown of your head and shush your sobs the same way you comforted them so many times.

They needed you in their arms.

Captain Price watched in horror as the scene continued. He watched as the woman used the same knife that she stabbed you with to throw at his friend, Nikolai. He heard Nikolai’s quiet gurgle as the knife met his chest.

It was only a matter of moments until the aircraft started swaying from Nikolai being down. In those moments, the woman had leaped from the gurney altogether and grabbed a parachute and a tactical rope. She pulled your sluggish figure against her and tied you to her, your back pressed against her chest. Once she ensured that the rope was tight and secure, she pulled the parachute on and jumped out of the quickly falling helicopter.

That was the last footage the camera caught before being submerged under the dark ocean water below.

That footage would be the last Task Force 141 saw of you for one year. The last that Simon and Johnny saw of you for one year.

next chapter

©️ glossysoap 2024. please do not steal, copy, plagiarize, translate, or repost any of my works without my permission. do not steal any elements of my theme without permission.

[champagnejoker]

random xavier x fem!reader x ajax relationship headcannons

first time writing on tumblr so idrk how this works. btw there’s nsfw content cause I can’t help myself

ok so:

- ajax 100% listens to deftones I don’t make the rules

- ajax then forced xavier into listening to them and he loves them now too and they listen to them in each others dorms

- xavier being the voice of reason in this chaotic relationship

- you and ajax totally play pranks on xavier like 24/7

- going on double dates with winclair !

- ajax likes being the middle/little spoon cause he’s a big softie

- smoking weed with them in xavier’s art shed

- xavier is always drawing the two of you!

- xavier totally draws the 3 of you having sex and animates it when he’s horny (saw this in a fic and I LOVED the idea) (forgot the name but if someone knows can you tag the og author??)

- all 3 of you shower together because we gotta save the environment and water !

- but ajax had to keep his beanie on and his snakes got all wet and were pissed

- ajax has definitely named all his snakes

- ajax totally suggested shower sex once but then xavier slipped and broke his nose :(

- xavier didn’t speak to ajax for like 2 days after this and ajax was all pouty

- makeup sex but xavier is whining when ajax keeps rubbing up against his broken nose

- ajax’s snakes love to give you kisses all over your face :’)

- xavier then gets mad cause why do the snakes like you more than him >:(

- ajax and xavier are both titty guys sorry I don’t make the rules

- xavier is sucking on one titty and ajax is sucking on the other and you’re like “I better get a mother’s day present for this”

- if you’re a werewolf those boys have got you covered when you’re in heat. they know exactly what to do and treat you like a princess

- you’re just like “you two actually learned something for once? I’m so proud :’) !”

-(they totally went to Enid for help and asked her a million and one questions but they figure you don’t need to know that)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Sokkla actually saved my life.

In my early 20s, I had left my abusive family to move in with my high school sweetheart. But once we were living together, he showed a side of him I had never seen before.

He became abusive and cruel and began to cheat. And everytime he blamed everything on me and my depression and anxiety (I have PTSD from my childhood). He made it seem like this was the best I was ever going to get because no one would ever want a broken person like me.

Eventually he dumped me and left me with nowhere to go. I had to move back in with my abusive parents and I wanted to kill myself. They agreed with my boyfriend that no one would want me because I came back to them even more traumatized and mentally ill with mean outbursts and constant crying.

I genuinely thought it was over for me. I had always identified with Katara and Zuko the most, so I had shipped Zutara as a teen. But now I could no longer see myself in Katara because she was so strong and kind and everyone loved her.

I felt more like Zuko except a version of him that nobody could love with his scars. I began to see myself more like Azula. Doomed and tragic. The more hate I read about her, the more I searched for it and applied it to myself. Everytime someone called her irredeemable or unloveable, I took those words as a reminder to myself of how the world truly saw me. I guess it was a kind of self harm…

Eventually this became a late night ritual. And it was while doing this one night, sobbing my eyes out, that I clicked on what I thought was another fic about Azula being tortured and hated or punished and executed. But I must’ve misclicked because instead I ended up on a Sokkla fic.

And I don’t know if it was just my emotional state or how late it was, but by the end when Sokka showed her he could still love her, I just broke. I started looking for more Sokkla fics and art. Instead of looking for content punishing and hating Azula so I could harm myself, I started wanting to find stories where she healed and was happy. And Sokkla fics were so good about this without making Azula just a crazy person abuser or erasing all of her problems either.

Eventually I found metas written by some lovely Sokkla shippers on here and I decided that maybe, if I could be kinder to Azula, I could be kinder to myself.

But I made the mistake of sharing this on my tumblr and all my old Zutara friends FREAKED OUT. Lot all of them were mean about it, but some were. And eventually it ended up in tags that attracted other Zutara shippers and they attacked me over and over again, saying the most messed up things. Calling me mentally ill. Calling me homophobic. Calling me an abuse apologist. Even saying I must be an abuser and a horrible person if I identified with a psychopath like Azula at all. All because I said I like Sokkla now and it helped me.

I left the Zutara fandom that day. But I still love ATLA! I love Katara and Zuko as much as I used to, I just don’t really ship them anymore.

Sokkla is my ship now and it upsets me when people Zutara or TyZula or other fans bash it for no reason. Just like what you like and leave us alone! Zutara gives me panic attacks sometimes now because of it. I blocked all the tags and I’m never going back.

By the way, I’m doing better now! I’m back in school and I have new friends. One of my friends has a cute brother who likes ATLA. And his favorite character is Sokka. I asked him if he likes Sokkla and he said he had never thought about it before. But now we send each other fan art!

I have hope now, and a lot of that is thanks to friends and therapy. But Sokkla fandom helped me realize I deserved those things to begin with. If they could show empathy to Azula, then maybe people could show it to me too.

And to everyone in the Zutara or TyZula fandom who harasses people who ship Azula with people you don’t like: FUCK YOU.

Thank you for this blog. It helps me realize I’m not crazy. They really can be that mean and delusional. Sorry for the rant.

...Anon, do you want a hug?

[powdermelonkeg]

Something websites (*cough* Tumblr *cough*) need to learn is that what retains an audience isn't an abundance of new bells and whistles to play with, it's a coherent experience overall.

When someone joins a website, you don't need to grab their attention and hold it. They're already testing the waters. They've agreed to sign up. You've won on that front, and they're there for something specific you already have that they're hoping works well.

What drives them away is frustration.

Frustration, frustration, frustration.

Learning curves are going to be a part of any new website experience; they're something the user comes to terms with, in their own time. But broken or bad features are going to make them jump sites.

On top of that, constantly adding new features makes them feel like all the hard work they've put in to learning what you have isn't worth it; your website looks unstable and your staff looks incompetent, because it gives the impression that you don't know what you're doing.

You are floundering. It makes your new users nervous. It makes your old users hesitate to bring anyone else on board. And why should they? Why should they put effort into it if you're going to throw that effort away next Tuesday? Why get used to a UI that you're not going to bother to keep? Why customize anything if you're going to whittle that customization away?

Between that and the broken, unattended features of this site—the tag organization failing, the inability to look up posts word-for-word, the video player either refusing to play or yanking you to the top of the dashboard, images taking forever to load, advertisements blaring at full volume when you scroll past, you have your problem.

You have the reason why your numbers are failing.

It's not that you're not interesting enough.

It's not that you're too difficult to understand.

It's that you aren't improving what you have, yet you keep adding more half-broken things and unwanted copycat features to the pile.

It's that you're losing your identity in pursuit of a hypothetical perfect customer.

It's that you are actively telling your user base that you prefer those hypothetical customers over them. And your user base, your real people who make you happen, are smart enough to know where your priorities lie.

The bulk of this post talks about Tumblr, but other sites have gone the same way. Twitter is dead and its corpse is decaying in the street. Reddit has sabotaged any trust its users had in its management. If you'd like a really old example—I used to use Fanfiction Net. It's not the most intuitive website in the world, but it was the first one I called home.

I used it to host my works. The adware now on it makes it a hassle to navigate. The bots make comment sections and private messages a dread rather than a joy. So I moved on.

I also used to use it to collaborate on stories with my now-roommate. The message limit was 300 a day. When you're writing dialogue between characters, that's nothing.

So I moved on. We started messaging on Facebook. It was better, it didn't have a limit. But then I learned Discord existed, and I could edit messages, make dedicated channels, etc. So I moved on from Facebook to Discord. And Discord had a steep learning curve, especially if you're trying to make your own server rather than contribute to one. But, most importantly, the payoff was worth it.

If Discord changed its layout every other month while I was learning it, and broke how its reactions worked, and kept shifting what it meant to create a channel? If it opted me into servers I didn't sign up for, in hopes of engagement? If its text never formatted correctly, or its search function only went back a day or two?

I would have gone right back to Facebook. Even if it's a more basic experience, basic is always preferable to unstable.

Figure out what you want, websites.

Slow growth, or a gamble?

You're paying for your magic slot machine in users.

[waywardmillennial]

watchergate & where we go from here...

To start at the end, I purchased my annual Watcher TV subscription on April 20th because I wanted to support them when it felt like so many others were not. I'm cancelling another subscription to make this work with my budget, and I'm very happy with this!

Watcher has always made high quality, entertaining content that I love, and I'm happy to support them as they try to grow like they've always wanted to so they can bring on more creators and give us more diverse art.

So, moving forward, I'm going to be posting about Watcher TV when it comes out - spoiler parties with the sexy moots! - and I'll be blocking any and all haters I see. 💜💜💜

(read more bc ofc this got long)

To walk this back and give a little history/context, *ahem* [sotto Byron voice]

April 12, 2024: Watcher announced they had a surprise coming for us in a week's time. The news came in the form of a very spirited ad-read in the Mystery Files s2 finale. And afterwards there were a few blogs posting about it, but I commented to a friend that my dash had been devoid of Watcher posts (oh, how that sweet summer child would grow to long for a day such as that).

There were some corkboard theories, and I broke down the new logo design, but nothing big happened until the following Thursday.

April 18, 2024: I saw the leak for the announcement. It was on reddit and a sock tumblr blog was made sending the link out to people. I didn't post it or share it because it wasn't my news to share. I wanted to wait to see how they were going to explain it.

Maybe I should have said at the time (but it's fine if you don't believe me now I guess) but I was hoping Watcher TV would become like their enhanced Patreon replacement, where the new shows like "Puppet History Karaoke" and "Road Files" would be exclusive, and some other perks like early access. [note: if Apollo is laughing at him right now, I'd kindly request he stuff that red ball somewhere Helios doesn't shine]

I imagined some people would be mad at the streaming news but it didn't prepare me for how bad it would get...

April 19, 2024: Most of us know what happened. The announcement was not well received. Watcher's silence right after wasn't helping, but I don't think many people were willing to give them any grace for their pre-planned trip to the UK and instead demanded answers immediately.

Do I think maybe their announcement could have been timed better? Or maybe given a different tone? Perhaps. But either way what they were trying to communicate was not what people chose to hear, and the response from many viewers was, to choose a very formal phrase here, absolute bonker banana balls insane.

The main anti-streamer "arguments" I saw basically boiled down into these categories:

"high production tv quality content is what they want to make, but we don't want that - we only want them to sit in a blank room and talk to each other with blue and yellow text like the bfu days!!"

"Steven's the one behind all this bc he's rich and greedy and only eats gold"

"they already make enough money off their patreon why are they doing this?? they should have consulted [insert other yt-er here]"

"they've become the capitalist elite that we swore to destroy! so we have to tear them down from their thrones!!"

Even now, feeling better than I have in days, I don't have the energy to say why each of those takes completely misses the point of who they are as a company, as creators, and as human beings. But there are some eloquent posts in my #watchergate tag, or my other post, if you're interested.

April 22, 2024: We got the Watcher update - giving people access to all videos after a month on the new streamer - and that seemed to placate a lot of viewers and those on the fence. But it was also the day I learned about that horrible petition against Steven, and I'd been following all this drama for several days (foregoing some self-care) and so I had a little meltdown...

Even though the new setup is closer to what I'd hoped for like 10 days ago, I hate how we arrived at it. It's shown people that they can bully creators to get them to compromise on their company. In fact, I've seen accounts celebrating this.

Opinions like this have given me trust issues when it comes to the Watcher fandom at large now. As many of my beloved mutuals have said, I'm going to be wary of accounts that follow me and be applying that blocking feature liberally.

I can also only imagine how things like this must have broken some of the trust that the Watcher crew feels for us - fightingfuries really said it best. If they do start distancing themselves on socials and things, I wouldn't really blame them.

I don't have more to say, other than I'm going to support them as much as I can, for as long as they continue to make content. I'm going to send the team a care package. And I hope in time we'll earn back their trust.

Now I'll let Ryan Bergara play me out...

As for the question of why we decided to launch our own platform, when we started Watcher in 2020, we wanted to create shows that we were proud of, that we had ownership over, and that would provide you the caliber of content that we felt you deserved. However, we were finding it harder and harder to stay relevant to advertisers and the constantly changing YouTube landscape. We faced some incredibly challenging decisions. We didn't want to compromise our content to ensure they met advertising requirements. And we definitely did not want to lay people off that have brought Watcher to life behind the scenes. And we didn't want to bring Watcher to a close, which would have happened if we stayed solely on YouTube. - An Update, April 22, 2024

[faeriescorpio]

Mission Impossible Dashboard Simulator

🎮 letmewearamask Follow

Why is it called the Impossible Mission Force if we've succeeded at almost every mission we've done? Impossible mission? More like possible mission

🪈 ihatemi6 Follow

she mission on my impossible til i task force

🎮 letmewearamask Follow

this was an unnecessary addition to my post. i have your IP address.

#im going to tell Bravo Echo 11 what you wrote

154 notes

📺 failed_da_field_exam Follow

I can't believe that they decided to tell the public that it was a gas leak. how many gas leaks per month will the public accept??? theyre so gullible smh

⚙️ tiredofthisshit Follow

dude... don't know how to tell you this. it was really a gas leak this time.

📺 failed_da_field_exam Follow

oh my god?! you're joking. well i guess one of them had to be real

⚙️ tiredofthisshit Follow

ha! got you. you're just as gulible as the general public it seems.

📺 failed_da_field_exam Follow

BLOCKED.

📺 failed_da_field_exam Follow

guys can we not reblog this. can we stop reblogging please

1,369 notes

🎯 mycircus-mymonkeys

i hate it here. let me resign.

#officelife #imissbeingafieldagent #workingforkittragefuckingsucks

3 notes

📼 BE11-deactivated10112023

Hey guys. I'm new to tumblr. My partner told me to make an account. He also said to tell you guys some stuff about me but that seems like a breach of information.

🎮 letmewearamask Follow

Dude. I promise no one's going to know it's you. You can share something, like, what's a hobby of yours?

📼 BE11-deactivated10112023

i climb things.

🎮 letmewearamask Follow

...no. That's what you do for work.

🎮 letmewearamask Follow

hello? did you just delete your account???

6 notes

🔪 i-fucking-lovefieldwork01 Follow

guys talking to some of my peers and im encountering some strange opinions. just want to clear things up.

🔪 i-fucking-lovefieldwork01 Follow

...

🔪 i-fucking-lovefieldwork01 Follow

jeez. reading the tags and some of you need a raise in morale. sure this was the only option that left you alive or free but after a certain amount of years most of you should be allowed to retire to a civilian life. couldn't be me though. i fucking love shooting people.

735 notes

🎯 mycircus-mymonkeys

sometimes a workplace rivalry is just as good as a workplace romance

🎞️ should_you_choose_to_accept Follow

guys OP let his team leader give real nuclear launch codes to a terrorist. dont follow him

🎯 mycircus-mymonkeys

I can neither confirm nor deny details of any operation without the Secretary's approval.

545 notes

💻 hackerrrman Follow

you guys will not believe how insane my team is guys. the mask machine broke again and my team leader decided we would just go without masks. does anyone else have this problem?

📡 tango-foxtrot32

omg yes!! we always keep TWO mask machines on hand for all of OUR missions because one of them is always breaking! ive complained to the tech team so much but apparently its 'our fault' and we need to 'be more gentle' with the machines

💻 hackerrrman Follow

what do they mean, "be more gentle"?? i mean my team once had a guy slam the mask machine against our targets face and it broke. but i cant imagine other teams doing that

📡 tango-foxtrot32

yeah no that's.... why did you use the mask machine as a weapon? i... our problem is that we've been 'making too many masks at once' according to the tech. what.... how have your other mask machines broken....

💻 hackerrrman Follow

well now i don't want to say.

📡 tango-foxtrot32

...

#goodlord #imscared

2,001 notes

🚐 vanguy Follow

so was anyone going to tell me that the prisoner ive been transporting to america was actually the most wanted terrorist of our times. or was i supposed to find out when i dropped him off and the CIA congratulated me for keeping him contained.

🎯 mycircus-mymonkeys

It wasn't your buisiness to know. especially if you're going to be talking about it on social media.

🚐 vanguy Follow

im so sorry please dont fire me

125 notes

⌛️ fuckthecia Follow

day 78 of saying FUCK THE CIA

🪈 ihatemi6 Follow

FUCK THE CIA

⌛️ fuckthecia Follow

HELL YEAH! day 1 of saying FUCK THE MI6

🪈 ihatemi6 Follow

HELL YEAH

903 notes

🎙️ good_evening

good evening everyone. you probably could figure out already by my manner of typing, but I am in fact the person who voices all your mission dossiers. I just want to say that I'm also responsible for gathering and summarizing all the information you need. and let me just say. you all have some serious shit going on. jesus christ.

🔪 i-fucking-lovefieldwork01 Follow

...and?

🎙️ good_evening

and what? I'm glad I'm not a field agent. LOL

#my average day is me reading papers out loud #your average day is 'if your team is caught or killed you will be disavowed' LOL

219 notes

♟️ its_treason_then Follow

guys why is Lane kinda.... 😳

🚐 vanguy Follow

??! no he's fucking not

♟️ its_treason_then Follow

politely i disagree with you.

🚐 vanguy Follow

YOU'RE looking at dossier photographs. *I* saw him IRL

♟️ its_treason_then Follow

omg you met him?! can you get his autograph for me please

🚐 vanguy Follow

what is wrong with you?!

58 notes

🪣 hr-sux Follow

do you guys ever just sit in a local coffee shop and try to profile random strangers for fun

🗝️ washington_locale Follow

no? wtf

🪣 hr-sux Follow

what? theyre civilians. its fun

🗑️ techboy33 Follow

girl.... in D.C.? ain't no one a civilian

📁 imf-heritage-post

Official IMF Heritage Post

986 notes

🗂️ days-without-disasters Follow

0 days without a disaster

📡 tango-foxtrot32

WHAT HAPPENED?!

🎮 letmewearamask Follow

dude... you don't even want to know....

413 notes

thats all for now ^w^ i have more ideas

[sawyer-is-eepy]

as a punk, its the least fucking punk thing to call someone a poser. what 90% of anti-endos want is for endos to stop calling themselves systems (its a medical term) and to get the fuck out of our spaces. calling yourself a system (short for system of alternate states of dissociation) when you dont have did/osdd is ablist. ablism is NOT punk. listen to actual fucking trauma survivors instead of circlejerking every other ablist around

hi, sorry, i've mostly got it okay but i don't have my glasses right now and can't see very well. trying to still type properly but it's a bit hard, so i'm sorry for any typos ! ^^

i get why anti endos are wanting a space thats exclusively for cdd systems, but terms can change and adapt and evolve(and they are!) the thing is, more and more research is being done on endogenic systems and a lot of said studies are referring to endos AS systems. medical studies and such!

plus, not trying to say you're lying or anything because i can't prove you wrong, but i'm, not even entirely sure system was ever ACTUALLY just exclusively for cdds because it's just that previousloy, there was no research on endos so maybe now that more stuff is coming out about them? but if you do have stuff about the original usage of the term i'd be glad to check it out! i

and about your spaces, again i do understand why youd want a space sepcifically for traumagen/disordered systems. but the thing is, a lot of times those spaces completely exclude a lot of traumagen systems ANYWAYS!! yall exclude proendo traumagen, and exclude traumagenic systems that aren't disordered! and because a lot of those spaces have become "haha funny lets just h\ate on endos and fakeclaim a ton of them!" and also putting "proendos dni" on a lot of your posts you exclude anyone who could benefit from resources and/or potential friendships, as well as fakeclaim "real" systems! you create spaces that are filled with hate and anger so people don't feel safe expressing themselves.

tumblr is usually better about fakeclaiming stuff from what i've seen, but literally everywhere else(ESPECIALLY reddit tiktok and yt) are all incredibly hostile toward endos, and often how that manifests itserlf is fakeclaiming literally any system, ever. INCLUDING traumagen ones.

my MAIN issue with anti endos is how yall want a safe space but your spaces are so filled with hate and you consistently bar yourself from actually ever receiving any criticism. you create echo chambers, basically

safe spaces are no5t places for people to post hate without having to get called out. safe places are not for you to go "there's no science to back endos!" and then ignore any attempts to share science behind endos by saying "youre invading our spaces! you broke the dni!"

youre right, ableism is VERY not punk! but you claim to protect trauma survivors when you ignore the proendo traumagens and the endos WITH trauma!! what about the endos who had to go through trauma and want to speak about their trauma but are silenced because its "sCiEnTiFiCaLlY ImPosSiBlE!111!!11" ? what about the traumagenic systems who just waant a space to be able to communicate with other trauma survivors but they arent listened to because they support something else???

you create hateful spaces, we're gonna call you out on that bullshit.

i'm sorry about the endos who invade other tags but i feel like this time it's at least a little justified.

edit: i can see slightly better now so i fixed some of the typing errors. sorry if i still missed any

[cosmxc-ars3hol3]

Oh, ashes, ashes, Dust to dust

Title - Oh, ashes, ashes, Dust to dust

Rating - General Audiences

Archive Warning - No Archive Warnings Apply

Category - M/M

Fandom - Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger

Relationship - Councillor Bronte/Fintan Pyren

Characters - Fintan Pyren, Councillor Bronte

Additional Tags - Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 03: Everblaze (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Summary - ‘After Fintan burnt Oblivimyre down during his healing, he sneaks his way into Bronte’s Castle in Eternalia so he has somewhere to stay. Bronte decides to help him stay hidden/keep people thinking he’s dead.’

its gonna be a multi chapter (hopefully) fintante fic that my tumblr mutual kale gave me when i was bitching about the appalling lack of fintante fics on ao3 (thanks kale!)

The fic is also under the cut

Bronte lightleaped back to his castle with a heavy heart; his and the other councillors' castle was luckily not in the section of Eternalia that got burned down by fintans Everblaze. He unlocked the door, his bodyguards trailing in behind him, patrolling the lower levels of the castle. The air was thick with the scent of ash, an unsettling reminder of the chaos that had unfolded, strange but not yet suspicious.

The goblins conducted a thorough search that ended with them telling Bronte it was safe, yet Bronte couldn't shake a feeling of unease. It must be leftover nerves from what happened at Oblivimyre. Going alone, he went to the more familiar and comforting parts of his castle. Weary both emotionally and physically, he went to his lounge room, intending to calm down and eventually sleep, if he could, for the night. But as he got into the room, a prickling sensation told him he was not alone.

"Who's there?" Bronte's voice cut through the silence, betraying a mixture of weariness and apprehension. He could tell there was someone there. Today had taken its toll on him, and now the break in felt like a cruel twist of fate. The scene of earlier in the evening rushed back to him: the council’s idiotic decision to entrust Sophie, a mere 13-year-old, with the responsibility of bringing Fintan back to sanity. to fix what used to be impossible.

Sophie is the only currently existing telepath with the ability to bring back a broken mind. He would say skill, but she didn't work for it; she was handed it on a silver platter by her creators, the Black Swan.

The Black Swan were a group of law-breaking rebels that, although they aren't totally law-abiding, they're also not as evil as everyone originally thought. They used to be the only known rebel group, but through a fiasco a few months ago, when Sophie was kidnapped, it was revealed that there was another rebel group, one that had everyone pinning their actions and crimes onto the Black Swan. It was then revealed that Fintan, an old friend to many of the current and past councillors, was a part of this newly discovered rebel group. The council decided to break Fintan's mind in an attempt to get more information out of him—information that he was refusing to give up willingly.

The break ended with many things going wrong, all of which are public knowledge and heavily talked about amongst people. Alden's mind broke, and with the help of the black swan, Sophie realised that she could heal him, something previously thought to be impossible.

The council decided, against Bronte’s better wishes, to heal Fintan's mind and try to get the same information that they previously failed to extract. It was a gamble that Bronte had foolishly hoped the council wouldn't take.

Bronte knew what his old friend? enemy? Bronte didn't know how to describe him; he knew what he is like. was like.

As he predicted, the healing went wrong—so much more wrong than he could have ever predicted himself.

Sophie, without a hitch, healed fintan’s broken mind.

That's where it went wrong. Bronte knew that it would be stupid to bring back Fintan's sanity, he was already too far gone from how he used to be.

Bronte looks back to those days with fondness and love.

Fintan used to be so good, so caring. Bronte knew that the person his old friend used to be was dead. and now his old friend has died.

In an attempt at something, while they were all in that building, all glittering and seemingly perfect, he called down Everblaze.

He's dead now, as is Kenric. and Bronte has to cope with losses.

Kenric, a trusted ally, was among the casualties, leaving Bronte to deal with the loss, although he didn't have it as hard as Oralie did. Kenric's death hurt because it was avoidable; Fintan’s hurt because Bronte was mourning the person his friend used to be.

‘Whoever is here, you better show yourself before I get my bodyguards,’ Bronte's voice held a steely edge, a futile attempt to mask his trepidation. The intruder remained hidden, refusing to reveal themselves despite Bronte's threats. With a resigned sigh, he shed his supposedly "fireproof" cape, not that it worked when faced with Everblaze, the sun’s fire on earth, only able to be summoned by the most powerful of pyrokinetics. Fintan did it in absolute zero conditions with a still-healing mind.

As much as Bronte hated to admit it, Fintan scared him.

‘If you don't come out now, I will be calling them in to find you,’ he warned. ‘I'm sure you're aware that goblins have excellent senses. They will find you in no time. So either show yourself or risk my bodyguards and jail,’ he finished. sitting down on one of the chairs lying around his lounge room, where he knew the perpetrator was hiding, waiting for them to emerge from their hiding spot to show themselves so Bronte could finally go to bed and try to process that evening.

‘I'm sure I can handle the goblins. Im sure I could take you out too,’ said the intruder.

‘Show yourself now, or I will send the full force of my inflicting your way. Responding tells me where in the room you are.’ said bronte with an eerily calm voice when compared to his threatening words.

‘alright, alright. I will show myself IF you agree to hear me out, not call for your goblins, or arrest me,’ replied the stranger. Although Bronte recognised his voice from somewhere, he couldn't place it, but the voice felt really familiar.

And why would I agree to that? Chances are, you're a member of a rebel group, probably the same one Fintan was working with. You're a criminal, a big one at that, because you chose to break into a councillor's office.’ Bronte stated, ‘You should be glad I didn't immediately get my goblins to sniff you off here and into a jail cell,’ he threatened, even though he knew it was pointless.

The ashy smell he picked up on entry to his castle that he mistook for his own clothes wasn't him. The intruder was a part of the same rebel group that fintan was a leader to.

He waited a moment before adding, ‘But I'm curious, so I'll agree.’

‘Hopefully curiosity won't kill the cat.' replied the intruder, about to finally reveal himself, ‘Hey bronte.’

It was Fintan. somehow it was Fintan.

‘You’re supposed to be dead,’ said Bronte in shock.

He punches Fintan.

[stonylovessteve]

2024 Creator Reveals

We’ve reached the end of the exchange and that means it’s time to reveal the creators of all our works.

Thank you for putting so much love and effort into Stony Loves Steve 2024, you really made it a great experience. We hope everyone loved it as much as we did!

Giftees, be sure to leave a comment and kudos on your gift if you haven’t already. All our creators worked hard to make this event a success, so show them some love.

You can now post your work publicly outside of the exchange. Tag it as #stonylovessteve2024 on tumblr and we’ll reblog you. @ us @stonylovessteve on twitter and we’ll retweet you.

Below the cut is the final list of all the works produced for the exchange and the creators.

Still Halfway Human, Just Going Through It by Becci_chan for soliloquent (MCU, 9.9k Words)

Stark Industries was still an incredible place to work. Everyone seemed so dedicated and smart and ambitious, it truly reminded him of Howard and his vision for the future. Steve had even seen Tony Stark a few times in passing or when he made his rounds and talked to Steve’s superior in the office, but he hadn’t talked to him more than a greeting in passing. He wasn’t even sure Tony, who insisted on being called by his first name, had actually noticed him during these times. Steve had noticed him all the more.

Give me the luxuries of life by BladeoftheNebula for Thahire (MCU, 4.9k Words)

Four times Steve reluctantly dabbles in a little luxury + one time he leans into it wholeheartedly

Hot Bouncer by Infinitywrites for Becci_chan (MCU, 2.7k Words)

‘Hey Steve, We had a very interesting last night. Love to stay and elaborate on that but have to take my playful pet baby – Toothless  for a run. Left some hangover cure you might need. Feel free to use the shower or anything else you need. Be back soon. T.S”

The Long Game by betheflame for waywardmillennial (MCU, 2.6k Words)

Steve prided himself on being a patient man, he really did. He had stared down Nazis, and HYDRA officers, and the British Press on that one horrible media tour. He could spend hours plotting strategies for situations which may never happen but might, and he had been known to accompany Pepper on her stress-relief shopping trips. Steve could hold his tongue. Steve could outmaneuver his opponent. Steve could play the long game. That last donut broke all of that.

not a lot, just forever by Thahire for AirlocksandAviaries (MCU, 2.7k Words)

A few months after the Battle of New York, Tony invites Steve over to see the apartment he has built for him. Steve, of course, is totally normal about this and not panicking at all.

give me your number (i’ll give you mine) by ishipallthings for BladeoftheNebula (MCU, 1.2k Words)

Somehow, Tony freaking Stark showing up at the store isn’t Clint’s biggest shock of the day.

Cap’s Comics by sadieb798 for robertdowneyjjr (AA, Comic)

The local newspaper/magazine/online publication runs a comic about the Avengers — from thwarted robberies to statues come to life, they are sort of like funny little recaps of the team’s latest missions that New Yorkers have witnessed. Then the comics start becoming more… domestic, showing the Avengers at home during game nights and weekend brunch. There are even a few where Cap and Iron Man go on a date together. The team comes across these comics and no one realizes Steve’s the artist. After all, the drawings are barely better than stick figures, and Steve’s art is much more refined than that… right?

i live in a city that lives in a different age by soliloquent for ohjustpeachy (MCU, 10.8k Words)

Steve Rogers has fourteen days to complete fourteen therapy homework assignments.

Five Times Steve Woke Up Early (And One Time He Didn’t) by AirlocksandAviaries for ABrighterDarkness (MCU, 8.3k Words)

Steve’s not actually a morning person, despite his body’s insistence. It’s quite possibly the one thing about the serum he’s not immensely grateful for. Forcing himself up and on a run to burn through the overwhelming, restless energy that builds bright and early would be much more tolerable if it were a few hours later. Tony decides to do something about this.

Steve is a (Wonderful) Person But A Terrible Patient by Neverever for sadieb798 (MCU, 3.5k Words)

Tony is assigned a new patient, Steve Rogers, who has a lot of medical issues and Tony is ready to help. But he finds he has something to learn from Steve.

Come With Me by ChocolateCapCookie for meidui (MCU, 3.4k Words)

“Do you have any plans for the weekend?” asked Tony. “Besides trying to volunteer at every charity in New York, of course.” Or the one in which Tony isn’t sure if Steve is a stalker or just a really, really good guy.

I surrender to you(only you) by captainstars for AvengersNewB (MCU, 1.6k Words)

He doesn’t know if the first time is a mistake. The phone rings. The sound is so unnatural that Steve almost doesn’t answer it. And then he scrambles for it, but the finger that presses on the answer button is still impossibly gentle. ‘Steve,’ Tony mumbles. Steve squeezes his eyes shut. It’s late in the night, but no one in the compound sleeps. It’s quiet nevertheless, and for a moment the only response Tony gets is Steve’s rasping breaths as he tries to gather what is left of himself.

Courting the Old Fashioned Way by zappedbysnow for Infinitywrites (AU, Art)

There’s a new mechanic in town. He bought a small ranch and fixes cars on the side. Steve is just being neighborly, welcoming him with some pie. It has nothing to do with the guy being cute. Nope. Not at all.

in the laundry room by wingheads for captainstars (616, Art)

steve isn’t so much ashamed by getting caught holding tony’s underwear in his hand as he is aroused by catching tony secretly wearing his jacket.

my curse is that I bill by the hour by picturecat for Fluffypanda (MCU, 5.5k)

Steve Rogers, the 21st century, and his no-good, really awful, legitimately-cursed first week in it.

(you look so lovely) running through my head by robertdowneyjjr for tinystark616 (MCU, 5.9k)

All his life, Steve has dreamed of a gorgeous brown-eyed brunet genius who’s too smart for everyone around him. Everything points to these being soulmate dreams, but that doesn’t make any damn sense when it seems like Tony’s in some far off future and Steve is just trying to get through a life of illness and poverty in 1930’s Brooklyn. Against all odds, they meet anyway.

In the Depths by waywardmillennial for WikketKrikket (MCU, 5.1k)

Prompt: Steve gets pranked on national TV as part of a charity TV fundraiser. It’s embarrassing, and leaves him feeling shaken in a way he didn’t anticipate. But it was for a good cause. So he’s fine with it. Really.

you’ve really missed a trick when it comes to love by meidui for ChocolateCapCookie (MCU, 2.3k)

Steve thinks he’s happier than he’s ever been, or at least he should be. This is the closest he’s ever come to having everybody he loves in one place and the Compound doesn’t echo with emptiness anymore, and he’s seen more of Tony in the past few months than he has in the last seven years. He’s still getting used to being with Tony again, this softer, older version of him, and how difficult that makes keeping his hands to himself because all he wants to do is touch him.

good enough for you by tinystark616 for Neverever (MCU, 4.6k)

Steve is having self-esteem issues because he feels like he isn’t good in bed. Tony finds out and decides to do something about it.

All I Need by VenomousSoliloquy for purpleicedteas (MCU, Art)

Sometimes Steve finds himself lost in doubt. Tony always knows exactly what he needs.

Summer Whispers by ABrighterDarkness for starksnack (MCU, Art)

Tags include ‘horseback riding’ but there is no provided summary.

my plus one has a plus four by starksnack for zappedbysnow (MCU, 7k)

five first date attempts + one first date

Magnum Opus by FrankTheSnek for wingheads (MCU, 6.3k)

Magnum opus (noun): a great work; a large and important work of art, music, or literature, especially one regarded as the most important work of an artist or writer. Steve does not believe in true mates, they are just an old wives’ tale. The man he has been dreaming of and turned into his greatest masterpiece is just an imagined muse and nothing more… Right?

Now and Then by Wikketkrikket for picturecat (3490, 10.6k)

Things haven’t been right between Steve and Natasha since she got back from a business trip overseas. How did things go so wrong, and can Steve make them right again? Also; they’re trapped in a basement.

Just Right by AvengersNewB for LadyGigi (MCU, 2.3k)

Omega Steve wears sexy lingerie, even though he’s deeply insecure about the way he looks in it. Alpha Tony is there to show him how perfect he is; wearing the lingerie and in general.

I’m on fire, but I’m trying not to show it by Fluffypanda for FrankTheSnek (MCU, 2.3k)

Steve misses being an omega. Tony helps him out with that.

Wish You Were Here by One and Five Nines for ishipallthings (MCU, 1.8k)

Steve starts sending Tony postcards

[Comic] Man Out of Time, Fish Out of Water (Prologue) by LadyGigi for VenomousSoliloquy (MCU, comic)

Mermaid Steve is swimming to the ocean surface with a bag full with human trinkets for his friend, Sam, to demystify when he comes across a red comet in the sky- at least that is what it looks like until it flies over him, revealing its humanlike form, and crashes into the water near the human island. Steve must decide if he will heed the warnings of his kind or investigate this once in a lifetime occurrence.

[lolchicsa]

Skulls and Chaos

Simon “Ghost” Riley x Fem!reader

Warnings: 18+, MDNI, nsfw, description of gore

Part 1 of 2: smut in next part (link here)

No use of y/n

Loosely follows the events of the ‘Alone’ mission. Reader’s vacation was ruined by Shadow Company going on a genocidal rampage :( But fear not dear reader! Mr Ghost is here to make it better ;P

A/N: First time using Tumblr to post stories and using mobile to write this. Apologies for bad grammar, it’s been a while, and I have no idea what to tag for this story. Story inspiration comes from a post by @fanficsforfun so here’s my twist on it.

Chaos.

The streets of Las Almas could be described using only one word. Chaos…

Usually, at this time of night, children would be asleep, lovers back in their homes and just a set few would be enjoying the dreamy sight of stars littering the night sky. It is truly a beautiful place to visit, if you can ignore the cartel’s presence that is. The cartel is known for being violent… but this… this was different. This wasn’t the cartel.

The screams and cries of children and parents echoed through the city. Gunfire sounded off at irregular intervals, surrounding me in fear. I had abandoned my hotel room when the screams first started, trying to find my way out in this maze of a city. The first dead body I had come across was that of a young boy. A trail of blood, starting from a small hole in his head, ended on the ground in a pool of crimson liquid. At first, I was fear stricken and unable to look away.

My reality felt surreal, a distant nightmare I could escape when my mind decided to end the torture. But no, I wasn’t dreaming, I was wide awake and running for my life. I officially lost count of how many dead bodies I unfortunately came across after seeing an alleyway filled with them. I wanted to cry, to curl up in a ball and forget the world exist. But I couldn’t bring myself to do so.

Exhaustion took over a few minutes ago, leaving me walking through the streets of death alone and on edge. The sound of death still polluted the air, I was trying my best to avoid the gunfire and escape. Easier said then done, trust me. It felt like the chaos was following me, taunting me with thoughts of escape.

And then I heard voices. Must be a sick joke my mind was playing on me. Logically, I knew there was very little chance of finding a living soul, but hope has shimmering at the back of my mind. Maybe these people can help me, maybe they know how to escape. I travelled closer to the orchestra of voices until I noticed something… odd.

They where speaking calmly to one another, acting like this was a pleasant walk instead of hell on earth. It made me uneasy, but something caught my attention. Their accents. Not to different then my own, but definitely a rarity around here. Americans.

I round a corner and there I saw them. All black tactical gear, guns, knives, they looked ready for war. My heart leaped into my throat, a surge of newfound adrenaline propulsed me closer to them. These soldiers most be here to bring an end to this chaos.

“Man, that Ghost guy gives me the creeps” One said, the pack turning their attention to him. They where huddled close together, seemingly enjoying a 10 minute break of freedom before continuing on. A few snickers broke the silence following the soldiers comment.

“It’s only one guy, c’mon he can’t do much against all of us” replied another.

“Don’t forget about the other one” a third chimed in. Their conversation helped keep their attention off of the street corner I was currently stalking. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in eavesdropping on these guys. The more you know, the better right?

“You mean the one that goes by Soap? Ha! What kind of name is that anyways? How can you be scared of a guy like that!”

“An angry Scotsman is not to be trifled with, trust me”

“Man if you get killed by someone named after a cleaning product, no matter what he is, you’ll be a laughing stock in whatever hell we end up in”

“Oh so getting shanked by Ghost is better?”

As far as conversations goes, this might be the worst one I have had the privilege of eavesdropping on. Their arguing… over names? I don’t get it.

“Hey you! We know your there! Come out with your hands in the air and slowly walk towards the middle of the street” yelled on of the soldiers. The command was directed towards my general area and my stomach dropped. Anxiety started prickling through my veins, thoughts racing through my head a mile a second.

Just do as they say, my conscious brain screamed. It’s the only way to survive this nightmare. With that, I made my way towards the middle of the street with my hands up, just like I was told.

“Mind explaining to me what you are doing here ma’am?” asked one of the soldiers. From the looks of things, he seems to be the leader of this rag tag group of men. He’s got the scariest voice of them all, I would say. Sounds like the type of guy you can easily trust, but would stab you in the back if he had too. He didn’t have a gun pointed at me, not yet anyways, but he did have a death grip on his rifle.

“Please, I mean no harm. I was here on vacation and I just want to go back home” I begged.

“You’re American? Odd to see you here. You’ve got ID to prove your story miss?” His grip on his rifle loosened and his posture reflected that of a calm man. I started searching through my small purse, searching for the requested object.

The moments leading often where a blur. Adrenaline had left my system, leaving me tired and emotional. I remember giving my ID to the man, which I now know goes by Graves. Something in him changed, going from the on edge soldier to overprotective best friend. One of his men was ordered to strip off his armor plate and give it to me. A jacket was placed over my shoulder, a signet stitched on the jacket sleeves. I was told it was their company’s logo… Shadow company.

Graves had me follow a couple of his men out of the city to safer location. They where ordered to protect me with their lives. I felt safe, like really safe. Here I was, following three armed men, tasked with protecting me, out of this city of nightmares and closer to my warm bed back home. Currently, our small group was engaged in conversation. The topic? Well…

“These guys don’t play around. All this death? They caused it. We don’t know why, but we’re tasked with hunting them down” specified one of my bodyguards.

“Specifically that Ghost guy. He has this weird mask thing he wears all the time. It’s like a skull and it covers most of his face. Scary fucker” another added.

I hear admiration when they describe this guy, that and fear. My gut tells me there is more they are keeping from me. Part of me couldn’t give two shits, but another was curious.

Fwoosh

My brain froze, my body stopped moving. The world shifted, the quiet chatter turned into loud commands I couldn’t make out. I saw red. Blood red. This time not painted on walls or flowing down the cheeks of children. This time, I saw it spray out of the neck of one of my new friends. A blade had materialized out of thin air, implanting itself into the soldiers neck.

His body made a sickening sound as it hit the ground. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run, but fear stricken as I was, I could only watch. Watch as the other two had knives plunged into their throats like the first. Watch as lifeless bodies hit the floor.

My body moves, but not because I ordered it to do so. The colours shift into each other, sky and ground blurring together. It only last a couple seconds, but has an everlasting effect on me. Slowly, my senses come back to me and I realize something is very very wrong.

It’s him.

It’s the man with the skull face mask.

It’s Ghost.

He’s the first thing I see when my vision finally focuses. I’m to unfocused to realize what’s going on, but I can feel a wall behind me. His eyes are staring into mine, hands holding me tightly to the wall behind me. I can feel the heat radiating of his body and I can’t help but feel attracted to it.

That’s when I realize he’s shouting at me, but I’m having a hard time making out what he’s saying. I feel trapped, unable to move, forced to keep eye contact with this dangerous killer. His eyes are mesmerizing. I can’t look away, I can’t focus on anything other then his eyes.

“Tell me where Graves is and I promise to give you a quick death”

His words still sounded unclear, but the anger rolling off of them helped snap me out of my daze. This is the killer the soldiers were talking about, the dead soldiers. He killed them… just like he killed everyone else. Fear gripped my soul, my fight or flight instincts finally kicking in. I started trashing about, trying to loosen his hold on me. The wall of pure muscle in front of me didn’t seem fazed by my attempts to escape.

“Answer me now, shadow bitch. I’m losing my patience!”

His hand bolted towards my throat and gripped it with a force I have never felt before. It was getting hard to breath, my already tired body didn’t know how to react. He wasn’t playing around, he’s making that very clear. I have a feeling he’s the type to not make empty threats, especially when it comes to death threats.

Wait, did he call me “shadow bitch”? Hold on.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! I’m not part of that group! I just stumbled upon them and they were gonna bring me home! I swear! They were protecting me!”

His grip on my throat relaxed and for a second I thought I was in the clear. That’s until he moved impossibly closer to me. My head rested on the wall behind me, tilted up so I could keep eye contact with the behemoth in front of me. Our chests was flush to each others. His breath slowly fanned over my face, his warmth bringing some sense of safety.

We stood in silence, staring at each other for awhile. I had to remind myself of the atrocities this man committed… the children he killed. But something felt off.

“Why… why do want to know where Graves is? Are you going to kill him? Like you killed these civilians?” My tone was shaky, filled with whatever authority I had left. I hope this doesn’t get me killed.

Instead, the man stepped back from me, leaving an empty void where his warmth was moments ago. He acted like I had just stabbed him through the heart… if he even has one that is.

“What? You think I am responsible for this genocide? No, the Shadow’s are responsible for that”

This new information served to confuse me even more then I already was. Did Graves lie to me? Or is Ghost lying to me? Who to trust? Graves did seem like the lying type, and if Ghost really was behind all this, why was he being so nice? Well, as nice as someone could be in a situation like this, I should say.

“We have to move. Forget about Graves, survival is a priority. If the Shadows find you with me, they will kill you” His tone suggested he wasn’t lying about that last part. My gut told me to trust him, follow him. So I did and I don’t regret a thing.

A/n: omg I’m finally out of writing hibernation and boy does it feel good. I plan on making shorter stories that focuses more on smut eventually because Ghost melts my brain and I need to share. Pardon any grammatical errors and the fact that I split this in two. Any criticism is welcome, like straight up tell me if this is shit cause I’m trying to get better. Might do story requests if people are interested enough. Anyways, I hope every single one of y’all has a great day!

[enhashoutout]

Plot Holes in High and Low We Need to Discuss

@tiredlittlewriter always gassing me up 🤭🫶🏼 @cheshirecatuniverse @mrskenpachizaraki @books-n-guns

Thank you so much everyone tagged for staying up and talking about the movies with me last night😂❤

Trigger warnings before you start reading, this ramble posts contains spoilers for the movies, cuss words, mentions of character d3aths, mention of SA that happens to a character, and other violence and cr!me associated with the H&L franchise. Please don't read if you do not want to see any of these.

Anywaysssas as you can tell by the title of this post and this screenshot, we are talking about plot holes in the High and Low franchise that we need to talk about because they BUG THE SHIT OUT OF ME.

I would like to start by saying that I do love this franchise, it is my everything. It's not like I have anything bad to say about it, I love it as it is, but some of the stuff within the franchise definitely could've been more thought out. It could've been worse! So I am thankful it wasn't bad but there are some things I wish the writing team did a little differently.

Also, I do attribute a lot of the plot holes to 1) the creators not being entirely sure whether or not they would get a green light on more movies, 2) trying to make sure the movies made money (it's a business unfortunately and not just art), and 3) High and Low is a multi-media franchise so some stuff is probably explained in the mangas, TV shows, games, etc. I will contradict myself and discuss this more in detail as we keep going.

These are in no particular order, just what comes to mind first

S.W.O.R.D Era

1)Noboru and Miho's story

I have beef with whoever on the H&L writing team thought that condensing the 2 seasons of Story of S.W.O.R.D into Road to High & Low was a good idea. "It's both seasons condensed into one movie" THAT'S A FUCKIN LIE. So much of what is in the shows is cut out from the movie.

Tell me why I learned here on Tumblr that Noboru actually spent a while in a coma in the hospital after getting body slammed by a Kuryu car? And then Cobra and Yamato had to do the "IF YOU DIE I'M GONNA BE SO MAD AT YOU" speech you always see in Asian dramas to get Noboru to wake up?!

And tell me why I learned from a fanfic on Wattpad that Miho isn't dead?! She literally comes to visit Noboru while he's in the hospital. Road to High & Low frames the situation to make it look like Noboru goes to beat up Miho's SA perpetrators after he finds he d3ad in her apartment. Then when I brought this up a couple weeks ago the Discord besties told me she broke up with him through a letter😭 A LETTER GIRL?! HE WENT THROUGH ALL THAT FOR YOU! IF I WAS YOU I WOULD'VE KEPT HIM. NOBORU. GIVE ME YOUR HAND IN MARRIAGE PLEASE GOOD SIR💍 (I'm completely joking I don't think anyone is entitled to another person's feelings, love, affection, etc. I'm just delusional because I love Noboru and Keita Machida)

Then I learned last night from Discord that Miho needs serious therapy because she was working for Doubt and it was addressed in season 2 of the show. Like HUUUH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!

I do think the storyline between them as a couple and their stories individually definitely could've been explored and explained more. It was probably explained better in the show than RTH&L but I don't have access to the show so idk... which brings me to my first contradiction!

LDH AND EXILE TRIBE PLEASE MAKE YOUR MEDIA MORE ACCESIBLE GOSH. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SUB IT THAT'S FINE AT LEAST MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND SO THAT WE CAN GET FAN SUBS OR I CAN JUST WATCH THE RAW FOOTAGE AND PRETEND I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING. There's so many films like the 2 DTC films, the Mighty Warriors film, the shows, even the manga that a lot of us don't have access to😭 Yes this franchise is multi-media but at least make the media accessible😭

2) Mighty Warriors working with Doubt

In the first and second High & Low movie MW and Doubt work together... AND THAT LITERALLY DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. Last I checked Mighty Warriors don't fuck with tr@ffickers in general so I don't even know why this happened.

And last I checked, MW rescued Sarah from Doubt so why would they work with Doubt when one of their members was literally a Doubt victim? That just doesn't make sense to me. Like yes the MW tend to just take up whatever whack-ass jobs for money they can get considering they fought with literal children (Oya and Rude Boys. I'm like 99.9% sure the Rude Boys members were all 16-19 and that is the age of children. Smoky might've been 20-22 which is not exactly a child but he's still young compared to the MW who were all mercenaries and in the military before they were musical bandits alluding to the fact they are older) but you would think that people who claim to have a club that is a utopia with music that is supposed to impact people positively and save their lives just like music saved the MW members' lives, they would have more moral and standards than to work with Doubt.... but I digress.

3) The alliance with a foreign mafia

This one I can kind of understand but also can't.

I understand that MW take up whatever job they can to make money. It's said directly multiple times in the movies by a MW member that there is no use doing a job for someone without getting paid so they do a lot of stuff just for the money. I also understand Doubt take whatever job pays them but also benefits their tr@fficking business. Hence why they took this job because not only were they getting paid by Lee who runs the Korean mafia but they could kidnap women in the S.W.O.R.D district which worked in their favor.

What I can't understand though is how this alliance even came to be. Hear me out. MW and Doubt will probably do whatever to get money, but where did the trust come from? Like how did they trust that a foreign mafia of all people would uphold their deal and pay them? Was it because Kohaku was made the front-man/face of the plan? Like did they believe that it would be fine because Kohaku was the one "leading" even though it seemed like Lee was pulling a lot of the strings? DOES KOHAKU EVEN HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO BE PAYING EVERYONE?! I SWEAR EVERY TIME WE SEE HIM THAT MAN IS JUST LAYING ON A SOFA IN A JUNKYARD! WDYM DOUBT AND MIGHTY WARRIORS BELIEVED THIS MAN WAS THE ONE WHO WAS GONNA GIVE THEM MONEY?!

4) Who the fuck are Bulge? And what happened to Kuryu?

In End of Sky, we learn that Bulge are interested in the fight between Doubt, Prison Gang, and White Rascals and would sponsor Prison Gang. That's why the scene where we see Jesse fighting with another prisoner, after he kicks him down the guards tell Jesse that Bulge wants to see him to. This is why Jesse and Prison Gang are released early. When Jesse goes back to Funk Jungle he's asking if Mighty want to join but Ice says that they are gonna focus on promoting Funk Jungle, but like he's a liar they show up at the fight anyways lol.

A the end of Final Mission, the movie closes off with a dramatic shot of Mighty Warriors and a typed out message stating "Hello, everyone. This is Bulge. The takeover plan has begun." We never get an explanation of who they are, what they do, etc. I did learn from Ryu's Wiki Fandom page however that "It is presumed that he and Bulge orchestrated the fall of Kuryu Group. In the music video of the MIghty Warriors' new song "Warriors Anthem", it is revealed that he took over Kuryu as the leader after the events of Final Mission, and having Mighty Warriors occupy the remaining 8 heads of Kuryu."

So who exactly are Bulge? How are they powerful enough to be able to take down all of the original Kuryu members who have been seen as indestructible the whole franchise? Why did they allow Ryu to be the new leader?

After Final Mission, the next media pieces that were released were the DTC show and DTC movie, and then we moved into The Worst era with High&Low: The Worst Episode 0 along with the two Worst movies that followed.

I had made the assumption that around the start of the Worst era the creators probably wanted to integrate more of Jr.Exile into the franchise because of their 1) popularity and 2) new stories. The popularity of Exile members like Hokuto and Kazuma would probably bring in more viewership which does good on the numbers and money side because as I said above, unfortunately this is also a business not just art. The H&L creators probably also needed new stories to follow because they can't keep adding to S.W.O.R.D

Vis said that they think the Mighty Warriors were probably dropped because we haven't seen anything from them since the third movie, but Taiga also brought up how the new Mighty Warriors music video was also dropped right around the time the most recent movie Worst X was released. This probably means they are trying to figure out the story within S.W.O.R.D behind the scenes and it's just taking a while to do the world building. Tired also brought up a good point that considering most of the actors in H&L are also Exile members, they have to also continue their jobs as artists so tours, making music, schedules, etc. are probably also clashing with filming and working on High and Low.

Hopefully that is the case and we see more because I have too many questions and no answers.

5) Wtf happened to Rude Boys, Nameless City, and Nikaido?

If you read my fics, you know that when I write about Nameless City after Smoky's passing, I write about how the Rude Boys, Lala, and Eri go and visit Smoky's grave all the time. About a month ago the besties in the Discord made it known to me that Smoky's gravesite and like 3/4 of Nameless City was completely blown up. I was like 😧when I read those messages because it wasn't even like a head-canon thing I genuinely thought that only a small section of Nameless City was blown up so we were fine BUT APPARENTLY WE AREN'T FINE. So what does this mean for the Nameless City residents?

Did they get government housing to stay in while they got tested for the disease from the pollution? Did the residents get released back into Nameless City after the whole casino project exposure? If they were released back into Nameless City, are they all just cramming into that little 1/4 of Nameless City that wasn't blown up?

What happened to Rude Boys afterwards? Are they all back in Nameless City? Or did they move to a different area? Where would they go though? Little Asia? Did Eri get adopted afterwards? Are they finding ways to make money like how they mined the crystal to get money to rebuild Nameless City? Do they even want to return to Nameless City considering the pollution from the toxic waste was causing the disease that killed their leader?

Wtf happened to Nikaido/Cain? Is he finally happy now that he purged his past? Was purging his past and killing his brother worth it? If Kuryu was overthrown and taken over by Mighty Warriors, what does that mean for Nikaido? Is he working for them? Was purging his past worth anything if he didn't even gain anything from it because MW took over Kuryu? Again, so many questions and no answers😭

6) Give us a more clear timeline

This isn't a plot hole, just something I wish the creators would do is give us a clearer timeline. We're never given any clear timeline of how much time has past between each movie or even how much time is between the S.W.O.R.D and Worst era. I'm always trying to calculate the timeline or everyone's ages based off of the only two characters we get ages for and Noboru's school timeline.

The only two characters in the whole franchise that we get ages for are Chiharu and Seki. At the start of the series we know that Chiharu is 20 because when he joins Sannoh, in the scene at the bar Cobra offers him a drink but takes it back and says "wait but aren't you underaged?" to which Chiharu replies that he is 20 (which is the legal adult age in Japan) and Tettsu makes fun of him for still being in high school as an adult (in good fun of course not in a mean way).

When we first are introduced to Oya, the narrator tells us that Seki is the oldest part-timer student there at age 25.

Noboru, Yamato, and Cobra were high schoolers while Mugen was still active. This is deduced by the scene where Yamato drops Noboru off in front of the school for the day he takes his exam, then when he opens up his college acceptance letter with them. I'm assuming Yamato and Cobra dropped out to be apart of Mugen and take care of their parents' shops. Then, we see when Noboru starts college but doesn't make it super far into his bachelors degree after getting sent to jail. We don't get to see how long he was in jail for, just that he was released early because Kuryu paid to get him out early.

I always use these ages and Noboru's vague school timeline to try and figure out the character's ages and shit but they are just estimates because we never get clear timelines from the creators. Like why couldn't they at least tell us how much time passed between the end of Final Mission and the start of The Worst?!😭anyways.... onto the next thing

The Worst Era (mainly X)

Like I said in the screenshot, The Worst isn't my favorite movie out of the franchise but I think it was the best executed in terms of plot out of all the movies. The plot was clear, very concise, and relatively had no plot holes. (I haven't seen The Worst Episode 0 so if there is something that is missing plot wise please let me know)

It was fun to see the cross with Housen and the themes and messages we got from not only the plot but also from each character were all really good too. It was a solid movie, no complaints.

The Worst X however... I have questions. It's not to say it wasn't good, I still liked it and obviously it was good considering I watched it with no context and it got me into the whole H&L universe, but I feel like it fell a bit short. There was more the writers could've done for not only plot development but character development.

1)How did that 3 school alliance actually even start?

From the movies, it seems like Kohei Amagai is well known as "the annoying son of the Amagai group". Like EVERYONE knows him and knows he throws around money to get people to work for him. And like yeah, we see when he is able to take control of the school with the beige uniforms because Senomon, Kamasaka, and Ebara are quite literally beating the shit out of them, but how did Senomon get Kamasaka and Ebara to cooperate?

I refuse to believe that Amagai was able to get Kamasaka who fight with weapons like brass knuckles and metal rods and Ebara who are all literal gym bros to join his stupid ass plan with just money. As dumb as I think boys are I don't think Reiji, Ghandi, Shoji, Raijin, or Fujin are actually dumb enough to join an alliance for money. Even if this alliance did win and take over Oya, what would they have done with each other afterwards? Those dudes have so much pride we all know that there is NO WAY they would all continue working under Amagai. Amagai is also stupid as hell if he thought he could be at the top without someone from Kamasaka or Ebara trying to overthrow him if he had taken down Oya like Kohei.... be fuckin for real bitch.

I need more of an explanation to this like someone from the H&L writing room please sit down with me and answer my questions so I can publish it in an interview for all of us we need answers.

2) What the fuck is the story behind Todoroki and the dudes from Ebara?

The whole time Fujin and Raijin are running around screaming about how they're gonna crush Todoroki and I literally sit there like

👁️👄👁️Why? No matter how many times I watch the movies because we never get an explanation! Idk was this in the show? Someone please tell me.

And like the scene after Todoroki beats up Fujin and Raijin, Shoji goes "you're different now" and I'm always like "Different? DIFFERENT HOW?! DON'T BE SHY SHARE WITH THE CLASS PLEASE"

Todoroki responds with something along the lines of "now I have friends to protect" which is so wholesome I love that, but what is the detailed history of him and the guys from Ebara? We never get that explained to us. I remember reading somewhere that Todoroki trained hard to beat his bullies and because he got so strong that's why he always tried to fight for the leader position because he believed he could beat Murayama. I also saw a clip on Youtube where when Murayama is fighting with Todoroki, he sees his old self in Todoroki who is being reckless which probably adds to Todoroki's character development.

Did the guys from Ebara bully Todoroki? Were they old friends who fell apart? Did they just have a bad run in when Todoroki was being a little shit and fought but now hold a grudge because they are teenagers with a lot of pride and anger issues and it's not that deep? Idk🤷‍♀️The thing that bugs me is the fact that their feud was added a solid amount to the plot and why Ebara joined then dropped the alliance so I don't know why we didn't get at least a vague explanation of who these characters are to each other.

3) Questions and what I want to see next movie

This obviously isn't plot holes but just some questions I have and what I want to see in the next installments of the franchise.

Why were these high schoolers doing THE FUCKIN MOST to see who was stronger?! The first time I watched I was so confused because why was this movie serious but also so unserious?! They did not need to be doing all that.

Why didn't Amagai get in any trouble for anything?! Is it because he has money?! Like how did this man commit literal crime and everyone was like okei. He literally kidnapped Tsukasa and tortured him for like half a day and 1 night...

How did Tsukasa not die?! The was literally beat over the head with a metal pipe, kidnapped, tied up, tortured, and then dropped from a balcony. I digress, he probably has plot armor as Sun calls it because how did he not die or at least end up in the hospital for a long time.

I want to see the movies circle back to the S.W.O.R.D plotline so it would be really cool if Amagai's little plan was part of a larger plan to break down the peace in S.W.O.R.D. It wouldn't be the first time the adults used kids to push their agenda. Kuryu originally wanted to use Murayama to tear down the peace in S.W.O.R.D because he used to look up to the man who was the head of Iemura but because he chose not to do it, they went after Noboru.

Maybe MW are thriving as the new heads of Kuryu so someone on the outside is trying to take over and Amagai's family is apart of that. Or maybe his family is trying to gain favor from Mighty and are working for them. Idk but it would be cool if we circle back to S.W.O.R.D and see the new Oya characters have to integrate into the S.W.O.R.D world also.

I also want to see a segment of how Rude Boys and Oya adjust to their new leaders.

I want to see what happened to the rest of S.W.O.R.D after the third movie. We saw Oya in The Worst era but what happened to everyone else? Which I also know these are probably kind of far fetched considering the Exile Tribe member who played Rocky is retired from the entertainment industry now... but a girl can dream I guess.

You made it to the end! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this big rant. This wasn't proof read and is kind of everywhere but thank you for reading it anyways! ❤️

[mebemilena]

Every breath you take. Every move you make

A/N: I'm trying to organize it. I'm enjoying it so far and  I must practice my writing. I'm a comic book artist (writer and illustrator), and i'm slowly getting back on using Tumblr and writing fanfiction, english is not my first language. Feedback is welcome and THANK YOU so much for reading me <3

i think this would be between Bodyguard and We fight and breakup, We kiss and make up. it's a bit complicated to insert Reader on the episodes, sorry if it's a little messy. I prefer it much more whe we have more dialogues.

if you havent noticed, i love taking the titles from songs. This here is Every Breath you Take, by The Police.

pairing: maya lopez x reader AFAB reader

-

Arriving at Tamaha was the easy part. All you needed was a map and follow the track you put on Maya's prosthetic leg. You took the risk of her changing it, getting another. But you thought it'd be easy for her to steal another motorbike, or get a new phone than getting a prosthetic leg that fit her just right. Though you thought you could just put it on her favorite boots, you'd still pick the prosthetic leg. Something she couldn't just get rid of in a second.

As you drove an old Honda you'd keep yourself distant, the last thing you'd want now would be for Maya to find out you were following her. The only reason you knew about Tamaha at all was because she had told you before, when you were closer and she hadn't tried to kill Fisk yet. Before she broke your heart by running away without saying goodbye.

- - -

Watching Maya from afar was not difficult for you, as a Black Widow, you knew how to become invisible. But it hurt to see her so close yet so far from what you once had. You held yourself back as you watched stupid Vickie and those girls kidnap her, your blood boiling in your veins. But you knew better than to stop them at it,  curious at what the hell they were trying to do.

As you followed Maya's steps for the past few days, you took notes of your date ideas. "Her uncle owns a skating park!", you said

to yourself, way too excited for the possibility of skating with Maya, holding her hand at the sound of Love is in the Air by John Paul Young. Your fantasy came to an end when you saw Boonie being taken. You couldn't help a smile though. "Not like I wanted to meet you. But we have a girl's night some day, yeah?', you thought.

Temptation ate your insides. You wanted to help Maya, to give her some support and beat Vicky until he begged you to stop and apologized to your Maya. But you couldn't risk much more than you had already. If leaving New York wasn't an indication your relationship was on the line, taking her as a princess and fighting her dragons would set fire to it all.

You kept tracking Maya on your phone, watching her wander around the room through your phone screen. When Zane arrived with his gang you couldn't help but rolling your eyes at him. You hated him, he seemed to think too high of himself and you didn't like the way he chewed on toothpicks, stinking like testosterone. 

You took the time to enter the place and watch Maya from a tiny bit closer. You understood Vickies plan and it didn't take a genius to put two and two: he wouldn't get out of it alive. Stupid Vickie.

Zane's group filled the skating area, talking to Henry and Boonie. When Vickie got shot you rolled your eyes again. "Such a mess", you thought. "Where is Maya Lopez?", stupid Zane asked and Dragula by Rob Zombie screamed from the sound system all of a sudden. 

You had to hold yourself not to cheer aloud, trying to keep softly headbanging your head through the music. You loved that song, Maya knew.

You started wondering if she chose that one because she knew you liked it and it made her think of you. Were you being delusional? Also, wasn't it too loud?

Oh, right. It doesn't bother her. 

You got in the laser tag maze enjoying the music,  taking a few man down cautiously so that Maya wouldn't find out you were there. You wore a mask in case one of them recognized you decided to tell on you, if they survived. You caugth her kicking their asses by the corner of your eye and almost ran to her, to tell her how great she looked while fighting, how you missed her and how much of a wimp you were for her. But that'd ruin your plans and instead of a heart-eyes Maya, you'd get broken ribs or a broken heart. Again.

The fight was getting fun but they seemed like ants around a sugarcane, always coming for more. Maya threw herself and one of those man through the wall and you felt the urge to kiss her. She fought all of them, with guns first and the with her own wrists. It made you gawk at her, your heart beating faster. You were flustered. She used the pistol wires as a whip and you moaned in your mind. "That's kinda sexy.", you thought, taking a mental note of how much of Catwoman she resembled. You'd tell her later.

The jacket trick got you biting your lip, and you almost aplaused her flawless aim.

But then Zane brought Boonie and you grunted. "Asswhole.", you mumbled.

They gathered again, around Maya and Henry, guns on their heads. But you were ready too. With your gun in hand and your eyes on them, it'd take Zane down with a buttlet to the head in no time.

 But his phone rang and his plans changed. And so did yours.

You watched Boonie leave and had to stop yourself from offering some ice to put on her face. Poor girl, getting punched like that for free.  When Maya went back inside, you made up your mind about what to do next. After tonight's events, you had to talk to her.

-

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