#i just pulled thinking id get some weapons | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cryptidghostgirl · 9 months ago

Note

Hey hey! i have a third angsty silly idea teehee (yes same person who requested the one where wife reader gets teleported to the hotel and the one with the fake dating trope-)

Im at it again with my silly ideas i can’t quite get out of my head- so picture this RIGHT before the begging of the second fic (loved it btw if i could id kiss you on the mouth)

(this interaction is important) Reader is eyeing Alastor to subconsciously make him talk to her, he does of course it goes a bit like “Alastor dear, havent seen you before?” "Just moved in, thought of making some acquaintances” and they talk, reader tells him “a charmer too? should be careful around you not to break my heart” or smth smilar idk i suck at dialogue

And then the partnership happens and theyve been at it for a while (like at least 5 years id say)- until Readers twin brother dies in a planned house fire and she goes out for revenge, before that they have a fight like “youre going to be out numbered” “its suicide” blah blah blah- and eventually reader goes out alone

She does manage to to kill the criminals but because of the cold January weather and the exhaustion of it all- reader gets hypothermia and in the frenzy thats caused by it stumbles and falls into a fence spike of an abandoned farmhouse, gets impaled right below the ribs teehee, Alastor eventually finding her and goes out to bury her properly.

readers death happens in 1925 -8 years before alastor which gibes her enough time to take over half the pentagram with her blizzard/ice powers (cuz i think theyre. cool ;)) and is also important reader has a long tail with fluff (which can turn into a heart shaped fur or have happy/angry twitches) at the end because i think its cute and because her demon form has one so it matches (think the faceless room guardians by anyaboz on IG but fully white- with a void face from which emerges a dog skull at will). the normal form being overall relatively normal aside from the long ears and black limbs that symbolize the hypothermia part of the death (Yes this is an Oc but im making it a bit more generic for everyone :>)

When alastor does die in 1933 (when he got shot visiting readers grave) he hears of this blizzard overlord and goes a bit into her territory and into a bar where he sees a somewhat familiar person teehee and they have the same first conversation over again but in hell :D and then get reunited but possibly pull out their signature weapons on each other again for old times sake 😇

also i love you so much for taking the time to write my dreams it does mean quite a lot to me and if you want i can give more ideas because i have a lot more- 😇 (im tottaly not insane and or delusional i swear-)

A/N of course?? I’m obsessed with your requests. they’re always so fun. Also as a heads up, I decided not to do this as a part to for cover up because I got an earlier request asking to do a part two for that and I try to address requests in the order I receive them. I also made some other minor changes just to make it work a little smoother. Also, please keep sending in requests, yours are always so fun.

Frostbite (Alastor X Reader)

Pairing: Alastor x Reader

Warnings: Murder, death, gore, arson, a little bit of angst.

Word Count: 3,949

Master Lists:

Master Lists

Hazbin Hotel Master List

Alastor sat at the bar of Mimzy's club drinking like he did every friday night. Normally the whirling dancers and loud music merely served to give him a headache, normally he ignored them and all the fans who somehow recognized him from the radio. Tonight was far from normal, tonight there was someone new.

Spinning on the dance floor, the fringe of her blood red dress spinning out from her legs. The woman was all smiles, all laughter, and she seemed never to turn down a partner. He watched her, entranced.

The woman wasn't a talented dancer, far from it in fact, but what she lacked in skill she made up for in enthusiasm and enjoyment. He had no intentions of doing anything other than watching her enchanting display until he made eye contact with her across the club. She blushed, turning away and quickly engaging a friend in conversation.

It was all the encouragement Alastor needed. In the dim light of the speakeasy, Alastor smiled to himself. He downed the rest of his drink and got to his feet. The crowed of dancers parted to make way for him like the red sea, waves of whispers following his path. He could hear the chatter, knew the rumors that he was a man uninterested in women, uninterested in love or romantic involvements of any type He knew that that was what everyone was speaking of as he approached the first new face the tired old place had seen in ages.

Coming to a stop behind the woman, her friend saw him first. It made sense, her back was turned to him after all, a result of her embarrassment at having been caught staring. He friend tapped her shoulder, indicating for the woman to turn around, and she spun. Alastor could feel the hem of her dress as it brushed against his leg through the fabric of his pants. His smile grew.

"Haven't seen you around here before Darling," he hummed, "new in town?"

"Just moved in, actually." the woman bashfully replied, clasping her hands behind her back and crossing one foot in front of the other.

The position it threw her body into sent Alastor's mind reeling. He hadn't expected that. Sure, she was pretty and different, new, but Alastor didn't feel things like that. At least, not normally.

"Well, I'd love to give you a tour sometime. The name is Alastor, Alastor Hartifelt."

This was the test: his name. How would she react? Was she just another one of his simpering fans, begging for his favor, for his attention, or would she do something interesting?

He held out a hand which she daintily rested her own in, a smile spreading across her face.

"Y/n L/n. I'm free tomorrow morning?"

Alastor was lucky, Saturday mornings were one of the few he had free. Gently, he leaned down and planted a soft kiss on the back of her hand. Y/n felt her heart flutter inside her chest.

"Ah, a charmer." she hummed as Alastor raised his head again and she took her hand from his, "I'll have to be careful around you."

Everything had snowballed from there. The tour around the city had spiraled into dinner which had further fallen into an attempt by Alastor to take her life. He had been curious, how it would feel when the life drained from her body at the force of his hands. Instead, she had met his advances by holding her own knife to his throat.

It became a game of sorts for the two, always trying to outwit one another, one up each other, land the other six feet under. The game ended when Alastor was chasing Y/n through the woods and she had stumbled, falling to the ground. He had grinned maniacally as he had advanced on her, as she had scrambled on the ground away from him. Knife raised, her back against a tree, she had breathlessly asked him out on a date. How could he say no? Especially when he looked up and saw that she had planned this all along. There was no other way their initials could be carved into the surface of the very thing that had stopped her escape. It was perfect, she was perfect.

Five years of bliss. Five years of feathery kisses and passion. Five years of waking up to her smiling face, of washing the blood off each other's hands, of nearly wedded bliss. Then there had been the fire.

Y/n had a twin brother, a brute of a thing who always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Despite his flaws, Y/n loved him. This time, on a January morning in 1925, he had pissed off the wrong person and gotten himself killed. Y/n was inconsolable, spent every waking moment tracking the killer. It didn't take her long to get a lead.

She was halfway out the door when Alastor found her, shoving knives into her pockets and grabbing a gun. There was a wild, unfocused look in her eyes. Alastor turned his gaze momentarily to the setting sun as it sent rays of liquid golden light bouncing off the snow.

"Darling, what are you doing?"

"Going out." she gruffly replied, adjusting the laces on one of her shoes.

Alastor sighed. Y/n had mentioned to him just the day before that she had an idea of who was behind the murder and it wasn't pretty. The most controversial and strongest gang in the city had, according to her research, wielded the flames. Alastor took a step forward, placing a hand on Y/n's shoulder and she turned to him. Her eyes were hard and narrow, her face contorted by rage.

"Y/n, please." Alastor began, treading carefully, "Not tonight. It's awful out, and you just confirmed everything today."

"No." Y/n shook her head, "No, I can't wait to do this any longer, Al. It has already been nearly a month, I can't..."

She looked away, raising a fist to her heart, her shoulders hunching slightly.

"I can't."

"And I can't loose you." Alastor quickly replied, using his free hand to turn her face back to his.

"So come with me."

He hesitated. Y/n saw the look on his face, the doubt. She shook herself from his grip, turning back to the door.

"Alright. I'll go alone."

"Y/n," Alastor pleaded, taking another step towards her as she grabbed her coat off the hook on the wall, "it is too dangerous. I can't let you do this."

"Let me do this?" Y/n spun around, her coat in her hand and flames licking at the corners of her voice, "You can't let me do this?"

Alastor took a breath, trying desperately to keep his own anger at bay.

"There are too many of them." he tried to reason with her, "You can't do it on your own."

"So come with me!"

"I..."

Y/n scoffed, sliding her jacket onto her arms. Turning back to the door once again, she unlocked it. Her hand rested on the knob, she took a breath. Their eyes met over her shoulder.

"I'll be home later."

She swung the door open and stepped out into the night. Alastor trailed after her, the snow sinking into his socks. It was cold, a terrible night.

"Y/n, you'll die!"

"Do you truly have that little faith in me!?" she spun around, her rage radiating off of her, devouring everything in sight.

Alastor had never seen her like this before. He halted in his tracks.

"Please, I can't..." he took a deep breath, emotions had always been a struggle, "I can't loose you too."

"But I'm supposed to loose my brother and know who did it and do nothing?!" she screamed back at him.

"You will die!"

Y/n turned her back on him once again. She unlatched the gate to the garden and slipped through it, letting it fall shut behind her.

"So be it."

"Y/n!"

Alastor tried to run after her but, it was simply too cold. His limbs were numb, he stumbled.

"Y/n!" he yelled again but, she didn't turn around.

He could see her, in that red dress. She looked like she did the first time he had ever met her as she disappeared into the night. He knew it was his mind playing tricks on him, it felt like an omen.

Alastor stood in the cold for a few minutes longer before resigning himself to the truth of it all: Y/n was going to do what she was going to do. He just had to hope she would come back, that the damage he had done in refusing to back her up like that wouldn't be enough to have driven her away. That she was strong enough to make it out alive.

The fireplace crackled invitingly. No matter how warm and cheerful it made the room, Alastor couldn't stop the dread. He sat down on the couch before it, painfully aware of the empty spot beside him. He tried to read.

The hours ticked by, seconds dragging on for eternity. Still, Y/n was not yet home. Alastor couldn't focus on anything. He couldn't 't read, couldn't sleep, could barely sit still. He paced circles around the room as the sun rose, he called in sick to work, intent on being there should she return.

When it reached four pm, when it had been nearly twenty full hours since she had left, he decided to go out and look for her. Y/n had always been messy, always bad at putting things away. While normally it had irritated him to no end, he now found himself grateful. He swore to whatever gods were listening that if she was alright, he would never bother her about it again because right there on top of her desk were all her plans, including the exact location of the gang's hideout, the exact place she had disappeared to.

The sight that met Alastor when he reached the old warehouse on the outskirts of the city was one he would never forget. Blood stained the snow red and there were bodies everywhere, both outside and within. It was clearly, Y/n's handiwork and he couldn't help but feel a tad impressed, he had underestimated her yet again. His slight smile, a result of the realization, fell as he spotted the footprints leading out of the backdoor.

He had tracked Y/n enough times to know they were hers, they couldn't be anyone else's. A trail of blood accompanied them, one foot dragging more than the other. Alastor tried to keep his head clear, his mind cool. He gave chase.

The back yard to the warehouse was large, gave the impression of going right off into the woods. Alastor soon realized that was not the case as the rusted, wrought iron fence came in to view. Y/n wouldn't have been able to see it. Judging by the way the tracks were iced over, it had been a long time since she had walked this path. In the dead of night, surrounded by trees, the fence would have come as a surprise.

As he got closer, the lump that he had assumed was a fallen branch came into more detail. Alastor's heart stopped, he rushed to her.

If only he hadn't waited, if only the minute he had felt she'd been gone too long he had gone after her. He might have been able to save her, to stop her from this cruel fate.

What had happened was obvious. The fence was iced over, slippery to the touch. Y/n had evidently tried to climb over it and lost her grip, the force of her fall being enough to ram the sharpened edge of one of the fence's defensive points right through her temple. Wrong place, wrong time.

Alastor had never cried like that before, as he sat in the snow at her feet, her body stiff from the cold. Not even when his mother had died could he ever remember feeling such a grief. It ate away at him, pooling in the center of his chest and spreading out. She had been so integral to who he was, so much a part of his life and way of being. She had been his dream, his end goal. Alastor remembered the ring, sitting heavy in the drawer of his night table. His tears redoubled.

By the time he managed to calm himself, the early winter sun had long since sunk to its bed and been replaced by the moon. Moving completely on autopilot, not considering his actions, Alastor wrenched her body from the fence. Y/n deserved a proper burial, in a place that mattered. He made her final resting place at the base of the very same tree she had told him she loved him while sitting at. His fingers traced their carved initials, grown hard with the years. There was nothing to be done.

The guilt ate away at him, festered over the years. If only he had stopped her, had gone with her, had come to her rescue. If only he had told her that he loved her one last time.

When Y/n awoke in Hell, to say she was surprised would be an understatement. She had never been one to believe in the afterlife in any sort of way, let alone such a wonderful one with so many opportunities for mayhem.

The thing that had been the toughest to get used to was her new form. All the demons in Hell got them upon arrival and when she caught that first glimpse of herself in the glass of a shop window, she understood why everyone on the streets seemed to be eyeing her fearfully.

She looked like she was rotting, her fingertips and toes black from the cold she had lost herself in. It trailed up her limbs, mingling with her own natural skin color. Her hair, her eye lashes, her eyebrows even, looked perpetually frosted with snow, little particles of ice hanging delicately in them. Then there were the horns and the tail, those were by far the strangest. The horns were pure white and curving like a mountain goats, the tail was thin with a little heart shaped ball of fluff at the end. It wasn't until another demon attempted to attack her that she realized the full extent of the changes that had taken place.

Y/n had just tried to punch the man, that was all. He had made advances, she had said no. He had tried again and she had told him she was married. It wasn't entirely a lie, they had been planning on it after all. Still, the man refused to listen and so, she had resorted to brute strength. When she had pulled her fist away, it was to find the man encased in ice. That was when the anger had set in.

Y/n didn't blame Alastor, not really. She was mad at him but, in the end, he had been right. She had died. It was all so brutally unfair. The way they had left things, that final fight, weighed on her soul. She wondered if he even knew she was dead, if he just assumed she had up and left him. The guilt, the what if's of it all, were crushing.

The stronger Y/n's emotions, the more uncontrollable her power. She still attacked people for fun but, taking over half of Pentagram City with her storms had honestly been an accident. In retrospect, she would call it a happy one.

Y/n liked being respected, being feared. She liked the near worship with which the smaller, weaker demons began to treat her. She settled into her new life with surprising ease and soon, every demon and hellborn in the place knew her name: Frost.

Y/n would've liked something different, preferred something cooler but, when the people give someone a name, its hard to change it and so, she embraced the title. Stone cold, cruel, powerful and appearing at what others perceived as totally inopportune moments. She locked herself, her heart, away. She swore never to make the same mistakes again.

Alastor visited Y/n's grave at least once every year. Always on the anniversary of her death, sometimes more frequently. That was where he too had met his death. As he had stooped low to place the bouquet of flowers he had brought on the surface of the hard-packed earth, the hunter had shot him, thinking he was a deer.

His arrival in Hell had been uneventful and not all together shocking. Alastor had been raised in a Christian household and although he never truly had faith in the matter once he had been old enough to form his own opinions, he had still always assumed that if there was life after death he was going to end up in Hell. He also knew that if he had ended up down here, Y/n had too.

The search was all consuming and fruitless. Every demon he interrogated, every one he thought had the slightest spark of his love within them, never had a single clue what he was talking about. Half the city was a snow storm and before long, that half was the only part he hadn't searched. Allegedly it was the territory of some new overlord known only as Frost who had taken Hell by storm - literally - just a few years before. Alastor already had a distaste in his mouth for the overlords, a sort of hatred spawned from something close to envy. He figured that worst case scenario, he could just add this Frost character to the list over overlords he had already taken out in the year since his arrival.

The chill of the air as he stepped over the border was a cruel reminder of the truth of his life. Alastor welcomed the cold with open arms, wondered if Y/n had already been killed since arriving in Hell. He had heard of the exterminations, it wasn't too wild of an idea. The thought gnawed on his mind like a parasite, intent on seeing him dead. Alastor progressed.

The fact that in death he still felt such things as hunger had been a mystery to him. There was something poetic about it, something forlorn in the idea that hunger and touch were the only things that followed a person to their grave. He stepped into the restaurant, his stomach growling, and walked up to the bar.

"Do you have beignets?"

Alastor knew the answer before the barkeep even shook his head. He sighed, falling on to one of the stools.

"Sausage and grits."

"Coming right up."

Alastor tapped his fingers on the counter, watching the world around him. Hope was running thin, anxieties and hurt taking over. He didn't know how much longer he could keep this up, how much more disappointment he could take.

"Haven't seen you around before, Darling," a voice purred from behind him, sending shockwaves of pain through his chest, "new in town?"

He summoned his microphone into his hand, ready to fight. It didn't matter that the demon most likely had no idea the effect of their words, the connections they had to his own past life. All that mattered was that he felt like he was being mocked, the world was parroting his life back to him because Y/n was out of his reach and probably would be forever more. He turned to face the person, a sickening grin spread tight across his face.

The demon had a clearing around her, the crowd avoiding her at all costs and whispering to one another behind the cover of their hands. Her tail flicked back and forth, ice emanating from the place her feet hit the floor.

There was something oddly familiar about her, the cocky smirk, the confidence. Alastor got to his feet. He leered over her and the woman didn't flinch one bit.

"Who's asking?"

A threat. The smile on the smaller demon's face grew, snow beginning to pile up on the floor in the corners of the room.

"You know, it's really far too cruel of you to go around with a voice like that." she hummed thoughtfully, a finger to her chin, "Gets a girl's hopes up just to shatter 'em on the floor."

Alastor could feel it now, the cold nipping at his extremities. Wind picked up in the indoor space and demons began rushing out through the door as quickly as they could. Alastor stood his ground.

"Ah, so you're the one responsible for this little snow town?"

"Why yes, I am."

"You're rather cruel yourself, you know." he mused, "Using my own words against me, how did you know? Do you overlords have some way to read a person's mind? Find the center of their desire and turn it to a weapon?"

Only now did the woman's expression change. Her calm facade morphed into confusion as the winds died down.

"What do you mean?"

"'Haven't seen you around here before, Darling, new in town?'" Alastor scoffed.

Y/n's eyes widened with a sudden recognition. It only fueled Alastor's anger as he took a step forward, shadows rising from the ground at his feet.

"I-"

"Just moved in, actually." the demon cut him off, holding a hand out for him to take, palm to the floor.

Alastor looked at her, disgust etched into his features.

"How could you..." he trailed off.

Eyes flicking over her form, Alastor examined the demoness carefully. Sure, she was different. She looked half dead, frost bitten to the extreme but, there was certainly something familar.

"Who are..."

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. Slowly, he took her hand in his. It was icy to the touch, sent shivers down his spine. With a practiced grace, he leaned down and planted a feathery kiss on the back of her hand.

"Ah, a charmer." Y/n smiled as he raised his head to hers again, "I'll have to be careful around you."

"Y/n."

It wasn't a question, he knew the answer. Alastor could feel it in his bones.

"Alastor."

She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close. Alastor watched her movements in astonishment. Disbelief laid thick on his body, too heavy to allow him to move.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered into his ear, her breath a cold breeze.

"I... why are you sorry?" he asked, pulling her away from him.

Alastor placed his hands on her shoulders, brushing off a bit of snow that had landed there with utmost care.

"I'm the one who's sorry. I should have come with you, I shouldn't have said the things I said, I sh-"

"I love you."

She couldn't hold the words in anymore. Icicles of tears tinkled like glass as they fell from her cheeks and landed on the floor.

"I... I love you, Alastor. I can't... I always regretted... I..."

"Me too."

He pulled her back into his arms, this time holding her body tightly to his. The cold burned but he didn't care. The whistling of the wind outside seemed to quiet.

"I love you so much, Y/n. I am so sorry."

"I'm so sorry."

Y/n pulled back, cupping Alastor's face in her hands.

"Never again."

"Never what, my love."

"Never again will I be parted from you."

"I thought I'd never see you again." Alastor admitted, "I was beginning to lose hope."

"Me too, me too."

"Never again."

----

Next Part -> Day Lilies (Alastor x Blizzard demon!Reader x Angel!OC)

A/N I am such a little slut for a good reunion scene.

274 notes · View notes

ameliathornromance · 2 months ago

Text

Are you the Final Girl?

Slasher!Orc X Reader

Chapter 3

Masterlist <--- TWS: Murder, reader sees a corpse that has been butchered, dead dove do not eat

You awoke with a stir, checked the clock beside your bed with bleary eyes.

2:45am.

You groaned and rolled over, facing away from the bright digital light and shut your eyes.

Before you were about to drift off, a buzz from your phone made you jump. Rolling over once again, you picked up your phone from your bedside and checked the caller ID.

You had expected it to be Jack, calling to ask for some help getting back home from a pub or something like that. But it wasn’t Jack.

Jennifer’s big, pearly white grin beamed at you on the screen. You picked up the call. “Jen? It’s really late, what are you-”

“Could you meet me?” She said, quickly. “Please. I… I think someones following me.” The urgency in her voice made you sit up right in your bed.

“Where are you?” you asked, throwing the bedcovers off yourself and setting your feet down on the carpet.

“I’m in the middle of the Science block campus. I didn’t want to lead anyone back to my dorm room.” Jennifer said, quickly. Her breath was frantic and quick, as if she might have been running.

“Alright, stay where you are, I’m on my way.” You pulled on a pair of jeans and found a long sleeve jumper and left your dorm room, phone held up to your cheek. “Are you okay?”

“Shh!” Jennifer’s voice moaned with terror.

You felt your stomach drop through your body. You stayed shushed as you began to run down the hallway.

“You don’t have to say anything back, but I’m running now okay? Don’t worry Jen.”

Something told you that this wasn’t just any old creepy guy walking down the same street as you incident.

“I think he’s… oh my God, is that a machete?”

You practically flung yourself at the accommodation doors as Jennifer gasped from the other end of the phone. “What the fuck are you?! Get away from me, I swear you’ll-” but Jennifer never got to finish her sentence.

Her screams rang down the phone, making you flinch at the screen. “Jennifer!” you bellowed, but it was no use.

An unnerving, squelching, followed by a crack and a snap broke up Jennifer’s high pitched screams and cries for help.

If you were running before, you must have been sprinting by now. Heart in your throat, you hung up the phone as you could now hear Jennifer’s screams in life now, more bloodcurdling and terrifying than down the phone.

Your mind raced, what would you do once you got there? It sounded like that the attacker had a weapon, if he really had something dangerous, what good could you do? In your haphazardly thrown together outfit and only phone on hand?

As you turned the corner, past the Humanities block, just before the science block, the screaming fell silent.

And suddenly, you could hear your heart in your ears, thundering and pounding as if it were maintaining the beat of an orchestra. You clamped a hand over your mouth and sank behind a group of bushes that had been rounded with shears.

A battle waged inside of you, one half of you screaming at you to get up and run for your life, knowing that if you turn that final corner where the science block ended, you would die, while the other half shrieked at you that your best friend was dying and she needed your help.

The first half of you won over.

Heavy, slow, pants came into ear shot. Judging from the direction, it had to have been from the science block corner ahead.

You squeezed your eyes tightly shut and cuddled into a ball, hoping that you would become one with the plant.

Burying your head in your knees, the thunk, thunk, thunk of the attacker’s footfalls echoed around inside your head as if you were standing right next to a church bell.

Your stupid, stupid curiosity got the better of you and you dared to peek out from behind the shrubbery.

You froze.

Standing under the lamp light, a man cast a tall, broad shadow down the path. His face was obscured by shadows and long, thick, mangy hair that hung around his head, greasy from bodily fluids.

In his hand, he clutched a long, wide blade that dripped something thick onto the pavement beside him.

His head turned to the left, then to the right, his body as still as a statue. Deciding on which way to go, he stalked off to the left and into the darkness.

You didn’t know how long you sat there for, behind the bushes in the freezing Autumn air.

Finally, you gathered up the courage enough to stand, legs numbed from being coiled so tightly to your chest and stumbled over to the edge of the science building.

“J-Jen?” You called out. Your voice didn’t feel like your own, rather, like it was coming from all around you.

“Jen? C’mon… don’t screw around.” But as you got closer and closer to the mass of viscera on the floor, you could no longer deny it.

This, bloody mush on the floor, was Jennifer. Your best friend.

Patreon!

Taglist <3

@soapjay @greenie-c @sunndust @gonemorre

If you'd like to be added to the taglist, please comment under this post!

#monster lover #monster x human #orc fiction #orc boyfriend #monster x female #monster x you #monster x reader #orc x reader #orc romance #monster romance #slasher!orc x reader #orcs #i love orcs #orc x human reader #orc x human #orc x you #orc x female reader

54 notes · View notes

littlequackerman · 1 year ago

Text

Diluc Ragnvindr x Reader- Replaced (hurt/comfort??)

You quickly found your abilities became obsolete when Lumine arrived in Mondstadt. Feeling hopeless, you run away, only to be caught by a certain red haired wine tycoon.

(A/n: Ohhhhh my god i actually finished this thing. i started it while i was having a breakdown and finished it yesterday. im actually rlly proud of it lol)

I tried to keep this one as gn as possible and i think i did good. reader has a vision and is in the Knights, id say theyre around as high in the ranks as amber if that makes sense lol.

---------------------------------------------------------

You had worked hard for years to rise to your position in the Knights of Favonius. Although you weren't as high up in the ranks as people like Kaeya or Jean, you pulled your weight and always got the job done. You wielded your weapon with confidence and always did your best to help protect the people of Mondstadt. This had taken you some time, but your efforts had clearly paid off. You were a highly respected and valued member of the Knights of Favonius.

So how come Lumine had barely been in Mondstadt for two weeks and had already risen to your level in the ranks?

No, she wasn't just at your level of hard earned respect- she had surpassed it. Everyone was talking about her. She just showed up in Mondstadt and became a knight (even though it was honorary), a process that everyone else had to work at for years before successfully completing and earning their titles.

You watched as your fellow knights and citizens of the City of Freedom grew to quickly adore her and completely forget about all of the effort you had put in.

You weren't an idiot. You had never been on her level. You weren't all powerful, and you weren't a perfect fighter. You certainly had no reason to be famous. But Lumine was the only person anyone in the Knights was talking about, praising her for deeds like defeating abyss mages and wiping out hilichurl camps, all things you had done many times in the past and hadn't received as much praise as her for accomplishing.

Then, she truly began to replace you. Jean gave tasks normally assigned to you to her, telling you to go home early for the day or go help out with busywork. Usually on the rare occasion you had nothing to do for the day, you would accompany Kaeya on missions, but of course he was busy with her as well.

And soon, so was Diluc.

You and Diluc had been friends for several years at that point. Although he was normally serious and straightforward, this part of him would crack a little around you. In the last year or two, however, you had found yourself falling for the man.

How could you not? He was dedicated to protecting Mondstadt. He was disciplined and successful, despite all of the hardship he had endured in his late teens with his father and brother. He was caring. And not to mention absolutely gorgeous. But you had always thought he was a bit out of your league, and that he deserved someone on his level.

Like Lumine.

You saw how close they had gotten, how his identity as the Darknight Hero was revealed to her so quickly, while it had taken years for him to tell you about that part of him- and he had only told you about it because you had caught him putting on his mask as he left the tavern one night. You thought you had come to accept that there was no way he'd love you back, but seeing them get so close stirred feelings within you you thought you had gotten rid of.

For a while, you did nothing, trying to be happy for the girl working so hard to protect the city. As every day passed of going into work and being promptly told you weren't needed, you began to feel worse and worse, growing more and more hopeless with every mention of her name.

All of your insecurities came to a climax during the final fight against Stormterror. When you realized something was going on, you rushed to the Knights of Favonius's headquarters for a briefing. When you asked Jean how you could help, clutching your weapon, declaring you could and would help fight Dvalin, she said you could just stay in Mondstadt and help make sure nothing happened to the citizens.

This was the final straw. A part of you felt selfish, knowing how important it was that the city was protected by capable fighters, but part of you was hurt. Normally you would have gone along to fight a massive threat, but this time you were simply left to hold down the fort.

And when it was all over, when Stormterror was defeated and the city was safe, Lumine was hailed as a hero. You weren't surprised at that point, she had done everything recently, of course she would defeat one of the Four Winds.

You had enough. The night after the battle, as the city was filled with a mixture of celebration and festivity at the quelled threat, and solemn rebuilding of broken homes and businesses, you took the opportunity to leave unnoticed. You wrote a note saying you were quitting the knights and not coming back into the city for a while and left it on Jean's desk. You packed up some of your belongings into a bag- just some clothes, rations, and first aid supplies- and left the city.

You spent a while wandering the continent, venturing into Liyue, seeing pieces of nature you hadn't expected to see so soon in your life and fighting enemies tougher than ones you had fought before. After a while, you decided to wander closer to Mondstadt for a little bit, never going close to the city itself and avoiding the knights whenever you heard they would be near. You continued to fulfill your oath of protecting people, defeating enemy after enemy that threatened innocents. You fought regisvines, mercenaries and treasure hoarders, and even a hypostasis and emerged victorious from each fight, albeit with some relatively minor injuries. Perhaps some sad part of you still wanted to prove yourself. You grew exponentially during this time, and you didn't even know how long you had been gone- was it one month? Two? It didn't matter. It seemed doubtful that anyone had even noticed you were gone.

You were wandering through the woods a little ways away from Springvale one night when you heard two children crying out for help. Running to the source of the sound, you discovered two children being targeted by two abyss mages and some hilichurls. You saw one of the abyss mages charging a blast of fire to shoot at the kids, and without thinking, you placed yourself in front of the children, taking most of the blast. You charged at the monsters, quickly taking out the hilichurls with a few hits and moving on to the mages. As you told the children to run back into Springvale, a figure appeared behind you. A male voice that sounded fairly familiar called out to you.

"Those are abyss mages! They're much more dangerous than hilichurls! You stay with the kids!"

You didn't even turn to face the figure as you responded.

"I know what they are, I've beat way worse! I'll handle this! I'm more than capable of beating a few abyss mages!" You shouted, grunting as you defeated the first mage. A few minutes later you slayed the other one as well. You turned and rushed over to the kids, checking them for any injuries. When you looked up at the mysterious figure, you were horrified to realize you knew who it was.

It was the Darknight Hero, also known as Diluc Ragnvindr.

"Y/N! Where have you been, everyone's been worried about you! Didn't you realize disappearing like that would have everyone worried sick?!"

You felt a pang of guilt at his words. Maybe people really did miss you… but if they truly cared, they wouldn't have replaced you. They wouldn't have thrown you away, you thought.

"Listen, Dilu- I mean, Darknight Hero. I wasn't needed anymore, so I left. It doesn't matter. And anyways, that's not our priority right now. We should make sure these kids get back into Springvale safely."

He grunted. "Alright. I'll go with you into Springvale, but once we drop off these two we need to have a serious discussion about some things."

You and Diluc walked the kids back into Springvale, telling their parents about what had happened and making sure they got into their homes safely. As you two walked out of the town, it almost felt like the air itself was suffocating you. You considered just running away, but that probably wouldn't help much. He could catch up with you.

What did he think about you now? He probably hated you for running away. He had probably completely replaced you with Lumine by now. They were probably dating.

After what felt like an eternity of walking through the woods, you and Diluc made it to the Windrise tree. As you gazed up at the tree, Diluc broke the silence.

"So where have you been all this time?"

"I walked to Liyue. I travelled through there for a while but wanted to stop near home for a little bit. I plan on seeing the rest of Liyue, going through the Chasm, and then going to Sumeru later this month."

"Why exactly did you have to leave so suddenly? You never told me you were planning to visit Liyue. I would've said goodbye to you before you left."

As he said that, he turned his gaze towards the sky. He looked… regretful?

"I wasn't planning on it."

"So you just randomly decided to travel to another nation one night?"

"Not exactly."

He suddenly turned towards you and looked straight into your eyes.

"So why did you leave, y/n? Did someone tell you to leave? Were you threatened? What aren't you telling me?!?"

As he spoke, he started to sound more frenzied. Although seeing his tough facade fade sometimes was nice to watch, this was scary. You started to feel guilty for leaving without telling him.

"Diluc, nobody threatened me. I left because Mondstadt and the Knights don't need me. They found someone better and I got tired of feeling useless every day." You shifted and looked towards the ground. "I've done more while traveling this last month or two than I have in so long. Since Lumine got here I haven't had an opportunity to use my weapon, but I've gotten to fight so many more things and help so many more people than I did back in Mondstadt during the Stormterror crisis. And I doubt anyone truly missed me. If they said they did, they probably just said it out of courtesy. I'm sure they'll all be fine, they have Lumine now." As you mentioned her name, you felt spite run through your veins. "She can clearly do so much more than I ever could."

You lifted your head to look at Diluc. He had a look of shock on his face, and didn't say anything for a second. Then he finally spoke.

"So you're saying you left because you were jealous of the Traveler?"

Your tone changed to something angrier, sharper.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Diluc sighed. "I'm sorry that they all made you feel that way. But rest assured, nobody meant to replace you. I'm sure they didn't realize what they were doing. You could never be replaced, y/n-"

"How could you POSSIBLY say that I could never be replaced when you replaced me too!"

You didn't even realize you were shouting at Diluc.

"What are you talking about, y/n? I could never replace you! You are a wonderful person, why would I ever want someone else in my life?"

"You did replace me, Diluc! Just like everyone else did! You completely stopped visiting me when she got here! Whenever I tried to find you, you were with her! You abandoned me for her!"

At this point, you were starting to cry as you yelled at him. "And I can't even be angry at her because you deserve someone like her! You deserve someone so much better than me! She's perfect- she's beautiful, and so strong, and has accomplished so much, and everyone loves her, and look at me! I'm never going to compare to her! It's no wonder you're in love with her…"

Although you said the last part of your rant under your breath, he still heard what you said.

"Y/n. Please. Look at me."

You looked at him.

"I am afraid I must apologize to you. I am so, so sorry for how I've treated you recently, and I'm so sorry it took all this for me to realize my mistakes. I promise you, I never meant to replace you with Lumine. The truth is, I've been busy recently with her because we've been investigating the Abyss Order. The Abyss Order manipulated Dvalin into attacking the city, and I was busy trying to get to the bottom of the situation without worrying the citizens of Mondstadt. I should've tried to make time for you, and I know sorry probably isn't enough, but I'm afraid it's all I have to give at this moment."

Suddenly, it all made sense. You should've figured he'd be trying to help with the Stormterror threat. And of course she would be able to help with that. You felt some of the jealousy fade away, but some of it still clung on to your heart, a weight waiting to be lifted.

"And another thing."

He looked away from you, glancing at the ground.

"Your notion that I am in love with Lumine is incorrect. Although I now consider her a good friend, the feelings I hold towards her and you are different. You mean much more to me than she ever has. The entire time we were out chasing after the Abyss, you were all I could think about, and when you disappeared I was terrified for you. So please trust me when I say she is not the one I love, but you are."

You were in disbelief. Did Diluc really just say he felt the same way towards you?

"Wait, Diluc. Did you just- are you saying that you have feelings for me?"

Although his head was turned away from you, you could see a blush spread across his face.

"Yes, that…is what I'm trying to say. I've grown to love you in the time we've spent together. I tried to ignore it for the sake of our friendship but as more and more time has passed it has become increasingly difficult to ignore. If this damages our relationship so be it. You deserve to know the truth."

Stunned, your mind went blank of a reply for a moment. You took a deep breath before replying.

"Diluc, I… I love you too. I'm so, so sorry I left without telling you, and I'm so sorry I was jealous of you and Lumine, and I'm so sorry for making you worry about me, and I love you so much, I- I-"

At this point you were crying and couldn't form a proper sentence. You looked down, hiding your head in your hands, too embarrassed to look at Diluc. He wrapped his arms around you and put one hand on the back of your head, pulling you into a warm embrace. Although he was generally standoffish, you had to admit he was a great hugger. You sobbed in his arms for a while, letting out months worth of stress. You kept babbling little "I'm sorrys" and other incoherent apologies, but he kept his arms around you the whole time, comforting you and assuring you that it was okay and he loved you. After a while you stopped crying, and at that point the sun was beginning to rise. You and Diluc stood under the great Windrise Tree and watched the sun slowly rise among the cloudscape.

"If you want to keep traveling I won't stop you, but I think you should stop by the Knight's headquarters and tell Jean and Kaeya that you're okay. They've all been worried about you."

"Yeah, you're right, I probably should. But I wanna stay with you for now…" you said as you leaned into him once again. You suddenly let out a loud yawn, realizing how tired you were from a night of fighting and crying. Diluc also noticed your sleepiness.

"Do you want to go back to the winery with me to get some sleep?"

"Yes. That would be absolutely wonderful. I'm exhausted."

"Then let's go."

You and Diluc walked back to the Dawn Winery in the light of the early morning sun, holding hands and talking about everything that had happened while you were apart. When you got back to the winery, you slept through much of the day in your lover's arms, and spent the rest of it making up for lost time, telling stories of your adventures and eating food Adelinde brought you.

It felt like a burden had been lifted off of you, and you could finally enjoy days of peace with Diluc without standing in the shadow of another person.

Bonus:

The next day, Diluc took you to the Knights of Favonius's headquarters. Everyone was surprised, but pleased at your return. Diluc explained why you had left to your superiors, and they rushed to apologize to you.

It turned out that right after you left for Liyue, so did Lumine as she sought the Geo Archon. And with two of their best workers gone, the Knights were barely coping with rebuilding the city from Stormterror's damages.

You could tell they were truly remorseful for how they had treated you the last few months, with even the normally aloof Kaeya looking grim as the situation was explained to him.

It also turned out that you weren't the only one fed up with their actions after Lumine's arrival. Many other knights felt like they had been cast aside after the Traveler's arrival. You were just the only one to leave.

You weren't sure if you could forgive them just yet, and you knew you wanted to travel some more before officially returning to the knights.

But now you knew how truly important you were to your friends in the Knights, and you had a loving boyfriend to boot. Overall, things were finally starting to look up for you, and you knew that no matter how far you traveled from your homeland, you would have people waiting for you when you got home.

Finding the one you loved had truly led to the ending you deserved.

#hooooly shit i finished it #diluc x reader #genshin x reader #genshin imagines #genshin impact x reader #diluc x y/n #diluc ragnivindr x reader #genshin x y/n #gender neutral reader #hurt/comfort #slight angst #diluc ragnvindr #genshin diluc

413 notes · View notes

undyinwxnchester · 6 months ago

Text

‘Everybody knows that I’m a good boy, officer.’

(Officer!MaleReader x DeanWinch).

NSFW THEMES - SLIGHT AGEGAP

‘Everyone, and I mean. Everyone knew who Dean Winchester was in the force, FBI, and so on. And it seemed whilst pulling a black impala over, you just so happened to be lucky enough to pull him of all people over.

You weren’t aware of what he looked like, just name. So given the fake ID name you are thrown off guard.’

“yeh, names Ozzy Smith.” He says. Odd name, but you brush it off. But you have to still question him given the speeding and lack of paper work.

“Uh-Huh. Why don’t you step out for me, son.” You say in your usual tone, just keeping it stern but not so much to the point it’s going to scare the person off. He doesn’t as first, but complied after a moment. Even in your late 30s, your not dumb enough to think a kid a decade younger than you is going to be named ozzy.

Even if he had shit parents name him. Your sceptical.

His hands fidget in his pockets, a clear sign of something off to you.

“How old are you?”

A simple question he should be able to answer. Still his ‘ID’ in hand, he’s been caught out.

At that - it’s not a surprise he ends up in cuffs, not knowing his supposed age on the ID by heart seems silly. You end up in his trunk, plenty of fake ids, weapons. Everything you don’t want to find in someone’s car.

Hes trying, so hard to do something. Swoon and beg his way out. The flirting is new, for men anyway. But it doesn’t work anyway.

“Oh come on man! Cut me some slack, I didn’t do nothing wrong.”

That’s all that escapes his lips, excuses. Dean is beyond annoyed - he hadn’t planned on being pulled over for little reason and he knows it’s going to be annoying to get out of this. Sams at some cheap motel an hour away without baby. And it seems this cop won’t budge.

He tries his hardest - his usual charm, being oblivious. His usual cocky ‘Fake manner’. But your not a woman, that’s not as easy. So he takes a latter when you’ve eventually got him in a questioning room, alone and cuffed to the table.’

You sit opposite him - your a small department and little of the others know how to question people. Especially people like him. They’d probably end up in tears or confused.

He’s seemingly tired - seemingly.

But acting odd, shifting in the chair and cuffs, before he asks the usual question.

“Need the’ bathroom.”

So, you provide the right like you’d supposed to even if you know it’s something fishy. Your correct. Soon as you unlatch him from the table; even with his cuffs still on.

Your pinned, he’s a big kid. Some muscle on him so it’s no so hard for him to do with you, as you grunt and the cuffs press at your throat you realise this probably wasn’t the best person to allow a bathroom right.

You struggle - eventually pushing him away and able to grab him, but in a rather odd place given he knew his way around a good fight. He ends up.. bent. Over the table.

Your body behind him and you sort of. Freeze. This doesn’t look good. At all.

His breathe hitches - this is a new position for him. Usually he’s the one bending someone over but - welp.

He bucks, tries to. But it ends up with him pressing his behind against your groin, you grunt. And just pin him more in response. This isn’t good at all. For either of you.

“You know- you could have bought me a drink.” He teases, of course when given the circumstances he will in fact still be a weird about it. He’s that kind of guy. Even though he feels.. odd. He’s not used to such kind of people near him.. but he’s not’

Opposed to it. So he uses it to advantage, even though it’ll probably get him into more trouble.

Before you can respond to his crude comment - he bucks again. But more, and more. He’s not used to doing this but he’ll do it for the sake of hopefully getting out of here. His rear moving swiftly, slowly but with a harsh push. You feel your cock twitch - its interested. Your head isn’t.

You move he gets away - you don’t move he gets his own way. Your screwed- oh it feels so good though. He’s not bad looking at all. A pretty kid.. and that ass is just. Speaking wonders.

—

You fucked it- your screwed. Your fired for sure. So sure. After his little charade you ended up giving in, he didn’t mind even though he sort of shit himself at first. Your cock deep into his hole as he’s leant against the table. Cuffs rattling with each heavy thrust.

He’s a heavy moaning mess - and your groaning behind him. As his tight behind sucks you in like no other, taking your inches generously. It’s a little dry, you only used spit but it serves well enough. You don’t care if it hurts him - he’s a criminal after all.

Your hands are tight on his hips, each pound earning you a whine as it barely pushes against his prostate. He’s so close. So close already. Cock leaking onto the table as it shifts with each movement from behind, leaking pre and swelling for some form of attention. It doesn’t get any.

You grind, and you thrust. He even meets your movements- back arching just that bit to move with you. Till he pops. His ropes of white lathering against the table. You continue with him. His orgasm ridden out and his hole just that bit tighter because of it.

Your closer now too. But need just a bit longer. This isn’t an intimate moment. It’s just a fuck. No words are or will be exchanged - or so you thought. He mutters, just barely with such a gruff husky groan, And you almost immediately finish as he does.

‘A-Hah- Right there deputy..”

He’s filled to the brim right after.

———

He leaves. You let him go - no questions asked. Of course you do.

He could just decide to snitch on you and it’ll cost your job, you help clean him up before he does go of course. Little words exchanged, glances at best. Before he goes though. He gives you - his number.

And your left with guilt and dread - fear of your job. But that all heavy feeling of lust and want for more.

You didn’t think The Dean Winchester would end up a good fuck.

——————————————————

Request anything if you want!

🫡

#dean winchester #spn #gay men #mxm #mxm smut #smut #x male reader #dean x reader #age g4p #for legal purposes this is a joke #gay!#i love him #jensen ackles #dean winchester x you

87 notes · View notes

ghosttownryder · 17 days ago

Text

imagine ortho, but with his mask off. full face in full view. ooiyguuuuhhh (sound of me dying /pos)

id imagine the first years pester ortho about his face gear mask thing at some group hangout in ramshackle, considering the fact that in fairy gala he had his mouth visible but no eyes. (also his labwear and ceremonial, i lowkey forgot about it!! i have too many ortho SSRs) like why does he wear it? for comfort? does it actually serve a purpose? can he use it as a weapon like some flying projectile? (probably a boomerang if ortho's crazy enough)

to ortho, he probably doesn't really care much about it! he's worn it for so long it's almost comforting in a way. he doesn't mind taking it off so the first years could finally see both his eyes and his mouth.

they do ask if taking it off would be harmful/dangerous, but ortho waves it off. he tells them that its mostly for decoration, the gear lining his jawline is more important than the piece covering his nose and mouth. with relative ease, he pries off the mask and watches the reactions of the other first years.

they don't really see anything different and tell ortho that he looks good with or without the mask! that's when he smiles and giggles, now the freshies understand why idia has him wear some sort of covering: that smile could rival the sun. needless to say they meet a mutual agreement to get him to smile more often

side note (hc): ortho takes off his face mask gear thing to persuade idia into things more efficiently, but that's for drastic measures (something like pulling another all nighter when he has 3 exams back to back the next day)

yuu, curious, asks why he doesn't have blue lips like idia. ortho explains that idia's color is due to his family curse, while ortho isn't technically affected by it. he considers wearing blue lipstick though to match (he is definitely thinking about coral blue lipstick number 2)

maybe he goes around school one day without his mask!! and he just smiles while completely obliterating any poor npc in his path with its radiance. fly high some nrc student o7

maybe he takes it off more often when he's with the other first years! maybe as a sign of comfort and feeling of safety, or perhaps he can detect their heart rates going sky high and finds it incredibly amusing. he's a little guy, what can I say

overall though, I think ortho just wears some sort of covering as he's used to that sort of added modification in his gear wardrobe. a little face can't hurt people (it definitely will. it will strike me down instantly. i will be vaporized on sight)

#twisted wonderland #twst #twst first years #ortho shroud #ryblez #ortho shroud they could never make me hate u #my ortho biasism is glaringly obvious my apolocheese #polyfrosh

36 notes · View notes

kuni-is-daddy · 2 years ago

Note

cuddling with kabukimono scara

Sub!Kabukimono x Male! Kaedehara clan reader

Fluff + Smut(hint of angst at the end. IF YK. YK)

1.2k words Scara masterlist

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

"12.." you took a deep breath while counting another soon to be dead nobushi samurai. "Its truly a shame.. such distinguished warriors as ourselves can succumb to banditry." You raised your cursed blade. preparing to kill the nobushi samurai as the rain drenched through your hair. "Y/n!?..Y/n? are you here?!" You lowered your katana as the sound of pattering footsteps through the forest grew louder, along with a familiar voice. "Kabuki?..What are you doing here?" the shorter man approached you. Unbothered by the rain as his amulet dangled from his kimono. "Well..Niwa said you would be here..So I went looking for you!" You sighed, cursing your brother in your head for bringing your lover all the way out here. "Buki.. Its been awfully dangerous in inazuma. You should be back at the estate, WITH niwa." He sucked his teeth at your remark. "Ugh. Who cares about that Y/N. Cmon.. I wanna hang out with you already~ and maybe have some fun~" He peaked his head over your shoulder to notice the wounded samurai behind you. "Who is this?" You turned around, now holding your blade up again. "THIS. Is the danger ive been trying to tell you about buki.'" Kubuki scoffed andwalked around you Infront of the nobushi. "Looks weak to me." he grabbed the samurai by its helmet, watching as thin streaks of blood could be seen brushing through the outside. He then whispered into its ear. "A pathetic excuse for a samurai like you shouldn't have existed. If it was up to me, I would've killed you already. Humans like you always take up my time with y/n..My everything. Know your place."

The rain picked up, Now turning into roaring thunder and lightning which crackled through the sky. Your primary concern of killing changed once your lover arrived. Now you we're focused on getting him back to the estate safe. You held onto his hand, He turned away from the samurai and blushed as you sheathed your sword. Now walking him through the forest. The walk was silent, mostly consisting of you looking around at your surroundings and Kabuki in absolute love with your dedication to protect him. A simple eep or yell and you'd be ready to protect him in a heartbeat. You then broke the silence. "Our almighty shogun hasnt been doing a good job of maintaining order within inazuma. Day after day things get worse buki. More samurai leaving the clan, more people betraying us. Thats why i keep telling Niwa to not send you on wild chases for me." He frowned while gripping tighter onto your hand. 'The almighty shogun' was his mother. He couldnt do much to change her will regarding eternity. After all, To her. He was nothing but a liability. "im..sorry..I cant do much about my mother y/n. If only I wasnt so..Emotional..Like she said things wouldnt have-" He was cut off when you suddenly smashed your lips against his. Pulling him into a messy kiss then pulling away to witness his dummed out expression, how the rain fell against his shiny purple hair. "Dont be sorry baby. Your perfect just the way you are. Infact If you we're our archon i think id have to put in more work to impress you."

You two eventually made it back to the clan's estate, fingers intertwined together as you both settled into the kitchen. You sat on the couch. Resting and wiping off any remaining blood from your weapon. "Oh Y/n! I was with some blacksmiths earlier and they offered me some tea. I didnt think much of it, but they insisted I tried it and it was really good!" He sat beside you and placed a cup on the table. Seeing kabuki so happy over something as dull as tea made your heart ache. You grabbed the cup and blew onto it before consuming the drink. "Huh...whats this buki?" He smiled at your reaction. Did he like it? "Its bitter black tea! its great right? I took one cup but then i just kept drinking more and more until they had none left! hah hah.. but some old man gave me his recipe so I can make some for you!" "Thats great kubuki, Im glad your starting to enjoy being around everyone."

You sat closer to him. Now placing your hand along his body. "How about..I make you feel even better? Would you like that?" His body shivered at your request. "Y-yes..Id like that.." you got up off the couch and the shorter man followed you to your room. Closing the behind him then pushing him against the wall. "mmm..How about I treat you right here tonight buki? would my baby boy like that?" He let out a small moan at your sudden agression. "Ah~ yes~ I want it." You bit and licked along the side of his neck. Kabuki covered his mouth at the sudden wave of pleasure. "Shit..Bet this cock is so hard for me isnt it?" he nodded his head while still covering his mouth. You slightly pulled down his pants, enough to reveal his cock already covered in precum. "Your such a needy boy buki~" You whispered into his ear. Rubbing the tip of his cock with your thumb "Y..Y/n..~" "Yes baby?" "W-want.. more.." you laughed. "Hmm? what was that buki? Need you to get a little louder f' me." tears began to form in his eyes. He wanted you to push him harder against the wall and stroke him so roughly he screamed for you to let him cum. "Please! Go faster Daddy!!" he yelled out desperately. "Anything for you baby boy~" You grabbed him by the hips, pushing his body closer against your own as he held onto the wall, Crushing him in-between you and it. "Oh fuck~ YES~" You roughly grinded your body against him, grabbing tight on his cock while stroking it. "Fuck...Love how desperate you get for me buki' like a slut." "I Wanna be your slut daddy~ Wanna be your good boy~" he panted hard with how close he felt to cumming, how much his body burned for you. "you are buki~ so fucking good for me. Cum on daddys hand, let me taste you baby~" he yelled out your name with a sharp cry. Ropes of his cum oozed onto your fingers. "hah..Such a good boy buki'" you tasted his cum. Letting him watch as you licked it all off of his fingers. His grip fell light against the wall, falling back into your embrace "Y/n..." "Shh... come baby.. lets relax a little." you guided him to your bed, helping him take off the rest of his kimono and switch into lighter clothes of yours, Rubbing your hands through his hair as he laid besides in bed. "Y/n...I love you, I love you so much..is that okay?" You pulled him into a hug. Letting him sink into your touch by how happy yet sad you we're by his words. 'is that okay?' "Of course it is Buki, I love you more than anything else in the world." He smiled, then suddenly remembering his conversation with your brother. "Y/n..Are you not going to be home early tomorrow? Miwa said you we're going to be busy." he pouted, hoping you could cancel what ever you had to do to stay with him again.

"Im afraid so my love, I have to bring him on a acquaintance he has with a man known as 'the doctor' We're going far out into tartarsuna and I dont want him getting injured on the way there or back. But please, Dont worry about me. I will be back for you. No matter what."

#genshin smut #genshin x you #genshin x y/n #genshin impact #genshin x reader #scaramouche smut #scaramouche x yn #scaramouche x y/n #scaramouche x you #scaramouche x reader #genshin impact x reader #scaramouche #genshin fluff #scaramouche fluff #kabukimono x reader #kabukimono #scaramouche x male reader

398 notes · View notes

bladekindeyewear · 2 months ago

Text

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2024-10-08

(Previous post - current page 666)

Just caught the tweet announcing an Update as soon it went up! From the look of the log it seems we're moving on, unless there was an addition to p666 which I doubt since they would have warned people to update their cache in the tweet or what have you. So it's time to finally move on from this page, I'm clicking that Next button!

I get the feeling from the log moving onward that this situation isn't going to be resolved in the next page, and we're either going to cut back later... or cut back to Vriska emerging from the Plot Point from John and the others' perspective, because we know she only has one thing left to do. (Other than the question of exactly how she's leaving there, which I assumed would be something special rather than the Plot Point simply "running out of time".)

(==>)

Yep, the resolution with Vriska is coming later.

ROSE: This is an impressive shield. ROSE: I don't think I've ever seen you make one this size before. JADE: ive been practicing! JADE: if i stay focused i should be able to keep it up for quite a while.

Oh heck I didn't notice, that's a cool-ass green Spacey shield with a Space symbol on it! That ought to be a tough nut to crack with any weaponry! (Is she protecting the ship, or the rebel forces maybe? The bubble doesn't seem to be wrapped around the meteor.)

ROSE: Honestly, if it gets to be too much of a hassle, we should be fine as long as the kids stay inside. ROSE: This ship was specifically designed to take a battering. JADE: from artillery maybe JADE: but who knows what kind of other nasty weapons jane has tucked away in her diabolical business pantsuit! JADE: its not like she tells jake everything JADE: or almost anything, really JADE: when it comes to the kids id rather be safe than sorry ROSE: Sure.

Ohh, of course they're shielding the ship, especially the part containing the children. A good chance they won't just stay inside though, especially given this caveat being announced-- though whether they can or can't get through Jade's shield is a different story, unless they break out some new powers or the ship's possible transportalizers.

JADE: by the way JADE: i saw kanaya leave earlier ROSE: She's meeting Karkat on the field. JADE: without you? ROSE: Yes. ROSE: She made it pretty clear that it wouldn't be wise for me to join her. JADE: oh... ROSE: Mhm. ROSE: Some barb about the danger of me "Being Maimed Quite Viciously" on account of all humans looking the same once the bloodshed begins. ROSE: Then she shot me a peace sign and walked away. JADE: ugh, im sorry rose :(

Yeah, Kanaya's off working out some SERIOUS stress most likely. And Rose was very awful pulling that Sapphire future vision excuse to avoid contending with the emotions of the present, to "stop trying" with her. Hopefully someone or something lights some sense under her ass, maybe something to do with the children and them going off to do something dangerous simply because Rose hadn't bothered with the trouble of discussing more of the live situation with them... I dunno. She clearly needs something jarred loose about her attitude, if what Jade said earlier didn't explicitly do it. Maybe Jade can help more right now?

JADE: this should never have happened JADE: between yiffys capture and rescue and finding dave... JADE: like that... JADE: i just feel like my life flashed before my eyes and it made me a little crazy! JADE: after being unconscious for a bit things feel way clearer now ROSE: Nothing beats a rump to the skull for mental clarity.

Oh my god, Tavros actually knocked her out cold when he fell from the ceiling?! (And I'm reminded again that she was carrying the stuffed corpse or arm of someone, presumably Dave but we can't be 100% sure.) I wonder if this is trying to make excuses for some of her Candy-timeline behavior... though out of all of them, she has the least to excuse, really? I feel like both versions of her were remarkably in character and didn't do nearly as much weird potentially-Muse-guided stuff like Roxy and others at that initial funeral for Dirk back in the epilogues.

JADE: the mistakes we made are so obvious to me now JADE: embarrassingly obvious! JADE: we should never have talked to john in front of kanaya, for one thing JADE: they required way different approaches ROSE: Oh, so that was the problem? JADE: one of them at least

Bolding Rose for dryly pointing out that this is VERY MUCH a backslide into the wrong approach to this entire situation that Jade's having, focusing on the actions required to approach or defuse each person as if fulfilling video game objectives, trying to make everyone happy instead of trying to come clean and trusting the others to do as they will. She's trying to control (Witch) the situation too much, which was her issue in the Candy timeline in the first place.

JADE: i definitely wasnt expecting you to say all THAT either JADE: but i know she hit a sore spot so its understandable why you lost your temper JADE: its my fault for panicking ROSE: Interesting. ROSE: I didn't even realize I was mad. JADE: i mean JADE: it brought me back to the last time i mentioned your mom and you flipped that table ROSE: I was eighteen. JADE: you didnt talk to me for a month! ROSE: Eighteen years old. JADE: yeah and i havent tried to talk to you about it since!

Oh damn, those are some gigantic fucking unresolved Mom issues she has in this version of events that it sounds like she should have seen a psychologist or dozen about! D:

JADE: look all im saying is JADE: i understand why things went downhill the way they did and im not going to get caught off guard again JADE: this whole situation is my fault and even though it just keeps getting more frustrating and shitty im going to do right by you JADE: were going to figure this out ROSE: Are you sure it's prudent to keep this amateur marriage counselor performance up? JADE: rose... JADE: youre taking this seriously JADE: right? ROSE: I don't know what you mean by that.

Jade is still thinking she has to be in control and responsible for everything... and Rose is so afraid of tackling everything that she's practically dissociated from her own marriage. Her distorted Seer of Light vision or not, that's not going to help-- again, Steven Universe taught us that with Sapphire in Keystone Motel.

(==>)

COOL-ASS shot of Jade and her adorable pawprint gloves-- goofy shot of Rose with her short hair practically invisible. :D

JADE: i think you do but bleh whatever as long as we don't have a repeat of last time we can still position you as the good guy JADE: or at least less of a bad guy JADE: though playing stupid and cajoling her into slapping me around for catharsis wont work anymore JADE: well have to think of something else... ROSE: Jade, I've been compliant with these clumsy machinations partially because they weren't all that consequential at the time, but you need to cut your losses. ROSE: It's time to start looking beyond the end of your own nose, and accept that these methods aren't going to work. ROSE: This is not a situation you can win. JADE: im not trying to "win" anything!

Yes she is, this is exactly what I was talking about! Jade treating this like a problem to be solved instead of confronted, much like she did with trying to be in a relationship with Dave and Karkat at once in this timeline, instead of allowing others agency to help determine the endpoint of the situation. Because if she's too controlling, those methods themselves are going to dismantle her efforts, which at least Rose recognizes even if SHE'S wrong about other things.

JADE: im trying to be an adult and not run away from this ROSE: Look, I know better than anyone the satisfaction of gaming people's reactions and getting into their heads. JADE: (oh my god are you even listening to me) ROSE: But it's a losing game. ROSE: You're going to push too hard, or misconstrue something critical, or cross another line. ROSE: And you'll regret it. ROSE: That's not conjecture, it's a guarantee.

She IS right. But she's also being defeatist to avoid opening up and admitting fault, and ESPECIALLY to avoid confronting any uncomfortable emotions or problems she's still stopped trying to confront both without and within herself. That Mom stuff especially from the sound of it. Maybe unpacking that at some point soon will help shake Rose loose a bit.

JADE: youre so frustrating to talk to these days! JADE: "ohhhh bluh bluh blah i can see the fruitlessness of all our clumsy insignificant thrashing in fates cosmic current" JADE: dont forget im more than a little versed in future sight myself ok JADE: i dont care how credible it seems, you cant depend on that information!

An allusion to her long, long childhood stint inverted to Seer of Time and guiding everyone with Skaia's clouds before she was knocked violently loose from the habit out onto a true path of active agency!

ROSE: I know it's hard to hear, but you need to take a second to think about what I'm saying. ROSE: Don't you feel the least bit relieved? ROSE: You've spent so many years wrangling this dirty little secret. JADE: that "dirty little secret" is my fucking daughter ROSE: Well, now she's not a secret anymore. ROSE: You don't have to shoulder the burden of keeping her tucked away from everyone in the entire world for fear of the consequences, because the consequences have happened. ROSE: You're free to invest all that energy elsewhere. ROSE: Maybe work on yourself a little bit. ROSE: We could even unpack the hamster guy. JADE: oh we are not talking about the fucking hamster guy JADE: i don't want to talk about any of it really!

It's kind of fascinating how they've constructed a conversation where not only are BOTH parties acting so wrong, they're also completely right in naming each other's faults. Jade, the problem *IS* that you don't want to talk about it.

JADE: ever again! JADE: thinking back to that whole conversation makes my skin crawl!!! JADE: "abloo hoo hoo, my life is a monkey paw, everything i want hurts me in the end" ROSE: It was a little pathetic. JADE: I KNOW!

Jade has been hiding her vulnerability from the ENTIRE WORLD to the point where she essentially wanted to stop existing, except vicariously through her daughter, and she thinks now that it's been uncorked a little she can just go RIGHT BACK to never dealing with her problems ever again. NOPE! Doesn't work that way, Jade!

JADE: it had nothing to do with what we were trying to DO JADE: it just derailed everything... JADE: and worst of all, yiffy heard it! JADE: ugh!!!! ROSE: You can't keep trying to control the narrative forever, Jade.

Hah!!! (Bolded for emphasis.) Controlling the narrative, controlling her friends, controlling reality because reality IS "the narrative" here (and Space is the story's pages).

Geez I've had a lot to say and I'm only partway through the second page of this upd8.

ROSE: If Kanaya wants to hate me, or punish me, she has every right to. ROSE: She asked for the truth. JADE: oh come off it!!! JADE: the truth is whatever people WANT to believe JADE: you can either try forcing them to understand your side JADE: leave it completely in their hands and take no responsibility JADE: or you work with their wants and perspectives JADE: and make some informed compromises ROSE: Over the state of reality? JADE: rose i am begging you can you please cut it out with all the cryptic cosmic crap and come back down to earth???

Rose is absolutely WAY too defeatist here, and Jade is still trying to take too much control. FORCING them to understand your side? It's impossible for people to perfectly understand each other-- and mutual understanding takes time and being open about yourself. Jade had to be forcibly pried open into revealing what vulnerabilities she actually had here and she thinks it's pathetic and regrettable, instead of the biggest step towards salvaging this situation that anyone has taken so far, which it was!!! Taking responsibility means taking responsibility for your own flaws; at least Jade is right here that Rose is basically taking NO RESPONSIBILITY AT ALL for her side of the relationship, consigning it all to fate so she doesn't have to work on herself. Neither of them want to confront what's wrong inside their own hearts and their own insecurities. (When really they should be opening up about themselves and getting closer to my Kanaya/Rose/Jade OT3 ship. /s )

ROSE: Things aren't like they used to be, Jade. ROSE: There are no right or wrong routes, anymore. ROSE: Just a tangle of meandering side-paths. JADE: so what, that gives you a free pass to self-destruct? JADE: the best choice was to "double down and say a bunch of horrible insane shit to your wife" ?

Rose still feels deep down that because this isn't a "relevant" timeline anymore, that nothing here matters, just like Vriska used to. Maybe if they pull off the Plot Point plan and forcibly drag this timeline closer to relevance, something will kick off in Rose's mind that tells her, GUESS WHAT, THE STAGE LIGHTS ARE ON, you can't just say that this entire timeline doesn't matter anymore? Hmm.

ROSE: Jade, over the course of 15 years, when have any of your efforts done a grain of good? ROSE: For yourself or Dave? JADE: woooooooow i know what youre doing ok? JADE: go ahead push every button i have i dont give a fuck JADE: youre the one that has everything to lose here JADE: and no matter what awful things you say it wont change the fact im worried about you ROSE: Don't be. ROSE: I've done fairly well for myself this past decade and a half. ROSE: I've been happy. JADE: thats whats scaring me! JADE: youre not prepared for how bad it can get JADE: you have no idea at all!!!!!!!!!!! ROSE: If you say so.

Having felt like she failed with Dave, and then had him go off and die on her rather than stay with her, Jade is TERRIFIED that Rose is going to ruin the amazing thing she's had with Kanaya out of apathy and fear. Maybe if Kanaya turns out to be in serious danger from something she didn't foresee, and Rose actually has to confront being genuinely scared of losing her for good, it can dislodge Rose from feeling like she'd be happy letting everything keep falling apart around her? That she absolutely HAS TO FIGHT to keep this relationship, that a relationship requires "trying", and that you can't waste time not trying at all thinking you have everything locked down tight and nothing to lose, because as Jade recently learned you can lose EVERYTHING in a moment.

JADE: ... between you and dave and john i dont know whos worse JADE: is it really that hard for any of you to care? JADE: if you dont get your head on straight and begin trying shell leave you JADE: all youve had together and everything you could have had JADE: gone! JADE: and since youre so cool with talking about your mom now JADE: you shouldve learned that lesson from her a long time ago! ROSE: Excuse me-

OUCH. Bringing up all the regrets from the moments after Rose realized she'd lost her mother, lost ANY CHANCE to make amends with her before Jack killed her... the moments which Jade was there for over pesterchum talking to her during, right before she flew into a Grimdark rage.

JADE: look it takes a lot of concentration to hold this perimeter JADE: i think itd be best if you looked after the kids ROSE: ... JADE: inside. ROSE: Fine.

Why is the next command "Rose: Ramble"? Is she going to start talking to herself? Probably, set up by Jade's "(oh my god are you even listening to me)" line. Pulling a Dave Strider and talking to herself since she can't hold a conversation with Jade here.

(Rose: Ramble)

Yeah that's a dark, hopeless, kind of dissociated look on her face.

Oh she's rambling INTERNALLY, there's a lot of black text on this page. XD

You saunter on out of there. You could say so much more, but it’s fine. Jade has no idea what she’s talking about. There’s not a thing to worry about here. You came out the womb playing defense, you’re not about to drop the ball now.

Opening up for self-examination, being vulnerable like they BOTH need to let themselves be to move forward, is the polar opposite of "playing defense". I wonder if she's dunking on herself, here.

If you hadn’t, maybe you’d be more concerned with the torrent of bullshit you’re dealing with. You really are getting it from all ends here, between Jade’s guilt-ridden busybodying and the glint of rage and pain in your wife’s eyes and the sudden, inexplicable tragedy of your brother’s demise.

Ohhh fuck. Dave's death is hitting her too. I'm not sure why I forgot it would. No wonder she's been shutting down instead of confronting anything.

All that on top of the twist of your gut every time you see your mother in Roxy’s face or hear her in Roxy’s voice. Really, you should be losing your shit. Instead, your emotions are in order and your shit is on lockdown exactly where you tucked it away, smooth operator that you are. God, you need a fucking drink.

Gosh, that's sad. And yeah, she totally IS dunking on herself. She knows on some level that something's seriously wrong with her, and she's just avoiding it, conceding defeat even though she knows she's undoubtedly part of the problem. A part of the problem she's partially given up on fixing.

Submission -- to fate, to the oblivion of drink, to everyone else's will -- is Void, simultaneously the essential duality of and a weakpoint of her nature as a Light player.

Instead of folding, you try to curb the craving by focusing on the inside of your hand and slowly moving that energy to your fingertips. Jade is right, of course, but only on a base, intuitive level that is otherwise lacking in specifics and easily misinterpreted and manipulated. For there to be inarguable truth there has to not only be an authority, but one that cares enough to reinforce their intentions absolutely, and you can’t imagine any such authority caring all that much about this laughable mess.

I'm not sure if I completely agree on inarguable truth being contingent on an authority existing (I mean I suppose so in terms of the limits of both-scientific-and-historical observation in our universe, relying on human and imperfect accounts, and also it's DEFINITELY true when talking about A STORY and being able to read the author's interpretation of something or if there was one at all as opposed to the Death Of The Author that Andrew has been foreshadowing since most of the way through Homestuck is what he believes to be a better outcome for the work), but I suppose she doesn't realize that Calliope is the one who authored this timeline-- the living, non-ascended Calliope back in the Meat side. And she absolutely cared-- and we, the readers, do too!

If there’s no truth, then why even bother looking for your best option? Just leave the hierarchy of choices in ashes, the Mayor would be so proud. And then horribly disappointed, realizing this doesn't mean democratic power to the people. It means total fucking black out.

She's really, REALLY hung up on this being a non-canon timeline isn't she? Not only that-- but an AUTHORLESS timeline. She sees this whole timeline as Void (a black out, devoid of meaning and importance) and she can't see how she should actually be caring about it; she's just as doubtful about the validity of non-canon works of Homestuck, that the fanfics that we come up with because we care about these characters could be anywhere as interesting or worth caring about as canon, much in line with Dirk Strider's viewpoint that nothing could possibly matter if it doesn't have a Higher Purpose to the main, author-stamped story. Luckily enough HS^2's entire thematic structure is built to eventually prove her wrong, to teach her and Dirk and all the rest of us that Homestuck and its characters are worthwhile even wrested from the author's grip!

It’s only through quite rigorous contemplation of this metaphysical miasma (to the detriment, some might say, of your attention to the present moment) that you’ve managed to glean much of anything at all, a wonder in and of itself. Trying to decode these countless twisting paths has taken years of practice, but like all your favorite games the tedium enhances the satisfaction of playing. A small pastime, like a crossword, to privately enjoy outside the scope of any intrusive third persons. Currently, for example, you know that Vriska’s up to something important within the meteor. Exceedingly important, actually, far more important than anything here has had any right to be in a long, long time. It’s a point of almost disturbing clarity in the otherwise nebulous and ill-defined milieu of your prognosticative purview. You’re not quite sure what it actually is, though.

Interesting look into her non-ultimate Seer of Light talents, and the current limits they possess based on the combination of her abilities' limits in this Candyverse and her own beliefs and perspective. Why IS what Vriska's doing so important?

It doesn’t really matter, in the long run. Important or not, Vriska’s going to fail. Jane’s going to fail, too; really, just about everyone is going to fail to do something that really matters. In an unsuccessful effort to stave off that failure, and perhaps to atone for it on some level, Calliope will sacrifice herself, fruitlessly. You’re not exempt from the firing squad, either. In the imminent battle, you are going to be shot in the head, the bullet burying deep into your moral grey matter and jamming up the works of your conditional immortality, leaving you confined to a hospital bed. You had to pull all kinds of ridiculous, eyebrow-raising Chaos Theory shit to figure that one out. The rat-tail was worth it, your daughter’s anguish aside.

I'm not sure what she means by "the rat-tail" (does one of the people she knows have that hairdo?? Meenah? what does that have to do with her daughter? if anyone knows what she's alluding to by saying "the rat-tail was worth it" let me know in the replies), but I'm starting to see why she's been acting so hopeless. She doesn't mind Kanaya getting serious distance from her because she thinks she's going to get locked into a coma soon and she doesn't want Kanaya to mourn her as badly. That's pretty fucking depressing. I wonder which parts of this whole prediction are wrong, and why?

Calliope, this Calliope, sacrificing herself I can absolutely see (she's done observing within her fanfic, in a sense, and while not in a serious relationship with anyone she might decide to step out of the way and relinquish her Ring of Life for the sake of saving someone else)-- but fruitlessly how? And if Vriska is going to "fail", then why is what she's doing so damned important, hm? Fail at what, and gain what else in the process, to still invoke such importance? That's not something Rose has addressed or been willing to see. (EDIT: To clarify a bit here, not only is she blind to the purpose Vriska will accomplish-- it's definitely possible that Vriska leaves the plot point WITHOUT resolving her psychological issues, "fail" to, but even then she'll be only one step away from becoming her Ultimate Self at a pivotal moment and she'll already know what that last step IS inside herself, holding on to the Point's importance to finally do the most important step at a later time after getting out. That's just one of many ways to spin things, and she's blind to the true purpose of the Point regardless, or what "failure" truly constitutes in this situation.) Will Rose really enter a coma, and if she does, is her fatalism keeping her from seeing that some unexpected ray of hope is probably going to free her from said coma?

Kanaya may not see it this way at first, but your lobotomy sleepytime will be a well-earned, golden opportunity for her. A chance to experience life unshackled from the ol’ ball and chain. Even if it requires you to foist some compelling motivation for her to embrace it. She can’t waste her independence waiting on you again. You refuse to accept that outcome. What’s the point of a world where anything is possible if the love of your life won’t explore her full potential?

Yeah fuck that!!! I figured this was where Rose was leading, seeing herself as a net negative and refusing to believe that she's WORTH Kanaya, an insecurity she holds so tightly to that she's unwilling to fight for her own happiness. Thinking Kanaya's true potential lays in places that won't circle right back to you eventually. (Rose might be hinting at Kanaya unlocking some of her latent power, quite possibly-- considering the Sylph of Space as a healer, breaking through to that potential might even be enough to save her from the coma she's mentioning.)

It might even be gratifying for her romantically, though you haven’t peered too deeply down those corridors out of respect for her hypothetical privacy (surely not because they’d make you want to rip off your own face to perceive; that’d be hypocritical). Whatever. It’ll be good for her to stretch her legs, and it’s not like you’ll be awake to miss her.

Interesting... now THIS is a huge, huge blindspot for Rose. Since she's refusing to look down the paths of possibility where Kanaya feels for anyone other than her, what if this is one of the biggest reasons she's missing the path of possibility which eventually saves her and reunites them? (No, I'm not just saying that for the sake of Kanaya/Rose/Jade OT3... not entirely, anyway. >_>")

Or everything will collapse and everybody will disappear. It’ll certainly happen eventually. Maybe in an hour, maybe a day, a couple weeks, millenia from now. Who’s to say? Those specifics are beyond you now.

Everyone's seriously underestimating the Candy timeline. Everyone except Roxy and Calliope, the Rogue of Void and the Muse of Space, working together across the canon-to-non-canon barrier... the perfect pair of heroes to set events into motion that will make everything outside of canon real.

It’s this thought that unwinds you, untwisting your knickers. It’s hard to take things too seriously when you know that the details don’t matter and the ending never changes. It’s out of your hands. There’s nothing left to lose.

When Did You Stop Trying

She's practically LETTING herself get shot just so she doesn't have to see the rest of a story she doesn't think matters! Hopefully she'll be rather ridiculously surprised to find her timeline mattering after all-- to everyone both inside and outside their story. Hopefully we don't have to watch her agonize TOO long waiting for her to figure that shit out, even if the possibility of a certain duration of coma ends up making that wait longer than we'd like. At least in that case, we'll get to see the flabbergasted look on her face when she's brought out of her condition and realizes that everything suddenly matters again!

(==>)

A preview of what she sees ahead. Damn.

You’re nobody now. Just a shadow. Dirk was right to leave. He would have hated this existence. Ah, well.

I'd hoped both this Rose and Rosebot wouldn't make the exact same mistake, because hopefully we get to see them both convinced out of it... but possibly it could be circumstantially simultaneous? That'd be pretty appropriate given one of them is Ultimate Rose.

All tension has left your body, at this point. You don’t retreat to the heart of the ship; you have somewhere to be, so you set off, moving not towards a definitive point on the horizon but in cadence with a song that dances on the periphery of your awareness. You heard its first few tentative notes years ago. A subtle ‘ding’ when your ecto-father died. A little ‘dong’ when your wife handed you your daughter. A clear ‘ting’ when an old friend asked you for her first and only favor. Over time, and especially within the past few days, these scattered sounds have woven together into a compelling melody.

This sounds sort of like a mix of what meat!Calliope wrote into the Candy timeline, and intervention of other authors like Dirk excising himself to strengthen his meat!timeline importance? But mostly that Calliope, the story written in part by that distant author who wouldn't leave you to such a fate as you're expecting.

It helps you drown out the noise of war and focus, taking you back to times when there was destiny and indignation and righteous fury. A colorful cat-squid princess, advising a young girl to “play the rain.” She wanted so much, always needing to be seen, desperate to fight for some shred of validation. Only to never appreciate what was already in front of her. Thankfully, you aren’t her anymore. You don’t owe her anything either. You are unbound to that person completely. Defunct. As above, so below.

I wonder if that statement, behaving like this is Hell (to go with Vriska's purgatorial little trip in the Point), is also a reference to her making the same mistakes on both sides of the Candy/Meat divide? And I wonder if Rosebot truly believes, deep down, that she's the unlucky one in Hell too. Probably not yet, or at least not consciously, especially with Dirk artificially suppressing her doubts. (Also, playing the rain brought up again because at least ONE of these Roses is going to have to pull it off before HS^2 ends!!! It's one of the biggest unfulfilled threads that people wanted to see filled in Homestuck before it ended, and its subsequent continuation-- and goes hand in hand with all of Rose's unresolved psychological issues too somehow most likely, unless it's going to be done to show us that it wasn't indeed the biggest point after all?)

Also, just noting on the side the comparison of the woven thread of the narrative and fate to a musical score, one where the different authors, participants, are contributing parts of the music and different instruments, like the Fraymotifs that blended their aspects to write reality like a song.

Also also, it occurs to me that if Rose is going to enter a coma, she's quite possibly already going to have left a VERY INFURIATING farewell note for Kanaya that shows she saw her coma coming all along, and inadvertently clues Kanaya into the stupid game Rose had been playing by distancing herself so cruelly.

(==>)

A troll soldier looks down from something.

(==>)

Oh, they're bumping face first into a (much taller than them? and very pissed) Kanaya aren't they.

(==>)

Ooh, aglow, too. I wonder if this is a younger recruit or if Kanaya is just tall and huge now; she didn't seem like she compared much taller than Rose and Jade, though most people have always seen Kanaya as tall. This seems like the sort of thing I'd like to see artist commentary on when it comes out. (I've been trying to chew on the artist commentary first back-to-front from where HS^2 first became Beyond Canon, but I'm very slow at it due to some energy issues lately, so even Part 1 of that will be some time coming.)

(==>)

Literally haloed in light! If you weren't so preoccupied with your imminent demise, Rose, you could take some time to appreciate how amazing your wife is and believing in how much she loves you instead of thinking yourself less worthy than SHE thinks of you and casting her off.

(Commanders: Congregate.)

Ooh she mad.

Nothing too important in this page's dialogue, other than Kanaya acknowledging that Rose and Jade won't be involved in directly attacking and that she'd rather that be the case regardless, from an emotional standpoint. She definitely still wants Rose out of the line of fire, even if she's mad at her. (And Jade pulling defensive duty around the children might lose you a big offensive card but it isn't TOO bad, hopefully.)

(==>)

KARKAT: FUCK ‘EM.

Hah! Totally moirails. (Also look at that BLOOD imagery behind the grasping of hands, in all colors of the hemospectrum. That's not subtle Aspect imagery at all! I love unsubtle Aspect imagery! :D )

(==>)

MEENAH: shell yes motherblubber MEENAH: wayward wenches betta step the fuck back MEENAH: its a troll thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang

you're ruining the mood meenah

(Jane: Push the big red button. Blast it all to high heaven.)

Yeah Jake's gonna have dismantled that moon superweapon WELL before it fires.

You do not push the button because that would be incredibly stupid. The battle hasn't even started yet. Instead you take advantage of the momentary quiet to breathe. To think about life. About situations you could have handled differently. Feelings you could have... considered better. People you could have saved.

Does she? Does she really? Really now? ¬_¬"

(==>)

OH GOD IT'S A GIANT CAKE LASER THAT'S HILARIOUS

Your father never did voice any kind of opinion on your parenting style. In hindsight, he was probably avoiding the subject altogether. Or didn’t think much about it, focusing his pride on your exploits instead. He did raise a businesswoman, after all. At any point you could have asked for his advice. Now you can't. 15 years. Utterly botched.

Yeah, she definitely screwed the heck up on the parenting front, I suppose that *IS* something she's seriously reckoning with now that Jake has pulled back the curtain. It's too late for her to consider backing down, but she's at least going to feel some regrets and let that eat deservedly away at her before her final moments in this timeline.

Oh pfff, I hadn't even looked at the title of the next link (I'm guessing the answer is YES OF COURSE)

(Jane: Consider, is it too late?)

Of course not.

Really?

You remind yourself, you are incredibly young for a god. It’s natural for your growing pains to be this calamitous. All of the struggle and regret will feed into a brighter future. Newfound order will ensure stability, leading to a period of progress this planet has never seen before. There is so much living left. So many opportunities. This will not be your last chance. You’ll do better with the next one.

This is pretty in line with the way megalomaniacal way Jane behaved back when she was controlled by the Condesce, envisioning an empire with Jake at her side bearing her children forever. Candy is essentially an entire timeline where she followed through on her ambitions without constraint.

Speaking of constraint-- (Gee I thought he was totally going to take the Third Option and fly up to destroy the laser, this can't be over this quickly with a gun to the head--)

(Jane: Look behind you.)

Oh dear, so it definitely IS assassination, then. You must really hate how bad she's been for the children, Jake, to really go through with this as personally as BGD suggested. I was thinking about turning points like this for Hope players (in other media actually, a certain Hope player in Murder Drones actually) and moments of Rage being negative or positive turning points in equal measure, points where their belief in the breadth of possibility is pushed into a corner and it's time for them to narrow everything down to ONE CHANCE, to do or die, to a gun to someone's head or a blade to someone's neck and a willingness to cut a possibility off forever when it REALLY COUNTS to come in balance with their role (in ways depicted in Murder Drones with, hint hint, exactly one of their eyes showing a murder-mode X and the other eye open, as if on the tipping point before that Hope is cut off). How for a Hope player to be effective and balanced, they HAVE to know when they can't just sit on their heels and need to take action even if it means cutting off all the other paths they WISHED were true but can't be, acknowledging reality.

But seriously, if he was fast enough he could have just flown to space and blown up the Cake Laser. I guess this is more effective.

JANE: Jake? JAKE: Hi. Sweetheart. JANE: What are you doing here? Is everything ok? JAKE: It's all gravy train, don't worry! I was only thinking to myself and... JAKE: realized how sorry i'd be if i didn't come wish you good luck. JANE: How thoughtful! JAKE: Mm hm! JAKE: Come here.

Is that really going to work? Maybe with Jane deluding herself this much right now. I feel life if Jake actually pulls this off it'll end the battle far too quickly; maybe he'll shoot her and her Maid of Life powers will bring her back to retaliate the moment he turns his back on the body?

(==>)

Oh dear, he's going in EXTREMELY personal for this isn't he. A point blank shot through the heart in honor of Dirk maybe?

JANE: Well! That felt very lucky. JANE: Hoo, hoo! JAKE: I was hoping so ha ha! JANE: Thank you. ;B JANE: Wow you sure are holding me very tight, I assure you we don't have that kind of time sir! JANE: *eyebrow wiggle* JAKE: So right! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. JAKE: Oh Jane. JAKE: Before I let go, I wanted to say first. It's been a hard life and all but, JAKE: I'm really happy I got to see you. JANE: Me too J! JAKE: And... I'm going to miss you. JANE: Aw! JANE: Wait, what?

Looks like she didn't see it coming, even if I don't think it's gonna stick. Just exhausting whatever extra life she's built up in reserve, I'd bet.

[click]

(==>)

OW, to the head! No wonder there was a blood/violence warning in the tweet announcing this upd8.

(==>)

Oh god that's horrifying it didn't finish her off

this dialogue is horrifying why do you have to traumatize Jake more like this he's promising it'll stop oh that's awful okay serious fucking trigger warnings ouch

(==>)

OH GOD and she healed herself and knocked his aim off course. This is why you always double tap. D:

She's gonna be PISSED. (I didn't need the vivid mental imagery of bullets stuck in heads a third time counting Rose AND this anyway, brain damage is a bit of a trigger for me.) Hopefully Jake at least gets away, or destroys the launch button, or with his assassination attempt failed NOW goes to fly off and destroy the cake laser directly on the moon.

(==>)

Alright that's pretty cool! Not good obviously, but inevitable.

JAKE: W-w-w-w-w-w-wha? JANE: As I was saying- JANE: Jake.

Counter-attack incoming.

(==>)

JANE: IF YOU HAVE ONE SHOT

(==>)

OH THAT'S SOME HYPER VIOLENT PISTOL WHIPPING OUCH. EVEN IN BEYOND CANON THEY AREN'T HOLDING BACK A BIT ON THE MATURE GODDAMN RATING even when it isn't a psychological deep dive owowow

JANE: YOU BETTER JANE: MAKE IT JANE: *FUCKING* JANE: COOOOOUUUUUUUUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wonder how he's going to get away? He deserves to after this, and also he's possibly the only one who knows about the space laser and isn't coming out of this without at least one big solid heroic accomplishment that sticks under his belt. The space laser seems pretty much designed for him to intervene.

(==>)

You stop your onslaught, knowing the next couple blows will finish the job. A just death. How romantic.

Pfff-- I guess even if she killed him, it wouldn't announce that the death had been Heroic over his head.

Oh wait, I just realized--! Jake has TWO GUNS. Both the prior shots ought only to have been from one, unless he switched to single shot pistols for some arcane reason.

Between the adrenaline and taste of blood in your mouth, the decision is clear to you. You will not fail yourself. You will claim the spoils of this war and oversee a thriving planet. Cultivating an ever bettering stock of humanity. Your future. On and on. Forever. Alone.

Yeah sure you will.

Wait, what does that next link even mean? --Oh, it's Spades Slick and the co-opted Felt gang members she captured isn't it?? :D I've been waiting for her to unleash them!

(Jane: Release the Brig Boys.)

Wait what the fuck

As if!!!!! Maybe some time in the trenches with the Brig Boys will do him some good.

Oh my GOD she's seriously letting him go?! I'm not sure if that's not even more messed up in the head of her than killing him! She's seriously got a screw loose. She's really afraid of being alone and sure he'll come back to her side, isn't she, even if she needs a leash to force him? (And plot-speaking this just gives him a chance to fly up and bust the Moon Laser.)

Why are they Brig Boys, doesn't that mean prisoners? I mean I guess she probably paranoidly imprisoned some of the clone soldiers, but...

(==>)

Oof, Jake splats to the ground.

Death would be a kindness, after all. You gave Jake a shot to stay by your side and make something of himself, but in the end he proved himself just another deserter. You should have seen it coming; you learned 15 years ago that people will slip right through your fingers if you let them.

well what's your plan then

It’s fine. You won’t let go again. Jake is your means to an end. When you scramble his frontal lobe, you’ll make sure it doesn’t heal right. It won’t be much of a change, anyway.

JESUS CHRIST WOMAN

If I didn't know better I'd accuse someone who worked on this slate of updates to have known about my trigger about the idea of brain damage and personally stacked this one up against me! Good thing I worked out a lot of my fears in therapy so much before this, sheesh. Beyond Canon might know when to STOP punching and crack a joke but when they punch they don't pull those punches, ouch.

(Jane: Commence battle.)

Good thing Jake's already sitting up. You'd better not wallow in that discouragement from the failed assassination attempt, GO AFTER THE MOON LASER. (Though, Rose did warn us that from her biased point of view "just about everyone is going to fail to do something that really matters".)

(Jake: Look out into distance.)

JAKE: TAVROS!

Aw damn, is he going to fly in to help and leave the moon laser problem to someone else? At least he's the one parent of Tavros's focused on something he should of the two.

(==>)

That's a letter from Rose and a pack of trail mix. Rose, now that we know you're lining up future events so things turn out a certain neutral-victory sort of way, I can't help but wonder what the fuck you're planning with the kids. (And how they're going to potentially far surpass your limited expectations.)

On the plus side this means that as soon as we've reckoned with that letter WE FINALLY GET BACK TO THESE KIDS AND POTENTIALLY HAVING SOME FUCKING DIALOGUE THAT INCLUDES YIFFY OR IS ABOUT AND AROUND HER AT LEAST, I'VE BEEN WAITING SO EXCITED TO GET BACK TO THEM AFTER THAT JADE HEART-OUTPOUR THAT YIFFY OVERHEARD AND IS LIKELY STILL MIFFED ABOUT! :DDD Gosh I've been waiting for Yiffy and the other kids to interact more.

I'm extra busy with family stuff for a couple weeks so I probably won't post anything extra between now and the next update, but as usual I'll be right there when it arrives. Until next time!

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #Homestuck^2 #upd8 #spoiler #spoilers #Rose Lalonde #Jade Harley #Light and Void #Calliope #Jane Crocker #Jake English #Kanaya #Hope and Rage

37 notes · View notes

celestialspecial · 1 year ago

Text

In Cold Blood (pt 1)

Synopsis: A slew of murders have you and the other detectives scratching their heads, but the killer himself seems beyond fascinated with you.

Warnings: This is probably my most warning heavy story- mentions and graphic descriptions of blood/gore, death, murder (serial killer!billy is a giveaway), weapons including gun/knives, home invasion mentions, eventual smut lets just say EVERYTHING IS 18+- read at your own discretion

Tag list: @vermillionwinter , @nerdyreaderpapi

You turned a corner, feet hitting the pavement as fast as they could. Water splashed up from a puddle but it didn’t slow you down. The buzz of traffic didn’t calm your racing heart as you skidded to a stop down a corner alley.

How had this happened? You were so sure of yourself. So careful. At least that’s how it felt.

It had started innocently enough, well maybe innocent wasn’t the correct choice of words.

It had started with the death of a local businessman. He’d been found in an alleyway, shoved between trash bins. Multiple knife wounds scattered across his torso and neck. You’d been called to investigate the scene with the other officers.

It had left your mouth dry, the other officers you worked with were rarely left speechless but this….this did it. The brutality of it was unmatched from anything you’d investigated before.

Then a few weeks later there was a woman found murdered in a similar fashion, body left in Central Park for anyone to find. Then there was another and another. It made your stomach turn.

Then you found yourself volunteering to be on the case. To figure out who the bastard was. Why they were doing this. And to put them away for as long as possible.

The longer you researched and devoted your time and energy to figuring out how to catch the murderer the less it made sense. There was no rhyme or reason or outright motives that stood out to you. Just a building body count.

That’s when you got the first call.

You’d been working from the office late one night, pouring over the latest crumb of evidence you’d been able to scrounge up. A blurry cctv blip of footage capturing a large figure in a black hoodie up over their head leaving the building where the last victim was found.

The noise jolted you from your seat, the blinds drawn in your office and the steady hum of the fluorescent lights overhead wearing away at your eyes. It was late. Very late. No one you knew would be up at this hour. Not unless it was an emergency.

You didn’t recognize the number. So not a friend or relative popping up on caller ID. You let it ring another few times before sighing, with a roll of your eyes and sliding to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Detective Archer.” You felt your body freeze at your name being used. The voice crackled on the other end. Deep. Male. But it was edited somewhat, like he was speaking through some sort of device to conceal his voice.

“Who is this?”

“Ah ah ah that’s on a need to know basis.”

“And I don’t need to know?” You pushed away from your desk standing to walk over to your closed office door. Peeking through the blinds to see the still empty office.

“I’m not in your office if that’s what you think.” Your blood ran cold as you froze in place, fingers just pulling away from the door.

“Are you…watching me?” Your eyes flitted to the windows on the right side of your office, rushing over and drawing the blinds closed.

“Always.”

The word hung on the phone line, heavy silence.

“You’re him.”

“There’s a lot of “hims” out there, I’m going to need you to be more specific.” He was taunting you.

“The killer.” Laughter rang out in the other end.

“It took you a little while there, detective. Here I was thinking you were the top of your class.”

“Why are you calling me?” You moved back to your desk wondering if there was some way you could trace the call from your cell phone.

“To ask what your favorite scary movie is.”

“Fuck off.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re gonna get.”

“Come on Detective, play a little game with me.”

“Is that what you think this is?” You hissed into the phone. “A fuckin game?” Your heart pounded in your chest. Rage bubbling up and leeching into your voice.

“It is to me.”

Then with that the line went dead. You swore, tossing your phone onto your desk falling back into your seat.

Hands scratching your head, fingers twining furiously through your hair. Eyes squeezed shut as you’re cursed once more before calling your boss and the rest of your team to alert them to this new development.

Another victim was found a few weeks later, a single stab wound to the chest right over the heart. A Large Bowie knife was left in the body, with a swath of paper folded and held in place by the weapon.

You talked with witnesses and scribbled into your notes after consulting with another officer before turning on your heel to head back to the office.

Knowing tonight you’d drink a pot of coffee and review how out of character this kill was from the previous victims. Was this even done by the same person? Did you have another murderer out there to watch out for? It made your head spin.

“Detective, I think you need to see this.” A cop named Thomas motioned you over to him holding out the piece of paper just removed from the victim.

You took the now unfolded paper from him eyes roving the page. A large red heart was drawn on it with blood. Whether it was the victims or someone else’s you couldn’t be sure, but that wasn’t the thing that worried you most.

Inside the heart was writing, scratchy red ballpoint pen spelling out in large letters, “Archer.” A gift, a love letter, a taunt, you weren’t sure which one it was but it made your blood run cold.

Hot water poured over your skin in the shower, hoping the scalding heat would strip away the knot in your stomach. Whenever you closed your eyes all you could see was the heart, teasing you.

The paper had been placed in an evidence bag and was now being tested but you couldn’t shake the visual from your head. Turning the water off and reveling in the steam before you wrapped a towel around yourself stepping into the bedroom.

All your scattered notes and random photographs littered your home desk and you were starting to feel pathetic at your lack of purchase on this slippery case. How many people needed to end up dead because you couldn’t do your fucking job?

Then the phone rang. A million thoughts ran through your head before you said fuck it and answered.

“Hello?”

“Did you get my gift?”

“You’re sick you know that?” You flipped on the tracer you’d installed on your phone after your last call.

“Detective, I’m wounded. I gave you a lovely gesture of our relationship.”

“The only relationship we have is going to be when I arrest your ass and put you away for the rest of your life.”

“I love when you flirt back with me.”

You rubbed your brow absentmindedly, hating how limited you felt. How you felt like back in training being ridiculed by higher ups.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I enjoy talking to you, Detective.”

“No. Killing people. Innocent people.”

“Who said they were innocent?”

“Who says you get to be judge, jury and executioner?”

If you stalled long enough it’d give your tracer a better chance of locking onto where the call was coming from. Giving you a shred of further evidence.

“You look very nice tonight.”

Your fist subconsciously gripped your towel tighter to your chest. The curtains in your apartment were drawn, and you had checked the lock over four times out of habit.

“How do you know how I look?” You wedged your phone into the crook of you neck, holding it in place as you reached into the end table pulling out your gun and checking the chamber was full.

“Are you close to catching me, Detective? Have I been occupying as much space in your mind as you do mine?”

You padded slowly down the hall, weapon held firm, pointing into each room as you passed. The heat from the bathroom emanated into the kitchen and you swiveled around the corner poised for an attack.

It never came.

He was toying with you. He wasn’t here.

“Why would I be in your head?”

You heard a thump back in your bedroom and the hair on the back of your neck stood up at the sound. The line was silent as you waited for a response, slowly inching back towards your room, gun held aloft.

The only sound you could hear was your own heart thundering in your chest as you eased into the doorway, ears straining to hear any other movement. In a rush if adrenaline you tossed the phone onto the bed throwing open the closet door.

It was empty.

Keeping with your agitated pace, falling to the floor and checking under the bed only to see it bare as well. Angrily snatching the phone back and biting into the mouthpiece.

“Where the fuck are you?!”

At that you heard footsteps back from the bathroom, thumping through your apartment and your front door being thrown open, the alarm blaring.

Scrambling to catch up you stumbled into your living room and were greeted by the open door leading into the hallway of your apartment complex broken open, the chain lock busted and scraping back and forth as it hung limply.

The line went dead and you immediately dialed 911, waiting for a familiar operator to answer as you relayed your predicament. When you heard confirmation they were on the way you rushed back into the bathroom to grab your robe.

There on the mirror was drawn a heart, like that from the note found on the victim. The condensation beaded up as it bled in various water droplets from the remaining steam from the shower.

The months continued on, all leads turning up nil. The tracer you had used only led you to a discarded burner phone in a trash bin by soho. The murders had briefly slowed down.

The phone calls however had not.

Their length and timing varied but it was always the same voice. Slightly skewed but a man’s voice all the same. It had helped you rule out a female suspect.

The continued goading wasn’t the main thing grating on your nerves. No it would be much simpler if that was it. The true horror was how you began to wait for the calls.

You refused to use the term, enjoy. But they no longer caused your blood to run cold in the same way. One day to your absolute dismay after a long stressful meeting you actually felt your shoulders unclench when your phone rang.

“Long day Archer?”

“How can you ask me that when you’re the source of my stress?”

“Am I?”

Besides the phone calls there was the disturbing hints of affection. A bouquet had appeared at your desk at work one day. No note, but you didn’t need one to know who it was from.

Then a bottle of expensive wine was left on the steps of the precinct with another card bearing only a simplistically drawn heart inside.

The bottle was immediately taken in as evidence and dusted for prints. There obviously were none. No matter what you did he was always ten steps ahead. 5D chess in the most infuriating way.

“How was the wine?”

“If you’re so aware of my every move you’d know I didn’t drink it.”

“Shame, 1913 was supposedly a good year for that merlot.”

“I’m growing tired of our Hannibal Lecter and Clarice dynamic.”

“Who says that’s what we are?”

“WE are nothing.”

A tsk’ing crackled over the line.

“You and I both know that’s not true.”

“Then what are we?”

You put the phone on speaker as you pulled out a container of chinese food leftovers from your fridge. Popping the lid off and shoveling it into a bowl before sliding it into the microwave.

A chuckle came from the other end. You hated how it didn’t feel gross and malicious like it should.

You continued on, mind listing a slew of options as you watched your food rotate in the microwave.

“Phantom and Christine. Michael Myers and Laurie strode. Billy Loomis and Sidney Prescott.”

“You never did tell me your favorite scary movie.”

you sighed dramatically as the oven dinged and you removed your food, returning it to the counter, pulling your hair into a messy bun.

“You do look stunning Detective. I’m shocked someone of your caliber went into law enforcement.”

“I think it’s unfair you know what I look like and yet Ive never seen you before.”

“Nice try Archer.” You couldn’t suppress the small laugh that shook your shoulders a tad.

“It was worth a try.”

Walking into work the next morning you were immediately greeted by another detective, John Lawson. His cheeks were ruddy and he seemed to be out of breath.

“What’s going on?”

“We have a photo of our killer.”

You felt your stomach flip, either from excitement or nerves.

“What?”

He took out a printed sheet of paper, it showed a dim alleyway and a victim from the other night slumped in the background.

Sure enough there in the foreground was a man, in a black hoodie, black pants and military boots. The hood pulled up over his head and underneath the hood a stark white mask, covered in a multitude of scratches and cracks that seemed to be painted on.

He was staring straight at the camera, knife glinting in one hand, the other raised in a mock wave.

“Smug bastard.”

#billy russo #ben barnes #the punisher #billy russo x female reader #billy russo x reader #billy russo fanfic #ben barnes character #the punisher fanfiction #the punisher au #billy russo jigsaw #billy russo x y/n #billy russo x you #serial killer #serial killer!billy x detective!reader #true crime #halloween #halloween fanfic

119 notes · View notes

rubys-domain · 1 year ago

Text

man. my lyney just dropped 70k on his skill. i think that's the highest skill pop i've ever had on record

#⇢₊˚⊹ 🩷∥ruby∥yo，ide yo !!#i think it was max stacks but can't be sure #also for some reason i'm way more proud of my song of stillness on main than my first great magic on the alt #maybe it's because i worked so hard to get the stuff to forge it. and i visibly saw results after equipping it on him #while on the alt，even though he has 4pc marechaussee and his sig，his damage is still just passable at best #my alt is just really bad honestly #i'm seeing hope because i got him to drop 44k today while i was farming resistance books for benny boi #but yeah. basically everyone's artifacts REALLY need work #aside from that though #i'm almost ashamed of the first great magic i have equipped on lyney #even though i literally got it from grinding my ass off for freemos，it still feels almost unfair that i have it #it feels almost cheat-y that i have his bis. even though it literally isn't #the fact that a 100% f2p lyney (i.e. my main account) still outdamages a lyney with his bis set and bis weapon is a bit of bitter irony tho #maybe this is me realizing that i'd rather not whale for weapons actually #even if i did have that kind of money #i want to see how far an r5 song of stillness lyney can go #i might still not be above whaling to c6 him tho #which is kind of ironic cuz like. if i'm dropping enough money to get him to c6 then why not get at least one copy of his sig，right?#i don't really have an explanation tbh. i guess i just don't feel like pulling for his weapon. he already feels strong enough without it #i would still whale for a weapon for chongyun though #i think the difference is that he's a 4 star. and he needs all the help he can possibly get in the damage department #i want my chongyun to drop casual 100k's too ;-;#and then i could give dehya the wgs that he currently has to boost lyney's damage even further #anyway i got enough books to crown both bennett and kazuha on the alt #now all i need are treasure hoarder drops and mora

2 notes · View notes

zmediaoutlet · 6 months ago

Text

Two hundred miles north of Bodega Bay, Sam taps his fingers on his thigh in a particular pattern. Dean pulls off the 101 at Eureka, driving easy. Trying to make it look that way at least. Familiar roads off the highway—gas, fast food. Motels, and he picks the third he sees, a long low building with a cracked and unfilled pool, and he looks sidelong at Sam across the seat and Sam nods and goes into the office to get whatever room can be got.

Idling in the dark. He clears his throat, feels like an idiot. Says out loud, anyway, "Hey, uh. You there? 'Cause, I know—I mean, I guess, ghosts don't sleep, right? But me and Sammy have gotta get some shuteye before we go all guns blazing, so. Hope you're good to—to hang out, and…"

And what? Read their Dick Roman research in the dark in the parking lot? The idiot feeling hasn't gone away and intensifies when there's no answer but silence. There's this other thing squeezing his guts, though, a shiver that he's trying not to acknowledge so it won't rattle all the way through and make his bones leap fully a foot to the left of his body—and he jumps when there's a knock on the window, but it's just Sam. He holds up his fingers, backlit by neon and the white light of the motel office—room seven—and sets off walking, so Dean's left to pull the car around, the radio off, silence ringing through the car like a struck gong, shattering.

Big truck parked directly in front of room seven. Dean picks a spot a few down and mutters loud enough to be heard, "Take your half out of the middle, huh?" Sam meets him at the trunk, spinning the keys into his palm, and they don't look at each other while they pick up their duffles of clothes, the weapon bag Dean usually packs, the supply bag Sam tends to haul when they need to haul it, with its load of iron, and silver, and salt. Sam goes over to open up the room and Dean heaves his bags up onto one shoulder and sees the flask wink parking lot light back up at him from where it's stuck by the box of IDs. He says, "Night," easy, like it's easy, and then he shuts the trunk and follows Sam into the room and flicks the lamp and closes the door firmly behind them with his heart in his throat, and Sam opens his mouth and Dean shakes his head and Sam looks at the closed door and then turns away, his shoulders high and stiff, and dumps his bags on the further bed, and unzips the supply bag and picks up the salt.

Heavy pour at the line of the doorway and under the gross pink polyester curtain. Dean wants to toss it up into the vent in the bathroom but that's probably overkill. "Van Ness house gave me the creeps, what can I say," he says, to Sam, loud enough maybe to be heard on the sidewalk outside.

Sam blows out air. "You think they're stuck to your shoe?"

Dean licks his lips, checks his pockets. No flask—no, he checked, it's in the trunk, and now with salt heavy between them and what should be the past, that panic scrapes again at his gut. Sam lifts the EMF meter out of his bag, where it's been turned on, and there's not a blip, and Dean feels like all the tendons in his legs have dissolved when he drops onto the free bed, and he says, "What are we—Sam, we—"

How long has it been? Sam shakes his head but Dean knows he's thinking the same thing. Since that godawful day in the hospital, since they burned the bones, the blood-stained hat, and they'd gone back to the abandoned shitty house they'd squatted in and stared in at its grey wreck with dry eyes and they'd—fucked, that night, miserable and not even enjoying it but doing something that was other than death, that stupid instinctive defiance against the night that they'd perfected over all these years of tragedy, and Dean had—he'd filled the flask, after, with the sweat barely cooling on his shoulders, and sipped whiskey and swallowed with a mouth that still tasted like his brother, and it was—unthinkable. After all those years of secrets. On top of everything, this couldn't—they couldn't have—

Sam's dragging his thumb back and forth over his other palm, slowly. Hair hanging over his face. "Ghosts—they don't show up right away, right?" he says. He clenches his hands together, weird and cramped-looking. "And then once they form, it's because they've got—a goal. One thing they're focused on."

"Revenge," Dean says, and Sam looks up at him, and nods. No panic on his face, at least. Even the vague sickness drained away. Dean watches Sam's hands, the clawing in his gut not—fixed, exactly, but not worse.

All these hard-fought years and he didn't—think about it. After all they'd gone through it was just part of the fabric of the world and he knew there was no changing it and he thinks, he's pretty sure at least, that Sam's in the same boat. They'd either keep sailing it or go down with the ship and that's just the way it was, and now—with everything they'd lost—there'd been this kind of… raw and horrible freedom. He hadn't thought about it that way until he'd looked up and seen the ghost and known, after the initial shock and the fear and the thinking-through what it meant, that the veil had been drawn back and not fully closed—had known that raw hot terror of what—being seen would mean. Hadn't felt that horror since his real father had died. And, now—

"Got me wishing for a real private foxhole," Dean says. Mostly evenly, he thinks.

Sam looks at the closed motel door behind Dean's back and takes a deep breath. "If we win here, we will win everywhere," he says, quiet, and it sounds like he's quoting something but Dean doesn't know what. But there's salt thick over every gap and a closed curtain and three parking spots between that flask and here, and so Dean leans forward and grabs Sam's clenched hands. Sam looks at him, surprised, but he lets Dean worm a thumb in between his palms and touch the scar.

"We're not crazy, at least," Dean says.

Sam snorts. "Yeah," he says, a little ironic but not as ironic as he could be. He grips Dean's wrist very tightly before he gets up, putting space between them, and shuts off the EMF reader.

#happy wincest wednesday #my writing #ww lottery #a random ficlet for episode 145 #i have thought about the raw incest reveal panic a Lot #in ways cracky and terrifying #but honestly #established relationship doesn't go into it enough i feel like

46 notes · View notes

sjsmith56 · 4 months ago

Text

On the Road

Summary: Bucky takes a witness to a murder on the road to keep her safe. Over the long trip, they become close.

Length: 9.8 K (I know, it’s a long one.)

Characters: Bucky Barnes, named OFC, Sam Wilson, Yelena Belova.

Warnings: Memories of Bucky’s time with HYDRA, violence causing injury and/or death.

Author’s notes: Inspired by a song Los Navegantes by Hermanos Gutierrez which had me thinking of spaghetti westerns (also referenced in the story). Bucky definitely has a bit of the vigilante in him.

It had been an hour since Taylor Hollis was brought to the Avengers Tower. Placed into witness protection after she witnessed a mob hit, the Federal Marshals on her detail had little time to prepare for an attack on their safe house. While three of the officers stayed to fight off the attackers, the fourth Marshal successfully managed to get her to a motorcycle stashed in a shed at the back of the property then drove through the thinnest part of the gauntlet where his colleagues had focused their counterattack. He brought her to the safest place he could think of at that moment, Avengers Tower in the heart of Manhattan. After flashing his ID at the security desk, he pulled Taylor forward, asked them to protect her, then collapsed, dying in hospital later from the bullet that pierced his spleen, slowly bleeding to death on the desperate drive into the city.

Now she sat on the couch in the communal living room in the residence section, her trembling hands grasping a cup of tea given to her by Sam. He stood with Bucky and Joaquin out of earshot.

"What have you found out?" asked Bucky.

"They were betrayed," replied Joaquin. "Someone in the Marshal's service gave up their location. Someone wants her dead, which likely means whoever gave their location up was involved in the murder she witnessed."

"Fury spoke to a trusted source, and they want us to take over her security while they try to uncover the mole." Sam shook his head. "She could stay here but I'm guessing they'll try again. His source said not to trust anyone from the Marshal's service."

"I'll take her," offered Bucky. "There are lots of former HYDRA safe houses we can hole up in. They have cash, weapons and functional surveillance systems I can access."

Sam looked doubtful. "Weren't those sites all exposed in the info dump?"

"No, there were just as many off the books as those that were documented." Bucky gestured to her. "You know that I can keep her safer than anyone else here. Bring in a SHIELD agent that's built like me, put a nano mask on his face and arm so they think I'm still here. I'll take a burner phone and check in only with you, Sam. Keep it compartmentalized."

As Bucky laid out his complete plan both Sam and Joaquin nodded their approval, even though there was some risk involved. With Sam leaving to inform Fury and Joaquin continuing to monitor surveillance channels, Bucky approached the woman, who had the thousand-yard stare.

"Hey," he said, calmly, offering her his hand. "I'm Bucky. What's your name?"

"Taylor," she smiled grimly. "What's going to happen to me?"

"We were just discussing that. There's concern that your safe house location was compromised by a mole in the Federal Marshal's service." She looked alarmed. "Not the four that were there but someone higher up who may have been involved in the hit you witnessed."

"Is Jerry, okay? There was so much blood, but he never said a word while he brought me here."

"I'm sorry but he didn't make it. None of them did."

She put her cup down and buried her face in her hands, crying. Bucky shifted to sit next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder. As the sobs shook her body he held her, allowing her the time to grieve for the federal agents who died protecting her. Eventually she regained control, and he gave her his handkerchief, telling her to keep it.

"What now?"

He looked at her reddened eyes and swollen cheeks which didn't hide the fact that she seemed like a good person. At that moment he knew why the four Marshals sacrificed themselves for her. It made his offer feel even more righteous.

"I have skills that include staying off the radar," he replied. "You and I are going on the road to some undocumented safe houses. No one will know where we are and I'll only check in with one person, Captain America. We'll stay off the grid as long as we need to. When they arrest the mole, we'll come back in, and I'll stay with you until you testify."

For a moment she glanced away, then she looked back at Bucky.

"How good are you, Mr. Barnes?"

A smile flickered across his face at her using his last name. She knew exactly who he was.

"The best and I'm not bragging. You know who I am and who I was before. I'll protect you as if you were the most important person on Earth. That's my promise."

"When?"

"We need to get some things set up, clothing, transportation, and cash. They won't be here but at a drop off point, although I'll take clothing and weapons from here. We'll use a quinjet in stealth mode to get there. Then we'll be on our own." He looked at his watch. "I think we should leave just after sunset."

"I have nothing with me," she said.

"Don't worry, it's already being taken care of." He took her hand in his right one, squeezing it gently. "Would you like to take a shower or a bath and relax before then?"

Taylor nodded and he stood up, still holding her hand. Taking her to his quarters, he showed her the bathroom, explaining the shower and bathtub controls, then gave her a bathrobe to wear while her clothing needs were sorted out. As he left her there, he came out of his door to find Yelena approaching with an assortment of clothing.

"She's having a shower," he said. "Be kind to her. She's an innocent and feels guilty about the deaths of the Marshals on her detail."

"You're a good man, Yasha," she said. "She needs the best for this, and I know you won't allow anyone to hurt her."

He nodded and sought out Sam. Together they worked out what Bucky wanted; a reliable vehicle that couldn't be hacked or tracked remotely, and any maintenance on it could be done by Bucky, burner phone, $10,000 cash in assorted bills, nothing larger than $20 in denomination, non-perishable foods, camping gear for two, and the weapons that Bucky would choose from the armoury. Anything else could be found in the safe houses or picked up along the way.

"Fury gave a code word for when the mole is arrested and you need to come in," said Sam, handing Bucky a folded piece of paper. He read it and tore it up into bits, then put the pieces in a metal dish and pulled a lighter out of his pocket, lighting it on fire. Even Friday wouldn't know what the code was. Not that Bucky thought it would be needed if the mole used his sources to search for them. Sam then handed him two other devices. "This is a GPS locator. One time use, and then the device scrambles and won't work anymore. If you find yourself in trouble, activate it and stay put. A portal will open to bring help. This other one is a scanner so you can quickly determine if anyone put a tracker on your car. You know the drill."

Bucky nodded. "Stay away from anywhere there are security cameras, no speeding, no drawing attention to myself. I'm going to grow a beard and use a nano sleeve on the arm. I guess I should build a cover story for us."

"Boyfriend and girlfriend taking a trip across America," suggested Sam. "Lots of people do it." He put his hand on Bucky's shoulder. "Stay safe."

A slight smile was his response, and he headed to the armoury, picking up his preferred selection of weapons, including an M249 Saw, two Glock 17s, two SIG-Sauer P226s, and an assortment of combat knives. He added as much ammunition as he could, then tossed in several holsters the pistols and sheaths for the knives. Zipping it all together, he left it in his locker, making sure his tactical suit was folded up and slid into a carrying case along with his combat boots. From there he went to the operations centre and requested a nano sleeve and a couple of ball caps. After checking the sleeve's function, he placed it back in its storage case, taking it with him. On his return to his quarters, he unlocked the door and announced he was coming in.

"We're all packed," answered Yelena, who was sitting with Taylor on the couch in his living room. She turned to the woman. "You're in good hands with Yasha. He is the best."

After she left, Taylor looked at him. "Yasha?"

"Russian nickname for James," he explained. "I just have to pack some clothes. Are you hungry? We should eat first as it might be a while before we stop."

"I guess I should." She stood up. "How are we going to do this? Every movie I ever saw where an agent had to protect someone, they came up with a cover story in case they were stopped."

"We'll keep it simple," replied Bucky. "Boyfriend and girlfriend taking a road trip, so we'll have to hold hands and be somewhat affectionate when we’re in public. I'm going to stop shaving as my beard should grow in enough to disguise me within a couple of days. We'll use ball caps and sunglasses outside as much as we can. The rest we can talk about on the quinjet, then in the vehicle."

She nodded and followed him to the communal kitchen, where someone had laid out several different orders of takeout. Bucky handed her a plate, but no one asked who she was, as they already knew. It was a quiet meal and Taylor put her dirty dishes in the dishwasher after rinsing them in the sink. Together, she and Bucky returned to his quarters, where she waited while he packed a bag of clothes. Finally, he came out of his room with his things.

"Bring your bag and follow me," he said. "I have to make one stop."

At the locker room, he went inside and got his weapons bag and tac suit bag, handing the former to Sam, who was waiting with Taylor.

"Jesus, did you bring everything?" he grinned.

"Just the essentials," answered Bucky. "Too heavy for you?"

"Too heavy for everyone except the cyborg," he answered.

"Not in front of company, Sam."

Taylor smiled shyly at the banter between the two men, recognizing it as two friends expressing themselves before a mission. They took the elevator to the launch pad for the quinjet, which was invisible, except for where the ramp was lowered, exposing the inside of the aircraft. She touched the invisible edge beside the ramp, her face showing her disbelief that she could feel the metal but just couldn't see it.

"It's cloaked," said Sam. "Just in case anyone is watching. They won't see you take off. The ramp is facing the door so from any other angle it's invisible." They stowed their bags inside, then Bucky sat at the pilot's seat, gesturing to Taylor to sit next to him. She buckled in. "Fury remotely programmed the coordinates of the car. As soon as you're off, enter the Recall command on a timer so it returns here. Take care. Miss Hollis, you're in very good hands."

"That's what I understand," she replied, then she looked at Sam. "Thank you for your kindness."

He smiled, then squeezed Bucky on the shoulder and left the quinjet. The ramp closed and Bucky went through his checklist.

"Ready?"

Nervously, she gripped the arm rest, then laughed at herself as she didn't even feel it lifting into the air. Even as Bucky applied the throttle, it was so smooth that she wondered why all aircraft weren't like this. An inquiry from Air Traffic Control about their flight had Bucky responding in a coded message that took a moment for ATC to answer. When they did, they responded with another code and Bucky was given clearance to a secure altitude.

"We're off their radar," he answered to her unspoken question. "Because of the classified nature of some of our missions, they can't know where we're going. This is one of those situations." He flipped a switch. "That's just to make sure. That repels any attempts to track us by radar." He set a timer and then the automatic pilot. "We've got time to talk now."

For the next hour she told him about being a server in a restaurant in Manhattan, one of two jobs she had. She had just finished her shift then realized she forgot something at the restaurant she needed for her other job. Returning, she went straight to the back room, to retrieve it, then heard several loud pops. Cracking the door open she saw several armed men surrounding a table of men who arrived shortly before she returned. One of them at the table was dead, his head facing sideways on the table. She gasped, a sound that one of the armed men heard. Closing and locking the door, she went out the back and into the alley, trying to stay behind the various dumpsters and garbage cans that blocked the view of anyone coming into the alley. Coming out near a subway entrance, she went down the stairs and used her transit card to get onto the platform, desperately waiting for the next train. As it arrived, she saw several of the same armed men from the restaurant coming down the stairs, looking for her. Trying not to stare she boarded the train and prayed they wouldn't get on. They didn't but when the train passed the men, one of them stared right at her and she realized he knew she saw them.

"I didn't notice that I dropped the package for my other job, but they showed up there, and got my address. I was already at the police station then, filing my witness statement. Right away they called the Federal Marshals, and I never went home after that. That was a week ago."

"Our director thinks one of the men who was there is a mole in the Federal Marshal's Service," said Bucky. "Did anyone have you look at mug shots or employee records?"

She nodded. "They're associated with the Umberto crime family. They didn't mention looking at employee records."

They spoke some more about their cover. It was important that they not spend too much time in a single place ... no more than a few days.

"Do you know how to fire a gun?" he asked.

"Not really," she answered. "My ex was into guns and tried to show me, but he wasn't a very patient man. He made me more nervous than anything."

"Okay, I'm a good teacher and I'd like you to know how, just in case I need you for backup."

An alert sounded and they returned to the cockpit, seeing they were within minutes of their destination. Taking control, Bucky used the sensors on the quinjet to locate the vehicle, its ghostly image showing up on the screen. Another vehicle was nearby, and it flashed its headlights in the Morse code configuration for 73, meaning Best Regards. Bucky flashed a light under the quinjet with CFM for Confirm. He landed, then put his hand on Taylor's arm when she started to rise.

"It's better if they don't see you," he said. "I'll get the keys and anything else that needs to be handed over then send them on their way."

He turned the lights inside down low then went to the ramp and pressed a control to lower it, then raised it again when he was outside. A holographic screen came on in front of Taylor showing him talking to two agents. One of them handed him the keys to the car, while the other gave him a sealed envelope. Then both agents got into their car and drove away. Bucky watched until they were out of sight before he returned to the quinjet and opened the ramp, entering.

"Friday, lights please." He pressed his thumb on an outline on the envelope then waited as the sealant on it dissolved before he opened it. There were several sheets of paper that he scanned quickly. "Looks like they figured out who the mole is. He's a Marshal, John Patterson, who was assigned to guard a witness in another Umberto trial. They were attacked and everyone except him was killed. They did a forensic audit of his finances and found an offshore account using an alias from when he was a regular police officer working undercover. A deposit of $5 million was made three years ago when he was head of the detail for that witness. There was another $2 million deposited last week just before the hit, and $2 million yesterday. He's definitely after you." He heard a gasp from Taylor and looked up. "Sorry, I'm not trying to scare you but it does mean we may have to improvise and change the existing plans a little. If they gave him that kind of money it means they can buy off other law enforcement. Now that he's been identified I have permission to take him out if you're in danger. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a stone-cold killer anymore but if I must, I will."

Together they transferred everything to the Toyota 4Runner, a 2002 model that had no tracker installed. Bucky ran the scanner over it to be sure. Inside the back was everything he asked for. He took some of the money out, placing it in his wallet then put the clothing bags on the back seat, but everything else fit into the back. He also slipped the nano sleeve onto his arm; in case they were stopped for any reason. Finally, they were ready to go and put their seatbelts on.

"I can stay awake for long periods of time so I'm going to drive for as long as I can," he said. "You might as well sleep."

"I'll try," she answered. "Do you know where we are?"

"Yeah, I know exactly where we are, but we'll be far away from here by morning."

She smiled at him, then as he pulled onto the highway, she turned slightly towards him so she could pull her knees up onto the seat. When he looked again her eyes were closed and her breathing steady. It made him feel good inside that she trusted him enough to sleep.

🌅

A hand on Taylor's arm woke her up; she opened her eyes to Bucky's blue ones.

"We're getting close to the safe house," he said. "When we get there, you stay in the vehicle while I check to make sure it's safe for us to go in. Keep the doors locked." He looked at the road again before glancing back at her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I usually can't sleep in a car, but I guess I was more tired than I thought."

He pulled into the driveway of an overgrown property and got out. Grabbing a gun, he gestured to Taylor to lock the doors and walked to the door of the house, looking for any signs of a surveillance camera. Not finding one, he examined the door, searching for an input device. He found it behind a false panel that popped its cover when he pressed gently. Looking at the keypad he studied it for several long moments then entered a code based on his memory, certain he had been in this building before. A click, and the door opening confirmed it. Carefully, he stepped inside, placing a chair in the doorway to keep it from locking behind him.

It smelled musty inside and there was a thick layer of dust on everything. The fridge was empty, but the door was propped open and the power to it was off, as was the power to the light switches. After checking every room, Bucky was convinced that the house had sat empty for a long time. Coming out the door, he motioned to Taylor to unlock the vehicle.

"It seems clear," he said. "No power but I'll check to see if it was turned off at the panel. We'll bring the sleeping bags to sleep in, and the camping lanterns if I can't get the power to run."

Together they took some of the food, their clothing, weapons, and the sleeping bags inside. Bucky went back out and switched the vehicle's position closer to a door at the back of the house, in case they couldn't get out the front door. Using one of the camping lanterns he went down to the cellar and found the electrical panel. It was turned off, so he flipped every switch over.

"The lights work!" yelled Taylor from upstairs.

He nodded to himself, then turned on a light switch down there and double checked the cellar. Like the rest of the house, there was no sign of anyone being there for some time, making him wonder if any HYDRA stragglers had already cleaned it out of weapons and cash. Searching the walls for any signs he noticed a shelving unit and stood in front of it, noticing it had a backing. Sliding his fingers along the back edge he found a small depression and pressed it. The shelf moved towards him, revealing a storage room behind. Turning on the light he saw there were heavy drop cloths over everything, and pulled them off, revealing an assortment of weapons.

"Jesus, I've never seen that many weapons in one place," said Taylor, who stepped in behind him. "Who left these here?"

"HYDRA," he replied. "They have places like this all over; some documented, some secret. I knew of many of the secret ones because they wanted me out of the public eye and would bring me there after a mission to lay low until it was safe for us to leave." He picked up a Skorpion sub-machine gun, examining it closely. "I remembered being here and actually fired this one. As soon as the mission was complete, I had to hand everything over to my handler."

He took it and some ammunition, then looked for a gun cleaning kit and two sets of noise canceling headphones, handing those to Taylor. Heading back upstairs, he put the gun and kit on the kitchen table, then looked at her.

"Hungry?"

She nodded, but pointed to the tap. "No water."

"Should be a pump out in the yard," he answered. "Have to let it run for a while and the water will taste metallic but it's potable, at least it was. We can boil it to make sure."

He took care of that, coming back ten minutes later with a full pail of water. He looked through the dehydrated camping meals provided for them and picked out an oatmeal one, then found some instant coffee, a small tin of evaporated milk and some sugar. After boiling some water for ten minutes he poured some into the oatmeal package, stirring it with a spoon that was in a package with the food, and filled their camping bowls. He spooned some coffee into their mugs and poured more water into them. It was quiet as they ate, neither feeling the need to talk. When they were finished, Bucky cleaned the Skorpion while Taylor watched.

"You seem to know what you're doing," she noted.

"I've handled a lot of different firearms," he shrugged. "They're a tool, nothing more. I use them for work, but I don't keep one on me." He grinned slightly. "A knife is a different matter. I always carry one in a custom-made sheath built into my boot." She looked at him questioningly. "It's quiet, better for closeup fighting, and just as deadly for someone that knows how to use it, which I do."

She chuckled and it was his turn to look at her for enlightenment. "That ex I told you about was fixated on guns. He was constantly wanting to go to gun shows and buy the newest thing always saying he was doing it to protect me and the house. I swear that he cared more for them than he did about me. It bothered him that I didn't like having that many guns in the house. Yet, seeing you cleaning this one, and knowing what's sitting in that room below us doesn't seem to bother me like that."

"Did he ever shoot anyone?" Bucky looked directly at her as she shook her head. "I was a sniper in World War II. They called us marksmen but my job with the Howling Commandos was to kill anyone who pointed a gun at Steve Rogers, or any of the other guys on the team. I was good at it, but I didn't like it. Even though I wasn't religious it seemed a sin to kill indiscriminately like that, but it was wartime, and I knew my duty. When HYDRA got their hooks in me, and realized how good I already was, it was like they won the lottery. All those calculations that I needed to work out in my head for trajectory, wind speed, and everything else was so ingrained that all they had to do was add to my arsenal. Every new firearm that came out was brought to me and I was expected to become an expert in it. I couldn't say no or object. It was master it or be punished." He breathed out heavily. "I find that the guys who have never had to pull the trigger on someone are the ones who love their guns the most. Maybe it makes them feel more manly. I never intend to kill anyone when I fire at them but the instinct to make it count is too strong." He looked her in the eyes. "I'm not a killer but I do kill when I have to. Then I try to live with what I've done."

He stopped talking and finished cleaning the gun, reassembling it. Standing up, he gestured to her to follow and went outside with the Skorpion, the Glock he still had in the back of his pants, and ammunition. For the next half hour, he showed her how to fire the Glock, standing behind her and reaching around her to position her hands properly on it, aiming at several signs he found in the barn and propped against the fence. His method was calm and measured, and Taylor found herself appreciative of how he let her take her time before firing. By the end of the half hour, she was able to hit smaller targets, like old oil cans, mason jars, and the odd tin can.

"How are your hands?" He took them in his, gently massaging them. "If you're not used to it your hands can start to feel numb."

"Not bad," she admitted, appreciating how he seemed to look after the little details. She looked at the Skorpion. "Are you going to let me try that?"

"That was my intention," he answered. "You want to give it a try?"

Taylor nodded and he walked her through the parts of it, then let her feel how light it was. He put the larger signs up again, then they put their headphones on, and she fired a short burst. Her first time brought a shriek, then laughter from her which made him smile. Once that was out of her system, she got serious and tried it again. She hit the target on about half the shots before they had to reload. Bucky made some suggestions then let her try again. This time she did better. He didn't bother putting the smaller targets up.

"If you can hit them anywhere in the body, they should go down. I think that's enough for today. I'm going to go back down to the weapons locker and figure out what else to take with us. There should be a safe on either the main or second floor with cash in it. If you could look behind the pictures and see if you can find it, I would appreciate it."

She did find it and when Bucky came up with an armful of weapons to clean, she showed him, then watched, mesmerized, as he bent his head to the safe door and listened to the sounds of the dials inside the safe to unlock it. Inside was more cash, several passports, including some old ones of him and Rumlow, and several printed pages. He looked over them, learning of several more previously undocumented safe houses. They would take the list with them. He burned the passports as they were all expired anyway.

They ate again, choosing a package of beef stew that was decent enough. When it got dark Bucky set up their sleeping bags on the bed in two of the rooms, wrapping the pillows that had been left on the beds in some sheets he found in a linen closet. There were no mice, thank goodness, but he didn't want to take any chances of anything crawling out during the night. During the night, he was awakened by Taylor appearing in the doorway, holding her sleeping bag and pillow in her hand.

"I'm sorry but I'm cold," she whispered. "Can I sleep with you?"

Without answering he opened his sleeping bag up then zipped hers to it. Laying back inside he held the top open while she climbed in, and they zipped the sides up.

"Better?" he asked, as he pulled her towards his body and rested his arm around her.

"Much. You're very warm."

"Yeah, it's a super soldier thing," he replied. "Close your eyes. I'll keep you warm."

They spent three days and nights in the safe house, sharing the same bed for sleeping. On the fourth morning Bucky turned on the radio in the 4Runner and heard an odd news report.

Authorities are still looking for several men who shot up a tailor's shop in New York City. The men are believed to be in Pennsylvania, near the Scranton area, according to federal authorities. Residents in the area are to be on the lookout for anyone in plain clothes identifying themselves as law enforcement. According to spokesperson Detective Wilson of the NYPD they are considered to be armed and dangerous and may be headed towards Philadelphia.

Recognizing it as a planted warning to him, he informed Taylor it was time to go. Within 20 minutes they were on the road.

"Which way are we going?" she asked.

"West," he answered. "Ohio, but I have to get gas first."

Once that was done, he drove through Pennsylvania and most of Ohio for over nine hours, stopping a couple of times for a bathroom break and to pick up food, before he pulled up in front of a motel on the outskirts of Cincinnati. Paying cash for a double room, they took their things inside where Bucky offered the shower to Taylor first. Using the landline in the room while blocking the phone number he called Sam.

"I got your radio message," he said, by way of greeting. "Any updates I should know about?"

"Some informants have confirmed there's a hit out on Miss Hollis," replied Sam. "They know you're with her. The SHIELD agent who impersonated you wasn't exactly up to the task which didn't impress Fury. Plus, there are probably police on their payroll who have been watching for you. There's a bounty out on you, to bring you in alive."

"Let me guess, the Russian bratvas." Bucky ran his hand through his hair. "They worked hand in hand with HYDRA when it suited them. Well, we'll stay mobile and hopefully avoid them until I can get them into an area where no one else gets hurt."

"How is she handling it?" asked Sam.

"Not bad," he replied. "I like her. I've taught her to shoot. She's a pretty calm person considering what she's been through already."

"Alright, we'll try to insert more coded messages in the radio broadcasts if it looks like they're congregating in an area," said Sam. "Stay vigilant and let me know when you're close to your destination. I assume it’s western Kansas.”

"You know me too well," smirked Bucky, hanging up.

The bathroom door opened to Taylor in sleepwear with a towel wrapped around her head. He grabbed some things from his bag and took his turn, coming out to her watching TV. Sitting on the other bed he gestured to the screen.

"What are you watching?"

"Old movie, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly," she answered. "Clint Eastwood."

"Don't think I've seen that," said Bucky. "Any good?"

"Kind of, in a weird way," she answered. "It's called a spaghetti western because it was an Italian production, filmed in Spain, about the old West, done in a very stylized method. There were three movies in all, and they made Clint Eastwood a star. Everyone knows the music as parts of it have been used in all sorts of different commercials, TV shows, and even other movies."

He watched for a while, then grinned at Taylor when the distinctive music played during a scene. Leaning back against the headboard, he watched the movie, scoffing at some of the scenes in it. It was quite ridiculous, but he could see the appeal to others. They slept in their separate beds, then headed out right after breakfast after he told her what Sam had revealed.

For the next week they alternated between a couple of days in a safe house, then a night in a motel to shower, always listening to the news on the radio for the next message from Sam. They even did their laundry in a rundown laundromat that was out in the middle of nowhere in Missouri. As they drove through Kansas, Taylor sat with her feet pulled up onto the car seat and turned so she could lean against the door.

"Don't you get tired of driving?"

Bucky shrugged. "There were times I was up three days straight waiting for my target to show up. Falling asleep would get me punished. At least driving gives me something to do." He gestured towards the windshield. "Besides, we're seeing America."

"Maybe you could do it with your girlfriend sometime." She looked steadily at him. "Is there someone?"

"No, there's no one," he answered. "I'm not prime boyfriend material."

"Why do you say that?" Bucky shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. "Hey, we've shared a bed platonically. I think I'm beyond being a person to protect. I like to think that we've become friends." His mouth was clamped shut but she could see a muscle twitch on his jaw. "Ah, we're not even that in your eyes." She turned back to looking forward out of the windshield. "Forget I said anything."

A few miles up Bucky pulled into a rest stop, then turned off the ignition. He got out, went over to her side of the vehicle, and opened it, offering her his hand. Not letting go he took her over to a stand of trees that provided some shade. Sitting down on a bench while he still held her hand, he studied her face carefully.

"I do like you, more than like," he said gently. "It's been hard for me to keep my mind on my mission, which is to protect you from harm. I have issues, a lot of emotional baggage from the years I spent as a prisoner. Around you, I feel better, and it becomes easy to think of us as something more. There have been times when I've wanted to wrap you up in my arms, kiss you like I want to kiss you, then to share a bed with you in a very non-platonic way. But I can't, not while those guys are still out there, looking for us. If I do give in to what I really want, then my focus is divided, and it could end up costing us." He caressed the side of her face, then kissed her lightly but with enough feeling behind it for her to know he was being truthful. "When this is over, we can decide where we want this to go."

She gazed up into his blue eyes. He was right. Still holding hands, they returned to the 4Runner, and kissed again, before getting inside. After another day of driving, he turned onto a dirt road, following it for several miles until he turned off onto another road. A barely legible sign pointed towards an upcoming town. When they got to its outskirts he stopped and turned off the 4Runner, stepping out and walking forward a little, placing his hands on his hips. Taylor joined him, squinting her eyes in the bright sun.

"What is it?" she asked. "Why are we here?"

He took out his cell phone and shook his head at there being no signal. It meant he would have to use the GPS locator to bring in help. There was little to no cover, not for them and not for the people who were tracking them.

"I haven't been entirely honest with you," he said, still looking out over the still and desolate landscape. "The thing about having a corrupt Marshal on your payroll is that he usually isn't the only one. Russian bratvas have put a bounty on taking me alive, just as the Umberto family have put out a hit on you. They have corrupt officers all over the place who have been reporting our location to them as we drove. I tried to stay clear of populated areas because they don't care who else they hurt when they're after someone, so I've been leading them here. It's a ghost town but there is a HYDRA facility here. You'll be safe inside while I deal with them."

"By yourself?" She touched his arm. "Why would you go after them yourself?"

He smiled sadly at her. "It's what I do. But once I'm out there I want you to press a button on this." He showed her the GPS locator. "It will bring help and hopefully get you to safety." She looked at it in his hand, not wanting to take it. "I told you that my mission is to protect you from harm. The only way I can do that is to get them all in the same place then go after them and hunt them down. Believe it or not, the odds are in my favour."

"I don't believe it," she snorted, stepping back. "You're one man. How many are you expecting?"

"Dozen, maybe more."

"Bucky, what if you get hurt or killed?"

He smiled at her and caressed her face. "I'm too valuable to kill but I might get hurt. They really don't know my capabilities, especially when I'm motivated. Come on, we need to get ready for them."

He drove the 4Runner to a large rundown building, stopping in front of a garage door. Under a flap on the frame was a keypad. Noticing the wear on the number pads he entered a number, but it didn't open. Once more he tried but it didn't work again. With a sigh, he used his knife to pry off the number pad covering and pulled two wires out, connecting them. A grinding noise signified the door opening but it stopped halfway, and he had to push it up the rest of the way himself. It dropped down a little, so he looked inside the garage for a piece of steel to prop it open. Then he drove the vehicle inside.

After finding the electrical panel he flipped the rest of the switches on, hearing Taylor confirm that the lights worked. While she made something to eat, he searched for the weapons locker. He noted a door marked as the Operations Centre, then saw a door marked Treatment Room which made him pause. As he opened it, he immediately relived everything that ever happened in that room. He flashed back to when he was last here, in this particular base, being wiped then programmed for a mission in Denver. Rumlow had done terrible things to him before wiping him, then taunted him about it afterwards.

"Bucky, are you alright?" Taylor's voice drew him out of his memories. She came further into the room, looking at the memory processing machine with trepidation. "What is this place?"

"This is where they erased me, then programmed me for my missions," he replied, after a moment.

"They hurt you here," she stated. "I can see it on your face. Does anyone else know about this place?"

"No, just Sam, me, and you."

"Then we destroy it. All of it, so no one can use it again."

He looked at her with fondness then nodded, turned around and left. She closed the door behind them. With a promise to come up to eat as soon as he found the weapons locker she left him to continue his search. Ten minutes later he brought a large box up, filled with an assortment of items. Serving out the food, she watched as he ate while he took the things out and laid them on the table.

"We're going to make IEDs," he said. "Bury them in the roadways into town. It will take out their vehicles and maybe a few of them at the same time. Then I'm going to clean some weapons and place them in various hiding places throughout the town. I'll leave you the Skorpion, a Glock and plenty of ammunition. You'll stay here and if anyone tries to get in you shoot them."

"Anyone?"

"Unless they're Avengers," he grinned. "Don't shoot them."

They worked until after midnight assembling IEDs and Taylor began to fall asleep as she sat at the table.

"Come on," said Bucky, picking her up in his arms. "Bedtime for you."

She snuggled into his arms as he carried her to an interior room with a cot. Noticing it was a single, she looked at him drowsily.

"You're not going to sleep with me?"

"No, I have work to do," he answered. "Don't worry, you'll be safe." Kneeling down as he tucked her into the sleeping bag, he stroked her hair. Then he kissed her forehead. "I'll check in on you later."

Turning off the light, he left the door open a little then went back to the assembled IEDs. Carefully, he put the first one in the treatment room, using a timer on it set for later in the day. The rest of them were placed in a box, then he put their detonators in another container. Carrying both to the 4Runner, he placed them in the back then drove to each end of the single road in town, using the camping shovel to dig a hole for them by the beam of the headlights. He placed them in random spots so that it would slow them down. With precision, he inserted the detonator then used his hands to cover them up with the dirt. When that was done, he looked to the east, and saw the ribbon of orange along the horizon, realizing that sunrise was on its way. This had taken longer than he estimated, and he still had to put weapons in hiding places. There was no time to clean any from the weapons locker so it would have to be the ones he already had. Driving back to the HYDRA base he grabbed the weapons bag and some duct tape that he picked up along the way. At each building he taped two guns in a hidden location, placing them methodically in spots up and down the street of the ghost town. When that was done, he looked to the east again then at his watch. Sunrise was in an hour. Perhaps he would have time for a catnap.

Returning to the base, he removed the piece of steel from where it propped up the door and pulled it down, then jammed the steel into the bottom, keeping it from being opened from the outside. Turning off the lights, he used a camping lantern to find the room where Taylor was and toed his boots off, climbing onto the cot behind her. She whimpered a little, but he shushed her and stroked her hair as he spooned her from behind. Then he closed his eyes and listened to her breathing, falling asleep quickly.

It was the sound of an IED going off that woke both of them. Checking his watch Bucky swore at how late it was. Quickly, he climbed out of the cot and put his boots on then ran to the operations room, turning on the surveillance cameras there. Taylor joined him. The sun was well up showing everything brightly. There was a car burning at the same entrance they came in from. Several cars were behind them, with more people stepping out, to survey the scene. Switching to the other side of town, he saw several more vehicles there, waiting. No one got out of them until a big man stepped out with a machine gun and sprayed the roadway in front of them with bullets. Remarkably, he didn't hit a single IED and walked confidently forward, stepping directly on one of the hidden bombs.

"Don't look," said Bucky, turning Taylor around. "It's not pretty. They'll be more cautious now."

"What do we do?"

"I give them a target," he said. They went back to the kitchen, and he put the GPS locator in her hand. "You lock yourself in the operations centre with the Glock and Skorpion. As soon as you see me on the screen you press that button. Then watch what happens. You'll know when it's safe to come out. If anyone tries to break down the door you wait until you see them then shoot at them with the Skorpion using short bursts."

Bucky went to the 4Runner and took out his combat gear. With a shrug, he stripped down to his briefs then put his tactical suit on, before putting the last of his weapons into their holsters and sheaths. Then he cupped her face, kissed her lightly on the cheek and headed over to a ladder that led up to the roof. Climbing up, he went out a door at the top and left her alone in the building. She went back to the operations centre, locked the door, and checked all the different screens until she saw him appear on the one screen, heading towards the centre of town. Pressing the button on the GPS locator she watched Bucky do what he did best. The strange thing was, is that she wasn't afraid for him anymore. The way he walked and looked showed he knew exactly what he was doing.

Out on the street, Bucky strode to where he was visible to both groups of men at each end of town.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He shouted out. "I'm here, come and get me."

As they came out of their vehicles he shot at them, taking fire in return. After hitting two of their men, he ran towards the nearest building, making his way to the roof and firing on them from there. They scattered, taking cover and he jumped onto the lower roof of the next building, then down to the ground, hitting someone who came out from behind his cover. The sound of an IED at the other end distracted the intruders and Bucky ran right past them, firing until he was out of ammunition. Sliding into one of his hiding spots, he pulled the duct tape off the two guns there and waited to see what the others would do first.

The Russians were yelling instructions to each other making him shake his head as they were revealing their next moves to him. Standing up, he fired at two of them before they got under cover, sending them down, then he ran behind the building towards another, coming to the corner of the structure. Taking a peek drew some fire so he ran back to where he had been, hoping they would draw closer to where he had peeked out. Sure enough, two were approaching his old position and he shot at the back of their knees, crippling them. Running towards them he stopped to give each man a punch, knocking them out, then took their guns, slinging them over his shoulder.

As he ran across the street he heard a gunshot, then felt the burning in his leg, ignoring it as he reached the safety of another one of the gun hiding places. Grabbing them, he went inside and up the stairs to the second floor, breaking a window so that he could shoot at anyone who approached. A sound behind him made him turn and he fired, killing the man who didn't have time to fire first. Listening carefully, he heard a creak on the landing and repositioned himself to just inside the door. When he saw the gun he pulled the man into the room, throwing him against the wall and aiming his shots into his knees before punching him senseless. As he was taking his gun, he noticed the man was wearing a comms piece and pulled it out, putting it into his own ear. There was a mixture of Russian and English on the channel, as the two sides were obviously working together.

"Where's the girl?" asked someone.

"Don't know," said another. "He just appeared in the middle of the street."

"You and Patterson check each building. She has to be hiding here somewhere."

Then he heard another voice. "What the fuck? What is that? Take cover!"

With a grin, he realized a portal had opened and Sam was likely flying in. Striding over to the window he saw both Sam and Joaquin, swooping down and firing at anything that moved. They were followed by the quinjet which hovered just above the ground releasing Kate, Yelena, Shaun, Scott, and Hope. It went back up in the air and began targeting the other vehicles, destroying them so the intruders had no means of escape. The chatter on the comms pieces died out until he heard an explosion and a sentence that chilled him.

"Found her."

Racing down the rickety stairs he ran towards the HYDRA building, then heard several short bursts of shots from inside. The garage door had a hole blown into it. Crawling through the hole he approached the operations room, the door ominously open but badly damaged. He listened carefully, finally hearing the sound of someone crying.

"Taylor?"

"In here."

Her voice was strained. Slowly, he approached the door, then he saw the two men on the floor, both dead. She sat in a chair, still holding the Skorpion submachine gun. He removed his guns and approached, kneeling in front of her.

"I had no choice," she whispered. "They blew the door, and I just fired in short bursts like you taught me. They went down and didn't move." She looked at him with reddened eyes. "Are they dead?"

"Yeah, sweetheart, they're dead," he answered, then he put his hands on the Skorpion and took it, putting it aside. "But you're alive and they're not going to come after you again. Come on."

He helped her up, keeping his arm around her as they left the room and went to the garage area. He took a moment to raise the garage door manually, putting the steel piece back into place to keep it open. They both came out into the blazing sun, then heard the sound of wings above them. Taylor cowered against him.

"It's okay," he said, holding her closer. "It's Sam."

Lightly, Sam landed and looked appraisingly at Bucky. "You were supposed to let me know when you got here."

"No cell service," replied Bucky. "It's a ghost town for a reason. Who's flying the quinjet?"

Sam smiled. "Clint. He was visiting."

"There are several IEDs at each end of town that haven't been activated yet. He should probably explode them before the authorities get here. Patterson is dead. Taylor shot him in self-defence."

"Well, there are others who are still alive and we have enough evidence to link them to the Umberto family and the bratvas. I don't think they'll come after Taylor or you, anymore. We also tracked their phone calls and found the police officers who were passing on your location to them. Uncovered quite a few, so Fury's happy about that." He noticed Bucky's leg. "You get shot?"

"Just grazed. It'll heal on its own."

Sam passed on the information about the IEDs to Clint and they soon heard explosions as he used the aircraft's sensors to locate them. When FBI helicopters and vehicles began arriving, Bucky took Taylor back inside, making her sit while he brought her some water. She was better but still quiet for some time.

"Bucky? Is it like that for you all the time?"

"No, not like this," he replied. "It's been a long time since I took on this many people on my own."

She nodded then spoke in a small voice. "I killed two men."

"Yeah, you defended yourself. They would have killed you."

"I think I'm going to be sick."

She ran from where she sat but didn't make it to the bathroom, landing on her knees just outside the door, dry heaving. Bucky kneeled behind her, rubbing her back, then drew her into his arms when she began to cry again.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay."

"Can we go now? I don't want to stay here anymore."

"Let me check. Why don't you pack your bag, and I'll come for you."

Nodding her head, she allowed him to help her up and take her to the room where she slept. He left her then noticed Yelena and asked her to watch Taylor while he checked on some things. When he found the FBI agent in charge, they discussed Bucky taking her back to Avengers Tower. Discussed, as in had an argument over who had jurisdiction. Fortunately, for them, Fury was listening in and pulled rank, claiming that Taylor Hollis was placed in the custody of the Avengers and would stay in their custody until she appeared in court. As the FBI agent ordered his men to search the building Bucky shook his head.

"You don't want to be here any longer than you have to," he began, then looked at his watch. "In about an hour, this building is going to blow up. There is nothing here that should be of interest to you or to anyone else. I'm taking my things, my vehicle, and Taylor out of here. I would suggest you do the same." The man stared at him. "Did I say an hour? I meant twenty minutes, I think, but I didn't check my watch when I set the charge."

Bucky didn't wait for his response but did pack his bags. Then he found Taylor and together they went to the 4Runner. After driving it out of the building he stopped at where he hid the rest of his weapons, adding them back into his arsenal. When the last one was packed away, he pulled up to the quinjet where the other Avengers were waiting.

"Tell Fury that we'll be back in about a week, maybe ten days. Taylor needs the time to decompress."

"You'll need this," said Sam, reaching into one of his flying suit pockets and pulling out a smartphone. "Stay in touch."

Bucky took it then looked over at the HYDRA building, noticing there were still FBI agents going into it. "Tell him that I wasn't kidding. That place is rigged to go up. They had a functioning treatment room, Sam. There was no way I was going to leave it intact."

"I'll tell them," he replied, then he looked at Taylor. "You'll be okay. Bucky will help you. Take your time and stay at some nice places."

She smiled wanly, then he and Bucky shook hands before he stepped back, letting the vehicle pass by them. As they drove out of the ghost town, Bucky reached out to Taylor's hand, grasping it in his.

"Wherever you want to go I'll drive there. We really don't have a timeline now. It's just you and me."

For several miles she said nothing, then she looked over at Bucky.

"Can we go to Iowa? I want to see the Field of Dreams."

"You mean, like the movie? The baseball diamond?" She nodded. He reached for his smartphone and handed it to her. "Find it for me."

She looked it up, an almost 13 hour drive non-stop.

"We can stay overnight in Kansas City," suggested Taylor. "It's a 6 ½ hour drive from there, closes at 6 pm."

"Sounds like a plan," smiled Bucky. He reached out for her hand and squeezed it. "Why don't you find a nice place to stay?"

"One bed or two?"

"Whichever you want," he answered.

When they pulled up to the premium motel in Kansas City, and presented themselves at the counter, Bucky gave his name for their reservation for a single room, king-sized bed. The clerk asked how long they were staying.

"Two, maybe three nights," answered Taylor, before Bucky could say anything. "We've been on the road for a while and need to relax." She wrapped her arm around his waist. "Is that okay, honey?"

He squeezed her back. "Whatever you want, sweetheart." As he signed the register, he looked at the clerk. "Two things. Can you keep our presence here quiet? Do you have room service?"

The clerk glanced at the name again, recognizing it.

"Yes, sir, we'll make sure you have your privacy. Room service goes until midnight. There's a menu in your room. We also have liquor delivery, if you're interested."

Bucky smiled at him, then took the key cards. At the door to their room, he stopped, looking at Taylor in a very non-platonic way. She took the key card, held it to the reader and entered the room, immediately putting the Do Not Disturb sign outside on the door handle. No one at the motel saw either of them until an order for room service and liquor was made an hour before the midnight deadline. Bucky answered the door wrapped only in a towel, gave the two delivery people a big cash tip then disappeared back into the room. They looked at each other, having noticed the perfect physique and metal arm, then returned to the lobby, where they were warned again about keeping quiet. Considering what Bucky gave them for a tip, it was the least they could do.

One Shots Masterlist

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #buckybarnes original female character #james buchanan barnes fanfiction #hydra memories #bucky fighting mafia #bratva #on the road #showdown in a ghost town #strangers to friends #strangers to lovers

28 notes · View notes