#i really should go about this like a normal person and get out of the sewers. and explore the surface.

[redwryvernwrites]

How do I get better at writing?

It's simple really. You write. And you Read.

...Okay maybe not that simple but here's a few pointers.

Stop planning and Talking about your AU's and actually write! This one I feel like is the most important for tumblr users. I've had a lot of people Ask, DM or message me with their ideas which is good but you know what would be even better? If I could read about your world, if I could get immersed in it. I do not want to read an essay about your world, I want to partake in it. I want to feel it. Allow me to experience the world you're creating. You've been showing profiles and detailed world building essays for months now but you're not writing your story. WRITE YOUR STORY!

Don't worry if your writing is bad. When you first start writing, it's going to be bad. It's going to suck. It's like drawing. You're going to suck at first. That's okay. That's how you get better. You need to start somewhere. So start and don't stop.

Don't get precious about ideas or first drafts. They will change over time. First drafts, story pitches and production bibles are just that, they're a rough sketch, an idea to be improved. There's a reason that concept art and characters can change so drastically from pilots and pitches. They lay out an idea for you to work off of. As you write, things will change. People like betas/editors will challenge and thus strengthen ideas. Never be satisfied with a first draft when it could be better. Your writing can always get better. Don't be afraid to change.

Create solid realistic characters. Solid characters that feel and interact realistically will engage your audience, your readers regardless of their intentions or their personality. A character that a reader can empathize and relate to can do a lot of heavy lifting if you're not confident in your world building as a beginner.

DO NOT USE AI like CHAT GPT. Self explanatory this one. Just don't. It'll make your skill regress if you become reliant on it.

READ. Read books. Read GOOD Fanfiction. Read BAD fanfiction. Writing is one of the skills that you can get better at by simply engaging with other author's work. Take in what your reading even if you didn't like it. Ask yourself why you didn't like it and try to avoid it in your own work. Ask why something you read was good and see if you can emulate it in your own work.

Restrict yourself. Restrictions can be good for you. Set a story in a single room or a set piece, like a factory or a quarry (like classic Dr Who!). Force your characters to interact with characters that they normally wouldn't have, see what happens! They might kill each other, they might not! Write and find out.

Talk with other writers. Talk to people who will challenge your ideas, who will point out flaws in your work. They don't even have to be apart of the same fandom, a story should stand on it's own . One of the best groups I've been a part of was one where we tore each others work apart.

I could go on but basically if there's anything you take from this, it should be: Write. Write even if you're bad. Have fun with it and don't be precious about ideas.

[unholyhelbig]

So many fics of reader taking care of Kate, but I think Kate would be the most insane sarcastic caregiver. Saw a prompt that said "Ah yes, how heroic of you to get shot in the side and puke all over my shoes. Next time could you just pull me out of the way like a normal person instead of jumping in front of the bullet?"

Title: Bleeding Out

Ship: Female!Reader x Kate Bishop

Warnings: hurt/comfort, light angst, Gunshot wound, blood loss, bodily injury, vomiting, pet names (Used by R & Kate), general medical talk, Cannon-typical Violence, horrible grammar I don't proofread

Everything taglist: @thinking1bee

[A/n:ugh, I absolutely adore hurt/comfort Kate Bishop. She's so fucking soft!]

Main Masterlist | Read my stuff on AO3 | Leave Requests

Eleanor Bishop was in Boca Raton for the month when you got shot, she was staying in the most expensive room in a large pink monstrosity that overlooked the shoreline. It was built in 1926 and was nothing but plaster encrusted in salt and bird excrement. A Ritz-Carlton Cloister Inn that spanned 100 rooms and barely had air conditioning, but that was okay, because the view was spectacular, and the drinks were cheap.

You knew all of this because Kate Bishop could not stop talking when she was nervous. It was like a faucet with a slow drip, or a wound that could not be cauterized. Her low rasp was soothing, however, and while you fought off the innate need to let unconsciousness claim you, her explanation about exactly where her mother was would be enough.

“Anyway, her place is closer. We can visit Lucky when you’re all patched up, promise.”

Forcing a breath from your lungs would be too painful, you so turned your head and pressed your nose against the cut of her jaw instead. She smelled of sweat and the soft sweetness of her perfume. The metal of your own blood dampened it all. Your grip on her was loosening.

“Hey, hey, hey you can’t sleep on me okay.”

“You didn’t say that last night.”

Each word came out punctured, as if air was trapsing out of your lungs. Your forehead dropped to her cheek now. Sleep did sound magnificent. Soothing, even. She really should be taking you to a hospital and not to the penthouse where her mother conveniently wasn’t.

“Okay, baby. You’ve got to hang on for a second.” She’d propped you up on the wall next to the elevator, and your world was tilting. You’d tried to pick a spot to focus on right past Kate’s shoulder, something to hold onto, but that was slipping too. She only needed to hit the button between the elevators.

Her expert hand was clenching onto your tactical jacket and holding on for dear life, both of your feet sliding on the linoleum before she shoved you into the elevator. “Jesus Christ, you weigh a ton.”

“Shut up, Katie.”

“You’re dead-weighting me.”

“I’m bleeding out.” She made a strong noise in the back of her throat as you flopped forward onto her. She had a point. The movement was a little too much like a dead fish. “You’re going to feel like shit if I die in your arms.”

“I already feel like shit you took a bullet for me.”

You thought you whimpered. Some pathetic noise that came from the recesses of your stomach, or maybe your chest. It echoed in the elevator as if a phantom was screaming from the top floor. Something in you had become untethered. Perhaps it was a lung or a spleen. You couldn’t really feel much. After that last pop it was just cold. You must be leaning your full weight on Kate. Her scent was all-consuming now, your nose directly where she’s spritzed her perfume.

She’d scooped your up with trembling arms, weak from her own exertion tonight. You would have felt horrible if you could feel anything past exhaustion. Kate had discarded her bow and arrows by the door as if they were nothing in favor of you.

“Okay, okay, okay. We’re just going to stop the bleeding and patch you up.”

Kate had deposited you onto a leather couch and the material was cool against your heat-addled skin. You arched your back and groaned again. The pain was back, and it was sharp, and Kate pulled your tactical jacket apart with a force unmatched to get to the wound on your side. It was heavy and wet with blood.

She slapped your face a few times, not hard, but stinging enough to make your eyes snap open. “No sleeping!”

When did she get a first aid kit? It was clenched in the hand that wasn’t whacking you. You batted her away with another groan, another stiff inhale.

A wash of nausea came over you, blocking out the fatigue for just a moment. You curled onto your side, saliva filling your mouth with the heady taste of metal before you emptied your stomach onto Eleanors Persian rug, the intricate design suddenly soaking up bile and blood. It splashed against Kate’s combat boots.

She crinkled her nose as you glared angrily up at her, as if she were the one to vomit instead. “Ah yes, how heroic of you to get shot in the side and puke all over my shoes. Next time could you just pull me out of the way like a normal person instead of jumping in front of the bullet?”

But there was a paleness to her that gave away her worry as she worked you into a sitting position, as much as she could. There was a pillow behind your back and the blood-soaked clothes were being stripped away from you with tactical scissors from the first aid kit- no doubt Yelena’s idea.

“Actually, I’m glad you got that all out of your system. Feel better, don’t you?”

“A little,” you let your head flop back onto the sofa. “Katie, internal bleeding.”

“Not worried about it.”

“Okay, sick.”

She sounded a little worried about it, but didn’t give you time to contemplate. The coolness of her fingers combined with the sting of antiseptic made you jolt. The palm of her hand pushed your opposite hip down to hold you still. Your teeth found your arm to bite into the skin there, muffling the noise. Even though you were in the penthouse, sound could travel, you were sure.

“Relax sweet girl,” Kate’s voice was tender, this time thick with worry as she addressed your wounds. “This is deeper than I thought.”

“Oh, fuck, internal bleeding.”

“No, no, internal bleeding. Just more gauze, I’d give you liquid courage, but I don’t want to thin your blood. You already ruined the fucking carpet.”

You steadied yourself, gripping her shoulder “Aw, you’re an asshole. I’ll replace the carpet.”

“You can’t afford to replace the carpet, baby. We share a savings account.”

If you had the strength, you would shove her without malice, or come up with something just as sharp to say. But you did share a savings account and there was less than fifty dollars in there. Heroing wasn’t exactly the best money maker, but the two of you survived without the sword of Eleanor Bishops wealth hanging over your heads.

Kate pressed her lips against your temple, disconcerted by how clammy it was. She pushed the hair sticking to your forehead out of the way. You felt the coolness of her fingers ghost gently over the redness surrounding the wound. “Baby, it went straight through. That’s a good thing, won’t have to dig a bullet out.”

“Katie, say that again and I’ll vomit on the other shoe.”

Kate huffed at you but started gently placed some gauze over the wound to staunch the bleeding. You winced, hissing through your clenched teeth. A flash of white hot pain blinded you for a moment, tears streaming down your cheeks.

“Shh, shh, shh. I know Babygirl.” She placed her hand at the center of your chest as if anticipating you to thrash around with the rush of antiseptic that was pressed upon your side. Your mouth filled with the metal of blood and pain and you ground your nose into the cushion closest to your to stifle the noise that escaped you. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“You’re doing so good, sweetie.” There was a hitch to her voice that gave away her worry as she sat back on her heels and scanned the paleness of your face. Her other hand trailed down your side and squeezed your hip. You shuddered, swallowing hard.

“I’m just going to pack this, get you some pain meds.”

Kate was always diligent about telling you exactly what she was doing when she patched you up like this. It brought you immense comfort. Despite feeling the pressure of her hands and the heat of her breath so close to you, knowing her process was calming or you both.

It didn’t stop the surge of agony her last step inflicted. Color burst behind your eyelids, bile threating to rise back up and incapacitate you entirely. She applied a bandage, the adhesive bringing you a certain degree of composure. Your chest was heaving, fingers fumbling to find purchase in Kate’s own.

She always knew what you wanted. What you needed. Her hand found your own, warmth enveloping something that was trembling so subtly out of pain. She made a small noise in the back of her throat, one that was raw compared to her earlier deflecting.

“you did so well for me,” She gently urged you to sit up as much as you could, placing something much stronger than Tylenol on your tongue before helping you sip water. The coolness washed down your throat, settled in your stomach. You pulled her closer out of desperation, enjoyed the ashy scent of her.

Kate kissed behind your ear, spreading her body heat to your own. She shifted until she was in the position to hold you, leaned against the arm of the couch, pulling you into her. It was a spot that you’d claimed as your own long ago, fitting perfectly against her side like you were made for one another.

The medication worked quickly and quite well. The drowsiness was floating over you like the push and pull of the ocean. Neither you or Kate questioned Yelena about where she got her supplies for first aide kits, and the one time you were brave enough to, she barked out a laugh of endearment and patted your cheek before going back to her breakfast.

Your arm draped across Kate’s midsection, nuzzling into the small of her neck, enjoying the familiarity of it. The steady beat of her heart and the smooth inhale, exhale, that she provided swallowed all of your remaining senses. She was tracing small patterns on your back. Kate’s habit when you were injured was always the same: keep you as close as possible to make sure you were still functioning.

“Don’t…” She paused, audibly swallowed. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Was just trying to help,” You slurred against her.

“I know that, love. I do, but you scared the hell out of me tonight.”

You lifted your head from her chest, hazy eyes scanning her face. There were wet trains down her cheeks, a slight shake to her bottom lip. She possessively squeezed your uninjured side as if she were desperate to ground herself. Perhaps she was. You raised a shaky hand, used your thumb to wipe away the track of moisture.

“I never mean to worry you, Kate. I just acted on instinct. The second I saw that man pull the gun with that look in his eyes, I knew. I knew that he could take everything important away from me in less than a second. And I… I wouldn’t’ be able to survive if he did.”

“You lost so much blood tonight,” she nosed your palm, turning her head enough to place a soft kiss to your wrist where your pulse thudded listlessly. “I didn’t think I’d get you anywhere back in once piece. I thought, fuck, I thought you were going to die in my arms and the only warmth I’d ever feel from you again was the blood that you were spilling all over the place.”

You whimpered, dropping your forehead against her own. “I’m sorry, Katie. I never meant to scare you like that.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” She nudged her nose into your own, “We’re both okay.”

With the last of your lucid strength, you pressed your lips softly against her own, slipping into the bliss of the comforting feel of her. Kate reciprocated right away, as easy as breathing. Her fingers trailed down your jaw, making your stomach flutter. Your eyes were getting heavy, the pain in your side dissipating to a slow thrum, barely noticeable.

You dropped your head against her sternum, fingers curling into the fabric of her shirt to assure her that you were just fine. Better than fine, actually. You’d never felt safer than you did in her arms.

[assassin-artist]

meeting him like this just about killed me emotionally btw

ok listen, a little bit yapping because i think about him too much and this encounter makes me so so sad. if u dont know, morton has a chance to show up at your door either as a friendly recruitable companion, or in a hostile state and will attack as soon as u open the door. the chance to get his hostile state goes up every day that u dont recruit him i believe.. which i have many many thoughts about

i assume the red on him is someone elses blood bc he's gone insane and potentially is just attacking anyone on sight (which is why he attacks us as soon as we open the door). the green would make sense if it's meant to portray acid, since we know he has an acidic bite of some kind, and the description of him biting with 'disgusting teeth' (which i personally took to mean he has some kind of weird human-bug amalgamation for a jaw/mouth)… but also i think it'd be neat if the green was actually his own blood. first of all because i like the idea of a mutated creature having odd colored blood, but secondly because i don't think he was ever much of a fighter before we meet and recruit him. in our team he starts out pretty weak and a lot of his dialogue throughout the game when we're in dangerous situations is him saying we should leave. he seems like the kind of character that runs away when something is there, and comes back to loot once the danger has passed.

ALSO i reaaaally like his dialogue when he shows up in a hostile state… the stuff i wrote is his quote in-game if you ask who's at the door. he sounds like he's really struggling with himself, maybe like he's torn between attacking or not. maybe there's a liiiitle bit of his original self (or, original after being changed by the visitor) in there but it's wrestling with whatever has caused him to become so violent. a character who is known for his incredible vocabulary suddenly struggling to speak a coherent sentence. growling, even, if the "rhrgn" is anything to go off of. he can't think of anything more intelligent to say than a simple "just… just let me in…"

if you attack morton when hes a friendly NPC he drops some money, some clothing, and some food. he collects a lot of things, not just junk and trinkets, and he uses the food and clothes as trading items to get other peoples junk, so its normal for him to drop those kinds of items after killing him in his normal state... HOWEVER... if he shows up in his hostile state and u kill him, the ONLY thing he drops is junk. like he ran out of food and other items, or like maybe he just stopped collecting those things... i think its so interesting...... not collecting, not trading with others, and being isolated from others is potentially what drove him mad (if we're assuming it wasn't some other outside force, like a cursed attacking him and maybe infecting him with something)... i know i made a joke about how the power of friendship is whats keeping him sane, but every day i think about it is another day where i go wait.. maybe its for real that he.. he might genuinely need companionship or else he'll lose his mind

or maybe im just reading into it too much bc i think he's fascinating. who knows

[hellfirebarnes]

Slow-Burns Part 7

@crowleythesexydemon

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6 PART 8

I split this up in several, shorter parts because I know the feeling when you want to read a fic but don't have the time or energy to get through a 10k+ words one. Also if you hate my writing you can just read part 1 and then leave it. Win-win I guess?

Anyway, this is set after Thunderbolts so if you haven't seen it - spoilers I guess? It absolutely does not follow canon, but yeah better to be safe than sorry.

Summary: Bucky has fallen. Hopelessly. And the only thing more hopeless is his team trying to help him get to the end of this slow-burn.

Bucky x fem!SHIELD!reader

1.3K Words

Fluff, ''normal'' violence and descriptions of injuries. For sure out of character stuff, but I am who I am. Your appearence is barely desribed what I can remember, I think your hair and a couple types what clothes you're wearing?

You're referred to as ''Agent'' and ''Sunshine'' in a desperate attempt from me to not use Y/N.

Let me know if there's anything else I should warn about.

Otherwise, enjoy :)

Bucky entered the kitchen like it was enemy territory. He had a mission. A plan. A mental flowchart.

Step One: Talk to you. Like a normal person.

Step Two: Make you laugh. Naturally.

Step Three: Try not to die of mortification.

He found you exactly where he knew you’d be - sitting on the counter, legs swinging, cradling a cup of coffee, and arguing with John over who should’ve made breakfast.

“I made coffee,” John was saying.

“That’s not food,” you replied. “That’s a coping mechanism.”

Bob was hovering near your knees, head resting on his arms on the counter like a golden retriever who needed constant emotional validation. Alexei stood near the fridge humming something suspiciously like a wedding march.

Bucky cleared his throat.

You looked up immediately, eyes lighting up. “Hey! You’re up early.”

“Thought I’d make pancakes,” he said. Casual. Like a completely chill person who didn’t spend last night writing your name in a notebook like a high schooler with a crush.

Yelena, passing through, stopped mid-step.

John blinked. “You?”

Bob gasped. “That’s so romantic.”

You looked at him, surprised. “You don’t have to do that.”

Bucky gave a tight smile. “I want to.”

He grabbed the mixing bowl before anyone could say anything else, hands already shaking slightly. You slid off the counter to help, bumping your shoulder against his as you reached for the flour.

“I didn’t know you cooked,” you said.

“I don’t. Much. Learning.” He glanced at you - close, warm, smiling. He was definitely going to burn these pancakes.

Twenty minutes later the pancakes were… edible. Mostly.

You laughed after biting into one. “You added cinnamon?”

“I read it softens the taste.”

“I like it.”

Alexei smacked Bucky on the back. “He’s cooking for you! This is phase one! Courtship begins!”

“Alexei,” Bucky said through gritted teeth.

“He’s starting the ritual!” Alexei declared to the room like a town crier.

John groaned into his coffee. “I can’t be here for this.”

“I live for this,” Yelena said, smirking.

Bob practically sparkled. “You’re courting her like a storybook prince! That’s so pure.”

Bucky was going to need another war to hide in.

But then you leaned in closer and whispered, “Don’t let them scare you off. This is really sweet, Bucky.”

He didn’t speak. Couldn’t. Just nodded, ears burning.

Later that day, the team had scattered to their usual haunts. You sat on the floor near the couch, surrounded by polaroids and a sketchbook. You were humming to yourself, completely at ease.

Bucky stood in the doorway for several seconds before Ava passed by and bumped his shoulder. “You survived step one.”

“I almost choked on cinnamon batter.”

“Still counts.”

He hesitated, then moved into the room and sat on the floor across from you.

You glanced up. “Hey again.”

“Whatcha working on?” he asked, leaning closer.

“Just sorting through the mess. Trying to figure out which of these deserve wall space.” You lifted a polaroid of you and Yelena caught mid-laugh, flour on your faces. “This one’s a strong contender.”

He spotted one of him and Bob crammed into frame, Bob holding up peace signs while Bucky looked halfway to escaping. With you in the middle - beaming.

“You should put that one up,” he said, pointing to it.

You laughed. “You think?”

He nodded. “You look happy in it.”

You looked at him, just a moment too long. “So do you.”

And for one terrifying, beautiful second, he felt like a guy who might actually deserve a moment like this.

Alexei was hiding behind a plant, whispering:  

“Mission Update: The Boy has made Contact. He has Initiated Pancakes. We are Go for Operation: Barnes Gets the Girl. I repeat—Go.”

Ava, who was walking by, stopped and looked at him. “Alexei, you’re talking into a fork.”

“It’s a metaphor.”

It had taken days. He’d mentally rehearsed it during missions, in the shower, in quiet elevator rides. Hell, he’d even gone back to that stupid notebook, where Operation: Court Sunshine now had a small constellation of checkmarks beside things like:

• “Make her laugh” ✅

• “Don’t combust while making pancakes” ✅

• “Speak actual words” (working on it)

Now it was time for the next terrifying step.

Step 4: Ask her out. Alone. For real. Like a grown man.

He found you finishing up a cooldown stretch, flushed from sparring with Ava, hair pulled back, eyes bright with victory.

“Hey,” he said, trying not to sound like a nervous wreck.

You beamed. “Hey, you missed it - Ava nearly threw me through the wall.”

“I’m sure the wall deserved it.”

You laughed. Victory.

Encouraged, he cleared his throat. “So, uh. I was thinking. Maybe we could-” He coughed. “You know... Go somewhere.”

Your head tilted. “Like a mission?”

“No-no, not a mission. Like a… not-mission.”

“…A recon?” you guessed.

He blinked. “Not really...more like… I was thinking we could check out that new place downtown. The café. You mentioned it. The one with the plants?”

“Oh!” your face lit up. “That place looks so cute!”

He nodded, nerves clawing at him. “So. Maybe this weekend?”

“Totally! I’ll tell the others!”

He froze. “Wait - others?”

Too late.

Saturday Bucky stood beside you outside the greenhouse-style café with a polite, quiet smile and the sinking feeling of a man who had just asked someone out on a date - but instead accidentally created a social event.

Because walking toward you were all of them.

Bob waved enthusiastically from a block away.

Yelena had sunglasses and iced coffee already in hand. “Who decided brunch? I love brunch.”

John looked at Bucky with unfiltered judgment. “This was your idea?”

Alexei was dressed like a suburban dad on vacation, arms wide. “It’s a beautiful day for love!”

You looked delighted. “This is gonna be so fun.”

Bucky wanted the ground to swallow him.

Inside the café, Bucky sat squished between a hanging fern and Bob, who had somehow already convinced you to sit beside him and was telling you an enthusiastic story about a stray cat he’d met that morning. Yelena was stealing sips of your drink. John kept playing with the salt shaker like it might explode. Alexei was… filming something?

Every time Bucky opened his mouth to say something to you, someone else got there first.

“So then I told the cat, ‘You deserve love too!’” Bob was saying.

You giggled.

Bucky tried again. “So, about this-”

“Oh! Look at this cake!” you gasped, turning to Yelena. “We have to try that.”

Bucky leaned back in his chair. He was two inches from a potted monstera and one emotional breakdown from giving up entirely.

“Honestly,” John muttered, “this is painful.”

Bucky shot him a look. “What is?”

“You. This.” He gestured broadly. “You tried to ask her out and now we’re all here. Like emotional bodyguards.”

“I didn’t mean to-”

“She doesn’t know it was supposed to be a date, does she?”

“No,” Bucky grumbled.

Alexei plopped down across from them, slapping a muffin onto Bucky’s plate. “This is good for the heart! Resistance builds character. Fight for her!”

“I was trying not to make it a fight,” Bucky muttered.

Alexei winked. “That was your first mistake.”

The group had splintered a bit as they walked back, with Bob bouncing between every conversation and John loudly arguing with a pigeon about sidewalk ownership. You slowed your pace next to Bucky, sipping the last of your coffee.

“Thanks for suggesting that,” you said. “It was nice. Really chaotic, but nice.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, watching you smile. “It was… something.”

You glanced up at him. “You okay?”

He hesitated. Then nodded. “I will be.”

You didn’t ask what he meant. Just bumped your shoulder gently against his. You walked a little closer after that.

And even though Bucky had failed spectacularly at asking you out - he still wrote “Step 4.5: Try again” in his notebook that night.

[violettesorrows]

A Rat Among Birds and Bats (Part Two)

Description: (Yandere! Batfam x Depressed! Reader) You tried to live life normally after your encounter with a certain hero last week, but now one of your classmates can't seem to leave you alone (2.2k words)

Warnings: general yandere behavior, implied stalking, really brief mention of being held at gunpoint, mentions of depression/anxiety and its symptoms this one is very tim drake heavy but the rest of batfam is coming i promise

part one || part two || part three (tba)

The next few weeks felt normal. Or at least, as normal as they could be in one of the most crime-ridden cities in America. Like clockwork, you went to class, then went to work, then went home to do schoolwork and maybe sleep for a few hours before you repeated the cycle all over again. The only real thing out of the ordinary that happened to you was one of the other students in your class approaching you after the day’s lecture.

He had stark black hair, blue eyes, and dressed like he would describe his family’s economic status as ‘comfortable’. He was currently talking to you about how difficult the coursework for this class could be, and how you and he should probably form a study group or something. Which was weird, because like this is the first time you’ve ever talked to him. You think his name was Jim or Tim or something? You honestly didn’t even know if he was taking this class. You didn’t know a soul in here. A person could hold a gun to your head, and you probably couldn’t name or place two people in here other than your professor.

You blinked, having zoned out while the guy in your class just kept yapping. You’re pretty sure it’s been a solid few minutes without you saying a single word, and he was still going.

“So, what do you think?”

You honestly had no idea what he was talking about anymore. You’d blocked out his chattering like at least five minutes ago. But instead of coming off as a complete ass and telling him that, you just noncommittally and vaguely agreed to whatever he was talking about. Hopefully, it wasn’t too obvious you really didn’t care.

Tim -you were sure his name was Tim now- only smiled in response. “Great! Let’s exchange contact information.”

The color drained from your face. What the hell had you just agreed to? Was he a scientologist or like a member of some other cult trying to recruit you? Regardless of your hesitations, your social anxiety made it near impossible to say no. Other people were watching. The two of you had the same class. If you made it a point to be vehemently anti-social, things would be weird, people would find you weird. 

And that’s how you ended up with a new contact labelled “Tim” in your phone that day.

---

Tim texted you pretty frequently. At first, you were reluctant. You figured he was just a pretty, rich boy who saw you as another charity case, something he could fix. He would ask you how you were, how your day was, how you slept, if you’ve eaten. The kind of normal, mundane things good friends would ask each other. Of course, you couldn’t be entirely honest with him, not without raising some major red flags. The last thing you wanted was to be put in an involuntary psychiatric hold. Or worse, getting too close to someone and getting burned in the process. 

  Some days, you were happy that someone took the time to check in with you. It made you feel like someone genuinely cared for you. Other days, you were annoyed. You didn’t want anyone to care for you. Life was just easier that way sometimes. Before you knew it, though, Tim and you were regularly meeting in person. He’d just managed to worm his way into your life. It started with him offering to buy you coffee after class and then just… kind of went from there. Before then, the two of you started hanging out regularly at least once a week like you were normal friends. 

You couldn’t bring yourself to end your newly found friendship, nor were you certain you could keep up the facade for much longer. Having a friend was exhausting since you were careful about what you said or did, afraid that he’d see you for what you were if you didn’t. You also tried your hardest not to talk about your homelife or financial situation. You doubted he would understand it anyway. That being said, you really were starting to warm up to him. After isolating yourself for so long, you had to admit that it felt…nice … to have some genuine human connection.

You didn’t even notice when some of your things had started to go missing. A pencil you swear you had put in your bag, a hair tie you could have sworn was on your wrist, an eraser or paper clip or a loose leaf paper with one of your doodles on it. But you were very obviously depressed, and depressed people tended to be forgetful, so you didn’t bat an eye at it. You probably misplaced all those things anyway

One day, Tim asked if he could come over to watch a movie at your place. He really wanted to watch one of the newer movies that had just come out. Thinking about the abysmal state of your apartment, you said no a little too hastily. He then proceeded to invite you over to his place. You sucked in a breath. You weren’t sure if you could make it, you probably had work.

“Then just take the day off or something. Call in sick,” He said a-matter-of-factly.

You balked at him, not expecting him to understand. You couldn’t just ditch work for the day to hang out with him. It’s not like you had a job for fun or as a hobby, you had bills to pay. And sick or not, if you didn’t go to work, you wouldn’t get paid for the day, and that could be the difference between your lights or your gas being turned off. 

Still, you couldn’t blame him. You purposefully avoided talking about your personal life for this very reason. The two of you lived on completely different planets. 

“I’ll see what I can do,” You said with a strained smile. As soon as you thought he wasn’t looking, your smile dropped. Your gaze looked downcast as you mindlessly scrolled through your phone. Little did you know, he was always looking. And the two of you were going to see that movie this weekend, he would make sure of it.

---

You showed up to your shift on time, despite almost missing the bus. This morning you had been scrambling to not get to work late this morning, but as it turned out all your efforts were in vain. Your workplace was closed, surrounded by police tape and sirens. Your manager was standing outside, talking to a police officer before his gaze finally caught on you. 

“What are you doing here? Didn’t you get my text? Place’s closed. Turns out the owner was involved in some sort of drug bust or crime ring,” Your manager shrugged, like he was just delivering the weather for today. Things like this just tended to happen in Gotham. “I’m not sure about the details.”

You couldn’t help but think the worst. Does this mean you’re fired? How would you pay rent? Feed yourself? You struggled to find your voice as it felt like the whole world was spinning. “What about work?” You asked with a slight crack in your voice.

Your manager only shrugged his shoulders again. “I’m not sure, kid. Things might clear up in a week or maybe those doors will stay closed forever. That’s how the cookie crumbles in this city sometimes.”

His gaze was almost pitiful as he looked down at you. “Either way, it’s best to get yourself home, kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” You muttered as you pulled your jacket closer to your frame and stalked off. You needed a moment to think.

Next thing you knew, you were kicking an empty coke can a couple of streets down the way. Your luck was so great. First, you were held at gunpoint and now this. The next bus wasn’t coming for at least another hour, and of course you didn’t have enough money for a cab. So you were stuck here in Lower Gotham, on a side of the city that wasn’t safe even during the day. You had to figure out what to do and fast. You couldn’t just stand around like a sitting duck.

You unlocked your phone, your finger hovering over a certain contact. You didn’t want to bother him, make your problems his problems, but you were really in a bind. Maybe, just maybe, just this once you could ask for help. Before you could ruminate about it anymore you pressed the call button. The phone rang and you tensed. What if he didn’t pick up? What if he was busy? What if he couldn’t be bothered with-

“Hello?” Tim’s voice answered. 

You felt like your heart was going to stop. You weren’t sure what to say, where to start. So instead you just echoed back his greeting. “Hello…” You said weaker than you would’ve liked.

“Hi,” he said again. He paused for a minute, pensive. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh…how’d you guess?” You said dryly with a forced chuckle. 

“Well, for starters, you rarely ever call me.”

“Sorry.” You said, a knee jerk reaction. 

“No! No! It’s fine, I’m sorry! You should call more often” He said, scrambling as if he’d said something wrong. You almost told him he had nothing to apologize over before he cut you off. “Just… just tell me what’s wrong. We’ll start from there.”

You held back tears. Everything, you thought, Everything is wrong. Instead, you got straight to the point. You took a deep breath, hoping to steel yourself.  “I’m kind of…stranded, I need a ride. Please. If you’re not busy.”

“A ride? Sure. Where are you? Actually- nevermind, just text me your location, I’ll be there in twenty.” Tim hung up shortly after, not even giving you time to explain yourself.

You first thought that maybe Tim was a good friend after all. He was coming to pick you up without even asking how you ended up in this situation in the first place. He had just dropped everything to go help a friend in need. What a nice guy, you thought, maybe you could trust him just a little bit. You know, with small stuff.

As promised, a car rolled up to pick you up with Tim in the driver’s seat. You were a little surprised, he wasn’t supposed to be here for another ten minutes.You shook off the feeling quickly, maybe traffic was light, maybe he was just on this side of town. 

He opened your car door from the driver’s seat, a charismatic smile on his face. “Get in, loser, we’re going shopping.”

You sat down in the passenger’s seat before buckling yourself up. “Shopping?” You asked with a quizzical expression. Please, no. The last thing you wanted was to look at things you couldn’t afford. 

“It’s a reference? Mean Girls? No?” Tim sighed. “Okay, forget about it. Dumb joke.”

“Sorry.” You chuckled awkwardly, blushing a little out of embarrassment. You should have gotten the reference. He had taken time out of your day, the least you could do is laugh at his lame jokes. 

His arm went behind your headrest as he backed up the car. “Don’t worry about it. Anyways, where to? I could bring you home or we could go watch that movie you were talking about earlier.”

Actually, he was the one who mentioned wanting to go to the movies. You didn’t mention it though, thinking it too inconsequential to bring up. “Uh, a movie sounds nice, I guess?”

“Great!” Tim practically beamed. “Sooo, we could go to a movie theater or my place? Whatever you’re more comfortable with, of course, it’s your choice-”

He was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. Tim ignored it in favor of continuing his train of thought. “As I was saying we could either go to-”

His phone beeped, the notifications going off left and right. He groaned exasperatedly. “One moment, I gotta reply to this.”

You couldn’t see who or what he was texting. Tim was careful to tilt his phone screen just out of view. You weren’t sure if it was because he didn’t trust you or if it was just the sheer force of habit. You didn’t really care. His business was his business. If he wanted to share he would, it wasn’t your palace to go prying.

A few moments of silence passed before Tim finally spoke again. He put his phone away in his pocket. “Sorry about that, it’s just my brother. Something’s going on at the family home and.. well… there’s no other way to ask you this, do you mind if I make a quick pit stop? I just need to take care of something real quick.”

Honestly, Tim was doing you such a huge favor, you didn’t care if he had a million errands to run. In your book, you owe him one. So, you didn’t think much about agreeing to stop by his family home for a quick second. If only you could have known what the future holds. If only you could see Tim’s blank gaze as he locked the car door and drove off.

[axikitksauce]

She is the type who only eats cupcakes for the icing. she's also the type to eat a naked-ass cupcake without any icing on it at all and look miserable about it but not say anything

She would basically never realise, acknowledge or admit that she was doing something to impress somebody, but she cares slightly too much what certain people think of her. Mostly she'd do impressive things in an unneccsarily painful way to get a point across to somebody instead of just communicating like a normal person

She's a pretty colossal failure at both.

Hahahahahahahhaha! Claire, I'm so very sorry that I did this to you- One of the first things she does is literally run away from a romantic confession. Her first instinct if you tell her you like her is to tell you that you're stupid and wrong. If you romantically pursue her you will discover issues underneath issues. She can't even stand the concept of people being attracted to her at all at the start of the story. GOOD LUCK.

Women

Yearning

An idealised version of her future self. Various fictional characters. A handful of specific sentinels. One specific girl in her class.

More people than she would ever accept. She's basically a superhero in her area - and in the wider world she's known as (theoretically) the most powerful sentinel and (theoretically) the most free and independent sentinel. However, it's fair to say that they look up to the persona of Sentinel Melee, rather than her as a person. Nobody... nobody should look up to her as a person they way she is at the start.

oh wow this... hmm, I've never really thought about this before... even though it DOES factor somewhat in her backstory... hmm.. beyond, like, the boring stuff like. "if you reveal that you're evil, she'll think you're evil". like... I think a simple thing that would make her feel betrayed is a situation, like: somebody pretends to enjoy themselves with her to be nice/polite and reveals that they were forcing themselves through it. I think that just presses a whole cascade of buttons in her, even if it's done out of genuine kindness

Anybody talking to her at all. ESPECIALLY if she's in her human form and not her sentinel body. She does not know how to handle other people at ALLLL. See also: having nothing to do as a sentinel. So from that point of view, anything mundane at all qualifies. When she isn't doing SentinelMelee things, she's forced to contemplate the emptiness of her life.

She's spending way too long agonising about various kinds of swimsuits, and ending up wearing her normal clothes. She doesn't get in the water.

Barely legible

I feel like she lets all her food go cold without even realising it. If she remembers to eat at all. ...If this is starting to sound really depressing, just remember im mostly describing her as she is at the start of the story, prior to almost all of her character development

She needs a hug very very badly. She is (probably) not getting one. Technically more likely to be hugged because she's absolutely not trying to hug anybody else. That said, she's also fully capable of evading a hug. This girl is the type to recoil if you brush against her slightly. She actually desperately wants physical intimacy. wanting it makes her run away from it more. what a mess of a person. i feel like she'd end up spending an entire anime training arc getting over her fear of intimacty instead of working out

She's waaaay too desensitised to killing freaky monsters. The only way a haunted house would scare her is if she went there on a date. Best case scenario: she's entirely unfazed by the scares. Worst case scenario: she beats up the scare actors on instinct.

"It's going to keep being like this." narrowly beating: "I love you."

I dont know what that means. But both. Everything is wrong with her. The only thing she enjoys is fighting monsters as an excuse to briefly not be trapped being herself.

friends and neighbors you just Will not believe it but i made Another oc ask game

(pro tip: name some ocs in the tags when you reblog this so newcomers can ask with ease, and be sure to send an ask to the person you reblog it from!)

How much icing does your character like on a cake/cupcake?

Generally speaking, does your character try to impress people?

Is your character a leader or a follower?

Somebody is trying to win your character's heart (romantically or platonically). Is that difficult? What can they do?

What's something your character thinks about often?

Name an emotion your character feels often but rarely talks about.

Who does your character look up to?

Who looks up to your character?

What would somebody have to do to betray your character? Doesn't have to be huge or unforgivable, any old betrayal will do.

Name a mundane situation that would have your character feeling particularly unhappy or frustrated.

Your character is going to the beach. What are they wearing?

What's your character's handwriting like?

How does your character enjoy leftovers? (Jazz it up a little, microwave it, eat it cold, etc)

Is your character more likely to hug or be hugged?

How would your character fare in a haunted house? (The fun fake kind, not a real one)

Give us a single sentence that would scare your character.

Are your character's insecurities generally more physical or internal?

Your character is at a buffet. If they're not a buffet person, assume somebody dragged them along. What do they go for?

How well does your character handle teasing, playful or otherwise?

How well does your character handle criticism?

How good is your character's memory? Are there certain types of things they remember better than others? (Dates, trivial details, etc)

Do your character's socks match?

Someone asks your character what they want from the coffee shop. What do they say?

Describe your character's appearance with one word.

Is your character more likely to bug someone or be bugged by someone?

What was your character like when they were little?

Think of an emotion that your character doesn't often outwardly express toward people. Describe a situation where that expression would come out.

Your character goes to a pottery class, either willingly or because someone dragged them along. What do they make?

Describe your character's smile.

What was (or is, or will be) high school like for your character?

[heavenescent]

⋆˚꩜｡ june: monthly goals & how to achieve them

summer is officially here. there's no more time anticipating the deadline of bikini/glow-up season, and it came a lot faster than you thought. personally, i just finished my first year of uni and it went by quicker than i would've ever expected! i took a week to relax, but now it's time to pick myself back up. here's my top 3 monthly goals for june & some tips:

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GOAL ONE: get back to the gym!

.ᐣ - what does this mean for me?

i've been recovering from some pretty bad hip, back, and knee injuries from a car crash a little over a year ago, but i'm cleared now to go back to the gym! my body is the weakest it's ever been right now, so i've been getting back into being active by taking outdoor walks, not too difficult hikes, and gentle bodyweight exercises when i have the time. even at the gym, i take things easy by going on the elliptical (mainly to alleviate pressure on my knee) and stick to cardio. once i get my new car in a week, i'm excited to have the freedom to go to the gym again! i'lll be sure to blog about my fitness journey too!

.ᐣ - what does this mean for you?

being disciplined does not mean that you need to be depriving yourself of care. it's so easy to get sucked into toxic motivation and put your all at first, and then lose momentum because you wasted all your energy in the first couple weeks, or even days. i know the advice "be realistic with your goals" is pretty overused, so i like to say, "be firm, but be kind." if your body can't take it, there is no shame in taking a step back. don't be ashamed to let yourself rest, especially when getting started, or starting again. routines should be built to last, and you should not feel like death when you have to stick to them. understand that struggling with change is one thing, but struggling to live in that change is another.

if you feel awful about missing out on getting the summer body for this season, don't fret. even if there isn't realistically enough time to reach your goals, getting started now will feel infinitely better than continuing to push it off. aim to get those 10k steps a day to the best of your efforts. exercising isn't just something that keeps you fit physically, but it truly keeps you fit mentally as well. if you've got a case of summertime sadness, try listening to music or an audiobook on a calm walk. if you can't walk outside or on a machine, just keep yourself on your feet or moving your hands. learning a skill is a great way to stay active, both with your body and your mind.

i'll hopefully be making a complete beginner's guide to the gym soon, because it truly is the best once you get over that initial anxiety. i'll also make a guide to exercising at home in various settings, either living with parents, in an apartment, or with other roommates.

GOAL TWO: cut down on mindless screen time!

.ᐣ - what does this mean for me?

i won't lie... i think i'm one of the worst people i know in regards to screen time and phone usage. and i am ASHAMED of that fact. i used to think phone addiction would never affect me, but i spend nearly every free moment i have on a screen, mindlessly scrolling or consuming brainless, meaningless content. when unpacking the things i brought home from my dorm, i noticed i had a serious problem when instead of putting on music like i would normally do, i struggled to find an enticing enough youtube video to put on in the background. i was subconsciously afraid of being left alone with my own thoughts; i needed something in the background to narrate a controlled train of thought for me on a predetermined topic. in short, not good. for this month, i want to be more mindful of the time i spend online. i started this blog primarily to deal with this issue, and to keep myself accountable by having a place to track my habits. i also just really enjoy journaling and writing, and having a blog is already so therapeutic. instead of doomscrolling, i'll find physical media to interact with, or find knowledge on attaining my aspirations.

.ᐣ - what does this mean for me?

everyone seems to be so attached to their phones, but the way you use your social media is different. you aren't just doomscrolling with no purpose, you're finding tips on improving yourself, or inspiration on new ways to upgrade your personal style. all of this is fine, but the key word in this monthly goal is mindless. if anything, the goal should read: be more mindful about your screen time. be aware that even consuming positive content, such as scrolling through #self improvement can still reach a point of overconsumption. so then, what does it mean to be mindful? well, i think it's a little different for everyone, as most things are.

on one hand of the extreme, no one should ever be spending more than 12 hours a day on social media. on the other hand, i understand why some people can't justify spending less than an hour being on their phone. lifestyles are just too different to be offered a one-size-fits-all solution. so, instead of giving my own unjustified advice, i'd like to recommend a book i read recently:

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy Digital World by Cal Newport

to be blunt: this book was incredibly eye-opening, and provides so much more context and solutions to achieving a healthy, balanced relationship and life with your electronics than i can try to muster in one tumblr post. i really cannot recommend this book enough, especially for those of you angels that want to live more presently, without the shackles of algorithms fighting to keep your attention.

GOAL THREE: get closer to finding the real you!

.ᐣ - what does this mean for me?

this is the most abstract goal on this list, and quite fitting for the last of the three main goals of the month. in a world with so much emphasis on finding what makes you individually unique, yet also finding the group or label that fits with that individuality, i have struggled to find something that is truly, authentically myself. over the years, i've come to accept that all the past, present, and future versions of myself (or who i think myself to be) are all me. but even with this in mind, i can't help but feel something nagging deep inside my soul that knows i'm not being authentically true to myself. outside of all the trends and niches, who am i? another reason why i started this blog is to really explore the intricacies of my entire personality, both what i appreciate about myself and what i need to work on improving. i hope that being consistent in my blogging, reflecting, and interacting with others helps me see my genuine interests and characteristics in a relatively anonymous space. please perceive me!

.ᐣ what does this mean for you?

i don't feel all that qualified in giving real advice for this, since it is genuinely just the blind leading the blind here, but i will leave some questions/advice that have helped me be more introspective:

if you were to die tomorrow, what would you be most proud of? you can't be negative or self-deprecating, be genuine. what good have you left in the world? amongst your family and friends, who would remember the impact you have left, and what would they say about it? i promise that even if you think there's absolutely nothing, there is something. think hard, and be kind to yourself.

describe yourself in 3 words, now describe the 3 defining characteristics of what you aspire to be like. how much of an overlap is there? how do your current defining characteristics connect with your desired characteristics? make note of how similar or different they are, and regardless of which it is, find the similarities in them anyways.

look through some pictures of yourself throughout the years. what are the common themes between your past and current aesthetics? even if they seem like they couldn't be any more different, find at least one similarity. the similarity could very well just be that they're popular or trendy at the time. take note of these similarities, and reflect on what this means you're drawn to.

i know these questions all seem pretty different and quite random, but really reflect on all your answers. and i mean reflect. write it down on paper, think it through, jot down all the thoughts as you ponder over each answer. thinking it inside your brain and getting it all down on paper are completely different, and being able to visually see what troubles you grounds you enough to think everything through more. thoughts can very easily get muddled and jumbled up in your head. get them out and reflect on them for the month. no matter what conclusions you come to, use them for good.

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i'll be sure to figure out a way to improve this really blocky formatting, but thank you for reading! i wish you all the best of luck!

love, kate

[anonmousegosqueak]

Today when the lesson was particularly boring my brain rewired some SoapGaz…

The whole 141 going at a Pub to get drinks, Gaz is one of the least strong against alcohol (still more than the average human though, that one is a giant with great metabolism, the problem is that he is against an old British person, a Scotsman, a mountain tall men and a Russian.

So he gets "a little tispy" while barely walking straight and when he gets back to base with Soap he bevomes like a coala. He grabs Soap's arm, drags him in bed with him and they both fall asleep (haha! You tought the shut was here? You fool! I'm a lover of slower even when it's barely a drabble!) So the next morning they can't look at each other in the eyes because… *points at situation* maybe they have fucked and don't remember, but neither of them remembers so it doesn't count. So the next time they go out for a drink (alone this time) Soap is the one that gets "tipsy" and gaz is the one who has to drag him back to base. But Soap is a horny drink, and Gaz is enough into it that he probably falls for his trap and they end up making out sloppy and then grind into each other because they are too drunk to have coherent and normal sex:)

Yessss

Yessssssssss

Chat, I need to stop writing fics. Creativity is dead, words are hard, I'm literally sobbing because I feel really bad about ignoring Boner's stuff but I just. Can't. WRITE. FICS. So have some ideas instead:3

First time? They're waking up in a panic. Cus like- "oh my God. Did we fuck last night? I mean I'm naked, you're naked- oh fuck we're doomed" ect, ect.

Not only are they both homosexuals with high levels of internalized homophobia (because I said so), they're also both not so subtly into each other. And while yes, they are both Sargents so it's slightly less bad, it's still not exactly *good* to fuck your coworker in almost any situation (unless y'all are porn stars, in which case it's pretty normal.)

So yeah, they uh- they end up avoiding each other for the next week. Talking about it like mature adults? Hah! Do you even know who these people are?

It ends up being pretty obvious that something is up. Even recruits can tell something is wrong, and those bunch are usually clueless. While they're still working together, perfectly professional on the field... Well that's kinda the issue, isn't it? Everyone with two eyes has seen how they pair up, the chaos they cause, the team they make. So for it to all suddenly stop?

But of course, the awkwardness fades.

That week without Price having to clean up after the shenanigans those two were pulling was nice, but it was just that. A week. Soon enough they were simply ignoring that night and pretending nothing happened.

Neither of them were really the type to hold a grudge after all.

So when the second night rolls around? >:3

Gaz is just a bit more sober this time, though probably still more drunk than he should be. Soap on the other hand? He'd just returned from an absolute shit-show of a mission, he needed to unwind. In this case, that means getting absolutely fucking pished.

And obviously, he's a horndog.

I'm talking openly grinding on Gaz in public, no filter, just filth. The one good part? His accent gets so thick when he's drunk that no one can understand anything he's saying.

Gaz is pretty drunk and therefore- into it.

So yeah, they stumble back (mostly after Price kicked them out of the bar for being too horny), and have a heated makeout sesh on Gaz's bed. They both pass out before anything serious can happen, but they do manage to cuddle throughout the night, even with Soap's tossing and turning.

The next morning... Well,

It turns out they might not have been drunk enough tbh. Why do I say that? Because they both *clearly* remember swapping spit. They could probably describe what the other man's lips felt like, and hell would they be fantasizing about it as well.

That's not the only difference though...

Because, when they wake up, Soap doesn't run off. Gaz doesn't kick him out. Neither of them speak for quite a bit, but neither of them break it off. They just bask in the warmth and comfort of each other.

They talk over breakfast.

And then they... "get distracted", and accidently burn the pancakes.

By the time they actually get back to the others, it's pretty clear something happened again. Not because of the stoney silence, but because of the warmth that now sits between them.

Aka: they actually talk about their feelings for once and everyone has a happy ending :)

[s0s1mple]

hello, hope you are doing fine! i have a request! the mc is a playgirl and has casual flings with a lot of people, including the 02z line, seperately. but yandere 02z thinks that they are in a relationship with her and it is serious & comitted. so, when they start to plan to marry her, all three of them find out about her other flings, leading to them thinking she is cheating on them. the ending is upto you, the three could come together and decide to share her or whatever you think suits :)

Oooh ooh ooooooh!! Interesting! I’ll try my best! (Also sorry for late response, I had to get everything in order for summer! Promise I didn’t forget about you guys!) (also my bias is in this line I had to hahahaha)

————

Breakdown - 02z Line

(Sim Jake, Park Sunghoon, Park Jay)

TW: General yandere behavior, kidnapping

Masterlist

————

You were a bit… easy.

Yeah, that would be the term you’d use. Not a slut, god no, but certainly open and definitely wanting to experience all life had to offer. And if that came in the form of satisfying your high libido with a few more men than the average person, then so be it. You enjoyed casual hookups, one night stands, having friends with benefits and all. In all honesty, it wasn’t really a big deal. You liked to have fun, you were safe, and you still built friendships and lived your life as normal, so what was the big fuss?

No feelings got hurt since everyone knew what you were like, right?

—————

You two had met at a club. You were four shots in by the time he arrived, and it wasn’t long after you met on the dance floor that you tried to seduce him. Really, it should have been nothing new. Just a bit of fun, because Jake himself was no blushing virgin. But you’d been very obviously wasted by the time you two stumbled out of the club, and since Jake was a whole lot more coherent he didn’t exactly feel great about the idea. He called you an uber, accompanied you to your place, and helped you up the stairs. You’d pressed a sloppy kiss to his cheek, muttering about how nice he was, and Jake slipped a piece of paper with his number into your palm so you could let him know you’d woken up just fine.

You did so, and soon a brunch so you could thank him was in order. And then a coffee date. And then the two of you tangled in his sheets, panting like animals in heat. Then warm showers, the two of you washing each other off and giggling, before going out to walk Layla. You hugged him easily, cuddled into him, vented about work and listened to his frustrations in turn. Days passed, weeks, then months, and Jake fell harder and faster than he had for anyone before.

And then… then he’d seen it. Out and about with his two best friends, he’d seen it. You, leaning up on your tippy toes to kiss someone else. A quick peck, sure, but the bedroom eyes that came with it were unmistakable. He could feel everything go numb in that moment. Jake’s hand pressed hard against his wallet, all too conscious of the receipt for the engagement ring he’d purchased. This- this couldn’t be real, right?

You two were meant to be soulmates. Nothing felt as right as it did with you, and here you were cheating on him? When he turned his head and spotted Jay and Sunghoon’s expressions, similar empty horror painting their faces, the world crashed down around him.

Was he just someone to lead on? To play with? Pressure built behind his eyes like he wanted to cry, but nothing came. Instead an incomprehensible mixture of rage and pain swelled up, enough to make him want to lash out somehow, something he was never prone to doing. He wanted to hit something, shatter something until it mimicked how he felt inside, wanted to tear something down with his teeth, wanted to make you bleed for causing this pain-

Jake bit his hand instead, teeth sinking deep enough to where it snapped Jay to reality to take him to the hospital. Sunghoon rode along quietly, staring out the window.

Sunghoon hadn’t thought himself the lovey-dovey type. Not until he met you. He’d met you completely independently of Jake, at a park of all places. It had been winter, and Sunghoon had been standing along the edge of the frozen over lake, contemplating if it was thick enough to walk on. Cue you sprinting out onto the ice willy-nilly, seemingly unaware or uncaring of the danger. “Yah! Careful!” He’d shouted out in surprise. You fell then, not through the ice but instead flat on your ass. A loud thud, you pitifully spinning out across the slick surface while seated, and you burst into laughter.

Sunghoon had fallen head over heels.

You were spontaneous, unserious, never failing to bring him to new places and force him to open up. He experienced things he never thought he would, was risky and did things for himself for once in his life, and you were there the whole time to hold his hand through it. Others had said you were flakey, a playgirl, and Sunghoon could admit you might have been in the past. But you were with him now, right? There was nothing to worry about, and you weren’t like that anymore.

He thumbed over the ring box in his coat pocket, staring at his phone after he canceled his reservation. This couldn’t be real. You were cheating on him. That- no- there was no reason for you to, right? You just couldn’t be that sort of person, to date him and take him out on grand excursions, kissing his cheek and wrapping your arms so tenderly around him, only to betray him like this. Surely not. Surely Jake and Jay weren’t feeling the same thing he was, surely you hadn’t also led them on just to break their hearts too. Or maybe they did it to hurt him? No, they wouldn’t…

Sunghoon just didn’t know anymore.

They pulled into the hospital and entered in. Jake was soon attended to, and the three sat quietly as the nurse stitched up his hand. Jay watched the needle move methodically, mind a whirl.

Jay and you had met at a bar. It was a nice, but homely spot. Nothing too expensive, just lowkey and chill, the perfect spot for Jay just after work. He settled down and looked about, spotting all the regulars, until you sat next to him. You too were a regular, one he’d seen flitting around with a new male on your arm all the time. A few drinks later, and you two were acquainted. He said a stupid joke, you laughed until you snorted, and then laughed harder at the noise, and Jay couldn’t stop his smile for the rest of the night.

He’d known how you were. He’d been well aware of the fact he’d initially be the latest in a long line of flings, but truthfully it had drawn him to you. Not like Jake, no, not because your nature matched his, but because he could see so much warmth in you, so much life, that just had to be redirected to the right place. And Jay wanted to do that, wanted to be the one to curb your interest in playing around with others, wanted to take you out to nice restaurants and dote on you on rooftop bars. And he did. You came with him to so many outings, shifted from someone unfamiliar with expensive nightlife to the picture of a socialite under his care. You were going to achieve that dream you had of opening your own business, and it was all thanks to Jay and the connections he’d made for you.

And in return, you made him so happy. So, so happy. Jokes and laughter, soft moments leaning against each other as you stared at the stars, nights cooking together in his kitchen…

Jay debated chucking his engagement ring, done up with beautiful jade and diamonds, into the trash bin.

Were you just pretending to love him for that power? Were you just sleeping with him as a bizarre sort of payment, a manipulation? Was anything real? Jay wanted to scream, to lose his composure and punch something hard, but he just grit his jaw and stared at the nurse as she worked. She seemed to get uncomfortable and leave soon after.

He hardly registered that fact.

Finally, the silence was broken. “What‘s going on?” Jay managed. Jake blinked, seemingly pulled back to earth, and fidgeted. He glared hard at the ground.

“You guys tell me. Seems like you were fucking my girlfriend-“

“Your girlfriend-?” Jay grit his teeth, resisting a snarl as something ugly bloomed inside him.

“No, we were dating.” Sunghoon said icily. Jake huffed out a disbelieving laugh.

“What, so you think we were all hers? No way. No. That can’t be.” He hissed. It wasn’t born of real anger though, just a deep set sadness that hurt awfully.

“We were all led on.” Jay finally managed, fists clenching and unclenching.

“Someone else has to know what was happening, right? S-Should we ask around? See who else was led on?”

Sunghoon held up his phone. “Already texted her brother. They talk about everything together. “

“I know.” Jake and Jay both answered sharply, crowding around Sunghoon and his phone all the same. A few texts and, for the first time, they were getting answers. Not quite the answers they wanted, not that you were committed or loved any of them, but that you’d simply never talked about any of them that way. That as far as he could tell, he wasn’t under the impression there was a relationship. Just that you obviously thought of them as friends and nothing more, as occasional fuck-buddies and people to experience the world with.

The idea was a slap to the face. You didn’t love any of them? They’d somehow read everything painfully wrong? At the same time though, it was a relief. You didn’t betray them, or at the very least didn’t know you were doing such a thing. In some ways, you were still theirs. In some ways, there was still a chance.

Panic, craving, something born from even that moment of pain and perhaps something deeper, clawed itself deep into their chests. Jake gnawed at the inside of his cheek.

“So what now?” He finally asked.

“She hurt us.” Sunghoon responded icily. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something else, and then seemed to decide better of it.

“She didn’t mean to though…”

“Were we not obvious enough? I know I was. I took her out to eat at the nicest places in Seoul.” Jay mumbled, brows furrowed.

“You’re rich, Jay, she probably thought it meant nothing since it’s chump change for you.” Sunghoon deadpanned. Jay shot him a quick glare, and pressed his fingers to his temples as if easing a headache.

“Do we just let it be? Forget about her?”

A long silence, the three of them meeting each other’s eyes to see ironclad intent. No. That wouldn’t do. Someone else might do such a thing to avoid embarrassing themselves, to avoid heartbreak, but these three? No. Since you came into their lives, everything revolved around you. In fact, that seemed to be how the whole world operated. Everything fell into orbit around your magnetic personality, everyone doting and catching your attention, and…

What if you didn’t have any more of that debris to distract you?

“There was a communication problem.” Jay finally said. His tone was sliding into something final, a conclusion coming to mind that both of the other males seemed to pick up on instantly.

“So let’s make communication easy then. She’ll have to love one of us back, right?” Jake asked softly, hopefully. Sunghoon hummed an affirmative.

“If there’s nothing else to draw her attention, she’ll have to.”

————

“You’re fucking insane! Let me out! Help! Help, anyone-!”

Sunghoon clapped a hand over your mouth, shushing you with a frustrated sigh. “You’re hurting my ears, baby…” He’d never heard you screech like this, not even at the carnival, and it was exhausting more than anything. Jake, sitting off to the side and staring adoringly at your profile, piped up.

“Look, I know this is unconventional, but this whole situation is unconventional too, right? I mean-“

You jerked your mouth out from under Sunghoon’s palm. “You kidnapped me just because you bastards thought you were entitled to me just because we fucked! I- I thought you were my friends!” You sniffled then, eyes welling up, and the words died in your throat. Jake had the nerve to look like a kicked puppy.

“Sweetheart, we’re glad you thought so positively of us. We are. But you mean so much more to us,” Jay said patiently, pushing some hair from your face. He was calm, the picture of neutral, save for the intensity of his gaze. “And somehow you couldn’t see it, so now we’re giving you the chance to. That’s all.”

There was a long moment as you glared hard at them, eyes wet and cheeks red. “I hate you.”

“And we love you.”

[hostilemuppet]

DELTARUNE SPOILER !!! pls don’t come after me I saw that u drew it !

(This is about about the thorn ring scene w Kris and Noel, but it can be applied to the rest of the game ig)

It’s interesting that ppl don’t understand how interpreting then making a hypothesis to slowly make up a theory forged from multiple perspectives and opinions works... Maybe the weird route is called the weird route for a reason and is still missing a bunch of context and lore about what and why it is happening…. Maybe…. ppl are going to be a little extreme when decoding (it is really not that extreme btw) what the scene is trying to say lore wise about Kris or Noel or whatever

Sometimes it’s necessary to pull out that inner English teacher to understand stuff

(dw ive beaten the game and ive seen everything i care about)

i dont even think this is "inner english teacher" i think this is just like. basic english (so i understand people who arent native english speakers not getting it) and - ik this has become a meaningless buzzword lately - media literacy

[deltarune weird route chapter 4 spoilers + discussion of sa]

heres what happens in The Scene: a teenage girl talks to her friend who she trusts, alone in her bedroom with "no one" else around. she talks about them comforting her. once you take control over kris, you deny her the privacy of her own thoughts - she has nowhere she can escape, even her own head - and you force kris to grab her while she tries to get away. she says she thought they wanted to protect her, and she wants to run away but cant, as kris tries to fight what youre making them do but cant because youre inside them. you make kris force something into their friend. the screen goes black, and a flower blooms between where the two sat, before losing its petals. kris shambles to the bathroom in a haze, and kicks the shit out of you for making them do that, for doing that to them. when susie asks what kris and susie talked about, both you and kris have nothing to say

i think its obvious where the SA comparisons come from. even without the flower, grabbing someone and forcing something inside them ALONE would raise alarm bells, but the rest of the scene already was vomit inducing and i knew exactly what was going on. the flower was just the icing on the cake. or. the cherry on top, might be more appropriate

the idea that someone could only see parallels to SA if they were "a weirdo" who "cant be normal" and is just "desperate to see a kid get raped" because they "get off on it" is. such a fucking evil sentiment i cant even begin to get into it. for one, SA survivors just might be reminded of their own experiences (i know! SA survivors are people who are often able to use the internet and might even like video games! its shocking), for another, most people SHOULD recognise signs of SA. the alternative is that it could happen right in front of them, even in real life, and theyd be oblivious to stop it. didnt we just have this SAME EXACT conversation with mouthwashing? where anyone who missed jimmy raping and impregnating anya was considered a moron?

but people keep saying "toby fox wouldnt do that!" as if they know him personally. you have no idea what toby wants to put in his games. you dont know what his vision is. just because he hasnt dealt with these topics before doesnt mean he never can; hed be a pretty boring writer if he only dealt with one topic over and over again with zero variation. im no expert, but im pretty sure hes never made a game with a punk dinosaur girl who eats chalk before either. does that mean he never can?

related: people saying "he wouldnt do that with two minors" is something i find particularly evil, because it either implies they think minors cant assault other minors (ignoring how its actually the player assaulting two minors, but these people also dont seem to understand the weird route conceptually. ive already seen "why do you want kris to sa noelle so badly 🤨" KRIS WAS ALSO BEING ASSAULTED!) OR. theyd be totally okay if it was an adult assaulting another adult. which implies they think of it as just "sex, that happens to be not be consensual" instead of the act of violence it is. someone doesnt rape someone because they were horny and they didnt realise the other person didnt want it, they rape someone because they are making the conscious choice to discard their victims bodily autonomy, to take control of them, to hurt and humiliate

and THAT is why it fits right in with the weird route. the weird route takes the whole games themes of lack of choices and the way you take control of kris, and ramps it up 10x, with you forcing kris to force noelle to do horrible things, because you as the player want bad things to happen, you want to hurt them. and ch2 was very much in line with an abusive romantic relationship: there was a WEDDING RING. if you think this is "out of nowhere" you havent been paying attention. we didnt expect it, but that doesnt mean it doesnt make a lot of sense

which is why i genuinely refuse to believe it was unintentional. theres no way toby fox is that stupid to include an abusive relationship allegory between two teenagers and then a deflowering motif. with so much symbolism and hidden meaning in his game, and how much thought goes into every little thing, theres no way he had no idea what "deflowering" meant for FOUR YEARS, and even if he didnt know, do you know how low the chances are that NO ONE who worked on or playtested that segment knew, or at least knew but chose not to say anything? they have not invented a number small enough yet

it just boggles the mind how anyone could say "see, he removed it so he clearly didnt intend it you gooner freaks", as if the only reason anyone would ever think about SA is bc theyre getting off on it. which really says more about the person saying that, that they think of it as like. a porn category. they hear "sexual assault between teenagers" and they think "barely legal CNC video they saw on pornhub" instead of "cocsa". the idea that fiction could involve anything that isnt either for memes or for porn is inconceivable to them. if youre reminded of SA it must either because you think its funny or because youre getting off on it, even if the general response ive seen from people who saw it as SA was "it made me sick to my stomach"

this is the sinister middle part of the venn diagram between "fandomification declaws all serious topics in favour of silly memes and coffee shop aus" and "victims can never talk about what happened to them in case it makes normal people uncomfortable"

and its not lost on me that a SA reading makes you a weirdo freak, but forcing carol to be homophobic - bigotry is serious, especially from a parental figure who is implied to be not great at the very least, but thats okay to joke about? - seems to be the popular stance, when in the context of the game she just didnt want someone she doesnt know using her presumably dead daughters guitar

after all. toby fox has never tackled the concept of homophobia before. which as we all know means he never can

edit: i think these are appropriate here

[ninja-confession-go]

I genuinely don’t think the ninja deserved what Wu did to them at the beginning of season 11 the fire chapter. On paper, the idea that the ninja have gotten lazy isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but I think the execution is muddled and just sends some really bad messaging.

(I should clarify, I don’t necessarily hate Wu, I actually do like him in the majority of the show, but I do have issues with him in this specific season. Also this will be super long so prepare yourself)

Like, it starts off with the ninja playing video games and going in the hot tub which are like, normal things for teenagers/young adults to do? ESPECIALLY considering that they make a huge point of the fact that there is such little crime happening that the actual prisoners are getting therapy and healthy coping mechanisms. And this has been going on for months. So they have no actual obligations or responsibilities to do anything, and they’re taking a well deserved break, I think that’s more than reasonable.

And yes, you could argue that they’re making a mess, but Wu doesn’t actually criticize them about that. Instead, he calls them lazy and soft for not training, which is arguably still mildly understandable considering they are the protectors of the city.

My problem isn’t Wu disciplining them, it’s the WAY he does it.

After lining them up and insulting them, he locks them alone in a room with a death chicken who he knows has killed before, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT THE NINJA HAVE NOT TRAINED IN MONTHS. And then he’s still upset with them after they trap it back in the box while they’re visibly battered. Yes I know it was meant to be a joke, but it’s still a shitty thing to do for essentially no reason. There was still a real possibility they could’ve died.

So his problem is that they’ve lost their sharpness, fair enough. I feel like it would be reasonable to maybe implement a more regular training routine to build back up their skill, and I also think them playing video games and going in the hot tub from time to time is also fine. There should be a healthy balance, right?

This guy decides that, no, he won’t just implement a schedule like a normal mentor/teacher would. He’s going to actually fucking terrorize them for doing ANYTHING remotely recreational. Cole getting a midnight snack, he falls through a trap door. Zane playing video games, he gets catapulted into the fucking roof. And this is my favorite (/neg): Nya sleeping?? At night?? Wu balances her bed on an insanely high and unstable peak to where she could easily fall to her death. I feel I shouldn’t have to say that this is NOT HOW YOU MENTOR. Not only is it framing anything recreational as horrendous and deserving of almost dying, but also the fact that this is treated like a joke. I get that he wants them to always be ready, but they can’t be ready if they’re traumatized and almost die for doing nothing wrong.

And all this, combined with him beating them up (which I’m not even getting into right now), leads the Ninja to seek out a quest to sharpen their skills. Makes sense, and it’s what he wanted from them, right? So Lloyd asks Wu about where to seek out quests, and he gets mad at him?? Mf, you’ve literally spent this whole time terrorizing these guys and then you get mad when they ask for help to do the thing you wanted them to do?? You’re their MENTOR, THAT’S YOUR LITERAL JOB!!

also he says “adventure does not come to the idle, it comes to those who seek it” which is like, not that true? Literally almost every adventure the Ninja went on wasn’t because they sought it out, the circumstances just kinda pushed them in that direction. So forgive me if I don’t really trust your judgment here Wu🙄.

This quest the ninja seek out also leads to the city getting terrorized again, after literal months of peace. So if Wu had acted like a normal person and just tried to get them to train more instead of terrorizing them, Aspheera might’ve never been released and the city would’ve also been fine until maybe prime empire.

overall, I really didn’t like him in this season, he’s completely willing to almost cause his student’s deaths for the sake of “sharpening them” after they didn’t really do anything wrong, then getting annoyed when they seek out his guidance again. It has the energy of a controlling parent who is never satisfied with anything you do, and any slight deviation from perfection is played out as more serious than it actually is.

sorry this was so long lmao I have so many thoughts and issues with this season and Wu in general. They could never make me form a consistent opinion on you, Wu.

.

[remcadll]

Gen obsessed with how.. *dead* your Jason's color pallete is. Like, that's corpse pale right there. Not a spec of blood left flowing in there (also father Todd's skin being full of color in comparison is a nice touch)

THANK YOU I love making him look a bit ghoulish. Guy who's not supposed to be alive but yes he is. no he isn't <3

[ganondoodle]

okay now, im a little pissed off- i wont be reblogging the post bc its and old shitpost and i dont want to attract more notes on it but

i am so fucking, and i mean FUCKING, tired of all the shit ass excuses some people try to make to defend ganondorf being a nothing burger character

this dumb ass comment really goes all in too, and here i painfully see how much damage skyward sword has done to him bc people cant fuking think i guess "as of skysw he doesnt have an true motivation of his own- hes evil just bc he is there nothing else to it" shut the fuck up man oh my god, you dont think thats a problem? you just accept that? no no OOT also already showed hes nothing but evil tm uwu he doesnt have a reason - AND THATS A PROBLEM YOU ABSOLUTE BUFFOON

if you think that giving ganondorf a miniscule amount of ANY sort of sensical reason to do what he does, a backstory, fucking anything 'changes him into a different character'- HOW in the FUCK do you not see the problem here

and my favorite (refernceing a different character) "If hes evil, like ganondorf, which means an absolute evil, then his backstory wouldn't matter a lick" HELLO??? HELL FUCKING O???? "absolute evil" do you know how you sound like??? also EVERYTHING MATTERS oh my god, but no no of course it wouldnt matter and make no difference if you knew more about a character, no, actually, knowing less of a character is better even! why even write anything tbh? you just give them a label of good or evil and then you dont need anythign else heehoo i cannot believe this shit is now hanging on one of my posts, im struggeling to even dismantle it bc its just so goddamn stupid what do you mean it woudnt matter???????? if i knew ganondorf had a personality (especially totk bc its the worst case), if i knew he had loved ones once upon a time, he laughed and was allowed to feel like a person, whatever made him go down a bad path to end up making you defeat him would mAKE IT ALL HAVE MORE OF AN IMPACT (this is assuming that whatever path it is leads him to oppose you but also .. it doesnt have to mean hes evil or done all bad deeds, guess what, you the player could also be playing the real "villain", wouldnt that be a change of pace .. or it wouldnt, depending on how you look at it (oh NO shift of perspective???) it already is, even if i personally prefer it ALL being a spectrum and not just a label of good and bad and just rolling with this badly definable bunch of words)

do you know why i didnt give a flying fuck about the final battle in totk?? bc its all fucking NOTHING, ganondorf is a goal post with a face that got "BAD GUY" written on it in big red letters stapled on it and nothign more, you cant care about nothing and the point of any story at all is to fucking CARE

honestly a reason why i hate both "redeemable" and the good and evil descriptor is that its so ... limiting, redeemable, what does that even mean really?? it just sounds like you are applying some weirdo christian sins to make up for with good deeds shit onto characters that are, or should be, meant to make you feel something and be a pinnacle of jesus instead, like a checkbox, a scoreboard, and now its being mainly used as a negative word to dismiss legitimate criticism of boring or shitty writing bc giving any character any depth at all now automatically means you want to redeem them and thus absolve them of their sins or some shit, make them uwu perfect little good guys which is not the point (even if there are people like that, sicne guess what, theres lots of different ideas of things all around, inlcuding this hellhole- and yes there are shitty ways to give a character depth! the problem then isnt the motivation to give them depth, its the WRITING of it)

the whole good and evil thing also is just so darn limiting, what does evil even mean, who defines it matters alot, what does good mean, the definition is also really really bendable- link kills more living things than ganondorf ever has yet he isnt evil (bc hes on the side of hyrule, the designated good gouys uwu which means anythign they do is okay), the royal family having a torture dungeon and persecuting the shiekah into submission doesnt make them evil uwu but the gerudo have to suffer for the "crime" of having birthed ganondorf at some point for all eternity i guess

(as well as the very very obviously stupid turns and things ganondorf does and doesnt do literally just bc they needed him to do soemthign you could call bad even if it makes no sense at all, why would he attack his own fucking people out of nowhere, why destroy everything, literally what for, why give himself up if he wants to rule its jsut as stupidly nonsensical as the dumb magic pebbles that just gives random powers out just to force the outcome they wanted to happen)

redeemable, saveable, whatever, giving a character depth doesnt have to mean you want them to join the good tm guys either and im so fucking tired of this way of thinking, EVEN considering that hey ... it would be cool actually to have a ganondorf as the main guy, but we all should know that would only happen if he is a servant of hyrule, which i would consider to be more out of character than ... GIVIING HIM ANY SORT OF DEPTH??? to sympthaize, be conflicted or see the guy you need to defeat has a point is like, not a bad thing?? you can make someone be the most sympathetic guy of all time and still make you fight him ??? and i will repeat again, ganondorf being a nothing burger (espeically in totk) hurts EVERYTHING, everything suffers from shitty writing and lack of writing, the thing that link and zelda are almost just as flat istn .. isnt good either?? its also bad but hes got it way worse (and the racism oh bOI)!!! (there is a reason why ww ganondorf is widely seen as the best one and itse literally bc he says ONE or two lines that may make you think omg .. he is person.... he might FEEL OoO- man the bar really is below the ground isnt it)

and they dont even care to try to make him actually be dislikable, he doesnt tease zelda with killing her father or soemthing, he doesnt have any sort of connection to any of them, every line he says (in totk) is like a prepackaged microwave villain line, you could apply it to anyone, even rauru and it wouldnt seem out of place tbh (which is BAD), more depth would have connected him to the story, the world the literal everything which means people care which means a better story i dont know how to explain to you that you should be able to care about characters??????? he gets the stamp of "evil guy" on his head and they expect you to be happy with that, accept any stupid thing they make him do and others say about him without question? do you NOT feel at least a little insulted???

and like, this is still written, this is a piece of fiction, they had to sit down and write all that, or .. well, NOT write it, they decided to do it like this, despite the ocean of potential in front of them, you could do so many itneresting thigns with this world and they jsut dont and then theres people like this that are so entrechned into this boring ass writing they think that its the point, liek the point is its bad hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

"but hes not meant to be a person he jsut ev-" SHUT the hell up, nevermind the whole curse thing is an englsih trnaslation thing and also perhaps not meant to be taken literally, you think that makes it ok? that well there was a demon once (who also doesnt get any sort of depth btw!!! problem shoved one place over but still the same problem!) so that means hes not actually a person but idk a demon puppet or soemthing- doesnt change anything imo, are you not bored? are you not tired? are you happy with not thinking? not being engaged with at all? to see chaarcters to utterly flavorless you fall asleep and choke on them? i am not, i love thinking, im addicted to it even, i think every day even, right now too, they got a convenient excuse to put not even the barest fucking minimum of writing care into a character and you are jsut going with it!! where are your tastebuds buddy??

[hellfirebarnes]

Slow-Burns Part 8

@crowleythesexydemon

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6 PART 7 PART 9

I split this up in several, shorter parts because I know the feeling when you want to read a fic but don't have the time or energy to get through a 10k+ words one. Also if you hate my writing you can just read part 1 and then leave it. Win-win I guess?

Anyway, this is set after Thunderbolts so if you haven't seen it - spoilers I guess? It absolutely does not follow canon, but yeah better to be safe than sorry.

Summary: Bucky has fallen. Hopelessly. And the only thing more hopeless is his team trying to help him get to the end of this slow-burn.

Bucky x fem!SHIELD!reader

1.6K Words

Fluff, ''normal'' violence and descriptions of injuries. For sure out of character stuff, but I am who I am. Your appearence is barely desribed what I can remember, I think your hair and a couple types what clothes you're wearing?

You're referred to as ''Agent'' and ''Sunshine'' in a desperate attempt from me to not use Y/N.

Let me know if there's anything else I should warn about.

Otherwise, enjoy :)

Bucky knew something was wrong the moment Bob walked into the gym with a clipboard.

Not a weapon. Not an energy drink. A clipboard.

“Uh-oh,” John muttered, ducking into the hallway like he could sense it too.

You, meanwhile, were upside down on a mat, mid-stretch, and waved. “Hey, Bob. What’s up?”

“I have prepared a schedule,” Bob announced. “For Bucky’s courtship initiative.”

Bucky dropped his dumbbells mid-rep.

You blinked. “Wait. What now?”

Bob beamed. “I’ve been doing research. Love is a very specific chemical cocktail involving serotonin, oxytocin, and sometimes pancakes. I’ve created a multi-day plan to help Bucky seduce- no, woo you properly!”

“Bob,” Bucky hissed, red-faced. “What the hell-”

“I even made themed days,” Bob continued proudly, flipping the clipboard to reveal a chaotic chart with glitter stickers. “Today is Compliment Blitz Tuesday. Tomorrow is Proximity and Eye Contact Wednesday. Friday is tentatively titled Emotional Vulnerability & Muffins.”

You looked like you were trying very hard not to laugh. “This is… a lot.”

“It’s science,” Bob said solemnly.

Yelena, walking past the gym with a smoothie, peered at the clipboard. “You missed Subtlety and Dignity Day.”

“I moved that to next month.”

Hours later, Bucky was still simmering with embarrassment, crouched behind a case of gear to avoid further romantic sabotage. You popped your head around the corner, grinning.

“Hey.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re gonna laugh at me again.”

“Nope. I promise.” He squinted at you. “Okay, I might laugh again, but with love.”

He gave you a look. “Bob told the entire base I was trying to woo you. With pancakes.”

You leaned a shoulder against the wall beside him. “Honestly? It was kinda sweet.”

“Sweet?” he echoed, startled.

“Yeah. I mean, chaotic and absolutely deranged. But sweet.”

He looked at you then, really looked - eyes bright with amusement, arms crossed, completely comfortable in his space. He still didn’t know how he was supposed to talk to you without falling further in love.

“So,” you said casually. “Which day is today again?”

“Compliment Blitz Tuesday,” he muttered.

You waited, tilting your head. “Well?”

He sighed. “You’re the smartest, kindest, funniest person I’ve ever met. You’re stupidly good at your job. And… your laugh makes me forget all the awful things I’ve seen.”

You blinked.

He immediately panicked. “That was too much. That was too much. Forget it-”

“No,” you interrupted gently. “That was… perfect.”

And he forgot how to breathe.

On the observation deck, Alexei stood beside Bob, overlooking the city. “You are reckless and emotionally unstable,” he said.

“Thank you,” Bob replied.

“But I will admit… that plan sort of worked.”

Bob smiled. “We’re getting closer.”

“To what?”

Bob pointed dramatically. “To love.”

Bucky walked in like a man going to war.

Bob’s clipboard was missing (mercifully), but everyone knew what day it was. Ava had smirked the moment he walked in. John made a show of stretching like he was prepping for a very intense eye contact session.

And you? You were curled on the couch in one of Yelena’s hoodies, reading a book and drinking tea, looking so cozy and unbothered that Bucky’s entire internal monologue short-circuited.

He sat down on the couch beside you. Close. Not too close. Just close enough to fulfill Bob’s mission parameters for Proximity Day.

You looked up. “Hey, stranger.”

His heart did that thing again - the one where it tried to climb out of his chest and swan dive into traffic. “Hey.”

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah,” he managed. “You?”

You smiled. “Getting through this book. Might need backup on chapter 10. Feels cursed.”

“I’ll be here.”

You grinned. “My proximity hero.”

He laughed before he could stop himself. Progress.

Bob passed by with a tray of snacks and whispered, “You’re doing great,” like a football coach mid-game.

Then tripped and almost face-planted into a plant, causing Alexei to shout, “COMMIT TO THE ROLE, BOB!” from the hallway.

You didn’t look up from your book. “Should I be worried about whatever weird cult the team is running now?”

Bucky blinked. “Only if they try to bring out the muffins.”

You chuckled. “You’re different lately.”

“Different how?”

“You seem more… I don’t know. Present. Calmer.”

He thought about that. “Maybe I’ve got better reasons to be.”

You tilted your head at him, thoughtful. “That sounds like the next step. Eye contact.”

He stiffened. You met his eyes, warm and curious and completely unaware of the internal free-fall happening behind his blank expression.

“Bucky?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re staring.”

“I know,” he said quietly.

Yelena, Ava, and you were partnered up for drills. Bob was running the session, which meant it had turned into more of a dance class meets improv theater. Alexei had inexplicably brought out an accordion.

Bucky stood to the side, pretending to check equipment, but really just watching you. The way you moved. The way you laughed with Ava. The way you stuck your tongue out at John when he shouted unsolicited notes from across the room. You were magic.

Absolute chaos in a hoodie and combat boots. And Bob’s dumb mission? It wasn’t even about proximity or eye contact. It was about watching you live - really live - and realizing how much he wanted to be part of that.

To be someone you chose.

That night, he found you alone again, looking out over the city.

“Hey,” you said, nudging him with your elbow when he joined you. “We survived another day of whatever this week is.”

He nodded. “You make it survivable.”

You smiled. Quiet. Soft. You stood like that for a long time, close but not touching, the kind of silence that spoke more than any plan Bob could draw. Bucky didn’t need proximity to know how far he’d fallen. But standing next to you?

He really, really hoped you might one day fall with him.

Val’s orders had been clear: in and out, no fireworks, no attention.

Bucky had paired with you without argument - mostly because you’d wordlessly slid the mission file across the table to him before Val even finished reading off the details.

And now, beneath the cover of darkness, the two of you were crouched outside an abandoned safehouse with faulty comms and a growing sense that something was off.

Bucky scanned the perimeter. “Movement. Inside, second floor.”

You nodded, adjusting your gear. “I’ll take the rear. You breach.”

He paused, eyes on yours for a moment longer than needed. “Be careful.”

You smirked. “I always am.”

It was supposed to be abandoned. But as soon as Bucky stepped through the crumbling hallway, he knew you weren’t alone. Footsteps. Heat signatures. Wrong ones. His instincts kicked in just as the first shot cracked past his shoulder.

“Ambush!” he shouted into the comm. “Fall back-”

Your voice came back, breathless and sharp. “Negative. I’m pinned. East stairwell. Two armed-no, three.”

His stomach dropped. He could hear you breathing. Fast. But steady. You were holding your own.

Bucky crashed through the corridor, taking out one of the gunmen with a brutal blow from his vibranium arm. Another was downed by a precise shot from his pistol.

And then - he saw you. Back to the wall, blood at your temple, eyes on fire. But alive.

You ducked as Bucky sent the last guy through a table, and before he could even breathe, you were grabbing him.

“Are you okay?” you gasped. “You were out of range- I didn’t-”

“I’m fine,” he said, but his voice cracked. “You-your head-”

“It’s nothing.” But your hand was shaking.

And then a beam overhead creaked, dislodged by the earlier fight, and came crashing down toward you - too fast, too heavy, too-

You shoved him hard to the side. It missed him. But it clipped your shoulder, and you went down hard. His voice ripped out of him like something primal.

He’d carried you the last block to the rendezvous point. You weren't unconscious. Just exhausted, banged up, and hurting.

“You’re an idiot,” you rasped.

“You threw yourself in front of a steel beam.”

“Because you weren’t looking up, Barnes.”

“I never look up,” he muttered, trying to keep pressure off your shoulder. “That’s why you’re usually next to me.”

Your eyes fluttered, blurry and half-focused on him. “Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad.”

“Liar.”

“I’m…” He trailed off. Swallowed. “I’m scared.” That made you go still. “I’ve been scared since I met you,” he added quietly. “And I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”

Your lips parted.

Then Bob’s voice came over comms: “Extraction team inbound. Is Bucky crying? Should I bring tissues?”

You snorted, pained but amused.

The next day in the med bay, you were patched up and teasing him again by afternoon.

The others came and went - Yelena brought snacks, John complained about the mission logs, Ava threatened anyone who interrupted her nap on the spare cot. Alexei brought a bear-shaped balloon. Bob made a chart called “Times Sunshine Has Saved Bucky’s Life” and pinned it above your bed.

But it wasn’t until everyone else cleared out that Bucky sat beside you again, quiet, fingers fiddling with a cold pack he wasn’t using. “I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, eyes fixed on the floor.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” you replied. “We make a good team.”

He looked at you then. And it hit him again.

Not a crush. Not a passing thing. But love. Big and terrible and aching.

And after this mission, after the way your voice had sounded when you yelled his name-

He wasn’t going to keep pretending it wasn’t real.

[welcometogrouchland]

I'm going to be so real I do not understand tim & steph shippers who feel that Steph dating Tim again would save her character. You can make an argument that giving Tim a more compelling love interest would be beneficial for him! And you can at least make an argument that the fujo mischaracterization of Steph would stop. However she'd still, inevitably, be treated as a prop character/extension for someone more popular 😭 it also wouldn't make her appear in more books! Tim doesn't have many frequent appearances at the moment either! You can just say you like the couple and want them back together without acting like you have some kind of moral stance

[qoldenskies]

i feel like out of everyone april would be the worst with self-deprecating humor. the boys have self-esteem issues but they're literally all the types to play up confidence or double down instead of addressing them (raph the least, but he can be pretty stubborn at times), but april's momentum only takes her so far and she is pretty willing to admit defeat if her usual methods dont work. the speed at which she falls back into the idea that she cant do anything right,,, there's probably a point where she jokes about it before it even happens to prepare herself for disappointment, right?