#i saw a fic once where romeo comes out and changes her name to juliet-and i thought that was the plumb cutest idea

[tripamania]

bedma'am

bonus:

[moon-light-jukebox]

Learning Styles - [Reid x Reader]

Summary: Reader has worked hard to get to the FBI, but a misunderstanding has her feeling insecure. 

Pairing: Spencer Reid / Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Genre: Fluff

Rating: PG

Content Warning: Mention of normal criminal minds stuff briefly. 

A/n: I got these two requests and they were so similar I decided to combine them. I hope that’s okay, but I feel like the stories would have been almost identical. 

Requests:  - I have a fic suggestion. Reader pretends to be dumb but is actually really smart. I’m thinking of that quote about marilyn ”you have to be really smart to pretend to be dumb”. One day spencer realizes that reader is smarter than she lets people know.

- Hi! Can I request a spencer reid x reader fic where reader isn't great with numbers but brilliant with behaviour and humanities (i.e. literature, history, sociology, up to you)? Maybe a dash of insecurity to spice things up?

-- Learning Styles -- 

My favorite professor in college told me that everyone learns differently; what works for one person won’t work in the same way for another. We are all different human beings that are shaped in different ways.

I had always been oddly insecure about my intelligence level. One of my earliest memories was my mother yelling at me while I sat at the kitchen table when I was in first grade. I was the only kid in my class who still hadn’t learned how to read. I just didn’t understand. All of my friends were progressing so much quicker than me and my mother was losing patience.

It wasn’t until my grandmother stepped in that everything changed. My elementary school teacher was training children to read by memorizing sight words, a concept I didn’t understand. When my grandmother sat down and taught me phonics. I distinctly remember everything snapping into place.

I was in 1st grade and reading at a 7th-grade level by Christmas. Once I finally understood my learning style, I really began to thrive.

But no matter what I did, I could still hear my mother yelling at me, telling me I was stupid.

In my line of work, I see just how much the throw away comments that parents make can shape a child’s development. Luckily, those comments just made me a bit insecure, not a murderer.

Up until I was 22, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do beyond this desire I had to help people. SSA David Rossi had come to guest lecture in one of my abnormal psych classes during undergrad. After I heard him speak, I was done. I couldn’t have done anything else with my life. I had obtained my master’s in psychology before I joined the FBI.

It took some time, but I was finally assigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico. I was so excited on my first day that I remember my hands physically shaking.

Until they weren’t.

I can still remember my first day so clearly. SSA Hotchner had introduced me to the team, saving the “best” for last.

“And this is Dr. Spencer Reid,” he had said. “He’s our expert on…well, everything.”

Reid was my age and he had his Ph.D. I remember feeling awed by him.

Until I didn’t.

"I hold 3 Ph.D.'s in Chemistry, Engineering, and Mathematics. I also have BAs in psychology and sociology."

I remember my jaw almost hitting the floor. While I was impressed by him, I wasn’t insecure about my place on the team.

Until I was.

My grandmother may have helped me master reading, which opened the door to me mastering anything else I put my mind to…except math.

I was fine at statistics, luckily. You couldn’t get a psych degree without a ton of statistics work. But statistics was different, I could see the practical use of statistics. I just couldn’t wrap my head around calculus or algebra.

On my first case with the team, Reid had calculated some insane mathematical equations on the whiteboard, running down the probabilities and applying a mathematical formula to the unsub’s behavior.

It wasn't until later, after the case was solved when I was standing in front of the whiteboard that my confidence was hit. Reid had come into the room and saw me looking at his work.

“Don’t bother trying to understand it,” he had said. “You’d have to be a genius to understand what I do.”

I didn’t have a word to describe the feeling that settled in my stomach at his words, I wasn’t sure such a word existed. The feeling was cold and heavy, but also made my body burn with shame.

I had just offered him a tight smile before I left the room.

On the plane home I had made a decision. I was no match for Dr. Reid, I doubt anyone was. So, I would take myself out of the competition. I couldn’t get hurt if I wasn’t playing the game.

And that is how the next year of my life went. I allowed Dr. Reid to explain things to me that I was an expert in, never saying a word. I acted like I didn't understand concepts that I had written papers on. The only thing I didn't dumb down was my profiling skills. Those were necessary for my job and for saving lives.

I don’t think anyone realized what I was doing.

Until they did.

--

The team had been called to Colorado to assist in capturing a serial rapist.

All of our cases bothered me, every last one…but something about ones with this vile element really struck me.

We had the unsub’s name, Tyler Childress. He had spent time in prison for sexual assault and burglary. It seems while he was in prison, he spent time perfecting his methods; it was only by pure luck that we found his fingerprint inside the victim’s house, making him the main suspect.

When we paid Mr. Childress a visit, he had managed to get the drop on Prentiss and Morgan, allowing them to escape. Morgan was furious.

All of us were sitting around a conference table in the local prescient while we let Dr. Reid talk.

I was trying to be calm, I was, but my nails were digging into my palm so deeply I was worried I was about to draw blood.

“Guys,” the expert on everything said. “He has to have some sort of accomplice.”

Rossi just sighed. “But the profile doesn’t point to him being the sort to do well with others; he’s a narcissist.”

Reid wouldn’t budge. “I know that, but he isn’t intelligent enough to pull this off alone. He’s just not. He had an IQ test done when he was 20. He scored in the mentally handicapped range. I’m telling you he has to have help.”

“Are you sure, Reid?” Hotch asked.

“Positive. I have his results right here.”

“IQ tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence on their own.”

I was so startled that someone had contradicted Dr. Reid that it took me a second to realize it was me who had contradicted him.

He turned to face me; his brown eyes wide. “What?”

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. “IQ tests aren’t a good measure of intelligence.”

Dr. Reid laughed. He laughed at me like my comment was funny. “I don’t know where you heard that,” he began.

But I interrupted him. "IQ tests are classist and oftentimes racist. The man who invented the IQ test never intended for it to be used as a complete measure of intelligence. He regretted making the test.”

Reid sputtered. “You…it’s not racist!”

“Yes. It. Is.” I ground out. “If it wasn’t it wouldn’t be illegal to administer an IQ test to a black child in the state of California.”

"Wait, it's illegal to do that?" JJ asked, her brows drawn together.

"Yes. There was a court case in the 1970s over it. Teachers were using tests to separate white children from black children. The black children were put into special education classes they didn’t need to be in. Just because the teachers didn’t want those children in their classrooms.”

I should have stopped, but I was on a role. “They’re also inherently classist. How can you expect a child to answer a question about Romeo and Juliet if they haven’t heard of it?”

That had Dr. Reid scoffing. “Everyone has heard of it.”

I shot to my feet, unable to hold back anymore. “No, they haven’t. Children in underfunded schools that don’t have access to resources might not have heard about the most famous play in history because their school wasn’t able to provide the materials to teach them about it. There was a study done in a remote part of Russia right after the IQ test was invented. Every. Single. Person. Scored in the mentally handicapped range. Because they didn’t understand.”

I knew my voice was rising but I couldn’t stop myself. “Once the researcher took the questions and applied them to things they understood, they all scored as above average. They didn’t understand math as an abstract concept, but they understood it when it was applied to their businesses, to something they actually knew about.”

I cleared my throat. “The test isn’t fair, it’s not equal. Tyler Childress didn’t go to a good school and he didn’t have a stable home life. You can’t use one measure to calculate his intelligence. He’s gotten away with 7 assaults so far that we know of. He’s not stupid.”

The entire room was silent once I had stopped speaking. I couldn’t bring myself to regret it though. What kind of person was I if I played dumb because I was afraid of being mocked when a monster was out there attacking women? No, those women deserved to have me at my best.

And I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t give it to them.

Rossi spoke first, his eyes twinkling when he looked at me. “Took you long enough,” he said. “But y/n is right. We trust the profile; we don’t let personal bias cloud the way. That’s how we catch this bastard.”

--

Later that day, we were cleaning up the conference room while the local police processed Tyler Childress.

Pathological narcissism is a complex disorder, but we followed the profile and Rossi was right. Hotch set up a press conference in which JJ and Prentiss took center stage. They tore Childress’s ego to shreds on live television.

His narcissism wouldn’t allow that to slide. He got angry, he made a mistake, and we got him before anyone else got hurt.  

While the cat was out of the bag about my intelligence and that made me nervous, I couldn't regret any of it. I got to be the one to tell our last victim that we got him. I got to hug her while she cried because now that he was locked up, she felt like her healing could begin. I wasn’t sure if my rant about structural racism and the classism of IQ tests actually helped anything, but that didn’t really matter. There was one less monster in the shadows.

Today was a good day.

I was alone in the conference room, untacking photos from the evidence board when I heard someone clear their throat from behind me. I turned my head to meet the wide, honey brown eyes of Dr. Spencer Reid.

Oh boy, I thought. “What’s up, Reid?”

He shifted from foot to foot, his hands twisting in front of him before he crossed his arms over his chest. “I asked Garcia to look into you.”

My eyebrows drew together. “I’m pretty sure any nefarious things I had done would have popped up on my initial background check.”

“Right, I didn’t mean like that,” he mumbled, the apples of his cheeks turning pink. “I asked her to look into you academically.”

Shit.

He went on. “You double majored in psychology and sociology before you got a master’s in cultural psychology. She pulled your thesis. I just read it.”

“I see.” I turned my attention back to the board.

“You also guest lecture on cross-cultural psychology at Georgetown several times a year. And you��ve co-authored two papers since I’ve known you.”

Meh, it’s three. But that doesn’t matter. “Did you read those too?”

I took his silence as confirmation.

He was so quiet I almost thought he had left, but the crackle of energy I felt in the air told me he hadn’t. “Do you need something, Dr. Reid?”

"Why didn't you get your Ph.D.?"

I had answered that question many, many times. “I didn’t need a doctorate to do what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to waste time. Once I figured out what I wanted, I charged at it.” Which was a far more honest answer than most people got about that from me.

“W-why did you pretend to be dumb?” he rasped out, causing me to look back at him. “32 days ago, you let me explain the long-term effects of gerrymandering and the complex causes of poverty.”

“Of course, I did,” I said, frowning. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“One of the papers you authored was about generational poverty.”

“Just because I know a lot about something doesn’t mean I can stop listening to information. That sort of thinking breeds ignorance.” I smiled, unable to not tease him just a little bit.

Reid took a step closer to me. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I just shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t have a good answer.”

In all the months I had known him, Spencer Reid had never touched me, not even so much as a finger brushing against mine when he handed me something. That fact is why I was so startled when I felt his hand on my upper arm, turning me towards him.

He licked his lips, his eyes darting around. “Did everyone else know?”

I shook my head, my teasing mood long gone. "No. I mean, clearly, Rossi suspected but…No, I didn't tell anyone else."

“I just don’t understand. You’re brilliant.”

I scoffed. “No, I’m not. I’m decent a psychology, sociology, stuff like that. I can’t apply math to behavior to find patterns. I can’t even calculate how much something is gonna cost when it’s on sale without a calculator half the time.”

‘What do you…” Reid trailed off. “Wait. The very first case. You were looking at the evidence board.”

Goddamn eidetic memory.

The boy wonder was on a roll now. “I told you that you’d have to…is that why you didn’t tell me?”

What else could I do? I just nodded.

Those brown eyes closed, and he let out a groan. “I said that because I thought you were going to…I was worried…” He huffed out a breath and opened his eyes. “I wanted you to like me. I didn’t want you to think I was just a nerd.”  

Now I was confused. “Why?”

Spencer Reid’s blush went all the way down his neck. “Well…I just…Morgan said I should just talk to you. But I’m not…I’m not good at that. I panic, then I start to ramble. Like I’m doing now…”

“Reid,” I interrupted. “I’m not playing dumb now. I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I like you,” he blurted out right before he smacked both of his hands over his face. “Oh my god. I sound like a child.” I thought I heard him mutter idiot under his breath. “Emily says that my IQ gets slashed to 60 whenever I see a pretty girl.”

Much like that moment all those years ago when I was a child, I felt everything click into place. Oh.

I couldn't suppress my smile any longer. I rose up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Well, we've already gone over how IQ tests aren't a good measure of overall intelligence."  

With that, I quickly stepped away and hurried out of the conference room, leaving a stunned genius in my wake. When I turned back to look at him, I saw his fingers brushing over the place where my lips had just been.  

--

Permeant Taglist : @rachelxwayne​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @sickeninglyshoujo​ @justagirllookingforherplace​ @nanocoool​ @andiebeaword​ @imjusthereformggcontent​ @rainsong01​ @violentvulgarvolatile​ @mys2425​ @al3xmnd​ @imfalling-inlove​ @cielo1984​ @shadyladyperfection​ @kissingvalentino​

comment/message to be added 😊

[snarkwrites]

ssw | sweetpea; wondering what his kiss feels like. | fluff.

NOTES:

Okay, so.. Apparently my brain likes to torment me. Because earlier, I was going to outline the next chapter for my Sweetpea x Andrews!OFC fic Gangsta and my brain threw out a casual, “But have you considered.. Using the Lodge!OFC you were planning to use with Reggie Mantle.. With Sweetpea?” and this kind of.. came.

So.. if enough people are interested, I may be considering actually writing them a fic or doing more of these little things based around them.. and trying to delve more into possibly pairing Alyssa with Reggie? Because when I wrote their oneshot I felt like there was potential there too... Also, this one shot is a direct result of me, watching dirty dancing reenactments on tik tok and my love for the movie + the fact that Riverdale does musicals every season...

Anyway, enjoy?

PROMPTS:

taken from either [ HERE ] or [ HERE ] give or take. It could be one or the other or a mix of both at my own choosing.

the way he says your name / his fingers sliding between your own / wondering what your kiss feels like - these are the inspo prompts used for this oneshot.

FANDOM / CHARACTER

Riverdale / Sweetpea x Lodge!OFC, Marlena

OTHER WORKS SWEET PEA X MARLENA ARE USED IN

None BUT.. That could change, idk..

WARNINGS

Intense sexual tension. Arguing back and forth as a love language until someone snaps. Mutual crushes that turn into something more.. This one is absolutely safe for the kiddos aside from a few swears and the like.. Oh and one barely elaborated on incident of thigh riding / dirty dancing.

TAGGING

There’s absolutely no one on my Riverdale taglist. If you want to be on it, please let me know. Or add yourself to the link below.

OTHER STUFF

[ faq | sfw masterlist - safe for the kiddos but read with caution | tag list ] 

“I swear to God, if she doesn’t give me more, I’m going to fall asleep. Is this really all we could find to participate in the musical for you guys?” My sister's question drew me out of a silent stare war with Sweetpea across the auditorium. He rolled his eyes and I stuck out my tongue at him before turning my attention back to my older sister, sighing as I glanced in the direction of the stage up front. “ She’s not that bad.. I mean at least she had the guts to try out for a part?” I mused quietly, shaking my head. Disappointed at myself because I hadn’t signed up.

Stage fright is one hell of a deterrent. And I knew that if I had tried out, no matter how well I knew the movie we were doing our musical adaptation of this year, when opening night came and those curtains opened and I saw all those people sitting out in the seats? I was going to freeze. I’d completely ruin the show. I didn’t want that.

The best I could do was at least offer to do costumes for Kevin. I told myself that behind the scenes was still helping and being supportive but deep down, ugh.. I wanted to do so much more.

If I were half as brave as my older sister Veronica is when it comes to this kind of stuff… Everyone has their fears though. Mine just happen to be public speaking in front of large audiences. My sister tells me constantly that it doesn’t make sense because I can go all over competing in dance stuff and there’s a crowd there, but.. When I’m dancing, I’m focused on footwork. On steps and the music and the way it makes me feel. I don’t have to speak.

This is also ironic when you take into consideration I am not a shy girl by any stretch of the imagination. I’m actually quite vocal. But when it involves speaking in public?

I freeze. I shut down and in turn, I wind up looking like an idiot.

I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice that Veronica had gotten up out of her seat and walked over, taking the seat right beside Kevin. They were whispering back and forth. I laughed softly because knowing my sister, she was probably telling Kevin that Leah needed to find a better attitude or Kevin needed to find a better person to play Baby Housemann.

Oh, if only I had one tenth of a clue.

My sister came back over, sinking down into the seat next to me. “Feel better now?” I asked her, barely hiding my amusement as I said it. She giggled and nodded. “Much better. I want you to remember how much you love me…” she muttered.

I raised a brow. “What’s that even mean?”

“Just wait.”

“What the hell did you do, Ronnie?”

“You’ll find out, Marlena. Just wait.” Veronica wouldn’t give me any more of an answer than that. Grumbling to myself, I settled back in my seat and tried to focus on the ongoing argument between Leah and Kevin from the stage.

Rolling my eyes at her audacity. Literally anyone could’ve done her part better and she had the nerve to demand Kevin to change everything to fit her? Refusing to work with him on anything? Putting down the script when it was the same one they used in the movie?

Just the thought of it had me shaking my head and muttering to myself about the entitlement and audacity. Veronica gave a soft laugh and leaned in, mocking the way she’d delivered her last line and the fact that she wanted pretty much all her dialogue changed and constantly needed reasons why her character did anything they did.

“Marlena! Hey, Marlena, where are you?” Kevin was calling my name. I looked up from the whispered conversation I’d been having with my older sister Veronica and raised my hand, waiting.

“C’mon. I want to try something. Leah’s just not cutting it for me as Baby.” Kevin called out to me as he gave Leah an irritated dirty look. Leah threw down her script and walked out of the auditorium in a huff. “This is a stupid idea for a musical anyway. Nothing’s gonna top what the seniors are doing. Good luck, jackass.”

Veronica gave me a nudge and with a soft laugh, she leaned in, smiling as she whispered into my ear, “You were born for this, Marlena. Dirty Dancing is your all time favorite movie.”

“Excuse me? I thought we both established it was Crybaby. Then Grease. Then Dirty Dancing.” I teased, standing in a hurry. My sister’s rebuttal to this was to point out with a soft laugh that I definitely had my own special vibe and type of guy. I poked out my tongue at her and turned away. Making my way towards the front of the auditorium where Kevin stood.

Once I was up there, Kevin pressed a copy of our class’s script into my hands. “Congratulations, you’ve been promoted from costumes.” he smirked at me. “I have a feeling about you and this part. As a director, I’m going to go with my gut.”

“But I didn’t sign up..” I shuffled my feet. 

“ Yeah, well, the ones who did from your class obviously don’t care enough to bother showing up to practice or don’t care enough to give their best when they actually bother to come and we’re rehearsing.” Kevin shrugged. Taking his seat.

Alex, the guy who’d been cast as Johnny Castle, walked over. Wrinkling his nose at me as soon as he stood in front of me. Arms folded over his chest as he asked Kevin in a snobbish tone, “So we’re seriously just letting stage crew have parts now, Keller? Is that what this is? I thought you were going to help us make our musical better, not make it a massive failure.”

“Asshole.” I muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes as I stepped up to him, jabbing a finger into his chest. Giving him a piece of my mind because holy hell did his holier than thou attitude ever irritate me, “I’ll have you know, I probably know this movie line for line. I can probably do all the dances blindfolded, in a wheelchair. Who the hell do you think you are anyway? I saw you in Romeo and Juliet. I have never fallen asleep so fast in my entire life.” I smirked as I went quiet, rolling my eyes at him.

Alex chuckled and rolled his eyes right back at me, making the dismissive remark in response, “Did I ask you to speak? Did I address you directly? No. I didn’t. I was talking to the director. Don’t you have costumes to make or something? You’re holding up rehearsals.”

Out towards the back of the auditorium, I heard my sister cheering me on. Clapping and whistling. Telling me to give him hell and telling Alex he was awfully full of himself for someone who got a thumbs down by a New York theater critic over the summer.

I took a deep breath and glanced down at the script in my hands. Starting to read over it. Ignoring the argument between Kevin and Alex for the most part. Just trying to get myself in character while I waited. 

Alex grumbled and stormed back over, standing near me. His posturing tense and a supremely annoyed look in his eyes as he gave me half a second’s glance. Kevin gave the cue to start and Alex read his line first. 

“Look, spaghetti arms. This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don't go into yours, you don't go into mine. You gotta hold the frame.”

Before I even got a chance to read off my line, Kevin was standing up. Making his way towards us. “You two are supposed to be dancing together. Marlena, you need to stand closer. Alex, you need to deliver the line in more of a teasing tone. Like you’re trying to taunt her. Playful. Not like you’re actually being an asshole. Like you’re flirting with her.”

“She’s not my type.” Alex rolled his eyes as he glanced at me. I glared up at him, a hand on my hip. Dangerously close to exploding all over again. I kept everything I’d been about to say to myself though, and with a deep breath, I listened as Kevin gave us both advice. Smirking to myself a little when he lit into Alex for being a drama queen.

After Kevin finished telling us what to fix, we prepared to try again. I stepped closer. Found myself glancing out in the crowd. My eyes settled on Sweetpea. 

I found him watching the whole thing play out with an amused smirk. His arms folded over his chest. Holding my gaze boldly. Daring me to look away first. I refused. If  I looked away first, that gave him the upper hand. I was not about to give him that.

,, That jackass. Look at him. All smug.. Ugh, I just wanna punch his stupid sexy face.” the thought surfaced and I quickly did my best at shoving it out again. I found myself thinking about a heated argument we’d had in the hallway earlier.

I found myself kind of drawing parallels between him and the character Alex was supposed to be playing but doing a terrible job at playing. I couldn’t work with the performance Alex was giving, he wasn’t giving me anything to work with. 

Somewhere in the midst of it all, I found myself replaying my earlier argument with Sweetpea. Stepping closer to Alex. Doing my best to play at a lack of experience in dance, despite my vast experience and love for it. Getting immersed in the role. Imagining myself as the character Baby.. And not Alex but Sweetpea as Johnny Castle.

Alex delivered his line a second time. His delivery wasn’t much better. Kevin grumbled to himself and made his way over yet again. This time, Kevin’s problem with the scene had absolutely nothing to do with me.

He addressed me first. “Please, please please.. You have to play Baby. You have to.” he gave me a pleading look. “I’m prepared to beg, okay?”

I pretended to mull it over. Smiling as I nodded. “Okay, alright.. I can still do costumes though, right? Because I already have a ton of ideas drawn up..” I shuffled my feet, giving Kevin a pleading look.

“Yeah! Definitely. You’re the only one I trust to do the costumes right, Marlena.” Kevin answered quickly.

He turned his attention to Alex and they got into a heated argument. Alex blamed his performance on me and the fact that I seemed standoffish and that I wasn’t up to his level and shouldn’t even be sharing a stage with him to begin with. Insisting that Kevin should at least give Josie McCoy a chance to play Baby in our play. She already had her hands full with the senior class musical and her performance during intermission and Kevin pointed that out.

“Josie can’t do both musicals and intermission twice, Alex. That’s asking way too much. Even from her, man. Marlena is Baby. You can adapt to that or you’re welcome to leave.” Kevin stood firm in his decision.

Alex eyed me and I stood taller. Smirking up at him. More than a little amused by the entire thing. He chuckled. Shrugging as he tossed down the script he’d been holding in his hands. “Fine. Try to find somebody else to do a better job at playing Johnny. See how that works out. I’m done. I refuse to participate in this mockery.”

He stormed out of the auditorium.

My sister Veronica and Josie McCoy shared a look and a nod. Veronica stood. Josie shot up out of her seat also and the two jogged over to Kevin. Getting him off to the corner of the auditorium. As the three of them whispered back and forth, I stood there, shuffling my feet. Reading ahead in the script.

Taking it all in.

Honestly enjoying the fact that I was going to be playing Baby Housemann in the junior class musical immensely more than I thought I would. ,, until opening night when you’re on stage in front of everyone and you either freeze, bolt out of the room or throw up everywhere.” my mind taunted.

I shoved out the intrusive thought.

Kevin chuckled out loud. Getting so excited that he didn’t keep his voice down when he spoke up. “Your minds, I swear. Yeah, we’re gonna try that. Right now, actually.” Kevin told my sister and Josie. They smirked at each other and as they walked past me, Veronica gave me a wink.

And almost as soon as she did, I braced myself. Because I have the sneaking suspicion that my sister was up to something. And if that something had to do with a certain Serpent reading against me as Johnny Castle?

I was literally going to die. I’d be totally doomed.

,, maybe not.” and even the surprise optimism had me laughing at myself because I knew better.

“Sweetpea, can you come up here, man?” Kevin called out.

I tensed just a little. Took a deep breath. Suddenly I knew exactly what my sister had been up to but my question now was why had Josie taken part in the whole idea? I thought she was dating him? They were hot and heavy at Cheryl’s party a few weeks ago and they went places together a lot …

I prayed for a portal to another dimension to open in the stage and take me out. If my sister has even slightly hinted that I may or may not have feelings for the giant jerk to anyone I swear to God.. I’ll die.

Sweetpea hopped over the chair in front of him and walked down the long aisle, stopping where Kevin sat in the front row. The two were whispering back and forth and more than one time, Sweetpea glanced back at me. Smirking. Chuckling as he listened to what Kevin was telling him and rubbing his chin as he pretended to think something over.

Sweetpea looked over at me and shrugged as he answered Kevin. “I can try. I’m not makin any promises though because I don’t dance and I’ve never seen this movie.”

“Just trust me. You’re as Johnny as Johnny gets, Pea.” Kevin encouraged. I wanted to kick him so badly at that moment. Did he seriously have to encourage Sweetpea? There had to be someone else… anyone else. Someone I didn’t have a massive crush on and yet also want to strangle.

I pretended to stick my finger down my throat and gag, as per usual when Sweetpea locked eyes with me again as he walked towards where I stood..

 ,, because God forbid you let him even get an ounce of suspicion that you have a crush on the guy.” my brain was at it again with the taunting. I pushed it all down deep and took a deep breath or two.

“You did this just to be an asshole.” I muttered.

“No, I did this because Kevin’s my friend. Not everything I do is about pissing you off, princess.” Sweetpea chuckled as he said it. Adding in a quieter tone, “Just because you’re Marlena Lodge… That doesn’t make everything about you.”

My jaw set and I glared up at him. Taking a deep breath or two. Reminding myself that despite Sweetpea now reading as Johnny Castle, I still loved this movie and I wanted our class’s play to be worth watching. That I couldn’t mess this up. I couldn’t let Sweetpea taunt and torment me into messing this up either.

I didn’t want to disappoint Kevin because he was one of my best friends. He was depending on me to at least try to do my best here.

Kevin gave the signal for us to start from the top of the scene.

I stepped closer. My body brushing against Sweetpea’s. Sweetpea mirrored this and grabbed hold of my arms, pulling them out in front of me just like Patrick Swayze did in the actual movie as he recited the line.

And the tone in his voice, oh my god.

“Look, spaghetti arms. This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don't go into yours, you don't go into mine. You gotta hold the frame.”

I responded with my line. Stepping closer, even throwing in an accidental mis-step on the top of his foot on my own. 

Kevin continued to sit, watching us rehearse. By the time we got to the scene where Johnny is telling Baby that he got fired, I could feel more people’s eyes on us. And I swallowed hard, trying not to focus on being watched and how that felt, but instead, on the script. On what I had to say and how I felt like it needed to come across.

And maybe, in my own mind, I was imagining how I’d act if I were in Baby’s shoes. Having just argued with my father about the guy I was in love with only to turn and find out that despite my own optimism at convincing the guy to do the right thing, nothing worked out the way I wanted at all.

Sweetpea must have caught on to my anxiety because he muttered quietly, “You good, princess?” as he covertly brushed his hand against mine. Clearing his throat to get my attention and keep me from getting nervous and blanking out or bolting off the stage.

I gazed up at him a second or two, finally nodding. Managing to ground myself somehow and I tried my best to convince myself it was not because Sweetpea’s fingers laced through mine. Almost as if he’d caught hold of my hand to keep me from leaving.

,, He’s just doing that because it’s in the script. You’re supposed to be having a heated discussion and you’re about to walk away upset. That’s the only reason he grabbed your hand. It has nothing to do with the fact that you kind of freaked out a little and lost your focus.” I reminded myself grimly as I caught up to where we were on the page and took a deep breath, preparing for my turn to speak.

As I delivered my next line, “So I did it for nothing.I hurt my family, you lost your job anyway-- I did it for nothing!” I wanted to disappear into the stage floor when my sister stood up in her chair, clapping and whistling. But the way I said it sounded so wistful. Disappointed and bitter. Like I was truly hurting.

Sweet Pea said his line. “No, no, not for nothin', Baby! Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before.” and I paused. Staring up at him. Blown away because he sounded so sincere too. Like for a second or two, this was really taking place and it wasn’t just some silly rehearsal. Like he meant what he was saying.

But I knew he didn’t. We tolerate each other at best. At our worst, we’re at each other’s throats constantly. Finding any and all excuses to rip into each other or push the other’s buttons. Because it’s just what we do.

But his tone. The look in his eyes when he delivered the line. The way his eyes fixed on me, searching. Waiting.

“It’s your turn, princess.. Cat got your tongue?” he muttered under his breath to draw me out of my own inner turmoil.

I took a deep breath and scanned the page. Finding my next line. “You were right, Johnny. You can't win no matter what you do!” and I could feel him staring as I said it. Biting his lip when I lazily punched at his chest because it felt like the right thing to do in the heat of the moment to show how upset the character was. I shook my head and dropped my eyes. “You were right.” I muttered in a quieter tone.

Sweetpea reached out, rough fingertips gripping my jawline. Guiding my eyes back up to meet his as he replied with the next line, “You listen to me. I don't wanna hear that from you. You can!”

And again, it sounded so real. Emotional. Like we were really having this argument. I was really getting into this. Probably a little too much for my own good. I sighed and shook my head sadly. Biting my lip as I stepped away a little and continued to shake my head, arguing back, “I used to think so.” and after a second or two, adding in a quieter tone, “Now I don’t know anymore.” even though it wasn’t in the script.

Sweetpea was staring at me. Thoughtful. Intent. Almost as if he were actually seeing me and not all the stupid things he’d written me off as from the word go on the first time we met. He cleared his throat and that shit-eating smirk was back again. “Not too bad, huh?”

“Jackass.” I muttered, mostly to myself. Still a little dazed.

Kevin called for a break and made his way over.

“Okay, we’re going to take this all the way from the beginning tomorrow. I wish I’d done this sooner. We’re going to have to practice the lift next. Because the lift is iconic. We have to pull that off or I’m gonna want to punch myself in the throat.” Kevin was excited, rambling away a mile a minute.

Sweetpea spoke up. “What about my part in the senior musical?”

“You can do both. We’ll move the junior musical to a different night. You have to do this. C’mon…”

Sweetpea grumbled and finally muttered with a shrug, “Okay, alright. Fine. Shit. I’ll do it. But I’m not wearing tights, are we clear?”

“You really haven’t seen the movie at all… have you?” I scoffed as I gazed up at Sweetpea. He mimicked me and shrugged. “I’ve seen bits of it. But I know one thing and that’s dancers wear tights. I’m not wearing tights. Not happenin.”

“For your information, you big idiot, Patrick Swayze does not wear tights a single time in this movie. At least not that I remember and I’ve seen it a thousand times... Suit and tie, maybe.”

Sweetpea grumbled and raised a brow.

“Not for the whole movie, damn it.. Black jeans and a black shirt will suffice for most of it. You can even wear your leather jacket, you big man-baby. Johnny Castle wears one in the movie.” I answered. Stepping closer to him to sort of get a visual read on his measurements so that when the time came I at least kind of had an idea of what worked. Sweetpea chuckled, dragging his fingers through his hair as he gazed down at me. “See something you like, princess?”

“I’m trying to figure out what I’m gonna need for your costume, dingus.” I replied as calmly as possible.

“Ya know, you could always just measure me… Right? Or ask me my size?”

“Oh you’d enjoy that entirely too much. And I’d have to touch you. No, nope. No thanks, I’ll pass.”

“I’m gonna have to touch you anyway. That lift or whatever it was that had Kevin rambling just now.” Sweetpea barely hid his amusement as he stepped even closer. A hand at my hip. Lingering.

For a second or two, I was lost in his eyes and totally oblivious to anything going on around us and then Kevin shattered that by starting the last song of the musical and calling for everyone to take their places.

And from the crowd, Fangs spoke up.

“Hey babe.. What if we got all the extras from the clubhouse scene to come in through the crowd? Just like the movie?” Fangs was smirking at both Sweetpea and I as he spoke up. Enjoying this entire situation way too much.

“Fangs, you brilliant and beautiful man, this is exactly why I love you so much.” Kevin smirked as he rubbed his chin and called out. “Okay, if you were an extra in the clubhouse scene, go to the doors of the auditorium. When Fangs gives the signal, you’ll come in. Dancing.”

He turned to Sweetpea. “You go with them.”

Sweetpea managed to break the staredown we had going on and he nodded. Grumbling as he walked towards the front of the auditorium.

Everything went pretty well until we got to the part where I was supposed to run to Sweetpea and he was supposed to lift me over his head. I took off, running towards him.

I missed the mark. Wound up with my legs wrapped around his waist, clinging for dear life while he staggered back just a little. Both of us arguing about whose fault it was that we messed up.

Kevin cleared his throat.

“You guys need more practice. Maybe you could rehearse together?”

Sweetpea and I glanced at each other, mulling it over.

“Fine.” Sweetpea ground out through a jaw tightly clenched. A glance at Fangs revealed that the reason he agreed without a huge fight was probably something to do with the way Fangs was giving him a demanding look.

“Fine.” I answered. Swallowing hard.

Trying to pull myself together because frankly, I was still all sorts of stirred up from the way he’d actually caught me and the fact that no, I hadn’t wanted him to put me back on my feet at the end, either.

I spoke up again. “We can do it at the bunker.” I suggested. Trying to think of a neutral place that didn’t favor either of us heavily. A place we could hopefully be alone and focus. And probably scream and shove and storm away to cool off if things got too heated.

“8 work for you or does daddy let you out past your bedtime, princess?” Sweetpea taunted, smirking at me when I glared and rolled my eyes.

“ I do what I want.” I scoffed at his parting jab. 

From behind me, my sister spoke up. “Are you ready, Marlena?” as she looked back and forth between Sweetpea and I with an amused grin.

“Yeah. We need to get going.” I answered.

 As my sister and I walked out of the auditorium, my sister gave a soft laugh. “That wasn’t so bad, huh? I knew you could do it.”

“Oh shut up.” I grumbled, managing a weak smile. “We haven’t made it to the night of yet. Don’t jinx this. Remember what happened last time I had to get up in front of people and talk in any capacity?”

“Marlena, that was kindergarten. Maybe it’ll be different.”

“Veronica, I threw up everywhere. And not gracefully, either. It was a full on projectile vomit.”

“That was something. The chemistry between you and Sweetpea in there. I felt like I was actually watching the movie.”

“He’s an ass. And he hates me, remember?”

“Yeah, well.. It didn’t look that way to me, Marlena. If he hated you, he wouldn’t have been standing so close the entire time… or the way he grabbed your hand?” my sister questioned.

I shrugged it off. “Can we change the subject?”

“Why? Afraid I might be right?” my sister teased, as usual.

TIME SKIP

“Okay, if he’s not here in ten minutes, I’m leaving. This place gives me the creeps.” I muttered to myself almost the exact second that I managed to find a spiderweb with my face and shriek about it.

Low chuckling from behind me had me turning. Finding myself body to body with Sweetpea as he tried not to laugh.

“Do you talk to yourself a lot or do I make you that nervous, princess?” he taunted. I gave a light shove and stepped away, pouting up at him. Quick to argue that he didn’t make me nervous, not at all, not even a little.

Despite knowing that the truth of the matter was yes. Yes, he made me extremely nervous. Because he was so distinctly my type and I just longed for what I knew wouldn’t ever work out between us because we were entirely too different.

“In other words, yes. I make you that nervous.” Sweetpea’s jaw set in a line and I flinched a little. Not wanting to fight with him.

I quickly changed the subject, nodding to a little tv and dvd player I’d rigged up earlier and the brown paper bags with Pop’s logo on the front.

“We need to rehearse. Not whatever this is.” Sweetpea was still irritated.

“Yes, well.. You’re never going to realize just how huge a part of the story Johnny Castle is until you’ve seen the movie.”

Sweetpea rubbed his chin in thought. “How long is this fucking movie?”

“Maybe two hours? C’mon… Or do you have a hot date waiting?” -the hint of jealousy that crept into my tone was enough to make me tense up a little. Pray to God he hadn’t picked up on it. Lucky for me, he didn’t seem to, instead, he was already digging into the grease stained paper bags, grabbing himself a burger and fries.

Sprawling on the little twin sized bed.

I dug out my own food and sat down, close to the edge of the bed, careful not to sit too close to him because I didn’t want to crowd him or annoy him or give him the wrong impression.. Or in my case, the right impression though I’d die before admitting that to him. 

After hitting play on the DVD player, the opening title splashed across the screen and I smiled, settling into my chosen seat just a little more comfortably.

About thirty minutes into the movie, I could feel his eyes fixed on me. I turned to look back at him, a brow raised. “What?”

“You know every single line.”

I felt my cheeks burn a little, shrugging it off as I nodded. Answering through a mouth full, “When we were little.. Veronica and I used to watch this movie whenever it was raining or we were sick. We��d get cozy in one of our rooms with snacks and blankets and we’d just like… imagine life being that simple. Doesn’t help that Johnny Castle is - to quote my sister, “Totally your kind of man.” “ I gave a sheepish laugh and took a handful of my fries, raking them through my milkshake.

Sweetpea rose to sit. Leaning in a little. Extending his arm and wiping his thumb over the corner of his mouth as he cleared his throat. “You had some milkshake…” before falling silent all over again. Staring at me for seconds that seemed to stretch infinitely. It  felt like everything fell away. All that remained was that thick tension. The flickering of the candles I’d lit earlier against the wall. The tension got to me. It had everything I wanted to say but couldn’t find the nerve threatening to come out.

“I don’t bite, ya know.” he muttered quietly. Pulling away a little. That look in his eyes again. 

It hit me. He honestly thought I disliked him. Or thought that I was better than him. Nothing could be further from the truth and realizing how he must have felt and what probably fuelled most of the comments and the arguments between us was the fact that he thought I viewed him as a lesser person somehow… that really got to me.

“I, uh.. I didn’t want to crowd you.” I managed to get the words out after a few seconds. Not daring to look at him. Desperate for a rewind button so maybe I could go back in time to when I first met him and salvage everything.

Desperate to tell him how I really felt.

Especially when I remembered what Veronica mentioned earlier about the way Josie just shut him out.

“Oh.”

The movie caught our attention again. After a minute or two of sitting poised right at the edge of the bed like I’d been and longing to really get comfortable, I settled in the sliver of space next to him. Trying not to think about the fact that the bed being as small as it was gave us literally no space and we were forced to touch.

Thirty minutes passed. Sweetpea sat up.

“ I think I get it now.” he muttered.

“Yeah?” I was getting lost in his eyes all over again.

“Mhm.” he affirmed. 

I sat up and so did he. “It’s cheesy as hell, but… I get it. Kinda know how the guy feels.” Sweetpea’s gaze settled on his hands and he chuckled to himself, the sound almost bitter.

“I’m sorry. I heard about you and Josie breaking up.”

“We didn’t. You can’t break up with someone if they never wanted to be with you to begin with.” Sweetpea answered. He tensed up a little and I sighed. Wishing I hadn’t opened my mouth.

That tension between him and I doubled.

In an attempt to make things just a little lighter, I slipped off the bed. Held out my hand.

Sweetpea eyed it warily. 

I insisted, “Oh come on, please? Just one dance. You did say we had to practice. And I dance, so I can definitely tell you that if we don’t at least somewhat connect, we’re going to be awkward and it’s going to look bad.”

Did I really just do that?

The scene where Baby goes to Johnny’s cabin and spends the night was just beginning and I swallowed hard as soon as I glanced back up at Sweetpea and realized that he was staring at the television in a daze. I cleared my throat to get his attention.

“You want me to dance with you.. Like that. Okay.” Sweetpea towered over me. Closing the space between our bodies before I had a chance to back out of what I asked of him. His hands went straight to my hips. Holding my body in place against his as he chuckled, looking down at me. “You’re the one who wanted to dance, princess.”

“Yeah.” I managed to stammer. Breathless. Helpless thanks to the way his fingers dug into my hips and held me against him. But when they started to move up and down my sides, oh… I felt myself shiver at the touch. Melting against him on my own. I’d been trying my best not to give in and do that.

I trained my eyes on the front of his plaid shirt because I didn’t dare look up at him.

His leg slipped between mine and I bit my lip. Breath catching in my throat all over again as I rubbed myself against his thigh. My usual careful,guarded filter was gone.

All I cared about was doing whatever I could to show Sweetpea that what he thought I felt towards him wasn’t true.

His hands settled across my ass. Fingers digging in as he gasped quietly. A groan slipping out as he muttered in a daze, “You really are a good dancer, huh?”

“I, uh… I compete. My parents are huge on pushing my sister and I into competitive activities, whether we want it or not.” I babbled.

It must have bothered him that I wasn’t looking at him because he gripped my jaw, guiding my gaze up. “But you like dancing. I can tell.”

,, maybe it’s just dancing like this with you.” the thought came. I stopped just shy of actually letting it slip out. I sighed and smiled, nodding in agreement. Because that was so much easier than everything else I wanted to do or say. ,, besides,” my brain continued to taunt, “why on Earth is he going to want you when he could have literally anyone else?” and the thought had me pouting a little.

I didn’t think he was aware of it.

“What?” he asked. Tensing a little. Loosening his grip on my body just a little bit. Seeming as if he wanted to step away from me. Before I had the chance to talk myself out of it, I melted against him all over again. Raising my arms to slip them around his neck.

“Nothing.” I answered after a few seconds.

“You were pouting again. That’s kind of a thing you do when you’re upset, you’re not getting your way or you’re annoyed.”

The fact that he picked up on that had me raising a brow. Scoffing. About to argue that I didn’t pout all the time, but keeping quiet because I knew he was right.

But how -and when, had he noticed?

“Dreading the fact that I’m going to get up there on stage and see everyone watching and I will panic.” I muttered quietly because a half truth was better than the whole truth or a complete lie.

If I told him the real reason I’d been pouting, well.. That would’ve opened up a can of worms that I’m not sure about opening. God I want to. But if I just lay it all on the line…

I can’t.

Sweetpea raised a brow. He started to say something but he went quiet on me. Thinking.

“But you’re so loud.” he finally spoke up.

I pouted up at him, giving his chest a light smack. “I ought to step on your foot, sir.”

“Won’t hurt. Boots are steel toe.” Sweetpea smirked as he said it. Sticking his tongue out at me.

He dipped me and I hadn’t been expecting it. I gasped and he chuckled. “Not so bad at this dancing shit, hmm?” he questioned as he pulled me back up. His hands moved up and down my back before settling on my ass again. Squeezing when I rocked myself over his thigh just a little before I could stop myself because what he was doing was getting me worked up.

I sighed a little. Melting all over at the way he touched me and held me. Admitting with a quiet laugh, “You’re actually not. And I can teach you more..” trailing off and going quiet.

“You can, huh?”

His voice was this perfect mix of gravel and silk and I had to clench my thighs just a little. Found myself praying to whatever God might exist that I didn’t get too excited and leave a wet spot behind on his jeans. Because that would definitely seal the embarrassment and awkwardness factor. And I didn’t want that.

I was staring intently at his chest again when he tucked his fingers beneath my chin and tilted my head. “Careful what you say, princess. I might actually take you seriously.”

“I’m being serious. I don’t mind at all.” I babbled and instantly, I wanted to punch myself in the throat for it. This awkward version of myself wasn’t me but for whatever reason, Sweetpea seemed to bring it out. All my insecurities seemed to come rushing to the surface. Taunting me with the knowledge that there was no way he’d ever be interested in me beyond the convenience of a good screw. Knowing that even if he were, something would go wrong somehow.

He dipped me again. This time when he pulled me back up, our faces bumped against each other and when my mouth brushed against his, I couldn’t stop the quiet gasp that came. His fingers dug into my body just a little more and we were staring at each other.

Dazed.

“Pea?”

“What’s up, princess?” he muttered after a second or two. Blinking as if he were trying to focus.

“Nothing.” I muttered. Losing my nerve and my train of thought. Pushing down everything I’d been about to say all over again.

“ Why do you do that? Just say whatever it is you want to say.”

“Oh, I don’t think you want me to do that.” I muttered, mostly to myself. My gaze trained on anything and everything but his. He guided my face up and licked his lips, his eyes darting down. Settling on my mouth. “What if I do?” he muttered in response after a few seconds.

“Okay, fine. I was wondering what..” I trailed off. Frustrated. Laughing at myself and shaking my head. “Forget it. It’s stupid.”

“Tell me, woman. Damn.” his tone was firm and I swallowed hard as I looked up at him.

He was going to keep at it until I said something and right now, I was drawing a blank on any other convenient things I could say that were less controversial than what I’d stopped myself from saying.

,, maybe if you say it, he’ll know that you don’t hate him.” the thought came.

I took a deep breath. Shaky.

“I was wondering what your kiss feels like.” I muttered, my voice dropping so low that for a second, I didn’t think he heard me.

His jaw dropped. One hand left my ass and raised. Dragging through thick dark hair as he tugged. His mouth opening and closing.

“What? You kept asking… I.. You don’t have to. I didn’t want to make it weird.” I babbled nervously. When he started to chuckle, I looked up at him with a brow raised. “Gee, thanks.” I pouted.

Stepping away. Because if I didn’t put some distance between us right then, I was going to keep digging the hole deeper.

He reached out and grabbed me by the hips, pulling me against him all over again. Rocking himself into me clumsily. His face inching closer and closer to my own. Our mouths were on a collision course and neither of us bothered to stop it from happening. His lips settled against the corner of my mouth clumsily. His tongue traced the outline of my lips and I shivered and melted against him like I’d been before. Clinging. My arms around his neck again. Fingers toying with the hair at the nape of his neck before settling my hand across to rest and pull his mouth back against mine.

My lips parted, granting him access. His tongue slipped past my lips and he melted into me this time. Deepening the kiss. Using his grip on my ass to pull me up his body slightly. I sighed as the kiss broke, my tongue rolling over kiss swollen lips. Staring at him as I tried to wrap my head around what just happened.

How badly I wanted it to happen again.

“Well?”

I bit my lip. Trying to formulate words. Anything. My brain must have short-circuited because I came up with nothing, despite all the opening and closing of my mouth as I attempted to answer.

I’m not sure what possessed me to do it or why I thought it was a good idea, but I was grabbing hold of the back of his neck. Pulling his mouth back against mine greedily. Taking total control of the kiss this time around. Making him chuckle into the kiss. 

As we pulled apart to breathe, he repeated his question.

“Better than my wildest dreams.” I blurted out quietly.

“So you dream about kissing me?” he asked, tucking his fingers beneath my chin so that I couldn’t do what I tended to when a subject got to be too uncomfortable for me… I swallowed hard and admitted in a hushed tone, “Among other things.”

He growled out the word “Fuck.” and pulled me up his body completely. Deepening the kiss to a point where I almost forgot to breathe a time or two. I could feel myself getting light-headed. The kiss broke and we pulled apart, breathing heavily. I melted against him, dazed. Still trying to get my head around the turn the night had taken.

“It’s getting late, princess.”

“It is.”

“I should probably get you home.”

I pouted a little. Holding onto him just a little tighter. “Unfortunately.” I muttered.

He scooped me off the table and carried me out of the bunker. Sitting me on the back of his motorcycle. I wrapped my arms around him and leaned against his back, the Serpent patch scratching at my skin a little.

The drive back to the Pembrooke took almost no time and as soon as his motorcycle stopped at the curb, I pouted a little. Rolling my eyes at the literal ivory tower.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” I asked as I slipped off the back of his motorcycle.

 He grabbed hold of my hips, pulling me against him. Leaning down and stealing another deep kiss. “Mhm. Definitely, princess.”

I practically floated up the stairs leading into the lobby of the building. And I leaned against the wall, waiting on the elevator. Trying to pull myself together. Smiling like an idiot.

[ad1thi]

@starklysteve  rhae asked for some winteriron recs (read: i volunteered to spam rhae w buckytony fics because i adore them), so in no particular order, and based on my memory alone, here are some of my favourite buckytony fics!!

(please remember to leave kudos and comments!!)

American Memorial: @/spqr

“Pick up the shield,” Tony said. Understandably, Bucky told him to go fuck himself

Losing You (Is My Supervillain Origin Story):  @amethystinawrites

There are a lot of things that Bucky regrets. The list is, quite frankly, longer than he can handle on most days and, right at the very top, is lying to Tony about who killed his parents. Bucky has known even from before they started dating, but he simply can't bring himself to say anything — to ruin one of the few good things he has in his life. It's selfish and wrong, but Bucky just doesn't know how to tell Tony that he is the one responsible for Howard and Maria Stark's deaths.

So when he starts receiving anonymous emails, threatening to expose the truth to Tony and the rest of the world, Bucky is desperate enough to agree to the blackmailer's terms, even if it means breaking up with Tony. Bucky cannot, under any circumstances, let Tony find out about his parents from anyone but Bucky himself.

Too late Bucky realizes that there is much more to the blackmailer's scheme than just having Bucky break Tony's heart. Too late Bucky realizes that despite his best intentions, he will still end up losing everything — in a much more permanent way than he could ever have imagined.

Hindsight: @amethystinawrites

Ever since he was a little boy, Bucky has dreamed of becoming an astronaut together with Steve, and he can hardly believe their luck when both of them are picked for the Ares 3 crew — the third expedition sent to explore Mars. It is, quite literally, a dream come true.

Things get complicated when Bucky finds himself inconveniently attracted to their mechanical engineer, however. Tony Stark is funny, competent, and absolutely captivating, but considering NASA's strict non-fraternization policy, Bucky knows it's better to keep his interest to himself — at least until they return to Earth. He can wait.

Not once does Bucky consider the possibility that all of them might not make it back alive, or just how much he'll come to regret not acting when he had the chance.

Arsenal: @tangodancer91 (part of a series) (also my all time favourite buckytony series ever)

Two years after the Civil War that tore apart everything she’d bled to build, Toni Stark sacrificed herself for her newly-reinstated teammates and ended up stranded in the past. Freed of her name, her fortune, and her hostile ex-teammates, she built herself a life as an agent for the OSS, the American secret service, and, having nothing to lose, accepted a mission to infiltrate the newest player in the war: an organization that call themselves HYDRA.

Then, she met a young draftee with a dreadfully familiar face, and they clicked like she had never clicked with anyone before. By the time she realized she’d fallen for the man who’d cost her everything, it was too late, but she’d always been an all or nothing type of girl, and if she was damning herself, well then…might as well go all the way.

Yield: @aurumacadicus (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

All Bucky has ever wanted was to win the contest for Tony's hand in marriage. It's a bit harder now that he's down to one arm, but luckily his friends are willing to help make up the difference.

Barnes Family Motors Inc: @phlintandsteel-ao3 (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

In a world where alphas legally own omegas, Bucky is just a small time mechanic from Brooklyn who gets lucky in a poker game. Tony is an omega whose life is fraught with abuse, until his luck suddenly takes a turn for the better.

In the grand scheme of things they may only be able to make little differences in the lives of those around them, but that doesn't mean it's not worth making them. After all, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

The Long Con (don’t kid yourself): @phlintandsteel-ao3

When Tony finds out that Howard is thinking about changing the terms of Tony’s trust fund, he embarks on a not-so-elaborate scheme to prove that he’s totally settling down and not in continued need of Howard’s “guidance” until 25 instead of 21. Step 1: Get a fiance Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit (Finally be free of Howard)

Unfortunately, Tony Stark is the worst con-artist ever, and may only be kidding himself..

Hot Mess:  @/niki

“Would serve him right if we had the world's most ill-advised one night stand.”

Imperceptions and Assumptions: @/NarutoRox

Afterward, Bucky would look back on their first meeting with fondness and a healthy dose of amusement. At the time, though, he’d mostly been confused - and more than a little embarrassed.

Bucky hadn’t paid much attention to the media in his early days, and hadn’t bothered really reading up on the team or anything, either, so when Steve had said ‘Tony Stark’, Bucky had just assumed.

The same way he’d looked at the three people who’d walked through the door - an imposing redhead in heels, a bored-looking brunette who dimpled when she saw him and Steve, and a sturdy-looking man wearing a slight glower - locked eyes on the man, and assumed him to be the infamous Tony Stark Steve wouldn’t shut up about.

It was Bucky’s first lesson when it came to Natasha Antonia ‘Toni’ Stark - never assume.

~

In which Tony Stark is actually Natasha Antonia 'Toni' Stark (which everyone knows) as well as Iron Man (which everyone does not know), assumptions are made, and there are misunderstandings.

From this prompt: How about a cross between my two favorite tropes? Nobody knows who iron man is other than Natasha/Antonia Stark's bodyguard but Bucky is in love with one or both of them

i know, you know (that i’m not telling the truth) : @imposter-human

psychic tony stark is called to work a routine case with detective bucky barnes; only, he seems to be more connected to the case than anyone thought

or, a psych au!!

the new romeo and juliet: @imposter-human

Bucky and Tony weren’t dating, because a firefighter and a detective couldn’t date (never mind that Tony hadn’t slept with anyone else since their thing had started, and he and Bucky hung out with an alarming frequency, and the whole precinct thought that they were an item). It didn't matter how many nights they spent together, how Bucky had a drawer of Tony's things and vice versa, they just couldn't.

It was a classic Romeo and Juliet situation, if Romeo and Juliet actively disliked each other on top of everything.

if found, please return to: @capnshellhead

Tony Stark shows up at Bucky's bar after a really tough break up and Bucky decides to look after him

gods of carnage:  @deathsweetqueen (part of a series)

On May 29, 1970, the Winter Soldier feels a burning sensation and looks down at his wrist to find a single name written in enduring ink: Antonia Margaret Stark.

HYDRA, fearing the defiance of their greatest asset due to a bond that cannot and will not be denied its due, immediately dispatches the Soldier, to locate, collect and deliver this newborn girl to HYDRA, which will become her new home, her new family and her entire world - to be raised as another one of HYDRA’s great warriors: their Engineer.

But the Engineer is a faulty asset. She thinks things that may get her killed one day. She wants things that she shouldn’t, that are not hers to want. She has a mind and body that belong more to herself than any handler, than any commander she may have.

And if she cuts her strings, when she cuts her strings, well, when you put sheep next to wolves, you ask for a bloodbath.

where i walk, you follow (where i burn, you burn):  @deathsweetqueen

At his father's command, Anthony Stark trades in his northern keep for a southern crown, wedded and bedded by Alexander of House Pierce, First of His Name.

Tony does his duty, becomes a wolf in name only, toothless and clawless, and a dark, gleaming ornament for the King, even if he would make himself a widower a hundred times over.

Honour demanded it of him, and so he did.

But it is Ser James Barnes, named the Kingslayer for his sins during the Rebellion, that draws his eye, gives him comfort in this pit of liars and monsters

So, what is honour compared to a good man's love? They are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love.

[Fic by deathsweetqueen, Art by MassiveSpaceWren]

Cat Parenting (And Other Meet Cutes):  @singingwithoutwords (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

Of all the ways Bucky could have finally gotten a chance to speak to his crush, why did it have to be his cat getting Tony's cat pregnant?

Codename Heartbreaker:  @rinnwrites (part of a series)

Today was a day that, contrary to popular belief, Tony Stark had most certainly not been looking forward to. It was election day, or election night, rather, and the polls were closed, the results were in; Howard Stark was the next President of the United States of America.

or

Tony Stark Bingo - R3: Election Day

Fate Strings Not Required: @akira-of-the-twilight

“Hey doll,” a new voice said from Tony’s side.

Tony glanced at the person approaching.

Someone was working the rugged, bad boy look. The new guy rocked a leather jacket and blue jeans.

His blue eyes lit up with joy as he approached Tony. “Something wrong here?” The new guy gave the first guy--the one insisting he was Tony's soul mate--a once over then turned his full attention on Tony. “You’re looking a little stressed, anything I can do?”

Tony took the hint.

Tony wrapped his hand around the new guy’s elbow. He kept his touch light and breakable in case he’d misread the cue.

“Just some guy claiming to be my soul mate, babe.”

The new guy’s eyebrows rose to his hairline in surprise. He chuckled and gave the first guy a smirk. “Strange. Last time I checked we were soul mates.”

Siren’s Treasure: @akira-of-the-twilight

Prompt: I really love the idea of playboy!Bucky flirt of the seven seas first-mate to Captain Rogers, falling completely overboard in love with our Blacksmith-Inventor Inexperienced!Tony who goes from confident captive to shy woe-begone man in the presence of Bucky's fierce affections. Virgin!Tony wonders what a siren like Bucky could possibly want with him. Bucky wants to know what the fuck Logan thinks he's doing flirting with the man who stole his heart like sunken treasures. Happy ending please?

“Sirens killed your crew?” Steve repeated.

The dark haired man nodded. Just an hour ago the Avenger crew had found the man clinging to driftwood in the middle of the ocean. Now he clutched the flask of rum Bucky had given him like it was all that kept him buoyant during these tumultuous times.

The man—Tony—had already downed more than half the flask and was still sober. “Not exactly my crew, but close enough. Yeah.” Tony uncapped the flask and threw back a mouthful.

Steve frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

Tony shrugged. “I wasn’t captain of the ship.”

“So what were you?” Steve pressed.

Road hazards: @riotwritesthings

Steve and Bucky's BFF road trip is not going well. For starters, Steve couldn't even make it, and for some bizarre reason asked Tony to take his place. The fact that it’s only a couple days before someone is trying to kill them isn’t nearly as stressful as the fact that Bucky and Tony have never really had an actual conversation.

It’s hard to avoid someone when stuck in a car with them though, and if they manage to stay alive they just might learn a thing or two.

Once Upon a Wintertime: @iam93percentstardust (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

Look, Bucky knows that he’s fulfilling every cliché in the book right now. He knows that, as a bodyguard, he’s not supposed to fall in love with his client. But Tony’s good and sweet and so, so lonely and how could Bucky not? He thinks he’s got a shot after Tony breaks up with his boyfriend but on a trip across the country, he finds out that Tony needs a bondmate or the board will steal SI—and Ty’s already said yes.

little bird: @thxngam

Bucky laughs, and it’s loud and unbidden, a way he hadn’t laughed for years before, tugging his giggling omega into his lap. Tony quiets and nestles into Bucky’s chest like he was made to belong there, and Bucky has noticed several times that Tony is much smaller than he is, but he never quite noticed how Tony always seemed to curl into him as a reason for his size.

Tony nestles like a little bird.

Teenage Dream:  @anthonyed

Tony Stark develops a crush on the school's bad boy who is too cool to hang out with anyone. At least, it's what Tony thinks. He never considered that James Barnes is probably as lonely as he is.

(in the process of editing)

The Best Laid Plans (of Mice and Men):  @arboreal-elm-ash-oak

His Dark Materials AU

It was Annalise who noticed their small visitor first.

“Tony,” the spider daemon said softly, skittering up the collar of his dress shirt, two of her eight legs resting delicately against his cheek, “Don’t startle them, but I believe we have a guest. Look, by the coffee table.”

A Kitten and a Soldier: @/ThatDamnKennedyKid

Bucky hadn't heard from Rumlow in years - since the whole Winter Soldier fiasco in Siberia. They've been discharged for nearly six years, but when he gets a message that only says "I need your help" , he grabs his jacket and keys.

The Prince’s Bride: @hddnone

After Tony loses the love of his life to pirates on the high sea, not much matters to him. He agrees to wed Prince Justin Hammer to gain access to vibranium and shut himself away in his workshop until the end of time, but a group of ruffians kidnap Tony to take him to Hydra.

Tony's rescue takes on an unlikely form - the Dread Pirate Rogers, who killed the love of his life five years ago.

A Princess Bride AU

A Kind of Destiny: @weethreequarter

A chance meeting at a wedding brings together an American war veteran and the Prince of Wales. Little do they know, the wheels have been set in motion for a relationship which will change not only their lives, but the monarchy itself. Bucky and Tony strike up a friendship at Steve and Peggy’s wedding, a friendship that soon develops into more. But it’s not so simple: Tony is the Prince of Wales, and heir to the throne of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Any relationship is played out in the press and public eye, and then there's that pesky issue of succession to consider too. But Bucky is no coward, and when he finds something he wants, he’s prepared to fight for it. And fight he will, at Tony's side, for their very own fairy tale ending.

[uncultureddirt]

Waiting (3/3) - Mark Lee fic

~REQUESTED~

“I have to do something about this.”

PART ONE ||| PART TWO

He thumbed through the book recklessly, quickly passing over the dog-eared pages and sighing helplessly. Mark told himself that he didn’t know why he felt so frantic to get this project done. It was Friday night; he knew he had the entire weekend. He really wasn’t worried about finishing it. No, his mind was whirling for another reason. Subconsciously, he was denying how he felt and attempted to avoid confronting his emotions again. He tried to direct his energy into something productive to distract himself, which ended up being his English project.

But as he held the book in his hands and stared at the words before him, his distraction began to fail. He was reading the words, but not understanding them. All the letters and blobs of ink seemed to collide, come together at the edges, bounce off each other, and nothing registered in his head. 

And then his plan collapsed altogether, because his mind replayed the concluding moments of class that day anyways. 

After a long class of writer’s block something finally came to him; an idea had finally danced across his brain. He began writing frantically as the fear of this thought escaping him had presented itself and there wasn’t much time left before the dismissal bell would ring. But mid-sentence he was stopped, the thought was gone. He forgot it altogether. It wasn’t because he had a poor memory; he was just easily distracted, and something more important had taken hold of his attention. 

Mark felt your eyes on the side of his face. He felt your stare. He noticed you stopped writing and out of the corner of his eye became aware of your gaze shifting to him. He fought with himself to ignore it, and act like he didn’t notice. But, truthfully, he enjoyed being the center of your thoughts for a while; he wanted to prolong that experience. The downfall of that wonderful feeling was that he couldn’t focus. He imagined you looking at him, thought about what you were thinking, and played over hypothetical situations in his head where he would turn to you and apologize, telling you what he was truly thinking. His mind was swimming far from the once relevant sentences on his page; he had drifted too far from the land and was lost completely at sea. Lost completely in the thought of you. It was funny; he appeared not to care, or not to notice, when the reality was entirely different. 

He shook his head, bringing himself back to the present, back to his room with Romeo and Juliet held tightly in his grasp. 

~

You walked into Darten’s class on Monday morning silently and wondered if Mark finished his section of the presentation. 

You were a bit of a control freak when it came to group projects, always making sure everything is beyond perfect, but this time you did not have the slightest clue what Mark prepared. Maybe he didn’t prepare anything at all. 

You saw him walk in and sit down, fumbling through a stack of index cards. You saw his mouth moving as he flipped through them. You could tell he was nervous. 

‘I guess he did prepare something.’ 

You sat back and watched as the presentation before you commenced. You couldn’t recall what Luke and Jamie had talked about. For all you knew, the whole thing could have been in French. You spent the time somewhere else. Your mind drifted to laying on the back of your car. You swore you could feel the breeze dragging over your skin, and as you stared up you were met with a clear sky, the sun bathing what felt like the whole universe. You turned to your left to see his face, Mark’s face, and he was smiling. He was happy. He placed a hand on your cheek and looked to your mouth. You felt your stomach swirl. A light feeling had consumed you and held you hostage. You wanted to stay there. Remain in your hazy daydream. You wanted it to be real. But as Mark began to bring his face to yours, you were brought back to the classroom.  

The sound of clapping filled your ears. You looked around, seeing your classmates begin to applaud as Luke and Jamie took their seats. You were confused for a moment, then utterly disappointed. You looked across at Mark, hunched over his cards.

That’s all it ever was. A daydream.

“Y/n, Mark.” Mr. Darten called out. 

You looked across the room and met eyes with Mark.  

Smiling softly, you nodded. ‘Maybe that would chill him out.’

You and Mark made your way to the front of the room. You stood in front of Mr. Darten’s computer and began typing, searching through his shared documents to find your presentation. 

‘Sorry if this is basic Darten’

‘Found it,’ you said internally. You had named the document, and you thought it was a national treasure, ‘Wow I’m funny.’

“Y/n stop laughing at yourself and start presenting please,” Mr. Darten said, teasing you from the back of the room. He had his feet on the desk in front of him and his signature mug held tightly in his hand. 

You moved next to the board, opposite of Mark. He looked flushed as he bent the index cards in his hand, trying to outlet his nerves. You noticed. 

You were first to talk, so you began, “Hello guys, today we will be talking about probably the most recognized Shakespeare work, Romeo and Juliet. Our goal was not to bore you with the plot, nor revisit ideas you’ve heard every time the names Romeo and Juliet exited your mouth,” you made eye contact with Darten and raised your eyebrows as if to say, ‘told you so’. 

You tapped the title slide to bring you the actual presentation. You weren’t the best public speaker, but you felt good this time. Confidence had washed over you and you spoke neatly, with clear inflection and perfect articulation. You began delivering your findings passionately, walking through thematic elements and symbols in a way you hoped was different and appealing to listeners. 

You reached your last slide and stumbled on your words slightly as you remembered the boy standing next to you. He would be speaking in a few short seconds. Your content was running out, and it was time for you to pass over the stage. You clicked the next slide; it turned into a photo of a girl sitting in front of a window. There were no words, just the picture. You turned your head slightly. You had no idea what he prepared. 

He glanced at the white cards in his hands, and then he tucked them into his pocket. “I chose to look at characters, and uh, how their external actions, remarks, even physical appearances correlated to what they were, uh, feeling on the inside.”

He began speaking about the photo on the screen and did so for the next seven pictures. He analyzed each photo gently, touching upon the subject’s face and aligning it with their internal thoughts and emotions. Each picture was to represent a character in the story, and it all matched elegantly. The words flowing from his mouth were colorful and potent; they filled the room in a way you’ve never experienced. Who was this boy? Since when was he so knowledgeable? Since when did he understand feelings so well?

He tapped the screen once more and two photos came up, side by side. It was a boy laying in a field, his face touched by the sun. He seemed calm and relaxed. Peace was flowing within him. Next to the first image was the same photo, but it was dark. The sky was cloudless, but absent of stars. The boy lay beneath the blank sky, and he no longer looked tranquil. Without sound or expression, a coldness was conveyed through the picture; a sadness stained the screen. 

You looked at Mark as he spoke. You no longer felt like you were a part of this project, you were an observer, a member in the crowd. 

“Romeo’s a very interesting character to me. Upon my initial reading I um, I was confused why he was so dramatic. He seemed fragile and conflicted. In Shakespeare’s time, men were never traditionally portrayed as weak, let alone their cause of weakness being inflicted by a woman. It was very different, and I couldn’t understand why he was so, uh, soft I guess?” Everyone laughed quietly at Mark’s word choice, and you did too. He started again, “Romeo was experiencing love and heartbreak, two things that can’t really be seen, but can be strongly felt. The only way to properly express this was to completely defy the norm and break the toxic male archetype. By showing a male acting this way, Shakespeare properly depicts the power love has on an individual.”

You weren’t sure if you were dreaming. You couldn’t tell if your brain had drifted helplessly back into your hazy daydream. Mark, who couldn’t say ‘hi’ to you now, was standing before a group of people and describing the depths of love? You shifted your weight, moving back and forth as you listened to him speak. His words were entering your ear softly, and then a string of words, so familiar to you, exited his lips. 

 “I mean love does make you act all strange.”

Your eyes widened and you stared at the floor in front of you. It all was coming back, the day at Sunbelt’s. Your conversation in the parking lot, the way he laughed nervously when he talked, and how the wind pushed his messy hair back. Every detail about that day came back with those words. 

“Your thoughts can switch very easily. You can move from a place that feels warm and inviting, to one that feels familiar, but changed and cold, like these photos. The boy isn’t changing his location, it’s simply the time of day; the passing of time can transform a place and transform feelings. A confident boy like Romeo, faced with love and heartbreak, acts strange. He fumbles his words, he spends his days thinking of her, he can’t seem to focus because she, uh, Juliet, is uh all he sees,” he paused for a moment and you looked over, noticing his face grow red. Slowly you realized it wasn’t the book he was talking about. After recollecting his thoughts, he concluded the presentation and smiled softly. 

 “I mean love does make you act all strange.”

His words replayed themselves once again. 

You looked back at Darten who nodded approvingly. You knew you guys killed it, but you had no clue how. Your dialogue was limited for weeks, but you guessed that Mark’s mind wasn’t as absent as it appeared. He must have been thinking about it a lot, and it showed. You were happy for him. You wanted to tell him, but you didn’t know how. 

‘Holy shit, Mark. What in the hell just happened?’ you thought to yourself as you went to sit down. You sat at your desk antsy to talk to him, to ask him questions, to say sorry for being so short with him. You wanted to say so much, but you didn’t know where to start. 

~

“Hey!” you shouted at Mark. You were walking to your car after class and you noticed him quite a bit ahead of you. You didn’t mean to yell, it just escaped you, impulsively. 

He turned around, confused at first, but once seeing you he looked slightly surprised. 

“Hey!” he called back. 

You furrowed your brows as he stood frozen, “I don’t like yelling, can you come here?” Your voice grew louder as a car passed by you, concealing your words. 

“What?” he shouted back.

“Mark come here!” you yelled. 

He mouthed an ‘oh’ before lightly jogging towards you. 

Once you two stood face to face, it became too real. All the words you had inside vanished. You felt your heartbeat quicken as you stared at his face, your ears swirling with the words from his presentation. You didn’t know why, but you were slightly out of breath, “Um, where did all that come from? Like all that you said?” 

He pulled the index cards he was flipping through before and handed them to you. 

You felt frustrated, “No like where in your head did all that come-?”

He interrupted, “Go to the one that says ‘last’.”

You flipped through the cards, confused as to whether he really understood what you were asking. Your eyes gazed over his messy, boyish handwriting until you saw the card he was talking about. Every card preceding it was packed with markings and covered in highlighter, but this one was almost empty. Your eyes scanned over the words slowly.

‘Talk about your feelings.’

You looked up at him. His face was serious, maybe even partially embarrassed. Mark kept his eyes fixed on the gravel. His heart was racing, you just had no idea. You opened your mouth to say something, but his voice beat your words. 

“It’s what I wanted to say to you. I guess it was harder to say to your face than to the class,” he stopped and looked at you, "because uh, they think I’m talking about something fictional written on a page by some old guy, something I don’t feel for them. It’s hard when you’re looking at me. I guess I was waiting for the right time, and then the right time became an excuse because I was scared. I started to forget what I was even waiting for.”

You felt your heart burning a hole through your chest. He was only confusing to you because he was confused with himself. He was wrapped up in a feeling he didn’t know how to feel, nor how to express. 

You felt words exiting your mouth; you weren’t sure who was controlling them, your brain suddenly worked separately from your body. “Your presentation was perfect. I secretly hoped it wasn’t about the book,” he laughed and looked down, “and it’s all okay. I like you Mark, even when we didn’t talk. I still liked you.” 

He bit the inside of his mouth to stop from smiling, “I like you too.” 

The air was still after he said it, but not in an awkward way. You both were basking in the words that still sat in the air. Words that you both waited for so long to hear. There existed some sort of comfort within all the silence, within the faded sounds of cars leaving the parking lot, within the cloudy voices of kids walking out of the school, within the small space between you and Mark.

The End.  

[marvelsdc22]

Rewrite The Stars

Intro: Hello, lovelies!! I hope you guys are having a good day/night!! This was requested by an anon, hope you enjoy it bby!! :)

Note: Fluff, some angst

Word Count: 1165

Please could you write a song fic for the song Rewrite The Stars with Lena Luthor and Male reader, and they’re both in college but their families hate each other kinda like Romeo and Juliet with angst and fluff also with a happy ending please and thanks :)

You know I want you It's not a secret I try to hide I know you want me So don't keep saying our hands are tied You claim it's not in the cards Fate is pulling you miles away And out of reach from me But you're here in my heart So who can stop me if I decide That you're my destiny?

You had started at National City University a few months back and had met Lena Luthor in your science course you had to take, the two of you had become lab partners and become really close until you learned each other’s last names. Your families had been enemies since before the two of you were even thought of, but you guys couldn’t keep your crushes for one another hidden; the two of you then decided to date in secret so your families wouldn’t figure it out.

What if we rewrite the stars? Say you were made to be mine Nothing could keep us apart You'd be the one I was meant to find It's up to you, and it's up to me No one can say what we get to be So why don't we rewrite the stars? Maybe the world could be ours Tonight

After almost a year of dating, you and Lena were closer than ever “I love you, Y/N” Lena said completely out of the blue, the two of you sitting under a tree in the middle of campus, studying for your upcoming exams “I love you too, Lena” you said, giving her a smile before leaning over and pressing a gentle kiss to her lips, the two of you quickly jumping back when you heard a camera since you both were very nervous about pda in fear of getting caught, the both of you relaxing when you saw it was a photography student taking pictures of some flowers.

You think it's easy You think I don't want to run to you But there are mountains And there are doors that we can't walk through I know you're wondering why Because we're able to be Just you and me Within these walls But when we go outside You're going to wake up and see that it was hopeless after all

“Lena, I can’t keep doing this” you said, pushing her away as you stood in the closet she had pulled you into and you getting tired of hiding this relationship “Y/N” Lena sighed, running a hand through her hair and looking at you as you shook your head “No, I can’t keep this hidden… I have to take over my dads company in two years, I can’t be hiding a relationship… Especially one that I’m this serious about” you said, shaking your head before you walked out of the closet, leaving Lena there with tears in her eyes as she watched the man she loved walk out on her.

No one can rewrite the stars How can you say you'll be mine? Everything keeps us apart And I'm not the one you were meant to find It's not up to you It's not up to me When everyone tells us what we can be How can we rewrite the stars? Say that the world can be ours Tonight

About a month after your break up, you ran into Lena once more in the dining area while you were studying and eating lunch “Hey” you said, looking at her and watching as she struggled to find her words “I’m sorry” Lena said softly, looking at you and shifting from foot to foot as you nodded but stayed silent “Why don’t you sit down” you suggested, giving her a small smile as you gestured to the seat across from you, moving your textbooks out of the way so she could set the plate down “I don’t care what my family thinks anymore” she said, looking at you and you smiled “I don’t either” you said, reaching over and taking her hand on the table, neither of you caring who saw you.

All I want is to fly with you All I want is to fall with you So just give me all of you

It feels impossible (it's not impossible) Is it impossible?

Say that it's possible

Over the next few weeks, you and Lena were very open about your relationship to the point your families started getting suspicious “At the next meeting between our parents, we should tell them” you said when you guys were hanging out in her apartment one night, watching as the emotions flashed through her expressions and you letting her think it through “Are you sure?” She finally asked, setting her tablet down on the coffee table as she shifted closer to you on the couch “Positive” you said, looking at her and watching her silently before she nodded and snuggled into you “I love you, Y/N” she whispered, burying her face in your chest and you pressing a kiss to her head “I love you too” you said, giving her a small squeeze.

How do we rewrite the stars? Say you were made to be mine? Nothing can keep us apart 'Cause you are the one I was meant to find It's up to you And it's up to me No one can say what we get to be And why don't we rewrite the stars? Changing the world to be ours

At the next meeting, you and Lena walked in with hands intertwined and watched as your families stared at you in complete shock “When?” Lena’s mother demanded, standing abruptly from her chair to which your father stood as well and blocked you from her view “Almost two years ago” Lena said, holding her mothers gaze and seeing her anger rising “Now now, Miss Luthor… This could be an advantage for us, our son and your daughter being together could be beneficial” your father said, trying his best to calm her down and watching as she stopped and thought “We’ll discuss this later” she seethed, giving Lena a look before she stormed out of the room “That went better than I thought it would” Lena said, softly as you pulled her into your side “She’ll come around” you promised, pressing a kiss to her temple.

You know I want you It's not a secret I try to hide But I can't have you We're bound to break and my hands are tied

 After a few months, Lena’s mother wasn’t fully happy with your guys relationship but she didn’t intrude on it “I’m glad we can finally not hide” you told Lena as you guys unloaded boxes, watching as she smiled at you and nodded “Me too, I’m glad you said yes to moving in with me” Lena said, smiling as she set some of your things down where they should go “I love you” you said, smiling at her before coming up behind her and wrapping your arms around her “I love you too”.

Permanent Taglist: @rianncreates​ / @5aftermidnight​

Supergirl Taglist: @x-danvers-x​ / @aznblossom​ / @stop-drop-and-drumroll​

Lena Taglist: @life2-live​ / @supergirl-imaginess​ / @ianarec​ / @thelonewriter247​

End Note: I hope you guys enjoyed!! If you want to be added to a Taglist, shoot me an DM or an Ask!! Have a good day/night!! :)

Requests Open

[tasteofshapes]

IchiRuki, the first time they said I love you and meant it romantically?

A/N: Warning, this is a long text post. This is also for day 28 of Ichiruki month. I had to skip several days of prompts to finish this, but oh man, writing this was SO. MUCH. FUN. I’ve played fast and loose with the manga and LA movie and basically combined both into one long timeline, so this is somewhat canon compliant. Also, please drop a comment and let me know: for long fics (anything 5 pages and over), do people still prefer reading it on tumblr or just a link to AO3?

-

Day 28: puppy love / Into Something Rich and Strange  |  Other Days

-

Ichigo doesn’t know when it starts. Maybe it begins during one of those lunches, when Mizuiro talks about his latest girlfriend, and the other boys curiously press him for more information: how far have you gone? Have you held hands? Have you kissed? Are you planning to go to a love hotel? He’s too busy thinking about how he can squeeze in more training, so he completely misses Mizuiro’s replies, and is taken aback when the group’s attention suddenly refocuses on him and his relationship with Rukia.

“So what’s going on with you and Kuchiki-san”, Keigo asks, a sly smile on his face, and Ichigo is forced to confront the reality of the nature of their relationship.

“Nothing”, he says truthfully, and maybe the answer pricks at him more than he thought it would. 

Or maybe it starts even before then, on one of their early morning training sessions down by the riverside, when he looked up and saw the way the wind rippled through her hair, and realised, with a startled sort of ache in his chest, that Rukia was fiercely beautiful with that sword in her hand. Either way, the dawning knowledge that something’s happening that he doesn’t quite understand makes him grumpy.

Despite having had one secretly living in his closet for the last month, Ichigo doesn’t know the first thing about girls. He’s never really noticed them except to observe that they come and go in a pack, and they’re always giggling and blushing every time they look at him or call his name. He supposes that’s why he’s never really noticed that Rukia was a girl – logically, he knows that she is, but Rukia isn’t part of any of the girl cliques that form and break and reform again every week like the tide, and she definitely doesn’t blush when she’s around him. She’s just… Rukia, and she drifts through the school days like a jellyfish, invisible and indistinguishable from the hundreds of other students that course through the hallways of his school.

So it’s with a certain amount of surprise that he looks at her one morning, his training sword knocked out of his hand and hers pressed to his throat again, and says, “You look different.”

 “I- what?” Rukia’s nonplussed, but her sword doesn’t waver as she darts a quick look down at herself. She’s wearing their mandated school uniform, not a button out of place.

He frowns, because the way the dawn light plays over her face is a mystery that he is determined to solve. “Did you do something with your hair?”

She blinks at him in confusion. “No? Ichigo, focus. I’ve got my sword to your throat, what’s your next move?”

“You’ll surrender?” He says, and she just laughs at him.

“And how do you plan to make me, fool?”

In reply, he knocks her sword aside, grabs her hands and yanks her forward. She stumbles straight into his arms and he catches her automatically, then takes three quick steps forward and pins her against the tree. He presses a forearm against her throat, his free hand gripping both her wrists and pressing them into the tree trunk above her head. She’s warm and tiny under his hands, and her eyes are wide as she looks up at him in surprise.

“So,” Ichigo says, and he’s proud of the fact that his voice comes out steady, “we were discussing the terms of your surrender?”

Rukia scowls up at him so unhappily that he laughs, and the moment is gone. It’s something that he can’t stop thinking about though, a memory that filters to the surface of his consciousness over and over again. After that, something changes. There’s a subtle, but noticeable shift that he can’t quite put his finger on.

Ichigo doesn’t give it much thought after that, except that he finds himself looking at Rukia when he thinks she isn’t paying attention, and she keeps catching him at it and frowning puzzledly back at him. Ichigo concludes that he would not make a good spy.

It finally hits him one afternoon, when they stay back after class so that he can help her with English Literature. The classroom is empty, and it’s just them, twin heads bowed over the textbook as if in prayer. English is her worst subject, and Shakespeare completely eludes her. He’s explaining a scene in Romeo and Juliet to her when she shakes her head and says, sounding lost, “but they just met! How do they know they love each other?”

Ichigo shrugs. “They just do. Romeo falls in love with one look at her beauty too rich for use, for he ne’er saw true beauty till this night, and then he realizes that he never loved anyone until that moment. And Juliet falls back in love with him when they kiss for the first time.”

She lifts one skeptical eyebrow. “That sounds awfully shallow to me. What kind of love can survive on a foundation as shaky as a look and a kiss?”

Ichigo privately agrees. “Puppy love,” he suggests. At her quizzical look, he elaborates: “eh, when you’re young and stupid, it’s easy to fall in love. In all the books they say it only takes a moment to capture a heart. The small things, you know, like the way she laughs or turns her head, or how she glows in the morning when the sunlight hits her face…”

He trails off as Rukia lifts her gaze from the textbook to look him with those big, violet eyes, and then Ichigo realizes that he’s been describing her all along. He stares dumbly back at her for what seems like an eternity until she looks away, uncomfortable. The silence stretches on and on.

“Rukia, I,” Ichigo says, mouth dry, and then stops, because he doesn’t know what comes after. He doesn’t know what this is, and he doesn’t want to say things to her if he can’t be certain of what he means.

“It’s getting late,” she says abruptly, avoiding his eyes as she stands up and starts gathering her books. “We should head back before it gets dark.” 

Ichigo doesn’t remind her that it’s four in the afternoon, and that the sun doesn’t set till seven.

He scrubs a hand through hair, frustrated at himself, but says, “yea, alright,” and starts packing up too. They’re quiet on the way back, and there’s an awkward distance between them that stretches like an ocean. 

On the surface, nothing changes, but now he’s conscious of her in a way that he never was before. She’s a puzzle that he’s just beginning to understand. 

He mulls over it as he queues up with her to buy her lunch. Rukia has depleted whatever credit she had during her time in the Living World and she has no source of income, so more often than not, he ends up being her personal ATM. At first he buys her things that she’s not used to with the aim of helping her get used to the modern world: curry buns, potato snacks, and canned Coke. She duly tries them all, but then one time he catches her eyeing the ramen stall longingly, and from then on he makes it a point to get her something that he definitely knows that she likes.

Today, it’s curry rice. Meal duly purchased, they make their way over to a table in a corner and he pulls out the homemade bento that Yuzu has made: salmon teriyaki with tamago and deep-fried tofu, topped with a generous helping of rice. He would have asked Yuzu for an extra one for Rukia, except that he can’t quite come up with a good reason for it.

“You’re lucky Yuzu’s such a good cook,” Rukia says, eyeing his tamago, and he automatically cuts it and puts half on her plate.

“You’re being nice today,” she says, sounding confused.

“I’m always nice.”

“Not this nice. And anyway, your face says otherwise. I think half the girls in the class are terrified of you.”

“Only half? I must be losing my touch.” He pauses, and it stings that she thinks he’s stingy enough that he wouldn’t share his food with her. “Rukia, you know you can always ask me if there’s something you want. If I can get it for you, I will.”

A look of apprehension settles over her face, but before she can reply, Chad appears behind her, with Keigo and Mizuiro in tow.

“Is this a lunch date, or can anyone join?” Mizuiro says, making flirty eyes at Rukia, at the same time that Keigo says, “Ichigo, you sneaky bastard! So this is where you’ve been disappearing to during lunch! Kuchiki-san, has he been hitting on you? What a terrible experience that must have been for you!” Despite the sympathetic words coming out of his mouth, Keigo’s giving Ichigo obvious winks of approval and there’s a massive leer on his face.

Ichigo closes his eyes and contemplates if he would get away with murdering the two of them in front of half of the school.

“Ah, company!” Rukia says, and the relief is evident in her voice. “Please, sit! Making conversation with Kurosaki-kun has been such an ordeal. He’s all broody frowns and dark looks, and now he’s saying he wants to give things to people for free? He is clearly insane and I think this is why he has no friends.”

“You poor thing,” Mizuiro says insincerely, and drops into the seat next to her, and Ichigo resigns himself to spending the next half an hour fending off inappropriate personal questions from his friends.

He tries to bring it up again a few days later after they finish a round of Hollow hunting. He’s getting stronger, the Hollows are getting easier to vanquish, and he’s riding a successful post-Hollow high when he turns to her and says, “do you think you’ll still need me in the future?”

“Huh?” Rukia’s distracted, checking the mobile.

“Once you get your power back. Do you think you’ll still need me?”

“Oh. I haven’t really thought about that, so I don’t have an answer for you right now. To be honest, it doesn’t feel like I’m getting any stronger.” She clenches and unclenches her fist, troubled by the way her body responds, and he can’t help himself as he moves towards her and touches her shoulder.

“Well, no matter what, I’ll always be your friend.”

Rukia looks up at him in alarm. “A Shinigami and a human can’t be friends,” she says cautiously, and he snorts.

“Then what would you call this? Of course we’re friends. In fact, we’re more than friends, aren’t we?”

“Are we?” She says softly, uncertainty written on her face, and this is his undoing.

“Of course we are,” he says, and they’re standing so close now that he can feel the heat radiating off her body. “You live with me, and I buy you lunch everyday. We’re- we’re…” He doesn’t have a word to describe this. His hand is still on her shoulder, her hair brushing against his fingers. Abruptly, she takes a step back.

“It’s late. We should head back.”

He’s thrown by the sudden change, but swallows the protests lodged in his throat because Rukia looks wary, and he’s not so selfish that he would push this onto her.

He blows out his breath, says, “okay,” then turns around and couches down on one knee, offering his back to her, hands positioned to catch her. “It’ll be faster this way,” he says when she doesn’t move.

She’s hesitant, but they’re several miles out of town and walking will take ages, so she gets on. She’s a warm weight on his back, a reminder of the storm of confusion swirling inside him. They don’t talk for the rest of the night, and he doesn’t bring it up again.

Things finally come to a head after he fights Renji and loses, and ends up lying on the school’s rooftop staring up at the sky while she frantically tries to rub away his wounds.

“Rukia,” he says, “what are we going to do?”

She goes still, but she doesn’t reply. The sunset that day is a brilliant watercolour of pink and orange, but all he can see is her by his side, head bowed. It’s finally then, when he has to face the threat of having her taken away, that everything crystallises and he sees what this tiny girl has begun to mean to him. But there’s no time and no good moment to say it; he has a month to buy her freedom, and he throws himself into training with renewed vigour. Rukia’s too worried about the possibility of him dying to concentrate on anything else; she completely gives up all pretense at being human and spends most of the school day staring blankly out the window.

Ichigo knows this, because now he spends most of his school day watching her stare out the window. He’s vaguely aware of his classmates whispering about him, but he doesn’t have any spare energy left to wonder what fresh rumours are circulating around him and Rukia this time. He trains harder than he’s ever done in that month, and they talk battle strategies at night, and he tries not to think about how each passing day is a countdown to her life.

In the end, he loses. Byakuya stabs him twice and then it’s over. He’s left on the ground, bleeding out, and her eyes are filled with unshed tears as she looks at him for the last time. There’s so much to say and not enough time to say it. Ichigo watches her go with her brother and Renji, watches the gates open and swallow her up, and closes his eyes against the hard knot of failure in his chest.

Except that it’s not the end. He gets stronger and goes to Soul Society and beats up everyone who stands in his path, upending centuries of orders and rules along the way, and saves her.

“Yo,” he says, and the way her eyes widen comically as she stares at him is worth it. Worth every scar, worth every drop of blood split, worth what he has had to transform himself into.

“You idiot,” she screams a moment later. Predictably, they get into a fight right before she’s about to be executed. 

But he saves her, exposes the traitors rotting in the core, and then it’s all over. He doesn’t relax until she’s been officially pardoned. Once it’s done, once she’s finished yelling at him for being such a fool, Ichigo, is your head completely empty?, they find an unoccupied rooftop on a random building on the 13th Division’s grounds and he lies back against the tiles  and lets out a long sigh that he didn’t know he had been holding in. It’s a months-long sigh, a deep sigh of satisfaction, and he feels his whole body go loose and liquid.

“Why did you come,” Rukia says, and he hates how uncertain she sounds.  

“Dummy, you saved my life. You changed my world. Of course I would.” The tiles against his back are warm from the sun, and he’s deliberately not looking at her.

“Ah. Well, if it’s because you think you have a debt to repay,” and he wonders if that’s a note of disappointment that he hears in her voice, “you can consider your debt discharged.”

He snorts in reply, raising himself up on elbow to look at her. “This was never about repaying a debt, Rukia. You idiot, isn’t it obvious how I feel about you by now?”

Her face is a mixture of emotions that he can’t read. “Oh,” she finally says. “So is this… puppy love?”

He snorts again, staring at her with incredulity. “Rukia. After all that we’ve done for each other, I think we’ve gone a bit past the puppy love stage by now, don’t you?”

“Oh,” she says again, faintly. The silence stretches out before them.

“Anyway, you know they die at the end, right?”

“What?”

“Romeo and Juliet. She’s destined to marry another, but they fall in love, so they try and marry in secret, only Romeo gets banished. So Juliet tries to fake her own death to escape and be with him, only he thinks that she’s actually dead, and kills himself. Then she wakes up and finds him dead, so she kills herself.”

Rukia’s eyes grow wider with every passing sentence. “That’s a terrible story! I can’t believe they actually teach you this.”

Ichigo shrugs. “It’s meant to be a romantic tragedy, you know, the two lovers killing themselves because they think the other is dead.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Killing yourself for no reason is no way to honour the memory of the person you love. But trying your best to live your life in honour of them, that’s how you know they were important, that they meant something.” Her voice grows soft. “Ichigo… if I had been executed, I would have gone peacefully, knowing that I had given my life in exchange for someone that meant a lot to me.”

“Oh,” Ichigo says. He’s thinking about what she said, about sacrifices and his mother, and it takes him a full minute before the rest of her words finally hit him. Then, “ohh.” He looks at her then, trying and failing to hold back a smile. “So, you mean me?”

“Well, actually I was referring to Chad.” Rukia says, deadpan, and he laughs and daringly, reaches out for her hand. She looks at him in surprise, but she doesn’t pull away. Her hand is warm and small in his, and his breath hitches as their fingers carefully interlace. The world has gone golden from the rays of the setting sun, and his chest is tight with joy.

“So, what now?”

“I’m going to stay in Soul Society for a while,” she says decidedly, and he raises an eyebrow but doesn’t interrupt. “I’ll need some time to recover and get my powers back. And then after… after, I’ll come and find you.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Ichigo says firmly. She nods. 

They sit there until the sun sets, and the lights of Soul Society come on one by one, twinkling like constellations in the dark. Rukia leans against his arm and rests her head on his shoulder, and they stay like that for a while, until it gets too cold. Then he walks her back to the Kuchiki manor, telling her about his fight with Kenpachi, and she tells him that he is a lucky moron of the highest order and he should stop courting death so literally.

Everything goes back to normal, only now they try out this new thing of holding hands when no one’s looking, and he feels giddily happy whenever he sees her. They have a few more of these rooftop conversations, and then he leaves a few days later, with the others, and Rukia comes to see them off at the gates. 

“I’ll look for you,” she tells him quietly, as the others exchange goodbyes, and he grabs her hand and squeezes it quickly.

“It’s a promise.” He looks at her for one long, last moment, trying to commit the image of her kimono flapping in the breeze to memory, and she smiles at him.

“Thank you for everything, Ichigo,” she says.

Because he still always wants to have the last word, he says, “that’s my line, Rukia,” and then hurries through the gates.

Returning to real life after that is like a punch in the gut. Everything is loud, frenetic, and he feels one step behind and out of sync. The world moves too fast without her in it. But he remembers her words, so he refuses to let himself pine, forces himself to join in, and slowly, a sort of equilibrium returns. Still, he leaves his window open every night, waiting. 

Then one day, one particularly bad day, he hears the shocked gasps of his classmates and looks up to see her standing at the open windows of his classroom, outlined against the sun. His heart stutters to a stop.

“What’s with that look on your face,” she demands, and he has no idea what she’s talking about because the next thing he knows she’s kicking him in the face.

“What the - Rukia!” He yells, furious, and she grabs him and drags him out of the classroom. She gets the whole story out of him, makes him apologise to Orihime for being weak and pathetic, and then the ball of shame that he’s been carrying around in the pit of his stomach abruptly dissipates.

“You big idiot,” she says fondly, “can’t even survive a month without me?”

He scowls. “I didn’t know how long you were going to be away! You could have given me some warning, you know!”

“And where would be the fun in that? You should have seen the look on your face. It was like you had seen a ghost!” She chuckles at her own joke as they walk back to class together. 

“Funny,” he mutters. “Are you staying with me?”

She turns to look at him in mock surprise. “Don’t you want me to? Have you moved on already, Kurosaki-kun? Tsk, what a fickle heart you have.”

“Rukia!” 

She laughs at his outraged expression. “My things are already in your room,” she says comfortingly. They pause outside the classroom. “I’ll find you after school,” she promises, and then she slides the door open to a wall of noise as his classmates pounce on her and drag her in and demand to know where she’s been. He can’t get anywhere near her for the rest of the day.

Afterwards, he waits impatiently by the school gate, checking his watch every few seconds. It’s sticky and humid, the air heavy with the promise of rain. She comes running up, face flushed, and he’s struck by how happy she looks, how alive.

“Yo, Ichigo,” she says, brushing her hair out of her eyes and all he can think is, beautiful.

“Stop stealing my lines.” He says, and she laughs at him. 

They don’t touch, but they are close enough that their hands brush against each other as they walk back slowly. There’s no need to rush, and they settle back into their routine as easily as if they were never apart. She catches him up on what she’s been doing in Soul Society, and he tells her what he’s been up to. 

The rain starts as they’re halfway back, and they make it a run for it before giving up and taking shelter in the awning in front of a closed shop. Rukia’s completely soaked through, and she couches down, shivering, her hair sticking to her cheeks.

“It’s cold,” she says, sounding surprised, wrapping her arms around herself, and Ichigo digs into his bag and pulls out his rumpled school jacket.

“Here,” he says, then squats down in front of her and drapes his jacket over her shoulders. His face is close enough to hers that his every exhale is a puff of warm air against her cheek.

“Thanks,” Rukia murmurs, ducking her head. The jacket’s oversized on her, and he tucks the fabric more securely around her. His hands linger on the collar of his jacket, and then he grabs the lapels and gently pulls her forward and brushes his lips against hers.

She kisses him back, sweet and slow, and he doesn’t realise how long he has been waiting for this moment until it happens. He’s breathless and flushed when they finally part, and the words that he has wanted to say to her for a long time finally bubble up to the surface.

“Rukia,” he says, and at that moment, he’s never been more certain of anything else in his life. “I love you.”

She smiles back at him, her face bright like the sun, and says, “I know that, you dummy. I love you too.”

[all-hail-the-witcher]

every book i had to read for english and why i didn't like any of them

i woke up thinking about this and decided to make this post. for context, i went to public school and was on the honors/ap track for english. i am a firm believer that english teachers ruin books for their students inadvertently. this is my experience:

6th grade language arts

we read three books during 6th grade, bridge to terabithia, the cay, and where the red fern grows. and i had to read a wrinkle in time over the summer which i didn't understand like at all so I'm just gonna skip that one honors english was not a thing until 8th grade where i went to middle school so this was a regular english class and i hated it. it was also a double period class for some reason, so i had an hour and a half of language arts every day. 

it took us half the year to read bridge to terabithia. i am not kidding. that book is like maybe 100 pages and it took us a good 4-5 months. this is because our teacher stopped us every time we got to a pice of figurative language and made us analyze it. every. single. piece. i got so bored that i read ahead and then got in trouble for reading ahead. needless to say, i absolutely detested bridge to terabithia and would not touch it to this day if my life depended on it. 

after bridge to terabithia we read the cay. this took us the rest of the year. the cay is a relatively short book as well so i got bored with this one quickly as well. i really dont remember much about the discussions, but i remember a long one about how the cover was “inaccurate,” which, yes, it was but i dont know if a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds need to spend a week debating that. i think i hated it mostly because, again, we read it for 5 months. 

the last three weeks of the school year, our teacher gave us a book and said “here read this before school ends because we have to read three books a year and we only read 2″ (for context, the other language arts class had read about 5-7 books that year and found it insane that we were “still reading bridge to terabithia”) so i read where the red fern grows. all in all it wasn't a bad book, i did kind of enjoy it, but since i was rushed reading it on top of all my other homework and because it was definitely ahead of my reading comprehension level, it wasn't my favorite.

7th grade language arts

now, a bit of a disclaimer here, this was the year that i was in language arts with the guy i had a crush on and one of my close friends at the time. so, i didn't really pay that much attention to begin with. we read quite a few books in this class, but I'm not sure if i remember all of them. again, this was a double period. 

i think the first book we read was freak the mighty. i remember not liking this book because i felt like i was missing something. there was definitely some kind of metaphor or something in there that i was supposed to get but because i was literally twelve i didn't get it and i didn't find the meaning in it. theres nothing more frustrating than reading a book that you dont understand.

after that I'm pretty sure we read the wave. it was explained to us that the wave is supposed to symbolize how the n*zis came to power and all that stuff, and while we all knew this, i dont think we really Understood it. (probably because we were 12). we all kinda saw it as a joke and thought it was funny. i think that if i read it now i would be like. “well shit this is really interesting” but 12 year old me wanted to make fun of it with the rest of my class. 

i think we read seed folks next. this was another book that just went over all of our heads. its about how a garden changes a whole bunch of peoples lives which is like, super interesting. but none of us got it and were like “lol this is stupid” so much so that we actually stopped reading it. like my teacher stopped having us read it.

I'm fairly certain the last book we read was the miracle worker. a lot of us had had to read parts of it before that class so we were all kinda familiar with it already. i vaguely remember some kind of obnoxious class joke about the book that was probably rude. i remember finding it interesting, but there were so many activities we did about the book that i lost interest. 

8th grade honors reading

this class was A Trip. i liked the teacher, but she was a little out there. its unclear whether she got fired or just didn't come back after that year. i had a lot of fun in her class but it was usually because we all bonded over hating the assigned reading.

i dont remember what order we read the books in and i dont remember if this was all of them, but to the best of my recollection this is what we read

we definitely read romeo and juliet. by the time you're in 8th grade, everyone knows the story of romeo and juliet, so it wasn't like that suspenseful or a surprise or anything. but we had to act the reading out. yes we had to act out romeo and juliet. with burger king crowns. and wrapping paper swords. clearly the teacher was trying to have fun with us, and it was fun fun for awhile but it got old. especially when you got participation points taken off your grade if you didn't read for once of the characters (which is massively unfair because not everyone wants to get up in front of a class in a paper crown holding a wrapping paper tube and read in old english when you're 13 but whatever). 

we also definitely read animal farm. it was another book that went right over our heads (or, mine at least). i didn't actually really understand it until i had to read the communist manifesto for ap euro senior year. and our teacher talked in a bad russain accent the entire time? i could barely keep the characters straight, let alone analyze the underlying message and all that. now i might actually like it since I'm a history major and have a decent background on the russian revolution, but at 13? no thanks.

the one book that everyone hated (including the teacher herself) was farewell to manzanar. it was a memoir about a young girl growing up in the japanese internment camps and looking back on her life and stuff like that. the story itself was very interesting and we all learned a lot from it. but the person who wrote it did not know how to write. it was confusing, some chapters made no sense, and none of us generally knew what was going on. we had to finish the book because we were the honors class, but the regular class got to stop after chapter 6. 

i think we only read 4 books that year and the fourth one was the outsiders. this was one of two books that i actually liked the entirely of my public school education. i kinda vibed with it when we were reading it and then i vibes with it more once i got to high school and rediscovered it. it was just a good book, pretty solid, good themes, fantastic. 

9th grade honors english

i absolutely hated this class. hands down the worst teacher i ever had. she was one of those that should have retired 20 years ago but was still teaching for some reason. and she hated kids. legitimately. that was the first time i got a c and it took my parents a long time to realize that it wasn't because of me, it was because the teacher was absolute shit. the only thing that made that class bearable was the fact that my friend was in there and so was this guy that totally like her so he would flirt with her pretty incessantly and it was Hilarious. 

we read so many books that year and i hated all of them. a lot of them were like greek dramas and plays? like we read oedipus rex and julius caesar and antigone. and i hated all of them because the teacher made me hate reading and made it seem like a chore. 

by far the worst was the old man and the sea. i hated that book, hemingway was terrible. i struggled to find any kind of meaning in it and connected all of my responses to the bible because my teacher loved it when people did that.

we read inherit the wind and to kill a mockingbird and all quiet on the western front which were the only books i found remotely interesting. but i still hated them because i knew that we would have to do her reading quizzes which were impossible so it was pointless to read the book anyway. 

and we also read a raisin in the sun. i dont remember what this was even about except that there was some kind of insurance money involved. but by this point we were all really done with our teachers shit and my one friend legitimately said during class “but, ms. [name] if you put a raisin in the sun, doesn't it just get more raisiny?”

10th grade ap english language and composition (american lit)

i loved this class and the teacher but i hated all the assigned reading because we read it for the ap test. everything you read was in the context of having to find themes and shit to write about on the ap. so i didn't really get any of the books for that reason. i think we only read three and they were the scarlet letter, the crucible, and the great gatsby. i kind wish i paid more attention to gatsby and i think i would like it more now but at the time i detested it. we also had to read grapes of wrath over the summer and i hated that. i wanna read books to read them, not to come into school and write essays on them. also the ending was weird and i hated it.

11th grade honors (british lit)

another bad year of english, not quite as bad as freshman year, but still bad. still hated it. i outlined many fics in that class. the teacher did not like me and i did not like her. she also talked in this weird fake almost british but not quite accent that sometimes still haunts my nightmares. she was also one of those backwards feminists who claims they're a feminist but still was sexist in her favorites and the way that she treated people in the class?? after english i had math and my friend (the same girl who said the thing about raisins freshman year) and some others would complain to our math teacher about our english teacher. math was essentially a support group for english where we would discuss answers to reading checks. 

over the summer we read 1984, which, cool concept (esp right now) but i hated knowing that i had to find some kind of deep meaning in it because i was going to have to write an essay on it as soon as i came back to school.

from there i think we read beowulf which was interesting. i dont know if we actually read the whole thing or just excerpts but again, i hated looking for meaning.

we read a tale of two cities which was like the one book i actually wanted to read because i am a huge fan of the shadow hunters book serieses and will and tessa quote that book all the time. i think if i had read it to read it it would have been better but first, dickens is wordy and weird and second i dont really wanna have to search out symbolism while I'm reading because its required.

we read macbeth, which i just didn't like. idk why. i just kinda thought it was stupid. i dont really have an explanation for this one. i think it was because we read it in the old english and that confused me a lot of the time.

and we read jane eyre. the only thing i remember from jane eyre was “pathetic fallacy” which is where the mood of the scene is reflected in the weather. i dont wanna dissect a book like that. and also my teacher referred to the book as “jane” but she said it “jAAYYneeE” which was annoying. 

12th grade ap lit

dear god. this class. i had issues with this class. our teacher was something. everyone was afraid of him. e v e r y o n e. he ran detention and didn't know how to match his clothes and wore skinny ties. he had three swell bottles the he would bring with him to school every day. people claimed he used to be in a rock band and that was why his voice was so high pitched and weird. some said his wife left him, others said he had a kid. we were genuinely confused by him. he didn't teach, he yelled at you for doing things wrong without giving any instructions on how he actually wanted it done. he made college out to be some big scary thing where we would all be trampled. but mostly, he was an existentialist. 

we had to read song of solomon over the summer. i hated it. i didn't hate it because of the messages and all that stuff, no the book itself was good and toni morrison is a great author. i just hated the fact that there was graphic description of incest, necrophilia, or sex at least once every 5-10 pages. i didn't wanna read that. and it turned me off the book. so when he asked us if we liked the book when the year started i said no and i argued with him about it. and he hated me for the entire year. 

next i think we read waiting for godot. which was absolutely terrible. its literally a play where nothing happens. it would have been funny except that i knew i was gonna have to write an essay on it. how do you write an essay on a play where nothing happens? literally all of our discussions about it were about existentialism and it was terrible. 

we read the metamorphosis, which everyone hated cause it could have been written in like 4 sentences. and our teacher thought he was So Clever for assigning it to us. he thought it was the biggest joke. and he went on and on about how its about existentialism and blah blah. the book would have been funny had he not only discussed it in regards to existentialism. 

i think next was hamlet. i would have like hamlet had we not discussed it only through the lens of existentialism. its a good play, but i hated it because of the way he talked about it. even now, i only like it to make fun of the way he liked it. my friend and i send hamlet memes to each other all the time but only cause they remind us of our teacher.

one flew over the cuckoos nest. the second and final book that i actually liked my entirety of school. i dont know why i liked it, but it was just a good book. our teacher also had some kind of weird cowboy trope thing that he thought mcmurphy fell under which i thought was hilarious. the essay i wrote on that book was the only one he wrote “nice job” on and i still have it somewhere

my friend claims that we also read the stranger. i dont really remember what that book was about except some guy shot some people. there was definitely something in it that i didnt get. 

anyway in conclusion required reading ruins books. when i told my creative writing advisor that i out of all the books i read for school i only like the outsiders and one flew over the cuckoos nest she was like “yeah, english teachers really ruin books for students”

[samotchkaficrecs]

My Hero Academia Fic Recs! #1

Hola!

i’m finally making an actual mha fic post... yay!

since most of these fics are suited to my fanfiction tastes i will be making another in the future with many different ships (to float anyone’s boat). 

[Also if there is a star (★) next to any fic, it’s one of my highly recommended]

Anywhoo, let us begin! 

TodoDeku

before the world catches up  by -  silent_academy (white_silence) 

Shouto was promised the world when he was born. Unfortunately, fate isn't kind, and he's left with nothing but a broken heart and blazing scars.

Izuku was never "destined" for greatness, but he was sure as hell going to make his mark on the world. With determination and a will to protect, he sets out on the hero's path.

Or, the one in which Shouto is born Quirkless, and Izuku... is not.

Somehow, things work out anyway.

(currently on hiatus)

 ★ The Wooing of Todoroki Shouto  by -  crispykrimi

He clasps his hands together and presses them to his forehead. “Please teach me how to seduce someone!”

What follows is the most awkward fifteen minutes of his short life. His friends volley suggestions at him, everything from suggestive comments to practically crawling into Shouto’s lap and kissing him. His head is starting to feel a little fuzzy when someone (goddamnit Kirishima) suggests a strip tease, and really, he has to draw the line somewhere.

“A-ah… Maybe seduce was too strong a word. I don’t know if I could actually do any of those things… I think a better word would be- woo? I want to woo him. P-please teach me how to woo someone.”

(complete)

★  If I'm Being Honest....  by -  I_dont_know_man 

Midoriya scrunched up his nose in confusion. “Uh, Shouto, why are you glaring at me like that?”

“I-” Todoroki began to lie, until nausea slammed him like a door to any room that Bakugou entered. “I--” Todoroki grit his teeth, and glared daggers into the wall behind Midoriya. Goodbye, friendship. It had been absolutely divine while it lasted. “Because you’re very attractive.”

They say honesty is the best policy, but it sure as hell had a knack for Todoroki making a complete and utter fool of himself.

In which Todoroki is placed under a mysterious truth-telling quirk and suffers, Uraraka laughs at him, Midoriya is confused but smitten nonetheless, and Twitter is the thirstiest site on the planet.

(complete)

i feel your warmth, and it feels like home  by -  orphan_account 

The five times where Shouto remembers that Midoriya is more buff than he lets on.

(alternatively titled the-one-where-shouto-internally-nosebleeds-and-tries-to-act-casual)

(complete)

Trust Fall  by -  Esselle 

' "So, on my signal then."

Midoriya laughs. "No signal. You just fall, and I catch."

"What?" Shouto asks. "But how will you know? What if you're not ready? What if—"

"It's about trust, Todoroki-kun," Midoriya says. Shouto can't see his face, but he senses there's a grin on it. "Do you trust me?" '

(complete)

KiriBaku 

Can't Hear the Fireworks of Your Art  by -  cereal_whore   

Bakugou's hearing is slowly deteriorating due to being in close proximity of his quirk, and his constant usage of it. After a visit to the doctors, it's concluded they can never reverse his hearing.

Everyone else: hol y sh ti hes dying (excluding Shinsou, who's too tired to care anymore and is at peace with the idea of Bakugou being the local cryptic)

Or: Bakugou literally disappears for one day, and everyone suddenly thinks he's dying even tho he just rlly needs a hearing aid. none of these hormonal teenagers have basic communication skills. Todoroki is also really trying his best in spite of Bakugou continuously calling him "Canadian Flag Fucker".

(ongoing)

kiss me on the lips  by -  Lulatic

“So, you’ve really never kissed anyone? Really?”

“No, okay? You fucking happy now? What does it even matter--”

“Would you like to?”

(complete)

★ The Beauty of a Beast  by -  starofjems 

Once upon a time a lonely beast lived in a manor deep in the forest. He dreamed of the day his true love appeared to break his curse... When a beauty finally appears in his life, it is not quite as he imagined. For who could have thought a beauty would be more of a beast.

Or

The beauty and the beast AU nobody asked for but here it is.

(complete)

Ghost Hunters  by -  PoutyBats

“What, like a ghost sex hotline?” Sero snorts.

“I mean, she was kinda cute-”

“I swear on my life if you don’t shut up I can guarantee that there will be three new ghosts in this house come morning!” Bakugou rubs his temples, aging by the minute.

-

Kirishima, Bakugou, Ashido, Kaminari, and Sero are part of a ghost hunting squad.

[kiribaku isn’t really the main focus, but it’s here anyways]

(complete)

Love Potion No. 9  by -  I_dont_know_man

"It's alright bro, I get it. Not everybody can handle all this pure manliness." Kirishima flexed a hardened bicep facetiously, grinning like the idiot he most certainly was.

...

And Bakugou - Bakugou blushed.

For the mere second time in 17 years of life, no less, and he was pretty sure that blushing over accidentally calling All Might ‘dad’ that one time didn’t count. Bakugou was an aloof, detached, analytical sort of person. Bakugou didn’t fucking blush, alright?

Just what in the ever-loving fuck was going on here?!

In which Bakugou finds himself victim of a love spell, Kirishima tries his Best, and the entirety of Class 1A waits for the other shoe to drop.

(ongoing)

Multi/ Misc/ Minor Ship 

★ Blue Monday  by -  Adox    [multi]

Eight years ago, three boys went missing, only remembered by their disappearance. Unless you’re Izuku Midorya. After his (arguably) best friend Katsuki Bakugou vanished, he’s been searching. Hoping. Even after the investigation was closed. Three names ring clearly in his head.

Eijiro Kirishima.

Denki Kaminari.

Katsuki Bakugo.

Jiro loves her new family, they’re the only fosters who seem to give a shit. However, she can’t help but notice the picture frames turned on their side, and the child’s bedroom that hasn’t been touched in years.

Todoroki just wants to help his new friend, even if that means endangering his many, many scholarships.

And Bakugo waits.

(ongoing)

Karma in Retrograde  by -  Mistystarshine, ohmytheon    [misc]

When Dabi is struck by a de-aging quirk that regresses him to the most influential part of his life, he finds himself turned back into a sixteen-year-old U.A. General Studies student with lots of self-esteem issues, parent problems, a destructive quirk that he can't manage, and no memory of the years that he's lost - not to mention the fact that his little brother is now the same age as him and one of the top students in the U.A. hero course. In U.A.'s attempt to make up for what they missed and help the Dabi of the past, present, and future, he is placed with the only students that know him and have yet to find out what truly makes the difference between a hero and a villain. There, they must face the question of whether he can change or his destiny is already set in stone.

(ongoing)

A Night to Remember  by -  hanwritesstuff (hannahkannao)    [multi]

“Huh?” Izuku narrows his eyes and looks at the poster. It doesn’t make sense when he first reads the words, when they first roll off his tongue. “‘Yuuei High School’s 24th Annual Future Heroes Gala’? What... is this?” He feels like he should know, but he can’t think straight after staying up so late last night.

“Well.” Kirishima grins. “When I saw the poster, I texted Amajiki-senpai and he told me all about it.”

There’s something particularly mischievous in his smile that has Izuku worried.

“Long answer, it’s pretty much the only school dance Yuuei has and it’s third-years only,” Kirishima continues, “It’s supposed to be a celebration of everything we’ve done over the past three years, so it’s super fancy and formal and there’s slow dancing and and stuff like that -”

“Short answer, it’s hero prom!” Hagakure interrupts, barely getting the words out before at least four people erupt into cheers.

(complete)

★ I want to kiss (your dumb fucking face)  by -  gingerbreadshinsou    [shinsou/ monoma] 

Monoma develops a big gay crush on Shinsou from afar and his life descends into absolute chaos

[The Monoma Neito coming-of-age fic absolutely no one asked for]

(ongoing)

[i know i have already put this one on another list, but it’s just so amusing!]

tell your boyfriend if he says he's got beef that i'm a vegetarian and i EAT LEAF  by -  hanwritesstuff (hannahkannao)    [misc]

“Which one of you fuckers just AirDropped me loss?”

(complete)

★ shock your soul  by -  montparni    [kamisero]

Twelve years of Halloween; or, Kaminari Denki grows up (but not too much), makes some memories, and learns to look right in front of his eyes.

(complete)

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!  by -  xX_KUUHAKU_Xx    [kamisero]

"I could wear just my boxers and I'd win every round. Now let's play."

---

In which Sero and Kaminari decide to face off on a rock, paper, scissors game with beer and stripping being a part of it.

(complete) 

Thus With a Kiss, I die  by -  DomineeringScarves

Kaminari finds himself head over heels for the newest addition to their class, Shinsou Hitoshi. Normally the flirty blonde would just present himself with open arms but there's a major problem with his infatuation. There's unspoken rules in 1-A and Kaminari is part of the Bakusquad...whereas Shinsou is a part of the Dekusquad. The two can't be together. It's just not possible. There's no way Bakugou would ever allow one of his extras to date Deku's friend.

There's only one thing left to do, give up and move on. Too bad Kaminari can't seem to escape Shinsou.

Aka the fic where Kaminari is Romeo and Shinsou is Juliet and they have to secretly date so their squads don't fall into an all out war.

(complete)

★★★

Aaaand thats a wrap! thanks for viewing and i hope you all found some fics that intrigue you! 

Au revior!   

[inappropriatefangirlneeds]

Gotham s5ep9 “The Trial of Jim Gordon” Personal Review

“Well, I did not see that coming”    Warning NO spoilers below, why am I so late with this ..

 “Gotham has a chance to be born anew. To return to what it was before people ripped down the trees and paved over the earth. He's trying to reunify with the mainland to save all these people. A return to filth.  Pollution. He's fighting for death, while I promise life in its purest form.” “The plants will adapt; they always do.” So IVY PEPPER is the big bad in this episode she wants to get rid of Gotham people and one of the first steps is getting rid of Jim Gordon. But in the end she´s gone and forgotten about, you´d think there would at least be some tiny reference.   Honestly I think I could really dig misanthropic Ivy (is there some plant based black metal .. hmmm ) but I don´t think they built this up well enough, that they just give her these ridiculous powers and send her out to try to kill a lot of people and now all people, and then just have that fade into nothing basically doesn´t help the case. Ugh. Also Ivy leaves Selina with that gang guy she already fought against and they repeatedly mention their history despite the guy being also under the influence of Ivy. Which is odd because .. first of all, if the history with Selina is important he should be there without being drugged. Also if his history with Selina is not important she could have just picked anyone else and probably would have had a better chance because as we all know SELINA KYLE already had a field trip with him. So why would he be a threat now? (I mean unless you count some the presence of my dame made me win the jousting effect, which is a thing but not in gotham)  Well the whole plot is Ivy gets Jim shot by Zsasz. Okay so this is stressing me out, I thought I came here for a crazy dream trip but Lee´s voice is haunting me. Can just everyone be alive n happy, pls.  Hm I don´t quite know what to make of this trial, probably because there really isn´t anything about it .. and I think most meta in this fandom did a better job plenty times already.  Nevertheless, he´s his own prosecution and nice, also is this his theatre stage voice? Before Ivy´s interruption the whole think started with JIM GORDON lamenting how the gangs get more aggressive and that they need at least a temporary CEASE FIRE to get their reunification and save lives. Oswald Cobblepot provided the venue for this and Barbara was present as well. But that does not matter too much.  Big theme this week: RESPONSIBILITY And for fucks sake, the JIM GORDON trial just beats the same crap again that I´ve been annoyed with for forever. “I did my best. Your best never seems good enough.”   “Therefore we pose one simple question: Are the people in Jim Gordon's life better off with him alive or dead?”  I mean Jim did Lee dirty that’s a valid point but she´s not the only one and most of the trial bulk is about Jim just not being able to save people. People being mad they trusted him looking for safety. And I´m gonna try to just sum up the whole rant in short: If some pyromaniac sets a fire and the firefighters can´t extinguish it quickly enough it´s still not the firefighters to blame I´m so tired of this nonsense. Also we have a hint of the same nonsense with BRUCE WAYNE: He´s thinking that he is responsible for Ra´s and Galavan but again, see above. Or in other words: What Selina Kyle said. She hit the nail on the head with: “Jeremiah blew up your house”.  There really isn´t anything to add.  “And I know that a lot of people lost a lot more, but part of me wonders if it wasn't fate.” “It wasn't. It was Jeremiah blowing up your house.” Maybe it's time to move on. (…) And how many terrible things have happened to it because of me? Galavan.  Ra's al Ghul. If this city really is my home, then maybe the best thing I can do for it is leave.”  VICTOR ZSASZ oh Victor ..  Victor in love is a delight, Victor in anything is a delight  * So first of all he gets rough with ALFRED again, okay the other way round but, idc, it was too short * Also they just like repeating things .. I´m here for Gordon only Gordon we´ve had this but tbh I´ll take it again and again.  “Okey-dokey.  Time to boogie. Hey! I'm only here for Gordon. So all of you stay down. 'Cause I see anyone and, you know bang.” “Oi, oi! Now, I heard you were looking for Jim Gordon.” “Uh-huh.��  * So technically, with Bruce doing “IvyLingo” the William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet quote could have been just Ivy´s influence but Zsasz reading Shakespeare is just right as roses as well, //gotham language//  “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. You know, I'm really taking the time to stop and smell the roses these days.” * More is this IvyInfluence of is this something coming out of the drugged person. The name thing was such a childish take on being in love and I feel like there´s meta in this about IVY PEPPER and her age ups, or maybe not fully age ups (but I´d still like to believe it wasn´t just body age ups but brain chemistry n stuff too but still experience is another factor) but, buut instead of thinking about any implications of that I´m just gonna find Zsasz adorable  “Uh, I'm technically not allowed to say it. Her name.  Which is such a bummer, because it's the most beautiful name in the world.” “You watch him.” I could say it all day.  Hey, I will say it all day. Ivy. Ivy Pepper. Mrs. Ivy Pepper Zsasz. Oh, that sounds good.”  * “Don't worry, though. I'm just a distraction so she can finish off Jim once and for all. You know, that's how great couples work. Maybe I shouldn't have told you that. Oh, well.” Okay so Zsasz ~is~ a damn chatterbox and can´t keep his mouth shut. // On a side note. I think I went into this a bit in a fanfic and this is imho such unused potential even with Ivy 2.0. Zsasz conditioned Butch to follow orders, Ivy just does it with a little whiff of a scent. I believe Zsasz would be SO intrigued by this, like not only for doing good work professional reasons but how fascinating would this be, he´d sure want know its limits, he´d certainly would want to know how far this perfume actually could push a person, skin themselves alive? //  // On another side note: Zsasz was so close to spilling the name and he sure spilled the distraction plan which is so totally unbelievable dumb, which is why I´m wondering if 1.) Ivy would have needed to give better instructions 2.) Zsasz got some slight resistance gene to the perfume or 2.) if InLoveZsasz is just such a tremendous idiot .. //  * “Alvarez makes a hell of a Mai Thai. I can barely feel my face.” Oh I want one of those, wait no make that two. Also someone make two or more fics involving Zsasz, Alvarez and cocktails. Please.  * “I can tell you one thing. I am sick and tired of getting shot at in my own precinct.” It was about time someone said it, thanks Harvey Bullock. * “I'm sorry. Did you just say "People. Ugh"? “Lucius, what if I were to tell you I have in my possession the most intoxicating perfume you'll ever smell?” “I would tell you that's an abrupt change of topic. Can we go back to the part where you said "People. Ugh"? “ Okay that´s the only sensible and appropriate reaction anyone in this city ever had. LUCIUS FOX is the real freak on this show, cause he got his shit together. And his Ivy love grin is adorable.    * “We're perfectly bonded, like carbon and oxygen or hydrogen and oxygen “ “We do not have time for this.”  Lucius Fox and Selina Kyle being awesome. * SELINA KYLE and BRUCE WAYN being on the same “maybe” page was sweet. Also her being mindful of her claws and not touching his cheek during the kiss. “If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was a date.” “Maybe it is.” “That okay with you?” “Maybe.”  * Another repeat thing and another piece on the BARBARA KEAN turning into OSWALD COBBLEPOT list is her poisoning the gang leaders with alcohol. Oswald did it with Cannoli and well he killed them for good but it counts.  *  Also if the show had just put them side to side earlier, it could have been so good, soo good. * Also HA! I knew it. I mean my first impulse was to be like, wtf, why is everyone and their aunt trying to get on such good graces with Jim suddenly, why is Jim Gordon the key to survival now? Oswald and Barbara sure both did their fare share of courting Jim. And I did use this word on purpose because as Oswald later calls it, Barbara´s motive was not just strategical and political it was also motivated by her love for Jim Gordon.  Which clearly and totally also means: Gobblepot.  It´s just a logical extension if you follow the parallels. Oswald´s actions too were about liking Jim. And if that doesn´t convince you enough he has had that quip about Barbara knowing all about keeping Gordon happy. He sure would do the same, if Jim let him. That was all jealousy talking.  * “If we're really going to leave Gotham, we need to keep Gordon happy. You know all about that, don't you?” *  “What exactly are you doing? I'm trying to keep this city from ripping itself apart.” “So this has nothing to do with your feelings for Jim?” “What if Ed fails, and we are stuck here? This will put us in Gordon's good graces. Consider it a backup plan.” * “Controlling the gangs was not a backup plan. You saw a chance to convince James Gordon that you had changed. But he will never see you as anything but a dangerous woman keeping his child from him.”  * “Ms. Kean, this may come as a surprise, but building a submarine from scratch by yourself takes time.” Didn´t I say so .. this still stresses me out though, building a whole submarine from scratch, how even  * “I don't know what's going on inside that man's head sometimes.” “I think you'll find that he needs you a lot more than he's letting on.” Well, I need to hear it from him.”   Well and there she goes, hearing it right after Jim woke up. LESLIE THOMKINS  stays at home while Jim goes out and hunts. She´s not happy at first but then comes to terms with it I guess, Jim has this line about what else should he do not being him anymore. Well idk. Leslie doesn´t seem to be quite herself either. She went out as well, ran a fight club n stuff ..  * “I never thought that this was how my life was going to be. I have no interest in being a father myself. I always presumed that I was unfit to be one.”  Well, honestly I don´t think ALFRES PENNYWORTH can be considered fit to raise a child. What was nice this week was that he talked to Lee and offered his own insight about parenting without being a blood relative. That was a kind and considerate touch.  * I have to look up which episode it was where Jim Gordon woke up to Edward Nymga and Oswald Cobblepot singing because wow that must have left a lasting impression if this visual turns up again  * Edit: I didn’t really notice until I made gifs but Barbara´s “See, those drinks I just gave you they're poisoned. And you had two shots before everyone got here. So that should be taking effect around PAUSE now the rest of you have 48 hours before you'll need the antidote”  line was so well structured. Like the now doubles as a 1) you´ll die like now and as a 2) so ~now~ that we got that out of the way let´s get to the real business .. and I love it //Gotham language //

[lacklusterswirl]

A new fic!

So i know Operation Black Ice is unfinished, but I wanted to try a reader interactive story! In The Choices you Make, you, the reader, are the control for a mission involving riots, violence, and, of course, White Masks. You can help Buck and Frost either live through the entire thing, or let them and their friends die. With them, Rook, Clash, and Maverick are getting a first taste of what Canada really is like behind their stereotypes, and yes, I’m salty at my premiere for being dumb, which played into this. 

First chapter is up, and you can either read it here, or on AO3 (the title of the story is the link, but here it is again). Otherwise, go vote in ao3 comments, or send me an ask here. I’ll gauge how long it takes to get a response before starting to set a deadline. And if you don’t want to go over to AO3, the first chapter is also under the cut. 

Warning: Violence, possible deaths, uncertain ending, swearing, and more will be added.

.

“You forget two things.”

Buck trailed behind an excited Rook. Ottawa, Canada. The nation’s capital. So close to home, yet still far enough away.

Startled, Rook froze in place and started patting down himself and looking for his luggage.

“No, I didn’t…” the younger man started, frowning at the serious look Buck had. “I’ve heard so much about Canada! Québec, poutine, les personnes qui habite là! C’est un grand moment pour moi, non? Vous habitez ici, oui?”

Buck couldn’t help but sigh. “Pas ici, mais uh…” Another sigh as Frost walked up to him and patted his back.

“The fuck-up province just got usurped, eh?” Turning to Rook, she added, “Remember that we’re here for riot control. You should ask yourself why that is of all things.”

Close behind, Clash emerged with Maverick, both looking a little less dangerous with how they were bundled to shield themselves from the cold.

“It’s fucking May, why is it still cold?”

Maverick shuddered and turned to his CTU partner. “It’s Canada, where the most ridiculous stereotypes seem to come true.” He accidentally bumped into a young girl and turned to apologize.

“Oh, sorry,” she said before Maverick even opened his mouth. He apologized back, and then gave Clash a pointed look.

“If this was Britain, you’d be lucky that she didn’t cuss you out.”

Buck sighed again. Only Frost really understood.

“This country where I grew up and the one we’re in now are two different places.” He said to Rook.

The confused look was all he needed to know that he was just as clueless as most of his own family. “You’ll see, but we’re not as different from all the other western countries right now.”

“Alright, look who’s here,” Ciel, their JTF 2 contact was waiting with military transport. Rook stuck his hand out to shake before Buck could stop him. All Ciel did was look down at the outstretched arm, look at his face, and turn to Buck. “Did he forget who I am?”

“To be fair, you’ve never aged well,” Frost muttered patting Rook on his shoulder.

Ciel gave his ex-teammate a cold stare. “Fair, but I have limited time. We have two situations to respond to, and I need to run a plan by you five.” He climbed onto the vehicle and the others followed with their bags.

“What’s going on here? Did the polar bears revolt or something?” Clash muttered, finding a seat near the back beside Frost.

“No, no polar bears this time, thank god,” Buck winced again. This was NOT the time to start banter. “Just a political situation getting ready to boil over. Healthcare plan changes, school cuts, university changes, student loan changes, carbon tax debates, an upperclass and government against the shrinking middle and growing lower classes. The usual for such a nice country, you know? Giving tax cuts that only really help the super rich, and cutting the resources those in working classes need and can’t afford.” He looked Rook in the eyes. “Sound familiar, French boy? Of course, that’s not taking into account the growing voices that support racism, classism, anti-climate change, sexism, and overall hate.”

That got Rook to finally sober up. Clash and Maverick frowned too.

“We don’t get called in for riot control though.” Buck pointed out. “What went wrong.”

“Not what went wrong, that’s in the past. We have tips and targets to watch. Online manifestos, private messages from those that seem a… a little too interested in war, the usual.”

“Toronto…”

“Van attack.” Buck cofirmed, and Rook’s eyes went wide.

Ciel scoffed. “That won’t hold a candle to what we think will go down.”

“W-what do you mean?” Maverick demanded.

“There’s more. There are talks of illegal assault weapons - which our PM still hasn’t banned - and more vehicle attacks since people will be on the streets and in front of parliament.” Ciel sighed and checked his watch. “We have troops posted in Toronto to watch those threats. They’ve been training for days for that. These Ottawa plans are new, and came off a tip that it involves some mask wearing freaks.”

“Merde,” Rook murmured.

Ciel scoffed. “Welcome to Canada”

.

“Now, we are going to be working with three assault teams. Chen, Lee, Robinson, and Williams, you’re with me. Team Alpha.”

The four men nodded and arranged themselves near the front.

“Maverick, Ramer, Avoledo, and Jordan, You’re with Buck, team Beta.”

“Clash, Rook, Jameson, and Sauer, with Frost as team Charlie.”

He paused until the teams regrouped. Buck nodded at the three strangers on his team. He had never met them before, so they must be new. Frost on the other hand recognized everyone on her team.

“Sauer! Long time no see!”

The large female in front of her rolled her eyes. “That’s ‘cause you didn’t keep in touch since fucking off to who knows where. Good to see you’re alive though.”

“We have three points of interest. One, here on out referred to as Romeo. Team Beta, we have a lone suspect who is expecting guests. Abduct him, and replace him with Avoledo. Avoledo will have a live audio feed so you can hear about the plans. Once you hear the signal, “once in a blue moon,” breach and clear. We’re cleared to use lethal force.”

“Point Juliet is where Team Alpha will set up. It’s a clear and sweep of a garage with links to gangs. On of the members was found just yesterday as part of a drug bust. He told us bout their unfortunate… partnership. We’re going in dark, so we’ll be requesting radio silence. If you hear from us… then that means we failed.”

Buck felt Rook stiffen beside him.

“Buck, why is he so neutral about death?”

“Hero complex. And the fact he’s never lost a fight. He always says that he’s got someone too important to come back to, to lose a fight.”

“Team Charlie, as you’ve no doubt noticed, is for defence. There’s an ally here,” Ciel pointed to a spot on the map, “that’s been called out by name by the gang before according to local police. And while I don’t trust most of those guys, that’s the best guess we’ve got as to where they’re coming from. Hold this side, and pursue if necessary. Don’t over extend though.”

Ciel nodded his head and dismissed the room. While most of the other ops went to get dinner and rest for the night, he beckoned over the Rainbow ops.

“I have a control team that’s gonna follow this op. They’ll give you directions and advice during the assignments. How are you feeling about that?”

“Are they experienced?” Buck asked.

Ciel smiled. “The best I can find. Now let’s go save our capital.”

You’re up! As command, you – yes you, the reader – are in charge of some of Buck or Frost’s actions! Pay attention to both story and chapter details, and try to make the best choice possible. Yes, if you go down a certain path, characters will die, and no, I have no magic potion to bring them back to life. At the end of each chapter, a new question will be posed and you can vote for your fave path in the comments below! Try to convince others, if you think you saw something strange.

First question: Who do you think needs more help (who should this story focus more on?): Buck or Frost?

[minnie-marvel]

Operation Juliet (Peter Parker x Reader) Part 3 [finale]

You’ve been head over heels for Peter Parker for almost a year hiding your feelings behind love letters that you never thought would reach him. When your best friend slips one into your locker, you give up on hiding your letters from Peter and begin to slip them into his locker on a daily basis. Peter is through with not knowing who you are so he and Ned finally decide to engage in a proper investigation to figure out your identity!

Peter Parker x Reader

Part 1 Part 2

Words:

A/N:Finally!! The curtain comes to a close on this romantic sap of a fic!! I’m so glad you all enjoyed this piece it was honestly a freaking delight to create this. Like writing love letters is so fun and sweet If only i had someone to write some to hahaha

Before we go on although I’d like to bring your attention to this MASTERPIECE @seven-magic-sins drew for this fic!!! PLEASE CHECK OUT THEIR ART WHAT THEY DID WAS SUPER SWEET AND THEY DESERVE ALL THE LOVE!!!!

(BTW if anyone makes fanart for my fics you bet your sweet ass I’ll be featuring it in my works!!! It’s too thoughtful to ignore!!! As long as it’s PG I’ll be putting it on the next update of said fic!!!)

Now then, let’s get to the good stuff shall we?

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

His breathing stopped, his heart froze, his eyes locked onto your notebook where your name was written in a perfectly adorable script that he had only seen once before.

“Thanks!!” you chirped innocently as Peter handed you your notebook trying to keep himself from bursting into flames at the mere sight of you.  He didn’t meet your eyes for a moment as he mumbled a quick “no problem” to you. When he was finally able to peel his gaze back from the floor, he nearly fell over again. He was stunned at how cool and collective you were being, despite your underlying romantic demeanor. You were the girl he was looking for, his Juliet.

Unfortunately for you, you were about as oblivious as Peter, and didn’t notice his obvious ogling over you. Or maybe you were just completely thrown off due to the fact that Peter was actually talking to you in the first place?

Peter’s brain felt clogged with all of the incoming messages his heart was seemingly telling him. It was screaming that he was an idiot, a dork and super lame for not being able to come up with anything to say for at least three minutes. You both were left in a very awkward silence, neither of you being able to believe that you were actually talking to the other person.

“So uh… my friend said she talked to you about Spiderman today!” You felt your voice crack again. Godamnit. He had to take a moment to think back to who you could possibly be talking about. Was it a girl? Or worse, maybe a boy? That’s when the realization struck him like a brick to the head.

“Oh yeah!! The girl on track.. what was her name?? Sorry, I’m like… really bad with those.” He said quickly. You shook your head happy that you had gotten a conversation flowing. “Eve!” you answered. You weren’t going to tell him that she was essentially your distraction, but it wasn’t like you had to anymore, Peter had soon pieced together your little plan to throw him off.

He felt his brain slap himself. Oh, you were good, too good.

“Right…” he said softly. “You know Y/N, I never really see you around school! Where are you always hiding?” he gave a soft laugh that sent your heart sky high. Ah yes, that was why you were in love with him. It wasn’t that you had forgotten, but seeing Peter being so adorable in person seemed to make you fall all over again.

You blushed realizing you had let a second or two fly by before responding due to you swooning over him internally. “Oh well, I’m not exactly in your classes, I’m just a grade below you but…there’s always passing!!” You said quickly to make up for the lost time. You felt embarrassment sink in your chest. You really hoped he didn’t suddenly see you as some squabbling infant in comparison to him.

“That makes sense…” He said a little too thoughtfully for your taste. Oh god, why was he saying it like that?? Were you drooling?? You were probably drooling. You wiped your mouth slightly despite no saliva being present. “It’s too bad, it would be cool to see you around more often, you’re a pretty sweet person!”

911? Yes, you’d like to report a homicide. This boy had practically shot you in the heart.

You started to giggle like an idiot. “N-no not really..!!” you said trying to look away from him. Peter couldn’t help but give a laugh as well. Boy, if you were this bashful over a small compliment, who knew what you would do if he actually told you how he thought you were a literal angel sent from heaven that he didn’t know he deserved.

You felt the train slowly pull to a stop and felt your heart tear slightly as Peter started to move. “This is me,” He said sadly himself. He wanted to tell you he knew you, so badly. Not that he had known you from your first day of school when you dropped your books all over the floor just as you did a few minutes ago. He wanted to tell you that he knew you and everything that your heart wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell you that his heart wanted to speak to yours too.

“Bye Peter!” You waved to him as he took a step off the bus. He gave you a smile that made you want to faint before walking off into the distance while the train pulled off again. Peter pulled his phone out almost immediately texting Ned.

‘Ned. Emergency. I know who Juliet is.’ --- Ned had met Peter at his apartment as soon as he could. Overwatch would have to wait, it wasn’t every day he and Peter had a cute girl pinning after one of them.

“Oh!! Y/N!” Ned said stroking his chin as he spun in Peter’s chair. “I see her a lot in the library,” he thought allowed. “She’s super quiet though I’ve never even heard her speak before…” his hand dropped to his side in disbelief. “I can’t believe she of all people is… Juliet.” He shrugged.

“What?? Dude, she’s like perfect come on!!!” Peter shouted.

“No, no, bro I’m not saying she’s not perfect!! I just didn’t think it would be her,” Ned said. He stood still for a moment before turning fully to him. “How are you gonna tell her Pete?”

Peter pursed his lips. “Well, there’s only one thing I can do,” He said simply. --- You hummed softly to yourself, you were having a fantastic day. You had gotten an A on your math test which you were convinced that you had failed (math and science was never your strong suits). You had finished one of your reading assignments freeing your weekend up, and on top of all that, yesterday’s conversation with Peter still left you feeling on top of the world. 

The last bell of the day had rung and your felt your excitement grow. The weekend was here and you were free to do whatever you pleased.  You opened up your locker to pack up your things for the weekend when you felt something tap your feet. Your eyes naturally glanced at the floor and you felt your chest clench.

There was a small envelope lying at your feet with your name written on its front. 

You swept it into your hands almost immediately, fearful that it might disappear if you didn’t pick it up quick enough. Your fingers trembled as they slowly tore through the paper revealing a letter inside. You felt your skin shake as you read.

To the silently sweet Y/N, who writes from afar,

   Okay, first off, I know this is super cheesy and a dumb attempt to try and copy what you’ve mastered. What you’ve created for the past month is not something as simple as letters Y/N; it’s an art.    I’m an idiot for not realizing sooner. You’d think someone who’s gained a full-time internship to Stark labs would have known better. Enough about me although, I’m sure you’ve had enough letters about me in your hands long enough. It’s time for me to finally return your favor.    If you are as loving, intelligent, and beautiful as Juliet, am I even worthy to be your Romeo? I’ve never been one to be very confident, but I think I’d do a better job than a Montague of being your one true love. That is if you’d still want to love a dork like me who couldn’t figure you out till now.    Your letters have created a change in me; they’ve started a fire in my heart that I can’t control any longer. At first, it was a spark, then a steady flame, and now Y/N? Well, I don’t even think a typhoon could smother out the wildfire that explodes when I think about how perfect you are, and how I don’t deserve you.   There’s so much more I want to tell you, but I think you deserve a better explanation than a letter that’s practically a steaming pile of crap in comparison to your masterpieces. Will you let me explain? I hope you will Y/N.

Signed,

Your hopelessly romantic Romeo

Peter

You knew this was good news. Hell, this was AMAZING news! But you couldn’t help but shake when you lifted your eyes from the paper. When you did, your world seemed to stop in motion and everything froze.

Peter stood only a couple of feet away from you, watching you read the letter with the goofiest most adorable smile that you thought you could even see on this planet. Your hands dropped to your side as he took a couple of steps closer to you. Your face was about as red as the color on his spidey suit at this point. You couldn’t help but look down in embarrassment.

“Hey, hey!!” Peter chuckled taking you gently by the shoulders when he saw your frown. “What’s wrong D-did I do a bad job??” He saw your tears drop onto your shoes and bit his lip pulling you into a quick embrace. “Y/N…?” He asked feeling his heart jump, stop and burn all at once.

“I didn’t think you’d ever find me…” You whispered the tears hot on your cheeks. “Yeah,” Peter tried not to laugh. “I’m sorry it took so long, you’d think a so-called genius could have pieced it together sooner right?” He tapped his forehead against yours and you finally got the courage to look at him. You thought that his eyes were warm enough to melt a block of ice.

“It’s not that…” you smiled softly. “I didn’t think you’d necessarily want to find me…” you explained. “I mean I’m not that noticeable, I’m quiet, I can’t even speak to you without having a mini heart attack,”

“Y/N, I don’t care about any of that,” He answered taking a strand of your hair pushing it behind your ear. “You’re shyness, your quietness, it’s all in our personality and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.” He smiled his hands sliding from your back to your hands.  “I meant everything I said in those letters Y/N, I don’t want you to just be my Juliet.” Your heart nearly stopped and your eyes searched his fearful of his next response. “ I want you to be my Y/N, totally and completely with every quirk that you have.”

He took a moment to laugh to himself. “And let’s not forget that I’m no angel either, I think I’m about as awkward as they come,” You sighed softly letting your head rest on his chest now.  Your heart was a glow and your spirits were so high you thought that it could reach satellites. Everything felt perfect, for a moment you expected credits to roll.

“So,” Peter said drawing you out of your thoughts. “How do you feel about Thai?” He said wrapping one arm around you as you walked together down the hall. You felt your hand touch his as you looked up at him. “I think that sounds good,” You smiled. Ned and Eve passed you both by casually as you walked and exchanged knowing glances. They gave each other high fives before calling out to you.

“Hey, Romeo and Juliet!!” Eve snorted nudging Ned’s side. “Get a room you too!” Ned smirked.

You couldn’t help but smile. You looked down at the letter in your other hand again blushing slightly. “Hey, Peter?”

“Hmm?”

“Did my letters make you this flustered?” You asked still showing him the letter.  Peter laughed loudly having to stop mid-walk altogether in order to compose himself again. He turned to you his cheeks rosy from laughter and his feelings for you.

“Y/N, you have no idea,”

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

Operation Juliet Tag

@littlevelvethearts @yourwonderbelle @dust-finatic @hawaiiantozier @awesomefandomsunited @potato384 @fandoms-in-my-tea @drowning-in-the-stars13 @angry-kylo @i-heart-movies @tonystarkshat @54fangirl @skeletalwolfcat @just-saying-26 @pan-tarou-amami @theatregeek217 @wisestark @mxrvel-imxgines-blog @wukindly @bitchstolemynutellaus   @avengingly @metermarker @plethoraofpuppies @angie1djonasgg @spookydragonprincess @dark-night-sky-99 @gabbygurrl @angel-in-the-roses @the-silver-iris @person-without-a-life @spiderboyx @dontstopxx @avengingly

Permanent Tag

@memyselfandmaddox  @fangirlftshipper @two-eleven-thirty-four@the-fifth-marauder-paws @shieldgirl95 @lostnliterature@elsasshole@governmentducks @lupe-55@drinkingteandfangirling@sighspidey@laurfangirl424 @iwouldtakeascootertotheankle@sharingfanfictionandart @lara-ludbey @shutupyoumewlingquim @aspiring-author14@marvelswebdesigner @an-earthly-comfort@ellaisbutteredtoast@flaminghottaquito @american-cactus@ouatandsupernatural@spideypoolltrash @embrace-themagic@wantyoubackyoungblood @spiderdudeparker @thumper-darling@multi-parker @shakespeare-and-shenanigans

Discount Avengers Tag

@magic-marvel @sunflowerannawrites @peter-prkers@greekdemigodwannabe @secondsineternity@sadicallyrad@holland-haven @highlady-ofthe-summercourt@meoodle @who-the-buck-is-stucky @e-ms-world @hedwigthelegend @lucky-charms-writes

[richiefuckfacetozier]

reddie prompt! eddie gets cast as the lead in a school play and he has to kiss the main female, richie gets so jealous he does everything in his power to join the cast too and ruin the play

I’ve used this prompt to make a second chapter in my Reddie fic! So bless your heart anon! Head over to Archive of our Own and leave reviews! Or reblog! I love both.

Chapter 2: Here I Go Again by Whitesnake 

Story: It’s Not My Fault

For other chapters - | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |

Richie was holding his stomach cracking up, “Romeo and Juliet?! You can’t be fucking serious.”

Eddie’s cheeks went bright red. He knew the guys were going to make fun of him the minute they found out about the school play. “Listen, I’m doing shit in AP English and Mrs. Lane told me that if I tried out for the school play, she would give me extra credit. They needed more guys!”

“Of course they needed guys. No one wants to be in that stupid play written by an old dead guy.” Stan cracked up.

Eddie punched Stan in the arm, “All you do is read a book by an old dead guy, Stan. Who do you think wrote the fucking Torah?”

“Who did write the torah?” Richie asked genuinely.  

Stan scoffed at him punching his shoulder, “Shut up, Richie.”

Bill stepped in between them before they started roughhousing, “I’m s-s-sure you’ll be awesome E-e-e-edie.”

“I hate it when you stutter my name, Bill. You sound like Elmer Fudd.” Eddie said in frustration. Then he lightened up, “But thank you, Bill. I doubt it will be a big part. I am the smallest guy in this fucking school.”

“That’s not true. There are some freshman shorter than you.” Stanley laughed.

“I will murder you,” Eddie mumbled.

“Hey everyone! What’s shaking?” Mike came over with Beverly a couple steps behind him.

“Damn Mike,” She huffed out, “You are getting so tall. I can barely keep up with your strides. How’s it going, guys?”

Richie popped up next to Eddie quickly putting his arm around the boy’s shoulders, “Eds is trying out for the school play. I bet you’ll be cast as Juliet since you’re the cutest in the school.” Richie pinched Eddie’s cheek and Eddie smacked his hand away. Eddie did not want to be a lead character where he would have to kiss someone. The only person he wanted to kiss was Richie, but they hadn’t done anything for weeks now. The kiss in the closet felt like years ago.

Beverly frowned at Richie, “Then I can play Romeo because I tried out too.”

“What?!” They all collectively said.

“You did? You mean I won’t have to suffer this torture alone?!” Eddie said euphoric. He squirmed out of Richie’s grasp and grabbed Beverly’s hands gratefully, “Thank fuck. I was really worried the next couple weeks were going to suck.”

Beverly gave him a bright smile and kissed Eddie on the cheek. Eddie felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He felt compelled to look at Richie who had a weird expression on his face like he had been hit by a truck or something.

“What? Eddie’s the only one who gets a kiss on the cheek?” Richie pointed to his cheek stupidly. This made Eddie more annoyed. Richie can’t be serious for one second.

“You haven’t earned it,” Beverly smirked, poking Richie’s cheek hard.

“Bev! Beverly!” Ben came bounding over trying to catch his breath from running. “They…posted…they posted…” He took a deep breath, “They posted the cast list!”

“Oh no, not you to Haystack!” Richie threw up his hands. “I can’t believe almost half the group decided to become actors. Don’t forget us when you are rich and famous.”

“Please Richie, you’re the most dramatic one of all of us,” Stanley said shoving him.

“You’re right Stan the man. I will become rich and famous and forget you all!” Richie put an arm around Eddie’s shoulders again and steered him toward the cast list. “Except you Eds. You’ll live in my mansion and we will have a huge arcade room and eat our weight in candy.”

Eddie’s face flushed, “Don’t call me Eds!” The thought of living together made his stomach flutter.

The seven of them got to the list, which was crowded with other students looking at it. Eddie somehow ended up at the back and could not see over the other heads.

“I can’t fucking BELIEVE they gave Juliet to that slut!” Grete pushed her way through the gathered students. When she saw Beverly, the beast of a girl rounded on her in full rage. “Congratulations. I guess you can cross Eddie Kaspbrak off your list of people you fuck. Although, he’s probably already been there since you hang out with all these losers all the time.”

Grete slammed her shoulder into Beverly, who lost her footing and almost fell. Bill caught her before she fell, “Are y-y-you okay, B-B-Beverly?”

“Fine,” Beverly straightened herself out, eyes downcast. “Thanks, Bill.” She added quietly.

“Well, look on the Brightside. This means you’re Juliet!” Mike said sweetly putting his hand on Beverly’s arm reassuringly.

“Oh god…but that means I am…” Eddie shoved his way to the front and scanned the list. His eyes did not have to go too far.

ROMEO………………….EDDIE KASPBRAK

“Fuck me!” Eddie cried.

“Thanks a lot, Eddie” Beverly laughed.

“Oh no, no. You are great Bev. I just…Romeo. So many lines. I was hoping one of the fathers or the smallest role possible. Not the LEAD.” His breathing became staggered from the stress. He tapped his chest trying to keep the panic at bay. “What the hell am I going to do?”

He looked at the group.

“Quit?” Ben asked hopefully.

“We all know you wanted the role, Ben, try to be more subtle.” Mike bumped Ben jokingly.

“Ask for another role?” Stan suggested.

“It’s j-j-just a play,” Bill remarked.

“Hey! We had our first kiss in a play.” Beverly said mocked hurt.

“All of your suggestions are so weak…wait…it’s too calm and chill right now. Where’s trashmouth?” Eddie looked around and spotted Richie talking to Mrs. Lane. They all wandered a little closer to hear the conversation.

“I’ll play any part! Any at all! Or crew? I’ll work the crew. Please, Mrs. Lane!” Richie practically shouted.

“You should have come to the audition, Mr. Tozier.” Mrs. Lane would not even look at Richie. Eddie covered his mouth to hold back laughs.

“I will do anything!” Richie said desperately. Eddie stopped laughing and just stared at Richie. The boy was not kidding around, he was completely serious.

“Fine! You can be in the ensemble. Now stop bothering me.” Mrs. Lane hurried away so as not to be troubled by any more kids.

“Welcome to the cast, Mr. Tozier!” Beverly lightly punched Richie’s shoulder.

“But why – ” Eddie began.

“I had a change of heart. Now the actors outnumber the Losers Club members.” Richie put his hands casually in his pockets and strolled off to class. Eddie watched him go suspiciously.

*

Week 1 of Rehearsals:

Rehearsals got off to a rocky start. Eddie had a feeling he knew who the saboteur was but could not prove it.

It all started with his script. He lost it the first day, then asked Mrs. Lane for an extra. She told him he was killing trees and to not lose this copy. Then, after he took the time to highlight every line he said, he made the mistake of leaving it in the green room. When he came back, it was on the highest shelf, impossible to get to.

“Who the fuck put it up there?”

“Probably the theatre ghost.” Richie came up from behind putting his elbow on Eddie’s shoulder.

“What are you talking about dipshit?”

Richie lowered his face to Eddie’s ear and whispered, “Didn’t you hear? There used to be a nun that worked here and she died in this very theatre. So whenever people put on shows, she plays pranks on them.”

“Does she now?” Eddie said skeptically, crossing his arms. He was very aware of how his skin was tingling when Richie leaned or touched him in any way. The whispering in his ear gave him goosebumps. They had both been in such a weird place lately, well mostly Eddie was annoyed with Richie, that being this casual once more felt unnatural.  “Well, if I cannot get to my script, I will have to borrow yours.”

Eddie snatched the script from Richie’s other hand and walked off toward rehearsal. That night, he did his best to memorize as much as possible before he lost another script to this ‘ghost’.

*

Week 2 of Rehearsals:

Eddie grabbed his throat pretending to gag, “O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”

Eddie hesitated, looking at Beverly’s still face helplessly. He glanced around the stage getting more nervous by the second. The hesitation was turning into a really awkward pause but he could not bring himself to kiss her.

“Eddie! For the last time, KISS HER!” Mrs. Lane yelled, throwing her script vigorously.

“I know! I know! But every time I go in for the kiss, the theatre ghost does something.” He put out his fingers to list off the incidents, “First, a light almost fell on my head. Second, the poison had lemon juice in it and let me tell you, swallowing that much lemon juice at once would give anyone a coughing attack and need to take a break. Third, my costume was covered in peanut butter and jelly. I feel like the ghost is trying to make me their next picnic meal!”

“Eddie, we have to get through this. We have not finished the show ONCE and we open next week.” Mrs. Lane sat heavily in a theatre seat throwing some aspirin in her mouth dry swallowing.

“Fine.” Eddie looked at Beverly who winked before closing her eyes.

“O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” Eddie leaned forward hoping to get the kiss over with fast before anything happened. Suddenly a loud bell rang out indicating the fire alarm had been pulled. He heard the ominous sound of the sprinklers starting. “Oh shit!”

All the kids started screaming and ran out of the auditorium. Eddie helped Beverly up and spotted Richie coming over to them. He was wiping his hand with a cloth but quickly hid it before Eddie could ask what happened.

While they were outside waiting to be let inside, Eddie noticed a spot on the sleeve of Richie’s sweater. Eddie grabbed his wrist.

“What the fuck man!” Richie protested snatching his hand back.

Eddie glared at the taller boy but didn’t say anything. It looked like ink from when you pull a fire alarm.

*

Opening Night:

Eddie was pacing backstage quietly murmuring his lines. There were so many to remember that he was sure he would freeze up and not be able to go on. Beverly came out looking beautiful in her first dress.

“Are you ready?! I am so excited. Bill came early and saved seats for him, Mike, and Stan in the front row.” She was jumping up and down.

Eddie’s face paled. It was starting to get very real, “I’m going to throw up.” He whispered.

She put a hand on his head and turned him to face her, “You’re going to be great.”

“We haven’t even practiced our kiss! What if it all goes to shit?” He took deep, staggering breathes.

“Don’t worry. We got this. I’m an expert now.” Beverly gave Eddie a quick hug then went to find Ben and Richie to wish them luck or ‘Break a leg’ as Mrs. Lane kept telling them to say. Why would he want to break his leg? Stupid theatre terms.

“Hey pal, you ready?” Eddie jumped at the sound of Richie’s voice, which made Richie laugh. Eddie quickly turned away from him; he refused to engage with him.

“What’s up with you?” Richie said kind of hurt.

“You are what’s up with me,” Eddie growled.

“What did I –”

Eddie cut him off immediately, “Richie, why do you keep sabotaging the show?!”

“I’m not –”

Eddie got right up in Richie’s face, “You are and I want to know why.”

“I’m just having a little fun…”

“It is not fun. I have been learning these lines, stupid fucking blocking, not to mention doing blocking while I say stupid lines, and so has the rest of the cast! If you do anything tonight, I swear I am gonna kill you.” Eddie raised his fist up as threateningly as he could be when he was so much smaller than Richie.

“I…I…” Richie looked so guilty and nervous.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!” Eddie yelled. Someone nearby shushed him.

Richie took Eddie by the wrist and led him to a secluded area, “Because I don’t want you to kiss Beverly!” He whispered harshly.

Eddie yanked his arm away looking at him incredulously, “Who cares? It’s just a kiss.”

Richie’s eyes flashed, “Yeah, but what if you realize you are in love with her and you guys get together and then I’ll never see you anymore and…and…” Richie said this at lightning speed.

“Rich…” Eddie watched his best friend astonished.

“I know I sound crazy. I just don’t want you guys to kiss.” He said barely audible. “We kissed and it fucking meant something to me, even if it clearly didn’t to you.”

Eddie moved closer to Richie and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. He applied some pressure there before watching his hand slide up to the side of Richie’s head as if controlled by someone else. His hand cupped the boy’s round face and he ran his thumb over Richie’s cheek slowly. Richie leaned his face into the touch, cheeks going pink, and gazed into Eddie’s eyes. Neither was sure who initiated the kiss but their lips bumped together.

Richie tilted his head to gain better access, his glasses jamming into the bridge of his nose from the interaction. Eddie let both his hands reach back and lock behind Richie’s neck. Richie could not control his thrill; he wrapped his arms around Eddie’s waist and lifted the boy off the ground spinning them. Eddie squealed into Richie’s lips with surprise but smiled at his ridiculousness.

They pulled apart but kept holding onto each other. “It meant something to me too, ya idiot.”

“Thank fuck,” Richie responded breathlessly.

“Now, can I go on and do this stupid show without you messing everything up?” Eddie looked at him warningly. “I’ll kiss you before and after my scene with Beverly. It’ll be good practice since you made it impossible for me to get it right with her.”

Richie returned the smile, “Yes…I just need to pour out the poison, replace the dagger, and fix one of the legs of the tomb.” Richie ran away.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Eddie stormed after him.

[tvd-steroline-forever]

Bughead Prompt 1

Anonymous said: Hey! Could you do a Bughead fic where Betty gets hurt somehow and Jughead comforts her and fixes her up?? Thanks!

“Throw her up higher!” Cheryl screamed towards the cheerleaders as she watched from a few feet away. “She needs to go higher!”

 “We can only throw a human so high, Cheryl!” Veronica hissed, as she and Ginger Lopez tossed Betty into the air.

 “Maybe if she was a bit lighter you’d be able to toss her higher, hmm?” Cheryl questioned, with a triumphant smirk forming on her lips. “Maybe if you cut back on the milkshakes you’d be able to go higher, Betty! I didn’t know Jughead was into big girls.”

 Veronica growled, as Betty just looked down at her shoes. “Excuse you?”

 ---------

 Jughead, Archie, and Kevin sat way up on the bleachers watching as their 2 close friends were tortured by the devil herself.

 “Why does Cheryl have to be such a bitch? I can’t even hear her and I can tell she’s being nasty.” Kevin asked, more to himself, as he lazily flipped through a magazine. “She’s so pretty, but that personality would scare even Satan away.”

 “Girls like Cheryl Blossom are only truly happy when everyone around them is miserable. It’s a shame. Because, we all know she wasn’t always like this. Riverdale has changed, and most of the people went with it. And, not for the better.” Jughead shook his head, thinking back to the good old days.

 “But, you also weren’t dating Betty Cooper before Riverdale changed ‘not for the better’.” Archie commented, breaking his thoughts. “And, I wasn’t with Ronnie. Sure, things have changed, but we’ve for the most part stayed true to ourselves. Right?” He added, hoping Jughead didn’t think they had ALL changed for the worst.

 “Our friend group has basically stayed the same.” Jughead agreed. Catching a wave from his girlfriend, he smiled and looked down at his laptop. “We’ve all changed a bit, but nothing to drastic. And, you’re right. I wasn’t with Betty then, but even if Riverdale hadn’t gone bad, we would have found each other.”

 “You are whipped, boy.”Jughead shrugged as Kevin chuckled. “I came out. That’s the only thing that changed about me.” Both Archie a Jughead laughed at that. “Betty has always been an angel, and well V hasn’t be around too long, so she doesn’t count. She’s not an OG.”

 “Why are they throwing Betty so high?” Jughead asked, at that moment he was too busy watching his girlfriends body get tossed into the sky to keep the conversation about the town going.

 They would have to continue that another time.

 ---------------

 “HIGHER!” Cheryl screamed for the 50th time. “I said higher! We aren’t going to win regionals with a chubby blonde going 5 inches in the air.”

 “Okay, that’s enough.” Veronica had finally had enough. They caught Betty, and placed her down. “Take 5 ladies.”

 “Take 2 ladies!” Cheryl cut in, smirking towards the girls, as they groaned and walked to their water bottles.

 “I’m not even that heavy Cheryl. And, if it’s such a problem, find someone else to do it. I’m more than happy with both of my feet staying on the ground.” Betty finally spoke up. Her arms coming around to cover her stomach, and her bottom lip being sucked into her mouth when she finished speaking.

 “You are being such a bitch!” Veronica screamed loud enough for even the boys in the bleachers to hear. “And, I will not stand for this. We’ll throw her as high as we can, and as safely as we can. That’s that! No more screaming ‘higher’ and no more calling my best friend names.”

 “V… its okay. I’m fine.” Betty cut in, putting her hand on Veronica’s arm, hoping that would calm her down. “You guys can throw me a little higher.”

 Cheryl clapped her hands together, a large grin covering her face. “Oh, Betty! You always have been such a doll.” Before Betty could back away, Cheryl had grabbed her face, and kissed her hard on the cheek. Leaving a huge outline of her lips on Betty’s face.

 -------------  

 “Looks like someone has got some competition!” Reggie called towards Jughead from the field, jerking his head in the direction of the girls. Causing Jughead to raise his middle finger in the air.

 “Why does it look like the girls are preparing for a big stunt?” Kevin asked as he was watching all the girls move in close to where Betty was being thrown.

 “Why do people even like Reggie?” Jughead glared towards Archie. “The guy is an ape. He walks around with his shirts too tight, and his mouth too loose. What is appealing about that?”

 Archie burst into a fit of laughter. “I’m serious guys… Betty looks nervous.” Kevin said, worry lacing his voice.

 Jughead turned his attention quickly to the direction of Betty. “They wouldn’t… would they?”

 “Wouldn’t what?” Archie asked, confused.

 Jughead didn’t respond, he just took off down the bleachers, with Kevin following behind. “WOULDN’T WHAT?” Archie called after them. “I’m always the last to know everything.” He sighed, getting up and following them down to the field.

 -----------------  

 “Okay, ready?” Cheryl asked, making sure they were prepared for what was about to happen. “Just make sure you catch her! Please.”

 Betty gulped, and grabbed Veronica’s hand harder than normal. “B, don’t worry! I got you. I’d never let you fall. Promise!”

 “I know… but, with my luck…” Betty began, but was cut off.

 “Psh, please. You’re luck? You have an amazing boyfriend up in those stands watching and cheering you on. You’re very lucky. Seriously, don’t worry girl! I’m gonna make sure you don’t hurt not even one tiny hair on that pretty head of yours. Jug would murder me if I did!” She giggled, which eased Betty’s nerves. Even the mention of his name calmed her.

 “Juggie wouldn’t hurt a fly. He sure can look like it sometimes, but he would never. He might be the sweetest person alive.” Betty smiled, completely calmed down at the thought of her man.

 “Enough with the chit chat ladies. No one cares about Jughead Jones. So, shut your traps. We have a practice to finish.” Cheryl screamed, almost directly in their faces.

 “Bitch.” Veronica mumbled, and Betty nodded in agreement.

 ----------------------  

 “We can’t let them do this!” Jughead stated once he got to the bottom of the bleachers. “She could get seriously injured. And, I am not letting that happen.”

 “Ah, Mr. Jones! Just who I was looking for.” Came Principal Weatherbee’s voice. “I have some questions about the issue of the Blue & Gold that just came out.”

 Jug turned to face him. “Ah, Mr. Weatherbee, I’d love to chat about that but, it’ll have to wait for another time.” Jughead smile politely, trying to dodge him to get to Betty.

 “We’ll discuss it now, Mr. Jones.” Principal Weatherbee stated in a serious tone, he was normally a pretty cool guy, but clearly it was going to go the other way today.

 “Well, look… there’s Betty!” He pointed towards the girls, hoping to gage his attention towards them. “She gave me the article topics, so lets discuss it with her too.”

 “Before she’s thrown all the way up to heaven and never comes back!” Kevin’s voice cut in, a little shaky. “Holy Shit!” He cried, taking off for the field.

 Everyone turned towards the direction of the cheerleaders.

 “What in the world… I swear, I should have become a doctor.” Weatherbee immediately took off towards the girls. “Ladies! That is not acceptable. It is not allowed on school grounds. Someone is going to get hurt.”

 -------------------  

 Betty had never been thrown so high. Things were going fairly well. She wasn’t too nervous, and her eyes had been closed the whole time, just imagining the night before that she had spent with Jughead.

 That was until she heard none other than Reggie. “FORE!” breaking her out of her thoughts.

 Just as Veronica and Ginger were about to catch Betty, a football came and smashed Veronica right in the face, causing her to fall to the ground, taking Ginger down with her.

 “Betty!” Before Betty knew what was happening she had hit the ground. Hard.

 “Move! MOVE!” Before Betty could even sit up Jughead was on his knees beside her. “Baby.” He took her right hand, and placed his other on her cheek. “Are you okay?”

 “Ow.” Was all that came out.

“Baby, it’s okay! Can you move? You’re going to be fine.” Once Jughead saw that she was able to move, he slowly pulled her up.

 “Oh my God, B! I am so sorry. I promised not to drop you.” Veronica was beginning to tear up. Not just because she was hit with a football but, because she was worried Betty had gotten hurt.

 “V, please… it was just a tiny fall.” Betty smiled, and moved to stand as Jughead helped pull her up, wrapping his arm around her waist to help support her.

 “I’m going to kill him!” Cheryl screamed, talking about Reggie. “I am going to tear him a new one!” She took off screaming towards Reggie. “Fore? This isn’t golf you fucking idiot!”

 “I think she’s upset because you fell?” Kevin said, skeptically.

 “I think she’s just worried she’ll be down a girl for regionals, Kev.” Betty said, shrugging her shoulders. “Not about me.”

 “Let’s try and see if you can walk, Juliet.” Jughead smiled, guiding Betty forward. “Slowly! Let’s not make it worse.”

 As Betty put all the weight down on her feet she was fine. “I think I’m okay, Romeo!”

 Veronica squealed, and grabbed her left wrist. “YAY!”

 Betty winced, and pulled herself free from Veronica’s grip quickly. “Shit…”

 “Oh no! Your wrist…” Veronica frowned. “Betty… I am so sorry. This is all my fault.”

 Betty raised her right hand, and touched Ronnie’s cheek. “V, this isn’t anyone’s fault. It was an accident. I’ll be fine!” Veronica let a sigh of relief out. “I don’t blame you. You’re my best friend, you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose. Plus, you got hit with a football. Ouch!”

 Veronica nodded, leaning her body onto Archie. “Babe… that’s gonna be one mean black eye.” She turned towards Archie with a frown. “You’ll still be just as beautiful though.”

 “Aw, young love.” Kevin sighed happily. “What I wouldn’t give to have a man look at me the way Jughead looks at Bets. Or the way Archikins looks a Ronnie.”

 “One day, Kevvy.” Betty giggled, taking a step forward, losing her balance a bit.

 “Nope, I don’t think so, baby girl.” Jughead bent down in front of her. “Hop on.”

 “I might be too heavy…” Betty frowned, worrying she might hurt her boyfriend.

 “Too heavy? Please… have you seen my muscles lately?” He asked, flexing his arm. “I might not be Reggie strong, but I am pretty strong. I think I can handle carrying my tiny girlfriend home.”

 “I don’t need you to be Reggie… he’s basically an animal.” Betty leaned in and whispered, so the others couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t really one for name calling, but it was true. He was a beast.

 Jughead smiled wide, his hand grazing her cheek, as she leaned happily into his hand. “That’s my girl.” He turned his back to her and bent over again. “Now hop on, sweet thang. I have to take you home so we can ice that wrist up.”

 “My mom and dad still aren’t home either! So, you can stay over again.” Betty giggled as she hopped on her boyfriends back being careful not to irritate her wrist.  

 --------------  

 “I’ll be right back.” He had placed Betty on her bed, and was about to go get her some ice.

 Betty reached out before he could get far, and pulled him back to her. Hurting her wrist in the process. “Shit…” She hissed, frowning. “I can’t even surprise kiss my boyfriend without hurting myself.”

 “You want a kiss?” He tilted his head, a huge grin dancing across his face. “Well, I can help you with that. All you had to do was ask, babe.” Jughead leaned down, kissing her softly on the lips.

 She sighed happily the minute their mouths connected. Wrapping her good arm around his neck, pulling him in closer to deepen the kiss.

 His hand cupped her cheek, as she leaned further into his body, getting caught up in the kiss she had forgotten about her wrist, so she wrapped her other arm around his neck, causing a pain to shoot up her arm. “Ugh!” She groaned, pulling away a tiny bit, resting her forehead against his.

 “It’ll be okay, Bets.” She sighed, nodding her head, and exhaling. “I’ll be right back. You really need to ice that wrist.”

 “For how long? My arm will get tired of holding a bag of carrots against my wrist.” She frowned, her big eyes looking up into his.

 “How about this…” Jug got on his knees in front of her, caressing her cheek. “You read me some of those adorable diary entries about how much you like me, and I’ll hold the frozen carrots on your wrist. Do we have a deal?”

 “Juggie!” Betty giggled, placing a light kiss on his lips, before pulling away. “We have a deal.”

 “Oh, I can’t wait to hear about how dreamy I am!” He glanced over his shoulder with a smirk once he got to the door. “Dear Diary, I like Jughead so much. He’s such a good kisser, and an even better writer. Don’t even get me started on how strong he is.” He began in a girly voice.

 Betty burst into fits of giggles, before tossing one of her décor pillows at him. “You! I don’t even talk like that, Juggie!”

 “I’ll be right back, angel. Try not to hurt that beautiful wrist of yours.” And, just like that he had disappeared down the steps.

 Grabbing her diary off her nightstand, she began going through and picking the best entries to read him. “First kiss, first date, first fight, realizing that it was true love…” She continued to pick until she had 10 entries to read him.

  5 minutes later he was back. “No carrots babe, so I hope peas are okay!” He chuckled crawling up to lay next to her on the bed. “How’s the wrist?”

 “Sore.” She frowned, holding it to her chest. “It’ll be okay though.”

 “Doctor Jones is here to make sure of it!” He lightly took her wrist, leaving a light kiss on it and then gently placing it in his lap. “I can’t wait to hear about how much you like me.” She smiled up at him. “Get reading!” He placed the bag of peas on her sore wrist.

 She sighed at the feeling of the frozen peas on her wrist. “That’s good. I think it’s just a little sprain or something.”

 “It may just be sore, baby. If it still hurts tomorrow we’ll have to go to the doctors. And, call your parents.” Betty groaned, letting her head fall to his shoulder. “I know, doesn’t sound too pleasant, but we’ll just have to wait and see! It could be fine. Only time will tell, Bets.” She nodded. “Now, no more stalling!”

 “Love.” She said after a minute of silence.

 “What?” Jughead asked, his eyes drifting to hers.

 “You said you couldn’t wait to hear about how much I like you.” Jughead tilted his head in confusion. “I don’t like you.”

 Jugheads eyebrows furrowed. “What….?”

 “I don’t like you, Juggie. I love you.” He inhaled deeply. “I’m in love with you.”

 Jughead smiled, linking his fingers through hers. “I love you too, baby.”

 “Say it again.” She sighed happily, closing her eyes.

 “I love you. Watching you fall today… it scared the shit out of me. My life with you flashed before my eyes. Knowing that I want a whole life with you. Forever.  I was going to tell you tonight. I wanted to be the first to say it. But, like always you’re a few steps ahead of me.” Betty giggled, biting her bottom lip. “If only it could have been your ankle…” he teased.

 She fake gasped. “Jughead Jones!” He laughed. “I love you, Jug.”

 “I love you too, Betty. So much.” She sighed happily, connecting her lips with his. He responded immediately, only to pull away a few seconds later. “Ah, ah, ah! We have a deal. Get reading, baby.”

 Betty rolled her eyes, and opened her diary. “No teasing!”

 He placed a hand on his heart. “I would never tease the woman I love.” He kissed her cheek, and got comfortable.

 “Dear Diary….” Betty spent the night reading all her deep, dark, sweet feelings to the man she loved, and he didn’t laugh, or judge. If anything it just made him fall even deeper in love with her.

[tvd-steroline-forever]

Hey! Could you do a Bughead fic where Betty gets hurt somehow and Jughead comforts her and fixes her up?? Thanks!

So, this is my first Bughead prompt. I hope its what you were looking for. I’m sorry its so long. I just start and can't stop. Anyway, enjoy! Send some more! And, let me know if you like it! I could always use some feedback. 

“Throw her up higher!” Cheryl screamed towards the cheerleadersas she watched from a few feet away. “She needs to go higher!”

“We can only throw a human so high, Cheryl!” Veronica hissed, asshe and Ginger Lopez tossed Betty into the air.

“Maybe if she was a bit lighter you’d be able to toss herhigher, hmm?” Cheryl questioned, with a triumphant smirk forming on her lips.“Maybe if you cut back on the milkshakes you’d be able to go higher, Betty! Ididn’t know Jughead was into big girls.”

Veronica growled, as Betty just looked down at her shoes.“Excuse you?”

 ---------

Jughead, Archie, and Kevin sat way up on the bleachers watchingas their 2 close friends were tortured by the devil herself.

“Why does Cheryl have to be such a bitch? I can’t even hear herand I can tell she’s being nasty.” Kevin asked, more to himself, as he lazilyflipped through a magazine. “She’s so pretty, but that personality would scareeven Satan away.”

“Girls like Cheryl Blossom are only truly happy when everyonearound them is miserable. It’s a shame. Because, we all know she wasn’t alwayslike this. Riverdale has changed, and most of the people went with it. And, notfor the better.” Jughead shook his head, thinking back to the good old days.

“But, you also weren’t dating Betty Cooper before Riverdalechanged ‘not for the better’.” Archie commented, breaking his thoughts. “And, Iwasn’t with Ronnie. Sure, things have changed, but we’ve for the most partstayed true to ourselves. Right?” He added, hoping Jughead didn’t think theyhad ALL changed for the worst.

“Our friend group has basically stayed the same.” Jugheadagreed. Catching a wave from his girlfriend, he smiled and looked down at hislaptop. “We’ve all changed a bit, but nothing to drastic. And, you’re right. Iwasn’t with Betty then, but even if Riverdale hadn’t gone bad, we would havefound each other.”

“You are whipped, boy.”Jughead shrugged as Kevin chuckled. “Icame out. That’s the only thing that changed about me.” Both Archie a Jugheadlaughed at that. “Betty has always been an angel, and well V hasn’t be aroundtoo long, so she doesn’t count. She’s not an OG.”

“Why are they throwing Betty so high?” Jughead asked, at thatmoment he was too busy watching his girlfriends body get tossed into the sky tokeep the conversation about the town going.

They would have to continue that another time.

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

“HIGHER!” Cheryl screamed for the 50th time. “I saidhigher! We aren’t going to win regionals with a chubby blonde going 5 inches inthe air.”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Veronica had finally had enough. Theycaught Betty, and placed her down. “Take 5 ladies.”

“Take 2 ladies!” Cheryl cut in, smirking towards the girls, asthey groaned and walked to their water bottles.

“I’m not even that heavy Cheryl. And, if it’s such a problem,find someone else to do it. I’m more than happy with both of my feet staying onthe ground.” Betty finally spoke up. Her arms coming around to cover herstomach, and her bottom lip being sucked into her mouth when she finishedspeaking.

“You are being such a bitch!” Veronica screamed loud enough foreven the boys in the bleachers to hear. “And, I will not stand for this. We’llthrow her as high as we can, and as safely as we can. That’s that! No morescreaming ‘higher’ and no more calling my best friend names.”

“V… its okay. I’m fine.” Betty cut in, putting her hand onVeronica’s arm, hoping that would calm her down. “You guys can throw me alittle higher.”

Cheryl clapped her hands together, a large grin covering herface. “Oh, Betty! You always have been such a doll.” Before Betty could backaway, Cheryl had grabbed her face, and kissed her hard on the cheek. Leaving ahuge outline of her lips on Betty’s face.

-------------  

“Looks like someone has got some competition!” Reggie calledtowards Jughead from the field, jerking his head in the direction of the girls.Causing Jughead to raise his middle finger in the air.

“Why does it look like the girls are preparing for a big stunt?”Kevin asked as he was watching all the girls move in close to where Betty wasbeing thrown.

“Whydo people even like Reggie?” Jughead glared towards Archie. “The guy is an ape.He walks around with his shirts too tight, and his mouth too loose. What isappealing about that?”

Archieburst into a fit of laughter. “I’m serious guys… Betty looks nervous.” Kevinsaid, worry lacing his voice.

Jugheadturned his attention quickly to the direction of Betty. “They wouldn’t… wouldthey?”

“Wouldn’twhat?” Archie asked, confused.

Jugheaddidn’t respond, he just took off down the bleachers, with Kevin followingbehind. “WOULDN’T WHAT?” Archie called after them. “I’m always the last to knoweverything.” He sighed, getting up and following them down to the field.

 -----------------  

“Okay,ready?” Cheryl asked, making sure they were prepared for what was about tohappen. “Just make sure you catch her! Please.”

Bettygulped, and grabbed Veronica’s hand harder than normal. “B, don’t worry! I gotyou. I’d never let you fall. Promise!”

“Iknow… but, with my luck…” Betty began, but was cut off.

“Psh,please. You’re luck? You have an amazing boyfriend up in those stands watchingand cheering you on. You’re very lucky. Seriously, don’t worry girl! I’m gonnamake sure you don’t hurt not even one tiny hair on that pretty head of yours.Jug would murder me if I did!” She giggled, which eased Betty’s nerves. Eventhe mention of his name calmed her.

“Juggiewouldn’t hurt a fly. He sure can look like it sometimes, but he would never. Hemight be the sweetest person alive.” Betty smiled, completely calmed down atthe thought of her man.

“Enoughwith the chit chat ladies. No one cares about Jughead Jones. So, shut yourtraps. We have a practice to finish.” Cheryl screamed, almost directly in theirfaces.

 “Bitch.”Veronica mumbled, and Betty nodded in agreement.

 ----------------------  

“Wecan’t let them do this!” Jughead stated once he got to the bottom of thebleachers. “She could get seriously injured. And, I am not letting that happen.”

“Ah,Mr. Jones! Just who I was looking for.” Came Principal Weatherbee’s voice. “Ihave some questions about the issue of the Blue & Gold that just came out.”

Jugturned to face him. “Ah, Mr. Weatherbee, I’d love to chat about that but, it’llhave to wait for another time.” Jughead smile politely, trying to dodge him toget to Betty.

“We’lldiscuss it now, Mr. Jones.” Principal Weatherbee stated in a serious tone, hewas normally a pretty cool guy, but clearly it was going to go the other waytoday.

“Well,look… there’s Betty!” He pointed towards the girls, hoping to gage hisattention towards them. “She gave me the article topics, so lets discuss it withher too.”

“Beforeshe’s thrown all the way up to heaven and never comes back!” Kevin’s voice cutin, a little shaky. “Holy Shit!” He cried, taking off for the field.

Everyoneturned towards the direction of the cheerleaders.

“Whatin the world… I swear, I should have become a doctor.” Weatherbee immediatelytook off towards the girls. “Ladies! That is not acceptable. It is not allowedon school grounds. Someone is going to get hurt.”

-------------------  

Bettyhad never been thrown so high. Things were going fairly well. She wasn’t toonervous, and her eyes had been closed the whole time, just imagining the nightbefore that she had spent with Jughead.

Thatwas until she heard none other than Reggie. “FORE!” breaking her out of herthoughts.

Justas Veronica and Ginger were about to catch Betty, a football came and smashedVeronica right in the face, causing her to fall to the ground, taking Gingerdown with her.

“Betty!”Before Betty knew what was happening she had hit the ground. Hard.

“Move!MOVE!” Before Betty could even sit up Jughead was on his knees beside her.“Baby.” He took her right hand, and placed his other on her cheek. “Are youokay?”

“Ow.”Was all that came out. 

“Baby,it’s okay! Can you move? You’re going to be fine.” Once Jughead saw that shewas able to move, he slowly pulled her up.

“Ohmy God, B! I am so sorry. I promised not to drop you.” Veronica was beginningto tear up. Not just because she was hit with a football but, because she wasworried Betty had gotten hurt.

“V,please… it was just a tiny fall.” Betty smiled, and moved to stand as Jugheadhelped pull her up, wrapping his arm around her waist to help support her.

“I’mgoing to kill him!” Cheryl screamed, talking about Reggie. “I am going to tearhim a new one!” She took off screaming towards Reggie. “Fore? This isn’t golfyou fucking idiot!”

“Ithink she’s upset because you fell?” Kevin said, skeptically.

“Ithink she’s just worried she’ll be down a girl for regionals, Kev.” Betty said,shrugging her shoulders. “Not about me.”

“Let’stry and see if you can walk, Juliet.” Jughead smiled, guiding Betty forward.“Slowly! Let’s not make it worse.”

AsBetty put all the weight down on her feet she was fine. “I think I’m okay,Romeo!”

Veronicasquealed, and grabbed her left wrist. “YAY!”

Bettywinced, and pulled herself free from Veronica’s grip quickly. “Shit…”

“Ohno! Your wrist…” Veronica frowned. “Betty… I am so sorry. This is all myfault.”

Bettyraised her right hand, and touched Ronnie’s cheek. “V, this isn’t anyone’sfault. It was an accident. I’ll be fine!” Veronica let a sigh of relief out. “Idon’t blame you. You’re my best friend, you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose. Plus,you got hit with a football. Ouch!”

Veronicanodded, leaning her body onto Archie. “Babe… that’s gonna be one mean blackeye.” She turned towards Archie with a frown. “You’ll still be just asbeautiful though.”

“Aw,young love.” Kevin sighed happily. “What I wouldn’t give to have a man look atme the way Jughead looks at Bets. Or the way Archikins looks a Ronnie.”

“Oneday, Kevvy.” Betty giggled, taking a step forward, losing her balance a bit.

“Nope,I don’t think so, baby girl.” Jughead bent down in front of her. “Hop on.” 

“Imight be too heavy…” Betty frowned, worrying she might hurt her boyfriend.

“Tooheavy? Please… have you seen my muscles lately?” He asked, flexing his arm. “Imight not be Reggie strong, but I am pretty strong. I think I can handlecarrying my tiny girlfriend home.”

“Idon’t need you to be Reggie… he’s basically an animal.” Betty leaned in andwhispered, so the others couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t really one for namecalling, but it was true. He was a beast.

Jugheadsmiled wide, his hand grazing her cheek, as she leaned happily into his hand.“That’s my girl.” He turned his back to her and bent over again. “Now hop on,sweet thang. I have to take you home so we can ice that wrist up.”

“Mymom and dad still aren’t home either! So, you can stay over again.” Bettygiggled as she hopped on her boyfriends back being careful not to irritate herwrist.  

--------------  

“I’llbe right back.” He had placed Betty on her bed, and was about to go get hersome ice.

Bettyreached out before he could get far, and pulled him back to her. Hurting herwrist in the process. “Shit…” She hissed, frowning. “I can’t even surprise kissmy boyfriend without hurting myself.”

“Youwant a kiss?” He tilted his head, a huge grin dancing across his face. “Well, Ican help you with that. All you had to do was ask, babe.” Jughead leaned down,kissing her softly on the lips.

Shesighed happily the minute their mouths connected. Wrapping her good arm aroundhis neck, pulling him in closer to deepen the kiss.

Hishand cupped her cheek, as she leaned further into his body, getting caught upin the kiss she had forgotten about her wrist, so she wrapped her other armaround his neck, causing a pain to shoot up her arm. “Ugh!” She groaned,pulling away a tiny bit, resting her forehead against his.

“It’llbe okay, Bets.” She sighed, nodding her head, and exhaling. “I’ll be rightback. You really need to ice that wrist.”

“Forhow long? My arm will get tired of holding a bag of carrots against my wrist.”She frowned, her big eyes looking up into his.

“Howabout this…” Jug got on his knees in front of her, caressing her cheek. “Youread me some of those adorable diary entries about how much you like me, andI’ll hold the frozen carrots on your wrist. Do we have a deal?”

“Juggie!”Betty giggled, placing a light kiss on his lips, before pulling away. “We havea deal.”

“Oh,I can’t wait to hear about how dreamy I am!” He glanced over his shoulder witha smirk once he got to the door. “Dear Diary, I like Jughead so much. He’s sucha good kisser, and an even better writer. Don’t even get me started on howstrong he is.” He began in a girly voice.

Bettyburst into fits of giggles, before tossing one of her décor pillows at him.“You! I don’t even talk like that, Juggie!”

“I’llbe right back, angel. Try not to hurt that beautiful wrist of yours.” And, justlike that he had disappeared down the steps.

Grabbingher diary off her nightstand, she began going through and picking the bestentries to read him. “First kiss, first date, first fight, realizing that itwas true love…” She continued to pick until she had 10 entries to read him.

5 minutes later he was back. “No carrots babe,so I hope peas are okay!” He chuckled crawling up to lay next to her on thebed. “How’s the wrist?”

“Sore.”She frowned, holding it to her chest. “It’ll be okay though.”

“DoctorJones is here to make sure of it!” He lightly took her wrist, leaving a lightkiss on it and then gently placing it in his lap. “I can’t wait to hear abouthow much you like me.” She smiled up at him. “Get reading!” He placed the bagof peas on her sore wrist.

Shesighed at the feeling of the frozen peas on her wrist. “That’s good. I thinkit’s just a little sprain or something.”

“Itmay just be sore, baby. If it still hurts tomorrow we’ll have to go to thedoctors. And, call your parents.” Betty groaned, letting her head fall to hisshoulder. “I know, doesn’t sound too pleasant, but we’ll just have to wait andsee! It could be fine. Only time will tell, Bets.” She nodded. “Now, no morestalling!”

“Love.”She said after a minute of silence.

“What?”Jughead asked, his eyes drifting to hers.

“Yousaid you couldn’t wait to hear about how much I like you.” Jughead tilted hishead in confusion. “I don’t like you.”

Jugheadseyebrows furrowed. “What….?”

“Idon’t like you, Juggie. I love you.” He inhaled deeply. “I’m in love with you.”

Jugheadsmiled, linking his fingers through hers. “I love you too, baby.”

“Sayit again.” She sighed happily, closing her eyes.

“Ilove you. Watching you fall today… it scared the shit out of me. My life withyou flashed before my eyes. Knowing that I want a whole life with you.Forever.  I was going to tell youtonight. I wanted to be the first to say it. But, like always you’re a fewsteps ahead of me.” Betty giggled, biting her bottom lip. “If only it couldhave been your ankle…” he teased.

Shefake gasped. “Jughead Jones!” He laughed. “I love you, Jug.”

“Ilove you too, Betty. So much.” She sighed happily, connecting her lips withhis. He responded immediately, only to pull away a few seconds later. “Ah, ah,ah! We have a deal. Get reading, baby.”

Bettyrolled her eyes, and opened her diary. “No teasing!”

Heplaced a hand on his heart. “I would never tease the woman I love.” He kissedher cheek, and got comfortable.

“DearDiary….” Betty spent the night reading all her deep, dark, sweet feelings tothe man she loved, and he didn’t laugh, or judge. If anything it just made him falleven deeper in love with her.