#i watched all three episodes before i had to go to work bc i knew i would be spoiled if i didn't ....

[leenfiend]

hey ofmd fans how are we feelin

[rafesbabygirlx]

A Lot of Time has Passed | Part 8

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

Summary: Discovering that JJ wasn’t your biological brother was hard. Learning that both his dads were terrible was even worse. But he’s your brother, no matter what, and you’ll always have his back. You persuade Rafe to to help them get to Morocco and for you to go with them. Rafe can seek his revenge on Groff, and you can help your little family find their treasure.

A/N: Part 2 has dropped and I’m still an emotional wreck. Sofia is still present but that storyline is different in my universe. Each of my parts will contain 2/3 episodes each so they will be a bit longer, and will probably be 2 parts.

Word count: 4.5k

Warnings: lil bit of smut at the end bc of course I had to throw that in there. ;) (oral f receiving)

JJ bursts through the back patio door into the house, panting hard and leaning forward with his hands on his knees. Startled, you leap up from the couch where you’d been watching V play on the floor.

“J, what’s going on?” you ask, rushing over to him after a quick glance to ensure V is safe.

“Hey, sis,” he says between breaths, then mutters under his breath, “Well, maybe not sis anymore.”

You catch his words despite his attempt to muffle them. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, you shove it into his hands. “Calm down and talk to me.”

JJ takes a long drink before blurting out, “It means my whole life’s been a lie. You’re not my sister, and Luke’s not my dad.”

The words stun you. You glance over JJ’s shoulder and spot Rafe standing in the hallway, drawn by the commotion. You subtly shake your head, signaling him to stay back. JJ wouldn’t open up with Rafe hovering.

“That letter,” JJ continues, his voice trembling. “The one from Genrette? Dad told me all about it. He said I’m his grandson. Larissa is my mom.”

You laugh softly, more out of shock than amusement. “JJ, that baby died. We all know the story. Dad’s probably just messing with you.”

“No,” JJ says firmly, shaking his head. “He told me my real dad dropped me off with him. He and Larissa were close, and he thought I’d be better off with Luke. Luke took me in, and then a couple weeks later, Larissa was found dead. They lied about me so no one would suspect I’d been given away.”

You stare at him, trying to process the revelation. “So, Larissa’s your mom, and—”

“Chandler Groff is my dad,” JJ interjects, his voice rising. “Think about it—when we went to Goat Island, Genrett only knew three names: yours, mine, and Sarah’s. It makes sense for Sarah; she’s a Kook and a Cameron. But how did they know us?”

“Dad said I used to play in the gardens when he worked there. I just assumed you were there too. I don’t know how long he worked there—I was only three. I didn’t think much of it when Genrette knew my name,” you reply, trying to rationalize it all, though doubt creeps in.

“Look, Dad’s a lot of things, but I don’t think he’s lying about this,” JJ says, his tone softer now.

“Okay,” you say, trailing off as you take it all in. Then, trying to lighten the mood, you smirk. “So, if this is true, that makes you a Kook by blood.”

JJ shoves you playfully, suppressing a laugh. “Never. P4L, baby. And this changes nothing between us. You’re still my big annoying sister.”

You smile, pulling him into a hug. “I’ve been stuck with you for nineteen years, J. I’m not letting go now.”

JJ rests his head on your shoulder for a moment, the weight of the conversation still lingering. Then he pulls away. “Alright, I gotta go find Kie and the others.”

“Bye, J.” You watch as he rushes out of the house and down the dock.

Rafe steps into the kitchen, exhaling sharply. “Don’t start,” you warn before he can say anything.

“I wasn’t gonna,” he replies, dragging out his words. “But damn, that’s wild. Your brother’s a Genrett. Hope this doesn’t make him a partner in my deal.”

You glare at him, unamused. “You don’t even know if my dad’s telling the truth.”

“Maybe. But it could explain the lies.” Rafe shrugs. He knows how Figure Eight people operate better than you ever will.

“Can we just drop it?” you plead, needing a distraction. You move back to V, who’s now fussing with a toy.

Rafe follows you to the couch, clearly not ready to let it go. “Speaking of Hollis and Groff…”

You roll your eyes. “What now?”

“I haven’t heard anything about the deal,” he says, watching for your reaction.

“Weird.” You give a short, dismissive response, hoping he’ll take the hint.

Thankfully, he does. Leaning down, he pinches V’s cheek and kisses you on the head before heading out to the patio.

A knock at the door interrupts the moment. To your surprise, it’s Sarah. You pull her into a tight hug, realizing how much you’ve missed your old friends since settling into this new life with Rafe and V.

“Hey. Rafe home?” Sarah asks hesitantly.

“Yeah, he’s outside. Everything okay?” you ask, taking the slip of paper she hands you. It’s about a zoning change in the Cut.

“Great, more good news,” you mutter sarcastically, gesturing for Sarah to head out to the patio. You skim the notice, letting the Cameron siblings talk in private.

Later, after putting V down for a nap, you catch Sarah storming out of the house. You find Rafe slumped on the patio, his head in his hands.

“What happened?” you ask, placing a hand on the back of his neck and rubbing down in between his shoulder blades..

“She wouldn’t even let me touch her,” he mumbles, his voice thick with emotion. “I just want my family back.” He pulls you close, burying his face against your stomach.

“It’s going to take time, Rafe,” you say softly, scratching his scalp with your nails.. “You’ll get there.”

His shoulders relax under your touch. Looking up at you, he smiles faintly. “Thanks,” he whispers, standing to kiss you deeply before sitting back down.

Your phone buzzes with a text from JJ in the Pogue group chat:

JJ, 4:30 PM: We need everyone we can get. I know you love the high life now, but you’re a P4L, sis. We need you too.

You look up at Rafe. “Mind watching V for a bit? I want to go to the town meeting. It’s important.” You hand him the zoning notice.

“Why the fuck do you care about this?” Rafe scoffs. “You live here now. That doesn’t concern you.”

You glare at him. “This is the kind of attitude that’s going to get you nowhere with Sarah. The Cut is still my home. I’m still a Pogue, and I’m going. Watch V.”

Without waiting for his reply, you grab your keys and walk out.

.⭒☆━━━━━━━━━✰━━━━━━━━━☆⭒.

The meeting hall buzzes with tension as you arrive, stepping into a sea of familiar faces. The Pogues are here in full force, just as you expected. Loyalty runs deep, and none of you are known for backing down without a fight. You wave to your group, making your way through the crowd, and settle into a seat next to JJ. He’s tense, jaw clenched, fingers tapping rhythmically against the table as his eyes flicker toward the far side of the room.

That’s when you see them—Topper, his mother, and Ruthie. The smugness on their faces makes your blood boil. You glare, your expression sharp enough to cut glass, but when they smirk at you, you let your sarcasm fly. With a quick, deliberate motion, you raise your middle finger. Topper’s mother gasps audibly, turning away with a look of pure disgust, while Topper and Ruthie exchange uneasy glances before staring straight ahead, feigning composure.

The meeting begins, and the air grows heavy. The topic: the property you once called home. The land that held your childhood memories. People exchange confused glances, murmurs rippling through the crowd. The leader of the meeting steps forward, explaining that the floor is open for anyone to speak.

Before you can react, JJ bolts upright, ready to unload his anger. You and John B yank him back into his seat.

“No, not you,” you hiss, glancing around nervously.

John B stands, and his voice fills the room. He speaks from the heart, his words a powerful blend of truth and desperation. But as he finishes, the silence feels deafening. That’s when Dale stands, his presence heavy and calculated.

Dale’s voice is smooth, almost rehearsed, as he talks about an “injunction” that supposedly invalidates JJ’s auction win. He mentions a promissory note that the bank failed to honor, claiming it renders the sale void. The crowd shifts uneasily, whispers of confusion and anger spreading like wildfire.

Then, Dale gestures toward the back of the room. “The rightful owner,” he says.

Luke rises, and the room explodes into chaos. Shouts echo as people recognize him. You feel your chest tighten, anger and betrayal clashing in a storm inside you.

“Sorry,” Luke says, his voice hollow. His apology feels like a slap in the face.

“Sorry?” JJ spits, his voice venomous.

“Save it,” you snap, cutting Luke off.

Dale drones on, spewing corporate jargon about what they plan to do with the land. But you know better. You see through the lies. They want to strip it away, crush the community, and take what little they all have left.

Your anger boils over. You charge at your father, shoving him hard.

Kie’s voice breaks through. She turns around to stare down Luke,  “JJ and y/n loved you, they shouldn’t have but they did,” she says, anger in her eyes.

“You only ever looked out for yourself! You never gave a shit about us” you shout, the room’s noise dimming under the weight of your words.

Your father doesn’t fight back, his expression a mixture of guilt and sadness.

You falter for a moment, your chest heaving, but the rage inside you keeps burning.

Behind you, JJ suddenly storms past, his movements purposeful. You barely have time to react before he grabs a chair and hurls it through the nearest window. The sound of shattering glass ignites the room into chaos. Police officers rush in, but JJ doesn’t back down. He fights them, swinging and shouting until they finally wrestle him into a squad car.

“Guys, get him!” you yell to Pope and John B.

Pope leaps into action, climbing onto the back of the truck. With a loud crash, he smashes the rear window, and he and John B pull JJ out.

“Go, J! You’ll be fine—you always are,” you say, grabbing his face and locking eyes with him for a moment. Then you push him to run, and he takes off into the night.

Your group gathers around you, their faces tense but resolute.

“I gotta get home to V. You got him?”

Pope nods. “We got him. Don’t worry.”

“Yeah, I know you do, just wanted to hear it,” you reply, watching them disappear after JJ.

By the time you get home, your anger is still simmering. You step inside to find Rafe lounging on the couch with V in his arms. He looks up as you enter, his expression cautious.

“How was it?” he asks, his voice careful.

You ignore him, your thoughts too clouded by everything that’s happened. Despite the changes Rafe has made, despite the family you’ve built together, there’s a part of you that can’t separate him from the Kooks.

“Hello?” he calls, his voice following you into the kitchen.

“Like you give a shit,” you mutter, just loud enough for him to hear.

Rafe sets V in her high chair and walks toward you. “What’d you say?”

You turn, and he’s already towering over you. “Like. You. Give. A. Shit.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he snaps, his tone sharper now. “You come in upset, and I’m not allowed to care?”

“No, not when you’re one of them,” you fire back, your arms crossed as you glare up at him.

“What happened, y/n?” He lets out a big sigh, signaling his frustration with you.

“The rich always win—that’s what happened,” you say bitterly.

The words spill out of you, your anger finding its target. You recount the meeting in vivid detail, emphasizing every injustice, every betrayal.

“I hate them, Rafe. With every fiber of my being. And Topper and Ruthie? They were there, smirking like they owned the damn place.”

Rafe sighs, but you cut him off before he can speak.

“That place is my home. Those people are my family. They helped raise me, JJ and John B since our parents didn't care enough to. I didn’t die of malnourishment as a child thanks to Mr and Mrs. Baxter down the road. I didn’t have to wear the same 3 outfits every day, because Ms. Houlihan would provide me with her daughter’s hand-me-downs. I wouldn’t have made it out of my house alive if Mr. Maden hadn’t heard my screams when my father was beating me and my brother and intervened, taking us home with him. You will never understand what it is like to be from there. There’s an actual sense of community. We look out for each other. You couldn’t say the same for this side of the island, could you”

You continue.

“I don’t care about my house. I know you’ll protect me. I can always work something out for JJ. The people that have no choice but to stay, they still care and I care about them. Those people work their asses off every single day. All of that happened to me and I’m still proud, because of people like them. I will raise my daughter to respect them just as much as I do. Not look down on them or not care that their lives are about to be ripped from them.”

Rafe shifts uncomfortably. “I’m sorry,” he says softly.

You roll your eyes, you really don't mean to take it on him, he didn't have anything to do with what happened. You just feel an insane amount of guilt coming home to this house, when all the people you love went home terrified wondering how long they have left in theirs. Rafe was partly to blame for this feeling, giving you space in his home and that’s why you couldn’t hold in that anger with him. This is just all too much for you.

“V needs a bath tonight. I’m going to bed,” you mutter, brushing past him.

Hours later, sleep still evades you. You hear Rafe come in, his footsteps soft. He leans down and presses a kiss to your temple.

“I have another meeting. Will you be okay?” he whispers.

You nod without a word, and he leaves.

Once the front door closes, you slip into V’s room. She’s sleeping peacefully, her tiny chest rising and falling rhythmically. Tears sting your eyes as you stroke her cheek.

She’ll never know the struggles you did, and for that, you’re grateful. But she’ll know where you came from. She’ll be proud of both sides of her family.

You pick her up and carry her to your bed, pulling her close. Her soft breaths lull you to sleep.

When Rafe returns, he finds the two of you curled up together. For a moment, he stands there, a small smile spreading across his face. Changing quickly, he climbs into bed, draping an arm over both of you.

As sleep takes him, the steady rhythm of your breathing and V’s soothes him, filling the room with a quiet sense of peace.

.⭒☆━━━━━━━━━✰━━━━━━━━━☆⭒.

The next morning, sunlight filters through the blinds as you wake up, feeling lighter than you did yesterday. Glancing down, you see V laying beside you patiently, her little hands fidgeting with the blanket. A soft smile plays on your lips as you look over at Rafe, sprawled on his back with his mouth slightly open, snoring softly. Even in this unguarded state, there’s a rare peace to his face, one you don’t see often.  

Carefully, you lift V and tiptoe out of the room, letting Rafe sleep a little longer. In the kitchen, you place her in her high chair, giving her a few toys to keep her entertained while you prepare her oatmeal and set the coffee machine to brew. The scent of fresh coffee fills the air as you hum softly, stealing glances at your daughter, who babbles happily to herself.  

When Rafe eventually makes his way downstairs, coffee mug in hand, there’s a cautiousness in his step. He hesitates near the counter, watching you, unsure of where you stand after last night. You meet his gaze and close the distance between you. Without a second thought, you wrap your arms around him, pressing your cheek to his chest.  

“I’m sorry for last night,” you say quietly, squeezing him a little tighter. “My outburst wasn’t fair to you.”  

Rafe doesn’t miss a beat, his arms circling your back. “You don’t need to apologize. You were right—I don’t understand. But if it’s something you’re passionate about, I care about it too. I’ll help you however I can.” He pulls back slightly to look down at you, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.  

You blink up at him, half in disbelief. “I can’t believe you just said that. You wanna help the Cut?” you tease lightly.  

“For you? I’d do anything,” he replies, sincerity evident in his tone. His hand cups the back of your head, drawing you into a kiss that lingers longer than either of you expected.  

The soft hiss of water boiling over breaks the moment. You pull away with a laugh, rushing to the stove to tend to V’s oatmeal. Rafe stays close, his fingers brushing your waist as he leans against the counter.  

“I’ve got to stop by the docks today,” you tell him, plating V’s food. “Left some things on the boat the other day. I’ll take her with me, and we’ll just hang out for a bit.”  

Rafe nods, sipping his coffee. “I’ve got some meetings to handle, but maybe we can meet for lunch?”  

“Sounds perfect,” you agree, leaning into him as he plants a kiss on your shoulder before heading upstairs to get ready.  

By the time you arrive at the dock, it’s mid-morning. You set up a shady little play area for V, making sure she has water and snacks. While she plays happily, you spread out a towel nearby, basking in the warm sun. Every so often, you glance over at her, marveling at how much joy she brings into your life.  

After about thirty minutes, you scoop her up and hold her to your chest, brushing your fingers through her soft, honey-blonde curls. The simple act fills you with a sense of calm and gratitude, and you lose track of time.  

It’s nearly 11:30 when you realize you need to pack up and meet Rafe. As you gather your things, movement on a nearby boat catches your eye. Hollis. You’ve only met her once, but that was enough to form a strong dislike. Despite your better judgment, you approach, intending to keep things civil for Rafe’s sake. But you freeze when someone else steps into view.  

Sofia.  

Confusion twists your features as you inch closer, straining to hear their conversation.  

“What are you gonna do? Shoot me now that I’ve exposed your scam?” Sofia’s voice is sharp, cutting through the quiet.  

You scoff silently, disbelief washing over you.  

“I risked doing this for someone I loved,” Sofia continues, her tone laced with bitterness. “Just for you to screw him over like this?”  

“Loved?” Hollis echoes mockingly. “That’s right—I met his other special lady a few weeks ago. You got your money, no? What’s the problem?”  

You hear the rustle of papers.  

“This is the legal contract,” Hollis says. “Me, Chandler, Goat Island—it’s all there. You played your boyfriend. I could ruin your family in three phone calls.”  

Sofia rushes off the boat moments later, stopping abruptly when she spots you. Her face pales, guilt written all over her.  

“How much?” you demand, your voice sharp and unwavering.  

“$25,000,” Sofia mumbles, avoiding your eyes. “Plus some—”  

You cut her off, your tone dripping with disdain. “Don’t worry, I can keep a secret. Just as good as you, apparently.”  

Your glare lingers before you brush past her, the weight of what you’ve overheard sinking in.  

As you drive to meet Rafe, your thoughts churn. Sure, you’ve played him before—for the right reasons. When he was lost, blinded by his father’s expectations, you stepped in to stop him from spiraling further. But this? This was different.  

Sofia hadn’t just hurt Rafe; she’d betrayed the version of him he’s been working so hard to become. The version that puts his family first, especially V. That makes her actions feel even more unforgivable. 

.⭒☆━━━━━━━━━✰━━━━━━━━━☆⭒.

You spot Rafe waiting for you outside the restaurant, leaning casually against his truck with a grin on his face. V lights up at the sight of him, and her little arms reach out as he scoops her up effortlessly.  

“Bout time,” he teases, pressing a quick kiss to your lips before dropping one on V’s head. “I thought you girls were gonna stand me up.”  

“Never,” you reply, forcing a playful smile, though the tension in your chest lingers. The encounter with Sofia still weighs heavy on your mind.  

The three of you settle into a cozy booth, and you do your best to keep the mood light. But your silence must have been louder than you realized because Rafe eventually breaks it.  

“How was the boat? Even though it was docked,” he jokes, trying to draw you out.  

You blink, snapping out of your thoughts. “Good,” you reply quickly. “It was a nice time for the two of us.” You glance at V, who’s happily nibbling on her crackers.  

The waiter brings your food, and while Rafe digs in with enthusiasm, you find yourself pushing your meal around on your plate.  

“Rafe,” you begin hesitantly, “I’m starting to get worried that this is a scam.”  

You’re trying to convince him some other way than exposing Sofia. She was really a nice girl, from the same place as you. You grew up together, you hung out together, worked at the country club together. Her family let you crash on their couch to get away from Luke. $25,000 can go a long way for someone like us. That town council meeting really screwed with your head. She was also really happy with Rafe and you came back just to ruin all of that.

Partly blaming yourself for that decision to betray him, not knowing it was Rafes' own words that made her do it, not you. Even though you didn't know that she overheard something he said, you've been on that end of the stick with him many times and know the pain it could cause despite you caring so deeply about him. 

He looks up from his plate, his brows knitting together. “What? You told me you’d support me in my decision. The one I made for us.” He gestures toward you and V. “Now you think I made a mistake?”  

“That’s not it,” you insist, setting your fork down. “Hollis was docked next to your boat. I overheard her saying some weird things. It just… made me uneasy, that’s all.”  

Rafe leans back, his jaw tightening as he absorbs your words. For a moment, he says nothing, then shakes his head.  

“Whatever,” he says dismissively, though there’s an edge to his tone. “It’s supposed to go through in a few days anyway. So, your opinion of what you *think* you heard doesn’t matter anymore.” His expression softens slightly as a smirk creeps onto his face. “We’ll be swimming in cash, baby.”  

The sudden change in his demeanor catches you off guard, but you decide not to push further. For now, at least. You know how stubborn Rafe can be, and pushing him too hard might only make things worse.  

As V babbles happily in her high chair, you force a smile and nod along. But deep down, the unease remains, tangled up with guilt, doubt, and the unresolved question of how to handle the truth about Sofia. 

.⭒☆━━━━━━━━━✰━━━━━━━━━☆⭒.

You arrive home after a full day out with Rafe and V, feeling the kind of exhaustion that’s both fulfilling and draining. The park had been a blast, shopping for V had you both laughing over baby shoes and tiny outfits, and dinner ended with V fast asleep in her car seat.  

Rafe carefully carries her inside, her little face nestled against his shoulder. He whispers, "I’ve got her," as he heads upstairs to lay her in her crib. You head to your shared bedroom, the quiet of the house settling over you like a blanket.  

Changing into a tank top and sleep shorts, you sit on the edge of the bed, your mind drifting. It doesn’t take long before Rafe joins you. He walks in quietly and sits next to you, wrapping an arm around your waist and pressing gentle kisses along your shoulder. His lips are warm and unhurried, and when he moves your hair aside, you instinctively tilt your head to give him better access.  

He shifts, kneeling between your legs, his hands resting on your thighs as he continues kissing your neck. There’s a tenderness to his movements, but when he tugs at the hem of your tank top, you stop him with a raised eyebrow.  

“Really? Now?” you tease, though your tone is more amused than annoyed.  

“Just want a quick taste of you, angel,” he murmurs, his voice low and smooth, sending a shiver down your spine.  

You can’t help the smile that tugs at your lips. Looking into his eyes, you reply, “How can I resist that?”  

Rafe doesn’t waste a second. He softly guides you to lie back on the bed, his touch firm but careful. He slips your sleep shorts down, his hands trailing along your legs as he spreads your thighs. The look in his eyes is one of complete focus, as though nothing else exists but you.  

He starts slowly, planting featherlight kisses on your inner thighs, inching closer to your center. His lips finally reach their destination, and his tongue moves in deliberate, practiced strokes. You arch your back, your fingers gripping his arm that’s wrapped around your thigh as he applies just the right amount of pressure.  

“Rafe... oh my God,” you cry out, your breath catching as the waves of your climax crash over you. He doesn’t stop until he’s sure you’ve ridden out every last sensation.  

When he finally pulls back, his chin glistening with evidence of his handiwork, he smirks and leans forward to rest his head on your stomach. His arms wrap around your waist as he clings to you, clearly satisfied with himself.  

You laugh softly, still catching your breath, and nudge him off gently. “Alright, Casanova, let’s get some sleep. I’ve got to meet my brother tomorrow.”  

Rafe groans playfully but gets up, changing into a pair of sweatpants before sliding under the covers. As you pull your shorts back on and climb into bed, he immediately reaches for you, pulling you into his arms.  

“Goodnight, angel,” he whispers against your hair, his voice heavy with contentment.  

“Goodnight,” you reply softly, letting the warmth of his embrace lull you to sleep. 

.⭒☆━━━━━━━━━✰━━━━━━━━━☆⭒.

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[lightthemaskedone]

Edit: OML I DIDNT MEAN TO POST THIS I meant to save this to drafts 😭 Alr Im gonna add some things

The new UrbanSPOOK episode sure was something huh? I wanna talk about a few things (there's a lot so bear with me)

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR URBANSPOOK: HELL (don't worry I wont display any of the paintings or images from the episodes)

First thing I wanna talk about is Mona and Bill eating some of their victims. I actually had this theory at some point that they were eating people because of Sean. His painting was "The Man In The Pipes", so at first I assumed he was stuffed down a pipe in the home, but then FAMILY was uploaded, alongside the painting of the supposed fetus shoved down Paul's throat. Im too lazy to check, but if I remember right, the painting's name was scribbled out except for the word "pipe" or something like that. I know pipe was in there at some point. Maybe the pipes Sean's painting was referring to was their esophagus, since the fetus's painting was referring to Paul's windpipe bc that's how he died. Plus, Sean's painting has more red than anything, just like the fetus painting did. We've seen the painter (Mona or Bill, whoever is making the paintings...probably Mona) would most likely have drawn out the pipe since she LOVES her detail in paintings.

Next thing is how much better this episode was compared to previous ones. The only bad thing in the new episode was the bucket, but besides that there weren't really any bad themes. I watched the new episode through Baz's reaction video, and he even showed a screenshot of Urban saying he would make this and episode 10 better than the previous episodes, so good on him!! And the new episode wasn't just theme-wise better, it was VISUALLY better too. The video footage style was amazing, and don't get me started on the last part where they went into Tina's house for the wellness check and caught the killers. Also major props to Tina's voice actress in this, she did AMAZING. She screamed her heart out at the last part, good lord 😭

A smaller part, but I wanna mention how this episode had one of the scariest parts yet I've seen in the whole series. At the end of the episode where Mona has her hands raised because of the cop, she's just...standing there. Neither of them speak after a moment, and the only sound is Tina's screams. Then a distorted smile can be seen on the screen...Mona is just staring at the cop with a smile. She doesn't care that Bill is dead. She doesn't care about Tina's screams. She's smiling like she didnt do anything. And she isnt moving a single muscle. That smile is the last thing Tina ever saw. Mona is happy and has no regrets.

Another thing I want to mention is how Bill Collins was one of the killers. We already knew that because of the morse code thingy from PIGS, but that raises some questions. 1: Where the hell is Jack Stryker?? For those who don't know, Im talking about Tina's boyfriend from WITNESS that randomly went missing while Tina and Flora were getting attacked. He had a painting, so he's probably dead and/or the painters ate him. 2: Who was the fourth/third face in the Collin's photo montage? In LIGHTHOUSE, we find out Bill Collins went missing, his family was found dead yada yada. I don't remember if Bill Collin's had three or four other family members, but ther was another photo amongst the others that probably shouldn't have been there. The baby was dead, yes, but she was found in the attic and not in the mush barrel with the rest of her family. Which means one of those photos is probably not Bill and another victim maybe?? 3: What's his motive? Clearly he had to have snapped or something to go kill a bunch of people. He's probably the reason all the cops and investigators related to the case died (Sean, Sarah, Ian, etc). As we've seen, Bill acted in a feral-like state while working with Mona, him barking while helping her in the murders and roaring at the cop in the video footage before being shot. So what exactly is his motive?? Maybe Mona will say in episode 10 during the trial or we'll just never know. I will say this, when it showed his human picture in LIGHTHOUSE after stating he went missing, it was the only photo that didnt look...real. It looked more like a drawing than an actual photo like all the other ones. Bill was clearly as dangerous as Mona, but why did he decide to work with Mona, especially after his family died? Maybe it was a last resort and Mona agreed to it? (but they probably teamed up with Fred too to get drugs from him, but we all saw how that turned out) So why did Mona decide to let Bill work with her, and why did Bill want to work with Mona? I really wanna know this in episode ten.

There are a few things Im still wondering. We don't know how some of the victims died and Im actually REALLY curious about that. Ian, Jimmy (who I think may be the fourth photo found by the Collin's flesh barrel), Sean (yeah I said earlier I predicted they ate him but we don't know how he died), the two girls in the lighthouse (I forgot their names but Im too lazy to check 🤯), and some of the victims found in the new episode inside of the Paint Factory. Maybe Mona will reveal how she killed them?? Maybe not?? Idk I guess we just have to wait for it to play out

That's all I really have to say. Oogily boogily 🤯🤯🤯

[vwoop-prince]

spoilers for the pjo show episodes 1-7

as of 10pm pst 25/01/2024 i have finished watching episode 7 of the pjo show and i was going to wait and see the final episode before posting my thoughts but i feel like critisism is fine at all points of a show so. this accidentally turned into the majority of my points & some are just poking fun/funny notes

some notes before i get into complaining: im having fun. this is fun for me. complaining about differences is fun for me. if its not for you, dont read this. i also havent even read mark of athena EVER and the last time i properly read a pjo book was in 2021. ive been skimming the first book alongside watching the episodes. and i am not seriously pissed off about the show as a whole. there are parts im pissed off at. there are parts that i think are fucking hilarious comparatively. there are parts im neutral on. i dont hate this show on principle just bc its not the books.

anyway the funniest takeaway from this adaptation is that we can literally complain down to a single grain of sand. if that vibe isnt what you like, maybe dont open the read more

yeah its hilarious how they changed the "grover nearly falls into tartarus" scene from gravel floor in the books to a sand floor in the show. idk why they did it but i can complain down to a single fuckin grain of sand. this is hilarious

look okay i love hades. just. period. in the actual myths, in the pjo books, how most people characterize him as a whole, and how i worship him as a pagan. notice how i didnt mention the show. like. show!hades is fine. hes just not book!hades. not even CLOSE. wheres the yelling? the "and I will have my helm back!" wheres the "He was the third god I'd met, but the first who really struck me as godlike." in the show hes just flamboyant. in the books hes a drama King and rightfully angry and complains about the state of his realm. whyd they do this to him. what the fuck

on the topic of godly gods. only hermes and hades have seemed like gods. hermes more than hades. ares, dionysus, and hephaestus are all just Guys. just some fuckin dudes. and the only reason hermes and hades actually seem like Gods is bc of their attitude/dialogue/mannerism and the scenery around them respectively. not combined. respectively.

i would LOVE to see the mental gymnastics percy had to do to guess that kronos is behind this shit. in the books there are five times kronos is mentioned. 1: as the first mythological being ever mentioned. 2: talking about the big three's dad before percy gets his prophecy. 3: when percy questions what it was like before the gods' time just before going on the quest. 4: when percy is speaking to zeus and poseidon alone on olympus. 5: when percy realizes who luke serves. they do NOT explicitly state that its kronos in the underworld. percy doesnt even finish his THOUGHT of who gave him the bag with the bolt before he tries to make amends with a pissed off hades. hes not able to explain to hades that it was ares EVER.

typical "oh percys so much smarter in the show than in the books" except its the kids are so much smarter about the myths than they should be. and like i Understand okay? i get it. sally made sure to grow percy up on the myths so hes prepared. annabeth has been at camp for five years, learning all she can as a child of athena. grover is in his mid twenties and a satyr. a protector. of course they should know shit. but figure it all out before even meeting the monsters? they knew it was medusa as soon as they saw the 'aunty m' sign. they knew it was procrustes before even ENTERING the building. why? why not have the kids be blindsided by shit? especially with medusa, who is meant to have either an enchantment-type thing like cc's island or who can bend the mist to have an enchantment-like thing that fooled annabeth. and crusty worked so fast they didnt have time to compare notes before grover and annabeth were trapped on their beds. why do they immediately know whats going on? wheres the suspense? wheres the showing not telling?

i always thought sally wouldve been yknow Normal just frozen in time and with gold dust around her similar to the sulphur of monsters disintegrating. not that she Was Gold. its like they really wanted to show off their fake gold statues idea

remember how hades looked in the show. now heres a screenshot of percy describing him. they are not the same (yes im salty about it)

How Fucking Dare they skip Persephone's garden. Why. absolutely Why. yes i do worship her too and im so damn salty theres not even a MENTION of her in ep 7

did i mention that the area around the pit to tartarus is meant to be gravel and not sand? bc its meant to be gravel. and they sure as hell couldntve leasurely stuck around it to chat bc its meant to INHALE. ITS MEANT TO TRY AND SUCK THE KIDS IN.

btw the 4 pearls? im fine with that. grover shouldve lost his on the tumble towards tartarus and we shouldve seen it fuckin fly away and watch the kids watch it plummet to the bottom. hell having a little after credits scene at the end of ep 8 where a random monster gets sent to the beach bc the pearl landed on them and shattered wouldve been HILARIOUS.

the missed deadline however? no. bullshit. 'its so the lotus can be even more dangerous' my ass. percys determined to see this quest through to the end, determined to stop the war before it fully starts, and yet theres no urgency. id even say theres LESS urgency than the books where they had a DAY to get the bolt & get to zeus (with added helm to hades & ares fight). sure it didnt make much sense for ALL THAT to be within a DAY but yknow what? time is fucky and they couldve had the underworld take like three overworld minutes yknow?

speaking of the war theyve know it could happen since the WINTER SOLSTICE. its now passed the SUMMER SOLSTICE. 'your father must rally his men' WHAT HAVE THEY BEEN DOING FOR HALF A YEAR??? SITTIN ON THEY ASSES TWIDDLIN THEIR THUMBHS???

lets go back to hades's aura btw bc ares didnt even have his. not a single fucking deity has had their aura. there was nothing with dionysus about madness and grapes (no scared reaction from percy), no war and fighting with ares (no weird anger from percy), and no hades feeling like he owns your very soul. why? whys there no aura? that might be the biggest reason none of these guys feel like gods to me

where's perseus "sass & improv" jackson. theres no "lord and uncle, i come with two requests". theres no "who said anything about dreams?". theres no fucking "big bathtub" no "circus caravan" not even fucking "you look taller"

why didnt the other flying shoe kick them on the head. cmon guys

the souls in asphodel arent ALWAYS bound with regret and their choices (or lackthereof) in life. sometimes thats where the ordinary go. thats where the regular ass people go, or the people that dont want to even have a chance of going to the fields of punishment. you got this right in the books, why did you revert to this in the show?

also no hint of hazel? i dont care if we never get to hoo. we might not get to titans curse, making the nico & bianca hint useless. im not sayin they shouldve casted someone as hazel for that scene, im not sayin she shouldve been the only root-bound spirit talking (dislike that idea, btw, what happened to wandering spirits thatre not spooky. theyre just sad.). one of the root-bound spirits just having fucking crystals sprouted up next to them wouldve been good enough.

also yeah wheres elysium and the fields of punishment

WHEN DID GROVER GET HIS MEMORY BACK

WHY DID HE EVEN LOSE ANY TO BEGIN WITH

charon would never turn down that much money

book sally and show sally are two different people

also not once has there been a mention of a monster smell?? of the underground smelling like monsters, of grover's distaste for being under ground, for anything like that???

speaking of grover. why isnt he eating shit. wheres his tin cans. his diet coke cans. his pinochle cards. his hacky-sack apple that he accidentally eats that gets the kids to be kids. whyd annabeth have to throw shade at him in the lotus scene about eating shit when hes not eaten a single non-edible thing in this entire show.

oh have i mentioned that they just got rid of every single fucking bit of foreshadowing the books ever have btw? bc holy shit lemme rant and this is somethin im GENUINELY pissed about

annabeth doesnt realize it could be kronos on the cab ride bc theres no cab ride. theres no 'its hades. it has to be'.

kronos is not the first mythological being mentioned

all these dreams??? not a single one was even important nor was luke even in one as a voice like i remember most of the first books dreams i dont remember any of the show.

no thalia hint in a dream which. okay i guess. dont want to cast her too early. but cmon man casting a thalia and changing her actor when she gets out of the tree wouldve been like an easter egg to messing up her eyecolor in the books. it wouldve been funny for the readers. cmon guys

the only hint we have of luke disliking his dad is when percys just about to leave for his quest and not? throughout the weeks percy spends at camp? Why

LUKE DOESNT EVEN THROW ANNABETH AND GROVER UNDER THE BUS IN THE SHOW. WHY. no 'youd have to be invisible' no 'maybe this time no one will turn into a tree'???

also dislike how we get all of the thalia lore basically Immediately wheres that slow release story that we gotta piece together alongside percy

oh gods another thing i fucking HATE: THERES NO SWORD TRAINING SCENE. theres also no showing that percy is rejuvinated via water/rain/is good with boats/horses that is like small foreshadowing that hes a son of poseidon but THERES NO SWORD TRAINING. THERES NO 'lukes the greatest sword fighter in decades!' compared to the final book where percys the best sword fighter now, theres no 'really difficult sword technique done first try' theres NONE OF THAT. WHYYY

the whole annabeth and percy were each other's tethers in the lotus casino is an early percy using annabeth as his tether in the styx and them sticking together in tartarus yes but also. why they gotta figure out the lotus immediately. wheres the fucking charm and enchantment though? wheres the ''its 1977' 'its WHAT'' wheres annabeth playing her architect sims wheres grover killing polluting humans wheres the fun. wheres the dawning horror that somethings not right. wheres the terrifying realization that percy nearly forgot his mother's name, that they have a quest, that they dont remember how long its been

hot take: lin manuel maranda is a fine hermes. i didnt even know who he was until i asked my dad btw. hes a jumpscare for yall hamilton nerds. im built dif (dislikes musicals)

take this copy-paste from my discord notes bc tumblr is lagging as im writing this:

they made grover smarter here than the books and i do like that tbh. him manipulating ares into giving some answers. him realizing that theyre not eating lotuses and augustus is still forgetting even new shit. and then grover forgetting what he was doing before augustus & pan in the same breath. i feel like theyre just using grover in place of longer and more drawn out back-n-forth convos & scenes though and that i dont like

TALKING ABOUT MAY NOW WAS GOOD. LEARNIGN THAT SHE WENT MAD FROM LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE? NOT GOOD. LEAVE US MORE OF A MYSTERY GUYS THAT COULDVE BEEN MENTIONED IN SEASON 3 BY THALIA OR SOMETHIN

also can they stop splitting up the kids. look i think the fields of asphodel was like that bc scheduling conflict with leah? right? why split aryan up from them TWICE tho with waterland and lotus tho. we dont need percabeth shit rn guys theyre TWELVE and prob didnt have crushes crushes until the next year at the earliest (spoken from someone that didnt ship percabeth until the kiss at mt st helens)

oh yeah have i mentioned that them blaming clarisse is Awful. its Terrible. they owe that girl the biggest fucking apology. yes i know percy threw clarisse out in his talk with ares on the beach but im pretty sure its never stated ever again and not before that

also? clarisse being a bully bc she cant fathom that percy fucked up the minotaur? why? why isnt she just a bully for the sake of it?

i dont think theyve even named her spear though. no ones called it lamer. no ones said it was a gift from ares

also im pissed at them saying ares doesnt care for his kids/hates them. no he doesnt. (insert that one myth people were throwing around about him killing his daughters assaulter) as well as clarisse being is favorite daughter in a while. she got the chance to get that fuckin chariot thing from her godly brothers or whatever i read that mini story once an wasnt paying too much attention. is ares a good dad? no. no mythical being is a good parent period. does he hate his kids? no

logic issue: how the fuck do the roller coasters in the lotus work. when they first pan up to look at the outside theres people on roller coasters and theyre on the OUTSIDE of the building. does the time bubble extend to them? then why are they normal-paced when the lotus moves far slower than the outside world? or are the roller coasters outside the bubble, but because of the time fuckery, it kinda just looks like they blip out of existence for less than a blink and are straight back inside the casino? and the lotus in the air makes them not question the rapidly changing outside world's appearance?

"we take a zebra to vegas" no zebra

writers stop writing monotheistic views into polytheistic worlds challenge. WHY dont monsters attack on sunday??? huh??? bc i dont know that historical connection to ancient, before 1AD, greece. please. enlighten me as to why ancient greek monsters from the ancient greek polytheistic religion wouldnt attack demigods on something known as 'the lord's day' anytime after 1AD. enlighten me. and then explain to me why MONSTERS care

i will say im glad they kept annabeth's mess up with the IM. "show me camp half-blood. chiron's office." compared to "half-blood hill." she was a bit more specific sure and it could bring the question of why luke was in chiron's office in the show.

first: how percy tossed the coin was shit and shouldntve gone that far. second: was that a reference to jason grace.

is getting an IM signal a new thing? as in "not percy jackson and the olympians" thing, and a "heroes of olympus and higher" thing? bc ive never heard of that, and it makes sense for a prism. which also makes sense for them to have since IMs are very important. just sucks that the water mist isnt gonna foreshadow sea of monsters when percy creates a mist so lukes confession has more witnesses (& the like dozen other times that percy makes mist for an IM, showing his power & control on such a minute scale, showing that hes way out of almost anyones league in power scale)

idk why they didnt have ares hoard knowledge on sally over percy's head to try and get him to do the quest. whyd they have him use poseidon ("your dad had plenty of kids he stopped caring about once he lost interest") to rile percy up? oh thats right bc theres no fucking aura

i dont see the point in changing hephaestus's trap. maybe it wouldve costed too much to do the spiders and water and net or somethin (what else is the 12-15 mil per ep being spent on? hope its not that fancy screen thing that honestly was kinda obvious in some scenes and not good oops). anyway i didnt like the change to the throne, didnt like the self sacrifice (theyre really hammering that in), and i didnt really like them changing it to immediately showing it was hera that threw hephaestus off olympus? i feel like having one more thing against zeus for a while wouldve been good, or at least waiting until annabeth and hephaestus somehow got on that topic so hephaestus can correct annabeth

speaking of correcting annabeth: the medusa scene? where annabeth is all 'youre wrong bc my mother is just'? they shouldve had conflicting myths. i can understand doing the most modern retelling of medusa's myth (bonus points for it being roman in origin) bc the gods and monsters are heavily susceptible to belief. if enough people believe that retelling of the myth, then of course its gonna become the "true" one. they shouldve had annabeth argue that thats the roman myth and this is greek, or that medusa's story was modern and she knows the most ancient version we know of (ie: medusa & her sisters were always monsters). them talking about the same myth? doesnt really make sense, unless that was the only surviving medusa myth that just so happened to be the "truth". doesnt help the 'constantly shifting capital of power' thing

speaking of that: was that even mentioned? in the show? that the gods shift to the place with the most power? i dont think it was. why.

back to hephaestus and the shield tho: wheres aphrodite's scarf.

percy EXPLAINING myths to ANNABETH??? the seat myth with hera n whatnot??? WHAT. book 1 annabeth would NEVER

"it's like people only see what they wanna see and ignore anything at all that doesn't fit the story they like to tell themselves" / "exactly! like you being the one to find the lightning thief and not her." i didnt understand that leap in thought btw. very confused.

percy saying 'from an orthodontist's office maybe'. ow. gods. im not that much older than him and i recognize that from my dad playing it. an ortho office. oof (couldnt tell you the title or artist tho dont care that much bout it)

oh yeah this is the ONLY time we get a 'satyrs dont eat meat' thing. "satyrs eat tofu" ares says. like i know percy & grover swapped something on their sandwiches in the first episode but do you really think id be able to recognize what they swapped?

oh yeah speaking of the first ep: bit disappointed they didnt do the digenerative leg disease thingie as a cover for grovers legs. i mean. makes sense. dont want to downplay that disability. also consider though: grovers legs arent human legs & he needs a cover for why he cant do some things & shouldnt do others, and a leg issue wouldve been the best choice

also the no mist on his legs throughout the entire quest? dont like that tbh. i dont care that this isnt in JUST percy's pov anymore. the mist should affect shit outside camp

speaking of the mist. where the fuck is it. was it even mentioned once. its not a thing in the show for some fuckinggg reasonnnnnnnn

annabeth trying to rile ares up btw? what the fuck? plus grover not being scared shitless & doing the beach talk on his own in the diner? dislike. this is what happens WITHOUT THE AURA

oh yeah the diner is just called 'diner' in the show btw and that was hilarious bc theres so many places just called 'place'. ive seen small walk in clinics just called 'clinic'. diners called 'diner'. bars called 'bar'. place for hearing aids LITERALLY CALLED 'HEARING AIDS'. its funny

take this discord screen shot about some of the ares diner thing bc copy pasting as straight text would make this longer and rewriting it is not in the cards (yes i numbered all my complaints and made live notes to myself)

not aging the show. name drops twitter. like im sorry guys if you show a car or a phone then youre aging the show but did you have to name drop TWITTER of all things???

have i mentioned theyre meant to IM luke before ares btw. have i also mentioned that the kids get to the diner first and ares appears then. small timeline changes i no likey (only half joking)

imma be real i dont like that they changed it so annabeth witnesses the fates cut the string. dont like it that grover doesnt pay attention until its passed. dont like that percy is NONCHALANT about it when hes told. be chalant man. book percy knew it was a big deal even when he didnt know shit.

(insert the continuity error of waterland near denver colorado and the arch in like illinois or somethin and theyre now WALKING in the show when its a two day TRAIN ride in the books that everyone already talked about)

ah right THEY DONT SHOW THE FIRST NEREID TALK. WHY. also WHY IS PERCY WET. WHY DID HE STILL NOT KNOW HE CAN BREATHE. WHY DIDNT THEY SHOW THAT WHATEVER PERCY TOUCHES CAN STAY DRY WITH THE LIGHTER. THAT WAS SO COOL

i do like the change that percy doesnt pray to poseidon when he gets off the arch. i was going to say jumps off but then i remembered that he fell off in the show which was definitely a change that im not neutral on but im not 100% on if it was positive or negative

what happened to the clear sighted mortal btw

i dislike how echidna and the chimera were handled. again. what happened to being blind sided. what happened to shock and sudden appearances. i dont care if the chimera was learning to hunt. the realization that echidna was a monster with her forked tongue was great.

i was going to write "wheres the suicidal thoughts" (ie percy thinking the monster wont attack mortals if he dies/jumps out of the arch) then remembered that this isnt 1st person and theres no voice over (which wouldve made this show 1000% better)

okay. so. they dont show percy nailing the difficult sword technique, but they DO show him getting hits on the chimera. when in the books he doesnt get a single hit on the chimera. to quote my disc notes: percy gets precisely ZERO hits on the chimera. first slash at neck, deflected by a collar that name-drops Tartarus. second slash at the mouth just after the tail stabbed his leg, tail wrapped around leg and pulled him around dropping riptide down the hole. again, poison Immediate

right the poison not being immediate. im. why

WHY DIDNT PERCY GO THROUGH THE CHIMERA'S FIRE BLAST. IT WOULDVE SHOWN HIS RESISTANCE TO FIRE AS A SON OF POSEIDON THATS PLAYED WITH BIT MORE IN SEA & LABRYNTH

the rivers meant to be way more polluted btw

i do like the accurate change to the arch tho. showing that the water reached up and grabbed him was kinda the "duh" answer but if you read this scene plainly without much thought then yeah in the books the arch goes over the river so. it wasnt even that much of a discussion point bc pjo universe architecture was different i guess

anaklusmos is meant to fall out the arch during the fight, not further in, and percy's meant to have a good length of time standing on the arch without the sword returning to his pocket

have i mentioned that so far all these monster fights are disappointing and lackluster

oh btw the taxi scene after lotus? fucking hate how thats MORE dramatic than the actual MONSTER FIGHTS

the arch being a temple to athena or whatever? nice change, dont really like how it replaced more architecture talk tho. shouldve been an add-on in the middle of annabeths geeking out bout the math n structure that percy tries to focus on but annabeth shrugs it off and goes on about the perfect balance of the lean-to stuff (i dont know architecture)

her "so poseidon can't ruin it" about the earthquake protection plate things though? rude and not what show annabeth shouldve said since theres been no/little "poseidon vs athena" rivalry talk (besides annabeth praying to her mom and getting shunned & percy not praying and getting saved. that was a good parallel).

adding indigenous folk to grover's talk of genocide & erasure was good, just wish there was more on it & throughout more of the quest

them throwing in the "not all monsters are monsters" and "not all demigods are heroes" talk seemed kinda half-assed and like they didnt really know where to go with it. i like it bc itll be expanded on with like circe a bit & zoë & ethan nakamura / luke / the demigods on the titan's army & especially with tyson all throughout sea. but like. if i hadnt read the books then id think they added those points just bc they were expected to, especially since its not even brought up again in later episodes

wasted opportunity for not saying "Isn’t that a kind of anteater?" what happened to my sassy boy you didnt have to change the sass guys that line is still funny pleaseee

rip gladiola & rip the signs of life whenver pan is mentioned

okay so i could understand the centaurs in the first book not partying bc maybe rick didnt think of that until the next one but? the show centaurs not partying? sure maybe its not the party ponies maybe its another sector/group but like. cmon. i wouldve laughed if they had those glow stick necklaces & a disco ball & shit

what latched onto the outside of the train car btw. what monster was that. i couldnt tell

1st what does froofy mean 2nd that was good dialogue on grovers part

annabeth & percys talk about thalia/luke/her dad... genuinely i dont have much thoughts on it (good or bad) besides that i reread lukes diary after watching that episode & luke & thalia were fine with annabeth joining them. thalia was proud that luke acted how he did with her. didnt really like that she said she had to "earn it" with thalia

ah yes. the dream just before the thalia talk. what the hell did kronos mean "she is coming" was he, for some stupid fucking reason, warning them about echidna??? the nereid??? OR DID HE MEAN GAEA. DID HE FUCKING MEAN HIS MOTHER. WHAT IN THE HELL

how they showed that olympus is connected to the empire state building at the end of ep 3? dislike that. doubly dislike how hermes already knew what was in the box before anyone opened it

"hermes express" hermes, walking to the elevator in the empire state building when we know for a fact they can just beam anywhere:

them not showing DOA at all & not showing the address to the underworld in medusa's area? didnt like that at all, felt less like a scavanger hunt & more like a fetch quest (ik getting the bolt is a fetch quest, but this is like double fetch quest instead of one part fetch one part egg hunt)

ANYONE LEARNING ABOUT THE BETRAYAL PART OF THE PROPHECY BTW??? DIDNT LIKE THAT. PREFERED WHEN PERCY WAS TRYING TO GO AROUND THE PROPHECY/NOT THINK ABOUT IT. also the betrayal hasnt been mentioned since except when they decided to blame clarisse, but that was as the lightning thief & not friend betrayal

okay so the bus scene & them turning a fury (alecto?) to stone. didnt like the changes. i feel like they changed it so percy's mortal kill count doesnt start so young (half joking) but it kinda gets rid of the whole "the gods dont take into account how their emotions/reactions affect mortals". plus the hurricane isnt sudden in montauk, it builds since percy uses the fountain

them shortening the yancy time btw? will agree it makes sense, dont agree that its better/even a neutral change. it gets rid of the gaslighting, the mist, the first instance of the winter solstice, this:

have i mentioned they got rid of all the fucking foreshadowing GODS IT PISSES ME OFF

okay back to medusa. her not being able to get you if shes invisible? isnt how i imagined her eyes working in pjo & the myths. also i understand not wanting to show beheading in a "kids show" but also why invisible you can just have it happen just off screen until they get it in a bag (which yeah wouldve been fundementally the same as invisible but cmon)

dislike the medusa plan change. 'i'll get in the air & draw her attention' thats literally the opposite of what they wanted in the books

WHY WAS THERE FIRE ON THE STAIRS WHY DID THE BASEMENT LOOK LIKE THAT WHY WAS IT A BASEMENT & NOT LIKE A BIG GARAGE-TYPE THING (my dad explained that the fire could have been a reference to the 1981 clash of titans with the flickering suspense kind of scary but may i point out: that would be a reference to a 1981 thing in a modern kids show)

good to know her veil material is enough to block her gaze btw though. like that was a thin material and it was ENOUGH??? you didnt even have to make her invisible you probably couldve just worn your shirt on your head & saw through the tiny holes

mother/son possible relationship between medusa and percy WAY BETTER than the grooming that happens & i could definitely see as a possibility. a wild possibility but its possible

the cgi for the nereid was terrible btw. the sound for the sizzling in the percy & medusa convo was so fake. the straw empty noise grover does drinking his lemonade should not be possible with how much was actually left in his cup. that pastry grover ate should not have crunched.

copy paste of a disc note: "and you are a liar" telling the person who is centuries older than you. from a time where the gods were actively worshipped. that they are a liar about what happened to them???? what in the FUCK

another copy paste note: "my mother is just. always" is your mother the goddess of what is just??? the goddess of justice??????? no. what the fuck

the slow release of medusa's "true" myth annoyed me bc every time new info came up i was like "oh so its this myth" and then more came up and i was like "okay its this iteration" and then more info came and i just about yelled in frustration

"i dont like bullies" giving percy's lines to medusa

another copy paste note: "WE'RE NOT OUR PARENTS AFTER ALL" IS WHAT PERCY SAYS ON THE CAR RIDE WITH ARGUS TO NY PROPER. WHICH MAKES ANNABETH STOP BEING AS ANTAGONISTIC

another copy paste: theres a reason aunty em in the books used fast food containers for her food and NOT REFLECTIVE SHIT. WHAT IS THIS SILVER COVER. YOU SPEAK OF THE MEDUSA MYTH AND THEN MAKE HER HAVE REFLECTIVE SHIT THATS NOT A CAMERA LENS

another another: "you are concerned that i would hold a grudge against you simply because you are a daughter of athena?" that. is what happens in the books yes. you hold a grudge against annabeth and you try and manipulate/groom percy bc you loved poseidon

grover was the only one not enticed by aunty em's magic/mist/food, which was odd, bc hes eaten most everything before and hinted that something was off. bc yknow in the books they DIDNT KNOW IT WAS MEDUSA TIL THEY ALMOST DIED

why was there a bell on her home door. why is her home next to her store

sally empathizing with medusa? fine. her not telling percy all of the different myth versions? not fine.

"i think we can trust her" is literally medusa

have i mentioned the poor travelling orphan circus bc i miss that

GROVER SHOULDNT CARE ABOUT HAMBURGER SMELL??? HES VEGETARIAN???

oh right zeus just not striking down the two vehicles. makes sense, he doesnt have his bolt for a precision strike, but come on

was this where we got "names have power"? i dont remember if its here or not at all. especially since they continue to say names. and yes this was in the book i know its both funny and smack-my-head-against-the-wall worthy throughout the series

copy paste: "youre not the frightened little girl i came for all those years ago" yeah you didnt go for annabeth. you went for thalia. you got what you wanted (maybe not entirely but whatever). the fuck are you ON about alecto

annabeth not knowing how to function in a gas station was good and funny and sad

carrying the shoes in the box btw? terrible. shouldve immediately given them to grover before leaving camp. or. better yet. luke shouldve had witnesses for giving the shoes to percy so it wouldve been immediate

FORGOT ARGUS WASNT IN THIS. DISAPPOINTED

copy paste: "do exactly as i say" im not sure i like how theyre trying to portray the bossiness of annabeth. its different but its still the same level of bossiness. "are we clear?" honey you havent been outside camp since you were SEVEN. youre TWELVE. get OVER YOURSELF

"she met a pinecone's fate" was fucking hilarious and i will not hear otherwise

annabeth saying goodbye to thalia is fantastic

"i thought about choosing you before i chose grover" I HATE THE CHANGES THEY DID TO GETTING THE QUEST. percy chooses grover IMMEDIATELY and is all "oh jee willikers i wonder who would be stupid enough to volunteer for this surely deadly quest" and annabeth rips her hat off and half forces herself on the quest (she was pushy but percy did agree so. half.). there wasnt the 'telling the entire head of cabins' there wasnt 'debating on luke' THERE WASNT ANY OF THAT SHIT

poor canada. that shade is meant to be next season with the cannibals and oh wait theres probably not gonna be cannibals bc "kids show". right. chuck e cheese was a good fuckin joke tho

chiron isnt that straight forward that he suspects hades and that the entrance to the underworld is in la. small thing but D: hes a teacher he should still have the 'lead the kids to the answer' instinct

now for eps 1 & 2 i didnt make live notes, i did it hours after watching them, so ill definitely miss shit

no myth to make zeus thinking poseidon would genuinely want to unseat him actually make sense

no storm getting past the barrier, no campers reaction to that, no calling zeus crazy

NO DOLPHIN THREAT D:

i hated that there was nothing between his claiming and the quest. wheres the alienating. wheres the dislike. wheres the new expectations & disgust & fear. WHERES THAT DAMN NEWSPAPER

also hated how there was NO HELLHOUND

no nemesis foreshadowing (ik rick got her wrong at first, saying she was a god n not a goddess, and it might not have been intentional but ethan nakamura sure was important)

no talking about zeus, hera, artemis, & hades cabins??? for some reason???

no balanced sword talk

NO BLUE CHERRY COKE WHAT THE FUCK

no monsters stoked in the woods, no harpies, no naiads, no "Not a single living thing."

no talk about how monsters revive, no talk of the move west, no mention of chiron age & still being needed as a teacher of heroes. also NO STELE. WHYYYYY

there was no pull to poseidon's cabin

THERE WAS NO HESTIA. IM SO PISSED

why did grover have to TELL percy that his mom might still be alive. percy IMMEDIATELY thinks that when he gets the idea that maybe this greek shit is real. or, at least, he thinks he can get her back

the hermes cabin was not NEARLY crowded enough. its meant to be FILLED. its meant to be BARELY ANY WALKING SPACE. not. like. maybe three kids on the floor. plus no laughter at percy asking when hes gonna get claimed

no mention of the romans???

percy didnt really??? go through a denial phase in the show??? for some reason???

personal opinion: i couldnt even get through the dionysus talk btw. too awkward. i skimmed the subtitles & didnt have my headphones on

the only mention of capital G god & the metaphysical & the Gods was when percy thought he was the second coming of christ. that was funny ill give you that. however. wheres the overwhelming lore dump

was there? a science talk? i dont think there was. whyy

for some reason they didnt get into mr d's restriction all that much

BARELY ANY GROVER FEARING MR D. NO MR D & SATYR CONNECTION

no ambrosia no nectar no grover bleating

theres been no cursing in greek or latin so far btw. why. i feel like you could ask plenty of people for a good translation, if the ogs sucked. and im sure the kids could get a good enough score from people who speak greek/ancient greek and latin

there was no memory of poseidon seeing percy as a baby???

no nature magic thing with percy replicating the thing grover did on the bus at gabe and having the door slam him. maybe bc rick didnt think that made much sense since its never shown again but that was Funny

gabe seems less like an abusive drunkard and more like a dirty loser (yes ik he restricts/feels entitled to all comunication & financial whatnot & that is abuse but so far (AS OF EPISODE SEVEN (7)) he doesnt deserve to get turned to stone for that)

ive basically already mentioned everything else previous except: percy vaporizing alecto bc anaklusmos just so happened to be opening in a way where alecto was in the way? and that made her die? wheres the instinct??? i dont care if percy's visibly shit at swinging that sword, there shouldve been the instinct to get up and swing

lastly: anaklusmos shouldve been given back after alecto & returned before quest. using her during the minotaur was useless and, again, didnt show the power boost percy gets from all water (rain)

now on the names topic: im not saying br-oo-ner. its spelt brun-er, i say brun-er. they also say th-augh-lee-ah. i will still say th-AH-lee-ah

i will just reiterate this is for fun. this is fun for me and if youve read all of this then it should be fun for you, too, to complain/discuss this. if its not and youre genuinely pissed off with my observations: i do not care. barely anything you say will change my opinions/observations, and if youre aggressive im immediately throwing your opinion away. this is fun for me. this is how i have fun. this is a saltwater fountain to those that also have fun discussin/breaking shit apart. if you dont find it fun, then go enjoy your olive branch away from here

to anyone that also has fun with this: tear my observations apart. tell me everything that i got wrong bc i only read some books years ago. dont worry about spoiling me. i dont care about spoilers. i prefer all the info upfront instead of gatekept behind "but itll ruin your experience when you read it for the first time!!!!" i spoiled myself about who nico's dad was when i was on sea of monsters okay im fine. i know jason's circumstances in trials of apollo. i might not know everything that happened in house of hades (or anything about trials and later) but that shouldnt stop you.

ill state again: i like the show. the show's alright. im not sure id call it good because ive read the books & i do prefer book lightning thief to the show. but i like it and am hoping it gets more seasons. i hope we at least finish last olympian, but i would like to see hoo get adapted.

some of these are complaining for the sake of it (down to a grain of sand), some of these are actual criticisms about the adaptation (the removal of the foreshadowing that was in the books & abscense of groundworks for later books & hoo (yes i saw the kids with purple shirts in the lotus scene thats not enough)), some mightve been criticisms of it as a show (plenty of people have mentioned that the pacing is bad, i didnt want to focus on it). it's all in good fun

i do have a thought though: This could've easily been a rewritten book. In fact, it would've been far better as a rewritten, first-person limited book. I think it would've taken less time (able to just write your vision and not have barely any stage directions as your only descriptors & run it by writers, directors, actors, etc.), less money (12-15 MILLION usd per EPISODE??? compared to a writing program & looking for someone to publish it???), and would've taken less time (writing, waiting for approval, casting, booking, filming, post production, waiting, uploading, waiting for renewal, repeat. compared to writing at your own speed & publishing whenever (possibly even waiting until enough books are done?)). My reading fanfic more than traditional books/watching shows/movies definitely affects my opinion, I will readily admit that. But I think my own imagination of the happenings in the book would've been fine. Would there be new fans? Probably not as many. Would old fans come back? Again, probably not as many. Would it have been better? I think so.

TLDR: there were more neutral changes than good ones, a lot weren't good (comparatively), some were funny, some got rid of the funny, this is fun for me and if it wasn't for you then L. die madge. i want to hear other's opinions though. and i think this show should've been a rewritten first-person book and not a tv show.

[peach-fiz]

I actually didn't even bother watching the second season of Loki because of the cheap marketing and inconsistent storytelling.

It just felt like the plot was lifted off somewhere it would have made sense, and a character with a similar ego was replaced with Loki and goes through an arc that might have made sense for a blank slate character, but not someone who already has a backstory.

Loki doesn't even feel like Loki after three episodes in S1. The whole point of having a show like that just seems to be about the TVA and Sylvie.

Also the whole genderfluid thing. They 'confirmed' it in the promo and had a line in the script that went completely against anything they just said.

I knew at once that the writers, directors and other parts of production were really just pulling it in different directions and it would probably sound like a jazz trumpeter and a metal guitarist trying to improvise after knowing each other for 15 minutes.

I've been meaning to watch it just so I can have educated opinions on all of it but it's just,, so hard to get into. I definitely agree the marketing was cheap, they did with the 80s McDonald's like they did DB Cooper!Loki and made it centric to the advertising because McDonalds was also getting something out of it which is kinda ass seeing as realistically Loki Laufeyson would burn 6 of them down before he ate in one 😭

I personally don't like either of the major ships in the show but the forced Sylki shit in season 1 really got to me. Like not only did she completely replace him as the main character in HIS show, she's also a variant of him who he wants to make out with and overall it just reads as lazy writing and it's extremely disappointing that Mike Waldron has been put in charge of Multiverse of Madness and The Kang Dynasty since, due to the popularity of the Loki TV show. I was talking to my boyfriend about this last night but it kinda reminds me of the complaints people had ab the last Indiana Jones movie but opposite? Like everyone complained his best friend's daughter was gonna replace him bc she's a Mary Sue and she rlly isnt, she's more reminiscent of Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark she just doesn't wanna fuck him. But the difference is Indy is a character who's majorly blank for little boys to project themselves onto. Which is great!! It works for those kind of movies, but they're not character development centric like the individual mcu movies tend to be. Loki is characterized in a way that he's drowning in identity issues and family problems and he experiences growth in every installment whether it be positive or negative. It doesn't make sense to take the formula of an Indidna Jones movie where he meets up with a woman who's typically a love interest and has her own issues that are only slightly touched on because that's not the focus, and they go do the plot.

Sylvie is not an Indy Girl, they straight up are trying to replace Loki with Sylvie. And you can tell the character wasn't supposed to have as much importance as she does in the show bc the character was worked on more after the actress they chose was buddies with a producer ( and this is no hate to the actress I'm sure she's delightful everything I've seen her in in terms of interviews has been lovely ).

I also absolutely agree they should've just made a tva mini series to introduce the tva rather than bringing back a dead character who soon will not make much sense anyway because Tom Hiddleston is getting older (and also he deserves to branch out in his career).

The genderfluid thing was a cash grab and it sucks ass, they just want money for acknowledging things already canon in the comics, same with confirming him as bisexual.

My boyfriend is actually writing a fic on ao3 called Find Me that's rlly good if you want Loki content that isn't related to the show.

(YES this is shameless promotion sshhhhshshsh) but fr the loki TV show makes me more confident in my screenwriting bc t h a t got put on disney plus. I'm also working on a Loki show rewrite in my spare time!!

[butchyeons]

up in space

check it out on ao3!

najeonghyo poly domestic au (ft. ryeji). this fic focuses on jihyo, who’s a traveling nurse, coping with a patient she was really fond of’s passing. also she’s trans and futch bc i said so. jeongyeon and nayeon her emotional support butch and femme respectively. they are very in love!!

trigger warning for discussions of cancer and death. i also use the d slur once but not in a bad way?? if any of that bothers you feel free to skip this one! this fic is a heavy read, so pls be warned!

other tags: hurt/comfort, angst, implied sexual content/jokes, grieving, fluff, domestic stuff idk, discussions of being trans/taking estrogen shots

tysm for all the support on my fics so far! it rlly means a lot. hope you all enjoy- and let me know what you think! this au is rlly special to me and i’ll probably write more in the future bc i love them.

———

Losing a patient was never easy. But this time, it was so much different.

Jihyo did her best to focus on the road- on the long expansion of highway ahead of her. Each time she thought about it, more tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, just like how they had been for the past three days of her shift.

Jihyo wanted to blame it on the estrogen, like she always did. But after being on it for five years, there was only so much blame she could place on her shots. In the back of her mind she could hear Jeongyeon chuckling at her, could see Nayeon giving her that look of sympathy.

“Yah, Jihyo. After a while it becomes less of the hormones and more part of being a woman.” Jeongyeon had said over dinner one night, after Jihyo had spent her whole afternoon crying her eyes out about work. Again.

Jihyo thought that she really understood it now.

Yeji was a sweet girl. She had been in and out of the hospital for years, fighting leukemia. She was diagnosed at a young age, grew up with it. Jihyo met her when she was freshly 13. On the day of her 13th birthday, actually. Jihyo watched as her family- her mom, dad, older sister, and her best friend- brought her a cake and sang her happy birthday. She had one of the brightest smiles Jihyo had ever seen.

Jihyo traveled from hospital to hospital- it was her job to go where she was needed, to specialize in a little bit of everything when it came to pediatrics. But in all her time as a nurse, the hundreds of thousands of patients she saw, she had never found herself as attached to one as she did Hwang Yeji.

She always reminded Jihyo so much of herself. Of that scared little girl that had always lived deep inside her, even before her transition. How that scared little girl never gave up, no matter how bad it got.

When she noticed how that best friend of hers- Ryujin, that was the girl’s name- would stare at her like she put the sun in the sky, she knew. And when she noticed how tightly Yeji would hold Ryujin’s hand as she got the needle in her port changed, how Yeji practically clung to Ryujin during her nausea episodes, she knew.

It reminded her a lot of something she lived through.

The sight of Nayeon in her own hospital bed, her leg shattered, half sobbing as she got the news that she would never be able to walk without pain again- how she wouldn’t be able to return to teaching, effectively getting her passion stolen away in a single afternoon. Jeongyeon held her hand, her expression stern, her eyes never once leaving her wife’s face as the doctor explained the next steps- the surgeries, the physical therapy. Jihyo stood there too, on the other side of Nayeon’s bed, exhausted from having to speed halfway across the country at Jeongyeon’s call. She felt like her heart had broken into a million pieces, scattered in every direction by a wind so strong that she’d never be able to find them all again.

Jihyo had only been with them for a year, then. But when she looked at them, she saw an entire universe. She already knew both of them better than she knew herself. She already knew her specialties, the place she held in both of their lives- fitting in exactly where she needed to, when she needed to. She also already knew then that she would spend the rest of her days with them, if she could.

So when Yeji mentioned her girlfriend to Jihyo one day while she was fixing her IV, Jihyo smiled. She listened, like she always did. She told her she was happy for her, talked about her partners, too. How they were the same. How they had each other, no matter what. Yeji smiled back.

“I hope I can have that one day, too, Ms. Park.”

It was just shy of Yeji’s 16th birthday when Jihyo came back to find her bed empty. It had been a month and a half since Jihyo had been assigned to that hospital. The last time Jihyo spoke with her, they talked about school- how Ryujin had taken their soccer team to the national championships after one last tie-breaker goal in overtime. Yeji was sad she couldn’t be there. She wanted nothing more than to be with Ryujin, was what she told Jihyo.

When she was talking, she was falling asleep. She had been doing that more lately. Jihyo did her best to keep her awake as she changed the needle in her port, told her how good she was doing. Jihyo couldn’t help but notice that she looked so pale, how her vibrant smile had dimmed just slightly. She told Yeji to tell her parents that she said hi, to tell Ryujin congratulations and good luck. She said she couldn’t wait to see her again.

Jihyo gripped the steering wheel impossibly tighter. Her eyes stung, angry thorns of tears working their way up to the surface. She tried to focus on the road- the darkness making everything a bit harder to see. She needed to get glasses. She needed to get home. She needed to get to them.

———

It was nearly 2 am by the time Jihyo pulled into the driveway. The lights were still on in the house- clearly, they were still up. Jihyo mentally scolded them for staying awake for her. But the moment she walked up the steps, only for Jeongyeon to open the door before she could even get her keys out, she forgot all about it.

Jeongyeon didn’t say anything, just held her arms out. Jihyo stepped into them, dropping her backpack on the porch somewhere beside her. Her head found its usual spot- the junction between Jeongyeon’s neck and her shoulder, her nose pressed against the older woman’s pulse point. Jeongyeon just held her, like she always did.

Jeongyeon was all muscle- solid, heavy. She worked outside and it showed. She was rough around the edges, her fingertips worn like the sandpaper she used daily. Jihyo never felt safer than she did in Jeongyeon’s arms.

“Nayeon told me everything- baby, I’m so sorry.” Jeongyeon whispered, her lips brushing against the top of Jihyo’s head.

Jihyo couldn’t miss the way her voice cracked. That’s when she couldn’t hold her tears back anymore.

Jihyo didn’t say anything- she couldn’t, didn’t need to. She just cried. She cried the big, ugly tears she held back for the past three days. She pressed herself into Jeongyeon’s shoulder, her face contorted in pain as she let it all out. Jeongyeon just held her, swaying them both as they stood on the porch, underneath the singular dim light that Jihyo had been meaning to change.

Jihyo had been through so much. Her transition was rough- what she expected to be a casual step into womanhood felt more like a downward freefall with no parachute. She lost everything- her home, her family, her entire support system. But it all seemed so trivial compared to this. At the end of the day, she was breathing. No matter how far she fell, she had someone who could catch her. Two amazing people, actually. And they caught her every single time she fell- over and over again.

The other nurses told her Ryujin was there when she passed. They said they had to practically rip her body out of Ryujin’s arms. They had never seen someone so young but so full of love. Yeji had someone who caught her, too. Even if there was nothing left to catch.

Jihyo asked whatever God was listening to make sure that those two girls met again in the next life, and in every life afterwards. It was the least they deserved. The thought of those two never meeting again in this one made her sob even harder.

“I know, baby.” Jeongyeon whispered, her hand holding the back of Jihyo’s head to her chest, her other arm still wrapped securely around her waist. “I know.”

———

When Jihyo finally calmed down, Jeongyeon helped her inside. She left her in the living room, taking her backpack up to their room. Jihyo could only really stand there, swaying slightly as she stared at the ground- unstable without Jeongyeon to hold her up.

Nayeon, who had been sleeping on the couch snoring peacefully with her jaw half slack, finally stirred. Her eyes slowly opened, a smile forming on her lips as soon as she registered the figure in front of her to be Jihyo. She tried to sit up.

“Jih- ah!” She yelped as she shifted, her leg caught at an awkward angle from how she’d been laying.

At the sound, Jihyo came back down to earth. She quickly rushed to her side, helping her adjust. One of her arms supported Nayeon’s lower back, the other going under the backs of her knees. She helped lift Nayeon up to that she was sitting up straight, her legs out in front of her. She counted to three out loud, waiting for Nayeon to give her a nod, before shifting her again so that her back rested against the back of the couch, her feet on the floor in front of her.

“You really shouldn’t sleep like that, Nay…” Jihyo muttered, no real bite to her words, as she kissed Nayeon’s forehead.

“I know, I just wanted to see you.” Nayeon replied as Jihyo sat down beside her.

“I’ve told you not to stay up late for me.”

“Don’t care.”

“Nayeon-“

Jihyo was cut off as Nayeon pulled her in for a kiss. Their lips met softly, Nayeon’s hand cupping her cheek, helping angle Jihyo’s mouth better to meet hers.

If Jeongyeon was rock, Nayeon was fire. Jihyo always melted right into her. No amount of walls Jihyo had built up could ever resist the pure heat that radiated off of Nayeon. At first it was scary- she had never met someone who made her feel so vulnerable, open. But now the heat was welcomed- needed. It kept Jihyo alive. She wouldn’t want it any other way.

“There’s dinner in the fridge if you’re hungry.” Nayeon whispered as she pulled away, her hand still caressing Jihyo’s cheek. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. I ate on the way home earlier.” Jihyo whispered, her eyes closed. “I’ll have some for lunch tomorrow.”

The couch shifted behind Jihyo. She felt a familiar arm wrapping around her waist, steadying her.

“You better.” Jeongyeon whispered, her nose finding Jihyo’s neck. “She made it just for you- the pickiest eater I’ve ever met.”

Jihyo chuckled.

“You both signed up for my picky eating the night you picked me up at the bar.”

Jeongyeon huffed, pulling Jihyo’s back against her front. She pressed a kiss to Jihyo’s neck.

“And you’ve been a pain in the ass ever since. I love you so much.”

“I love you more.” Nayeon added, leaning in to kiss Jihyo again. “So much more.”

If Jeongyeon was the moon and Nayeon was the sun, Jihyo was the constellation that lay between the two of them. She needed them as much as they needed her.

“No fighting.”Jihyo whispered between kisses. “I’m too tired to deal with it.”

Nayeon chuckled as she pulled away, her thumb stroking Jihyo’s cheek.

“You started it.”

“Did not.” Jihyo said, smirking.

Before Nayeon could go back in for another kiss, Jeongyeon groaned. She pulled her face away from Jihyo’s neck, both of her arms still wrapped around the younger woman’s waist.

“Can we go to bed?” She asked.

Jihyo tilted her head back, resting fully against Jeongyeon’s front.

“You don’t even have work tomorrow.”

“I wanted to get some work done around the house.” Jeongyeon grunted.

Jihyo hummed.

“Can it wait a day?”

Jeongyeon huffed through her nose, pressing a kiss to the side of Jihyo’s head.

“Do you need a day?”

Whenever Jihyo had an exceptionally bad shift, she always needed a period of decompression. And usually that decompression consisted of laying around with her girls, watching mindless dramas or reality tv, and lots of kisses. And sex, too. But mainly the first three.

“I need a day.” Jihyo replied.

“You can take as much time as you need, Ji.” Nayeon said as she scooted herself closer. “I know how much you cared about her.”

Jihyo sighed, but smiled sadly. Her thoughts were racing still. It felt like an open wound directly on the center of her heart- everything kept bothering it. There was so much she wished she could’ve said or done. She didn’t even get to say goodbye.

“I love you both.” Was all Jihyo could say before the tears came back again.

———

None of them spoke anymore that night. They didn’t really need to. Jeongyeon helped Nayeon get up from the couch, her arm secured around her wife’s waist as she led her back to their bedroom. Jihyo followed behind them, sneaking off into to master bathroom after giving them both one last kiss.

She needed a shower- needed to wash the hospital smell out of her hair, to get the days of built up sweat off of her skin. She did her best to not think about it anymore- tried to focus on the things she could be doing instead, on what she had right in front of her. Her therapist told her she tended to dwell on the “what ifs”, which always blinded her from the “right nows”. And right then, she was home, safe. Surrounded by love.

She was so damn lucky to have them- to be loved by them. They saved her life, and she saved theirs. That’s how they worked. That’s how they would always work.

After she finished blowdrying her hair, too exhausted to do her sacred skincare routine, she slinked out of the bathroom. Nayeon was already asleep again- snoring loudly. Next to her, Jeongyeon was still looking at her phone. As soon as Jihyo got into her pajamas, she leaned over and turned the bedside lamp off. Jihyo crawled in between the two of them, doing her best to not jostle Nayeon, who just shifted slightly, her arm instinctively throwing itself over Jihyo’s waist in her sleep.

Jeongyeon adjusted herself so that Jihyo was resting her head on her chest, like always. Jeongyeon was warm- she got so warm when the three of them slept together that eventually she just opted to sleep in boxers and nothing else- but Jihyo needed it. Her body shivered a bit, still adjusting to the temperature shift from the bathroom. Somehow, Nayeon wiggled even closer to her, her arm getting even tighter as she was still snoring.

No matter what happened, Jeongyeon and Nayeon always kept Jihyo tied down, grounded. No matter how high up she floated, they always managed to pull her back in. They had a gravitational pull all of their own- the sun, moon, and stars all in one bed together.

“Love you.” Jihyo muttered, her eyes finally closing easily for the first time in days.

“Love you too. Always will.” Jeongyeon answered.

It didn’t take long at all for both of them to fall asleep.

———

The next time Jihyo worked at that hospital, the head nurse, Dahyun, stopped her.

“Hey, Jihyo. Someone came by and left this letter for you a few days ago.” She said, handing an envelope to her.

Jihyo raised her eyebrows, examining it. It was a yellow envelope, her name written on the front. It was held closed with a sticker of the smiling cat emoji. She thanked Dahyun as she folded it in half and placed it in one of the pockets of her scrubs, heading off to help another patient.

When she got to her lunch break, she finally got to check it. She sat in her car, her lunchbox out on the seat beside her. Inside, Nayeon had made sure to pack all of her favorites to last her for the few days she was gone, along with her usual handwritten note wishing her good luck (which was Jihyo’s favorite part of lunchtime). She picked out one of the sandwiches and a bag of chips before closing the bag back up.

She reached inside her pocket and pulled the envelope out. Jihyo carefully opened it, doing her best to not rip the cat sticker, taking out the letter that was inside. It was written on notebook paper in blue ink- the page covered in other tiny, scribbled drawings of cats. The handwriting was a bit messy, but still somehow neat- extremely unique. When she noticed the name at the top, Jihyo smiled.

Ms. Park,

This is Shin Ryujin. I’m not sure if you’ll remember me, but you took care of my girlfriend, Hwang Yeji, up until she passed. I wanted to write you this letter as a way of saying thank you. You helped her through some really hard times, without even knowing. Her parents weren’t really happy about us being together. Of course, they wouldn’t leave her, but they scolded me and her a lot. It sucked to have that on top of everything else.

But what didn’t suck was when you were there. You were a really good shoulder for her to lean on. She was always so happy telling me about you and your partners (wives? I hope you guys get married or something). You helped her accept a lot of herself. That helped me accept a lot of myself, too.

She wanted to be a nurse, just like you. She wanted to open her own hospital, eventually. All she ever thought about was helping others, no matter how sick she got. She even still tried to give blood when we did blood drives at school for her. She was the sweetest girl I had ever met. I think I’ll love her until the day I die. I hope you feel that way about your girls, too.

Even though there was nothing that could be done to prevent what happened, you really saved her life. You saved mine, too. Please, keep doing what you do. You really were a lifeline for two clueless lesbians, haha. Hopefully you’ll help more in the future. In fact, I know you will.

Thank you for everything. I can only hope to meet you again in the future. I’ll never forget you. I hope you never forget us.

- Shin Ryujin

P.S. We won the championship! Thank you for the well wishes. Yeji passed a few days after. I told her I’d win for her- and I did.

I think I’ll keep doing everything for her.

Attached to the letter was a picture of them. It was a selfie- Ryujin holding the phone up while Yeji smiled that same brilliant smile that Jihyo always knew. She was bundled up in a jacket, sweater, and a beanie, while Ryujin only had on a sweatshirt. They were at the beach- the ocean waves crashing onto the shore behind them. The bottom of the photo had a date written- February. Yeji had passed in late April.

It was a lot for Jihyo to read, to take in. She felt a pit form in her stomach- a black hole that would open up and swallow her. She set the letter and photo down, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She looked out at the side of the hospital building- trying to count the bricks on the side of the wall, trying to give herself something to keep her grounded.

It really wasn’t enough. She needed something stronger, needed her gravitational pull- she needed her universe.

Jihyo immediately pulled her phone out and called Jeongyeon. Really, her number was off limits except for emergencies. But she figured she would let this one slide. She quickly found Jeongyeon’s contact and pressed the call button.

The line rang a few times before someone picked up. Jihyo was met with the clear sounds of a jackhammer whirring in the background, along with men yelling at one another. And then there was Jeongyeon’s laugh.

“Mind your business- Seriously, Changbin. Get back to work- I’m your boss. I can do what I want. Shut up.” Jeongyeon yelled- clearly, one of her guys was up her ass about her taking a phone call.

After a few more moments of bickering over the sounds of heavy machinery, Jihyo listened as a door slammed- all the noises cutting out in an instant. She smiled when Jeongyeon huffed.

“This better be good, Park Jihyo.” She said, annoyed. But that act faded immediately, like it always did. “Are you okay?”

“Yah, Jeongyeon. I’m pregnant. It’s yours.” Jihyo said, grinning as she took a bite of her sandwich.

“I’m finally gonna be a dad?” Jeongyeon asked in that stupid, playful voice of hers, feigning excitement.

“Seems like it. Was daddy just not good enough for you?”

“Oh that’s never enough, baby. Need to actually get you-“

“Oh my god, Jeongyeon- shut up.” Jihyo said, cutting off the older woman, nearly choking on her food. “You’re so- god you can’t even- you’re disgusting!”

Jihyo sputtered over her words as she coughed. Jeongyeon just laughed. Typical.

“God- are you busy?” Jihyo asked once she was able to breathe.

“I’m at work, Hyo. Yes.”

“Well do you have a second?”

“For you.” Jeongyeon sighed. Jihyo could hear her smile through the phone. “What’s wrong? You never call at this time. Did something happen?”

“Well, no. But yes.” Jihyo answered, setting her food down to tap at her phone. “Wait. Let me add Nayeon- I need you both here for this.”

Jeongyeon hummed. Jihyo started the three-way call, the line ringing a few times before Nayeon picked up.

“Hi baby!” She said cheerfully. “Oh wait, you’re both here- did something happen? You never call at work.”

Despite their obvious differences, Jihyo thought it was almost comical how similar Jeongyeon and Nayeon were. Jihyo sighed, smiling down at the call screen.

“I got a letter today. I wanted you both to hear it.”

So, Jihyo read it out to them. By the end of the second read, she was fighting back her tears again. When she told them about the picture, it was nearly impossible to speak without her voice cracking.

It was the estrogen- had to be that. She just took her shot yesterday. That’s what she told herself. That’s why everything felt so heavy, why her voice fluttered between octaves, a bird angrily trying to claw its way out of a cage. The typical symptoms of second puberty- of womanhood.

Jeongyeon and Nayeon were both silent. A few moments passed before there was a sniffle on Jeongyeon’s end.

“Hyo, oh my god.”

Jihyo couldn’t hold back then. She grit her teeth, leaning back into her seat, her body trembling as she gripped her phone- trying to hold back the sobs. She gasped for air without meaning to. She wished she was home, wished she was between her sun and moon.

“You saved her life, Jihyo.” Nayeon whispered.

In Jihyo’s mind, all she saw was the night they met. She had never even been to a gay bar before- but she was down on her luck, needed to have a good time. She still felt like she was pretending, felt like she was dressing up as the idea of a woman. She needed to be around people like her. She had been taking her shots for a month then- living in her car as she traveled from hospital to hospital, praying her patients and coworkers would just be decent. Decency was found few and far between back then.

She was just about to call it a night when a couple came up to her. They asked for her name, asked if she lived in town- said they’d remember seeing a pretty face like hers. When she explained she was just in for a few days before she took off on call again, they asked if she’d like to go home with them- to stay for the night, to have some fun. And how could Jihyo deny the most gorgeous butch and femme she had ever seen of anything, especially after they bought her a drink and showered her in compliments. And then the one night stay turned into a permanent residence, into stability. Decency turned into real, genuine love.

A whole ocean of people were in that bar that night, but somehow the tides pulled them towards each other. She wasn’t even trying to be seen- wanted to let the waves just take her where they felt. But every day she thanks whatever divine being blessed her with the lifeboat that was Yoo Jeongyeon and Im Nayeon, how they pulled her on board and allowed her a spot in their crew. She had her life saved. And more importantly, she got to keep doing the same for others because of it.

“E-Even if she didn’t make it, you saved her.” Nayeon said, clearly choked up on her own tears. “Both of them.”

Jihyo nodded. She had finally calmed down. She stared at the half eaten sandwich, sitting haphazardly in her lap.

“I saw so much of myself in her.” She muttered. “I saw so much of us in both of them. She deserved so much more than she got. Both of them did.”

There was a moment of silence again. The black hole in the pit of Jihyo’s stomach was gone.

“You’re really amazing, Jihyo.” Jeongyeon said, her voice distant. “I don’t even have the words.”

Jihyo let out a huff, smiling. She could feel the floorboard of her car underneath her feet, registered the texture of her shirt as she brushed some breadcrumbs away. Back down on earth.

“You two are biased.”

Both of them made noises of protest, which crackled over the speakers of her phone.

“So what if I am?” Nayeon asked. “You’re one of the most selfless people on this planet. I’m lucky to have you- Jeongyeon and I both are.”

“I will say it until my last breath and mean it every single time-” Jeongyeon cut in. “You are amazing, Park Jihyo. God. You are a life saver- literally.”

Jihyo leaned back in her seat, finally taking another bite of her sandwich. There was no point in arguing with them- that’s how it always was. But their words helped her feel real again. She felt like a human being by their sides.

“Fine. Whatever you say.”

“We wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true, and you know that.” Nayeon said softly.

Jihyo smiled, her face still wet from her tears. Her speakers vibrated when Jeongyeon chuckled, sniffling again.

“God- you call me at work and make me cry. The guys will never let me live this one down.”

Jihyo rolled her eyes, wiping up the last remnants of her emotions with the sleeve of her undershirt.

“So what? They’ll never understand what it’s like to be a woman. Not like we do, anyways.”

Nayeon hummed in agreement, her sweet, bunny-toothed smile clear as day over the phone. Jihyo wished she could see it. Jeongyeon laughed- that bubbly, staggered laugh that Jihyo absolutely adored.

“You’re damn right they won’t.” Jeongyeon said firmly.

———

From that day forward, Jihyo kept the letter and picture in her glovebox. She got over it the best she could- she had to. She knew better than to dwell on it for too long, to spend too much time thinking about the “what ifs”.

But when she was having an exceptionally rough shift, she looked at them. When she was mentally beating herself to a pulp, telling herself how she needed to be better, she thought about them. When she broke herself down to her barest, most raw essentials, examining every part of herself thoroughly before putting it all back together, she reminded herself that there was a point. She had to keep going. If not for herself, for other people. She had people to help, lives to save.

If Ryujin could keep going, she could, too. She had someone to fight for- and so did Jihyo. She had two people.

She was back home, snuggled inbetween Jeongyeon and Nayeon in their bed that was so clearly not made to fit all three of them. Her back was pressed as close as it ever could be to Jeongyeon’s front as Nayeon kissed her, their noses bumping into one another from the weird angle. It made Jihyo giggle, made Nayeon smile even harder. Jeongyeon pressed a kiss to the back of Jihyo’s head.

“Would you two love birds cut it out so I can sleep?” She mumbled, her voice muffled by Jihyo’s hair.

“You’re off tomorrow.” Nayeon said bluntly between more kisses.

Jeongyeon groaned. “I have to get the light on the porch fixed.”

Jihyo eyed Nayeon, who gave her one last kiss, before shifting so that she faced Jeongyeon. Nayeon’s arms replaced Jeongyeon’s easily, finding their usual spot at Jihyo’s waist.

“It’s not that hard to change a lightbulb, baby.” Jihyo whispered as she took Jeongyeon’s face in her hands, her thumbs circling the apples of her cheeks. “I think you’re just getting worn out.”

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, pursing her lips into that signature annoyed smile she always did.

“It’s because of you two.”

Jihyo smirked, Nayeon made an annoyed sound somewhere behind her. She pulled Jeongyeon in for a kiss- deep, but soft. Their lips moved the same way they always had, always would. When Jihyo felt Jeongyeon’s tongue swipe against her lower lip, she shifted again- sitting up to straddle the older woman’s hips, her hands finding her bare chest- never breaking their kiss. Of course, Jeongyeon was already shirtless, heat radiating off of her tanned skin from how closely the three of them were pressed together. Nayeon moved closer, clinging to her wife, her mouth finding its way to Jeongyeon’s collarbone. When Jeongyeon whimpered, Jihyo finally pulled away.

“You love it though, really.” She said, smirking. Her grip tightened, earning another small sound of need.

The sight of Jeongyeon underneath her, of Nayeon holding onto her as if she’d slip away would never fail to make Jihyo feel like she was in heaven. The way their bodies moved together, how natural it all felt- Jihyo was the luckiest person in the entire world. Her whole universe squeezed onto a king sized mattress; the sun, moon, and stars all contained in three tired, old dykes.

Jihyo rolled her eyes. Nayeon pressed a kiss to Jeongyeon’s cheek. Jeongyeon just smiled.

“I do.”

———

Jihyo stepped down from the ladder, wiping the sweat off her brow that had formed in the brief time it took for her to switch out the old lightbulb on the porch. It was the dead of summer now- the sun baring down its rays angrily, warming everything up to what felt like a boiling point.

Beside her, Nayeon sat in one of the chairs, in sunglasses with her favorite sundress on, three glasses of fresh lemonade on the table next to her. Her legs were propped up on the wicker footrest they bought after her accident. A random piece of white wood furniture among all the black metal. It didn’t match the set, but it worked. Jihyo always thought it was funny that she could relate to a footrest.

“She’s still got it in her, doesn’t she?” Nayeon asked, referring to their third half.

Jihyo turned, watching as Jeongyeon fought to turn their push mower on. She gave the chord a few more good pulls, trying her damnedest to get it started. That thing had been giving her hell for the past few weeks- it was on its last leg, needed to be replaced the moment they got it. But the three of them were stubborn, wanted to get their money’s worth out of the 20 year old hunk of metal that they bought used at a garage sale. All ₩40,000 worth.

“I’m more so concerned about why you feel the need to babysit.” Jihyo said, sitting down in the chair beside Nayeon’s.

She took a good look at Nayeon- at the way her bottom lip poked out, pouting as she judged her wife. She pushed her sunglasses up on her head, revealing those beautiful, round eyes. Her face scrunched from the sunlight, her nose crinkling. Jihyo thought she was the prettiest person to have ever existed.

“There’s a masc shortage, sweetheart.” Nayeon said, shifting to get her glass of lemonade off the table. She took a sip. “I can’t have anyone trying to steal her from us.”

Jihyo chuckled. She watched as Jeongyeon finally gave up, letting out an annoyed groan as she kicked the side of the lawnmower. As if by magic, the machine whirred to life. Jeongyeon let out her excited squawks, jumping around it in a circle with her arms up before turning to look up at them on the porch, a giant grin plastered on her face, adorned by those beautiful crescent moon eyes.

Jihyo waved, smiling back. Nayeon clapped beside her, cheering. Jeongyeon took a bow before adjusting herself and cheerfully flexing her biceps- putting on a show for her two favorite girls, as always. Nayeon whistled, and Jihyo rolled her eyes, laughing. She looked like an idiot. Jihyo loved her more than words would ever describe.

“I don’t think anyone besides us wants her that badly, Nay.” Jihyo huffed out, taking a sip of her drink.

“I’d sure hope so.” Nayeon said, looking over at her. “I’m selfish. No one deserves her more than we do. I don’t wanna share.”

Jihyo shared the same sentiment, but didn’t say it. She sat back on her seat, watching as Jeongyeon finally got to mowing the grass- sweat already ruining the muscle shirt that clung to her torso. She glanced over at Nayeon again, who was smiling so brightly, laughing as she watched Jeongyeon do her best to maneuver that piece of junk around the front yard, pulling her sunglasses back down over her eyes.

These were her people. They were her reason for existing, for continuing to exist. They made life seem so simple- so perfect. She had something to fight for that was real, tangible. She was so lucky to have this, to have them. To have them share themselves with her, to lay everything about themselves out on the table for her. Over and over, they shared everything. Jihyo never knew she could have this much love for more than one person- she never knew soulmates could be a trio until she met them.

“I’m gonna go get dinner started. Wanted to make kimchi stew for you.” Nayeon said. “Help me up?”

Jihyo set her drink down. Wordlessly she got up, going over to Nayeon’s side, taking her empty cup from her. She lifted Nayeon’s ankles up and off the footrest, gently setting her feet down on the ground. She moved to wrap her arm around Nayeon’s waist, counted to three, waited for Nayeon’s approval, before hoisting her up. They stood there for a moment, ignoring the heat, pressed as close together as they possibly could be.

“Thank you, baby.” Nayeon said softly, pulling Jihyo in for a kiss.

“It’s not a problem, Nay. You know that.” Jihyo said, smiling as Nayeon pulled away.

“I know.” Nayeon whispered, tapping Jihyo’s cheek a few times with her fingers. “But can’t a girl say thank you to her emotional support futch every once in a while?”

Jihyo snorted.

“I guess she can. Especially when you say it so sweetly.”

She helped Nayeon get inside along with their empty cups, her arm never leaving the older woman’s waist until they made it to the kitchen. Nayeon insisted she could handle it from there. And really, Jihyo knew she could, but the worry would never leave. She had come a long way since the accident- her body bounced back shockingly well. She just needed a little help getting started still, and Jihyo was more than happy to provide it.

After a few more kisses and some filthy comments about what they’d be doing later from Nayeon, Jihyo went back out to check on Jeongyeon. The lawnmower had finally given out, but thankfully Jeongyeon had just finished the yard. She was sitting on the steps, slamming the glass of lemonade that Nayeon had left behind for her.

“You good, Jeong?” Jihyo asked, her arms crossed as she stood behind her.

Jeongyeon finished the glass, grinning from ear to ear as she tilted her head back to look up at Jihyo.

“Never been better, Hyo.”

Jihyo rolled her eyes and helped pull her up. Jeongyeon stretched her arms out, her back cracking loudly. It made both of them laugh. Jeongyeon took the opportunity to pull Jihyo into one of her bear hugs.

“God- Jeongyeon- you’re so sweaty.” Jihyo protested. Her arms wrapped right around Jeongyeon’s waist, her head finding its spot on her shoulder. “Get off of me.”

“You love it though. Can’t get enough of it.” Jeongyeon teased, pressing a kiss to Jihyo’s temple.

“Shut up.” Jihyo hissed, finally pulling away. “Go take a shower.”

Jihyo went back into the house and Jeongyeon followed her. While Jihyo stopped to take her shoes off, Jeongyeon got right behind her, landing a smack on her ass and causing her to yelp.

“C’mon baby. You wouldn’t be complaining about it if I took you right here- you love it that much.” Jeongyeon said, smirking mischievously before running off, back to their bedroom.

“Shut up!” Jihyo yelled, regaining her balance. “Oh my god. You and Nayeon are so nasty! No decorum around here.”

“Wouldn’t be fun if we had any, and you know it.” Nayeon said, peeking her head out from the kitchen. She had her usual grin on her face.

Jihyo rolled her eyes. She walked back to the kitchen and rejoined her partner, helping Nayeon prep the ingredients for the stew. After a bit, Jeongyeon finally came back down- freshly showered, her short, wet hair messy from where she lazily towel dried it. As Jihyo was cutting up pieces of tofu, she watched Jeongyeon walk up behind Nayeon, her arms wrapping around her waist.

Jihyo smiled at the sight of the two of them. Nayeon smiled, leaning back against her wife, whispering something up to her that Jihyo couldn’t quite catch. Jeongyeon just chuckled, her nose pressing into Nayeon’s hair.

She couldn’t help but think about them again- about the life they could’ve had together. She couldn’t help but see a future for them every time she passed by that hospital room. The way Yeji would speak and Ryujin would just listen, smiling. How Ryujin would hold Yeji’s hand the entire time. They deserved something good more than anyone else. She was happy they had each other until the end.

She could only hope to have a love like that. Well, she didn’t really need to hope for it- she had it. It was already right in front of her, their force of gravity pulling her in over and over again.

[sk8termikey]

Chapter 9 of 21 Questions

better interface on wattpad

Lily loml🌻

Bro

The triplets 1st podcast is today

I’m so excited

It seemed awesome already from the trailer last week

I knooow

Kinda mad if it's every monday bc it’s my closing day

Sucks to be you

I love my day off even more now💃🏻💃🏻

Jk i’ll wait for you to watch it tonight like you do for the other vids

Thanks bestie😞

<33

Also the fact they’re gonna have guests is really cool

I really can’t wait to watch the first one

I know they probs have a few episodes recorded

But i hope it won’t be too much work for them now

Ye

3 vids a week

Esp nick who has to edit

Nick our king >>

Fact

Btw i might be home a bit earlier bc the café is kinda dead rn

Just the old couple that comes weekly and they’re almost done

So you won't wait much for me to watch the podcast

Yayy

The one together for 50 years?

I love those old ladies, they’re so cute

Fr and they always leave a huge tip

We don’t deserve them😞

Anyways see you in an hour or so ig

See you soon🫶🏻

When Alex put her phone back in her pocket, the “old ladies” as described by Lily were getting ready to leave. When they reached the counter, they both gave the blonde a sweet smile as one of them pulled out a bill from her wallet.

“The chocolate cake was delicious as always, but did you guys change anything?” One of the ladies asked.

“Yeah Lily did!” Alex knew that her friend would be excited to know that someone had noticed. “She tried adding some chocolate shavings before putting the cake in the oven.”

“Now I’m going to have a hard time deciding which one I like most, but it was as good as the usual recipe. You'll tell her that it reminds me of how my mum would make it”.

Alex couldn’t help the smile growing on her face. The couple had never once been rude to her and her other coworkers when they would come. Lily was always glad when they would compliment her food and it helped improve her self-confidence as chocolate desserts were basically the only thing Lily had mastered. Alex was really happy that she would be able to pass on the message to her friend.

Alex was finally able to close the café after the happy couple left and because the day had been a slow one, she had had time to clean little by little so that she didn’t have much left to do now.

~~~

When Alex arrived home, Lily was waiting for her on the couch. The TV was already set up on the Cut the Camera YouTube channel and some snacks were waiting for the two girls on the table. Alex told Lily to start the podcast as she would just be grabbing a can of Dr. Pepper in the fridge. As Lily did so and clicked on the video, the first out of many “Good morning Campers” from Nick Sturniolo could be heard in the house.

The podcast first started with Nick, Matt and Chris talking about looking alike, which is something that never bothered them much as they know that their viewers are easily able to differentiate them – even Lily could do it without problem by now.

As they then mentioned the fact that some pairs of best friends sometimes looked more alike than them, Lily and Alex exchanged a quick glance before laughing. Even though they had been friends since middle school, they had barely anything in common regarding their physical appearance.

The podcast kept dwelling on growing up as triplets, regarding the impact it could have on their friends but also the annoying comments they would always get from people. However, as they were mostly talking about the negative outcomes, they decided to start listing the positive aspects of growing up with two other people. Nick, Matt and Chris all agreed that being a triplet was the same as having built-in friends who were here for you at all times.

A couple of minutes later, Chris highlighted the support he always felt from his brothers and that the three of them being on the same page is something they all feel lucky about.

Then, as the topic of constant comparison was being tackled, Lily and Alex were quietly listening. The two girls felt very close to the triplets in the way that they were learning about their struggles. Them being so open about it was an opportunity to understand how the Life as Triplets was. What hit the hardest was the moment when Matt summarised the small conversation by explaining that no matter if it's about similarities or differences, people still find a way to compare them.

The podcast eventually finished on a more light-hearted tone as Nick, Matt and Chris were laughing about their high school experience when someone would meet one of them without knowing that they were a triplet. This would lead to them pretending to be one another just for a two seconds conversation in the hallways – and then at the end of the day, debriefing who came up to talk to each of them.

“I just loved it so much, oh my god!” Alex exclaimed as the video ended.

“Me too, like– I absolutely adore the Wednesday and Friday videos but this type of content is so refreshing I don't know”, Lily agreed with her friend. “I feel closer to them, make it make sense I guess”.

“I get you don’t worry, I know we’re gonna have another perspective of their lives and they’re gonna enjoy giving it to us as much as we’re gonna enjoy learning about it.”

“Exactly like…” Lily thought for a few seconds, “an inside point of view of not only the Sturniolo Triplets but simply Nick, Matt and Chris as people, just individuals. This is what they're trying to make people realise, they're not only triplets – even though that's a bit of their brand I guess – but they are also their own person.”

The two girls were just really excited to see more of this new project from the triplets, although Alex had to share some semi bad news:

“However, I have no idea if I’ll have the motivation to watch an hour of podcast every Monday when I come home from work”.

“Oh yeah, I understand”. Lily put a comforting hand on Alex’s shoulder while trying to find a solution. “Just pick a day and we’ll catch up at that time!”

“I mean, I might not even watch it weekly if I’m honest so– I won’t mind and it might actually be best that you watch them whenever you want like when they come out if that’s what you prefer and I’ll postpone my ‘watch podcast sessions’ until I have enough attention span to listen to them for a whole hour”, Alex explained.

“If that’s okay with you yeah I’m fine with that”, Lily let out a smile. “We’ll still have to discuss it obviously”.

“Of course”, Alex immediately agreed. “Lots of new info we’ll have to talk about!”

What they didn’t know yet is that watching the next podcasts on their own would finally enable Lily to choose her favourite triplet as she would realise that one of them might be a bit too relatable for her taste, and maybe a tiny bit too attractive on camera.

Thank you for reading. Votes and comments are always appreciated if you like this story :) The story is co-written w @/little_grapejuice on wattpad

[nerdylittleguy]

How Knockout could be Mr Smelt, continued!

This post is a continuation of my previous post, made prior to the newest episode releases. If you haven't read the prior post, you might want to. This should go without saying, but spoilers for episodes 11-18!

No, sadly no fancy mind maps this time round :((

Time to build on my theory with info from the new episodes! Here are some notes I made while watching them about things I found relevant:

FIRST FEW WORDS OF EP11 "DECEPTICONS ARE ALL AROUND US, HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT" AND WHEWWW KO??? ROBOTS IN DISGUISE???

EPISODE 13: Focus on "the teachers" at the beginning. Is teaching much more of a key theme? TARANTULAS WANTS TO DISGUISE HIMSELF WITH A HUMAN AVATAR???!!! JACKPOT!!! THATS WHAT I SAID KO HAS DONE, SO ITS POSSIBLE??? Remote piloting... Like my original theory!! Omg!!!

Episode 14: BREAKDOWN!!!!!!! AHSHAHYSHAISBAUANSOJAIANAJDJSJSJJ EEEEEEEEEEEKK!!!! what happened to him. He's basically only relevant bc KOBD, but that race was quite the STUNT, eh? What if mr smelt heard about it? He'd have even more reason to be paranoid, especially now BB is known about, and smelt has seen the new alt mode... And a lot of that race was on TV...

Alright, notes over. Yes, they are a little inaccurate as Tarantulas does actually get his holo-form thing sorted out, I just didn't bother writing it down lmao. But I must say - the holo-form did not disappoint! It did everything that I saw some people say holo-forms shouldn't be able to do, therefore stopping Smelt from being a holo-form, but as we saw, it's all possible! Tarantulas' holo could interact with non-holographic objects, move independently from his body due to the little floaty thing, speak, just generally seemed convincing once all the issues had been ironed out.

And yes, that quote from episode 11 could have been a reference to Tarantulas, Breakdown and everyone else who shows up out of the blue, but i found it fascinating nonetheless - being one of the first pieces of information from the new episodes, it's important... Probably... And somehow.

What with episode 14, I really was hoping for any small reference to KO, but yknow it was a great episode nonetheless!! The cinematography??! So good! There's a few things I found interesting - mostly that the 'speedster' personality so often associated with tfp knockout is actually one of BD's character traits. This could imply that KO will have a different personality - as might have been hinted at through Smelt and his rule following, for example - or, if KO and BD do run into each other, they'll be a chaotic speedster duo! Both. Both is good :))

Obviously, there is also the worry that actually, BD is... Offline, as his hand was seen hanging in Mandroid's lair. Personally, I doubt such an interesting character, especially such a fan favourite, would be killed off after just one episode, but the hand was there...

Anyway, in terms of theory stuffs: In my original theory (that massive mind map), I had a list of three things I wanted to say "I called it!" if they came up, and while the first two both relied on Smelt being in the episodes, however, the last was vague and said "holograms... If anything, holograms...". While there is no way I could have predicted Tarantulas and his holo-form, as I had no idea he even existed before that (yes I am very new here!), I'll still be proud of myself for all that analysis of how holograms work in Earthspark.

Speaking of Tarantulas and holograms, as holo-forms have been introduced through him, I see Smelt potentially being a holo-form going two ways: 1) he is a holo-form! Congrats to everyone who said so :)) - more of a headcannon: potentially he knew/ knows Tarantulas and they did science together? Or maybe they were rivals? 2) seeing as Tarantulas has a holo-form, maybe whoever's in charge would be worried that having two holo-forms would be... Boring? Making KO something else, or Smelt would be just Smelt.

Now, I thought it would be more likely that Smelt would get "exposed" as being KO - as that's the assumption I'm working with here - I now think that's a little less likely, as I think KO might get frustrated of being in hiding. This is mostly based on the fact that one of people I said would be likely to expose/ recognise him might be dead or MIA (Breakdown), one is wounded and teaching his own students (Bumblebee), leaving only one potential person - Alex Malto. Actually, if KO is going to be exposed/ recognised, I think Alex is my best bet. He's also a teacher and an expert in Cybertronian history - he's perfect! He also cares about his kids very much, so if anything would be amiss in school, he'd probably deal with that because he knows the teaching system, so to speak.

The other idea - KO being tired of being in hiding - is based mostly on episodes 17/18 where, in the background of the Bot Brawls, we can see Principal Dan. You know, the head master of the school Robby and Mo go to? (I have a post about some other familiar faces in the background of those opening scenes, assuming they weren't just model reuses). Now, while KO is associated with cowardice (tfp), I don't think he'd stand idly by for too long if his boss expressed xenophobic views about KO's own people.

Actually, the idea of KO exposing himself and Alex being involved could work together - maybe Alex would be worried about something happening at the school, if Dan starts expressing xenophobic views, and goes talk to Smelt about it? Perhaps that conversation would be the 'nail in the coffin' and KO would get angry and say "hey guys!! I'm actually a transformer!!", or something like that, anyway.

In terms of what I think is likely for the final leg of season 1 (it better be soon or I'm throwing fists!! /j);

- I stick by my idea of Smelt becoming paranoid, nervous etc - I mean, imagine you're a transformer in disguise, there's been many transformers showing up near to where you're hidden (including someone who might be your boyfriend/ husband) and now your boss is being an ass. It would make anyone more nervous, especially because I'm pretty sure KO would be smart enough to make the link between the yellow sports car in the parking lot and the yellow car at the races where Breakdown appeared. - people start to get ruder to/ about transformers around each other. This may be a sort of 'things get bad before they get better' type of thing - people get more prejudiced about cybertronians, only to later be saved by them. I would not be surprised if GHOST is secretly making anti-tf propaganda. This would obviously piss off KO, making Smelt more... unpredictable? Angry (rightfully!)?

Anyway, I'm sure I've missed something I wanted to write, but I hope this was fun to read :))

Again, sorry if this doesn't read coherently, I am still tired, and I've still got multiple languages running wild inside my head (thanks, tfa blitzwing!), and I might have blurred my own line between canon and my ideas, as I've already started thinking of a sort of fanfic (I've got so much to do!! It'll just have to wait). And again, thank you to @transformers-earthspark for having a post of where to watch the new episodes! I would go insane without it /lh

[exactile]

Man fucked up dream. I had a dream there was someone in a psychotic episode and saqw me and other people as different people as we are and threw glass at us/stabbed us with glass and we were in this huge house snd idk why we couldnt leabe it but we had to get better by being in a hot bath. I couldnt go to a hot bath because fhere was kids everywhere and they werent allowed to see me with huge gashes so i couldnt reach it.

We had to all go on trial in this really biased sysyem. We all knew the guy didnt think we were us at all and that we were dangerous people to him in the episode, but whatever country this system was didnt like psychotic people so it was going to be weighed against the guy heavily somehow and whatever we had to say would be futile.

Before even going to trial i ha a to fill out this questionaire on a pinpas and the firsf question was Have You Watched Servamp. The person overseeing me fill the questions out was like oh my god i love that show when i asked how to fill out "not all of it" in three letters. "BIT" she typed in for me. There was other things i had to do like deaw from generated prompts.

Still pretial process where everyone involved had to were a carboard box shaped like a paper bag with eyeholes soaked in pizza grease. For some reason. And put into this one room to just be amongst ourselves. We all felt preddy shitty bc if the trial wasnt in our favor we were all in trouble i guess. But ibthink thats because the psychotic guy was our friend. I woke up after that room tranformed into my work place slowly..

[londonspirit]

Incoherent GO Rambles for prosperity

It's been two weeks and three days since Good Omens 2 dropped, and I'm still not over it.

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR GOOD OMENS S2!!

For not even having WANTED the show, back when they announced it, I haven't been this in love with anything since S1!

I mean, I love the book and I was all for it when they said they're going to make a show out of it. (Do NOT get me started on the awesomeness of the cast; those who had been around, KNOW - the rest doesn't need to know the extents of my unhingedness back then!!!) I mean, I have a GO banner in my kitchen, for crying out loud!

Anyhow, when they announced a second season, I was more or less meh! Yes, I didn't really want it, it felt like overstaying its welcome and making the best of something that was too damn epic to be replicated again!!! (Which is still true for many sequels these days - some things just do NOT need a continuation! Some things just are allowed to END permanently!!!)

Boy, was I wrong!!! On second thought, I should've known. Neil (and Rob) know what they're doing. If anyone could make a second season of something that only existed in Neil's and Terry's heads, it was them.

Of course I was happy to get DT and MS back - they're just fucking epic together! Of course I followed the filming of it - it's DT, I always do (casually). But I didn't really care as much for it as I did for S1. I did see the promos and everything, I watched the trailer but my heart wasn't really in it.

But of course I watched it when it dropped (I'm not nothing but loyal to something I love(d), and I will always give it the benefit of a doubt). Well, I watched the first episode at work (calm day, and boss doesn't really care much anymore) and then the second one and since a dear friend had a head-start on me, she made sure I watched the 3rd one as well - I have never ever laughed this much about a stupid zoom-out onto a CAR in fucking EVER!!!!

I mean, that was one of the few reasons I was actually excited about it - John freaking Finnemore - I've been watching and listening to him for over a decade now (Thanks BC) so I KNEW it would be good on the writing front (Yes, I know, Neil's also very good at it, I never questioned the writing or anything!! I love him dearly; just didn't feel we needed more, that's all!)

Anyhow, I had to stop watching and could only finish after work on Saturday. I'm still utterly amazed that I wasn't spoilered on it - and GOOD LORD, am I glad for that!!!! Even The Leak didn't make it on any of my sm's - well, it did but I had that much self control to NOT click any links... which I will never not be grateful for!!!!!

Because it surprised me, shocked me, blew my fucking mind!!!!! In the best possible way, mind you!!!

I've NEVER really seen those two as lovers.

There, I said it. For me they had been best friends, platonic soulmates, whatever you wanna call two beings who hung around each other for over 6000 years and still wanna be around one another.

Of course I saw it all before: the art, the fics, the meta's and hey, good on you. Just wasn't how I saw it but hey, that's totally fine.

So The Kiss really caught me off guard. Like, staring at my screen with my mouth open and my heart pounding kind off guard.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe Neil went and did that. It was just too damn good to be true!!! (I mean, I've watched OFMD, I KNOW it's possible to do that but its soooo fucking rare these days, it's always better to expect disappointment than something some people have been waiting and wanting for over 30 years!!!!)

The rewind button got a workout, I was soo glad I wasn't at work watching that, so I could freak out properly, and I will be forever grateful that I had my friend who had watched it so I could scream and wail at her all I wanted and she was there for me, holding me virtually, screaming with me and just in general keeping me from losing my mind entirely.

It took me a while to wrap my head around it (still trying to catch up with all of Neil's asks (as I had been ignoring a lot beforehand as I didn't want to be spoilered too much)) and Im still sooo very much in love with it.

Yes, I am. It's maybe not the show I wanted but BY GOD, it's the show I needed. I loved S1, and I fucking ADORE S2 just as much. The whole damn thing is just perfect (as I should've known with Neil!) and I swear, Amazon better be renewing it, unless they want to deal with an angry mob of GO fans descending on their headquarters...

I ignore all the bigots and homophobes and in general people complaining about it because they're just wrong. If they still don't get it, yeah well... they never will.

I love how my very own perception of these two has shifted now. I mean, I knew they loved each other, just never really in THAT way (still understood why and how others may saw that differently, that's the beauty of fandom!). I still don't see it very sexual (right now at least), more like the kind of deep and endless love that comes after having spend sooo much time together, having avoided Armageddon and scheming against their bosses. It comes with trust and a feeling of 'he knows me better than I know myself'. It's a love humans probably never will have, and it's so fucking beautiful I wanna weep!!!

It made me write my first GO fic (after having tried and failed back in the days), and I hope there will be more because I am fucking inspired right now!!!

It made me fall back in love with DT which I never say no to *hehe* I mean, he's always been there for the past decade or so, at the back of my fandom life, popping up every now and then when there's new things he's done but boy, did he stoke that simmering flame into a roaring fire with his beautifully nuanced and incredibly heartbreaking Crowley! It does help that he ages like the finest wine and has never looked better! (although im still sad that demons apparently don't have freckles... god, I love those freckles so much!)

I'm still a little taken aback at the INTENSITY of my own feelings for this season! Right now, there's nothing more pressing than having the confirmation for a third season and then getting that on its way. (Its DOES help to know that Neil would be writing a novel in the VERY UNLIKELY case of S3 NOT happening!) But hey, that's take time, so I'll do the one thing I am really really good at - waiting. Trusting that the strike will resolved in favour of the artists, knowing that as soon as that happens, Neil will get on it. Hoping DT and MS still wanna do a third act with those two idiots, and knowing I will be a lot more invested in everything again going forward!!!

Until then, I will be rewatching it over and over, look at all the beautiful art and read all the wonderful fics, maybe write some more myself and just revel in the unapologetic love Neil (and the fandom) has for these two (That man's a fucking SAINT - I've never seen anyone have this much patience with our fandom, yet he's not afraid to call people out on their assholery if needed and I will love him deeply and wholly for the rest of my life!)

So yeah, basically just wanna say how very much I love Good Omens S1 AND S2!!! And that I was wrong!

NEVER doubt Neil Gaiman!

[mybrainproblems]

#idk this is all conjecture. but it’s interesting to think about#don’t take my word as gospel truth 🤷🏻#also. full disclosure. I have not yet watched the finale#I’m still in s14 on my first layer seasons watch!!

okay, so i've watched 15x20 nine ten times now and this is really a good summary for exactly why these rumors persist about the "extra" ad break and the episode being "short" (hell, i was even ready to throw in on the extra ad break rumor)

people have either never watched it bc they heard it was bad, or they haven't watched it in three years bc yes, the episode is just not up to par with other spn episodes, nvm finales. and since it's more fun repeat a fun conspiracy than fact check, it keeps going around. (which i also parroted! until i decided to get out a stopwatch and check for myself in dec 2022!) it was also a rumor that got a lot of play by a couple of popular blogs in late 2020/early 2021 and it gained a lot of traction then.

so yeah. it's worth investigating! which i did and have been digging into for a year now. i had hit the dead end of not being able to find a version of 15x20 where the ad breaks were intact. which brings me to...

an extremely lovely person reached out to me last night to let me know that they had 15x20 on their DVR with ad breaks intact and pulled the rough timing marks for me without me even asking bc they are an absolute angel!!!

transcription of the timing marks in the second image:

1. mins 10-13 after boys catch vamp mime (yep 10 whole minutes!) 2. mins 17-22 (incl cw promo) after kids run out/vamp lineup enters 3. mins 32-35 after dean's death 4. mins 40-45 (incl jared walker promo) after sam walks out of bunker 5. mins 57-60 after bridge waving :\

which means i was extremely wrong in my first reblog guessing where most of the ad breaks were as someone who hadn't watched live and... there are no extra ad breaks from what I can tell? (as someone who actually works on this, please chime in if these look off! i would love to hear from someone who actually knows!) at least to me, it looks like they're at about the time slots i would expect for a normal TV episode? breaks 1&2 feel like they're close but idk. my knowledge is mostly in TV market research, not ad sales/buying (side bar: i adore being proven wrong with Facts, if i am wrong pls tell me!!)

what i think makes it feel like the episode is under 42min or that there might have been extra ad breaks (which i would totally have believed) is that not even midway through the 60min time block it runs into narrative concrete with dean's impalement. and then you have an entire second half of the ep where nothing happens and it is So. Slow. it's basically a single scene (dean's death) and then dean and bobby's short convo, followed by a couple of aimless montages with OG carry on and a cover of carry on back-to-back.

it is a WEIRD fucking episode. especially from a writer who is, at worst, competent. (i say this as a dabbfan & with love in my heart)

i have a post i just made with a list of major timing marks if anyone wants to take a look. (once i knew where to look they were SO obvious)

also bc it might contextualize my pov: i'm in the camp of "no major changes that weren't related to covid regulations were made between shutdown and starting filming again." i genuinely believe that the finale was screwed long before the reaction to 15x18. walker was the CW's follow-on show and they were looking for general audiences for that show, not destiel shippers. it's a really boring explanation, but i think it's the most likely. at a guess, last minute cuts were smaller adjustments and (my unprovable theory) waiting to see if they could get another song licensed for the montage.

ok so like. thinking about the fact that there was an extra commercial break in the finale

In 2021 I used to work for [major US cable company] on a team that manually scheduled all of the ads that aired on their network every single day. While the exact shit that airs gets put in there the day before by a team of approx 10 human beings (insane), the tv show schedule & the breaks themselves are SET IN STONE. It takes a really specific, heavy-hitting request from a network and a LOT of people & moving parts to make an extra commercial break happen. That shit is built into the system way in advance!!!!!

I wish I had thought to ask my coworkers if they remembered anything happening then. Things were ofc moving around a lot because of the election coverage, BUT that was in the news networks, not on the fucking CW. Do we think that request was made last minute??? how long did they plan to have that extra break in there?????? were they cutting that episode up until the last minute after the networks saw the reaction to 15x18??????? we will probably never know but it is gonna bug me forever

[panic-in-the-multiverse]

Sleep Little Angel, Sleep

Pairings: Castiel x Winchester!teen!reader

Imagine: you can’t sleep but Castiel is there to help

Warnings: angst?, sleep deprivation, mention of depression, mention of possession by a demon (not really), I think there’s one mention of the f-word, idk what else, mention of y/n if that’s a warning I have no clue if I’m honest

A/N just a short comfort fic for all you sleep deprived supernatural fans out there *cough* me *cough*, writing this actually helped me sleep so + to that I guess, bc this is kinda how it have been for me lately except I don’t have a Castiel to help me sleep. Which is why I haven’t posted/written anything in a while :) anyway hope you guys like it bc idk really and I hope you all have a good sleep tonight <3

As usual I put it down as teen reader but the reader can be older and Cas might be a bit OOC

You layed in bed, staring up at the ceiling, but at the same time nothing in particular. The sound of silence filled your ears and the occasional cars that drove past outside the window was a refreshing sound. Your tired eyes dropped but you couldn’t in any way sleep. It was for some unknown reason impossible.

For once your head was empty of thoughts. Nothing ran through your head. You didn’t have the constant race between hundreds of thoughts competing to be heard the most. Everything was silent.

The other people in the bunker were quiet, not even a sound from your brothers was heard, and they often stayed up longer than you did. It was too quiet. The cars only came one by one each hour or so in the unhealthy times of the night.

Sometimes you thought you were possessed by some demon making you feel this way, but you were pretty sure a demon possessing you would be more fun than the boredom of the night was giving you.

The tiredness that went through your whole body did nothing to help. You were exhausted, but still you couldn’t bring yourself to sleep. It wasn’t intentional, you’d tried to sleep many times, but nothing seemed to ever work. So instead you continued to stare up at your sealing, there wasn’t much else to do at this time anyway.

It took another three hours, before you completely gave up. Turning on your side you checked the watch. Two in the morning. You didn’t entirely know how you could function by now, you hadn’t slept in three days, except for the one nap you accidentally took in the car while Dean drove to the store to pick up some pie if you remembered correctly. But that was days ago, maybe it had been more than three days ago, you didn’t quite know. The only thing you knew was that you were bored to death, sleep deprived and probably in one of your depressive episodes. But you could never be sure about the depression, it always lingered around the corner waiting to strike you down.

You wanted to go up and maybe take a night snack but it would wake your brothers up and you knew it wouldn’t help either. So you stayed in your laying position, still staring at the apparently interesting sealing. You noticed some new shapes that you swore hadn’t been there before, but maybe you notice more things the more you watch something. It was like when you watched a movie for the hundredth time and noticed something new. Except it would be more exciting to watch a movie than your sealing.

A few hours later, or maybe it was just a few minutes a flapping of wings was heard. Your eyes were still unmovable from tracing every dent and dusted corners of your sealing. It was most probably an angel who’d appeared in your room, and you couldn’t care less of who, if you were honest, maybe you could get an excuse to get up and do something exciting. However it turned out to be your favorite angel.

“Y/N, you need to sleep” Castiel’s voice rang out making you look at him, it was strange to hear something break the silence. Your irritated eyes were a bit glossy from not sleeping and Castiel noticed that the dark bags under your eyes were more prominent than ever. He and your brothers knew of your problem with sleeping but it seemed you never tried to get help from them, or to even get some of those sleeping pills. You’d always shrug it off saying you were fine, that you weren’t tired, or for those occasional days you told them you were tired they’d make sure you slept in the car, but those rarely happened anymore. Castiel had sensed your tiredness, and when he’d have to save you from a vampire he knew he needed to help you, but you had shut him out. The angel didn’t want to force you to sleep but if that was what it took to make sure you were sleeping and taking care of yourself he would.

“I know Cas, I just, I can’t” you paused before your voice cracked a bit at your next words “I’m so fucking tired Cas, I, I don’t know what to do”

Castiel walked closer to your bed until he was right next to it. A bit uncharacteristically of him he bent down and tilted his head while he took in your appearance from a closer view. “Let me help you” his blue eyes stared into yours and you closed your eyes for a second, which caused a new wave of tiredness to crash through you.

“Will you stay here” why you asked you weren’t quite sure, but you did anyway and got a nod from your favorite angel. You knew what he meant by helping you. You’d seen him do it to Dean a lot of times, but you had never brought yourself to ask Cas to do it on you. It felt strange and wrong, but at the moment you didn’t care, you were too exhausted. Sleep would be your only release and nothing in you seemed to be willing to give it to you. Maybe that’s why you wanted him to stay, so that he could protect you when you were in a deep sleep that you wouldn’t wake up from in a while. So that he could wake you if anything went wrong.

“I will stay, I promise, I’ll be right beside you when you wake up” with that you gave him a nod and he gently put two of his fingers on your forehead. It didn’t take long for sleep to take over you. Exhaustion and tiredness took over your whole being in one sweep and your eyes closed. You could finally get your release from the life you lived. You could finally rest for a while, You would for once not be exhausted when you woke up.

However before you fell asleep you heard Castiel softly murmur in a whisper “Sleep little angel for nothing will come your way tonight, sleep and dream of sweet dreams”

True to his word Castiel stayed by your side, he made sure no nightmares came your way, and you slept peacefully for the first time in a while. You slept for the first time in a while, and Cas woved he wouldn’t let it go further than this again. He would protect his baby angel if it so was the last thing he did, and to make sure you slept was only one part of it.

[book-place]

Join Me

Part 1 -> No More Running

Warnings: obi-wan series spoilers, mentions of fighting, being burned by fire, mentions of killing and death, let me know if I missed any :)

Pairings: Obi-Wan Kenobi x reader platonic, Anakin Skywalker x sister reader

Request: Such a good fic!!! I wanna know what happens when she finds out her brother's still alive and what obi-wan did hsjdjdjajdjd

Request by: @cheeseburger-tony

*not my gif*

Summary: You had just gotten Obi-Wan back- practically from the dead- so you didn’t expect to see someone else from your past in the same day

A/N: I apologize, I haven’t seen this episode in a while so I was kinda going off of memory bc I didn’t feel like rewatching it

Please don’t plagiarize my work, you may reblog if you like but I’m asking that you don’t steal my hard work

The momentary thrill you had been feeling at seeing Obi-Wan again came to temporary halt as the reality of the situation came crashing down on you.

You felt your eyes flicker over to the other two people in the room, both of whom were now getting slightly antsy.

“Y/n, meet Princess Leia Organa. Leia, meet Y/n.” The man introduced.

The young girl walked up to you, and you got on one knee to be at her height and stuck out a hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, your majesty.”

As she took your hand in hers, you couldn’t help the small spark of curiosity that you felt. She seemed so familiar, yet you knew that you had never met her in your life.

The force seemed to be pulling you towards her for some reason that was unknown to you.

But before you could think about any of it further, Obi-Wan helped you to your feet and looked at Tala expectantly.

“It will be just through here.” She ushered the three of you to another secret door, “Follow this hallway and you will find the pilot that will get you off of this planet.”

“No.” Obi-Wan said firmly, his gaze already having wandered to the door that he had come into, as if something was about to happen, “You three go, I’ll meet you there. There is something I must take care of first.”

He bent down and exchanged a few words with Leia that you could not hear, all you felt was confusion and it seemed to be clouding a few of your senses.

He tried to stride away, but you quickly grabbed his arm, pulling him back, “What are you doing?” You hissed, “We have to get out of here.”

He smiled sadly at you and put a hand on your shoulder, “I need you to promise me something.” He didn’t wait for you to respond before continuing, “I need you to promise me that you will protect that girl.”

“Of course.” You didn’t even hesitate, “But you can help me. I know nothing about caring for a child.”

He smiled at you one last time before giving a look to Tala.

She read it loud and clear.

The look said, ‘Watch over them’.

And she nodded in understanding.

You watched his retreating back as he once again left you all alone. You had just gotten your friend back but he left as quickly as he had gotten there.

“Come.” Tala spoke softly, beckoning you and Leia to join her in the hall.

So, with one last longing look over your shoulder, you joined them.

The entire time you were walking, you had a weird tingly feeling that you couldn’t get rid of, and suddenly you couldn’t take it anymore.

You came to an abrupt halt.

The other two looked at you, “Keep going, get to the safety of the ship and if we are not back soon, get out of here as fast as you can.”

“But-“ Tala tried to argue.

“There’s something wrong. Obi-Wan is in danger, I must go.” Without another word, you turned on your heel to go back the way you came, more power in your steps then there were before.

What you didn’t tell them was that there was something more, you couldn’t just sense Obi-Wan's pain. You could sense another’s pain as well.

Something about that seemed so, so familiar to you, but you could not figure out who it was to save your life.

Maybe that’s what drew you back, not just the unknowing of if Obi-Wan's pain was physical or mental. From your experience, there’s a high chance that it was both.

After exiting the passage and then the building, your eyes scanned over the scene before you.

People lay on the ground, crying, while storm troopers searched the area for anyone else.

You knew that these troopers weren’t going to hurt these people, if they wanted to they would have already, so using some of your Jedi training that you hadn’t used in years, you slipped past the guards.

You allowed the force to pull you to where you needed to go.

When you finally found Obi-Wan, you almost wished you hadn’t.

He looked tired, yet to notice you, as he ran at too slow a pace and kept looking over his shoulder.

And that’s when you saw him. Darth Vader.

You had only heard tale of the vile and cruel man who ruled directly under the emperor himself.

He was clad in black armor and a mask, taller than the stories let on.

While Obi-Wan hadn’t sensed your presence, the sith lord had, and he slowly halted his stride to turn to look at you.

“Y/n.” He said, sounding as if the word was breathed out, but it was hard to tell with the voice filter.

Then your entire world came crashing down.

Anakin.

There was no doubt about that in your mind now.

Though his voice was so, so very different, there was a glimmer of the voice you used to know. The one you had believed to die a long time ago.

You hadn’t even noticed your breathing pick up as you took a stumbling step back.

That’s why you had sensed something so familiar, it was because it was your own brother.

But it wasn’t him, not really.

The aura around him was darker now, the force clouded, that’s why you hadn’t known it was him right away.

You couldn’t tear your horrored wide eyes away from the man in black, not even when Obi-Wan took a step closer to you.

“Y/n,” He said lowly, holding out a hand as if to calm you, “That is not Anak-“

He couldn’t even finish his sentence before he was thrown backwards into a large pile of sand.

Anakin hadn’t even lifted a finger, but you knew it was him that did it. He always used to be able to do things like that, always showing off and trying to be better than you.

“It has been a long time.” The voice now held no trace of your brother, perhaps you had been imaging it before.

You couldn’t find it in yourself to say anything, all of the words had left your throat.

Obi-Wan had slowly begun to scramble up once again to try and face the two of you, “Stay away from her-“

He was once again thrown back, more forcefully this time.

“You have been by yourself for far too long.” He spoke as if it was how things used to be, when he knew what you were thinking and feeling without you needing to even say a word, “Come, join me, and you won’t have to be alone again.” He reached a hand out for you.

“Join you?” You asked in bewilderment, eyes closing as your hands lifted up and ran through your hair, “You’re asking me to join you?”

Obi-wan had been able to once again stand up, but he didn’t speak, meaning he wasn’t thrown back again.

“Two minutes ago I thought you were dead- killed by our own clones- and you’re asking me to join you?”

“Killed by our own clones,” He mused, turning to face Obi-Wan. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking or feeling with that obnoxious mask over his face, “So the old man didn’t tell you?”

Though his words were directed at you, he still faced his former master.

Your eyebrows furrowed, feeling as if you were going to explode from the amount of confusion you were feeling and the questions you had, but you didn’t dare speak.

Obi-Wan's eyes were squeezed tight, “Don’t.”

You couldn’t tell if it was a command, or a beg.

“I sought out to be better than the Jedi ever could be, to do more for the Galaxy.” He explained, and even through the mask you could feel his eyes zero in on you, “None of them seemed to be too fond of that idea.”

He looked over his shoulder as if throwing Obi-Wan a meaningful glance before turning back to you.

It seemed that the older man lost his ability to speak, instead he settled for a look of petrified horror.

“Obi-Wan didn’t exactly agree with my methods either, so he fought against me and left me to die. Apparently, he thought I was dead all these years.” If you weren’t mistaken, there was slight humor in his voice.

For the first time, your eyes were torn away from the man before you, over to Obi-Wan's hunched form and tightly closed eyes. You didn’t even need to ask to know that it was the truth.

Not too long ago you had received the happiest news of your life, Obi-Wan was alive, only to find out that he tried to kill your brother who had always been one of the most dangerous people in the Galaxy. And this time, he wasn’t on your side.

“Which is why he deserves this.”

You hadn’t even noticed when a fire started burning to your side, too absorbed in the people in front of you, until Anakin lifted his hands up and dragged Obi-Wan through it painfully slowly.

The man let out a screaming cry of agony, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“Stop!” You demanded out of desperation, stepping forward as if you could help the man. Clearly you couldn’t, though.

“This is what he did to me.” Was the only reply you received.

Tears began to fill your eyes for a million different reasons, and you felt your head shake slightly as you looked back at your brother.

“You’re not my brother.” It was a realization, and though the words came out in a whisper, his head snapped over to you.

He was no longer Anakin Skywalker. Before you stood Darth Vader.

His hand dropped, for what reason you don’t know, but that was just enough time for Tala- who you didn’t even know was there- to drag Obi-Wan out of the fire and begin to get him away.

You were on the same side of the fire as her, opposite of the Sith Lord.

All you could do was stare at him for a moment before turning on your heel and following Tala without another word.

There was nothing left to say.

You quickly moved to wrap Obi-Wan's other arm around your shoulder, helping support his weight so that the other woman didn’t have to bear it all.

Though he appeared to be fading in and out of consciousness, he allowed his head to fall back so that he looked up at you, “I’m… sorry.” He wheezed out.

You shook your head, staring straight ahead as you continued to walk, “He wasn’t my brother anymore, someone had to stop him.”

“He wasn’t… our Anakin.” He said, letting his head fall back towards the ground, eyes fluttering closed.

You looked down at the man who tried to, and thought that he did, kill your brother.

But whatever hatred and betrayal that you were feeling before he was dragged into the fire, vanished.

If your brother had been acting like himself, he wouldn’t have hesitated to let Obi-Wan try and kill him. He never would have wanted to become this… monster.

Your brother was gone, and you had to come to terms with that fact all over again. Years of working at it were now a waste. And you had to start over.

Padawans 🧡- @spidyyparker @fabulousapple @femalemarvelself

[alphinias]

Nah listen I still can't get over the fact that Lucy was like *bedroom eyes* at tim and straight up said do you want to come in ???!!!!?? And then she held the door open when after he said no the first time and gave him the eyes again I can't believe he came in and said no to a drink these two made out literally twice in the span of 2 days and legit lost their minds and forgot they have significant others and were just about to f*ck each other's brains out like.... How is this real???? Like they'd been denying their feelings so long all it took was them touching each other and all sanity went out the window and it's so beautiful I am loving the writing so far for these two even if 2 and 3 only gave us a couple of scenes they were Soo good like the Convo outside her door iconic the glances across the room.... Amazing if they give us a moment like this every episode and we have episodes like 501 every so often like every 5 episodes so in total we get 4/5 very heavy chenford episodes another few with like 2 significant scenes and the rest with like a moment it's gonna be great also I honestly have no idea where they're going with this??? Is Tim gonna get kidnapped? Are they gonna get taken together and get forced to confess shit ala clois is Lucy gonna spiral and break down and Tim is gonna be the only one to get through to her ? Is she gonna do uc work? Ajjdkdhdhd they could go so many ways I'm excited but also scared bc no matter what at the end of the day this isn't their show they're supposed to be the supporting characters and idk if they're going to give them the level of care and detail and screentime I'm expecting

I HAVE FAITH! The angst level is perfect so far this season. I still have to watch episode three but I plan on doing that tomorrow and maybe watching 5x04 live if hotd doesn’t mentally wear me out too much right before it.

Also I KNOW RIGHT? Watching that scene I knew they weren’t gonna cheat and didn’t actually want them to cheat but… in that moment they were fully prepared to. Regardless of whether they’d have gone through with it IN THAT MOMENT THEY WERE.

Tim has to be in danger at some point right? Like that had to happen and lead to something. I’m fully expecting it.

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

This isn’t me trying to argue or start anything it’s just me explaining why I’m personally fine with them.

i don’t mind Margaret’s earlier treatment ina character sense because it allows for character growth. She starts from totally dependent on this weasel, even threatening to killing her self without him, to having entire episodes about how while she would LIKE a man, she is not taking this fucking treatment, because she has worth for herself now and has friends.

Frank leads to Donald who’s only barely better, which leads to divorce, and then you get hot lips is back in town and Scully. Season one to three (or maybe even later than that) she would’ve settled, she would’ve tried to marry him immediately and talked about how nice it was to be treated like a woman, but because of the men of before it’s “I’m a woman AND a major”.

Without Frank I don’t think she would’ve been able to leave Donald, because she had BEEN the other woman before and knew how it went. Without Donald I don’t think she would’ve said no to Scully, she would’ve just tried harder to impress him but now she KNOWS what marriage is like. And winchesters tries at buttering her up with money ultimately fall flat pretty much immediately bc she’s had those experiences and knows what she’s about.

And I think everyone else’s roles play into this too. In the earlier seasons a lot of flings are with high up older men like her father, then potter comes and acts as a father figure. Because of both a demand from the actors, the appearance of a loyal husband character, and the failed fling of comrades in arms. Hawkeye is less of a creep and they make a genuine friendship where they bond over not being able to get good lasting relationships, and she gets Bj and Winchester as occasional friends, and bonds with Klinger over girly things, and becomes close to the nurses. Before Frank was all she had. Now she has more.

Also the show came out during the seventies when that kind of humor was normal and women’s liberation was just starting. Until the seventies marital rape was still legal. To make a fully fleshed character who went from the butt of jokes as a sex symbol and someone to laugh at for thinking she had any say, into someone who was sexual but not ashamed of it and would punch anyone making unwanted advances and being allowed to play pranks on the guys too and want to have a more “manly” job and also want to be a wife? That’s revolutionary. We still don’t see women this well written a lot TODAY and her being allowed to grow and change and move away from everything she wanted in the beginning of the show (a wealthy husband, army life, military status, all going to just a simple wish to go home and work in a hospital) because she became her own person is everything to me. Characters in stasis are boring and I’m so glad I got to watch her change.

Anyone ever watch pre-season five of m*a*s*h, and Frank will be being a giant asshole to Margret. Or literally lie about Margret's existence in one episode, or talking to his wife, and saying Margret looks like a 'mule' to her, and then that never gets solved. I don't know why, it just shakes me the wrong way. Like, I know it's often used for comedic affect, but how did they figure that out. The next episode, they are just acting normal. I do really enjoy their actual break up episode, don't get me wrong. I just wished Margret's character was given more dignity by the writers earlier on, and her bickers with frank where given better screentime and explanation.

[petertingle-yipyip]

SIN MIEDO - BUCKY BARNES (THREE)

EPISODE THREE : POWER BROKER

series tags: @calums-betch​​ // SM masterlist // another madripoor gif bc i loved those scenes

Pairing: Stark!Reader x Bucky Barnes (platonic/flirty)

Word Count: 9,209

Summary: Leaving John Walker in the dust, Y/N had to follow Barnes to a shifty contact. That leads them to Madripoor and an unexpected, and suspicious, ally. Juggling her grief, her control, her own doubts, the pressure of Walker on their tail, and a school girl crush, can she handle the fight?

The next day, the three of you found yourselves in Berlin. You weren’t surprised how easy it was to get through security. Flashing a smile and an ID with Stark on it opened pretty much any door. Surely it had nothing to do with Sam working with the Air Force again.

“Last time I was in Germany, we weren’t on the same side.” You commented nostalgically as you three followed the security guard. “How the tables have turned.”

“I’m gonna go in alone.” Barnes said as you all approached the last corridor.

“Not a chance.” You laughed as Sam said “Why?”

“You’re Avengers..” Barnes reasoned. “You know how he feels about that.”

“It’s not like you two were known for frolicking in the sun together.” Sam mocked.

“He was obsessed with HYDRA. We have a history. Trust me, I got it.” Barnes assured before turning to leave. When Sam didn’t stop him, you did.

Quickly you reached out and grabbed his wrist. You made no effort to pull him back and he didn’t exactly pull away from you. He looked back at you with a stern expression, that he wasn’t going to cave.

“You’re not going alone, Barnes.” You said seriously, tightening your grip on his wrist slightly.

“Y/N-“ He tried.

“No.” You cut in. “I don’t care. I can do this all day.” You offered with a slight smirk.

He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment before caving. He nodded slightly, his expression betraying that he was slightly impressed. “Fine. Hurry up.” He said, nodding for you to follow.

“Yessir, Sergeant Barnes.” You chuckled as you followed behind Barnes. The comment earned you an eye roll and a scoff, but nothing was said.

“You sure you want to do this?” You checked as you two waited for security to let you in. “I can handle it on my own..”

“I can do it.” He nodded as you approached the cell.

“I’m sure you can.” You shrugged casually. “It was more about if you wanted to.”

You stayed a couple steps behind Barnes, using the shadows to stay mostly out of sight. You didn’t want to talk to Zemo, let alone be in the room. But part of you wanted to make sure that nothing happened. You didn’t know if you could stop Barnes if Zemo triggered the Winter Soldier, but you probably had the best shot.

You watched Barnes’ body language carefully. From your angle, you could see the look on his face. The tension of his shoulders. The hand you could see was in a tight fist. There was a certain fear in his eyes, in the way his jaw clenched. You could tell that a part of him, even if it was a small part, was scared that Zemo would send him back to the Winter Soldier.

Zemo tried the trigger words but earned no reaction from Barnes. You let out a breath of relief and saw Barnes’ shoulders relax as that tension left him. You didn’t doubt that Barnes had control, that his time in Wakanda was enough to rid his mind of HYDRA’s influence, but you also knew Zemo was crafty. You didn’t trust that he didn’t have a couple tricks up his sleeve. But then again… So did you.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Zemo said, catching your attention. “It was never personal.”

“Seemed kinda personal.” You muttered to yourself. You were anxious, shifting your weight between your feet. You wondered what Sam was feeling back in the hallway but you couldn’t go back. The tension in your body was begging for a release, seemingly burning it’s way through your skin. There was a crackle of electricity between your fingers, a skill you hardly had a grip on. You only figured out how to use it in quick bursts or it would build itself up in moments of high tension.

“You brought a friend?” Zemo questioned, his eyes turning to you. You sunk deeper into the shadows.

“Someone recreated the super soldier serum.” Barnes said to redirect his attention. There was more control in his tone and it settled something anxious in the pit of your stomach. “I need to find out who.”

“You’re assuming HYDRA has something to do with this.” Zemo said simply, studying Barnes as he spoke. The expression Zemo held, the way he was looking at Barnes like an experiment, tempted you to reveal yourself. Something about it made your skin crawl, but you knew you had to refrain. You needed the info. “Which is why you came to me, which means you’re desperate…” A smug tone laced his voice and made you want to gag. “Lucky for you, and your friend in the shadows, I know where to begin.”

“And in exchange?” You finally spoke, stepping into the small sliver of light and taking your place beside Barnes. “What’s it going to take?”

His sly smile made you instantly regret the question.

Without explaining anything to Sam, you and Barnes led him to a series of tunnels underground. You opted to remain silent through the endeavor, knowing you wouldn’t be able to explain it right. While Sam pestered Barnes about the plan, you were busy finding the best route.

You kept one hand against the concrete wall, tapping your fingers to feel the vibrations. The tunnels were empty save for you three. They lead to a basement where you stopped for Barnes to walk Sam through a “hypothetical”.

“Please tell me this is an actual hypothetical.” Sam looked to you. In the meantime, you were toying with balls of air in your palm. You were balancing on them in a handstand.

“Yeah.” You lied. “It’s a hypothetical.”

Barnes continued to explain everything while you purposefully distracted yourself. You weren’t a huge fan of this plan, but Barnes had a point. Zemo offered a starting point. Walker had nothing. You guys had nothing. Though you’d never admit it, you needed Zemo.

“Speak of the devil.” You commented when you felt his footsteps approaching. You landed back on your feet as Zemo entered the room.

“You’re going back to prison.” Sam insisted.

“If I may-“ Zemo tried.

“No!” Sam and Barnes yelled simultaneously.

“Sorry.” You said with a shrug, bringing your forearms up and slamming them together. The movement called walls of earth to rise and trap Zemo in a thick rock casing. “It’s nothing personal.”

“When Steve refused to sign the Accords, you backed him.” Barnes countered.

“You broke the law and stuck your neck out for him.” You added.

“I distinctly remember you-“ Sam pointed to you. “-were on the other side.”

“My name’s not anywhere on that document.” You corrected. “I was a minor. Wouldn’t have been legally binding.”

“I’m asking you to do it again.” Barnes tried.

“I really think I’m invaluable-“ Zemo began again.

“Shut up!” You groaned, lifting the rock to meet his chin. “I will go all the way up.” You threatened before turning your attention back to the boys. “I’m with Barnes. I know it’s crazy but it’s the best shot we got. And we gotta move fast cause Walker is working on this too.”

“Okay.” Sam agreed finally. You dropped the rock prison and looked to the boys. “You don’t make a move without our permission.”

“Fair.” Zemo nodded.

“Otherwise, you deal with me.” You said simply. His eyebrows raised in interest, a slight challenge glinting in his eyes. You lifted your hand in front of your face, palm to the side. As you lowered your hand, you angled it so your fingertips pointed at Zemo. You saw his muscles tighten as he struggled but gave in to your control and went down to his knees.

“Dad once said the best weapon was the weapon you only had to fire once.” You said as if you were contemplating the words. “Let’s hope he was right.” You released Zemo before Sam spoke up.

“So where do we start?” He asked.

While Zemo was collecting his things from one of the cars, he explained where to start. He mentioned a woman named Selby as a starting point.

“This whole time you were rich?” Sam asked wildly as you approached a private jet.

“I’m a Baron, Sam.” Zemo answered in a matter of fact tone. “My family was royalty until you destroyed my country.”

“Eh.” You shrugged. “The Stark jet is nicer.”

You sat across from Barnes while Sam sat across from Zemo. You weren’t too interested in conversation. You didn’t know where you were going, nor did you really care. The sudden movement of Barnes made you snap to attention.

“If you touch that again, I’ll kill you.” Barnes threatened lowly with a hand at Zemo’s throat.

“At ease, soldier.” You reached over to tug on Barnes’ jacket. After a moment’s hesitation, he came and sat back down.

“I understand that list of names. People you’ve wronged as the Winter Soldier.” Zemo said with a solemn nod. He gestured between you and Barnes. “What I don’t understand is the relationship here. Are you two… involved?”

“Don’t push it.” Barnes muttered angrily as you simply rolled your eyes.

Sam talked about the book, that it used to be Steve’s. He bragged about how he suggested something for Steve to write in it. You remembered you had suggested some things for him to look into too, your favorite had been all the horror movies you got him to add.

Sam and Barnes then bickered about the Troubleman soundtrack, to which Zemo chimed in. You groaned slightly, throwing your head back and staring at the ceiling. The conversation quickly shifted to Steve and super soldiers, mildly peaking your interest.

“Cities fly. Innocent people die.” Zemo carried on.

“You forget who you’re talking to.” You laughed in disbelief.

“Pardon?”

“You’re talking about Sokovia… I was there. And my dad nearly died - yet again - trying to save the world… Trying to fix his mistake but no one cared about that part, right?.”

“Only nearly..” He agreed. “I think it’s fair to say the Avengers, none of you were really innocent.”

“And he actually did die to bring back half the universe so excuse me if I don’t share your bitterness.”

“It seems that you do, Y/N.” He analyzed, watching the response your eyes gave away.

“Shut it.” You rolled your eyes.

Conversation quickly shifted to Madripoor. Zemo and Barnes explained what it’s like, what it was. It sounded like a place out of a book, but given that your career was fighting A.I. powered robots and a giant genocidal purple lunatic, nothing was surprising anymore.

“James, you will have to become someone you claim is gone.” Zemo told Barnes.

A solemn expression came over Barnes. You couldn’t tell if it was regret, remorse, or something else. You leaned forward, resting elbows on your knees. You nodded to motion Barnes to come closer. He leaned forward in the same way.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” You asked quietly. “We can find another way, or we can do this witho-“

“I’m not sitting out.” He cut in. “I’ll be fine. Why do you keep trying to sideline me?”

“You won’t be alone.” You offered genuinely. “Sam and I got your back.”

Later that night, you walked the bridge that led to Madripoor. 

“So who am I supposed to be, exactly?” You asked after Zemo had explained Sam’s character for the night.

“Rosalinda Calvillo Del Santos.” He said, showing you a picture of the girl. “Heiress to a huge cartel ring out of Mexico City.”

“Woah, she’s hot.” You nodded, slightly impressed. “And this dress… Seems like it perfectly matches her style.”

You motioned to the dress you wore. It was a tight, short black silk dress with a 4 inch slit up the right side that showed off your body beautifully. The chest of the dress hung perfectly to keep you covered but still catch attention. The straps were silver jewels in a halter style while additional pieces of thin black silk stretched across your back in a criss cross pattern. 

“She's also a bit sadistic.” Zemo added nonchalantly. “But I’m sure you’ll play that just fine.”

“Fun.” You nodded.

“She kinda does look like you.” Sam commented as he leaned over to see the picture while he adjusted the cuffs of his jacket.

“She can’t be that hot then.” Bucky said sarcastically.

“Oh shut up.” You laughed as you pushed Barnes slightly. “You’re just used to girls in the 40’s and the whole modest look, huh?”

“Yeah yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “You ever gonna retire the old man jokes?”

“Maybe, but you have to admit how good I look.” You countered.

“Not a chance, little lady.” He smiled and shot a wink your way as he opened the car door for you.

“Well, Sergeant Barnes, what a gentleman.” You said sarcastically, holding a hand to your chest. “I’m so flattered.” You patted his chest as you sat down, scooting to sit in the middle.

The car ride was quick, although the motorcycles that surrounded your vehicle put you on edge a bit. The cold feeling of Barnes’ vibranium arm pressing against your own arm was the only thing that managed to keep you from burning through the car.

“The bracelet needs to come off.” Zemo pointed out on your walk to the bar.

“Excuse me?” You answered quickly, your opposite hand moving quickly to defend the metal cuff.

“Rosalinda only wears gold. She’s never been seen with anything else.”

“But this bracelet is-“

“Hideous” Zemo cut in.

“No! It’s from my dad, jackass!” You argued and stopped your steps.

“Here, let me have it.” Barnes held his hand out, to which you simply took a step away from him. “Y/N, come on.”

“No, I- I can’t take it off.”

Barnes sighed slightly before sliding two fingers under the collar of his shirt to pull a small chain out. He reached behind his neck to unclasp it before offering it to you. “Put your bracelet on here. Nothing’s going to happen to it.” Barnes explained.

“What are…” You asked softly as you reached for the chain. Your fingers grazed the small metal shapes dangling at the end, turning them so you could read the inscriptions. “James Buchanan Barnes..” You read silently. “These are your tags.. Barnes, I can’t ask you to-“

“You’re not asking. I’m offering.”

“Y/N..” Sam tried gently. “It won’t be that long, I promise.”

“Okay, fine.” You agreed reluctantly. You handed Barnes back his chain before reaching for your cuff. You put two fingers together above the metal cuff, focusing on separating it enough to slide your wrist out. Your eyes lingered on the band of lighter skin that was hidden by the cuff, proving to everyone around you that you never took it off. Once you freed your wrist, the cuff circled the fingers you used to open it. You glided it to hook over Barnes’ chain, connecting your fingers again to reconnect the metal. “Please don’t lose it.. It means everything to me.”

“Trust me.” He nodded as he reclasped his chain around his neck. He tucked the tags and your bracelet under his shirt and patted it lightly. You smiled gently in thanks before turning back to the door.

“Good. Now, escort her in.” Zemo instructed Bucky. Barnes held out an arm for you to take so you looped yours through his, making Zemo click his tongue at you. “Other side.”

“What difference does it make?” You asked in annoyance.

“The Del Santos family -especially Rosalinda- loves to show power.” He explained. “Having the Winter Soldier makes you powerful, but being on that side-“ He pointed to Barnes’ metal arm. “-shows it off… They also know how to barter for that power, if you know what I mean.” He gave you a pointed look and nodded towards Barnes, assuming you would understand what he meant. You hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but you understood.

“So treat him like a trophy?” You replied with a raised brow as you stepped around to switch sides. “Easy enough.”

“Oh god.” Barnes mumbled under his breath. “Don’t abuse this.”

“I think you’ll like being shown off a little.” You smirked slightly, keeping your head high as you followed Barnes’ lead into the building. “I’ll try not to go too far.”

Like flipping a switch, you fell into character once you stepped into the crowd and instantly made a statement.

“Listo para cumplir, Soldado de Invierno?” You said simply, keeping your head high and shoulders back as you followed Barnes through the crowd.

You heard the whispers, asking if that was really the Winter Soldier. You had to admit, it gave you a feeling of pride in your chest to see everyone look at you in awe. The respect in their eyes when they met yours was interesting. It was different from the respect you got as Y/N Stark. There was an underlying tone of fear in the looks as well.

Your small group stayed at the bar, Barnes kept his head on a swivel while you leaned your elbows on the bar top behind you. You lazily turned your head to check on Sam but saw the bartender slicing open a snake.

“Al menos no tengo que hacer nada que… asqueroso.” You said to Barnes before chuckling. He made a small sound of agreement, the tiniest hint of a smile toying with his features. “Vamos. Diviértete, soldado.”

“Mi misión es protegerte.” He replied in a flat, monotonous voice.

“Ay, díos.” You groaned, turning to face the bartender. “Señor? Bourbon, neat. Please.”

“Since when do you drink, Santos?” He nodded in amusement as he poured your drink.

“Well, it’s been a rough week.” You sighed, lifting the glass in thanks. “Put it on my friend’s tab.” You winked at Zemo before turning back to look at the busy crowd.

“You lot aren’t welcome here.” A bald man came up to Zemo.

“We have no business with the Power Broker.” Zemo started. “But if he insists…”

“He can come and talk to me.” You cut in, resting a hand on Barnes’ shoulder and sipping your drink. “Or bring Selby for a chat.” You shrugged.

“What do you know about the Power Broker?” Sam asked when the man was out of earshot.

“Here he is judge, jury, and executioner.” Zemo said quickly.

“We’ve got company.” You said into your drink. You set the cup down and cleared your throat. “Soldado de Invierno, hora de ir a trabajar.”

The man reached a hand for your shoulder but was instantly snatched by Barnes. You had to give it to him. He was a very convincing actor. It seemed easy for him to slip back into that person, to become the Winter Soldier. You knew it wasn’t really him, but the violent scene in front of you was hard to deny.

Sam saw it too. He looked to you in concern, hearing the same click of the guns that you did. You easily took the few steps to stand between him and Zemo.

“Don’t worry.” You said simply, maintaining the cocky smirk you wore as Barnes did his work. “He’s got this.. But that’s not what that look is about, is it?” You glanced at Sam and saw the expression on his face. It held concern for Barnes but also the flash of a memory when the Winter Soldier attacked you all after the UN bombing.

“You break character and this whole bar is against us.” You used your glass to cover your lips while you spoke. “I don't like this either but-

Before you finished your sentence, Barnes slammed a man on the bar top by his throat. You instantly slipped back into character to respond.

“Buen trabajo, querido soldado.” You giggled with a pat on his chest. He let the man go as the bartender told you Selby was ready. You swallowed the rest of your drink before putting the cup back on the bar.

“Vamos.” You nodded. Barnes held an arm out for you to take, which you quickly did. 

“You okay?” Sam asked Barnes quietly as you followed Zemo to Selby. A sharp nod was the only response Sam got.

You let Zemo talk to Selby since you had no idea who the woman was. You stayed towards the back of the room with Sam and Barnes, your arms still linked. The cold metal against your arm was the only thing that kept you from bursting into flames.

It was easy enough to be Rosalinda. Confident, powerful, demanding respect, beautiful and a little flirty. It mildly shocked you that you could play into her sadism. You didn’t know where you pulled that from. Maybe Nat taught you better than you thought. Outside of that, Rosalinda was close enough to a Stark that you didn’t feel like you were pretending too much. And lucky for you, you learned Spanish as a child. It was the people that knew her that worried you. One wrong mannerism, one wrong saying, and the whole thing was blown.

“What’s the offer?” Selby asked after an attempted flirt with Sam. You caught Zemo’s signal, a silent attempt to tell you it was your turn. 

“I suppose it’s more my offer.” You spoke up.

“I didn’t know Calvillos travelled this far.” Selby smiled mischievously. 

“Well I heard you like to play hard ball.” You said with a sly smile. “Del Santos can play too. My offer is him. The Winter Soldier, el soldado de invierno.” You offered confidently, walking a small circle around Barnes. “And the words to control him, of course.”

You traced your fingers along his shoulders, across his back and down his metal arm. You felt him tense under your touch, but his demeanor never faltered. “He will do anything you want.” You added, facing Barnes and gently running your hands down his arms. “I’m sorry.” You whispered honestly. Your expression reset to a playful pride as you spun to take your original place beside Barnes and watched for Selby’s reaction.

“This is a fun surprise. I’m glad I didn’t kill you all immediately.” She said happily.

“You have information I want.” You stepped in front of Barnes, blocking him from her line of sight. “You give me everything I need and I give you him.”

She bit her lower lip as she smiled. Her eyes looked Barnes up and down, and it made you want to gag.

“Hello? Are we going to do business or are you going to ogle him all night?” You asked in annoyance as you crossed your arms.

“A bit testy tonight.” She said with an entertained smirk and your pulse jumped. “You were right to come to me.” She said with a nod. “The serum is here, in Madripoor. You’re gonna want to talk to Dr. Wilfred Nagel. Power Broker had him work on it but it didn’t go as planned.”

“Is Nagel still here?”

“Crumbs for free but the bakery will cost you.” She wagged a finger at you. “And before you get cute, you can’t find Nagel with me.”

Before either you or Zemo could offer a rebuttal, Sam’s phone went off. You felt in your bones that it wasn’t going to work out well if he answered that call.

As Sam was on the phone, which Selby made him answer on speaker, she circled you and Barnes. You nodded towards Sam, allowing Barnes to take a few steps away from you.

Before you knew it, your cover was blown and the shot rang out. Selby was dead and the boys easily took down the other two guys in the room.

“This is going to come back to us.” You said as you stood on the other side of the room, as far from her body as you could be.

“Just drop the weapons and follow my lead.” Zemo said, trying to gain control of the situation.

Without other options, you all followed Zemo out and through the streets of Madripoor. Every turn you took, you felt more and more eyes upon you. Phones buzzed every second and you could only assume it was word spreading of Selby’s death.

“I don’t like this.” You muttered.

As soon as the words left your mouth, gun shots sounded. Barnes grabbed your hand and began running with you following close behind. You ducked the shots and grabbed Barnes’ hand a little tighter. You turned to see Sam struggling to keep up.

“I can’t run in these heels!” Sam yelled.

“Try running in stilettos and a mini skirt.” You replied in annoyance.

“You want to stop them?” Barnes tried.

“I can’t really focus right now.” You answered with an eye roll. You were going to stop and try lifting a rock wall behind you or creating a gust to push them back or even try to summon a quick lightning burst.

Shots came from a high window and took out the two men behind you before you tried to fight back. Zemo came out from behind a dumpster and made a stupid comment about a guardian angel.

“What a coward.” You sneered, Barnes holding you back when you made a move to slap the Baron.

“This is too perfect.” A familiar voice came from the shadows. You pulled away from Barnes and called a small flame to your palm. “Drop it, Zemo.”

“Sharon?” Barnes asked. 

“You cost me everything.” She ignored you guys. You didn’t let the fire go out. 

“Wait, Sharon.” Sam tried. “Someone recreated the super soldier serum. Zemo had a lead.”

“That explains why you guys are here and why Selby’s dead.”

“Why are you here?” You asked carefully.

“I stole Steve’s shield, remember?” She scoffed. “And I took the wings for your ass-“ She pointed her gun at Sam. “-so you could save his ass-“ Her gun pointed to Barnes. “-from his ass.” Her gun landed on Zemo. “I didn’t have the Avengers to back me up so I’m in Madripoor.”

Sam tried reasoning with Sharon but got nowhere.

“We need your help.” You tried and let the flame in your palm die out. “Please. We- We didn’t have any other options…”

With a heavy sigh, Sharon told you all to follow her. You were the first to follow her footsteps. After a second, the other three came behind you. You were questioning the timing of Sharon’s reveal, but overall you were grateful she showed up. Things weren’t looking great up until then.

“Seems like being on the run treated you better than it treated Sam.” You commented as you looked around at Sharon’s place. 

“If I was going to be a hustler, I was gonna live like one.” She said, a hint of pride in her tone.

The three boys then talked about the art, and whether it was real or fake. Sam didn’t believe them until a quick google search told him the truth. Sharon made you all change your clothes, pulling out a whole rack of clothes for the boys to look through and letting you sift through her closet.

You decided on a fitted maroon wrap-style dress. It was a soft material, fitting the curves of your body perfectly. The spaghetti straps criss-crossed behind your neck. You kept your same black heels and made your way back to the group and took a seat with Barnes on the couch.

Sam and Sharon talked a bit, ridiculing the idea of heroes. She called it hypocrisy, claiming that’s why Sam gave up the shield.

“Wow.” You teased as you sat. “You clean up nice, Barnes.”

He smiled slightly at you. “Hey, I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.” He said simply.

“Huh?” His statement took you by surprise. It wasn’t the response you expected. “Right. Yeah, I learned it when I was a kid. Dad tried to teach me French but Spanish was more natural cause my mom's side of the family.”

“You look good too, by the way.” He added and gave you a slight nudge. “Cause I know that’s what you wanted to hear.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Your face.” He said simply. “You give away a lot of emotions in your face.”

“I do not!” You insisted quietly with a chuckle, smacking his arm.

“Yes, you do.” He laughed with a nod.

“Wait a second…” You paused, crossing your legs and leaning towards him. “Were you just nice to me?” You teased with a wide smile.

“Don’t push it.” He chuckled.

“Hey... I’m sorry about using you as bait with Selby. I figured that’s what Zemo was hinting at… It didn’t seem like there was any room for me to say no.” You said honesty. The look in his eyes when you dangled him in front of Selby, you could tell it brought back so much of his trauma. That inability to say ‘no’. You truly had felt wrong for doing it. “I shouldn’t have-“

“Y/N.” Barnes said and put a hand on your leg. Your words were cut off instantly. “It’s alright.. It was for the mission.”

“That doesn’t make it right.” You said softly. “You’re not just an asset or a trophy. You’re my friend.”

“How is the new Cap, by the way?” Sharon asked, drawing your attention.

“Don’t even get me started.” Barnes shook his head.

You dropped your head back to look at her over the back of the couch. “He thought he could bail me out of jail and we’d be best friends.”

“He really thought you needed bail money? ” She laughed as she came around to sit with you two. “And you. You were Mr. America before you were his pet psychopath.” She told Barnes. “Cap’s best friend.”

“She’s kind of awful now.” Barnes said to you.

“She was always kinda awful.” You mumbled while Sam refocused everyone.

“You guys shouldn’t be involved in this.” She said, as if she was warning you. “For your own safety.”

“We got a name.” You added, not leaving any room for discussion. Something about the way Sharon talked to you led you to hold suspicions. “Wilfred Nagel.”

“Nagel works for the Power Broker.” She explained.

“I can get your name cleared, Sharon. But we need your help.” Sam tried.

“I don’t buy that.”

“They cleared the bionic staring machine and he killed almost everyone he met.”

“I heard that.” Barnes said, which drew a small laugh from you.

“I don’t trust charity.” Sharon countered.

“Let’s call it a deal then.” Sam offered.

“Fine.” She shook Sam’s hand. “Lay low. Enjoy the party. And stay out of trouble.”

“I do like a good party.” You smiled as you stood. You held a hand out to Barnes, who groaned before pushing himself up.

He held an arm out to you but before you took it, you turned to face him straight on. You casually adjusted his suit jacket before your hands moved across his chest. Your hands went to his neck while he watched your hands carefully. You slid both pointer fingers under the collar of his shirt and he tensed slightly. You pulled his chain out and held it with one hand and used the other to release your bracelet. You fit the metal cuff back to its rightful place on your wrist with a proud smile. 

“Didn’t give anything away that time, did I, James?” You said quietly, shooting him a quick wink.

“Shall we?” You asked happily, turning to face Zemo and Sam.

Even though you had a point in being in Madripoor and it definitely wasn’t a party, you were excited for the party. It would be nice to relax, not feel any guilt over your father. Any grief over Nat. Any anger at John Walker. And stress about being an Avenger. You could just be a twenty one year old kid and have fun for the first time in what felt like ever.

You lost the boys in the crowd rather quickly. But it wasn’t a heavy thought in your mind to stay with them. What seemed to bounce around in your brain were your interactions with Barnes through the day. You couldn’t quite figure out if you were flirting with him intentionally or just habitually.

You brushed it off temporarily as your personality. You were a Stark after all. And Starks tend to flirt with anyone… Right?

Regardless, you weaved through the crowd and let yourself enjoy the party for a moment. You enjoyed the music, letting your body sway and spin with the vibrations. It was hard for you to tell where anyone was through the vibrations of the floor with the vibrations from the speakers, but you told yourself that wasn’t your problem. Barnes and Sam would be fine for a little while. You weren’t sure how long you had been dancing when you heard the boy beside you.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.” A boy said from your side.

Turning, you were met by a very beautiful boy. He was a bit taller than you, dark brown curly hair that fell messily across his forehead. You couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, only that they were looking at you with admiration. You couldn’t help but smile at him.

“I’m just passing through.” You answered vaguely. Given your previous escapades through Madripoor, you wanted to be as discreet as you could until you were able to leave.

“You come with anyone?”

“Just a few friends..”

“No boyfriend?”

“A boyfriend?” You repeated with a laugh. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Girlfriend?” He tried.

“No.” You laughed slightly. “I’ve been out of the dating game for a few years, actually.” You snapped your fingers to show what you meant.

“You’re too pretty to be at a party alone.” He shamelessly flirted.

“Well I’m not alone.” You corrected. “This is actually a friend’s party.”

“Your friends with the Power Broker?”

Before you could voice a response, a hand found your arm. You quickly looked over and saw Barnes at your side, only his eyes weren’t on you. They were on the new guy.

“I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend?” The boy said nervously.

“Come on, Sarge.” You chuckled, noticing the staring and tense shoulders resembled jealousy. But for Barnes, distrust and suspicion was a more likely reaction. “It was nice to meet you.” You told the kid before pushing Barnes to move.

You couldn’t help but wonder… If the party was the Power Broker’s, but Sharon was hosting like it was her party.. Could Sharon be the Power Broker? Or closer involved than she led you to believe at least?

The next morning, you were all walking through an old shipping yard. Sharon was smart enough to grab you a more practical outfit, a skinny fit pair of black pants and a fitted light blue long sleeve and better shoes. You followed Sharon’s lead to crate. While she stayed for lookout, your group of four went in.

You knocked with one hand and felt the vibrations change at the end. You nodded towards the back of the container so Zemo went to take a look and exposed a secret door.

Sam and Barnes went in first, you behind them, and Zemo behind you. The guys tried to get you to take a gun but you adamantly refused, telling them you were a terrible shot and you had weapons of your own. Sam tried talking to Nagel, but he tried to run instead. Instantly, Nagel froze when he saw Barnes.

“You know who he is, right?” You chuckled, something intimidating dancing in your words. It was something you normally didn’t hear in your voice. You usually weren’t the intimidating type but things were different…You were different. “There’s Baron Zemo and me… Well, you’ll see.”

“How about a counter proposal?” Nagel tried. You ignored Sharon’s warnings in your ear. “Make me a better offer and I’ll talk.”

“Your life isn’t enough?” Your brows raised as you challenged him. You nodded slightly before raising your hand. Your fingers lazily pointed straight up as you grabbed hold of Nagel’s blood. “You don’t know what I’m capable of, do you?”

“Maybe she’s the intimidating one.” Zemo said, an odd respect in his voice.

You forced Nagel to his knees while Sam kept his gun pointed at him. “I can manipulate air too… I wonder if I could pull it from your lungs since you refuse to talk.”

“Okay, okay!” Nagel broke and told you the whole story after you released him. You were getting good at your new blood trick, and that mildly worried you but you had to push it to the back of your mind. Parts of his story included Siberia, an American who you could only assume was Isaiah Bradley, the Snap, and the Power Broker.

You caught the name Donya Madani, committing it to memory. If she was someone Karli wanted to help, she was someone that could lead you to her.

“Is there any serum in this lab?” Barnes asked. When Nagel didn’t answer, he pressed the gun to the man’s temple.

“No!” He said quickly. “But would she-“ He gestured to you. “-be incredible with it.”

“Thanks, but that’s a question I don’t need answered.” You crossed your arms and leaned against the wall behind you.

“The pure power you hold..” He continued and let out a devious chuckle. “You’re not at all curious?”

“I’m not the kind of person who deserves it.. Trust me. There’s probably as much blood on my hands as his.” You nodded to Barnes. “Just different motives.”

“Aren’t you tired of depending on them to help you? To save you?”

“I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.”

The rest happened too fast to process in that moment. Sharon burst in. Zemo shot Nagel and that drew an interesting reaction from Sharon. And an explosion went off. Barnes had pulled you out of the way before you could get caught up in the blast. 

Your head spun mildly from the quick movement and your ears rang violently. You tried to shake it off but that seemed to only make it worse. You felt a warm stream down the side of your head and realized a loose piece of shrapnel had sliced your forehead.

“You alright?” Barnes asked, helping you to your feet. “Y/N? Are you alright?”

“Yeah.. Yeah, I’m fine.” You nodded, mildly disoriented. Looking around, you saw the smoke gathering in the room. You put a hand above your head, using it to keep the smoke at the top of the room.

“Ah shit.” He muttered, pushing the loose hair out of your face. “You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine.” You pushed his hand away. “We gotta go. These chemicals are going to go off any second and I doubt I can save us from that.”

You got Sharon to her feet while Barnes got Sam. Sam asked about Zemo, but that was the least of your concerns. You four had to get out of there before you were trapped.

You tried using your powers to move the shipping containers or pull a piece of the wall apart but it was too heavy to do in such a hectic environment. There was too much going on for you to really focus. Once you were out, the boys started arguing about whose fault it was. 

“Not the time!” You shouted at them, your back against one of the fallen containers. “We’re blocked in and you three are out of bullets. So either I can try to handle this or we stay here and get caught. Either way, you need to zip it so one of us can come up with something.”

“Just use your pow-“ Barnes tried.

“I can’t do anything when you’re this loud!” You snapped. “Besides, the containers are too heavy. I’m not strong enough.”

You thought out loud to yourself. “I could try a concrete wall but I don’t know how long I can hold it if I’m worried about getting shot.” You chewed your lower lip in contemplation. “I’m too far to try the blood thing… They’re firing too many bullets for me to redirect back… What if I…”

It was so much easier when you had your dad to talk things out with. When you had someone smarter than you and could see a different angle, who could run the numbers and tell you your best chance, everything was so much easier.

“How are you going to handle it then?” Sharon challenged with an eye roll.

“You really don’t know a thing about me, do you?” You laughed in disbelief.

Before she could offer a rebuttal, there was another explosion. A smirk found its way to your face as you got an idea. You quickly hopped the barricade your group was stuck behind, despite the protests from Barnes and Sam. You slid under a hanging metal beam and popped up by the explosion. You shaped the flames away from you four and pushed it towards the people shooting at you. You used what was left as a wall to give you cover for you to get away.

“That’s how I’m going to handle it.” You said with your trademark Stark pride as you met back up with the group.

“You could've got yourself killed.” Sam reprimanded as you four had to duck into a separate container after a gunshot nicked your shoulder. Barnes launched a metal pole through one of the shooters’ shoulders like a javelin before shutting the door behind him.

“Okay.” You groaned, lighting a flame on two fingers. “That could've got me killed.” You ran the flame gingerly along the graze in an attempt to cauterize the wound and stop the bleeding.

“You’re an idiot.” Barnes grumbled.

“Who just saved your ass, huh?” You challenged as he opened the door when the shooting stopped.

“When are you gonna realize you’re not indestructible?”

“When are you gonna realize who you’re talking to?”

The heavy roar of an engine drew your attention and interrupted the sudden tension. The tension and attitude dissipated as soon as it came but you could tell it wasn’t going to be the last time that grievance was brought up.

“Supercharged.” Zemo said proudly as he pulled up in a sleek black car.

You let out a low whistle and nodded in approval. “She is a beaut.” You commented with an amused laugh. “Would it be wrong if I kept her after this?”

“You’re going back to jail.” Sam told him. “And you-“ He told you. “-aren’t keeping the car.”

“You’re no fun... Shut up and get in then.” You rolled your eyes. As Barnes climbed into the front seat, you went to the driver’s side - as if proving a point that you didn’t want to sit behind Barnes - and hopped over and into the backseat. “We still need him.”

Sam got in on the other side and after a quick conversation with Sharon, you were ready to go.

“You’re not gonna move your seat up, are you?” Sam asked.

“No.” Barnes said simply. You rolled your eyes at his childish antics. You leaned forward and tugged his sleeve to get his attention.

“Move your seat up.” You insisted.

“I’m not gonna move my seat.”

“Why not?”

“He didn’t move his seat for me so I’m not-“

“Solo tienes que mover el maldito asiento, Barnes.”

“No me voy a mover“

“Venga, muévete.”

“Por qué debería?“

“Cállate y mueve el maldito asiento. Hmm?” You patted his chest before leaning back. Barnes scoffed, but slid forward slightly.

“Okay…” Sam started, leaning closer to you to speak quietly. “What the hell was that?”

“I’m fluent in Spanish.” You shrugged as you leaned to the middle and spoke in the same hushed tone. “Dad taught me when I was eight-ish. I use it for fun or when I’m trying to prove a point, hence the conversation you just saw. Why?”

“Not that… That.” He gestured to you with one hand and to Barnes with the other. “You guys have been flirting since-“

“Nope.” You shook your head and sat back again. “I’m not talking about that.”

“But you were! Why else would he listen to you?”

“What are you guys talking about back there?” Barnes tried.

“It’s above your pay grade, Barnes.” You answered without thought. “Anyways, Sam.” You turned back to Sam. “I’m a Stark. If there was any flirting, it’s harmless. Starks flirt with everyone.” You shrugged innocently.

“Mhmm.” Sam said unconvinced. “If you guys end up together and-“

“If we end up together I’ll be just as shocked as you.” You laughed. “But it’s not gonna happen. I’m pretty sure he hates me, deep down. You saw how he snapped at me a few minutes ago.”

“So just right now and the other day before Walker showed up, right? That’s what you’re basing this on?” Sam asked, gesturing a small circle in reference to the current scenario. You pressed your lips together in a line while you nodded. “But didn’t he make sure you didn’t make it worse after you got arrested?”

“Sure but-“

“Before we ran into Sharon, he reached for you, right?”

“Okay but wait-“

“And he pulled you out of the way of that blast?”

“I see what you’re saying but-“

“And he only seems to get mad at you when you get yourself hurt!”

“It’s coincidental!” You reasoned quickly with your hands up in surrender. “If he’s gonna like anyone, I highly doubt it’s gonna be me. Wanna know why?”

“Enlighten me.” Sam laughed.

“Cause I push every button I can with him.” You explained. “I annoy him and I talk shit to him and I don’t listen to him. I purposefully see what I can get away with. I’m his annoying roommate/best friend.”

“Right… Because that gimmick never leads to anything…” He rolled his eyes in amusement. “Whatever you say, Mini Stark.” He chuckled.

On the flight back, Sam and Barnes sat opposite each other while they talked. You opted to lay on the ground between them after healing your shoulder and other small scrapes, wanting something flat to let your back relax. As soon as you laid down, you felt your spine pop and practically reposition itself.

Your mind wandered back to the same thoughts it kept coming back to, with the newest additions to your messy brain. Your dad, and if you were doing right by him. Steve, and if you lived up to his expectations. Nat, and how she’d be proud to see you utilizing the skills she taught you. The boy at the party, his unintentional implications of Sharon and the Power Broker. And Barnes… Sam’s suggestion that you were purposefully flirting with Barnes had made you rethink your last interactions with him.

There were comments slipped in here or there, sure. You had played a bit when you took your bracelet back, sure. But were you flirting? Did you.. Did you have a crush on Barnes? No, no it was all in good fun. You didn’t really know him. Why would you flirt with someone you didn’t know? Right?

“Maybe I should’ve destroyed it.” Sam said, which instantly caught your attention.

“That shield represents a lot of things to a lot of people, including me.” Barnes said quickly.

“Yeah, me too.” You agreed from the floor. “My grandfather made that shield… It holds a special place in my heart, kinda the only physical thing from Howard...”

“The world is upside down and needs a new Cap.” Barnes started.

“And it’s not gonna be Walker.” You added.

“Before you destroy it, I’m going to take it from him myself.” He finished.

“Count me in, Barnes.” You said, sitting up when Zemo came down the aisle. You moved to sit by the side of Barnes’ chair and looked up at him. “In it together?” You asked, holding up a fist.

“Together.” He smiled slightly as he gave you the fist bump you waited for.

“Thanks, by the way.” You added softly as Zemo muttered something. “For keeping this safe-“ You shook your wrist. “-and for getting me out the way of that blast. I could’ve died but you didn’t let me.”

“I told you I wouldn’t let you die, Y/N.” He nodded. “You trust me yet?”

“Hmm, getting there.” You pondered playfully. “You’re making good progress, but it depends on if you’re still mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad at you?” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“You yelled at me..” You realized how silly it was once you said it.

“You could've gotten hurt or even killed and I- I can’t have your blood on my hands too..”

“I know I’m not invincible…” You admitted heavily as you looked between Sam and Barnes. You knew Sam worried about you too, but he and Barnes had different ways of showing it. “I know I’m not Iron Man, but… But that’s the way I’ve always fought. It’s how I learned to fight. One time Steve told us ‘If you get hurt, hurt them back. And if you die, walk it off’.”

“Of course he did.” Barnes chuckled as Sam smiled fondly. 

“It’s what I've always followed. So yeah, I’m a little reckless but I can heal myself so I never worried… But I guess I can try to be more strategic if it would make you guys feel better.” You offered with a small smile.

It was nice to know you had people watching your back, two people by your side that would seemingly burn down the world if it took you. You felt safer than you had with anyone since your dad.

“Why do you call him Barnes?” Zemo asked suddenly. “I thought you were all friends.”

“Wait. Does it bother you?” You wondered honestly, looking to Barnes.

“No, just a little different.” He answered with a small shrug.

“Dad always called him Barnes. Not James, or even Bucky. Guess I picked it up from him. I never really thought about it, in all honesty.” You shrugged. 

“Yes, but that’s very business.” Zemo continued. “It’s so impersonal. If you two have a good relationship like you claim, or the type of relationship you two display… Shouldn’t you call him something more intimate?”

Using your powers, you plucked one of the ice cubes out of Zemo’s drink and flicked it towards his forehead. It smacked the center and left a wet square on his skin before plopping back in the cup. You smiled in amusement and looked to Barnes, who also enjoyed your little trick.

“Mind your business.” You chuckled, leaning your back against Barnes’ seat. You tilted your head back against the seat too, closing your eyes and letting out a sigh.

“Hey.” Barnes tapped a finger against your forehead. “Don’t sleep on the floor.”

“Stark?” Sam laughed from the other side of the aisle. “Get up, kid. There’s an open seat right here.”

“With the amount of times I’ve fallen asleep on the floor of my dad’s lab or in a desk chair leaning on a lab table or even on the lab table.” You laughed while you stayed in your spot. “This doesn’t bother me.”

“Get your ass up.” Barnes tried again.

“Too late!” You announced, dropping to the ground. “Good night.”

You woke up when you all landed. Even though you had napped on the floor, you didn’t wake feeling stiff or uncomfortable. You followed the boys out of the jet and through the Latvian streets.

It was a beautiful country, as many European countries were. Cobblestone streets that carried vibrations perfectly. Intricate stone buildings that were tall but not towering. Simple painted doors to break monotony.

“I don’t suppose any of you bothered visiting the memorial?” Zemo asked, referencing the memorial for Sokovia.

“I did..” You said softly, almost too quiet for anyone to hear.

“Did you?” Zemo was honestly surprised.

“After my dad’s funeral, when I moved out… There was a gap between leaving and moving in with Barnes. I didn’t know where else to go or who I was without Tony Stark. So I went to the memorial… It didn’t make anything clearer but it reminded me of a lot.”

“I’m sorry about your father.” Zemo said. You swore you heard sympathy playing in his voice. “He had his flaws but he was a good man.”

“Yeah, thanks, you and the rest of the world are sorry.” You said, somewhat bitterly. “He was the only permanent family I had. No one cared about me like he did.” You felt Sam and Barnes shoot you a look of confusion but you didn’t acknowledge it.

“What about the Avengers?”

“Yeah, they were great.” You shrugged slightly. “It just wasn’t quite the same. I was the most important thing to him, you know? Whenever I was feeling off, he was always there with something fun to distract me. Granted, that something fun was usually a new piece of tech he wanted to test, but it always worked to cheer me up. The world misses and mourns Iron Man, the CEO of Stark Industries and Earth’s best defender. No one other than me mourns my dad.” You explained as you noticed a change in Barnes’ demeanor.

“I’m gonna go for a walk.” He announced.

“You good?” Sam tried.

“Yeah. See you in a bit.” He nodded before taking off.

You lingered outside while Zemo went in. Sam turned in the doorway when he realized you hadn’t moved.

“Little Stark?” Sam asked. “You coming?”

“That was weird, wasn’t it?” You commented, pointing in the direction Barnes went. 

“Yeah but he’s weird.” Sam chuckled. “You know that…. Oh! I see what this is.”

“It’s not that.” You shook your head with an annoyed sigh.

“That’s exactly what it is.”

“Seriously? He’s our friend.”

“You don’t see me chasing after him.” Sam shrugged. “He’s a grown man, Y/N. If he wants to brood and take a walk, let him.”

“You didn’t see it.. Something caught his attention and made him leave.”

“Well I don’t just stare at him so no, I didn’t see anything.”

“Nat taught me to constantly watch my surroundings. To keep my head on a swivel… He saw something I didn’t, but I saw him see it. I just don’t know what exactly he saw.”

“Just come inside.” He sighed. “You can interrogate him when he comes back.”

“ Or I just go check on him… Cause I’m grown too and don’t have to listen to you.” You said carefully, hurrying after Barnes. You heard protests from Sam but none made you turn.

You made it to the alley where Barnes turned. You knelt at the corner, feeling the ground and knocking your knuckles against the stone. You closed your eyes to focus, picturing Barnes and an incoming familiar figure. With an amused smile, you turned the corner.

“Ayo.” You said happily. “I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“You followed me.” Barnes said, moderately annoyed.

“You made it easy enough.” You muttered before turning to the Dora.

“What brings you to Latvia?” You asked, already knowing the answer.

“Y/N.” She greeted respectfully. “I’m here for Zemo.”