#i'll post the polls at some point tomorrow

[villain-championship]

Round 3 matchups

The Collector (The Owl House / toh) Vs. Jean Descole (Professor Layton Franchise) 

Team Rocket and Megamind (Pokémon and Megamind) Vs. Millions Knives and Yoshiya "Joshua" Kiryu (Trigun Stampede and The World Ends With You) Vs. Catra (She ra)

Charlie and DJ Octavio (Don’t Starve Together, Don't Starve / dst, ds and Splatoon) Vs. Queen (Deltarune)

The Beast (Over the Garden Wall) Vs. Death (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) 

Zim (Invader Zim) Vs. Bowser (Mario) 

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls) Vs. Spinel (Steven 

Universe) Vs. The Cat Army (Battle Cats)

GLaD0S (POrtal 1 and 2) Vs. The Shredder (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / rottmnt) 

The Lich, Debbie Jellinsky and Yubaba (Adventure Time, The Addams Family Values and Spirited away) Vs. Peridot and Emperor Belos (Steven Universe and The Owl House / toh)

Sevika and Doc Scratch (Arcane and Homestuck) Vs. Dahlia Hawthorne (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) Vs. Scar (The Lion King) 

 Lady Demitrescu (Resident Evil 8 / re8) Vs. Shego (Shego)

Shiromori (Mystery Skulls) Vs. Silco and Heinz Doofenshmirtz (Arcane & Phineas and Ferb)

Yzma (The Emperors New Groove) Vs. Donquixote Doflamingo (One piece /OP) Vs. Zuko (Avatar the Last Airbender / atla)

Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica) Vs. Negaduck (Darkwing Duck)

Samuel T Owen and The Master (Ajin: Demi-Human and Doctor Who) Vs. Skitter (Parahumans)

Morgan Fey and The White Death (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Bullet train) Vs. Jevil and Zenos yae Galvus (Deltarune and Final Fantasy 14/FFXIV)

Manfred von Karma, Elphaba, Medusa Gorgon and Queen of Hearts (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Wicked, Soul Eater and Alice in Wonderland) Vs. Khan (Star Trek Wrath of Khan)

[gayafsowhat]

Anyone want to be mewtuals... We could commit word crimes together (share and beta our fanfics)...

[blackbirdsblackberries]

I Hate The New Hero

Pt 2: A spider's nest is different to a bird's.

You exit the school building with two of your friends; Sherri Webster and Tia Hunt. You see Timothy leaning against the wall to the exit of the school building and you can't help but scoff, does he not have a life or friends?

Okay, judging by how the polls are going now, this one is winning!! I'll post the second part of Don't Drink The Kool-Aid soon (possibly tomorrow or the day afterwards). Don't be afraid to send in asks and such regarding anything! I love answering them and doing side stories/headcannons for this series or other series of mine!

The day rolls by painfully slow. How could it not when you're going to invite someone, who you're pretty sure would throw you to the wolves for a dollar, into your shitty apartment?

Tia notices your gaze and chuckles, you had already told them both about Tim and the project, they laughed and made fun of you - you'll get back at them.

Sherri pats me back "If you don't come back to school tomorrow we'll let the police know he probably murdered you!" Tia laughs at that and I grumble and elbow Sherri.

"Oh shut up! God, you're insufferable!"

"And you're about to be dead!"

"Oh please, no one in Gotham stays dead these days!"

"I'll make sure you do!"

Tia interrupts before the minor spat ends in the two forgetting Timothy is there - now looking at the three with the very hatred you'd give to your parent's murderers.

"Can you guys fight later? In the group chat maybe? I'm starving and want to go home - private school food tastes like shit." Sherri sighs but agrees and the two wave goodbye before leaving you.

You wave and after a bit of awkward silence you glance at Timothy who is now staring daggers at you, his eyes are calculating but aren't narrowed - like a feral wolf analysing it's target. You hold back a sigh as you raise a brow.

You make a hand motion for him to follow you and you start to walk along the path to your amazing, beautiful, posh, cool apartment that in no way is flawed.

The walk is silent and painful, at this point your willing to bust out the charms and joke with him but you're scared he's going to smash your head into the concrete as soon as you make a joke.

You walk past a poster that was hung up regarding the heroes of Gotham, Aranea is near the center hanging to the side of a wall. You scowl at it - the picture was bad and didn't flatter you at all.

Timothy catches your scowl and makes a show of rolling his eyes and typing something on his phone. You can't hold back any longer.

"What? You grading me or something? Speak the fuck up if you have a problem, Richy Rich." You sneer as you say the last part, he snaps his head up at you in offense.

"Oh, you want me to speak up?! Fine, you're a selfish brat who's got parents that fawn over you and you never lacked anything in your life yet you go after some sweet innocent girl who would a hundred percent save you if you needed it. Aranea is one of the best people in Gotham and it's disgusting that you are so rude to her!" Timothy rants. You can't help but raise a brow, you want to laugh so hard - the irony is right there.

Instead you roll your eyes "You hate me because I hate someone you fangirl over? How pathetic. Hate me for a real reason!" You try not to smirk when you see Timothy try to take deep breaths and calm down.

"... Let's just get to your apartment already." He states as he continues walking, you raise a brow. "Wrong way." He turns around and follows you silently.

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

Finally you stop in front of your stunning apartment. Out of the corner of your eye you see Tim raise a brow.

"How'd you get into a private school if your parents can't even afford an apartment building that doesn't look like it's had ten different crime scenes this week?"

You deadpan, ouch man...

"I got in through an engineering scholarship." You reply blandly, no point in spilling your emotions and true personality to a person like Timothy.

Timothy doesn't say anything else and you take that as the conversation ending and lead him into the complex and to the apartment you reside in.

It's home and you wouldn't want anything different. The plants are dead, there's a leaky tap, the clock that's stuck on the wall ticks annoyingly, there's a small spider making it's home in one of the corners and all the furniture looks one kick away from dust.

Your parents don't have much time to clean...

You look at Timothy out of the corner of your eye, despite loving where you live you know people will judge and Tim will probably use this against you some time in the future.

.............................................................................................

Tim's confused. You had always exuded "rich spoilt brat" behavior and seemed so stuck up yet live in actual filth? On top of that you got into Gotham Academy on a scholarship? Do high schools even do scholarships? It doesn't make sense.

Tim's not an idiot, he knows he's being petty but at the same time he can't bring himself to stop. Aranea is one of the kindest people he's met in Gotham, a saint, an innocent person who deserves a good life.

Yet, you hate her guts, you say awful things about her despite not even meeting her - or maybe you did, either way there's no reason for you to be acting like this.

Tim isn't petty, he won't use your living situation against you but the scholarship thing can be.. a small post can ultimately cause ridicule in the school.

He blinks a couple times, not noticing how he's already in a cramped bedroom - it's the size of a supply closet in the manor!

There's a bed in the corner, a window that's curtained up, a closet, a toy chest and a pile of sketch books that reaches halfway up the bedframe. It's cozy he supposes - for a sewer rat at least.

You mumble something about getting food before leaving the room. Seems you have some smarts and etiquette.

His phone buzzes and he looks down at the Gotham Vigilante Group Chat (GVGC), it's a message from Aranea.

Aranea: "Heyyyy!! I won't be able to go on patrol tonight, my mama wants to go out for dinner :("

Tim sighs, that's good. He can't go because of the stupid project so it seems he won't have to get horrendously teased for missing out on hanging with Aranea.

Tim's phone buzzes again and it's Bruce.

Bruce: "Message if (Reader) does anything sketchy. You can't trust someone so hateful."

Way to state the obvious. Tim already had multiple plans in case you did something.

He pockets his phone after responding with a thumbs up and he sits down, on the floor - assuming that's where they'll work.

.............................................................................................

Soon you come back with snacks in hand and had changed into more comfortable clothes - they were your dad's because in no way were you going to show Timothy your sense of style.

The clothes consisted of cargo shorts that were grossly oversized and tied with some shoelace to stop them from falling and an oversized shirt with the image of Garfield on it.

You raise a brow at where Timothy is sitting.

"Uh, why are you sitting on the floor?"

"That's where we'll work. Why?"

You think you're ready to go cry in a corner out of frustration.

"I have a bed."

"okay? I doubt it can even fit the both of us."

... Okay, that's true. Still, even if you hated him your parents didn't raise you to be rude to guests.

"Fine. You sit on the bed and I'll kneel on the floor."

You watch as his eyes widen, not expecting that response. You push him to stand up and make him sit on the bed before plopping down and taking a big sketchbook and flipping to the back of it.

"Okay, let's get started." You mumble, more so to yourself.

You two spend the next three to four hours researching, drawing things and writing down dates. By the end of it your tired and just want to sleep. It would have been done sooner if there wasn't an argument that caused you to storm out of the apartment and pace the halls and if Tim didn't leave to the halls to answer a call but at least it's over with.

You rest your head against your bed, you're still on the floor and more than content staying there, you doubt your body will even allow you to move.

Slowly your eyes close and you drift off to sleep.

[yandere-sins]

Yan-Poll #9

[The Stalker Part 1]

Strange things have been happening to you lately.

It started small with the discomfort of always feeling like you were being watched. Of course, you never met someone's eyes when you turned around, and you tried to brush it off as best as you could. But even when you started minimalizing your time outdoors, unexplainable things started to happen in your own house. Things were moved when you weren't looking, the space next to you in your bed was warm when you woke up, and you found strange devices around the house that you couldn't explain.

You went to the police, but there was nothing they could do.

So you installed cameras, and lo and behold, there he was. The creep that had intruded into your life. It didn't even take him a day of caution before you watched on your computer as the black silhoutte stared directly into the camera, his eyes hidden behind a black mask. He made a heart gesture with his hands before breaking into your bedroom window in the early hours of the morning, seemingly with ease. As if he knew what he was doing. Unafraid.

There was no way you could have stayed in the house. But even when you moved from your childhood home to your friends home, your stalker made sure you noticed that he was still around, one way or another. Worse, even with the footage, the police was still unable to catch him.

Feeling defeated and scared, you eventually mustered the strength to go home. Even with him making his presence known, he hadn't done anything to you, and somehow you had to look forward into the future and reclaim the life that his terror had stolen from you.

Everything was clean and tidy, unlike you expected. You found some things out of place, like books that didn't belong in certain shelves, but it definitely looked like he had tried to arrange them correctly, but wasn't sure where they went. It made you smile faintly as you took out your favorite childhood book. But only for a brief moment before you stuffed the book right back into the actual place it belonged and tried to get used to the old but new enviroment of your own home.

Until the door rang.

You didn't expect any visitors. Up to this point, you two had never interacted. At least, nothing more than the few stare-offs through the camera. Yet... you knew it was him.

You braced yourself, your phone clutched in your hand while you grabbed an umbrella standing in the entrance. Things could get messy quickly, but maybe if you were able to just let him know you didn't want anything from him, maybe he could be reasoned with. With bated breath you unlocked one of the locks you had installed on your door, just enough to open a gap, and gathering all your courage you opened it, only to find...

Nothing. Well, not nothing. Just no one.

You stood there for a while, contemplating what was going on, when your gaze fell to the ground, a stark white envelop resting there. You waited for a moment more, expecting someone to jump out if you weren't looking. But eventually, you squatted down, fishing the envelop through the gap and closing it again. Nervously, you messed with the opening until you could pull out the paper inside.

Welcome home, baby! :) Please wear the clothes I put into the closet for you tomorrow ♥ Can't wait to see you in them!

Feeling a sense of panic, you got up, hurriedly walking into your bedroom and throwing open the closet doors. All your clothes had vanished, only a small, neatly-folded pile sat in one of the shelves, a post-it on them.

P.S. I'm glad my little mishap with the book made you smile. I'll do anything to see you smile ♥

Goosebumps ran over your whole body as you realized he must have just been here if he saw you smile briefly just minutes ago and then placed the note here. Maybe he still was? You stopped breathing, listening intensely if there were any other sounds you hadn't noticed before. Your home was silent.

Hesitantly, you pulled out the clothes he had prepare. Soft, expensive, skimpy. The outfit your stalker put together was much too raunchy for your taste but it would still work even in an office setting. You'd be covered with trousers and a blazer, but the top that was supposed to act like a shirt was see-through and lacey as if it was lingerie. You were sure to turn some heads if you wore it to your job.

Refusing him didn't seem to have any immediate consequences, but at the same time, after already being terrorized for so long, could you really refuse such a small request? Certainly, it would prompt him to get bolder... But at the same time, despite showcasing he could, he never confronted you. There was no saying if refusing him would cause any issues, even if it seemed likely. But maybe you had just become incredible paranoid.

(Reasoning and discussions welcome! ♥)

[ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral]

Continuation Poll Time!

Hello everyone! Thank you all again for the amazing support you've given my last few au ideas! I'm finishing up the next chapter of my "Eldritch Merlin befriends an anxious Leon" fic (which I've procrastinated on for far too long now 😭), so the next chapter of that will hopefully be up some time today or tomorrow!

After I post the next chapter of that, I want to do a continuation post of one of the au's that I posted recently! I'll probably continue all of these at some point, but I want to know which one you guys would like to see first! So...

All links to these au's can be found on my Masterpost here! I'm looking forward to seeing what you all pick! :D

[asterixlabs]

Best of Asterix Seeding/Interest Polls

Seeding/Interest Polls will be going live tomorrow March 14th at 6AM EST! On each poll will be open for a week where you rate the album/movie/series out of 5 based on how much you like it. At the end of the polling period I'll seed them based on the total number of points (those with higher points will seed better). Any ties will be broken based on my original judgement on how I think they'll perform.

As a note, this blog will be posting polls for quite some time going forward. If you aren't interested in this tournament, please mute the #best of asterix tag.

The list of the different options to vote for is below, I'll attach links to their interest polls once they go live (not in seeding order)!

Mainline comics:

Asterix the Gaul (BD)

Asterix and the Golden Sickle (BD)

Asterix and the Goths (BD)

Asterix the Gladiator (BD)

Asterix and the Banquet (BD)

Asterix and Cleopatra (BD)

Asterix and the Big Fight (BD)

Asterix in Britain (BD)

Asterix and the Normans (BD)

Asterix the Legionary (BD)

Asterix and the Chieftain's Shield (BD)

Asterix at the Olympic Games (BD)

Asterix and the Cauldron (BD)

Asterix in Spain (BD)

Asterix and the Roman Agent (BD)

Asterix in Switzerland (BD)

The Mansions of the Gods (BD)

Asterix and the Laurel Wreath (BD)

Asterix and the Soothsayer (BD)

Asterix in Corsica (BD)

Asterix and Caesar's Gift (BD)

Asterix and the Great Crossing (BD)

Obelix and Co. (BD)

Asterix in Belgium (BD)

Asterix and the Great Divide (BD)

Asterix and the Black Gold (BD)

Asterix and Son (BD)

Asterix and the Magic Carpet (BD)

Asterix and the Secret Weapon (BD)

Asterix and Obelix All at Sea (BD)

Asterix and the Actress (BD)

Asterix and the Class Act (BD)

Asterix and the Falling Sky (BD)

Asterix and Obelix's Birthday: The Golden Book (BD)

Asterix and the Picts (BD)

Asterix and the Missing Scroll (BD)

Asterix and the Chariot Race (BD)

Asterix and the Chieftain's Daughter (BD)

Asterix and the Griffin (BD)

Asterix and the White Iris (BD)

Movies, picture books, and spinoffs:

How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When he was a Little Boy (picture book)

Deux Romains en Gaule (movie)

Asterix the Gaul (animated movie)

Asterix and Cleopatra (animated movie)

The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (animated movie)

Asterix Versus Caesar (animated movie)

Asterix in Britain (animated movie)

Asterix and the Big Fight (animated movie)

Asterix Conquers America (animated movie)

Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (live action movie)

Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (live cation movie)

Asterix and the Vikings (animated movie)

Asterix at the Olympic Games (live action movie)

Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia (live action movie)

Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods (animated movie)

Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (animated movie)

Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (live action movie)

Dogmatix & the Indomitables (cartoon series)

Adventures of Dogmatix (picture book series)

Idéfix et les Irréductibles: Pas de quartier pour le latin! (BD)

Idéfix et les Irréductibles: Les Romains se prennent une gamelle! (BD)

Idéfix et les Irréductibles: Ça balance pas mal à Lutèce! (BD)

Idéfix et les Irréductibles: Les irréductibles font leur cirque (BD)

Idéfix et les Irréductibles: Idéfix et le druide (BD)

[emerald-cloud23]

Since I'm lazy when it comes to practicing human anatomy for art I'll have to turn to my only other soothing hobby: writing. But I don't wanna deal with my original stories I'll let you decide which ninja fanfic I should start working on (AU informations below the poll (none include elements from dragons rising!))

SHORT AU EXPLANATIONS:

DEATHBRINGERS: completely different world building, morro is alive, morro & lloyd share the title of green ninja, no tomorrow's tea (lloyd, morro & the core 4 are the same age), morro is wu's biological son, morro and lloyd are literally green cousins, oni & dragon prophecy, zane doesnt know he's a robot, misako trains the ninja instead of wu, no overlord, evil (emperor?) garmadon, no 16 other realms, new serpentine hybrid species, the skulkin, the ghosts, the reawakened, samurai x exists, the ninja didnt actually want to be ninja, no hrumi (sorry but she makes me uncomfy in s9), no pixal?, borg and dr julien work for garmadon (echo zane, mr e, mr f & cryptor are separate characters that work under garm's command), a mystery about nya, spooky-ish(?) themed (as the au name might imply it's inspired by graves, graveyards, death, s5, the caves of despair, dotd, gothic imagery, scythes, dark and desaturated colors, hopelessness, halloween vibes, the cursed realm/preeminent, the departed realm, ghosts, skeletons, dark magic), minor shipping (bits of lava fluff in the beginning, later some sandstorm moments but no major plot points dedicated to shipping), yin-yang/balance of good and evil theme [i have a long note written about all the world building changes, you wouldnt believe me that i came up with this idea in 2mins and it took me 2hrs afterwards to write everything down afterwards]

SHOOTING STARS: based on this and this post of mine, sandstorm shipping, some green cousins, spans from pilots → dotd, unhappy/bittersweet ending, sensei yang, ghosts, the night sky/shooting stars are somewhat important, ghost cole and ghost morro [this is the newest and so far vaguest au i have]

R3W1R3D (rewired): prime empire/video game/cyber inspired, evil lloyd, possessed lloyd, lloyd and kai brother moments, mechanical/electrical stuff, the mechanic [while existing for a while i struggle with developing it as im unfamiliar with working with these themes and its my 1st time to do something serious since it could have nice visuals if i ever made art for it]

[macawritesupdates]

Writing Update 9/19/2024

Been a while since I did an update! Last week I was on jury duty and it MURDERED my writing time as I had to change up my day and it took longer to get home (mentally draining....)

Been back at work this week, but still has been draining, so less time to get things done, but trying to get back into the flow of things! Hopefully more updates to show soon!

REQUESTS

I will get back to those as soon as I clear up some other fics. Just got a lot of long fics (12 in total) and one-shots (like ...5 in total?) that I'm writing and want to finish!

READER INTERACTION FICS

Can't Help a Cuddle: It has 5k words in and that is just the spicy scene it is going to open up with lol It is going to end up being a long chapter as it introduces more plot and the like going forward! Hopefully will be updating soon!

Jealousy is Not a Good Friend: Also have it outlined and making good progress on writing it out so it should come out the same time or before Cuddle. Got some spice as always!

LONG FANFICS JJK

Broken in the Ways No One Sees: Going to speed run write out the last three chapters to the story as it one the poll for which one to finish first! I'll post chapters as I finish <3

When you Get Two Grandsons: Next chapter is coming and I'll be overhauling the tags to reflect the new developments! This story is remaining sweet and family feel wholesome!

Spouse Wanted: Experience not Necessary: the new chapter is NEARLY done and may be out tonight depending on how I finish up this last scene hehe! If not tonight, then going to be up tomorrow!

Lessons in Accidental Seduction: Eagerly writing out the next chapter! I'm excited for this one as it has nice character development and Sukuna really starting to work things out and he and Yuuji getting closer again <3

Malevolence of Love: Wanted to finish his fix before the 30th, but don't see that happening due to writing delays ; w ; BUT the next chapter is coming out and I know it is an anticipated one! Hoping it won't take long...

Who's a Good Boy: New chapter is in the works but not the priority fic at the moment!

The Yuuji Files: I am hoping a new update will happen SOON as I work through the scenes in this one. It is going to be a meaty chapter though as it has a lot of little plots going on in the B-plot area.

Careful What you Joke About: Also working on the next chapter now that the rewrites have been completed for the outline <3 I hope I haven't kept anyone waiting too long!

Mirrored Lives: Still need to rework and rewrite the outline and plot and get it to a point I'm more satisfied with.

LONG FICS MHA

What Sacrifices Heroes make that go Unsung: I WANT TO WRITE THE NEXT THREE CHAPTERS SO BAD AHHHH! I am going to push to make time to work on this one as ugh! I love it in my HEART so much and want to share ; w ;

A Rut Time of It: It is on the backburner as I get other fix worked out and finished up!

ONE-SHOTS IN PROGRESS

Pull Me Along if I Can’t Move Forward: Izuku/Bakugo sweet fic that is still in slow slow progress. Going to see if I can't finish it up soon!

Heatwaves and Curses Don't Mix: A pwp fic of Nobara/Yuuji/Sukuna with true-form Sukuna and his double dongs. Just pure smut for the heck of it that is slowly coming together

Playing House: Sukuita fic where Sukuna makes Yuuji play house like they did when kids but takes it too far. A pwp fic idea suggested when I was in the mood and is close to being done c:

Take Me to Prom?: Sukita one shot where Yuuji blackmails his cousin Sukuna to cross dress and take him to prom as his date. Shenanigans ensue

Once Upon a Blob: Sukuna, now Blobkuna, has a plan to get his body back and it involves the old fairy tale cliche of love's true kiss. Chaos ensures.

And That's When I knew It: A silly Uraraka/Kirishima one-shot where something horribly embarrassing happens and feelings are had (and spice XD)

FUTURE FANFICS IN PROGRESS

Culturally Inappropriate: Starting to outline the fic and name the characters who are going to be with Yuuji through the Possessed Anonymous group. Letting it build its own themes and feeling good about it so far!

This is the sequel to Historically Inaccurate and keeps moving with the themes and Sukuna and Yuuji building their relationship as vessel and and cursed spirit while also their personal healing. Gonna be good hopefully!

Law Meets Disorder: (Maybe changing to Law and Disorder for the title) Still mapping out my ideas but might get to finally finishing up the outline soon!

The Dragon Story: Still more an idea with more worldbuilding done than plot. Need to find a solid plot for it....

We Wretched Few: Heian Era court drama fanfic with an ABO flair to it that I've been poking around at :b

[imawreck]

Unsaid Goodbyes

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier x Original Character

Summary: You should read it, then you’ll know.

Author’s Note: Heyyyy… I’m sorry okay 🙏 forgive me. Also, I'll be back on schedule with posting tomorrow, but for now this is all you get. Please, if you're interested, vote on my poll!

Warnings: Wounds, violence, shit ton of angst, Death

Word Count: 5,422

Max-

Hulk's roar rattled my very bones as I fought to find a way out of the cell. The solid wall of Vibranium-lined glass caged me behind it and refused to waver. I had no idea what was going on outside or why the security measures hadn't been tripped the moment that prisoner escaped as I pounded on the glass, eyes frantically searching for a weak point.

This glass was stronger than that of my cell, but maybe I could get through-

The thought died out of my head as an ache ran through my body from my side straight to my arm, resonating over my torso. No, I couldn't get out, not in this state. I was too weak. There wasn't enough time to take in what was going on outside the glass either, not with an enraged green giant trapped in a confined space with me.

Natasha's red hair caught my eye as another bone rattling roar tore through the cell. I stared wide eyed as she held her hand out, muttering something soft under her breath towards the enraged form of Bruce's alter ego. I watched in horror as the muscles of his massive shoulders flex before his arm raised, threatening her with a painfully abrupt death.

I moved as fast as my body would let me, my side screaming in protest as I made contact with her just in time to send us tumbling out of the way as Hulks' fist slammed into the pavement right where she had been standing. I picked myself of the floor, taking in the silver clouded reflection of Hulk's eyes, the way his body shook in rage and his lips pulled back in a snarl. It must have been the injection. Whatever it was, it had taken control of his mind, driven him mad with rage.

I caught Natasha's arm as she pushed herself off the ground to stand defensively next to me. "There's no use trying to talk him down, he's under some sort of influence. He can't hear us."

Just then he swung again, making us both leap apart as his fist once again slammed into the concrete, a spidering crack trailing up the floor as sprays of rubble shot across the cell. I scrambled to get as far away from him as I could. There was no way out of here, and if he got anywhere close to me, I wouldn't have enough energy to keep him off for long, if at all. Then there was Natasha. Natasha wasn't a super soldier, so if he got ahold of her, it would be the end of that. If Hulk killed her, Bruce would never forgive himself.

I couldn't let that happen.

I clutched my hands into fists, cursing myself for taking the time to change out of my tactical suit before coming down here. I didn't even have enough energy to grow a useful set of claws. So, I would focus on defense. All I had to do was make him tire out before I did.

I took off sprinting, sliding between his legs and clutching at the ground to bring myself back up again. Natasha trembled, looking as frantic as I was and put her fists up too. I called over the alarms, "Get to the doors of the cell! I'll distract him and see if I can't get him to bust out of the wall! Try and get anyone's attention."

The part of the cell level had a smaller cell that Bruce had turned into his personal lab after the experimental incident. He explained to me once that it was the safest place for him to be, because there was double the security measures. The cell would close, and there was a wall of glass and Vibranium that would encapsulate the whole half of the floor. And it had done exactly that. Little did we know it would bite us all in the ass like this.

I shouted over another angry scream from the Hulk, "Hey big guy, over here!" I waved my arms, running away from where Natasha stood wide eyed and gawking. "Come get me!"

The gigantic heap of muscled whipped in my direction, growling and grunting in frustration as he sprinted towards me with his arms raised. I jumped as high as I could, clinging to the metal exterior of the wall and heaving myself up towards the tall ceiling. I had an idea, but it was a big risk with my current state and crucial that his attention remained solely on me.

He tore up the wall hauling himself upwards after me. He was bigger, stronger, but I was faster. I kept at it, shouting down to him. "Come on dummy, you can do better than that." Each insult was rewarded with a shout or a grunt and an increased urgency to pummel me into the wall. I stalled once I decided we were high enough, turning to peer down at him and allow him to catch up. My chest was heaving with each breath I took, and my side sang in pain. "Come on Greenie, take a swing!"

Hulk clenched his fist in a fit of rage and leapt up a few feet, slamming his fist against the wall and denting it. I grinned, "You can do better than that!" I stuck my tongue out at him, dangling from a steel beam an uncomfortably close distance to him.

Once more, he swung his fist and I hauled myself up just in time to grip onto the next beam as the force of his fist rattled the wall. The metal groaned where he had hit, and I knew a few more hits like that would surely break through. And the quicker he got through the faster I could get Natasha and myself out of harm's way.

I swung my weight into the crater in the wall he had created, waving my arms and plastering on another grin. "Man, you can't do any better?" I was sweating with the effort it took to prevent my body from trembling at the exertion it took to maintain my posture alone. My strength was waning.

This time, he roared in fury and threw himself upwards, both fists raised to smash me against the wall like a bug. I leapt off the edge just in time, careening through the air and sliding down his back to land harshly against the ground. The landing vibrated through my legs and they throbbed in pain. Still, I forced myself farther away from his screams of anger.

Light streamed in from the whole in the wall, bright and hopeful. I smiled victoriously now, turning to catch Natasha's attention. Something slipped in through the hole though, slapping the ground and was followed quickly by another and another. I frowned, sparing a glance up at the hole where Hulk still clung near. Three distinct ropes slung through the opening and reached towards the concrete floor. I nearly cried in relief, hoping that my teammates were finally here to aid me.

The hope was quickly squashed the minute a black clad soldier slid swiftly down the rope and landed easily on the ground. Hulk didn't seem to notice him slip past, didn't even blink in his direction as he slammed his hands around the wall and continued to scream. The bright red emblem sewn into the front of the soldiers' uniform had my heart beating out of my chest and panic squeezing my lungs in a vice grip. My body took an involuntary step backward as I clutched my chest, fisting the fabric of my shirt in a weak attempt to reassure my heart it was impossible.

But he was right there, eyes staring at me through the ski mask he wore, and the ropes behind them slapped against the wall as more soldiers identical to him filed through the opening. Each and every one emblazoned with the ugly red skull of Hydra, and all of them hid their faces in those ridiculous masks. I continued to back away, fighting my panic and trying to figure out a way out. There were only three of them, surely I could handle three.

Just as I clenched my fists and readied to attack, two more slid into place at the mouth of the hole, blocking the only exit. They only moved to allow more men to slip down the ropes and join the others stalking closer and closer by the minute. Dozens of them.

"No," barely a whisper, "No, please no." I didn't realize it was me that had spoken until I forced myself to take a breath. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be.

Hulk suddenly swung his head around as one of the soldiers spoke from the mouth of the hole, pointing towards me with a quick gesture of his arm. I watched Hulk mindlessly turn to me and drop heavily to the floor. His fists pounded against the ground as he roared out and took off in a charge towards me.

And I screamed.

The sound tore out of me, echoing over the walls and ringing in my own ears. I could feel the helplessness that had engulfed me. I knew that my body had met its limit, for I could only run a few feet before my knees gave out. Hulks form towered over me, and I scrambled away as his fist rained down on the concrete once more. Someone screamed from the other side of the cell, and it took me a moment too long to realize it was Natasha. She stood there, horrified and pounding against the glass of the cell. I could make out silhouettes of people on the other side, but the glare from the light streaming in through the hole made it hard to distinguish their faces. The soldiers stood scattered on the far side of the cell, hands on their guns as they watched the scene play out.

Hulk bellowed, distracted by Natasha's scream long enough for me to scramble onto unsteady legs. His body turned to hurl towards her, and fear was a living thing inside of me. He was going to kill her.

My muscles burned as I pushed myself with every last drop of energy I had, tearing past his towering form and slamming into the wall besides Natasha. I fought to stay on my feet as my vision sputtered and smudged with black spots. I blinked rapidly enough to clear them in time to turn my body, caging Natasha between my arms and the wall. The panic building in my chest tore out of me in another scream as I let the tears fall down my face.

It was like time slowed. I knew Hulk was only seconds away from hailing down on us, every nerve in my body was screaming and my instincts were pleading with me to turn and run. But I couldn't, not even for my dislike of the woman caged in my arms. She was important to people on the other side of this barrier, she was important to a group of people who saved lives. My face was inches from the glass, close enough to clearly make out the faces on the other side.

A red suit with an arm raised fired beams at the glass in a desperate attempt to break through, a figure weaving around people and attaching devices along the wall with a bow strapped to his back, and finally the crystal-clear eyes that stared at me from behind the wall right there in front of me. Those wide, agonizingly beautiful eyes. I couldn't help the wave of tears that poured from my eyes as I took in his face, saw the desperation written across his features as his voice barely met my ears through the glass. His hands were planted over my own on the other side as he screamed, begged for them to stop, for everything to just stop. But I knew what was coming.

I was going to die, and there wasn't anything to be done about it.

I simply stared at his face, forcing myself to smile just for him this one last time. Tears slipped down his face as his mouth moved in the same way over and over and over. 'Please, not her. Please, please, please...' I knew I couldn't be the one he was begging for, and it hurt.

But my time was running out, the few seconds I had were slipping by as my senses warned me of the oncoming hit. So, I held my smile and burned the image of his beautiful eyes into my memory, recalling his smile and the soft way he laughed. Letting the memory of his hands on my body flitter through my mind. My time with him had been the highlight of the century I had lived and suffered, and he would be my light until the end.

I pressed my forehead to the glass, letting my tears fall as a sob wracked me, trying and failing to think of anything other than the end nearing. I would protect Natasha so she could return to his side. If she was what he wanted, I would make sure I did everything I could in my last moments to keep her alive for him. I opened my mouth to tell him as much, perhaps finally confess in these last few seconds.

But my sentence never made it past my lips as the force of Hulks assault battered into my spine. I felt the impact, my eyes widening, before my bones shattered and all I felt was pain.

White, hot, all-consuming pain.

I watched vacantly as Bucky slipped from my vision and something cool pressed up against my face. I hadn't realized I had fallen until Bucky's face pressed against the ground on the other side, his mouth open in a cry I couldn't hear. But I could see his pain as it mirrored my own. I couldn't do anything but watch him sob and scream, throwing his fists into the cell until his blood smeared across its surface but he still kept trying.

I wanted to say something, to press my hand on the glass one last time and reassure him that everything was going to be okay even as the pain wracked my broken body. I could feel myself fading as I watched the black spots merge and expand over my vision, stealing my last glimmer of hope as everything was claimed by darkness.

_____

Tony-

I hadn't felt this helpless in a very, very long time.

I had tried and failed to get my systems back online, to tear my way through the wall just like the other two men beside me, but I had made this wall impenetrable. And I had never wished for something to fail so much.

Despair wracked me as I watched Max envelope Natasha against the wall, tucking her body away from harm and using herself as a shield. Bucky had begun yelling as he pounded away at the cell, screaming so desperately for Bruce to stop and get ahold of himself. His voice cracked and strained as he screamed, only stopping to breath in and start all over again as he put all of his effort into getting through to her. To Max.

But he couldn't. None of us could as we watched them on the other side of this god forsaken cell. We could only watch as Hulk's fist connected with Max's frail and battered body. Could only listen as the sickening crack of her bones echoed loud enough to reach us on the other side. Her scream would haunt me until the very day I died.

Bucky had crumbled with her as if it was him who had taken the blow too, pressing his face to the cold concrete and sobbing, begging whatever god watching over us to stop them. His fists clawed at the wall as the soldiers gripped her ankles and dragged her body away from the glass as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Bucky began pounding at the glass again, cursing Hydra through his cries and tossing promises of painful deaths.

I had dropped my arm after the overheat warnings began echoing in my helmet. There was nothing to be done, no way to get to her even if we could get out of the building and get around in time to get to her. They would be long gone by the time we managed to get everything back online, and they were smart enough to trap us here so I was certain they would cover their tracks and prevent us from finding them.

And Max was dead.

In a matter of minutes, they had gathered Max's broken frame up on a stretcher and hauled her out of the crater in the wall. Two men turned with their guns and fired at Hulk's looming form, littering several rounds of darts up and down his side before they scrambled up the ropes and disappeared behind the others. Hulk's body crumbled to the floor as he shrunk back to normal, out cold on the floor. Natasha still quivered against the glass with her eyes clamped shut and shaking. We were just left with the blood splattered on the floor and the consuming silence that always followed these kinds of things.

Bucky remained on the floor, sobbing and clawing at the glass. I had never seen a man so broken, so torn apart. I hated him once, but I had learned to endure his presence. I had once wished that he would die and pay for all the pain he had caused just as I knew he thought too. I regretted ever even thinking of those things as I watched him break apart on the ground. His very soul seemed to shatter with every broken cry that tore through his body, drifting away on every plea that echoed in the room.

Clint stood with his shoulders slumped and his eyes on Natasha. I knew he wanted to get to her and comfort her after what she just witnessed. He hadn't even had the chance to hack the security to reach them before the damage was done.

I had failed them, and I had failed Max.

The lights flickered back on and a moment later a body burst through the stairwell door, drawing all of our attention to the ragged form of none other than Cap himself. His chest was heaving and his shield was gripped in his hand as his wild eyes took in the situation.

Once he realized there weren't any hostiles, confusion spread over his face. "What happened? The lights and everything went out, I couldn't even get to Friday. And the alarms-." None of us dared to answer as another one of Bucky's sobs ricocheted off the walls, tearing Cap's gaze to his fallen comrade. He was taking hurried steps the next few seconds and dropping to the floor beside him, his arms hovering over Bucky's back and worry lacing his words. "Buck, Bucky what's going on? Are you alright?"

The soldier wiped his eyes on the harsh fabric of his uniform and clenched his teeth as he tried to compose himself, "They took her." Bucky's fists shook against the ground beside him with restrained anger and sorrow.

Steve's head shot up, "Who took who? What happened?" His hand finally dropped to Bucky's shoulder in a firm grip, an attempt to console him I'm sure. I could only watch in defeat as I processed it all.

Steve's eyes lingered on the fallen form of Banner, dragging over to Natasha who now sat slumped against the wall with a hollow look in her eyes as she stared at the cracked concrete below her. Then he studied the blood on the floor inside the cell, then the smears of it in front of his friend before he finally dropped them back to the Bucky. Bucky's knuckles were busted and surely fractured from hammering against the glass. Steve picked Bucky's right hand up and examined the bloodied mess before he set it back on the concrete to return his palm to Bucky's shoulder to wait for his explanation.

With pinched brows and agony in his eyes, Bucky met Steve's eyes and I felt my heart shatter all over again. He sucked in a breath, "Hydra infiltrated the Tower and shot Banner with some kind of serum and he went all mad, triggered the security section of this room. He..." Bucky bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, so hard I was sure when he swallowed it had tasted like blood. "He tried to attack Natasha, and Max distracted him long enough to cause him to tear a hole in the wall as he went after her. Max and Natasha were going to escape before the other Hydra operatives came in through the hole and ordered Hulk to get them. I heard it. Then he- he started going after Max and she was so weak, so weak she could hardly stand." Bucky's throat bobbed as he choked back another wave of sobs.

I clenched my fist, "Max gave her life to save Natasha and they took her body."

Steve just stared at me, "How did they get inside?"

I moved, shifting out of his view to allow his eyes to find the crumpled body of the prisoner we had taken earlier. Bucky had killed him seconds after Banner had been injected, but things had already been set in motion. "I'm guessing they used our prisoner as an inside man."

Steve's brows pressed themselves flush together, "That would mean the whole thing was a setup. They had been planning this deliberately." He shook his head, clasping his fingers in a fist. "I told you we shouldn't have taken a prisoner."

Appalled, I stepped forward. "Now is not the time for 'I told you so's. Max was just killed!"

Cap shifted his shoulders, "She was a killer!"

"Max was not a killer!"

Every head in the room snapped the the curled form of the Super Soldier on the floor. His eyes were trained on Steve with anger like none I had ever seen on him before, not even the cold eyes of the Winter Soldier had ever met the ferocity that I saw roiling in them.

Bucky's chest heaved a breath, "She saved those people. The people living in that valley, they're rebuilding their town with Tony's help because Max told him they needed it. Max got them out before she flooded the valley and saved every single one of them." His metal arm groaned against his grip, "Don't you call her a killer unless you're ready to call me one too."

Again, we all sat in silence as his words sank into Steve like a lead weight. I could see it in the way his shoulders sank and his eyes glazed over. He felt the guilt too. "I'm sorry, Buck."

"Save it," He snarled suddenly, wiping again at his tear stained face. "We all know you hated her anyways." Bucky pushed away from the floor and brushed off Steve's hand. "I'm going to find that jet."

"Barnes, you can't go after them alone." I stepped forward. "We just got back from a mission and you're tired. We can-"

"No. No, I want to find them now before they've gone underground and we really don't have a way to get to them." Bucky's eyes blazed as they held mine, "I want them to pay for this."

I sighed, "They will Barnes, they will, but we have to think this through. They just hacked my system and broke into the Tower like it was nothing. They lured us into a trap and then sent us back with a trojan horse when we managed to evade it. Obviously, Hydra has gotten some kind of upper hand and we have to remain careful." I hoped that he would understand, but I could tell that he wasn't thinking straight. Hell, I was hardly thinking straight. The image of Max's body hitting the floor continued to replay over and over in my head.

Steve remained knelt on the floor with his empty eyes set on the tiles while Bucky clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly. Clint took to hacking the doors and I... I needed to reboot the systems. "Everyone needs to get some rest and we will reconvene for a meeting later tonight. That's an order." My words were empty, everything felt empty, but they had to be said for any one of us to be able to put our minds to finding those bastards.

_____

Bucky-

Thirteen hours, that's how long it had been since Hydra had obliterated any semblance of safety in this tower.

Thirteen hours since they had stormed in and murdered Max.

Everything felt numb, every part of me ached with the effort it took to simply walk or breathe, to live. I hadn't slept, couldn't. I knew what waited for me on the other side, the demons that would rear their heads and laugh at the misery I had fallen into. I knew that I would see her battered body on the floor, feel the desperation I had just hours ago all over again on a loop of torture.

So I remained awake.

I had retreated to my room, locking the door and refusing to see anyone while I tried to process what I had seen. I didn't want to accept that she was gone. Maybe it had all been just another nightmare and I would wake up any minute to her soft knock on the door and her voice filtering through that little sliver of light to ask me if I was alright.

I could almost picture it, the way she would smile at me in her oversized T-shirts she loved so much as she leaned against the doorframe. She was so small that her body barely filled half the frame. Her eyes, softer in the dim light from the hall, would warm my heart and melt away the panic that had held me. She would crack some witty joke to lighten the mood and scoot under the covers, never flinching when my metal arm wrapped itself around her waist. Strong and steady like she always was.

But I knew better. Max was angry at me, hurt by my stupidity and harshness. Trust was a fleeting an unsteady presence in my life, and I had let it take to the hills the second I doubted her. Max had never once hurt me and I knew, even in the past I couldn't recall, she had always been that way. Her purpose with the enemy had been to protect me and she had done it, and she had continued to do it even after they fell, not out of obligation, but because she had wanted to. She had been a friend, perhaps more, and I had let her die thinking that I hated her.

Guilt consumed me, swallowing me up and holding me in a vice grip. I couldn't even move, not an inch of me followed my internal pleas to get up and find her. My mind had convinced my body that there was no use in trying anymore.

I laid there in my dirty tactical suit smeared in my own blood in the darkness of my room. My feet hung off the end of the bed and my hair blocked most of my vision. Tears still fell from my eyes no matter how hard I tried to stop them. I wanted to be angry, I was angry, but the anger was nothing compared to the crippling sorrow that drowned my heart.

I didn't even flinch when Friday's voice met my ears. "Sergeant? Mr. Stark has requested for all Avengers to report to the meeting room."

I curled my fingers into a fist, the first movement I had made since collapsing on the bed. The stiff ache in my muscles reminded me of the very real circumstances I found myself in. "Tell him I'll be down in a few minutes." I needed to collect myself before I faced the rest of them.

Friday chimed in again, "You might want to hurry. The tower is receiving an incoming video call. The source of the call is unknown."

I shoved into a sitting position, eyes blowing wide. "What?"

"Mr. Stark is trying to single out its' transmitting location now."

My stomach dropped to the floor. I knew it couldn't be good, not so soon after everything. I took to the elevator as fast as I could, figuring since Friday was back that Tony had finally regained control of the Tower's systems. I gripped the sides of the elevator for support as it lowered me through the floors, finally releasing me to join the ruckus in the meeting room. Shouts of confusion and panic filled the air as I walked through the doors into the chaos of the team.

Everyone wore exhaustion on their faces, purple bags lingering under every eye I saw. On the TV monitor mounted on the wall there was an incoming signal, and all of the team were in an uproar of confusion. Tony was furiously typing away on the keyboard in front of him, the table having been turned longways so everyone could see. Each of us watched the screen with pensive eyes. I took a seat right as the video crackled to life.

The distinct lines of a hand were the first thing we saw as a man in a lab coat haphazardly adjusted the camera lens that went in and out of focus rapidly. The sound of metal clinking against each other echoed over the speakers as he finished fiddling with it and took a large step away to let us take in his face.

He was young, probably in his mid twenties, with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a blinding smile that sent an unwarranted chill down my spine despite the dim lights and the seemingly unthreatening appearance he sported. Something about the whole situation was off, but I didn't have much longer to analyze what was going on before he started talking.

"Hello! My, I must say it's a dream come true to finally meet the Avengers. I wish we could meet in person, but the circumstances haven't been exactly ideal." He gave a sheepish smile and continued with a disarming gesture of his arm. "My name is Roman Giles."

He waited for a long moment as if his name might hold some kind of significance to any of us. It definitely did not.

We all startled as he clapped his hands, "Well, anyways, let's get to the point, shall we? You took something that belonged to me several months ago. A certain weapon more valuable than anything else. Then several months later you stole another weapon. One nearly twice as important as the first. Can you guess what they were?"

The meeting room had gone deathly silent save for the heartbeats hammering in each of our rib cages. Tony finally cracked the silence with his shaky reply, "The Winter soldier and The Ghost."

Roman threw his arms up almost triumphantly, "Bingo! What an accomplishment." He bent forward and peered into the camera, "Hello Sergeant Barnes, enjoying your newfound freedom?"

I swallowed, the feeling like sandpaper. I didn't reply.

With a sigh, he stood again. "As you can imagine, the loss of our two most valuable assets was quite the problem. Our Fist and Shield had been stolen and we were left weakened. But, with a little bit of thought and recruiting, success was within our grasp once more." The smile he wore had soured, morphing into something wicked. "Your building has one of the most advanced security systems I have ever seen Tony Stark, it was quite impressive. Fortunately, we have an equally impressive team on our side and with your recent shortcomings in defeating Hydra's active bases you were just so eager for information. It was too easy to infiltrate your fortress, to get our weapon back from you. I would've liked to have you rejoin us Sergeant, but one of you will do just fine." He threw his head to the side and tossed an order in Russian, a moment later the distinct sound of a door opening filled the speakers.

So did the screams.

Tags<3

@hzdhrtss / @imdoingathingmom / @cjand10 / @calwitch / @blackbirdwitch22

[gallant-basilisk]

Heyyy can I request a fanfic of bakugou (mha) with an s/o that age regresses (the sfw type) when stressed and overwhelmed? Like having trouble learning for a school subject or the similar, going into that regression state where bakugou comforts the s/o and overall trys and make them feel better. I hope it’s not too much or difficult ^^

Okay, so I've never written an age regression, so please pardon me!

Also, my writing is a little rusty... Btw, I'm back... As is the norm for me I've ended up ghosting y'all 'cause I put too much pressure on myself, but I think I've got things under control... Hopefully... Point is, I won't have expectations for myself to deliver weekly for example, so hopefully I won't have another burn-out like this one anymore.

Imma do all the requests you've sent me before (a long, long time ago), then i think I'll implement some changes/ new stuff

I'm considering making a poll listing some fandoms (video games and animes mostly) to expand what fandoms I write for

+ I'm also considering posting fan art here, but we'll see! ☺️

"Ghfuu..!" Your eyes skim through the sentences on the paper laid out before you, chewing on the end of the pen held in your trembling hand, and you know you're supposed to know how to solve the problem, but you don't. Somehow, no matter how many times you reread that block of text something just falls apart when you try to put it into a simple math equation. That's gotta be it, simple, easy, not at all a problem. So why? Why do you not get it? You know you're not dumb. So you really don't get why...

You have a test tomorrow, you know it's important and it's really stressing you out. But it also makes you angry at yourself- why did you choose to leave doing this to the very last moment? You knew long before how much you struggled with math already, so why didn't you start earlier? Instead, you chose to ignore it and now, sitting at your desk so late at night, you feel so mad and frustrated.

You swing your legs under the desk in frustration, feeling a thick lump in your throat as your vision blurs. You throw your pen against the wall with as much force as you can muster and bring your hands up to your eyes, desperately trying to stop the tears from welling up in your eyes and escaping.

You grit your teeth as you bite down any noises trying to escape your throat, but you can't be bothered to lessen the strength or frequency of yours kicks against the foot of your desk, the frustrated thumps heard even from outside your room.

A soft whimper is all Bakugou hears as he swings the door of your room open, ready to yell at you for making so much noise, but he freezes as he sees you in this state - distressed, inattentative. He quietly closes the door and clicks his tongue, seemingly deciding something in his head as he stalks over to your sniffling, slouched form, your back turned towards him.

"Y/N..." He calls out softly - a stark contrast to his usual explosive personality - and leans down to be level with your face, patiently waiting for any sort of reaction or acknowledgement of his presence from you.

You see him, from the corner of your eyes, but you immediately whip your head to the other side, not wanting him to see you like this. "Go away...." You mumble under your breath, the sentence filled with a childish tone of frustration as you curl up on your chair, laying your cheek on your knees as you hug them closer to yourself.

Instead of insulting you or calling you some name, as you had expected him to do, Bakugou simply sighs and continues staring at you, which frustrates you, for a reason you can't explain. "Don't... Bakugou, stop!" You hiss, waving your hand in front of him to get him to leave you alone. "Y/N, stop with the tantrum." He says firmly, his tone eerily calm as he tilts his head just the slightest bit. His eyes scan the way you sit, how you try to curl up to the best of your abilities, how your body trembles from your shaky breaths as you sniffle, trying to hold back your tears. Then he looks over at your desk, narrowing his eyes at the paper filled with moderately easy math problems. He releases another tired exhale as he sees a few darkened damp spots on the sheet, the marks of your tears, then he looks back at you.

He straightens up and looks around the desk, quickly spotting your pen that rolled right up to your trash can. He picks it up and places it neatly on the paper, waiting for a few seconds as he thinks of what to do next.

"Y/N, baby... Look at me..." He places a hand on your head, gently stroking your scalp and twirling his fingers into your hair, careful not to pull it. "Teddy bear..." He whispers softly, a small smile on the edge of his lips as his hand slides down your face and holds the side of your cheek as it were the most delicate thing, slowly tilting your head to look at him. "Baby, what's wrong?" He wipes a single tear from your eye with his thumb and strokes your skin under your eye as he stares at you with a loving gaze, something entirely reserved just for you.

You let out a frustrated huff as you stare at him, the corners of your eyes red. You pout, but keep silent as you look away, crossing your arms. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what you need help with." He says teasingly, offering you a smile as his other hand joins in holding your face, gently stroking under your eyes. You huff, grimacing at his words.

Upon realising you wouldn't tell him in a straightforward way he tilts his head towards your table and leans down closer to you, his voice much more quiet and softer than before. "Do you want..." Bakugou takes a deep breath, mustering all his mental strength to keep up this gentle front. "Do you want Pom-pom to help you with homework, teddy bear?" He takes a moment to add, "Or do you want something else right now?"

You wipe your tears and swallow, trying to force back your crying, but failing miserably. You try to speak, but your words come out as incoherent babbles, which makes Bakugou chuckle as he looks at you in an adoring way. "Do you not want to do homework right now?" You shake your head, sniffling as you continue desperately wiping your eyes. "Figured." He lets a short laugh before snaking his arms under your knees and behind your back, picking you up and cradling you close to his chest. You immediately cling to him, grasping his shirt in your hands as you lean your head on his shoulder, still crying a little. "It's okay, teddy bear, you don't need to do your homework right now, I'm sure it can wait." You look at him with a frustrated expression, wiping your face in his shirt, smearing your tears and a little bit of your snot on it. "That.... that was uncalled for." He huffs, his voice a little angry, but he tries his best to conceal it as he carries you out of the room.

"What would teddy bear would like to do, hm? Sleep?" You shake your head, biting your lip uncertainly. "Take a walk?" You shake your head again. "Okay, then how about taking a nice, warm bubble bath, and I set up a tablet so you can watch a cartoon while taking a bath?" He offers as he makes his way to the bathroom, swaying you in his arms gently. You nod as your crying softens to sniffling and one of your hands snakes up to play with his spiky hair, loving the funny texture of it as you smile.

He nuzzles your face with his own, not caring about the dampness of your cheeks as a giggle escapes you, your other hand placed on his face, playfully pushing it away. "Pom-pom..." You exhale calmly, still playing with his hair as your eyes flutter and your other hand falls down to his neck, lazily wrapping around it. He winces as he hears the name from your mouth, still not quite accustomed to being called that.

"Teddy bear.." He whispers as he shakes you a little and you open your eyes, recognizing the familiar tiling of the bathroom as Bakugou places you down carefully, holding you up until he's certain you're awake (and willing) enough to stay upright by yourself. "I'm going to run your bath, you can bring any toys you want, if you wanna play with them..." He offered as he walked over to the bathtub and turned the faucet. You nod a bit more enthusiastically as you skip over to the cabinets and open them, excitedly taking out a bunch of toys in one fell swoop and bringing them to Bakugou, who simply looks at you gently as he helps you arrange the toys on the edge of the bathtub. You jump excitedly, feeling impatient as the bathtub filling up feels like it's taking ages, looking at Bakugou with a pout. "Teddy bear, I can't do anything about it..." He says, stroking your head. You roll your eyes and pace around. The logical part of you is, well, sort-of aware of how childish you're being, so you try to tone it down a little. Though the longer you try to behave, the more it seems the bathtub is not filling fast enough and the more difficult it becomes to stay put.

You groan exaggaratedly, throwing your head back and staring at Bakugou, your face inches from him. "Y/N." He warns, briefly glancing at you before returning to tapping the tablet's screen. You let out an annoyed noise as you go around and peer over his shoulder, leaning up against him. Your hand reaches out to point at your favourite cartoon, which Bakugou humors by ruffling your hair then promptly positioning the tablet on the tablet-holder mounted on the wall.

"Happy?" He asks with a hint of irritation, but his eyes remain kind as he looks at you nodding your head, then gestures behind himself to the tub. "Your bath's ready, the towel, toys are here and you can watch your cartoon. Now be a good teddy bear and enjoy the bubble bath, yeah?" "Yeah!" You jump up enthusiastically, giggling. "Alright. I'll be right outside. If you need anything, just call out. Got it?" "Got it." "Great, good teddy bear. I'm proud of ya for being so well-behaved." You avert your gaze in embarrassment, smiling awkwardly as Bakugou leaves and closes the door.

[...]

You giddily skipped down the stairs, four plushies smothered in your arms as you quickly make your way to the couch in the living room and throw yourself on it, landing on three of the plushies, while the fourth falls to the floor. "Careful, sweetie, you might hurt yourself jumping around like that." Bakugou laughs, having grown a little more accustomed to your behaviour and feeling more receptive of your childishness.

He places down a bunch of food, snacks and some take-out he ordered whilst you were enjoying your bath, plopping down beside you and pulling a large blanket over the both of you. One of his arms reaches out and pulls you into is side, leaning his chin on the top of your head, letting out a long sigh.

Today was definitely exhausting for him, not being very good at remaining this calm for hours, but he was more than willing to do it for you.

He just prays the next time you won't be even more unruly.

[ask-the-totally-real-peppino]

(I have been trying to write this post for a while, but it keeps coming out like a sob story, and it is really not that deep jkfdgkj

So I am just going to say it, bc you guys know I love to ramble for ages, and I need some opinions

1 year of this blog is tomorrow (or today depending on how long I take to write this kjldfg), and I really do appreciate you all being here - if you have been here since the beginning, or just followed recently - if you've sent an ask, liked, reblogged, shared with a friend, theorised, made fanart, or followed me to my art blog and watched me make (and continue to make) a billion clones, anything; thank you

I made this blog on a whim, only like a week after getting into Pizza Tower, and I had no idea it would turn into what it is now

Of course, in the beginning there were a lot of actual posts, like with backgrounds and multiple characters, and I'd post several times a day if I could - and while I was having fun, it was not ideal - I'd frequently post at 7am after spending all night working on a post then I'd pass out, I'd forgo eating or showering just to draw, and I had wrecked my wrist several times, and continue to push pass the pain just to post

It wasn't just hyperfixation, it was obsession - much easier to realise that in retrospect

I was also medicated at the time, I had been on antidepressants for 3 years, so around April (I think) I ran out of meds and was unable to get more due too third party issues/unable to get in contact with my doctor/etc (and unbeknownst to me at the time, the last two packs I had were expired) - so I am sure you can imagine the sort of affect suddenly going cold turkey on the med that make you not wanna die has on a person - I was not doing great to put it lightly

But I still wanted to continue - so many people had praised me on the frequency of posts, and how excited they were and all this validation - I couldn't let people down! (Also I was, and still am, a disabled shut-in loser with no friends, posting is like the only social interaction I had/have kdfgkgfd)

But I think I did - I intimidated myself out of drawing main posts with how much work they were, started the intermission even though I said I shouldn't, had no script or direction and that I was not 100% invested in to try to motivate myself back into main posts, and it was just easier to draw silly ooc posts than do the thing I really wanted to do instead

Of course, this is not any of you guys' fault - I have always had this issue of starting something, it getting way bigger than I can manage, crashing and then just unable to get going again - I have so many unfinished comics, half-done projects and abandoned askblogs it's not even funny - but it's also like, not the end of the world, if I don't finish things I start for fun - sure, I'll feel guilty as hell for a while, but life moves on

So that being said, I would still very much like to continue the story here - I have been working on some stuff in the background (I even updated Pep's reference in the last few days, with a ton of new stuff), but I still don't think it's gonna be soon - I am doing somewhat better than I was, and I actually have an appointment for with my doctor finally (I will probably have to do some reassessments since they can't just put me back on the meds, after not having them for almost a year, and then I'd have to probably get reaccustomed to side effects etc), so despite it all I am still here

I am not sure if I want to continue the intermission with Bean and Fiend at this time - I know a few folks enjoyed it (mostly bc Fiend kjsdfkj) - but as mentioned previously it was unplanned, unscripted, and I was quickly not feeling it, as I am sure some of you guys were too - the intention was for Fiend to give you guys another hint to the main story, but getting to that point was not fun - I might do a poll on this in a separate post

I also mentioned a while back that I would be cutting down the Big Post into smaller posts, and posting as and when parts were done - but once again, do not expect these soon - (although there is a very late Valentines post coming hopefully soon)

And I think that should hopefully be it for now - I know this is a huge post, and probably still a bit sob story-ish, but oh well - I also know that the hype for Pizza Tower had unfortunately died down significantly, but I'm still working on PT stuff on my art blog @smalltimidbean if you wanna see more silly things (and maybe some lore for here hehe)

It is also the first now, so happy birthday Pep

Okay, thank you, and see you later)

[bilightningwhumper]

Okay, I got derailed by all the booping, but all the posts up to the end of Day 26 are completed and done. Days 27-31 left to go! I'm going to do my best to write more tonight, but I do have work tomorrow and need to sleep at some point. So I'll probably just leave it to writing, no more typing unless I change my mind.

My plans after this are:

write all the summaries for my stories

put all the links for the October event posts on their respective Tumblr story masterlists

planning on making Ao3 collections for the events bunching the TNEI bits by themselves, doing the same for SoaS and ToF (debating doing that for Tumblr too, but all the story posts have their own, so why make more?)

writing the first chapter (or two) for the lady whump 12 Dancing Princesses story because I'm fixated on it still

making a few new masterlists, specifically ones to categorize my lady/female whumpee centric stories from my male whumpee and the few enby whumpee stories I have

working out a writing/reading schedule for myself so I can keep up on both of the hobbies I enjoy (also so I can actually share the main stories with you all)

Not in that order, mostly simultaneously, but you know. Working on it. Anyway, polls still up: one for the female/lady whump story mentioned here and another for curiosity about tagging/schedules. Let me know if you want to be on any taglists, but no pressure, as always.

[watchinghallmark]

The big launch of Hallmark+ is tomorrow and I'm personally very excited about it. I'll be sure to let you all know what I think of the movies and shows as I'm able to watch them. I will tag everything regarding streaming content with "hallmark plus" if you want to block it.

To celebrate the launch, I'll be posting all the polls for the posters that are currently available throughout the day tomorrow so check back for that.

Hopefully a decent portion of you are already signed up for the service or plan to sign up so we can chat about all the fun stuff coming our way. It's going to be a lot on top of the regular programming but I'm looking forward to everything Hallmark has planned. I understand that some of you can't or won't be signing up for whatever reason but hopefully you'll be able to watch the content at some point if you're interested in it.

[jeffsaturwaist]

Voting Guidelines

Morning sats! I'm here to explain a little about how the voting will work.

The voting will be divided in four main brackets:

One or several rounds per category to determine the top five for each category

One round for each category to determine the number 1 for each category

Two votes to pick the top two categories

Final vote to determine the winner

As of right now, after accounting for duplicates, there are just under 150 Waists to vote for, and the personal post category alone has over 60, so there will definitely be quite a few rounds of voting. There are a few submissions that aren't exact duplicates but are close enough to other submissions that I will be removing a few to make the voting easier. Submissions will be put into posts in random order (how I have them named on my computer).

I hope to have these rounds for the first bracket:

2 rounds for Concert, of 25-30 submissions each

1 round for Magazine, with 13 submissions

1 round for Music Video, with 9 submissions

2 rounds for Personal Post, of 25-30 submissions each

This is tentative, since Tumblr has a 30 image per post limit, and I'm not positive I'll be able to pare it down that much, but for the most part that is what it will look like. For each round of the first bracket, voters will be given 3 choices (in any order, no extra points given for 1st/2nd/3rd place), and the top 5 will move onto the next bracket. All remaining brackets will be determined by poll, so each person only has one vote per category. Each round/poll will last for 24 hours.

The deadline for submissions is tonight, so I'm already drafting the first round of voting. I'm going to schedule the posts so that all rounds are released tomorrow at 12:00 noon EST, so watch out for those! Here's a time zone converter.

As a token of my appreciation for all your support, here's a sneak peek with some Waists I decided to omit as they're very similar to other submissions. Nonetheless lovely waists 👀

I'll post a reminder later of last call for submissions, but otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow! Get hyped for the Waists!!!!!

[stardust-falling]

Writing Update: November 2024 and Beyond

Now that Whumptober is complete, it's time to get back to writing longer fics and originals! Some existing projects will be coming back into focus, some will be wrapping up, and still other new ones might begin.

Zhuixing's Off-Brand NaNo

As a long-time participant in NaNo*WriMo, this year I will still be completing a 50k-in-a-month challenge, but will not be using the organization or official site to do so. My main project this month will be working on SVLPO Season Two, with an initial goal of 50k words over the month as well as stretch goals if I manage to surpass that. I will not be posting the chapters as I finish them. This is to give me a bit of a break from the chaos of daily-posting as well as letting me write a large section and edit it all together. New chapters will begin posting in December, either once or twice a week-- but I will be maintaining a word counter on myWriteClub-- which you can use to follow me if you'd like-- I'll also be keeping an updated wordcount in my pinned post over the month!

New Additions to my AO3

I will be working on adding miscellaneous fics and reorganizing my AO3 and pseuds, just for my personal organization (as well as to have all my writing in one-ish place for my readers to find). In addition to my Patreon People's Choice fic from back in August being uploaded to AO3 tomorrow, November 1, I will also be posting the shortfics I wrote for requests on ko-fi.

(mandatory disclaimer: People's Choice fics, while exclusive to members of my Patreon for three months, are available to read with a free membership, while ko-fi requests are written as thank-you gifts for a certain donation amount, rather than as commissions)

I have also added several pseuds to my account to sort my fics by type, which makes my brain happy by letting me divide things up neatly, and might also help people browse certain lengths, content, etc. of my fics. New pseuds are as follows:

stardust_falling (main pseud) - my long-form, more "serious" fanfics (SVLPO, Mirror's Reflection, etc). Fics and series from my "snippets" pseud might end up moved here if I edit/expand or otherwise workshop them.

stardust_originals - original works (Ghosts of the Heart, etc.)

stardust_snippets - short-form works, prompt fills (whumptober fics, request prompts, etc.)

stardust_after_dark - darkfic or "mature" fic, basically pwp² (porn without plot or (more likely) pain without plot)

All of my works can continue to be viewed in one place under my user account.

Ghosts of the Heart - Volume One Finale and Revisions

The first volume of my original xianxia novel, Ghosts of the Heart, is nearing completion! There are only a few chapters left, and it will likely finish at some point during the month of November. After that, I will be making some minor revisions, mainly for continuity purposes, over the following few months before beginning the next volume. Read the currently-released chapters on my patreon (free with some chapters early-access) !

A Space Odyssey

With EPIC: The Musical reigniting my decade-old Odyssey hyperfixation, I'm working on the early stages of an Odyssey retelling novel series/universe-- as a space opera/sci-fi in the vein of Star Wars or Honkai: Star Rail. This is still in very early development, so I don't have any kind of release date, but I hope to post some kinds of concept art and other details at some point as I come up with ideas! If you're interested, you can read one of the fics I wrote for whumptober, which serves as a sort of concept fic for this.

New Horizons!

Working through whumptober has let me play around with fleshing out ideas that have been bouncing around in my head, some new, some for awhile. I'm thinking of working on making some into long-form fics and have posted an interest-check poll about which to work on first-- it'll be running for a week, so go here to vote! I'm also working on some ideas for a Genshin AU fic where Scaramouche wasn't discarded and remained either in Tenshukaku with the Shogun or at the Narukami Shrine with Yae Miko, but that will likely be something for much later.

……

That's all for now! Thanks to everyone who supports my writing! I hope you continue to enjoy it as I branch off into new fandoms and territories. A special thanks to everyone who reads my original work too, it's the furthest I've gotten in a project like that and I hope people will continue to discover and enjoy the characters and stories I've made up in my own head.

[docholligay]

Doc’s Quarterly Patreon Book Thing: Mystery/Crime

Okay, so, I’ve been trying to think about how I want to do this, which is basically letting my patreons force me to read a book. I have picked three genres I would say I do not read a lot of, but I know y'all do, and then the fourth quarter will be either open season, nonfiction, or as a children’s book for children, I haven’t decided.

SO. Nominations will be opened on the Patreon Apr 4th. RULES AND THINGS TO KNOW/HOW THIS WILL WORK:

It will be pitchless. You don’t need to pitch me! Just Title, Author.

One nomination per person. Your first nom will be considered your nomination, all others will be ignored.

Must be available in print

For this quarter, the genre must be MYSTERY OR CRIME (Nonfiction permitted). Below, I point out some fantasy novels I have enjoyed and negative-enjoyed, which’ll give you both an idea of what i like and what I might consider mystery/crime (A tough line). Just good faith effort.

Must think I would like it. You don’t have to think it’ll slay me and change my life, but this isn’t ‘let’s clown on Doc’. I am doing this in good faith and I assume you will nominate in good faith.

I will RANDOMLY DRAW FIVE of the novels. These five will then be PUT TO A VOTE on patreon. I will not read the comments so if you want to pitch, the comments on that poll will be a good place to do it.

Whatever wins the vote, I’ll read.

Okay, then, MYSTERY/CRIME BOOKS I REMEMBER TRULY ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD, AS AN ADULT. (as the sections go on, this is getting harder for me, so be patient. I'm not going to be too crazy about what is or isn't a mystery/crime novel, as long as we're all trying)

The Witch Elm by Tana French

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

I'll Be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamara (nf)

Provenance by Aly Sujo and Laney Salisbury (nf)

Catch Me if You Can by Frank Abagnale (technically nf but uh....fiction)

The Maltese Falcon by Hammett

The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

MURDER/CRIME BOOKS I REMEMBER DISTINCTLY NOT-ENJOYING OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD

Anything else by James Patterson besides Kiss the Girls (which I would say is in that middle band)

Pretty much any true crime about serial killers

Anything by Janet Evonavich

The Butterfly garden by Dot Hutchinson

Anything by Sue Grafton

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware (full disclosure, I bought this under the presumption it was a paranormal book and my disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined)

(Yes I have read Holmes. It was fine.)

See?? Despite being an insufferable hater, I do like things! This list of course doesn’t include anything where I was like, “That was perfectly fine!” It’s made to show the highs and lows.

Does this make sense? I’ll put the nomination post on Patreon tomorrow!

Today is the day where you can ask any questions of me pre-nomination