#if you saw an earlier version of this no you didn't

[loveisanimaginarydagger3000]

The Soldier Of Death (9)- Training Session

Natasha Romanoff X Super Soldier Reader 18+

Summary: Soldat Smerti. The Soldier of Death. You were the perfect weapon: loyal, obedient, and merciless, or so Hydra thought. What happens when these traits are put to the test? Your captivity in the Avenger's tower and the presence of a redhead makes you realise you didn't have to be a monster. The question was though; Did Hydra make you the monster or were you always one?

This fic will contains dark themes. Please read these warnings before starting any of these chapters: graphic descriptions of murder, violence, gore and torture, heavy angst, mental issues.

Please consider these warnings before reading

Word Count: 3.8k

General Masterlist | The Soldier Of Death Masterlist

Chapter Warning: Dark thoughts, flashbacks, graphic depictions of murder/gore/violence

—

Hiding a subtle smile from the redhead, you continued to walk alongside her towards the training room, your eyes widening in shock at how luxurious and open the space was. Various equipment was scattered around the room, designated areas for different training tasks, the group from earlier in the common room waiting for you and Natasha, chatting amongst themselves until they caught sight of you. You could feel the anxiety creeping up on you at their stares, mind instantly going to the negative thoughts and dwelling on them, assuming that they already viewed you as a monster, especially Steve.

Whilst trying to ignore their inquisitive stares, your eyes flickered over to the large mirror that stretched across one of the walls, your reflection sending you a sinister smile as they haunted you, gaze instantly switching to the floor.

Don't hide from me Soldat, we're going to have some fun here.

They chuckled out menacingly, Wanda's head tilting in confusion across the room as you approached the group, Natasha turning her head to the side to see your gaze still locked on the floor, the small smile from earlier nowhere to be seen as your jaw was tightly clenched.

"Look who finally showed up," Tony says, voice containing hints of sarcasm as he flashes you both a charming smile, your eyes eventually rising to look over the equipment they were standing in front of . The team were just standing in front of standard gym equipment, albeit the expensive and fancy version, your brows furrowing at what they wanted you to do as they just stared at you expectantly.

"We need to test your physical attributes to try and get a picture of your enhanced abilities," Clint said, taking over from Natasha as she left to quietly converse with Wanda, the young witch keeping her curious gaze on you as Clint instructed you on all the equipment.

To say you shocked some of the team would have been an understatement, Sam and Tony both amazed by your lack of effort at lifting some of the weights, Steve trying to dismiss them by saying they weren't that heavy, until you just about managed to lift his personal best, struggling a little more than him but still able to complete a couple reps. With the size difference between the two of you and your inadequate diet at Hydra, Clint predicted that with the right training you would be even stronger than Steve, his brows raising in an impressed manner.

"Extreme enhanced strength," Clint muttered, taking note of how much you were able to lift and how many reps you could do, chuckling to himself as he saw Natasha and Wanda both look a little in awe at how your arms flexed with each weight, a mischievous glance being sent Natasha's way as she snapped out of it.

You were then asked to run on a treadmill, your mind zoning out as you ran at whatever the pace the machine was set on, adapting to the increased speed and gradient when Clint would alter it, Tony messing about with it at one point to see how you would react, furrowing his brows as you didn't seem to notice, too busy in your own mind.

You didn't think of much, simply remembering the view from earlier, imaging what it would be like to properly explore the forests nearby, hoping that soon they would trust you enough to let you go there.

You broke a little sweat when Clint left the machine on the highest it could go speed and gradient wise, everyone watching how you continued to sprint, the sound of your running eventually reaching your ears as you came back to grips with reality, looking over to your side to see Natasha close, inspecting a screen of your vitals nearby projected by the machine. Her brows were furrowed a little in confusion, her curious gaze meeting yours before she smiled at you, a small one inevitably sneaking onto your face.

"Enhance endurance and speed," Clint said, noting how far you had managed to run and how long you were able to keep up a consistent speed that rivalled Steve's pace, the other super soldier looking at you in annoyance as you were proving to be an improved version of him.

After a few more physical tests, you were moved onto a shooting range, your body tensing up as a memory from your fractured mind resurfaced.

Your hand trembled as you held the gun between your fingers, your index hovering reluctantly over the trigger as the body tied to the chair struggled against their restraints, muffled sobs escaping them as they shook their head that was hidden by a secure black bag tied around it.

"Practise your shot Soldat," the man ordered, looking down at your younger self that conveyed weakness and hesitation, body still recovering from your last session of serum. When the body continued to struggle, the man moved closer, causing a shiver to run down your spine in terror. "Don't make me ask again, Soldat. Take the shot."

Lining up the gun in your hand with their head, you had no choice but to do as he said, too fearful of experiencing another punishment. Pulling the trigger, the sobs immediately were silenced as the bullet glided through their skull, killing them instantly.

"I want you to kill one more," he ordered repeatedly, his tone sinister as another body was dragged into the chair, the other discarded carelessly as the failed experiment was of no further use. The cries swiftly turned silent, over and over again as you shot bullet after bullet, your accuracy becoming as precise as possible, listening to the order of where you were supposed to shoot.

Soon, you watched as another body was dragged in, the usual black bag around their head gone as fearful eyes pleaded you to spare their life, to do anything but pull the trigger. The soft brown that met your gaze had hope and desperation swirling in them but that was soon drained out of them along with their life, a trail of blood oozing down the front of their face as the bullet hole left a gaping wound at the centre of their head.

"She does know how to use a gun, right?" Tony said in confusion as you just stared ahead at the wooden board that was the target, a few others looking at each other curiously as they waited for you to do something. Steve crossed his arms over his chest, watching you with furrowed brows as he had a feeling something was going to go wrong, his eyes flickering over to Wanda's who were faintly glowing red, a pained look taking over her face when another memory resurfaced.

The barrel of the gun was pointed to the underside of the guard's jaw, a cruel and dangerous smile on your face as you had lost control to the darkness within you, a sinister chuckle escaping them as they pressed the gun harder against the guard that was trapped in your grip, their strength no match to yours.

"Let him go Soldat," another guard commanded but you didn't obey, laughing at the pounding heart of the guard in your arms, drunk on his fear. "You know the consequences of disobeying the General," he states but they didn't care, the darkness would leave you to suffer the punishment.

The other guard's eyes widened in surprise when your finger pulled the trigger, blood splattering all over the wall behind you as well as your face, his own hand trembling in terror at your psychotic state, the smile still present of your face as the body slumped to the ground, a pool of crimson forming around it as flesh dangled disgustingly.

"Y/n?" Natasha softly asked, knocking you out of the memory you had just rediscovered, your fragile mind slowly remembering events, needing a trigger to cause the memory. "Hey, focus on me," she whispers, noticing your frantic eyes, fingers trembling by your side, eyes settling on the gun placed in front of you.

Press it to her temple, you know you want to.

They taunted, a low sigh escaping you as they knew how confused and scared you were, adding to the torment that was your broken mind.

You closed your eyes, listening to her words and slowing your breathing, trying to match it to hers and her steady heart rate, the others unable to hear what was being said between the two of you as Natasha stood closer to you and further from them.

"It's just a wooden board, remember that," she whispers, encouraging you to complete the task but reassuring you that no one was going to get hurt.

"Thank you," you murmur back, rolling your shoulders back, trying to get rid of the tenseness that had built inside you, blinking a few times and watching as the wooden board merged into the helpless victims, the blood already oozing down their skin, before it merged back.

"You got this," she says softly, offering you a calm smile as she watches you line up your shot, a deep breath escaping you.

Pulling the trigger, the first bullet glides through the centre of the wooden target's head, exactly in the middle causing a few impressed glances between the team. After that, you emptied the magazine in a quick succession, everyone but Clint's and Nat's eyes furrowing in confusion, theirs in disbelief.

"Did she miss the rest?" Sam quietly asked, Tony shrugging his shoulders while Wanda tilted her head in confusion, Steve remaining silent as Clint shook his head.

"She fired all the other bullets through the same bullet hole," his brows raised in surprise as it was near impossible to get every other bullet to fit in the exact same hole that you first created, yet you seemed to do it effortlessly. You dismantled the weapon before placing it down on the table, waiting for your next task, refusing to look at the target as the vision of the body slumped in the chair wouldn't disappear, blood dripping onto the floor beneath their corpse, the sound subtly echoing in your ears.

"It could have been luck," Steve dismissed, Natasha already a step ahead of him and offering you another round of bullets, her impressed and confident expression calming you, the body blurring back into the wood. You repeated the activity, this time aiming for the wooden target's heart, Steve's argument disproved as you did it once again, Clint becoming a little jealous that there was someone with better accuracy than him.

"What a way to steal my thunder," Clint says while patting your back, your hand grabbing his before he could touch you, your grip tight before you realised he was harmless, letting him go with a shy look, eyes averting as Steve had definitely caught the interaction, his suspicion of you losing control still valid. "What else are you trained in?" he asked, his face apologetic as he should have realised you would still be cautious of others.

"Most firearms, snipers being a speciality, and knife throwing," you say, Clint noting it down and smiling a little as you hadn't mentioned something.

"Archery?" he asks, a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Trained but not my strongest skill," you say, the archer taking that as a win, confident that he would still be able to beat you in an archery competition.

They didn't bother with anymore accuracy tests as it was evident you had impeccable aim, Clint leading you over to some training mats for a sparring session.

"Ok, so the rules are simple," he says while getting into a stance opposite you, the rest of the team standing back as to not get in the way, Steve muttering something under his breath while Tony left, seemingly bored of nothing eventful happening and retreating to his lab, a suit idea for you entering his mind. "Don't fight to hurt the other, play to pin them down. You win by pinning the other for five seconds and don't play dirty because we don't want any injuries," you nod in agreement with his words but hesitate on asking a question, him noticing and motioning for you to speak.

"Should I pull my punches?" you ask a little nervously, another memory resurfacing.

"Stop pulling your punches Soldat," grits out a guard as you dodge an attack from your opponent effortlessly, "You're fighting to the death."

"With your strength, yes please, I want to make it out alive," he jokes but it strikes a nerve within you, shoulders tensed as you get into a fighting stance.

You predominantly take on the role of defence, blocking his attacks as he throws his leg at you, yours knocking it down, body lowering to duck the punch he threw at you. You manoeuvred around him, not throwing any attacks and sticking mainly to defence as you were afraid of hurting him, plus it was beneficial to figure out his fighting pattern. His arm swung once more at you as he tried to kick you again, your forearm taking the brunt of his hit as you side stepped to avoid his boot, your free arm only pushing him in the stomach to stop him from getting another quick shot at him.

"Come on, you're going to have to attack at some point," he says, voice playful as he motions for you to come at him with his hands, smiling at you as you focus. You let him come to you again, the archer trying to up his attacks to force you into attacking, his plan working but not in the way he was thinking. He presumed that the more he attacked, you would eventually feel as though you needed to attack back to stop his onslaught of fists and boots but you didn't react to that, merely blocking them all just at a faster pace. You were waiting purposely, watching how as he attacked more, he left more open spaces for you to hit, patiently waiting for your opportunity to present itself.

Swiping your leg at the opportune moment, his body swiftly fell to the ground at the contact, your body moving on top of his back and pinning him to the ground, his strength incomparable to yours and the awkward position making it impossible for him to escape.

"Five," Natasha says after time, your body easily moving off of his and moving to stand, offering your hand for the archer to take to get back up. You sent him a shy smile as he panted for breath, gratefully taking your hand as you had winded him, eventually making it up onto his feet.

What you didn't expect was for Steve to approach you, his body language and stance indicating he was going to throw a punch, your face just about dodging the unexpected hit.

"Steve," Natasha berated, her gaze cold at the super soldier as he swiped his legs at you with force, using his full abilities as you knew you could handle them. You had to jump over his leg to avoid his boot, your body rolling on the floor as you landed, avoiding his next attack before pushing yourself back up to your feet, blocking his next hit with your forearm, kicking his leg down, not holding back with your own strength as he clearly wasn't.

"You have to be ready for the unexpected," he pants out in reason to Natasha but she just rolls her eyes at him, watching how the two of you fought as you were clearly able to handle him.

He focussed on strength to try and tackle you, his rough hands trying their best to knock you off balance or tire you out but it was to no avail as you slid to the side to dodge or parried the attack, throwing in a few punches when he was left open.

His foot collided with your ribs at one point, knocking you to the ground where you tried your best to move out of the way before he kicked out his other boot, his speed beating yours as his boot collided with your face, knocking you straight back to the ground.

Kill him.

"Steve, what are you doing!" Clint grits out, moving to intercept the fight.

The super soldier didn't reply, simply hoping his plan was working. He wanted you to snap so he could prove that you weren't safe to have on the team as they didn't know if Hydra were still in your head or not, so he needed proof to show they could be and you needed to be clean of them before being allowed anywhere near this team.

Before anyone could intercept the fight, you were tackling Steve to the ground, a pained noise escaping him at how roughly you forced him to the ground, your leg wrapping around his as you moved your body to slot behind his, arm wrapping around his neck and pulling it tighter towards you, his neck strained in your grasp while his leg was bent at a weird angel. If you applied any more pressure to either point, you would easily snap his neck or leg, the man's arms desperately hitting against your side and arm, attempting to ease up your grip.

"That's time, let him go Y/n," Natasha repeated, your eyes blinking back into focus as the man in your arms was turning red, the lack of oxygen causing his arms to stop their feeble attacks.

A loud gasp echoed around the room as you let him go, shrugging his body to the floor and climbing back to your feet, your hand rubbing your jaw where his boot had hit before trying to click it back into place. You turn back to Steve who just looks angry, his body pushing himself back up for another round when you place your boot on his chest, forcing him down.

"What happened to not playing dirty?" your tone cold as you stared down at him, a pair of hands softly meeting your shoulders, causing your body to relax a little at her touch.

"Leave him be," Natasha whispered, your head turning to her in disbelief before she continued, "I'll deal with him later, don't do something you'll regret."

Letting out a deep sigh, you lift your boot off of Steve, ignoring how Natasha sends him out, Clint coming over to you to check your cheek, your hand waving him away as you had experienced worse.

Sam left to follow his friend, offering you an apologetic smile while leaving, trying to ensure Steve would calm down and realise his mistake, Clint deciding that it would be a good time to end the tests, everyone but you and Natasha leaving the training room.

"Fancy one more round?" her tone playful as she moved onto the mats, her smile tugging at her lips as you turned to face her, the cold look in your eyes softening at her.

"I don't know," you mumble, glancing to the mirror cautiously to see your reflection grinning, a low chuckle escaping them which unnerves you. "I don't want to hurt you," you say and that just merely makes Natasha laugh, the sound causing a warmth to take over your chest, easing your nerves.

"I can take a punch," she teases, your body already moving towards the mat, unable to deny her request. Her hand softly pushes your shoulder when you're within distance, you acting as though the push actually affected you, staggering back a little, her smile widening at your calmer demeanour.

"Come on then, show me what you've got," you say jokingly in a shy tone, not quite used to using humour with others yet, the redhead smiling to herself at how comfortable you seemed to be with her, joking freely with her while you were more timid with the rest.

Sparing with Natasha was more fun than you thought, her swiftness and agility, along with her surprising strength, made her more of a challenge than Clint or Steve, the woman somehow always one step ahead. It was more of a dance with her, her moves planned and almost choreographed as she slipped away from your advances, getting in a few hits before you blocked them, faking to swipe with your leg before hooking it around her instead, taking both of you tumbling to the floor.

Her legs wrapped tightly around your waist as her back arched off the training mat, her arm moving to grip yours that was pressed against the top of her chest, pinning her body down to the mat to finally win the point, the fight lasting a lot longer than you thought. Her legs brought you in closer, her lips tugging into a smirk as you both had the other in a trap. She could effortlessly flip the two of you over and pin you to win, but all you had to do was pin her wrists and then you would be fine against the strength in her thighs, the redhead then unable to flip you. She didn't try and flip you as your eyes seemed to flicker between that distant stare and your focused gaze, her brows furrowing as the smile on your lips slowly faded, the pressure you were applying against her slacking.

The darkness's voice painfully rang around in your head, demanding you to do inhumane acts to her while she was in a vulnerable position, gruesome images flickering through your mind at what you could do. You felt a shiver run down your spine as they clawed away at your sanity, trying to take control over you but you fought against it, doing everything in your power to not hurt her.

"Y/n?" Natasha asked softly, your eyes widening in fear a little as your body leaned back, her legs untangling from your body as you staggered back to your feet, away from her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," you lie and you know she can see straight through you, your eyes refusing to meet hers, accidentally landing on the mirror. Your breath hitched at the sight within the reflection, her lifeless eyes staring at you as her body was limp on the mat, blood pooling around her as your gaze moved to your hands, the warm, red liquid coating them and staining your clothes. "I'm going to go to my room, if that's alright?" your voice small causing worry to rise within the redhead, her wanting to make sure you were ok but sensing that you needed some alone time.

"Yeah...sure," she hesitantly said, watching how you didn't even look at her before leaving the room abruptly, a strange feeling pulling at her heart. 

[astriiformes]

Important question for the internet spurred by a very normal conversation we are having with our garden friends

If someone were to create a bracket in which the various US governors battled for dominance (in a physical smackdown, to be clear), would it be better to have a clean governor-vs-governor battle royale, or a tag-team system in which they can tap out and summon their respective lieutenant governor as backup.

[chill-mcyt-art-reblogs]

sins of the father

reblogs are welcome, reposts are not

[melomarts]

Evil gay ppl…,,

[knockknockitsnickels]

"Sacrifice the Yourself" chapter 2: The Broken The Hierophant. Starring the Narrator, Voice of the Tower, Princess Princess, and furby Broken

[snowyh2o]

Angel Alastor in a new suit. Slight redesign because I wanted to draw actual wings and give him a ponytail and glasses

[ricksanchezbignaturals]

interesting choice of words~

yeah, thematically a cyberpunk/rnm crossover would be better with morty as v and rick as johnny, but im too brainrotted about silverv and rickcest so they both have to be ricks soz

my dad asked what i was drawing when i was working on the little thing of c137 playing with x216's hair so i was like "ricks, what else?", and he clowned on me for a bit, joking about me having a crush on him hahahaha you have no idea bro

anyway he was all "you should draw a johnny silverhand rick", because that's the other guy im obsessed with. and man, the stupid grin that popped up on my face because i already had this wip to pull out and show him lmaooo

[mad-as-a-box-of-frogs]

I was determined to save my baby. I didn't want [Tony] to get that hunger that possessed Ali. I made decisions. There was a chance he wouldn't inherit his father's powers or urges, so yes, I hid the truth. When he turned 17, the djinn marks started to show, and I couldn't explain those away. And then one night, he walked right into my dream, and he saw everything, including the fact that he terrified me.

Ada Monroe in Legends of a Mind (1x05): Best of SPN WIN Gals and Nonbinary Pals [22/?]

[wilderflcwers]

Been listening to Midst

[bbcphile]

WIP Wednesday

It's somehow Wednesday again! Enjoy DFS and FDB trying to comfort LLH during a nightmare.

(You can find more excerpts here.)

A-Fei cut himself off, head whipping around to look at Li Lianhua. “Xiangyi?” All trace of the storm had vanished, leaving only worry in its wake.

Fang Duobing sat bolt upright. “What’s wrong?” 

Li Lianhua’s hand twitched.

Huli Jing whined and shifted to drape herself across Li Lianhua’s knees.

“Where’s the incense?” a-Fei snapped, glancing frantically around the room.

“What?”

“Incense,” a-Fei bit out. “From the parcel. Find it. Now.”

Fang Duobing bit back his demand for details. “On it,” he said instead, yanking the parcel from his robe and tugging at the strings. Damn it, why had he tied them so tightly?

“Xiangyi, it’s alright,” a-Fei said, his gruff voice gentled. He tapped Li Lianhua’s pulse point repeatedly. “You’re in Lotus Tower. You’re safe. It’s time to wake up.”

A nightmare? He should have known. Of course a-Fei would have something for treating them, and of course he wouldn’t have wanted to talk about–

“–No,” Li Lianhua mumbled, “no, don’t–”

“You’re safe, Xiangyi,” a-Fei said more urgently, squeezing his wrist and giving it a shake. You’re free. Now stop fighting and open your eyes!”

Oh, shit, if he was dreaming of whatever happened earlier, and he tried to destroy his heart meridian again–

“–I can’t wake him up,” a-Fei hissed. “Hurry.”

“Understood.” Fuck it. Fang Duobing snapped the string in half and tore the packaging open. Dried herbs spilled on the ground like tears. 

“Don’t do this,” Li Lianhua begged, his voice breaking.

“It’s not real,” a-Fei said, gripping his shoulder, “whatever you’re seeing, you already survived it. It can’t hurt you. Follow my voice and open your eyes.”

Duobing’s fingertips finally bumped something long and thin. “Found it,” he said, jumping to his feet. Fuck, where was the incense burner? He’d stowed it when he’d driven the Lotus Tower here, which meant it was–“The kitchen. Hang on, Xiaohua’er,” he said, sprinting to the front of the Lotus Tower.

Fuck fuck fuck. He yanked cabinet drawers open, feeling around the pots and pans, until–

“–I got it,” he called out, rushing back into the room, shoving the incense stick into the burner as he went. 

A-Fei had shifted to his knees, his dao abandoned on the bed, and had one hand splayed over Xiaohua’s chest, preemptively radiating qi, and the other wrapped around his wrist, fingertips to pulse, hovering close to his lips. “Light it,” he snapped, not taking his eyes from Xiaohua. “Xiangyi,” he murmured, “Lianhua. Xiaohua. I’m here. Xiaobao’s here. No one else. We won’t let anyone hurt you again. It’s a dream, alright? Just a dream. Open your eyes.” 

Fang Duobing shoved some clutter off the nightstand, slammed the burner in the newly cleared space, and fumbled in his robe for his flame stick.

Xiaohua thrashed wildly. “Stop! Please stop!”

Fang Duobing lit the incense, capped the flame stick, tossed it somewhere, and rushed to the bed. “It’s ready!” he said, holding it out to a-Fei.

“Bring it here,” a-Fei said, twisting to the side to make space while still keeping a hand on Xiaohua’s heart. 

Fang Duobing sat on the edge of the bed, against Xiaohua’s hip, hovering the incense burner over Xiaohua’s chest, and tried to waft the fumes closer with his free hand. “Like this?”

 “Let me go,” Xiaohua sobbed, “Please, Shiniang, let me go!!”

Wait, then the healer was his shiniang? Shit, of course, why hadn’t he thought of that before? That would explain everything–

–Why did a-Fei look like he’d just been stabbed? 

“A-Fei?” he whispered.

A-Fei blinked, and the raw devastation on his face turned into cold, consuming rage. “She’s not here. We won’t let her hurt you again.”

Oh. Oh no.

“It’s ok, Xiaohua’er,” Fang Duobing said. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”

A-Fei shot him a look of such abject hatred Fang Duobing was vaguely surprised he didn’t gut him with his dao on the spot.

“Trust me,” Fang Duobing mouthed at him. “We won’t let her sacrifice herself for you. We promise.” He grabbed Xiaohua’s free hand and squeezed it. “You saved her, ok? You’re both safe. No one has to die. You’ve done enough. You can rest now, alright? Just breathe. That’s it. Nice, deep breaths.” 

He stroked Xiaohua’s hand, keeping up a steady stream of encouraging murmurs, until the faint tremors coursing through his arms had stopped, until his breath evened out, until his face had once again gone slack with restful sleep.

Fang Duobing gave Xiaohua’s hand another squeeze, placed it carefully back on top of the blanket, and forced himself to release it. “Sleep well, Xiaohua’er,” he whispered, tucking a flyaway wisp of hair behind Xiaohua’s ear.

A-Fei hadn’t made a sound since Fang Duobing had started speaking, other than the rustle of fabric when he changed position, removed his hand from Li Lianhua’s chest, and slipped back into his earlier post in the corner. 

Maybe his headache was acting up again?

A-Fei looked mostly normal: the dao was back on his lap, his legs were crossed, and he seemed to be meditating again. The only difference from earlier was that now he was holding Li Lianhua’s wrist in both hands, and his head was ever so slightly bowed over it.

He thought back on how gutted and horrified a-Fei had looked when Li Lianhua had shouted his Shiniang’s name. How furious he’d been when Duobing had promised to keep her safe.

There was no way he was as fine as he was pretending to be.

[goldensunset]

neku is a very dangerous person

(audio from here)

[grandprix-ao3]

i have over 300 bookmarks on ao3, but only some of them are marked as "recs." here is a post of all the fics i have bookmarked as recs, which ofc i will update as i read/bookmark more!

good to you by TheNorthRemembers (@catofthecanals289) -- 72.9k words, 1/1 chapters -> DANIEL/MAX easily my favorite maxiel fic of all time. easily one of my favorite fics of all time. it's nearly 73k words but i've read it like a million times. like i can't recommend it enough 12/10 would let my day be ruined by again

If I were proper, I'd have a chance; not with you, but somebody else by ShiwiSins (IetjeSiobhan) (@deepdowninshipperhell) -- 4.3k words, 1/1 chapters -> PIERRE/CHARLES this is actually the fic that swayed me to the omegaverse side. before this fic i would intentionally avoid any and all omegaverse fics, but i read this one and it is so good. i don't know what to say other than it is perfect and you should read it

hard feelings by orphan_account -- 2.9k words, 1/1 chapters -> PIERRE/ESTEBAN this is an au fic, and i've said it before: i think this fic captures the pierresteban fic dynamic perfectly. the severed relationship, being dropped into the middle of something broken and never given a real answer, it's just - perfect

shark teeth by toastandvegemite (@toastandvegemite) -- 3.6k words, 1/1 chapters -> LANDO/DANIEL i'm not super vocal about it but i am a dando enjoyer. i Love dando. and this was one of the first dando fics i ever read, and it's so good, and it's actually my "if you're only going to read one fic for this ship, read this one" recommendation for dando. so, like, even if you don't usually read dando, maybe read?

nothing but teeth by crescenteluce (@janinaduszejko) -- 25k words, 3/3 chapters -> ALEX/GEORGE my favorite galex tropes are: friends with benefits, george being measurably pathetic (and obsessed with alex), and this exact type of miscommunication. so like, what more could you ask for?

six weeks by dropdeaddeadass (@oversteerey) -- 10.1k words, 3/3 chapters -> MARCUS/CLEM idk why i didn't mark this one before seeing how i read it like once a week. anyways. this is the fic that convinced me of the turned into a girl trope or whatever it's called AND it convinced me of clemarcus so really doing the most out here! cannot recommend it enough

dropping the gloves by loreli (@alpaine) -- 5.6k words, 1/1 chapters -> OSCAR/LOGAN loscar fic ... on the fic rec list ... i think yes. did not realize how much i needed a hockey au until i opened the tag and saw it sitting there like this fic is everything. i was gonna say something after that but nah this fic is just everything

panties in miami by dropdeaddeadass (@oversteerey) -- 3.6k words, 1/1 chapters -> LIAM/OSCAR/LOGAN at some point i told myself 'no repeat authors on the rec list!' but actually i am full of shit. this fic is sooo stupid good i keep re-reading it and idk maybe i just want ***** ** **** ** ** * ***** ******** (censored for good measure)

not yours, not mine by dropdeaddeadass (@oversteerey) -- 18.2k words, 1/1 chapters -> MARCUS/JAMES/CLEM a/b/o. no further comment is available at this time. or any time. people died (me)

hand in hand in hand by RedTailed -- 7.6k words, 1/1 chapters -> CALLUM/KYLE/DAVID did you know i love indycar. and read indycar fic. i love this fic so so much partially because i love this writer so much like i cannot recommend it enough it's just so Yes. maybe i like. poly ships. squints

[notebookmusical]

hello friends! trying to get a head start on snail mail this year so i'm not rushing to send things out mid-dec! if you'd like some snail mail from me, please fill this form out 🤍 (all are welcome, and happy to send mail internationally obv!) 💌 🤍

[oqulis]

fashionably late bc I kept nitpicking lol

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, semifinals of the losers bracket

Propaganda:

For Kid and Killer:

there’s some somewhat recent anime episodes where there’s a lot of “I would do anything for you” “I would put my life on the line for you” and it’s just. There’s no way they’re not dating. Also they’re big scary pirates that pillage and fuck stuff up and we love that for them

They have been together committing crimes and killing people ever since childhood and they’re not about to stop any time soon

They are badass pirates who both have a huge bounty on their head. Killer's epithet is 'Massacre Soldier/Murder Mashine' (depending on the translation), so he probably got quite some blood on his hands. Kid is his captain, and has a reputation of not caring about civilian casualties and destroying more than necessary to defeat his opponent. Also, the whole crew crusified some other crew. But besides being murderous, these two care so fucking much about each other! They've been friends (lovers?) since childhood and would literally do anything for each other, including dying. Kid will destroy anyone who laughs at his partner (how he canonically calls Killer), lets himself be recaptured just after he escaped prison to save his partner, and Killer eats a faulty SMILE fruit that stops him from portraying any other emotion than laughing, makes him unable to swim, and doesn't gain him any powers, just to get a CHANCE to save his captain. When Kid saw him laugh while he obviously didn't want to, it broke his heart in many pieces (and ours with it). It's true love, your honor. True, murderous love.

For the Doctor and the Master:

Immortal genderfluid war criminals <333

So we all know the Master has killed plenty of people, but, despite their reputation, the Doctor has killed a more than average number too. Sure they undid the whole destroying their own planet thing, but that's still something the Doctor did. Also there's apparently a novelization out there where, when they were children, the Doctor killed one of their childhood bullies but then made a deal with Death so that the Master had the memory of it and became Death's champion, which is pretty messed up and murder husbandish. There are plenty more war crimes on the Doctor's hands, and the Master has killed countless people in a variety of creative ways. Also, I'm having trouble finding the quote, but I swear the Master once said something to the lines of "trying to kill the Doctor is just my flirting" or something similar. But I do know Missy (also the Master but female at the time) described their relationship as "older than your civilization and infinitely more complex". They love each other, they're constantly trying to destroy each other, they are the only friends they each have who can even begin to understand everything they've been through; they've known each other since childhood and they've watched (and helped) civilizations rise and fall together. They may not be who you first think of for murder spouses but they really are a beautiful example.