#if you wanna make assumptions about my guys go ahead

[lailols]

Kai's Pretty Girlfriend [2]: Step Two

Hueningkai x Reader, eventual OT5 x Reader [3k ish words]

Warnings: thigh riding, kinda mean dom kai, sub reader, unprotected sex, dub con (Kai does things under the assumption that since the guys like the reader, they won't mind and while he's right, he still doesn't ask for consent), exhibitionism, voyeurism

Movie nights are a bit of a sacred tradition between the six of you. The only reason they work so well with your busy schedules is because you all make an effort to spend time together. It might seem silly, but you all push through fatigue and a promise of a good night sleep if it means you’ll spend even just two hours with each other. So maybe Kai should feel a little more remorseful for tainting them.

It’s for the greater good! He thinks to himself as he lets his hands travel down the front of your body under the blanket covering the two of you. Making sure to stop at your covered tits to give them some love. Pinching and pulling them through your shirt just a bit before traveling lower. You’re ever so pliant for him. He tells himself it’s because you’re such a good girl but he knows it’s probably because of the four guys sitting right next to you.

Well, right next to you is a bit of an exaggeration. You and Kai take the loveseat as the resident love birds while the guys pile onto the couch. They could very well see what’s going on if not for the action movie playing on the TV. Kai should probably know what it is, but he didn’t even bother to pay attention when they explained the two-part series because he knew he’d have more pressing matters to attend to. Namely, you.

He decides he should have some decorum, at least at the start. It’ll be no fun if you’re found out so soon after all. He just lets his hand wander under the blanket and your skirt to check what he already knows. Of course, you’re wet for him. Knowing you, you’ve been wet since you got to the dorm for the movie night. Kai was not secretive about the things he wanted to do to you, making sure to strip you of your panties and work you open for him as soon as he got his hands on you.

But that just makes this all the more fun. He keeps you still on his lap through the first movie but doesn’t let you rest. Instead, he trails his hands up and down your waist, sometimes letting them go up to fondle your tits some more and sometimes letting them go lower fluttering around but never where you need him most.

About halfway through the second movie, he turns you around on his lap, making sure to keep the blanket in place. You go willingly, letting him manhandle you into a different position and just tuck your head onto his shoulder with your face turned out to the TV. No doubt, it's a very uncomfortable position, but you don’t whine or complain. But Kai knows you well enough to know that your silence will go away very soon.

He takes a glance at the guys to see what they’re up to and finds them all glued to the screen. It seems like a fight scene is on and they’re all adamantly watching it. Yeonjun is leaning a bit out of his seat on the couch to see better while Soobin is resting his head on the back of the couch probably fighting sleep. Taehyun and Beomgyu are squished in between the two also fixed on the tv. Kai takes that as being in the clear to continue.

He starts off slow and simply grabs your hips to adjust your position from on his lap to hovering over his thigh. Setting you down and leaning to your ear to whisper, “Go ahead, sweetie. Don’t you wanna get off?”

Your hands twitch where they’re rested between the two of you before moving to his shoulders, squeezing. “But the guys…”

“I don’t think I mentioned them, did I?” He uses his grip to push you down onto his thigh, flexing the muscle. “Isn’t this what you wanted? You were so wet when I checked earlier. I’m not gonna help you out, so get started before I change my mind.”

You mutter something he can’t hear before rolling your hips against him. Shifting your head into his neck to hide your gasp. The rough fabric against your bare cunt doesn’t feel as good as you were hoping but you’re not gonna complain. You start off with a slow movement, too aware of the other people in the room with you.

Your hands flex on Kai's shoulders as you move yourself over his thigh. You quickly soak Kai’s pants which makes you run hot, but it does aid the slide. His flexing every so often also helps, but besides that, he leaves his hands at your hips and doesn't talk to you. It makes you feel so needy and desperate as if he didn't get you like this.

You crave his hands on you. Want his hands to wander down to the crease where your ass meets your thighs and grip. Want him to guide your movements above him like he usually does. Want him to trace your thighs and pinch at your skin while laughing at the tears his touch brings. But since he isn't, it's up to you to bring yourself pleasure, grinding against his thigh while you muffle your sounds against his skin.

You eventually build up a good rhythm that isn’t too noticeable while still working yourself to the edge. But that’s the problem. You’re only on the edge. It feels like you’ve been doing this for so long. Short pants leave your mouth from the effort and you angle your hips just right to rub your clit against his thigh.

But even that doesn’t help much. It feels so good and you know you’ve gotten off with less before, so why is it so hard? You just wanted to come, is that so much to ask? Kai has had you wound up since you walked into the dorm and this could be the sweet relief you needed but of course, it’s not that easy. A grunt of displeasure leaves your lips.

You never liked doing the work, content to let Kai move you as he wishes. Hell, you don’t even like riding him all that much. It doesn’t take much longer before you’re whimpering into his neck and clutching his shoulders, on the verge of tears because your thighs hurt and you’re no closer to coming than you were before all this.

“Kai.” You whisper into his skin. “I can’t. Help me?”

“Of course, you can’t. Dumb thing always needs me to help her out, hm?” Kai makes sure to let out a sigh before moving his hand from your hip to your cunt. He uses two fingers to open your folds and circle your entrance before continuing. “You just can’t help it though, can you? Always need me to make you feel good, right?”

“Need you. Need you.” You agree as you push your hips closer to his hand, urging him to get inside you. “Please. Please? I’ll be good, promise.”

He takes that as the okay to push two fingers into you. You gasp at the intrusion and clench around them. “I can’t help if you do let me in, pretty. I prepped you earlier, loosen up.”

You take a deep breath before relaxing into his hold once again. He mutters a ‘good’ to you before spreading his fingers inside you and thrusting them in and out. You try to keep your sounds down, you really do, but Kai knows how to make you feel good. He knows which parts to prod and press at to have you seeing stars and he doesn’t even try to help you out.

Not even bothering to be nice, instead playing with you in a way that he knows makes you loud. He doesn't bat an eye at how you bite your lip and squeeze his shoulders because he knows you'll be good. Knows you’ll take whatever he gives you and you will, but it’s hard. How can he expect you to be quiet when he’s doing this to you?

“Kai.” You moan out when he pushes his fingers to that spot that makes you feel so so good and grip his shoulders tighter. “I can- you can’t do that.”

“And why not?” He asks as he teases a third finger at your entrance. “I thought you wanted my help, baby. Am I not helping?”

“No, no, you are. Bu-“ You’re cut off by another moan escaping from his movements. “I can’t be quiet like this.”

“You can, baby." He pulls his fingers out to readjust before thrusting three into you with his thumb making a home on your clit. "I know you can be good for me.”

“I can’t.” He presses a kiss to your head, telling you to continue. "Not like this."

“Well, then you’ll just be loud.” His movements get more rough, each time he thrusts his fingers in he spreads them out mapping your core but making sure at least one of them is hitting that spongey spot inside you. “I know that’s what you wanted anyways, hm? Baby needs attention all the time. I’m not enough for you?”

“No!" You jolt at your volume before resting your head further into Kai's neck to continue. "No. Kai- Hyuka that’s not it, please.”

"Well, what do you want, hm?" His free hand travels to your waist and pinches hard making the tears that pooled in your eyes earlier spill over and whimpers leave your mouth. "I'm trying to help you out and all you're doing is complaining."

"Sor- 'm sorry." You cry out. "Just feel so good, you make me feel so good, I can't be quiet."

"My sweet girl." He purrs, bringing his hand from your clit to cradle your face, making sure to smear your wetness on your face. "My poor sweet girl. How could I forget? How dare I forget how dumb you get when I get my hands on you? That's okay, I'll make you listen."

He slides two fingers into your mouth and continues his ministrations below. And this feels good. Oh, it feels amazing, but then you realize that you don’t want to come like this. You tap his shoulder a few times and he slides his fingers out.

“I need you.” You trail your hands down to pull at the hem of his pants. “Please, please?”

“For how worried you were before, it seems like you want them to know how much of a slut you are.” He chances a glance at the guys to find them still watching the movie. Now, whether that’s out of respect or genuine interest is not determined. “Should I just take the blanket off of you? Let them see for real?”

You shake your head but continue pulling on his hemline. "No, 'm just need you. Need you. Please?" And for as hard as Kai can be on you, he really likes to give you what you want. He likes making you feel good. Likes turning you whiney and making you cry and beg for what you want just so he can give you it and so much more. Maybe that’s why you continue to ask for more, knowing whatever you take he returns tenfold.

“Lift up a bit.” You raise onto your knees to give him room to slide his dick out. “Bite my shoulder, sweet thing. So you’re not too loud.”

You were about to retort but when he guides you onto him, you quickly bite down to keep in your sounds. Kai's not helping any with the way he travels his hands up from your hips and to your stomach to press on the bulge he's leaving in your tummy making you choke down a moan.

“This is what you needed, hm?” He says as he picks you up a bit to fix his footing. “Always need me to do all the work, right baby? Pretty thing can’t get off by herself, but that’s okay, I’ll help you out.”

He takes to moving you up and down his cock but never letting you go all the way down so there’s no sound of skin hitting skin. Not that the lack of sound would matter much because you’re not quiet whatsoever. You poor thing, gripping his shoulders so tightly and digging your teeth in so hard but even that isn’t stopping your sounds.

You probably don’t even realize, too caught up in the feeling of wanting a release so desperately that you can’t think of anything else. Kai likes it when you get like this. So lost in the way he makes you feel. It makes him want to devour you but more than that, makes him want to show you off. Show the world how good you are, how sweet you sound.

He looks up to check if the guys are still watching the TV and they are but it’s clear their minds are elsewhere. All of their ears are tinted red and they’re all sitting ramrod straight, adjusting every now and then.

Kai wants to say something, but he didn’t talk to you about how far he could push and, honestly, you’d agree to anything he’d ask of you right now but would it be genuine? Or would you just be agreeing so you could come? He doesn’t have much time to assess before your keening and pulling off his shoulder to beg.

“Kai! ‘m gonna- gonna come.” You choke out as your hands go from his shoulders to his neck, tilting your head up towards him. “Kiss? Please?"

“You never have to ask, love.” He bends down to meet your lips, sliding his tongue into your waiting mouth. “Go ahead and come for me, baby.” He whispers into your lips. “You’ve been so good, you deserve it.” He slams you down onto his lap and moves his hand to your clit, passing over it once, twice, until you’re coming around him.

When you’re finished riding out your high, he pulls himself out of you and hushes your whines with a sweet kiss before he picks you up to pull up his pants and carries you out of the living room. Leaving his friends and group mates to sit in silence (besides the movie credits rolling) with awkward boners and flushes on their faces. When he lays you down on the bed, he kisses you again as he strips you of your clothes.

“Did I do good? Hyuka?” You ask even though he already said it, craving his words.

“So good, baby.” He pulls down his pants and enters you again. “Always so good for me. My perfect little slut, yeah?”

His words may grow more brazen but his thrusts are slow and deep. His hands are sweet as they guide your legs over his shoulders. You love Kai in all of his moods but this one might be your favorite. The way his hands trace your body as if your glass but his mouth runs a mile a minute. Telling you how you were so good and so quiet that he almost thought he wasn’t making you feel good. Saying how he’ll just have to make you scream now to make sure he can still satisfy you.

He continues to ramble as he travels his hands to interlock with yours and bring them above your head. Rocking into you and reaching so far you swear you feel him in your throat, as impossible as that is. It feels so good, he feels so good, you can’t help the little ahs that leave your mouth.

He makes you both reach the edge like that, rambling off about anything and everything before sliding himself out of you and grabbing something to clean you off. Then pulling you into his arms and whispering sweet nothings to you until you fall asleep interlocked together.

<3

Kai expected a talk after you were less than subtle during movie night, but it doesn't make it any less embarrassing to be scolded by his friends.

Taehyun, Soobin, Yeonjun, and Beomgyu are currently standing in front of the couch where you and Kai are cuddling. Taehyun is standing with his hands in his pockets looking bored, Soobin is fiddling with his hands and looks as if he'd rather be anywhere else, Yeonjun has his arms crossed and is tapping his foot, and Beomgyu looks excited that he isn't currently being scolded.

"Is there anything you guys need?" Kai asks casually as he adjusts your position to sitting up.

"You guys can't sit together for movie nights anymore," Yeonjun says with shockingly little remorse considering the fact that he just ripped Kai's heart out and stomped on it in less than ten words.

"What?"

"Why not?" You and Kai share a look of shock and devastation before turning back to them.

"Well, putting aside the fact that you don't even pretend to pay attention to the movie, you also are very distracting to those of us who do want to watch the movie," Taehyun responds.

"How are we distracting?" Kai asks.

"Y/n doesn't even attempt to be quiet an-" Beomgyu is cut off by your gasp as you turn to Kai.

"You told me I was quiet!" You shoot him a look of pure betrayal that Kai has to look away from in shame.

"Well, maybeee you weren't as quiet as I was telling you," Kai proceeds to defend himself (read: lie through his fucking teeth), "You always try so hard to be good for me, I couldn't handle breaking the truth to you."

You don't spare him another glance before looking at the guys in remorse, "I'm so sorry that someone is a lying asshole, I didn't mean to stop you guys from enjoying movie nights."

"No, y/n, it's not your fault," Soobin stops before you can overthink. "We completely blame Kai. It wasn't even that big of a problem, we really wouldn’t have minded if it wasn’t during movie night!”

“You wouldn’t have minded?” You ask surprised. Soobin promptly flushes.

“I- I mean, if you’re comfortable- but like- we don’t mind- I mean I can’t speak for them but-“

“What Soobin is so eloquently saying is that you’re hot y/n,” Beomgyu chimes in, not even flinching at the scorching glare Soobin sends his way. “We’d be crazy to not want to see you fall apart so prettily.”

“Oh.” You’re rendered speechless while Kai struggles to keep his smile at bay. This means Step Two is a success as well! He’s two for two. Damn. He should’ve placed a bet with someone. Or maybe not because when he thinks about it, Step Three needs a bit of revision...

Step Two is done!! Yippie! This took so long because chapter three had me in a chokehold (and I was sick). Love ya! Let me know what you think!

What is Kai's revision to step three? The guys have watched so long, do you think they'll break and start doing something?

[indecisive-dizzy]

Okay, so I saw this random thing somewhere else (I forgot where) but I still wanna do it

Basically someone tells another person assumptions about their ocs and that person confirms if they’re accurate or not

So I wanna ask if you have any assumptions about my ocs? I’m curious ^^

If you don’t that’s okay! I’m just a bit curious :,3

hmmm ok let's see what I got!

Daisey has a "mom" stare (gender neutral). Like one look and everyone just Freezes. No more horsing around, que awkward feet shuffles and guilty looks. idk why but I just,, feel like they do.

Would Daisey do drag with Eddie? I think they would have fun dressing up all glamorous together. Daisey would do king and queen looks me thinks? depending on how fem or masc they feel?

Lizzy would lay down on Howdy's shop counter like a therapist couch. it gives little sibling energy and tbf they both probably need therapy. She wants to bother Howdy bc it's funny

Lizzy has watched Howdy sleep. You said she don't sleep much ya? Well she's bored and tired and can't sleep so she just,, watches Howdy with envy. Also little sibling gremlin energy. I just think Lizzy has creature energy with Howdy 😅

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

https://www.tumblr.com/allnewalldifferentwildspider/748862622231838720/the-reason-im-so-vulgar-in-regards-to-aangs

What a bunch of bullshit.

"He makes no effort to get to know or understand her" they're literally traveling the whole world together - and their original reason for doing that was because he wanted to help her go to the North Pole to learn waterbending, something which means a lot to her. Just because the writers didn't think the audience was stupid and needed a scene of them sitting down and telling each other a list of their flaws, qualities and motivations, doesn't mean their relationship was shallow.

"We get the MALE GAZE from him" Wow, he thinks a pretty girl is pretty. What a crime.

"He doesn't try to find out what happened to her mom" he didn't have to, she fucking told him basically right away. Complaining about that is like complaining he never asked if Sokka was her brother, even though one of the first things Sokka ever said to Aang was "And this is Katara, my flying sister"

"He always gets surprised when she's mad about something" Aang, the naturally cheery person, is pretty much ALWAYS surprised whenever ANYONE is angry, because that's not an emotionl he usually experiences much. Doesn't mean he doesn't get her - and I say this as a very grumpy person.

And ya know who else gets surprised at Katara's anger all the time? Zuko. The guy that sent an assassin after her group because Katara had to bring Aang back to life after Azula killed him - which only happened because Zuko helped her when Aang and Katara had her cornered.

Funny how things are only bad when Aang does it, but totally okay when Zuko does them in VERY different contexts that obviously paint him in a negative light for good reason.

"He hates the food and culture that she loves so much" Disliking a culture's food is not the same as hating said culture. We only see him talk shit about the Water Tribe's hunting culture once: in the Bato episode, in his friends are accidentally shutting him out of the conversation because they're too excited about being reunited with someone that is basically family. A 12-year-old throwing a tantrum is not the same as him being openly racist. Ya know what IS racist though? Zuko supporting his nation's attempt to genocide the water tribes.

"He doesn't respect her boundaries and kisses her twice without her consent" ONE poorly timed kiss is not the same as him forcefully holding her in place and kissing her, or even asking first then going for it anyway after she said an explicit no. And Katara visibly enjoyed the kiss during the eclipse episode, and was basically cuddlying with him on Appa afterwards.

"He keeps trying to talk for her when she's angry" You mean literally the same thing Zuko did in Southern Raiders?

"He expects her to do the work for their relationship... but he also makes wild assumptions about them being an item already... but he also wanted to talk things out with her to make sure he got it right..." I don't even need to tear these apart, the OP did it for me by making their arguments contradict each other. How kind of them.

"Aang wants the beautiful image of Katara. He wants that pretty face, those big blue eyes, that body, those long legs, those hips, the chest, and the hair that is just so manageable" While Aang is attracted to her, he NEVER mentioned a single one of those things, ever. The hair thing was literally MENG being insecure about her own hair. If you wanna simp for Katara, go ahead and do it, there's nothing wrong with it, but don't act like Aang only sees her a piece of meat.

"He has no interest in the complex, strong, hurt, angry, and caring person that Katara actually is" Ah yes, that's why he doesn't cheer her on when she's fighting Pakku, or helps her with the Painted Lady thing because he admires her compassion, or tells her she gives him hope, or calls her sifu, or accepts that she won't kill Yon Rah but also won't forgive... oh wait, he did do all those things.

"I'm calling it like I see it" Too bad you need glasses and refuse to wear them.

"Aang doesn't actually like Katara; he's just really horny for her" Considering your random description of why she's so hot in a post that has nothing to do it, all while ignoring her agency that used to choose Aang, I'd say that's more likely to be an accurate description of YOU than of our protagonist. Sorry, just calling it like I see it.

[gigidragonbbxxx]

a personal struggle + an education

this is all just gigi's opinions + thoughts

Reader, I'm struggling with empathy right now.

Don't worry, I'm not suffering from a personality pathology, I promise I am quite sympathetic and empathetic. It's just battling the feeling of wanting to be kind but also seeing a major problem and knowing I need to get it off my chest.

Let me give it to yall straight (with tweaked/paraphrased details to protect privacy and not to out anyone):

I saw a favorite loass coach/twt account/subliminal creator make fun of an "old timey" English sentence either from Neville Goddard or Edward Art. They proceeded to say that they "hate" it and "why can't they just say it simpler". and then someone else commented "they're talking bullshit fr".

The convo thread on twt devolved into an echo chamber that essentially boiled down to the old fool's adage "If I don't understand it, it must be stupid and not worth it."

This really triggered me because

The phrase quoted was not that hard to understand.

It was clear these women were not educated

Why am I judging or mad at people for their ignorance? (this is why I kept quiet on twt and went here to vent. I acknowledge that two things can be true, I can be kind and still be honest.)

I was and currently am still wrestling with these things within me.

On one hand I don't want to judge. I want to be inclusive and welcoming and supportive.

On the other hand - yall don't look educated, yall wind up looking dumb.

I'll say a harsh truth yall and you can go argue with a damn wall but I know I'm right: stupidity is not cute.

My Hot Take (not so hot when you think about it)

The Law of Assumption rewards those who feed their mind with knowledge

Before you argue with me, think about it. Seriously.

I don't want to seem ableist if someone suffers from dyslexia or if someone struggles in school. It's totally okay to have different paths to learning. The importance is still obtaining the information. You can read or listen to the audiobook, etc. The paths to knowledge are varied but in the end the result is the same - THE KNOWING.

The "old timey" sentence that the creator complained about COULD BE READ BY NINTH GRADERS BECAUSE OF SHAKESPEARE EXPOSURE.

That's why I was exasperated. They were complaining about English (the only language in which they are fluent) that is regularly taught to 14 year olds.

Guys. Stand up. Please stand the fuck up.

Who in this world is gonna take you seriously without BASIC COMPETENCY in literature or math?

Lemme roast some of yall if you want to disagree:

Yall wanna be master manifesters and claim to understand the double slit experiment but can't even name the fundamental laws of science or explain them.

Yall wanna be successful in your businesses and don't know how to calculate your profits.

Yall wanna be seen as intellectuals who "understand" more than the majority of the population and yall can't even fucking read Descartes or Shakespeare.

Yall wanna be content creators and don't know how to proofread.

One time I bought an affirmation tape that came with a pdf with all the affirmations listed. The tape itself was excellent but the pdf was riddled with errors! It makes me sad because something that can help change your life, like a sleep tape to saturate, "cheapens" in its authenticity at the price of minor errors. Sigh.

Let me tell you that 100% you can be successful in this world just by going to the end and claiming it.

BUT YOU LOSE A LOT OF TREASURE BY NOT GIVING YOURSELF THE TOOLS TO DIG FOR IT.

THERE IS SO MUCH FOUNDATIONAL INFORMATION WITHIN THESE "OLD TIMEY" TEXTS.

and if you don't like any of it and just wanna watch sammy ingram and manifest like that THEN GO AHEAD BUT DONT CLAIM TO NOT UNDERSTAND A SENTENCE AND THEN CALL IT BULLSHIT.

just be honest and own it!

be honest that you don't wanna read, that you don't wanna be academic and that's 100% okay and you're still beautiful and worth everything but

do not put down the value of what is being said just because you don't understand it

That's why I am frustrated, reader.

I am educated enough to recognize when someone's ignorance is just that - ignorance.

But I am human enough to be annoyed.

So please give yourselves some grace and take the time to appreciate knowledge. Without the knowledge of the law of assumption, we wouldn't all be here interacting with one another.

xx, gigi

p.s. for those of you who are more familiar with reading the Bible via the law of assumption lens - I beg you to think of Solomon. He was asked by God what he would like and Solomon chose wisdom over material things. Why is that? Because through wisdom comes the ability to know how to obtain all one's desires. Food for thought.

[cozy-writer]

Always you

Pairing: Niko Vilhelm (Moilanen) x reader

Wordcount: 1100+

Summary: Your anxiety makes you distance yourself from Niko and the rest of the band.

Masterlist

You were traveling with the boys while they were touring Europe and everything had seemed to go alright so far. You were in Bulgaria and they guys couldn’t be happier with the alcohol prices and they had made sure you all had gone out over and over again, not letting it go to waste. 

You and Niko had been dating for quite some time now, and he wanted you there when he was touring. You got a job that allowed you to work from anywhere, so you were eager to come with. Niko loved having you so close, even though the guys made fun of him for it. 

So here you were, sitting outside a cafe, enjoying the beautiful weather and the cheap drinks. The guys had all ordered beers, while you had opted for a cocktail. “Oh here we go again, Y/N has to be expensive.” Joel said. You knew he was only joking but it made you regret your decision. So as soon as you could sneak away for a second you went over to the bar. “Could you change that cocktail to tap water, please?” “Of course, no problem.” The bartender said. You thanked them and made your way back to the band. 

You knew Niko would never let you pay for your drinks, so making them as cheap as possible was a good alternative. As the drinks were brought to your table, Niko noticed what you had done. “No cocktail?” He asked. “I wasn’t feeling it after all.” You said, smiling at him, trying to disguise the true reason. 

About a week ago you started to feel like you were interrupting and annoying the guys. Niko still made you feel as loved as ever, but you felt like the others didn’t want you around. And with every ‘funny’ comment they made, that feeling only got worse. 

“You guys wanna go on a tour on an ATV?” Joel asked as he put his phone down on the table. “I just checked, there’s a tour not far from here.” “Sounds good. Do we get to go through mud and stuff?” Joonas wondered. “Yeah, there’s a whole trail to follow.” “Cool. Count me in.” Tommi said. “But Y/N probably doesn’t wanna come.” olli more said than asked. You got frustrated. “Maybe ask me instead of making an assumption.” You murmured. “You can come if you want.” Aleksi said. 

You stood up from your seat. “No, you guys go ahead. I’ll do something by myself.” You said rather annoyed. You kissed Niko, then grabbed your bag and started walking away. To where? You didn’t know. You were in unfamiliar territory. But you needed to get away from the guys. 

After about twenty minutes you had made your way back to your hotel. As you entered yours and Niko’s room, you sat down on the bed looking around the room. Maybe you should just go home. Leave the boys to enjoy their tour by themselves. You didn’t feel particularly wanted. 

Maybe you made a rash decision, but you started packing up your suitcase. Once everything was packed, you wrote a short note to Niko, telling him you would see him when the tour was over. You laid the piece of paper on the bed and looked around the room once more, making sure you didn’t forget anything. 

You made your way over to the front desk. “How may I help you?” The hotel receptionist asked kindly. “I’m going home, but my boyfriend is staying. I just want to return my card.” You handed her the keycard. She looked at you sadly, like she knew what was going on. “I hope you enjoyed your stay.” “Sure. It was fine. Thank you.” “You have a lovely day now.” She said as you turned away from her. 

You made your way to the train station, where you bought a ticket to go home. You had always preferred trains over planes. Even though it would take you longer to get home, you decided the trip would do you good. You would have time to think things through. 

You walked to the platform and sat down. It would be at least two hours before the train would arrive, so you sat down patiently, spending your time reading from your kindle. 

It took half an hour before Niko called you. You wanted to ignore it, but you knew that wasn’t fair to him. “Hey.” You breathed. “Where are you?” “I’m going home. You guys should spend some time together without me being there.” “Are you kidding me? We’re all worried sick about you.” “Don’t worry. We’ll see each other when your tour is over.” 

“No. No way.” You could almost see him racking his fingers through his hair. “Why are you doing this?” “I’ll only be disturbing you guys. You want to do this together, not with me there.” “Babe, they want you here. I want you here.” You closed your eyes for a second as you felt tears pricking in the corners of your eyes. “Niko, this is for the best. I love you.” And then you hung up. 

Your phone kept ringing after that, not only from Niko but also from the others. You ignored them all. 

It wasn’t until fifteen minutes before your train would show up, that you heard your name being called. “Y/N?” It came from behind you. You recognized that voice anywhere. You put your ereader down and stood up. “Niko.” You murmured. “Why would you just leave like that?” You took a shaky breath. “Because I’m only interrupting you guys' fun. You don’t want me here. None of you do.” 

“What makes you say that?” He walked closer to you, grabbing your hands in his own. “I just feel like I don’t belong here.” “Baby, you’re the only thing that makes sense to me. The only one I always want around.” You looked in his eyes to see if there was any sign of deception. “The guys may make fun sometimes, but they want you here as well. They say you keep them sane. You’re always there for them when they need someone to talk to. You make us all laugh with your humor and smile at your kindness. Please don’t ever feel like you’re too much.” 

You didn’t realize you were this important to them. A single tear fell from the corner of your eye and Niko wiped it away. “Please come back with me?” You couldn’t speak, your throat closed up by your emotions, but you nodded at him. He immediately grabbed you into his arms, kissing the top of your head.

[pollenallergie]

The Dunes | e.m.

A/N: Reposting this because I tweaked the ending a lil bit... hehe. Also, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” didn’t come out until 1979, so (realistically), you and Eddie would’ve been almost in high school by the time it came out and, therefore, would not have spent your whole childhood singing along to it. However, it’s my (midwestern) family’s road-trip anthem so I had to include it. Thank you @chainsawmunson for beta-reading this!!! Ily <3

Word Count: 6.0k

CW: Adult themes (cursing, smoking weed, etc.; however, nothing smutty happens nor is anything smutty discussed beyond a brief, undetailed mention! I tried to make this as ace friendly as possible, but please let me know if there's something I can do better next time, in that regard!!).

18+ only!!

mdni

“It’s this exit, right, bunny?” Eddie asks.

“Um,” you pause to look down at the map and then up at the road signs ahead. “Yeah, this one,” you confirm. 

Eddie merges into the correct lane as he resumes his solo performance of Creeping Death, strumming his calloused thumbs along the worn leather of the steering wheel like it’s the strings of his beloved guitar. 

“How close are we now, bug?” Eddie asks. 

You check the map before replying, “54-ish miles.” 

Eddie huffs out a brief chuckle, “Ish?” 

“Yeah, it could be 53 or 54, but it’s definitely not more than 55,” you explain while grinning cheekily. 

“Dude, you’re a horrible navigator,” Eddie teases. 

“Hey, I told you we should’ve brought the guys with us,” you say defensively, though there’s no real bite behind your words. 

“This is probably gonna be our last vacation together, bug, so excuse me for wanting to spend some one-on-one time with my favorite person in all of Indiana,” Eddie remarks dryly. 

“Oh, I didn’t realize Roxanne had finally moved to Chicago,” you tease, referencing the bartender from the Hideout that you suspect he’s had the hots for since Corroded Coffin first started playing there last fall. Not that you’d blame him for being attracted to her; she’s everyone’s type. Roxy may very well be ten years your senior, but she looks like she hopped straight out of the pages of one of Eddie’s Heavy Metal magazines; as a bottle blonde with tan skin, long, slender legs, heaving breasts, and an affinity for red leather, she’s the very definition of the beauty standard.

Eddie rolls his eyes and reaches across the console to gently shove your shoulder as he grumbles, “Shut up.” 

You giggle at his response, but the joyous sound dies in your throat when you remember something Eddie had said previously. 

“Grub, why would this be our last vacation together?” You ask curiously. 

“Because, Jitterbug,” he sighs before continuing, “in a couple of weeks, you’ll be off in Michigan, meeting all sorts of cool people who are into all the same stuff as you, and you’ll forget all about little ole me,” Eddie explains, feigning lightheartedness as he does so. 

“Eddie-” You begin to refute his assumptions, but he soon interrupts. 

“Bunny, it’s fine, really. I mean, we always knew this was gonna happen; you’d go off to some amazing university after high school, and, for one reason or another, I’d have to stay behind in Hawkins. I just wanna soak up the last little bit of time we have together, okay?” 

“Eddie,” you sigh, moving your hand to rest on Eddie’s thigh, only to immediately remove it when you feel his muscles tense underneath your palm. “Eddie,” you start again, this time without the physical contact, “you’re an idiot if you think that moving a couple hundred miles away is really gonna be enough to make me forget about you. Seriously, I can’t even go a week without talking to you. What do you think I’ve been saving up all that change in my piggy bank for? It’s so I have enough quarters to call your dumbass while I’m away at school,” you reassure him while also teasing him a bit to lighten the mood. 

“And here I thought you were saving up to win me that stuffed elephant from the claw machine at Benny’s,” Eddie jests, and you snort at the thought. 

“That thing’s been in there since we were ten, otter. I don’t think winning it is even possible,” You reply. Eddie’s heart flutters fondly at your childhood petname for him, one that even predates Grub, inspired by the time you’d watched a seven-year-old Eddie consume a dozen Otterpops one hot July afternoon.

Eddie grins, “Maybe not for you; you suck at claw machines.”

You scoff, “Dick.” 

“I know you are, but what am I?” Eddie responds immaturely while the both of you fight off matching amused smirks. 

Eddie covertly glances at you out of the corner of his eyes, a bittersweet feeling stirring in his chest. He misses you already, and you haven’t even left yet. Pathetic, he thinks. 

Soon enough, the next track on Eddie’s road trip mixtape begins to play, and a grin lights up your features as the sound of Charlie Daniels’s voice fills the entire van. 

Eddie begins to sing along to The Devil Went Down to Georgia, the song the two of you had spent the better half of your childhoods singing along to, thanks to Wayne. And just like that, any and all thoughts of your impending departure are gone. 

Just a little under an hour later, the two of you arrive at Dunewood. After an essential stop at the campground’s convenience store for some ice cream sandwiches, you’re ready to set up camp. You and Eddie have come here every summer since you were small, but it’s different this time. This time, it’s just you and Eddie, as Wayne couldn’t come along due to a busy schedule at work. Getting up here was quite a feat given that Beverly Shores is quite a ways away from Hawkins and that, between the two of you, you guys have absolutely zero sense of direction once you get out of Hawkins. However, unpacking your equipment and setting up camp should be a breeze, as you both have prior experience with setting all of this crap up, thanks to the fact that Wayne always made the two of you help him set up camp. 

Although, what should be the case and what actually is the case, apparently, aren’t always aligned. 

“Dude, are you helping me or what?” You huff out frustratedly as you attempt to haul the packed-away tent out of the back of Eddie’s van on your own. Meanwhile, your less-than-helpful best friend is reclining in the front seat, still munching away on his melting ice cream sandwich. The sticky sweet ice cream is dripping down onto his beloved Black Sabbath band tee, making a mess in a way that might be goofily adorable if he were a toddler, but, alas, he’s a man, a messy man, but a man nonetheless. 

“Mhm, yeah, I’ll be there in a second,” he replies nonchalantly before turning up the radio’s volume as if attempting to drown out the sounds of your complaining with Rob Halford’s eerie growls. He begins to headbang to the rowdy music, further solidifying that he will not get out of the van to help you anytime soon. 

You groan exasperatedly as you lug the heavy tent closer to the stone fire pit while managing to keep it a reasonable distance from where a hearty fire will rage on later in the night. As you squat down to unzip the bag the tent is kept in for storage, you unknowingly bless your dear best friend with a marvelous view of your denim-clad ass, the fat there causing the fabric to strain to the point where it looks as if your favorite pair of jean shorts may rip right along the tight seam. 

As he finishes off the last of his ice cream sandwich, Eddie resists the urge to continue ogling you, instead averting his gaze and opting to focus all of his attention on staring aimlessly out the windshield of his van while thinking about truly horrid shit in an attempt to prevent a tent of his own from forming in his jeans. Fortunately, that tried and true strategy never fails him. Unfortunately, it does require him to think about the time he had to dissect a fetal pig in junior-year biology; if Eddie thinks about it for too long, he swears he can still smell the formaldehyde along with the scent of his lab partner’s raging B.O. 

Once Eddie’s reigned his inner horndog back in, he turns the key in the van’s ignition, fully turning off the vehicle, before climbing out of the driver’s seat to finally offer you some help with setting up camp. 

“Alright, alright,” Eddie huffs humorously, “Give that to me before you break it,” he teases, referring to the poles of the tent that you’re trying to snap together. You briefly pause your attempts to glare at him. 

“I’m not gonna break it, asshole,” you reply bitterly before finally managing to snap the pieces together. Once you do so, you look up at Eddie and fix him with a victorious grin. 

“Why don’t you start the fire so we can eat dinner when we finish setting up all this stuff?” You suggest before fixing your friend with a mischievous smile and continuing, “Leave the hard stuff to the men, sugar.” 

Eddie scoffs at your teasing but heeds your request nonetheless, going to fetch the firewood your dad had reluctantly given him, some logs cut from the unfortunate trees that weren’t good enough to sell at the farm this past Christmas season. 

“Leave the hard stuff to the men, sugar,” he mumbles in a silly tone, clearly mocking you as he grabs a couple of logs from the van, causing you to cackle. Eddie scowls and blushes, mildly embarrassed as he wasn’t aware that you could hear his mockery from your spot across the campsite. The expression on his face only makes you laugh harder, and you don’t stop until Eddie gets petulant and throws one of the towels he’d brought for the beach at you. 

After that playful spat, you both fall into a comfortable silence, too concentrated on your respective tasks to hold a conversation with each other. It isn’t until Eddie has successfully set up the fire and starts getting the food you’d both prepared ahead of time out that either one of you speaks again.

“Hey, Grub?” You call out to him from your spot near the still partially unassembled tent. Eddie responds with a soft hum as he continues to rifle through the cooler he’d filled with food and drinks. 

“Don’t put the food on yet. The tent’s still not ready yet,” you inform him. 

Eddie then shuts the cooler with an annoyed huff, leaving the food inside the chilled box as he comes over to join you. 

“It would be if you would’ve just let me take care of it,” he nags as he squats down to help you finish setting up the tent. 

You scoff, “Yeah, right, it would’ve taken you twice the amount of time just to figure out how to put this shit together simply because you refuse to read instruction manuals.” 

“Incorrect,” Eddie defends himself, “it would’ve taken me half the time to put this shit together because I wouldn’t have wasted so much time reading the pointless instructions.” 

“Says the man who just put our rainfly on before the tent body,” you tease as you stand up and strip the bright blue fabric off the tent. 

“Does it really matter what order we put this shit on? I mean, so long as it’s on there, we’re good, right?” Eddie asks, standing up with his hands on his hips as he assesses the situation, discerning what’s left to do. The shit-eating grin on his face tells you he’s not being serious and is just trying to rile you up by being intentionally obtuse. So, rather than dignify his question with an answer, you simply fix him with an annoyed glare and then attempt to put the tent body on by yourself. Eddie chuckles at your terse expression as he begins to help you. 

Finally, a few moments later, the two of you have set up your tent, leaving you to put your sleeping bags and pillows inside and set up the chairs near the fire as Eddie gets to work on cooking up a couple of foil burgers over the fire; a Munson family recipe and camping essential that’s really nothing more than a beef patty resting on top of a bed of potatoes and a few veggies inside a tinfoil cocoon. 

You still remember the first time you’d had such a delicacy during your first camping trip with the Munsons. You were absolutely ravenous, having just got back to camp with Wayne and Eddie after spending all day at the beach, your hair still wet from swimming around in the chilly waters of Lake Michigan and the baby tooth you’d lost while wrestling around in the sand with Eddie nestled in the patch pocket of Wayne’s flannel. As a result of your profound hunger, the easy dinner Wayne had prepared for the three of you tasted like the single greatest thing you’d ever eaten in all your eight years of life. Although, even now, when you finally bite into your burger after Eddie gets done making them, hungry but not at all starving thanks to the sweet treat you’d wolfed down earlier, that simple dish still tastes like one of the most delicious things you’ve ever eaten, the gooey cheese coating your tongue as you munch away happily. 

As for Eddie, he seems to agree about the delectableness of the foil burgers if the moan he emits as he bites into his burger is any indication. You giggle at the sound, feeling your cheeks heat up all the while. Always so dramatic, you think fondly. 

“We’ve really outdone ourselves this time, bug,” Eddie declares. You hum your agreement as you bite into a crispy chunk of potato. 

“The dried rosemary was a good touch. Where’d you get that anyways?” You ask him once you’ve swallowed your bite of starchy goodness. 

He grins around his mouthful of food, “Stole a jar of it from the pantry at Gareth’s place after I got done fixin’ the kitchen sink for his mom yesterday.” 

“Eddie!” You scold him. 

“What? I’ll bring it back Saturday when we have band practice. Lorraine’ll never even know it was missing,” he reasons. 

You simply shake your head at him disapprovingly while trying to fight off an amused smile, “You’ve gotta get those sticky fingers in check, Grub.” 

Later in the night, as you both lounge in your tent, sharing a joint to help you relax before you go to sleep, your mind races with fretful thoughts about going to college in a few weeks. 

“Eds,” you softly call out from just beside him, your head resting on his shoulder and his on yours as you lay with your bodies extended in opposite directions. 

“Yeah, bug?”

“No one’s ever- I haven’t had my first kiss yet,” you confess, your inhibitions lowered as the high sets in. 

Eddie snorts a laugh, amused by your randomness rather than your inexperience, “Yeah, I know, Jitterbug.” 

“What if I meet someone at school, and they kiss me?” You worry aloud. Eddie’s chest tightens at the thought, but he does his best to ignore it. 

“Then you’ll have your first kiss, duh,” he remarks simply as if the mere thought of you kissing someone - anyone - but him doesn’t make him want to cry and hurl simultaneously. 

“Yeah, I know, but what if it’s bad because… because I don’t know what I’m doing?” You ask, after rolling over to look into his doe eyes, your face hovering above his as your arms hold you up above him. Your breath smells like Kraft singles and Skunk #1, but Eddie can’t find it in himself to care; he’s just happy to have you so close to him. 

“First kisses are usually bad, silly billy,” Eddie giggles, the powers of the Dutch strain making him giddy even though his heart is aching just from hearing you talk about this shit. 

“But I don’t want mine to be bad,” you reply, your tone bordering on petulant as your brows furrow and your lips pout just slightly, “what if the guy I’m with gets weirded out by how bad I am at it and like never speaks to me ever again?” 

“Then that’s his loss, Jitterbug,” Eddie says without missing a beat. 

You sigh and sit up, shoulders hunching in slightly as you pout. 

“God, what if he does the opposite and tries to, you know, touch me?” You ponder, unintentionally breaking your best friend’s heart. Eddie’s sure that the knowledge of anyone but him touching you like that would devastate him.

“If- if that’s not something you’d be comfortable with, then just tell him,” he reasons. 

“But what if he doesn’t listen to me? My sister says that sometimes guys don’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” you reply, and Eddie’s jaw clenches at the thought. 

“Then I’ll kill him,” Eddie replies genuinely, causing you to burst into a fit of giggles. 

“Grub, you can’t even kill the spider that’s been camped out in your room for the past two weeks,” you tease, and Eddie frowns in response.

“That’s different. Guillermo and I have come to a mutual understanding, he kills the flies, and I don’t kill him,” Eddie replies defensively, and your giggles increase tenfold upon finding out that he’s named the damn thing. 

“You’re adorable, Eddie Bear,” You remark once your giggles have ceased. As you wipe the tears of amusement out of your eyes, you miss the blush that rises to Eddie’s cheeks. 

“Shut up,” he grumbles as he hands you the joint. You accept it gracefully as you take a hit, exhale, and then take another. Meanwhile, Eddie’s mesmerized by the sight of your lips wrapping around the joint, as if it’s a sight he hasn’t seen hundreds of times already. He’s immediately snapped out of his trance when you hand the joint back to him, your fingers brushing against his as you hand it over, still holding in the last puff you’ve taken. 

As you finally exhale your last hit, a brilliant idea comes to mind, or at least one that seems clever in your current state. 

“You should be my first kiss,” you suggest, making Eddie choke on the puff of smoke he’s just inhaled. 

“What? Me?” Eddie asks incredulously in between bouts of coughing. 

“Yeah, if you’re cool with it,” you respond nonchalantly as you grab the joint from him. 

“No, no, no, I think you’ve had enough for tonight, space cadet,” Eddie remarks as he plucks the joint from between your fingertips. 

“How do you feel, bug?” Eddie had asked you the first time you got high. 

“‘M so high, I think I could touch the stars up here,” you’d groaned, making Eddie chuckle. 

“Don’t worry, space cadet, I’ll be your ground control,” he’d reassured you. 

You whine, “Eddie, I’m not even that high.” 

“Of course, you’re not,” Eddie replies sarcastically as he stubs out the joint, opting to save the rest for tomorrow morning. 

“Eddie, it’s okay if you don’t want to,” you say as you timidly pick at the loose threads of your sleeping bag, “kiss me, I mean. It’s okay if you don’t wanna kiss me,” you clarify. 

Eddie sighs, knowing you’re not gonna let this go very easily. His mind races with thoughts of you kissing him, and his heart lurches at the idea that you’d even want to kiss him, but he also knows it’s too good to be true. You don’t actually want this, at least not with him; you’re just high and lonely. You’re too amazing and angelic; you could never want a freak like him, not in the same way he wants you. 

“How about you ask me again in the morning, okay?” Eddie offers placatingly as he climbs into his sleeping bag, saying anything he can to get you to drop this, to stop torturing him. 

Eddie’s not leaving any room for argument as he rolls over to face the opposite direction before shutting off the lantern. You sigh before climbing into your own sleeping bag and getting comfy. 

“Goodnight, Eddie,” you whisper tentatively, worrying that you’ve upset him. 

“Goodnight, bunny.” 

The following day is awkward, to say the least. The fresh air the wooded campground provides is nice, or it would be if it wasn’t filled with unbearable tension thanks to last night’s events. 

Eddie won’t even look at you, hasn’t spared you so much as a single glance since the two of you first woke up at around 9 a.m., nearly two hours ago. Granted, he’s not being outwardly hostile or anything like that. Instead, Eddie just won’t look at you, won’t speak to you in more than short sentences and noncommittal hums, and hasn’t touched you at all since last night when his fingers brushed yours as you exchanged the shared joint repeatedly. Usually, he would’ve talked your ear off about some new music by now, most likely the new Metallica album, or even about the latest drama plaguing the Hellfire club; surprisingly, a lot of juicy gossip comes out of that group. If the present circumstances were normal, Eddie also would’ve definitely exploited the many unintentional openings you’d given him this morning by tackling you to the ground or putting you in a half-nelson by now. However, he hasn’t done either of those things and, if his tense body language is anything to go off of, you figure he probably won’t be doing any of those things any time soon. How strange is it that you’ve begun to miss how Eddie playfully wrestles with and pesters you? How pathetic is it that you’ve started to yearn for how he carelessly flings you around like a ragdoll in an ornery display of his shocking strength?

“What time are we heading to the beach?” You ask meekly as you continue to pick at the Zingers Eddie had gotten you from the campground’s convenience store earlier this morning. At least he’d still gone out of his way to get your favorite breakfast-adjacent junk food. That had to be a good sign, right? 

“Dunno,” he replies gruffly and then shrugs his shoulders as he takes another puff of his cigarette, his gaze still fixed on the sparse grass beneath his Reeboks. 

“Maybe we could head out there in like an hour?” You suggest, your tone still timid and unsure, “That way, we could grab lunch on the way there. I just- I don’t think three Zingers will hold me over for the rest of the day. Not that I don’t appreciate that you got them for me, because I do! It’s just-”

Eddie cuts you off with another short, gruff response, “Yeah, that’s fine.” 

You frown at his dismissive tone. Had you really pushed things too far last night? Was the idea of kissing you so bad that even the mere suggestion of it had gotten Eddie this upset? 

When you first woke up this morning, you were mortified by the memory of what you’d said to your friend last night. Now, his sudden indifference toward you only amplifies that feeling of humiliation. 

This is only day two of what’s supposed to be a week-long trip, and you’re not sure if you can survive several more days of this trip, not if things will continue being this tense between you and Eddie. So, you decide to repress your shame in favor of making peace. After all, only a couple weeks after you get home from this trip, your dad will drive you up to Ann Arbor to move into your new dorm room for your first semester at college. You’re unsure if your friendship with Eddie could survive the distance, not with this lingering hostility creating such a harsh divide between you two. 

“Look, Eds,” you sigh, swallowing down what’s left of your pride as you prepare to grovel, to plead for your friendship to remain unchanged after last night’s blunder, “I’m sorry about last night, about asking you to… to kiss me. I mean- fuck- Grub, I’m really sorry for bringing it up and making shit weird between us. I promise I’m not, like, harboring some freakish little crush on you or anything like that. I just- I wanted you to be my first kiss because,” you pause with a quivering sigh, thinking better of your impending confession, “You know what? That doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that I’m sorry, really fucking sorry, and I just wanna go back to the way things were before I said any of that stupid crap, okay? I just wanna enjoy our trip. I wanna have fun doing moronic bullshit in the woods with my best friend, the same way we always do every summer. Do you think we can do that? That we can just go back to the way things were? Please?”

Eddie sighs, dragging the palm of his hand harshly down his face until it reaches his jaw, where it then remains, kneading the muscles there as if to relieve the tension. His soulful brown eyes flicker up to meet yours just briefly before his gaze falls back to the ground. He finally breaks the silence, quietly asking, “Why me? Why d’ya wanna kiss me?” 

The question catches you off guard, so much so that you almost think you’d misheard him when he asked it. You can only think to reply with a surprised, breathy, “What?”

“Why did you want to kiss me, bug?” Eddie reiterates.

Your brows furrow, your nose scrunching up as you ponder and carefully plan your reply, not wanting to give too much away, wanting to keep your cards clutched close to your chest. You finally come up with an honest response and, most importantly, one that omits some of the more embarrassing details. You tug on the inside of your lower lip with your teeth, wriggling the flesh between your incisors, working up the courage to answer his question before sighing and eventually replying, “Because I trust you, Eddie. Because I know you won’t take things too far or do anything to make me uncomfortable.”

Eddie’s leg bounces as he considers your answer. “That’s all?” He asks suddenly, once again catching you off guard. 

“Wha- What d’you mean?” You curiously inquire, wearing your confusion plainly on your features. 

“That’s it? That’s the only reason why?” Eddie questions, his gaze intense, alight with an emotion you can’t place.

“I mean,” you trail off, your leg bouncing in tandem with Eddie’s, though not intentionally. “Yeah, kind of,” you lie. 

Unfortunately, Eddie still doesn’t look entirely convinced, and that makes you nervous. You huff out frustratedly, wringing your hands together and carefully thinking over your words before speaking. 

“Grub, I’m 18 years old, and I’ve never once in my whole life kissed someone, so, yeah, at this point, I’m pretty fucking desperate. Hell, I think I’d kiss just about anyone,” you ramble, slightly exasperated. 

I think I’d kiss just about anyone. 

You don’t mean it as an insult, you don’t mean to hurt Eddie’s feelings, he knows you don’t, but it still stings something fierce. 

“Look, Eds, I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, so if you’re not-”

Eddie interrupts you, not that he’s truly listening to how you’re trying, in vain, to walk back your previous statements anyways. No, Eddie’s too busy thinking about if he is actually going to go through with this. He bluntly asks, “Just one kiss?” 

Those three words halt you in your tracks, making your breath hitch. You miraculously manage to collect yourself and come up with a coherent response. 

“Yeah,” you reply in a tone that’s gentle and airy, soft and breathy like a sigh, “just one.” 

“I’ll do it,” Eddie swiftly asserts, taking you both by surprise. “I mean, um, I’ll- I’ll help you, but you gotta promise me something first, ’kay?” 

“Yeah, yeah, anything, Grub, of course,” you agree far too eagerly, making a swirling mass of embarrassment sink down heavily into the pit of your stomach. All the while, your voice is still soft and quiet, nothing more than a susurration.

“You gotta promise me you won’t let this change things between us, bug. Okay? I can’t lose-” Eddie cuts himself off with a shaky, anxious exhale, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes as he attempts to reign in his emotions. He wants to tell you that if he ever lost you again, like he did in the summer of 1980, he wouldn’t be able to survive it; Eddie’s not really sure how he survived it last time. However, Eddie’s too afraid to tell you that, too scared of what that implies, and infinitely more scared of how you’d react to that implication. So, he drops his hands from his face, opting to pick at his nail beds to keep his fidgety fingers busy, as he continues, “I’m just helping you out, alright? So, just- You gotta promise that you won’t start acting all weird around me or, um, start avoiding me again, or whatever.” 

You frown at the sentiment, briefly looking back on those two years you’d spent without Eddie in high school. You were an idiot back then, avoiding the one person, the only one of your peers, who’d ever shown you genuine kindness, just because he’d gotten a little mean and said some things that had hurt your feelings during a heated exchange, what’s worse is they were things you’d desperately needed to hear. You gently shake your head as if to rid yourself of any and all memories of that lonely time in your life before looking into Eddie’s eyes and earnestly swearing, “I won’t, Grub. Nothing will change between us, I promise.” 

Things truly won’t change between the two of you; you’ll make sure of that. Eddie will never find out about the love you pathetically harbor for him, and, most importantly, you’ll never shut him out again. Even when he settles down one day with someone who isn’t you, maybe marries them and has a couple kids with them, you’ll still be his best friend, no matter how much it hurts, and you’ll make damn sure that Eddie never finds out how much it hurts you. 

Eddie can hear the unwavering sincerity in your voice, can see it in your gaze, and it makes him smile softly, a warm expression you cannot help but reciprocate. 

“Okay,” he breathes, his tone wavering as he rubs his sweaty palms on the rough denim of his jeans. “Just, um, c’mere… If you want to, I mean,” he stammers awkwardly. You’d probably chuckle at his apparent nervousness if you weren’t feeling the same way right now. Instead, you simply get up out of your lawn chair, rise to your feet, and trek across the short distance between the two of you. You then lower yourself to sit down in the grass in front of Eddie, who promptly lowers his legs, his knees no longer tucked up against his chest as he now sits tailorwise, or criss-cross-applesauce, as you both call it. You sit in the same position, your knees pressed against his own as you mirror him. 

Eddie tentatively leans forward, bridging the gap between you two, as one of his large, warm hands rises to hover over one of your shoulders for a brief moment before he finally gets the courage to lower it so that it rests there. With his other hand, he takes a much bolder step, lifting his arm and hesitantly reaching up to brush his calloused fingertips against the soft, smooth skin of your cheek before finally cupping it in his palm. 

“Is this okay?” He asks you quietly, like he’s afraid that speaking more loudly than a mere whisper will frighten you and scare you off. You nod your affirmative as your hands slowly move forward to rest on his denim-clad thighs, just above his knees. That contact makes Eddie’s breath hitch, but you both elect to ignore it for reasons unbeknownst to each other. 

Eddie then leans in further, his bulbous nose gently brushing against yours with purpose, effectively warning you and giving you a chance to stop him. However, you do the opposite. “Eds, please, kiss me,” you whisper. 

It’s all the encouragement Eddie needs. He closes the gap between the two of you, his lips finally meeting yours. You try to reciprocate as best as you can, but you’re, admittedly, a little lost. You’re overthinking things, Eddie can tell. He pulls away far sooner than he would’ve liked to and then presses a comforting kiss to the corner of your mouth, by one of your smile lines that he loves so much. 

“I wasn’t good, was I?” You grimace, your forehead still resting against his. “Please, you can tell me. I just wanna know what to do, Ott.” 

Eddie licks his lips before hesitantly replying, “When you, um,” he clears his throat, “the next time that you kiss someone, try not to purse your lips so much,” he winces, both at the thought of you kissing someone else and out of fear that he’s been too harsh. 

“I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do when you kiss someone?” Eddie thinks your puzzled expression is far too adorable to be legal. 

“You are! You are, a little bit, I mean. Just not quite so much; you gotta relax your um- your mouth a little bit,” Eddie blushes, thoroughly flustered. As usual, you’re oblivious to his plight, too caught up in your own mind. 

Your brows furrow as you stare at his chin absentmindedly, mind racing a million miles an hour all the while, “S-so how much should I purse them then?” 

Eddie thinks it over. “It’s hard to explain,” he sighs. 

“Could you, you know, show me?” You ask. “I mean, if you’re comfortable kissing me again.” 

Little do you know, Eddie would gladly give up both of his kidneys if it meant he got to kiss you again. Needless to say, he’s pretty stoked that he gets to do it without having to endure a double nephrectomy. 

He nods, answering wordlessly, before leaning in again, connecting your lips once more. You make sure to pay attention to what he’s doing, to how it feels, so you can mirror it. You relax your mouth a bit, your lips not quite as pursed as before, and Eddie sighs his approval. That sound sets your whole body alight with tingly, little fireworks.

You both get caught up in the moment, in the feeling of finally acting on the desires you’ve both spent years repressing. Consequently, when Eddie nips at your bottom lip, and you respond with a gasp that he can only describe as sinful, he doesn’t even try to resist the urge to take advantage of the momentary part in your lips. You pull back abruptly, primarily out of shock, when you feel his tongue slip through the gap. Eddie winces at the loss. 

“Shit, sorry,” he apologies gruffly, comfortingly rubbing your upper arms on instinct, soothing you. 

You let out an easy, breathy giggle as you ease back into his space, resting your forehead gently against his own. “It’s okay. You surprised me, that’s all. Just, um, warn me next time, okay?” 

Warmth blossoms in both of your chests at the thought of getting to kiss each other again. Eddie lets out a gentle chuckle of his own as he moves his other hand up to cup your other cheek, feeling the warmth alight beneath the soft skin there too.

“Next time?” Eddie questions with a nervous grin, mentally berating himself for daring to question you because, in his eyes, you’re practically offering your lips up to him on a silver platter, and he’s about to make you second guess that monumental decision. 

“Yeah,” you let out the prettiest little sigh, “I feel like I have a lot left to learn, and, well, you seem like a pretty good teacher. I mean, if you don’t mind kissing me again, that is,” you look into his eyes hopefully. Eddie feels his smile grow wider at the sight of your sanguine expression. 

Eddie offers his whispered reassurance while gently nudging the tip of your nose with his own, “I don’t mind.” 

Needless to say, you two won’t make it to the beach today.

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Side Note: Please don't feel like you're weird if you're older than 18 and still haven't had your first kiss yet!! I literally haven’t had my first kiss yet and I’m 21 years old. We all do things at our own pace and in our own time, so, trust me, you're not weird at all if you're an adult (of any age) who hasn't been kissed yet!!

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[yellowocaballero]

Would you write anything with/about Spider-man 2099? 👀

This ask made me scroll back in my blog and go, "Wait did I actually write the entire manifesto on why Miguel is a communist icon because I thought I had refrained from that."

I'm 95% sure that I did, in fact, refrain from explaining why there are only two good superhero media (The Incredible Hulk 1977 and Spider-man 2099) because they are the only two truly socialist superhero media. I must have mentioned that I fucking loved Spider-man 2099 somewhere. Because I fucking do. Miguel is THE character of all time. I love Spider-Man, I love characters who are COMPLETE DICKS, I love guys who just kinda wanna go home and sleep.

I absolutely would write something for him, I fucking love that guy. I haven't had a really solid idea yet, one that would make a story that would get off the ground, but if the stars align then hell yeah. Miguel is the perfect superhero because he never once tries to stop anybody from robbing a bank, committing a crime, disturbing the peace, etc. He will only ever do anything helpful if it fucks over Cyberpunk Dystopia Evil Corp, because he hates them, or if his brother nags him to do something about systematic oppression. Over the course of all of Spider-Man 2099 he stops ONE mugging. Because a cop was mugging a woman. So he could beat up the cop. Character of ALL TIME.

....this isn't a story idea but I was absolutely joking about hypothetically:

imagining one of those tepid-ass mcu spider-man fanfic where there's a class field trip to stark industies or something and peter's outed as Tony Stark's Baby Son Boy, of which there are literally 500 and every one is exactly the same I don't read mcu peter fanfic anyway

tropey fic where peter's doing that tropey hijinky runs away from crowd of friends to hide in a broom closet and preserve his secret identity

except he just opens the door to an abandoned wet lab to see miguel electrocuting a rat or something

peter is fucking convinced dr ohara is a mad scientist stealing starktech genetic secrets. tony doesn't listen because he thinks peters feelings are just hurt after miguel called him the saltine cracker of nepotism. miguel is, of course, stealing starktech time travel technology. meanwhile a guy in a black spider suit is firebombing the NYPD

miguel assumes that the richer and more important you are, the more evil you are. faced with involuntary time travel, he is operating under his standard MO of finding the most evil corporation in the tristate area and looking them up on glassdoor. working under this assumption, miguel assumes itll be too much work to go ahead and kill tony stark in the name of the proletariat but he does slowly sabotage their entire genetics division.

MJ threatens to break up with Peter if he tries to stop the NYPD from being firebombed

[safe-ship]

Heads up about the safeship creator everyone, they refuse to provide accessibility to screen readers despite being asked to multiple times & is generally ableist. Below are some screenshots + a transcript of a really long paragraph rant went on.

Context: An anon asked her to stop using ! and 0s to censor proship related things. This was her response:

Context: The same anon sends another ask that the OP screenshotted. (I cannot find the post as it seems she either deleted it or Tumblr's search feature is funky)

Their response is copied + pasted below. Content warning for NSFW mentions, sexual harassment (of the anon), and guilt tripping.

Listen dude i do know better you fucking insufferable misinformed prick. I myself need readability accessibility with ny fucking aphasia that is only getting worse. I already know firsthand how little people give a shit about this stuff becuz i need it. I already have difficulty writing legibly okay. And i get a lot of shit over this disability that i dont deserve. I made this fucking tag to help others to the point that i dont even block the few people weve had problems with so that even if i have to sed it at least the tag will work well for others. So if i have to put a 0 and ! In the forbidden word to decrease how much extra stress is gonna be on me from putting it straight up on their dinner plates then im fucking going to. Why dont you get off your high horse and grow the fuck up and stop making fucking assumptions. Cause im doing a hell of a lot more of kindness and effort for accessibility than you are for saying its immoral for someone WHO NEEDS screendreaders and is ashamed about it to choose a fucking single exclammation point over getting the regular bullshit i put up with from people who wanna be pedos x100 so that you can feel good abt yourself becuz u would choose the latter. Whether ur also a screenreader needer or not what you are is a fuvking asshole becuz i literally have two spine surgeries voming up with a huge threat of bevoming a paraplegic or dead before then and i have a shortened lifespan from all my disabilities. I come into this community to cope with how shit my life is and i try to make it better for others no matter if its a little harder on me and i get nothin but disrespect from invasive and presumptuous assholes like u behind anon who dont wanna have a real vonversation with me or actually think abt anyone but yourself and how good it feels to stroke ur moral dick over the dying woman and i have had it up to here!

U guys wanna keep coming in my inbox being assholes to me? No nuance in life im a bitch? So little thanks nothing but pussies on anon talking shit or invading my privacy? Maybe someone the fuck else should try and run this ship then becuz im fed the hell up and abt to deactivate.

And even despite being told twice to provide accessibility, they continues to be inaccessible even excluding shipcourse.

And in regards to more of their ableism, they told someone to "develop a frontal lobe" which is harmful towards those with intellectual disabilities. For context: calicofemme was their old main.

Anyway, do what you will with this information. If anyone wants to add more things to this regarding her behavior, go ahead & I'll reblog it. I made this post to raise awareness of how the creator is harmful and shouldn't even be in this community because of how they go entirely against their motive for making it.

[valeskakingdom]

I teach you a lesson (part54)

"Don't you wanna say something, doll?" Jerome frowned irritated while grinning at his precious "Aren't you pleased to see me after such a long time we've been apart? A little rude since I've done so much for you" To one of these questions you should just answer positively, especially Scarlet since she was his doll still - she had to be pleased when he was around, no matter what.

"Oh, yes, I am pleased to see the loser that tried to kill me because he couldn't handle he was wrong," Scarlet sarcastically spat "I have missed you so much," She chuckled bitterly. Did Jerome think she would miss him after what had happened? Oh hell no, she was glad she could have some time off him!

"You can be glad I missed the shot," Jerome muttered with gritted teeth, giving her a dark look "I could have killed you right away if I wanted to. I had all reason to since you've been acting like a little brat" He hated that she was so petulant towards him. He didn't deserve that, she had to treat him with respect after all the time they'd been together.

"Strange, you didn't. I thought you'd show no remorse," Scarlet smirked mischievously, walking closer to him, and staring deep into his eyes "You can't live a minute without me, eh? Always seek for the emotional support, always seek for the attention - you seek for all the things your mother never gave you and you become upset when this joy inevitably disappears because you consider yourself as a fool. That's what we call mommy issues, my dear"

"Oh, yes, doll," Jerome chuckled bitterly, cupping her face "You've always had a thing for analyzing me, huh? You loved to degrade people with their foibles to feel joy," He then grabbed her throat, squeezing it in rage making Scarlet gasp in surprise "Doesn't mean you can do it with me. You know, I've got a lot of time to think about us and I'm on it to set some rules," He grinned darkly "Number one: I am the boss, not you. Number two: Never play fool with me again. Number three: Don't. Ever. Leave without permission see! We don't want me to be upset about you, right?"

"Are you trying to scare me, Jerome?" Scarlet tried to say panting since it was quite hard for her to breathe normally "You can be a little rougher with me, c'mon, go ahead! Show me your dominance!" She was just messing with him, for sure. She wanted to see how far she could go with him after such a long time. She wanted to see whether trying to shoot at her was just a knee-jerk reaction or not. Would Jerome ever have the intention to kill her? Or did he just forget himself for one moment?

"Just as I expected," Jerome grinned, loosing his grip "Sure you wanna see more, and you will! You will be astonished by my glorious work, and I've got a little surprise for you since I've heard about your little come back in Arkham," He winked at her "You'll love it!"

"Oh, sure," Scarlet scoffed "Let me think: A little boy toy I can play with? A little knife? Or controlling a little bunch of freaks to be pleased?" First not showing any kind of dominance as he used to, and now he's coming with any stupid surprises? A bit low to try to get her back, she thought. Jerome used to do better, but still, she was excited to see what kind of surprise he'd got for her.

"Oh no, a lot better," Jerome chuckled bitterly, grabbing her hand, and leading her to a bench "Take a seat next to me and enjoy the show! You must know, a short while ago we've got a new inmate here and I'm sure you both are pleased to see each other"

Scarlet just frowned in response. Who did he mean? Was Jerome just being delusional and picked any guy from the old cult to play with? His jealousy had to be a big deal still if she was right with her assumption. He hated every guy who just stared at her, even though they both had their ups and downs: Scarlet was still his property, so the chances were high he recognized any inmate from outside and now used him as a boy toy.

A few seconds later, you saw a bunch of inmates hushing from another in Jerome's direction. It seemed they pulled something or someone after them, you could hear someone saying the word "no" over and over again as if they knew something bad was about to happen. The voice was familiar though, a voice she hadn't heard in a while, a voice she eventually missed. She eventually had an assumption who it might be, but she wasn't sure, somehow things seemed to be unrealistic, too.

"Oh, your surprise is on its way to you! Watch and enjoy" Jerome chuckled when he saw this certain person being nudged at a table with a gunny sack on their head, breathing heavily. He knew Scarlet would love to see them since Jerome was informed they both had a lot of things to discuss, things from the past especially. It was something about their friendship. One said mean things the other didn't like to hear - something like that.

The person with the gunnysack on it crawled up the table plate, kicking with his feet so that other inmates wouldn't grab him by their ankles and do shit on him. Immediately, since the gunnysack didn't help with breathing a lot they tore it from its head to see and breathe again - for Scarlet, it was a shock to see whose face was under the gunnysack: it was Oswald.

"S-scarlet," He stammered in shock when he saw her. He couldn't believe seeing her after such a long time, he was relieved, pleased, but also hella scared. He knew what he had done, he left her hanging when being with Andy. He did that on purpose. He did that because Scarlet left him and he wanted to make her feel the same - and he loved that, which was his biggest mistake. He now knew he would regret this because Scarlet surely didn't forget about this. She would never forget something like that.

"Oswald" Scarlet muttered, her anger building up. She remembered the last time she saw him and the last time she spoke to him. He's been disrespectful towards her and what he has done afterward was even worse. Sure, at first she didn't care about his action because she was glad to escape but in the end: everything would come back "It's been a while, isn't it?"

"You can thank me for that later, I know you have a lot to discuss" Jerome proudly said, he saw the rage in her eyes. She'd love to chop his head off after the last time they were in contact, and this reaction filled Jerome with satisfaction because he knew certain things would work out now. You could see Oswald drove her mad, he disappointed her for some reason - and yet, Jerome surely knew Oswald hadn't apologized for his atrocity.

"Oh, I do. This surprise is just perfect!" Scarlet praised with a little hiss, the focusing back to Oswald "Remember the last time we spoke to each other? It was a rough conversation, wasn't it? I was pleading with you for help with Andy while being trapped in a basement and chained to a wall. And do you remember what you told me?" She frowned at him, expecting him to answer.

"I-I left y-you hanging," Oswald gulped in fear "I-I said it's y-your business, not mine" It was true. The exact words he said were: Oh, we don't have a problem, Scarlet. You have a problem. According to your latest claim, we're no longer friends. He couldn't tell her, luckily, because she had interrupted him. But even this was bad enough.

"Is that true, Oswald?" Jerome looked at him in surprise, his anger was building up again even though he already knew the whole story, Oswald hadn't mentioned this, all he said was the two of them ended up in an argument, but he didn't go into details "That's quite impolite towards a lady, hasn't your silly mum taught you manners? Did you apologize?"

"He hasn't" Scarlet muttered "He hasn't called me back, he hasn't texted a message, he didn't check on me after my call. He just left me hanging," Scarlet shook her head "But good, you're here to talk about it, right? So...tell me, why did you leave me hanging?"

"I-I uhm... I-I wanted to -m-make you feel left, how I-I felt w-when you left..." Oswald stammered. His outrageous eyes of Jerome's and the crazy and pierced look of Scarlet's scared him. He felt like he was dying every minute. He knew they were about to do something, but what? Were they both kill him with torture? Playing mind games to drive him crazy? Or else?

"I see. You felt insulted by me when I told you you're paranoid," Scarlet nodded, acting understanding "But what I've learned from my parents is most people who reacted like you can't stand the truth. So you knew Fish Mooney's presence made you paranoid because you were scared she was taking revenge on you. Am I right?"

"Y-yes," Oswald stammered "B-but I am willed to say, I-I was wrong. I should have listened to you considering Fish. Y-you were right all the time. I-I shouldn't h-have left you in t-that cellar"

"I'm a fan of apologies, Ossy," Scarlet grinned "Don't you think an apology is appropriate after you've been quite rude to me? Letting a friend hang in an emergency is not quite suitable" She then looked at Jerome "What do you say, J?"

"I agree with you, doll" Jerome mischievously grinned at Oswald, It was obvious that for Jerome an apology wasn't enough. He was on for punishment and he had an idea already "He does owe you an apology"

"Yeah," Scarlet nodded, staring at anxious Oswald "So Oswald, where's my apology?"

"Scarlet," He gulped since he knew an apology wouldn't be enough to satisfy her "I-I do owe you an apology a-and I-I'm truly sorry. I-I shouldn't h-have let you h-hanging after all you've done for me. This wasn't right since we used to be friends. I-I hope you will a-accept my apology"

"Hmm," Scarlet pretended thinking "No, no I think you can do it better. Beg for my forgiveness! Or do you want me to let out all my anger on you? That wouldn't be pleasing for you"

"Scarlet, I beg your pardon!" Oswald knelt on the table, starting to beg "I was out of my senses! You must understand me, I haven't thought about my actions!" He sighed "You should give me another chance like I gave you a chance to work with me, remember? We both became a great team"

"I know," Scarlet sighed "That's why your deed was an even bigger disappointment. You practically turned me into Andy. Is that what friends do when the other needs help? I don't think so "Scarlet shook her head no "You've been a good friend to me, Ossy, but it's time to teach you a lesson. What do you think, J?"

"Yes," Jerome darkly grinned, staring at him. Oh, Oswald had to learn a lesson, though it wasn't time to kill him. Scarlet and he both knew they could make good use of him with the right teamwork, killing him would rather be a loss even though he deserved it. But Jerome already had an idea of what to do now.

"What do you want?" Oswald's breath hitched as he stared at both of them. They scared him just with their dark grins. He begged for forgiveness anyhow, he hoped none of them would neither kill him nor harm him in other ways. He'd offer them everything just to stay alive, he'd even offer them to be their butler, even if it scratched his ego enormously.

"I told you, Pengy," Jerome muttered, now his plan of Oswald's punishment could finally start "I'm gonna cure you of this sad sack mopey pack, as I will make sure Scarlet will accept your pitty apology instead of harming you for the treason you've committed on her," He paused "And the best cure is the laughing cure. Make us laugh"

"Make them laugh! Make them laugh!" The inmates chanted immediately. They wanted to see the big surprise Jerome had for all of them, too. He has praised this for a while but never told them what they would going to see.

"So what'll you be performing?" From the table that's right behind him, he grabbed a bowl of popcorn, sharing it with Scarlet "Contortionism, juggling act, a tight five? Oh. What's that?" Jerome held his hand on his ear as if he had heard a certain voice "You want to do a clown dance? What do you think, love?"

"A clown dance would be perfect for the foolish little Oswald who thinks he's better than others and doesn't need to care about his friends" Scarlet smiled at Oswald while the other inmates just cheered behind her. A clown dance was just marvelous!

"Wonderful," Jerome grinned amused, looking at some other inmates who already held a clown costume in their hand, specially made for Oswald. They just waited for him to put it on.

"I will not!" For Oswald a clown costume would be a huge degradation, he was no clown! He was no fool as would never make a fool of himself just for tho psychos! He wasn't Jim Gordon who gave in every time his plan didn't work and then tried to make it up with all the others around him! But no one reacted to his denial. The inmates with the clown costume walked to Oswald - no one in there accepted a no of him - the other inmates grabbed Oswald's hands and legs since he would try to flee from that act. He yelled they all should get their hands off him and leave him alone but it wouldn't work out. The inmates pushed him down to the table plate he was standing on and forced him to wear the costume.

"Just the sight of this is entertaining already," Scarlet chuckled, eating some popcorn "It's so funny to see how Oswald desperately tries to escape all of them and thinks we need to treat him with respect. Even though, he made clear he'd do anything for me now"

"Oh, you ain't seen nothing, yet, doll" Jerome chewed and kept watching the scene. Oswald stood there, wearing this silly costume, his shoes squeaking whenever he made a step. It was so embarrassing, he looked so silly! He was a laughingstock! If just his mother saw him... or his father! They both would be disappointed in him. They both would tell him what a mess he has made and that he now needs to deal with the consequences.

"In your own time," Jerome chewed while Scarlet applauded when Oswald stood up.

"You have no idea how I've suffered. The betrayals I've endured. Just leave me alone" Oswald squealed, starting to cry "Leave me alone" All his memories came up from the past until now, from all the things he suffered, the pain he felt - just everything.

"Cut!" Jerome yelled annoyed, standing up and walking to him. He should entertain all of them, especially Scarlet! He shouldn't sob like a baby! But of course, Jerome always had a band-aid for certain situations "Oswald, Oswald, Oswald. You are trapped in a prison in here" He tapped on his forehead "And I'm offering you the key. So, dance!" Immediately, the inmates poked with sticks on Oswald that it looked like he was dancing.

"Now we're talking!" Scarlet and Jerome chuckled amused about this, seeing Oswald being degraded, desperate, and embarrassed at the same time that it would drive him nuts -  "I can feel the funny coming. Here it comes! Here comes the funny! Again!" The inmates kept poking over and over again that it started hurting already - and they wouldn't stop because they all enjoyed the act, as well! It was torture but in a fun way - except for Oswald. It was driving him nuts, it was driving him mad. He wanted to punish Jerome for what he was doing to him now! He deserved it this time! And so, when the inmates stopped poking for a moment, he tried to jump on Jerome to probably punch him - but an inmate knocked him out with a punch that he would lay on the ground bleeding and twitching, not realizing what was going to happen next.

"Fred Astaire, you are not" In disappointment and maybe in annoyance, Jerome kicked Oswald's face so that he would bleed even more "I'll try again tomorrow, come on doll"

"You're a real shame, Oswald," Scarlet shook her head, kicking his stomach so that he would choke "Good for you, I'm in a good and will give you another chance tomorrow"

[dbphantom]

[H2O s2 spoilers] Charlotte has literally done nothing wrong up until now and yet the show STILL paints her as such a bad person in Pressure Cooker.

She admits if she knew Don was Cleo's dad she wouldn't have shown up and looks visibly uncomfortable (but still trying to be polite) when she realizes it's Cleo's house and has to sit there and watch Cleo openly be rude to her mother by giving away a gift bought as a gesture of goodwill.

Charlotte KNOWS Lewis and Cleo are talking about her and instead of being rude and nasty about it (LIKE CLEO WAS IN EPISODE 3 WHEN SHE MADE ASSUMPTIONS) is just like "yeah, your dad is really struggling right now, you probably wanna go back in there and help him..?" like OMG that was so sweet of her. Yeah she interrupted their conversation, but come on she was trying to be nice. Characters interrupt each other all the time on this show- it's a teen drama, that's how it works. Despite everything Cleo had already done to her, Charlotte was still looking out for her dad.

Then Charlotte accidentally knocks a thing of flour into Cleo and goes up to her room after Cleo storms off to personally apologize for even BEING THERE because she can tell Cleo is Absolutely Furious about her showing up, and openly asks her if she can spend time with/date Lewis because she understands the two of them were together and she SEES how Cleo is reacting, and CLEO GIVES HER THE GO-AHEAD, BUT STILL TREATS HER AWFULLY ANYWAY. She didn't HAVE to ask for permission, but she does anyway!! AFTER APOLOGIZING FOR SIMPLY SHOWING UP TO HER MOM'S WORK EVENT.

and THEN at the end of the episode Cleo is like "even if it IS Charlotte (who I hate for literally no reason other than she stood up for herself when I tried to shame her in public for hanging out with my ex-boyfriend who I broke up with), it's Lewis's choice" but then gives her an actual death glare at the very end of the episode when Charlotte is literally just looking at her and evil music swells all because Charlotte smiles. WHAT!!!!!

IF YOU WANTED ME TO HATE CHARLOTTE SO BAD WHY DID YOU MAKE CLEO SO UNREASONABLE AND MEAN THIS SEASON AND CHARLOTTE AN ACTUAL SWEETHEART WHO HASN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG OTHER THAN ACCIDENTALLY KNOCKING A BOWL OF FLOUR INTO SOMEONE AND PINING AFTER A GUY WHO IS- I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH- SINGLE!!!

anyway brb making a list of all the times the girls openly use their powers or are just straight-up reckless in public SOLELY IN SEASON 2 so i can compare it to them getting really mad at Charlotte and holding her to a huge double-standard because she used her powers to mess with Nate a little bit because HUUUUUUH??? if you have any examples hit me up because im currently doing a rewatch and im on ep 6 and already have a few... most notably Emma using her powers during the soccer game to dunk on a seven-year-old, but also Cleo using her powers at school to [checks notes] take a shortcut across a field with a sprinkler instead of just walking around. I have a few from memory as well that i just haven't gotten up to yet (like Emma and Rikki harassing Lewis at his job and almost getting him arrested because they left the gate open)

>>>>>oh i see... tumblr desktop does not warn you if you have over 30 tags. noted... rip my essay on how Lewis also isn't 100% in the right here [with Charlotte. with Cleo he did nothing wrong (being overbearing... ok i get it, but she could have sat him down and talked to him abt how she was feeling before immediately jumping to breaking up) and even took her aside more than once to ask her if she was okay, if this is what she really wanted, and where he stands with her- to which she lies to his face during and says everything's fine, she's just protecting the secret, she isn't jealous At All, she doesn't want to get back together] because he unintentionally is leading Charlotte on bc he's not communicating the best, and then when they DO get together he's clearly not as invested in their relationship as she is, or how Charlotte was kinda jumping the gun a little but while their relationship is kinda messy in itself, it just doesn't compare to how annoyed Cleo makes me this season, i won't lie. also i did rant about the marine park incident again. it still really bothers me lolol

[slocumjoe]

3, 18, 27, and/or 45 (depending how many u wanna do lol) for the ship ask 👀 bc we all know gage is bad at Verbalizing Feelings but what about ur oc??? tell us everything

3; What was their first impression of each other?

Gage knew of her before she knew of him, so he had time to form assumptions. He knew she was a manager type in a shipping company/trade network across the east coast, and he knew she came from wealth. Expected someone like Mags, someone prissy and full of herself. More importantly, the circumstances of Florence working with the Minutemen on the partnership was sketchy as hell, and he didn't trust Isadora's judgment yet, so he went to investigate himself.

Florence, for her part, had just moved to Sanctuary to help stabilize the Minutemen's place in the trade network, and then this guy shows up at her office, clearly a raider, clearly pretending he's definitely not a raider and definitely not looking for something.

So, Gage's first impression was suspicion with some dread at the thought of dealing with another rich girl. Florence knew she was being assessed and psychoanalysed by someone starting out with a bone to pick.

Gage is lucky Flora doesn't hold grudges about shit like that.

18; How do they care for one another when one of them is wounded or sick?

Florence is very doting to people she cares for, and is, for lack of a better way to describe it, kind of house-wifey, so she's ON that shit. Will call him an idiot when he gets hurt as she stitches him up, but he's still gonna have to deal with her coddling. She's a hoverer. Gage will grumble and bitch, but never actually turns her away.

Gage, when something's wrong with Flo, is...neurotic. Sick? Okay, that's fine, she just needs to rest and take her—Flo, why are you in the office? Forget the damn—go to bed. You're barely standing. She's a "I'll just power through" kind of person and it drives him crazy.

If she's HURT?

Florence (in my Canon, ignore in-game) isn't a fighter, she's a business woman. This isn't someone who's on the field. So, something/one would have had to attack her out of nowhere.

Gage is a fucking nightmare to deal with in this scenario. Hovers, flinches at the slightest hint she's hurt or in pain, eye twitches when she still insists she's fine to work. Anyone who wants to see her gets grilled, God forbid you somehow approach her without him noticing. Becomes the most annoying bodyguard. He can't do much besides protect her while she recovers, he's not a doctor. Paranoid as hell, and rides Isadora's ass to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Florence finds this adorable.

27; How do they say 'I love you' non-verbally?

Florence's love language leans towards Acts of Service and Gift Giving. Cooks for him, fixes up his armor and clothes, makes him a new, safer/comfier eyepatch. She's quick to say It, but quicker to express it. She's not a shy, insecure person and has no reservations. So, hope Gage adapts quickly to being spoiled like some kind of purse dog.

He does not, being the emotionally stunted asshole he is.

Gage...I've described him as a feral tom cat that will take food, but hisses and runs if you try to pet it. Thats...yeah. As time goes on, he gets better with it, but habits die hard.

His first real act of love is something literally no one could notice; he stops trying to read into her, psychoanalyze her. Stops the "I need to be two steps ahead" thing and lets himself let her be...just a person, not someone to be used, not someone up to something. It sounds weird, but for Gage...that's something no one else has gotten, not even Isadora gets that. It's purely a mental thing that Gage and Gage alone knows about, but it's more significant than one could fathom.

The first noticeable thing is a lot simpler, and partially on Isadora's recommendation. He just takes her to the shooting ranges and teaches her how to handle a gun. Gage is not a teaching sort, but he is protective, and anyone watching would notice how careful he is hovering around her, touching her to help adjust her holds on firearms.

45; How do they support each other?

Gage acts as a bodyguard and the muscle to help her get her way. Flora can be scary, but sometimes, getting a brahmin baron to hold up his part of the deal needs more than talk.

Florence sweet-talks her way into getting the local traders and doctors to give Isadora and her party some generous discounts, which helps them all, but was really intended for Gage.

In their emotional relationship? Florence and Gage don't need much. Gage wants someone who thinks like he does and doesn't pity him, and Florence wants someone who will listen to her and respect her for her skills. A snapshot of what this looks like is just Florence going through an extensive explanation of future negotiations and economic development while Gage listens and occasionally gives his opinion.

For a more emotional need...Gage needs space when he's upset for any reason, Florence needs grounding because she tends to drift and it can be hard for her to 'come back'. They compromise. Gage doesn't want to talk? They don't talk, he holds her and plays with her hair. It's a very quiet relationship. On the rare occasion Gage does want to vent, Florence listens and doesn't tell him how to feel, what do to. He appreciates that she doesn't try to guide him, like Isadora is prone to.

[embraceyourdestiny]

I don't blame Laura myself (she's one of my favorites, after all), I was giving my perception of how it was to Travis. And Travis, "You said no more killing, ma," Hackett isn't likely to stab someone without feeling like they deserve it.

While he might initially view her as young, by trying to (from his perspective) take his life so that she can harm his family, she likely became an adult in his eyes. "Legal adult" is internet terminology in that context, but the core concept of someone old enough to be responsible for their actions is everywhere. Chances are, the Hacketts set the age of responsibility significantly below average in his case, so the number is more malleable in his mind.

Communicating clearly could have avoided a lot of trouble, but can be physically difficult if you grew up having your words used against you and/or dismissed. Travis goes into conversations assuming the person is going to ignore or weaponize everything he says. Obfuscating is safer for him, because he is less likely to be punished for "bad reasoning" and he expects them to do what they want regardless of his concerns. He told Laura about the white wolf, and she decided to kill his brother instead of helping him end the problem at its source and save his family along with her boyfriend, which only confirms to him that honest communication is dangerous.

While the game warns us that he will kill Laura because she shot him, we don't know that he would have done so if she had left his family alone. I.e. if she took a car and tried to put as much distance between herself and North Kill. In that situation, he may have let her live if he caught her, but approached her as a fugitive who deserves to rot in jail. I personally see Kaylee's death as his breaking point, not being shot.

She was his proof that people can be good. If Laura chooses not to hurt him, then she is her own proof. Kaylee may be gone, but he still has hope that humanity is able to be better than what he knows. Without a light to turn to, he succumbs to the darkness he was raised with because being "better" is pointless if all it does is get you hurt.

I don't think he was a "good guy", or making the right choices, I just can understand his perspective.

(Thanks for chatting!)

Here a more in-depth reply continuing a similar conversation with another person

I don’t really have much to say to this because I feel like I covered this in the other post but I will say a lot of the thoughts you bring up are mostly inferences / assumptions / hypotheticals and not anything founded by canon (like the assumption of ‘good communication and consequence’, unless you have evidence which id love to see, or if Laura found a car) so I don’t really wanna touch that because it’s gonna turn into semantics about things that aren’t canon so imo i don’t wanna talk about that when I’m specifically talking about what happens/ can happen, (if you wanna analyze / character study Travis in my inbox tho, go right ahead!) so I hope you’ll understand where I’m coming from with that. Cuz if we wanted to get into the nitty gritty of character motivation and our assumptions and such we absolutely can but that is an entirely separate conversation than the one I was having originally, where the point was that in that specific playthrough the math isn’t mathing for Travis to me. Like I said, feelings are justified, but his actions? Personally, I think no. Because Travis is forgetting Laura is still a victim. He’s a victim too, in some regards, but when it comes to her and max he’s literally their capturer and he WOULD go to jail if anyone found out (and if our system was just 🙃)

Oh and in case you don’t read the other post, the biggest thing is that he kills human Laura after the curse is broken. Werewolf Laura ofc makes sense for various reasons, but killing Laura after everything is over? It’s just petty lmao like idk I have a real shit family life and know how easy it is to get involved in family bullshit but he didn’t see Laura as an innocent because she… angered him? Escaped? I guess you can say she “foiled the plan” but still, is that enough to be determined to murder someone that you stab them multiple times with a broken mirror, and then try to kill another person there who was also a victim?? Maybe something deeper is being hinted at though. The animalistic nature. Because Travis definitely looks crazed when he charges for Ryan. Maybe he metaphorically had a wolf in him the whole time. Who knows.

[bish-plz-haha]

I wanna add to this:

To me, I feel the same about him (though I'm not really a simp/stan for any of the guys in particular, I admire Kags a lot for who he is. Though I admire almost every character). At first, I thought he was. But my view on him changed dramatically when I saw him and Kindaichi talking after the Aboa Josai match where he went to apologise (and Kindaichi said not to). It was a little late in the series, I admit, but Kindaichi is so shocked to hear him say "we" instead of "I" when talking about defeating them.

One of my favourite moments though is this scene:

Kindaichi is so shocked and surprised that Hinata thinks the world of Kageyama's sets and his plays. Kindaichi could never be like Hinata: able to spike one of his sets. The whole Kitagawa first team couldn't deal with his sets—he was leagues ahead of the rest of them, if I might say (which I think is a fair assumption considering).

Then Kageyama found Hinata and Karasuno, and the team became his found family. They accepted him for who he was, flaws and all, and they wished him the world and more. He had a drive and passion to win (some of that stemming from his anxiety about being alone) and they made that real for him, Ukai even took that drive and made it into a weapon. It fired up the team when nothing else but despair was on their minds. Granted, Hinata helped a lot too. But that's besides the point.

When people saw him, they heard about him being a dictator and ruler and such—even in s2 when Hinata wants to try the quick attack with his eyes open, Oikawa even says something like, "if you can't understand that that attack isn't yours to control, you're still the despit king you used to be."—it really got to Kageyama. He didn't want to be viewed as this person who was self-serving and nothing else. He's just someone who has been knocked down again and again emotionally until, finally, there's a need to hide for survival. It's a trauma response.

He cares about others in his own way, but volleyball is all he really has, honestly. And to have a team of friends behind him, to teach him how to play without shying away from others and making sure he knew that there wasn't just one person, but six, on the court all with the same goal in mind, he was relieved. He finally found a place he belonged. A place he could be himself and not worry about being perceived as something he clearly wasn't.

Ukai even tells him that his job isn't about feelings; it's about knowing how the game is going, and how the other players are doing. And when Tanaka asks him to not send him any more sets, he refuses. He knows Tanaka's limit from watching him up close for that long and refuses, saying they'd need his attack power.

He definitely changed, without realising it, but he found people who accepted him for who he was. He learned to let go of his fears and trust his team.

Kageyama meta incoming:

What I find really fascinating talking to some HQ fans is that when I make the age old joke and meme of “Kageyama never did a single thing wrong in his life” (bc stan, and YES I say it in the jokey way, I am aware that people do things wrong in their lives), the response I usually get after some chuckles is, “to be fair he was a bit of a dick at first”.

Like, it’s not said in an anti way, it’s just said very matter of fact. 

And that’s so interesting to me, and granted, I have the gift of hindsight and of having rewatched HQ several times at this point and I’m also very invested in Kags, so I’m much more interested in the meta of his story rather than the surface level. 

But to me, it always seemed obvious that Kags’ behaviour, as unfair as it was on his teammates, was never ever done out of purposeful malice or spite. He was never out there to hurt people’s feelings, he was never saying things or doing thing to in order to be a dick.

And sure, just because you don’t MEAN to hurt someone’s feelings, it doesn’t mean much when you do actually end up hurting someone’s feelings. 

But look at the expression on his face after his outburst during the game:

He looks almost shocked by his own tone, the things he’s saying. 

Even when we see him earlier in the timeline during the game with Hinata and his team, to me he looks more frustrated, stressed and anxious rather than cruel or dickish. 

And so even though I get why some of the characters in universe thought he was a bit of a twat, I’m surprised that people watching the show also thought that at one time. 

Because look at Kags when he’s “at rest”. He’s quiet, focused and a little awkward. He barely talks to people unless he’s directly brought into a conversation unless it’s about a play or tactic. The only time we see him blow his top on a regular basis is when he’s bickering with Hinata and then it’s mostly hyped up for comedic value. He literally only ever bites when he’s backed into a corner or when he gets too anxious to realise what he’s saying before it’s too late (like in the above example).

What I find DOUBLY interesting is that some people thought THIS was considered dickish behaviour even when we have a character like Tsukki playing off of Kageyama, who (IN MY OPINION GUYS SO DON’T @ ME) is ACTUALLY behaving like a total asshole from day one. He’s proactive in trying to rile people up, goes out of his way to make people feel small and like shit and is generally very petty in his attitude to certain characters. Regardless of whatever has happened in the past to make him that way, he is very aware of it and he KNOWS that he behaves this way on purpose. Even someone like Oikawa, who I stan with my entire heart, does the things he does WITH PURPOSE. Every comment he makes and everything he does it calculated and checked and if it looks like he’s being a dick, it’s because that’s what he wants you to think. 

In Kageyama’s example, what I find even more heartbreaking is that the people who nonchalantly go, “oh yeah I mean tbf he was a bit of a dick in the beginning” don’t ever seem to mention his ACTUAL asshole coach who did nothing while Kageyama was clearly struggling mentally for a prolonged period of time. You don’t go from innocent happy Tobio eating a riceball in his first year, to “Mr King of the Court” in his final year without there being a trajectory. 

And again, I know MOST HQ fans are aware of all this, it just always surprises me when I hear these sorts of takes on his character when, even when I didn’t know anything about HQ and never knew that I was about to enter the “I would give my life for him” stage of loving Kageyama, the second I saw those flashbacks, I knew he wasn’t a dick in any sense of the word. He was someone who had been brought to breaking point with pressuring himself and someone who couldn’t deal with the stress. Not to mention what comes out later on about his difficulty in communicating with others. 

WHICH IS WHY when THIS happens:

I LITERALLY BURST INTO TEARS. 

Because to me, this was the show telling us once and for all, that Kageyama is NOT an asshole and he’s never been one. That the way he speaks to people and the way he comes across is not a result of ill intentions. It’s not even a result of how he sees OTHER people. 

The reason for his abruptness, his harshness and whatever else that makes him seem mean, is all a reflection on how he sees HIMSELF.

More than anything, what I adore about this scene (and what I’ve heard some fans be critical of) is that not only Hinata, but EVERYONE else on the team, never once suggests that they need to change him. That his personality and yes, his anxiety, is something that he needs to get rid of in order to make him a better person. This is WHO HE IS. 

And the fact that they took what was once thought to be the “ugliest” part of himself and the thing that made everyone see him as “evil” and “bad”, and literally CROWNED him for it, still shakes me to my core. That they said, “no, we want and love you for who you are and ONLY for who you are. You’re not an asshole. The fact that you have bad days doesn’t matter, you’re no different to the rest of us. We won’t leave you for it,” is, in my opinion, proof IN canon that Kageyama doesn’t need to change, because he’s never been bad. He’s been the victim of poor circumstance, bad mentorship, stress and misunderstanding.

The long and short of it is: I personally don’t think Tobio Kageyama is an asshole or a dick, not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow, and I adore him with my entire heart. This was a rambly post written in like ten minutes so please forgive me if I didn’t go into enough detail, I just felt like writing down my thoughts and I didn’t think Twitter was the most productive place to do it.

[soulmate-game]

Daughter of wonderwoman au where marinette finds out her mother is actually Diana and somehow it ends up with her meeting/being introduced to the batfam maybe because she has super strength and is seen yeeting some bad guys who tried to mug her... Or something.

“... you are running from your problems, Mari,” Adrien’s exasperated voice reminded his best friend. Again. She ignored him, and he threw his hands up in exasperation. “Look, you don’t have to do anything about it! Nobody would hold it against you if you decided to just, ignore that you found anything out at all. But you need to actually think about what we just found out and decide whether or not you’re gonna do anything—“ he side-stepped a piece of trash that went flying in his direction. “—or if you’re gonna move on and pretend nothing happened.”

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Marinette shot back, pushing her bangs out of her face and tying her hair back with one hand.

“No, you’re currently hiding away in Gotham to avoid your parents while you beat up every random group of idiots who thinks you’re an easy mark,” he retorted. Another wannabe kidnapper went flying in his direction, making him sigh and side step again. She had thrown that one with only her one free hand, showing just how upset she was. “You’re ignoring everything in your life, which is not what we meant we said you should get a little space.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Marinette dropkicked the last criminal into unconsciousness before stepping back and putting her hands on her hips. She looked over at the now seven passed out men in the alleyway, and the one very frustrated ex-model pinching the bride of his nose. “I think I’m coping just fine.”

“It’s better than being forced to suppress all of your emotions, sure,” Adrien reluctantly agreed. “But not by much. Your angry rampage through Gotham has already attracted more attention,” he raised his hand to point at a nearby rooftop. Several shadows lurked there, looming over the building’s edge. “Which, might I add, is exactly why I told you not to come to Gotham.”

“You’re the one who followed me here,” she shot back before turning to the shadowy figures above them. “Go ahead and come down! But it was self defense, and you can’t arrest or beat me up for defending myself!”

The first figure to drop down straightened your just as quickly, revealing the imposing figure of none other than Batman himself. The little white eyes on his cowl seemed to narrow on their own as he looked down at her.

“That might be true, but I’m sure you know my policy on metas in my city,” he grumbled back at her. He wasn’t necessarily threatening, but he definitely wasn’t welcoming either. With all of his limbs hidden behind the cocoon that was his cape, Marinette would never be able to predict his next move if he did decide to fight. Not that she seemed particularly worried about that as she crossed her arms over her chest and met his glare evenly.

“Oh, do you own this city now? I wasn’t given the memo,” she retorted. “And considering I didn’t even know I was a meta until last week? I think I deserve a little slack. I’m angry and if people think the tiny little girl in pink is an easy kidnapping target, then it’s their fault for making themselves into the perfect practice dummies for me to try out my newly discovered strength on.”

Adrien saw the eyes on Batman’s mask narrow even further. Marinette wasn’t exactly at her most charismatic at the moment, and Adrien didn’t wanna get the both of them into a bad relationship with the experienced superhero who always seemed to know things he shouldn’t know. So he stepped up quickly, getting in between Marinette and the Bat and holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Okay, Monsieur Batman,” Adrien started slowly, making sure his posture was impeccable and his smile bright. “She’s telling the truth, even if she’s not... the most tactful about it right now. She just found out some very concerning things about her origin and Gotham is the best place for her to hide from her problems and let loose a little pent up aggression. But— well,” he grimaced. “We didn’t intend to run into you guys, but maybe it’s a good thing we did.”

“How so?” Batman was clearly still incredibly suspicious of the both of them and wasn’t giving an inch. So Marinette rolled her eyes (she was still very moody) and leaned around Adrien so she could get a good look at the monochromatic hero.

“I thank my lucky spots that we ran into you, Batman!” She said monotonously. “Me and Adrien are paw-sitively excited at this opportunity.”

Batman. Froze.

Not only were those two lines the very first lines ever spoken to him by two foreign heroes a few years ago (with a few key words changed to protect identities), but they had become their code phrase for whenever they made calls to one another outside of their costumes. All at once it seemed to hit him— the golden hair and bright green eyes on the boy, the blue-black hair and normally super-focused bluebell eyes on the girl that were currently sporting very uncharacteristic frustration. Their heights. Their builds. All of this info flowed through his mind and compared to the information stored in his memory, and it only took the span of two seconds for everything to click.

Suddenly Batman was at full attention, back straight instead of looming over them and eyebrows clearly raised high under his cowl.

He knew Chat Noir and Ladybug would never take a random vacation to Gotham. Ladybug herself had nearly waxed poetic about how much the city depressed her just from the pictures she saw online. If she had willingly come to visit, it was more than to just blow off some steam.

“Batcave?” He asked, earning a relieved look from Adrien and a moody silence from Marinette.

“Please,” Adrien agreed. “You can probably help us, actually.”

—*—*—*—*—*

Marinette leaned back in the metal debriefing chair, legs up on the table and looking for all the world as the picture of pure teenage rebellion and angst. Coincidentally, Red Hood was in the exact same position in the chair next to her.

Batman and all of his other bats and birds were in the cave with the two off-duty Parisian heroes. Everyone except Adrien and Marinette still had their masks on, since the two Parisians were still not privy to their identities. Yet.

To be fair, the bats hadn’t known the identities of the two miraculous users either before today.

“Cha Noir,” Batman started, only to get a head shake from the blond boy.

“Just call me Adrien. Chat’s out of the bag—“ he ignored the groans at the pun and soldiered on, “—so might as well use my real name.”

Batman nodded. “Adrien, then,” he amended. “Why are you and Ladybug really in Gotham?”

Adrien sighed. “I wasn’t lying, before. Marinette,” he gestured to his hero partner. “Just found out some distressing family news. Since HawkMoth is gone, she doesn’t need to repress her negative emotions anymore. But she also didn’t want to be around her parents while she processed everything. I told her to choose any other city— really, I begged— but she insisted on coming to Gotham.”

“The never ending cloud cover and constant rain seem thematic,” she finally spoke up, reaching into her big over-the-shoulder bag and pulling out a large envelope. She threw it to Batman, making the thin package slice through the air like a knife. To nobody’s surprise the seasoned hero easily caught the projectile between two fingers. He looked at the envelope and back to Marinette, silent questions floating in the air between them. Marinette decided to answer at her own pace.

“That’s what we found out. You see, one of my friends is a huge science nerd. A genius. And he wanted to compare DNA samples between us to see if there were any genetic components that determined a person’s suitability towards certain Miraculous or other magical artifacts over others. It was supposed to just be a fun side project that he didn’t expect any breakthroughs on. He mostly just wanted to satisfy his own curiosity. But instead of finding out if our DNA was linked to the miraculous, he found out that my parents are not biologically my parents.”

“Hence the whole just finding out that you’re a meta thing, right?” Nightwing spoke up, fully invested in the story. “Did they never say you were adopted before?”

“It’s not in the system,” she replied easily. “My parents have all the documentation to prove that I’m their biological child, except I’m not. When I confronted them about it, they caved and admitted that they had adopted me in secret and covered it up. Apparently a friend of theirs was involved in something illegal, and,” she waved at the envelope that Batman was now opening. “The details of what we were able to dig up are in there. The summary is this; their friend was part of a secret, illegal experimentation to create clones that could defeat the Justice League—“ the air seemed to get sucked out of the room as soon as those words left Marinette’s mouth. Everyone seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. “—a group called CADMUS. They made me, as apparently one of their early attempts. But I didn’t exhibit any of the powers they were looking for, or any meta traits at all, and my body refused to mature at the rate they wanted. They had no use for a seemingly normal human baby that they managed to clone, so they were preparing to kill me and start over. That’s when my parent’s friend stole me, not wanting to kill an infant, and begged my parents to take me in and pretend I was theirs. Low and behold, it turns out that my DNA just needed a very specific series of emotions to unlock it’s latent abilities.”

“Those emotions being..?” Red hood trailed off, earning a wolfish smile from Marinette.

“Intense anger, betrayal, and confused frustration closely followed by the desire to punch other people’s faces in.”

“That last one is just an assumption,” Adrien chimed in. “And maybe not accurate. But the first three, our scientist friend was able to confirm. The rapid experience of a lot of negative but action-oriented emotions released whatever had been holding back the powers in her DNA from expressing themselves,” he had switched to French so that he could explain everything exactly as Max had told it to them, but he knew all of them were fluent anyway so it was fine. They nodded along, processing the information.

The crinkling of paper drew everyone’s attention back to Batman, who had been flipping through the detailed break down of everything they had found about Marinette’s situation and how she was made by CADMUS.

“Uh,” Red Robin nervously spoke up. “What’s up, Batman?”

“Your genetic donors...” Batman breathed, getting a wink and finger guns from Marinette.

“Yup. Isn’t that just the most fucked up thing you’ve ever seen? They were clearly trying to make someone who could destroy the world.”

“That makes me nervous,” Nightwing admitted, getting up and going to get a look at the papers himself. “It can’t be that ba—“

When even Nightwing was left agape, everyone else who wasn’t in on it found themselves squirming.

“Just tell the rest of us, already!” Robin demanded after the silence stretched just a bit too long.

“The unknowing genetic donors that CADMUS used to make me,” Marinette spoke up, still with her legs up on the table. “Are a very mad-scientist’s-wet-dream combination of Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, and Wonder Woman.”

“We don’t even know why they added Bruce Wayne’s DNA,” Adrien admitted. “Although our scientist friend thinks it’s because of physique. His hypothesis is that, in order to support the genes of Wonder Woman, they had to add male genetics that could support the production of a very high muscle mass and would lean towards easy development of a very athletic body. Lex might be evil-scientist smart, but he’s a string bean. But if he added the DNA of another multi millionaire who just so happens to maintain a ridiculously fit body without putting any obvious work into it,” Adrien shrugged. “Then maybe the clone would be able to support Wonder Woman’s genetics and that of two human donors without falling apart.”

“So I’m ‘the clone’ now, huh?” Marinette snarked, earning an exasperated eye roll from her friend.

Batman just stared at the both of them for a moment. He walked away without a word, and came back with a fresh needle and a box. He placed it on the debriefing table.

“Can I do a paternity test myself?” He asked, his voice suspiciously less gruff than normal. “I trust the both of you, but I rather be safe than sorry with something like this.”

The both of them just stared at him in confusion. They traded a glance, and finally Marinette shrugged and moved to sit in her chair properly. Her shirt was already short sleeved, so she just held her arm out so Batman could easily get a blood sample.

“Sure, why not. But do you just have Lex Luthor or Bruce Wayne’s DNA sitting around to compare, or—“ she shut up when she watched Batman take off his glove and roll his own sleeve up. Realization slowly sunk in as he asked Nightwing to take a blood sample from him.

“Holy shit,” she breathed, eyes wide. “You’re— and Luthor doesn’t know— holy shit this is even worse than I thought,” Marinette rambled, not even noticing as Red Hood moved forward and took a small blood sample from her.

Adrien put a hand over his face and just laughed for a moment hysterically. “Oh my god,” he looked over at Marinette. “You could take over the world.”

“I have the blood of Batman AND Wonder Woman on MY side,” Marinette joked back, also hysterical.

When the bat’s high tech equipment was able to come back with a positive result only a few minutes later, Marinette and Adrien had to sit on the floor and just let it all sink in. Which Batman did not at all help by immediately unmasking himself and trying to make a proper introduction.

“I wanna go beat up random thugs again,” Marinette whined, pulling at her hair. “I’ll put on a mask, whatever, but just please let me punch people. I need to punch people right now.”

[thefanficmonster]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE . write something about mickey that's like fluff and make it that he wasn't ghostface or sumth :):)

Mickey Altieri my beloved!!!!!

You got it darling, be prepared for FLUFF!!

Finer Things

Mickey Altieri x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: Minor Spoilers for the first Scream movie (1996), Vaguely suggestive content, Swearing

Genre: Romance, Fluff

Summary: Mickey's attempts at wooing you are funny at worst. Effective at best.

Yo made yourself a list of rules even back in your senior year in high school. Rules specifically for college. You thought you'd need them to prove to your parents that you are eligible to be on your own on the opposite side of the country. That's right - you went all the way from the Big Apple that is New York to Ohio to study at your dream college. Why that one specifically? No real reason other than the need to get out of the familiar surrounding and be out of the reach of your parents' control. Plus, you were obsessed with filmmaking, so that checked out.

Now, back to those rules.

Some were just for show to show your parents how mature you'd become, others were outright for you and they mostly revolved around you doing well in your classes and staying focused on your studies while still being organized in your life outside school. Basically, you limited your week to a certain amount of hours you could spend with friends you'd make, you estimated the time you'd have for study and how much room that left you for a job to fasten your financial stability, etc.

It goes without say that with this tightknit and very packed schedule for each week ahead of you, there'd be no room for any romantic involvement with people.

However, upon arriving in Ohio, situating yourself in the dorms and meeting some people that were in the same class as you, you found that the rule you had placed was easier dictated than followed.

You've never been a romantic in the exact sense. Ok, you maybe are a romantic, but not a hopeless one, so you previously had no doubts that staying out of relationships would be a breeze. There's one factor you hadn't calculated though - the hindrance of Micky Altieri's charm.

“Morning, Y/N.“ 

As per usual, it’s 7 AM and your in the library typing away at your assigned computer with an hour to spare before your first class starts. Why Mickey is there every morning is beyond you cause he never seems to actually do anything except distract you from your work. Well, you might have an idea of his motive, but you don’t wanna make false assumptions, considering you don’t know him that well yet.

“Morning, Mickey.“ You shortly reply, flashing him a brief smile before turning back to look at your monitor. You have an improvised script to write for your midterm and yes, you are starting it at the beginning of the year cause you have a big idea in mind that can’t be written last minute or a week before you have to turn it in. The creative freedom the class was given by your professor was refreshing and allowed you to go all out. That’s just another reason you don’t need the element of Mickey in the equation.

And yet, you can’t bring yourself to tell him to either quiet down or leave you alone. Not when he’s smiling at you like that. And especially not when he sets down a cup of coffee he got you from the coffee machine in the lounge. 

“Thanks.“ You say gratefully, deciding you can take a small break to chat with the guy - something your rules clearly dictate is wrong. “How many classes do you have today?“

“Why?“ His smile turns into a cocky smirk, “Need me for something? Assistance of any kind?“

You roll your eyes but an involuntary chuckle still manages to escape you, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I wanna rob a bank...” You whisper the last part, the effect of it causing the boy to laugh.

“You’re asking the right person.“ He winks, almost getting you to blush. “Time and place?“ You roll your eyes again, but what you don’t know is how adorable he finds it when you do that. “Ok, ok, I have four classes. Five actually, but I’m skipping the last cause Mr. Lou is not worth my time.”

“Oh Cici is gonna be pleased when she doesn’t see you there.“ You smirk, this time getting an eye-roll out of him, flipping the tables.

“She’s complained to you?“ You nod, he sighs, “What can I say, my love language is annoying people, I guess.“

You don’t notice yourself leaning across the table, slightly leaning towards him, “So you must really love me, huh?”

He mirrors your body language, leaning closer to you. You notice his gaze flicking down to your lips but you aren’t sure if it was just your eyes playing tricks on you or if it was real. Regardless, his eyes are now back on yours. “You have no idea....”

“Break it up, you two! You’re grossing me out!“ 

Of course, if someone was gonna interrupt a moment like that, it has to be Randy. 

Once again, as you readjust your posture and resume your work, you fail to notice the silent exchange between the two friends, consisting of Mickey glaring daggers at Randy who’s making the worst kissy faces.

*  *  *  *  *

“Y/N, wait up!“

You’d typically pretend you heard nothing and keep your Walkman headphones in, but you recognize that voice, so you stop and turn to see Mickey, bag in hand, running towards you.

“Hey!“ You smile at him as he hits the breaks, taking a stand in front of you. “What’s got you in such a hurry?“

“You’re a fast walker.“ He replies, still breathless, “And I couldn’t just let you slip me by like that without saying ‘hi’.“

“If you’re gonna chase people, you should work on your stamina, Altieri.“ You tell him smugly, feeling proud of yourself at the sight of the smirk that appears on his reddened face.

“I will work on it, but still, I only plan on chasing you.“ He winks at you, earning himself a point to even the field between you two.

“No use chasing something you’ll never catch.“ You sass back, hoping to regain your composure after his line put your entire world out of balance.

“The chase is thrilling regardless.“

The thrill, that’s what it’s all about. The thrill of sensing his presence in the same room before you even see or hear him. The thrill of your eyes meeting his. The thrill your brain produces with its wild imagination, sometimes even too wild. That’s all the thrill you need.

*  *  *  *  *

“You aren’t drinking?“ The voice struggles to the thumping music, still managing to reach your ear though.

“Nope! I’m keeping an eye on Sidney and Hallie. Cici is also tired of being the sober sister so I need to drive her and those two home later. Maybe babysit them through the night too, who knows.“ You shrug, taking a sip of your virgin mojito.

Mickey leans against the wall next to you, “Oh Y/N, why are you letting all the fun pass you by? You’re in the prime age for bad decisions and reckless fun. Live a little.” He pushes off the wall a bit, bringing you both to a closer proximity to where he’s looking down at you due to the height difference and your poor posture at the moment, “Don’t you think it’s bout time you drop the goody-two-shoes lifestyle and...” his gaze sizes you up in a way that prickles your skin, leaving a fiery trace behind. “...enjoy the finer things in life?”

He’s on his way to score his second point, but there’s no way you’re about to let him - But first you need time to regain control of your body which automatically gravitates closer to his, like the pull of a strong magnet on metal.

Straightening up and smoothing out your shirt, you look him dead in the eyes as you speak, “You’re right, I really should.” You look briefly over your shoulder, your gaze fixating on the one of a guy who just happened to be looking in your direction. He smiles at you, tilting his cup in your direction which is about as enough an invitation as it gets. “Thanks for the encouragement, Mickey. You’re the best.”

And with that, you leave the poor guy baffled, frozen in his spot as you approach the handsome stranger with who you proceed to dance the whole night away. He was charming, funny, a good dancer and an even better kisser. But there was one problem - he wasn’t the one you envisioned kissing. He wasn’t the one you truly wanted to kiss.

You technically won that point, but at the cost of a really bittersweet realization.

*  *  *  *  *

Mickey would be lying if he said he wasn’t experiencing slight deja vu as he ran through the same routine as a couple of weeks ago.

He got up, showered, got dressed and was out the door even before Derek had woken up. At 7:05 sharp, he strutted his way into the library, finding you there, in the exact same position with the exact same look on your face - unshakeable focus.

Too bad cause he’s gonna shake it.

“Morning, Mickey.“

The greeting startles him slightly cause he thought you hadn’t noticed him walking in. 

“Morning, Y/N.“ He greets and sits down in the chair on the opposite end of the table.

You save your progress and grab the second cup of coffee - that’s thankfully still warm - offering it to Mickey.

To say he’s surprised would be an understatement of the century. He’s left speechless and he’s thankful you slid the cup across the desk instead of handing it to him since he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to lift his arm to take it.

“Thanks.“ He somehow finds his voice to express his gratitude and manages to smile at you as he takes a sip of the warm beverage, hoping it’ll calm him down. Taking a deep breath, he continues to follow his plan, “How many classes do you have today?“

Oh how the tables have turned.

“Why? Got a bank to rob or something?“ You smirk, tinkering with the pen on your side of the desk. He nods, so you continue, “Time and place?“

“The cafeteria, tonight at eight.“ He blurts out, leaving you slack-jawed for a few moments which are enough to make him think he’s been rejected.

Just as he turns his back to you to leave, mumbling apologies under his breath, you call out to him, breaking your rule in the process, “It’s a date, Altieri!”

Mickey wastes no time whirling around, that famous grin shining on his face, lighting up the entire room. “It’s a date, Y/L/N.”

He turns back around to walk away, probably to go somewhere where he can celebrate like a middle school boy in peace, but then...

“Hey! One more thing!“

He stops in his tracks and turns back around, “Yea-?”

He doesn’t get to finish saying the word before your lips are against his. He responds in no time, kissing you back like this is something he’s been longing for for a long time now which is probably true. And it’s true for you two, seeing as how you wish to never break the contact between your lips nor remove your hands from around his neck. His is around your waist and the other one is cupping your cheek, afraid to let you go, afraid he might wake up and find it all to be a cruel dream.

Regardless of your wishes, your lungs are running dangerously low on oxygen, causing you to pull away, leaning your foreheads against one another.

“You’re that finer thing in life, Mickey Altieri.“ You whisper to him, getting him to chuckle.

“See how much you’ve been missing out on?“ He replies, also in a whisper.

Your eyes glint mischievously when they meet his again. You take the hand that’s holding your cheek into yours, “What do you say we make up for lost time?“

He says nothing, instead guiding you by your joined hands to the back of the empty library.

This time, neither of you notice Sidney, Derek, Randy and Hallie looking in through the library windows, spying at you the entire time. I don’t know who’s luckier - them or you two - that there are no windows in the back.

[nebulablakemurphy]

Miss American Pie

Chapter Four: That Which You Love

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3

Summary: With the help of Tony Stark and what’s left of the avengers, the infinity stones are finally within reach. But at what cost?

Warning this series features a romantic Yelena Belova x Fem!Reader pairing.

Tony Stark. That’s who you talk to about time travel. The man has a bigger brain than any person you know. Which is probably why he said no. No to helping. No to trying. No to possibly losing what he has.

But it led you here. Outside of a hideous brown van with the Antguy, Captain America, Natasha and a huge green scientist. “Bruce is a scientist, right?” You whisper to Natasha, as she taps away at the tablet in her hands.

“Something like that.” She replies, not looking up from her work.

“Fire up the uh- the van thing.” Bruce says, standing a safe distance away, behind a panel of controls.

“Breakers are set, emergency generator is on standby.” Steve gives the go ahead, returning to his place beside you.

“Good.” Bruce nods, “if we blow the grid I don’t wanna lose tiny here in the nineteen fifties.”

“Excuse me?” Scott looks up from fiddling with his suit.

“He’s kidding.” Natasha laughs it off. “You can’t say things like that.”

“It was just a bad joke.” Bruce agrees.

“Was it?” You squint at him.

No answer.

“You we’re kidding, right?” Natasha follows up in a hushed tone.

“I don't know! We’re talking about time travel here. Either it’s all a joke or none of it is.“ Bruce turns his attention back to Scott. “We’re good.”

You give two thumbs up.

“Scott, I’m gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?”

“Perfectly not confusing.” Antman smiles, sliding his helmet into place.

“Good luck, Scott.” Steve bids him farewell. “You got this.”

“You’re right. I do, Captain America.” Scott salutes, before being sucked away into the swirling light at the back of the van.

“On the count of three. Three, two, one.” Bruce flips the switch and Scott’s back. Teenage Scott.

“Uh guys, something doesn’t feel right.” The boy voices, staring down at his hands.

“What? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is that Scott?”

“Yes it’s Scott!” The boy yells back.

“I’m gonna die alone.” You whisper under your breath. If this is your only shot of getting everyone back, it’s a fair assumption.

“Relax, you’ve still got the dog.” Nat bumps your shoulder with her own.

The light flashes again, “oh my back.” An old man sporting Lang’s suite appears.

“Bruce, what’s going on?” Steve demands.

“Can I get a little space here?” Bruce asks, clearly becoming concerned.

“Can you bring him back?”

“I’m trying.” The green man shakes the panel in front of him, causing a third version of Scott to join you.

“It’s a baby.” Steve crosses both arms over his chest.

“It’s Scott!” Bruce informs him.

“Can we keep him?” You just want to pinch those cheeks!

“As a baby!”

“He’ll grow.”

“Bring Scott back.” Steve belts out over the chaos.

“When I say kill the power, kill the power.” Bruce growls.

“Oh my god.” Natasha murmurs, heading for the breaker.

“Kill it.”

She does, pulling the switch down.

“Somebody peed my pants.” Scott determines, this time his normal age.

“Thank god.” Nat lays a hand over her heart.

“But I don’t know if it was baby me or old me.”

You arch a brow.

“Or just me, me.” He confesses.

You nod, sounds about right.

“Time travel!” Bruce replies, quite pleased with himself.

It’s not very promising. So Tony Stark agreeing to help with a fully functional time space gps gives you some hope. When there’s a will there’s a way.

“We’re gonna need the whole team.” Stark sighs.

“Aren’t you guys gonna like…assemble?” You wonder.

“How? With a bat symbol?” Stark snarks, tossing a hand into the air.

You shrug, “whatever it takes.”

“Have we met?”

“Mmm,” you hum, looking him up and down. “Don’t think so.”

“You look very familiar.” Tony presses a finger to his lips.

“They say everyone has a twin.” You offer, by way of explanation.

“Romanoff, where’d you find this one?” Iron man calls to Natasha at the far side of the room.

“She’s my sister’s!” She replies, without much thought.

“You a ballerina too?” He guesses.

“Something like that.” You purse your lips.

“Natasha! Y/N! My girls! I am here.” A new voice booms, echoing off the high ceiling.

“Oh Lord.” Natasha huffs, fighting back a grin.

“Alexei?” Your brows pull together.

“I brought dog.” He announces with pride. “To boost morale for the team.”

“And the suit is necessary?” Nat inquiries.

“Of course it is necessary, I am in the presence of avengers.” The Red Guardian slings an arm around you, pressing a light kiss to your hair. “Don’t worry, I brought your suits too.”

“You really shouldn’t have gone to the trouble-“

“I told you I was taking care of her Alexei, you don’t need to worry.” Natasha frowns at him.

“I am not worried.” He makes his way over to his daughter, tugging her into an embrace.

The red head pulls back to give him the side eye.

“Ok, I am worried.” Alexei confesses. “Natasha told me that you have been crying at night.”

“What!?”

“I’m not gonna lie to him.” She waves a hand. “He asked how you were doing and I said ‘she’s doing alright, but cries a lot at night.’”

“I cry a normal amount- she,” you point a finger at Natasha, “cries into sandwiches.”

“It’s therapeutic!” She argues.

“Ay, the bread will get soggy.” Alexei protests.

“Can we get back to work here before our canine assistant starts humping my leg?” Stark rolls his eyes at your exchange, so odd and yet so very domestic.

“Relax, she doesn’t want you.” You pat your thigh so that Fanny comes running. You kneel down, scratching behind her ears. “How’s my girl?” You smile as she begins licking your chin.

“Alright I will leave you,” Alexei says after a moment. “but I brought you one more thing.”He produces the vest. Her vest.

Your hand trembles as you reach for it, fingertips sliding over the once familiar material. You draw it into your arms, blinking back tears as you press it against your chest, “thank you.” Slipping your arms through the holes and zipping it closed over your aching heart. Holding you together.

——————————————————————-

Trying to piece together enough information about the infinity stones seems impossible.

Thor is up to bat first. But the extent of his knowledge seems to be a very depressing tale about his ex girlfriend Jane who…got one of the stones stuck inside her?

You shake your head to clear it.

“How’d I do?” The drunk man asks, stumbling back to his seat beside you.

“Really great,” you clap him on the back.

He grins at this, taking a swig of beer.

Nat is on the corner sofa, jotting everything down in a note pad. Red hair braided down the back of her head and secured with a rubber band near the tip of her grown out blonde.

Rocket is next. Making his speech from the table top. “Quill said he stole the power stone from Morag.”

“Is that a person,” Bruce asks, around a mouthful of the Chinese take out you ordered.

“Morag is a planet! Quill was a person.” The talking creature corrects him.

“A planet?” Scott perks up, “like in space?”

“Aww so cute, like a little puppy.” Rocket reached out to ruffle his hair. “Do you wanna go to space? I’ll take you to space, puppy.”

“Alright, next.” You move your hand in a circular motion.

“New girl’s bossy,” Rhodey snips.

“I’m not bossy.” You argue, “I just want to get this done.”

“Bossy,” Natasha smiles.

Nebula wastes no time coming forward to share her knowledge. “Thanos found the soul stone on Vormir.”

“What is Vormir?” Nat frowns down at her notes.

“Dominion of death. At the very center of celestial existence. It’s where Thanos murdered my sister.” She informs you, expression schooled to indifference.

Clint bows his head, resting it in his hands.

This is heavy shit.

“Not it,” Bruce declares.

On that note, everyone agrees to take ten. You’ve been at this for hours, brains overloaded with information. You exit the room first.

Stark follows out, “Y/N, do you have a minute?”

“Not really I need to get-“

“I need to show you something.” He stops you, with a hand to your shoulder.

“Yeah? Ok.” You move to the vacant room next door.

“I figured it out.” He states simply, his digital assistant in hand.

“What? The stones?” You ask, hopefully.

Tony swipes at the space in front of him, your face appearing on the digital image. You’re younger, your hair long and smile bright.

“This picture was on every lamppost, billboard and milk carton for years.”

“And?” You swallow hard.

“Friday, enhance digital image with ten years age progression.” He orders the computer. This time it is you, undeniably you.

You avert your eyes.

“Look, I understand the appeal of finding that little girl.” You point at the hologram. “The idea that even after all these years she could go home and be reunited with her family. I want that too.”

The man waits expectantly for you to continue.

“Only that girl doesn’t exist anymore.” You add, under your breath.

“But you’re here now. You are still here and if you were my daughter…” he chokes up for a moment before composing himself again. “If you were my daughter, I would do anything to see you again.”

“You still want to save her.” You can see it in his eyes. “But it’s too late.”

“I don’t believe that.” Because he is a hero.

And you’re not. “How much do you know…about ballerinas?”

“Not a whole lot, kid.” He admits.

“I was hand selected to pair with their best ballerina, but I had no experience. I was weak, they needed me strong. I received expedited training. I danced, day and night, until my feet were raw, for six months.

I was conditioned to dance with and for a partner I’d never met. She was better than me, in every sense of the word. I hated and loved her for it. She made me better. She made it make sense.

We performed together for many years, we were unstoppable. Until we decided to get out of the limelight and have a real life. But they wouldn’t let us go, so we destroyed the ballet company. My ledger is soaked in blood, dripping red.” You draw in a deep breath. “I can’t change that.”

“Then why are you here?” He shrugs a shoulder. “Why are you trying to fix things at your own expense?”

“I am here for one reason,” you remind yourself. “To get my partner back.”

“I don’t believe that either.”

“You will.” You brush past him. Now’s not the time to get distracted.

———————————————————————

“Hey,” Natasha’s voice pulls you from a dreamless sleep. “We did it.”

“You went without me?” You grumble, rubbing sleep from your eyes.

“No,” she shakes her head, “I meant we figured out the stones. How we’re going to get them.”

“Yeah?” You move into a sitting position.

She nods. “I’m gonna take Clint with me to Vormir. Get the soul stone. I need you with Thor and Rocket, the reality stone shouldn’t be too hard.”

“No, I’ll go with you.”

“No. I need you on Asgard. We only have one shot at this, we need that stone.”

“Doesn’t anyone else want dibs on the planet where Thanos killed his daughter?” You quip, finding no real humor in it.

“Yeah.” Natasha looks away. “The whole team’s chomping at the bit.”

“If anything happens to you-“

“Don’t worry about me.” She says. “We’re getting Yelena back. We’re getting everyone back.”

“Natasha-“

“Hey.” She cuts you off, covering your hand with her own. “We’re family. We take care of each other. Clint is family too. I trust him. Now I need you to trust me.”

“I do.” You reply, against your better judgement.

“Good. I brought your new suit.” She lies the red and white garment in your lap.

You trace the A on the upper left hand side of the chest plate. “I’m not an avenger.”

“Yes you are.” The redhead squeezes your hand once more before pulling away. “Put it on, meet me at the platform. I’ll save you a spot.”

———————————————————————

“Five years ago we lost. We lost friends, we lost family, we lost a part of ourselves. Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each, no mistakes. No do overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives, and we’re gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck.” Tony’s eyes meet yours across the grid.

You’re standing beside Nat, just like she promised, the spot is yours. Your heart threatens to beat out of your chest as the floor beneath you pulses to life. Preparing to send all of you off in different directions.

“See you in a minute.” Natasha smiles.

“See you.” You whisper back, before the mask comes from behind your suit; closing itself protectively around your face.

And then you’re gone.

———————————————————————

Less than five minutes on Asgard and Thor is having a break down. Rocket, who’s somehow lost even more then you, has put things into perspective for him. But emotions are tricky and the second you appear to make any headway, the god of thunder bolts in a different direction.

“Great, just great. There goes the plan.” Rocket tosses both hands up.

“No,” you disagree, “there goes that plan. Do you still have the pokey thing?”

“Yes.” He jerks his chin toward his pack.

“Then we’ll get the stone from Jane ourselves.”

“How?” He wonders.

“Haven’t decided yet. Come on.” You crunch down farther as you walk, hiding behind pillars.

“I’m sorry, what kind of experience do you have again?”

“Child assassin, turned spy, turned avenger. What’s your work history like?” You cock your head to the side.

“Slightly less interesting,” Rocket confesses, “let’s go.”

You retrieve the stone easily enough…if it weren’t for Jane’s bloodcurdling scream alerting the guards of your presence.

They chase you for a while, the raccoon scampering on all fours near your feet.

“I thought you said assassin!” He scolds you.

“Past tense!”

“Now seems like crap timing for a lifestyle change.”

“Hop on,” you hold a hand out to him.

“What are we doing?” Rocket shouts, climbing up onto your shoulder.

“We’re going to outrun them.”

And you do, not without difficulty. Finding Thor with his mother.

“We got the stone. We gotta get out of here, man.” Rocket interrupts, while you seal the doors behind you.

“Alright.” Thor agrees reluctantly, “but first.” He hold his hand toward the large window.

“What’s happening here? What are we watching?” Rocket puts a hand to his head.

“Sometimes it takes a minute.” Thor’s mother tells you.

“We don’t have a minute.”

“We have a minute,” you hush Rocket.

The large hammer shatters the window to your left, flying into Thor’s hand.

He laughs, staring in disbelief. “I’m still worthy.”

“We can celebrate at home.” You put a hand on his shoulder.

He nods, your suits coming back into place.

One moment you’re on Asgard, the next you’re gone.

Everyone returns.

“Did that really just work?” Rhodey smiles, you’ve never seen him smile.

Your eyes scan the group, for any obvious signs of damage. But there are none, until your gaze falls on the vacant spot between you and Barton.

You look around him, maybe they’d switched places. A lot could happen while falling through time. Right? Only no, she isn’t there. “Where is she?” You ask.

The man says nothing.

“Clint,” Bruce addresses him. “Where’s Nat?”

“I- she-“ He can’t quite get the words out.

“No.” You say, through gritted teeth.

“I’m sorry. I tried.”

“You promised!” You charge at him. “You promised me that you would keep her safe.”

“I tried!” His voice breaks. “It was supposed to be me… it should’ve been me, but she wouldn’t listen.”

“Why are we acting like she’s dead? We have the stones, as long as we have the stones we can bring her back. We’re the avengers, stop this shit.” Thor shouts.

“We can’t bring her back.”

“What?”

“It can’t be undone. It can’t be.” Clint mumbles.

Thor scoffs, his confidence giving you a tiny sliver of hope. “You are a simple, earthly man. This is advanced space magic we’re talking about here. Okay?”

“Look, I know I’m way outside my paygrade here but she’s still not here is she? That’s the point, isn’t it? It can’t be undone! Or at least that’s what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him. Maybe you should go grab your hammer and you go talk to him!” Clint snaps. Too many emotions bubbling too close to the surface. “It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bid her life on it.”

“She not coming back,” Bruce confirms. “We have to make it worth it. We have too.”

“We will.” Steve chimes in, his eyes locked on yours.

You nod, not trusting your own voice. This has to work. Otherwise you lost your sister for nothing.

——————————————————————-

The six infinity stones are carefully crafted into a new gauntlet. A glove that one of you will use to snap the missing half of humanity back to the planet.

After some discussion, you know it has to be Bruce. Even though Thor fights for the opportunity. Gamma radiation will pass and deplete the quickest through the hulk. It’ll kill anyone else.

“It’s like I was made for this,” Bruce drawls.

“Ok, remember,” Tony begins, “everyone who disappeared five years ago, we’re bringing them back. We’re not changing anything else from the past five years.”

“Got it.”

“Friday, do me a favor and activate barn door protocol will you?”

“Yes boss.” The computer system agrees.

The room darkens, before switching into artificial light, all windows and doors seal shut around you.

“Everybody comes home.” Bruce says, to no one in particular.

Once the glove is in place he struggles. Crying out and shaking with the force of it. And then he snaps, finally, impossibly and you’re blown backwards with the force of it.

Clint helps you to your feet, then kicks the glove away from Bruce’s radiation soaked hand.

“Did it work?” Bruce gasps.

“We don’t know yet but-“

“Guys,” you interrupt, breathlessly. Staring into the face of the woman you were beginning to think you’d never see again. “She’s here.”

“Who’s here?” Steve asks, looking up from where he kneels beside Banner.

“I’m sorry,” Natasha apologizes, brows furrowed. Drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “Do I know you?”

Your face falls. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Coming back from the dead isn’t a walk in the park, ok? Give her a minute to reacclimate.” Tony encourages, hoping it is just that.

Your phone hums to life in your back pocket, hands trembling as you answer without a moments hesitation. “Yelena?”

She lets out a stream of curses in her native tongue. “Thank god. Where are you? Alexei is trying to fill me in but I need to see you.”

“I’m with Natasha and the avengers I- it’s a long story but everything’s gonna be ok now.” You choke on the words, now sure if they’re true. “I’ll be home as soon as I can, I promise.”

Boom.

Crash.

Bang.

The tower collapses down on you. So much for promises.

Yelena’s POV of the tower collapse

Part 5

Series taglist: @jeyramarie @freeshavocadoooo @ilovewinter101 @3and30aresoultwins @yelenabelovv