#in this scene kal is wondering if he was right to take a leave to join the normandy

[edains]

MELE2: Kal'Reegar Romance Scene

Alternate Beard Mod for Custom Male Shep

Children of Rannoch - A Quarian Overhaul (LE2)

Halcyon Hairpack (LE2)

Turtlenecks for Male Shepard (LE2)

Same-Gender Romances for LE2

Primitives - A Facial Appearance Overhaul

[lgbtimelords]

a fanfic i'll never write, part 2:

scenes from the future and feelings from the past

Behind knowing everything ends up okay and that one should always be hopeful, there's something else Kara knows wholeheartedly: people always leave, eventually.

People leave like her grandfather did. One day he was telling her how excited he was to see her join the science guild and the next her parents were telling her he would not be making it to the ceremony.

People leave like her parents did. Or maybe she left. Still. Someone leaves. And she ends up alone again. And then came back, again. And leave, again.

Jeremiah left. Cat left. Mon-El left. Winn left. James left. Kenny left. Lucy left. Kal never showed up to begin with. They’re all a small missing piece inside her heart she had to take away so it’d stop hurting, leaving an empty void instead.

She hates the loneliness. Hates it more than darkness and villains and kale on her food. And yet, the feeling of being alone is the one thing that never seems to leave her.

Alex’s and Kelly’s car flies away. Up and away in their happily ever after. It brings tears to her eyes again and it warms her heart, that her sister got it all- everything she wanted, everything she deserves.

It all ends rather suddenly after that. The guests start to leave one by one- Kara doesn’t even know over half of them. Winn leaves, too- something about his wife and daughter and some weird movie franchise. Brainy and Nia leave together, rushed and with a tint of red already covering their cheeks.

“Are you coming with us, auntie Kara?” Esme says, two little arms circling her waist as bright eyes look up at her.

She smiles at the girl, throws a look to Eliza- receiving an understanding nod to her silent question.

“Sorry, bud. I have a thing,” she says, running her fingers through Esme’s hair, “but you’ll have so much fun with grandma.”

And so, Esme and Eliza leave, just for today- she wonders how long it’ll be before it’s permanent.

The waiters take everything down. The tables, the flowers, the chairs. They clean up every glass and every fork. They pick up every dirty napkin and mop spilled drinks from the dancefloor. All while Kara watches from the side, sitting below a tree in the corner of the property- light blue dress already filled with dirt.

“Hey, you,” a soft voice she knows so well calls out, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Lena wastes no time before sitting down beside Kara. Her knees, still cladded in her sinful and gorgeous purple bodysuit, bump against Kara’s playfully. The action brings a small smile to her face. Knowing how much they’ve grown, how they went back to the playful and subtle touches again, the ones Kara had missed so so so much.

And somehow, something in the back of her mind, as she watches Lena’s knee move from side to side, always touching Kara’s when it moves to the left, tells her that Lena has already left, once, but Lena has always been the only one to ever come back.

“I’m tired,” she ends up confessing, even though perhaps they had already used up their emotional conversations quota of the day.

“Then let’s go home,” Lena whispers, care and warmness wrapping around Kara like a soft blanket. “I can make you some hot chocolate.”

“I mean… I’m tired of… everything. Everyone leaving”

Worry takes over Lena’s features. Kara has to look away in case it turns to pity, she doesn’t think she can deal with pity right now. “Alex isn’t gone,” she says, her hand taking Kara’s, “You know this.”

“I know. I know.” A tear rolls down her cheek anyway, “But she’s… Nevermind.”

“Hey, no, tell me,” Lena’s hand pulls, urging Kara to look into her eyes.

“It’s selfish,” she whispers.

“I don’t care,” Lena says back, “I won’t judge.”

“She’s no longer only mine,” she confesses, bites her lip in shame but she doesn’t find confusion in Lena's eyes, she doesn’t laugh at Kara’s words, she doesn’t tell her how selfish and ridiculous she’s being. She smiles sadly and squeezes her hand, asking her to keep going. “She’s no longer only my sister. She’s a wife. And a mom. And I love that, I do. But I’ve lost so much and now Alex can’t be my rock anymore, because if I drown Alex then I drown Kelly and Esme down with me, too. I can’t do that to her.”

“Just because Alex has new people to take care of, care for,” Lena says, “doesn’t mean she’ll stop taking care of you.”

“But I want her to stop taking care of me,” she exclaims, “I’ve held Alex back for so many years, Lena. So many. And I can’t be selfish enough to expect her to be there for me when she’s got so much good in her life now.”

“You are not a burden, Kara.”

“I know I’m not,” she sighs. “I know that if I ask for help, Alex will come running. But I don’t want to do that to her anymore. It’s just… It used to be us against the world. Alex was the first person I ever had since coming here. And I was the first person Alex ever truly confided in. And now that part of her has a new life, I realized… I don’t have anything that’s truly mine, now.”

She throws her head back against the tree. She wishes it could be full strength. Yet knows, full strength will break the tree in half. She plays with the ends of Lena’s fingers, tries to ground herself after letting out so many feelings.

“I understand what you mean by that,” Lena says softly. “I’ve never really had someone that’s truly mine either.”

[everywaythatmatters]

I’m about 2/3 of the way through WaT and I’m stuck at work without my book so. Rambling stream of consciousness bullet point thoughts and theories below the cut lmao

Chana has to be shallan’s mom, I’m so excited that theory is turning out to be true (I mean. I’m assuming. Based on everything) bc it makes so much sense. Poor shallan though oh my god. There was that one death rattle about an evil twin that I feel like has to be about her too

Renarin and rlain are so cute I adore them. Shallan squealing with delight when renarin finally confessed his feelings was wonderful lmao me too girl

Adolin bonding with his plate spren is so 🥹 I love this guy so much. Him losing his leg is so rough but maybe that means he won’t die?? Is that delusional?? Either way I kinda hope that’s permanent, branderson stop healing all your disabled characters challenge

Ash and taln died?? Did not see that coming, okay so they go back to braize now I guess. That was an awesome scene though - we haven’t gotten to see any of the heralds besides nale be the skilled immortal fighters they are, and DAMN. And the wind told kal that the heralds’ connections would be important, and those are the only two with pov books later, so my guess is that all the others will lose herald status by the end of the book. Maybe them too but they’re gonna live and all of the others could possibly die after getting removed from the oathpact (?). And they’ll be spared bc they weren’t on roshar… idk I’m spitballing here

Kal is apparently gonna be a champion for the spren but I have no clue what that means. I feel like something bad might happen to the spren at the end of this book (wasn’t that foreshadowed in sunlit man? Can’t remember). We haven’t gone back to ishar’s fucked up spren experiments yet so that’s probably involved. Syl I love you please be okay at the end of this book

Kal’s so much happier this book :)))

Szeth being the first patient in kal’s therapy sessions is wonderful. His highspren too I love this

Gav keeps hearing a voice that imo is definitely not elhokar. Maybe he could still end up being odiums champion? I just like that theory. Odium hasn’t been thinking about the actual contest or his champion at all which is weird, so it would make sense if there’s some kind of reveal like that later.

The stormfather is up to no good but I don’t quite understand how yet. He was keeping quiet the fact that Honor caused the recreance. WAIT what if the stormfather killed honor holy shit

What exactly is mraize’s plan? I guess just to have control over BAM, but to what end? I wonder if he and shallan will come to an understanding

Moash is ah. Still pretty evil. Holding out hope for a final act redemption arc (or at least for the narrative to stop treating him like his hatred for the system and outrage at his injustice is inherently bad). Rip to leyten though

Still don’t know what’s up with venli’s plotline but I love it!!! The chasmfiends being their allies now is amazing. Still dying to learn more about the fourth moon. And the well of Control thing too. Dawnshard? I feel like another shard from the past doesn’t really make sense for a couple reasons. Maybe there was a fourth old god (Wind, Night, Stone, another one (Rain? Water? Crabs? Idk man)), which is why the chasmfiend sing four notes. I’m assuming the moon had to have fallen before humans got to roshar

Wait wait wait what if there is a dawnshard at the shattered plains and that’s the one that sig takes up!! If that death rattle was right then moash will kill him but maybe he gets brought back by the dawnshard somehow

Back to the stormfather killed honor theory. Ok so. The stormfather wanted a bondsmith specifically (choosing gavilar and then dalinar) so that someone could challenge odium. But why? Does he want to lose intentionally so odium leaves roshar? Does he want to kill odium (how?)? I’m definitely still missing some info

The stormfather also worked against kal a few times (not wanting syl to stay with him in wor, not saving him in row). We know he’s been plotting so that feels very intentional in hindsight

Gonna stop there lmao. So close to getting to go home and read more :)

[waterfire1848]

How’s it going @waterfire1848 ?

So I’ve got two things for you today, a question and a prompt/idea

I saw your post before about the new archer Azula in the recent trailer. A (potential) Yu-yan archer Azula is an interesting concept. And I’m all for her being a prodigy in not only Firebending, warfare, and intellect, but also in archery.

The only issue I have come s from a post I saw from someone else. Who stated that their sibling suggested that the new show may make Azula a non-bender. Taking away her blue fire and lightning, and giving Azula archery to replace it. I very much hope that is not the case. Do you think there is a chance Netflix may do so?

Follow up question: Have you ever seen the movie Narnia, or read of the books? Well in the first Film the Faun Tumnus is able to crate shapes and creatures from the flames of a campfire. He could make animals and peopleand have them dance just by playing his reed pipe.

What if then, Firebenders of extraordinary caliber (Ozai, Iroh, comics level or pre mental turmoil Azula, and maybe Jeong-Jeong) could develop a “Fire creation” bending ability.

The bending technique could be the ability to crate something out of Fire. Like animals to fight one’s enemies for example. Non these creations would have a will of their own. Since they are merely the firefly manifestations of a benders will.

And now I just got a scene in my head, where in the crystal catacombs when Azula if fighting Aang and Katara, she just someone some fire and makes a massive blue Fire dragon. Which aids her in the fight against two master benders. And let’s be honest against Katara and Aang, a created Fire creation would help keep them at bay. Till either Aang and Katara are defeated. Or Katara seduces Azula into joking the good guys. Whichever happens first really.

To bring this back to archery. Could you imagine rather than carrying a bow herself, Azula could just form one out of fire on the go. Along with the arrows.

————————————————————————

As for the prompt/idea, From your blog I think you’re a fan of DC right? I had a thought of a potential Avatar idea regarding it.

See when Jor-El found that Krypton was was going to be destroyed he quickly devised a plan that could get both of his children Kal-El and his twin sister Zulria Vaz-El. Accompanied by their older cousin Kara Zoe-El.

Both newborns were given ships to take them to earth. Joe-El conciouness was copied onto Karl’s ship, while Lara-El the children’s mothers consciousness was copied onto Zulria’s ship.

However, when the children of House El leave the dying planet, Zulria’s ship is hit by flouting debris. Which messes with the navigation controls. Kal-El and Kara Zor-El continue to Eath unimpeded (for the most part). But Zulria Vaz-El went to different planet altogether. Far and away from the remnants of her birth family.

Zulria Vaz-El’s ship crash lands on Ember island. Near the vacationing home of the Royal family. The princess Ursa was at the home. Along with her two year old son, and house servants. Ursa hears a crash sound and went to investigate. She held baby Zuko in her arms as she did.

Ursa found the oldest Metal contraption that she had ever seen before. What’s stranger, a baby was crawling around next to it. Ursa went over to the babe and laid Zuko down into the sand. “How did this child get here” she wondered.

Yet she wasn’t paying attention to Zuko, who crawled on his own the mysterious child and ship. It was calling out to him. Compelling the child to do something… child Zuko reached out his hands and touched the base of the ship. A part that glowing with an odd fluorescent light.

Zuko touched the light with one hand, and Azula’s forehead with the other. Suddenly, a bright flash of light blianded everyone in the near facility. Sending Ursa, Zuko, and Zulria unconscious.

The light began to concentrate on the baby Zulria. Taking in Zuko’s genetic make up. Assimilating and accepting Ozai and Ursa’s (Zuko’s parents) genes. Effectively giving little Zulria IV biological parents split among genetic makeup (due to crazy Kryptonian science). Those of course being Joe-El, Lara-El, Ozai, and Ursa.

An intermixing of Kryptonian and (Firebender) human DNA.

Lara-El had theorized about this exact situation (of her daughter being lost in a hostile land away from family) and developed a genetic device that would allow her daughter to take in some of the genetic material of individuals the ship considers to be worthy. While also retaining her Kryptonian genetic structure.

Zuko was considered to be one of those worthy individuals by the Lana conciouness copy in the ship. However, due to his young age they took the genetic structure of his parents rather than just him. Effectively making little Zulria his younger sister.

As for Zulria, the ship began to change the outward appearance of the girl. She assimilates the appearance of her new human pair of parents (Ursa and Ozai). Later becoming that Azula we all know and love Later on. Azula/Zulria would later (re)gain the ability to “shift” between her human and Kryptonian appearances.

The ship also changed the memories of Ursa and all of the servants in the incident. Ursa was led to believe that her new child was a miracle birth that the doctors belived to be miscarried. Instead here was Azula alive and well. The ship created forged memories of a a child and a fake miscarriage.

The powers of the ship, would even alter the mindof Ozai into always believing he had a second child. Azulon wouldn’t care about this hidden child, and Iroh would be to preoccupied with war.

So Azula grows up as both a Fire bender and a Princess of the Fire Nation. Her Kryptonian powers (invulnerability, flight, super strength, etc,) would manifest later in her childhood. Though Azulawould do her best to keep those abilities secret. Preventing even her “father” Ozai from learning.

So Azula has her (rather extraordinary) bending abilities from canon, combined with those of supergirl.

Which makes the latter months of the Hundred Years’ War… interesting to say the least.

Of course the war is put on hold when general Zod and his Cohorts arrive at the world of Avatar (rather than Earth) and so the dangerous ladies and the Gaang of forced to join together to combat this extraterrestrial threat. This temporary alliance also allows Azula and Katara to give into their attraction for one another and start a relationship. You know me, I’ve got to add in Azutara somewhere!

So what do you think about the scenario?

@745voiceofthepeople Two things. One, it's going well. Thank you. Two, I am so sorry this took so long to answer.

For part one of the ask, I don't think they'll make Azula a non bender. I very much doubt that they'll go down this route because firebending is such a big part of Azula's character. If she's suddenly made into a non bender then a lot of vital parts of her and Zuko's story will be altered greatly. Neither do I think they're using a bow and arrow because the lightning effect is expensive. I genuinely think that they show her with a bow and arrow for two reasons. One, they don't want to give a lot away because she has been confirmed to have a bigger role in the first season. That big role is new, even to original fans, so they're trying to keep it under wraps. Two, it's Azula. The girl probably knows how to use weapons in the show but we never see because she prefers her fire and lightning. Also I wouldn't be surprised if Azula was trained in weapons so that she wouldn't be so reliant on her bending.

I did see Narnia but like years and years ago. Though I do think that having firebenders have the ability to semi create objects out of fire would be so cool and if they could, Azula is definitely making fire dragons.

I'm putting the second part down here so it doesn't get too long

I am a big DC fan. Though mainly Batfamily stuff but I like a good Superman AU as much as the next person.

Honestly I never thought of Alien!Azula before but now I love it so much! Kryptonians, as we see, have human appearances so I can see Azula passing as a human, especially if she has Ursa and Ozai's DNA and people seem to remember her as Princess Azula.

"Later becoming that Azula we all know and love Later on. Azula/Zulria would later (re)gain the ability to “shift” between her human and Kryptonian appearances." As previously said, Kryptonians look human. That being said, I think the idea of Azula having a more alien like form would be so cool and fits in so well to her whole "I'm a monster" mentality. Not only does she know she's not totally human by appearance, but she can also fly, shoot lasers, is invulnerable, has super strength, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if, for a good part of her life, Azula thought she was half spirit and not an alien. Still, if Azula is keeping these abilities secret that means she has to train herself all alone. No one is around to teach her how to not activate her laser eyes when she gets mad, accidentally hurt her brother, friends or parents with her strength when she gets too excited, or what any of this even means. She's completely alone.

Ngl I know very little about Zod beyond the fact that he was trapped in the Phantom Zone and is an enemy of Superman, but I would be curious about what an interaction between that world and ATLA would look like.

Also, Azula is definitely catching Katara at some point in this encounter and flying around with her. Azutara needs to survive in this AU!

[bethdutten]

I loved your Henry drabble with a light sensitive reader 😍😍😍

I’ve always imagined ruining into Henry and Kal with my own dog. Kind of like that scene in 101 Dalmatians

❤️❤️❤️❤️

This was the first time you’d been to this dog park, but it seemed pretty quiet and there weren’t many other dogs around. Your dog, a big german shepard rescue named Ivana you’ve had for about two years now, waited patiently for you to unhook her leash before she took off in the direction of a scent that intrigued her.

You sighed, walking along the path and groaning when you recognized your dog’s bark— she wasn’t aggressive, but quite protective.

Walking quickly towards the noise, you noticed a man with a very large, very fluffy dog who was barking back at your dog.

“Shit, I’m sorry! She’s harmless, I swear,” you apologized, reaching down and clipping the leash back on her collar.

The man just chuckled, leashing his own dog. “No worries, I think Kal can handle himself.”

You smiled, looking up at giving him a smile. You’d run into owners who completely lost it in you before, and you were trying to get better at training her. “She normally doesn’t even bark, honestly.”

“She must just like him,” the man answered with a wink, before leading his dog back onto the trail. You watched them leave, unable to stop yourself from wondering if this gorgeous man with a gorgeous dog that could handle your own dog’s energy was single. Did you recognize him from somewhere? He looked familiar…

A week later, you took your dog to the same park. It was a nice day, and you decided to take a book with you. After letting Ivana run around off leash a bit, you clipped her back up and found a bench with a bit of shade from a tree, settling in with your book.

A breeze blew through your pages, and you heard a bark in the distance. Looking up, you noticed the man from the last trip to the park with his dog, sitting on a bench on the other side of the pond. His dog’s tail was wagging, letting out another bark that caused your own dog to bark back.

You grimaced, tugging on her leash slightly. “No, baby. Shh.”

Henry was scrolling through his phone when Kal barked, his tail wagging at he stared across the pond at something. It was the woman from last week— the beautiful one with the german shepard who took a liking to Kal.

He smiled slightly when Kal barked again, shaking his head. “See something you like, boy?”

The woman’s dog barked back, and Henry let out a sigh. “Okay, let’s not bother them. Come on, time to go home.

You watched the man get up and pull his dog’s leash as he made his way further into the park, and you flipped the page on your book.

You suddenly felt a sharp tug on your dog’s leash, yanking it our of your hand and suddenly she was off— running full speed towards the man and his dog, cutting through the trees to bypass the pond.

“Fuck— no! Get back here!” you shouted, book forgotten as you got on your feet and took off in the direction you’d seen her go.

Henry heard a woman’s voice, and turned with a frown, letting out a laugh when he recognized that dog coming straight for Kal. Looks like the feelings were mutual.

Right behind her was the woman, yelling bloody murder to no avail. Henry waved at her, letting her know he’d grab her dog as soon as he got the chance. The german shepard gave a bark and got up to Kal, giving him the opportunity to grab the leash trailing behind her.

But she tried to dodge him, and it caused him to drop Kal’s leash— normally he stuck pretty close, but he chose this moment to dart towards the woman now coming towards them.

You let out a sigh of relief as the man grabbed Ivana’s leash, and were only a few yards away when the man’s dog started heading towards you. You grinned, returning the favor by grabbing his lead and bringing him back.

“Sorry again, I think I got—“

“No, no, she’s fine—“

You were cut off when the large dog in your hold decided to circle around your legs and tangle behind his owner, while your own dog darted between the man’s legs and intertwined the leashes.

“Oh!”

“Fuck, sorry!”

Henry tried to brace himself from falling by grabbing into your arms, keeping you upright when he saw you start to falter yourself. But the dogs just seemed to tighten their hold, circling once more and pulling the two even closer together.

Before he could stop it, he was tumbling down into the ground with you in his arms, twisting at the last minute to make sure you avoided the brunt of the fall.

Both dogs let out a bark, and Henry groaned as he hit the ground, an apology on his lips before he noticed you laughing.

The situation he found himself in fully hit him, and he joined in with you, laughing so hard there were tears coming down by the time he could catch his breath.

“Are you okay?” he managed to get out, untangling yourselves enough to get you in a seated position.

You nodded with a chuckle, wiping at your eyes as you dusted yourself off. “I’m fine. Jesus, I did not tell her to do that.”

Henry raised an eyebrow with a smirk, glancing over at Kal. “You think they conspired together?”

“Probably,” you grinned, finally getting your dog’s leash free.

Henry got up and held out his hand to help you up, keeping his grasp on you for a moment longer than necessary. You blushed slightly, and Henry smiled.

“Maybe we should thank them, then. I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to ask for your number.”

[itstheimpossibledream]

It’s Only A Play -Part 3

Word Count:3244

Pairing : AU Henry Cavill x FemBlack!Reader

Summary: We love a good slow burn. SMUT

The bag crackled in his large hands. You found yourself wondering why he even bothered delicately tearing the wrapping, when he could easily smash both the wrapper and cookie open in one fist. The fortune seemed so small in his hands.He held the paper back a bit further than you would have expected and you realized he was probably one of those people who needed glasses but refused to get them.He cleared his throat again."It says 'The art of living is taking the biggest chance.'"

"In bed." you said quickly

"What?!" his eyebrows flew up in shock but,he laughed to keep from appearing to hopeful.

"It's an American thing. You read a fortune cookie and at the end you add in bed. It makes every fortune cookie funnier, I promise."you said not breaking eye contact. He threw his head back and laughed even harder. It was a childish trick but, something about it tickled him so much he hardly noticed when his hat fell off of his head and onto Kal who had been peacefully sleeping in the slice of floor behind Henry's chair. His baritone chuckles echo through the apartment and you’re amazed that neighbors didn't even cross his mind as a concern in this place.Realistically he probably wasn’t even home enough to get a noise complaint. His laughing had lessened and you could feel him watching you. You knew people who had embarrassingly nice apartments but, nothing like this. This was just lavishly ridiculous.

"It gets lonely being here alone." He said evenly,reading your mind. "Family doesn't visit much and keeping friends with a schedule like mine is just..."

"Not easy ." you finished for him.You could feel his eyes boring into you carving out a space in your heart for him and you try to will yourself to stop. You both sat comfortable on the silence for a while, momentarily mutually mourning the lifestyle you lost to live your dream.

"Okay read yours!" Henry gestured to you cookie. You smashed it to bits,gingerly pulling out the paper fortune. You sat up tall clearing your throat trying to figure out if this fortune would be equally funny or if your childish trick had run it's course.

"You Are very talented in many ways in bed." You say bursting out laughing as he doubled over again.

"Come on! How come I couldn't have gotten that one" he jokes shrugging his shoulders.

" Just wasn't your fortune."you tease winking at him and getting up from the table.Okay so you were flirting with him,definitely flirting with him. But a highschool showmance was so unlike you. You knew the golden rule was to never go for your co-stars and yet here you were winking and shit. Maybe he'd ignore it , he really knew nothing about you outside of your work.

"So what made you like this story? When you got the script when did know you had to do it ?" He had moved from the table, his eyes shown brightly as he recovered his hat from the floor on his way. At the end of dinner you assumed it would be normal to grab your jacket and go back to your room.It's not like he had really planned for you to be over, and you weren't even friends so staying up this late with him to gossip wasn’t exactly in the cards. You had already learned so much more about him than you had expected to. He expertly moved to the kitchen,uncorked a bottle of wine he had chilling in the refrigerator and returned to the couch handing one of the glasses to you. So, now you were staying, I mean it’d be rude to turn down wine.

"Uhhhhh- well I think the relationship is relatable, it's real. It's not about these two perfect people but, it's about this perfect love they have... ya know?" You whirl yourself onto the seat on the couch next to him."To imagine what they were going through as a couple I mean- it must have made everything harder, these characters are from completely different worlds and they still choose each other in their own way. " He nods next to you , this was new. Geeking out with him about work wasn't what you expected but, you were actually enjoying it.

"So let me ask you something?"he pushes leaning in , He wrings his hands together and you’re distracted by the veiny passageways that mark down from his forearms."When do you think it would actually be necessary for them to have a sex scene?"he asks timidly.

"Right!" you exclaim! "I love Stephen but the way he directs it makes it feel so clunky !"you emphasize with your hands and he chuckles saying "Okay I'm so glad you noticed it too- like who has sex like this robots?"

"You know his partners have to be weird." you laugh , noticing how pointy his canines are. God, he looks like one of those twilight vampires, his stupid skin probably did shine in actual sunlight Not that New York would get any though,you acknowledge while making a mental note , not to drink to much of the wine that was clearly causing you to get distracted. You finish your glass and set it on the coffee table.

"Yeah I don't know i just think it's an unconventional love story and we need more of those." you smile , sheepishly meeting his eyes , going back to the topic of the show. His lower lip juts up as he nods,in agreement.

"Soooooo what's next?"you pop up, moving to his kitchen opening random cabinets, trying to find his liquor stash. You come across the empty bottle, of what must have been the wine you just drank and turn to him in the living room with a fake pout. It wasn’t that you were bored, or even that you didn’t want to spend time with him sober ;as much as it was that you desperately needed to cling to the idea that he wasn’t a good man for you.

"O. you can smoke out on the terrace if you want, and I don't have any more drinks here but,I can call down to the frontdesk to run and get you something.” Your eyes rolled so hard they almost fell out of your head.

"Of Course you have a front desk."you chortled to yourself.

"Hey, this is the flat the show is paying to keep me in not my own." he pointed at you in mock sternness

"No I'm okay. I don't smoke and drink all the time " you chided at him,he probably didn't really think that. He was just trying to drum up some conversation.

"and here I thought you were a real New Yorker." he jokes breaking into a toothy grin.

" I'm from a very small town-" you divulged with a sigh"definitely not New York.”

"Yeah- there's not many people from where I grew up around here either." he said plainly , moving to take off his rehearsal sneakers, for what was probably the first time since you had gotten to his place.

"You miss it a lot huh?" you ask

"I mean I go back often but, it's just much nicer to not have camera's up your ass all the time."he huffs, moving to the second set of laces.

"Ahh that good old Hollywood fame." you joke, with a sigh. He just smiles at you, beaming embarrassingly knowing he can never seem to say the right thing around you. For some reason busting his balls was somehow so much better than admitting to a feeling that you were becoming increasingly aware of,you wanted him.

"I'm not like a smoker smoker" you say, slicing through the silence "I picked it up from my ex and it just kinda stuck." you admit with a flippant gesture of your hand." But, only when I'm nervous or something."you felt the need to clarify.

"And why would you be nervous?"He smirked, pushing his shoes under the decoratively simplistic coffee table across from him and sliding down the front of the couch to sit on the floor. His thighs seemed abnormally large as he spread his legs out and started stretching. This time it was your turn to look away from him.You peeled your eyes,just as quick as he had before your shower. The confidence that radiated from him was absolutely maddening. You couldn't understand how any man could be so aware of their looks and yet still come off as slightly shy.

"I'm always nervous the first days of rehearsal.The new schedule, the new people, it's all just overwhelming at times." you divulged honestly. He pulled a knee into his chest heaving a sigh as you continued. "I wish I never started smoking though." you circled back.

"Do you wish you never met him too?"Henry asked, inquisitively peering up from under his hat as he switched knees. You exhaled slowly,fighting for the right way to answer that question.

"Sometimes yes" you nodded. "When I first moved to New York it was really tough, I felt really lonely too." you allowed your voice to trail into a whisper. There is a silence and then you can feel his eyes on you, your cheeks burning red-hot and the more you avoid looking at him the stronger the urge is.

"So that's why you're single." it was brutal but, you weren't upset.Long ago you had come to a similar realization about yourself. Plus, european’s had a way of sounding rude while simply stating facts, it’s part of what makes them so trendy.

"You've allowed life to make you become tough and jaded so you just don't date?Is that it?" he perked an eyebrow in your direction while removing his baseball cap.While you took no offense to his comment, that didn't stop you from hating it.

"Why do you care?" you asked immediately, choosing the defensive instead of going deeper and chasing him down the rabbit hole of honesty.

"See what is that?" he questioned.It was clear he was not going to be letting this go anytime soon.

"I'm trying to do the assignment. I'm trying to get to know you and you push me away."

"Don't be ridiculous."you roll your eyes toward him once again."I'm not pushing you away I just have boundaries and things I don’t want to discuss with you."

You push up from the couch and head in the direction of your room. It was not within his right to pry about your personal relationships,and truly there was nothing more to discuss. Plus, you knew if you stayed close to him a moment longer, you would give into his eyes and the beautiful vanes bulging in his large hand.

"Why?" he asked jumping to his feet,his agility momentarily shocking you as you turn to leave.

"Because I don't want to ! Because you're not-"

"Not what?" he pushes" I've been working around you and this thing between us and I don't why you can be blunt about everything else except this !" He got dangerously close to raising his voice and it stirred the butterflies in your stomach. Something about him being so stern with you set your sex drive ablaze. You could feel yourself biting down hard on your bottom lip and the more you refused to break eye contact with him the more fired up you became. You could see the honesty behind his eyes, he was trying with you, he was proving himself every step of the way and you hated how much you loved it.

"Fine. What is it? What's the THIS?" you ask sarcastically, staring directly at him. His face looked blank and you wondered for a moment if you had asked the right thing. He grabs your hand,falling back onto the couch and pulling you onto the couch on top of him.You quickly realize you are able to put yourself in a position where you can straddle him as he grabs your face, pulling you down to kiss him. You kiss him back slowly , taking time to explore with your tongue. You can feel his hand tangled in your hair at the back of your head and it does something wild to you. You grind down into him and you hear a slight moan escape his mouth.

You bite down suddenly on his bottom lip before coming up for air and he simply can't take it anymore. He wraps his arms around your legs and lifts you up by the bottom of your thighs, carrying you into the bedroom. You feel ridiculously delicate in his arms as he carries you. You break from the kiss momentarily, to make sure your head is ducking all the way under the doorframe as he holds you,smiling into your kiss.

You pull your own shirt off, letting it hit the floor with a loud 'thwack'. The noise momentarily wakes you out of your horny haze. As he lays you on the bed,you bring your forearm up to cover your eyes, in the vaguest attempt of shielding yourself from your own embarrassment. He pulls your pants off and while unsure ,you don't protest as he gingerly splays your legs open for him to see the wetness that had pooled in your underwear.

"O you're so wet for me now."he smiles from ear to ear as you peek through your hand just enough to see his perfectly chiseled chest and you shut your eyes again wondering if this could be real, if he's real.

" We're not done ."he smirks, grabbing you by the legs and pulling you towards him. He then gracefully flips you over onto your hands and knees facing away from him.He pulls your panties down and drags his large fingers over your wet slit and you arch your back at his touch. He settles one hand on your hip as he uses the other hand to work himself into you.You had imagined he was big, but when you feel his head poking into you, you knew your fantasies could never compare to the reality. He uses the hand on your hip to slowly pull you further onto him until you are taking in his whole length. Moving painstakingly slowly, in and out of you. You hear him moaning above you and then he whispers "Fuck” in that stupid accent before snapping his hips into you and pushing you forward. He uses his other hand to prop you up because he knows he's pushing way to hard for someone of your size. Slamming into your pretty little cunt over and over again. You let out his name and you allow plea after plea for him to let you cum. He pounds into you grabbing your hair and pulling your face up to meet his.After a few more thrusts he finally graces you with a reply.

"No." he says and then pulls out of you. Your body immediately feels drained, completely and utterly fucked out and somehow all you want is more. You hold the position for a minute breathing into the lack of movement when you look back to see Henry watching you. Working himself in his large hand, the veins in his arms bulging and a slight bead of sweat beginning to work it's way onto his forehead.

"Turn over" he commands, and as much as you want to move quickly your legs feel like jelly,the smile line at the corner of his mouth fades as he walks towards you and flips you over himself. He positions himself above you again and says "I want to see that pretty face you make when you cum." he smiles down at you sweetly. Pushing in between your hot folds again and the noise you make is downright pornographic. You know it , he knows it and only fuels the fire behind his thrusts . He reaches for your neck again, giving you a pale necklace of fingers and veins that contrasts with your skin . With his other hand you feel him grab at your hand and interlace your fingers with his, above your head. Your eyes fly open and he is looking directly at you, smiling a bit and you can tell he is taking you in. Revelling in all the tiny noises and ways your body responds to his. You can feel his pace quicken as his moans increase, it almost feels as though the longer you look at him the harder he fucks into you, challenging you, seeing if you can handle him. His curls begin to dampen and stick to his forehead, you watch while he looks down on you. He momentarily breaks having his hand at your throat to bring his own pointer to his mouth. You watch as he lighlty bites down on it while letting out a moan.It's almost as if he's trying to keep himself quiet, or burn this view into his brain, but he's to turned on to focus. He fucks into you harder and harder, you can't take it, seeing his teeth around his own finger made you absolutely feral. You cried out his name immediately and before you could realize what was happening you felt your walls tightening again under him. Your legs shook as waves of pleasure washed over you and you could feel yourself clamping down on him. He fucked you through the orgasm, and when it seemed as though you had recovered, he climbed up your body, forcing his cock down your throat, and came instantly. He shudders and makes deep grunts on top of you. You can't help but gag a little on his length as you try to take in the art that is his unclothed body. He hears you struggling for breath and immediately pulls himself out of you. He holds a thumb at the bottom of your chin and watches as you swallow every drop of him. When you're done you look up at him, giving him your best attempt at doe eyes and he turns your chin up for him to kiss you . Fuck. Fuck. you were not supposed to fuck your coworker.Especially not this coworker, you barely even liked him. After a few moments of making out the contact fizzled and eventually he was just laying next to you, breathing heavily.

"It's purely physical." you sighed, watching the small curly hairs on his pecs as his chest heaved.

"Is it?" he began laughing. His smile shone bright in the dimness of the room. He turns to face you, leaning in for a kiss again and you're to weak to deny him.

"Dammit." he whispers between your lips. You grab the back of his head pulling him closer to you, your mind to blissed out and high for you to think.He kisses you hard and then pulls back. He hops off the bed, chest heaving as he uses his forearm to wipe away the sweat. You sleepily roll over to face where he's going. Some minutes pass and before you know it your overly fucked body is begging for rest.You drift of to sleep feeling euphoria in the big bed.

[monsoonblooms12]

Belamour (Ethan x f!MC)

Summary: Set after Book 3, Pooja finally gets Ethan to dance in the rain.

A/N: A silly something born out of my love for rains and my binge listening to 80s Bollywood classics (I have no idea what kinda mess this is tbh). Also, my first song based fic🤎

A/N 2: The song lyrics are indented (Translation in parenthesis)

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey X f!MC (Pooja Sharma)

Rating: General

Word Count: around 1.5K

Category: Total fluff

Warnings: None that I noticed

Song Inspiration: Aaj Kal Yaad Kuch by Mohammed Aziz

READ ON AO3

A pair of summery blue orbs insistently stare at the world beyond the glass windows.

A world that was now being washed by the consistent droplets that came down from the adobe of clouds to meet their origin.

Their drum was usually henotic, tranquil for him.

But at the moment, it only added to his irritation and deepened the void of disappointment that had formed in his chest.

In another room of the same house, a pair of amber orbs watched the magic of nature with a child-like wonder.

The pleasant, dewy petrichor spread around her, and the mellifluous tunes of Earth's own orchestra made her forget the fast turns her life went through in the past day.

In the faint light, she picked up her hand and let the jewel, the stone that was nothing less than a promise of forever, shine like the billion stars that dot the sky at nights that are devoid of clouds.

As the iridescent lights make her eyes sparkle, a vague idea forms in her brain.

Her thoughts float to reach the person who gifted her happiness, and a smile lit up on her face.

There was a mix of challenge and love in the quest she was about to partake and she was determined to succeed.

In slow, soundless steps, she made her way out of the room and out of the house.

A blur went past and his trained eyes were quick enough to catch the motion.

Shaking his head with realization, he followed behind.

As the steps took him down, and he stood under the shade of the multi-floored skyrise, she stayed yards away from it.

Her hair was wet, her skirt twirling, her face bright and beautiful.

He felt his heart race, whispering an urge to join with hers.

He restrained himself, but the scene in front of him was so spectacular that he doubted just how long his restraint would last.

After what felt like an eternity, she turned to him, half of her face golden under the street lights, the other half bearing the monotones of black and white.

She looked like the personification of their love.

Her life the golden, and his the black and white.

He could write sonnets to describe the picture-perfect scene that played before him like a film, but all he did was stand still, unable to tear his eyes away, unable to speak the words that hadn't already been spoken, his well-thumbed thesaurus gathering dust in the labyrinths of his mind.

She looked at him with a longing, a spoken call for him to join her as the rains continued to fall and purify the earth.

All he did was shake his head in silence.

She took it as a challenge, and he already knew how it was going to end.

For a minute he got lost in her memories, reminiscences from a time, from a moment that passed too quick, yet slow enough for him to remember every moment of it.

And suddenly, the faint tunes of a song brought him back to the present.

Every word of the foreign seeming language lucid clear, setting in a cascade of emotions and bringing pictures etched in past pages of the novel of life, making him go on a trip down the memory lane.

Aajkal Yad Kuch Aur Rehta Nahi

(Nowadays I don't seem to remember anything else)

Ek Bas Aapki Yad Aane Ke Bad

(Once your memories enchant me)

Yaad Aane Se Pehle Chale Aaiye

(Please come to me before the memories reach me)

Aur Phir Jaiye Jan Jane Ke Bad

(And then leave only after my breath leaves me)

The truth of the words came with an epiphany.

Every day of knowing her had been a way of painting the monotones of his life in colours he thought didn't belong to him.

Every moment she had ever spent away from him had made him yearn for her more than ever.

And yet he was foolish enough to think that miles of distance and hundreds of hours could make him forget her.

All the distress he felt could have been so easily ended if she had been with him then.

And now, as he dreams of an aeon with her, he promises to only let her go when his breath leaves him alone.

Apni Aankhon Me Mujhko Basa Lijiye

(Allow me to settle in the world of your eyes)

Apne Dil Me Mera Ghar Bana Dijiye

(Make a home for me in your heart)

Kya Karu Dil Kahi Aur Lagta Nahi

Pyar Me Aapse Dil Lagane Ke Bad

(What's the fault of mine if I can't concentrate on anything other than you, since our hearts connected by the string of love)

As the minutes pass by, melting into each other to form an hour, he loses all tracks of time.

And amidst the sweven he was living in right now, at a moment he could not pinpoint, she had taken his hand into hers and now he stood, lost in the amber of her eyes, forgetting all about the shower that now fell upon him.

As she continued to mutter the tunes in a harmony that went on in rhythm with the rain, he wished he could live in the world of her orbs.

To see the world as she saw it, to live the life from her perspective.

All he wanted was home in her heart, a tiny place on the lands of her soul.

Ishq Ke Maine Kitne Fasane Sune

(I have heard many tales of epic romances)

Husb Ke Kitne Kisse Purane Sune

(And stories about beautiful people from bygone eras)

Aisa Lagta Hai Phir Is Tarah Tut Kar

Pyar Hamne Kiya Ek Zamane Ke Bad

(But I feel I have been broken and got mended by love after centuries)

In muted harmonies, the two of them twirled, forgetting the world around them.

The way their eyes held onto each other, as if holding onto their lives, reminded him of the tales of love the folklores talk about.

The romances of princesses and maidens, and of beauties who earned their fairytale.

But as her palm stroked his cheek in a feather-light motion, he concluded that all those tales faint in front of the story of theirs.

There were no royals, no cruel witches setting up spells and no poisoned apples.

There were just two people, broken by the storms life made them navigate through, fitting perfectly as if parts of a whole.

He tried to remember if he had ever experienced anything as he did now, his lip tracing her ear as his hands wrapped around her waist.

It didn't even take him a second to know the answer.

He hadn't.

Aapka Naam Dil Se Nikalta Nahi

(Your name never leaves my heart)

Dillagi Me Koi Zor Chalta Nahi

Dillagi Me Koi Zor Chalta Nahi

(No force is strong enough to stop the meet of two hearts)

Aapko Bhul Jane Ki Koshish Bhi Ki

(I tried a hundred times to forget you)

Aur Tadpa Hun Main Bhool Jaane Ke Baad

(And suffered a suffering of pain and agony once I forgot you)

The rains accelerate and become a downpour. The mist envelops them but there was no care for the changing environment.

The distance between them ceases to exist as their hearts finally get the pleasure of beating in unison.

In the next moments, she whispers close to his ear, the last of the melody, and it's his story.

The story of how he couldn't get rid of the five-lettered name since the first time he ever came to know about it.

Of how no force in the world could stop two hearts from meeting if that's what destiny had in plan for them.

Who one loves and who loves them back determines so much in one life.

And for him, it was a chance, a risk he was scared to take, dreading the destruction it may cause.

After all when had anything ever-blossoming flowers in the city of his soul?

But this time not only did spring finally arrived with its flowery footsteps but also led to a discovery of himself, a part of him that was buried under layers of snow from the winter that reigned in his life for years.

She taps twice on his heart, indicating how he had tried to forget her, all those years ago. And how he broke himself in the process.

As she hummed the last lines, he bowed down in front of the forces that brought the two of them together.

He thanked the stars which aligned the way did to let him fall for her and agreed to hide, to let the rains fall, to let him have this night with her.

And looked in awe at the woman who brought about the sweetest catastrophe mankind has ever known.

And without uttering a word, he picks her and kisses her, saying all that was left unsaid with it.

PS: I actually have another version of the song, that I sung specifically to go with this, but Tumblr is giving me troubles to upload it. Do let me know if you would like to hear it someday.

Anyways, If you are reading this, I am very grateful for you. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day🤎

Tags🤎(Please let me know if you would like to be added or removed):

Perma: @gkittylove99 @neotericthemis @udishaman @aestheticartsx @twinkleallnight @schnitzelbutterfingers @sophxwithers @sweatyrysconnoisseur @nikki-2406 @choicesfanaf @trrfanaddict @starrystarrytrouble @gardeningourmet @parkbarks @mvalentine @lovablegranny @mercury84choices @izzyourresidentlawyer @phoenixrising308 @adiehardfan @quixoticdreamer16 @a-crepusculo @cordonianruby @gryffindordaughterofathena

Open Heart (All fics and edit): @lucy-268 @maurine07 @bellcat2010 @headoverheelsforramsey @estellaelysian @shanzay44

Ethan x Pooja: @aleynareads @choicesaddict5 @stygianflood @mysticaurathings @jamespotterthefirst @ilikemenbutonlyethanramsey @takemyopenheart @mm2305

@choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

[tinawritesstuff]

You’re home

Pairing: Henry Cavill/ First Person Reader

Wordcount: 1.4K

Warnings: kinda angsty if you squint a little? It’s mostly tooth-rotting fluff lol

A/N: a little something I’ve been meaning to write for a while now. Hope you guys enjoy it! 

The weather outside is freezing, the trees and the garden are painted in a thick layer of white thanks to the constant snowing. I swear I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The smell of coffee fills my nostrils, making me take a deep breath and inhale the addicting and intoxicating scent. There are only a few things that relax me and take me to my safe space: coffee, a book, winter and Henry.

Oh, Henry.

He’s been away for two months now, very busy doing reshoots for the second season of Witcher, and to say I miss him wouldn’t do justice to what I’ve been feeling. But I guess no one can really blame me, right? Because we spent six wonderful months together because of lockdown, so having to go back to not having him around every day has had me on edge since he left.

I look outside the window, watching the snow fall while sipping from my mug. The day is grey and I can’t help but feel like it matches my mood.

Have you ever felt like you have too many emotions inside and just need to let it go? Well, that’s exactly how I’ve been feeling lately, specially since Henry got called to work again.

I know it’s not healthy to emotionally depend on someone else, because most of the time I find myself yearning his presence and just needing him with me. And it’s not fair to either of us.

I hear my phone ringing, and to say I run to see who’s calling would be an understatement. When I reach it, I see that the ID is my mom, to which I let out a groan of frustration. I was hoping it to be Henry.

“Hey, ma”

“Hello, dear. How are you today?”

“I don’t really know, to be honest” I shake my head, with a horrible feeling settling in my throat “I- I feel like I have a thousand of emotions stuck in my chest, and I can’t pinpoint exactly what I’m feeling”

“Oh, honey” she sighs “Why do you think that might be?”

“To be honest, it started when Henry left. And I can’t help but feel stupid, because we’ve been apart for longer periods of time before, and I’ve never complained about it. It never hurt like it does now”

“Darling, things like this are never stupid. Have you talked to him about it?”

“I haven’t really had the chance to. He’s been so busy and I honestly don’t want to bother him with this nonsense.”

“Listen to me, if that man loves you, and I’m certain he does, he will make the time to hear about your feelings and won’t think they’re nonsense, at all” she says in a stern voice and it makes my heart sink.

Because she’s probably right, and I should tell him about it. Otherwise, I’m sure I’ll be bottling up all that’s bothering and one day everything will explode. And it won’t be nice.

After some more catching up, she hangs up and I go back to…, well, look out the window. What I wasn’t expecting was to see Henry’s car pulling over on the entryway and parking there.

I hear the door opening, and Kal’s claws scratching the wooden floor as he makes his way inside the house. Next thing I know, I’m being thrown to the ground by the big, fluffy pig that attacks me with kisses.

I laugh while scratching his ears, and I hear the male deep laugh coming our way.

“Kal, hey, down boy. Let momma breath, c’mon”

“Oh no, please! I’ve missed him so much, let him stay like this for a little longer. I don’t mind” I say smiling up at him from the ground.

It’s unbelievable how much my mood changed the moment I saw his car pulling over. Which reminds me:

“What are you guys doing here?! I thought you wouldn’t be here until the holidays”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve seen the news, my lovely, but England has gone back to lockdown. Starts tomorrow morning. So, we’ll only be working on the studio scenes.”

He helps me stand up and brings me close to his body in a bear hug. Oh, how I’ve missed him. His warm, his scent, his hugs, all of him.

I feel the tears pooling my eyes, because the mix of feelings is overwhelming and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Before I realize it, I’ve become a sobbing mess crying on his chest.

“Oh, no, no, no. Little love, what’s wrong? Why are you crying like this?” he asks with concern filling his tone.

“I-I’m sorry, I-I-I j-just mis-ssed you a lot” I say the best I can between sobs.

“Okay, come here”

He picks me up, bridal style, carries me to the living room and sits down on the couch with me on his lap. I let out all the pent-up frustrations, all the dark emotions I’ve been feeling the last two months, and in the meantime, he just caresses my hair, soothing me and whispering sweet nothings in my ear to calm me down. After some time, the tears stop running and the sobs become little exhales of air, trying to regain calm and control of my breathing.

“Atta girl, you let it all out. Don’t think there’s anything else in you to cry about, eh?” he jokes and I let out a teary giggle. “Want to talk about it?”

“I don’t even know what’s wrong to begin with. All I know is that these last two months without you have been a hell to live. I’ve been feeling so lonely. And I’m not saying it’s your fault, not at all, because it’s your job and you love it and I shouldn’t be feeling like this and I shouldn’t be selfish; but truth is that I miss you every time you’re gone, and this one has taken a toll on me.”

“Oh, nugget” he sighs and pulls me closer to his body “I’m sorry to hear that, but there’s nothing selfish about you missing me and needing me here. In fact, I’ve been feeling the same way since I left” he shrugs and kisses my hair “I want you to tell me when these things bother you, especially when I’m away, because loneliness can get tricky and I don’t want you to feel that way. Okay?”

I nod my head and snuggle closer to his body, feeling his strong and big arms engulfing me in a tight hug. We stay like that for some time, quietly cuddling while watching the snow falling through the big window behind the T.V., until he breaks the silence.

“Where’s the Christmas’ tree?” he asks glancing around

“Oh, yeah” I let out a little embarrassed laugh “I haven’t put up any of the Christmas’ decorations, including the tree, because I didn’t want to do it alone. I was going to wait for you to come home”

“I was supposed to come home on December 23rd! You were planning to put the decorations up two days before Christmas?!” he exclaims funnily and I laugh at his mannerisms and efforts to lift up my mood.

Have I said how much I missed him? I think I have.

“Well, yeah. I told you it was bad” I shrug and he grabs my face to leave a little peck on my forehead

“We can do it any time you feel like it, my love” he whispers and caresses my cheek with one of his hands “I don’t think I’ve greeted you properly, lovely. What do you say?”

I shake my head, and that’s all the answer he needs. Henry leans down and kisses me fully in the mouth, taking every ounce of air I have in my lungs. The kiss is soft, but deep. There’s no rush, we have all the time in the world. At least until he has to leave again.

I grab a handful of his curls to deepen the kiss even more, to show him how much I yearn for him, how much I’ve missed his touch and the feeling of him against me.

When we are in need of air, we break the kiss and smile like fools to one another. There’s no need to say anything. He’s here, he’s home with me.

“What do you say we put the Christmas tree up, right now and when we’re done, we watch some Christmas special?” I ask while stroking his cheek, softly, making him lean into my touch.

“I’d love to.”

General taglist: @milkathedudz  @little-baby-vixen

Henry Cavill taglist:  @tillthelandslide @cavill-sass​ @al-wiisa​ @kmuir1​ @hoeforhenry​

[crispyjenkins]

I dare you to write an Ani5 fix-it fic. I will not be taking criticism and will die on the hill that this is the most powerful ship and could’ve saved the entire clone wars. Bonus points if it features the ship Mace Windu/headaches (bc anakin is a walking mess of shatterpoints and lives to annoy Mace). Codywan to help knock some sense into anakin would also be top tier. I LOVE YOU ZEPH’BUIR

(of course i can’t do a whole fix-it in a quick prompt answer, but i think i’ve set it up for a far happier ending than in canon! support communication and education in relationships (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) and also adhd clones.

fives might be the most i’ve ever struggled with a character (‘cept maybe ahsoka....) so it took a little while to figure out how to write this scene in a way i liked. also, had to go and watch fives clips to try and get my autism brain working, and BOY HOWDY do i actually hate dbb’s take on the clones, especially the accent but everything else too. their character designs make me want to cry. so i’m begging, for me, to imagine this fives like this especially because then we get Tol Anakin and a Smol Clone BF and i think that is a seriously underutilised dynamic.

thank you for the prompt, ad, and for cursing me with this ship in the first place. someday i’ll get around to actually writing them as the battle husbands they are 🧡)

Alt+R to quick reblog on desktop, Hold the reblog symbol to quick reblog on mobile

  Echo's always been good with programming, but Fives is better with the actual building. He's not any good with inventing, maybe, but putting things together? Opening them up and knowing immediately what's wrong? Fives would even say he enjoys it — and being able to talk shop with Skywalker like they're nobody mechanics from the Outer Rim instead of General and Soldier makes the long hyperjumps between missions actually bearable. 

  How that led to him sitting in a rarely used hallway on the Resolute with Skywalker ("Anakin," he keeps insisting with a smile), both leant over a mouse droid in pieces on a drop cloth, Fives isn't really sure. It probably had something to do with Skywalker's excited bounce when he'd come to ask if Fives wanted to help him, the sparkle in his eye reminding Fives just how young the both of them are. How, technically, he's older than Anakin.

  Because, yeah, he is Anakin, not Skywalker, when they're like this. With his growing knight cut a curly untamed cloud around his ears, grease smeared on the underside of his jaw, with Fives stripped down to his blacks from the waist up, with even his blasters set on the floor next to them. 

  With it quickly becoming clear that Anakin doesn't actually need help to rewire the mouse droid, but had asked for Fives to join him anyways.

  They've been at it for a few hours now, their jokes winding down to companionable quiet as they both work on separate parts of the droid. It honestly might have been easier to start from a scrap droid than try to rewire this one correctly, but it's easy work Fives could do blindfolded, and sharing the mutually-focused silence is actually quite nice.

  Anakin is elbow-deep in the outer casing when he finally asks, "Do the clones feel love?"

  And Fives almost gets up and walks away. He knows not every battalion ended up with a good Jedi, that the 212th and the 501st had been so kriffing lucky to end up with "The Team", but sometimes he forgets. Maybe that's the worst part of it: slow, personal moments like this, Fives forgets he's not natborn and bearer of a face shared with millions. Being around his general makes him forget, and maybe he had taken that for granted until now.

  Or maybe it's for that reason that he hesitates from storming off, because Anakin had been the one to name Alpha, to insist on giving them proper leave, to defend them from anyone who talks down at them even if they're a planetary leader. And Rex had said something, once, about Anakin’s brain working in either/ors, being hardwired in some way to only see in black and white and believing that if you're one thing, you can't be another. That what Anakin says isn't always what he means.

  So instead, he asks, "What kind of love are we talkin'?"

  Anakin refuses to raise his head, and Fives can almost see him stressing about how to phrase this.  "Y'know, grand romance and stuff. One-and-onlys and holodrama romcom propaganda and imagining growing old together."

  "'Not quite sure what you're asking, sir." He takes a deep breath. "The short answer is yes, we can and do feel that, but the long answer is I can't speak for every brother, and I would not want to. Some of us don't feel that." Shrugging, he passes Anakin a socket wrench before he can ask for it. "But it's not because we can't, not because of the longnecks. We're bred to be obedient, sir, not emotionless."

  Quiet settles over them again while Anakin processes this, his mouth twisted rather horribly. Fives starts to think he would do a whole awful lot to turn that frown back into a haughty smile. 

  "What do you really want to ask, General?"

  "I'm married to Senator Amidala."

  Now, everyone with eyes knows that. Maybe Torrent knows even better, when they've been covering for their general for over a year now, and clearly the Jedi just aren't doing anything about it — but Fives also knows Anakin has never actually told anyone about this, not even General Kenobi. Rex says Anakin still thinks they've been discreet.

  "If I may be blunt, sir, this is not news."

  And Anakin actually laughs at that, shaking his head as he tosses down his tools to stare at the opposite wall instead. Fives watches his gaze go distant, somewhere far away from the Resolute lost in the middle of space. “I’ve loved her since I was nine years old, Fives. I loved her through not seeing her for a decade, through her assassination attempts and the First Battle of Geonosis and becoming a knight, and I...”

  Fives sighs once. “No one said you had to stay in love, sir.”

  “But that’s just it,” he groans. “I’ve never known how to do anything else, how to be anything else. I don’t... know who I am without it.”

  He has to look away from Anakin, then, because he’s seen brothers go stupid for people they meet on campaigns, or for their Jedi, and Fives isn’t nearly as young as some of the shinies out there, but he knows what it looks like, when they leap in without thinking. He lets out a long, slow breath, his eyes falling on the ‘saber at Anakin’s hip. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  Anakin blinks at him, and nods.

  “That’s too young to decide what you want to do for the rest of your life.” Fives raises a brow at his general’s startled expression, which is maybe more amusing (endearing) than it has any business being. “General, you’re barely an adult, just the same as the vode. If my mental timeline is right, you weren’t even twenty standard when you married Amidala, which, frankly, was reckless and unfair on her part.”

  “Padmé would never–”

  “I don’t mean intentionally, sir. The fact of the matter is, no wonder you don’t know who you are without her, because you’ve always had her.” That decade of no contact notwithstanding, considering Anakin didn’t not have her, either. “Senator Amidala knew who and what she was before you, and she’ll know who and what she is without you.”

  “That’s not quite fair,” Anakin grumbles, but his throat is flushed in what Fives hopes is entirely appropriate guilt, or at the very least embarrassment. “It was my idea to get married after Geonosis.”

  Fives snorts. “The idea of a child thrown into war, afraid to lose anything.”

  “You’re being uncharacteristically candid, Fives.”

  “Respectfully, sir, the last thing you need is to be coddled.” His general laughs again, this time good and bright in a way he hasn’t heard before; and then Fives can’t help what he admits next. “We weren’t allowed toys, or anything.”

  Laughter cutting off abruptly, Anakin’s eyes grow haunted instead. There might not be anyone else in the galaxy with quite the same experience as the clones, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those that understand.

  “Hevy made me and Echo– Well, he said they were mythosaurs like Kal taught us about, but they looked more like sad loth cats. He cut up his own bedsheet to make ‘em, and couldn’t tell the longnecks what he’d done with it, so he just slept on the bare mattress.”

  “Fives...”

  But it’s clear Anakin doesn’t actually know what to say, so Fives pushes on. “Some of Fett’s instructors tried to teach us Mando’a, you know? I think Spar is the only brother that ever got fluent, the rest of us have been making up words and combining them with Basic and Kaminoan and whatever else the Cuy’val Dar spoke that sometimes we don’t even remember what language they are anymore.”

  “I didn’t learn Basic until I was five.” Anakin thunks his head onto the wall behind him with a sigh, the mouse droid forgotten at his feet. “Other padawans always told me I was lucky Master Obi-Wan knew Huttese.” Ahh, kark, his general had been a Hutt salve; at least the spice runners made sure their slaves could communicate with their customers. “I couldn’t read a word of Aurebesh when I first came to the Temple, though to be fair, I couldn’t read anything else, either.”

  “You grow up around other kids?”

  “Yeah, my mom and I lived in the biggest slave slum on Tatooine.”

  Fives doesn’t need to tell him how lucky he was just to have had their own quarters. “I think, sir, that the vode know better than you think, what it’s like always standing on the edge of losing everything.”

  Squeezing his eyes closed, Anakin inhales sharply and clenches his fists over his knees. “What happened? To your mythosaur toys?”

  “One of the longnecks found them while we were in training, ‘threw them out before we got back. I think Hevy was even more upset than we were.”

  The leather glove over his prosthesis creaks as he tightens his grip on his own palms. “Was it easy? To just... forget about them?”

  “Of course not,” Fives snorts and crosses his arms, “we were the equivalent of eight standard at the time, but we honestly didn’t have a choice. As we got a little older, we stopped trying to put meaning in things, because we weren’t allowed things. Our names are our only real possession, even our armor can be taken from us, but we will not, cannot, let anyone take our names.”

  Groaning, Anakin scrubs his hands over his face before pushing himself up to finally look at Fives properly. He still doesn’t speak for a moment, just watching him, then teases flatly, “You’ve been spending too much time with Cody and Obi-Wan, you’re starting to speak in riddles.”

  “They are riddles only to you, sir.” He offers a small smile, and is only slightly disappointed when Anakin doesn’t return it.

  Instead, he lets out a winded breath. “So. You’re saying that it’s not easy to let go of even small things, but we must. And then there are things that we shouldn’t let go of?”

  “Some things aren’t ours to keep.”

  Anakin swallows. “Like Padmé,”

  “Like any person, no matter what sort of love we have for them.”

  Groaning, Anakin pulls his knees back up close and drops his face into his arms. “But I still love her.”

  Knowing that this is not a new problem, that General Kenobi has been trying to teach his general this for as long as they’ve known each other, Fives takes a moment to consider. “You don’t really have to stop loving her.”

  “But you said–”

  “You think I stop loving my brothers when they die?”

  Whether or not it’s healthy to hold onto affections for someone after a romantic relationship is a conversation for another time, Fives decides, and leans over to pick up where Anakin had left off with the droid.

  “General, it sounds to me like you already know all this,” he says, twisting a wire into the grip of his glove to yank it from the motor. “And  that you’re digging your feet in — which is the crux of the problem, isn’t it?”

  “You sound like Obi-Wan,” he groans, but doesn’t deny it.

  “Hmm, well, at least we’re still just kids.”

  Anakin very slowly looks up from his arms, just enough for Fives to see his wide eyes. “What do you...?”

  “Well, we’ve still got time to learn, don’t we?” Fives raises his eyebrow as he fits the new wire into the motor and starts to close all the panels back up. “I still think about Hevy and Droidbait and Cutup, and honestly, I still think about Echo’s and my mythosaurs. That’s not a bad thing, I don’t think, not even the Jedi would think that’s bad. I’m still angry when my vode don’t get funerals and I honestly hold that against the Chancellor and the Jedi both. But I don’t get to go back to Kamino and take my anger out on the longneck that took our toys, and I’m... working on it, not being so angry with the generals. I’m still angry. But I know the Jedi have about as much say in all of this as we do, and I know burying my brothers won’t bring them back. So I’m working on it.”

  “I... don’t have to be good at it all at once.”

  “Great Maker, General, just because you’re the Chosen One doesn’t mean you have to actually be good at absolutely everything from the start. You just have to try, and you still have time to.”

  He looks up and finds Anakin already smiling back. “Fives, I could kiss you.”

  “Considering it sounds like Senator Amidala just divorced you, I think that’s a very bad idea, sir.”

  “Bah, you’re no fun.”

  Fives feigns offense, “This mouse droid we’ve rigged to follow Captain Rex around and scream says differently.”

-

  The night the 501st returns to the Resolute after finally (kriffing finally) leaving Umbara, Fives finds a hand-sewn stuffed mythosaur on his bunk, with a string collar and a dogtag etched with CT-782.

-

Mando’a: Cuy’val Dar — “Those who no longer exist”, group of 75 Mando’ade and 25 others put together by Jango to train the clones vod/e —  “brother/s, comrade/s, sibling/s”, technically gender neutral but used most often in fandom as “brother/s” (*in this context, fives is using brothers as gender neutral as well, because you won’t take trans and nb clones even from my cold dead hands*)

[imnotwolverine]

Wolfie’s Fic Recs | Winter Holiday Fics

WINTER HOLIDAY FICS - I love the winter holidays. Here’s some fics to get you all cozy and mighty chuffed for the most wonderful time of the year. 

With Henry

I’m glad I’m not the only one who loves The Magic Of Christmas; give me all the slippery sidewalks, precariously held Christmas gifts and silly little kisses shared with a lover as carolling meets frosty ears. And, who else should that lover be, than ..Henry? By @dancingwendigo

Talking about magic. If you’re looking for love, all you really need is faith, trust and ..A Little Bit Of Magic (dust), by me. 

And after being out in the cold, you might want to warm up again, which Henry will happily provide [smutty drabble ahead] - The Christmas Cabin by @writingforhenry 

Now. You know what happens when you get baby-fever, right? Just make sure you keep quiet, when you’re visiting family 👀[smutty drabble] Can You Be Quiet by @littlefreya​

And to keep the smut going. Have you ever wondered what happens when naughty women sit on Santa Henry’s lap? [smut alert]; Jingle My Bells  by @angryschnauzer 

Soon-to-be-dad fluff always gets to me. So, trust me, Henry; this will be a December To Remember, by @foodieforthoughts -- ps. I once did this drawing-on-someone’s-back-thing and it ended up in the poorest guesses/drawings I have seen in my young history 😂

And once he IS a dad, I’m sure Henry loves, loves, loves to come home for Christmas, children koala-ing on his legs and all. 🎶It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, by @penwieldingdreamer 

Talking about family visits at Christmas: Chapter 2 Christmas At Cavill’s of @madbaddic7ed‘s Henry x Ria multi-chapter is just that - though of course there’s a catch; Ria has a boyfriend..and it’s not Henry *cue dramatic music* 

As a kid I used to dress up our Rhodesian ridgeback (dog) with the prettiest hats, so I can only imagine how Kal would be when he’d get his very own hat. Happy Dog-mas! by @wondersofdreaming

With Mike

Enough sugary sweet fluff; let’s get into some sensual, voyeuristic, Christmas lights bondage love making with Mike. You read that right. Christmas. Lights. Bondage (I didn’t even know I could have such a kink, but here we go). All These Little Lights by @hope-to-hell 

With August

And what will our bad boy grinch be doing when he’s invited to an office dinner party? Oh, I’m sure it’ll be a [smutty] Holly Jolly Christmas by @radaofrivia

With Walter

Christmas tree hunting with Walter. That’s the dream, right? This fluffer-the-fluff chapter from “Safe” can be read individually, if you ask me, so go read: Forever? Or, if you prefer to start at the beginning: Secret Meeting. By @maya-the-cute-ass-bee 

And once the Christmas tree is installed, there better be ..eh..breakfast in bed? Winter Morning describes a delectable morning of smutty morning sex with Walter, and..*sigh* let me just fantasise about the beard burn for a moment, okay? By @connieisland 

“A delicate blanket made of snowflakes had nestled itself over the streets of Minneapolis.” Starts the tale of this sweet Walter fic, including many annoying (but totally hilarious) text spams from Faye, one messy kitchen and one nearly ruined Covid-Hannukah dinner - I said nearly, there okay; The Great Jewish Cook-off by @inlovewithhisblueeyes 

With Sy

Loss and love are closely intertwined when the holidays are near. Let’s take a look behind the tinsel and twinkle and see the way Sy looks at the woman who lost a lot, yet loves the most. On Leave by @dancingwendigo 

Need some more uplifting Sy Christmas tree decorating? We’ve got that too! Let me give you A Syverson Family Christmas by @its--fandom--darling -- ps. I never heard of hanging actual popcorn in the tree, so here’s to me learning new things! 😸

And eh..*aherm* need some down-time between all the Christmas shopping? Maybe a lil’ smut is just what you need? The Shop-pocalypse by @its--fandom--darling​ (again; yes, this winter holiday rec list is pretty much owned by this wonderful, darling! 😂😘) 

With Clark

Dear Santa, I’ve been a good girl allll year. Now can I, pretty pretty please, bow-on-top, have a Christmas night with hot cocoa and take-out? Wrap Session is the kind of fluff you may crave in these cold dark days, so let @its--fandom--darling indulge you! 

Prefer something a little more dark, Clark and ..tacos? Holiday Interlude 2 by the mistress of dark fics @sapphirescrolls will be sure to get you going. 

With Napoleon

Some sad pre Christmas nostalgia turns utterly sweet as Napoleon surprises his ladylove with a little winter escape in White Christmas by @crimsonrae

With Charles

Charles being a loving husband is my weakness; now imagine Walking In Winter Wonderland with him. Delightful no? @its--fandom--darling gives you all the fluff (and if you so feel like it, there’s also a smutty follow-up 👀)

With Geralt

Let’s pull some heart strings with this fic of a druidess and Geralt, winter impending and loving hearts pondering; what will they do? One can tell, Only After The Heart Heals, by @thetaoofzoe

Need some Geraskier to keep you warm? This Geraskier prompt about Jaskier’s winter stay at Kaer Morrhen, will give you sensual dough kneading (pottery scene from Ghost, anyone?👀), banter and utter-butter fluff. By @kueble.

Or prefer Yule celebrations w/ Yen & Ciri? This Witcher Headcannon got me grinning - and that’s not only because of the joke regarding Yen’s unicorn. By @witcherislovewitcherislife

Bonus: Finishing off, I can’t help but link to the Netflix Christmas Witcher trailer, which is a lot of snow, Geralt cursing and overall sentiment of “SANTA WOULD YOU PLEASE GIVE US A RELEASE DATE” -- I know, it’s no fic, but it’s pretty funny anyways. 

--

Artworks by me and thank you dear @littlefreya for helping out with your suggestions! ❤️

Also, many of these wonderful fics are part of #stephschristmaswritingchallenge. Look for that tag if you want more, more, more! 

-–

🔥Also: Please add your own recommendations in the comments!! The more fics, the merrier! 🔥Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Have a lovely Kwanzaa! Have a good Omisoka! Happy Winter Solstice! Blessed Yule! (+ any holidays I missed :D) 

[frasier-crane-style]

Watching Snyder League

-Diana literally vaporizes a guy armed with nothing but an assault rifle.

-Also, these have gotta be like the dumbest terrorists. Their plan:

A. Send multiple armed gunmen to take hostages.

B. Stall for time

C. Set off a suitcase bomb on a one minute countdown (why not just set it off immediately? It's In The Script)

You have a suitcase bomb--just park a car somewhere, set the timer, leave it in the trunk, and walk away. You can kill as many people as you want without losing any of your own guys.

-Superman's scream sends out five separate shockwaves. Which makes me think the guy's milking it, personally.

- I'm amused that both SOP for the Amazons is having, like, fifty people standing around guarding the Mother Box. AND that they don't ramp up security after it wakes up.

- And there's this system of burying the Mother Box.  Which 1. seems like the only way to get there in the first place is to teleport in. What good is this system against a teleporter?

2. It takes six guards to suicide themselves by knocking down pillars, which seems like--in five thousand years, you couldn't come up with something where you just pull a level from twenty feet away?

This is the problem with the Amazons. They're all women, so none of them go into STEM fields.

- It's also real weird that this Bruce Wayne doesn't even try to hide that he's Batman. He just walks right up to Aquaman and goes "hey, Bruce Wayne, I'm also Batman." And remember, he's getting the Justice League together entirely based on a hunch. At least in Josstice League, there were Parademons all up in Gotham.

- And should I even bother to ask why Darkseid's people can't just bring three new Mother Boxes to Earth? Are those the only three? If so, you'd think they'd try to get them back sooner. Like, A LOT sooner.

- Okay, this was supposed to come out one year before Infinity War, but still, it was pretty obvious what Marvel was doing with Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet. They had to know they were inviting comparisons.

-I love the implication, tho, that Darkseid just lost track of the Mother Boxes and just... no one realized they were back on Earth. And they have Parademons that can specifically sniff out the Mother Boxes. 

-And if Superman dying was such a momentous occasion that it woke up a Mother Box, why not the Old Gods dying? Why not Ares dying? Wouldn't that have left Earth just as undefended?

-I have no idea why any of this is happening a couple years after Superman debuted and then died and not in, like, 1446.

-Are the Mother Boxes like finicky computers? Do you need to turn them off and on again? When Superman showed up, did they shut down for real, and then he died, so they came back on for real? Is it like a Windows 95 thing, where you can't JUST turn the computer off, you have to go to the start menu and press Shutdown and then wait for it to close up shop?

-It’s so weird that this is supposed to be a Dark, Mature Adaptation For Adults! And it doesn’t have the same basic logic you’d get from an episode of Power Rangers. 

-So. Much. Daddy issues.

-Please stop letting Ezra Miller improv.

-They cast like the gayest man in America to play the one guy with a love interest.

-Diana: "I lost someone I loved once." Well, twice, but who's counting?

-All those reshoots and they couldn't get Amber Heard to knock off the British accent?

-Why is Desaad, of all people, Darkseid’s dragon? Is it just because they were rifling through all the Fourth World saga to find the few guys with scary names instead of Granny Goodness or Virman Vundabar?

- And they really play up Darkseid appearing to Steppenwolf, but we've not only already seen him in the big flashback, we saw him get his ass kicked by Zeus of all people.

- And the whole thing where Steppenwolf is part of Darkseid's 'family' really isn't helping the Thanos-Nebula-Gamora comparison.

-It's weird to introduce Darkseid as the guy who was already beaten once. Wouldn't it make more sense that Steppenwulf was the guy who lost, and that allowed Darkseid to take over, and now he's trying to redeem himself for his defeat? Or that Darkseid was never defeated at all, but someone stole the Anti-Life Equation from him and hid it on Earth? Something. Instead, it’s literally just randomly burnt into the crust of the Earth, Darkseid discovers it, then forgets all about it for reasons the movie doesn’t get into despite being four damn hours long.

-It’s only the central plot, whatever, forget about it.

- Pretty sure Kal eye-lasered a couple Army guys to death after he was resurrected, not that he ever gives a shit.

-Third big reveal of Darkseid. Come on, you've shown him three times now. We've heard him talk.

-And this does the same thing as Josstice League with Superman being more powerful than the rest of the JLA put together. Here, he even no-sells Steppenwolf's axe. He just lets it hit him and it doesn’t do shit. So Doomsday could kill him, but Steppenwolf can't even scratch him. And yet Wonder Woman seems pretty evenly matched with both, if not outclassed by Steppenwolf.

-Barry Allen spends the whole climax running in a circle. And he fails at it! Dude's really retarded when he doesn't have Team STAR Labs cheering him on.

-He also casually travels back in time to undo his side getting a Game Over, which makes you wonder how any conflict in this universe can ever have any stakes. Say what you will about Endgame, but at least they explain why time travel can’t solve every problem they ever have.

-Hell, the Mother Boxes can bring people back to life. The example used is literally “it can turn smoke back into a house.” Why not bring Joe Morton back to life? He did a good job in T2, c’mon.

-Speaking of, according to TV Tropes, Ray Fisher got to come up with his own backstory for Cyborg (”I don't praise Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder for simply putting me in Justice League. I praise them for EMPOWERING me (a black man with no film credits to his name) with a seat at the creative table and input on the framing of the Stones before there was even a script!”), which makes it kinda hilarious that this movie’s characterization of Cyborg is that he’s a genius sports hero who also loves helping out the underprivileged.

-AND his big conflict with his dad is that Silas Stone was never there for him, as literally represented by there being an empty seat next to his mom at Vic’s big sportsball game. So apparently the black experience is indistinguishable from Austin Powers In Goldmember. Who knew?

-What else? It's weird that the narrative tries to put some importance in Martha Kent, but then in her big scene with Lois, she's really Martian Manhunter (not kidding) and when Superman is resurrected, he hears encouraging words ONLY from Jor-El and Jonathan. All she really contributes to the story is hugging Superman after he comes back.

-Also, Batman spends a lot of time in the climax shooting people with a rifle. They're bug people and it's, like, a Halo rifle, but still. You can tell Snyder's just chomping at the bit to have Batman carry around a Colt Commando.

-They give no shits about secret identities in this, so why do they still bother with putting a shitty distortion effect on Batfleck's voice? He has a pretty good Batman voice outside the suit, but once he puts it on, he starts sounding like he's giving a blowjob to Daft Punk.

-One of the movie’s, like, four cliffhangers is Lex Luthor telling Deathstroke about Batman’s secret identity, because Deathstroke has a private vendetta against Batman and is out to get him. Of all the Bat rogues who are solely motivated by taking out Batman--why choose Deathstroke, the guy that’s just a mercenary for hire, to characterize as simply hating Batman? (They also imply Batman took out Deathstroke’s eye and THAT’S the big feud between him and--guys. C’mon. This was really supposed to be a whole movie of Deathstroke getting revenge for his eye?)

- The movie ends with them making Wayne Manor the JLA headquarters--God, just tell me if secret identities matter or not.

-Did we really need two ‘beyond the impossible’ scenes back to back, one for Cyborg and one for the Flash?

-Oh, it’s not Arkham Asylum, it’s ‘Arkham Home For The Emotionally Troubled.’ Was this supposed to be one of those Arrowverse things where they call it Starling City for a while, only to rebrand it Star City because that’s somehow better than just calling it Star City in the first place?

- "[Snyder] also said that the reason Darkseid lost track of which world the Mother Boxes were left on was because he was gravely injured and their forces sent limping away, and upon returning to Apokolips had to fight a civil war for the throne (possibly the event hinted where Steppenwolf betrayed him), wherein their records were lost." Imagine having a movie four hours long and not explaining the fucking backstory.

[astringofmadhousefloozies]

Ghost Wedding: The Remix

So, uh, here’s the first actual fanfic I’ve written, and the first full length piece I’ve written in literal years. I wrote it for my own amusement, after weeks of eating up various bits of TWST lore and scenes and going “But, how would the whole Ghost marriage story have gone with a Yuu who was more like me a goth bisexual disaster?

What follows is a series of vignnetes, starring a Yuu who’s the only girl in NRC, with deeply questionable taste, told in the second person. Please let me know if you enjoyed it, I crave positive feedback and like when other people enjoy the things I like.

Contend warnings for blood, body horror, emeto, coarse language and pretentious word choices.

You've been here a while. En-Arr-See wasn't precisely a safe place, what with your dorm being a condemned hellpit of tetanus and black mold, and powerful magicians having mutagenic psychotic breaks only curable by kicking their ass so hard it flies out their mouth. But certainly, it wasn't boring, and you'd made friends. You had your scrappy ginger Ace in the hole; your serious mamas-boy Deuce; your funny little not-a-cat Grim. Hell, you even have your Horned Boy, he of the poison-coloured eyes that never seem to leave your face when you talk about fun things like books and music and the moral imperative of dissolving the monarchy. And, you were on speaking terms with a good chunk of others. So, when your favourite little robot came up to Crowley, yelling something about ghosts kidnapping his brother, you took his hand and said, "Ortho, show me what's going on." After all, you won't let anything happen to Idia. You have plans for him yet.

~*~*~*~

Some beauties might launch a thousand ships, and in your (objectively correct) opinion, while Idia's beauty wouldn't lead to a ten year siege of Troy, he'd certainly convince everyone attending Whitby Goth Weekend to haul off into the sea with a beat of his lashes. The first time you'd seen him, you'd simply stared in slack-jawed awe. He was luminescent; even leaving behind the fiery hair that flashed and swelled behind him, his eyes were a bright clear amber, and his skin translucent, with his own blue veins serving as the detailing in the marble. Add in the deeply circled eyes and the bluish discolouration of the lips, and the figure he presented was arresting, astounding, more beautiful and unreal than anything you'd conjured up after staying up all night reading ghost stories. "Magnificent," you'd said to yourself, and if your friends gave you a strange look, well, fuck 'em. They have no sense of beauty or taste.

Unfortunately, the intensity of your gaze proved too much for him, and he'd fled. You'd had no time to pursue the object of your infatuation either, class would soon begin, and Grim was yelling. Later, then. There's all the time in the world to ask after the fine young man with the lamplight eyes.

~*~*~*~ "Oh no," you said when Ortho showed you the video. "She's really hot."

Grim gawked and Crowley raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you take from this?"

"You're the one with an all-boys school. What's a girl like me to do when a pretty girl pops up?"

"She's a ghost, Yuu."

"That's the best part."

"My brother-"

"I'll help you, dear." You set a hand on Ortho's shoulder. "He must be so frightened, right? I'll do what you need." 

Before anyone could say anything else, a racket started up outside, and things got a little busy.

~*~*~*~ "Do you mind if I sit?"

Idia looked up at you. starting at the intrusion. His face was awash in blue from the conjured screens around him, his lips gone black. "...Why?"

"Tables are full. I'd rather not eat standing." He didn't explicitly say no, so you settled across the table, a few chairs down. He made a fascinating tableau as you picked at your lunch, flicking through and typing at the screen. Lines of code, schematics for all sorts of tech, occasional comics all flit across the pane of light in a million shades of blue. Until...

"Could you pretend I'm a bug?"

You squinted. "What." What the actual hell did he mean by that.

"Pretend I'm not here. I'm beneath notice."

You stop for a moment and smile, faint enough that he can't see the devil in it. "You want me to treat you like an insect."

"Yes." Hard to see in the light, there was a small twitch by his temple, a barely perceptible shake in his long fingered hands.

"Alright." With that, you slide down the table to directly across from him, settle you chin in your hands, and stare at him unblinkingly.

"?!?!?" The squawk he made was undignified and deeply, deeply endearing. "What are you doing?"

"You asked me to treat you like an insect." You smile at him, full of mischief and good cheer. "So I'm looking at you very closely. I'm taking in every sweet action, and delighting that the day has conspired to put something so wonderful in front of me."

Oh, who would have thought that this blue boy could turn so pink! As he pulled his hood up, you chuckle and move back to your tray. "I'll let you be," you say, and did indeed, for the amount of time it took him to close up shop and flee back to the depths of Ignihyde. When you waved at him as he went by, he nearly tripped in his haste.

~*~*~*~ "Stop laughing."

The boys did not listen.

"May others show you the kindness you've shown Idia if you're in a bind."

"You're just mad because she's gonna kill your-"

"Grim? Shut the fuck up. Now; who's helping."

After a chorus of 'no's, you drag your fingers through your hair. "I hate all of you so fucking much right now... Ortho, your ideas?"

Ortho's idea was deeply enticing but Crowley would not have the school leveled, and thankfully, the two of them threatened and guilted the others into helping. You'd have to say thank you later, but god, then Crowley might think you actually liked him instead of just finding him funny, and who needed that in their life?

"Alright, so... A plan?"

~*~*~*~ As badly as he might've liked to have escaped, there was only one empty seat in the class, and it was by him. So, Idia threw his hood up, along with his headphones, and started blatantly ignoring you.

"Idia." Silence.

"Idia." A faint grunt and he turned away from you.

"Shroud," you intoned in the most sepulchral tone you could, setting you hand in his field of vision. He whipped his head at you, the fire in his eyes nothing compared to the changing colours on his head.

"WHAT."

You raise your hands in supplication, trying to still your racing heart. "I'm sorry dude. I wanted to ask where you got your screens?"

"My screens?" His eyes flicked back to his schoolwork, hovering in the air. "I made them myself."

Your face lit up in awe. "That's amazing dude, holy shit. How'd you do that? It's a damn miracle."

"Ah... well..." Two sides warred within him - pride that someone recognized his tech genius, and his deep seated anxiety that anyone trying to be nice was just fucking with him. Fortunately for both of you, pride won out. "It's certainly something complicated for a magicless normie like you to understand." He raised a questioning eyebrow. "Do you really want to hear?"

You fixed him with a level look. "Never call me that again. Now, start like I'm five and go from there."

He stared back at you, and you stared right back. "Indulge me, Idia."

He gave you a smile full of sharp, crooked teeth, and while you tried to still the palpitations the sight of them gave you, he started with very basic theory, and went from there.

~*~*~*~ "You are not going to seduce the ghost bride, Yuu."

"Why the hell not?"

"You're a girl?"

"You're kinda plain."

"You're fat."

"She's probably straight?"

You point in turn at Leona, Azul, Vil, and Kalim. "So?, no I'm plenty hot actually, get fucked, and... Okay, That is a good point. But Kal, you have no idea how many straight girls I've managed to kiss."

"I think you'd die, Shrimpie," Floyd said as he flopped heavily over your shoulders, giggling as you attempted to untangle yourself. "And you're short."

"Yeah, but you have no idea how hot I am when I'm actually try- Shut up, Vil - Like, I clean up so good you guys. I even made a suit a couple weeks ago -"

"That's convenient? Weirdly so?"

"I found suiting that wasn't moth eaten and decided to have fun, at least-" You finally escape from the noodly arms of Leech the Wild One. "Let me suit up and show you? I can be so sexy, you guys. Come on."

In answer to the confused silence, you took your keys out of your pocket and chucked them at Deuce's confused face. "Adeuce! Grim! It's on the vanity in my room!"

"But ghosts?"

"Say you're clearing out things so that we won't bother... No, actually just go the balcony way."

"You can't unlock the balcony from the outside without a lockpick, it only locks from the inside."

A moment of silence. "Lilia, what the fuck?"

He shrugged. "I moved everything two inches to the left once to see if you noticed."

"I wasn't imagining things?!?"

This'll take a moment to sort out, and the clock is ticking...

~*~*~*~ You truly liked the woods! Green and quiet. Full of things that crawled and scurried, little friends that squeaked and croaked and hissed. The occasional precious treasure of a small bone or edible mushroom. So, you were quite surprised when you found Idia, miserable, crouched beside a fallen log.

"... Skipping gym?" Going by the uniform, the most likely answer. "Or did you finally realize that outside doesn't always bite?"

He scowled at you, and you stifled a giggle when you realized that yes, he was actually covered in bug bites. "They should replace this with a mall."

"You hate malls. Too many people." You reached out a hand, and pulled him to his feet. Idly, you wondered if he'd let you try and fit your hands around his waist, but thought better of asking.

"Game stores are alright. No one bothers you in one, or in arcades. And." He stopped, as he brushed the dirt from his legs, before continuing in a mumble you only got the gist of.

"Me and Ortho will be your big, scary guard dogs?"

"... Who'll notice me with both of you?"

"Everyone." Because he's the most beautiful person in the room, and they'd be mad not to look. "Because you show up so rarely. It makes it all the more noticeable when you are out, so everyone pays attention." You held out a hand. "I'll take you out the back way so you don't get in trouble."

No dice. He held his hands in close. "I'll just follow."

"Alright. Why'd you go out this far in the woods with no map, anyways?"

"There's no cell service..."

"Clearly, we need to turn your blood into a wi-fi signal, instead of liquid sugar."

He huffed, but he did follow you, and was actually approaching a good mood once you escorted him through the Ramshackle gates.

~*~*~*~ "Hey, what did I miss?" It took entirely too long to get a single lock of hair to to a perfect insouciant flip over your forehead, even with the eternally stylish Sam's help.

"She's slapped everyone who went to propose, and when she does you're paralyzed for 500 years."

"Christ," You say as you adjust a pin on your lapel. "We have to get Idia back, he'll get what? A week before he gets the hand."

"She's so fussy!" yelled Grim. "You have to sing and have a dog and she hates poison flowers."

"Clearly, she has no taste." Honestly,you thought her taste was just fine, what with thinking Idia was the finest of the bunch. He was very princely, if your tastes ran to exquisite corpses with the personality of a neurotic goblin. "Who wouldn't want poison blossoms?" Tie? No tie? Tie? No tie? No tie. And unbutton. Leona wishes he had this chest.

"We know she has no taste because she chose Idia."

You chose to ignore that, and clapped. "Okay, Round Two!"

~*~*~*~ The truest tragedy of this school was that it was all boys. Not that boys were bad by any means, you certainly enjoyed them, but... girls. Tall girls! Short girls! Busty girls! Petite girls! Butch girls! Femme girls! Fat girls! Girls!

So many kinds of girls, and you, in all of your plump and handsome glory, were the only girl in an entire high school. Welcome to hell.

You accepted no gifts that came unvetted. You had friends ward the everloving bajeezus out of your dorm room. Grim was more than happy to test your food and drink for tampering, but it was exhausting. You at least knew that any food you ate at the Mostro Lounge was clear, but that was only because everyone was too damn scared of the eternally hovering Floyd to try anything while there.

 So, you eat a lot of vending machine snacks.

You've been standing there for fifteen minutes, trying to figure out the best combo with your limited funds, when someone coughed behind you.

"??? Oh, hey Idia." You stepped aside while he shuffled up to the glass and peered in. "Anything to recommend? I got this." You waved your bill in the air.

He only looked at you a moment before looking back at the machine. "That won't get you much."

"Ah, don't I know it. But it's all I got."

He still wasn't looking directly at you, but a smile started to creep across his face. "Get your bag."

"Wha-" He was already tapping out a beat with the keypad, blue sparks flying from his fingertips, the machine starting to groan and shiver. With a final note, the snack machine gave a final heaving shudder - and every single snack fell to the bottom of the machine.

He was so proud as he smiled at you, reaching down and pulling a single bag of gummies from the spilled mess. "You first."

And, as you stuffed your schoolbag and pockets full of thieved goods, praising his genius, his cleverness, his skills, he just glowed.

~*~*~*~ "I guess you were ahead of the game, Yuu. She hates that no one's dressed up properly. And..."

"And? You raised an eyebrow at Ace.

"You do look stylish. But you need backup."

"Of course. You'll all rescue people while I distract her!”

"But what if she slaps you?"

"You'll step in if that happens. But we have to dress you all up."

"Did you makes spares?"

"No." Tragic, everyone would look so cute in summerweight green wool. "Let's ask Sam, he's got everything."

~*~*~*~ "Okay, Ortho, you see?" You held his back to your chest, and raised your hand in front of his face, palm away from him. As you wiggled your fingers, you could see movement on the back of your hand. "Those are tendons. Those, and the muscles, are what move the bones, make your hands move. If you put your fingers here," you say as you place his fingertips over the moving lines, "you should be able to feel it."

"I do! They go up and down. What's the popping?"

"That's my faulty joints, we'll cover those another day. Now," you flipped your hand over, and moved his fingers to your wrist. "You feel that?"

"That is your pulse! It's not as string as it should be."

"I'm not always in the best of health. So, Ortho. My hand moves by muscles and tendons when I think of it. My blood moves through my body, one beat at a time, and you can feel it. Right?"

"Right."

"You," you say, as you take Ortho's other hand. "Your hand moves by motors and servos, when you think about it. Electricity and magic moves through your body, in beats so fast we can't perceive it, and it's as measurable as my pulse."

"... Because I am a robot."

"Because you are a bit different. But we're both alive, we're both real, just in different ways." You turn to look at Ortho directly, and he looks back at you with yellow eyes that are actual, real lamps. "Don't let anyone ever say you're not real, or alive, or good enough, just because you're different."

And though you can't see it, you can feel Idia smiling from the corner of his room.

~*~*~*~ Alright. No more time for memories, only the here and now. You've got a heart full of love, a pocket full of ring, and a head full of stupid. You're as prepared as anyone else who went in. Start on your left foot, and...

"Hello? Excuse me?" You make a cursory knock at the doorframe before stepping in. "I heard there was a wedding."

The bride - Eliza - whirled on you, and stopped. She was even more of a vision in person, airy translucence and fine, sweet features currently arranged in confusion. "Ah- Yes! I'm getting married to my darling Prince Idia! Right away, so-"

Not if I have my way about it, you thought to yourself as you arranged yourself in a perfect bow, one hand behind your back. You pretended not to notice Idia trussed up with rope, but you filed the sight away for later. "How wonderful. I wish you only happiness. But it must wait."

Before she could get her hand ready, you straightened and fixed her with your best smile. "My dearest princess, I cannot let this happen until I dance with the most beautiful person in this room. It would be improper to do so with a newlywed, and I cannot know peace until I dance. Would you be so kind, my fair princess?"

She was still baffled. "Aren't you a girl?"

You keyed up the brightness. "I am, and I dance very well. Would you indulge me, my dear?"

You could see her considering it. "You... are rather princely. Can you lead?"

"Of course. May I?" Again with the bow, and to your delight, she returned with a flawless curtsy. Hand in hand, you began.

~*~*~*~ It was delightful, to dance with this silly ghost girl. Everywhere your bodies touched, from her hand in yours to what would have been a fine chest, but was instead a clean and elegant ribcage festooned with pearls, heat seeped away and left only a chill as cold as clay. Her footwork was flawless, considering she no longer had feet, and she was so easy to chat with. She asked you about your dog (none currently, but you'd love to have one, and there was Grim in the meantime), your singing, (little voice to speak of, but that was what vocal coaches were for), and why you wanted to dance with her (because when would the chance ever come again? Unless fairest Eliza considered her for forever and a day.)

"But what of dear Idia?" She'd almost looked towards where Idia no longer was, having been unknotted long ago, but you drew her back in before she could notice the chaos around her.

" 'Dear Idia', though as beautiful as the moon in the sky, has cold feet, my love. He's afraid of dying. But I? I'd cherish you for all of eternity." You leaned in closer. "I am not afraid of dying, beloved. To journey with you through realms beyond mortal reach. I can think of nothing more exciting than to cross the barrier to the other side, hand in hand with you. In the words of a fine sir from my home, 'to die by your side/the pleasure, the privilege is mine'. Please, please consider me, please..."

Here's how it should have gone: She said yes, and you put the ring on her finger, and all was well. But you'd awakened such a sweet hunger in her, she could not wait for propriety. Instead, she grasped your face and kissed you with the passion of five hundred years search, found.

~*~*~*~ It was so pleasant at first, that you couldn't help but return it. When had anyone ever kissed you with such passion? But quickly, the chill began to overtake you. It could have been bearable, but after that was pain. You started to shake, uncontrollably, as every nerve in your body was scraped away with a rusty blade, and as you weakly tried to push away, as blood began to flow from your eyes, your mouth, every pore and orifice, she still would not let go. All you could think was it hurts it hurts it hurts hurts hurts hurts hurts and, as you slipped to a grey place beyond where pain could touch you, you barely noticed the cacophony around you, or something hurtling towards the two of you from the corner of your eye.

Something blue.

~*~*~*~ When you finally woke up, through a drugged and painful haze, you couldn't tell where you were. When you jolted up, the pain of it sending you into a nauseated fit of blood-flecked coughing, a familiar yelp sounded, and you turned to see Idia, little the worse for wear.

"You're up, uh..." He fumbled something onto the table, behind his back. "I."

You just looked. At him, at the surroundings. A hospital bed, with gifts and flowers (most filched from the wedding venue, but someone had stuck Jade's poison blossom into a vase and set it in the far corner). Idia was the only one present, seeing as it was the middle of the night.

"Ortho's getting things you might need. I... I hate hospital scenes..."

"Hurt's over.” You tried to settle yourself more comfortably, failing miserably. “Here comes the comfort." You reached out a hand, as he looked anywhere in the room but you.

"Idia." Silence.

"Idia." More silence.

"Shroud." He hesitantly placed his hand in yours, tinting pink as you pulled the sleeve up. The sight of it made you gasp. His fine wrist, so small even you could put your fingers around it, was mottled with deep bruising, blacks and purples set so deep into the skin that there was crusted blood on the surface, despite being unbroken. It was so, deeply, incredibly...

Beautiful. It was all you could do, not to press your lips to his wrist and taste his pulse as it flitted under his skin. To clean the blood away with your own tongue and cover the marks that your hungry ghost princess had made with your own teeth. Not hers. Yours.

Really, no wonder you'd been so enchanted with Eliza. You're cut of the same cloth.

"It must hurt."

He jerked his hand away, making you both wince. "What the hell is wrong with you? They only reason you're not dead is everyone pouring so much healing magic into you that it exhausted almost everyone. I." You could see flickers and flashes of orange sparking along the full length of his hair. "I'm not worth dying for. Why?"

What do you tell him? That it was the right thing to do? That you wanted to prove that you could woo a pretty girl? That you didn't want him dead? That you were a possessive bitch that couldn't stand the idea of someone else having him, even if unwilling on his part? All were true, but what do you say?

It proved a moot point, as when you opened your mouth to say something, anything, something shifted within you, and the only thing Idia received was a gout of blood square in his face.

~*~*~*~ After you'd slept, you reached for your phone in the thin morning light. Your friends where texting well wishes and condolences, and explanations of what happened after you went down (It seemed Idia had tackled Eliza clean off of you, and after some chaos she ran off with her retainer, rending this entire day moot). Even more interestingly, you found a text from an unknown number:

- I'm still mad at you.

You huffed to yourself, and after a bit of thought, start to text back.

- Dude I'm so sorry about the uh. blood puke. - I'll pay for cleaning - Also you know, you could have just asked for my number a long time ago? - Like a normal person? - Who doesn't break into phones to steal said numbers while I was unconscious next to you, what the fuck dude - That's not what this is about though. - You've got every right to be mad - That whole day was traumatizing, and you didn't deserve any of it - I'd rather sort this out in person but if text is easier for you right now we can do that - One last thing though

You stopped, and thought Do I actually do this? and went what the hell.

- I still need that dance I went in to get from you

[awhitehead17]

Universal Signs

Chapter 19 / Previous Chapter 

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D 

Kon knew to expect a lot of things when facing against the League of Assassins. He knew what he was getting into when he decided to rescue Tim from the Demon’s Head and disobey orders by leaving Krypton but he never expected this.

He stares at the two familiar figures in front of him. Both of which he hasn’t seen in a long time nor has even thought about.

Match and Thad.

Match is a half clone of Kon. The idea of cloning had originally been the leader’s idea, something about saving lives and helping to replicate organs. From what Kon knows, they had begun the experiment by replicating full Kryptonian’s to make sure everything could be fully functional before moving onto individual organs themselves. Kon never understood it and he never looked further into it.

Match was the first and last experiment Krypton conducted. Kon’s DNA had been taken and used to create Match after Kal offered it up. Kon of course was furious after he found out but once he calmed down the idea of having a sort of brother excited him. However the cloning didn’t go to plan, Match once he was created, went berserk and became unstable and to deal with it the leader’s chose to terminate him. Or at least that’s what Kon had thought.

Thad’s and Bart’s situation is the exact same. They used Bart’s DNA on Keystone to make Thad and it didn’t go to plan. Like Match, they thought Thad had also been terminated. Obviously not.

How they ended up with the League Kon has no clue but the major fact is that they are and they’re now standing in the way of the ship that’ll get them free. Next to him, Kon could hear Tim’s confusion as he questions their sudden appearance and he could feel both Bart’s and Cassie’s shock at this revelation.

At the sign of an oncoming fight, Kon automatically drops down into a defensive position, besides him his teammates do the same. He stares at the clones defiantly. “Don’t get so full of yourselves, you couldn’t beat us last time and this time will be no different.”

“Well, we’ll just see about that won’t we?”

Knowing what’s about to happen, Kon glances over at Tim who’s stood there wide-eyed staring at the pair opposite them. He’s seems to be shocked and unsure on what to do and Kon knows that he needs to get away as soon as possible. He’s hurt so he wouldn’t be effective in a fight and also because he’s the one they want.

Kon turns to look behind him where Kara and M’gann are positioned, both standing defensively waiting for the upcoming fight that’s about to happen. He shakes his head. “The both of you get Tim to the ship, we’ll take care of these two.”

They go to respond but Tim speaks up instead. The human turns to the assassin mixed within the group. “Pru do you have a lab on the ship, a laboratory of some kind? I have an idea.”

Before Kon could question what he was on about, and before he could hear Pru’s response, a shout from in front of him gets his attention. “Enough! Time to end this!”

From there his mind is taken off Tim because he’s suddenly dodging punches and kicks from his very own clone. He side steps and ducks various of times before starting to push back, however he finds he’s not as powerful as he should be. His punches aren’t having as big as an impact as they should each time they hit, and it’s only when a foot collides with his stomach which knocks him to the ground that he understands why.

Kryptonite. It’s because of the kryptonite that he had been injected with earlier, it’s still in his system and is now affecting his abilities to fight, it’s making him weaker than normal.

A punch to his head snaps his attention back to the moment. Match is now above him, raining down an assault of punches which Kon could barely defend himself against.

“We were discarded from our home!” The clone shouts at him. He grabs the front of Kon’s shirt, lifts him up from the ground only to slam him back down with a great deal of force which knocks the breath out of him. “We would have been better off being killed. But no, the leader’s shoved us both into a pod and shot us into space without any hesitation, with no regards to what would happen to us. We were abandoned, left to defend ourselves with no where to go!”

Kon tries to shove him off but without his super strength to challenge Match’s, he’s left squirming on the ground trying to gain any sort of leverage to use against him. His attempts go ignored.

“But then he found us. He realised what protentional we had and took us in, gave us training and then a purpose. He saved us. In return all we had to do was pledge our alliance and serve every command given. And what a ride it’s been.”

If he weren’t trying to break out of the hold Match has on him, Kon would be more invested in the story, however he is trying to break free and wasn’t doing very well at it. Match just seems to be putting more and more pressure on his chest which in return makes it increasingly more difficult to shake him off.

Then suddenly the weight disappears off him and Kon blinks to find that Cassie had tackled Match off of him. He takes a moment to breathe as he watches the two of them grapple with one another next to him. They trade blow after blow but Kon could see that he’s beginning to overpower her with each one.

It also hits him that Cassie is too depowered like him. The Demon’s Head had forced some kind of enchanted bracelets on her meaning she doesn’t have access to her abilities.

With that in mind Kon scrambles to his feet and also tackles Match back down to the ground. They wrestle for a moment but try as he might Match gets the upper hand once again ends up on top of Kon, pining him down to the floor.

Kon struggles underneath him and prepares himself for a punch that’s coming when Match raises his fist, however it never comes. Kon stares in bewilderment as it appears that Match is frozen above him. He could see the fear and confusion in Match’s eyes but doesn’t dwell on it, instead he takes the opportunity given and slams his own fist against the clone’s head effectively knocking him off Kon and onto the ground. Kon quickly follows through to grab his head and slam it to the ground to knock out the cloned Kryptonian. He ceases the action as soon as he feels the body go limp in hands.

Now Match is no longer a threat Kon’s eyes dart around looking at the scene. What he notices first is M’gann. The Martian is stood off to the side and has her back to him with a hand stretched out towards the other side of the room. His eyes drift in that direction and he sees a mirror image of what just happened with him and Match.

Bart had been fighting with Thad in motions that were nothing but a blur. That had been the case until Thad suddenly freezes, as if a force had suddenly grabbed hold of him and stopped him. Bart takes the opportunity to knock him out and Thad hits the ground with a heavy thump.

So the freezing had been because of M’gann, his mind rationalises. The Martian had used her telekinetic abilities to freeze their opponents providing the perfect advantage over them.

Kon climbs to his feet, wincing as he does so because everybody part is suddenly protesting at moving, and walks over to M’gann. He stands by her as Bart also makes his way over. “Not that your help is appreciated but what are you doing here? Where’s Tim? Why aren’t you with him?”

M’gann sends him a look, one that tells him she isn’t impressed with his clipped tone but she apparently lets it slide. She answers his question as she observes their surroundings. “I had been with him, however he sent me forward to prepare the ship so when he arrives we can immediately leave. He has a plan and Kara is currently with him. The human was on about making explosions before we leave.”

Kon blinks at her wondering if he heard her right. Perhaps Match had knocked him harder in the head than he thought. Did she just say Tim was planning on making explosions?

“Why didn’t you take him to the ship!” Kon exclaims. It was a simple enough task so why didn’t it happen?

M’gann doesn’t provide him with an answer, instead she glares at him before walking away towards one of the ships parked nearby. Deciding not to engage further with the Martian Kon turns to his team instead, checking them over and seeing if they’re alright.

Bart’s staring at Thad’s unconscious body as he speaks up. “What should we do with them? Leave them behind or take them with us?”

Kon’s instinctive response is to say that they should take the clones with them but he stops himself from voicing that opinion. What should they do? Recalling what Match had told him during their scuffle, the leaders clearly didn’t want them around. Could there be a way to compromise? As much as there is bad history between them, Kon doesn’t think being with the League of Assassin’s is anything good. Anywhere but here would be better despite what’s happened in the past.

He sighs and looks over at the unconscious bodies and the ship M’gann went to. “We’ll take them with us. We can deal with them properly on Krypton, anywhere other than here is better. We’ll keep them restrained until we return to the planet.”

Cassie and Bart both wordlessly nod at that. While they don’t voice any protest against the idea, Kon doesn’t know if they actually agree with it or not.

He makes a move towards Match’s body when Cassie speaks up, but not about the clones. “Kon we need to get our remotes, that’s if the Demon’s Head hasn’t already found them.” Letting out a curse Kon turns back around to face his teammate. He had completely forgotten about those. “We can’t risk leaving them behind.”

“I know,” Kon says thinking through ways they could try and find the remotes to get them back. It’s a long shot that they haven’t been found yet but they can’t leave them here. After a moment of thinking Kon gets an idea and turns to Bart. “Bart, can you search through the ships for our translator remotes and Tim’s too? You can use your speed to whip through different ones.”

Bart eyes widen before they narrow. The Speedster crosses his arms over his chest and scowls. “There are thousands of ships here Kon, how am I supposed to search through all of them? And without getting caught? I’m fast, but I’m not fast.”

Cassie responds to him before Kon gets too. “I know the rough location of the ship that we arrived on. Unlike Kon, I was partially awake when we arrived. If I give you an area do you think you can search there? I also remember where I hid the remotes to begin with.”

Bart’s glares softens at Cassie’s suggestion. A moment later he nods and listens closely as she describes the location of where the ship is parked. Then without any warnings he’s disappears in a blink of an eye.

Knowing that there isn’t a lot else he can do, Kon continues to move towards Match’s body. He picks his clone up off the floor and carries him over his shoulder’s, making sure he has a tight grip on him. He grits his teeth at the additional weight, normally he wouldn’t have any trouble but since he’s without his super strength it’s a little harder than usual.

Once he’s stable, Kon turns and heads for the same ship M’gann had disappeared too earlier. He has to admit, while her appearance was certainly unexpected it’s extremely appreciated because she really has helped them out so much since being involved.

As he gets closer to the ship he inspects it. It looks like all of the other ones surrounding them, black, smooth curved edges with hidden latches on the side. If Kon didn’t know better he would have assumed this is simply another one of the League’s ship, however he does know better and is informed that this is M’gann’s bioship.

It’s currently disguised to appear as one of the League’s ships. Just like the Martian is able to, the ship can shapeshift. This also contributes as another reason to why having her here is appreciated.

When Kon reaches the ramp a loud rumble could be heard throughout the docking bay. The sound is quickly followed by sudden shaking that unbalances him and with the additional weight he’s carrying Kon couldn’t keep his balance and falls to the floor, landing in a heap underneath Match’s unconscious body.  

Kon grunts and pushes Match off of him and frantically looks around until he sees Cassie who is also on the floor underneath Thad’s body.

“Cassie?”

She looks up at him, her eyes wide in question. “Kon what’s going on? What’s happening? We need to get out of here!”

A second rumble sounds out which is followed by more shaking. Moments later alarms begin to blare out around them and flashing red lights appear. Something major is happening, whatever those rumbles are, they’re causing the ships warning systems to go off like they’re about to prepare for battle.

“That’s Tim!” M’gann’s unexpected exclamation makes Kon look up at the ramp where she’s stood. “He’s creating miniature explosions to go off around the ship as he and the others work their way back here. Now get inside the ship so we can go once they arrive!”

“Creating what?” Kon asks completely bewildered. How is he creating explosions inside a ship full of assassins? Could that be where he disappeared off to earlier?

Knowing he isn’t going to get answer by thinking about it, Kon shoves it out of his mind for the time being, he’ll have to question Tim when he sees him. For now he climbs back up to his feet, having to steady himself when a third explosion happens, and lifts Match’s body over his shoulders. With great effort he carries the clone onto the ship. Cassie isn’t too far behind him carrying Thad.

It’s once they deposit the clones down in a cornered off cell on the ship that Bart makes a reappearance. He blurs to a stop in front of them within the cockpit looking frantic and confused. “What is going on? There is suddenly shaking happening and then alarms are blearing, I thought youmayhavealreadyleftorbeencaught!” His eyes flicker between him and Cassie as he rapidly speaks but he doesn’t let them answer before he’s talking again. “Anyway that doesn’t matter. I managed to find all the remotes! They were right where you said they were Cassie!”

Bart triumphally holds out three translator remotes. Kon lets out a relived sigh at the sight of them. At least that’s one less thing to worry about. In the back of his mind he knows that there’s a feeling of wrongness about the situation because the Demon’s Head surely would have found them, but Kon’s willing to overlook that feeling and take it as a win. Hopefully it doesn’t come to bite him in the ass later on.

“The ship is ready take off. All we’re waiting for now is the others to get back here.” M’gann reports to them from her position at the control panel. Kon nods his acknowledgement and looks out of the view screen, trying to get any glimpse of the human.

The alarms are still blearing throughout the docking bay and it’s making Kon nervous, he really hopes Tim hasn’t gone and got himself re-captured. He knows Kara and Pru are with him but anything could happen and until Kon sees Tim himself, he isn’t going to be able to relax.

A few more tense moments go by without any signs of them appearing. Next to him Cassie makes a comment on how she’s surprised that they themselves haven’t been found by any other assassins yet. Her comment is countered by Bart saying how the assassins are now running around trying to restore the damage that the explosions have caused, it’s leaving them distracted.

Now Kon’s thinking about it, that was probably Tim’s plan all along. Create a distraction so they could have a higher chance to escape without being noticed. It’s both smart and stupid. He still needs to question Tim on what he was thinking about the whole ordeal.

“They’re here!”

Kon’s brought out of his thoughts by Cassie’s shout. He focuses back on the window to see three figures running towards their ship. Kon’s heart skips a beat when he spots more figures, a group of assassins, not far behind them.

He watches helplessly as the assassins start gaining on his friends. If he had his powers he would be able to help them out, unfortunately that’s not the case at the moment and he would probably only cause more problems instead of helping them.

While running Tim trips over his feet and is saved from falling on his face when Kara manages to grab hold of his arm to keep him up right. An exchange happens between his cousin and the human before Pru gets involved by shouting something at them. In the end Kara simply picks Tim up and carries him the rest of the way to the ship while Pru hangs back and slays down the advancing group of assassins.

Kara runs up the ramp and into the ship with Pru following behind her moments later. Once they’re both on board M’gann wastes no time in getting them up in the air to make their escape.

It becomes absolute chaos.

From the moment they leave the docking bay everything becomes hectic and it’s unclear to exactly what is going on. The ship violently rocks side to side as M’gann navigates her way through the League of Assassin’s ship as she tries to find an exit point.

Despite how big the docking bay is, it seems to be impossible to dodge everything inside. They collide with other vessels, bounce off the walls and there’s a constant shaking to the craft like they’re being fired at by various of weapons.

“I’m going to have to crash through other ships to make it out!” M’gann informs them with a strained voice. Kon could see the toll it’s taking on her to keeping her ship somewhat under control through this turmoil.

“Do what you must!” Cassie shouts back. She’s currently pressed against the wall to help stabilize herself so she isn’t being flung around the place.

“Hold on!”

At the Martian’s shout Kon grabs onto the closest thing which happens to be a chair and does exactly that.

M’gann jerks the ship to the side, forcing it downwards towards an open hatch where a space pod had just entered the docking bay. With no hesitation, M’gann lets the bioship collide with it which nearly causes them to go off track but she determinedly keeps going. The rebound is brutal when they hit the pod and then bounce off the side of the hatch but soon enough they end up out of the docking bay and into the void of space.

M’gann doesn’t stop for a second because once they’re in space she’s pressing different controls on the dashboard and starts expertly flying them away as fast as she could.

It becomes a smoother ride now they’re flying through space, while the ship occasionally jerks and shakes, it’s certainly a lot better than before. At least with the situation now, they can stand up on their own and not worry about being thrown around.

“We’re not safe yet, I’m going to get us some distance away, make sure we’re not being followed and only then can we relax.” The Martian tells them as she continues to steer the bioship through the universe.

Kon nods, trusting her to get them through this. She’s already got them off the base ship, he’s sure she can get them away from anything that may chase after them.

“Kon!”

The shout of his name gets his attention and he looks around the cockpit to see who had called him, but when Cassie and Bart shake their heads he realises the shout came from outside of the room. He frowns for a moment before his mind catches up and he remembers the others who are aboard the ship with them.

Kon immediately darts out of the room and heads towards the lower deck of the bioship, that’s where he finds the three others on the floor. Tim is propped up against the wall, his head falling down to his chest before it jerks back up again and he seems to be attempting to wave off the other two hovering at his sides.

Kara and Pru are crouched at his sides speaking to him but Tim is either not paying attention to them or isn’t comprehending anything they’re saying. Maybe both.

Kon moves over and crouches down at the end of Tim’s feet. “What’s going on? Tim you okay?”

Tim blinks at him for a long moment and just as Kon’s about to ask the question again Tim frowns and suddenly looks confused. “Kon? Is that you, how are you here? Did they capture you too? I’m so sorry, all of this is my fault, I didn’t want this to happen.”

The way his voice sounds shaky and the way his words slur together has Kon on the edge of panicking but it’s his choice of words that really have him worried. Does Tim not remember anything that’s just happened? Surely he can recall them escaping the ship and then doing whatever he did to create the explosions.

“I’m tired.” Tim states blatantly, blinking slowly as his head drops to his chest again. When he jerks it back up he mumbles, “and my back hurts. Why does everything hurt?”

Kon looks helplessly at the other two who seem to be just as confused as he is. He has no idea on what to do right now or what it is that Tim needs.  

“Just go to sleep.” Pru tells him almost forcefully. Tim’s eyes flicker to her and he frowns. Pru rolls her eyes, “when you wake up everything will be better.”

Tim’s gaze turns back to Kon. ”Are we safe? Can I go to sleep?”

Kon forces himself to smile, he reaches out and pats Tim’s leg in a comforting manor. “Yeah, it’s okay to sleep Tim. You’re safe.”

Of course Kon cannot yet guarantee that and he has no clue if sleeping is the best option for Tim but he doesn’t see any other option and at least if Tim is asleep he isn’t feeling any pain. Kon watches as Tim’s eyes close, his head drops and this time doesn’t come back up, then just like that he’s asleep.

The three of them watch the human for a moment until Pru breaks the silence. She glances at Tim before looking at him and Kara. “His wounds on his back will have to be checked. They hadn’t healed when you arrived and with everything’s that’s just occurred, they may have re-opened. That’s probably what’s causing him pain.”

Kon nods in understanding, hating the fact that Tim is wounded and in pain. He hates everything that the human has been forced to endure recently.

“Right, we’ll find a place to lay him down and then you can treat him if you don’t mind. I’m sure M’gann has everything you need somewhere.”

Kara picks Tim up off the floor, taking caution to be careful, and then they find a place to lay him down. After some direction they find what they need to treat Tim and Kon leaves Pru to attend to him, though he asks Cassie to assist her. While Pru has been a massive help and has had a massive role to play in their escape, she’s still an assassin and Kon feels a bit more comfortable with someone from his team sat by Tim’s side while she treats him.

With Tim now being looked after, Kon returns back to the cockpit and stands by M’gann who is still steering the ship through space, creating a larger gap between them and the League of Assassins.

“Are we in the all clear yet?” He questions her.

She shakes her head in denial. “No. Not yet. While nothing has appeared on my radar I’m not taking any chances.”

“Very well, I trust your judgement. When you think the time is right, set course for Krypton. The sooner we get back the better, they won’t attack us when we’re there.”

She simply nods and goes back to focusing on flying. Kon leaves her to it, he drifts over to where the others have gathered at the back of the cockpit. He stands by while they catch up and talk about different topics, Kon lets their voices wash over him as he reflects on everything that’s recently happened and as he begins to think about what he has yet to face in the near future.

[itstheimpossibledream]

Only A Play -Part 1

Word count:1297

Pairing:AU Henry & FemBlack! Reader

Warning: Angsty Drabble.smut to come (series ?)

Summary: AU Henry is rehearsing for a Broadway show but, but isn’t living up to expectations. It will be a smut series so just hold on. Request and advice always accepted. I literally haven’t thought of a name for the series yet so any suggestions are appreciated !😊

" I've never wanted anything this much before." you said looking down at your hand, feeling the pads of his fingers lightly draw your chin up until your eyes met his gaze.

" Then come with me." he bellows, blue eyes forcing their way into your memory forever.

"HOLD!" you hear from the back of the room as the lights draw up. Henry takes a step back from you,dropping his acting face and allowing a shy smile to seep across his features.The director made his way to the front of the rehearsal room, sighed to himself and dismissed everyone. " Great work today guys, thank you for your patience. Really need you to nail those beats down Henry. Important stuff.... Important stuff." You could tell he was not pleased with this particular piece, having worked with him before you noticed a stark contrast from the man who was the life of the party when you had been an assisting lead in his breakthrough play just a year prior. It would be too much to say you had started a friendship but, a work-related understanding was absolutely within reason.Steve was a solid director, who tried to be as fun as he was professional. You quickly gathered your things, and headed to the door of the studio, to find some solace in the nasty habit of smoking, you knew you should quit. But it was just one of those things that you had started in college and the stress relief of anything else legal had never been quite the same. You exhaled in annoyance, annoyance with your performance, your day, the fact that it could be so blisteringly cold in New York on a February morning. But, enjoying the feeling of laying your head against the brick wall, it was sunday morning that was the quietest it got in manhattan. You find a twinge inside yourself finally able to muster up the courage to walk home but you turn your head when you hear your name.

"Yeah- Hi, look I'm sorry for all of this my agent thought I would be a good fit for the play and I fell in love with the piece but, I really just can't seem to get anything right for him huh?" Henry awkwardly half smiled at you shifting his weight from one foot to another, digging a hole with the toe of his shoe into the snow. He had an effortless way of looking like he just left the gym.He must go regularly, you couldn’t put a finger on why that annoyed you but it did, it made you even more frustrated that this nervous,quirky hot guy routine was working.

"Well-" you began quickly inhaling a breath of cold air "you could start by being off-book. And not movie off book, like actually off book. He knows you don't know the show." you say moving your eyes up from his shoes to read his expression. You took a long drag of your cigarette,he didn't move. He seemed somehow stuck by your words.It seemed,moving the snow with his foot was becoming more of a tick.Maybe the insecurity was more genuine than you were giving it credit for.

"You know, it must be so comfy knowing you can always secure a job because of your face." You said almost laughing and tilting your head in his direction.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he snorted, he was really working on that snow cavern now.

"That means we all know you booked this job, because for some reason horny housewives can't seem to stay away from you. You have to admit your name on a marquee is guaranteed ticket sales and the producers value that over actual art anyday." you say smugly.

"Is that what you really think of me?" he asked.

"That's what I know. " you responded not missing a beat or avoiding his eye contact for a second. " Do you know the actor you beat out for this role? He's a Tony award winner, a purely brilliant performer and on top of that he's gorgeous but you beat him out. Because he's black and in America a mediocre white guy wins everytime." you stepped closer into him and continued , wondering if you were digging into him too hard.But, finally being able to say the truth you had been feeling for so long was too cathartic. "See, what I think of you doesn't matter, because I'm going to be professional, and I'm going to do my job. And I'm going to fuck you onstage infront of thousands of people everynight and none will be the wiser but, I want you to know. I want you to know that your position has not been earned and everyone knows it." you say really laying into him " So, the least you could do is act as though you cared about the project and learn your lines. Some people don't have their own homes and multi-million dollar bank accounts to go home to, for some of us this is our lives." You finish stomping out your cigarette and turn on your heels to walk away.

"I'm not as bad as you think" he says, you spin back on your heels to face him.

" You are though.” you shrug “ See I do my research, I know about your weird,sordid history with the me too movement, with having to apologize to co-stars during a sex scene. Dude-you dated a college student and then broke up with her in front of the whole world! And if you really cared about this project you would have more of an understanding of the societial implications of being in an interracial relationship to begin with. The fact the the dramaturg sent us endless links and information and you obviously had the time to read none of it doesn't bode well for you as far as not being an ass hole."

"So you think I'm an ass hole?" he whispers, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know what to think of you. I don't know what I should think of a man who admits in interviews that the best part of being an actor is the money. I mean god- do you even like it?" you scoff, knowing your face must be burning with rage at this point.

"Truthfully, no." he shrugs, the city falls exceedingly quiet as you meet his eyes and realize it must be the most honest thing he has said in a long while. Your eyes trailed back down to the hole at his feet, you chuckled to yourself. Of Course he didn't care about acting.

" I used to though-" he says,his deep baritone breaking the silence "Before I got the big jobs,that's when it was real for me. I think - I don't know the - the money and the fame, and the parties" he laughed to himself " It started becoming about more than just the art. Started becoming about being popular, being liked, gaining fans all the shit that makes you an ass hole I guess. " a smirk begins to play at the corner of his lips.

You pull your jacket sleeves further down over your hands,and see him adjust his hat to protect from the breeze. It was raw, it was honest, it was exactly what Stephen had been trying to pull out of him the entire time.

"Bring Kal." you said switching your weight to your back foot "Steve likes dogs." you shrug, stepping on your cigarette butt again before turning on your heels to leave.

You see him break into a large smile. It hadn't exactly been an ideal first two months, but with a dog in the mix at least rehearsals may be more fun.

[theonetheycallhannah]

The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter Eight: Heat/Ice

Pairing: Captain “Sy” Syverson x OFC (Shane Benton)

Summary: Playing hooky leads to more delicious food (Sy cooks! Swoon!), some deep conversation, and new revelations about Shane’s past.

What? You’re behind? Don’t worry! CLICK ME to catch up before reading this chapter!

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings:  Language, mature themes, more food sluttiness, shameless nerd speak, unfettered and shameless sappiness.

Author’s Note: So, guys, I’m sorry. I really wanted to get this chapter to you Sunday. Life has just been a bit disheartening of late. Between being upset over some personal turmoil some friends are going through (two of my oldest friends are getting a divorce!) and coming home from work utterly exhausted on all possible levels, it’s been hard to write about lovey dovey things. As I said in my recent reblog of my masterlist, though, I’m working on some prologues, one for each character. I don’t plan on them being terribly long, but I want you guys to have some more back story.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism.

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@summersong69

@titty-teetee

@bloodyinspiredfuck

@agniavateira

@oddsnendsfanfics

@omgkatinka

@thisismysecretthirstblog

@misslaland

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Hope I’m not forgetting anyone! If you want to be notified when I post a new chapter or work, I’ll be happy to add you to my tag list! Stricken blogs are getting personal messages from me when a new chapter is uploaded because Tumblr’s faulty tagging system will not stand in the way of me delivering what the people want!(?) lol! (Although…their lackadaisical notification system might…sorry for that. I have no control. lol!)

It was hard to feel guilty for calling out of work for the afternoon under false pretenses when she was curled up on the sectional in Sy’s “nerd lair” with his head in her lap as they watched John Wick on the massive TV he had down there.

“You mean to tell me we watched the entire Bourne franchise upstairs on that…that iPod Touch, by comparison, when we could have watched down here on this majestic monolith!? In what is essentially a theater!?” She’d asked immediately, derailing the grand tour of the museum of things she would soon find amazing.

“Hey, I haven’t been coming down here a whole lot since I hurt my knee. Stairs haven't exactly been easy or, ya know, possible. I had my gaming computer down here for weeks, too, couldn't do a damn thing about it, because I didn't trust a'one of my buddies or my neighbors to haul her up the stairs for me. Leia's a custom machine worth thousands a' dollars. If she's getting' broke, it's all gonna be on me."

"You named your gaming computer? Leia?" So many emotions were flooding her. Adoration, sympathy, lust, and just a sheer need to squeeze the bejeezus out of him.

"Yeah, it's a common thing. And…not to be that guy, but…you do know who Leia is, right?

"If by Leia, you mean Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, true daughter of Darth Vader, adopted by Bail Organa at birth, sister of Luke Skywalker, hero of the Rebellion against the Empire?"

"Hey, I thought you wanted to take things slow, sunshine." he pulled her close, flush with his body. "Then you go talkin' all sexy to me like that." he lingered at her cheek with light kisses.

"Well, you did the same with your baseball talk the other night." she moaned into the contact with relish.

"I can't help it if certain sports terms have made their way into everyday speech. Your…exposition there, about my boyhood crush was intentional."

"You had a crush on Leia?" he nodded, shyly. "I had a crush on Han! Heck with Cap and Widow, THERE'S our couple's costume for next Halloween!" she said, excitedly!

"Oh, I didn't know you were talking about costumes for public use." he said, a naughty smirk in his eye.

"Stop it, you. Finish your tour. I want that soup on the stove." she said, patting her tummy.

He showed her the various memorabilia he'd procured over the years. Posters from a few of her favorites, and a few others that she recognized but wasn't as excited about. Die Cast models of several famous film vessels and vehicles, and a "life size" LEGO R2-D2 which would have had her salivating even if she hadn't been hungry. Apparently it took him almost a month to assemble the droid, but he did it all by himself.

"Aww…I wish I could have helped." she lamented.

"Maybe I'll pick up the Death Star and we can do that one together."

She nodded excitedly, eyes wide, rubbing her hands together in front of her chin with greed.

"Okay, little mouse." he chuckled. "Let's fill that belly and start this movie."

They filled massive bowls with generous portions and took the crackers down stairs so they could start the marathon. If they wanted to get through all three films tonight, they'd best get started.

They were both fairly quick eaters out of habit given her often truncated lunch breaks and his typical ten minutes in the mess hall. Even savoring the delicious creamy, cheesy concoction, as she tried to do, it was hard to slow down on. It did give her something to focus on during the first, emotionally devastating part of the film though. Once she finished, she expressed a final  groan of delight and thanked Sy, kissing him on his cheek as she held the other. She felt the smile bloom across his face as she prolonged the contact.

They were about halfway through the movie, a big fight scene in a night club, when something dark and grim hit Shane in the chest. Watching Keanu Reeves pretend to beat up and kill all of these actors and stunt men, it occurred to her that the man with his head resting gently on her lap, long body taking up the rest of that side of the sectional, had fought and killed. The man letting her play her fingers through his hair and beard had shot and blown up people. He was told to do it. Ordered to do it. But even though he was doing it lawfully and by military order, as far as she knew, it was still his job…at least some of the time. She knew that was an oversimplification of the function of the armed forces, but…sometimes, it was an apt description.

She had never thought of Sy like that before. Someone other than the strong but gentle teddy bear that had come to be such a comforting presence in her life. She needed that, after all she'd been through…she tried not to think about the hurt of her last relationship. She hadn't discussed it with Sy. It was history. Ancient history. But she was, after all, a believer in the fact that those who knew nothing of the past were doomed to repeat it. She'd tell him…one day. Everything that Elliott had done to her…had put her through. But not tonight. Suddenly, she thought being on the arm of a soldier, someone who'd lived the kind of life that Captain Logan Syverson had lived, might make her feel more safe than she had in ages.

"You're awful quiet, sunshine." he said, cracking a beer open and handing it to her before doing the same for himself and sitting down with his thick arm around her.

"Just…trying to be respectful of the movie experience. You know." she smirked at him as the menu music to the second movie played.

"It ain't that. I know this is still new, what we're doin', but I've watched enough movies with ya over the last few weeks to know that you don't keep quiet for a full length feature." Shane worried the tab on her cold Miller Lite. She wasn't sure how to bring this forward. "Spill it, sweetheart. What's eatin' ya?"

"What…what do you think about when you're watching movies like this, Sy?"

"Guess, same as anybody. How awesome the fighting and driving is. Wondering when Keanu got to be a badass. And if there's really an underground society of assassins. Why, hon?"

"I, umm, I only wondered if it…it doesn't make you miss…your job?"

The smile he gave her was both bemused and amused. "Come 'ere." he prompted her to lean her head into him, and sat his beer down on the buffet behind the couch so he could better hold her. "Do we need to go over the function of a captain of the Army of These United States? Because as flattered as I am that you think so highly of me, I'm no John Wick, nor do I know anyone like John Wick. Or five guys that would make one John Wick. Ten guys. Maybe twenty."

"The fighting doesn't bring anything back?" she smoothed the creases in his shorts as she tried not to act like she was over thinking his past.

"That fightin’s…it's like dancing. It's choreographed, precise, and the outcome is predetermined. Real fights are the exact opposite. They're chaos, unpredictable, and the right guys don't always win. Trust me, I've seen a lot of them go south in a big way." they both let a moment of silence pass before Sy broke it. "What’re ya really askin’, Shane?"

She wanted to ask so many things. The questions seemed to clog the ventricles of her brain like leaves in a rain gutter. Bottlenecked traffic.

"I just…couldn't help but think…about things you must have had to do when…when you were active, and I just…if you need to talk about anything, I'm here." She imagined that taking someone's life, no matter how personal or impersonal the act itself seemed on the surface, would create some level of emotional scarring.

“Oh, sweetheart." he kissed the top of her head, making her feel as warm and cozy as the soup had…perhaps more so. "You are important to me for so many reasons. You've shown me how to smile again. Laugh. Real, genuine happiness. No sarcastic shit like I had to use on my men in my squad. But although I'd feel comfortable talkin' to ya 'bout near anything, there's a counselor on the base who's specifically trained to help guys like me. Who've seen what I've seen and been through…similar situations. He makes sure I don't feel like less of a man for what happened to me. You make me feel…like more than a man…something stronger than I thought possible."

She was straining hard to corral the tears within her waterline, but they broke free when he squeezed her tightly to him with both of his massive arms.

"So…that HEP I gave you is working?" she laughed, knowing full well that his home exercise program had no bearing on the strength he meant.

"Come on, Shane." he raised an eyebrow at her, challenging her to see herself the way he saw her. "Them handouts you give me don't mean a hill o' beans in this conversation and you know it. The way you hold yourself, speak to others. There is so much quiet strength in your kindness that comes right out of your beautiful little heart. Some days I'll see you working with kids, if I get in early, and I know they annoy you and freak you out, but you never let that show." He looked into her eyes, misty from emotion, and he wiped away the tears from her cheeks. "I'll never be able to explain it right, the way you inspire me to be a better and stronger man. And my heart just breaks to hear you put yourself down. And don't say you're just kidding, because I know you think you are, but behind every one of those jokes is a truth, at least as you see it." He'd seen her make to argue and knew her tactic before she had attempted it. "Give yourself some credit, Shane."

"I'm too busy blaming myself for the bad stuff to give myself credit for anything good." she sniffed. "You're the first guy I've…I've been involved with that's acted like I was worth anything more than a meal ticket. Someone who was only suitable for enough sex to make it an official relationship just so they could have a place to live, and do whatever quasi-job was a thing. First serious boyfriend was a freelance writer, but he never seemed to be writing. Then there was the guy with the internet start-up…but he could never tell me in a satisfactory way what the company actually did…so that was brief."

He seemed to know she was bracing for something big. Something difficult. He gave her silence and stroked her shoulder in encouragement to continue. She took one of her deepest ever breaths.

"Then came Elliott. Elliott Thomas. My last boyfriend. The worst of them all. Most useless and greatest offender. I ignored all of the signs, of course. He had a YouTube channel and an Instagram that he was trying to gain followers on and become a so-called "influencer." she rolled her eyes. "He had no life skills. He had a bit of an eye for photography and he could find humor in uncommon places, which he thought made him insta-famous and vlog-worthy."

"I hate him already." Sy growled.

"Well, maybe I shouldn't tell you the rest, then." he asked her to go on. "He always seemed to find these ways to cheat on me and lie to me that I couldn't quite prove, but I was just certain of. But I just…I didn't want to believe it. I wanted THAT one to work. Well. I came home one night after work, and he had another girl in our bedroom. I told him he had until the next day when I got home to leave. Things got a little physical, but I can hold my own." she said, proudly, "and I bolted with my purse. I stayed with Heather, our evening secretary, and we hashed it out, and got a little blitzed on moscato, and cried together."

"Wow."

"He was gone the next day. All I heard from my landlord was, 'you shouldn't be hearing from him anytime soon.' so I guess he had his cop buddies send him a message. He blocked me on all social media and I haven't heard a peep from him since. That was five years ago."

"What a scum bag." he stated, obviously.

"Yeah, I haven't been able to really think about a relationship since then…until…" she let the word hang there, knowing they both knew what the end of the sentence was. "Until I met you." Drifting unsaid in the ether of the unspoken.

"It's been a long time for me too. I mean…I haven't quite been a monk, but I haven't…I haven't cared for a girl since…actually, I've never felt this way about anyone."

"I didn't mean to unpack all of that tonight when we're only a third of the way through our marathon. I really wasn't even going to bring it up at all. It's just…been on my mind. Ya know. I once heard a very poignant parable about keeping your mouth shut if you're warm and happy. I was attempting to do that." she chuckled.

"Yeah, but we need to be able to open up to people in this life. Keeping a bottle stopped under pressure ain't no good for the bottle. Or what's inside."

"Such wisdom. You know just what to say to me." she grinned into him.

"Just seen what keeping yourself closed off can do to a person. And the people they love."

Love…there was that word in the air. Not officially said, but felt in all ways. They held each other close as the opening to the second movie played.

Up Next: Chapter Nine-Group Therapy

[emmy-writes-sometimes]

Fallout

You get pulled out of school with no details other than that your dad, Henry, has been in an accident on set. 

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           “Eating extra Wheaties?” You asked your dad as you walked into the kitchen. He laughed a little, turning to look at you. You put your hand down to pet the dog, who had just finished eating his breakfast too.

           “Helicopter scene today,” he answered. “I’m buzzing.” You laughed. You were a little nervous for it, and you expected that he was too. You also expected that he was hiding it. His contract for the film had basically turned him into Tom Cruise – he was doing every single stunt except for a halo drop. You tried not to worry because you knew they wouldn’t let him do it unless he was safe, and that they’d stop if he was at risk, but you couldn’t help it. You had already lost your mother when you were a little kid, and the last thing you wanted was to lose your dad, too. But you pretended you were fine with it because his face always lit up like a little kid and he was always excited when he thought about it.

           “Refill?” You took his coffee mug and went to put it in a travel mug for him.

           “Do you want a ride to school?” You shook your head.

           “No, I’m walking over with Mary.” Your best friend, Mary, lived in a house two streets over. You were incredibly grateful that your dad was actually filming at home for a few days. You were treasuring the last few days you had with your friends before your dad whisked you off to Paris and New Zealand. You were excited to travel, of course, and you liked completing your assignments and your reading on your own time, but you’d miss your friends. You were old enough for him to take you, though, and you wanted to go, so he let you go.

           “Alright. I’ll see you for dinner then. Pasta?” He asked expectantly.

           “Pasta.” You had been making dinner the last few nights, which meant whatever you could boil and put on a stove. You handed your dad his travel mug and he walked over to you, kissing the top of your head, patting the dog’s head, and then leaving.

           “Love you!” He called as he finally left. You waited about ten minutes before Mary walked over and the two of you started walking over to the school. You tried not to worry about your dad, but you couldn’t help it. You were worried about your big goofball of a father, even if he was big and strong and didn’t need anyone to take care of him. He’d done his own stunts before, but dangling out of a helicopter was a new one and it definitely wasn’t the same as the kind of stunts he’d done for U.N.C.L.E and the Superman films. This had the potential to get him actually hurt.

           You tried to take your mind off it when you got to school, talking with a few of your friends outside of class before making the rounds to each teacher and telling them that you were heading out in a couple of days. You were halfway through the day, in English class, and your dad had texted you a funny selfie with Tom earlier that almost made your phone get taken away. He said he was getting ready to get into the helicopter. Two hours ago. And you had a sick, sick feeling in your stomach.

           You heard the beeping of a walkie talkie, a familiar sound. The Dean of the school was standing outside the classroom door and walked in, eyeing you. She knew you well from all of the excuses about class you gave her. The teacher stopped lecturing and looked at the Dean, who looked at you.

           “Miss Cavill, if you could come outside with me. Bring all of your things.” Her voice was dry and didn’t give you any detail whatsoever about what might be happening. Your mind went to the worst thing, right away. Tears pricked your eyes and you thought about all of the reasons why he might not have texted you back.

           “What’s going on?” You asked her as she walked you down to her office.

           “All we were told is that your father was involved in an accident at work,” she said. “That’s all they said, other than what hospital he’s at.”

           “Hospital?” You asked. The panic started setting in. What if he was really really hurt? What if he was permanently hurt? What if he couldn’t film again? Or what if his arm had gotten cut off or something by a helicopter blade? You felt so sick to your stomach that your vision was hazy by the time you got to the office.

           “Yes. We’re able to excuse you for the rest of the day. Would you like for us to call you a cab to take you?”

           “No,” you swallowed a heavy breath. “No, I can walk home and get the car. Thank you.” You tore out of the school and walked faster than you ever had in your life. You heard Kal barking, not expecting anyone in the driveway, and you grabbed the keys to the car off of the counter. You tried texting him, but no answer. His phone was probably still on set in his trailer, regardless of where he was. And you tried to obey all of the traffic rules when you drove, but you broke a few from stress. You were almost beeped at before you pulled into the parking garage, paying for the stupid indefinite amount of time parking, and walked in.

           “I’m here to see my dad, he got in an accident at work,” you said to the woman at the front desk. You adjusted your backpack on your shoulder, realizing that everyone could probably hear your heart pounding and how out of breath you were. You were still in your school uniform, too.

           “Where’s your mother?”

           “Dead. Where’s my father?” The woman gave you a strange look. “His name is Henry Cavill. I don’t know when he was brought in, but…”

           “He’s in surgery right now,” the woman said. “I’m sorry I can’t give you any more updates than that.”

           “Do you know how long it’ll be? Or what it’s for?” She shook her head.

           “I’m sorry, deary. If you’d like something to eat or drink there are machines around the corner. We’ll call you when he’s out.” You nodded and hoped that some tea would calm you down. While you were waiting for it to brew you took out your phone, making the calls to all of your uncles. Charlie was the closest one in proximity and the one you were closest to, since he was the youngest, and thankfully he answered your call on the first ring.

           “Shouldn’t you be in class?” He asked, slightly amused at the fact that you weren’t. His voice immediately helped to calm you down because it sounded so much like your father’s. You tried not to sound like you were crying, even though you were.

           “Yeah, but the Dean pulled me out. She said Dad’s been in an accident and I’m at the hospital and all they said was that he’s in surgery and they won’t tell me how bad it is or what it is and I don’t know what to do.” You heard him sigh. You were trying not to cry but it was all piling up on you and you wondered what would happen if you never saw your dad again. If this was it. If he died in a stupid helicopter crash and you’d be alone forever.

           “Where are you?”

           “The University hospital.”

           “Alright, I’m at work and it’ll be a couple of hours before I can get over the river. I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay, lovey? Just try to calm down, we don’t need you admitted for a heart attack.” That made you laugh a little bit. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up and you were alone to call everyone else and let them know. Your grandparents were just as concerned as you were, but they knew no hospital was going to let everyone see him and they also knew that Charlie would take care of you.

           You drank some tea and sat down, waiting. The woman felt bad for you, especially after you’d quipped back about your mother. You were one of the only people there actually waiting. The other section of the room had the people with broken bones and split lips and you prayed that it was just something stupid and minor and not anything big. And every minute you had to wait was another minute where your dad was probably hurting. You answered your uncles’ texts, all of them, and tried to give them the hope that you didn’t have. The rest of the school day passed and your friends finally texted you to see what was going on.

           “Cavill?” The woman called, looking directly at you. You put your school book back in your backpack and walked up to her as quickly as you could, straining to see if she had written anything down.

           “Yeah?” You asked her.

           “Your father’s just gotten out of surgery. They’re setting him up in a room right now and you can go see him.”

           “What happened?” You asked. “How bad is it?”

           “I can’t tell you. The nurse in the room can, though, and she’ll be able to answer all of your questions.”

           “My uncle’s coming, can you just tell him…?” You didn’t quite know what you were asking, but as soon as the woman uttered your father’s room number you took off. You ran up the stairs, not even bothering with the elevator, and blew past another nurse in the hallway. You found the room, 723, and walked in before even bracing yourself for what might have happened.

           You were lucky. Your dad was awake. But his massive shoulder was wrapped up in bandages and in ice and you cringed. His face lit up when he saw you and he extended his other arm to pull you into a hug. You dropped your bag out of relief and ran over to him, hugging him tightly. He smelled sterile and you hated it. He’d changed clothes, too.

           “Dad, I thought…” You didn’t know how to finish, so you didn’t.

           “It’s okay, I’m okay,” he said back. The dam in your heart broke and you let out all of the worry you’d been feeling in one single sob. “It’s okay, I’m okay,” he repeated.

           “I know, I…” You sniffled and pulled away from him, trying not to cry as you took his hand. “They pulled me out of school and they wouldn’t tell me what happened and the woman at the front desk wouldn’t either, they just said you were in surgery, and I thought something really really bad had happened and…” You sniffled again.

           “It’s just my shoulder. Just tore a rotator cuff. I’m fine. I’m sorry I couldn’t call you, but they wanted to get me in surgery as soon as I got here.”

           “I thought you fell out of a helicopter and died.” He chuckled.

           “No, nothing like that. I barely even got to the helicopter.” He touched the headband you had in your hair, steadying it, and you relaxed a little. “I’m fine, love.”

           “I called Charlie because I didn’t know how bad it was. He’s coming.” You smoothed your skirt as you sat down in the empty side of the bed, leaning your head into the shoulder that wasn’t damaged.

           “You’d better tell your grandparents I’m not dead. I’m sure they’re already picking out flowers.” You laughed a little bit and took out your phone, deciding just to take a selfie with your dad and send it all in a group text.  

           “I really thought you were dead or something,” you admitted. “And I don’t know if I would know what to do. And it reminded me of when Mum…”

           “I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” He held out his pinky for you to swear it with.

           “You have to promise me you’ll be careful when you film. I don’t like the stunts already, but... I don’t want you to stop living your life but you scared me.” He gave you a little smile.

           “I know. I will be. Just be glad they didn’t let me do the halo jump. Then I would definitely be in a big surgery right now.” You laughed just as Charlie walked into the room, about to slap his brother.

           “I thought you had a severed limb or something!” Charlie exclaimed. Henry laughed at his brother, shaking his head.

           “No, no, God no. I tore a rotator cuff and they put me in surgery as soon as I got here. I left my phone in the trailer, I suppose.” Charlie nodded.

           “You really scared me.”

           “He scared me too,” you said, crossing your arms.

           “Do you know when they’re letting you out?” Charlie asked, sitting in one of the other chairs in the room.

           “They said they want to monitor me for a few hours, but probably not the whole night.” Charlie nodded. “Y/n, love, do you want to stay here or go home with Charlie?”

           “I wanna stay,” you said.

           “I’ll go check on the dog for you and feed him and let him out. I can ride to set too and take the car if you want.” Your dad nodded, cocking his head toward the plastic bag full of his things, including the keys to his car. Charlie took the keys and said goodbye, leaving the two of them.

           “Do you want anything?” You asked, standing up, wiping the tears off your face with a school sweater.

           “I’d love a cup of peppermint tea?” You smiled.

           “I’ll go get it.” You started walking out of the room and turned around. “I’m really glad you’re okay, Dad.” He smiled back at you.

           “Yeah, me too.”

A/N: This was such a sweet request. I loved writing it!

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