#its a big ‘if you weren’t completely unhinged i think we could have had something’

[prettynpinkputhy]

🕷️Caught in your web🕷️

Miguel O’haraxspiderwoman!reader

Warning:18+NSFW,Breeding,Praise,language,violence, blood play, rough sex, Bondage, size kink etc

Summary: Spider y/n falls through a portal and ends up in the year 2099

Comment if you’d like part 2🎀

Word count: 5.k

The cuffs around your wrist squeeze tighter the more you struggle against them. That weird electric prickly feeling begins to set in before you decide to conserve your energy. It was useless with your web supply cut off, A burning sears across your cheek as the guard delivers another blow. A metallic taste of blood pools in your mouth,you spit resentfully at his army green boots.

“If that’s all you got we’re gonna be here all day.” You sneer. The guard raises his hand pulling back with more momentum than before, striking you again. Your head hangs with exhaustion, sweat dripping onto the concrete floor. “The serum. I want it.” The sound of calculated clicks fill the space as a voice makes its way closer and closer. The footsteps get louder before stopping completely, Your spidey senses are off the charts. A calloused finger taps the underside of your chin putting your bloodied face on display. “Fascinating…your wounds have already started repairing themselves” your head whips away from his touch,repulsed. He continues “That serum is the missing link to a suit that could withstand the molecular pressure of traveling through the multiverse. The human body is far too fragile to have its cells ripped apart and woven back together, trust me we’ve tested that theory.” The blind fold is snatched away from your eyes. You squint at the sudden change in lighting, the room is fuzzy before coming into focus. You’re in what seems to be a warehouse… a huge warehouse. This building had to be connected to something bigger and judging by the advanced technology, Array of computers, and Enormous Hexagonal machine at the center of the room, it was most likely a laboratory of some kind. A man in a midnight suit towers over you with an unhinged look in his eye. “You’re my missing link.” He practically drools. A feeling of dread stabs you, this wasn't looking good.

“You’ll have to kill me. Oh wait you can’t… because… your missing link…it’s in my head.” You smile giving a small labored laugh.

“Oh Doctor Y/LN who needs your mind when I have your body. These powers you have…I assume you weren’t born this way. This isn’t some comic book fairytale. People aren’t born special. We make ourselves special…and that’s exactly what you did, isn't it doctor?” He crouches glaring deeply into your eyes.

“I am going to wring every last drop of serum from your body, you will be nothing but a husk when I am done with you.” He grins before shooting back to his feet.

“Activate the machine and get her hooked up to the destabilizer. I want this thing up and running by tonight” He places a cigarette between his lips, striking it with a gold plated lighter, smoke swirls in the air.

“Kill her nice and slow for wasting so much of my time.” He Flicks the still burning cigarette in your direction,the red hot cherry barely missing your skin.

Two guards force you to your feet, dragging you to a chair riddled with tubes and wires.

Shit.shit.shit. You think, going limp and using your body weight to slow them down. They unlock your handcuffs in order to strap you into the machine, without thinking you shoot two webs in random directions grabbing whatever they land on and yank them towards the guards. A desk and filing shelf come flying at the men knocking them unconscious. You attempt to shoot a web at the guard who stood at the entrance but they unfortunately got away, you hear them call for backup on their radio.

I’m outnumbered… your mind races

A red button in the middle of the control center catches your eye.

That’s my way out, you conclude flipping over the unconscious men and landing gracefully on top of the command center.

Big scary red button…what can go wrong? With nothing to lose you slam the button. The machine activates with an obnoxious roar, lights begin to flicker from the insane power output. You walk up the stairs leading to the device, it seems to be made up of millions of tiny pixels, each spec representing a possible reality or dimension. Colors you didn’t even know existed vibrated within this portal.

“Don’t you dare! This is my life’s work!” A guttural scream shreds the air.

“Well I guess…better luck next life?” You give a cheeky salute before falling into the unknown.

~

“ay dios mío, I don’t need a spidey sense to see she’s wearing a suit.” The voice sounds distant but close enough for you to make out their conversation. “Yes I am sure, I checked, there are web shooters…right, she hasn’t woken up yet…Okay.” he sighs. Your eyes flutter open and you’re greeted by a blue sky and fluffy white clouds. A Dark shadow cast over your view before you can fully appreciate it. Another me?… you think to yourself unsure if you’re seeing things right or if it’s a hallucination from the interdimensional travel.

“Where am I?” You push off the ground with a grunt.

“Nueva York” He states with an annoyed tone.

“Nueva York? You mean New York City? How did I end up in New York City…” You ramble frantically.

“Idiota, Nueva York, have you been living under a rock for the last century?” He kneels down edging forward evaluating your features. With a curious hand, he brushes your hair back. You wince as his finger accidentally glides over the fresh slash on your cheek. For a split second his eyes go wide with concern before resting back to judgemental slits.

“What happened here?” His hand hovers over your wound, keeping a good distance to avoid hurting you any further. Miguel didn’t have many moral compasses but one of his top three rules was to always protect women and children. Any villains who dared make the mistake of harming either were given no mercy. Killing was never his first option, but it wasn’t completely off the table if needed. His blood boils at the sight of you, his instinct is to destroy whoever would do something so vile. His teeth bare down, the tips of his fangs prick the smooth skin of his inner lip, a subtle hint of blood hits his tongue.

“Who did this to you?” He asks again, more aggressive than before.

“The Director.” You mutter. Running from a fight wasn’t in your nature but The Director’s forces were too much to handle. You needed to get away, regroup, and being shackled to a cold slab of metal wasn’t the best place to do that.

“Director, most likely a new wannabe villain…leave this to me. You’ve had enough fun playing dress up for one day.” He says as he gets back up. His eyebrow perks inquisitively for a second before turning around. “Cool toy by the way.” He waves off. Impulsively you shoot a web that whips around his ankles holding him in place. Knees bending Miguel centers himself, stabilizing his balance.

“How’s that for a toy?” You push off the ground, palms flat, landing a forward front flip straight onto your feet.

You approach cautiously, nearly walking on the tips of your toes, he doesn’t budge or even speak. He looks dangerous, measuring in at 6'9, his chiseled physique, red eyes that seemed to see right through you, and fangs didn’t help much with looking friendly. Standing at arm's length. You speak slowly.

“I’m not here to fight-”

“Wouldn’t be much of a fight.” he growls, baring his claws.

“It’s my turn for questioning.” You say.

“You must have stolen that device. I will have to detain you.” He lunges at you stumbling clumsily.

“What’s your name?” You question. Miguel stays silent for a while pondering if he should give out such sensitive information to an imposter.

“Isn’t it obvious,Spider-Man.” He states finally looking down at the red spider symbol on his suit.

“This can’t be real. It couldn’t have actually worked. I thought I’d get sent to a McDonald’s a few blocks away or something…I’m really in a different universe” you grumble to yourself, pacing back and forth.

“Are you on something right now?” His brow scrunches accentuating the lines in his forehead.

“W-what do you mean by that! Are you asking if I’m on drugs?” You’re snatched away from your personal monologue by his ludicrous accusation.

“It’s alright I'm used to super fans, just tell me where you live and I can get you back home safely.”

“Super fans? Do you think I’m supposed to be dressed up as you? My suit is way better than yours; if anything you’re cosplaying me!” You wince, doubling over, the adrenaline has started wearing off.

“You need a hospital. Libérame(set me free), I can help you.” He struggles against your webs once more,failing to break free.

“I am fine I just need to rest for…a…minute-“ your words trail off.

Miguel breaks into action, the webs resist before shredding apart as he surges forward catching you in his solid arms.

“Joder(fuck),she’s out cold” he supports your body. His web shoots, sticking to the opposite building. A strong arm locks you in place as he jumps swinging through the maze of businesses and skyscrapers.

~

shooting up in a cold sweat, your chest heaves heavily struggling for breath.

“Just a dream” you exhale relieved holding the blanket to your bare chest.

“Oh great,You’re awake.” At the corner of the room Spider-Man leans against the wall,smirking.

Your hands scramble for more blanket to shield your nude body.

“Where are my clothes?!” A hot blush creeps on your cheeks.

“I haven’t quite figured that out myself, some time after you passed out your…suit somehow submerged itself into your flesh. Disintegrating right in front of my eyes” He looks down stroking his chin.

“The suit deactivated because of my low brain activity, it thought I was transforming back. Oh god did you see anything?” You ask curling into yourself.

“Wasn’t much to see.” He shrugs.

You scoff before noticing a fresh set of clothes sprawled in the chair beside the bed.

“I came to let you know where the bathroom is, I’m sure you want to get cleaned up after everything that’s happened.”

“Why did you bring me here…and where is here exactly?”

“This is my place. I couldn’t just leave a fellow spider person unconscious on a rooftop. It doesn’t really help the brand. Whatever you have inside you is way too powerful to let a villian get lucky and stumble upon.” He explains. So it’s about my powers huh? Typical. You think holding eye contact with the spider jerk. The color of his eyes stand out to you, their vibrant red hue shines in the dim light. The more you observe him the more intense his features become, he’s extremely handsome under that constant grimace. You find your eyes lingering on his spandex clad body, tracing how the fabric molds to the shape of each muscle. So tight you could see even the slightest twitch or flex. He folds his arms awaiting your reply, This movement forces you to look down at the sheets,flustered.

“Y-yeah that’s true, thanks, I’ll uh go take that shower now.”

“The bathrooms down the hall to the left, I have towels folded on the sink along with toiletries. Have a nice bath…you need it.” He holds his nostrils closed exiting the room dramatically.

Lifting your arm you take a quick sniff. Your nose scrunches at the smell of battle. Interdimensional travel is quite the workout. Your toes wiggle on the cool hardwood floor seeing if it’d crumble underneath your feet. To your surprise it doesn’t, meaning this place is actually real life and not just some simulation. Peeking your head from behind the security of the door frame, you scan the area before scurrying down the hall. Miguel stands in the living area mumbling something under his breath.

“So her picture is nowhere in the police database?…no, ugh Tan molesto(so annoying), check again lyla.” He commands.

He really thinks I’m a crazy stalker fan you think in disbelief, you sneak down the hall stepping through the open bathroom door, you close it behind yourself . The bathroom had dark simplistic themes with splashes of red that popped. The sink and bathtub are made with the same charcoal colored marble, the sink is neatly decorated with necessities such as a toothbrush, electric razor, hair brush, cologne and deodorant. To the left of the sink are expertly folded black towels, one for washing and one for drying. The mirror is larger than average and sits rectangular at the same length as the sink.Turning around a glimpse of your back stops you in your tracks. The wounds have closed but the scars and bruises remain. A reminder of your goal…to take down the director. Your fingers trail the scar on your cheek and anger

bubbles from a place deep within . He’d taken everything from you and he had a debt to pay for those atrocities. You wanted his life as payment. Pulling back the scarlet shower curtain you twist the handle all the way to hot, nothing was better than a steaming hot shower to wash away a day. Grabbing the small washcloth you unroll it and step into the tub, holding it under the water before lathering with the body wash propped at the edge of the bathtub. It smelled strongly of musk and deep woody undertones befitting for an attractive egotistical Superhero. The scent of him causes your thighs to squeeze shut as the throbbing sets in. You close your eyes, gliding the towel slowly over your skin imagining his touch. Your head falls back as the towel travels up your neck, the muscles in your throat contract as you swallow back a moan imagining his large hands gripping you there. Washing your chest the fibers of the towel cause a gentle friction over your now stiff nipples earning a small yelp from you. Everything is feeling too good. The bathroom is steamy, the scent of him floating all around you. Absent-mindedly your fingers slide down the length of your stomach trailing a line to your pulsating heat. The hot shower stream collides with your sensitive flesh. The water sprays firmly on your chest stimulating your taut pearls. It’s too much to handle, behind your eye lids you can see him stepping into this shower and fucking you ruthlessly against the shower wall. That rebellious finger teases the slick line of your womanhood, just barely pushing past the soft folds. The tip of your finger slides over your slippery bud, a soft moan falls from your lips. Miguel notices you’ve been in the shower for some time now and begins to worry for your well-being. Just as his fist hovers over the door to knock, he is stopped in his tracks at the sound of desperate whimpers and groans. She isn’t…she couldn’t be. He shakes away the notion concluding you may just be sick from today's events. Regardless he didn’t want to disturb you unless you called for him. For some reason he couldn’t seem to walk away from the door, on the contrary he takes a step closer, curiosity getting the better of him. His heart rate skyrockets as he listens intently.

“Uhn p-please touch me…please.” You beg.

The tips of his ears are warm with blush. The crotch of his suit tightens, suffocating the raging hard on he desperately tries to suppress. His forehead rests on the door as he tries to slow his heavy breathing. Blood rushes through his veins enhancing his already heightened senses. It’s almost as if he could feel you through the wall, the only thing separating him was the door,which he could break down with ease. His lips part exposing sharp ivory fangs, his breath is labored and his body shaking with need. He needed to release these feelings deep inside you. breaking down that door and completely having his way with you on the bathroom floor was the only way to tame the fire burning deep inside him. Every muscle in his body tensed and quivered as he became solid with arousal. I need her. I need to be inside her now. A voice growls in his mind. Suddenly the water cuts off. He steps away from the door chest heaving up and down. Biting his lip he walks away, going into his bedroom to find a change of clothes that will allow his throbbing erection to feel a bit more comfortable. You grab the dry off towel and secure it around your frame.

The clothes. You think realizing they were left in the bedroom.

With a quick peek outside, the coast is clear the spider jerk is nowhere in sight so you B line it to the bedroom. An audible gasp escapes as you cover your mouth in shock. There he stood half naked wearing only a pair of navy blue briefs. His body could have been sculpted by gods, never had you seen someone so beautiful. He turns around glaring at you through his curly hair, eyes gleaming like ruby’s.

“I-I left my clothes, I’m sorry I didn’t know you were in here.” You quickly look away, the image still fresh in your mind.

“It’s fine. I was just changing.” He slips on his white tee shirt, closing the drawer.

“Right of course this is your room, in your house, and your clothes…” you ramble.

“Yeah. Sure. Hurry and get dressed, we need to talk.” He says with an unamused tone.

“O-kay!” He bumps your shoulder as he exits the room.

“Ouch.” You exclaim, holding your arm.

Grumbling angrily under your breath, you pick up the oversized tee and shorts combo. The clothes swallow you naturally considering his massive size. You make your way to the living room. your hands work tying your hair back as you sit on the opposite side of the couch watching him closely.

“I was thinking about your suit.” He starts.

“Please don’t bring up how I was naked earlier.” You plead hiding your face.

“W- no I’m not talking about…that.” His voice becomes deeper as he rubs the back of his neck reminiscing on how hard the sound of your voice made him just minutes ago.

“I’m talking about the technology. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen…something that hasn’t been explored, Ever. Something almost otherworldly.” He scratches his head in confusion.

“Okay so now do you believe I’m not some psycho fangirl?”

“It isn’t completely off the table. But if you are really a spider person…prove it. Prove it isn’t some kind of illusion.” He leans back, arms stretched across the back of the couch, his legs parted comfortably. You can’t help your eyes wandering to the visible bulge that tented between his thighs.

“What was the question again?” Your eyes are glossy and cheeks flustered. Miguel follows your line of vision seeing the lustful gaze consume you. His cock twitches, making him shoot up, using his arms to cover the evidence.

“Prove you have powers!” He raises his voice slightly.

“Okay okay no need to yell.” You stand taking a few steps away from the couch.

His eyes follow you curiously as you stop about three feet in front of him. In mere seconds his hands are forced together by a string of abnormally strong webbing. Wrapping the loose string Around your palm,you pull yanking him to his feet.

“The more you struggle the tighter it becomes.” You inform him. His eyes are low and his lips have a rosy hot blush. You advance forward using the remaining web to bind his wrist tighter. With one final pull it is secured firmly in place.

“ Te deseo tanto(I want you so much)” Miguel moans before quickly regaining his composure.

“Huh what does that mean?” You inquire unsure if you heard him correctly.

“N-nothing it doesn’t mean anything. Where are the webs coming from?”

“Here.” You point to your wrist.

“Then why do you have a web shooter? Sounds like a trick to me.” He says through clenched teeth.

“The shooter strengthens the quality of my webs. It wouldn't be fun swinging fifty feet in the air and having a web break on you.”

“That’s true. You seem to have some experience with this lifestyle. I can assume you’ve been this way for a long time.”

“Yeah…a few years actually.” You sound far away.

“I can’t believe another spider person has gone undetected for so long.” He looks deep in thought.

“I'm not from here exactly.”

“Did you move from a different state? A lot of things have changed after the Heroic age so it would make sense you were in hiding-“ he speaks matter-a factly.

“What year is it?” You interrupt.

“Year? I think you might have hit your head pretty hard. It's the year 2099 don’t you remember?” The world starts spinning around you.

“20…99.You’re Spider-Man from the year 2099? This isn’t right, I shouldn't be here!” Tears stream down your face as you realize just how far away from home you really are.

Without thinking he lifts his bound hands over your head pulling you flush against his rock solid chest.

His chin nestles in your hair, you can feel his warm breath on your cheek. With each sob he pulls you closer,deeper into him.

“Eres demasiado bonita para llorar.” He whispers in your ear. The sudden change in language catches your attention, halting the flow of tears.

“W-what does that mean?” Your head leans back, staring up at him with blurry eyes.

“You’re too pretty to cry.” He breathes.

Giving into the temptation his arms lock around your waist hoisting you to his eye level. You nod, wanting to listen to the only thing that made sense in that moment ,the only thing that felt real…your body. He exhales a sigh of relief at your nod of consent taking advantage of your position he closes the distance with his lips. You hadn’t even recognized the amount of tension in your body until completely relaxing in his arms. The kiss is hungry as you two struggle for power, he clearly wants to take control but you wouldn’t make it that easy. You snake your arms out of his grasp, tangling your hands in his chestnut curls. Your feet are dangling off the ground, taking advantage of this you wrap your legs around his waist. His tongue sneakily slips past your lips petting the inside of your mouth, tasting you for the very first time.

“Tan deliciosa(so delicious)” he mumbles into your mouth.

His warm wet appendage entangles with your eager tongue dancing together in a tango of passion. With a pained groan he forces his wrist apart breaking through the barrier of your webs, desperate to touch you.

“Need…more” he is no longer able to articulate full sentences. The lust drowns him and he pulls you down with him. His now free hands roam your body leaving no place undiscovered. His giant hand grips the back of your neck pulling you deeper into the kiss. He holds you still as he finds solace in your lips, there is no place he’d rather be in this moment than Buried hilt deep inside your walls. His other hand grips your ass kneading the soft skin. As you begin to slip, he bounces you with one arm, holding you even tighter. He blindly sits down on the couch, a bit of a bumpy ride but you land gently straddling his hips. He pulls away to stare fervently at you with rose colored eyes. Without bothering to remove your shirt in a humane way, he slashed a talon between your breasts, roughly splitting the fabric.

“So fucking beautiful” he runs his tongue up the length of your torso all the way to your neck. You tremble beneath his touch. He plants warm kisses up your throat, sucking and nipping the smooth flesh. His fang pokes dangerously close with each lap, threatening to sink in at any moment. He softly bares down breaking just the surface of your skin, a small trickle of blood pools at both sides of the bite. You gasp at the sudden pain but quickly melt as he licks it away. The fact you’re both spider people his venom doesn’t work the same way it would on a human. It is not poisonous or toxic. Your body processes it by turning it into dopamine intensifying your bodily sensitivity. The effects take action immediately; electricity vibrates every cell in your body.

“W-wait i don’t even know your name…your real name.” You huff trying to catch your breath.

“Miguel. Yours?” He smiles, the lines in his face stand out making him look even more charming.

“Y/n” your eyes move side to side as he leans in again this time lower.

“Nice to meet you, Now por favor fóllame(please fuck me)

“Oh god…ah…please” you plead as he sucks your erect peaks. He sucks and teases your nipples, he moans as you grab his hair for support.

“Uhn…mamita harder, pull harder” he groans, flicking his tongue over your hard pearls. You obey, pulling with a little more force than before. A shiver runs down his spine, his eyes flutter as they roll back.

In an instant he turns around flipping you onto your back, he kneels between your legs on the living room floor. He ejects a web plastering your ankles together. Your back is flat on the couch cushion and your lower half hangs being supported only by his firm grip on your ankles. Just as before he doesn’t bother with removing your bottoms. He lifts your legs up, creating tension in the fabric and slicing at the resistance point splitting the shorts in two exposing your eager slit.

“Oh dios te necesito ahora(oh god I need you right now)” he pants.

Using the hand grasping your ankles, he pushes your legs back putting your plush entrance on display. He salivates at the sight of you so vulnerable and open before him, the muscles in your legs tremble as he bends down splaying soft kisses on your inner thighs. You can feel his warm breath on your wet folds. A growl rumbles in his throat as he traces the line of your flower with his tongue, savoring your nectar .

“f-fuck…s-so good” you moan, biting back a scream of pleasure. Utilizing his free hand, he teases your slick canal with two thick digits before easing them inside. His tongue and fingers work in unison petting your inner and outer sweet spots. Never had he felt someone so tight and inviting, his cock twitches as your walls squeeze his fingers. Pumping his fingers in and out he simultaneously licks your clit, sucking and lapping at the bundle of nerves. Your hips buck and hands find his hair grinding deeper into his touch. He picks up the pace as your pussy quivers. his head moves rhythmically as he absolutely devours you. His chin is slick with your juices as he licks and sucks every inch of your inner labia. Your legs twitch and shake as the climax edges near, maintaining the same speed he pushes you past your breaking point.

“Can’t take anymore…i-its too much.” You sob gripping him tighter.

“It’s okay estás haciendo un buen trabajo(You’re doing such a good job) don’t give up on me…that’s it…good girl.” He praises finger fucking you through your orgasm. With a final yelp the gates open and you cum harder than you’ve came before, coating his fingers in your delicious cream. Slow and gently he slips his fingers from your spent cunt leaving you shivering and incoherent. Instinctively he puts those same fingers in his mouth sucking away the mess you made. Before you can even think of catching your breath, he sits up removing the barrier of his shirt and shorts. The elastic waistband of his shorts slides down exposing the defined V lines on his hips. His throbbing manhood burst free, the veins pulsing visibly with frustration. His head hangs hiding his red hot blush and low set eyelids, this feeling could only be described as animalistic. Using his fangs he shreds the webbing holding your ankles in place, setting you free. Your knees fall in exhaustion at either side of you giving him full access to your cunt once again. He towers over you, hands on the back of the couch to support his massive weight. You feel his cock fall thick and heavy on your glistening lips. He breathes deeply, rubbing his member along your split, his mouth opens slightly a pained expression pulls to his face.

“Me vuelves loca(you drive me crazy) I can’t wait anymore.” He growls lining his tip with your slick hole. He plunges deep and desperately inside you, his claws slice the back of the couch as he ruts into you. Those piercing red eyes bore into yours as he pistons into your pillowy heat. Your pussy clenches sucking him in further, the tip of his cock slams your g spot with each stroke. The grooves of your inner walls massage all eight inches of his thick rod.

“Me encanta tu cuerpo(I love your body)…te sientes muy bien(you feel so good)…No puedo resistirme a ti(I can’t resist you)” he groans low in your ear. He places his calloused hand under your knee pushing it back and opening you wider. He pumps in and out at a fervent pace, suddenly he switches the position of his hands to rest on your hips. With his Cock buried deep inside you, he stands hoisting you by your waist. Naturally your legs hang around his hips leaving you at his mercy. You’re a frightening 6’9 inches from the ground being fucked like a rag doll. His hands grip your ass as he rocks you back and forth on his dick. Your toes curl as he rails you slamming up while forcing you down on his cock. It’s hard and needy. He can’t control himself, his talons prick your flesh as he grips you tightly. His manhood throbs begging for release,head falling back as he forces you up and down on his shaft.

“Need to cum…can’t hold it f-fuck.” With a final thrust he slams deep within exploding and spraying your walls with hot cum. He holds you close as his body trembles, a thin layer of sweat glistens on his body. His cock twitches still hard inside you.

“Another round,hermosa(beautiful)?” He pants.

“Yes please.” You breathe.

[trinitywc]

Do Pinefrost and Rutherford become mates at one point? Do they have any feelings for each other?

I don’t think Rutherford has the capacity to love another but he’s tripped out on the idea of someone loving/needing him. The idea of someone being completely enamoured and worshipping him is fuel for his ego but he can’t really ‘give’ in a relationship.

Pinefrost is young, and at the time when she meets Rutherford she’s been living with Worlds-grumpiest-tom Houndpelt and shy Cuckoopaw so she def strikes up a friendship with Rutherford straight off the bat. I think there’s some chemistry but you can’t really love someone who thinks he’s a god. (I do love the pairing tho but it wouldn’t work at all)

[embermc]

Sometimes I think about the c!Techno/c!Tommy friendship/team-up and hear people talking about how “it was healthy” and therefore they wished it was still going on, and then I remember the “Don’t ask questions, Tommy. The adults are speaking,” line and how just completely unnerved and terrified I was at that moment for Tommy’s character, and then I find myself not really being able to agree with those people’s sentiments.

Like, that scene, particularly that line, was freaking terrifying. Techno might have somewhat cared for Tommy, but we were all so convinced that he would hand Tommy over to his abuser? And even Techno himself acted like that occasionally, leaving us to be constantly worried if he would send Tommy back to Dream or not. That should probably have been enough red flags to show that maybe their friendship wasn’t that healthy to begin with. Maybe it was just an uneasy alliance formed due to a mutual anger at a particular group of people, and a desire to accomplish goals that happened to coincide. And the fact that when Techno defended Tommy from Dream, he didn’t say “I can’t have you taking him away because we’re a team and he’s my friend.” Techno said, “I can’t have you taking him away before I can accomplish my goals, before I can get my revenge.”

Techno and Tommy’s relationship was one of business, one of necessity. Tommy may have seen it as a place where he could be cared about and have a home, but Techno saw it as mostly a partnership in order to achieve goals. There was a lot of miscommunication there, on both sides, and that’s the tragedy of their relationship. They always had differing needs and differing goals. It’s why their partnership wasn’t healthy to begin with. That’s also why that encounter where Techno defended Tommy against Dream never truly hit right with me. Because it wasn’t a situation where Techno defended his friend against his friend’s abuser, like many seem to interpret it as. It essentially came down to, “I need to accomplish my goals, and I need him to do that. You can’t take him away before I accomplish my goals. But, I would be willing to give him to you if I get something out of it/if I’m freed of my debt.”

Techno���s line there, “The adults are speaking.” It was stated so coldly, so calculative. To Techno, this wasn’t a situation where he was parting with a friend, which again, I can’t 100% blame him for because he saw the partnership as just to accomplish goals from its beginning. This was just another business deal, just a calculative decision he had to make to achieve his goals. That’s what he saw out of the situation, so to him, his actions are rational, and he’s not purposefully trying to be cruel. But to Tommy, and to the viewers, it’s a situation that could have potentially ended with Tommy being sent back to his abuser, back to a time and place that was horrible for him. Techno didn’t necessarily take into consideration Tommy’s feelings about this, or his feelings about any of the goals he himself wanted to accomplish. And that’s a big part of this entire arc: Techno rarely, if ever, took Tommy’s emotions seriously or placed them over his own goals. And again, this is mostly because what Techno wanted out of the partnership was different from what Tommy wanted, and they weren’t that good at communicating to each other about it. Techno wanted a way to accomplish his goals, a business partnership. He was never really interested in anything more, at least not until the end. Tommy wanted a home, comfort, and a friend. Techno didn’t know much of what was going on inside Tommy’s head, and the abuse he went through, so he didn’t understand much of that.

And it’s important to say that Techno himself only started considering Tommy a possible friend once Tommy had almost entirely changed himself, changed his sets of morality, and had become more violent and unhinged, like himself. He was actively encouraging this behavior in Tommy, despite Tommy not wanting to be like that. And it’s possible that this wasn’t out of malicious intent from Techno’s side, since Techno himself genuinely believed that violence was good and it was a good way to achieve your goals. But that still doesn’t change the fact that Techno was sort of actively trying to change Tommy in a form of unintentional manipulation, and would only consider their relationship anything other than a business partnership once Tommy had begun to become someone Tommy didn’t want to be.

So, it’s hard for to say this partnership was healthy in any way, when there was a sense of genuine terror when I heard that line. Genuine terror that never really went away for the rest of their team-up.

[gojoho]

MERCY

• pairing; toji fushiguro x reader [ nsfw ]

• premise; it’s the same dance with him, a shameless game of cat and mouse in which he always win but maybe losing is equally as rewarding. 

• words; 2078

• note & warning; i’m back with some toji content, he’s just been in my mind a little to long for me not the write about him. some warnings for this one is public, unprotected ( wrap it and then tap it folks ) sex, with the usual grammatical errors—I swear I try to proof read ya’ll but they just manage to find a way to stay in there. i am slowly but surely getting my mojo back.

Old habits die hard; it's easier to hate each other that way. Labeling whatever that was manifesting between the two of you as that, a bad habit. A dirty secret only an onyx sky could appreciate enough to hide. Perhaps that's what kept it alive and kicking, midnight turmoil, where even the most terrible of bad ideas are more seductive.

Though it's debatable if the alcohol left you unhinged, mindless, and bold. What other excuse did you have for allowing the bastard to enter your domain? There was no shame from the thinking without a conscience, but with the pounding music and pulsing lights, you weren't sure there was even space to think. He held a brazen stare all evening, keen to every move you made.

A man's attention was never anything to sneeze at, but when it was a straggler like Toji Fushiguro, it was intoxicating. And more than the liquor, everything seemed to be within reach under his spotlight. He held his distance, clung to the darkness, yet with such an adamant gaze he could have been right there beside you. At least, that's how you imagined it but the game wasn't that easy.

  He'd stay in his dark corner, not quite able to step closer until you were ready. Until the heat underneath your skin became unbearable, leaving you an aching mess. That made it easier to devour you. Whether it meant burying his head between your thighs or hooking his arms around your waist and keeping you open. Or bottomed out inside you, mouth feasting on your chest.

The club was full, Friday night packed but it would work in your favor. You knew none of the songs, not that it mattered, it was mere fuel to your movements. A nice accessory to the sway of your hips, to suggestive temptation behind them.

It wasn't worth looking in his direction; he was always watching. At that thought alone, your clothes become a nuisance. A means to an end, that would start with him. Toji was a patient man but knew that patience didn't extend to everyone, you in particular. He was a tease, and as your dress inclined it almost felt as if he'd been the one to hike it up.

A sensation too similar to his hands moving over your bare thighs, ready to pry them open. His smug chuckle was right there feeding your imagination, and as one song faded into the next, there wasn't a spot on your body that hadn't been kissed in theory. With one thought, you were drooling over a man less than ten feet away, fantasizing about all the ways he could take you. It was more of a headache than it seems, and as the pace of the songs picks up, the conscience returns. Whilst you make your way back to the bar. You'd need a little more liquid luck to get through the rest of the night.

  “That was quite a show.”

  “Didn’t know I had an audience.” What else could you have done but tell a bald-faced lie? Telling him the truth didn't do anyone any good. How you envision him fucking you in the middle of the dance floor.

“Could’ve fooled me." The bar was located farther away from the DJ and next to the restrooms. The quieter end of the venue, but you're sure you'd have heard his smirk regardless.

After all this time, it's only then that you turn to him.“What are you doing here Fushiguro?”

Big mistake, ten feet away he looked the same as when you last saw him, but up close and personal, some details that had escaped memory came back to haunt you.

“Would you believe me if I told you, I’m here to see you?”

Yeah right, “Not in the slightest.”

“It’s true for the most part, had a job in the area and thought I’d pop in do some sightseeing." He shifted his weight back to the counter, his elbows well-rested on either side.

“Well you came and you saw.”

“On the contrary,” he said. The double meaning has turned your cheeks crimson, and you're thankful for the red lights underneath the counter. “Cute dress.”

Images from moments before gloss over your eyes, heating every part of your body. They burned a path down your chest before settling below your hips. “Seriously Fushiguro what do you want? You made it pretty clear we both want different things the last time you popped in.”

“Things are different.” Sincere wasn't the word you or anyone else would use to describe the guy, but his demeanor defied all expectations. He seemed to be a completely different person.

  “Yeah, they are,” you mumbled, tossing back a shot you managed to order before his interruption.

  “Look," he started and turned to face you. Face inches from yours, his scent enveloping both of you. "I tried the settling down thing and it doesn’t work with my kind of lifestyle.”

It wasn't the words you wanted to hear, but you probably wouldn't have had them anyway. Wishful thinking, “Then that’s clears things up doesn’t it?” Toji Fushiguro didn’t do apologies, much like he didn’t do commitment, and even as he called after you, that would never change. Something you wish your body would recognize, no matter how much it longed for him.

  The corridor to the restrooms was too quiet for him being that close to you...too intimate. In the quick second you had turned you back to him, ready to sober up and head home, he’d already been behind you. Pushing you up against the wall in the far corner, his arms barricading you in.

  “You’re quite stubborn, you know that.” His voice was low, quiet all to maintain the secrecy veiled in the darkness.

  “Thanks, I’ll be sure to add it to my resume.” You witted, going to duck around him but he was quick and with a step forward his hips pushed yours in back place.

  “Will you just listen,” he pleaded. Not that you had much of a choice, but he took your silence as obedience. “I won’t make excuses, I’m a shitty guy but it’s gotten me this far. You won’t get the white picket fence with me. That’s not who I am.”

It was true, he was a shitty person. One minute here and the next gone with the wind. All with impeccable timing, usually around when he’d finish fucking you senseless. Truthfully it wasn’t something too much of a problem, it was better if he had his life and you with your own. Though you supposed between the kisses, and that final thrust that brought you both over the edge left some vulnerability.

  “If I’m stubborn, then you’re quite dense. I never asked for that Toji. I was fine with the wild sex but was a little conversation too much to ask? You’ve got baggage, newsflash so do I, but you’d think we’d handle it like two grown adults. You’ve always been on the move, please, slow down every once in a while.”

The silence is deafening, louder than the upbeat track in the distance. You were irritated, angry, and, to make it worse, aroused. What else did he expect from you but a meltdown? As he moved his head to your back, he lowered his arms, allowing them to ghost your waist. “I'm sorry,” he said softly, kissing it.

In retrospect, you should have jumped for joy, climbed to the top of the bar, and screamed at the top of your lungs like a lunatic, but you didn't. You didn't want to abandon his embrace at that moment; he had really changed.

The kiss in trial is slow and tender, responsive to not only the worries but any emotion in between. Everything you didn't think he was capable of and all rage bleeds into desire. Each of you starved and desperate to find a fill.

The stiffness of his pants condemned his hold, which found its power over your hips. You want to propose that he return the excitement to your place or whatever hotel he was staying in, but he broke the kiss to turn you around. His patience had reached its maximum for the night.

“Wait for a second,” you mumbled out. A slight moan slipped through feeling his erection firm and strong against your rear. The ends of your dress taunted by his fingertips liked how you pictured them too. “Sorry princess, no can do.”

  It’s almost impressive how quickly he lifts your dress and slipping a finger past your thong. But should anyone know your body in grave detail it was him. There’s a ceremonial cheer from the crowd as the DJ lets the beat drop, Toji’s opportune moment of intrusion. Your own cry, not one in interest to the music but the long slender finger to part your folds.

“I’ve waited all night to get my hands on you,” he mumbled out, lips pressed to the back of your neck.

  “Toji—”

“I’ll be quick, just the way you like it.”

  It’s in your best interest to stop him there, keeping private matters just that, you should stop him...should.

  “Fuck…quickly.” you cursed out in compliance. There’s a smirk on his face, you know it. Sure he’s different, but some things never change.

  In the second he pulled his finger away, you whimper half expecting for it to slip back in, maybe even with a partner but a casual Friday night turns into Christmas.

  “I'll take my time with you later, right now—” he started face pressed into the back of your shoulder. “I just need to be inside you.”

  First was the tip of his cock, a feeble tickle before the rest of his inches followed. Stretching you full, slipping deep into your heat. Coaxing the ache that was for him, letting the world see just how easily your body welcomed his own. Yet, it was hard to care about the rest of the world when your own revolved around everything below your hips.

  He gripped them tightly, anchoring you there at the hilt with a slow sure thrust before looping a hand to your front. Twisting the nerves in time with his sudden thrust. Quick like he said, but still slow enough to feel him move inside you. In and out, then over again. The excitement of having him there indulging with your body, and the anxiety of getting caught clashed. Making you even more aware of your walls around him, but in his muffled moans there are words of encouragement. Sweet nothings that make your arousal fierce, sexy, and less wrong.

  “Don't stop, ” you say a little too loud for doing something taboo but you don't care, “Don't fucking stop.”

  The million and one fantasy that flooded your mind on the dancefloor spirals, winding with the moment and coiled in an untamed void. Ready to snap at those trying to control it. And there, shrouded in the thin veil of privacy Toji picks up his pace, teasing it with each stroke until finally, it shudders through. Coming in waves, meeting your peek every time he pushed forward. Bolting down your legs the more sloppy and anxious his hips became.

  “Fuck, ” he grunts hands shooting to your chest. Pulling you closer to him, eating up your moans with his.

  Almost feral with the way he continued despite his cock’s twitches, he wasn't nearly satisfied but that was a mess neither of you was capable of cleaning up at the moment. Regrettably, you push back on his rhythm stopping it completely. Snapping him from the haze.

“We should go, ” you whisper out on his lips. Which he can only grunt back in response to, hesitant to slip from your warmth.

His hands are glued to your body, unable to null all contact as you tugged your dress back down or as he tucks himself back into his pants. You'd ask whether it was back to your place or his but the languid look on his face as the two of you shamelessly stepped into the light made it fruitful. It didn't matter where the two of you went, he'd have you crying for mercy.

[grelleswife]

Nightfall and something with the demon sibs Seb and Amy if you could friend? 🥰💖🖤

@bapydemonprincess I’d be happy to, fren!

(Sebastian’s little sister Amy Michaelis is one of bapydemon’s OCs; we wrote about her misadventures on Earth in our rp The Butler, Big Brother. Amy and Seb are both still babey demons in this AU, and Sebastian goes by the name Naberius)

Even on the mortal plane, time was a treacherous beast; among the endlessly wheeling circles of hell, however, it became completely ungovernable, ebbing and flowing in irrational tides. The sun did not rise in the east (though concepts such as “east” and “west” carried scant weight in Hades), nor did stars dance overhead.

Yet nightfall still descended upon hell. An indefinite period when the shadows grew chokingly thick like smog, when terrors so ancient that only the Dark Mothers remembered their names crawled forth from the caves and quagmires where they slept, and when careless whelps might lose their footing amidst a ravenous landscape that unhinged its jaws to swallow them up.

It was at such a time that the young demon known as Amy found herself completely alone in a barren wasteland.

She’d been trying to playfight with her stupid elder sibling, Naberius, but they’d just snapped at her, saying that they weren’t in the mood and that Amy was singeing their feathers with her careless flames. Amy could TOO control the hellfire that made up her true form! And why did Nab think they could boss her around just because they were a few measly centuries older? Well, she’d show them. Amy didn’t need her sib, anyway. She could have lots of fun all by herself!

SO THERE!

After scampering off in a flurry of sparks and talons, Amy had found a pack of imps to hunt, pouncing on them and giggling when they shrieked in fear. She’d set fire to a few hilltops, and splashed happily through puddles of despair left over from the messy remains of a human soul some other demon had feasted upon.

…it would have been nicer if Naberius was here.

Amy let out a frustrated growl. She was JUST FINE without her sibling. Really! In fact, she’d play a bit longer before returning home.

Wait…where was home?

Peering around, Amy suddenly realized that she could barely see more than a few inches in front of her. Like the darkness was alive, and closing in from all sides. She let out a whimper. Her shape, a fiery humanoid figure, regressed to a small, trembling blob of black flame.

Sh-she was not scared because she was a brave and FEARSOME demon from the ranks of the gentry—

Dark red pinpricks emerged from the gloom. Eyes.

Hungry eyes.

Something growled. Distant, but approaching fast.

Amy couldn’t make a sound. The helpless little flame just shivered, petrified, as the eyes grew larger, larger—

A flutter of wings, which stretched to surround her with their soft, jet-black feathers. A mighty roar warped and shattered the air, and the unknown hellbeast stopped in its tracks. The next moment, its footfalls rapidly receded as it fled the scene, though the brief silence was subsequently broken by Naberius’s raspy voice.

“Are you all right, Amy?” they asked, gently cupping the flickering fire in their claws.

“Nab!!!” she squeaked. “I—I’m okay.”

Her sibling tenderly nuzzled her.

“Oh, thank goodness.”

Then a tirade ensued.

“You can’t just wander off like that! I was worried sick!!! Haven’t I warned you time and time again how dangerous hellnights are for demons your age?”

“But I didn’t know nighttime was coming. You never said they happened so fast!”

“I did tell you, Amy, you just didn’t listen to me…”

The pair bickered back and forth as Naberius carried Amy to their safe, cozy nest, but afterwards they cuddled close together, and Amy was lulled to sleep by her elder sibling’s purrs.

[thedumpsterqueen]

Standards of Performance, Chapter 2: Fuck-ups and Textbooks

... I know I said I’d update weekly, but here we are. From now on I’ll post every Friday, if not more often. Than you for such a positive response to Chapter 1, it warms my heart! Enjoy :)

Chapter 1

AO3 Link

Summary:  You’re the BAU’s newest intern, desperate to prove yourself amongst an established team of much more experienced profilers. Agent Hotchner, the seemingly infallible team leader, sets strict expectations for your performance. He commands your respect without even trying, but is there something more to your relationship than a simple desire to impress your stony-faced boss?

Chapter: 2, Fuck-ups and Textbooks

Chapter Summary:  You narrow in on the pool of suspects while desperately trying to convince yourself that dream psychology is a pseudoscience.

Words: 2225

Rating: Explicit, 18+

Pairings: Hotch x Reader, Hotch x You

A man stood above you, backlit, so you couldn’t see his face. You were laid supine, staring up at him - vulnerable, but unafraid. He spoke to you, but his voice and words were indistinct, muffled, as if you were underwater.

He knelt over you, placing one hand to the side of your head. It was silent, still, unmoving except for the dim lights shifting behind him. You felt your breath quicken as the figure shifted almost imperceptibly closer. His tie fell forward, dangling over your chest. It was a beautiful cerulean blue, silky and expensive looking. You reached up to touch it, and the man caught your wrist in a firm grip.

“No,” he said, his words clearer but his voice still indistinct. Low, deep, familiar… but you couldn’t place it.

He released your hand and moved his to your waist, lightly caressing, stroking downward until he caught your hipbone. Your pulse quickened and you gasped and arched upward into his touch, feeling his fingers dig in tighter in response.

“I thought so,” he murmured, swinging one leg over to cage your body with his. The hand that wasn’t gripping your hip wove into your hair and came to rest at the base of your skull, pulling your head up as he leaned down to catch your mouth with his…

Your phone alarm blared, waking you with a start. The dream slipped away, leaving you alone in your hotel bed, a noticeable wetness between your legs.

“God fucking damn it; I can’t have anything,” you muttered, throwing off your blanket and hopping into the shower. You hadn’t dreamed about sex in a while, hadn’t thought about sex in a while, too preoccupied with proving yourself at work. The dream left a longing in its wake, one that would unfortunately have to be addressed at a later time, because you stayed in the shower far too long and needed to meet Hotch and Morgan downstairs.

____________

You bustled into the lobby, clutching your case files and coffee. The others stood by the front entrance, facing away, seemingly discussing something amongst themselves. Hotch turned at the sound of your heels clicking towards them. You smiled, nodding your head in greeting, and-

Oh my god.

You froze in your tracks, face feeling suddenly numb. You registered Hotch frowning in confusion, but you couldn’t say anything to reassure him, not yet.

His tie.

It was the same one, the one that draped over your bare chest in the dream last night, the one attached to the man who you’d been thinking about all morning despite never seeing his face. The same one that hung loosely around Hotch’s neck last night on the balcony, the one that made you feel so voyeuristic that you couldn’t make conversation with him knowing its unknotting exposed his throat, making him appear stripped bare in comparison to the tailored suits he practically lived in.

“You alright, kiddo?” Morgan asked. “I mean, I know I’m a stop-you-in-your-tracks kinda guy, but I woulda thought you’d be used to that by now, huh?”

Morgan’s lighthearted cockiness gave you the boost you needed to shake your head and keep walking forward. “Sorry, thought I forgot my phone. I’m good. Let’s go, what’s the plan?”

Hotch seemingly accepted your answer, but kept his eyes on you as you got into the car. “Local police have rounded up friends and family of the California victim at the station. I’d like you to take the lead on interviews today. Morgan and I will be available should you have any questions, but we’re going to search our victim’s apartment first. Is that alright?”

It wasn’t actually a question, of course, but you gave verbal confirmation just the same. After the incident last week, you wanted a chance to prove yourself in an interview setting with a slightly less hostile subject.

They dropped you off at the station with instructions to compare notes with Prentiss, JJ, Reid, and Rossi after each interview. After setting up the room and conducting a tearful conversation with the victim’s mother, your first interview of the day, a conference call with the others in Arizona and Nevada revealed that the team had missed something big in the initial review of victims: they had all attended the same small, liberal arts college in San Diego.

“So, uh, who wants to tell Hotch?” asked Emily over the phone. Silence on the line, but you could tell what the others were thinking - no one wanted to be the one to deliver the news that you had overlooked such a clear commonality in the victim profiles - one that could have led you to an obvious suspect pool hours ago.

“The most fair way to decide this would be a random selection tool, here, I can pull one up on my phone,” replied Reid, accompanied by tapping sounds as he typed something in.

“No, she can do it, she’s with Hotch already,” said Rossi. “Let’s not waste time on this. Let us know what he says.” The others murmured their sympathies, but ended the call just the same, satisfied with avoiding Hotch’s quiet brand of wrath for the time being.

Sighing, you slumped in your chair in the interview room. Best to just get it over with. You dialed and held your breath, but not for long, as he picked up on the first ring.

“What did you find?” he asked, expectant.

“I just got off the phone with the others, and, it… it looks like they all attended the same college. PLNU, here in San Diego.”

A few beats of complete silence on the other end. You cringed, holding the phone away from your head like it was a bomb about to go off.

After what felt like ages, he responded. His voice was low, stern as always, but it had a clipped quality that you recognized as the closest you’d ever seen Agent Hotchner get to rage. “How did we not find this out during preliminary research?” he asked.

“Well, um, two of them didn’t actually graduate from there, so it wasn’t immediately obvious,” you offered.

More silence.

“I’m sorry, sir, you’re right though, we should have figured this out earlier. I’m sorry, I’ll -”

He interrupted you. “Thank you, I’ll tell Garcia to get a suspect pool together.” Line dead.

You sighed and laid your head in your hands. As far as tough conversations go, that was easy on the surface - hell, you’d had bosses scream at you when you worked retail for something much less consequential. But Hotch was different - he commanded respect without demanding it, and he had a way of making you feel like the only true measure of success was his praise, and by that same vein, his disappointment made you feel like an utter failure. For a man so cold and closed off, he drew the attention and admiration of everyone around him. When you started your internship, JJ had filled you in on what happened to his family - both wife and child murdered by one of their subjects. You weren’t sure how a man who had gone through that was still standing, much less working in the field that exposed them to that danger in the first place. But that was Aaron Hotchner, right? There was a reason that any member of his team would take a bullet for him without a second thought.

You’d only known him for a month, but you thought you probably would too.

____________

The rest of the interviews progressed smoothly, and you found out through conversation with your fellow team members that all three victims had taken a class with the same TA. One of them had mentioned a creepy teaching assistant to her friends at one point or another, shaping this up to hopefully be a pretty clear case of unhinged stalkerdom. Why the grandiosity in transporting and hiding the bodies no one was quite sure, but you, Morgan, and Hotch were on your way to his house along with a SWAT team to figure that out.

When you pulled up outside his address, a little yellow bungalow in La Jolla, you felt your upper lip start to sweat. Morgan and Hotch were pulling on their vests, checking their guns, and you, an intern without weapons privileges (or training, for that matter) were hiding behind the corner of the SUV.

“Remember, we don’t know if this is our guy!” Morgan yelled to the other officers. “We need him alive, don’t go shooting for no reason, got it?”

Hotch turned to you hurriedly before they moved across the street to enter the home. “You okay?” he asked, placing his hand on your upper arm.

You nodded, chewing on your bottom lip.

“You’ll be fine,” he reassured you, looking into your face intently. "There’s several officers waiting with you out here, this will take less than two minutes.”

You nodded again, unsure how to tell him that you weren’t afraid for yourself, but for them. For him. He was indestructible, fearless, more than twice your age with more than 20 times the experience in the field. But you still felt an innate urge to be there, to protect him in case something went wrong.

His potential as a cult leader is really being wasted at the BAU. Hell, I’d die for him.

Therapy, you decided. You needed therapy.

Hotch nodded, oblivious to your internal conflict, dropped his hand from your arm, and headed towards the house with the others. You heard Morgan yell, a loud bang as he presumably kicked the door in, and more shouting. Your breath hitched in your throat as you counted the seconds, dreading the sound of gunshots.

Luckily, it didn’t come. They exited the house, striding towards you. Hotch’s hair had been disheveled in the commotion, falling onto his forehead. He raked it back with one hand, sighing.

“Nothing. Doesn’t look like he fled, but Garcia didn’t mention anything about him being at work during this time. Morgan’s gonna call her and see if she can find a location; let’s search the house.”

You nodded and followed him, feeling guilty for your overwhelming sense of relief that the suspect hadn’t been home. Morgan stood in the front yard, charming Garcia on the phone. You smiled. It was only a matter of time before those two stopped being idiots and admitted their love for each other; you couldn’t imagine being one of the more seasoned team members that has dealt with their antics for years.

Trailing Hotch through the front door, you noticed immediately how… bare the home was. The furniture was all standard IKEA gray (you recognized it, having furnished your apartment on a budget), the walls were absent of any decoration, and there wasn’t a single knick-knack or distinguishing piece that made it appear as if someone actually lived there. The obvious plainness stood in stark contrast to the sunny exterior and palm trees and other greenery surrounding the home.

Morgan strode in behind you, apparently having concluded his flirting session. “Cozy, huh?”

You nodded. You didn’t have much experience profiling suspects’ living quarters, but you didn’t need to be an expert to know that something was off here.

“Split up. Take the bedroom,” Hotch directed, nodding in your direction. “Tell me if you find anything.”

The bedroom was just as unremarkable as the rest of the house. You tore through drawers of neatly folded clothing, pulled out mounds of blank notebooks from the desk, dug through a trashcan filled to the brim with just tissues (you truly didn’t want to know), and just when you were sure there was absolutely nothing of import to discover about this guy, you pulled up the corner of the mattress to find what must have been dozens of books on criminal psychology stacked within the bedframe.

The suspect was very notably not a TA for a criminal psychology class.

“Uh, Agent Hotchner? Sir? I think I found something,” you called out.

Hotch appeared in the doorway. “Show me.”

You pulled up the corner of the mattress, gesturing for him to look underneath. Moving closer, he placed his hand on your lower back, and looked over your shoulder.

“Criminal psychology?” he asked, unmoving.

You nodded, glued to your position, breathing shallowly, wanting to move to examine the books but effectively pinned between Hotch and the foot of the bed. Your gaze shifted to the left slightly, and you were met with an eye level view of-

That fucking tie. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

He moved away to pull the stack of books out of its hiding place, and the muscles in your lower back where his hand was resting suddenly relaxed. You berated yourself internally for being so weird around him - it was a tie, for fuck’s sake, something that your mind had picked up on yesterday and inserted purposelessly into your dream.

Dream psychology is bullshit, you reassured yourself for probably the hundredth time today.

Hotch began to leaf through the books, and you saw that certain passages had been intensely highlighted and circled, with notes scribbled in the margins. He paused to read a few of them before snapping the textbook he was holding shut and standing up.

“Let’s get these packed up and go through them back at the hotel. It’s getting late.”

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes 22: Ground Zero

Part 21 -> here! <-

Bad luck has been a part of Qrow’s life for as long as he could remember. It manifested in a variety of ways but there was one in particular that was absolutely the worst, travel. Flat tire on a road trip, inconvenient. Plane delay, well that one was probably not his fault, but it felt like it! Certain cases like that were always a little iffy on if it was him or life. As the veteran huntsman stood on the deck of his son’s boat in the pouring rain with a Kraken raising from the depths, Qrow was sure of one thing. This one had to be his fault.

“I didn’t think grimm this big were still around. We’re in the middle of the ocean for crying out loud.” Qrow sighed, grabbing harbinger.” It’s cases like this he’d usually leave. Two big problems though. Problem number one, Sparrow was already firing cannons at it. Problem number two, it was waving Oscar around like a toy. He seemed okay though.

“CAN I HAVE SOME HELP HERE!?” He screamed, louder than the roaring winds and rough seas. “THIS GUY IS REALLY SLIMY!!”

“Slip out then!” Sparrow shouted in earnest. Oscar might’ve been far away but Sparrow could tell the man was not amused by that response. “What!? Do you want me to shoot that arm with you in it!? Penny will have a fit if I shot you!”

“PENNY WILL HAVE A FIT IF I'M EATEN!!!” Oscar wiggled and squirmed before finally managing to create an orb to push the tentacle off, then dispelling the orb to drop straight down. Cannon fire rained down on the center mass like grand finale fireworks, but only angered the beast. More tentacles cut through the air to reclaim its lost hostage.

“Give me a break.” The rain continued to pour down and sting against Oscar’s skin. He paid no mind to the whirlpools forming or the ship deck quickly approaching. Oscar simply closed his eyes. “Hey it’s been awhile. Mind lending a hand?” He called, subconsciously to his old friend.

“Hehe Oscar, do you even have to ask?”

Oscar smiled, opening his eyes and seeing Oz smile back through the reflection of the rain drops before seeing his own again, complete with white hair and golden eyes. “Let’s get to it shall we?”

xxxx

Nick remained quiet as Weiss drove back home from school. He was happy he made it back in time. A gigas dragging him away after his fight with Valerie would’ve made the entire incident worse. Though if he was being honest, fighting a gigas sounded cathartic in a way. He gently pulled up the window switch over and over, repeatedly.

Weiss took note of her son’s unusually sad demeanor. “Alright, wanna tell me what happened in there? You were full of energy before getting your work, and I doubt the workload has spooked you.”

“Nothing I’m not used to.”

“Ah, Valerie troubles.” Weiss glanced over and saw Nick glare at his own reflection. Looks like she was right on the money. “Take it from me, I’m sure whatever happened had more to do with her own personal feelings and not the feelings you have for her.”

“You say that with such confidence.”

“I was a teenage girl once too, you know? One with plenty of personal hurdles I tried to associate with other people instead of myself. It doesn’t ever really stop truthfully. You just get better at accepting the fact the problems fix itself when you decide to change how to respond to it.”

“Do you think I have a problem I should change? Loving a girl who pushes me away, it probably makes me look like a joke.” He tried rolling down the window again but found the switch had been locked. Yet another thing to make him sad.

“I think it’s not the wisest thing you’ve done, but it’s definitely the most normal teenage thing about you. Joke or not, feelings are feelings. They’ll work themselves out. Just don’t force anything and before you know it, you’ll see things a lot clearer.” Weiss reached over and ruffled his shaggy hair. “Who knows, maybe you’ll see this dew of yours needs to finally change.”

“As if!” Nick laughed, “I look too much like uncle if I cut it, and any longer makes me look like dad.”

“Not if you style it. Oh, or grow it out even longer. Like when you’re little! “Weiss cooed, “You and Summer were really hard to tell apart then.”

“Yeah, and people kept calling me ‘she’ and stuff. Nooooo thank you!” He folded his arms in protest.

“That won’t happen now that you got your father’s looks. You’ll just be a pretty boy. Then if you get facial hair!? Nick, let me make you gorgeous! I have Coco on speed dial!”

“This is why you had a boy and a girl, mom! So I can escape this torture.”

Weiss pouted, “Summer likes doing her own makeup and hair. I should be proud considering it’s my old look from waaaaay back, but I still wanna change things up. I’d give this entire family a makeover if you all weren’t so whiny about it.” Weiss looked in the mirror at neck length hair. She remembered how free she felt the first time she cut it. Having twins meant twice the hair pulling, three times if she counted the one person she wanted to pull her hair. Thinking back, there was a good chance it was one of times Jaune pulled it that gave way to the discussion of kids in the first place.

“Hmmm, maybe I should grow my hair out. I miss the old length sometimes.”

“Summer would be so upset.”

“Good, then she’ll change it. That’s one family member down.”

Nick playfully rolled his eyes. A makeover didn’t sound too annoying actually. Maybe after the tournament? He’d think about it. “Hey, mind if we train again today? I got a lot of pent up energy and new ideas.”

“I suppose. Someone has to make sure you don’t overdo it. Winter is coming over too, so it’s for the best I warm you up anyways. I’m positive after your recent school events that she has a few words for you.”

Nick gulped, knowing he was in for a workout. “Well now…guess I’m dying today.” He could already feel his muscles ache.

xxxx

Meanwhile in the woods, Summer and Veronica had crossed into unfamiliar territory, casual conversation. It wasn’t going well. They both agreed to chat but neither of them were actually talking! They were just walking with Veronica taking the lead, leaving Summer awkwardly following a few steps behind.

The girl had finally pulled herself together after her little episode. In truth, she was a little embarrassed to say anything after it. She hated looking weak, especially in front of Veronica, a girl who manages to look strong against even the harshest of critics and peers. It was quite envious, her attitude. Summer would give just about anything to have it. Summer looked down at her scroll for what must’ve been the tenth time. Still no missed messages.

“Expecting a call?” Veronica finally said, noticing the Schnee’s gaze consistently drifting. “Got a boyfriend or something I don’t know about?”

Summer felt like that might’ve been a jab but chose to ignore it. “Nick always calls me if Shiva gets out or nearly escapes. He’s always had a sixth sense for knowing her moves. It’s unlike him to not immediately call, even if he’s doing something urgent.” Summer put her scroll away. “Him not calling is odd.”

“Are you telling me she almost got out earlier? I didn’t really smell anything.” Veronica looked back to see the girl look at her confused. A fitting look honestly. “The one time Shiva was out and even when we argued yesterday, I smelled peppermint, a disgusting amount of it. The diamond dust smells the same.” Veronica pointed to her nose, “I didn’t smell that earlier.”

“Oh.” was all Summer could say. It should’ve been a relief, but it wasn’t. “Great, my panic attack was just unhinged. Even when she’s quiet, she’s ruining my day.”

“Are you saying Shiva tries escaping when you’re hysterical?”

“Apparently not, or at least not all the time? Agh, it’s impossible for me to tell.” Summer was even more perplexed than before. “Just when have I been talking to her? They’re not all fake, but...they’re not all real either? I can’t afford not knowing the” Her train of thought was broken when a snowball thrown by Veronica hit her coat. “Hey! Wh-”

Veronica quickly covered Summer’s mouth. “Shhh! Grimm.” She pointed several yards into the distance where two sabertooth grimm were roaming. “Alright, do your thing.”

Summer looked at the grimm, then back at Veronica, who gave a casual thumbs up. “Wait, you’re not helping?”

“Nope.”

“Whhhhyyyyyy exactly?” Summer questioned.

Veronica sighed, because one of the reasons I wanted to be out here is to better see you in action. Why else would I tell you to bring your blade?”

“You lead me here under the assumption of a fight…” Summer deadpanned, “Couldn’t you have looked up old videos of me? I didn’t see you drag Nick off to fight grimm so you can make his outfit.”

“Nick has double the videos of him fighting, as well as him figure skating. Also, I pay more attention to him than I do you.” It might’ve been rude, but it was the honest truth. Summer didn’t even seem surprised. She just looked at Veronica with judgment. “What?”

“Nothing, much.” Summer drew her blade and put a glyph at her feet. “Any requests for data purposes?” She could not believe this was happening.

“Just handle them how you would normally, oh huntress in training.” Veronica teased lightly.

Summer pointed her sword out with her right hand and her right foot forward, then took off. The distance between her and grimm was closed in a matter second. She leaped over one, slicing it’s head off through the back of its neck. Another glyph formed midair behind her. Summer used it to kick off right after the attack and thrust her blade through the second grimm’s eye socket. Not even a snarl was heard before it died instantly.

Summer looked back at Veronica. “Cake walk. You’d get more data out of a video than th-”

“BEHIND YOU!” Veronica shouted.

Summer looked over her shoulder to see a third one already pouncing. With a subtle breath, Summer slowed its approach and then back stepped to safety. One more glyph was put under the paws of the beast and pulled out like a rug to trip it. Summer spun the chamber of her Myrtenaster and threw into its ribs like a javelin. The chamber landed on flame dust, setting it ablaze.

“Phew! That was...unexpected.” Summer said, coming down from a surge of adrenaline.

Veronica ran over to Summer, surprised. “How did you do that, the breath thing?” Veronica asked, “That’s a trick I’ve never seen.”

“ Oh that? Well…” Summer took her left glove off and focused. Little snowflakes started floating upward from it in place like a snow globe. “I’m not too good at it, but I can control a bit of Shiva’s powers. Only when I’m cold though, or freaked out, but that second one is more involuntary.” Summer put back on her glove, “considering the potential risks and conditions, I don’t use it in fights. Explaining it to officials would be a pain anyways.”

That made sense. Veronica could smell a hint of peppermint coming off Summer. That was Shiva’s power alright. This also explained the mass amount of ice she saw Summer create in her video fighting the Paladin. “Permission to touch you?” Veronica asked, like she always did. Summer nodded. Veronica reaches out and places two fingers against the pulse in Summer’s neck. “Any other Shiva related tidbits to share?”

“Ummm, we share a subconscious, sort of? More like a neutral ground.”

Veronica paused momentarily, “what?” She said, annoyed by all this cookie cutter information. “Gonna need more tidbits?”

“It’s hard to explain. I don’t understand it either.” Veronica looked at Summer, unblinking. Apparently that wasn’t a good enough answer. “Look, imagine something like...an ocean, just water and the sky above. Now flip it upside and make that ocean completely frozen. That’s more or less what the subconscious looks like. There’s ground to stand on, but I can’t really see. Depending if I’m actually dreaming or in a certain place, then that’s what the subconscious can look like. The only constant is that ice ceiling.”

Every sentence from this girl felt like a fever dream to Veronica. “Summer, I doubt you're lying to me, but do you by any chance also do drugs? You know, the hard kind.”

“As if!” Summer swatted Veronica’s hand off her neck. “First of all, drugs and I don’t mix. Second, be serious!”

“It was a valid question. Rich kids do a lot of things. If Nick told me he tried it before I wouldn’t be surprised. Saddened, but not surprised.”

“While I would be hounded by you no doubt?”

Veronica crossed her arms, “I’d berate anyone who would do drugs.” Her tone was stern and cutthroat, “It’s an ugly slope that goes down fast.”

The way she spoke about it was rather serious compared to what Summer was used to. “Have...you done drugs?” Summer asked cautiously.

Veronica thought about her answer carefully for a moment. “For a brief time, yes. I’m past it however, totally clean. I thought it might help control my instincts.” Veronica slouched over with a sigh, “Unfortunately, noooo dice. Come on. Let’s keep moving.” Veronica continued to walk.

Summer stood quietly for a moment, then followed as well. She wasn’t expecting to get to the topic of Veronica’s genetics in such a personal way. Then again, someone’s very birth is nothing but personal. Curiosity began to get the better of her. They did make a deal after all.

“V-Veronica…?” Summer stuttered, “I held up my end of the bargain. The only other thing that may be worth mentioning is Shiva only knows what I know when she tries escaping, and I only know what she does if I’m conscious. Other than that I think all the dribble about the state of mind would make you snore. So…..”

Veronica could tell where this was going. “Relax, I’m not about to break a deal that I proposed in the first place.”

She reached for a nearby branch and plucked a silver flower off of it. It’s five petals were spread wide Veronica placed it in her own hair. “I take it that even your school isn’t bold enough to ignore basic faunus knowledge and history, despite their…questionable place in said history?”

Summer nodded, “Hey, Atlas isn’t the kind of place to bury the leads. Older society and its people simply do what they want, how they want.” Summer cringed, “Not that doing so is exactly better in the long run. Besides, you think rich tycoons wouldn’t tell their heirs and shady dealers how they amassed their fortune? Atlas’s people might know too well the benefits and contributions the faunus play in our history and in a work capacity.” Summer felt sick saying that. “It’s disgusting really.”

“Couldn’t agree more. With all that said, how much do you wanna bet there’s aspects glossed over?” Veronica wagered.

“I could’ve sworn you made it clear that you have no interest in money?” Summer quipped.

Veronica let out a humorous breath, “Tah, a girl can change her mind can’t she?” Veronica watched Summer reach in her pocket and pull out a hundred lien casually, giving it up. Veronica was surprised. “We didn’t even make the bet yet.”

“If I knew everything, then I wouldn’t be curious about this in the first place. Odds of you teaching me something new about your people is a given.”

Maybe it was the fact that Summer was made of money, or had good intentions for learning more, but Veronica couldn’t take the money. She could only waved it away. “Geez it was a joke. Making you pay would look bad.” She said, in a forest with nobody but themselves around. “Qualities Like night vision and other adaptations aren’t the only animals traits given. It’s fundamentally built into everything about us. Disposition, personality traits, social skills, everything; the animal you are influences all of these in a variety of ways in varying amounts.”

“Like how faunus with nocturnal animal traits tend to take night jobs?”

“Veronica nodded, “Yes. A bird faunus might choose a home at high elevations, even if they don’t have wings. A deer or rabbit faunus may have to work harder at public speaking than let’s say a wolf faunus. The subtles can get even tinier; or as obvious as a feline faunus loving fish.”

Summer never really thought about it, but that made sense.“What you’re basically telling me is for a faunus, nature vs nurture takes on an entirely different level of complexity? Nothing stops a rabbit faunus from being a motivational speaker, but it would be more work, unless their parents or even their environment had predisposed them to be apart of a more vocal and outgoing lifestyle?” Summer’s eyes lit up. “That’s actually really fascinating, sowhere do you fit in with all of this?” She asked, wanting to learn more.

Veronica was taken off gaurd by how interested Summer was. “For a person who apparently hates school as much as I do, you look eager to learn.”

“School sucks because of social pressure and redundant information.” Summer deadpanned, “Anyone would get bored of learning material that is forced upon them and is as quickly discarded.”

“Well, I guess that’s true. I wouldn’t say I’m in love with any aspect of school, but learning is the least problematic part of what I had to think about it. Anyways, what I’ve told you so far applies to all faunus. With the way the world is and all the kinds of possible traits, finding a place to fit in isn’t difficult. Those animal instincts are very much submissive compared and don’t hinder our ability. Like you said, a rabbit faunus can do public speaking. A bat faunus can absolutely walk around in broad daylight. However, there’s a minority among faunus that have their animal gene act way more dominant than the majority. Roughly 13 to around 18 percent of the faunus population, if I remember correctly. This group, my group, are easily recognized by having exaggerated or extra features. Extra large wings, skin more animal than human, cold blood-”

“Ears and a tail?” Summer interjected, “appearance wise, you seem to have gotten off easy. You covered in fur or having whiskers would be a little distracting. Not gonna lie.”

“Externally, I’m just a tick higher on date lists for everyone with disturbing cat girl fantasies. Make no mistake though, I’m not the average faunus. Super faunus, the minority, have their animal qualities cranked up and deformed. I can’t see in the dark, but my nose is keener than any dog I’ve encountered. All those little traits I mentioned before? They tend to manifest in my people aggressively and often. To put into perspective, I have more in common with my grandpa than I do my mom, on an animal level.”

“Wow, that’s…intense. Your grandpa roars and gets all apex predator on people when he’s pissed- oh! Wait, your temper is shit because of your genes!?”

Veronica inhaled, ignoring the insult for the sake of conversation. “To a degree, yes. I cannot pin the blame entirely on my DNA, unfortunately…” she added that last bit quietly. “Despite what people write online about my family, we aren’t just cats. We are big cats. I’m a panther for crying out loud.”

Summer squinted, “Well, seeing how you’re mostly blonde, aren’t you technically more of a jaguar or a leopar-”

“Panther.” Veronica said, this time with feeling. “I could dye my hair red and that doesn’t change my DNA, Summer.”

For her own safety, Summer wisely chose not to make a very easy pink panther joke. She thought about it, but this conversation didn’t need to fall apart for the sake of Summer wanting to be a smartass to Veronica for once. “Fair enough, continue.” She said, still thinking about the joke.

“My athletic ability is exceptional, hearing too. My tail gives me balance more than other faunus. Despite the term super, anyone with the mutation would tell you how daunting it is. The type of animal, like everything else, determines what the faunus might deal with. For me it boils down two major things that contradict each other. Problem number one, not eating enough meat.”

“What happens?”

“Same thing that happens to any starved predator. I become impulsive, irritated easily, confrontational, my senses get...sensitive, adrenaline makes me dizzy-”

“So you’re super hangry?” Summer said without thinking. She immediately tucked her lips in and accepted the “you are an idiot” look that Veronica gave her without mercy. “Why the hell did I say that?”

Veronica groaned, “Minutes ago I heard you bring up nature vs nurture for comparing and explaining what I’ve said. Now you compare things to being hangry? It’s not even about how full I am, it’s the nutritional and instinctual part of devouring meat that my brain wants. It’s no different than your body craving milk for calcium. If I’m not careful and reach my limit, I tend to lose sense of reason and even blackout into a haze of instinct. Essentially, I go feral. Your brother can tell you that it’s not a pretty thing.” Veronica frowned.

The bruises on his face that day after school started to make a little more sense. No way he’d just let Max and Darren get clean hits in! He was dealing with an enraged Veronica. It actually put a lot of things in perspective. Summer couldn’t count how many times Veronica looked like she wanted to actually claw a person’s eyes out. She might’ve actually been thinking it over! That...was a scary thought. “What’s problem number two?” There was no way it could be just as bad.

“Eating too much meat. That’s when I’m an apex.” Veronica said, giving a thousand yard stare. Summer immediately took her statement back. That sounded way more problematic. “My attitude shifts. My fuse isn’t as short as when I’m starved but let’s say I can be very...demanding. Yeah, let’s go with that.”

Summer raised a brow, skeptical of that statement. “Are you saying-”

“Better think twice before saying I’m already demanding. Neither you or Nick has seen me when I’m caught up in the euphoria of being what I am. I’d put that girl Amber to shame, and my physical prowess are even better. I’m wild in a completely different way. Filter, broken. Can’t even put that state into words. So yeah, that’s my genetic mishap in a nutshell.”

“You being a food snob and all of your diets make a lot more sense now. Why keep this to yourself for so long.”

“Simple, it’s not anybody’s business what I’m dealing with. It’s handled, and doesn’t need to be explained among faunus. Living normally isn’t hard when you know what you’re dealing with, which is why I’m shocked every resource hasn’t been poured into figuring out your problem.”

That stung a bit. “Oscar is currently crossing the sea to potentially find answers, I have you know.” Summer said defensively.

A scoff came from Veronica. “No offense, but that sounds like a waste of energy.”

“Saying no offense doesn’t make me feel less hurt.” Summer folded her arms. “How would you know? Unlike you, my affliction has no prior information to go off of, and isn’t a genetic thing at birth. Any move could be closer to the truth, or a shot in the dark. For all intended purposes, you were born and live normally like anyone else.”

“Hate to make you sound stupid, but a test tube baby isn’t normal in most circles. Two moms, remember?” Veronica said, coldly.

Summer stopped walking. For some reason, that didn’t sit right with her. “Isn’t that name...an insult?”

“Yep.” Veronica kept walking, “Keep up. I’ll leave you out here.”

Summer listened. Maybe it was her imagination, but that atmosphere between them felt like it changed again. They had both held up their end of the bargain. Now things felt cold between them like before. Summer wasn’t expecting to learn as much as she did. Many things were answered today, so why did it feel like she knew less about Veronica. Blanks were filled into a picture she never knew the true size of, and still didn’t. One of those pieces felt out of place. The piece that helped put build up to this situation in the first place.

“Veronica…?” Summer uttered, “By any chance, does any of what you told me having anything to do with the torn pages in your-” suddenly, Summer’s words were stuck in her throat. Veronica had turned around to look her dead in the eyes, coldly and without care. Summer felt herself become small and beneath Veronica yet again, inferior.

“Never bring this topic up again, got it?” Veronica had to stop herself from balling up her hands, or she’d cut them with her nail. “Got it?” She said again, doing her best not to blow a fuse.

“S..sorry. I just...thought-”

“You thought wrong.” Veronica said. She turned around and kept walking. “We’re not friends.”

Heat rose to Summer’s face. It was impossible to know if she was feeling embarrassed, upset, or anything. All she knew was for a moment, she felt tears well up before vanishing. She breathed through her nose and bit back. “Yeah, I’m well aware.”

xxxx

“Sloppy!!!” The commanding voice of Weiss’s sister cried, knocking her nephew into a bush for the tenth time today. “You’re unfocused! Surely you can do better?”

Weiss witnessed her child stumble back to his feet, hair messed up and panting. He stabbed his sword into the ground to brace himself momentarily. His aura was still high, and yet… “Winter, he’s still under the weather. Ease up.”

“This is me easing up. You simply coddle him too much. Nick is more than capable of continuing. I don’t remember going as easy on you when you asked for training all those years ago. You turned out fine.”

“I wouldn’t exactly use our relationship as a standard.” Weiss mumbled.”

Nick raised his sword quickly. He channeled a fire ball to the tip of his blade as fast as he could, but was still too slow. Winter had already rushed towards his left. He had no choice but to abandon the fire attack for a block that barely withstood his Aunt’s blade. Nick slid backwards on the stone ground.

Winter shook her head. “Once again, you waste aura and energy not because the attack was a bad choice, but because you simply cannot use your semblance fast enough.”

Winter shot off a fire ball not even a second later. She waited closely for Nick to raise his block, then used a standard glyph to propel herself forward. Her speed surpassed the fireball, and Winter was able to position her blade behind him as the flame made contact with his.

Nick looked over his shoulder at her, frustrated, but not willing to yield. He pivoted around with his blade held out to direct hers away, then put a glyph between them. By the time he did so, Nick already knew she was on the move again. “Don’t count me out!” His left hand pulled a summoned sword from the glyph. Nick swung it out to the left and around to his back while his actual blade was swung right. The weight to Winter’s attack came from back and was blocked, perfect. He leaned his body left with his blade as he felt Winter shift that direction to his opened side.

Winter could only smile as she went in to strike. Nick just played her and she knew it. Her blade still clashed with the summon weapon, leaving his right blade free to use the momentum from the lean and make a clean stab with no chance for her to block. Winter did the wise thing and jumped back, abandoning her assault. His left side was never really opened. It was bait. Both swords were used to block wherever she came from. The right one only stopped short because the left one did the job of making sure she aimed for his back by swinging outward. Winter would have either been hit or blocked if she immediately attacked left or right, and the glyph protected the front. By making her attack his back, he all but ensured she would aim left next because it was the only unguarded spot, a spot he was ready to defend and attack from simultaneously. It was this kind of quick thinking and reckless style that separated Nicholas from anyone else. Even his sister. Especially his sister. Winter loved Summer to death, but the girl was quick to panic if plans fell apart.

Normally Winter would hear him say something self-indulgent. Nope. Just a quiet stare and a fireball he had to fire off thanks to the distance between them. Still…

“Nice effort.” Winter said, knocking it away with ease. “But no. The simple fact you can summon the sword of an Arma Gigas so easily yet remain sluggish with more basic functions of your semblance is a baffling talent. If it wasn’t for your unconventional swordplay that you somehow make work, I’d say getting a gold medal would be impossible. Still might be. It only does so much.”

“Well it’s a little late to change my style now. This is what I know best.” He dropped his sword and slowly let out a breath, filled with irritation. “I know I’m lacking.”

Winter raised a brow. She looked at Weiss confused, “What’s wrong with him? The usual?”

“No. Well, yeah, but he’s been stretched thin in general recently.”

“I’m not stretched thin. I just...nothing feels like it’s enough. Training in particular. Like you said, I can make swords in my sleep. All the other things our family is supposed to be good at, I’m average!”

Winter turned off mentor mode for a moment. Clearly this is more than about training, but she’ll play along. It was time to be an aunt. “Nick, you are in a class of your own. Sixteen and this skilled by no means is average. In regards to us, your family, no one here was perfect. Nobody here is perfect. Your mother still over extends her strikes from time to time and your father definitely wasn’t a genius by any means.”

Weiss narrowed her eyes, “Hey, I’m free game but be nice to my husband. You’re right, but be nice.”

“Like me, you choose to wield two blades. Unlike me, it’s your go to stance.” Winter informed, “Our semblance works best when we have a free hand. That’s why shields aren’t a good option for us. The choice to use two blades isn't bad by normal standards. I’ve faced many foes that pressured me with similar tactics, even beat me. Though only one is real, another sword has made it harder for you to use glyphs. At least it should be, but summoning and a video of your exam says otherwise.”

Nick looked at his summoned blade in frustration. “I still don’t know what I did differently that day. I was faster and more in control than I have ever been. Not only did I actually make a gigas, but even all my other glyphs felt on par with Summer’s.”

“Remember Nick, You and Summer excel at different things.” Weiss reminded him. “Yes, her fundamentals and use of dust are better, but she has a knack for it. That’s her edge. In a fight, Summer’s wide range of dust and glyph combinations always means she’s never out of range to attack or control a fighting space. You may not have that but your speed, stamina, and reflexes make up for it. In close quarters, no one your age matches you in Atlas.”

“That merit just so happens to have made you neglect the need to sharpen your other talents. Do you know how dangerous you could be with-”

“Time dilation? Yeah, mom told me.” He interjected, “something about those other things simply don’t click in my head. Can’t even get a fireball right.”

He sat down on the ground and took another breath. “The way I fight, it isn’t like I built it to be the most versatile. My offense is my defense. The use of momentum to add power behind my strikes helps keep in moving. It’s why my stamina and speed is good, to push my body for relentless attacks.”

He didn’t say it out right, but he didn’t have to. Nick made a style that didn’t make him good against a variety of people in mind. No, Nick thought of style against Shiva. In the end, that’s the only fight that matters. Beating others with it was a way to refine it for the moment it mattered. Abandoning it was not an option. Only improving.

Winter could only look upon the boy's face and see someone who only ever has the best intentions for others slowly begin to waver. Her teenage years were long gone, but no one ever truly forgets the confusion they went through during that time. Winter walked over to her young nephew and sat in front of him, legs crossed. “Why is it always the most caring of people who can never give themselves the break they give others? Nicholas Schnee, you are a kind, hardworking young man that never doubts himself often. Much like your mother, you take hold of what you want and clench it tight.”

“Lately holding on seems to hurt more than letting go. Nothing...feels right. Not just in training either. I feel like a gap between me and everyone else has been growing, like I’m out of a very important loop. Val, Vee, even Summer.”

“This time of year gets people stressed. It’s possible every one just needs a breath. I can speak much on a gap, but I’m positive time will mend it. Despite my feelings towards the young Belladonna, it is pretty clear the two of you get along. Confide in her.”

Weiss and Nick went bugged for a moment. They both looked at each other and then back at Winter.

“Wow.” Weiss spoke, “That’s pretty big, coming from you. Anytime you see that girl, you have nothing but disappointing looks.”

“Yeah Auntie, I’m shocked.”

Winter turned a little red, “I don’t see why. I may find her a bad influence on you and your sister, but my opinion is one of many. With you, Veronica is a welcome distraction to break up your daily routine. I’ll give her that much.”

“How generous,” Nick said sarcastically. Veronica was starting to sound more like a battle tactic than a person. Though she probably wouldn’t mind if it meant spending time with him. Regardless, “I appreciate the suggestions, but my time is better spent training at the moment. If I can be half as capable as I was during my exam, then I chalk that up as good progress.”

Winter hit his head. “Fool, you’re not getting it!”

“Ow! What!? All I said was- Ow!” Weiss also hit his head, much lighter though. “Stop hitting me! I thought this was a pep talk!?”

“It is.” Winter stated, “It’s also a lesson. The way you are now, you can’t progress much further. I urge you to really think about what made that day different from now; what made your last attack against me different even. That is all the hints I will provide to him. I do hope your mother keeps quiet as well.”

“Hey! I get I’m a little...lenient with him, but I would never skip an opportunity to watch him grow. Besides, telling him wouldn’t mean he could do it any faster anyways.” Weiss teased. She could hear Nick’s ears practically buzzing.

“If that’s the case then say it!” He asked eagerly. He was given no answer. Winter and Weiss walked away from him like they didn’t peak his curiosity. He assumed training was about to resume like normal. However, it didn’t. A look of shock came to him when both of his elders faced him, blades drawn.

“What, both of you at once.” He said nervously, grabbing his sword and rising quickly to his feet. “What happened to me being under the weather, mom!?”

Weiss smiled, “Hey, you wanted fast results. Until you find the answer to your glyph problem, we’ll double down or swordsmanship. Brace yourself. I’ll hold back.”

“I will not!” Winter smiled.

Nick didn’t even get a chance to blink before the two of them came after him. He gulped, “Should’ve stayed in bed.” Nick prepared himself when suddenly, a cold chill went down his spine. Weiss and Winter immediately recognized the look of fear on his face and stopped their approach while he pulled out his scroll to call his sister. “Pick up. Come on Summer, pick up!” He muttered.

xxxx

Summer felt like an idiot. Of course nothing has changed. Why would it? A talk didn’She walked faster, out pacing Veronica.

“Hey, slow down. I haven’t told you where we’re going.” Veronica said, but Summer didn’t listen. “Hey!”

“Leave me alone! I may not come here often but I live here. I’ll find my way without you.” Summer said, grunting as she forced her way through dense branches and bushes.

“Can you not act like a child for once!?” Veronica yelled, running after her. “And stop ignoring me!” Veronica was near her wits end.

“.........”

And then she reached it. Veronica’s tail and tensed up. “Summer!” Veronica yelled again, going through the bushes. “I said stop ignoring-” the potent odor of peppermint invaded her senses out of nowhere. Veronica looked around the area, seeing nothing. Nothing, but a frozen lake, shimmering with diamond dust below the surface; and Summer standing in place, shivering.

“Summer…?” She said, concerned this time. Her words didn’t reach, not immediately. The scent wasn’t only coming from the lake. Veronica didn’t dare to move as she watched a finger point across the water. Her eyes looked in that direction to see nothing but scared trees and large rocks that had been chipped rather deep.

“A fight?” Veronica thought. She looked closer. All the markings looked to be going outward and from one spot. A spot several feet off the lake. Even with all the dust, it was clear that spot smelled the most foul. “No, an explosion.” Her attention went back to Summer. “A dust explosion.” Veronica yelled again. “Hey! Summer! Answer me, please!?” She could no longer be calm. Veronica ran to the girl screaming her name.

Summer might as well have been deaf to Veronica’s voice. All she heard was laughter. Her laughter, coming from Shiva skating on the ice.

“Hahahahaha! Oh wow! We haven’t been here in ages Summer!!!” Grinning and filled with joy, Shiva extended her hand, “Summer, come join me!” The glow of her eyes grew more dazzling, as well as her smile. “Just like before….”

[docstark]

Ignite (Avengers/Bucky Barnes Fanfiction) Chapter 1 - Everyone Has a Beginning

Hello!

I am going to start off with a little sidenote before we get started here. I started this as a side blog so it is not my usual writings (I usually write kpop ff) but I have been feeling the Marvel writing vibes lately so thought that I would put myself out there with what I've had in my google docs so please be kind.

Also, I appreciate constructive critisism, it helps me write and mold my characters/ideas and I also just love hearing what you think. I'm a bit rusty right now with my writing and there may be times where things aren't consistant with updates cause I'm getting back into school soon, but here we go!

Sincerly, Doctor Stark

Oh, I almost forgot...

If you have seen SHIELD you know who AIDA is but in this story she is the equialent of FRIDAY.

Also you'll see that my OC has the same power as Quake/Daisy Johnson because I was like "WHAT POWER COULD MY CHARACTER POSSIBLY HAVE?!"

N/N = Nickname

Warnings: None...some language?

"AIDA, if anyone calls please just send it to voicemail...I really don't want to hear from the New York Times for the...." I stopped as I set my keys on my kitchen island, "AIDA?"

"Doctor Stark, it seems that my security protocols have been over run," AIDA finally replied, "I tried contacting you but it seems that he has also managed to cut into my communications."

By now I had noticed the figure that was sitting on my couch and I cautiously approached my living room like I was entering the room with a wild animal.

"Should I try to see if I can get through to Mr. Stark," AIDA questioned.

"No," I said as I finally made eye contact with the man on the couch, "He came all this way instead of fleaing the country immediatly...he has questions. You won't hurt me, will you Bucky?"

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

Let me back up for a moment and introduce myself, my name is Y/F/N M.I. Stark aka N/N Stark better known as Doctor Stark. For the longest time I was just Howard Stark’s genius daughter who people barely remembered existed. I rather liked it that way though, while Tony spent his time in California soaking up the sun, partying, sleeping around, getting kidnapped for 3 months, doing some work on the side, and now becoming Iron Man (have no idea how Pepper does it)...I spend my time in New York between working at Stark Tower and doing some side consulting in DC and some...other business that takes place during my consulting. But other than that, I tend to stay in the shadows. Well, I used to be able to stay in the shadows. Then of course Tony decided that be would become Iron Man and I become someone that everyone had questions for but they weren’t going to get answers from.

Currently I live in New York just outside the city which has its perks; I have a decent sized house customized for my own needs, a yard, a pool, a fence (iron with perimeter security), a gate for my driveway, and neighbors that I can chat with.

You know, feel normal even if it’s just for 5 minutes.

Downfall is the commute. But since I am one of the owners of the company, being a little late isn’t that big of a deal for me unless I had something planned.

Now, even though Tony was Iron Man I couldn’t blame him completely for all the calls I get now. Now after the powers that I now have had been seen during the whole drone fiasco at Stark Expo. And that is something that should really be explained...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ever heard of an Agent Peggy Carter? She’s a wonderful woman and a close family friend, so close in fact that growing up I started to call her Aunt Peggy; after my parents died and Tony just about completely separated himself from the fact that he had a little sister who was 15 and in college, I could always count on Aunt Peggy when I needed someone to talk to. But as we know, a good Agent keeps her secrets and only reveals them when the time is right.

By the time I turned 21 I had completed my PhD in biomedical engineering and electrical and computer science as well as a doctorate in biochemistry (7 years of college and sleepless nights, taking more classes than I probably should have, but I did it). At the time I was just getting myself acquainted to my new office space at Stark Tower (during that time I only occupied the 80th floor) and my research and projects at a slow pace.

“Don’t feel like you have to run,” Tony said only half paying attention to me, “Start slow, you know Stark Industries just as well as anyone, you’ll be running the tower before you know it.”

I had to admit that he was right; I had been in Stark Tower thousands of times it seemed but this was new for me. But then Aunt Peggy came along and gave me that extra push that I needed.

She had said she had an office warming gift for me; what I wasn’t expecting was the almost 30 boxes of old files, some dating as far back as 1939.

“Your father was a great man, a fool at times, but a great man,” she started, “Throughout his career as both the founder Stark Industries and of SHIELD, meticulously hid his files and personal work in different places. He once told me and Edwin Jarvis the location of all the information and who to give it to should something ever happen to him.”

“Shouldn’t this be going to Tony then?” I questioned, “If this is his work then-“

She held up her hand and I stopped, letting her continue. “I remember one very particular evening when your parents had invited me out for dinner. You had just gone off to college...his little girl.”

I snorted trying to imagine my father gushing over his kids like any regular dad would and in my head it just wasn’t happening.

“He didn’t show a lot of emotion because he wanted you two to be able to face the world as it is...but for him it was hard seeing his little girl off to college even earlier than most dads would. But we did have a conversation that leads to the elephant...or should I say boxes in the room,” she said as she walked over towards them, “He said that both his children were born protégées, both were born to carry on what he had started. However, while they both possess the talents to change the world, one is more so the leader and the other the backbone.”

She opened the box in front of her that had a large ‘(Your Initials)’ written on the front of it. “He said, First born or not, had he not felt like Tony had the potential to lead, you would have become the head of Stark Industries,” she said, pulling a book from the box and holding it out to me, “Your father believed that you are the backbone to the very company that you stand in today, which is why I am now giving you these, just as he asked...keep them safe.”

And in Aunt Peggy style she left me to soak in the information that she had just told me, and to move the boxes to a room that only I could get into. I spent every waking moment going through the boxes, sorting them, trying to find what had gone wrong to make him tuck certain things away.

I found some items that I wondered why he even kept. Was it a reminder not to mess with it? A way for someone to know what to do should they see one? I didn’t know but it was staying under lock and key, that was for sure.

The book that Aunt Peggy had given me was essentially a journal, maybe even a diary, whatever you want to call it, it held the detail of things that had gone wrong, things that had gone right, and the one that she had given me wasn’t the only one. In the same box with my initials were more journals, just like the rest and there were almost 3 exclusively for Project Rebirth…

I don’t know how long I went through the boxes labeled ‘Project Rebirth’. The story of Steve Rogers, of Captain America was regular bedtime story for me.

My mother once said I should stop asking him for Captain America stories and at 5 years old it was the first time I had really seen my father get defensive about anything.

“If she wants to hear those stories then I will tell them, Maria,” he said.

But reading how long he searched the frigid waters, hoping for a signal to find his friend, I now know the look I saw behind my father’s eyes...sadness and grief.

For a time I stepped away from my file room, my workload getting heavy, ideas that my father thought of being brought to life but in a new and better way. As my projects expanded, my need for space grew, and to everyone’s surprise I now took up 5 floors in just five years, and with lab assistants and AIDA to help with the calls, I got a chance to finally step back into my file room.

I had barely touched the files over the last 5 years, but what I can say is that there was one box that I was avoiding. It was a wooden box, nothing intricate about it. It almost reminded me of my mother’s old jewelry box, a gift passed down in her family. But this box was odd. There was no mention of it in any of the journals, no note, nothing.

So I had to take my life into my own hands at that point and I carefully opened the box. When I opened it I gave a sigh of relief. Carefully cradled in the box was a vile of purple liquid, and of course, now that I have gotten past a close call with a heart attack, I found a note...taped to the inside of the lid.

“Out of the many things that I have come across in my time...blah blah blah speech about his accolades...while Dr. Abraham Erskine created the Super Soldier Serum for Project Rebirth, it was not the only serum that he created. The Terrigenesis Serum was created to react with the body’s own DNA and essentially bring forward any supernatural abilities that might be laying dormant within someone, should they have them.”

I stopped and ran my hand through my hair. They didn’t know when to stop, did they?

“Should you find this one of 2 things can be done; hide it or take it to SHIELD and only if they know what A21K609S means, are they to know about what you have….I suggest you start with the top.”

For the longest time I hid the Terrigenesis Serum, we didn’t need someone with superpowers who might be unhinged, running around.

But after I had started consulting with SHIELD for a few years and when Tony got kidnapped...my emotions got the better of me.

And I went to Fury…

He knew what the code meant, he questioned me over and over again telling me that there was a chance that I could die.

“IF YOU DON'T HAVE SOMEONE DO IT I'LL DO IT MYSELF!” I remember screeching at him.

I was taken to a lab and strapped down on the bed, since no one knew how the serum would affect me, on the screen of one of the computers I saw that Fury had pulled up the old file that SHIELD had on the serum.

I remember seeing Natasha up in the observation room looking down at me. By then we had become friends and by the look on her face I could tell that she did not approve of this.

But it was too late now…

The purple liquid traveled into my body, making me feel like every vein and artery was being shredded as it circulated. I couldn’t even tell if I was screaming, I knew my mouth was open but I could hear nothing.

I felt hands on me as the lab assistants and doctor who had been permitted in the room tried to push me back flat on the bed but there was this loud bass like noise and the hands were gone and everything went black.

When I woke up a few hours later the only person in the room with me was Fury.

“What’s this thing around me?” I asked looking purple, glowing substance around me.

Fury took a pen and threw it at the substance and it bounced back. “Some sort of shield that surrounded you after the serum took hold in your body...I suggest you try and figure out how to make it go away.”

Closing my eyes I tried to tell the shield that I was fine, I was safe, and that it could come back to me. It took a good hour but I figured it out and finally Fury was able to undo the straps that were holding me down to the table.

“So what? I’m some sort of human shield?” I questioned as a lab assistant came into the room and cautiously lifted the head of the bed up so that I could sit up. I finally got a good look at the room; equipment was knock over and strewn around the room, there was broken glass in the observation windows, and there were cracks in the walls. I gulped upon seeing this. “Did I do all this?”

“Vibration manipulation,” he replied, “Congrats Doc, you created a small earthquake right here in this lab. Not to mention you scared the hell out of the SHIELD science division when they got blasted back from that force field. But either way...looks like we have some work to do.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Next Chapter>>

[starshine-cal]

lol not a post from the fucking caps lb tag getting recommended to me and people are STILL SERIOUSLY GOING ON like w*lson’s DELIBERATE INJURY AND SENDING SOMEONE TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL is on exactly the same level as the injured players teammates fighting him or hitting him hard (but without intent to injure) since the refs REFUSED TO FUCKING DO ANYTHING. I’m sorry, if someone fucking hit and ran your family member and even though you had CCTV footage clearly showing their license plate AND FACE the courts were just like “nahhhh I don’t see anything wrong with that” WOULD YOU REALLY JUDGE SOMEONE FOR BEATING THAT GUY UP AFTERWARDS????? Holy fuck dude lol you “violence is never the answer!! unless it’s my sexy daddy from the caps deliberately injuring someone 🤤🤤🤤🤤 you’re not allowed to retaliate though!! 😡😡” people are actually the scum of the earth lol (if you’re a caps fan and you realize that it’s possible to still like a team while condemning a few of its players and you agree that what Wilson (AND!!! VRANA!!!!!!!) did is shitty, congrats! You’re a decent fucking human lol)

Honestly Jack Edwards said it best (as he often does xD), it is 100000% on the refs for how that game ended up going. They allowed it to get completely out of control by not calling a penalty, DOUBLING DOWN on their being no penalty AFTER VIDEO REVIEW, and then punishing the bruins heavily for fucking justifiedly and LEGALLY retaliating. If they had just ejected him from the game (which btw if there were fans in the garden? They would have. They only didn’t bc they knew they could get away with it) sure there would’ve been some scraps bc we just kinda don’t like each other lol but it wouldn’t have gotten to that level of unhinged.

Caps fans are fucking clowns but I guess when they already still supported someone who got suspended for deliberately injuring someone 4 times in the SAME CALENDAR YEAR we all should’ve expected this lol. Absolutely fucking shameful. I’m a bruins fan and a canes fan and a VGK fan (really disappointed to see a fellow vgk fan supporting what w*lson did. When he charges and attempts to injure flower (or our captain or anyone) in the future I hope you’re absolutely ecstatic. If one of our boys gets sent to the hospital? That’s on people like *you* for supporting him to the point the NHL refuses to do anything about him.) and literally I have seen examples in *every tag* of those fans calling out their player for doing something dirty. Hell part of the bruins lb tag still doesn’t like marchy even after he became a cleaner player bc they just can’t get that trust back, which is very fair. Canes fans (including myself) called out pesce the other day for slew footing a guy just bc he was angry. We said he deserved his punishment if not even more bc it was dangerous and he blindsided the guy. I’ve seen vgk fans acknowledging that people may not like the way Ryan reaves plays and that that is fine. BUT MOTHERFUCKING WASHINGTON CAPITALS FANS. I have to assume that those of you who weren’t born and/or raised in DC are literally only a fan bc you enjoy watching big ~manly~ (racist, bigoted, power hungry) men injuring people lol. I can’t believe I was even *thinking* about supporting your team. I can’t believe I was ever happy for ovi for winning a Stanley cup finally. Get fucked lol I can’t believe Zee hasn’t peaced outta there yet

-

Lol caps players be like “there’s a guy I don’t like on this team so instead of going after him I am going to head hunt/fight one of the nicest and/or most vulnerable people on the team bc I like to feel powerful”

[bekaroth-reads]

Sephiroth x Reader

There was a breeze sending a chill through the night. The place you were staying was right on the edge of a field, so there were was nothing that was impeding the breeze in the slightest, and your body shivered whenever it was hit by the gentle yet unrelenting force. You could have gone back into your tent, but you were too restless for that. Maybe you were underdressed for the elements but at the moment you deemed that more tolerable than trying to sleep or even just sitting in the almost claustrophobic tent that you had. There was some sort of calm in watching the wheat sway gently in the glow of the moonlight. And, yet, there was an eeriness to it as well; like there was no end to it. It was almost like a void or a black hole; all-consuming and wanting to swallow you into its nothingness at any moment.

You stood there in there with the wind blowing onto your back, past you, and through the wheat slowly dancing in the blue moonlight, not caring about the goosebumps that littered your arms as well as the rest of your body by this point. This calm was interrupted when the gentle breeze was stopped by something that was standing so close to you that you could feel the heat coming off of it and it blocked out the light of the moon from behind you. It was difficult to tell what it was as it was completely silent and its shadow was blended with yours. There wasn't supposed to monsters in this area, but with how crazy things had been lately you decided to just accept it. The few seconds that you were standing there felt like hours. You knew that there wasn't a great chance of you actually fighting off whatever this was with just your bare hands, but maybe you could stun it longe enough to get to your gear in your tent. The only thing you could think to do was swig your fist as hard as you can and hope for the best.

Your plan went as badly as it could when your wrist was promptly caught by a person. If the fact that there was someone out here in the middle of nowhere with you would have been bad enough, but one glace at that unmistakable, silver hair almost floating in the breeze let you know that this was worse than any monster that could have come here. "Careful, you might hurt someone doing something like that." His deep voice floated across the wind in a gentle tone that was oxymoronic to everything that he was. "What are you doing here?" You snapped causing him to smirk. "Feisty as ever I see." Sephiroth used your wrist to pull you closer to him so he could wrap his other arm around your waist to keep you there. You tried your best to get out of his hold, but he easily stopped you.

"Come on, I don't even get a, 'Hello?'" He seemed like he was slightly disappointed by how coldly you were acting toward him. "You think that you can just disappear and everything will just fine?" He hummed in thought and pulled you closer. "I had to leave quickly. I wasn't able to tell you about it." You tried again to get out of his hold and while he let you back up a little bit, he still didn't let go fully. "Sephiroth, it's been three months! You didn't think once to talk to me?!" You knew that he was never good at communicating any sorts of emotions that weren't bragging or intimidating, but this was still ridiculous. He was gone for so long and with no word that you as well as everyone else thought that he was dead. Not to mention that all of the other members of SOLDIER that were on the mission with him had either also disappeared or were found dead.

There was a silence between the two of you and you saw there was something dangerous that flashed in Sephiroth's eyes, perhaps a thought about that mission that he disappeared from and what it entailed. But, when his eyes found yours again they softened their glair. "I... found out something all those months ago. Something that changes everything. I had to get away from Shinra or they would have tried to stop me from what I had to do." While you were never the biggest fan of the Shinra family or most of what their company did, but the way that Sephiroth went on about having a higher purpose than working for them had something of an unhinged undertone to it; like there was more to this than a change of morals or disenchantment with his former employers.

You went to say something, but between your frustration and growing concern for the man in front of you, your words got caught in your throat. Sephiroth seemed to pick up on this and finally let go of your wrist to place his hand on the side of your face. "I know." He started with an understanding of your unspoken worries. "But, I'm here now." He tilted your head up and leaned his down to give you a gentle kiss. Sephiroth pulled back to look at your faces for a moment before leaning back in for a deeper, more needy kiss. When he finally broke the away from your lips even he was panting, which was a difficult thing to achieve.

Sephiroth picked you up and walked toward your tent, hardly stopping the barrage of kisses that he was placing all over your face. As much as you were enjoying the much-missed attention that was absent over the past few months, you knew there was something slightly off. Even though the two of you were together for some time now, Sephiroth was never one for big shows of affection. You always knew that he cared for you, but it was always in his own, subtle way. There was no telling what could have set off such a change in his mannerisms, but it must have been traumatic. You didn't know how to breach the subject without making his mental state worse but eventually decided to use the previous conversation. "Sephiroth, you said earlier that you found out about something-"

"Later." He immediately shut down the conversation, and if his shortness with you wasn't an indicator that he didn't want to continue this conversation then his tone was. The tent was opened and he laid you down onto the bedding inside before taking off his many bits and pieces of armor, sitting them and his sword next to your gear and lying beside you. "Sephiroth, please just tell me what's going on," you begged as you tried to sit up and look him, only to be pulled back down into his hold with an almost crushing force. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow we will start our new world. But, tonight just rest." There was almost a prideful purr to his voice as nestled his face in the crook of your neck with no intention of moving it anytime soon. You could only hope that whatever had gotten into him would be gone by the morning.

[scientistowengottlieb-newtkelly]

Thoughts and feelings about Pacific Rim 2?

you sure you wanna open up that particular can of worms?

movie review time! be warned i'm not in a good mood as i am shaking in pain, however this review would have been scathing regardless. and none of this is to say pacific rim is perfect, it's not, but... aye, i have no words for the world of difference there. oh wait! i do:

so. first and foremost, i hate it. as both a movie and a sequel. did i find it entertaining? yes, mildly, so i suppose it did its job, however the only thing that keeps me watching it is because, simply, it's part of the pacific rim franchise whether we like it or not. therefore, i squeeze as much salvageable content from it as i can, such as how one might analyze the precursors, how we are to view hermann and newt as characters pre-, during, and post-uprising, what we are to expect from drifting (though this one i take with a grain of salt, there is a whole other rant preserved for the joke of an attempt to develop that shit within the movie)

one of my biggest issues with pacific rim is really simple: it plays out like DeKnight did not watch the first fucking movie or was scrolling through twitter while doing it and decided he'd make a cash grab since the first one was relatively popular. "haha the kaiju were going for mount fuji the whole time!!" bitch no they weren't!!! why the fuck did they end up anywhere near sydney, australia, then!!! why did they turn tail on places like manila and san fran instead of heading straight for japan!!! WHY DID THE ONE THAT WAS IN JAPAN NOT SUCCEED, THERE'S NO WAY WITH THOSE MARK 1 JAEGERS THEY'D HAVE BEEN ABLE TO REASONABLY FIGURE OUT THEIR PLAN AND WHERE THEY WERE GOING IN TIME TO STOP THEM!!! newt literally lays out what they are doing in the first movie and they completely ignored that!!! not to mention, if the destruction from elements found in mount fuji would have been enough to terraform the earth, WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST FUCKING DO THAT WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSEDLY ON EARTH AGES AGO??? THERE WERE VOLCANOES WITH THOSE SAME ELEMENTS BEFORE RIGHT NOW, VOLCANOES ARE NOT A RELATIVELY NEW THING EARTH CREATED SUDDENLY AND I WOULD IMAGINE NEITHER ARE THOSE ELEMENTS!!! IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! and.... okay the fucking drones. how did those bitches make breaches??? we know the breach is some result of precursor/kaiju technology, apparently they know the breach's atomic structure as hermann said in the first movie, but how tf some kaiju organs and tech from earth only is ALL it takes to open a breach... illudes and confuses me... why were no more breaches made by the precursors once they realized how long and how many resources it was taking to kill the humans off??? if it's??? shit they could do with simple earth materials + their own biology??? they could have ended things much faster??? shit just doesn't add up, idk, that was Vague and Annoyed Me

and the jaegers.... were....... strange? the fight scenes were so underwhelming, i could count on one hand the number of maneuvers—NOT SCENES, MANEUVERS—i thought were badass and moved well. their fighting was confusing and paced really weird and some of the moves they pulled... don't... work like that... like some of those scenes were just hand-to-hand combat but in big robot form and they didn't sit right with me at all.

and the characters......... oh my word, the characters. look: i love jake pentecost with all of my heart and soul and john boyega's beautiful acting just barely saves the movie from its poor writing. i do love him as a character. but can someone explain to me why in the world they thought it was a good idea to make the only black guy a black market thief/runner, deep-record criminal with daddy and authority issues, and who they dare try to play off as some kind of lazy??? they made him every stereotype they could and said "yeah let's go with that". i'm- aaaaaaaaaaaaaa and what was with the child soldiers??? ROBOCOPS?????? mako....... character assassination at its worst........ my baby......... but the movie was paced so GOD DAMN POORLY I GOT BORED AND LITERALLY MISSED HER DYING THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED IT. and i couldn't tell you the names of half of those poor damn kids, i really couldn't. and can i also say they killed off one of the only two darker skinned kids?? like y'all???? the other darker skinned kids (one of the children i can't remember the names of because it was uttered ONCE in the entire movie or some shit) didn't even GET characterization. my whole heart goes out to her and those other underdeveloped fucks. speaking of...... i am ashamed about jules. from the movie that brought us the mako mori test, they threw in a girl simply for the sake of some shitty, awkward, and unexplained love triangle between jake and White Angst without much else to put to her name. she deserved better. amara was... a decent shot, but very hit or miss because of the writing. i, personally, am very neutral about her leaning towards liking her, but i know people who swing love and who swing hate. liwen was like,,,, they tried really hard to make her unlikable at the beginning because "oh no, she must be the villain! GOTTEM plot twist!!!" and then suddenly she's no longer. threatening everyone except newt. idk i feel like they leaned to heavily one way and i got whiplash when she's actually another but there was nothing to... portray that. at all. i do like her character, and that says a lot because they got me to sympathize with a capitalist without actually regretting it later, but there could/should have been More there. she was powerful, though, in multiple different aspects, and we saw that from her CONSISTENTLY and i 😳🥵👀💕 mako mori test pass for her

now, let's talk about hermann (and by extention, newton, however he'll be getting a section all his own the rat bastard). that man is one of the single instances of decent cross-movie characterization i saw in the whole god damn film. the idea that he takes on newton's roles, that he is more outspoken for himself, that he is just slightly more unhinged after his drift with newton: THAT is on point. he's himself, you can see it, you still know that he's hermann with ever step, but there's something that has shifted in him in those 10 years and it's good without being too much. the "i still get nightmares" scene, the way he presents himself, that scene gives me chills because god bless burn gorman and his acting ability. every face and intonation of his voice is just wonderful and i think his performance was great for what he was given. king shit.

the biggest disappointment of my life came in the form of a kaiju vest wearing bitch at work. at his corporate job. as a boss. for a tech company that undermines all of his and, frankly, hermann's work over their lifetimes. 10 years older and exaggerated to the teeth. newton "move you fascist" geiszler. let me preface this by stating for all to see that i do not hate the idea of newton being the villain. story wise it was a bold move and there was something possible there. BUT THE IMPLICATION THAT ONE OF THE MOST OBVIOUSLY NEURODIVERGENT CHARACTERS IN THE WHOLE FUCKING FRANCHISE, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THAT HE HAS BEEN CHARACTERIZED AS HAVING A "BORDERLINE MANIC PERSONALITY" AKA HAVING ONE OF THE MOST DEMONIZED MENTAL ILLNESSES OUT THERE, ENDS UP ACTING AS THE GOD DAMN VILLAIN OF THE STORY IS A HOT GARBAGE TAKE WHEN YOU FACTOR IN THINGS LIKE POOR WRITING NOT MAKING IT CLEAR WHETHER OR NOT NEWTON IS EVEN IN CONTROL OF HIS OWN FACULTIES AND THE VAGUENESS OF "WILL HE BE 'REDEEMED' OR NOT" BEING UP IN THE AIR LIKELY NEVER TO BE CANONICALLY FUCKING ANSWERED BECAUSE BECKHAM AND DEKNIGHT SHAT OUT A MOVIE THAT BOMBED IN THE BOX OFFICE. we aren't even gonna TALK about the fact that this bitch got AWAY with it despite not even acting in a remotely stable way comparable to himself in the first movie in the 10 years he supposedly dropped off the map from all of his friends because, clearly, hermann hadn't seen him or he wouldn't be so excited with a picture of the two of them on his desk, nor would he have to tell newton about his idea for rocket thrusters with kaiju blood fuel because he would have simply written to him about it. for some strange reason people see his ass show up decked out in a suit he wouldn't even wear for Stacker Fucking Pentecost and a behavior of "Haha Gotta Listen To The Boss" and think "ah, yes, well, time changes a person. THIS BITCH HAS APPARENTLY BEEN LIKE THIS THE WHOLE TIME, YOU THINK HE GOT A JOB WITH LIWEN LOOKING AND ACTING LIKE HE DID BEFORE AND THERE WAS A SHIFT OVER TIME? NO, HE HAD TO HAVE CHANGED IN A SPLIT DECISION AND LIED ABOUT HIMSELF THROUGH HIS TEETH AND NO ONE CONTACTED HIM, OR WAS WORRIED ABOUT HIM, OR DECIDEDLY THOUGHT "YOU KNOW, HE MAY BE EMBOLDENED THAT HE SAVED THE WORLD, BUT I THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD HAVE THE EXACT OPPOSITE EFFECT ON HIM AND HE WOULD DO HIS BEST TO AMPLIFY HIS CURRENT STANDING TRAITS. LISTENING TO AND KISSING THE BOOT OF AUTHORITY FIGURES? DIVORCING HIMSELF FROM HIS WORK WITH KAIJU XENOBIOLOGY THAT EVEN HERMANN PICKED UP? TO BECOME THE THING HE HATES? AND FOR WHAT? MONEY? FAME? BITCH WHO ARE YOU?" unreasonable. ridiculous attempt to do this just for a plot twist that was underwhelming at best. i've decided to stick to the fan theory that he was not in control 99% of the time but literally that movie causes such a hellfire path to appear in my wake as i think about it because i know people who don't take it like that and think newt wants what's happening because "haha horny kaiju man" and i wish to scream at the top of my lungs because this is exactly WHY you CANNOT spare ANY EXPENSE to the GOOD, PROPER, INTRICATE directing and writing of a character who is neurodivergent and also ONE OF THE CENTERS OF NOT JUST THE MOVIE YOU'RE WRITING, BUT THE FUCKING MOVIE AFTER THAT. i could go on but i sincerely don't fucking want to, despite how long i've been waiting for someone to willingly hear me out on all of this. all i'll say is if by some miracle they are greenlit for a third film and deknight's working on it and i see ANY sign of a bury your gays end for newt, i'm going to commit the first hate crime against a cishet white male.

to end, the only valid kaiju in that movie was the mega-kaiju, i don't remember the appearance or the names of the three that got through the breaches but the mega-kaiju could kill me and i'd die happy 🥰 beautiful design, that scale comparison when it came face to face with newt? amazing, chills, *chef's kiss* there are exactly two things i liked about uprising and that bitch is one of them.

sorry if this isn't what you wanted, but as i said i am in a bit of a bad mood and have been curled up in bed trying not to think that i'm dying and i've repressed all of this for a couple months now and very few people have actually heard PORTIONS of my frustration so. here it is.

[totheendofthelinepal]

OLD DOG, NEW TRICKS (PART TWO)

SUMMARY: Bucky may be from 1940, and he may be a bit out of practice, but his neighbor next door can show him a thing or two.

NOTE: Swearing, NSFW (18+)

It had been nearly a week.

A week since you had spent 9 hours - 540 minutes, 32,400 seconds. Every one of those seconds you had spent under his touch - discovering and relishing in every part of him. If someone had told you that your day off would’ve been spent in bed with none other than Bucky Barnes, you probably would’ve labeled them as crazy. But nonetheless, two you had experienced each other - over and over again. it was something you had never been a part of, being with a man who was so eager to learn and teach just how many ways he could get you unhinged. It was always a matter of getting the job done, getting them off before even you were finished. But Bucky Barnes was different. You could tell from the very first moment you met him, he was someone who put others before himself - and god did he prove that in the bedroom. You tried to fight it, replaying the memories of that day - you couldn’t believe it happened. You almost thought to yourself if it was going to happen again anytime soon. Tonight you would most definitely get that answer. Every so often you were invited to the Friday night bar hangout. It involved the enhanced invidual heroes of the world, and you couldn’t help but tag along - than again who would turn the Avengers down. You were more nervous than anything, you hadn’t seen Bucky all week since your day of.. discovering each other. You had kept yourself busy, in all honesty - you weren’t sure if you were ready to face him again. But god did you want to now, you almost craved looking in those pretty blue eyes. On the way to the bar, you had kept music in your ears - marvin gaye was the only thing to give you some shred of confidence in a time like this. You were going to see him again, in the flesh - with his clothes on.

The bar was packed as usual, the loud music overpowering any more doubtful thoughts in your head. Your eyes had searched across the establishment, trailing just slow enough to get a glimpse - you saw them at a small table in the far back corner. Taking a deep breath, you made eye contact with Sam - smiling you walked forward, motioning to the bar for your usual. When you got to the table your heart was racing, seeing Bucky was almost like a rush of adrenaline right now. It didn’t help that he looked damn good. You took a moment to appreciate him, a dark red t shirt - paired with a leather jacket. There was no beating the way he looked right now, no man could ever compare - not with a smile like that.

“Nice of you to make it.” Sam laughed, “What did you do? walk here?“

“I did actually.” You grinned, “It’s called saving money.”

“Well you could’ve shared a taxi with Barnes,” Nat smirked, “He just got here before you did.“

“Didn’t know she was home.” Bucky took a slow sip of his beer, looking to Steve for a brief moment.

“So Buck tells me you let us borrow your washing machine.” Steve sighed, and you nearly choked on the drink that you took a sip of.

“Uh, yeah.” You shrugged, “It’s no big deal.”

“No, really.” Steve placed a hand to your shoulder, “You’ve been such a help.“

“Oh its nothing.” You swallowed harshly, “It wasn’t that much.”

“Oh I’d say it was-“ Bucky took a deep breath, a slow smirk on his lips started to tease, “Five loads?“

Your eyes went wide, wondering why the hell he was about to drop the news to everyone by his sly remark.

“Yeah well.” You coughed, “They weren’t considered that much.”

“Oh?” Bucky questioned, “I’d say they were pretty big loads. Of laundry.“

“Bucky tends to wait a long time before-“ Steve started, and you wished to god that Bucky didn’t tease about this.

“Doing my laundry.” Bucky grinned, “You’re right, Pal. It’s been a long time since I’ve washed clothes.”

“So, we haven’t seen you for awhile.” Nat remarked, “How have you been?“

“I’m fine.” You choked out, “Yeah I’m great.”

“Seeing anyone?” Sam questioned, and Nat instantly shoved his arm at the forward question.

“Uh-“ You felt your palms start to sweat, Bucky looked at you with anticipation.

“You don’t have to answer that.” Steve looked to you in sympathy that you were being put on the spot.

“Alright alright.” Sam laughed, “Anyone else want something to eat?“

You watched carefully as Steve and Nat nodded before following, they all left to the bar - leaving you and Bucky alone. Quick in your actions you had moved to sit yourself at his side, within seconds you thankfully exchanged smiles with the man you had gotten involved with.

“Big loads, huh?” You smirked, playfully nudging his arm.

“Am I wrong?” Bucky laughed, his eyes daring enough to fall to your lips.

“So are we-“ You took a deep breath, “A-Are we telling them?”

“How about we just-“ Bucky placed a hand to your thigh, “Keep this to ourselves for now.“

You sighed in relief, “Oh thank god.”

“Wow alright.” Bucky gave you a look of disapproval, “I mean I know I’m no trophy.“

You giggled, “No. I’m just saying they would have so many questions.”

Bucky smirked to you, “You’re very right. Can’t imagine what kind of crazy lecture Steve would give me.“

“Oh I’m sure that would be real swell.” You giggled, “Secret for now.”

“I’m completely fine with that.” Bucky grinned, “But when are we… going to do laundry again?“

“Okay no more laundry.” You playfully rolled your eyes to him, “And I was..maybe thinking. You and I could get out of here, soon?”

“Oh?” Bucky smiled boyishly to you, “So soon, huh?“

“Well I gotta few more things to teach you, Barnes.” You bit your lip, “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

“Is that so?” Bucky teased, “I think you don’t know who you’re talking to, darlin.“

You bit your lip, ready to tease even more - but you quickly felt the moment fade as the rest of the group returned to the table.

“You wouldn’t believe the shit we got into this week.” Sam looked at you, “I tell you this whole superhero thing is harder than it looks.”

“Is our birdman getting tired?” Nat winked at you, “Who would’ve thought flying around all day could be tiring.“

“Alright call me birdman again, Romanoff.” Sam warned, “You may be cute but I still get pissed over that.”

You couldnt help but laugh, but it was mostly in attempt to cover what your hand suddenly felt the need to do. It was a dangerous move, but you couldn’t help yourself. Not when you knew what Bucky Barnes had underneath his clothing. You were slow in your touch, placing your hand just over the front of his jeans - gripping ever so lightly to feel his leg jolt.

“So, Steve-“ Bucky choked out, “A-Any news on the Sharon front?“

“I dont know.” Steve sighed, “You know it is kinda odd.”

“You’re right. It is.” Nat took a sip of her beer, “But who’s to say who you choose to fall in love with?“

Bucky’s features were suddenly so amusing, completely focused and trying to keep his breathing steady. You couldn’t help yourself, rubbing along the material - he felt so good beneath your hands, and now you felt just how much he appreciated the touch. There was no way he could stand up from the table right now. Biting your lip, you felt his hand dip beneath the table - placing over your own, you were sure he was going to pull it away. But he did the exact opposite. You froze, trying your best not to smile - his hand had actually made you cause more pressure. He was playing the game just as you.

“How was your-“ You tried not to laugh, “Latest mission?”

“It was alright, I suppose.” Nat shrugged, “Took a lot longer than we hoped.“

“How long would you say?” You did your best to hold conversation, but it was difficult when you felt Bucky rock hard beneath your hand.

“Three days.” Nat sighed, her eyes fixating to you - she was starting to notice.

“Did you-“ You looked to Bucky in a warning, “Did you say you had something to show me?”

“Y-Yes.” Bucky managed to get words out, his cheeks were suddenly a shade of pink. Something you noticed when he was more than ready to go.

“Alright.” You stammered, “Well we’re going to go.“

“Wait-“ Steve piped up, and you had stood to your feet.

“We’ll see you later.” Bucky coughed, “Later.”

“Right.” You released a shaking breath, Bucky’s hands forced you to stand in front of him.

You could hardly breathe, your legs feeling like jello - his hardness was pressing against you, and you could hardly breathe.

This was going to be another long night.

[blueplanettrash]

#Pride (Bi Lance Story)

This is for @phoenix-xox for completing my crossword puzzle second! Sorry for how long this took and I hope you like it! 💙

Ω

All his life, he knew he was “different”. He didn’t really feel things like other people did; sure he liked people, he liked a lot of people but he loved a lot of people too. Boys and girls. To many people that would be completely fine, who cares what gender he likes anyway? It’s none of their business.

Those are the people he liked, the ones that didn’t care about his love like, who he wanted to be with, etc.

It was the people who made it their business that pissed him off.

They all thought they were high and mighty, that just because he went to school with them, or that they even breathed the same air that they somehow had a right to judge him and who he finds attractive.

He’s glad now; years later that the thought of people hating him because of his sexuality angers him more than scares him.

But obviously, that wasn’t always the case. He was a kid once, just wanting to have his peers accept him for who he was. That his sexuality wasn’t something that anyone else could decide for him, and they weren’t allowed to tell him to just choose one.

As a kid, that’s daunting. Especially when you feel like you’re the only one in the world that feels that way. Then to have your classmates and friends start spouting bi-phobic bullshit without batting an eye really just struck home for him. Sometimes he would go home crying, sometimes he would go home a blank slate.

Thankfully, his family was very supportive. He would talk to his siblings, telling them all the things that he heard over the day. So many times, he had to tell them not to go to anybody about it. It was his problem and he wanted to deal with It on his own. He didn’t tell them that he just didn’t want everyone to know he was bi, at that time it was too much for him.

Going into space presented a whole other problem for him.

Number 1: The mind melds. They tried not to do to many of these activities after the first one. Yeah, they needed to learn to trust each other and although on Altea, it was a perfectly acceptable ice breaker; on Earth, it was a complete break of trust if someone wandered a bit too deep.

If they just happened to look into his mind and see his memories of school or talking to his family; he didn’t know what he’d do. Probably scream and tear off the headband and seclude himself for the rest of the day. Not very heroic for a paladin of Voltron, but whatever.

Number 2: They were beginning to encounter aliens, that looked far more human than the ones on Arus. He was pretty lucky that the mermaids he and Hunk had met were all girls, other wise it would have been awkward for him.

And finally, number 3: He wasn’t used to having such open friends before. Well, he didn’t know about other people but the people he became friends with before; they needed time to open up. It seemed like you needed to know someone for years before they would even tell him about who they’ve dated before. Like that was some huge scandalous secret.

Seriously Ryan, we were ten. Your mom is not gonna ground you because you held hands with Britany on the playground.

Either way, the point is that he didn’t have open friends before so when they all collapsed in the lounge after a rigorous training exercise and Shiro went:

“I miss my boyfriend,” he sighed, face smooshed into the lounge’s couch.

He was understandably in a state of shock.

“He’s not your boyfriend you know,” Keith smirked, dirt smeared across his face from when one of the gladiators tripped him and he fell on his face. “Besides, he wasn’t exactly supportive of your dreams before Kerberos,”

“Yeah, but still… I miss him,” Shiro lamented with a groan.

Lance was essentially stunned. He’d never even had a clue that Shiro was interested in relationships, let alone with another guy.

“What do you mean he wasn’t supportive?” Hunk asked and Lance’s head whipped over to Hunk. He wasn’t surprised? He glanced around the room and noticed that they weren’t shocked like he was, hell, Pidge wasn’t even looking up from her computer.

“Well, I had this whole “disease” thing going on,” Shiro said nonchalantly, turning over onto his back.

“Disease thing!? What are you talking about?” Hunk cried, suddenly panicked.

“Its like this degenerative disease, I’ve had it since I was a little kid, its not a big deal,”

“Is this real life?” Hunk asked, turning toward Keith.

“I know right? That was my reaction when he told me too,”

Lance felt like he was in a sort of limbo. Thankfully, no one really witnessed his inner dilemma and he was free to question everything. Shiro was so open with his sexuality and if he was being honest, he’d never seen someone be so blasé with their preferences. At that moment he wanted nothing more than to go:

“Hell yeah, I miss the earth bois too!”

But he was unsure. He knew Shiro and he knew his team. He knew that they wouldn’t judge him for anything but still, he had engrained in his mind that there were some people that you just can’t tell. Yeah, there were the people who believed that his sexuality didn’t exist and they were all over but, by far the worst people were the LGBT people that also said that he needed to choose one or the other. It never made sense to him, they knew what it felt like to beaten down and cursed at for their preferences. They fought tooth and nail to not be stigmatized yet, they would tear him down the first chance they got.

Thankfully, by going to the Garrison, he cut himself off from a lot of those people’s ideas and opinions of him. He went through his entire first year thinking the other shoe was gonna drop and someone from his hometown or old school was going to transfer over and start the whole process over again. It wouldn’t be that far off to say that he lived his school life in fear for a good part of his first year.

It was comforting to see that other people weren’t as backwards as he thought they were; or was lead to believe they were from growing up in his hometown.

Maybe he could speak up. But what if they think that he’d mocking Shiro or something? I mean, his blatant flirting with some of the alien girls would probably make them think that. He didn’t show any interest in any of the guys they’d come across so far, even though Rolo was a snack.

But, honey. That took effort on his part.

In the end, he decided to ignore the voice nagging in his head to say something and just laid back and enjoyed their night off.

Did he have a bit of a pit in his stomach the rest of the night? Yeah, he did.

Did he regret not saying anything? Not at all. He was uncomfortable and he did what he thought was right for him.

Did it feel good? Absolutely not.

Ω

He didn’t exactly know how they got on the topic of his sexuality. But suddenly he was just telling Shiro that he was bi. Maybe it was because he was sick of hiding it, maybe he felt like he was supposed to tell him. He honestly, didn’t know.

“Why didn’t you want to tell us?” Shiro asked with bewilderment. “I mean I kind of get not telling other people, but we’re pretty open here,”

“I mean we didn’t really have a heart to heart or anything like that,” he shrugged, while inside he was full on panicking.

“Oh, okay…” Shiro trailed off looking a little hurt.

“Look, it wasn’t you or anything… just, back home it wasn’t really “acceptable” to be bi? I guess?” Lance started, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “I just didn’t know if you would be the same or not,” he admitted, ashamed.

“Wha- but I’m gay Lance! I wouldn’t do that!” Shiro cried, disbelief shining in his eyes.

“I know you would never do that, but it’s happened before and I was scared!” Lance defended himself, the feelings inside finally reaching threshold. Shiro watched him with wide eyes, unused to this “unhinged” version of his friend and teammate.

“It’s happened before?” Shiro asked softly. “Oh, Lance. I’m so sorry,”

“It’s fine. It wasn’t like it was you or anything,” he sighed, curling into himself.

“Well, I get that but I kind of was that person before,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Lance head whipped up to look at him in shock. “I guess that takes away from my point before,”

“What?”

“I know. I was young and dumb and didn’t care about other people’s feelings,” he said shaking his head. “So, I am sorry. I’m sorry for my actions before and I’m sorry that people like me made it hard for you to be yourself,”

Lance paused in shock for a while, just trying to comprehend what he’d just heard. Takashi Shirogane used to be one of the people that made him hate himself when he was younger. His hero, could have been someone to tear him down.

“What changed?” He asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

“Honestly, Matt,” he answered. “Or moving to the Garrison. Before I didn’t really have that person to tell me that what I was saying or doing was wrong but Matt laid into me the first time I said anything around him,”

“So the Garrison changed both of our perspectives, huh?” Lance grinned, uncurling slightly. “Or cut us off from other people’s ideas at least,”

“Yeah, guess so,” Shiro hummed, sitting down beside him. “I hope that you’ll be able to open up to us someday,”

“Yeah, me too. It’s just… hard sometimes,”

“Well, don’t rush yourself  or anything, you should be able to feel comfortable around us,”

And eventually he was. He let himself pace himself and decide when he was ready to tell his friends. Sometimes he wished that he was able to tell them sooner, or forced himself to tell them sooner. The battle with himself is half the journey though and now…

He can be who he truly is.

[nitewrighter]

Should Have Brought the Cat Ears

Wanted to do a quick fankid Special for Halloween in the spirit of the season. Jaime wasn’t in last year’s special, so he gets a spotlight this year!!!

---

“You don’t like it?” McCree tilted his head as they both stood over the plastic armor and replica blaster laid out on Jaime’s bed.

“It’s not that I don’t like it---” Jaime started.

“If you don’t like it, it’s fine, I’m really not trying to guilt you---”

“Just--don’t you think I’m a little... old for this sort of thing?” said Jaime. He caught himself and looked between his adoptive fathers, McCree donning ripped flannel, yellow contacts, and wolf ears and Hanzo in a more clean-cut Vampire costume. Jaime tried to recover. “I just--I was never really big on Halloween. Not really a dress-up guy.”

“It’s not that costume-y--It’s cool--” McCree gave a glance to Hanzo, “I mean--it’s cool, right?” McCree pressed his fingertips to his forehead, “Oh god I’m old.”

‘You’re not old,” Hanzo said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s Dranek Fang from They Came Beyond The Moon 5: Moonpunchers! I mean what’s not cool about a space bounty hunter?” said McCree, gesturing back at the costume. His face dropped. “It’s weird because I bought it, isn’t it?”

“Little bit,” said Jaime.

“Well you weren’t buying a costume, and if you’re going to the party---”

“Come on, everyone there’s like...practically 20 or whatever. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be all cutesy bobbing for apples and stuff.”

“If you’re not going to wear the costume can you at least wear the safety cat ears?” said McCree.

“The safety what?” said Jaime.

Hanzo held up a pair of cat ears, “These cat ears were first gifted to me by your Uncle Genji during my first Halloween on the watchpoint--”

“Why do the cat ears have lore--” Jaime started.

“For the express purpose of, quote, ‘Not looking like a standoffish stick-in-the-mud at a costume party,’” Hanzo finished.

“I don’t need the cat ears,” Jaime said flatly.

“You’re gonna want the cat ears,” said McCree.

“I don’t want the cat ears,” said Jaime.

“He doesn’t want the cat ears,” said Hanzo.

McCree inhaled and exhaled, clearly trying hard not to take the rejection of the costume personally, and also possibly at war with himself with regards to whether or not he had any concept of what ‘cool’ was anymore. “All right. It’s cool. It’s cool. You don’t have to wear a costume. You don’t have to bring the cat ears.”

“Thank you,” said Jaime. 

---

“I should have brought the cat ears,” Jaime muttered to himself.

“What was that?” Rei was standing in the doorway to the watchpoint hangar, dressed in a purple grecian gown with runny black mascara and a flower crown of wine-colored peonies. The costume actually went very well with her dark hair and the gray-white streak at her temple.

“Nothing,” muttered Jaime, moving past Rei, “What are you supposed to be?”

“Persephone!” said Rei with a dramatic flourish, “Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld!”

“That’s... specific...” said Jaime, walking into the hangar. It was fully decorated for halloween, with Hard-light ghosts swaying from the ceiling and orange fairy lights strung up everywhere. Dry ice fog seeped out from over the two punch bowls. It was a bigger party than expected. Those in attendance aside from the Watchpoint kids were a couple of younger Shambali acolytes--both human and omnic, a veritable swarm of Lindholm grandkids, Mei’s intern Harper Khiang (Who, surprisingly was in some sort of form-fitting anime costume rather than a bee costume) and a few of her friends from Lijiang, and the Oxton triplets had flown in from London only to be off in their triplet clique as usual. There was music playing and a handful were noncommittally dancing, and everyone, everyone, everyone was in costumes. 

“You’re gonna want the cat ears,” Jaime remembered McCree’s voice and felt an extra sting of regret.

“You made it!” Aedan sidled up alongside the two of them as they entered, carrying two cups of bright red punch and handing one of the cups off to Rei, “We were scared you weren’t going to come.”

Jaime’s eyes flicked up and down Aedan’s costume: The black toga, the dark circles under his eyes, the laurel-like headdress that looked like thorny withered twigs painted gold. “Seriously?” said Jaime.

“Hades,” Rei said in an even deeper, more dramatic voice, “King of the--”

“Yeah. I put it together,” said Jaime, looking between them, “Really? A couple’s costume? You don’t think that’s corny?”

“I kind of like it,” said Aedan, glancing down at himself, “I feel... powerful.”

Jaime snorted. “She should be Hades, and you should be Persephone.”

“I think I make a good Hades,” muttered Aedan.

“Which one of you has the completely unhinged mother?” said Jaime.

Aedan glanced off and sipped his punch.

“No no, it fits, because Persephone definitely kicks more butt than Hades,” said Rei, “She’s more vengeful and stuff.”

“This conversation is doing wonders for my self-esteem,” said Aedan flatly.

“Could be worse,” said Rei, pushing into him with her shoulder, affectionately, “We could be furries.”

“For the last time, I’m a sexy leopard! Not a furry!” Marti called from the punch table.

“The fact that you say a leopard can be sexy lends credence to the furry theory,” said Aedan. 

“Call me a furry again and I’m putting my drag queen acrylics to good use,” said Marti, making a clawing motion with her long sparkly black and gold nails.

“Come on, Lord of the Underworld,” said Rei, hooking her arm in Aedan’s and dragging him off, “Let’s go dance.”

“Try the punch!” Aedan called to Jaime as Rei pulled him over to the dance floor.

Jaime huffed and walked over to the punch bowl, where Marti was poking at a small hard-light goblin that loomed over a bowl of snack mix and was programmed to harmlessly swipe at whoever was grabbing the mix.

“Would have thought you would be at a cool party,” said Jaime, filling up his own cup with punch. There were two punch bowls--alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Jaime opted for the former.

“This is the cool party,” said Marti, wrinkling her nose at him. Despite picking a fairly generic costume, even she had gone all out with a pretty high quality bodysuit, perming her hair into a curly mane with two small buns wrapped in gold ribbon at the front serving as her ‘ears,’ thick winged eyeliner, and, as she had clawed with earlier, impeccable acrylic nails, “So I’m guessing your costume is... very fresh zombie?”

“Har-har,” said Jaime, sipping his punch. It tasted like a complicated combination of apple, pomegranate, cranberry and ginger ale, with a light caramel undertone of whiskey, so he assumed Aedan made it. It was enough to loosen him up a little bit, but not enough to stop his hyperawareness of being the only one without a costume, “I don’t see why costumes are such a big deal.”

“Well they don’t have to be,” said Marti.

“Exactly!” said Jaime.

“But it’s nice to see what everyone picks. Kind of reflects what they’re interested in, where their minds are at.”

“Your mind is at ‘Sexy cat?’” said Jaime.

“My mind is at, ‘I’m always bogged down in black-ops gear, so it’s nice to be a little flashy, but I don’t like being the center of attention, but I might as well look good for anyone who’s looking at me,’” said Marti.

Jaime glanced at Aedan and Rei out on the dancefloor. “...fuck, they picked the death gods because they nearly died, didn’t they?”

“They basically did die. Can’t say they don’t have a sense of humor,” said Marti, sipping her own punch.

Jaime leaned against the snack table folding his arms. “Where are the twins?” he asked, looking around.

“You mean where’s Samir?” said Marti, smiling a little. Jaime scoffed and glanced off.

“I feel like I would have seen them already. They always put glowy doodads on their costumes,” said Jaime.

“See? You want to see what their costumes are!” said Marti, “Why are you down on dressing up yourself?”

Jaime shrugged. “Just... either never really had the chance to, or when I did have the chance I couldn’t decide, and then when the day finally came I’d always feel stupid if I was dressed up.”

Marti gave his arm a sympathetic pat.

The music stopped and the lights suddenly dimmed and Jaime looked over to Marti to make sure this was planned, or to ask if they should check in with Orisa or Satya for a potential breach, but Marti just calmly sipped her punch as a bright blue teleporter opened in the middle of the dance floor. A brief hush fell over the crowd on the dance floor, looking at the teleporter, when suddenly a bulky, heroic-looking gleaming white and blue mech suit (a normal, human-sized mech suit, but still a mech suit) stepped through. The mech suit struck a pose as the music suddenly kicked back on again. Jaime glanced over to see that Harper had hurried over to the DJ table to turn the music back on. The mech suit danced and Rei and the others laughed and clapped and cheered as the mech suit shimmied and bounced. Then another (also normal, human-sized) mech suit stepped out of the teleporter. This one was clearly meant to be the villain, with sharp acute angles all over its frame, broad sharp shoulders and a cinched waist, long claws on its gauntlets, a dark iridescent color scheme, and glowing red eyes. The teleporter closed behind him.

“Oh no! Look out behind you!” Harper called out theatrically from the DJ’s table.

The bulkier mech suit had barely turned around when it got blasted by what looked like a laser beam from the ‘evil’ mech, but turned out to be completely fine. The mechs mock-battled with blunted, hard-light swords for a few seconds before, with one spectacular simultaneous upward slash, both dematerialized the other’s helmet, revealing the Amari twins--Rajeev the hero mech, and Samir the villain mech. The dance floor clapped, Marti snickered and did her best to clap with a punch cup in one hand.

“...they don’t usually go all out like that,” said Jaime, “Do they?”

“This is the most people we’ve had in our generation on the watchpoint in years,” said Marti, “They wanted to do something special.”

“Oh... I see,” said Jaime, watching as Samir conversed with Rei and Aedan as Rajeev pretty much tackled Harper and swung her around, “This night is just engineered to make me feel like more and more of an asshole for not wearing a costume, huh?” said Jaime sipping his punch.

“We aren’t doing this to you,” said Marti, “I mean we’re still on the watchpoint. Maybe you can run back to your place and---”

“Hey,” said Samir, walking over and Jaime choked on his punch.

“Hey!” said Jaime, attempting to nonchalantly lean back against the table and awkwardly scooting it back as he did so.

“Fearless leader,” Samir gave a nod to Marti.

“Nope,” said Marti, “No fearless leader tonight. Tonight, there is only sexy leopard getting increasingly wasted on Halloween punch.”

“It’s good to see sexy leopard,” said Samir.

“It’s good to be sexy leopard,” said Marti, tossing her empty cup away, “Anyway, I’m going to go try and burn some of Aedan’s banshee booze off. Don’t get into trouble.”

“Yeah sure--” Jaime started before it hit him that Marti was leaving them to hit the dance floor. 

“I uh--I like the whole...” Jaime gestured up and down at Samir’s costume.

“It was Rajeev’s idea,” said Samir with a grin, “Can you tell?”

“Yeah. Definitely,” said Jaime, “You pull it off though.”

“It’s all hard-light,” said Samir, looking down at himself as he filled his own cup with the non-alcoholic punch, “Like, honestly I’m just in a unitard under this.”

“Well yeah, but it’s like... good,” said Jaime.

“Thank you,” said Samir, “I actually..” he chuckled, “I spent like, a stupid amount of time on this.” 

“Why?” the question fell out of Jaime.

“It was nice to make something out of Hard-light that didn’t have anything to do with a mission. I got into it,” said Samir.

“You also gave yourself heels,” said Jaime, looking down.

Samir motioned with his hand and the soles of his boots dematerialized down to his regular height. He still stood a solid four inches over Jaime.

“...Ass,” said Jaime as Samir re-materialized the soles of his boots.

“Happy Halloween to you too,” said Samir as they both sipped their drinks and looked out at the dance floor. They watched as Rajeev hoisted up a laughing Harper amid the din of the music. Harper’s form-fitting costume suddenly made a lot more sense with Rajeev right next to her.

“Oh I get it--she’s a mech pilot and he’s---” Jaime huffed, “Fucking couple’s costumes.”

“Hey, Rajeev and I are still doing twin costumes--what does that tell you about us?” said Samir.

“That like... you can actually make the twin costume thing really cool if you put some thought into it?” said Jaime.

“No--Well, I mean, yes,” said Samir, “But my point is the whole night is about not taking yourself too seriously.”

“Mm,” said Jaime.

They watched the dance floor for a little bit. Samir grabbed a handful of snacks from the snackbowl and gave a small jump as the hard-light goblin suddenly swiped at him as he did so.

“You’re not going to bring up the whole ‘Where’s your costume’ thing?” said Jaime after a while.

“Some people don’t have time for it, some people aren’t comfortable with it, it’s not a big deal,” said Samir, shrugging.

“...Thanks,” said Jaime. He looked out at the dance floor. “Though...honestly, at this point I kind of wish I did dress up.”

“Oh--psh. I can fix that. Here--” Samir stepped in front of him and pressed something at his wrist, activating the hard-light projector before putting his hands above Jaime’s head. Jaime reddened and sipped his drink and attempted to be as nonchalant as possible about feeling Samir’s fingers against his hair. There was a soft ‘vworp’ sound and Jaime felt a soft pressure on two points on his head and Samir drew his hands back.  “There we go,” said Samir.

Jaime reached up and felt at his head, feeling two pointed shapes.

“...Cat ears?” said Jaime.

“I like cats. They’re the simplest ones I can make. If you don’t like them I could make like... horns--I could probably make antlers if I had a couple minutes--”

“No. I like them,” said Jaime instantly, “They’re perfect. I’m a cat.”

“A sexy cat,” said Samir with a finger gun. As coolheaded as Samir could be, there were definitely moments where you could tell, well beyond looks, that he was Rajeev’s identical twin.

Jaime snorted and looked down at his clothes, “What about this says ‘sexy cat?’”

“The fact that it’s you in cat ears?” said Samir.

Jaime scoffed and snickered. “That’s bad,” he said.

“Yeah I know,” said Samir, hooking Jaime’s arm in his and pulling him away from the punch table, “Come on, let’s dance.”

[atlas-of-a-human-soul]

Αιώνια αγάπη (DT AU), pt. 7

07: Staying is harder than leaving

Summary: A knife, a kiss and a confession.

Warnings: violence, angst, fluff, swearing and a steamy kiss

Word count: 5400

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Αιώνια αγάπη (DT Modern Greek god/frat! AU) MASTERLIST  

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Special thanks to @mutuallynotmutual for being in the story as Alyssa, @leonardo-da-vinsheep  as Perry and @daddygraysonsbitch as Sara.

A big thank you to @grungegrant for drawing Ethan as Hermes!

Hermes couldn't hide his self satisfied smirk, his spirit instantly lifted. He always knew taking this risk so early on would pay off, using Apollo's slow advances to his own advantage.

"Oh, and you need to dye your hair blonde." Hermes adds, snickering to himself and before either Y/N or Apollo get a chance to question him, he explains.

"Nearly everyone under this roof knows our leader broke his own rules and had an intimate moment with a Kappa legacy. This is your punishment, brother." Hermes winks, turning to Y/N whose face took on a deep shade of red, her eyes glued to the ground. Her wet hair fell forward as her head hung low in shame, reminding Hermes he should take it easy on her and not embarrass the living light out of her for what looked like was all Apollo's doing.

"I saw him steal the kiss. But even if you return it, I don't mind. Neither of us do." His words cause her eyes to dart up and toward the brothers, both seemingly fuming yet at peace with what Ethan had just told her.

"You're not officially dating either one of us and we both really, really like you." Ethan exclaims, his tone cheery and his eyes set on her. She couldn't help but blush, faced with a rather unusual situation she would usually run from. But she doesn't. She can't force herself to even look away, let alone walk away.

"What Ethan is trying to say is, we both want to date you and it may seem weird...it's weird for us too, but we want you to truly get to know us and decide if you want to be with either one of us. Till then, we will have to learn how to...share." Grayson barely uttered the last word, like its poison in his mouth, but he knew he had to sell it. His brother just gave them an opportunity to convince her to stay and give them a chance they nearly lost and he wasn't going to let it go to waste. Hermes might have gotten a date first, but he still had the taste of her lips upon his and he considered that a personal victory.

"Um...the rules still state we can't date." Y/N mumbles absentmindedly, genuinely considering their offer. While they are incredibly handsome and alluring, her Kappa sisters meant more to her. She's worked too hard to get to Dartmouth just to lose it over lust she barely understood.

Ethan saunters over to her side, putting a hand to the wall next to her head as his built blocks her view of Grayson. His scent invades her senses, the vanilla undertones strong and musky, all so incredibly sweet and inviting.

"Guess we'll just have to...sneak around." Ethan teases, cocking his left eyebrow in a way that left her heart pounding against her rib cage, her chest growing too small for the flirtation made her heart work overtime, doubling it in size.

It's medically possible, she thought.

Falling asleep that night was easier than she thought, but staying asleep is what troubled her.

"The flames have awakened you."

Looking around wildly, Y/N felt dread forming knots in her stomach, nooses that can't be undone for as long as she feels the looming presence. While a large portion of her conscious tells her there is no danger in Hecate as her time has passed, her heart feels she is a threat to all she holds dear.

"You're almost ready to join forces with me." She could hear the smile in the darkness, turning in circles to see where the voice is coming from but from what she could guess, it came from all around her just as well as inside her. Her eyes darting left to right, she searched for the entry point the woman, Hecate, would use to terrorize her again.

"I wish you weren't afraid of me. No harm will come to you, my lovely." Hecate stepped foot toward her, revealing herself.

"Not from me."

No longer is her foot bare, rather encased in black, leaf-like sandals. Her hair flows like they're under water, the black tips turning purple under the moonlight. Emerald green orbs encircled with black rims refuse to hide her true nature. Her dress is black like a dahlia, deep purple lace embodies her chest. Long, black nails set aside Y/N's hair, allowing the pale face to come closer and her black lips nearly press against Y/N's. A silver key dangles from a bracelet loosely fitting her wrist, a black ring with a dark purple flower at it's center lining her ring finger.

"What do you want from me?" Y/N practically growls, her anger much stronger than her need to run. Feeling as if she's losing her mind isn't something she wanted to deal with at this point in time and she certainly didn't care for dramatic dream entries she didn't ask for. And if her heart is right about the possible danger this god brings, she wasn't going to back down.

"To help you."

Y/N's eyes snap open with a sudden sound. She sits up, running her hands through her hair, looking around the room for any sign of Hecate. Realizing the sound is just Grayson snoring, she giggles to herself in relief. Wiping the cold sweat from her forehead, she tones down his giggles, relishing in the fact the all so perfect frat has finally showcased a flaw.

Turning to the bed beside her to gaze upon the untainted perfection, she's surprised to find the bed is neatly done with a note tied to a bunch of rosemary and saffron flowers on the pillow.

Unable to even consider sleeping longer with Hecate still on her mind and the note calling to her from the bed, Y/N shuffles to her feet and just before she takes the note in her hand, she looks over her shoulder to the door and then to Grayson who remained soundly asleep.

Returning her gaze to the note, a small smile played on her lips as the first thing she noticed is a hand-drawn purple heart at the end of it.

I'll come pick you up at 3. Wear something comfortable! 💜

Her smile grew wider, feeling heat rush to her cheeks as she realized he truly took this seriously. Ethan Dolan genuinely wanted to woo her and not just claim her body as his own. While she could still hear her sister's warnings about the way he operates, she couldn't judge him on his past decision. He's never failed her so far, so why take his chance with her for what he did to others? People change all the time and perhaps this is his time to change.

Taking the flowers next, she returned to her bed and found herself falling asleep once more, a smile playing on her lips as she kept the unusual flowers close to her chest.

Rudely awakened by Grayson shouting at the door with his back firmly against it and his hand on the knob as he locked it had left Y/N feeling disoriented and shaken, every sense urging her to claw her way to a standing position.

"Blair is here, demanding your head." He informs her, out of breath and eyes wide, giving off a scared puppy look that completely contrasted his usual intimidating flare. She could tell he wanted to protect her, but what good would that do? She had to take on life's issues on her own, to the best of her ability or she'll never learn to fight on her own.

"My what?" Y/N nearly falls out her bed, quickly moving to the door. The cold floor reminded her that autumnal beauty had a whole different side of it, especially in the morning when you leave the safety of your warm bed.

"Gray, step aside." Y/N gently placed a hand upon his shoulder, kindly smiling up at him with a hint of gratitude hiding behind that smile that elevates his heartbeat to a different level. It completely baffles him, renders him senseless and defenseless; like a drop of morning dew in the palm of her hand - its life depending upon her mercy.

"I can deal with them. I promise she won't literally take my head." With her sweet words, Grayson nods, doing her biding like he's a puppet on a string and she a puppeteer.

Opening the door unveiled an unhinged Blair with a cold-blooded smile and a firm, unshaken hand on which laid a blade.

"FUCK!" She hears Grayson shouts, hearing his heavy footsteps as he nears her with his strong arms already grabbing at her with his fingertips.

Gasping at the disheveled girl before her, Y/N drowned out the sound and took a deep breath, wanting to fight instead of run. Her hands form fists, her eyes focus - not on the knife, but Blair's arms in hopes of predicting her next move. Everything feels like it's in slow motion, the world taking pause so she can figure out what to do. Feeling Grayson is already beside her, she knows he'll pull her back, but that would leave a psychotic, armed woman loose in the house with her sisters asleep and unable to fight back. Stepping forward and away from Grayson, Y/N prepares to lounge at Blair who seems keen on throwing an insult her way before physically harming her. But before saying a word, Blair is slammed into a wall, the sharp blade sticking into the hardwood floors.

"What the hell?!" Sara rubs her tired eyes as she stumbles forth from her room next door, while Y/N gapes at Alyssa who quite literally knocked Blair unconscious in a swift body slam thanks to her quick thinking and position from the door at which Sara stood at now.

"Are you okay?!" Y/N grabs Alyssa's arms, lifting her up so easily one would think she's on steroids if she wasn't high on adrenaline.

Grayson yanks Y/N back to face him, his anger written in every pore of his face as his lips set into a thin line and his eyes narrowed, all the fumes coming out in short puffs of breath through his flared nostrils. But there was more than just anger raging inside him, for his heart felt like it would stop at any given moment. It struggled to accustom to the quick pace this even caused him, his mind spinning as a consequence.

"Are you fucking mental? Why are you always rushing into danger instead of the other way?!" Grayson grumbled, letting Y/N go to pick up the unconscious blonde. Alyssa rushed in and grabbed a chair, helping Grayson settle Blair in the seat before Perry came in with a rope and a 'don't ask, won't tell' kind of a look on her face.

Glancing at each other turned into their only form of communication as the girls remained in the room, filling up with more Kappas and KDRs as time went by. Y/N could tell Grayson has more to say, that his chest weighs heavily as each second passes.

It had taken hours for Blair to wake, the girls refusing to call the police before they have a chance to talk to her themselves. After all, giving one of their sisters over to the law could have serious repercussions for their sorority.

"Ready for our...ah, shit, what did I miss?!" Ethan groaned at the door, immediately met with a room filled with Kappa sisters mixed with his KDR brothers, one of which was tied to a chair in the middle of the room and the only one he cared for sitting in a chair beside her - his brother, real brother, behind her.

"Blair tried to kill Y/N, so we wanna know why before calling the po-po." Alyssa fills him in and instead of calming down, Ethan felt his blood turn into a tidal wave and the bouquet of flowers matching the ones he left in the morning fell to the ground as he hurried toward Y/N. Shaking, he swept her up from her chair and pulled her closer to him until her scent filled his nostrils and her hands settled on the middle of his back. Touching her, feeling her heartbeat, her small hands pushing at his chest - he needed it to calm down enough not to kill anyone in the room.

"How did you let this happen?!" He growls out the words through gritted teeth, his anger directed toward Grayson.

"Nothing happened. No need to get upset." Y/N tries to diffuse the situation, but anger rolled off Ethan in waves, his jaw clenching so hard she was certain he'll crack his teeth and burst his muscles.

But, as luck would have it, the intense glaring war between the brothers is interrupted by Blair groaning, coming to about the same time the girls' phone ringed as a sign a new message in the sorority chat came through. Managing to glance at it for a moment, Y/N feels her own anger grow as the news ignites a fresh fire inside her.

"Why?" Is all Y/N asks, curious why she's so hated when they barely knew each other. Blair never gave her a chance to begin with.

"Easy. You broke rules. Being a KDR whore." Blair spat, her words ringing truth to a certain degree. It flustered her, bringing about the possibility of being exposed and effectively removed from the sorority.

People say the darkness presses in, but that's not true. The darkness kisses up to your skin closer than a lover's lips and whispers excitement into your ears. The darkness becomes your best friend, a second skin that's flattering and cool. The darkness becomes your favorite thing right up until your exits are blocked, then it has no reason to hide. If it was easy to spot darkness there wouldn't be a problem, now would it? How often do you confuse day and night?

That's what happened to Y/N in this particular moment; she confused day and night.

"I think it goes deeper than that. It began the very moment I stepped foot in the house." Y/N's mind darkened, her words cool and sharp like knives that hit every mark.

"I think it's because I'm a legacy and as such I am the only proper leader of this sorority." Unusually cold, Y/N no longer seems flustered and in the short glance she spared the twins - her eyes lingering on Ethan just a moment longer than on Grayson, gave them the answer as to why.

That isn't Y/N.

"Perhaps you wanted to keep the power...or you were just jealous. Either way, your behavior is unseemly for a Kappa sister as we do not turn on each other. And judging by the text everyone just received, everyone knows you started that fire in hopes of blaming me." Smirking, Y/N places her hands on the chair at either side of Blair, her fingers curling around the wood like snakes around branches. Leaning in, she stares into Blair's eyes without so much as blinking, licking her lips like poison drips from them before speaking - her voice oddly authoritative and decisive.

"I move to have sister Blair stripped of her status as a Kappa sister, her story written in the sorority book as punishment for future generations to witness her shame." Raising her left eyebrow, Y/N allows her eyes to glide across the crowd made out of mostly Kappa sisters, seeing their approving nods. Unable to hold back a smile, she moves away and straightens her back, noticing Alyssa stepping up.

"And I vote sister Y/N to be named our head girl instead." And with that, Blair was cast out, allowing a different darkness to take over.

The police took her away, but Y/N failed to move from her spot at the window. She stood, dressed in black, her lips painted a maroon color - a stark contrast to her usual cherry lip balm. Her arms folded across her chest, her gaze cold as ice, even the room temperature lowered. Darkness is a strange substance, like ice it has three states: solid, liquid, and gas, but with a twist. Since it is a sort of mystical material, it doesn't fall under the laws of earthly science, only able to change states by the user. And Y/N inadvertently allowed such darkness to take root, the state of it out of her hands.

"You will lose her." Her voice startled the brothers who tried their best to remain inconspicuous as they sneaked their way to Y/N. Her words chained them to their spots, taking their ability to breathe or move.

"If I have anything to do with it, she will not only hate you, but wish to end you." She turned her head slightly to her right, just enough to give them a clear image of her profile as the last of the sun-rays bathe her skin.

Apollo swallowed thickly, while Hermes felt his heart grow thorns at the possibility.

"Leave her be." Hermes speaks out, an underlying threat clear.

It drew a smile upon her lips, the maroon reminding of blood tainted lips. She turned her head to look at the brothers, noting they barely changed since she last saw them thousands of years ago. The hair was different, but their eyes still had that pride and lack of empathy which led to their downfall.

"Oh, but you know I can't do that. After all, I have old scores to settle with you, my dear husband." Hecate giggles to herself, watching Hermes take long strides toward her. His hands grab at Y/N's arms, shaking her, his face contorted in anger and a splinter of fear.

Awaiting a fresh response from the ghost of his past, Hermes is shocked to see the face before him soften and body in his proximity relax upon his touch.

"I missed our date, didn't I?" Softly spoken, guilt swimming in her bright eyes, Y/N broke through the darkness once more and Hermes choked on air, coughing in response. Y/N didn't seem to be aware of the silent takeover she endured and he didn't seem fit to be the one to tell her. Not yet, at least. Such a confession can be given only when he can count on her love, because only love will stop her from hating him after.

"Uh, no. There's a bonfire at the beach tonight. We can at least talk?" Hermes smiles, trying to ease her mind. He can tell she's confused more than lost. Hecate taking over her body is drawing on her life force and it is draining. After all, she's just a mortal and fragile as porcelain. He forgets that quite often.

"Of course." Nodding, she nestles closer into him, holding out for his warmth to overwhelm the cold that settled in her being, down to the bone.

And while Apollo stood in the shadows, watching his brother tighten his hold on the woman he cared for, for the first time since he came into this universe, he felt an emotion he thought to be fiction - jealousy.

It's the first time he had ever been left aside, his arms open and empty, longing to hold someone...to hold her. It's the first time he realized Hermes has a fair shot with her, if not a better chance at winning because he saw how she hid her face into Hermes' sweater and melted into his form so naturally - on instinct. Apollo always felt like she had to put effort into her interactions with him, but her connection to Hermes wasn't forced, rather easy - as easy as breathing. And that left an ache in his heart, the kind he had never felt and quite possibly would rather not to have felt it at all. It feels like a dagger in his heart and a slap in the face and all he wishes is for the feeling to disappear. But it doesn't.

Walking out the room, heading straight for the gym to take out his frustration on the punching bag, Apollo spares a second look to the all too couply pair with the pang in his chest spreading so fast as if a supernova exploded inside and wiped him out entirely. Swearing he'll up his game, Apollo leaves the pair be, awaiting the nightfall to see her again. It's funny how he's the god they consider to be Sun incorporated, but he found the Sun to be her. At least for him, she is.

Ethan left Y/N to take a nap, allowing her the time to rest up before the bonfire. Although his big date plans were ruined, he decided to turn the night into a date on his own. He just didn't expect Y/N not to show up.

She awoke with a frown, noticing the darkness of the room. Her heart jumped inside her chest, drowning in panic for she knew she had set a new date with Ethan and she has missed it once more. Jumping to her feet, throwing on random looking black clothes on, she rushed out and toward the beach her mother said to have met her father on.

Running between the big rocks that reminded her of small mountains, she felt her mind racing with possibilities of what Ethan must think of her. Until she found herself immobile upon impact.

On a gasp, she looked up, just as she collided with the owner of her thoughts.

The impact knocked the air from her lungs that for one instant, she was sure she'd hit a tree. But her nose buried itself in a soft black shirt, mid chest. His chin passed above her head, her scalp prickled as long hairs were gently brushed and arms like steel slowly closed about her. Instinct awoke in a flustered lush, raising her hands, she pushed against his chest. Her feet slipped on the ocean made rocks, then slid. She gasped again-and clutched wildly instead of pushing. The steely arms tightened and suddenly only her toes touched the slippery rocks under.

Y/N dragged in a breath-one too shallow to steady her whirling head. Her lungs had seized, her senses skittered wildly, informing her, in breathless detail that she was pressed against a man. Not just any man - one with a body like warm, flexing steel that offered warmth in this cold, autumn night.

She had to lean back to look into his face. Brown, almost hazel eyes met hers.

Y/N stilled, she stared. Then she blinked. It took half a second to check - arrogant, pointy and decisively, stubbornly charming chin - it was him. Narrowing her eyes, she fixed them on his; not awkwardly like she thought she would, but as decisively and arrogantly as his chin.

"Put me down, Ethan." Her simple words held echoes of authority, undertones of compulsion.

He heard them; he angled his head, one black brow rising then the ends of his long lips lifted.

"In a minute." Ethan purred. It was her turn to listen and hear the intent in his deep purr. Her eyes flew wide.

"But first..."

If she'd been able to think, she'd have screamed, but the shock of his touch, the intimate warmth of his palm as he framed her face, distracted her. His lips completed the conquest - they swooped, arrogantly confident, and settled over hers.

The first contact stunned her; stealing the very breathe from her lungs. The very concept of breathing drifted from her mind as his lips moved lazily on hers. They were neither warm nor cool, yet heat lingered in their touch. They pressed close, then eased only to push closer.

Firm and demanding, they impinged on her senses, reaching deep, stirring her. She stirred in his encircling arm; it locked tight about her. Heat surrounded her - even through her black, thick sweater, it reached for her, enveloped her, then sank into her flesh. His hunger had infected her.

Utterly distracted, she tried to hold it back, tried to deny its existence, tried vainly to ease the undeniable warmth he provided even as the rain began to drizzle and dampened their kiss. And she couldn't. She was facing ignominious defeat without a single clue of what followed when the hard hand tilting her face shifted. He altered his grip, one thumb pressed insistently in the center of her chin. Her jaw eased, her lips parted, allowing his tongue to slip past hers and the shock of the first touch of tongue against tongue literally curled her toes.

She would have gasped, but that was impossible; all she could do was feel. Feel and follow, and sense the reality of that passion that grew, the surprisingly subtle, deeply evocative, seductively physical need. Temptation streaked through her, even while he took his arrogance to new heights. She hadn't thought it possible, but he pulled her closer, imprinting her soft flesh with the male hardness of his. Ruthlessly confident, he angled his head and tasted her - longingly, unhurriedly - as if he had all the time in the world.

Then he settled to play, to advance and retreat, to artfully entice her into joining the game. She responded, tentatively; instead of the aggressive response she expected, his lips softened fractionally, encouragingly. She dared more, returning the pressure of his lips, the sensuous caress of his tongue. Without even knowing it, she sank into the kiss.

Triumph streaked through Ethan. He'd crumbled her initial resistance; she was soft and pliant, pure magic in his arms. She tasted like ambrosia and although he barely remembered the taste, her lips gave him the incentive to remember. The heady sensation went straight to his head.

And straight to his groin.

Staving off the growing ache, he feasted, careful not to startle her, to let her wits surface enough to recognize his liberties. He wasn't foolish enough to think she wouldn't break the kiss if he gave her sufficient cause. She wasn't like the women he knew in the past, especially not with Hecate in her mind. She was not a simple girl, but a woman and she fitted very well, supple and curvaceous in his arms. How well she was fitting, how tempting her curves were, locked hard against him, registered in every crevice of his mind, they raised his lust to new heights. The soft, touch of her hair, a warm, living veil drifting over the backs of his hands, and the perfume - wildflowers, the promise of spring converted lust to pain.

It was Ethan who pulled back and ended the kiss - it was that, or suffer worse agony. To have her so close, at the tip of his fingers and to have to let her go, untouched at that, is more than any man or god can take and he knew she wouldn't just give herself to him now, merely ten feet away from the crowd where his brother waited for their return.

He needed to show her he's in the game, to put her mind toward what they could have and not just what Apollo had to offer her. He wanted to be a real contender for her heart and he wasn't about to let his jealousy be the reason why he pushes her out her comfort zones. And, despite the intimate caresses they'd exchanged, he knew she wasn't that sort of a girl. He'd breached her walls by sheer brazen recklessness, evoked by her command to put her down. Right now, he'd like to lay her down, but that, he knew, wasn't going to happen.

He raised his head, slowly putting her down.

"I believe I asked you to put me down, not attack my lips." Y/N straightened her back, pushing hard against the mist that fogged her thinking. It took her a moment to sharpen her tongue, but even so, Ethan found it to be cute more than intimidating. Like a kitten pretending to be a tiger.

"And I did. Eventually." Ethan smirked, avoiding to look at her for even a moment stolen would lead him to take in her soft, rosy, swollen lips and that would drive him mad as his desire for her still hadn't gone down and the tightness of his pants and the pain that brings him is a good reminder of such facts.

"You stole a kiss, just as Grayson did. That doesn't make you any better." She hissed, trying to walk past him. A hand on her forearm stops her, the warmth of his touch making her frown as it's inviting, disarming.

"Maybe so. But it doesn't change the fact I gave you a chance to push me away and instead you pulled me in. You enjoyed the kiss." Ethan states, watching her cheeks turn darker even in the night with the moon being his only source of light.

"Maybe so, but that doesn't change the fact that I'd have enjoyed it more had you any decency to ask." She ripped her arm out his hold, walking away without so much as a glance his way. Ethan didn't fear her rage, knowing she just needs a moment alone to collect her thoughts and impressions. He was sure he wanted to tell the truth soon though, so she could judge him properly and perhaps even understand his actions better.

She walked past Grayson without so much as a glance, heading straight to her Kappa sisters. Alyssa could tell something happened and upon examining her lips, it became more of a question of who happened. While Y/N talked in hush voices with her friends, the guys returned to their house - one defeated and the other blatantly bragging about what he had won.

Until Apollo pushed Hermes so hard he banged his head on a desk Y/N set her laptop on.

"All of this crap is your fault!" Apollo is angry and not only about his brother fondling the woman he feels for, but for what is happening to his Sun. She's being eclipsed and he can't seem to fight it no matter what he does. It's bad enough she seems to have a faulty DNA sequence meant to code her survival instincts, but that he can protect her from. What he can't do anything about is an ancient, mythological daughter of two titans that clearly has an agenda.

"How is this my fault?" Hermes sneers, speaking through gritted teeth, his eyes aflame with slithering rage.

"Hecate was your wife after all. She's taking vengeance on you by torturing Y/N." Apollo snaps, his fists hard at his sides, nails breaking skin of his palms.

Hermes shakes his head, rolling his eyes in disdain.

"Ours was an arranged marriage orchestrated by the gods. Had she not helped with Persephone, she would have remained a common witch. Once father gave her immortality and a place in our ranks, there was no choice." Hermes clicks his tongue, leaning back against a wall next to the window Apollo used to spy on Y/N.

"She loved you. We all knew it, but you didn't care. You cheated on her countless times." Apollo points out, annoyed by his brother's refusal to admit his past actions are why the woman they both harbored feelings for is now suffering.

"She was a suitable pair, but if she made the mistake of loving a god who was ordered to love her back, that's on her. Plus, I'm certain being cast out of Mount Olympus was clearly our divorce. I can't change the past, brother. I never loved Hecate, but I don't think I can ever say the same for Y/N. I desire her more than immortality." A tint of despair colors his voice, confirming his words without doubt.

"That was clear to me once you set the Kappa house on fire." Apollo chuckles, about to admit he too fell victim to this unusual mortal's charms.

But the door slamming open stopped his confession and nearly stopped his beating heart as well.

"HE DID WHAT?"

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[diadoescomics]

What's your thoughts on the fire emblem heroes book stories and what would you rate each one of them out of 10.

Book 1: 6/10 

I think it was a very good introduction to the world. You get to meet this prickly prince and his high energy sister and as the story progresses you become more and more close and then you end up very good friends which honestly is a very nice change of pace from “I am protag-man this is my right hand person whom maybe I’ve known for 4 days and we already BFFs”.

My issue with Book 1 was that Veronica as a villain is kind of boring? Like am I seriously supposed to be intimidated by a tiny kid who just throws a tantrum every 5 minutes? And even then through the story you learn that under all the edginess she’s a kid who’s lonely (and a bit dumb) who’s just looking for her brother. Plus the mystery with Zacharias/???man/Bruno was predictable but pretty fun.

Book 2: 4/10  

I did Not like Book 2. Book 2 was the exact opposite of Book 1 where I was really interested in the villains but found the “heroes” to be incredibly boring. You save Fjorm from the snow or whatever and she immediately wants to get in your pants. Her whole motivation is supposed to be saving her country/ getting revenge but for the most part she ends up just “Doing it for the Summoner”. Even at the end where she pretty much sacrifices her life, there’s no mention of her sisters/brother/mother, she says she has to do it for Kiran which just comes off as blatant player-worship to me and I do Not care for it. 

As far as her siblings are concerned the only one who had kind of a personality was Gunnthra and we all know how that went. Ylgr and Hrid are cute kids but they barely get to do anything so I can’t really care enough about them to be like “I’ll take this villain down with/for you!!”.

The villains though?? Book 2 did a great job with its villains! You have Loki who seems to be manipulating everything and anything for Some? reason but also maybe has something resembling a heart because she actually helps Veronica out. And even though I hate, despise, abhor her design and her whole “oOOoh I’m provocative in a way no actual person would be”, I can’t pretend that she isn’t interesting as a villain. Veronica also actually gets some character development that shows maybe she isn’t That big of a shitlord too, which is nice!

Surtr was a surprise, I didn’t actually expect FeH to have a completely cruel and actually intimidating Big Bad. Because the last time they had an Evil Patriarch was Garon and that mofo was not scary at all. But Surtr straight up murders Gun-Gun in front of her family and his dialogue actually makes him kinda terrifying. Laegjarn and Laevatein weren’t necessarily “villains” but I found their characters and dynamic to be really cool. Laeg just wants to protect her little sis and Laev probably has so much PTSD from having Surtr as her dad she barely registers emotion. And my boi, MY BoY Helbindi he was so good??? I am an absolute sucker for his kind of character and honestly when he actually got an alt i was over the moon.

Book 3: 8/10

I am loving Book 3 so far. Hel is actually super intimidating, Eir is a damsel in distress that I can actually find myself caring about since you can see she really doesn’t want to hurt people and also suffers years of abuse. I actually really liked Gustav as a character too, maybe he wouldn’t win father of the year but you could tell he actually cared for his kids and his sharp tongue was very much his way of trying to get Alfonse to be a little more hardened because ruling is hard business. Honestly he was also refreshing for a royal fe dad because he wasn’t a complete abusive asshat but also not Super Nice Dad either. 

Alfonse’s character development in this Book was also really good. You see him go from “Trying to play it aloof” in Book 1 to “Soft but Smart Boi hours” in Book 2 and then in Book 3 he has to deal with:

 1) The disappointment of getting cursed by Hel and knowing he’ll probably die without being the heir his kingdom deserves 

2) His dad taking his place and dying instead 

3) Learning Lif is actually unhinged him after he failed to protect his sister and

4) Overcoming All of That and becoming determined to kill Hel and save his own world. And like, my god my boy has grown so much.

I find it very funny that we spend one whole book concerned about Fjorm’s family but they barely do anything in Book 3 (not that I mind personally).

The story starts kind of slow but does a very sharp turn down to Feelsville and I am Here for It! I’m still very worried about how this is going to end but I am also very very excited.