#just keep being tumblr please. don't algorithm. ever.

[some-teeth-in-a-trench-coat]

Glad to see mobile is once again unusable because of the new hideous and buggy way to look at videos and images that no one asked for, finally something to drive me away from the platform I can't remove ads from, thus finally not giving tumblr a dime for my presence. Great strategy, guys, keep it up! @staff @wip @‎whatever the third one is I forgot

[musings-of-a-rose]

Marcus

Pairing: Marcus (Pike, Moreno, Acacius) x f!reader

Word Count: 6900+

Rating: Mature - 18+ ONLY!

Warnings: Just like ao3, “creator chooses not to use warnings.” If you click Keep Reading, that means you agree that you’re the age to handle mature themes. Also by clicking Keep Reading, you understand warnings may not be complete in order to avoid spoilers for the story. 

Notes: I saw a post from @pimosworld innocently asking for a Marcus bachlorette style fic and, while this isn't exactly right, this is what my brain came up with. Shoutout to @mermaidxatxheart for listening to me ramble and helping me, as well as @vanemando15 for being a cheerleader!

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**Reader is not described

Main Masterlist

Marcus Moreno Masterlist

Marcus Pike Masterlist

Marcus Acacius Masterlist

“Thanks for coming to Level Up Comics!” I smile at the customer as I hand them their bag, a quiet grunt all I get in return before they head out the door, the little bell jingling with their exit. I stretch, walking around from behind the counter and heading back towards the display case where several boxes sit in front, unopened figurines and collectibles pouring from them. My family and friends thought I was crazy for opening a physical media store in this age of digital products. They said no one would come in let alone want to actually buy “this crap.”

But here I am, a few years after opening, and I’m doing pretty good for myself. There are still collectors out there who want their favorites in case something happens to their files. They want the figurines from the original manufacturers, rather than printing them themselves. I can’t blame them. There’s something different, something magical about reading the printed word, having a figure of your favorite character that was made decades ago by something other than a 3D printer in someone’s basement.

The bell jingles and I yell out a greeting, shoving a few more figures in the back of the case before standing and turning, a pair of dark brown eyes meeting mine. I can already feel the smile on my face. 

“Hi, Marcus!” Shit, was that too enthusiastic? If it is, he doesn’t let on, his own smile shyly spreading across his face. “How…how are you?”

He rubs the back of his neck with his large hand, his eyes darting away from mine. “I’m..I’m good. You?”

“Good. That’s good. I mean, I’m good. Good. It’s all…good.” What the fuck?

He chuckles lightly, looking anywhere but at me. “Good.”

We’re both silent for several moments. He’s so hot. Way out of my league hot. And the weird thing is, I don’t even think he realizes just how attractive he is. 

“Did my back issue of X-Men come in?”

“Oh!” I slap my forehead. “I almost forgot! Yes. Let me get that for you.” Trying desperately to hide the heat in my cheeks, I quickly walk around the counter, kneeling to sift through the special order pile. 

“You got more figures in?”

“Yeah,” I yell from my crouched position. “There’s a few bins in the back I haven’t emptied yet. Feel free to have a look!” 

“Thanks.” I hear him shuffle off towards the back of the shop just as I locate his order. The door bell dings again and I stand, smoothing down my jeans. A man stands at the counter, his bright blue eyes roaming up and down my body before her plasters on the most ingenuine smile I’ve ever seen. 

“Hi. How can I help you?” I ask him as I place Marcus’s order on the counter.

 “Hi beautiful. I’m looking for a comic.”

I internally sigh. I already know where this is going. It happens several times a week.

“Well you’ve come to the right shop. What are you looking for?”

He chuckles, intending to be endearing. It isn’t. “I’m looking for a very specific issue of Hawkeye. You know who that is?”

Seriously? “I am very familiar with Hawkeye. Are you?”

He scoffs. “Haha. You’re a funny, pretty thing. Anyway, I’m looking for a specific run of his. Do you know what that means?”

Anger surges through me and I grip the desk to ground myself. Out of the corner of my eye I see Marcus at the back of the store, standing and turning towards us but not moving. He’s even hot in my peripheral. 

“Which run are you looking for? Or are you wanting a recommendation?”

He laughs, the vile sound of it echoing off the walls. “A recommendation? From you? What would you know? You’re just a pretty little girl.”

A clunk from the back of the store and I see Marcus trip over one of the boxes. He doesn’t go down, but turns to fix the boxes that he’s kicked over. The man in front of me is unphased, his eyes still on me, an amused smile tugging at his lips.

“Well?” He spits out. 

I look at him, giving him a smile. “Well, if you’re asking me personally, my favorite run is the Matt Fraction run. Not only because of his artistic style and great story, but the fact that they weaved in Clint’s deafness, drawing him wearing his hearing aids, and even doing an entire issue completely in American Sign Language. A great story and representation of a marginalized community from, in my opinion, one of the best and most relatable Avengers. Now, would you like the individual issues, an omnibus, or the digital version?”

The smug smile slowly fades from his face, his eyes hardening. “You don’t have to be such a bitch.”

“I do when customers act like a bitch.” 

He grabs the fliers on the counter and throws them at me, turning towards the door. “Fuck you and this place!” He tries to slam the door behind him but he fumbles with the handle, flipping me off one final time before disappearing around the corner. 

I sigh, bending down to pick up the fliers. A hand reaches out, large and inviting, carefully helping me pick up the scattered papers. I look up at him, at Marcus, sweet Marcus. Who had heard all of that. 

“I’m sorry Marcus. I shouldn’t have lost my cool.”

He hands me the small stack he’s collected, meeting my gaze. “You don’t have to apologize for standing up to a sexist asshole. I should be the one who’s sorry.”

I combine our stacks, both of us standing as I tap them on the counter to even them out. “Why should you apologize?”

“I should’ve come to help,” he rubs the back of his neck, his ear turning slightly pink. 

I shake my head. “No, Marcus don’t worry about it. I get assholes like that all the time. Really, it’s ok.”

He shakes his head. “It’s really not-”

To my own surprise, I reach out and squeeze his arm. “Really, I’m ok. Thank you, Marcus.”

He smiles at me, opening his mouth to say something, but his phone rings from inside his pocket. “Sorry. Sorry.” He pulls it out, tapping on the clear screen only he can see. “Shit. I have to take this. Work. You sure you’re ok?”

I smile, trying not to show my sadness at his leaving. “I am. Hope everything’s ok at work.”

“Thanks. I’ll uh…see you around.” His eyebrows pull together as his phone rings again, his eyes moving down to the screen before he turns around and heads out the door, pausing to give me a wave through the window before he disappears into the crowd. 

I’ll never meet a man owning this shop. They’re either assholes, taken, or hopelessly out of my league. My own phone beeps and I pull it out, scanning the clear screen with my reservation confirmation. I tap the confirm button, nerves flooding my system. 

I can’t believe I signed up for a virtual version of the bachelorette.

—----

I closed the shop early and rushed home to get ready for that night. I arrive promptly at 7pm as they requested, the giant VIRTUAL LIFE logo on the side of the building bathing the sidewalk in bright blue light. I take a deep breath and walk inside, the door disappearing momentarily to let me in before reappearing behind me. The front desk assistant guides me to a row of elevators and instructs me to head to floor 28. I’m the only one in the elevator, the lights illuminating each floor as we pass it. The elevator stops and the doors open to a small waiting room, black leather couches and chairs surround a coffee table with several tablets, each loaded with some form of entertainment. While it looks like there are windows, if you look closely, you can tell they’re simulated, trying to grant us as much privacy as possible. Although, I think it may be more about guarding their own technology secrets. 

“Ivy?” a woman calls my name from the only doorway in the room aside from the elevator. I nod, standing and smoothing down my dress. 

“That’s me.”

“Right this way.” She leads me into another small office, a simple desk with a single chair for me to sit in. She sits opposite me at the desk, tapping in mid air at what I’m assuming is the computer screen in front of her. 

“Ivy it says here you signed up for the bachelorette program to meet a compatible mate. Is that correct?”

Swallowing down my embarrassment, I nod. “Y-yeah.”

She taps a few more things. “Great. Do you know how this works?”

“You guys take a picture of my brain and show me a story?”

She chuckles, the first time her professional demeanor has broken. “Almost but not quite. After we’re done here, you will be taken to the simulation room. You’ve already done your physical-”

“Yeah. They had me put on this suit and they captured the way I moved. Motion capture, I think?”

She nods. “Yes that’s it exactly. This way, your avatar inside your world will move like you. It helps with immersion.” I nod. “They also completed your brain scan to find the most viable dates and look of mate that you are searching for. You indicated you’re looking for a male mate, is that correct?”

I nod. “Yeah. Yes.”

She nods. “Alright. If you’ll go through the door, someone in scanning will take you. Good luck!” She gestures to a door on the opposite wall from where we entered. I go through the door and another woman greats me, leading me to chair where she has me sit and get comfortable. It reminds me of what the dentist chairs used to look like except way more comfortable. She turns to me, holding a helmet with different little lights on it. 

“Any questions?”

“Yeah. So what will he..I mean, how will I know who he is?”

“You will just know. Sort of like in a regular video game, where you can tell who is important to talk to.”

“Ok..but…will he look like him or?”

That’s reassuring. But then she interrupts my thoughts. “Don’t forget, he will be there too also looking for you.”

She shakes her head. “Your algorithm took in your scan and will give him the appearance of someone you find appealing or comforting. We’ve found it’s easier to accept someone if they have an outward appearance you’re already familiar with.”

“So you base connections on personality as opposed to looks?”

She nods. “Those relationships have the highest success rate, so yes.”

“And after, will you show me who he is?”

She nods. “In the simulation, you’ll go on 3 dates. They may be something as simple as communicating in an office to being a superhero or even traveling back in time. The algorithm takes both of your likes, dislikes, and desires and places you in situations. The more you play along and immerse yourself, or yourselves, into the simulation, the better the outcome, meaning a closer connection. And don’t worry - you cannot be physically harmed. And if it’s too much or you want to stop, you only need to say “End simulation”. Please be aware that time may pass differently in the simulation, but you will only be in for an hour. After, you will both meet here, in reality, and can determine whether you’d like to continue with a relationship or not. Any more questions?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. Not at the moment, anyway.”

She places the helmet on my head, the nodes all changing different colors as it comes in contact with me. She squeezes my shoulder and I look up at her. “Just relax and try to go with the theme. It’s more fun that way, ok?”

I nod, wiping my sweaty palms on my dress. “Yeah. Makes sense.”

“Good luck!” She taps a button on her clear screen and my vision fades to black so just a couple of seconds. But then I’m blinking awake, the tips of my fingers tingling and my toes feeling like they just woke up. My vision starts to clear and the room comes into focus. I’m sitting at a bar, a fancier bar, which explains the nice dress. As my hearing levels out, I realize that the blonde man to my right is talking to me, his body shifted in my direction. His grey eyes are slightly unsettling. This can’t be my mate, can it? 

“...and so I had them fired! Can you imagine? I asked for my steak to be medium and they brought it out medium well. That will teach that guy to listen to the customer at his next job.” Grey Eyes chuckles and takes a sip of the drink in front of him. He nods towards the glass in front of me. “Do you want another?”

“What? Oh, uh sure.” 

He flags the bartender down and orders a rum and coke before making a show of leaning on his beefy arm against the bar. “I’m glad you finally saw reason and agreed to come out with me tonight.”

I give him a small smile. “Yeah. Same here.” This doesn’t feel right. Maybe they got it wrong? Someone bumps into me from behind and grey eyes catches me, glaring at the person who bumped me, who had moved on. 

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah. It’ll take more than a drunk asshole to bring me down.” Grey Eyes laughs, picking up his glass and holding it up towards me. “I’ll drink to that.” I glance down to grab my drink, only to find it wasn’t there. I look back at Grey Eyes and see him frozen in place, the smirk on his face completely gone, his glass shaking as he continues to hold it in mid air. My glass appears next to his, lightly clicking against his glass. 

“Now that’s not very nice.” That voice. I would know his voice anywhere. My entire body relaxes as I turn to look into the dark brown eyes that I love so much.

“Marcus!” I exclaim, ignoring the vein in grey eye’s neck that’s threatening to pop. Marcus on the other hand, looks good. I mean, he always looks good to me but he’s dressed in nice black pants and a light blue button up shirt with matching black jacket. I’m not sure how a blue shirt makes his brown eyes pop, but it does. Marcus pushes his black frames up his nose.

“Hey, Ivy. Sorry to interrupt your date, but this not so kind gentlemen put a little something in your drink.”

“He what?” I blink rapidly a few times, trying to pry my eyes away from him. Grey Eyes vein relaxes somewhat and he sputters out.

“Fuck you man! We’re on a date! What….what are you doing to me?”

Marcus shrugs. “Well, you wanted to make it so she can’t move. Only fair if I return the favor.” 

Grey Eyes goes to say something else, but then seems to recognize the man standing next to me, his eyes going wide.

“Aren’t you the guy that can move metal?”

My eyes snap to Marcus, who is smiling. “I see I have a fan.”

Grey Eyes tries to backtrack. “Listen, man. I’m sorry. I was just trying to get her to loosen up a bit. Have some fun.”

Marcus looks at me, his brown eyes wide and smiling. “Ivy, do you wish to continue your date with this man?”

“Nope.” I pop the “p” sound at the end of the word. “Little hard to have fun when my date is trying to render me unconscious.”

Marcus waves the bartender over. “Call the police. This man is in possession of Freeze Me.”

 A handful of what felt like seconds later, several officers show up and arrest Grey Eyes, who barely puts up a struggle. I turn towards Marcus, my smile stretching my face as I grab his arm. “My hero.”

His eyes dart around the room, his arm coming up to rub at the back of his neck. “It was nothing.”

Gosh he’s so cute when he does that neck rub thing. Wait. Gotta play along. 

“Is Marcus the Metal Bender actually acting shy around me?”

He chuckles nervously and I think how perfect they coded him. Like he was picked out of my brain. Which I guess he was. 

“Just trying to be respectful.”

I wish he wouldn’t. Wait, are we even allowed to have sex in here? Wow, getting ahead of yourself there, Ivy.

“Youwannagetoutofhere?” He speaks so fast it all comes out in a jumble and I cock my head to the side. 

“What?”

He swallows hard and I can’t help but watch his Adam’s apple bob in his throat. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Hell yeah I do.” 

—-

It’s a few weeks later, or at least it feels like some time has passed. That lady did say time passes differently here. Now I’m in an office building, a stack of files in my arms, walking down the hall. A quick glance around tells me I’m in the Heroics head quarters. Marcus appears from around the corner and looks up at me, smiling and walking towards me. But then a man in a much too tight blue suit with a glowing M on it joins him, Marcus’s shoulders sagging slightly as he gives me a sad little wave.

“When are you two going to go on a date already?” A woman with bright pink hair appears next to me. 

“I uh, me?”

She slaps my shoulder. “Yes, you Ivy.” She leans in closer to my ear. “Aren’t you the one who confessed to having a crush on our heroic leader?”

I will the heat rising in my face to not show. “Oh, I uh..I-”

“You know he likes you too.” Her jaw drops when she sees the confused look on my face. “Oh don’t tell me you can’t tell! That man can hardly look at you and he’s taken down alien forces by just staring at them.”

She feels like a close friend so I go with it. “Yeah, ok I like him. Keep your voice down, will you?” She continues walking with me to the end of the hall where I deposit the stack of files into several slots, each one making a small whoosh sound as they’re whisked away to their destinations.

When I’m done, Pink Hair gently grabs my face and turns me to her. “I love you, Ivy. You know you’re like the sister I never had. So please listen to me when I say ask that man out before something happens and you regret not ever trying.”

Well fuck. That is…really spot on to reality isn’t it? 

I never get a chance to answer her as the entire building suddenly shakes, alarms and lights screeching and illuminating the halls. One of the tall filing cabinets starts to topple in my direction and I can only look on in horror, frozen in place by the rumbling building. I throw my hands up, as if that’s going to stop it, but nothing happens. The cabinet is laid gently on its side, floating to the ground. 

“Come on!” I look up into those dark eyes, Marcus extending his hand to me and helping me to my feet. “We have to get out of here!” He tightens his grip and somehow leads us out of the chaotic building out into the streets. Which is also nuts. People are running everywhere and…wait. Is that an alien spaceship coming towards us??

Marcus pulls me behind a wall, glancing around it and waving hand signals to a small group of heroes across the street behind another wall, Pink Hair amongst them. He turns back to me, his face full of worry as he starts to take his shirt off, exposing…not skin but a uniform? No. His hero costume, which is a black shirt,and arm bands. He sees me staring down and he shrugs. “I normally have a tach vest but we’re out of time.” 

“Should you not go out there without one?”

Marcus shakes his head. “I have to support my team. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. I mean, people safe.”

“You could just stay here with me? The others can handle-” my words are cut off by a giant laser beam cutting through the street, coming directly from the ship. 

He takes my hand and squeezes it. “Get yourself to safety. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I need you to be safe.” Another laser beam, the sound of some smaller buildings crumbling to the ground. “Go! Get to safety!” He releases my hand. 

I get a glimpse of the deep craters that lasers had left in their wake through the cement of the street, the piles of rubble and dust, and this spurs me on.

“Marcus?” He leans against the wall, readying himself, but he looks at me. 

“Yeah?”

Mustering up my courage, I lean towards his hunched body, softly planting a kiss on his lips. When I pull back, I see his chest heaving, his eyes moving between mine.

“Please make it back, Marcus.”

Before he can answer, the ship comes into view and his team moves out, following behind Miracle Guy, who had flown right up the ship and started punching it. Marcus’s head whips around, assessing the situation and I squeeze his arm once more before quickly moving out of the immediate area. I know I should move more, but I can’t get hurt so… 

The fight that ensues between the ship, the aliens inside, and the Heroics team is nothing short of brilliant. They may argue in the halls, but in the field, they all take direction from Marcus, who is a brilliant leader, playing all of their strengths. Marcus bends metal like it’s made of playdough, a beautiful dance of destruction and strength. Then the ship comes crashing down, everyone moving out of the way except-

“Marcus!” I emerge from my hiding place at a full run as the smoke around the alien ship that’s currently scraping along the road as it crashes and envelops Marcus. The ship stops, groaning as it falls back and lays still, no other life forms moving or detected on board. For a few moments, no one moves. Then Marcus emerges from the smoke, his face soot stained and a small gash in his shirt and along his cheek, but otherwise unharmed. 

“Marcus!” I run to him, his eyes finding mine, his entire body relaxing as he realizes I’m safe, just before I launch myself into his arms, our lips crashing together as my right hand fists in his shirt, my left tugging on his hair. Miracle Guy wolf whistles but I couldn’t care less. I feel his tongue gently lick out and I part my lips, letting him take whatever he wants. But before it can go any further, my vision starts to blacken, the last thing I see is Marcus’s eyes going out of focus as he succumbs to his own transition to the next simulation.

—----

I find myself blinking awake for the second time in what feels like weeks, but I know in reality it’s only been maybe 20 minutes that I was in there. The tips of my fingers and toes are tingling, my vision and hearing clearing and I find myself in…a breakroom. Am I back at the Heroics? The slight weight in my hand takes my focus and I realize I’m holding a cup of tea. I must be on my break. I walk towards the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking outside. I’m not back at Heroics - the cityscape is all wrong. I hear the door open behind me and I turn, the smile on my face widening as Marcus enters the room. His hair is shorter than the last simulation. And his face is clean shaven, which is a look I’ve never seen on him before. Not that it matters - he’s beautiful no matter what. I wonder what he’ll look like when he’s a little older. Probably hot as-

“Hey, Ivy.” Marcus smiles down at me, grabbing his own mug and pouring a cup of coffee from the carafe. I notice the FBI logo on the mug and figure that must be where we are.

“Hey,  Marcus.” I take a sip of my tea as we both watch the other. But then the door opens again, another agent walking into the room. He claps his hands together, looking at us.

“Hey! Congrats on finally cracking that art case, you two! 8 months is a long time to do an operation like that. Great work!” He shakes both of our hands as we thank him. Marcus catches my eye and, with a small movement, jerks his head towards the door. I nod, thanking the other agent again and follow Marcus out of the tiny breakroom and down the hall, stopping in front of an office door labeled MARCUS PIKE. I wonder if that's his name back In reality. He extends his arm towards his office and I head inside, smiling at him as I do, noting how his eyes dart around, that hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck as he closes the door behind him.

“I uh…great work, Ivy.” 

“You too.” 

He puts his hands in his pockets and finally looks me in my eyes and he nods once. 

“Listen. Do you..uh..I mean, would you like to…this is coming out all weird.”

I squeeze his arm and he looks down at my hand, taking a deep breath. 

“Would you like to get something to eat?”

My stomach erupts in butterflies. “Like on a date?”

The redness in his eyes spreads down onto his cheeks as he stammers, gesturing around vaguely. “No! No, not uh. Not a date.”

I can feel my face falling. “Oh.”

“Uh, unless you…uh…unless you want to? Make it a…a date?” His eyes are wide and bright, like a damn puppy. 

I smile, tucking some hair behind my ear. “Yeah. Yeah, I would love to go on a date with you, Marcus.” 

His smile is bright, lighting up the room. “Yeah?”

“Yes.”

He let's out a sigh of relief. “Great! I found this great pancake place.”

Pancakes? I love this man already. “It's nearly dinner time!” I can't help the small giggle that I let out. 

“Yeah, well you said your favorite food is pancakes. And they're open 24 hours.”

He remembered my favorite food? I'm so screwed. Damn this program is good. “You're right! I'd love to get pancakes with you. On a date. For a date. When will this date be, by the way?”

“Oh. I uh, would it be too weird if we went tonight? Is that too soo-”

“No! I mean, yes! No it's not too soon. I'd love to go!” If my heart could stop beating through my chest, that would be great. It's not that I'm some young girl getting asked on her first date. I just really like Marcus. Or whomever this is. My heart sinks at the thought of it not being the Marcus I know in reality. 

“Great! I'll pick you up at 7? Unless you'd rather meet me there? I don't want you to be uncomfortable.”

“Marcus, we just spent 8 months together on assignment. I think I'm comfortable around you.”

He chuckles. “Fair point.” His office phone rings and he apologizes to me, picking it up. I wave ro him and he mouths “See you at 7!”

—----

He picks me up with a flourish of flowers, all long legs and button up shirt that I'm really dying to unbutton. If that's even allowed here. 

But what's more than that is the conversation. I thought I had learned everything about him over the last 8 months. I was very wrong. 

“You were a bass player in a band?” I ask, choking on my drink.

He laughs, holding his hands up in front of him. “What can I say? I wanted to meet more people.”

“I bet you had all the girls hanging on you.”

Marcus shrugs. “Not really. They all want to date the drummer or the singer.”

“Really? Not the sexy bass player?”

Marcus takes too large of a sip of his drink and coughs, pounding his chest. “No, not the…you think I'm sexy?”

I set my fork down and meet his eyes. “If I didn't like you, I wouldn't be here.”

We spend several moments, just looking at each other and then I remember that he's not a simulation but a real person on the other end of those eyes. My heart squeezes thinking about how it won't actually be Marcus. Despite that thought, we really get along well and the conversation flows freely between us. Sooner than I’d like, we’re leaving the small diner, heading back to my place. Marcus parks in my driveway and turns to me, his eyes bright and wide like a damn puppy. We had been talking about books, one of my favorite topics.

“..and I know everyone complains that Tolkien takes 20 pages to describe a flower, but I really love that attention to detail. It makes it more immersive for me. One of these days I’ll get you to read Lord of the Rings!” I tap my fingers on his bicep to emphasize my point.

Marcus rubs his neck. “I uh…I already have.”

My jaw drops. “What? When??”

“When you told me it was your favorite book. Or books, I should say.”

I think back. “Marcus, that was…months ago!”

His eyes meet mine, the light from the street lamp outside adding a sparkle to them. “You said they were your favorite so…I read them.”

My stomach does flips, my heart beating. “You read them all for me?”

He nods. “Even the Silmarillion.”

I can’t help it. This is so fucking hot. I reach out and grip his shirt, pulling him to me, his soft lips pressing against mine, the heat between us quickly rising. His large hand cradles the back of my head, holding me to him as his other hand settles on my hip, squeezing it lightly. We make out for several minutes, Marcus kissing and nipping a path down my neck. 

“Do you want to come in?” I ask breathlessly. 

He pulls back and looks at me. “I do but-” he whispers. “Are we allowed?”

“I…I’m not sure. We could try to-” 

But then my vision starts to blacken around the edges, and before I pass out, I hear Marcus say “See you in the next one!” before we both black out.

—----

Now familiar with the way I wake in these simulations, I wiggle my fingers and toes, giving myself a moment to figure out where I am. The room looks…ok, this isn’t from my time. Roman decor and pillars line the grand bedroom, some food laying on a small table for, I’m assuming, me. A quick glance down shows me in a beautiful white garb and I marvel for a moment at how clean it is. 

BOOM!

The ground shakes and I duck down, completely caught off guard. It’s only after the boom dies down that I hear it - the distant sound of clanking swords and men yelling. I walk to the small window set into the wall and look out, my brain taking a moment to process the scene in front of me. 

I’m several floors up in a sort of round building, a castle I realize as I see the lower tiers, more square in their shape. I’m sure the grounds would have been beautiful, if it weren’t for the massive amounts of soldiers fighting in the streets. I can make out their bodies, the blood, sweat, and dirt spreading almost like a disease. Spear and swords burst from chests or stomachs, limbs separating from their bodies to be lost to the throngs of soldiers. The seem to be moving closer to the castle, which I’m not sure if I want to happen or not. Turning on my sandaled heel, I walk to the door, pressing my ear against the wood to listen. Hearing nothing, I try to open it. Nothing. The door doesn’t open or move, the handle locked into place.

Well, fuck. 

Before I can try and figure out how far down the next ledge is out the window, or if I can even fit out the window, I hear a commotion outside my door. It’s not loud, but I hear a man gurgling and sputtering, a small bit of crimson blood pooling under the door. I grab an iron rod by the fire and hold it up, preparing to defend myself. I know they said I can’t be hurt but damn this feels real. The door opens and a man walks through, wide, muscular shoulders under his Roman armor, Medusa proudly engrained on the front. I lunge, the iron rod above my head but the man turns and grabs the rod and I  would’ve fallen to the floor if he hadn’t caught me.

“Ivy! Here you are!” 

It’s him. Marcus. Only he’s older, probably closer to 50. Grey streaks in his curls and patchy facial hair only accentuate his beauty, a new scar forming across his nose, bleeding lightly down his face. He’s covered in dirt and blood and ash, but I throw my arms around him anyway.

“Marcus! Thank God, what’s going on?”

He cups my face, pushing my hair out of my face. “You are so beautiful, my love. I would bring every army from the entire world to rescue you from this horrid Emperor.” And then his lips are on mine, urgency behind them, but a desire to show me how l much I am loved. This man apparently started the battle outside, for me, and still wants to make sure that I know how important I am to him? 

“We have to flee. Come!” But before we can leave, the door flies open and 5 guards file in, grabbing Marcus and holding his arms out to his sides. I pick the iron rod up from the floor and run towards them, unsure of what I would do but I know I’ll beat the shit out of them until they let him go. But another hand shoots out and grabs my wrist, twisting it hard so I drop the rod. I look up into the eyes of a man that I’m assuming is the Emperor, his golden robes flowing around him. He looks vaguely familiar, like that one asshole from the comic shop.

“Now, now my dear. What were you planning on doing with that?”

I open my mouth to reply, but then he smacks me across the face and I slam down onto the floor. Ok, that hurt. Didn’t she say I wouldn’t get hurt? Maybe she meant I wouldn’t die. Marcus swears, cursing the Emperor for hitting me. 

“Are you alright, my love?” Marcus grunts as the men punch him in the stomach. 

“Marcus, Marcus, Marcus. You’re kind are dying out. I told you to just accept your fate and take your banishment, but instead, you stayed behind and fell in love with a woman. How…stupid.” Marcus tries to speak but he’s punched again, his body hunching over. I try to stand, but then I’m drug up by my hair, the Emperor’s fingers digging at my scalp as he pulls me to his side. 

“This one?” His eyes rake over my body. “She is attractive, I’ll give you that. Even if she is attracted to a brute like you.” I jerk my body, trying to get out of his grip but it’s too tight, my hands gripping his arms to try and get some relief from the stinging at the back of my scalp.

“Let her go. You can kill me, I don’t care, but let her go.”

The Emperor looks from me to Marcus, a sick smile spreading on his face. “I didn’t go through the trouble of kidnapping her just to have you give up. So I’ll tell you what I’ll do instead. LOOK AT ME!” The Emperor bellows from beside me, Marcus’s eyes moving from mine to his. 

He steps closer to Marcus, dragging me a little beside him. “Such a wild man. How about this: you watch as I take her. Then, I’ll drive my sword through her belly so she can slowly bleed out on the floor. Only after the light has left her eyes will I either kill you or lock you up to suffer the rest of your days. How does that sound?”

The darkness that settles over Marcus is unforgiving, his eyes hardening in resolution. He growls and screams, throwing the soldiers off him as he grabs his sword from the ground, swinging it and taking out all of the soldiers in only a handful of moves. He spins, aiming his sword at the Emperor, who has now moved me in front of him as a human shield, a knife to my throat. 

“I’ll kill her, Marcus! You are too weak to save her!”

Marcus’s gaze moves briefly to mine and I release my weak grip on the Emperor’s arms, letting them fall to my side. Marcus shifts his body ever so slightly before he throws something from behind his back. The object whizzes past my cheek, scratching it slightly as the blade buries itself in the Emperor’s neck. He drops his knife and clutches at his throat, his eyes wide with fear. He crumbles to the floor and sputters for several moments before his body stops moving. I run to Marcus, throwing my arms around him again. He grunts and I remember the soldiers hitting him.

“Are you hurt?”

He clutches his side. “I’ve had worse.”

“You are so fucking hot right now,” I speak quietly to him and he smiles. “I’m covered in dirt and blood and sweat.”

“Stop trying to turn me on more I already said you’re hot.”

He laughs but then inhales sharply at the pain. “I’ll take it, I guess.”

“No, that’s my job.” I bring my lips to his, pushing him back towards the chaise lounge chair on the other side of the room. He sits, pulling me onto his lap as I straddle him, my dress getting dirty as I shift my hips. He groans, his large hands sliding up my bare thighs under my dress and fuck! My vision starts to blacken and I hear Marcus whine out some expletives as we both are brought out of the simulation. 

—---------------------------

Hopefully for the last time, I blink awake, wiggling my fingers and toes as I look around the room. The helmet is gently lifted from my head and the woman that had put it on me moves into my eyesight.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m here.”

“Good. Wait just a moment for your body to fully catch up. Do you have any questions?”

“Yeah why did you stop us having sex?”

She studies me for a moment. “It is not allowed in the programming.”

“I cross my arms. “Well your programming is stupid.”

She chuckles so quietly I thought I’d imagined it. “The algorithm wants you and your mate to match based on personality and emotions, not just physical.”

“I can guarantee you it wasn’t just physical.” 

She helps me stand and I shake my limbs out, full feeling returning to them. I smooth out my dress as she readjusts my hair. “Are you ready to meet him?”

Him. My reality man. “Y..yeah.” 

“Right through that door. He’s already waiting for you.” I move towards the door but she stops me. “I just have to say, I’ve been doing this for years and I’ve never seen a situation like yours and his.”

I furrow my brow. “What do you mean?”

So smiles softly. “So…rooted in reality.”

Yeah that’s not confusing. But she doesn’t explain further, turning back to the chair and helmet, starting to clean them. I take a deep breath to steady myself and open the door, walking through and closing it behind me. The man on the other side of the room, my mate, turns towards me and we both gasp.

“Marcus?”

“Ivy?”

We meet in the middle of the room and I cup his face, Marcus tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Is it really you?”

He nods. “Yeah. You? Real?”

“Real.”

He pulls my face to his, kissing me deeply, but then pulling back a moment later. 

“I’ve been dying to ask you out since forever. I never thought I’d be paired with you, here of all places.”

I cock my head to the side. “Why didn’t you ever ask me?”

“Have you seen yourself? You’re entirely out of my league.”

“I’m fairly certain it’s the other way around.”

He opens his mouth to protest, but I put my finger on his lips. “I think we went through several first dates in there. Plus, we’re already friends. Can we…that is, can you take me back to your place first? Then we can eat?”

Marcus’s eyes darken, his hands finding a place on my hips as he pulls me against his body, letting me feel how into that idea he is. 

We’re married a year later.

—----

General Taglist:

@frankie-catfish-morales @chaoticgeminate @janebby @astoryisaloveaffair @balekanemohafe @greeneyedblondie44 @hoeforthefictional @marvelousmermaid @hauntedmama @icanbeyourjedi @wretchedmo @sunnshineeexoxo @livingmydreams13 @adventures-of-a-noodle @sara-alonso @theewokingdead @punkerthanpascal @giggly-otter @f0rever15elf @phandoz @gallowsjoker @lovesbiggerthanpride @booksarekindaneat @charlispersonallyhell @xoxabs88xox @amneris21 @gooddaykate @avengers-fixation @paintballkid711 @harriedandharassed   @ladykatakuri @practicalghost @withakindheartx @batdarkladyvampir @justanotherkpopstanlol   @mermaidxatxheart @alexxavicry @justreblogginfics @kmc1989 @veryprairieberry @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @heartpascalispunk

[toutvatoujoursbien]

Do you ever feel like this is a little too much of an echo chamber of people feeding each other crazy ideas so much that it becomes truth? I am floored by the N/L chemistry and would love them together if that’s what they want but they have never said that and it is feeling weird. Sometimes I feel gaslighted! I read something on Reddit about fandoms in general following this same pattern and I wonder if I have turned into a tin-hatter myself by shipping them (first time I have ever followed celebs like this). I hope this doesn’t get me blocked. I am feeling a little uneasy lately (I really lead a very normal life with plenty of friends and family and I “touch grass”) but just wondering if I am alone.

Anon, thank you for being brave and sending this ask. I know the past 24-ish hours have been absolutely insane in the fandom and I can understand that if anyone has a different opinion, they might be hesitant to share it (and I'm talking about BOTH sides of this "argument" right now - I know people are feeling riled up right now but everyone, please take some deep breaths). I want to make sure I'm answering your ask with thoughtfulness and sincerity, so here goes:

(Also, I started answering this ask at around 11 am EDT, so before some bombs started being revealed, IYKYK. So apologies, my brain is all over the place rn.)

I think it's totally possible to enter an "echo chamber" when it comes to fandoms and shipping. I will use myself as an example with how I was getting a lot of my info when I started in this fandom at the beginning of the year. I was really only on Twitter (cringe, I know...) and because I was interacting with one specific portion of the fandom, I had a skewed view of the whole situation. You are what your algorithm gives you on social media/what you teach it 😅 And even though I don't necessarily enjoy seeing certain things on my feed or timeline, at least for me here on Tumblr, it feels mostly less toxic.

I also think it's really understandable to feel gaslighted about the entire press tour and N/L's relationship. We watched dozens and dozens of interviews, behind-the-scenes and promos and I don't think it's a coincidence that so many in the general audience started to question whether or not they were dating. Like I keep saying, the chemistry is fucking off the charts between them. (Edit to add: I also don't think so many would have stumbled head over feet into this ship if it also wasn't for the deep and long-term friendship between them. I know that's what drew me in, for sure. There is HISTORY there.)

IMO, as much as we joke about our delulu and whatnot, I feel like as long as you're respectful and keep it to the appropriate corners of the internet, I don't think you've turned into a tin-hatter. The problem is when folks take it to their pages and/or feel entitled to individuals behaving a certain way, like an expectation is the given. Another issue I see is when projection starts to overtake para-social relationships. Lastly, I also want to emphasize that fandom/shipping is supposed to be fun and if you aren't feeling it anymore, then it's perfectly okay to take a break or move on.

Your feelings of unease are totally legitimate and you're allowed to sit in your thoughts and take time to process them!

For me personally, I'm taking the latest "photographic evidence" with grains of salt. I'm just not sure I believe a narrative other than N and JD are in the same friend group - a friend group who all attended the same festival for the most part. I'm also not sure what I think about these photos being dropped a week afterwards; the timing of all the various events over the past week is enough to raise my eyebrows, for sure.

I will also say - and this is probably an unpopular opinion - but if this rumored relationship turns out to be completely true - I will have the same issues about a power imbalance between N and JD because of their age, life experience, etc. I just have a hard time believing N, a woman near my age, would ever consider dating someone so young (and yep, aware that this is projection on my part). I just can't help but wonder that Nicola, someone we've witnessed be very private about her dating life over the last several years, has been so openly "caught" with JD without it raising my suspicions. It's at least enough to make me pause and question it all, you know? I won't get too deep into my conspiracy theories (maybe for a later post).

Anyway, I'm not sure if this has made you feel better, Anon. But I want you to know that you aren't alone. I'm always here to listen if you have any further asks 💕

[iminyourbookshelf]

QSMP community positivity because the streamer awards made me so happy

(under the cut because it's going to be A LOT)

QSMP Digital Artist - Ate and left NO crumbs ever omg. The amount of detail, varying styles, and epic scenes are my favorite. The variety of art styles for QSMP artist is like just going to a buffet to browse and they're all special little dishes made with so much love.

QSMP Tradtional Artist - HOW CAN YOU DRAW/PAINT SOME OF THIS STUFF?? Watercolor paintings of QSMP bulids, notebook spreads with cute little details, the fact that you can draw traditionally at all. All so talented.

QSMP Beginner Artist - NEVER GET DISCOURAGED <33. Everyone was a beginner at some point and seeing people improve over time with their art is so cool. I consider myself still a beginner even though I've been drawing for a couple years now lol. There is still so much for me to learn, and the fact how kind the qsmp art community is makes me so happy. Keep improving, your art looks great <3

QSMP Fanfiction Authors - I don't know whether to compliment you or ask for my therapy payment (/lh). So many authors have ripped my heart out and left it out to dry and others are like a bucket of fluff and joy. I love both of these. The writing quality is genuinely amazing on so many of these. I love to visualize when reading and with all the details it's basically just watching a movie.

QSMP Web Weavers - You guys are AMAZING. Finding so many quotes, transcripts, fanarts, aesthetic photos, and being able to combine them in a way that represents characters so well is beautiful. Not to mention the fact how your able to put credits for everything in an easy to find way??? Perfect.

QSMP Moodboards/Stimboard makers - These are so cute aaaa. I love seeing them, all the little collections of photos or gifs of characters I like is very fun.

QSMP Poll Accounts - I LIVE for taking polls. It's just fun to have a place to put an opinion you had for yourself that you didn't know how to put unprompted on your own post. Seeing results after a while also makes me happy to see what as a general consensus the fandom is on.

QSMBLR and QSMPTWT users - Transferring information from one hellsite to the other, I admire anyone who can survive in the discourse trenches and come back with account updates.

QSMP Clip accounts - I love seeing silly clips of cubitos, and especially those with transcripts and translations. It's a lot of effort and I admire that. Gives me so much info I would've missed otherwise.

QSMP translators - As someone still currently learning the other languages, it is so helpful when people translate it. Sometimes your brain just hurts and you can only read your native language. Also anyone who translates things from English to other languages, yes please make it for other speakers.

QSMP Multi-Shippers - It's so fun to see these, yes give your cubito 7 different romantic/platonic partners. You guys collect ships like Pokémon and it is inspiring

QSMP Cosplayers - I respect cosplayers so much. The wigs, the makeup, the costume, the PROPS?? All take so much work it's amazing to see final products. I reccently tried making a scythe for one I want to do, and I was struggling. Y'all are so cool.

QSMP Character Analysis Posts - Keeping fanfiction accuracy and my personal view on characters as close to canon as possible. These help so much when I need to look for a character I haven't watched much and easy to read.

QSMP Livebloggers - Save me from losing track of lore when I'm busy. I swear some of you just never sleep (please do but thank you for information). The amount of stuff I can figure out from vague post of combined livebloggers makes it much easier to know what's happening. Most of my mutual liveblog a lot and it saves me so much time <3

QSMP Rebloggers - KEEPING THIS FANDOM ALIVE‼️‼️ Tumblrs algorithm is based on reblogs, accounts that are just lurkers rb stuff ily. Hell yeah man, take all the cool stuff and share it.

QSMP Animatics - Movie night exists because of you guys!! Sometimes you all make me want to sob violently or laugh till I can't breathe. The differences in each video is so fun to see. The effort in each one is just beautiful too, animatics are NOT easy.

QSMP Editors - The fact that people can take a cube game and turn into epic/sad/cute edits with a few clips, transitions, and audios astounds me. You guys are so cool and I love seeing them. Also the fanart edits are so sick, finding the best ones to match.

QSMP Fan Video Creators - Stuff like the Federation Welcoming Workers Video, that one cucrucho cereal video, things like that. Quality is usually amazing and all the unique takes or camera work is epic. Idk what else fits in this genre but I just wanted to mention it.

QSMP RP Accounts - Seeing other people's takes on characters are so interesting and fun to see. RP is a skill I need to work on and it's done pretty well with these accounts. The amount of detail y'all can put is insane.

QSMP OC creators - Cringe culture is dead, I love seeing people make their little characters interact with eachother based on the QSMP. Keep it up and pls share it.

QSMP 3D Animators/Modelers - I never expirence more joy than when I see a 3D model of a qsmp rat spinning around. Also any 3D animators your dedication is insane. I tried learning 3D animation once and that was a STRUGGLE.

QSMP Vod savers/YT summaries -Actual lifesavers, there is no way I could've been apart of this community without them. Watching a few videos a day about what happened on the server makes it easier for me to actually do other things. Also that one person who made a QSMP2023 summary in UNDER 10 minutes, you are insane and did such a great job.

QSMP Accounts in Different Languages - QSMPBLR is heavily more English speaking than other languages, and when people main tag with post in different languages it makes me so happy. This was the point of the server, to let people post in whatever language they wanted. It's also fun for me to practice and try to translate it for myself.

I tried to get everything but please add if you have anything <3

[shuploc]

Hello!! I’m very very happy to have found you here on Tumblr omggg i found out about you through Insta then i found your Twitter (your art is doing extremely well and congrats!!) and then i found you here! I’m really pleased to know you’re such a sweet soul behind all the amazing artwork ^u^ i really enjoy your Miguel and Jayce stuff and can’t wait for your Peter B, you replied to my Insta comment about him 🙈😌

But anyway the real question: what do you think of building an audience on Insta and Twitter? It used to be so easy but now you get so easily pushed down algorithm-wise(?) and it sucks. Tumblr is the last safe place 😣🤞

I hope you have a good day!!!! Love your art 💕💕💕

Honestly, the only thing I know works when it comes to building a following anywhere is consistency (posting about the same thing and posting often), and also just not putting all your eggs in one basket. What I mean by that is, to not end up branding yourself as "the tumblr artist" or "the twitter artist", but instead make an account on as many sites you feel you can manage, and post something whenever you can. I use Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Artstation, and I'll occasionally post my stuff on subreddits too, if it seems appropriate. You kinda need to know what sort of vibe you want your pages to have too. Like you mentioned, Tumblr for me too is the only place I have where I don't need to be all professional, y'know. I keep all my other accounts very clean, but on Tumblr, I don't feel weird for talking or interacting with people, and I can answer asks and such 😌

I have not had much luck when it comes to being picked up by the algorithm though, so I 100% understand the struggle. For many many years, my "growth" was actually stagnant, and I was even losing followers at one point after switching fandoms. I'm almost certain that's gonna happen again too if I stop drawing Spiderverse stuff...

I have legitimately not experienced anything like what's happening right now though, ever, and it's all very exciting. People have been so sweet and supportive, it literally makes me so happy! I really wish I could've actually giving you some advice, but I honestly just chalk it up to luck at this point. Thank you so so much the kind words though and for the ask, I'm SO glad to hear you're a Jayce fan too 😍

[iindigoeyed]

RE: Tumblr shilling out to AI scraping tools

also see @.staff's post.

the news has made its way to me. I've opted out but in true "nothing-on-tumblr-ever-functions" fashion, i just can't rely on that working. Considering the guy who owns tumblr now is also a massive transphobe this is not surprising at all and i expect this will be 2018 Porn Ban-levels of dropping userbase any day now.

So with the rise of AI scraping, I probably won't be posting my art here or, honestly, anywhere at all in the future. There is nowhere left for artists to exist, and nowhere left for fandom to flourish like it used to, and that upsets me. tumblr is not and has not been perfect but this was truly the only last place for the freaks to exist without having to be marketable.

I have dozens, and by dozens i mean hundreds, of inactive blogs lying around on tumblr from over the years. a lot of them have my old art on them. not only do i not have the information to log into them anymore, but a lot of them only exist in reblogs, and exactly how are reblogs of art going to exist under the "pwease dont scwape my awt" thing? Will you be able to check that EVERY blog has opted-out? What about deleted blogs? Inactive ones? The blogs that belong to dead people? You get it. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this boat. you want me to log into what is probably close to a hundred blogs to switch a button that should be OPT-IN to begin with? -- But let's be honest, who's opting in to have their art fucking stolen? No one, and on tumblr especially.

Personally speaking here, I know i don't have a huge following and that's kind of by choice. So you can take what i say with a grain of salt. but as someone who want(ed) to work in the art field and was hoping ai scraping would be a passing trend, this is the nail in my coffin. I give up. I'm not posting art anymore, period. I've dealt with all of this for long enough. Everyone and everywhere is hostile for artists, including other artists, every single website, and now companies and corporations. If this is the future it is fucking bleak. I've made a lot of friends and memories through art, and please don't get me wrong, i am so grateful. But even so, I make no money (not like i ever tried), i don't enjoy the process, and i'm just a drop in the ocean of artists on the internet. Instead i get to worry about: people harassing others over what art they make, art being suppressed in the algorithms, artists being expected to comply with bullshit regulations, companies scraping our hard work to feed back into their dumbfuck machine, and in my case honing my skills for almost a decade with nothing to show for it to my colleagues.

I love art. I love(d) making art, at one point. My philosophy is that art is made to be shared. but if i cannot do one, i cannot do the other. I myself cannot share art safely, ergo i myself have no reason to make it. I'll find a way to do what i love but this is not it.

as for everyone else. i hope you don't give up hope, i hope you keep fighting to fix this. But personally speaking i am done. Look around, look outside. everything is trying to kill us. and the last thing i need is having to worry about whether my art is getting fed into an ai or glazing everything before i post. I know it will get worse. I'm just tired.

[dreamingofyeo]

Crescent: chapter 6 ☾⋆⁺₊✧

Branches of guilt

masterlist - playlist

1202 words

~ ☆彡~ Tumblr's algorithm works from reblogs so if you like my work please consider It

Hongjoong POV

Guilt. Raging guilt is all that fills my mind. It is ever consuming. It often feels as though my soul won’t let me form a single thought unrelated to it. Guilt over everything.

My past does not define me, that is what I keep on answering that guilt with. Yet my present seems to be nothing but an echo of my previous mistakes, like it is taunting me for the very idea that forgiving myself is even an option to be considered.

And through all of that I find myself unable to regret the decision to seek help in Arla. It was a selfish decision, one made based on instinct that she would be my best option. I saw her kind nature throughout the day I was planning my escape and completely took advantage of it, I knew she would help me.

That selfish knowledge cast out thoughts of consequence like one casts away a piece of parchment with the wrong words expressed upon it. That too, brings me great guilt. I abandoned my moral compass just as I had before, for my own selfish interest. There was no reason for me to want to escape those poorly built cells, to slip past the dim-witted guards, no purpose in my life to drive me into choosing myself over this poor girl’s livelihood. No matter how poor of an impression the people around her gave me of it. Yet something spurred me into my decision to escape, the more I think of it the more I realise it was the way she looked at me when I was in the stocks. Not an ounce of judgment or pity, just curiosity.

The way her mistress spoke of her viewing myself as innocent made me almost laugh in irony if it were not for the dehumanising expression she wore. For Arla in my eyes seems just that, innocent. Pure, not in the way that makes a man strive to corrupt, but pure in a way that makes a man strive to protect. Another reason guilt eats away at my conscience like a moth to a garment. It feels almost suffocating when she looks at me with that same soft expression on her features as the one when she first saw me. I deserve to be looked at with animosity for uprooting her as I have. It makes me unsure if I dread or long for the day when her gaze will morph into such an emotion. An internal debate which furthers the feelings of selfishness and guilt.

This endless hurricane of thoughts is what drove me out of the bed Felix showed me to and has me wondering aimlessly across the winding bridges of the elven palace. Is palace even the right term? Fraija stated he is not royalty but the elves opposition to violence makes ‘fortress’ seem contradictory to their nature. I’ll stick with palace, the place is certainly beautiful enough to be described as such.

The distinct feeling of being watched snaps me out of my head and has me carefully observing my surroundings, there is nobody with me on the bridge.

“You know, it’s awfully unnerving to have you sneaking around at this hour. If your aim was subtlety you’ve most certainly flouted it.��

The voice to my left whips me around in a moment of utter panic and exposure, I swallow roughly before regaining my composure. Nobody gets to see me when I feel like this, not again.

I still can’t see where the voice is coming from, but it’s not on the bridge which leaves the branches cascading around it as the only liable option. The voice belongs to Hyunjin, someone I could definitely live without. God the obnoxious trill of his voice is enough to make me forget all my thoughts, in a strange way it soothes me. Not that I will ever admit that to him, but the temptation to indulge in such a rare luxury pulls me into responding to him. (With equal bite obviously).

“Not that it would quell your distaste for my welcome, but I wasn’t sneaking.”

It doesn’t have nearly as much wit as I’d like but it’s all I have right now.

“If not sneaking then what? Do indulge me.”

Lord he’s irritating. I really don't understand why he seemingly distrusts me so deeply.

“Trouble sleeping in new places, fancied a wonder. That satisfactory enough for you Hyunjin?.”

A low chuckle rings from his shrouded position and he carefully stands up coming into my view. Easily crossing the branches until he settles again on one a couple of feet from the bridge, he tilts his head at me in mock curiosity.

“You’re unusually pliant right now, didn’t take you for the nervous type.”

The slight lack of bite in his tone despite his word choice confuses me, making me resist the urge to roll my eyes at him. Almost. Hyunjin chuckles again at that. I don’t care to give him any more than this so I return the snarky action with a curt nod before walking away from the irritating elf.

~

Reader/ Arla POV

You’re laying awake in your bed again now. Completely lost in your own thoughts whilst feeling detached all the same. Those thoughts are screaming at you, yet are incoherent and utterly foreign. You don’t understand what they’re saying, just feeling an inexplicable weight on your chest. Every sound you can hear is gnawing at your skull, as if they’re making some fucked up attempt at letting out the demons that are the very spawn of your own subconscious.

The particular sound of Hongjoong returning to his bed across the room shatters the bubble of anxiety around you. He’d left not long ago to god knows where, he’d seemed troubled judging from the tossing and turning so you’d decided against questioning him. That and hoping you’d be able to finally fall asleep without his restless presence, alas, that has not happened.

The ebony haired man looks at you, probably assuming that you’re asleep from your lack of movement and the lack of light in the space. You can just make out his features through your barely open eyes, he has a soft, forlorn look about him for reasons you can’t decipher. Your heart rate becomes uneven as he takes a few steps towards you, pausing as if conflicted before continuing to do so. You finally allow your eyes to close, the idea of having to speak so soon after leaving your previous headpace feels far to awkward. His actions shock you, placing a gentle hand on the top of your head he softly rubs his thumb over your brow a few times, barely audibly whispering.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into my mess, I’ll make it up to you. Sleep well Arla.”

You wanted to comfort him in that moment, reassure him that the past several hours have felt anything but a mess. That you felt alive again. But the soft feeling of his gentle touches lulled you too close to sleep to will yourself to speak. And so you slept, with the resolve in the back of your mind to show him how wrong he was.

<-chapter 5~chapter 7->

taglist

[crystallinearts]

Hi I’m the anon who asked for the nsfw venti asmr and I feel terrible about what happened to your YT channel. I really hope it wasn’t because of my request. Either way I won’t request those kinds of asmrs in the future. Please take care of yourself okay? We’re here for you

hi sweetie!!

please don't blame yourself, and don't hold back from requesting things you'd like! literally my very first ever video on YouTube was 18+, so I don't know what they were smoking by picking and choosing which to take down before eventually terminating my channel. it absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, WAS NOT YOR FAULT, nor was it the fault of anyone who requested 18+ ASMRs.

one of my videos was incredibly explicit and it didn't get removed or give me a strike, while tamer content was taken down. YouTube and their algorithms are just very fucky. and it's unfortunate, but I'll admit I should have posted the spicy stuff elsewhere; I knew it shouldn't have been on YouTube, but I thought I'd seen worse and that it wasn't something which was seriously enforced.

besides, what I think happened is that the heavy crying and breathing in Xin's debut video was picked up by the algorithm and registered as sexual noises, and that was, sadly, the final strike. and because I had other NSFW on my channel, my appeal wasn't successful.

the blame for my channel being terminated is 10000% on me, nobody else. I don't want anyone who requested NSFW things to feel bad or blame themselves. it was my channel, and my responsibility to comply with guidelines. I naively thought those guidelines wouldn't be enforced, I broke them several times even after having videos removed, and I paid the price.

as they say, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. I just failed to realize I was playing a stupid game, and I really should be smarter than that 😜

I will still do NSFW things, I enjoy doing them on occasion! I'm just still working out exactly how to best go about doing so... posting them solely on Tumblr, most likely 😘

you're still awesome and I adore you, please keep requesting things if you want, even NSFW things!! your support means so much to me, and you take care of yourself too, okay? 💎💖💎

[raealtheprotogen]

An update on channel content: Hey all! I want to treat Tumblr posts like my own little blog for updates and content, so here's the first post in all that! I've made a new Shorts channel for YouTube. I decided to do this separately from the main channel because there are a lot of people that don't like seeing their feeds clogged with a ton of shorts content, and I'm definitely one of them. I decided I would go ahead and make a completely separate channel that I could dedicate strictly to stream clips, highlights, and short content that I will also be posting to websites like TikTok, and maybe ever here on Tumblr. It'll help clean up a LOT of things in terms of how the main channel looks, but I also won't be bogged down by an algorithm and I won't feel pressured to overwork myself for the sake of content. I can just upload as I please and still get some fun stuff out to you. That being said, the new channel is live right now, and you can see a ton of content there already. I've completely re-edited my "Lore of the Protogens" video to fit into a vertical format specifically for Shorts and TikTok's because I wanted a way for people to share those little snippets of lore that they find interesting without having to share the entire video and time stamp it. It really has been fun making this new channel and I'm looking forward to keeping it running. It's a lot of work but honestly, it's already paying off. If you'd like to check it out, follow the link here: https://www.youtube.com/@raealshorts

[nazukisser]

I posted 2,786 times in 2022

That's 2,650 more posts than 2021!

1,306 posts created (47%)

1,480 posts reblogged (53%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@nazukisser

@lisxdumbr

@lilikags

@runanadwiddles

@nikikyuuun

I tagged 2,762 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#qian rbs - 1,375 posts

#srb - 934 posts

#qian talks - 680 posts

#qian answers - 444 posts

#enstars - 176 posts

#ensemble stars - 157 posts

#enstars x reader - 149 posts

#ensemble stars x reader - 118 posts

#enstars x you - 115 posts

#enstars x y/n - 110 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#first quiz i did gave me arashi the queen herself <33 but then the next one said eichi and i was like fuck no and then i took another one a

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

୨୧ 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐘𝐎𝐔

See the full post

266 notes - Posted May 27, 2022

#4

SYNOPSIS | aira getting an idol!s/o

PAIRING | shiratori aira x gn!reader

TAGS | fluff, drabble, request

REQUEST STATUS | regular reqs & matchups closed. event reqs open if there are slots left.

NOTES | from the shuffle x scribble event {status :: open} also! combined two requests (aira w idol!s/o and aira finding out an idol is also a big fan of his)

See the full post

282 notes - Posted July 25, 2022

#3

┊❝ their love languages

See the full post

371 notes - Posted July 7, 2022

#2

* ˚ ✦ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

See the full post

409 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

ARE YOU STARVED FOR CONTENT?

Do you need more content of your favorite character(s)? Are you always going to writers/artists' inboxes and requesting more of it because you feel like there won't ever be enough content?

Here is a guide on how to encourage writers/artists/graphics creators and other content creators to continue their amazing work.

don't just like our posts, reblog it. tumblr doesn't have an algorithm that suggests posts that people liked on others' dashboards. the only way the posts are going to circulate around and actually reach people who want to see it is when you reblog it for your followers to see. that's how we keep this place alive.

comment on our works! tell them how you felt when you saw it/read it. what kind of thoughts did you have? what were you doing? keysmash only? that's amazing, we love that. any words. "i love (character) so much" or "aojfossfiasjo help" or "I really love this work aaaa" or "bitch you're going to make me cry /pos" are all great. bonus points if you tell us in detail about what you liked about our works!!! like "I really like this phrase here..." or "the symbolism you used is really fitting for (character) because..." we don't just put work out there and say "hey this is amazing everyone should read it mwahaha" no we hope that you genuinely enjoy reading it and hope that we make someone's day. sometimes our confidence goes down in our writing and makes us want to stop but when we see such heartwarming comments, it really helps us with our self esteem.

be nice when you request!! don't just say "(character) + (prompt)" and press send. Say Hi! Say thanks! Where are your manners? Please don't act like you're my best friend who I talk to every day at the lunch table and joke around with- because I don't know you. Congratulate us on milestones if we have one going on. Because that goes a long way in making us feel appreciated in our works. We don't like feeling our work is being not appreciated and when the tags are dry it's going to be the fault of those who never supported their content creators.

INTERACT WITH US !! I cannot stress this enough. We are humans too, we want to be treated like humans, not some sort of authoritative figure or some account that puts out content every so often. We are human, we like interactions, we want to be appreciated not only for our works but also for ourselves. It's fine not to be our best friend or whatever, but one of the reasons people leave this site is because nobody talks to them. we are not some sort of business where you present an order and we give our content out and it just continues. we are humans, we are people, and we do this for free, so at least make it a pleasant experience to be on here.

728 notes - Posted April 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[kimtaegis]

Maybe you just don't want to talk about this with anyone, so feel free to ignore it, I'm glad if you only read. Please please take control of the people you follow, the people you interact with and have on your blog or in any other site or social media that you use to share your interest in BTS... Our experience in the fandom will depend 100% on that, the way you see armys will be entirely affected by it. Don't follow anyone just 'cause they're nice if what they say upsets you, don't be afraid to block or unfollow anyone who makes you uncomfortable. There are many types of armys and accounts you can engage with, there are fanbases sharing beautiful projects and kind actions from armys around the world, there are artist armys (just like you!) who show their creations, armys focusing on gathering votes and streams (this will be forever important) and overall many many armys who just care about what BTS have to say, trusting their messages and trying their best every day. I'm afraid that you may start to see armys in a negative way, I'm afraid that you can believe that this fandom isn't a good fandom, that this doesn't feel like home... This is not true, please remember that? Ever since I becamy army I never thought bad of this fandom and I always could understand why BTS love armys so much, 'cause armys have been comforting me too and I don't even have friends... I'm comforted just by "strangers". Even on Twitter, where things are much bigger and easier to trigger us, I've found my "safety zone". It's all a result of whom you follow. This doesn't mean I haven't found mean people, stalkers or antis, I did and sometimes I kept looking for them, even knowing how it made me feel, but I do my best to control what and whom I search for. Please take care of this ♡ life is already so hard, this part doesn't need to also be. Our fandom is the biggest in this world and of course that it means there'll be more toxic and obsessed people, the bigger it is it can be scarier, but I hope you can always see that this number isn't even close to all the kind armys who learn a lot with BTS, all the armys chasing for their future and trying to be better human beings. You're one of them!

oh you’re very sweet for sending all this, I appreciate it. I just think that it’s pretty much impossible to avoid any of this simply because of how today’s social media works; I have a tiny twitter account, only follow a very small bunch of fans (mostly mutuals from here and editmys/fanartists); the algorithm still suggests super problematic tweets to me. Which is sad in itself because those tweets get so much traction that they’re suggested to me, do you know what I mean? I do block and mute every single one of these accounts, have a mile-long list of muted words, and yet. And just leaving or disabling these functions would let me not see the stuff I would like to see anymore, so that’s also not great. Tumblr is comparably fine but is also absolutely deserted and boring. I’m sorry to say this but ever since I joined the fandom two years ago, I had my opinion on the general vibe of armys and this didn’t change at all. I’ve never seen this fandom as a healthy community or a home, I’m only in it because I love the group. Yes there are definitely amazing (and sane) people I’ve met here on tumblr through the boys and I’m so grateful for that, but unfortunately it’s really just a very small number of people who I truly get along with (probably my own fault but yeh). Also it’s not just the negativity by the way, but also the infantilism, or the other extreme, sexualisation of the members, the absolute obsession with chart and streaming numbers, awards and records, the “quantity over quality” way of thinking, the list goes on. There’s just so much I can’t vibe with, don’t want to. I’m trying my best to keep curating my own fandom experience and I don’t see myself not following bts’ career at any time soon, but it still sucks that such a big part of loving them feels so.. corrupted at times.

[plaguelily-art]

Hello all! First off, thank you to everyone for the overwhelming support on my FE Rarepair artworks--I've been very busy the past two months and haven't been on recently, so I hadn't realized how kind the response was to some of the arts. It warms my heart to see after my short hiatus!

And it also brings me to my next point. In light of of Automattic's upcoming contract with OpenAI, which will allow Midjourney to scrape content on Tumblr for AI training, I'd like to bring attention to a new addition in the Settings Menu.

Where do you find this? Click on Settings, scroll down until you find the Blogs list in the sidebar, and select a blog, then scroll down and you should see this feature. Turning it on will allow you to opt-out of having your blog's data scraped for AI training.

Please keep in mind if you have any side-blogs, you have to go through Settings > Blogs > select the side-blog and do the same thing.

See how @plaguelily-comics is my side-blog, and I still had to go through and turn this feature on separately? It's a bit of a pain, but I figured I'd draw attention to it just so people know what's up.

"So wait, you're not gonna stop posting art on this website?"

Not for now, no. My main art hosting site is still deviantArt which went through a similar fiasco, and dA implemented a similar feature to protect art. What was nice about dA was that their "noAI" feature was turned on automatically, and artists posting art had to opt-IN to allowing their art to be used in AI training, rather than the other way around. Considering that Tumblr is not a site dedicated to art, I'm not entirely surprised that they make you opt-out rather than opt-in, but it's still an icky move on this site's part.

I'm also fully aware that these "noAI" features don't protect artwork or text from manually being added into an AI program. For my part, the threat of digital art theft has always been a reality going waaay back to when I was posting art in high school on my older dA account, well before the threats of procedural image generation. I've always had my own methods to try and combat this, such as use of custom watermarks, although I'm fully aware that this would and will never 100% guarantee the safety of my art against old-school art thieves, nor will it do much against machine-learning algorithms.

So why keep posting art online? Well the truth is, I have no issues with just vanishing from online spaces (i.e. I took a several year hiatus back when I was in college). For me, the act of making art is more important than actually sharing it, despite the fact that I do enjoy seeing the comments on my art. But, keeping an online presence will be helpful if I ever decide to offer commission work. And, more importantly, I think there's still value and joy in sharing artwork...

So, for now, I'm going to stay. I might change my mind later on, if the energy and effort of sharing art starts to feel like more of a burden than a joy. But I'm nothing if not stubborn, and I don't think there's any merit to panicking and removing all my art. After all, if all the human artists were to up and leave, then people wouldn't have the option to actively combat AI art by choosing to support human artists instead.

[musings-of-a-rose]

Pairing: Lucien Flores x f!reader

Word Count: 5700+

Rating: Mature - 18+ ONLY!

Warnings: Just like ao3, “creator chooses not to use warnings.” If you click Keep Reading, that means you agree that you’re the age to handle mature themes. Also by clicking Keep Reading, you understand warnings may not be complete in order to avoid spoilers for the story. 

Notes: I know. We have 2 pictures and a one-sentence movie description. And yet, here I am, being a slut for this man’s characters. @rhoorl, this is for you!

**If you want to be added to the taglist, join here or let me know!

❤If you enjoy the fic, please consider giving me a warm beverage! (It is not required in any way!)

→Tell Tumblr this should be shared with others by reblogging! That's what the algorithm loves (it's how it works here. I don't make the rules!)

**Reader is not described

Main Masterlist

Lucien Flores Masterlist

Great. Another dinner party. I swear my roommate is trying to kill me. 

“Come on. It'll be fun, Decaf!”

“You know I hate that nickname, right?”

Claudia chuckles, reaching out to squeeze my arm. “Then stop being so-” she gestures with her free hand “-blah.”

“Ouch.”

Claudia sighs. “You know what I mean. Ever since Dan you just haven’t been..the same.”

I stiffen at the mention of my ex’s name. “He put me through hell, Claudia.”

She nods, placing her hand back on my arm in a placating gesture. “No, of course! He was an asshole! But you shouldn’t stop living your life because of him.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose, exhaling loudly. “I know that. But I just…need some time. And having a dinner party every other weekend is not helping.”

She blows a raspberry with her tongue. “You know you love my parties. Besides, they help you loosen up.”

They don’t. I pretend to drink while my friends get drunk, eventually leaving when the party gets too much to handle. It’s not that they’re mean or anything. I just don’t enjoy being the only sober person in a room full of inebriated people. 

“And besides, Marcos specifically requested your famous tiramisu for dessert!” She gives me a pointed look, a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. 

“I don’t-”

“We can go shopping tonight! Maybe Marcos can come over to uh, help.” She winks at me, and that smirk finally pops up.

“I’ll make the dessert but I’m not going. I mean it this time, Claudia.”

I sigh, looking at my reflection in the mirror as I smooth down my simple black dress. I say no and somehow I always end up going. How does she do that?

The doorbell rings and I hear the faint excited tone of Claudia welcoming someone in. I do one last quick hair check and force a smile on my face, taking a moment to look in the mirror to make sure it doesn’t look too forced before I head downstairs, closing my door behind me. 

“Decaf! There you are! Marcos is in the kitchen. Why don’t you help him with the wine he brought?” Claudia turns to put Marcos’s coat and umbrella on the coat stand, Marcos anticipating the rain that’s forecasted to come at some point.

“Wine isn’t really my-”

“There she is!” Marcos pops his head out of the kitchen, flashing me a brilliant smile. “Could you get the wine opener for me?”

Fake smile affixed, I nod. “Sure.” I follow him into the kitchen, turning to glare at Claudia over my shoulder who smiles and gestures towards Marcos before turning back to answer the next knock at the door. 

I grab the automatic wine opener from the drawer, Marcos smiling at me as I hold it up. “Thanks so much, D!” Well, at least it was better than Decaf. Even though I knew he knew where the opener was. 

“Of course. Do you remember how to work this thing?”

“I think so.” He takes the wine opener from me, gently brushing his fingers against mine in a not so subtle hint of flirting. He affixes the opener on the bottle and presses the button, watching as the electric opener does its thing.

It’s not that I don’t like Marcos. He’s attractive, nice, deep hazel eyes, and obviously likes me. He’s smart too, starting up his own bio med tech company with just an idea and a promise. I could be content with him, I guess. If it wasn’t for this odd feeling at the back of my brain about him, something I could never pinpoint exactly. Even so, I’m just not attracted to him no matter how hard I tried. And I promised myself after Dan that I wouldn’t settle just so I didn’t feel lonely anymore. 

“You look beautiful tonight, D. That dress fits you perfectly.”

I smile, knowing it doesn’t quite reach my eyes. “Thanks, Marcos. How’s work? The prototype coming along?”

He smiles and launches into a long winded explanation of what exactly was going on as he follows me around the kitchen, helping me set the food on the table while Claudia pours wine and passes out hors d'oeuvres for the other guests - there are about 12 of us total. He’s cute when he talks so passionately, but again I don’t feel any connection. And the feeling at the back of my brain scratches at me again, but I push it down, putting another smile on my face. 

Dinner starts, an appetizer of vegetable soup ladeled into bowls. Claudia is every bit the chef her mother is and more, making even the simplest dishes delectable. When the roast comes, a recipe passed down several generations in her family, another knock raps at the door. Claudia looks around at everyone, mentally counting before looking at me, her eyebrows raised in a are you expecting someone? Question. I shake my head, Claudia starting to push her chair back but I stand, placing my napkin on the side of my plate.

“I got it, Claud.”

Conversations resume behind me as I leave the room, walking down the hall to the front door. A quick glance out of the peephole shows me a man, silky button up shirt with a print of random brushes strokes stretching across his broad shoulders as he puts a cigarette out on the front steps, pushing his shoe into it. I slide the lock back and crack the door open, his eyes snapping up to my face and the air rushes from my lungs when I meet his gaze. Dark brown eyes bore into mine and he cocks his head slightly to the side, smiling slightly. Oh shit is he wearing two chains?

“Good evening, miss.”

Oh shit I hadn’t said a word.

“Oh. Uh, hi. Can I help you?”

He smiles a little wider, tossing his thumb over his shoulder. “My car stalled and my phone is dead. Could I come in and call someone?”

I don’t entirely believe his story, but something in his eyes makes my brain go fuzzy and a warmth I haven’t felt in a long time start between my legs. 

“S-sure. Come on in.” I open the door wider and he smiles at me, nodding as he walks past. 

“Thanks. I wasn’t sure anyone would be home. Seems a lot of people are away for the weekend.”

“Oh not really. People around here don’t actually live here. It’s their second homes.” In fact, ours was Claudia’s parent’s second home. Which is the only way I could afford a place this nice. 

“Ah. That makes sense.” We stand in the entryway, his eyes scanning my face with that little smile still playing at his lips. It’s several long moments before I realize I’m the one who should be talking. 

“Oh! Uh, can I take your coat….” It’s then I realize he doesn’t have one, not even carrying one. 

He chuckles. “I think I’m good. But thank you for the offer.” The lights hit the chains around his neck and I swallow hard, wondering what it would be like to feel those chains smack me in the face over and over and-

Laughter erupts from the dining hall and..oh shit I never asked his name. 

I tell him my name. “But you can call me D.”

“What’s that short for?”

“I…don’t want to say.”

“That bad, huh? I’ve had some bad nicknames in my time.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. But my name is Lucien.” He extends his hand and I shake it, melting internally as I feel how large his hand his, how warm, and my brain wanders away on the thot train of exactly what I want those hands to do. Another round of laughter from the dining room breaks my trance and I give my head a little shake, dropping his hand. 

“Dinner party,” I gesture down the hall towards the dining room. 

“Ah. I thought you just dressed beautifully for fun.”

I can feel the heat in my cheeks and I glance away, tucking hair behind my ear before looking back at him. “I uh…you said your phone is dead?”

“Oh. Yeah.” He pulls it from his pocket, turning it to show me the blank screen.

“I have a charger. Come, I’ll let you use it and then you can come have some food if you’d like?”

“Oh I don’t want to impose.”

“It’s no bother. Really.” I let my hand rest on his arm, giving it a small squeeze. Who even am I right now?

His eyes flick between mine before he nods. “Lead the way.”

I yell to Claudia that I’m getting my charger and she doesn’t question it, diving right back into whatever story she’s telling as I lead Lucien up the stairs. To my bedroom. What am I doing right now? Before I can think further, I’m at my door, opening the handle and crossing to my night stand, pulling the end out of my own phone and extending my hand. “Here. Let me charge it for you.”

He hesitates a moment before placing his phone in my hand. “I appreciate it, D.”

I plug in his phone and open mine. “Do you have a preferred mechanic?”

“For what?”

“Y-your car?”

“Oh! Right! Uh sure. Can I just?” He makes to grab my phone and I let him, hiding a smirk when I notice that the tips of his ears are red. He taps away at my phone and holds it up to his ear, ordering a mechanic to his car.

“Hey, what neighborhood is this?”

“Destiny Falls.”

“Destiny Falls….great…thanks.” He taps the screen and hands me back my phone. “Thanks.”

I take the phone from him, feeling his fingers touch mine, a chill running down my arm and straight between my legs. “N-no worries.”

He stares at me for a long moment, his eyes moving down my body and back up. “You mentioned dinner?”

“Shit! Sorry! Yeah, uh this way.”

He follows me back out and down the stairs. I can feel his eyes on my ass and so I put an extra emphasis on my walk, an extra sway in my hips and I swear I hear a small groan coming from him. 

“Hhhm?” I ask.

“What? Oh, I uh, I’m hungry.”

I open the door to the dining room, Lucien following me in. Everyone turns their heads to look, Claudia’s eyes moving furiously between us both before she stands. “Who’s this, Decaf?”

I widen my eyes at her, willing her to never use that nickname again. “This is Lucien. His car broke down a couple blocks away and no one else is home. His phone died so he couldn’t call anyone. He’s going to wait here for the mechanic.”

Lucien holds up his hand. “Hi. Thank you for allowing me into your home.”

Claudia smiles, waving him up. “Of course! Are you hungry? Let me get you a plate.”

“Oh I don’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense! Decaf, could you get him a plate and a chair? Marcos, scootch down a bit and we can put Lucien’s chair at the end.”

I look over at Marcos, who’s eyes are narrowed at Lucien, a hard look in them. 

Men.

I roll my eyes and turn towards the kitchen, motioning for Lucien to follow me. “Come on. I need those hands.” It’s not until we’re in the kitchen when I realize what I said.

“So. You need my hands, doll?”

“I meant for the chair, but we’ll see if I can find another use for them.” What the fuck did I just say?

He chuckles, his eyes darkening. “I’m sure you’ll find me more than willing to help with whatever you want me for.”

Fuck, he’s looking at me and he has to know what he said. Lucien takes a few steps towards me, stepping inside the comfortable distance between strangers. Does he know that the heat between my thighs is almost unbearable at this point? I’m tempted to get him seated and go take care of myself before I get into trouble. 

“I-”

“Hey, D. Need any help?” Marcos had come through the door. I jump back, startled. Why do I feel guilty? I don’t owe Marcos anything. 

“Hey Marcos. No, I think we got it.”

“Here, Lucien. Let me show you where the spare chairs are.”

Lucien looks down at me and winks before following Marcos. “After you.” 

I make Lucien a plate of food and bring it out to the table, the conversation still moving forward. I set the plate down and go back to the kitchen to get him a drink when I hear raised voices from the back storage closet where the chairs are. I can’t make it out but they’re definitely arguing. 

Ugh, men. 

Then the storage room door pops open and Lucien exits, carrying a chair. The look on his face is hard, anger etching into his face, but then he sees me and it disappears immediately, giving me a smile. “Got the chair.”

He walks towards me as Marcos takes a moment to close the door. “Everything ok, guys?”

“We’re great, D.”

“Because it sounded like you were fighting.”

“Nope. All good.” Marcos’s voice was flat, not his normal charismatic, charming tone he uses to win everyone over. I don’t believe him but it’s not the time to press him. 

Lucien sits at the table and everyone starts asking him questions, his face animatedly answering all of them. The conversation pauses, everyone stopping to drink or eat or talk between themselves. Lucien shifts in his chair beside me, his leg brushing against mine and I gasp, trying to hide it as a small cough. But the twinkle in his eye tells me he heard me and knew exactly what I did. Not even the glare from Marcos at Lucien could ruin the mood for me. Lucien presses his leg into mine further, taking a sip of wine as he cracks a joke and everyone laughs, the ring on his pointer finger sparkling in the light from the chandelier. I can’t take it any more, the throbbing between my thighs is so intense I swear everyone can hear it. I need to get out of the room. 

“Excuse me. I’ll uh…I’ll go check on your phone.” I hastily stand, pushing my chair back. 

“Do you want help, D?” Marcos asks, halfway to standing himself.

“No! Uh, no. I can check a phone myself, thanks.” 

I walk calmly from the room, waiting until the door closes behind me before I take the stairs 2 at a time, closing my bedroom door behind me and pressing my back against it, feeling the coolness of the wood seep through my thin dress, but it does nothing to dull the ache between my legs. I sit on my bed next to my night stand, legs on the floor and put my hands over my face. Get it together. A quiet knock makes me jerk and snap my head up, moving my hands just enough to speak.

“Who is it?”

“Lucien.”

Shit.

“What can I do for you?”

“I uh, just need to check on my phone?”

Oh right.

“Come on in.”

As Lucien opens the door, I lean back slightly, placing my arms behind me and lean on them. Lucien gently closes the door and crosses the room, his pant leg brushing against my bare knee as he reaches for his phone and presses the power button, light shining in his face. I press my thighs together in what I hope is an inconspicuous manner.

“Only 15%. This phone takes forever to charge. Do you mind if I charge it a little more?”

“Not at all.”

“Thanks.” He sets the phone down and turns his head to look at me, his eyes flicking to my thighs that are currently jammed together so tight even water couldn’t get through them.

“Let me help you with your problem.”

I swallow hard. “P-problem?”

“Yes. Your problem.”

“I..I don’t have…” I lose all track of what I was going to say as his eyes darken, slowly raking over my body before landing on my own darkened gaze, smirking at me. 

“I’m an excellent…helper.”

“I..I d-don’t have a p-problem.”

“No?”

I shake my head, not even convincing myself. But then my voice catches in my throat as he gets on his knees in front of me, his fingers gently swirling a random pattern across my knees and lower thighs. My skin sears where he touches me, and I can feel how soaked I’m getting. He gently wraps his hands around my knees and slowly pushes them open, the cool air not doing much to cool me down. My chest heaves as his eyes move up my legs, his gaze disappearing under my shortened dress, honing in on where I need him. 

“I think I found your problem.”

“Y-yeah?”

He slowly slides his hand up my thigh, my breath coming out in little spurts the higher he gets. His hand disappears under my dress and then I feel him, his finger sliding up the middle of me still over my underwear and my hips jolt, immediately betraying all sense of logic in my brain, the side of me that’s screaming this is a stranger!

“Good news. I can help fix your problem.”

“Y-you can?”

“Do you want me to?”

I’m still propped up on my elbows, gazing down at this man who is kneeling between my legs, hand up my dress, rubbing tiny circles into my inner thigh with the tip of his finger, his eyes nearly black with lust, my logic side screaming at me to tell him no, to tell him to stop, to play it safe.

But I’m tired of being called Decaf.

“Yes.”

He smirks, sliding his hands up further, fingers pinching the fabric of my panties before he slides them down and off, tossing them behind him without looking. He gently places my legs over his shoulders, pushing my thighs open wider with his broad shoulders. 

“Show me,” he says it calmly, but it’s also commanding and I shiver.

I grip the bottom of my dress and pull it up over my hips, exposing myself to him. His eyes move to stare at my cunt, darkening the rest of the way. He moves his fingers to spread me and I gasp at his touch as he takes me all in. 

“Fuck!” I yell out as he quickly dips his head and licks up the center of me, his tongue curling around the bundle of nerves. My thighs try to jam against his head but he is so damn broad that all they do is weakly twitch against his shoulders as he works me open with his mouth, moaning into my cunt.

“Oh shit, oh fuck, I-” words tumble from me in an incoherent jumble. I feel one of his thick fingers swirling around my entrance before he pushes it all the way in, the cool metal of his ring brushing against my skin. My mouth is open in a silent scream, but then he pulls his finger out, adding another, his head lifted to watch as he fucks me with his fingers, the lewd squelches filling the quiet room.

He moves his head back down, gently sucking on my clit and my fingers fly to his head, twisting into his beautiful curls and gripping it as I moan his name, his fingers curling inside of me, slowly stroking at that spot. I can feel myself tightening, pulsing around his fingers as he pushes me closer to the edge. But then he pulls his hand out, his mouth leaving me and I huff.

“What the fu-”

He stands, undoing the buttons on his shirt before taking it off, tossing it on the floor. He’s not 6 pack fit but he’s trim, a small tummy poking out by his pant line that I desperately want to bite. His large hands work open his pants and before I know it, he springs free, heavy and ready.

“Take off your dress.”

It takes me a moment to tear my eyes away from him, nearly ripping my dress in half in my haste to rid myself of it. I unlatch my bra too, tossing it wherever it lands. Lucien pushes my legs open, settling himself between my thighs, pressing his chest against mine. I think he’s going to say something but then all words leave my brain as he pushes inside of me, splitting me open, hand clasped over my mouth as I scream into it, hands flailing around simply because I don’t know what to do with them. He burns me slightly from the stretch but I don’t even care. He bottoms out and just sits there a few moments, his own chest heaving with self-restraint. 

Without pulling out, he thrusts further in, pressing at a spot inside of me I didn’t even know existed. A whiny yelp escapes me before his hand clamps over my mouth again, his eyes finding mine as he continues this slow assault. He tentatively removes his hand, my mouth hanging open as jolt of pleasure radiates out from my cunt with every thrust of his hips. 

“Do you want me to fuck you into this bed, doll?”

I nod frantically, my hands gripping his ass in an attempt to move him faster.

“Tell me.”

“Please. Please Lucien, fuck me into my bed I-” he clamps his hand over my mouth again, his hips picking up to a rapid pace as he fucks into me, lifting my leg over his hip to change the angle. Then he somehow gathers my flailing hands in one of his large ones, pinning them into the bed above my head as he continues to snap his hips into mine, each thrust driving me rapidly towards the edge he had already brought me to earlier. The thin chains he wore brush against my face with every thrust, and I moan into his hand. 

And then I fling myself over the edge, each thrust of his hips carrying me further and further into this bliss. I’ve never experienced this, not in this way, not this intense, rolling waves of pleasure pulsing over my entire body. I feel his hand loosen their grip, no longer over my mouth and they squeeze my hips, flipping me over so quickly my head spins slightly. I bury my face in my blankets and moan as he thrusts into me, his fingers digging into my hips as he sets a rapid pace, pushing my back down to curve my ass up further. To my surprise, I feel one of his hands snake around me, finding my clit and applying the perfect touch, perfect amount of pressure as he drives me towards the edge again at a rapid pace. He pulls me up, my back flush against his chest, his arm wrapping around me to continue touching me while the other holds my hair tightly and I come, his name gasping from my lips as I feel his hips sputter against me, a mix of hard and soft grunts in my ear before he loosens his fingers, letting me drop back to my hands. 

He pulls out with a grunt and I immediately feel light, empty, and a little sore but in a good way. He looks at me and I point to my en suite bathroom, still trying to catch my breath. He disappears for several moments before coming back out, a wet washcloth in hand. He looks at me, still in the same position he left me in and moves behind me, pressing the cloth to my sensitive skin. I twitch and hear a low chuckle as he continues to clean me up. He helps me lay on my back, his finger tracing circles around my nippple before giving it a little pinch. 

“We better get back to your party.”

“My what?” I’d completely forgotten there even was a dinner party happening. He laughs, his hand resting on my stomach.

“Your dinner party. Surely your friends will wonder where you are.”

“Maybe. Or we could just stay here, naked, and see what happens?”

His eyes darken again and he leans forward, pulling a boob into his mouth and sucking on it. I gasp but then he drops it, sitting back up.

“As much as I’d love that, we should probably get back downstairs.”

I’m hurt, but he’s right. Soon enough my friends would send a search party. And I don’t want any of them to see this complete stranger, balls deep inside of me. Although if you asked me when he was actually balls deep, I wouldn’t have cared at all. 

Lucien dresses first and heads back downstairs, winking at me before he closes the door. I quickly rinse off, careful not to wet my hair before trying to fix it to what it was before. I smooth down my dress and hope no one notices the difference. I decide to check the power on his phone before I head down, just to give him an update, expecting it to not be any higher than maybe 20%. But when I light the screen up, my eyebrows furrow together. It was fully charged. Why did he lie? Was it just to fuck me? I wouldn’t have cared if his phone was fully charged. 

I take it from the charger and head back downstairs, sounds of laughter echoing up the stairwell. I sneak in through the back door, grabbing another bottle of wine on my way in as an excuse for taking so long. I realize I have no idea how much time I’d spent upstairs, but people were just finishing eating, so it couldn’t have been too long. 

I feel eyes on me, but none more than Marcos. His eyes bore into me, hardening the longer he looks at me. He glances between Lucien and me as I hand him his phone, a look of realization settling into his features. Before I can say anything he abruptly stands up, mumbling something about a cigarette break before heading out on the back porch. A moment passes and Lucien pats his pockets, asking Claudia if she thinks Marcos will let him bum a cigarette off of him. She smiles and tells him he definitely will. Lucien gets up and excuses himself, heading out the back door to find Marcos. 

Claudia keeps looking at me, her eyes narrowing but a smile forming, like she’s starting to piece together what happened. Before she can ask, I excuse myself, heading towards the backyard to find Lucien and Marcos. But when I open the door I hear raised voices coming from further in the backyard. 

“You need to fucking leave, Lucien.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you give me what’s mine, Marcos.”

“It’s not yours anymore, I told you that!”

“That’s because you fucking stole it from me, asshole!”

What the hell are they talking about?

“You say stole, I say borrowed-”

“It took me forever to find you and now you don’t even have the balls to admit you stole from me?”

“Fuck you!”

“No, fuck you!”

I hear the sound of fists landing and I close the last several steps, their fighting bodies moving into my view.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

They both stop, pushing back from each other and looking at me. Marcos tries to put on his normal charming smile, but that nagging feeling about him roars inside of me. “Hey, D.”

“Don’t hey me, Marcos. What’s going on?”

“Oh uh Lucien and I were just messing around, right?” He looks at Lucien who glares back at him.

“No. We were not. You stole from me.”

Marcos narrows his eyes. “And how could I have stolen anything from you?”

“You were my intern! You worked on my project and then you stole it to start your little start up!”

“Wait, what?” I look between them, confused. 

“D, he’s crazy. He’s just some guy off the street. You don’t even know him-”

“Oh she knows me plenty.” 

My jaw drops as Marcos looks between us. 

“Wait…did…did you sleep with her when you went to get your phone?”

I can feel my cheeks heating up but Lucien speaks before I do. “Yeah. I did. I fucked her good. Had her screaming my name. Begging me to fuck her.”

Marcos’s mouth opens and closes, anger flashing in his eyes and I can feel tears pooling in mine, a mixture of anger and embarrassment as Lucien continues to speak.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it Marcos? To have something you want so badly taken away from you? I knew the moment I saw you look at her that you wanted her. So I fucked her first. You take something from me, I take something from you.”

Marcos stands there fuming, looking furious at Lucien, but no longer even looking my way. “You can’t just come in here-”

“I can. And I came in her too.”

SLAP!

My hand stings with the force of contact but I swallow any cry of pain. Lucien brings his hand to his cheek, turning to finally look at me, an odd expression on his face.

“D, listen. Marcos isn’t who you think he is. He-” 

WHAM!

Marcos’s fist collides with Lucien’s face and he stumbles backwards. He rallies quickly, swinging for Marcos. I yell for them to stop but I may as well have been talking to the wall. The men fight, throwing themselves at each other, yelling insults that I can only halfway make out. But then Lucien pins Marcos to the ground, pounding on his face. I run up to him and grab his arm. 

“Stop!”

Lucien looks at my hand on his arm and then at me before glancing down at Marcos who had just passed out. He looks back at me, his face softening as he lowers his fist, slowly standing up with a series of tiny grunts.

“D, I’m sorry, I-”

“Did you just fuck me to get back at him?”

He’s quiet for longer than I’d like, and I hate the tears that start to fall. I’m not delusional. I know nothing would come of it. I didn’t even know the guy. But a part of me had held onto some idea that maybe it was something more, could be something more. 

“Not…not at the end.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He gestures to a couple of chairs. “Can I explain?”

I sit, I probably shouldn’t have but good decisions went out the window a long time ago. Lucien sits in the chair across from me, shifting his weight forward to be closer to me. 

“Years ago, I hired Marcos as my intern. His name then was Juan. He helped me with my research. I had a bio tech lab and was working on some ground breaking tech. But then one day, I come in and everything is gone. He’d stolen everything, all of my years of research just gone. And then I see his face being put up as the new man to watch in all of the science and tech magazines and I see it, my tech being claimed by this imposter.” Lucien spits on Marcos’s body. 

That explains the weird vibe I’d always gotten from him. He was a lying cheat. 

“So what about tonight?”

“Ah. Well it had taken me years but I finally tracked him down. And every time I tried to get close, to get him to confess he would somehow weasel out of it. But then I saw him connected to a social media post about a dinner party. I hired a PI to figure out where and I..well I knocked on the door.”

“So your car?”

“Isn’t really broken down, no.”

“Your phone was fully charged.”

“It was already at 87% when I first plugged it in.”

I sit with this information for a few moments. “So what about…me?”

Lucien’s face softens as he looks at me. “Then there was you. I didn’t expect to see anyone here I actually was intrigued by, but there you were. I pushed it aside to get to Marcos but then I saw how he acted around you, the way he looked at you, the pure desire in every inch of him. So I flirted and got close. You were hot and I figured I could fuck you to make him get super pissed. But then you took your dress off so easily and I could tell you weren’t really that kind of person and I just… lost myself a bit when I was inside you. By the end, I was hating myself for using you. I…I’m sorry.”

Well. There you have it. I was right about Marcos being too charming for a reason, a reason he had now confessed to, recorded on Lucien’s phone no doubt. I’m mad, I want to hit him but I also get it. And damn was he the best fuck I’ve ever had. 

I lean forward, curling my finger around the chains on his neck as I pull him closer. 

“Wanna go for round 2?”

General Taglist:

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[waterolivecoffiyeh]

Right. Like it was really a fill-in-the-blank thing. You complained for over a month about the issue in Twitter and Tumblr posts. After all, in your so-called first "ramble" everything was easy to connect to what you were talking about. Again; as a former follower of yours, I didn't need to just insert anything. I picked it up from everything you were talking about. More so, you made these posts when there were a lot of attacks and news coming out from Palestine. A lot of people were spreading stuff about as they could with stuff blocking and suppressing news. It's not that hard to put 2 and 2 together. You were not vague at all. Also, I'm glad you're bitter about your Christmas morning being ruined. You don't deserve any peace of mind given how much of an insensitive person you are to others, yet dare to expect everyone else to cater to your need for a "safe space" on the internet. But, I guess you can't even do that right if you're still seeing "stuff" you don't want to see. Since we're on the topic I noticed this little bit.

Here you are complaining still about seeing stuff you don't want to see. I'd ignore this post if it wasn't for the fact you mentioned Tiktok here. Tumblr isn't TikTok. That much is true. However, TikTok is where a lot of people are getting their Palestine news straight from people in Gaza. I use it myself to keep up to date. More so, the algorithm is suppressing news. People have to try and bypass things to help spread the news. Even then, how you manage your feed is based on what/who you watch and what tags you look up. You could literally be on TikTok and not see anything. Last time I saw you talking about TikTok on a random art post you admitted you didn't get it or understand how the app worked so I wrote it off as you not being a user. But given the number of times you complained about stuff now, I seriously wonder if you're using TikTok. Either way; it doesn't change what you did in your posts and why I lost all respect for you as an artist. Your first ramble was worse off because you tried to spin it off as a "Woe as me I can't do anything to help so please don't show me stuff I can't handle." type of ramble only an overly sensitive privileged brat would use as an excuse to look away. And let's not forget you dared to reduce this genocide down to a religious war between two Muslim "countries" when it's Israel trying to wipe out Palestinians. Everything else were you complaining about seeing stuff you don't like after that coincided with dates of big news and attacks coming out from Gaza. Then you had to make that insensitive rant online while people were being killed by bombs or kids dying of starvation on Christmas eve as if their suffering was ruining your Christmas. I had every right to call you out on your bullshit because that's what it is. For someone who tries to market yourself as a wholesome and "safe" artist, you are nothing short of a two-faced privileged brat who thinks you can say anything "online" and thinks it's not come back to bite you in the ass. You are posting on social media. People are always going to see stuff. If you can't handle any responses then you shouldn't even be on here or learn to keep stuff to yourself. If you want to be a shitty person then keep your shitty behavior and thoughts to yourself or whoever is willing to tolerate you as a friend, if you even have any. But, I won't tolerate someone who seems to be compliant with a genocide happening and having issues with seeing a "few" screenshots as if they don't have the power to control what they see. That doesn't compare to the horrors people are facing right now and again it's the most privileged take I've ever seen you try and spin in your favor.

[unseededtoast]

Rectify | Bucky Barnes

Part 26/37 | Part Twenty Five, Part Twenty Seven

Summary: I've lived every day for the past five years looking over my shoulder. I knew they'd come for me, it was inevitable. I was foolish to think I could outrun my past. It's followed me everywhere I go, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Never would I have anticipated that the shadows would lead me to the light.

Bucky Barnes x OC

Series Warnings: Discussion of human trafficking, alcohol consumption, graphic depictions of violence, sexual content, discussion of suicidal thoughts.

a/n: Hi everyone, thank you for checking this out, I appreciate any and all support! This series is also posted on Ao3 and Wattpad if you prefer those formats/platforms! This is a completed series, and it's going to take some time for me to transfer it to Tumblr, so please bear with me!

"Tony is coming after you two."

I feel as though I'm floating through space. I can see my old memories as if they're floating past me on clouds. I see the visions Wanda put in my mind as well, floating by with the memories. The illusion of myself in the mirror keeps coming back to me. The whisper resounds in my head.

I see the silhouette from Wanda's memory and the glowing red eyes seem to look into my soul. I hear the familiar whisper, it's like the silhouette is trying to tell me something. But what does it mean? What answer do I have?

The image quickly fades into the rest of those passing by. I see old memories from my childhood, from me being smuggled into America, teaching my students, saying goodbye to Bucky, all of it.

The memories seem to move quicker, and some of them begin to disappear. The clouds keep moving quickly in my mind until there are only a few that keep replaying. I see myself talking about the algorithm I want to make to free Bucky, followed by the silhouette. I hear myself talk about how I think I can place the algorithm in his mind, but when I mention the surgical laser, an image of Wanda's red magic pops into my mind.

As if I had been resuscitated, I wake with a start. I sit up straight and take a gasping breath. It all makes sense. The lights are bright in the room, and I see I'm surrounded by Fury, Nat, and Bucky. They all share an equal look of concern.

"Adalyn are you okay? What happened?" Bucky asks and pushes some of my hair out of my face. I smile softly at him and put a hand on his cheek,

"I have the answer." I say, my throat feeling dry. I feel as if I could cry tears of joy, I really am so close this time. Closer than I've ever been.

"What answer?" He asks, still confused about what is happening.

"The answer to getting the programming out of you. She showed me the way." I say and look to the others in the room.

"What do you mean she showed you? What happened in there?" Nat asks.

"Well, she showed me three things. One of them was a manipulation of one of my own memories, one was her own memory, and the other I'm not quite sure what it was." I say, voice trailing off at the end. I really don't know how to categorize the illusion of my own reflection speaking to me.

"Did she hurt you?" Fury asks, I shake my head.

"Not at all. Her powers are insanely advanced. It does have a connection to the gem back at Tony's building. She was able to get inside my mind and look at every memory I've ever made. It's incredible." I say, remembering that she told me she knew about Bucky.

"I don't know how you manage to do it, Averina." Fury shakes his head with a smile and walks out of the room. I look between Nat and Bucky who still have questions.

"What was it like?" Nat asks. I lick my lips quickly, and try to figure out how to describe it.

"Well, it was weird. It's like reality. It all felt very real." I say and touch my neck, still being able to feel Bucky's metal hand around my throat. Nat nods and doesn't push the issue any more.

"I should probably follow Fury out and see what he wants done. I think you should just take it easy for the rest of the day." She says and walks out of the room, leaving Bucky and I alone.

The infirmary is cold, and everything is blindingly white. The cool metal table I'm on is uncomfortable and starting to make my body hurt. I slide off the table, thankful that my balance is back to normal. I feel completely back to normal physically. Mentally, it's like my eyes have finally been opened.

"Let's get back to the room, I have some things I want to talk with you about." I say and he nods. We walk back to the room and I sit on the bed. I'm not sure what to bring up first. Bucky sits next to me on the bed and quietly waits for me to say something. I place a hand on his leg and look into his eyes,

"She showed me how to get the programming out of your mind. All I have to do is get the algorithm written and put into the gem's matrix, and then she can use her powers to put it in you. It might sound crazy but I think it'll work." I say and wait for his reaction.

He's quiet. He rubs a hand over his face and scrunches his eyebrows together. I feel a nervous twist in my stomach. What if he's opposed to the idea? I know it can be a lot to take in but I don't think I saw those illusions in that order by pure coincidence or accident. It had to have meant something. He puts his hand overtop of mine and nods his head,

"I trust you. If you think it'll work, then I trust your judgment." He quietly says. I let go of a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"I'm going to talk to her about it, just to be sure it will work. I don't think she showed me that on accident, I think she was leading me to this conclusion. If I'm wrong about this, then we can always do it the way I originally planned. One way or another it will be done, we're almost there." I say and squeeze his hand.

"You know whenever she was showing you things, or whatever it was, I thought you were going to die. It didn't look natural, Adalyn. Your eyes were red, just like the stuff coming out of her hands. I thought I was going to lose you." He says, and I hear the struggle in his voice. I stand from my spot on the bed and stand in front of him, bringing him in for a hug.

I didn't realize what it looked like to them, how terrifying it was. The last thing I ever want to do is scare Bucky. I run my fingers through his hair and place a kiss on top of his head as he holds me close. His arms are wrapped around my waist, his face resting on my chest.

"I'll never leave you Buck. It's going to take more than a little bit of magic to get rid of me." I say to try and lighten the mood. I feel like everything has been so heavy lately, and I fear it's going to start taking a toll on Bucky, if it hasn't already.

"I don't know what I would do if I lost you." He whispers.

"I don't know what I would do without you either." I whisper back and take in the silence.

I go to sit next to him and debate telling him about the illusion Wanda showed me about my father and the stage. I don't want him to feel guilty about something he never did but I think it's fascinating how she can manipulate memories like that.

"Bucky, she showed me a manipulated memory of when we were back in Siberia. She showed my father coming in and yelling at me, and when I went to follow him I was at the stage. You were there, and you begged me to not push the button. I undid the restraints and you choked me out. It was the most terrifying thing, it all seemed so real." I say.

"I would never-" He starts to say but I cut him off,

"I know. It wasn't really you, it's like a fabricated you. Something entirely conjured by her magic from my memory. It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced. And she showed me a memory from herself, when she got the powers. There was a silhouette and it's like it stared right through my soul but it gave me the answer. I think the silhouette, whatever it was, led me to the answer of using her powers to implement the algorithm." I explain to him.

I didn't want to seem insane in front of Fury or Nat, and I know I can trust Bucky with anything I say. I didn't want the other to think I had been driven mad by the exposure to her powers. It doesn't entirely make sense to me, how her powers work, but I guess I'll have to chalk that up to the unknown.

"This is all a little over my head but we're in confusing times. Not everything makes sense. But I'm grateful for it I guess. If I can get this stuff out of my mind then I'm okay with not understanding everything." He says and looks into my eyes. His bright blue eyes are hopeful. I nod my head, agreeing with him.

I hear a buzz sound come from the side table and Bucky moves to grab the phone he had put there. The phone was meant for Bruce or Steve to gives us updates about what Tony is doing. Hopefully it's good news, we can always use a little more of that.

Bucky reads the screen and clenches his jaw. Maybe it's not good news after all. I feel my stomach drop, I have a feeling I know exactly what the text says. Bucky hands the phone over to me and I see it's a text from Bruce telling me to call him immediately. With slightly shaking hands I take the phone and call the number. It rings a few times,

"Adalyn." I hear Bruce's breathless voice.

"Bruce? What's going on?" I ask with urgency. This can't be good. I hear something in the background, it sounds like metal clashing on metal. I look to Bucky with wide eyes,

"Tony did it. He merged Jarvis with the gem. Something bad happened. Jarvis is destroyed, it's uploaded itself everywhere, and I mean everywhere that there's internet. It told Tony about Bucky, he knows Bucky killed his parents. The robots have gone rogue and Tony is coming after you two." Bruce hurriedly says,

"What robots?" I ask.

"The program took over some of Tony's suits. It evolved just like you said. It has a mind of it's own. Get somewhere safe." The line goes dead. I drop the phone and Bucky stands from the bed.

"Grab everything in there, we need to leave now." I say and Bucky quickly grabs the book and flash drives in the bedside table. My blood is pumping through my veins with ferocity, it's like I can feel my heartbeat through my chest.

We leave the room and I make a direct line for where Wanda and Pietro are being held. I open the door, neither Fury nor Nat are here, perfect. I know this could very well land me a place in prison, but I have to do this for Bucky. We can't risk being caught by Tony or the robots. I walk into Wanda's room and she looks surprised to see me.

"Wanda, you have to trust me right now. We have to go." I say. She looks confused.

"What do you mean?" She questions. We don't have time for this.

"Wanda please, we have to get out of here. Something bad is on its way and we need to leave." I say and she stands unmoving.

"What about Pietro? I'm not leaving here without him." She says. I don't have time to make compromises, so I guess we're busting Pietro out of here too.

"Okay. Okay just come on we'll get him." I say and beckon for her to follow me, which she hesitantly does. Bucky stands in the main area and I point to Pietro's room.

"Bucky can you pull those restraints out of the ground?" I ask and he takes a look.

"I should be able to." He answers.

"Can you? Please?" I ask and he nods. I take the book and flash drives from him so he has two free hands. He walks into the room and tells Pietro that him and his sister are going somewhere else. He pulls the chains out of the ground with ease and keeps hold of them. Which is probably a good move considering he has super speed. The siblings hug each other as they're reunited.

"Okay I'll explain everything on the way we just have to get out of here." I say and the two siblings nod. The four of us leave the room and we quickly make our way to the exit. The armed guards notice us walking through and some try to stop us.

Wanda quickly throws balls of red magic at them, and they collapse on the floor. We continue through the concrete halls until we reach the elevator. We all shove in there and wait for the elevator to take us to the ground level. It seems to take an eternity.

As with the guards in the halls, Wanda subdues those on the ground floor making it an easy exit for us. Outside there's two jets. We'll only need one. We quickly get into the jet, Bucky getting in the pilot's seat because he's the only one who knows how to fly.

"Where are we headed?" He asks. I take a sigh, knowing that our only option now is my backup plan.

"We have to go to the Sokovian base." I say. I really wish things hadn't come to this.

"Why are we going to the Sokovian base?" I hear Wanda in the back speak up. I turn in my seat as Bucky turns the jet on.

I explain to her about what Tony has done and what it means for us. I tell them all about how the framework has evolved to a level I'm not even sure of, but it's on a global scale. Since Bruce told us to stay away from the internet, there's only one place I know of that's recently been cleared of Hydra operatives and is completely off the grid with the technology I need.

Bucky speeds off to the base, and I turn back around in my seat. I close my eyes and swallow the lump that's formed in my throat. This all could have been avoided. If Tony had just waited we could've come up with a solution. Now, I have to get this algorithm written in record time and have Wanda put it in Bucky's mind. I hope it works, it's our only option now.

I feel one or two tears fall on my face. I can't believe it happened. I open my eyes and wipe my cheeks. Bucky's jaw is set tightly, he has a stone hard look on his face. I know he's less than thrilled to be going to a Hydra base, just as I am, but unfortunately it's our last hope. I turn around in my seat again.

"Pietro, I'm sorry we never got to formally meet. I am Adalyn. I know we don't know each other but for the time being we're all going to have to trust each other if we want to make it out alive. These robots could want the two of you just as much as us. Especially considering your powers are born from the same matrix it's operating with." I say. Their lives could be on the line too. If this technology has evolved it could want their powers for its own benefit. But I will do everything in my power to protect the three in the jet with me. They all have been tortured by Hydra and they all deserve to be spared from Tony's mess.

I begin thinking of ways to write the algorithm so that once we get there it won't take me as long to get done. I'm not sure how much time we'll have once we're there, but I imagine it can't be much. I tap my foot anxiously on the floor of the jet, this has all gone to hell so quickly.

Bucky reaches over and grabs my hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. I meet his gaze and he smiles. Though I can tell he's nervous too, it's heartwarming to see that he still trusts me and my judgement. He willingly started flying to Sokovia without questioning why. My heart swells with the realization of just how much trust he puts in me. I know if it were the other way around I would trust him the same.

I hold his hand as we speed of to Sokovia. In this moment I know with every fiber of my being that I love Bucky with my entire heart. There's nobody I'd rather be with right now than him, and I am so grateful he's trusted and stuck with me throughout everything that's happened in the short few months we've been reunited. I hope that once this is all over with we'll be able to get out of this lifestyle and find peace for the first time in our lives.

[keplercryptids]

I've got a question about image descriptions - to be totally honest, I'm one of those people that typically avoids them especially when they start to get really long. What starts as a quickie gif set turns into a page and a half of scrolling and it just really frustrates me. Not in a "Why would you do this" kind of way, I TOTALLY get it, just in a "but I don't want this block of text on MY blog kind of way." I feel like that's my personal space, like my desk, to make look the way I want. The problem, of course, lies in the "well how can we make it work fairly when Tumblr's algorithms do NOTHING with likes, and reblogging is the only way to circulate posts?"

Except I've never really asked, like, how well yo screen readers do with Read Mores? Would it be viable to put the image ID under a cut, to preserve the image as it is but keep the ID easily accessible to those using screen readers?

This would be particularly great when I post art, because I like to put little hidden details and nods in my pieces for folks to notice and put the pieces together - but I feel like pointing it out in text would kinda spoil that, while NOT including including ID would be unfair to people who aren't able to see that part of the piece and would then miss it entirely?

first things first, putting descriptions under read mores is not a good thing to do for several reasons, main one being: it puts the burden on disabled people to click through to individual blogs in order to see images. it's not "easily accessible." it's less accessible than it is for abled people. that's not how tumblr works for you, right? that's not how you would ever WANT tumblr to work. ideal accessibility is as convenient and available for disabled people as it is for abled people. just as you wouldn't advocate for putting a ramp at the back entrance of a building by the dumpers so that the front of the building looks "pretty" (at least, i hope you wouldn't lol).

i'd like to gently push back on some of the things you said here. you said you "totally get" why image descriptions exist, but in the same breath, you say that you don't like their aesthetic. this tells me that you don't actually understand image descriptions. perhaps you know what they are but not what they do. because what they do is crucial. they include. they build community. they reject society's ableist treatment of disabled people (treatment that excludes, and isolates, and hides away, and pretends doesn't exist). image descriptions, and all accessibility efforts, are an act of compassion and love. compassion and love for each other, in a world that often withholds these things, and compassion and love for ourselves, so that our worlds get bigger, so that all our needs are met, so that we are all visible and present and free.

no aesthetic is more important than that. and i feel like if you fully grasped what image descriptions do and the point of accessibility in full, you might feel like i do now, where an inaccessible blog or app or building or arena is honestly a very ugly thing to witness. the thing is, your blog isn't your personal desk space (unless your blog is private). it's public. it's meant to be public, it's meant to have an audience. and right now, your blog might as well have a banner that says, "no disabled people, please."

i don't say any of this to shame you, and i sat on this ask for a little while so that i could formulate my thoughts to avoid that. but i do need to stress, passionately and vehemently, how vitally important accessibility is. i hope, if you want more info about disability justice in general, you'll check out my disability justice tag.