#just to pair him with a character that is quite frankly boring as fuck. i mean real bottom of the barrel entry level sexyman

[crazy000567]

I hate pr*hibitedw1sh so much

[mdhwrites]

Why Are Harem Protagonists So Boring?

"Because it's easier to insert yourse-" Shoo, shoo. You're not useful except from a marketing perspective and we're here to talk about writing, not marketing. Besides, if that's all that's ever said on the subject, we can never improve the problem so again: Shoo.

Now, with that out of the way, let's actually discuss why.

A blank slate is easier for the GIRLS to insert themselves into.

Okay, that's only like half a joke but the principal is actually similar to the appeal to the audience, as well as essentially hedging your narrative bets as a writer. See, a good romance is built on chemistry. On the concept that you like seeing two people together and you think they could make each other happy. As I talked about in my last blog, The Problem with Harem Childhood Love, this is actually such a complex topic that doing it for just two people is an entire genre and enough to support a full length story.

Now extend that to SIX. Worse yet, not three distinct couples but five of these people all have to go "Yes. This one person is the one we want." That is, to put it mildly, fucking hard to sell. After all, to make people feel positive emotions towards any and all of the potential pairings here, you have to put a lot of time, work and effort to flesh out each character and make them have a proper dynamic with the main character that brings out something new in your protagonist so as to keep them feeling fresh.

But what if there was nothing new to pull out? What if the girl essentially dictated the entire dynamic? That simplifies things a great deal and while it makes for a less compelling romance, if the dude is as boring as white bread, he also won't come across as an actually terrible option for any of the girls, thus rendering him fine. Just... fine.

And fine is genuinely a hard bar for this genre to clear sometimes, hello Rent-a-Girlfriend, who's main character is such a creep and asshole who has made up his mind and is stringing these girls along because it makes him feel good, while pushing the one he likes WAY out of her comfort zone, that quite frankly he should just be thrown in the dumpster like the trash that he is. A lot of harem protagonists though are this sort of pervy, skeevy asshole who when asked "You have the ability to do whatever you want for a day, no repercussions," would look back at you as hellfire fills their eyes and sin fills their groins because sadly, there was never an ethical code within them to begin with anyways. THIS sort of harem protagonist is the one that I think can be rightfully accused of just existing purely for audience wish fulfillment and should never exist ever again.

But that doesn't mean fine needs to be the only bar we strive for. We don't need our opinion on the main character to be simply apathy so that we don't mind him getting with the girls he's surrounded by. No, we can strive for better and it actually comes from a very simple question that is a bitch and a half to answer:

"What sort of guy would all of these girls want to be with?"

Now that might seem obvious. That's the basis of all romance stories after all. Why and who someone would want to fall in love with. With two characters, that is indeed how it should be and the backbone of the genre but when you have a roster of 3-5 other romantic partners to cover, finding a unifying factor is actually as much a problem narratively as it is a boon.

Part of the reasons why harems seem to be mostly written from the perspective of the sorts of girls that a guy would like (outside of just assuming guys have a wider interest in partners -_-) is variety. While harems may have their dedes and their tropes, it still is important that each one be able to cover a different flavor of romance, comedy, etc. trope so as to make sure that one character spending time with the MC feels distinctly different from another. This is part of why most even half decent harems have a wide variety of personalities so as to facilitate this flavor of the week appeal.

If they all are supposed to be equally interested in a guy with a real personality though and own, personal beliefs, the easy answer to that is uniformity. If they're all the same except hair color then OF COURSE they'd all be willing to get with him. This is how you get something like Mabuharo where essentially everyone there is some amount of tsundere or yandere, or at least most of them. This can quickly lead to narrative repetition though and boredom with the main cast as there doesn't really feel like there's a real distinction between them.

This can, again, be fixed by actually making someone so complex as to be able to actually appeal to that many different people through different sides of themselves but if not done right, it can just make the character feel inconsistent. Again, good romance writing is a lot harder than people think and this element of it is one of the hardest. Does that mean we're doomed though? Not really.

I'm only going to do one example but let's take a pretty normal, male archtype: Tough guy with a heart of gold. Looks scary but is actually a decent dude. What sorts of girls might be into him, why and how can he quickly woo them in case the story isn't able to be very long?

Shy: He is the protector. Someone who she should be terrified of but as he clearly means her no ill will and can scare of the anxieties of the day by not giving two shits if people look at him funny, she can immediately want to be by his side for that comfort.

Rowdy/Tsundere: Someone she can spar with, verbally and sometimes physically. Someone who's treatment from the world has left him capable of taking some jabs, again, in both regards, while also dishing out his own verbal barbs. She wants to get with him because they are equals.

Genki-girl/Happy: She can see the wearing down of him due to the harsh world and make it her mission to brighten his world so that he remembers how nice people can be and why he's a good person. In return, he can help her with her naivety and expand her understanding of the beauty the world can have by showing her the rougher parts of it that he was forced into, with him reclaiming that joy in the process. In the end, both are happier for having known each other.

Smart girls: He is a project. Someone to make better by refining his rough edges until she learns to appreciate them. While she works on him from a bookworm perspective though, her own care and determination shining through with how much she'll put up with to get his grades up, he helps her where she's lacking in street smarts until they aren't on equal footing in their respective fields but they're a lot closer and have a lot to thank for each other.

The Dark and Brooding One/Kuudere/Potential Yandere: Doesn't find her scary/mysterious and they both actually see the other as a bastion from the assumptions of others. While the boy suffers from his gruff exterior because people dislike him, the girl suffers from people assuming she'd be too mature for childish things or too scary to approach and be friends with. They are kindred spirits that can lean on one another.

There. Five girls, off the top of my head, for just one incredibly basic archtype of dude. These aren't admittedly the most complex girls either but it's a good baseline to then expand and flesh out for a harem that can bring out nominally different things from him while not having to push so far out of the comfort zone of his archtype that you have to dedicate too much time to his character development and so can keep the focus on the girls. It still gives him SOME sort of personality though besides "Nominally okay dude." Heck, I still technically worked backwards from this, coming up with each archtype one by one after choosing what the guy would be like, but the question never changed: Why would these girls fall in love with him?

It's not as hard as you think it has to be, love doesn't have to be that complicated (not in fiction at least), and so please just put in that little bit of extra effort. Your story will be better for it, even if your market share will be a touch smaller.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[heretherebedork]

I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised by the turn Only Friends took this week, at least in my vision. I've been enjoying the messy from everyone, but there is something nice about the idea that this whole thing might end with everyone coming out a better person. Each of these character's has issues, but I think it would be really..heartwarming? dare I say, for this show about messy babies to end with each of them doing better than they did at the start of the show.

I have personally felt that a lot of the discourse around OF has been clouded by shipping dynamics and people wanting branded pairs to end up together. Which, I think Ray and Sand are great together, so no complaints here. But I also think it's lead to this...over villianization of characters. People in their twenties can be really messy even if they don't have malicious intentions. They're figuring themselves out, and sometimes they take the L along the way.

We've all been a little bit self conceded like Mew or desperate for love like Ray. I found that this show is 10x more enjoyable when you go in assuming that everyone is just trying their best.

There's still like 3 more episodes so who knows, but I think a really good twist in only friends would be each character coming out more like themselves at the end of the show. :)

Oh, definitely.

I would have avoided much more of that if weren't for certain anons and comments, I admit.

All of the characters are people. They're hurt and selfish and good and frustrated and happy and eager and a little manipulative and a little boring and something they drink and some have more trouble and sometimes they fuck and they struggle and everyone is just... everyone is trying.

I do think we're going to get a mostly happy, if not a bit more open, ending. Everyone will still be here and the future stretches out in front of them because they're all young and learning and figuring things out.

We're just along for the ride.

I think that the force of pair branding as well as the movement against it has created a very interesting dynamic between the show and the fans that is creating so many expectations and hopes that nothing could ever live up, frankly, because they're contradictory.

I am enjoying the show for exactly what it is and I like the balance between heartwarming and toxicity that makes up real people and real relationships that they've reached, even if it some of it doesn't quite meet my expectations of hopes (still sad Mew wasn't as manipulative as I hoped but that was just me wanting more and not so much a commentary of the actual show).

We have three more episodes and, I am certain, a lot more pain.

But I think we come out the other side hopeful. I think we come out the other side knowing that, at the very least, there's something good ahead.

That's why I want Boeing to be Top's platonic queer friend after the break up. I want him to be the older example of who they could be, someone who loved and loves but learned the differences and learned how to be the friend his friend needed.

Anyway.

Yep!

I'd love to stay out of the moral quandaries, honestly, because it's fun and I love my meta but I also love pretty much all the folks.

Oh, and I hope we get to see Yo and Plug get back together. <3 She deserves that!

[davekat-sucks]

You want good homestuck ships? Really honestly and truly? Look at the early ships. Look at JohnDave, DaveRose, DaveJade, JohnJade, JadeRose, JohnRose. Sure its friends to lovers, which is a trope. But its a trope for a reason because it happens in real life all of the time. You become friends with your S/O especially around childhood and that friendship grows into romantic feelings. Yes its overdone, but at least when you go this pathway, you have literal evidence for their relationship developing. I dont even LIKE JohnDave, and I could be convinced that they actually had romantic feelings for each other if you showed me the right pesterlogs. I cannot imagine DaveKat. Like I just cant see how these two would end up in a relationship together, they dont even look or act like they even like each other and things like that laundry room kiss seem extremely forced, Davekat is together because the narrative simply wills it and not through natural character progression. Dont want to start with a relationship already established? Thats fine, have characters meet for the first time and develop over time. Early Rosemary, Spiderbreath, DaveRezi, JadeKat. The Patron troll ships were interesting because both parties had to talk and learn about each other and gradually form a relationship. Early Rosemary was actually goddamn readable and you could feasibly see this badass witch that wanted to break all the rules of sburb fall in love with this incessant mom friend. The pieces were all there, they were just put together wrong. I mean, fuck my mans John "Goddamn Chad" Egbert is out here with a harem of potential pairings, that he actually developed organically. Sure, he was already friends with Jade and Rose. But what about Vriska, or Terezi or Roxy? Each of these girls were given a fair chunk of screentime for John to get to know each of them and they him. I mean, fuck, you could even argue he has a better relationship with Karkat then Dave does, because I can believe that John actually LIKES Karkat (Im not a homosexual conversation aside) The ships that were never meant to be have more believe ability, more evidence and are quite frankly much more fun then the canon borefests we ended up with. And when they intentionally try to write the ship out, its some of the worst writing Hussie has ever done, but when he doesnt give a shit, its some of the best.

Everything you say here does ring true all the way. Preach it!

Especially John Gigachad Egbert. Fuck fans who call him boring. He is the true main character.

Ships centered around only just the human kids are the best. Beta Kids should have been the main focus of the Homestuck series. Trolls were a fucking mistake, as the saying goes. Maybe Hussie had intentions of making a canon couple for a few in the early acts. Such as Dave and Jade getting closer, if only because Dave is just another partial self-insert of himself and rumors that Jade was based on someone Hussie knew and had a crush on. I say the writing for that romance were at least tame compared to the shitfest we got now.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Weekly Book Recs: 10/20-10/27

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

I liked The Ex Hex--and I liked this one even more. Pair a prickly man who likes to wear vests (and one time, a sweater vest) with a wild woman who thinks he's the most boring thing ever? Yes. It begins as a rival witch store thing, and spins into a mystery with some fairly high stakes. The entire time, it's funny, light, and sexy. (Yes, she does ride his face in the back of a truck at one point. Yes, it's great.) These are the perfect Halloween season romcoms, and this one puts the talking cat forward.

Saint by Sierra Simone

If Priest is this erotic operatic angstfest and Sinner a surprisingly sorrowful titillationfest, Saint is a truly reflective, emotional piningfest. Aiden Bell, erstwhile monk who really, really struggles with still being in love with his ex-boyfriend Elijah (this is not aided by the fact that they end up touring European monasteries together) is longing. Longing for Elijah, longing for God, longing for a purpose that will keep him from falling back into the black pit of depression. I don't know if any book I've read before has better described depression, in a way I truly related to. I will say--this is gorgeous and hot and swooningly romantic and surprisingly funny at points, but it is very honest about mental health, so handle with care.

Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks

I've been wanting to read Maya Banks for forever, and I wasn't disappointed. This is a well-written (and surprisingly sweet) medieval romance, centered around a hero who is actually a lot gentler than I expected, and a heroine whose deafness has led everyone to believe she is "daft". There's a really lovely romance between the two of them, with Graeme so determined to be ethical and not touch his wife, despite how attracted to her he is, because he doesn't actually believe she can consent. Whereas not only can Eveline consent--she super, super wants to. Graeme was great; Eveline was even better, a really fab heroine who absolutely made the book.

Goddess of the Hunt by Tessa Dare

I always forget just how good Tessa Dare is at her job until I read another Tessa Dare. She's just good! She's fucking good--great, really. Few authors hit the sweet spot between humor, heat, and emotion that she does. And this is her debut, which I've seen her poke fun at on social media. As a writer, I get that, but it's really quite strong and already has the distinct "Tessa" voice. It's hilarious and it's sexy, and has just the right sprinkling of angst to keep it from being boring. The plot is pretty simple--brother's best friend sort of helps our heroine make the guy she thinks she's in love with jealous. But Lucy is just such a batshit heroine, constantly driving Jeremy insane with her tendency to get into trouble--and her tendency to give him a massive boner, frankly. If you need something that will make you smile throughout--and then throw in a... sickeningly hot pair of angry sex scenes.... look no more, you've got it here.

Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks

Oof, this one is a lot--and I'll tell you right now, recovering from rape and abuse (neither by the hero) is a big part of the plot. Genevieve is a wounded and deeply lovable heroine; after reading two Maya Banks books back to back, I'm really impressed by how she writes heroines especially. And so far, both of the heroes I've read by her have been loving and fierce but gentle with their women. It's a unique take on a medieval hero. It's somewhat light on plot and big on character development, a romantic book about recovery and coming to terms with the past.

[wildelwrcase]

Book Review: "The Binding" by Bridget Collins

--⭐2.25⭐--

I considered DNFing at several points during part 1, and I can't say I completely made the right decision by sticking it through. (Sorry if this is a little spoilery. I think a lot of this is predictable anyway, but if you want to go in totally blind, skip my review)

Looking at the back of the book, in a Q&A with the author, it's stated she has written 7 YA books before releasing this adult fantasy, and boy golly can you tell. Every time the characters swore was a mini jumpscare where in I had to remember this was not written for teenagers. Because even with the references to the darker material present in this world (see trigger warnings) it still feels totally juvenile with incredibly flat, black and white morality characterization. In the past I've disliked YA books for this quality, yet forgiven them for the fact that they are geared toward people younger than me, but this is marketed fully as an adult fantasy, giving it no excuse.

On the topic of characters, the ones portrayed in this book are both absurdly flat and painfully boring. Outside of our main duo, every single character is presented so cartoonishly it's impossible to take seriously. They are all either virtuous girls who suffer for the advancement of our male heroes' plot, or legitimately evil peverted monsters, with neither party being offered even the barest of nuance. (The big bad man who takes Emmett to the big city is named de Havilland. Really. I haven't seen anything so heavy handed since Cruella Deville.) Unfortunately, neither Emmett or Lucian are given much further development. This almost astounds me since they are both 1st person POV characters! As individuals they can be surmised easily: Emmett - farmer (it's his last name and occupation), hates monetary hand outs, righteous (except when the plot needs him to not be), Lucian - rich, hates his dad, hates bookbinding (but only kind of and only to stir up plot drama.) Could you guess that they're also incredibly inconsistent? And somehow still, the most egregious character injustice is killing off a main character and then never mentioning her again!

The plot is easily the best part of the book, and yet still so much of my enjoyment is based on it's potential for more. I think the plot twists are satisfying, though predictable, and the magic system is so cool. There are so many moments that expand the world and potential that binding memories could have on a vaugely pre-industrial vaugely British setting, like the one in this book. Does Collins ever actually explore these possibilities, well no, but the thought of it is intriguing.

A large part of the plot though that can't go ignored is the romance, which… kinda sucks. Like the 2nd part of the book is by far the most enjoyable to read, don't get me wrong, but their entire relationship is told to us while skipping through the parts we actually want to read about. Like this novel is 450 fucking pages and the author just tells us they had an affair??? She couldn't be bothered to write even one or two scenes of them just fucking talking, getting to know each other, falling in love? It's so insane, she somehow spends more time talking about the sexual assualt of minors rather than the supposedly loving, consensual intimacy between our main romantic pair! That is simply absurd, and quite frankly deeply frustrating. Much like the characters though, the plot, is just really fucking boring.

The two, reasons this isn't a 1 star: 1. It's very readable once you get through the mind-numbing opening. Again the 2nd part is pretty fun to read, if rather lackluster. The author is able to spread out reveals just enough that even though they're ridiculously predictable, you still want to get there to see if maybe that's the turning point into where it gets good. 2. Just the idea of it. I really wish this concept was created by a more competent writer, especially one for adult fiction.

Ok, quick-fire shitty things that don't warrant their own paragraph but do deserve mentioning:

Women are treated horribly no matter what. Either sidelined as enforcers of the homophobic realities of the time period keeping our main characters from living freely or literally killed off and never brought up again.

Part 1 is rendered completely useless by the end of the book, except basically to stall so the reveal in part 2 is more impactful.

Zero moral nuance or complexity.

Completely dropped plot threads and/ or thematic ideas that would have made the 450 pages feel less bloated and actually given some depth to the world.

So yeah this is a pretty bad book, but it was more enjoyable to read than what I would deem 1-star level atrocity.

Later losers, gonna go write a fanfiction with this premise, but make it not suck.

[miyagifangkai]

Melt With You

Request: cute Robby x reader request? Something like the girl and Robby really like each other. (Secretly in love but won’t admit it) Long story short she finds Robby after he gets beat up and she helps him…heal up. Helps him bandage up his wounds and cuts. Eventually she confesses she loves him. He confesses it back.

Tagged: @fangirling-alot

Word Count: 2.3k

Characters Involved: Robby Keene, Reader, and a mention of Hawk

Couple Pairing: Robby x Reader

Warnings: Cursing, kissing, mentions of blood, bruises, some angst, and I think that’s it?? (:

A/N: I loved writing this!!! I love Robby so much, ya’ll. A baby boi! ❤️ thank you so much for this request! I hope you love it! (:

You and Robby have been best friends for about a year now.

The both of you are always hanging out together either going out to get some food, help each other with homework, or even just to be around each other. There’s a few times that he’s even taken you skateboarding and, quite frankly, ended in disaster.

“Hey, you wanna see my favorite spot?” Robby asks you while you were sitting in your car eating some ice cream.

“Whoa, wait, Mr. I Hate Everything has something that he actually likes?”

“Screw you!” Robby laughs. You can’t help but smile at him being completely enamored by his laugh, “You wanna see it though?”

“Ugh, fine,” you sigh, “but if it’s boring I am so leaving you behind.”

“Okay, deal,” Robby reaches out his hand to shake yours. You hesitate to touch his hand because you knew you were gonna blush from touching him but you didn’t want to be rude to your friend. You put on your best poker face and shake his hand, keeping your awkward straight face at bay.

Robby points you to what looks like a bunch of half pipes and more things that skaterboys do. Your face lights up at the thought of Robby trusting you enough to show you his hobby.

“Dude!”

He turns in his seat and looks at you, “Don’t judge me,” his face drops a little.

“I’m so not judging you, dude,” You look back at Robby, “This is honestly so cool, man!”

“Oh my god, really?”

“Yes! Really!” you laugh at him, “Is my bestie an actual skaterboy?”

“Please don’t even go there,” he hits your arm. You both laugh for a little bit and you finally say, “So you’re gonna show me your moves?”

“Um, hell yes I am! I’m gonna school you on some skate logic,” Robby’s face brightens up and you two exit the car.

Robby borrows a skateboard from one of his friends and you take a seat on the ground to watch him.

“Hold up, girlfriend! I’m not letting you sit there and watch, lazy,” he puts out his hands and you grab them and stand up still reeling from the fact that he called you “girlfriend.”

He sets the skateboard down and says, “Alright, jump on.”

“Excuse me? Jump on? Do you want me to die? Was this your plan all along?”

“Shit! You caught me, you meddling kid,” Robby says this terrible joke in a completely deadpan tone which somehow made the joke more funny.

“I just want you to know that I’m only laughing at that because you suck at jokes but that’s what I love about you,” you immediately shut your mouth and notice Robby’s demeanor change.

“You love something about me? Really?” Robby scoffs, “I didn’t think you were capable of that.”

“Okay, dude, calm down. Don’t get too hung up on that,” you try to wave off his smirk, “let’s start the lesson.”

“Okay, so the first thing you need to learn is balance.”

Robby grabs your arm and you hold onto him as you place your foot on the skateboard. You start to place your other foot on the board, you almost tip over, “holy shit!”

“It’s okay! I got you, okay? I won’t let you fall,” Robby chuckles, “at least not yet.”

“Fuck you,” you smile at him but your happy face overcame with anxiety.

Once you get your balance Robby starts to slowly let go of you just leaving you standing there and balancing on your own.

“Okay, I’m balanced,” you slowly turn your head towards Robby, “How do I move?”

“You push yourself with one of your feet.”

You put one foot down on the ground and push yourself; you feel yourself start to lean too much and out of a panicked reaction you stop yourself, “This is so much harder than it looks, dude.”

“I know it is! Here, let me show you.”

You clumsily step off the skateboard and Robby shows you the proper way on how to ride a skateboard. He made it look so easy and he surprisingly looked so graceful while doing it. He rides back towards you and jumps off, “Wanna try again?”

You nod your head and step back on. You gain your balance but end up pushing yourself too hard and end up wiping out on the ground.

“Holy shit, Y/N!” Robby runs towards you checking out if you were alright. You start to giggle, “I’m okay. Don’t worry.” You lift up your arm and see blood on your elbow.

“Yeah, you’re gonna need a bandaid,” you and Robby both chuckle.

After that you and Robby made that place your hang out spot even though you refused to try to skate again and just enjoyed watching Robby do his thing.

You were home alone tonight due to your parents both working the night shift. You came home after school to a note on the fridge saying that leftovers were in the fridge and they both love you. You didn’t mind being alone most days; even though you hung out with Robby most of the time. He would always leave before sunrise so you didn’t have to sit and drudge through a stern lecture about how boys were bad news. You heat up your leftovers and sit on the couch and turn on the tv. You had texted Robby earlier but you got no response which was weird but you just brushed it off, maybe he was busy. You were enjoying your food and your show until you heard a knock on the door. Usually, the neighborhood was pretty quiet after 10:00pm so you had a feeling it was Robby. You hear another stream of quick knocks which makes you jump off the couch, “Coming! Gosh, impatient.” All you heard was silence on the way to your door. You open it up and see a battered Robby.

“Oh my god,” you can’t help but gasp at him, “Are you okay?”

“Please… can I come in?”

“Ye–uh–yeah, of course,” you were in complete shock and didn’t exactly know what to do or say.

Robby walks to your kitchen limping and holding his side and he gets out a dish towel and wets it, proceeding to lay it on his forehead for some kind of relief. When Robby gets in the light you now see all of the damage. Bloodied hands, bruises, and a black eye. There was blood on his shirt near his side.

“Oh my god, Robby. Let me get some gauze.”

You always have a med kit in your house for safekeeping. You'd like to call yourself a doomsday prepper but you weren’t rich enough for that label. Robby always made fun of you for it; like you were a walking supply woman. He’s not wrong.

You come back to Robby struggling to keep his eyes open and you almost start to freak out but you keep your cool so you don't stress him out even more. You start tending to Robby’s wounds starting with his face. You wipe off the dirt and put some rubbing alcohol on the wound hearing Robby wince, “I’m so sorry, Robby,” you say as you keep cleaning off his wounds. Robby had nothing to say to you; he regretted coming here now and worrying you.

“Okay, take your shirt off. Let me check out your side,” you look into his eyes, tears threatening to spill out.

Robby complies and you turn around as he takes his shirt off giving him privacy, “Why did you turn around? You’re gonna see me without my shirt anyways.”

“Keene, this is no time for jokes. I wanted to be respectful,” you turn back around and you’re greeted with his bruised up torso. You look at the gash on his side and automatically start tending to it, you hear him start breathing hard and trying to hide his winces.

“I’m so sorry,” you say and you meant it. You couldn’t help but feel bad for Robby. You knew the kind of life he had. He wasn’t able to show you his apartment until about six months into your friendship.

“This is the humble abode.” Robby spreads his arms out and turns around to look at you. You didn’t make any faces at him or want to offend him so you keep a straight face.

“The power got shut off again about a week ago. So, the refrigerator is off limits.”

You didn’t have the strength to laugh at his joke being astounded by the condition he’s living in.

“Robby–”

“Hey, don’t. I don’t need any sympathy. I just thought I’d show you where I live. We’ve been friends for a while now,” Robby tries to fake a smile towards you.

“The place isn’t so bad, you know?”

“What do you mean?” Robby asks with a confused look.

“I mean, why don’t you light some candles and make a fort?”

“Okay, walking fire hazard, calm down.”

You weren’t gonna let his glass half empty outlook on life get in the way of your idea this time.

You roll your eyes, “How about we go to the store and get some cheap flashlights and a few board games? Let’s have some fun!”

“You’re serious?”

“Hello? Of course, I am. I am killer at Candy Land, dude.”

“I wish we could but I’m broke right now.”

You pull out $100 and say, “I mean I’m not rich but let’s have some fun.”

You and Robby go out and get supplies for your sleepover. Sporting Candy Land, a few blankets, and some lanterns. You decide to go for a cheap option for dinner with McDonald’s and some candy from Dollar Tree.

You guys get back to his place and set up for the night. After you two set up everything and start playing some Uno you catch Robby looking at you.

“Okay, why are you staring at me? You know that’s rude, Mr. Keene.”

“I’m not staring! I’m just observing.”

“Observing? Sure, you are. Is the light from the cheap lantern’s just illuminating my face so nicely?”

Robby scoffs, “Haha sureee… you definitely look better with the lights off, that’s for sure.”

You gasp and push him, “Excuse you! I have feelings, you know!”

This time Robby fake gasps at you, “You? Feelings? Never!”

You both crack up and you look back down at your cards, “Okay, the color is red!”

“Dammit! I hate this game,” Robby exclaims with a smile. You look up at him and you catch a glimpse of Robby staring again. This time you couldn’t hide your blush so you look at him again and say, “What is it?”

“Nothing. I’m just so thankful that I met you.”

Your hands begin to shake a little, “Yeah, ditto.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

You just purse your lips and try not to look at his face because once you did you’d start crying. You finished cleaning up his wounds and lay everything down on the counter.

“God, my head hurts,” Robby lays his hand on his head and closes his eyes for a second.

You immediately rush to the medicine cabinet and grab some tylenol and pour him a glass of water.

“Here, take these. It won’t entirely help but it’ll take the edge off.”

Robby takes the Tylenol and drinks the water, “thank you.”

“Come on, let’s get you to the couch.”

You help Robby walk to the couch and let him get situated. You then sit down and lay his legs over you.

You couldn’t stand the mystery anymore, “Are you able enough to tell me what happened?”

“Assholes jumped me.”

“Who?”

“Hawk.”

“Oh. I hate him.”

“Yeah? As do the rest of us,” Robby moves a little too fast and jolts from the pain.

“Dude, don’t move so much!”

“Sorry, I'm trying not to,” Robby looks at you and you look back at him, “Hey, stop worrying. I’ll be alright.”

“I know but it’s still scary, okay?” You start to feel the word vomit spill out, “I can’t lose you, Robby. I love you,” you place your hand over your mouth with wide eyes.

“You what?”

You take in a deep breath and look him in the eyes, “I love you, Robby Keene. I really do.”

His face starts to get some color back into it, “I love you too.”

“You do?”

“Yes. I love you. So much.”

Your whole entire body starts to tense up. You were so happy that you didn’t know how to react. You could tell Robby wanted to kiss you but was in too much pain to move. You move his legs off of you and you slowly and gently get on top of him and lean down to kiss him. He kisses you back and you could tell he’d been waiting a long time for you to do this.

“Is this okay?” Robby needed to reassure himself.

“Yes. This is more than okay, you meddling kid,” you tried to recreate Robby’s deadpan voice causing him to sigh, “you’re never gonna let me live that down, are you?”

“Absolutely not,” you laugh at him.

You kiss him again and you two spend the rest of the night together on the couch.

Despite Robby’s pain he stayed up all night with you even though you begged him to rest.

“I’m not falling asleep and missing tonight, Y/N. I never want to forget it.”

“You’re not gonna forget it, Robby. Because I mean, look at this,” you point to yourself, “I’m just that amazing.”

“You’re such a nerd,” he chuckles.

“I take that as a compliment, thank you very much.”

Ignoring the stinging in his arms he pulls you down to him and you lay your head lightly on his chest and feel his warmth surround you.

You start to hear him doze off a bit at sunlight and you didn’t even care that your parents were coming home soon all you could do was mutter, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he kisses the top of your head.

Nothing was going to get better than this. Robby in your arms; letting yourself melt into him.

[jackassbroadcast]

Hello im a Tommy enthusiast who watched that one stream where he monologued to foolish for like hafe an hour bc i heard it was a cool stream or wtv to realize how much amazing character moments it had that barly anyone in this damn fandom is talking about so ill fucking do it

(Only after finishing this i realized i wrote 1.7k words LOL OOPS)

If u dont know what in talking about its this stream (apologies for linking a clips channel the actual vod on foolish's channel is deleted by now)

Also heads up /rp /dsmp every time i refer to someone here by name is their character unless stated otherwise bc writing c! Before every name Is tiring LOL

Also // suicidal idealization , death mentions

The conversation starts off with foolish and tommy mining for Wilbur, and foolish questions how simply mining will solve the problem to which Tommy reponds with "they dont get solved, do they? It just ends uo with some madman screaming 'Hes solved it!' And now look at him." And how he wants to "prevent the problem before it goes outta hand" something that clearly references Wilbur and his destruction of lmanburg, which paired with him collecting stone for Wilbur as the way to stop said problems he believes if he does anything he can for Wilbur and support him by his side enough this time around, that he wont do anything like thay again, which as im writing this makes be realize by doing that we learn hes blaming himself for what happened to Wilbur in November 16th and pogtopia and a whole, by not being enough for Wilbur in his mind.

The conversation continues, foolish off hand asks why would tommy want to stop Wilbur? Weren't they friends at some point? To which tommy leads foolish to lmanburg and tells him the story of the nation (how it was him and Wilbur's nation, how they made it to espace dream's iron fist and how they held an election "which puts your life on the line, which is good- if you're confident but- perhaps we were too confident", how they lost)

Tommy: "You know the phrase: 'treat other how you wanna be treated', foolish? People dont ever listen to it. Wilbur- he decided he wanted to be treated poorly so he treated everyone around him poorly "

This Tommy quote, to me at least, so so amazingly strong in conveying how understanding he is? To the world around him. Like-

I have not seen one person bring this quote up, and yet its (at least to me) shows such growth and understanding in Tommy i saw little to nothing like it in other streams. It shows he understands, he knew Wilbur didnt change just because, he knows he was struggling, that he thought everyone around him were againt him, were going to abandon him the first chance theyll get- and he thought he deserved it. So he, as a last way to defend himself against that, hurt them first, abandoned them first, so theyll see how much of a 'bad' person he was and take him out- and tommy saw right through that, possibly understanding it more after exile.

This next qoute was talked about much more but i still wanna bring it up

Foolish: "Do you believe in second chances?"

Tommy: "Oh, no I don't really believe that its not really a thing for me foolish its just that-" *sigh* "- i believe everyone has a little bit of good in then and this is not about giving him a second chance or a third chance- its not about *chances* foolish. Its about not giving up on the poeple you care about. "

Which. I mean. I dont know how healthy that mindset is, but comign from Tommy it makes so much sense.

Techno, tubbo, eret, sapnap. These are all people Tommy used to be extremely close to, had either a war or had been betrayed by them, and yet still found it in his heart that he still cares for them, with all of these, they did horrendous things, that hurt tommy physically and mentally, while also not being once or twice, but a contentious thing, but while tommy is to this day still effected by their actions he still found it in himself to forgive, because he knows he fucked up too, a lot, and he knoes they learned from their mistakes just as he had (except c!techno FUCKKK c!techno mf doesnt learn SHITTT) and he knows, when the time comes he knows hed want the people he hurt to forgive him too. (And he wants Wilbur to do the same)

Next qoute i will cut to a couple parts because its really so good and full of character i had to bro

Foolish: "Do you consider yourself to be the good guy or the bad guy?"

Tommy: "It really depends who you ask, isn't it? Yknow? If you asked dream he'd say im *his little toy that he plays with* you know? It doesnt.."

This part really stunned me when i first heard it because, and correct me If im wrong, but i dont think tommy ever acknowledged how dream sees him, and  how right he has his viewpoint too. Just the fact tommy is so *painfully* aware of how dream doesnt even see him as a person anymore but just a toy to mess around with for a while than just throw it away when it get too boring really hurt me. Someone give this kid a hug

(Continued) Tommy: "...foolish, honestly? I used to consider myself 'the good guy', you know? The fuckin'- second in command! But these past- these past like six months or so, foolish, everything got so much harder than it was before. Because before it was just us vs bad guys, it was all so clear! But- its not been 'clear' for so long, right? It wasn't; 'these are the bad guys! These are the good guys!' Now it's : 'he's doing this and it makes him a bit worse-' i mean, it all got so complicated, so- i don't know. Depends who you ask."

He says this, in response to foolish asking if hes a good guy- but its awfully similar to if Wilbur asked him if they were the bad guys. Because foolish just asked about him, and yet in his answer tommy made sure to keep using the words "us, he's, guys" as if hes not really talking about himself, as if hes explaining how Wilbur was wrong. Which he was. Also something interesting ive noticed, he says "the last 6 months or so", which indicated that with Wilbur he knew better to follow his word and leadership- with Wilbur he was always on the right side but when he lost him he felt much more lost alone, and couldn't trust himself enough to be on the "right side" .

Foolish: "I dont know, it all seems strange because just from, you know- hearing from others and, you know, learing a little bit, its seems like you've been the hero, you've been the villain, the conqueror, the savior, and, even now, i have no idea what you exactly are."

Tommy: "that's up to you to decide, isn't it? Im just- *uh*  i dont know. These days, foolish, I'm a little weaker than i used to be"

Foolish couldn't be more right with what he said, another example of this we see where a character acknowledges tommy never sticks to one thing us Charlie when calling him "tommy fron nowhere" which shows more how he cant stick to one thing, during the course of him on the server he had been friends and enemy with nearly everyone, been on pretty much all sides, and while never really intentionally, being in the center of conflict. When foolish says he doesnt know who tommy is anymroe at this point and all Tommy says in return is that "hes a little weaker than he used to be" does to show he misses who he used to be, with lmanburg, with Wilbur, when he knew who he was, now he doesn't know who he is anymore, but still so desperately want to be more demonstrated by the lines coming rigth after that one:

(Continued) Tommy: "..I'm not- I'm now who i want to be, but-"

Foolish: "Being honest with you, Tommy, that's the same case for me as well."

Tommy: "...heres the thing, foolish, unlike you i dont really have a choice. I have to try and be who i want to be, because if i dont, very bad things are gonna happen in this server. And now that Wilbur's back i can't- quite frankly *no one* can risk that. So i dont really have a choice."

Tommy want's to change- he wants to be better than he is now, to be closer to who he used to be, no matter how impossible that might be, but he also sees it as an immediate thing, he wants to change now, or asap, which is why hes collecting stone for Wilbur in the first place- old him would've done that with ease just because Wilbur asked and he wants to have that back so badly, asap. The way he talked about this reminded me of when he tried getting over his trauma stream before he went in the prison to kill dream: he knew he wasnt the best but he tried getting over that asap to go kill dream asap. He didnt wanna take the long road of years of healing and instead thought he could get over it just like that, and that experience clearly didnt teach him anything because now hes trying to slide back to the relationship he and Wilbur used to have and ignoring the drastic changes they both had plus the bad moments that were the reason they feel out in the first place, or maybe he knows, but at this point, after everything that happened to him and the server, he doesnt care anymore? He knows hes not the same he was and he'll never be the same, because thats not how it works, but his mentor, president, big brother is back after so long tommy felt so lost and alone he thinks maybe, this time around, with Wilbur, he could try and be better again.

[ihatetaxes99]

A Little Rant

Okay, so I've been mulling over this for a long time and I have decided, fuck it, I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for a long time. Specifically, how much I just really, really dislike Katsuki Bakugo as a character and to do so, I'm going to compare him him to my favourite character... Well, technically, second favourite, since my overall favourite doesn't quite fit the discussion (Sorry, Sako-kun, I swear I'll give you the acknowledgement you deserve another time.)

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

So, uh, before I start, probably a good idea to mention that I am going to be very harsh to Mr. Bakugo here, so if you like him, I'd advise not reading for your own sake. I know that a lot of Baku stans tend to prowl the anti tags, and this isn't for you. However, if you think you can handle it, be my guest; Just don't get pissy at me if you don't like it.

Let's get started. Where to begin, where to begin? Well, we all know the characters of Katsuki Bakugo and Tomura Shigaraki, two of the most integral characters in the series and, as far as I am concerned, two rather noteworthy pieces of shit. For the latter, this is no surprise to anyone, Shigaraki is the main bloody antagonist. He's terrorised the world of heroes for around a year by the most recent point in the manga, has murdered dozens during the MLA confrontation alone and ultimately aims to wipe everyone out. At his purest form, he is an agent of chaos and nothing less. A young man who was driven out of society and forced to indulge in his own rage. He's very clearly a character beyond redemption, and even attempting to do so would just be silly. And yet, I love him. Easily my second favourite character, at some points, he has weasled his way into first place.

Then, we have Bakugo. Beloved by all, both in universe and in the fandom, Katsuki is an explosive, ill-tempered brat with a dispositon as childish as Shigaraki's was earlier on in the series. I really do not like his character, but at the end of the day, he hasn't killed anyone and hasn't committed any crime, so why should I?

Well, that second part is technically a lie. Yeah, we all like to forget the suicide baiting scene, even Horikoshi. But simply put, it cannot be forgotten and that is my big issue with Bakugo. Everything he has done both past and present is swept under the rug. He has acted absolutely abhorrently towards a Quirkless little boy who just wanted to be his friend for years, constantly belittled and in some cases assaulted this boy. During the initial training, he nearly blows Deku to kingdom come. And why? Because he doesn't like feeling inferior. Well tough shit, the little bastard has gotten his way all his life, and coming to UA was the perfect opportunity for him to put on his big boy pants, grow a pair and actually mature as an individual. Surely, an institution such as UA would not ignore or even reward his behaviour?

....

Yeah, UA deserves all that is surely coming to it following the end of the war, purely because of how they let Katsuki slide. Keep in mind, Nedzu and Aizawa fully acknowledged that his tempermental behaviour made Bakugo a target for the League of Villains. And yet, upon recapturing him, no attempts are made to actually nurture him into dropping this egocentric shit that makes him such a target. 

And of course, it's Katsuki who gets to learn about One for All first. Not Ida, the streadfast, loyal friend, not Uraraka, who has often been Izuku's closest confident. Hell, even Mineta, for all his faults, is more friendly to Izuku than Bakugo has ever been. And yet, it's good old Katsuki who gets to learn about it, the same Katsuki who didn't believe it at first, mocked the dead users of One for All and was generally a horrible, spiteful little shit. He even somehow has a friend in Kirishima, which frankly astonishes me. I am aware that 1-A don't know about Bakugo's past, but who would ever be attracted to his completely unstable personality?  

And of course, he's ended up calling himself DynaMight as his hero name. First off, my darling Mister Compress is right, that's so fecking tacky, even by BNHA standards. But secondly, what the actual fuck? Okay, so the actual disciple of All Might gets stuck with a hero name that everyone knows is meant to humiliate and tear him down while the cocky little bugger who has shown nothing but open contempt to the very nature of One for All gets to ape on All Might's name? Remember a very early chapter, that had a flashback to Midoriya's potential hero names and they were all intentionally childish and cringe? Yeah, this is quite literally that but unironic. God, I hate Bakugo.

And that's really it, what separates two deeply unlikable characters. Shigaraki is acknowledged by the writing as an awful person with a scant few redeeming qualities. His backstory never tries to excuse his actions, only explain them. And so, this ragtag violent scumbag ends up as a better character than the violent scumbag that we're supposed to root for. Because I cannot root for Bakugo no matter what. He deserves the full Endeavour treatment, frankly. Because at least Enji is finally receiving what he deserves for his actions (Even if the absolutely God-awful chapter 301 has muddied that a little by portraying him in a positive light for some reason.) Bakugo needs consequences, he needs intervention and he needs to actually fucking apologise with some sincerity before I'll ever accept him as an even halfway decent character.

Blegh. Sorry for this long, boring and ultimately pointless rant. I know that literally no one cares what I have to say on this internationally beloved character, but I needed to share my two cents. 

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch19. Cut Off One Head…

Summary: The Avengers have been tracking Hydra for a number of months now, systematically making their way through each base that their intel provides them…but a routine business trip turns out to be something far more sinister than Katie and Tony were planning for…

Warnings: Violence, kidnapping, bad language, angst… 18+

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: The next few chapters take a bit of DARK turn…warnings will be detailed. @angrybirdcr​ provided a special banner for these next three chapters, and another wonderful edit...

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 18

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 September 2014

“I’m not saying that I’m not open to the idea, I just don’t understand why you think we need to buy the firm.” Katie said for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. Tony glared at her and simply shook his head as he sat waiting in the reception area of the office block in Minnesota. “I’m not even gonna ask what you were doing that kept you up so late you clearly didn’t get enough sleep last night you cranky brat.” Katie rolled her eyes but she felt a small smirk pulling at her lips as she remembered very well the events of last night as Steve had quite frankly lost his shit at the fact she was wearing the new baby blue lace matching underwear set he had bought her just because he wanted to, but she caught herself. “Sleep or lack of, has nothing to do with it. I’m serious, Tony. We don’t need it”. “Investing” he said holding his finger up “building the brand. That’s what business is all about.” She groaned “Thanks for the lesson on running a business, you know, in case I didn’t know how to, but that is NOT the vision I have for SIP.” “Look, you said yourself when this proposal landed on your desk you were curious.” “I am!” She protested, and she was. From the research they had done, the company that had approached them, Hall General Publishers LTD, held the same ideas as SIP, except they focused on Biographies that were published in series magazines. They had reached out to SIP for a potential collaboration on a fiction series that they had been approached to run and felt it was out of their field, but they were keen to see if they could join forces. It had instantly caught Katie’s attention and imagination but as usual Tony had gone off on one and suggested they buy the smaller company out. “I’m curious about their proposal, and the potential to do business, collaborate yes, but not take over!” “Look, it’s a day out of the office, chance to forget about Tin Man and Hydra” Tony shrugged and Katie gave a groan of frustration again. “And their profits are pretty impressive. We can use them, keep their brand…” “Whatever.” She glanced around at the foyer. It was clinical, white, all clean lines. Nothing like the entrance to Stark, sorry Avengers Tower as it was now called .Mind you, that was to be expected from a ‘rent an office’. Eddie Hall, the MD of HGP had requested the meeting take place away from either of their offices to avoid anyone catching news of the potential collaboration and had arranged to hire a room at block some 10 miles outside of Saint Paul. Tony had shrugged when Katie questioned it, saying it wasn’t unusual for people to hire external meeting venues in order to keep things under the radar. “Miss Stark, Mr Stark, I’m so sorry,” the dark haired man hurrying across the foyer said. He was about 6 foot tall, slim, and was wearing a sharp black suit. Both Katie and Tony stood up, Tony extending a hand.

“Mr Hall I presume?”

 “Yes.” The man said, shaking both their hands, his manner flustered. “Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to ensure the room was ready.”

“It’s only a few minutes.” Katie said smiled at him, “No apologies necessary.”

 They followed him into the elevator and he selected the top floor and turned to the siblings

“Thank you for coming out here. I know the cloak and dagger thing is probably a bit much but I don’t want people getting wind of it. There’s a few changes coming at the company and I don’t want any of them making any assumptions…” “Understandable.” Tony sniffed, looking around the elevator.

They emerged onto the top floor, and he led them left down the corridor. Katie looked around, the whole place smelt of paint and there was decorating equipment dotted around. She frowned. “It’s a new office facility.” Hall explained, looking at her. “Owned by a friend of mine and they’re still kitting it all out. But he said this was the best room to use. It’s mocked up like a board room you see…” Katie nodded and shared a look with Tony, she was starting to feel ever so slightly uneasy. Tony just shook his head and patted his pocket where his trusty Iron gauntlet cuff sat. Neither of them had come with their suits, this was supposed to be a straight forward business meeting after all. But she took a deep breath, she was probably just being over sensitive after everything that had happened recently…

Hall stopped outside a door to the left and opened the room, revealing nothing but darkness. “Oh, sorry,” Hall let out a sigh of frustration, sweeping into the room. “Yes. Let me just… find the lights.” Tony looked at Katie, arching an eyebrow. 

No window? He mouthed at her, his hand slipping into his pocket as they stepped into the room, Katie not quite sure they should be to be honest. “Yes. Here we go,” the man said brightly, flipping on the light and flooding the small room with light as the door slammed shut behind them.

That’s why it didn’t have a window. It was a fucking storage room. And it contained three men in dark suits standing before them, each with a rifle trained on their chests. Katie instantly stopped, drawing a deep breath of shock. Besides her she saw Tony in the corner of her eye quickly move to pull the cuff from the depth of his pocket, but he suddenly stumbled forward and fell immediately, the cuff flying out of his hand as the man they knew as Mr Hall stepped round them both and leaned against the wall to their right.

Katie spun round to see another man to the left and her eyes widened as she instantly recognised him.

“Grant?”  She frowned, looking up at the face of her ex "What… what’s going on? "You know, I thought when you dumped all those files on the internet you might have actually read them.” He smirked, stepping forward and glancing down at Tony who had sat up and was watching him, his face contorted with hatred and rage. Katie swallowed as she took in his words before she shook her head as her eyes grew wide in sudden understanding.

“Heil HYDRA.” Ward’s smile spread further across his face.

The agents around the room started to close in. One of them, a larger built man who reminded her a little of Rumlow spoke in a deep voice.

“This is the one you say we need?” Ward nodded and at that point Tony slowly got to his feet, backing up, placing himself between his sister and the man who is advancing on her, the two of them backing towards the door.

“Need me for what?” Katie said, her voice soft as her back hit the wooden surface.

“Answers.” The large man said, looking bored at Tony’s display of protectiveness.

 “About what?” She said, a bit louder this time.

“Well, you see Kay…” Ward smirked and Katie turned to her left to look at him as Tony emitted a low growl in his throat at the use of his old pet name for her, Ward chuckled before he started again “We’ve had a bit of a problem since you and your boyfriend, sorry fiancée, congratulations on that by the way.” He smiled, and she glared at him in response “Yes, ever since you took down SHIELD, we’ve been a little bit on the back foot, constantly watching our backs, trying to figure out where SHIELD or the Avengers are going to pop up next. So we figured, we needed a bit of inside intel.” The larger officer yanked Katie’s arm and pulled her out from between the door and Tony, flinging her into the middle of the room where another one of the agents grabbed her. Another one stepped quickly in front of her brother, blocking his path to her.

 “Ok, stop…” Tony held his hands up, turning back to Ward and the other man. “If you want someone, take me. I’m more involved in the Avengers anyway…“

His voice was level but Katie could hear a level of desperation.

“Yeah, much as I’d love to take you in for a kicking Tony, the problem is she’s the only one of you who knows he’s alive and what he’s likely to be doing so…” “Knows who is alive?” Tony frowned as Katie swallowed thickly. Coulson, that’s the only person they could be talking about. But before she could say anything one of the agents butt Tony hard in the back of the head with the handle of his gun and he fell to the floor.

 Katie yelled out and started towards him, but the Agent holding her tightened his grip on her arm to the point of it being painful.

 “Now you’re gonna come with us, out of this building, quietly, no fuss and no escape attempts” The big man spoke to her “Otherwise Ward here is gonna put a bullet in your dearest bro’s head.” “And how do I know you’re not gonna do that anyway?” Katie whispered through her tears.

“Because it’s more trouble than its worth.” Ward shrugged. “And frankly, the thought of him alive, worrying about you is far more satisfying.” Katie glanced down at her brother, who was starting to push himself up, until Ward kicked him hard in the ribs and he collapsed, groaning, as Ward hit him on the back of the head again, knocking him out.

“Alright, alright!” She protested, her voice cracking. “I’ll come. Just leave him alone.” She was shoved harshly forward, her heeled feet slipping slightly as the door was pulled open. She stopped suddenly, turning to Ward. “You better watch your back .When Steve and the rest of the team finds out about this you’re a dead man.” Ward chuckled. “Quaking in my boots, Sugar.” She was shoved forward again, and managed one glance over her shoulder at Tony who was sprawled on the floor before she was shoved out of the room.

***** Tony groaned, as he pushed himself up slowly, the room spinning.

 “Kiddo?” he croaked, as he looked around. He was alone, no sign of anyone. He scrambled across the floor, and tried the door which was locked, before he slumped heavily against it, his trembling hands started to feel his suit pockets. His phone was gone, of course, as was his cuff and Katie’s laptop. He lay his head back against the door as he started to piece together what had happened. It was an ambush, Ward…HYDRA…

 Hydra had his sister. For information. About someone no one knew was alive? Were they referring to Fury? He ran his hand over his face again, and was just about to think about screaming in the vain hope they heard him on reception, but he stopped, suddenly. They hadn’t taken his watch.

Thick HYDRA bastards. 

With shaky fingers he pressed the button at the side and the face lit up orange.

 "Yes, sir?“ JARVIS spoke and Tony almost gave a sob of relief before he spoke a simple instruction, all he can think to blurt out before he gives into the throbbing in his head once more.

“Alert Captain Rogers. Send help.”

***** Steve was in the now finished training room with Thor. The pair of them were currently debating if the large room would stand up to them trying out a new move- Thor hitting Steve’s shield with his hammer to create the same wave it had done in the forest that time. It was useful, and Steve was thinking about perfecting it, seeing if it could be directed in anyway.

 “What metal is it made from anyway?”  Steve nodded to Mjolnir as Thor was throwing it up and down.

 “It was forged from the heart of a dying star- Nidevalir…” Thor said, as Steve picked up his shield.

 “It’s made from a star?”

 “No, metal, which was forged by a star.” Thor corrected.

Steve was about to comment that he still hadn’t answered the question when a red light started flashing in the corner of the room, along with a low siren, and Jarvis’ voice cut across them.

“Captain Rogers, Mr Stark has just sent a distress signal.”

 Steve instantly looked at Thor, swallowing slightly. “A distress…they were on a business trip. “I’ve no other details other than to alert you and send help.” There was a loud clap of thunder and Steve turned to see Thor was now clad in his armour and the God nodded at him as the two of them sprinted from the room. Steve’s mouth was dry and his mind was running overtime about what trouble they could possibly be in, but as they headed down the corridor to the armoury he found his voice.

“JARVIS, tell everyone to suit up and meet at the jet, now.” “Of course Captain. I’ve patched the location through to the jet.”

“I’m sure they will be fine.” Thor offered as some attempt at re-assurance. But as Steve shrugged on the top half of his uniform and grabbed his utility belt, he didn’t feel very re-assured.

Maria Hill met them in the hangar “I heard the signal, is everything ok?” “Tony and Katie…” Steve informed her. “They were at a business meeting but Tony just sent out a distress signal.” Maria looked at him and then nodded “I’ll start doing some digging into who they were meeting.”

 He nodded, and strode up the ramp to the jet. They’d been in the air about 30 minutes when Maria patched through to them

 “I don’t know who they were meeting but it isn’t Eddie Hill” she sighed “He was reported missing three days ago by his wife.”

 “So whoever took them got to him first.” Nat looked at Steve. “Took him out, replaced him with an imposter”

“And it’s probably safe to assume he’s dead.” Steve said, flatly. “Hill, start doing some digging. Into Hall…anything that might help.”

“On it Cap.”

It took them approximately another ten minutes to get to the location JARVIS had programmed for them. And it felt like ten years. Ever since receiving the distress call the entire team had been on tenterhooks, Steve especially, remaining stoic and unyielding, although he felt anything but, knowing his girl could be in trouble.

 The receptionists face was a picture when the Avengers, led by a focussed, stern looking Captain America stormed into the building and demanded to know what room the Starks were in. Tony heard them shouting on the corridor, Thor kicking over paint cans as he went, and he yelled, banging on the door.

 “Stand back…” Steve’s voice was loud before he aimed a huge kick at the door, breaking it easily along with the frame which splintered out of the wall.

“Where’s Katie?” Steve asked, swallowing and looking round, almost as if he expected her to be hiding somewhere.

“They took her.” Tony said, pacing in front of him “I tried to stop them but…”

“Who?” Steve looked at him and Tony sighed, his eyes brimming “Tony, who took her?” Steve’s voice was desperate.

“HYDRA.” he bit out, and Steve felt his mouth drop open before he took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face. “I don’t understand…“ Thor began, but Tony cut him off. “And you think I do?” he shouted at the God, his entire body trembling as he stopped pacing in front of him “I… we…” He stopped, unable to speak, his breaths coming in short, rapid bursts. Steve was too preoccupied to notice. He was simply staring down at the floor, his posture slumped as he removed his helmet which felt like it was suffocating him, his head kept replaying what Tony had told him.

 HYDRA had her. They had her.

 Banner grabbed Tony by the shoulders and gave him a single shake before he looked at him “Tony, focus on me, ok, keep breathing…”

 Tony slumped to the floor and Banner knelt down with him. “How did this happen?” Steve’s voice was thick as he turned to look at him. Tony swallowed and Bruce squeezed his shoulder “It was a trap. The man, Hall. We came to meet him only Ward and…” “Ward?” Clint’s head snapped round at the sound of that name, frowning “Ward is Hydra?”

Tony nodded and Steve let out a lowly growl of frustration.

“They wanted her, said they needed inside intel. I told them to take me, I said, take me instead, but they wouldn’t, Ward said that she’s the only one who knows…knows that someone is alive and what he’s likely to be doing…”

 At that Steve’s mind started whirring. Ward- she’d worked that last case with him and Coulson. She was the only Avenger that knew Coulson was alive, bar him, and no one knew she’d told him. Other than Fury that is.

 “Who’s alive, who were they talking about?” Natasha frowned.

“I don’t know!” Tony bellowed.

“Maybe they meant Fury?” Banner suggested, looking up.

Steve’s voice was quiet as he looked up. “They mean Coulson.”

 “What?” Tony wheeled round to face him “Coulson? He’s…he was killed, they buried him! We were at the funeral!” Steve shook his head before looking up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath “He’s alive. The last case Katie worked at SHIELD, the Asgardian staff case…” “The what?” Thor frowned, but Steve ignored him as he continued.

 “It was Coulson’s team she worked with. Ward was part of it.” “And you didn’t think to tell us?” Clint frowned at Steve

“What good would it have done Barton?” Steve snapped, before once more his hands ran over his face. The room fell silent until Nat spoke again.

“Ok, so even if he is alive, that doesn’t explain why they think she knows something.” she pressed “What do they think she knows that’s so important they’d risk taking her?” Steve grit his teeth “I’ve no idea. But I bet Fury does.”

“I’ll get Hill to find him.” Natasha says, pulling out her phone and leaving the room.

“I need to get to back to New York to access everything.” Tony said, suddenly “Start searching our intel, anything…” “What about the media?” Bruce suddenly said. “Should we release her photo?” Tony looked up but before he could speak Steve answered.

 "No. If we do that…” He shook his head. “The press’ll start digging and it could flush them further underground.” “Cap” Clint protested gently. “If we can get her picture out there, have more people on the lookout…”

 Steve shook his head, a miserable yet stubborn pout pulling at his bottom lip. “No.” “We are in the dark here!” Barton snapped.

 Steve turned on him, puffing out his chest. “There’s no way they did this and didn’t leave any sort of trail.”

 “A trail? Jesus Cap, these bastards grew within SHIELD for over seventy fucking years and no one noticed!” Clint snapped

 “I KNOW!” Steve roared.

Thor, who had been watching the exchange quietly up until that point stepped forward, placing his large hand on the Captain’s shoulder.

 “I know it is hard, but you need to remain calm Captain.” he said. Steve looked up at him, giving him a nod, taking a deep breath. Thor turned to Barton “I agree that we should have everyone we can hunting for little Stark, but maybe not straight away. We should regroup, get as much information as we can.” Clint nodded. “I’ll go see if they have CCTV. Maybe we can identify who else was with Ward.” Steve nodded at him as he turned and left the room.

 “I’m going to see if I can find anything outside.” Thor said “tracks, a trail…” he released his hold on the Captain leaving him in the room with just Bruce and Tony.

 Bruce had both his hands on Tony’s shoulders as the man sank to the floor, burying his face in his hands. “I tried to stop them…” Tony sobbed, his head rocking back and forth “I tried, I really did.”

Steve said nothing. He couldn’t. Instead he stood impossibly still despite the ground feeling ready to crumble beneath him.

*****

Thor’s search drew a blank. So after quizzing the staff who were distraught when they realised what had happened, they took the CCTV footage and headed back to base. The jet was silent, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

Steve was trying to make connections. What was Coulson doing, and why did HYDRA, mistakenly, think Katie knew about it? Why had no one told them Ward was Hydra? There was no logic in any of this, other than the fact they were desperate, broken and desperate to take the one person they knew for sure had a link to the assumed dead agent. And as that thought echoed in his head, he realised Barton was right. If he had told the rest of the Avengers about Coulson, then maybe they would have taken anyone else. The fact that he found himself wishing it was one of the others instead of her made him feel slightly ashamed but he couldn’t help it. Suddenly, the jet became hot and he felt the bile rising in his throat. He spun up out of his chair and just made it to the small bathroom at the back of the jet before he threw up.

They arrived back at base just after 2 in the afternoon, and immediately went into overdrive, running facial recognition on the CCTV, Tony instructing Jarvis to sift through the files for any mention of Ward in the vain hope it would give them a clue as to where they might have taken her.

Steve was numb, for once he was failing to direct his team, so Clint took it upon himself to organise everyone, which he was grateful for. Suddenly he felt his phone ring, and he pulled it out of his pocket as fast as he could, a low grown of frustration coming from his throat when he saw it was Sam.

 “Sam, I need to keep the line clear.” He answered, sharply.

“Woah, Cap…what’s going down?”

“Katie…” Steve stumbled over his words “She’s…she’s been taken, by HYDRA.” There was a pause and then the man spoke again, four words, before he hung up.

 “I’m on my way.”

Steve slid his phone back into his pocket and took a deep breath. He needed to focus. He was no good to Katie like this. He glanced over at his team, locked eyes with Thor who gave him a nod, and he strode across to see if there was anything he could help with.

It was an hour or so before they made any decent progress.

 "We got a positive ID on one of the Agents.” Hill said as she strode into the common room, handing Steve a file. He took it and glanced down, moving the surveillance photos they had extracted from the CCTV footage to one side, reading the information in it as Bruce continued. “Eric Jones. Ex SHIELD enforcer, clearly still active in Hydra. He worked out of one of the Canadian bases SHIELD had in Toronto, it fell when SHIELD did. We’re still running facial for the others, but I’ve told JARVIS to focus on the guy that Tony said was posing as Hall.” Steve nodded.

“We have a home address for Jones.” Hill added “But we’ve no idea if he’s been there recently or…” “We’ll check it out.” Nat stood up, patting Clint on his chest with the back of her hand. He nodded and stood up just as Steve spoke again.

“How did Ward know?” he looked up and turned to Tony “how did any of them know that you were gonna be there?”

Tony didn’t look away from the window as he replied "I don’t know. The company is real, we did all our research. They’re based in Saint Paul, not far from where we were.”

 “So either Ward got wind of it and took it as an opportunity or Hall was in on it from the start.”

 “If he was in on it then why kill him?” Thor asked gravely.

“Maybe they were worried he was going to blab.” Clint shrugged.

 “When we’ve been to Jones’ we’ll head over there, see if we can dig anything up.” Clint looked at Steve who gave him a nod before JARVIS cut across them.

 “Mr Stark. Director Fury and Agent Coulson are here.” “Send them up J.” Tony said, standing up.

 Steve took a deep breath and looked at Clint and Natasha “You two wait and see what he has to say before you go. It might help.”

*****

The news Fury and Coulson gave was received as well as could be anticipated. Thor let out a loud growl, turning over his chair in anger whilst the rest of the group started to angrily chatter amongst themselves, all except Steve. He simply looked at Fury, then got up from his chair, the anger radiating from every inch of his body as he strode towards him, jaw clenching.

“Rogers…” he began but shut up immediately as the Captain’s fist connected with the former Director’s nose with a satisfying crack which rang around the now silent room. Fury stumbled backwards, falling to the floor, and he wiped at his face, eyeing the trickle of blood from his shattered nose as waved away Hill away who had stepped forwards to help him.

 “Come on…” Thor patted Steve’s chest, “this isn’t helping anyone.”

 “You knew?” Steve glared down at the director. “You knew they had the damned thing and didn’t think to tell any of us that you were tracking it?”

 “It would have blown Coulson’s cover.” Fury staggered to his feet, wiping his nose. “What he is doing has to go under the radar…” “And because of that they took her.” Steve spat “Because Ward knows she knows he…”he pointed to Coulson “is alive, and because we worked with you to take them down, they think she knows something!”

 “Let’s just break this down…” Tony sighed, rubbing his face “How did they get it? I thought the Sceptre was on Asgard?” Tony frowned, looking at Thor. “You took it with Loki.”

 “No, I took the tesseract.” Thor said. “The sceptre was taken by err…not SHIELD, well a part of SHIELD but…”

 “Why did you not tell us about this?” Clint snapped, his usual placid mannerisms now spiked with anger as he turned to Maria. “Why has it taken us raiding fuck knows how many bases, and Nova getting taken for us to find out?”

“Barton, The rubble of the Triskelion took ages to sort out, the other SHIELD strongholds had been obliterated or infiltrated at the same time” she explained “Hundreds if not thousands of things have gone missing. Files, hard drives, laptops, alien artefacts, security badges, flash drives… the list keeps growing. We didn’t know it was missing until recently!” “Recently? How recent?” “Last week.” She looked down and Steve gave a snort as Clint growled.

“You should have destroyed it.” Steve looked at Fury, “Just like everything else you had in that god-damned lab.”

“We couldn’t” Coulson looked at him, and then Steve gave a sarcastic laugh as he understood perfectly what the man was saying.

“Of course not, because you never had it in the first place did you?” “What, I thought…” Tony began but Natasha cut him off.

“Sitwell and STRIKE collected the sceptre. They were HYDRA, they’ve had it right from the start.“

The room fell silent bar silent and a large clap of thunder started outside, making them jump.

“Sorry.” Thor grumbled.

“Fuck this shit.” Clint suddenly spat out, “Nat come on, we got somewhere to be.” he turned to Steve “If we find anything we’ll let you know.” Steve nodded as the arched clapped him on the shoulder and he left.

Nat turned to him, as if she was going to say something, but she didn’t. She swallowed and gave him a nod, before hurrying after her friend. Steve looked down at the floor, which was once more spinning under his feet. Hydra would be trying to get information out of Katie that she simply didn’t have. And the thought of what they would be doing… one more he felt the bile rise in his stomach and he turned, rushing from the room and made it down the corridor to the rest rooms. He pushed open the door of a cubicle, and threw the contents of his stomach up before slumping to the floor, his knees tucked to his chest, and he let out a loud cry of frustration, anger, his chest constricting around him as the tears began to fall.

*****

 Natasha and Clint’s re-con turned up something interesting.

 “Nothing at Jones’ place, it looks like it hasn’t been lived in for months, however, when we spoke to the Deputy CEO who’s running the gaff in Hall’s absence, he recognised the guy posing as Hall.” Clint looked at him “Peter Jackson their head of IT. Ran his face through the system and turns out he’s also known as Gary Jepson, ex SHIELD technician.”

 Steve ran his hand over his face, scratching the stubble on his chin as he glanced down at the photo. He hadn’t shaved since God knows when.

 “So there’s our connection.” He breathed out and Natasha nodded

“Apparently he got the job a few months ago. Timeline tallies with when HYDRA fell. Apparently he and Mr Hall had a mutual love of American Football, they hit it off, used to go for beers at lunch occasionally”

 Tony’s head hurt “I still don’t understand where Ward fits into this?”

“They both worked out of the Fridge.” Natasha said, “At the same time. They must know each other that way.”

 “From what Coulson told us, Ward has been rallying round people he knew.” Clint spoke “And, this is all supposition, but if you ask me Jepson probably tried to go legit, melted into the background post SHIELD falling but when he gets a call from his old friend, who tells him they’re not as dead as they could he reaches out. And then when he hears about the potential deal with SIP…”

 And then it clicked in Steve’s mind. .

 “I don’t think he did hear about it.” He swallowed. “You just said he was their head of IT….” “He could have easily sent those emails from Hall’s account.” Tony gave a groan. “It was all a set up from the start.”

 *****

 It was the week before Christmas. He’d been home from university for 2 weeks and his Dad was already pissing him off. Tonight, both parents were out and Tony was babysitting. He should be out himself, he knew that, Rhodey had invited him to a party, but when Katie had turned those green eyes on him and told him she didn’t want the babysitter she wanted him to stay and ‘hang’ with her (yes, he was especially proud he’d taught his 5 year old sister the word hang) just like he used to before he went away, he’d melted and told his parents to cancel the sitter.

 They’d played a board game- Snakes and Ladders. She won the tie breaker (even though he could have beaten her). They’d then watched The Snowman (well, it was nearly Christmas), Tony doing his best Choir boy impression to make her giggle, they’d had hot chocolate and marshmallows with a candy cane stuck out of the top (yes, he knew she wasn’t allowed it after 6pm but like he gave a shit) he’d then done the whole bedtime routine of supervising whilst she brushed her teeth, but she shoved him out of the room when she needed to pee. Then he’d read her a story, tucked her in well over an hour and a half after she was supposed to be in bed, and was now relaxing with a stolen glass of his dad’s scotch (cheers Dad) in front of Die Hard.  He was about halfway through the film when he heard a small sniff in the hall and she padded into the living room clutching her Winnie the Pooh teddy.

 “What are you doing out of bed?” Tony looked at his sister “I already let you stay up way later than Mom said you could!”

“Bad dream” she sobbed. With a little sigh, he opened his arms and she clambered onto his lap. “There’s a monster under my bed.”

“Nah, I killed it last week, remember?”

“It’s a new one.” She shook her head,  looking at him.

“That so…right…” He stood up.“This calls for the Monster Killer…”

AKA the Vacuum.

Grabbing it, he marched up the stairs and plugged it in. Once it was on he dived under the bed “Get here you son of a…arrrgh…” He made a big deal of thumping the floor and yelling. Eventually he stilled and emerged, turning it off.

“Got it!”

Katie smiled and her hands went up in the air in celebration “My hero, Tones!” before she wrapped her small arms around his neck and he hugged her back.

“I’ll always protect you, Kiddo, what are big brothers for?” "Tony?” His entire body jumped as he looked up and realised it was Pepper. He shifted slightly and let out a small breath. ”Yeah?”

 "It’s late.” She told him simply, but no unkindly. "Come back to bed.”

He shook his head and looked back down at the laptop on his knee. 

“You have to get some sleep.” she sighed, crossing the room before she dropped onto the dark leather sofa besides him “I know it’s hard right now, but – “ "Hard?” he interrupted with a scoff, “Hard? Great description.”

Pepper ignored his jibe and sighed “You haven’t slept in days. We can’t take a step back to where we were after New York. You need to sleep.“

 “I need to keep up with SIP.” he said, shaking his head. “She’s got so many potential authors and projects going…I mean, I can’t let her company crash…what do I tell them all anyway? What do I tell her work force?” “I had an email sent out from HR yesterday.” Pepper said

“Saying what?” Tony rounded on her.

 “That she was on extended leave for the foreseeable.” Pepper said “In the meantime, they’re all reporting into Jenny Jones.” “Who the fuck is Jenny Jones?” Tony looked at her. Pepper took a deep breath.

“She’s the General Manager.” Pepper said “Katie hired her last week.”

He looked at Pepper before the tears sprung into his eyes “the foreseeable…” “I’m sorry.” Pepper says, “I didn’t know what to say.”

 "The foreseeable, until they realise she doesn’t know anything…and they kill her too.” “You don’t know that,” Pepper said, and her voice for the first time trembled.

 Tony looked at her for a moment, before he broke.

*****

The days bled into weeks. And nothing.  They had identified every goddamned HYDRA agent on that CCTV footage now, but they had still found nothing. When Sam had arrived they’d gone back and re-raided every fucking Hydra base they could think of. Nothing. They were stabbing in the dark, and with every day that passed they knew the chances of them finding Katie were getting thinner and thinner.

Steve had a headache. A bad one. One that felt like it was going to split his head in two. He pressed the heel of his palm to the space between his eyes in a desperate attempt to quell the pain.

“Shit, steady on Cap…”

 Steve looked up and stopped before he walked straight into Tony.

“You okay?” Tony asked.

“No.” Steve bit back, before he sighed “Sorry, headache…” He looked at his fiancé’s brother, the worry evident in Tony’s face as well. In fact, it seemed the pair of them now sported that expression constantly, and had done since Katie had gone missing just over 3 weeks ago.

“I thought you were going to get some sleep” Tony said as his eyes scanned down Steve’s body, taking in the fact he was in the same jeans and T-shirt he had been at their meeting last night. Another useless meeting.

He lets out a long breath. “Couldn’t.”

“Me neither.” Tony shook his head, shrugging “Kinda hard… “

“I know.” Steve nodded, looking at Tony.

"I just…I just keep thinking,” Tony swallowed. “I keep thinking about… how I could’ve avoided this. How I should have spotted it was a trap, how I couldn’t stop them taking her…” “This isn’t your fault Tony.” Steve shook his head, thankful that he could now say this honestly. At first he had been angry, angry that the man hadn’t been quicker or able to protect his sister, but that anger had fast dissipated. Without the Iron Man suit, Tony wasn’t a trained fighter. He was physically fit, yes, but not everyone had super serum coursing through their veins. The man was as broken as he was at her being gone, his sister, daughter even, gone, without a trace.

 "I miss her,” Tony said, his soft words still cut harshly into the surrounding quiet. “I just… miss her.”

Steve dropped his gaze. He missed her, God did he miss her. They’d only been engaged, for what? Coming up three months when she was taken and were still in that excited phase of it. They hadn’t gotten down to any planning of any sorts, but that hadn’t stopped their late night, post love making discussions about it. Katie gently teasing him and stating all the things she was going to get, like doves, and fire eaters…utter bullshit of course, because she had no desire for any of that showy crap.

He missed her so much it hurt. Her laugh, her smile, the way she looked at him, her bantering with everyone in the common room, the way he would walk into a room where she was speaking with Natasha and the pair of them looked at him and broke into giggles making him paranoid, the way she kissed him, the way she felt, her hands running through his hair.

Tony cleared his throat harshly and Steve looked at him. “Me too Tony, me too.”

**** Chapter 20

**Original Posting**

[i-am-extremely-mad]

It shocks me over and over again when I come across blogs that extremely aggressively, absolutely HATE LOK, Korra, korrasami and practically every character and aspect of the show. I have to share this horror with others because these are just a small part of the awful views from that blog (supposedly feminist and lesbian), interestingly, attitudes about LOK and korrasami were mostly positive or at least neutral in 2014-2015, and then abruptly changed sometime in the middle of last year which coincides with LOK finally being on Netflix, I will probably respond to if I am in the mood for a toxic discussion...

Anonymous asked:

“I think it's a bit hypocritical that you hate Korra's personality and not Zuko's.Zuko is arrogant asshole bitch and you like him. I never see you criticizing him like you do with Korra”

“Zuko is an arrogant asshole bitch, but he’s not annoying. Korra is an arrogant asshole bitch and is very annoying. Hope this helps!”

#asks#anti lok#going to absolutely BLOW YOUR MIND to find out that the quality of the media itself determines how much I like a character#as well as the quality of the characters development#also this isn't math there is no transitive property for liking characters#some hit and some don't#get over it#Anonymous

Anonymous asked:

“As soon as I heard “I’m the Avatar; you’ve gotta deal with it!” I knew I would fucking hate that show. I naturally hate people who are like that. If Bryke was still smart they would have thought to make Korra’s personality more like water similar to Aang with air, not “haha fuck you, I’m avatar haha!”

“LOL YEP like 3 seconds into the show you hear that, and understand EXACTLY what the rest of LOK is going to be like. Not only is a jarring contrast to Aang and every other Avatar we’ve seen, it directly contradicts everything we know about the Avatar cycle from ATLA. All the other Avatars have to be TOLD that they are the Avatar, and have to work hard to master their non-native elements. Korra just naturally being able to bend 3 elements when she’s like 5 tells you everything you need to know about how the creators of LOK went about making their show: worldbuilding and logic don’t matter, it’s all about flashy visuals and one-time gags.”

#asks#anti lok#DISGOSTING#'meh meh if korra was a MAN you wouldn't call her arrogant' I absolutely would#korra being a dickhead is not okay just because she's a woman#Anonymous

Anonymous asked:

“Korrasami is shit,a joke, boring af, they don't have romantic chemistry, asami acts like a big sister towards korra. there I said it for you.”

“OOP! Well, I certainly didn’t say it!”

#asks#anti lok#but ur right#ACTUALLY I disagree on one point#asami doesn't act like a sister to korra#they act like work colleagues that only ever hang out during their lunch break#they act like very distant cousins that only talk on facebook#they act like people that share mutual friends but don't know each other that well#okay I'll stop#Anonymous

“Korra: 1/10, I will see myself out the door to be CANCELLED! Not only was her character very unlikeable, but the way fandom reared up to defend this (quite frankly) terrible character under the guise of “wokeness” when it is clear that the creators sprinkled in just enough ~representation~ to get brownie points without actually saying anything meaningful is just EMBARRASSING. Korra defenders are being manipulated by those cishet white men they hate so much, and they do it gladly. Anyway, I find Korra boring, disrespectful, and underdeveloped.”

#asks#ask game#character ask game#anti lok#SORRY YALL LOK'S CHARACTERS ARE BAD#also korra gives off 'mean feminine lesbian who calls gnc women slurs' vibes#korra and asami would bully me and then call me a homophobe#and kuvira gives off such heterosexuelle vibes I simply CANNOT with her#thetpot

“IT’S SO VILE! Korra is barely even an active character in her own show! She’s just a vessel that gets beaten and broken over and over again. She doesn’t actually get to LEARN from any mistakes that she makes, she’s just forced to recover from these external traumas that have literally nothing to do with her.

Ugh, tbh I feel NOTHING for korrasami. Korra and Asami don’t speak about anything except Mako for most of the show, and only really start actually TALKING to each other in the last half of season 4. None of Korra’s friends really spend that much time together throughout the runtime of the show tbh.

But yeah, it’s frustrating that people tout LOK as this amazing show staring a queer WOC, but the people making the show HATED Korra and HATED developing her in a meaningful way.”

Anonymous asked:    

“Korra was like Zuko at the beginning of the show, now she in season 4 is like Aang. Bryke gave kuvira a redemption bc team avatar was missing a Zuko. now she is the new zuko and not Korra.”

Sorry, my brain short circuited. You think Korra???? Is like Aang???? That might be the most offensive thing I have ever received in this askbox.

#asks#anti lok#KORRA IS LIKE AANG#IN WHAT UNIVERSE#HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY BOY LIKE THIS#I WON'T STAND FOR IT#Anonymous

“also lock me in lesbian prison but korrasami is WEAK! they didn’t have a single conversation that wasn’t about mako for 3.5 seasons!!! they had zero moments together to indicate that asami would be the only person that korra would write to!!! yall tricked me, I thought I was getting some gay shit.

#anti lok#I SAID WHAT I SAID#korra had more chemistry in her one scene with opal than she ever did with asami”

Anonymous asked:

What do you think of korrasami?

no thank u, I don’t feel like being called a homophobe by a bunch of straight women today.

#asks#anti lok#a hornet's nest I will not be swinging at on this Monday lmao#I hate everything in lok you do the math#I'm sure I've talked about my issues with korrasami on my blog SOMEWHERE#have fun!#Anonymous

Not me seeing posts giving LOK and Korrasami credit for queerness in animation when Steven Universe, Adventure Time, and She-Ra were doing it unapologetically, openly, right from the very beginning....

#anti lok#TESTING MY GODDAMN PATIENCE#if korrasami was individually influential for you as a queer woman that's FINE#but do NOT give this insane credit to the cishet writing team of LOK!!!#not when these other shows were made by ACTUAL QUEER WOMEN#DISGOSTING

Anonymous asked:

if ur looking for an actual well-written canon wlw pairing in the atla verse, there’s rangshi. fc yee works so hard to fix all of bryke’s garbage, bless his soul. i have no hope for anything avatar studios related, but if fc yee is in the writer’s room, then there may be a very marginal chance that the stuff coming out is at least somewhat worthy of being associated with atla. the worldbuilding that he’s done in rise of kyoshi is insane.

I have heard good things about the Kyoshi novels! Unfortunately, LOK is the drop of shit that has poisoned the entire water supply. All ATLA-related works are going to have to be LOK compliant now, which is so deeply restrictive and contradictory to what I liked about ATLA in the first place. I feel like pre-canon stuff is safer (and again, heard AMAZING things about what FC Yee has done with a pre-ATLA world), but I guess I’m too cynical to get really invested in any more ATLA stuff anymore.

#asks#atla#anti lok#put Nat in charge of Avatar Studios and THEN we'll talk#finally get the thotty aang and amazing worldbuilding THAT WE DESERVE#Anonymous

I know, this was awful to see...

[egcdeath]

a blip in the reader-verse

chapter 4: going once, going twice

summary: you meet an interesting character while attending a charity auction.

warnings: soft moments, angsty moments. asshole ransom, soft ransom. you’ve been warned.

pairing: ransom drysdale x reader, overarching steve rogers x reader

word count: 3.4k

author’s note: before anyone asks, i don’t really consider this cheating since it’s just steve in a different universe. but i’d skip this chapter if it won’t sit right with you! 

p.s. i had to google translate some french, please don’t hate me if you speak french and it’s awful🥺

previous chapter / series masterlist

Sounds seemed to be the first thing you noticed as you entered a new universe. This was absolutely no different.

Well, except for the fact that the first sound you noticed was the announcing of your own name.

From the moment your eyes opened, you were met with a blinding yellow light, and the urge to stand up. You glanced over at the table that you’d previously been sat at, and received raised brows from Aaliyah, who’d been sitting at the white, round table across from you, along with a hand gesture that shoo-ed you away.

You timidly walked up to the small and raised platform of a stage, and stood next to a person who vaguely resembled your old boss from your main universe.

“Alright, ladies and gents! Our final lady of the night, well, not a lady of the night, is the gorgeous Y/N L/N! Starting at $1,000, do we have any takers?”

You looked out into the ocean of round tables, and watched a decently handsome man, with dark hair and a beard raise his paddle, “1,500!” he called out.

The man received a death glare from someone else at his table, and looked up at both the stage and you to raise his own paddle. “2,500,” he responded in a bored tone.

After getting over the extreme ego boost that was being bid over, you let yourself take a good look at the second man who’d offered the cash, and,

Holy shit.

It was Steve, but it definitely wasn’t Steve. 

His hair was slightly darker, he was wearing a cream sweater and long, multicolored scarf that your Steve would never be caught dead in. He held an air of confidence and cockiness that you could see from miles away, and according to his bidding style, he was loaded.

After seeing him, you desperately wanted to find a mirror and find out if your own appearance had changed at all.

“Fine, $4,000,” the bearded man offered, glancing back and forth between you, and this alternate version of Steve.

“$5,000!” A new contestant jeered, this one a rather old man whom you could tell you wanted nothing to do with.

“Old fucking geezer,” the alternate Steve muttered. “$7,000.”

There was a gasp, and a silence throughout the audience. 

“$7,000 for Hugh, going once, going-”

“15,” the bearded man lifted his paddle once again. You glanced over to Aaliyah, whose eyeballs seemed to be bulging out of her head at this. 

“Fuck it, 30,” Hugh sighed.

The bearded man threw his hands up in defeat, and set his paddle all the way down on his table.

“45, final!” The old man called out.

“75,” Hugh glanced around the audience, a rather smug look on his face.

“Oh wow, $75,000 going once, going twice… sold to Mr. Hugh Drysdale! Miss L/N, is there something you’re not telling us about the nature of your date?” The auctioneer passed the microphone to you, and you laughed awkwardly into it.

“Nothing that I know of,” the rest of the crowd seemed to laugh with you at this, but you couldn’t help but feel the growing discomfort in your stomach. 

“Well, I’m sure the folks over at One Mission will be very happy at this sizable donation. Can we get one more cheer for Miss L/N?” You gave a friendly wave before awkwardly stepping off the stage while the people around you clapped.

You’d had a decent idea at this point of what was going on, but you couldn’t quite piece together why this Hugh character had decided to bid so high on someone he’d never even met. You sat back down at your table, and slipped your phone out of your pocket to look at yourself. Yep, same you. 

“Okay, what the hell was that?” Aaliyah asked you, a mixture of confusion and excitement present in her tone.

“Hell if I know,” you sighed, and scratched your neck nervously.

“I mean, I get it, you’re hot. But the price of a luxury vehicle for a date? You’re gonna have to let him finger you at least,” she giggled.

“Shut up,” you groaned at the thought. You were still feeling pretty confused about the fact that the Steve in this universe wasn’t actually Steve at all. You so far, you’d only really met Steves that were well… Steve. 

You internally lamented the situation, until you noticed someone plop down at the open seat at the table, causing you to turn and look at him. 

“This seat taken?” Hugh asked, and you shook your head. “Great, now it is,” he quipped.

“I’ll give you two a moment. I’m gonna go find my own socialite,” Aaliyah bantered, slipping up from her chair and following through on her comment.

“So you must really love those kids you just donated to,” you awkwardly chuckled.

“Oh hell no. Fuck those kids. I just hate losing, and I absolutely was not gonna let those douchebags win,” he looked down at his hands and played with his pinky ring in an extremely bored manner. 

“Oh, okay,” you nodded slowly. This man was a complete 180 to the type of Steve that you were used to. Your Steve was warm and caring, but this man seemed cold and apathetic. Your Steve would gladly lay his life on the line for anyone, and this man didn’t even seem to have the emotional capacity to hold the door for someone else. “So Hugh, what do you plan to do on our date?” You lifted up your glass of champagne and took a little sip.

“Call me Ransom, only the help call me Hugh. We’ll probably just go to Europe or something.”

You nearly spat out your drink at this. In fact, you felt a little carbonation in your nose. Then again, Ransom just spent ¾ of a hundred thousand on a date with you. “Jesus,” you murmured. 

“Think you can head out tomorrow?” 

----

Waking up in the bedroom of the apartment you seemed to share with Aaliyah taught you two things. One, you could apparently sleep in these universes and not wake up elsewhere, and two, the walls of your apartment were far too thin.

You glanced over at the clock on your bedside table, and noted the time. You had about an hour before you needed to be at the airport. 

You quickly threw a mixture of clothing, a phone charger, a packet of birth control, and some skincare products into a suitcase before heading out to the kitchen to grab a granola bar. You chewed half the bar before hopping into the shower, then tossing on some ugly, but comfortable travelling clothes. 

Maybe you spent a bit too long checking yourself in the mirror that morning with the newfound knowledge that you were now worth at least 75,000 dollars. Frankly, having multiple (attractive) men fight over you was the greatest boost to your pride that you’d ever been given.

Glancing down at your phone after the matter, you realized that you only had a few minutes to order an Uber to pick you up, unless you wanted to be late and miss your flight. 

----

You had your baggage checked, stumbled through TSA, and showed the screenshot of your plane ticket a boatload of times to a multitude of people before you finally reached the lounge, and found Ransom sitting on a sofa with a glass of whiskey in his hand.

“Why the hell are you dressed like that?” Ransom asked you as you approached, looking up and down at your outfit of a college sweatshirt and loose joggers.

“Because I want to be comfortable, you dick. Do rich people not like being comfortable?” You sat down beside him on the sofa, and slumped into the chair. Who knew travelling throughout the multiverse could be so tiring? “Besides, you have like seven holes in that sweater. I wouldn’t be talking about anyone else’s clothes if I gladly let moths have a four course meal on my things,” you scoffed.

That seemed to shut him up for a bit.

Eventually, your flight number was called, and you, along with the few other first class flyers piled into the plane. 

You sat down next to Ransom in a soft chair that seemed to lower back into some sort of makeshift mattress, and slipped your phone out of your pocket to send your friends a message that you were taking off.

“You excited?” You asked Ransom while he began to slip a pair of Beats onto his head. 

“Yeah, I like Nice,” he nodded, then grabbed his own phone to connect to the headphones.

“So you’ve been there before?” Ransom nodded, clearly trying to ignore you. “Do you have a plan on fun places to take me?” He shrugged.

You got the message, and huffed as you sat back in your seat. Right before takeoff, you received a message back from Aaliyah of a picture of her cat, and that was enough to bring a smile to your face. 

—— 

About 7 hours into your flight, you noticed Ransom picking out a movie to watch, and you found the idea intriguing. 

“What’cha watching?” You asked, leaning over a bit into his space. 

“Nothing,” he said stiffly, and you rolled your eyes.

“Porn?” You joked, glancing up at him to see if it landed or not. It did not. 

“You know what? You’re a lot prettier when you’re quiet.”

You slunk back into your seat at this and turned your head away from Ransom. The words really bit at you, considering that it sounded just like your Steve, and if you squinted enough, it looked like him too. But your Steve would never say something like that to you, right?

For a moment, you twisted the watch on your wrist consideringly, wondering if you should go to the next universe, where you might gain a little more respect from your partner. Yet something told you to wait it out. If this was still, in some convoluted way, Steve, he’d come around, right?

That alone gave you enough reason to stay.

---- 

You dragged your suitcase into a hotel room much too big for just two people after nearly 12 hours of an extremely awkward flight, and even more awkward cab ride to the hotel. 

After plopping your things down into the bigger bedroom of the hotel, you stretched rather dramatically in hopes of waking up some of the stiff muscles in your body. In the midst of this, Ransom came up behind you, and set a hand on your back, scaring the life out of you. 

“What the hell, Ransom! A knock or a ‘hello’ will do it next time!”

You turned to look at him, and became a bit flustered at his shirtless, short-clad figure. It was silly, because you’d seen Steve naked a million times before, and this was simply Steve in another universe. 

“You coming to the spa with me?” He smirked as you blatantly checked him out. “Okay, yeah. You’re coming with me. I’ll meet you at the front door.”

You spent around an hour at the spa with Ransom, sweating yourself out in the sauna until you were likely majorly dehydrated, soaking in the heated pool until your skin became pruny and wrinkled, and ending the night with a massage that sent you straight to sleep.

Like, deep sleep. When you became even slightly conscious, Ransom was laying you in your pillowy soft bed. As your eyes opened the slightest bit at him, he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Pretending to sleep, how cute,” he muttered sarcastically. You’d argue with him, but you were simply too exhausted to do so. In fact, you were convinced you’d just given him a whole monologue about how travelling makes people tired, but the most that had exited your mouth was a tiny squeak. 

You watched Ransom leave the room, before your head collapsed onto your shoulder, and you fell back into a nice rest.

When you awoke, it was not on your own will.

An overly saturated light attacked your eyes from behind your eyelids, and came all at once, snapping you out of your dreamless slumber. When you glanced over at the harsh source, you noticed none other than Ransom by your window, with a hand on the drape.

“Time to wake up. It’s like, 3 PM, by the way,” he huffed before exiting your room, not even allowing you to reply. 

You groaned in annoyance, having an off handed thought about how jet lag was kicking your ass, before rolling out of bed and trying to find something nice to put on.

By the time you left your room, Ransom was standing by the door, aimlessly scrolling on his phone. “You wanna go for a walk?” 

“Sure, I guess. I’m kinda hungry though, so maybe we can stop somewhere first?” 

Ransom shrugged and gave you what seemed like the hint of a smile, and you hurried to put on your shoes before heading out. 

——

The two of you ended up on the patio of some local restaurant, your eyes skimming the menu while Ransom took sips of his complimentary water. 

What seemed to be out of nowhere, a burly man came rushing over to your table, and appeared to be approaching Ransom, as he turned his head to look at the man, then quickly looked away.

The man, who you could only assume to be the owner, clapped Ransom on the back, and in return, Ransom slumped over in embarrassment. 

You were definitely going to enjoy this.

“Où étiez-vous?, Ranny?” Where have you been?

“Occupé, Henri.” Busy, Henri. Ransom clearly had a dark red blush on his face now, and he glanced at you as if you could offer him some sort of assistance.

“Trop occupé avec la dame?” Too busy with the lady? Henri asked with a smirk.

“No!” 

“Présentez-moi à elle,” Introduce her to me. 

Ransom sighed dramatically, then sat up from hunching, “Y/N, this is Henri. He’s a family friend,” you couldn’t help but notice how pleased Henri seemed, “Henri, this is Y/N, mon rendez-vous,” My date.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N,” Henri extended a hand out to you and you gladly shook it. He turned back to Ransom, and continued grilling him. “Est-ce votre cavalier ou votre petite amie?” Is she your date or your girlfriend?

“Mon rendez-vous!” My date! You don’t think you’d ever seen anyone become this flustered so fast.

“Hey Henri,” you interrupted, feeling a tiny bit left out, “any way that we could order first, then you could come back here and tell me all the embarrassing stories about Ransom you can remember?”

“That sounds fun to me,” he shrugged.

——

During lunch, you’d learned more about Ransom than you ever knew you needed to know. In the midst of it all, you couldn’t help but to think about how different he was compared to your Steve. His parents were extremely wealthy (no surprise there), he went to boarding school in Nice (which explained his ability to speak French), and Ransom was a bit of an art nerd (perhaps some characteristics could transcend universes).

Surprisingly, he was starting to grow on you. Which was why you were far from opposed to his suggestion of going sight-seeing around the town. 

The first stop you took wasn’t too far from the restaurant. A quaint little gift store with tiny knicknacks lining the shelves, and a relentless, old, orange cat who did not seem to want to leave Ransom alone.

“You should pet her, Ran,” you suggested, leaning down to do so yourself.

“First of all, don’t call me that. Second of all, if you pet her once, it’ll literally never stop,” He glanced over at you from where he was standing at a set of tourist-oriented keychains.

“Are you speaking from firsthand experience?” You grinned down at the cat who was now aggressively rubbing its head against your hand.

“Yes. Luis may seem nice, but one second you’re petting his head, and the next, you’re carrying him around the store, the whole time he’s whispering in your ear for you to buy more things.”

You were a bit taken aback at this, for a second concerned that the man you’d impulsively travelled to Europe with had a few screws loose, since he was apparently hearing local cats speak to him. That’s of course, when Ransom broke into laughter. It took you a second before you laughed a bit too.

“That was so weird, man. Don’t do that again,” you lightly punched his shoulder, then went to pick up Luis who was more than happy to be transported around like an infant. 

After buying a nice mug and a postcard to give to Aaliyah once you returned home, and parting with Luis who seemed to feel a bit, you suggested hopping in a cab to visit one of the many art museums Nice had to offer. 

After a bit of bickering in the backseat, the two of you compromised on the Modern and Contemporary Art museum, and you couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit excited.

Around two hours post-arrival at the museum, you realized that, maybe modern art wasn’t exactly your thing. But it certainly was Ransom’s. He rambled on and on about different pieces that seemed completely mundane to you. Who knew that someone could talk for nearly half of an hour about a canvas painted completely one color?

You noted a shift in Ransom’s attitude towards you. It was clear that you were willing to put up with his little antics, and as the day went on, he began to let down more and more of the tough guy persona he’d had up for so long. To your Steve, at least, art was something that made him feel a bit vulnerable, and you figured that Ransom held the same sentiment. This thought made you feel vaguely homesick, and go in for a half-hug from Ransom, who gladly returned it while he shamelessly effused.

It wasn’t the same, but for you, it was good enough.

----

You very much enjoyed the rest of your day with Ransom, hopping from interesting site to interesting site with him, and sharing a multitude of fond memories that you hoped would stick with you throughout your inter-dimensional travels.

You ended the night with him on the piano bench in the lobby of your hotel. He wordlessly played a Chopin piece while you mindlessly listened. It was a rather relaxing experience, and quite the finale of your day. You had a bit of a nagging feeling that this was the finale of your time in this universe as well.

“Today was really nice,” out of nowhere, Ransom began.

You hummed in agreement, “it was.”

“I guess I shouldn’t have taken you to all my favorite places on day one, but oh well,” he half chuckled to himself, and you pulled back to look up at Ransom.

“You took me to your favorite places? That’s.. Wow. That’s really sweet,” you glanced down at the piano, then back up at Ransom. He gave you a soft smile in return.

This was the moment, right? The silence that followed that was your perfect opportunity to be kissed. Yet, Ransom wasn’t taking it. So you decided to lean forward slightly, and do it yourself. Catching onto what you were getting ready to do, Ransom moved away from you slightly, and shook his head.

“Hey, I don’t really do that,” Ransom looked down at you, and bit the inside of his lip. 

Deep down, you knew that this was just a man who looked like your man rejecting you, but the less rational side of yourself only told you one thing.

Steve was rejecting you.

He was leaving you again, he wouldn’t even kiss you. The thought of it put you somewhere between seeing red, and seeing nothing at all from the tears that were now flooding your vision.

The one thing that had once convinced you to stay, was now begging you to leave. 

You reached down to your watch, and fiddled aggressively with it. Part of you felt bad for leaving a version of yourself to deal with the awkward aftermath of what just occurred, but another part of you just wanted to get the hell away from all of the distressing emotions you were feeling. 

That part of you seemed to be stronger than anything else. You glanced down at your watch, pressed the button on the side that you were told could make you leave, and let nature take its course after feeling the soft vibrations run throughout your arm.

next chapter

[jennsmischievousmind]

Fucks not Found

Ghosts

Summary: You hack, that's what you do. Dying to do so freely, wasn't what you had expected. Meeting the weirdest fucking squad; losing the best part of you; falling for a thief : was not planned.

Pairing : Four/Billy (Ben Hardy) - You

A/N: The story goes through the all movie, so I suggest you watch it before reading.

I don't own any characters other than Eight.

English is not my native language, I'm trying to get better at it, please be indulgent.

Tried my best to match Ryan Reynold's level of sass aha

Ch1 Ghosts | Ch2 Florence | Ch3 A Matter of Seconds | Ch4 I need a Backdoor | Ch5 Die Hard | Ch6 White Flag | Ch7 Haunt the Living | Ch8 One, but not done [end]

This is how you die.

"So you're the one who hacked the wrong guy" You swiftly turn around gasping at the sudden voice in your apartment

"Depends, you’re his hitman?" You were ready to run even if it means jumping by the window.

"Nooo, I'm an angel.” You snort at his sarcasm, unknown to you at this moment that he was full of it.

"Wanna disappear?" he asked taking a seat at the kitchen table eyeing your bags at the door.

"In a body bag? Slowly you make your way to the knives, just in case.

"You are a funny one, aren't you? I know the man you stole from, you won't get far until he got you. But, he emphasized, if you’re willing to do what's right.."

"I've already done my part for the flag." Assuming he was American by the way he talked.

"I'm not talking about shitty drug dealers. But evil war-lovers, genocide perpetrators, that kind of shitty so-called human. Those ones that are above the laws with governments' balls in their hands, ready to squish them.”

"That's gross" your brother appeared from the adjacent room. You let your mind consider the stranger’s offer as soon as you look at your confused brother, knowing he was in danger because of you.

“You two look at lot alike.” The guy leaned in, screwing his eyes at you both.

“We’re twin dumbass” your brother answered glancing at you wondering.

“What’s the deal?” you asked considering the offer

The guy smirked, “Well, to be short you die, and then you take down evil motherfuckers without governments’ backlash on you.” He tapped his fingers against the Formica table.

It took 5 minutes.

"One condition, my brother comes to!"

"What's he good at?" he crossed his arms.

"I can drive…Hold on what? Die? Who the fuck are you!?”

"Already too many questions” he rolled his eyes

"He's a hell of a driver, it got him under surveillance when he got chased by 6 police cars after an illegal race back in the States."

"So they caught up Muttley” the guy clucked his tongue

“Hey!”  

"No, you interfered almost ashamed, I told him to stop the car...I got motion sickness."

The guy erupted in laughter, you two watching him unamused.

_

“I’m more like Peter Perfect.”  Your brother mumbled as the guy left.

You look by the window discreetly, catching a glimpse of the guy mingling in the crowd. “You’re Muttley bro.”

A week later you got a text. The guy who called himself One had planned your fake death. A random trek in Italy’s mountains, an assumed fatal fall, no bodies recovered.

It was never supposed to be your life. But we all know nothing happens as it should.

Papà went to fight a war and disappeared, you were forced to move in America when you were 6.

Mammà never cope the loss of her motherland and husband. She died of a belated broken heart syndrome when you were 16. 

Both you and your brother were placed in a host family. It wasn’t a crappy family like it’s always the case in some tv show, they were nice and wealthy. The father was a tech engineer, somehow you took interest in his work and start learning to code, soon reading about hackers: white hats; black hats; “We are Legion”, you were hooked and skilled in a matter of time.

When you turned major though, things turned difficult, the host family had to let you go and Internal Affairs of your state caught you looking in their network. Which led to you working as a C.I for them, it was that or prison. Not thrilled by the idea but obliged to cooperate was your new motto.

Your brother had some job here and there but nothing steady, so money from the IA was welcome.

After a year and a half, I.A ditched you, it was rather good news in a way, they’ve erased your past mistakes but said they’d keep a distant eye on you.

So you moved on from your shithole that was the 1 bedroom apartment you and your brother shared and went to your parents’ hometown in Italy. Your brother was reluctant at first as he couldn’t even say hello in Italian, you taught him as your mamma had done it with you but he wasn’t that interested.

Working with people was not your forte, you were too bossy, so you got fired ... plenty of times: from a coffee shop, a rental bike shop and a tourist city tour bus thingy. So you started doing what you were good at, hacking for money, it went well for a few years, never being too greedy - until you hacked the wrong person and got in trouble.

That's how you became a Ghost and ended up in the middle of the California Desert.

_

One had built a squad. No names, only numbers to identify each other. Not calling your brother by his name was a challenge, same for him.

There were 7 of you.

One, the “boss”, a mysterious sassy billionaire who decided to fund his own strike team.

Two, a French blonde woman, pretty cold, a spy apparently

Three, a crazy hitman who couldn’t shut up

Four, a young parkour master and reformed thief

Five, a Doctor, but you heard she was actually working at a Dentist

Six, your brother, the annoying driver.

And then Eight, you, the Black Hat somehow becoming a hacktivist.

Why not Seven? Long story short, it was one more condition you’d submitted to One.

_

_SICILY

"Your focus determines your reality.”

“Oh for fuck's sake One, quit your Jedi bullshit!” you loosed your temper typing on your keyboard angrily. An entire week, an ENTIRE WEEK quoting Star Wars!

Four and Five laughed in the comm. One braced himself on the other end of the line. Three cut the heavy silence.

“Eight, Chiquita please stop yelling”

“I’m not a Chiquita stop saying that!”

“Ok ok chi…Eight, damn you’re stressful” 

“God, why do I have to team you up!!” One facepalm

“Now what?” Five asked

Radio silence

“Oh so now no one’s talking! What are you, 4?” One angrily called out to you 2.

“Yeah, uh high, literally.” Four answered One, you snorted.

“No ..  damn not you!”

“You called me Mate!” Four said offended

“No, shush – Eight are you done with the system?” he was about to lose it.

“I’ve been done with it the second Three called me Chiquita!” you crossed your arms in front of your laptop.

“Hey ..” “We’re not talking about that again!” One cut Three

“Can we get going now?” Two interfered, you heard her bike roaring.

“Finally, some sensed words.” One said wrapping it up.

Four entered the place you’d hacked the system of. Six and Two were not far in case of trouble.

“Four, the hard drive is in the main office. Second floor.” One enunciated, you followed Fours progression with the security cameras.

It was enlivening, stressful, but oh so exciting. When you worked with I.A you were never there when they’d go down in action, it was nothing but boring data researched and dealer’s MacBook.

“Freeze Four, guards coming east.” Switching cams you gave him a safe path.

“Ok, you’re clear. Now to your left, third door then turn right.”

Four got his hands on the hard drive containing all you needed to know about the next target.

“Well done.” One congratulated the team

“Thanks, thanks, It helps to have a sexy voice guiding you” Four chuckled, you blushed, sexy voice? is that even possible?

“Great, kid. Don’t get cocky.”

You rolled your eyes at the endless use of Star Wars' quotes.

“Hum that’s my sister, remember?” Six growled tightening the wheel

“Luke grab Solo, meet up in 15minutes at the hotel. Everyone move!” One instructed you smiled at the thought of being Leïa. Gosh, you were as much of a nerd as One.

Climbing down the jeep Three had rented, you laughed seeing your brother holding Four in an arm lock for a few seconds anyway, Four reversed the lock, pining your brother’s arms behind himself.

You passed by them “Easy with my twin please.” Four wasn’t releasing his hold so you stopped, turning back you lift an eyebrow at Four insisting he let him go.

“Oh!” he lifted his hands in defence taking a step back.

Grabbing your brother by the sleeves as he was about to jump on Four “Come on piccino” you made your way in the hotel laughing.

_ 

Your first big mission started a few weeks after, everyone gathered in The Haunted House as One called it, an old bunker, cheesy name for an HQ.

“You don’t get it, I need a CAR!”

“That’s a car, Six.” Three argued back.

“No that’s a heap, that thing won’t get us through the paved road of Italy, believe me.”

Four and Five were amused by the situation, Three had rent a truck and an old Volvo for this mission.

“Alright, shut up, we’ll get another car!” One declared, Six flicked to Three.

One resumed the mission’s details. Giving everyone their own missions. A simple mission, retrieve a lawyer’s smartphone.

In the midst of it, your hand flew to your brother’s head next to you. The smacked resonating between the walls of the unfinished bunker.

“Why ..why’d you hit him?” One asked confused, your brother was rubbing the back of his head frowning at you.

“Cain’s instinct.” You replied wriggling your fingers for him to continue. Four snorted, Six nudged him in the ribs.

In a few months, you had learned a lot from this weird squad. Learning to shoot was an obligation, Three was insane but a good teacher.

You’d asked Four to teach you some parkour in case of a chase. Six and Four became close friends in a matter of time. Five was nice, but you were never one to be good at making friends. Two was not a big talker and frankly, she scared you a little.

So you spend your free time hacking and reading, on the hammock installed between a dismantle plane and a dead tree. Not far from there you could hear Four skating in the empty pool and three at the makeshift shooting range.

Suddenly,

“EIGHT!”

Groaning you closed your book “WHAT!?

Your voice boomed against the caravan and lost itself in the desert, but you still hoped Four had heard. It was his thing, screaming your name instead of coming to you directly. At his silence, you wriggle out the hammock and strode to the pool.

“What’d you want skater boy?”

He was lying in the pool his board by his side. “Four?” you made your way to the ladder, “hey” you gently nudge him with your foot but he didn’t move.

“Four? you called out worried, “shit” knees hitting the vinyl liner checking if he was breathing, he wasn’t.

“Hey wake up, seriously dude don’t make me do CPR on you, I suck at it!” suddenly laughter erupted in your ears. Six appearing on the edge, Four chucked on the floor.

“Pranking you..he tried to breathe in, is always the best sis!” Six laughed even harder at your confused face. Still kneeling at Four’s side, he was looking at you laughing, until he wasn’t, catching a glimpse of worry melting with anger in your eyes.

Punching his left shoulder, you hurried out the pool. He stayed on the floor watching you go.

“Don’t make me do CPR I suck at it!” your brother was still laughing his brain's out.

_

“What was that?”

Four leaned on the dead tree near your head, his shadow offering some shade.

“A real bad joke?”

“No I mean, why’d you hit me?”

Sighing you clasped your book closed for the second time today “you really got me worried, happy?”

“No, you propped up on your elbow at his answer craning your head to him, I didn’t mean to scare you.” His warm hand slide in your hair at the base of your neck, he leaned in, letting you enough time to push him away if you wanted.

"Sorry" he whispered, his lips pressing in your temple gently, warmly for a few seconds. Catching yourself leaning in you almost fell off the swinging' hammock as he released his hold, he grinned and left not saying anything more.

"What the hell Four!!" you yelled at him, an ounce of laughter in your voice, a blush creeping into your cheeks, his own laughter filling the desert's silence.

FLORENCE

A/N: don't forget to double tap if you liked it. 🙏

[jjaybank]

𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐭 • 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱

𝘚𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭

Masterlist

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Reader  (mentions of John B. x Reader) Summary:  You are a backpacker who has wound up staying in the Outer Banks for a while and being taken in by the Pogues. Starved of love, JJ struggles with the realisation that he’s falling for his friend. Hard.  In which John B is one of the best of friends  A/N: In my head The Pogues are like in their early twenties in this okay, so humour me.  It’s 4.20am and i’ve just finished this chapter pls don’t let it flop omg. Warnings: Some swearing, and passing mentions of drugs and alcohol Word Count: 2.7K

Taglist  @danicarosaline @sspidermanss @teamnick @x-lulu @pancakefancake @plantsarenice-love @mybnkjj @1believe-in-your-self1 @thistreasurehunter @pixelated-pogues @moldisgoodforyou @jellyfishbeansontoast  @otrbnks​

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You wake with a start.  You don’t really remember much of the previous night.  You know that at some point John B had convinced you to move inside, out of the storm.   You also think that he may have sat with you while you spilled your feelings for JJ out incomprehensibly.  You can’t remember exactly it was that you said, which horrifies you.  You scrunch up your face, slightly mortified at your display of emotions.  It was out of character for you, and you would have to apologise to John B for both the outburst, and the inconvenience your altercation with JJ was going to cause within the group.   Your heart sinks, recalling the dramatics of your standoff in the centre of the storm.  Your throat tightens at the memory of the blue-eyed boy staring you down with pure betrayal shining in his eyes.  You rub your face groggily and groan at the splitting headache that’s expanding within your skull.  That’s what you get for crying all night you think, pulling yourself reluctantly from the bed in John B’s spare room.   It’s a tangle of sheets and blankets, an illustration of how restlessly you slept. You catch sight of yourself in the grimy mirror that hangs lopsided on the wall.  Your eyes are so puffy and irritated from the tidal wave of tears they produced that your irises are barely slits in your face.  You laugh despite yourself; you look ridiculous and quite frankly, pathetic.  

The shack feels awfully quiet as you make your way through to the kitchen. The storm had almost subsided, only the odd sharp gust of wind now shook the windows.  A nice break from the incessant beating they received during the night.  You note that yours and Pope’s patchy attempts at strengthening the window frame with all that duct tape had worked, and smile to yourself at the small victory. There is, however, a massive leak in the roof of the living area.  That’s where you find John B.   He is standing on a wobbly looking chair, inspecting the damage.  He has a bucket in his hands and is attempting to catch all the rainwater that is draining off the roof and directly onto the sofa.  You watch him for a moment, a bemused look on your face.  He notices you suddenly, and almost topples straight off the chair. The bucket crashes to the ground, spilling brackish looking water all over the wooden floorboards.    ‘Fuck! He yells, ‘Y/N, you just gave me the fright of my life.’ He steadies himself by putting his palms flat against the ceiling. ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise my face looked quite that horrific.’ You quip, helping him down from the chair before going to the kitchen to find a mop.   John B hurries after you, backpedalling massively.  You realise that he’s looking at you in a way that suggests he thinks you could explode at any given moment.   You raise your hand in an attempt to calm his onslaught of unnecessary apologies, and he finally quiets.    ‘It’s okay, John B, I’m okay.’ You say, too brightly.   He looks pointedly at your puffy eyes and knotted hair, concern vividly apparent on his face. ‘Really.’ You reiterate.   You try to push past him, mop in hand, but he steps back into your path.  You sigh, exasperated. ‘Y/N,’ he says cautiously, ‘do you remember the things you said last night?’ A lump catches in your throat and a spark of fear flickers across your face.  All you can recall is a whirlwind of pain and the salty trace of tears on your lips. You shake your head warily. John B reaches over and takes the mop from you gently. ‘C’mon, I’ll make you breakfast.’  You sit on the kitchen counter nursing a mug of coffee as John B whirls around making you up some eggs. ‘You really want me to tell you everything?’ he asks for the third time.  ‘Yes.’ You try to say it firmly, but you still sense the waver in your voice giving away the nerves twisting inside and eating you up.    ‘Okay, so first of all you tell me you’re in love with JJ.’ Wow, you think, he’s really going straight in there. ‘How do you feel about that?’ He asks. The matter-of-fact tone in his voice shocks you a bit.  Why was there no surprise? No shock in this ground-breaking revelation.  He hands you a plate of scrambled egg and buttery toast.  You take it thankfully, but quickly realise you’re not really very hungry. You swing your legs nervously, avoiding his intent stare. 

‘I’m not sure if it’s love-’ you start, and John B shocks you both by audibly scoffing. He slaps a hand over his mouth, ‘no go on’ he insists. ‘Hang on, no, what was that?!’ you protest, aiming a kick at his shin from your vantage point.   He raises both hands in surrender before  running his hands through his hair and pushing his fingers to his temples.  You keep a scrutinising eye on him.  What on earth was going on?  ‘It’s obvious, Y/N.’ John B sighs finally. He leans against the counter next to you and picks up a half-nibbled crust of toast from your plate.  He chews at it thoughtfully, and you can almost see the cogs working in his brain.    ‘You and JJ, you have always had this, uh I dunno, a connection?  Would you agree?’  He points the crust at you. You nod slowly, chasing eggs around your plate with your fork. ‘Okay, so the two of you, I think, have very slowly developed something – feelings?’ You open your mouth to speak. ‘No, no- let me finish.’ You snap it shut again with a huff. ‘He was hurt by the idea that there was something going on here’ he was indicating between the two of you, ‘and you know JJ, with vulnerability comes fear, and he was afraid of being rejected.’ ‘Wait, what?’ ‘He’s scared of losing you, Y/N, and I think he feels he’s gotten himself in too deep.  But he’s not ever gunna admit that.’ Your mind was running a million miles a minute. When you can finally speak it’s barely a whisper. ‘You think he feels it too?’   ‘Yes.’ John B says confidently, and you search the boy’s eyes and are soothed to find that there is sincerity swimming in them. You sit in silence for a while, mulling over everything John B had said. How had you been so slow to notice what was happening between yourself and one of your closest friends?  Perhaps you were the same as JJ – maybe you were terrified of the prospect of loss. ‘Do you want me to tell you everything else you said?’ John B asks abruptly, breaking your train of thought. ‘Absolutely not. ~  You spend the rest of the morning helping clear up outside The Chateau.  There are branches and debris everywhere, it had taken you well over an hour to clear one small portion of the yard and you wish that you had more pairs of hands to help with the labour.    As if on cue, the VW rolls into the driveway. You feel a pang of panic in your stomach, bile rising in your throat, as you recall the events of the previous day playing out in the very spot you stood now. You look over at John B and he shoots you an encouraging look. JJ doesn’t look at you when he walks across the yard.   He’s wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and it pleases you slightly to see that he had also had a rough night.  He looks exhausted and his eyes are red.  Whether that’s from weed or tears, you can’t confirm, but whatever it is he does not look great. He doesn’t talk to either of you, but rather just starts helping you clear up.  You and John B exchange looks but don’t say a word.   You work in silence for what feels like an age before you’re pretty confident that most of the ruin has been either repaired or thrown out.   You slump down on the pontoon as John B and JJ haul the HMS Pogue back into the water.  The marsh is still fairly choppy but the little boat will be safe in there now. ‘Whatcha thinking, Y/N’ John B asks loudly, taking both you and JJ by surprise.  You look out at the horizon, chewing the inside of your lip. ‘I’m thinking that I ought to go and check out my place’.   You twist your face into a grimace and pick at a tuft of lichen that’s growing in between the wooden slats next to you.   ‘It’s gonna be wrecked after that belter.’ You run your hands over your face, attempting to mentally prepare yourself for the ruin. ‘Tell you what,’ says John B, ’why don’t you go with JJ and sort out your place? I can handle everything else here on my own.’ You both stare at him, mouths slightly agape.   Your heart pummels against your ribcage, and you think you might vomit.  ‘Look, you two have got a tonne of shit to talk about, and you’d be killing two birds with one stone.’   You get to your feet hesitantly, trying to make eye contact with JJ but he’s boring a hole into the ground with his eyes.   You roll your eyes at John B and climb aboard the Pogue.   JJ doesn’t move.   John B steps forward and nudges JJ in the back with his index finger.   JJ scowls at him.   ‘Oh, you know what, fuck this.’ You say suddenly, throwing your arms up in defeat.   You reach over to release the mooring lines of the Pogue from the jetty and experience a white-hot sear of pain as you clash heads with JJ.   John B winces and swallows his laughter.     You rub you head tenderly, settling in front of the steering wheel as JJ jumps aboard.   ‘If I’m coming, I’m steering.’ He says roughly and you shoot him a glare but make your way to the bow of the boat.  ‘Please don’t drown each other.’ John B calls, as he waves you off and hopes that this isn’t the last time he ever sees you in one piece. ~  The trip to your shack is a quiet one. You don’t even dare look back at JJ, you can feel his eyes wearing into the back of your head.  But when you do finally round the corner of the marsh you can’t help but let out an anguished cry.   The devastation that lies before your eyes was even worse that you had anticipated. Your tiny little home doesn’t really exist anymore, in the sense that the structure has completely gone.  You can see what remained of your belongings scattered along the beach.  Yours and John B’s efforts had been rendered fruitless, and although you had prepared yourself for the worst, you feel heavy tears stinging your eyes.  You wipe them away angrily as you approach the jetty.    Once you’re on dry land you instantly start up the beach, collecting sodden items of clothing and pieces of your house on the way.  When you reach where your little beach shack had once stood, you drop the little bundle that you had salvaged and drop to your knees.   The angry guise evaporates, and JJ is there in an instant - he always is. You feel his arm around you, and he pulls you against him as you let the tears fall. ‘I don’t really know what I expected,’ you laugh sadly, ‘it only had a little tin roof.’ You stick out your bottom lip as you spot said tin roof, discarded by the wind some forty feet away. ‘I’ll be honest Y/N,’ JJ says softly, ‘I’m surprised it lasted this long.’ You nod in agreement and the two of you get to your feet and begin rummaging through the wreckage to gather the few things that you didn’t take with you the day before. You recover a couple of books, they’re water damaged but you insist that you want to dry them out. You pull your old travelling backpack out of the debris and begin stuffing your few remaining items into it.   JJ pulls one of the flimsy walls away from the heap of the shack and starts going through all the accessible drawers and cupboards.  There’s not much left for him to unearth but he does find your trusty walking boots which he launches across the rubble at you. ‘Careful.’ You warn. But he doesn’t reply.  He’s frozen in place, looking down at something in his hands.  ‘What, JJ, what is it?’ You ask, trying to peer over his shoulder at what he’s holding. ‘You kept it.’ He says quietly, and you frown in confusion.   You clamber over the wreckage and kneel down beside him.  In his hands he holds a small but perfectly formed shell.  Your face lights up in an instant. Your mind flashes back to that first day on the beach, the day you became a Pogue.    You remember sitting in the soft sand, a slightly warm beer in your hand.  John B was trying to get a fire started and you were all laughing at him for how badly he was failing.  You’d offered to go and find more firewood and JJ had volunteered to come along.  Kie was slightly disgruntled as you were her friend, but JJ had been insistent.  ‘Can’t let the Touron get lost now can we’ he’d explained.    ‘JJ.  It’s a beach.’ You had retorted, deadpan.   The two of you had walked much of the stretch of the beach and you had a substantial bundle of firewood gathered in your arms. JJ had stooped suddenly and when he came back up to face you, he held out a simple yet perfect shell, ‘For you,’ he had grinned, ‘so you don’t forget about us.’ You had smiled so widely, and assured him that you would never forget them, not in a blue moon. He’d put the shell in your pocket for you, so you didn’t have to put down your collection of sticks.    ‘I hope you stay here for a while, Y/N’ he had said. ‘I do too.’  JJ was looking up at you now, under his floppy mess of blonde hair.  His eyes are swimming with questions, he looks like he might cry. ‘Why did you keep it?’ He asks.   His voice is so serious that you don’t know how to respond.  So you do the only thing you can think of.   You kiss him.  His eyes are wide with shock for a moment before he sinks into your embrace.  His lips are chapped, and he tastes like the ocean.   His hands find your face, your hair, but he never drops the shell.  It sits in his palm as his finger tangle themselves into your tresses.   You relax into him in a way you don’t think you ever have before – so utterly at peace. Like it is the most natural thing in the world.  Meanwhile you heart is bursting out of your chest and there are sparks flying around your head.  You wonder if he can feel them.  His lips move against yours so softly.  He brushes his tongue against your bottom lip ever so lightly, testing the waters, working out what is acceptable. You open your mouth to his, deepening into him, savouring him.   You wish for this feeling of pure bliss to never come to an end. When JJ pulls away his eyes are searching yours desperately.  He needs a confirmation, something solid.  You nod reassuringly, touching your fingertips to his face, tracing his jaw. ‘Say it.’ He whispers ‘I want you, JJ’ you murmur, running a thumb across his bottom lip, ‘I think I always have.’ His face lights up and he grabs your face in his hands, sending the shell skittering across the beach. ‘Shit!’ He gasps, leaping to his feet and scampering after it. You smile, your bottom lips caught between your teeth and you watch the boy who makes your heart skip a beat give chase after a shell.  ‘You better fucking find that.’ You yell after him.  And while there is still so much to work out between the two of you, you feel your first real breath of relief in weeks.  And amid the ruin of your storm torn house, you are so undoubtedly happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really enjoyed writing it!!  I had to repost it because Tumblr just refused to work so I am so sorry about that!   Please let me know what you think x

[fanficfeeling]

Lovely - Jaskier x Reader

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first attempt at a fanfic in quite a few years, because for whatever reason, 2020 has brought with it a whole lot of inspiration, and I’m so excited to write again! I also recently binged The Witcher, and I’m crushing big time on Jaskier, so that felt like a good place to start! I’m very rusty, so I would appreciate feedback, but please be gentle on this returning writer. I’m so proud of how this piece went after not writing for about three years, I may even make a part 2 to this, so I hope you enjoy it!

Y/N is finally beginning to make a good living doing odd jobs in her hometown when she meets Geralt of Rivia. He shows up to deal with some odd beast in the woods nearby, and Y/N is happy to offer her assisting services to the Witcher, who eventually can't ignore her offer anymore when he realizes he needs the assistance of someone who knows the area better than he does. Y/N assists him with little fuss, because it's what she does, and maybe, just maybe, the townspeople will toss her a coin too for helping him when all is done (turns out, they never do). When it seems that he actually doesn't mind her presence or her help, she asks to come with him when he leaves her small corner of the world, because maybe she can make an even better living going where he goes, since it seems all he does is follow trouble. Oddly enough, he agrees to the arrangement.

They quickly became an excellent silent tag team of sorts. He goes to the newest monster, and Y/N follows him to wherever they reign devastation, to offer any help she can to those in need, temporarily. He gets the coin for his end, she gets the coin for hers,  and they pool it, making more than enough coin for them both, and somehow helping people along the way.

Y/N's new life is good, at the end of the day, with good money, fulfilling work, and decent company to fill her days, and this peace goes undisturbed for quite a good while. That is, until Jaskier catches up with Geralt.

The pair stopped at an inn after moving on from their last area in need, and, as per usual, they ordered their drinks and sat in a corner in near total silence, enjoying some peace and quiet after witnessing a whole lot of suffering.

"Geralt! So wonderful to see you, I've really been looking for you everywhere, I have a request to make of my dear friend." The brunette bard slides onto the seat next to Geralt, and the Witcher grunts in protest.

"Jaskier."

The bard appears to mock offense, "How lovely to see you too, Geralt! And here I was hoping you'd been missing me-" He trails off as he lays his eyes on the lady sitting across from him, and his mouth drops open in awe quickly. The lady shifts uncomfortably as he stares, and her eyes quickly shift to her travelling companion.

"Geralt, do you... know this man?"

The Witcher grunts once again uncomfortably, "Unfortunately."

Jaskier speaks once again, never able to keep his mouth shut for long, "C'mon, Geralt aren't you going to introduce us? Me, your best friend in the world and this stunning woman who I can only hope is also just your friend and also not insane like your taste in women usually implies?"

Geralt stares at him blankly, hoping on everything holy the bard would move on and not try to "woo" his new partner in crime, but he knew that was highly unlikely, so he settled on giving him this; "Y/N, this is Jaskier, not my friend. Jaskier, Y/N, my travelling companion."

Jaskier decided quickly enough that that mediocre introduction would suffice, and took it from there.

"Hello, fair Y/N, Geralt does me no service. I'm Jaskier, a bard some would say of exceptional talent, I wrote 'Toss a Coin to Your Witcher', ever heard of it? I'm sure you have, it's about him!" He breaks briefly to jam his thumb in Geralt's direction, "And may I just say, you are very lovely and I hope that when he says that you're his 'travelling companion', he doesn't mean you're sleeping with him, because I would love to buy you a drink this evening."

Y/N is caught off guard by Jaskier's quick mouth and forward language, but she has to admit, the man is not unappealing. Despite his initial, uncomfortable staring, his eyes are soft as he looks at her, not menacing, and his words don't seem disingenuous; she could bet money on the fact that he really does think she's lovely. As much as she enjoys Geralt's company, she could of course do with some company that wasn't miserable or silent, and Jaskier brought a smile to her face in a way no one had for a while. Besides everything else, he's attractive, and the first man in a long time, if ever, to show genuine interest in her like this.

Once over her shock, she smiles at him. "Alright, Jaskier, I'm almost at my limit for tonight, but I suppose one more drink really couldn't hurt, if you must insist." Feeling bold with his genuine flirtations, she takes a chance and throws a wink his way, punctuating her sentence with it.

The change in atmosphere is sharp as a grin lights up Jaskier's entire face, one that makes Y/N's heart have palpitations as her stomach flops, and for the first time since Y/N met him, Geralt is stunned, and nearly drops his drink. Jaskier, lighting up the whole room with his smile, doesn't take his opportunity for granted.

"Right! Excellent! So glad you feel that way! I will order you a drink, and in return I want to know more about you, deal?"

Y/N can't help but feel lightheaded at the idea of this man really wanting to get to know her. "Deal."

Without questioning his luck, Jaskier quickly runs off to fulfill his end of the deal, leaving Y/N and Geralt in silence once more.

"Not to pry, for fear of damaging our professional relationship, but... really?" Geralt says, breaking the silence once more.

Y/N laughs. "He seems a decent enough man, and it's hard to find someone that earnest nowadays. Unless you have any cautionary tales, about your 'best friend in the world'?"

Geralt rolls his eyes at her comment, but says nothing. For everything annoying he sees in Jaskier, and as much as he pushed him away, it was rare that he found someone who was actually willing to entertain him. Despite how many people Jaskier goes to bed with, Geralt knows just as well that the bard's intentions were pure enough; he just needed someone to get on the same page as him.

"He's not totally incompetent, I'll give him that, and he's not harmful. Do what you will." Geralt mutters, then stands. "I'll get out of your way. I've seen enough of that boy's flirting to not want to watch his attempts at you."

Y/N laughs again. "Well, I thank you for the privacy, and by your standards, that seems a glowing recommendation for him, so I'll give him an honest shot. I value your opinion."

Geralt freezes. So that's what it feels like: mutual respect. He could get used to that. "We head out tomorrow morning." Y/N nods at him as he walks away.

She's not alone for long as Jaskier returns quickly, two drinks in hand, sliding into the spot across from her once more. He doesn't question where Geralt went, but he's relieved by the privacy.

"Now, your turn. Tell me about you. How does a lovely creature such as you end up travelling with Geralt of Rivia?"

She tells him. She recaps her life as it lead up to her career, and tells him of how she met Geralt, and tells him about her travels with the near infamous WItcher.  And hanging on the edge of his seat every moment, Jaskier listens.

As Y/N brings him up to date on her best stories, Jaskier sighs almost wistfully, "You're so interesting. Your life would make for amazing songs."

Y/N's laugh graces his ears. "Would it now? I never figured odd jobs would make entertaining musical material."

Jaskier sits up straight from where his head had lain in his hand, staring at Y/N as she spoke. "You do good things, and you're so... interesting. You've come so far in your life, you travel with one of the most interesting men in the world, all to do some good, even when it's hard. You're incredible."

Y/N feels her cheeks begin to glow a bright red at his praise. Her job was often thankless, so to hear someone say she did good, and that her good was fascinating enough to be acknowledged, felt like a warm hug after getting caught in a rainstorm.

"Thank you, Jaskier, I... don't get compliments like that often. I was under the impression that I'm pretty boring."

Jaskier feigned alarm, "You? I can't see anyone ever finding you boring, how could anyone with a goal and a story to tell be boring? And frankly, I quite think you deserve all the compliments, my lady."

When she began to think that she'd found the perfect man after only knowing him for one night, Y/N decides that she may have had just a tad too much to drink, and decides to call it a night. She coughs nervously.

"Well, I, uh- thank you, Jaskier. That's very kind of you. YOU are very kind. I've never had someone call me interesting, or listen to me so intently for so long, and it's a testament to your good character. This has been wonderful, and I thank you for the drink, but I'm quite tired and we ride out early tomorrow, so I'd best be headed to bed. Thank you for the drink, Jaskier." She pauses as she stands. "And your company."

As she walks away, Jaskier feels his heart beating through his chest, and the harsh thumping of it has him reeling. She enjoyed his company. She thought he was nice. She was willing to give him a chance. And she was... lovely. He got so swept up in her that he forgot he even had something to ask Geralt.

The next morning, after Jaskier had barely slept, he made sure to meet the adventuring pair as they head out once more. He fully intended on asking his favor of Geralt and going on his merry way.

Until Y/N stepped out that door, all misty-eyed and looking like a goddess, and when Geralt asked him what the fuck he wanted, all Jaskier could think to ask was, "Will you please take me with you?" She was too beautiful to let slip out of his hands, not when he was in like this, and she made his mind so blank and dizzy, but so ripe with inspiration at the same time. Being near her seemed a drug he would happily indulge in.

She offered him a ride on her horse, Cinnamon, when Geralt very reluctantly agreed to let him tag along. With his arms wrapped around her waist, he panicked that she could feel the intense beating in his chest. So he reverted to his best coping mechanism, and he sang; a song he had written the night before, about a very pretty woman who had traveled so far from home to spread good throughout the world. She grinned the entire time he sang.

[thinkyoureholy]

Soul Eater [1]

[A/n : no one asked for this but I'm doing it anyway]

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[Disclaimer : Do not feel like you need to be in a romantic relationship to be happy or to no longer feel lonely. Yes, I understand others are capable of making you happy but if you go out looking for a relationship for the sole purpose of just being in a relationship or because you’re the only one in your friend group that’s single at the end of it you’ll just end up worse than when the whole charade started.]

Pairing : Jung Yunho / [fem] Reader

Genre : Angst, Violence, Language, Fluff, Future Smut, Character Death?, Demon!AU

Words : 2.3k

Pt 1. Pt 2. Pt 3. Pt 4. Pt 5. Pt 6. Pt 7. Pt 8. Pt 9.

≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪

-Yunho's P.O.V-

I sat back as I watched all my friends with their significant others. I scoffed bitterly when I saw the small lingering touches or looks they'd give each other. Okay, so I was bitter about being alone but if at least one of my friends was single I don't think it would've been much of a problem but no. Every single one of them had someone...all except me. I don't even know why I always agree to go out with them when it always ended up with me feeling sorry for myself.

"I think imma head home now...I'll text you guys later." I grumbled out as I rose from my seat, downing the last of my drink.

I turned on my heel and left, ignoring their calls for me. The cool night air felt nice compared to the stuffy air in the bar. I sighed heavily, stuffing my hands into my pockets as I made my way home. I don't remember when I became so bitter about being single, I used to not care a few years ago but now it was like I did a whole 180. I think my age has something to do with it but I'm only twenty-four. I guess seeing everyone my age in relationships has me feeling like I should be in one too, which by the way was complete bulshit. 

Maybe I was just feeling extra bitter because my last relationship...well it didn't end well. All we did was fight and...fight some more. I can't even remember if I was even happy at all through that whole relationship. She was overly jealous and demanding and I apparently wasn't there for her enough. I rolled my eyes at just the thought of her, my annoyance doubling.

"Ah screw it!" I shouted, kicking at a rock that lay in my path. 

I watched it go flying, my eyes going wide when it hit someone in the shin. I quickly started apologizing, closing the distance between us to make sure she was okay. I recognized her the moment I looked at her face. Y/N...she lived in the apartment above mine. She was a bit of the grumpy type, I don't think I've ever seen her smile let alone heard her laugh. That thought always made me frown since she was beyond beautiful. What could've happened to make a girl like her such a grouch?

"If you're going to throw a tantrum try making sure no one's around." She said in a bored tone of voice, looking down at her shin for a moment before looking back into my eyes, "You know, not only are you embarrassing yourself it's embarrassing for anyone else watching."

And with that she left, walking into our apartment building. I stared after her, my mouth hanging open. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong but I think I was just insulted. I scoffed, combing my fingers through my hair before following after her. I squeezed through the elevator doors just as they were closing, pressing my floor number before turning to her. She didn't even look me in the eye as she stared at the closed elevator doors with an expressionless look on her face.

"I wasn't throwing a tantrum...I just got annoyed for a second."

She remained silent for a second, her eyes still focused on the closed doors in front of her. I thought she was just going to ignore me when she finally met my gaze.

"Why are you explaining yourself to me? It's not like I care."

I opened my mouth to respond but immediately closed it. As I stared at her I was unaware that the elevator doors had opened.

"Aren't you getting off?" 

Her question threw me off guard as I looked around, finally realizing that it was my turn to get off. I quickly got off before the doors closed. If I had been a few seconds later I would've had to ride the elevator up then come back down. I continued to stared at her, unable to take my eyes off her face. Just as the doors were about to close shut a smirk found its way onto her face, an amused look shining in her eyes.

…...

"For the last time I'm not going, Mingi." I all but yelled through the phone.

I had the phone on speaker, my hands preoccupied. I set my jaw at the chuckle that came through the phone. It wasn’t even a chuckle, it was more of a snicker. That asshole…

“What? Don’t like being reminded of how lonely you are?” He teased, the others chuckling at his words

“Fuck you, Song Mingi.” 

That was all I said before hanging up, throwing my phone across the couch and continuing the game I was in the middle of when he called. But his words just pissed me off so much I wasn’t able to concentrate.

-Y/N’s P.O.V-

I lay on the couch, not doing anything in particular, mindlessly staring up at the ceiling as I tried to clear my mind of any and all thoughts. Or at least that was the plan until I heard loud cursing coming up through the floor. I groaned out loudly, turning onto my side and stared at the floor with a glare, that idiot. I waited for him to stop but he just seemed to get louder with each passing second. It was only when he had been going at it for a full minute did I knock against the floorboards loudly.

“Yo, 305! Shut up before I come down there and shut you up myself!” I shouted, immediately hearing a timid apology followed by silence.

I sighed, turning on my back once again, laying my arm over my eyes. It had been quiet for a good ten minutes before I heard him at it once again but louder this time. I ground my teeth together and sprang up from the couch. Grumbling to myself I angrily put on my shoes before making my way down to his apartment, slamming my door loudly behind me. I skipped the last three steps and jumped down, turning the corner to where his door stood. I didn’t hold back as I banged against the door loudly, the door shaking at the force I was using. I didn't stop until he opened the door.

"Look I don't know why you're yelling and frankly I don't care. But keep it down. Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"It's two in the afternoon…"

"I don't care what time it is! Keep it the hell down, 305, before I shut you up for good." I spat out before turning on my heel and beginning to walk away.

"I have a name you know."

I froze in my tracks, my hands clenched into fists at my side. Before I could stop myself I turned back around and marched back to his door. A look of panic crossed his features as he closed the door just before I got to him. I kicked at the door in annoyance, hearing the lock clicking.

"Don't get smart with me now, 305. I assure you you'll come to deeply regret it. So keep it down if you know what's good for you." I threatened him through my teeth.

And you don't want me to know your name because the moment I do...it's over for you.

With that thought I turned on my heel and went back upstairs, taking the stairs two at a time. Once I was back at my place I plopped back down onto the couch, sighing heavily. I closed my eyes, trying to get back to that calm and comfortable state I was in earlier but it was easier said than done. I sighed once more but this time it was out of frustration. I sat back up, stomping my foot on the floor quite loudly to signal to that idiot that I was still pissed. Well there goes my one day of lazing around. I had been working non stop these last few weeks and today was the only day I had where my schedule completely empty. If I had known life would be this stressful I never would've become a-

"I'm telling you man, my neighbor, she is trying to kill me! I wasn't even being that loud and she came down here banging on my door like a madwoman!"

I looked down at the floorboards at the sound of his voice, listening intently to what he was saying. It's not like I really cared what he thought of me though. He could think the worst of me and I still wouldn't have it in me to care.

"Dude, I swear to God my life flashed before my eyes."

I flinched at the word 'God', a chill running down my spine. I exhaled deeply through my nose as I rose from my seat, ignoring whatever the hell he kept blabbing about and heading for the kitchen. I had just made it to the counter when my surroundings suddenly changed. I looked around with a bored expression before sighing heavily, catching a glimpse of my true appearance in the glass across from me.

"Why does someone always have to call for me even on my day off? I'm not the only damn demon in this city you know." I murmured, staring into my own reflection, my pitch black eyes staring back at me.

I let out a soft sigh, closing my eyes for a moment and tilted my head from side to side, stretching the wings on my back, "Now, what do you want?" I asked, getting straight to the point, examining my black claws absentmindedly.

“I...I…”

I looked up, my eyes meeting hers. She flinched when our eyes met, taking a step back. Ah, this must be her first time. She must not know that I can’t touch her...at least not with this damn pentagram in tact. I smirked, a mischievous look crossing my features, That doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun, right? Without a word I stretched out a wing, the end of it almost touching her face when she fell back, a yelp falling from her lips. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the pure terror that was on her face. With a grin I crouched down in front of her, hugging my knees to my chest, I reached out a hand but she dragged herself back pretty quickly. 

“D-Don’t come any closer…” She barely managed to get out, her voice trembling with every word.

I frowned at her words, letting my hand fall back to my side. I poked the inside of my cheek with my tongue, her words irritating me. She’s the one that summoned me yet she doesn’t want me to come any closer? Humans…

“Fine. What do you want? You still haven’t told me yet and my time is very precious.” I said in a firm and serious voice.

She stayed silent for a moment, as if trying to remember what she called me for. It didn’t really take her long to remember, the look in her eyes darkened significantly, her hands clenched into fists. She pushed herself off the ground and stood in front of me, a determined look on her face. I couldn’t help but smirk as I too stood to my full height, silently waiting for her to speak.

“My step-sister...I want her gone. She’s always getting all the attention and praise and I get tossed aside every time. Even my own father favors her over me.” 

I raised a brow at hearing her words, my eyes finally seeing her aura. Ah...it’s green...and very dark. This is a common feeling among those that summon me. At least half of them ask me to get rid of someone because they want the attention all to themselves. I sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time today, actually feeling sorry for people like her. Pity and a bit of anger were all I felt for these humans who thought summoning me was their last hope in life. It angers me because the price they pay for what they ask for is far too great. And to see them agree to my deals for something so trivial...they don't know how good they have it.

"Fine. But I'm sure you know I require something in exchange…"

"I'll do anything! Just please...help me."

I gave her one last look before closing my eyes for a moment, "What's your name?"

"Yonomori Momo."

"Momo...kindly undo this pentagram. Even just disrupting the line by smudging it will allow me to leave. But as of right now I can't even step over it without experiencing excruciating pain and I'd rather not go through that today."

"But your wings…"

"Ah. These wings are just a mere extension of myself...it doesn't really count if these go over but if let's say my leg or hand went over…" I trailed off, hoping she got my point.

“But still…”

I sighed, again, rubbing a hand over my forehead as I looked at her in exasperation, “Look, I’ll bring up these issues at the next demon meeting but right now I need to get out of here so I can seal our deal and get rid of that step sister of yours. So are you going to let me out or not?”

She hesitated for a moment before smudging the line with her foot. The moment she did that I finally felt free. I stretched my arms up high towards the sky and stepped out of the now ruined pentagram. I gave her a smirk and placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Yonomori Momo, your soul is now mine." I said with a grin, my blacks eyes sucking her in and trapping her in my gaze.

[A/N : I still haven’t figured out how often I’ll be updating this but I’ll let y’all know by the end of the week.]