#like the guy who came to the planet because he WANTED to crash??

[dark-lord-of-awesomeness]

What if Stan had somehow managed to click while on the road? Would that have changed anything? I imagine it would have made it harder for Ford to catch him, lol. And made Rico much more determined to catch him. Not to mention how confused Stan would probably be, or how exhausted he would end up especially if he somehow lost his ‘hand warmer’

I actually plan for a non dragon Ford sorcerer Stan where Ford stumbles on Stan on his own travels, but here's a what if! For if Stan stumbled into Gravity Falls already clicked when Dragon Ford rolled up :)

Stan wheezed as he dragged his feet down the road, tired and strung out and- and - and

Oh. Some of the warm feeling was burbling in his chest. He dragged his eyes around him, before his gaze fell on a nearby stick. He raised his hand, drew the funny symbol that was singingscreaminglaugingchatting away in his mind, and watched it SHATTER into splinters.

The push faded with the rest of the warmth, and he sighed in relief.

Ever since.... whenever ago, when the symbol had crashed into his mind and dug its fingers in tight his life had become hell. The warmth that came with it urged him to write it on as many things as possible, leading to the smashing of his wagon, the loss of his horse, and the eye of Rico. The only reason he'd made it this far was because the last three guys who's tried to grab him had-

They had-

So Stan was able to get out of the last few attempts on dragging him to Rico. It wouldn't last forever with the blood pendants tied to him, but the longer he was out on the road and out from under Rico's thumb, the better.

He had no idea what was happening to him, but the last thing he wanted was being used as Rico's attack dog, getting set loose only when Rico wanted something smashed to smithereens.

Which is why he was here, dragging himself further and further North, hoping that the rumors of the dragon were enough to make Rico think twice about following him. (He knew it wasn't, but a man could dream (if he was still a man)).

He blinked as a town popped into existence in front of him. Or maybe it hadn't. He was so tired, so drained, so done that everything felt blurry and fuzzy and-

It was possible he'd been walking towards it for a while and just now noticed.

Whatever.

With tired limbs he pushed himself closer, tension oozing out of him the longer no sounds of people met his ears.

Abandoned. Good. that was good.

No people meant-

Stan stumbled past the open gate, then wandered over to the first house, wrote the funny symbol, and watched the lock explode. The door swung open with an ominous creak, and he pushed his way in. There were probably bedrooms upstairs, but he didn't care. The rug in front of the fireplace looked like the most inviting place on the whole planet.

Not bothering to start a fire or close the door, Stan staggered towards the rug, collapsed, and passed out.

The sounds of yelling dragged him back to awareness. He blinked around the dim room, then jerked when something smashed through the door he'd left open. An exhausted roll showed a man in a black cloak, half collapsed in a hole, while shouts outside continued on.

Rico then. Figures.

Stan groaned, then pushed himself to his feet. The symbol in his mind pulsed with his heart, singing sweet songs and all kinds of the best ideas.

He'd had a good sleep after all, why not keep BREAKING things.

The rug became a mess of thread with a thought and a wiggle of his finger, and soon enough he was back on his feet and moving to the door, shuffling past the collapsed figure. He peered into the abandoned village, then stared at what he saw.

Everything was muted and distant, but it really look like there was a dragon throwing a bunch of Rico's goons around. Stan watched them for a moment, before turning towards the wall next to him.

Another gesture got rid of it, making the rest of the house wobble. He stepped down onto the street, shuffled over to some nearby flower pots, and got to work making shards.

The dragon and goons were probably a figment of his imagination. Probably. Meh.

Whatever.

The pots made a very satisfying shattering sound as they burst into pieces. Every drop of warmth he poured into each one made the symbol delighted, and eased the need in his heart to keep going.

This was nice. Just him, an abandoned village, and the dragon talons curling around his chest and hoisting him in the air.

Stan blinked at the ground as it got farther away, then looked up to see what actually might be a real dragon, snarling at him. It was huge, its head easily four or five times his size, and its talons curling around his entire chest. It growled, low and dark, while below them the goons started yelling.

OK then. Not a hallucination.

Just him, getting eaten.

That was... good maybe?

He was pretty sure he was turning into some kind of magic destroying monster on a path of destruction. Nothing had stopped the desire to see everything around him crumble and shatter to pieces. In fact every time he drew the symbol in the air it just got worse, dug its little voice deeper into his mind, until he could barely make out his own thoughts over the noise.

Getting taken out by a dragon before becoming a demon was a pretty cool way to go, all things considered.

Too bad the symbol had other ideas.

The dragon made a sound at him, but he was already looking at the talon curled around him and writing the symbol on it. With a burst of warmth it cracked, and the dragon screeched as it dropped him. He had a moment to regret every choice he'd made in his life, before slamming down on top of a goon and rolling off of them. They screamed and scrambled to get away from him, which, rude but understandable considering what he'd done to-

The dragon's claw slammed down next to him, bouncing him and making his heart skip a beat. The talon he'd written on was still there, but it was oozing blood and covered in cracks.

Its snout was in front of him a moment later, and even though Stan was becoming a demon, a thought cut through the noise that had cluttered his mind for what felt like forever.

I don't want to die.

Stan thrust his hand out and wrote the symbol again, putting all the remaining warmth into it as he pushed himself to his feet. It screeched again as the scales on its snout were shredded and blood started dripping around him. Each drop hit his shirt and seemed to burn through it, but Stan forced himself to move.

The goons were still yelling and swinging things behind him, so Stan went forwards, under the dragon and dodging its feet as it tried to follow him. Every step was agony, his chest squeezing his heart and every beat a canon. There was no more warmth in his heart to defend himself if it got him again, which meant he needed to get out of here before-

The dragon's tail slammed into him just as he cleared the last leg and made a break for the closest house. He was launched towards a wall and crashed into it, sending a burst of stars across his vision.

He blinked once to clear them. Blinked again when that failed, then slumped to the side as darkness took him.

When Stan blinked awake, it was to the view of the forest, far below him. A loud sound was all around him, drowning out the whispers. It didn't stop the urge, but something was pinning his hands to his sides, and he was so, so tired.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

He'd worry about it later.

When he opened his eyes again, he was laying on somthing soft, somewhere dark, warm and Warm.

His body itched with the need to write on the nearest surface, but the lack of light meant he couldn't see, couldn't write, couldn't-

The fear creeping up his spine faded as he realized, for the first time in forever, he wasn't BREAKING everything he touched.

Then the darkness was abruptly pulled away, and he was blinking up at some kind of metal nightmare man.

It opened its mouth, but Stan was already moving. Now that he had light there was nothing to stop him from BREAKING things again, so he wrote the symbol on the pilllow he was laying on and watched it explode into feathers. Then he reached to do the same to the box, stopped only by a giant hand grabbing it and pulling it away. Someone was shouting, and the world was vibrating, but Stan didn't hear any of it.

All he could hear was the symbol, deep in his heart and urging him forwards.

And there you go! From there Stan would get a crash course into clicking with another rune, but it'd be harder as Stan's so hyper focused on the one he already has. If he managed to click with more before hitting that point he'd be a lot more coherent and screaming about the dragon trying to snatch him, but ultimately he's gonna run out of juice before Ford loses track of him, leading to a snatching.

Rico was on his heels the whole time here, but watching a man get shredded with a hand makes a man wary of getting too close, so he was sending fodder to get Stan, as he didn't know (and still doesn't) Stan's limits here. Here Rico thinks of Stan as the ultimate killing tool, while in the og fic he saw a lot more tamer magic getting thrown around and doesn't realize Stan can up the ante as it were.

The biggest change would Stan always being exhasted, as BIll is not lying about Stan's ability to recharge the further away from the wellspring he is. Regardless if he's clicked with multiple runes or not, Stan's always tired bec he has to keep using them from compulsion or to get away.

[everyyeen]

AND SHE ISN’T EVEN THE WORST ONE.

imagine going to an alien planet to become the next jerma after receiving an sos signal from a guy who is set to die due to his life support system failing and becoming a dandori cultist in the process. what is wrong with all these people

[leohtttbriar]

i mostly just pretend that the curzon-loving-jadzia thing didn't happen because acknowledging it honestly makes me so frustrated and uncomfortable and it reveals too much of the biases underlying the writing of one of the more interesting star trek characters (to me) in any series. but, setting aside my reactive feelings about this reveal, i can read a narrative purpose and theme in this that i don't think was deliberate but is still interesting.

by the time she finds out that the reason she was rejected and then accepted into joining with a symbiont was due to curzon's feelings for her--attraction and then guilt, she'd already: a) held up curzon's promise, at the risk of her own lifelong imprisonment, to protect curzon's former lover, b) held up another of curzon's promises to kill a guy in battle (despite being told she shouldn't have to by kira of all unlikely people), c) had her symbiont taken away from her outside of her choice and then joined with the person who took it at gunpoint, and d) learned that the symbiosis commission lied to her to cover themselves about the fact that her symbiont had once been joined to a murderer, a person she then had to accept within herself or die about. and then she learns that the most recent host of her symbiont had feelings for her, who she was pre-joined. on top of all this, sisko has been calling her "old man" since he met her because sisko remembers curzon. and it's a joke--she's a young woman, it's ironic--but that's still the nickname he gave her. this man, curzon, who she has to carry with her for the rest of her life. who was a burden (which she accepted with a certain kind of nobility) before she found out about his feelings and his subsequent unjust actions because of those feelings.

she learns and experiences all this and then she meets lenara. and lenara breaks her heart and chooses trill society and custom. and lenara says to her, explaining why she's not going to choose to be adventurous or brave and go against the norms, "we don't all have a curzon inside of us". which is sort of crazy for her to say given that it was torias's memories that inspired jadzia's initial connection to lenara, not curzon's. (and like torias was established in the show as being a daredevil pilot who took big risks. so why mention curzon at all?)

and then after jadzia meets worf, she accidentally gets all the main crew trapped on a planet in "children of time" where she meets both her great-grandson and future host of her symbiont and it's his actions that have ensured she crash there and have to commit to reproducing with worf so he and the rest of the colony can exist.

so, counting, that's curzon, varad, joran, torias, and yedrin--all male hosts of jadzia's symbiont and all who in some way hurt her. and in each instance the conclusion to her agential action in each story was simply accepting it.

the curzon of it all is the most frustrating part. people have joked that jadzia is like a klingon "weeaboo" and it's true, there's so many instances where she performs klingon culture--sincere or not, there's still a level of performance. and that interest and that memory of past relationships with other klingons comes from curzon. and it's one of the reasons i was a little annoyed that sisko scolded her like a child and insisting she's a prideful young woman when she doesn't want to go through a ritual she had promised to do to marry worf. he calls her “old man” constantly, the value of her curzon memories has been celebrated again and again, the value and source of her personal choices have been attributed to curzon, her life as a joined person came solely down to curzon’s control, curzon is the previous host mentioned most who is implied (deliberately or not in the show) to have the most influence over who she is—and she’s called a little girl over a moment of maybe unearned pride and told she is not curzon.

all of this would read better to me if: a) we got way more substance about who jadzia was as a person before being joined and b) if dax’s other previous hosts, like, perhaps, some of the women, were given equal consideration and implied screen-presence. but as it is, as it’s written, deliberately or not, jadzia’s story is one of accepting the things that come at you and the people that hurt you, especially if you have to carry them in the most intimate way. this frames a lot of her actions in later seasons as one of a person who has to keep learning this lesson and then frames her death, with all its other accidentally concordant details like quark and julian lamenting they’d never gotten with her or the random introduction of her wanting a baby with worf.

obviously i think the intent when writing jadzia dax was not to write someone who swallows her opinions and convictions and pride. i think the intent was to write someone both youthful and old, fun and intelligent, committed to the ideals of exploration but also committed to her brothers-in-arms, so to speak, and in all that they succeeded. she’s a really fascinating character and is performed and written still with a richness of person that i think a lot of fans don’t give the character credit for. but the resulting character also has all these instances of learning a similar lesson over and over: accepting people who have wronged her and also that an enormous portion of her value comes down to curzon--the memories that she didn’t make but she still has to honor and own.

this is also why i sort of wish they'd had a plot where, like, jadzia is injured, she insists they remove the symbiont to send it back to trill to be joined to another, they do but it pisses julian off and he and his augmented-brain team figure out how to keep jadzia alive after the symbiont has been taken away, and like it’s a dire and permanent solution and it’s disabling maybe in some way, but it works and she’s alive, and then lenara hears about what’s happened when she realizes the dax symbiont is being joined to someone else and she races to jadzia’s side because now it’s just a gray area of the law, being together, and jadzia is like “i’m just jadzia now” and lenara is like “cool, can you help me build an artificial wormhole again? one that lasts?” because like, jadzia has several science degrees. one of exactly two things about her pre-joining self that is fully textual. and lenara returing specifically to be with jadzia would have implied an enormous amount of non-curzon-derived worth. and that’s how jadzia dax is written off the show, instead.

[ordinary-barbie]

i burn for you.

rafe cameron x fem!reader.

summary: You hated Rafe Cameron. He lived to annoy you. There couldn't be anything more to your relationship—right?

word count: 3.5k

tags: fem!sassy kook!reader, enemies to lovers, cussing, sexual tension, underage drinking, dry humping, sappy ending

title from "Close to You" by Gracie Abrams!

~ • ~

It is a truth universally acknowledged that whenever you hung out with Sarah Cameron, her older brother Rafe was sure to appear. Didn't matter if it was at Tannyhill or the beach or some random Kook's party. Rafe always showed up at some point, to your utter dismay.

You'd moved to the Outer Banks the summer before ninth grade, feeling like you crash-landed on another planet. Kildare was not a huge place, and everyone else seemed to have known each other since birth, already forming their little cliques. You were a Kook—though you thought the whole "Kooks vs. Pogues" rivalry was pretty silly—but you felt like you couldn't fit in with all the pretty and popular girls. You thought making friends would be hopeless, until Sarah swooped in and took you under her wing.

Sarah was so sweet and funny; she quickly became like the sister you never had. It was just a shame that she had to be related to...him. Rafe Cameron had been the bane of your existence for years. The guy always knew exactly how to push your buttons, whether it was getting into your personal space, snatching stuff out of your hand and refusing to get it back, and constant sarcastic comments—though you could always give as well as you got.

Today you were chilling at Tannyhill with Sarah, watching the pilot episode of Gilmore Girls because she'd somehow gone 19 years without watching one of the most iconic shows of all time. It was such a comfort show for you, and you were happy to be experiencing it with your bestie. Well, until you know who decided to flop down next to you on the couch, radiating with irritating frat boy energy.

"Y'all decided to have a movie night and not invite me?" Rafe fake pouted, putting his arm around you. You scowled, pushing it away.

"First of all, Gilmore Girls is a TV show. And secondly, why would we invite you? Don't need your mouth-breathing self ruining the vibes," you snapped.

Rafe rolled his eyes. "Chill out, princess. I promise I don't have cooties," he replied with a smirk.

"Now that, I highly doubt," you muttered.

Sarah sighed, pausing the episode. "Really guys? This again?" Poor Sarah had been witness to years of arguments between you and Rafe, and you did feel bad that she had to be caught in the middle. But maybe he should be less annoying—then you wouldn't be forced to bite back.

Rafe raised his hands in a show of innocence, though you knew he was anything but. "Hey Sar, I'm just here to watch the show. Not my fault your bestie here wants to bite my head off."

You scoffed, trying your best not to roll your eyes upwards towards oblivion. "Yeah, right, like you give a shit about Gilmore Girls. And I want to bite your head off because you're an insufferable ass."

"So you think about my ass, huh?" Ugh, you wanted to slap that smug look off of his face. You hated how the amused glint in his eyes and his lazy smile stirred feelings in you that you absolutely refused to acknowledge.

"In your fucking dreams, Rafe Cameron," you answered, scowling.

Rafe's smirk grew deeper. "Please, you wish I would dream about you."

"I think I'd rather have a root canal," you snarked.

"Okay, chill! Rafe, either watch the show with us or go away," Sarah said wearily, rubbing at her temples.

Rafe scooted closer to you on the couch, knocking his knee against yours. "I'm down. What do you say, princess?"

Your annoyance had morphed into a slowly simmering rage at Rafe's favorite nickname for you. You forced yourself to take a deep breath and plaster a smile on your face before saying, "Sure, why not?"

You came to regret your decision as soon as Sarah pressed play. While you and Sarah could watch shows together in comfortable silence, only adding occasional commentary, Rafe would not shut the fuck up. He always had something to say, whether it was about the dialogue ("Why the fuck do they talk so fast?") or the characters' appearances ("Lorelai is a fuckin MILF, I gotta admit.") It was a wonder you got through the episode without completely losing your shit.

Before you could at least try to enjoy the second episode, Sarah's phone rang. "It's John B," she explained, smiling sheepishly. She got off the couch and went upstairs to talk to her boyfriend in private.

"Well well well, looks like it's just you and me, princess," Rafe purred, taking the opportunity to put his arm around you again.

Your heart hammered in your chest. You were so close to Rafe that you could smell him—that heady mix of sea salt after an afternoon of surfing with Topper, cologne, and whatever detergent the maid had used to wash his clothes. If this was any other boy, you'd lean in, inhaling the scent. But this was Rafe, so you squirmed out of his grip, your stomach churning.

"Can you behave yourself for one second? You're like a middle schooler," you snapped.

Rafe chuckled. "Relax, princess. Get your panties out of a twist for once."

Your eye twitched. "I'd call you scum, but that would be an insult to scum."

"I love scum, drop the s though," Rafe casually responded, flashing you a lecherous grin.

You pretended to gag. "You're a Neanderthal."

"Keep talking dirty to me, baby, I love it," Rafe said, dramatically clutching his chest.

You were so relieved when you heard Sarah bounding down the stairs. She settled back onto her place on the couch, seemingly unaware of the tension that had sparked up in her absence.

Sarah stared at you and Rafe, arching an eyebrow. "Did y'all manage to behave yourselves while I was gone?"

"Rafe was—"

"Oh, we had a great time together," Rafe interrupted, smirking. "Just hanging out with my bestie!"

"I am not your bestie," you corrected, your voice dripping with venom, though that only amused Rafe more.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Anyway. Who's ready for episode two?"

You picked up the remote and pressed play, immersing yourself in Rory and Lorelai's quirky world. Thankfully, Rafe was quiet—but you couldn't ignore the feeling of his gaze, laser-focused on you the entire time.

Against your better judgment, you'd allowed Sarah to drag you to a party.

Normally, you'd be along for the ride. As long as the music was good and the snacks and drinks were decent, you could vibe, whether it was a frat party at UNC or a bonfire at the beach. But this wasn't just any party; it was a Topper Thornton party. And as Topper's best friend, Rafe would definitely be there.

"You better not make me regret this, Sarah Cameron," you grumbled, fiddling with one of the spaghetti straps on your black tank top.

Sarah just giggled. "C'mon, it'll be fun! I promise."

You weren't holding your breath, but you allowed Sarah to hook your arm in hers and lead you into Topper's house anyway.

"Ladies! Welcome to the shit show," Topper greeted you and Sarah, wrapping his arms around both of you.

Shit show was an apt description. Music was blasting so loudly that it was making the house shake. A sea of people was milling about the place, with dozens of overlapping conversations. There were even loud shrieks and splashes as guests messed around in the Thorntons' pool.

"Oh, _____, Rafe is somewhere around here, I think," Topper said with a smirk.

You rolled your eyes. "As if I would care where Rafe is."

Topper snickered. "Yeah yeah, sure."

Topper was convinced that you and Rafe had a thing for each other, which was, frankly, ridiculous. You and him? Please.

"You gonna get us some drinks or what?" Sarah asked Topper, putting her hands on her hips. Topper gave the two of you salutes and was back in a flash with two red Solo cups full of a bright blue liquid. He and Sarah may have been broken up, but there was still a part of him that was wrapped around her finger.

Sarah downed her drink immediately, but you were more cautious, giving it a sniff first before taking a sip. It tasted like blue Hawaiian punch with a dash of pineapple juice, vodka, and rum—not a terrible combo.

As the party rolled along, you began to loosen up. The playlist was banging, you and Sarah were having the time of your lives dancing, and the best part? Rafe was nowhere to be seen.

You dipped out of the living room area to use the bathroom, and when you came back, Sarah was putting her jean jacket back on, an apologetic smile on her face. "John B says the Pogues are having a bonfire at the beach so I think I'm gonna stop by there. Sofia's gonna pick me up."

You felt a pang of sadness but you understood. The Pogues were important to Sarah, and you weren't gonna keep her from her boyfriend and other friends.

"You wanna come? I'm sure Sofia has extra room in her car," Sarah offered.

You considered the offer for a second, but felt hesitant, as if some invisible tether was keeping you here. (A voice in the back of your head whispered thoughts of a certain guy, but you were quick to shove them to the furthest corner of your mind.) John B was chill, and his friends were always nice to you. But this time, you weren't in the mood for another party.

"Nah, I'll be fine here," you assured Sarah. "Go have fun! But not too much fun."

"Yes mom," Sarah responded, playfully rolling her eyes.

After a few minutes, Sofia arrived to pick up Sarah, leaving you to your own devices. You felt your social battery draining, so you flopped down on one of Topper's living room couches, mindlessly scrolling through social media to pass the time.

“Is this seat taken?” you suddenly heard a husky voice say. You looked up from your phone and were greeted by the sight of Spencer Bingham, who you vaguely knew from having a few classes together back at Kildare Academy.

To put it simply, the guy was cute. He had shaggy light brown hair, twinkling gray eyes, and the most dazzling smile. "Go right ahead," you offered casually, though you were internally swooning.

"So how've you been? I haven't seen you since graduation," Spencer wondered.

"Oh I've been good," you replied, smiling shyly. "Really enjoying it at UNC. How about you?"

Spencer matched your smile, putting his hands behind his head. "Oh I'm great. Loving Penn State and the lacrosse team. Though there are some things I miss about Kildare that I can’t find up north."

You giggled. “And what might those be?”

“Well, the girls, for starters,” Spencer answered, shooting you a flirtatious grin. “Specifically, you.”

Your mouth dropped open. You wouldn’t call yourself ugly, but you hadn’t exactly been Miss Popular with the boys of Kildare. You admittedly harbored a tiny crush on Spencer during junior year, but never even considered that he would be interested in you.

Spencer noticed your shocked expression and chuckled. “Don’t look so surprised! You’re a total catch—I’ve seen your Insta pics.”

You ducked your head down, suddenly feeling shy. Slowly but surely, you were being more confident in your looks and comfortable with your social media photos. You still had to get used to fielding compliments from people though, trying your best to silence that minuscule voice of self-doubt that lurked in the corner of your mind.

Spencer lifted your chin up, forcing you to look into his eyes. “Can…Can I kiss you?” he asked, suddenly more bashful than before.

You nodded, giving him the green light. You’d been kissed before, but it was an unremarkable smooch during a game of truth or dare in tenth grade. Spencer gave you a real kiss—soft and slow, like something out of a rom com.

Eventually the two of you parted, catching your breaths.

You rubbed the back of your neck. “That was—I really liked that, Spencer.”

Spencer grinned. “We could keep doing it, if you want.”

“And what do we have here? The nerd finally hooks up with the jock. So cute.”

You stiffened, scowling at that all-too-familiar voice. “Rafe. I’d say it’s a pleasure to see you, but I’d be lying.”

Rafe snickered, leering at you. “I noticed I hadn’t gotten to bother my favorite person tonight so I went looking for you. Imagine my surprise when I find you sucking face with Bingham. Are the pickings really that slim at PSU, Spence?”

Spencer opened his mouth to speak, but you beat him to it.

"Don't you have some blonde girl with big boobs you could be making out with instead of bothering us?" you snapped.

Rafe's smirk deepened. "Bothering you is more fun, princess. You're pretty hot when you're angry."

Your stomach betrayed you by doing a backflip at Rafe's words. Damn him. "You're insufferable."

"Thanks baby, that means a lot," Rafe smugly answered.

Spencer cleared his throat, looking awkwardly between you and Rafe. "Look...I don't know what's going on here, so I'm gonna go. See you around, ____. Nice chattin' with ya." He flashed you one last smile before getting up, leaving you alone with Rafe. Wonderful.

"What the fuck, Rafe? There was a perfectly nice guy who was totally into me, and you just ruined it." You were absolutely fuming. It was annoying enough that Rafe lived to push your buttons, but to essentially cockblock you as well?

Rafe snorted. "Come on, princess. Bingham couldn't handle a girl like you."

You clenched your jaw, glaring daggers into Rafe. "And what is that supposed to mean?" you demanded.

Rafe crossed his arms, huffing. "He's just not right for you, okay?"

"And how would you know who's right for me?" you asked, arching an eyebrow.

For once, Rafe was silent. You rolled your eyes at him and hopped off the couch, completely done with his bullshit.

"Where ya goin'?" Rafe asked, furrowing his brows.

"Home," you curtly replied. "I'll just walk."

"Right, because it's such a genius idea to walk alone...at night...in those shoes," Rafe snarked. "Let me drive you."

You sneered at him. "No thanks. You're probably drunk anyway."

"'m actually sober, sweetheart," Rafe replied.

You let out a huff of surprise. "Rafe Cameron, not drinking at a party? Either the world is ending or you must've hit your head."

"Jus' didn't feel like drinking tonight, all right? Especially since Sarah asked me to make sure you got home," Rafe said, the tips of his ears turning pink as he looked away from you.

You felt a pang in your chest. You loved Sarah for looking out for you, but you weren't prepared for Rafe to actually care about you or your well-being.

You sighed, not having the energy to argue anymore. "Okay, fine. Take me home."

The drive back to your place was uncharacteristically silent. Normally, whenever Rafe would drive you and Sarah places, he'd have a Spotify playlist blaring, or he'd be running his annoying mouth. But Rafe was focused on the road, not even sparing a second glance at you. You should've enjoyed this, relishing in the quietness. But something just felt...off.

You were relieved when Rafe finally pulled into your driveway. "Hey—thanks for driving me home. I appreciate it."

You went to open your car door, but Rafe put a hand on your shoulder, stopping you. He looked deeply into your eyes, and you felt rooted to your spot, transfixed by his unreadable expression. What you wouldn't give to know what was going through Rafe Cameron's mind right now.

Rafe unbuckled his seatbelt and moved closer to you, cupping your face in his hands. Your heart fluttered in your chest in anticipation. Then, he softly kissed you on the lips.

A million different emotions raced through your mind as you felt his lips on yours. Before you could fully process what was happening, Rafe pulled away, stroking your lower lip. You shivered at his gentle touch.

Rafe cleared his throat, his ears flushing a bright red. "Um. So. Have a good night, princess."

You opened the car door and climbed out, flashing Rafe a nervous smile. "Yeah, have a good night, Rafe."

You found yourself replaying Rafe's kiss in your mind that night. Spencer's kiss had been nice, but Rafe? Of course, he was the one that had your head spinning.

Things had definitely shifted since...that thing happened after Topper's party. You and Rafe, usually firey with each other, had cooled off significantly. You felt like you would combust every time he spared a glance at you. It got to the point where you would refuse Sarah's invitations to Tannyhill, not risking the chance of seeing Rafe around.

Unsurprisingly, Sarah grew tired of both of your bullshit. "You're coming over," she said while the two of you hung out in your room, her voice not leaving any room for argument.

"Sarah, I—"

Sarah held up a hand. "Nope! No excuses! You and Rafe haven't spoken to each other for a week, and it's kinda freaking me out. You're coming over right now and both of you are gonna sort your shit out."

Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off Sarah, so you conceded and agreed to go back to Tannyhill with her. You just had to ignore that your stomach was doing Olympic-level gymnastics at the thought of talking to Rafe.

When you reached Tannyhill, Rafe was on the couch, scrolling through his phone. Sarah whistled to get Rafe's attention and he looked up, blushing furiously at the sight of you. You nervously looked away, wishing you could sprout wings and fly out of there. Why did things have to be so weird?

"I'll leave y'all to it," Sarah said, bounding up the stairs.

Rafe cleared his throat. "So...you wanna sit down?"

You gulped, nodding, and joined Rafe on the couch. You wracked your brain, trying to think of a way to broach the subject you and Rafe had been dancing around for a week. Hey Rafe! So remember when you kissed me that night? I know I hate your guts, but I actually liked that!

"So—"

"Well—"

You and Rafe laughed, slightly easing the tension.

"So...about that kiss," you said, twiddling your thumbs.

Rafe awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, sighing. "Look, ____. I know I give you a lot of shit, but I actually really like you. Like, a lot. And I fucked around with you because it was the only way I could get your attention. When I saw you with Bingham that night? I was jealous. Because that should be me."

You took a deep breath, trying to process Rafe's words before you went forward with your own confession. "Rafe—I like you too. And I really didn't want to, especially with your charming personality." Rafe snorted.

"I tried so hard to push those feelings down to protect myself," you continued. "But when you kissed me, everything just bubbled to the surface. So I ran away instead of actually dealing with my emotions. I really liked that kiss. And I'm scared of how much I enjoyed it."

Rafe gazed at you fondly, and you felt like you would melt right there on the couch. You wished he would look at you like that for as long as he wanted to.

"You're probably the funniest girl I know. And you're kind, and smart, and hot as fuck," Rafe said, lazily raking his eyes over your body.

"You're all right too, I guess," you replied with mock indifference, shrugging your shoulders.

"You're insufferable," Rafe muttered, rolling his eyes, though there wasn't any real heat to his words.

You smirked. "But you like me anyway."

Rafe grinned. "That's true." He leaned in close, looking at you hesitantly before you silently gave him permission. Rafe kissed you deeply, pinning you to the couch. You eagerly kissed him back, wrapping your arms around him.

"I've been wanting to do this for so fucking long," Rafe admitted, littering the side of your neck with kisses. You let out a whine, arching your back. You were such an idiot. You could’ve been experiencing Rafe’s mouth on you all this time.

“I think little Rafe is trying to say hello,” you wryly remarked, feeling a bulge poking you in the side. Rafe chuckled, his laugh warming your insides.

“So say hi,” Rafe purred in your ear, shifting you so your clothed crotch was right on top of the bulge in his jeans. You started grinding against his clothed erection, the two of you letting out moans of pleasure at the friction between you. You were trying your best to be quiet since Sarah was right upstairs, but it felt so so so good.

“Gonna cum, princess,” Rafe muttered before letting out a grunt. “Fuck…I haven’t cum in my pants like that in a while. You see what you do to me, baby?”

You shyly giggled, burying your face in his neck. Rafe softly smiled at you, kissing your forehead. The two of you laid on the couch, enjoying the comfortable silence before falling asleep.

Click!

Your eyes fluttered open at the intrusion, noticing a grinning Sarah holding her phone at you and Rafe.

Rafe stirred soon afterward. “Baby, what…” he trailed off, noticing his sister. “Sarah?”

“Sorry, but y’all looked too cute,” Sarah replied, giggling.

“I’ll forgive you if you send me that pic,” you said.

Rafe pouted. “Babe, I’m probably drooling and shit.”

You rolled your eyes. “Calm down, it’s not like I’m gonna use it to hard launch us or anything. But it’s scientifically impossible for you to look bad in a photo anyway.”

Rafe smirked. “Wow, you’re really obsessed with me, huh?”

“Shut up,” you muttered, giving Rafe a shove. He just laughed, giving you a peck on the lips.

You and Rafe’s phones both dinged twice with messages from Sarah, one with the candid photo and a follow-up message that said “You guys make me sick ❤️”

You looked at the photo, your heart swelling as you gazed at the image of you and Rafe. You were sleeping soundly, with your face pressed against Rafe's chest and his arms wrapping around your midsection protectively.

"Making this my lockscreen immediately," Rafe said, warming your heart.

Sarah pretended to gag, but she looked fondly at you and Rafe. "Glad y'all finally got your heads out of your asses."

"Me too. Especially Rafe. His was stuck waaay up there," you joked.

Rafe playfully rolled his eyes at you. "I was waiting for you to pull it out, babe."

"Okay, now I'm getting sick again," Sarah deadpanned, flopping down on the couch next to you.

You laughed. "Hey, why don't we watch Gilmore Girls again? I haven't forgotten your Stars Hollow education, Sar."

"Hey, I'm down," Sarah said, finding the remote and turning on Netflix.

"Where did we leave off?" Rafe asked.

"We didn't make it past episode 2 because someone decided they were bored," you dryly responded, shooting Rafe a pointed look.

Rafe smirked. "That was the old me, baby. I swear I've changed."

You shook your head, but you couldn't hide your ear-splitting grin. As Sarah started the episode and Rafe pulled you close to him, you felt a sense of peace. You never could've imagined yourself in this position a few weeks ago, or even yesterday. But in this moment, everything felt right. And while you were annoyed by it before, you'd let Rafe follow you wherever you went.

[aeristudios]

see you, space cowboy (epilogue)

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: It's been almost a year since everything has happened, and you're ready to come home—to the man who never stopped waiting. .𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: bounty hunter!Wonwoo x bounty hunter!reader, brief mentions of other members (Jeonghan, Soonyoung, Mingyu and Seungcheol) .𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: angst, sc-fi, smut, fluff, lovers to enemies to ???, cowboy bebop elements, space au, established relationship, neo-noir, dystopian-ish if you squint .𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: PLEASE READ ALL THE WARNINGS! heavy angst, very strong language, mentions of murder/attempted murder, gun violence, morally grey characters, grief, guilt/self blame, kissing, very messy oral (f. receiving), nipple play, fingering, nail digging, unprotected sex, missionary, creampie, and still lots and lots of yearning .𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬: 2.2K .𖥔 ݁ ˖ 𝐀𝐍: Reader's nickname is Silver and the reason for the nickname is explained in the main story attached to this: See You, Space Cowboy. I highly encourage you to read that story first because this epilogue will make more sense. I wasn't planning on writing another part to this, but you guys really loved the story and wanted to know what was going to happen to them after this. Tbh, so did I. I loved writing these two and I shed a lot of tears writing their story. Ugh I hope this love finds me one day lol. Thank you to @lovetaroandtaemin & @wooahaeproductions for looking at this with me and thank you again @hobeemin for the banner 🖤

main story visual concept #1 visual concept #2 playlist

The sand here is warmer than you remember. 

It almost feels like silk, running your fingers over the tiny grains that sparkle like gold in the sunlight. The forever tropical breeze sways your hair off your shoulders, your silver hair shining like a beacon in the sun. The waters crash against the rocks, revealing the hidden coral, and you stand there in awe. 

The Sanctuary— your safe place, your peace. 

It’s been almost a year since you took out Aeron and showed the galaxy what a murderer he was, clearing your name with all the evidence you gathered with the help of Selene. There was no trial; his death was written up as self-defense, and no one was going to question more than they needed to. Wonwoo was placed as the interim head of The Organization and had to learn quickly how to take over the ropes and be the Boss. You stayed at a hideaway spot on a neighboring planet, with nothing but oceans for miles and a small island with a house and everything you needed. Jeonghan and Sohee visited often and kept you company, while Mingyu and Soonyoung came to drop off supplies at Wonwoo's request, keeping you alive during your self-isolation. 

The thing is, you could have come back as soon as your name was cleared, resumed your bounty hunter status, and gone back to the life you had before. Wonwoo begged for you to come back, to be with him, and as much as your heart yearned and your body ached for him, you weren’t ready. You were a debilitating mess, and you needed to heal, and bless Wonwoo for wanting to see you through that, but you needed to be alone. You needed to properly mourn and grieve. 

God, Wonwoo is a saint. You’ve put him through so much, and you’re still the sun that rises for him. He sent you updates without you asking, and sometimes you replied, sometimes you were so deep in your pain that you would shut off your phone for days and pretend nothing existed. You’re a shitty fiance; you know that, and you firmly believe that he deserves better than what you have been giving him. 

So why are you here?

Simply put, you miss him. 

Your time apart from him has been agonizing, eating you alive every day. You needed time to heal, but you are ready to come back into the fold. To come back home, which has always been with him. You’ve thought about it a lot; all you could dream about was him. The time you shared your first kiss, when he told you he loved you for the first time, when he asked you to marry him, etc. Your thoughts were loud even when it was quiet, and you knew it was time to quit wallowing in your self-pity and to be the partner Wonwoo deserved. 

You sent him the message yesterday. Just two words.

 “Tomorrow. Sanctuary.” 

He didn’t respond, but you know that he’ll come. Wonwoo has never let you down; you’re the fuck up in this relationship, after all. 

So here you are, standing on this beach with the sand between your feet, your stomach in knots as you wait with bated breath to see your beautiful man. You close your eyes, letting the wind grace your cheeks as you try to drown out the voices of doubt in your head, and just for a moment, just breathe. 

But then you hear the sound of boots crushing the sand, and your heart starts to pound in your chest, threatening to break free. You slowly turn and look at him, the wind picking up as you are finally face to face with the love of your life. His hair is a little longer now, barely touching the back of his neck, and he almost seems taller? Maybe you’ve been apart too long, and it’s fucking with your psyche. You don’t know. 

But one thing remains the same: his eyes. They are deep and soft when he looks at you. You still see home, your saving grace. 

“Hey there, space cowboy.” 

Wonwoo chuckles at his nickname, raking his fingers through his hair. The sun shines on him in the right way, and there isn’t a lens in the world that could do him justice. 

“Hey, my pretty girl,” he says, pulling you closer to him. You breathe in his familiar cologne, trying to keep the tears behind your eyes at bay, but you’re struggling. You love him so much; he is your lifeline. You hope that you will always find each other in the next life.

“I’m surprised you came.” You say, your voice is trembling. “I thought you’d be sick of my shit by now.” 

“There you go, still not trusting me,” he tsks. 

“Oh, stop, you know it’s not that—”

“No, it’s literally that,” Wonwoo interrupts. “How many times do I have to tell you—or better yet, show you—that I’m not going anywhere? I would do anything for you, baby. You ask me to leap, and I will. You ask me to shoot, and I’ll pull the trigger, no questions asked. I love you. “

His eyes peer into yours, penetrating your soul and leaving you vulnerable. There’s always been talk about how you're the sun that rises and sets for Wonwoo… but he is your twin moons, his soft light guiding you through your darkness. He’s your anchor, your rock, your peace. You were made for each other, and it’s never been clearer. 

“I left you,” you say tearfully. “You needed me, too, and I stayed gone. It’s okay to be mad at me. Scream at me! Do something!” 

“Silver,” the sound of your name makes your heart flutter. “You were never really gone.”

He points at your engagement ring, sparkling in all of its glory. You knew he always looked out for you, even when you couldn’t do it yourself. 

“God, you are such a romantic,” you scoff, rolling your eyes playfully. 

“Only for you, baby..” 

You shake your head, looking across the horizon as the sun begins to set, the sun turning into a stunning display of red and orange hues. You think about everything that has happened to get you where you are now, and even though your name is clear, how can you return to the way things were?

“So, what’s going to happen when we go back?” You decide to rip off the band-aid. 

Wonwoo kicks the sand around, and you see he is choosing his words before responding. 

“I stepped down.”

You look at him, your mouth open in shock as disbelief runs through you. “Y-you stepped down? Is it because of me?”

“Yes, but not in the way you think,” he says, gauging your expression. “I don’t want to be the head of The Organization. That’s what Aeron wanted, that’s what he trained me for. I love the missions and all that, but being the head meant longer hours, less missions, and not being home with you. I would hate that, and I already fucking resent it.” 

You study him, unsure about how you feel about this. “Are you sure? Don’t feel like you need to baby me, Wonwoo. I can take care of myself.” 

“Silver, stop.” His voice is firm but gentle, keeping you in check. “I know you are capable of handling things on your own. But my point is that we would not have the life we have always discussed if I took over. I’m still on the board and made sure you are on it too. So we still get a say in major decisions. “

“Okay,” you think it over. “So, who is taking over?” 

“I nominated Choi Seungcheol to take over. He’s capable and has the mindset to lead.” Wonwoo pauses, intertwining his fingers with yours. “I just want my job and you. Everything will be fine.”

You know of Seungcheol, and though you weren’t friends, you have to admit he is a good bounty hunter. He’s number three behind you and Wonwoo, and the few times you had to do jobs with him, you knew he had your back. Maybe the future isn’t so bleak after all. 

“So what I am hearing is, you still want to marry me?” You tease him.

Wonwoo’s expression softens as he pulls you closer, your lips barely brushing against his. 

“Of course. I’m going to love you for the rest of my life and the next one after.”

“Wonwoo, just kiss me already.”

 His lips crash against yours, his arms wrapped around your waist as your legs buckle at his embrace. His lips taste familiar, like the peace of home you have been missing for almost a year. You are done with the self-deprivation— you want him. Need him. And judging by the way he grabs your ass, he feels the same way. 

“I need you,” you whisper against his lips. 

“I know, baby, “ he says in between kisses. “I booked our favorite room on the way here.” 

Biting your lip, you let him lead you across the beach towards one of the many rooms in the Sanctuary, taking out the key card and tapping it on the reader. He opens the door to a spacious room with a soft king-size bed, expansive windows, and an open sliding door, inviting the ocean air in. You barely enter before your lips find his again, tearing off his shirt and throwing it across the room. You feel him smirk against your lips, unbuttoning your jeans and shoving them down your legs. Your desire for him is carnal, haunting even, and you need him inside of you now. 

“Fuck me, please,” you beg, undoing his belt. “It’s been so long.” 

“Aren’t we needy today?” he teases you. 

“I’m needy all the time.” 

“Touche.” 

He takes off his pants, revealing his stiff cock, and it makes you salivate. In your time apart, you’ve touched yourself to that night in the shower over and over, reminiscing the time he tasted and fucked you like it was the last time you would have that again. Now, you will have many more to come. 

You let him slowly take off your panties, spreading your legs wide as he looks at the sweet nectar between your legs. He licks his lips, grabbing you by your hips and pulling you closer to his face. He takes one long lick in between your folds, his tongue playfully brushing against your clit. 

“Please,” you breathe. “Wonwoo, please.” 

He obliges, eating you like a man with a purpose, to satisfy you. He nips at your thighs just the way you like it, spitting on your clit and sucking you all the same. He is dirty, filthy, sliding his fingers inside you and out of you, and tasting each time. Your eyelids are heavy, and you are on a high,  watching Wonwoo get pussy drunk off you, and it’s taking everything in you to not cum in his mouth. 

“You feel so good,” you cry out. “I missed you.” 

He hums in agreement, the vibrations from his mouth sending jolts throughout your legs. You take off your shirt, your fingers brushing against your nipples, pinching your hardening mounds. With one last lick, Wonwoo stands up, his face wet with your arousal dripping off his chin as he hovers over you. You lift up to meet his lips, tasting yourself on his tongue and understanding his addiction. Your legs wrap around him as he enters you with one smooth, slow thrust.

“Fuck,” you cry out, feeling relief and instant gratification. 

“I know, baby, I know.” 

He moves slowly at first, deep and intentional, like every motion is an act of forgiveness. Your fingers are in his hair. You look into his eyes and nod, giving him the okay to take you however he wants. 

He does that. His pace starts to build, rocking the bed against the wall as he fucks you harder, spilling your name from his pretty mouth. Your nails dig into his back, begging for more as the sound of slapping skin and moans fills up the room, not caring who hears you outside. You’ve never felt more alive, watching his cock slide in and out of you with such earnest, begging for your sugarness to cover him once again. 

“Wonwoo, I—” 

“Go ahead. Give it to me.” 

Your back arches as you see those familiar white stars, sending you over the edge as your release feels like a resurrection. Your legs shake; you're breathless,  sweaty and fucked out. He follows shortly after, spilling inside of you, his body trembling against yours. 

He doesn’t move, and neither do you. You stay wrapped around him, basking in the heat, sweat, and salt of everything you thought you’d lost. Your heart beats against his, a kindred soul in all this, confirming that you have your person and will never let him go. 

“I love you, Jeon Wonwoo.” 

He lifts up slowly, smiling softly as he kisses you sweetly, his thumb brushing against your cheek. “I love you more, Silver. I always have, and I always will.” 

You smile softly, returning his affection as you continue to make up for lost time, taking advantage of your new lease on your lives. At the end of the day, it will always be you and him. 

The Sanctuary, that is you and him—still standing.

And outside, the sea keeps living.

Just like you.

thank you for reading!! I can't believe we are done...

or are we? if you are interested in any spinoffs from some of the other characters in the story, comment, reblog or send an ask <3

[bones4thecats]

Hi, I would like to request Goku, Bardock, and Gohan play fighting with their child/children if that’s ok?

The Saiyans Play-Fighting w/ their Kids

Characters: Son Goku, Bardock, and Son Gohan Requester: @crispy-qw A/N: I drank an entire bottle of water writing this. I'm pretty sure I mentally sobbed writing all this fluff... ⚠️ Spoilers/Trigger Warnings for: Pure tear-jerking fluff ⚠️

Disclaimer: The timeline in Bardock's part is diverse from the canon

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Son Goku ══════════════════════════════╝

🍜 When you found out you were pregnant, Goku was very happy. Ever since he heard stories from ChiChi about how her father raised her when they were younger, he just wanted that bond with someone

🍜 It was at the time your oldest boy, Gohan, was born that Goku's nerves all calmed down. While he was nervous that someone would come down and harm his family, these nerves just got pushed away in favor of spending time with you and his boy

🍜 Goku is an amazing father, no doubt. And this is always proven when he would play fight with his two boys. Gohan would normally spend his time reading and learning while Goten, your second, would want to train with his dad and Uncle Piccolo

🍜 That day in particular, you had come home from a check-up with Bulma, who was making sure your third-baby, an unnamed girl, was doing well in your womb. You had just closed your door when you heard the sound of cheers coming from your backyard

🍜 Walking outside once again, you saw your husband and two sons messing around. They certainly weren't using their full strength as they messed around. Goku would mainly wrestle them in the air as they tried escaping his grasp, testing their physical strength

🍜 You smiled as the boys played around. It was always nice to see the three of them bond, especially since in nine weeks you would be delivering the second girl of the family. They needed to get their manliness out sooner rather than later

🍜 While you would normally sit down and watch them play, you needed to get some sleep, spending over an hour around Vegeta, Bulma, and Trunks could get exhausting for a woman after all... especially when Vegeta was being held down because he was sick

🍜 As you closed the backdoor behind you, you could hear the three boys laughing together along with a crash of them landing on the ground. This was the family you always dreamed of having. Thank Kami you got it

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Bardock ═══════════════════════════════╝

🛡️ Bardock and you always knew you wanted children, but as you were both warriors, this had to be held back for a while. And when you guys finally settled down, you had your two boys, Raditz and Kakarot

🛡️ Raditz was far more into being a warrior than Kakarot, as he would be out wrestling with other Saiyans while your younger would train by himself, only being joined by a select few of other Saiyans he considered to be friends

🛡️ Due to the power your husband sensed in them, he began to train his sons very diligently. Almost always helping them outside while you would mainly stayed inside and would handle more medical-related topics, almost always being called away to treat some Saiyan warriors who's pride went to their head

🛡️ You were called away the same day that Kakarot and Raditz were home from training with the army. Bardock had been with them due to an injury that came to his legs during a battle, leaving him to be home-ridden for a few days

🛡️ When you finally arrived home from handling almost fourteen whole teams of warrior's injuries, you could hear laughing and smashes coming from behind your home, leading you to laying your supplies down and walking out to find your family of boys training together

🛡️ Well, training isn't the best word. They were more tackling and wrestling one another. And it was so cute for you to watch after seeing so many grizzly injuries on your people from fights planets away

🛡️ Bardock eventually excused himself from his sons, telling them to keep up their skills. He then turned from his bickering children to his wife, whom stood there as her tail swayed gently in adoration at their actions together

"Welcome home, Y/N."

"It's good to see you bonding with the boys, Bardock."

"I know. I'm enjoying this time with them."

"You better. I did not spend so much time helping create them for you to not like them." You said.

"Don't worry, I don't just like them. I love them, they're the best sons a Saiyan could ask for."

╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗

╚═════ Son Gohan ═════════════════════════════╝

📚 Because Gohan's job took up a lot of his time, he couldn't always be around as much as he wanted to be. But whenever he did have free time, he would grab you from behind and cuddle with you, relaxing and talking about whatever's been going on in your personal lives

📚 But, after you gave birth to your daughter, Pan, Gohan had been trying to be around her more. It was difficult, but he did succeed at bonding with her most of the time

📚 You could not be more happy than to watch her bond with both her father and the man he considered to be a part of your family, that being your Namekian-ally, Piccolo

📚 Just watching as Piccolo trained her was nice, but seeing your husband take some time off to help with his daughter's development was just better in your opinion. Witnessing the closeness that your family had, no matter is blood relation was involved, was beyond wondrous

📚 One lovely day, your mother-in-law, ChiChi, had wanted to spend some time with you, to which you agreed and called up Piccolo, asking if he could babysit Pan while you left and Gohan was working. The Namekian agreed and said he'd arrive shortly, allowing you to get ready and leave

📚 You spent around two hours with your in-laws before you left, missing your daughter and husband dearly. Stepping in the backyard, you were shocked to see Gohan in his old uniform, trying to teach Pan how to throw a punch gently. He always said he hated fighting while you were together, but he did love his daughter, so maybe his love for her surpassed that

📚 Walking up and sitting beside Piccolo as he watched the two human-Saiyan hybrids, you asked how long they had been doing this and what he did to get Gohan out of his office

"Just Pan's baby-eyes did the trick. They've been doing this for around 20 minutes, Gohan's been teaching her simple fighting moves. Kicking, punching, even slapping... don't know why the last one though."

"Eh, you never know." You giggled.

📚 Piccolo smiled as Gohan tried teaching Pan to fly, resulting in her falling on her butt and him panicking and looking for any kind of wound on her body. You sometimes wonder if you married a hypochondriac

[strongheartneteyam]

I wet you like water but she stained you like blood.

Chapter 4

Pairing: widowed!dilf!Jake Sully x younger!female!human reader

CW: jealous-in-an-unhealthy-way-Jake, Jake and y/n verbally fight because of complicated feelings, angst!!, heated make out session, possessive Jake, TRIGGER WARNING for Jake being toxic and unreasonable, Jake apologizes afterwards bc he's good after all, Daddy kink (nothing explicit but still the kink is there)

So… after this fic being on an incredibly long hiatus, I'm back with another chapter. I had this in my Google Docs for way too long but I was not sure if I wanted the story to go this way but I guess I do. I'm extremely insecure about this chapter, so, please, leave me your opinion about it. Love you guys <3

Not proofread. I'm sick n sleepy. Sorry :(

Chapter 3 𓆩♡𓆪

You know I'm good at keeping secrets, you know that you're my weakness and I'll always repeat it

If I could hold onto the feeling back before your words lost their meaning

There's no need for apologies 'cause, honestly, fuck your honesty, I'm done

Think you like the insanity

I'm the casualty of your dreams 'cause I'm not the one

casualty of your dreams (Maggie Lindemann)

𓆩♡𓆪

Rumor had it there was a human girl that worked in the lab being all lovey-dovey with an Omatikaya young guy. They had gotten it from the fact that you were just talking to and smiling at an Omatikaya male you had met in one of your walks in the woods to collect samples. You had just found out the na'vi could be as fond of gossiping as humans… Great. As the word runs fast as the wind on the Pandora planet, three days after you finally see Jake again. He had been gone for 3 whole days, not even paying a quick visit to the lab to see you for some minutes, really early in the morning, - like he always used to do - when he was already awake to do some Olo'eyktan tasks and you were up with your face buried in science books about extraterrestrial flowers and herbs, a cup of hot black coffee on the table, right next to your hand for easy access, as you survived only because of the caffeine, having to wake up so early almost every day. Sometimes being a xenobotanist truly sucked... 

"Who's that Omatikaya boy you were seen with? People are saying you were all over each other." Jake spit, rage and jealousy burning his insides, bursting like a bomb inside of the cold, filled with cold air coming from the air conditioner room you were in, sitting down, taking notes with an electronic pen in your tablet about the herb samples you were conducting a research about.

There were microscopes, high tech computers, Pandoran plants samples and xenobiology books all around. 

"What?!" You said, startled by his sudden, noisy appearance.

"Don't pretend you have no clue! You were there, y/n." Jake says, a cold smirk filled with anger adorning his face, the feeling of his heart being crashed and bruised even stronger than when he first heard the news harassing him

"What the hell, Jake?!" You say loudly, mad at him "why are you being so rude to me?!" Your heart was beating fast inside your chest cavity. You couldn't believe Jake was treating you that way. "Why did you burst into the room like that, without even knocking on the door, like you usually do?! You scared the shit out of me!"

"Won't you just answer my question already?!" Jake said, in a cutting tone

That was the last straw. You had enough.

You swiftly stood up from the high chair you were sitting on and came closer to Jake, looking up at his usually yellow bright eyes that were now tainted with a dark atmosphere, like a rainy grey cloud was around him, his 9 feet something frame towering over you, but you were so damn angry that you didn't feel a single bit of fear, even knowing he was incredibly mad and seemed out his damn mind and you knew that he could even kill you so goddamn easily if he wanted to. Not that you thought he did. You could never see Jake doing something so horrible, especially to you. It was just a fact: he was ridiculously stronger than you. His height and his muscles, plus the fact he had military training and so much experience at war, making him a dangerous adversary right now. You thanked any Higher Force that existed in the Universe that you were sure and confident Jake would never hurt you physically.

But he was hurting you in another way, a very detrimental one: he was hurting your feelings. Hurting your feelings good.

"No, Jake Sully. I won't answer you until you stop being such a goddamn jerk." You said, a serious, stern expression in your heated with anger face as you stared at his eyes

He looked you dead in the eyes and breathed heavy though his nose, supporting his back against the wall, his body inclined back, his huge toned but a little fleshy arms crossed in front of his chest. He calmed down a little and was waiting for you to talk.

"Thank you!" You spit, rolling your eyes at him "I was, yes, talking to an Omatikaya boy. But that was all. He was really nice and we were just having a good time. Nothing happened. I even told him that I had someone. Didn't say who it was, though. I don't know if he was interested in me. I'm not that good at noticing these things."

"Hah, so he was flirting with you! I knew it!!" Jake was lost in his jealousy. You didn't recognize the man in front of you

"Jake!! Are we gonna do this all over again?!" You were getting way too mad at his attitude 

Jake tilted his head to the side, furrowed his lips, eyes on yours, scorching your very soul.

"Why can't I be mad? He was messing with what's mine." He stated, fierce.

"Ahaha" You laughed sarcastically

"Unbelievable…" You thought

"So, you don't make our relationship official, you don't let your family or anyone in Pandora know, everybody thinks you just like to talk to me about sciencey stuff, Norm might be the only one that suspects of something, in my opinion , but he minds his own business and respects our friendship - with me and with you - way too much to go around gossiping to people about the fact you always come way too often to the lab and spends a lot of time alone in rooms with me, and you have the audacity of acting like a mad man when an Omatikaya guy, who has no damn clue you're dating me, seems interested in me?! Is that the way you're gonna act, Sully?! Really?!"

Jake still stared at you, angered.

"Yes." He said, in a low, calm tone. But you could feel his cold demeanor coming towards you. He was still angry and still though he was right.

You chuckled faintly, your face tainted with disbelief "Manchild." You said, looking into his eyes.

Jake sighed heavily, spent some seconds with his head down, seeming to be thinking about something and then, he came closer to you, his eyes softer this time, that anger flying away slowly.  

"I'm sorry. You're right. I'm being childish. I'm way older than you are. I should be the mature one here."

You looked at him, eyes still distrustful, but you gave in and calmed your nerves down too.

Jake looked at you with puppy adorable eyes, the way he used to look at Neytiri when they were young. Even after so many years, he still had that cute look in his eyes when he was sorry, or pleading for something or when he just wanted to show his true feelings to someone he had romantic feelings for. He wasn't the romantic type, but he showed his love through actions, through acts of service, quality time, physical touch, and, through looking at the person he loved - in this case, "the person he liked", you thought - that way. His eyes said everything his mouth couldn't say.

"Please, forgive me, baby. I didn't mean to hurt you this much. I was foolish, I was letting my heart guide me. That's not good, sometimes." He sighed, upset with himself "it's just that... you mean so much to me. I don't wanna lose you to someone else. Someone younger, who doesn't have a whole lot of baggage like I do, someone who can make you happier than I can."

You breathed through your nose, your chest felt tight, filled with anxiety and tension

"You will never lose me, Jake. Never. Don't worry about it." You looked at his pleading amber eyes, forgiving him "My heart is yours. You're always there. Everywhere I look, you're there. I listen to love songs from Earth thinking about you. Why are you so insecure?"

"No reason... I just... You're so precious to me. I need you so much. So much."

You gazed into his eyes, started to tip toe, trying to reach his mouth. It was stupid, you knew the height difference wouldn't let that happen, but, you were following your instinct to physically show him how much you loved him. That you were his and never wished to belong to anybody else.

Jake noticed what you wanted to do and took you in his arms, sweeping you off your feet, his arms beneath your thighs and initiated the kiss himself. Jake held onto your thighs tightly and strongly. He kissed you like a starving man finally getting some food. His tongue wildly touching yours, licking it, sucking on it. His lips bruising yours, leaving your mouth reddened afterwards.

His big blue hands moved from your thighs to hold onto your butt, carefully to not let you fall from his arms, as you were up in the air and could get hurt if you fell.

"Nobody can touch you. Or kiss you. Or fuck you. Only I can. Do you understand, sweetheart?" Jake spoke, almost whispering, out of breath because of the heated kiss

"Yes, Daddy." 

"Good girl. My good girl. Only mine." Jake praised you

𓆩♡𓆪

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[emmasmoke8]

Been thinking about a Sonic movieverse swap, so you guys will have to listen to it:

First movie - Shadow’s asteroid crashes on Earth in the present. Instead of farmers and G.U.N., Maria Robotnik finds Shadow. Her grandfather is currently at a convention in San Francisco, leaving her home alone. She and Shadow bond until G.U.N. comes to investigate the asteroid drop. Maria and Shadow escape, deciding to get to Maria’s grandfather since he’ll either be able to protect Shadow or send him back to space. They road trip.

They’re pursued by Agent Stone, a high-ranking agent in G.U.N., and Stone’s assistant, Dr. Ivo Robotnik (which confuses Maria b/c Gerald never told her she had other family). Ivo makes robots, and Stone commands them like a general. Although Ivo’s the assistant, he’s still very egotistical about his position and how robots are superior. Stone, for his part, is so military-minded that he doesn’t even realize he puts up with Ivo’s BS because he loves—I mean, whatever Paramount says Stone feels about Ivo (they’re not fooling anyone)

The plot from there is mostly the same (tho Maria’s the reason they end up at the bar lmao). Shadow is allowed to stay with Gerald and Maria at the end, and they banish Stone to the mushroom dimension using a machine that Gerald made that repurposes Shadow’s chaos abilities (since they don’t have rings)

Second movie - Stone is rescued by the time traveler, Silver, who wants to defeat Shadow since he believes the Black Arms stole the (Master Emerald? But for the Time Stones). Silver and Stone go after Shadow while the hedgehog is home alone because Maria and Gerald went to somewhere for some reason (maybe a wedding still?). Shadow is rescued by Amy, someone who also came in search of the Time Stones in order to fix Little Planet. The plot also goes the same way, tho Shadow doesn’t so super, he goes… whatever the Time Stones make someone (which I actually have ideas for)

Amy and Silver fix their planet/future. They stay with the Robotniks, becoming the protectors of the Time Stones together

Third movie - Fifty years ago, Sonic escaped from Longclaw getting killed. He was immediately found by G.U.N. Still a young hoglet, he naturally gravitated toward Agent Tom and Dr. Maddie, a guard and scientist, respectively, at the blacksite. Sonic grew up with them as his parents. Eventually, he caused a universe blackout that made G.U.N. deem the project too dangerous. He tried escaping with Tom and Maddie, but Tom was killed. Maddie was imprisoned. Sonic was, too, and put in stasis per Director Rockwell’s orders (she’s switching with Walters)

Once Maddie’s freed, she frees Sonic and they plan to take out G.U.N., the rest of the world be damned by the crossfire. His freedom makes G.U.N. contact Shadow, Amy, and Silver for assistance

Maddie and Stone are not family, but Maddie does get into his head, first by appealing to his militaristic senses and then by learning part of him does want a family. She’s motherly to Stone up until they fight in the Eclipse Cannon

Sonic and Shadow have their Time Stone-powered fight and reconcile. Sonic and Stone sacrifice their lives to stop the Eclipse Cannon

Mid credit scene, I guess Shadow Androids show up, and Tails arrives to help Shadow stop them

Post credit, Sonic picks up his glove

[primeofprimes115]

Overwhelming Burden - Supergirl x Male Reader

Note: Fluff 🥰 and Angst 🥺

I've just read the Zero Hour 30th Anniversary comic #1 not long ago and... Honestly, it's such a good comic, biggest highlight for me is seeing Supergirl wearing a black suit with the silver S on the suit and cape, the silver belt, bracelets and black gloves (In the comic, there's instances where she's wearing black gloves or not which is a little weird but in this imagine, she'll be wearing black gloves, another image will be shown in the imagine later of her wearing black gloves) are a nice addition as well... And pants! Best suit I've seen in a while.

This is a world where Superman is dead, dead after his fight with Doomsday and where Batman never came back because he's broken, so pretty much retired and Batgirl is Gotham's Knight now while Supergirl is Metropolis's protector. Diana Prince is no where to be found so Donna Troy is the new Wonder Woman also. They what would be the New Trinity in those words.

Supergirl in this comic however is supposed to be Matrix aka Mae Kent, but DC for some reason wanted Kara Zor-El/ the original Supergirl to be mentioned in this rather than Matrix Supergirl which is a little odd but I'm not complaining. Spoiler for those but Donna named dropped Supergirl as "Kara" in the comic, so... I suppose it's Kara Zor-El, again it's a little odd, ain't complaining, I honestly don't mind.

So in other words... This imagine is inspired from this. Hope you enjoy!

Credit also goes to @bisupergirl for the pics!

Metropolis, once a city that was defended by a man who revolutionized the way Aliens were welcomed on Earth, a man that changed the world with more superheroes making their debut, along with the added threat of supervillains and those that had an agenda against him. He was a man who only found out he was in fact an Alien once he found out where he really came from.

His parents, Ma and Pa Kent, aka Martha and Jonathan, once told him he came from the stars one day, crashing down onto Earth in a small pod not far from where they lived in their farmhouse, and finding a newborn wrapped in a red cloth that would be used as his cape when he grew older to become...

Superman.

He inspired many, became Earth's Champion, defended Earth and Humanity from many threats, though he couldn't always do it alone, he eventually had allies that formed the Justice League that vowed to protect Earth from any known threat known to Humankind.

Clark Kent of the Daily Planet and from a little town called Smallville, Kal-El of Krypton, Superman, the Man of Steel, Man of Tomorrow, once an icon, a hero, a loving Husband and son to all that loved him.

He was once the fabled "Last Son of Krypton" until one day, that changed... When another pod came crashing down onto Earth, holding a young blonde haired girl, who was petrified, confused, unaware of how long it has been after being in hypersleep for many years, sent from her planet of Krypton alongside her cousin, before her pod was knocked off-course.

Kal didn't know at the time, but the arrival of this girl changed his life forever and for the better, this girl was his cousin, Kara Zor-El, who would later become Supergirl and wear the same colors and family crest, one that Clark learned more about from Kara, all about the House of El, their family, his and her parents... Some he already knew from the Fortress of Solitude that was created by the Kryptonian crystal that he put into the ice in the North Pole.

Things were going very well with Kara's introduction to Earth, adopted by the loving Danvers family, she took the name "Linda Lee Danvers" to blend in and hide her powers, though at times she wasn't great at controlling them, she was taught how to.

From going to Earth school, to meeting the one guy that she befriended, the boy named Y/N, which the two eventually began to fall for one another during high school, becoming somewhat high school sweethearts. Clark supported the fact Kara found someone she liked, someone to keep her on her toes when unexpected, she eventually introduced Clark to Y/N, letting him know of the other secret they hadn't told him yet. Their Kryptonian heritage which was a big surprise to the young boy at the time, she even took him on a flight to convince him further.

Around this time, Kara being 16 years old, she debuted as Supergirl, cousin of Superman. Embracing the whole Girl of Steel part of herself to defend her new home from enemies alike. Sporting a blue top with a red skirt and gold V-shaped belt, a short red cape with a golden S on the back as opposed to wearing the same S on her top with a red background just like her cousin, showcasing the House of El sigil proudly.

At first, the world wasn't sure how to accept Supergirl, but eventually not long after, they did with Superman's help. Kara was more happier than to be both Linda Lee Danvers and Supergirl.

But... Not everything is forever...

With some years going by and now with Kara have been Supergirl for three and a half years...

A Doomsday descended upon Earth... Many heroes answered the threat and couldn't stop it without cutting losses.

It was Superman who saved the day... But at a heavy cost...

His own life, succumbing to his wounds and the world fell silent once the news broke out.

Earth's Champion... Superman... Had been confirmed dead, giving out his life to fight Doomsday, the fight was nothing more than brutal and destructive, Metropolis was wrecked and battered by the events.

His death hit many heavily, Kara especially. There was supposed to be a surprise for Kara, before Doomsday came to be, but Y/N called the surprise off, in exchange to grieve, knowing it wouldn't be the right time to propose to the girl he has always loved.

In honor to grieve her cousin's death, Kara made the decision to change up her suit and colors, now sporting a black top, long cape and pants, with a silver V-shaped belt, bracelets and the S and shield, colored silver, even on the back of her new black cape had the S colored in silver, also supporting black gloves over her hands. The bracelets both have a diamond shaped sigil on the front, even the belt too, unlike her previous suit.

No longer blue, red and gold. Just a black and silver look, the world took notice of this change, seeing a black and blonde blur zoom past on multiple occasions throughout the world, it didn't take long for people to know it was Supergirl, now having a wardrobe change since the last time she appeared on camera months ago.

Some asked why? The obvious answer was simple... Coming from her.

"To honor my cousin" she said nothing more after. She refused to take anymore questions about anything else, it was nothing but a bother to her.

She became Metropolis's new protector, Earth's New Champion and part of the new Justice League that was put into place, post Doomsday and Superman's Death within a year later.

Kara was well known to he amongst the newer Wonder Woman and the Batgirl that has taken over Batman's duties after he mysteriously "vanished" when more forces played behind the scenes in that regard.

Meanwhile, still being Supergirl, her lover, Y/N, now loving Husband, having gotten married a few months ago, remained behind as the ever-loving House Husband, in their now shared apartment building, every day and night when Kara came back from her duties as Supergirl, he'd be the one greeting her when she came back.

But as of recently... Kara's been barely getting home than usual, skipping lunch dates, dinners, her usual work before she quit and the two had a fairshare of arguments then and there about the issue, as mostly every married couple eventually argues over something.

This morning was no different, it was the same as usual, Y/N always said that her being Supergirl didn't had to always be a thing, he wanted her to be Linda Danvers for a day or two, but she kept refusing the idea, Supergirl was needed day and night, it was her duty, her vow to fill in Kal's shoes.

Y/N made the argument that Superman wasn't always needed and this only infuriated Kara further, where their argument turned a little more heated. Y/N hated arguing with her about this, this was the first ever heated argument with her and he felt bad bringing it up. Kara was still hurting about Kal's death. There was one thing he did say that was true...

He felt neglected by her now, he hadn't been hugged by her in the last few weeks... Or even kissed by that matter and he missed having her lips on his

Kara was nothing but frustrated and moody mostly in the last few months, the last time he ever saw her smile much was during their wedding day and the entire week. It was like something switched off in her that caused her to be like this.

Could it be that something has happened? Something so bad, it's keeping her awake at night and not as the forgiving girl she was before?

She wasn't a Girl-Scout, but there was times she was, and it rarely shows today.

Y/N spent all day to himself once more, still thinking back on the argument he had with Kara this morning before she left, getting groceries, doing the laundry, keeping an eye on their cat, Streaky, before he eventually began to relax for the day. Not having to do any online work since Kara quit her Human job.

He sat on the couch, his Playstation controller in hand, playing a story-driven game before he paused it to go grab a drink.

His mind was still on the argument they had this morning, his eyes caught onto the plate of food, covered by tin-foil, dinner that was made for Kara for when she would come back at the usual time but again... She hadn't come back yet.

Y/N knew not to worry much, but it became increasingly hard for him, he loved her so much, despite the arguments they've had since getting married.

But he was worried, he was worried that she was beating herself up over everything that's happened, and it showed in her face, her body language.

The pair haven't kissed or hugged in the last two weeks and he missed being held, being kissed, being flown by her, he misses the old Kara, the old Supergirl...

The old Linda Danvers he fell in love with...

Just as he poured some fresh OJ, Y/N heard a pair of boots land on the wooden flooring by the window. He briefly looked to see Supergirl, his wife, who had seemed to look like she had been tossed around and thrown into the surface of the sun yet again, nothing more than usual.

His heart swelled to see her, but it hurt knowing she was probably still mad at him. He knew he wasn't wrong, but he just wanted to patch things up, like a normal married couple would.

"You're back" he stated the obvious with a lowered tone, but a tone she could pick up with her super hearing. "I... I was beginning to worry, but... I'm glad you're okay" he gave a little smile at the corner of his lips but it soon vanished after taking a sip of his drink.

Supergirl hadn't said anything back to him, she only looked at the TV to see what he had been doing in her absence, before noticing Streaky as she shakes her long, black cape, wiping off dust particles.

'Ugh, gonna have to get that cleaned up' he mentally noted before taking another sip from his drink. "I made dinner again, it's cold now but I ca-" a whooshing sound interrupted him and he was met by Kara who had zoomed up close to him after looking him in the eyes, completely surprising him. He almost dropped his glass of fresh OJ once she zoomed up at him in a nano-second.

"K-Kara?".

There was nothing but pain and hurt in her eyes before grabbing the sides of her cape and lunged her arms around him, wrapping her cape around him also as her body began to quiver and tremble.

She dug her face into the crook of his neck and her breaths became shaky, Y/N could only stand there with a surprised look on his face as Kara... The Girl of Steel, his wife, Supergirl, had began to break down emotionally from what it sounded like.

Then he could hear her sobbing into him, little sobs of sadness washing over her as she clung onto him hardly but gently, not wanting to let go just like any other time he'd tried to hug her.

"Y/N" she mumbled with a shaky breath into his neck, her messy blonde hair tickling the side of his face. "I-I-I" she couldn't speak her words, sadness overwhelming her as tears flushed down from her closed eyes that began to soak the T-shirt's fabric on his shoulder, crying even harder by the minute.

Y/N wrapped his arms around her figure quickly, who was clinging onto him like she was holding on for dear life, he accepted the hug he longed to get from her, it broke his heart hearing her sob and cry, feeling his shoulder getting wetter by the minute from all the tears she was shedding. Her words coming out trembling and mumbling nonsense

"Oh, Kara" Y/N cooed to her, rocking a little left to right while feeling the warmth of Kara's long cape wrapped around him and her, her arms holding him into place while a hug carried out.

"I-I... I'm so s-s-sorry!" she cried harder into him, her sobbing getting more prominent as Y/N tightened his arms around her, even his breaths began to get shaky at this moment, he felt her words hitting him in the heart. "I-I".

"Sshhh, i-it's okay" he cooed to her softly.

"N-N-No! I-It's not o-okay!" she denied that fact, struggling with her words still, but Y/N understood what she meant.

Yes... It wasn't okay, he could clearly see and hear it, with a crying Supergirl in his arms, also embracing him with her cape wrapped around him to cling onto him as she cries and sobs, overwhelmed by drowning dread and grief.

He always had a feeling eventually Linda/Kara L/N would be overwhelmed with this, mostly overwhelmed with the burden of being Earth's Champion twenty-four-seven, since Superman's death, she's been nothing but mostly Supergirl the entire time, the only acception she wouldn't be her superhero self was at the wedding and the week following that with the honeymoon.

"Let it all out, it's okay, my Sunshine" he cooed further though he stumbled on his wordings, calling her by a nickname he had for her, one she hadn't heard in a while which made her sob harder. "Let it all out" he told her once again, letting the broken Girl of Steel cry on his shoulder, just like he once told her that if she needed a shoulder to cry on, she's got him.

He could remember the days when they were in high school, remember when they were fifteen years old, he'd stop by the Danvers's place to hang out with Linda and her two other friends that she made in class, he remembered getting to know them better since he had different classes from them, and only a few classes where he and Kara would be seated near each other, often not sitting next to one another.

The days where he first began to crush on Linda, he found her the most adorable and smartest girl in the world, to him? She was everything he wanted. He didn't have much friends, most were into edgy stuff, which didn't match his tastes.

But Linda? She was into anything, she was cool to him, smart, had a sense of humor, was fun to be around and was pretty defensive for him against his bullies, once publicly embarrassing one of them by flipping him over her shoulder, on the verge of breaking the bully's arm, potentially ruining his placement for the basketball game coming up that time.

Once everything had calmed down, along with Kara's sobbing, and apologies were made about all the arguments they've been having, the two pulled back from the hug and kissed, lips-to-lips for the first time in two weeks, a kiss both surely had been missing, a long kiss between them with their lips slowly smacking off each other in a slow dancing way.

His hands caressed her cheek with his thumbs swiping away at any stray tears that fell down from her eyes which they did once they began to kiss, Kara's cape still wrapped around him and herself, not even thinking of letting go any time soon.

"Y/N" Kara broke the silence after the long kiss they had, the kiss she could clearly see that Y/N had been dreading for, a kiss of closure in other words. "I... I thought about what you said this morning, and... You're right, I have been... Neglecting you as of recently" she painfully admitted, her voice croaking as she spoke.

"No, no. I was wrong to say that" Y/N backed down from what he said, taking back the hurtful thing he said this morning. "I shouldn't have said that in the first-".

"No" she interrupted. "It's the truth. All I've thought since..." a pain arose in her chest as she felt it flare up from what she was about to say, struggling to speak a little.

"I don't think you need to say" he told her, knowing what she was going to say, as it was clear as day...

She took the burden of being the next Symbol of Hope, the carry on the shoes and burden that Superman alone carried with him through his actions and heroism, Supergirl was a role model to most, if not, all people as expressed through her actions and words alone. She didn't want to be like her cousin, she wanted to be her own person.

She once admitted to him the fact she was scared she'd end up losing herself because of the fact that there could be one day he might die and she'd have to pick up where he left off being Earth's Champion, but Clark gave her sound advice. Like him...

She had family and friends to help her carry the burden if she struggled, to carry on without him if he were to die, which happened.

"I visit that statue every day" she sniffled, looking into Y/N's eyes still. "Wishing he'd be here today still, wondering what it would be like to have him around again" she closed her eyes and sighed with a sadness that could be seen in her face. "I miss him... So, so much" she croaked.

"I know, I miss him too" he laid a finger under her chin and raised her head so he could look into her eyes, tears forming her eyes once more before one fell down onto Y/N's thumb. "But you're not alone, Kara. Being Supergirl twenty-four-seven hasn't done you good, you look stressed and tired, which is concerning considering Kryptonians don't get tired from what you've shown" he made a valid point across to her, but she seemed to have heard it before.

"You sound like Babs".

"Do I know?" he chuckled. "Well... If I was Barbara, I think she'd also be correct".

This prompted to make the Girl of Steel smile just a little, which was enough for him to point out with a little smile back at her.

"There she is, there's the smile".

"Don't ruin it" she groaned.

"I'd never" he smiled, giving out a little laugh that was a little contagious for Kara, a soft laugh escaped her before it died down, with her sighing next.

Y/N pushed a strand of Kara's hair behind her ear, seeing the other half of her face that was hidden by her golden hair. "I think... You should take off the suit and Supergirl" with his eyes he traced out the House of El glyph on Kara's chest. "...could use a good break for a little bit, you can have someone else fill in for you, clear your mind a little with me" Y/N suggested to her, though he knew she wouldn't like it, now that things had been settled between them, he wouldn't lose his chances.

And Kara knew it...

"I can heat up your dinner, or you can probably use your heat vision since it's quicker than the oven" he snorted, getting a faint laugh out from Kara while she smiled, his face brightened up again noticing it. "And we can also... Cuddle on the couch, put on a movie of your choice, not my pick because you know I'm picky" he suggested further.

"Or..." Kara unwrapped her arms off him for a moment before wrapping them back around, only around the crook of his neck this time around with her cape billowing slightly behind her due to the window being open still on a cool windy night. "I can take you on a flight?".

"Ohh" Y/N caught himself between two hard choices. "Hmm... Maybe tomorrow you can take me on a flight, how about that, Sunshine?" he answered.

"Deal" she nodded before smiling a little more, finally answering after a minute. Deep down he was right from earlier when she thought about it, her being Supergirl twenty-four-seven has done her no good, it put some strain on the relationships she's got with her loved ones, her adopted family especially and Y/N, who love her all the same, she had a prior visit to them before coming back, wanting to reconcile which was as emotional as it was already.

"It's your favorite, by the way, from your adopted mother's recipe" he smiled as Kara x-rayed the plate with the tin-foil over it, spotting a Lasagna and coming from him, it was Edna Danvers recipe of her Lasagna.

"I thought I smelled something familiar" she noted while looking at the plate.

"Go on" he gestured his head toward the plate.

"You want some? There's plenty left for us to share" she offered, unwrapping her arms off him and began to walk up to the plate.

"Nah, I'm good" he declined politely.

"You sure? In case you end up eying it up anyway" she smirked, taking off the tin-foil gently though unnecessary to do it gently.

"I had like... Maybe two plates earlier, cooked a bit too much, I'm full still" he gestured. I'll wait on the couch for you, gonna turn this game off and that".

"Okay, Love" she nodded and smiled before she looked at the food, her eyes soon lit up red before she quickly heated up the food with her heat vision, heating it up to the right temperature, just for her.

Taking the plate, she saw her Husband save his progress and switch off the game, she had a little fond memory of him kicking her ass at a fighting game when they were younger, back when things were simpler when Clark was still alive.

"Y/N" Kara broke the silence yet again.

"Yes, my Sunshine?" he answered.

"I love you, I really love you, you dork. Always remember that" she smiled once again, stabbing her Lasagna with a fork that was left on the table next to the plate earlier before taking it to her mouth to savor the taste of the food.

"I love you too, Linda L/N" he smiled back at her, her face noticeably brightened as she strolled over with her plate of food in hand... 

______________________________________________________________

Fin...

Word Count: 4078

[addynosketchpad]

here's a list of my aus

Random Fire AU - A random fire scatters everyone. People die, people get hurt, people try to find their friends. Lightning struggles with survivor's guilt after watching both Marker and Fanny die in front of him, even as Bubble tells him it wasn't his fault. Black Hole kidnaps his friends. Blocky and Woody probably make out in a tent. Inspiration: A dirty eraser I found in my art box and decided to draw as Eraser BFDI.

Hallucination Cabin AU - A mysterious cabin in the woods. If you go in, you'll get lost in all the doors and hallways. When you do find the door, your friends will tell you that it's not so bad, you could stay here forever. The problem is that none of your friends actually came here with you. Inspiration: idk man. i just wanted angst i think

Rainbow Rocks AU - Death PACT Again takes the place of the Rainbooms in the Rainbow Rocks movie. The original Alliance takes the place of the Dazzlings. A few story bits get changed because Bubble would never try to feed on people's hate and arguments. Inspiration: My Little Pony Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks

Friendship Games AU - Death PACT Again and are you okay FIGHT!!!! Meanwhile Pen is messing around with Black Hole's gravity power stuff and eventually turns into a weird human-singularity hybrid. And now Pie has to go stop him. Also features math. Inspiration: My Little Pony Equestria Girls Friendship Games

Bigender Eraser AU - Eraser is bigender. Eraser uses he/she pronouns. That's literally all it is. Nothing else changes. Inspiration: The "Give her here, Pencil!" argument

Villain AU - Tennis Ball gets himself stuck in a world where everyone he knows is a comic book villain. Fortunately Dynaslinger, Mischief Master, and the Puppeteer are willing to help him out! Also Roboty is the only normal guy Inspiration: i don't remember

Project SEKAI Imaginary Friendgroup AU - Fries plays guitar, Tree plays piano, Snowball plays drums, and Donut plays bass. They play music with either Hatsune Miku or just an Eraser hologram. Inspiration: Project SEKAI Colorful Stage Leo/need

Puffball Dies AU - Puffball dies in a car crash and Fries experiences heartbreak, grief, depression, and a lot of things that are supposed to happen to people you don't know. Inspiration: A drawing i made of Fries that said "i didn't know heartbreak was real"

Astrobio Swap AU - Black Hole is the smart guy with the simp-worthy voice, and Tree is the awkward guy who has nightmares about turning the planet into a jungle. Inspiration: swap aus in general

MLP AU - Everyone is a pony. i love pegasus balloon Inspiration: MY LITTLE PONY MOVIE

Fully Human AU - i don't think there's a main character but they all have normal names and eye/hair colors and also half of them go to school Inspiration: @/tarochimochi probably. and also the list of human names i made

Teenage Rocky AU - IT'S NOT A PHASE, BALLOONY!! THIS IS WHO I AM!! Inspiration: My friend saying "Teenage Rocky be like: BLEH."

Fankids AU - Fries and Puffball, Donut and Barf Bag, and Fanny and Tree get married and have kids (Wafers, Moldy Poptart, and Poison Ivy). Their kids all get along and like to do dinosaur excavations (digging holes). Wafers usually instructs the others on what to do. Inspiration: fankids in general

Murder Battle AU - BFDI but instead of challenges, everyone kills each other. Recovery centers are a huge part of it, of course. The trend continues through all the seasons. Eliminations are probably a lot nicer, ironically. Inspiration: @/wizwadry probably. and also just the idea of woody with an axe

Jinsei no Meiyaku! AU - If Death PACT Again were stereotypical anime characters. They fight the bad people who like to death. They also fight the Shi no Meiyaku. Which ACTUALLY means Death Pact. Inspiration: Anime stereotypes

Candy AU - Tree eats too much candy, turns pink, and starts a candy zombie outbreak. Inspiration: "yOs. my head just feels yuckAy and weird? but! i dOD fOind a time reversal ray!"

Pokémon League AU - 64 contestants compete in a Pokémon tournament. Spoiler: Roboty probably wins (Profily, Grassy and Rocky don't compete) Inspiration: Pokemon anime

Woodblock Marriage AU - Woody and Blocky are married and have a son who was probably created in a lab by Tennis Ball. Blocky is the fun dad and Woody is the eternally sleep-deprived dad. Inspiration: Drawing them with their kid…his name is Chunk because he is too large to be a splinter and too small to be a slab

Get Digging AU - Fries wakes up in a room with a dirt floor. Bomby, who kidnapped him, tells him to get digging, because the key to get out is probably underground. "Probably" does not mean 100%. He has been digging for months. Inspiration: I just wanted to see Fries suffer

Execution AU - Two is a psychopath and elimination means an execution and forever death. One, instead of being a scary kidnapper, might just be trying to save the contestants. Inspiration: Danganronpa probably

Nickel Hanahaki AU - Nickel is in love with Bomby. Bomby is not in love with Nickel. Nickel is vomiting flowers. He has days to live. Inspiration: Hanahaki in general i think

Stereotyped AU - Fries is a fat slob, Basketball is a jock, and Lightning lives off energy drinks. You probably get it. Inspiration: A BFDI wiki post about Saw, and also thinking about character impressions

Starworld AU - Black Hole is a dead star. Black Hole probably lived with other stars in a galaxy. Hey how cool would it be if there was a star parallel to every BFDI contestant. Inspiration: My cool and awesome Starry design

Snownutfrytreeraser AU - Snowball, Donut, Fries, Tree and Eraser are all boyfriends that's literally it. Inspiration: i don't even remember man

Struggles of a Rotten Tennis Ball AU - Tennis Ball yaoi addiction arc, minus the religious guilt (because it's just guilt overall) Inspiration: Confessions of a Rotten Girl which i have not listened to and don't plan to

Dreamcatcher AU - Black Hole watches/controls dreams. One night Fries wakes up as Black Hole is stepping into his nightmare, which leads to Fries getting dragged along as Black Hole's sidekick guy. His favorite dreams to watch are Bomby's. Inspiration: "what if Fries was forced to team up with Black Hole that would be funny" also Princess Luna

BEEP PACT AU - Death PACT is made of a bunch of fellas who wanted to prove themselves, and BEEP is made of a bunch of people Liy decided to force her help on. Inspiration: swap aus in general probably

the bad puffries au - Fries and Puffball are sadist x masochist instead of sadist x sadist. Inspiration: the idea of normal Fries beating up an alternate version of himself was really funny

gutted like a fish. AU - Blocky likes Woody. Woody rejects him. Woody thinks it's a good idea to follow Blocky into a dark alleyway. Woody is dead now and still trying to figure out if Blocky had any real feelings. No despair or heartbreak, just a lot of confusion. Inspiration: A post about shady guys asking for girls' numbers

one week AU - Woody wakes up in a very scary hotel he doesn't recognize. While he tries to find an exit, he ends up having to fight the mangled reanimated corpses of his friends/teammates. Inspiration: A post related to the Israel and Palestine conflict that disturbed me a lot

Pirate Puffries AU - Fries is a pirate, living his pirate life. Unfortunately he meets a nefarious siren and ends up liking her. Inspiration: i don't remember man

Gone and still forgotten AU - Have you ever seen me doodle Woody and Clock on the edges of drawings? Inspiration: DEAD FOR OVER A YEAR GANG RISE UP

[cozzzynook]

Pleasure bot Bumblebee who joins the autobot ship when the war breaks out.

He didn’t want to be aboard an autobot ship. He was on his way to a neutral planet when his transporting ship was gunned down in “friendly fire.”

His ship crashed offlining almost every bot aboard and the only reason he survived was because he transformed in time heavily damaging his alt mode.

When he woke up he was in an autobot medbay being treated by Ratchet who informed him he was on an autobot base. Bee wanted to transfer from the ship the moment he onlined but with how far they were from neutral territory he couldn’t. If decepticons saw him leave in an autobot spacepod he’d be shot down.

So Bee stayed and rejected any offers to become an autobot. He stuck to doing simple work around the ship and kept his helm down. He didn’t want autobots learning how he made a living. They typically were the bots who judged the most and did things even if they claimed to be the “good guys.”

It wasn’t until he met Optimus did he think autobots weren’t so bad. Optimus took an immense liking to Bee right away wanting the mini to keep besides himself as if he was a sparkling following their sire.

That put Bee even more in the light of others and Bee found himself knowing every bot on the ship. It was easy for bots to like him even strict bots like Ratchet and anti social mechs like Prowl. Bee didn’t particularly want to be close to any of them still and he wasn’t save for Optimus. But even then Bee kept his past to himself.

His frame was a reveal to his past of course. Being shaped like a femme did not help him any but since his pleasure bot stamp was hidden none knew. He was thankful Ratchet didn’t check his the fuel globe mesh on his chassis. That meant he didn’t know Bee was a pleasure bot or that he was a carrying mech.

Of course Bee long had his reproductive tank sealed shut, sure it was done illegally with dangerous methods but thats just how things worked before war broke out. Better to be a pleasure bot than a breeding bot.

Not that he liked either option.

He just picked the one with less complications.

Only complications still came when the autobots ship ran into the decepticon ship with none other than Megatron and his golden army.

The battle was intense and left both ships heavily damaged. Bee was taken to a part of the ship that was supposed to be safe but nothing was ever truly safe.

The door was broken in half and in walked one of the last mechs Bee thought he would ever get to see again.

“Hummel?”

Bee doesn’t know how much time passed as he stared at the large mech who once looked so different. The mech he used to laugh with under the solar system when they had a chance to meet. The mech he’d buy extra energon for so he could take it back to his friends and trine. The mech he once let stay in his suite when his own was burned down by the counsel. It turned into the two living together permanently and though the mech didn’t like his line of work he respected him and went out of his way to make sure he was safe.

The mech would sneak him treats that were his favorite and draw him when he was recharging in his berth or on his lap.

It was the best Bee ever felt.

But then one day the seeker just disappeared and Bee was crushed.

He once thought the worst had happened to him but now. Now he just wishes to be wrapped in his arms as he demands to know what happened and why he abandoned him.

“Frostwing?”

“I go by Blitzwing now, bug.”

“Blitzwing,” the name still tasted of cyber honey on his tongue and Bee found himself shedding a droplet from his optic which Blitzwing caught.

Bee hadn’t seen him move yet he didn’t feel threatened, he knew the mech was dangerous now if his speed was anything to go by. Yet he felt..old and new. A familiar stranger was holding him and he couldn’t stop himself from seeing the decepticon insignia.

Blitzwing halted in hesitation but Bumblebee laid a servo on his chassis above his engine and spark and leaned in with a smile.

“Vill jou come vith me hummelchan?”

“With you Blitzwing,” his spark pulsed deep, “always.”

-

[photogirl894]

Congratulations on all of the followers, Morgan 🥳

I'm popping in for a very simple event request. Fem!Reader x Fives with Prompt #6: A hug from behind. Something soft and sweet. I'm a sucker for physical affection 🥰

Please and thank you 💚💚💚

@the-bad-batch-baroness

Thank you so much, @the-bad-batch-baroness , my friend!! 💜

Oooh, I haven't written for Fives yet! This should be fun!! 😊

"Wherever You Are"

6. A hug from behind

Pairing: Fives x fem reader

***

Being a waitress at 79's was definitely one of the best jobs you'd ever had. A good majority of the Clones who frequented the establishment were very friendly and regaled you with plenty of thrilling war stories.

However, the biggest reason why working at 79's was the best job you'd had was because that was where you'd met Fives, your boyfriend and the sweetest, most loving man in existence.

He'd started off trying to flirt with you, just like how a lot of other Clones would, and you thought nothing of it, playfully going along with it, even though you did find him extremely handsome. Then one night, he sincerely told you he thought you were beautiful, kind and fun and he wanted to take you on a proper date since he'd be on Coruscant for a little while. That surprised you in a good way and you'd accepted...and boy, were you glad you did! He was nothing but gentlemanly and charming through your whole first date: opening doors for you, complimenting you and showing interest in you and your life. Which was so much more than any other man you'd gone on dates with.

Since that day, he spent as much time as he could with you when he was back on the planet. Even if you were working, he would just chill at 79's until your shift was over and then you two would go back to your apartment just to have time alone. Sometimes if his squad mates came with him, then you would hang out with them at the bar once you were off the clock and enjoyed a few drinks with him and his brothers. They were a good group of men whose company you enjoyed. They treated you kindly and with respect, seeing how much you meant to Fives. You couldn't be happier.

Fives had been gone on a mission for a while and you found yourself missing him more than usual. It had been a rough few days; you had crashed your speederbike because the other driver wasn't watching, so you had to take a good chunk out of your savings to pay for repairs. Then you'd had to kick out some drunk guys because they were getting too handsy with you and you got called some pretty nasty names. If Fives had been there, he would've beat those guys to a pulp for ever daring to lay a hand on you or for speaking to you in such a way. He would've defended your honor, even if you felt you could handle things yourself. You just wished he was there to talk to, to hold you while you just had a good cry over all the frustrations you were feeling...but you knew that he had more important things to worry about as a soldier. He had a duty to the Republic that he needed to fulfill first before his duty to you. That's what you had to keep reminding yourself.

Finally, your shift ended and the bar cleared out of patrons. It was just you and the music playing over the speakers, so you started cleaning the tables. A few minutes later, you heard the doors swish open behind you.

"We're closed," you stated without looking, continuing to wipe the table in front of you.

There was no response for a second and then all of a sudden, a pair of arms wrapped around your waist as someone hugged you from behind.

You then felt the familiar scratch of a goatee on your skin as the person nuzzled into your neck and said in a low voice you knew well, "Looks like we've got the place all to ourselves, then."

With a gasp, you flipped around in his arms and looked into the handsome, loving eyes of your Fives.

"Fives!" you cried, jumping up and throwing your arms around his neck.

His embrace tightened around, rocking you back and forth. "Oh, I've missed you so much, babe," he said to you.

"I've missed you, too," you replied. "I'm so glad you're back. It's been an awful last few days and I've wished so badly that you were here."

Fives tilted your head up and gave you a sweet kiss on your forehead. "Well, I can't have you feeling down anymore now that I'm here," he said. "Come on, let's go home. We can cuddle on the couch, I'll make you a nice cup of tea and you can tell me everything that's happened."

You tilted your head curiously. "Home? You mean my apartment?"

He snickered. "Babe, my home is wherever you are." Then he cupped your cheek and brought you to him, kissing you in a way that made all your worries and frustrations just fade away.

"You really mean that?" you asked him with a smile.

"Of course, I do. I love you," he confessed to you, touching his forehead to yours.

You'd had a feeling for a while now that he loved you, but the occasion to finally say so just hadn't come up yet, especially with him being gone on missions so much. It made your heart soar to finally hear those words from him at last.

"I love you, too, Fives," you said back, feeling a massive weight lift from you. "Now...let's go home."

Photogirl894's Physical Affection prompts

Photogirl894's 1,300 Followers celebration fics

[twilightkitkat]

You mentioned an alien AU and so I must ask you about humans are space orc's because I've also considered doing an AU of that for Deadclaws

I think it'd be really interesting to consider space/dimensional travel poolverine.

I feel like Logan and Wade would end up wanted intergalacticically. It'd be an interesting storyline if one of them was on the run from the space cops and the other got dragged along.

I could see that with Wade, it'd be because he was trying to protect his family and got caught up in some shit. Logan would be the mysterious criminal whose crimes we only find out later (mass murder and/or framed) and Wade was trying to do some illegal shit anyway so dragged him along.

Actually, a funny idea would be that they both meet in jail on some planet. Logan had been thrown in there and was the "tough prisoner" who'd beaten up the others (aliens included). Wade got thrown in there recently and saw him and decided to take his own advice and "befriend the biggest guy there." Who also happened to be his cell mate (who was unfortunately in solitary confinement when he first arrived).

Wade ends up helping Logan escape to Logan's complete and utter disbelief and they hijack a spacecraft and fly away. Wade is cackling as he nearly crashes the damn thing and Logan is clinging to his seat for dear life.

They end up on the run across planets and wind up trying to investigate the people who messed with Wade's family who end up being part of this intergalactic terrorist organization. They also end up getting stranded on odd alien planets along the way with weird survival conditions... Yuck.

Eventually, they end up acquiring A Crew which consists of Wade's movie canonical friends and Laura, who's basically their daughter. They wind up making a base on some planet away from everyone for some peace and spend their days traveling through space and taking on stray missions...

But there's a twist.

"Worst Wolverine" isn't the original Logan. He's an alien. A shapeless parasite who wandered from person to person for over 200 years and became practically immortal when he possessed a body because he strengthened their healing and regeneration. Who took over the original Logan's body after he died (or well, his brain shut down but his body was salvageable). He'd gotten the original Logan's memories and emotions after possessing him, all except for one traumatic day. The day the X-men died.

He'd taken him over after Logan had been brutally murdered by a gang of aliens who'd put an ability-restricting collar on him. He felt all of Logan's emotions and guilt and because of the fragments he thought he was the one who murdered them. So he let himself be captured and rot in jail as atonement. Until Wade came along and convinced him that life was worth living.

(Until he realized that he hadn't killed them. He'd gone berserk trying to protect them. It finally clicks in place when he confronts the organization that had taken Wade's family and they recognize him.)

[fashionteahouse]

Can you do a part 2 where readers friend leaves the bonfire after she's hears about the wedding plans but ends up running into Seth and Seth imprints so she moves in with reader and Jared and learns about everything but she still flirts with him and everyone can see what's happening besides Seth but they try to give her the benefit of the doubt besides Rachel, Paul, Jacob, Leah and Jared and one day readers friend kisses Jared and they end up having a meeting with both pack now that they are friends again about readers friends actions and that Jared will never love her because she isn't his soulmate and because her friend can't see that they have to vote on what happens to her and that she'll be no longer living with reader and Jared anymore and her and Seth argue that she's a imprint and that means something and she didn't mean to but then Sam says that Imprints do not try to get with someone else soulmate and they don't use the soulmate card to get out of punishments that their own actions caused and that she will be no longer welcomed into his and Emily's house and his Alpha Jacob agrees. You can choose the other details

i sure love a juicy storyline 🫖 hope you enjoy :)

thought i knew you part 2 - jared x reader

Watching the two love birds coo at each other and everyone else cuddle with their significant others, more than two steps was walked away from the scenery. With her head down, your friend walked away from the beach’s property with her arms crossed. She felt like life wasn’t being fair to her. She really liked Jared but of course he was unavailable.

As she’s walking her path, she sees a boy with cropped hair walking towards the direction of the beach. Hearing her footsteps, he looks up from his phone and stared right into her eyes.

She felt like she couldn’t move, feeling a wave of warmth swallow her. He thought she was the most important thing in the world that was holding him to the planet Earth. Walking slowly towards her to strike up a conversation, she got a good look at him. He was pleasant as far as appearance, but her mind was still stuck on Jared.

“Are you going to the beach?” she asked Seth. He nods and gives her a kind grin. Seth introduced himself and your friend does the same. Walking side by side back to the beach, Leah hugs her little brother and takes a good look at your friend who came back.

“Leah..I have to tell you something later.” Seth says and by his tone of voice, Leah knows her little brother has good news to tell her. Leah nods and goes back to her circle of friends.

“Do you want something to eat?” Seth offers and your friend shakes her head.

“Want to dance?" he offers instead. Your friend finally catches sight of you and you're talking and laughing with Leah and Rachel. Jared is vibing by himself having a drink. Your friend has an idea.

"Sure let's dance." she says and pulls him to where Jared can get a clear view. She dancing, swinging her hips to the sounds of music, but he's not even looking her way. Seth on the other hand, enjoyed himself a lot.

When the night was over for the people at the beach, they started to make their way back home. Seth rushes over to Leah and whispers to her, "I imprinted!"

"Wait, really? With who?" She asks and Seth points over to your friend.

"I'm happy for you." you say to him and he's smiling like he just won a million dollars.

Just then, you see your friend, making her way to your direction.

"Do you mind if I crash with you guys?" your friend asks you.

"Of course." you say and you're happy that she now gets to experience what you experience with Jared everyday. She crashes in the spare room.

The morning comes, Jared makes breakfast as you lead her to the table. "I see you met Seth." you say starting off and wiggle your eyebrows a bit. She places a hand under her chin and looks off into the distance, "Yeah.. He's nice." she then turns to the direction where Jared's back is facing the both of you as you he works on the stove top.

"Jared is a man who can cook?" she says impressed.

You chuckle and nod, "Yeah. I'm pretty lucky."

"Don't worry, shes still a better cook than me." Jared comments and this makes you playfully roll your eyes.

"Doubting your skills? You shouldn't do that." your friend comments.

Biting into the food, she makes sure to moan out and you look at her.

"This is soooo good, Jared." she says and you look to Jared.

"Oh, you're welcome. Do you like it." he says and asks the question to you, caring about your opinion above all.

"Yeah," you swallow and take another bite, "Really good."

Your friend watches as Jared smiles at you with a dopey smile and you return it, forgetting for a moment that you had company.

"Leave it in the bedroom." she says as she takes a drink.

Leah invited you all over, Seth decided to stay back instead of hanging out with his friends like he always did.

Seth is blushing and starstruck at your friend and you nudge her playfully, giving her a hint.

"Did you tell her, Seth?" Leah asks her little brother.

"No..." he says in a small voice.

"Tell her, you shouldn't be nervous." she says.

"I am not nervous." he says in denial.

"You are too." she says snickering. Seth mocking her laugh, making it sound uglier than what it really is, he walks into the kitchen where your friend was putting her empty cup into the sink. He greets her and she greets him back.

"Wanna go for a walk?" he asks and she was going to say no, but with the look he gave her, she nods and lets him lead the way.

On that walk, she learned about imprinting. Seth answered all of her questions. She asked to see his wolf. He guided her to a secluded area and the wolf stood before her. She took the last couple of minutes walking back to the house to process everything.

Coming back in, she sees the guys in the living room, watching a sports game that came on. Seth rushes to the couch, stoked that the game is still early in the game.

Your friend decides to have a seat on the couch with Jacob and Jared.

Jared comments on a foul play that happens, she gives him googly eyes and twirls her hair a bit.

"How do you know so much?" she says and he looks at her with the side of his eye, "Uh.. from watching it."

Paul shakes his head and Rachel comes in with a drink for Paul.

"Hey, I didn't know you came back. We're all upstairs." she tells your friend.

Your friend waves her off, "Oh that's okay. I want to stay with the boys."

"You don't have to stay here you know, it gets rowdy." Jacob says, trying to give her a hint to leave.

"It's okay. Let her stay." Seth says to him, glad that his imprint wants to stick around.

Rachel eyed at her weirdly, knowing for a fact that she's not interested in the game. Her and Seth aren't even remotely close to each other.

"Knock yourself out." Rachel tells her as she makes her way back upstairs with the girls.

"So, you and Jared are together because of magic?" she says to you as she helps you wash the dishes, at your place.

"I wouldn't say it's magic. It's more like fate. It's going to happen one way or another, imprinting just speeds up the process." you explain to her.

She changes the subject and lets you know she wants to move back. "You're moving back here for good?" you ask her happily.

"Yeah. I just want a fresh start. I guess this imprinting thing is speeding up that process for me." she says with a smile.

"Well, you're more than happy to stay with us if you have nowhere else to go."

Emily treats you all for breakfast at her place. You take your plate next to Jared after serving his, just to look down to see your friend sitting in the seat that you were trying to claim.

"I was going to sit there." you say casually, not trying to make a mean tone in your voice.

"You were? Dang, I'm sorry." she says but she doesn't move. You look at her puzzled and Leah speaks up, "Get out of her seat."

Your friend stares at Leah as she gets up and moves to another chair.

"You didn't have to be rude, Lee." Seth says to her. Leah shrugs her shoulders, not feeling sorry. She saw right through your friend and her actions and thought it was weird.

"I'm so glad everyone is here. We haven't had a breakfast like this, with all of us, in a long time." Emily says. Everyone comments on her food and how delicious it is.

"I was shocked to find out that Jared is also a great cook."

"And we do not care." Rachel whispers, rubbing her temples, making Paul chuckle while shaking his head.

"Rach, be nice." Sam says, trying not to have any type of trouble to be stirred up.

Jared went to sleep and you were leaving to go to the grocery store to buy dinner.

"Do you want to come?" you ask her.

She shakes her head and flicks through the television.

On your journey there, she gets up, bored to find nothing she liked. She stands up and looks around your house, looking at the pictures that you and Jared have hung up.

She makes her way to where Jared was fast asleep and she sees him in deep slumber. Raking her eyes over his defined muscles, she moved in closer. She sits on the very edge, trying her best not to make any movements that would make him wake. Seeing that his lips were full and right on display, she leans down and presses her lips to his.

Jared wakes up and jerks back, wiping his mouth.

"What the hell are you doing?" he says, getting out of the bed, away from her.

"You're cute when you're sleep." she tries to say seductively and crawls towards him slowly, trying her all mighty best to sway him. He wasn't having any of that. Dodging her, he grabs his phone and traps himself in the bathroom while dialing you up.

You rushed home, only to not find her there. Jared is shaking his head, "I'm calling Sam. I thought Seth imprinted on her?!" he asked in disbelief.

"He did! I don't get how she doesn't feel the pull or why shes still trying to pursue you." you say trying to bring some type of clarity.

Sitting at Sam's table, you glare across the table at your friend. Your friend, thinks its just a regular hangout. She ran to Seth's house, thinking you wouldn't believe Jared.

Jacob comes in at last with his arms crossed, standing at his full height.

"So, what's this I hear that you kissed Jared?" he says with bass In his voice, meaning business. Your friend looks as if a person who she thought was dead, had resurrected.

She stutters, face red from the pressure that was now on her, "I..Well... it was an accident."

"It was not an accident!" you exclaim at her as she shrinks in her seat.

"That's unacceptable." Sam says to her.

"Jared is Y/N's imprint. You can't just go after someone else's soulmate." Jacob explains to her.

"There's not much research on imprinting as a whole. Maybe she doesn't feel anything." Seth says, trying to back her up.

"I understand that Seth imprinted on me but..me and Jared have a connection! I can feel it!" she tries to explain herself.

"Jared will never have that connection with you. He can't and won't love you, it's impossible. Now, I know that you're living with them right now, but you have to move out." Jacob says to her.

"What?!" she says to him, rising out of her chair.

"She has nowhere to go Jake. She's an imprint, we can't just leave her out there to dry." Seth says, feeling bad for her, knowing she has nowhere else to go.

"She should've thought about that before overstepping her boundaries. Neither of you can use that soulmate card. It's no excuse." Sam says to back Jacob up.

"Can I at least stay with you guys?" She asks Emily, taking Emily's kind nature as weakness.

Sam shakes his head and Emily looks at Sam, letting him make the decision, "You can't stay with us either. In fact, I don't feel comfortable about you coming around her either and in this home."

"So what are we going to do with her?" Rachel says.

"She should be exiled off the tribe." Leah says with Seth for the first time, glaring at his sister.

"Leah, shes my imprint! Please!" Seth says and tries to plead with her, but she just shook her head disagreeing.

"I vote. Who else agrees?" Leah press on.

Everybody in the room agrees, making your friend furious, and Seth completely heartbroken.

"So, its settled. You'll be banished from La Push. The only way you can come back is when you two both seal the imprint and get married. After you seal it, it's impossible to cause destruction, as you are devoted to him." Jacob says and he stands on it. Everyone at the table agrees.

"What happens when I need to see her?" Seth asks sadly.

"You go to her. Just not on this property." Jacob answers for him and Seth puts his head down.

Filing out of the room, you bump her shoulder, looking and feeling disappointed. She moves her things out. You don't know where she lived after that but, Seth did leave the reservation to go see her. Everyone was on edge, but now relaxed, knowing that their relationships won't be sabotaged or tainted.

[agoodfictitle-shadowban]

From Vormir, With Love - Part 2

Tags: strangers to lovers, love in space angst on earth, slavery mention, alien abduction, post Endgame, will add as we go on

Summary: As you're being chased you crash on Vormir. So far, so bad. But things take a turn when you come face to face with a marooned Black Widow.

[Part 1] [here] [Part 3]

Word count: 3.1k

A/n: after some nice vacations I'm back! Thanks for all your support, and I hope you'll like this chapter!

Taglist: tbd

You were right, June didn't like you bringing one more person along. An Avenger on top of it. Still, she simply gave one look to the newcomer, groaned, and went back to her repairs. You could work with that.

Now, you're hanging in the cockpit of your ship, looking at the star chart. In the five years you spent drifting into space, you never managed to find Earth again. Most Aliens don't care for humans, and don't know where they're from. As for star charts, they cost an arm and a half, so you have to work with the one you have - one which of course doesn't give the common names of planets in human language and no translator has cracked it.

"What are you doing?" The voice comes from behind you, covering the snores of the rest of the crew in the background. Sleep doesn't come as easy to you, even if you have the privilege to have your own bed. For tonight, you decided to give it up to Tim. He looked miserable after the fight with Natasha.

"Looking up at the stars," you answer simply, eyes still on the chart.

"What are you doing in space?" She asks after a moment of silence.

"What are you?" You retort, not even contemplating answering her question, and finally looking up at her. Now that you know who she is, bitterness is starting to build inside you, for her and all the so-called Mightiest Heroes of Earth. You take a deep breath, you don't want to lose focus. "I know for a fact Avengers don't travel that far out without a reason, and clearly something happened." You point at the Aliens who came back from the blip. "Cause those guys appeared out of nowhere three days ago. So, what's up with that?"

"So it worked…" she whispers at first, in a sort of wonder, and you understand she had something to do with all that. She looks at you, searches your face, and for a bit you think she won't answer you. And then she smirks. That surprises you. "You're a smart one, aren't you?" She puts her feet on the board and you glare at them as she keeps talking. "I was here to save everyone from the snap. It's good to see we succeeded." She seems genuinely happy about it, but also troubled.

You hum, and you wonder if that's truly for the best. Memories from the day of the Snap flood back to you.

-

You had never been that scared in your life before. You had no idea where you were, if you were even still on Earth - you guessed that you weren't, because those… people were clearly non-humans. You remembered going to the convenience store down your street, after a long shift at work. The night had already set for a few hours at the time, and as you were about to pay for your ramen pack and soda, those things came out of nowhere. You tried to hide, to fight, but it was no use. You remember thinking that maybe, just maybe, someone would come and help you. The cops, the military, anyone. Maybe SHIELD or the Avengers had detected that strange activity, somehow, and they were on their way. But no one came.

The aliens took all of you, all the ones that were in the store, and the next time you opened your eyes, you were in what looked like a ship.

You were kept in a cell with the clerk from the store - June, you learned, an engineering student who was working two jobs to pay for college - and food was coming from the ceiling in bags. You quickly realized it was sedated, and stopped eating until your stomach begged for something, anything. Some of the aliens were walking around, probably to keep an eye on the prisoners, and you quickly noticed that the only ones armed were those who had six eyes and a weird stone in the middle of their forehead. There were others, they looked like they were only doing maintenance or cleaning. They had a collar around their neck. This lasted maybe a week, and you kept praying that anytime, at any moment now, someone would come to save you. But once again, no one came.

And then one day… no one came again. No guards. The prison doors opened for apparently no reason, and you took a step outside. Was it a trap? Your naked feet walked alongside other prisoners. Besides June, you couldn't understand any of them - they were all aliens speaking different languages, and the other three humans were nowhere to be seen. You found weapons, and fought some of the aliens. You managed to outnumber most of them with the other prisoners. Soon enough, you were aboard a ship and on your way elsewhere. You remember looking at the star chart with so much hope. Home. It was right there.

-

Home is nowhere to be seen.

"I wish you could be as optimistic as you." You shake your head.

Now, those Aliens have more manpower than ever, and will certainly come after you again. You will need to lay low for some time before you can keep going on your quest for Earth.

"You're not happy," Natasha simply states. It feels like you're raining on her parade, so you decide to reassure her in order to keep the peace. There is also this weird feeling in your chest that makes you like her smirk, and the stupid spark in her eyes, so you might as well try to keep it there even just for some personal gratification.

"No, it's probably good. Means more people to help us get back to Earth. Which, you wouldn't happen to have a star chart on you?"

"No. But I might know someone who does." Here is the smirk again, thinning her full lips that you could kiss right now if she is telling the truth. You lunge towards her and put your hands on her upper arms, one on each side, squeezing her. She looks surprised, eyes wide, almost ready to fight but she keeps it in her.

"Wait? Are you for real?! This would be fantastic!"

"Why don't we calm down first, hm?"

You want to throw a party and dance of joy. "Calm down? It's been more than five years!" You whisper yell to not wake up your guests. "I can finally go home!"

She decides you're a lost cause when she sees you walk towards June's quarters and almost fall from dancing happily between the bodies sleeping on the ground. Somehow, seeing this after the past few days makes her smirk slightly, her heart lighter. You disappear around a corner just as the memory hits.

-

When she opened her eyes, it was to a dark sky and crimson surroundings. Her clothes were damp from the small pools of water under her. Not far was the sharp cliff she jumped from. She remembered the last thing she saw. Clint. She sat up. He was nowhere to be seen, and she wondered if her sacrifice didn't work, because right now, she was very much alive. No. She should still be dead. She should still be… free. She swallowed. She never wanted to die. But. But… she stood up, as tired as ever, and checked her equipment. Her Widow's bites were fried, as were her comms, but she still had her sidearm. Now, she had to find Clint.

He was nowhere to be seen, she realized once she came back up the cliff. No one was here anymore, not even Red Skull, she was all alone. Alone. She was used to it, it was fine.

She checked her comms again. Still nothing, not even statics.

She sat down on the same rocks as earlier. Was it earlier? She searched around her pockets, and found her phone. She was barely able to make it work, but soon enough she realized what her problem was. She was back to today's time, after she left for the past. Clint wasn't here, not because he abandoned her, because the last time he was had been years ago. It suddenly made sense. What didn't was why she was here. But for now, she had a much more pressing question: how was she going to go back to Earth?

Luckily, fate gave her a quick answer.

In the horizon, light caught her eye. Someone was crashing here, and she would only hope to get to you before you left again. With no time to lose, she started her walk.

-

"Are you sure she isn't brain dead? 'Cause she ain't answering." June's voice brings Natasha back to the present. She arches an eyebrow and tilts her head the slightest in her direction.

"See, not dead," you say in triomph.

"Why don't you stop talking about me like I'm not here." Her tone is harsh, and it shuts up both of you. You rub the back of your neck and look away, ashamed, while June just crosses her arms almost in defiance. It's still enough to get back to the main subject.

"Whatever," June starts, "do you really know people who could help us?"

The irreverence aside, there is some fear in her voice, and it quickly clicks in Natasha's head: she's scared to get her hopes up. It's a fear she understood all too well; hope is always the first step towards disappointment. Hope is dangerous. But sometimes it's all you have, and she isn't about to disappoint those lost women.

"Yes, we just need to find them."

"And who are they exactly?" asks a very guarded June. You elbow her, and she simply send you a glare, ignoring your suddenly very shiny personality. You'd never been one to be pessimistic, despite everything that happened, you just knew how to hide it, but right now you were almost beaming with joy.

"Carol Danvers, ideally, then Peter Quill, or Thor, one of the two if we don't have a choice." She shrugs like this will be easy. To be fair, they are very well known individuals. June looks at you to see if you know who she's talking about, since you're well informed usually. You are always the one going outside the ship to find the missions. It takes you a second to know exactly who she's talking about, and you nod.

"Carol is our best bet, anyone with authority has a way to contact her. We can just go to the federation probably, but the Nova Corps could be closer. I think they have an outpost a few jumps away…" You're already thinking, looking back at your star chart to find the closest place where you can contact Marvel, or whoever the other two were - well, Thor you know, but the name of Peter Quill sounds made up, even if it titillates your brain. "I'll check the radio as soon as we leave Vormir's atmosphere. Something is blocking the communications."

June nods, then looks at Natasha with distrustful eyes. "You better be telling the truth or you'll pray you did."

Somehow, the threat works on you too and you move on your seat in discomfort. June always was the more serious of the two of you, and held an even bigger grudge against the Avengers than you did. It reminds you that maybe you should distrust a spy a little bit more, as you eye the ship's console. Natasha is less impressed, but still takes things seriously.

"I am," she simply reaffirms in all seriousness. You observe her, and she seems genuine to you. It looks like it's enough for June too, because she simply goes back to her bed.

"Sorry for June," you say when she's out of earshot. "She's… we both went through a lot. Makes things hard." Hard to trust, hard to forgive. You're happy that she could help, but you also know tomorrow the bitterness will still be there. Of course, Natasha knows too well what you mean, the vulnerability that comes with the short explanation, and she offers a simple nod in understanding, her eyes expressing all of her empathy.

You're thankful for it.

A small silence establishes itself, during which you look each other in the eyes. It's easy to fall in hers, the infinite pool of water so inviting, so full of hurt to learn and comfort to find. You could read a full life, and something more, a spark no one else had. It lasts a few seconds, before you get back to the star chart, and she stands up to go get some water. When she comes back, she brings some to you, and you thank her in a whisper. She starts to clean her weapons and tinkers with her widow bites to try and repair them. While she does that, she notices you talking to yourself when you plan your next course and smiles slightly while looking down. Her lips crack from three days spent in what was virtually a desert.

Somehow, it makes her think of home.

-

Everything is ready for take off, and as your hand hovers over the handle ,you send a look to June. She gives you a thumbs up, but you know she isn't as sure as she looks, you know she probably thinks there is a small uncertain chance you will crash again and not survive this time. But with the help of Natasha - turns out she's a good mechanic at least - and some of the maintenance crew, you managed to repair the ship earlier than June told you the first time.

"Okay, up and away we go," you whisper to yourself as you push the thrusters. "Let's hope."

The ship shakes under the building pressure, but it holds. You push them some more as you gain elevation, the ground further and further away, and before you know it, you manage to leave Vormir's atmosphere.

You let out a breath of relief.

The ship stabilizes under you, and you send a thumbs up to June this time. As you go back to the console, your gaze crosses with Natasha's, and you exchange a small smile. You only had brief talks since she joined you, but she always was nice to everyone, if a bit short with Tim. The giant humanoid feline was still suspicious of her, the same way he was suspicious of almost everyone. You mainly tried to ignore the small brewing conflict, but it was getting harder. For now, you were simply happy to be back in space and not in pieces.

"We're green across the board," you announced, and everyone let the reassurance lift the weight off their shoulders. You then focus back on the ship. You still had to have the autopilot calibrated to the nearest jump point that would allow you to access the Nova Corps, then, if you were lucky, Earth.

It takes you little time to get the autopilot calibrated, and once you do you notice Natasha is still watching you, where the others simply went back to their activities. She's leaning against the hull, her arms crossed, a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

"How did you learn to pilot?"

"Observation. When we… commandeered this ship–"

"You stole it?" She raises an eyebrow.

"They were bad people." She nods, and you continue. "We had aliens with us. I just watched them pilot and learned via observation."

"Not everyone could have done that. What did you do back on Earth?" Her interest starts to make you the slightest uncomfortable, but you simply answer with a shrug.

"I worked some job that barely matters anymore."

"Never had a flying lesson?"

You shake your head no, and you notice admiration in her traits. It seems like you impressed her.

"I'm impressed," she confirms. "It takes some exceptional skills to pick up something like that."

Somehow, it makes you blush slightly and your chest rises with pride. You look away to hide it as you feel conflicted, and decide it's probably because the only other person you spent time with the past few years has been June, and she's not one to show admiration for others. Definitely nothing to do with Natasha herself being incredibly competent, and pretty. Very pretty.

Your eyes can't help but wander back to her when you notice the way the dim lights from the ship are highlighting her sharp jaw and her cheekbones, her long lashes projecting their shadows on her delicate skin. You realize you're staring, and that she's actually staring back. It makes you slightly uncomfortable, as you feel that after five years, there isn't much to look at, so you decide to break the brief silence.

"It's not… maybe a bit but– you know, you look tired. Maybe you should rest or something?" You fumble to change the subject. She has the audacity to smirk, and you want to cross your arms like a petulant child who's been caught in the cookie jar. But she's nice, and simply agrees.

"I should. You should too, commander." There is some teasing behind her voice, and you sputter a bit. She doesn't wait for an answer before she ducks back to the other side of the ship.

You stay there for a minute, trying to process the whole conversation. Was she…? Was that flirting? No. No way. You frown, trying to understand what just happened.

"Nope, no way. She's right I'm just tired," you finally settle on. You stand up and go back to the living side of the ship, asking Tim to keep an eye on the trajectory before you join your bunk. It was more a hole in the wall with a mattress stuck in it than anything else, but it was yours. There was another bunk on top of yours, where you kept some of your stuff before the arrival of everyone, but it had been cleared to give space to them. On the other side of the room, there is the same configuration, and on the top bunk you can make the silhouette of the spy. 

It's the last thing you see before you fall asleep, and you wonder how long the newfound safety you felt is going to last.

[mod2amaryllis]

I'm waiting for this migraine to die so I'm gonna tell you guys about Marshall, the dog who made me quit. read on if you wanna learn about extended quarantine and why this job sucks sometimes and other times is the most rewarding thing on the planet, often for the same reasons lmao.

in 2021, the weight of covid was kinda crashing down. i heard this was the case for a lot of health workers. we switched into emergency mode throughout 2020 and powered through, then the rest of the world decided to try and "get back to normal" a year later, giving no regard to the people who'd been working like a speeding train with the brakes off all that time. i was losing it!!! add a few more hay bales to my back when we hired a new doc who was the most demanding dude I'd ever met (still is, but we've come to some understanding lol) and who decided to run me as ragged as possible the first day he was left to his own devices.

that was the day Marshall came in.

i didn't talk about this back then because the outcome of the case was uncertain and the details so specific, but here's the run down knowing that 2 years later, Marshall is living his best life. when he was a baby, too young to have received a rabies vaccine, his owners found a rabies positive bat in the house. the state vet will always recommend euthanasia in these situations, OR, if you can somehow find and afford the option, a 6 month quarantine. this was such a tragic situation the owners were willing to try to save him. my clinic happens to have a decent isolation ward that's rarely in use; we use it for infectious patients like parvo puppies, uri's that have to be hospitalized, etc. so my boss agreed to take him for those 6 months. but the owners' caveat was that if he wasn't mentally adjusting to isolation after a couple weeks, they would euthanize so as not to put him through it and leave him with lifelong behavior issues.

that day, when animal control brought Marshall in the middle of an insane rush, we were short staffed and already at the end of our ropes with this new doc. i was the only qualified person who could talk to the officer. i was the only person who could take him back to isolation. the act of putting a 12 week old puppy in a 4 x 4 run where i knew he would either spend 6 months untouched, or never see the outside again, broke me. last straw.

i was a mess, for the rest of that day and the rest of that weekend having to go in and take care of him, when it was too early for him to adjust so i was sure he wouldn't make it. I'd come home sobbing. eventually jose was just like, "this isn't worth it any more," and i sent in a two weeks notice. i'd come close to doing so many times in the previous 6 years but never pulled the trigger. it took a total meltdown. my managers responded with regret, but understanding.

i wish i could've just felt free and done with it but for those two weeks i was just uncertain. this job is so complicated. the benefits for my pets are enormous; it's my main social network; it's income; I'm good at it and it gives me purpose. it's just also hell on earth! with no pressure from anyone else one way or the other, by the end of two weeks I'd decided to instead try going part time. that's where I'm at 2 years later so guess it worked lol.

but! there was still Marshall. shortly after we took him, we also happened to get a call for the same situation on 2 cats, and decided to take them as well. 3 animals on a 6 month quarantine. very new and daunting for all of us.

that first weekend was hard, but slowly, Marshall figured things out. it was the least ideal situation imaginable and i was at rock bottom and so was he, but i had this moment of like.....ok. if he wants to make this work, I'm gonna do as right by him as possible. and of course all us techs were helping him (one of my road dog coworkers always opened so i referred to her as his "morning mom") but i in particular took a special interest in training and enrichment. it became a passion. i was working less, but i volunteered extra weekends so i could see him more.

he was so young he hadn't even done much basic command training, and the fact that i couldn't touch him at all was a challenge. i started with a clicker to signal I'd rolled a treat into his run, since i couldn't give it to him directly. over those months we went through the basics: sit, down, paw, touch, using a back scratcher for a hand. part of the worry was him getting enough exercise; we noticed that when he'd get agitated, he'd jump on the bars non stop. i was like hmm that might be our only option, so i made "up" a command. i'd basically run burpies for exercise, up-sit-down-sit-up. he was a fast learner, very attentive. seeing him keep his wits about him like that was straight up thrilling. he even "potty trained" himself, barking like crazy whenever he'd go to the bathroom so we'd know right away he needed the run cleaned.

in the ward, there are 2 runs and 3 kennels. i trained Marshall to go back and forth between runs so we could clean. we'd have his food waiting for him in the next run over so he could eat while we'd clean; at the midday switch, he'd have a doggie popsicle. he was such a smart dog i knew toys and treats alone weren't cutting it for enrichment, and i couldn't constantly train him when i still had to be doing the rest of my job.

i started having everyone save every single box and paper-packaging that came in. i'd unfold some boxes for "bedding," so he'd at least have something between him and the concrete (he'd chew and eat any blanket we tried giving him). the rest, i turned into puzzles. i put treats inside and closed them up. put big boxes on their side in his run so he could go in and out. crumpled up paper-packaging with treats mixed in for him to dig through. every day i'd turn one run into a box-toy paradise, let him in, clean the other, and by the time i was checking back in on him he was snoozing in a pile of destruction. success. when other techs wouldn't go to the same lengths, i'd stay late pre-making his boxes and telling people to just throw them in dammit. i also queued several ambient sound playlists, birdsong cityscapes etc, to play on the weekend days when he was alone for long periods.

the months went by like this. i learned more about training, enrichment, and most specifically quarantine than i ever had outside of my experiences with my own puppies. we fell into a routine. we straight up loved each other, he was part of my life. he'd been this horrible trigger and pretty much doubled my workload, but he got to live.

then there were the cats! they were a little easier than Marsh just because they were already adults so didn't have all this energy to wrangle. for them, daily cleaning of course, taking turns going into the 1 empty kennel where i'd have treats, catnip, and other "new" smells waiting for them. for enrichment i focused on reconfiguration. every 2-3 days i'd rearrange things in their kennels, with the big pieces being a litter box, a bed, and an upright sturdy box (so they could either be in it or on top of it, giving them one upper level). it was habitat tetris. we'd play with strings and use the back scratcher for pets. then about every week, i'd switch their kennels to slightly change their view AND traded beds to mingle scents. they were from the same household and we were worried there'd be difficulty re-bonding after not being in direct contact for so long. they also did very well by the end of 6 months aside from gaining a lot of weight (oops). i learned just as much from them, and would love to help anyone else who might struggle with needing to quarantine pets.

i've seen people posting for help about similar situations and just wanna scream from the rooftops: the beginning is very daunting and hopeless, but animals aren't like us!!!!!! they do the best with what they got!!!!! if you work hard and keep them clean and develop a routine it'll all work out!!!!! Marshall walked out of there at 6 months a normal happy puppy in desperate need of a haircut.

it's interesting because i've never interacted much with his owners. i don't think they know i'm the one who kept him from losing his mind in there, even though everyone else at the clinic does, and i'm weirdly ok with that. the other day he came in cuz the dummy ate a bunch of meds he wasn't supposed to; the doc brought him to the back and instantly, Marshall rushed right for me. he still remembers me in a good way. there's still love. it's like...one of the few patient relationships i've had that feels truly deeply personal. in retrospect i think he had a bigger hand in healing my relationship with this career and animals in general than i realized at the time.

so thanks for making me quit Marshall. i feel a lot better now.

(i don't have any pics of him from that time (tragic ssd card accident) but he was an overgrown doodle puppy so he looked like this.)