#lots of oc's? i think not I'm going to make these characters marvel ones I just have to decie when and where this story takes place

[blorbobutworse]

More Teen Dad Logan AU:

he's around 20 when this happens, having gotten his GED at 18, and taken a year off to settle more into normal life and bond with Laura.

I think he would actually love community college. There's a ton of different people of a ton of different ages. Firefighters, other single parents, other young people, even retirees.

I also imagine he takes up boxing, as advised by Charles, to get him to talk to other people. The fact that he's good at teaching is quickly discovered, and he finds himself with a part-time job.

I also believe the best degree would be something technical, like welding or autobody. Hell, he might even work towards getting a degree to work with Motorcycles since he likes his so much.

Now, imagine: he's finished his classes and he's going to go home for lunch before heading to the boxing gym, when he gets unfortunate news: Victor can't keep watching Laura, because his Evil math professor threw a project on him that was due that night, and his groupmates were all non mutants, and thus not allowed into Xavier’s.

Logan explains the situation to his boss, planning to just head home and stay there, to which his boss just responds: why don't you just bring your kid?

He's a little unsure, because for all his talk about how much he loves Laura he's also tried his best to keep his work life and personal life separate.

Still, making money and getting to take care of his kid sounds good. Victor agrees to stop by the workout center to drop her off.

He picks her up with one arm like a piece of luggage, and slings her diaper bag over his other shoulder. He breathes, nods to Vic, and turns He walks into work, and there is a beautiful, ringing moment of silence-

and then everyone attacks them.

See.

Here's the thing.

Despite Logans young age, his demeanor and experience sort of led everyone to believe he was in his mid twenties, early thirties. So, they sort of thought he was going to bring around a kindergartener, maybe a preteen.

Not a toddler.

And, Laura is adorable. She has tiny little low cheek dimples, Logan's piercing blue eyes, an her hair is a light mousy brown. Even cuter, she was already giggling hysterically from being carried around like a fancy dog.

This, obviously, means that the entire room of grown men are immediately turned into a pile of goo.

Logan's swarmed by roughly 30 guys, all trying to say 'hi' to Laura first and show her 'all the cool stuff; they can do. This ends up ranging from an older man squeezing a heavy grip machine, to the seventeen and nineteen year old doing handstands. Lo just freezes, pulling his daughter closer to him in an aborted motion to protect her from the wave of people surrounding them

Finally, Logan's boss manages to wrangle (ie. scream even louder than Sabretooth himself) everyone away from the baby and back to doing their lessons.

The next half hour is pretty typical. Logan helps people on their form, does a guided fight, and assists the older man unwrap his hands after his practice.

Then, seventeen year old boy, a redhead, and nineteen year old. a brunet, are muttering in between each other for a minute after their lesson. Eventually, they flit over to Logan to ask. He's waiting for something to do anyway, with Laura in his lap as she plays on his phone.

Logan agrees to watch over their match, and calls for them to start.

In less than twenty seconds, something seems to change. The brown haired boy says something that obviously irritates the seventeen year old. He twitches, and then thumps the other boy with a punch to the gut that sends the nineteen year old strait to this knees, where he gags.

everyone in the room stops to look, and it's only then when they realize that Laura just saw that.

They think she's going to be frightened, maybe even burst into tears. She's little after all, she must be scared or at least freaked out.

Instead, she throws her head back and cackles in a way that would be terrifying if she wasn't three.

....it was still a little terrifying.

(Logan chuckles too, but that's mostly because he knows she's copying sabretooth.)

[sprintingowl]

TTRPGs As Terrariums For Blorbos

One thing that I think isn't covered enough in TTRPG recommendations is styles of play.

There's a lot of "this game has this tone," or "this game is this amount of crunchy," but less "what are you playing towards?"

In games like Microscope and I'm Sorry Did You Say Street Magic? and The Quiet Year, you're playing to see what happens to the setting.

In games like Mork Borg and Into The Odd and Mothership, you're playing to see how far your character can get.

And in a lot of games, you're playing to create a blorbo, an OC, just a little guy, and the soul of the gameplay is the story of who your guy is and who your guy becomes.

This is blorbo style play.

And the thing about styles of play is that you can apply them to any game, even games that aren't really built to enable them. So I wanted to take a moment to shine a spotlight onto some games that do specifically enable you to fully blorb out. (I'll try to cover a mix of genres and tones, but the rpg scene is vast so if you have a favorite that I missed please feel free to shout it out in the replies.)

-Golden Sky Stories. This is the English translation of the Japanese TTRPG Yuuyake Koyake. You play as shapeshifter kids and spirits in a small town and, instead of tracking EXP, the thing that you carry from session to session is your relationships with other characters. The tone of the game is heartwarming, and if combat happens, both sides lose. There can be emotional turmoil, but this isn't a game where you have to worry about bad things happening to your blorbo.

-New World Of Darkness. On the other hand, let's say you *want* bad things to happen to your blorbo. You want to play a guy that's really going through it. If you also like modern supernatural stories, New World Of Darkness was built for you. Characters in NWoD can be entirely non-combat, or a literal werewolf, or a noncombat werewolf. The game places a lot of emphasis on navigating through the setting socially, as its supernatural creatures tend to run in factions and starting a fight usually means making a bunch of enemies.

-Pasion De Las Pasiones. Of course, not everyone wants a fantastical setting. Sometimes good old melodrama is hearty and comforting. Pasion De Las Pasiones is a playable telenovela, and it encourages you to play your characters bold and recklessly. Every class even has a built-in Meltdown, where if you're pushed to the edge they become extra reckless, ensuring a broad fallout of messy drama when they do manage to calm down.

-Cortex System / Unisystem. Perhaps you want to drop your blorbo into an existing fictional universe? But you also want stats and meaty character creation instead of just freeform roleplay? There are easily a dozen games on the Cortex engine, including Supernatural, Firefly, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Marvel, and Leverage. And on Unisystem, there's Buffy, Army Of Darkness, as well as a somewhat rare I Can't Believe It's Not Planet Of The Apes.

-Lancer / Gubat Banwa. If you like blorb-y play but still want a heavy side of combat, both of these games have you covered. Lancer has a sprawling scifi universe focused on mech pilots, and Gubat Banwa has a violent and lavish mythological Philippines setting. Both of these games also have stunningly beautiful artwork, so if you like seeing a setting visually come to life, these are for you.

-Fabula Ultima. My final recommendation is also an extremely gorgeous looking game. Fabula Ultima is built on the bones of Ryuutama (itself an excellent travel-fantasy game) to enable meaty, blorby Final Fantasy style campaign play. Combat is a rich and deep option in Fabula Ultima, but so is everything from spellcasting to crafting, and players have built-in resources they can spend to affect the story. If a scene isn't quite going the way you want it to, you can spend a point to nudge it in the right direction. Fabula Ultima also feels extremely complete without being too complicated.

So there you go. Eight options, and that's barely scratching the surface of the sea of blorb-y games (Seventh Sea, Exalted, Blue Rose, Legend Of The Five Rings, Coyote And Crow, Timewatch, Nahual, and more!)

It's also not wrong to play non-blorb-y games in a blorb-y way. Do whatever you're comfortable with! But you might enjoy dipping into these titles.

Finally, if you've read this far and you're somehow still looking for MORE recommendations, I wrote this game about runaway changelings trying to find their place in the world, and it's probably the blorbiest in my catalog.

[prince-liest]

I know you’ve gotten asks already talking about how happy they are that you’re going more in depth on the subject of Vox being trans in your next installment, but I can’t help myself… I’m so excited that you’re writing about that. It can be difficult to find trans rep in fandom spaces sometimes and your stories are so well written that this is like a gift from god. SO ANYWAY I’m super happy and your works are amazing and I just hope you know how many people value your works for all that they give.

Secondly, I was wondering whether or not Vox would have been trans on earth or just in hell? I mean I’m sure it would be difficult considering the time period but I also couldn’t think of a reason why he would be cis on earth but trans in hell. UNLESS he realized he was trans in hell/was finally able to do something about it?? Anyway, all of this is just speculation, I am only curious!!

Regardless, great work. It genuinely means a lot to me, if no one else :)

Oh, man, I'm ngl, one of my little, "Wait! I can do anything I want!!!!" moments of going mad with power once I got more and more experience at writing was realizing that I could just trans anyone's gender at-will and I didn't need anyone's permission for that. I still remember the first time I quietly decided an OC of mine was trans (love you, Laledy, you obnoxious asshole). I'm always a little apprehensive to start writing trans characters in new fandoms, mostly because I've been in a number of fandoms that have corners that get very tetchy about their weird gender role stuff, but it's consistently been met with such a positive reaction that it really brings me joy. So thank you so very, very much!!

My personal take on Vox in 666 specifically (a lot of which isn't going to come up because he does not want to get into it) is that he wasn't personally really in a position or environment conducive to considering trans-ness as, like, a thing that happens when he was alive, and he put his all into putting on The Correct Gender Performance with the vim and aplomb that we see from him in canon, plus all the underlying bullshit that goes into maintaining that facade. So, y'know. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, minus the Jewish. Which did not do amazing things for his mental health, not that he let himself pay attention to that at the time!

And then he wakes up, in hell, with this weird-ass demon body with a television for a head, and - well, it just makes sense to present as a man at that point, doesn't it? Hell is dog-eat-dog, and he's not going to pick the submissive gender to put himself on the back foot from the start!

He figures out what the fuck being trans even is eventually, just. Not for a while, and not until after someone like Valentino, having known and assumed that Vox is trans as a given for fucking months, mentions it offhandedly to Vox, who had been mentally describing himself as "just lying about his sex like those girls in stories that get shit done by dressing up as men". Then he gets to have his own little spiral about it, and also why it's upsetting him, and why he felt so vulnerable about Valentino knowing, and why Valentino specifically, Mr. Fishnets, Heels, and Microminis, is the one that ended up in a position not only to know this about Vox but for Vox to feel comfortable having any kind of sex with. It wasn't something Vox had to analyze back when it was just "her" freaky boyfriend being into pegging!

Okay, fuck, I have even more feelings about trans Vox than I thought I did, hahahaha.

Might fuck around and write a staticmoth-centric prequel interlude at some point if I have the brain cells for it. Vox is a lot more confident and comfortable with his gender now, to the point where he can absolutely see fucking around in a dress for kinky reasons as crossdressing and not being forced back into a box that doesn't fit, but it'd be neat to explore the earlier days. Val isn't here for gender, he's here to be sexy, but Vox... this IS the origin of the daddy kink, just saying.

[zolass]

ᅠᅠ𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬󠀽

ㅤㅤ···─ Welcome to the Character List and Request blog. This blog will simply help with what I would write if requested. If there's any request's simply Submit / Ask.

Please keep in mind to be respectful, I do update rather slow and if I don't like a requests, when it has things in it that make me uncomfortable, I'll ignore it. I'm probably going to make a separate blog where I might create characters for Top / Bottom Male Readers. I was first thinking about making it mostly just Top Male Reader, but I do take requests for bottom, as I also included bottom Male reader (a lot) in the Kinktober.

THINGS I'LL WRITE:

Smut / Fluff / (shitty) Angst / Hurt w Comfort Male Char x Male Reader Male Oc x Male Oc (my own) Male Char x Male Char Yandere (pretty bad at it but love it) (more to be added)

THINGS I WON'T WRITE:

Fem Readers or Characters (Platonic Fem Char are okay) Hurt w no comfort (bc I'm a bitch and I cry) Incest / Stepcest Self-Harm NonCon /CNC Age play Watersports / Scat Play Pedophilia Rape Play (more to be added)

ㅤㅤ···─ FOR REQUESTS 01 ── Be patient and respectful 02 ── Please try to write properly what you want in the request if it's not stated as Top or Bottom I'll decide. (More to be added)

ㅤㅤ···─CHARACTERS I quickly need to inform y'all, even though I made this, I probably have no clue or don't know enough of the characters bc my attention span is actually dog shit. So there is a high chance of OOC or simply inaccurate shit, if there's a chance for me to inform me for specific characters I will but no promises. If you're not sure if I write for something simply ask, maybe I forgot about some that some of you find interesting ㅤㅤ···─GAMES Genshin Impact, Honkai SR, Tears of Themis, Nu Carnival, Love & Deepspace, Dislyte, Cookie Run Kingdom, Valorant, COD, Overwatch, Ensemble Stars, Reverse 1999, Obey me, Wuthering Waves, DBD, Baldurs Gate, - More to be added ㅤㅤ···─MOVIES / SERIES Maze Runner, Lucifer, Supernatural, Twilight, U.N.C.L.E, Sherlock, Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, F&F, Shadowhunters, Valerian, Hunger Games, Avatar,

More to be added (These are more of those who I either watched / started watching, or I simply have an interest for)

ㅤㅤ···─ANIMES (Before I start the list, just so yk I do want to watch anime but my attention span-)

One Piece, AOT, JJK, Blue Lock, Naruto, Chainsaw Man, Windbreaker, Haikyuu, Sk8, Avatar, - More to be added

ㅤㅤ···─LISTS Here's going to be the rough List of the Characters I'll write for (most) ···─GAMES Genshin Impact | Honkai Star Rail | Tears of Themis | Nu Carnival | Love & Deepspace | Cookie Run Kingdom | Valorant | COD | Overwatch | Ensemble Stars | Reverse 1999 | Obey Me | Wuthering Waves

···─MOVIES / SERIES Maze Runner | Lucifer | Supernatural | Twilight | U.N.C.L.E | Sherlock | Harry Potter | Marvel | DC | F&F | Shadowhunters | Valerian | Hunger Games | Avatar ···─ANIMES One Piece | AOT | JJK | Blue Lock | Naruto | Chainsaw Man | Windbreaker | Haikyuu | SK8 | Avatar

[braveclementine]

Chapter 10

Warnings: None. (Will however be a 18+ reader book)

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own a few OCs like Elizabeth, Katherine, Stacy, and Jessie. I do not condone any copying of this.

A week before all of you were supposed to be leaving for the Bahamas, you got another call from your dad.

Well, actually, he had been calling about four times every single day since the last time you had talked to him. But neither you nor your sister had bothered picking up when he called nor had you bothered replying to his messages. And the others had slowly gotten used to just ignoring the calls as well.

However, your father had spent nearly every hour sending in a call. It was interrupting the plans, and finally you picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Y/N." Your father's voice sounded relieved. "I've been trying to contact you for two weeks now."

"I know." You sighed. "But I really don't have the energy for another fight, okay?"

"Please, I want to be there for this, I want to be there for you. You're right. My and your mother never really wanted kids, but I still love you and Y/S/N. If I could do things over again, I would. Make more time for the both of you. Maybe then when. . . when your mother passed away I would've had. . . I'm sorry Y/N. I never meant to lash out at you or Y/S/N. It's just. . . it's so painful when your soulmate dies."

He sounded truly guilty and sad and apologetic. He really did sound sincere. But still, you couldn't just forget everything. How when you needed both him and your mother the most, they were busy with something 'more important'. And afterwards. . . Y/S/N still had a scar on her shoulder blade from that.

You let out a sigh. It had been a short period of time and now years had passed in between. Everyone deserved second chances. "You can come."

Sam looked up at those words.

"But I. . . I don't know if I'll have you walk me down the aisle." You finished. "There's a lot of mending between the both of us and also Y/S/N before I let you walk me down the aisle."

"That sounds fair." Your father sounded happy that you were giving him a second chance. "Where should I go? What should I do?"

"We're having the ceremony in the Bahamas." You said. "I can-"

Tony whipped the phone out of your hand, "Hello? Mr. Y/L/N? Yes, this is Tony Stark. One of the soulmates of your absolutely gorgeous daughter."

"What are you doing?" You hissed quietly, mortified. You really hoped Tony didn't say anything rude.

"I'm more than lenient to have a private jet fly out to your nearest airport and fly you to the Bahamas and also provide your stay for free. However, the minute that Y/N gets upset with you, you're on your own and all of the expenses fall right back on your head." Tony threatened. "The plane will be there in six hours, have a nice trip."

He hung up on my dad on my phone.

Stephen just shook his head, sighing.

"That was dramatic." You said, taking your phone from him.

"At least now he'll be on his best behavior." Tony said with a smirk, drawing you into his arms. "Oh I can't wait before you're ours."

You smiled a little, pecking Tony on the lips. "The feeling is very mutual."

"Have you decided whose going to be first?" Nat asked.

"First?" You questioned, turning out of Tony's arms to face her.

"Sure." Nat said with a shrug. "I mean, with so many soulmates, you can only lose your virginity to one of them."

You blushed scarlet. Sam just stared at Nat while Stephen turned his back to her, putting a hand to his head like he was frustrated. Tony just snorted. Clint poked his head out from the vent.

"I mean, sure you're going to bond with all of them in one night, but I don't think it would be a good idea for you to start with a super solider or a God for your first." Nat explained, "You should go with someone smaller in size. Or at least, not genetically enhanced."

"Damn." Sam said, shaking his head, "Guess you're losing it to Clint first."

"Oi!" Clint protested, falling out of the vent. "Why am I the smallest?"

"It's commonly known that black males have the biggest dicks." Sam said, raising an eyebrow.

Stephen walked over to Tony, putting his hands over his ears before dragging him out of the room. You were both mortified and amused at the conversation.

"Hey." Sam said, shrugging his shoulders as Clint scoffed, "Thor, Loki, Bucky, Steve, and I are out already from being enhanced. T'Challa, Rhodey, and Fury are black. Tony and Stephen already lost it to each other. Which leaves you. The white virgin."

Clint just stared at Sam for a moment and then grinned, "Yes! I get Y/N first!"

Sam just pursed his lips.

And then the floor dropped underneath you and you landed in Stephen's arms in the elevator.

"Well, hello there." You said before kissing his cheek. "How are you?"

Stephen sighed, "My poor babies had to listen to that conversation."

Tony blushed slightly at the nickname. So did you for that matter.

You giggled. "Well thank you for protecting our ears."

You might've added 'daddy' to the end of that sentence, but you didn't want to tease him anymore than they already were. You wait until all of you were properly bonded before you started teasing them relentlessly.

Stephen, Tony, and you ended up going to the New York Sanctorum. Stephen gave you a full tour or the rather large building. You even stepped into one of the climate portals for a short amount of time, though you didn't stay for long.

It was very interesting, seeing how many magical items there were in the different glass cases.

Tony kept trying to touch stuff, being the tinkerer that he was, but Stephen kept slapping his hands away from the stuff, before finally threatening to tie them behind his back. You giggled at the playful banter.

"STRANGE!" A voice shouted through the Sanctorum.

"WONG!" Stephen shouted back in the same exact tone.

"Ah, there you are." Wong said, climbing the stairs. Wong was descended from Tibetan Monks, which I found fascinating. Especially as Tibet was hidden from the world as China tried to pretend there was no Tibet.

China refuses to acknowledge the three T's: Taiwan, Tibet, and Tiananmen Square. They like to pretend that Taiwan and Tibet are still under their rule. And then also like to pretend that the Tiananmen Square massacre never took place.

"I was hoping that you could come to Kamar-Taj and assist with the training of some new recruits." Wong said, glancing over to us, looking apologetic.

"Yes, of course." Stephen said. "Tony, Y/N, would you like to come and visit?"

"Sure." Tony said.

"Um, if you don't think we'd be intruding." You said.

"Not at all." Wong said.

"Where is Kamar-Taj?" You asked as they led you down the stairs to where Stephen had shown the Sanctorum's connected with the others. Wong started to open up the one into Kamar-Taj.

"Tibet." He answered.

Ah, of course. Made sense.

Once you stepped through the portal, Stephen and Wong led the way up another flight of stairs and through some dim hallways lit with torches until you reached a courtyard like area. There were several rows of students there to learn. Wong, Stephen, and another female teacher quickly spread out amongst the others.

You and Tony quickly sat out of the way next to each other. He wrapped his arms around you as the two of you watched Stephen teach.

"He's so bloody handsome." You muttered.

"Isn't he just?" Tony sighed wistfully. "Hey, are you sure that you're okay with your dad coming to your wedding ceremony?"

You were silent for a moment and then replied with, "I thought it would be fair to give him a second chance. If he screws up, well we weren't exactly rich so it'll certainly be a bit of a pain in the ass for him if he, you know, screws up. I don't know. I'm more afraid for Y/S/N being around my father. She was the one who was more involved in his bad period because she was home more. I don't know though. . . I haven't had my soulmates for more than a year yet. And he and my mother were married for a pretty long time before she passed away."

"How did she die?" Tony asked softly.

"She was at one of those parades, I don't even remember what it was for. Some guy drove his semi truck through with the intent to kill. She just happened to be one of those victims."

"Sorry." Tony said softly.

"What about you? Parents, I mean?" You questioned.

"I grew up thinking they died in a car crash. Turns out HYDRA sent Barnes after them because my father had something they wanted. Super soldier serum vials I think. Bucky killed them."

"How can you stand behind in the same room as him?" You questioned.

"Well, it took a bit of self control and listening. But I knew it was HYDRA in his head, not him himself. Eventually I forgave him. He had been beating himself up over it for so long. The Bucky Steve knew, the one you know, he wouldn't hurt a fly. It's a good thing Shuri was able to help him."

You nodded, "Good. It's already pretty awkward between Loki and Phil."

"Ah well, the difference there is Loki actually killed Coulson." Tony said. "Although admittedly, he was also being mind manipulated by an alien so there's some leniency."

You were quiet for a moment, "You don't think it was a mistake? Inviting my dad?"

"No." Tony said quietly as we watched Stephen create a glowing sword down below us. "My father was also fairly absent in my life. I wish I could've given him a second chest."

You turned your body so that you could hug him from the front.

A few moments later, you heard Stephen's voice behind you, "Well don't you two just look adorable."

You turned to see him standing there, sliding his sling ring off his finger and into his pocket. You got to your feet, barreling into him for a hug. Stephen wrapped his arms around you, pulling you against his chest. "Hey there sweetheart. Ready to head home?"

You nodded. You heard Stephen call out a good-bye to Wong before the three of you headed back to New York.

Upon walking back up the stairs though, Stephen flung an arm out to stop you from walking. He moved slightly to hide you.

Peeking around him, you saw a slightly handsome African American man standing there.

"Mordo, what are you doing here?" Stephen questioned. You noticed his sling ring was back on his finger. Tony had his Iron repulsor gloves on, hands raised slightly if he needed to shoot.

The man that Stephen had called Mordo crossed his arms over his chest, "You know what I'm here for, Stephen."

"And you won't get-" Stephen said firmly.

"I wasn't asking." Mordo said, shaking his head, pulling out an electric sword.

"Tony get her out." Stephen said, taking up a defensive position almost immediately as Mordo charged.

"Stephen!" You shouted as Tony wrapped an arm around your waist, kicking off to go through the glass ceiling. However, all that happened was you ended up flying through a portal which put the both of you in front of Mordo. Tony quickly shoved you out of the way.

You went sprawling across the marble floor as he ducked one of the swings of Mordo's sword. Stephen lashed out with a glowing whip as you scrambled to your feet.

You were quick in pulling out your phone.

Y/N 🥖: SOS Sanctorum. Angry Wizard

God 1 🔨🌩: On our way

God 2 💚: Portal out

Thor suddenly smashed through the front doors, sending a streaking bolt of lightning towards the dark skinned wizard. He deflected rather quickly and you dropped to the floor to avoid being electrocuted.

Steve and Bucky were next through the doors. Steve threw his shield, which got deflected by a mirror. Steve quickly ducked to avoid being decapitated by his own shield.

Bucky didn't dare start shooting, instead trying to get to you. But Mordo portaled him to who knew where.

"Bucky!" You shouted as the portal closed up.

A few other wizards started to jump down, fighting against the others.

Suddenly, you felt a cold feeling wash over you. "Shh, not a sound." Loki's voice whispered in your ear, "I'm cloaking you. We're invisible. Start making your way towards the door."

You couldn't see Loki and you had to assume that he was right there with you as you started to walk towards the door. You hoped Bucky was safe, wherever he was, and you hoped that the others would get out of this okay.

"Where'd she go?" Mordo shouted.

Was he after you? Why?

"Faster." Loki's voice was urgent in your voice and you started running, hoping that you weren't making any noise as you did so.

The doors slammed shut right before you could've gotten out of them and you heard Loki curse.

You reached around blindly, grabbing his hand, starting to drag him back towards where Stephen and Tony were still fighting Mordo. He tugged on your hand, trying to get you to slow down.

Steve and Nat were fighting another four wizards, while Thor was slowly but surely taking down the six that were against him.

You dragged Loki carefully, but quickly past Stephen and Tony, back down the stairs. Loki sped up once he realized that you had an escape plan in line. You quickly opened up the door to Kamar-Taj and stepped through.

Loki lifted the spell immediately and you could see him there. He had a slight scratch across one of his cheeks, but though it was red, it wasn't bleeding.

He gripped your hand tighter as the two of you ran through the building. "Wong?" You shouted. "Wong?"

Wong approached very soon, "Y/N?" He stopped short upon seeing Loki, "Where's Stephen and Tony?"

"They're back in the New York Sanctorum with Thor and Steve. Mordo is attacking them but he brought a few Wizards with him and Stephen is the only magician there." You explained through quick puffs of breath.

Wong nodded, "I need you two to stay here." He called out to a few wizards who all got ready, lifting off a bunch of staffs that you assumed were something like Mordo's glowing lightsaber stick thing and Wong hurried the way the two of you had come.

He left a few other wizards there for your protection in case their was another onslaught of fighters. You weren't sure if that was normal, but you felt to sick with worry to care about it.

"Are you alright?" Loki asked as he led you to an area so that the two of you could sit down.

"Physically." You answered, "But where did he send Bucky!? What if. . . what if sent him to a volcano or the middle of the ocean!? What if-" Your voice choked off at the end and you crumpled forward to cry into Loki's shoulder.

"It's alright Y/N, it's okay. You'd know if Bucky was in danger." Loki said softly. "The fact that there is nothing happening to your soulmate bond that is linked to him means that he is not feeling any pain, nor is he dead. Those are both good things."

You nodded as your tears subsided. "No pain and no death."

"Exactly."

"The others will be okay, right?" You asked, needing reassurance.

"I'm sure. They managed to survive everything else before."

"Why did he want me?"

"I have no idea. Probably because he would see you as. . . a way to get to Stephen." Loki explained. "I'm afraid having the Avengers as soulmates is going to put a rather large target on your back my Queen. But we'll protect you with everything we have."

You kissed Loki's cheek before settling into his arms while you waited. It seemed like an eternity, but only fifteen, maybe twenty minutes later, Wong came back with his group, Stephen, Tony, Steve, Thor, and Nat following behind.

You leapt to your feet, rushing over to Stephen. "Are you okay. You're bleeding. Can you find Bucky? Everyone's okay, right?"

Your questions were rushed as you grabbed a tissue and started dabbing at the cut lines along Stephen's cheek.

"He bleeds all the time." Tony sighed, "It's his trademark to come back from a fight with at least three bloody scratches on his face."

Your lips twitched a little while Stephen rolled his eyes. "Everyone's alright Y/N. And it will take some time, but I think with the help of FRIDAY and a few magic tricks, we should be able to find Bucky within an hour of two. Depends on where he ended up."

You nodded frantically as you finished dabbing at Stephen's scratches.

Steve looked absolutely terrible. He wasn't hurt, but it was obvious that Bucky disappearing had done a number on him. You attended him next, wrapping your arms tightly around his chest. He hugged you back, almost as tightly.

"We'll find him Steve." You murmured. "He's going to be okay."

Steve just nodded, his cheek brushing with yours as he did so.

Stephen ushered all of you back to the Sanctorum before portaling you all back to Avengers tower. Once there, Tony got to work on using FRIDAY to see if she could use all of the cameras in the world to help narrow down potential spots that Bucky might be.

While that was happening, Pietro had called the girl named Makkari, and they both decided to run around their respective hemispheres and see if they could locate Bucky and help save time.

You felt utterly useless, sitting on the couch next to Rhodey who had an arm around your shoulder, fingers softly moving up and down your arm in a comforting motion.

Your leg kept bouncing up and down in anxiety before Clint finally pulled you up off the couch to take you to the kitchen.

"I can't eat, I feel sick." You muttered.

"Well, you're going to have to eat." Clint said. "Buck will be fine, you'll see. Now eat, it wouldn't do to get sick before our wedding now, would it?"

You managed a small smile with Clint's enthusiasm and persistence. "I just. . . sometimes I wish I could locate where my soulmates were."

"That would be nice, wouldn't it?" Clint asked, moving around the kitchen and then pausing, "I don't actually really know how to make anything so. . ."

You giggled, feeling just a little bit lighter. Maybe Clint was just trying to distract you, but it was working.

"We should make dinner for everyone." You decided.

"But that's like forty people." Clint said. "We should just order pizza."

You rolled your eyes, "I actually already had preparations ready for dinner for tonight."

You opened up the refrigerator, pulling out several large, blue glass bowls with plastic wrap over them.

"Oh? What are you making?" Clint asked in interest as you started to preheat the oven and undo the plastic wrap.

You smirked at him evilly, "Spicy Chicken legs."

⬅️➡️

[shdwtouch]

🌵🍀🌹 @undyingmedium

time for some positivity || always accepting !!

send 🌵 and i'll recommend a canon rp blog

not this ask making me realize I don't follow a lot of canon blogs 😅 sasha on @burdenedbyeternity writes canon ( as well as original tbh ) characters I enjoy ! bucky from marvel, astarion from bg3, ezio and basim from assassins creed.

will also mention lucanis by malikai on @de11amorte and emmrich by nori on @necropolich, as well as jax on @fadedmisfits. I've greatly enjoyed seeing all of them post meta and discuss their muses, so worth a follow !

send 🍀 and i'll recommend an oc rp blog

I'm not just recommending an original character with this, I am recommending a universe of characters and lore that I just. I eat it up, can't get enough. kt is so incredibly talented !! probably one of the only people I follow that I think has more passion for worldbuilding than I do, which is saying something. XD

@unse4ted @w4rhorse @swordma1den @0fconquest @cr0wguided @battlec4ster please forgive me if I missed a blog orz

send 🌹 and i'll recommend a blog that makes me happy

oh goodness. so many blogs make me happy, but I'm going to hope I get more of these asks so I won't just spam names... @frstwomn ! @murderyn ! @harpersoath ! @welcometoriddle ! @cripplemagics ! just to name a few ; w ; love seeing them on my dash, love their content, love their characters.

[ghostsandmirrors]

MASTER WISHLIST

this is far longer than expected.

they are organised by muse, but I'm not organising them as like canons, then originals. they're just all in this together.

The Menagerie do you have a smug shithead muse? we have a zoo! pick one or two or three to bully your muse with. they're all a pain in the ass. (the menagerie are the animals. they're all canons from different sources.)

---

Bucky Bucky and general DC heroes (MCU/DC crossover) (I started writing half my muses on MCU/DC crossover forum sites, including Bucky! I'm throwing him back into his roots)

Batman I just think Bucky meeting Batman would be very funny, especially in a professional setting and especially if canon divergent post-Endgame. Bucky having war flashbacks to being chased through Bucharest by a man dressed as a cat because 'so many superheroes are furries.'

Wonder Woman Bucky and Diana based on that one fan plot where Diana was involved, in some way, with fighting during WWII and they met back then and then meet again in the modern day. bonus points if Diana thinks he's his own grandson and he doesn't correct her.

Superman idk Bucky and Superman would just be kinda wholesome? also if Superman mun comfortable, Bucky would totally have a crush on Superman. you can't convince me otherwise. also Clark and Bucky as a ship would be 'pure of heart, dumb of ass' in that order and it makes me giggle.

Other any of the Batfam would also be fun but there's every chance they get unofficially adopted. new dad! new dad! new dad!

I don't know that many DC heroes. girl help. who else is there? idk but I want them!

Bucky + ship partner post-mission shit. anything. just them being like 'thank FUCK that's over with'. snuggling. idgaf.

Bucky + Steve, Bucky + Sam pure of heart, dumb of ass. this is a never-ending want. it's not a specific want, either. I just like putting them in threads together.

Bucky + Thor I don't know why but I've always wanted to and never gotten the chance to.

Bucky/Loki 🥺👉👈 Listen...

Bucky + Spider-Muses I once joked about Bucky adopting various Spider-characters and I still want it. Bucky is the ancient, morally ambiguous MCU Batman on this blog, in that he will not stop fucking adopting people, but at least Bruce usually adopts children. Bucky'll adopt a 30 year old. they're still 70 years younger than him so they're fair game.

Bucky + Nebula the sheer comedy value of these two being friends is worth the gymnastics to figure out how they'd spend enough time together to become friends.

---

Joker Joker + Batman <3 Joker is obsessed with Batman. ofc I want to thread them. I want every possible thread in any verse that's most comfortable. Joker is my comfort villain.

Joker + Batman characters in general (focused on villains/rogues gallery) I have no specifics, I just realised he talks to the Rogues Gallery a lot in comics/cartoons and my Joker… hasn't. ever. I can fix that.

---

Dylan Dylan and Heroes (any DC) I also want Dylan and Gotham heroes, Gordon, etc.. Dylan needs more screentime 'cause her ass is overshadowed by the fuckin owl at this point. lbr who isn't.

Dylan and Heroes (any MCU) also Dylan plus marvel heroes since she has an MCU verse. do I have icons? fuck no. am I asking for Dylan threads regardless? fuck yes.

---

Jameson Jameson and Heroes (any) Mortitaint is a masked murderer. that's it. that's the pitch. you want your muse hit with a shovel? I can help with that! also if any men want a boyfriend who is sweaty and dirty every day and surprisingly strong……………. im just saying……………… and then they can one day find out the other is a hero/villain……………………….. drama. 👀 (this includes anti-heroes)

Jameson and Villains (any) I just think it'd be interesting, y'know? Jameson doesn't tend to play well with others, in general, but there's a chance it doesn't go horribly wrong!

---

Wag Wag and X-Men Characters Wagner Himura is an X-Men oc that, in his entire time on my blog, has never threaded with an X-Men character. it can be any character and any verse. I don't care. I just want him to speak to other mutants, man.

Logan specifically, I would like Wag and Logan threads. I always picture Wag as a general pest when he starts working at the school, like throwing water balloons filled with speed potions at people that annoy him kind of pest, and I get the feeling Logan would either hate his guts, like him because he does not discriminate between students and teachers, or be very cautious because he doesn't know Wag's limits while Wag's just like 'hey ;D I don't actually find you attractive but if flirting means I don't get stabbed, I'll flirt. ;D I'm high as a fuckin kite rn lmao ;D'

Charles Xavier Wag and Charles would also be funny because of the aforementioned 'high as a kite'.

Brotherhood any brotherhood muse in his brotherhood verse would be nice, too. Idk how he got into the brotherhood in that verse and I want to explore it. I just miss writing Wag, lbr.

OCs tbh any OC. let's yeet our x-men OCs together and see what bad ideas they come out with. it'll be funny. I'm willing to make up places that they can go through a portal to, as well.

---

Bam and X-Men Characters Bam has an X-Men verse in which he vibrates particles when angry and I just… I miss Bam being chaotic. I miss Bam being a mess. she's gotten too collected and I want disaster Bam back. I don't have specific preferences for this one.

---

Wag and Bam Basically, both Wag and Bam (in his X-Men verse) have abilities that can/are activated by emotions. With Wag, he has more control over his abilities and thus the chances of anger doing anything is low but not zero. If his anger is doing anything, it's a silent, 'scorched Earth' kind of anger that mostly shows in things moving telekinetically. With Bam, his power is exclusively activated by anger.

I just want that in a(nother, in Bam's case) thread or plot. It'd be fun.

---

Mattie and Avengers/SHIELD/HYDRA Mattie worked for both SHIELD and HYDRA so I would like to establish some kind of relations with SHIELD and HYDRA muses, but she also sent records to the Avengers after the fall of HYDRA and began torturing/murdering HYDRA agents who survived The Snap so like……….. 👀

also Avengers meeting her after The Blip or whatever dumb bitch shit The Snap 2: Electric Boogaloo is canonically called would be… like she a gremlin in the swamplands. she's a whole fuckin cryptid by that point. I want her ex-coworkers to meet the cryptid she's become and be like, '... ayo? you good?' and her to be knee-deep in swamp water, dragging a body, like, '... yup!'

---

Arnulf Arnulf and Steve's Friends arnulf needs to meet non-Steve avengers (or others who know him). it would be funny. 'hey you kinda look like Steve Rogers..' '[subtle german accent] a lot of people say that! it's so strange. I don't see it.'

Past - HYDRA threads between like 2012-2014 would be interesting? idk. I feel like I've forgotten how to write serious threads.

---

Ultron + MCU? I'm sure i've mentioned this before but I just really want Ultron to reunite with the avengers through like idk texts? e-mails? something technology based so the urge to blow his ass up is reduced.

this is not limited to just the avengers. you have an MCU hero muse? a child of a canon? I'll take 'em. give me any muse who may know Ultron or his reputation.

---

Dick + Heroes (MCU) LET HIM BITCH AT AN AVENGER ABOUT THAT ALIEN THAT GOT THROWN THROUGH THE WINDOW OF HIS WORK. he deserves this.

---

Ai and Tony Stark I always imagine that they know each other due to being rich and fundraisers and shit like that. Ai might be an assassin but she gives to charity and does all the Very Good Things she's meant to which means attending Stark fundraisers and drinking his booze x

they do not have to like each other. I don't think Ai has met a single person she likes since she killed her husband, I'll be honest.

---

Villains generally I do want more villain threads where my villain muses are being villains and doing villainous things. like, I have Joker and Ultron who deserve some attention but also Jameson, Ai, Mattie, Jesse, I have a verse where Bam's a villain (he's doing it for the vibes. that'd hold up in court /s), I have the brotherhood verse with Wag… like… plz. I want my muses to go apeshit.

---

Fandomless OCs (Liaxee, the Bringer, Lieat) also I would like to do more with supernatural/fantasy/generally fandomless OCs and Liaxee or the Bringer or Lieat. Liaxee is a joy to write, the Bringer is my dumb bitch, and Lieat's the cutest muse I have. I love them all, your honour.

I think Supernatural (the show) muses and any of these three would be fun, too. especially Lieat, because idk if there's anything like them in the Supernatural universe?

I know I have two doctor who blogs following me so I'm lumping them in with supernatural/fantasy/fandomless oc/Superrnatural (the show). yous wanna meet a void creature?

---

Special Requests have you ever seen a Crazy Quilt RPer? he's my favourite Batman villain. please. (this is mostly a joke but if there actually is a Crazy Quilt RPer, I want to know.)

Egghead is another DC special request because I love Batman villains.

also Typeface and Spellcheck. Idk them that well, but I want to and I have Spider-Man.

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Fic Author Self Rec Game

When you get this, make a post with your favorite five fics you've written, then pass it on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love!

Thank you @jo-harrington for the tag. I'm so sorry I didn't get to it sooner!

Tagging: @leighsartworks216, @kittttycakes, @can-of-pringles, @16boyfriends-and-me and @a-libra-writes

I'm really curious at what you guys pick! (Also if you have any original stuff you want to share, now is the time!)

In no particular order:

I Want it All : Astarion x Evie (Ace!Tav), Angst, Asexual Guilt, Happy Ending

A surprise to literally nobody who has followed me in the past year. I think this is some of my strongest work as well as my first dive into writing an explicitly asexual character. (You can probably read a lot into some of my other works, but that's neither here nor there). I still get comments on this one and it makes me happy to see it's at least made some impact on the fandom.

Welcome to Hellfire: Eddie Munson x Lucy Henderson (OC), Fluff, Awkwardness, First Meetings

I really need to get back to writing these two, specifically Lucy's first session, especially now that I've played a lot more D&D. Getting back to the fic at hand, I think I did a good job allow Eddie to still be kind of a dick while not making Lucy look like an idiot for accepting to still play with him. He's a deceptively hard character to balance and I think it's a solid introduction to Lucy as a character.

Shaking Hands: Hawkeye Pierce x Elizabeth "Doc" O'Neil (OC), Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Canon Typical Violence

Another couple of character I need to get back to writing. While "What's Up Doc: Part 1" would be the better entry to start with these two, I still haven't actually finished it and I feels wrong to recommend something that hasn't been touched in literal years. I've changed a lot as a writer and will likely go back to touch it up. This though feels more complete. I also think I captured Hawkeye's voice particularly well in his rant towards the end. I'd still want to expand this to pace it out to a full episode, but I'm happy with how it stands now.

More Than Sufficient: Thrawn x Captain!Reader, Canon Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Pining

Admittedly most of my earlier writing I low key cringe at, but this has held up well. It gave me an excuse to write more formal dialogue which is a rarity. I like the challenge of restraint and relying more of subtext. One of these days my obession will be stoked again. In the meantime, of all my Star Wars fics, the Thrawn ones in particular stand out to me as some of my best.

Rough Day: Doctor Strange & Ellie Jackson (OC), Mentor!Strange, Hurt/Comfort, Strange trying to understand a stressed out teenager

It was a toss up between this and another Astarion x Evie fic "For All I Care", but I ultimately decided this one needed more love. I needed some representation for the Marvel fandom, and Ellie really is one of my favorite OCs (even if I'm now thinking of converting her and Cassandra into an original work). I just like exploring Strange as a mentor/father figure if only because he's not very good at it, but he tries.

[workingdownthewordmine]

Love Thy Neighbour - Chapter 5 Every Man Is Guilty

Bucky struggles with the attitudes of his so-called friends and Hive makes themself scarce.

Read this chapter on AO3 here.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 4

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Nonbinary OC, Steve Rogers Rating: T CW: Guilt, bullying (mention), violent child abuse (mention), homophobia (mention), mild dissociation Prompts filled: @lgbtqbingo : Hickeys @fluffbruary : Day 6 - Embarrassment @multifandom-flash (Compliments) : You are better than you think you are

@fandom-free-bingo (World Book Night Edition card 1) : "I don't need you." @fandom-free-bingo (Flight Edition) : Can't make it to dinner, Teasing @anyfandomangstbingo : Best friend's boyfriend @febuwhump : Day 24 - "I'm doing this because I care about you." @seasonaldelightsbingo (Winter Wonderland) : Situationship

Dividers by @unfortunate-beetle-and-friends

Chapter 5 – Every Man is Guilty

“But I have my life, I’m living it. It’s twisted, exhausting, uncertain, and full of guilt, but nonetheless, there’s something there.”

Banana Yoshimoto

“You’re not selling me on this, Steve.” Bucky leant back on the kitchen wall, chin lowered and arms crossed.

“I can’t give you specifics right now. Security’s too tight. If you’ll just come and talk to Fury-”

This was the guy who’d lied to every draft office in the tri-state area? When had Steve become so damn hidebound? “I’m not interested. I told you before, I’m not going to work for SHIELD. And you can save Barton and Romanov’s very touching Different Call story. I’m grateful for what you did for me, really, but I never agreed to get away from Hydra just to sell my soul to someone else.”

Steve’s hands dug deeper into his pockets. “SHIELD isn’t Hydra, Buck. It’s not the same at all. Just let me set up a chat with the director and you’ll see that.”

“Why won’t you let this drop? You’ve got your whole Captain America deal with your team. I’ve got an actual life of my own now. You don’t need me.”

“Fine. You’re right. I don’t need you.”

Never had someone agreeing with him felt so much like a fist in the gut. Bucky didn’t get the chance to tell him to go fuck himself. Steve kept going. “This isn’t about me needing your help, Buck. I’m here because I want your help. I need people around me that I can trust and I trust you. You’re my oldest friend. And I gotta say, Bucky, this whole ‘new life’ you say you’ve got going on looks a lot like walling yourself up in a different cell. I’m doing this because I care about you. What good was getting them to let you go free if you’re just going to lock yourself back up? You look like shit, Buck. When did you last eat? Or drink anything that wasn’t coffee or at least eighty proof? You aren’t one of the bad guys anymore. You can do something worthwhile with your life. You don’t have to be all alone. Why won’t you let me help you?”

“Fuck you, Steve. I’m not gonna be your goddamn bad guy outreach program poster boy. And I had a cheese sandwich just last night, as though it’s any of your fucking business.” And I’m not alone…

They both looked up at the same moment, both heads turned towards the hall closet. “Shit’s always falling down somewhere round here. Place has gone to hell.” But even Steve wasn’t dumb enough not to recognise a sneeze when he heard it.

“For a guy with his windows rigged to blow, you’re weirdly calm about someone climbing around inside your walls.” The tinge of suspicion he heard in Steve’s voice hurt more than Bucky had expected. Who the hell did he think he’d be hiding in a wall cavity? Then he cringed inwardly as Steve began looking around with more intent than he had before. Bucky practically felt his eyes rest for a moment on the extra sleeping bag. His eyebrows visibly rose when he spotted the mug with its weird cute cartoon dragon thing. “Buck?” The suspicion had gone from Steve’s voice and Bucky missed it already.

“Hey, kid, it’s okay. Just a social call.” He listened for a beat of silence, then he and Steve both hear the departing scraping of Hive heading up to the roof. Knowing what he did, Bucky could pick up the unevenness in their movement and made a note to ask to check their injuries later. If he ever saw them again, of course. They might be too spooked to come back at all. He looked down at their mug. They’d be back. He hoped.

“I guess it’s cool that some things don’t change. But I don’t remember you being this coy about your girlfriends even in the forties.”

“‘Girlfriend’ is a real strong word for anyone I passed the time with back then. And that’s not… what this is. They’re just a friend.” Or something. This was definitely not the time to start seriously questioning the weird-ass situation he’d found himself in the last twelve hours or so.

“A friend who hides in the wall when your other friends drop by?”

Other friends? Did Steve think Bucky was having poker nights with the guys every week? What other friends?

“They’re shy, okay?”

“Buck, you don’t have to be embarrassed. I’m glad you’ve found someone you don’t mind having around. I hated thinking of you cooped up here with nothing but a bunch of old memories.” Steve, buddy, you have no idea… “Think I’ll ever get to meet them? What? I can’t be curious about the first person apart from me to ever know the notorious Bucky Barnes well enough to leave a mug at his place?” He couldn’t help but be mildly impressed at Steve’s rapid and unquestioning switch to the neutral pronoun.

“I doubt it. They’re shy, like I said. And it’s not really an ‘introductions to old friends’ kind of thing.” Of at least that much he was sure. Hell, it wasn’t even a thing. Just a really weird couple of days… that had left an extra sleeping bag on his floor.

Steve was frowning again. “You, uh, you’re not in trouble, right? I’ll believe you, whatever you say. I just can’t help noticing you’re a bit more banged up than I’ve seen you in a while. And you smell like that stuff your mom used to cover my hives in when we were kids.” He tried a weak grin.

Well, believe it or not a Hive was responsible… Buck almost returned the smile before he shook himself.  “I’m good. Just had a run in with some kind of funky old insulation while I was doing some repairs. Nothing to worry your pretty head about. The scratches are all healed up anyway.” He turned his shoulder to indicate the one Hive had uncovered. “Only covered them up so I wouldn’t get blood on anything, just didn’t get round to taking off the rest of the bandages before you stopped in for the little recruitment drive. Speaking of which –”

Steve held up a hand to stop him. “Speaking of which, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said… a lot of what I did. It wasn’t my place to judge what you’ve got going on here. I’m sorry.” The renewed anger Bucky had been preparing to unleash petered out more quickly than he had expected. “I meant it though, about wanting to work with you again.”

Buck grunted. “Howling Commandoes reunion tour? This time with one hundred percent less falling out of trains, right?” He hadn’t expected Steve to take the weak joke so hard. Steve hadn’t looked this green since a kid landed a kick in his stomach that left him puking his guts into a trash can. He’d been waiting on the ground by the can when Buck came back with split knuckles and a grin of triumph. They’d gone back to Buck’s place to clean up before Steve’s dad could see the mess on his shirt and add a bloody nose to Steve’s problems. Buck’s place. This place. The sink where they’d rinsed out that faded threadbare shirt had been torn out long ago or it would have been right about where Steve was standing now.

“I should have looked harder.”

“Huh?” Maybe Hive’s attention span was catching, somehow. It took him a second to reconnect the dots.

“I went back. To the pass. I went back about a dozen times, looking for – well – for a body, I guess. Maybe if I’d been smarter about it, I would’ve… would’ve found you. Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are now.” Steve’s words sounded like he was trying to swallow them rather than speak them aloud. “But we are. And I can’t fix what I abandoned you to, but I can’t walk away again. Please, Buck, stop by the compound sometime – nothing to do with SHIELD, just come say hi. Or answer your phone once in a while. I miss my best friend, Buck. The guy I knew back in forty-five, back when our lives made some sort of sense.”

“That guy died in the fall, Steve.”

Steve shook his head. “No, I think he’s very much alive. I see him in there. Don’t bury my best friend in this place, Buck, please. You might feel like you deserve that but you don’t. I’m not talking about showing off how ‘rehabilitated’ you are or anything like that. I mean that guy still deserves the life he should have got the first time around.”

Was that part of you given a choice?

Yes.

There’s always a choice.

No. I would never have chosen that…

Bucky managed to look up at Steve’s eyes. Still fucking insane that he was taller than Buck now. “He’s getting a life. And, I guess, if you’re going to be clingy dork about it, that life can involve spending more time with you than it has done so far. Happy?”

“Yeah, happy. Jerk.”

“We’re in the twenty-first century now, for fuck’s sake, Steve. Learn to curse, I’m begging you.” For just a second they shared a grin. The moment was broken by a beep from Steve’s phone. The sudden awkward energy that radiated from him came as a surprise. “I don’t care if you check your phone, you know? World might be hours from destruction or something.”

“That’s unlikely.” Steve blushed. “It’s probably personal.”

“Stark sending out mass dick pics or something? You’re practically glowing there, Rogers.” The blond head ducked, Steve pushing a hand through his hair. He successfully blocked the blush from view but the new angle… “Steve, that’s a fucking hickey! That’s… at least three hickeys!” Captain America’s complexion was a riot of crimson, the blush spreading down to the livid bruise just below his jaw. “You bruise like I do – those are new and vicious. Christ, Steve, you been hooking up with a moray eel?”

“I, ah, I’m seeing someone.”

“No shit.” Probably he should have expected it. Steve must be one of the most eligible bachelors in the country now. Superpowers, a name like “Captain America”, and serum-enhanced looks on tops of his natural Steve-ness… The girls were probably all over him. Weird thought. “Well? Who is she? Do I need to check she’s good enough for my best friend?”

The tips of Steve’s ears became practically scarlet. “It, uh, look, Buck, I–” Bucky frowned. “The person I’m dating is… he’s a guy.”

Well, Bucky couldn’t say he’d never wondered. The immediate mental maelstrom was much the same as it would have been in the forties. How much trouble was this going to cause him? How many more beatings because hiding himself was absolutely alien to Steve’s nature? It took a few seconds for the twenty-first century to impose itself on his thinking. No, probably no beating for Captain America, but public opinion could be a hell of a thing to reckon with – especially for the nation’s golden boy. And Steve was standing there right now closer to cringing than Buck had seen him since his dad was alive. God, there was a man – if he even deserved the word – who would have exploded at the news that his son was a fairy. He probably would have tried to thrash it out of him, Avenger or no.

“He’s not off the hook for best friend judgement just because he’s male, you know. Do I get to meet him?” He felt the pressure in the room change as Steve relaxed. Had he really expected hostility over his confession? From Bucky?

He doesn’t trust you…

“Uh, I guess, sometime. No one else has yet but it’s not… not really a secret. The team knows.”

Bucky nodded. “Well? You gonna see what he wants?” On cue, Steve’s phone chimed again. Reluctantly, ears still hot, he pulled it out of his pocket.

“Just asking where I want to get dinner tonight.” He tapped out a reply, making Buck smile at the geriatric concentration he had to put into the exercise, betraying the boyish face.

“Cute.”

He knows, deep down, what a monster he unleashed by letting you go.

Stop.

That’s why he’s scared of you, even now. Guilt for leaving you behind? More likely guilt for not finishing what he started when he let you fall.

He didn’t “let me fall”.

We’ve been over this, asset. You used to be less naïve. You know the resources he has at his disposal. Do you really believe he didn’t just decide you weren’t worth the trouble?

Steve pushed his phone back into his pocket and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

Bucky waved the apology away.

“I should probably get going. I’ll see you? Soon?”

Bucky nodded, but…

Empty offer. You really think he and his new friends want someone around who tried to kill them – however poorly you executed your assignment? Stark didn’t even trust you unsupervised in this dump, let alone in his precious Tower.

“Steve, you sure the others won’t mind me just stopping by? Doubt I‘m popular over there. Not real eager to get teargassed soon as I set foot over the perimeter.”

Steve smiled, his confidence returning. He’d swung his leg over the sill already. “Sure, I’m sure. It’s not like everyone trusted Natasha when she first showed up either. They’re the good guys, Buck. They believe in second chances.” His smile was warm as ever as he ducked out of the window, not seeing the way the temperature of Bucky’s blood had plummeted. “And charge your phone,” Bucky heard him say as his feet landed on the tarmac.

Second chances… isn’t that sweet? So much for his assurances of your deep and abiding innocent soul, it seems. You could have almost believed that choir boy act, couldn’t you?

It was three hours before Hive returned the way they had left. The hum of the generator wasn’t quite enough to drown out their scuffling descent. The faceless apparition was unnerving until they loosened their hood strings and pulled their hoodie down to uncover their lower face. “Protection,” they explained, though Bucky had already guessed as much. From the looks of the stretched fabric round their wrists, they’d had the sleeves pulled down over their hands too.

“Good call. Skin still itches like shit.” He’d had another go with the cream – Steve was right about the smell barely having changed in almost a century – but ran into the same problem as before. He’d had to spend a good twenty minutes scrubbing the stuff out of the joints in his arm with a toothbrush.

He was turning to offer Hive some of the beans he’d been heating on the camping stove, when he realised what else had bothered him about their appearance. They were huddled in the hallway, dressed as they’d been when they made their exit earlier – hoodie, cargoes, black and purple striped socks…

“You’ve been hanging around Brooklyn with no fucking shoes on?”

“You’d be amazed. Saw one guy with no shoes, no socks, and only half a pair of trousers. Guess I should be grateful for what I’ve got. Anyway, I wasn’t stopping for pre-flight checks while I was busy fleeing for my life, was I?”

“You need to check that you’re wearing shoes?”

“Told ya,” They seemed almost proud. “My brain is wrong.”

“Won’t be the only thing that’s wrong if you do shit like that. You’re lucky you haven’t got tetanus or something.”

“Probably too soon to be sure if I have or not,” they pointed out as they dropped down by the fire and stuck their feet out to warm near the flames.

“Not real comforting, kid.”

Hive watched him for a moment, maybe wondering the same thing he was: at what point had their continued well-being become a matter of comfort to him. Then again, maybe not.

“You call me that a lot. Kid. ‘M not a kid, you know.”

He grunted in reply. “I’m an old man, kid. Don’t take it personally.” That was apparently acceptable. They huffed but smirked. They wiggled their toes. Unsurprisingly, the soles of their socks were filthy, damp, and holes in more than one place. One big toe poked free. They saw him looking and wagged it pointedly at him.

“Rude to stare.” They were grinning.

“Sure your feet are okay? There are landfills cleaner than the streets round here. No cuts or anything?”

“Will you feel better if I check?”

“I’ll have less concern about my apartment stinking of gangrene tomorrow, yeah.”

They rolled their eyes but folded their legs and peeled off their socks.

He doled out beans, giving Hive the bowl and keeping his own in the pan, while they performed their inspection.

“All good,” they pronounced, hopping up with only a bit of a wobble to rinse their hands under the lonely sinkless faucet. Bucky wasn’t sure if it had been seeing Steve standing in the old place, looking not so much like he’d grown as like the room had shrunk around him, or if it was just having someone else inhabiting the space with him for a while, but the apartment’s wasted, skeletal feel was more noticeable to him now. He was making food over a camping stove. His bed was a sleeping bag. For someone who’d finally come back home, he looked pretty homeless right now, didn’t he? Was that what Steve had seen? Did Bucky have that same look? An abandoned shell, like the building?

What makes you think you deserve any better? You could have been so much more…

“Cheers.” Hands clean, Hive had grabbed their bowl and clunked it lightly against the pan. Seeing his confusion, they repeated, “A toast to toes not turning grey and dropping off! Which… now that I hear it again, may not have been the most genteel toast ever raised at a meal. Oops. Hope I didn’t put you off.” They tucked into their own food with no sign of discomfort.

“A toast to not losing body parts gets my vote,” he conceded. They shared a grin. “Where did you go earlier anyway? Guessing you didn’t find a café that didn’t care about the lack of shoes.”

“Rooftops, mostly. Nearby ones. Figured if it was a social call I probably didn’t need to flee the state. Thought about a library but figured I’d attract a bit too much attention.”

“Library?”

“They have books there! The wild kind, not the kind you have to pay for. Like a book zoo – except members can foster the animals. The analogy got a bit lost, sorry.”

“I followed, most of it anyway. I do know what a library is. We had ‘em when I was a kid too, you know.”

While he did the sparse dishes, Bucky could see Hive moving around out of the corner of his eye. A glance found them rolling up their sleeping bag and gathering the small quantity of trash they’d been accumulating into a sack. He dried his hands and grabbed his phone; it had turned up beside the plant pot. The generator fell quiet. Bucky turned the phone on and almost immediately wished he hadn’t. It lit up with message after message, the device rattling in his metal grip.

Steve: Been a while. How are you getting on?

Steve: Hope you are doing okay. There is a briefing later today that you might be interested in. Let me know.

Banner: Shuri sent me over your updated records. I think we should discuss a pain management regimen. Contact me.

Steve: Clint and Natasha are planning a movie night. How about joining us?

Steve: You really need to answer a text (or a call) once in a while.

Fen: You’re 30m late

Fen: Where are you??

Fen: Call me, James

Steve: I tried to call twice and didn’t get an answer. I’m going to drop by this morning. There’s some SHIELD business I want to discuss and it’s been a long time since you checked in. Miss you, man.

Fen: This is real shitty of you. You’re decent at the job and I like you but you can’t just ditch for the day without a word. The garage was busy today. We need to talk.

Steve: ETA 10 minutes.

“Fuck.” Hive looked up. “Everything going on since yesterday… Seems I forgot to go to work today.” He started moving automatically, grabbing his jacket off a picture nail, and toeing his boots upright. Hive must have taken them off for him while he was unconscious. He’d have expected to feel more latent objection to the idea but he definitely did not have time to stop and consider the unfamiliar close, warm sensation he experienced instead.

“I should have thought… sorry.”

“Huh?” He stopped, half inside his jacket.

“I mean, I knew, didn’t I? Where you work. That’s how I found you in the first place. Should have occurred to me that you ought to be there.”

He was already four hours late. What difference was five more minutes likely to make to his boss’s bad mood. “Wasn’t your problem if I went to work or not. I’m a big enough boy to handle my own routine.” He was a bit unsettled to see Hive huddling into a corner again, much as they’d done last night. They were still on their feet but they’d shrunken down into their hoodie and were not looking at him. “Hey, kid, it’ll be okay. My huge personal charm will smooth things over with my boss and anyway it is not up to you to have shit to do with my schedule.” They nodded but still wouldn’t meet his eyes. Their gaze was unfocused, drifting around the floor. Trying not to wonder why he cared, he cast around for something to ground them.

“Know what? I’m gonna try to make a dinner tonight that doesn’t come straight out of a can. What do ya think? Sound good?”

“I mean… it’s pretty vague.” He was relieved to see some… presence come back into their face. “Are we talking closer to a dead pigeon you found on the roof or delicately braised sustainably-farmed salmon?” Bucky’s expression apparently satisfied. They grinned a little.

“I guess somewhere in the middle but a little closer to the dead pigeon. I’ll do my best.”

The grin brightened. “Sounds good. I don’t like salmon much anyway.”

He nodded. “No salmon. Got it. See you later – gotta go save my job.”

The garage hadn’t been too bad. Fen had been obliged to rake him over the coals a little – sure it was real useful having a guy on staff who could jack up a car on one hand, in addition to being able to handle basically any bike issue she could remember being brought, but only if he was gonna decide to turn up when expected and not just when it was convenient to him. He knew she took no pleasure in playing the hard-ass, except with assholes who didn’t believe she was more than capable of dismantling their tricked out dick substitutes down to the nuts and then reassembling it faster than they could jerk off over a climate change denial manifesto; she just wanted her garage running smooth. He’d worked out the rest of the day and hung out past close to put away some late deliveries by way of apology and all ruffled feathers had settled. His extended shift had meant it was already past dark when he got to his supply run, though. He hoped Hive wasn’t getting too hungry waiting.

If they were, it wasn’t causing any notable chaos. The building was quiet and dark. Maybe they were taking the opportunity for some much needed sleep. A smile crept over his lips at the thought. He tried to keep quiet and not disturb them when he manoeuvred his awkward haul through the window, catching the new wok as it made a dash for the floor. But he’d no sooner set things down than he knew the apartment was deserted. It felt empty in a way he couldn’t recall it feeling before they’d arrived. He stuck his head out into the hallway but the whole building had the same mournful, abandoned echo. A shiver gripped him – all the more dramatic in a body that always ran so hot. He searched the apartment. Their sleeping bag was folded neatly in a corner of the hall. His own he found moved to his bedroom, spread out with pillow, blanket and a sheet of paper laid on top. He recognised their handwriting.

Hey Bucky,

Wasn’t sure when to expect you back. I’m so sorry – looks like I might have to miss dinner after all. I need to go do something. Should be back by 9 at the latest so… maybe save me some if I didn’t piss you off too much by ditching? Sorry, again. Sorry sorry sorry. See you later.

Hive x

Bucky stood in his bedroom doorway with the note in his hand and shot a look at the things he’d left in the kitchen – the wok and utensils he’d been managing without, the extra bowl, plate, cutlery, and the bag spilling spring onions and packets of noodles beside them. Gotta do what they gotta do, he supposed. The note creased in his fingers. No problem. Might take him a while to get this right anyway. He’d cook, and they’d probably be back by the time he was done, sure.

With how many people who’d love to know where to find Bucky Barnes in tow?

They don’t want to be found themselves. They wouldn’t bring anyone back here…

The nightmare act really sucked you in, didn’t it? Who knows who they really are? Even if they are in hiding from someone, aren’t there plenty of people who’d trade the whereabouts of the Winter Soldier for better protection than hiding out with a monster who already nearly killed them? Not a high bar, is it?

So what’s your suggestion?

What time is it?

What?

They said they’d be back by nine.

Probably so we’d stay put and off guard.

What time is it?

He’d never bothered to get a clock. He pulled out his phone.

22:27

His eyes shot to the window.

Note: Thanks for reading, y'all! And thank you to all the wonderful providers of prompt events without which I probably wouldn't have started writing again. Special thank you to my boys for inspiring me and keeping me motivated.

[mdhwrites]

When it comes to fanfiction, what are your thoughts on OCs/self-inserts (I'm aware there's a difference between the two)?

So I know both of theirs reputation. In many's eyes, one is just a more extreme version of the other. Both are seen as wish fulfillment on the writer's part and thus are written poorly by default as a part of making them the most special thing that special'd. What is interesting to me in this regard is that this is actually just the same problem that the writers of the OG content face when introducing a new character but the writer doing it doesn't realize the landmine they're potentially walking onto.

Have you ever seen a long running show, even maybe just a couple seasons, and when they add a new character they get a bad reception? "They're just a copy of this character!" "They aren't nearly as deep as the cast that's already there!" "What purpose do they serve to this story except to let the writers... Add their own OC." This is because the audience is going to be inherently biased towards the characters who are already there. Trying to add a new MAIN character is always going to be difficult because it inherently means shifting the balance of the work, especially because the new character is going to need a lot of time to flesh out their place in the ensemble. Starlight Glimmer is an example, where the season after her started with a lot of episodes that were in someway focused on her so she could prove her good girl status or show how she was different from Twilight Sparkle because that's just what needs to happen with a new character.

But I want to emphasize this: OCs/Backlash on a character like this is predominantly a MAIN character problem. You want to throw in a random self insert who gets two lines and then dips out? Few, if anyone, is going to care because hey, you needed a rando there so why not just a quick cameo? This is the style the Marvel movies took with Stan Lee. His cameos were never that much a problem because they were usually a quick joke. They didn't detract from the characters you were there to see.

Which brings us to why this problem is SO. MUCH. WORSE. when it comes to fanfiction. One of the strengths of fanfiction from a novice writer's perspective is that a lot of criticism is going to be softballed because the audience is primed to just enjoy the work regardless because they just are there for more time with the characters they love. For an experience writer like me, I could theoretically be experimental with my stories more on Ao3 as a test bed for if those would work in general because I'm not going to get a one star review for the formatting, I'll get a comment going "This was weird but MAN I loved seeing X do Y." Your audience being inherently primed to enjoy your work is one of the joys of being a fanfic writer because it means it's so much easier to find your audience.

That also means it's really easy for original elements to be seen as hostile. As invading the space, especially if they're overshadowing the rest of the cast. The audience isn't here for your original characters after all. They're here for the characters they already enjoy. It makes me think of how the most famous OC of MLP's fandom... Is Nyx, at least from fanfiction. That or Pip but both use sleight of hand in order to get away with this. Nyx is not a wholly an OC. They are a mix of two characters explicitly. Nightmare and Luna, just turned into a filly. So instead of "Check out my OC," it's "Check out my alternative version Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon." Littlepip meanwhile is in a Fallout AU in an Equestria that is, well, a post apocalypse. That isn't MLP at that point. That's just original fiction and so your expectations change because you don't actually know from go if your favorite characters are going to be there so you're more there for the blending of media. Any appearances by canon characters becomes a treat and so Littlepip doesn't have to compete with them. I've also never read either of these stories, I'm just going off of what I've absorbed since I know these characters are commonly liked and what their concepts are. This is also not a condemnation of either character, both need to be well written to be as popular as they are or else they would have been discarded, just that they don't have as much of an uphill battle as literally just dropping a new character in the media world you enjoy has.

The other way you can bypass this is to make them narratively subservient to a character. What I mean by that is that they clearly are there to push another main character's arc and the like. As such, they don't feel as much like a main character, they feel like interesting supporting cast to one of the characters already is primed to like. Pretty much any Apple Family OC is going to fall into this so long as the story also heavily includes Applejack or Apple Bloom. Babs Seed is literally just this where her connection to the Apples and how she challenges them makes her immediately compelling to the audience because we want to see that. A looooot of one off characters honestly fall into this category, with the added bonus that they're not main characters, they're supporting cast.

So with all of this, I think it begs the question: Are OCs/Self Inserts treated unfairly? Well... That's really fucking complicated. As I pointed out above, the well written and the well conceived can absolutely be liked. It has maybe fallen a bit out fashion post MLP but a lot of fandoms probably have semi-famous that just got popular enough to start being passed around. An OC can be well received so long as they're done well. The reason so few are done well is honestly tragically simple: You have now taken one of the hardest parts of original writing and added the biggest downside of fanfiction with none of the strengths of fanfiction.

I have said that I became an original writer because I found myself limited by fanfiction. That the AUs I made were essentially irrecognizable, or not materially added to, by being fanfiction. This is because the one mandate, the one restriction, of fanfiction is that you have to work within the boundaries of the media you are in. Those boundaries are looser than an original story but there are limits. You make an alicorn OC in MLP fanfic will ask questions because doesn't that make them a princess? So now you have to add someone entirely from whole cloth, robbing you of the bonuses of fanfiction, while making sure they contort to the rules of the fiction, rather than ever being able to bend those rules for the sake of the character and their story. This can actually make it really good practice for making original characters for an original story because of those extra challenges but that's not how most fanfic authors look at it. It's just adding a character, or themselves, into a story because they're excited to do so. That is a recipe for disaster.

I also think it is given too much shit for the same reason. Unless the person touts their OC as perfectly written... Let them enjoy their trash. Fanfiction is for the writer before it is ever for the reader after all. If you can empathize with why a person adds themselves into a story, which is an entire blog on its own, then it can help you see a poorly written OC and go, "This isn't for me." And then leave. You do not have to be a dick about it, they're just trying to enjoy themselves.

As a note: This is why I so very, VERY rarely go after fanworks. I do not want to shit on people just for wanting to create and play. It's just discouraging so unless I have a larger point I can make through the work, an actual lesson to teach rather than just dragging it through the mud, I'm not even going to bother talking about it. I'm just being a dick then.

And a lot of the push against OCs and Self Inserts in fanfiction fall into and I hope that hasn't discouraged people from making the stories they want to like it did for me with my first ever piece of fanfiction. See you all next tale.

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

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

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

A Twitter you can follow too

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

[spnfanficpond]

New Member Spotlight - April 2024

The Pond is always growing and we want to make our new members feel welcome! Here’s a list of recent additions to our fishy family, along with a little info about them!

Guppies, Jellies, and Mutuals, oh, my!

@elf-punk -

Other SM names? - Discord: crumblemoon, AO3: queen_karnilla

OTP? - Destiel all the way

Other fandoms? - Doctor who, Dune, Harry Potter, Marvel (Loki specifically), Sandman

Looking for in the Pond? - Mainly to meet and hang out with other SPN fans, and share/read fanfic and headcanons! Nothing super specific.

Pairings you read? - Reader inserts/OC mainly involving spn angels (michael and cas are my favourites!)

Genres you read? - Romance, friends/enemies to lovers, angst with a resolution, all things fluffy! Will read smut as part of a longer romantic narrative, but not for the sake of it.

What do you like to write? - Reader-inserts/OC, introspectives and character studies

Masterlist!

@jinkieswouldyoulookatthis -

Other SM names? - Discord: jackiefour, AO3: jinkieswouldyoulookatthis

OTP? - Wincest (Sam/Dean)

Looking for in the Pond? - Just looking to strengthen ties with the general fandom community and it's always nice to have other writers/readers to talk with.

Pairings you read? - SamDean in all its variations, either of the brothers/reader together or separate is good too.

Genres you read? - Angst, smut, crackfics are my preferred, although some fluff is nice and appreciated too. The trope doesn't matter as much to me as the overall quality of the writing.

Favorite writer(s)? - Gah, too many amazing writers to narrow it down to a favorite, but @applecrumbledore, @dyed-red, leonidaslion, candle_beck, deadlybride immediately spring to mind.

What do you like to write? - Currently been writing wincest (SamDean) but I used to write reader inserts for both of the boys.

Masterlist!

Most underappreciated fic? - Probably this one because it's a body swap/gender bend with low key non-con elements to it (so I get why it doesn't get as much love as some of the others): Make A Wish

Something you haven't written but would like to try? Why not? How can we help? -I am currently working on my first long fic, just getting going on it and am a little intimidated by the scope, but I don't deal with deadlines or anything like that well, so I'm hoping that just being around other people writing and talking about writing will help keep me motivated to finish it. Basically, I'm just looking for passive motivation and community.

@i-already-know-im-going-2-hell / @aceing-on-the-cake -

Other SM names? - AO3: i_already_know_im_going_to_hell

OTP? - Honestly I think Wincestiel can't be beat when it's done well, best of both worlds

Other fandoms? - I enjoy a lot of fandoms but to be honest I'm really only making content (writing and drawing) for supernatural.

Looking for in the Pond? - Honestly I'm just looking to hang around, meet fellow writers and artists, and pick up tips and tricks along the way. I find I'm motivated so much more when I have others around me who are just as into the things I'm into.

Something to signal boost? - Honestly the only thing I'm currently working on bigger project wise is a supernatural au I'm doing a lot of drawings for. This is the original post --Guineanatural-- and it has all the links in it towards currently running polls or completed artworks.

Pairings you read? - I'm a multishipper, I will read almost any pairing that's not parent/child honestly.

Genres you read? - Angst and Hurt/Comfort are my jam. Smut, fluff and crack are great if they're included, but I'm truly there for pain of angst and then the comfort that comes after.

Favorite writer(s)? - @applecrumbledore on AO3, is the author of one of my all-time favorite Dean/Sam fics I've ever read, Acid

What do you like to write? - Angst/Comfort with a whole lot of character analysis thrown in

Something you haven't written but would like to try? Why not? How can we help? - Unfortunately, my bane in life is to house more fic ideas in my head than I actually ever have a reasonable amount of time to write and to have crippling adhd caused executive dysfunction, which can truly only be fixed by Earth changing to a day cycle longer than 24 hours and absolutely using body doubles in any form I can take those. The first problem truly can't be fixed by mortal men unfortunately, but for the second honestly me just hanging around with other writers or seeing other writers work on things too helps to work as a body double for my brain a lot of the time. So honestly, just hanging in the server itself and following the tumblr should be plenty of help.

That's all for this month, folks! (If we're missing anyone, let us know and we'll add them to next month's list!) Make sure to say hi to the newbies and make them feel welcome! Thanks to all from @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, and @heavenssexiestangel!

[shellibisshe]

–oc tag game

tagged by @corvosattano @jackiesarch @marivenah @nuclearstorms @leviiackrman @nightbloodbix @chuckhansen and @queennymeria thank you all!

i think this has made it's rounds but tagging @loriane-elmuerto @jendoe @florbelles​ @unholymilf @denerims @risingsh0t @indorilnerevarine @lizzywizzy @ladysanjo @teamhawkeye @benwishaw @ghostfvcker and anyone else!

buckle up yall im going to get sappy. also super ungodly long post under the cut IM SAPPY

– favorite oc.

spencer clarke [the quarry]

i say it a lot but. she is me i am her. like actually, spencer has only been an oc for like a week and she has taken such a tight hold on my brain. I pour a lot of myself into my ocs, but i think spencer is the oc that has really gotten the most. she is the closest to a self insert i think out of all of them, she shares a lot of my behaviors and such. but she is just so fun for me to talk about (im sorry to lori and aj) and figuring her out has been such a blast.

amara owens [infamous: second son]

MISS AMARA CELESTE OWENS. I've had her for as long as i've had the fc5 clowns, or maybe even longer. Amara is an oc that makes me really happy. for a while, i never knew where i wanted to put her; i tried making her a multifandom oc but it just didn't feel right. then i played infamous: second son and it felt like everything just clicked with her. she's one of my most important ocs, no one else have i played the same game 6 times for.

marian ramos de-león [red dead redemption 2]

ms marian is also one of my oldest ocs, she's a little younger than the fc5 clowns, but she's also one of my favorites. she's another really fun character for me to think about. it was so fun to play the game and know exactly where she would be and what she would say. while i haven't done much with her canon or sadie au, making this new, spooky au for her was some of the most fun i've ever had with an oc. using concepts that i've always been a fan of but never really used has been so fun and it all clicks so well with marian

sylvie green [call of duty: modern warfare 2019]

my child whom i share custody of with lori. she has been one of my favorites for almost a year now, another one that has helped me figure out some stuff about myself, and like spencer she truly did grab onto my brain and has not let go. i never thought i'd make an oc for cod, let alone like,,,22 including side characters. half the fun has been getting to bounce ideas off of lori, and sylvie is absolutely one of those ideas. most things about her-- her name, her face, her backstory, even her ship-- are all lori's amazing ideas and i am so happy to have both of them in my life.

honorable mentions: elenore parker, hanan shepard, iseul jeong, corinne sorrell

– newest oc.

spencer clarke [the quarry]

like i said! i've only had spencer for like,,,4 days i think atp. but i love her a lot. with it being summer time here, i started thinking about the quarry again and jacob those that have been here u know i see a himbo i have to make a partner for them and decided it might be fun to make an oc for a horror game for a change! and i'm really happy i did.

jackie castillo [marvel]

more of lori's influence, seeing them talk about Asra and the rest of their marvel ocs made me want to make my own. Jackie is still a bit of a wip, but i love her all the same and i really do need to do some development on her.

blake liu [marvel]

my other marvel girlie. even more of lori's influence. Riri's roommate turned fellow kidnappee turned girlfriend. Asra's adopted daughter. Blake is so many things but everything clicks so well for her. another one i need to develop more, but i am so happy to have her as well.

thalia [assassin's creed: odyssey/origins]

thalia's some kind of phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes deal, but in a like, i scrapped one oc and made her. when i was overhauling Amara, i decided her assassin's creed au didn't really work, but i wanted an oc for odyssey so bad; so enter Thalia. she's one of my more stick in the mud characters but i still love her a lot.

honorable mentions: daphne palmer, silas kane, noah callaghan, andy kwan, rhea dawn

– oldest oc. (also; the favorites pt.2)

elenore parker [far cry 5]

you all knew she'd be here. the blueprint. the very first clown. the batshit insane queen herself. the reason i made this blog. Elle has been through a lot. and i've been through a lot at the same time. she's been there for me as a creative outlet through a lot of bullshit and i am so thankful for her. making her let me deal with some of my own trauma in a way. she's one of the only ocs that i shove into different ships and aus, and every one just works so well for her. she's gotten a bit of an overhaul recently and i'm even more happy with her now.

emily parker [far cry 5]

i can't talk about Elle without Emily. Emily is also a very self inserty character but she's also someone i wish i could be somehow. I don't lean on her as much as i lean on Elle, but i enjoy messing with her every time i do. she's an older oc, but there's still things that are up in the air about her namely if i will ever commit to shipping her with Wheaty.

margo seed [far cry 5]

Margaret Elizabeth Seed, the only oc i have argued with someone about. she was the very first ship kid, such a commanding presence; ever since making her it almost felt like she made herself if that made sense? another one that things just really clicked with; she's also my first aroace oc, and that has become very important to me. she stands on her own, she's another one that i want to be like when i grow up.

daniel seed [far cry 5]

the second ship kid. Daniel almost didn't exist, but i decided Margo could benefit from a narrative foil of sorts. he was a bit of a hassle, he was my first male oc and as such i couldn't land on a face claim for the longest time which was really frustrating for me. he and Margo are both such fun characters to write for, i love how i've managed to make them so similar and so different at the same time.

warren armstrong [far cry 5]

Warren was made at the same time, or close to the same time, as Daniel. he's the first oc that I have actually come up with a family for though, and that has become somewhat of a trend because of him. Warren took a second to really figure out, but he fits in so well with the twins and their shenanigans once i did. I don't talk about him nearly as much as i should, but he is also one of my favorites.

honorable mentions: fern solace, ashlee burrell, katherine boyer, judith burch, kennedy ryder, amara owens

– meanest oc.

ines cousland [dragon age origins]

I have a lot of violent or manipulative ocs (i think, at least), but none of them are on the level that Ines is. Ines walks around with a sort of chip on her shoulder about the world she lives in. she's composed and calculating and power hungry. she makes a lot of cruel and sort of impulsive decisions as a warden, but she is always one step ahead of those that challenge her. she knows she has enemies and she will stop at nothing to ruin their lives just for the fun of it. she's also incredibly ambitious as well; she wanted to be one of, if not the most, powerful people in Thedas, and she would stop at nothing to get herself there.

rhea dawn [fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood]

Rhea is not nearly as malicious as Ines is but she has her moments. she's not technically a villain, but she's also not really going out of her way to help the heroes either. she's never really had any second thoughts about her actions, she will take her own side before anyone else's. she knows she's one of the most powerful alchemists in the world, and if that inspires some fear then so be it.

levi choi [call of duty: modern warfare 2019]

he has to be here, but he's not really that mean compared to the two above. Levi's that friend that is always brutally honest, the one that you just want to fight sometimes because of it. he's not afraid to say what he thinks, he never writes a check that his ass can't cash, and you will hear about it if you piss him or his friends off.

honorable mentions: raina hawke, scott ryder, morgan brooks, noah callaghan, althea elowen, minerva siobhan, katherine boyer, shannon turner

– softest oc.

melanie vargas [the last of us]

Mel is another oc that got somewhat of an overhaul. when hbo tlou came out, i decided i didn't like the direction i went with her, so i scrapped it and started over. she turned out a lot softer this time, being reworked to be one of the friendliest faces of Jackson now. she is a bit more of a background character now because of her role in the universe, but i think that works out better for her.

amara owens [infamous: second son]

my favorite daughter here once again. Amara is one of the softer characters in the main cast of second son but that's not to say she's a pushover either. she would do anything for her friends, she would give anything to help a stranger. she's just one of those ocs that radiates a lot of positive energy and light.

kennedy ryder [mass effect: andromeda]

another one that's soft but is not a pushover. Kennedy would do anything to help anyone in need, but she will not let her kindness be taken advantage of by anyone. she's seen a lot, she's been through a lot, but she doesn't let it get to her. she's also the resident optimist of the gang, which can be a blessing and a curse.

nettie hayes [red dead redemption 2]

nettie, however, is too soft for her own good. maybe. she's the most optimistic oc of mine, always has her rose colored glasses on. in her mind, her world is a lot more idyllic than it is. she is a bit of a pushover as well; she can recognize when she's being screwed over but she won't do anything about it. she wears her heart on her sleeve and is probably the most sensitive of my ocs

honorable mentions: veris lavellan, bea morgan, daphne palmer, taylor ross, daniel seed

– most aloof/standofish oc.

arden [potion permit]

she's quiet, she keeps to herself, she doesn't say much. Arden's not like this because of something that's happened to her, i think you could say; moreso, it's her line of work that made her like this. Arden tries to not get attached because she knows most people she deals with will only be in her life a short period of time. most people, not all of them.

honorable mentions: rhea dawn, spencer clarke, thalia, katherine boyer, ines cousland, nadine hayek

– dumbest (affectionate) oc.

veris lavellan [dragon age: inquisition]

Veris Rila, my first inquisitor, one of the dimmest lightbulbs in my chandler but she still shines. she is the very definition of 'just trying her best.' she's smart in her own way, one that does not make sense to anyone but herself. she's also impulsive, almost out of spite at this point.

honorable mentions: daniel seed, margo seed, blythe trevelyan, silas kane

– smartest oc.

gwen khoury [uncharted]

Dr. Gwendolyn Mila Khoury, Ph.D. Gwen learns shit just for the fun of it honestly, and she will spout off if given the chance. she is incredibly, and sometimes annoyingly, curious. Gwen will pick up a new language or skill just to learn something new.

hanan shepard [mass effect]

another knowledge sponge, Hanan loves to learn about anything she can get her hands on. ship engineering, biotics, alien languages-- Hanan will find something new to learn whenever she can. and she will not hesitate to info dump on the nearest person.

andy kwan [tomb raider]

Andy! another incredibly bright mind. she's working on her masters in ecosystems ecology for much of the tomb raider shenanigans, and she uses these trips for her own personal research. she's not quite on the 'learning something new just for shits and gigs,' but that does not stop her from constantly taking in some knowledge somehow

honorable mentions: amara owens, ethan moreno, taylor ross, spencer clarke, emily parker, iseul jeong, daphne palmer, nadine hayek, alicia rossi, jules rossi, blake liu, arden

– oc you'd be friends with irl.

spencer clarke [the quarry]

we're ending where we started. i put spence in this category because i really do mean it when i said she is me. her behavior and personality is so similar to my own. she's another oc that is really someone i wish i could be like.

honorable mentions: daniel seed, taylor ross, ethan moreno, veris lavellan, blythe trevelyan, amara owens, blake liu, kennedy ryder, bea morgan

[decepti-thots]

(I’ll preface by saying: huge JP fan who has no problem with people not liking it)

Anyways I’m actually super curious…

How are most JP fics “boring”? 🤔 I’ve always found their dynamic to be more entertaining than most, given the dichotomy of their characters.

So I’m curious as to how you’ve wound up at “boring” of all the possible reasons to dislike it. 🤣

I'm going to be a bit blunter here than I usually would be on the topic, as I was directly asked. So I'll cut the uh… negativity? I guess? For those who prefer not to see folks talk shit about a ship they like, lol.

First and foremost Jazz/Prowl is basically just… essentially made up and purely based on fanon inventions/additions, and made up fanon stuff is usually not of real interest to me without a very strong hook somewhere in the actual canon material. It is 99% fanon by volume that draws on little to no canon material of any kind but just... years of fanon, reproducing itself and mutating almost like a fanfic game of telephone, all developed in fandom echo chambers. Which renders the characters in the vast majority of fic a) largely unrelated to any canon material I like in a meaningful sense and b) tbqh, the kind of generic stuff found in a lot of typical, large dudeslash fandoms where the characters are… they're Dudeslash Fandom Archetypes with a gloss of paint on top, you know? People come in, look for which character in a fandom fits their favourite m/m trope the most, and then squish the character down to fit into that pre-existing archetype.

And the thing is, J/P has historically made a certain kind of sense for this, because the appeal was basically that… they didn't HAVE that much canon material? In the Marvel G1 comics, they have a little more specific characterisation and canon, but the G1 cartoon is not exactly a character exploration piece ANYWAY, and for Prowl especially he is a blank slate you can functionally project an OC onto. Which like, that's fine! That makes a lot of sense even if it's not what usually draws me into something.

My issue has become that if I read one more G1-fanon-soup fest mistagged "IDW" I'm gonna scream. I like IDW Prowl (and IDW Jazz too!) for the fact that these characters have specific, strongly delineated canon personalities, arcs and dynamics, and both of these characters- Prowl especially, but both of them!- have like. Things about them which are true, and which J/P fic not only tends to ignore but actively treats in a loooot of cases as somehow Inferior To Our Fanon and something to be "fixed" with idk, the power of Extremely Generic Dudeslash Tropes. I've been in many a fandom with Migratory Dudeslash Fandoms writing fic. J/P is extremely rote to me as a result, if nothing else.

It warrants mentioning that J/P fandom is where one does find a lot of examples of just undeniably racist treatment of Jazz in fic, both the truly inexcusable phonetic accent bullshit and also a lot of bad decisions around tropes. I don't think this is a function of the ship, per se, but that its specific persistence in J/P fandom (bc trust me: this has been a point of criticism for A Long Fucking Time) is in part due to it having this long entrenched fanon-to-fanon game of telephone going on? It would be better to talk about the fandom's issues there outside ship talk so I'll leave it at that, but I can't deny it has not… helped my feelings. TBH. And I know that's where a lot of the resentment you will find in the fandom obviously stems from.

IDK. It's just. It's usually fanfic of itself, you know? J/P largely feels to me, in most cases, like fanfic of fanfic of fanfic, and I come to TF fandom for fanfic of a canon. So. Yeah. Not a fan. At all.

[mr-laveau]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Game

Tagged by a darling, @autisticempathydaemon! Thanks for the tag!

Tagging @agentplutonium because I wanna pull some SH style interrogative shenanigans/lh

1 - How many works do you have on AO3?

Seventeen, not a lot but it's to be expected somewhat I suppose since I'm busy writing NeXus.

2 - What's your total AO3 word count?

64,509-Oh look I beat Lexi/j/pos

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

Redacted mostly, I have some unreleased Castle Audios fics, an unfinished JJBA SDC fic to finish and a Scott Pilgrim fic to start.

4 - What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

#1 is an Ironpanther Marvel Fic of Avenger's Academy I have not touched in forever called "How Tony Stark landed a king and how T'Challa landed a genius". It was fun tho cuz my hc of T'Challa being demisexual was really well received to my knowledge. #2 is "Spitfire", which admittedly is a good FL/Damien fic and people should read it. #3 is "Ghost of the Past", my Sam/SH fic where they both used to be roommates in DUMP. #4 is "Friends...Am I right?" which was a really fun Darlin/Sam & BE+Fred fic. Finally, #5 is "Moments That Flash By" which is a really good Darlin/David fic for my soul.

5 - Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do respond when I remember...ADHD makes me do silly silly things like forget that stuff exists. I like comments and they let me know I'm doing s good job.

6 - What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Easy! "Shattered Glass Makes a Good Weapon" Gods, I love that fic so much. It was really fun for me to reach deep down and write Darlin and Quinn like that.

7 -What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uhhhhhhh I dunno, probably a Marvel fic called "Crossing Buckies and Dotting Hawkeyes", I am a winterhawk girlie and I had fun writing that, others might think it's "Spitfire" or "Break time, Gorgeous" but subjectively, it's that fic.

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

If I have then I haven't seen it. I don't really engage much with fandom to care about hate comments because "haha, look at you getting mad over words about fictional characters kissing", like shut your goofy ass and move on.

9 - Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I have but I'm not releasing it. I don't feel compelled to do it-mostly cuz it's for me and I like toying with the idea in my head and the people of my current fandom are not ready for the depravity I could unleash.

10 - Do you write crossovers?

No? I have ideated one but I'm still not sure if I want to do it.

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope.

12 - Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nuh uh.

13 - Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Uhhhh no but I have ideated with Lexi about one and I have been too busy to finish the first chapter.

14 - What's your all time favorite ship?

My redactedsona/redacted men What? who said that? It's Darlin/Sam/David/Angel/Damien/Asher/Baaabe/SH/Milo. It's my ship and yes, they're all poly, yes, they're a network and yes, I am happy with myself.

15 - What's a WIP that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

"Platinum Portrait", It was an old JJBA fic with my OC/Jotaro and I really liked how it was going. Dunno, we'll see how it goes.

16 - What are your writing strengths?

I'm good at dialogue and characterization as well as pacing(?).

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

Gore, writing long fics, Dead Dove Do Not Eats (I wanna do those at some point with Quinn or Hush OR Porter OR OR OR Imperium Vincent) I like dark shit, idk what to tell y'all and I wanna get better at exploring darker topics properly in my writing.

18 - Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Gods, I love doing it. If you've read "Break Time, Gorgeous" then I want you to know, I love you and it was fun as hell to write.

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

Marvel. Specifically it was my Ironpanther fic.

20 - Favorite fic you've written?

An unreleased Sam/Darlin smut fic where they fuck in an alleyway. I think it's fun.

[hsavinien]

Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @wheremermaidsdwell

tagging @asparklethatisblue, @degenezijde, @hyenabeanz if you want to.

How many works do you have on ao3?

441. 183 of those are The Owl House because I have a problem.

What’s your total word count?

360,262 (ish). Some co-written, so not all my words.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Silver is the Moon (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky)

Calling Across the Sea (Good Omens, Aziraphale/Crowley)

Remedy (ST: AOS, Kirk/McCoy)

Teasing Means We Love You, Irritation Means You're Still Alive (Old Guard, team fluff)

Such Simple Trials (MCU, Bucky/Steve/Peggy)

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

Always! I appreciate them so much!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Coupla Owl House ones. Maybe Raine captured by Kikimora: Leashed, or Camila and "her daughter's" changed behavior: Changeling.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Ehhh... A lot? Like. So many? "We saved the world and got back together and find each other wildly attractive, let's fuck about it!" is not an uncommon theme for me. New Morning Dawning (Raine/Eda) is fun.

Do you write crossovers?

Occasionally. I've done a few Good Omens ones:

We Must Bear Witness (GO/Tolkien, female maiar Aziraphale & Crowley, fusion)

Knightly Virtues are a Pain (GO/Arthuriana, female Aziraphale & Crowley, fusion)

Østenfor engelen og vestenfor demonen (GO/East of the Sun, West of the Moon, female Aziraphale & Crowley, fusion)

Out of Ambit (GO/Discworld, male Aziraphale & female Crowley, isekai)

A Holmes/Doctor Who drabble: A Loose End (Ninth Doctor & SH minor character)

A HP/Justice League Intl. remix for an exchange and a Girl Genius/Marvel comics one for my own joy: Nadia Not-Heterodyne and the Spark Girls (Jaeger OC & Nadia Van Dyne)

An Owl House/ST: TNG fic: Away Mission (King & Tasha & Deanna).

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, but I did get a self-identified aro person telling me I was doing romance wrong while having me blocked so I couldn't respond without logging out of my account to respond to a comment on my own fic. That person's comments no longer appear on my stories.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yeeeeep. What kind, like...genders? Species? Yes.

M/M, M/F (occasionally), F/F, F/Nonbinary, M/Nonbinary, Nonbinary/Nonbinary, Multi. Monsterfucking. Some bondage. Angsty masturbation.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yep! With @intosnarkness: And mony a canty day, Jim, We've had wi' ane anither (ST: AOS, Kirk/Scott)

and @hyenabeanz: Eda's Reprise (Be Refreshed, and Be Well) (Owl House, Eda/Raine)

Also 10 years and thousands (millions?) of messages of epistolary RP.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

Aging antifascist queers. Raine/Eda, Joe/Nicky, Baze/Chirrut.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I'm GONNA. I'll figure it out! I ONCE tried posting a WIP in hopes that it would make the words come out and it did NOT but I'm going to figure it out eventually! Hyenabeanz helped me figure out what the overarching theme is, so I do in fact have a general direction now. It's already the longest thing I've ever written.

Threads Binding a Wide Universe (Old Guard future fic, sci fi team adventure with new immortals)

What are your writing strengths?

Emotion and worldbuilding. Precision with words.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Sustained plot is hard.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I use it very occasionally and provide translations in a footnote if I don't think readers will be able to figure it out from context.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Good Omens. Long time community member on LJ. Counterpoint (Aziraphale & Crowley, the Arrangement)

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Ehhh. Might eventually write for MXTX, but no ideas have really jumped out at me.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

Again this question... Today, let's say I am very proud of A Reflection Bereft, Not Dark (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky, parallel universes).

[braveclementine]

Siberia

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

Steve landed the Quinjet in the snowy tundra and turned the jet off. Bucky meanwhile found the weapons and grabbed a gun. The two of them stood next to each other while they waited for the ramp to go down.

"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Steve asked, looking over at Bucky.

"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" Bucky asked, smiling.

"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead." Steve smirked.

"What was her name again?" Bucky chuckled.

"Dolores. You call her Dot."

"She's gotta be a hundred years old right now." Bucky sighed.

"So are we, pal." Steve smirked, clapping Bucky on the shoulder. Bucky leaned in and kissed Steve's cheek tentatively. Steve felt his cheeks grow hot.

"Just in case." Bucky smirked and went to walk down the ramp. Steve grabbed his arm and spun him around, kissing him passionately on the lips. "No." Steve breathed as he pulled away. "That's how you do it."

"Guess you're the lead now." Bucky chuckled, pecking Steve's lips one more time and then they walked off the ramp.

"He can't have been here more than a few hours." Steve said, looking around. It was bitter cold, the snow and wind blowing around them fiercely.

"Long enough to wake them up." Bucky replied.

They headed downstairs through the elevator and then started to make their way through the hallways. Bucky kept his new gun lifted up as he walked, leading and checking every corner he passed.

They started up the stairs, before they heard a loud thud behind them. They both turned immediately. Steve lifted his shield up so he could see it just over the edge.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

To their surprise, it was Tony, who stepped out and let his face plate down, "You seem a little defensive."

"It's been a long day." Steve said, walking forward slowly with his shield.

"At ease Soldier. I'm not currently after you." Tony shouted up at Bucky who hadn't moved.

"Then why are you here?" Steve asked.

"Could be your story's not so crazy." Tony said. "Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork." Steve replied. Tony scoffed and Steve finally relaxed, "It's good to see you Tony."

"You too, Cap." Tony looked up, "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop-"

Steve motioned to Bucky and Bucky slowly lowered the gun.

"I got heat signatures." Tony said as they rounded a corner into a larger, slightly more open room.

"How many?" Steve asked.

Tony took a second and then said, "Uh, one."

Suddenly, the lights lit up in the cylinders. They glowed yellow and steam hissed from them, moving around inside. Steve walked forwards slowly and then stopped again when a voice spoke.

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." Steve continued to walk forwards again and Tony matched his steps. He could see now that the soldiers all had bullet wounds in their foreheads, blood frozen to those spots. Steve worried for how Bucky would feel.

"Did you really think I wanted more of you?" The man asked.

"What the hell?" Steve heard Bucky whisper.

"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here." Steve noticed Bucky had wandered to look into the cylinders, so he was further away from him and Tony. More lights turned on. Tony immediately shot at where the man was and Steve threw his shield, but it bounced back to him.

"Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR- 100 rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that." Tony boasted as they all moved closer to the bunker.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asked angrily. He walked so he was face to face with Zemo, only separated by the glass.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized. . . there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes" He chuckled, "How nice to find a flaw."

"They're pretty eyes." A voice interrupted and Steve turned to see Elizabeth had somehow joined them, striding forward, planting herself next to Steve.

Zemo scoffed.

"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?" Steve asked, grateful suddenly for her presence.

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise."

"You lost someone?"

"I lost everyone. And so will you." He pressed a button inside and a screen came up on the computer behind Steve. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever."

Steve looked at the computer again, with Elizabeth and Tony joining him. Tony looked at the computer and then glanced at it again, "I know that road." Tony said, frowning a little, recognition coming to his eyes.

"What is this?" Tony shouted.

Steve realized what it was when he saw the car crash and a motorcycle go shooting past. The car caught on fire and the motorcycle came back. Bucky got off the back of the motorcycle, opening up the trunk and grabbing whatever was in the back. Knowing the entire story now, it was probably super serum that Howard had made to create the super soldiers here.

Bucky was looking at the ground and Elizabeth was too.

Steve watched Howard get out of the car. "Please. Help my wife." Bucky grabbed Howards head and jerked it backwards. "Sergeant Barnes?"

"Howard!" Maria shouted.

Elizabeth left the computer side and Steve looked up to see her touch Bucky's arm. Bucky was looked traumatized. Steve glanced over and saw the Zemo had gone.

To watch an empire fall. Fall from within. To make them fight each other. And die killing each other.

Tony breathed in deeply and then punched the screen. He breathed out. "I already knew!" he screamed, but he too realized Zemo was gone then.

"Give me a second." Tony shuddered. "It's. . . different seeing it then hearing it."

"You knew?" Bucky asked quietly.

"Y/N told him the minute she found out. Good thing too." Elizabeth said.

"I'm sorry." Bucky said. "From the bottom of my heart I wish I could take everything back. All of it."

"I know." Tony snapped. "I know. Now let's go hunt the mother fucker down."

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

T'Challa put his helmet down carefully in the snow as he approached the man sitting on the rock. "I almost killed the wrong man."

"Hardly an innocent one." The man scoffed.

"This is all you wanted?" T'Challa asked, "To see them rip each other apart?"

"My father lived outside the city. I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Man from the car window. I told my wife, 'Don't worry. They're fighting in the city. We're miles from harm'. When the dust cleared. . . and the screaming stopped. . . it took me two days until I found their bodies. My father. . . still holding my wife and son in his arms. And the Avengers? They went home. I knew I couldn't kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But, if I could get them to kill each other. . . I'm sorry about your father. He seemed a good man. With a dutiful son."

"Vengeance has consumed you." T'Challa spoke slowly. "It's consuming them. I am done letting it consume me."

He let his claws slide back into his paws. His father would not have wanted him to kill either man in the first place in response to his death.

"Justice will come soon enough."

"Tell that to the dead." Zemo scoffed. He went to point his gun under his chin, and T'Challa put his hand over it, the vibranium stopping the bullet from penetrating his skin and killing him. He pulled Zemo back into the snow, wrapping an arm around his neck.

"The living are not done with you, yet."

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

Elizabeth was gone. She had stepped out and once the four of them had seen Zemo in the hands of T'Challa, she had hugged Tony, kissed both Steve and Bucky on the cheeks, and then let Heimdall take her back up to Asgard.

Steve and Bucky had left with T'Challa, who offered to take Barnes to Wakanda to see if his sister Shuri could do anything with medicine. And Tony took Zemo to Ross.

He stepped into the Avengers Compound. It felt emptier than it had before.

Vision seemed to be the only one there, sitting on the couch, rolling a chess piece between his fingers.

Rhodey was there as well. His physical therapy was going well. He still had to wear some braces, which Tony had designed himself, but other than that, he was fine. He wouldn't even need the braces after a few months.

He was helping Rhodey with the physical therapy when there was a knock on the window and he turned to see a mail man there. "Are you. . . Tony Stank?"

"Yes, this is Tony Stank. You're in the right place." Rhodey called out. "Thank you for that! Never, dropping that, by the way. 'Table for one, Mr. Stank. Right by the bathroom'."

Tony laughed, then took the package to open it.

Inside was a letter from Steve and Tony felt a little apprehensive. He knew that what Zemo had wanted was for them to fight. To kill each other. That he would be so angry that Barnes had been the one to kill his parents that he would try and kill Bucky. And inevitably, Steve would fight Tony as well.

Tony didn't know who would win. Probably the three of them. Elizabeth would never have let any harm come to the super soldiers. Or maybe she would have tried to mitigate it so they didn't fight.

Yes, Steve probably would've tried to just get them to safety. Steve was to close with Y/N to kill him.

Everleigh came into the room, crawling into Tony's lap. He hugged her tightly and opened up the letter.

Tony, I'm glad you're back at the Compound. I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours. Maybe more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was eighteen. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the Army. My faith's in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't. I know I hurt you, Tony. I wish we agreed on the Accords. I really do. I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. That's all any of us should. So no matter what, I promise you, if you need us. . . if you need me. . . I'll be there.

"Priority call from Secretary Ross." F.R.I.D.A.Y. said as Tony found the cell phone Steve had left for him. A flip phone, how typical. "There's been a breach at the Raft prison."

"Yeah, put him through."

"Tony, we have a problem." Ross said.

"Uh! Please hold." Tony said.

"No, don't." Tony put him on hold and then picked up his daughter to go and take her to bed. "Guess what sweetie? Mommy's coming home."

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

You sat in your prison cell, waiting. It was freezing in the cell as well, goosebumps had broken out on your skin. You shuddered a little, wishing there was a blanket or something.

You didn't want to look at the others. They all looked so defeated and it was so hard to look at Wanda in her straight jacket. Pietro kept running circles in his cage like a locked up animal.

You didn't blame Tony. You had read the Accords and nothing about breaking the law said they would put you in the top security prison in the world. Underwater and everything.

Suddenly, you heard people gasping and you looked up. You half expected Steve to be here, breaking you free, but instead there was a mangled, half-burned almost walking corpse of a person.

Rumlow?

You stood up in shock. What was he doing here? Why was he here? How in the world was he still even alive? He certainly didn't look like he should be alive. He looked like he should be very, very dead.

"How the hell are you alive?" Sam asked, but Rumlow didn't answer, not stopping until he reached your cell. He smirked, opening up your cell.

You knew he had an obsession with you. He'd constantly asked you into his bed when S.H.I.E.L.D. had still been a thing. But still, why in the world had he tracked you all the way down here, did who knows what with the security, just to get to you?

You readied yourself for a fight, dodging his quick punches and kicking him in the chest. You ducked as he flung the metal stool in your room at you. You blocked his next punch, then cried out in pain as electrical shocks radiated throughout your body.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Clint, Sam, and Pietro all shouted at him as he ripped the prison shirt off your body. You punched him across the face, before feeling the electrical spasms again.

You couldn't move your body, but you could feel his hands on your breasts. Hands attempting to pull the rest of the clothes off.

You came down from the shocks, but he slammed your head against the ground and you felt dazed, black spots forming in front of your eyes.

Suddenly, Rumlow grunted in pain and you heard the sounds of someone punching him. Huh. Maybe Clint had broken out of his cell or something.

There was the sound of Rumlow's body falling to the ground. Large hands lifted you up into someone's arms. You just barely caught a glimpse of Steve's face, before you blacked out completely.

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

You came too in a very white room. It was definitely medical and there was a young black woman standing over you.

"Please stay still, I'll be right back." She said in a heavily accented voice and then hurried from the room.

You groaned, turning your head side to side. It didn't look like any hospital wing that you had ever seen.

"Hey." Steve came into the room, carrying a bottle of water. "How are you feeling?"

"My head aches." You said hoarsely. "This raging pain inside of my head. It's that sort of headache where it feels like it's in different spots? Ya know? The kind that feels like it's in your nose or your eye?"

"Sorry." Steve said gently, handing you the water. "The water should help and they wanted you to wake up before they put you on any heavy pain killers. You want anything to eat?"

"No, I want a blanket." You mumbled, "It's freezing."

"Well, we are in Africa. The buildings are definitely air conditioned." Steve said lightly, grabbing you a blanket and covering you with it.

"Africa?"

"Wakanda, to be exact. I was already taking Bucky here because they have some advanced technology. Shuri, T'Challa's sister, thinks she can remove his trigger words."

"That's great." You said hoarsely, lifting the water bottle to your head. "Does um, Tony-"

"T'Challa called him and he knows you're okay. But he can't get here. I told him once you were better, T'Challa and him could arrange a meet up. He says Everleigh misses you."

"How was Rumlow alive?" You asked, shifting onto your side. Why was it so cold?

"I have no idea. No one does." Steve sighed. "Nor does anyone know how he got into the Raft to get to you."

You sighed. "But he's dead now?"

"Yes." Steve nodded. It was quiet for a moment and he smiled as your eyes fluttered tiredly. "Get some sleep Y/N. You're safe here."

You smiled at the idea, and drifted off to sleep slowly.