#meanwhile will is like I will be the most normal teen ever

[heavencasteel420]

In my hypothetical no-UD AU, Joyce and Bob are seriously dating but Hopper is friends with both of them and there are kind of flirtatious vibes all around. But Will and Jonathan are both just like “whatever, let’s not look at that too closely.”

[vulturevanity]

The people who complain about Natsuki DDLC's grumpiness wouldn't survive watching a single Haruhi episode

[j-psilas]

Will we ever get anything quite like Code Geass again?

I don't think it's possible.

Code Geass is Japanese nationalist propaganda disguised as a global political drama, disguised as a military mecha show, disguised as yaoibait, disguised as a teen melodrama, disguised as a high school romcom, disguised as a Pizza Hut commercial...

...except those layers aren't layers at all, but are instead comingled in a giant snake ball of insanity.

The lead writer, Ichirō Ōkouchi, only ever worked as an episode writer for other shows prior to Code Geass, and never took the helm of an anime series ever again. And it shows. [EDIT: Several people have pointed out his other lead writing credits to me. So I misread Wikipedia—sue me. I maintain that this guy is a better episode writer than he is a lead writer.]

The minute-to-minute pacing is impeccable from a mechanical standpoint, with tension and stakes rising to ever-higher peaks, balanced out by the slow simmers of the b-plot and c-plot. It keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat at all times. Meanwhile, the large-scale plot is the most off-the-wall middle school nonsense I've ever seen, continually surprising the viewer by pulling twists too dumb to have ever have been on their radar—and therefore more effective in terms of raw shock value.

"Greenlight it!" was the mantra of this anime's production. It must have been. It has, in no particular order, all of the following:

Character designs from CLAMP, the foremost yaoi/BL group in Japan at the time—for characters who are only queer insofar as they can bait the audience, and only straight insofar as they can be more misogynist to the female cast.

Speaking of the female cast, hoo boy the fanservice. We've all seen anime girls breast boobily, with many cases more egregious than Code Geass, but there's something special about it happening immediately after—or sometimes in the middle of!—scenes of military conflict and ethnic cleansing.

Pizza Hut product placement everywhere, in every conceivable situation. High-speed chases, light slice-of-life scenes, intimate character moments, all of it. Gotta have Pizza Hut.

The anime-only Pizza Hut mascot, Cheese-kun. He wears a fedora.

The most hilarious approximations of European names—which I would love to see more often, frankly. Names like, I dunno, "Count Schnitzelgrübe zi Blanquezzio."

A depiction of China that is wholly removed from any modern reality, with red-and-gold pagodas, ornamental robes, scheming eunuchs, and a brainwashed child empress. There's a character named General Tsao, like the chicken.

Inappropriate free-form jazz in the soundtrack, intruding at the most unexpected times.

A secret cabal not unlike the Illuminati, run by an immortal shota with magic powers, holding influence all across the world, at the highest levels of government. They matter for approximately three episodes.

An unexpected insert scene of a schoolgirl using the corner of a table to masturbate. She's doing it to thoughts of her crush, the princess Euphemia—because she believes Euphemia to be as racist as she herself is, and that gets her off. This interrupts an unrelated scene of our protagonist faction planning their next move, which then resumes as if uninterrupted.

Said schoolgirl, in a fit of hysteria, threatens to detonate a worse-than-nuclear bomb in the middle of her school. She then goes on to develop an even more destructive version of that bomb, and become a war criminal, in a chain of cause-and-effect stemming from the moment she finds out that Euphemia wasn't actually that racist.

A character called "the Earl of Pudding."

A premise that asks us to believe that the name Lelouch is normal enough that he didn't need to change it when he went into hiding as an ordinary civilian. "No, that's not Prince Strimbleford von Vanquish! That's our classmate, Strimbleford Smith."

The collective unconscious, a la Carl Jung, within which the protagonist fights his villainous father for control over the fate of humankind. After this is over, the anime just keeps going for about ten more episodes.

An episode in which a mech tosses a giant pizza.

A gay yandere sleeper agent who can manipulate the perception of time.

Chess being played very badly, even to the untrained eye. Lelouch frequently checkmates his opponent by moving his king. This goes hand-in-hand with the anime's crock of bad chess symbolism.

A fictional drug that can most succinctly be described as "nostalgia heroin."

Roller-skating mecha in knightly armor, and some of the most sickass mecha fight choreography that I've seen.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. This anime is what the average Westerner in 2006 thought anime was, and it was made in a confluence of factors that cannot be replicated. I've never had so much fun watching something that I found so... insulting. Repugnant. Ridiculous. Baffling. I love it sincerely.

Catch me cosplaying Lloyd Asplund at a con sometime, or maybe even the big gay loser himself, Lelouch vi Britannia.

[scarletwinterxx]

middle finger and promise rings - jaehyun scenario

helllooooo a fluff moment with jung jaehyun. I was scrolling through tiktok the other day and I found a compilation of him laughing and it was the cutest thing ever so now we're here😅

For my other works you can check them out here, and for my other story series’ you can check them out here.

and if you want, u can buy me coffee(totally optional but any donation is very much appreciated!) thank you🥺💛

All works are copyrighted ©scarletwinterxx 2024 . Do not repost, re-write without the permission of author.

(pics nad gif not mine, credits to rightful owner)

Jaehyun enters the apartment and the first thing he hears is your laugh. He hangs his jacket on the hook, takes off his shoes before walking towards the living room where he sees you lying on the couch giggling to yourself.

You spot him over your phone, quickly turning it off when you spot your boyfriend "Hi, you're home early" you greet him, walking towards him.

He smiles at you, opening his arms to give you a very much needed hug. He does everyday, without a fail. Whenever he gets home from work or somewhere, he asks for a hug from you.

"What were you watching?" he asks

"You"

"Huh?" he peaks down at you, still caged in his arms

"I was looking through my phone then I saw a bunch of videos, like from when we started dating until recent. You looked cute, especially when you laugh" you answer him

"I thought my laugh was loud" he chuckles, letting you to sit on the couch. You follow him, taking the seat beside him.

"It is. But I love it so much, you know you have this kind of laugh when you find something really funny and your face scrunches up in a cute way" you try to mimic it while Jaehyun watches.

You might as well tell him you'll marry him with the way you're making his heart explode right now. Moments like these are what he looks forward to the most when he comes home. The simple conversations with you, no matter how random they are, he cherishes them so much.

"Oh by the way, can we order chicken and pasta for dinner? Or chinese food? I can't decide, how about you what do you want?"

"Chinese sounds good, do you want me to call our favorite place?" he asks, already getting his phone out

"Okay, and this came in today by the way" you say, passing the package that arrived today. "What is it?" you ask, while waiting for him to open it

"I forgot, must've ordered this a long time ago"

Without checking the label he opens it. When he flips the unsealed package upside down, a velvet box falls on his lap.

The two of you freeze.

He should've checked the label. Jaehyun internally panics.

Meanwhile you don't say anything, waiting for him to do or say something. But he doesn't so you clear your throat, getting your phone on the table "I'll order, tell me if you want anything else" you tell him.

"Uh yea sure" Jaehyun swallows the lump in his throat, finally coming to his senses. Taking the box before excusing himself. You hear the bedroom door open and close.

After that night you don't mention anything about it. You didn't ask questions. You acted like you didn't see it. Jaehyun wondered if he should ask but he doesn't know where to start.

What do you think it was, did you have your suspicions, were you upset with him? These are the questions running in his mind. But you never said anything to him, like everything was normal.

He was debating if he should've just showed you what was inside. If you were thinking it was a ring then you're right.

About a few months ago, he ordered a ring after finally getting your size. He's still worrying if you'll like it. It's not an engagement rring, not yet atleast. The ring inside was a promise ring for you. You told him a story about wearing a ring ever since your teen years, way back before the two of you met. You bought yourself a ring, a promise to exchange it to something else when you get yourself a boyfriend.

You showed him the ring before, it was a simple metal band you used to wear on your middle finger. You never took it off, not a day. That was until he asked you to be his girlfriend.

Of course he had to get you a new one, he was just waiting for the right time to give it to you.

He forgot to check the email about the shipping and didn't expect it to arrive when it did. It definitely wasn't part of the plan to open it infront of you.

It's been a few weeks since then. You honestly kind off forgot about it. You trust Jaehyun will tell you in the right time.

Tonight, he's running a bit late. He got caught up in a meeting so when he got home you were already sleeping. He enters the apartment carefully, walking through the hallway and cracking the bedroom door slowly.

The lights were all off, the only light coming from outside but he can see your silhouette from under the blanket. Quickly but quietly he gets ready for bed, sliding beside you.

He turns sideways to watch you, eyes closed, face peaceful, breathing slow and quite. You're giving off the most serene aura, he can't think of anything else but you.

Your hand was resting open beside your head, he reaches a finger out to trace random patterns while still watching you. He missed you so much today, he don't want to wake you up but he wishes he can give you a hug.

He does that for quite some time, tracing things on your palm while watching you waiting for sleep to come to him too.

From random patterns, to short words. He's now tracing random words on your palm, like you always do with his. You always do it randomly, in public or when it's just the two of you. Most times you spell out the word 'I love you' on his palm, that was actually how you said it to him for the first time. It took him some time to finally realize it, and when he did looked over at you with a surprised look. Saying the same three words back at you.

Right now he traces the word 'mine' in yours, while his mind wonders just how lucky he is to have you in his life.

He believes this isn't the only lifetime he'll love you, it isn't possible. Wishing hoping praying that in all alternate universes, however many there are, that version of him meets their version of you.

Suddenly feelings emotional, he sits up on the bed before reaching for something in the bedside drawer.

You're a light sleeper, especially when you're by yourself. The only time you really fall into deep sleep is when Jaehyun's with you. That's why when you hear some ruckus from Jaehyun's side, you wake up from your slumber

"Jae? You're home?" you mumble, your eyes still closed

"Did I wake you? Sorry, baby. Go back to sleep, I'm here" he whispers. He pulls you towards him, resting your head on his chest. You cuddle him more, making yourself comfortable again.

You listen to his heartbeat to lull yourself back to sleep when you feel him take your hand that was resting on him, he puts something on you before you feel his lips kiss your knuckles.

"What are you doing?" you mumble, opening one eye to peak at your hand only to see a ring that definitely wasn't there before you slept.

You open both eyes this time, sitting up to look at it then at Jaehyun

"Explain" you tell him, gesturing at your hand

"It's a promise ring, remember you used to wear one before we started dating. It took sometime but I finally replaced that one, I didn't want to freak you out on our first anniversary so I waited until now" he explains

"Is this real or am I dreaming?" you ask him

Jaehyun chuckles before sitting up, now face to face with you. He takes your cheeks in his hands before pulling you towards him for a kiss

"This is very very real, my love"

"It's so pretty" you pout at the ring, a simple band with a diamond on it. Like a leveled up version of the one you used to wear

"I'm glad you like it even though I kinda ruined the surprise" he tells you

"I thought it was an engagement ring, not gonna lie"

He kisses you one more time before he pulls you down, settling you on his chest once again. "We'll get there one day. This time I'll make sure it's a surprise"

"But I am surprised, I love this surprise"

"And I love you, that ring is a promise to keep my promise of forever with you. One day we'll get there, one day I'll watch you walk down the aisle to me" he mumbles against your forehead, sealing it with a kiss after

"I'd love that, and I love you too"

"Let's go to sleep now, dream of me okay?"

[rosy-crow]

Sephiroth is such a fucking wild character when I really think about it sometimes.

He was injected with alien cells in his mom’s womb as part of an extremely dubious science experiment, transformed into “part alien” because of it, was marked a successful specimen shortly after he was born, and then raised by a company as a product and weapon.

He got sent to war (ACTUAL WAR THAT ALSO INVOLVED GENOCIDE) at age 14 by Shinra as the first of his specific type of super-soldier, LITERALLY BY HIMSELF with no guide or mentor, but just the knowledge of his past training, a nameless sword, a few materia, and a picture of his missing mom.

He took command of a team of veteran mercenaries, got overly attached to them after just over a week had passed because they were apparently the first kind adults he had ever met + he had never known any semblance of a normal family, home or life, and then they all killed a bunch of people together on an island.

Halfway through Sephiroth fucking lost the photo of his mom like a classic little kid would except he was a child soldier, so he had to dig through literal corpses to look for it.

Meanwhile, his adult team started realizing the company they were working for was pretty corrupt and hmm, genocide bad. So they DESERTED to go save a kid that was the sole survivor of the people they had battled to extinction.

And Sephiroth COMMITTED TREASON ON HIS FIRST MISSION for them and to go help save the kid. But then he killed that same kid to save his team from a sinking island instead, who got really upset about that and left him to go desert their posts as soldiers hired by Shinra. Also, he somehow regained his mom’s photo during this whole fiasco but then one of his adult squad-mates kicked it into the sea in a fit of rage. Most pointless photo ever.

But that’s fine because then he just went BACK TO WAR and grew up through his teen years fighting in it, made two new friends with his fellow super-soldiers, nearly finished the war with them, and then they deserted too. One basically committed assisted suicide. One vanished completely and went ballistic.

Then Sephiroth ended up in his hometown on a mission, but he didn’t know it was his hometown because had no idea who he was.

He instead found a creepy weird room inside a reactor full of his dad’s unethical human experimentation, had a mental breakdown and a bad falling out with one of his former super-soldier friends who was dying and deranged, went to a basement library in an old haunted mansion, read a bunch of data on his own experimental creation and the project that led to his conception, believed a lie that he was the last of an ancient species, and lost his mind.

So he went and burned down his own hometown, killed a bunch of people, cut off the head of an eldritch alien that he thought was his mom and stole it to keep, got nearly cleaved in half by some farm boy, fell into the depths of a mako reactor (with the aforementioned alien head), and died for five years before coming back to destroy the world with a meteor. He briefly became a god around this time too.

He didn’t successfully carry out the meteor plan and basically died AGAIN, but this time he came back by using the forms of three random kids to rediscover his own personality because his memories of his past self were erased. He was resurrected, fought his mortal nemesis for revenge, lost again, and seemingly died for the last time but with a final statement about not really ever vanishing in full? Sure?

Also, his real mom is locked away in a crystal because she couldn’t kill herself thanks to being stuffed with alien cells. His dad never admitted to even being his father until his last moments and was just a devoutly cruel, horribly abusive scientist, that let Sephiroth go through all the previous shit just to see what would happen.

For some reason, Sephiroth can also traverse multiple worlds now too.

Oh and he has hair almost to his knees, cat eyes, goth leather club gear, and a sword taller than he is. He is 6’7/200 cm.

Oh and the wing! He has one random wing too. Sure.

Absolutely bizarre character. There is so much wrong with him. It’s perfect.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Do you know if Riddle, or Tray, ever stands up to his mother? I think i saw it in a Pinterest post once of teen Riddle being slapped by his mom and Tray taking him away.

His background is sadder than Shoto Todoroki from BNHA

We don’t really get to hear about how things are going back home with Mrs. Rosehearts outside of one brief instance. In 4-3, Riddle is leaving for winter break and mentions he intends on speaking with his mother, though he isn’t optimistic about her listening.

Trey states in the same part of the story that he isn’t allowed at Riddle’s house (because Mrs. Rosehearts has banned him). However, Riddle is still invited to visit him and Chenya at the Clover family bakery (though it’s very unlikely Riddle would be able to, since he hasn’t canonically seen Chenya again since the unbirthday party of book 1).

We never get a follow-up on how the conversation between Riddle and his mother went. It’s never touched upon again, and his mom isn’t really brought up beyond this case. (I did happen to write a short piece about Trey, Riddle, and Mrs. Rosehearts interacting though, if you were interested in seeing my own interpretation of this idea.)

Riddle spends most of his time at NRC since it’s a boarding school, meaning there are few opportunities for him to directly interact with his mother. Even if Mrs. Rosehearts were readily accessible to him, I highly doubt we would get to witness Riddle or Trey doing much to talk back to her. As we see in book 4, Riddle is still quite meek and uncertain when it comes to speaking with his mom. Trey, meanwhile, is generally very non-confrontational and may still be dealing with his own complicated feelings about interfering with what are family matters. (Recall that the last time he encouraged Riddle to be adventurous, it resulted in his friend being severely punished and Trey may harbor guilt over this occurrence.) I feel that neither of them would realistically develop the courage to talk back to Mrs. Rosehearts when only like half a year has passed since Riddle’s OB incident as opposed to like seventeen years of Riddle living under her rules.

***CONTENT WARNING: I will be discussing abuse at length under the cut, so please be advised to avoid reading further if the topic makes you uncomfortable.***

Regarding the comic you saw on Pinterest, it is fan art. That is in no way canonical; Mrs. Rosehearts may be very stern and have a temper, but she has never slapped or otherwise put a hand on Riddle. The closest thing we get to a slap is this panel from the manga adaptation, which isn’t even a slap. You can tell from the movement lines and the FWP sfx that Mrs. Rosehearts is just quickly pulling her arm away since Riddle is trying to latch onto it in an attempt to get her to listen to his protests. There is also no mark on Riddle or harsh slap sfx to indicate contact was made.

Now then 💦 There's something very serious and relevant to this ask I'd actually like to discuss, so I hope you'll stick around to hear me out on this.

I know none of us really like Mrs. Rosehearts (which is fair, she has done a lot of terrible things to her son). However, I think it's dangerous for us to speak about her as though she's a total monster and nothing more than a monster. I'm NOT going to stand here and advocate that she has done nothing wrong (she definitely has committed many wrongs). What I'm saying is that I don't agree with her being treated like "just" an abuser.

Let's say we do demonize Mrs. Rosehearts. We see only her negative traits and allow those to define her entire character. This creates a scenario in which she is alienated and dehumanized, left as a caricature of a woman that is solely known for hurting her child. But the thing is, this ISN’T how abuse really works. Few abusers are completely wicked people through and through. Part of the reason why it is so difficult for victims to leave their abusers is because abusers almost never start off abusive. They usually act totally normal, and the abuse often doesn’t come until later or specific situations arise. It creeps up on you in an almost insidious manner, and you don’t expect it coming. I’d also like to mention that abusers often don’t act with the intentional thought of, “Yeah, what I’m doing/saying is abusive”. Abusers typically justify their actions or convince themselves they are acting out of goodness. They don’t do bad things “because they’re bad people”, they do bad things because they think they’re GOOD people. Some abusers may even be victims themselves.

By painting abusers (even fictional ones) as cartoonishly evil, irredeemable, or always cruel, it makes it harder for us to believe the very real danger that we, whom we see as “good” people, could become “bad” ourselves. It makes it harder to believe victims when they report abuse because “oh, the abuse isn’t THAT bad”. It erases the idea that abusers are also human, and that humans have the capacity to be awful sometimes or to perpetuate hurt. It makes it so much harder to identify abuse because we’d only be looking for the most extreme examples of it rather than noticing the small, subtle signs. By “othering” abusers, it’s inadvertently denying so many nuances of abuse... which ultimately is counterproductive.

I would like to point out that even in the example provided of another abusive parent, Endeavor is portrayed with some nuance. He physically and verbally abused his wife, neglected the children he deemed worthless, and pushed the child he deemed to be his successor to the brink. However, Endeavor is also shown to remember a detail as small as his (arranged) wife’s favorite flower when she only told him about it once. He is notably much more lenient when training his first son, who didn’t have the ideal Quirk he sought. Endeavor at one point even confesses to pursuing being a hero in order to avoid the demands of fatherhood, which demonstrates a realistic insecurity and vulnerability… his humanity.

The same could be true for Mrs. Rosehearts. We only assume he is “just an abuser” because we see her in such a limited scope. There are valid reasons to believe why she is a “good” person outside of how we see her acting in Riddle’s recollections, and this may help to explain why Riddle feels so hesitant to “stand up” to her. I would really recommend reading this post, which goes a lot more in-depth about the complications surrounding Riddle’s relationship with his mother. Again, I am in NO WAY defending Mrs. Rosehearts; I am only pointing out that abusers—no matter how horrible their actions—have identities beyond the label of “abuser” that should be acknowledged.

[aingeal98]

The thing is I don't think Cass needs to realise she's a lesbian to realise she's into Steph, the real question for her would be trying to figure out HOW she likes Steph. Does she want them to keep on being the way they are forever? Does she want to kiss Steph the way they kiss boys? Why does she feel a little bad sometimes when Steph goes on dates with guys? Is it jealousy or her own personal insecurity? Ugh too many feelings. Need to punch bad guys until she feels normal again.

Meanwhile Steph has so much trauma around shitty men and being isolated from any helpful support system. Young teen Steph attached herself to the first supbar but safe and not evil boy who showed her some decency, even though she would rather die than admit how much she cares for most of their beginning together. It's not comphet exactly but while she's comfortable acknowledging how attractive some women are the thought of dating one like dating a guy is just not something I see her automatically assuming. Like she'd need to give it some thought before the penny dropped and afterwards she'll call Tim like "YOU ASSHOLE YOU MADE ME REALISE I'M ALSO BI AND NOW I THINK I'M IN LOVE WITH CASS." and Tim is just like "??? I'm trying to catch a serial killer here what level of emotional crisis are we at before I drop everything to come over and talk."

So basically Cass falls first and harder because Steph died before they ever got out of the situationship phase but I like to think after Steph returned and they grew closer, as soon as Steph realises she's bi she doesn't fall for Cass so much as trip down the entire flight of stairs hitting every step on the way there.

[creative-caramel-coffee]

Pesky Period Pains

Prompt: Cramping Pain

Pairings: Wandanat x R

Word count: 2.3K

Summary: you had managed to stave off periods but you could only do that for so long. But its very hard to hide things in the compound especially from your girlfriends.

TW: pain medicine, blood, period, cramps, bleeding on the bed (idk if that a warning or not lol), non-sexual nudity, Reader has their clothes removed (not in a bad way though don’t worry … you’ll see), hiding injuries / sickness, slight angst,

A/n whats this? A fic without vomiting for once? Crazy.

Curled up in bed the day had been going well until you realised you took to long to get more of your birth control. Your doctor had put you on birth control in your early teens before you became and avenger, your cramps being too painful for you to function and resulting in you missing a-lot of school. But you ran out last week and your ADHD had been kicking your ass lately so you forgot about the much needed trip to the chemist. Thinking you could just go tomorrow as its not like your period would appear over night. wrong.

Nat and Wanda were training in the gym like they did every Tuesday while you slept in. But when you realised with the first pang of pain in your midsection that it was a little too late for the birth control to stave off the period pains, you groaned. stuffing your face back into your pillow, before swallowing the urge to scream in frustration. you got up and threw on a pad before getting dressed quickly. you were craving chocolate. you could survive the cramps until after breakfast, and you couldn’t take painkillers on an empty stomach.

you had just finished drowning your pancakes in chocolate syrup and were not throwing back the tablets and some water when your girlfriends arrived. Nat smiled widely and came over to kiss you and hug you. “Detka,” you groaned, “your all gross and sweaty.” nat squeezed you in the hug chuckling before planting a kiss on your forehead. Wanda didn’t seem as happy. she sensed your discomfort before she even made it into the door. to be honest she sensed it from the gym, feigning exhaustion in favour of ending training early to check on you.

“what were you doing before we got here?” Wanda asked, hands crossed over her chest.

“making pancakes.” you shrugged, hiding a grimace as it jostled your midsection.

“i saw you put something in your mouth, Y/n don’t lie to me.” she was more concerned than angry but it did come across that way to you.

“i. was. eating. my. pancakes. Wanda.” you grit out, glad it seemed more like annoyance than the fact another cramp had hir rather hard.

“whatever.” Wanda dismissed angrily walking to get herself some pancakes. Nat frowned, normally Wanda was really sweet with you, only ever stern if you were being stubborn. she shrugged at you and followed Wanda to get some breakfast, only having had her pre workout shake so far. you didn’t wait for them, quickly finishing your pancakes and going to take a shower.

the girls frowned at your empty place when they returned and Wanda sighed. “somethings up with her nat i can sense it.”

meanwhile you stepped under the warm water, watching the red circle the drain and letting the heat relax your muscles. when another cramp hit you rested your head on your arm which steadied you against the wall. you didn’t want to risk leaving blood in your shared bathroom knowing nat was see it with her spy training, she noticed everything. Wanda would just freakout if she knew you were bleeding but didn’t know where from. And most importantly you didn’t want to bother them with your problems, feeling you were being a bit too needy lately having been sick the week before last.

you had come back to your old room, the one you stayed in before moving it with your girls. it was still your space. your gaming computer was still here, your switch and all your drawing stuff and tablet. your posters of Percy Jackson and your girlfriends still adorned the walls and the rainbow lights still worked above your desk. the bed had black sheets and you even still had some of your clothes in here. your many sketchbooks sat on the floating shelf by the desk and your blue couch and fluffy red blanket were still in the corner. the 84inch tv, courtesy of tony was mounted on the wall opposite the bed and you had painted a mural of the city scape on the far wall. it was as much your home as the room across the hall. your girls often found you in here during the day either drawing or gaming.

but you hadnt showered in here since moving to sleep over the hall. nat heard the running water as she went past, assuming you had done it so she could shower after her training this morning, she shrugged it off. unusual but not insane.

once you turned the water off you carefully towel dried yourself trying to avoid getting blood on the fluffy towel. getting dressed in fluffy pants and your oversized red hoodie nat had bought you at Disneyland, the one with the big picture of Mickey mouse on the front, you went and laid on the bed. after mindlessly scrolling through Netflix and putting on a random movie you snuggled up. after a few minutes the exhaustion of your body rebuilding an organ wiped you out and you fell asleep.

Wanda carefully opened the door to your room. frowning at yhe sight of you curled up asleep in the middle of the day. this was unlike you. the tv had an action movie playing and the sound of gunfire should have woken you up, but you slept on. Wanda turned out the lights and muted the tv before going to talk to nat.

“I’m telling you nat something’s off, shes been acting weird all day.”

“I’m sure shes fine, shes a big girl wands.” nat sighed drying her hair with a towel.

“i don’t know, you know how it is when shes hurt, she wont tell us even if shes bleeding out on the floor.” Wanda huffed pacing and running her hands through her hair.

“why don’t we go cuddle up to her in bed and we’ll talk to her when shes up again?”

“ok” Wanda sighed in defeat.

after carefully lifting the sheets and sliding in either-side of you nat took the tv remote frowning at the cheesy action movie.

“you cant even shoot arrows like that in real life.” she grumbled putting on something that Wanda would like. a sit com.

still asleep you curled up around Wanda’s leg as she lent against the headboard and ran her hands through your hair.

“she looks so fragile when she sleeps natty.” Wanda cooed

“thats because its hard to be a cocky asshole when your sleeping.” nat teased. but it wasn’t fun without your sharp come backs to quip against her.

“naaattt leave her alone shes cute when she sleeps.” looking down at you she noticed a grimace on your face when you held onto her leg tighter. thinking you were having a nightmare she went to wake you. unbeknownst to her it was just the medicine having worn off and the painfully cramps coming back full force. before Wanda could gently wake you, you shot up, blinking rapidly before feeling the wetness of the bed and shooting off the bathroom to change clothes. Wanda and nat frowned at each-other, you hadn’t even noticed them. nat hopped up and knocked on the door.

“y/n/n? can i come in?” she asked. you froze. what were they doing here.

“Y/n/n?” nat asked again.

“natty… um you should come here.” Wanda quietly said from the bed. she had pulled back the sheets to find a wet bloodstain on the sheets. Nat’s eyes widened almost comically.

“y/n let us in right now.” she banged her fists on the door. just as she swung to knock the door down you opened it, her foot stopping mid air as she tried not to kick you or fall over. at the sight of your bloody clothes she jumped into action. extending your arms with her hands she searched your body before stopping and looking you dead in the eyes.

“strip.” she said. you balked.

“what?”

“you heard me. strip. or i’ll have Wanda use her wiggly woos to do it for me.”

“natty-“

“No.”

“wands-“

“I’m with nat on this one sweetheart. we need to know your ok.” Wanda cooed softly having walked in behind nat.

“I’m fi-“

“if you were going to say your fine we found your blood on the sheets. so we know your not.”

before you were able to reply you were hit with a rather painful cramp that made you double over in an attempt to stop the pain. you groaned loudly and both your girls sprung into action. they knew you didn’t get periods so that couldn’t be it. but the last mission was weeks ago and you hadn’t left the compound without them since. so how did you get hurt? Nat was at your side in an instance. “y/n/n baby where does it hurt?” she ran a hand down your back up and down your spine. you merely groaned in response still hunched over.

“wands I’m gonna need you to-“

“don’t worry it got it.” she replied. before you could think you felt the cold air hit as you were suddenly without clothes. Nat’s eyes grew wide as she saw the red between your legs. you felt tears slide down your cheeks as the girls understood. they had seen you naked before so it didn’t bother you plus you knew you were safe with your girlfriends.

“oh sweetheart.” Wanda cooed, picking you up. “did you get your period love?”

more tears fell as she carried you bridal style to the bath. with a wave of her wrist there was warm water in the tub and her clothes were also gone. gently she hopped in placing you curled up in her lap. nat removed her clothes to show toned muscle and slipped in beside her. it was a big tub, tony was not one to spare expenses much to peppers dismay when she first brought home Morgan to find a car already with custom plates with Morgan’s name on it in the garage.

“tony what the hell is this?” she had asked pointing to the car, Morgan’s carseat in her hand.

“well its called planning my dear wife.”

“planning is writing it out on paper not buying it 16 years early.”

Wanda chuckled at the memory before focusing back on your. she carded a hand though your hair and you whined softly.

“gonna made the water dirty.” you whined “and i ruined my hoodie.” you sniffled “the one you and natty bought me from disneyland.” you cried. nat rubbed a circle on your back knowing this was the work of pesky hormones but doing nothing to invalidate your feelings. Wanda smiled down at you.

“why are you smiling.” you sobbed.

“oh sweetheart do you forget i have magic sometimes.” Wanda cooed

“oh.” you hiccuped.

“its already clean and folded on the bed which has fresh sheets.” she started kissing you all over your face, tasting the salty tears. “and natty and I will buy you ten more if we need to. anything for our sweet girl.”

“even the goofy one?” you smiled looking up with teary eyes.

nat chuckled. they were so whipped for you. “anything you can ever dream of of my love.” nat cooed. “and whatever we can buy with the new black master-card i have from tony.”

“how-“ you were going to ask how but another cramp hit and tears flooded your eyes as blood swirled in the bathwater.

“oh sweetheart don’t cry.” Wanda cooed seeing the water was making you upset she waved her hand and the blood disappeared from the water.

“honey i wouldn’t care if the bath was 100% blood as long as your ok. i would do anything for you.”

“we.” nat corrected “we would do anything for you.” Wanda rubbed circles over your stomach and her fingers glowed a soft red hue in the bath water as she took away some of the pain for you. you sighed in relief at her magic touch.

“and to answer your question, all it took was a little blackmail.” you laughed at her smirk.

“come one love lets get you washed up.”

when Wanda had finished scrubbing your body clean for you, you were too tired to do it yourself. nat dried you with a towel and slipped you back into your comfy and now, thanks to Wanda, clean clothes.

curling up in bed with nat, Wanda returned with food for all of you and a mountain of all different kinds of chocolate and popcorn.

“I vote we have a movie day today.” Wanda proposed. nat smiled at you and brushed the hair from your face, “id love that” she agreed “ what about you Y/n/n?”

“only if i get lots of hugs.” you mumbled in an embarrassed way that made the redheads hearts skip a beat.

“alright then.” wand climbed in beside you and put down the tray of food. “you get first pick Y/n/n” Wanda grinned and nat passed you the remote.

“here you go” you took it and placed a chocolate in your mouth. going to reach for another Wanda lightly slapped your hand away.

“food first.” she chided softly. you pouted and picked a movie. after the first 20 minutes or so you hd finished lunch and were happily curled in the arms of your girls munching chocolate. maybe you should get your period more often you thought. then another cramp hit making you keen softly. never-mind you thought. Wanda ran her magic fingers over you lower back and the pain stopped. you knew then and there your girls would always be there. you were never going to be alone again.

MASTERLIST

[en-stbc]

i've seen enough people crying over this uzi sacrifice scene in ep7 but i don't think enough people actually analyzes esp uzi and N's character (atleast from what i've seen??) and my god i need to rant because this scene the more i watch it the more it ABSOLUTELY destroys me (save me nuzi save me...)

messy rant incoming...

alright, quick recap of the characters so i can later explain my points better

pilot uzi had no one to rely on, treated as a freak by her community, neglected by her father and overall completely isolated with the world. She had no one but herself, that's why she never allows herself to show any vulnerabilities so people won't take advantage of her and literally dismisses her own feelings and coping mechanisms as "angsty hormonal teen feelings" and developed a inferiority complex of wanting to prove herself and be recognized. Meeting N was more than just a change of trajectory in her life, he helped her in so, SO many ways from making her realize that her feelings are validated and it's okay to lean on others when you need it the most, to be vulnerable- something that she desperately needed but was never provided- to helping her just.. overall improve herself and promise that he'll always be there when she needs him the most. N is so integral in uzi's life, all she needed was someone to understand her, and there he was.

meanwhile N is always treated as a worthless nobody by people around him which is very evident in the pilot with his interactions between J and V. He clearly has issues when it comes to his own self worth and completely robbed of autonomy. All he ever wanted was to be useful and seen by others, which leads to him going along with other's insane crazy ideas without questioning morals and rights or wrongs. Uzi was the one that helped him find a ground he can stand on and finally being able to defend himself and what he thinks is worth protecting, as well as being a genuine friend he can finally talk and bond with after being ignored for so long.

and back to the scene. The reason why this scene hurts so much for me is that uzi finally found someone so important to her that she's willing to sacrifice herself and thanked N for "everything" he's ever done. He gave her everything that she could possibly ask for, she was content. Uzi even used her solver powers to push N away to make sure he wasn't in danger or an attempt to save her. The fact that she even thanked N, making it sounds like her final words to him implies that she was okay with dying and giving up her own life just really says how much N meant to her. She couldn't have done all of this without meeting him, to be selfless and sacrifice yourself for someone you truly love.

for N he's probably absolutely devastated, especially after V's sacrifice the ep before. Both of his closest friends sacrificed also for the sake of saving him, he literally could not do anything but watch them disappear in front of him. He'd probably blame himself so much for failing to save them and the fact that he has self harm tendencies every time he makes a mistake... N is definitely VERY TRAUMATIZED from this and also needs time to heal as well.

overall im very normal about nuzi these 2 will be the death of me i love them so much. both of them meeting each other was the best thing that ever happened to them and watching them grow and develop is so 😭😭😭

have a good day thank you so much for reading this very messy rant and bare with my very limited vocabulary if you did... ;3

[chaifootsteps]

something else that just occurred to me

when Blitz gets drunk off his face and has to be brought home from the party by Loona, it's framed like a problem because she has to take care of him. as far as parenting goes it's his worst misstep outside of his over protectiveness and smothering of her, but it's at least a momentary blip on his part, and the rest of the time he's supportive, loving and puts her ahead of anything else (something Stolas could stand to learn a thing or two about). we also see in Ozzie's he calls to let her know when he'll be home late - she's old enough not to wait up but he still does it as a courtesy

Stolas meanwhile is about to down a bottle of absinthe at the party before he sees Blitz again, then after Ozzie's is shown waking up after being passed out drunk on his floor

then again in Apology Tour he gets drunker than we've ever seen him

but when Stolas does it, his drunkenness is never framed as being all that bad or as costing him anything. The question "don't you have a daughter to get home to?" just never comes up. And Via is 17 - an older teen but still a teen; she's not 20 like Loona is and she clearly desperately needs some attention from Stolas.

With the night of Ozzies/The Circus we at least know Via was with her mother, but what's the excuse for Apology Tour? what would have happened if Via called Stolas for help with something after Ozzie's the way Loona called up Blitz? And if she's with Stella again, is Stolas really letting his daughter still have visitation with her mother now he knows for sure she tried to kill him? Is he that dumb?

But as far as the writers are concerned Via stops existing as a concern whenever Stolas is supposed to do something most parents would think twice about, because they know they have someone who's dependent on them. They don't think the audience will think this reflects poorly on him because the writers themselves haven't thought about it at all

instead his drinking is yet another thing used by the writers to get across how sad he is - both times he drinks himself into oblivion it's after a fight with Blitz and the viewer is pretty clearly supposed to judge Blitz for "making" Stolas do this by not loving him enough (or at all, tbh). It's yet another yucky parallel between Blitz and Stella, since the other time he starts drinking is at one of her parties. To the writers any emotional pain Stolas has is of the same intensity: whether being demeaned by his wife or rejected by the imp he'd been using for sex

it's the same with his anti-depressants: there's little to no examination in the text about how depression, like alcoholism, is negatively affecting his life. fans keep theorizing his bad reaction to Blitz actually having feelings in full moon was because he was shown to have run out of his meds, but even assuming they wear off that fast we don't see any difference in how he behaves to how he is normally. And given how self-centred and unempathetic he is normally, I doubt there is a difference tbh. His meds are just a shorthand for how sad he is. because that's what depressed people do, right? just take a fistful of pills on an empty stomach with nothing but alcohol in it? and take them in sporadic bursts so they can run out right when the writers need them to have an excuse for behaving like a gaslighting jerk?

honestly when they finally give Stolas his happy ending on a plate it wouldn't surprise me at all if they just wrote him to be magically cured of his depression and his alchoholism because that's how they think it works

That's a very good point, and one I don't think I've heard brought up before. It's another good example of how everyone except Stolas needs to be on their best behavior at all times. Stolas, on the other hand, is allowed to drink as much as he wants, yell as much as he wants, disregard the feelings and consent of others as much as he wants, and ignore his daughter as much as he wants.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that they could show a scene of a younger Stolas getting drunk and forgetting to feed Octavia and I firmly believe this fandom would either rush to make excuses or try to pin it on Stella.

[subaquatic0mess]

Assistant Noah AU: What if Assistant Noah wore a dress, whenever Chef wears a dress?... Like during the Niagara Falls Wedding Challenge?... Would Alejandro be entranced by Noah's beauty? 💃

I have two asks about this specific idea and this one has been catching dust for ages.. So I'm answering it now!!

(Yes he was)

I think Noah would hate being put in a dress, especially the one Chef wears (Which are basically see-through)

And that's why Chris forced Noah to wear one! Simply to see him suffer. (His was less revealing tho as he's a teen and not an adult)

Even though Noah was basically dragged and forced to wear a dress I think the little schemer would find a way to leave the dress and just wear like one of those basic wedding suits right before rolling so Chris couldn't do anything.

So during this time we have a quite pissed Chris and a smug Noah arguing silently through glares when the contestants arrive.

Now the moment Alejandro arrives he locks eyes with Noah who quickly turns away in a hurry as the contestants shouldn't interact with him on camera.

This doesn't stop Alejandro from staring.

I'm a firm belive Noah would look 10x better if he just wore something else. Even though he claims he already looked good the way he normally was Alejandro agrees. Wait what?

Now in between shooting I know Heather would make a comment about Alejandro and how his jaw was on the floor when he saw Noah just to piss Alejandro who would deny it.

At this point Heather is sick of it. (She's the type to hate Alejandro but she gets so infuriated when he fails at flirting with Noah she once almost screamed for them to just kiss already)

So in between the shoot where the brodes put the wedding dress and the next filming, Heather asks Chris if he can pit Noah in a wedding dress just to piss him off.

Chris being himself agreed especially out of pettiness.

This results in a really angry Noah hiding backstage with the camera crew.

Heather being her petty self kept teasing Alejandro about Noah until she spots him in the crew.

Maybe she should have waited until they were out of the rope because with a baffled and flustered Alejandro they lost balance and plummeted into the water below.

She blames Alejandro for Sierras (and Cody's) win.

Meanwhile Alejandro his having one of the most violent gay panicks he has ever had.

[jetblackromance]

Lately I've been seeing a lot of posts about people reading Neil as being completely exy obsessed, not caring about anything else (including his own possible death).

And that's funny to me because I've never read him like that?😅 just wondering if I'm alone with this but:

In my head, Neil doesn't actually care about exy.

It's about what exy represents to him:

Exy is what his brain latched onto when he had nothing else. Playing exy is probably one of his happiest childhood memories. Then, when they were on the run, to distract himself, he probably thought of exy to escape the real world. He obsessively followed news about Kevin and Riko. It became his coping mechanism to escape from everything that was going on in his real life. Because if he had focused on his daily life, he would have gone insane. No child can grow up normally while being on the run.

So I don't think he actually cares about exy per se. It's just that exy is the only thing that let's him forget. It's the only thing he feels like he can control. If he practices a lot, he'll get better. If he makes his teammates get along, they'll have a better chance of winning the next game. Winning the next exy game is a goal he can actually accomplish if he works hard.

Meanwhile trying not to get caught by his father's men is out of his control. He tried to stay hidden for some time. But without his mother by his side, he had to carry the weight of his decisions all by himself. He had to choose which city he'd go to next. And he simply didn't know what would be the best choice, where he'd be the least likely to get caught. There were no guarantees. So, he was doing what he thought was best but had no way to know whether he was making the right choice. And let's not forget he was only a teenager still!! And he literally had to make choices that could result in his own death. That's a lot of stress for a teen. And despite having to make choices on a daily basis, he had zero actual control about whether he'd get caught or not. It was mostly just luck. So why bother trying to stay on the run?

So, he gives in and starts playing exy, which is probably the only interest he allowed himself to have. And suddenly he had full control over his life again. Going to high school? He could manage that. Signing up for exy? He'd ace the try-outs and have a first whiff of a sense of achievement after years of nothing but angst and stress. Actually playing exy? The more he practiced the better he got, the more goals he scored. Everytime something worked out the way he wanted to, he got hit by endorphins. So his brain latched onto that. He became obsessed with exy.

So, in my head, Neil only likes exy because of the control and distraction it provides him with. It could have been literally anything else. He just needs this one constant in his life, that he can control and that provides him a mental escape when he needs it most.

Am I the only one who thinks that? 😂 or am I maybe misunderstanding all the posts claiming he "wants to play stick ball so fucking bad, he doesn't care how many chances he has to escape certain death" or that "he gave up every rule he ever abided by to play exy".

He doesn't not care about staying alive. He had to fight to stay alive for so long, he just can't think about his father and the mafia any longer without it triggering years of suppressed memories and feelings.

He didn't give up all rules he ever abided by, he was about to break under the weight his mother's rules had put on his shoulders. He gets this first positive experience and he wants more, he gets addicted to exy just like people get addicted to drugs. But he doesn't care about exy, he cares about how exy can make him feel.

[mybeautifulwifegojo]

I've put this idea on my main blog but I can't find it anymore so rewriting it here: modern AU where Satoru, Shoko, Suguru, and Utahime are in a small indie band and one day they explode in popularity and are very confused until they trace it all to one viral TikTok dance with their latest song

Utahime is the vocalist, Suguru is on drums, Shoko is bass guitar (the sexiest of rock instruments imho), and Satoru is lead guitar/backup vocals

Satoru is perfectly happy to let Utahime be the star because she genuinely likes performing. unfortunately, he is the bandmate that most people drool over, both because he's hot and because he really hates being famous (bad experiences in his youth) which means people think he's "mysterious"

Shoko and Suguru just like to make music and get paid

anyway, the viral dance TT is this incredibly buff dude with pink hair and intricate tattoos/body paint, who does a lot of really, uh... sensual dances, and never shows his face. the username is simply "Sukuna"

Satoru immediately wants to fuck him. his bandmates are so tired.

MEANWHILE, "Sukuna" is just Yuji's online persona because he's worried that if any of his fellow firefighters learn that he does dances on TikTok, they'll laugh at him

he just really likes dancing!! not enough to go professional, and certainly not enough to quit helping people, but he likes it, it's fun, and the dopamine hit of people liking his videos is nice. also he had a bad time in school with his body image so he's grateful for all the horny comments

Utahime, Shoko, Suguru, and Satoru don't know any of this, of course. they just see a hot guy with no shirt dancing to their music and all of them go "Hmmm, I am going to be thinking about this for many moons"

they get signed with a major record label shortly after, because their sales have exploded, and for their very first music video the director reaches out to Yuji to come be the star dancer.

he is VERY alarmed but also. he likes dancing. and he has a tiny baby-crush on the hot guitarist guy. so he agrees.

the director is annoyed when Yuji asks that he be allowed to cover his face, because if he's gonna be shirtless and have his tattoos painted on he might as well go full Sukuna persona so no one has a chance to connect Sukuna the dancer with Yuji the firefighter, but the whole band backs him up, especially Satoru.

the music video is a hit and the song hits #1 on multiple charts internationally. feral teen girls start shipping Satoru and 'Sukuna'. normal people are annoyed that Utahime, the lead singer and founder of the band, is shown the least in the video. it's the most money Utahime, Shoko, Suguru, and Yuji have ever made in their lives. Satoru's past starts coming to light in embarrassing ways.

Satoru and Yuji start hanging out when possible and become very good friends (who also still want to bang each other but now there's more to it than simply physical attraction)

[parhelios]

part two of the stargate atlantis animorphs au where john sheppard used to be tobias! this will hopefully get turned into a full fic at some point but i like telling ppl about my fic ideas its fun

an important part of this au is that at least once on atlantis people have started reminiscing about favorite foods on earth they miss and when john was asked what he missed the most, he just blinks and says "burgers" and everyone gives him shit about his basic ass answer but little do they know the real answer is fresh mouse

part one here

he never really realized just how much he missed truly flying on his own wings until he did it for the first time in too many years, circling over the spires of atlantis and relishing the feeling of thermals under his spread wings. he can’t help but chuckle as on the way to rodney’s lab later in the day, he spots some of the biologists in their lab losing their minds. he does make a note to be a little less conspicuous though. john makes another note to let chaya know that if she ever needs anything, he’s her man, for the rest of time. he’s never been more grateful for anything.

(meanwhile, rodney and less so elizabeth, have been tinhatting about john since kolya's invasion of atlantis. john was weird enough they decided they needed to investigate him more and found that large swaths of his childhood and teen years are redacted to hell and back. they can't even figure out when he was born, exactly. it's WEIRD, and the fact that not even weir has clearance makes it all the more disturbing. rodney tries his best to find an unredacted version--surely it must be somewhere in the files sent on the atlantis expedition, in case of emergency--but not even that works. the thing is, by this point, john is their friend, and though they are definitely concerned and more than a little weirded out, they trust him. they trust that if it becomes necessary, he'll trust them too.)

missions go for the most part as normal, but whenever john can get the free time, he spends it flying. eventually, ar-1 gets sent out on a recon mission to a new gate location, a supposedly uninhabited planet which they believe might serve as a potential alpha site for atlantis in case of wraith incursion

as they begin their expedition, the group moves through the brush, ears and eyes sharp for any darts or wraith patrols. they walk for some time, having chosen to head in the direction of what looks to be a plume of smoke in the sky--perhaps a sign of civilization? certainly an anomaly worth checking out. when they reach the source of it, all four come to the same conclusion. a ship has crashed here. small fires still burn in the trees and brush at the edge of the clearing from its crash landing, but for the most part it looks only superficially damaged. however, not one of them save john recognize the design, and john keeps his mouth shut.

it is an andalite blade ship, and john wonders wildly about what it could be doing so far from home as he leads rodney, teyla, and ronon towards the entrance. he's able to keep his reaction to himself pretty easily, years of having to think about his face and his words coming in very handy for deception. rodney and the rest recognize it as being like nothing they've ever seen before--an egg-like pod with a tail curving above it, ending in a sharp point facing the front of the ship, two small, stubby wings curving off of the side. rodney starts to lose it with excitement at another spacefaring race which they have not encountered before, and john has to keep his mouth shut. after the war with the yeerks, the andalites and the humans had come up with a plan to deal with the yeerks, which none of the animorphs had been privvy to, except that once they were dealt with, the andalites would return to their part of the galaxy under seerow's kindness (their prime directive) and not contact the humans again. they took ax, the one andalite who had joined the animorphs and fought alongside them for the whole war, and they took the morphing cube, and they'd said that earth could keep the animorphs and any remaining technology left behind by the andalites or yeerks on earth. what they were doing here, he had no answers for, and he knew that rodney would be inevitably disappointed when he learned that they were all major assholes who wanted nothing to do with earth and had avoided aiding them until the eleventh hour.

when they get inside, john notes no signs of the pilot, and tunes out rodney's excitement at the pilot's chair clearly designed for a quadraped, and heads straight for the console, to try and find out all he can while the team is distracted examining the ship itself. his knowledge of andalite is ingrained, still sitting in the back of his mind from when elfangor gave him his knowledge. from what he can tell, this was an experimental blade ship designed for long-range travel through z-space, featuring a prototype andalite hyperdrive, which apparently worked a little too well. after poking around some, the team determines they should get as much data as they can for themselves from the ship and head back to the gate to pass the info on to weir and return with a bigger science team to study the ship itself. john makes a private note to hold a briefing. this requires a bit of an update in clearance for everyone involved.

of course, the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley, and as they leave the ship they are promptly ambushed and captured by a wraith patrol.

while the rest are thrown in a cell, john is taken to the wraith queen, who interrogates him on the crashed ship and though he protests ignorance, she decides to drain him until he breaks. she seems to believe it is some new trick by the atlanteans, but john catches something she likely did not mean to slip to him. she references a prisoner, and from what little she reveals, it sounds like the andalite pilot. john refuses to give up any information to her, and so the queen decides, drained as he is, that he is best used as an example for the rest of his friends, to... encourage them to cooperate. she drains him practically to the point of death, and has him dragged back to the cell, throwing him to the dirty floor at the feet of his friends.

he can feel himself dying, as he lays in the cell, every bone screaming as his team surrounds him, and he feels tears dripping onto his face, which he knows without looking is withered and aged from the feeding. and john knows in that moment that there is one way that this will go, unless he changes. he mumbles out an apology, tells them not to worry about him, and not to freak out. and then he begins the change.

for those unaware, morphing is a process which tends to be extremely unpleasant to watch, unless the morpher is an estreen who can control the process of the morph. john is very much not an estreen, despite his deep familiarity with being a hawk, and he knows exactly what this looks like as the shift megins and he takes in the horror on the faces of rodney, teyla, and ronon. he’d seen people shift birds, and the first time he'd done it, he'd watched himself in a mirror, out of pure curiosity.

the eyes went first, turning big and yellow. you could hear the crunch and grind of bones as they shrunk and molded into each other, the mass folding into z-space and condensing as his fingers merged and feet split, limbs and body shrinking into itself. feathers began to burst from the skin, starting as strange mottled patterns on the skin before lifting themselves up. the corners of his mouth stretched up as the bones of his face shifted and the skin receded over his elongating beak, leaving yellow keratin behind.

the morph felt the same as always, but alongside the grinding of bones and the odd crushing feeling that always came with a smaller morph, john could feel the strength returning to his body the closer he got to hawk-shape. as the morph finishes, he reaches out with thought-speak to the others, trying to get them to stop freaking out as he wriggles free of his shirt and vest, ruffling his wings.

rodney immediately goes "I FUCKING KNEW IT-okay not the bird thing i did not see that one coming but SOMETHING was going on--" but john's thought-speak very quickly shuts him up, and he takes the initiative of rodney's dropped jaw to come up with a quick plan and hop out of the cell through one of the holes in the wraith netting. the wraith probably think he’s dead already, and john is happy to keep it that way—he’s got an escape to make.

[yelenasdiary]

The Third Widow || Power & Control

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff X Fem! Belova! Reader.

Summary: Y/n Belova is the younger biological sister of Yelena Belova and the adoptive sister of Natasha Romanoff. Saved from Red Room by Melina & Alexei she now must adjust to a new normal. Going to school, recovering, and finding love in the eyes of another troubled teen, Wanda Maximoff. All while General Dreykov has his eyes set on claiming back what he calls his most powerful ‘widow’.

Angst | Dark Themes 18+ | Mentions of committing murder | Mentions of kidnapping | Brief stalking | 3.5K |

Notes: Flashbacks are bold, italic and start with ‘~’ | Written in second person. | 

Translations: Убить Белова (Kill Belova), 

AC: Small time jumps through this chapter, not many but just a few to get the ball moving again. 

The Third Widow Masterlist

Melina, Alexei, Yelena and the other Widows arrived back at Melina's home for a must needed rest. Yelena checks the house through and through before letting anybody inside. "She was here" she looked to Melina, as the Alexei got everybody comfortable. "How do you know?" she whispered not wanting to worry the others. 

"Her bedroom door was opened, and her sketch book opened on her bed. I have to go find her" Yelena hands Melina the dust vile, "I need to bring her back so we can free her like we did the others" she adds. "Yelena, stay first, you need rest as well" Melina suggests as she places the vile safely in the inside pocket of her suit. 

"She's out there and she needs rest as well. I'll be back, I'm just going to go back and search for her" 

"You can't! S.H.E.I.L.D will be all over that place and I doubt she would be there. Give it a few days and we will all go looking, okay" 

Yelena sighed in frustration, but she knew Melina was right and you wouldn't be stupid enough to stick around. She took herself upstairs to the room she once called her own, Melina leaving it exactly how she left it. The photo of you and her in Red Room many years ago sat by her bedside table but it didn't bring her the same joy it once did. 

Meanwhile, you were busy finding a safe place to lay low and gather yourself, work out what was next for you. Finding an abandoned, run-down warehouse that still had a power connection seemed to be the perfect place for shelter while avoiding not only S.H.E.I.L.D but also the Avengers. Even with Dreykov dead, his voice ran through your mind like a hamster on its wheel. Repeating your mission over and over, "Убить Белова" along with a split-second flash of her mug shot in your mind. "Убить Белова" again and again wasn't convincing you of completing the mission, not even to avenge him. A state of confusion from what you found at Melina's house was what stopped you from overreacting. Instead you made yourself comfortable with the limited resources you had and tried to shake Dreykov's voice running laps in your head. 

As the weeks went on, you couldn't forget the last words that Dreykov had ever said to you about the mission that was yet to be completed started to take over your mind set. Even with Dreykov dead, he still had some control over your thoughts, feelings, and actions. The warehouse seemed to be a perfect hide out as you watched Melina's house from a safe distance throughout the day. Watching and listening the best you could to the conversations that traveled around the home. 

"I still don't have any leads to where she could be!" Yelena said as she followed Melina out to the pig's pen. "We will find a lead when things settle down and we hear from Natasha" Melina replied before filling the pig's water with fresh water. "We don't know when we'll hear from Natasha!" Yelena argued in frustration.

 "I know you want to find her, I do too but with everything in the air still, we need to be smart about this" 

"She's out there! Alone! She doesn't have a place to go back too!" Yelena snapped, "if you won't help me, I'll find somebody who will!" she added before storming off. Her words making your heart feel like it was breaking lightly. You watched as the blonde stormed back inside the familiar building while Melina stayed attending to the pigs. 

Yelena thought about seeking help from Wanda in hopes maybe she'd be the one to draw you out of finding or at least find her some sort of clue as to where you might be. Given the way they'd been towards each other since your kidnapping, Yelena wasn't exactly sure if Wanda would be open to the idea. She even thought about asking Kate for extra help but struggled to put her issues with Kate aside, knowing how much she hurt her when she left. 

"Give her time" Alexei placed a hand on Yelena's shoulder, "she'll come around" he adds. "What time do we have?! Y/n is missing and none of you give a shit!" Yelena spat, her built up hurt and anger showing its colors. "If you were Y/n, where would you go?" Alexei asked while looking into Yelena's green eyes, "I've already done that, I've got to all the places I thought she'd go, I've been back to the sight and there was nothing! It's like she just vanished" Yelena explained, her frown now becoming more of a headache, "She's still under Dreykov's control, even dead and he has her hidden!" She adds, shrugging off Alexei's hand from her shoulder. Alexie didn't want to anger Yelena anymore but just like Melina, he had no answers to give the young blonde in front of him. The only thing he could do was assure her that you'd be found and when that happens, you'd be safe once again. 

——

For you, trying to connect the dots between what you knew, heard, and were told was starting to take its toll. As you sat alone in the dark with dimmed light most of the time while your mind tried to work out what was going on. With no memory of anything besides Red Room, you couldn't remember anything that would be any help to you and now the only person you needed, the person you relied on was dead. Taking his secrets and the answers to your endless questions with him. 

The power Dreykov held over you, even dead was beyond you. His voice running through your mind now with things you didn't care to remember, making you think about the last time you saw him, the last thing he ever said too you but more importantly, the last mission he gave you, "Убить Белова". Maybe if you carried out that mission it would make the voice in your head stop but what purpose would you have if that mission was carried out and you did in fact kill Yelena. 

Natasha was able to get the Avengers back together with minor difficulties, she didn't mention too much about the events that took place with Red Room and reuniting with Yelena. All they knew was that General Dreykov was dead, and that Red Room was finally taken down. Clint of course knew the details of everything that had happened, Natasha telling him everything down to the depts of her deepest feelings. Feelings about how much she truly missed you and wished she, Yelena, Melina and Alexei could've saved you. Clint offered his hand in giving her and Yelena help in tracking you down.

Clint and Natasha worked off the records in tracking you down, but it seemed harder than Natasha thought. Even though she was trained in Red Room and had to think smarter than she already was. Clint could see the strain the stress was causing her, the frustration but he knew Natasha better than anymore. She would find you, one way or another. 

"She's still in Ohio" Clint entered Natasha's room while she was catching up on late minute mission reports. "What?" She looked at him confused; her mind completely focused on the screen in front of her. Clint plugged the USB hard drive into her laptop, taking control of the device, pulling up street CCTV footage of a woman he believes to be you as you walked around a street market in black jeans, runners and a black hoodie. "How can you tell it's her? You never met her" Natasha frowns while watching the footage. 

"Just wait" Clint says, pushing the laptop more in front of Natasha again. She watched from different angles as you walked by stalls Natasha noticed the skilled pick pocketing skills you'd gained, swiping purses and wallets from passing people, "Watch right there!" Clint paused the footage, "Tell me this isn't her" he adds before pressing play once again. You were stopped in your tracks by a poster print of Black Widow, picking it up slowly to study the image. "This doesn't prove that it's her, Clint" Natasha looked up at him with a raised brow. 

"Look, I had Lewis follow her through the market and she was able to pick her up on some other CCTV footage" Clint explained, "when was this taken?" Natasha asked while watching the footage. "Just over a week ago" Clint replied with a disappointed sigh. Natasha looked at her closest friend and saw that he was trying his best to help, "What else did you find?" she asked him. It didn't take any longer before Natasha believed that it was you, watching as you easily moved your way through the crowded market and down the main road before disappearing down the back alleys. 

"What do you think?" Clint asked when the footage stopped, Natasha lent back in her chair with a train of thought before looking up at Clint, "I have to go home" she replied. 

----

"Убить Белова" 

Dreykov's voice echoed through your mind as you made modifications to your poor handgun that you brought of a young male on the street only a few days earlier. News traveled quickly around Ohio that multiple people were reporting their bank cards and cash stolen while shopping although the police had no leads that they could go on, even if they did, you weren't bothered. You'd watched Melina and Alexei's house until you'd made up your mind, the only way to get Dreykov's voice out of your head was to carry out the mission until successful, kill Belova. 

Once the handgun was completed, you placed it in the large black carry bag along with the rest of your equipment that you'd mustered over the week. Different types of grenades, two handguns equipped with silencers, a rifle for long range that also was modified with a silencer and a better sight ranger, an SMG, night vision googles, plenty of ammunition and of course, melee weapons. As for a suit, ripping apart your widow suit and coming up with a design of your own, taking note of what you hated most about the original black suit and replacing it with something you thought was better. 

"I thought you might want to see this" one of the young males you'd paid to help you acquire your equipment placed his mobile phone in front of you. 

"GUYS!! BLACK WIDOW JUST CAME INTO MY DADS STORE!!" 

Read the social media post causing a cold smile forming on your lips, "Does this change anything?" The young man asked. Without as much as a light chuckle you walked over to your safe, another item the man collected for you, punched in your code and grabbed the left-over large clicks of money before tossing it over to him. "Take it, share it and get out of here" you said looking him in the eyes. He tossed it back and shook his head, "Take it as rent or whatever" he replied. 

"Rent?" you asked with a frown. 

"We want to stay. We don't care what it is you do, but" the man paused for a moment and let out a sigh, "we haven't had a roof over our head in so long, one that doesn't get us soaked through the winter. We'll stay out of your way, we'll do our thing, we'll keep paying you money to let us stay" he explained. You'd picked him and his friends off the street, paid them generously for their services and told them as long as you needed their help, they could stay at the warehouse. "Please, we have done everything you've asked us to do and we haven't said a single word to the police or anybody" his begging only made you shake your head in reply. 

"Get out of here, you can't stay" you tossed the money back to him and grabbed your suit, "you won't win" he said, stopping you in your tracks before turning to face him again, "What?" you questioned. "Killing Black Widow, that's what you're doing, right? I saw the same symbol on your suit before you cut it up" he explained, "she's a part of the avengers, they have been saving the world for years and you're just one person" he adds. Chuckling at his words, you took a few steps closer to him, enough to see the nervous sweat drops stream from his forehead, "she is no widow, you know nothing" you replied in a low tone, "I don't want to see you again or your friends, now get out of here" you added staring into his brown eyes. After searching your eyes, he realized you were serious, "Fine" he mumbled as he turned his back to you, "don't forget your money" you said before walking away. 

----

Melina opened the door slightly shocked to see Natasha standing on the other side, "Natasha if I knew you were coming, I would've made dinner" she greeted her, "I wish it was a friendly call in" Nat sighed, "is Yelena staying here?" She asked. "She is but she's not here at the moment, she hasn't stopped looking for Y/n since Red Room was destroyed" Melina explained., "That's why I'm here" Natasha looked at Melina, "Y/n is here in Ohio, and I know how to find her" she adds with a promising tone. "You best come inside then, have a drink" Melina opened the door wider. 

The two walked into the kitchen, Melina pouring them a shot of vodka each before she asked any questions. "Where's Alexei?" Natasha asked as she looked around slightly. "He's out, he worries about Yelena so whenever she goes wondering, he follows" the reply sounded almost disappointing, "Anyway, what do you know?" Melina asked to shift the topic. 

Natasha downed the shot of vodka then looked back at Melina. "When I spoke with Dreykov he mentioned that Y/n mission was to kill Yelena. When I saw her, she had no idea who I was, he spoke to her as if she was a pet. Now that Dreykov is dead, she has nowhere to go and she's still under his control, I think she might come for Yelena" Natasha explained as Melina poured the two of them another shot. "Then we do what we have done with all the other Widow's" Melina replied as if Nat's thoughts didn't faze her, "Yelena has been looking for her non-stop, how did you find her?" she added before downing her second shot. 

"CCTV footage, those headlines you keep seeing about people reporting their bank cards and wallets getting stole, it's her and she was very sly with how she's done it. She needs that money for something, it's not just food and clothes. I think you need to bring both Yelena and Alexei back so we can talk about this. From what Dreykov said, I have a feeling Y/n is going to be a lot harder to free than the others" Natasha explained. 

"They could be gone for days; I don't know where they are. My job is to stay here and make more of that counteragent gas"

"When did they leave?"

"Yesterday morning, they have been running around in circles with no leads. Tell me you're not going to promise Yelena something you can't keep, Natalia" Melina screwed the lid back on the vodka bottle as Natasha looked at her differently at the sound of a name she hasn't heard in a long time. "I've learnt never to make promises" Natasha replied.

After waiting only a few short hours, Yelena and Alexei returned. Yelena was furious that Alexei had been keeping an eye on the assassin from a distance, but that anger was quickly forgotten about once Natasha had explained everything to the three of them in greater detail, even showing the CCTV footage. 

"I want to keep this between us until she is freed!" Yelena spoke up, looking at Natasha. "Well, actually, I've already spoken to Wanda" Natasha replied, "we could use her if anything and besides, she already knows Y/n probably better than the four of us" she added knowing her comment would hurt Yelena, but it was the truth. Wanda was the one who had spent the most time with you before Dreykov had claimed you back. 

"Is Wanda here?" Yelena asked.

 "She's on her way. She had some things to deal with first"

----

"Would you like me to come with you?" Vision asked as Wanda packed a bag, not caring what she'd placed inside just as long as it had spare clothes and anything else she may need. "No, honey" she replied without even looking up at Vision. "Wanda, please" he begged taking a few steps closer to her and placing a hand on top of hers. Wanda closed her eyes just for a second before she turned and looked Vision in the eyes knowing she'd have to finally tell him about the lost love she once knew. 

"It's important that you stay" she said, taking his hand into hers, "This isn't anything to do with the team, it's something that Natasha and I need to deal with" she explained hoping she could answer any questions he had when she'd return. "I don't understand what is so important that can't be shared with me, is it Natasha's business?" Vision asked knowing that if it were Natasha's business than he would not bother to ask anything more. "It is her business just as much as it is mine" Wanda replied as she sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at her now lover. 

"Natasha as a younger sister, not Yelena. She doesn't speak about her and nor do I, I'm not sure why…I guess we just found it easier to not. I met Y/n when she was freed from the Widow program" Wanda smiled softly to herself at the first memory she had of you, "She was young, confused and just wanted to do good. Yelena introduced her to Kate and I one day at school and for some reason I was so curious about her, I'd never looked at anybody as long as I looked at her. I knew it made her uncomfortable, but she came around eventually…long story short, she was taken again, and we haven't been able to find her" Wanda added as she wiped the tears building in her eyes, "now Natasha think she's found her and with what I can do…I need to be there" 

Vision sat down beside Wanda and once again took her hand into his, stroking her knuckles with his thumb. "I'm sensing there was more to this Y/n" he spoke in a lightening tone to brighten the mood a little, it caused Wanda to chuckle lightly as she turned to face him, "A lot more" she said with a broken smile. 

"You loved her?" Vision asked, not in a demanding tone but just to confirm his own questions. 

Wanda's eyes dropped to her lap as more tears filled her eyes, "I never got the chance too" she spoke, "we were only teenagers, but I saw something special in her" Wanda added she began to look up at Vision again, "I don't mean to hurt you Vis and I should've told you a lot sooner but I –" 

"Wanda, it's okay" Vision butted in, "I've always thought there was something you didn't want to share with me. I couldn't make you share it but I knew one day you would" he assured her, bringing a hand up to gently wipe her tears, "she is important to you"

"But so are you Vis"

"I will wait for you, at the compound. When you return, we'll work this out but right now, you are needed elsewhere" he smiled softly even though he knew the outcome of the relationship before the words left his mouth. "A-are you sure?" Wanda asked, her heart breaking for a man she loved but knew she couldn't love forever. Vision nodded before placing a soft kiss on Wanda's lips, the last kiss he knew they'd share. 

----

Once Wanda had arrived at Melina and Alexei's house, they all began to come up with a game plan on what to do next. Wanda expressed that she'd only use her magic if absolutely need be and agreed to refill your mind with the memories you had before being taken. Yelena didn't admit it but nothing had scared her more than knowing her own sister was coming after her with no memory of the sisterly bond they shared, Natasha could see it clear in Yelena's eyes as if she'd shared the unspoken worry with her once before. 

Melina got to work immediately to make more of the counteragent gas that would be used on you to finally free you once and for all and Alexei, well, he did what Alexei always did, focused on the mission.

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[mac-lilly]

An awesome team (in the making)

Sneak peek at the "Life with Derek"-inspired AU

*****

The door of her locker got slammed shut, and Julie jumped like a startled cat. But she did not scream. Most certainly not.

“Nice voice, Molina.”

Okay, maybe she did scream. Just a little.

Julie huffed, frustrated. She recognized that voice. Of course, she did.

There was not a single student (or member of staff) at Los Feliz Performing Arts School who didn’t know Luke Patterson’s voice. Because Luke was a lot of things – but never, NEVER, silent.

Scowling, she turned around, and there he was: Luke Patterson with his ridiculously outdated haircut, washed-out band tee, and ripped jeans. Oh, and his stupid grin that was absolutely not adorable. Nope, absolutely not.

“What?!” she snapped at him.

“Whoa, hold your horses.” Luke raised his hands in mock surrender, but his grin turned into a smirk. It did not make Julie’s heart stutter! “I come in peace.”

Julie scoffed, though she wasn’t as upset by his ambush as she would have been under normal circumstances. Actually, she had meant to talk to him.

While they shared a handful of classes and used to be in the music program (before Julie had dropped out), their paths didn’t really cross. They moved in completely different circles. Before her mother’s death, she’d mostly hung out with Flynn, Carrie, and the other girls that formed Dirty Candi. These days, it was just Flynn. But still!

Luke, on the other hand, was in a rock band. And as far as Julie could judge, that was all he ever cared about. He most certainly did not care about school. Luke was chaotic and disruptive, and Julie wondered if he would stay until graduation. With his silly outfits and questionable antics, he was the walking cliché of a rebellious punk-rock teen straight from the early ‘90s.  

So, yeah, they did not mingle. Usually.

“What do you want?”

“Covington assigned partners for the group project.”

Julie frowned at him. “He never assigns pairs.”

“True,” Luke said, rocking on his heels, hands behind his back. Julie sighed. Luke was always like this. Too bouncy. Too fidgety. There was too much energy in him. But today, it seemed worse than usual. “But he did this time.”

Julie huffed. “Great.” That was just great. So much for the grandiose plan she and Flynn had been working on. “Well, thanks for letting me know—”

She cut herself off, caught off-guard by the look on Luke’s face. His smirk turned more sinister, and there was a manic glint in his eye. A horrible realization dawned on her. She gaped at Luke. “No!”

“Yup!” Luke beamed at her and even had the audacity to pump his fist into the air.

Julie didn’t buy it. Folding her arms, she eyed him suspiciously. “Mr Covington hates you.” He’d never team them up.

“He does,” Luke confirmed without a care in the world. His expression turned smug. “Meanwhile, you’re the apple of his eye.”

Julie paled first, then a hot flush blossomed on her face. “I’m not– He–”

Luke smirked triumphantly, and Julie groaned.

“Fine, whatever,” she snapped. “But you better don’t mess this up, Luke.”

Luke saluted. His smile never wavered. “Don’t worry, Boss. I’d never.” He winked at her. “We’re gonna make an awesome team, Julie.” And then he turned and bounded down the corridor to where his friends were waiting for him. There was a fucking spring to his step.

Julie let out another groan, annoyed. Luke wouldn't put in any effort into this project. He never did. She rolled her eyes as she turned to her locker again.

However, when she opened her locker again, she couldn’t help the smile that crept on her lips.

For once, the universe was working in her favor.