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criticofallthings · 4 years ago

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Hi it’s 4:43 AM and I’m back with another t h i ng. AKA apparently I write Destiny 2 fan fics at at the pre ass crack of dawn now.

Presage mission + “another one for the trauma jar D2 meme” + a love for all things Drifter related bc this poor insufferable soft man is a total fucking gem and I will never, NEVER EVER forget about those tapes that he made for our guardian to find = this stuff below

no beta, so don’t come at me for grammar issues unless you’re gonna be nice about it.

WARMTH

Drifter saw the flashing notification before he heard it, the chime muted beneath the Gambit livestream. His ghost had marked it as a priority message, something important to get at. On screen a massive Taken ogre quivers into existence. Nice. Team A was doing great and unless Team B pulled off one Hell of an invade two times over he doubted they’d catch up in time to challenge Team A. His hand hovers over the message, but his eyes flick back up to the stream. Team A’s coordination has been top notch all match and now was no exception. Drifter watched as two of them casted their supers on the Primeval ogre and it’s envoys. Orbs of power litter the field. Moments later Team A’s titan flies from off-screen in one of the most electrifying thundercrashes he’s ever seen. Globs of exploded ogre cover his hidden cams, soon to dissolve into nothingness. Gambit sirens wail and Team B’s Taken are reigned back into their cages. “Alright alright alright, last match of the day and it was a good one for Team A. Team B? Not so much.” Drifter pauses speaking into the mic, a little drama, before continuing in his showman’s tone. “Ay, but that’s what tomorrow’s for! Come on back and queue right in. Drifter’s always hungry.” He ends with a chuckle that doesn’t rise to his eyes and as soon as the guardians transmat to their ships he closes everything down. A message alert pops up on his console again, marked red for priority and sent almost half an hour ago. Damn, he thinks to himself and runs a weary hand over his face. Drifter’s other hand is on the edge of the console, index finger tapping it anxiously. Fuck it, how bad can it be? Drifter opens the message, tension rising to his shoulders, but then he freezes and his shoulders drop. He traces a few words of the message, forlorn sadness easing the laugh lines and crinkles at his eyes away. A few taps and the console goes dark. Drifter turns away and stands for a moment at the door. He lets out a sigh before starting again, yanking off his gloves before trudging towards his cargo container room.

There’s a lantern hung on the hook outside of his cargo container, the interior dark. Across the snow that never seemed to leave the Derelict, he sees whispered hints of someone carefully walking or rather, half-gliding over it. Through the gloom he spies a small pile of stuff he doesn’t remember making and an obvious lump in his bed. As he draws closer Drifter sees that the pile is actually carefully stacked warlock armor and the sleeping lump in his bed, is The Guardian. Yet again. Drifter’s lost count how many times it has been since he first offered the Guardian refuge aboard the Derelict. The first time they took him up on his offer he found them later, sleeping in a corridor standing against a bulkhead. He let them be since it was an out of the way spot. Eventually he showed them his bed, the Derelict’s only functional bed and told them to make use of it. Until now they hadn’t and he would still find them sleeping in various places aboard his ship. Sometimes with or without some pieces of armor, but also never like this. In plain clothes, more or less, sleeping bag haphazardly pulled over them. So vulnerable. And so tortured.

In sleep, Drifter found that the Guardian was an almost entirely open book. Nightmares haunted them more often than not. Sometimes so strongly that the Guardian would thrash about while asleep, murmuring feverdly, occasionally coherently about what they relived in their dreams. Tonight seemed to be one of the Guardian’s more silent nightmares. No thrashing, no murmuring, but the tight grimace of their lips and furrowing of their brow betrayed the Guardian's silence, showed their distress. Drifter steps to the cot, gently pulling the sleeping bag over to cover them better. Task done, he sits at their side and tentatively brushes a few stray strands of hair from their face. As he does so, the Guardian visibly relaxes, some tension dispelled from their face. It pulls at him more than he thought, making his chest tighten uncomfortably.

“Don’t take your armor off around me, kid...I’m not someone you oughta get comfortable around.” Drifter can’t help but let the whispered words fall from his lips at the sight before him. It was all too tragic. Too fucked up. So much pinned upon one guardian. One person. His hand moves before he realizes it and softly he cups their face, thumb tracing their jawline. Beneath his hand he can feel the muscles twitch and then slowly relax from the strained clenching of their jaw. Another measure of stress slips from their sleeping face. Drifter lets out a breath he was unconsciously holding. For a moment he thought the Guardian was going to wake up. Another trace over their jawline and Drifter takes his hand from their face. Quietly he murmurs, “why are you here…” as the tips of his fingertips trail over their cheek. He pauses, feeling impulsive and...something else...when he glances at their lips. Drifter lets his fingers ghost over their skin, tenderly coming to a rest below the Guardian’s cupid’s bow. He lightly traces the shape of their lips, feeling it out. Soft and a bit dry. There’s a thin crease of dried blood where they must��ve split their lip during combat. Or maybe bit it open themself on a previous restless night. He’s seen it happen before. Once even their tongue.

Drifter closes his eyes at that memory, a faint tremble visible only in his hands. He just about had a heart attack when he saw the Guardian slouched over with blood streaming from their mouth, sitting just outside the Gambit transmat room. He had shaken them awake, and his shock only grew when he saw them open bleary eyes and wipe the blood off of their chin as if it was normal and summon Ghost. The usually talkative bot didn’t say anything, but the way it healed them instantly and then bumped their forehead before leaving —he knew. Drifter knew that this must have happened several times before. “Mind if I...sleep s’more...here?” Their sleep-heavy voice caught his attention again and Drifter lifted his hands from their shoulders. “Nah, kid.” Drifter stood up and half turned, waiting for them to do the same. “C’mon, hurry up! I ain’t so mean to not lend you a spot to sleep.” The Guardian rose slowly to their feet, eyes unfocused and mind miles away from here. Something in him stabs at the sight and Drifter can’t face them looking so...worn. He turns away. Shoving hands deep into his pockets he starts walking, pausing only once to confirm the Guardian was shuffling along behind him. He shows them how to get to the sole cot on the Derelict.

A hand on his wrist snaps Drifter out of the memory. He looks down to see the Guardian awake, eyes somewhat clear. There’s confusion in their expression and he feels their lips move beneath his fingertips. Ah. Hastily, he pulls his hand away, clearing his throat. “ ‘m, sorry...about that.” Heat flushes his face as he turns to avoid eye contact. It’s silent for a while. Drifter stares at the rivets holding a seam of the cargo container together when he hears the crinkle of the sleeping bag being moved. He does his best to look discreetly out of the corner of his eye, but is caught. Drifter holds the Guardian’s gaze until they break off to shift towards the wall. Lifting the sleeping bag they look at him directly and motion for him to lie down. “It’s too cold.”

Drifter freezes. His mind hitting a brick wall too thick to just power through. He’s stunned into a very rare silence. Uncertainty and confusion write themselves out upon his face. Seeing him be so still, the Guardian drops the sleeping bag to place a hand on his knee. “You asked...why I come here.” They speak slowly, as if unsure about what they’re saying and are figuring it out as they say it. “You...you don’t use me like everyone else.” They look away from him, cheeks faintly pink. “Zavala, Ikora, the Vanguard...they mean well, but...they don’t get to treat everyone as people. They need a killer? I kill. Answers? I seek. Someone who might survive the impossible? I survive. Unconditionally. Righteous things and unspeakable things... Because I am a guardian. I don’t have a name. Many ghosts just go by Ghost...I’m the only guardian without a name. There was just...never time for one, and…always so much to do. Lives to save. Futures to fight for…” They trail off, eyes slightly unfocused, perhaps lost in nightmares they haven’t escaped yet. “You bring Gambit, but it’s never a real pressure to join.” Their hand slips from his knee, becoming a loose fist on the cot.

The coiling thing in Drifter’s chest squeezes painfully. He shifts, almost stands, but then changes his mind. To Hell with it all. Shucking off his pauldrons, he shrugs out of his duster and kicks off his boots. Awkwardly, Drifter lays down on the cot —it’s made only for one after all— but gives up on trying to leave space between him and the Guardian. Laying on his side, he shoves an arm under the pillow and motions for the Guardian to come closer. They move over slowly, a little unsure now. Drifter grabs the sleeping bag and covers them both with it. He’s left that arm out, unsure on how much contact would be wanted. When he feels the Guardian shivering, Drifter almost stops himself from draping that arm over them. But he doesn’t stop himself. Instead he gently pulls them close to him until their back presses against his chest. They feel oddly cold despite being recently asleep. Drifter summons a measure of solar light over his skin, just enough to let soothing heat roll off. He feels the Guardian relax, shoulders dropping the tension that had remained.

Minutes pass and just as Drifter thinks they’ve fallen asleep, the Guardian quietly speaks. “It was so cold there...and twisted…” His arm around them tightens protectively for a moment. “Where did you go? Recent mission?” The Guardian nods slowly, voice a little louder, but twice as worn out as before. “Presage...the Glykon.” Drifter hums a short acknowledgement, turning over their words in his head. He was aware of the Vanguard operation, already heard snippets of Osiris live on comms reporting tidbits back to the Vanguard. The Cabal ship was a house of horrors. Thinking on what he knew of it, Drifter came to a sudden, sinking thought. “Did you…?” He isn’t able to finish his question, half knowing what the answer would likely be. Again, the Guardian slowly nods. The tightness in his chest returned with a sting before the Guardian spoke their confirmation, a small tremor rolling through them at the memory. “...alone.” Drifter holds them close, knowing no words could ease the turmoil in the Guardian’s mind. He holds them and keeps his Light near and solar-filled to stave off the Derelict’s iciness. Eventually the Guardian’s breathing levels out and Drifter can tell they’re sleeping. Several hours later he drifts off to sleep as well. When he wakes in the early morning, Drifter opens his eyes to see the Guardian’s face next to his, still asleep. It’s the first time he’s seen them look so at peace.

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softboywriting · 5 years ago

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Christmas Together | Shawn Mendes

Summary: When you and Shawn head home for Christmas, you end up stuck in a snowstorm in a small town in the middle of the united states. With all flights grounded until further notice, the two of you will have to spend Christmas together at a bed and breakfast. This blizzard may just be the push that brings the two of you together with the help of a little Christmas magic. [fluff] [Christmas themed] [personal assistant to lovers au] [non au shawn]

Word Count: 6k

|Masterlist In Bio|

Traveling with Shawn for the holidays is never easy. He is possibly the busiest man you've ever worked for but you don’t mind because being with Shawn is just like being with someone you love, because, well, you do love him. Thanksgiving came and went, yours in the states not his, you don't go home for that holiday anyways. It's not a big deal for your family back home. Christmas is though and traveling three days before Christmas is a nightmare.

Things were going smoothly, you had a plan to get home before christmas. Things were going perfectly until the last minute. You had somehow gotten two tickets on a fully booked flight from Brazil to Canada. The plan is for you to fly straight to the Toronto airport, no layovers and from there you'll catch a cab home to New York. You're about an hour into the flight and you can feel some turbulence coming on. No big deal. Until the pilot announced an emergency landing somewhere in Iowa.

"Oh no...no no shit." You look out the window and see nothing but clouds. No doubt about it, you’ve flown directly into a storm system.

"What? It's fine, we're just going to be a little delayed." Shawn rubs your shoulder. "It's no big deal."

"No, it is." You lean your head back against the headrest. "My sister is having a baby today and I promised I'd be there. My whole family is going to be there for Christmas. She's the first of us to have a kid."

"Oh. You didn't tell me that."

You look over and Shawn looks concerned. He always has such a big heart for everyone, it’s one of the many reasons why you love him so much. "I didn't think you needed to know. It's not work related."

"Well yeah but I still care about you. I know I'm your job but like, I'm still a person who cares about you."

"I know...I know I usually tell you everything it's just been...I've been-"

Shawn lays his hand on yours and you look down at it, heart racing. "I've been difficult lately. I know and I'm sorry. Traveling and shows have been hectic the last few weeks. It's totally my fault you’re overwhelmed."

"No, Shawn it's fine. My job is to take care of all that stuff. I'm not- I shouldn't complain about it."

"So what's stressing you out if it's not me?"

"Everything about the christmas season. My sister having a kid, obviously but...mostly it’s that christmas sucks when you're single okay?"

Shawn's eyebrows shoot up. "Why?"

"Because every year I go home and my siblings all have their girlfriends and boyfriends or fiance's and shit and I'm the odd one out. Every year I become the center of attention at dinner, the butt of the joke during gift opening. It's just a pain in the ass being branded as the forever alone child in the family."

"Why is your family so mean?"

"They aren't. They don't mean their comments venmously, it's just little things that bug me. Little indirect jabs that remind everyone I'm single and I have been for a long time."

"Why are you single?"

You give him a blank stare. He couldn't be serious. He doesn't understand that he's the reason you can't be in a relationship? That your job of tailing him everywhere and managing his schedule and life is just as stressful on a relationship with someone for you as it is for him. "Shawn, I'm constantly traveling. When am I supposed to date? When am I supposed to meet someone?"

"Fuck." He groans and scrubs a hand over his face. "You're in the same boat as me. I didn’t even think of it like that."

"Yeah except I can't fly somewhere every time I have a few days off to see someone and make an attempt at one."

He shakes his head. "I've doomed you to be single. I'm putting you through the same stress I put myself through and it's not fair."

"It's not. But it's my job, and you have yours."

Shawn grabs your arm as the plan drops and shakes. "I'll make it up to you, I swear." His voice falters as the plane jerks violently.

You squeeze your eyes shut and he threads his fingers between yours, palm a little sweaty. "I don't see how but okay."

"If we make it through this I will do everything I can to get you a date."

"You're crazy Mendes."

"Yeah but you already knew that."

_____________________

The plane lands in one piece despite feeling like it was going to tear in half at any moment. As soon as you get to the airline club lounge you find out the flight is not just delayed but all flights are grounded for the next forty eight hours at least. Two days. You are definitely going to miss your sister's baby and you're possibly going to miss Christmas. As much as you don't want to deal with your family for the holiday, you're still going to miss them and you’re upset you might not be there.

"What're we going to do?" You ask as you slump into a chair beside Shawn. He looks over from his phone and you raise your eyebrows. "What are you doing?"

"I got a place to stay until we can get another flight."

"What? How? That's my job."

He chuckles and pockets his phone. "I can book a place. I know how to use the internet."

"Well yeah but- how? There was a hotel with rooms free this close to Christmas and during a storm?"

"Kind of. Every hotel I looked at was full but there is a bed and breakfast about half an hour from the airport that had a room."

You stand up and grab your bag and suitcase. "I'll call a car or taxi or something for us and-"

Shawn lays his hand on your shoulder. "I did that too. I got an Uber."

"Oh."

"You do absolutely everything for me. I figured I could return the favor since right now is really stressful for you."

"But it's my job...it's not a favor."

Shawn shakes his head and grabs his bags. "Come on, you need to relax. I read that this b'nb is super nice and the rooms have huge tubs. I know you like baths."

"What? How do you know that?"

"You travel with mini bath bombs in your shower bag and you always seek out the hot tub when we book a really nice hotel on tour." Shawn looks back and you jog to catch up to him. "I guess I’m a little observant?"

"What else have you observed?" You ask nervously, hoping he hasn’t caught on to the fact you have very real feelings for him. You’ve done your best to hide them for a long time.

Shawn holds open the door to the pick up lanes for you as you step out into the icy wind blowing snow everywhere. "Your favorite color is red."

"Why's that?"

"You rarely wear it but when you do, you are always more confident and you seem more comfortable. You always pick red when given a choice of things and your eyes always light up whenever I wear my red button down, so I know you must like the color at least."

"Maybe that's because it looks so good on you."

He smirks. "Oh yeah?"

"Mmhmm."

"Good to know." Shawn steps out into the snow and approaches a black car. "Come on, this is our ride."

_____________________

The bed and breakfast looks like a winter wonderland. It's decked out in decorated trees, wreaths, lights, the whole nine yards when the Uber driver pulls up. It has a little sign in the front that says Dover Inn. How Shawn found this place you have no idea. A short walk up to the front and you and Shawn are pushing your way through a heavy door into a small foyer that's been converted into a check in area.

"Hello!" An older woman with long dark hair says as she comes out of a back area. Her name tag says Judy. "Do you have reservations?"

"Yes, Mendes. We booked online." Shawn shakes snow off his hat by the door. "The first name is Peter."

"Ah, yes, here you are." Judy says, squinting at her laptop on the old wood countertop. "Let me go see that the room is ready. I'll be right back."

"Peter?" You ask, dusting your coat off. "Why'd you use your middle name?"

"I didn't want to draw attention to myself. You know how fans are, they always somehow find out where I'm staying."

"True. Smart, actually. But we're in the middle of nowhere Iowa in a town of probably a few thousand people during a snowstorm. I'm pretty sure that no fans are going to bum rush you out here."

"I wasn't taking the risk." Shawn pulls his hat back on and you shake your head at him.

"Mr. Mendes?" Judy says from the stairs behind the check in desk.

"Yes?"

"You booked a double room correct?"

"Yes."

The woman walks forward to the desk and types something into her laptop, chewing on her lower lip. "There is an error with room numbers on the site, the room you booked is a single room suite with a queen bed. We can refund you if you like. I'm so sorry."

"No," you lay your hand on Shawn's arm before he can say anything. "It's fine. We will take it."

Shawn gives you a look, silently asking if you're sure.

"You're sure?" The host asks, looking between you and Shawn. "I can at least give you a discount for the mistake."

"That will be fine, thank you." Shawn says softly and the host grabs your room keys.

On the way up the stairs you notice how beautiful this place really is. It's old, a historic building if you were to guess. A large manor like house of sorts at some time, but now converted to a bed and breakfast. Everything is decked out in Christmas, literally everything. Judy leads you to your room at the end of the hall and opens the door.

"We have pillows and blankets in the closet. There are heated blankets available on request. Breakfast is served at eight until nine every morning. If you need anything you can call the front desk by dialing star five five. Feel free to explore the inn, we have a large living room and the kitchen open to guests after ten in the morning. Can I get you anything right now?"

"No, thank you." You smile as you look around the gorgeous room. It's huge and spacious. There is a fireplace in the center of the far wall, lounge chairs flanking it with a small tree decorated in the corner. A large queen-size bed with a huge bed frame and two dark wood dressers sit against the opposite wall. There is a door on the left of the entrance for the bathroom and the right for the closet. It's incredible.

Shawn drops his bag on the floor by the closet and pushes his suitcase and guitar case up against it. "You're fine with sharing a bed?"

"Yeah? Should I not be?"

"Well I mean isn’t it a little...intimate?"

You laugh. "Shawn, I've been your assistant for almost two years now. I'm pretty sure that I can survive sharing a bed for two nights with you. It's just like sharing your bed with your best friend when they sleep over." You drop your own bag by the closet. "Don't worry about it." You say this, but honestly you’re not sure how you’re going to fare. Being close to Shawn is one thing, but sharing a bed is a special kind of intimate, whether sexual or not, you worry about how you’ll be able to keep your cool.

Shawn takes off his coat and flops down on the bed. "I'm sorry you're missing your sister's baby."

You hang your own coat and flop down beside him. "There's nothing that can be done now."

"What if we can't get home for Christmas?"

You look over and he turns his head to look at you. "We have each other?"

"Yeah, we do." Shawn smiles softly. "I'm glad I'm stuck here with you."

"I'm glad it's you too."

____________________

Sleeping with Shawn is better than you expected. To start, you thought he would be a bed hog like he is on the tour bus, sprawled out all over his bed at the back of the bus, but he isn't. The two of you put on pajamas and crawled in on your respective sides. It was a little awkward at first, both of you unsure if it was okay to move or curl up or anything really. You decided to break that barrier though, push the button and make a move because the tension was absolutely eating you alive.

You scoot over from the very edge of the bed where you are laying uncomfortably still. You turn on your side and face Shawn who looks uncomfortable as hell too. "Hey, you look like you're petrified."

"I don't know what to do."

"How do you usually sleep with other people in your bed?"

Shawn rolls onto his side and props his head up on his hand. "Well, usually I spoon them because it's someone I'm very interested in and have usually just been intimate with. Other than that I usually sleep alone."

"Uh huh. So is it the lack of intimacy before hand that's stopping you?"

His cheeks turn dark pink in the soft glow of the white lights on the tree in the corner. "I-I don't know. Maybe?"

"If you need to spoon me so you can sleep, you can. I don't mind." You lay on your back and roll so your back is to him. You pat your side, inviting him to cuddle up. It’s the worst idea you’ve ever had and your heart is threatening to burst out of your chest at the sheer thought of Shawn being pressed against you. But how else will you ever get to experience a Shawn cuddle? You would rather know and live with that knowledge for the rest of your life while you pine in silence until you find someone to settle down with, than never know and always wonder just what you may have missed. "I trust you Shawn."

The bed shifts and you can feel the heat from his body as he scoots closer, but not quite touching. "You don't think it's weird?"

"We've been in much more intimate situations I’m sure. I've seen you naked a few dozen times. This isn't a big deal. I sleep better with someone close and you do too it seems. Just cuddle me and stop being so nervous about it."

Shawn's hand rests tentatively on your hip. "You're sure you don’t mind?"

"Shawn. I swear, it's fine." You chew on your lip, voice surprisingly convincing despite your nerves.

Finally Shawn takes the plunge, wrapping his arm around you and pulling you back against his warm body. Instantly you melt, body completely turning to mush. It’s everything you imagined it would be and more. He’s just right, bigger than you, warmer, soft but not too soft. You let out a sigh and he presses his nose to your hair.

"You smell really good,” Shawn says quietly.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, and thank you for letting me cuddle you. I hope you don't think I'm weird."

You put your hand over his against your chest. "I always think you're weird, but not because of this."

"I miss it."

"Hmm? Miss what?"

"Being affectionate like this." He adjusts himself so he is fully pressed against the length of your body, feet covering yours between the blankets.. "It's been a long time."

You close your eyes, nervous to say what you really want to. Worried he will know you're falling for him. Well...that you’ve already fallen for him. You did that a long time ago. "I don't mind if you want to do this. I mean...like, again?"

Shawn presses his hand against your chest gently, holding you back against him as if giving you a hug. "I just might have to take you up on that offer sometime."

_____________________

Morning finds you warm and cozy. There is a fire in the fireplace when you sit up and look around the otherwise empty room. Shawn isn't there, but the smell of his body wash wafts in from the bathroom that's open but dark. You look to the clock over the fireplace and it's just after eight thirty. You check your phone and you have no signal, of course.

You stretch as you get up and go to the big windows on the far wall. It's snowing still. You doubt it has ever stopped. You grab the complimentary robe from the dresser on your side of the room and wrap up in it before heading downstairs.

In the dining area that's set up like a small restaurant would be with it's tables and chairs scattered around with families and couples sat in eating, you find Shawn alone by the fireplace sipping coffee and reading something on his phone.

"Morning," you say softly as you take a seat with your back to the fireplace. "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a baby. You?"

"Same."

Shawn puts his phone down and offers you his cup. "Coffee?"

"That's yours though?"

"Yeah but you can have some while we wait for the hostess to come by again." Shawn scoots the mug toward you. "I know you aren't sick or something."

You wrap your hands around the mug and lift it up to take a sip. Straight black coffee with a hint of sweetener. It's strong as hell and you swear you can feel it wake your senses up immediately. "This is horrible. How do you enjoy this?"

He laughs. "It's good?"

"No cream or something? It's like engine oil."

"Nuh uh." Shawn plucks his mug from your hands and takes a drink. "It's great. Oh, here comes the hostess."

You order some eggs, bacon and orange juice. Shawn asks for just some bacon and toast. You look out the window to see the snow reaching the bottom of it, drifted up from the wind no doubt. It has snowed so much you're seriously worried you may not get home for a while.

"What's wrong?"

"The snow. It keeps falling."

"Yep." Shawn turns and looks outside. "I told my parents I would be spending Christmas here. If I'm wrong, it'll be a surprise when I get home. If I'm right, they're not worried about me."

"You have signal?"

"Yeah. You don't?"

"No. Can I call my parents?"

Shawn hands you his phone and you excuse yourself to the living room where it's a little quieter. You dial your dad's cell number and lean against the wall near a tree.

"Dad? Hey it's me."

"Kiddo! Where are you? We thought you were coming home last night?"

"We had to land in Iowa. We're grounded for at least two days, but it might be longer. It's hasn't stopped snowing since last night. Did Penny have her baby?"

"Not yet. They said it could be any day now, I guess she wasn't ready."

"That's great! Well, not for Penny but I didn't miss it. Is she worried about me? Did she think I forgot?"

"No no, we figured you might have been delayed. Whose number are you calling from by the way? I didn't recognize it."

"It's Sh- the hotel's number. I'm using a landline."

"It's an out of country number? I thought you were in Iowa?"

You scrub a hand over your face and mentally kick yourself. You don't want to tell your dad it's Shawn's cell number but your lie doesn't make sense. "It's Shawn's phone. Promise me you won't give this number out."

"Shawn? You're traveling home with him?"

"Yeah, well, no."

"Honey!" You dad calls for your mom and you hear her respond in the background. "Our daughter is bringing home a guest for Christmas!"

"Dad! No! We aren't going to make it!"

"What's that dear? You're breaking up, I can barely make out your voice."

"Dad, we probably aren't going to make it for Christmas and I'm not bringing Shawn home. Dad, can you hear me?"

"You're bringing Shawn? That's okay! We'll see you soon!"

"Dad no! We aren't-" The line goes dead and you pull the phone away from your ear. The signal bars drop from three to none and you groan. Perfect...just perfect.

______________________

After breakfast you find Shawn in the living room with his guitar sitting with a little girl who has a cat piano that meows instead of playing regular piano notes. The girl is maybe five or six and you're pretty sure her grandma is the woman sitting a few feet away on her iPad. You lean against the archway that leads to the dining area and smile as Shawn let's the girl pluck a few strings on the guitar.

"You like music huh? What's your favorite?"

"I like the music from Frozen and Moana." The girl says and presses a key on her piano that makes a deep cat meowing sound. "I like Moana the best."

"Me too." Shawn smiles, playing a few chords. "I know the song How Far I’ll Go pretty well."

You shake your head as he smiles to himself. Of course he knows the song, it's one of Alessia's. Shawn looks up and sees you. He says something to the girl really quick and gets up, leaving his guitar on the floor.

"Hey, did you get to call your parents back after it dropped?"

"No, the signal keeps fading. I sent a few texts, hopefully they'll get them."

"Ah. Well...did you know you're standing under the mistletoe?"

"Huh?" You look up and sure enough there is a little sprig of green with holly berries attached to the archway. "No, I think you're under the mistletoe."

"No, it's definitely you and you know what that means."

"You're gonna kiss me?"

"Yep." Shawn leans in and kisses your cheek gently as you back up. "You're free to go now."

You roll your eyes and giggle as he steps forward and leans against the archway. "Oh no, looks like you're definitely under it now."

"Ah crap."

You stand on your tiptoes and kiss his cheek. "Looks like I was right all along."

Shawn laughs and turns away to go back into the living room. "I'll get you back for that, you lured me in."

"Uh huh. Sure you will." You head upstairs to find a movie on tv to kill time. May as well get used to it. You're going to be here a while longer.

_____________________

A little after noon Shawn finds you in the room curled up on the bed watching TV. You just got a text back from your dad saying that Penny had her baby. A boy named Lucas, eight pounds. You couldn't help but cry, disappointed you weren't there but happy that Penny had her baby okay. It sucks.

"What's wrong?" Shawn asks, sitting beside you on the bed. "Your eyes are red like you were upset."

"Penny had her baby."

"Oh! That's great, is she okay? Is the baby okay?"

You nod. "I'm just sad I couldn't be there for her. She's the first of my siblings and I to have a kid and I guess...I guess I sort of live vicariously through her."

"Oh."

"It's fine." You wipe your eyes. "Everyone is healthy. I'll get to meet the baby a little later. It's alright."

Shawn opens his arms and motions for you to come to him. You do, leaning forward until you're crawling into his arms. He holds you tight, rubbing up and down your back with his big soft hands. "Its okay to be upset. I understand if you're emotional about missing something clearly important to you."

You rub your nose on his shoulder. "Thank you. I'm sorry I'm crying so much."

"No, shh, you don't have to be sorry."

"But-"

Shawn squeezes you. "No buts, let it all out. You're always there for me on my bad days, I'm gonna be here for you."

_____________________

"Can I take you to dinner?"

You look up from your laptop. The inn has WiFi but it's not the best. You've just been updating schedules and trying to get any flight out of Iowa. So far everything is still grounded until the storms blow over. "Dinner?"

"Yeah. I was talking with some people in the living room earlier and they said that there is a place not too far from here that serves dinner through Christmas Eve. I thought maybe it'd get your mind off of everything."

"Sure." You close your laptop and get up to put on your coat. "Are we walking?"

"Yes. Wear your boots."

"Mmm and what are you going to wear?" You glance at his well loved chelsea boots in the corner. They're the only shoes he has with him aside from some tennis shoes made of breathable mesh.

Shawn grabs his boots and looks down at his feet, wiggling his toes in his socks. "I'll wear extra socks?"

"Mmhmm." You sit down and pull on your black leather boots that are possibly the best shoes you own. "Y'know you're a millionaire right? You can afford new boots just like those that aren't worn thin."

"I know. But these are comfortable, they're my boots."

"Right."

He groans as he sinks into the bed beside you to put on an extra pair of socks. "I promise I'll get new boots okay? But I won't get rid of these."

"Shawn, they're old."

"They're my favorite." He zips the side and stomps his foot down to adjust to the extra socks bulk. "Don't judge me."

"Alright, alright," you giggle. "I'll stop bullying you into getting new shoes. If they make you happy, that's what matters."

"They do." Shawn gets up and grabs his coat, tossing you his sweater he wore yesterday. "You might want that."

"I have a sweater?"

"The thin one that you wore yesterday? That's hardly a sweater."

"I didn't plan on being trapped in a snowglobe after leaving Brazil, a very non sweater climate. So sorry I didn't pack for a blizzard."

Shawn narrows his eyes and you narrow yours back. "I'm not going to take a human popsicle to dinner."

"Oh whatever." You snatch his sweater off the bed laughing as you pull it on. It's a little big and it smells like cinnamon and his cologne. So basically, Shawn. You used to wonder why he smelled like cinnamon, then you found out one of his primary vitamin supplements has cinnamon in it. It's supposed to help with metabolism or something. All you know is it makes him smell slightly spicy when he gets warm.

The walk to the restaurant is fairly short. It's just two blocks up from the inn. The snow is a pain to walk through and it's easier to walk in the street than it is to try and use the sidewalk. There are absolutely no cars out and about so you're pretty safe. There are a few other people in the restaurant when you step in, grateful to get out of the cold wind. You're glad you wore Shawn's sweater.

"So, if we are stuck here for Christmas, what do you want to do?" Shawn asks as soon as you're seated by the waitress.

"We're going to find a way home."

"I know you're trying but-"

You shake your head. "No, I'm going to find a way home. I missed Penny's baby. I'm not missing Christmas."

Shawn sighs softly. "Alright. We're going to find a way home. I'll get you home one way or another."

"We'll get us both home."

"Right. Enough about that though, we're supposed to be enjoying dinner and not thinking about all that." Shawn says, lifting his menu. "Look, they have a Christmas dinner option. Ham, potatoes and all the fixings. Sounds good."

You nod and try to focus on the menu. It's hard. You can't help but feel nervous as the day comes to a close. One day until Christmas. At least you're not alone.

_____________________

Just after two in the morning you wake up to a severe weather alert on your phone. The signal must have connected enough for you to get one. Shawn's phone goes off too, loudly buzzing on his dresser.

"What's going on?" Shawn asks sleepily, arm falling to your waist as you sit up.

"It's a severe weather alert." You read the message on your phone. "Blizzard warning. High winds may cause power outages across the state. Below freezing temperatures are in effect, be advised if going outdoors."

"Shit." Shawn mumbles.

"Shit is right. We're not leaving this place."

He pushes you back down and you curl up facing the windows away from him. "We'll be alright."

"This sucks."

"Mmm. I promise I'll make it up to you. It's my fault we're out here because I didn't want to leave Brazil until the last minute. I ruined Christmas." He sighs.

"Shawn, stop. You didn't ruin anything."

He cuddles you against him and presses his nose into your hair. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything."

"I still feel guilty."

You grab his hand and he threads his fingers between yours. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, but I'm not very awake."

"Do you think we were meant to be here, together for Christmas?"

"Hmm?"

"Like...never mind."

Shawn yawns and doesn't press the subject. He relaxes into you, his weight comfortable against your back. You close your eyes, really enjoying this moment despite the impending knowledge of being stuck here for the holiday. You and Shawn fit together perfectly, maybe a little too perfectly.

_____________________

Shawn is gone again when you wake up in the morning. It's after eight and you know you should get up and go get breakfast, but you aren't hungry. It's Christmas Eve. You don't want to get up.

The bedroom door opens and Shawn walks in, bundled up and carrying a bag full of wrapped gifts. "Good morning."

"Morning. What's that?" You point to the gifts and Shawn grins sheepishly.

"Presents."

"For?"

"You?"

You raise your eyebrows. "Why do you have presents for me?"

Shawn sets the bag down by the tree and unwraps his scarf from around his face. "Everyone deserves gifts on Christmas day. And since we're going to be stuck here, I figured we should make our own Christmas."

"You're not sad you can't get home?"

"I was, but I talked to my dad this morning. He said that Christmas is what you make it, whether that be with family, friends or your pets. He said that they will miss me, but he doesn't want me to fret over it. We can do Christmas whenever I get home." Shawn hangs his coat and kicks off his boots. "I'm lucky, because I have you and I'm not alone."

"I guess you're right. We are together in the same boat."

"Yep. So let's make the best of it."

"I suppose I should get up and go shop for you now huh?"

"You could. But let's have some breakfast first." Shawn holds his hand out for you. "Come on, there is cinnamon roll pancakes with your name on them."

"There is?"

"Mmm. I talked to the kitchen staff this morning. They said they would make them special since we're some of the few guests left at the inn." Shawn bites his lip. "I know they're your favorite."

"You're sweet." You curl your fingers around his hand and he lifts you up out of bed. "Too sweet."

Shawn hugs you tight. "You deserve it."

_____________________

Breakfast is amazing. The kitchen crew out did themselves with the cinnamon pancakes with sweet icing for you. Shawn ordered just eggs and bacon but they're also super good. Even the coffee is better than before.

Shawn reaches out and swipes some icing off your lip with his thumb. "Do you like me?"

"What? Of course." Your heart sinks, stomach churning. You know he doesn’t mean in a general way. "Why?"

"I mean, as more than your friend or job...whatever. I've just been thinking. The last few days have been some of the best I've had and-" He looks away, flushed. "And you and I have been kind of flirting a lot? Unless I've been reading this completely wrong."

"You like me?"

"Of course I like you." He looks back and fidgets with his fork. "You and I have had a vibe since you joined the team. I think I've been too nervous to admit it before now. I was too scared to shoot my shot."

You grab Shawn's hand and make him stop tapping his fork on the table. "Calm down. I like you a lot. A whole lot."

"Yeah?" He grins, chewing on his lip.

"Yes."

"Good, because I don't want to stop sharing a bed with you any time soon. You’ve spoiled me the last few days. I don't think I've slept this well since before the tour started." He chuckles to himself. "Remember when I promised you on the plane that as soon as we landed I'd find you a date?"

You giggle and he lines his hand up with yours on the table, palms together, his fingers curling over the top of yours slightly. "Yes?"

"Do you want to go out with me tonight?"

"But there is a blizzard warning."

Shawn looks around the dining room. "We can stay here, I can get hot cocoa and cookies from the kitchen. We can watch a movie or something." His fingers slot between yours and you squeeze his hand. "We can stay up until midnight like kids on Christmas."

"Alright." You smile softly and he looks back just as soft. "Let's do it."

_____________________

At midnight you and Shawn exchange gifts, not all of them, just one each. You had gone out and shopped at a small store in town that had all sorts of things for the holidays. You picked out a few things for Shawn, just little memorable trinkets. One is a keychain so you never forget this holiday and it says first Christmas, Iowa. It's cheesy but you don't care. The next gift you grabbed was a paracord bracelet the store had by the registers. It's black with a red stripe down the middle. You couldn't pass it up. Shawn loves his accessories and especially if they mean something or are a gift.

Shawn hands you a small box wrapped in brown paper first. "Merry Christmas."

You turn it over and give him a look. "What is this?"

"Open it and see."

You tear off the brown paper and open up the box. Inside is a little sparkly rose charm on a gold chain. "This is so cute." You lift it out and it is so ornate and delicate. "Where did you get this?"

"It's a secret." He smirks.

"Mmhmm. You did not buy this here.”

“You can’t prove that.”

“Oh yeah? I have access to your bank account remember? I swore I wouldn’t use it for ill intent but...and you told me you’d never lie to me when we first met.”

“Fine, I did promise you that. I got it before we left Brazil. I was going to give it to you at the airport.”

“Thank you.” You curl your hand around it and smile. “Your turn." You hand him a tiny bag with the bracelet in it.

Shawn opens it and slips it on. "I love it."

"I thought you might. I didn’t get you something cool in Brazil....and I know it's not much but-"

Shawn leans forward and kisses you, hand resting against your neck. Your eyes go wide and he pulls back.

"W-what was that about?"

"Look up."

You tilt your head back and see there is mistletoe hanging over the area in front of the fireplace where you're sat with Shawn. It was definitely not there earlier. "When did that happen?"

"I told you I'd get you back." He smirks and it dawns on you. The other day in the living room, the mistletoe.

"You put that there." You laugh and he cups your cheek. "You...you put that there?"

"I did." He leans in and you take a deep breath. "And I did it because I needed some Christmas magic to give me the courage to do this." He presses his lips to yours once more and you slide your hand into his hair.

"Merry Christmas Shawn."

"Merry Christmas."

End

______________________

Thank you for reading! Please reblog if you enjoyed this and reblog to support and encourage myself and fellow writers. - A

*****Note: none of my works should be posted anywhere outside of my linked accounts. I do not give permission to repost with or without credit to my accounts. Please notify me of any reposted fics.*****

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fic #shawn mendes fan fic #shawn mendes fan fiction #shawn mendes story #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes oneshot #shawn mendes writing #shawn mendes imagines #shawn mendes fics #shawn mendes concepts #shawn mendes au #shawn mendes non au

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dl4draws · 4 years ago

Note

delfi!!

no idea when exactly you're starting your break and if i'm already too late; i just gotta say this real quick. (i'm also writing this while sitting in a chemistry lesson, so i'm sorry if this is a bit incoherent)

first of all, whether you see this before or after your break, you deserve it! take care of yourself!

struggling with your own art is something i relate to a lot and it sucks, but please be kind to yourself. i hope you get to a point where you feel better about your art soon, even though that's a hard journey sometimes, you'll get there.

your blog here has become somewhat of a comfort blog for me and you're a big inspiration. (definitely didn't paint sokka with freckles because of you cough cough)

i don't know where exactly i was going with this (because my brain is the size of a peanut) but i guess i just wanted to say that you're awesome, and not just because of your lovely art but in general. you deserve a break, take as much time as you need and be kind to yourself. we'll all welcome you back with open arms! stay safe💕

here's another pretty sunrise from a few days ago lol

hi!! i’m over here sobbing thank you

i’m very thankful that this time it didnt take me two years to start drawing for real again, that happened, it was a nightmare tm,, it took exactly two days of literally not drawing anything for me to want to draw so bad i painted something in three hours, it was insane djksfhdf my hand was itching to draw so bad

i’m so glad my little corner of the void brings you comfort, that makes me really happy!! i try to draw wholesome or silly content often (except for the hanahaki au, let’s all collectively ignore that very non wholesome au) because it makes me happy, and if it makes you guys happy as well then it gives me even more joy :D

also please let me know if you ever post that sokka drawing because i would love to see more freckled sokka, he’s my fave <3

trying to draw everyday was honestly the thing that made me want to take a break tho, i literally disliked every single doodle i posted 😓

thank you so much for the lovely message 🥺 i missed you guys so im back, break was shorter than expected but i started thinking about all the stuff i might be missing and the interactions with the zukka nation, and just went, i’m better now, i’ll take my time with drawing and that’s okay, so boom baby here i am :D

i also worked A LOT on the au lol, finished thumbnailing all of the hanahaki comic, and created a carrd specifically for blackout racing lmk if you guys want to see it, and wrote a lot as well!! didn’t draw the boys but i’ll go back to that soon <3

sunrise pic!!!!!! love love love!!!

hope you’re having a wonderful day <3

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tonystarkbingo · 4 years ago

Photo

Our TSB party is still going, and here is one of the games we’ve had fun with so far!

Fic Titles Game

Glitter - suggested by @phoenixmetaphor3000

@huntress79 - Idea: Dum-E teams up with Steve (other Avengers optional) to bring some Christmas cheer to their favorite in-house Grinch (aka Tony XD) Massive amounts of Glitter involved

@rebelmeg - tony kind of has an accidental thing for glitter. it's not his fault. the iron man suit has a glitz and glamour of its own, he's always told his eyes sparkle, and his favorite tie pin is that gaudy ruby one that pepper hates. he loves the stars, the way sunlight sparkles on the waves outside his malibu mansion, and he can't really be blamed when a tiny speck of glitter under a certain someone's eye catches his attention one december day.

@psychiccatpanda - Clint refills DUM-E's fire extinguisher with purple and silver glitter as revenge for Tony making Clint's most recent armor change to red and gold with body heat. Hijinks ensue.

@lbibliophile-mcu - Decorating the Christmas tree, the Avengers get into an argument over who is responsible for the missing tinsel. Half an hour later they find it, in a tangled web draped all over Dum-e. He objects strenuously to its removal, but eventually concedes to their assistance in rearranging the strands so he can still move.

@huntress79 - The Avengers are invited to a Charity gala, but they have to wear costumes that are NOT their usual ones. And of course, Tony can't resist an opportunity to rile up a certain Captain, just a little bit. Best way to do so: a dare, in this case who wears the most glittery costume. But what Tony didn't expect was that Steve comes up with his own counterdare... (author's choice ;))

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - It's pride, so there was bound to be some glitter floating around, it was inevitable. But this much? Someone was obviously being irresponsible with glitter and needs to be given a warning for the good of the world (and the Tower's cleaning bots). Tony follows the trail of glitter... all the way to Steve's room? Does this mean that Tony's crush on Steve actually stood a chance of being more than just a crush.

@ralsbecket - It was Steve's first Father's Day being Morgan's step-dad, and Tony helps her with cooking breakfast in bed and sprinkling red, white, and blue glitter on a handmade card (not particularly in that order). Steve still finds glitter everywhere weeks later.

@rebelmeg - i can't art very well, but i want art of the aftermath of tony opening a glitter bomb that rhodey left out for him

@huntress79 - (Stony) - During a mission in space, Tony and Steve are stranded on a planet, with no immediate way to get back. After a while, they encounter tiny little beings who introduce themselves as fairies. But while they can't fulfill their wish to get home (for whatever reasons), they might be inclined to use their glittery fairy dust for something else… (could also be used for a crossover with Hook/Peter Pan)

@rebelmeg (with some inspirational help from @dreaminglypeach) - tony coming home with glitter all over his suit and looking super smug, and everyone IMMEDIATELY assumes strippers. but of course it's gotta something completely different and silly. like... he wandered through the christmas department at the store and slipped on something and ended up sprawled on the glitter strewn floor

@yesmooshoe - Tony is somehow de-aged to around 5. The Avengers do their best to take care of him while they figure out what to do, but don't keep a constant eye on him. Tony likes all of his new friends though and wants to do something special for them, so he acquires a bunch of glitter and glue (maybe jarvis helps? maybe thor likes crafting? fuck knows.) Tony proceeds to embellish everyone's stuff - glitter all of steve's shield, thor's hammer, glitter all over Clint's arrows (which really throws off the balance but he can't be mad), and even a weird-looking red and yellow robot suit. When Tony is finally returned to normal he's upset with his younger self for how haphazardly he glued all the glitter to his suit, because it could have looked super cool if done well.

Collaborative effort that started with strippers and then went off the rails

Glitter lube

Scratchy, what a terrible idea

oh my god but imagine shitting out glitter

Edible glitter

Edible glitter on cakes

Edible glitter exiting the human body

So many glitter poop jokes and anecdotes

@ralsbecket - The Avengers are forced undercover for a mission to catch a villain red-handed, and this villain just so happens to work from the basement of a strip-club. Tony draws the short straw, but at least he can choose his own stripper name.

@lbibliophile-mcu - He's sure it looks very pretty. Gentle waves ruffling the surface of the bay. Each strand of grass on the dunes lined in perfect crystals of frost. Dawn sun painting the sky pink. And right there is the problem: dawn sun. It is far too early to have to deal with all these stray rays of light stabbing through his eyes.

(More under the cut!)

Vices - suggested by @ralsbecket

@huntress79 - (Stony) - Steve's a hard working cop on the vice, Tony's his "favorite" frequent delinquent (aka Tony's a bit of a bad boy who usually gets arrested by Steve, for rather minor things, but Tony can't shut up when Steve's around, so it's more for his talking than anything else) (Steve, of course, can be replaced by any other character, whatever floats your boat XD)

@rebelmeg - tony kicked a lot of these habits a long time ago. it's been ages since he's been high, or slept around, or partied until he literally dropped. but around this time in december, he's allowed a few of his other vices. his need for near-constant touch and attention. drinking. staying up to keep the nightmares away, and being coaxed to bed when he's so exhausted he's asleep before his head eats the pillow. eating all the food he loves that aren't that great for him. it's okay, though. this time of year, he's allowed.

@lbibliophile - "... This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." And it was in that moment - confronted by the picture he made trapped in the grip of supposedly-helpful machinery - that Tony decided he really needed to prioritise a better way of getting the suit on and off.

@rebelmeg - some kind of profile art with the arc reactor depicted as one half of a vice clamped on tony's chest

@dreaminglypeach - vices: DUM-E was only trying to help squishy-dad with his work. He didn’t mean to get his hand stuck in a vice. If only sky-dad would stop chastising him and call for help…

@Magicadraconia16 - Dum-E does not understand why everyone keeps saying that vices are bad. They're very helpful tools! He loves the one that Tony gave him for his very own. He can show everyone, then they'll see! If only he can get it off of U's arm, first…

@huntress79 - Knowing that Tony will fall back to some of his old vices as soon as December rolls around, the whole Tower teams up to keep him from doing so (can be gen aka Avengers as a family, or end with your favorite partner for Tones)

@psychiccatpanda - [potential WinterIron] Bucky has been researching everyone on the team and it seems like the media has nothing better to do than to gossip about Tony Stark's vices - women, booze, and expensive cars mostly. The trashier gossip bloggers openly speculated on what (or who) Tony's latest mistake would be. When Bucky gives Tony a judgmental look after he's returned from being out (much longer than the hour Stark had said he'd be gone), Tony frowns. The bag clanks like metal. What the hell had Tony meant when he'd said he needed to 'go pick up some new vices'?? ((hint - it's actual vices. It always takes longer at Home Depot or any hardware store because Tony has to look at everything before he leaves!))

@tehroserose - [Stony] Steve had only one vice. Well, two, but they were related. He loved watching Tony's backside, and he loved getting him angry. The genius was so alive when he was angry, and then he was treated to a wonderful view of the amazing backside. Bucky was about ready to smack him upside the head for his kindergarten way of having a crush.

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - Before the serum there was a lot of things Steve couldn't experience, whether it was because of his conditions or lack of money. Steve's favourite thing about the 21st Century is all the foods and flavours. Being able to eat things he couldn't eat before. Being able to taste things he wouldn't've been able to taste before. Steve spends his military back-pay on food and treats... a part of him burns at the idea of spending his money this way, there were more beneficial things he could be doing with it... But he can't help himself, especially when some flavours taste like euphoria. Tony notices and decides to indulge in Steve's vices.

@huntress79 - (potential HawkIron) For the longest time, Clint always had to choose before a mission between wearing the team comms and his hearing aids, otherwise his ears felt like being in a vice. SHIELD didn't see it as a necessity to equip him with better things, but once he joins the Avengers, and Tony notices the obvious problem, things start to look up for the resident archer....

@huntress79 - Ever since he got free of the programming and came to live at the Tower, Bucky's been doing repairs on his metal arm on his own. But after a mission, putting his arm in a vice and working with the fine tools isn't the easiest thing to do. And Buck's too proud to ask anyone for help, be it Steve or anyone else. Good thing that he can't stop JARVIS alerting Tony to that particular problem... (can be friendship/mending bridges between them, or WinterIron)

5 Times Tony Stark was a Terrible Cook, Plus 1 That One Time He Finally Ordered a Pizza - suggested by @yesmooshoe

@tehroserose - Tony/Others, Tony/Rhodey end. Tony has always tried to cook for his dates. He wants to impress them. Problem is, he can't cook. And too many people just want the Stark money and lie and say it is good. Or they're too afraid/intimidated to tell the truth. Later, much later, he realizes they aren't good for him. Then there's Rhodey, who's never afraid to tell Tony that his cooking sucks... and then, after the last relationship ended, this time when the white lie was out of care, Rhodey again tells Tony his food sucks, let's get pizza. And they kiss, over the pizza.

@rebelmeg - first it was cookies. cookies burnt to a crisp that even ana jarvis couldn't salvage. second was spaghetti, so mushy and overcooked that rhodey couldn't stop laughing even when tony threatened to throw his enormously thick math textbook at him. third was that whole "raw in the middle" chicken incident that happy still won't let him live down, and fourth was the disastrous omelet for pepper. fifth was morgan's 1st birthday cake, and thank heaven's pepper was wise enough to ignore him and order a backup. this time, he's just gonna order a pizza.

@huntress79 - Tony The Cook: The Jarvises tried, Mama Rhodes as well, but for all his genius, Tony can't figure out a cooking recipe. Nonetheless, he tried to impress several various dates with his cooking skills. Needless to say that none of these attempts (both cooking and dating) ended well. Then, he meets Steve, a guy who doesn't care at all what they eat, as long as they eat together. And so, Tony orders pizza for their date…

@Magicadraconia16 - It's an unfortunate historical fact that Tony cannot cook to save his life (hmm, there's an idea for the next HYDRA kidnapping...). Rhodey's meal was burnt to unidentifiable cinders (seriously, even Tony doesn't know what it was supposed to be); Pepper's gave her an allergic reaction; Natasha chipped a tooth; Hulk came out and threw Bruce's food out of the (closed!!) window; and Steve got food poisoning. Steve!!! So when Bucky turns up in his workshop one day, Tony decides to selflessly save everyone from a hangry Winter Soldier and just orders pizza, instead.

@ralsbecket - 5 + 1 Pizza: Tony Stark was many things. He was a genius, he was a billionaire, he was a playboy, he was a philanthropist. The thing he was decidedly not was a good cook. It was one burnt omelet too many before Pepper begged him to just order out. The person delivering his pizza was... attractive. If he started ordering pizza on Fridays at 6PM every week for a month, that was nobody's business.

@lbibliophile-mcu - Tony just wants to offer a fancy home-made anniversary dinner. It's not so much that Tony is a terrible cook, but that something (or several somethings) always go wrong. His significant other's flight was delayed. He gets distracted by a minor crisis half way through cooking. He tries to prepare beforehand, but forgets to label it before leaving it in the common fridge. Had a mistranslated recipe or the wrong measuring spoons. Dum-e tried to 'help' while he was distracted. The next year, his SO requests that they just order pizza to eat cuddled on the couch.

@psychiccatpanda - Single dad Tony tries to do it all. He feels terrible about the amount of time his three kids (all under the age of 5) spend in daycare, but college will be expensive, so he works -and works. But he tries to make the after-work before-bed moments really count. Sometimes his carefully planned dinners don't work out. Monday, the slow cooker wasn't plugged in and their chicken and potato dish spoiled for being on the counter for almost 13 hours unrefrigerated. Tuesday they were out of bread and ate PBJ on the last three hot dog buns. Wednesday, he thought dinner was fine, but Peter declared it was 'too spicy' and so none of the kids would eat it. Thursday he burned the chicken nuggets in the oven because he had to help the kids with their baths, and Friday? Well no one was gonna talk about that again. Saturday Tony's ready to cry because he's pretty sure Morgan is coming down with something. So he orders pizza. When the pizza delivery guy arrives, holding Morgan, she barfs all down Tony's back. Pizza delivery driver yanks the pizza away and asks if he can come in to set it down in the kitchen, then helps out with the kids while Tony takes a shower.

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - It was meant to be romantic, cooking for a date. But with Tony it was definitely not romantic. Cooking for Rumiko he managed to burn everything, yet have the food still raw. Firefighters had to be called when he set his dorm alight cooking for Janet. Ty needed to have his stomach pumped after Tony's cooking (how was he to know what was too much alcohol, wasn't it meant to burn off?). Indries had stomach problems for weeks after Tony cooked for her. And he managed to poison Pepper... Needless to say, Tony wasn't a good cook... So when he scores a date with Steve Rogers, he thinks "why bother try? Steve is too good for me anyway", there was no way they were going to last. So he orders a pizza. Steve is relieved when he sees the pizza. He had been hoping Tony would pick something down to earth, worried he wouldn't know how to eat whatever posh food Tony put in front of him and make a fool of himself. Steve admits he doesn't know how to cook either. Maybe Captain America isn't so perfect. Maybe... Maybe this could work out. Him and Steve

@huntress79 - Of all the people, Tony has probably the most irregular eating rhythm. He has been known to try and cook for himself, but the results are less than stellar. So, one by one, each of the Avengers try to cook for him, until Steve joins him in the workshop with a small stash of pizzas…

@lbibliophile-mcu - It was all Steve Rogers' fault. Him and his insistence on 'team dinners' to 'promote bonding' and 'improve cohesion'. Not that Tony necessarily objects to the dinners - pending his schedule - but Steve seems to have this odd conviction that having home-cooked food is a necessary part of the ritual, and none of them can change his mind. Natasha tried logic. Clint tried begging. Bruce, he's pretty sure, is sneaking in pre-made food and just cooking the final steps. Thor thinks it's a great idea... but is always for some reason back on Asgard on his nights. But Tony is a genius, so he decides on a different approach. He grumbles a little bit, but otherwise doesn't complain when it's his night to cook. He cooks... and watches as each of the Avengers gives up on choking down the barely-edible meal. The next time he is rostered, the scene repeats. And the next. And the next. By the sixth time he is due to be cooking dinner, Steve comes up to him and politely - but pointedly - suggests that maybe they just order pizza. Tony thinks of the several meals worth of tasty leftovers hidden in the penthouse fridge, and graciously acquiesces.

I hope Thistle cheer you up - by @darthbloodorange

@rebelmeg - it was the pun war to end all pun wars. and it was probably going to end all of them. clint was fine, he loved puns almost as much as he loved pizza. steve hated puns so much he had taken up swearing. tony took sadistic glee in saving his worst puns for when steve was around. nat was famous for using the most clever of puns at unexpected moments. bucky could deadpan a pun so seriously it always took them by surprise. thor was terrible at it, still grasping the nuances of american english, but he sure tried hard. bruce tolerated it all and made half-hearted attempts at participation, though chuckling at his own puns was usually funnier than the puns. sam loved making puns, but hated it when other people did. it started creeping into other areas of their life, onto social media, in interviews, and at one point hawkeye was trending for awhile after he screamed out "THISTLE CHEER YOU UP!" whilst battling some kind of plant monster. tony helped, because he retweeted with the comment, "ooh, talk dirt to me."

@ralsbecket - So what if Tony had gotten laid off? So what if Tony had a mountain of bills sitting on his dining table? The only thing that mattered to him in that moment was his baby girl Morgan, with her hair falling out of the ponytail and her cute little lisp. She'd come back in from the backyard with a handful of dandelions, saying, "I hope thistle cheer you up, Daddy" so sweetly that for just a moment, everything was okay again.

@psychiccatpanda - [IronHawk] Tony's been working on the reams of paperwork that he's put off for SI. He's still not sure why it all needs to be done before the end of the quarter, but here he was. Needless to say, Tony Stark has been in a foul mood the whole week. The snide comments he usually keeps to himself have started to slip out and he feels guilty on top of the grouchy, so he decides to barricade himself in his office. He falls asleep on a sheaf of papers and wakes up with the impression of little ridges of paper on his cheek. It takes a moment (he hasn't been asleep that long) for him to fully realize the plant in front of him was real. An aloe plant - with a plate of chocolate muffins, fruit, cheese, and nuts. A post-it on the aloe's pot read, 'I hope thistle cheer you up,' written with a purple felt tip pen., which meant either Clint had left it - or Natasha pretending to be Clint.

@lbibliophile-mcu - Bruce looks at Tony, then back down at the spiny dried flowerhead in his hands.

"I know that you were getting frustrated trying to find these for your new fibre arts project, so I decided to help." His eyes light up as he realises the pun. "Thistle cheer you up!"

Bruce sighs even as he smiles.

"Tony... I appreciate the thought, but as you said, this is a thistle. I need a teasel."

@darthbloodorange - [Stony] - Tony really doesn't like his neighbour Justin. The man was always trying to find ways to report him to the local council. Mailbox too close to driveway? Reported! Weeds in his lawn? Reported! Fence too high? Reported! Didn't clean his pool that weekend? Reported! Lawn too long? Reported! It was ridiculous. But the council won't do anything because taking action against someone who's reported you (even if the reports were false) is apparently considered wrong and vindictive. There was nothing Tony could do but grit his teeth and bear it. One day Tony receives a box in the mail, addressed from his neighbour across the street. The handsome blond guy with the body of a Greek god and a garden that looked like a literal paradise. Steve Rogers. Tony wasn't too shy to admit (to himself) that he had a crush on the man. He eagerly tears into the box to find a small note and a lots of little bags of mulch wrapped in tissue paper. The note reads: "Tony, I've heard you be having some trouble. I hope thistle cheer you up. After the rain comes flowers. Ps. Throw these over Justin's fence." And so he does. Watching Justin battle all the weeds after it rains brings Tony so much joy. Especially when Justine reports him to the council and the council shrugs him off this time. He heads over to Steve with some home cooked food as a thank you gift and they get talking. Turns out Steve is an Environmental activist with a passion for guerrilla gardening. Tony is hooked. Maybe it has more to to with Steve then the revenge on Justin (as sweet as it was)

#tonystarkbingomarkiv #tsbmiv #tsb discord party #titles game #discord party games

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eponymous-rose · 5 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E80 (October 15, 2019)

Tonight’s guests are Matt Mercer and Taliesin Jaffe!

Announcements: The collected edition of the first six-issue run of Vox Machina: Origins is available in trade paperback format at your local comic and retail shops! (The standard, hardcover edition is also now available in both the US and UK Critical Role online shops.) Pub Draw is back on Wednesday at 5 PM Pacific, featuring special guest Mica Burton! Undeadwood, the four-part supernatural miniseries featuring Brian as Game Marshal, premieres this Friday at 7 PM Pacific (VOD available immediately for Twitch subscribers, then up on YouTube on Sundays)!

Episode 80: The Folding Halls

Stats for episode 80: Caduceus received the campaign’s 40th whisper to insight check Allura. Taliesin has received the most whispers this campaign, with 17. Caduceus rolled his 10th Natural 1, disregarded thanks to Warcaster. (There’s a brief digression into the Brave Little Toaster-esque adventures the Golden Snitch must be having.) It’s been 90 days since the Mighty Nein were last in the Heirloom Sphere. Nott called Allura four misnomers (Beau chimed in with one). Matt sighs heavily. “Yeah.”

Allura’s reintroduction was mainly related to the logical development of how Yussa’s circumstances would’ve evolved, and Matt figured it would be fun to have the connection to the Arcana Pansophical... and bringing Allura in just followed naturally, of course. Of course. (Also because it was fun.)

“The minute the description kicked in, it was definitely some candy. Okay, this is nice, this is everything I needed right now.” Taliesin points out that Caduceus just loves meeting new people anyway, especially if they seem chill. He’s hoping this might be something that mellows the group a little.

Taliesin’s expression during the insight check on Allura? “I was entirely fucking with everyone at the table. I was just trying to make some weird faces to try to mess with Travis.”

Matt found it “pretty strange” to bring Allura back, particularly since 20 years have passed. “It was wild to step into her again, especially with an entirely new surrounding.” It was also a bit harder than he expected given the players’ particularly rambunctious reactions. But in the end it was like putting on a favorite coat and finding it still fit.

Taliesin: “Caduceus is like my version of Grog at this point. I can get away with a lot of things I couldn’t get away with otherwise.”

Best/worst nicknames the players have come up with for Matt’s cool shit? It’s more the NPC names that get him. Jamedi Cosko, auditors, Purvan (”but I should’ve known better; it’s my fault for not saying it out loud”).

It’s strongly implied that Taliesin may have stabbed Julius Caesar. As you do.

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Raven Queen (sacook03, photo by emi_d_123)!

Caduceus genuinely hasn’t thought about how the Happy Fun Ball is completely artificial and hence might be outside the purview of the Wildmother. “I don’t think he understands what the Ball is enough to be really disturbed by it yet.” As far as he knows, they just got teleported to a forest somewhere. The “M.C. Escher nightmare in front of us” might be enough to clue him in next episode. Caduceus typically gets his reactions from everyone else, depending on whether he thinks they might be on-base or off-base.

Brian: “You don’t have to say it so much sexier than I did!” Matt: “Of course I do!”

Caduceus feels pretty justified in all his previous assertions that the Nein should be more honest now that it’s been confirmed that the Bright Queen is spying on them. “Let’s just put everything on the table. Put stuff out there, see what happens. It sounds good in theory, I’m well aware.” Matt wasn’t expecting the reveal of the spying to happen as soon as it did.

Taliesin: “You gotta save your mistruths for the moments when it’s going to help make somebody a better person.”

Matt mentioned on a previous Talks that the Heirloom Sphere was just supposed to be a fun one-off adventure, and he wasn’t expecting the group to hold onto it and then hand it off to a more powerful mage. He realized that Yussa would immediately have been interested in it, and as time went on, he thought about what would have developed, and realized Yussa would’ve been a bit too curious and arrogant not to try wandering in. “A lot of it was just rationalizing those possibilities, and then tying in the elements of the Laughing Hand.” Matt noticed that Laura brought it up as a possibility in an earlier episode after a subtle hint.

Caduceus is hoping that this is “finally going to be the moment where everyone starts working together the way they do in his head”, which is part of why he keeps checking in on the others right now. He’s aware that there are a lot of temptations in this place.

Allura saw some similar elements between the M9 and VM (mainly that they were so quick to offer up information about themselves to help out). She’s honestly mostly fine with guiding them because it means she doesn’t have to go in the Happy Fun Ball.

Caduceus basically considers all interactions with flora and fauna a success. “Never hurts to be polite. But, honestly, it’s not about cooperation, it’s just about being polite and respectful of your environment. If the local flora and fauna are being irritable, it honestly probably has very little to do with him.”

“The frog hurt. I will admit, the frog hurt.”

Fave piece of lore Matt’s gotten to drop? “The recent episode was really fun to help Beau connect the dots between the Laughing Hand and the Halls.” He’s also really enjoyed giving information about some of the more “vague inconsistencies” with the Angel of Irons. Also anything with the Kryn Dynasty and the Luxon; he likes getting to move out of the usual lore of D&D to surprise the players.

Fan Art of the Week: Essek, Frumpkin, Caleb, and the dodecahedron (by bumblefly02)!

Caduceus sees himself as a bit of a spiritual guide to Fjord. “He’s looking for moments to have some conversation and reward some behavior.” Right now, he wants to talk to Fjord about how this is an ongoing process, not an immediate “cure”. Taliesin and Travis didn’t talk about this development ahead of time.

Matt notes that the group had a lot of options to develop closer relationships with allies, but when they said they were stopping by to see Yussa, he knew they might be “going the Allura path”, and he was secretly excited that’s the way it went.

Taliesin: “We are the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of Exandria. We’re just hoping that we’re nobody’s nemesis at this point.”

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

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trashogram · 4 years ago

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Devotee II.

Ryuk/Misa

Warnings: Emotional/Psychological Manipulation, Abusive Relationships, Dubious Consent to Interspecies Relations, Painful Sex, and Sociopath Light Yagami

Part One | Part Three

When he fully processed Light’s proposition, Ryuk had cackled madly. His crowing built up like oncoming thunder, and the chains he wore rattled and clinked with the intensity. He laughed so hard that he had to hold onto his sides, long arms wrapping around his emaciated stomach as if it truly strained him.

Misa had stood behind the arrogant man, looking pale as a ghost. Her eyes were wide as the moon and she was uncharacteristically silent during their exchange, but it wasn’t hard to see why with the whole picture.

“You’ve finally lost it, Light-o.” Ryuk guffawed, feet finally back on the ground after he’d risen out of astonishment.

Light was unphased. “It’s not a joke.”

The laughter finally stopped, and Ryuk stood there with mounting confusion.

“... Why…?” He was truly dumbfounded, brain short-circuiting over how this could possibly be happening.

“You can’t trade her for the eyes.” The god of death chided Light. “No way would - ”

“ - Would offering Misa be enough to gain Shinigami eyes?” Light interrupted. “That’s fine. I figured as much.”

“That’s not what I want.” Light said, lips quirking. “I don’t want anything from you.”

He reached behind himself and pulled Misa forward by the wrist, holding her out for the shinigami to take, as if Misa was just another apple.

Ryuk reared back, head swiveling so fast that were he not already impervious to death, he would’ve broken his neck. Misa looked up at him with her hands clasped together in prayer.

“Ryuk.” She addressed him, voice hoarse. “Please, please do this with me. It’s all I want.”

He’d grown so accustomed to these particular humans, it wasn’t far-fetched to think he’d seen everything they had to offer. Misa’s devotion to Light Yagami went to great lengths, so far that she’d been willing to give her life for his ‘cause’... But this was crossing a different line entirely.

Ryuk’s bulbous eyes bore into the second Kira. He wouldn’t lie to himself. Misa may have been a human, and he a Shinigami, but Ryuk found the young woman plenty attractive. It didn’t matter much, knowing how crazy she was for Light, and how Misa wouldn’t have considered this in the first place. This kind of thing had likely never crossed her mind, nevertheless she was currently begging for Ryuk to fuck her.

She’d rather die first, wouldn’t she?

Or maybe she would die if she didn’t do this. Misa did look like a hostage at the moment, and Light was keeping her there with a harsh grip.

“Please?” Misa’s voice thickened with emotion, misery.

Ryuk was a little sad at the thought of Misa being disposed of so soon. And there was no rule against this, so if he did ‘help’ her here, it wouldn’t be enough to kill him.

There was another long silence, before Ryuk acquiesced by nodding.

“Alright.”

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

“You have to pretend it’s me.” Light had Misa by the shoulders, the caricature of a life coach trying to pep up a client. “That’s the only way this is going to work.”

His natural nonchalance so understated the demand that he had made of her, which he was well aware of. If this parasite of a woman weren’t so delusional, she’d already have left him and never looked back. Of course, she wouldn’t get very far considering he would just kill her, but still.

No sane person would possibly go through with this.

Light had adapted to Ryuk’s presence quickly, and regarded him with the same fondness one might bestow a stray cat. At his best, Ryuk was a not-quite-captive audience to Light’s triumphs, completely aware of how far Light had gone to secure his place as god.

That didn’t erase the fact that Ryuk was inhuman.

He was hideous. 7 feet tall while hunching, with grotesque blue-gray skin marred by stitches and deep grooves in his eccentric clothing. Ryuk was the stuff of nightmares, watching everyone with unblinking yellow eyes and a permanent grin on his ghastly face.

To Light, the shinigami barely resembled a man and looked more like an abomination trying to pretend it was human.

So, Light almost felt sorry for goading the little blonde gnat he called a girlfriend into fucking said abomination.

There wasn’t any reason for Misa to do this, truth be told. He’d planted the seed in her head that this was some nebulous albeit highly necessary test to prove her worth. If she had time to think it over, Misa would’ve realized how little sense this “test” made.

But for his own intrigue, and out of more than a little resentment, Misa’s strings were plucked expertly. She was already so needy, wanting affirmations of his love if ever he could spare them.

Light squeezed her shoulders and held her close. He faked actual care with all the grace of a trained actor.

“I know, I know.” He hushed. “It’s scary. It must seem impossible to you. It would seem that way to anyone, I’m sure.”

Why put her through it, then? Ryuk thought wryly. Aren’t you supposed to protect people you love?

Ryuk waited on the edge of the couple’s bed meanwhile, observing their silhouettes while listening to them whispering in the doorway. He felt confident that Misa herself was aware, on some level, that everything Light said was bullshit, but also knew that that didn’t matter.

Misa Amane wasn’t stupid - she was spontaneous and flighty, posing an issue more because she didn’t fit into Light’s rigid worldview then because of a lack of a brain. Nevertheless, her heart typically outbid her head when it came to decision making; and she was perpetually a prisoner to the irrational fantasy that Light genuinely cared for her.

“But I know you can do this for me, Misa.” Light said tenderly. “You’re so brave. The only one that’s worthy enough to be Kira’s wife.”

Ryuk wouldn’t have believed it had he not been Light’s shadow for this long, but that faux kindness worked. It took longer than Light would have probably liked for Misa’s shaking to have lessened somewhat. Her heavy breathing tampered down while her boyfriend held her close and rested his head atop hers, arms wrapped around her tightly like she was precious.

Light gently detached her from him again after a small eternity, putting a hand under her chin to ensure they made eye contact. Misa sniffled, nodding slowly.

—-----

The door opened with a creak, with Light and Misa filing in, the latter of whom looking like she was about to be executed.

When Misa turned on her heels to face Ryuk, she was unaware of the smug look on Yagami’s handsome face. Ryuk didn’t comment, averse to the unprecedented disgust that settled in his gut at Light’s callousness. He’d never felt disdain for Light’s actions before, though he’d gone beyond what Ryuk believed to be the limit of atrocities for a single human.

Instead, Ryuk’s attention focused on Misa as the girl crept forward, inch by literal inch. She was standing six-feet away from him before he reached out and carefully tugged her the rest of the way by her waist, making her squeak. He let go as he saw the clear trepidation in her brown eyes from this close.

The woman looked lost standing there, until Light cleared his throat expectantly.

Ryuk’s brow lifted. “You’re gonna be in here, too?”

Light shrugged, taking a seat parallel to the bed. The bastard was actually failing at containing the smirk on his face over this.

“Freak.” Ryuk chortled uncomfortably.

Misa inhaled and exhaled a few times, shoulders rising and falling, before masking her fear with determination. Her counterpart cocked his head, watching her curiously.

Without warning, Misa’s eyes shut tight and Ryuk balked when she pitched forward. The woman was so short that she needed to apply her weight on her toes as she made to kiss him. She couldn’t make it all the way, with Ryuk’s mouth being as big as it was, but she pecked his lower lip before drawing back.

He watched her return upright, noting the scrunch of her nose. Oddly, it wasn’t a look of disgust on her face as much as it was one of perplexity.

“You’re really cold.” Misa determined out loud.

“Oh, uh yeah...” Ryuk replied, flinching at the sound of his own voice. “Sorry, about that. Not much I can do…”

The silence that followed was awkward, making Ryuk twitch, and he scoured his brain for a way to end it all.

His taloned hands came to rest on Misa’s hips, allowing him the opportunity to savor the heat that had seeped from her body into her clothes. Even with the fabric of her shorts in the way, he was able to feel the shape of her, and her supple flesh.

Misa grabbed Ryuk’s claws, steadying herself in his grip and wincing at the fact that the shinigami’s hands were just as cold as his lip. Her hands quickly slid from his, up to grasp the leather covering his lean arms.

Her touch started a flurry of feelings inside his abdomen. He was uncomfortable, but the feeling was slowly fading away in favor of excitement.

It had been a while since Misa’s touch had forced him to dematerialize out of shyness. He still felt strangely when she made contact with him, but it was less of a churning in his stomach and more of a fluttering. Ryuk had begun anticipating her affectionate gestures over time, to where he was bummed out if a day passed and he’d been neglected.

Never had his desire for physical contact with her amounted to a shared embrace or groping, however. He wasn’t as delusional as Misa, no matter how badly he wanted something.

“Don’t you think she’s overdressed, Ryuk?” Light asked across from them.

Misa dug her nails into Ryuk’s sleeves while his hands rose to the hem of her tank top and he started to lift it up. He was already pulling the flimsy piece of clothing over her shoulders before Misa remembered to lift her arms up.

When it was off and thrown to the side, the girl immediately covered her chest.

Ryuk chuckled, dragging his knuckles against her side, feeling her ribs beneath layers of skin and muscle. For her part, Misa did an excellent job of not recoiling violently as she so obviously wanted to.

Her arms were akimbo for a moment. Then, Misa placed her much smaller hand over his, holding on to stymy any potential brusqueness on his part.

He didn’t apply any pressure or make a grab for her. Ryuk skimmed, content with just being able to touch her for the time being. His hand traveled past her shoulder up to her neck, and soon tangled in her hair. The palm of his hand was large enough to cover the back of her head in full.

Ryuk’s shoulders straightened when Misa warily leaned into his touch, letting him cradle her head and thread her yellow locks between his spindly fingers in earnest. He didn’t say anything when Misa closed her eyes, just marvelled at how silky her hair was and how it compared to her skin.

Humans were squishy beings, but Misa in particular was soft and smooth just about everywhere.

Ryuk hadn’t given it too much thought before then, but he liked the consistency. Touching her was nice, even more so when Misa gave him access to her willingly - well, semi-willingly.

Their audience of one sighed on the sidelines, unwilling to pretend to be a wallflower.

Light rested his head on one hand, watching the two, who, to Light’s chagrin, weren’t exactly falling in line. He knew that Misa was a magnet for shinigami, but seeing Ryuk be so gentle with her upset Light’s stomach. The man supposed that it was his own fault, hoping that Ryuk might lose the few brain cells he had and break Misa as soon as he got to her.

Then again, that reluctance only solidified proof that Ryuk was able to be manipulated where Misa was concerned.

“You do know what sex is, right Ryuk?” Light spoke up again, impatient. “Or do we need to give you the talk?”

Ryuk scoffed, mood souring somewhat.

“You don’t have to be so nosy, ya know?” He snapped, pushing aside the irony of his own words.

Misa looked toward Light each time he spoke, and Ryuk found that to be a contributing factor to his own ire. He felt like complaining over her lack of enthusiasm as well… maybe that was overdoing it in terms of ignoring irony, though.

The shinigami eyed the shorts around her waist and the bra on her chest. Given his purpose in life, Ryuk possessed a wealth of patience compared to your average human, but considered that he might be on a time limit.

The tentative exploration ended as soon as it began, and without another word Ryuk yanked at her shorts with his free hand.

“Hey!” Misa went rigid with alarm. The shinigami silenced her by placing his mouth over hers, eagerly pulling her in until she was crushed against his bony chest.

The model began to thrash, unprepared for Ryuk’s tongue to sweep over her lips and worm its way down her throat. She took in a mouthful of him, gagging on the unbelievably long appendage. He was too rough, too clumsy, and literally tore off her brazier in his insistence to swallow her whole.

At the feeling of sharp teeth pressed against her, Misa felt fear consume her. It would be very easy for Ryuk to either choke her this way, or for his fangs to bite off her tongue and make her bleed out.

“You’re going to suffocate her, Ryuk.” Light’s voice put a pause on things.

Ryuk halted, and Misa pulled away until she was free to gasp for air. Ryuk was dismayed at first, regarding Light as a pest in a bizarre switch of roles. Yet, when he saw Misa’s skin beginning to return to a normal shade, from the bluish cast it had taken on, Ryuk felt sheepish.

“Oops.”

“It’s fine.” Light was perched on an armchair, legs crossed as he maintained the role of a passive observer. “Just keep it in mind that humans have to breathe from now on.”

Misa twisted in Ryuk’s grasp as much as she could, incredulous. “Light! Can we st -”

“AH!” She shrieked.

Ryuk didn’t wait for more information before he was at her again. She was in shock as Ryuk took one of her breasts in his mouth and swirled his tongue over her nipple. He hummed against her malleable flesh, delighting in how Misa began struggling again while simultaneously mewling.

Ryuk hadn’t spent a lot of time watching humans engaging in sexual activity -- if he saw it, it was usually by accident and normally just tickled his funny bone.

Her hands had moved from his arms to his shoulders, and now she was digging her manicured nails into the back of his neck, either to keep stable or to throw him off.

If her intention was to ward him away, Misa was failing spectacularly. The feeling of being clawed wracked Ryuk’s body with tremors, encouraging him to return the favor by marking her back with his talons.

He’d seen humans going at it before, in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of places, but was surprised by how much he was enjoying it.

Still suckling, the death god finally managed to take off her shorts with minimal damage. Misa was completely bare by the time Ryuk let go of one breast to suck greedily at the other, his shark-like teeth grazing her areola.

Misa was jarred forward, feeling like an unwitting passenger on the world’s worst rollercoaster while being pulled, prodded and wrenched to the shinigami’s liking. His talons were scraping over every bit of skin that he could reach, from her upper back down to her ass, which he kneaded with bruising enthusiasm.

Ryuk let go, drool pouring down his chin as he gave her a hooded stare.

“Yum.” He said huskily.

Misa flushed as a sharp, gleaming grin stretched the corners of Ryuk’s mouth. His typical laugh was muffled while he moved in for another slobbery kiss. With the return of his overly-long tongue, Misa clamped down on it with her blunt teeth in an effort to stop the assault. She jumped when all it did was change Ryuk’s sniggering into a groan, provoking a twinge of heat in her lower belly.

The second Kira whimpered, losing her will to continue fighting. In the background, Kira himself smirked as her conviction visibly dwindled.

#ryuk #misa amane #death note #part 2 #of 3 #light yagami

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all-might-blog · 4 years ago

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Back in kindergarten

Summary:

Things don't go as planned and soon the students of Class 1A are back in kindergarden... and guess who are the people who have to take care of them...?!

Notes:

This is gonna be fun to write! Technically, this fanfic was inspired by a funny fanart I came across today. Technically, all the students are (drumroll please!) kindergardeners! The teachers (in the fanart, it's only All Might and Eraserhead, but here I am also gonna add in Present Mic) are wearing pink aprons. Oh, and it's made in the form of a comic strip. In the first panel, Eraserhead is holding an apple and saying: "You have five apples and your friend asks for three apples. How many do you have left?" In the second panel, it shows All Might, Todoroki and Izuku in the background (All Might is holding a tray of baked goods and the other two are looking up at them) and Bakugou is sitting at a table. He says "Five.". Guess why? XD In the next panel, we see Eraserhead looking very annoyed. He sighs and says "... You have five apples and your friend asks BY FORCE for three apples. How many do you have left now?" The next panel is by far the funniest. Why? "Fives apple and a corpse." Bakugou says. In the background, the other three are looking very surprised and shocked to hear this. So... I am gonna write something including this scene, but I am also gonna add in other bits with the rest of the students :D Enjoyyyyy!

This is the picture:

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

“This is bad.” Eraserhead said, looking at his class. Or what had been his class. The group of laughing, screaming kindergarteners he had had to tie up with his scarf were not his students. Or at least, they had been…? It was all confusing.

“The effects should wear off in an hour or so, according to the villain…” All Might said next to him, looking down at the kids with a thoughtful expression.

“According to the villain.” Eraserhead repeated. “We don’t actually know if what he told us was true. At least none of us were affected.”

“What should we do?” Mic asked.

“Well… until the effects wear off…” All Might said.

“Wait… are we gonna be nannies for them or something?”

“I am afraid that that’s what’s going to happen.” Eraserhead said, already dreading what was to come.

“Aw, come on, you guys! I am sure it won’t be that hard.” All Might said, looking down at the kids. Mic and Eraserhead exchanged doubtful glances.

“Whatever you say. What should we do? We have to find a way to entertain the lot of them.” Mic said.

10:09 pm

"You have five apples and your friend asks for three apples. How many do you have left?" Eraserhead held up the red apple for Bakugou to see. He was dressed in his usual clothes- with a pink apron over it, since they had just been doing a short baking session. He, Bakugou, Iida, Kouda, Jirou and Ashido were seated at a small table that the teachers had set up. All Might was holding a pan lined with freshly baked muffins and a smile on his face, with Kaminari, Izuku, Todoroki, Satou, Kirishima, Hagakure, Asui and Ojiro crowded at his feet, asking for muffins in their squeaky voices. Mic was entertaining the rest of the class in the other room by tuning his voice and singing.

“Five.” Bakugou said. Eraserhead sighed.

“You have five apples and your friend asks by force for three apples. How many apples do you have left now?”

“Five apples and a corpse.” Bakugou said with a grin on his face. There was a long silence in which the kids at the table stared at their classmate with horrified faces. The others had also fallen quiet, staring at Bakugou with similar expressions.

“What?” Bakugou said, crossing his arms. “Everyone knows that no one should take stuff from me.”

10:18 pm

“Carry me too!” Sero said, jumping up and down excitedly. All Might stood in his flesh form, more than half of the kids sitting on his shoulders, head and arms.

“Sero, my boy, I don’t think I will be able to,” All Might said. Not because they were too heavy, but because it was hard not to accidentally drop them with how much they were squirming.

“Pleaseeeeeee?” Uraraka begged, pulling at his pant’s legs.

“I can’t-”

“ PLEASEEEEEEEEEE?! ” the two children begged as one. All Might sighed.

“All Right. Denki, Kirishima, would you be kind and let your class-”

“NO!” the two boys shouted in his ears. All Might let out a long suffering sigh.

“I shouldn’t have fed you guys muffins…”

10:26 pm

“Aizawa?!” Mic shouted.

“I am teaching the kids the difference between villains and superheroes right now, Mic. I’m busy.”

“Yeah, but Mineta might get torn apart by the girls.”

“WHAT?!”

“He tried to look under Momo’s skirt. I told him not to- NO! MOMO, I TOLD YOU NOT TO THROW KNIVES! PUT. THEM. DOWN !!!”

10:37 pm

“I take back what I said about this being easy,” All Might said, collapsing down on a chair.

“See?”

“Since when could little children get so… hyper after feeding them a tiny muffin?”

“That is a mystery unknown to us adults.” Mic patted his shoulders before going back to tying Momo, Denki and Mina with a piece of Eraserhead’s scarf.

“What…?”

“Mineta did it again. I had to do something , right?”

10:38 pm

“No, Bakugou, just because they have cool quirks, it does not mean they are heroes.” Eraserhead said.

“So are you a villain?” Shouji asked.

“Wha- what makes you think that?”

“See, you are dressed in black.” Shouji said.

“And you are grumpy.”

“And boring. Boring too!”

“And not a little bit of shine!” Aoyama added, flicking a strand of hair from his head.

Eraserhead exhaled a shaky breath, trying very hard not to slap them into tomorrow.

Patience, he thought, they are just kids.

“And this class is boring. Can we play or do something else?” Fumikage said.

“All right then.” Eraserhead towered over them.

“Yep, he definitely reminds me of a villain,” Hagakure said as they all shrunk back.

“Mr. Eraserhead?” Midoriya squeaked.

“Let’s play a game. Let’s see who can stay quiet for the longest time. Winner gets a muffin. Got it?”

“YES!” they all shouted.

10:46 pm

“How the hell did you manage to keep them all quiet?” All Might whispered with awe, looking around at the peaceful kids that had been absolutely hyper not long ago.

“I bribed them. And we have ten minutes to go before the hour finishes.” Eraserhead replied.

“Did any of you get any pictures of them?” Mic asked.

“I might have snapped just a few…” All Might admitted.

“Same.” Mic held up his phone and showed them a pretty cute picture of Todoroki, Tsuyu, Mezou, Momo, Midoriya and Bakugou all sitting on All Might’s lap when the ex-hero had been in his flesh form. He then showed them a picture of Jirou plucking at the strings of a guitar she had found.

“Yeah, you have to admit they are kinda cute when they are not… is it right to call them little monsters?” All Might asked with a nervous smile (this got him furious glares from Kirishima and Bakugou, the latter giving him a kick in the shins).

The door opened and Eri came in, followed by Mirio.

“Well, what happened here?” Mirio asked, looking around at the quiet kids. They all looked up at him with curiosity, but not one of them opened their mouths to say a thing.

“It’s… a long story.” Mic said.

“Yeah… I can see that.” Mirio said.

“Wait, is that Mister Deku?” Eri pointed at Midoriya, who was drawing a scribbly All Might on a paper with a few crayons, lying on his stomach and tongue sticking out with concentration.

“Like Mic said, long story.” All Might said, looking at the picture and considering asking Midoriya if he could keep it or to just take it with the account that his successor wouldn’t get mad.

“Then… I won’t ask.” Eri said.

10:53 pm

“Wow, none of them have said a word.” Mic mused. “Looks like we will have to bake a new batch of muffins.” All Might said.

“That depends on if any of them will actually make a sound.” Eraserhead said, crossing his arms.

“But… what if one of them does and he or she is the one getting left out?” Mic asked.

“Logical rouse.” was Eraserhead’s only reply.

“Ah…”

10:57 pm

“Okay, the lot of you were really quiet.” Eraserhead said, standing up. They all looked at him, the question in their big eyes. “Yeah, you can speak now.”

A billion questions related to the promised muffins were suddenly shot at him. He silenced them with a single look.

“You will all get your promised prizes, but first we are gonna have to bake them.” he said.

“Wha-?” Ojiro suddenly clamped his hands over his mouth, tail curling around his legs. He was growing green.

“He’s gonna pu-”

Ojiro suddenly let out all his lunch on the carpeted ground.

“-ke.” Mic finished. Ojiro coughed.

“I don’t feel so good.” he mumbled. Then he suddenly began to change, growing larger and different until he was back to being his old self.

“Wait- they are all gonna go through the same!” All Might cried, jumping to his feet. “Kids, follow me! And be quick about it!” he ran to the toilets, the rest of the class trotting after him. Many of them already looked sick as they clamped their small hands over their mouths. One by one, their students returned from the toilets, looking tired, sick and worn out.

“I feel like I could sleep for days on end,” Ashido said, collapsing on the couch with a groan. “What the hell…?”

“I feel you, sempai.” Sero said, collapsing next to her with a sigh. Soon their class was back to normal. All Might returned with a mop and a bucket and Midoriya and Ojiro (who felt guilty about it) helped him scrub Ojiro’s lunch from the floor, noses scrunched at the smell.

“That was a nightmare. I was stuck as a five year old…” Kirishima said.

“The nightmare was for us ,” Mic said, arms crossed, “you kids must have worn your parents out as children.”

“Do we still get the muffins you promised?” Satou asked.

Eraserhead sighed. “A promise is a promise, isn’t it?"

#inspired by fanart #All Students in Class 1A #Present Mic #All Might #Eraserhead #Eri and Mirio make a brief appearance #Kids are kindergartners #Kids are sort of scary (specially Bakugou...!)#this will be EPICO #parental All Might #Parental Eraserhead #Parental Present Mic #Not like they are actually parents #Just like #They have to take care of the entire class #This is not going to go the way you think it will...#LOL #Enjoy!

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queerfables · 4 years ago

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Supernatural Post-Mortem (1x12 - 1x15)

P, N and I discuss these episodes after the fact, because I didn’t make notes while we watched them. I don’t think I actually have any major warnings for our conversation about these episodes.

1x12 - Faith

Notes to self, as a reminder of what it was about: “Dean faith healed, reapers”

When I read these out to P & N, they both start making excited sounds and I join in because yeah, we all really loved this episode!!

N: This is when Dean nearly died saving kids, too. P&I: Is it? N: Yeah, at the beginning, when he got electrocuted! Another point for Dean is good with kids! P: A good boy!!

This is the episode where Dean’s life is saved when it’s traded for the life of the gay man. Me: So, like, Dean was given his heart! P&N: Ohhhhhhhhh. N: Aw, Dean has a queer heart. Me: I mean, we knew that already. N: Yes, but it’s surprisingly literal and I love it.

N says, “I think every time Dean tries to problem solve in an episode, there’s probably a simpler solution.” When he was in the tent trying to stop the faith healing from happening, he yells, fire, but he could have like ACTUALLY started a fire, which would have stopped the lady from hanging around and trying to continue killing the guy. Or he could have faked a heart attack, which might have made people doubt the whole faith healing thing.

P&N disagree with me on this, but I personally think the subtext of the villain in this episode trying to kill Dean when she realises he’s trying to stop her is that it’s because he’s queer. She doesn’t try to kill Sam, even when he’s trying to stop her just as much - she locks him in a basement and tries to reason with him about why his brother is an abomination. (Ofc I do tend to think Sam is queer too, but maybe she hasn’t figured that out).

I generally loved the lady who had a brain tumour in this episode. It was really powerful to set her up as, like, complicating the narrative of “We have to stop these healings from happening”. It’s not wrong but she kind of shows why it’s not that simple, there’s always a cost even to doing the right thing. She also feels like one of the first ladies Dean actually had a real connection with, their - maybe romance? maybe friendship? whatever it was - really worked for me.

N says they loved how the reaper was super keen to kill the lady who’d been controlling him. “I mean, I would be too. I don’t wanna go around murdering queer people!” P agrees. “Right? I love queer people.” I would definitely rather murder homophobes instead.

1x13 - Route 666

Notes to self: “Cassie, Racist Truck”

P: Oh! I loved Cassie! N & I agree. Cassie was great.

I actually did start making notes from this episode while we watched but I never finished them. Here’s what I had: --Dean says he was called by a friend who really wouldn't have called if it wasn't urgent. Me: "That sounds like an ex" --It's Cassie! I'm excited to meet her! --P, N & I agree Cassie is a babe and we're excited to see how Dean fucked this up

N says, “It might have been me reading too much into it but I actually thought this episode was a pretty solid commentary on race.”

N: I really thought that, despite the entirety of supernatural handling race about as well as a greased football, this episode had a solid multiple-layer analogy for the way racism, historically and currently, expresses itself across communities and generations. the analogy goes as far as making it clear that the instigating incident that prompts the angry, racist resurgence is done by a white dude, but that he is shielded from the initial backlash and consequences while the revived racism starts out targeting tangentially-related black people instead--something that definitely happens irl. It also makes it clear that a) racism is something you have to actively examine and purge, sometimes multiple times, b) it is not over even when the racists are dead and its spectre lurks amongst our communities and, most importantly, c) respectability politics are junk and sometimes you have to help cover up a racist’s murder

P says that they love that the white dude was a cop but, like, actually a good cop. Again, because of the covering up racist murder.

I’d like to emphasise that I loved the way that Dean and Cassie’s relationship was portrayed. It turned out it was actually not entirely Dean’s fault that this fell apart. I mean, I personally think he should have lied to her until he was able to come back and then told her the truth, so she wouldn’t think he was coming up with a bizarro lie to leave her, but also like... He was trying to be honest, he wanted to really connect with her, and I have a lot of feelings about that.

I’m sad that Dean and Cassie aren’t going to work out in the long run but I understand why. Would have been cool to see her again, though.

I just want you all to know that through a very, VERY meandering conversation, we now have N and P arguing over whether octopi or alligators have the perfect body. N: Sack! Tentacles! Beak! P: SCALES AND TEETH. N: I’m just saying that the number of problems you can cause as an alligator is kind of limited. All you can do is bite things. P: That’s all you need!!!! We’ve declared the conversation a draw for now but they’ve promised (threat) to come back to it later

Also N is now looking at Giant Squid fanfic and keeps announcing things like “There’s a whole tag for ‘Dubious Consenticles’??” and “SQUIDITCH”

None of this is related to Supernatural but it IS very funny.

1x14 - Nightmare

Notes to self: “Sam’s visions, telekinetic abuse victim gets revenge”

N says, “This was just fucking intense, if I remember” and P says, “Yeah, it was scary.”

N says they saw the guy’s death coming as soon as it was revealed it was him committing the murders. Basically, Sam and Dean couldn’t have trusted a rehabilitation arc without being directly involved and the nature of the show is that they couldn’t have been directly involved.

We understand why the episode played out the way it did but we wish it handled it differently. We were all 1000% on the telekinetic victim’s side and fully supported him murdering his abusers. I remember when we were watching it, being, like, horrified by the things that happened to his dad and his uncle and then when we found out the truth about how they were abusing him we were like “Oh, yeah, warranted.” We do think the mother was probably abused too and that’s why she didn’t step in to stop anything. Still understandable that he can’t forgive her, though.

My main thing I’d like to say about this one is that I love Sam connecting with the other people who’ve been affected by the yellow-eyed demon (in later episodes too) I would really, really love more of that tbh, I want him to form a network. I love how much he understands and relates to this kid, and how hard he tries to save him.

I also love the part where seeing a vision of Dean in danger allows him to use telekinesis too. We’re in the middle of s2 now and we haven’t seen that again and it’s a shame!!! I want more of that!!!!

P says xer mad the show dropped Sam’s telekinesis stuff too. “In a later episode, Sam says he gets visions but other people get other things, and it’s like, ‘No! Buddy! You have more than that!’” N says it would be cool if they set it up so that Sam’s powers, in addition to getting visions about the other people like him, included being able to use their same powers when he’s near them. Like the episode later on where a guy can use mind control?? Instead of just being immune, wouldn’t it have been rad if Sam could do that too?? KILLER.

1x15 - The Benders

Notes to self: “THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. Sam in a cage.”

P: OH YEAH, this was the one that wasn’t even like -- N: It was just people. P: Yeah, it was just dudes being dudes.

I very much enjoyed this episode. N agrees. I think P is distracted typing something on xer own computer. N says, “It wasn’t as fast paced as some of the other ones but it was fun.”

N: I have thoughts about the way they handled the cop killing the head of the family. I feel like he was already cartoonishly evil--to make him openly sneer in the cop’s face about her dead brother and hunting ppl as an in-the-moment justification for killing him seems... almost cowardly? he was an irredeemable human-hunter who raised an entire family to hunt ppl in the woods. that’s enough justification! i think viewers should get that. you don’t need to make him have a rude snarky one-liner to justify his death. commit to ‘some humans are Bad’ properly! P: I have thoughts about the little girl. She was weird and creepy and I didn’t like it. I think my major issue with her was that she was a child, who was used as a twist to be the worst one of the family, which is so overdone. We get it, kids are creepy. And also, given that the rest of her family - her dad+uncles/brothers(??) and her grandpa/dad(??) - were murderers, implied cannibals, and general all around awful people, she’s more likely than not a victim of abuse. So I think portraying her as the worst of them all is callous at best, highly problematic at the worst. Get her therapy and away from the people that call themselves her family. Anyway, it boils down to that I think it’s overplayed, and I wish she had a happier path than “Oh, she’s so creepy!!!!”

I love N & P’s really interesting and coherent thoughts but I have to be completely honest that 90% of my thoughts about this episode were like “Mmmmmmm, Sam in a cage” and later “Mmmmmm, Dean tied to a chair.” The other 10% was me having emotions about Dean being desperate to find Sam. Don’t let that undercut the extent to which I loved the episode though. I really loved this episode.

#Fable watches SPN

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willel · 5 years ago

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Will and El storylines

This is a straightforward picture of how I view their development.

El’s main antagonist is Brenner. Brenner is the one that has caused the series we call Stranger Things to happen. Due to his cold and endless scientific curiosity, he has forever tainted their world with the Upside Down. There may never be a day where they achieve peace because of him.

Not only did Brenner take El as a newborn, not even allowing Terry to hold or touch her own baby, he stripped her of her name and raised her mostly alone in a cold laboratory.

Although we don’t know the age at which the experiments and testing started, it is all El knew. The most warmth she’s ever had was 1 stuffed animal toy, occasionally getting a story read to her, and getting to draw 1 picture.

After Brenner caused El to open the gate into the Upside Down, El took her fate into her own hands and escaped. She ran as hard as she could and found two safe havens. First Benny, who was killed for trying to help her, and then The Party.

There, she continued to decide her own destiny. She put her foot down when she needed to, refusing to let Lucas and Mike inform their parents. But, she was also on her own mission. She was searching for someone, someone she didn’t even realize was associated with the boys who helped her.

The show doesn’t delve into how she knew Will before she met the boys, but the comic illustrates she caught a glimpse of him on the other side and vice versa.

Now with the pieces all in place, El, in her own way, tries to undo her “wrongs”. She wants to help the boys to find Will. Safely. In the end, she does. At a price. For a while, she can’t be with her friends and Mike anymore. She’s lost her safe haven, but soon finds another in Hopper.

As we know, things with Hopper aren’t all sparkles and rainbows. As time marches on, El grows more and more frustrated and she starts seeing things in Hopper she doesn’t want to see. She sees traits of Brenner and what he did to her. While Hopper is nowhere near as bad as Brenner, it’s easy to see someone who experienced as much trauma as El can see the similarities. So she ditches Hopper to find a new safe haven.

She finds her mother. Alive. But broken. Another piece of her life broken by Brenner that may never be fixed. She can’t fix this one, at least, not right away. Instead, she tries to follow her mother’s wishes, which leads her to her third safe haven. Kali.

Kali is just like her. They were tortured by the same man, both stolen away from their parents. They found a new family to feel safe with. But, there’s a key difference between Kali and El. Kali heart is hard as stone. She’s been hurt one too many times. Her fear and rage fuel her to be on the offence against the people who hurt her instead of the defense. El tries to follow in her footsteps, but she can’t. She doesn’t want to split up families like they did to her and Kali.

It happens again. Brenner returns, but it’s a manifestation of Kali’s powers. El and Kali are so alike, Kali knows El’s pain and can use it against her. It’s always Brenner who is her greatest fear. Her and Kali too.

When she closed the gate, who is it that pushed her over the edge to make one last huge push? Brenner.

It always comes back to one person. Brenner. Even when he’s supposedly dead, he has affected El’s life forever. If he is still alive, I think even the big bad Mind Flayer won’t personally affect El as much as Brenner has. Even when El inevitably has to fight the Mind Flayer, I just can’t see it cutting as deep as Brenner. She can fight the Mind Flayer. It’s just a monster out to destroy her world. Brenner? His pain cuts much deeper, fighting him isn’t as easy.

El’s foe is Brenner.

Will

Will’s antagonist is the Upside Down, and the embodiment of the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer. Of course, he shares this antagonist with literally everyone. The difference between the others and himself is they’re on the outside looking in, and he’s on the inside looking out. If that makes sense.

Will’s story will be a little faster to write. Probably.

Will was once a normal kid with a jacked up family. Despite this, he’s made the best of it. He has good friends. A good brother. And a very supportive caring mom. Good grades. Interesting hobbies. Although things aren’t great with his dad, I think Will was content with the life he once had.

But, everything changed when he ran into the Demogorgon that night. He was kidnapped to an alternate dimension for a week and somehow managed to escape death right up till near the end. He was saved thanks to El’s help.

Will comes back home, but things still aren’t the same no matter how hard he tries. He’s having visions. Nausea. Nightmares. Panic attacks. How many sleepless nights did he have? How many times did he crawl into bed with Jonathan and Joyce or vice versa? He’s 12 going on 13 year old and probably feels like a small child again. Despite all this, for a while, Will is able to gain at least a little normalcy.

As the anniversary of the events comes closer, all that normalcy is washed down the drain. The Upside Down came back for him and overtook him. “I felt it... everywhere. Everywhere...” Imagine how traumatizing that is, being unable to move as you’re overwhelmed with what looks like smoke. Possibly unable to breathe or scream. The torture didn’t end there. Every waking moment he didn’t feel right. Stuff that probably would’ve been enjoyable, like a hot bath, instills fear in him. But it’s not HIS fear, it’s someone elses.

Then he gets thoughts. But not his thoughts, someone elses. Memories. Visions. Feelings. Everything. All belonging to someone else. Feeling it all the time, unable to stop it. It’s worse than invasion of personal space, his person is no longer his own. Something or something else is in his body. The Mind Flayer knows everything about him and uses it against the people he loves. He no longer has control over anything, not even his own voice.

In season 2, slowly but surely, Will loses his fight against the Mind Flayer/The Upside Down. Once again, he is rescued by his mother and his brother through a painful and intense exorcism.

El seals the deal and saves everyone by closing the gate, locking the Mind Flayer out.

The Intersection

The part that interests me on a deeper level is not necessarily how similar El and Will are as people, which they are, but how similar their personal antagonist are.

Brenner and The Upside Down/Mind Flayer have both changed Will and El’s lives in personal irreversible ways. Yes, Brenner is technically everyone’s enemy. So is the Mind Flayer. But who have they done the most damage to? The answer is obvious.

Controlling. Manipulative. Forcing them to do things they don’t want to do. Knowing everything about them and using it as a weapon to cut deeper. Brenner and the Mind Flayer are big contributing factors as to why Will and El are so alike excluding their natural calm and quiet demeanor.

The Future

So what does this mean? Why does it matter? All of this boils down to how the cast are going to take out the two big bads. Brenner, and the Mind Flayer. I don’t think El can do both all alone and she shouldn’t have to. She has friends and family now to support her.

El is weak to Brenner, but with her powers can fight the Mind Flayer.

Will is weak to the Mind Flayer, but Brenner has no hold over Will’s psyche.

I think both these big baddies will need the whole group to help take them down just like the previous seasons, but I also think there’s some importance for the main people affected get the final blow.

El getting to slap or punch Brenner? El getting to throw him against a wall? El getting to tell him off to his face??? I want this to happen for her. I want her to get her chance to take down her big bad, the one person who ruined her life. She deserves her moment. Kali too, I’m not sure how Kali fits into this, but a team up of her and Kali getting a few licks in? That’d be good too.

As for Will, this place has been haunting him for years. It’s stolen years of his life and continues to bother him, his friends, and his family even still. I think Will deserves to have his winning moment as well. He’s not El. I don’t think any power he has will be able to do anything to the Mind Flayer. Not like El can. No, I want Will to be the one that crafts the ultimate plan that takes out the Mind Flayer for good. I want Will to be the brains, and for the others to use his blueprint to win.

I always visualize it as the Mind Flayer and Will on opposite sides of a chessboard. And on Will’s chessboard, El would he his queen piece, the strongest piece on the board. Oof, that’s so cool to me. It really ties into that scene with Joyce and Will at the table for lunch and in response to Joyce’s question, he says, “Sometimes, the bad guys are smart too.”

(note: I do think Will could help El with Brenner, but Brenner feels like more a Mike and Hopper problem for now)

The Powers

Onto the powers thing, my favorite thing to talk about. Over the last year or so, I’ve thrown out all kinds of theories about what powers Will could have and why. I probably have hundreds of posts, some serious, some not. As season 3 grows closer, I think I’ve settled on what they are.

Clairvoyance or the power to feel ones intentions. A general sensitivity to things. A heightened sense of empathy.

Something Upside Down related is headed towards Hawkins again? Will would be the first to feel it.

Something supernaturally bad is happening in Hawkins? Will could point out where on a map or draw it out.

Meets someone who seems sketchy? His gut would be able to accurately confirm or deny any suspicions.

Need to peek into the Upside Down (or possibly other dimensions?), Will can use True Sight.

True sight includes being immune to illusions, so Kali’s power might not work on him.

As you can see, none of these powers are out of this out of this world crazy or bonkers. None of them conflict with El’s powers either. These are all things Will has done before and while being possessed by the Mind Flayer. Season 3 will show us exactly how much is him and how much belongs to the Mind Flayer.

It’s also interesting to note that Joyce displayed a few of these traits too and she has nothing to do with the Mind Flayer. As season 2 has showed us with Terry, the writers are following the Montauk Project blueprint in how powers are acquired. Genetics. Trauma. And drugs.

Whenever I speculate Will’s powers, I never think about it as, “What power can make Will just as powerful as El or stronger?” It can’t work like that. You see, El was an experiment. Day in and day out, the laboratory focused solely on making her power stronger. It’s unnatural. There is probably no other psychic more powerful than El and Kali. They are the equals in that regard, not Will and El.

When I speculate about Will’s powers, I think, “What power could Will have that would fill in gaps El doesn’t so they can be a team?”

In season 2, El’s power revealed a huge gaping hole. She can only see the people she’s searching for or have met/seen before. So when they went to kill Ray, El did not know he had daughters and could not see them. This blindsided the gang and inevitably put a bigger target on their back.

So what power do I think could have helped El cover he bases better? Someone who can help her not just see one person, but maybe everyone in the area she’s looking at.

Think about what Will was doing while the Mind Flayer possessed him. It was kinda similar to El where he could remote view what was going on. But he didn’t need to know all those soldiers to see them dying. He saw the whole area, their whole trip down into the tunnels. The catch is, his vision was tied to what the Mind Flayer was seeing. The only time Will used their connection to see what he wanted to see absent of the Mind Flayer is during the search for Hopper.

So imagine this same concept applied to an El and Will team up. Will can see what El can see. She can go anywhere she wants if she knows the person she’s looking for, but Will, through her, can help see not just the one person, but everyone they’re with and their surroundings instead of a black void. A booster for El’s existing powers.

I imagine Will is a booster. Not particularly strong on his own like any other natural psychic, but with a skill set that boosts the effectiveness of other psychics. The team buffer.

I love the concept. I don’t think I’ve ever written about it here because I’ve been saving it for my fic you see. A fic that will take forever to write, so why not. The one time I’ve alluded to it is my Bathtub Theory.

The Ships

I just want to get this out of the way. Byler shippers? Mileven shippers? I’m not on either of your teams. My blog doesn’t exist to boost your ships. Whatever ship happens doesn’t really matter to me. At all. I’m agnostic. I’m not out to get you, but the posts I make also aren’t meant to be evidence for shipping.

I’m not crafting theories and posting about parallels because I’m trying to make Will and El compete for Mike. Or to make Will the one and only main character. Or to reduce the importance of other characters and story lines. I’m making these posts because I feel like these parallels and similarities are going to mean something for the plot against the bad guys and them as characters.

I make Will and El comparisons to Mike sometimes not even to stress how important Mike is to them, but to show how the characters end up treating them similarly because of their circumstances. I use it as proof both of them have an extraordinary role in the group on purpose. The two oracles. The ones the group will turn to when stuff starts going down.

This willel blog? It’s a sideblog. This is where I put most of my Will and El love. My love for other characters that aren’t the Byers/Hoppers are on my main blog which I don’t really advertise because that’s what what you’re here for. This blog is compartmentalized love for two main characters out of ... however many we have now. 20. I bet many of you didn’t even know my second favorite character under Will is actually my dearest action hero son Lucas Sinclair whose story line I can’t wait to see this season.

The only kid ship I KINDA care about is Luxmax. And that’s ok people. We don’t all need to care or love the same things, you know? That would make a boring uncreative fandom. It’s not about the ships for me. It’s not. It never has been. I made this blog because there were no Will and El blogs at the time, only ships.

Conclusion

I love my potential siblings. I think they have a lot in common and can relate with one another in ways the others can’t. They aren’t the same people. They don’t even have the same beef with the main antagonist of the series. They don’t have the same powers. They don’t have the same life experiences. They don’t have the exact same personality. Although similar, they don’t have the same trauma.

They’re parallels. The definition of parallel is “side by side and having the same distance continuously between them” or “a person or thing that is similar or analogous to another.” Or, analogous, “performing a similar function but having a different evolutionary origin, such as the wings of insects and birds.”

You see that? Side by side. Similar. Analogous. Not same. Carbon copy. Identical.

They’re twins. My mom and aunt are twins. They have so many similarities including their face, but are also have a huge gaping canyon between their personalities. They aren’t the same person and that’s never what I’ve pushed here.

Please understand, I love Will and El because well, I always gravitate towards stories like theirs. Two people completely unrelated and barely even know each other brought together by supernatural forces and managed to work together to take down the big bads with their friends/family. For me, it’s like found family to the extreme. I love it. I always fall for it.

I have so much fun crafting theories about their powers. I have fun coming up with fluffy or angsty headcanons about them. I have fun thinking of big family Hopper-Byers scenarios and making gifsets. This is what I enjoy personally.

I know you guys are having your ship war, but please leave me out of it. I’m not involved. Leave my posts out of it. Ok? I’m tired of it, you know? The other day it really depressed me. I felt like all my love for Will and El was being misinterpreted as existing only to stir up ship wars. I contemplated hiding my blog for a while until my rage passed over, but at the end of the day, I don’t have the energy to be mad. I’m just sad.

My one wish is for Will and El not to receive hate because of ships because you know what? That’s the worst possible outcome possible for season 3. They don’t deserve it.

#stranger things #will byers #el hopper #jane hopper

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twilightvolt · 5 years ago

Photo

And so, another year has come to pass.....almost. ^ ^

Remember when i said i was branching away from Digimon back when i drew up Venom fanart? y’know, “I wanted to be more than what i used to be.” that being “a Digimon artist.”

2019 was basically just that. lots and lots and LOTS of fandom hopping.

If last year was me recovering from the pain and crippling anxiety of 2017, then this year was me finally getting up again, learning to stand up and live for myself rather than in fear of those i shouldn’t care about anymore. life still hasn’t been too kind to me even though, compared to last year, we’re in a better space. but i’ll get into more detail about that while i go through everything month by month on the clock.

Before we begin, if you’d like to see the previous years, here’s the links!

2018:https://twilightvolt.tumblr.com/post/181732950569/i-kinda-was-saving-this-for-when-i-had-the-time-to

2017:https://twilightvolt.tumblr.com/post/171806337539/a-3-month-late-art-summary-featuring-art-that-i

Might wanna grab your popcorn, my dudes. this is a long one.

January: On the Web

Coming out of 2018, things were pretty ok if i remember. i don’t remember much from this month aside from a few doodles i did like this one from when Spiderverse was the hottest thing. this was one of the last things i drew in my old style. before i decided to officially change things up in the next month.

February: Gotta Kick it Up

Pokemon Sword & Shield were announced and things were hype! oh, how things soured as the months went by. lol

But yeah, this was me taking that experimental sketchy pencil style from that Smash Bros. drawing and rolling with it all the way! it’s become my new go-to style and even though it’s still hella sketchy at times, i feel like it looks better in comparison to my old ink outlined drawings.

March: The Overdrive Dweebanoids

Oh right. my old Ben 10 phase that lasted for a millisecond in 2016 returned with a vengeance. and it was glorious. lmao

It spawned an AU that i didn’t delve into much, but if i ever get that spark for my favorite alien watch bearer, i’ll get back to it.

April: True Blue Lizard Bois

My Ben 10 streak continues and i was crankin’ out art left and right for it. i luved all the “doodle dumps” i made, but this drawing was wholesome and i picked it because of that.

To some extent, this could be a comparison between my past and my present. that being Overdrive!Ben being what, at the time, was my current obsession while Digimon!Vivi was a representation of where i used to be, back when i was starting out and entering Digimon OCTs on Deviantart.

May: Return to the Realm of Sleep ~HD ReMIX

Now THIS i feel was one of the grandest drawings i’ve done this year. hell, i even made a wallpaper out of it.

like, it was just a redraw of an old drawing from 2017. but to me, it was a way to tell me just how far i’ve come since then. and i couldn’t be happier.

This was also the month i rebooted my DA after a long time of inactivity!

....Iiiit didn’t really work much, but i’m still working on it. though i highly doubt it’s worth it considering most of the ones i used to hang with there are either people i don’t wanna associate with or people who left while i was gone. seriously, it’s a ghost town there.

June: Art Fight 2019 ~Dreams Vs. Nightmares~

Ahh, my second year of Art Fight. for this year’s event, i wanted to be a tad more grandiose. like drawing up this banner. i like being extra and stuff even if it kills my drawing hand, so yeah. lmao

...

Florida thunderstorms are friggin’ terrifying. idk HOW anyone can get used to that.

July: - BREAK DOWN -

Oookay, it was hard picking my favorite attack this year cuz i pretty much was satisfied with all of them. but i had to go with this attack because the artist i drew it for was someone i really admired for years and i’m just happy i could finally have an opportunity to draw them something. like, i luv how it came out, so yeah.

This was also the month i forced myself to finally do the thing and let go of the constant fear i felt towards certain people i used to hang with. while remembering 2017 will never NOT hurt, i can’t let that fear rule over me forever. i have to take control and not let it stop me from doing what i want. and that’s exactly what i did.

August: Ricky ~Sapphire, Emerald and AlphaSapphire

Oh yeah! after Art Fight ended, i returned to Pokemon randomly cuz i wanted to go back to my roots for a moment. revamping Ricky, formerly Ragna, and Yagami was something i’ve been meaning to do for awhile and it reignited a waning love for a series i started growing distant towards since Gen VII.

I used to really like Ricky’s old design even though i barely ever used him. but i guess this just shows how much more original i’ve gotten in terms of character design. ^ ^

September: Heartbeat Inferno

Now, i haven’t really talked much about what’s been going on life wise for most of this post, but trust me when i say irl, things weren’t really.....happening. like, it’s hard when you live (or rather, lived now) in a place with little job opportunity and you have NO experience whatsoever. the lack of progression must’ve hit something in me, so the week i drew this was me just....shifting moods, feeling everything at once. one day i’d be agitated as hell, the next i’d be so depressed i took a some odd hour nap and didn’t wanna get out of bed. like, for most of this year, i haven’t felt this stressed out and frustrated with myself. so this sudden crash was kind of....unwelcome.

But this drawing was a fresh change though, if i’m being honest. i’m not usually this uncaring about how clean the coloring job is, but i like it! i’d choose that other drawing i did for my friends’ birthdays, Skirmish at the Cable Club, but this one had a more personal drive behind it.

October: - PAPERMOON -

beastarsbeastarsbeASTARSBEASTARS--*COUGH COUGH AHEM* I MEAN....hai. :D

Continuing with my Pokemon shenanigans, i drew this big piece which was something i had in my head for years now, but never actually acted upon it cuz i always felt it was too big of an idea to work on. i’m happy i’ve managed to capture what i envisioned originally.

As for interests, i’m sure most of my current followers can deduce that i quickly shifted gears to Beastars as soon as the anime was released and so far, i regret nothing. it’s spawned a metric butt ton of new art from me and the way i see it, this phase ain’t stopping as long as this series continues. brace yourselves fam, i believe i’ve finally found the successor to my Digimon phase. lmao

Like, damn, i had a tough time choosing art for this month. i was stuck between this, - SMILE/WILD SIDE - and Slip Into Madness. so many good drawings i was satisfied with, y’know?

November: The Future is Now

I was SO planning on putting something else here, but then suddenly i just kinda had this urge to redraw that uggo gouache painting of Miyagi from highschool. and it turned out so good that i had to. like, really. lmao

As with the redraw of Dream Drop Digital’s key art, it was a reminder of how far i’ve come since then art wise. and i feel like i’ve accomplished so much this year because of it. ;w;

December: Winter Lights

And now we’re back to the present time. after over a year or so of living in Florida, we’ve moved once again back up north a bit. yet another clean slate, but things seem to be looking up despite the rather large bumps in the road the past week or so. lately i’ve been feeling that seasonal depression starting to set in, but i think i’ll be fine as long as i stay positive. cuz y’know, it’s not being happy all the time. it’s just knowing that things will get better someday.

One of the other reasons i drew this drawing was cuz i REALLY wanted to have something Beastars related on this clock. this series (and Legoshi in particular) really inspired me, so i had to leave a wedge open for my boi.

Looking back at the beginning of this decade (as 2020 would mark the next one), i realized that the 2010′s were basically me becoming more artsy. finding enjoyment for a new hobby that quickly became something i’m now more passionate about than video games which i didn’t think would EVER be the case.

Funny enough, it all started in the RP section of a little forum for an MMO called Wizard101. i was only in middle school at the time and, to tell you the truth, i had no idea i’d be going at it for this long. thought i’d just do it on the side but not really delve into the art world more.

But despite all the trips and falls, fandom drama or otherwise, i wouldn’t change anything if it meant i wouldn’t have the friends who’ve stuck by me in the aftermath of those times.

I may not be really succeeding in much, but it’s the small steps in life that matter most in the end. these past few months in particular was me getting fed up with feeling sorry for myself for not doing the things i was interested in in the past, getting over my regret and making plans for starting something new even though i know i’ll suck at first and not worrying so much about how others might perceive me.

And just like how life was changing for our resident grey wolf this first season, mine seems to be doing the same. and i believe this decade ended on a better note than i thought it would during the past couple years leading up to this.

Here’s to a new decade! ^ ^

~ For a future I want to believe in. ~

#art meme #summary of art #2019 summary of art #year end reflections #2010's reflections #rambles

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stevenuniversallyreviews · 6 years ago

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Episode 114: Steven’s Dream

“But you don’t deserve that, do you?”

The dream is simple. We fade in to three flowers blowing in the wind. When Steven falls asleep again, we add a broken pink palanquin, and a trill of the signature Diamond music, but that’s it. None of the disorienting mix of the sleeping and waking worlds of Lion 3, none of the nightmares of Chille Tid, none of the lucid mastery of Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service, just a few calm moments before waking up in tears. But of all the episodes about our slumbering hero, this is the one that’s called Steven’s Dream.

To me, the initial sensation was similar to nearing the end of Order of the Phoenix and, after hearing Voldemort’s view of Dumbledore many times over the course of the series, seeing that the next chapter was called The Only One He Ever Feared. This episode uses our knowledge of the past to set the bar high from the title alone, but unlike the Harry Potter chapter, it pulls the rug out from under us by making the dream the catalyst instead of the subject.

In the same way Mirror Gem spends its entire ominous runtime preparing us to meet Lapis Lazuli, Steven’s Dream is an eleven minute introduction to Blue Diamond. Both episodes develop a sense of foreboding with little hint of what’s to come, both give us a little bit of fun to lull us into a sense of ease before jolting us back into the mystery, both pit the Crystal Gems as opponents of sorts to Steven, and both have that wonderful pacing where the third act takes up half the episode so we have room to breathe. Mirror Gem has the advantage of blindsiding us with our first new Gem (and has a slower, eerier burn), but Steven’s Dream uses characters with eighty-six extra episodes of development to sell a mystery that our hero is actively trying to solve.

The most obvious way Steven’s Dream builds dread are the tears. It’s a device that works again and again and again on this show, especially when Steven is the one affected: his face is rarely sad when they come, and they’re huge without devolving into silly water spurts, so despite the empathy tears might otherwise bring, it’s instead an unsettling omen of danger, like the crocodile’s clock. Combined with the brevity of the first dream, the stark opening of the episode thrusts us into the emotional space that fills the next arc.

But we also get Pearl and Garnet providing more explicit concern. Pearl tries changing the subject, but when push comes to shove she covers her mouth for the second time since we were first told that Rose shattered Pink. While this and other acts of self-censorship become clearer after A Single Pale Rose, at this point we still know it’s in character for her to be uncomfortable about certain elements of the war; even going back to Ocean Gem, she’s hesitant to reveal that not all Gems were “good.”

More surprising is Garnet, to the point where Steven mentions how unusual it is for her to so openly obfuscate. She has her mysterious streak, sure, but she’s been blunt and honest for a while now, and was the Crystal Gem who confirmed the story of Pink Diamond. Estelle gets a terrific showcase here, giving full weight to Garnet’s fear while providing levity as she gets frustrated for making the secret sound more enticing.

This is my favorite kind of hint: the one you could feasibly suss the truth out of if you pause the episode and think about it, but is clear as day in retrospect. We’ve seen Garnet freeze in Keeping It Together, and we’ve seen her afraid in the lead-up to The Return, and both incidents involve Homeworld. The “her” in question could be Yellow Diamond, but The Answer showed us Garnet’s relationship with Blue Diamond. It just doesn’t click until we see the blue palanquin, and Garnet’s explanation after Greg’s abduction makes her resignation to fate all the sadder on rewatch.

(The movie where cows are abducted is a clearer hint in a show that’s all about foreshadowing through television screens, but I still didn’t see Blue Diamond coming.)

Amethyst, who was born long after the war and has little to contribute besides a joke and a great reaction shot, sorta sides with Steven at first, but soon falls into the background to enjoy the show. That’s three for three in terms of Gems not helping Steven find the truth, and for the first time since the revelation, he finally gets mad at them. I appreciate so much that it’s not played as a childish temper tantrum but an airing of legitimate grievances: he was already lied to by omission for ages, which he managed to forgive the Gems for, but past deception makes this new secret too much to handle. As Amethyst says, he deserves to know the truth he’s asking for, but he doesn’t get it. The irony is that another character deserves something he doesn’t ask for, but he gets it anyway.

In the words of Blue Diamond herself, Greg Universe should not be doomed on a dying world. True, the world isn’t actually dying, but given the information available, her judgment was sound. And part of the reason why is that, in stark contrast to the three Gems, the three named human characters we see in the episodes are helpers. Connie brings Buddy’s journal and is nothing but encouraging, and while the Universes could’ve afforded a plane ticket, Uncle Andy is the one who flies them to Korea. When the truth hits too close to home for the Gems, humans step up to the plate, and it’s such a powerful way to showcase the value of Steven’s mixed heritage.

But the more general reason Greg deserves to live is that he’s the best of us. Steven talks to him about Pink Diamond before we even get to the Gems, and to me it evokes that pivotal moment where it’s Greg, the human side of Steven’s family, who reveals that the Gems were invaders in The Return. In both conversations, Greg drives home that the past was a long time ago, and that he didn’t judge Rose or push her to talk about things she was uncomfortable with. It might not be helpful for Steven’s fact-finding hunt, but it shows that Greg’s priorities were straight and he values caring about others more than anything.

(I do wonder, though. Greg says here that Rose seemed to want to confess everything, but he said it didn’t matter. I guess we’ll never know just how much of the truth she was willing to confess.)

And of course, Greg is the one who accompanies Steven to Korea. This is a story that wouldn’t work without his wealth explaining their ability to take a tour, but goofy asides about watches aside, what’s more important is that Greg sticks up for his son and encourages his curiosity, even when it’s scary (and yeah, seeing an animator drawing you is probably pretty scary). He’s nervous about closing in on the secret, but trusts Steven enough to follow through. And it all leads to Greg meeting his sister-in-law.

The hints of our interloper’s identity grow more obvious as we close in; the “Please” sign in Pearl’s script shows us we’re close to something, but the blue palanquin raises more specific warning bells before we finally hear a new voice.

Lisa Hannigan is not like Susan Egan, Patti LuPone, or Christine Ebersole. For starters, she’s the only Diamond voice without an American accent. But something less noticeable from the episode alone is that she’s the only Diamond voice who hasn’t been on Broadway; Hannigan isn’t an actress of stage or screen, but a singer through and through, with just one voice acting role prior to Steven Universe (in the excellent Song of the Sea). This is is a different type of performer, but Blue is a different kind of Diamond: where her sisters each adapted in their own way in the aftermath of Rose’s rebellion, Blue never found a defense mechanism to distract herself, so she’s consumed at all times by grief.

Comparing Hannigan to LuPone in particular is inevitable, as they’re the first two Diamonds we meet (at least the first two that we know are Diamonds) and they’re such a stark contrast. Hannigan’s otherworldly voice, capable of soothing sorrow and icy rage, is a radical departure from LuPone’s sheer power. It’s something that becomes even clearer when they share the same screen, but for now, Blue’s melancholy sets her apart not only from Yellow but from Garnet’s depiction of the cruel overlord we saw in The Answer. We know at this point that the Diamonds have done horrible things, but Blue Diamond humanizes them in a way Yellow Diamond has only hinted at.

Greg and Blue’s exchange is a somber, touching, chilling affair. While there’s a certain level of comfort humans in this universe have with weird alien stuff compared to how we might act, Greg is especially tuned to be casual in this scenario; he may address this giant woman as “your highness,” but he’s otherwise speaking as a peer. As in Mr. Greg, we get a rare moment of him mourning Rose aloud, in a way that shows how often he really is thinking of her. But as we saw in Three Gems and a Baby, he’s able to work through it by pouring that love into Steven, and the person Blue Diamond was most likely to pour love into is the one she lost.

As the eerie Diamond harmonette drones, we see more and more of Blue beyond her hunched form. First her arm raises, then she straightens her back, then we see the bottom of her face, before she finally turns to face Greg (and us); each stage is brought about by conversation with Greg, and her wonder at his ability to relate with her. While the talk seems to be going well, the music erupts as Blue snatches Greg, rises to her full, terrifying height, and reveals her ship: not a hand, but an entire arm.

Even as she’s humanized, we see glimpses of the tyrant Garnet told us of, and that we’ll see more of in the future. Her soft bewilderment comes from a place of superiority, and she treats Greg as an animal to be saved even as he protests. She does care, but through the lens of absolute authority over her pearl and lesser races. It comes across as tolerance rather than true empathy, and that exact sort of cold half-affection was a major factor in Pink’s resentment of her older sisters.

And poor Steven, who tried to stop Greg from even approaching the situation, can’t do a thing to stop his only remaining parent from being taken. His floating is powered by happy feelings, and there just aren’t enough of those to reach a rocketing spaceship. Garnet’s rescue may seem convenient, but her frantic apology and explanation absolves her in my mind: on top of being scared out of her wits, she was trying to prevent a future where everyone got taken.

The cliffhanger is more of a call to action than a cut to black, and the episode does “resolve” in its own way: we wanted to know what Steven was dreaming about, and we certainly found out. The tragedy is that Steven was right to be curious, and Greg was right to be kind, and both are punished for it. Greg is mature enough to not assign blame for his abduction, but this is rocket fuel for Steven’s ever-growing martyr complex. One day Steven will be happy again, but he’s never quite the same after this nightmare of an encounter.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

I compared this episode to Mirror Gem, which is my favorite lore episode of the series. While Steven’s Dream doesn’t rank quite as high due to the glut of other terrific episodes, it still squeezes into my top twenty for now.

Top Twenty

Steven and the Stevens

Hit the Diamond

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

Last One Out of Beach City

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Mindful Education

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Earthlings

Mr. Greg

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Beach City Drift

Winter Forecast

Bismuth

Steven’s Dream

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Chille Tid

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Catch and Release

When It Rains

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

The New Lars

Monster Reunion

Alone at Sea

Crack the Whip

Beta

Back to the Moon

Kindergarten Kid

Buddy’s Book

Gem Harvest

Three Gems and a Baby

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Barn Mates

Steven Floats

Drop Beat Dad

Too Short to Ride

Restaurant Wars

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Greg the Babysitter

Gem Hunt

Steven vs. Amethyst

Bubbled

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

Know Your Fusion

Future Boy Zoltron

No Thanks!

6. Horror Club 5. Fusion Cuisine 4. House Guest 3. Onion Gang 2. Sadie’s Song 1. Island Adventure

#steven's dream #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

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gwenbrightly · 6 years ago

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Elements

Oh look! My brain decided to create a random drabble about elemental powers instead of focusing on OMAC… Oops. I guess Misako's appearance will have to wait… All the headcanons and stories I've been reading lately that mention Lloyd's powers acting up when he gets emotional made the temptation to write this too great. So yeah. This one shot can probably be considered a part of Of Milk and Cookies, and takes place just after the chapter titled Awkward. I hope you enjoy!

Elemental powers are weird, Lloyd muses early one morning not too long after their visit to Darkley's Boarding School. He can control his now – sorta – and the others can do some pretty amazing stuff with theirs – like being able to lift a sports car with your pinkie. Or spark fire with a snap of your fingers (literally). Or charge your phone using only your own energy. Or meditate inside of a freezer for hours on end without getting cold (okay, maybe he hadn't been around for that). All those things are incredibly cool, and Lloyd's not complaining, because someday he'll be able to do all of that too, which is super exciting. He can't wait, really.

But sometimes... Sometimes having powers isn't exactly the best. He's been around this weird, dorky family of his long enough to notice that there are days where things get a little out of wack. Where Kai or Zane get emotional and the temperature around them suddenly changes to the extreme, or any number of other bizarre side effects. Just last week, Lloyd walked into their skimpy apartment only to feel his hair immediately begin defying gravity due to the sheer amount of electricity filling the air. Puns involving shocking had most definitely been made. Cole and Jay's latest argument (See: whether or not pineapple is an acceptable topping for pizza) had gotten a little... heated, and the master of lightning's powers had acted up as a result. It wasn't the first time this sort of thing had happened, and the blonde is pretty sure it won't be the last. Still, he has to admit that it's a little (a lot) unnerving to deal with the aftermath of an elemental outburst... Especially... now that he's experienced his own for the first time... Okay, he'll admit it – that's the real reason he's up right now – not because he was craving poptarts. Which is what he plans to tell the others if they question it. Not that they're awake, so he's safe. For the time being, at least. Maybe he can get this glass cleaned up and replace the lightbulb before anyone finds out? If he's lucky. Lloyd slips over to the meager set of cupboards that they've installed in one corner. They have to be keeping some extra lightbulbs around here somewhere... Honestly, given what's happened during training, he really shouldn't be surprised that his latest nightmare ended with him blowing up their light source – it had been so vivid, and just… he'd woken up terrified. He hates feeling like that. He'd stared at the mess for quite some time, too shocked to do anything about it at first, but. Having all that power running through his veins was guaranteed to catch up with him eventually. He knows that, but it doesn't make attempting to quietly remove broken glass from the floor any less of a struggle. Carefully picking up the largest piece of what used to be a lightbulb, Lloyd shoves it in the garbage. Bit by bit, the debris begins to disappear. The green ninja has managed to dispose of most it by the time someone else wakes up (it's impressive that it took this long, to tell the truth). It's Nya, of course, trying hard to cover up the fact that she isn't a morning person (at all). The girl seems to have some sort of magical sensing abilities that activate whenever he's in trouble. She gives him a concerned look before wordlessly grabbing a fresh lightbulb from a shelf too high for him to reach. The samurai drags their one whole rickety stool over to the socket and screws it in with a large yawn. Then, Nya gives the floor a quick scan, looking for any remaining hazards that might exist. There are none.

"So. I earned some extra cash at the autobody shop yesterday. Wanna go get some donuts?" The girl asks her adoptive brother, eventually.

"Huh?" Lloyd stares at her, not fully processing the question. She shakes her head with a sigh. Clearly today's gonna be a rough one. He really could stand to get away from the apartment for awhile – to decompress and all that therapeutic stuff you're supposed to do when you're dealing with emotional triggers.

"Donuts, Lloyd. You know, those pastries police men are so obsessed with? I'm leaving in five with or without you." His mind may not immediately get what she's saying, but his stomach certainly does. Growl.

"That's a yes, then?" Nya says, smirking.

"Sure. Okay." He replies with a shrug, because donuts do sound awfully good, now that he thinks about it and. He's not gonna pass up the opportunity to eat something other than off brand cereal for breakfast. That would be completely out of character, no matter what the reason for doing so is. They slip out of the apartment, careful not to wake the others (though Cole's definitely going to be offended if he finds out about it later) and wander down the sidewalk. As it turns out, the nearest donut shop is less than a block away. The smell of freshly fried dough greets the pair as they push the door open. Mmm… It's only when she notices the distinct lack of customers inside that Nya realizes how early it is. A glance at her phone (which she probably should've checked before they left) tells her it's not even 5:30 yet. Oh well, if the place is open, it's not like they're intruding or anything. Lloyd perks up noticeably when she lets him pick out his own donut – a questionable decision, since he immediately chooses the one with as much frosting as humanly possible and a thick coating of rainbow sprinkles. It even has gummy worms on it. A part of her wants to scold him for being so unhealthy, but the grin on his face. She can't. So, she selects a donut of her own (powdered sugar with raspberry filling) and hands the drowsy cashier a bill. They find themselves a booth near the windows lining the front of the store and enjoy their breakfast in silence for a few minutes before Nya says anything to Lloyd.

"So. Nightmare?"

"Yup." He tells her in a small voice, playing absent mindedly with one of his gummy worms.

"I kinda figured." She comments wearily, "You gonna be okay?"

"Dunno. Hope so."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"I-I…. Don't really remember much about the dream itself… Just… It was so freaky to wake up with the light going crazy… and then it exploded, and I've never had my powers go out of control on me like that and…" Nya wraps a comforting arm around the blonde's shoulders. He leans against her, regretting having been woken up so early, and perhaps still a little shaken by the events that transpired earlier.

"I'm sure it was pretty freaky… You know you can always wake on of us up if you need to, right?" Lloyd nods unconvincing. There are no tears, surprisingly, which Nya takes as a good sign.

"I know… And I was gonna. Eventually. But I wanted to take care of the glass first – so nobody stopped on it. Thanks for helping. With the lightbulb. Being short sucks sometimes."

"Course it does. But it's gonna suck even more someday when you finally stop being such a pipsqueak and end up taller than me." Asserts the samurai. He giggles weakly.

"You don't know that that's what's gonna happen… maybe you'll get lucky?"

"I guess you have a point there. But seriously, if you have any more issues with your powers, I'm here to help. And so are the others. I mean, Kai accidentally set his bunk on fire when he first got his true potential… Maybe you should talk to him about this – I'm sure he'd understand…" Kai is a pretty okay listener from what Lloyd's seen at this point. He probably wouldn't have convinced himself to revisit Darkley's without him.

"M'kay. I'll think about it." He decides through a mouthful of donut, "Not right now though? I kinda just wanna forget about the whole thing…"

"That's valid. This can be our little secret. Betcha the guys aren't even awake yet." The girl agrees, figuring he'll share more when he's ready. She's not gonna push him. This time.

"They're really missing out. This donut is delicious." Lloyd tells her, clearly done talking about powers, nightmares, or anything related. Life's really not so bad when you've got an awesome older sister to buy you junk good. Even if it is only because your elemental abilities went haywire in your sleep.

"Totally. But they don't need to know anything about that. You, on the other hand, will be taking a nap as soon as training is over for the day. And I don't meaning laying around reading comic books. Actually sleeping will be expected." Nya stated, giving him a pointed look.

"What? But that's not fair! I just got a new one!" Lloyd groans indignantly.

"And I'm sure you find plenty of time to read it eventually. However, you also need your rest, so that's gonna have to be a priority for now." Deep down, he knows she's right. He just doesn't plan on admitting it. So, he decides to focus on what's left of the mound of pastry, frosting, and sprinkles instead. He feels better now, anyway.

" So, that happened?" Lloyd says one day, several years down the road, as he stares at a soaking wet Kai. He's not even sure where that much water could possibly have come from.

"Uh... Oh my gosh, Kai, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..." Nya apologizes, attempting to use her abilities to draw the moisture away from her brother.

"I mean, we all knew it was gonna happen eventually. S'not that big of a deal. But you do owe me a new tube of hair gel..." He shrugs, not particularly concerned. The reason for their... Disagreement isn't important anymore. Things have been tense for everyone since the battle with Morro. He just wants her to be okay. She's not exactly the biggest fan of her elemental powers in the first place.

"Yeah. That's fair." She agrees after a second, looking sheepish.

"Happens to all of us." Lloyd reminds her, "Wanna go get some donuts?"

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #my fics #lloyd #nya #kai #elemental powers #side effects #stuff explodes #but donuts make things better

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andaleduardo · 6 years ago

Text

Rooftop N.11

Ao3 N.10 N.12

Preview: Eddie studied her intensively that dinner. Looking at the lines mapping her face and wondering: What makes us different?

What defined you own me? What defined you’re right and I’m wrong?

Nothing defined it. That’s the answer.

Monday 24.05.1993

Monday night could be described with simple words: a mess.

Richie was shaking way too hard to get a firm grip when climbing down, and his eyes were still too watery to make out the exact spots he should have stepped on. As a result, he ended up losing balance and having a bad landing, bending his ankle slightly and falling on his ass in the middle of the Kaspbrak's backyard.

His breathing was off, accelerated and wheezy. Richie wondered if that was any close to what Eddie goes through.

It hurt, it hurt it hurt it hurt.

He grasped at the front of his shirt with one hand and lifted the other up to cover his mouth.

He kissed Eddie.

Slowly, whimpering and hiccupping, he lifted himself off the ground and limped his way to retrieve his bike from the grass, not even bothering to wipe off the dirt from his clothes. Richie couldn't trust himself to ride, so he took rushed steps home, bike by his side. With a swirling, distracted brain, he hoped that no cars would come crashing onto him, for he had no capacity to look out for any incoming danger. By the time he got to his street, his tears had dried, his ankle stopped aching, but his chest remained alerted and alive. A mess.

Luck didn’t seem to be on his side, as if that wasn't already obvious. Richie got home safely, at least, and he was looking forward to… well, maybe to drown in his loud thoughts for the night. Sue himself for crying. Think about the horrible consequences of what he did. Anything, really, rather than what actually happened.

Before he could reach his bedroom door, a heavy hand settled on his shoulder and dragged him into the kitchen, where he was forced to sit at the table, dinner served, with both his parents staring expectantly at him. As if they accomplished something amazing and needed their son’s approval.

Richie’s eyes were, without a doubt, still bloodshot, puffy the least. The shaking was bad, too. He couldn't draw a line between trying to act normal or freaking everyone out.

"Is it Christmas, already? What a lovely family reunion." He licked his lips, they tasted salty.

"Richard." His mom, (Wow, his mom!) glared at him, before laying a hand on top of his. Richie stared down at her skinny fingers on top of his, ringless for once. Seriously, the way he was shaking was preoccupying. He retrieved his hand to himself with the excuse to start eating.

"Bueno appétit." He said through an obviously forced smile.

The meal was close to be over by now and everything still felt weird, unreal. Their voices were far, but there, the food was tasteless. He couldn't control his own body, moving on its own to grab the fork and wrap around a glass of water.

I kissed Eddie.

He was torn out of his inner battle by a heavy slap against the wooden table. Then a sigh. The water in his cup trembled, and Richie related to it.

"Are you on something, Richie?" His dad's voice stopped him from getting the fork to his lips, took Richie a few seconds to let it sink.

…He thinks you’re drugged.

Slowly, Richie put the fork down and stared at the two foggy figures in front of him. He wanted to scream.

Look at them, looking at you. They think you've lost it, they think you're an addict. They think you're gone, lost. They must love you, that's how it works. They must love you.

Right?

The two figures became less human, the food started to lose its scent, too.

They think you're a freak.

Eddie pushed you away.

Richie laughed, ran a hand over his hair, scrapped his chair on the floor while getting up.

He didn't hear his own laughs, he didn't hear the chair, he didn't command his body to get up. He didn't command his mouth, either.

"I really must fucking be!” He exclaimed enthusiastically.

He left the kitchen, then. Didn’t hear any protests, didn’t feel the ground under his feet as he padded his way down the hallway towards the bedroom. The door shut behind him.

Richie heard it close.

-click-

Richie thought back to a few hours ago, when he had woken up and been so sure that the day was a promise of a good one. And despite all the events that just happened to him, to them, despite the way he was feeling right now, at the end of the day, there was one thing he could be sure of.

Eddie kissed him back.

It’s been nine minutes since Eddie had to sit down for dinner after being kissed. Which shouldn’t be something worth mentioning, or thought of, because people do that all the time. A lot of kissing happens everywhere, all the time.

But not for Eddie, no. But once again, it’s not every day that you push away the person who kissed you because you were hit with an image of… of?

Eddie searched and searched, and nothing came up. But it was probably due to the rollercoaster of emotions hitting the sides of his skull from the inside. Or because he was distracted looking at his mom's face while she ate. It was sort of disturbing, but he’s gotten used to it by now.

Oh, right! A demon clown masked as a rotting hobo who also happened to offer him blowjobs in forgotten dreams. And recurring memories, apparently.

Eddie felt the poor amount of food he managed to eat slowly inch up his throat. He gulped it down with more peas.

There was an image stuck on Eddie’s brain. And it was Richie, the moment he burst into tears after their lips separated. Later, Eddie would learn to connect to that feeling. For now, he feels extremely worried and guilty and sad, because when Richie cried Eddie felt like the world needed to stop until he could prove to him how much he’s worth.

Eddie tried to push these thoughts away, at least during dinner, because he couldn’t afford another confrontation with his mom about anything at all. So he had to look as normal as he could from the outside, which was possibly the hardest thing he ever tried to accomplish while his brain was filled with Richie.

His scent, like the quarry’s water; his warm skin, heated by the sun all day long; his revolted eyes filled with emotions Eddie couldn’t comprehend, yet; his touch, desperate, needy, welcomed; his lips, as full as Eddie as ever seen them, as pretty as Eddie ever thought of them to be; his tears. They weighted more than Eddie could have ever carry. But now he had to, for he was the one who caused them.

It was a stupid assumption, but Eddie was absolutely sure his mom knew about what he did. As if he had the evidence slapped on his face. Maybe he had, actually.

Do people change after kissing for the first time?

He studied her intensively that dinner. Looking at the lines mapping her face and wondering: What makes us different?

What defined you own me? What defined you’re right and I’m wrong?

Nothing defined it. That’s the answer.

You don’t own me. You’re not right. I’m not wrong. (If only he could believe that.)

The way he is shouldn't harm anyone, unless people are consuming hate for every meal. Much like Eddie has been doing since he can remember. Much like he was doing right now.

He stared down at his barely touched plate. As an excuse, he told his mom he ate just before coming home, which she wasn’t happy about.

She feeds you hate, you feed her lies. It goes the other way around too, doesn't it?

Eddie didn't want to answer.

Tuesday 25.05.1993

It was very late, Richie needed sleep and he should have been in bed for a long time, by now. But he couldn't.

Yes, it was late, but time had no voice when it came to a swirling mind hit with a wave of inspiration. It was more forced than hit, actually. He needed to get things done as soon as possible, that entitled forcing his eyes to stay open and his hands to work faster than his thoughts could be generated. Which was already pretty fast, believe it.

And inspiration might even be the wrong term, also. Richie didn't have a lot of that, he had the full living experience. That’s what got the words flowing.

Today was a silent nightmare at school, a poor attempt at pretending nothing had happened between them. Or more like processing what happened quietly to themselves until the right time came around, or until they went insane. Richie was close to crossing that line.

Around this time of the school year, some teachers ended classes a little bit earlier, which made the whole “avoiding one-on-one contact” thing easier.

But Richie was pretty sure everyone knew something was up, anyway. Yesterday they were in the best mood possible, and their friends saw him leaving with Eddie. It wasn't too hard to figure out why both of them looked like they hadn't slept for a year, nor smiled. Even if their giggles had been painting the quarry less than 24 hours ago. (Not that Richie knew if Eddie looked as miserable as he did, neither of them stared at each other once.)

That was the reason, Richie suspected, Bev cornered him after school was over and stopped him from going home to mourn alone.

Richie spent the whole afternoon in her company, walking mindlessly trough the streets of Derry while she tried to get him to talk. He was grateful to have her, really, but he wasn't in the mood to talk about what happened, yet. He simply told her they argued, which was only half of the whole truth. Bev dropped it for the moment, and they talked about other stuff. About her aunt, her house life changes, about stupid things and whatelse. It wasn't until they were sharing a slice of lemon pie from Derry's local diner that she dropped a bomb on him, or something close to that.

“We should play some of your originals next time.”

The suggestion had Richie dropping a fork for the second time in less than two days.

They were, indeed, planning on having a second party this week as well, because, why not? It was a success, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

“Something about relevant people in your life.” Bev specified.

Yup. There it was.

She was hinting at him singing dopey love songs, or something. Maybe she thought that he’d come up with a great way of relieving his deepest sorrows surrounding Eddie through heartfelt songs.

The thing is, Richie didn't want to do that, and even if he did…

Most of his originals were left unfinished, his quick-thinking brain spat out half a song and then decided "Well, that's enough sharing for a day." Also, more importantly, they were all about his insecurities, about himself, about the non-great side of carrying a life as Richie Tozier.

He didn't have it in him to write about anything else.

He never wrote a song about those kinds of feelings, or Eddie. And there’s boundaries, for Christ’s sake. ‘Hey, Eds. You just rejected me and I couldn’t take it, so here’s a song I wrote about you.’ Yeah, sure.

He didn't turn her down, instead, he asked. “Do we have enough time for something like that?"

A long argument and a few lemon bites later, they met in the middle. The party would be put off to Saturday night, and in return Richie would bring them some originals to test out next afternoon. That meant a single day away.

So, when Richie got home today, he had no choice but to go through the few pages filled over the last years with shitty lyrics, trying to find some that he didn’t hate as hard as others. He spent the rest of the day changing some things, making them better and coming up with melodies for the ones he forgot or the ones he didn't like enough. He hadn't look at the clock yet, but he felt the need to rest weighting on him. There wasn't really a point in going to bed if he’d just stare at the blackness of the insides of his eyelids. That’s what happened last night, and he knew it wouldn't be much different this time.

At some point, he wondered if there would be a dinner served table today, but he suspected that yesterday was a once in a lifetime occurrence. (That didn’t go that well, to be fair.)

His hands were smudged from the pencil-written words, a headache was starting to grow form, but he knew he wouldn’t leave this unfinished. Now, he stared at the paper sheets scattered in front of him. A sigh left his tired body, reminding him of the dull throbbing forming in the small of his back.

It’s been one day; Richie tried not to feel too guilty. So far, he was failing.

It was late, Eddie was in bed trying desperately to fall asleep, but it wasn't working so far. His brain was incapable of shutting off for a minute, always screaming back to himself and indulging in useless lectures and self-advice that he knew he would never act upon.

He tossed aggressively around in his bed, angry at himself and needing a way to push all of the hateful energy out of his body.

It’s been one day. A single, miserably long day. He hasn't been able to stop thinking about it. He tried really hard, but it was there in the back of his mind at any time of the day.

Giving him little nudges in the shoulder: Hey, so… Richie kissed you.

Flicking his forehead: You kissed him back, by the way.

Like shoulders bumping in a hallway: You liked it, don’t deny it.

It was honestly fucking exhausting. The worst one so far had happened while he was trying to focus on the words on the board of his philosophy class.

It felt more like his chair disappeared from under his body: You pushed him away, you dumb fuck. Nice move, jerk.

He felt stupid and awful and guilty for the way Richie was left, confused. Eddie was so goddamn angry with himself.

Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.

Today, there were actual times when he had to sit down and think back to the moment. The reason why he pulled away from Richie’s touch was mostly a complete blur, again. Yet, he knew there was something beyond his usual worries, because one thing he knew for sure was that not even once did it cross his mind how wrong it was to kiss another boy while he was doing it.

Eddie had to grab his hair strongly and really focus on the thing. And even then, the leper’s image and voice were so faded and weak that he couldn’t be sure if it was that that led him to feel burnt, anymore.

It��s been long since the leper encounter. Eddie wouldn’t say he forgot, but he certainly didn’t spend a second thinking about it, anymore. It was scary how quickly it faded from his brain if he wasn't purposely dragging it back. This was a fight against himself. Eddie didn't want to remember, but he couldn't forget. Richie deserved an explanation, and Eddie started to believe that by the time he felt ready to give it to him, he wouldn't remember again. He didn't know if he should be grateful or not. Which was worse? Forgetting or being haunted?

The forgetting itself haunts him, still.

With a heavy sigh, Eddie threw the single sheet covering his body to the feet of the bed, battled with it for a while when it got tangled on his ankle, and got up, defeated. With a locked jaw and a tense neck, he strode up to the mirror standing on top of his dresser, and even with the shitty lighting, he studied his restless reflection. It stared right back at him.

‘What have I done?’ He groaned internally. He fucked it all up…

Eddie tried, in vain, to spit something out, anything. The silence was deafening, a soft buzzing mushing his brain. He had to do this, the first step was this, right here.

He stared at his mouth, but all it did was remind him of Richie’s.

Go on, do it. Say it.

But nothing came and no words formed. Only pictures and colors and emotions that he couldn’t name or put into words. They didn’t feel nice.

Eddie placed his elbows on the dresser and dropped his face on his hands for a few exasperating seconds before looking up to the mirror again.

He lost count of the minutes that passed, each of those suffocated him more and more until he gave in to his weak knees and had to sit down on the floor. His blurry eyes focused on the dark handles his mom had picked out when she bought him the dresser. They had soft edges, to prevent kids from getting injured. She had said-

He couldn't do this.

Everywhere he looked, there was always something to remind him of the things that could go wrong if he ever accepted who he was.

Especially in that mirror.

Wednesday 26.05.1993

"I can't believe how fucking great these are."

For a moment, Richie was confused. The words were definitely something Beverly would say, but it was actually Mike who spoke. In fact, Bev hadn't said anything at all since Richie passed them his drafts filled with awful handwriting.

"Yeah? You think so?" Richie, who was sitting on their famous red couch staring at his two friends leaning against the stage's side, finally looked up to Mike's face expectantly.

"Yeah, man! You have talent, Rich." To that, Richie smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck, not really sure how to react.

He adverted his attention to Bev. From the corner of his eye he saw Mike doing the same. She had a conflicted expression, eyes locked in the papers she was holding.

"You do have talent, Richie." She then moved away from the stage and kneeled down in front of him, putting the papers slowly to the side and hugging Richie around the waist, his knees between their bodies.

"Aw, Marsh. You're getting all sappy for me here?" He held her back, anyway, no one wanted to refuse a hug from their favorite read-head.

Mike chuckled light-heartedly. "Your words moved our girl."

"Shut up." Bev's voice came muffled from Richie's shirt before she detached herself from him and sat down on the left side of couch, instead. She picked up the paper sheets again. "It's not my place to ask this, Rich. But this..." She handed him the top sheet, Richie accepted it and quickly realised which song it was. He cut Bev off before she got the chance to speak.

"I know, it's not like that."

"We love you, Richie."

"I know, it's not like that, I swear." He repeated. "I know how you guys feel about me. This is just…” how I feel about myself. He finished the sentence to himself.

"But what you wrote... it sounds..."

"Yeah, it does." He chuckled poorly. "But it's not about-, at least not just that… it's-" He sighed. "Please, don't take it at heart... I didn't mean to-"

"We know. I just needed to make sure you know how much you mean to us, okay?"

Mike sat at his other side. Richie stared at his knuckles for pure entertainment.

"You do mean a lot to us." Mike said, it was something more in tune with his usual comforting words. It made Richie smile.

"My words moved you, too, uh?” He scratched his wrists mindlessly. “You guys mean a lot to me, too. I’m sorry the song sounds so... harsh?"

"I think it sounds the way it should." Bev put an arm around his shoulders, Mike mimicked her actions from the other side. "It sounds like you feel, or felt, when you wrote it."

Mike rubbed random circles on Richie's shirt. "And we can make it justice, now. Together."

In that moment, Richie thought of saying something. Or everything.

That he couldn't hide the way he felt for Eddie anymore, that he was sick of pretending, and tired. That Eddie drove him crazy when he showed off any signs of possibilities that never had a title. That Richie did something reckless on Monday, something that felt incredibly right but wrong at the same time. That he had been feeling guilty over it because he didn't want to push things further than they should be pushed, and that all he could think of was the need to apologise. That things could have gone differently. That maybe it would have worked out better. That he was going nuts without knowing what to do, if he should even do anything besides waiting.

That he needed to talk.

Instead, he said.

"Shall we start a real practice, my trustful comrades?"

Spending time with his mom was just as bad as he remembered. The only difference was that when he was younger, Eddie didn’t know why he felt so weird when he spent afternoons in her presence, now he does. He simply hates it. They had already watched three episodes of some unknown baking show, and Sonia was in total bliss that her son was spending his time at home with her, for once. Eddie was so bored that he even pretended to have homework, but even then, his mom begged him to do it next to her, so he’s been doing English exercises that he had already done before. It’s not like he would have gotten any real work done, with her constant comments about the contenders’ clothing choices or physical aspects.

Eddie supposed it was his own fault that he was stuck at home. He put himself there. Instead of choosing to hang with any of his friends, he had actually chosen to come home, not really sure of what he was expecting from that decision.

After the fourth verbal attack to some woman’s lipstick choice, Eddie not so subtly groaned and tossed his head back against the couch. He actually thought it was a nice shade of purple… His mom stared at him from her recliner.

“Sorry, ma. I can’t really understand this part, I think I’ll go to my bedroom for a while to be more focused.”

She started to say something about tutoring classes, and for his own sake, Eddie blocked it all out before kissing her cheek and rushing to the stairs. He thought about kicking his door open but settled for opening it like a regular human being. Instead, he tossed his pencil case straight into the mirror when he passed it, purposely ignoring the possibilities of it breaking before launching himself onto his bed dramatically. He groaned onto the bed covers. Curiosity won him over after a few seconds. Eddie lifted his head and bent his neck just enough to check for any possible damage on the mirror. There wasn’t any, so he let his head fall back on the sheets, now having his left cheek pressed upon them.

He sighed and allowed himself to rest upon the comfortable silence, but his eyes betrayed him when they slowly drifted upwards and settled on one of his pillows.

For a second, a sudden thought of kissing it for practice attacked his mind out of nowhere. Eddie felt himself grow red, quickly feeling stupid and wanting to throw that same pillow on that same mirror for no other reason than because he hated both those items.

“Great, now I hate myself and my stuff.” He mumbled, annoyed.

He turned his body around so that he could be staring at his white ceiling. Unwittingly, Eddie started to relive their confrontation right in front of his eyes, in this exact room. And he couldn’t help it but picture it if things have followed a different path. If he hadn’t pulled away, left running. If he had said something nicer, truthful. If his past hadn’t come to haunt him on the worst possible moment. It would have been so much better, but that’s all there is to it. These things only happen in his head, in his fantasies. But he decided to feed into these helpless wants and kept on imagining how things would have turned out if he kept kissing Richie.

Eddie closed his eyes, for once, he felt relaxed in the dark that it created. It wasn’t long until he felt himself drifting into a well needed nap.

Thursday 27.05.1993

"So, how long are we going to pretend nothing's going on?" Stan asked.

All of them were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria. Bill had just asked them if anyone wanted to come over after school, to which Eddie and Richie quickly jumped in to refuse, speaking at the same time and so fast that the others needed a second to understand what they'd said.

"Sorry, I have plans with my mom."

"Band practice, Big Bill."

After the awkward silence that followed, Ben was kind enough to break the tension.

"Sure, Bill. I'll come."

Then, Beverly and Mike excused themselves with the same reason as Richie's, leaving Stan to give one last answer. That's when he sighed and asked the question that left the air even less breathable.

"What do you mean?" Ben inquired, after zero responses came.

What followed next wasn't directed towards him, but Ben did feel like he was being scolded. Stan had that power.

"I mean are you all kidding me?" Stan snapped, nowhere close to hearing Bill telling him to 'Take it easy, Stan.' "I have no idea what's going on, but it's been three days now and I'm really not a fan of this 'neglecting each other's presence' thing." He looked around the table with obvious annoyance.

"Who's neglecting who, Stan?" Eddie's voice made everyone snap heads towards him, Richie included. He sounded exhausted and indifferent with this topic.

"Oh, I don't know, Eddie. You just told us you had afternoon plans with your mom. Am I supposed to believe that's not an incredible childish excuse?"

Eddie didn't bother to answer, same dead eyes locked firmly with him.

"Just because you and Richie have something up your asses, doesn't mean you can't hang with your other friends, you know? That's us, right here." He motioned one hand around the table, knocking off a juice bottle in the process.

"Stan, that's enough." Beverly cut in. Richie looked down at his lunch.

"I'm only trying to solve things, it's not mature to pretend people don't exist because of a stupid-"

"You have the worst fucking methods for solving things, apparently." Eddie snarled at him. Richie groaned from his seat and buried his face on his hands.

Silence fell around the table again. Richie kept his face hidden for a second before he felt Bev's hand laying on his shoulder. He looked up at her with desperate eyes.

'Smoke?' She mouthed.

"Yes, please." He said out loud, leaving everyone without context. The two of them packed the remaining’s of their food. Beverly pecked Ben's lips and whispered something in his ear before they left through the cafeteria's door, leaving the group in an awkward silence.

After a while, Stan sighed. "I'm sorry, Eddie."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. I don't like to see you fight, that's all."

"No one's fighting." Eddie said, poking his peas with the fork.

Stunned, Stan arched an eyebrow at him. "You're not?"

With a shrug, Eddie tried his best to explain. "No? I don't think so... There wasn't- we just-" He sighed.

"It's okay.” Stan said after the struggling. “You don’t have to tell us.”

Eddie nodded, shoulders slumped. “Thanks. Maybe one day I will…”

"I kissed him."

Beverly started to choke, Richie didn't know if it was on her own spit or from the cigarette she had been smoking the exact second he blurted that out to her.

"You what, now?" She managed to say through her jagged breaths.

Richie, still in his adrenaline state from the confession, told her again. "I kissed Eddie." Then, he let his shoulders slump defeat.

The moment Bev's lips broke into the hugest grin, Richie grew so embarrassed he turned around from her and kicked the brick wall that belonged to the gym's outside. Beverly was on him in an instant, pushing him away from the wall so that she could face him from the front again, cigarette now stepped on the ground.

"No fucking way." She was beaming at him, eyes all sparkly. "I'm so proud of you, holy shit." Richie, very much red faced, stared at her in disbelief.

"Uh... I don't know how to ask this without sounding insensible but... Are you blind? Deaf? Suffered from possible brain damage?" Her smile slowly started to fall, Richie felt like a jerk. "Bev, my love, guess why we're avoiding each other."

"Gee, thanks, I'm not that stupid." She looked at him with fake annoyance.

"But..." Richie moved his hands aimlessly. "Then why the hell are you proud?"

"Because!" She exclaimed, smile back on her face. "Rich, I'm gonna be honest. I never thought you'd grow balls to do that."

Richie gaped like a fish, his skin somehow feeling more and more hot with every passing second. "Alright, that's valid."

Beverly slapped him on the shoulder. "C'mon, tell me the nitty details."

Richie shook his head and switched his weight on his feet, always finding new ways to fidget in place. He closed his eyes then, so as to not see her face when he said. "I basically tackled him... Oh god. Bev, fuck. It was a fucking mess." He sighed and threw his head back to look at the sky. "I cried like a baby..."

Everything was quiet for a moment, Richie didn't dare to look at her. He felt her hands resting on both his shoulders again. It made him relax.

"I'm sorry, Richie. You don't need to tell me, but you can, if that's what you need."

Richie exhaled through his nostrils and moved around her body without looking at her eyes, or he'd grow embarrassed. He sat down on the gravel, feeling the brick digging onto his back.

He sighed, determined. "I left with him on Monday, after we dropped you off at home."

Quietly, Beverly sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. She stayed silent, a sign for Richie to continue.

"I... I don't know what came over me, but I was so happy. We were all so... so us. You know?" She hummed in agreement. "And, and I felt like, I needed to say something, Bev. I needed, or I would explode, you'd be seeing my guts around Derry for months." She actually laughed at that. Richie smiled despite his troubled emotions. "We argued in his room, as I told you.” A pause. “I think-” He fell silent for a long time, Bev listened closely to his breathing.

"I think Eddie knew I was going to do something like that, so he tried to stop me." Richie gulped down the tiny knot in his throat. "That's when I ..." Bev grabbed one of his shaking hands. "And then I cried while we were-" Richie chuckled poorly. "Who the hell cries?"

"Richie, there's nothing wrong with crying." Her voice was soothing.

"Yeah, sure." He laughed. "You wouldn't get offended if someone kissed you and then burst into tears?"

She lifted her head and looked at him unamused. "We're talking Eddie here, dickhead. It's not like you two are strangers." Richie shrugged, unconvinced. His waterline was burning.

“That’s not my point, Bev.” He shook his head and let it fall against the wall. “I shouldn’t have done it when he clearly didn’t want me to.”

“Okay, and how do you know he didn’t?” With a groan, Richie kicked his legs out in front of him in a childish move. Beverly poked his side gently. "Can I ask you something?"

Richie didn’t say anything, so she kept going.

"Eddie kissed you back, didn’t he?” At a loss of words, Richie squealed when he started to feel way too warm again. “See? That proves my-”

“-I know, I know! But I also know what he said to me after and that’s what matters in the end.”

“What matters is that you did something that clearly turned Eddie’s world around.” Richie slumped a little onto the wall. He was feeling a little lost, so he looked at Beverly and waited for an explanation.

“You made him experience something that he doesn’t know how to deal with. I think he needed this push, Rich, he can’t run away from what he feels now.”

“Unless, of course, he never talks to me again.” His tone made it sound like a joke, but Beverly saw right through it.

“Above anything else, Eddie is your best friend. He will come up to you, it might just take him longer.”

Richie didn’t feel the need to say anything else. He just sat there in silence, feeling way lighter now that he finally talked to someone. He looked at her, thankful, and Bev knew it was time to drop it.

Richie only broke the silence after six full minutes.

“Can you give me a stupid cigarette now?”

It was only hours later, when he was on his way home after band practice with a stomach full of homemade orange cake that Mike's mom had baked so kindly, that Richie got a clearer mindset on how to feel.

Ever since it happened, he had been stuck reliving Monday's night, completely unable to put it out of his mind for a second along with the stress that it brought. But today, for the first time, it faded away for a while. He didn’t know if it was because he opened up to someone, but he suspected that that had helped.

It was a weird explanation, and it confused him, too, but if he had to put it into words... It felt like... like he got to the top of a mountain. The way up there was rough, unpleasant. Now, he waited for the outcome, it wasn't up to him to decide anymore. (That was Eddie's job.) Richie either got to stay at the top, or he'd come tumbling down in an even harsher way than the climb. He'd let his body rest at the base, if that was the case.

It was done, there was no going back. He was waiting, because he did what he could, and now he was in this exquisite dullness until the outcome came slamming onto him.

Dull is good, neutral, he could deal with that. Even if his eyes still held hope and sadness when he biked his way home and had to cross Eddie's street. Yeah, he could deal with that, too. He had to.

It wasn’t supposed to become a self-destructive routine, but that was the only way Eddie could think to describe this. This, being him standing in front of his bedroom’s mirror trying to do something he wasn’t really sure would even work. He was starting to feel stupid and pointless. But still, it was the third night he stood here, quiet, unspeaking and judging himself in endless, soundless ways.

It's the third night he had to look at the childish knobs, the third night he had to stare at his reflection, and the third night he couldn’t help but search for every minor physical similarity he had with the woman who’s currently sleeping on her old recliner, downstairs. So, to put it simply, Eddie has been having the worst possible nights of his life.

His intentions were for this to be the last one.

For a different approach, Eddie started by looking down at the pale wood of his dresser instead of his own face. It was an easier confrontation. Then, he thought back to that first night when Richie found him asleep on his own desk. On that same night, Richie had said what Eddie was trying to, right now. He simply blurted it out, no hate, no disgust attached… It might have been thrown in on a joke, but it still mattered. Eddie could always see when Richie’s jokes were plain bullshit, or when they brushed reality under his breath.

He remembered so vividly waking up to the sound of the window knocking, his heart rate picking up while he locked the door, the breath of fresh air that entered his lungs when he stepped out onto his own roof.

‘The roof.’ Eddie thought suddenly, his neck straightening. He stared in the mirror, but instead of staring at himself, he looked at his window’s reflection, where the night stood, outside. Eddie gave one last, shaky breath before turning around and going straight to his windowsill. He unlocked it slowly, as little noise as possible, and tried not to shake too badly as he stepped onto the rooftop tiles.

There were always more places to find yourself in besides a reflection, and this was one of those places. Richie taught him, without the mean to, that this roof could be a refuge from all the things that happen inside his home.

He allowed himself to take in the night sky, the night scent and the night’s peace. The moon looked tiny tonight, but Eddie felt big for a change. He locked both knees close to his chest and hugged both legs with intertwined hands. Lastly, he inhaled profoundly, closed his eyes, and started off by inwardly practicing the same speech he has been planning to say out loud.

‘You kissed Richie.’ A gulp.

‘You kissed another boy.’ A grimace.

“That’s fine.” Eddie eyes opened in shock, surprised that it fell out of lips without him trying to.

“You’re okay.” He tests the waters, his voice so weak it couldn’t be heard by anyone who tried. Eddie attempted to clear away the knot in his throat. With his premade speech forgotten, he decided to let his lips figure things out word by word. The whispers, although small, sounded stronger than Eddie as ever felt.

“You need to fix things and, and you’re normal… and you have feelings- so, what? Everyone does, that means you’re normal. You kissed a boy and it was Richie you liked it and that’s normal.” Eddie took a deep, unsteady breath and laid his body backwards so that he could stare at the sky. His hands fell by his hips, whole body tense but brave.

For the next words, however, Eddie did have to think and reform and rephrase for at least a couple of minutes, even though they were just two. And when he spoke them out to the night, they were still so far from feeling casual. Barely audible both by choice and small, inevitable hiccups.

“…You’re gay.” He said in a wheeze. “I’m gay.”

He waited for the moon to turn into something evil, he thought he’d be hit with more horrifying thoughts. But all there was to it was silence and the occasional crickets chirping on the tree next to his house. Eddie felt the smallest of chuckles leaving his mouth. He stood out there for longer than planned, until he could control his breathing again and until he had said those two words a few more times. They didn’t feel more familiar by the end of the night, but Eddie knew they would, with time.

When he brought up his hands to wipe his wet cheeks, he could feel the indents left behind by nails digging on skin.

Finding himself was harder than he expected.

Friday 28.05.1993

They had lunch outside today because the sun heating up the surface of their skin felt too good to pass up.

It was weird for Richie that his food, for the last week, could be considered a regular meal. No one had commented on it, but they still asked him if he wanted to eat whatever it was they couldn’t finish. Richie declined, but he didn’t pass up on the half jelly sandwich Ben offered today. It was homemade jam, c’mon.

He stretched one arm over the table to accept it over from Ben, who was sitting on the same bench, but in opposite edges. Richie didn’t do it on purpose, but his eyes automatically travelled to the spot where Eddie was sitting, in front of Ben. He almost dropped the sandwich when he saw that Eddie was already watching him with a fond but small smile.

Sadly, said smile dropped as if Eddie had been caught doing something wrong, but Richie beamed back in his direction, maybe too much teeth, before taking a huge bite out of the bread. He saw Eddie’s eyes light up in the slightest, but the boy still looked down to his boring food.

The conversation around the table was flowing easily, the little argument from yesterday forgotten. Richie ate in silence with his eyes trailed either on the table, or on Stan, because looking at Stan was entertaining. There was always something to be noticing. He couldn't decide if he should chance it to look up in Eddie’s direction again, but there wasn’t a chance to choose. Richie’s eyes moved without his consent and landed on that same spot. Surprisingly, Eddie was still looking at him as if he was searching for answers while eating from the little container he brought filled with cherries.

He must have been lost in thought because it took him a fairly long time to react this second time. Richie stopped chewing when Eddie’s eyes widened slightly. With worry, he watched as Eddie bent himself over the end of the table and turned around to start coughing aggressively onto the patches of grass beneath their feet. He was choking.

Bill, who was sitting by Eddie’s side, gave one heavy slap on his ribs from behind, causing Eddie’s body to hunch forwards and almost fall of the bench.

'Don't laugh. Don't laugh.'

“Fucking hell, Bill.” Eddie cursed under a rough, grating voice while turning back up to the table, all red-faced and massaging a hand on his chest. “No need to kill me, it was just a stupid seed.”

In the midst of all the chatter and checks to see if Eddie was actually okay, Richie was having a hard time not making a joke about popping a cherry out loud. He snickered through his mouthful of bread and peach jam, and Eddie turned his head to look at him with fake offense.

“Don’t you dare laugh at my disgrace.” Eddie tried to throw a cherry in Richie’s direction but, at the same time, he fell on another coughing fit that had him miss the target. The cherry fell on Bev’s lunchbox instead.

Richie barely heard her complaints, too focused on Eddie’s features and laughing. Eventually, everyone calmed down, Eddie could breath normally again, and Richie was left smiling dumbly at the almost finished sandwich.

It didn’t matter to Richie whether he climbed that mountain in vain or not. As long as he could stick around to witness that smile everyday, there was nothing else he could ask for.

rooftop taglist: @richietoaster @rainydayriots @reddieloves @thetrashmouthclub @lemonboi03 @noodleboyshane @pillsandglasses @studpuffin @dandelion-stan @reddiesetrichie @squishynonbinarytwink @itschunky @burymestanding @duderrific @its-rye @salty-kaspbrak @youtubequeens @reddieseggrolls @addimagination @pastelstozier @sleepysirenprincess @constantreaderfool @mrs-vh @eds-trashmouth

perma taglist: @constantreaderfool @mrs-vh @eds-trashmouth @girasol-eddie

#rooftop #fanfic #me #original #writing #ao3 #losers club #it 2017 #it book #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #beverly marsh #ben hanscom #stanley uris #mike hanlon #bill denbrough #pennywise happened but certainly dead #updtate

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lazulifoster · 6 years ago

Text

Get Up (Loki x reader) Part 2

Prompt: N/A Get Up part 2 (Loki x Reader) Pairing: Loki x Reader (x Thor) Warnings: Swearing; graphic violence; angst (Thor x Loki) Word Count: 3k+ Y/H/T: Your hometown A/N: So I decided to continue the story. Honestly, that dream I had really shook me and I really haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I have so many ideas for this story that even if no ones read I’ll probably still post XD Anyway, this whole thing I decided this takes place after the Avengers movie. I’m sorry if the fighting between Loki and Thor is a little harsh, but that's kinda how I pictured them after the whole NYC debacle. This part has a lot going on, so I am going to try to make scene changes very apparent.

Thank you in advance for reading. I am so humbled getting any notes at all. Thank you :)

P.s. Sorry for the slow burn, I like to build up and have some background, I promise it won’t be this way the whole way :) Also, there are characters who haven’t been explained yet, that is on purpose, but I PROMISE I will explain in part 3.

The two giants stumbled into the living room. They began to piece together what had happened during their brief absence. The human form Surtur had possessed, lay on the floor, skull bashed in; and the front door was flung open with no signs of their intended prey.

"She got AWAY!" The raspier voiced panicked. His companion scoffed at the observation.

"She will be easy to catch, meanwhile what are we going to do about Surtur? How is he going to find her now? He doesn't have a body to take over—"

His concerns were interrupted, a giant flame immediately began to rise from the charred body on the floor. The heat and brightness from the flame caused both giants to take a step back and shield their eyes, leaving them both amazed and terrified. Once Surtur's full-self exited his former host, he spoke, "No need to worry, men, about a body for me to control, when I have two viable options right in front of me" Before both the giants could fully process his words, a pillar of fire entered through the mouth of the raspy-voiced giant. The softer spoken giant bolted a few feet away and watched in horror as his former companion's gurgled screams echo through the whole house. After Surtur's transformation into the giant's body was finished, he turned to the remaining giant, "Now, looks like we have a job to finish…"

* * * * *

I ran. I ran, and I ran until my lungs felt like they were on fire. With every breath I took, the burning feeling increased. Thankfully I was so full of adrenaline that the pain in my lungs did not bother me. What did bother me though was immediately after escaping from my house, I remembered I had forgotten everything important: my car keys and my cell phone. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK how am I suppose to go anywhere or call anybody? I tried to keep my teeming thoughts at bay and just kept running. I went into autopilot and ran towards Maddy's house, my closet friend who happened to live the closest to me who wasn't on vacation or working some random graveyard shift. Twenty blocks isn't exactly a marathon, but running that far with only flimsy pajama and socks, in the freezing night wore me out quicker than usual. I had to make a few stops to vomit in any bushes I could find. A lethal mix of exertion and fear did the trick. I didn't know if the two giants were still after me or if running to Maddy's house would bring her danger, but either way, I knew I needed to tell someone about what happened. After an arduous run, I finally made it to Maddy's apartment. I praised whatever deity would listen that she lived on the bottom floor and I wouldn't have to climb any stairs. I placed my hand on her door for a moment, trying to catch my breath and wipe off anything unsavory on my face with my free hand.

I loudly knocked at her door. Not trying to repeat what my delightful guests did to me earlier, but loud enough to wake her up.

"Maddyyyyy" I whined, dragging out her name. "Please open the door, it's me!"

A few moments later, I heard some shuffling coming from inside her apartment.

"Y/N?" She questioned before opening her door.

"Please let me in!"

Gently opening the door, I could see Maddy's eyes gradually widen the longer she looked at me. "What the fuck happened to you?!"

She ushered me inside before I could answer.

"Why—why are you in your pajamas? Where are your shoes? Why didn't you just text me?—Wait A minute, did you WALK here? Did someone attack you?!"

"I ran here" I exhaled, still trying to regain my breath and composure.

"You better start telling me what's going on before I call the police, Y/N!"

"OK!" I snapped, before finally blurting out the thoughts that were bouncing back and forth inside my head "I don't know what happened tonight, I was just sleeping, an-and some guy told me to ‘Get up,' and I did, then these big ass dudes were in my house, MY HOUSE! Then I-I-I stomped on one of them in the head because the guy who said ‘Get up' told me to and—" I stopped. I began to uncontrollably sob. I knew what I was saying probably sounded absolutely crazy to Maddy, but I didn't care. At that moment, I just wanted someone to comfort me and tell me it was going to be ok.

Maddy, knowing precisely what to do, grabbed me and just held me. She let me sob until I was ready to talk again.

Maddy and I had met in middle school. We had been through so many things together. Her parent's divorce, my dad's accident and my subsequent anxiety, even her having to live with me for a while after she came out as a lesbian to her parents who were less than supportive. I knew if anyone personified "a loyal friend," it was Maddy.

When I finally stopped crying, Maddy went to grab me a bottled water. When she came back, she rubbed my back with her hand and looked at me.

"Ok, so start over, what the hell happened?"

* * * * *

I told Maddy again, from the beginning what happened, much more coherently this time around. Maddy just nodded her head and listened. She's not buying any of this, she thinks I'm crazy. After I was finished, I waited, hesitant to ask her her thoughts.

"Maddy?"

"Well, I guess anything is possible, especially since all that stuff that went down in New York a while back. Maybe this is related somehow."

The thought hadn't even occurred to me that this was something related to that attack in New York City. I had barely convinced myself this whole ordeal wasn't a nightmare, let alone something tied to the superhero/crime-fighting "Avenger" group.

"Do you think we should give them a call?"

I scoffed "Pfffft yeah like those billionaires are just gonna come down here to Y/H/T."

"I think only Tony Stark is a billionaire, I think the others just live with him."

"Well, either way, I seriously doubt what happened was something that warrants giving ‘them a call.'"

Maddy rolled her eyes at me, "Well I do! I don't think this was just some bad dream or an anxiety attack! I don't think this is something you can just put off, what if those things are still around? You need to tell someone, someone who can actually, I don't know, find out what's going on!"

I started to filter through my head anyone I can talk to about something like this. There was Dad, he was always understanding and willing to talk to me, but he was on vacation to Mexico with mom. They hadn't been on vacation long before Dad's accident and a restful holiday was long overdue for them both. And I was in no way, going to bother them about this. I guess I could talk to my Aunt Pam, but knowing her she would probably tell me I had a "nightmare," and I needed to be in church. But…

"What about your Uncle Thor?" Maddy cut off my train of thought.

Uncle Thor wasn't really my biological Uncle. He was a long time friend of my dad's, but to my family, he might as well be related by blood. Uncle Thor and my dad met soon after I was born, at least that's how I was told the story. My dad and my mom were almost mugged at gunpoint as they were leaving the hospital after I was born. Uncle Thor intervened and saved my parents. After the incident, my parents tried to find ways to repay him for saving us, which Uncle Thor respectfully declined, but my dad insisted that he come to the house for dinner, just to say ‘thank you.' And the rest is history, ever since then, Uncle Thor has been over for as many holidays and birthdays that he could attend. He goes away quite a bit, he lives out of the country and his work schedule is erratic, but that just means whenever he is around, it makes the time we get with him even more special.

"Uncle Thor lives in Norway, Maddy, and there is NO WAY I'm going to call him about this, he'll call dad and ruin their vacation—"

"I know he lives in Norway, dumbass," Maddy interrupted "But I literally just saw him at Starbucks, yesterday."

Her words took me back. Uncle Thor usually calls when he's in town. "Are you sure it was him?"

"Positive, we talked for a couple minutes before I met up with my cousin."

"Well, why didn't you tell me?" I grumbled

"Girl I thought you knew! I'm not arguing with you, here's my phone, give him a call, I'm sure he didn't just fly all the way down here for Starbucks" Maddy winked

"I guess you're right."

I scrolled through Maddy's contacts till I found "Thor Odinson." I tapped on his number, and pressed "Call." What the heck is Uncle Thor gonna think about this…

* * * * *

"BROTHER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? You are the most irresponsible, the most reckless, the MOST untrustworthy…" Thor was furious. Usually, he tried to keep a low profile when he visited Midgard (his height, build, and hair alone were enough to draw attention) and Thor didn't like to bring any more attention than necessary. But tonight though, caution was tossed to the wind. Here he was, Loki, the god of mischief, his younger brother; who temporarily brought New York City to its knees, standing in the middle of Thor's hotel room in Y/H/T. Loki smirked, sometimes seeing his brother irrationally angry, humored him.

"Oh spare me your speech, brother" Loki spat "You know exactly why I'm here."

"Oh, yes, remind me, Loki, who was it that released these savage beasts into Midgard again? Gave them access to all the realms behind Heimdall's back?"

Loki flinched. He had repented incessantly since the attack on New York. Even though he knew it would take time to be forgiven entirely, he thought maybe Thor would be the first to forgive him. Even though Thor's words stung, Loki hid his feelings behind a facade or hubris.

"If you want to play that game, Thor, remind me, who has a secret Midgarian family that they've grown close to and vowed to protect, well—except for tonight" Loki took pride in watching his brother's face distort with every word he spoke.

"How do you know about that?!"

"Oh brother, you underestimate me far too much."

Thor was slack-jawed. He was sworn to absolute secrecy, about the family he cared for, particularly Y/N. After Sigrún's death, Thor did everything he could to keep that small, Midgardian family safe. Except for today, which Loki pointed out; and that tormented Thor to his core.

Thor sat at the foot of his bed and placed his head between his hands, grabbing the pieces of his hair b y his temples. Even though Thor would act scornful toward Loki, sometimes, without a second thought, Loki almost felt remorseful for making his brother feel the same. The fights between the brothers became more frequent after Odin inadvertently pitted the brothers against each other with his secrecy and favoritism, and even more so since New York. Neither of them knew if things would ever be the same again, but for now, they both had sweet moments between arguments. Loki came by his brother on the bed, timidly, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," Loki said, almost inaudibly.

After a long silence between them both, Thor finally spoke: "How did you find out?"

Loki chuckled, "I was there, brother. You did pick the library to discuss everything with Sigrún, after all."

Thor exhaled in slight annoyance. "It was rather foolish of me to speak there if I wished to keep anything from you." Thor gave his brother a playful nudge.

"So, you know everything then, I assume?" Loki nodded.

"Well, either way, brother, you have been forbidden to come back to Midgard until I permitted it. This is my responsibility, not yours, not after every mess I've had to clean up of yours."

The kind moment between the brothers had now vanished. Loki, enraged, stood up and turned to face Thor, fists clenched and nostrils flared.

"You cannot let me just have this one victory brother, one victory! No, you have to parade yourself the hero in every situation, you save the world one time with the Avengers, and now you expected the floor you walk on the be worshipped, I will not yield to such vanity."

Thor scowled at his brother and rose to meet him at eye level. "You arrogant fool. I should have made sure the key to your cell was destroyed, never allowing you to be set free."

Loki snickered. "I'm arrogant? Tell me, where is Y/N? You didn't save her from her evening visitors, and now you don't even know if she still breaths. Come now, who is really the arrogant ass in this scenario."

Thor had been trying all night to get ahold of Y/N, but with no luck. His calls and texts were left unanswered which worried him immensely, he even went to Y/N's house after everything happened and only found the body of Surtur's unfortunate victim and the home slightly ransacked. Thor searched the house for Y/N before eventually cleared out the corpse and closing the door behind him. He continued his attempts of contacting Y/N until he reached his hotel room where he found Loki waiting for him.

"Well if you know where she is Loki I would love to know, maybe make yourself useful for once."

"I am just like you brother, I do not know. Although, I am not entirely like you, because I was able to warn her of the attack—"

"LISTEN LOKI—" Thor shouted, but was immediately interrupted by Thor's loud ringtone. He turned his phone to full volume to not miss Y/N if she was to call.

Both the brothers hushed as Thor looked at his phone screen and saw the name Your Other Favorite, the name Maddy playfully gave her contact name in Thor's phone. Maddy, being extremely close to Y/N made her, by proximity, close to Thor as well.

"Who is that?" Loki questioned

"It's Y/N friend, Maddy."

"Well I'd answer that call brother, perhaps she knows where Y/N is."

Thor speedily answered his phone. "Maddy? Do you know where Y/N is? I've been looking for her—"

"Uncle Thor it's me! I'm ok!" Thor heard Y/N through the phone "I'm calling you from Maddy's phone because I left my phone at my house."

Thor sighed in relief and looked at his brother Loki who had moved to the coffee table in the hotel room and was glancing at the mundane bobbles and hotel decor.

"Why were you looking for me Uncle Thor?"

"I-uh-well, I wanted to tell you I was in town and say hello." Thor clumsily lied. Loki laughed from the other side of the room which caused Thor to place his hand over the speaker of his phone, "Well I'm sorry if lying does not come naturally to me as it does to you, Loki."

"Oh, ok, well I'm glad you're in town, I really need to talk to you as soon as possible. Can you come to Maddy's house so we can talk?"

"Yes, I will be there soon."

"Great see you there, love you, Uncle Thor!"

"Love you, my favorite and my other favorite." Thor's smile could be felt through the phone. Even though Thor could be abrasive to Loki, Thor was nothing but a fantastic Uncle to Y/N. Loki knew that and envied their closeness even more. Y/N and Thor said their goodbyes and Thor began to get ready to leave the hotel.

"Looks like you have a lot of explaining to do," Loki stated.

"All I can hope for at this point is that she knows very little."

Loki aggressively grabbed his brother's shoulder. "Well, either way, I hope you become a better liar before you talk to her again." Thor pushed Loki off and made his way to Maddy's house.

#loki fanfic #loki x reader #loki x you #loki #loki fandom #marvel #avengers #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki fic #loki friggason #mcu #marvel mcu

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