#need to talk to a dream specialist see what the fuck is going on. also why are these the only dreams i even kind of remember

[macroglossus]

nightmare of the day was that i was will graham and hannibal lecter was chasing me like a wild animal through what i can only guess was a walmart supercenter

[demigoddaughterofhermes]

THOUGHTS on percy jackson and the olympians episode 1

1) opening narration "don't say i didn't warn you"- sounds more sad than i've always read it, i read it as angry

2) an artist!

3) was that mythomagic the game??

4) i would die for chiron, the statue of perseus was definitely on that work sheet on purpose; the handover of riptide???

5) "not everyone who looks like a hero is a hero and not everyone who looks like a monster is a monster" sally jackson i love you

6) ngl nancy saying "mommy's right here" is definitely the kind of thing that happened in real life

7) grover is an icon and i love him- psychoanalyze the bully; i love the way they pick from each others sandwiches

8) the mist so cute and quirky, i would definitely have lost my mind if that's how it happened to me. i love that there's more witnesses to it- but i kind of wish we got that epic first swing

9) "i didn't touch nancy" technically he's not lying; NOOOO i know why he's doing it but grover selling percy out of such a betrayal but i do love chiron telling percy without indirectly telling percy

10) it feels like chiron is quickly discovering that his usual tactics for supporting students won't work for percy

11) i hate gabe but this sarcastic back and forth is fucking gold

12) percy just absolutely hitting the verge of breaking down as soon as he sees his mom, me absolutely sobbing; chiron absolutely filled sally in on what really happened

i fucking love sally jackson- she is why percy is the way he is, i would kill and die for her too

13) nightmare scene first reaction: hey this is horrifying; really selling the bit that percy's dreams fucking suck

sally really said don't talk about my kid like that

14) she's putting it alll together, and i'm sure chiron told her what happened but she's also hoping she can keep him safe for just a little while longer

15) i LOVE percy's face of "huh what??" iconic and can't wait to see more of it

i'll really love that sally is the one getting to tell percy all of this- i feel so bad for both of them

16) percy saying there's no such thing as monsters

again, grover is ICONIC "so the important thing is not to panic" and "i'm actually 24"

17) i love how much more fast paced it is; i love percy flat out going "is that the minotaur??" super casually

i just realized how much grover must actually be beating himself up, bc not only did his best friend almsot get killed, but his best friends MOM is (for all intents and purposes) dead

"you're gonna need to be brave now" I AM SOBBING SCREAMING- this whole little scene is the best thing i've seen in years

sally is the bravest of us all- percy definitely thinks anyone could be poseidon's son, but being sally jackson's son is the specialist thing anyone on earth could be

18) the raw rage when sally turns to dust- his bravery and "head empty no thoughts, time to fight to the death" energy is amazing

we saw riptide return to his pocket

HE MUST BE THE ONE

WE'VE BEEN EXPECTING YOU

the credits and the title sequence??? *chefs kiss* that was amazing and iconic and i love it- onto episode twoooooo

[starlightiing]

Tagged by: @williams-spare-chassis

Do you make your bed?

No. Absolutely not. I hate making beds.

Favourite number?

47. I also enjoy 27, 77, 87, 97...I think that's it.

What's your job?

My title is administrative assistant but I am working on getting it changed to Claims Specialist :))))

If you could go back to school, would you?

Fuck no. Like, I would consider it maybe if I was chasing my dream job but at this point in my life that is not possible, so no.

Can you parallel park?

Can I? Yes. Am I good at it? Ehhh, debatable. I'm decent. I don't ever need to do it though.

Do you think aliens are real?

Of course. How could anyone think we are alone in a universe so big?

Can you drive a manual car?

No, but looking to learn soon.

Guilty Pleasures?

Dinosaurs. Obsessed with them. Not in a heehee dinosaurs are cool way either. I see bone casts in museums and I have been spotted sitting on the floor crying over them before. I do extensive research in my spare time. I've taken online courses in paleontology. Sue me.

Tattoos?

Yeah, six. Peter Pan on my right shoulder, BB8 R2D2 and C3PO on my left shoulder, a turtle on my foot, mickey and minnie on my wrist, simba on my chest, and then one down my forearm that matches my sister and my mama's tattoos <3

Favourite Colour?

Light pastel baby pink!

Favourtie type of music?

I like pop rock and alternative.

Do you like puzzles?

Yes

Favourite childhood sport?

I played tennis as a child but I watched NASCAR and american football and hockey the most.

Do you talk to yourself?

Full blown conversations.

Tea or coffee?

Coffee, iced or cold in some way. I do not like hot coffee. In fact, when I have Tea, its usually also iced.

First thing you wanted to be when growing up?

Doctor or Paleontologist.

What movies do you adore?

Inception, Sunshine, The Jurassic Parks/Worlds, Disney movies (esp Ratatouille, Aladdin, Cars, Tangled, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan...), The Martian, -- I really have a LOT of movies I love so I should stop there lol.

tagging: (no pressure) @alex-kresnik @scrappyracers @abovecalamity @bun-nuit @landoisokay

@watercolor-hearts @chilling-seavey @weegreenbean @estebunny

@alpinegasly @oconist @pinkcarsupremacy @osh-my-prince

and literally whoever else. I always just pick like a handful of people and then go from there but honestly I want everyone to do it who sees it and wants to do it. Say I tagged you.

[justmenoworries]

Lore Olympus Episode 239 Spoilers

Okay, something positive first. Credit where it's due, the new designs shown in this episode slapped. I really liked Morpheus' new look, Persephone's Dream Realm dress and haircut and holy shit do I adore Erebos! (At least I think that at the end was supposed to be Erebos. It seems likely, since they show up in the flashback right after Persephone ate the pomegranate.)

Aaand, that's it for posititivy! Back to our usual program!

This whole episode seemed extremely rushed. Like, one episode prior we were making fun of Leuce for making the moves on Hades (yikes, btw) and now suddenly it's all "By the way, we found a way to explore the Dream Realm, we have no real idea how anything works or if it's dangerous or what the consequences would be if something were to go wrong, but we're just gonna send the Queen of the Underworld right in with no prep or practice runs whatsoever."

This all looks so poorly thought-out from Persephone's side.

Like, I'm glad we're finally doing something about Kronos and the child deity he's holding hostage, but this really needed some more build-up. Scenes of Morpheus training, Persephone consulting several specialists inculding Hecate on how they should utilize this, maybe even discussing failsafes for an emergency, like, oh, I don't know, Kronos noticing the fertility goddess he's been after is in his head and trying to take advantage of that by pulling a hostile takeover???

Quick question, why couldn't both Hades and Persephone go into the Dream Realm? When you're exploring unknown, possibly hostile territory, isn't it better to move in a group, so you can have each others' backs? It would also be an opportunity to show us that hxp are a power couple that work well together, instead of just having them tell us that's the case. But nah, that would take time away from the story once again drooling over how oh-so-special Persephone is.

God, Hecate's exposition dump was painful.

"As you know" is a widely mocked stock phrase for a reason. If the person you're talking to already knows what you're going to say, then why say it? You're basically admitting that you failed to convey the following information to the audience organically, so you're just gonna have a character talk to the camera for the next twenty minutes.

I'm also fairly certain this is the first time we've heard of this mysterious "interloper" who could be sabotaging/has sabotaged trips to the Dream Realm. Is that just their term for the child? That's kinda weird. If the child is reaching out through dreams, that's not them interloping, that's more them sending out a call for help, no?

Seeing Persephone have a positive memory of Demeter was sweet, but of course they immediately had to undercut it by switching to a memory of her and Hades doing it. And naturally that's the memory she has a hard time letting go of to move one, not the one with her loving mother whom she recently had a fight with. Makes total sense.

Gotta love how an ancient being like Kronos uses terms like "dumb fucking bitch" for insults. Did somebody just take an urban dictionary to Kronos's cell every view centuries, so he could stay up-to-date on the slang?

[team7-headquarter]

The most frustrating thing about Naruto is that a bunch of female characters have complexity, they feel human, their qualities are amazing without feeling like they have all the same copy and paste background, they have potential.

But then they have simply little development :((((

All that he needed was there. Right there. That's why every implication about the kunoichis of Naruto makes me go utterly insane.

⠀

Like fuck, I wanted to know more about Kurenai. Wanted to see more of her professionally as a genjutsu specialist, but also see her as a mom, 'cause not many moms in Naruto get to survive and actually appear on the present plot.

Shizune is a freaking poison specialist!!!! I bet she learned a lot through seeing the consequences of the war that killed Dan, through seeing Tsunade suffering in real time, through traveling the world. I wanted to see some of her as an independent women: how was she on her early years, when she started training on medical ninjutsu?

And that's just naming two of the best examples from Konoha, because you have entire hidden villages and nations to talk about.

Just look at how well it worked for characters like Tsunade or Konan. Exploring their backstories and motivations and emotions lead to amazing scenes and moments in the manga. Hell, I still cry when I remember Konan and the multiple Tsunade big moments give me chills every time.

⠀

And there's so much more. Hinata and Hanabi dynamic as sisters of the Hyuuga clan. Temari and he political involvement. Ino and Sakura's rivalry that grew into an impressive partnership and an even more cool friendship. The fact Tenten should have had her own sensei, because I'm convinced she would not give up on being the best kunoichi. What about the women jinchurikis, what about the women of the Konoha clans? I want to see more of Mikoto as a kunoichi, more of Kushina helping Minato prepare himself to be Hokage because that was her dream too! Give me young Mei Terumi, more of young Tsunade, c'mon!!!!!!

[nathank77]

8/31/24

10:27 a.m Added to significantly 11:05 a.m

Anyways now that I highlighted that dream bc I feel it was very significant. They didn't find the bacteria for a uti.... maybe I have a kidney stone I'm passing? Idk.

My genitals were feeling a burning sensation. I def had a little pain urinating a few times yesterday. I never took the antibiotics. I might go to the ER today or tomorrow.

The burning sensation could be from the new soap. The pain while urinating idk. All I know is the last time my genitals felt a burn I had a uti..

I want to complain of pain in my kidneys and get a scan of my whole urinary tract. It could take a month for my PCP to see me, and send me to a specialist.

I don't really have symptoms of a uti and or kidney stone minus those two things...

But yea. Why would I get that sensation two different times in a month and once was a uti and the other time idk what it is.

I didn't use the new soap earlier this month. I know that much.

I do have difficulty passing urine sometimes recently. And uti can often be confused with kidney stones. I drink a lot of caffeine... a lot in the morning bc I'm groggy from xanax.

I don't really want to go to the ER. But this experience taught me one thing:

1) Urgent care isn't useful. I could have started that antibiotic (became resistant to it bc of my mrsa) found out on the third day of treatment that I didn't need the antibiotic right as I finished it bc I had a 3 day course.

-also a 3 day course builds resistance per some research and I'm sure she only gave me a 3 day course bc IM TRANS AND SHE HATED ME ONCE I SAID THAT I COULD SEE IT IN HER EYES.

- She even said we have a self cleaning oven. FUCK YOU CUNT THERE IS NO WE. IM NOT A GIRL YOU FUCKING CUNT. IM INTERSEXED.

- urgent care the test results for anything that isn't an emergency takes days.

-the er I would have had my results back before i left. I would have had my whole urinary tract scanned and found out if anything was wrong that day.

- I'm not going to urgent care anymore. Growing up in Meriden I learned to go to urgent care If you don't want to sit in the waiting room of the er for 12 hours.

-in my current town, the er never has more than a hour wait and I'd say actually a 20 minutes wait. And everything gets tested and results gets pulled ASAP.

-I'm glad despite the trauma that I said I was trans bc she was going to give me cipro... and I was reading about cipro and it's a rather dangerous antibiotic..... but it's useful for penile uti bc they can spread to the prostate... but it's actually banned in certian countries bc of neurological issues caused by side effects...

- if I go to the er I can talk about anitboditics assuming I need them now that I am knowledgeable about them... I want one I've already taken such as amoxcilian. Or Bactrim.

- and if I go to the er I won't potentially build resistant to an antibiotic bc I take it when I don't need to....... it's really dangerous when you have MRSA. I've been taking antibiotics for most of my life and MRSA kills you eventually from antibiotics resistance. So I made the right call.

- from now on I'm going to the ER. Meriden taught me the ER was a day trip..... it's not in my town. And from here on out I won't tell providers I'm trans. Now that I have antibiotics knowledge. Cause she recommended cipro bc it's good for penile utis... and if I had taken it I could have suffered serious side effects and it wouldn't have helped.

- if I have to admit I'm trans, I'm going to say it like this, "I'm trans, I don't have bottom surgery (I said it like this but left out this part) I don't want to hear the word vagina, or any female identifying words, as it's triggering and disrespectful to my entire identity and my genitals are different than a biological female but closer to female than male."

- I'll say, "I've had too many providers say these words to me when they found out I'm trans and it's disrespectful to my entire identity and I'm telling you I'm trans only bc it's relevant to my issue and my treatment and I want to be treated with respect. If you must use words that will trigger me say uterus or words that identify internal organs that may have issues when you get the test results as I understand using some of these words when needed. But please don't start saying vagina 10 times bc it happens almost everytime and this is a mutual respect environment and it's not respectful. So please take the knowledge I provides you with and help me. And please treat me with respect."

- what's disgusting is everytime I look for a therapist I have to give them this lecture but a little differently. Everytime I look for a Dr I have to give them a lecture. When the fuck is safe zone training going to be a thing. A real thing. What do you call a transguys additional hole? Not a vagina. It's called the front hole..genitals can be used in exchange for vagina... and I get if say I have a Cyst in my uterus why you got to say that but everything else can be avoided!

I'm sick of being disrespected. When I went to a pcp before I found mine once she found out I was trans vagina started pouring out of her mouth. She said it like 15 times bc they want to make you feel female.

When I saw a therapist once she asked me, "so you were born female?" 3 or 4 times to make me feel female. And then she asked me my birth name. And I refused to tell her.

- when I went to urgent care, the other day vagina just started pouring out of her mouth and female and we, we, we like I'm the same as her. She asked me if I had a vagina like 3 times. I didn't even answer her. If I say I don't have bottom surgery. That means that I don't have a cis penis you fucking cunt. I won't fucking answer that question bc I don't identify with having a vagina bc I have intersexed parts.

I'm just so sick of dealing with it.

Idk if I'm going to the er but part of me thinks it's a good idea to get a prompt scan but I'm worried I'll be called a female in as many ways as they can possibly get away with. And giving a lecture to get treated with respect is very tiresome. It makes seeking care seem well pointless and more damaging than helpful bc..... it hurts your fucking soul. To be stuck in a powerless position and be forced to listen. This isn't a friend who you can block. This is a Dr pateint relationship and you need their help.

What can you do? Deal with disrespect or deal with medical complications.

[understandableparadox]

RANDOMIZED?! bottom of the barrel isekai review:

holy shit a modifier!? thats right, im going to start hitting the randomized button on the isekai listings, and now matter what turns up (barring notable exceptions). Today's offering:

Thats right we are waltzing back into ball room hell! Today title is "I used to be a disqualified daughter of the duke."

now lets go through the basic story.

Lets say hi and hello to our poor dear girl Claire, the main protagonist who is currently getting cold shouldered by her boyfriend the crown prince because ill be fucked if we don't ram ourselves dick first into the cliches.

anyways we cant focus on that because we need to talk politics. oops did i say politics, i mean family relations!

as shown, magic and women are closely tied together in this story, claire unfortunately sucks at magic while her sister, charlotte is Great at magic. they are great sisters and their relationship should not be called into question because the protagonist has not called it into question at all.

"hey dox, why aren't you telling us more about claire?"

*shoots you shoots you shoots you shoots you shoots you, serves you some soup, shoots you shoots you shoots you shoots you*

Thats a great question honey bee, that's because claire is Nothing. if i were to lunge out and bite the air, i would taste more in those vibrating molecules and stray traces of gaseous elements then i ever will from whatever void creature claire is.

You see, the conceit of this manga is that it is Cliche. everything you will ready from this title will run to the next cliche instead of breaking away to a story the author may for some odd reason want to share with us. instead of plot we are assaulted with new characters, new ideas, new Things that you have been served before on better platters and with kinder smiles.

but lets not be negative, lets get going.

oh did i say claire and charlotte are good sisters? i mean they are not, and charlotte preforms a heel turn out of nowhere and now we are expected to hate her without getting a second to understand her actions in any capacity.

charlotte has actually been talking mad shit, saying claire is actually a super duper big meanie that is constantly bullying her dear doe eyed lil sister. which of course everyone immediately believes with no hesitation because we are supposed to hate these people uncritically. if they had any more then the scant brain cells required to lift their arms up so their underpaid servants dreaming of stuffing their heads into a guillotine, why we wouldn't have a story now would we?

anyways instead of clearing the air and making it clear to everyone that this is not the case, she cuts her hair to show that she is doing something brave and scary then decides to exile herself immediately because i guess the author couldn't be fucked to draw a decent ball room scene so she could get kicked out.

she takes a nap first to remind everyone that this is actually an isekai and that claire isn't actually the main character but a side character which leads to This Wild Panal later. anyways she gets prophetic dreams about her and her gal pal talking about the game which just so happens to give us vary important plot points.

hey wait a god damn second, ive been talking for five minutes and we aren't surrounded by soft eyed, understanding and blindly loyal anime boys! this wont do at all, this is a god damn outrage!

ah there we go, now we can go back to talking about nothing. the next five chapters can be summed up thusly:

claire is part of a conspiracy, she is the lost princess of a island kingdom thats also supposed to be lost but its fully inhabited and has a school and other such creature comforts... anyways the game has a secret event if you bring claire to the kingdom and have her redo her magic test and oh my stars it looks like shes a super duper secret specialist girl that the gods love! wow, insane, how ever do they come up with all of this?

got all that? did it sound exciting? Its not. they talk through most of this, teleport through even more and only show scant scenes of scintillating light to show shit. its like saw dust for the eyes, the once beautiful reduced down to something so....Eh.

also i ran through that because the last couble of chapters made me fucking blow my casket on discord and now you get to read my rant. anyways we now know that claire is the super secret girl of destiny and oops the pretty boy who follows her around like a puppy is the crown prince of another kingdom that is described to be 10 years ahead of the other kingdom. so i guess she lost absolutely nothing.

she decides that she needs to be Strong and independent so she goes to fantasy hello work, here is where i got scared that it was just a tea shop. relief took me as i realized oh, she was going to be a tutor! thats fine, thats dandy right?

WRONG, SHE NEVER FINISHED HIGHSCHOOL, SHE HAS TO GO BACK TO FUCKING SCHOOL ON THE NEW ISLAND, SHE HAS TO ASK THE PARENTS OF THE KID TO LET HER GO TO SCHOOL

SHE HAS TO DO CLASS BEFORE SHE EVER SEES THIS KID, WE LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS FUCKING SCHOOL THEN WE EVER DO THIS FUCKING CHILD AND HER PARENTS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE NOVUEA RICHE TYPES. WHY DOES THE CHILD NEED A TUTOR? WHAT GRADES IS SHE FAILING AT?

AH DONT FUCKING WORRY ABOUT IT, WE ALREADY KNOW THAT CLAIR IS A WONDERFUL TEACHER! AND SHE IS SO GOD DAMN BUETIFUL AND PRETTY AND SMART AND FUNNY, GOD CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING HER? SO GOD DAMN EFFORTLESS THAT SHE DOSENT EVEN NEED A FOUR YEAR TEACHING DEGREE TO HANDLE THIS POOR CHILDS WOES!

WHAT ADVANCED TOPICS COULD CLAIRE IN HER INFINATE DROP OUT NO CHILD CARE TRAINING ASS HAVE??? WILL SHE PROVIDE THIS CHILD WHO IS MORE LIKELY THEN NOT IN FUCKING GRADE SCHOOL THE ESSENTIAL MATHMATICAL SKILLS SHE WILL NEED AS A NOBLE WOMEN? WILL SHE IMPART ONTO HER THE VAST BREDTH OF KNOWLADGE NEEDED TO PARTAKE IN POLITICS BOTH IN COUNTRY AND ABROAD!?

"AH FUCK IT, WHY DONT YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN TIMMY?" SHE HAS NOTHING PREPARED, SHE HAS NOTHING READY FOR ANY KIND OF LESSON PLAN, WHY DID THOSE FUCKING TROUTS HIRE HER IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

HJAHAHAHAHAHA, OF FUCKING COURSE, OF COURSE! I CANNOT ESCAPE, I CANNOT FIND SOLACE OR REFUGE, IT ALL COMES BACK TO TEA! OH GOD WHO ART IN HEAVEN, BOIL ME, BOIL ME IN EARL GRAY AND ALLOW ME THE SANTIFICATION THAT CAN ONLY COMES WITH THE SKALD OF PURIFYING WATER FOR I AM NOT SINLESS, I FORGET THAT EVERY SINGLE FUCKING ISEKAI LIKE THIS IS FUCKING ***HORNY*** FOR TEA, IT IS A FETISH BEYOND THE DEPTH OF DEPRAVITY WE CAN ONLY HOPE WE CAN AVOID WITNESSING. IT ALL COMES BACK TO THE FUCKJING GALLONS OF TEA THAT MUST BE CONSUMED AND IMBIBED, YES LITTLE GIRL, YOU MUST BE INDOCTIRNATED. WHAT SCHOOLING CAN YOU POSSIBLY HOPE TO LEARN IF YOU CANNOT PARTICIPATE IN THE MOST SACRED ACTIVITY, THE FUCKING TEA PARTY?!

i need to stop... oh, she stops a tornado after this but its so god damn boreing, its a cloudy day that everyone feels werid about, she says a lil diddy and it disappers with some light

apperently its a magical tornado.

then we get a chapter chunk thats meant to make you hate her sister more but christ o maily do you fucking care?

2/10, dont read this.

[rupsmorge]

Hold Me, Please?

Spencer Reid x Gn! Reader

Summary: Spencer doesn't realize reader's rought day at work is the cause of their quietness. So being the genius he is, he starts spewing facts just to be inturpted by a sad reader who wants cuddles asap.

Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

cw: hospital, discussion childhood cancer, death in childhood (lightly skimmed over), chronic fatigue & pain, cursing, case talk (made up case)

an: hi! this is my first fanfic so it's probably gonna be rough lol. My y/n's will most likely all have a chronic illness or disablity of some kind and a lot will mention childhood cancer or working in a hospital. Im disabled and rarely see y/n with them. Also my dream job is to be an oncology childlife specialist. anyways have fun & pls be nice to me :D

Spencer didn't think twice about you being quiet after coming home from work. He knew how fatigued you were after working long hours at the children's hospital. What he didn't know is that your silence wasn't because of fatigue or pain, but because today was bad. In fact, bad didn't even cover it- today was hell. Being a Child Life Specialist on the oncology floor had it's perks but it also has some rough downfalls. The hardest two are having newly diagnosed kids- because you know the grueling treatment they're about to experience- and the kids who's lives that have ended too early. Today, oh lordy, today seemed to be a shit show of both. There were 3 freshly diagnosed kids and one passing all in 10 hours. Its a lot to process and recover from and one way you cope is by become quiet.

Some days you just don't feel like talking. It's not always because you're exhausted or grieving, you just aren't in the mood for speaking. So it's not Spencer's fault for misinterpreting your silence.

As soon as you changed clothes and walked into the kitchen, Reid started to tell you all the new facts he learned from a mushroom documentary he watched. He followed you to the breakfast bar, leaning against it as he talked while simultaneously watching you make a warm cup of tea.

You see, today was a rare day Spencer had off. He'd been on a case in Maine that dealt with mushrooms being used in helping with decomposition. To say the least, the unsub was not a fun guy (fungi, get it? lmao I'm dumb) and the team needed a well deserved break.

And while you usually, almost always, love his factual rambles, all you wanted was for him to be quietly cuddling with you on couch as you watch Little Shop of Horrors. Being in his arms was both of you twos favorite thing. He loved to play with your hair as he held onto you while you played with the side seam of his shirt absentmindedly.

"I know you say it as a joke but I don't think we can say 'People eat dead mushrooms, mushrooms eat dead people,' anymore. The case really ruined it. Did you kn-"

You probably didn't know but at the moment you didn't care so you interrupted him- "Spencer, I love you. But please just shut up for a minute and hold me. Please?"

Wide eyed, Spencer immediately realized why you had been so quiet and moppey; today was a "bad one". "It was a bad day wasn't it? I'm sorry, love. Come on, let go snuggle."

And with that being said, he grabbed a hold of your hand and dragged you to the couch. Spencer layed down first, then pulled you on top of him, knowing you liked to lay your head on his chest. The sound of his heart's steady beat always calms you down. Once all snuggled down and comfy you opened up.

"Today was awful, Spence. So many new commers, so many families are having their lives flipped upside down. But we also lost a kiddo today. I know I can't tell you much cause of HIPPA but, god Spencer, I'm so fucking tired of seeing cancer take these sweet, innocent souls."

As you started to cry a little, Spencer lightly traced your arms up and down with his fingers. "I know you do bubs. I'm so sorry... How about we order some Mexican food and watch your favorite musical? Try to get your mind off of it?"

"That sounds perfect. Thank you, bubba. I love you and I'm sorry I told you to shut up."

Spencer lightly laughed at your comment "it's okay. I probably would of too if I were in your shoes. I love you."

You kissed him softly and quickly on the lips then nuzzled into the crook of his neck just as Spencer started the movie. Maybe today could be a little better than before, because in Spencer's arms everything seemed to be okay again.

[qqueenofhades]

Do you really hate this county? Or were you just ranting?

Sigh. I debated whether or not to answer this, since I usually keep the real-life/politics/depressing current events to a relative minimum on this blog, except when I really can't avoid ranting about it. But I have some things to get off my chest, it seems, and you did ask. So.

The thing is, any American with a single modicum of genuine historical consciousness knows that despite all the triumphalist mythology about Pulling Up By Our Bootstraps and the American Dream and etc, this country was founded and built on the massive and systematic exploitation and extermination of Black and Indigenous people. And now, when we are barely (400 years later!!!) getting to a point of acknowledging that in a widespread way, oh my god the screaming. I'm so sick of the American right wing I could spit for so many reasons, not least of which is the increasingly reductive and reactive attempts to put the genie back in the bottle and set up hysterical boogeymen about how Teaching Your Children Critical Race Theory is the end of all things. They have forfeited all pretense of being a real governing party; remember how their only platform at the 2020 RNC was "support whatever Trump says?" They have devolved to the point where the cruelty IS the point, to everyone who doesn't fit the nakedly white supremacist mold. They don't have anything to do aside from attempt to usher in actual, literal, dictionary-definition-of-fascism and sponsor armed revolts against the peaceful transfer of power.

That is fucking exhausting to be aware of all the time, especially with the knowledge that if we miss a single election cycle -- which is exceptionally easy to do with the way the Democratic electorate needs to be wooed and courted and herded like cats every single time, rather than just getting their asses to the polls and voting to keep Nazis out of office -- they will be right back in power again. If Manchin and Sinema don't get over their poseur pearl-clutching and either nuke the filibuster or carve out an exception for voting rights, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is never going to get passed, no matter how many boilerplate appeals the Democratic leadership makes on Twitter. In which case, the 2022 midterms are going to give us Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House (I threw up in my mouth a little typing that) and right back to the Mitch McConnell Obstruction Power Hour in the Senate. The Online Left (TM) will then blame the Democrats for not doing more to stop them. These are, of course, the same people who refused to vote for Hillary Clinton out of precious moral purity reasons in 2016, handed the election to Trump, and now like to complain when the Trump-stacked Supreme Court reliably churns out terrible decisions. Gee, it's almost like elections have consequences!!

Aside from my exasperation with the death-cult right-wing fascists and the Online Left (TM), I am sick and tired of how forty years of "trickle-down" Reaganomics has created a world where billionaires can just fly to space for the fun of it, while the rest of America (and the world) is even more sick, poor, overheated, economically deprived, and unable to survive the biggest public health crisis in a century, even if half the elected leadership wasn't actively trying to sabotage it. Did you know that half of American workers can't even afford a one-bedroom apartment? Plus the obvious scandal that is race relations, health care, paid leave, the education system (or lack thereof), etc etc. I'm so tired of this America Is The Greatest Country in the World mindless jingoistic catchphrasing. We are an empire in the late stages of collapse and it's not going to be pretty for anyone. We have been poisoned on sociopathic-libertarian-selfishness-disguised-as-Freedom ideology for so long that that's all there is left. We have become a country of idiots who believe everything their idiot friends post on social media, but in a very real sense, it's not directly those individuals' fault. How could they, when they have been very deliberately cultivated into that mindset and stripped of critical thinking skills, to serve a noxious combination of money, power, and ideology?

I am tired of the fact that I have become so drained of empathy that when I see news about more people who refused to get the vaccine predictably dying of COVID, my reaction is "eh, whatever, they kind of deserved it." I KNOW that is not a good mindset to have, and I am doing my best to maintain my personal attempts to be kind to those I meet and to do my small part to make the world better. I know these are human beings who believed what they were told by people that they (for whatever reason) thought knew better than them, and that they are part of someone's family, they had loved ones, etc. But I just can't summon up the will to give a single damn about them (I'm keeping a bingo card of right-wing anti-vax radio hosts who die of COVID and every time it's like, "Alexa, play Another One Bites The Dust.") The course that the pandemic took in 21st-century America was not preordained or inevitable. It was (and continues to be) drastically mismanaged for cynical political reasons, and the legacy of the Former Guy continues to poison any attempts to bring it under control or convince people to get a goddamn vaccine. We now have over 100,000 patients hospitalized with COVID across the country -- more than last summer, when the vaccines weren't available.

I have been open about my fury about the devaluation of the humanities and other critical thinking skills, about the fact that as an academic in this field, my chances of getting a full-time job for which I have trained extensively and acquired a specialist PhD are... very low. I am tired of the fact that Americans have been encouraged to believe whatever bullshit they fucking please, regardless of whether it is remotely true, and told that any attempt to correct them is "anti-freedom." I am tired of how little the education system functions in a useful way at all -- not necessarily due to the fault of teachers, who have to work with what they're given, and who are basically heroes struggling stubbornly along in a profession that actively hates them, but because of relentless under-funding, political interference, and furious attempts, as discussed above, to keep white America safely in the dark about its actual history. I am tired of the fact that grade school education basically relies on passing the right standardized tests, the end. I am tired of the implication that the truth is too scary or "un-American" to handle. I am tired. Tired.

I know as well that "America" is not synonymous in all cases with "capitalist imperialist white-supremacist corporate death cult." This is still the most diverse country in the world. "America" is not just rich white middle-aged Republicans. "America" involves a ton of people of color, women, LGBTQ people, Muslims, Jews, Christians of good will (I have a whole other rant on how American Christianity as a whole has yielded all pretense of being any sort of a principled moral opposition), white allies, etc etc. all trying to make a better world. The blue, highly vaccinated, Biden-winning states and counties are leading the economic recovery and enacting all kinds of progressive-wishlist dream policies. We DID get rid of the Orange One via the electoral process and avert fascism at the ballot box, which is almost unheard-of, historically speaking. But because, as also discussed above, certain elements of the Democratic electorate need to fall in love with a candidate every single time or threaten to withhold their vote to punish the rest of the country for not being Progressive Enough, these gains are constantly fragile and at risk of being undone in the next electoral cycle. Yes, the existing system is a crock of shit. But it's what we've got right now, and the other alternative is open fascism, which we all got a terrifying taste of over the last four years. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to go back.

So... I don't know. I don't know if that stacks up to hate. I do hate almost everything about what this country currently is, structurally speaking, but I recognize that is not identical with the many people who still live here and are trying to do their best, including my friends, family, and myself. I am exhausted by the fact that as an older millennial, I am expected to survive multiple cataclysmic economic crashes, a planet that is literally boiling alive, a barely functional political system run on black cash, lies, and xenophobia, a total lack of critical thinking skills, renewed assaults on women/queer people/POC/etc, and somehow feel like I'm confident or prepared for the future. Not all these problems are only America's fault alone. The West as a whole bears huge responsibility for the current clusterfuck that the world is in, for many reasons, and so do some non-Western countries. But there is no denying that many of these problems have ultimate American roots. See how the ongoing fad for right-wing authoritarian strongmen around the world has them modeling themselves openly on Trump (like Brazil's lunatic president, Jair Bolsonaro, who talks all the time about how Trump is his political role model). See what's going on in Afghanistan right now. Etc. etc.

Anyway. I am very, very tired. There you have it.

[tombstone-pisa]

blankshipping reunion thoughts

I usually write their reunion as Emmet finding Ingo but there's honestly something really tasty about them being reunited by pure chance. So here's some stuff for that!

Emmet searches for Ingo for years. He uses up most of his savings chasing leads that go nowhere. Eventually, he's told that if he doesn't return to his place as a subway boss the city will have no choice but to shut the battle subway down. He can't bare the thought of Ingo coming home to find that the subway failed and so he goes back.

Since Arceus hates Emmet, it's only when he stops searching actively that Ingo actually reappears. An employee reports to Emmet that there's a strange light coming from one of the closed tunnels - the same one that Ingo disappeared into. And Emmet shows up and finds a confused, disheveled Ingo. Initially, he thinks he's hallucinating. Then the weird pokemon (is that a sneasel??) accompanying Ingo starts growling at him.

Ingo... doesn't quite recognize him. Emmet can't move, can barely breathe as Ingo approaches. When Emmet doesn't flinch away, Ingo reaches up and cups his face. Turns his head left and right. And then says (in the most heartbroken tone that Emmet has ever heard from him) that Emmet is the man who he's been dreaming of, but Ingo still can't remember his name.

Seeing the tears in Ingo's eyes breaks the spell over him. Emmet hugs him tight. He takes Ingo (and Sneasler) home. The two of them spend the night together and Emmet shows Ingo all of their old pictures in an attempt to bring back a bit of his memory. He reintroduces Ingo to their pokemon. He starts to remember a few things. They cry a lot. Chandelure won't leave Ingo's side. Archeops is trying to fit his whole body on Ingo's lap.

Eventually, Lady Sneasler and Ingo crash on the couch together. She's curled up protectively around him and Emmet is grateful there was someone else looking out for Ingo.

The next day, they go to the hospital. It was supposed to be a quick visit before they went to close the missing person's case but the doctors just keep finding more and more. The worst of the injuries are old but they never quite healed right. Ingo has to go through a lot of tests. Emmet's presence is the only thing that helps him keep it together since it's all very confusing and scary when he barely remembers anything about modern Unova. The worst are the ones where Emmet can't be in the room with him - the CAT scans and MRIs.

The biggest concern is his back. Emmet feels sick especially since just last night he'd been teasing Ingo for slouching. He's also got some scars that are hurting him because they were inflicted by poison-types or similar pokemon. At the very least his brain damage is almost completely healed with almost no long-term symptoms! Emmet doesn't take hearing THAT well since he didn't even know Ingo had brain damage.

Ingo what do you MEAN you haven't been doing anything for pain management, no wonder you look so tired what the fuck-

The police come and talk to Ingo. Afterwards, he's sent home with a prescription and a referral to a pain management specialist. Ingo tries to tell Emmet that he's used to the pain and that doesn't make Emmet feel better at all.

Meanwhile, Ingo is worried because the way Emmet's acting isn't quite matching up to his few memories of him. He remembers Emmet with a brilliant smile! He's smiling now but it seems more like a grimace to Ingo. Their apartment is in a miserable state and it looks like Emmet's been sleeping on the couch instead of in their bed. There's no food in the fridge and Emmet didn't have a chance to hide all the scattered papers from his investigation into Ingo's disappearance.

He's also pretty sure Emmet didn't sleep at all last night. Did he just... watch Ingo sleep? The thought breaks his heart. Was Emmet worried that Ingo would disappear if he didn't watch him?

It's going to take a long time for them both to heal. Ingo at least knows what he needs to do to take care of his scars. He's... not sure how he's supposed to treat Emmet's hurts. They're not the type he can see.

He gets Emmet to lay down in the bed with him that night and Emmet falls asleep pretty much immediately. He clings to Ingo even in his sleep.

[cerealyoam]

Hey there! I'm absolutely IN LOVE with your writing, especially bc you also write for trans masc ppl like me! So thank you so, so much for that! I don't know if your requests are open, however, I'd love to request HC's for how Zhongli, Thoma, Diluc and Kaeya, would react to Trans Masc reader wearing full makeup that matches their aesthetic! (For context: I absolutely adore wearing make-up, and make-up is never a gender-specific thing. Hope this makes sense, and doesn't make you, or other's, uncomfortable!)

HE JUST LIKE ME… YOU JUST LIKE ME FR!!!!!!

I added childe

***

Tall Genshin Men react to transmasc reader in makeup!

***

💧💦Childe 💦💧

Slams his forehead against the door

He’s just walked in through the door to your bedroom and ur on the dressing table working ur makeup magic

He’s just in awe. Like wow. You’re so gorgeous. I’m the luckiest fucking cocksucker on earth to be dating you

What is childe if not for his wallet so of course he’s already bought you expensive high quality makeup imported from snezhnaya who do you take him for

Never gets used to it. Whenever he sees you with makeup something on his body gets hit. He walks into the diner and he sees you and his legs miscalculate and he falls face first. He’s picking you up from wherever the fuck and he sees you and he slams his hand in between the car door. He’s checking you two into a 5 star hotel and he sees you and he walks into a table and his dick gets squashed in a corner

It goes on. Use your imagination anything you think of, it’s happened

Sometimes you question if you’re a hazard. Being with Childe means thinking about that a lot

🥶❄️Kaeya❄️🥶

Look me in the eyes

He wears makeup too look at him

Unsurprised. Unperturbed. Probably does your makeup for you

Going shopping for makeup with him is a dream. He’s so well versed in that shit he takes you to every hidden corner and knows every fucking product like the back of fucking hand

“Oh yeah that lipstick set? Sheesh remember the glove scandal behind that?”

LOVES showing you off. He shows you off anyway but he LOVES showing you off

You’re at a business meeting with him and he’s like swirling his fucking wine and “yes well my husband is quite versed in makeup, and I find it wonderful to come home to someone who shared similar interests”

Loves kissing you when you wear any kind of lipstick or lip gloss. You aren’t allowed to buy the smudge proof shit hon he kisses it off you like crazy

He does it so expertly too. He’s kissed a million people with his own makeup looks so the most damage done is you having to reapply a bit of it

Moral: keep extra lipstick on you. You won’t have it on just your lips for long

❤️‍🔥🔥Diluc🔥❤️‍🔥

A whore

Kind of stares at you for a good 20 seconds before “you’re so beautiful”

He’s just . Like wow

Fucking loves it. Fucking thinks about it a lot. Buys you expensive makeup in hopes you’ll do more

Diluc is a husk without his fat fat pocket of cash so you KNOW gifts are fucking loaded with luxury shit. And that includes makeup

His fave is highlighter. You’re so shiny heheh I wanna kiss u

U have so many highlighters stocked up that it’s kinda crazy

He’s never off too. He has specialists on his ass matching your skin tone and hair colour and

Stop him. Or don’t really because cmon. We all have that one fucking makeup item that we need more of. Because you use it so often it runs out in a month

😍❤️‍🔥Thoma❤️‍🔥😍

Honestly? Has no clue what makeup is and has no special feelings towards it

He still calls you gorgeous and stunning and slay the house down Houston the fuck but really just sees it as a hobby of yours that you enjoy

Type of boyfriend to ask you to do his makeup for him even though he’s never done it before

You probably awaken something in him

Just likes listening to you talk about makeup. He has no fucking idea what you’re saying but hearing you explain all the gists of it is just :) to him man

He’s so sappy I can’t fw

☄️🪨Zhongli🪨☄️

Oh fuck you hes a god

Sit down my guy. He’s about to lecture you

Did you fucking know that makeup (future me write some Waco makeup fact)

He’s a god. He’s done makeup. He’s mastered makeup. He’s no bitch

Gives you actually good makeup advice and ideas on looks you can try

Does your makeup for you in the morning he just likes looking at you in general I mean cmon ur gorgeous

His favourite part is doing your eyeshadow and eyeliner. He’s just perfected the method it ALWAYS comes out flawless and Jeff how does he do it man

Another unbothered but happy specimen

***

[the-pretty-boy-dealership]

Garden of Melancholy stuff: Soworth Boys general facts (part one)

Scully (Nightmare!Sans)

- Scully Soworth is roughly thirty five, has been using the ‘Black Apple’ for a good twenty years, and is prideful to a fault. He’s been running his own ‘mob’ (that started off as a glorified drug ring) since he was in his early twenties. He’s got a twin he’s trying to kill and a mom he accidentally killed, but really, he’s not that bad.

- He’s rather reserved and prefers to let his ‘right hand man’ take care of things for him. He prefers to keep an eye on other, more important things. Like his twin, Reverie, or those pesky detectives out in Strade City. Or even you, if you catch his eye.

- Scully’s incredibly paranoid and is a pessimist. He’s insecure and feels as if he’s about to be betrayed at any given moment. He’s an insomniac who’s convinced he can’t dream and hates the person he’s become over time. However— he’s incredibly loyal, very protective, and surprisingly sweet if you catch him outside of business hours. He’ll keep an eye out for those he considers close, and is willing to do anything to keep them safe. He likes to see those he’s close to happy, and has plenty of time and resources to make it happen.

- Though he’s normally found cooped up in the back of his small personal library, he very much enjoys a more natural environment. Parks, hidden creeks, fruit orchards and even just backyard gardens are the places he feels the most comfortable in. In fact, he even has his own garden full of hyacinth. (What? No, it’s not because that’s his soul flower, what are you talking about?)

- I imagine Scully would prefer a partner who likes to take things slow, who’s okay with quiet displays of affection and who won’t pry into sensitive subjects. While he’s paranoid, he’ll do his best to respect your privacy if you’ll respect his. (Aside from the background check he has Exul and Crash do on you. It can’t be helped, dearest, it just comes with the career choice) Sometimes, he just needs someone to assure him that everything’s going to be okay, and that he’s not a monster like everyone really thinks.

- If Scully were to take you on a date, it’d likely be on a picnic in a secluded outdoor area, like his mother’s old estate with its beautiful garden full of his and Reverie’s apple trees. As a memento of the occasion, he might send you home with a flower or a leaf from the garden to press inside of a book.

- Scully’s soul flower is blue hyacinth, which represents constancy. Fun fact: His soul flower could’ve been sage (immortality) or borage (directness, bluntness)

Crash (Error!Sans)

- Crash Irvings is thirty one, a former computer support specialist, the current ‘right hand man’ of Scully, an arrogant asshole who doesn’t know the meaning of ‘punctual,’ and overall a very tired person. Between dealing with Scully’s workload and Graph’s bullshit, he doesn’t have much time for himself.

- As stated before, Crash is arrogant, brash and bold, and just a little unhinged. He’s also incredibly determined and/or stubborn, surprisingly charismatic, and incredibly curious. If the arrogance doesn’t turn you away, the stubbornness might. If you can move past both of those things, you might be able to be considered close to him.

- Crash met Scully after a very bad chain of events. To make a very long story short, he was too cocky and made a mistake, got caught up with a gang in Rosdian, and only narrowly escaped the consequences of his actions via running into Scully. (No, the mistake was not trying to blackmail someone. Shut up, Exul, it was one time and he was only caught because— okay, okay, shut IT—)

- Crash is the one who knows where everyone is, what everyone’s doing, who’s fucked up and who’s doing their job, and is also the person to answer to when people don’t want to bother Scully. Aside from making sure everyone does their jobs, Crash takes care of Scully’s social events. He organizes meetings between Scully and the Cristola family, makes sure relations between to Soworth Crew and the other local gangs are doing fine, and even organizes lavish get togethers to improve relations and recruit others. (He refuses to call them parties, but that’s really what they are)

- Crash enjoys sitting at home and fucking around online. If he could do his job from home he would, since really truly he despises interacting with the amount of people he sees on a daily basis. He lives for fucking with people he dislikes online, be it by fucking with their various social media accounts or slandering their names anonymously. (He’s. He’s a troll, that’s really the only way to put it)

- I imagine Crash would prefer a casual relationship— something that doesn’t take too much of his time with someone who isn’t too sensitive, isn’t too much like… well, himself, and someone who can understand his overall curiosity. Of course, he says he only wants a casual relationship and swears he won’t get attached, but he falls hard and fast and very quickly throws that out the window. He becomes possessive and clingy and practically needs to have this person by his side or else he feels like he’ll die.

- If Crash were to take you on a date, he’d likely just take you back to his home for a casual dinner and a long nap. He might show you some of the things he does in his free time. As a memento of the occasion, he might send you home with something small of his— one of his night shirts, probably, just to make sure you’ll be thinking of him.

- Crash’s soul flower is a tiger lily, which represents pride and wealth. Fun fact: his flower was almost red salvia (“forever mine,”) or ‘tall’ sunflower (haughtiness)

Slasher (Horror! Sans)

- Slasher Hackett is about twenty seven, spent most of his life raising his brother for his absent parents, and then ended up a victim of trafficking along with his brother. He may or may not have eaten somebody at one point— I wouldn’t ask him, Scully, or Thriller about it. It won’t end well, and he’ll probably start crying.

- Slasher takes care of things around Scully’s estate. He’s practically a one man security system, cooks meals worthy of gods, and is surprisingly diligent against the spider infestation in the attic. He likes keeping an eye out on Thriller, worrying over him even though he’s freshly twenty.

- While intimidating as hell, Slasher is incredibly endearing, if a little quiet and odd. Very friendly, almost like a mom in some ways. He’s just as protective as Scully is, thankfully nowhere near as prideful as him or Crash, and is just a little jumpy. Getting starved half to death in a basement and then having your skull caved in’ll do that to you.

- Man loves grocery shopping and the smell of lysol disinfectant. Can’t stand a messy house or rude houseguests, though he’ll make an exception for Crim and Grit. He adores organizing the kitchen (and reorganizing it) once a week, can recite almost every line of some of John Mulaney’s more popular skits, and isn’t too bad at crosswords now a days.

- His head injury makes it difficult to focus on much of anything for too long, and makes it difficult to think things through or remember the little things. He has a book full of things he’s written down because he wants to remember them exactly. He tries to do at least one crossword or word search a day to see if he’s getting any better. He still has to have Exul chop most of the vegetables, but he’s stopped nicking himself for the most part. He’s even able to process most of his, Scully and Crash’s conversations now— it just takes him an extra minute. Sure, he’s got a few motor tics now (cracking his knuckles repeatedly, tapping the desk like his life depends on it, his head and neck cracking to the side) but that can’t be helped.

- I imagine that Slasher would prefer a very patient partner who’s willing to adjust small aspects of their everyday life for him. Someone considerate and someone… small. A little weaker, a little less of a threat. It makes him feel better— safer. He wants a long term relationship right from the start, and if you’re down for that, he’s already thrilled. If you speak just a little slower for him to make sure he can catch every word, he’s in love and already ready to get married. (/j)

- If Slasher were to take you on a date, he’d take you restaurant hopping. One or two things here, maybe an appetizer there and— oh, you want dessert? Here, he’s got the tip money. As a memento of the occasion, he’d sneak something from one of the restaurants— a fork, maybe, or one of their tall red cups. Nothing much but it feels special to him.

- Slasher’s soul flower is begonia, meaning caution or gratitude. His flower was almost basil (good wishes) or daisy (innocence)

[wonderful-wells-writing]

Fanclub; Chapter 1

EoWells x Reader

Some of the STAR Labs employees have a secret fanclub where they discuss Harrison Wells and share pictures they take when they think he isn't looking. Problem is it's not quite as secret as they think it is. The man himself seems to have taken an interest in the the little group, finding it to be the perfect place to find willing partners to satisfy his needs. And you're his next pick.

Work is dying down for the evening at STAR Labs. Chemists are checking that all the storage units are set to the proper temperatures. Engineers are making sure that everything that needs to be powered down is. Lab techs are cleaning up their stations. But nearly everybody is discussing their plans for the weekend.

There is one worker who is not engaging in such conversations. You are currently crammed between two sections of machinery, determined to get this wiring finished before leaving for the day. That way, Monday, bright and early your team can start doing test runs.

You are not engaging in conversation with others but rather are talking to yourself as you work. “Some red over here, blue wire over there.” Your grin would light up the room if anybody could see it. “I just love when a color-coded array comes together.” There’s a buzz on your right butt-cheek, and you squeal in surprise.

“Everything alright in there?” One of the other scientists looks up from the desk.

“Yeah, Bri,” you extract yourself from the machine parts. “My phone just went off, and I thought something shocked me.”

“Girl, I can not tell you how often that happens to me,” Bri takes her purse from a drawer and a jacket off the chair. “So, what are your plans for the weekend. More number crunching?”

You pull your phone from your back pocket. “Actually my college roommate is having a bachelorette party tonight. So I said I would swing by the bar for a bit.”

“Sounds fun,” Bri gives a wave before heading to the door. “Don’t party too hard.”

She returns the wave before opening a group chat app on her phone to see what the notification is about.

KittyCat42; O.M.G did you see Dr. Wells today? a shirt THAT tight can not be workplace appropriate!!!

Attached is a photo taken from a smartphone at an angle in which the subject does not seem to be aware their picture is being taken. Dr. Harrison Wells is leaning over a desk, examining something on a monitor. Kitty is right; his shirt is very tight, his biceps bulge through the long black sleeves.

You grin, considering sending a reply, but another message comes in first.

YummyBitch73; Think he’s got plans? Looking that good, he’s got to be going out tonight.

Your thumbs move across the screen to type a quick response.

BabyDoll14; Maybe he has a date tonight?

KittyCat42; wonder who the lucky girl is?

You lean against a nearby workbench, smirking at the screen.

---

On the other side of the lab, somebody picks up their phone to check the barrage of notifications coming in. They chuckle before adding their own two cents.

Speedy22: Hey, who knows, it could be a lucky guy.

YummyBitch73: Oh you wish, he is a lady killer through and through

BabyDoll14: I mean, who are we to judge if it’s a lucky lady or gent. Maybe he swings one way, maybe he swings both ways. Who cares, we’re just here to talk about his ass behind his back.

“Speedy’ nods, almost respecting the woman on the other side of the screen for staying objective about objectifying her boss.

Speedy22: Speaking of ass, I got this one yesterday

He opens his gallery and scrolls until an ‘appropriate picture is found. A nice shot of Dr. Wells from behind; the quality is incredible for a smartphone shot. The man’s shirt is riding up, showing a nice strip of the skin of his back, even a bit of where his boxers rise above the waistband of his hands.

YummyBitch73: Damn Speedy, you always get the good ones. You’ll have to teach me some photography lessons sometime.

KittyCat42: what kind of camera are you using? The quality is so gooooood.

“Hey,” a woman’s voice draws his attention away from his device. “Are you staying late again tonight?”

Harrison Wells takes a breath to look her up and down, mentally running through his mind all the employees to try and remember who it is at his office door. “I’ll be headed out soon; I just have to wrap some things up.”

He recalls who she is when he sees the look she’s giving him. Brianna Masters, a specialist working down in Lab C. She would have had to go out of her way to get to his office before leaving. Self-proclaimed president of the Dr. Wells Fanclub, he had just been interacting with the group chat of; after the former president left with a job offer at Mercury Labs. She had been making goo-goo eyes at him since her interview three months ago.

“Well,” Bri twirls a curl of her hair, fluttering her eyelashes. “Harrison, you know I was wondering if you might like to take me out to get some drinks tonight?”

Dr. Wells tries to hide his displeasure at the thought. She wasn’t his type, physically, mentally, emotionally, “I have plans in the morning that require a clear head. Miss. Masters. Now is there anything of importance that you need?” The man was not adverse to flights of fancy to pass the time; he wouldn’t be keeping an eye on the little Fanclub of his if he wasn’t willing to look for ‘interested parties,’ but this particular woman has been of no real interest to him.

For reasons such as how she pouts at his response, “Well, having fun is important.” She mutters before wandering off down the hall, turning her attention to her phone.

YummyBitch73; holy Shit! He just asked me out for drinks. It sucks so much that I have to drive out to Coast City; I”d have taken him up in a heartbeat otherwise.

----

Back in Lab C, you finally finish with the maintenance on the machine. You check your phone once more while heading over to the desk and nearly cackle at what you’re reading. Everybody knows that Bri is full of shit, but there’s no point in calling it out and causing discourse.

You mute the phone to focus on your computer. While humming a quiet tune, you work on moving files to the USB stick plugged into the monitor.

“Fuck,” you whisper, seeing the download time in comparison to the clock on the screen. Of course, you could just leave it be, take the weekend off. It’s not like you get paid extra to run calculations at home.

17 minutes later

“Nonononono, wait, please!” You’re half running to the street as the bus pulls away, leaving you in the illuminated circle of a streetlamp, cursing yourself. That was going to be the last bus coming this way for the night. If you walk home, you’ll never make it in time to change for the party. You might not even make the event at all. You pace up and down the sidewalk, contemplating your options.

A car pulls up beside you, tinted window rolling down, “Need a lift?”

You stop, shocked, “Oh, no I…” you pause, looking through the window, “Dr. Wells, hi...hey.” You swallow your pride. “I would really love to get a ride on-with, with you.” Internally you cringe at how that came out, but figure he probably wouldn’t have heard such a minor slip.

The lock clicks open, and you reach for the door.

“Maple Apartments on South 11th street, right?” Harrison glances at you as you get in the car.

You pause before shutting the door, “do I want to know how you know that?”

He laughs, and you jump a bit at it, “I can see how that would sound a little suspicious.” His smile is reassuring, and his blue eyes are kind behind his glasses. “It was on your registration forms when you started. I enter new employee data myself. Total recall can be useful even for small matters.”

You breathe a sigh of relief, shutting the door and buckling in. “I really appreciate this Dr. Wells, I would have been so late tonight if I didn’t get home to change soon.”

“Bit plans tonight?” Harrison asks as he starts driving. Truth is he had suspected you’d be missing her bus. He had seen you running after the last bus or driven past you walking home numerous times out his way out. You had quite the habit of working until the absolute last moment.

You smile, twiddling your thumbs to keep your hands occupied. “Yeah, I’m meeting a friend at the new bar that opened down the street from my place. She’s getting married soon, and since I can’t make the wedding, I promised I would spend at least a couple hours at her bachelorette party.” You aren’t exactly sure why you’re volunteering this information to your boss. It would be inappropriate to be so casual with him; then again, it’s also inappropriate to be part of a Fanclub that secretly takes pictures of him and talks about how great his ass looks.

Harrison ‘hmms’ in thought. “Why can’t you make it to the wedding?” He glances at you out of the corner of his eye, taking a moment to take in the way you sit, act, look, before returning his eyes to the road.

“Oh, they scheduled it for a Wednesday, so,” you look towards him just moments after he looks away. The first thing you notice is his hair; whenever you’ve seen him in the morning, it’s perfectly combed and straight, but it seems like as the day went on, it began to take on a life of its own. While the back is still nice and neat, the front is sticking out in all kinds of directions.

“You could have asked for the day off,” Dr. Wells offers, “Am I such a terrible boss that you think I”d deny you some vacation after all your hard work?”

You feel a heat rise to your cheeks at what seems to be a compliment to her work ethic, “Oh no, I don’t think that at all. It’s just that, well, we have so much work to do. Every day we get a little closer to your dreams of the particle accelerator, and I want to contribute absolutely everything I can to that dream.” You smile. “You’re going to do such incredible things for the world of science Dr. Wells, and I don’t want to waste any time that could be spent helping you.”

The man is somewhat stunned by this. He’d attributed her long hours and determination to personal ambition. “What about you? Do you want history to remember you for your achievements?”

You bite your lower lip in thought at the question, “I mean sure, it would be nice to be recognized for my contribution, but,” she takes a deep breath, “I’m more concerned about how my work will impact the world, not so much if I’m remembered for it. Anyways you’re the true genius. I can tell that STAR Labs will make big changes and put humanity on a path towards the future. As long as I get to be a part of that, it’s all I really need.”

Harrison does a low chuckle at your sentiment, amused by the naivety. You speak with such hope and wonder and admiration. If you knew the truth, how horrified would you be? The realization of the end goal of the particle accelerator, the effects across history that your determination would wreak.

He grins, “Well, I am glad to have such a dedicated employee, but I do believe that one off day is not going to hurt our progress.”

You purse your lips, “You don’t come down to Lab C very often; you’d be surprised how off the rails things can go when I’m not there. Anyways I would rather work than go to a wedding. It’s not my kind of scene.”

He can sense that you are holding something back but doesn’t press the issue any further. He’s reached your apartment building anyways.

“If you change your mind, I’ll be more than happy to give you the time off,” he says as he parks.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” you reach for the door handle, “oh, and thank you so much for the ride. I really owe you one.”

Dr. Wells makes a mental note about cashing in that favor later. “You just stay safe and enjoy yourself tonight.” He smiles warmly at you as you wave goodbye, but when the door shuts, his grin turns a bit darker. He watches you walk away, eyes tracing the curve of your figure, resting on the beautiful shape of your rear, right up until you disappear into your building.

As he begins to drive away, he catches sight of himself in the rearview mirror. There is something about this form of his that seems to drive the ladies crazy, and he wasn’t opposed to taking advantage of that. While pulling back into the street and driving away, he thinks on his situation.

For 13 years now, Eobard Thawne has been trapped in this god-forsaken time period. For a while, he had focused solely on his mission, rarely interacting with others unless it served a greater purpose. But he was still a man, subject to desire. At first, it was almost enough to make him regret allowing Harrison Well’s wife to die, she could have filled his needs easily. But that woman had been intelligent; she’d have discovered his identity eventually, so allowing her to die had been for the best.

Still, after a few years of isolation, Thawne had found the need unbearable and began seeing ways to fill the hole that was forming in his chest. Little flings, one-off nights where he indulged his carnal side, allowed himself the pleasure of another’s body before quickly parting ways with them, when he discovered that a fanclub devoted to him had been formed amongst his employees, that made the whole thing easier.

Joining the group chat under a false name was easy enough. It inflated his ego every time he read them discussing how great they thought he looked, and he was more than happy to provide material for them to gush over. And with that, it was like he had been given a list of women who would fuck him with no questions asked. All he had to do was choose. Of course, he has to be wary of those who might get too clingy or go off telling other people. But it’s not that hard to week those types out of the pack.

Thawne notices magenta neon as he’s driving. A club with a grand opening sign out front. He smiles, knowing that now not only does he have a new prey lure in, but the perfect hunting ground as well.

[kalee60]

i wish you would write a fic where jock!bucky seduces twink!steve, maybe he hits steve with that pec flex guys do that is both dick-ish and insanely hot at the same time?

Oh Manda - you absolute gorgeous gem! I very much like what you're asking me to create here 😘 I also love, love, love that you sent me a prompt!

I immediately think of sun, summer, ice cream, boys at the beach playing frisbee and our gorgeous Smol!Steve and Jock!Bucky as friends mutually pining (Ha - it's me, it was never going to be anything but this story!)

Once again, my quick little drabble (that I wrote today when I woke up {thanks to my sprinting buddies in discord}) turned into a 4k fic... But I mean - I think that's okay (more stucky for us - right?)

I hope you like where I took this, maybe in a slightly different direction than intended - it's also on ao3 here (with all tags necessary) if you prefer to check them out and read there instead, it'll be part of my stucky bingo fills - Beach and rated M for mild sexual content 😉

If you'd like a fic - here's the post - I wish you'd write a fic... (It might take me a little bit to write - but I will get there!)

Steve was in hell, literally. It was hot, he was sweaty and he was being tortured. Honestly, Steve really loved summer, but at the same time he loathed it. And most of that had to do with the fact he had to sit around in his large group of friends and watch Bucky fucking Barnes sans top and wearing only a small pair of running shorts frolic over the sand at the beach.

Life was unfair. 

How could somebody like Bucky actually exist in real time? He was a complete jock for starters, his looks and size perfect for being naturally great at sports, earning him a football scholarship of his choice (of course). And Steve, well Steve Rogers was as far from a jock as anyone could get. Not that he was horrible in the fitness and muscular department, but he was too little and his asthma still played up to join rugged contact sports. Being 5’4 also didn’t particularly endear him to any of the coaches at college who were scouting for star players. Plus studying to be a high school teacher probably wasn’t sporty enough, and he was leaning towards a specialist English role, not Gym.

So Steve joined the campus gym instead of a sporting team, did weights and classes and enjoyed it immensely. It was where he met Natasha, and that fateful meeting brought him to Bucky and his dickish jock ways and friends.

Though if Steve was to be fair (of which he was - usually) not all jocks were dicks, even if Steve had preconceived notions from high school what college boys would be like. He'd been pleasantly surprised to find that the captain of the football team was not only gorgeous, cocky and a bit of a douche, but also very smart, kind and had a smile that could make Steve’s legs turn to jelly with only a small half tilt.

But it was as he sat on a towel under the shade of a large umbrella that Carol had stolen from her parent’s garden shed, that Steve really felt the heat, and it had nothing to do with the blazing sun above him and the burning sand beneath his feet.

It was all Bucky Barnes and his chest, his slim waist, his tanned olive skin, the breadth of his shoulders, the thickness of his sinewed and muscled thighs that tapered down to calves that bunched up as he jumped and landed to grab the frisbee aimed at him.

Steve sighed heavily as his gaze lingered on the brunette. Bucky Barnes was every mans wet dream, every girls perfect prince, and Steve pulled his dark sunnies over his eyes again, ignoring the pounding in his chest, the throbbing in his groin as he watched Bucky behind dark lenses spring up and prance over the sand, laughing with a wide mouth that could do sinful things to Steve’s body. The worst part was that Bucky was doing all of this with no knowledge that Steve harboured the biggest crush of his life.

It really was unfair.

Sitting back to lean on his hands, stretching his legs out, he saw Bucky glance over at him, and gave a smile. Bucky grinned back and then grappled Sam to the sand to yank the frisbee from his grip. Life wasn’t unfair because Bucky didn’t date guys, he did, very much so, and girls too from what Steve had seen, it was just the guys Bucky dated were typically more like… jocks.

Steve hunched over, trying to not stare too long and inadvertently get turned on, finding it an impossibility as his eyes wouldn’t tear away from Bucky’s frame as he bounded effortlessly over the soft sand, something Steve couldn’t do. He’d almost lost a lung from the trek over to their secluded spot earlier that day. Soft sand was the enemy - that was fact.

“Heads up.”

Startled from his thoughts by Bucky’s deep voice urgently calling out his way, Steve looked up only to see the frisbee coming straight for him. With a reaction that even surprised himself, Steve raised his hand and caught the flying disc with nary a blink of an eye.

Bucky was skidding to a halt on his knees before him a second later.

“Shit, Steve. That was epic, you sure you don’t want to play? You can be on my team - my secret frisbee weapon.”

Steve’s mouth went dry as he tried to listen to the words leaving Bucky, because the delectable man was less than two feet away and the smell of sunscreen, sweat and something virile and uniquely Bucky entered his senses. Steve knew that if sitting next to Bucky in the dining hall was torture when Bucky was wearing his spicy cologne, he’d keel over being enveloped in his sweaty beach scent for longer than a minute. 

God he wanted Bucky to fill him, everywhere. Make him forget his name, take him over and over.

He realised that he still hadn’t answered and heat crept into his cheeks, managing to blurt out, “I’m good for now. Nat’s grabbing ice creams and I don’t want to get a stitch.”

Steve then gave Bucky what he hoped was a soft and cheeky winning grin, but the way Bucky faltered, swallowed tightly, face impassive made Steve wonder if he’d missed the mark on trying to be flirty.

He really was as hopeless as Darcy continually told him.

Steve’s eyes trailed down to Bucky’s broad and lightly haired chest, finding himself breathing quicker, wondering if he’d remembered to pack his inhaler. No, he was sure it was in the pocket of his backpack. Thank god, he might need it in the face of Bucky’s glorious muscles moving in his vision all day.

“If you’re sure,” Bucky finally said in a deep steady voice.

“Maybe later,” Steve stammered, holding up the frisbee with a shaky hand. He had to get a grip.

“Alright, later then, I’m holding you to that.” And Bucky took the disc from Steve’s grip and was off bounding towards Sam, Carol, Thor and Maria.

While Steve recalibrated his thoughts, Nat came back holding only one ice cream cone, licking it slowly with a sparkle in her eye as Clint trailed behind, wearing Nat’s beach bag and carrying the rest of the ice creams, and Steve worried she’d overestimated his balancing skills. But if Nat asked, Clint would do - it was kind of amazing the power she had over him without even trying. Although they weren’t dating (yet), Nat was never cruel, she was playing the long game and really liked Clint, but had been hurt before by some Russian asshole, and Steve knew that Clint, when Nat finally agreed to go out with him would never be the same man again. He’d be lost in deep shock and joy. They were perfect for each other.

A pang went through his gut as Steve watched them, taking a cone from Clint, wishing he had someone that wanted him as much as they wanted each other.

“Vanilla,” Nat commented with a scrunch of her nose at Steve’s choice as he took a lick of the creamy goodness, the chill on his tongue welcome under the heat of the day. “You’re so very basic, Rogers.”

“Hey there is nothing wrong with that. I happen to love vanilla.” A rich voice said from right in front of Steve as Bucky flopped down on the sand, kicking up little grains that stuck on Bucky’s thighs where he was sweating. Steve shut his eyes against the picture before him, once again pleading to any God or Goddess that would listen that it wasn’t fair, that they had to find him someone one day. He just hoped it would be soon, else his dick drop off from Bucky unwittingly giving him blue balls.

“You’re one to talk, you didn’t even want ice cream, just a soda. And a club soda at that.”

Bucky looked over to Nat, flashing her a wide grin, and Steve immediately started to lick his ice cream just to do anything but stare at the crinkling in the corners of Bucky’s eyes, or to watch his lips as they wrapped around the bottle tip. He only half listened to their banter as they kept teasing each other, Nat and Bucky having been best friends from childhood, the reason how Steve inadvertently fell into the group of jocks, for a lack of a better term to encompass all the fit people he was now surrounded with.

Nat had introduced him to everyone after they’d hit it off at the gym in first semester, and Steve had waited for the inevitable teasing to commence about his small stature, but it never came. He was always included, never mocked (unless it was called for, because he was a facts man and couldn’t help correcting people when they were clearly in the wrong) and it was such a novel experience, so how could he not fall immediately in lust with the football captain? One who had smokey blue-grey eyes, sinfully full lips made for kissing among other fun activities and a personality that you could fall into and live inside forever.

“Err, Steve… your ice cream, it’s ummm, dripping.”

“What?” Steve asked, realising that he’d been swirling his tongue over the top of the soft confectionary and that his fingers were now completely sticky as the ice cream dripped over them on to his thigh. “Oh shit.”

Steve immediately switched hands and started to lap at his fingers, tongue darting between them to catch all the creaminess, sucking them into his mouth one by one, only looking up when he heard a muted groan. Bucky was moving before him, squirming in the sand, and as his eyes landed on Bucky, he startled, surprised to find Bucky’s hooded gaze directly on Steve. But his eyes hadn’t landed just anywhere, they were trained to Steve’s mouth, and as Steve swiped his finger through the sweetness that had dribbled on his thigh, Bucky’s gaze followed that finger's movements. Steve without thought, heart thumping hard, confusion and awe flowing through his veins, stuck the digit in his mouth, licking off the stickiness. 

Thankfully, Steve had his sunglasses on, hiding his expression, but he knew his face was burning red at the brash and overt display. Bucky was watching him intently, the rise and fall of his gloriously thick chest heaved, and Bucky’s skin flushed from the exercise or maybe the sun. Steve wasn’t sure.

But it was as Steve licked around the base of the cone again, the ice cream melting quicker in the heat than he could swallow, Bucky’s pecs twitched.

Steve stopped all movement, caught at the tick of flesh, the way it bounced taut, watching with abject lust and desire as Bucky did it again - knowing exactly where Steve’s eyes were trained.

It was such a fucking dick move, a power move to get attention and Steve hated jocks who flexed like that, but on Bucky… on Bucky it was god damn mesmerizing. And it was after the third time Bucky’s pecs jumped, Bucky stood up abruptly and fled saying in a higher pitch than usual that he was jumping in the water, that Steve realised he might not have been doing it on purpose.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Bucky was dead, he was going to die from being hard for... how long had he known Steve Rogers, six months maybe? Well, that was how long he’d survived with a non-stop boner for the blonde man. And he was at the end of his tether.

Steve was everything Bucky ever wanted in a partner, smart, strong, intense, funny, handsome  and a person that he could fall into, spend time with - love.

So it didn't help his little issue to be at the beach that day, watching Steve sit under the huge umbrella on brightly coloured towels in his swim trunks and a loose tank with arm holes so big he could see all the way through to his muscular chest and pink nipples. It was driving him fucking insane. 

Sure he’d seen Steve wearing an array of items at the gym, but he’d never witnessed him so carefree as he was at the beach. He was smiling more, relaxed, joking while big sunglasses hid those gorgeous eyes that would give the ocean a run for its money as to what was bluer.

But what killed Bucky that particular day over every other day he lusted after Steve, what made him clench and twitch all over was watching Steve lick up his ice cream. It was downright obscene, Steve shouldn’t be allowed to do that in public, or at least he should have a warning sticker on his person.

Steve had a mouth made for sucking cock, and Bucky wanted, no, he needed to know what having those lips wrapped around him felt like. Christ, he wanted to know what it felt like to be buried in Steve, maybe even have Steve press into him. Fuck.

There was only one thing for it.

He had to seduce Steve, and he had to do it soon.

But that begged the question - how?

How did Bucky capture the attention of the smartest, funniest, quick witted and grumpiest man on campus? Not only that, but to have Steve take him seriously? Bucky was aware that people thought he was only a dumb jock, that all he had to offer the world was to play ball and shit talk other teams and work out in the gym. Which, yeah of course he did all of those things - but he really was so much more. He was studying economics, was thinking about trying to specialise and work as an international trade specialist after college, and although Bucky really loved playing ball - it wasn’t his whole life. He’d never go pro - well, not without a hell of a lot of luck and persistence, and he wasn't sure he really wanted to take something he enjoyed and make it a living in that way. He’d seen how broken some sports stars bodies were after a career, and he still wanted to be able to walk at forty without having had three knee reconstructions.

But Steve, Steve saw through all of that, he spoke to Bucky like an intellect, like he had something worthy to say, to add to the conversation. Even at the gym after Nat had introduced them (Bucky begging to know who the gorgeous guy she was chatting to on the rowing machines was) Steve and he worked out together, had fun catcalling each other for being weak and helped each other with their forms - something Bucky largely did just to get hands on Steve even though Steve’s form was perfect.

Bucky had been taken with the slight man from the first moment he’d seen him, always under the impression that Steve was too smart to even think about dating a meathead like him, even if he truly wasn't what his physique made him. So he stuck with friendship, but now he wanted more. Was going to ask for more.

“Whatcha thinking?” Nat asked as she swam out to float in the water next to him.

“Nothing much,” He replied, ignoring her knowing hum. He hated that they’d been friends forever and she knew all his tells.

The much needed cold water had soothed his itching skin, and from his vantage point he could look back at their rag tag group of friends, able to stare unabashadly at Steve as he laughed with Clint and Thor about something, staring up at Thor as he... as he fucking flexed in front of Steve.

“Easy boy,” Natasha grabbed his bicep that was taut from clenching his fists, “Thor’s with Jane remember? Steve’s not interested in someone like Thor anyway.”

Bucky’s eyes swung to her immediately. “What do you mean? Because he's a jock?”

Nat let out an exasperated sigh. “No you idiot. Because he’s interest lies elsewhere.”

“Oh,” Bucky’s chest squeezed tight, wondering who had Steve’s undivided attention. And he couldn’t help but watch Steve as Carol held out a hand to pull him to his feet, and suddenly Bucky forgot his disappointment when Steve pulled his tank off, revealing a gorgeous toned body in all its glory. Bucky’s dick stirred. Thank fuck he was hidden in the water.

“You are a colossal idiot. You know that right?” Nat deadpanned.

“I have to ask Steve out,” he blurted. “I need to… I need to be with him.”

“I know,” Nat said with a smirk, and Bucky looked at her gratefully, if she helped he would be fine. “But that really sounds like a you problem. Have fun with that.”

“You horrible cow,” Bucky sniped back, ready to splash her, but she was already under the water stealthily swimming up behind Clint, only to dunk the unsuspecting man. 

Bucky’s attention suddenly caught on movement on the shoreline as Steve stood knee deep, testing the water and with no further hesitation, dove in, coming up for air not far from where Bucky floated. Bucky watched mesmerized as the sun glinted off Steve’s wet eyelashes, before he wiped the droplets from them, smiling at Bucky.

“Oh god, this water feels amazing.”

“So would you,” Bucky whispered.

“Huh?” Steve asked.

For a long moment, Bucky stared at Steve, realising that sound carried over water differently and Steve most likely caught what he said. Seducing someone was hard, even though he hadn’t even tried yet.

Instead of answering, Bucky ducked his head so his mouth went underwater and swam towards Steve like a shark, deciding that he just had to ask him point blank, no messing around with seduction. Slipping up out of the water at the last moment he put on his most predatory smile, Steve’s eyes widening and he looked around, face flushed and Bucky hoped he wasn’t looking for an escape.

He quickly darted behind Steve, wrapping his arms tight around his lithe body, trying not to linger too much as Steve was the perfect fit, felt so good against him; and when he heard the small gasp from Steve’s throat he launched him into the air. Flinging Steve into the water a few feet away.

“You fucker,” Steve exclaimed laughing as he came up for air, and Bucky smirked.

Suddenly with a smirk of his own that made Bucky inhale sharply, Steve disappeared under the water, Bucky feeling him come up underneath his body and with a strength that belied Steve’s small stature, completely turning Bucky on more than it should, he was pushed up out of the water, throwing him completely under as well.

“Jesus, Steve. You should join the team.” Bucky spluttered when he came up for air.

Steve grinned back, pushing wet hair out of his eyes and Bucky stared, lost in how stunning Steve looked in the sunlight, that he was there before him alone in the ocean full of people, “I mean they already have you and Sam as Captains. Wouldn’t want to put either of you out of a job.”

Bucky laughed, “I don’t doubt you’d do it too, Stevie.”

And when Steve stopped smiling, Bucky realised what he’d said.

“Shit, sorry - you don’t like that? Nicknames?”

“No I... I do…” Steve answered softly, and Bucky became lost in a blue that matched the water they were treading.

“Would you get out with me?” Bucky blurted.

“Sorry? Get out of the water?”

Bucky internally facepalmed himself. “No, I mean go out.”

“Out. With you?”

Bucky nodded.

“Err, why me?” Steve asked in a small voice lost on a gust of wind.

Looking at Steve, who stared back at him with questions in his eyes, Bucky wanted to explain how much he’d desired it for months, to tell Steve all the ways he wanted to make him happy, and as a multitude of words sat on his tongue, Bucky suddenly understood Steve might not listen to his reasoning, might not believe him. So he decided to show his intent instead, and swam closer. Steve’s eyes were wide, guileless, Bucky seeing a small spark of something more, and hoping he wasn’t triple jumping over a line, he swam up behind Steve. He felt Steve tense up, anticipating to be flung into the water again, but instead, Bucky pulled him closer so that Steve’s back slotted against his front and leaned in, mouth only an inch away from Steve’s ear.

“Why you? Oh Stevie, you have no idea how gorgeous you are. How much I want you.” Bucky pressed his nose against the back of Steve’s ear and inhaled deeply, sunscreen, salt and Steve’s shampoo filled his senses and he lost his head for a moment, especially when Steve let out a high pitched groan and wriggled back into Bucky. “I want to spread you out beneath me, I want to lick all the sweat off your body, sweat that I'm going to cause from working you hard, making you work extra hard for my dick, because Stevie - I want you, I want you bad, and I think you might want me back just as much.”

Bucky hoped he wasn’t completely off base with his desires, that Steve really was just as interested, and when Steve ground back against him, skin sliding against Bucky’s, letting out another moan at the friction when he felt Bucky hardening up underneath him, Bucky knew it was going to be ok.

“Yes…” Steve whimpered as his shorts caught against Bucky’s dick, pushing backwards.

“You want that baby?”

“Fuck. Yes, I do.”

“How much?”

Steve spluttered, and Bucky couldn’t help chuckle at the noise. “What do you mean?”

“How much do you want it?” Bucky knew he was being a prick, making his pec’s tense against Steve’s back, pulling him onto his lap as they floated in the water, before wrapping a leg around one of Steve’s pulling it to the side, making Steve gasp gorgeously.

“A normal amount,” Steve husked back.

“Oh, you want me a normal amount - is that all?” Bucky smirked before licking a sloppy stripe up Steve’s neck at the same time as he snuck a hand down the front of Steve’s swim trunks, gripping his dick tightly, feeling the impressive length and girth for the first time. Fuck, he was definietly not taking switching of the table. But not anytime soon. First, he wanted to take Steve apart in every way conceivable.

Steve meanwhile, was liquid in his arms, going slack as Bucky took his time to explore while they floated in circles not far from the shore, but far enough out they wouldn’t get in trouble. He hoped. 

The moans tearing from Steve’s throat were getting louder though, Bucky loving every noise punched out of Steve as he stroked harder under the water, the friction and pressure of the water making him slower and more languid than usual. And Bucky wanted to make Steve call out with no thought or boundaries, nothing to stifle his pleasure, he needed Steve coming in his arms, again and again.

“I think you might just want me a little more than that.” Bucky rasped against Steve’s neck, sucking a bruise onto his pink skin, giving Steve’s dick another sharp tug and before he knew what was happening, Steve was shaking in his arms, whimpering out a release and Bucky was speechless. Utterly speechless as he continued to stroke Steve slowly, carefully as he jerked in his hand.

“Holy fuck, you’re stunning, gorgeous, the absolute best,” Bucky rambled into Steve’s neck, nipping kisses and pressing his lips against him in absolute awe at what had just occured.

Suddenly Steve moved, spinning himself around to straddle Bucky and he went under for a moment as their weights shifted and came back up spluttering, only for Steve to launch himself so his lips pushed against his. Steve took over, devouring his mouth, and although Bucky was the one in control, holding them both up, he’d never felt so out of control as Steve writhed and ground down as best he could in the water. Shit, Steve was going to be a handful and Bucky was there for it.

As he kissed back, grabbing the back of Steve’s head, holding him still as he pressed his tongue in deeply, a huge beach ball smacked into the side of his face. They jumped apart with a gasp.

“Don’t make me go get the hose!” Nat yelled out as she and Clint swam around nearby. “It’s about time you dolts wised up, but this is a public beach with you know - families.”

Bucky watched as Steve’s face flushed a perfect shade of red, and he couldn’t help but grab him again, giving him a quick intense kiss, claiming Steve until he struggled for breath, to show Bucky’s intent was clear and true. It was pure perfection.

“We’ll pick this up again later.” Bucky promised.

“Later.” Steve replied breathlessly.

Suddenly Steve pushed himself away from Bucky, grabbing and throwing the beach ball, hitting Clint dead on the nose. The surprised yelp from both Clint and Natasha made Bucky laugh.

“Oh it’s so on, James,” Nat yelled out.

Steve piped up from his side, “you wish, Romanoff - we’re gonna take you down!”

Bucky beamed.

“Yeah!” he called over to them, dodging the ball that came directly for him as Nat and Clint shit-talked. And as he and Steve swam out to retrieve the ball floating behind them, Bucky turned to Steve and gave him an overtly salacious wink. “And once we take them down, I’m going to take you home and show you what going down is all about.”

Steve burst out laughing. “Really? That was incredibly lame, especially for a savvy sex-crazed jock.”

“You’re not interested in my proposal then?”

“Oh I’m interested,” Steve grinned, licking his lips and Bucky caught his breath. “But if you’re going to use dad jokes on the regular - I might have to start calling you something else in the bedroom.”

Steve then threw the ball, Nat ducking at the last minute, and Bucky didn’t even feel when the returning pitch slammed into his head; Steve’s words creating a delicious cacophony of images and filthy thoughts in his mind instead.

Bucky had always known that Stevie Rogers was going to be both the life and death of him, and as he rubbed his head, grasping the ball in one hand, ready to throw it, he couldn’t wait to see where their adventure would take them.

But first - Clint had to pay.

[blitzturtles]

Title: Guilt

Rating: Teen and Up

Fandom: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (set after Golden Wind, given Jolyne's age.)

Pairing(s): JotaKak, JoKa, (Platonic) Jotaro & Jolyne, (Platonic) Kakyoin & Jolyne

Summary: Kakyoin is in the middle of answering one of Jolyne's many questions when he feels something twist violently inside his abdomen. He tastes what he thinks might be bile at rist, but the metallic tinge registers, and,

Oh god, no. Not here. Please not here.

Notes: Involves emergency surgery, chronic pain, preteen!Jolyne, PTSD, disabled Kakyoin, and near death experiences.

-

Here's the thing: Jolyne hates him. It's not a secret, and it's definitely not something that she bothers to hide from him. Jotaro keeps swearing that she'll come around. Says she's just stubborn (like her father is, Kakyoin sometimes thinks with far too much affection for a man that regularly drives him up the wall). There's also the fact that she's a preteen, and kids are apparently just like that at her age.

Here's the thing: Kakyoin would hate him, too. If he were in her situation. He's petty on a good day, and a right bastard on any other. He can't imagine being in her situation. With divorced parents who, while amicable, are both ridiculously successful and constantly busy. And then waltzed in Kakyoin, right in the middle of it. Though 'waltz' is a bit of a stretch. He doesn't do anything like that with his plated spine and braced legs, but none of that matters. The real point is that he gets it.

He does his best to never push more than he has to. For the most part, he lets Jolyne do her own thing, because she's a Kujo and a Joestar. She's going to do what she wants anyways. His opinion be damned, though he does try to reason with her. Hell, he's given into bribing every once in a while. (Sometimes the means don't matter when father and daughter are both happy at the end of the day.)

In short: Jolyne hates him, and Kakyoin understands.

______

Here's the thing: Jolyne finds Kakyoin to be a nuisance. An interference. One more complication to an already complicated life, and she's only eleven. She wants her parents to get over their bullshit (language!) and figure out how to make things work. She wants Kakyoin to go away, but that doesn't mean she wants him dead. Or injured. Even if she did wish him off the end of a pier that one time. Still.

They've admittedly grown to be more friendly over time. She talks to him now, which is an improvement to the chronic cold shoulder she gave him before. Sometimes she even asks him for help, because her dad can be surprisingly useless when it comes to school work (weren't you in school when I was little?) He always seems happy to help, and he never gets as frustrated as her dad.

So maybe she doesn't hate him, but she definitely wants him to go away.

______

Kakyoin is in the middle of answering one of Jolyne's many questions when he feels something twist violently inside his abdomen. He tastes what he thinks might be bile at rist, but the metallic tinge registers, and,

Oh god, no. Not here. Please not here.

He doesn't need to know-- specifically-- what went wrong to know that he's dying. The moment the pain goes from barely tolerable to utterly agonizing is about when his brain lets him know that he's operating on borrowed time.

Kakyoin could have used that warning approximately five minutes ago. Before the pain. Before he found himself in front of Jolyne.

"I'm sorry," he tries to say, hopes the words come out audible enough for her to understand.

There are tears welling up in her eyes, and they fall soon enough. God, he's made Jolyne cry. She's so young. So unprepared. And she looks so much like Jotaro. With panic stricken eyes and fingers that grasp for something to do. Some way to fix this. It makes his chest ache beyond the twisting and shearing that his insides are already doing.

(She looks exactly like Jotaro, in the hospital after the Foundation managed to retrieve them. The way her hands fumble in the air is so much like how Jotaro had reached out desperately, trying to hold onto Kakyoin, in case those had been his last moments. Like father, like daughter, Kakyoin thinks without humor.)

His knees hit the ground first, and that shoots pain up his legs and along his hips. The rest of it ricochets and dies somewhere midway up his spine. It's a momentary distraction away from the agony that is his middle. He reaches with his fingers to press against his stomach, half expecting them to sink inward (into nothingness. There's nothing. Dio punched a hole right through him, and he's going to die.)

Jolyne is yelling. His name at first, then for her father. Again, he's reminded of the day he died. Maybe it's all been a dream. He's waking up now and the end is pressing down on him. The light will follow soon. He knows; he's seen it before.

"Please!" Jolyne begs him, "I'm sorry!"

He is, too. It's the last thing he thinks before his eyes slide shut and the darkness grabs at him greedily.

______

There's shouting and bright lights and something covering his face. He can't make out anything with his vision so blurry, but he thinks he hears Jotaro's angry voice booming what could be an entire room away.

"If you fucking put a finger on him that isn't necessary to keep him alive. I'll fuck-"

"Dad!"

Jotaro inhales sharply but nods to the surgeon one, final time, "His team is on their way. Not a goddamn finger."

______

The Speedwagon Foundation has several doctors that Kakyoin sees on a semi-regular basis. Each is a specialist in their own right, and they're the only reason Kakyoin ever made it home from Egypt. They're also the only ones that regularly work on updating all the augmented parts and maintaining the damaged remains of Kakyoin's organs. They know him inside and out. Quite literally.

The team makes it to the hospital long before Kakyoin comes out of emergency surgery, which means the whole process is extended significantly. The upside (if it could be called that) is that Kakyoin doesn't have to be put under again. The downside is that it means they'll be waiting awhile.

Jotaro does his best to be strong for Jolyne. It's his job as a parent to keep a calm façade and push his emotions to the side. She needs someone to be her reassurance.

He fails miserably.

______

The head of the Foundation team emerges some hours later, looking a little worse for wear. The stoicism past that does little for Jotaro's nerves. It tells him nothing of what to expect.

"Well?"

"He's stable," the doctor answers. "We had to take out several inches of colon this time. If I had to guess, he probably believed himself to be having a flare. He adjusted to the pain until he became necrotic." His expression shifts into an unpleased frown, "He also has two ulcers. Has he changed his diet? Or experienced any new stressors?"

Jolyne's lip quivered as she processed the doctor's words. She thought over every time she and Kakyoin had fought in recent history. Most of it being her yelling at him.

Jotaro's focus remains fixated on the doctor, "What the hell kind of pain is he still having?"

The doctor-- one Jotaro recognizes from previous visits but can't recall the name of-- sighs, "Kakyoin will only allow us to do so much to help manage his pain. I'm not his specialist in that regard, but it's at his request that he's kept on very little in terms of medication."

Jotaro knows that. He knows that Kakyoin doesn't like what stronger pain meds do to his head, but how out of control is his pain that he didn't notice that he was dying? That his body has been rotting from the inside out for an unknown amount of time?

Jolyne shifts further behind him, drawing his attention to her. It's the only thing that spares the doctor whatever response Jotaro might have otherwise formed. He turns to look at Jolyne and is startled by the tears already trailing down her round cheeks. Realization hits him then.

She's eleven, and he's an idiot.

"Hey, hey. Enough with that. He's going to be okay," Jotaro says quickly. He should have- called her mother or his mother or literally anyone. This isn't a conversation she needed to be privy to.

"It's me," Jolyne chokes the words out. Her thin arms wrap tight around her middle, and she looks close to collapsing on the ground.

Jotaro, admittedly, has no idea what she's talking about, "What's you?"

"The stress!" She practically wails.

Jotaro sighs and moves to wrap his arms around Jolyne. He tugs her in against his chest. "That- that's not the kind of stress the doctor is talking about," he glances over his shoulder to see that the man had already dismissed himself. Smart guy.

"I'm always mean to him!"

Jotaro wants to laugh. Not at all because he thinks her words-- or her suffering-- are funny, but because the whole situation feels unreal. He cards his fingers through her hair instead. It's all the comfort he feels like he can offer in a situation like this. With his own resolve teetering on the edge.

"Takes a lot more than that to take out Noriaki," he's lying through his teeth. The whole new family thing might damn well be enough stress, but he's never going to let Jolyne think this is her fault. It's not. Kakyoin is capable of making his own decisions, and being part of their family is one of them.

Jolyne crumbles against him despite the gentle words, so he scoops her up and holds her against his chest. Even at eleven, she's nothing compared to his size. He finds a nearby seat to settle into and lets her cry while he whispers promises he can't be sure he'll be able to keep. Eventually he tries distracting her with facts about dolphins, and that either has some effect, or she passes out from exhaustion. Either way, he's relieved when she snores against his neck.

______

Kakyoin comes to the waking world in a haze. His head aches and his middle feels a lot like it might have been ripped open again. He hopes that whatever happened had been a little more civil than that.

It doesn't take him long to place himself in the hospital. That's good. He isn't dead, and he's not immediately at risk of falling into enemy hands. The beeping to his left is annoying, and he can't see well enough to make anything out on the monitors around him. His vision tends to be the last thing to recover when he's been knocked out for a while. Still, he turns his head to continue to take in what he can make out.

He stops short when he sees two people in chairs on his right side, closer to the door. The familiar hat catches his attention immediately, not that he needs to be able to see at one hundred percent (or his version of it) to know that the man is none other than Jotaro. His size will always give him away before anything else.

Jotaro's head is bowed in a way that indicates he's likely asleep. He's undoubtedly been here awhile. Jolyne sits beside him with her head pressed against her father's bicep. Star Platinum is out and wrapped around both of them. He lifts his hand from Jotaro a moment to wave at him brightly, which is enough to disturb his user's sleep.

"Mm?" Jotaro grunts. He opens his eyes and sucks in a breath. He takes a moment to compose himself, which is fine. Kakyoin thinks he probably looks worse than he feels, thanks to the drugs. He would make a joke about it, but moving still hurts.

"Good to see you awake. How're you feeling?" Jotaro asks. He doesn't move from his spot, if only to avoid waking up Jolyne, but that intense gaze is evaluating all the same.

Kakyoin gives a noncommittal answer, and Jotaro snorts, "That's what I thought you'd say. Good thing we have this." He reaches for the little controller on the side of Kakyoin's bed. He presses the red button before Kakyoin can protest.

The glare he shoots Jotaro is relatively short-lived, and it's hard to be mad when Jotaro looks so damn triumphant, even if it's about something that Kakyoin has complicated feelings about. He decides to let him have this one, considering the fact that he's pretty sure he gave them all one nightmarish scare.

"I'm sorry," he says after a while, head lulling back against the pillows. His red hair spreads out all around. It's longer now than it ever has been, but he hasn't felt the need to cut it beyond a simple trim in years. It doesn't matter, but it gives himself something to focus on rather than the gnawing guilt.

"Don't be."

"I- god, I never meant-"

"Kakyoin."

"If I had known, I would have left the room or-"

"Kak-"

"She was so afraid. And she-"

"Noriaki," Jotaro snaps more than says the name, but his eyes are soft. "You aren't the only one that made her cry in the last few hours, so you're not special." That's not true. Kakyoin is incredibly special, but he needs to make some kind of light-hearted comment before he starts crying. Nobody needs to see that.

"Still," Kakyoin mumbles, but he doesn't continue.

Jotaro reaches out with Star, who clasps his large hand over one of Kakyoin's. He wants to lean forward himself, but he doesn't want to wake Jolyne up. Not yet.

Kakyoin turns his palm up to tangle his fingers together with Star's. He brushes his thumb over the stand's, knowing Jotaro can feel it reflected on his skin.

"I really thought it was a flare," he says after a while, because he feels like he owes some sort of explanation after everything.

"Nori, I really can't tell you how much I don't give a damn about that," Jotaro frowns at his own words, "No, I mean- I care, but- fuck." He scrubs his hand over his face a few times before trying again, "You don't have to feel guilty for this shit, okay? I should have noticed you were in pain."

Kakyoin shakes his head. He squeezes Star's hand to make sure Jotaro's listening when he speaks, "It's not your fault. I deal with this pain all the time. It just- at first it felt like a flare, but I guess I got used to it." And every time the pain worsened, he acclimated until it had nearly killed him.

Jotaro doesn’t get a chance to respond before Jolyne is rustling against him. She opens her eyes a crack and reaches up to wipe at them with her fists. “Dad?”

“Right here,” Jotaro grunts in response. He squeezes her shoulder gently, then retracts his arm to give her space to stretch out. “Kakyoin is awake.”

He watches the fog clear from her eyes. They widen as she processes his words, and her attention immediately turns to the redhead, who waves meekly at her.

“Jolyne, I’m- oof!”

Star quickly gets his hands around Jolyne’s waist, suspending her in the air enough to keep her weight from falling too heavily onto Kakyoin. He lets her down carefully, and the youngest Kujo looks sheepish for her overreaction.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright,” Kakyoin says, curling an arm around her loosely in return. He hadn’t expected to be nearly tackled upon awakening. That went doubly so when considering Jolyne as a factor. She’s never hugged him before. Trauma is funny in that way; something he knows from first hand experience.

Jotaro steps up behind her and offers a small smile to Kakyoin, “We’re glad you’re alright.”

“Yeah!” Jolyne echoes, “You scared the shit out of us!”

“Jolyne,” Jotaro’s voice is gruff. An attempt at a warning that falls short. The way his lips pull further upward is a dead giveaway that he isn’t particularly upset by her language usage.

“It’s true!”

“Good grief.”

Kakyoin snorts at the father-daughter duo, relieved to see the two smiling again. Already bickering as per usual. There’s too much snark trapped in the Joestar bloodline, and it always amplifies whenever there’s more than one of them in a room. He’d know, having been on the road with Joseph and Jotaro in the past.

Somehow the back and forth settles into Jolyne rambling about dolphins. She regurgitates facts that-- for the most part-- Kakyoin already knows, but he feigns shock and awe at all the right places to keep her spirit up. It’s more healing to watch her babble emphatically than it is lying around in a hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. It eases some of the guilt, makes him feel lighter.

Eventually, Jotaro whiskers her out the door. Kakyoin catches sight of Holly, which must mean that Marina is tied up. Holly doesn’t come in, likely at her son’s behest. The woman is a mother through and through, and she can be a bit overwhelming at times. Better to focus all that maternal energy on Jolyne for now.

“You look tired,” Jotaro says when the door clicks shut behind the two. He takes his spot back next to Kakyoin’s bed, pulling his chair as close as he can. His knees grind against the railing of the bed a bit, but the distance allows him to lean forward and get a good look at his partner.

“I could say the same about you,” Kakyoin points out with a raised brow. He still can’t pick up his head for more than a few seconds at a time, and his vision remains fuzzy around the edges; a likely side effect of being drugged to the gills, but he isn’t blind. He can see the bags collecting under Jotaro’s eyes. Exhaustion-- emotional as much as it is physical-- already weighing his shoulders down.

Jotaro snorts an unamused sound, “I’m not the one that just had emergency surgery.”

Kakyoin winces at the reminder. “I’m-”

“If you finish that statement, I’m going to give you a reason to be sorry,” he isn’t. Jotaro won’t hurt him, but the words make Kakyoin close his mouth anyways. For a second.

“Oh, and how are you going to do that?”

Jotaro stares him down for a solid thirty seconds, expecting him to back down. When he doesn’t, the man pushes himself to his feet with an exasperated sigh. “Good grief, c’mere,” his fingers hook under Kakyoin’s chin, and he leans down to press their lips together.

As far as life affirming kisses go, it’s one of Jotaro’s more gentle ones, but Kakyoin feels the thrill of it chasing down his spine anyways.

“I love you,” Kakyoin murmurs as they break apart. He wants to add an apology to the end, but he bites his lip and keeps it to himself for now. He’ll find a way to make it up to Jotaro and Jolyne later.

“Love you, too, Tenmei.”

[it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream]

Silva Lining (Saul Silva x Reader) Chapter 5

Warnings: Mentions of blood/swearing

Word count: 2.2k

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-Unknown POV-

“Y/N! Y/N, wake up, it’s not your time yet. There’s much to be done! Dangers are close. They won’t be able to stop the danger without you. You must wake up, for you are the key to it all, you hold the dragon soul.” 

-Saul’s POV-

“Where the fuck is she?” Saul screamed out, partly because he was in pain from his wounds, partly because he’d just seen the girl he loved fall like a sack of bricks to the ground with blood gushing from her mouth and nose. A couple of Specialists had helped to drag Saul to Mr Harveys lab, he’d been there for all of 20 minutes when he regained consciousness and started flailing around like a mad man, the only thought on his mind, you. He’d passed out when he watched you fall through the portal, only to wake up with the professor poking and prodding at his burned one wound. He couldn’t help but scream in pain, the infection spreading through his body, crawling through him like he was covered in thousands of ants. His veins black, filled with the dark disease. 

“Saul, she’s fine, she’s in the medical wing, in a secluded room, i’ve had to suspend her body in a comma like state for the time being.” Farah stroked Saul’s head as he lay getting his wounds tended. She could see the pain and shock flutter across his face. “She will be okay Saul I promise, it’s just a precaution while her powers regenerate, she should be awake by the end of the day.” Farah looked at him sadly.

“You know? How?” Saul could tell that Farah knew about his and Y/N relationship, but how? For how long? 

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. How long have we known you Saul? We’ve seen the way you look at her, the burning desire you have to always protect her. God, if I wasn’t mistaken i’d even say sometimes I can physically see the energy between the both of you. You’ve never looked at anyone like that in the years i’ve known you, not once.” Ben smiled and Farah frowned. Saul couldn’t believe that both of his friends knew and yet, they hadn’t done anything about it. 

“Please Farah, i’m sorry, I never wanted to keep it a secret, I didn’t meant for it to happen, it just did.” He placed his hand over his heart, worried that now the secret was out, things were about to change and not for the better. 

“Mate, you don’t have to worry, your secret is safe with us. We just want you to be happy, you can’t help who you love.” Ben finished cleaning the wound and helped Saul lay down fully, patting him on the shoulder. 

“I need to see her, Please, you should have seen what she did out there, it was scary, amazing, i’ve never seen anything like it before. She looked so fragile Farah, please I have to see her.” Farah patted Saul on the hand, explaining that Y/N needed rest and so did he, it wouldn’t be a good time and a good thing for him to see her the way she was. He tried to fight it he did, but before he could fight any more, the medicine Ben had given him started to kick in and the world faded into a blur of colours and objects and eventually, nothing. 

-Your POV-

You groaned. What a weird dream you’d had. Your eyes flickered catching glimpses of a fluttery sparkly, silver force surrounding your body, then they closed again, your body still tired from your excessive use of magic. 

They opened. Again, the same fluttering force surrounded you, it felt almost warm, powerful, like a battery, charging you, regenerating your life force. The sky outside was lighter now, but your eyes still fluttered, closing for a second time, your body still not ready to awaken.

It was light again by the time your eyes opened all the way and open they stayed. The fluttering force field of energy was replaced by black tendrils of your magic wrapped around yourself like a cocoon. You reeled them back in and winced as you sat up, your throat dry like sandpaper. You saw movement from the corner of your eye, then a glass of water was handed to you by a familiar pair of hands. Silva. His eyes were still tinted with black, he looked tired and his face was pale. Taking the water you drank greedily then set it to the side, you couldn’t help the sob that escaped your lips, Silva moved you over and lay down on the bed with you taking you in his arms, you didn’t fail to notice the wince he gave when he lay down. He was still infected. He was your safety blanket, your safe haven, your home and he was dying. 

“How long was I out? How long has it been?” Saul kissed your hair, his other hand tracing circles on the skin exposed on your hip. 

“You’ve been in a coma for a week Y/N, I thought i’d lost you, Farah said you would have been awake by the end of the day, when you didn’t come round, we feared the worst.” He nuzzled your hair with his nose, breathing deeply, holding you a little tighter, happy that you’d finally woken. 

“You’re still infected? Why haven’t they killed the burned one yet.” You sat up slightly craning your neck to look at Saul, he sighed and his head fell into the crook of your neck. 

“Sweetheart, the problem is a lot bigger than we initially thought, there wasn’t just one burned one, there’s a whole group of them.. fighters killed one this morning, but as you can see, it wasn’t the one that got me.” Your jaw clenched, gritting your teeth to hold back the tears. 

“I won’t let you die Saul, you can’t leave me, you’re all I have in the world.” Your arms wrapped around him tighter and you snuggled down, listening to your mans steady heartbeat. 

-Later that night- 

After the morning spent with Saul, after him telling you that Farah and Ben knew about your relationship and they were going to keep in hush hush, you were given the all clear and were aloud to leave the medical bay. It hadn’t taken long for you to get roped into going to the Specialists party, and you couldn’t help but notice the stares and smiles people gave you in the hall, which you later found out was a new found appreciation for your powers and the fact you saved Silva from a worser fate. 

The party was in full swing but you didn’t feel like drinking, just incase anything happened to Silva, you wanted to be able to help if it came to it. He had reassured you that he would be spending the evening with Farah and Ben, reminiscing about the days when he trained at Alfea, telling you that he was one that started the annual Specialist keg party, but that was apparently a story for another time. 

Looking across the crowded room, you noticed Sky wasn’t drinking either. He was looking around, then caught your eye, suddenly making his way towards you. All of a sudden you were scooped up into a hug, by the taller Blonde guy. You laughed shocked and awkwardly hugged him back. 

“You saved him, you got him out of there, thank you.” You smiled. “I always knew there was something between you two, he never shuts up about you, you make him so happy.” You blushed. 

“God it seems that everyone knows about us when we were trying to keep it a secret the whole time, is it really that obvious?” He laughed and shook his head, his har falling in front of his eyes slightly. 

“No, only the people who know Saul best, so now that me, Headmistress Dowling and Prof Harvey know, I think your secret is safe.” Sky leant against the brick wall, taking a look around the room, a slight frown on his face. He still had a lot on his mind. Stella was across the other side, she noticed the two of you talking but all she did was raise her cup and nod in your direction, knowing that nothing would ever happen between you and the guy she loved. 

“Y/N, he’s dying you know. You’ve been out for a week so you won’t have been able to see the difference. He was better at the start, he’s just gone down hill from here. He didn’t want me to tell you but he tried to tell me goodbye earlier, just incase things went wrong, he didn’t want to worry you. We have to do something.” Well shit. Way to ruin the party mood you thought. Your heart felt like it was squeezed in a vice, your stomach tied in nots and all the air seemed to leave your lungs. It was really that bad? You knew that something had to be done, and that’s when you and Sky came up with your plan. 

It was around midnight when you met Sky at the edge of the barrier. Accompanied by Bloom? You didn’t ask.. the more the merrier you guessed, you needed all the help you could get and you knew that for some reason Bloom was able to sense the Burned Ones near, it was like having your own sniffer Fairy, you snickered to yourself which landed you strange looks from the pair. 

To say you were nervous was an understatement, you’ve seen first hand what the masters are capable of, but you also knew how much you were capable of, your powers sometimes making you feel untouchable. Bloom had lead you into the middle of the woods, she could hear it. It wasn’t until you saw the red eyes and heard it’s cry that you jumped into action. The three of you were pushed back, you hit the floor with a thud, the wind knocked out of you. 

“Close your eyes!” Stella? You turned and caught a glimpse of her before you closed your eyes. Even behind your eyelids you saw the forrest come to life with the light of Stella’s powers. Great, now it really was the more the merrier, you should have known that your roommates would come to the rescue, you were grateful, but you also feared for their safety. 

Stella and Musa helped you stand while Bloom hit the monster with the force of of her fire powers, Aisha hit it next sending the thing crashing to the floor where Sky finished it off with his sword. You winced, noticing you’d bumped your head on a rock when pushed back, blood matted in your hair, but you’d live. 

“I don’t think its dea-“ Musa started but never got to finish her sentence when the burned one burst into pieces. You all turned slowly when you heard the pissed off voice of Headmistress Dowling. 

Walking back in silence was weird. You still had a shit eating grin plastered on your face though. What if this was the one? The one that had got Saul. He’d be saved. You practically ran with Sky when you got to the barrier. Both of you walked cautiously through the green house doors, Ben was taking off Sauls bandages, you felt like you’d been holding your breath for hours. Letting Sky go in first, you felt a little dizzy, so tried to catch your breath. 

“You are an idiot, a stupid, impulsive, reckless idiot!” Well, he sure did sound like the old Saul you know and loved. 

“Is it better?” Sky asked in a frantic voice. You held your breath again. At this rate, you’d be able to give Aisha a run for her money at swimming with the amount of breath holding you had going on.

“Don’t smile at him” Ben laughed as Saul told him off and you peaked your head around the door to see Saul and Sky hugging. Happy tears ran down your face, it felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders. You coughed a little to gain their attention. Saul’s face flickered with a load of emotions, anger, surprise, happiness, love… then worry as he noticed the blood matted in your hair. 

“I had some help.” Sky pat Saul on the shoulder and left the room, giving your shoulder a pat too. Ben noticed you and took it as his cue to leave and give you both some much needed privacy. Then it was just the two of you. 

“Before you say anything I know it was stupid I know, I just couldn’t stand back and watch you die!” You’d barely pushed yourself off the edge of the door before Silva was in front of you, hand on the side of your face, drawing you in for a kiss that made you almost grateful that you didn’t have wings because the feeling he gave you in that kiss, would have had you soaring up into outer space. 

“So, you’re feeling better then?”

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Okay so I feel like this is slightly filler? IDK. I just hope you guys enjoy it, I can't believe the amount of support i’ve been getting over this story... im so grateful you don't even know! Let me know what you think in the comments... what you think should happen next, what you like/don't like.

Chapter 6 pt1 ------- CLICK HERE 

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