#no because there's literally a scene in one of the fics where they openly admit they like trolling other students with things like that

[tixdixl]

Assumption: When Oisín is over talking with someone he will absolutely play static on his screen and pretend like he's getting outside interference.

OOOH Thanks for this!!!

You know what....?

You know what?

I can totally see them doing this. I'm gonna say this is correct, especially when Crowley is involved.

This is correct.

Tag list: @cyanide-latte @simons-twsted-children @inmateofthemind @ramshacklerumble

@rainesol @elenauaurs @blithesrps @theleechyskrunkly

@thehollowwriter

Lmk if you want added/removed

[schneiderenjoyer]

it's you!! the one that made that verneider fic!!! i enjoy your fics and curious about something so i gott ask. what's your headcanons on schneider?

Vague, but yes, I write verneider stuf haha. I really appreciate and glad people like my work! (if you're actually referring to my fics like TWTR) And on the subject of headcanons...

SLAMS TABLE

You have no idea what you're asking for, anon. I'll literally go FERAL here for you asking this of me. I can go on forever talking about my personal headcanons for Schneider. And that's assuming whether or not you wanted headcanons of Schneider in general or for TWTR!Schneider. So, I'll compromise.

Normal Text is headcanons applying to both Italic mainly applies to Schneider Bold mainly applies to TWTR!Schneider

List of a "few" headcanons below.

Schneider is a good singer. Being told by her parents to go to church regularly, she'd also be encouraged to participate in church activities with her sisters like choir duty.

She's knowledgeable in botany. Growing up in an orchard, she picks up useful experience in taking care of plants, mainly fruits.

Schneider smokes and drinks. Mafia life gets her to pick up shady habits in her early days to relieve stress.

She taught herself how to use a gun. First gun she got was owned by her late father. The first time she ever had to use it is out of self-defense.

Schneider first killed someone at age 11.

Schneider's an adept learner. She shows signs of being responsible and understanding of the given situation at a young age, making her easily flexible. When it's beneficial or necessary to pick up a skill, she'll quickly learn and apply it into practice to be more efficient.

She's a skilled cook. Wandering around doesn't mean ignoring what you eat. Candies and energy bars won't do for a gourmet like her. She's equipped with years of knowledge and experience to feed even an entire army of picky eaters.

Schneider's favorite fruit is Sicilian Blood Orange.

Schneider didn't get a proper education. She knows how to read and write well enough, but she's taught herself how to speak English for survival.

She's greedy, but frugal. In her later years, Schneider grows to have a lavish and sophisticated taste in fashion and food, but always aims for practicality (buying cheap fake pearls because it's shiny enough and keeps the scent of oranges on her). She only splurges on family necessities and "business" resources.

Schneider is good in finances. In a struggling economy with 20 mouths to feed, she's learned to calculate the expenditures well.

Liberal in mind, conservative at heart. She's designed to be based on the American 1920s flapper girl scene where it's commonly viewed at the time as "going against the standard perception of young women" at the time. Yet, while Schneider filled into that role out of necessity to be her family's backbone (and it fits her personality better), at heart, she is still a young girl raised under conservative Christian values. Even if the possibility is no longer there, Schneider still dreams of someday marrying for love (man or woman doesn't matter to her), starting a family, and maybe be a sweet loving housewife to someone.

Hesitant leader, rebellious follower. Schneider has a complicated view of authorities, mainly the government. She's resistant and even disdainful towards blindly following higher power without questioning their motives, but knows when to lower her head for the time being. With this view, Schneider isn't interested in the leader position nor does she want to order an entire group of people to do her bidding if she really can help it.

Schneider doesn't lie. In a cruel world full of deception, the last thing she wants is to be a liar herself. She doesn't consider "lying by omission" as lying; merely stalling for time before she has to say it out loud. Her favorite tactic to avoid having to admit it openly too soon is to divert the subject or make cryptic, playful jabs. It's not lying if you never answer, after all~

She finds it hard to ask for help openly. With her background, showing any admission of weakness is a gateway to risking her loved one's life, so she finds more creative way to get the help she needs through subtle cajoling or manipulating the conversation to get the other person to engage willingly about the information she needs. Only time Schneider would ever ask help first is a matter of life and death of others rather than herself.

Schneider has a complex relationship with religion. She doesn't inherently denounces the practice, as she's lived her whole life with it, but she's jaded by it. Her shaky mindset about God and religion has led her to being she's a sinner and the reason she and her family have fallen on hard times with no salvation. Maybe if she was a better daughter...

Faith in you is belief to me. Schneider, even with many qualities of an arcanist, is still human biologically. She can't see or hear things most arcanists can, but she feels them. If her eyes and ears fail her, she places faith in those she trusts to be her guiding light.

Family over everything. Italian or no, Schneider will do anything for those she loves and considers "family." She'll place their comfort over herself and will do what she can to protect them. Even with her own life.

She loves collecting feathers. From doves to pigeons, any feather of any kind or color. It's a small hobby she holds dear in her heart.

Schneider likes watching movies, mainly the cheesy romance and slasher horror genre. Ever since finding out about "talkies" and the existence of "giallo" films, she likes to collect and binge watch all sorts of shows late at night.

Curious in the arcane. Her deepened fascination to immerse herself in the arcanist lifestyle has her become very knowledgeable in many arcane practices on a basic level. If she can't be a professional in one, might as well just be decent in all.

Schneider has a large gun collection. She takes care of it and maintains them well.

Playful business. It's hard for most to identify whether Schneider takes work seriously or not. She defaults to her usual teasing personality whether it's a risky job or a simple task. Only when the situation has her comrades at risk does she stop playing around and take things more seriously.

Selfishly selfless. It's already been shown many times in previous headcanons, but Schneider's selfless to a fault in the sense she'd do everything for her loved ones. She only gets involved and looks out for others with her best interest (and her "family") in mind. The best way you can get her on your side is to be friends with her family. (or threaten her with their life)

We win or we die. Schneider is no gambler, but when she does, she games with her life. She's long known the worth of her soul and will lay it down for any opportunity to win all odds. (to the benefit of her loved ones) Even so, there remains a heart that yearns to live.

I'll stop there since it's getting too long, haha. But yeah, I have a lot of headcanons for Schneider. Bbygirl's got so much potential and so much layers as a character. I love her so much.

[zaiban2989]

BNHA S3 EP1 or the Pool Ep

Honestly, I've watched that ep at least 6 times in the last two weeks, just didn't have a chance to pause and talk about it until now lol That post gonna be long again 😭🤣

It's not "that much" of an important episode when you think of it, but it's still one of my favourites. Our cinnamon roll Izuku is just the cutest in this one, being manipulated by Denki & Mineta to use the pool so those pervs can spy on the girls lmao the whole thing is hilarious and cute af - I mean look at this cute baby being all fired up for training! 👇

Our little green bean is so cute and friendly and nice he even texted everyone to come and join them lmao Which is raising so many questions: did everyone in class 1-A share their numbers with each other? Does that mean that Kacchan actually gave it to everyone else, even Deku? Or is Kacchan the only one Izuku didn't text because, you know, fucked up relationship and all that, and it's only because Kirishima got the message that Kacchan came (like his bro definitely has his number and told him about the training)? Or do they all just have a group chat with the whole class so Izuku texted there so everyone, including Kacchan, saw it? I WANT ANSWERS!!!!

But considering the timing of how late Kirishima and Katsuki came to meet with them, I feel like the closest answer is that Kiri got Izuku's text and then texted Katsuki or even went to his house to drag him out or something... Kiri did say that it took him a while to get Katsuki to come, so that's probably it. The thought that Izuku can't even text Kacchan, or didn't even think he could, makes me so sad honestly 😭 (like imagine class A really does have a group chat and those two idiots are in there but never interact with each other's texts and secretly did save each other's numbers but yeah there's no way in hell they'd go and text the other because "Kacchan probably doesn't wanna talk to me", "why the heck should I text the nerd, I'm better than him!" *siiiiiiigh* I want a fic about this now lol)

Anyway, back to the episode... Iida, class rep, always at the ready to order people around lol It's so funny how everyone just listens to him though, I love it 💙

AND THEN THE BEST PART OF IT ALL HARKLZERLKRZEKDE - What happened? Iida and Izuku are having a little moment together (reminiscing what happened in s1 & s2) and Izuku says that he got here with the help of many others and that he needs to work that much harder and WHO yells a loud "OF COURSE!" to that?! Fucking Kacchan! 🧡💚seriously I can't, man! I have so many fucking thoughts on that scene alone, it's ridiculous lol

And I mean, what he says is so freaking weiiiiiiiiiird! (proof in pic👇)

Iida and Izuku were not even speaking that loudly, so how the fuck did Katsuki even hear all of that shit from where he was?! (he just arrived there with Ei, you see him walking up to them with his usual gremlin face, Kiri blocking him lmao)

So now I am HC-ing the fact that Katsuki actually do not have any fucking hearing impairments because of his Explosion quirk - on the contrary, he probably trained himself so fucking much so that shit would never be a problem and so that he could eavesdrop on any conversation his nerd would be having with other people (see Sport Festival and his stalking of Izu/Todo secret meeting lol)

I mean seriously, Kiri and him JUST arrived there and what's his first move? To fucking head to where Deku is hdezdezmde and you wanna tell me that guy ain't obsessed with his broccoli head? PLEASE!

"Otherwise there's no way I'd lose to a damn nerd like you!" - or literally, Katsuki openly admitting that he has been losing to the nerd (in the first DvKpt1 of course, but also when they teamed up against AM for the exam because he had been reckless and had to rely on the damn nerd for help - hell, he even lost consciousness and the guy dragged him to the exit (HC-ing again, but pretty sure Kats asked for the recording of that fight cuz he didn't remember and wanted to know what the fuck happened - he'll never tell Izuku though))

So our blonde baby IS already growing up, it's subtle but for someone like Katsuki to say that he's lost to Deku, I mean that is fucking big, man. I'm certain Izuku didn't even pick up what that meant here, but progress baby, you've been acknowledged by your person! 🧡💚

As soon as he's there, he's already picking a fight with his baby nerd lmao at this stage, it's established he sees both Deku & Todo as his rivals - Hori is even already setting the tone for the next gen' of UA Big Three since the 3 of them end up being the ones winning each racing rounds and are now facing each other in the final

(Just some appreciation of how fucking hot Katsuki is when he doesn't make his bitch face lmao 🔥🧡 also the fucking V-shape he has, god dammit man!)

Of course, the final round doesn't happen - I wonder who Hori would have turned into the winner on that one lol Guess it was too hard to decide huh flekdmzemdez Look at those dum-dums' faces as their quirks got erased 🤣

That episode is so gold, I swear! Even the ending with Katsuki's frustration of not having raced against Deku & Todo when he's on his way back with Kiri and the fact that we see once again that his goal hasn't changed (yet?), honestly, it's endearing 🧡

"No matter who it is, I won't let them catch up to me, let alone get ahead of me!" - oh baby boy, talking about your insecurities like that *sobs* it makes it even more amazing that he changed so freaking much by s5-s6 because he's no longer with that mindset 😭 "The nerd's ahead of me now but I can still catch up!" fuck me man, that 180 is just... *cries*

You see his All Might fanboying seeping through what he says and how he's determined to prove himself, someone please give that baby a hug😭 (he fucking gets kidnapped in this season, I can't man)

ANYWAYS, I LOVE THIS EPISODE SO MUCH OKAY?! lmao Ending this review with the official season ending, firework moment and Kacchan next to his Deku (come on, Hori could have placed him anywhere else there but nope)

That's it, folks! Cheers for coming to my ted talk lol Till next time!🧡💚

[phillippadgettwrites]

The First Time, Every Time: Squeeze

Rated X / 1234 words / Posted on AO3 / Tagging @today-in-fic

It was bold of her to accuse him of acting territorial in the first place. Because she could have just as easily been referring to herself as the work. Because she knew she was baiting him, hoping for some kind of reaction. She’d expected him to get hot, temperamental, defensive maybe. She can’t yet admit to herself that she finds his displays of passion so captivating that she’s begun actively trying to elicit them; even if he’d gotten upset and told her she was wrong, she’d have gotten something out of it. But that wasn’t how he’d responded at all.

She can still feel the weight of her necklace shifting as he carefully unwound it from around one of her breasts, adjusting the pendant just so. The soft, affectionate expression on his face as he openly admitted that he was being territorial, and not about the work. About her. But it wasn’t his possessiveness alone that made heat blossom between her thighs. It was that little addendum: “If you want to continue working with them, I won’t hold it against you.”

It was his complete lack of an attempt to persuade her in either direction that made her heart start to pound as she watched him walk away. Her decisions are often so clouded by the expectations of others that she can’t be sure what she really wants, but Mulder expects nothing. Absent the weight of all those outside opinions, the right choice was immediately clear: follow Mulder. See what discoveries lie in wait along his less-traveled path. It’s the objectively wrong choice by any sane measure, but she felt no hesitation in making it. In following him, literally, up the stairs and into the records room.

It emboldens her to make other wrong choices. Offering to drive him home when he admits that the blur of the microfiche has given him a headache. Asking to come up and use his bathroom when she could easily wait twenty more minutes until she’s back at her apartment. She wants him to look at her like that again, like he wants her but won’t fight for her. Like he wants her to do what’s best for her, not for him. Like what she wants matters.

It’s when she realizes that no man in her life has ever prioritized her wishes for herself above his own that she kisses him. There is a split second of stark fear, of terrifying realization. Her blood runs cold and her full rational faculties come slamming back into her prefrontal cortex with a jarring buzz, and she begins to pull away from him. But just as she made the unwise choice to follow him, he makes the unwise choice to follow her. He kisses her back. Her brain goes offline once more.

It’s like a movie. Like one of those cliche scenes where they simultaneously kiss and tear off each other’s clothing, mysteriously leaving the woman’s bra on the entire time. Her heels are still on her feet but Mulder has to slouch to reach her, and once she’s in only her bra and panties he smoothly escorts her down to his worn leather couch.

She allows herself to look at his face above her as his eyes tear hungrily down her body. She sees that same passion that he brings to his investigations, dogged and determined, and her cunt throbs at the idea of him bestowing such vigor onto her. She wonders if he eats pussy as thoroughly as he chases down leads, and her cheeks warm. She doesn’t even think she’d want him to do that, doesn’t think she’d feel comfortable, but then he starts tugging her panties off her hips and she’s overwhelmed with the desire to feel his tongue against her clit.

As though reading her mind, his eyes flash up to hers and he tilts his head slightly and asks, “May I?” with so much decorum you’d think her cunt was the Holy Grail.

She doesn’t remember saying yes, though she’s sure she did. She feels the heat of his mouth against her skin and the plunge of his tongue inside her, and the rest of the world fades away. He makes her come, which surprises her; she’s always fancied herself a bit of a challenge, sexually speaking. What’s more, it’s clear that he has no expectation that she’ll reciprocate. That only makes her want to fuck him more.

She grabs eagerly at the fly of his jeans, struggling with the button and hurting the tips of her fingers as Mulder chuckles with amusement. He stands and does the honors himself, pushing stiff denim down to his knees and revealing the stiff cock that’s hidden beneath them. She has the passing thought that maybe she’ll just blow him, but she is not nearly as selfless as he is, and she tugs on his arm to encourage him to sit down before she climbs into his lap.

“Oh my god,” she whispers as he takes him in slowly, and she can feel the stretch of his prideful smile against her cheek. It doesn’t even bother her—he should be proud, walking around with that magnificent thing under his dockers.

He grips her by the hips as she rides him, a slow grind that still allows them to kiss sloppily. She wants to see him come, to know what he looks like when he loses control in that way. He’s so big, so bright, so fascinating in ways she didn’t know existed until she walked into his basement office and shook his smooth, un-calloused hand. More. She wants more.

“Can you come again?” he asks her, his chivalry apparently boundless.

“Uh-uh,” she murmurs, though it isn’t really true. She just wants to see him fall apart, to feel him. She just wants to know him in every possible way that she can.

He ruts up into her, taking control from below, and she gasps at the press of him against her cervix. And then he fucks her, truly fucks her, sending her bouncing lewdly in his lap with little staccato slaps of skin on skin. She catches his eye and finds that he’s not looking at her body—he’s intently focused on her face. It should be too intimate, too present, too much—but it’s not. He looks her right in the eye as he surges and then peaks, his eyelids falling closed only briefly when the height of it overwhelms him. And seeing him like that, moaning and writhing, emptying himself inside her—she comes again.

“Fuck, you feel incredible,” he professes offhandedly, slowly gyrating until there’s nothing left to pull from his body or hers.

Slowly, they collect themselves and find their way back into their haphazardly discarded clothes. Scully realizes that somehow her bra stayed on the entire time. She waits for the inevitable drop of shame and embarrassment, but it doesn’t come. She’s not even afraid that he’ll ask what it meant—it seems perfectly clear to her that it doesn’t have to mean anything.

It was her choice. To join the FBI. To take the assignment on the X-Files. To follow Mulder. To fuck him. Maybe it was the wrong one, but it was hers to make.

She’s done worrying about what other people think. Mulder’s ideas may be a bit out there, but he’s a great agent, and so is she. Together, they just might be unstoppable.

[halfagone]

Hello, I’m not really used to giving prompts so I hope this prompt isn’t too bad, but it was actually partially inspired by your upcoming Magnetism fic, minus the shipping stuff anyway. So this would take place in the young justice universe, it would probably be a a darker story (probably a one shot), with the YJ facing off against an anti hero Danny who’s gone through some horrible traumatic event and is destroying every GIW base he can find. Usually a story like this would have a happy ending like the YJ team convincing Danny to stop, but I want this Danny to be too consumed by anger and revenge, leading to the one shot ending with him heavily injuring the YJ team and continuing his rampage. What do you think?

Ironic that you should mention Magnetism to me now, when I'm drafting the first chapter out as we speak. ;3 On one hand, this version you've presented here is technically darker, in some ways, but I do want to tell you now: Don't underestimate how messed up I'm making Danny's history for this fic. There's a reason it's Rated M, and it has nothing to do with the romance.

But onto your prompt! It probably would be a one-shot, unless you really wanted to drag out how much Danny practically slaughters them. (Although maybe without the actual killing.)

This is actually very similar to another idea I had where the Justice League travels universes to this other dystopian version of Earth and they find out that an evil version of Danny (not Dan for once!) totally destroyed the world and his versions of the Justice League members, and Danny nearly murders these versions of them only for Batman to literally throw himself at Danny at the very last second and just- gives him this bone-crushing hug that Danny tries to escape at first only to have a breakdown because this is the first time in years that he's been treated humanely and despite all his anger and resentment and hatred, he is still that little, scared fourteen-year-old that was told he was a monster even when he didn't feel like one. :(

So it could go something like that, but with the YJ team instead. Ooh~ Maybe Dick gives him the hug? That sounds in-character for him. And would be a good parallel with Bruce for the JL version.

But other than that, he still goes on rampages. Because... well. There's this scene in the "Batman - The Killing Joke" movie (NOT a fan of the storyline, but this scene always gets me) where the Joker openly admits that there's no saving him. Here's a clip if you want it:

I think Danny would feel like he's in a similar position during his rampage.

Good, crunchy angst.

[bi-demon-ium]

ok umm i've really not seen any kate stuff? anywhere? so i'd like to hear your thoughts on kate (preferably angst) please!! you are awesome btw <3

ok i don't actually know if you are intending to talk about book!kate or show!kate but i will be mostly if not completely discussing show!kate rip if that was not what you meant but i've seen the show a lot more recently

OKAY. so. i'll start small with some headcanons:

kate is soooo autistic. and adhd. audhd my beloved. yes i say this about pretty much every character i like but with kate it's PARTICULARLY true. (i believe i said in the mbs server the book!kate feels like she has adhd with a side of autism while show!kate feels like she had autism with a side of adhd and i stand by that. but it's vibes based not like, literal.)

but like she can have trouble expressing her feelings, even to herself. she'll either be unable to hide her reactions/expressions, or she'll barely have one at all, and seem unbothered. she's also very blunt and unafraid to state her opinion to anyone, even if it seems "rude". but she isn't rude, really, as it's not that kind of "blunt truth" some assholes like to parade about when they're really just being dicks to everyone. she's still kind, she only says something negative if someone has done something negative (ie, "you are very unpleasant" to someone actively antagonizing everyone in the room is on the table, but just randomly insulting someone for the sake of "blunt honesty" is not. she's never like, mean.)

also shes GAYYYY. or possibly bi, i don't have an opinion on that. on one hand lesbian energy on the other i could definitely see bi bi bi. but if you don't think her and martina got something on i don't know what to tell you. that being said i could also see her as a-spec, but not necessarily in a way that conflicts with Whatever's Going On With Martina. (to be fair, hpwever, one could argue martina was more into kate than vice versa, i could see an argument for aro kate for sure)

green beanie is comfort beanie. she very rarely takes it off. where do you think she got it? angsty answer is somehow it's from her dad, but realistically she probably got it later in life. (doesn't mean she didn't choose it for similar reasons, though... not knowing why she was drawn to the green hat, not remembering it's the same shade as one her father wore....)

also the bucket. i do wonder when she got the bucket. this one, while again a milligan-related reason would be super fucked up (in the fun sad way), i feel like. i feel like it's more that as a kid she felt like she needed to be Prepared. maybe something happened where she wasn't, or maybe she just felt like she wanted to be ready, just in case, all the time. but like. her getting a bucket, modifying it herself, experimenting with different ways to put it on her belt, the inventory changing over the years as some things were discarded or added over time... idk i just think. kate developing her bucket

kate & constance was so good and i want to see more of their friendship. so bad. each realizing the other isn't so bad bc they're forced to work together... chefs kiss. also, the only person other than mr benedict we really see constance actually seem to openly like in some capacity.

kate & sticky underrated. their talk before the cheating was such a good scene. i also want more of this dynamic

i should also mention kate & reynie, which i do genuinely like--the hug is sweet--but i admit is my maybe least favorite of the society dynamics with kate. although i do enjoy the contrast between kate "IM GONNA GO CLIMB THAT TOWER" wetherall and reynie "please why am i the only voice of reason holding this group together" muldoon

i've only explored it in that one fic but i actually think kate & mr benedict would be such a good dynamic, especially because in the show it's inexplicably established he's into engineering. LET THEM BOND OVER BUILDING WEIRD SHIT PLEASE

okay to get a little more into specifics methinks,

i just think a lot about kate like. immediately after season one, and--we'll just. we'll ignore season 2 for now, let's set this in my current anomalous idea of them all in season one (which, rip wetherall farm, but is currently number two & rhonda off at the airshows with mr benedict, constance, milligan, and kate in the house) so like just.

you've been alone your entire life. you've been independent, and you've grown up thinking that the only person you ever had just left you one day for no reason, and in doing so broke a direct promise. and then now, you not only have friends who've you learned to rely on and not just try and do everything yourself, but suddenly you have reliable adults. and more importantly, more specifically, your dad, who never left you but had been taken. had been erased, and even brainswept had never truly stopped looking.

and kate isn't stupid. she heard his story. she knows he must have been through Some Shit. and that he'd have come back if he could. but there's still that pain, that ache, of how long he was missing, for like, more than three quarters of her life! he vanished when she was 3! but now it's like. oh. he did want me. he was taken. he was taken.

so that's an almost identity altering shift in her worldview. and on top of that, her current world is now so completely different: rather than independence and circus life, she's got friends her age who genuinely like her, who she's bonded with through major adversity, and she has adults who actually listen to her and like her. and she has her dad.

and it grates sometimes--she's independent, she doesn't need to be treated like a baby! but also it's like. it's bizarre, because they care, but they don't condescend to her, they do understand she's intelligent and capable even if they want to protect her. and she's never really had adults like that before. not since she was three

so it's a weird mix of like being sort of happy/pleased, because they care, she can rely on them, and being kind of annoyed/frustrated because while she's learned she doesn't need to be entirely independent she still struggles with it. because she's kate wetherall, and she's always prepared, and she feels like she has to be prepared for what will happen if they leave if they're taken from her. she can't rely on them completely, can she? what happens when she loses them again?

and then the mix feelings of old long-buried resentment/anger under buried sadness/loneliness under a crisp crust of i'm perfectly fine, mixed with the new feelings of anger on his behalf, at curtain, sadness at the missing time, at how close he'd been for all these years without either of them knowing it, sadness for him, for herself. but like all of it is still like. under her trying to pretend like she's fine. (and her difficulty expressing emotions, even to herself, does Not Help.)

not to mention as much as genuinely loved the mission in some ways--her new friends (including martina), the adventure, helping people, her bucket coming crazy in handy, etc.--it wasn't exactly a cake walk.

she has nightmares, sometimes: about martina's face when she walked into the waiting room. about sticky's face when he walked out of it. about falling and falling and falling except there aren't warm, safe arms to catch her. about the nodes attached to her face and the long, metallic spires pointed at her, ready to wipe her like her father had been wiped. about her father leaving and never coming home, never being found. about being caught. about losing her friends. about curtain. about all of it.

but she doesn't want to share it because one, she doesn't want them to feel guilty: she did what she had to, and she doesn't regret it. two, and more importantly, she doesn't want them to not let her come on the next mission. (kate had already kind of had the idea that they would have another--they were a team! teams didn't just split up!--but now she's sure of it. curtain's still out there, after all, and he didn't seem the type to just give up.)

i think maybe constance might bully her into talking about it--we already know she can feel dreams (with her comment about sticky dreaming about steak and sticky asking her how she knew that) and as they're on a more even ground she'd be more likely to actually say something. but constance would poke at her about it and probably get her irritated in the process.

(also possible, she talks to mr benedict about this, bc again im a sucker for their dynamic + part of the problem is not wanting to hurt milligan's feelings, and one thing i like about this is i think mr benedict would be extremely kind and understanding about it, and really help like, gently guide her through it, and she'd be like wow adults have never actually helped me before, wild, and then the second she leaves he's like [collapsing into a mess] oh god. oh god. because on one hand he just desperately hopes that helped, and on the other hand, he's having a million crises. oh god. he put actual kids in danger. she's so small number two. number two she's so fucking small and she's having nightmares and it's my brother that took her dad and ohmygodohmygodohmygod. like literally it's like he goes from "kalm" to "PANIK" the second shes out of range. like the dissonance between mr benedict (around the kids, a calm and kindly mentor who seems to know what he's doing for the most part) and nicholas (0.0003 seconds from a panic attack rn, full to the brim with anxiety and guilt) is. hilarious, in a sad way. but i digress, mr benedict tangent over, sorry)

ANYWAY also kate and milligan. like. getting to know him again, and vice versa. this is personally painful for me. like so many years, this disconnect between them hurts, but like. it starts with that hug, with her letting herself lean into his side, letting him put an arm around her shoulders, and he's like. in tears a bit. and like. then over time just. trying to tell each other about their lives--particularly kate recounting her adventures--and marveling a bit at how similar they are in many ways. milligan slowly getting memories back and remembering her as a little girl and seeing her now, all grown up but so small and hurt still, and like. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

i also have so many thoughts head full on them & mr benedict, and also throwing in constance and everyone really, but that's too many and this is already long and i dont even know how to put it to words so i'll refrain for now. anyway my point is: kate wetherall. hug her please

[fill-me-with-your-memes-daddy]

Watching the Rise of the Titans movie and I'll be documenting all of my thoughts/reactions here. [Spoiler Warning]

So instead of reblogging every new update, I'm just going to have this post up on my phone as I watch and type my reactions in a bullet list format.

Nari's human disguise is so cute. As someone who does have a cottagecore aesthetic, I want to cosplay her so bad

Are Skrael and/or Belroc non-binary coded? Regardless, I'm also obsessed and I want to fuck Skrael and be Belroc.

STEVE CARING ABOUT JIM BEING HURT YESSSS!!! My god his redemption has probably been one of the greatest there is because he doesn't just suddenly go from being a bully to a completely good person. You can see the gradual shift in learning better throughout the shows which is awesome.

IN NEW YOOOOOOORRRRRRRK!!!!!! CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

The mugshot montage reminded me of season 1 of trollhunters when toby and Jim were arrested at the museum.

STRICKLER PUT A RING ON IT??? HE'S THE ONLY DILF IVE EVER ACTUALLY AGREED WAS HOT WYM I CAN'T HAVE HIM??? well I'm still really happy about his arc over the series probably one of my favorite character growths.

Eli my guy got his growth spurt!!! As an 18 year old who is still 5'0", I'm happy but envious for him

So I went into this movie without watching any trailers or promo, but I doubt anything could have prepared me for the existence of mpreg. In fact, I wasn't going to document my reactions until I saw that.

NAMURA!!!!!!!!! MY BELOVED!!!!!! I CAN STILL THIRST FOR YOU WITHOUT GUILT

The coach teacher just called the kids zoomers so I have to dock one point from my final rating just because of that. Unforgivable

Those husky animation models suck lmao

Oh fuck the titans got power ranger zords!!

God why did they include the mpreg??? This movie would have been perfect without it.... After that plot point being revisited only one time I'm already beyond done with it

Like it's bringing me back to the v*ltron days where they're was a suspiciously high amount of klance omegaverse and mpreg fics and art created and it physically hurts because Steve and Keith's voice actor is the same person meaning this is especially cursed to me since I was unfortunately in the v*ltron fandom and remember all of that

But like on another note, how old are these characters again??? I haven't checked any wikis because of spoilers but is Steve an adult??? I know aja might be technically a lot older than 18 because alien but is whatever age she is equivalent to an adult as far as emotionally and physically in Akaridion development??? IS THIS A TEEN (M)PREGNANCY IN A KIDS SHOW????

Like bruh I saw a singular post on here before going into the movie that was like "rott spoilers without context" and there was a pregnant belly but I was absolutely not expecting the actual context of it. I'll find the post after I finish and edit this post to tag the creator right here: @makoden

This entire post is just gonna be me ranting about mpreg huh

Anyway I love the whole roundtable allusion to the legends of king arthur (not the toa version but the one he's based off)

THERE'S 3 TO 5 BABIES????? I need to take a break bruh this is just too much

Alright I've taken a 30 minute break got some food and did some things i love (decompressed by tactile stimming with some owl plushies and watched some videos on my favorite owl, Garu. He lives in Japan with his owner and is a domesticated eagle owl who basically just acts like a sky cat. If anyone else needs some eye bleach, here is their YouTube channel)

Blinky and ARRRGHHH!!! saying their "if one of us doesn't make it" talk my god one of them is going to die I can see it and I will be utterly crushed. Jim can't lose another father figure and Toby can't lose his wingman again I will riot if this happens

On a similar but unrelated to the movie note, can we just talk about how toa started with Jim having 0 dads and (if strickler and blinky live to the end) will end with 2 dads? Like I just really feel happy for him that he has two dads who actually figured out how to put the past behind them to not have any infighting between them so that both of them are healthy father figures. Jim has already been through literal hell and back losing his actual humanity in the process so if he loses one of them, I'm going to be really pissed because at this point, this is just Jim torture porn. Y'all know how as SpongeBob SquarePants went on, the show just became Squidward torture porn? It's starting to feel that way for toa and I really hope they cut the shit by the ending

Jlaire is such a good ship but like I feel like it's too perfect they never disagree with each other

YESSSSSSS Someone finally doesn't treat toby like a fat waste of space who messes stuff up!!! I think out of all the characters that would have been most deserving of a rewrite, it's Toby. Sometimes I just feel he's only comic relief and any heartfelt moments he's had in the series was also born of stupidity (ie his flour baby project being unharmed was seen by him as divine intervention from his parents but was actually just Eli and Steve behind the scenes).

Ohhhhh yesssssss Archie's father!!! I was hoping I'd see him again because we got so little of him last

Ooooooooooh Asian trollmarket!!!!!

Oh never mind slavery trollmarket

Bruh titanic camelot

I feel like we're not seeing enough of the villains because I completely forgot about the power ranger zord things

NAMORA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY LAST CRUSHHHH

STRICKLER NO NOT YOU TOO PLEASE

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE ONLY TWO CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR ON THIS SHOW DIED WITHIN FIVE MINUTES OF EACH OTHER

THAT WHOLE ASS RANT I WROTE IS COMING TRUE FUCK THIS MOVIE THIS SERIES IS JUST JIM TORTURE PORN

WAIT JIM'S SPERM DONOR INFO?

Oh thank God I don't want to know anything about that person

For the record, I call that man Jim's sperm donor because he has no business being called a father to him. All he did was donate some swimmers to the creation of him and give him abandonment issues

Oh another blind troll elder???? This fucker is just if vendel was a bad guy

Bruh I was grieving

PACIFIC RIM WITH GUN ROBOT VEX AND THE BELROCZORD? I've never seen that movie but I know the reference

Bruh Blinky doesn't read horoscopes? Does he realize conspiracy theories are just the manly version of horoscopes?

NO DON'T KILL VEX STOP KO-ING FOUND FAMILY MEMBERS

Oh thank God he's okay

NO NOT ARCHIE AND CHARLEMAGNE OH MY GOD

oh never mind they're just gonna coup de tat I believe in them :))

But I want to see him again

But I'm glad to see vex

Yay they're in arcadia!

But yeah I wondered why the trolls and Merlin didn't keep the whole "daylight doesn't hurt trolls" feature from the eternal night but now Guillermo del Toro I see you were playing the long con in that just to kill my girl Namora :(((

Oooooh I love the animation of the Narizord over Chihuahua!! It looks very good and realistic (if only they could have put some of that into those huskies from before smh)

Bruh the character designs of the arcane order are so good I want to be them

Nari making sure the Skraelzord doesn't crush the bus

DAMN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Bruh I'm just glad we finally have an answer on why arcadia had everything going on as opposed to literally anywhere else!! I always found that as a weird coincidence for plot convince.

BRUH WERE BACK TO THE MPREG IM SO JEALOUS I FORGOT ABOUT THAT EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BECAUSE I WAS GRIEVING THE LOSS OF MY LOVELIES.

Oh that's real convenient that the ninth configuration meant all of them. Way to not decide which character gets more attention. Though it probably was a smart way to not have any infighting in the fandom between each character's stan group.

Bruh I just realized where is Barbera did they just ditch her on the Camelot ship???

And where are the other trolls that migrated at the end of trollhunters s3? They said something about new jersey but obviously Jim and the other main characters got on Camelot instead.... This feels like a plot hole

And we never learned the process of how changelings are made and bonded to humans and stuff. We just know it's super painful but I'm curious ffs!!!!

THE DONT THINK BECOME HERO SPEECH ALL SAID TOGETHER!!!

BRUH THEY REALLY HAD TO SHOW HIM GIVING BIRTH??????? WAS THAT AN ABSOLUTE MUST??????

Plus the main audience for this series is little children (the rating for the movie is literally TV-Y7) so even though my adult ass is not in the target audience, I STILL DONT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD MPREG AND ANAL BIRTH WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT THING TO 7 YEAR OLDS???? THIS IS A LITERAL FETISH HIDDEN IN KIDS CONTENT ITS ELSAGATE ALL OVER AGAIN Y'ALL 😭😭😭😭😭

Though it's probably hypocritical of me to think fetishes don't belong in kids tv when I've openly admitted to thirsting for strickler and namora

HUZZAH

NEW AMULET WAZ GOOD????

STAB THAT BITCH JIM

WAIT NO I SAID STAB NOT GET STABBED

Alright good job just missed the directions at first but you fixed it

SEVEN KIDS?????????

T O B Y ????????????

W A I T NO

N O

IS HE ACTUALLY

OH MY GOD THERE'S HOPE

NO THERE ISN'T

F U C K THIS SHIT THEY REALLY JUST HAD HIM TO BE BULLIED THEN KILLED

Y'ALL IM ACTUALLY CRYING THIS NEVER HAPPENS

I NEVER ACTUALLY GET SO EMOTIONAL OVER MEDIA THAT I CRY IT ONLY HAPPENED ONCE AT THE END OF VOLTRON BUT AHHHHHHHH

W A I T

HE'S GONNA BE BROUGHT BACK?????

HOLD UP THEY'RE JUST GONNA BRING ALL THOSE DEAD PEOPLE BACK??????

WAIT IS HE

BLINKY CALLED HIM A SON

HOLD ON IS THIS GOING TO BE A CLIFFHANGER???????????

BRUH THEY REALLY JUST CAN'T END THE SERIES WITHOUT CLIFFHANGERS like there's always an open ending

TROLLHUNTER TOBY????? You know what forget the whole rants I had on how toby was written they just redeemed it all

And that's all! I'd rate it a 6.5/10 because it's definitely the weakest of all the sequels but still had amazing animation and some good plot points. It's just really hard to look over the bad stuff enough to rate it any higher.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

Honestly, controversial opinion, but Crowley arguably does move pretty fast, if you look at it from a celestial perspective.

“But they were friends for 6000 years!” No they weren't.

I mean, headcanons can vary, but if we're going purely by the text then they don't appear to have met up at all in the 1000 years between Eden and Noah's Ark (Crowley has to ask about the aftermath of the Flaming Sword Incident) and it's not clear how many times they encountered each other in the 3000 years between that and the crucifixion.

They don't go out for lunch together (that we see) until eight years after that. Once again, I've seen lots of excellent headcanons and fics about how they might have spent that intervening time together, but from a strictly canon perspective, Crowley and Aziraphale being basically just friendly colleagues for the first 4000 years of their relationship is a totally valid interpretation.

And then, of course, Crowley probably has to leave (he's “just popped in for a quick temptation”, remember) and the next time we see them is 500 years later. Which is a super long time for a human— and I'm not going to argue that they didn't meet up at all in the intervening time, since at this point I don't think it's implied one way or another— but for an angel or a demon?

They've both been on Earth for well over 4000 years by this point. How long is 500 years relative to them? Fifty years? Fifteen? Five?

Anyway, it's at this point— 500 years after what was quite possibly their first lunch together— that Crowley turns to Aziraphale and is like “hey? Want to commit literal treason?”

And make no mistake, that is what he is asking. These two are enemy agents, and Crowley is asking to exchange information about the secret plans of their respective sides. This would require Aziraphale to

a) trust Crowley not to take advantage of this information for the benefit of Evil

b) consciously choose not to take advantage himself of the information Crowley gives him, for the benefit of Good

c) accept (even just a little bit) the idea that the activities he's just spend the past >4000 years on don't make any difference at all in the grand scheme of things, and Heaven doesn't really give a shit about him.

… And he does it. He rejects the idea initially, but just over a thousand years later we see them together at the Globe, and the Arrangement is not only established, but clearly has been so for some time.

Long enough for Crowley to decide it's time to bend the rules. Not only are they arranging secret meetings and tactically keeping out of each other's way, but they've already done the 'taking care of each other's blessings and temptations' trick “dozens of times”. Aziraphale is still nervous and shocked when Crowley suggests it, so he's probably used to only doing it as a last resort in emergencies, but he knows exactly what Crowley is suggesting the moment he comments on what a shame it is that they both have to go to Edinburgh. This is not a new thing.

Aziraphale at this point still believes that angels and demons are fundamentally different. For all he knew, the first time he performed a temptation he would fall instantly and the first time Crowley performed a blessing he would… explode, or something. But still, at some point during the last thousand years, Crowley persuaded him to do it.

And then, just over 200 years after that (and how long even is that? It's ~4% of the time they've spent on Earth so far) Crowley asks for holy water, Aziraphale thinks he's going to kill himself, freaks out about how much he cares and brings out the Heaven Party Line to cover up his real feelings. Crowley takes it as a personal insult and they fall out for a century— according to the script, Aziraphale is convinced that they're not friends anymore.

100 years after that, and Crowley's back again, and he's just saved Aziraphale from discorporation (… by threatening him with worse discorporation, but still) and thought to rescue his books. Aziraphale has his big moment of 'this demon is the only being who truly cares about me, and I truly care about him' and then literally like 20 years later (which would be what on the celestial timescale? Two weeks?) Crowley's after the holy water again, and Aziraphale has to choose between letting his friend almost certainly die through inaction, or making him slightly less likely to die right away but ensuring that if/when he does die later down the line, it will be All. Aziraphale's. Fault.

He chooses option 2 and in the process has to admit— maybe not out loud, but definitely through implication— that the initial refusal to hand it over was never about Heaven, because Aziraphale couldn't give a toss about what Heaven thinks compared to what will ensure the safety of one incredibly irritating demon. Probably crossing his fingers that he's not going to Fall the whole way through, because that is a bloody extreme thing to admit given the circumstances.

And Crowley's response? “Cool, so we're now going to go off together and start hanging out like normal people who don't have the threat of each other's horrific destruction hanging over their heads every minute of the day? We're going to drive off in my car and just be openly BFFs forever now?” No Crowley.

In the past just under 2000 years you've gone from work aquaintances (which was already illegal! Literally every conversation you two have ever had could have resulted in your deaths!), to treason buddies, to Aziraphale fully admitting to himself that his loyalty to you is more than his loyalty to Heaven. That his loyalty to Heaven does not in fact play into it when it comes to your safety. Even though he's an angel, and that sort of thinking is exactly the kind of thing you Fall for.

And like less than thirty seconds after you've both come to that realisation, you're turning round and asking him to give up all plausible deniability and attempts at secrecy and just start openly hanging out together where Heaven and Hell could just stumble upon you at any time.

Like yeah he turns you down, what with finding out you're about to risk killing yourself, and handing you a suicide pill, and finally admitting his ultimate betrayal of Heaven in his heart, this has been a rough past few hours for Aziraphale. He's probably not ready to be making those kinds of decisions.

But he says he's willing to give it a try. Not yet— give him a minute Crowley— but he's willingly acknowledging that there is a Next Step to this relationship and he wants to get there.

And then the next time we see the two of them, in 30-40 years time, Aziraphale has made the step. They're going to the Ritz together and getting wasted in the shop afterwards. They seem to have done this before. Crowley now wants to form an allegiance and deliberately work to circumvent the Great Plan that Aziraphale believes was set out 6000 years ago by God Herself, and it literally takes an afternoon for Crowley to talk him into it.

Like, I see a lot of posts about the holy water scene where people are blaming Aziraphale or joking about how Crowley couldn't possibly go any slower than he is already. And yeah, from a human perspective, they're barely moving. But from the perspective of millennia old beings whose existence predates the Earth itself? And for whom literally every step in their relationship was utterly revolutionary and completely unprecedented?

To Aziraphale, it probably felt a lot faster.

[simluvbot]

Enhypen’s reaction to when you punch a guy (hyung line)

a/n: this was a request ! I said I could upload this a few days ago but due to it being my birthday and it currently being exam week I didn’t have the time to edit this so that’s why I uploaded without proofreading at first TT // ok I finished editing 😁 Jake and sunghoon’s one is so bad don’t read it pls sorry

Although as this fic includes violence I only wrote for hyung like members and not maknae line, I hope you understand

Warnings: descriptions of physical violence (punching), mentions of being in a crowd, mentions of wanting to harm others (thoughts)

+ note: this is a work of fiction and in no way am I encouraging violence ! I wrote this in a way that I thought would match the member’s personalities although this is definitely not a true depiction of the enhypen members ^^

Lee heeseung

You and heeseung had been in the library studying together for your exams, and although you both had luckily reserved a secluded spot in the library that was both quiet and spacious for your revision, it wasn’t soon before some inconsiderate assholes had decided to occupy your desk too.

There were only two of them, yet they still managed to take up over half of the table whereas you and heeseung only had one small portion to yourselves

Plus they were very noisy, and the only librarian being on the seconf floor didnt help either  😐

You and your boyfriend had both made several attempts to sheepishly ask them if they could please quieten down before the librarian came back and kicked them out and more importantly so you mad heeseung could focus ??

But they simply ignored you, paying attention to the… online games ?? They had came to the library to play???

You were starting to get very annoyed, but decided to bite your tongue and instead have you and heeseung focus on your work

But it was when one of them spilt their coffee on heeseung’s expensive   textbook and even laugh afterwards which is what you decided that you finally had it

You don’t know how it happened, but soon you were standing up and landed a solid punch on the guy’s face

Heeseung was really shocked, just as much as you at your brash movements

And he would be even more concerned for you when he sees the person you punched egret aggressive to you and start getting close in your face.

“Hey man, that’s enough.” Despite heeseung’s shock, it didn’t take him longer than second before he stood up and grabbed at the man’s arm easily after he got up close you you intimidatingly, heeseung’s strong grip preventing the stranger from hitting you back and you swear you’ve never heard heeseung’s voice so deep and authoritative before as he told the man to sit down and focus on his stupid game

Due to your own surprise at your actions, you barely payed attention to what was going on as heeseung had a polite (on his end..) whisper-argument with the two guys, packing his things up as well as yours before grabbing your hand and safely leading you out of the library

You two ended up going home where he cleaned at your busted knuckles gently, sad at the fact that you got hurt and overall bummed out at two guys who got you so worked up and that his go-to textbook got ruined ):

“Baby, why did you do that, Hm? We could have just left to another place. You could have gotten hurt if they fought back!”

More than anything, your boyfriend was upset at the idea of you potentially getting more than just a few cuts and bruises on your knuckles, and so you promised heeseung right then and there that you wouldn’t do it again

After both of you got changed into your pyjamas, you and heeseung had set up your own study area in the dining room table, where you both continued with your study session for the rest of the day, with lots of cuddles afterwards as a reward!

Park Jongseong

You and jay were walking back home and it was already dark outside as you were both walking through the streets.

Approaching a heavily crowded place outside a club which included several people under the influences, it was pretty hard for you both to squeeze through the crowd as you were walking past.

They literally were spilling onto the road.. :/

“Jay.” You gasped when you lost hold of his hand on yours, leaving you in the idle of the crowd alone. There were so many bodies around you and as you got quickly pushed to against a wall from the movements of the people you found it hard to make your way through the people who were much taller than you.

You were starting to get anxious and when someone came directly in front of you, literally ignoring you asking for them to move and plainly blocking you for no reason you started to get frustrated, adrenaline in your veins as you lost your boyfriend and wanted to get out asap before you started fo panic.

You had asked the person to please move out of the way so you could pass through and they even had the audacity to look at you and make eye contact — only to simply ignore you when you asked for the nth time for them to scoot.

So, with your anxiety peaking and frustration soaring, you punched them hard on their face as soon as they turned around, and when they went stumbling backwards you finally had enough space to escape from your trapped position against the wall.

Jay had finally found you and was right there a few steps in front of you, and you were almost reaching him when a hand pulled you back suddenly, slamming you against the wall aggressively and leading you to hit your head hard.

Jay saw the whole thing. and he was livid

He shouted at the guy and grabbed his hands in his, pushing him so he was off of you once again. Jay was so angry he literally thought he could see red. How dare a man not just refuse to let someone obviously distressed through, but to touch you and hurt you?

You had to calm him down and urged hin for you both to leave before the stranger started getting aggressive because he was already shouting at you both and some heads were turning 😟

He eventually listened to you when he saw your glossed eyes and you clutching at your aching knuckles, so gently grabbing your unhurt hand in his he swiftly led you both away from the crowd in less than a minute, face fallen and heart aching ah ):

“Hey, let me look at you. are you okay? Did that bastard hurt you a lot?”

You could tell he was still so agitated with what happened, checking at your bruised knuckles and looking a the back of your head that was starting to form a lump from the force of being pushed against the wall earlier.

“I’m so sorry, I should have held tighter. I should have brought some security guards with us today.”

You had to tell him it was okay and you defended yourself and the guy was just a jerk and can’t hurt you anymore.

Jay was still so sad at the fact that you got hurt all because he let you go accidentally for one second ): seeing you so anxious and literally in pain made him feel so bad.

He showered you in many kisses once you both got home and you had a relaxing bath together, as well as helping treat your bruise , promising for this to never happen again 🥺

Sim jaeyun

You were hanging out with your old classmates as a reunion and it was getting close to the time where Jake had said he would pick you up to take you home.

Your classmates had asked you if you had a partner and when you told them that you did, they all got instantly curious.

You of course got so excited and was ecstatic to flaunt off your talented and handsome boyfriend to them :D

So you showed them a picture of Jake, however the reaction that you were met with was not what you were expecting.

Your classmates were silent for a few moments as they looked at the photo, before one of them eventually asked,

“Oh, so that’s the guy you’re dating?”

You could see two of them exchange glances for a reason you could not possibly fathom and your heart fell to your stomach when you saw them stifing their laughter.

“What?” You asked, frowning as you looked at the photo you showed them on your phone. What was wrong with the photo?

“Oh.. nothing it’s just.. well.. he just doesn’t look like the best option..”

“It’s pretty cute actually. Of course you would end up with a guy that looks like he matches you in social level.. he’s probably a loser.”

You were so confused and the comments kept coming as they talked amongst themselves, openly criticising Jake for no reason.

You gotta admit, you never were the closest my with your classmates in the first place but still decided to agree to the meet-up for old times’ sake.

You could put up with their side glances towards you ever since you arrived because you barely cared, but when they dared talk about your boyfriend like that??

You were so angry you felt yourself almost shaking.

“Hey.” You said, standing up abruptly from your seat on the picnic table at the park you guys were hanging out at.

“Why are you insulting my boyfriend like that. What is wrong with you?”

Once again, they simply laughed in your face, seeming to think of your reaction as hilarious.

You were gonna start crying soon because the rage boiling up inside of you was reaching to the point that you were finding it hard to contain it and breathe deeply to keep calm and not cause a scene.

But they kept insulting Jake, liking watching you get angry under their gazes.

One of your classmates in particular kept offering comments, too many and you had enough - you snapped.

You punched them square in the face.

And you had done so just when you noticed Jake exiting his car right outside of the park, when it was obvious that he saw you.

You didn’t care, and in fact you started laughing almost hysterically in front of your classmates at their shocked expressions.

You were in tears because the person you punched started having a nosebleed… to you it was hilarious and you were in your own world trying to catch your breath from laughing so much until you heard your name being called.

“Y/n.” Jake said worriedly, finally reaching yoy and placing a hand on your shoulder.

He led you to his car, and after you both left and as you sat silently in the passenger seat having calmed down, you were staring to feel awkward with all the little glances Jake threw towards you ever so often.

He didn’t ask or push, instead just remaining silent and gripping at your hand you had punched your classmate with, thumb swirling over your red knuckles as he stared down at them with a bothered expression.

“Sorry.” You finally said, giving him a sheepish smile. “They just kept talking so badly about you when they found out I had a boyfriend.. I couldn’t resist.”

Jake if anything was a bit disappointed that you had reacted violently, and he was silent for a few seconds as he sat unknowing of what to say, frowning and licking his lips like a confused puppy trying to work out a solution.

“Please just don’t do it again. Violence is never okay, you should have just left. I don’t want my y/nnie getting hurt or getting into fights because of me, okay?”

You both drove back and cuddled a lot on the sofa, and Jake made sure to give your knuckles several kisses, his heart aching with the memory of what happened );

Park Sunghoon

“Ha, if it isn’t the ugly y/n.”

You bit your lip as you heard the familiar laugh of the rink bullies behind you, plainly mocking you.

“Still friends with that weirdo, park sunghoon?”

Ever since the members in the same extracurricular figure skating club had found out you were friends with sunghoon, the ice boy that they liked to torment for reasons forever unknown to you, you had soon too fallen victim to their evil teasing.

“I told you to stop making fun of sunghoon like that.” You said plainly, sighing as you sat down on a bench to undo your skates.

The group members laughed and would just not leave you alone, even going as far as sitting next to you and entering your personal space by constantly poking at your sides sharply.

And you swear to god the temptation of slashing open their faces with the bottom of your skates was very tempting—

But no, you had told sunghoon that you would meet him at the entrance of the rink to walk home together after your individual practices; and you were already running late.

“Where you going? To go see sunghoon? Huh? Go tell him that we messed with his skates so he fails in the competition.”

Your hands froze as you were tying your converses. You looked up, meeting the leader’s gaze.

“What?” You had enough. You could never understand why they had sunghoon as their punching bag. Sunghoon was used to it, not one to start arguments and the type to only keep to himself when things like this happen.

You just went along with it and followed his lead in ignoring your other club members, but them going this far to try to sabotage the performance sunghoon had been training months for? You had enough of simply doing nothing in retaliation to their bullying.

Standing up abruptly, they stood back at youe sudden movement, but not quick enough for being able to dodge the punch you swung directly on the nose of the nearest one in front of you.

“Y/n?”

Looking over to the doorframe of the changing room — there was park sunghoon.

“Sunghoon.” You said in shock, glancing over towards the group in front of you as they started guffawing at the sides of the person you punched

“Sorry, I got caught up with-“

You were just making your way speedily over towards hoon when you were pulled back by the wrist painfully.

You gasped when the force that you were let go of led you to be flung over to one side and practically topple onto the sticky matte floor.

Wincing as you landed on your wrist, you hissed at the fresh pain and the loud crack that came with it.

It was silent as everyone paused, having heard your wrist snapping as much as you had felt the pain of it.

“Y/n!” Sunghoon was at your side in an instant, pushing his way cut though the others standing around you in shock.

His pretty face was frowned with worry, eyes wide as he came in front of you, assessing your wrist without touching it.

“Let’s get out of here.” He scooped you up, and if you weren’t busy trying to breathe in and out deeply to calm yourself down after your injury, you would have been surprised at the skate bullies making space for a clear path Sunghoon to carry you through.

From all your time of knowing the talented ice boy, your skating partner and friend — you had never really seen him show much emotion apart from the small smiles and laughs he gave only to you. His long legs were able to stride quickly to a bench outside as he called an ambulance for you, a distressed expression as he meticulously cared towards you.

And gee if you breaking your wrist didn’t hurt like hell, but after all, did you regret that day? No. You finally were able to stand up to the bullies for the first time, and even more importantly — that moment had started the beginning of a new chapter for you and Sunghoon.

[procrastinatingsapphictrash]

Affection

Word count: 1251

Genre: Fluff Pairing: Natasha x gn!reader

Warnings: Mentions of sex but nothing sexual (let me know if I need to add more)

Request: Hii! I'm loving all your fics about Nat, and I wanted to request something. Nat x fem reader and she's touch starved since she never really had any kind of affection in her life, and when she starts dating reader she realises she really needs physical affection! I just need some fluff with Nat

Summary: Reader and Natasha watch a movie and Natasha realizes how much she likes affection.

A/n: This request was for @stephanieromanoff, so I hope you like it because I had a lot of fun writing this one. So I feel kinda bad because I have a ton of requests to get to and I only got this request today (I did warn you guys I was’t going to do them in exact order) but I figured writing this was better than writing nothing. This request really inspired me because I love writing soft Nat fics and it got me back into a writing mood after hitting writers block on my series. Because of that I may not get part two of Feel out tomorrow like I hoped but I am trying to catch up on requests and will get part two out soon. Anyways I hope everyone enjoys and as always my requests are open, especially since I’m in a writing mood and I want to put something out every single day. 

You flick through the titles, not particularly wanting to see any of them. It’s interesting that before when you had to pay for movies you seemed to want to see so many but now that you lived in the tower and you had pretty much every streaming service for free (thanks to Tony), every movie and show looked a little more boring.

“Tasha do you have any suggestions?” You ask, looking over at your girlfriend. You still were in shock you could even consider Natasha your girlfriend and although it had only been a week since your first date you would do anything not to mess this relationship up. 

“I haven’t been paying attention to the choices.” She admits and you laugh a little.

“Why don’t you look through some of the options while I get some popcorn and drinks ready?” You suggest.

She nods. “Sounds good, can you please pass over the remote?” You smile and stand making your way over to her with the remote in your hand. Handing it to her you lean over and kiss her forehead and nose lightly while touching the sides of her face before you pull back and walk to the kitchen, satisfied with the blush that spread all over her face at your actions.

The popcorn doesn’t take too long to make and you pour some ice water with lemon slices while it pops so you make it back to the living room in under five minutes. The sight that you are greeted with might just be the cutest thing ever in your opinion. Natasha has the top of the blanket over her head and it wrapped around her entire body except for her eyes and she looks tiny while buried in the blankets because she has her knees pulled up to her chest. 

“Did you pick a movie?” You ask her. 

She jumps a barely noticeable amount in surprise, having not heard you coming. “Yeah, I thought we could watch Little Women.”

“That sounds good,” you tell her, “and by the way you look absolutely adorable wrapped in the blanket like that.” 

She blushes. “I was going to take it off before you got back but it’s too comfy.”

“Well I’m very glad that you didn’t.” You tell her honestly, openly admiring her. She blushes again and starts the movie instead of answering. Even before it truly starts you know you’ll spend a good portion of the movie watching her because it was hard to take your eyes off of her and you had read the book so you knew the plot anyways. 

As you originally suspected you spent almost the entire time watching her watch the movie. You love the way the emotions flit freely over her face, her giggling along with the happy parts and biting her lip when things get sad. You were just watching the scene where you (and probably everyone else) cried while reading the book when she pauses the movie. 

“What was that for?” You ask, turning to her. She faces you, her eyes teary but none of them falling. 

“I just need a minute to gather my bearings,” She says and you know the movie must truly be affecting her because usually she doesn’t like to reveal her emotions. “I chose this movie because you said you really liked the book, I didn’t realize it was sad!” 

“You do know it’s okay to cry while watching this, pretty much everyone does.” You tell her.

Your permission seems to be the thing she needs and she breaks down into sobs. “I just can’t believe that happens, it’s so sad, none of them deserved that.”

You move over to her end of the couch, hesitantly putting your arms around her, ready to remove them when she seems to stiffen but then tightening her grip when she seems to relax into your arms. You pick up the remote and press play again, putting your arm back around her. Almost the entire rest of the movie you can feel her silently shake because she is crying and even though you already knew exactly what was going to happen you can’t help but let a few tears spill out. By the time it ends she is even further curled into you and manages to let out a small watery smile at the happy ending. You move to release her and stand up but she pulls you back down.

“No.”

“No what, Tasha?” You ask, amusement lining your voice. “No getting up.”

“No getting up.” She repeats before resting her head on your shoulder, her breath tickling your neck. You are happy to oblige her, keeping your arms around her and absentmindedly running your hand up and down your back. She hums in contentment and you can feel the vibrations in your shoulder. 

“You know if someone had told me two weeks ago that I’d be dating you, I’d say they were optimistic, but if they told me you liked cuddles I’d get them tested in a mental institution!” You tease her.

She takes her head off her shoulder and looks up at you. “I didn’t even know I liked this until now, nobody has ever done this for me before.” 

You feel your heart simultaneously break and fill with affection for her. “I’m sorry about that, but I’m honored to be your first.”

She giggles. “You make it sound like you mean it in the first to have sex with me.” Her expression turns to a frown. “You will be far from first with that.”

“I know and I don’t care about that.” You look into her eyes so she knows you’re telling the truth. “This is more important to me. Sex doesn’t always mean love, this, this means love.” 

“Did you just say you love me?” She asks incredulously, her eyes wide.

You think about denying it, worried that it’s too soon because your relationship is so new but you’ve been in love with her for years and you can’t keep hiding it. “Yes, I did.” She continues looking up at you and as much as you try to, you can’t begin to read what she’s thinking. 

“I think I love you too.” She whispers after what feels like an eternity and you let out a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding. 

“Thank god, it would have been pretty awkward otherwise.” Placing a small peck on her mouth and then going back for a peck on her forehead. “However as much as I’d love to stay here, it’s getting late and we should probably get ready for bed. She pouts but untangles herself from you and brings your empty dishes to the kitchen while you exit out of the movie. 

“Will you sleep with me tonight?” She blurts out when she returns to the living room and you start to splutter. “No, no, no, I didn’t mean for that to come out like that. I meant will you sleep with me literally, like more cuddles.”

She hides her face in her hands embarrassed and you laugh loudly at her mistake. “Of course Tasha, I’d love to.”

She practically beams. “Thank you!”

“You really enjoy being held, huh?” You teasingly ask her, enjoying her flustered expression. “But seriously,” you add on, taking pity on her, “I love to hold you as well, so ask anytime.” She smiles again and takes the hand you hold out for her as you lead her through the halls to her room. 

---

Taglist: @fayhar @stephanieromanoff @acertainredhead @stop-drop-and-drumroll​ (if you want to be added, comment, send an ask or message me)

[yeahhiyellow]

19, 22 and 23? :^)

19. What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Tbh there are a lot of things I hate, although by this point it's only very certain parts of the fandom that have these problems, since most of the shitty people have lost interest by this point. If I had to choose just one thing though, it'd be the overwhelming focus on white, male characters over female and/or characters of color. And there are a lot of areas where this shows up. One major example is that a lot of people like the idea of Connor, Hank, Gavin, and Nines (all white, male characters, mind you) staying at the DPD even after:

The DPD was the one (along with Cyberlife) responsible for the deaths, arrests, and brutal treatment of androids, the main oppressed group in the game's world

Connor and Nines are a part of that oppressed group, and at least Hank is shown in game to support them

Connor has already worked at the DPD and was routinely called an "it" (which as someone who is nonbinary and has been called "it" knows how insulting that can be and understands the need to get away from situations where that happens), was allowed to be sent to his death by, and was routinely harassed and nearly murdered, or in some playthroughs actually murdered, by workers at the DPD (*ahem Gavin ahem*)

Hank (if he is your friend) risked his career just to cause a distraction for Connor to keep him alive

Just because the android revolution was successful doesn't mean the DPD was going to follow that. I mean, the androids were heavily compared to African Americans in this game, and we all know how the current police system treats them (and if you don't, pay attention to the news, like, ever. Also read Jim Crow as that book is very informative on the oppression of blacks in the entire incarceration system as well as before and after that)

So I hope it would be pretty obvious to any sane person that suggesting these characters would join/remain in the DPD after everything is offensive on all sorts of levels.

In addition to that, you also have some people saying that they only cared about Connor's story, or that his was the only good one. The female protagonist that risks her own life several times to save that of a child (no matter if she is human or android)? Not important. The (half) black protagonist who is shot by police, has to rebuild himself, and leads his own people to freedom? Who cares? The only important story to these people is the white, male, cop android who spends most of his time hunting down the good guys. And if some people honestly prefer Connor's story because of their own reasons, that's fine. And yes, Kara and Markus's stories have lots of problems. But Connor's does too, and none of this gives people an excuse to ignore the other characters, especially since they are the minority characters. Then, there are also the people who say Connor's machine path was better than his deviant path, or that him being replaced by Nines in the end was unfair. And... what the fuck??? I mean, I get it, it's fun to play through different options, and Connor is hella badass in the machine path. But he is also hella badass in the deviant path (killing the guards in the elevator, possibly the team at the bottom if he doesn't catch the security camera, fighting Sixty, walking in front of all the androids he freed, like, come on), and he also, like, has morals and isn't oppressive??? In the machine route, he kills his own people, including those who just want to be free and might have been completely pacifist the entire way through. So I'm sorry, anyone who thinks his machine path is better is just looking for an excuse to be oppressive without openly admitting it.

Then there's the Gavin apologizers. While fanon Gavin is awesome, some people have way overstepped the line of redemption and allowing oppression. I've seen posts defending Gavin's in-game behavior, just because he refers to androids as "he" on occasion. This is despite:

Suggesting "roughing up," or being violent to Shaolin (the HK400 in "The Interrogation")

Insulting his partner, Chris, when he doesn't forcibly move Shaolin against Shaolin's will

Pointing a gun at Connor after Connor rightfully says to stop touching Shaolin for both succeeding the mission and for Shaolin's sake, and only stepping down after Hank points a gun at him and even after insults Connor

Punching Connor right in the thirium pump regulator and then pushing his head right where his LED is in the break room if Connor refuses to get him a coffee

Insulting and threatening Connor in the same scene even if Connor follows all of his demands

Insulting Hank's alcoholism in the Eden Club "it's starting to stink of booze in here"

Purposely pushing Connor to the side in the same scene

Trying to literally murder Connor and admitting he'd wanted to kill him ever since he first saw Connor, sometimes successfully

Both physically and verbally assaulting Connor

I forgive very easily and strongly believe in redemption, don't get me wrong. But trying to excuse Gavin's behaviors is so inexcusable, especially when most of his aggressions are towards androids, the oppressed minority.

Now, let's look at Ao3, shall we? Let's see how many fics posted there are with each of the "main" (including Gavin and Nines since even though they are not main characters in canon they are in fanon) characters... (also, keep in mind, I gathered this data about a month ago so it might not be completely up to date):

Connor: 16,150

Markus: 5,395

Kara: 1,504

Hank: 13,135

Nines: 9,807

Gavin: 9,939

Amanda: 1,177

Chloe: 1,521

North: 3,056

Simon: 3,192

Josh: 1,965

Alice: 1,098

Luther: 848

Rose: 193

This means that certain characters get unequal amounts of attention:

White: 59,042

Black: 9,578

Male: 60,431

Female: 8,549

White, Male: 52,223

White, Female: 7,179

Black, Male: 8,208

Black, Female: 1,370

Well, this says a lot. Now, some people reading this might realize that there are more white and male characters to begin with, so it could be fair even with their numbers being higher. So, okay, let's see the average amount of works a single character in each of the above categories would have (so divide each of the values by the number of characters in that category) (also I rounded to the tenth place aka first decimal point):

White: 6,560.2

Black: 1,915.6

Male: 7,553.9

Female: 1,424.8

White, Male: 10,444.6

White, Female: 1,794.8

Black, Male: 2,736

Black, Female: 685

If anything, these are even more telling. And if you don't believe me, look on Ao3 and calculate these yourself, because you'll get the same thing.

To be clear, I don't have anything against Connor, Hank, or any of the white and/or male characters. I even like the way that the fandom has redeemed Gavin. But the fandom has not done the same job of redeeming other characters, especially the minority ones, and pays way less attention to them, and that needs to be called out with evidence by someone.

Anyway, I spent a LONG time on that first question, so I'll try to make the next answers shorter!

22. Popular character you hate?

There aren't any popular characters that I thoroughly hate. The only characters I hate are ones that are already highly unpopular (Todd, Zlatko, Perkins). If we're talking canon characters, I do hate Gavin with a flaming passion. I mean, he is meant to represent police brutality. But fanon Gavin is cool with me, so I'm not sure exactly how much this counts.

There is one semi-popular character that I dislike though, and that is Kamski. I'm half-counting him again because within the fandom there are very mixed opinions. I personally dislike him mainly because of his treatment of one of his Chloe's: he is willing to let her get shot in the head and killed just to find a dumb answer to his Kamski test just because he feels like it. If Connor doesn't shoot Chloe, he tells Connor he's deviant, knowing full well that Amanda and Cyberlife are watching being the one to design the program, endangering Connor. While he arguably is responsible for deviancy and wants androids to succeed, that doesn't make up for those facts.

Another character that half-counts is Daniel. There are mixed opinions within the fandom on him as well, with some arguing that he is only wanting to not get replaced and protect himself. However, since his first response was to kill the dad, and then he proceeded to shoot at least 3 more cops, killing 2, and hold Emma, the young girl he had been friends with for years hostage, even though she had nothing to do with his replacement. You can't argue that he didn't want to kill Emma and only used her as protection for himself, either, as there are multiple endings where he tries and sometimes succeeds in killing Emma, even when he is also killing himself. I'm not closed to a redemption arc for him, but his in-game actions are inexcusable. He's the one deviant who truly has no valid defense for his actions.

23. Unpopular character you love?

There are a few. I absolutely adore North, Josh, Adam, and Alice, even though the fandom has conflicted opinions on them. Then again, none of these characters are really considered unpopular, just not as popular as others with a select few that don't like them. With North, I've been in this fandom since a few months after its release, when there was a lot of North hatred, and was actually in a group called the North Protection Squad lol. However, now most people like her, and she's really grown in popularity. With Josh, it's less that he's hated, and more that he's ignored. People say that Simon was the peaceful option when he was really the neutral, and recently I've seen more people against Josh's opinions on the revolution. While I don't always agree with Josh being so passive and undemanding (neither do I agree with North's violence), he's still an awesome character with some very valid points. Then, I do understand why some people dislike Adam, as at first he's against androids and almost reveals Kara and the others. However, if you meet him at the border crossing, he apologizes to Kara and changes his mind, promising to help androids. While he may start out scared and not on the right side, he does have a good heart and ends up making the right decisions in the end. With Alice, I haven't seen many people hate her, either, although I have seen some saying she's annoying and lacks a personality. I agree that she lacks a personality, although I argue that's the writers' faults rather than her character's (as are problems with other characters, I mean David Cage wrote this so what were we expecting). I also don't think she's annoying, as after all she is only 9 (in human terms), doesn't admit she's an android because she's scared Kara will reject her (and Kara actually can reject her for being an android, leaving her completely on her own in a world that wants her dead. Also, living her whole life with Todd can absolutely not help her feel more secure with who she is or make her trust Kara to still love her for it), and she is only cold and feels sick because her model of android is literally designed to replicate human sickness and discomfort (and it's clear she doesn't know how to turn them off, because even after Kara knows she's an android Kara still has to help Alice not feel cold anymore. Also, this is November in Detroit, in which the average temperature is 42°F (5.6°C). There are also scenes where it is snowing, meaning the temperature is below freezing. Still, despite the temperatures, in some scenes not having a coat, and feeling sick, she says Kara and Luther can't stop because of her, risks her life to save Kara's if you fail QTEs, and says she's "fine" even when she's cold to comfort Kara. So if you think she can be annoying, yeah, all 9-year-olds can be. But if you think she's annoying enough to actually hate her, idek what to say).

In terms of characters that are really unpopular, I actually like Leo. His actions at first are inexcusable. I mean, accusing Carl of loving an android more than hin, insulting Markus and treating him as less than human, threatening him, breaking into Carl's house and attempting to steal his paintings for drug money, and framing Markus for Carl's death leading to him getting shot and nearly killed are obviously not okay things to do. However, he is clearly on drugs, specifically red ice, the most dangerous drug in the world. Also, if you decide to push Markus leading Carl to still be alive, when you return to Carl's house, you can find a message Leo sent to Carl in which he apologizes for everything and promises it won't happen again. In the extras section, you also find out Carl missed out on Leo's whole childhood, only first meeting him once he was much older. Given that Carl spends all of his days pleasantly conversing with Markus while ignoring Leo, not calling him, only talking to Leo once he comes around himself, and doesn't even argue when Leo says Carl doesn't love him, it's almost fair that Leo thinks the way he does. Since he's also high on drugs throughout the story, at least up until Markus gets shot, we also know that the Leo we see isn't the real Leo. Later, if Carl is dead and Markus visits his grave, he encounters Leo again. This time, when Leo sees Markus he is only shocked. Now, off of red ice, not only is he going to see Carl's grave, expressing love for his father, he also doesn't try to hurt Markus, insult him, or anything mean or dehumanizing. His expression lacks any signs of aggression. It was only when he was high that he was such an asshole. Although that doesn't excuse his behavior, it does give a reason for it, and by the end I consider him redeemed.

~~~

Wow... that was a long response to a very short ask. No need to read all that (although I would highly suggest reading my first answer, at least, since that does contain some very relevant points). Although then again, if you've made it here, you've probably already read all that. In which case I would love to hear your opinions if you're willing to share (as well as anyone who sees this!) I guess I just had a lot of opinions that I needed to put out in the world lol, so thank you sm for the ask!!!!! 💛💛💛

[cyclogenesis]

director's commentary for 'got a feeling that i'm going under' - especially the relationship bucky has with sam's family, and the scene with sam getting hurt.

Oh man, Got a feeling that I'm going under, the fic into which I put every single emotion I ever had. The idea came from the most fantastically random source - many years ago while chatficcing porn with a friend we were writing a 5SOS Harry Potter AU (yes, I deeply miss having someone to chatfic out my worst id garbage with) and I wrote a bit where I used the phrase "like being split open in reverse" about magical wound-healing. The image always stuck with me, and one evening I was thinking about Bucky Barnes, and what his whole fucking deal is, and the idea for the first scene popped into my head. The accelerated healing factor of super soldiers is so interesting to me, and we've seen so little about it - but like with any injury, it helps a hell of a lot if you set the bone/close the wound/etc. first.

I'm always interested in how Bucky went from sniper twink to the guy pitching himself off a motorcycle headfirst at another super soldier; that dude has gotten reckless as hell with his body! So he for sure gets hurt a lot, and I doubt that he was tended to with much care when he was the Winter Soldier, so I imagine he's gotten used to seeing to his own injuries while in the field, probably to the point of feeling awkward about someone else checking on him now. Thus: Local Man, 106, Really Trying to Go to Bed Still Bleeding, Realizes Horrified Partner.

I started writing it sometime after episode 3 or 4 (taking it on faith that the show was gonna have a HEA), initially because the other thing I was working on was taking too long to get to the porn, so I thought I'd write a one scene 4k or so little thing where Sam tends to Bucky's wounds, and they're tucked close in a motel bathroom and, you know, then they fuck, good for them. But then I was really enjoying the tension of that scene, and then I thought about artistically carved magical wounds, and things escalated.

Honestly, my usual approach to any fic is "write enough story to earn the sex scene", so that's sort of what I was doing, but in the way where I kept complaining to my friends that I was trying to get to the porn, but I just kept writing all these feelings. (I think at this point, with this pairing at least, I have to admit that I also always want to write enough story to make it clear that even if they don't say so in the fic, they are absolutely in love with each other.)

I was really struggling with how to finish out the first kiss scene, because I really wanted to get to the porn, but it was just kind of a logistical pickle. It took awhile to occur to me that I didn't have to write about the first time they have sex, which was mind-blowing as that's almost always what I write. Once I realized that, I also realized that (at this point, after the high of the show's ending) I desperately wanted to write a little established relationship for them.

So a kitchen injury to continue the theme was kind of a gimme, and having Bucky cooking dinner at Sam and Sarah's felt like it went right along with how clearly Bucky is part of their family now per ep 6, and would thus be comfortable enough there after awhile to cook in their kitchen (though he still wants to do a good job!). Plus the kids clearly adore him, and I think AJ's still at the age where he'd openly be more dazzled by Bucky and thus eager to help him do whatever. Indulge me in breaking down the following bit, because it's one of my favorite parts:

“I’m fine,” Bucky says again, looking at the stove as if it might betray him and his carefully constructed soup if he gets out of its sightline. “It just needs to simmer for five more minutes.” (Still trying to refuse help, but he'll get there, bless him! Also though he's put a lot of effort into becoming a good cook, he still doesn't entirely trust recipes and gets a little nervous when four other people are depending on him to be fed.)

Sarah, having already assessed the scene and identified what needs to be done, retrieves a wooden spoon from the drawer and pokes Bucky with it. “I got it, go.” (I love the mental image of the wooden spoon poke. Like first of all yes, jab the man, but also it shows quickly that in Sarah's mind at this point Bucky is basically her brother-in-law. 😭!!)

“The salad is looking good,” AJ reports to everyone. (Children are small insane people that still require attention and validation even when someone else is literally bleeding! Love that for them, sincerely.)

“It’s gonna be a great salad, buddy!” Bucky says to him over his shoulder as Sam directs him to the first floor bathroom. (But like, Bucky is so good with kids. He's happy to validate AJ and appreciates his help! He wants to help AJ grow up to be a good man and men these days have to know how to cook! 🥺)

Bucky is out here and he's ready to be a Barnes-Wilson (or a Wilson-Barnes. Or a Wilson. He's flexible)!!

And now the last scene, man, the last scene. Like the rest of this fic, it was absolutely not planned ahead of time in any reasonable way. Let me be super honest here: I ran across a Tumblr post that was basically like "fics where Sam takes care of Bucky are stupid garbage and so are the people who write them" (loosely paraphrased) and I was like OH FUCK this fic is thematically wrong and I Am The Problem, and after brooding about that for probably longer than I should have I realized, relatedly and fortunately, that the only way it made sense to end this fic was to flip the theme on its head and have Sam get injured and Bucky have to look after him. And how Bucky would freak out and become immediately invested in doing everything he can to make sure he can take care of Sam in every way forever. From there I sat down and wrote out the last scene pretty quickly!

I always get the most nervous about endings, so I'm really glad people enjoyed this one. I was pretty in my feelings after posting this fic, considering that I hadn't written a story since 2018, it was my first one for this pairing, it's a real stylistic switch from my past uh few decades of work, I hadn't written for a media fandom with a ton of canon in one thousand years, the central theme was magical wound-healing (?!), etc. The response to it was an extremely pleasant surprise and something I'm still grappling with as I've continued to write in this fandom. I hope someday I can write something else that connects with people the way this one did!

[taylorinthetardis]

Wallflowers - A Henry Cavill x Reader fic

So I did a thing! Rather than continue to work on my larger, more complicated Pride and Prejudice fic, I decided to make a fanfic out of the fantasy I had at work the other day!

There will most likely be a part two to this, I just thought I was at a good stopping point and wanted to see what you guys thought about it.

Full disclosure: I didn’t mean for this to whole ass turn into a Bath and Body Works ad, but it kinda did. For those of you reading in countries that do not have Bath and Body Works, its basically just a body and home care store. In the US their scents are legendary. Pretty much every young girl went through a BBW phase where that was all they used for soap and perfume. That all being said, in the interest of further disclosure and covering my ass, I own neither Bath and Body Works nor any of the trademarks on the scents listed herein. I also do not own Henry Cavill because owning human beings is a crime.

This is my first Henry fic so be gentle with me! It’s a bit longer than I had anticipated and un-beta’d.

Warnings: just a lot of fluff. some self-deprecation. loads of swearing. don’t know if I should warn for slight bashing of the religious but I will anyway so no one gets mad at me.

Wallflowers

It was shaping up to be another boring ass day at Bath and Body Works. I had started working here during the Pandemic after I was laid off from my job at the movie theatre. I had planned on it only being temporary, but even after things got better and I got my theatre job back, I decided to stick around. What can I say; a bitch is broke. Nothing wrong with double-dipping.

There was something about Sunday mornings in the mall. Probably because people around here still went to church in the mornings. Like it matters. Sunday mornings are always so slow, here and at the theatre, but the day always picks up after 1, when morning church services finish. It was me and Samantha up in the front room this morning, working out the leftover boxes from yesterday’s shipment. She was one of the first people I really bonded with here, both of us being super into both Marvel and DC, specifically Sebastian Stan and Henry Cavill. They had just started filming the next Superman movie and they were going to be shooting scenes up in Michigan again, like they had for Dawn of Justice.

“I’m just saying, we should really consider asking for a few days off and just going up there and scoping it out. I mean, it’s Henry fucking Cavill. He’s less than an hour away from us. Right now. Less than an hour. When is that ever gonna happen again? I can use some of my vacation time at the theatre, so at least I’m not missing out on money from them. It’ll be a blast. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? We don’t see him? I mean at least we’d have tried. I’d rather try than stay down in stupid Ohio with the knowledge that he’s that close.”

“Do you really think Ann’s going to give us time off to stalk Superman?”

“We ain’t gonna tell her what it’s for! Just lie, c’mon now.” I laughed. I dropped a box of Gingham body cream into the understock drawer and broke the box down. Out of the corner of my eye I caught movement, oh goodie, a customer. Samantha was quicker to greet them.

“Welcome to Bath and Body… OH MY GOD!” I turned around and was met with the sight of none other than Henry fucking Cavill, sheepishly running his hand through his now jet-black curls, obviously embarrassed at having been recognized. Damn, am I glad I put make-up on this morning. Alright Y/N, this is your fucking chance. For once in your damn life, be fucking cool. You can do this. You look good, you smell like Champagne Toast, you’ve got this. I pulled my hair down from its messy bun and shook it out a bit before walking over to where Samantha was still trying to collect herself. The store radio started playing Halsey’s Bad at Love and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from bursting out laughing at the absurdity of the situation we were now in. Not five minutes ago we were talking about seeking him out and now here he was in all his brick-shithouse-ness. I looped my arm through Samantha’s in a show of support.

“What a wonderful coincidence! We were just talking about you and now here you are! It’s crazy how the universe works, isn’t it? I’m Y/N, this is Samantha; what can we help you with today, Henry?” I smiled my most adorable smile at him, the one that makes my little cheek dimple pop out, and, honestly, they both looked shocked. Samantha was clearly surprised that I was more capable of speech than she was, and to be honest so was I, and Henry seemed shocked that I would openly admit that we had been talking about him before he got there, which probably wasn’t a great thing to say, but I panicked.  

“Well, I was told this was the best place to go for candles and air freshener-y type things. The house I’m renting just has this odd odour that I can’t get rid of. I’ve been airing it out during the day, all the windows open, and I come home and it still smells funky. I know I could just find a different place, but it’s close to a park and that’s been nice for Kal and I don’t want to make a fuss, so…” Henry sort of shrugged, the buttons on his plaid shirt straining with the movement of his broad shoulders, and gestured around the store as if to say “that’s why I’m here”.

“Well, you’ve definitely come to the right place. All of our home care is in the second room, grab a basket, I’m sure we can find you some scents you’ll like.” He walked over to the basket tower to grab one as a couple more customers walked in. Samantha nudged me towards the second room; I was going to have to handle Henry alone for now, it seemed. He followed me over to the Wallflower wall. “So, these are our Wallflowers. They’re sort of like the Glade Plug-ins, I don’t know if you’ve seen those, you plug this diffuser into any power outlet and screw the fragrance bulb in and it diffuses the scented oil into the room. They last for about a month or so. These’ll probably be the best option for you, well these and maybe a room spray or two to start with. The candles are good, but obviously the scent is gonna be strongest when they’re burning and it’s probably not a great idea to light a bunch of candles and then leave for the whole day.”

He chuckled. “No, I’d say you’re right about that. I definitely don’t want to burn the place to the ground. Are there any scents that you’d recommend?”

“Well, I mean, it obviously all depends on your personal preferences. I like sweet scents. I like my space to be smelling like a bakery or a candy shop at all times, so I tend to go for anything like that. We actually still have some of our holiday scents that we’re trying to get rid of and there’s this really great one in that line called Spiced Apple Toddy. It smells like apple pie. I love it. It’s only out during fall and winter so I stocked up. I need it all year long, honestly. I still have so many other scents at home, but like I’m probably never gonna get sick of it, for real, it smells so good. Or I might go every other month swapping between that and Black Cherry Merlot because that’s awesome too. And then there’s Champagne Toast, I mean, that one might be a bit too feminine for you, but I love it. It’s sweet and just a tiny bit citrusy. I can’t do any of the floral or like, outdoorsy scents, they set my allergies off. And honestly there’s some of these that I smell them and I’m like, who is putting this in their house? Like, what nutjob thinks this scent is good? How many people have senses of smell that are this screwed up?” At this point I was rambling, talking excitedly and with my hands, handing him testers to smell and trying to gauge his reactions to know what to hand him next. He didn’t have any bad reactions to anything I gave him until I handed him the tester for Fresh Balsam. His nose scrunched up in the most adorable way and he very carefully set the tester down on the counter as far from him as he could manage. He handled my word-vomit good-naturedly, with a small smile on his face, nodding and chuckling when he thought something I had said was funny. Our fingers brushed a few times as I handed him the testers and after the third time, I began to feel like it was deliberate on his part, but it couldn’t have been, could it? He couldn’t really be interested in me. He’s Henry Cavill. I’m just, well, I’m just me.

Me, with my two minimum wage jobs, still living with my parents, inching ever closer to 30 years old. Why would he want any of that? Why would he be interested in me physically either? I mean, he’s literally flawless and I’m short, overweight, I eat like shit, I don’t exercise, hell, I barely know how to put on make-up correctly. Yeah, I look good today, but that’s not par-for-the-course.    

He put a few each of Cinnamon & Clove Buds, Black Cherry Merlot, Limoncello (for the bathrooms, he said), and Laundry Day (for the laundry room, obviously) in his basket along with enough of the plugs so he’d have one in each room. He also grabbed a Black Cherry Merlot and a Limoncello room spray off the shelf next to the Wallflower display before turning back to me. “So then, where do you keep this Spiced Apple Toddy that you like so much, or did you hide them so you could have them all to yourself?”

I chuckled nervously and ran my hand through my hair, sort of disbelieving that he was actually paying attention to what I had said. Boys never listen to me when I talk, I always have to repeat myself, but I guess that’s because I usually end up talking to the dumb ones. Henry’s not dumb. He really is just fucking perfect, isn’t he? Pretty and he listens? That shouldn’t be such a difficult combination to find, but for me it had been. “They’re on the table over here with the rest of our leftover Christmas stuff. Hopefully the tester is still there somewhere.” I put my hands in my apron pockets and I could feel the jolt of confidence I had had just minutes before leaving my body. His charm had worn me down, bringing me back to my normal, anxiety-ridden self. I caught the toe of my boot on the corner of one of the other tables as we walked towards the center of the room. I stumbled, but before I could fall his arm was already out to steady me, wrapping around my waist to keep me upright.

“Are you alright Y/N?” A look of genuine concern was on his face and I swear to God I swooned. Like, fuck, I just stubbed my stupid toe, it’s not that serious. I mean yeah, I stubbed my toe and then almost fell into a table covered with candles in glass holders, but like, I didn’t fall, you caught me, please stop looking at me like you care. You can’t give me that much hope. It isn’t fair. And goddamnit I love the way my name sounds coming out of your mouth. Like, fuck it’s never sounded so good. This isn’t fair, why is this happening?

“Yeah, Henry I’m fine, just a stubbed toe. Thank you for…you know.” I gestured down to his arm, which was still around my waist. The sound of me bumping into the table drew the attention of the rest of my co-workers, however, who were now coming out of their various positions to see what was going on and to make sure no one had broken anything. Samantha popped her head in from the front room and Kelynn and Mira came out from the cashwrap with Pilar and walked to the edge of the third room to peek in. All they saw was me, blushing profusely, with Henry Cavill’s beefy-ass arm still wrapped around my fucking waist. “Everything’s fine guys. I promise.”

“Holy shit, is that…”

“Mira!”

“But Kelynn that’s fucking Superman!”

“You can’t cuss in front of him Mira, he’s a customer!”

“Will you guys cut it out? You’re embarrassing us in front of the hunky British dude!”

“Hey, I’ve got an idea. How about we all pretend like this isn’t happening right now? Pilar can go back to the cashwrap, you two can go back to whatever it was you were doing, and I’ll go back to what I was doing, namely making a damn sale!” I extricated myself from Henry’s grasp so I could shoo them back towards the cashwrap. They turned and walked away, bewildered looks on their faces. I turned back to Henry who was shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and ran his hand through his curls, leaving them messier than they were before. An errant one fell over his forehead and I wanted to brush it out of the way, but he just left it.

I walked over to the table that I was originally heading for and found the Spiced Apple Toddy Wallflowers. There wasn’t that many left, but there was still a tester. I grabbed it and spun around to bring it to him, assuming he hadn’t followed me, but as I turned, I found myself going face first into his massive chest. I put my unoccupied hand up to steady myself and pushed on his chest to force him back. He was just too close. Why was he so close? He opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it. “Here. This is what I have in my bedroom right now, this is Spiced Apple Toddy.” Oh god, why did I say it like that? The one I have in my bedroom. Jesus Christ. He quirked his eyebrow at me and cocked his head to the side, smirking a little. Instead of taking the tester from me, he took my much smaller hand in his, guiding it up towards his face so the tester was close to his nose. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. A serene smile spread across his face and I felt my face get hotter. He opened his eyes, looking down into mine. Fuck I could drown in those ocean eyes.

“Oh, I like that very much. You were right. I think that one’s my favourite.”

[thr-333]

Could you possibly do one where Mari/Mari and marine is/are the daughter/son of the joker?

I actually planned quite a lot for this after you asked but could never get my thoughts to make something comprehensive so I give up here's what I got!:

-Twins are Joker and Harleys kids born before the two split up(and so help me they will split up this story needs gay aunt Ivy)

-As you might know, these two clowns have another kid; Lucy. Harley left Lucy with her sister when she was born. In canon, she thinks Harley is her aunt but I would say in this fic she learned the truth when the twins were also dropped off.

-So the twins grew up in Gotham with their aunt and big sister knowing full well who their parents are; as such they make the responsible choice to suppress every part of themselves that resembles them and constantly dye their hair in an effort to avoid looking like them. You know healthy coping mechanisms. -

-Naturally, Marinette has brown hair with blue eyes and Marion blonde with brown eyes.

-Their personalities are a bit different from Mismatch. 

-Marion is still a trickster and a trouble maker but this time around has Marinette fully involved and responsible for his shenanigans. He has a bit of a habit of talking to himself(or singing random phrases), sometimes in the third person; he hates when he does, so Marinette always tells him off. He’s always gets the impulse of dying his hair outlandish colors and will vehemently deny his favorite color is green.

- Marinette is crafty, both figuratively and literally. She’s smart, her mother is a doctor after all she can be manipulative to people that arent her(close) family to protect the ones she cares about. She has a deep-seated fear of becoming a trophy, an object to be put on display like her mother and so dresses the opposite and pushes away her love for fashion.

-They will always call each other Mari but if someone else tries they both answer its a nickname they strictly use for each other.

-In a world where Gotham exists it makes absolutely no sense that Gabriel wouldn't start his reign as Hawkmoth in Gotham(the place with the most negative emotions like geez) so that works out perfectly for the twins becoming heroes(Adrien can move to Gotham or be left in Paris to be kept safe your choice)

-Instead of the twins proving themselves by helping an old man up off the street they go a step further is beating up the thugs that try to rob him(all Fu’s set up of course). When they come home to find two mysterious boxes on their beds they make the only rational conclusion children of the joker would; it’s a bomb!

-Not wanting to get the police involved for obvious reasons they find the security footage(which gets the police involved in a different way) and start tracking down fu to see why he’s trying to kill him.

-And as you may recall at this point in canon Ladybug and Chat Noir are defeating an Akuma, well they're not here they’re off to beat up an old man so thats Batman’s job for the time being.

-The twins get caught up in the fight as civilians and are saved by Batman who immediately recognizes them(you don't think Batman has case files on all of Jokers hellspawn?) so that’s gonna be a problem later but never mind that for now~

-The twins track down Fu, who is wondering why they aren’t out fighting the Akuma. Long story short Fu comes back to the house with them and proves they aren't bombs giving them the miraculous.

-I’m a bit indecisive on the names. I thought Marinette would be Red Bug and Marion Black Cat(yes I know that names already taken I don’t care). But I thought Crimson Bug would work better because then their names would start with the same letters. Then I wanted alliteration like Black Bug and Crimson Cat but that obviously doesn't make any sense since Chats color is green not red-- then I realized it would be completely in character for them to call themselves that confusing everyone in the process so no one quite sure whos name is who(if you wanna write it go with whatever I just thought it could be funny)

-As for costumes Marinette's probably wouldn't be skin tight because deep down she really doesn't want to look like that but more practical armor or less form-fitting at least. Marion's hair turns green when he transforms something he freaks out about and Marinette's turns red(glowing or not either would look cool)

-So anyway they go off to defeat the akuma blah blah blah Batman seeing these two young untrained superheroes can only think of one thing: I have to adopt them. So that’s gonna be fun!

-Anyway they go back home trying to be sneaky and immediately get caught by Lucy: ”Don’t tell Aunty!”-- ”Oh I already know” (her names Delia by the way)

- So now the twins get a support system and a family that will look out for them unbelievable right? This support system immediately threatens Fu making sure he actually trains them and doesn't just set them loose on Gotham.

Anyway that's the end of my semi-cohesive plan and here's a vague outline for the fic:

1. Becoming ladybug and chat noir setting up adoption, and school(Bruce invites them to Gotham academy to keep an eye on the jokers children)

2. First day at school setting up Artemis(and by extension young justice), and own passions, Adrien is also at this school now so Marinette falls, Jason finds out falling in love with Marion

3. Becoming friends with Artemis, convinces them to give their passions a try, Marion runs from hood, some let me adopt you stuff also Jason's spite for Cat Noir

4. Skip a bit of time a few months or so, young justice need help Artemis suggest mari and mari, Marinette has a smackdown with batman about their heritage, at odds with young justice Artemis comes to their defense. Young Justice have an ‘oh’ realization on the job when Marion sings a lullaby to a scared child, now the young justice form the mari and mari protection squad

5. Doing ladybug and cat stuff batman approaches them again this time luring them into adoption with a partnership on finding hawkmoth, Red Hood and cat fight. Marion comes back all huffy and there's a scene with Lucy this time comforting them, Marion goes out to get air runs into hood marion bristles stirring Jason to meet him as a civilian, class come to visit, at odds with lila

6. Doing well at school even made a few friends when the Paris class come to visit completely under lila’s control, lila tries to slander the twins for not worshiping her only to out herself when she tells everyone they laughed at her(the twins never laugh), Jason also drops by further discrediting her, lila tries to throw their heritage in their face but they get support openly working with heroes as civilians, this little section ends quite happily with them being sort of accepted at school and batman tolerating their existence for not attacking the person who tried to make their life miserable

7. Time skip few years out of high school now, ladybug and cat are working well with gothams vigilantes widely considered part of the batfam even if no one knows each other's identities. As mari and mari they are doing good work mainly outside of gotham. Marinette is starting a fashion boutique with a little financial help from Wayne enterprises she also does costume design for heroes and villains, villains mainly because she can't stand their current outfits. Marion quite likes his music but isn't sure how he will feel in the public eye is great friends with Jason and the skip picks up with them officially starting to go out identities unknown. They are still hesitant about their identities in civilian life Marinette starting her business under a false name and Marion cant start his because of his heritage. Jason officially has to admit they are going out to the family is met with grilling by aunt and sister, joy by harley once she tries giving them sex advice they leave, his brothers tease and both are tense about Bruces reaction but he begrudgingly accepts. Are out as ladybug and Cat still snippy with hood but it’s not as bad they are closing in on hawkmoth. Go to hang out with young justice as well they aren't well-liked in Gotham but they’re fine with that(not really)

8. NOW things can go to shit joker finally has enough of them deciding to get a hold of them but I think it should be as ladybug and chat revealing their identities to the world. The twins are terrified rightfully so. Get saved now it’s weird between hood and marion, marion feeling betrayed Jason knew who he was and knew who his father was but still decided to date him and he just can't understand why. Adrien was so scared for Marinette and now they both have to work out why. Gotham is at odds the heroes they admire are born from a villain they fear. Bats are a bit weird feeling like they were tricked while also kind of acknowledging the twins are good people

9. Harassed in their everyday life now the twins go to young justice where they get met with awe for being established independent heros, bats there are acting weird but the twins say something to shift perspective leaving to let them mull on it. Jason tries to apologise saying he doesn't see Marion like that blah blah Marion has a breakdown asking how he can be anything but a villain. Marinette's having whiplash going from loved to hated and still dealing with the trauma of seeing her father. They snap. In public a big ol scene and they get akumatised everyone sees it, it’s on tv. Hawkmoth comes out to get their miraculous the batfam can’t beat him. He’s monolouging probing at their deepest fears when they snap back to reality realizing none of it’s true every part of them has worked to be good people and they are they don't hand over their miraculous beating the akumatizaton and beating hawkmoth while akumatised.

10. They are released from the hospital a few days later, getting hesitant recognition on the streets. It's not thunderous applause but it is something. Their family comes to pick them up, Adrien is crying to Marinette about not scaring him like that(her family took him in when Gabriel was revealed). Marion gets picked up by Jason they patch things over. They get accepted into the batfam and work as ladybug and cat for everything. Marion decides to start playing music and Marinette reveals her face to her fashion brand.

[sanktnikolais]

Godsent

A/N: i’m back to post another content kahsfkljas this is the beach scene Zoya vaguely remembered back in my mythology au 

Have a bit of fluff after than long angsty fic ;-;

Word count: 4244

The sight of his temple only brought another wave of headache to Zoya. It was much grander than what she had thought his supporters capable of, and she was starting to regret allowing it to be built. She couldn’t believe she let herself get carried away with a simple act of smiling. 

          Damn him and that smile of his, she thought in annoyance as she made her way to the path leading towards the side of the shrine. 

          It was warm tonight, and if it had been some other time when it was colder than she would have liked, she was sure she wouldn't have come here. She was still trying to understand why she agreed to go see him at this time. 

          His message had come abruptly in the fountain of her foyer just as she was leaving. The water had exploded from within, almost drenching her had she not stepped back immediately. And when she checked what the disturbance was, the words appeared in sand on the surface. 

          Come meet me at my temple, it said. 

          Not a request, nor a friendly invitation. 

          Zoya didn’t know whether to laugh or get insulted. Was he that bossy just because he was one of the higher gods? He must have forgotten who put him in his place when he came barging in her temple to challenge her. 

          Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to the construction of his temple, so he wouldn't have another reason to become more conceited than he already was. 

          Its location was on a cliff directly by the sea, a place where he obviously preferred the shrine to be built. If there was something that he thought highly of other than himself, it was the seas. 

          The seas can help us find peace, he always said, and Zoya was tired of hearing his voice in her head all the time. The non-stop rain he sent to her temple was already bad enough to irk her. But actually hearing him in her mind? Disastrous. It was a surprise that she had been able to stand being around him for five years without them having each other by their throats. 

          She finally rounded the corner of the shrine leading to the entrance, and that was where she spotted him gazing up at his temple. 

          Whatever flippant thoughts she had about him disappeared when she saw how content he looked. The lit torches on the pillars lit up his face, bathing him in a golden glow of the same color of his hair under the sun. For a moment, he didn’t look like the god of the seas she knew—arrogant, cruel, and overly confident. Instead, he looked like someone proud of something he’d done for himself, not because he was forced to do it. 

          An amused smile twitched on her lips. Even though he didn’t become the city patron, he was still happy enough to have something dedicated to him. Perhaps she should give him that small victory.

          He must have felt her stare at him because he turned to her in a blink, and she barely had the time to hide herself from staring openly at him. 

          Zoya immediately returned to her stoic appearance, mustering a deadpan look on her face. She wouldn’t let him have the chance to grin at her; it had a strange effect on her that was unbecoming for the goddess of wisdom. “What do you want, Nikolai?” 

          Nikolai feigned a hurtful expression. “In a sour mood tonight, aren’t we, Minerva?”

          “Who wouldn’t be if they were summoned in the middle of the night?” she said through gritted teeth. The urge to punch him in the face was strong, but she held back. “And it’s Zoya for you, Your Idiocy. We are not on Olympus.”

          “As you wish, Minnie,” he said. 

          She huffed in annoyance and stared at him incredulously. This was one of the times that she preferred him being the arrogant rival he once was, as she had enough reason to beat him up where he stood. It was like the god of the seas stole another’s persona and adapted to it. 

          But the ease in his demeanor made her wonder if this person in front of her was really who he was.

          “Are you done tormenting me? If so, then I am leaving,” Zoya said, already turning to the direction she came from. 

          Nikolai held out an arm. “No, wait,” he said, a pleading look evident on his face. He looked like a child whose candy was snatched away from their hand. “It’s been a long time since our dispute in this city but you have not come to see my temple yet.”

          Her eyes narrowed. “I do not need to see it.”

          “But I want you to,” he almost whined, and her thoughts of him possibly being a child came back to mind. He gestured a hand to the temple. “Well, what do you think?”

          Realizing that she didn’t have any much of a choice other than to leave, Zoya walked over to where he was standing to have a better look at the shrine, and she took in its appearance. The entrance must be at least fifty feet high, its roof supported by three huge pillars on each side. She wasn’t sure how long it extended at the back, but she could guess the main foyer could fit at least a thousand people. 

          And even without going inside, a huge statue of him by the other end of the hall could be seen. 

          It looked impressive for only a short time of having it built, she would give him that, but otherwise still plain. 

          “It could be better,” Zoya said before turning to him. “But alas, it’s only like any other temple around the city.”

          If Nikolai was insulted, he didn’t show it. He grinned, the one that reached his eyes and made them bright. His arms were spread wide. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” 

          She merely raised an eyebrow at him. He really was something else. “Mine is definitely better,” she countered with a sneer. “And besides, yours would not even be there if I hadn’t allowed it.” 

          “Guess I owe you my reputation, then?”

          “Obviously, so stop being a show off.”

          Then he winked, and she didn’t like the way it made her heart skip a beat. What had he done to her? “Only for you, dear.” His grin became wider. “Actually, it’s not even the best part.”

          Zoya stepped back, holding a finger up. “I think that is enough for tonight, I—”

          But Nikolai was already grabbing at her wrist. “Let me show you,” he said, and then he was dragging her along with him down the path. His hand was warm against her skin, the touch sending an unexpected thrill in her chest. He would literally be the end of her. 

          She had to break into a jog just to match up with his excited strides, and she was just too exhausted to berate him to slow down. After a few more moments of keeping up with him, they finally got to the edge of the cliff. 

          There wasn’t much light, but the full moon almost directly in front of them gave enough brightness for them to see the surging waves across the sea. The waters looked almost white against the moonlight, and if it was some time earlier in the day, Zoya knew it would be breathtaking.

          Somehow, she quite understood why Nikolai would always say that his favorite line of ‘the seas can help us find peace’. There was indeed something calming just by watching the tides’ steady movement, as if you knew that it would always stay in the same current and end up in the same shoreline. 

          “It’s not much at this time of the day,” he said, breaking the long silence between them. “I’d say it’s better during sunrise and sunset. But it’s still quite the view.” 

          Zoya hummed, gaze remaining focused on the sea. For some reason, she couldn’t look away. His love for the seas was probably starting to rub off on her. “It is a nice view,” she admitted, and she could practically see him grinning in her head.

          A beat, and then he said, “It’s not the best one, though.”

          She frowned. “What’s better than this?” she asked, turning her head to look at him.

          And he was looking back at her, his smile soft and eyes gentle. She furrowed her eyebrows, and it took her another few seconds to realize what he meant. All her thoughts seemed to  stop altogether, heat rising to her cheeks. She averted her eyes and looked down, only to see their hands clasped tightly together. 

          Her eyes widened. When did that happen? 

          Zoya quickly let go of his hand as if she were burned and stepped away, making Nikolai laugh lightly. She didn’t know whether to run off or throw him off the cliff, so she glared at him instead. But there was definitely no denying the erratic beating of her heart. 

          Damn him for making her feel things she shouldn’t have.

          And yet he only smiled back, even when she was expecting him to cower or challenge her glare with his own. “You will definitely be the death of me, Zoya,” he said, and she tried to ignore the way her name sounded from his lips. 

          I could say the same to you, she wanted to say. But it would be blatantly admitting that he had that much effect on her, in which, based on the still erratic beat of her heart as she looked back at him, was actually true. 

          She covered up her awkwardness with a huff. "Don't be dramatic, you can't die." 

          Nikolai laughed again. Was everything funny to him now? "Ever the realist, aren't we?" 

          "It is who I am, you urchin." 

          "I think that's the most adorable thing you've called me." 

          "Would you have preferred 'idiot'?"

          He shook his head, the grin never leaving his lips. "I would love any name as long as it is from you." 

          Zoya's heart did another weird flip. She was so close to bolting off or punching him. Or both. "Are we finally done here?" she said. If she spent another few minutes with him and his flowery words, she might do something that she would regret later. "Because I am needed elsewhere." 

          It wasn't technically true, but she knew she would immediately go to Genya after this. The goddess of love surely had something to say about this night rendezvous. Or whatever this was. 

          "Not yet," Nikolai said, grinning brightly. "There is still one last thing I would like to show you." 

          "How many 'best' things are left for you to show me?" She huffed incredulously. "You consider all these the best, anyway." 

          "A good point, but this is the last one, I swear." 

          Thunder rumbled in the sky, making him wince. Zoya had to stifle a laugh at his expression. 

          "Should have said 'promise' instead," she said in amusement. "You aren't allowed to pull any more antics now." 

          Nikolai chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it." He paused, looking down at the cliff, before turning back to her with an open look. Her breath hitched in expectation. "Do you trust me?"

          Did she? After centuries of rivalry, had she come to trust him, even after only a short time of finally seeing him past his tough exterior? She had always been so sure of herself, but why was she having doubts now?

          I shouldn't, but somehow, I do. And yet Zoya grimaced and said, "No."

          She was expecting him to look hurt, but he actually laughed and gave her a knowing look. "That is quite a relief. I wouldn't want to disappoint you when I lose control over this." 

          Her eyes narrowed. "What do you—" 

          But her sentence ended in a squeal when Nikolai put an arm around her waist and abruptly jumped off the cliff. 

          Inappropriate words she wanted to scream at him came in her mind all at once, the rush of air sounding too loud in her ears. She clutched onto his neck and closed her eyes in panic. It was ironic, as they couldn’t technically die, but she hadn’t anticipated being hauled off the edge. She was so going to murder him later. 

          Zoya waited for the coldness of the water to hit them, but it never did. 

          They were suddenly on something, the chill only enclosing around their legs, and she finally opened her eyes to look down.

          A huge waterspout steadily moved around, keeping them afloat at least a hundred feet above the sea. 

          She let out a relieved breath. At least they weren’t plummeting down the waters anymore. The beating of her heart slowed down, and she huffed as she glared at a laughing Nikolai in front of her. The sight of him looking happy was definitely not the reason why her heartbeat picked up again.

          “I ought to strike you down where you stand,” Zoya growled. It would’ve been much more menacing if she wasn’t holding her arms around his neck. “Now I remember every reason why I used to hate you.”

          His laughter subsided until all that’s left on his face was a soft smile. “At least I know you don’t hate me now,” he said. Then he winked. “Don’t worry, if you ever get off balanced, I won’t let you fall alone.”

          “If you think your punchlines are going to make me change my mind from beating you up, then you have to keep on dreaming.”

          “Perhaps this would change your mind?” 

          Zoya raised an eyebrow, and slowly, Nikolai willed the water forward. The specks of light caught her eyes even before she could fully look at them. It came from the torches lined up in the sand by the cliff walls, illuminating the small beach hidden in between them. 

          “No need to look awed, my wise one. It’s unbecoming of you,” he said as he lowered them down to the sand.

          She kicked him in the shin the second her feet landed on soil. “I am still enraged, Nikolai,” she said, but there was no edge in her tone.

          Nikolai chuckled. “Go on, you can tell me how much you adore me.”

          “You conceited, feeble urchin—” Zoya tried to grab at his shirt but he had already backed away, laughing again. 

          He stopped at least several feet away, spreading his arms. “So, what do you think?”

          She raised an eyebrow and looked around. “Horrible?”

          “You wound me,” he said dramatically, putting a hand to his chest. “Well, I’d admit that it is not as flawless as I would have liked it. I only made this place a few hours ago.”

          He made this place? “What for?” she asked, a frown blooming on her face.

          Nikolai shrugged. “A hiding place,” he answered simply, looking up in the night sky. The moonlight captured the lines of his face, bathing him in a glow that made him look less the terrifying god of the seas than a cheerful and carefree person who had been hiding behind that divine identity all along. His next words were quiet, almost sad. “Somewhere I could be comfortable.”

          Zoya considered him for a moment, something in her chest not feeling right. It wasn’t as if he needed her to show him his place. What was even his reason for asking her to come in the first place? Certainly he had more people to talk with or bring here other than her.

          So why her?

          He turned to her again, the somber expression disappearing in a blink and the mischievous look returning. It was appalling how fast he could change the masks he wore. Who was the real him?

          “Worry not, dear wise one, you are allowed to come here,” Nikolai said with a grin. “You’re always welcome here.”

          Zoya raised an eyebrow. “I am honored,” she replied, mocking a curtsy. “But I’m afraid there’s no way down other than jumping off that cliff and swimming here.”

          He waved a dismissive hand. “I could easily make a path for you.”

          “Confident, aren’t we?”

          “Do you doubt me?”

          She chuckled darkly. “All the time.”

          This made Nikolai silent, a shadow passing across his face. Something twinged in Zoya’s chest. She wasn’t supposed to feel bad. It was what she always did—facing all things head on and being straightforward. Unlike him, she didn’t make things much complicated by going around with her words. 

          Ever the realist, aren’t we? His words from earlier echoed in her mind. She knew he meant it as a joke, and yet it was really who she was. She approached everything with caution and vigilance, calculated all the variables and outcomes. She liked the odds leaning to her favor; it was how she stayed at the top of her game.

          But when it came to him, all went astray. Nikolai was her biggest uncertainty.

          Zoya waited for his rage, for him to turn into his true form and challenge her to a duel, just like she did the night before their standoff in the city. If she were honest, she preferred that possibility. Because she wouldn’t have to question herself for feeling something for the god of the seas after several years of being in peace with him. They had three centuries of bad blood. 

          What were those years of serenity compared to the long time of hatred and rivalry? It was only plausible. 

          But when Nikolai smiled ruefully instead of lashing out like she had wanted him to, she had never been so ashamed of herself for neglecting this possibility. 

          “Fair point,” he said with a sigh. He gazed up at the stars again, eyes soft, and a small smile twitched on his lips as if he remembered something fond. “If you look back, we really did fight for quite a long time.”

          Zoya opened her mouth to say something, only to close it again when she had none. She frowned, more to herself than being unable to think of a reply. She had always been sure of herself. 

          She was still lamenting in her thoughts that she hadn’t expected his next words to her. “Dance with me,” he said, holding his hand out.

          Her thoughts stopped altogether, and she looked at him in bewilderment. What?

          Nikolai raised an eyebrow. “Has the goddess of wisdom lost her ability to speak entirely?” 

          A lot of thoughts crashed into her mind, but when she found her voice after a while, she said, “There’s not even a music.”

          He stared at her for a second. Then he laughed, rich and deep, and Zoya knew to herself that she would like to hear it more often. “I’ve got it covered, dear,” he said, approaching her and taking her hand. She didn’t make a move to stop him, his skin feeling warm against hers. “Just don’t step on my feet.”

          Whatever embarrassment she had was replaced by her usual annoyance for him. “Ever the infuriating one, aren’t you?”

          “Only for you, dear.” He winked, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. 

          Zoya sucked in a breath, not used to having someone near her, but she reluctantly put her arms around his neck. He smelled of the seas and something like home. She found herself leaning towards him more. She rested her chin on his shoulder as Nikolai began swaying along with the tune he was humming. 

          In that quiet moment of peace, nothing but the soft sound of the lapping waves and his humming could be heard. Everything was perfect, almost too perfect, until his voice went off key.

          “Where did you learn that?” Zoya asked, pulling back just enough to look up at him.

          Nikolai furrowed his eyebrows like he was trying to remember. “From the townspeople,” he said, sounding a bit pleased with himself. “Is it good?”

          She scoffed. “Atrocious.”

          “Just as I intended.” 

          “Can’t you just send a pod of mermaids to serenade us?”

          He seemed to consider this for a moment, and then asked, “Do you want me to?”

          Zoya blinked back in surprise. “You are really willing to do anything, aren’t you?”

          “I could even stop the tides for you,” he said like it would be the easiest thing in the world to do. But considering his nature, maybe it was. 

          “Why would you?”

          “Because frankly, you seem to doubt my powers.” He paused, sighing. His next words came out in a whisper. “But I hope you do not doubt me.” 

          She was taken aback with the sudden change in his tone, and as well as the flash of hurt in his eyes. And yet along the lines of the pang in her chest came a spark of irritation as well. It wasn’t like he had done anything bad to her in the past several years. But considering their history, she had every right to doubt him, and the other way around.

          They were already past their dark years, but there was no denying that hatred towards each other was what drove them forward once. 

          “What is this really about, Nikolai?” Zoya asked the question that had been bothering her since she agreed to come here even when she had all the reasons not to. “Why the sudden message in the middle of the night? Why did you want me here?”

          Nikolai was silent, their movements stopping as she waited for his answer. There was a conflicted look in his eyes that made it seem that he was going to war with his thoughts, but after a moment, he replied, “Because I want to be with you.”

          His answer had her floored, and she was left to reel with the intensity of the sudden shiver that bloomed in her body. Her heart felt like it was about to leap out from her chest.

          “I want to be with you,” he continued. “Have been wanting to for years now. I have no ill intentions, I swear to you, we’re already way past that. I just want you to see through the worst part of me that you had known for centuries. I want to prove to you that I am not that person anymore.”

          He smiled ruefully. “I know it’s strange. After being your rival for a long time, I didn’t anticipate feeling something for you that wasn’t hatred or insecurity. So when those emotions turned to calmness and warmth, I knew it was over.” He paused, huffing a laugh. “I never thought I would fall for anyone. And yet I did.”

          Zoya was still overwhelmed with everything that she just heard. She was sure that she had been gawking at him with mouth agape the whole time, and if it was some other moment, she would be conscious of how she looked in front of anyone. 

          She blinked. “Nikolai, I—” When she found that she had no further replies formed in her mind, she shook her head. “I—I don't know what to say.” And she did. She hadn’t seen all of this coming. 

          Nikolai reached a hand up to her face, his thumb caressing her cheek softly. “You don’t have to say anything, dear,” he said. “All I ask for is a chance. Let me be with you. Let me be your strength when you feel like you have nothing. Let me love you.”

          Her eyes stung, and Zoya felt the walls around her heart coming up again. Love was irrational; she had witnessed mortals go mad because of it. More often than not, it was love that was the main reason for their own doom. And yet, they still continued to seek it. That’s what she couldn’t explain no matter how she looked at it.

          But thinking back on the past several years they were together, she had developed a soft spot for him, even when he was often annoying. He was a ray of light and smiles for her, especially during her brooding times when her people demanded too much of her presence. 

          And she would be lying if she said that she didn’t feel anything for him.

          Maybe she could get hurt by letting this emotion take over. Maybe she could be happy with him, knowing that he was willing to be with someone as stubborn and tenacious as her. 

          It was all a mess of maybes, but looking at him now, with his heart on his sleeve, Zoya realized that it was worth the risk.

          He was worth the risk.

          With a small smile, her hand that was behind his neck came up to his cheek. This was one of the rare times that he was at loss for words, but she found that she didn’t mind one bit. She acted upon impulse instead, standing on her toes and pressing a chaste kiss to his lip as if to seal a promise. It was only brief, a ghost of a breath, but it was enough to send warmth throughout her body. 

          Nikolai was looking at her with half-lidded eyes as she pulled away. There was a lazy smile playing on his lips, and when he dove in to kiss her deeper this time, Zoya finally let herself fall.

          Perhaps they could have more stolen moments like these in the near future, where it was only the two of them in their own small world. 

***

And they did.

[shinneth]

Spill the tea on Stevinel (just because I saw one for conniverse) And yes, I'm not on Anonymous. Because I'm a proud stevinel shipper and no one's going to stop me from loving it, also your blog is cool

And you know what? That’s the right attitude to have! People should be free to express what they ship without shielding themselves with anonymity. I don’t blame the people that do these days - antis are fucking dangerous people - but goddamn, people. It’s fiction. 

So I commend you for shipping Stevinel openly and proudly! Hard to believe it’s actually considered a bold and brave move just to be open and honest about harmless preferences these days. 

That said, I’m sorry it took so long to get to this. I felt you deserved an epic, given how unexpectedly successful my tirade on why Connverse is a shit ship with an undeserved golden reputation was...

But the truth is, even though I’m very much a Stevinel shipper, it’s definitely not my OTP.

And it’s very tricky for me to figure out how to spill the tea on Stevinel in a way that’s distinct from me doing the same with Stevidot.

Because, well, let’s face it: these two ships, beyond being very similar in nature, have also endured identical hardships from the fandom.

All the death threats Stevinel fans get from the raging antis for daring to ship something so “problematic/immoral/wrong/not Connverse”? 

Stevidot fans have been treated that exact same way for years. And still are. For the exact same reasons.

Both Stevinel and Stevidot shippers are valid, but the fandom constantly turns a blind eye to Rebecca Sugar’s husband who also worked on the show outright saying gem x human ships are FAIR GAME.

And also turn a blind eye to the recent interview where Sugar herself stated that the gems are more like AI - a conclusion I and many others deduced ages ago just by how gems are portrayed in the show. 

But by god, they’ll hang on Matt Burnett’s word that “grown gems” are a thing even though canon itself explicitly states that GEMS DON’T GROW.

Just like how despite Maya Petersen outright admitting that Aroace!Peridot is just her headcanon, people treat it like the fucking gospel now.

(no offense to anyone who’s committed to that particular headcanon - I just don’t really see it with Peridot in particular and it’s really fucking stupid to claim it’s 100% canon when the source herself explicitly said it wasn’t)

Well, it’s canon that Spinel kissed Steven and he didn’t turn into dust. And Steven was already well on his way down the path of self-destruction at this point in time; he would’ve gone monster whether this happened or not. 

Also, how often does a character get the “heart eyes” expression for just a platonic love?

If there was ever a scene where Connie or Steven had heart eyes, no doubt most of the pricks would scream “YES!!!! UNDENIABLE PROOF THAT THEY’RE IN LOVE!!!”

But when it’s Spinel, suddenly it doesn’t count? Really?

How convenient.

There’s also the stupid idiots who saw the conceptual development of Spinel in that movie artbook and saw some vague color keys during a conceptual stage and claimed that Spinel was “family” to Steven - which of course must mean “related” and therefore must make Stevinel an incestuous relationship! 

Which is bull. Also shit. It’s already common knowledge that gems don’t work that way. She was the designated playmate for Steven’s mother. Nothing more.

Of course, most gems who come in Steven’s orbit end up being sort of a family to him. 

But everyone seems to have this impression that a gem being part of Steven’s family means they become additional surrogate mom figures.

And yeah no, that’s dumb and wrong. Garnet and Pearl are really the only ones I’d consider actual “mom figures”. Amethyst’s more of a big sister. Everyone else can vary depending on perspective, but I’ve never seen any of the other gems as anything close to a motherly figure for Steven. Any time I see shit about Lapis or Peridot being regarded as “gem moms” to Steven, I laugh my ass off. They are so not moms or any kind of authoritative figure for Steven. Bismuth at best is more of the fun-loving aunt.

There are more roles in a family than just a paternal/maternal substitute. In fact, I believe Steven has considered Connie to be part of his family well before they hooked up in canon.

(as a side-note, I love how people who are allegedly SO squicked out by age gap ships totally pardon Connverse - you guys realize Connie was 14 in Future, right? Possibly 15 depending on the time scale? There’s gonna be a point in the relative near future where Steven is 18 and Connie isn’t - why don’t I hear you assholes angst about that “atrocity”, huh?)

I honestly do consider the CG B-Team as part of Steven’s family, but more in a loose sense. But by that same token, I consider Connie as part of the family in a similar manner. 

Especially since Spinel was shoved off to live with the Diamonds after the movie - and the Diamonds themselves have a very fucked-up relationship among themselves to the point where I honestly hesitate to put a familial label on it at all - it’s extra stupid to try and paint Stevinel as something with incestuous overtones when it clearly doesn’t. 

Spinel does happen to be a perfect representative of how full of shit antis are about age gaps, though. 

While Peridot’s age has always been left vague, we know she can’t be 5K or older due to being an Era 2 gem. Due to her utter lack of knowledge of Era 1 events (or being completely sold on the Diamonds’ propaganda) and her general inexperience with her own equipment - as well as her ability to quickly adapt to Earth - I always headcanoned Peridot as being especially young. Like, younger-than-Steven young. 

Mostly because Peri’s attitude reeks of Gen Z - also because it’d be nice for a change to have a gem who isn’t thousands of years old like literally every other noteworthy gem in the show. We need a representative of gemkind who hasn’t been around for ages. 

Of course, Spinel’s backstory proves that even if they went the boring route and made Peridot thousands of years old just like everybody else, it wouldn’t really mean much of anything. She’d be no less of a valid romantic option for Steven regardless of age.

Spinel is several thousands of years old, and the movie explicitly shows us what exactly that amounts to for a gem.

As I mentioned earlier, Sugar sees the gems more like AI. Spinel remaining in one spot for several millennnia, not moving an inch, not speaking to anyone, not seeing anything other than a gradually-deteriorating garden... yeah, and somehow, despite all that, Spinel’s still very childlike per her design. She had literally no room to mature or accrue life experience: Pink Diamond basically hit the pause button on her entire life.

Even though she’s several thousands of years old, through no fault of her own, Spinel’s mindset remained unchanged. It wasn’t until Steven inadvertently came into her life that she became twisted - understandably so after finally realizing she’d been abandoned by Pink. 

But she still didn’t completely lose her true self. Spinel realized on her own that Steven didn’t deserve to suffer just because his mom was a negligent asshole. She also came to understand on her own that unlike Pink, Steven truly cared for her no matter what shit she threw his way. 

Steven could give Spinel the care and attention she always deserved; something Pink totally denied her while deceiving her into wasting away with her abandoned playground. He could be the one to give Spinel the love she always deserved but was either denied or manipulated into believing she got. 

Honestly, this is more than enough to warrant building something more between these two. 

The age gap is irrelevant. The two have chemistry. They aren’t related.

(and honestly, this is fiction - these details are largely irrelevant in fiction anyway. I’m only bringing it up because it doesn’t take much research to find that every label the antis put on Stevinel is complete inaccurate Diamond propaganda bullshit)

Stevinel is FINE. Let people ship it if they want to!

Um... is that good enough?

Honestly, I’m not gonna lie: Stevinel’s pretty goddamned popular; so much that I’m a bit jealous of it. I enjoy the ship a lot, but I’ve been keeping it at arms-length all this time. I’m looking forward to when I can write my own brand of Stevinel interaction when I get to introduce her in my series, but that’s still a while to go. 

Also, there’s almost zero Peridot/Spinel material, let alone my Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3. And Stevidot material is still hard to come by; I’m noticing Stevinel’s still quite a bit easier to find by comparison. 

So in a way, I feel many other unpopular ships deserve some tea-spilling sooner than Stevinel because Stevinel at least still has a sizable fanbase. Same can’t really be said for a lot of similar ships here...

A lot of this can apply to other Steven x gem ships, honestly. 

But I guess I haven’t been showing Stevinel much proper love due to my devotion to my superior SU-AU. I can only hope I can soon reach a point where I can have GA Spinel react to Steven, since their dynamic will be significantly different.

(and then one day I’ll finally make the Peridot/Steven/Spinel OT3 fic!!)

Until then, I can only hope I did Stevinel some justice here!