#not a slow burn‚ folks

[cosmic-seer]

POV your trainer is getting flustered for the umpteenth time

(Instigated by this post.)

[ohdearlingwhathappened]

A Pair Made in the Pits

TFP Megatron x Reader

Summary: A soulmate au where near everyone has the first thing their soulmate says to them marked into their wrist. What a shame Y/n's is in some unknown language. Living with this for 7.5 years, she decides to settle down in Jasper, Nevada, not knowing that being the teacher in charge of the exchange student's overall academics and wellbeing in the school would lead her to being involved with giant robots and finding her soulmate in an unconventional method.

A/n: Sorry for the long summary! This is my first published transformers fic, so please be kind. If there are any inaccuracies, feel free to message me. I hope you enjoy my story!

WC: 2099

Chapter 1: Falling Behind Pt. 1

Chap 2, Chap 3

“Miko! Miko Nakadai!” The woman briskly walks down the hall, after the young exchange student who looked back and groaned in annoyance.

“I know. I know.” As the woman comes to a stop, Miko waves her off, “My grades need work. I need to pay attention in class. I can’t keep drawing on the desks. Can I go now?”

“Very funny, young lady-”

“You’re only ten years older than me- stop calling me that.” She crosses her arms and looks away.

“Miko, you know you were supposed to come by the office to pick up some papers for your host parents.” The woman places a hand on her hip, and raises a brow expectantly, “Any reason for you to skip out on me?”

“There’s a bike.”

“A… bike.”

“Outside!” She rolls her eyes again, throwing her arms up in exasperation. “I saw it from my last class, and I wanted to draw it. It’s gonna be gone if I go to the office and get the papers. You know the desk lady talks for, like, a million years.”

“Mrs. Albert does have a penchant for talking… tell you what- why don’t you go sit on the stairs of the school and draw that bike. I’ll grab the papers and bring them out to you. Just promise to stay on the entrance stairs. Ok?” 

The girl whoops and breaks out into a run, excited to be let off the hook of being subject to Mrs. Albert’s stories of her childhood. “Thank you, Y/n!!”

Y/n shakes her head, a soft smile on her lips as she watches after the Japanese girl then makes her way to the office, silently knowing she’ll now be listening to one of the aforementioned talks. The woman was sweet but goodness, she needs to join a bookclub, or something. 

“Ah. Y/n, dear! I thought Miko was supposed to be collecting these?” 

There, sitting behind the desk, is Mrs. Albert, smiling as brightly as the sun. Her curly gray hair frames her rounded, wrinkled face- giving her the vibe of a grandmother who is about to offer you either butterscotch or one of those little red candies wrapped in those strawberry wrappers. The older woman was just as sweet as she appeared, which made Y/n feel the slightest bit guilty when she would dread one of the long-winded stories, Mrs. Albert never fails to tell.

“Hello Mrs. Albert. I let Miko go off to draw something she saw outside. She was too excited to say no, I’m afraid.” Y/n gave an airy but clipped laugh. “I told her I would bring her the papers for her host parents.”

“You’re too easy on that girl.” Mrs. Albert teasingly chastises, “Though, I guess I can’t blame you. That girl is the first exchange student you’re in charge of, it’s no wonder you’re so lenient with her. It reminds me of how I treated my baby, Samuel. Did I ever tell you about Sammy? He was such a delightful boy. He was heartbroken when he never got his quote…” She teeters off, the solemn look now on her face doesn’t suit her. Y/n had heard this story before, but it isn’t often that it comes up, nor is it often for ‘Sammy’ to be brought up at all. Not that it isn’t understandable as to why.

Quotes- a subject Y/n always loathes hearing about. 

The thing about everyone’s quotes is that they link people to each other- your other half, according to many. Most people receive their quotes sometime at 18 years old, a few will get them younger, and even fewer never get them at all. Many times, if a person does not receive their quote, they don’t live for much longer- whether it be due to the societal pressures that they failed to meet, due to no fault of their own; or they have some kind of accident. Long story short, if you don’t get your mark by your 19th birthday, you spend the rest of that year mourning and wondering what will become of you. Not to say everyone without a quote dies, but they are a particularly rare find, that’s for sure.

On top of that source of dread, each quote comes in the native language of wherever your partner is from, so once people get their quote, they are either thrilled and/or they hit the books to understand their other half’s language. Meaning that with the gibberish printed on Y/n’s arm, she’s cursed with the unknown regarding some so-called soulmate. 

“I’m sorry, dear. I shouldn’t mention quotes. I know you don’t like talking about them.” Mrs. Albert looks at her, a level of pity swimming in those big, brown eyes behind those glasses she adorns. She pats Y/n’s hand comfortingly, looking at the long sleeves she wears, even in the midst of September in the middle of Jasper, Nevada.

“Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Albert. I’ve been living with my quote for about 7 and a half years now. I’m ok.” Y/n smiles, knowing she didn’t mean any harm. “...About those papers?”

“Oh! Oh, yes. Let me grab those for you, dear.” She jumps up and walks over to one of her filing cabinets and quickly snags one of the multiple files out and hands it over. How she keeps track of where all of those papers are is baffling, but Y/n supposes the years of practice have definitely helped. “Here you are.”

“Thank you.” Y/n keeps up her smile and nods at the older woman. “You have a great rest of your afternoon, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Have a good night, Y/n. And be careful- I’ve heard that those street racers have been causing more trouble recently.” She calls out as the young woman leaves the office.

“I will!”

As she closes the door to the office, the smile on Y/n’s face slowly fades and she takes a deep breath, trying to brush off the snaring emotions surrounding her quote. After another breath, the woman rights herself and begins making her way down the hall, Y/n sifting through the papers in the manila folder, ensuring all of the papers are there. Her progress report and reviews from her teachers didn’t spell out anything good even so early into the year. All subjects but art, music, and english were less than adequate.

I’m going to have to talk to her about her grades again. 

“Alright, Miko, I have your papers fo- Miko?” Exiting the front doors, Y/n looks around for her student, only to find her running off down the sidewalk. “Miko!” She takes off after her, cursing herself for not working out more. 

This girl is gonna kill me.

Miko finally stops to peek around a corner, and the woman slows to a stop and leans against her own knees, heavy breathing covering up any sounds around her. After a moment of steadying her breath, she looks to the girl on her left, irritated, “Miko, I told you to stay on-”

“Shhh!!”

“You did not just shush me, young lady.” Miko gestures to whatever is so important that she ran over for, revealing a giant robot and a boy. A very familiar boy. “Jack Darby! You get away from that thing this instant!” Y/n yells, making both the teen and robot jump and look to her and Miko’s direction. She runs up to the boy, looking him over for any possible injuries, and pulls him behind her next to Miko.

“What?! He should totally go with!” Miko looks at Y/n, who keeps her eyes on the visibly bothered robot, like she’s crazy, and argues that he should do the opposite.

“Absolutely not! We don’t know what that thing even is!”

“Scrap.” The blue robot looks to Jack and then to the other two, standing up from her previously kneeling position when she had been speaking with the teenage boy, her tone obviously exasperated, “I have to bring all of you with me.”

“Excuse me? I am not going anywhere, and neither are these children. You wanna abduct someone for whatever wacky robot thing you have going on? You leave these children out of it.” Y/n crosses her arms, looking up at the blue and pink being before her, not willing to step down- much to the distaste of said robot.

“I don’t have time for this-” The bot raised her hand to the side of her head with quite possibly one of the most bothered expressions Y/n had ever seen on a human or anything else. “Bee, you need to come back… the kid is fine, but we’ve run into a couple of issues.”

“Did you not hear me? You can’t just-”

“Oh, I heard you, but I can and I will.” Apparently done with what Y/n can only assume was some kind of phone call- that or this was not only a giant robot but a crazy one at that. “I have orders and you’re now part of those orders because you were nosy.”

“We’ll act like we never saw you, not that anyone in their right mind would believe any of us if we told them we saw a giant robot lady that wanted to- what? Take us to some government facility and lock us away because of seeing whatever kind of prototype you are?” Y/n argues back, left hand on her hip and her right pointing up at the mech accusingly, to which the mechanical woman’s jaw falls agape before screwing up, insulted.

“We weren’t made by humans, and you are wasting my time. I have better things to do rather than argue with some woman who’s putting a hitch in today’s plans.”

“Oh, well I’m so-”

A yellow Urbana 500 with black racing stripes drives up behind Miko and Y/n and revs the engine, making the woman jump and the teen whirl around, excited to see yet another possible robot. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Y/n weighs her options. If she tries to take the children with her, it is possible these robots, while they may not have shown any aggressive or violent responses, it couldn’t be confirmed that they wouldn’t, if there was any opposition. The safest option was, unfortunately, to go with the kids and keep them as safe as possible. No matter how much she didn’t like this. 

“Ok… alright.” Another deep breath in and out. The kids are what’s important right now. “We’ll come with you, but these kids stay as safe as possible.”

“That was the plan.” The dead tone rings through the alleyway, continuing to irk the only other adult present, but before Y/n could say anything, the metal woman transformed into a motorcycle, having Jack move around her, reluctantly getting on and Miko enthusiastically hops on with absolutely no hesitation. “Get in Bee, and we’ll meet you back at base.”

And then they were gone, leaving Y/n frustrated and clenching her fists with the other vehicle behind her, probably another transforming thing- hopefully with less attitude. Grumbling about the behavior of not only the bot, but the reckless behavior of the children as well, she turns around and awkwardly half-smiles at the yellow and black car- all of the frustration draining out of her.

“I don’t suppose there’s a person in there whose, like, codename is Bee, is there?” The bright lights of the car flick on and off a couple of times before the right side backdoor opens, confirming her fear. Letting out a quiet groan, Y/n walks to the awkward door, hoping there is a human ‘at base’ to help explain what the hell is going on. Getting in, she looks at the empty driver’s seat, then notices hair sticking ever so slightly above the passenger seat. “Oh, thank god. Another person. What is going- How many children exactly are you lot abducting?!”

A series of beeping, whirring, and whistling is the only response Y/n receives from the car’s radio as said child shyly smiles up at her. “Hello. Bee says we aren’t being taken, but someone named Optimus needs to see us after what happened yesterday.”

A moment’s pause settles over the car before Y/n leans back in her seat, rubbing her hands across her face, the car finally beginning to move and quickly pick up speed, “What exactly happened yesterday?”

“Um…”

I would much rather be listening to one of Mrs. Albert’s stories right now.

[destinywillowleaf]

one of a kind living in a world gone plastic

baby you're so classic

@most-tragic-character-tournament

(all my thoughts in the tags)

[tiya-minuscule]

Chapter 5 : Meeting some familiar and new faces ...

Chapter 4

Chapter 6

(Sorry for all my LayClaire shippers... It will be a SLOW burn)

I hope you still enjoy this comics, don't hesitate to share it and tell me what you think of it ;)

Thanks again @lutiaslayton for helping me with the thanslation !!

[breadsievecable]

Don't tell me it's "slow burn" if they are together by page 20

Don't tell me it's "enemies-to-lovers" if they are ready to kiss from chapter 1

My standards were set by #tfota

Book 1 - kissing. Book 2 - making out. Book 3 - sex.

All the while they think they hate each other (and for a good reason). Still they care about each other in subtle ways. But not before they threaten to kill each other.

[greatunironic]

thrilled to welcome into the world the first installment of lydia and my newest regency au!! the prologue and first chapter of peach, plum, pear is now available here!

[justalittleficsideblog]

s'ébahir

Gojo x reader Modern, College AU!

s'ébahir - (French; to be amazed, to be astounded, dumbstruck)

2k smth words

He always strolled into lab characteristically late. You envied his nonchalance, his stance of ease in which he would stroll into the lab and set his stuff down when the professor just began their lecture on the hazards you'd be dealing with today.

annoying

You were always early. Anxiously waiting for your seat so you could prep early and leave before the rest of your classmates.

The bastard was also, unfortunately, handsome. Devilishly tall with a lean build and white hair, he was a stark contrast against some of his fellow students.

"--it is IMPERTINENT that you wear your goggles the entire time during this lab. We will be dealing with concentrated hydrochloric acid--"

you droned out your teachers voice. Unlike some of the other students, you had read the lab manual the night before and watched a video on how to do everything correctly.

This wasn't your first rodeo.

Somewhat bored, your eyes drifted back to the male that was sitting across from you. The fume hood that was connected to your countertop obscured the view a bit, but you caught a glimpse of him leaning against it, head in his hand.

He seemed as bored as you were.

"Alright, lets begin!" An enthusiastic clap sounded.

You had noticed his hesitancy with the lab goggles each time. He chronically wore sunglasses indoors during class and around campus. But when it came to lab, your prof made no exceptions.

Tugging the too tight safety goggles over your eyes, you managed a glance to find startling azure ones starting back at you.

You smiled politely and turned to grab your equipment.

"Hey."

You glanced up at Gojo, who was leaning against your bench.

"What did you need this time?"

Gojo had a knack of stealing your shit since his tended to be always (coincidentally) misplaced or lost. He blamed Geto for it.

"Do you have an extra ring clamp? Geto took mine," he shrugged nonchalantly. You nodded and handed over the item, focusing back on your work.

"Do you know how much your putting in?" he leaned in closer, tapping your graduated cylinder with his hand.

"I can read fine enough Gojo."

"Are you sure? The lab manual said 12 mls...you wrote down 21"

Shit. He was right, you must've copied it down wrong last night.

It was slightly infuriating how sharp he actually was. He had such a lazy demeanor it was easy to forget he tended to be top of the class.

"Ugh, I don't remember how much I've put in it already." you ran your hand through your hair, frustrated as you eye the clock.

The liquid in the flask turned a murky brown, fizzing slightly.

Ok yeah.. that is definitely not what happened in the video.

Gojo leaned over and swirled the flask in his hands, the murky liquid turning darker.

"Yeah, you put way too much into that," he blew out a low whistle.

Fuck. You're going to have to redo the entire thing. Biting your lip, you glance at the clock again.

I'm not going to get a chance to study before my lecture exam...

"Oh come on, just partner up with me," he smirks, nodding towards his bench. "I'll even let you do all the work."

You scowled. You hated partnering up, you ended up doing everything anyway. But you were quick about it on your own.

Looking back towards your failure and the clock, you realize you don't have much of a choice.

"Fine," you nod and walk to his bench. "But lets be as quick as we can."

He grinned.

-

"Alright, now we just have wait."

The worst part about science, you argued, is the "waiting" portion of it.

Some experiments take time. This unfortunately, was one of them.

"We work together pretty well," he leaned forward. "One could almost say we have....chemistry."

You cringed as he laughed at your response. "Hilarious, Gojo."

A shadow loomed over you. "Did he get you with some of his science lines?"

You smiled. Contrary to Gojo, Geto was more composed and studious as you were. You both talked often, considering you had a lot of the same classes as him.

"It was too good not to!" Gojo replied, spinning around in his chair.

You rolled your eyes, glancing back towards your glassware. Geto was easy to be around, he was calm and didn't try to get a rise out of you like his white-haired friend did. He made you a little more nervous, he was kind of unpredictable. Not to mention pretty.

"I think its done," you pointed to the bubbling flask.

Geto nodded to you, "good luck then."

You smiled back at him, pretending not to feel your blue-eyed partner staring at you.

-

Gojo

He doesn't know why he wants to fluster you. Or why it grates on his nerves that you can so easily smile at Geto when you seemed to struggle around him.

Technically, your experiment earlier would have been salvageable. Yeah, your yield would've been low, but he jumped at the chance to work with you without thinking.

He meant what he said earlier, you both worked surprisingly well together.

Taking the flask from you, he began to dry as you washed everything up. He didn't quite want to be done just yet, labs weren't his favorite part but he found himself looking forward to this one.

Not that it had anything to do with you.

Geto always argued that he was "just into you" but he didn't agree. He just thought your intellect was interesting, that's all.

It had nothing to do with the way you always showed up with enthusiasm, drawing him in as he watched you be engaged with your work. He couldn't wonder why--

"Gojo?" Bright eyes looked up at him as you waved the last Erlenmeyer in front of his face. "Hey, we're done."

Startled, he nearly dropped the thing he was drying. "Right, yeah. See you around, then."

He cursed himself slightly for his cowardice.

"Well, actually, did you want to finish up the lab report quick ? We have plenty of time," you looked at your phone as you said it.

Realistically, he would say no. He doesn't finish his reports until the last minute anyway.

But to get the chance to fluster you more.

Ah, hell. Why not?

"yeah, we can do that." He shrugged nonchalantly. Geto met his gaze across the lab and quirked an eyebrow at him.

He bared his teeth in response.

"Should we go to the library then?" Your voice cut through his thoughts, catching him unawares as you shoved the paper into his hands.

He nodded quickly, fishing around in his backpack for his glasses as he ripped off the goggles still glued to his face.

He motioned for you to go first, following behind and out of the lab as he let you pick where to sit down.

You picked a spot across the campus cafe, he inwardly wondered if you came to study here frequently. Th atmosphere was quiet and there was a lot of natural light that made it easy to relax and focus.

Setting down his bookbag, he tuned into your ramblings about the lab.

"What do you think about the yield? I think we could base our conclusions around it. Maybe even mention the slight color difference when we added the--"

Your drive to finish this was commendable. He was put off a bit by how you didn't seem affected by him at all. Most people saw his sunglasses as odd, and honestly the general consensus was that he was constantly nursing a hangover.

There was a lapse of silence and you both typed away on your laptops, broken up by only you saying:

"Why do you wear those sunglasses all the time?"

Eyebrows raised, "Secret." The corner of his lip turned up.

"Is it because of your eyes?"

His smirk fell. It wasn't so much that he cared about how his eyes seemed to freak people out. It was more about how sensitive they were to light and packed spaces. He used to get frequent headaches because of it, but the glasses thwart off the edge enough now.

He merely shrugged in response to your question. "The light bugs my eyes sometimes."

You nodded back in understanding, "Ugh, tell me about it. I used to get migraines from the fluorescent lights when I was younger."

He stiffened. Such a minute detail, but he couldn't help but consider the gesture as an act of empathy. Seeing past his usual charm.

You both fell back into silence, quickly finishing your report and hoping off of the chair you inhabited just moments ago.

He felt his heart pound as you smiled up at him, watching your every movement as you threw your bag over your shoulder and made to leave.

"We finished that quick! Good luck on this exam later, not that you'll need it."

His arm burned from where you patted his shoulder as you strode out of the cafe lounge and towards some other study zone. Glancing down at it, he almost expected it to catch fire.

Eyes flicking up over his glasses, he looked down the hallway you had left.

Damn.

He might just have to make your lab fail next time.

[not-poignant]

96/135 - Underline the Black (omegaverse) - Efnisien/Gary

Title: Underline the Black Rating: Explicit Pairing: Efnisien ap Wledig/Dr Gary Konowalous Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Darkfic, Disturbing themes, Age Gap, Omegaverse, Alpha/Alpha, no Mpreg, Medical experimentation, Medical trauma, Dominance/Submission, Dystopian universe, Forced bonding, Forced relationship, Imprisonment, Nonconsensual medical procedures, PTSD, Flashbacks, Nightmares, Chronic illness, Mating cycles/Heats, Knotting, Miscommunication, Trauma recovery, Mind control, Child Abuse, Hope, Hopeful ending.

Summary: Efnisien ap Wledig is an omega born into an all-alpha family. Abandoned by his birth mother and raised by his aunt, he is subjected to a lifetime of medical experimentation and brainwashing and believes himself to be an alpha. But the experiments begin to fail, and he is abandoned yet again to an Omega Rehabilitation Facility, where the family expects he will be retrained into the ‘perfect omega’ and placed in an arranged marriage, or be eliminated if this is no longer possible.

The Facility don’t know about the experiments, and Efnisien doesn’t even know why he’s in there in the first place, since he’s an alpha…isn’t he? One thing’s for certain, he definitely doesn’t need an alpha companion, no matter what the staff at the facility seem to think.

Underline the Black - Chapter 96 - Size Training @ AO3

In which Gary methodically sets about to find out if Efnisien can handle having sex with him by training him.

– Thanks to all the Patreon and Ream supporters for making this story possible!

Those who join the community get access to early chapters, polls, chapter commentaries, a special Discord channel where more excerpts are posted, even merch and personal thanks in novels depending on what tier you sign up to!

There are currently 9 early access chapters and they include -

3 chapters of Underline the Red 1 chapter of Underline the Gold 3 chapters of Constellations (Gary+Efnisien tier or higher) 2 chapters of Underline the Blue (as well as 3 newly edited chapters of Game Theory, one with significant new content!)

So, want another way to support my writing so I can keep doing it? // I have a Patreon account! // Come check out REAM! (Patreon mirror) // Buy a Ko-Fi!

[nine-of-needles]

Of Ravens & Thrushes (WIP)

The first chapter of my new WIP is up on AO3! Wanted to try my hand at a The Hobbit fic and wanted it to feature everyone's favorite barely-mentioned character, Dís. This first chapter is more of a prologue but I hope to have the next chapter up very soon and will post updates here on my Tumblr.

Summary: Lady Dís arrives at the now reclaimed Erebor only to find that her brother is in extremely low spirits. The hobbit Thorin loves lies across Middle Earth in the Shire, leaving the great King feeling hollow under the mountain. In an attempt to restore their relationship, she decides to throw an extravagant Durin’s Day celebration and invite Bilbo to the great kingdom he helped restore. After years of rambling all around Middle Earth’s inns and taverns, the dwarven musician, Amâ, decides to settle in her old home of Erebor just in time for Durin’s Day. There she is met face to face with the dwarrowdam, the fair Lady Dís, who she believed to be her One so many years ago.

Warnings: None

Rating: Teen and Up

Pairing: Dís / Original Female Characters, Thorin Oakensheild / Bilbo Baggins

Tags: Everybody Lives AU, Romance, Slow Burn, Light Angst, Happy Ending, Matchmaking, Fade to Black, Not Actually Unrequited Love

[dracolizardlars]

Bro I want a hysterectomy so bad (<- irrationally malding about being pregnancy tested by a doctor I was seeing for something irrelevant earlier)

[raccoonfallsharder]

Window Across the Galaxy ✧*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ*

masterlist

18+ only MDNI | rocket x f!oc | 27/27 chapters | COMPLETE | word count: 235,940.

girl falls first; raccoon falls harder.

Rocket is captured by a Ravager crew hoping to get rich off the excessively large bounty on his head. Throwing a wrench in everyone’s plans is the Terran girl they hired to do some freelance assessing on a recent haul of goods they’ve seized from a Xandaran luxury liner. Oops.

slight AU starting pre-GOTG volume 1 (but will hit most of the same major plot points). slow burn + eventual smut with a lot of pining in the middle. kinda enemies-to-lovers? (but only one of these idiots thinks they're enemies).

let me be real with you: this fic is really about wish-fulfillment. not just the eventual smut (but that too). mostly i just want someone to be nice to my best boy raccoon back to main masterlist.

so many amazing sweet wonderful readers have drawn fanart of this fic??? ♡♡♡♡♡ jolie is written without much physical description so you can imagine whatever you want but if you'd like to see how i and others imagine her, i've linked them below. thank you for being the absolute sweetest.

jolie's painting of rocket by @hibataao3 makes me cry every time i look at it

very first portrait of jolie by @raccoonmybeloved ~ so fucking cute i died

sims of jo by @evolvingchaoswitch ~ particularly love her paint-spattered outfit

an absolutely drool-worthy nsfw of rocket & jolie by @lazarel-3000 that permanently has altered my brain chemistry and lives in my mind forever ♡♡♡

adorable jolie sketches by @moonnpiie that truly capture what i mean when i describe jo as having “everywhere-hair.” plus her lil art-glove! (and a really cute rocket)

the cutest jo by @frostedwitch in her chapter xxvii sweatshirt. she is so cute with such shiny eyes and cute freckles and i love her so so so much! ♡♡♡

this shiny-haired jo by @miinsie! i love her hair so much in this one - it almost looks iridescent. i swoon. thank you for taking the time to read and to share this lovely interpretation of jolie with me!

and here are my jolie character concepts (complete full-color illo & rough doodles) and an illustration of one of my fave scenes from window ♡

✧･ﾟ:*collects Chapters I-XXVII (below the cut) & a holiday special && a silly epilogue

Chapter I. A Delicacy. in which our reluctant heroes meet atop a crate of Sovereign porn in the bowels of a Ravager ship.

Chapter II. Monster For A Pet. in which one hero wrestles with his inner Groot, and the other is quite possibly a moron.

Chapter III. A Kindness. in which Rocket gets in his own damn way: not for the first time, and certainly not for the last.

Chapter IV. Got There First. in which our heroes obtain an arsenal and street food.

Chapter V. Things No-One Has Said Before. in which one hero refuses to babysit and the other refuses to leave.

Chapter VI. Two and a Half Billion Units. in which we lean into the “they were roommates” trope. Jolie has misgivings, while Rocket has fantasies - about getting rich, of course.

Chapter VII. I'm Here. in which we visit Knowhere.

Chapter VIII. The Care & Feeding of Human Pets. in which our heroes practice breathing and we lean into a new trope: “there was (technically) one bed.”

Chapter IX. Scrapmetal and a Dream. in which we redefine homemaking.

Chapter X. Thin Fucking Ice. in which our heroes get fucked. Not in the good way.

Chapter XI. Let It Be .in which Xandar is saved and good lives are lost.

Chapter XII. So Much It Hurts. in which we try not to fuck up the vibes.

Chapter XIII. Don’t Wait. in which a lost sister is found and Drax grapples with the concept of sarcasm.

Chapter XIV. Exactly Like a Flower. in which comfort is shared.

Chapter XV: Galaxy-Breaking Shit. in which more comfort is shared, and life is good. Briefly.

Chapter XVI. Run. in which Rocket falls victim to his superstitions.

Chapter XVII. A Seedling. A Fox. A Little Girl. in which the party is divided.

Chapter XVIII. I Happen to Know a Guy. in which our heroes get fucked. Again. Still not in the good way.

Chapter XIX. He Was Loved. in which a planet is killed, a friend is made and lost, and nobody still has any frickin’ tape.

Chapter XX. Some Nerve. * in which an ultimatum is given.

Chapter XXI. I Very Still. ❤︎❤︎ in which our heroes get fucked. In the good way, this time. Finally.

Chapter XXII. Got There Worse. ❤︎❤︎ in which Rocket does not say "I love you."

Chapter XXIII. We're Gonna Need a Bigger Table. ❤︎ in which the galaxy just keeps spinning.

Chapter XXIV. Space Would Be Better. ❤︎❤︎ in which Rocket ~ discreetly ~ claims the title of boyfriend.

Chapter XXV. Little Love Stories. in which both of our heroes learn a little about themselves. ❤︎

Chapter XXVI. Other Side of the Window. in which old friends are reunited. ❤︎

Chapter XXV. The Most Beautiful Thing in My House. in which our heroes finally get what they deserve.❤︎

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙ Winter Across the Galaxy * ‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆ a holiday special *

Epilogue: Interviewing Rocket & Jo. ten years after Window ends. short, silly fluff.

explicit lines or references* abbreviated explicit sequences ❤︎ detailed/prolonged explicit sequences ❤︎❤︎

[dustydaddyyy]

Queen I’m am once again asking for a snippet of the next chapter of flashpoint

and never one to deny such a wonderfully honest request, here you go love <3 i'm hoping to finish up this chapter within the next week, so I think it'll be up by next week hehehe.

warnings! smoking, swearing, joel miller being grouchy (as per usual). reader is described to have hair long enough that it can be tied up.

When Joel steps into the apartment, he’s met with the blasting sound of the radio, and the distinctive smell of cigarettes, which can only mean one thing: you’re home.  

Sure enough, he sees you sitting by the open window in nothing but a tanktop and a tattered pair of shorts that had once been someone’s boxer briefs. You’re hunched over slightly as you lean against the knee you’ve propped up to reach your foot, and it takes Joel a second to realize you’re painting your toenails, head bopping along to the blasting guitar in the background. The length of your bare legs are on display as you sit propped against the open window frame, and Joel has to stop his eyes before they instinctively run over your form.

For a second the scene looks almost like art to Joel; the grey, misty sky through the open window despite the oppressive humidity and heat, the smell of an impending storm heavy in the air. Your hair is haphazardly tied up, which means some ends have come loose, some strands curling into corkscrews from the humidity, others stuck to the nape of your neck which has a slight sheen of sweat. Your face is a mask of focus as you paint a toenail, bottom lip pulled between your teeth as you concentrate. 

“She’s got it,” you hum along, cigarette hanging precariously loose on your lips, “Yeah baby, she’s got it,” 

The slam of the front door has you looking up at Joel, smoke curling around you as you take a drag. 

“Home already?”

“It stinks in here,” Joel says in an irritated sigh as he steps towards the kitchen, and you grimace slightly, turning your head to blow the smoke out of the window. 

“Sorry, I thought you’d be out longer,” 

You sound a little put out by his tone of voice, and for a small second Joel feels a wave of guilt at the thought that his first words to you after not having seen each other all week is a snide remark about the smell of your nail polish. 

“What are you doing that for?” Joel grumbles as he pours himself a glass of water in the sink, before reaching across the table and turning the radio down a little so that he can hear himself think again. 

“It’s for the new man I’m seeing,” you say, not trying very hard to conceal the joking undertone as you paint another toenail, “He offered me three ration cards to suck on my toes. . . figured they should at least look nice,”

You look up at Joel, and to your great satisfaction, he looks suitably horrified and disgusted, standing by the kitchen counter grasping his glass of water, which makes you smile cheekily. 

“Gotcha,” you tell him through a laugh, shaking your head as you blow out another plume of smoke, “Man, the look on your face alone would’ve been worth it,” 

“Very funny,” he says dryly as you chuckle, shaking your head. 

check out the rest of the story here if you liked this little snippet!

[cutemeat]

“Who’s left to bang? Just Dee?” MARY ELIZABETH 😭😭

[retroratrodeo]

I’m writing a Jurdan fic on AO3! It’s a mortal world AU where Cardan is Jude’s high school bully, but when then end up at the same college they’re forced to work on a group project together. It’s kind of slow burny with that angsty enemies to lovers vibe.

This scene is kinda far into the story, but I like the exchange and it doesn’t give much away:)

[fruitfulcreations]

MTL OC Week (Day 4): Flirty OR Friendly Banter

CW: Drug mention/use (Pickles smokes like, once.)

The familiar stench of weed permeated the air of Pickles' van, surrounding himself and the girl he'd met in rehab, Aveena. She'd been teasing him the whole night about his name, asking if he had a brother named Dill; he did have a dillweed of a brother, but he kept that to himself.

"Y'know, Aveena doesn't suit ya either." Pickles leaned his chin against his seat, raising an eyebrow when he heard Aveena giggling. "What? It doesn't!"

She was still giggling as she pushed herself up on her elbows, her olive-colored eyes bright with mirthe. "Aveena means love in Hindi. At least, that's what my mom told me."

Flushing, the drummer frantically wove his hand in the air. "Dat's not what I meant. Ya are loved!" Neither of them said anything for a moment, letting his words mix with the smoke in the air. "I mean, uh… ya know what I meant!" He flung the empty carton at her, missing her entirely. "Shuddup!"

Aveena's laughter joined his, the darker-skinned woman feeling as though she was going to pass out. Once she could remember how to breathe, she sat up to face Pickles. "So, what did you mean, then?" She couldn't keep the smile off her face, admiring how Pickles' cheeks were as red as his wild locks.

"I meant…" Pickles' eyes traveled up to the van ceiling, seemingly lost in thought, his fingers drumming against the car seat. "It's… it doesn't suit ya?" He ran a hand through his red hair, catching the ends. "I dunno how ta explain it… ya ever thought 'bout goin' by a nickname?"

Aveena bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes drifting to the roof as well. Pickles was right, in his own way; she didn't feel like Aveena was her name. "What? Something like Avery?" She wasn't a big fan of that name either, though.

Pickles maneuvered his body to sit up and look at her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "I'unno, I mean, it'd be yer nickname. How 'bout I start listin' some, and ya stop me when ya find one ya like."

"I'm not going to let you choose my name, Pickles." "Aw, cahm on! Why not?!" "Well, for starters, you're named Pickles."

"It's not like I named myself dat!" Despite his irritated tone, Pickles wore a grin. "Cahm on. It'll be fun."

"Fine, but I'm killing you if you say something like… Apple."

As he thought up some possible nicknames, his fingers danced on the center console to a jumbled rhythm. "Okay then, what about Ave? No? Ava? Not dat, either? Fuck, cut me slack, this is hard. Aven… no… Av? God, okay. Dat was terrible… Avi?"

Her breath caught in her throat at Avi; she had a cousin in India named that. She wasn't sure why, but she was always jealous of his name — maybe because it was shorter and sounded cooler than Aveena? "Y'know, that's actually not half bad." Tapping Pickles' arm, the corner of her lip twitching.

"Ya like it?" Pickles' green eyes lit up, and he mumbled the nickname under in his breath in rapid success. "Yea! Then it's settled; next time we're at group, yer goin' by Avi."

[inkyskye]

(more) moments from the folk of the air that are perfectly paralleled *spoilers* pt. 2

Because 1 post wasn’t enough, even though it was a long one and I rambled. A lot. Anyway, more:

Burning. Okay so the metaphor is not exactly the same, but hear me out: In Chapter 14 of TCP, Taryn says "He's flint, you're tinder" (about Jude and Cardan), and then in Chapter 27 of TQoN, when Jude admits talks through her feelings for Cardan, she tells him: "I thought if I let myself love you, I would burn up like a match. Like the whole matchbook."

Under the table? In Chapter 21 of TCP, the chaos of Prince Dain's coronation is the first time, Jude realises, they are really cooperating. She manages to hide him under a table so they can escape - and then in Chapter 27 of TQoN, still disbelieving Cardan is alive and well, Jude thinks, "what I want to do is hide under a table in the brugh with Cardan until I can finally convince myself he's all right." I think it shows the significance of that chapter in the first book, that Jude goes back to that moment, possibly recognising it as the first time they really cooperated (Cardan was drunk, but, yk, in vino veritas and all that.)

The earrings!! Okay so it's not really a parallel, but it crops up at 2 significant moments. First, that time in Chapter 28 of TWK when Taryn pretends to be Jude, tricking Cardan, she's wearing the earrings - the enchanted earrings that make the wearer more beautiful. Cardan thought it was Jude because in his head, Jude is the more beautiful one (even though they are literally IDENTICAL TWINS). And then, in TQoN in Chapter 7, Cardan reveals he knew it was Jude pretending to be Taryn for the inquest: "Jude, you can't really think I don't know it's you. I knew you from the moment you walked into the brugh." And she's wearing the earrings, of course.

link to pt. 1