#not enough phoenix fics so i thought id write some

[anurst]

Doc

Summary: Natasha goes to the bar with the other pilots and tries to keep whatever is going on between you on the downlow. It doesn't help that you also show up at the Hard Deck later that night. Also, you show up with a woman on your side. The night doesn't get any better when some guy decides to push test your patience.

Warning(s): language, d-slur(censored), alcohol, fighting

3- $3 million dollar hand

Natasha was in a daze the rest of the day after she got off the elevator. She felt dizzy as she packed up all her things to go home. Her head hurt and her lips longed to be against yours. She remembered the words you whispered to her when the two of your were lying next to each other on the floor of your house.

"I'm someone who you have to get to know to love, Sunshine."

'Yeah, right', she huffed. She barely knew anything about you, and yet here she was, pining to be with you again. Tomorrow was gonna suck. Her phone lit up as she saw a text from Bradley pop up.

[Mother Rooster] Hard Deck at 8?

[Best Pilot] Sure

She 100% needed a drink right now

It wasn't a surprise that the Hard Deck was packed when Natasha finally showed up. It was a popular spot for civilians and anyone who was currently stationed at the San Diego base. Everything was going good. The team, although they were tired from a long day of getting shot down, was having fun playing pool and drinking beer.

Everything was going good until Jake opened his mouth when he noticed how quiet Natasha was. "Still thinking about that hot doc?" he asked, his smirk as wide as ever. Natasha felt her cheeks burn as some eyes turned to her. She felt Bob shift uncomfortably besides her and sucked in a breath before meet Jake's eyes.

"Nope. Just thinking about what your face is gonna look like when I beat you in pool." Whistles and howls were heard as Bradley grinned, hanging Natasha a pool stick.

Everything was going good.

EVERYTHING

WAS

GOING

GOOD

Everything was going good for Natasha before her eyes landed on you walking through the door. You had ditched the white lab coat and now was wearing an old Stanford crewneck and some jean shorts. You looked good. Way too good. You smiled as you passed by people, and offered a wink to some nurses, and your hair. Your hair was as perfect as ever.

Actually, your hair was the first thing Natasha noticed about you. She remembers standing in this exact same spot just looking around the bar when she saw some of the silkiest hair she's ever seen. Your (h/c) silky hair had small curls, barely noticeable if you weren't looking properly.

Shit, Natasha swears that you're the most perfect person on this planet. And that said person is currently smiling down at a shy red-haired nurse. The nurse grabs your hand and leads you through the crowd and to a table where other nurses and medical staff is sitting. At the sight of your connecting hands, Natasha swears that she almost hits Jake with the pool stick in her hand.

Bob notices that his front seater is distracted. She isn't looking at the pool table, so he follows her gaze and sees you seated at a table surrounded by many women and men. They're all laughing at something you said and Natasha is entranced by your appearance.

Bob hasn't known Natasha for long. He's known her for a short while, and already knows that she's gonna be vital in his life. So, for the sake of his front seater's pride, reputation, and their future friendship, he extends the pool stick so far that it hits Natasha straight in the gut.

The brunette clutches her stomach as Bradley and Reuben quickly ask her if she's alright. Jake and Javy are giggling but quickly move on as they discuss their next move. Waving the two boys off, Natasha glares at Bob before seeing his expression. His eyes shift to your table before meeting hers again. Understanding the WSO's action, Natasha punches his arm and lets out a laugh. "Who knew you were pure muscles, Floyd." Everyone lets out chuckle and the group of aviators goes back to laughter and smiles.

You're not really interested in what any of your co-workers are saying. Sure, you're listening and making comments and jokes every now and then. But, your attention is on the stunning Natasha who is currently celebrating with Bob since they won against Jake and Javy.

Molly tugs on your sweater and you're brought out of your fantasy. She leans closer as you bend your neck down to hear her, "You're out. You want another?" Nodding, you let her take your empty glass and refocus on Liam's story about his intern years. He goes on about how one patient kept puking on him and how his attending yelled him to change his shirt every time. Giggles go around the time and you smile lightly before stuffing some fries into your mouth. You like your staff. They're nice, funny, and most definitely kinder than the staff back at your old hospital in New York. However, there's a glum feeling as you think back to people you basically grew up with.

'Stupid Addison and Mark...if they didn't cheat I wouldn't be here...'

An angelic laugh seems to be drift through the bar as you stuff more fries into your mouth.

'On second thought, thanks Addison and Mark. I've found the love of my life cause of your cheating.'

"Doc. What you thinking about sunny San Diego?" Ronny asks, everyone turning to you. You shrug, "It's hot." Everyone chuckles as Daisy starts talking about the amazing beaches.

"Any good surf spots nearby?" you ask. Daisy lights up as she beams at you. "You like surfing?! Molly loves to surf!!" Nodding, you look over your shoulder for the redhead. Not seeing her immediately, you excuse yourself before making your way through the crowd.

You lean on the counter as you flag Penny down. "You seen a small redhead around? Molly. She was gonna get us refills but hasn't come back." Penny shakes her head and says that she'll call you if she sees her. Pursing your lips, you spot her being corner by some brute. Discomfort is clear on her face and you quickly make you way over.

"There you are, Mol. Been looking for you," you says, you arm wrapping around her waist. Your eyes met the guy's and you see annoyance start brewing in them. Molly looks up at you and smiles, grateful someone has come to her rescue. "Excuse me and my girl, but our friends are waiting for us."

You start leading the nurse away before a rough hand grabs the back you crewneck. Annoyed, you turned to look the guy, a glare already forming. "I wasn't done talking to her," the guy says.

Scoffing, you yank your sweater out of his grip. "Yeah, well, she was done talking to you." The guy's face starts turning red and you can feel Molly bubbles with fear as she shrinks into your backside. Not wanting to spend another minute around this guy, you turn around again and start pushing Molly back to your table.

Molly turns to face you with tears in her eyes when your friends came into view. She's about to apologize but is cut short when she gasps. Cold beer drips down your backside as everything seems to stops, the music and talking in the Hard Deck stopping. Eyes turn and voices whisper as you take a deep breath in.

"Dude, this sweater is like 10 years old. If you wanted to ruin a better shirt, then you should have picked a different night. Lucky for you, I'm not a bitch about clothes. But, if you ever hit on Molly again, or anyone for that matter, you better hope I'm not around." By the time you're done talking, you've fully turned around to look at the guy. Over his shoulder you see, Natasha and her friends. For a split second, your subconsciousness tells you to walk away, to not pick a fight.

"As if I'm scared of some d*ke." On second thought, maybe you'll pick a fight.

"What'd you just say?" you whisper, taking a step closer to guy. You're both around the same height, 5'10, but your sneakers give you an extra inch. A hand pulls your sleeve and the sound of Penny ringing the bell makes you turn away from guy. People start to move again as Bradley, Jake, and Javy start making their way towards you so they can kick the guy out.

Molly's ushering you to sit with everyone before the douche decides to grab her arm and all you see is red. Before you know it, you've tackled the guy to the ground and your fist is pounding into his face again and again.

The screams around you don't even register in your head and arms pull you off the guy. Liam, Ronny, Daisy, and Molly lead you towards the bathroom as Bradley, Jake, Javy, and Reuben are grabbing the guy and ushering him out. Penny is trying to get people to leave and is grabbing ice for your hand.

Shit, your hand. Your hand is worth more than $3 million dollars. Your staff is moving you around as they assess the damage to your hand. Penny passes them ice and Molly is the one who presses it to your hand. Your eyes momentarily leave the ground as you see Natasha frantically speaking with her friends. They're all looking and Bradley is one who softly leads her out the building. You don't even bother to see if the rest of her friends follow her, because Penny is cradling your face.

"Pete's on his way now."

'Shit'

[stealingpotatoes]

I am OBSESSED with your Desmond lives AU!! I want Shaun and Rebecca to be able to give Desmond all the hugs, I want Desmond to be able to choose to be an Assassin, to be able to help save the world again. Also, I am very curious about how you would resurrect Desmond, because I’ve had similar thoughts on such an AU, but I currently stick it near the end of Valhalla with the stuff that happens there. If you ever feel like expanding on it, I'd be super excited to see more!!!

first of all, AH THANK YOU!!! Yes those are ALL points that are very important to the Des Lives AU! Second of all, thank you so much for this ask in general!!! I was hoping someone would send an ask like this so I’d get an excuse to talk abt the AU more lmao XD!! I made this AU back in March last year, so there’s no Valhalla stuff in it, and it’s set right after/ during the Odyssey DLCs. 

The long story short for my Desmond Rez (rezmond, if you will) is “shroud of eden, abstergo, and some Isu bullshit”. The long story long, however, is uh- you know what? I’m going to use this opportunity to explain the vague story I worked out last year -- but dw, I WILL get to the full ressurection explanation I thought through. However... I’m gonna have to tell the story in smaller parts because I’m lazy and can’t be bothered to write the whole thing out right now. So rez comes later and not in this post. 

also uh-- before we start: I’m going to apologise for like… everything about the way I wrote this. It’s sort-of half fic, half that-way-your-friends-colloquially-tell-stories-that-you-can’t-keep-up-with. Mainly the latter. If you can make sense of this babbling, well done.

 Anyways, without further ado, welcome to:

POTES TRIES TO EXPLAIN HER DESMOND (SORTA) LIVES AU: PART ONE

On the 21st of December 2012, Desmond Miles dies. 

It’s not for nothing -- his sacrifice saves the entire world from a solar flare -- but he is dead. big ripz. The Assassins, his family, do not manage to recover his body. Abstergo gets it first. The Assassins hold a funeral as best they can. They mourn (all in their own ways), they keep fighting (for his memory), and they try to move on (they can’t). 

On the 21st of December 2012, Desmond Miles died -- so when he shows up in a city in October 2018, almost 6 years later, it’s a bit of a shock for everyone. What’s even more of a shock is the fact he’s glowing like an Isu and has some abilities he DEFINITELY didn’t have when he died.

So Desmond wakes up in the middle of some city in he doesn’t know where (yeah ok i just never really worked out where the secret lab would be), with 1. no idea of how he got there and 2. no idea why his arms are glowing like that. He doesn’t get much time to think about it because then there’re a load of Abstergo goons with guns surrounding him. Des may have no idea what’s happening, but he knows one thing: when u see an Abstergo, it’s on sight. So he’s fighting them -- which is admittedly not fun or easy when you’re in the middle of a road and only have your fists as weapons. It’s not going well and then someone definitely manages to shoot Desmond which is very bad -- but then Des feels some very weird (but not unfamiliar) feeling and when he looks up from the bullet wound, every one of the Abstergos are on the floor???? He doesn’t think to check if they’re dead, just legs it out of there lmao. 

//

Elsewhere, in an Assassin safehouse in an undisclosed location (can you tell I just didn’t think about the geography of anything), Mr Shaun Hastings is chilling on a balcony after a mission well done. Good for him. Then Rebecca Crane (queen ilu) yells “Shaun?” from inside. 

“Rebecca?” 

“Come inside. Now.”

Shaun immediately does so because he assumes it’s important or they’re under threat. “What happened? Have we been compromised?”

Rebecca doesn’t answer. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Shaun says, mostly joking and with a little smirk -- though Becs looks spooked. 

“Desmond’s alive.”

Shaun’s not smirking anymore. “What?”

“Desmond’s... he’s alive.”

“What are you talking about? Are you high?” he’s totally about to look at her eyes to see if they’re all dilated and druggy. 

“No Shaun, I mean it!” Becs harshly shoves her tablet into his hands. 

Shaun doesn’t really know what he’s expecting to see when he looks down at the screen. What he’s not really expecting to see is Desmond Miles, who’s been dead for six years, fighting a load of Abstergo people -- while lined in Isu markings (also he’s not wearing a shirt forgot got to mention). ??? But wtf??!?! Desmond’s dead. That’s...

“It’s security camera footage from [the city]... About two hours ago.” Rebecca then swipes through more footage with shaky hands and explains that Des very violently burst out of an Abstergo facility in the city with glowing eyes and light leaking out of him (almost like an Apple of Eden). Then the glowing eyes and shining lights shuts off abruptly and Des is standing in the middle of the road looking very confused at his precursor-ass arms and chest. But Shaun is barely listening to what she’s saying and barely even looking at the screen. 

“Where did you get this?” Shaun asks with a hollow voice, not looking up. 

“The Initiates.” (bc who else)

Shaun looks at it again, then at Rebecca, and he’s mildly aware of the fact he’s slightly tearing up; “That’s fake. That can’t be him. He’s dead, Becs. We both saw the…” They both saw the autopsy footage the ac4 researcher got from Abstergo -- or at least, tried to watch it; they shut it off as soon as Shaun ran to the bathroom to throw up and Rebecca quickly joined him. They spent the rest of that night crying and drinking way too much. 

“He died.” Shaun concludes firmly. 

And so Becs is all like “yeah but what if he didn’t?? We need to find him. We need to investigate this.” There’s a determination in her eyes and Shaun knows he’s not going to be able to convince her to drop this -- not that he would. Desmond might be alive, and there is no way they’re going to leave him again. 

They’re both standing there in pure shock and confusion, not saying anything. 

Rebecca’s comm device lights up and starts buzzing, snapping them out of their general ????-ness. Becs goes to her desk to grab it, glances at the caller id and then shows it to Shaun. It’s William Miles. 

The two of them share a Look. They know what he’s calling about -- what else would it be? There’s a stilted moment of neither of them doing anything before Rebecca finally accepts the call. “William?” 

“How quickly can you and Shaun get to [city]?” William sounds shaken -- probably the same way Rebecca and Shaun are -- which is a very weird way to hear the Mentor of the Brotherhood sound. He’s seen the footage, hasn’t he? 

“In a few hours,” Rebecca replies. 

“Good. You need to get there as soon as possible.” 

Everyone’s silent for a few moments. 

“Is this about Desmond?” Rebecca asks. Dumb question. 

There’s a pause. “You’ll be briefed on the ground.” And then he hangs up before Shaun or Rebecca can yell at him.

This is all moving very fast. Shaun and Rebecca share another look. Guess they’re going to [city].  ???

// 

Fast forward several hours and Rebecca and Shaun are in The City [might just have to make the city london bc it’s the one city i actually know well -- however for plot reasons we’ll see later, a swiss city might be better… moving on!]. They get to an assassin base and meet up with Galina Voronina and 2 local assassins. Idk if you’ve read the comics, but to sum things up quickly, Galina and her team were investigating and then ended Project Phoenix -- so Galina now really wants to find out if the whole Desmond thing has anything to do with that. 

Galina also wants to help Shaun and Rebecca get their friend back. They’re her friends, but equally she just lost one of her teammates to Abstergo (while ending Phoenix like 2 months ago, in the comics) and is uh- idk how to say it but she wants to help Shaun & Becs who have a chance to get their lost teammate back.

What follows is cool gang-gang trying to track down any trace of Desmond. You’d think it wouldn’t be hard to find a person who literally glows, but Desmond’s had centuries of Assassin training and knows how to hide lol.. which is making the Assassins’ job harder lol. 

What’s making it even harder is the Assassins know they have to be quick because they know Abstergo is gonna be looking for Desmond too -- and they have way more resources and stuff. That being said, they’re also currently dealing with the fact one of their building and a decent amount of their guards just got absolutely mullered by weird-glowing-desmond. 

The third issue with their entire thing is that they have no idea what they’re going to find when they find Desmond -- or if he even is Desmond. Is he going to be the man they knew but with weird powers? an Abstergo isu-clone? evil? they don’t know, and so they know they’ve got to be wary with him. 

The Assassin gang spend some time (a couple of days at the very most) trying to track Desmond down. Rebecca is using all the tech she can get her hacker mitts on to find a trace of him and equally throw Abstergo off Des’ trail. 

Soon enough, they get a solid lead -- don’t ask for the specifics, i don’t know them. But they get a lead, and it winds them up in an abandoned apartment building or also abandoned building site or something (a building in the city where there aren’t any people, basically). 

Galina scans the place with Eagle Vision and she’s like “There is something very strange about this place.” (someone?) But she doesn’t see a person-shape anywhere. The 5 of them are hopeful but somewhat on edge. 

They go about searching for any sign of Desmond. Galina’s pretty sure her Eagle Vision is just… Messing Up A Lot lol. Like something’s trying to heck with it. So she’s not quite sure it’s working correctly when a load of red figures appear somewhere below them. 

She becomes a lot more sure when the red figures come into sight and START SHOOTING AT THEM! IT’S ABSTERGO!! CRAP! they found them!!

The assassins get down and a really cool fight scene w them vs the Abstergos in the building/ building site starts playing out. Woo Shaun and Rebecca electro-hidden-blade moments!! The fight splits the squad up and Shaun and Rebecca are away from Galina & the others -- but they dispatch the Abstergo guards near them.

They’re about to radio in that they’re all okay/ check if Galina & co are also good when they hear a slightly-too-loud footstep. They whip around to see an Abstergo guard aiming right at them, too far for either of them to get him before he shoots them. crap crap crap.

They would have been shot -- if someone hadn’t come up behind the Abstergo guard and snapped his neck (ouch). 

The Abstergo drops to the ground, revealing the person who saved them and… Shaun and Rebecca stare in shock. 

They’re both looking at Desmond Miles. 

Desmond Miles, who is very much alive (and wearing a hoodie that is 100% stolen). And… with a load of glowing yellow lines on his face. But it’s Desmond -- it’s Desmond for sure. Holy shit.  

Desmond doesn’t seem so shocked, only relieved to see them. Then his expression turns into serious confusion; 

“What the fuck is happening?”

///

ok sorry leaving it there for now! hope you enjoyed what is here will continue soon

[milesdadworth]

i too just finished watching (broke bitch walkthrough) aa4!! if u wanna write a 5k essay on your thoughts know id love to read it asdfghj also look forward to aai bc its a comedy, im 3 cases in rn and yeah. ~

@seratlantisite asked: SHARE the aa4 thoughts bc whoo boy is it a. Thought inducing game

OKAY man where do i even start im def gonna have to rewatch the game now that i kinda know what's going on lmfao

so my first thoughts coming off of it was (under a cut since this got long)

it was cool they had kristoph a defense attorney as the games big bad

i love that this game continued the theme of like everything intertwining with each other between the gramaryes, the gavins, phoenix, apollo like it just was rad i did enjoy it

I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED THAT ZAK WASN'T LIKE. A BAD DUDE. i mean yea he made bad decisions regarding the situation but like he was. kinda trying to remedy things? but i'm still >:(( at him leaving Trucy like that with literally NO plan

ON THAT NOTE--VALANT???? COULD HE NOT HAVE TAKEN HER IN???? i'm still really glad phoenix ended up with trucy but like I KNOW VALANT WAS TRYING TO KEEP A LOW PROFILE AFTER THE TRIAL but like???? jesus he was really like some of the only 'family' she had left and he just???? anyway that was fucked

ALSO. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE ENDING W THALASSA LIKE. 'cool i love knowing i have two kids i'm just leaving forever now' AND THEN WHILE I WAS LOOKING THROUGH THINGS AFTERWARD APPARENTLY ITS JUST NEVER ADDRESSED AGAIN? WHAT???????? im so fuckignfdmskfjeifjo WHAT holy shit pLEASE TELL THEM THEY'RE SIBLINGS LIKE WHAT FURJJIAEOJAOKFAEIJ I'm feral.

but anyway i mean every single case was a fuckin banger LIKE EVEN THE 'TUTORIAL' TRIAL. LIKE. i legit enjoyed every case which hasn't been the case with the other trilogy games except like the first game.

idk if this is like an unpopular opinion (i haven't been in this fandom long enough i think xD)

but like all that being said I think the trilogy is still by far my favorite in terms of characters. like i did very much enjoy apollo/trucy/klavier/ema they were so much fun while playing through the game

but like i'm not OBSESSED w them and their relationships as i still am w phoenix, miles, maya, pearls, gumshoe, franziska, godot, mia like all them in the way that like

WHILE i was playing the trilogy i had like five wrightworth fics in my head i was writing juST RARING TO GO ON THOSE GUYS and klapollo while it's been cute im just *shrug emoji* and don't have any drive to write them or include them in fic in anyway other than just being like mentioned BUT THAT MAY STILL CHANGE IDK I guess part of that too was getting a full trilogy with those guys whereas apollo kinda just got his one game and then they decided to change it up again so

i'll still hold out reservations til i play dd and soj (but i've also seen those do some funky stuff to characterizations and that the writing it weird, etc so we'll see) but trilogy era characters still have my fuckin heart

SO OVERALL THE GAME WAS LIKE way better in terms of the writing and stuff but goddamn trilogy characters my beloved <33

[pumpkinpaix]

老师好！Thank you for writing! i found you through your MDZS story and i really adore your insightful writings about the show. In my opinion, i even think the show is better than the novel in their presentation of WX relationship ~ ! it feels more natural and less pandering. Another essay suggestion for you if you want to write --- In the show, who do you think fell in love first in WX? When were the "turning points" when they realized?

sldjfslikl first of all anon, it’s WILD that anyone would address me as 老师 and i’m simultaneously flattered and gobsmacked. (i’m really really really not qualified to be called 老师 friend—thank you, like, a lot?? but yeah, i gotta say i’m not that cool) thank you for reading my fic and liking it and apparently my one meta enough to come talk to me!! also, SORRY this took approximately a million years i’ve been working on it on/off for like. two weeks. (@the other anon who also requested meta—pls forgive me im really doing my best apparently these take a lot out of me)

confession: I wrote a WHOLE ADDITIONAL essay in response to your opinion about show vs. novel that i ultimately decided to cut because it flies a little too close to the discourse sun and you didn’t ask for that hahaha. if it turns out you are interested in it, feel free to hmu and i can post it (though i’ll probably try to keep it out of the tags for my own mental health’s sake im not cut out for this lmao)

that all being said, who do I think fell in love first? it was definitely lan wangji, and it was right here:

[id: screenshot of lan wangji watching wei wuxian making a wish to “protect the weak and curb the strong, with a clear conscience for all my life” from episode 7 of the untamed drama. wei wuxian’s eyes are closed, his hands clasped. lan wangji looks on with a surprised tenderness. /end id]

I think it’s safe to say that he already finds wei wuxian attractive/intriguing (see: his reaction to wei wuxian drawing his portrait, tying the lan ribbon around their wrists, the PEAK gay panic in his voice when wei wuxian trips and falls on top of him), but this is the first moment he’s really moved by him. up until this point, wei wuxian has been teasing, immature, A Nuisance™, too clever for his own good, troublemaker energy personified etc but he hasn’t ever revealed his deeper moral values in front of lan wangji—and he does it like this, without pretension, without irony. He doesn’t spend his wish on something frivolous or material: he wishes to be able to do good for all his life, to be righteous, to be kind. it’s the wish he makes for both of them. “the promise we made together all those years ago,” as he says, half a lifetime later.

like just. imagine, for a moment, being lan wangji, whose whole world is being constantly challenged and needled by this unfairly attractive, chaotic bastard and then he just comes out of left field with this. I think this is where lan wangji first recognizes himself in wei wuxian—that at their core, they share their most important values.

look what i’m saying is this is where I fell in love with wei wuxian.

(sidenote: I really think a lot of the tragedy of mdzs/the untamed is stems from this moment. wei wuxian fails, over and over and over, even when his wish never changes, even when all he ever wanted was to do good without fear.)

i had to think for a really long time to try and decide which moments i wanted to talk about on wei wuxian’s part, because i don’t think he’s nearly as easy to pinpoint. lan wangji falls in love like a lightning strike, but wei wuxian’s love is something that grows so slowly, i don’t think he realizes what it is until pretty late in the game.

so let’s begin with this moment on phoenix mountain:

[id: screenshot of lan wangji and wei wuxian facing each other on phoenix mountain from episode 25 of the untamed drama. lan wangji is waiting expectantly for an answer, having just asked, “what am i to you?”, hand behind his back. wei wuxian is holding his flute, expression complicated and uncertain. /end id]

this is the first time i think wei wuxian is asked directly to label his feelings about lan wangji, and he says, “i once thought of you as a lifelong, intimate friend.” and when lan wangji presses, “and now?”, he doesn’t respond.

two episodes later, when wei wuxian is taking the wen refugees out of their prison camp and lan wangji appears before him, I think he has some kind of answer to lan wangji’s question:

[id: screenshot from episode 27 of the untamed drama. wei wuxian holds out chenqing before him in challenge to lan wangji, who is offscreen. he is smiling, just slightly, resigned and fond and terribly sad. /end id]

“if there really must be a battle between me and them, then I would rather fight to the death with you. if i must die, then at least i would like to die by hanguang-jun’s hand. it wouldn’t be an injustice.”

if that isn’t some kind of confession, I don’t really know what is.

but it’s too late—he’s now a defector in the eyes of the four sects. lan wangji lets him go and wei wuxian rides away. the remainder of his first life, that’s how things stand. even through everything with a’yuan, the final massacre at the nightless city—even though there’s something really meaningful there between them, it’s all tinged with a sense of impossibility, you know? there’s no outcome where they can resolve it happily. wei wuxian has gone too far down that single-plank bridge.

the first moment i think wei wuxian has to confront the unresolved and unsaid things between him and lan wangji comes when lan wangji gets drunk that one night and tells him, “i have regret.”

“what regret?”

“that at the nightless city, I did not stand beside you.”

[id: screenshot of wei wuxian looking at lan wangji (offscreen) with tears in his eyes as the full realization of what lan wangji just drunkenly confessed hits him from episode 36 of the untamed drama. /end id]

“so all this time, you’ve been searching for me?”

earlier i said can you imagine being lan wangji for a sec, and i’m gonna say it again except god. can you. IMAGINE being wei wuxian in this moment. finding out that this person that you maybe suspected you had deeper feelings for but never acted on has spent the entire sixteen years of your death searching for you, regretting that he didn’t stand with you before you died? a regret that he’s been carrying in secret, alone, for sixteen years?? that’s A Lot to unpack.

however, I don’t think wei wuxian really, fully understands and accepts how he feels and how lan wangji feels in return, how far they’re both willing to go until episode 42, at the confrontation at jinlingtai.

[id: two screenshots from episode 42 of the untamed drama, right after lan wangji takes a stand beside wei wuxian against the four sects. image 1 is lan wangji smiling at wei wuxian: he is gentle and sure. image 2 is wei wuxian smiling back at him, eyes red-rimmed and wet. /end id]

even though lan wangji has been walking with him since dafan shan, he’s been doing it with a plausible deniability. and here, when wei wuxian is trying to give him an out, lan wangji puts everything he has on the line so that he can clearly stand with wei wuxian, without dissembling, without hesitation. “the feeling of of walking on a single-plank bridge into the dark truly is no worse.”

lan wangji is finished with regrets.

“it’s just funny, that’s all,” wei wuxian says, “back when the whole world flattered me with praise, you were the only one who would scold me. but now that everyone is calling for my death, all hating and condemning me, you’re nevertheless the only one standing by my side.”

i think after that, for all the remaining episodes, there’s an unspoken commitment between the two of them that underpins the rest of their interactions, which I think I can say without reservation that I like more than how it played out in the novel. EDIT 16 APR 2020: I changed my mind a while ago, ahaha. Turns out, I don’t prefer CQL over MDZS. I love them both so much. ;A; there’s something really profound about it, the trust in their unlabelled relationship. it really feels like the inexorable culmination of two adults in their mid-thirties coming together after falling in love for almost twenty years. there’s a maturity to it that isn’t present in the way the novel does the confession (which does have its own disaster energy™ charm) that I think highlights the fact that they love each other, not just because they admire each other, not just because they’re attracted to one another, but because they understand each other—because when they look at each other, they also see themselves.

[marithlizard]

Ace Attorney: Rise From the Ashes (Day Two, Trial Former) (part two)

I feel like screenshots would add zing and be helpful, but it’d be a pain to do my own for technical reasons.  Does anyone know of a good image gallery for RftA?  Google didn’t turn up much.   

Anyway.  Day Two, and it’s time for the trial of the already-confessed suspect.

"How did the investigation go yesterday?"  Lana, you could tell us something yourself. Even if you're lying through your teeth it'd give us something to work with.

Ooh, barbed little exchange between Lana and Phoenix.  "Never believe your client, they're probably a lying scumbag."  "See, being a defense attorney requires some basic faith in humanity. Unlike Mia, you don't appear to qualify."

Huh.  We’re given an upfront ambiguous warning from Edgeworth, right in front of the court.  Yes, yes we know personal feelings are icky and you don't want them near your tailored waistcoats, but why do you feel the need to disallow them right now? Phoenix has no personal emotional stake in this case.  Unless...Edgeworth thinks the proceedings are going to rebound on him.

Ema, this is not the time for sexy cross-examination fantasies.  You can go home and write fic after your sister is safe.

The dominatrix lunch lady is a "professional" witness?   Edgeworth I hope you didn't mean that the way it sounds.  

Edgeworth is unmoved by your rice.  Take that, lunch lady.   (If only the judge had as much dignity.)  

OH  I misread that completely.  She's a former detective!  (And Jake Marshall is a demoted detective. Connection?)  And while Edgeworth accords her due respect by calling her work first-rate, she's openly hostile to him.

And she arrested Lana herself?  If this crime was as staged and performative as I suspect, was that all part of the act?   Yeah, I don't think you were alerted by a sense of destiny or your finely honed instincts, lady.   Or that you were there to bring lunch to your boyfriend.

Would the stabbing have been as easy as Angel Starr describes it?  Didn't Goodman put up a fight at all?  Sadly our autopsy report has all of two sentences in it.

Ooh,  she just opens fire on Edgeworth with both barrels. And she offers a motive, the first one we've heard so far,  that Goodman was killed for knowing too much about corruption of evidence.  

My goodness. Evidence is sacrosanct, but sexually propositioning the judge while giving testimony is fine? Got it.  (Phoenix at least tries to call out her obvious bias.) 

Here’s a photograph, which the lunchlady so very thoughtfully took.  Lana with a bloodstained trenchcoat draped over her, wearing gloves, seemingly about to close the trunk of the car.  This was clearly taken after the stabbing.   But...if you witnessed the crime itself,  and arrested the suspect on the spot, would you really have had time to take this picture?  You'd be busy trying to reach Lana, surely.    (Smartphones were not a thing yet, were they?  Did Angel just happen to be carrying a camera? ....She did.  A lunchbox camera.  Perhaps for spying on prosecutors.)

Edgeworth why do you even own a knife like that?  And how did Lana supposedly get ahold of it?

Yes, thank you, that cannot possibly be a photograph of the moment of the crime,  given the lack of either victim or weapon in it.  

"Are you trying to test me? I sell box lunches for a living, you know."  The translation team was having SO much fun with these.

Aha, so the knife was in the trunk.   Unless Lana knew it was there, she didn't have a weapon prepared, which seems off for a premeditated murder.

...actually why aren't we hearing Lana's own confession account on the stand instead of the lunchlady's?   I know, I know, it works better for the game to force us to reconstruct it all from clues, but what's the in-story reason?

"Mommy, are prosecutors bad people?"  Yeah, this whole thing is definitely at least partly staged to smear Edgeworth's reputation.  (also why are small children in the audience for a murder trial)

It doesn't seem to have affected his spirits, though, since he can make lunchbox jokes.  And oooh, he's firing back at Angel.  He doesn't care if it's premeditated or not, but she does.  (Why does she care so much? it's the death penalty either way in this system, isn't  it?)

Wait why is she testifying about Lana calling Goodman out to the  Prosecutor's Office?  She has no personal knowledge of that at all.  (Indeed, it turns out there is no evidence it even happened.)  Annnd here we go, she's perjuring herself.    Purple prose about "plunging the knife in again and again" that directly contradicts the autopsy report.    She hates Lana so much it's really clouding her judgment.    

Edgeworth is holding Angel strictly to account on her  testimony even though it favors his case.   And he's getting distinctly sardonic about her lies.  It's nice to see that the truth does matter to him.

Ooh,  he points out the contradiction with the autopsy report himself, stealing Phoenix's thunder!   That would never have happened in previous AA games.  He's really changed, or perhaps he feels so under threat that there's no point holding back.

She...thought she saw repeated stabbing because Lana had a red scarf on?  That doesn't make a particle of sense. And wait, in the photograph Lana wasn't wearing the scarf at all.    Why are we listening to a thing this woman says?

For the second time in a row,  Edgeworth interrupts and takes over Phoenix's objection for himself.   He's demolishing her quite satisfyingly.  Perhaps it's not a desire for the truth so much as finally getting to strike back, after having people speak ill of him for years.

"After the murder, the suspect attempted to run behind the partition".  Yeees,  that absolutely fits with your picture of a cold-blooded (yet enraged) stabber committing premeditated murder in a public place with evidence all over.

You climbed a nine-foot chain link fence, in your negligee, fur coat and heels (you are definitely wearing heels), so fast that you were able to apprehend the fleeing suspect after stopping to take a picture first.  Riiight.

Lana said "muffler"...like the car muffler?   On the phone? That means Ema has lied twice now - first she hid the fact that her sister called her right after the murder, then she claimed her sister hung up without saying anything.

Ah! So Lana wasn't attempting to hide at all, she was attempting to make a phone call.  Like you do when  you've discovered a body.  

Hah!  Phoenix points out that Angel just claimed to be able to look straight through the concrete partition.  I didn't actually pick that up.    And he's no longer taking anything she says at face value - he believes her statement that she saw Lana try to use the wall phone only because it's a pointless detail that no one would bother to lie about.  

...So he's willing to believe she saw what she says, but from a different location? I have to agree with Edgeworth, that also sounds pointless.  Why claim to be standing somewhere else?  "Where" isn't hard - she must've been in the pointedly-mentioned and clearly labeled security room,  looking down from above.  Why not say so?

And the judge FINALLY chastises her for lying, if only mildly.   She freely admits she'll say anything to take down Lana.  And it sounds like she has a reason, beyond personal hatred.  (A justified reason?)  

Good for Ema, she points out there's no obvious benefit to the location lie.  And Phoenix is the first to say the p-word.  What benefit would be worth that?  

"I swear it on my finest plastic spork!" A bible would surely be redundant.

Yes, five minutes between murder and arrest is  a TON of time.  Lana could easily have  escaped if she'd wanted to.  Angel surely made enough noise to alert her, running around and even taking her picture.   And Lana just apparently stood there? Why?

YES boot her off the stand, judge!  Don't let the caviar lunch sway you!

Court is adjourned, but there are still so many questions.  We still don't know what-  huh? Angel isn't ready to stop talking yet?

"I... might be able to save you."    Now isn't THAT an interesting statement.  It sounds like she's offering to save Edgeworth himself somehow, not just his case.  Even though she hates his guts.

The judge very politely tells her to feed her new claim of "decisive evidence" to someone else.  I approve,  though of course she'll end up having her say anyway.

NOW you bring up a bloody shoe? Which was, I'm going to bet, not in the police investigation report?  Why do you have Lana's shoe, and what does blood on it prove that the blood  on her coat and gloves doesn't?  

I was right, Edgeworth did not know about the shoe.   And he brings up "evidence law", that new evidence can't be introduced without the approval of the police department. Which is weird, because I certainly remember Phoenix producing all kinds of new evidence during former trials.  Not infrequently hidden or stolen from the police.  (Does that mean the victim's ID card which Phoenix pocketed is inadmissible? I bet it does not mean that. Edgeworth just doesn't want to accept evidence from this annoying person who hates him.)

Too bad for him, because she got it approved by the police department on her own...today?  I know Edgeworth is the opposition here, but that does not seem fair to him.  People who are not Phoenix need time to prepare their cases.  (Mostly because, unlike Phoenix, they actually have cases.)

Huh.  I don't know if this will be called out as a plot point, but a fundamental difference in approach just struck me here.   Edgeworth claims there could have been some bloody footprints that just didn't happen to be in the picture. He doesn't know, because unlike Phoenix he doesn't go to crime scenes. He relies on the police reports given to him.   That seems like it could come back to bite him in a much bigger way than just  this shoe.

Lana kicked over a water-filled oil drum while struggling with Angel.  ...Apparently no one but me finds this highly implausible.  Oil drums are heavy!  Even when empty,  kicking one over is a stunt for a martial artist, and when full...I can't picture it.

"Ah, yes, I will perform this feat of strength to wash away the bloody footprints, removing all the evidence against me. Except for my bloody coat, gloves and shoes, the murder weapon, the body, the eyewitness, and  the photo."   Edgeworth why does this seem logical to you? I an almost see Lana rolling her eyes in the prisoner's dock.

Hah. At the moment of failure,  Ema  stumbles on the one sure way to get Angel Starr pissed off enough to derail the trial again - accuse her of being on the side of a prosecutor in any way, shape or form.   She obviously *is*,  in that she and Edgeworth want the same verdict, but she can't stand to hear it said out loud.  

NOW of all times, she produces a photo of the body??  ...I guess proof that she withheld even more evidence from Edgeworth, against both their interests,  is supposed to be proof that she isn't on his side?  

The ghost of Mia appears in Phoenix's  mind, telling him not to give up.  And indeed, that photo shows something sticking out of the car's  muffler.   I was right, Lana meant that when she said "muffler" on the  phone.  

The trial has to be suspended while someone goes and looks to see what the thing in Edgeworth's car muffler is.  (Which really should've been noticed by any competent police investigators.  As should the fact that the suspect's shoe was missing on her arrest, and nowhere to be found.  Is the cowboy not actually very good at this?)

Next time: trial part 2, in which the judge is hopefully so stuffed as to no longer be susceptible to lunchbox bribery.

[wrencatte]

SO! FFXV/pacific rim au. okay okay....a lot of this will be under cut because I have so so so many things but not enough to write a fic. @yorimei this is for you!

there is no magic, obviously.

 the thing that makes Caelums special is that they can drift with literally anyone--some have stronger compatibility, yeah, but it’s always stable.

and Regis is the only known person to drift a jaeger alone

 Lucis and Niflheim aren’t at war (there’s a friendly rivalry, but their countries worked together to create the jaegers).

 There’s more cities (some places share in game names but are...bigger now. Like Crestholm Channels is now Crestholm City, a coast city in Leide) 

(which lemme tell you, this was before I played the game so I had no idea Crestholm was a dungeon...I think id be funny if the shatterdomes were named after dungeons...hmm)

and Lucis is a country that only takes up the Cavaugh continent, Insomnia it’s capital city and the largest city in the world. Leide, Duscae, and Cleigne are their own countries

over the course of x amount of years there are 23 jaegers. 5 Mark 1s. 7 Mark 2s. 4 Mark 3s. 4 Mark 4s. and 3 Mark 5s. (only three characters who pilot them don’t show up in the game: Cloud and Zack (because I couldn't resist, guess which jaeger they pilot) and Stella (who pilots with Pelna). 

Mk 1s are: Light Vitalise (piloted by Regis and Clarus, the first jaeger to be made, dropped down, and killed Iseultalon, the sixth kaiju and heading for Insomnia). Dragoon Drain. Omni Just (Weskham and Jared). Cross Specter. and Ace Rogue (Cor and Monica)

only 1 jaeger from the mark 1 generation is still going, it was one of the last ones made, has the most kaiju kills, and it generally a badass (take a guess who that is hahaha...I’m subtle)

when a jaeger goes down it’s usually scrapped to make a new one as that costs less than fixing it, the pilots either are dead or they go with it, but when a Caelum is involved, they go to a new drift.

Mk 2s are: Terra Fury (Ignis/Noctis they go down with 2 kills). Breaker Wave. Tacit Ruin (Cailgo and Loqi). Daemon Fierce. Striker Rampage. Divine Typhoon (Wedge and Biggs). Crow Intercept (Nyx and Libertus).

I honestly can’t remember the status of most of the Mk 2 jaegers when we get into the story timeline (which is around the mk 3/mk 4 area), but I know that Terra Fury (Ignis/Noct) get 2 kills in before it’s ripped apart and scrapped for a Mk 3 (also guess which one) and I know Crow Intercept and Striker Rampage are definitely still going.

Mk 3s are: Gaia Assassin (Ignis and Gladio). Tsunami Tango (Luna and Crow). Buster Recon. and Aster Prophet (Ardyn and Noct).

Aster Prophet goes down on it’s first intercept without ever engaging the kaiju (a Cat III codename Marilith). In fact it goes down without ever moving.

Ardyn is actually Uncle Ardyn Caelum. He’s....different.

(really he thought if he could study how the kaiju worked they could win against these monsters....he just went about it the wrong way and unfortunately it’s twisted him now)

(noct is really their best hope at a lot of things: he’s drift compatible with everyone, quick on his feet, able to adapt scary fast to any kaiju coming out of the ocean. And his dad was one of the first jaeger pilots, the first to kill a kaiju with Clarus. He’s got a lot on his shoulders)

Anyway! Aster Prophet goes down and goes down hard. When the rescue copters get to it Ardyn is gone and Noctis is comatose (I have no idea where Ardyn went honestly)

This hits a lot of people hard. 

Noct is like....a lot of people’s mascot? His dad is the Marshal of Marshal and he’s been to all the shatterdomes (which I’m sure I have a list of shatterdowns somewhere) and they were all use to Noct being there even if he complained all the time they loved him

because when it came down to it, he worked just as hard as the rest of them and had no problems getting dirty and lending a helping hand.

when Noct wakes up, he’s just not the same anymore and no one knows what to do 

and the kaiju just keep coming....and coming....and coming. so much more often now. 

And people are dying...

Mk 4s are: Judgement Bolt. Diamond Dust. Lady Fickle (Stella and Pelna) and Phoenix Quick (Aranea and Prompto).

Prompto! He is a normal kid born in Niflheim. His dad was killed in....Ueltham (where is that other than Niflheim, I don’t know, but I know it’s a city) by a bomb dropped to kill the third kaiju (which I’d originally named Snaga and now playing the game it might fit? Idk)

He doesn’t blame anyone for it but the kaiju but hitchhikes his way to the Insomnia Shatterdome to work as j-crew (mechanics on the jaegers)

him and aranea become fast friends as she waited to find someone she was compatible with since her last one (Crowe) was more compatible with someone else (Luna) before they even entered a real jaeger

(hint hint they’re compatible)

their launch in Phoenix Quick is officially one month after the Aster Prophet disaster, but they were launched unofficially for Marilith (but it didn’t matter because it never came close to them since they were in the Pelles Shatterdown with Nyx and Libertus in Crow Intercept)

At this moment I am now realizing I forgot about Ravus, but I think he might be a Marshal (his and Luna’s mom is a Marshal)

Okay now we’re getting into less detailed outlines of stuff

Mk 5s are: Obsidian Star. Holy Ultima. And Pyre Brave

This part is complicated since I didn’t fully flesh it out.

Phoenix Quick is decommissioned after 1 kill when the powers that be decided to scrap it and use it to make a mk 5. (They end up not using much of it)

Aranea moves to be a rotate pilot for Luna and Crowe

Prompto becomes even faster friends with a withdrawn Noctis.

Which, lemme tell you, literally everyone held their breath the first time Noct laughed after the Aster Prophet disaster.

And it was all because of prompto

A new jaeger is built Obsidian Star. but no pilots.

Holy Ultima is built, but no pilots

Then Pyre Brave comes out of fucking nowhere and starts ATTACKING other jaegers

Pyre Brave is piloted by Titus and Luche and was made by Ardyn and Verstael

….which doesn’t make any sense because Verstael helped make the jaeger program????

(hint: it’s Ardyn and the Precursors’ fault)

So Regis and Clarus give it one more try in Holy Ultima even though they dying from their first jaeger attempt (radiation is a bitch)

And they fail

and die

Noct doesn’t take this...well

He and Prompto hijack Obsidian Star from being tested by veterans and new recruits a like

and go after Pyre Brave with Gaia Assassin

(oh no I forgot about Iris and Talcott...or did I? I think I made them J crew or something)

and, honestly, that’s all I got for this jaeger/people/lot wise

all kaiju are named after daemons (and the zu)

The first one was Starscourge. It aimed for Crestholm City, Leide first. Destroyed it, travelled to Coernix in Duscae (I know this isn’t on the coast, I tweaked geography), and killed thousands of people before the LAF and the AN (Lucian Air Force and Accordian Navy) killed it.

The third Kaiju is Snaga. The sixth is Iseultalon. 

I’m sure I have a list of kaiju in order and who killed them, but I can’t find it right now

I honestly think that’s all I have for this

hope someone enjoys this!

thanks!

[personalized-radio]

hello again guys its time for me to talk about another one of my favorite people in the whole world bc it is KENN’S BIRTHDAY!!!! go give @allrighthello happy bday wishes and also $$$ bc she deserves it thanks

let me start with this: kenn is the whole reason i am friends with pretty much anyone im friends with in the cc fandom. i think we may have been friends even before i started my sideblog??? id tell you the actual day but lmao i accidentally blocked her a few weeks ago bc tumblr mobile despises me but the POINT is this: once upon a time, there was me and my awkward, panicky personhood and i was very shy and had no idea how to do anything at all to talk to people. and then there was a very kind person to messaged me and made FRIENDS with me even tho i was weird and awkward and panicky. and then that very kind person invited me to join her server and help her and her friend set it up. as you can probably guess, that kind person was kenn and, without her, i never would have met…...pretty much anyone. she introduced me to phoenix and vero, she beta reads for me even when its fic she doesnt care for, she talks to me even when im annoying the fucking shit out of her, she sent me recs for ships i never thought i’d be into that led me to being friends with gina. Somehow she managed to introduce me to nearly every friend i have in the fandom without even meaning to, encouraged me when i was close to quitting, talked me down from at LEAST three freak outs, and SOMEHOW still thinks that she isn’t the literal best person in the world (which lmao she is so?????? fix this bad thinking @god)

but enough about that story, lemme tell you about kenn herself. kenn is someone i admire. she’s SO strong, incredibly brave and never backs down when she believes in something. she’s incredibly patient, hilarious, and has this like…...aura of??? i cant even think of the words for it honestly. maybe an aura of Fuck With Me At Your Own Risk. i love her!!!! its like when you talk to her, she’s ready to ride or die in the conversation, be it about fucking…….kit kats, or until dawn, or the philosophy behind a video game. ive said some Seriously Weird Shit to this girl and all she does is laugh or play along or send me a dumb meme. ive annoyed the ever loving SHIT out of her, and she still messages me later to make sure i knew she was joking when she yelled at me. she’s called people out to defend me, she’s always there to talk if i need to talk, and i think sometimes she doesnt see how truly crazy amazing she is??? which is Wildt bc i WISH i could be more like her tbh.

anyway, there’s a lot more i could say about kenn but most of it can be summed up in “Kenn is one of my favorite people, one of my best friends at this point, and im SO glad i got the privilege to know her.”

happy birthday, kenn!!!!!! im glad that this is a day that exists, i’m glad that you messaged me that year-and-some-odd-days ago, im glad we both watched the same youtube channel enough to want to read/write fic about it, and i cant thank you enough for being who you are!!!!! happy. i love you <3

[bibbleboo]

Could we get some headcanons/more background on Abbey and Doyle’s kids? 🥺👉👈 I love the premise of this AU

YEEEEE (im just gonna ramble a bunch about the backstory i have so far but ill put it in bullets so its easier to follow lol i apologize for it being long as fuck-)

OKAY SO,,, first of all,,, doyle and abbey timeline,,,, [i am looking respectfully]

in this au, they get back together and have a sort of ‘lovers pretending to be enemies’ chaotic on again/off again hookup thing off to the side just between the two of them thru like Most of the final season, they try to keep it a secret (especially doyle who doubts the saturdays would be hAPPY if he was seeing her again) but in the end, saturdays ofc find out, probably are unsure about it at first, but she gains enough of their trust to be there for the big finale battle in the weird world mansion.

when shit goes down and argost becomes the vessel for the two opposing kurs (regular kur, and the anti kur from zak monday) and they like. explode his matter or w/e, i imagine instead of kur just completely disappearing, the ‘anti kur’ gets shot back to its universe, while original kur gets forced into a new vessel in this universe... the closest of which happens to be the unborn child abbeys unknowingly carrying. basically, what if the two kurs just LOOKED like they evaporated but actually did what happens when you try to like tape two same sides of a magnets together and they YEETED-

So thats how we have Parker, their firstborn daughter! and this... also implies ‘Parker Monday’ exists which. 8^) i havent thought about yet so forgive me on that but hoo, 

they dont know parker is kur, they got no idea and rly just assume kur is gone for good. but after they find out abbeys pregnant (which is a huge emotional trip for both of them in its own right) they do eventually sort of agree they dont want their kid exposed to that whole world of mystery. like, ik its a vital thing to the whole family, and ik these two people were probably voted least likely to ‘settle down’ in high school, but i cant imagine they didnt escape the kur/zak situation without a LOT of trauma, so while the saturdays stay in the cryptozoology field, doyle and abbey slowly pull away from the mystery and mercenary stuff, and also instead of going for big dollar lifestyle settle with ‘independently wealthy’ parenting.

also, neither of them really . grasp the concept that theyve even started a family, and are ‘together’, and that this is REAL, until around when she gets pregnant with their second daughter, Kendall. and then theyre like. oh nooo wait are we actually like boyfriend and girlfriend EWW-

when kendall is born parker is 3, and the next like 10+ years are pretty smooth sailing. as far as what the kids know/see, they probably know the cryptids when theyre little but. (tw animal death sORRY TO BE DARK I JUST??????) idk,, how long komodo dragons live/how old komodo already is and i definitely dont know Anything about giant prehistoric birds and am not even sure if science knows that lifespan, so. im not sure how long they could really be in each others lives??? i almost imagine parker would have memories of them that she assumes she remembers wrong, like “oh yeah they used to have a lizard and a bird... my imaginative little kid brain thought they were a komodo dragon and a dinosaur”, and as for fisk im still working on it but i . actually kind of imagine he might have a much longer lifespan (since lemurians are like ancient or w/e? and also if hes by dna like a gorilla cat or w/e gorillas at least live long af) and also feel like once he got older and settled down a bit he might live somewhere in the woods, maybe even his old tree? and the saturdays see him ALL the time obviously, but hey zaks gotta go to college eventually, a gorilla cats gotta eat bugs in forest, we all have to grow up and leave the nest sometime,

so idk the last time parker has actually seen fisk and she might assume he was an imaginary friend or smth but, 1. if i do write a fic they absolutely have to meet again, 2. overall the vibe is they know the saturdays are cryptozoologists, like, the same way josh gates does destination truth, seeking answers and studying, they dont really. know that theyre REAL. to them its like, a hypothetical science. (this is also part of why they dont realize parker is kur, she isnt around cryptids and therefore whenever her powers would actually show up they wouldnt be recognized) anyways parker isnt embarrassed or put off by it but just thinks its a little wacky, meanwhile kendall is obsessed with the world of mystery/paranormal/cryptic lol

speaking of the girls personalities;;;

parker is like. not really normie/preppy, even if she seems it at first glance, shes nice and has a good head on her shoulders but also is a teenage girl (inherently unhinged) and shes THEIR teenage girl (+5 feral) so despite her success and charm shes also very witty/crass when she wants to be, and deep down shes closer to the kind of person that would on pure inexplicable instinct put something random in your mouth when you’re yawning so you bite down on it afterwards. or like. that video of the girl singing in the bathroom while her friends curl their hair and she grabs the curler to use as a microphone before realizing its burning hot??? shes. the voice of reason, but the voice is usually shrieking in fear, making a cursed joke, or half the time whatever shes saying is actually smart. she kinda wants to go to college and travel, but struggles with indecisiveness and anxiety, so she has no idea where to go, what to major in, etc. and is again kinda just livin thru the typical teen life in that regard

kendall on the other hand is like. weird kid culture, the kind of kid that believes they are secretly a new supernatural creature each year (mermaid phase, werewolf phase, alien phase, etc), probably completely accidentally starts cults or witch covens at school (didnt realize teaching peers how to become ‘blood brothers’ and ‘make potions’ from puddles and stolen school supplies would be taken so seriously by parents) , very into emo/scene/punk/alt culture but not rly in an overtly dark/edgy way, more of a having fun and expressing self way. she wants answers for everything, really loves mysteries and being open minded, and definitely a rebel/adventurer at heart, even if she gets naive or in over her head sometimes.

the girls get along well! parker is not dismissive of kendall she just. isnt really into the same stuff/is more freaked out by it most of the time, but she would tag along on certain adventures, especially if it was to keep her safe. and kendall definitely directs gentle mockery towards parker a lot but does see her as a good role model and guiding figure, their bond is really strong!

other details !

doyle and abbey prob decide to say fuck it and get married after kendall is born, they probably have a few rough patches but nothing is more important to them than the kids now and in the end they understand each other better than anyone else so . canon tension idk her! family ftw! power couple! they intimidate the teacher during parent teacher conferences together hand in shady little hand !

their parenting style is exactly what one would imagine, 70% fun and sass and controlled chaos where theyre the bigger children than their children, 15% ‘this is how you hack the government and dual wield swords-- i was not supposed to teach you that im sorry’, and 15% actual guidance / emotional depth / etc. flaws might be overcoming their own immaturity for the first few years, and then being lowkey overly protective (while claiming they arent, but just bc you semi jokingly tell parker she should join the football team doesnt mean you dont actually hide 60% of ur life from her and check that her bedroom windows are locked every night and have 24 people listed in her school emergency contacts and used to cut up her food till she was 7 and-)

so abouT THE BABY BOY (Phoenix), 1. his middle name is leonidas bc im gay and i love emotional turmoil babes , 2. fully unironically the idea behind such a late pregnancy is abbey would be mid fourties when hes born right. so like. [has two kids] ‘ok birth control time’ [when theyre teens many years later] ‘ok im old enough to stop taking this’ [the hyperfertility curse that plagues many women rears its ugly head with one last hoo-rah]

and finALLY a very quick elevator pitch of what id write an actual fic to focus on;;; kendall sneaks into the attic to look for old shit bc they BOTH know their parents have been hiding stuff over the years, she finds things like a cryptopedia (now offline), the claw, maybe even a piece of the kur stone, and ropes parker into the long haul of figuring out what all this stuff is. and ofc the second they ever find the naga relic and parker comes face to face with it, [rest in rip] time for mom and dad to find out and all this kur shit to start ALL over again-

[pameluke]

a year in writing: 2016 review

Total number of completed stories: 22 

Total word count: 60799

Chronological breakdown:

January  Leverage, The Triple A Job, OT3 Anniversary shenanigans, written for Holly Poly

February The Losers/Kate Daniels Series crossover, Technical Difficulties, Cougar and Jensen meet Kate, written for Chocolate Box

March Brooklyn Nine-Nine, First Aid, Venti Chai Latte Extra Sugar, Throw-Down, Rosa & Amy, Three ficlets about their friendship, written for Purimgifts

April Shadowhunters, Take My Hands And Close Your Eyes, Alec/Magnus, First Date, First fic for the new pairing and fandom of my heart. SW: The Force Awakens, A Force To Be Reckoned With, Poe/Finn/Rey, Threesome sex with the Force!, written for Smutswap, my first smut ever :) SW: The Force Awakens, Open Doors, Open Hearts, Poe/Finn/Rey moving in together. Written for Ship Swap.

May Shadowhunters, A Positive Result, Alec/Magnus, Magnus & Alec & Jace, Magnus dealing with parabatai shenanigans

June River Lea - Adele, reeds growing out of my fingertips, water demons and possessions, written for Jukebox Spartacus (1960), Sing, Antoninus, Antoninus/Spartacus, written for myoldfandom

July Shadowhunters, all that is loved does now glitter, Alec/Magnus, Glitter Marking and Sex Magic, written for not_primetime Shadowhunters, Double The Trouble, Alec/Magnus, Izzy/Simon, the dangers of double dating, written for not_primetime

August Shadowhunters, Nothing In The World, Alec & Izzy, Missing scene Shadowhunters, Glitter By The Water Front, Alec/Magnus, Kate Daniels Fusion Meet Cute, written for Malec Week Shadowhunters, When She Talks, I Hear Revolution, Izzy/Lydia, co-written with @thisissirius and @canadiansuperhero , underground radio, rebellion and romance, written for pod_together, also voiced a Seelie OC.

September Shadowhunters, a little too much, could never be enough, Alec/Magnus, jewellery kink and blowjobs, first part of the Magnus’ Dick Is His Demon Mark series, written for iddyiddybangbang

October Aliens/Pacific Rim, Running Out Of Days, Ripley/Hicks, Ripley finds a new Drift Partner, while mourning her first one, written for crossovering Kate Daniels Series, True Nature, Kate/Curran, Monsters and Magic in a Labyrinth, written for trickortreatex

November One of my goals was to post a story every month, but November sucked balls on a personal and global scale, so I failed. Did work on Yuletide and other fics, just didn’t finish anything, alas.

December Shadowhunters, ever the tears you wept, Alec/Magnus, my take on soulmate fic where one half is immortal Shadowhunters, Armchairs and Paperwork, Alec/Magnus, domestic make-outs on furniture King Arthur (2004), Wild Horses, Bors/Dagonet/Vanora, Dagonet Lives! Featuring the Sarmatian Threesome of my heart. Written for Yuletide.

Other Things I Wrote A weird half fic, half headcanon thing about Alec Following His Heart, Dairy Farmer Level.

So many Dear Author letters for exchanges, I’m always embarrassed about my long-windedness.

Still Stuck In The WIP Folder A treat for Yuletide that I’m only half way in, will probably try and finish it either for NYR, or stalk my recip and see if they request it in another fic exchange to treat them there.

The RomCom I started for Unconvential Courtship, in which Alec and Magnus only get together years later at the Clace Wedding, and need to Fake Date For Political Reasons. Currently at 13k, 5 chapters in, at least 10 to go.

The Cupid AU in which Alec is a cupid who shoots Magnus for someone else in 1700, cue 400 years of pining. 2k in, got boggled down by historical research and magic wordlbuilding.

The Chess Date, sequel to the First Date Fic, 1k so far, but got stuck.

About 5k worth of various outlines and plotideas, including the Phoenix!Alec fic, a bunch of fic ideas for the World Inverted AU, the Izzy and Alec are parabatai fic, more Kate Daniels fusion, and the DragonHeart AU which I plan to co-write with siri.

So much to write and finish!

Overall Thoughts: Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?

This year I published more words than in all my other years of fandom combined! Other milestones include: posted over 100k words total to my AO3, posted my first smut (which also was my first PWP), and participated in over 10 challenges. I also think I wrote more this year than I ever did before, but I’m not entirely sure because I didn’t count words for unfinished things in 2015.

Wrote exactly 0 words original work this year, which I didn’t see coming either. Guess the new fandom took it all out of me.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

Shadowhunters, the new shiny fandom of my heart. I didn’t expect I’d ever feel about a show like I did about Spartacus, and it’s not completely the same, but fuck I am INVESTED, and I am still super inspired. It’s just a canon with many many hooks for me to grab on to, and I guess I have. Only two more stories to go, and it’s officially the fandom I’ve written most for, never did see that coming.

Did you take any writing risks this year? 

I wouldn’t call it risk taking per se, but I did leave my comfort zone and had a bunch of fanfic first times. I wrote Star Wars (which is super intimidating fandom wise for some reason), I actually wrote for a lot of fandoms I hadn’t written for before. I wrote smut and PWP, and I even wrote a fill for a kinkmeme.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the new year? 

Goal for next year is definitely to let my kink flag fly more, and write the things I’d like to see more of. Try my hand at some f/f smut. 

I’d really like to keep writing steadily, so I’ve signed up for Get Your Words Out, to keep my output steadily.

I also really want to finish my WIPS, especially the RomCom, because First Chaptered Story if I do. 

And I’d like to get back into my Original Work. I actually have a lot of half finished stories and plot outlines lying around, I really want to finish something next year.

On the wishlist is also to participate in NaNoWriMo again next year, but the job might get in the way of that alas.

From my past year of writing, what was...

My favorite story of the year:

Fuck this is hard, because I’m one of those people that writes mostly to still my own hunger, so I tend to really like my own stories (I laugh a lot at my own jokes as well). I guess it would be all that is loved does now glitter, because it gets me right in the id of feelings. It’s the story of myself I’ve reread most. Also, slap fights.

My best story of this year:

I think reeds growing out of my fingertips. I thought if the basic plotline while driving through four european countries at night, and the last image, of the posessed girl diving off the damm was the first thing I came up with. Jukebox is very close to origfic, and I think I really got the creepiness and plot right with this one.

My most popular story of this year: 

By hits, kudos, comments and bookmarks all that is loved does now glitter wins by a landslide. I guess because it’s porn with feelings and features Magnus being his magical self.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: 

Sing, Antoninus for the Kubrick Spartacus. I adapted Latin Poetry for this story, yo. I love all things Spartacus, but the Kubrick movie is very precious to me, and I wish more people still felt that way. Alas, there’s not much of a fandom for this movie, so no one thinks of looking up fic for it.

Most fun story to write: 

Sometimes I really like cracky fic, and I tend to be the only one who finds myself funny, so probably either the Dairy Farmer Thing, or A Positive Result. The funnest experience was totally working together with Siri and Ray for Podtogether though, nothing beats that.

Story with the single sexiest moment: 

Alec coming because Magnus’ toe ring scrapes his calf in a little too much could never be enough. Runner up would probably be Alec kissing Magnus’ toe ring in the same story. Magnus and his jewellery is pretty much the sexiest thing in fandom, imo.

Story with single sweetest moment:

If we’re going for sweetest then I’d pick Izzy distracting Alec with fashion choices in Nothing In This World, because all the Sibling Feelings always. If we’re going for sappiest then I’d pick the Beauty & the Beast Library scene from Take My Hand And Close Your Eyes because Magnus being magical with his magical mood lightning and Alec being in awe.

Hardest story to write:

Definitely A Force To Be Reckoned with, because Star Wars is intimidating as fuck to write for if you never have written in that canon before. Plus there was the whole first time smut writing aspect, and the sex with the Force thing, so I struggled a lot. Still super pleased with the end result though.

Easiest story to write: Glitter By The Waterfront practically wrote itself. I just really love writing in the Kate Daniels setting (I wish it took off like Hogwarts AUs, honestly, it's just so fun, and the magic is so awesome), and Alec and Magnus fit so well there. I pretty much wrote it in a day which almost never happens. Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:  Before writing Running Out Of Days, I never really took Ripley's grief for her daughter into account. Or well, I knew she was mourning, but it wasn't part of the emotional impact for me. Writing Amanda as both Ripley's daughter and the Drift Partner she lost really hammered that home for me though, and I now watch Aliens differently.

Favorite Title: all that is loved does now glitter, with miles ahead. I'm just proud of thinking of it, it fits Magnus and the story so well, and it's the only title I ever got a compliment about (and by someone not even into the fandom! although I lured them in by now). I'm just ridiculously fond of it. Favourite Opening Line:  The song of her sisters is sweet and mellow, a brook flowing over pebbles, made round and soft by water and time. (x) Favourite Closing Line: “I don’t need to find them,” he said and kissed Magnus again. “I’m already the happiest I can be. I picked you.” (x)

Favorite Line from Anywhere: Here in this bathroom, while he looks like a disco ball threw up on him, with Magnus standing next to him, looking soft and thoroughly bedded and touching him so tenderly, he truly, finally feels like he belongs. (x)

Fic-writing goals for 2016: 

Write a minimum of 75k Post a story every month Finish at least one WIP of over 10k  

[anurst]

Doc

Summary: The discovery of your cheating wife's infidelity causes you to run to Fightertown and end up as a doctor at Top Gun. During your stay, you meet a girl in a bar or MerDer except it's you and Phoenix/Natasha

Pairing(s): Natasha "Phoenix" Trace x (fem!) reader, OC x reader

Warning(s): mentions of cheating, alcohol, language

1- "I'm just a girl in a bar"

'Shit'

That was your first thought as you landed in San Diego. Your headphones had died and your phone was clinging onto the little battery it had left. You had to make it outside quick and call Pete before your phone died.

The flight over was rough. In fact, the entire move to San Diego was rough. In your cold indifference to your wife's affairs, you hadn't pack properly, only grabbing what was available and within reach. You'd have to buy some new clothes, furniture for your newly acquired beach house, food definitely, and a new charger.

"Kid!" Pete's voice brought you out of your swarming thoughts as you smiled widely. It had been a long time, 10 years to be exact, since you'd last seen the man. He was definitely older, yet he still had the same boyish charm that your parents had told you about multiple times growing up.

"Mavy!" Your arms quickly wrapped around the shorter man. Pete let out a hearty laugh as he cradled your face in his hand. You were like the daughter he never had. The niece that called for advice when you weren't sure your parents would understand. He'd made it clear that he'd be in your corner whenever you needed him when your parents passed.

"You're so big!"

"That's what happens when you get older, old man," you teased, sticking out your tongue. Playfully glaring, Pete ruffled your hair before grabbing your bag and throwing it into the back seat of the car. "Where's your bike?"

"Didn't think it would hold all the stuff you'd bring from New York."

Shrugging, you opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat as Pete walked around and slipped into the driver's seat. "How you liking San Diego so far?"

Snorting, you turned to look at the older man, "It's not New York...You gonna show me all the good spots in Fightertown, ya?" Nodding, Pete quickly glanced at you before clearing his throat.

"Have you talked to Addison?" Feeling exhaustion and despair set into you upon hearing your wife's name, you slumped into your seat.

"Nope. She's been calling, but I'm not answering. Considering changing my number, actually."

Sighing at your response, Pete simply nodded before changing the topic to your new house.

80s music filled your ears as you stepped into bar. Pete had already gone inside, leaving you to enter by yourself. Tugging at the sleeves of your button down, anxiety filled you. This was the first time in years that you'd be entering a bar without Addison or your friends. Sure, you weren't exactly an introvert, but putting yourself out in such a social environment as a 'single woman' was filling with you stress and dread.

'Just go in. You aren't here to take any girl home. Just find Mavy, sit down, have a drink, maybe get a ride home from him or something. Relax, your (y/n) (l/n), a hot, intelligent, funny, trauma surgeon.'

Exhaling, you puffed your chest out before making your way towards the bar. Quickly spotting Pete, you sunk into the seat next to him. His attention didn't waver from the pretty woman behind the bar as you sat which caused you to lean closer to him and blow into his ear. Reeling in surprise, Pete's hand shot up to cover his ear as he turned to you, eyes full of shock and panic before realizing it was you. "Kid, when'd you get here?"

Giggling, you reached for his drink before taking a sip from it (in the process earning a harmless glare from Pete). "Just got here. Soooooo, you gonna introduce me to the pretty lady you're shooting heart eyes at?"

Scoffing, Pete snatched his drink back before downing the whole thing. "I was not "shooting heart eyes" at Penny."

"So her name's Penny? Wait, the admiral's kid you got with like a bazillion years ago?"

"It was not a bazillion years ago, you menace." Snickering at his reaction, you flagged down "Penny." Her eyes met yours as you widely smiled. Out of your peripheral vision you could see Pete pale as you opened your mouth.

"I'll have whiskey, please. Oh, and put it on the old man's tab." Penny's eyes shifted from you to Pete.

"Lucky for you, Pete's paying for everyone's round."

Eyes lighting up, you smiled widened, "Is that so! I'll have 2 then!" Nodding, Penny moved away as Pete turned to you with a forced smile.

"Don't embarrass me."

"Mavy, you already do that all on your own," you snickered, pleased with his eye roll as Penny brought your drinks over. "Thank you! I'm (y/n)." You reached over the counter to shake hands with the brunette who simply laughed at your antics.

"Penny. You a friend of Pete's?"

"He was friends with my folks and is my tour guide as I get settled into town."

Nodding understandingly, Penny leaned onto the counter. "I could tell you weren't from around here."

"It was the accent, wasn't it? You know, I never could hear the difference between accents. They all sound the same to me."

"Where you coming from?"

"New York."

"Long way from home."

"I'm here for work."

"You a pilot too?"

"What? Hell no, I'm a doctor."

"How about ringing me up before the evening rush?" Pete interrupted, his eyes following someone. Sharing a look with Penny, you shrugged as she took Pete's card. Following Pete's line of sight, you saw a tall man wearing a Hawaiian shirt with his back to you. He was surrounded by people in khakis as a blonde walked up to him. Your eyes drifted from face to face before landing on the only woman in the group. Your throat when dry as you took in her appearance. Neat dark brown hair was tucked into a perfect bun, her brown (you were guessing but were 90% they were brown) followed the blonde man as he talked, and her uniform most definitely made heads turn wherever she went.

"Who's making heart eyes now?" Pete asked from besides you, smugness dripping off of each word, causing you tear your gaze away from the beautiful woman.

"You're such a dick, Mavy," you groaned, chugging the first glass of whiskey. Before you could go back to ogling the beautiful brunette from across the room, Penny set Pete's card down in front of you two.

"It's been declined." A hyena-like laugh burst out of you as Pete's jaw fell. The sounds of a piano playing did little to distract you as Pete stammered. The man dig into his pocket, fishing out some crumpled 5s and you collapsed into even more laughter. Penny smiled at your reaction as she made her way towards a bell. "I'm afraid that won't cover it." Raising his hand to stop her from ringing it, Pete nearly jumped as the crowd erupted in cheers as the bell rang.

"OVERBOARD! OVERBOARD! OVERBOARD!" Three men in khakis made their way over, their arms hooking under Pete's as they carried him. You wiped the tears that started to form in your eyes as you grinned at Penny. As you started to get up, Penny rose a brow before you leaned on the bar's counter.

"He's kinda my ride home!"

"You can stay and clean up! I'll give you a ride after!" Biting your lip, you contemplated your options. Penny was fun, easy to talk to, liked teasing Pete just as much as you did, but you had work tomorrow morning. Your first day at your new job, in a new town, in a new city, in a new state, in your new life.

[You] I'm gonna stay a little longer. Don't wait up for me

[Mavy] You sure? Got a ride home?

[You] Yep. Penny said she'd give me a ride home after I help her close up

[Mavy] (y/n)...

[You] Don't worry! I won't embarrass you. Correction- I will but I'll make up for it and make you sound cool :)))

[Mavy] Don't you dare.

[You] Bye!!! See you tomorrow!! Thanks for the drinks :))))

Closing your phone, you quickly slipped it into your back pocket and sat back down. Penny shot you a bright smile as she said that she'd be back. Nodding, you smiled as you listened to the crowd sing along to "Great Balls of Fire." Whoever was playing the piano was good. You found yourself whispering the lyrics as you took another sip of your second glass. If you didn't slow down, the alcohol would catch up and you didn't want to be drunk in a place where you barely knew anyone.

The song came to end as the crowd cheered "Rooster" over and over again. Confused, you caught sight of the man that Pete was staring at dancing, the people surrounding him cheering him on. He looked familiar, you said to yourself, raking your brain to remember where you'd seen him before. Coming up with nothing, you left it alone (for now anyway. you were going to ask Pete about it when you saw him tomorrow) and settled on observing people.

Zoning out, you didn't realize that you'd made direct eye contact with the gorgeous woman from before. Her curious and bright brown eyes meeting yous. A smile grew on her face as she sent a nod your way. Flustered, you raised your glass to her and watched as she walked away with 4 more beers in her hands and towards the same rowdy group you'd seen her with before.

"Got your eyes on Phoenix?" Penny smirked, returning to you, the crowd slowly dying down as people left. Letting out a breathy laugh, you shook your head, your gaze falling down to your drink.

"I'm not doing that sort of thing right now."

"Why not? You're young, hot, funny, and smart."

Blushing, you rubbed your nose with your finger. A nervous habit of yours. Something Addison always teased you about. "I'm kinda in a situation," you murmured, not wanting to talk about your love life. Noticing your discomfort, Penny reassuringly pat your hand before she started asking you questions about your work.

Time seemed to whiz by as you told Penny about your college days and med school (you left out vital detail but she didn't push you for more than you'd already told her). Before you knew it, the Hard Deck was closing and the only people left in the bar was some couples paying their tabs and the group of pilots that Pete had been watching. Penny had asked you to wipe down tables, and so you moved from table to table spraying and wiping. Turning around, you nearly jumped as you saw the woman from before standing behind you.

"Hey." Shit, her voice was even more angelic than what you'd imagined. She was prettier up close too. An uneasy smile grew on her face as she waved her hand in front of you. "Hi?"

"Hi," you whispered, the breath quite literally knocked out of you. The brunette smiled at your response, a red hue starting to form on her cheeks.

"You work here?"

"What? No! I'm just helping Penny out."

"Oh, yeah, I've never seen you before, so I thought I'd ask. You new to Fightertown?"

"Yep. You?"

"Nah, I've just coming back for work."

"I figured. You a pilot?"

"Yes ma'am. Are you?"

Chuckling you tucked your hair behind your ear. It was starting to get hot in here. Like, really hot. Was it the alcohol or the girl in front of you? Honestly, you weren't sure and didn't really care. "No, I'm also here for work."

Natasha slowly nodded as she bit her lip. She looked over her shoulder to see the guys sending her a thumbs up (jake was actually looking at her with his same smug face which made her almost go back and hit him. almost) and took a deep breathe in. "So, what's your story?"

Panicked, you waved your hand in front of you. "I don't have a story. I'm just a girl in a bar," you smiled and Natasha swore her heart nearly stopped.

"I guess I'm also just a girl in a bar. Do you...Do you wanna get outta here?"

Your throat had run dry at her question and a minute passed before you answered. "Let me just tell Penny, yeah? Then, I'm all yours, sunshine." Quickly making your way back to the older woman, Natasha stared at your back before making her way back to the pool table to get her things.

Bradley proudly pat her on the back as the other guys congratulated her. Smiling and waving goodbye to them, she nearly sprinted to the door to meet you. Her arm linked with yours as you held the door open for her. Grinning, she turned to look up at you, "My place or yours?"

"Wherever you wanna go, sunshine."

I love tall reader inserts if you haven't noticed :]

[anurst]

Doc

Summary: the day after spending the night with Natasha

Warning(s): language, implied smut, mentions of anxiety

2- elevator kiss

Sunlight poured in through the thin curtains. Groaning, you tried to cover your eyes from the intrusive light. Keyword: tried. Natasha cuddled in closer to your chest, light murmurs falling from her lips. Minutes passed by as you stared at the woman curled up in your arms. An all-too familiar feeling bloomed in your chest as you brushed a strand of hair out of Natasha's face.

'Great, (y/n). Great. Now look at what you've done.'

It wasn't only love (love? could you really call it love? you've known Natasha for all of two minutes) that swarmed in your heart. Shame set in. You were still married, even if your marriage was falling apart. Addison was still your wife, the woman you made vows to love through good and bad, the woman who you thought was the love of your life. But, how could you deny the wanting for the brunette in your arms?

Maybe it was love at first sight. You were a romantic. Natasha made you feel something that Addison never could, not even in all the years of your marriage.

You were pulled out of your thoughts by Natasha waking up, her eyes wide as she saw that she was cuddled into your side. Quickly scrambling to her feet, the woman grabbed her undergarments and started to get dressed as you watched from the floor. Boxes of new furniture laid scattered throughout your new house since you and Pete were too lazy to start setting things up last night.

When Natasha suggested going to your place, you had mentioned to her that you were still moving in. She disregarded what you said and grabbed a blanket that had been lying around, before draping it on the ground and stripping you of your clothes.

"Well, uh, this was fun, but I have to go I'm late to work," Natasha stammered, her cheeks flushed as she watched you slowly button up the shirt you were wearing last night

You had grabbed your phone from the floor and checked all your unread messages. Some from Pete, two from your new boss, and many from your wife. Sliding it into your shirt pocket, you smiled up at Natasha.

"Or you could stay and we could continue," you grinned as Natasha shook her head, a breathy laugh leaving her.

"I really gotta go! So, uh, thank you, uh..."

"(y/n)."

"(y/n)," Natasha repeated, shaking the hand that you had stuck out, "Natasha." Whispering the name to yourself, you let Natasha grab her things before she rushed out the door. The sound of her car pulling out of the driveway caused you to sigh as you grabbed your phone again and dialed Pete.

{"Hello?" }

"Mavy! Morning! You think you can give me a ride to work?"

{"(y/n), I called you 10 times last night! Why didn't you pick up!?"}

Chuckling, you walked towards your room and grabbed some new clothes before taking them with you to the bathroom. You grabbed a towel from the closet before setting the phone on speaker and down on the counter.

"I'll tell you about it when you come pick me up. I'm gonna take a quick shower so be here in like 20 minutes! Okay? Thanks! Love ya!"

{"(y/n)! Don't hang up the phone! Tell about last night no-"}

You hung up the phone and smiled before jumping into the shower. By the time you were done getting ready, Pete was already parked outside on his Kawasaki, a frown on his face. Grabbing your bag, guilt filled you as you stared at Pete.

"I'm sorry, really I am. I just- I brought someone home last night and lost track of everything." You hated making Pete upset. He was basically your mother and father, your only parent figure. Sighing, he opened his arms. Smiling, you shuffled closer and let your own arms wrap around him.

"I just made me really worried."

"I know. But, I'm an adult, Pete. I can make my own decisions and can take care of myself."

"You don't think I know that? Kid, look at you. All grown up with your own house, your own profession, your own life. I just- I'm worried you're being reckless after Addison."

Ouch. That stung. Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell was worried that YOU were being reckless? This man was the definition of reckless. You know his worry came from a good place, it did, but it annoyed you a little.

"Let's just get to work, ya?"

You weren't normally nervous when you went to work. It was the only place you never felt anxiety. You were a talented surgeon which made people look at you in respect in the hospital.

But, you weren't in the hospital. You were at the Top Gun base as the new head doctor that would overlook the medbay and would teaching emergency medicine and procedures to whoever Admiral Simpson told you to.

Pete had long left your side as you made your way to Admiral Simpson's office. The man had been waiting for you outside his office when you finally made your way over.

"Sir," you nodded in respect.

"Dr. (l/n)," the taller man nodded, "Your resume impressed me."

"Thank you, sir."

"Walk with me." And you did. You followed Beau towards the medical wing as he walked you through where everything was. You met some of the staff and acquainted yourself, some even complimenting you on your success back in New York.

Another taller man had walked towards you as Beau went over the group of aviators that you'd be teaching emergency procedures to. "Dr. this is Admiral Bates, Warlock."

You smiled as you shook his hand, "It's an honor, sir."

"Likewise. We're lucky to have such a skilled surgeon like you on base." Your pride swelled as the two men exchanged words before motioning for you to follow.

The walk to the hanger where the Top Gun graduates were waiting seemed to drag on longer. Someone had yelled "Attention" and you stood next to Beau as Solomon addressed the group of aviators. You could feel eyes on you but kept your gaze foward.

You weren't raised in a military family. Your father had been a surgeon just like you were. He had met Pete when the pilot had been in a bad accident that the doctors on base couldn't handle. So, he had been sent to the nearest hospital and you father fixed him. Ever since then, Pete had been in your family's debt. Your mother was a piano teacher, only teaching kids on your street. You had learned military discipline from Pete, even though he never stuck to it.

'These scrubs are itchy. Shit, I shoulda taken that granola bar from Mavy before I ditched him.'

Your wandering thoughts only stopped when you spotted Pete making his way towards the podium. Several of the aviators turned to look at him, some of awe, some of embarrassment, and one of hate. Wait, hate?

Your eyes lingered on the same man that Pete had been staring at yesterday. His brown hair, brown eyes, awesome pornstache, and scars on his neck/face were all familiar. You'd 100% met him or at least seen him from somewhere. Your staring was cut short when the man of your attention turned to look at you.

Embarrassment flooded your system as you snapped your eyes away from him. In doing so, you made eye contact with the same beautiful brown ones you had woken up to. This was great. Your job was off to a great start.

"And this is Dr. (l/n). She'll be teaching you all emergency medicine procedure," Pete said, all heads now turning to you. You forced out a smiled and waved your hand, your gaze now anywhere except the guy with the pornstache and Natasha. "She'll be doing physicals for all you first before moving onto emergency situations. You'll treat her with respect. She could very well be the deciding factor on whether you fly this mission or not."

'Great, way to ease me into this, Mavy. Thanks, really.'

"With that being said. Today, we'll start with what you only think you know. Show me what you're made of." Everyone had begun to file out as you hung back, biting on your nail, waiting for Pete. You caught one of the pilots pointing at you and elbowing the person next to him and dread filled you. This was like high school, but ten times worse.

"What's up, Kid?" Pete asked, a gentle smile on his face when he noticed your unease. Furrowing your brows, you took a deep breath in.

"I'm gonna tell you something and you can't react, or make a face, or a noise. Nothing."

"Okay..."

"I slept with the one of the pilots."

"Oh."

"You said you wouldn't say anything!" you slapped Pete on the arm. The older man flinched in response before turning to you with a panicked look.

"Which one was it? Was it the one with the mustache?" You slowly nodded, once again biting on your nail. Pete looked at you stunned, as if his entire world had just fall apart.

"You slept with Bradley?"

"So, his name's Bradley, huh? Wait- Bradley Bradshaw?" Confusion spread onto Pete's face as he jaw dropped slightly.

"He didn't tell you name?"

"What? Oh no, it wasn't him I slept with. I just wanted to know his name cause I know you wouldn't tell me even if I asked."

Groaning, Pete rubbed his face with his hands before glaring up at you through his fingers. "You really are a menace."

Giggling, you punched his arm before giving him a serious look. "I really did sleep with one of them, though. It was Natasha."

"Thank God..."

"Still not a good thing!"

Luckily for you, the pilots had been busy facing off against Pete the majority of the day. The pilot explained the bad blood between him and Bradley and you knew why you recognized him. He looked just like his father, and you'd seen the photos of Nick and Pete when they best known as "Goose and Maverick". You then explained what had occured between you and Natasha, greatly expressing the feelings that bubbled earlier that morning. While Pete was initially disappointed in what you did, he understood why you had done it, even if you didn't yourself.

So, that leads us to here, with you the medbay filling out paperwork as soft jazz played from your speaker. You found out from one the nurses that Pete had managed to shoot down every single pilot. You'd let out a loud cackle as you tried to picture their faces.

The aviators had been dismissed for the day and told to come in early tomorrow morning to get their physicals done. Before getting their physicals done, you needed to plan out the emergency situations and what you'd be teaching them tomorrow and get it Beau before training started tomorrow morning. Why he couldn't let you know that he wanted all the lessons in writing before was beyond you. You didn't question him, though. Too much work.

The strain in your neck made you lean back as you sighed. Most of the medical staff had gone home already. Fishing out your phone, you shot Pete a text asking if he was still on base. While waiting for his reply, you gathered all your paperwork deciding that it was better to take home then spend more time on base. Placing it all in your bag, you grabbed your phone to see Pete's reply.

[Mavy] Already left. Sorry Want me to swing back?

Grumbling, you sent him a quick 'please' before making your way to the elevator. You should get Pete to drop you off at a car dealership and then but whatever car you pleased, you thought. You definitely had the funds for it. The doors opened as you stepped in, pressing your back to the wall opposite of the doors. Slinging your bag on your shoulder, you skimmed through Addison's texts. They were all the same really. Just different variations of "I'm sorry", "Please call me", "Come home", "We need to talk", "You can't do this", "Think about everything we've been through, love".

The ding of the elevator doors opening made you look from your phone. Once again, you were face-to-face with Natasha. Her hair was wet and the smell of generic bar soap filled the elevator as she stepped in. Her eyes stayed planted on the floor as she positioned herself facing away from you, only her back visible to you. Her hair, even wet, was still in a tight bun.

"I like it when your hair's down," you blurted out. She visibly stiffened and didn't reply. "This really what we gonna go, Sunshine?" you pushed off the wall and stood shoulder to shoulder with her. Natasha forced her eyes to stay forward and not look at you.

"We should forget what happened between us."

"Which part? The part that you slept with me or the part where you rushed out of my house this morning. Both are fond memories for me."

Natasha slowly looked up at you as you swallowed. If you had to pick one thing about Natasha that you loved, it would be her eyes. They were dark and memorising. When she passionate about something, they sparkled, you noticed when she told about flying last night. You also noticed that they were extremely expressive. Like, right now. Even when she was telling you that she wanted nothing to do with you, her eyes pleaded for you to just take her.

"You're technically my teacher and I'm your student."

"That's never stopped anyone before, ya know."

Shaking her head, the brunette let out a dry laugh as she crossed her arms. "I'm not ruining my career for some hotshot doctor."

"You think I'm a hotshot?" you teased, happy to see her cheeks flare up in red. Noticing the elevator was almost at the first floor, you quickly pressed the stop button. Shocked, Natasha turned to look at you with wide eyes.

Smiling, you gently placed a hand on her hip before leaning in, "If you want me to stop and drop this, then say it. Say it and I won't ever bother you again." At a loss for words, Natasha could only stammer as you slowly cradled her face in your other hand.

You had been staring so intently at her lips that it took you by surprise when she wrapped her arms around your neck and pulled you down into a heated kiss. Taking your shock as an opportunity, Natasha bit your lip as you pushed her into wall.

A buzzing in your pocket made you pull away as Natasha panted for air, her cheeks a deep red and lips slightly bruised. Cursing under breath, you pressed the stop button again as the elevator continued its descent down.

"I like kissing you," you whispered into the shorter woman's ear as she shivered. Her hands had been gripping your white lab coat that you had been wearing on top of your normal clothes. Gently unwrapping her hands, you smiled at her softly one last time before stepping back as the doors of the elevator opened. You stepped out and winked over your shoulder before making your way towards the parking lot where Pete was parked.

Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked at the weird dreamy look on Pete's face. "Are you high or something? Cause if you are, then I'm just gonna call a cab or something." Pete laughed you off as you grimaced before telling him of your plans to by a car this afternoon. That as much as you loved his Kawasaki, you needed your own car.