#ok tag time. every character in order lets go:

[altokel]

Gonna post this again on the new blog just so I can throw in a bunch of tags for my scp ocs but also feel free to ask about any of these guys

[always-just-red]

Please make a story that zayne is very clingy, sweet , romantic

For Mc

Pretty please

Make it long

Please

Please

Need a food 🥺

Food is served!! (One of these days you guys are gonna see an 'only accepting requests for Rafayel now' post and it'll be Raf hijacking my computer because WHY WAS I CATCHING FEELINGS FOR ZAYNE WHILE WRITING THIS??)

Doctor's Orders

Zayne x Reader ❄

Summary: Zayne has suggested you skip work today, which isn't suspicious at all...

Genre: Fluff (with a *pinch* of angst)

Warnings/Additional tags: gn!reader, established relationship, some kisses, some mentions of death (just a real mixed bag, you know?)

| Word count: 2k | Masterlist | Opt-in to my taglist here!

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Love and Deepspace. All work is my own, so please don't repost or plagiarise!

“Do you really have to go?”

Zayne was a lot of things: caring, even doting, but never normally this… clingy.

You pretend not to hear the question, feeling the weight of his eyes on your back as you get ready to leave. You will answer it— you’re not ignoring him— but you have so much to do, and you’ve answered it three times already. Yes, Zayne. It’s work. You finish lacing your boots. And no, Zayne, I can’t get out of it.

And since when was he an advocate for skipping a shift, anyway? Like blood from a stone, he’d calmly pleaded with you to come up with some sort of excuse and you’d stared back, eyes wide, because you didn’t know stones could bleed.

An excuse? You’d repeated in disbelief.

Yes. You could… tell them you’re sick? I could write you a note.

You’d thought it a joke until he drew out a pen and started scrawling something on the nearest scrap of paper. He’d pushed it into your hands, his gaze earnest, as though he were trusting a co-conspirator. Here, he’d said matter-of-factly, you can give it to your captain tomorrow.

The writing was barely legible.

It’s still crinkling in your pocket now: your little ‘get-out-of-your-Sunday-shift-free’ card, courtesy of Doctor Zayne, and yes, you are going to hold onto it, but it’s not for Jenna. It’s for your apartment wall, where you’ll be mounting it in a golden frame, because absolutely no-one is going to believe you when you tell this story.

You collect your guns from a nearby drawer, checking the sights and the safety on each before holstering them at your sides. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I’ll get back,” you shrug.

A nice sentiment— not entirely true. “Or you could stay.” Zayne is looking at your weapons, not you.

He’s sat at the kitchen table, watching you over an untouched breakfast. Yours also sits around him: plates upon plates of every food you could imagine, warm and cold, savoury and sweet. You’d suffered a brief heart attack when you’d first laid eyes on it, presuming you’d forgotten some occasion or another.

There’s even a vase of fresh flowers, flourishing at the centre of it all.

It’s one of the most romantic things you’ve ever seen, but you’re starting to think that’s the point. Like a hand on your heart, squeezing; it’s urging you to sit back down, to relax, to surrender and let him take care of you. Are you the worst person in the world? It feels like you are.

Ready to take on anything but more of his gaze, you return to the table, fully-armed, and pluck a strawberry from the edge of a plate. You pop it into your mouth, savouring its sweetness as you stroll behind Zayne’s chair. “Try not to worry,” you mumble, resting your hand on his shoulder while you lean in to kiss his cheek. “Ok?”

“Ok.”

You go to pull away, but his hand lands on your hand, anchoring you to him. His fingers wrap around your wrist, lifting, guiding your fingers in front of his mouth so he can press a few, brisk kisses to each. Your heart is in a vice again— tightening with every brush of his lips. You can’t take it. You can’t.

He knows, and he’s turning in the chair, slipping his free hand around your waist and tugging until you’re crushed up against him. “Stay. Please?” his voice entreats. You can barely hear it from where his face is nestled into you.

You have to remind yourself to breathe, and you sigh as your hands move to cradle his head and run your fingers through his hair. You want to enjoy this. Why can’t you enjoy this?

His breath is fanning against you and all you can think about is the fact that he’s making you late.

…

You’re marching to headquarters twice as quickly as usual, and you’ve crashed into three people already. Every time there’s been an impulse to scream “get out of the way!” but you’re wearing your uniform, so you have to apologise, smile sweetly, and pretend you’re not one incident away from turning in your badge and leaving them all to fend for themselves.

Someone steps out in front of you and you have to swerve to miss them, almost dropping your phone in the process. It had just started ringing, and the noise persists as you fumble with it.

“Hello?” you answer, putting it to one ear as you plug the other with a finger.

“Hi!” It’s Greyson, finally, and he’s surprisingly chipper for someone you know is just coming off of his graveyard shift. “I saw your texts. Is everything ok?”

“Yeah! Thanks for calling. It’s just…”  Everything’s too noisy for you to concentrate, and you’re still essentially running an obstacle course. You peel away from the crowd, ducking into the quiet of an alley. “I’m a little worried about Zayne. He’s been acting weird all weekend, ever since—”

“Friday?”

“Yeah.” That couldn’t mean anything good. Your brow furrows. “Did something happen?” 

A drawn-out sigh makes it through the phone, and you know Greyson well enough to know he’s pinching the bridge of his nose, wondering just how much he should tell you. “We had a patient transferred to us on Friday,” he caves, “a young woman— a hunter, injured— she was… not in a good way. Recovery odds next to zero, but Zayne? You know Zayne. He had to try.”

You nod, even though Greyson can’t see it. There’s dread in the pit of your stomach; you can tell where this is going.

“She didn’t make it,” he states with the rehearsed evenness of someone who’s spoken the words too many times before. There’s another sigh, then he hastens to add: “Zayne was incredible, though— he did everything he could, really. He was her best chance, he just… wasn’t enough. You can’t save everyone, you know?” He chuckles awkwardly. “Yeah, you know.”

And you do: you’re just as haunted by that truth and all of its ghosts. “Yeah,” you speak at last, seeing their faces. Your throat hurts. “Thanks, Greyson. Really.”

“That’s ok,” he yawns. “If Zayne asks, you didn’t hear it from me.”

“You think he’s gonna believe that?”

“No.” He’s smiling, now— you can tell. “But it’s worth a try! You take care of yourself, ok?”

“You too. Thanks again.”

“Any time.”

…

You’ve only been gone for half an hour, but Zayne is fast asleep. Though you’d practically burst through the front door, his head is still lowered— dipping over an open medical journal— and his dark hair has fallen over his eyes. You can’t help but smile. This wasn’t the nervous, pacing-the-apartment man you’d expected to find, but it eases the guilt in your chest for the first time all morning.

You sling your bag from your shoulder and set it gently down on the floor, all the while easing the door closed behind you. You unfasten your holsters. Shrug yourself free of all their straps. You don’t make a sound; you’re being very careful.

Slowly, you make your way over to where Zayne’s lying on the sofa. You lower yourself to his level, reaching to pry his book from his fingers. His glasses are next: you ease them from his face like you’re handling a volatile protocore. Your breath is baited. Your hands almost shake, but you’re an expert at this sort of extraction: you’ve done it a hundred times before.

With your mission accomplished, you allow yourself one small reward. You want to see his face— all of his face— so you card your fingers through his fallen hair, smoothing it back into place. He looks like a dream: the kind you’re glad to carry through daylight, long after you wake. The kind you write down for fear of forgetting a single detail.

You want this, this, this. Every morning. For the rest of your life.

And maybe even the next life. Is that possible?

(You hope it’s possible.)

Standing softly, you smile again— a smile between you and the universe, the gods, and the night sky, in all its infinity. There are things you cannot know and even more things you cannot have, but you are more than content with your consolation prize. This:

One minute of peace, for you and your doctor.

You have a funny feeling this is more than you were ever meant to have.

When your minute is through, you watch as Zayne’s face changes, and he is no longer at peace. He frowns, his whole body suddenly tense. There’s a murmur of… pain? It sounds like pain— he winces like it’s pain. He doesn’t tell you where he goes, but you wish you could hold his hand and make a breakfast big enough to keep him from going there.

“Zayne,” you whisper, resting a warm palm on his cheek. A little louder: “Zayne.”

He stirs in his sleep as your voice brings him back to reality. He’s yours— yours— and the inevitable can have him later. Sure enough, his eyes flutter open, lost for a moment, but then? Home. Safe. With you.

“Hey,” you grin.

He squints against the daylight. “Hmm? Oh. What are you doing back so soon?”

You scoff. “Some doctor you are! I’m at death’s door— can’t you tell?” Your hand leaves his cheek, indicating your not-pallid skin, not-flushed cheeks, and not-sunken eyes with a wave. Then you find his hand, pressing his fingers to your forehead.

There’s a second of hesitation. “Ah,” he says warily, “yes, you’re… burning up.”

“Right?!” 

Despite the severity of your condition, you find the strength to clamber on top of him. It’s anything but graceful, and he groans as you shift and fidget, taking your time getting comfortable. Eventually you settle, your head resting against his chest and his arms holding you close. You’re not tired, but you close your eyes, and this is so much better than patrolling for Wanderers.

He draws you higher so his chin can rest on the top of your head. “Greyson told you, didn’t he?” he ventures aloud, because he’s awake, now, so he’s connecting dots.

“Yeah,” you nod against him. “But if he asks, I said it was Yvonne, ok?”

There’s a hum of agreement, then he’s silent. Thinking again. “I’m sorry,” he finally speaks.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. It’s sweet that you worry. You don’t need to—”

“No,” he stops you. “I care about you a lot, and I’ll never apologise for that. What I am sorry for, however, is that a romantic gesture from me is so unusual that you feel you have to call my colleagues. I know I’m not always outwardly affectionate, but—”

“No.” It’s your turn now, and you twist, angling yourself so you can look up into his eyes. “You always make me feel loved, Zayne. Everything you do, everything you say… it’s for me, and no-one has ever cared about me like that. No-one has ever showed me they care like that.”

“Then why—”

“Because you get it, Zayne— the importance of what I do, because it’s what you do, even if it’s different. We’re both saving the world a little, right?”

“Right.”

You draw out his doctor’s note and shimmy it in front of his eyes. “So what the hell is this?”

He admits guilt with a chuckle, his hand moving to catch the evidence, but you’re one step ahead, stashing it back into the sanctity of your pocket. He issues a short hmph, defeated.

“Come on,” you prompt, escaping his arms. “Let’s not let all that food go to waste. You kept it, yeah? I’ve been dreaming about those chocolate-chip pancakes since I left.”

Zayne had been helping you up, but he slumps back as you finish your sentence. “Oh.”

“Oh?”

“Oh,” he confirms with the trademark nod of a doctor, and it can only mean one thing:

You’re about to receive some very, very bad news.

[boltonbritreads]

🗣️Eddie Munson Fic Recs

This is gonna have a sappy start before I get into the fic rec portion: but I just wanted to say that at the end of May 2022, I was finishing up my first year of law school. It was rough, challenging, lonely, and basically everything you’d expect and I was in a bad place and the fandom I’d been in was slowing down just naturally. I truly wish I could remember how I even became aware of Eddie Munson because stranger things wasn’t really on my radar anymore and whoever I followed at the time that started to veer off into Eddie-mania, thank you. In the two years since then, I’ve graduated and become the worlds babiest lawyer and I genuinely owe a lot to this fandom and community on here for giving me a fun, usually safe, creative place to escape to when it got rough.

I’m just hoping to maybe remind people that there are already an incredible, incredible amount of existing stories to read and talk about that deserve your attention and love if you’re looking to read some Eddie stories. Some of these will be fics I’ve recommended before but I’m going to try my best to pull together writers and fics that I love and think everyone should read in the hopes that someone like me who still scrolls through eddie tags looking for my nightly bedtime story can find something new to them to read! ✨

Previous Fic Rec list here!! some overlap but there’s no such thing as too much hype for these writers

@munson-blurbs I hope it’s ok but I’m linking Bug’s full masterlist here because I have genuinely loved everything she has written. There are blurbs, series, and special events which are all incredible and worth a read! Bug is currently still writing the “Living after Midnight” series which is my current obsession and features rockstar!eddie x motelheiress!reader and it’s angst and lust galore

@corroded-hellfire also sharing the Eddie Masterlist here because there’s so many fics to read!! As You Wish, Big Brown Eyes, Where the Heart Is are all incredible but truly there’s so much here to enjoy

@upsidedownwithsteve SIMMER!! jk I’m actually linking the Eddie Masterlist here too because I love them all but “I Want You To Want Me” and “Simmer” are out of this world

@pinkrelish The Yes Policy I love it, you love it, we all love it and if you haven’t caught up yet oh my god I wish I was you and could read these chapters for the first time again

@ghost-proofbaby I’ve previously told people to go read 24 Hours, and you should, that’s an order; but Maroon is ongoing! and it’s actually infiltrating my every thought so go on over and get caught up bc I think it’s safe to say things are getting amped up

@trashmouth-richie I have also previously recommended Honey, I’m Home because it’s a work of art but Ziggy has a new mini series “Crash + Fall” that I’m completely obsessed with the concept for and I’ve loved every piece so far!

@tiannasfanfic I just reblogged Conviction again but I genuinely am not exaggerating when I say I think about this story and these two monthly and try and find this story all the time to re-read it endlessly. It’s a really lovely story of unplanned pregnancy and two characters not realizing they’ve been smitten for each other the whole time and I love it

@carolmunson I’m sharing another Eddie Masterlist here because I’d be making this post far too long but Carol’s stories are all incredible, complex, and honest. “Let’s go, don’t wait” just got updated and I had to read it like 3 times last night because it was too good to just read one and done

@rebelfell I just discovered Sarah’s blog after reading the most recent “Frenemy” fic and idk what I was doing wrong to not already follow her and not have already read her whole Masterlist but I’m linking the whole thing bc she’s so good!!

@the-au-thor I also only just discovered Elle’s blog and that’s criminal but thank god I found Babysitting Mun because I am a sucker for rockstar!eddie and this series has me on the edge of my seat rn

@storiesbyrhi I’m sharing the Masterlist folks because I have genuinely loved every single story and series and I have read them all now (some several times). So many of Rhi’s stories have a wonderful warm witchy vibe that I crave and I’ve read Siouxsie and the Soulmates, The Cabin in the Woods, Our Patron Saint of the Arts, Vintage Reeboks, and Burning Yarrow (insert screaming fan gif) multiple times now

@heart-eyed-love this fic is the epitome of a soft, cozy, domestic night with Eddie and if you need a hug read this 🥹

@eddieandbird I JUST got caught up on Eddie/Tour Manager series and I’m fully obsessed and desperate to know how they’re gonna navigate this - for folks new to the story, Eddie and his tour manager accidentally drunkenly get married- what could go wrong??

@eiightysixbaby the scream I scrumped when I finished reading Princess Leia, and Other Wishes - look bffs to lovers is already my absolute weakness on this earth but then you had to make it witty and funny and FLUFFY I just can do nothing but re-read and pine

@superblysubpar I’m still obsessed with this addition to The Boy is Mine writing challenge and oh god it’s so good 😩

…and while we’re talking about it - here’s the entire The Boy is Mine masterlist with an INSANE amount of incredible stories to read

@the-unforgivenn !!! tumblr hates me and deleted this bullet (so if you already saw this post, no you didn’t) but And I Need You to Know is a proper novel! I can’t imagine how much time, love, effort, planning, and work went into creating this insane and absolutely incredible world but everyone needs to read this!! and then follow up with She’s So Cold bc I love it and I am so reader

~~ this is not the end nor an exhaustive list! I just wanted to put something out there now that I plan to build on because I know I’m always scrolling and searching for new things to read or old things to revisit ♥️ ~~

[jo-harrington]

On-the-Job Training (A Store Manager Verse Story - Steve Harrington/Reader)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader

Summary: Steve has a crush on the Dippin' Dots cashier.

Warnings/Themes: AU where the Upside Down doesn't terrorize Hawkins. Late Summer of 1985, Steve and Robin work at Scoops, Reader works at Dippin' Dots, Mutual Pining, Flirting, Enemies to Lovers(sort of?), Tie in with the Store Manager Verse

Note: Ok what started off as a silly little conversation about what flavor chapstick each ST character would use turned into this and I typically don't write Steve...but I had to give him some love.

Tagging my loves who were integral to that convo to thank them for inspiration especially Drac who started it all. This is for you bb. @dr-aculaaa @mopeymopeymouse @chestylarouxx @somnambulic-thing @fracturedarkness @br0ck-eddie

Technically slightly anachronistic because Dippin' Dots didn't open until 1988 but I'm a stickler for accuracy in the regular series. This is just a fun little do-dad.

You can find my masterlist here for more fics featuring pretty much exclusively Eddie Munson content but also a little Steve.

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Largely unedited; I didn't even re-read it. It's might suck. Enjoy!

---

"Ahoy! One U.S.S. Butterscotch!"

Steve never thought that this would be his future after graduation.

This summer he should have been living it up before he went away to college and made something of himself. Lifeguarding at the pool, going to all the parties, hanging out with his friends.

Instead, his life went to shit, Nancy Wheeler had broken up with him, he had gotten rejection letter after rejection letter from the schools he had applied to...and instead of working at the pool like he had every summer since he turned 16, he had a crappy job slinging ice cream at Scoops Ahoy of all places at the new StarCourt Mall.

"Thanks so much," the sweet lady who had placed the order smiled at him and handed the sundae to her son. "Look at that Frankie, your favorite." The little boy shot Steve a grin complete with his two front teeth missing and Steve melted a little bit.

Alright, it wasn't so bad. He got to make people smile, he got some spending money--which was nice since his dad had pretty much cut him off, although his mom was sneaking him some cash on the side.

"Look alive dingus," Robin called from the window separating the front of the ice cream parlor from the backroom. "Your schmoopsie poo is here."

"Shut up Rob!" Steve groaned through gritted teeth.

One of the perks of working at the mall was that he got to interact with people of all shapes and sizes and yeah...Steve had tried to use it as a means to get over Nancy. He'd had little hours-long crushes on fellow mall employees, customers, Robin--although working with her made that difficult--hell there was even a manager that had caught his eye towards the beginning of summer except he'd seen Eddie "The Freak" Munson of all people hanging around her.

Although after a few months of seeing Eddie around StarCourt not being a wastoid menace, Steve had to admit...well he wasn't that bad either.

The one who'd caught his eye the most though was you, and yeah...he'd developed an actual big little long-lasting crush.

You, who came around for a root-beer float most afternoons.

You, whose smile made his heart skip a little.

You in your pink polo, teal apron, and white visor with the words Dippin' Dots emblazoned on the front.

The enemy.

And you never let him forget it either.

Steve had been heart eyes over you the first time you had entered into Scoops territory to order your float. Undercover in casual summer clothes a week after the mall had opened. There was just something about you, your smile, your laugh.

Robin teased that he said that about everyone; Steve ignored her.

Then you opened your mouth and said the float was good but the service could have been better. That Steve should stop by Dippin' Dots sometime and see how it was really done.

Shots fired.

It really hurt at first. This was his first real job outside of the community pool, one he had been excited to get. He was really nice, tried his best; why didn't you think so?

"It's called flirting," Robin insisted. "God, you really suck, you know that? How can you ask people out willy nilly and then miss someone flirting with you right in front of your face? Flirt back next time."

So he did.

Every so often he'd mosey across the mall to your kiosk, order a small vanilla cup, and throw a little insult of his own your way. Usually something about how tiny balls of ice cream could never beat an actual scoop. Or about how you didn't count his change the right way, or that your visor was on crooked.

You wouldn't hesitate to get your own comment in. Especially about his choice in flavor.

"You work at an ice cream parlor and you order vanilla?" you questioned. "A hundred flavors to choose from at scoops; do you only get vanilla there too? Vanilla...is good but when you have variety? Order something exciting one day, and then we can talk business, Stevie."

Oof, it steamed him.

But not enough to stop playing the game.

And it left you both grinning so who was he to end the fun.

So when you showed up at Scoops today after not being around for a few days and your smile didn't reach your eyes like it usually did...Steve was suddenly overcome with...well he didn't really know.

"Ahoy, uh, sailor," he greeted and tried to put on his biggest award-winning, tip-earning smile.

"Ahoy," you replied weakly.

"Root beer float?" he asked, already heading over to the case to start scooping ice cream into a cup.

"Uh," you hesitated. "No, just...just a small vanilla cup today."

Steve froze and looked at you. Your shoulders were slumped, you had your visor in your hand, and you were pointedly avoiding eye contact with him.

What was...what was wrong with you?

Where was your fight? Where was your fire? Why, all of a sudden, was your game over?

"Hey, uhm," he coughed awkwardly. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, Steve," you nodded absently.

"You always get root beer."

"I just want vanilla today."

"The special is salted caramel? I can give you a sample if you're--"

"No, I just want vanilla," you cut him off and rolled your eyes. "You always get vanilla. Why is it a problem if I suddenly do? Vanilla is good too. Maybe vanilla is just...what we both want ok? Nothing else."

He was shocked. That wasn't playful annoyance in your voice; you were just...annoyed.

"Sure," he agreed. "Sure. One small vanilla coming right up."

He got your ice cream and rang you out, and as you were about to leave, he called after you.

"See you in a little while?" he asked.

"If you want." You waved goodbye and headed out of the ice cream parlor.

Steve turned and looked at Robin who simply rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"You're hopeless," she sighed and slammed the shutters on the window closed.

---

Steve roamed around the mall on his break.

Typically, he'd make his way to Dippin' Dots but...that just seemed like a waste of time today.

He'd fixated on your visit for the rest of his shift until his break, analyzing everything he said, everything he did. Everything that could have made you mad at him.

Once he got Robin out of her hiding spot in the back room, he monologued all of his thoughts to her.

She watched him pace back and forth, called him a dingus a few times, a loser a few other times, and then finally sent him on his break with some last words.

"I know you're hearing everything they're saying Steve," she began. "But are you really listening? You just keep...ordering vanilla."

"Uh. Yeah. That's the game."

"It's not a game you...ughhhhh! GO!" She pointed to the exit. "Before I throttle you."

Why couldn't she just tell him? What had he done?

In his rumination, he'd been chewing at his lips. A habit he had pretty much done his entire life when he got nervous.

Shit, and he'd left his chapstick in the car; it was hot, it probably melted by now.

That was one of the little ways you made his life a little better...through your teasing. You had told him, once, that his lips looked dry.

"Maybe invest in some chapstick or something."

He'd gone to Melvald's that same night that you told him and got a 3-pack of strawberry chapstick. All the while wondering if it meant you had been looking at his lips for a while or...

But it was...just another little jab right? Another little flirt? Another part of your game?

Still, he never knew when you might show up so the chapstick became a constant--something that soothed him even, gave him courage--and he always had a tube tucked into the pocket of his shorts, or on the register, or in the cupholder of his car. To swipe on if he knew he was about to see you...or hoped he was.

And now...he desperately needed it, needed his strawberry chapstick--needed you--and it was nowhere to be found.

Steve stopped in his tracks and looked at the stores around him.

WaldenBooks, Regis Salon, JH Camera Repair.

Claires.

Bingo.

He'd seen little kids with their play makeup and sparkly plastic jewelry post up in one of the booths at Scoops after they spent their allowance money at Claire's. He had to find strawberry chapstick there. He'd even take cherry. Something.

Anything.

Steve crossed into the pink-and-purple-and-pop-music-filled oasis to a melodic "Welcome In" from the employee helping a little girl by the ear piercing booth. And as out of place as he felt, he was immediately relieved to see a wall full of eyeshadow palettes and glitter hairspray.

He closed the distance and frantically searched the wall, but it was all novelty makeup. There was one package of Dr. Pepper lip smackers, but the package was half-ripped and the cap was missing; he was a little worried but he figured it was better than nothing.

He was about to snatch it off the hook when that voice sounded behind him.

"Did you need help finding anything?" He immediately turned on his heel to find the employee--the manager, Eddie Munson's girlfriend--standing there in a flourish of tulle and fluorescent colors. "Oh! That's a customer favorite...looks like it's damaged though, let me just..."

She reached out to take the package but Steve reacted instinctually. He quickly grabbed it and clutched it to his chest.

"I don't mind," he tried to reason. "I don't care if it's missing the cap."

"Listen, I can't sell it to you if it's damaged," the manager explained. "It's just not safe. Is there anything else I can help you find though?"

She reached for the package again but he held it back.

"I need this," Steve tried again.

"Oh...kay."

"Because I messed up and this...you know the cashier down at the Dippin' Dots kiosk? Well...I don't know...I pissed them off or something and I just need to...go down and talk to them and I can't."

"So the lip balm is a gift for them? To make amends?"

"No...it's for me because my lips are dry." Steve sighed. "I...ok I know it sounds crazy, but I swear. It's...they got me to start using chapstick because they said my lips were dry and it's this thing we do. We go back and forth and we tease each other.

"But they're mad at me now, and they didn't...I mean they ordered vanilla. They never order vanilla. They hate it when I order vanilla."

"Uh huh." The manager's eyes went a little soft. "I'm not...really following the logic...but I get it."

"You do?"

"You like each other. But you're just...going back and forth. And no one has really...admitted it," she observed. She suddenly burst into laughter and Steve cocked his head to one side in confusion. "Sorry, sorry...it's just...whatafuckincoincidence.

"So are you the one who's afraid of being rejected? Or...are they...or..."

Cue the record scratch in Steve's head.

Rejection.

All summer...all year actually...Steve had been faced with one rejection after another. First Nancy, then all of the college applications, his dad and now...all of the little fleeting mall crushes that he'd asked out that had said no.

Robin had even made a scoreboard that sat in the back whenever someone turned him down.

He thought all this time...he'd become immune to it. But with you...it was easier to think it was just a game than to possibly face the reality that if he asked you out...you'd say no and then the little game would be ruined. And his hopes would be dashed.

He didn't realize that all of his waffling could potentially be hurting you too.

"Why don't you," the manager continued when Steve hesitated to answer, "go down there and talk to them? Even if they're mad at you. Communication is very important. I'm sure if you explain everything, or even...just show that you're willing to bridge the gap, they'd be willing to listen. The worst they could say is no, but if they're already mad, you have nothing to lose. See if they'll give you a chance."

"So I...shouldn't order vanilla this time?" He looked up at her and asked, recalling your words.

Order something exciting, and then we can talk business.

The door had been open for him to ask you out this whole time.

And that's why you ordered vanilla earlier. Because Vanilla meant...meant that this...flirtation...this game...wasn't going anywhere. He hadn't made a move, so you didn't want to wait anymore.

God, he was so stupid.

"Uh, no...don't do that," the manager smiled kindly. She reached out for the broken lip balm and took it from him. "I'll just...damage this out."

"Wait...but my lips are still dry," Steve floundered. "I still need chapstick."

"Do you think there's gonna be some kissing happening?" the manager's eyes narrowed. "I said talk to them, not...plant one on them."

"I just need...something," he begged. "Strawberry...if you have it."

"I think we have strawberry flavored lip gloss by the register."

"I'll take it."

---

So there Steve was, in the concourse by JCPenney, patiently waiting in the line for Dippin' Dots with sticky, strawberry-flavored lips tinted a very nice shade of pink.

As soon as he had swiped the gloss on...as silly as he had felt...he had been reminded of you.

"Next!" your voice sounded every so often and the line got shorter and shorter, and Steve's courage got weaker and weaker. The Claire's manager had been right though...communication...the worst you could tell Steve was "no."

"Next!" You'd be just another tally on Robin's scoreboard. And she could call him a dingus again. She really enjoyed doing that. So some good would at least come from his failure.

"Next!" He'd also get...a cup of Dippin' Dots which...if he had to admit, he kinda enjoyed. He got all the Scoops ice cream he wanted for free but this was different. Ice Cream of the Future and all that. He sort of expected Henderson to come up with something like this, the little nerd; well, if he could never show his face here again, he'd ask the kids if they could figure out how to make some kind of futuristic ice cream for him.

"Ne--oh!" Steve finally got to the front of the line and saw your shocked face. He smiled and waved as he approached the register.

"Hey," he greeted. "I told you I'd see you around."

"You did," you said flatly and scrunched your nose. "So...the usual? Small vanilla cup?"

"Uh no..." Steve said hesitantly. You raised an eyebrow in question. "I uh...can I get a large..."

"Large vanilla?" You sniffed.

"Large Rainbow Ice," he recited after squinting at the menu board. "It's time for something new."

You stared at him silently and Steve couldn't help but doubt himself.

What if Rainbow Ice was the wrong answer? Should he have gone with Banana Split? Shit he should have just stuck with Strawberry. It was his favorite. Strawberry chapstick, strawberry gloss, strawberry ice cream. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"Yeah," you finally answered with a beaming smile and Steve's heart soared. "Yeah it is time for something new, isn't it?"

Next Part: Incremental Planning

[questforgalas]

Thank you for coming back

Notes: So once again, @zaana's incredible art lived rent free in my head until I put it down on paper. So here's a delightful AU where Crosshair doesn't get sent to Tantiss because guess who gets to him first? Chose to do a rescue from Barton IV because Cross is in his imperial armor in the art, and I thought "Hey, let's maybe give him a break and not make him go through torture before he's rescued?" Neat idea, right? Let's tell Jen and Brad

WC: 3K (lol this was going to be a drabble)

Characters: The Bad Batch (all of them!)

Tags: Wrecker POV (he deserves all the Crosshair reunion energy), angst at the end (Crosshair is going through it ok), hurt/comfort, giant family group hug, Crosshair and Wrecker cry, Hunter is emotional, canon typical violence, implied mistreatment by the Empire (did I mention Crosshair is going through it?), family reunion, all the family fluff I could fit into 3k words

Tay's Masterlist

Read on AO3

The sound of blaster fire was becoming permanent in Wrecker’s ears. Hunkered down behind a duracrete barrier, he kept his DC-17 trained on the Imps attempting to advance on his position, blaster bolts streaming past his head. 

“Seriously, who trained these guys to shoot,” he thought to himself, needing to only dodge a few bolts from the barrage while his targets fell with each pull of his trigger. 

The landing platform at the depot on Barton IV was looking more like a true battlefield and less like a remote outpost with every passing minute. Two T-4 shuttles lay in smoking ruins - the first thanks to Hunter’s skill on the Marauder’s rear gun and the second thanks to an excellent detonator throw by Wrecker - and stormtrooper bodies lay scattered across the duracrete ground. So far, Wrecker and Hunter were executing their part of the plan perfectly, but when it came to creating distractions, there wasn’t much guess work as to Wrecker’s success rate. 

The Batch’s intel told them that the depot, located on a desolate, frozen planet that rivaled Hoth’s  icy temperatures, normally operated as a blip on the Empire’s priority list. In fact, blip might have been giving it too much credit. The small clone trooper squad that was assigned to protection detail put in requests for equipment, supplies, and reinforcements throughout their year of service, and every request fell on deaf imperial ears. Gathered from the information Tech found during his hacking, Commander Mayday of the squad put in a request for reinforcements 40 rotations ago, citing that only five members of his squad remained alive at the time the request went in, but Tech couldn’t find any log of a response anywhere in the records. Complete silence from the Empire. 

Until 4 rotations ago. The call went out for a platoon of stormtroopers to ready for deployment to Barton IV with orders to transport cargo of high importance to the Empire from the depot to the military base on Coruscant. Prior to the platoon’s arrival, a small squad of clone troopers was sent to scout and ready the depot for the cargo transfer. The squad consisted of two standard troopers and one specialized. One prickly, stubborn, unyielding specialized trooper who Wrecker couldn’t wait to see again. 

When Tech caught chatter that a clone trooper shot a commanding imperial officer in broad daylight in front of an imperial depot, he initially intended to send the intel directly to Captain Rex, informing him of another defecting clone who would be in need of assistance, but after he scanned the information log, he didn’t register his datapad falling from his hands, thudding on the floor, only able to to focus on activating the comm on his vambrace, urging Hunter to get to the Marauder as quickly as possible. Because there in front of him, written across the Marauder’s main computer, was CT-9904: Defector. Charged with the murder of Lieutenant Nolan. In custody on Barton IV. Scheduled for armed transfer in two rotations. 

The discussion was short - Hunter the only one remaining cautious until Tech confirmed the lack of security at the depot, even with the stormtrooper platoon coming in - and the Batch set their course to Barton IV less than two hours after the message was intercepted. The plan was easy, one the Batch could nearly execute in their sleep, even with their newer blonde addition. Create a distraction to draw the majority of security out into the open which Hunter and Wrecker would engage while Omega provided cover from the Marauder. Meanwhile, Tech and Echo skirt along the edge of the chaos, slip into the depot undetected, locate Crosshair’s location, and extract him while neutralizing any remaining threats if necessary. 

Plans 5, 4, and 21. The Batch specialty. 

“Wrecker, incoming! Northwest!” Hunter’s smokey voice called over the commotion. 

The far gate of the depot opened, ten stormtroopers running out to join the fight. “Yeah, I see ‘em, Sarge,” Wrecker confirmed. “They look excited to see us.” 

Hunter took cover behind his barrier, and turned his head in Wrecker’s direction.

“How about you give our hosts a warm greeting?” Hunter suggested, cocking his head to the side. Wrecker could feel the smug smirk under that helmet.

“Gladly,” Wrecker responded gleefully. 

Reaching into the pack on his back, he grabbed two thermal detonators, clicked them live, and chucked. They arced into the air, curving in opposite directions, landing right in the middle of the oncoming troopers, and Wrecker watched as all ten stormtroopers disappeared into a beautiful burst of orange, red, and black. 

“Direct hit,” Wrecker yelled, pumping his DC-17 in triumph. 

Across the way, Hunter gave a quick thumbs up and popped his head above his barrier. Wrecker did the same, confirming that the landing platform was clear of imps for the moment, but they knew more troopers would arrive soon. They’d only taken out about 30 of them so far. 

“Agh, where are they,” Hunter wondered, helmet trained on the door they expected to see their brothers emerge from. 

“Give ‘em a few more minutes, Sarge. I doubt the Empire just left Crosshair in a set of binders on a crate.” 

“They’re dumb enough to,” Hunter said. A soft chuckle came through his modulator, “Wonder how long he’d humor them until he took them all out with his hands still bound.” 

“Knowing Crosshair? They wouldn’t even get the binders on him,” Wrecker laughed. 

Hunter went quiet, helmet still pointed at the door. Then his shoulders fell like he was bowing to a weight Wrecker couldn’t see. “We’ll have to be patient. He’s…” Hunter paused. “He’s probably not the Crosshair we remember. There are going to be some … invisible wounds.” 

Wrecker released his own shuttered breath. He looked down at the ground for a moment, and then looked back up to find Hunter looking back at him. “Doesn’t matter how long it takes. We’ll help patch those up too.” 

Hunter remained still for a breath and then nodded. 

The silence was interrupted by a chime on Hunter’s comm. “What’ve you got, Omega?” he asked as he activated the connection. 

“I’m picking up multiple heat signatures heading our way. Looks like our little break is over,” Omega’s voice chirped over the comm. 

“Copy that,” Hunter responded.

Wrecker brought his own comm up to his mouth. “What’s your count, kid?” he asked playfully. 

“I’m at 4,” Omega answered, a smug tone floating through. 

“Only 4? You’re falling behind. I’m at 18,” Wrecker said. 

“I don’t think the thermal detonators should count,” Hunter interjected. 

“What?! Did you see how perfectly those landed? Probably my best yet! Not even Tech could pull that off.” 

“It’s hardly fair when I’m all the way back here on the Marauder!” Omega argued. 

“Excuses excuses, kid,” Wrecker teased. Their debate came to a quick halt when the remaining hangar doors of the depot opened, revealing the last wave of the platoon. “Alright, break time’s over. Shoot good, kid.” 

The platform became engulfed in battle once again. Blaster bolts peppered the air. Thermal detonators flew. Line after line of stormtroopers tried to take the advantage on the two ground soldiers and their coverage, but Hunter, Wrecker, and Omega held them back with ease. Wrecker heard General Skywalker speaking to Hunter about something called meditation once - a staple Jedi practice of centering one’s mind and connecting with the force through quiet sitting - and while Wrecker wasn’t sure this would meet the Jedi standard, he imagined this was the closest to meditation he would ever come. Surrounded by the sounds of battle. Adrenaline pumping in his veins. He’d hit a point of focus that drowned everything else out, his mission the only thought in his mind. And he was dam good at it, too. 

His DC-17 sang, and he let out a jovial laugh as he took down another line of troopers. As he focused on the enemies in front of him, the squad’s comm channel chimed in his helmet, and the only thing in the galaxy that could divert his attention from the battle in front of him called through the speakers.

“Hunter. Wrecker. We’ve got him. We’re approaching the exit. What’s the status of the platform?” Echo’s voice came through. 

For a second, Wrecker and Hunter turned towards each other, both chests rising rapidly with fast breaths not caused by the battle in front of them, and Wrecker knew if he could see Hunter’s eyes, they’d reflect the same bottomless relief he was feeling. 

Wrecker forced himself back to the present and provided cover fire while Hunter responded. 

“You’re clear to exit. A few imps left but nothing we can’t handle. Wrecker and I will provide cover fire while you cross the platform. Go directly to the Marauder,” Hunter ordered. 

Wrecker’s breath caught in his throat when a low, raspy voice could be heard in the background. “No, we thought we’d take a hike in the mountains.”

A hitched breath came through, and in his peripheral, Wrecker noticed Hunter lean his helmet back against the duracrete barrier, shoulders shaking. 

“I never thought I’d miss his attitude,” Omega piped in. 

That broke the tension building in Wrecker’s head, and a laugh barreled out from his chest. Brain clear and ready to act again, he focused on the remaining stormtroopers trying to hold their ground. 

“Omega, get the engines running. We’re getting off this hunk of ice as soon as we’re all onboard,” Hunter finished relaying the orders. 

“One more thing,” Tech’s voice came through this time. “I did the scan. The inhibitor chip has indeed been removed, but only after the encounter on Bracca. Crosshair did remove it voluntarily unbeknownst to the Empire.”

“Tech kind of refused to leave the holding cells until he was able to confirm it all. Hacked records and everything here on the depot. That’s what took us so long,” Echo supplied.

“Thank the Maker for Tech, and his stubborn need for knowledge,” Hunter mumbled. He went back on the comm, “Glad to hear it. Now get out here.”

Hunter turned to Wrecker. “Let’s take out as many as we can before they get here. Once they emerge, you lay down cover fire, and I’ll take overwatch.” 

“Copy that,” Wrecker replied, and they went to work. 

Time that had been passing at light speed slowed to the flow of Mustafar lava. Only ten stormtroopers remained posted across the platform, and Wrecker was determined to clear as many as he could before his brothers emerged. 

Another minute passed. Another. Then another. Time was taunting him.  

A whoosh floated over the blasterfire. The blasted door to the depot finally opened, and there in the doorway were three bent over figures - two supporting the weight of the third in between them - hobbling onto the landing deck. Wrecker allowed himself one glance hoping it would calm his running mind. Echo took most of the middle figure’s weight, flesh arm wrapped around their waist and scomp arm securing the arm wrapped across Echo’s back dangling over his shoulder, while Tech kept one arm around the figure’s waist and kept his blaster at the ready in the other. 

As Wrecker glanced at them,  it wasn’t the figure’s distinct all black armor - the armor of the imperial special forces - that identified him to Wrecker. No, it was the tattoo around their right eye. The tattoo Wrecker sat and watched as Tech gave it to them when they were still just cadets. The tattoo that represented their pride in their skill. The tattoo that told everyone exactly which batch he belonged to, front and center for all to see. The crosshair. 

Flanking from behind, Tech easily took down three stormtroopers before they made their way down the stairs. The remaining seven stormtroopers barked out orders to fall back, trying to regroup due to the new arrivals, and Wrecker used their confusion to his advantage, taking out another three in one go. Realizing they were outnumbered and outmatched, the remaining four stormtroopers fell back to the hangar, shooting wildly at any target they could see. 

Slower than Wrecker would like, his three brothers made their way to his and Hunter’s position across the platform. As soon as they crossed the threshold of their barriers, Hunter stood from his coverage, falling in step to provide cover directly at their backs. 

“Alright, Wrecker. Let’s keep these guys pinned as we head to the ship,” Hunter said. 

Jumping into position, Wrecker kept a steady pace back to the Marauder without breaking his fire on the remaining stormtroopers. Hunter hit one more as they walked, and Wrecker had his finger on the trigger to take down another when a streak of pink flew over his head and directly into the helmet of his target. 

He glanced over his shoulder. 

“Final count: 12,” Omega beamed down at him from the top of the ramp into the Marauder. 

“Aha! Nice shot, kid! Now let’s get out of here,” Wrecker said, barreling up the ramp into the ship. 

The ramp closed up as the ship made its way into the air, and the energy within immediately went still. Tech sat in the cockpit, taking over the controls from Omega once on board, but Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, Omega, and Crosshair remained in the hold. 

Crosshair sat in the chair in front of the computer, slumped over, one hand on the armrest propping him while an elbow rested on a knee like that was all the energy he could muster. He was breathing heavy, chest rising and falling as if he’d just finished a training sprint back on Kamino. Wrecker quickly gave his body a once over. Crosshair had always been lithe, by far the smallest body mass of the Bad Batch, but there had been muscle underneath those long limbs that gave any regular clone trooper a run for his money. Now, Wrecker clocked only bones showing underneath the exposed areas his armor didn’t cover, and his cheekbones were sharp above the hollowness of his cheeks. Purple blotched under his eyes, and it was impossible not to notice the deep scar that covered the right side on the back of his head. The scar he received when he took the full heat of a Venator ion engine. 

The same engine he tried to trap his brothers in. 

“Thank you…for coming for me. I…I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t,” Crosshair drawled, head bent down. Whether he was unable to lift it from lack of strength or not being able to face the current scene, Wrecker wasn’t sure. His own heart was thudding in his chest, threatening to burst out. He called on every ounce of discipline and self-restraint he learned in his years as a soldier and remained rooted in place, holding his breath. The rest of the Batch stood as still as statues, four sets of eyes on their silver-haired brother. 

“You can drop me off at the closest port. You can pick. Doesn’t matter to me,” Crosshair said to the floor. Still, no one else spoke. He raised his head, glancing at each of them. His gaze settled on Hunter. “I…I’d understand if that’s what you want to do. It’s what you should do.” 

The five of them felt the Marauder lurch into hyperspace, but still, Echo, Omega, Hunter, and Wrecker didn’t budge. Footsteps approached from the cockpit, and soon, Tech joined them, choosing to sit in the chair across from Crosshair. The silence grew, and Wrecked noticed the crease between the sniper’s eyebrows deepen while his eyes darted around the group.

“Well, aren’t any of you going to say something?” Crosshair asked, frustration creeping into his voice. He glanced around one more time, and finally stood up from the chair, a growl coming from his throat, back hunched like he was ready to pounce, and his gaze locked on Hunter, a finger pointed at the sergeant. “Listen, I didn’t ask you to come get me. I was ready to die on that platform after I shot the lieutenant, and I was ready to die in whatever maker-forsaken place they were going to send me. You hear me? I didn’t ask for this.” He gestured around the room, around the Batch. 

“So don’t make me a burden you don’t want. Drop me anywhere. Leave me. It’s what I deserve - oof!” 

Wrecker couldn’t take it anymore, and as he watched Crosshair teeter on the precipice of self-destruction, he took two strides towards his brother, and engulfed him in his arms. 

Crosshair stiffened, his arms frozen mid-gesture to the side. Wrecker stood there, arms firmly wrapped around Crosshair’s back and shoulders, head dipping to rest on top of Crosshair’s head, and he waited. Eventually, Crosshair’s arms fell to his sides, but his body remained stiff like he wasn’t actually registering what was happening. Then, after a few breaths, his arms slowly rose, one wrapping under Wrecker’s arm and the other circling over his shoulder. 

“Why did you come for me?” Wrecker heard muffled into his chestplate. 

“We don’t leave our own behind,” Wrecker answered simply. 

Wrecker felt the shaking first, then he heard the soft sobs. Tightening his arms, he held his once-lost brother as if challenging the galaxy to try and separate them again. When he felt Crosshair crumble into his chest, he released the grip he’d been holding on his own emotions, and the tears flowed freely. Tears of sorrow for what Crosshair endured. Tears of rage at the Empire. Tears of sweet relief at his family being whole again. 

Wrecker felt a pair of arms sneak between his waist and Crosshair’s chest, and when he looked up, he saw Hunter wrapped around Crosshair’s back, arms crushing the sniper into the sergeant’s chest. “We’ve got you, Cross,” Hunter murmured. 

One-by-one, Tech, Echo, and Omega joined in, the last squeezing herself into the middle, wrapping her arms around Crosshair’s leg, and even when the sobs quieted, they remained that way. There was a lot to talk about. A long road of trust to regain. They were about to navigate rough terrain. And the past will resurface, in old wounds, physical and not. But none of that mattered right now. In the middle of their home, a family reunited. Unsure what the future would bring them, but ready to face it all together.

[runnning-outof-time]

Birmingham | Tommy Shelby x Reader (Part 16)

Previous Part

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x reader

Summary: Some of (Y/N)'s past comes to light during the drive to Sheffield. She’s finally able to speak to her brother, and have the upperhand for once…until things change on a dime. Thankfully Tommy's there to back her up. After everything goes down, her mum is the first thing she can think about.

Warnings: language, strained familiar relationship, psychological abuse, weapons, violence (typical to series), character death, mentions of drinking

Word Count: 3151

A/N: alright, y’all…here’s the chapter. It’s all going down here. I hope that it doesn’t disappoint given this type of material isn’t what I normally write. A big shoutout is in order for @peakyscillian , who helped me with the structure for a part of this chapter. Also bonus points if you can pick out the line of Garrett’s where I channeled Fitzgerald from The Revanent. Enjoy ! :)

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Comment/Message me if you’d like to be tagged!

(Y/N) kept her hands twisted tightly together in her lap as she stared out at the road ahead of her. With each second that passed, her grip got stronger. It was to the point where her fingernails were digging into her skin, but she didn't care. She needed some way to alleviate this nervous feeling that was bubbling up inside of her.

"Are you ok, (Y/N)?" she heard Tommy ask beside her. His voice made her look over at him to see that he was taking quick glances in her direction in between staying focused on the road. He must've seen the death grip she had on herself.

"Honestly...no," she answered, exhaling a long breath then. "I...my mind's not stopped since we've left Birmingham."

"What's going through it?" he asked, glancing in her direction once more.

"I can't stop thinking about what we're going to do. It's not quite the homecoming that anyone first thinks of," she responded, a bit of a nervous laugh bubbling past her lips after she finished speaking.

"(Y/N), if you're having doubts about being the one who..."

"No. It's not doubt about that," she abruptly cut him off the second she realized the direction his statement was heading in, "I'm the one who's going to do this. I need to...for my own sanity and for the hope that I can gain some peace moving forward. I will go about every day in a much calmer state of mind once I know he's no longer a threat to my mother or I."

Tommy slowed the car down and pulled over to the side of the road after noticing the shift in her voice as it faded out towards the end of her statement. He knew that her past with her family was complicated, but the extent of it had never been shared with him. Seeing her sink further into herself the closer they got to Sheffield made him realize that maybe now was the time to get the full extent of the story.

"Why're we stoppin'?!" Arthur called from the car behind Tommy's.

"Just stay in the car!" Tommy called back to him, killing the engine before he turned to look at (Y/N).

"What did we stop for?" (Y/N) asked a similar question to Arthur's.

"You seemed to be getting worse the closer we got to Sheffield," he told her his observation, "figured that maybe you'd need a moment."

(Y/N) was biting back her tears at this point. "I've taken one, so let's go, yeah?" her statement came out a little more forced than she'd hoped.

"Let's take another," he went against her wishes before continuing, "you said that you'd have a calmer state of mind once he's dealt with...what do you mean by that?" he decided to come right out with his curiosity, hoping that she'd trust him enough to share with him.

(Y/N) looked at Tommy for a few moments, deciding whether or not she wanted to open up and explain her past to him. Then she remembered him opening up to her about his past and what he was going through when they were at the Garrison. With a deep breath and a long sigh, she decided that he was someone she could confide in.

"As much as I hate to say it, I have not a good memory shared with either of my brothers," she started, seeing Tommy's eyebrows furrow together before she continued, "when my father took charge of the gang, he began to push the idea that a woman's place was outside the sphere of business. He brought my brothers up on that idea, so naturally they fell right into place with enforcing it. My mother...she was fine with it. It followed right in line with the Weller family's idea that a woman couldn't be the head of the gang, which was why my father took charge in the first place. But my brothers...they took it a step too far most times. They'd often take the psychological route..." she trailed off then, her voice giving out as different instances of her brothers making her feel inferior began to come to mind.

"Love, you don't need to..."

"No, I need to," she abruptly cut Tommy off, shaking her head as she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, "maybe speaking about it will help alleviate the burden they've placed on me."

"Only if you feel comfortable," he told her, and she nodded her head before taking a deep breath.

She continued once she'd let it out slowly, "when I was younger it was the typical boys vs. girls, kid typed things. They'd tell me that I couldn't play with them, or that I couldn't be a part of the things they were doing. Clay pretty much stayed in that realm as he got older too; he'd tell me the same thing our father had instilled into our minds: a woman's place wasn't in business and that I had no need to be trying to insert myself into situations where I wasn't welcome. Garrett, on the other hand...he never knew how far was too far. He'd take every chance he got to put me down; to tell me that I wasn't good enough or that I couldn't handle anything. He liked to remind me that, because I was a woman, I was essentially useless to the family as a whole; that I'd never do anything for it like they did. He'd call me weak, he'd call me a coward...he would criticize me for staying inside and then tell me that I was making myself an easy target when I would go out. These remarks would get woven into almost every conversation we shared together, and it came up so much that I just got used to it," she paused, softly laughing to herself before continuing, "as terrible as it sounds, it was nice when he went off to war...because then I only had Clay to deal with, and he had other things going on, so letting me know my place in the family wasn't high up on his list."

"But then Garrett came back..." Tommy filled in the next part of her story when she took a moment to collect herself.

"He did. He came back even worse than he was before. His actions and ideas escalated, to the point where I had to run away," she took a shaky breath as her mind went back to the final days that she'd spent with her family. After a moment spent composing herself, she continued, "he and Clay were trying to make a deal stick...they thought they had the man to where he was going to agree, but he just wouldn't. So Garrett came up with the idea that he'd throw me in the deal as a sweetener, and after persistence from his end, the man bought it. I was to go with this man I'd never met because my brother decided that I was nothing more than a pawn to use in their business endeavors. I made it as far as the man's driveway before he had second thoughts and drove me back...he said he'd work things out on other terms. But Garrett wasn't happy about it. He thought that I was the one who made the man change his mind. He said that he would kill me if the business deal didn't go through in the end, because I would be the only reason why it wouldn’t...I left that night because I didn't want to wait around and see it through."

By the end of her monologue, (Y/N) had noticed that she now had crescent shaped marks in her wrist as a result of how hard she was pressing her fingers into it. She sniffled and reached up to swipe away the tears that were welling up in her eyes before they could escape.

"I'm sorry, I...I didn't mean to unload all of that onto you," she apologized, finally looking at Tommy again.

"Don't apologize. I'm sure doing it helped you," he brushed her off, hoping that his expression was being received as sympathetic. Inside an anger was boiling up with each second that passed. He now had another reason why this man needed to be dealt with before the sun set.

"It did," she nodded, "it's just that now my mum's in his crosshairs because she's still speaking with me, and I won't have her become even more collateral damage from my decisions. That's why I need to be the one who does this...who finally frees us from his grips."

"You're sure of it?" he checked with her once more, still not wanting to push her into something that may be too much...and if he was being honest, he wanted to do it himself now.

"I am," she answered, an assured expression on her face.

"Ok," he nodded upon hearing her answer, "are you ready to go?"

"I am," she repeated her previous response, nodding slightly as she spoke.

Tommy only nodded before he started the engine again, waving his hand out the window to get the attention of his brothers before he maneuvered the car back onto the road. (Y/N) took a deep breath as they began driving again, feeling better after getting things off of her chest. She was still slightly nervous about what was going to be done in a matter of hours, but she felt even more assured that this was the right thing to do.

——

The car was parked down the lane from the pub that Garrett frequented. Tommy had decided that they would walk up so that things wouldn't be even more out of the ordinary. Arthur and John took the other men accompanying them to where they knew Clay would be at this time. They would all make sure that Clay and his associates would stay where they were while things played out.

"You ok?" Tommy asked (Y/N) as they approached the pub.

"I am," she nodded, taking another breath to calm the nerves that were bubbling up.

"And you have what you need?" he checked, referring to the revolver he'd given her before they left Small Heath.

"I do," she answered, her hand subconsciously going to where the weapon was situated in the waistband of her skirt, underneath the flowing part of her blouse.

"Ok," Tommy nodded, stopping and turning to look at her once they were a few steps from the pub's doors. "You can do this," he assured her one last time, his words making her nod, "and I'll be in the corner of the room if things don't go as planned."

(Y/N) nodded one last time and sent him a nervous smile before she turned and walked the few steps separating her from the doors. After another deep breath, she opened them and entered the pub.

The pub was basically empty. There were a few men scattered around the decently-sized room, drinking and minding their business. (Y/N)'s eyes fell on Garrett rather quickly. He was sitting in a stool straight in front of her with his back to the door. She could have easily done the job...just pulled out the gun and taken care of him without even being five steps into the establishment. But she didn't want it to go down like that. She wanted to speak her mind to him first.

So she confidently walked up to the bar, her shoes soundly loudly off the hardwood. She could hear Tommy enter the pub behind her and from the corner of her eye watched as he took a seat at an empty table next to the doors.

Without a word, she stopped at the bar and set her hands down on it. Instead of looking at him, she kept her eyes focused straight ahead. He'd recognize her soon enough.

Within seconds, he did. "It's awful bold of you to set foot in this city after all you've done," there was a smirk apparent in his voice...there always was.

"After all I've done?" (Y/N) countered, making sure that her voice was steady, "I just came to visit mum, Garrett. It was you and Clay who..." her steadiness cracked as she recalled that fateful day. Garrett noticed this and looked to capitalize on it, but she didn't give him the chance as she composed herself and kept speaking, "this is as much my city as it is yours, and you know that," she finished off with a glare.

Garrett chuckled at her comment, unbothered by her steely gaze. "Everyone clear out!" he called to the other patrons in the bar, who promptly heeded to his request. Tommy stayed tucked in the corner, where the darkness of the room hid him. (Y/N) stole a glance in his direction to make sure he was still there. "I need to have a word with my sister," Garrett continued, his grin still present. He waited until the room was clear to speak again, "you know I don't actually know how this is still your city since you bailed on it in the middle of the night," the cockiness was present once more.

"You of all people should know why I did that," she spat back at him, not having the tolerance for him to do this now.

"Why did you even come back here?" he disregarded her statement, "did mummy write you another letter telling you how oh-so terrible things are? Did she want you to come and save her?" he was talking in a mocking voice now.

She actually did, (Y/N) thought, but didn't dare say that.

"Why did you come back here, (Y/N)? Huh?" he continued to prod when she didn't say anything, instead keeping her stone faced gaze on him.

"I came to deal with something I should have a long time ago," she answered him, her words coming through gritted teeth as she tried to keep herself calm. She'd been waiting to do this for a while now, she didn't want to mess it up or jump ahead of herself.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" he asked her, his eyebrows raised. She wasn't sure if he noticed her movement as she slowly pulled her weapon from the waistband of her skirt.

"To make sure that you can't hurt me or anyone else ever again," she told him, keeping her words steady as she brandished the weapon, holding it up for him to see. Wasting no time in pointing it at him, she kept her hands steady and her grip relaxed. She couldn't let him see how she was really feeling.

A grin slowly formed on Garrett's face as he realized what was happening now. He didn't show one ounce of fear or shock at what (Y/N) had done. "You wanna show me how much you've grown now, huh? You go to fucking Birmingham and all of a sudden you think you know how to handle a fucking weapon?!" he started screaming at her, inching closer to her as he spoke, making her shrink into herself slightly. She held the gun steady though. "Fucking show me then! Use it on me!" he taunted, moving even closer to her.

(Y/N) gritted her teeth and kept her hold. No matter how much screaming she was doing inside of her mind now, she couldn't get herself to pull the trigger. She was frozen in her spot as all of the memories of the times he'd taken this similar tone with her flooded back again.

In a flash, Garrett grabbed the gun out of her hand, managing to do so before she could even react to him. She gasped at the feeling of the weapon, and the power, leaving her hands and tried so hard to maintain her composure as he flipped the barrel around to face her, grinning like a maniac now.

"See...you don't know how to do a fucking thing. You're still the same, pathetic coward that ran away. Still scared to do anything..." he trailed off, pulling the hammer of the gun back as he kept it pointed at her. His grin grew as he stared her down. "What am I to do now? How could I possibly let you walk away from this, huh?" his final word was accentuated by the sound of the gun clicking, which made (Y/N) flinch and squeeze her eyes shut.

What brought her back was the sound of his laughter. She opened her eyes to see him opening the chamber and spinning it, seeing the bullets that were loaded into it - in all but one of the slots. He then shut it and spun it once more, eyeing her up and down as he chuckled again. "Next time you plan on killin' a person, you best remember to load your gun properly, you fuckin'..."

A loud bang sounded out in the room, stopping Garrett mid sentence. (Y/N) dropped to the floor at the sound of it, covering her head as a last ditch effort as a ringing sound took over all of her senses.

"(Y/N)!" the voice was muffled, the ringing still taking center stage. "(Y/N)!" it called again.

She didn't know how long it was before she opened her eyes again. After blinking a few times, she found Tommy kneeling in front of her. She also felt a presence to her left, but she dared not to look in that direction; knowing exactly what, or rather who, it was.

"Are you ok?" he asked her, his voice more clear now. Concern was deeply etched into his features.

"I...I think I am," she stumbled over her words, nodding slightly.

"Let's get you up then, eh?" he suggested, making her nod again as she took hold of his outstretched hand and allowed him to slowly pull her to her feet. "Are you sure?" he asked her, his eyes locked onto hers as he tried to search them; to see if he could gain any underlying clues.

"Yes," she breathed, nodding again, "is he...?" she couldn't even finish her sentence without choking up.

Tommy knew exactly what she was getting at though. "He's dead."

(Y/N) nodded at this new information. "Good," she breathed, giving another slight nod. She took a few deep breaths before someone popped into her mind. "I need to go see my mum," she said then, just barely getting the words out before she stepped past Tommy and headed for the door.

If Tommy called out for her, she didn't hear him. She exited the pub and allowed her feet to take her down the streets without much thought. She needed to see her mum, and she needed to see her now.

Next Part

Tagged: @mgcldydrms @the-anxious-youth @cloudofdisney @look-at-the-soul @elenavampire21 @mrsalwayswrite @julkaamazing @evita-shelby @lilyrachelcassidy @notyour-valentine @shelbydelrey @december16-1991 @onlydeadcells @peakyswritings @just-a-blackhole @watercolorskyy @strayrockette @peakyduchesss @alexxavicry @captivatedbycillianmurphy @yummycastiel @dark-academia-slut @tommystargirl @stevie75 @lyarr24 @signorellisantichrist @zablife @anotherblinder @midnightmagpiemama @cillmequick @l1-l4 @chlorrox @lostgirl219 @woofgocows @bdudette @mrkdvidal1989 @stephhevring @fictional-hooman @httyd-marauders @nataliewalker93 @rangerelik @thecraziestcrayon @cilliansangel @shaddixlife @tracysnook

SERIES MASTERLIST

[sonic-gallery]

Another World Ogiri October 2023 [What are Cream and Big doing...? ]

★Example

Dad had turned all his wealth into a glowing ball.

Two characters appear every month in surprising outfits and situations! Let's enjoy Ogiri together with illustrations that will make your imagination run wild!

This time, we have Cream & Cheese in a cute detective costume, and at first glance, it looks like "Mafia Don"? Big is here! Cream saw some kind of suspicious transaction going on...?

What kind of lines or narration would you use?

You can style it based on the atmosphere and world view of the two of you in the game, or you can create a bold arrangement! In the example, she seems speechless at the unexpected action... Even such free-spirited jokes are OK!

Please enjoy it and tweet with the tag "#Isekai Ogiri" on Twitter (X) ♪

We will introduce the good ones in a reply from Sonic's official Twitter (X) account.

We are looking forward to your fun Ogiri posts!

Act 10: “Chibikko Tantei and Mafia Don”

〇Month x Day Tantei Secret Memo

“At 9:12, I found Yogisha, started playing, and hit the square!”

At first glance, Station Square appears to be peaceful and bustling, on a calm day.

``Cream the Rabbit'', a rabbit girl wearing a cute detective suit, and her friend Chao ``Cheese'' are busy tailing ``Yougisha'', who is involved in a Chao kidnapping case that is causing a stir in the city. Helping... Cream, who had learned a lot at the detective agency where she worked part-time, dedicates herself to her role as a detective in order to protect the peace of the city.

The suspect's name is "Big the Boss." A taciturn large cat wearing a luxurious-looking coat and a matching hat...His small eyes shine with a suspicious light behind his sunglasses.

The people of the town started calling him the "Don of the Mafia" because he had such a personable personality, and various speculations and rumors abounded about him.

Since he matched the few sightings of the kidnapper, ``a silent, strong man,'' Cream began investigating him as a suspect in the case.

"10:10...Bad transaction at the bank?"

The main entrance of the bank... ``Mafia Don'' slowly emerges from a black luxury car that moves slowly.

Cream, who had been following him from the sky with her big ears flapping, landed gently on the branch of a streetside tree next to the bank, and from the shadows she saw him being welcomed by a bank employee and walking in majestically from the front. Masu.

As soon as he picks something out and hands it to him as he walks, the banker bows and scurries off to the back...his behavior is very suspicious. And then, Cream saw that "something"...it was a photo of Chao.

"...A picture of a beautiful Chao!"

A few minutes later, ``Mafia Don'' appeared confidently from the front entrance, holding two large metal attaché cases filled with money in his hands.

"...Ransom!?"

Big leaves the place in his car after being seen off by a bank employee who bows respectfully. ......Wouldn't banks be able to go against Mafia Adon? The ransom money ended up in the wrong hands.

“Next time, hold on to the decisive moment and show it!”

Cream flaps her ears again and picks up the speed in pursuit of the car.

“11:05, fishing pond Nobuki merchant!?”

A quiet fishing pond with few customers... ``Mafia Don'' is alone fishing a fishing rod in an out-of-place suit. Is it a meeting for something? He occasionally glances at the attaché case next to him, but doesn't move in the slightest.

"Cheese, it's about time..."

The moment Cream, who was looking inside the fishing pond from outside, looked up at the sky to bring back Cheese, who had been out scouting...

<< Paan! >>

A sudden bursting sound! Cream panics and ducks down. Looking back, Big gave one of the duralumin cases to the man who appeared before he knew it, and received another black case in return. The two of them open each other's cases and check the contents.

“Chao!”

Cheese came back at a great speed. With her pale face, he repeats gunman-like gestures towards Cream and tells her what it was.

“P-pistol!?”

Cream could hear their conversation in her trembling ears.

"It's classy, ​​isn't it? If you let this go, everyone will love it."

"Mafia-no-don" nods loudly in satisfaction as the man points to a black box and speaks. In a broad daylight transaction, he even obtained weapons using the kidnapping ransom money. After all, ``Big the Boss'' was a bad ``Mafia Don''.

Cream was starting to get really scared, but considering the safety of the kidnapped Chao and the others, she couldn't say that anymore.

"I-I'm not scared, Death! I'll definitely show you how good I am!"

Cream and Cheese stood up from their slumped positions and resumed their pursuit with renewed determination.

“17:15, Dark Exchange!”

``Mafia Don'' slips into the narrow alley next to the casino in the entertainment district of Station Square. Accompanied by his henchman Frog, he slowly advances with a case containing money and a pistol in his hands.

A lot of money is the ransom money for the kidnapped Chao.

Is the pistol used as a threat when kidnapping Chao?

Cream, trembling at her own horrifying imagination, still managed to follow Mafia-no-don until she stopped in front of a small, dark and dirty stall. On the other side of the counter is a suspicious-looking Chao, his face hidden behind sunglasses and a mask.

A dark and shady store that could only be described as a dark exchange was the destination of Mafia Don. When he silently places the case on the counter, the store owner and Mafia Don smile evilly.

"Thank you, sir...This is today's show."

The shop owner grumbled and pulled out a shiny golden Chao egg...! Big reaches for it with an even worse smile.

Money and a pistol... "Maphia Don" had commissioned a professional at this underground exchange to kidnap him! He keeps his hands clean and uses money and weapons to manipulate evil deeds...this is exactly what "Mafia Don" does. The cream will pop out irresistibly.

"That's so bad! Yuukai's red-handed and I'm going to do it!"

The two of them turned around in surprise at Cream's voice.

"What?! This is just..."

Cream stops the store owner who is reaching for the case and directs him towards the cheese.

"There's proof! ...Cheese!"

"Ciao chao!"

"Here's the pistol I use for Yuukai...is that...?"

...What was inside the opened case was not a pistol...but a cracker, a staple item for parties. When one of his subordinate frogs makes a sound, the atmosphere becomes quiet.

"We have free kindergarten, little girl... Your husband is always..."

"No, I mean... the Chao egg you gave me as a ransom...! Mafi's donga..."

Hearing this, the shop owner and ``Maphia Don'' looked at each other. After a few seconds of silence, they burst into laughter and tell Cream everything.

This is the back entrance of Chao's kindergarten. Big is the president of a large company, and while secretly donating money to kindergartens, he sometimes volunteers to send lost Chao children to appropriate kindergartens.

Big is loved by the people of the town who know that he doesn't need anything in return as long as he can see a photo of a healthy Chao, and today he came to the park for a Halloween party and received various gifts from the people of the town. That's how it was.

“Then, everything is different...?”

Cream felt a sigh of relief, but at the same time, she held her head in her hands in embarrassment at the misunderstanding. Big handed her more sweets than she could hold in both hands, and then stroked Cream's head with his big, warm hands.

"Usagi-chan, thank you for worrying about Chao."

"...Mr. Big was such a great Mafia-no-don!"

Cream apologized, saying she was sorry for judging him based on his appearance, and after that, happy laughter filled the back alley. ...But the next moment!

Suddenly, two rocket punches with wires come out of the darkness of the building and grab Big's duralumin case. This is an important case containing a Chao egg.

"Wow, what are you doing?"

A giant robot is trying to steal the egg from the distant darkness with terrifying power. Big desperately resists.

"Maybe...that's Chao's Yuukaihan!?"

Although the kidnapper wasn't big, the kidnapping incident did happen. And now, the real culprit has appeared...!

“Wow, that’s a huge draw!”

The robot tries to snatch the case from Big, but Big also grabs the robot's wire. and......

"It's here!"

When Big pulls up with all his strength, the robot flies in the sky in a parabola. He pulled even harder, and the robot slammed into the ground.

<< Dogoon! >>

A large green robot with a trash can-like head flips over due to heavy damage...It is covered in sturdy armor, but inside the lid of its head that opened due to the impact, Electronic parts that look like they're stupid are visible and hidden.

Now is the time to deal the final blow!

"Now Death! Cheese!"

"Chao!"

At Cream's signal, Cheese's Chao attack flies out and hits the robot's vital point!

<<Gashan! Bibibi...! >>

A robot that emits an electric spark and stops functioning. Cream flies into the air and wraps the fully stretched wire around it, blocking its movement.

"Bad robot who is trying to steal Chao! He's caught red-handed!"

Detective Cream & Cheese has finally caught the real culprit behind the Chao kidnapping case...!

after that......

After following the robot's trail, they find many Chao in a warehouse on the outskirts of town, and all of them are safely rescued. All the ones caught were rare Chao. Why on earth did you do this? ...The rest is the police's job.

What Cream was more interested in was "Maphia Don". Needless to say, she was so taken with her activities supporting Chao and the others that she started helping out the "Good Mafia" from time to time.

"It seems the mafia don has a new henchman."

It didn't take long for such a new rumor to spread in Station Square...!

"Next day at 10:35 at Mystic Ruin..."

"...Big's fishing skills are a total shame for catching a robot! Cream's as hard-working as ever, and the little detective was perfect!"

......On the hill near Mystic Ruin Station where Tails' workshop is located.

When Sonic saw Big and the others who had come to deliver the Chao eggs entering the entrance of the Chao Garden, which he could see from there, he said so with a nervous expression on his face.

"That robot was ZERO, the one who kidnapped Emmy before. He's still the same, isn't he?"

Sonic continues and can't help but smile bitterly. Then the door to the workshop swung open behind them, and Tails ran out.

"I got it, Sonic! I got it!"

Tails, who was researching the equipment in the workshop, revealed a surprising truth.

"Since I found out that the cause of the abnormality was the Phantom Ruby, I did a lot of research focusing on that energy..."

When the star was examined from space using an observation satellite, it was discovered that the star itself was completely covered in a thin film of light made from the energy of the Phantom Ruby. And the strange thing was happening only within this planet.

Eggman used the Phantom Ruby's power, which can only be used once, to distort the perception of the world through virtual reality, against the "star" where Sonic and his friends live.

"In other words, Eggman...distorted the perception of this planet itself and caused this global disaster!"

The effects of the incident were relatively minor...A disturbing wind blew through Tails' workshop, which had been transformed into a bakery from the outside, and Sonic and his friends.

What does it mean? Seeing Sonic's expression, Tails continues.

``If the planet itself is deceived, all of us born on this planet on Earth will be affected by it... all over the world.Eggman used the Phantom Ruby weapon at the best cost performance. I'm already surprised..."

Sonic whistles. Tails also lets out a half-admired sigh.

"Then, are you saying that all the strange things happening on Achi Kochi are just images that this planet has? Even the scriptwriter was surprised...!"

"No, that's not it Sonic..."

Tails continues.

``After all, even Eggman couldn't control how to deceive the entire star.As a result, the curtain of light in the universe functions like an antenna that collects images, and the ``thoughts'' of all people. They received it and fed it back to the stars...and it began to be reflected as ``anomalies'' in various places.''

Tails adds that this time, it is not a hypothesis, but a conclusion based on solid observations of the many rays of phantom ruby ​​energy extending from the curtain of cosmic light and reaching the earth's surface.

``...Hmm, I guess this situation is also of our own making. It's funny, but I feel like it's a little troubling to have the image inside of us taken out without permission. I’ll do it too...”

Tails answered with a wry smile as he pinched the hem of her skirt.

"But..."

Even though it makes sense, I still have questions.

"What does Eggman gain by doing all this? He could have taken advantage of this chaos and conquered the world...what exactly is his goal?"

Sonic was confused after learning so many things. There was silence for a while...

After a few seconds, Tails opened his mouth with a bright smile.

"I don't know about that, but...Anyway, if we destroy the facility or device that maintains this curtain of light, the star should wake up! Its location has already been determined by investigating the flow of energy. What! So Sonic...!

Sonic, who regained his excited expression at Tails' proposal, accepts the rest.

"OK, that's right! Let's head over there first and do something about this messed up situation! I asked for navigation, Tails!"

"Yeah! Leave me alone!"

When Sonic smiles and says, ``I can rely on you after all,'' Tails shyly smiles back.

The two of them finally started running toward the center of the incident.

[decayedgloria]

obey me characters and their visions

Or what I think are their visions idk it’s 3 am and I just found out I failed my pathology exam so here’s a crossover of two games that provides me an escape from this putrid reality 😁

also just trying to get rid of drafts rn

Tags: sfw, pure crack speculation, I’m going insane, obey me demon brothers and undateables and luke, genshin impact visions, everything here is MY OPINION and should not be taken seriously, feel free to disagree with me

Lucifer

-He strikes me as the type to either have a hydro vision or a geo vision

-more leaning towards hydro

-hydro vision holders tend to be dedicated to their work and uphold their own view of justice, more often than not being protectors of some sort i.e Candace and Aaru village, Ayato with the Kamisato Clan

-I draw parallels between him and Ayato because they both have gone through hell and back for their families (often literally) and have had to salvage tarnished reputations in order to protect said family

-also very rich and elegant men who have a “dark side” that most aren’t aware of

-It’s also just every hydro character being really sophisticated and elegant tbh he fits the vibe I think (minus Childe but he has his moments)

-Geo because, well… look at him. He’s prime geo vision material. Like a rock solid wall holding up the HOL but like he’s also hanging by a thread lol.

Mammon

-Geo Vision, Hear me out on this.

-Not only does it suit his color palette, but if you think about it, Mammon places a lot of responsibility on himself to be a good older brother to his siblings (despite falling short most times), we see this especially during Nightbringer

-Geo’s thing is literally responsibility. Every geo user has some sort of responsibility that they themselves have chosen to undertake, whether or not they can handle it

-They’re all also quite stubborn. Once they’re dead set on something they will never let it go, and on top of that they also protect either someone or something

-Every geo user has a goal relating to something to do with material or status: Ningguang and the Tianqiu, Noelle wanting to be in the KOF, Zhongli wanting to retire (lmfao). Mammon wanting to be rich (and wanting him and his brothers to be at the top of the Devildom in Nightbringer) literally fits.

-Mammon, despite being a goofy character, fits into geo so perfectly it’s actually insane.

-Mammon and Itto are the same person. I’m not elaborating.

Levi

-Electro vision all the way.

-It’s no surprise. Canonically he’s seen as a weirdo, even by his brothers (not me tho I love my men a little pathetic) and he doesn’t spend much time mingling with others, so of course he’s gonna be singled out

-almost every single electro vision holder is outcasted by at least one society; Beidou being cast out of her village, Fischl being thought of as eccentric because of her personality, the literal electro archon becoming a shut-in

-He would absolutely get the vision probably in like the early part of Nightbringer when we got stuck in the TSL universe and he had to make a decision

-(if you’re wondering why I keep bringing up Nightbringer it’s bc it’s the one I’m currently playing ok)

-Levi also passes the “I have a scary animal that helps me fight” thing. Henry’s quite formidable when he’s back to normal size :)

Satan

-Hm, thinking about it and at first I’d say dendro is the obvious answer but there’s also quite a few other contenders actually.

-Pyro is one of them, and when drawing parallels Diluc comes to mind (obvs grumpy men stick together always.) As the avatar of wrath, he’s like mad 80% of the time and I can imagine him raining hellfire upon everything (and he has, best believe).

-But also he’d fit the “passionate” description, he’s so passionate about books and magic that he’d literally kill for a book that he wanted (and did I’m pretty sure). He’d also be considered passionate for hating Lucifer so much I think

-he also has quite the past to fit with a pyro user, especially during Nightbringer when he’s still coming into terms about being basically a baby demon and learning to confront his brothers and finally accept them

-Dendro is quite obvious for him. He craves knowledge from books, and I’m sure if he were in Teyvat he’d find his way in the Akademiya just to get into the House of Daena’s restricted section

-I think either or could be his vision, depends on which Satan you’re talking about (Nightbringer Satan and main timeline Satan are two vastly different individuals)

-if you really wanna get into it tho, cryo/electro's pretty... fitting. Especially for nightbringer Satan. Even if his brothers try not to make him feel like it, he will always be different from them; the fact that he basically was made to replace Lillith in a sense, and he distances himself away from them because he just doesn't fit in.

-all in all he's so versatile realistically he could have like 4/7 visions since his character is so dynamic between the two games

Asmodeus

-Now this was harder to come up with, but after giving it some thought I think he’d have an Anemo vision

-think of it this way. In Nightbringer take a shot everytime I bring that game up his whole arc in the beginning was learning to let go of the celestial realm and accepting the fact that he was a demon now, effectively granting himself the freedom to love himself once more

-Anemo is the element of freedom right? He fought himself and his inner demons for freedom like that, which happens to a lot of those who are granted this vision (Wanderer and Xiao moment)

-Thats really all I have for him. Tbh, the only other vision I could see him wielding his pyro, but I couldn’t think of anything else I can say that hasn’t already been said

-another short anemo king go figure (he and heizou would get along I think)

Beelzebub

-another one I had to really think of, but upon further deliberation with myself I'm thinking pyro again (the default vision lmfao)

-Yes. Passion for food, he'd get along with Xiangling quite well (too well, imagine her in the devildom holy shit)

-Also pretty passionate about working out and protecting his brothers, so there's that lol

-I am stumped on him bc he's like lowkey just there bro like

-how would he even get his vision idk man

-but imo pyro is the default vision so he gets it (feel free to disagree with me)

Belphegor

-If you think this guy does not have an anemo vision you are wrong

-like dead mf wrong he is anemo all the goddamn way

-he lost his sister and still blames himself for it, but he also wants to be free with his brothers in the devildom

-the other vision i would give him is electro because he does tend to like, shut himself off or whatever so there's that

-but he's 100% anemo I don't make the rules sorry

-first tall male anemo user?? (surprisingly he's 5'10 guys it's probably all that sleep he does lmfao)

Diavolo

-hmmmm, such a hard decision I wonder what vision I would give to the literal prince of hell- pyro.

-jk jk let me explain

-Pyro, because as I've stated before, it is both the default vision imo and also the vision for those who are passionate IMO (I cannot stress this enough)

-Diavolo is very passionate about RAD, and the whole "demons getting along with other species" concept is something he has been working very hard on (man is trying to end specieism in the obey me verse)

-on top of his outgoing and friendly personality, pyro really does fit him like a glove. I could make an argument for geo because he shoulders a fuck ton of responsibility for the devildom (esp in nightbringer) but like

-he is warm and friendly and strong, perfect pyro material

Barbatos

-I needed to think about this one for a bit, but after further deliberation with the screams that echo in my head, I am confident in saying that this man has an anemo vision

-if he were in the genshin universe he'd def be one of the shady people from celestia (bro is literally istaroth but i digress)

-as much as anemo fits him aesthetically, I also want to point out that he just... gives people freedom? Like the first half of nightbringer was him finally fulfilling someone's wish to go to heaven to see their lover

-he also just parallels a lot with venti, idk i just see him being very fitting with an anemo vision

-like, he's immortal yet does not look it (Scara, Xiao, Venti), downplays his power to appear "normal" in a sense that he won't be an immediate threat to those perceiving him (Venti), saw a pyro kid and decided to adopt them and begrudgingly take care of them no matter how annoying they are (Xiao and Hu Tao though I may be reaching)

Luke

-bro does not have a vision yet (jk its cryo)

-I feel like he'd be given a hydro vision solely for the fact that he is changing his, quite frankly specie-ist, ways lol (like eula hello?)

-he is quite shy when mc first met him, the only reason why he didn't immediately get mad at them is because they weren't a demon and that's saying something

-he tends to be very guarded around said demons, often becoming aggressive when interacting with them but he's warming up. It's like a wall of ice slowly melting through the mc and simeon's guidance

-he also reminds me of mika for some reason

Solomon

-he has an electro vision and yes, it's exactly the same situation as Lisa

-though he doesn't need one (none of them do tbh), I feel like he wanted one just for shits and giggles like I definitely see him being a descender on Teyvat

-he's literally the most powerful human in the obey me verse, of course he's going to be viewed differently from others even though he "tries" to not be too overt about it (very, very big emphasis on tries. I think he only does it for mc atp)

-I feel like he'd get along well with the electro ladies as well, particularly Miko and Lisa (Gorou and Luke need to hide like asap)

-in all seriousness though, he just fits into electro so well given all the character traits present in electro wielders

-another vision I could see him having is dendro, partly because he's always down to have more knowledge about magic that he doesn't know yet and is in constant pursuit of creating pacts with the demon brothers

Simeon

-another hydro wielder :)

-calm, collected, elegant, sticks to their principles- classic hydro archetype tbh I love him so much

-again, very similar to Lucifer's reasoning but he leans more towards hydro wielders like Nilou and Candace I think, who are quite relaxed but won't hesitate to protect what they love and fight for what they deem is right

-spoiler warning: he literally got cast out of heaven for the mc.

-as I've said before, there really isn't anything I can add that I haven't said before, other than the fact that Simeon would definitely enjoy Xinqiu's company and possibly get along with Furina when discussing acting and the arts

-other than hydro, I don't think any other vision suits him tbh (big maybe on anemo but like, it doesn't really fit tbh)

I am so fucking bad at character analysis but here you guys go

the labor of my sleepless night while i gather more motivation to write the second chapter of madame neuvillette

also i am so very tempted to start writing for other fandoms but this blog is enough for now tbh

[freshlyrage]

Running Like Water

Chapter 26

pairing: Javier Peña x OFC (written as xReader)

fic warnings: NSFW Explicit Smut (18+ MDNI) language, strained family relationships, mentions of drug abuse, discussions of insecurities and body image issues, daddy and mommy issues

fic tags: Best friends younger sister, Life-long crush, Friends to lovers, Unrequited love, slow burn, Push and Pull, Small Town Dynamics, Secret Relationships, latina MC, Fluff and Angst, OFC!Jessica Alba face claim, sorry Lorraine I'm bringing you into this, Time jumps, 2 year age gap, pre-canon

word count: 4.1k

IMPORTANT a/n: Hi... I said that if the Celtics won I'd post tonight so ya know! Here it is hehe. LETS GO CELTICS

Finally used the scene in Season 1 episode 5 of Narcos of Javi and Murphy in the car. There's a lot of perspective change in this one, this section will be like this most the time just because are characters are so far apart!

Ok bye enjoy

New Orleans 1988

“Do you remember being sixteen?”

You cackle, playing with the golden bee at your lobe, looking up at your student Chiron. He had been eating his lunch in your classroom for about two months since, the cafeterias ac is shit, his words. You dig into the cake your students bought you, they thought you would cancel their monday practice quiz with a little birthday celebration. They were greatly mistaken. 

Today you're twenty-four. Everytime you think of it your brain freezes.

 You remember being sixteen like it’s yesterday. You nod, washing down the store bought dry red velvety mess with water. “Yes. It sucked.”

Chiron laughs just the same, opening the pink milk box on his tray. “When were you sixteen? In 1950?”

You stare at him with your most deadpan look, shaking your head. “I turned sixteen in 1980. I was living in Laredo, Texas and I spent my birthday alone. I received flowers from my… friend and my mom took me dress shopping two days later. What was yours like?” 

You and Chiron talk every day. You know he lives in a group home, you know he gets excited when he gets asked about his own life and even more excited when someone shares stories about theirs. He reminds you everyday that you want to have a son one day, you guess you’ll tell him when he's older. Hopefully then you could introduce your son to him and have a laugh about it. 

Teaching has given you a purpose. Being away from home has given you a purpose. Knowing no one has given you a purpose. You tell him stories all the time, you’re going to sob when he walks across that stage in May. 

“I went to the arcade with Teresa.” Teresa has been his girlfriend since the ninth grade, she went to St. Mary’s. They met doing community service and Chiron knows that they're going to be married. “She bought me this chain with her paycheck from Rouses. Are you doing anything for your birthday?”

You look at the picture of your little sister and niece sat up on her desk. Little three year old Sol holding Frankies babygirl Annie. “I still don’t know anyone out here but my coworkers so I’ll probably order in, watch Dirty Dancing and wait for a call from my brother.” You think of Javier for a moment, wondering if he knows today's your birthday. 

You wonder if you have crossed his mind. 

You saw him in the paper when you went home for christmas, you didn't visit your mother. 

You went home to simply spoil the babies at Frankie's house. You drove right back to your third floor apartment in Nola. Cried into your pillow until you slept and did it all over again for three more nights. Chiron nods, you have told him small stories about your life because he loves to listen. You’re weary of sharing too much, only offering bits you know will make him feel seen. You let him cry when he said he tried to meet his father during Christmas break and he didn’t show. That's when you decided to tell him about your first trip to New Orleans. 

Chiron frowns and sips his milk. He just got a haircut, flat top style, he had been growing his hair out the whole year for it. “Do you think Javier will call you?”

You smile at Chiron. He had been trying to pry information about your former lover for weeks. It all started after Christmas break when he cried about his father. You told him that family can be found anywhere, that your only family for a bit was your best friend who happened to be your boyfriend. 

“Do you live with Javier now?”

You shook your head, “He moved away for work.” Nearly a lie, you didn’t feel it was appropriate to tell your seventeen year old student the painful details of your life. 

Chiron went quiet for a few seconds, his face going inward. Eyes shy and sad, it happens every time he’s asked about his parents.

“So who is your family now?”

Andrea drops her keys on her kitchen counter being greeted by tiny tweets. She grins from ear to ear, placing her purse down on the couch. Walking to her cage, the two birds chirped.

 “Are you singing Happy Birthday to me?” She gets on her tiptoes, offering her fingers to the babies, they take the chance. “Thank you, mommy’s going to watch Dirty Dancing because she’s lonely. Okay?”

She brings Jewel to her face in a phantom kiss while Harvey finds sanctuary on her shoulder. 

She always wanted pets but her mother never allowed it. The second Andrea put down her deposit for her apartment, she hopped in her car and bought two blue budgies. They nipped and scurried away from her each time she approached them but after two months of persistence they finally warmed up to her. They’re now her best friends. She’s become a crazy bird lady. Just in September she left a date abruptly because she realized she hadn't fed them in a day and a half. Its safe to say she didn’t get a call back from Mr. Henning.

She sits on her couch after loading the VHS and yawning. Her birdies flying back to their cage. 

That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind.

At 6pm she receives a call. Her heart sinks and for a moment she thinks, maybe.

But ultimately she knows not to be so silly, she knows she needs to be angry with him but she doesn’t have it in her anymore. She unravels herself from the nest she’s made on her couch and tip toes on the hardwood floor to her home phone. 

She spoke to Genie this morning, receiving a happy birthday song from her brother and their baby’s incoherent babbles. They say little Annie is upset that Tia Andrea lives so far. 

“Hello?” Andrea shushes her birds, they love to chirp when she’s on the phone. 

“Happy Birthday Andrea,”

 And she knows Don Chuchos voice anywhere. 

Andrea closes her eyes at the sound. She knew she couldn’t avoid him forever and she’s riddled with grief at the sound of his voice after nearly two years. 

“Thank you Chucho.” Andrea remembers the way he looked at her when she sat in the blistering heat on Javier’s wedding day. He looked at her knowingly, he could see that beyond the made up face she was on the brink of a breakdown. “How’s everything back home?” 

“You would know if you stopped by to see me last month.”

She winces. When Andrea came home for Christmas she made it her business to be seen by no one. Especially anyone who knew anything about Javi. 

She was finally feeling better. 

Everything was out in the open now, everyone knew their business. The scandal blew through town, she had to leave.

“I know, I'm sorry. I’m just still working through everything that happened. I knew if I stopped by your house it would bring up old memories.” Since Andrea moved to New Orleans she has gone back to Laredo five times. Two of the times she visited her mother, every other time was a straight shot to Frankie’s home. Calling him to make sure he takes Sol for the day so Andrea could see her too. She would spend two lovely nights on their plush couch and drive home the next day. 

Through the crackle of the receiver Chucho hums in understanding. 

In a twisted way Andrea always wanted him to be her father. She loved the idea of marrying Javier for more reasons than one. She wanted to officially be a part of his tiny family she loved so deeply. 

“Would this be a bad time to talk about him?” 

Andrea, the despondent girl. A girl alone, leaning against her lonely walls, a girl belonging to no one. Is a girl who cannot resist hearing about the one she loved. 

Loves. 

“Yes.” She allows it. He complies because she knows he must have no one to talk to about this. 

“He told me last week that he’s seeing a specialist—therapist, once a week.”

She smiles. She remembers the last time they had sex they talked about reaching out for help. She supposes it’s her turn. 

“That’s- I'm relieved to hear that. Is he doing okay out there?” 

Andrea has a reoccurring nightmare. She’s walking to work, the heat is brutal and her hands are full of groceries. In her nightmare, one of the bags rip open, fruit falling on the concrete. Every time, she follows an apple that rolls until it hits a news stand. And there—there she sees his face. There she reads his public obituary, the slain American agent. There she dissolves to nothing and wakes up crying harder than she ever has. She cried until she felt like dissolving into nothing. 

“He spares me details that would send me into a stroke but you know. It’s very dangerous work but he’ll make it back home in one piece. He’s too stubborn to die young.” 

Her eyes flicker to the ground and her chin quivers at his words. “Do you miss him?” Is all she can mutter. She cannot be alone in this feeling. She doesn’t like to feel this way. She liked to believe that she gets along without him well, but sometimes the wind blows and it reminds her of summer nights in his bed and she isn’t sure she could go on lying to herself.

Chucho sighs, “He misses you.” He doesn’t answer your question. He knows what you wanted to ask. “He doesn’t tell me because he’s afraid, but every conversation I can hear it in his voice. He is still grieving being away from you, still grieving being deceived. I know you are too. But I wanted to call to tell you that he is okay. I want you to be okay too, Andrea.”

January 1988 Bogota, Colombia

There isn't much work being done. Scoping out for a sicario in a hundred degree weather wasn't ideal but it left some time for beers and ramblings. Murphy dug his hand into the cup holder for another sip of Club Colombiano. “So what year was this?” Murphy looks over to Javi. It had been almost a week since he last saw Hertz. His next session is in two days. He found himself walking with less weight. He even finally told Murphy the name of the girl whose picture is taped on the corner of his desk.

“1986” Javier rasps. “I was driving to the church. I was with my buddy Frankie. He was my best man.” He nearly whispers the last bit. “We were late. It was fucking blazing, 110 degrees. The whole bridal party was there sweating their balls off I’m sure. Frankie is shaking like a leaf next to me, like he’s fucking getting married. Looking for a lighter for a joint he rolled. Mind you, we're been in my bride's car since she arrived in a limousine.”

“Don’t tell me you left her at the altar.”

Javier deadpans, “Let me finish my story.” Murphy chuckles, pressing the cold beer to his neck. “He opens the glove compartment and some papers fall into his lap. And boom, we hit a traffic jam. Frankie, my best man, being the nosy fuck he his opens up the papers. He goes, three months pregnant as of June 6th, can't believe we’re both having kids. I swear to god–”

“No!” Murphy gasps.

“Yeah, Lorraine, the bride, and I hadn’t had sex since February of that year. She was showing a lot, I never thought twice when she told me she was five months along.” Murphy is staring at him like this was the juiciest television worthy story ever told. Javier looks blankly into the rolling hills of Colombia wondering why this happened to him. “I had dropped everything in my life to rush into a loveless marriage for the convenience of a family that wasn't even mine.” His eyes cast low and he feels sick. “So I turned the car around. And Andrea was there waiting to watch me marry someone else. In the heat.”

Murphy rarely knew who Andrea was other than the pretty ex-girlfriend whose picture is taped on his desk; he didn’t tell him too much. The story is enticing, he supposes. Exhilarating from the outside.

Murphy grins, “Well, you saved her a lifetime of hell.” 

He knows it’s true, his inner monologue being spat right back in his face yet he can’t seem to swallow that reality. He's a weak man, he hoped that Murphy would tell him he was wrong, that he needed to get up on a plane this instant and find his girl.

He’s silent for a moment. “Yeah, she never spoke to me again, Andrea I mean. She’ll probably be married to a-a stock broker or some shit when I come home.” If I come home, he intends to say but decides maybe this wasn’t the moment. “Trust me, she’s better off.”

“I told my partner, Steve Murphy, about the wedding.”

“That's amazing, Javier.” She sits back down in her brown leather chair, sipping her tea from her small yellow thermo. “How did you feel afterward?” Javier went home to drink himself to sleep. He decides to keep that detail to himself, before reaching forward to sip water instead of fulfilling his urge to light up.

“I felt like I’ve taken some sort of step forward. Then I remembered how it was telling Andrea. Then I felt like I regressed once again, I didn't wake up for work the next morning. This Tuesday I mean.” She’s taking it all in, yet something i n her twinkles. He sees her satisfaction, she knows this is a shy way of telling her he’s ready to talk about it again. Things are changing for him so quickly.

“We were cut for time last week.”

“We were.”

“So,”

“So.” Javier's eyes jet to the plush rug below him. “I walked to her house the night I agreed to marry Lorraine.”

June 18th 1986

He stopped by The Tap before strolling his way into your neighborhood. Sitting on a barstool like he would do back in High School, eyes peeled to the door wondering if his mother would miraculously walk in. This time he doesn’t drink so much, he pushes three beers back and feels sad enough to see you. Sad enough to break your heart. Liquid courage? Is that what they call it? He feels a buzz in his spine.

Somehow he ends up at your door. 

 “Javi, are you alright? It's late.” You whisper, closing the front door behind you. It reminds him of the time he walked to your house after getting wasted. Catching you in Cabaret makeup, you turning bright red under white paint. 

This time you’re bare faced and so much more of a woman. Javier studies you in a buzzed haze, you’re concerned and it’s pissing him off. There you are, barefoot on your porch. Caught off guard and still the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. You step down one step. He wants to drop to his knees and apologize. 

You sense his sorrow so you step back up to be near to his height, placing your hands on his face. Holding his face, “Baby, are you okay?” He knows your worried little face, he knows that somehow in that brain of yours—you’re conspiring what you could have done wrong. Yet it’s never you, it’s always him. You’ve never done wrong.

“Hey…” You whisper, attempting to soothe his quivering chin with a kiss. 

He looks away. Looking into your eyes will kill him. Rejecting your kiss all together. “I’m sorry.” Javier’s voice breaks, and he isn’t embarrassed but he wants to die. He wants it to end because he feels your body go cold without even having to look at you. He’s crying and hiding his face, holding you close and hard. Sobbing into your chest, staining your gray shirt like you did his when he left the first time. “I’m so sorry—I knew I wouldn’t be right for you—Querida, I’m sorry.”

----

He crushes your body with his. He’s muttering words about a wedding, a pregnancy and you’re being crushed. You’re losing air and you hope he squeezes you tighter, hope your eyes fog and you fall. 

Hope to wake up in a cold sweat, and it's all a bad dream. Hope to call him to hang out at the lake.  

He’s crying, and its the worst sound you’ve ever heard. Saying he didn’t mean to become a father. He doesn’t mean to hurt you. He doesn’t know why he hurts you. He says he doesn’t want to be married to her. Calling you sweet names and cursing his own. 

You tell him over and over that it’s okay. Yet you hope he crushes you until you disappear.

 “It’s okay—Javi please, it’s okay— I understand.” You run a hand through his hair and lower your bodies to sit on the steps. It’s 2 am. He’s drunk and unable to give you details without crying in your lap now but you know all that you need to know.

When you saw her—Lorraine. When you saw her wide nose and round little belly you felt fear running through your veins. And you slept with that panic, you dismissed it but your bones felt it. Your intuition told you that the two of you will never be the same. You saw him stare at her belly for a second too long and there—right there— you knew you were in the way of something. 

Eventually he feels okay enough to sit up straight. He still can’t look at you and you miss him in your lap when he does. You miss being able to hide yourself from him. You miss being able to shut your eyes in agony at each word of consolation. Now he can see you, even if he doesn’t look you in the eye he can see you. 

You’re able to understand that she’s five months, that they gave him a choice. To never see her and his child, child— his child— or get married. Through it all you tell him it’s okay. 

“I don’t think I have another choice— I can’t be.-“

“A deadbeat.” You finish for him and he doesn’t respond. The two of you have a million unspoken words between the two of you. 

Look at me, look at what happens when you abandon your child. Look what girls like me put up with. Look at me, you hurt me and I'm still thinking of ways to make it work in my broken little brain. 

He knows what his mother did, how could he ever? How? So you could never find it in you to be angry. 

“I’m sorry— I just can’t.” 

You shut your eyes and lean back into the steps of your home. The sky was bright that night, you couldn’t understand why the universe still presented its beauty during such a moment. 

“When will you get married?” You suppose maybe you like to hurt yourself. 

“They said two weeks.” 

You drop your head into your hands and let out a sob. Heart slamming against your ribs, drowning in it. You fear that you’ll become one with earth, a puddle seeping into the grass ahead of you. You feel his panic next to you. He’s whispering your name, and tearing against the back of your head. Your shoulders wrack and you try to speak.

But you decide silence is all you can handle.

So you stay like this for a few minutes.

“Will you sleep with me tonight?” You ask finally, pathetically. 

And he’s quick to nod, “Yes—please.” His deep voice sends a vibration down your spine. And the two of you walk into your home, without fear—no room for such a silly feeling. 

He undresses and you do too. 

He faces the ceiling and you fear neither of you will catch any hours tonight. You still curl into his chest, for the last time. Feeling his warm tan skin below your ear. You count his heartbeats for minutes at a time. You count your own, attempting to make it stop on your own. Your stomach hurts so badly, you may cry just from that. But you think that you’re a twenty two year old woman who is somehow all cried out. You think of the sun coming up and him getting up to leave, you wonder what the next two weeks will look like. 

You’re sure that if you could you’d stay just like this, together and avoidant until it’s time. Just like you planned a week ago when your only fear was him leaving to Colombia. 

You know he’d do the same because the two of you love pain like no other. You stay in your inferno of a brain for nearly an hour. You know he can’t sleep. 

“What are we going to do?” He asks and you frown. 

“Go our separate ways.”

“I don’t want to.” He’s quick to respond, angry.

“I know.”

“Do you want to?”

“No. But I have to. You have to.” 

“As long as I know you, I'll want you, Andrea.”

You shut your eyes and breathe. You hope he forgets you. You hope you can. You suppose you have to try. 

“After the wedding, I don’t think I’ll ever want to speak to you again.”

You feel him intake a shaky breath. Your heart breaks again. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

His chest rises, “It’s okay. I understand.” You nod, the post of the earrings he bought you scraping his skin. “We probably shouldn’t see each other after today.” He admits and you know he’s right.

“Yeah.”

“Do you think I could be a bridesmaid?” You attempt to joke and he doesn’t laugh. You can’t tell what he does but he shivers. 

“Not funny.” 

“I’m sorry.” You exhale. And there the two of you are pensive. Already missing each other. 

He sighs and it's silent once more. “I really love you.”

You sigh just the same and you love him more. You decide you couldn’t say it out loud this time.

Colombia 1988

His elbow is rested on the arm of the chair and his mouth is pressed to a fist. Eyes closed for a few moments. He thinks of the silence of that night, how he hasn't heard you say I love you since. The words that kept him going, but fuck it, he didn’t feel like he deserved it. He made their life such a mess, over and over again. Again his brain regresses to that of a child, of his own head when he was eleven, when he tore up his mothers room and stained her poetry with his tears. 

He has spent two years suffering, he knows there will be no winning. He lost you. He came here prematurely hoping to win in some way. To bring some good, save some people but he realized there's no winning here either. Just suffering and corruption. The longer he watches people die he swears his faith chips slowly with it.

So he looks over his shoulder once or twice when he leaves his session. There were very few words spoken by Dr. Hertz but what can you do when his story silences so many?

He wishes it could silence his own thoughts but instead it festers and crowds his brain in the most crucial moments. Like when he led a raid in a bar in Medellin and swore the woman who sat at the bar with a gun to her head was you. In genuine panic he freezes, the casualties raised from 24 to 25 at that moment. All because of you—him—all because of his thoughts of you, plaguing him.

And he thinks of you in the most insignificant moments. Insignificant like burying himself deep in the cunt of a woman who’s being paid. He thinks of you and can't keep it up from the guilt. What a curse it is to feel so deeply about someone. 

He remembers once, you lie beside him half asleep and mumbling like you did after sex. You said that sometimes love scares you so much that for a time you wished to never feel it. He thought of you so crazy, he fears he understands you now. 

[uchiha-gaeshi]

Please please PLEASE tell me how your Founders SIs would cause problems and make everything worse forever. I always thought the problem with the founders era is that there aren't ENOUGH things going wrong all the time. <3

The Naruto Warring States Era SI/OC Fic That May Never Be Written: The Elevator Pitch

Ok, so I'll try to make this as coherent as I can, but fair warning that there will be lots of rambling. I really wanted to make this as polished as possible, since this is basically like my (long ass fuck) elevator pitch for the fic, but I'm living by the "perfect is the enemy of good" mantra these days, so I don't want to delay this further. I highly encourage y'all to ask me more questions about this, because I've definitely missed certain details. I don't think just one post will do this justice. In the future, I'll probably have a specific tag for this (besides #the si/oc fic that may never be written).

TLDR: Two SIs (self-insert original character) are isekai'd into the Naruto Warring States Period and are born as the younger siblings of Hashirama and Madara. One SI tries to secure peace (post Konoha founding) by forming a world government and making the narutoverse extremely reliant on Konoha's expensive yet life-saving pharmaceuticals. The other basically tries to kill all the daimyo one by one and permanently destroy the feudal system from the bottom up. This is all happening at the same time, and at every point in the story, from birth to death, each SI gets in the way of the other...even though they are (or were) the same person.

Let me first introduce you to the self-insert characters.

Senju Tsukasa (working name, please give me name recs), who is Hashirama's 2nd youngest brother

Uchiha Takaya, who is Madara's 2nd youngest brother

in case you were wondering, both characters are Geminis. Oh, an they're overpowered. Does that help the universe? If anything, it probably makes things worse (this is the "overpowered characters make waves" time period of the overpowered characters shonen manga, the last thing the world needs is another 2 OP shinobi).

Neither character knows of the other's existence...yet. But, that's not the biggest catch. The catch is that they actually lived the same life in the past (i.e. they're *technically* the same person). Both characters, however, have wildly different opinions on how to "fix" canon. Here, I should mention that the characters are technically semi self-inserts in the sense that they have (at least what I think are) common Naruto fandom takes (e.g. "ooohhh Madara just wanted power/was just sad cus his little bro died," "the only bad thing about Hashirama was that he was naive," "if it wasn't for Izuna dying everything in the village would have been peachy" and so on and so forth).

Additionally, while I'm basing some of their personality traits off of me (or, for instance, if Tsukasa is say 12, Tsukasa would have some traits that 12 year old me had...but child soldier edition), I have to give the disclaimer that these characters are, like their canon counterparts, also fictional (so don't look at me funny if they do some crazy shit, it runs in both of their families). Going back on the subject of "fixing" canon, when it comes time to think about that, their first knee-jerk question is "how do I make sure that Madara/my brother doesn't become evil (or doesn't leave Konoha)." But, in their quest to shape the universe, the universe ultimately shapes them.

I'll first start by describing Uchiha Takaya, who I think might be the more interesting character, at least in the beginning of the story.

Figuring out a name for this character was surprisingly simple. I based their name on the headcanon that Madara's siblings' names are inspired from the Five Mountains of Northern Shinshu. Takaya, however, is the odd sixth child (not in terms of birth order), so where do they fit into this naming scheme? Well, (according to Japanese Wikipedia), in some tourist guides, Mount Kousha takes the place of Mount Myouko in the Five Mountains, so I thought "teehee, I'm gonna use that to name my character." An alternative reading for Mount Kousha (高社山 こうしゃさん) is Mount Takayashiro. I layer another headcanon that most Uchiha names are 3 syllables in length, and that's how "Takaya" was derived.

After the initial shock of being a newborn again but with memories of another more comfortable life swimming in their head (along with information about their family's life??? What the hell is going on with that??), Takaya comes to some dawning conclusions:

1) Oh shit, my entire family is gonna die (and not in the sense of oh we're shinobi in the middle of a never-ending war with the Senju, but in the sense that they'll be almost completely gone within 3-5 generations, leaving behind a single child (our boy Sasuke) who has to live with the burden of having no family)

2) their kind older brother Madara becomes... that. And even though there's a very low chance (generally speaking) that they'll live past say 14, Takaya tries their darndest to ensure the wellbeing of their clan and of their brothers as long as they are alive. This is done in two fronts, which eventually combine into one:

a) Finding a way to beef up the Uchiha's medical facilities.

I headcanon that the Uchiha had like *some* medical knowledge; I mean you have to have some kind of procedure when one of your clan members inevitably gets stabbed, slashed, or burned. But, this medical knowledge oftentimes fell short, so many Uchiha shinobi didn't necessarily die on the battlefield but back at the clan compound or the medical tents due to injuries. This is how Izuna probably died, and Tobirama asked of Izuna the next time his clan confronted the Uchiha (or just Madara???) because he might have assumed that the Uchiha had medical knowledge comparable to the Senju (who along with other clans like the Hyuga and Nara are the cream of the crop when it comes to medicine during this time period, at least in my headcanon) and assumed that his nemesis was like recovering from the injury, not dead.

Idk yet how I'll handle things like infection and disease. I'll have to absorb some more SI/OC fanfics (and Warring States Era fanfics in general) so that I'm more familiar with common tropes and can deconstruct them from there. One SI/OC fic I've been meaning to read is Sanitize, which deals with the disease/infection prevention aspect of medical care before Konoha's founding. Regardless, I think that using the Mystical Palm Technique on serious wounds could decrease the likelihood of a wound becoming infected, so it'll be a super useful technique for clans that don't already have knoweldge of this jutsu.

The lack of medical knowledge/techniques becomes apparent to Takaya when one of their siblings dies in a similar manner -- they get injured and die after days, maybe weeks, in agony. They remember the glowy hands technique they saw in the show, and go, "is there a way we could do that to help our clan members?" Honestly, this part is a bit shaky since information during this time is quite siloed, and Takaya quickly learns that you gotta break a few eggs to make an omlette.

b) Securing the bag.

Here, I'm rely on the headcanon that the Uchiha were, relatively speaking, at least poorer than the Senju. I'll need to figure out how big the gap is, however, between the Senju and say the daimyo and rich nobles, the Senju and the Uzumaki (I want them to be bougie shinobi lmao), and the Senju and the Uchiha (I mean after all, the Uchiha gained notoriety for being elite shinobi, so I don't think they'd always be on the brink of starving to death, but I'd like to hash ideas out with others on this). Even if the Senju are relatively well-off, they won't be rich enough to like completely stop relying on mercenary work, and the samurai and other people in the upper echelons of society will make it very clear that the Senju aren't all that because their line of work is inherently dishonourable. Iirc, in the past (in our world) social status and wealth didn't always go hand in hand, so going by that (if I'm not too wrong haha) you could have poor samurai (I think this happened irl) and nobility who for one reason or another lost their wealth, and you could have people in the lower strata of society who were loaded.

Anywho, overtime it becomes clear to Takaya that things between the Uchiha and their longtime rivals aren't as "equal" as they thought, and they along with Izuna (they become the scheming duo heehee) start scheming up multiple "get rich quick" schemes for the Uchiha that extend beyond taking the highest paying mission, inevitably having to duke it out with the Senju, and having at least one person die gruesomely. These schemes include (I should mention that this is gonna be a semi-crack fic):

Taking advantage of Hashirama's gambling addiction early (when he's like 12) and figuring out a way to make his main coping mechanism gambling instead of idk meditating under the trees. This way, even if a mission isn't successful, they still indirectly get the mission money.

Offering medical services for a (very hefty) fee. This might be a first for a shinobi clan to do, and it obviously comes with some risks, but in a war-torn world it is a pretty lucrative field of business. Takaya is very clear, however, that the Uchiha are offering medical services solely for the money, not out of charity or goodwill. Takaya develops a "fuck you I have mine" mentality. While they're extremely empathetic and caring, that compassion only extends to their family, their clan members, and maaaaybe the few allies the Uchiha have. They don't have the emotional capacity to care about anyone else, so they don't. So, if someone begs them to offer medical services for their sick mother and they can't pay, Takaya will walk away with no issue (they will be tossing and turning at night, but that's only because they drank too much water before bed, right?)

Honeypot missions with a twist (this one might be like 70% Izuna's idea tbh). The Uchiha don't really engage in honeypot/seduction missions in the traditional sense (honestly I probably need more exposure to the honeypot/seduction trope) because of the whole securing the bloodline thing, but there are ways around this. Basically, there will be a unit of Uchiha who specialize in a specific kind of seduction mission where they basically pull a Cardi B on unsuspecting clients; that is, they roofie the client and steal their money pouch and any other valuables then leave them to wake up in the middle of a dirt road

(I should note that I am a beginner writer and have very little experience writing actual fics. I'm quite good (I think) at coming up with ideas (often very strange) while I'm showering or cooking, but I'm working on improving my follow-thru game. This process, however, is slow due to executive functioning shit and current life circumstances. So, some ideas or plot bunnies might not make sense. I'd really love to hash out and polish these ideas with more experienced minds.)

In terms of finding a solution to achieve peace with the Senju, that part is... complicated. Why? The Senju, even under Hashirama, haven't really proven themselves as trustworthy enough to be allied with the Uchiha, centuries-long blood feud aside (for reasons I gotta hash out, anyone have ideas?). Additionally, some...other developments arise that make Takaya go, "you know what? Maybe I am sick of war (it always twists their stomach whenever they can't save a patient, especially if that patient is a kid), not to mention it's hurting our clan financials, but I'd rather we maintain our pride and honour during this horrible time than to be at the mercy of the Senju. Also, fuck Hashirama and Tobirama." (dm me if you want to know what that development is, it's a major spoiler and only adds to the crack nature of the potential fic)

But, for *other reasons* (read: Tsukasa, the other SI, may or may not have beaten the shit out of them), they eventually concede to a ceasefire, then later an alliance with the Senju. Overtime, they do learn to extend compassion to other non clan members, as long as they live in Konoha that is. They expand the business model that prevented the Uchiha from *actually* being on the brink of starvation at the end of the Warring States Era in canon (and having not much choice but to create an alliance with the Senju even if they had to make far too many concessions which when added up over many decades contributed to their demise) to Konoha. They know that war between the villages is inevitable, so depending on how I write this (if I ever do), they'll either try to strongarm (either with force or with economic might) the other villages under Konoha's umbrella to eventually form a "world government" of sorts, or have Konoha sit back as the other villages try to destroy each other, swoop in for medical assistance and reap the profit. If Hashirama (Hashirama does not like Madara's younger siblings in this fic, and the feeling is mutual) looks at them sideways for their skewed morals, they'll just go "why r u upset we haven't killed anyone we just jacked up the price of ninja insulin is all."

Oh, I should also mention that if the Tailed Beasts become an issue, both SIs have no problem with granting these creatures the same fate as in canon; the only thing that differs between them is how they approach the Tailed Beasts. While Takaya might go up to say Matatabi and basically tell her "ok, get in to this scroll," Tsukasa might attempt to convince them that they are safer sealed in a scroll or in a person than they are being out and about (you know how Kinkaku and Ginkaku tried to capture Kurama? Maybe they weren't the only ones trying to do so once the Hidden Village system was established).

Now, it's time to talk about Senju Tsukasa, who is child no. 3. Honestly, trying to name the Senju SI was harder than I thought. I just settled on "Tsukasa," which (according to this website at least) can be used to signify one's connection with nature. It's gonna take a while before I find a good name for this character, but for now Tsukasa is the working name for this SI.

Tsukasa, unlike Takaya, honestly isn't really concerned about "fixing" the future up until their teens. They're too busy having panic attacks, trying not to die, and maybe saving their younger siblings along the way (whether or not they succeed in this I cannot say right now 😶) to really thing about that. Oh, and also getting up to stupid shit when they're not training (like putting weed in Butsuma's porridge. The surprising thing is they don't get caught for a looong time, but one day they slip and start bragging about it to their cousins. One of their cousins snitches on them, and they get the ass-whooping of both of their lives). Besides, what can they do? They can heal, but Hashirama's a better healer. They can definitely hold their own in a fight, but Tobirama is quicker on his feet and better at commanding an army. Their strategy is basically "oh, maybe I'll volunteer to heal Izuna when my brother shanks him" (like that would be an easy task. Hint: probably not likely since if Izuna didn't trust the Senju with an alliance, how would he trust them to heal him?). They, along with certain individuals in their life (again I cannot say right now but if you dm me I might spill), if they don't want to outright wipe the Uchiha off the face of the planet (during this time period all clans wanted this end for their rivals), they take the approach of weakening them, and putting them in the position of having no choice but to accept any terms their rivals/nemesis throws in front of them.

Right now, I don't really have Tsukasa's character and purpose in the story before Konoha's founding (besides foiling all of Takaya's diabolical plans) set quite yet. It's just a bunch of plot bunnies that I'll only remember if you ask specific questions.

Compared to Takaya, Tsukasa doesn't really have a reason for sticking it out during this time of constant war besides "Idk let's find out what happens next," and they oscillate between not caring if they die because they've died once and dying again wouldn't hurt, and not wanting to die because even though they don't remember the whole process or how they got to exist in a world that was only a story in their previous life, they remember it felt like being pulled apart (gee I wonder why) and was likely scary and unpleasant.

Their character really starts to shine once the village is founded, and Tsukasa slowly becomes disillusioned with their older brother's dream (i.e. "what do you mean I still gotta go on assassination missions?!?!??"). They were dumb enough to think that once the village is founded without Izuna (or Madara's other stupid little brother unfortunately) dying, everything would be peachy. But of course, in both this life and in the past life, you gotta find a way to pay the bills, and for 99% of the clans that eventually inhabit Konoha that way has been doing shady shit for rich people for as long as they can remember. It's either business as usual, or their counterpart's own interesting methods of not having Konoha rely on violence (at least, Takaya's definition of "violence") and strife for money.

Ever since they were young, Tsukasa has had a visceral disdain for the daimyo and other rich clients who hire the Senju to deal with dirty business they do not out of "honour," lack of skill, or just cowardice. When the Senju and Uchiha eventually form an alliance, Tsukasa proposes to their brothers that they take it a step further and just kill the Fire Daimyo. For reasons (which I gotta think of ugh), Hashirama and Tobirama disagree and they continue on with their livelihoods as usual. After multiple personal and political developments over the span of at least half a decade or so, Tsukasa becomes fed up, leaves Konoha (might bring some friends with them who knows), and decides to create an old-timey Akatsuki with the goal of completely destroying the feudal system, and the shinobi world as they know it. If their methods eventually put Konoha in a recession then too bad so sad.

If all of this sounds kinda dumb, that's kinda the point. The whole story is doomed from start to finish whether or not these characters exist in the story, and the SIs only make *some* things better, if any, while leaving the world in a messier state than they left it. I do have 2 other SIs (around the main timeline) who have a happier ending and aren't as messed up as the Warring States SIs. But, those haven't been fully developed yet and aren't really my focus at this time.

Also, all of this is subject to change at any time. The idea for this potential fic has changed dramatically over time, especially as my understanding of Naruto (the manga) itself has changed over the past few months. Initially, it started off as an interesting thought exercise (what if you were born into the worst fictional world you can think of? What would you do (besides y’know dying right then and there). From there, the thought exercise got crazier and crazier and more unhinged, with some frankly self-indulgent elements interspersed between the horrors™️. Initially these two characters weren't even supposed to be in the same universe at the same time, but eventually they did because I thought it would be funny as fuck. There are a lot of things that live in my head but have yet to be written down, and some things here that are subject to change in the future once I get a solid handle on the characters, whether they are the SIs, the canon characters, the pseudo-canon characters who are practically OCs (class 1 pseudo-canon (at least 1 line): Izuna, Itama, Mito; class 2 pseudo-canon (no lines): Kawarama, Touka, Hikaku), or the slew of *actual* OCs I’ll have to create (I both dread this yet I’m so excited to create them. I already some ideas for a few).

I'm practically begging people to ask me more questions about this; it might actually motivate me to get over the shame and "he/she/they would NOT say that" in my head and actually write for once. Ask me about their OP abilities, ask me about potential ways they get traumatized, ask me any other question you feel like asking :D

[malarkgirlypop]

MEDIC! Part 21 (Donald Malarkey x Fem!OC)

I know I wrote this but I'm so mad at Don, but I did it so! Some fighting, some fluff, some ass hitting as per request of @next-autopsy, ahahah jk! Let me know what you think!

I also just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who reads my fic! I have now posted 21 chapters which is so much! Thank you for sticking with me, I know it's been long! I am so excited to keep going with this story. Probably the only thing I have stuck too and not given up half way, which my brain likes to do! I love you all, thank you for all your support and amazing comments, truly makes me so happy and I just want to keep sharing my work with you all! I really can't thank you all enough, how do I buy you all presents? ahahahah.

Based on the HBO show and the actors who portray the characters, no hate to anyone involved.Keep reading

Tag list: @next-autopsy, @panzershrike-pretz, @xxluckystrike, @bucky32557038ww2 (let me know if you want to be tagged.)

The men wandered back into the room, I stopped Don as he walked in, grabbing him by his arm. 

“Can we talk?” I asked, he nodded, moving out of the room again. I walked down stairs finding somewhere more private to speak to him. I walked into one of the empty rooms, Don followed behind closing the door. 

“So are you going to explain what happened?” He asked, sitting on the edge of one of the bunks I sat opposite him on the other bed. 

“Why were you in a towel?” He asked before I could tell him anything. 

“Cobb stole my clothes while I was showering. So I marched through town in my towel to confront him.” I told him, his eyes widened as I told the story. 

“Emily! You can’t do that!” He scolded me. I rolled my eyes. I felt angry, he wasn’t there. That was selfish of me, but I was still mad. I handled the situation myself, and he wants to tell me what I can and can’t do. He hasn’t spoken to me in days, he walks away when I approach him, he dismisses me at every turn. Now he wants to pretend like he cares.   

“It’s already happened, so…” I say my tone clipped. There was a pause, I couldn’t help myself. “Have I done something to make you angry with me?” I asked. He furrowed his brows. 

“No.” He stated. I huffed. Not satisfied with the answer he had given. So he was avoiding me just because. 

“Well is something wrong, are you upset?” I tried to make sense of the distance he had placed between us. 

“No.” I bit my lip, I was an angry crier, hell I was an everything crier, but still I didn’t want him to see me upset like that. I didn’t want to break down and cry. I needed to hash this out, without him trying to comfort me, or leaving cause I was sad. 

“No, is that all you have to say? Don you haven’t spoken to me in days.” My voice wobbles, I take a breath trying to calm myself.    

“I’ve been busy.” I scoffed. “I have! I’m a leader now, these men depend on me.” His voice was harsh. 

“Yeah and you seem to make time for them. I’m in your team too.” I felt so selfish, but I was hurting, he was my person and he was just leaving me like I wasn’t his. Maybe I’m not his. 

“Why are you stepping back from me? I thought we were friends! I thought you said we were in this together! You promised me you would always be by my side! Has that changed?” I felt the tears brimming in my eyes. I thought back to after the incident in Noville, after I had washed up. Don said, no he promised me that we would look after each other. 

“I have a lot on my plate at the moment, I can’t be your babysitter! I can’t…” He trailed off looking at my face. Tears fell down my cheeks. That hurt, fuck that hurt. 

“That’s all it was? You felt obliged to look after me?” I couldn’t hide the pain, like a stab in the heart. So he didn’t care, really. He felt obligated to make sure I was ok, there were no feelings involved. It was an order, a duty he felt he needed to take. He opened his mouth, but the door to the room opened, a soldier asking for him. I wiped the tears from my face, turning away from the door. He stood and left. He left, he didn’t say anything, just left. I took a breath, sniffing, wiping away my tears. I felt sick. I scrubbed a hand over my face. 

I made my way back upstairs, the men lounging about. 

“Here she is the streaker.” Grant clapped me on the back. I gave a weak smile, but they didn’t seem to notice, too busy laughing at their joke. I grabbed my bag. 

“I have to go check on Lip!” I said, rushing out of the room. It was true, I should check on the very sick man, but it was a way to escape. I didn’t need them asking questions. I just needed to think by myself for a bit. I made my way to CP, it was quiet. I walked into the back room, sighing, pleased to see Lipton finally sleeping in his bed. I shut the door after ensuring he was breathing. I moved back into the main room, plopping down on the couch. I tried to get my emotions in check, but it was a lot, all I wanted was my mum. I just wanted a hug from someone. I sniffed, wiping the tears from my chin. Just a babysitter, I laughed in pain. I hastily dried my tears when footsteps approached the room. I glanced over to see Ron walk in. 

“Emily? What are you doing here?” He asked, walking further into the room. 

“I just came to check on Lip, he’s sleeping.” My voice betrayed me, wobbling slightly as I spoke.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Ron moved quickly over to me, kneeling in front of where I sat. 

“Nothing.” I shook my head. More tears falling down my face. His brows pinched as he looked at me.     

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked, moving to sit next to me. I shook my head. “Do you want anything?” 

“Can I have a hug?” I whispered. Without hesitation he wrapped his arms around me. Pulling me into his chest, I clung onto his arm that held my front, he gently stroked my hair. My mum used to hug me the same way. The thought made me cry harder. 

“Shh.” He cooed, rocking us slightly, his chin resting on the top of my head. I felt like a child again, after falling over, being comforted by your parent. I felt so small in his arms, I felt so vulnerable, I didn’t have to say anything but he could see it all. He didn’t comment but he knew. 

We stayed like that for a moment, but I knew he was busy. I pulled away, his arms falling from around me. I wiped my tears, giving him a small smile. 

“Thanks.” I said weakly. He nodded, smoothing down my hair with his hand. 

“I have to go. Emily, remember you can come to me.” He said standing, I nodded, watching him leave the room again.  

—------------

I made my way back to the house, dragging my feet. I didn’t want to see Don. Before I left I looked in one of the broken mirrors, my face was pink and blotchy, my eyes all red and bloodshot. If anyone looked at me longer than a second they would be able to tell I had been crying. I mean when am I not crying, it’s been my permanent state since I arrived here. 

Lieb passed me on the street, “Hey we were going to see George, see if we could steal some goods, you wanna come?” He asked, but before I could answer he was already dragging me down the road. 

Lieb and I walked into the ration room where George was working hard. Before we had entered we’d heard Martin and Cobb pestering poor Luz for candy. 

Lieb waltzed right in, “Woah, Hershey bars!” Reaching over the counter to grab at the candy. George looked pissed, swatting his hand away. 

“Jesus Chirst.” He muttered, Cobb swung around telling Lieb to wait his turn. 

“Who are they for?” Lieb asked, pointing at all of the boxes filled with goodies. I stood behind the men just watching. I smiled at George, he gave me a wink back. 

“Not you Lieb!” George growled at the men. 

“Oh, come on George, one bar!” Lieb whined like a child, holding out his hand. 

“George!” I said sweetly, making my way towards him. I stood beside him wrapping my arm around his shoulders, his arm snaked around my waist. “You look so handsome today.” I smiled, putting on my charm. “So strong.” I said, patting his chest. He grinned at me rolling his eyes. “I love what you have done with your hair.” I fluttered my lashes, running my fingers through his hair.  

“Here, have a chocolate bar, you flirt.” He said leaning forward to grab me one from the box. 

“Ah, for me?” I gasped, placing my hand on my chest acting coy. He handed it to me. I smiled, giving him a kiss on the cheek. 

“HEY! Hey, why does she get one!” Lieb protested. 

“Yeah what the hell George!” Cobb agreed. 

“Cause she’s pretty, unlike you ugly son’s of bitches.” He insulted them. I laughed, poking my tongue out at the men, I held up the bar rubbing it in their faces. George shooed me away, slapping me on the ass as I retreated, I let out a squeal in surprise, turning to laugh with the man. 

“George one bar!” Lieb pleaded. 

“No, there’s not enough to go around!” George yelled at them. 

I left quickly, seeing that Lieb seemed to be eyeing up my prize. 

—-------------

 “Let’s go!” Chuck shook me awake, I had almost completely dozed off on my bunk, but was rudely awoken by the man. 

“Where?” I asked, sitting up stretching.

“Briefing at CP, come on.” He hauled me out of bed by my arms. I followed along, still spaced from being asleep moments ago. 

“Why am I coming?” I asked trailing along behind the group, yawning into my hand. 

“You're on call, if anything goes wrong.” Lieb tells me, I nod. I don’t actually think I need to be there, but I’m dragged to it anyway. 

Babe slings me under his arm as we walk. I let him lead me, only having my eyes open a crack. 

The boys slump down into their seats in CP waiting for the others to arrive for the briefing. I lean against the back wall by the window behind Web. I don’t need to be right up at the front with the rest of the men, as I’m not going on the patrol. Lt. Jones leans against the wall by the entrance looking nervous, quiet chatter filling the room. 

“Come on, he can’t be leading.” I hear Grant whisper to Babe. There had been a rumour spread quickly, no surprises there, these boys gossiped like no one’s business, that Jones was leading the patrol. Which made them all very apprehensive of going, more so than before. We all saw what happens when we don't have a good leader running the show. Cough, cough Dike. 

“I’m not sure what they decided.” Babe said to him. They lounge with their legs propped up on the table same as the other men gathered around the table. 

“No way. Not on his first day.” Grant continued in his disbelief. 

“Well, do you see any other officers here?” Lieb asked.

More men gathered in the room, standing around the table. I could make out a few of them Cobb, Skinny, two other guys I couldn’t remember their names. 

They chatted briefly, with the new men wondering who was going to be in charge of the patrol. Sending worried glances to the young officer in the corner, hoping and praying it wasn’t him.

“10-hut!” Jones announced. I had no idea what that meant, but I straightened standing tall. Since when did we do this? 

“Jesus.” I heard Lieb mutter to himself as he stood. 

“At ease.” Winters told the men who relaxed back into their seats, Martin followed in behind him. 

I kind of listened, kind of didn’t. I got the basics, the patrol was happening at 0100, how fun! That 15 men were going over on the patrol, which was a prisoner snatch. They had four rubber boats to go across the river, so that they didn’t have to swim in the icy cold water. Most importantly Winters informed the men that Lt. Jones would in fact be the ranking officer, but he was going to be shadowed by Martin. Sergeant Martin was going to lead the patrol in place of Malarkey. My brain clicked on, he isn’t going. I sighed with relief, I was glad he didn’t have to go.

I also didn’t miss the look shared between Jones and Web, neither did Martin glaring at the pair of them. What had they been up to together for that kind of interaction? Had they been planning this. I know Jones wanted in on the patrol. What had Webster done to hook him up with the position he was in now? Webster didn’t have any pull around here, he literally just arrived back! 

“10-hut!” Jones’ voice pulled me from my thoughts, no one stood at attention which is what I assumed the call was. 

“As you were, carry on.” Winters said disappearing with Martin.     

“A little German, he speaks as much German as me.” Lieb said loudly enough for Webster who was standing right beside him to hear. Webster left the room quickly. 

“Come on you, let’s go.” I was again dragged from the building by Grant and Lieb. We gathered outside, the pair bitching loudly about Webster. 

“Hey.” I said smacking the pair of them. “You two are shit stirrers.”

“What are you siding with him?” Grant asked. 

“No, I’m not. But I feel bad.” I wasn’t here to bully the poor guy.

“Why do you feel bad Em? That guy has been on holiday for four months, during our hardest time and then just rocks back up when everything is almost over to take all the glory.” Lieb told me, clearly pissed off.  

“Em is just too sweet.” Grant said, pinning me under his arm and trying to tickle my neck. I hunched my shoulders up trying to hide the ticklish skin from his fingers. 

“Let’s get moving. I want to try and get some shut eye before we do this.” Lieb said, Grant let me go from his hold. I hid behind Lieb using his body as a shield as Grant continued to taunt me with his wiggling fingers. 

We walked back to base passing Webster who was talking to the officers. 

“Hey, Liebgott, you want to sit this one out?” Ron asked Lieb as we passed. Grant grinning beside him. 

“Yes, sir.” Lieb agreed, smiling brightly. “Thanks buddy!” Lieb sent Webster a wink. 

I caught Ron’s glance, his eyes scanning my features. I could tell he was trying to see if I was alright. I sent him a smile, mouthing ‘I’m ok.’ He nodded, turning back to the men he was talking to.  

—----------

We gathered in the basement having supper before we tried to get some sleep. I sat at the table sipping my water. My bad mood was back. Don was pretending like everything was fine. He smiled and laughed with the men, sitting and chatting with them. The more I watched him the more pissed off it made me. I was over here stewing, and he seemed like he didn’t have a care in the world. 

“You’re going to crush the cup if you squeeze it any harder, Em.” Lieb said, sitting next to me. I loosened the hold on my cup not realising how much power I had behind the grip.

”I thought you would be in a better mood, now that your husband isn’t going on the patrol?” Lieb with a full mouth of food. 

“Emily, you want some?” I looked up, Don stood in front of me holding out a pot of food, a lazy smile on his face. I took a breath, trying not to hurl my cup at his head. 

“I’m fine, thanks. Not hungry.” My tone clipped. He nodded, moving onto the next person. 

“Oh no, trouble in paradise?” Lieb nudged me. 

“Fuck off, Joe!” I sent him daggers, he held up his arms in surrender.  

“It must be bad, you never swear at me!” I chuckled, he smirked, “Aw there she is. Gosh that other one was scary! She looked like she was going to bite my head off.” I raised my eyebrows, cautioning him. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked more seriously now, coming closer to keep his voice down. 

“Nope. Not particularly.” He gave me an empathetic smile, rubbing my back. 

“Come on, you know you’re hungry.” Lieb offered me his food out on the spoon. I rolled my eyes, but opened my mouth. He placed the spoon in my mouth. We shared his meal, he secretly snuck up to get more for the two of us. 

We sat at the table talking when Webster approached us. “Hi.” He smiled, giving an awkward wave. Lieb nudged me under the table, I knew he was asking if I had seen the same thing that he did. I glanced over to Lieb, a small smile pulling to my lips as he hid his smirk behind his hand.  

“Hey Web!” I said politely, focussing back on the man standing before us. “You gonna go get ready for tonight?” I asked, the other men had slowly left the room preparing themselves for the patrol, Martin had told them nothing rattles, nothing shines so they don’t give themselves away. 

“Oh yeah, I was just going to head up and join them.” Webster smiled at me. Another kick under the table from Lieb but I ignored him. I waited for Webster to say something else, surely he had something else to say right, he didn’t just approach us to stand there awkwardly. I silently begged him to speak again. Come on Web don’t make this weird. 

“You look nice.” He blurted, I heard Lieb snort in laughter. He made it weird. “I mean, you look clean.” I made a strange looking face at him, “No, not clean! Um, you look, dressed.” I chuckled, baffled by his comments as he fumbled over his words. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna, go.” He nodded leaving up the stairs. Joe waited for him to leave the room before howling with laughter, he clutched his belly as he did so. I sat there so confused at what just happened.  

“That was a train wreck, that man cannot flirt.” Joe said after he had finished laughing.  

“Flirt?” I asked, that’s not what I got from the conversation. 

“Emily! Come on, he was clearly trying to flirt with you.” Lieb looked at me surprised. 

“I don’t think so.” I shook my head, surely he wasn’t. 

“God you’re hopeless.” He patted my back, getting up chuckling to himself. “Come on, we will do dishes.” Lieb instructed me. 

“We will do dishes? Or you will stand there and tell me what to do while you watch?” I raised my eyebrows at him. He grinned, knowing I had caught onto his little tactic he pulled last time. 

I washed the dishes while he dried. I dried my hands on the tea towel as Joe waited patiently for me to give it back. A devious grin formed on my lips. I twirled the tea towel round in my hand wrapping it around itself so it looked like a long snake. Joe wasn’t paying attention as I walked closer to him. I snapped the tea towel out, whipping him in the butt. 

“Hey!” He cried moving away, it wasn’t the best flick, it didn’t snap like I wanted it too. I tried again, wringing the tea towel around. I flicked it out but Joe snatched it off me before the hit landed. He grinned as he did the same thing, wrapping the towel up. 

“Joe! Joe! Think about it, you don’t want to hurt me.” I said backing up, he stalked me like prey with a grin plastered on his face. 

“Don’t start something you can’t finish then!” He moved faster, I screamed moving away from him as he chased me around the table. 

“Joe!” I cried as he backed me into a corner, I held out my arms trying to keep him at bay. He whipped out the towel it snapped just inches away from me. I yelped in surprise, making my move to run past him while he reloaded. I pushed past him but he was quick, the towel snapping onto my leg. I let out a cry, it had caught the back of my thigh. The snap echoed around the room. 

“Oh Em, that was so much harder than I intended!” He laughed as I grasped at my leg hopping around the room. 

“Ow!” I said, but still laughing, “Joe you asshole, that hurt!” I rubbed the spot where he had got me, it stung so much. “You little shit!”

“I’m sorry, aww Em!” He laughed watching me in pain. “That would’ve left a mark for sure.” He grinned. 

“Owww, I think it did. Wait, I want to see!” I said undoing my pants, it was fine I had my shorts underneath which I normally slept in. I pulled them down exposing the back of my thigh. On my white skin was a harsh red welt with flicks of purple in the middle. 

“Joe!” I said covering my mouth, it looked so bad. 

“Oh god.” He hissed looking at it. “Whoops.” He said, still grinning. I smacked him on the arm, pulling up my pants. We finished the dishes together. Heading upstairs to get some sleep before the patrol. 

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

Chapter 22

[scenetocause]

FIC WRITER INTERVIEW

tagged by @glasscushion thank youuuuuu <3

How many works do you have on AO3?

currently 60 but i periodically nuke my ao3 so that's not really the total and i know i've got quite a few on anon even now

What's your total AO3 word count?

457,512. what the fuck. that's like 2/3 of the bible. (if any of the words in my fic were in the bible)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

ok i was so certain i could predict the order of these and i literally only got the top one right because what

climb up to your lips (girloscar, multi-chapter, 719 kudos)

shoreline i see when i'm off course (a/b/o, loscar & mando, wrote in about half an hour in a fugue state, 628 kudos)

just telling it like it is (lando/maxv, stupid little 5+1 thing i increasingly dislike and might orphan, 458 kudos)

(i) just wanna get a little bit closer (mando, honestly probably not the one i would have expected to be the most popular you know? like i think i would've assumed that was no plans of staying on. not that i dislike this one massively or anything it's just definitely one of my least thought through fics. 482 kudos)

every colour illuminates (genders georg/lando, if i'm objective about it i think this is probably my best fic or at least it's the most pure love letter to queerness which is sort of what they all are. 467 kudos)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i would like to. i always intend to. then i get overwhelmed and avoidant. i can't handle people saying nice things about me or at least have to sort of microdose it and responding feels too difficult sometimes, at the same time as i desperately crave praise haha really hard to tell i have a failed past involving a racing license definitely no need to dig into that one. there are some comments people have left on my work that mean so, so much and i hoard them and read them again when i can manage it so if i don't respond don't think it's because i don't want comments or don't appreciate them, my head is just a bear trap.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

i don't really write angst but it's probably one of my george/mercedes ones like don't say no or you'll have to go (george/valtteri, the horror of getting what you want) or well past the weeds (george/toto, fucked up team debrief dynamics) - lando is incredibly easy for me to project onto because my lando is just me but younger and richer and hotter but the real psychological goop gets spilled out onto george.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

definitely every colour illuminates or pick me up, no headlights (george and max accidentally acquire a baby) which are sort of intentionally good outcomes. but i actually think turn my heart into something gold, where lando sort of sorts himself out, is maybe the most optimistic.

Do you write crossovers?

not in a true sense. i'll write an au but i don't like the idea of blending characters, idk why but that feels too chaotic for the blorbo sandbox. i guess maybe every day i let go just a little bit more is a crossover in the sense f1 and fe really are totally separate worlds.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

no. probably loads of people hate my fic but they don't tell me about it, which is exactly the way i'd like to keep it. fic is a safe little sandbox for me to play in.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

haha. well. all the kinds? no, that's not true - you can definitely tell when you're reading an emptyhalf production. i've got a lot of things i think are incredibly hot that don't necessarily feature as essential to other writers (which is fine obviously! these are my tics not a ticklist) from ~broader concept things~ like having really clear consent to a thing for like, thinking it's hot when someone parts their legs? idk. brains man. generally i'd say i have a courageous approach to the concept of inserting things pretty much anywhere. i don't really give a shit about blow jobs tho and that probably shows. (which is funny cus i quite like giving them and am happy to make someone suck a strap? they've just never done anything for me as something to think about for whatever reason)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i think i did ages ago when there was some wattpad theft thing idk

Have you ever had a fic translated?

i think i have but i can't remember which one

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i feel like nearly all my fics are co-written bc they often come from ideas in group chats or discords or whatever. and i quite often have to ask for help with shit i don't know about because i'm stupid as hell. i wrote burn a hole as a sort of postquel part of ivycrowned's fic, which is probably the most collaborative i've ever really been in that sense. i think the only fics that have been totally my own thoughts are the daniel goes to fe one and girloscar. altho with a lot of my mando the co-creators are max and lando so 🤷🏻‍♀️

What's your all-time favorite ship?

idk man. lando x being able to be vulnerable enough to get what you want. queerness x living a life in full vibrancy and without fear.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

god i really do actually want to finish daniel goes to fe but i haven't been able to open the document for ages because there are millions of things wrong with me.

What are your writing strengths?

when i am in the mood i can bang out a lot of words. i think i am more easily able to access lando-voice than a lot of people bc i too am a whiny goblin but idk if that's a strength per se.

What are your writing weaknesses?

lmao god how long have we got what's the character limit on a tumblr post. uh, so. i don't plan i just write. like literally nothing goes on i just switch on the word tap and words come out. i don't edit, ever which means my fics are littered with grammatical errors (how DO commas work? not like that) and repeated words and shit that annoy the hell out of me when i spot them later. i have so many weird phrasing tics. i don't understand the concept of romance. i have a very offbeat and queer interpretation of relationships that only tangentially links to "normal." my kinks are excruciatingly obvious.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i think i don't really give a shit? like i probably wouldn't do it unless it was a language i could write it in first time because of the aforementioned 'turning on the word tap' method but idk if i care what other people are doing. i find it mildly off-putting when people write characters speaking their second language and throw words from their first language in because that is not how anyone speaking a second language talks or at least, it tends to get done wrong. like when i'm speaking english i will use words from (original language) but only in the context of referring to eg: a relative (like an italian saying nonna not granny) or if i really can't remember the word for some food or something. but also it's like, largely harmless and far from the biggest writing sin out there.

(the biggest writing sin is obviously having an incorrect take on my blorbos and also woobification and especially incorrect woobification of my blorbos)

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

p sure i would dox myself if i said this but i have written for quite a few. i've never been as active in a fandom or for as long as with f1 rpf. (shout out to the livejournal girlies, of which loads ended up working in f1)

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

i would never exercise the self-restraint to stop myself writing something i wanted to tbh

What's your favorite fic you've written?

idk. probably girloscar, i was proud of myself for finishing that. it's difficult for me to think positively about things i've done, so i don't know that i have favourites. the ones i re-read the most myself are genders georg and genders maxy. who can say if i have something going on with genders! but yeah idk i don't think i write like defining fics or anything profound like a lot of people do, it's mostly just weird horny thoughts percolating into a gdoc like drip coffee. actually you know what, it might be has-a-pussy-with-no-real-explanation max.

tagging @saintdevote @strawcars @lost-decade @des-iderate if you haven't been tagged already and no pressure obviously!

[the-possum-writes]

Heya! Is it ok if I request romantic headcanons of Fern with a fish princess reader please?

Fishy Buisness

❥Character: Fern Mertens

❥Tags: SFW, Wholesome, Friends to lovers, Fish!Reader, Gender neutral pronouns, Hcs

❥Synopsis: Fern kept practicing his fishing only to find most of the fishes he catches are already dead, when he decides to get to the bottom of this mystery it leads him to make a new friend.

❥For the past week, Fern had been practicing his fishing every day until he returned home with a proud smile and a clutch of fish. "Take a look at this bounty, boys! I guess my luck is changing for the better, huh?"

❥But upon closer inspection, the fish's eyes were evidently lifeless.

Finn is the first to comment, saying, "I don't know fern, they look like they were dead before you caught them."

"Yeah, did you get them from the market?" Jake plays it off.

"What? No! I just reeled them in this morning." Fern then starts questioning himself.

❥When he went back to his fishing spot as usual, Fern feels a tug on his line and reels it in only to find out that fish is dead too. "Then how are they biting the line??"

❥To figure out what was going on, he made a dummy that looked like him and connected a fishing pole to it. He placed the dummy in his normal spot while studying the river waters from atop a tree branch. From that height, he could notice turbulent waters near the fishing line and swim away upstream, following the turbulence until plunging in after whatever was in the water.

❥He caught the most surprising fish there; instead of the river monster he was expecting, Fern was greeted by a fish person with scales, fins, and everything. Despite being bipedal, they nevertheless maintained aquatic features that gave them an amphibian-like appearance.

❥"AHH! They scream, "PLEASE DON'T EAT MEEEEE, I DON'T TASTE GOOD.

"I don't want to eat you, I wanna know why you're leaving dead fish in my line." Fern raises his voice. He would have been shocked that he could yell underwater, but at the time, he was too furious to care.

❥"I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do with them after the monster assaulted the Coral Reef Kingdom, so I decided to give them to you and continue their life cycle." You explain your situation, which piqued Fern's curiosity and helped to calm him down.

"Just quit doing that! It's embarrassing that my brothers think I'm cheating at fishing. Fern speaks from his own perspective. "What is this monster you're talking about? Will you let me fish in peace if I kill it?"

❥You agree to Fern's demands and direct him to your kingdom of a neighboring coral reef where an invasive species of fish monsters is taking over. These fish monsters eat anything swimming nearby and mix up the water to the point where nothing can grow or be seen through the sand.

❥You'd be lying if you claimed you didn't have any doubts about his abilities, but Fern had no trouble killing the monsters and sending them swimming away. However, when he returned to you, he was still in poor condition.

❥"There, I need to go back and..." Fern passed in front of you, and you scooped him up before he could plunge into the deeper waters.

When Fern woke up, the first thing he noticed was the light sand intermingled with patches of green grass. He also noticed a small handcrafted basket made of a giant seashell and rope, which contained some seaweed salad and what he guessed was a paste that was intended for medical purposes. The words "Thanks" were scribbled in the sand but there was no other note left behind.

❥Fern returned to his fishing spot and had better luck the next several days; it seemed that schools of fish started to travel through the river more frequently. Even though he was successful in recovering his reputation at home, he couldn't help but think about the fish person.

❥In his thoughts, he justified his behavior by saying that he was returning to the spot where he had first awoken in order to catch different creatures, although this was only partially true.

❥Not long after he castes his line it immediately started tugging it, but just like before, instead of seeing a regular fish he was met with the sight of you.

❥"Hey."

He responds, "Hey."

"You returned, why?" You emerge from the water, resting your arms on the riverbank before laying your head.

He thinks for a moment, then says, "I don't know, I guess I was getting bored at my same spot. You sent those fishes my way, didn't you?"

You answer casually, making patterns in the sand to divert his attention. "Well, my part of the deal was to stop hitching dead fishes to your line."

"But now that you made things too easy for me, what fun is that anymore?" Fern grumbles.

At the sound of that, you turn your head. "Oh, you're more of a challenge kind of guy?" You put him to the test:

❥Fern doesn't require air, so you feel at ease knowing that you may swim without being in a rush. You led him to a special underwater stream. The unique location you led him to is a network of underground caverns teeming with aquatic life such as fish, crabs, and algae. "Only the toughest fish and marine animals can survive here because of the powerful currents; it would be lucky to even see one, let alone catch one."

❥He soon became hyper focused on the task, meanwhile you'd just sit back back and say. "Oh so close."

❥It quickly became routine to sit back and watch Fern attempt to capture fish with his bare hands; he was always within reach, but the fish always slipped his grip. He was also incredibly competitive; he'd go at it for hours, only pausing to eat a small photosynthetic lunch at the surface.

❥You would accompany him with your own catch of the day and serve it with a substantial serving of seaweed salad or some crab flesh on the side.

❥You two discuss a variety of subjects, including hunting techniques, animal species you have encountered or heard about, your explorations of sunken ships, and his exploits on dry land.

❥Fern gradually lost his sense of competition and came to enjoy your company to the point where he would come see you for more than just catching.

❥Finn is happy to see his grass brother in a good mood (he's also secretly pleased that they stopped eating fish every night, but he doesn't have the guts to admit it), while Jake jokes that he's been underwater for so long that he'll develop algae and smell like fish.

❥Once you finally met Fern's two brothers, you served them a seafood mixture. It's nice to finally meet you; Fern always talks about you.

"He does?"

❥Fern doesn't realize he has a strong crush on you until Jake points it out; of course, he believes he's joking, but Jake insists otherwise. "I'm being honest here; you two have good chemistry, and you'd understand if you noticed how they look at you," the speaker said.

❥He doesn't fully comprehend what Jake is getting at until the day he finally catches a fish in the cavern currents.

"I did it? I DID IT!! Hah take that! You thought I'd never make it did ya?!" Fern unknowingly flexes his catch in front of you out of excitement, but he immediately shut up when he saw nothing but fondness in your eyes and expression.

The hug caught him off guard too, almost letting go of his catch. "I always knew you were capable of it, it was just a matter of time." you confess.

❥Fern felt warm inside despite the chilly waters and your low body temperature. It didn't even bother him to release his rare catch in favor of returning the hug with a tight squeeze."Thanks, wouldn't have done it without you."

❥After that, you two became even closer. Talking about your pasts, insecurities, and even future plans. Before you knew it confessions were also made and feelings were reciprocated.

❥Dating was usually the same as hanging out as friends, with the main difference being the physical affection. Since you don't have hair, braiding Fern's hair is one of your favorite past times. Fern would sit on the bank of the river and splash the water at his pointy feet.

❥You crafted the two of you identical seashell bracelets for your one-year anniversary.

❥Fern would try to take you on a romantic boat ride into the sea but he looses a paddle midway and you offer to pull it since you're great at swimming, but he insist on being a gentleman and offers to tug it instead.

❥Since you already met Fern's family it was your turn to have him meet your family, or in this case the citizens of your kingdom. A large array of fishes and sentient sea life where three of them in particular are the equivalent of your "royal" staff. "This oyster is Sheila my maid, that octopus over there is Otto he's the chef and that old sea slug is Ralph, he's the butler if you couldn't tell by the snazzy bow tie."

❥Fern didn't know much about your status as royalty but he soon came to learn that your title of princess is mostly self proclaimed, with your crown being handmade with seashells that are stylized more like a protective helm.

❥Fern doesn't know how, but you introduce him to every creature that frequents your coral reef by name (he isn't sure if that's their real names or if you named them)

It's then that he realizes how lonely you are being the only fish person in an underwater kingdom but you reassure him that. "Ever since I met you, I never really felt that lonely anymore."

[ellethespaceunicorn]

2023 Character Wrapped

@geralts-yenn and @raccoon-eyed-rebel tagged me to talk about my favorite characters. And well, this is just too good not to pass up. So, join me, won't you?

Let's rank my favorite characters! (Based on # of times I have written them).

Under the cut to keep my ramblings off your dashboard...but you just know there are bunch of Henry Cavill-shaped bitches under this cut.

But, in what order??

Alright, let's get this party started with...

Walter Marshall - Night Hunter

I feel like this is absolutely no surprise that I've written the most for this grumpy bear. But, I just call him Daddy. Whether he be touch-starved, an enemy turned lover, falling in love like a love-sick puppy, taking a little "me time" for himself, or being the goodest boy as werewolf Wolfie. Even wrote a headcanon about his hobbies.

2. Clark Kent - Man of Steel, BvS, Justice League

I have loved the character of Clark Kent since I was a little thing, I'm obsessed with curly-haired nerds. Clark also is the only character I have written "fluff" for, be it praising what you think are flaws or surprising you for your birthday. I have written him as a Sub and as a Dom (in my only work that has surpassed 1k notes).

3. August Walker - Mission: Impossible - Fallout

I've never written August as the good guy, and there is a reason for that. In my head, he's the life-ruiner. He can be sweet (to you), but odds are he just killed a guy because the guy looked at you for longer than a second. I've written August as a pissed-off Dom who was sick of being interrupted, a very bad Daddy, and an Uncle who takes advantage of his nephew's girlfriend here(original) and here(director's cut).

4. Captain Syverson - Sand Castle

Oh, Syverson. My baby don't even got a dayum first name and he's popular. I've written him confronting a lover during a post-apocalyptic pregnancy realization, and as a married father-to be getting his beard trimmed and talking to his unborn daughter. He's also featured in my Werewolf!Walter Marshall story, and that's all I'll say about that. (Also, I've been referring to him as James Syverson in every iteration of the character that I have written for - I think.)

5. Mike - Hellraiser: Hellworld

My sweet baby boy. He is a guilty pleasure. I gave him a full series where he finds love and has quite the cast of characters as his family. But, technically, I only wrote the series because of what happened here and here, when his naughty Uncle slept with his girlfriend.

6. Napoleon Solo - The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

He's just so fucking sexy. I love him, your honor. He's been a suave and sexy older man wooing a young student over a good meal, and also started a series where he was falling hard for a woman in his apartment building (still in the early stages and I promise @deandoesthingstome that I will get back to this series).

7. Sherlock Holmes - Enola Holmes series

I have also loved Sherlock Holmes since I was a little kid. I thought he was the coolest person ever, but he's a curly-haired nerd so of course I loved him. I love when Sherlock is in love, whether he is ignoring his bratty wife until he takes matters into his own hands, or if he is having trouble coming to terms with new love.

8. Charles Brandon - The Tudors

This little shit. This redeeemable, sexy, fucking slut. I love him. I've only written him once, and it was a request! But, I enjoyed it. I loved writing him getting teased sexually and then taking control of the situation. So hot.

9. Humphrey - Stardust

Ok, not actually a fan of Humphrey, I've just written him. And that was all thanks to @sillyrabbit81's milestone celebration at the beginning of this year. This fic is kind of a weird egg, just, go with me though. The plot is: you and Humphrey are step-siblings who end up getting a little...involved. I'm not sorry for the title of this fic.

And to our last entry, the only non-HC character...

10. Lloyd Hansen - The Gray Man

What can I say? If I had the means, and I guess I really do but whatever, I would rank this man at #2 above Clark Kent. Because Lloyd-excuse me...Sir is one of my all-time favorites. I've included him inside larger stories as a bit player, see Bright Like the Moon (where he plays a bad man later in the series). But, I also wanted him to have his own show where he was the star, so I had him stalk and kidnap a girl and tie her up in the basement and call her Sunshine. I also wrote a little headcanon about his family, quirks, hobbies and his sleeping habits.

TL;DR: Walter Marshall is Daddy, Lloyd Hansen is Sir. And I need to finish one series before starting another. Maybe I will work on that. *snort*

I have written for a lot of characters, and I'm not gonna stop. I really wanna write so much more and my WIP folder is literally overflowing with things. I just started a new fic like the day I posted the most recent chapter of THiCC. What am I doing??

No pressure tags: @cardierreh15 @milknhonies @halfofmysoulsblog @xblackreader @xsapphirescrollsx

[vimara00]

The date (Shigaraki X F!Reader) By Vi ✨

Hi everyone, It's Vi ✨ I decided to write part two of my recent post (if you haven't read it, click here) I hope you enjoy! (Again, I'm sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes, english is not my first language 🙏🏻)

Tag @thickemadame

Warnings: mentions of blood but fluff anyway

All characters reservations to Horikoshi

Shigaraki has been talking with y/n for over two weeks and they already had planned where they would go to have lunch. It actually took that long to organised because of Tomura's "busy schedule" (which meant finding a day where AFO or the league wouldn't need him) and also because he needed to make sure the place they picked was safe (but she didn't have to know any of that)

All this nights spent together talking and playing games, made him believed that maybe there was a chance to be loved and happy in this world. And he liked the person he became around her, made him feel a little more human and not a complete "monster", like everybody thought.

However, he was scared shirtless of her reaction when she'd put the pieces together and realised who he really was and what he was aiming to achieve. But Tomura wished that when it happens, she'll understand him and stays by his side.

The day of their "date", as he liked to call it, was around the corner and so was his anxiety. What if he was too much of a freak for her? What if she saw him at daylight and thought he was ugly (which he believed he was)? How would he talked to a woman when all his life he was rejected or feared by them? So many questions that didn't let him sleep at night. That and the constant thoughts of her soft skin and how good it felt to have her lips on his cheek. He dreamed about having her in front of him and being able to kiss and caress her body.

He didn't have anybody to share his thoughts and opinions about this and he knew he couldn't ask his master; he would say that she was a "distraction" and would try to hurt her. That's why he reminded calmed and did his own research by watching shitty romantic movies and series.

He was in the middle of "Notting Hill" when a new notification arrived, it was a message from y/n!

Cute girl: Hi Tomura! Can't wait to see you tomorrow ❤️

Cute girl: Oh and Sombra also says hi!

His heartbeat increased a lot every time she sent him a text or call. Tomura really enjoyed talking to her; she always had something interesting and funny to say and make his day better. He's excited to see y/n tomorrow! And his mind drifts to what cute outfit would she use and wonders if he should asked her what colours was she going to wear in order to match with hers but realised it might be a little creepy as they haven't known each other for that long.

Suddenly he felt into the realisation that he hadn't thought about an outfit yet and it made him panicked. Running to his closest and looking for something suitable to wear. He couldn't hide his face behind "father" but he also couldn't wear another hoodie so his long dilema started. It took him almost two hours to find something that made him look decent enough and then, he heard another notification.

Cute girl: Hey, it's everything alright?

Cute girl: If you don't feel like going out, it's ok! You don't have to

Oh god no! He had forgotten to respond. Why was he such an idiot? Now she thought he didn't want to come! As usual, he started to scratch his neck furiously till it bleed. Maybe he was overthinking this too much and forgot that he needed to enjoy

Him: Hi y/n!

Him: I'm sorry! I didn't mean to left you on read! I remembered that I didn't have anything planned to wear and I started looking for something and lost track of time

Him: I'm really excited to see you tomorrow

Him: hope u haven't changed your mind about our date

Cute girl: Oh, don't worry! I just thought you didn't want to come and, if I'm being honest, I was kinda sad 🥺🙈

Cute girl: So... Are we seeing each other tomorrow?

Him: Yes!

Cute girl: Yeiiii! I'm so happy!

Cute girl: See you on tomorrow then! ☺️

Tomura was so happy that she seemed to be excited to see him and what was even better was that she didn't corrected him when he said it was "date" so it meant she wanted to date him too! At least, he hoped it meant that

______________________

Tomura arrived half an hour earlier just in case. He didn't want to spoil anything. Today must be perfect! He was waiting on a bench at the park near the restaurant when she appeared. Her h/c hair was down, she had very little make up (as much as he could tell) that made her face lighted up even more and she was wearing a black long sleeve dress with a big scarf that hide part of her face but he could still see the blush on her nose and cheeks. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of her. She looked so adorable and sexy at the same time! How was that even possible?!

When she finally spotted him, she hurried to where he was and gave him a big hug that last more than it should for two people who didn't know each other that well. Tomura stood still while being embraced by her. The last time he was held like this, he ended up decaying his whole family so it made him worried. He wasn't sure if he should reciprocate the gesture so he opted for leaning closer in order to smelt her sweet perfume; she smelt like vanilla and happiness. He wished he smell good enough for her as he took three showers to get rid of blood's smell (he had happened to come across some heroes yesterday and things had scaled quickly)

"It's so nice to see you, Tomura! Thanks for coming" She said while distancing herself from him and he was invaded by sadness as he lost the comfort her embrace provided him.

Then, Y/n looked at him up and down and said "You do look good, gamer boy" and winked at him. At that moment, Shigaraki lost the hability to speak as he was too shocked by her statement. Never in his whole life he'd had someone telling him such a thing and not being joking. Did she truly think he "looked good"? If it wasn't for her innocent smile and those doe eyes, he would've thought it was a joke.

"T-Thanks... You look really pretty" "Thank youuuu! How about we go to the restaurant? I'm starving hahaha" She laughed and Tomura seriously believed it was the greatest melody he's ever heard. As he nodded, she grabbed his arm and pulled from him saying "Let's go then!"

They sat across each other on the floor at a very traditional Japanese restaurant. She did most of the talking and he was glad about it. First of all because he wanted to know everything about her and secondly, cause he still couldn't grasped the fact that he was on a date with the most beautiful woman to ever exist on earth. When food arrived, she went to grab a napkin for both but so was Tomura and their hands touched making her blush adorably and he couldn't help but stared. She looked at him, then to their hands and frowned. He paralysed. Was he staring too much? Did his hand disgusted her? Before he could kept on thinking, she took his hand into hers and said "I don't know what you did but you have to be more careful" as she healed his wounds while caressing them with so much tenderness that he had to suppressed the need to kiss her "There, you are all healed!"

She released his hand and gave him a look full of curiosity "What?" He asked as he was getting nervous of how intense her stare was "Oh nothing... I'm just wondering which is your quirk, if you have you, of course" Tomura remained silenced for a few seconds and contemplated the idea of telling her the truth. He didn't want to risk their possible future but he didn't want to lie to her either "I have a decay quirk. I turn into dust everything I touch with my hands. I know it's kinda creepy but..." y/n didn't let him finished as she said "Wow! That's such a powerful quirk you have! Nobody would mess with you, that's for sure hahaha"

Shigaraki was glad you took it well as their conversation kept going. She asked many questions about his personal life and also talked about the place she worked at. Apparently, she was a nurse that worked at a local hospital (her quirk being really convenient) and she lived alone with Sombra near the league's hideout

After a while, they left the restaurant but didn't want the date come to an end so they went to the park to chat some more as they walked. Tomura didn't want to overthinking about the fact that his hand interviewed with hers and she didn't complained; actually, she seemed really comfortable and he couldn't be happier.

A few minutes into walking, he realised she was shivering and so he copied the same gesture he saw many times in those romantic movies. He took his jacket off and put it in her shoulder while keeping his arm around her in order to kept her warm. Her face was blushing so hard that he thanked all the time he spent watching TV instead of preparing for the LOV next attack

She was so close that he could just leaned down a little bit and kissed her. They remained on their spot while looking at each other intensively and leaned forward for a very expected kiss. But luck was not with them as it started to rain and they had to run to a tree for shelter. When it stopped raining, he took her to her apartment but didn't leave before coming to the door and saying hi to Sombra.

"I had so much fun today! I was thinking that when you are not busy, maybe you could come to my house. I can cook something nice and we can play games... What do you say?" She looked at him waiting for his response but Tomura sword he was in another galaxy. Of course he wanted to spent more time with her and try what she prepared for him "I would love to. How about next Saturday?" "Yes! Then, see you on Saturday Tomura!" She came closer to kiss his cheek and whispered into his ear "I'm looking forward to see you again, gamer boy"

When Tomura arrived at his bedroom, he saw that he had a new notification; a message from you that made him lose the hability to breathe. (Literally *tomura e.x.e stopped working*)

Cute girl: Tomuraaaa, you left your jacket

Cute girl: I'll give it back on Saturday, ok?

Cute girl: Oh and for the record, I would've let you kiss me in the park 🙈

[eorzeanflowers]

10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 tags

Basic rules: choose 10 fandoms that you are part of/support, and choose a favorite character from each of those. Then, tag ten folks!

Tagged by: @miqojak Ty for the tag!!! Sorry it took a hot minute.

Tagging: Uhhhhh, @terminuspride, @fair-fae, @alannah-corvaine, @voidsentprinces, @healerstail, @ahollowgrave, @alicelufenia, @starrysnowdrop, @briar-ffxiv, @driftward

Now to the list! In no real particular order cause I really just drift from thing to thing.

Penny Polendina (RWBY)

I love my quirky little robot girl. She's the absolute best, a brilliant fighter and very emotionally intelligent. She is such a cheerful ideal, someone who tries to see the best in people. She knows when they've gone too far and isn't afraid to stand up for what she wants! Which is the whole core of her little arc. Being a weapon given a soul and all. It is a beautiful story of a little girl who cares so much and wishes to be able to just... be that cheerful little girl without the weight of the world. Its just so sweet.

Honorable mentions: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Oscar, Neo

2. Kafka (Star Rail)

In all honesty she's the reason I'm even playing Star Rail. She is such a mysterious character, with a voice to die for. Yes, Hoyoverse characters tend to be rather shallow (that's a gacha game for ya), but Kafka just hits everything I love in a character. Her character short when she was fully released is... *chef's kiss* just amazing. I will admit, every time she does her ult in game I join her in saying "Boom." ^_^;

Honorable Mentions: March 7th, Stelle (Trailblazer F), Seele, Bronya, Jingliu

3. Lyse (FFXIV)

Shocker, the leading lady of Stormblood is still my favorite? Honestly, all three of the ladies from Stormblood are the trifecta of favorites. (Lyse, Fordola and Yotsuyu) The various storylines that cause them to interact is such a delight. I wasn't too bothered by the whole "Yda was my sister" thing, cause well, Yda was barely in the game post ARR... And like, it was always Yda and Papalymo. Never just one or the other. So when Lyse got the chance to shine and actually take center stage, I was smitten. She's tough, gentle, sassy, collected, brilliant, a bit silly, and more. Such a well written character. I'm still upset she left the scions tbh. Could've added a little hair color diversity by a little bit. :P

Honorable mentions: Aymeric, Hilda, Erenville, Zero, Y'shtola, Thancred, Ryne, Gaia, Minfillia

4. Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)

Ok, seriously, this series grabbed me by the throat and would not let me go. Gideon is such a lovely first viewpoint (and I adore all the viewpoint characters). She takes no shit, talks a lotta shit, and can fight a whole heck more shit. The way she interacts with Harrow at first, then the other Necromancers and their Cavaliers is such a delight. Sure you hate Harrowhark so much Gideon, why are you obeying her command to not speak a single word to literally anyone else, hmmmmmmmmmmm?????? Also the gay panic that Gideon seems to have on the regular is just. Great. I don't want to speak too much more on Gideon, cause this series is just great and you should read it.

Honorable mentions: Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Nona, Camilla Hect, Ianthe Tridentarius, Coronabeth Tridentarius.

5. Raiden Ei (Genshin Impact)

Last time it was Eula, now it is Raiden Ei. It is always a toss up between them, if I'm being honest. Ei is just... such a sad puppy? XD Its the best way to describe her. So trapped in her own past and trying to do what would best preserve her sister's memory... She's just SAD guys. Yeah, she may not be the best governing force for her nation, and she indirectly killed a lotta people with her retreating away and leaving a puppet behind, but we the Traveler showed up and fixed things! Also she gets two amazing boss fights, I honestly wish I could do the story one again but I ain't working through Mondstat and Liyue again. >.>;

Honorable mentions: Eula, Alhaithem, Deya, Kamisato Ayaka, Zhongli, Nahida, Navia, the Wanderer, Wriothsley

6. Karlach (Baldur's Gate 3)

KARLACH IS THE BEST AND SHE IS SO SWEET AND LOVELY AND SHOULD NOT HAVE TO GO BACK TO HELL OR DIE OR [redacted]. She is such a lovely goofball that even shows platonic love if you don't romance her and I really think that is great! Her arc tying into Gortash was delightful, bringing her much more into the story instead of just a bystander like a couple of them. (Like out of all the origin companions Astarion barely has any connection to any of the major players in the story, he's pretty self contained tbh.) Her sweetness, the way she says she's gonna eat dirt if you leave her camp, and her cheerful demeanor are just.... Amazing. I'm really running out of words for Karlach cause she is my favorite. I'm gonna have to start BG3 up again and actually play my romance run of her soon.

Honorable mentions: Shadowheart, Wyll, Astarion, Lae'zel, Dammon, Orin, Jaheira, Minthara, Isobel, Aylin

7. The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Ok, a bit of a cop out since, you know, they are the star of the show. BUT COME ON. The Doctor in their various iterations have been so enjoyable. My personal favorite is Tennet's 10, but Capaldi's 12 is a strong second. Its just a good show to binge at times. There are a lottta good episodes, a few really bad ones, but overall its a good time. The scene at the end of the special where they rescue Gallifrey is still one of my favorite scenes in the whole franchise. And hell, the Archeologist is based (loosely) on them, so how can I not include them?

Honorable mentions: DONNA NOBLE, Rose Tyler, Clara Oswald, Bill Potts, Me, Strax

8. Xion (Kingdom Hearts)

Have I mentioned I love tragic characters? Xion is literally the definition of tragedy, with all the problems with her just existing lol. Her presence in 358/2 Days really made the game for me. Roxas was kinda bland and having someone that was similar in age (like Sora, Riku and Kairi were) to interact with made it all that much better. AND SHE GETS THE HAPPY ENDING. Eventually. Boy is it a long road, but that's Kingdom Hearts for ya.

Honorable Mentions: Kairi, Namine, Riku, Sora, Aqua, Terra, Master Xehanort, Isa, Lea

8. Lucina (Fire Emblem)

I really wanna pick someone else in all honesty, but Fire Emblem has a worse problem than Hoyoverse games in their bit characters. :/ Lucina is a strong character that really delighted me when I played Awakening. She's such a surprise that it really helps make that Fire Emblem my favorite. She's got a good supporting cast too, with Robin and her dad Chrom, but Awakening was really her game. Chrom was kinda there just to be her dad lol

Honorable mentions: Robin, Chrom, Ike, Mist, Soren, Sumia, Erika, Marisa, Lyon, Elincia

9. Trevor Belmont (Castlevania)

Full disclosure, I have not played his game, in fact the only two castlevania's I have played both feature non Belmont's as the lead players (Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclasia). But the way Trevor is in the show, OH BOY. He is rough, he is blunt, he is smart, he is SOOOO dumb, he is loyal, he is a fighter, he never gives up, HE IS JUST GREAT. He's also one of my biggest Bi panics when he shows how much of a badass he is in episode, I think, 4 or 5 or later? Its been a hot minute since I watched that series. When he first uses the flail weapon that I forget the name of.

Honorable mentions: Shanoa, Jonathan Morris, Charlotte Aulin, Sypha Belnades, Alucard, Dracula

10. Aigis (Persona)

Aigis is a super cutie and I love her interactions with the female protagonist. I really wish P3 wasn't such a long game and Aigis actually showed up a little earlier. She's just a doll! I do need to try and find a copy (or emulate) FES to play the storyline with her as the lead singer. Its just so rough to get thru P3 I just lose motivation. T.T I've made it to the vacation part with the female lead, like, three times and no further cause my motivation tanks. WHICH IS WEIRD CAUSE THAT'S WHEN YOU MEET AIGIS. Its just too long for me I guess. XD

Honorable mentions: Teddie, Female lead P3, Male lead P4, Yukari Takeba, Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, Fuuka Yamagishi, Shinji Aragaki, Junpei Iori, Chidori Yoshino, Elizabeth, Theodore

Not gonna lie, kinda struggled to find a full 10 franchises to pull a character from. My mind just goes blank when asked my favorite character from X place. Names escape me and everything. XD But as you can see, I love robot girls, strong girls, mysterious girls, tragic girls, a fail man, and traveling weirdo.