#ookay tagging them as i go

[justpentdraws]

the next life series is wild life, where all the members have been turned into wild animals

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

compos mentis 2

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon/dubcon, age gap, chronic health issues, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: After a long court case, your mother stays attached to her lawyer, bringing even more contention into your life.

Characters: Andy Barber

Note: ookay here we go with this guy.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. ����

The restaurant is buzzing with voices. It adds the disorienting ripple in your head. It feels like there’s something crawling over your scalp as you try to blink away the haziness. It’s just fatigue. That never goes away, only ebbs and flows. 

You sit on the leather cushion of the curled bench. The booth is lit by a small chandelier hanging above and the plucking of strings strums under the drone of patrons. The sconces against the wall are blurry and bright and the people all around are merely shadows. 

The server appears and doles out the food. You got the butternut squash soup with a French bread roll. With the weather turning chill, it sounded delicious. Besides, you don’t have the stomach for anything heavy. 

You glance over at Andy’s thick sirloin and your mother’s glazed chicken. Your hunger roars in your stomach. You shakily unwrap the cutlery from the cloth napkin and thank the server as your mother taps her glass. The man, in his pressed white shirt, smiles and pours her some more. Andy clicks his tongue but says nothing. 

“Anyone else?” The server offers. 

“We’re good,” Andy answers for both of you. 

You could laugh, if you had the energy. Anyone would look at you and know you shouldn’t be indulging. No, you have your lemon water and that’s good enough. 

“This looks delicious,” your mother chirps and takes a gulp of chardonnay, a hum at the flavour. “Oh, that is divine too.” 

“I hope you enjoy. Both of you,” Andy says. “I know you had a busy day.” 

His elbow touches yours, almost as if it’s intentionally. You look at his shoulder but no higher. You steady the spoon over the bowl and dip it into the soup. You lean forward to taste as your mouth jabs into one of the slices of grilled chicken. 

“Mm, the maple is nice but a bit much,” she complains after a sampling. 

Andy exhales slowly, measuring his breath as if to conceal his sigh. It’s strange. He seems annoyed by your mother more often than not and yet he takes her out for dinner and got her that fancy ring. You don’t understand relationships. Not past the shallow ones written onto the screen. You probably won’t ever know the real thing. 

You rest your spoon on the wide brim and take a piece of the bread. It’s still warm and it smells wonderful. You pinch off a morsel and dip it into the creamy broth. You nibble on it, resisting the urge to shovel it down. 

“You sure the soup’s enough?” Andy asks. Again. He questioned you when you ordered an appetizer over and entree. He even offered to get an appetizer for the table instead. 

“Oh, sweetie,” your mother swallows around her words. “You know she doesn’t eat very much. Her stomach is so sensitive. And look, that’s such a lot of soup. She probably won’t even finish the bread.” 

You nod. You could gobble it all down but you know better. You’ve been sick before from letting your appetite deceive your mind. She’s right. You’ll be full soon enough. Your stomach always starts to ache after a few bites. 

“Ah, sorry. I don’t mean to pester. I just want to make sure you have everything you like. If you wanted a piece of my steak, I think there’s a lot more than I need here,” he chuckles and cuts into the sirloin. 

“Oh, she can’t have red meat. Too heavy for her,” your mother tuts. “Really, Andrew, you are so sweet to offer though.” 

“Yes, thanks,” you murmur as you squish bread between your fingers. You’re suddenly very conscious of every bite you take. 

“So, any more doctor’s appointments?” He asks. “I could come along next time? Since we’re gonna be one big family. I’d like to help out if I can. All this work shouldn’t be on you, Danica.” 

“Oh, my,” your mother slurps more wine. “You really are a dream,” she touches his sleeve. “That would be wonderful. Nothing this week though. Just next month but she does need her script filled. If you don’t mind getting that, it would be a great help.” 

You want to shrink into a speck of dust. You hate it. You’re rarely ever included in conversation. Not for real. You’re only ever the topic of discussion, like you’re not even there. 

“Mom, I told you,” you insist and wipe soup from your oxygen tube. “I can go get it. It isn’t very far.” 

“No, no, no. I told you before. You cannot take the bus. It’s absolutely out of the question. You could get caught on something or worse, you could fall.” 

“Hm, that’s... she’s an adult, Danica, if she wanted to--” 

“Andrew, you don’t know the risks. I do.” 

He opens his mouth then shuts it. His lips thin as he holds back his retort. He saws into the steak. 

“Well,” he looks at you, “if you’d like to come along, I can always drive you.” 

“I can just do it myself,” your mom insists sharply. 

“Relax,” he warns. “She wants to do it herself, she can. She’s not entirely helpless, is she?” 

You chew your lip. Your mother has that look. The dangerous one. Andy’s never seen what it can truly lead to. 

“Whatever is less trouble,” you utter and focus on your soup. “Sorry.” 

“Sorry for what?” Andy challenges, “you did nothing.” 

You nod and take another spoonful. It’s really good but you can’t truly enjoy it. You just want to go home. Away from these strangers. Home where you can be alone. Where you can put some walls between you and your mom. You know you’ve already ruined her night just by being there. 

🩷

Your mother almost finishes the bottle. That’s not unusual but since she met Andy, it’s less frequent. As you leave the restaurant, she’s leaning heavily on him, her heels click unevenly as one shoe keeps slipping loose. You follow, clutching tight the handle of your tank. 

You stop by the SUV as your mother purrs and wraps her arm around Andy. She squeezes his butt and you look away, slowing as you try not to intrude. He flinches and pushes her away, clearing his throat. 

“Danica,” he girds quietly, “please, not here. You’re drunk.” 

“I’m not, I feel good,” she slurs. 

Embarrassment scalds across your chest and down your spine. You never wanted anyone else to see her like this. You know it’s not her fault. It’s yours. She’s stressed from taking care of you and gets a little carried away trying to unwind. 

“You’re all over,” Andy gets her to the passenger door as she staggers clumsily, “come on.” 

He angles her around with one arm around her back and opens the door. He gets her into the seat as she giggles and her hand flutters down his shirt. He pulls away as he catches her hand before she can get any lower. You linger by the back of the car and act like you’re not watching. 

He mutters but you can’t make out his words. He clicks the seat belt around your mom and slams the door. You wince and the wheel of your tank squeaks. He sighs and his shadow turns to you. 

“Hey, sweetheart,” he opens the backdoor, “come on. I’ll get you two home.” 

You nod and come forward, head and shoulders down. “Thanks,” you drag your tank with you, “sorry.” 

“Sorry, for?” He wonders. 

You sniff and shake your head. You don’t know how to answer. How do you explain the truth to him?

“Here,” he reaches for your tank as you say nothing. “Let me help.” 

You have to keep from crying out and reach to shove him away. You’re overly protective. You have to be. That’s what keeps you going and you’re just not used to other people touching it. He lifts it as he nudges you gently. 

You grab the side of the door and haul yourself up. You heave as you fall into the seat, light-head and he fits the tank in in front of you. He reluctantly lets it go and tickles your knee. 

“You okay?” He asks. 

You watch his hand. You nod and grab the seat belt, “fine.” 

“Hmm, I should probably look into some more accessible, huh?” 

“No, no,” you protest weakly. “I manage.” 

“Well, sweetheart, you shouldn’t have to just manage. You should be comfortable. That’s why I took your case.” He brings his hand up and surprises you as he brushes your cheek. You twitch. “You like dinner?” 

“Yes, sir,” you answer and flatten yourself to the seat. “Thank you.” 

He hums and tickles your skin before he recoils. He draws back and grabs the door. He gently shuts it as his eyes cling to you. Your heart is racing. You’re breathless yet that isn’t so unusual. 

He gets in the front seat and your mother babbles and reaches for him again. He swats her back and starts the car. She mutters and slumps into the door. 

“Danica,” he says. She doesn’t respond. He repeats it louder. She snorts. He curses under his breath. You’re happy she passed out, it’s worse when she doesn’t. 

You sit in silence as Andy backs out of the space. He looms rigidly as you shrink as small as you can. Usually, he’s nice. He has this way about him that you assume comes from being a lawyer. He makes himself approachable. But not right now. He’s agitated. You can feel it fuming off of him. 

“I’m sorry,” you eke out as the tension strangles you. 

“You don’t need to apologise for her,” he insists with another sigh. 

“But... she drinks because of me. I know.” You say. “Because I’m sick.” 

He clucks and squeezes the wheel tighter. “No, that’s a bad excuse. She’s an adult.” 

You don’t argue. There’s no reason too. For once, someone isn’t blaming you. Besides, how far did it ever get you. 

He drives on and you turn to watch the dark buildings pass outside the window. The moon is a sliver above and the stars a speckle around the wisps of clouds. You stare up into the expanse, admiring the streaks of dark blue, black, and grey. 

As the car slows, you tear your eyes from the sky. You blink in confusion. You’re not at your house, but Andy’s. You’ve been there once before.  

He shuts the engine off then sits back and spreads his hand across his forehead, “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I just realised I’m at the wrong house.” 

You stay silent. You thought your mom was asleep. He turns to look at you as he flicks on the compartment light. You squint at the sudden brightness. He means you. 

“Do you need anything at your house?” He asks. “Medicine or...” 

“It’s... in my pack,” you touch the belt bag across your stomach. “Tank’s mostly full.” 

He nods and looks you over, “I’m sorry. It’s been a long night. You don’t mind the guest room?” 

You shake your head. You don’t want to make his life any harder. And he should apologise to you. No one does that. They don’t owe you that. 

“Alright, again, I know it’s not easy for you. Probably a lot cozier at home,” he turns straight and shuts off the light. “Let me get your mom inside.” 

He unbuckles his seat belt and his keys jingle as he opens his door. You click the button on your belt and pull the handle. You push outward and the door is pulled from the other side. Andy appears in front of you. He helps get your tank to the ground and offers his hand. 

You don’t want to be rude so you let him help you down. You wheel around your tank as he shuts the door, the opens the passenger side. He ducks into the car and drags your mom out. He stands straight and shuts the door with his elbow. 

“Sorry to ask but could you unlock the door? Code is...” he gives you the numbers and you blink as you try to keep track of them. 

“Okay,” you nod and shuffle past him as he waits. You go up the walk and lift your tank up the low stone steps. You’re overly aware of him behind you. 

You get to the door and stare at the keypad. As you enter the numbers, you realise they’re familiar. It must be a coincidence. In a certain format, they would denote your birthday. The pad flashes green and the door clicks. 

You push down the lever and step back out of the way. 

“Go on,” he nods. 

“No, it’s okay,” you say. “Mom needs to lay down.” 

He looks down at the woman in his arms then at you. Even in the dark, you see his disappointment. Again, you can’t help but wonder why he puts up with her. You have no choice, as she has no choice in taking care of you, but he does. 

“You’re a good daughter,” he says as he slowly steps past you. 

You trail after him, your tank bouncing through the door, and you shut it behind you. You stand on the mat and roll your wheels back and forth, trying to get the excess dirty from them. Then you sit to take off your shoes. 

“You can turn on a light,” Andy chuckles as his shadow looms over you.  

You stare up at his silhouette. He’s close. He must not realise it in the dark. You turn and flip the switch.  

He smiles as he keeps a hold of your mom, “I’ll put her on the couch for now,” he says, “then I’ll get you settled.” 

You nod and bend to move your shoes onto the rack. You don’t look up again. You’re hot. Very hot, even though cool air flows from the vent just across from you. It’s just because you’re used to being at home. That’s it. 

[questioningpunctuation]

OOKAY IVE BEEN THINKING.

should you kill the "leader" of a team first or last? the leader in this case just being the most well known or the one everyone takes commands from. so y'know.. leader stuff. to set the scene, say.. there's a group of like four or five people, and they've been caught together or are in some sort of deadly situation. they're all going to die one way or another, but which way would fuck them up emotionally the most? .. torture aside. i'm picturing a shot to the head or something. would it be to, A: kill the leader first. or B: kill the leader last?

here are MY thoughts! feel free to add onto this or reblog or whatever. i'm really curious as to what you guys think!! they're all down there cause i don't want to make this too long.,

killing the leader first could symbolize the end of the team, like a bad omen or something idk. cause it would be pretty fucked up to see the person you've looked up to or been working with, who time and time again has made it out of things alive and taken charge to make sure everything's okay, just.. die. right in front of you, like their life never meant anything, and there's nothing you could do about it. like., you love your leader, huh? TOO BAD!! shoots them in the head

HOWEVER, killing the leader last would be pretty fucked up as well. because they'd be seeing the people they've devoted their time and resources and emotions to, just *splat*. gone! it would be pretty soul crushing to see your best friends and allies in their last moments, knowing that you failed them, and it was your decisions that led up to their deaths. and by the time the leader dies, they're glad. because they wouldn't have anything to live for anyways

SO!! i think it depends on who you want to inflict this pain onto, but either way, they're all gonna die. i may or may not have started thinking about this because of the killjoys,.. totally not aha..

[cait-writes]

Ch 2: I Remember Everything

"I wish I didn't, but I do. Remember every moment on the nights with you. "

_____________________________________________________________

"Well, well, well, would you look at that?" 

My cheeks began to burn. 

"Is that the damsel in distress from last night?" Colby said with a lopsided grin.

"Oooh, no, no, no-"

"Damsel?" Sam squawked as his head popped up behind Colby's shoulder. "Damsel!" the blonde pulled me in for a hug. Boy, did he have a death grip.

I awkwardly patted Sam's back, "Okay buddy, gotta be able to breathe here." I emphasized with a cough.

"Oh shit, yeah, sorry!" he chuckled, sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"Took a break from drivin' I guess. Funny seein' you guys here."

"We just happened to be walking the pier and just bumped into you. What a coincidence, huh?" Colby smirked.

"There's no such thing as coincidences..." Sam muttered, giving Colby a side look. "Remember what Kristin said."

'Kristin? Coincidences?'

"Fuuck, I forgot!" Colby groaned, hiding his face behind his hands. 

"Ookay, am I missing something?" I asked, confusion evident in my voice.

"A lady that we interviewed awhile back at a house we were investigating," Sam said nonchalantly. "Anyways, I'm like, starving. Anybody else?"

"Bro, I'm hungry as fuck!" 

I contemplate the idea for a moment - I'd love to get a hotel and pass the hell out after the eventful few days I've had, but knowing my stomach issues, if I don't eat I'll be sicker than a dog. After a few more seconds - and the boys creepily staring into my soul - I nod, "Sure, I'm down. I'll follow you guys out."

As I followed them out, I was surprised that they were parked just a few vehicles down. "We're thinking Tender Greens, it's not too far from here. Try to keep up!" Colby smirked as he climbed into his car. I rolled my eyes as I climbed up into my truck, and began following them.

We ordered our food and chose a table towards the back. They sat across from me and we had small talk until we finished eating. The conversation started with the typical, 'What do you like', and 'what are you doing in LA' bits, but when I tip-toed around the questions, I think they took the hint and began talking about themselves. Without going into too much detail, they talked about places they'd love to investigate in the future. 

"I heard Nopeming Sanitorium is pretty awesome. " I commented before taking a sip of my drink. "I was going to try to visit with family a few years ago, but the roads were closed off. I later heard that they shut down due to the condition of the building and that the city wanted so much to be upgraded before allowing tourists. It was too costly, so it's been sitting there. "

"I heard about that place." Sam added, "Dakota and his friends went there a while back. They caught some pretty wicked things there."

Sam continued talking about the evidence that Dakota and them caught before going back to the previous conversation about future plans. He briefly looked down at his phone before his eyes grew wide, "Bro, we got to go. We were supposed to meet Jackie."

"Want to tag along with us?" Colby asked as we began clearing our table. "We're meeting a realtor and it'd honestly be nice to have a female perspective." He looked up at me from behind his lashes and stuck his lower lip out. "Please?"

"Oh, I don't know. You really want a stranger to potentially see your new place?" I teased.

"You're not a stranger anymore. " he grinned as he held the door open for me as we left. "We've exchanged names, we've met up a few times now, and even went out to eat together! Which, by the way, you're a pain in the ass. You didn't have to pay for us!" he exclaimed. 

"Boo hoo!" I laughed, walking around to my truck. "Guys deserve to be treated to lunch now and then too!"

"Yeah, yeah. You never answered my question," he said, leaning against his car roof.

"I'll follow along. Now let's go. You don't want to be late!"

***

Jackie showed us around a few different homes within the same neighborhood. It was way out of my league, but I was still amazed by some of the sights around there. However, there's still some sketchy houses even in the nicest of areas. The first house we saw the guys felt didn't meet their requirements. The second house was gorgeous on the outside, but the interior screamed the 70s. There were no newer upgrades, and as Sam walked through the house, he was listing things he would want to change. It would be a hefty renovation for such a large estate. At the end of the second tour, I tapped Colby on the arm and mouthed, "Hell naw".

The final house we looked at made our jaw drop. Simple, clean exterior and wrap-around driveway. Jackie pulled around to the back with a grin, "I think before we even enter the house, you'll fall in love with the backyard." And boy, was she right - at least I did. Out back there was a pool with a rock-styled slide, a concrete slab with a fire pit, and a grassy shaded area lined with trees. 

"Dude, " I said in awe, "This is beautiful!"

"This is so awesome!" Sam agreed, clasping his hands across his chest.

As the tour moved inside, Colby trailed behind, scoping the area out. He looked serious, but I could tell he was just as thrilled with it by the way his eyes lit up. Gah, his eyes were beautiful.

The house had an open concept on the main level with most of its bedrooms either in the lower level or upstairs. We were in the lower level bathroom when I couldn't help but stare at the tub. It was huge. I peeked behind my shoulder and once I realized that Jackie was out of the room, I climbed into the tub. "Bro, tall bitches can actually stretch out in here!" I grinned, stretching my legs out. I still had room at the foot of the tub. 

"Scoot over!" Colby laughed, pulling his knees to his chest. "Sam, get in here. It could easily fit a third!"

Sam glanced between us and shrugged before stepping into the tub. He circled around like a dog before sitting opposite Colby. For the most part, we were all comfy.

"Y'know, this reminds me of that video we shot with the boys," Colby mentioned. "It looks like a threesome is possible in here."

"Oh God." I blush, holding back a laugh.

"Aye yo...what!" Sam chuckles, smiling awkwardly.

Just as we were about to get out of the tub, Jackie peeks her head back into the room and shakes her head, laughing. "I thought there was something fishy going on."

My cheeks turned even more red and I hid my face behind my hands. 

Colby looks over and Sam and with a knowing look says, "Yeah, I think this is the one. "

***

I was back at my hotel after my afternoon with the guys. Before I left, Sam asked for my number so that way we could meet up again sometime. I was exhausted when I got here and wanted a long, hot shower. 

I set my clean clothes on the counter and turned the shower dial. Steam quickly filled the small bathroom and I pulled off my dirty clothes, kicking them underneath the sink. I got into the shower and welcomed the warmth. The hot water felt amazing on my aching body so I stood under the shower head for a while. It didn't take long for the negative thoughts to creep forward.

They say that the first three months are the hardest after leaving a relationship. It can take years after leaving an abusive one. They weren't lying when they said the person you were with was playing a part, so they could get what they wanted from you. You're left trying to piece together what the hell happened. During your relationship, you take on so much of that person's identity - their struggles, as your own. Once it's over, you're left as an empty shell. I never realized just how fucking empty I'd feel.

Who the hell am I anymore? I don't feel like a mother, now that she's been ripped away from me. I don't have the daily responsibility of getting her ready. I don't get to take part in her day-to-day activities. I don't get to hear about her friend drama or ask how school went. I don't have a job - yet. I simply exist in this shell.

I still think about the good times with Colt. I can't help it. I may have emotionally pulled away, but ten years with someone still elicits good memories. I remember when we first started hanging out in January of senior year. As I'd let my car warm up, he would pick me up and take a few laps around town. We would get so caught up in talking that an hour or so would pass. It was easy to get lost with him. We would talk about our goals in life, and our passions. His blue eyes would shine bright excitedly when he started talking.

As the school year progressed, I fell harder. I would start sneaking out of the house and we'd lay in the truck bed star-gazing. He did everything that I dreamed a man would be like. He was a gentleman. I had no worries about him being my first time. He was soft at first, making sure I was okay, before taking the reigns.

"No, you'll never be the man that you always swore. But I'll remember you singin' in that '88 Ford."

I was suddenly shaken from my thoughts when what sounded like a slamming door rattled the walls. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I finished up my shower and got dressed. It was almost midnight when I pulled back the covers and climbed into bed, settling on Ghost Adventures on the TV before falling asleep.

______________________________________________________________

Hey guys! Thanks for reading this story so far! I know it's a little slow, but I promise it'll get better! I'm totally open to any critiquing and even some ideas that you'd like to see in the book.

Enjoy reading lovelies!

Xoxo,

Cait

[wutheringmights]

...Okay you joke about aroace Wind being horribly confused by the neck scene in Engineers journal, but not gonna lie, I'm aroace and that was literally my reaction to it. I was like "...ookay, I see why grabbing someones neck while they're unconscious is a bit much, but why is that being treated like a breaking point, nothing even happened, its just a neck." Had to be filled in by the comments section lmaooo

Huh, I guess it's time to talk about the neck scene.

First off, please note that this post is not tagged with anything fandom for a reason and I have made this post unreblog-able. This is meant for CTB people only, as you guys have the full context of the story and understand what my vision is (even if my execution is questionable).

Got it?

Ok, good.

Back in the chapter's commentary, I said I was going to talk at length about the neck thing and some of my decisions surrounding that plot point. Now is the time to do it, so let's go.

The idea behind this plot point is that I wanted Link to ruin the brotherhood in his pursuit to exert control over the engineer. I had the idea for this scene since the conception of this fic (and I will dig more into that in a moment), but I obviously did not want to risk being misinterpreted.

I tried to think of another way to destroy the brotherhood, but two significant character details severely restricted my options: a) Link could not stop "caring" about the engineer, and b) the engineer's limits for being able to call Link his brother have to be something that somehow surpasses extreme violence.

Having Link toss out the platonic relationship for a failed attempt at something more was the only way I could maintain both character details. Link gets to continue "caring" about the engineer while violating the engineer's clearly defined boundaries.

This also plays a lot into how both of them treat relationships, with Link looking to exert control over others (and himself) while the engineer is searching for relief. This conflict as been building up for many chapters now, so here was the time for it to clash, with the engineer being the decided victor.

Which takes us to why the neck? Well, I wanted some way for Link to express a non-platonic feeling without him needed to touch the bathing suit area. Touching the thigh was too sultry, but the neck was the right mixture of innocuous and creepy.

It's important to note that this is in part influence by my perspective. A while back, a friend of mine started to touch the back of my neck when he developed feelings for me, which is in part of why I view neck-touching as strangely intimate. The neck in general is just a very vulnerable spot that, when you think about it, a lot of people do not like to be touched at. I also just think vampires are hot, ergo neck-touching is kinda sexy.

I was hoping that even if people are not informed by the same experiences as I am, Link's inner musings accompanying the neck touching would help clue the reader into how they should feel about it. In retrospect, I can definitely see how readers can be kinda confused by what's so significant about it.

So, yeah. I played it a little bit dangerously here and really tempted fate in order to achieve this one plot point, especially when I really wanted to make sure that nothing happened in it that could be considered shipping.

To make it explicitly clear:

I am not shipping Warriors and Spirit

The narrative is not shipping Warriors and Spirit

Do not yell at me

"But Frankie, what did you mean that you had this idea since the beginning of this fic?"

Well, okay. Let's talk about deleted content. This is a plotline that never made it to the final product, so please do not consider this canon material the way other deleted ideas have been treated.

I talked a while ago about how even when I decided to commit to the toxic relationship angle for Link and the engineer, I had to pull back on a lot of my ideas in order to make it palatable. One of those ideas was a version of Link and the engineer's relationship that toed that no-shipping line by a lot.

Here's the basics: at the start of the story, the engineer was not going to know that he was bisexual. But after meeting Link, an objectively handsome guy around his age who seemed to care about him a lot, he had his bi-awakening. However, he really struggled with this awakening as he was already in a relationship and felt like he was betraying his Zelda. His goal was to not let anyone know about his crush and to get over it as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Link realized early on why the engineer was both clingy and distant with him and started teasing him for it. The teasing was fairly mean as he just liked to see the engineer get flustered and frustrated without realizing that he was being toyed with. Link was going to be an expert at appearing innocuous whenever he teased the engineer to make the engineer think that it was all in his head.

But as the engineer got more comfortable in his role in the war, his crush went away and he affirmed his appreciation for Link's emotional support and the family unit he built with him by calling him his brother, which Link accepts.

That is, until Link starts cheating on Lana.

Remember that scene where Link got drunk and had to be hauled back to camp by the engineer? Originally, Link pissed the engineer off not only by telling him to cheat on Zelda, but by taking his teasing way too far by propositioning him (as a drunken joke). That's when the engineer realized that he had been toyed with for almost a year now. That would spark a fight between them.

However, the engineer would come to forgive Link, in part because Link convinced him he was actually sorry, and because the engineer did not want to disrupt the family dynamic he had built with Link.

From there, the relationship would continue as it has been in the final story. But with the added context and relationship history, Link's neck touching scene would be an even bigger "fuck you" to the engineer.

This entire subplot was based on the idea of the homoerotic nature of a soldier's bond. I wrote a thesis part about this in college, but basically wars can offer a way for men to develop close bonds with other men that could not exist in a heteronormative society.

This subplot took a very literal interpretation of it, but even then, it's obvious by the summary that even with a confirmed crush involved, this was not meant to be shipping content. This was meant to offer another look at Link's paradoxical cruelty and love.

But even I can admit that it skirts way too close to the idea of shipping. That's why I took it out of the final story. I just did not have the energy back then to argue with people about what counted as shipping.

Actually, I still do not have this energy, which begs the question as to why I would go include any form of this plot.

See here, I am an idiot.

[fire-and-swan]

Today I watch the last two episodes. Dimension 20: A Starstruck Odyssey, episodes seventeen and eighteen. The final set. It all comes down to this.

(prev episode notes are here, here and here, btw)

Battle Stations!

Ponytail Barry is the good Barry.

Gold Tier Jib-Job makes Jib-Job fight! That is ridiculously useful.

"I need the surrender of X" "Oh, that's lovely, please hold."

All the U4F backup!

Amusing that the Bad Call is U4F

Enemies starting a slap fight, like "mine" "get off, they're mine!", which does make things a bit simpler.

Wait. What? When the heck did Barry Nyne get on board the Wurst? And why is he targeting Barry Syx, rather than seeking Skip?

So ridiculously cool that the group came up with a way to defeat a Slug. That they took the time and effort to work out what would beat Skip, and bought the stuff, for this exact moment.

Margaret has a minor war room. That is awesome.

Oh no. It was going so, so well. Except now, Barry isn't a slug, and the Princeps is. (Did Zortch use something like Dominate Person on Barry Nyne? Is that what happened?)

Yeah, this. This would've been so tense to watch live. There is so much going on. It was all going so well, and that last reveal? The pilot got attacked? Now we're really in trouble.

Anyway: Eighteen!

Skip: in trouble. Barry: safer than he was. Everyone else: honestly, doing fine.

Ooh, the decision of whether to do ship stuff, or people stuff is so key here.

There are so many people in this combat. I though the battles of Crown of Candy were bad for management. This, however. Comparable, at the very least.

Nyne thinks that he's Syx? What? This is wacky.

The Barry v Barry discussion is really really something. Both in all of Murph's incredible argument there, and in Brennan's Barry preformance. "In this roll, you have expertise. Because you are expert in nothing more than than being a Barry."

One tiny FTL jump. One round, no pilot, no prep. Oooooh. Oookay. That was stress. That was legit fear they might go down. I'm sure that being thrown into space wouldn't have killed them all, but still, that could have been disastrous. But that's dnd.

Loose Duke? LOOSE DUKE?!?

Call to Guards is such an amazing use of action economy. Absolutely amazing!

Worm fight!

All hail the King!

Holofract success! And the entire house of Frangus is gone. Oh boy, that's a lot.

Yesss, all the debt gone.

Calling it now, a full ship sweep is now going to be a part of daily operating procedure.

First ever lie, and it's a 21! Go Riva!

Amazing to have saved the galaxy, to have achieved success on basically every level, and there is still another ship left to fight.

*blinks. Stares at screen. Taps back to rewatch scene just to check what I'm seeing* Skip is helping Skipper fly the ship. Ookay. Well, that is kooky.

I love ship fights in this game. They're completely, 100% teamwork. It's beautiful to see.

They have the ship down to nineteen fifteen hitpoints before they ram it. WILD!

Okay, turns out they needed that. Don't ram things, just boost guns and shoot them. Noted.

This has been so wild. I literally cannot sit still. All fidget and stim rn. All fidget and stim.

Skipper had a moment to be actually supportive of the crew. Which is oddly cathartic. Like, he learned something through Skip and the crew. And then chose to become Skip again. Which, uh, yeah. That's a choice.

I do wonder if they are both conscious and aware now.

Oh, the end of a gallivant. She learned to lie. She learned to look out for herself in the harsh realities of space. And now she's leaving.

Oh, oh heart. These campaigns always end so strong. Such beauty. Found family and strength and everything. The adventure save the galaxy, yes. But more importantly it saved a small rag-tag group, and it made a family. And that is beautiful.

And now it's over. It's all over, and now I have to just pick up and go on with my life, as though watching through Fantasy High, Unsleeping City, A Crown of Candy, and now this hasn't been life-changing.

The ball is rolling up.

[simping-i-guess]

Shared Scars (Part 1)

          You remembered the first time you saw the legendary Vash the Stampede. He came to your little town, made a bit of a racket with the kids, and was soon carried away with the wind. You were young then, probably only 17- but he left a lasting impression. Being willing to give you, a poor beggar, the time of day was rare- especially for a non resident. His face burned into your memory, the sight of his bright smile always being present within your mind. You wanted to see him again... However, the next time you'd meet him, you had been hardened by the strenuous life you led in order to survive.

26. That's how old you were when you ran into Vash again. Within a small bar, far from where you'd originally met him, far from the village that you hailed from- the village that was wracked with poverty and death. Far from your least favorite place... You remembered to thank you lucky stars that you made it out of that town with your head on straight.

You took a seat beside the taller figure cloaked in crimson, buying him the same thing you had seen him drinking many years ago- whiskey. With only a brief moment of confusion, Vash's expression became one of shock.

"Hey, do I know you from somewhere..?" Vash asked, a hand coming to his chin. "You look awfully familiar..."

You stifled a laugh behind your gloved hand. "Yes, about nine years ago now. You happened to stumble into a little town for a drink- but I never forgot your face." You smiled, leaning against the bar. "I'm surprised you remembered me, though. You must see a lot of people."

"Ah, yeah." Vash chuckled, the sound filling your ears. How pleasant. "I'm pretty good at recognizing faces, though, and I certainly remember yours. How is everyone from the town doing? All the little tykes grown up?" Vash asked, taking a swig from his whiskey. You shrugged.

"No clue, haven't been there in years. Last I heard, one of the old folks controlling the water supply died, and the whole town fought to take control of the estate. Glad I wasn't there for that."

"That's... unfortunate." Vash commented, face falling only briefly. "Well then, what about you? You seem well."

The two of you spent the night talking, sharing the stories you'd both gotten over your years of wandering. Vash hung on to every word you said, even the mundane. He... he cared. That was strange, but it was what you remembered about him from all those years ago.

How you then ended up tagging along on his travels was, a bit fuzzy in your mind. A few drinks could make you do and say some crazy things, seemingly. But it didn't matter much... you were happy to go along with him, allowing the wind to blow you both wherever it desired.

However, things grew more complicated as your feelings for the gunman emerged, and your desire to hold your secrets even closer intensified.

...

"Vash, I can't wear that..." You frowned at the garment that was being presented to you.

"What? Why not? Is it the wrong size?" Vash flipped the shirt over in his hands, looking for the inner tag.

"No, it's... it's the right size, that's not the issue." Your eyes drifted to the sleeves, examining their short length. "But, ah... it looks like it might be a little short... for my torso..."

"Well, I think it's supposed to be that way. It's cool and breathable, and I mean, you don't need to always wear that sweater- it's so hot out!"

"Vash, you're always in a jacket."

"Yeah, but its fabric protects me. Yours is just hot for no good reason."

Vash made a valid point, but you didn't want to admit it. No, you just didn't want to put on anything more revealing. You were much too nervous.

"C'mon, just try it on?" Vash insisted, giving you a pleading smile. "I'll even get on my knees and beg!"

"No no no- stand back up!" You caught Vash by his waist, not allowing him to finish his kneel. "I'll- I'll wear it-"

"Yes!" Vash pumped his fist in the air.

"...but not right now."

"Oh." He deflated. You sighed, your hands coming to your hips.

"... a date." You mumbled.

"Hm?" Vash tilted his head, questioning.

"A date. I'll wear it if you take me out on a date. Does that sound fair?" You raised a brow, waiting to see if Vash would accept the proposal.

"A date..? Oooh..." Vash elbowed you softly, a mischievous expression overtaking his features. "Have you just been trying to get me into your bed his whole time? Ow-" Vash rubbed his cheek, trying to will the sting from your pinch away.

"Look, is it a yes or no? If you're not interested-"

"I'll take you out, that's no problem." Vash answered, a nervous chuckle escaping him. "I'm just a bit surprised that you'd want that. Dates don't seem like your thing."

"Hey, dates can be fun. Plus, I like food. There's usually food on dates."

"Are you just trying to get me to buy you dinner again?"

"Shhh. Don't think too much about it, you already agreed."

...

Vash decided to meet you at a nice diner. You insisted that you two meet there rather than go together, because you had to get ready first. In truth, you were just giving yourself ample time to psych yourself into actually going.

"C'mon... I don't look that bad..." You muttered to yourself as you looked in the mirror, wearing the shirt Vash had gotten for you. It was a comfortable form fitted shirt in a color that was flattering on you. But, the lack of long sleeves, the fact that it revealed a lot of your back, and its length on your torso wasn't favorable for you.

It showed off the myriad of scars laden across your body, both shallow and deep. Most you had gotten from minor scuffles, or when foraging for scrap to sell. However, a few long slashes on your partially exposed back were clearly an intentional infliction, having gotten them while being robbed many years ago. You shook your head, urging the returning memories from your mind.

Even if you had seen Vash's scarred body before, it didn't change that you were still nervous about revealing your own scars, especially to someone you wanted to seem appealing to. So, before you could talk yourself out of going, you threw on a jacket and left to meet Vash at the diner you had agreed on.

...

"Hey, (Y/n)!" Vash called you over, waving exaggeratively. You gaped, looking at your shadow in an attempt to gage the time. Were you late, or was he just super early?

"Yoohoo, (Y/n), can you hear me~?" Vash called again, hopping up. He was probably scaring off potential customers, bouncing around so boisterously right near the entrance of the establishment. You hurried over to him, trying to get him to stop making a scene.

"Vash, people are gonna look at us funny!" You complained, grabbing hold of one of his arms.

"Aw, what's the problem with that? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me? Hey, aren't you supposed to be wearing that shirt I got you?" Vash asked, jumping from one topic to the other faster than you could fully comprehend.

"I am wearing it, I'm just also wearing a jacket." You explained, crossing your arms.

"Oh, well then allow me to get that for you-" Vash moved to stand behind you, ready to help remove your jacket.

"No!!" You stepped out of his reach, glancing away from him. "N...not here. Let's go somewhere a bit more private."

"Oh~? Well-"

"No funny business." You pointed a finger at Vash, trying to muster up a scowl. "We're just stepping aside for privacy, no getting handsy."

"Hey hey, I won't! I'd never do something without a lady's permission first." Vash put his hands up, his palms bared in a defeated way. You sighed, waving Vash over to the side of the building.

The town wasn't particularly busy at this hour, so just moving away from the entrance minimized your chances of anyone stumbling on you two. With one final glance around, you began slowly undoing the clasps on your jacket. Vash hummed, watching with anticipation.

"I'm sure the shirt'll look good on you! I have an eye for that sort of stuff. Here, let me." Vash again reached out, helping to pull the jacket off of your shoulders. He took it, folding it over his arms and ensuring it'd not get wrinkled in the position it was in. "Ookay, well~" Vash grinned as he looked over you, though you could tell he was a bit surprised at what he was seeing. His eyes mostly stayed on the shirt, seemingly examining the way it fit you, but you knew he was just being courteous. "It-" Vash was quickly cut off, and he leaned back to dodge your swift movement.

"Don't say anything yet!" You exclaimed, having put a finger up to his lips. You felt your face heat up as Vash watched you, seemingly confused at your display. You pulled back, crossing your arms protectively over your chest. "I know it must seem a little dumb... getting all embarrassed over this." You bit the inside of your cheek, refusing the intense urge to look away from Vash's expression.

"Dumb?" Vash raised a brow. "Why would it be dumb?"

"Because you've let me see your scars before, so it's not... it's not like I've been under the impression that you'd be repulsed by mine or anything..." You shifted your weight, swaying nervously under Vash's gaze. "A-And even if you did find mine ugly or whatever, I knew you'd be nice about it. Even then, I was still too nervous... I just feel silly..." You shook your head slowly and held a hand out to Vash, now giving in and averting your gaze. "C...Could I have my jacket back now..?"

You heard Vash approach you with a few steps, and then felt your jacket being draped over your shoulders where Vash's hands settled as well. You glanced up at him to see his soft smile, which made your legs feel like jelly.

"You're beautiful, (Y/n)." Vash said simply. "You don't have to be embarrassed about your scars, especially not in front of me. But you don't have to show them off if it makes you uncomfortable or self conscious- I understand how that feels." Vash's knuckles softly stroked down your cheek, and he gave you one of the most breathtaking smiles you had ever seen. "Your comfort is the most important thing to me. I'm sorry if I made you feel as if you had to reveal this before you were ready to."

You sighed, feeling silly again. "You always know what to say, don't you?" With a little shrug of your shoulders, Vash moved his hands, and your jacket fell onto the sandy ground. You tried to match Vash's smile, though yours was a bit more forced.

"Can I touch your arms?" Vash asked, his thumbs rubbing idly on your shoulders.

You answered Vash in a small voice. "Yeah, that's fine."

With hesitant movements, Vash slowly smoothed his hands down your arms, his smile never faltering. "I'm surprised, you're more muscular than I thought you'd be." Vash commented, his fingers barley ghosting over the prominent scars.

"Hmf, I coulda said the same about you. You look real lanky until your jacket comes off." You tugged on the front of Vash's red jacket, wanting to busy your hands.

"Yeah, you aren't the first person to tell me that." Vash said, his hands stopping at your elbows. "Now... I think maybe it's time we actually start our date. Here, I'll grab your jacket-"

"No, it's... it's okay." You smiled hesitantly, grabbing your jacket up off of the ground. "I... I think I'll just hold it. I mean, it is hot out..."

Vash hummed. "It is, isn't it?" His hands quickly found the buttons on his jacket, undoing them swiftly. "I think you might have the right idea."

"Vash, you don't have to do that." Despite your words, you smiled as Vash's jacket was removed, revealing a bit more of his toned body to you.

"I don't, but I also don't feel like sweating right now. Plus, I don't see anyone getting handsy with their guns here, so I think I'm fine. Now," Vash draped an arm over your shoulder. "Shall we go inside?"

You chuckled, leaning your head against the side of his chest. "Yeah. I hope they have some good food, here."

[like-a-bag-of-potatoes]

Playing With Fire - At the Bottom of a Bottle

A/N: So this is my first crack at Chicago fire fanfiction, so don't judge too hard, alright? This will unfold from the beginning of season three, so if you haven't watched it yet, but plan to; SPOILER ALERT! I tried to follow along with the storyline of the show, but some things have been changed. Shout out to my superawesome beta @thorne93, you rock! 

Fandom: Chicago Fire

Pairing: Kelly Severide x Beth (OFC) 

Warnings: Language probably. 

Wordcount: 1623

Over the next couple of weeks, Beth and Kelly continued their little… arrangement. It had become a sort of routine for them at this point. Kelly would be out with friends or whatever while Beth worked the bar at Molly’s, then when the night came to an end, he would make his way to her place and they would spend the night together. It worked in a way. At least that's what Beth kept telling herself. 

One night she sat up and waited for him, but he never showed, and it was at that point that she realized that she couldn't keep doing this any longer. Thoughts of him with other women crept into her mind and made her physically ill. She had let this go too far, and now she was in too deep with this man and she needed to get out. 

The next morning she made her way down to the firestation to talk to him. She knew it was a shitty move to do this while he was at work, but she didn't trust that she could get through it at home. Besides, she kind of needed him sober for this, and that seemed to happen only when he was at work, so here she was. 

Kelly was in his office, going over some details on a report when he heard a knock on his door. He looked up to see Beth standing there, a careful smile on her face. 

“You have a sec?” she asked. 

“Sure,” he said, closing the file he was working on and turning the chair around. He was a little confused as to why she was here. At some point she had made it clear to him that she wanted to keep things between them on the down low, not wanting anyone to know, but here she was. 

She took a seat on the bed, nervously rubbing her palms on her thighs. “Look… I think we should stop- you know - things.” 

“Ookay…” he dragged, leaning back in his chair. “Did something happen?” he wondered. 

“Not really. It's just that we agreed to keep things fun and casual, and it just isn't anymore,” she said.

“Wow. Tell me how you really feel,” he retorted. 

“I'm sorry, Kelly. But this isn't casual for me anymore, and when it stopped being casual, it stopped being fun. I don't want to be a last resort at the end of your bottle.” 

“Unbelievable,” he muttered, running his hand over his face. “You’re the one that wanted casual, Beth,” he reminded her. 

“I know, but now I don't want that anymore. I want some space,” she insisted. 

“You know I don't think of you like a last resort right? I was just trying to play by your rules.” 

“Yeah, maybe. But as long as you’re trying to drink and screw your pain away -” she stopped herself. “Look… I didn't come here to fight, I just wanted to let you know that I need some space.” 

“You got it,” he said, turning his chair back around. “Close the door on your way out.” He pretended to focus on his paperwork while he waited for her to leave. This was bullshit. He had done exactly as she asked and somehow it still backfired on him. His anger got the best of him and he sent everything on his desk crashing to the floor in one fast motion. 

Just as the crew in house 51 didn't think the lieutenant's mood could get any worse, it did. Dawson had seen Beth leave the house earlier and it didn't take a genius to figure out why Severide’s mood had soured.   

***

The next night Beth was at work with Gabby and Herrmann, trying to keep the blue eyed lieutenant as far from her mind as possible, which didn't exactly go as well as she had planned. Every time someone came through the door and the little bell chimed above it, her head snapped around to see who it was, her stomach filling with butterflies for a second before she realized it wasn't him. 

Nothing got past her friend, Gabby, and she insisted that her and Beth talk it out after they had closed up for the night. So five minutes past two, the two of them sat down with a beer each. 

“I know that Kelly is a lot to handle right now, but if you just ride it out with him I think - no, I know - that the two of you will be really good together,” Gabby said. “He's a good man.” 

“I know he's a good man, and if it's meant to be, we will figure it out down the road,” Beth assured. “I just - I can't help him through this. He needs to find his own way.” 

“Why do I get the feeling there's something more going on here?” Gabby asked. The woman was too perceptive for her own good. 

Beth took a long pull off her beer as she thought about what to tell her friend. Gabby had been such a good friend to Beth since she moved here, so she decided to just lay it all out for her. At least then, Gabby might not hold this break up thing against her. “... and that's why I can't get involved with him right now. It's just all too familiar to me,” she concluded. 

Gabby slowly nodded her head in understanding. “Shit. Beth, if I had known…” 

“You didn't know,” Beth interrupted. “It's not exactly something that I go around advertising, but I wanted you to know so that you don't think I'm a complete asshole for bailing.” She had to admit that it felt nice to have shared this with someone. 

“For the record, I didn't think you were an asshole,” Gabby said with a chuckle. “I get it though, I really do.” 

“Thanks, hun. You’re a good friend,” Beth said with appreciation in her voice. “I don't know about you, but I’m ready to call it a night.” 

“I'm with you on that one.” 

The two of them locked up, said goodnight, and then headed in opposite directions. Beth's bed was definitely calling out for hur, but as luck would have it, that wasn't the only thing calling. Getting a phone call at 2.45 in the morning never meant anything good, so Beth answered with a very hesitant hello. 

“Hey. My name is Collin, I work at The Tavern downtown. Do you know a Kelly Severide?” the unknown caller asked. 

“Uhm… yeah?” Beth answered, her heart beating a million miles an hour as a familiar feeling settled in her stomach. 

“I'm sorry to call at this hour, but Kelly has had a few too many and this was the last number dialed,” he explained. “Look. He's a good customer and he's not causing any problems per se, he just won't go home. I'd hate to have to call the cops on him.” 

A long pause followed before Beth answered. “I'll be right there.” 

She fought against her tears all the way downtown, trying not to think about how many times she had made a similar trip like this back in New York. Chicago was supposed to be a new beginning for her, but somehow she was right back to where she was back home.

Kelly’s face lit up like a candle when he saw her walking through the doors. “Beth!” he exclaimed excitedly, stumbling as he tried to get off his chair. “What are you doing here?” He made his way over to her with a few sidesteps and wrapped her up in a big hug. 

He reeked of the booze he had had and Beth fought hard against her instinct to recoil. “Let's get you home, alright?” she said softly. 

Collin the bartender gave her Kelly’s car keyes. “Figured it was best to just confiscate them,” he explained. 

“Thanks. And thanks for the call.” She tried to keep Kelly on his feet, which wasn't easy, but somehow she had gotten him to her car and from there into her apartment. It was better to bring him home to herself than to start waking up his roommates in the middle of the night. 

She had barely even closed the door behind them when Kelly stumbled his way to the bathroom and emptied his stomach into the toilet. An overwhelming feeling of familiarity and hopelessness nearly overpowered her, but right now it was more important to get Kelly to bed. Beth could dwell on her poor life decisions later. 

“You’re the best, you know that?” Kelly said as Beth joined him in the bathroom, his voice echoing in the toilet bowl. 

She didn't answer him. Instead she pulled a washcloth from her cupboard and soaked it in cold water, placing it on his neck just as he threw up again. She knelt down next to him and ran her hand up and down his back soothingly. “You have more coming?” she asked softly. 

“Nah. I think I'm done,” he said as he sat back on his heels and flushed his evening down the toilet. “I'm sorry about this.” 

“We can talk about that tomorrow,” she assured, getting to her feet and helping him do the same. “Let's get you to bed, alright?” 

A bucket was placed on the floor next to the bed where Kelly had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, just in case he wasn't done throwing up. Then Beth grabbed some linens from her closet and made up the couch for herself to sleep on. There wasn't much sleep that night for her though, she knew there was a conversation to be had in the morning and she wasn't particularly looking forward to it.  

Tags: @campingmonkey​ @deansgirl215​ @thevelvetseries​

[multifandomwriter56]

Freaks of Nature Come Together: Chapter 1

Summary: Y/n was born on Earth; but it was never really home. Day in and day out people treat her like a freak. She’s a weapon to them, a blood sample once a week, nothing more. One day, she runs into trouble and somehow she teleports herself to another world. There she meets a Witcher, a freak like her. He promises to get her back to the world that hates her; but she’s not sure she wants him to keep that promise.

Characters: Teen!Reader, Geralt of Rivia, and other characters in later chapters

Warnings: language, small amount of violence, there is a scene at the beginning where a man is trying to force himself on the reader (I don’t go into detail but please skip if it’s a trigger, I don’t want to hurt anyone), there’s talk of abuse, talks about experimenting on kids

A/N: I plan on posting a chapter once a week on Saturday’s. Let me know if you want to be tagged in this series.

Word Count: 2,581

"Don't let her escape! We need her DNA!"

Y/n's running as fast as she can as she swings her arm behind her back, commanding the human-sized containers to fall on their sides; forcing the guards to come to a halt. She does the same action again, only this time her arm is in front of her. The door breaks free from its hinges and goes flying behind her. 

She smirks when she hears a thud and a cry of pain. Two more doors and she’s home free. 

“Ahh!” She cries out when something hard smacks the side of her head. The pain brings her to her knees. 

She looks around for her attacker, ignoring her blurry vision. She comes face to face with a man she would rather never see again.

“Boss says we need your DNA; said nothing about you being alive to get it.”

Y/n can feel her whole body shaking, all she can think about is that she needs to get out of here now. 

As the man rests the barrel of his gun on her temple, Y/n closes her eyes. 

When a full minute passes, she opens her eyes; wondering if she is dead. She frowns at the scene before her. There are six men with swords and one with a crossbow standing a few feet in front of her.

“How the hell did I get here?”

“Don’t move, witch; or I’ll shoot you where you stand." The man with the crossbow shouts.

“Witch?” Y/n murmurs to herself.

“Don’t even think about trying to put a curse on my men.” Another man growls as he places his sword to her neck. 

“A curse? I’m not a fucking witch, you dumbass.”

“Oh, the little witch has a mouth on her. So disrespectful. Let’s see how disrespectful that mouth is after it tastes my cock.”

Y/n eyes widen as the man starts to pull the string that is keeping his trousers up. “No. Don’t touch me!” She clamps down on her screams as the man grabs her neck. 

“Let her go.”

The men laugh at whoever spoke while Y/n tries to see where the angry growl came from. 

“And what are you going to do, Witcher? There’s no monster here for you to kill.”

“The way I see it, there are in fact, seven monsters I need to kill.”

The leader of the group releases Y/n and she immediately crawls away. 

She watches in slight fear, slight fascination as the Witcher, whatever the hell that is, fights and wins against the bandits.

When the man turns his attention towards her, she stands to her feet; ready to defend herself if need be. 

“It’s alright, I'm not going to harm you. My name’s Geralt. Geralt of Rivia.”

“What’s a Witcher?” Y/n blurts out before she can stop herself.. 

Geralt’s surprised by the question. There’s not many people who don’t know what he is. She is young, so maybe her folks haven’t told her any stories about them. "I kill monsters for a living. Usually doesn't include humans, but there's an exception to everything."

"I'm not a witch." Y/n felt the need to point that out. 

"I know."

"Where am I?"

"Geralt frowns at the question but answers anyway. "You're a few miles outside of Crow's Perch. I can take you home, make sure you get there safely."

"Crow's Perch? I don't know where that is. What state are we in?"

"State?"

"Y/n bites her tongue to keep herself from yelling at the man. He did, afterall, just saved her life not ten minutes ago. "Okay, what country are we in?"

Geralt shakes his head. The girl is talking nonsense. "You're in the Continent." He tells her, hoping that would ease her anger.

Y/n snorts, her patience gone. "For a guy who can handle himself in a fight, you're fucking stupid."

"Watch it." Geralt growls, his own patience thinning. 

"Where the fuck are we, man? I just want to go-" She sniffs away the tears. Does she really want to go home? "I am not going to cry." She mutters to herself.

"You're not from this world, are you?"

"Jesus!" Y/n shouts. She didn't even realize the man moved closer and is now only about a foot away from her.

"Who's Jesus?"

Y/n ignores his question, pretending it's not a red flag that she is, indeed, in another world. "Why would you say I'm from another world?"

"You don't smell like anything from this world."

Y/n blinks rapidly, processing his words. "Ookay; that didn't sound creepy at all." She may not be scared of this man, but that doesn't mean she trusts him. 

"Why don't you tell me where you live and maybe I'll be able to point you in the right direction?" Geralt suggests, forcing his annoyance down.

Y/n opens her mouth to do just that, but closes it when she remembers the only home she knew betrayed her. Her life was hard, lonely, and uncaring. Why would she want to go back? 

She shakes her head. "You know what, nevermind. I don't want to go back to that hellhole. Which direction is this Crow's Perch?"

Geralt's not sure what made the young girl change her mind. He's hoping she came to terms with being in a foreign land. "Roach and I are headed in that direction. You could travel with us "

"Roach!? Where?" Y/n immediately starts to search the ground for the dreaded insect. 

Geralt's lips tug upwards as the girl starts to panic when she can't find the insect. He lifts his fingers to his lips, letting out a loud whistle. He watches as she steadies herself; ready to fight. 

Y/n relaxes her arm muscles, letting her hands fall to her sides as a horse comes to a halt beside the man. 

Geralt murmurs praises to the horse before focusing his attention on the stunned girl. "This is Roach."

Y/n narrows her eyes at the Witcher. "I'm so glad you were able to amuse yourself at my expense."

Any signs of amusement leaves the Witcher's face when he glances up at the sky. "We better make our way to town if we want to get there before dark."

Y/n shakes her head. “I’m exhausted. I’ll head towards town in the morning. Just point in the direction I need to walk. Five miles, right?”

Geralt frowns. “I’m not leaving you out here by yourself. It’s too dangerous.”

“I can hardly stand, let alone walk for five miles. Once I get some sleep, I’ll be good to go.” Y/n argues.

“Good thing I have a horse.”

Y/n shakes her head, taking a couple of steps back. “You can’t make me go with you.”

He quirks an eyebrow. “I can; and I will if you force my hand.”

The Witcher watches as the crossbow rises from the ground before the arrow is released, heading straight for his heart. He easily dodges the arrow; but not the sack of furs. It smacks him right in the face, knocking him on his back.

“What the fuck?” He sits up, searching for the girl. “Dammit!” He shouts when he notices the girl riding Roach, his horse, into the woods. “Can barely stand, my ass.”

***

Once Y/n believes she put a safe distance between her and the Witcher, she pulls on the reins until Roach comes to a stop. She dismounts, running her hand along the horse’s mane and neck. 

“I guess I should let you get back to your owner. Who knows what they do to horse thieves in this world.” She holds her palm up, a light purple floating in her hand. “Find your owner.” She orders.

The horse immediately obeys, setting off towards the direction they came from.

“I hope you make it back to him safely.” She waits for the horse to disappear from her sight before focusing on how she’s going to survive the night.

Geralt curses for the umpteenth time as he slows down to a jog. The brat can ride.

He comes to stop when he hears a familiar sound. As the horse gets closer, Geralt hides; hoping it’s the girl with his horse.

When the horse with no rider comes to view, he steps out of his hiding spot, calling to Roach. He murmurs comforting words as he strokes her mane. “Easy girl, easy.” He sighs, his frustration clear. “Where did that girl go?”

He mounts the mare, hoping nothing’s happened to the child. The child that he doesn’t even know the name of.

It takes him about a half hour to find the girl. He can’t help the small smirk tugging at his lips at the sight before him.

Y/n had found some small rock and sticks so she could make spears. Once she had about a dozen spears, she spread them out except for one. That one stays in her fist, or at least on the ground right next to her. She then used the rest of the sticks to make a fire.

Geralt got as close as he dared before calling to the kid. He quickly moves his body behind a tree as a spear comes flying at his chest. “Come on, kid. I’m not going to harm you. I just want to help.”

Y/n’s not sure if she believes the man; but not only did he save her, but now he’s wasting his time tracking her down and making sure she’s okay… or he’s just that pissed about her taking his horse.

She slowly sets the floating spear down. “Are you going to hang me for stealing your horse?” She kept seeing images from westerns of men being hanged for stealing a horse.

“What? No, I’m not mad that you took Roach. Annoyed, yes.”

Y/n scoffs, not believing him. “Yeah, okay.”

Geralt slowly moves away from the tree so the girl can see him properly. “You were scared and you had no idea if you could trust me. You didn’t hurt Roach and you sent her back.” He guessed that last part. He has a feeling the chestnut mare didn’t just happen to find him on accident.

“I can influence animals.” She decided there was no harm in telling the Witcher her other gift. He already knew about her telekinetic abilities. “I told her to find you.” She shrugs her shoulders. “I figured you would give up on finding me if you had your horse back. Guess I was wrong.”

"Are you going to try and kill me if I come closer?”

Y/n fists clench at her sides, internally fighting with herself. She exhales, her body relaxing as she does. “No, but I will warn you; I have fast reflexes.”

Geralt swallows his chuckle. The kid’s got guts. It only takes him a few strides to make his way to the girl’s little camp. “What’s your name?” He asks, his curiosity done waiting.

“Y/n Y/l/n.” She offers her right hand.

Geralt takes the hand in his. “I have questions.”

Y/n releases his hand. “As do I.”

Geralt nods his head for her start. 

“Y/n sits on a log she found and the Witcher follows her lead. “So this world, you call it the Continent?”

“Mhm.” Geralt nods. “Where are you from?”

“We call it Earth. Why do your eyes look like a cat’s?” Like the Witcher, Y/n couldn’t hold in her curiosity any longer.

Knowing this question would surface at some point, Geralt hides his annoyance. He knows the girl is not from this world, so there’s no point getting upset with her. “I was taken as a boy and put through the Witcher Trials. If you survive the trials, your body changes. Cat eyes are one of them. It helps me to kill monsters.”

“And by monsters, you mean?”

“Drowners, Hags, Wraiths, Ghouls, Werewolves-”

“Okay, okay, I get it. There are a lot of monsters in this world.” Y/n says through fits of laughter; trying to hide how scared she is at the thought of what this world is filled with. 

“Are there any in your world?”

Y/n sobers at that question. “Only monsters in my world are humans.”

Geralt’s surprised when he feels anger rising in his chest at just thinking about anyone hurting this girl. He buries the feeling as he clears his throat. “Unfortunately, as you have seen, there are those types of monsters here as well.” The Witcher tilts his head as he asks his next question. “How old are you, Y/n?”

“Technically I’m fifty-four, but my body hasn’t aged since I was fifteen.” 

“Is this normal in your world?”

Y/n scoffs. “No, I’m one of the few that have this ability. Like you, I was put through trials, but for different reasons. The children they would experimented on before me would die, so they worked out a way to change our bodies to be able to heal itself. Having this ability is what makes it hard for us to age.” Y/n frowns when the Witcher makes a noise of disbelief. “You don’t believe me?"

“I do. I thought it was going to be difficult to answer when you’d ask me how old I am.”

Y/n’s eyes narrow, wondering if he’s making fun of her. “And how old are you, Geralt?”

“A century.” He tells her bluntly.

Her jaw drops. “Are you shittin me?” When he shakes his head, Y/n laughs bitterly. “Guess fate fucked us both over.”

Geralt relaxes, glad the young girl is getting more comfortable in his presence. “Do you know how you teleported here? Did you use a portal?”

“I’m not sure. I do know it was something I did. I just don’t remember how I did it exactly. I tried to teleport myself earlier, but I passed out; too weak from the trip here I guess.”

“Maybe Yen could help this girl.” Geralt wonders. “I should take her to Kaer Morhen; keep her safe.”

“Hello? Geralt? Earth to Geralt.”

Geralt snaps out of his thoughts, frowning. “I would rather not go to your world. I’m already a freak in this one.”

Y/n giggles. “It’s just a saying. A phrase you say when someone zones out into their own head."

“Y/n, I think it would be wise if you traveled with me. I know a sorceress and I can take you to her. She might be able to help you harness the gift and you get you back home.”

Y/n tries not flinch at the word 'home'. “A sorceress?”

“Yes.” Geralt pauses, not sure how to tell the teenager this next part.

“I can take it.” Y/n’s seen that look more times than she can count. 

“You’ll have to wait about three months. I was on my way to a place called Kaer Morhen when I found you the first time. It’s where us Witchers stay in the Winter. Not many monsters like the cold. No monsters means no coin which means no food or places to stay.”

Y/n takes a moment to think it over. She’s not even sure she wants to go home. Three months will give her time to make her decision. Also if the Witcher has a hard time surviving in his own world; she’ll probably die in a week. 

“Okay. I can do that.” 

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

Intruder (It’s The Avengers)

Loki x Reader Avengers The Office AU (Slowwwwww Burn)

ONE SHOT

Warnings: mention of ghosts and intruders. No Ghosts were harmed in the making of this fic though I’m pretty sure the ones in my room were shocked at this piece of fic. I can feel them scrunching their nose at me right now.

Series Summary: Living in the Avengers facility post-apocalypse in a better timeline   Tony Stark has decided to capture every moment by pulling The Office on the Avengers. All of housemates are pretty used to the idea except for you, who had just come here to finish her degree, and the newest member- Loki.

One Shot: You are alone at home and hear a noise...

Almost forgot to mention the reason for this one-shot. (Belated) Happy birthday @nygmobblepot-trash

Word Count: I cannot believe myself and my desk. All this time its been holding stuff when it could have been helping me write stories like throwing cash money at respected strippers in the da club. Yup, my readers are those lovely strippers and their comments and love are their services for me. Does this make sense?

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

Somewhere in the dark, a pair of eyes watched you reading some book in the library, sitting under that one bulb illuminating the desk where you sat alone, lost in those yellow pages. Your one hand kept over the book while the other rested on your face, your little finger playing along your lips.

Click.

A sound came from some unknown source. You inhaled a lungful, never blinking away.

Click-click.

You blinked and looked up, turning to see outside the door of the library. Nothing but darkness said hello back. Not thinking much about it you went back to the book, taking your little finger under your teeth and leaning back in the chair on an angle.

Click.

Click-click.

This time your ears were sharp, your head tilting quickly in the direction of the sound. Straining your auditory nerves, you kept looking in the direction of the door for a good while.

Click-click.

That's it. I'm checking it out.

Old experiences and a lot of late-night crime and horror documentaries had taught you to be discreet when it came to weird noises of the night. But what you figured out yourself was that a book would not be the most suitable weapon against whatever was lurking out there. So, picking up Rhodey's trophy kept in the showcases of all the awards collected by the Avengers over time, you pushed your slippers over to the carpeted floor while slowly moving out of the warm space.

The clicking sound now echoed through the compound. So did the sound of ducks quacking in the pond outside; quite possibly at the stray cat that you'd brought home once and tried to hide from Tony. Ultimately you had to leave it outside when it scratched Vision for turning off his body heat because little Mew Mew didn't want to get up from his lap. In Vision’s defence, he’d lost a bet against Pietro and had been dared to that.

The fact that everyone else was out of town was not helping with every little tinker of noise you were hearing or your mind was making up.

Friday. I still have Friday. She'd take care of me if there was an intruder, right?

You wanted to ask her so bad. But the fear giving away your location in the dark was too much of a risk right now.

Maybe it's a mouse.

Click click click.

Yeah, it's just a mouse looking for some chee-

A cold chuckle came from the lounge along with a faint glow, freezing you in the open corridor that led to Bruce and Tony's lab. A crack of lightning lit up everything around you before the thunder rumbled, sending jolts to your already weak heart that saw a figure pass lounge- from the kitchenette towards the dorms- with a candle in its hands.

Had you not forcefully been made to exercise to strengthen your muscles you could've sworn you might have peed right there out of sheer fright.

There's someone out there. THERE'S SOMEONE IN THE FREAKING LOUNGE!!! HOLY FUCKING SHIT! OH MY GAAAHHHDD!! SHIT SHIT SHIT SH- Wait. If there was an intruder Friday would have warned me right? But she didn't say anything. *Gasp* Did they-did they kill Friday?!

Queue lightning and thunder!

Oh my G-no no no I'm sure Friday's alright. Oh God oh God oh God oh God! Okay okay okay breathe. Yes, breeeeeathe. Good. Good. Now, if it wasn't an intruder and Friday is okay does that mean it's a ghost?

Just when all those thoughts were running inside your head like a freight train, a figure in the shadows lingered behind you, getting closer by the second at an incredibly slow pace.

Oh FUCK WE HAVE A GHOST IN THE COMPOUND!

The figure in the dark behind you was nearly over your shoulder when you felt your hair rise in anticipation of the presence behind you. And like any bad horror movie, your reflex worked to turn you around with the trophy pointed outwards at...nothing.

N-no one's there. Okay, I'm clearly creeping myself out. What if...w-what if it's a friendly ghost. What if it's a Casper? I'm sure we can check that out, right? You asked your inner voice.

Do you want to die? 'Cause that's exactly how you die, came the reply.

Oh, come on! We can't possibly hide from a ghost anyways. And I'm sure Mr Stark has equipped the compound with something against ghosts. Hopefully.

Your inner voice chuckled.

What is he? A daddy of fourteen kids?

...dude.

Yeah, I know the answer to that question. My bad, she shrugged.

A door creaked somewhere in the dorms, bringing you back to reality.

Maybe we should check it out, your inner voice suggested, making you question its sanity.

Aren't you supposed to protect me against danger?

Ay, she sharply pointed at you, I'm also supposed to satiate your curiosity. So, this time the cat might just, I don't know, die.

Wow, you are a nasty one, you implied at your inner voice.

It's ookay, she cooed, you can call me a whiney whore. We both know who is the only one working whenever we see someone that bedazzles you.

Snorting at her, you made your way towards the lounge.

Friday isn't even lighting up the corridors.

The distant roar of thunder was unsettling and the patter of raindrops over the glass part of the roofs and walls did not help when you strained your ears for the slightest of discord.

From the edge of the doorway, the kitchenette seemed empty under that faint blue hue of lights under the slabs that lit up for the nightcrawlers looking for water in the wee hours of the night or early mornings. Many times a couple of them have scared each other for looking like ghosts under that dull blue glow.

The sofas were vacant as well, painted in colours being thrown in their direction from the big screen that you very well remember turning off the moment Steve had dragged a very reluctant Scott and Bucky out and not letting them watch the last fifteen minutes of The Witcher finale.

Maybe I didn't turn it off.

Maybe the ghost likes Geralt of Rivia, your inner voice called out. Or Yennefer, if they're adventurous.

Thump!

You jumped where you stood, the grip on that trophy tight. The noise had come from the dorms followed by a low grunt.

Casper doesn't grunt like an a-an angry demon.

The sweat collecting on your back was now making a trail down your spine, adding a chill when the cold wind brushed itself against you, coming from a door left unlocked or a window left open.

You know what, you breathed in, fuck this. If this is how I die, I'll at least be haunting my own family.

You started walking silently in the lounge, turning to walk towards the dorms where light filtered out through a partially opened door.

What if it's not a ghost, your inner voice tilted her metaphorical head in innocence, what if it's an intruder. A man at that.

You stopped five feet short of that door, everything going blank at the worst words your insides could've have spoken.

I...should hide then. Right?

You were about to turn around when you heard muffled footsteps come from the end of the corridor and the doorknob to Scott's door suddenly twist to be opened with a ghastly creak.

Cursing in a muted rhythm, you dashed inside the very room you were trying to avoid- which was your own.

Two huge strides and you were skidding on the other side of the bed, clearly missing the candles kept on a table right in the centre of your room. Wait what, your adrenaline-induced brain shot itself out to bring back the frames you missed.

Before the ten thousand four hundred and seventy-one theories could take a better form inside your head, the door to your room let out a groan, stopping your heart.

You laid yourself on your stomach to be as much out of the view of the intruder as you could.

The door clicked close. Footsteps walked away from it towards the centre. A sigh followed.

It is an intruder.

Your veins wanted to freeze over. Your heart was already shouting 'NOPE' and your inside wanted to come out.

A ruffle made you slide a little to peek from the corner of the bedside. A figure stood with its back to you in a black trenchcoat, unbuttoning the fabric tortured by the rain.

He's distracted, your inner voice shouted from your shoulder, now's our chance.

On your knees, you stepped out, positioning yourself low right behind him.

Gloved hands brought the cap of the trenchcoat down before going for the shoulder shrug to remove it.

Now!

Raising your weapon of choice over your head, you aimed for the loose strands of raven hair that suddenly were turning away to bring forth green eyes watching you in horror as cold pale hands blocked your attack- but not your rage-filled shriek- and forced you halfway over the bed.

"What in the hell are you doing?"

Loki's hands still held you down, his wet strands gracing your fear-burned cheeks with water droplets.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You are supposed to be out on a mission with the rest right now?!"

Your voice shook but the anger you were feeling could be seen in your eyes by the God.

"Leave that," Loki commanded, pointing to the trophy still in your hands.

"No!" you spat back. You couldn't. The shock had frozen your hold.

"I said leave it."

"No!!"

"Were you really going to use it on me?"

"Of course I was going to use it on you!" you scoffed and raised the fiery embers just a smidge in your tone. "I was going for the spot and wanted to make sure you were shivering on your knees when I was done."

"Oh my God," a tired voice came from outside your door, making you both dilute the confusion and fire to look in that direction.

"I go out for five minutes to find ribbons and flowers and this is what I get back to. Give me a fucking break!"

You furrowed your brows at the door.

"Is...is that-"

"Yeah," Loki answered, never taking his eyes off the door, which clicked open with an annoyed Clint entering the space.

"Why do you guys have to talk like that during normal stuff," he mumbled, closing the door, "do you know how many times you've given me a heart atta-"

He stopped short. His eyes absorbing you lying halfway on the bed with Loki over you, his hands wrapped around yours, keeping your arms over your head while his legs locked yours in place. What was worse for the man was you looking at him with suspicion.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"She tried to blow me."

Clint's eyes went three times wider, his jaw on the verge of falling.

"You were supposed to be out! I thought you were an intruder, you idiot!!"

Clint's hand came up as a sign to apply the breaks at this entire conversation.

"You thought he was an intr-oh ohh OH!!! Okay." He finally breathed, trying to feel his heart by placing his hand on his chest. "It's okay. It's okay."

"Now, am I an intruder?" He asked you, his eyes going soft, his hold loose.

"...no," you replied softly, letting go of the hold on the trophy.

Placing his knee on the edge of the bed, he pushed himself up, bringing you with him by your hand.

"Why didn't you guys tell me you were here? I nearly shat my pants!"

Loki and Clint exchanged a look, clearly hurting you for not knowing what was going on.

Clint sighed, lowering his head.

"Well, you weren't supposed to know till the next-" Loki looked down at the watch on his wrist- "twenty minutes. We were supposed to take you somewhere."

"Where? And why?"

Loki stepped aside to show you a small mountain of gift-wrapped boxes kept on the table in the middle with a balloon tied to the one at the top- the floating green thing spelling out a very obvious greeting.

Loki smiled at the unadulterated shock rushing over your face as your eyes grew wide and a muted gasp left your parted lips.

"Happy birthday."

[corancoranthemagicalman]

Hannibal - Ep1 - Reaction

Okay, so this is starting because of @quartermastercandlestickmaker​ and @todorokisrose​ [yes, y’all both gettin’ tagged in the annoouncement and this one. I need to be clear on who is causing my suffering.]

I’m here in this hole now. This dark pit.

This is not a live-blogging of my watch, but I am writing this live. So, writing live posting later. If that makes sense. I’ll have one post per episode and after I’ll compile them all into a master list.

Spoilers ahead.

What a grand opening my dudes. Thrilling music. He’s got that “he fucked up” face going on. WAIT NO HE’S SHERLOCKING THE SHIT. OH COOL. NO WONDER I SAW SOOME FANART OF THEM BEING BFFS. Oh, I like this. Weird effects flex but I dig it.Ooooooooooo I was not expecting that voice. IS THIS WHERE THE “THIS IS MY DESIGN” SHIT CAME FROM WHAT THE FUCK Have I known this more than I thought.

Also low-key bitch *looks* like a psychopath no wonder what is gonna happen happens. Oh rip Mrs. Marlow ;;~;; that was a hard change bro.

I don’t wanna think about ---

BITCH THIS *IS* WHERE THE THIS IS MY DESIGN SHIT CAME FROM OH M Y G O D

Also Laurence Fishbourne god bless I love him.

It’s difficult for me to be social too, fam. LAURANCE WHY DID YOU FIX HIS GLASSES THAT WAS SO WE IR D???? Also bro same I love you, Will Graham, you funky little sociopath.

“Every girl is a candy bar” mhm okay thanks for that. Will and this sociable thing is really fucking me bro minus the serial killer obsession/profession/vibe.

Laurence Fishbourne is an amazing actor but I’m also digging the dude playing Will (srry names are my weakness so his name is Will.)

Oooooo booi. I recognize Katz from fanart she’s a popular one right. But we’re going upstairs.

I’m so worried about opening the door

Oh

Oh

Oh no

He knew

This bitch been knew

Holy shit

I like the whole thing with eye contact. I’ve seen the gif where it’s mentioned but I like how it’s subtle and not overly emphasized so far. Oh we’re flashing back again. Poor Elise. It’s a super interesting story technique using him as the killer. Also damn bitch “you unstable” you’re such a nosy bitch how were you interrupted when you were asked not to enter

Now everyone is here

Antlers promote healing mhm okay

I wanna hug him but I also don’t want to make him uncomfortable with contact. IS HE STOPPING FOR A DOG OH ,Y HO GOD. I’D DIE FOR THIS MAN. I’D DIE FOR THIS MAN. HE STOPPED FOR A DOG. HEWENT BACK FOR THE DOG OMGH THIS MAN THIS MAN IS,,,,, he adopted a fucking stray dog. This man is lovely. I love this man. This -- HE DOES IT TO MULTIPLE DOOGS OH MY GOD I WANNA MARRY HIM ANDHAVE WINSTON AND EVERYBODY AND OMOG HE’S SUCH A LOVELY STRANGE CREATURE.

Where are we now. In a dream state? OH SHIT WE ARE THAT’S A BODY AND A HEARTBEAT IN MY EAR WHAT THE FUCK ahhhh fun nightmares I love it. Oh shit the towels. Bro. There are quite a few visuals happening.

“USE THE LADIES ROOM” dafsjhg

Stop yelling at him ;;~;;

Woah  this is a lot to unpack in this scene you can see Will like slipping omg. It’ss almost unsettling him not having eye contact but like I know the reason for it and therefore it’s just impressive acting and not like unsettling of the actor to do that if that makes sense? I really am impressed by that level of commitment to not have a “look at the camera” to keep showing how he won’t look at other people.

Ooo this is one of the lady psych talkers which is like on the Graham side while the blonde one is for Hannibal, right even tho Hannibal is a brain doc. ALANA that’s her name and that might be how you spell it. She doesn’t want him out there but Laurence needs  her to be his back  up. (Oh, his name is Jack.) JACK DONT MAKE PROMISES WILL CAN AND WILL GET CLOSE.

WHAT THE FUCK  IS THIS SHOW WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE SHADWS AND THE ANTLERS PIERCING HER OH MY GOD WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS SHOW I THOUGHT THE VISUALS I HAD SEEN IN FAN ART WAS JUST LIKE FANON  IMPOSED OMOG “SOMETHING WRONG WITH  THE MEAT” O G M OOG HE’S EATING THEM FUCK

Is this

Is this my bitch

MY BITCH MADS OH MY GOD.

I love him. He’s so unconventionally handsome. He looks like he’d kill and eat me but I’d thank him for it, yanno? Oops.

No nonsense MM handing this crying man some tissues I love it. “I hate being this neurotic” omg the mood also Hannibal’s glance to the tissue is fucking amazing??? V Subtle Acting /cries in beauty

Franklyn, the lion isn’t in the room boy (just discovered I might wanna put subtitles on but they’re not working so rip)

Frankie boy got so scared by that comment thanks, Dr. Lector.

Mhm no secretary that’s,,, suspicious,,,, “sad to see her go” mhm okay sure Jan

Oh this bitch does draw oh my god john hopkins internship and all. Laurence is impressed and Mads is “mhm are you gonna try something” sdajkfgh A LAYMAN DAMN aww he’s like “oomg you’re so amazing dr. mr. sir”

OH THEY’RE IN THE SAME ROOM HERE WE GO BBY

FUCKKK IT BEGINS

SORRY HE’S GIVING THE WHOLE DOWNLOW

“Associations come quickly-” “so do forts”

QEFJWahgrsdfdkq WHAT THE FUCK

THIS IS LITERAL THE FIRST DAMN CONVERSATION HE HAS WITH HIM. I KNEW THE CONVERSATION ABOUT EYE CONTACT WAS ONE OF THEIR FIRST, BUT THIS IS THE LITERAL FIRST WITH THE ADDED BONUS OF HE ACTUALLY MAKES E Y E C O N T A C T OOMGGG??!?!?!?!

Oh ;;~;; “YOU WONT LIKE ME WHEN I’M PSYCHOANAYLYZED” im this is very flirtatious als jack you’re like br  o

So he’s the King of Empathy. He’s,,, helping Will see his own face,,, mhm,,,,, what does that say about you, Dr. Lector?

He’s mocking where he was apologetic is this maybe noT

FJAGUDIS

SHIT THOSE ARE LUNGS

OH

“HE HAS A DAUGHTER SAME AGE” O H B O  Y THAT’S UH DADDY HAS SOME ISSUES WITH BABY LEAVING HOME

Also this is a copy cat dklafjsghjfd OH DAMN THAT SNAP BACK ABOUT DR. LECTOR FFUCKK MAN.

Also,, I  can see why this show,, caused issues,,, a man should not look handsome while eating fucking lungs.

More visions I cannot even

What does this

What the hell is this

Dr. Lector showing up at his house o h .

IS HE FEEDING HIM FUCKING LUNGS BITCH OH MY GD ON A FIRST DATE???

“God forbid we become friendly”

“I don’t find you that interesting”

This smells,,, like a ship,,, mhm,,,,

Breath will damn breath slow and use the words omg

Mhm ookay “we’re just alike” in the first bit…

Uncle Jack sees him as a fine china tea cup. That’s hilarious.

“How do you see me?” says Will.

“The mongoose I want under the house when the snakes slither by,” replies Hannibal WHILE WILL IS KEEPING EYE CONTACT.

OH MY GOD. MHM. KAY. IM OKAY. THIS IS OKAY.

So is there a reason -- “plain but pretty” hannibal gives a look -- is there a reason no official officer is accompanying them like????? They’re both not??? FBI????

Damn hannibal spilling shit everywhere.

HE’S USING A TISSUE TO PICK UP THE PHONE

TO CALL HIS DAUGHTER

MHMMMM?????????

Wait no he’s calling someone else

Who is this

OH HE’S CALLING GARRETT. OH. wait is he helping other cannibals get away. What the fuck. You can’t do that, Hannibal. Is there a fuckking cannibal union yall get together and trrade recipes.

OH NO GARRETT MURDERED HIS WIFE AND KID DIDNT HE OH NO

OH PLEASE NO

Wait we’re back to reality

This back and forth is trippy

Oh

H  N

OH  NO

FUCK YU HANNIBAL AND YOUR STUPID FUCKING CANNIBAL CLAN THIS PR WOMAN :(((((((((

I do love how this built up to Hannibal being the cannibal but it was Hobbs. NFIEGSIBFD

HOBBS NO

FUCK HIM UP WILL

(also I guess Will technically is FBI that probably helps lmao)

Oh no

O h n o

Dont whisper at him to see bitch

Oh no

Will

Will it’s

Oh no

>:((((((((((((((((((( hannibal Imma fuck you up

Will honey let someone clean your glasses. Does she survive? I hope the girl survives. The Traitor Cannibal Bitch is going with them. Mhm.

Alana tryin’ to protect him. (Does she like him? I got bad news, babe, he’s gonna fall in love with a man-eater.)

shE SURVIVED??? AND HANNIBAL IS THERE WITH HER???? OMOG??? DOES HE FEEL BAD YET YOU FUCKING BITCH YOU READ THE CANNIBAL WRONG AND HE NEARLY MURDERED HIS FAMILY wait is this chick who everyone calls their daughter oomg??? Is this her????

WHAT WAS THIS SHOW OMG WHAT WAS THIS SHOW

[fanfiction-fanfictioneverywhere]

Friday night? - Steve Harrington x reader

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson sister!reader 

Prompt: visiting your brother for the summer and you meet Steve

Tags: fluff

You walked through the mall, scanning all the faces and peeking into the shops looking for your younger brother Dustin. Mom said he’d been spending a lot of time at the mall lately, one of his friends working at the ice cream parlor but you didn’t want to risk missing him.

Finally you reached the parlor.

“Scoops Ahoy… what a name.” You mumbled to yourself almost not wanting to go in, but you could hear Dustin talking inside.

He was sitting at a booth with some kids his age along with a few teenagers, one of which wearing the store uniform.

“Oh hey Y/N! I just ordered, do you want anything?” Dustin called out as you walked up.

“Hey Smiley,” Dustin sighed at your pet name for him. “You know that the reason I came to pick you up is for dinner, right?”

“Yeah but mom is making casserole.” He whined.

You sighed, he was right, mom’s casseroles were less than appetizing.

“Alright, but if she asks, you were already eating when I got here.” Said, slipping into the booth next to Lucas. “And the short ones I know, but whose your older friends?”

“Oh yeah this is Nancy, Mike’s big sister, Jonathan, Will’s big brother, and this is Steve. Steve’s just cool.” Dustin grinned.

Steve had been staring at you since you sat down, eyes wide and slightly slack-jawed.

“Well hello, Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve. Nice to meet you guys.” You smiled at them, eyes lingering on Steve.

“Sorry,” Steve finally spoke up. “Dustin didn’t mention having a sister.”

“Yeah, outta sight outta mind. I live with our dad most of the time.” You smiled.

“Hey Steve, you wanna do your job?” The girl at the register yelled to him, dealing with a pretty long line.

“Coming! Nice to meet you Y/N.” He paused as he got up then scurried off to help his coworker.

~*~

You ended up staying with Dustin until closing time, as you two walked to your car you heard someone called out to you.

Turning you saw Steve running toward you guys.

“Hey guys, you didn’t eat dinner right? Why don’t we go get pizza? There’s a place down the road that doesn’t close until midnight.” He spoke between breaths.

“Come on Y/N, please?” Dustin tugged at your sleeve like he had done when he was younger.

How were you supposed to say no to that?

“Alright, fine. I’ll call mom from there and explain. We’ll meet you there Steve.” You smiled at him before walking back toward your car.

“I think he likes you.” Dustin spoke once you were in the car.

You smiled, “yeah I think so too.”

~*~

“I’m sorry mom, we got caught up talking… No! No need to heat up leftovers. Steve offered to treat us to dinner… Yes mom he’s pretty cute… We’ll see mom. Okay, bye.” You sighed, your mom wanted to know if it was a date.

Dustin and Steve were talking and laughing at the table when you walked back over. As you sat down next to Dustin, Steve looked at you with a smirk on his face.

“So Dustin was just telling me about your 8th grade talent show.” He giggled.

“Oh my God, Dustin, how do you even remember that? You were like seven.” You felt your face flush, of course he’s telling embarrassing stories about you.

“Yeah but you were so bad!” He giggled.

You rolled your eyes.

“I mean, I think it’s cute.” Steve smiled at you.

“Yeah, if you think a dumpster fire is cute.” Dustin laughed.

You smirked, he was such a punk.

“Alright, gotta go pee.” Dustin excused himself, leaving you alone with Steve.

“Soo..” You spoke in unison.

“Boyfriend?” He asked.

You smiled, “no, girlfriend?”

“No.” He breathed. “Not to sound like an ass but you do not look like a Henderson.”

“Oh?” You laughed. “What do I look like then?”

“Beautiful.” He smirked as your face flushed.

“So what do you like that’s not pizza or ice cream?” He asked. “Movies?”

“Yeah I like some movies.” You answered slowly, heart racing.

“Cool. We should go see one some time.” He glanced away.

“Okay.”

His head snapped back.

“Friday night?” He smiled.

You smiled back, “sounds good to me.”

“Perfect.” He said as he ran a hand through his hair, his own cheeks having a pink tinge to them.

“Why are you two being weird?” Dustin asked as he sat back down.

You both shrugged in unison before giggling at each other.

“Ookay… hey there’s our pizza.”

Once you were eating, you and Steve kept stealing looks at each other while Dustin cracked jokes. Your cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. But, that was an ache you were willing to live with.  

[mortaljin]

Seasonal Playlist Tag?

Okay, so @jour-de-printemps tagged me in a playlist thingy with the season of SPRING. I got carried away and here is 40 songs lololol. Some of these are about new beginnings and growth and spring themes, so some of them are happy and some are sad, but most of them I picked based off the music itself. anyway, half of them are BTS sorry not sorry.

River by Eminem (Feat. Ed Sheeran)

Scared To Be Lonely by Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa

Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran

Anna Sun by Walk the Moon

Happier by Ed Sheeran

She’ s No You Jesse McCartney

Back to the Start by SoMo

Thunder by Boys Like Girls

Different Colors by Walk the Moon

One Foot by Walk the Moon

Dive by Ed Sheeran

Thief by Ookay

Better with You (Tep No Remix) by Jesse McCartney

I Think I’m In Love by Kat Dahlia

Two Ghosts by Harry Styles

Grace by Lewis Capaldi

So Far Away by Agust D (Feat. Suran)

I Need U by BTS (Literally every song after this is BTS)

Just One Day

Run

Begin

Spring Day

Intro: Serendipity (Full Length Version)

DNA

First Love

Awake

Like

For You

Outro: Her

Butterfly

Come Back Home

Coffee

134340

Paradise

Let Go

My Time

Moon

We Are Bulletproof: the Eternal

Trivia: Seesaw

Answer: Love Myself

Magic Shop

Epiphany

Honorable Mention: Epilogue: Young Forever. I cant decide if this is a spring song or a summer song lolol.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk 

I tag @saturnmyg, @99020448, @zerotexas1975, @peppusae, @lamourche for the season of FALL :-) (you do not have to do this many I swear I think Mari did like 15) 

[canumoveurseatup-no]

Rot (Myself pt. 2)

Summary: It's easy to say you're over someone if you aren't seeing them. The challenge is to look them in the eye and see their smile and hear their voice and still be able to say "this is not what I want anymore"

Pairing: Doctor Strange x Black!Reader, Steve Rogers x Black!Reader

Warnings: Call me the Queen of angst becaaauuuuuuse that's what this is, some fluff, manipulative Steve (again, not condoning it or anything, just coping from my own recent experience), descriptions of an anxiety attack, some quotes from twitter

Word Count: 6k

PLEASE READ A/N: If you asked for a part two/ asked to be tagged in this or permanent tags PLEASE LEAVE VERBAL FEEDBACK! Likes are nice and I don't wanna sound unappreciative but I'd like to know what you guys are thinking and that all the time I spend writing this for you guys and all the mental breakdowns I had is worth something, thank yooou <3

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

-Flashback-

"And the cute waitress sitting beside me. What's her specialty?"

You giggled at his compliment. It was good to hear a compliment from a man who didn't creep you out.

"I do this thing that's unheard of around these parts of New York," you whisper.

"Oh yeah? and what's that?," he leaned in and whispered right back, entertaining your game of secrecy.

"I heard only the well raised ones know what it is. But I clean up after people who are too much of simpleton slobs to do it themselves," you snorted and he shook his head as you before laughing along at your slightly terrible joke.

"Well, I certainly won't be adding to your list of simpleton slobs," he smirked at you and took another bite of his pie.

"What list will you be adding to then?," you took another sip of your cup and eyed him over the rim.

"Hopefully the list that makes the cut of being able to take you out,"

His boldness made droplets of your milk slip out of your mouth as you damn near choked.

"Me?!," you looked around and eyed the diner, seeing if he was possibly talking to someone else.

"Yes, you, Miss? Miss, right? No Mrs?,"

You giggled at his uncertainty.

"Y/N, and yes, Miss. No Mrs, not even close. And who might you be, mister mysterious?,"

He turned to you fully in his chair before extending his hand.

"Strange. Dr. Stephen Strange and I would like to take you, Miss Y/N, out on a date."

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

It'd been another three months since that night in the diner with Stephen. He took you on many public dates the first month and a half of you guys getting to know each other. You were upfront and him that you did indeed have baggage, but that didn't seem to scare him off though. You told Stephen about the one relationship you were in before this, you told him about how good things were at first and then things had went to shit. You talked about how you were afraid of that happening again and how you wanted to take things slow because you were enjoying Stephen's company, you wanted this to work.

Starting over was scary, you had to allow someone new to get to know you all over again. You had to let them see the darkest parts of you all over again, you had to allow someone to see you naked on more than just a physical level, but with Stephen it was natural. He'd explained to you how he was in a dark place as well before he got to where he was now. He was in a bad accident that tested his faith but he was able to overcome it.

He trusted you enough to let you know what he really did now, it was a beautiful thing. He even told you once things became more serious between the two of you he would take you under his wing to teach you. Your boyfriend is a Master of the Mystics Arts, how the hell did that happen? But he told you your soul and intentions are pure, you're a person who has struggled and still struggles which makes you the perfect student, because you believe and want to heal.

He was a breath of fresh air and you felt safe around him. He never made fun of you when you just wanted to sit in his study with him as he worked with Wong when you felt lonely and just wanted to be around him, he never for once made you feel lesser than him, you were his equal and he made sure to build you up every chance he could. His communication skills? They were liberating, you never hesitated to talk to him about things and vice versa.

It'd only been three and a half months and although you didn't want to jinx it, you could see this becoming a healthy long term thing. That might just be the hopeless romantic in you talking, but something you've learned over the course of you getting over Steve was this- Love isn't dangerous. Love is pure, love is patient, love is beautiful, love is gentle. No way is love dangerous, yeah the person you could be in love with could be dangerous, but love itself is not dangerous.

It took you a while to understand that, especially with tip toeing around your relationship with Stephen at first but that man was love personified to you. Sure you were still taking things slow but in the back of your mind you could see yourself loving this man.

You and Wong walked in the front door and you could hear Stephen moving around in the kitchen.

"Sweetheart, come try this," Stephen called out to you. Two and a half months in, you told him you were comfortable enough to have dates in his home and your own. You spent more nights here now, especially since the diner you worked at was closer to here than your apartment. He would even come in an hour before your shift ended to wait for you so you guys could walk back to his place together. But today Wong was there, he told you Stephen couldn't be the one to meet you today due to a little surprise he was setting up for you.

You walked into the kitchen to see him stirring something in a big pot with a wooden ladle.

He waited for you with a big smirk on his face and a ridiculous apron.

"Wait, close your eyes first!," He scrambled to drop the spoon and rushed over to you to cover your eyes, "Pinch your nose, I don't want you to smell it yet, you'll know what it is,"

You laughed, played along with his game and pinched your nostrils closed. He lead you over to the pot and you felt him take his hands off your eyes.

"Keep your eyes closed," He sounded way too excited.

"Are you trying to poison me, Stephen?," you jokingly taunted

"I sure hope not," his laugh was hearty and you felt yourself smirking at the wonderful sound.

"Okay, open your mouth, once I put it in your mouth you can let go of your nose,"

"Oouu you're nasty," you teased.

"Y/N!," he playfully scolded you.

"Ookay, okaaaay,"

You opened your mouth and felt the wooden spoon touch your lips. The warm liquid touched your tongue and you removed your hold on your nose to properly taste it. A gasp left your lips and your eyes flew open and you looked in the pot.

"Black bean soup!!," you smiled so big at the pot and Stephen was looking so proud, "It's so good! How did you know I love it?,"

He went back to stirring the soup in the pot, "Like a month ago I heard you and your coworker talking about how you loved it yet just never have the time to make it yourself anymore. I didn't want to take you out to get some because you always said things that are made at home taste better. So I waited until you were comfortable enough to be here with me to finally make it while we have a night in. I'm always listening to you to know what you like and don't like. I try to pay attention as much as I can,"

Your jaw was practically on the floor. He was a total sweetheart despite his know-it-all persona. You almost cried over a pot of soup!

"Stepheeeen," you whined and brought your hands to cover your mouth.

He looked at you with a worried expression, "Oh God, did I screw up?,"

You shake your head and move to hug him tightly, "No, that's just so damn sweet, no one has ever done this for me. It may seem silly and small since it's just soup but that really means a lot,"

You kissed his cheek and he did his best to hide the smile growing on his face because of it.

"When it comes to how you feel, nothing is small or silly to me, Y/N. You know that," He planted a kiss on your forehead and turned to get some bowls for you guys while taking the bread out of the oven.

"I know, I- I just-,"

"You don't want to feel like you're overwhelming me with what you feel?," He looked over his shoulder at you and you dropped your head a little while giving a guilty nod.

He took his apron off and placed in on the counter as he walked back over to you to hold your face in his hands.

"You will never overwhelm me with what you're feeling, Y/N. If this is going to work then of course I'm going to have to understand you and work with you. I'm always willing to do that. Every step and ounce of effort counts. I'm not going to dismiss you like Mr. What-a-Douche. Relationships aren't always easy, you put in work to make it when you care about each other and Y/N, I care,"

You were about to cry like a baby but didn't feel like looking a mess before dinner.

"And I care about you mister mysterious," You held your hands against his and leaned to the side, embracing his hold. That nickname has always stuck from then until now.

Planting a soft kiss on your lips, he pulled away and started making your bowls.

"Wong helped before he left to get me, didn't he?,"

"How'd you know?,"

"Because you told me you weren't the best at cooking. You told me how Wong won't eat if you cook," you laughed at the mental recall of that story.

"Yeah he said he would not allow me to kill you like I've killed him each time I've forced him to eat my dishes," chuckling as he had both bowls in his hand and softly jerked his head to the table, "Sit,"

He brought you your bowl and set it down in front you with a napkin. He set his bowl down and jogged back into the kitchen before coming back with a cutting board of bread and your drinks.

"You even made the olive oil and herb dip for the bread!," you gushed at all the strings he pulled for this simple night in, "This is so much better than dining out,"

"I'm glad you think so,"

You said your grace and hummed at the first full spoonful of soup into your mouth.

"So... I have a question," he cut the bread and dipped it into the dip and raised an eyebrow at you as he took a bite.

"Uh oh," cheeks full, you frowned.

"Someone I know is having some party next week and I want you to be my plus one. They said I need to get out more and I figured since we have each other... why not go with you," he shrugged shyly.

"You didn't tell me you had friends!," you shrieked at him

"Would hardly call it friends. Just acquaintances that call each other for help in dire need," he waved his hand and you shrugged your shoulders. You could use a night out all dolled up.

"Sure, why not? We could both use some socializing. I haven't gotten out much, this could be good," you smiled at the idea of finally meeting his 'friends' other than Wong.

"Can you wear that forest green dress? I love you in that color,"

You smirked at the memory of the first time you wore that dress on a date with him, he gawked at you the whole night and couldn't stop complimenting you.

"As long as you wear those nice dress pants that make your ass look phenomenal,"

"You've got yourself a deal,"

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

*Next Week*

It was a slow day at work and you, along with your coworker, Melanie, were just absentmindedly wiping the counters.

"It doesn't weird you out any?," Mel randomly questioned you.

"What doesn't?" looking around the dinner to see if there was any inkling of a mess you had to clean up.

"Ya know..." she trailed off, "His name is Stephen... your ex's name is Steve," she was waving her hands trying to get her point across.

"It took you three and a half months to ask me that?," you scoffed at her, "It was weird at first but I don't associate the two. Two completely different men, the only thing even remotely similar is their names. Stephen is a wonderful light, he isn't even just a new chapter in my life, he's a whole completely different novel. Steve was just... A bad rough draft. Plus I'm over him, Mel,"

Now it was her turn to scoff at you, "Yeah, because you haven't seen him in seven months,"

"What does that have to do with anything?," you were lost at what she was trying to say.

"It's easy for you to say you're over him because you haven't seen him but I bet if he were to walk through that door right now and ask for another chance you'd be conflicted about what to do,"

You scrunched your face up at her and shook your head quickly, "Absolutely not. What I have with Stephen is great. He listens to me, I listen to him. We care about each other's well being and safety. We take the time to learn each other so we can make it work. Maybe Steve was right, we rushed things. He might have been my first love, who knows, but I'm over that,"

"Mmmm I dunno," she sang, "You know what they say, 'Your first love is the one that sticks with you because it's the only person who will receive all of you.' or maybe that one quote that's like 'No matter what you say, you will never forget your first love', oh! there's another one that goes 'But one always returns to one's first love' and let's not forget my favorite one, 'Love happens only once, and the second time is always a compromise made to forget the first love'. You can say you're over him all you want but what you really need to do is be able to look him in his eyes and say 'this is not what I want anymore'," she raised her eyebrows at you and turned to skate to the coffee machine to make herself a cup

"Enough, Mel!," you whisper yell at her, "Wanna know what quote I like?,"

"Shoot," she smiled

"Sure first loves might never die, but true love can bury it alive," your nostrils flare, "Sure Steve was first but Steve was not true, now let's drop it. Stephen will be on his way before we have to get ready and go to this party," 

"You hated going to parties with Steve," she points out

"Is this Steve, Mel?" you had no idea why she was so hell bent on Steve right now, "Steve would drag me along just to ignore me and make me feel bad about myself. This isn't that. Now, would you please let any memories you have of Steve and I rot please?,"

She huffed and shrugged, "I'm just making sure you're not putting on a front for this guy,"

"I am fine. Not once has he made feel inadequate. He makes me feel special, Mel. Be happy for me,"

"I am. I just want you to be safe and make sure this is the right choice,"

"Leaving Steve was the most correct choice I've made for myself thus far,"

As you turned away from her, you see Stephen walk in and wave to you. You looked at the clock and rushed to clock out. You were excited to spend the night with him and finally get to know other people that he knew.

Your grabbed your coat, phone, wallet and rushed to give him a kiss on his cheek which he so cutely leaned down so you could reach him.

"You ready? You can still change your mind,"

You shook your head and grabbed his hand as you started to skate out the door, "No, I wanna go with you. We could use a change of environment, y'know,"

He placed his other hand in his pocket and smiled you, "You're right,"

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

"Stephen, aren't you going to get dressed?" You peaked your head out the bathroom door and saw him just sitting down. Your hair was slicked up in a sleek big puff and you were just finishing your make up.

"I've learned not to get ready until you spritz that stuff on your face because that means you're really ready,"

You threw your head back in laughter, "I do not take that long to get ready,"

"It's a sin to lie,"

You chuckle and roll your eyes at him, you apply your mascara, dust off your baking powder, add layer of lip gloss and spray your setting spray on your face, then perfume on your neck and wrists.

You admired yourself in the mirror and adored what was showing. You were glowing and not just because of the highlighter you were wearing, but because you were happier and you were in a healthy state of mind. You remember all those months ago when you would stare at yourself in the mirror, analyzing everything and hating it. Now here you were appreciating all of it.

You stepped out of the bathroom and saw Stephen had already finished getting ready. He turned around to look at you and he could have sworn it was like the first time seeing you all over again, just as beautiful. Everything happened in slow motion as he looked at you from bottom to top.

Your dress was a fitted dress that was off the shoulders and a beautiful velvet forest green with a good V that showed just a bit of cleavage. Sitting right in perfect placement of your slightly exposed cleavage, was a necklace he got you that you wore faithfully since the day he gave it to you. Your dress reached right above your knee, the rest of your legs glistening and smooth. Your pumps, just like your dress, but the green was so dark they were almost black, they were open toed and showed off your white toe nail polish. You were just so damn beautiful and he was so glad he got the courage three months ago to ask you out.

"Stephen, you're staring," you brought him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, sweetheart, y-you just look great,"

You felt your face heat up, the muscles in your cheeks hurting from how hard you were smiling, "You clean up nice as well, nice ass"

You walked over to him and easily placed yet another kiss on his cheek, "oh look, you don't have to lean down so I can reach you,"

He sucked his teeth, "But you're cute when you have to stand on your tip toes to reach me,"

You got your clutch, slipping your phone and cards in there along with some chap stick and you grabbed his hand, "C'mon. I don't want to make a bad first impression by being late,"

"They never start on time anyway,"

"Stephen," you warned and he sighed, throwing his head back like a child.

"Fiiine,"

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

The party was as at a nice, big venue. There were a bunch of limos and people taking pictures, you wondered what the occasion was.

You two got out of the car and he wrapped his hand around your waist as you walked into the venue.

"Is your friend famous or something?," you laugh as you look up at him.

"Only a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist,"

His words having you stopping in your tracks. Those words.. only one person goes by those labels.. Tony Stark... Stephen is friends with Tony Stark... Steve's Avenger partner Tony Stark?!

"Pardon?," your breath quickens, "I'm sorry did you just say you're friends with Tony Stark?,"

"Not directly but yes. And again I wouldn't call him a friend. What's wrong?," He felt you tense up against his body.

You couldn't go in there... but, but maybe they don't remember you? Maybe Steve isn't even here. You can't cause a scene, you told Stephen you'd be here with him.

"Sweetheart," his voice brought you back to reality, "Would you like to go home? I can tell him you got sick, You're always able to back out" 

He was so sweet, so caring, you couldn't do this to him.

"N-no. I'm fine. The fact you're 'friends' with none other than the Tony Stark just caught me off guard is all,"

It's been a long time, they've only met you a few times, again, maybe they don't even remember you. You'd just have to make sure Steve wasn't here and if he was you'd just make sure to avoid him like the plague.

You walked through the doors into the room and there were people swarming and conversing. Maybe you wouldn't even pump into him.

"Let me know if you want to leave. I know you're a homebody, I don't want you to feel like you have to be here,"

His voice was so soothing to you, you could listen to it 25/8.

"I'm here because I want to be here, with you. As long as I'm by your side I'm comfortable and secure," Lacing your arm under his to wrap it around his waist you smiled at him.

"Stepheeen!!," You look forward and see Tony with Pepper by his side. She widens her eyes at you and you just keep your eyes trained on the ground.

She'd helped you find a place all those months back. She'd check up on you here and there but she didn't expect you to be here, especially with Stephen Strange.

"Tony," Stephen acknowledged with a nod and handshake

"Pepper, it's a pleasure to see you," he smiled at you.

"You as well, Dr. Strange,"

"Please, just call me, Stephen," he waved and laughed.

"This is my girlfriend-"

"You look familiar," Tony points out.

You stared at him like a deer in headlights.

"Tony, you're drunk. Let's go greet the other guests," Pepper tried to pull Tony along but he just stayed, squinting at you.

"I've barely had three yet," he says to her.

"We've met before," Tony points at you.

You shook your head and tried to think of something quick, "Maybe if you've come into the diner by Stephen's place," you shook your head, "I think I would remember you, Mr. Stark,"

"No, it's been on more than one occasion and it wasn't at a diner. You've come to my parties before,"

"Tony," Pepper scolded, "You're creeping the poor girl out,"

"You're right, sorry. What's your name again?,"

"Y-Y/N," you heavily swallowed.

He hummed and nodded his head while squinting, "Well, Y/N, I'll see you around. Hope you enjoy the night," he continue to eye you ask he walked away with Pepper.

"That was awkward," Stephen continued walking with you deeper into the crowd and you finally let go of the breath you were holding.

"You have no idea how often that happens," You didn't want to lie to him, dammit you didn't want to lie.

"You're one of a kind, how can anyone mistake you for someone else?,"

"Beats me," you wore a fake smile and just prayed you could make it through the night.

----------

Tony had live bands, you and Stephen had a good time on the dance floor. Wine coursing in your bloodstream, you finally let go for the night and had fun with your boyfriend who did nothing but make you feel comfortable.

"I don't dance. How did I let you convince me to dance in front of a whole bunch of people?," Stephen kissed your exposed shoulder

"Because you like me. We came here to have a good time and we're doing just that,"

He hummed in agreement and spun you around before putting you in a quick dip. Noses touching, you two wore a big smile on your faces and you forgot the tension that you felt when you first walked in.

You saw Pepper coming to you from the corner of your eye and you slowed down your movements a little.

"Hello again, Stephen. Can I steal her for a sec?,"

He stepped back and held his hand out to you, "Y/N, you okay with that?,"

"Yeah, yeah of course, I could use another woman to talk to in this bath of testosterone,"

He kissed your cheek and told you he'd be at the table you guys had for yourselves and you walked away with Pepper.

She pulled you into an empty hallway and started pacing.

"Pep-,"

She wrapped her arms around you and sighed, "It's so good to see you," she whispered, "But what are you doing here? You didn't tell me you were dating Stephen Strange,"

You hugged her back and pulled away, "It's good to see you too. But He didn't tell me we were coming to a party hosted by Tony fricken Stark!,"

"Steve is here,"

Your blood ran cold but you rubbed the goosebumps away, you shouldn't care that he's here and you decided that earlier on in the night.

"I'm over him, Pepper. I'm happy with Stephen. I'm mentally healthy with him."

"Have you seen Steve since you left that night?," Her stare was intense.

"No, why would I need to?," You crunched your face up.

"Because you can say you're over him all you want, Y/N, that's easy. The real challenge is if he sees you and comes to you, you're able to tell him that you've moved on, that you don't want him anymore because honey, he still wants you,"

Why is that the second time you've heard that today? You're strong enough to deny him access back into your life.

"Excuse me? It's been seven months, there's no way he still wants me and it wouldn't matter if he did," Her words caught you off guard.

"He is determined to get you back, Y/N. He's gone to therapy to get his shit together, he told me and Tony that he was going to propose but he screwed everything up. I just want to make sure that you don't let him suck you back in,"

You tilted your head at her like a confused puppy, "I could never give up what I have with Stephen to go back to him. What ever he planned on doing back then.. it's too late,"

She smiled and nodded, "That's good to hear. I couldn't bear seeing you hurt again. You're safe with Stephen. Anyone who saw you guys tonight can tell it's a natural match,"

"You think so?," You smiled and looked down.

"Absolutely. Now, I won't keep you any longer. Go back out there and enjoy the rest of your night," you hugged her again and told her to stop by the diner any time and to call you to set something up.

"Thanks, Pepper and keep Tony away from me. I don't need Stephen knowing how and why Tony knows me,"

"It's hard to keep his mouth shut but I'll do everything I can,"

You smiled at her and walked back out into the room to find Stephen waiting where he said he was talking to God knows who. You stood there smiling at how cute he looked.

"You look beautiful," you instantly froze as the voice came from beside you, "It's so good to see you,"

You looked to your right and saw Steve smiling down at you.

You felt like you couldn't breathe. You prayed you'd never have to see him again.

"Who are you here with? You hate coming to these things,"

You turned away from him to walk around the crowd to get to Stephen but Steve had grabbed your bicep, easily stopping you.

"Get your hands off me, Steve,"

"Just talk to me. Can we get some closure please?,"

You scoffed at him jerked your arm out of his grip.

"Do you really want 'closure' or do you want an excuse to get me alone and talk to me again in case you've had enough time to come up with the right words to say for me to settle? Whatever it is, we're way past that stage," You clenched your jaw and felt like the walls were closing in on you. You didn't want to be sucked back into this.

"Y/N, I still love you, please. We were supposed to get married. Remember those plans? I still have the scrap book of all the plans we made, all the places we looked at for our honeymoon. The flowers, the colors, the food-"

"Steve, stop it!," You tried to keep your voice down, "Those plans are gone. The old us is gone," your voice cracked and you didn't want to cry, not here.

"There will always be an us, Y/N, you know that. You know deep down you still love me like I love you,"

You shook your head and started to feel your eyes burn.

"I still love you, Y/N. We were happy. We're supposed to have a family, you know you want to come back"

"No, Steve,"

"Y/N, what we had was love,"

"No, Steve, it wasn't. You're too selfish to see that" you walk out on the balcony to get some fresh air but you should have known better, he was just going to follow you

"I've tried to contact you for months but you changed your number. You're acting like my love isn't complete. I guess I don't have the right to ask for forgiveness then, right?,"

He so easily sucked you in and guilt tripped you, he didn't change one bit. You stood at the rail of the balcony and looked out into the scenery. You didn't want to be here, you didn't want him anywhere near you.

"I want to believe what I heard somewhere a longtime ago that, that love is free and kind. And you're trying to act like you're all... humble and wise, but what you called love was destroying my life and it's destroying your soul if you ever had one and-,"

He looked at you as if your words were absurd, "Destroying your life?,"

"-I don't even think you even know what it means to love or to be loved," you flung your hands and turned around to face him.

"See, see look, look we've got so much to learn. It's like the strength of your little words, they seem perfect and then they corner us, like this, like this Leonidas curse with a Midas touch. Listen this is the real, that gritty, gory, and gorgeous, it's like, it's like coco butter mixed with sandpaper. See this is love,"

You felt the tears running, he was so adamant on trying to get you back, he was so good at manipulating. you he was an architect with his words, he knew how to structure them so they sounded beautiful. All dressed in beauty but were disgusting lies.

"Of course! Your words, so enticing and the imagery like some Messiah! Living and dying for me and then acting and saving me. But wait, what about the freedom that truth brings? What about the protection that love. brings?!,"

"See, oh, oh, yeah, so this is your kiss to send me off right? Like I haven't been no shelter?,"

Your eyes bug out of your head at his incredulous words, "Shelter?!,"

"And those ornery onlookers that know what we've been through they keep questioning my methods. But look, this, me, I am in your atriums, like ancient drums. You owe me your life! Your love!!,"

This is not the Steve you knew and loved. You wish you could help him find himself. He's become so much more toxic and entitled.

"I don't belong to anyone but me!," you jabbed your finger into your chest as you cried.

"Oh wait which, which one of us is being selfish here?,"

"Who could be selfish?!, I can't owe what you never gave-"

He got right in your face, "You will always owe me,"

"And the love you gave was NEVER LOVE!,"

"You are going to always live with my sacrifices!," he yelled over top of you which only fueled you to yell louder.

"You don't know ANYTHING about love! You are so twisted and warped!,"

"You will always know my sacrifices!,"

"You're so full of your own lies!!!," you sobbed. He stared at you and you couldn't even recognize him.

"What's going on out here?," Standing in the doorway of the balcony was Stephen, Tony and Pepper.

"This is love, Y/N. I will never stop fighting to get you back"

You shook your head and stepped around him, "The most disgusting lies are dressed in beauty that'll rot,"

You looked at the three people and you knew you looked broken.

"Steve, what did you do?," Tony asks as he stares at you, it finally clicks for him, his eyes widening "You're the ex,"

"Y/N. Let's go," Stephen steps forward and you rush to him grabbing his arm.

"Thanks for the better part of the night, Tony," He spoke quickly. He expertly weaved you through the crowd until you were outside and he sat you on the hood of his car, setting your clutch by you.

"Hey, hey. It's me, it's me," He held your face as you cried harder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," you just kept apologizing as you were sucked into that pit once again.

"Don't apologize. I'm here, it's me, no one else but me,"

"I d-didn't expect to see him. I didn't ex-expect you be friends with T-Tony Stark,"

"Take your time, you're going to make yourself sick with this rush of emotion. Take a few breaths. Take your time,"

You tried your best to calm down but everything hit you like a million pounds.

"I'm so sorry," you just couldn't stop apologizing, "I- I just wanted to forget my past with Steve... that's why I didn't tell you who he was,"

"I can understand why," he wrapped his arms around you and lightly swayed back and forth, "We heard everything from inside. The way he spoke to you. Tony had to keep me from sending him into another realm. Y/N, I'm so sorry. I should have found you sooner,"

"This isn't your fault, Stephen and I should have been honest," you bunched his jacket up in your hands and hiccupped as the cries slowed down.

"I'm not going to blame you for keeping his identity from me, if that's what you're thinking. Steve Rogers or not, he doesn't get a pass with treating you like that. I'm here now though and I will do everything I can to make you feel safe," he kissed your temple and pulled back from you just a bit to wipe your cheeks with his thumbs.

"We're gonna go home and get cleaned up, order some whatever you want and binge watch your favorite series. We can talk more when you're ready, I just want to relax,"

We're going home

You were so grateful for this man. He was that something solid you needed. He didn't tell you to calm down when you were upset, he let you get everything out. He didn't push you to talk but he did let you know he was always ready to when you were.

"Sounds good,"

He led you to your side of the car, opening the door for you, letting you get in to buckle yourself in, he leaned in to place a kiss on your lips before shutting the door. He walked in front of the car and grabbed your clutch before getting in on his side. You looked up at the venue and right on the balcony you see Steve, staring intensely down at you. You scrambled to grab Stephen's hand and he looked over at you in worry then followed your gaze to catch Steve staring as well.

With ease, he started the car with his other hand and put it into gear, driving away. You looked in the side view mirror and could still see him.

Stephen clenched his jaw and looked in his rear view at Steve

"I can see he's going to be a problem,"

*The End*

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

PART 3?!?!? Let me know!! I hope you guys enjoyed this, please leave feedback even if it's a simple emoji or gif <3 If your tag has a slash through it, it didn't work. If I forgot you I deeply apologize so just let me now

Steve and Readers argument comes from the interlude Vanity by Lacey Sturm (rip Flyleaf)

Tags- @cliffordasparagus @sideeffectsofyou @shannonr2003 @chaddaddybose @succulentsareprettycool​ @grey-junior​ @hpspngot​ @bartonsbowandarrow​ @thebesteleganttrashyouseen​ @theworldshesaw​ @get-loki​ @misstoryunfolded​ @sgtevanstan​ @queen-of-the-jabari​ @mbaku-babygirl​ @michaels-endtime​ @babybubastis​ @definethatpotato​ @ricekneess​ @tchallaknowsbetter​ @madamslayyy​ @lovely-leigh​ @ladydragonpurplefire  @majikmelanin​ 

[missile-silo]

More headconons because I feel like it

* They adopted a cat and called it Schrödinger . He’s a Maine coon cat (they think, he was found in a box). He’s an old cat, about 10.

* They also have a little Russian blue (again they’re not sure, he was found near an airfield)cat called Yuri (after Yuri Gagarin) but they only got him a year before the show started. He’s only a year and a half old.

* Alya comes to Marinettes apartment one time and is complaining about getting a low score on her science test. Mendeliev is marking papers while banging her head on the table saying “they’re so f**king stupid” and Alya starts screaming.

* Marinette learns how to bake through Gina, so she still makes things for class gatherings.

* When she was first taken in Marinette ate a lot of pizza. Like a lot. She can’t stand it now.

* The morning routine consists of: coffee, breakfast (cereal, they go through so much), get dressed and leg it because Mendeliev forgot she had a meeting.

* Marinette finds out about Mendeliev and Bustier by walking into the apartment to see both of them chatting (flirting) in the couch. School was bare awkward.

* The above has also happened to Alya, Nino and Adrien, but Nino saw them kissing so he’s scarred.

* Mendeliev smoked. Marinette poured water on her when she did. Mendeliev no longer smokes (she has an juul instead)

* “Ms I haven’t done my homework, what should I do?” 

 “Perish”

* Marinette purposefully tells Mendeliev about trends in the hope that she’ll pull some weird crap in class. So far, she’s heard three screams from Mendeliev saying “oh wig?” to people not finishing work.

* An incredibly distraught Mendeliev asking Damocles for help to learn how to raise a kid (I feel like she’d be 27 when she got Marinette, so she would have been teaching for 6 years). Damocles doesn’t know Marinette is Mendelievs kid, but knows she has one.

* Jagged Stone being involved with Marinette in more of an uncle/godfather way after finding out about her being adopted. Offers to look after her during holidays and after school when there’s parent evening. Not over the top, but he has definitely been called into school (during school hours)when Gina couldn’t make it.

* The bro relationship Adrien and Mari have. They act like siblings because they can relate about parents being gone and the trouble with that. They get put into groups for science classes with another random person (they good at science minus biology) and the bickering would be real.

* Nino and Adrien are also like bros, but they’re like best friend bros.

* Alya and Marinette have a healthier and more positive relationship, with Marinette being blunt about relationships. Marinette helps Alya with physics and chemistry homework in return for biology homework. The dynamic duo have lots of fun together, and neither end up third wheeling because the group ends up getting pretty close.

* Alya still falls for Lilas lies at the start , but Marinette talks her into publishing the video in a sort of speculation/public opinions based column. This would save the reputations the ladyblog when all comes to show.

* When Lila comes into the class, she lies about knowing ladybug first and Maris like oh dope. Then she says about the miraculous and Maris like “ookay bit weird” but nothing comes out of the volpina episode that damages Marinette (Adrien voices concern about her not taking being rejected well, but Marinettes like “you should be able to reject who you want bro”). Mari mainly doesn’t like her because of the lies and her ignoring Adriens attempts to get away from physical contact.

* Then comes the bull crap about the bakery girl being her best friend and Maris like “lmao what no mate” and Lila puts on crocodile tears. People react with hostility, but Alya runs her mouth and says that Mari is the bakery girl. She later gets thanked for this, but admits she wasn’t thinking straight.

* Some people are hostile to Marinette after that, with Lilas tinnitus. At break time Marinette admits she didn’t manage to get any work done. This is where Marinettes head injury rears it’s head, because she has difficulty with focusing in class because of it (I do my research this is a real thing I think). She asks why Lila didn’t move to the front row replacing Nino or Adrien (or even Chloe and Sabrina). There’s a bit of owopsie and Adrien moves himself to the back (leaving Lila with marinette, much to Lilas dismay)

* Lila tried to claim that Marinette wanted to keep her away from Adrien, to which she’s like “yeah, you don’t respect his boundaries despite his clear dislike for you touching him”. There’s a whole woe is me part, but then Alya and Nino step in like “tf dudette, thought you weren’t interested”. Then Lila cries to her mum and...

* They are “revealed” when Lilas mum demands to see Marinettes mother (to talk about how horrible she is and why she shouldn’t “bully” her kid) and despite the school offering multiple times to call Gina she refuses saying “I’m lilas mum, I should talk to Marinettes mum” and Mendeliev just sort of says “oh yeah let me get her” and she spins around and is like“hi you wanted to see me?”

* There’s a big oh feck.jpg moment in the class, but it explains a lot about Mari (why she despised Lila for using her parents death for fame, why she was so big about Adrien being able to choose if people touch him or not. Ms Mendeliev raised her that way)

* People are surprised that she doesn’t get favouritism from Mendeliev, but they both explain that they hate that (miss bustier is making notes)

*Sabine and Tom were once Ladybug and Chat Noir (for like a week) and Gina sees ladybug and chat acting like bros and is just like :,) cod they act like Sabine and Tom but less romantic and more familial.

* Marinette and Kagami just... end up together. Only Nino knows why. It does involve a can of squirt cream, a kitchen knife, three packs of blu tac and a whoopee cushion.

* The group happily integrating other people (Aurore, Mirelle and Marc) because the power of a found family is just THAT strong.

* Weredad doesn’t happen (obviously. Unless I wanted to douse this with ridiculous amounts of angst in which I would have Toms ladybug ghost being akumatised because he missed so much in his babies life)

* Marinette isn’t obsessed with Adrien, so she just has obscure sci-fi references on her walls like from “The cone heads”

* Mendeliev used to have a mild heart attack whenever she saw Marinette trip or fall down the stairs, but now it’s like “oh ya....there she goes”.

* One of the office women (receptionist?) taught Mendeliev little tips and tricks about raising the gal. Ended up being one of those people you call auntie but really isn’t related to you. (Her name’s Linda and she knows everyone’s name)

* Marinette found some heelies in a charity shop when she was about 6, and just sort of clings to Mendelievs jacket when she walks because that woman is fecking tall.Whenever she outgrows them, someone from her extended family gets her a pair. This carried on for years. Almost gave Chloe an aneurism when she first saw them do it on a school trip.

* The group all does it now. Sometimes Alix tags along, but grips onto Kim instead.

* Someone (Rose) asks Marinette whether she has an adoptive Dad and she’s like “no but I might get another Mum if she ever learns how to flirt” and Ms Mendeliev is embarrassed but Bustier is deciding if she’d want a daughter

* Post “reveal” Lila runs to the media and now the class has a daily game of finding out who are Marinettes illegitimate parents that week

* “Who am I related to this week?”

“You’re Jagged stones and... Adriens’ Mums kid now.”

“Damn, I always thought I’d be Jagged’s and Audrey bourgeois’ kid”

* Someone gets akumatised because they think they were a bad parent.

* It’s probably Astruc.

* One of Marinettes favourite childhood toys is a furby but Mendeliev is terrified of them so if Mari gets annoyed at her she just whips out the furby

* Marinette tried to be all cool about her Ma but she does say the occasional cursed thing like “She sleeps in her lab coat. What you don’t know that scientists shed their coat once a year? Wack”

* The phone conversations that consist of other cursed things:

“No you can’t eat cheesecake. Why?! It literally has cheese in the title. YOU’RE ALLERGIC TO MILK! Why did you do that? Yes I’ll tell school to get a supply in, just try not to puke on your phone. Please don’t do this every time you have a meeting you don’t want to go to. ”

* Marinette has a lot of extended family past her own, but doesn’t get to see them often cos Mendelievs family all live in Eastern Europe.

* Max gets Marinette to help with Markov (working out how to get him to hover idk I haven’t seen the episode)

* Buffinette is real. But not from fighting or weights. It’s from dragging Mendelievs’ student’s books up four flights of stairs to get to the apartment.

*Theres no balcony scenes because having a balcony increases rent and Paris is already expensive.

* Marinette has heterochromia (an eye for each parent) because I’ve been playing overwatch and I like Moira’s design. She’s definitely more obviously half Chinese, and her hair is more a warm black (incorporating Toms hair a bit). What, this is my Au I’ll design Marinette how I want to.

* Although realistically Marinette should have green eyes after Tom because that’s how google says alleles work but idk. God maybe powerful but I’m a tired Brit who’s results day is far too close.

* Ladybugs outfit is more than just spandex. It’s modelled after Chinese martial arts and roman gladiators (the armour).

* Marinette tends to struggle to empathise with people but is compassionate. If someone cries infront of her she’ll comfort them but won’t really get why until it’s explained.

[lunaraven0s-shit-fanfics]

This might seem weird, but I used both Randal and Richard as this guy's name interchangeably. I just wanted to clarify beforehand so nobody's too confused.

~

It took....a while for him to fade in. The first thing he knew was his name.

Randal Vorhees. Or Richard Vorhees. Both felt right. He didn't know why.

The next thing was a place. A wide grassy lawn next to a big office building. Immediately after, he knew that office buildings were everywhere back home in NYC, but this didn't look at all familiar.

He was from New York City. This place definitely wasn't New York City. It was just one building in the middle of nowhere. There was also a forest in the distance, with a path leading in. It was unsettling, mostly because it was so quiet.

Then, he was there, laying on the grass. He could feel it. His hat had fallen off somewhere. He sat up and looked around. It had fallen next to him, and there was a pigeon standing on it. It cooed at him as he shooed it away.

Someone came out of the building. They were wearing a very fancy black suit and glasses. They walked right to him and held out a hand. "You're new, right? I'm Bim Trimmer."

"Randal. Or Richard. They both work." He stood up to meet Bim, putting his hat back on. A pigeon landed on it. "So what is this place?"

"Officially, it's Iplier Inc. Unofficially, it's your new home."

"Uh, do I have a choice in the matter?"

"Not really, but you don't have to pay for any of it! And there's always chocolate somewhere!"

"Ookay then." He followed Bim inside, waving off a few more pigeons.

~

"Wilford, where'd all the pigeons come from?"

"What pigeons?"

Dark gestured out the window. "Those pigeons!" They were everywhere, pecking at the lawn.

"Ohh. I have no idea." He shrugged. "Maybe it's the new guy. Bim just brought him in."

"Why pigeons?"

"I dunno. He's from New York, so it kinda makes sense."

"By what logic?"

"'Magic powers are fucking weird' logic."

~

"Why are you all fussing about the pigeons?"

"We never get pigeons around here. It's weird." Bim waved a few off the window sill. "They're making a mess."

"They always like to follow me. I don't know why."

"Magic, probably."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Most of us have some. It's not always obvious, like this."

"Cool."

A gunshot went off somewhere below, making both of them jump. Most of the pigeons scattered. Randall ran toward the noise, looking for the source. Bim tried to stop him, but he was too fast.

The source was a strange guy with pink hair, standing outside. He was pointing a gun toward the pigeons. None of them seemed to be hurt, thankfully. Randal stepped in front of him, pushing the gun away. "Stop!!”

"What-”

"They aren't hurting anything, stop it!!"

"Okay! Okay! Geez..." The guy put the gun away. "You really like those pigeons."

A few pigeons landed on Richard's head. He gently grabbed one and let it sit on his hands. It cooed. "See? They're nice."

"If you say so. The name's Wilford, by the way."

"Mmhm."

"Wilford, be nice."

Randal jumped as someone spoke behind him. They were a spooky looking guy with grey skin, wearing a black suit that didn't quite fit.

"I wasn't doing anything!"

"Why don't you go set up his room? I'll talk to him, ok?"

"Fine." Wilford disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

Randal looked at the spooky guy. "Who are you?"

"My name's Dark."

"Really? Seems a bit on the nose."

"I know. I was young and inexperienced back then. Have you seen the place yet?"

"Bim was giving me a tour, before..."

"Ah, yes. I'll make sure no one hurts your pigeons, ok? Wilford's just a bit...jumpy, sometimes."

"Thanks."

Dark smiled and led Richard back to the building.

~

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Gen list: @pleaseletthisjimbetaken @multifandomblogger1817 @realcanadianmoose @pixelenchanter