#since i missed that opportunity in spider's story

[quirkychaoticraptor]

Why didn't anybody tell me about the hilarious "deleted" scene in "The Best Bout" between Daruma and Sannoh?! It just made me adore Kato, even more, and at the same time, make me want to punch his smug face 10x more than usual! I could've also written this scene in my first "HiGH LOW" fanfic! Ozawa's bit was hilarious, too.

[voidhope]

The Other Woman

—

Synopsis: Where Miguel leaves Y/N to go back to a different version of his old wife found in another universe.

Pair: Miguel O’Hara x Spider!Reader

Tags: ANGST!!, long term established relationship, heartbreak, marriage, cheating, mental health, cold/distant Miguel

—

A/N: Hi! I don’t really write at all!!

I have been a silent reader on tumblr for years but this idea has been playing in my mind so much I had the urge to write it. I have been down so bad for Miguel been on his tag like 24/7 indulging in all the content creators have been putting out. So I’m excited to join in giving content, however keep in mind I kinda suck! Apologies for any mistakes, anything confusing, or it not being well written enough. Honestly could have made this into multiple parts with better details but nah. Tried my best ^^ since it’s my first time, any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Honestly tbh we all don’t have a solid grasp how the whole canon thing and multi universe works yet so!! A lot of what is written is made up to suit my storyline so please don’t get mad about the inaccuracies.

I love a good angst and today’s story will be EXTRAAA angsty!!! As well kinda long!!

—————————————————

The moment that changed your life was while working on an experiment during your college finals. You were a proud and gifted physics major that was so passionate about discovering and exploring what the world didn’t know.

You had snuck into Alchemax late at night. You wanted to show your professors just how much you could do with the right tools. Next thing you know, playing with their machines, you had spawned a spider right in-front of you. The glowing vibrant red spider had sunk its jaw into your hand.

Your life did a complete turn and you spent the rest of that week freaking out while changes to your body were happening. Causing you to fail your semester after missing exams. Things felt like it could only get worse when a massive blue suited masked man showed up out of nowhere in your dorm interrogating you.

“Where’s the spider?” He had a strong grip on your shoulders. You couldn’t focus while trying to process why this man had what seemed like claws sticking out of the ends of his fingers.

“I don’t know, it like died after it bit me!” You exclaimed nervously at the freakishly strong man. Trying to reach for anything behind you to use as a defense weapon.

“Dios mío no me digas eso…” He groaned loudly letting you go. Having the opportunity to grab something, you threw a sanrio plushie at him. Only causing him to wave his arms in annoyance. “That spider is from my earth and somehow you brought it here. Now you’re a spider-man.”

And the rest is history…

—

You learned that the man was Miguel O’Hara and when he found you he was just starting his missions with the multiverse. You being the few of the firsts to join his team.

Your situation was quite bizarre and he called you an anomaly for a long time, spending hours studying you and also training you. You ended up being the one case that can’t be explained no matter how much effort was put into monitoring you.

Almost like it was meant to be. Your universe remained perfect with its current spider-man doing fine. No big collapse of a black hole or anything. When you got bit by a spider from Earth-928 your DNA merged with that universe making you fit in perfectly. You were one of the only spider-people with an uncertain timeline with new canons being created depending on what universe you were in.

What changed from you being just a piece of research for Miguel is when he then realized that maybe you were a gift from the multiverse. After all the grief and pain he’d went through the universe had given him this person that worked out perfectly no matter how hard he tried to push them away. You fell head over heels for him and vice versa, all while canon events were being created with both of you together.

You were there as his team grew, slowly turning into a family. Then both of you getting married finalizing that this was your home. Everything felt perfect. Although a relationship with Miguel could have its up and down days, nothing could ever tear you both apart. Or so you assumed.

—

“I’m sorry Y/N.” Miguel couldn’t look at you.

“When did this start? Please be honest with me. Did I do something wrong?” You begged at him. You knew he was acting off recently but never did you think it would result to this.

You watched as he exhaled deeply staring at the ground. You felt like you couldn’t breathe as you studied his face trying to grasp onto any emotion he was showing. The atmosphere in his office felt so cold. You so badly wanted to catch his gaze and find the warmth and love his red irises used to give you. He was doing everything to push you away. He was abandoning you.

“You did nothing wrong. I met her during a mission 4 months ago.” Was all he replied.

“Who is she?” Your heart kept breaking. His face hardening as the question slipped through your lips. You knew Miguel wouldn’t leave you for just anyone. Deep in your heart you knew what this was about. He never responded but he didn’t need to when you saw his eyes flicker over to his monitor screens. You followed his trace and saw the photo of Gabriella in the corner.

“Does she have another version of your daughter?” You tried again. This is what made him look directly at you. Miguel kept opening and closing his month unsure how to tell you the truth. You weren’t stupid and he knew that. After everything he couldn’t just walk out on you with a lie.

“No.” He paused thinking of how to finally share the truth without it ruining you. There was no way out of this. “She is a younger version of herself. There is no Miguel in her universe and she’s not important to the timeline. She lives a regular life. I-it’s a chance for me to start at the very beginning.”

You felt your heart being ripped out of your chest. You processed the words carefully. She doesn’t have a child yet… Not only was he leaving you for her but he was going to fall in love with her all over again and start a family with her. A family you wanted so badly to have with him.

“What about with what happened last time you tried to live a life in a different universe?” You didn’t understand how this was happening.

He was always so carful he would never do anything to cause that again. Everything you had witness Miguel work so hard for to keep safe for years. Sleepless nights, returning bruised and beaten, frustrations and constant stress. Was it all for nothing? Is he throwing all his work away?

“This is different.” He turned away from you. “I pushed myself then into an already established life. This time I am creating that life. After all the research we did on you…” He knew that this was going to tear you apart. “I learned that if done right I could have a child from two different universes that won’t disrupt anything.”

It clicked to you then that all the research he was doing on you lately was for this. The research he did on you that time was different, personal, intimate even. As he was testing your DNAs together and seeing the outcomes. He mentioned a child and you were foolish enough to assume he was doing research to see what it would be like if you both had one together. You were giddy even as you watched him work. You had both spoken about having a family together in the past but had been too busy with spider activities. You thought it was a sign of him getting more serious about it, knowing how badly he wanted one. You would have never thought he was doing it to see how he could get back his previous child. The one you could never give him.

You had truly believe that Miguel had recovered from his obsession that his grief gave him. He accidentally destroyed a whole universe needing that life back so badly. You had spent late nights watching him re-watch clips over and over of what he had lost. It slowly stopped once your relationship blossomed with him and you thought he was ready to move on and start new. Why would you have never thought that with such a perfect opportunity presented to him that he wouldn’t drop everything for it.

“I think it’s best that you leave.” He spoke with a soft tone. As if not looking at you any longer will make the problem go away. You couldn’t wrap your mind around how he was just throwing you away like this. As if he wasn’t making you dinner, giving soft kisses, whispering I-love-you’s not so long ago.

You felt too choked up to ask anymore questions. Your throat tight and painful as you held back tears from escaping in-front of Miguel. You just nodded and headed straight out the door not being able to handle another second in that room. Your knees and hands were shaky as you speed walked into the nearest bathroom and let it all out.

—

It didn’t take long for everyone else to know something had happened. Everyone had gotten used to seeing you and him sitting together at lunch. You would make him cute lunch boxes and everyone would gag a bit while watching the two of you smile together. Some cringing seeing their scary boss being so soft around you. It was a big surprise when Miguel started to eat alone with a bag of take out food and you no where to be seen.

His teams he sent out for missions were all confused when you weren’t assigned to anything. Knowing you were one of the best, one of them slipped out a “Call for Y/N!” In the middle of fighting an anomaly too strong for them. Miguel only looked away.

It wasn’t until a new woman showed up in Miguel’s office with a grip around his waist. That’s when the spider-community realized that this was way worse than they thought.

—

You on the other hand had spilled everything to Hobie when he caught you that day leaving the bathroom with puffy eyes. You had been staying with him in his universe until you could gather yourself together to return to HQ. You knew you were going to leave for good, but you needed to go back to retrieve all your things. You couldn’t stay with Hobie forever. Worse that you weren’t from there.

You still had some hope that Miguel would come looking for you and tell you that he was all wrong. However almost two months had passed and not a word from him… That’s when you knew it was time you should return to what you once knew.

Stepping into the portal Hobie followed close behind you. He told the few others who were once close to both you and Miguel that you would be visiting. Stepping through the portal you were immediately greeted by Jessica and Peter B Parker.

“Oh, Y/N.” Jess sighed your name sadly while pulling you into a hug. You felt like you wanted to cry all over again. Missing your friends so much. Peter B came behind giving you a hug on the side.

“He’s on a mission right now.” Peter spoke up. “It might be a long one too but don’t waste anytime just incase.”

You nodded pulling away from them. Looking up around the headquarters building faintly smiling at the past memories you had here. You started heading to different areas gathering all the little things you had left around. Hobie had stitched for you a cute backpack with different scraps of patterned clothes and covered in patches of punk band logos but made with hammer space technology. Making it fun for you to fill endless of your things in the bag.

The last stop was in Miguel’s office. Doubt started to fill your mind; maybe he already threw out all of your stuff. Why would he even keep it after all of this? What no one could warn you of was the other person sitting on his platform.

“Hello!” She chirped at you. It felt like the air in your lungs had just been punched out. You knew her too well. From all the photos and videos you had seen peaking over Miguel’s shoulder. However seeing her in person was something you had never expected. You knew it wasn’t the original her but it was a copy paste image for sure.

“Hi.” Was all you managed to choke out. She was beautiful, stunning. You could see clearly now the similar features she shared in another universe with her daughter. The parts that Miguel didn’t have. She kept smiling kindly at you, almost in a graceful way. You started to feel all your insecurities start eating you up from the inside. How could you have ever compared to her.

“What’s your name? I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” Getting off Miguel’s platform she walked closer to you. The room started to feel suffocating.

“Y/N.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you! It’s nice to meet other girls around here.”

Your eyebrows furrowed as you realized she had no reaction to your name. So Miguel never told her about you… Or that the fact was he was still even legally married to you.

“My boyfriend isn’t here right now but, if you want, I can tell him you stopped by.” She continued as you stayed silent.

“Oh, no it’s okay. I just came in here to get some stuff.” You rushed as you really wanted nothing to do with Miguel at all. You almost worried that he might even get angry knowing you got to speak with her. If he already dislikes you this much you couldn’t even imagine how he would feel if you got in the way of this for him.

You started heading over to the familiar drawers around the room. Grabbing your old hoodies and shirts finding your most comfortable of things here. You treated this place as one of your safe spaces as you used to spend so much time here.

“Oh I didn’t know these were all yours! I was wondering why this was all around. When I came here I wanted to do some spring cleaning but Miguel wouldn’t let me touch anything.” She followed besides you. “It’s so mind blowing seeing all this technology. We don’t have any of this where I live-“ She continue rambling but you started to zone her out. You felt like you were about to have a panic attack any minute. There was one question that kept burning in your mind.

“Are you and Miguel already planning to have a child?” You blurted out. Your eyes widened a bit as you surprised yourself. She let out a loud laugh.

“Oh dear no! We have only been together about 6 months. You must be new around here so you must not know much about us.” She chuckled.

In some cruel way you were hoping she would have said yes. You had that twisted hope of maybe Miguel just keeping her to have a kid and ditching her after he gets Gabriella and run back to you. In reality he was playing the long game, he really meant it when we said he was starting over. “He’s never mentioned kids anyways. I’m not even sure if he’d like them or do well with them.”

With that statement she made you looked at her appalled. Anyone could see in Miguel how good of a father he could be. Just in the way he takes care of the society he built here. You started to realize that she really has been left in the dark. She doesn’t know anything. She probably doesn’t even know that she’s a replacement of another self. You wondered why Miguel was doing this. It felt like he didn’t just toy with you but with her as well. A man you came to love for how selfless he was, to realize now everything was for his own personal gain. Suddenly you started to feel bad for her. You couldn’t dislike her, she wasn’t doing anything wrong and she doesn’t even know.

“I got all my stuff. Nice to meet you.” Was all you could say as you zipped up your bag and turned straight around out of there. Not giving any glance back at her, you left to one of the empty training rooms to recollect your overwhelming thoughts. All of the self healing you tried the past month thrown in the garbage.

It wouldn’t be too soon that news of you going around the building was returned to Lyla. You had cut out all coms while you were gone so she immediately popped up on your watch when she found out.

“AH-“ You jumped as the tiny AI was suddenly in front of your face.

“It’s so wonderful to see you Y/N. Oh my god!”She started. Then she went on rambling about how she knew everything and had seen everything. How she didn’t agree with what was happening and was doing everything she could to convince you to stay. After 5 minutes of her rambling you stopped her to let your emotions out.

“Lyla, Lyla It’s okay. Just stop. It’s all complicated I know, but this didn’t work out. I wished Miguel just cheated on me like all the other fucked up normal men out there. That I walked in on him deep in another random girl. Though painful I could have tried fixing and fighting for us. But instead what I got was him emotionally cheating on me and chase after something he knows I can never give him.” You felt yourself choke up. “I can never ask him to give up what he longs and dreams for just for me to be happy. I lost this battle the moment he laid eyes on her.”

Finding comfort in the AI your husband made. You’ve created a bond with Lyla that Miguel found cute but you knew now this might be the last time you’ll be speaking with her.

“You can give him a family y/n… you guys have been married two years now. I know you’ve both set the thought aside until the multiverse issues are better but you can fight for him. You have to snap him out of his fantasy. He still thinks about you.”

“Lyla you know deep down truly he never just wanted a family. He wanted exactly what he had. What he lost. Which should be impossible but being by his side seeing how insane the multiverse is… Good for him for believing in something so hard he’s found himself even a third chance to do it.”

“I hate that you’re being too kind about this situation.” Lyla paced around you.

“I love him so deeply Lyla. You know that very well. It’s so hard to suddenly hate him. I am angry, but I’m also emotionally drained I can’t do this.” You let out a deep sigh. “I’ve watched him long for this family when we just met. For some stupid reason when things worked out for us I thought I would be enough… When we got engaged and he would spend some days at home with me not even coming to HQ. I thought he was finally moving on not just from his grief and past but from the weight of his work. I saw a bright future for us.”

“You can still have a bright future with him! You moving here gave him a new canon event, another chance at life in his timeline. Here in his own universe! He’s just too obsessed and he’s lost himself in that.” She exclaimed with her hands up.

“Our canon event was our wedding.” Your frowned deepened. “But the universe didn’t say anything else after. It doesn’t say our canon event means we are suppose to live happily together forever I guess.”

“I’m just trying my best to be optimistic. I rooted so hard for you and Miguel when you joined the team. I know you can remember the amount of times I would force you both in rooms.” Lyla recalled.

“And I’m grateful for it… Even if this didn’t work out. I was given precious memories, not just working with you and being on this team but falling in love with Miguel. I know I’m being all depressed and hopeless but I feel like even if I move on I’ll never be able to replace him and find a relationship like this again. However he threw me away so easily and maybe he never valued me as much as I did to him.” You felt your emotions bubble. “I became who I am here. I’m going to miss everyone so much.”

“You can still stay here and work with us.” She edged on.

“I can’t just sit around here begging at his feet to return to me or moping around doing missions while watching him with someone else. I want to hate him so badly. I know he’s your boss and you’re basically hardwired to do everything for him and you’re trying your hardest to fix what you think is his right path. But think of me a little more and how miserable it’ll be. I’m the only one hurting here.”

Lyla paused and stared at you with an almost glossy-eyed look. While she worked she could see the inner term-oil Miguel was hiding and the emptiness he was turning to since trying to start new in the other universe. It just wasn’t her place to hold this conversation and he was the one who needed to get a grip of himself and really think and talk with you. She can’t be the one trying to mend the pieces for both of you together. What Miguel did was so wrong. She knew you were right and she didn’t want to see any more damage be caused to you.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” She looked up at you sincerely. “I hate this outcome for you. Not only are you loosing your husband but your home. When was the last time you’ve even been in your universe?”

“Like a year ago for a mission…”

“Exactly! Even if things are over with Miguel, you have all of us here! I wish you could stay. I understand you leaving, I really do. I know a lot of us will try visiting you but I’m tied to Miguel…” You started to see how it clicked for her too that it’s most likely you might not see each other for a long time. “Even if a spider-person is visiting you I can’t just show up on their watch… It’ll go back to him and I know you wouldn’t want that. I know I’m an AI and I can’t hold real emotions but I mean it when I say I’m going to miss you.”

Tears poured down your cheeks as her words hit you. Going back to your universe is going to be a struggle. You have nothing there now. However nothing can compare to the pain of the outcome you’ve had with Miguel, and you needed out of here ASAP. Your mental health getting worse the longer you stay. Even the other spiders you have come to love can’t bring that spark back right now. You needed genuine time for yourself, even if it’s self destructive, instead of putting on a fake smile everyday here.

“Bye, Lyla.” You whispered. She nodded and waved her hand goodbye at you before disappearing. You took your watch off your wrist placing it on a nearby desk. With it you pulled the divorce paperwork out of your pocket neatly sealed and already signed on your half. Opening a portal you took your last glances at the place you spent so many loving memories in.

Tears blurred your vision as you stepped through the portal. Once your legs landed on a rooftop of a building in your dimension, you racked out full sobs falling to your knees.

You were always just the other woman.

—————————————————

Thank you so much for reading!! I know it was a longer one ~

would anyone like a part 2? If so anyone want a angsty or happy ending? I think it’ll be more in Miguel’s perspective as well!

EDIT: You can now read PART 2 here

[sometimesanalice]

Are You Gonna Be My Girl?

Summary: It’s been a couple of months since the two of you have started hooking up, and it’s no secret that Rooster is hung up on you. He takes the gamble and invites you to the yearly Halloween bash at the Hard Deck. The only problem is he can’t figure out what the hell you’re supposed to be. 

Pairing: Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x Female Reader

Length: 6.2K

Warnings: allusions to smut and Rooster being a simp (but what else is new 😂) (mdni)

The Black Keys’ “Howlin’ for You” playing loudly over the static-y speakers of the Hard Deck masking the sound of Rooster’s fingers as he impatiently drums them on top of the worn table, uncaring of the fact he’s out of tempo with the song.

Penny’s yearly Halloween Spooktacular has always been a fan favorite with those stationed at North Island. A name that Amelia had thrown shade at no less than five times as she worked on designing the event flier the afternoon that the Daggers had been bribed with free beers for coming in on their free time to help decorate.

There wasn’t an inch of the bar that was left untouched, and it wasn’t just that Bob had gotten carried away with the downy spider webbing. There were orange and purple string lights threaded around the circular mug racks, floating candles over the pool table, dangling bats and streamers, and an enthusiastic but poorly executed attempt at a balloon arch over the entry door.

The wispy fog covered punchbowl with a suspicious dark purple beverage bubbled away on the bartop, tendrils cascaded over the side only adding to the atmosphere. The stuff was so potent that Bradley was pretty sure it would put the jungle juice he’d thrown back in college to shame.

Rooster had been tasked with curating the playlist for tonight’s party, and if he’d been paying even a little bit of attention, he’d have known his choices were being well received by the boisterous crowd. But his attention is half split trying to listen to Hangman’s story about the Halloween prank gone wrong that left him with twelve stitches and half listening for-

Ding

He’s quick on the draw to pull out his phone from the chest pocket to check if it was his that went off.

When he’d arrived Nat, decked out in a sequined pink gown with a gun he wasn’t sure was fake or not strapped to her thigh for her Miss Congeniality costume, had given him a look of disdain and said what he was wearing was low effort even for him.

Rooster tucks his phone away with a disappointed sigh when there are zero new notifications on his lock screen.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you so whipped over a girl before, Bradshaw,” Hangman drawls, leaning into the gunslinging cowboy thing he has going on for the evening. His shirt is unbuttoned more than is strictly necessary, and is complete with a belt buckle that is larger than the state of Texas and too heavy looking to have been bought off Amazon.

Ding

Bradley fishes out his phone again from the pocket he’d put it back in only moments earlier.

You, 10:32pm: “u up?”

He grins.

“And we’ve lost him,” someone snarks, but he’s too busy punching in the password to unlock his phone to care.

Bradley Bradshaw, 10:32pm: are you ever going to let that go?

You, 10:32pm: Mmm, no. You were so bad at being a fuckboy, it was funny.

You, 10:33pm: But in a very hot way, might I add. And clearly, it worked in your favor since I let you come over and hit it a second time.

Rooster snorts in amusement.

It was the first and last time he’d taken Fanboy’s advice and you teased him about it every opportunity you got. He had been a little rusty with the ins and outs of no-strings-attached sex with someone who wasn’t in the Navy. But he’d more than made up for it that same night by eating you out until your legs were shaking and you were weakly pushing his head away as he’d coaxed you into coming just one more time against his tongue.

Bradley Bradshaw, 10:33pm: don’t remember hearing you laughing last night when your pussy was dripping all over my cock

He takes a sip of beer as he waits for your response.

You, 10:33pm: Look! You’re already so much better at sexting than you were when we met!

You, 10:34pm: “u up?” is still on the table, by the way. Not to brag, but I even have a pumpkin shaped pizza. 

You, 10:34pm: If you want to come over. 

If you want to come over. He shakes his head reading the text again.

As if he’d ever pass up on getting to spend time with you.

As if Rooster hadn’t been hooked on you since the moment he’d met you.

𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛𝗦 𝗔𝗚𝗢

As a general rule, Bradley hated grocery shopping.

He’s never had the patience for it, with the way that everyone is in their own world. He gets tired of always having to weave around people and the way that there always seems to be carelessly parked carts or people catching up standing between him and the items on his list.

Which is why when he noticed the parking lot was mostly empty on his way home, he decided to stop and spare himself the headache of doing it over the weekend when everyone else was out and just get it done.

He’d expected to be in and out in record time until the uniform lines of colorful cartons of ice cream caught his attention as he was tossing in a few bags of frozen chicken into his cart. Normally it was always so crowded that he never felt like he could take his time looking without being in someone’s way, that he’d skip it entirely and later try to convince himself that his Greek yogurt was just as good. But tonight since no one was around, he was taking his time.

Under the glare of the fluorescents, he stands there with the hum of the freezers competing with the too-twangy-for-his-taste country song playing over the speakers and debating his options when he feels an arm thread around his own, surprising him out of the pros and cons list he was making in his head between the healthier low-calorie choice versus the one he actually wanted.

“Hi, hello there.” Bradley glances over to see the prettiest pair of eyes looking up at him expectantly. “Do you mind playing along for a few minutes, there’s some creep who keeps trying to bother me.”

He looks over the top of your head to see some guy lingering at the end of the aisle. “The guy who looks like off-brand John Mayer?”

You scrunch your nose up. “That’d be the one.”

“How good are you at picking out ice cream flavors?” he asks, standing up straighter and pulling his shoulders back.

You blink at him in confusion before your lips tick up in a relieved smile. “Very good, as a matter of fact.”

“Great, you came to my rescue just in time.” Bradley guides you closer until you’re in front of him, lightly resting a hand on your hip the way he would if you were his girlfriend. “Is this ok?” he asks under his breath, only loud enough for you to hear.

When you nod, he feels the knot in his chest loosen. Because while he wants this to be convincing to the guy still loitering at the edge of the aisle, he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable.

“First things first, we need to establish a baseline.” You point at the carton covered in cartoony looking chocolate chip cookies. “What’s your opinion on cookie dough?”

“Overrated,” he answers, not missing a beat. “I’d rather just eat the stuff out of a tube instead.”

You lean back into him a bit more. “Ooh, tough crowd,” you tease, your head finding his shoulder. “Ok then, mister tempting-fate-with-salmonella, what’s your stance on the great vanilla bean vs French vanilla debate?”

Bradley takes a quick look around to make sure they’re not blocking any other late night grocery shoppers. He pretends to ponder for a moment before responding, “I like the one with flecks.”

“A dignified choice.” You say it so solemnly that he can’t help but chuckle.

The easy back and forth banter goes on for a few more minutes. Sometimes you rib him about his answers and other times agree. It shouldn’t be so fun standing there in front of the cooler filled with tubs of ice cream, but it is. It was the last thing he could have expected when he’d decided to stop in at the last minute on his way home after hitting up the Hard Deck.

When he tells you the two choices he had been contemplating before you’d come up to him, you hum contemplatively and tap a finger against your cheek, “Well this changes everything if you’re dairy free.”

“Nah, just watching my figure. The containers are smaller and I have a sweet tooth.”

“Respectfully, I don’t think that’s something you need to worry about. You fill out those khakis just fine, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“I don’t mind at all.” Rooster wonders if you can hear his self-satisfied grin. “Not every day I get a pretty girl telling me she was checking out my ass.”

You let out a small, amused scoff and all he feels is pleased with himself.

“I was not checking out your- oh.” The surprise in your voice has him leaning back enough to get a look at your face. “Wait, is he gone?” You peer around his shoulder, but don’t make a move to pull away from the gentle hold he has on you.

“He left around the time you were giving a very impassioned speech about how overlooked spumoni is. I probably should have mentioned it sooner, but you were making a pretty compelling case and I didn’t want to interrupt,” he says, trying to play it off casually and hoping that he didn’t just become the creep in this story when you tell it to your friends later.

“Oh, ok. That’s, um, that’s good.” You sound almost… disappointed? You take a step towards the case and he drops his arm back down to his side, already missing the feel of you under it. “Thank you so much for committing to the bit. Seriously, I truly appreciate it,” you say over your shoulder, opening the glass door.

He rubs the back of his neck, watching as you grab a carton out of the freezer, not sure whether to move on with the rest of his shopping or not. But when you turn back towards him, he’s hit with the full force of your smile, feeling it all the way to his toes.

“Rocky Road,” you say, setting the carton into his cart. “It has peanuts in it, which is a nutrient-dense food and an excellent plant-based source of protein. There’s collagen from the gelatin in the marshmallows. And chocolate has antioxidants in it and is known to trigger the holy trinity of happy brain chemicals. It’s basically a superfood.”

Rooster grins. “I don’t think it works like that.”

“No, unfortunately, it really doesn’t,” you agree, playfully leaning a hip against his cart. “But it’s more fun this way, don’t you think?”

He’s so fucking charmed by you and he doesn’t even know your name yet.

While he’s glad he was there at the right time and got to play a small part in deterring that guy from continuing to hassle you, he kind of wishes the two of you could have met under different circumstances, because he’d jump at the chance of being able to score a date with you. He sighs and shakes the thought out of his head.

“Would you like me to walk you to your car?” Rooster offers, ready to abandon his groceries for a few extra minutes with you.

“Oh wow.” That mischievous gleam that had been in your eyes changes to something softer. You tilt your head, taking him in with a thoughtful expression on your face. “You’re one of those rare genuinely a gentleman types, aren’t you? Like the kind who always walks closest to the curb and mows their elderly neighbor’s yard without being asked.” Bradley just lifts a shoulder. He’s used to looking out for other people, it’s just something he’s always done. “And they say chivalry is dead,” you muse, contemplatively, “I should let you know though, knock-off John Mayer is my ex.”

He feels his hackles rise up immediately and scans the area again to double check the guy isn’t still hanging around. “Is he harassing you?”

“Oh no, it was only an unfortunate fluke, I promise,” you say, patting his hand that’s gripping the handle of the shopping cart reassuringly. “He’s just a jackass who thought he could cheat on me and that I’d still take him back.” Bradley grunts at that, even more irritated than he was before. “But he was still trying to test the waters, even after I told him I was seeing someone,” you continue, with a roll of your eyes, “Which was technically true- even if I am in fact single right now- because that’s when I saw you over here gazing very intensely into the freezer case like you’d been personally victimized by Ben and Jerry.”

“You’re out of his league anyways,” he rasps. 

There’s no way in hell Bradley would fumble a girl like you.

You grin widely, clearly amused at his annoyance on your behalf. “He was a tool with an overinflated ego and a flat ass.” Rooster barks out a surprised laugh. “And you’re so much hotter than him, so I really lucked out there with you as my knight in ironed  khakis,” you say unabashedly, reaching out to straighten out his already perfectly straight name tag. “You really went above and beyond for your country there helping me win the break up.”

“I don’t think you needed me for that part. It’s pretty clear you came out on top.” His eyes dart down to your hand on the cart, like you forgot it was still resting on top of his. “But I was more than happy to help all the same.” He takes a half step closer into your space, deciding just to go for it. “I’m thinking we should keep up the ruse though, you know, just in case he is lurking by the pasta or something.”

You quirk a knowing eyebrow at him. “Is that so?”

“I could also use your professional opinion on cereal. That is if you still have some more shopping to do,” he suggests, nodding to your mostly empty handbasket.

There’s no question that he’s caught your interest, not with the way you’re looking at him. That smile you’re wearing tells a story of its own. “What a coincidence, that just happens to be my forte.”

“I had a feeling you might be the right girl for the job.” Bradley takes your basket from you and sets it in his cart and gestures for you to lead the way.

He learns your name around the same time he does about your hottake on Frosted Cheerios.

And later that night, his groceries are packed away in your fridge as the container of Rocky Road the two of you were sharing melts on your coffee table- the condensation puddling on the marble surface reflecting the credits rolling across the TV screen- as you ride him on your couch. Your hands tightly fisted in his hair and your breathy whines in his ear urging him to fuck you harder and faster until you come with his name in your mouth.

And in the morning, he gets your number over a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

The two of you have been fooling around for a couple of months now.

On the nights Rooster wasn’t fucking you, he was getting himself off to the thought of you and wishing you were in bed with him. You’ve never been to his place, so he doesn’t even have the bonus of that bright citrus scent of you lingering on his sheets on the nights he spends alone.

The sex was great. Mind-blowing. You were loud and enthusiastic and gave just as good as you got. Bradley found your confidence sexy as hell. You were the type of girl who knew exactly what she wanted and he was always up for the challenge of finding new ways to make your back arch and toes curl.

But he was just as much of a fan of the parts that came before and after getting you spasming around his cock.

He liked the way your mind worked. You were always telling him about something interesting you’d read, because you were naturally curious about the world around you. You asked him thoughtful questions about his job and his life in the Navy, but not in the way he was used to from the tag chasers that frequented the Hard Deck. There was no mistaking you were asking because you wanted to know more about him, and not fixated on the shiny sheen of his golden aviator wings.

Rooster has never laughed as much as he has with you. In those moments between catching your sighs with his mouth and waiting for the knock on the door for whatever late-night craving was being delivered, you’d have him laughing and grinning until his cheeks ached.

The closest he’s ever gotten to taking you on a proper date was that one late night drive-thru run when everything on delivery apps were closed. You’d looked like his favorite daydream sitting there under the glow of the streetlamp in the nearly empty parking lot in a shirt of his that he must have accidently left behind after a hook up.

That night was the most real it’s ever felt. And he wanted more nights just like that.

He liked the way you always seemed to have a documentary to recommend for any given topic, he has a list on his phone and has been working his way through them. He liked the way the glasses you wore sometimes seemed slightly too big for your face because it was cute the way you’d constantly push them back up your nose. He liked that you texted in full sentences with complete and proper punctuation.

Bradley could already imagine how tonight would most likely go.

He’d dip out of the party early and come to your place. Your tongue in his mouth and your greedy little hand tugging to get his belt undone before he’d even made it through the door. The two of you going at it until someone has to tap out- which he is smug in the fact that more often than not it’s usually you- now that he knows all the best ways to pull orgasm after orgasm out of you. Sometimes the two of you order in, and other nights you’ll pass a bowl of ice cream or cereal back and forth over the island in your kitchen where he gets to hear you laugh and tease him and tell him about your day. Then do it all over again and once you’re thoroughly spent, he’ll hold you as you fall asleep. And then in the morning he’ll press a kiss to your cheek and take one more look back at you before leaving through the same door he’d shown up at only hours before.

And that was fine for now, but he wanted more of you. He didn’t want to be just a casual hook up, he wanted to date you.

He wanted to be soft launched and hard launched, or whatever it was that Mickey was talking about that night he’d taken his misguided advice and sent the much teased “u up?” text. He wanted to block people in the chip aisle of the grocery store as you talked him into getting some crazy flavor, turning his least favorite chore into the highlight of his week. He wanted knockoff John Mayer to see he got the girl and knew how to treat her right.

He wanted you to be his girl.

“Aren’t you too old to be in a situationship, Bradshaw?” Jake asks, interrupting his thoughts.

“Fuck off,” Rooster grumbles, his eyebrows furrowed and his thumbs still hovering over the screen. A couple minutes have ticked by since your last text as he sits there stewing. He knocks back the remainder of his beer, it’s mostly foam, “I think I’m gonna head out.”

“No, you’re not. Bob hasn’t even performed the dance routine to “Thriller” yet,” Nat says, pinning him to his stool with a look, “Come on, Bradley, just invite her here.” She reaches overs and squeezes his shoulder. “You’ve been seeing her for a couple months now. You’re clearly into her, and you wouldn’t disappear on us as much as you do if she wasn’t into you too. This is a low stakes environment with everything going on and people off having fun doing their own thing. And the two of you can still go and do whatever you’re going to do after.”

“I don’t know, Phoenix, she might dump him when she sees what he’s wearing at a Navy bar on Halloween,” Hangman drawls, unhelpfully, grinning around that damn toothpick.

“Shut it, Bagman,” they both say simultaneously.

“Just throw it out there and see what she says.” Nat slides out of her seat, the beads on her dress scraping against the edge of the stool. “Now, we’re going to let you panic in peace for a few minutes while we get another round.”

“We’re?” Jake asks slowly, deliberately drawing out the word.

“Yep,” she confirms, the look on her face leaving no room for arguments as she tugs him off his seat. “And you’re paying, let’s go.”

Bradley scrubs a hand over his face, but not before he sees Nat punching Seresin in the arm on their way to the bar.

He doesn’t know why he’s so nervous all of a sudden, he’s never had an issue asking girls out before. Not that he’s ever had to work that hard for it, but still.

His knee bounces on the foot rest as he works out what to say. He types out the message and gives it a quick once over and hits send before he can overthink it.

Bradley Bradshaw, 10:42pm: I’d never say no to you or a pumpkin shaped pizza. But I’m actually at a Halloween party right now at the bar near base with some friends. And I’m thinking you should stop by.

Bradley Bradshaw, 10:42pm: I’m sorry it’s a last minute invite, but it’s always a good time and I think you would have fun. I’d like to see you, if “ur up” for it.

He tries not to dwell on the fact he just double texted you, a thing he didn’t know he should be worried about before Fanboy warned him about doing it.

It’s like he’s been hit by lightning the way he shoots up in his seat when he sees those little dots appear on the screen. Rooster holds his breath when they start and stop a few times, each time they disappear and come back again his heart pounds a little harder in his chest.

You, 10:44pm: I’m all in. What’s the address?

All the bubbles from the beer he’d had earlier swarm and rush to his head at once as he drops you a pin.

Nat pushes a shot of bourbon towards him across the table when they return. “Did it go well?”

He nods. “She’s on her way.”

“Good, because you know Halloween is my favorite holiday and your sulking was bringing the vibe down.”

He chuckles, there’s no way he’s beating those whipped allegations now.

She clinks her own shot with his and they throw them back together, the warmth of the expensive tasting liquor sticks behind his sternum.

The next thirty minutes are the longest of Rooster’s life. His head swings to the front door every time it opens, hoping that it’ll be you outlined by the purple, green, and orange string lights.

When he sees you come through the swiftly deflating balloon arch scanning the bar for him, he almost does a double take.

You’ve got on a black and white polka dot top, the cuffs are a flared ruffle that are tied with a bow at your wrist. Your skirt is plain black, but the way it hugs your hips leaves little to the imagination. He can’t even begin to guess what you’re dressed as because other than the night he met you, it’s the most clothes he’s ever seen you in.

Excluding those little silky matching sets you’re usually wearing when he comes over. But those don’t usually stay on too long before they end up on the floor of your living room. Or bedroom. Or kitchen.

He usually has to leave before you, so he’s usually headed out your front door while you’re still wrapped up in one of those fluffy white towels you have. He’s enjoying seeing you here in his favorite bar in that outfit and heading towards him like you’re just as happy to see him as he is to see you.

“Huh, if I'm not mistaken I’m pretty sure that’s what I sent you into work in this morning,” you say, grinning up at him and lightly tugging on the zipper of his flight suit. “Are you supposed to be a Walk of Shame?”

Bradley wraps an arm around you because he can’t help himself. “Please, we all know it’s called the Stride of Pride. It’s never a shame when I get laid.” He presses his fingertips into the swell of the top of your ass before leaning in close, his lips brushing against your ear, “Plus, I didn’t have time to go home and grab my costume because someone lured me back into bed this morning.”

He had to do 200 extra push-ups and stay behind to do paperwork as penance for being late the third time that week, but it was worth it. But by the time he was finished, the sun was already well on its way to setting. If he’d been a bit more forward thinking he would have brought the costume he had planned with him, instead of thinking he’d have time to swing by his house to change. Bradley didn’t think it was too much of a let down for you, not with the way you’re looking at him. It’s that same heated way that tells him you’re remembering your reaction to it the first time you’d ever seen him in it.

“Sounds like poor planning on your part,” you tease, your finger tracing the edge of his nametag. “I can’t believe you’re wearing your work clothes to a Halloween party, Rooster.”

“Ok, funny girl. Tell me then, what’re you supposed to be?” He takes a step back and gives you a blatant once over, taking his time admiring the shape of you from your head to your toes in some wicked looking heels and back up again.

Maybe if things went well tonight, you’d leave them on for him later when he gets you alone.

“That’s for me to know, and for you to spend the night guessing,” you smirk, the curve of your mouth promising mischief. “But I think you’ll like it once you figure it out.”

“Bradshaw, are you going to introduce us to your sexy librarian?” Hangman hollers, waving the two of you over back to the table with his hat. Bradley doesn’t hear as much as he sees the oof that comes out of the blonde when Phoenix sends an elbow into his side.

Rooster glances at you with a raise of his eyebrow and you shake your head. Not a sexy librarian then.

“I take it you know the rodeo clown?”

He tips his head back and laughs, already looking forward to telling Hangman. “I do. And Gracie Lou Freebush over there too.”

You wave over at Nat, gesturing to her costume and mouth obsessed, before turning back to him to ask, “Is that gun real?”

“I’m too afraid to ask,” he jokes, only half kidding. “C’mon let me get you a drink, I have an in with the bartender.”

“Are you trying to show off for me, Bradley?”

“Definitely.” He reaches out and toys with the end of the bow on your sleeve. “Is it working, Leslie Knope?”

You just send him that devastating smile of yours and thread your fingers through his. “I think I'm going to have so much fun with this tonight.”

“But full disclosure, you see Napoleon Bonaparte?” He points over to where Mav is behind the bar wearing tasseled shoulder pads pouring pints behind the bar next to a bedazzled Penny in a white neoclassical style dress. “That’s my godfather and his fiancée.”

You school the surprise on your face quickly. “Bradley Bradshaw, are you a nepobaby?”

“That’s a story for another time.” He chuckles, carefully winding his way around a Fred Flintstone and a Deviled Egg to the bar. “Be warned though, the Blue Slime Sipper is lethal. I had four last year and put on an a cappella performance of the Ghostbusters theme song.”

“Please tell me someone has a video of that,” you laugh.

“I called in every favor I had to get all evidence of that particular performance erased.”

At the bar, you order two Blue Slime Sippers looking the picture of innocence as you admire the giant spider affixed to the top of the bar by the till, even though he knows better.

One for him and one for you.

He briefly introduces you to Penny and Mav, trying to keep it casual. Thankfully, it’s busy enough that there’s not more time for small talk or jokes about the frosted tips he had when he was thirteen.

Their guess at a modern day I Love Lucy was also met with a no.

But he’s pretty sure Mav’s attempt to stealthily shoot him two thumbs up after you get your neon blue colored drinks fails based on the way your lips are pressed together in an attempt to smother the smile that he sees toying at the corners of your mouth.

Over the course of the night, it becomes a game that the rest of the team joins in on as he introduces them to the girl he’s been hung up on for weeks.

You help him kick Payback and Fanboy’s asses at the Eyeball Beer Pong that Penny had set up outside on the deck.

“Damn, Lawyer Barbie has an arm,” Fanboy says, the spring of the Slingy Dog costume sagging sadly between him and Payback, watching as you sink another doodled on ping-pong ball into a cup.

“I think we need a rematch,” Payback countered after their loss, “Flight Attendants have great hand-eye coordination, it’s an unfair advantage.”

Both guesses were met with a no.

When you side with Nat over Death Becomes Her as the best, but most underrated, Halloween movie, she throws her hands up in victory, “Thank you! Finally, someone with good taste… Olivia Pope?”

It’s another no, but he’s happy to see how much fun you’re having with his friends.

Between the riotous costume contest voting, and the one-man performance of “Thriller” that Bob puts on, and the pumpkin tic-tac-toe, Rooster has a lot of fun making his own guesses.

Except for the time he offers up Miss Bliss, he nearly chokes on his Cauldron Cooler when you ask him, “Is that a porn thing?”

Which in hindsight, he probably should have specified from the show Saved by the Bell, that he only knew because he’d been into Tiffani Amber Thiessen as a kid, but he doesn’t get to because you’re too busy delightedly laughing at his near spit-take.

He sticks close to your side, an arm slung over your shoulder or around your waist. There’s a moment when he gets worried he might be smothering you, but then you’d lean your head on his shoulder and he figured you were right where you wanted to be.

The two of you step outside when the Monster Mash smashburger contest starts up, the song following you to the sun-bleached wooden deck.

There are less people out here now, a few people are stationed behind the ping-pong table and others are seated on the picnic tables chatting and swapping stories. Most of his friends had stayed inside to cheer on Coyote’s attempt to hold onto his burger eating crown.

It’s the first time all night that he has you on your own, and while he appreciates how welcoming his friends are with wanting to make you feel included and slipping in more than a few jokes at his expense, he’s ready to have you to himself for a while.

But first.

“Are you ever going to tell me what you’re supposed to be?” He runs a finger along the ruffle down the front of your shirt. “I think I’ve lost count of how many failed attempts I’ve made now and It’s starting to take a toll on my ego.”

“How about this, you tell me what you were supposed to be and then I’ll tell you what my costume is,” you offer, playfully.  

You’re still toying with him like a cat does a string and he doesn’t mind a single bit.

He steps in close, winding an arm around your low back pulling you in close. “James Bond,” he says, enjoying the way your eyes light up.

“Now that’s something I would love to see,” you murmur, running your hand along his arm. “Not that the flight suit isn’t working for me.” He grins smug because he knows exactly how much this flight suit works for you.

Rooster shakes his head amused. “I’ll put it on for you later if you want.” He grins smug because he knows exactly how much this flight suit works for you, but you haven’t seen him in a tux yet. “Now, I’ve been dying to know since the moment you walked in, what are you dressed as?”

You grin, wide and bright, like you’ve been waiting for this all night.

“Your future girlfriend, I thought it was pretty obvious.”

Bradley doesn’t waste a moment bringing both of his hands to your face and getting his lips on yours. A surprised noise escapes from the back of your throat before you’re wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him even closer.

Your full lips soften under his demanding ones, the sensual slide of your lips against his has him desperate for more. His tongue chases after the sweetness of your mouth. He can’t get enough of it.

He can’t get enough of you.

“So I take it, you like my costume then?” you ask against his lips.

“I’m about to go swipe that trophy from Cousin Itt because yours is the best one here by far.” You giggle when he pulls you back in to kiss you again- or tries to. “C’mon, sweetheart, I need you to cooperate here. I’m trying to kiss my girlfriend.”

But then his teeth click against yours because now you’ve got him smiling too.

You skim another soft kiss against his mouth and lean back. “You know, I did have a back-up costume, just in case things didn’t go well.” You put a finger up and twist a little in his arms to rummage in your purse. And when you turn back towards him you’ve got a bright red clown nose on your face.

“Are you kidding me? The only clown here is Seresin.” He chuckles and gently pulls it from off your nose. “I’ve been trying to figure out how lock this down for weeks now. That tux was going to be my ace. It’s about a half size too small, but I figured it might do the trick to make things more official. It’s a good thing I’ve got a girl who knows what she wants.”

“Don’t think you’re off the hook, Bradshaw. I still want to see you in it.”

“I can make that happen. Especially since that means I get to take you home with me tonight.” He drops a kiss on your cheek. “I’ve got an idea about what we can be next year though.”

“It’s not even midnight yet, and you’re thinking about next year?”

Bradley shrugs nonchalantly. “I’m all about playing the long game. Just want to give you something to look forward to.”

“Let’s hear it then,” you say, giving him an expectant look.

“Considering how we met and all, I think contestants from Supermarket Sweep would be a solid choice for us. There’s nothing sexier than some khakis and sweatshirts.”

You look delighted and amused and like his.

“Done. You know I am a big fan of you in a pair of khakis.”

Rooster tugs you to him again needing to taste your grin. He hears a cheer go up inside of the bar, probably for whoever won the contest, but he pretends it’s for him.

After all, he’s the one who got the girl.

Happy Halloween! I'm dropping a smitten Rooster into everyone's candy bucket this year! Thank you for reading!

You can read my other stories here!

taglist:

@gretagerwigsmuse @sehnsuchts-trunken  @callsignspark @notroosterbradshaw @tongue-like-a-razor @laracrofted @ofstoriesandstardust @bradshawsbitch @starryeyedstories @top-hhun-main @startrekfangirl2233 @callsign-viper @teacupsandtopgun @angelbabyange @oneelleandaneye @mizzzpink @cornishkat @alana4610 @20th-centu-fairy-girl @pono-pura-vida @donttouchmycarrots @eg-dr3amer3 @whaledots-blog @a-beaverhausen @hangmanscoming @mandolin22 @theweekndhistorybook @lilpeekabooze @high-bi-imgonnacry @ahintofkiwistrawberry @ruewrote @spiderman-stilinski @jayniebop @my-soulmate-is-mycroft @imaginecrushes @keyrani @chicomonks @artemissunn @mayempress @eddiemunsonreader

[esmedelacroix]

"I hate it when you lie"

husband!miguel x f!reader ♡

10 Things I Hate About You ← mini-series masterlist

"I hate the way you're always right," ← previous part

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Miguel had been working later nights than usual. When you asked him about it he said that the recruits had him busy with getting them assimilated in the Spider Society.

You were missing him during the day and were surprisingly on your writing schedule. So you decided to pay him a visit and give him the opportunity to see his beautiful wife.

After saying hi to everyone and giving the book club a teaser of your upcoming book. You finally went to Miguel's office after hearing he was back from a mission you never would have thought you would see Justine with him there playing nurse.

When Miguel saw you walk in he immediately sat up and his face lightened up. "Hi baby," he sighed as he gestured for Justine to stop working on the cut across his chest.

"Hi," you replied, giving him a strained smile.

"Justine, I can take it from here if you want to get something to eat," you said.

"Ugh, whatever," she hissed, stomping away and rolling her eyes.

"Thank you for being nice, I'm sorry about her behavior," he said as he pulled you closer to him, grabbing you by your waist.

"Yeah," you breathed out as you picked up some gauze for his cut.

"What's wrong mami?" Miguel asked, his hands sliding down to your hips.

"I just miss you, I hate to see you get hurt all the time. I worry about you," you admitted.

"Ay cariño, take a seat please, talk to me," he cooed as he pulled the chair that Justine had been sitting in previously. He took both of your hands in his and patiently waited for you to speak.

"Miguel, I've just been missing you, I promise that's all," you assured.

"Okay, promise me nothing else is wrong?" he asked.

"Promise," you said as he kissed your forehead.

"How about you get home and I'll get done with work here and we can watch a movie together," he suggested.

"That sounds great," you replied, trying not to smile too hard. You were so happy that he would be coming home earlier.

. . .

It had been 3 hours and 4 text messages since you got home from Spider Society and Miguel still wasn't home. You had popcorn setup that was now cold and stale and drinks that were finished off by you when you realized 5 minutes into midnight that he wasn't coming home on time.

He would probably creep in at 2 am and apologize in the morning like he did after every missed date. You could blame him; he was probably in another universe saving the world. But he never really had an issue with you calling him on missions they were usually pretty easy for him.

So you called him and he picked up after a while of letting it ring. "Hi cariño, I'm so sorry I wasn't keeping track of time," he apologized. Small sniffles and giggles could be heard faintly on the other end of the line.

"That's okay, are you working on something?" you asked as you put snacks away with him on the speaker.

"Yeah, it randomly got kind of busy," he replied. Another sniffle could be heard.

"Hey this might sound weird but are you with someone right now?" you asked. Long silence on his end.

"No," he replied. Long silence on your end.

"Okay, I'm tired, I'm going to bed," you said. You hung up a bit too fast, cutting him off.

. . .

Why would he lie if he wasn't doing something wrong? You asked yourself as you got in your sheets and scrolled on your phone before bed. You got a notification from Hobie. He sent you a story on Instagram. Justine's story. Justine's story of her playing video games in Miguel's office, with his arm in the corner of the photo.

. . .

next part → "I hate it when you make me laugh,"

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taglist: @lilscast @lazyjellyfish300 @safixiovi @saaaaaaaaaaaamiiiiiiiiiiira @aktenati @straw-berry-ghoul @vera4luv

[brairslair]

FEEL BETTER? ˗ˏˋ P.B.P ´ˎ˗

“all you have to do is ask”

confident!peter parker x shy!gf!reader

WORD COUNT: 3.0k

REQUESTED: no requests are open! fandoms: marvel, stranger things, harry potter (any era), scream

WARNINGS: fem reader, shit writing, established relationship, peter and reader are implied to be in college/uni, SMUT (18+), very little plot tbh, heavy praise kink, softdom!peter vibes, fingering (f!rec), very light nipple play, SUPER slight dacryphilia if u squint, peter is talkative, not proofread and written instead of sleeping, lmk if i missed smth!

A/N: is it 8am? yeah. did i just spend the last two hours writing this mess? also yeah. enjoy!

ALL CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY ARE 18+ remember to like, comment, and reblog to support my writing!

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Six hours. That’s how long it’s been since you showed up at Peter’s front door. Six hours spent right next to him, talking to him, touching him, and yet you still find yourself longing for more. Even now as you sit between his legs, back to his chest, his hands kindly twisting at your hair, your thoughts have you squirming in your seat.

The two of you had set up this study date a few days back, anticipating the opportunity to spend time together (without sacrificing your grades). Unfortunately, you were having a hard time focusing on schoolwork.

No matter how much you tried to focus on your paper, you couldn’t stop your mind, and your eyes, from wandering. You caught yourself staring at how pretty his hands looked as he hurriedly wrote down equations, admiring how cute he looked sitting crisscross in his plaid pajama pants and science pun t-shirt, how his voice sounded just slightly deeper when he was concentrating, or how soft his lips look right now. You actually thought you were going to lose it when the praise “Good job, babe. This looks perfect!” fell casually from his lips while reading your completed assignment, sealing it with a kiss to your temple.

You felt like you were going insane, but the thing is, so was Peter. You hadn’t seen each other for nearly three weeks prior to this study date, outside of passing in the halls or a quick call before bed. Between you trying to prepare for a major presentation coming up and Peter’s multitude of responsibilities, neither of you had much energy, let alone time, left to spend on anything else.

Of course, you love everything about Peter, unconditionally. That includes his web-slinging alter ego. However, it can get a little frustrating having to go weeks on end without being able to hold a conversation with him. Especially when all people talk about is the amazing spider-man, listening to girls fawn over your boyfriend for hours a day, and feeling just as fangirl-ish. You found yourself daydreaming about him to pass the time, acting like a schoolgirl with a hopeless crush.

Seeing him again after so long with so little contact is like a wake up call for your senses. You'd been so buried in your studies that you didn’t even realize just how much you missed him until you knocked on his front door.

- “Are you okay?”

Your thoughts dissolve as Peter draws your attention back to the present. When you snap back to reality, you’re immediately reminded of what caused the spiral of daydreams to begin with. You can feel the warmth of his body behind yours, the contour of his toned chest pressing against your back. You feel your whole body heat up.

“Mhm, I’m great!” you squeak out, internally wincing at the shakiness in your voice. Your usually bright and vibrant tone is completely gone, replaced with something resembling more of a whisper than anything else.

Safe to say, Peter isn’t buying it.

His best guess is that you’re upset about something that happened today. Maybe stressed about the presentation you have coming up. He knows it sometimes takes you a while to open up, so for now, he decides to let it go. In an attempt to settle your mind, he slides a hand down your arm to lace his fingers through yours.

Unfortunately, it does the exact opposite. The innocent action leaves a trail of goosebumps behind and makes your breathing pattern pick up ever so slightly. You can only hope that Peter doesn't notice.

He does.

“Are you cold?”

You shake your head, taking deep breaths to steady yourself. “No, I’m alright.” Loosely translated, means I actually feel like I’m burning from the inside out.

“Do you not like the movie? We can change it if you want to watch something else.” he offers sweetly, leaning forward to rest his chin on your shoulder. “You’ve been all spacey for the past half an hour.”

Your breath hitches, feeling like you’ve been caught red handed. Of course he would notice. He may be a little oblivious sometimes, but when it comes down to it, Peter knows you better than you know yourself.

“The movie’s fine.” You struggle a bit to formulate a response, feeling your whole body heat up like a furnace. To evade the silence, you stutter out a weak, “I was just… thinking?”

You immediately want to light yourself on fire, deciding the silence would have been better.

“Thinking about what?” he asks. Not prying, just curious. “Must be something pretty important. Your heart is beating a mile a minute.” He softly laughs at his own words, causing you to shrink into yourself. He’s not laughing at you, but it definitely feels that way.

You fidget with Peter’s fingers in your palm, eyes locking on the movie as nerves wrack through your body. “It’s nothing.” You speak so quietly, he’s thankful for his enhanced hearing.

“Doesn’t seem like nothing.” you can practically hear the concerned furrow in his brow as he brings your still interlaced hands to his lips, leaving feather-light kisses to each knuckle. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

His patient and caring nature never fails to make you fall more and more in love with him, if that’s even possible.

Then, as if you weren’t enough of a mess, what really does it is when Peter leaves the faintest kiss to the base of your neck. A gesture meant to signal patience and understanding towards your “anxiety” only causes your thighs to squeeze together against your will, and before you can think enough to stop it, an airy, barely audible whine escapes the back of your throat, so soft it could pass as a sigh to the average ear.

Nothing about Peter is average.

He stills against your skin, causing your eyes snap open in horror as the realization hits you. Manicured hands immediately cover your face to shield you from the embarrassment.

They don’t stay long as Peter wastes no time in reaching up to gently pry your hands away. You feel like you could burst into tears at any moment from the sheer shame and frustration.

“Hey, hey-”, he holds both hands gently, rubbing sweet circles to soothe you, “No need to be embarrassed. You can talk to me.”

You don’t move your gaze from your lap.

“Come on, beautiful. Look at me.” He asks so gently that you comply before you can even think otherwise. His eyes are soft and kind, looking at you with all the love in the world. He makes you feel safe.

“Is that what you’ve been thinking about? Hm?”

You blink up at him owlishly, feeling like there would be a question mark floating over your head if you looked up.

“That’s why you were all spacey? You were thinking about me…” he leans his head down, lips grazing your collarbone, “kissing you?”

Your breath catches.

"Or, maybe..." your eyes are glued as he moves his hand from your hold, delicately trailing it down your stomach, past your hip, and slowly down to the inside of your thigh. So close to where you’ve needed him for the past three weeks. “-you were thinking about me touching you?”

Your heart rate picks up by a tenfold, and Peter can hear it hammering in your chest.

Waiting for a response, he’s met with nothing but your heavy breathing. He carefully digs his fingertips into the doughy flesh of your thigh. “Is that what you want? Do you want me to touch you?”

Another airy whimper tumbles from your lips, reluctantly nodding in response to his questions, needing him too badly to care about the shame you feel at your neediness.

Peter smiles, rewarding your response by trailing his sweet kisses up your neck, taking his time to feel you shiver under his touch. His warm lips finally reach the shell of your ear.

“All you have to do is ask.”

He resumes his attack on your neck, now bolder in his movements as he licks and bites and sucks at your skin, trying to find the spot that makes your eyes flutter shut.

Caught up in the feeling of his warm mouth against your skin, you don’t even notice as he hooks your ankles over his, slowly spreading your legs wider and wider, until your skirt rides up your legs.

Peter smiles against your skin when a shaky sigh reaches his ears, your hips bucking up in sync. He’s found it. Peter focuses all of his attention on that spot, nipping and sucking at it until you’re sure he’s going to leave a mark. The hand on your thigh squeezes gently every time you move your hips, and you have to chew on your lip to stop the mortifyingly desperate sounds from spilling out.

“Is this what you had in mind, baby?” the words rumble against your skin, sending a chill down your spine, “Is this what you needed?”

Your hips buck again at that, pouting with the hope that he takes the hint. You feel your body melt into him when his tongue darts out to soothe the fresh mark he’s left on your neck.

Of course, he does get the hint, but there’s no way he’s letting you off the hook that easily.

He inches his hand higher and higher up your thigh, slipping underneath the pretty little skirt he had bought for you as a gift a few months ago. You tense in anticipation.

“What is it?” amusement evident in his tone as he asks you. He loves that he gets to be the one that makes you this needy. “Come on, baby. Tell me.”

You almost sob in frustration, not wanting to say it out loud, but the ache between your legs is becoming unbearable.

His hand barely brushes against your panties, making your chest tighten as you suppress the urge to grind into it.

“Tell me what you need me to do.”

You can’t handle it any longer.

“Please!” You all-but shout, free hand grabbing at his arm, “Please touch me, Pete!” You cry out, already sounding wrecked and he hadn’t even really done anything yet.

Peter beams at how vocal he had gotten you, leaning his head further down to meet your lips for the first time since you got here all those hours ago. It felt like drinking water after being stranded in a desert for days. You missed the way his lips felt. The way they tasted. You crave more.

Then, he mutters two words against your lips that manage to make your hazy brain short circuit.

“Good girl.”

Your groans are pathetic, being swallowed by Peter’s tongue as he rocks his palm against you through your pretty pink panties.

He can’t help but laugh a little, giddy at the sounds spilling out of you at even the lightest touch of his hand.

“Is that better?” he asks, breaking away for air. “This what you've been daydreamin' about?” He already knows what you really want, he always does, but he wants to hear you say it one more time. Just one more confirmation and he’ll give you anything you need.

Now that your mind is so clouded with pleasure, you don’t give it a second thought. “More-” you can’t barely get out a sentence between mewls, “Please, Peter, I need more-”

Before you can say another word, he’s pushing your underwear aside. Your head falls limp against Peter’s shoulder as he gathers your slick, dragging it up to finally circle your puffy clit.

Without his mouth to drown them out, your moans flow freely from you, drowning out the long-forgotten movie playing in the distance. Peter goes back to kissing your neck, deciding to mark every area of your skin that he can reach.

“I’m sorry, baby.” he soothes, nipping at the skin right under your jaw, his own heartbeat jumping at every noise he pulls from you, “Bet you’ve been achey all day, huh?”

You nod your head, barely registering his words as pleasure rolls through your body.

He lets out an almost mocking “Aww, honey…” as you buck your hips against his fingers, “Been so patient for me, huh? Waiting all day for me to make you feel good?”

“Mhm” mixed with your pants, words tumble from your mouth without a single thought to how eager you sound, “Feels so- ohhh… sososo good-”

All you can think about is the way Peters rough fingertips feel absolutely euphoric as he swirls and flicks at your clit, and how his lips sear every inch of your skin, and how his scent and his warmth consumes and takes over every thought floating around in your blissed-out head.

“You sound so pretty-” he peppers hot kisses across your shoulder, “Making so many pretty sounds…”

Peter bends his legs a little, which in turn, bends yours. The move spreads you out just a little bit more, but its enough to send little shockwaves of pleasure through you, making you jolt and gasp at the feeling.

Peter loves the way you look when you get like this. Skin sticky with heat, eyes screwed shut, mouth hanging open in bliss. He thinks you looks like a goddess.

Your moans start to sound more and more like a plea, hips grinding against Peter’s fingers subconsciously as you feel the heat slowly taking over. You need more.

“Peter, pleaseee-“

“Shh, It’s okay.” his fingers glide down to your entrance, coating themselves with slick, “I’ve got you, pretty girl.”

Your eyes practically roll into your skull as he slips two fingers inside of you with ease. The stretch feels incredible, and you can’t help but squeeze the hand that's still holding yours, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Oh my god-“

Peter kisses back up until he reaches your lips again, grinning as you can barely reciprocate. The gentle nature of his kiss makes your head spin and your core clench around his fingers.

“Doing so good for me, sweetheart.”

You feel your lashes begin to collect tears at the overwhelming feeling pulsing through you. This has been building up for weeks.

“Always so good for me.”

Achey little noises spill from your lips onto Peter’s, breathing labored and heaving as the only thought filling your head is Peter Peter Peter.

Then suddenly your mind goes completely blank, gasping back a choked moan as your body goes limp, jaw slacking against Peter’s deep kisses. Your whole body feels like it's buzzing with electricity, and your head feels static in the most amazing way.

Peter pulls back for a moment to watch your face scrunch up in ecstasy, as he rubs against your spot over and over and over again. “There she is.” he coos, admittedly a little proud of himself, and you’re too fucked out to pick up on the mocking tone. He watches in awe as you start to fall apart.

“Takin’ my fingers so well, baby.”

You start to clench tighter around him, using your free hand to grip his wrist like a vice. Peter goes back to kissing your open mouth, sucking and nipping at your bottom lip as you pulse and twitch under his touch.

Panting turns back into whimpers which turns into tears as Peter massages your walls just right, hitting all the right places and stretching you out sooo perfectly.

You can feel pressure building up rapidly in your stomach, back arching up as your body starts to shake from the intensity. Peter shifts so he can watch the way your hips chase his fingers and your chest heaves for air.

“You’re so close, sweetheart. You can do it.” he praises, coaxing you closer and closer to the edge, “Almost there-“

The knot keeps winding tighter and tighter, and whiny begs and pleads start to pour out of you. Lots of “Oh my god, Pete“ or “Please” and “So good-“

Hand over yours, Peter glides your intertwined hands up your body and over your arched ribcage. He slides your hands under your his t-shirt, using his thumb to push your smaller one back and forth over your peak, a long chant of mumbled Peter’s tumble from your kiss-bitten lips.

“I know, baby, I know.” he consoles you, copying the pouty tone of your voice, “Just feels too good, huh?”

You nod your head frantically, still not catching onto the the tease, only caring about chasing your release.

He presses his lips to your ear, “Waited so long for this, honey. You deserve to feel good.”

He pumps his fingers a little bit faster.

“Gonna make you feel so good-“

You start to grind your hips up again, gasping when his palm rubs against your clit with each thrust.

“Pete-” the knot is getting tighter, “Oh my god, Peter- I’m…“ and tighter, “I’m gonna-”

“Let go for me, babe.”

Thats all you needed for your vision to go white hot, mouth falling open with a silent scream as stars dance behind your eyelids.

“There ya go”

“Just like that, pretty girl”

“Let it all out, baby”

He peppers kisses on your burning skin and slows his movements as he works you through your high. As you come down from it, your body goes limp on top of him, a lazy smile stretching on your lips. Peter can’t help but smile too, chest swelling in satisfaction that he was the one who put that smile on your face.

You wince a little as he slowly pulls his fingers from your core, eyes following as he brings them up to his lips to clean them off.

“Feel better?” this time you can definitely hear the cockiness in his tone, smacking him weakly on the arm. “Shut up.”

You turn around just enough to kiss him. This time, it’s slow, and careful, and loving, and you have to pull away and bury your face in his chest to hide the lovesick look in your eyes. Both of you burst out giggling, and Peter can't stop himself from wrapping his arms around your waist to keep you as close as possible. He’s missed you more than you could possibly ever know.

As relaxation coats you like a warm, fuzzy blanket, you shift your weight to get comfortable.

“Ah, don’t-“

Peter squeezes his eyes shut, hissing at the sudden pressure and gripping your hips to keep you still. “Can't do that...”

Now it’s his turn to get flustered.

His face goes beet red as you jump up in confusion. When you look down, you notice a painful looking bulge in his jeans. Your stomach twists with the knowledge that you did that to him.

You weren’t the only one who’s been touch deprived.

“Oh! Sorry…” you giggle a little at the accidental stimulation, looking back up at Peter with a playful smile of your own. “Your turn!”

______________________________________________________________

part 2??

[thmles]

| Betty.

- i don't know anything but i know i miss you.

[warnings: a bit sad, a little angsty, just teenage love that i will never have, not proofread]

[a/n: i tried to do it in a sort of 2nd pov? i think it ended up pretty good? so... i might also try to write another miguel story? but i'm trying to figure out if it should be smut or angsty ]

All your life, you and Miles have been the best of friends. You were neighbors, classmates, play pals. You guys were never not together, whether it be skating or even going to his Uncle Aaron’s. When you got accepted into Visions Academy, Miles strived to get accepted just so the two of you can be together. His parents supported him in his decision thinking that it would be a great opportunity for him to learn more.

“‘I love you, dad.’” You mimicked Miles’ voice before laughing loudly. You guys were sitting in the cafeteria, surrounded by other students eating lunch. You could barely eat anything since you’ve been laughing at Miles the whole time.

“Yeah, yeah. Tease me all you want.” He groaned and slammed his head on the table. A few looks of concern came your way at the commotion. You stifle a laugh and rub Miles’ back.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Morales. It’s the first day of classes! Everything’s hectic, everything’s hard!” You told him with a smile. Miles groaned at the statement and propped his arm up and resting his head on it. He attempted to grab a fry from your plate before you smacked his hand. “Hey, I bought you your lunch. Don’t waste it.” You were quick to scold him and gave his tray a light shove. You took a sip of your Diet Coke Zero before continuing to eat your fries and bacon cheeseburger. “But your fries look way tastier!” He protested and made another move for your tray.

“Miles, I bought the exact same thing for you.”

“Well, stolen food is still better.”

You rolled your eyes. “How’s your first day? Hopefully not as eventful as mine.” Miles asked before popping more fries in his mouth.

“Well, I was late for the first class, then I went to grab some stuff from my locker but clearly underestimated how much time I need to go to the Physics Classroom which was on the other side of the building,” You sighed and grabbed fries from his tray and munched on them.

“Then I tripped going up the stairs, but some guy named Harry helped me up.” You finished and drank from your cup. Miles laughed at your story and his eyes lit up.

“Oh yeah, Uncle Aaron’s been asking about you! He told us to drop by sometime.”

You let out a laugh and shook your head. “I can’t make time this week, Miles. It’s only the first day and I have a lot of things to finish.”

He groaned and realized he had to finish things as well, especially the essay assigned by their physics teacher.

-

“Hey, Miles. Did you meet your Uncle Aaron last night? You didn’t text after you said you left your dorm.” You were quick to approach him in the hallway. “Wait, did you just grow a couple of inches? We were at about the same height yesterday? Or am I hallucinating?” You fired question after question and you failed to notice how each question agitated Miles.

“Look, I-I don’t know either, okay? Stop asking so many questions!” He stopped and yelled. The whole hallway became quiet as they gawked at the pair of you. You were stunned and hurt. “I-I was just worried, Miles. I didn’t mean to-” Before you could even finish your sentence, he bolted out the hallway and left you there. Other students stared at you before resuming whatever they were doing. You sighed and went back to class before you could overthink what was happening.

-

In the past days, it was revealed that Peter Parker was the man behind the mask of Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he passed due to the earthquake that day Miles stopped talking to you. For the past few days, you haven’t heard much from him, only knowing that he hung around a blond girl named, ‘Gwanda.’ His parents reached out to you hoping you knew what was going on with Miles since he hasn’t been talking to them either. They told you that his Uncle Aaron passed and the new Spider-Man was probably the one that killed him.

You figured you’d reach out to him by going to his dorm. You knew his roommate, Ganke, from your chemistry class and asked him where their dorm was. Later on that day, you knocked on the door, seeing a shadow moving around the room. You knocked gently and called out. With no response, you just talked. “Hey, Miles. It’s me. I-I know you’re probably busy there but I hope you can hear me. Something-Something happened to your Uncle Aaron,” You choked back a sob as tears began to form in your eyes. “I think it’d be best if your family told you about that.” You took a shaky breath.

“Miles, I don’t know anything but I know I miss you. I miss how we hang out and laugh at each other’s jokes. How we listen to each other’s music,” You heard a faint shuffle before you continued, “and how you make me the happiest person when we’re together. This is probably going to be the shittiest way I confess but I like you, Miles. I always have. You’re my best friend and I was always afraid I’d lose you if I said anything.” You leaned your head against the door.

“I know you feel pressured from your family and maybe even from me. But your family and I push you to do your best because we know you can do it. You are special, Miles. You have this spark inside of you and it is amazing. Just keep doing you and we’ll support you. We’re here for you, Miles.” A tear ran down your face and you were quick to wipe it away. You sniffed as you tried to hold back your tears. “We don’t have to talk soon. Take your time, okay? I’ll wait for you.”

-

Later on, you found yourself walking around Brooklyn to clear your head. The earthquake caused by the Fisk Tower got you shaken and felt the need to take a breather. You still haven’t heard from Miles. You looked at your phone for any new notifications and the picture of you and Miles on your middle school graduation looked back at you.

“It isn’t safe for young people to be out at night.” A voice pretending to be gruff and deep informing you. You looked up with a gasp. “Y-You’re that new Spider-Man! The one that just took down Fisk right?”

He let out a nervous laugh before continuing his deep voice. “T-That’s me!” You raised an eyebrow and observed his figure. You circled around him as he stood still. “Look, you have to get home before you-”

“Miles?” The lens of his mask grew wide.

“W-What?”

“You remind me of my friend, Miles. He does this stupid deep voice thing when he makes fun of some older guys that annoy us.”

“O-Oh…”

“Unless…” You put a hand on your chin as you began to think.

“How about I just get you home before something bad happens to you?”

-

The new Spider-Man swung you back at the Visions Academy. To say the experience was terrifying was an understatement. You were clinging to him like a baby koala. He made sure to gently land on the rooftop of the building and set you down just as gentle. He stood on the ledge, ready to leave and bid you a farewell, you cut him off.

“I know it’s you, Miles. I can smell your ‘unique’ cologne that I gifted you last Christmas.” You told him. You slowly approached him until you were on the ledge. You leaned against it as he sat down.

“Is that why you were avoiding us?” You asked him softly and looked at him. He took his mask off and looked down at the busy street below.

“Yeah. I was…trying to figure things out. I didn’t know who to talk to…” You let out a sigh and looked out at the city. The bright lights lit the city up like stars in the night sky. The wind was cold and you shivered through your thin sweater.

“I-I heard everything from earlier…about how you miss me and that you’ll support me and all of that..” You were thankful that it was dark as your face heated up. “And how you like me.” Miles finished and looked at you. “I-I meant what I said, Miles. It’s up to you but I understand if you don’t want to talk or be friends anymore after that-” You rambled nervously. Miles chuckled and wrapped an arm around your shoulder. “Don’t worry. I like you too.” Your face flushed red again as you hid your face in your hands. Miles laughed and gently tugged your hands out of your face. He got down the ledge and stood beside you, leaning against the ledge.

“How about a movie date at my place?” He suggested.

“How about we go to the Arts Museum then we watch a movie? Like Back to the Future?”

“Only if you buy pizza.”

“As long as you buy some ice cream.”

“Deal.”

[jeanniebug623]

Hello, internet lovies! 🐞💙 I can’t believe I get to celebrate this! Silent As Shadows has reached 10k hits! This calls for celebratory chibis of these sweet summer children! Spider’s look is inspired by earlier chapters when he was learning how to communicate with Rey’ka (aka Rey’akina) and writing it all down.

🎉🩵🥂

I can’t be more humbled that this story became more than a passing fancy. 🥹

I posted the first chapter on August 29th of last year with no expectations or confidence in my writing/storytelling abilities and am stunned to see how far it has come. The support from the AO3 community has been incredible and Tumblr opened a lot of doors to other opportunities and meeting other writers I’ve only fangirled about! 🤣

From comments from @cyren-myadd first appearing to fan art by @anxiousdreamcore (which has been my PC’s background ever since!) to writing prompts from @lilt78 to unexpectedly meeting people from AO3 here on Tumblr (your names are safe with me but I hope you know who you are! 🤫) to regular reblogs of SAS and other works by @nilnether and others…

Ahh, I could exhaust my character limit thanking people for the inspiration they give!

My silly little story of Spider and a deaf Na’vi OC going through the trials of RDA imprisonment in the missing time of Spider with the recoms is more than I ever imagined. I genuinely believe it would not have made it this far without all the helpful criticisms, comments, and kudos. Thank you for making me feel a part of the Avatar fandom in a most unexpected way!

🕷️💙✨

[byunpum]

EXPERIMENT 56 [your time is coming] sequel

AVATAR MASTERLIST | EXPERIMENT 56 masterlist

PAIR: Neteyam x Human reader. ( a mix of human and Navi )

Other pairs: Quaritch x reader (platonic) , sully fam x reader.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

SUMMARY: Y/N thinks she has a peaceful life with her new family. But a sudden visitor is about to change her life and her family's life.

WARNINGS: 18+, the characters are aged up 20's, a little violence, don't worry no one dies, Y/N and neteyam being parents , Bestie stuff, Family moments, jealousy,

Note: Ok, I thought a lot about posting this sequel, but since I love my own story, I wanted to continue it. I recommend everyone to read the first part of "experiment 56" so you can understand everything. Still, I hope you like this pilot a lot. If this post is well-received, I will continue the story.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" asks neteyam holding noah't to his chest. "Yes, don't worry I'll be fine" you say as you continue getting ready to go out to pick some fruits. It wasn't just any fruit, it was a very special fruit that bore its fruits a bit far from the village. This made neteyam a little nervous, but it made you excited. It had been a long time since you had gone adventuring alone and the simple fact of searching for a fruit excited you.

Since you had become a mother, all your time and space was for noah't. It wasn't like neteyam wasn't there. He was always helping you, taking care of you and the baby. But noah't had a very strong attachment to you. Neytiri told you that this was normal, she commented how loak was very attached to her when he was a baby, this was transitory. You knew this was the best time to go out, as noah't was taking his midday nap. "He's already eaten, he's clean…so I'll leave you two alone" you say going over to give neteyam a kiss. You knew he was worried, he still hadn't gotten over the previous events of your loss. And knowing that you were going to be alone in the jungle terrified him.

"What if someone goes with you? Why don't you tell loak" neteyam stops and thinks a little clearly. " No, loak no…but if you tell kiri or spider to accompany you?" neteyam has his hand holding you, gently stroking your fingers, you give him a grumpy look. You hated it when he got like this, nothing was going to happen to you. Everything had gotten better, the altercations with the RDA had lessened, they were in their zone and you were in yours. Also, you weren't going to get too far away. "Neteyam… kiri is busy with mo'at. Spider is eywa know where. I'll be fine" you give her a quick kiss, and run out of your hut.

Neteyam stayed quiet watching you run out of the hut. Yes he was worried, but he knew you were going to be fine. You were a strong woman and you knew how to defend yourself, maybe you were right. He was being a little overprotective. So he decided to lie down for a while with his son, it was one of the few days he didn't have to do anything. He walked over to the bed, this was a large hammock, which you insisted on having and which neteyam was forced to put up. He climbed up carefully, and placed his little baby next to him and close to his chest. He snuggled further into the bed and slowly zeroed his eyes.

Meanwhile, not far away you are walking peacefully through the jungle of Pandora. Enjoying the feel of the grass on your feet, the clean air and the coolness of the forest. Wow, you missed this… to be preoccupied for at least several hours. You knew you had to go back, noah't was going to get up and get hungry. That baby ate too much. And you couldn't stand to be away from him for more than 3 hours. You knew neytiri would calm him down, but you knew you had a curfew anyway. But enjoying your free time, you started running, faster and faster.

You picked up some fruits, and put them in a bag that you had hung on your waist. You also took the opportunity to take some feathers that some animals had left behind, these were perfect for the new outfit you were making for noah't. You were in your little bubble, until your ears heard a strange noise, it was familiar but strange. You crawl along the floor, trying to hide from whatever was making that noise. You took your time to analyze the noise, it was loud breathing and cursing that you could hear softly. Ok, it was something you could recognize, whatever it was was speaking one of your languages.

You got closer, hiding in the branches trying to see what creature was making that noise. As you got closer you could see the figure of a navi, it had military clothes, and it was not similar to the scientist's navis and it was kneeling on the ground… it seemed to be searching for something. You hide more in the bushes. What were the recoms doing near the village. This was worrying you… They weren't supposed to be around, that was the deal. You didn't think long and took your bow and pointed it at the target. You weren't going to risk it, this avatar could be dangerous for you and your family. The only ones who knew where you were was… wait.

You were standing there, with the bow ready to shoot the arrow, when you remembered who you had told about your location. Of course, he had to be the only one. Quaritch?…it couldn't be. The last time you communicated with him was seven months ago. That's when he saw your baby for the first time, after that encounter…you didn't hear from him. Why was he here? Were there more of them in the area? Was he going to betray you?

You lower the bow and start to look at the situation, the man was so into what he was doing that he didn't realize that you were just 6 feet away. "He's a dummy" you think to yourself, as you watch him get up. And you see how one of his hands is stuck to his chest and you can see blood. You could analyze the expression of pain on his face, and you can see how other parts of his body were hurt. They were like burns. You stop in your tracks… you had an inner fight, your instinct was telling you to stay away. But on the other hand you wanted to help him. What's the worst that could happen if you got caught again? He wasn't going to hurt himself just for the fun of it?

So you move a little closer and speak softly, but with worry. "Quaritch? Is that you?" you speak, this makes the man turn around quickly looking for the location of the voice. And there you could confirm that he did not have any kind of weapon, he is very hurt. His eyes were pained, worried, lost. "Y/N?" Quaritch, he spoke with a broken voice… he was about to cry. You slowly came out of your hiding place, and as soon as your figure was in sight. The man took several steps and was on the floor on his knees in front of you. You didn't know what was happening, you had never seen him like this.

"Finally I find you!!!" he let out a gasp. "What is happening to you? Why are you like this?" you ask, lifting his face in your hands. You were analyzing his wounds, how his clothes were full of blood. "They… they got rid of us" he speaks, as you watch his eyes fill with tears. He was scared, harmless and hurt. You could even guess that he was dehydrated. "But who did this? Why are you here?" you want to stay calm, but it was almost impossible. You watch as he collapses completely on the ground, he is sitting with his head down. He groans in pain. "Everyone…Y/N, everyone is dead" Quaritch looks up. You sit down in front of him, you didn't want to touch him too much.

"Hey, why don't we go to a safe area…get you all patched up and drink some water" you invite him, taking his free hand. Making him get up from the ground. Quaritch just looked you in the eyes, and nodded. You couldn't leave him here. He was your friend, he was hurt and you knew that if you left him here in the condition he was in he would die in less than 4 hours. He was in a very bad condition. Of course, you couldn't take him to the village. Neteyam would be furious and so would your father. And your mother…she was going to kill him. So as you slowly walk through the forest holding his hand making sure he was okay. You decide to take him to the beach, it wasn't too far and there you had a little shelter.

It was a refuge that you used from time to time. You used to go there with neteyam and noah't, it was also your space to go and take care of your ilu and spend time with him. No one used to go to your seaside shelter, so it was perfect for Quaritch to take refuge. While you were thinking of a better plan. They were getting closer and you could hear his breathing and how exhausted he was feeling. "We're close…hang in for a little while." As you reached the beach, you pulled him inside the small hut. You could see your ilu, poking his head out to greet you. You signaled with your hands for him to look for a type of sea clam, which was used to heal wounds. This had been taught to you by Tsireya, to train your ilu to follow command and even to know how to search.

Quaritch sat on a kind of bed. You approached him and lifted his face. "Hey…have some water?" you offer him water from a clay jar. He took it in a hurry, you could tell he had been like this for days. "Now…take off that dirty shirt, while I go prepare everything to heal those wounds" you speak, while you see that the man only obeys you. This was a new behavior for you, the Quaritch you knew was a strong, intimidating man, but now he was so vulnerable. You took some herbs that you had nearby. You had them here, in case an accident happened, you would be ready. All that was left was for your ilu, to shred the clams you needed.

"Hi'i will be back soon" you say. "Who is Hi'i?" asks Quaritch, he had finally spoken. "It's my ilu" you say. "And cupcake?" he asks, looking you in the eye. You move closer and wipe some blood from between his eyebrows with a tissue. "He's in the village, with the other ikran. It's okay…but you" there is silence and you can see his eyes fill with tears. Before he speaks, you hear Hi'i's roar. You run out to the coast, and see that Hi'i had several shells in his mouth. "Ahhh thank you precious… thank you very much" you thank him. Running back to prepare the medicinal paste that mo'at had taught you. Quaritch watches you work quietly. And then you stand up and begin to place the paste on her injured skin. "I don't want to clean it too much, because it has already created its own layer…but this will help with the inflammation and remove bacteria," your hands dab at the skin. And you listen as Quaritch moans, but you notice how he is relaxing.

"It hurts…but it feels good" you say, watching as you carefully place more on his arm. You find some cloths and wrap them up. "Now…tell me what happened? Why are you here…you know one of the warriors could have killed you" you speak, as you continue to work on other wounds. "They have decided against us…we are no longer useful to them. They sent us on a routine 'mission'…it was all right, my squad is fine. I got a message from General Ardmore saying that our service was good, but they needed new equipment. Out of nowhere the helicopter exploded" Quaritch speaks, while you are sitting in front of him you couldn't believe what you were hearing. "When I got up… they were all dead. Everything was destroyed" he lowers his head, you can see the tears fall to the floor. "And Lyle?" you ask. You didn't know the others in the group. But you did know Lyle, he was a great friend of yours. "He didn't survive…" Quaritch can see your hand go to your mouth, looking to calm you down. You get up and give him a hug. "I'm so sorry…" you are crying.

"That's why I came looking for you… you are the only person I have left alive, the one I can trust" Quaritch says, you hug him again. You couldn't hold back your tears. Your mother is right, humans can be so cruel, how they can kill living creatures for no reason. "And what are you going to do next?" you look up, you were already picking up some things. "I don't know… if I go near the base they will kill me" he speaks, you can see how confused he is. "Why don't you spend the night here, here…it's some fruit" you take out the fruit you had picked from your bag. "I'll come tomorrow and we'll talk about everything" you explain. "But no one will come here" Quaritch stands up, he is scared and defensive. You take his hand and calm him down a little, making him sit down again. "No, this place is secret…it's mine" you say, looking for some clothes for Quaritch to change and make him more comfortable. "Won't you stay?" he asks. " I can't…neteyam and noah't are waiting for me" you laugh a little, you see how his ears perk up with surprise. "It's true…you have a family. I bet the baby is precious" Quaritch says while playing with his hands. He did that when he was nervous. "Yes…it's gigantic. Literally gigantic" you say.

Before you leave the hut, you give him one last hug. "See you tomorrow…I'll be back" you say, as you leave the hut. You see that the sky is getting dark, how long you have been there. It was very late… it doesn't take you long to get to the village. You run quickly to the hut you shared with neteyam, when you enter you see jake playing with noah't while neteyam is preparing the dinner. "Honey you're finally here" says Jake, he was lying on the floor letting his grandson play on top of him. "H-hello dad…what are you doing here?" you ask nervously. If anyone found out that you were helping one of the clan's greatest enemies, in your hut on the coast, they would kill you. They were going to kill you.

"I came to visit you…I can't?" asks Jake, he noticed how nervous you were. After all…he was your father, he raised you. He knew your every moves. You walk over to neteyam, who is cutting up various foods. He is sitting down, so you hug him from behind. Trying to change the subject. "Of course you can dad, I was just asking," you say, as you continue to hug Neteyam. Neteyam moves his head, to kiss your hand which is hugging his neck. "Love…you smell blood, did you get hurt?" everyone stops what they are doing, even jake holds noah't so he can look at you. "It's nothing…it's a scratch. Look…I didn't get any fruit" you lift your shoulders, while giving neteyam a kiss on the back. "Well… but you're okay, right?" he looks up to study you. You give him a small smile and lean in to kiss him on the lips. "Love, I'm fine…just a little tired. I've been looking for the fruit all day and nothing" you pull away from neteyam, moving closer to take noah't in your arms.

"My baby…you must be very very hungry" you say, settling Noah't on your chest, so that he can feed. Jake watches you, he knows you are hiding something. "Honey, is everything okay?" Jake asks again. "Yes daddy…" you look away quickly. "Well…I'll leave you two alone. Rest kids" jake says as he gets up, gives you a kiss on the forehead and a squeeze on the shoulder to his oldest son. Jake was so proud of you guys, you had grown up so much, you already had a family.

Neteyam gets up and walks a little bit to be in front of you. Your gaze was lost, you had noah't suckling you, while you were rocking from side to side. Neteyam comes closer to kiss you on your forehead. "Y/N do you have something to tell me?" neteyam asks, he knows you were not well. First you didn't come with fruits, second... you smelled like another man.

I hope you guys don't mind me putting you on the taglist, since you were always supporting the first part of 'experiment 56'. I think it's only fair that you know about the sequel, first of all.

Neytiri babies: @st4rrry @valeriinee @inutheangel @gielrmn @sloppierjewel @purple7theparty @itscheybaby @ssc7514 @namorslit @ducks118 @tpwkstiles @elli-aesthetics @nao-cchi @uselessbutinteresting @msjae @austynparksandpizza @gamorxa @andyyy4444 @itssomeonereading @meivap @barbii04 @mm-nope @dorck26 @nessrin @purple7theparty @ssc7514 @sloppierjewel @yeosxxx @legendleopard100 @pandoragalora @jayzes-blog @ducks118 @kyriekurokami @heesoftiefreak @teamanime @d4rno @dumb-fawkin-bitch-bitch @burdeningbitch @allsouls-emma @aceofheartzzz @famousbagelhandspurse @fanficblogs @lilyofthetigers @mjnij @laylasbunbunny

@cherrywinesab @sloppierjewel @bubbleguppy0315 @ellielovesrobinarellano @mrs-sullys-blog @lovekeeho @vectoriscommitingcrimes @kimtaehussy @bimbotinkerbell  @aceofheartzzz @d4rno @3okutos-3ig-toe @bxnnywriting @anarcoirisgatuno @allsouls-emma @luna-ann @vivendominhahistorias @neteyamsgirll @yeosxxx @naynay2808

@neytirisgf @meivap @gamorxa @nuttyrebelflower @lovelyygirl8

[asleepinawell]

since i tempted a decent handful of my followers into fallen london i decided as recompense to make a guide/hints/tips thing to a few early on things that might not be as easy to pick up on. the first couple may be a little more obvious but some of the later ones are more obscure. enjoy, delicious friends!

1) Use Plans!!!! That little bookmark icon on the top right of an action will save it to your plans page so you can easily reference if you can't complete it now. great for remembering what you were doing and how many items you need. extremely good for ambitions

2) Use Your Opportunity Deck. It's easy to get caught up in the making your name stuff, but there's a lot of good and important things in your opportunity deck you can miss out on. Bronze cards often help open little stories even if it's not immediately obvious. You get a ten free actions card once a week in there too

3) Look Through the Social Activities. There's a lot of stuff buried in social activities, some of it not in the most logical places. You can resign from your current profession under send a message to a contact. If a friend sent you a letter to let you boost a skill you have to use it under epistolary matters -> sort through incoming mail. And more.

4) Training Professions. Enquirer, Minor Poet, Pickpocket, Tough. You don't have to do anything with these, they just give you a weekly boost in the associated stat when time the healer rolls around. Once you hit 70 on a stat the profession will no longer boost it and you can resign and pick up a new one for free. After you are a person of some importance you can look into getting a fancier job with more perks.

5) Favourable Circumstances. You may have noticed you get something called favourable circumstances every week with time the healer. This is an item in your inventory under curiosity. Its primary use is to force draw a specific opportunity card. When you're just starting out the best use may be to arrange a meeting with your contacts, which lets you draw a connected card of your choice (like urchins, hell, etc). This lets you get a favor right away so it's good to use it every week.

6) DON'T GO TO POLYTHREME. Look, I know the option is right there in the docks but it is a very confusing area and not that useful at low levels. I got stuck there once early on and may be slightly traumatized. Definitely go there later, maybe when you have your own ship and get the map for it.

7) Mrs Chapmans Boarding House. This is in Spite. The options there all give you a few of a resource that's often a pain in the ass to grind other ways. The amount scales with your base watchful. It is just a nice little free way to get some resources. The items available change every week on a four week rotation. See the season in soup guide on the wiki for more info.

8) Mr Chimes Grand Clearing Out Activities. This was an event that happened in the past but left behind a few activities that are unparalleled ways to gain some resources. These are: Descend to the Underclay Quarter in Spite, The Spider Symposium (head into the cellars) in the Singing Mandrake, Seeking Documents in the Sunken Embassy in Moloch Street, Hunt Bees in the University, Brawl with Dockers in the Blind Helmsman (not sure if the was part of mr chimes but the mechanics are similar), and LB Industries in the Blind Helmsman. They all work by gathering a certain amount of some item through the storylets and then handing it in for a resource reward. You generally get one nice reward and the rest is paid out in a low level resource, making it a decent grind for echoes as well (i use moloch st for that).

9) Expedition Supplies for your base camp. Descend to the Underclay Quarter mentioned in the point above is a fast way to get strong backed labor to cash in for supplies during your watchful making your name (and after). Go there, work with unfinished men, get 50 convincing falsehoods (the second option gives you 25 a pop) and send an unfinished man to spite for labor x3. This makes watchful myk so so much easier.

10) Buy Gear. All resources have a use so don't go spending them all like crazy, but it really is worth spending some to buy gear, yes, even +2 gear because if you have +2 in every slot that is a nice boost at a low level. Holiday events are also a great way to get a ton of very good free gear.

11) CP. Change points, basically XP. You need as much CP as the next level to reach that level. So you need 3CP to get to level 3, 4CP for level 4, etc (this caps at 70). You get more CP for succeeding in things that you have a lower chance of success for. 60-90% chances are a nice range to aim for. Also! You get CP for failing which also scales with your percentage chance of success. So if you have a 0% chance of success you may get way more CP than succeeding on something you had a high chance of success for (example: a 90% success gives you 2CP, a 0% failure gives you 4CP... this is why the weasel of woe is good).

12) What are the Bizarre/Dreaded/Respectable stats on gear used for? So you may have noticed that you sometimes get points of Making Waves. Once you become a person of some importance you have the ability to cash in making waves to get a stat called Notability. Notability can be used for getting advanced professions, upgraded lodgings, and more. BDR gear lowers the amount of making waves you need per level of notability. They're also used in checks later on much the way your base stats are and they have uses at the bone market when you get there. Basically, grab gear with them if you can but don't worry too much about how it all works now. It will make more sense when you get there.

13) Cross-Conversion Carousel. This is a slightly more advanced thing that you don't need to know about yet but can be very very useful even at low levels. You know how you can click on most resources in your inventory and combine a lot of low level ones into a few high level ones? There's a bunch you can also cross convert, meaning convert to a different category of item of the same level. These are: brilliant souls, tales of terror, compromising documents, memories of light, zee ztories, strangling willow absinthe, whisper-satin scrap, journal of infamy, correspondence plaques, mysteries of the elder continent, incendiary gossip, and memories of distant shores. You need 50 of one to convert it and you get 51 of the item you convert it to.

What this means is if you have 50 of ANY of these, you can turn it into 50 of any other by converting it around the loop until you get the one you need. This often saves you from having to grind items that can be annoying to get (mrs chapman gives several of these too to help you get the initial amount). ALSO if you notice some of the conversions give making waves which can be a decent way to grind them. See the wiki page here for more info.

14) Last but definitely not least: the wiki is your best friend. It has guides for everything. It tells you what every single action does. It tells you where to find resources. It has terrifying math graphs. Use it. Love it.

And there is also the fifth city wiki which has lore on it. It contains MASSIVE spoilers, but the lore of fallen london is obscure and spread out across multiple games now so sometimes you just wanna know wtf everyone is talking about.

15) Don't Look In Wells!!!!!!! Just. Do not. (Hunters Keep well is an exception. It is a very nice well).

[quitealotofsodapop]

Hola! ¿Que me he perdido de The Monkey King and the Infant? Hace tiempo que no paso aqui...

translated by google:

"Hi! What did I miss about The Monkey King and the Infant? It's been a while since I've been here…"

I am currently working on Chapter 3 of the fic as we speak! ^_^

However I have many things going on in mine and my family's lives at the moment, so the opportunity to write is scarce (college, new jobs, medical appointments). I also lost some confidence writing when I discovered that Season 5 was announced, since I feared that my writing would become outdated with new lore (I'm still anticipating who the true villain Xiangliu alluded to but I have theories). Now I understand that is simply an obstacle when writing for an ongoing media.

Some details I've been working on for the "The Monkey King and the Infant" au are;

I have been trying to make a "timeline" chart for the Au to explain events that happened in the story's past.

Watching and adapting the events and characters introduced in Season 5 (Li Jing, Xiangliu, The 100 Eyed Demon, Nuwa, etc...) into the fic's universe.

Rewriting what Nüwa's plan; instead of just leaving her Harbinger and their Stone Egg on earth, she instead threw it into the cosmos so it could return at a later date - becoming the Harbinger's Comet. +Also adding/implementing her husband Fuxi - a minor god of fatherhood and invention. He loves his wife so much, and misses her dearly.

Establishing reasons for why Macaque and Wukong simply cannot hide away on Flower Fruit Mountain; (1): Many of the Celestial Guards suspect that Wukong was lying about the fate of the Cosmic Egg/Harbinger's comet and are monitoring him. Wukong learns this when he hires Sandy (on Pigsy's recommendation) to get home for some personal items, as his Somersault Cloud hasn't been working correctly. (2): Macaque is thought to be dead. If he suddenly reappears after so much time has past, it could draw the attention of the Ten Kings. (3): The Egg literally drains them of their powers, forcing them to approach problems "mortal-style".

Deciding how to introduce The Nine Tailed Vixen/Jiuweihuli to the story - I believe 100% that the moment Jin and Yin see Macaque alive again, they'd kidnap him to show their mother that he's alright.

Deciding on what the main "rogue's gallery" would be for LMK if the Lady Bone Demon is sealed away many years before MK's birth. The Spider Gang would be more involved in general mayhem.

Adding in Ao Bing (his presence is due to a spicy twist >:3).

Having the incident involving the "Demon King of Havoc/Confusion" be something far more complicated than what the novel/history tells. Sun Wukong did not only save his monkeys that day, but he also saved royal demons captured by the King of Havoc as bargaining chips (DBK amongst them), and a few celestial officers caught off-guard by the King of Havoc's power (Azure and Nezha among them). The reason it isn't talked about much is that many of the saved later became The Brotherhood and their allies - the celestial realm doesn't like admitting that a "mere cave demon" had caused them so much trouble.

I might add on more details as I think of them. Thank you all for being so invested in my writing. <3

[eravicis]

Solo Leveling // Legends Never Die

Title: Chapter 10 - Grind Series: Solo Leveling ( I Alone Level Up ) Pairing: Sung Jin-woo/Original Female Character Rating: Mature Chapters: 10/? Word Count: ~6304 A/N: It only took… three years… haha… did you miss me? ;; It's been so long that I wonder if people will like this chapter… hope you like it! ><;

Again, I will tag the appropriate tags at the beginning of each chapter to avoid general spoilers.

*agasshi (아가씨) - miss *halmeoni - granny/grandmother *eomma - a casual reference to mother/mom

I tried adding some introspection, but I think that's hard to do in that situation.

Summary: Jinwoo is faced with an ultimatum, and Yoona stumbles her way into an "easy" way of grinding through the system.

—  x  —

AO3

Lizards.

It's a slang term that refers to the people who betray other party members, saving their own skin and leaving them behind. It's not the same as the situation with Jinwoo or Yoona in the Double Dungeon since they had volunteered to be left behind so as not to drag down the party in their escape. These people, however, save themselves for their own personal gain.

Jinwoo recollects a conversation he had with another Hunter named Oh. He clarifies that because being a Hunter is dangerous, it's expected that risk and injuries come with the job. However, the problem with the job is that their current electrical technology loses its functions once it enters the Gate. Or rather, it's more like there is no technology that's able to connect to the other side of the gate. Thus, people cannot watch what's happening inside the Gate from the outside. (It's been said that humans and hunters have yet to develop the necessary tech to withstand the transport through the portal due to the high mana density.)

This makes it very difficult to prove a crime has been committed inside the dungeon. Without the security of technology to monitor inside the dungeons, there is no way to stop a hunter from committing any sort of crime. So the weaker someone is, the more expendable they become. However, if someone is strong, people seek that strength and will cling to them.

But, if a hunter says that they're useless or even get in the way, then, like a lizard leaving its tail behind, a person can end up being cut in more than one way.

And it's this specific warning that repeats itself in Jinwoo's mind as Jinho panics, watching their exit disappear. Even if they tried to stop them from trapping them within the boss room, the attack force was ready to strike them down if anything changed.

Paying attention to details wasn't needed, hm? Jinwoo suddenly understands what Hwang Dongsuk means. 

Dropping the bags onto the ground, he muses that this giant spider monster, the boss, is nothing like his traumatizing experience in the Double Dungeon. In fact, there's a feeling that perhaps this is fate that he gets this opportunity to test his current abilities on a C-Rank dungeon boss.

"That's mine," he says, his dagger summoned to his hand as he prepares for combat.

And for the first time, he smiles with confidence.

—  x  —

The destruction where the Gate opened is disastrous.

There's shouting in the distance, but what remains of the park is gone and, instead, is littered with debris and wounds on the earth from the blasts in the ensuing battle. What people could be saved are pulled off the field and the only people left are some Hunters trying to fend off the boss.

Yoona runs as fast as she is able to get closer. But from a distance, she could only watch who she could assume to be the healer dropping to the ground from mana exhaustion. The only person left standing appears to be a tank, holding his shield up. In front of him is a plant-like creature, tall and massive, that stands easily four stories tall, wood and vines making up its form between its bark. It stands in front of the blue portal, wavering and threatening to allow more creatures to escape the dungeon. Its build is very similar to that of a stocky golem, a four-legged creature with a tree trunk for its face. Glowing green eyes gleam from between its bark as its front arm lifts and quickly drops it.

But the back of the head of the tank bracing for impact is familiar, someone she didn't expect to see so soon on the frontlines.

"Adrien!"

His head doesn't turn, bringing up his shield to block an incoming attack from the large plant-like golem.

Yoona doesn't want to assume, but it looks like she has caught them between waves. This also means that they don't have much time for Adrien to catch her up on what's happened thus far. This creature looks like they're the last one of the group that's managed to escape the dungeon's gate.

The healer passed out, exhausted, with her health low to the point that it's in danger. Yoona sees both of their health bars above their heads, like a video game, and the corners of her mouth twitch. Honestly, how much is the System making her see this as a video game instead of a life-or-death situation?

Clearly, someone has a terrible sense of humor.

She doesn't even think when she utters a healing spell with the wave of her hand, the sparkling glow that comes from her fingers shimmering over Adrien, who's about to take another blow to his shield. He manages to brace it in time as he is enveloped in the healing glow of her healing magic. He sinks into the earth under its forceful weight, cracking and breaking the earth around him, a grunt before he changes it into a yell to shove the creature off his shield.

Yoona slides into place beside the healer, looking over the healer's condition. She's weak, dripping in cold sweat, and exhausted from mana exhaustion, on top of the low health. She waves a hand over her face and utters a heal to watch most of their injuries disappear and finally breathe without the distress.

The creature shudders, stumbling back from how Adrien threw it off-balance.

He spares her a glance back with a small grin. "Much thanks for the assist."

"Of course," she responds with a grin, happy to see her friend again. But this isn't the time to play catch-up.

The creature slams its large hoof-like feet down on Adrien's shield again and he gets shoved deeper into the earth.

"Need help?"

"A little," he grunts and shoves the creature with more strength again once Yoona has finished healing him to full.

Huh, finished healing him. Is there something he should be aware of? Above all else, healed him to full? This is Yoona that came to his aid, right? But, she has… white hair?

The idle thoughts disappear when the golem drops its foot back down on the shield in a rushing force that Adrien gets pummeled, disappearing into the earth under his buckler like a hammer hammering a nail into the ground.

Setting the healer away from the battle, Yoona pulls her staff out from her inventory in a shimmer of electrical golden light and it swirls around her in anticipation of what's to come. With a grin, Yoona twirls the staff in her hand. No longer does she feel intimidated by such a daunting and seemingly overwhelming creature from the Gate, but Yoona is excited to test out just how powerful this new staff of hers is.

—————  x  —————

(!) 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 [POISON] is ineffective against TREE GOLEM!

—————  x  —————

A pity, Yoona thinks. But it confirms that it's a golem rather than a living creature. She had a feeling that the area-of-effect poison would be ineffective against it. Idly, if she was a fire mage, she could probably do some really intense damage. Well, if this were a video game that's based off of elemental properties like a certain little pocket monster series.

Still, she casts a buff spell on herself, which buffs all of her physical and defensive stats temporarily, and takes off running.

The golem notices her and turns in her direction.

It's too slow to respond when Yoona runs until she's just in front of it, and then jumps straight up. With more strength than she realizes she has when she becomes level with its face, Yoona takes this opportunity to stab the golem in its eyes with her spear.

With a roar, it pulls its head away from the offending weapon.

With the strength she now has, thanks to her recent level gain, she pulls back and her staff-turned-spear cleaves clean the head of the golem off of its trunk body. And in nanoseconds, Yoona watches as its vines move swiftly to grab for its head. 

In the same momentum, Yoona doesn't give it a chance to recover, and she twirls in mid-air, grabs an ax from her inventory, and drops its blade down into the center of the trunk where its head once was. With how much force she applies to the ax, she continues the motion with several strikes from her left to her right and back again before the ax breaks from fighting against the golem's trunk.

As it shatters, it disappears into the air in a fit of blue light and sparkles when she releases it.

With its trunk cleanly cut open from her ax, it exposes its center, the core. Different from the monster's magic cores that drop from a monster's defeat, this one is what controls this creature. From somewhere else, its monster magical core will appear.

Dropping down onto the staggering headless body, Yoona lifts her spear and points the sharp blade at the core. Without pause, she brings it down and breaks the jewel-like blue orb, breaking it into near halves.

With a broken groan of wood grinding, it stumbles and drops to its knees, shaking the earth.

—————  x  —————

(!) 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 You have leveled up!

—————  x  —————

She blinks at the notification. Really? How easy is it really to level up like this? Still, she's not going to complain if it means she's leveling up. However, she wishes with every level up, she has something more than that to allot more points into her stats.

Maybe she's going about this wrong. Idly, she makes a mental note to look over the interface again later.

Canceling the effect of her buff spell, Yoona jumps down to the ground where Adrien is busy digging himself out of the hole. He blinks when he realizes the golem is down. His head swivels, blinking repeatedly when his gaze lands on Yoona.

She twirls the staff and replaces it back inside her inventory in a flash of light, making her way over to him. Her gaze subtly narrows when the hairs on the back of her neck lift and she tries to resist the urge to look around, aware that she's being watched. Yoona needs to feign ignorance or else, it's possible that those watching would figure out she's been Reawakened.

"Need a hand?" she asks again. It's amusing considering he's about halfway out of the hole and is still waist-deep inside it.

"Yeah," he says, holding his hand up from the hole. She braces his wrist and pulls him out with surprising ease.

Yoona lets him go as Adrien blinks, looking her over and dusting himself off while she looks at her hand and flexes her fingers. How curious; normally, Adrien is considerably heavier than he looks because he's muscular. Plus, equipped with the gear, he's a size that someone of her frame would have trouble moving. 

"Yoona?"

The incredulous tone comes when comprehension dawns on him.

She turns her head to face him, giving him a small smile.

"No, wait," he says, shaking his head in disbelief and lifting a hand to her and the other to his head, "you can't be her—last I checked, she had black hair and her healing spells literally couldn't heal me to half health, let alone to full." He drops his hand and crosses his arms across his chest with a scrutinizing stare.

"Who are you?"

"Haha." Yoona averts her gaze and nervously forces a laugh, wondering how she's going to explain to Adrien that she experienced a Reawakening and is capable of getting stronger? Hell, she wonders if he would even believe her. Much less believe her about her ability to see now an interface that she calls her own personal video game. Even if the consequences of said video game mean the end of people's lives.

Adrien arches a brow.

"A-ny-way, we should head inside the gate and kill the boss before any more of those creatures respawn," Yoona says, holding her hand to her eyes to peer at their surroundings when there seem to be no more creatures around that have otherwise escaped. However, in doing so, she can't seem to see who it is that's watching her, but she can sense that there are two B-Rank Hunters nearby. They weren't there earlier when she took down the golem, but definitely after.

Maybe if she really tried, she could probably throw a dagger in the direction just to scare the living daylights out of them.

He squints and then stares at her for a moment longer before hefting a heavy sigh. "Alright, I'll let it slide this time but—!"

"—… But what?" She looks hesitantly in his direction. Honestly, lying has never been her forte.

"You owe me some kind of explanation other than what I can only assume is… whatever I think it is."

This time, Yoona's wariness drops and she's left surprised. Taken aback by his vague wording, her brows quickly furrow when her thoughts start running. Assumptions like he's on the radio with the UK Hunters Association or perhaps, the people that she senses that are nearby might have something to do with it.

There's a sharp look in his eye that warns her to leave it at that and radios that all is clear and that he's heading into the Gate.

He gestures with his head for them to head inside and with one final cursory glance around, Yoona follows.

Inside the Gate, a forest with high temple walls greets her with tall trees and high underbrush. They stand in a clearing in the middle of a forest where its canopy shrouds the floor of the forest in shifting shadows. The temple walls make it feel like a maze and the canopy of the trees is the ceiling.

"Damn," Adrien swears.

Yoona has seen her fair share of Gates and sometimes there are new ones to explore. This one is a meld of the typical forest dungeons often found through a Red Gate—a dungeon that locks its Hunters inside until all of the hunters have died or it's cleared—and a typical dungeon. Generally, each one specifically has limitations, much like typical dungeons where there is a direct or a maze-like path to be explored upon entry.

"What? This dungeon isn't to your liking?" Yoona asks, somewhat amused.

"It's fine," he shrugs weakly. "But, I just realized, how are we going to clear the dungeon and beat the dungeon boss by ourselves? We're not exactly high-ranking Hunters."

Yoona feels it's probably safe now to tell him about her recent changes.

"But!" Adrien takes a few steps forward, casting a glance in Yoona's direction with an arched brow. "Something tells me that something happened to you after we left that hell of a place." He steps close to her, relieved and with bright eyes.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gives her a watery smile. "You made it and—" he squeezes her shoulder, "—I'm really glad you did."

Yoona smiles, nodding, and placing a hand on his to give him a reassuring squeeze. "Yeah," she says, feeling a strange lump forming in her throat. "A lot happened."

Adrien quirks a crooked smile, pulling Yoona in for a tight hug. Yoona forces the lump down her throat, appreciative of his genuine care for her welfare. It's been far and few between since people often wanted something from her or found her more of an inconvenience. But Adrien has always been a friend first and foremost, even after they found out their ranks as Hunters.

So when he pulls away, he clears his throat and straightens, giving her another look over.

"Hm."

He glances around the dungeon. Scratching his head, he crosses his arms across his chest and arches a brow. He returns his attention back to Yoona.

"So," he begins, giving her an expectant look.

Nervously, Yoona laughs and averts her gaze.

"You took down that golem with no problem—you wanna share something with the class? Or namely, I don't know, me? Cause I feel like I need to know something before we die trying to clear this dungeon." And then he arches a brow. "And weren't you… hm, I dunno, shorter?"

He makes a gesture hovering over her head and to where she comes up to his shoulder.

Lifting her gaze up to the taller, Yoona clears her throat and places a hand on her hip. She tries not to think about how her height correlates to Adrien. (But, she was definitely up to his chest before, no, wait, smaller? And now, she comes to his shoulder?) "Well, remember the double dungeon?"

The sound of the forest rustles in the back and the humidity is palpable that Yoona wipes at her brow. Even Adrien adjusts the armor he wears as he readies his equipment, sensing the change in the atmosphere. Again, Yoona pulls out her staff with a shimmer of light.

He twirls his sword in his hand before raising his buckler, moving ahead of her as they start venturing into the dungeon. "Is this a rhetorical question?"

Ah, right, stupid question but she honestly blames nerves. She isn't sure how he'd take the news, but she feels like she owes him that much, having been one of the few people who experienced the double dungeon. Adrien is one of the few people that's stuck with her since she started working as a Hunter.

"Wait." He turns his head to give her another look over and looks dumbfounded. "Did you get a Reawakening?"

"Focus, Adrien!" 

He shakes his head. "Talk and cover for me—surely, you can do that, can't you?"

Yoona makes a face but moves after him, positioned behind him for any attacks that would come from the front. She supposes old habits die hard and follows as she sighs, finding she isn't nervous about the dungeon, but rather how he'd react to her news. After all, she hasn't even told Jinwoo about it yet. Maybe it's just easier to tell Adrien since he was there—at least, he was there before she "died."

"There's not much to tell you except I might've Reawakened."

She resists the urge to grimace and slap herself on the forehead.

"'Might've? Might've? ' So you're telling me that your white hair has nothing to do with your highly probable Reawakening?"

Ah, she really can't fool him, can she? Foolishly, Yoona thought she could back out of telling him the truth, but she's come this far. The guilt that Adrien knows before Jinwoo manifests itself in her chest, clawing at her, but at the very least, she owes Adrien. He was there and it's not fair of her to keep this from him when it's all too obvious that he can see the changes.

She scratches her head and sighs. "Alright, so I—sort of, yeah—had a Reawakening, but when I got tested by the Monitoring Division, there was no change in my evaluation."

This is the truth, despite Adrien sparing her an scrutinizing look, opting in lieu of investigating around the corner of the dungeon. Somehow, she has a feeling he doesn't believe her. This is proven true when they clear a couple of floors of the dungeon, most of it emptied when the Gate opened earlier and let them roam outside in their world, and all Adrien does is sigh in the most exaggerated manner.

Dramatic, really.

"I'm serious!" Yoona decides to emphasize. "I was evaluated to still be an E-Rank when they came to the same conclusion you did. They were there when I woke up."

Adrien, again, remains skeptical, but decides after a moment more that he seems to believe her.

Their investigation through the dungeon is anti-climatic, finding that most of the monsters have already left the gate, leaving only the boss deep inside the dungeon. However, there's an odd tingle down her spine at the feeling when she approaches it. Nerves? Anxiety? No, it's probably something like excitement? Oh, yes, that's it.

It's been awhile since she got to test out the limits of her newfound abilities that she's excited about fighting this dungeon boss.

The boss, in the end, is at a higher level than the previous bosses she's fought before.

No, she's wrong.

There's more than one boss at the end, and she's positively giddy.

"But, something did happen while I was down there, and I don't know if you'll believe me," Yoona starts, wondering if this is okay. Telling Adrien before she's telling Jinwoo feels somehow wrong and her grip tightens on her staff before she relaxes again.

But Jinwoo wasn't there.

Would he understand?

"You won't know until you try and tell me, right?" Adrien shrugs. He relaxes now that they've cleared the dungeon. It seems the Gate has already released every creature from the dungeon out into the world. He sheathes his blade and continues to navigate the maze. "And at this point, I can almost believe anything can happen. If we can stumble upon a rare double dungeon that has S-Gate monsters inside it, then anything is possible."

"You think there's more than that out there?" Yoona blinks, incredulous. "And do you think our luck is really that bad?"

"Why not? These Gates only started showing up ten years ago and we still don't know everything about them or why they started showing up. Plus," Adrien pauses briefly to give her another glance, "anything's possible now. I really hope that we're really not that—" he grimaces, "—'lucky' to encounter another one of those dungeons."

Yoona presses her lips into a thin line, furrowing her brows. It's like a conspiracy theory, one that seems common on the internet. She can only imagine why they would come to this conclusion.

Especially when their theory holds true: at the end of this dungeon are two large creatures that she could guess as two boss monsters.

She senses it before she sees it in the next room over. They enter a cavernous room with large trees encompassing the sides and their long branches filling the ceiling and covering the sky. Large tiles and building pieces of an ancient civilization are littered into pieces on the sides, giving the impression the ceiling caved in and its debris is left in the middle of the room.

Movement in the corner catches their attention that Adrien barely lifts his shield in time to brace for impact.

"Adrien!"

It's an explosion of energy and debris that shoves Adrien from where he once stood, his feet sliding along the ground as he explodes into the wall of the temple. Smoke covers him that Yoona can't see whether or not—

Another movement on her other side that she barely lifts her staff in time to brace for impact and she's sent flying into the other wall in her own explosion of debris.

She coughs out, surprised, and barely moves in time when another movement in the smoke catches her off guard that she drops, crouches, and then lunges with her staff.

It barely nicks whatever is attacking her, taking advantage of the brief smoke to hide itself from her view.

But it's strong, sturdy, and she knows she hit it.

It takes a moment more that she dodges the next impact, jumping forward to duck into a roll that takes her a few steps closer back to the center of the boss room.

"Adrien! You doing okay?!"

"Oh, never better! Ugh," he groans as he manages to pull himself from being pummeled by whatever it is that is attacking them.

What on earth is this boss?

No, Yoona sensed two earlier—

The smoke finally clears as she hears the growling, low and deep, that she makes the connection that it's what she had speculated—two bosses.

Well, she speculated one mini-boss and the actual boss but watching as the two jaguar-like creatures circle them told her otherwise. One is slightly smaller than the other with both sporting inky black coats and four large black wings along their back. While they don't have paws, they have talons, moving with surprising dexterity and quiet that Yoona swears they probably also had some kind of paw pad.

And they're both triple her height.

They circle her now as Adrien comes to the center of the arena. Yoona couldn't help the small smile she makes, an excitement she didn't know she could have in the face of danger manifesting in the face of a new challenge. Her grip on her staff tightens and then relaxes again, ready to move in the next moment she's ready.

Now, it'll be a little odd working with Adrien since she's Reawakened, but it can't be helped.

"Adrien, we're going to work together to take them down, right?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one here that can help, so yeah!"

Even though she's not looking at him as they have their backs to one another, she can practically hear his eyes roll at her rhetorical question.

But she doesn't get to explain her plan when both of the jaguar-like creatures lunge and it takes all of what strength she has to take the weight of its force against the staff. It's heavy and she barely manages to brace for it. But feline creatures move just as fast as she's able to manage and the second paw comes that she barely manages to angle the staff just enough to block the paw.

However, she isn't quite right and its claws manage to just cut through her clothes that it draws blood.

Yoona winces and thinks of the buff skill that shrouds herself in a brief aura of red.

—————  x  —————

[SPELL: 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 has been activated.]

[Your SPEED and STRENGTH have increased by 30%.]

—————  x  —————

It's a little soon but she wants to take care of this quickly and before her [Fatigue] becomes a problem.

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: "𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄": The opponent will be paralyzed at a certain rate.]

[EFFECT: "𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍": Whenever a spell is cast, foes within 25 ft. of the caster will lose 1% of their health per second.]

—————  x  —————

She pushes back, sending the creature back that it's surprised, unable to find ground at the accelerated speed that comes from [Burn Booster.] The tip of the spear slices through one of its front legs that it cries when it's sent flying into the wall. And in one fluid motion, Yoona turns on her heel with the ease of a dancer to skewer the other that's digging its claws into Adrien's shield, right into its chest.

It reels back with a screech, realizing that this one is the mini-boss when she pulls her spear free to find that there's a red jewel adorning its neck.

"Cover me!"

Adrien tries to read what Yoona commands when she ducks, the other one coming forward from behind her once more with another lunge. He grunts from exertion at the weighted momentum when his shield barely manages to connect with the attacking Alpha. And while he's distracted, Yoona turns to spear the boss creature right into its breast. But it misses the mark of its heart and she braces herself.

Just like its partner did, it rears back with another screech and she pulls her spear back.

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄 has been activated.] [EFFECT: 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 has been activated.]

[The foe's resistance was too high. The effect(s) was canceled.]

[Fatigue: 39]

—————  x  —————

Damnit!

Yoona watches as Adrien falters, thinking victory is at hand when the other jaguar creature manifests and pounces. He barely manages to raise his shield in time as he's sent to the ground, barely able to withstand fang and claw as he's pummeled. His health bar rapidly falls when Yoona utters another [Heal].

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 has been activated.]

[The foes' resistance was too high. The effect(s) was canceled.]

—————  x  —————

This immediately draws both of the jaguar creatures attention to her.

Damnit!

Sparing a glance back at Adrien, she finds him knocked out, but alive and breathing with his health in the clear. With his shield resting on his chest, at least, he's mostly protected for the moment that she diverts her attention back to the prowling jaguars.

How did Adrien get knocked out when she healed him to full? What's more, wasn't he just fine moments ago?

Yoona backs away from the two approaching prowling predators as both of their wings shimmer. The hairs on the back of her neck tell her that they're only going to get faster. There's no way that their only attacks as boss creatures are fangs and lunging claws.

She twirls the staff in her hands, making sure they both can see it, but she's vastly outnumbered. 

Just as she guessed, their wings shimmer and they both seem to take turns lunging as they begin to bounce off the walls. They become faster and faster and she's not able to block each of their attacks. Each one becomes heavier and heavier that she has a hard time keeping up until she's getting hurt. She can hear her health plummeting.

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄 has been activated.]

[The foes' resistance was too high. The effect(s) was canceled.]

[Fatigue: 58]

—————  x  —————

Yoona isn't built to directly take hit after hit like this. And she's getting incredibly tired taking such heavy blows that she can tell if she tried taking any more of a beating, she won't make it. Why are they so fast and somehow, hitting her so goddamn hard ?!

And then, she sees it: her opportunity to break through.

—————  x  —————

[SKILL: 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃 has been activated.]

[Your SPEED has increased by 30%.]

—————  x  —————

They both jump at the same time and she jumps up higher the moment they cross over one another. With one flick of her wrist, she swings the spear clear across the backs of their neck to the bone of where their spine connects their skulls. Instead, she meets resistance as she slices through the fanciful accessories adorning their necks.

But, it's deep enough to cause serious damage that their cries are enough to make her wince. She lands with another flick of the staff-turned-spear and braces herself, not wanting to give the jaguars any room to breathe. Yoona lunges, going after the jaguar on the right as it falters.

"Heal!"

—————  x  —————

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐙𝐄 has been activated.]

[𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐒𝐒(𝐄𝐒) are paralyzed.]

[EFFECT: 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 has been activated.]

[The opponent will lose 1% health per second.]

—————  x  —————

Rejuvenation floods her, relieving her of the built up fatigue as she begins to flick through her weapons repertoire to slice through the first winged jaguar. She summons forth an ax and slices through the tendons of their legs; summons a sword to finish the job as she cleanly beheads it; and, summons a claymore to double tap as she downward slices through its heart.

Taking that same claymore, she swings with a force the other winged jaguar isn't prepared for. It isn't able to move as it takes the blade straight through its heart. She sheathes the blade back into her inventory and summons the sword once more to behead the jaguar.

She drops to a knee, dropping the sword down to the ground as she hears pings going off once more.

Finally taking a breath, Yoona returns to standing as she swings her braid back and wipes her brow. She picks up the sword and returns it back into her inventory to draw out a dagger. Yoona is going to earn some money for all of her efforts, otherwise; there's no point in being a hunter. And plus, no one else is here, right?

Well, except Adrien and she pauses before going to the corpses of the creatures.

She makes her way over to Adrien, kneeling beside him to check both his pulse and his breathing. Thankfully, her initial glance at both the health bar and mana bar seem fine and he's not in any danger. But she does feel a small bump at the back of his head that matches the small little icon next to his health bar. Ah, did he fall in a bad way that either conveniently or inconveniently knocked him out?

Yoona isn't sure whether or not she's lucky or not that he didn't see how she took out the dungeon's boss. With a sigh, she decides to leave him be for the moment so she can go ahead and extract the mana crystals. The faster she does this, the sooner they can leave.

Using the knife with the precision and training Yoona gained from med school, she cuts out the crystals and stows them in her inventory. As she does so, all she can think about is how this will finally pay for her schooling and finally, start to get herself out of the negatives. Maybe if there's any extra, she can send some to Jinwoo…

At the thought, she hopes he's doing okay, lifting her gaze up at the sky as though her thoughts would reach him.

—  x  —

"Of course you'd betray me; I'm weak."

Jinwoo expects this, but color him surprised when Jinho decides to take his side. It didn't take very long for the words he knew were coming from Dongsuk. Is this really how these people are going to do this?

"Have you… ever killed someone before?" Their eyes gleam menacingly as they stalk toward Jinwoo and Jinho.

Jinwoo doesn't even get the chance to properly think of a reaction when the System seems to do it for him as it pings.

—————  x  —————

[An urgent quest has arrived.]

—————  x  —————

He flinches, at first, thinking the System is simply acting up, but then he gets blasted into the wall behind him.

That's not what really hurts, but rather the reminder of the anger and disappointment he felt back in the Double Dungeon. The Quest Info screen fizzles, like it's losing signal in comparison to where his mind has gone. Disappointment claws at him, irritated that he forgot. Anger burns inside of him until he feels like yelling at the world.

How?

Somehow, he remembers what Yoona told him before.

" To stay angry? I think you can stay as angry as long as you want ."

" Look, anger is okay, grief is okay, spite is okay ."

How? How? How? How?

HOW? 

HOW?

The simple question buries him, enraging him that he's this foolish, this weak STILL to think that he had any kind of trust in another person. He wants to scream, wants to yell, seething in the frustration and helplessness he once had. After all, at the end of all of this, he's at fault.

How could he have…

Forgotten what kind of place this is?

That this place is governed by the strongest, by the "Survival of the Fittest" principle?

His hand grasps hold of the stones next to him, slowly pulling himself out of the rubble as a cool fury washes over him. Jinwoo hasn't been thinking clearly until just now, but he's clear now. After all, time and time again, in all of these dungeons, he's overcome death that he could almost consider it a friend. And yet, he's recovered each time. Going back in despite the possible dangers, he's mistaken that these places were safe.

He was wrong.

The System is telling him, forcing him to commit murder.

They're a THREAT.

Steel steadies his hands when he found that the answer was easy, almost surprised at himself at just how easily he accepted what he's about to do. It's asking him to either kill them or die. Why would it give such an ultimatum if it didn't have something else in store for him? Or perhaps, the system would become complicated if he were to die because he refused to take a life.

This is neither a coincidence nor an act of goodwill and it's obvious now: the System needs him. And what it needs is for him to become strong, to steel himself against all possible foes that he may face in the future. It needs him to be strong.

Jinwoo lifts himself out of the rubble despite the blood covering part of his vision. A cursory glance at his health tells him that they took out just a little under half damage of his total health. That's plenty for what he's going to do now.

Ultimately, the System isn't trying to make him stronger, but rather, he can tell that it simply wants a more powerful version of himself.

Ah, now that he knows what it wants… if the System is going to use him, then he's going to use the System.

He stands and begins walking over toward the murderers.

"Since you guys are playing around with people's lives, I'm assuming that you're also prepared to face the consequences." Jinwoo cracks his knuckles at his sides, energy sparking across his frame in his silent fury. The System is forcing him to quickly accept the fact that these people aren't worth his time, worth the effort of keeping them alive.

"What is this idiot going on about?" asks the one Hunter with a buzzcut.

"Since you call yourselves hunters, I'm asking if you're prepared to become the hunted."

"Dongsuk, I'll take care of him," says a brown haired hunter that has his hair pulled into a ponytail. He approaches Jinwoo with a confident swagger that he even has the nerve of putting his arm around Jinwoo's shoulders.

"Look, man, it seems like you still don't fully understand the situation at hand."

In Jinwoo's right hand, electrical blue lightning flickers as he resummons his dagger.

For one single moment, he thinks of Yoona. Jinwoo thinks of Yoona, a healer, who tries her best to save lives . Yoona, who's becoming a doctor.

And Jinwoo takes his first life with a single flick of his hand.

[kizzer55555]

Chaotic Main 4 as Creatures

Ok so recently I’ve been obsessed with this show called Chaotic which is like a card game come to life and the main characters each have a different tribe they like. And I’ve seen art of what it would look like if they became a creature from their respective tribes and got inspired to try it for myself.

Actually I was inspired to create a fanfic which was inspired by ‘Transcending Perim’ By: ChaoticCommander. So my idea is that Tom, Kaz, Sarah, and Peyton end up having their coded selves dying at the exact moment they were trying to leave, connecting them to their earth selves, and this happens at the exact moment a powerful surge of energy appears from the Cothica which the main 4 we’re trying to see in person and got caught in the blast. This then merged their coded self with their earth self and after being affected by the energy of the Cothica, transformed them into members of their tribe. A side effect is that it wiped the memory of everyone who knew them previously except those in chaotic. However, the creatures they knew beforehand would know something was missing. Felt that someone was missing but couldn’t figure out who. (And I’m debating if it was Klay’s fault their coded selves died). If they know someone really well though or spend a lot of time with them after being transformed, the creature they knew can regain their memories. This would also be really early in the series so they might not know Maxxor and Chaor as well or maybe they do but just don’t have much opportunities to meet and it’s painful for them to see their friends and not have them know who they are. I’m also debating what would happen to their earth selves, if they would just die, be in a coma, or disappear and be forgotten. And so they only have each other to rely on at the moment since they weren’t really close to others in Chaotic (and I believe that while Peyton might be friendly, he only really hangs out with the main 4) and a strange music in the back of their heads which kinda guides them and acts like a sentient entity only they can hear. It’s always there too, no matter what they do but only they can hear it. Because the Cothica saved them for a reason, knowing the M’arillians would invade soon. (None of this will make sense unless you watch the show). So yeah, that was my fanfic idea that I will probably never write but it compelled me to make fanart for it. Or maybe I needed to make fanart and then created an entire story behind it? Not really sure which came first.

This is Sarah AKA Seraphim (they either choose a new name or someone scans them and they see that their names have changed. A blessing from the Cothica.)

Tribe: Danian

This was actually inspired by this amazing art by HosekiDragon on devianart. It’s actually what inspired me to make art of all the main 4 as creatures. I would see art of them and have a basic idea of what they might look like but no matter what I saw, Sarah just never looked right until I saw this one picture and HosekiDragon’s Saraphim was so beautiful that I had to make my own version of it. The name is also what inspired me to make creature names of all the main 4 that include their actual names. The art also inspired Kaz’s design a little with the hair and tail but otherwise, that’s mostly what I imagined him as.

For Sarah, I imagine her as kind of a combination between a spider and a bee. She’s pretty similar in personality in being very headstrong and taking command but also deeply caring for her friends. As a female Danian, and being considered very beautiful, the Danians that see her basically treat her as royalty. (I have a headcannon that Danian parasites only work on males since the only females we see are the queen and princess and apparently, Larrina is an Overworlder, not a Danian.) so the Danains treat her as something almost holy which Sarah would love normally…if it didn’t have the side effect of them attacking Kaz, Tom, and Peyton for getting too close. Which makes Sarah annoyed. (She lost her home, her family (even if they didn’t get along) and she was NOT about to loose her boys too). Wamma is the only exception and even he doesn’t know why he doesn’t treat Sarah as something holy or why he doesn’t see the others as a threat to her. But he does have a strong urge to protect her.

Sarah is capable of flight, spinning this super strong silk from spinnerets in her wrists (which is what the main 4 made their clothes out of. Sarah being the exception because her exoskeleton already acts as both clothing and armor. Which is lucky because when they transformed, that did not include clothing.) and Sarah is very good at making tunnels, climbing or moving quickly in her new form. She is used to a Danian’s body from the dromes so it was pretty easy for her to adjust. It was just uncomfortable at night to find a good sleeping position.

Peyton AKA Peytonic

Tribe: Mipedian

Peyton’s form was both easy and hard. I definitely had the most fun on it though. I saw this fanart once where he was an ankylosaur and I’ve had that in my mind ever since. I just thought it was fitting. But at the same time, I felt his snout could be a bit longer like all Mipedians. So I did that but made it kinda square. I just felt that fit Peyton more. I also adjusted his coloring to be a bit more greenish like his clothes. I did take the robe idea from HosekiDragon’s art though. I thought it was cool. Then I looked for other lizard creatures and found one with the stripes and I was just in love so I added those. He kinda resembles an iguana and I kinda like that look. Or maybe that’s just me who sees it. Overall, I just love how he turned out.

Peyton was probbaly the most affected by the transition to Perim as creatures. Peyton spent most of his time In Perim and Chaotic though because lots of people in the real world thought he was weird. He made friends with the creatures who didn’t mind his weirdness and the players only cared about how well he did in the dromes. This made Peyton a lot more outgoing and friendly. So it hurt that his Mipedian friends have no idea who he was and that the chaotic players don’t seem to care that he hasn’t played in a while. Being in Perim wasn’t the problem, it was being there and not being able to talk to his friends that hurt him. While with the other main 4, he’s still his outgoing and friendly self. Practically loving his new body. But he avoids cities and other creatures because Peyton just can’t bear seeing them and having his friends have no idea who he is.

If they do run into creatures, he kinda closes himself off and lets the others do the talking. If he’s forced to speak, he tries to act like his normal self and pretend nothing’s wrong. Although his smile is strained if it’s someone he knew. He’s fine if it’s a creature he’s never met before.

As for his new form, Peyton is probbaly the most well adjusted to actually living in Perim. He spent most of his time there anyways. And he is loving his invisibility. He is also their expert on anything edible because Peyton, being Peyton, decided that a good use for the beta dromes is to taste everything in every location he’s been to that looks slightly edible. If it’s poisonous, then he can’t die in the dromes anyways. So Peyton tells them what is safe to eat and even knows some cool recipes. He also does some hunting with the others (they try very hard to pretend it’s just like a drome battle. It takes a while before Kaz or Tom can go through with a kill though. Even if they need it and it’s just animals). Peyton also doesn’t struggle to adjusting to his new form. He’s battled as Mipedians, exercised as them, played as them, slept as them. He’s explored every location and everything they could do so he’s right at home.

His abilities consist of normal Mipedian abilities. Strong scales like armor, claws, strong jaws, invisibility. Keen senses. And Peyton is a bit stronger than the normal Mipedian. He’s kinda the muscle in the main 4. He also does not act like a normal Mipedian warrior. Much more laid back and go with the flow. Which works for him in battle, especially with being unexpected. His body is too big and spiky for normal clothes so he just wears a robe. It allows much more maneuverability without getting torn. Peyton also has these extra hard scales down his back. He likes to curl up into a ball and roll into opponents. He finds it fun. His enemies? Not so much.

Kaz AKA Kazmodeus

Tribe: Underworlder

Every version of Kaz I have ever seen has him with orange skin. And I agree, it looks good. But I never liked the combination of orange hair with orange skin. So it never really clicked for me. I was never really attached to his art. Then I saw how HosekiDragon used black hair and I just loved that. But when I saw it trailing down his back, I imagined that it kind of looked like fire so I thought, what if Kaz actually had fire hair? But I didn’t think having just normal fire hair would be very practical so what if, it was normal hair that could become fire? I already imagined Kaz with a tail and wings so with orange skin, he kinda looks like Takinom. (And while that might have interesting consequences if Takinom feels like she knows him but can’t quite remember, I will store that plot bunny deep in the recesses of my mind). I also never really liked Kaz with horns. I get why they were added as usually it’s a reference to looking like Chaor but they just never clicked for me. On the other hand, I was determined to give Kaz his hair streak thingies. And then I had an idea. I gave Kaz a crest on his forehead that resembles the yellow hair streaks. I bet if you just glance over the drawing, you might mistake it as the hair streaks. But this way, it’s not affected by the fire hair. And I just think it looks cool. I made his clothes more practical with having an open back for his wings. And I made them a similar color to his normal clothes. Also, I regret to inform you, I took away his glasses. It took forever to find his actual eye color but yes, it is brown. I just feel like the Cothica would cure Kaz of bad eyesight if it changed his entire body.

Kaz’s form is pretty similar to Takinom so he adjusts pretty fast to having wings (except at night where he faces the same problem as Sarah). He loves flying and definitely makes use of it. Often getting an aerial view of their surroundings. The only thing Kaz struggles with, is his hair. It lights on fire. And that would be fine if it only did so when he wanted it too (which he can do). But it also lights on fire based on his emotions. If he’s angry, excited, scared. Any high emotion and his hair lights up. Which is bad when they are in a place like a forest. Kaz is pretty creative so he’s the one who actually makes their clothes using Sarah’s silk. Or even making traps around their campsites. For a while, they just keep moving since most places belong to the territory of one tribe and as they each look like they are from a different tribe, the others aren’t safe there. They refuse to split up and go to their separate tribes. They don’t want to loose the only normal thing they have left. They don’t want to see friends who will have no idea who they are (if they even let them into the cities. Being unknown creatures). And they definitely don’t want to risk fighting eachother. So they stick together and they keep moving.

Kaz is the designated campfire. If they need to cook meet, or boil water, or even forge something (Peyton took a shop class so when they find metal, he can forge them into tools, belts, clothing, or even armor if they want) they just walk over to Kaz and hold it over his tail. Despite his grumbles, Kaz doesn’t actually mind since he knows this is the safest option and doesn’t leave evidence of a campfire for other creatures to find. Or make smoke. He’s very useful on cold nights. Sometimes he’s also the designated flashlight.

Kaz misses his mom so much. But she’s the only one he actually misses. All his friends are in Perim with him. Everyone at school thinks he’s a freak. And Underworld players aren’t really popular in chaotic. And he isn’t popular with other Underworld players because of his friendship with Tom, Sarah, and Peyton. He does miss H’earring though (eventually H’earring gets his memory back and helps Kaz but the first time they met, it was like getting punched in the gut for Kaz knowing his friend didn’t know who he was and is why the others don’t want to risk meeting their creature friends for fear of the same thing happening.) The music from the Cothica helps sooth his nerves.

Kaz’s abilities consist of flight, fire attacks, being fire proof (he discovered this when he fell in lava and it was like a warm bath. Still scary though), spikes on his tail for harder hits, and being very maneuverable.

Tom AKA Tomahawk

Tribe: Overworlder

Tom’s name was the hardest out of everything. The others were pretty easy. I immediately named Kaz Kazmodeus as a play on a demon’s name. Peytonic was Peyton’s game ID and it just fit. Saraphim was a name on a different art but I loved it so much I had to use it. But Tom….Tom….do you have any idea how few names start with Tom in it? Or at least not the ones I want. I literally looked up every word that has Tom in it and most had it somewhere in the middle (Like Atomic) and while it was surprising to see how many names actually had Tom, every other character started with their name so I need to have one start with Tom. So I read through a…lot of words. (I was very tempted to call him Tomcat but instead, I shall have Kaz call him that to tease him). Eventually found Tomahawk which is basically a small axe or weapon used by Native Americans and I thought that fit perfectly. A weapon is strong, durable, and I just think it fits Tom’s personality. Especially since it’s a native American weapon and fits Tom’s current image.

Before anyone says anything. Yes, this is inspired by the Navi tribe from Avatar. No, I do not regret this decision. I know that everyone always draws Tom as being the same species as Maxxor, with green skin. And while I think that’s cool, I once saw this art of Tom with blue skin and elf like ears and have never been able to see him as anything other than a blue tiger ever since. I blame the fact that Intress is close friends with Maxxor. And the fact that most Overworlders are some type of animal. But Anyways, YES! AVATAR! I saw Tom with blue skin and saw him as a tiger and had to put them together. While there are many similarities between Tom and the Navi, there are some differences too. For example, Tom is covered in a thin layer of fur just like a normal tiger. It’s not just skin. (Kaz thinks he is a very fluffy kitty). His front is kinda pale blue, almost white, both on his chest and face. Kinda like Intress. His ears are like the Navi in which they are more elf like but can swivel around like cat ears. He also has retractable claws on his hands and feet. So while his paws can feel extremely soft without nails, he can call upon them for hunting, climbing, or any other reason. His feet are also more catlike. His tail is also prehensile and can be used to grab things. He often uses it for climbing by holding onto other branches. And yes, he can hang from his tail if he really wanted.

As for his hair. I was inspired by the Navi’s Queue (no idea if I spelled that right). The nerve cord thing on the back of their head. It has two functions. It’s prehensile, and it can channel electricity like an electrical whip. Basically, for Tom, it’s like a second tail. Only, a tail with a mind of it’s own. It grabs onto anything and everything within reach whether Tom wants it to or not. While his body is very similar to Intress, he’s never turned into a creature with a prehensile nerve cord in the back of his head while he was in the dromes. He doesn’t even know of a creature that has one. So while controlling one extra limb is easy as he has had acess to intress’s muscle memory, the nerve chord is a different story. It can grab things and Tom might not notice until he has to pry it out of the cord at the end of the day (or scold Kaz who likes to hold objects in front of the chord knowing it will grab them and then seeing how long before Tom notices) or it will grab objects like tree branches still attached to the trees and Tom will get yanked back when he tries to walk forward. Eventually he realizes that relaxing the limb releases things and once he gets the hang of it, starts being able to climb super fast and can eventually hold on with just the chord and tail while his hands are doing something else. Like drawing a bow and arrow. (But it will be a while before that happens).

The hardest thing about the nerve chord, is the hair. It’s like a horse’s tail (which Kaz mocks is like a literal ponytail.) Tom basically has his normal short hair, and then he has hair growing along the cord. If it remains still, it just looks like a ponytail, but because it’s constantly grabbing stuff whether on accident or even once Tom gets control of it, the hair gets tangled in everything. The problem though is that the hair is insanely tough. If something has to give, the branch/stone it’s attached to or the hair, the object always gives first so Tom always has to physically untangle stuff instead of cutting it out. They tried to cut the hair and it’s like wire. Super soft but unbreakable wire. They managed to cut it once after using some powers and the part that exposed the chord hurt so much. It’s like when you have a cavity exposed to the elements. Basically, the nerve chord is sensitive because of it’s ability to channel electricity. The hair acts as both a conductor to channel the lighting through it (again, like wire) and also protection. It’s soft against the actual nerve chord but acts like a barrier against whatever the nerve chord touches and just the elements in general. It’s basically like armor (if someone were to cut it with a knife, the knife is more likely to break or be damaged. They know, they tried it when they first started trying to cut Tom’s hair). So since they can’t cut it, (both from difficulty and because it is needed protection) Kaz has an idea from an old Disney movie called Tangled and they just braid his hair instead. That way, the hair doesn’t get caught in stuff.

Sarah becomes obsessed with this. She can’t do her own hair because it’s hard to reach with all her armor. Kaz’s hair is too short (even if it wasn’t, all decorations would just burn up when he got excited), and Peyton doesn’t have hair. So she basically uses Tom as a glorified Barbie doll by decorating his hair with all kinds of beads, feathers, and braids. Tom just kinda lets it happens for 2 reasons. One, because it makes her feel better and they need all the stress relief they can get, and Two, because you can’t really say no to Sarah when she makes her mind up about something.

Tom is kinda similar to Kaz when it comes to being in Perim. His parents are hardly ever home but he still cares about them and misses them. On the other hand, all his real friends are right there with him. However, he can’t face Maxxor. He might run into Bodal who doesn’t know him and that would be hard enough. (It would be fun if later, Bodal hates not knowing something so investigates why this creature felt familiar and recovers his memories when Tom wasn’t there). But Tom cannot face Maxxor. However, he does spend time with other Overworld creatures and even creatures of other tribes. So they gain back their memories of Tom back pretty quickly (whether or not he’s there for it is the question). Especially since he doesn’t avoid them like Peyton does his friends. I think Smildon might be next. Anyways, Tom is struggling but he tries to put on a brave face for the others. As for his abilities, he basically can do anything Intress can do. He’s very stealthy, agile, has strong senses (although his sense of smell sometimes backfires on him). And he also is very fast and can use electric attacks. Kinda like a lightning tiger. Many people mistake his braid for hair and get a nasty shock if they try to grab it or have Tom’s hands pinned and think that’s the end. He is incredibly good at battles. He was one of the best chaotic players and Intress was someone he played almost as much as Maxxor. Tangeth Toborn too and he was also very catlike. So Tom could take on multiple opponents at once and still win (like he did against Codemaster Hotek).

Eventually, Tom learns two new skills. One is archery which he might have dabbled in before or one of the other main four did, or he finds a new teacher (I don’t know but I really like the idea of Tom with a bow). And the second is that he learns how to be a caretaker. The main 4 might stay with Garv for a bit (either before or after they help Smildon at Prexor Chasm) and Tom and Peyton take an interest in how Garv does stuff. With the Cothica’s music guiding them on what plant or ingredients to use for different potions, Garv thinks they are naturals. This leads to them being very valuable later when the M’arillians attack as they are able to undo the pollution to the various Locations around Perim. (And I headcannon that the reason they were polluted is that the M’arillians brainwashed the caretakers with their mind control). I’m also making it so that the main 4 are immune to the M’arillian’s mind control. Every time the M’arillians try, the Cothica’s music starts screaming which basically drowns everything out.

[curator-on-ao3]

I never came back from Among the Lotus Eaters

I see now, in hindsight of SNW season two, that Among the Lotus Eaters was a breaking point for me.

First, that episode needed to transition Batel and Pike from … whatever they were … to a deeper relationship. And what did the episode do?

It hung their issues on not enough time for each other. (How many dinner parties has this man thrown?)

It made Pike a commitment-phobe. (Really? Pike? Y’all sure you meant second season Pike not second season Picard?)

It undercut Pike as a captain as well as his pain dating back to The Cage. (Say, fellas, is it okay to leave your yeoman behind if someone at some point said he looked kinda dead?)

Here’s the thing. I would have bought the episode starting with Batel and Pike having an adult discussion about how they could have hated each other after Una’s arrest and trial but they don’t. They’re still drawn to each other. Then I would have bought Pike’s relationship hesitancy being due to his concerns about his fate — and Una later calling him out on his potential fears for longer-term intimacy when he believes his days are numbered. (And if the show backtracks to make this Pike’s motivation, I’m gonna call bullshit because it should have been there from the start. I’ve seen a thousand stories about commitment-phobes. But a story about a person frightened to hurt someone they might be falling for because of a known timeline to the end? That’s actually interesting.)

Then, I would have bought Pike on the planet holding the necklace and feeling that he had unfinished business — the adult discussion with Batel (as opposed to love that, due to his own fears, hadn’t yet been grounded in the reality of the episode).

Second, the episode has the hero moment of Erica figuring out that she flies the ship. Okay, putting aside that other people can and do fly the ship (ahem, Una), this was an incredible opportunity for Erica to have a totem to remind her of why she cares about flying, not just that she does it. Give us a goddamn model airplane or a book about birds or an action figure of Erika Hernandez — something. Anything. Let us get to know Erica better. This missed opportunity stings.

Third, the trauma repetition was painful. The guy on the planet lost his whole family? Dude, he’s the three-way pointing Spider-Man meme with two members of the away team — M’Benga and La’an. What are the odds of all three of them having the same trauma (and not discussing it)? I don’t know, but it was lazy as shit. (Note: Uhura has the same trauma. Una might, per her service record. Enough already.) Make that guy the former king and he’s somehow responsible for the memory loss rock landing and plaguing the planet. Make him a doctor who saved Zac’s life and therefore plunged the planet into tyrannical rule. Again — something. Anything. Just make it unique instead of repetitive. (And if he had saved Zac’s life by some extreme means, that could even possibly excuse Pike for breaking the essential promise of Starfleet by leaving a crewmember behind.)

There’s more. There’s so much more. There should have been a line, at least, about Una being affected by the radiation when her body could clear radiation before. There should have been recognition that Pike was going down to the planet underprepared — again — by cutting the number of people on the away team. There should have been console warnings flashing that, I don’t know, the warp core was in danger since no one in engineering knew who they were or how to do their jobs.

This episode began the season’s beats of Pike being a crummy captain and a crummy boyfriend. It continued the trend of underutilizing Erica, even when she’s there. It forgot the show’s own internal realities. And I am big mad about that because this clutch point of an episode could have been different. It could have been better.

[yesthisismycurrenthyperfixation]

Ok, I kinda have a really out there prompt idea. It’s legit been in my head for so long. So it’s Spider-centric, I’ve read somewhere prompts where he is he gets yelled at or hurt and somehow ends up lost and caught up in a storm. He ends up in another tribe, most likely the Metka’yina and lives a new and better life.

Buuuuttt (here’s where my mind comes in) what if Spider is found by none other than the Ash Na’vi? Spider is found by them on an island or washed up on shore. Of course the Ash People immediately want to end the meek sky person’s life, I see them being pretty ruthless and deadly, but then the leader (Varang if I’m correct) sees an opportunity. Spider, so young and hurt, simply wants to be one of The People and have someone who truly cares for him. Varang, sees that, and so gives him that, at least somewhat.

Now a young Spider becomes trained by the dreaded clan of ruthless warriors, barely surviving the rigorous test but never giving up all for the hopes of finally being seen. And he really does keep up, fueled by his drive to belong and his tenacity. Combined with Varang’s brainwashing, Spider comes out as a deadly and formidable foe, one of the Ash People. Barely a shred of innocence and kindness remains, only the sense of duty and drive to fulfill the wishes of his stand-in mother (Varang).

So time goes on, and the Sully’s have established themselves in Awatlu. But instead of humans attacking, the since-dormant Ash People do. And it is in all the fighting where the Sully’s seem to notice a rather short Na’vi, wielding two short dual blades and donning a wrap around his entire face, but appearing to be coated in a layer of gray paint and dark stripes all over his body. What’s worse is all the scars and marks he has, like an experienced soldier. He falls in a large battle with the Metka’yina tribe, and it is when he is tied and captured when they realize who the masked warrior is. He doesn’t speak at all but they identify the ‘Na’vi’ the one who felled numerous warriors even at disadvantage, as their long lost friend and ‘brother’. But when they begin to try to connect to him again, they find so little remains of their best friend now. All the members of the family, even Neytiri and others try to bring back the sweet boy that once existed. But they find it shockingly difficult, for all that seems to remain is the warrior of the Ash People, Yo’ (“be perfect, flawless” according to the dictionary). But there possibly seems a shred of hope when the metaphorical mask begins to crack.

So sorry bout all this but I’ve had this idea for a while and wanted to share it 😅 Quote a few holes in the story but I like the idea of Spider becoming somewhat ‘different’ per say, and the Sully’s reconciling over the last when they see what happens to a supposed brother and son. A sort of ‘what have we done’ with a ‘what has he become’ kind of thing. But Spider angst to Spider love is all I crave.

Ash Spider AU

Oh my goodness, I want this story in my life so much!

I have so many ideas rattling around in my head for this story. It really could start similar to Storms of the Past, with Neytiri freaking out and throwing Spider out. But instead of the kids going after him and comforting him they are stopped, told Spider will be fine and to give him time.

Maybe Spider got lost, he was so upset he wasn't paying attention and before he knew it...

Night hits and Spider is still lost but now he is also surrounded by nocturnal predators, hungry ones. I'm picturing something similar to Jake and the Palulukan from the first Avatar. Not a Palulukan chasing Spider but a similar 'flee for your life' moment with a smaller predator. Difference is where Jake made the choice to jump Spider didn't see the cliff and ended up falling.

Norm and Max back at base finally realise Spider is missing and start looking for him. They call Jake where they find out Spider had left HOURS before. He should have been back to Hell's Gate before noon but never turned up.

The scientists and a few Na'vi start looking for the kid, only a few Na'vi because of who Spider was. Despite looking for days they never find him.

This idea also gives me a lot of ideas about the Ash Clan. Where they would live, their culture, how much the volcano is a part of their lives, etc... I've always pictured them in a coastal area, whether an island or not I'm not sure yet. Either way I've always pictured something similar to this...

There is always lava flowing into the ocean, always smoke and ash billowing from the volcano. Big erruptions are rare but the Ash People know what to do, how to handle them so it isn't a big deal.

Even with the threat of the volcano hanging over their heads the Ash People will not leave. Their island is bountiful, plants and other life flourish there thanks to the volcano and the nutrient rich soil.

I really want to write this story but won't start it until I finish one of my other WIPs. Two on going stories is enough at one time. If anyone has thoughts or ideas I would love to hear them. I want to brainstorm this idea and try to get an outline going so when it is time to write I can.

[practically-an-x-man]

Was watching Multiverse of Madness with my dad last night and we got into a discussion about Marvel multiverse theories... and I actually came up with one that I think is pretty neat?? Not that I genuinely believe this is the direction they're going with things... But it would be cool.

Gwen Stacy and Kate Bishop are the same person.

Explanation for this idea under the cut.

Now I'm trying to figure out how best to articulate this thought, so bear with me if this sounds a little funny.

First of all, the obvious point is that they're both played by Hailee Steinfeld - Gwen in Spiderverse, Kate in Hawkeye. Now, the MCU is kind of inconsistent when it comes to actors playing characters across the multiverse (Benedict Cumberbatch is always Doctor Strange, but there are three different Spider-Men, things like that), and I know most of this media-wise is just fan service for the audience, but I think I've uncovered a little bit of logic behind it.

Characters with innate powers are always the same actor, characters who develop powers are not. AKA, Wong and Mordo and Strange are consistent because they have a natural affinity towards magic, Professor X is consistently Patrick Stewart because he's always a mutant (assuming the James McAvoy version is meant to "age into" Patrick Stewart), and Wanda falls alternatively into either of those camps depending on what version of her we're referring to (she's either a witch or a mutant, but has natural abilities either way). However, Spider-Man is given powers by the spider, not born with them, so it can be a different person/actor. Same thing with Mr. Fantastic (cosmic radiation), Captain Carter (supersoldier serum), Captain Marvel/Binary (more cosmic energy), and the others we see in MoM that already have variants in different movies. Different actors, since logically those powers could be given to anyone in the right circumstance. Black Bolt is an Inhuman, but doesn't have another film version we've seen, so he's not a problem.

Now, Hailee Steinfeld plays both Gwen and Kate - neither of which have innate abilities. Kate is a skilled archer but doesn't have superpowers, and Gwen was bitten by a radioactive spider like any other Spider-person. So her being played by the same actor makes things... interesting.

There is the hitch that these characters have completely different names, but the MCU has already changed up some characters' names while maintaining the same character (i.e. Mary Jane Watson becomes Michelle Jones), so I'm not particularly concerned about that little discrepancy. So what if Kate Bishop is the version of Gwen that could have become Spider-Woman, but didn't?

Now let's think about things age-wise: Kate Bishop and Tom Holland's Peter could have been the same age. Kate is 23 in Hawkeye, and Peter is meant to be roughly 18 at the end of No Way Home - but Peter Blipped and Kate didn't, which explains how she's five years older.

Two superheroes, who pre-Blip were the same age, who both live in New York... what if they were on the same school trip?

You know the one I'm meaning. We don't see it in the MCU's Peter Parker, but the story is always that he goes on a school trip, gets bitten by the spider, becomes Spider-Man. But if Kate was with him on the same trip... that means there are two versions of how this could go:

The MCU version: Peter gets bitten and becomes Spidey, while Kate/Gwen takes an interest in archery and becomes Hawkeye.

The Spiderverse version: Kate/Gwen is the one to get bitten, and Peter ends up becoming that universe's Lizard instead (notice that the MCU/Earth-616 doesn't have a Lizard of its own either...)

But they're the same person. Genetically, multiversally, the same. Kate Bishop could have become Spider-Woman, but she missed her opportunity and Peter was bitten instead. Kate Bishop is the MCU's equivalent of Gwen Stacy.

(disclaimer that yes I know they're completely different characters and the comics are nothing like the film/TV versions, I know that Gwen and Kate have different backstories and family lives and all that, I know that Hailee Steinfeld was just cast bc she's a talented and popular actor right now, this theory is just for fun and I'm not trying to claim it's actually something Marvel is planning)

[currentlyfckingurmom]

Arachnoid

Part 2: Little Spider

At nine o'clock the next morning, Rory is sitting in her lab, face turned down looking into a microscope, thinking about a certain blonde woman.

"Gosh, she was beautiful," Rory mumbles to herself.

"Sorry, what was that? Didn't quite catch it," a raspy unfamiliar voice says.

"Oh, jesus!" Rory yells. She turns around, and standing there is the Black Widow. "W-what are you doing here at my place of work, M-miss Black Widow?"

"Hm, you're cute, Arachnid."

"Would you keep your voice down!" Her pitch is an octave higher than usual. "And it's Arachnoid. I resemble a spider. I'm not actually a spider. Oid, not id."

"Oh, okay. So like hemorrhoids," the redhead shrugs. Rory responds with a glare.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off saving the world or something?"

"Nothing to save it from at the moment. Thought I'd do a little digging to pass the time," she shrugs. "Rory Jade LaCroix. Born September 30, 1996. About 5'8", 150ish pounds. Your parents, James and Diana LaCroix, died in a car accident when you were seventeen, although that was likely a cover story. Your sister Hailey passed later that night in the hospital from her injuries. Three years ago, your girlfriend, Abby Smith, was murdered. You were the prime suspect. The case has since run cold. You have enhanced abilities such as super strength, web production, magnified senses, and even more that aren't yet on file."

Rory is tense and on edge at the mention of her family. Nobody talks about her family. "Alright, okay, I get it-"

"You attended Columbia University with a double major in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering. You also had minors in computer science, forensic science, and psychology. You really took advantage of that full ride they gave you, huh? Good for you, I respect that. Now you work here. Duquesne Scientific Advancements. They pay pretty well, but you're bored here, aren't you? Can't blame you. I've never been one to sit behind a desk, either."

"What's your point, Widow," Rory asks with a clenched jaw. "I already knew you were looking into me."

"Oh, you did? And how did you know that?" she quirks a brow. Rory doesn't let herself be intimidated, instead relaxing her shoulders and falling into a mindset of playful banter.

"Since you clearly know so much about me, why don't you tell me?" she smirks. If the redhead doesn't know about EDNA, she'd rather keep it that way. It could be quite advantageous. The Widow returns the smirk.

"You're quite a character, LaCroix. You could be a useful asset to us."

"And if I don't want to join SHIELD?"

Natasha bristles at the fact that Rory knows the name of the top secret organization, but she doesn't show it. Rory is extremely intelligent. She knows a lot more than she lets on.

"Well, it's your decision, of course. But I'm sure my sister would love to see you around more often."

"Sister? I don't know your sist– oh. You mean the blonde? From the other night?"

"Mhm."

"Huh. Um, well, I'll think about it, Miss Black Widow. For now, I should really get back to work."

"Alright, then. I'll see you soon, LaCroix." The redhead leaves the lab, and Rory lets out a shiver. That was fucking terrifying.

~

"She certainly didn't jump at the opportunity to join SHIELD," Natasha tells Nick. "But I think she'll come around. She's too smart for the job she has now. Too energetic. She's like a little puppy, it's disgusting. She wants to get out and do more good, I know it. And she's got a major crush on Yelena, so."

"Oh, joy. So you recruited a lovesick puppy?" Director Fury grumbles with a frown.

"Hey, this was your idea," she smirks.

"I suppose it was. What did you tell her?"

"I told her that I know who she is," Natasha shrugs, "And that she'd be useful here."

The Director hums in thought. "Don't lose her, Romanoff. I want this kid on my side."

~

"EDNA, who's she talking to?" Rory whispers as she watches the redhead move gracefully down the crowded New York streets.

"She is texting a contact saved as 'YB'. The text reads 'I'm being followed'."

"Oh, shit," Rory mutters.

"YB says 'By whom?' The target says 'A knockoff Spiderman'."

"Oh that is so rude," Rory whines.

"Would you like me to implode the cellular device? It will not kill her, but it will do some serious damage."

"No thank you, EDNA. That's very sweet of you, though."

Despite her cover being blown, Rory continues to move from rooftop to rooftop, wondering where the redheaded SHIELD agent will lead her.

The woman enters a worn down apartment building, and Rory watches from a nearby roof. After a few minutes, nothing happens so she moves closer. She uses her advanced hearing to locate the Widow's voice. Once she does, she crouches down on the fire escape, peeking in through the window. She listens intently to the conversation inside.

"How long was she following you?"

"I don't know. I didn't see her for the last few blocks. I think I might've lost her."

"Hm, or you're losing your edge and she's standing right outside that window," the blonde says, pointing to where Rory is currently crouched down out of sight. Every muscle in her body is tense, but relaxes when she realizes that they don't actually know she's there.

"Fuck off, Yelena." The sisters move onto a more mundane conversation as Rory drifts off into her thoughts. Yelena. It's nice to put a name to the face. Holy shit I feel like a stalker right now, she thinks to herself. Clearly they don't think Rory is a threat, she realizes.

She sighs, feeling like she's invading their privacy, even though she's just trying to protect herself. She moves to make her escape, and accidentally knocks over a potted plant that she hadn't seen. Oh shit. With her heart thrumming in her ears, she doesn't hear the footsteps approaching.

"Oh, come on! That was my favorite plant!" the blonde–Yelena–complains.

"Um...oops?" Rory shrugs. "I was actually just leaving, so..."

"Nuh-uh. Come inside. Come. We need to have a talk, little spider."

"Yes, ma'am," Rory deflates.

Masterlist