#slate side missions

[bunnithechubs]

The Solo Dates (House 1+2)

All the winners enjoyed having some one on one time with Penny after a long day fishing. Spending time like this was very different now that there weren't 7 other guys fighting for the same attention. All of them increased their romance bar with Penny and Jaxon was lucky enough to show Penny exactly what that mouth do! ;)

@simsmoonie @neishroom @riverofjazzsims @belsasim

[cyberstrm]

-> catch me if i fall

levi ackerman x gn!reader

cws: injury details, injured reader

a/n rewatching aot,,,, soft levi brainrot

"what the hell are you doing."

levi's harsh voice cut through the silent kitchen. you could tell he wasn't asking, per se, more like demanding to know why you were up.

two weeks ago, the scouts were on a recon mission outside the walls. it was supposed to be standard, but things went rogue quickly. your ODM gear snapped and you fell tens of meters through the trees. you hit the ground, hard, and shattered your knee. you don't remember a lot of it, just a lot of your own screaming and your captain whisking you onto his horse.

a day or so later, you woke up, knee in layers of bandages. you'd been ordered to stay in bed by your captain (and partner, awkwardly enough) levi ackerman. you'd never seen him so rattled, hands shaking, voice trembling.

"you fell, you fell so far and i couldn't catch you in time."

honestly, staying in bed was getting very boring, so you chanced a trip to the kitchen in the middle of the night when you assumed levi was asleep.

evidently, he wasn't.

"i...um, well, i wanted-"

"you're supposed to be in bed, your leg isn't healed yet."

you scowled. "yeah, i know, but-"

"look at you, you can barely hold yourself up." his tone was harsh, even though it was clear he was trying to be caring. he approached you slowly, setting a hand at your lower back. you flinched away, annoyed.

"i know. i'm bored, and being cooped up in my room is driving me mad." you turned to face him, but moved too quickly. your knee twinged, and you legs buckled.

levi caught you swiftly, holding you tight. his gaze softened.

"listen, i know it's hard. but you're not going to heal if you move around too much."

you sniffled, feeling tears prick in your eyes.

"shhh, angel, i know. it's okay. come on, let's get you back into bed."

he helped you back to bed, holding your waist tightly as you limped beside him.

he set you down on the cool white sheets, and tucked you in neatly. he stroked the hair from your eyes gently.

"stay for a bit?" you asked, batting your eyelids.

"mhm."

he sat by your side, still stroking your hair softly.

"i'm sorry." he said out of the blue.

"for what?" you asked, puzzled.

"for not being able to catch you, when you fell."

you chuckled. "don't be silly, it wasn't your fault." you sat up, looking into his slate grey eyes. he didn't look convinced. you took his face in your hands. "it wasn't your fault."

"i'll catch you next time. i swear it."

"i mean, you caught me earlier, in the kitchen," you smiled weakly, trying to make him feel better.

you could've sworn you saw a smile flicker across his face. he leant forward and kissed you.

"get some sleep now, doll."

[drabblesandimagines]

Scoot On Over

Leon Kennedy x female reader, established relationship, fluff with a tiny bit of suggestive spice at the end

Leon threw himself down onto the mattress with a relieved sigh – a cliché, but there was nothing like sleeping in your own bed after being away. It had been a mixture of questionable motel beds, a couple of nights in the backseat of the car, another night of no sleep at all and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t on the brink of exhaustion, running on adrenaline until he made it back home to you that evening.

He rubs his cheek against your pillow, inhaling the scent of your perfume and allows himself to close his eyes. Now, he just needs you in his arms for a perfect’s night sleep…

--

“Leon?”

Nothing – again. You’d worry he had stopped breathing entirely if he wasn’t letting out soft snores from where his face was pressed against your pillow. He’d been away on a mission for two long weeks and had arrived home early evening, duffel bag in hand, covered in fading bruises, kisses and wandering hands tinged with weariness despite his obvious excitement to be back home with you.

You made small talk as you’d made a light dinner – get him fed and then you could both have an early night. He didn’t like to talk much about his missions had entailed – he wanted to keep the two things as separate in his brain as he could – but he knew if he needed to talk about something, you’d be there and that was enough.

You’d sent him up to bed first whilst you finished up in the kitchen – you liked to start off each morning with a clean slate in there and it would only take you ten minutes tops to sort, you’d assured him, a cheeky pat to his backside as you encouraged him up the stairs.

He’d changed into a pair of plaid PJ bottoms and a plain white tee, so he must’ve brushed his teeth and then just… collapsed? You place a hand on the broad expanse of his back, giving him a light shake. “Sweetheart?”

The problem is, Leon is broad and tall and currently, somehow, taking up the whole of your double bed. You can’t even see a reasonable space you could try and curl up into against his side and be remotely comfortable, the way his limbs are spread out like a starfish.

“Leon,” you place another hand on his back and give a more vigorous shake. “I just need you to scooch on up a bit, sweetheart.”

Nothing.

You change tact and try and lift an arm, maybe you can get him to roll with a little encouragement, or he’ll wake up? Surely as an agent he’s a light sleeper anyway, what if you were an enemy or any sort of threat?

His arm is deadweight, all muscle - even if you try and lift it with both hands, embarrassingly, you can’t get it even an inch or so off the mattress.

You try and push it inwards so it’ll sit tight against his body, but it just won’t move.

“Leon?” You grab hold of his shoulder and shake it with all of your strength.

“Yeah, baby?” He mumbles.

A sign of life – hallelujah. “Can you move along a bit for me?”

“Sure.”

He doesn’t move.

“Just need you to scooch up a bit for me, handsome.” “Mm-hm…” And he snuggles his face further into your pillow, an adorable smile on his face as he does.

With a sigh, you try and wedge yourself into the space in defeat – maybe he’ll subconsciously feel you and lift his arm up for a cuddle, and then you’d be able to fit a little more comfortably? He did prefer to sleep with an arm wrapped around you, keeping you pressed close up against him, legs tangled together.

After trying out various positions in the hopes of coaxing him into a spoon, a few more vigorous shakes and, finally, a more than playful smack to his backside that achieved no more than a mumble – not proud of that one, but needs must - you admit defeat, kneel down beside the bed and stare at his slumbering face in thought.

He must be utterly exhausted and, despite the frustration of not being able to cuddle up against him after so many nights apart, it is flattering, you suppose, that he must feel safe within your company to allow himself to relax so completely and be out like a literal light.

You lean down to pick up his neglected pillow and press a kiss to his forehead, and grab the throw from the end of the bed – looks like it’s a night on the couch.

--

Leon wakes up slowly as light filters in through the curtains. His body had been aching from his time away, but it seems a night in his bed has set him right. He stretches his arms out, expecting for a hand to brush up against your warmth but is dismayed when he finds the bed empty.

He turns and sits up, cautiously, rubbing the back of his head with a loud yawn and takes in his surroundings, wondering if you’ve just nipped to the en-suite, but the door to it is ever so slightly ajar.

Your phone is plugged in on the bedside table, charging, which is odd – although not glued to the thing, it's strange for you not to have taken it with you if you’d gone downstairs to make breakfast…

There’s a sickening feeling in his stomach when he realizes he doesn’t remember you coming to bed at all, that he had been waiting for you to come join him and…

Hazy memories of you calling out to him?

Fuck.

He jumps up to his feet, dashes out the bedroom and takes the stairs down two at a time, trying to think. He’d left his gun in his duffel bag, hadn’t even taken it up with him, left it by the door when he arrived home last night. Had he been drugged? He had felt exhausted, but he’d put that down to the poor sleep over the last while. Could someone have followed him home last night, drugged him somehow, a tranquilizer, waited for him to be out for the count to swoop in and…?

His heart stops as he sees you lying on your side on the couch, the throw from the bed now twisted around your legs, arms wrapped around his pillow.

Safe and sound, and fast asleep.

He exhales, calming himself for a moment with a chuckle, before kneeling down besides you and tilting his head, awkwardly, so he can kiss you up the lips.

The sensation is enough for you to stir, blinking up at him with a dozy smile.

“Morning.”

“I don’t recall us having a fight last night, sweetheart.” He grins at his joke, but it’s one that falls flat.

“A fight?” You repeat, confused.

“You know, when couples fight, one of them ends up sleeping on the couch...”

“Oh, yeah,” you yawn, sitting up with the slightest wince. “You wouldn’t let me in the bed.”

“Huh?”

“When I came up to bed you were dead to the world, literally star-fished. I tried to get you to scoot up a little so I could get in but it was impossible, so I slept down here.”

“Seriously?”

“Mm-hm, you must’ve been exhausted.” You nod, shuffling around to place your feet flat on the ground. “Lemme make us some coffee… Ow!” You hiss as you stand, placing a hand on the small of your back.

Leon is quick to his feet, eyes wide in alarm. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m okay, it’s just my back,” you rub at the sore spot, the muscles feeling tender. It had been fine last night… “Maybe the couch isn’t the best for sleeping on.”

 You take another step forward, intent on heading to the kitchen, but there’s no hiding the wince from Leon’s gaze. “Oh, baby…”

“It’ll be fine, I just need to walk it off.”

“Uh-uh, come on,” and those muscular arms that were so impossible to move last night are suddenly scooping you up and holding you against his chest as he heads back towards the stairs. “Let’s get you to bed. It’s still early and a couple of hours on a proper, supportive mattress might work wonders.”

You wrap your arms around his neck in turn. “Oh, I know your game, Kennedy.”

“And what’s that?” He replies, nonchalantly as he begins to ascend the stairs, careful not to knock your legs against the banister.

“The other activity you like to conduct in bed, the one that’s not sleeping? I just…” You tense in his arms, looking a little hesitant. “I don’t know if my back’s gonna play ball...”

Leon reaches the top of the landing and smirks, “Trust me - stretches work wonders for back pain, sweetheart.”

He strides into the bedroom and kicks the door closed with his foot.

It doesn’t open again until late afternoon. -- AN: Inspired by my boyfriend actually star-fishing me outta the bed and me having to sleep on the couch x

Masterlist . Requests welcome . Ko-fi

Comments, reblogs and likes make my whole day x

[heartofmortis]

✧ exile (what a ghostly scene)

. *. ⋆ Anakin / Vader x Reader

summary: you were bail organa’s ward, raised on alderaan with your younger sister. in the twilight of the clone war, you and anakin fell in love. when the war died, it dragged you and anakin to early graves with it — leaving only darth vader behind. even after years without you, he still wants you back. and there is nothing he would not do to bring you back to him. . .

tags: angst, tragic romance, suitless vader, no y/n, gn reader, inspired by the 2020 vader comics & vader immortal, past major character death, mourning, vader needs a hug, resurrection

note: my first reader/second person fic — i’m sorry if the tense is bad ajsjwjwjqjq. i’ve had this in my drafts for soooo long and i finally decided to finish it 🫶

word count: 1k

part 1 of 4

The stars have died, fizzling out into oblivion. All that remains is a charcoal heart that once belonged to Anakin Skywalker.

The boy from Tatooine is unreachable now, trapped inside the twisted soul of Darth Vader. The galaxy’s beloved Hero With No Fear is gone. With the rise of the Empire, the Jedi and their sympathisers will be erased from memory. A clean slate to start a new era.

Three years after the creation of the Empire, Darth Vader stands alone. His tower on Mustafar is isolating; its strategic position is a constant reminder of that day. His injuries still hurt sometimes: phantom itches on his now metal legs; scars from his burns that did not fully heal. The medical droids say he is lucky — the fire could have done more serious damage, and he could have been forced to rely on a suit keeping him alive for the rest of his days. Instead, the ebony coloured mask and suit he wears are to conceal his identity. A precaution so that Anakin Skywalker can fade from people’s tongues and memory, leaving the tyranny of Darth Vader in its place.

The weight of his failures is not the heaviest burden. Darth Vader drowns in his anger and grief. He was not strong enough to kill Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was not strong enough to save you.

(All things die. Even stars burn out.)

You were the stars in his sky, his light in the dark, the silvery moon to his blazing sun. So tender and kind. Perhaps your heart was too good for this world. Perhaps, it was your weakness all along. (How could peace ever love a dragon?)

Since you met, you had been Anakin’s sun. You anchored him; guided him home. You were his destiny. And, without you, the galaxy had turned cold. The fiery world outside, all hot air and lava fields, only stood as a reminder of his failure. He’d lost you. After everything Anakin had tried — surrendering himself to the dark side, betraying the light — he could not save you. Time had not quelled the pain.

Vader wonders if you would still recognise him. His copper hair has grown longer (he remembers how you used to cut it for him after he returned from another mission, and you’d giggle as you braided thin locks together), but his face hides behind an obsidian mask. You always loved the blue of Anakin’s eyes, but now they are blazing amber.

Mornings are the only time Vader allows himself to dwell on the past. It is when he finds himself alone and does not have to hide.

Vader recalls how you arrived on Mustafar like it was yesterday. (You haunt him every waking moment.) He could sense your conflicted emotions as soon as you disembarked your ship. Vader wasted no time approaching you, drawing you into his arms (where you belonged; where you were safe). His lips reconnected with yours, fitting together like puzzle pieces as he kissed you hungrily, his hands settled on your hips to keep you close.

You and Anakin had met after turning nineteen. He and Obi-Wan were called to Alderaan to protect the Queen and Viceroy from an assassination attempt. Being their ward, you had been there the whole time and quickly formed a connection with the young padawan — your relationship had blossomed during the Clone Wars.

He rested his forehead against yours as you spoke. “I heard terrible things. Tell me none of it is true.”

Vader hadn’t replied immediately and instead drew his head back to look at you. He would tell you any sweet lie if he needed to as he fought to quell the anger flaring in his eyes. “What have you been told?”

“Obi-Wan told me—”

Vader’s grasp around you tightened protectively. “Obi-Wan is alive?”

“He said you’d killed Jedi. Killed younglings.”

“You must not believe him, my love. He’s a traitor.”

It wasn’t the answer you sought, and you took a step backwards out of your husband’s grasp. “What have you done?”

“I did this for you. To save you.” He cupped your chin in his flesh hand and whispered your name. “I love you.”

Your eyes trained into his. There was no denial, no remorse in his stature; his only regret was letting Obi-Wan tell you anything.

He repeated his words. “I did this for you.”

From the shadows of your cloak, you drew a blaster. Only a small, weak thing. Vader watched your hands tremble. He did admire your courage. “Fix this,” you demanded. “Please,” you begged.

Anger flickered in Vader’s eyes. He had never seen you unimpressed with him. With an easy glide of his hand, Vader used the Force to knock the blaster out of your grip and pin your arms by your sides

“I am stronger than the Chancellor now,” he explained desperately, drawing you to his side. “I can overthrow him. Then you and I can be together; we can run away — just like you always wanted to.”

(But you didn’t. He lost you. Some might call you a traitor — Vader maintains that you were misguided.)

Three years later, regret still festers inside Vader’s hollow soul. There must have been a way to save you.

He misses you endlessly: craving your touch and the sound of your voice. (There is nothing Vader desires more than to have you back in his arms.)

Part of him wants to forget. To cast his memories of you into an abyss; to put the past behind him. But it is an impossible task. You are too well tangled into his soul. You haunt him. (And you’ll haunt him until his death.)

Today, there is no time to focus on you. A new morning brings meetings and training. You were Anakin’s Achilles Heel — but Darth Vader shows no such weakness. As Vader sits on his throne, reading over mission logs and other updates from the spread of the Empire across the galaxy, he receives a message: he must make his return to Coruscant immediately. (Your memory pulls him under the ocean again until he can no longer breathe.)

[nonameonlyflowers]

Pillars of the Light -new blog, reupload-

-this is a reupload of the old intro post that was deleted with the old blog-

You were six when you were taken by the Sun clan.

You spent most of your life in a limbo of sorts: your childhood was comfortable enough, yet you're expected to spend your adult years serving the clan that took your away from your family. You're an agent for the people that care little about you, in a time when tensions are brewing between clans and the demonic threat is rising in the wastes to the north.

An unexpected mission changes your life… again. But maybe, for someone determined it can be an opportunity. Gain Freedom through Power.

Reach Heaven through Hell.

Or, maybe, you’ll decide that Hell is a nice enough place.

A fantasy story I’m working on-and-off in my free time, so updates will be slow. I’m intending for it to remain a free game from start to finish. 

As of 09/07/24, the prologue and ch1 are done and can be found here.

Current word count: 62k words w/o code/67k with

CoG forum thread is over there

Planned features:

a story with a focus on plot and character interactions;

elements of horror and thriller;

a MC that is not a completely blank slate, but whose stats and relationships will affect their behaviour;

a mix of adventure and political intrigue storylines;

though there will be opportunities to build relationships, this won’t be a romance-focused game (romance will be a possibility, but not a focus).

(eventually) gain a voice in your head (for free)

(eventually) gain special powers (not for free) (and maybe decide it was not worth it)

(very eventually) decide that maybe you just want to burn it all to the ground

an attempt to mix western and eastern fantasy

The story is expected to eventually touch upon some pretty heavy topics in addition to the usual (by usual I mean profanity, fantasy violence, blood and injury etc.). More details in the game itself.

Characters:

The Guard: Throughout your childhood, Ember had been by your side, whether either of you wanted this or not. If he detested his position, he never showed it; in fact, he showed very little at all. You don't know what kind of person lies behind the polite mask, so if you ever see him again, you might find him to be very different from what you'd guessed about him.

The Princess: Neith had a sheltered childhood. A very sheltered childhood, mandated by her mother's fear for the life of the family's sole heiress. Now she's trying to fight, but not against the role of the heir itself; rather, she feels that to become a worthy leader to her family, she must grow and learn first. Her behaviour is continiously putting her in opposition to her mother, and you sometimes wonder just how far she is willing to go.

The Priestess: An unusual priestess of the Temple dedicated to the Crying Goddess. She had asked to be sent along with you on your mission, but shows little interest in the mission's success. Cold and irritable, she seems to have personal reasons for following you, and occasionally you notice anger burning in her eyes - one that is not aimed at your enemies.

The Ascendant: He's the one you're supposed to be helping. He's also perhaps the one whom you can trust the least, no matter how friendly his smiles seem. You're all using each other, and as time passes, you realize more and more how precarious his position is. You suppose it's to be expected: if he didn't need help, you wouldn't have been sent to aid him.

tags: @interact-if

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Mission Control 25

Warnings: non/dubcon, violence, blood, stalking, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: Captain Hydra

Summary: a man marches into your life on a mission

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging ❤️

You shiver in the front of the military grade truck. The back shifts as the soldier moves around in the cargo bed. You watched him lift his dusty motorcycle before he pointed you up to front. The heat is blasting but it’s not enough to cut through the frigid chill. 

You glance at the crooked cabin. You’re both happy and scared to leave this place. You examine the lumpy ground, wondering which rises and falls are traps, trying to pinpoint where you got yourself snared. 

The driver’s door swings open and jostles the whole truck. The soldier heaves himself into the seat and snaps the door shut. You turn your head straight as you feel him watching you. He frowns and twists the dial for the heat. It’s strange how he never seems to feel the cold. Then again, he isn’t the same as you. 

He grips the large wheel and steps on the gas. There’s no pretense in your flight. You wonder why though. Is it because of what he did there? Of that iron smell that won’t quite leave the floorboards? Or maybe it’s the constant cold and whistling winds? Do those things even affect him? 

He peels a hand away and gestures, a placid wave as if to calm you. You stare at him. He grabs the wheel again and his eyes stay on the road. He huffs. 

“I’ll try not to be afraid,” you say. 

He nods. That’s good enough. He doesn’t look concerned. He’s always rigid and alert but if he’s not geared up for a fight, then you won’t expect one. 

You cross your arms and try to relax. The seat is stiff and smells dingy. The motor is loud and the axle rattly. He steers with ease, with determination. Wherever you’re going, he won’t stop until you get there. 

The sky’s hue rolls from gray to slate to near pitch black. He drives on. He hands you a packet of trail mix and you nibble on it. Your eyes begin to droop and you yawn, fighting to stay awake. You flinch as he reaches to pet your head. 

He caresses behind your ear then flutters over your cheek. He’s giving you permission to sleep. You should at least cry. You close your eyes and lean against the quaking truck. You sink into a shallow trance, your racing mind stymied by your exhausted body. 

You feel the light change beyond your eyelids. You only lift them as the grayness turns almost white. You sit up as the engine continues its thunderous growls. You sit up and rub your cheeks. 

You look ahead at the large cedars dusted in frost. The truck chugs up the steady winding incline of the hills. The soldier’s gaze is set. He will not stop until you arrive. You sense that you’re close to wherever he means to be. 

He curves around a final deep swerve in the road and through the trees, you spot a peaked roof. He slows as he approaches the facade. It’s entirely unlike the place you just left. The ground is smooth and undisturbed, a layer of snow carpeting cut by the treads of the tires as they crunch through. 

The wooden exterior is trimmed in white as the flakes continue to swirl down. The rich brown planks frame large windows that let in the winter haze. You stare in disbelief. It looks... normal. More than that, it is luxurious. 

You draw around the back of the house, down a crooked side path, and he steers behind a cluster of trees. The shifter cranks as the truck jerks to a stop. The soldier kills the motor and rips the keys from the ignition. 

He gets out first. You wait for him before you dare. He helps you down in the clunky boots he offered. They’re much too big but you expect it’s not unintentional. Your injured leg requires a bit of extra space. As you step off the metal ledge and into the snow, he tuts. 

Before you can stop him, he has you in your arms. The boots hang precariously from your ankles. He carries you toward the back of the house. The back deck is littered in more snow. The house is dark within but not ominous like the backwoods hideaway of before. 

He stops to unlock the door. Another keypad. You can tell it’s newly installed. You have no doubt he is well prepared. He did not choose this place by chance. 

He carries you inside, stopping to kick his boots on the mat. You crane to see through the nearest archway that peeks into a large kitchen. No corrosion, no dust, no dingy stains. He presses on and only stops to set you on a cushy sectional cast in shadows. 

His footsteps stalk away and a light flicks on above. The iron chandelier with its crisscross arms is set with small round bulbs that give a soft glow to the space. You peer around in awe and confusion. How did he find this place? 

He paces the edge of the room, as if inspecting. He goes the large fire place and opens a hidden panel in the white brick. He tweaks the controls and flames pop to life. You gasp. He shuts the cover and turns to you. He stares expectantly. 

You sit forward, “it’s nice.” 

His expression eases and he nods. His fingers unfurl and he takes another glance around. His steps turn listless. 

“The stuff... it needs to come in?” 

He holds up his hand and stops you. He wags his finger. You recline and give a shrug, “alright, I’ll stay.” 

He drops his hand then marches out. You peek after him then make a face. This is... odd. You can’t complain about the upgrade but it’s still very unnerving. How long will this last? How long until the next place? 

The back door opens and closes, several times between the clomping of his thick soles. He continues in and out until finally he twists the latch back audibly. You want to get up and see what he’s doing in the kitchen and between the shuffling and shifting. You’re a bit too tired for that and the prospect of standing makes your leg pulse. 

When he appears again, he traces a mop along the edge of the rug, then returns with a broom to dust off the carpet. His boots are gone. He’s settling in. 

When he finishes cleaning the mess he trailed in, he comes to take off your boots too. He carries them away then scoops you up altogether. You squeal as the sudden rise brings you out of your stupour. 

“Captain?” You eke out. He falters and look at you. His eyes skim away thoughtfully and he shakes his head. “Sorry.” 

He exhales and carries you out of the room. His cheek twitches as he thinks. You didn’t mean to upset him. You don’t know what else to call him. He takes you upstairs, pausing so you can flip on another light, then strides confidently to a doorway. Another switch flicked up. 

He angles you through the door and presents the ivory and teal tile. The large basin tub stands centerpiece to the space and a wall of mirrors reflect it. It’s a lifestyle magazine worthy room. He sets you gently onto the clamshell lid of the toilet. He steps back and points to the tub. 

“Oh, uh, yes, I do feel a bit grimy.” 

He crosses the room and taps the fluffy cotton towel on the bar. Then the gestures to the bath shelf with all the bottles and jars. You can’t help but brace for the boot to drop on your head. 

You get up gingerly and limp over to him. He shies away as you do. You reach for his jacket and he shakes his head, catching your hands. He clings to them for just a moment before he guides them to your dress. 

“Alone?” You ask. 

He nods. 

“Okay,” you slip free of his touch. You back away and turn to peer into the tub. You sway as the porcelain calls to you. A nice, clean bath. “Um,” you spin to face him as he heads for the door, “wait.” 

He stops in the frame and stiffly turns back. Your heart races as you search for the courage to ask. You remember the stories, the legends of what he once was. Maybe he’s still there. 

“Can I call you Steve?” 

He flinches as if you slapped him. You suck in air and cover your mouth. Oh no, you’ve gone too far. You stare at each other as he trembles slightly. He tilts his head as his hands fidget on his belt. 

He slowly raises his hand and taps his ear. You shake you’re head, confused. You lower your arms. “I’m sorry--” 

He stomps and tugs his lobe before gesture a beak with his hand. His eyes blaze at you. You twine your fingers through each other. “Steve.” 

His brows rise and he takes half a step before stopping himself. He nods. Pauses. Nods again. Then he just goes. He leaves you alone with the echo of his name. 

[batgirl-1994]

Need a good superbat cry? I got you

So Bruce gets gravely injured an JL mission, It is bad, it is really really bad, basicly he can see his insides through the gaping wound in his abdomen, sensing his inevitable demise he requists Clark -who refuses to leave his side- to take him to the cave, he doesn't want to die in space, he wants to take his last breath amongst his family members, one last reprieve he gets to experience in life.

Clark takes him to the cave through the Zeta tubes. Alfred, Leslie and the whole batclan are there, all anxious eyes and rattling hearts.

Clark puts him in his medical cot in the cave and stands by his side holding his left hand, giving appropriate space to the team to work on him.

Bruce, who was dying, gives him a symapthatic look.

"Go... Clark... You... You... don't... have... to see this..." Bruce manages through breathlessness.

Bruce belives in the innocence of Clark's heart, his clean slate. Clark had the fortune to never see a loved one take their last breath, even if he was the last of his planet, he was spared the agony of witnessing its destruction.

This will destroy him.

"No... Never... I'm staying right here... I'm right here"

"Clark... Please... " Bruce barely whispers.

"Remember when I was shot with a kryptonite bullet 2 months ago, I thought I was dying, you said that you would never leave my side, I was terrified out of my mind and made you promise that you would stay till my last breath, Bruce... I'm just doing what you would do for me if the roles were reversed" Clark murmurs, caressing Bruce's palm with his hand.

For 2 hours straight, they try everything, stitshing, cautarizing the wound, tying the severed arteries, they give him blood, saline, and drugs to boost his circulation, but Bruce's heart eventually stops and they can't bring him back.

Clark never moved or budged an inch, holding Bruce's hand, through the bleeding, the cpr, and even through the shocks.

After they pronounce Bruce's death, the batfamily leaves Clark alone with Bruce and climb upstairs to process their grief.

Clark stays by his side, almost catatonic, no screaming, no tears, nothing, kneeling on the ground, a limb pale hand held firmly yet affectionately in both his hands and with his forehead against it, worshipping at a dead God's alter.

Alfred enters the cave demanding Clark to leave.

"Clark, this isn't him? It is just a shell of the real Bruce!"

"I can't, I'll stay till it is shrivled down to a coccon, till it no longer smells like him, till I can't recognise him"

"Clark. Son, please he would't want you to do this?"

"Alfred, you don't understand, I promised him to stay... I promised him... I prom..." Clark's voice finally cracks.

[espace--positif]

Focus and Distraction

A Zayne x F!Reader fluffy shortfic [Love and Deepspace]

Summary: What do you do when you’re distracted by your partner’s arms when trying to work? Arm wrestle him, of course. Pairing: Zayne x F!Reader WC: ~1.5k Content tags: fluff, suggestive themes, arm wrestling, thirsting over arms A/N: Reader is better than me cause I personally would’ve asked to be put in a chokehold and dragged to the bedr— *gets shoved in a van* THANKS FOR READING *scrumpt through the cracked windows as the van speeds off*

Read on AO3 // Masterlist

It was a day as normal as any, with Zayne tapping away at his laptop, buried in his work, while you polished off reports and fielded mission requests on your tablet. Seated comfortably at his kitchen table, you both toiled away at your respective responsibilities. You’d often engage in this coworking practice — it was the perfect solution to your unfortunately busy schedules, granting you a chance to see each other despite it all.

And the comfort that his calm presence provided during your work sessions was no secret; you found yourself more productive, more motivated, and less likely to spiral into needless anxieties when your slate grew a little too full. You liked to think he felt the same, that you could at least make his work more bearable, though he’d never verbalized it.

But today, his presence was beginning to become a bit of a problem.

You see, it was a balmy May afternoon, and with the weather becoming increasingly warmer, wardrobe changes naturally followed. Namely, Zayne’s dress shirt, usually neatly cuffed at the wrist, was now rolled up, exposing his sculpted arms. It was a minor change, one that could easily be overlooked and probably went unnoticed by everyone else, but it was all you could look at right now. Consuming your every thought, as your finger hovered over your tablet, occupied by nothing.

“It’s not break time yet,” Zayne sighed with his eyes still glued to his screen, and you startled. The man truly had a sixth sense.

The timer-clock you’d purchased for him as a gift, in the shape of a cute tomato, sat between you at the table, confirming that you were indeed only five and a half minutes into your fifteen-minute work block. You frowned at its adorable yet accusatory gaze.

“I know, I know,” you replied, willing yourself to return to your reports.

But the rhythmic typing that came from Zayne’s side of the table called you, and it wasn’t long before your eyes were glancing upwards again. The small, almost imperceptible throb of his arm muscles as he pressed down on the enter key, a push ever so slightly harsher than his normal typing, had you captivated. You loudly tapped at your tablet, paying the endless words on your report no mind as you stared. If he could hear you working, then he couldn’t possibly catch you in the act, right?

But he did. Eyes darting up impossibly fast, Zayne’s gaze caught yours and you were far too slow to look away.

“If you need to take a break right now, we can do that,” he said. He’d always been understanding of the ebbs and flows of focus, and how uncontrollable those tides were. So when you would become visibly distracted, he’d be less rigorous with enforcing the schedule you’d both set for yourselves. Little did he know that he was the very reason that your mind was endlessly wandering today.

“Nope,” you said as your shifty eyes met with your tablet once more, only to find that you’d deleted the last five lines of your report in your blind tapping. Resigned, you sighed. “Ok, maybe I do need a break.”

A soft smile tugged at Zayne’s lips as he half-closed the lid of his laptop, directing his full attention to you. “Short walk or tea?”

You pondered your two choices for a bit before a glint of playfulness flashed in your eyes. You couldn’t suppress the smile that invaded your expression as you responded: “Neither. Arm wrestle me.”

Zayne raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Arm wrestle?”

“Yeah, you know, to refocus,” you offered. “Something about muscle activation, blood flow…”

You trailed off, hoping he’d have some explanation that could give credence to your odd request.

“Stretching one’s muscles is important to reduce strain caused by long stationary periods, and light exercise can improve blood flow, which is linked to—”

“Exaaactly,” you interrupted, which earned you the mildest frown, more of a pout really. But you had more pressing matters at hand. “So let’s do it.”

You gently swept the devices and papers that littered the table to the side before leaning your elbow onto the dark wood. Zayne stared at you for a moment, incredulous, but soon obliged, clamping your hand within his. His soft fingers were cool to the touch, yet the warmth that settled within you was anything but. For the sight you were taken with right now was even better than you’d imagined. The muscles of his arms were now fully flexed despite his gentle grasp, their chiseled edges sharp enough to cut glass. Yet the soft curves where the muscle dipped beckoned you, the outline of taut veins branching under his skin as he shifted his elbow.

A breathy laugh escaped your lips, satisfaction taking over. You’d already seen every part of Zayne, countless times at that, but you doubted you’d ever find a sight more perfect than this. It was the subtlety of it all, the way the weight of his muscle shifted with every small movement, the way his sleeves constricted around the girth when his elbows bent, the almost forbidden setting in which all these little details invaded your eyes and mind. You briefly pondered whether this was how Victorian men felt when they managed to glimpse a stray ankle in the ballroom.

“Ready?” Zayne said in that low half-whispered tone he knew you liked, and the smirk he wore let you know he was probably already onto you. Not that you cared.

“Don’t hold back,” you replied. If only he knew how much you meant it.

You gently tapped the table in a mock countdown, signaling the beginning of the battle. Three, two, one.

You braced yourself, digging your free arm into the table as you pushed. But your strength was met with no reciprocation — the fact that your joined palms remained in a standstill told you as much, and the barely perceptible twitch in his arm confirmed that he wasn’t even playing, not really. And the ratcheting anticipation that had built up within you remained an unresolved ache that bloomed in your abdomen.

“You’re letting me win,” you huffed, and he confirmed your suspicions with a smirk as he let you slam his arm down with a soft thud.

He chuckled as he softly stroked the back of your hand with his thumb. “There’s no fairness in beating such a distracted opponent.”

A flush crept from your ears and through your heating face. You felt silly for getting so worked up about something so banal, but part of you couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Zayne was actually entertaining this. Seemed to be enjoying it, even.

“Hmm,” you hummed, bringing your free hand to boldly trace at the ever so slightly raised veins on his arm. “That won’t hold up in court. When I tell all your colleagues that I beat you at arm wrestling. Maybe I’ll post a moment commemorating my victory…?”

You trailed off, the delectable firmness under your palm, his muscles constricting and relaxing as you moved up his arm, the goosebumps you felt prickling at your fingertips, all doing nothing to quell the mounting thrill drumming in your core.

“In that case…” said Zayne before gently pulling your free hand away. And his next gesture was not so gentle. He effortlessly pushed up against your palm, teasingly letting up as your interlinked hands were upright again. You grabbed onto the edge of the table with your free hand, which you were pretty sure was considered cheating, as Zayne somehow kept your strengths matched while his hold on your palm somehow remained soft. And in an instant, the tables were turned. Your arm was roughly shoved down before you had the time to react, but you only had eyes for one thing.

You watched the muscles in Zayne’s arm ripple deliciously as he stretched his fingers, finally untangling his hand from yours. He let out a soft breath, something between a grunt and a sigh, relishing in his victory. And you were relishing in something else entirely. You let out a breathy sound of your own, much less intentional than Zayne’s.

“And that’s five minutes,” Zayne coolly remarked, as if nothing had ever happened. “Break time’s over.”

“Oh.”

“We are still working,” he said as he adjusted the cuffs of his rolled-up sleeves, his taut muscles constricting the fabric with the movement. Thirty wanderers wearing top hats could walk through the front door right that instant and you still wouldn’t have been pulled from the sight.

Right. Work.

“Do we have to?” you pleaded.

“Hmm,” he hummed. “That depends. Are you still… distracted?”

“Yes.”

Zayne sighed, a voiceless exhale. But the twinkle in his hazel eyes, the half-cocked smile that tugged at his lips, and the soft tightening and releasing of his forearm muscles as his fingertips drummed the table top betrayed a palpable anticipation. “Then we should do something about that.”

[imagine-darksiders]

Angel of Highway 49.

Ch. 6 - Collateral.

Optimus & Reader. Bulkhead x Reader. Starscream x causing mayhem.

Summary: 'For the first time, your eyes meet his optics, and there’s not an ounce of recognition flickering in their glossy depths as they stare up at him in unmitigated terror.

No… not terror…. Horror.

You’re horrified by his presence, his appearance, his incomprehensible existence.'

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

On paper, the mission brief had seemed quite straightforward.

Investigate the substantial Energon signature that Ratchet's scans had turned up, get in, gather as much as they could carry, and get out again.

Optimus knew the likelihood of beating the Decepticons to the punch was minimal, at best. No doubt the only reason Ratchet's scanners had picked up anything was because raw Energon had been exposed where it wasn't before, say, by a mining operation that drilled straight into a fresh deposit laying deep beneath the Earth's crust.

The coordinates had been of immediate concern to the Prime, and as soon as the team was debriefed, he and Bulkhead drove straight out to the reference point with their pedals almost to the floor, though the latter couldn't fathom his Leader's sudden sense of urgency, and when prodded, Optimus only told him that the location was 'concerningly close to a human settlement.'

It was a mine, long-abandoned, sunk beneath the cliffs near a large agricultural unit.

They were to evaluate the subterranean passages, determine the level of Decepticon activity, preferably without engaging, and look for any opportunity to seize Energon from the enemy forces. Underhanded, perhaps, but if it secures his Autobots a few more months of precious fuel, Optimus isn't above resorting to clandestine tactics.

Of course, as it's been said before, even the best laid plans often go awry...

----------

The sturdy cables of Optimus’s neck buck and strain against their tubing as he wrenches his helm towards the Southern tunnel, his optical apertures spinning wide, blazing with a fierce, cyan light.

Hidden parallel to his leader, ducked down behind a stack of energon crates on the other side of the cavern, Bulkhead does the same, his colossal chin piece falling open with a dull ‘thunk,’ and his entire frame turning rigid with alarm.

Unfortunately for them both, so too do the frames of all four Vehicon Miners.

One by one, each of the energon drills wind down to sputtering halts as their wielders disengage from the deposits in the cave walls, pausing to turn their inexpressive masks towards the disruption.

And what a disruption it is.

A haunting, spinal-strut-chilling shriek is ringing out through the mine like an air-raid siren, more piercing than the drills and far shriller than the clanking of heavy machinery. The sound goes on and on, even when the source runs out of steam, and only the echo of a scream passes through the labyrinthian tunnels until that too falls silent, leaving every Cybertronian who heard it caught in a moment of temporary bewilderment.

Optimus is the first to recover.

Denta grit tightly behind his mask, he draws his slate-dark brow plates together and begins gauging the distance between his hiding spot and the tunnel.

Speed will be essential here… Because it’s to his utmost distress that he’s matched the vocal patterns of the distant scream to that of a human.

In the next instant, his private com-link scratches to life, and Bulkhead’s hushed, bassy voice is whispering into the Prime’s audials.

“That wasn’t Miko, Boss,” he defends his charge without hesitation.

Admirable, of course. But in this instance, unnecessary.

Optimus is well aware that the cadence of the scream doesn’t belong to any one of their charges. He has them logged, after all – though he often wishes he didn’t, if only because those audio logs serve as constant reminders that there have been times where the three younglings – whilst under his care- were in states of distress severe enough to cry out at all.

That aside however, Optimus is also confident that right now, the children are safe and sound back at the Autobot base with Ratchet, doubtless waiting anxiously for Arcee and Bumblebee to return from a routine scouting mission around Jasper’s outskirts.

But that begs the question; why would a human be down here in a defunct mine during the middle of the night?

It’s a question he doesn’t give much processing power to, not when there is a far more urgent matter at hand that needs addressing.

Loathe to wait even another second for something bad to happen to the unfortunate, wayward human, the Prime heaves himself out of his crouch and vaults gracefully over the energon stacks he’d been using as cover, barking a single, concise order to his comrade-in-arms.

“Engage!”

He’s barely cleared cover when he hears Bulkhead’s response.

“So much for the element of surprise!”

A necessary sacrifice.

If there’s a human down here in danger, they no longer have the luxury of scoping out the mine’s multiple chambers and trying to take things slow.

No matter.

What matters is getting to them before whatever – or whoever - frightened them can do any harm.

Optimus’s explosive arrival sends the Vehicons scrambling about to face him, and no less than two of the four manage to drop their handheld drills in shock.

“Prime’s here!?” one bellows, tripping over his own pedes in his haste to retreat towards the far wall.

“And he brought company!” his fellow growls.

No sooner has he spoken than an eruption of noise rocks the cavern as Bulkhead comes careening around the side of his hiding spot with all the unstoppable brutality of a runaway freight train.

“Head’s up!” he bellows, raising his hefty arm high into the air and charging for the first, unfortunate Miner.

Only one seems to have recovered in time to aim his plasma cannon at Optimus, who ducks smoothly beneath the first shot and skids along the ground on his knees for several metres, drawing up close enough to the Con to negate any space between them.

Before a second round can even charge in its chamber, one of the Prime’s enormous metal servos curls into a devastating fist, and with the struts of his forearm tensed and locked in preparation, he launches himself off his knees and –

‘CRUNCH!’

The knuckles of his servo connect with the Vehicon’s chin-guard with terrifying precision.

An uppercut, the power behind which is enough to send the dark, purple visor snapping backwards with an audible crack. Its wearer is quick to follow suit, crumpling over onto his back before Optimus’s fist has even finished its upswing.

One down…

Bulkhead has also reached his own Con, and Optimus is glad to see that he seems to have taken the Prime’s briefing to spark.

Incapacitate only, where possible.

These are miners, not warriors.

The wrecking ball perched on the end of Bulkhead’s arm is already swinging by the time the Con has his own weapon readied, and it’s promptly knocked aside by the Wrecker’s weaponised name-sake, who is quick to follow up with a single punch to the Vehicon’s helm.

One, hard wallop, and he’s down like a sack of bricks.

Two down, two to go…

The remaining pair, those clumsy enough to have dropped their drills, at least seem wise enough to recognise when they’re outmatched.

Bulkhead wheels about, shaking scraps of the miner’s visor from his fist as he glowers at the retreating taillights of two, purple vehicles fleeing as fast as their tyres can carry them down one of the adjoining tunnels.

“Aw, where’re you going!?” he taunts them as they vanish around a corner like jettisoned scrap, “I didn’t even break a sweat!”

Yet another turn of phrase he’s picked up from Miko, Optimus notes, thankfully one of her more palatable expressions. Primus knows that girl could be an honorary Wrecker through vocabulary alone…

“Leave them!” the Prime commands urgently, breaking into a loping run for the opposite passage and shifting the plates on his dominant arm to reveal his colossal, devastating barrage cannon, hoping against hope that it won’t be seeing any action beyond warding off a potential threat.

Setting off a detonative blast in this place could cause the whole subterranean structure to collapse in on itself, another reason he’d stressed the importance of melee before this mission.

Clunking footsteps soon fall into pace behind his own, rattling the shards of energon still wedged into the cave walls.

There’s little point in maintaining stealth now, not with time swiftly trickling away beneath their pedes and the deafening silence the drills have left behind.

Whoever remains in this cavern is bound to know of their presence by now.

There’s a sudden blip on his radar - an energon signature far more significant than the deposits in the walls. It’s large, and active, and at this distance, uncloaked.

With coolant pumping fervidly through his pipes, Optimus kicks himself into gear and swings around the curve of the tunnel, bringing into view a sight so gruesome, it nearly freezes his spark inside its chamber.

A surge of alarm - his very own - hits the airwaves before he can suppress it, and although he reels it back in microseconds, he knows Bulkhead has already felt it, even from several paces behind him. An answering jolt of panic crashes into Optimus’s field as the Wrecker stumbles, his armour flaring nervously.

Because if the Prime is worried, then…

Optimus doesn’t have time to reassure his teammate.

Starscream is looming up ahead, silhouetted at the tunnel’s end by an unearthly blue light.

Megatron’s second in command cuts an intimidating figure. A frame as sharp as his tongue is angled towards the oncoming Autobots, but his attention – and more horrifyingly – his missile arm is aimed near the ground at a comparatively small rock, behind which Optimus has already locked onto four human signatures.

Another surge, this time of unshackled indignation rattles the plating across his shoulders and sends his protective protocols careening into furious overdrive.

Taking point, the Prime charges from the tunnel and into the cavern first, cannon raised and whirring as he digs in his heels and slides to a halt, drawing up his colossal frame to stand tall beneath the rock ceiling, his optics narrowed to thin slits.

“Starscream,” he thunders, authoritative and unyielding. His voice booms around the cavern, drawing another short scream from one of the humans below, yet he doesn’t dare take his optics off the threat to assess their condition, not while Starscream still has his weapon aimed unwaveringly at them.

It seems his arrival was anticipated after all.

The Decepticon doesn’t balk at their presence, doesn’t raise a weapon to defend himself… Gradually, wholly aware that he has the advantage here, Starscream raises his helm and tips his chin back to flash the Prime a haughty smirk.

“Ah, ah, ah~” he singsongs airily, just as Bulkhead lumbers to a halt at Optimus’s side, “That’s close enough, Autobot scum.”

Letting out a choked sound of rage, the wrecker lifts an arm, and his ion blaster whirls to life, though Starscream is quick to nod at the rock near his pedes and add, “Surely you wouldn’t risk any collateral damage now, would you?”

The Prime’s optics flare brightly.

Collateral… A Decepticon’s preferred synonym for the children under the Autobots’ care.

As Starscream speaks, he bobs his missile tauntingly up and down, never letting it stray from the humans locked in his crosshairs.

Behind the battle mask, Optimus peels back his dermas by a fraction of an inch – the only show of frustration he allows himself.

He’s almost relieved that Bulkhead is, by contrast, able to express himself so freely.

A low, thrumming growl shakes its way out from between the Wrecker’s clenched dentas. “Bullying humans now, Screamer?” he fumes, chomping at the proverbial bit but held in check by the seeker’s threat, “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size for a change? Or are you afraid you might lose?”

Starscream’s smirk twists down at the corners into a sneer, yet before he can offer some cutting retort, another voice pipes up from below, shattering his concentration.

“Bulk!?”

Two of the three Cybertronians present feel their sparks drop heavily into their tanks.

Bulkhead’s jaw hits his sternum with a ‘clunk!’ whilst Optimus’s only outward display of shock is the slight jump of his optical ridges.

“Miko!?” the former exclaims in a voice so shrill that it might have been comical in any other situation.

At last, unable to resist tearing their optics from the Con, both Optimus and Bulkhead shoot twin glances down over the top of the rock.

The Prime only needs a nanosecond to process the faces of each human below him.

And it’s just as he’d feared.

There’s Jack, a tired face gone slack with relief at seeing Optimus tower above him. And Rafael, with his youthful features pulled taut in fright, yet those wide, brown eyes are still so full of trust as they silently implore the Prime for help. Miko in the meantime is gazing adoringly up at her guardian with a gleeful smile stretching the edges of her mouth.

But it’s the fourth human that Optimus finds his optics drawn to and struck by, locking onto a face not quite as familiar as the children’s but known and inexplicably fond to him all the same.

“Y/n?” he murmurs far too softly to be heard over Bulkhead’s sputtered sounds of dismay and increasing panic.

His last parting from you was... regrettable, and still weighs heavily on his spark and processor when he finds himself alone with his thoughts.

For the first time, your eyes meet his optics, and there’s not an ounce of recognition flickering in their glossy depths as they stare up at him in unmitigated terror.

No… not terror…. Horror.

You’re horrified by his presence, his appearance, his incomprehensible existence.

In your eyes, he and Bulkhead are no different from Starscream – the true and only threat. In your eyes, what is he? Not a protector, but an aggressor. An unknown you have no hope of overcoming.

It doesn’t escape his notice; the stance you’ve taken in front of the children. With your back to them, arms flung out wide, you’re a trembling bulwark of fear and confusion and bravery, and the only thing standing between them and the Decepticon’s missile.

An unanticipated curl of pride warms the spark in his chamber, though it immediately bucks when his optics register the discolouration on your back. From his elevated angle, he has a clear and uninterrupted view of your shoulder blades… and the distressing gradient of a deep purple shadow sweeping across them, hemmed in by a frame of diffusing yellow.

It’s a bruise - he distantly recalls the term – and it’s swallowing up a vast swathe of your fragile skin, disappearing beneath your shirt. He’s seen bruises on humans before, small ones on the children’s knees and elbows after a tumble, or underneath Agent Fowler’s eyes after one too many sleepless nights. And while those instances are disquieting enough to witness, none have quite matched the extent of this one.

He knew you’d been hurt but this looks…

The lights in his optics flicker.

… He should have put his pede down… He should have just driven you straight to the medical clinic in Jasper regardless of your protests - no ‘ifs,’ ‘ands’ or ‘buts.’

Of all the humans who could have ended up down here, it would be the one who implied quite categorically that they never wanted anything to do with him again. He supposes there’s something divinely poetic about that. Divinely comedic too. Perhaps right now, Primus is looking down on his creation with a knowing smile.

Optimus, however, finds himself wishing that you were anywhere else at all, that fate had not led you down here. That it hadn’t led any of you down here, where your life and that of the children’s hang treacherously in the balance.

The nanosecond ends when you blink – and Optimus’s intake stalls to see a shimmering tear break free of your lash line and trickle down your cheek.

It strikes him that not only do you believe you’re supposed to protect Jack, Miko and Rafael from Starscream, but now that the Prime has unwittingly added himself and Bulkhead into the mix, you think you have two more perils to contend with.

Optimus flicks his optics up to the Decepticon once more as a dozen differing strategies spin around inside his processor. He’s getting you out of here. You and the children. ‘Whatever happens,’ he sends a silent promise down to the humans under his charge, his solicitous field spilling all the words he can’t verbalise, ‘I will keep you safe.’

Bulkhead feels it – Optimus’s EM field is a powerful thing, like everything else about the Prime. And right now, the noble intent of his leader hits the wrecker’s chassis like there’s real force behind it, tangible and physical.

Starscream feels it as well, though he isn’t bolstered by it like Bulkhead is. In fact, judging from the sudden wipe of his smug expression, the Seeker may have just come to the realisation that he’s currently threatening the very young, very vulnerable wards of a Prime and his powerhouse of a soldier.

Optimus wonders, between flitting through tactics, what you might think of him if you could feel it too.

-----

This has got to be one of – if not the - most vivid and dramatic nightmares you’ve ever had.

Either that, or…. or there’s a buildup of… of gasses in this mine or something, causing you to hallucinate. Hell, maybe that’s why this place was abandoned to begin with. If those old miners found coal seams or shale deposits down here, you could be standing in a pit filled with methane right now. And those beams and timber that were rotting away over your head as you made your way down…? How long have they been decomposing? Long enough for the carbon dioxide to seep out and gather at the bottom of the mine, you’ll bet!

That has to be it.

Gasses. Hallucinations. A nightmare.

Because you couldn’t possibly consider the third option, could you? That this might actually be happening. That there really are three unfathomably colossal titans surrounding you and the kids on all sides.

It certainly feels real enough. The sweat slicking your palms and hairline, the blood roaring in your ears, and the heart in your chest trying to make a jailbreak are all about as vivid as it gets.

Rationale is telling you that this isn’t happening. Your body is telling you otherwise. And it’s very hard to try and listen to both at the same time.

When the tallest of them – the one that had shouted something in a voice that sent a ping straight to your brain – lowers its ‘eyes’ to lock you in its sights, you freeze in place, helpless as a butterfly pinned to a corkboard.

Awful, cerulean light cuts like frostbite through the dimness of the mine and sends a chill sweeping up the length of your spine.

You’re stuck fast by its stare, the light cold and calculating as it burns down at you from an otherwise expressionless face.

Your own eyes sting with the effort of keeping them open, too afraid to blink, too afraid to take your gaze away lest it decide to strike the moment it thinks you aren’t looking, like a predator, a hungry wolf with designs on the back of your neck.

It’s hard to believe that the giant is the first to look away, pulling those twin beams of light from your face and turning them onto the comparatively smaller monster, the one with a blood-red stare.

Battling down the temptation to collapse onto your knees, you instead suck in a deep, noisy breath through your nostrils and clamp your lips firmly together as your gaze flits across to the third and final titan, shorter yet somehow so much larger than the others.

It’s as broad as a barn. Broader, perhaps. Military-green from head to toe, and it too sports a gaze that’s just as blue as the strange quartz that surrounds you. It cocks its colossal head at you, what passes for a head on that behemoth anyway, and the lights set in its face blink off, then on again. Once, twice… until something in your brain clicks into place.

It’s blinking.

You’d almost begun to entertain the notion that you’ve unwittingly stumbled upon some kind of Government-built superweapon, and that Terry might not be the crazy bastard you thought he was. But when it blinks at you, when it tips its head to the side as if it’s curious… in some uncanny way, you recognise it for what it is.

That’s something humans do.

That’s something living things do.

… What the Hell have you found down here?

Or perhaps the better question is, what the Hell has just found you?

“I see you’ve added another little pet to your menagerie,” the first robot suddenly drawls, breaking the silent stalemate that’s been brewing between you all for the past few seconds and sending your attention snapping back towards its slender face, chest rising and falling as you remind yourself to keep breathing, “I’m beginning to think you don’t care much for humans at all, if this is where you bring them to play.”

‘Humans?’

Your racing mind latches onto the word and sticks fast.

Humans… It called you humans. Implying that the speaker isn’t one…

The revelation doesn’t help you much, you’re still very much in trouble here, regardless of whether there’s another person operating these things or if they’re powered by something else entirely.

The longer you stand there without a shift or a waver in the makeup of the figure ahead of you, the less confident you are in your hallucination theory.

“Who’re you calling pets!?” Miko’s voice abruptly blasts past your ear, reminding you quite starkly of the three children pressed to your back, “If anyone’s the pet, it’s you! Megatron’s little groupie!”

You don’t have a chance to wonder what in the world she’s talking about.

The robot’s red glare snaps to her and zeroes in with murderous intent, its strange, malleable lip curling with hostility. Somewhere below your elbow, you hear Raf hiss “Miko!”

Just like that, you realise with a start that it doesn’t matter if you’re hallucinating or not.

If you are, and the children are too, it just means that you have to get them into fresh air as soon as possible. And if you’re not…

If this is real, if this is happening to you, then there truly are lives on the line, more than just your own.

And if this turns out to all be some incredibly vivid nightmare, well… you can nervously laugh about it once you’re awake. But for now…

“You dare address your betters, pest!?” the robot seethes, tilting its arm by a fraction, just enough to indicate that it’s aiming its missile point-blank at the girl. Behind you, there’s a mechanical whir, like a machine is being charged up.

Your stomach lurches. Somebody needs to do something….

….

………. Shit. Fine.

“Don’t!” you blurt out before you can put too much thought into your actions, taking a fumbling step forward and drawing the silver juggernaut’s furious glare, “Don’t point that at her! She’s just a kid!”

There are several intakes of breath from behind you, and one from somewhere high above your head, but your attention remains fixed steadfastly on the red-eyed robot, goosebumps springing up along your arms when it lets out a deriding chuckle and flashes you a glimpse of stark-white metal sitting just beyond its ‘lips,’ like a set of teeth.

“Oh? What have we here? Trying to play the hero,” it sneers the word with about as much sincerity as it might afford a dead fly, scoffing somehow through its gap for a mouth, “Pathetic. Ah-! Not so fast, Prime!” Quick as a flash, the robot lifts it gaze to the ones behind you, sharp red lights flashing dangerously, “Unless you want to be picking up the pieces of your little friend here for the next deca-cycle.”

You haven’t forgotten about the threats behind you, snatching a glance over your shoulder to see if the other robots are keeping their distance. To your horror, the green one is still subjecting you to its stare, blue lights brighter than ever as it observes you. The slab of grey metal stretching like a chin-guard across its face has fallen slightly to hang open, revealing a sliver of darkness behind it – its own mouth, you realise with a shudder.

Even more perturbingly, the tallest of the trio has definitely taken a step closer. You can see the indentation in the dust where its foot had rested only seconds ago, several metres back.

Your tongue sits like a lead weight in your mouth, dry as a bone.

At the silver robot’s words, it stills entirely, one of its gargantuan hands held up placatingly. Its compliance demonstrates that there must be some sort of hierarchy here. Despite the apparent size advantage, the taller robot had deferred to the one with red eyes.

That at least clues you in on which danger to prioritise, so you turn back to the first giant, your own hands unconsciously mirroring the same, appeasing gesture.

It’s an absolutely uncontested fact that you’re outmatched in size, numbers, speed, strength, and more than likely intelligence too.

So, what do you have in your arsenal?

What could you possibly have?

Think!

The toe of your boot slides forwards an inch, just an inch, just enough to bump gently into an obstruction that rolls slightly under the force.

A rapid glance down reveals the object; the torch you’d dropped earlier, sitting innocuously by your boot, dim and harmless…

… In a split second, you make a decision.

It could very well prove to be your last decision, but it’s better than staying paralyzed by indecision and fear. One option guarantees that you won’t be leaving here alive. The other… might at least buy you some time…

In one, darting motion, you dip down and swipe the torch off the ground, straightening back up just as hastily and holding it out in front of you with both hands, aiming the glass face up towards the scarlet ‘eyes’ leering down from above you.

“Back off!” is all you can think to yelp, arms and voice quaking, “O-or I’ll shoot!”

....

The silence that falls over the cavern couldn’t be any heavier.

It makes the rattling plastic of the torch that much louder in your ringing ears.

For several heartbeats, nobody moves, not the kids, not the robots, only you with your knocking knees and trembling, outstretched arms.

Then suddenly, sound floods back into the chamber, all in the form of a scratching, obnoxious cackle.

The silver robot peels the plating around its lips back and laughs at you, the missile jerking wildly with the effort to stay trained on you despite the wielder’s convulsing frame.

“Oh~! Oh, that is rich!” it chortles, smirking maniacally down at you from twenty-something feet, “You’ll shoot, will you? You’ll shoot me with that little toy of yours?” You can see the guard dropping, there’s more movement behind you. You have to act now, before the other two monstrosities get the chance to intervene.

“This toy-!” you blunder, cutting shakily through the mocking laughter, “I-is an… um, a military… tactical… laser! It’ll blind you from fifty feet!” You have no idea if robots can be blinded. You have no idea why you’re bluffing like a gambler losing at poker. The torch, if anything, is about as bog-standard as it could possibly get. You know that.

But you’re hoping the robot doesn’t.

Apparently though, it does, judging by the fresh peal of laughter tumbling out of it and ricocheting around the mine chamber.

There’s a nervous hum of uncertainty from one of the kids - Jack, if you had to guess.

“Do you really think, human, that I don’t know a bluff when I hear one?” it remarks snidely, sweeping a slender claw beneath one of the red lights in a mocking rendition of someone wiping away a tear.

“You… you don’t believe me?!” you shout up at it, wedging your thumb underneath the switch and bracing every muscle in your body, praying that this works.

Splaying its free hand across what serves as a chest, it retorts, “Do you take me for a fool? Of course I don’t believe you!”

“Good!” you exclaim as a fresh cascade of adrenaline surges through your blood, shoulders aching with the effort of keeping them aimed up at the robot’s face which contorts from a smirk to a frown at your unexpected turnaround. “Then you won’t try to defend yourself when I do this-!”

On the final word, your thumb jams the switch into position, and a stalwart beam of light flies straight and true, crashing into the robot’s pale face and dousing those ominous red lights faster than you can blink.

The effect is as immediate as it is melodramatic.

The relatively quiet air of the cavern is suddenly ripped asunder by the robot’s jarring and unexpected screech of alarm. Reeling backwards, it wrenches its gangly arms up and flings them over its face, shielding itself from the little beam of your torch.

“MY OPTICS!”

You don’t stick around to see what happens next, all too aware that the same bluff never works twice.

The very instant that missile’s trajectory changes, you’re moving, aggressively stamping down on the instinct screaming at you to haul yourself to the far passage as fast as your legs can carry you.

There are three people who need to reach it first.

The front of Jack’s shirt is the first thing your fingers latch onto when you spin around and make a wild grab for one of the kids. His eyes are on stalks, bugging out of their sockets when you unceremoniously hurl him out in front of you and shove his back for good measure, shrieking at the top of your lungs, “RUN!”

He’s still getting his feet under him properly by the time you’ve snatched up Rafael’s wrist in one hand and Miko’s in the other, all the while chaos erupts around you when several-hundred tonnes of metal begins to move.

You almost wrench the poor kids out of their shoes as you take off, haring at breakneck speed towards the tunnel you’d come down like a fire has been lit under your heels.

----

Optimus has to admit, it isn’t very often that he can be surprised anymore, though he has noticed that the instances seem to be occurring with more and more frequency of late. That they happen to correlate with his arrival upon Earth is hardly coincidental, he’s sure.

Humans, as it stands, are just about the most pleasant surprise he’s come across in his extensive travels throughout the Galaxy, and there’s always something so refreshing about their ability to deliver.

Refreshing, yes. But somehow at the same time, spark-wrenchingly, tank-churningly alarming.

Even the Prime couldn’t predict that you’d resort to bluffing with a Decepticon, let alone that the bluff had actually worked, however briefly.

The only blessing he can latch onto is ‘thank Primus Starscream has never taken an interest in human electrical devices.’

Optimus had been waiting on the tips of his pedes for the opportunity to put himself between you and the Seeker, all he needed was an opening where he could be sure that missile wouldn’t be going off anywhere near you and the children… Easier said than done, of course.

Then, in a matter of moments, as Starscream lurches away from your ‘blinding’ beam of light and throws his arms up to defend his optics, the Prime finds himself mirroring Bulkhead’s astonishment. The pair of them gawk down at you as you take their youngest charges by the hands, drive Jack ahead of you and bolt for a tunnel across the cavern whilst your weapon of choice flickers weakly in the dust you leave behind.

However, Optimus doesn’t linger for long to marvel over your quick-thinking.

“I’m BLIND!” Starscream is shrieking, tearing his servos away from his optics and blinking down at them, faceplates screwed up in anguish, “YOU’VE BLINDED ME! YOU-!...”

Just like that, he goes utterly still, giving another series of rapid blinks as he flips his very-much-still-visible servos back and forth, wings slumping at the realisation. “Oh.”

Whatever relief he might have felt, accompanied by the swelling fury that he’d been a victim of blatant skulduggery is short-lived.

Motion from the corner of his optic alerts him just in the nick of time to Optimus Prime’s fist, hurtling on a collision course with his helm. Letting out a squawk, the Seeker barely manages to duck the first strike, feeling the air rush past his faceplates as he launches himself backwards, vying for some much-needed distance between himself and his adversaries, only for his efforts to fall flat when an even more devastating force catches him unawares.

With all the driving power of a siege engine, the Wrecker’s signature weapon buries itself into Starscream’s tanks. Hard.

“ACK-!” The garbled sound jumps unwillingly off his glossa, and he doubles over at once, yet still forces his pedes to scramble backwards, curling one arm around his stomach plating while the other flies up to aim his missile at the Prime, sweeping it back and forth in wild motions to ward them back.

To his shock, both of them fall still at once, glaring murderously down at him with their own weapons raised and cocked, but otherwise motionless. And there they stand, side by side; two bridling Autobots planted stoutly between himself and their fleeing pets.

Starscream’s denta grind together audibly, and he lets out a strangled growl, tanks roiling from the force of the hit.

He’s lost the upper-hand. Without the human meat-shields, he’s only too aware that he’s just lost any and all chance at getting something out of this. And to think, he’d been mere milliseconds away from calling in Megatron to inform him that his loyal and devoted Second In Command was holding Prime at gunpoint.

Bullet quite literally dodged, he concedes. Minor blessings.

It doesn’t escape his notice how the Autobots’ optics are locked onto his raised weapon, nor how they’d turned rigid at his flaunting of it.

And then, in a sudden moment of clarity, he realises why.

It isn’t the notion of his weapon firing at them that’s paused their advance.

It’s his weapon firing at all.

‘Of course,’ he comprehends with building anticipation, his processor firing rapidly as ideas cluster around inside it, ‘The mine…’

Structurally, Decepticon scouts had deemed it sound for the finer precision of their mining drills… but the impact blast from an uncontrolled detonation that targets one of the fundamental tunnels….?

Oh-ho! Now who has the upper hand?

A flash of movement between the Prime’s legs catches his attention, and he dares a glance through them to see the little pests making their escape. And there, leading the pack is the duplicitous human who cost him his advantage.

Starscream’s optics narrow as he tracks the humans’ path, noting their trajectory.

Perfect.

Whilst the Prime and his loyal hound are bodily blocking Starscream from taking aim at their humans, neither of them have apparently thought to cover the entrance to the tunnel those humans are currently sprinting towards…

He’ll have to be quick, so it’s a good thing he already knows which tunnel will lead him out of this doomed mine, and a jet’s speed is leagues ahead of the ground-crawling Autobots and their vastly inferior vehicle modes.

“Give it up, Screamer,” Bulkhead grinds out, shifting his weight restlessly from one pede to the other, “We have you outnumbered. And outgunned."

"So I see," the Seeker wheezes, painstakingly drawing himself to his full height once again and fixing his sights on the Autobot leader, “And there’s something else you have that I don’t.”

The line is cast, and to his unmitigated delight, Bulkhead takes the bait.

“Oh yeah?” the Wrecker grunts warily, glaring down the length of his poised weapon, “And what’s that?”

With a smirk plastered across his faceplate, Starscream angles his missile to Bulkhead’s left, relishing the twin looks of shock and realisation that spark in his adversaries' optics.

He grins, a fever coursing through his wires.

“Collateral,” he says, and fires.

[avelera]

Meta: Balancing the Ledger in Arcane S2

Whatever people might have thought of Vi and Jayce's actions in S1, Arcane Season 2 was definitely listening. The whole point of their arcs in 2.1-2.3 seems specifically aimed at them getting point by point retribution for everything they did wrong, intentionally or unintentionally, sympathetically or unsympathetically, in S1.

Vi:

Is hurt and abandoned by Cait in almost exactly the same manner that she hurt and abandoned Powder in S1. If you thought Vi got off too lightly for her treatment of Powder in S1, she has now experienced the full brunt of what it would be like to be on the other side of that fight.

Is attacked, terrorized, and made to feel helpless by the very undercity people who she led an attack against in S1 in which she overpowered, terrorized, and ultimately led to the death of a child as collateral damage. The escalating cycle of violence that she took part in came back to bite her, hard.

As for Jayce:

He was warned repeatedly that Hextech was dangerous. He is now seeing and experiencing first hand the risks of unchecked magical/technological progress, not only seeing how it damages the world he was trying to save, but personally experiencing the horrifying, reality distorting effects of the wild runes as of 2.3.

He left Viktor in order to pursue the higher calling of politics, ostensibly to support their research too, but it took him from his partner's side. He was also motivated by a woman, Mel, and his care for her in doing so. Regardless of intention, politics and Mel took him from Viktor's side at a critical moment when Viktor's life hung in the balance.

Now, Viktor has left Jayce, pursuing the shadow of a dead woman who inspires him now, pursuing a higher calling of bettering the lives of others in the Undercity, and while he doesn't have the same real world powers manipulating him as Jayce did, there are parallels between the Hexcore and the Council's ability to drag Viktor and Jayce respectively forward into dangerous territory, following the siren song of their ambitions to change the world for the better, away from the partnership that launched their innovations in the first place.

Jayce also took part in the rogue mission against the Undercity factory, and in the process, killed a child thus escalating the cycle of violence between Piltover and Zaun.

If you blamed Jayce for becoming a councilor, getting into a relationship with Mel while Viktor was dying, for abandoning Viktor and the lab for other pursuits, for killing that child in Zaun, or in general for escalating the cycle of violence between Zaun and Piltover, then S2 seems to have set out very deliberately to address each one of these.

Jayce is abandoned by Viktor in a similar way and for similar (if not the same) causes as Viktor now abandoned Jayce. Meanwhile, the mother of the child he specifically killed shows up to take her pound of flesh, escalating cycle of violence that has him and his loved ones caught up in it, having now arrived at his doorstep when once it was far away in Zaun, and Hextech has become everything that Heimerdinger (who he deposed in a coup d'etat in order to override his warnings and his power to stop Jayce) warned that it could be.

I stand in awe of how deliberately set up it all is, and offer this analysis of why the narrative took the time to so specifically address and bring retribution for Vi and Jayce for these specific sins, in an almost exactly eye for an eye manner.

Before Jayce and Vi can continue forward as our protagonists, we needed to wipe the slate clean.

These beats are so specifically addressed at their sins (real, imagined, or overblown) in S1 that it's impossible to say going forward that they haven't suffered the consequences of their actions. They have now both been intimately on the receiving end of the consequences of what they did to others.

Furthermore, in S2 we are seeing that Vi and Jayce were less outliers as far as people making mistakes but rather were simply ahead of the curve. Now they have seen both sides of the cycle of violence and deeply suffered the consequences of their actions, many of which were impulsive. Going forward, I think it's safe to say we're going to see Jayce and Vi become voices of reason as they continue to learn, grow and experience the consequences of the events that their S1 actions had a big hand in causing in the first place.

I think this is also why Jayce, humbled and wiser, is becoming a much more popular character in S2 while Vi is becoming a much more universally sympathetic one, though I loved them both in the first season as did many other people. But their actions were controversial in some cases and it's been fascinating to see how systematically S2 has addressed each one of their controversial actions from S1 before moving them forward as heroes and protagonists.

[dadbodbucky]

fine, you've forced my hand!

It’s by some miracle that Buck doesn’t show his hand the instant he turns on the lights to see him sitting in the corner chair of his hotel room.

“They’ve got you in some pretty shitty digs, Evan,” he says, and Buck fights tooth and screaming nail to hold onto his composure. “Nash so low on funds he had to put you up in a crusty motel?”

“Agent 217,” Buck says, hand itching for his comm. He knows better, knows that 217 has his service weapon tucked neatly away in a holster at his side, knows he’d be dead before he could click on to make the call. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Please, call me Tommy,” 217 says with an innocent, dashing grin, even inch the handsome James Bond everyone assumes Buck must be. “You have something I want.”

“Like we’ll ever tell you anything,” Buck scoffs, “You’re barking up the wrong tree.”

217—Tommy, and why would he give Buck a name to call him?—stands, and stalks over. “Who says I’m after information?”

Buck swallows, tensing himself for a fight. “So, what, this is a hit? Are you here to gloat?”

Tommy continues walking, appraising Buck where he stands in his unassuming civvies. Jean jacket, cotton tee, khakis, tennis shoes. Compared to Tommy’s government-issued slacks, crisp button-down, and polished shoes, Buck feels a little underdressed. He glances down as Tommy rounds his back and leans forward to whisper. “You were at the boardwalk tonight. I know what Nash is after. Going up against the entire establishment, Evan? That’s a suicide mission.”

And—okay. Contrary to popular belief, being a spy (“Intelligence Agent,” Bobby always insists) doesn’t get him laid all the time. He’s actually been going through a bit of a dry spell, with the recent push towards leaking the project they’d been a part of before they went rogue. They just need a little more information, a little more time. Point being, it’s been a fucking goddamn minute, and 217 is smoking. Curly hair, slate gray eyes that sparkle with dry wit, pearly white smile that is condescending, maybe, but in a way that gets Buck’s dick standing at attention. Broad shoulders, big arms, solid muscle. He could bend Buck completely in half, if he so desired. And God, Buck desires.

“Sorry,” Buck blinks, while Tommy smiles his little Cheshire Cat grin, “What was the question?”

“Oh, I’m not here for questions,” Tommy murmurs, hands slipping over Buck’s hips. “I’ve seen the way you watch me, Evan. You’re not exactly subtle. It’s a wonder Nash still employs you.”

“I’m not hooking up with a fucking Fed,” Buck says, even as he gasps with the way Tommy leans down to mouth at his neck.

“Kinda sounds like you are,” Tommy grins, obnoxiously smug, “Besides, weren’t you a fucking Fed three years ago?”

“People change,” Buck says mindlessly, “Fuck, touch me.”

“As you wish,” Tommy replies, sounding affected for the first time that night. Buck catches a glimpse of them in the standing mirror in the entryway, sees the way Tommy’s eyes are blown dark over his shoulder. Watches his hand snake down his front, gently palm over the (frankly, humiliating) bulge in his pants.

Buck wishes he could say it felt like nothing. It would be so nice to be disappointed by Tommy’s touch, when he hates the guy with a burning passion. Unfortunately for Buck’s pride, it’s electric. Tommy’s hand is firm and warm on his dick, even through the layers of fabric.

“They told me about your reputation,” Tommy breathes, “Told me about Agent Buckley, back in the day, sleeping with marks more often than tailing them.”

Okay, so maybe sometimes being a spy got him laid. “It was very effective,” Buck says defensively, “Got a lot of good intel. Why, you want to see what all the fuss was about?”

“You know what they say about curiosity and cats,” Tommy muses, “And satisfaction bringing them back.”

Buck hums, and loses the last tenuous grip on his dignity. “I could blow you.”

“You mean I’d get a blowjob and spared the sound of your voice?” Tommy says, pressing a little harsher into Buck’s clothed dick, delicious friction pushing a moan out of Buck’s mouth. “Is there a downside?”

“Your dick will be extremely close to my teeth,” Buck returns, “And I don’t want you to come down my throat. I want you to fuck me.”

“All you had to do was ask,” Tommy simpers, before dropping his saccharine tone for a bossy: “Now get on your fucking knees.”

And, really, who told him that Buck’s favorite part of his 1.0 phase was when his marks would boss him around? Against his will, his knees give out, and he drops down, watching himself kneel in front of Tommy before reluctantly breaking eye contact with the mirror, shuffling around to a face full of tented polyester.

“You’re so fucking obnoxious,” Buck says, even as he leans forward to run his tongue along the outline of Tommy’s cock. It’s mouth-watering.

“I thought the point of sucking cock was to have your mouth occupied,” Tommy scoffs, hand fisting Buck’s hair a little meanly. Buck wishes he could stop another moan from spilling out of his mouth, but the pain hits him just right.

With fingers that are still thankfully on board with what he’s doing, Buck deftly undoes Tommy’s belt buckle, unzips his pants, and marvels at the thick, long cock that he pulls from his boxers. Oh, he’s going to have so much fun with this. He licks up the underside of Tommy’s dick, slow and wet, and revels in the way his hand tightens in his hair.

It’s like riding a bike, or something, probably. Buck finds himself sucking on the head of Tommy’s cock like he was born for it, bobbing his head down the length of him, letting the filthy, wet, clicking noise of his throat echo around the hotel room. It must be like riding a bike, because the other option is that Buck really did need Tommy this bad. And it can’t be that. Bobby would skin him alive.

“Jesus,” Tommy swears, hips hitching into Buck’s mouth. It’s almost like he’s trying to hold back for Buck’s sake, which is… cute. Certainly nicer treatment than he’s used to, but he can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or not.

Either way, he can’t handle tenderness. Not now, and maybe not ever. He doesn’t get to have attachments. That much is clear. He sees the way Eddie and Hen and Chim worry over their loved ones. This way is better. He’s already got Christopher and Maddie and Jee-yun to worry about.

Buck pulls off Tommy’s cock with a loud pop. “You can fuck my throat. It’s okay. I won’t break.”

“I hate to think of what your team would do to me if I broke their favorite toy,” Tommy chuckles, “Especially Diaz. I hear he’s creative.”

“Do me a favor and don’t mention him with your dick next to my face,” Buck rolls his eyes, desperately ignoring the way his dick twitches at the mention of Eddie’s name, “I’ll be fine. Take me for a ride. I know you want to.”

“Oh, you’re gagging for it,” Tommy surmises, guiding his cock back to Buck’s mouth. Buck, unable to deny it, willingly goes down on Tommy, letting him set the pace as he fucks leisurely into Buck’s mouth.

Tommy pushes him down further, and Buck relaxes into it, until he can feel the warmth of Tommy’s hip where his nose pushes into soft flesh. “Holy shit,” Tommy says, “I’m starting to get why this was so effective, I think.”

Buck stays until black spots start dancing at the corners of his eyes, pulling back and heaving breath, and then returning to his spot with Tommy’s cock all the way down his throat. It’s alarmingly comfortable. For the first time since his team went AWOL, he wishes he wasn’t in too deep to quit. He could spend an entire lifetime sitting at Tommy’s feet with his dick choking him stupid.

He gets maybe three more off-breath-down reps in before Tommy is pulling him off by the hair. “Okay, if you still want me to fuck you, we have to take this elsewhere.”

“Yeah, I want,” Buck croaks, voice alarmingly fucked out. Tommy helps him up—strangely chivalrous for a man who has tried on multiple occasions to shoot him with a gun—and they tumble into bed together. If it weren’t for the fact of who both of them were, it might even be romantic.

Tommy has his mouth on Buck before he can get another word in edgewise. Buck starts scrambling to get the rest of their clothes off, and shirts, pants, underwear, and shoes end up scattered around the room.

“Lube? Condoms?” Tommy asks as Buck bites at the junction of his neck and jaw.

“Side table,” Buck says, “You don’t have to use a condom. I haven’t had sex in a while.”

“Poor thing,” Tommy says, faux-pitying, as he rifles through the drawer of the side table, “You must be so pent up.”

Honestly, Buck’s just used to his marks not wanting to use condoms, and dealing with the potential fallout later. Still, he’s kind of disappointed when Tommy pulls them out of the drawer along with the lube packets.

“You’re adorable when you pout,” Tommy grins, pressing a sickly sweet kiss to Buck’s cheek, “I’m using a condom.”

“Fine,” Buck huffs, rolling his hips up into Tommy’s, “Just hurry.”

Tommy, thankfully, wastes no time in emptying a lube packet into his hand and swiping it up against Buck’s hole, slicking the way for his fingers. He’s clearly no slouch at this, either, thick fingers deftly opening him up beneath him, forearm muscles flexing so deliciously.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck-fuck-fuck,” Buck says, squirming as Tommy slides his fingers in and out in intoxicating rhythm, “Fuck me, Tommy, Tommy—”

“Finally, you’re saying something worth listening to,” Tommy smiles against Buck’s neck, “Never thought I’d get to hear the great Evan Buckley beg for my cock.”

“It’s—ah—it’s a specialty,” Buck pants, rolling his hips as he aches for more, for a harsh little sting, for something to distract him from the way this is starting to feel too much like intimacy and not enough like fucking.

“Maybe I’d like to hear some more,” Tommy says, pulling away to roll a condom on and slick himself up.

Buck, suddenly cold and empty, lets the words fall unabashed from his mouth. “Oh, please, Tommy, I’ll make it so good for you, it’ll feel so good, just need you in me, just need—”

“Shh, it’s okay,” Tommy says, just on the wrong side of tender, “I know what you need. Hold still for me.”

And then there’s the thick press of Tommy’s cock against Buck’s hole. Tommy slips in with a stretch that has Buck mewling something embarrassing in the back of his throat, and leans forward as he slides deeper, inch-by-burning-inch, encouraged by the way Buck grips at his biceps.

“Breathe,” Tommy says as he bottoms out, at which point Buck realizes he’s been stuck with his head tipped back and mouth open. He sucks in a gasping breath, relaxing under Tommy’s bulk. Tommy is warm above him again, haloed by the dim hotel light, so close Buck can feel his breath on his cheek.

“Move,” Buck demands, squirming. Tommy seems only too happy to oblige, mouth finding Buck’s again as he starts to roll his hips into him. It’s a slow, languid fuck, but still enough to have Buck seeing stars.

“This how you got all those people to tell you what they were up to?” Tommy asks, a hand roaming down to pinch Buck’s nipple, coaxing a groan out of him. “You’d just lay here all pretty and let them take what they wanted?”

“Nnnnngh—usually they wanted me on top,” Buck says around a reedy moan, “But yeah, that’s the general idea.”

“You take it so well,” Tommy murmurs, snapping his hips in with just a little more force, “Makes me wonder how many times you’ve done this before. How many times you begged on your knees—how many times you’ve been a slut for terrible people.”

“You’re in perfectly fine company, I can assure you,” Buck says, trying to regain some of his composure, “Art thieves, mob bosses, hackers. You work with monsters every day, why can’t I sleep with them?”

“I’ll have you know that the monsters I work with are working for the greater good,” Tommy says, with a huffed laugh, “And if you keep talking about them I’m not going to let you finish.”

“Oh, you’re not going to let me?” Buck says, “I’ll have you know I’m perfectly capable of taking what I want, too.”

“I’m sure you are, stud,” Tommy says, in that same condescending tone of voice that goes right to Buck’s dick. He fucks into him harder, right at the perfect angle, and Buck can’t help the pathetic moan that spills out of his mouth.

“You—were—talking—a little—too much,” Tommy grunts between thrusts, slamming into Buck again, and again, “Just lay back—and fucking take it.”

Like Buck could ever want to do anything else. He’s well aware of the fucked-out little uh, uh, uh noises that Tommy’s forcing out of him, but he’s far too gone to be embarrassed about it. This is the best fuck he’s had in years, he could care less what he sounds like or looks like right now.

Not that Tommy seems to mind. If anything, given the way he’s latched onto Buck’s neck like a goddamn vampire, he likes that Buck’s a writhing mess beneath him. Buck’s nerves are lit up, from the pain of Tommy’s less-than-gentle biting, from the way Tommy nails Buck’s prostate with every thrust, from the skin-on-skin he hasn’t had in so long.

His orgasm sneaks up on him. Usually, he’s a lot better about announcing it, giving his partners time to decide what they want, but Tommy is—Tommy is grunting and his back muscles are flexing under Buck’s fingers and his cock fills him so beautifully and Buck didn’t even think he could come without something on his dick, but—

Belatedly, as Buck rockets towards the clouds, he realizes that maybe there is something special about Agent 217. 

Buck comes down slowly, to the feeling of hands gently petting his sides, and a softening dick sliding out of his ass. It’s gross, leaves him feeling sticky and a little used, but he can’t bring himself to care that much about it at all. To his complete shock, he feels Tommy rummaging around for something, and then the soft cotton of his shirt wiping the cum off of his stomach, and the lube from his ass.

“It’s okay, Evan,” Tommy says, gentle, soft, “You can rest.”

Buck, despite every ounce of self-preservation that says he’s leaving himself completely vulnerable, does.

He wakes to an empty room. Nothing seems amiss, so despite the deep humiliation and regret, Buck packs his things (luckily, finding his hiding spots untouched) and heads back to the rendezvous point.

Athena is waiting for him at the café, in streetwear that looks unnaturally casual on her. “Got everything?”

“Check and check,” Buck says, handing her the dossier, “Got some lovely pictures. The sunset was especially gorgeous last night.”

“You sound like you could use a tea with lemon and honey,” Athena winces, “You coming down with something?”

“No,” Buck says, fighting against the urge to flush.

Athena passes him a knowing smile over her coffee. “Thanks for this, Buck. I’ll let Bobby know you came through, and he’ll want to meet with you later. I think we’re getting close.”

“Good,” Buck sighs, “I can’t wait for this whole mess to be over. I never thought I’d say this, but it would be nice to do some paperwork for once.”

[bunnithechubs]

Episode One- Meet & Greet!

These men are SO toxic and I love it. Some interesting strategies were played and some were successful. So far Silas is in the lead with Jasper tailing behind him. Hopefully the boys don't break out into a fight at the pool part!

@invisblequeen , @duusheen , @moonwoodhollow , @changingplumbob , @aniraklova , @simsmoonie , and @neishroom

[baekhyoris]

may i hear u ramble about insecure reader wanting to live up to the hyuga name after marrying neji … constantly feeling like they’re falling short or feeling like an outcast … neji comforting them … bubububu…

ANON YOUR BRAIN IS SO HUGE ILYSM 💙 everything's under the cut cause i have a lot of thoughts on this lol. i tried my best to make the reader gender-neutral but i think this may lean more towards fem!reader so sorry in advance if that's not what you had in mind. may or may not turn this into an actual fic someday so consider this an idea dump of sorts.

➢ the hyūga are a traditional bunch. i think we can all agree on that.

➢ you didn't come from nobility, being born into a small clan. and though you went onto becoming a respectable chunin later in life, none of your training and mission knowledge will ever help in navigating the intricacies of the most notable clan of Konoha. you certainly weren't the most graceful, nor would you call yourself elegant. and on top of that, you were an outsider. in a sea of lavender eyes, you stand out like a sore thumb and it's a constant reminder that follows you.

➢ there's a certain kind of pressure that comes with being married to neji hyūga—the genius of the clan. the whispered gossip looms around you like a ghost, people wondering why he wasn't slated to marry someone of greater standing when he became of age. after all, it was expected for neji to marry into prestige, not someone from a lesser family.

➢ the expectations to comform to the ways and traditions of the clan weighs heavily on your shoulders. To master the etiquette required of a hyūga spouse. to bow at the right times, to keep quiet, keep demure.

➢ a lead weight pulls at your stomach with each mistake made. a nagging thought that you're not good enough for neji. that he deserves to be with someone who wouldn't potentially embarass him.

➢ but you love him dearly and so, you try your hardest to uphold these standards—gods you do—but it's only a matter of time before the cards finally topple over.

➢ you were laying in bed one night while neji reads a book next to you. closing your eyes, you attempt to feign being asleep knowing that your mind wouldn't let you get much sleep. his hand rests on the side of your head and you can feel his eyes on you.

➢ "you've been quiet all day. is there something?" he asks, gentle fingers holding your chin and turning you to face him.

➢ "uh-no. everything's fine. just can't sleep is all." the reassuring platitude comes out a touch too quickly and the slight quirk of his brow tells you that he doesn't buy it. ever the perspective one.

➢ the bed shifts and Neji stands, taking your hand and urging you to follow despite your protests. "come, let me make some tea that will help you."

➢ some mixture of inadequacy and bashfulness curls within the base of your stomach as he instructs you to sit at the dining table. keeping your back straight, you keep your legs crossed at the ankles while your hands lay on your lap, stifiling the yawn that threatens to escape from your lips. an ache forms in your shoulders, it's exhausting trying to keep up apperances all day.

➢ your gaze follows your husband as he grabs two cups from the counter. he should be sleeping right now, you think. especially when he has training the next day, but here he is and a fresh wave of self-loathing washes over you. you close your eyes, feeling a sting behind them.

➢ "do you...ever regret marrying me?" the words slip out before you even process them. some part of you hopes he didn't catch that.

➢ "no, of course not," he says, voice incredulous. "what makes you think that?" you press your lips into a thin line at the loaded question and you suddenly feel small underneath his inquisitive gaze. a hot cup of chamomile tea is placed in front of you and the warmth somewhat relaxes your body.

➢ "well, it's just.." you reluctantly start, taking a deep breath as your fingere fidget with a loose thread on your shirt. "i think you deserve someone better than me."

➢ silence follows and all you want to do is go back to bed and pretend that you didn't say anything in the first place. but something keeps you seated. as usual, his face gives away nothing.

➢ neji would be equal parts confused and concerned. deserved better? you were the person he's wanted for so long. he wouldn't have married you if he wasn't fully certain that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you and he tells you such.

➢ but that seems to have the opposite effect he intented, with the way your hands clench into fists and your body grows tense. instinctually, his hand reaches out to you but your next words stop him in his tracks.

➢ "i'm not good enough!" you snap, eyes shut.

➢ "nothing i do is good enough," the words tumble out of your mouth like a waterfall. "i've try to change, be perfect for you—make sure i'm someone who can stand next to do but nothing works. you jumped through so many hoops for us to get married and i can't even do the basics right. you deserve someone who can actually measure up." you stand up, turning away as the tears begin to flow. "no matter what i do, all i'll be is a fucking outsider and-"

➢ his arms wrap around you before the supressed sob finally breaks free. you tighten your hold on him as your body shakes from your cries. your rant quickly devolves into a string of incoherent apologies that spills from your lips.

➢ soft kisses were placed on the crown of your head and his fingers run though the strands of your head as a silent form of comfort. the elders' of his clan had been urging for neji to marry a member of the main branch, that such gifted genes couldn't go to waste. but he refused at every step. as far as he was concerned, it was either you or no one.

➢ "i don't know who told you such things," neji begins once your sobs calm, his thumb gently brushes the tears that cling to your waterline. "but that couldn't be further from the truth. there is no one else who'd i want to be with, especially someone as loving as you."

➢ many more things lay on the tip of his tongue—how dear you are to him, how you've stayed with him through thick and thin, how you've always been a source of comfort—and they all get put into the gentle press of lips to the center of your forehead. whenever words failed him, he can always count on physical affection to fill in the gaps when needed. "believe me when i say that i love you. i could care less about clan politics or expectations placed on. you're more than enough for me. you always will be."

➢ the sincerity in his voice makes your heart swell with relief and gratitude. your body relaxes at his warmth, at the knowledge that he's the person who you'll love for the rest of your life.

➢ "thank you," you whisper, the corners of your lips pulling to a small smile. neji mirrors the action, pulling you into yet another kiss, doing justice to the words that are left unsaid.

ask box is open. send me more neji related headcanons/scenarios <33

[westdoesnotsleep]

Wedding Jitters

Summary: Wedding bells are sounding off but in the air hangs a smidge of uncertainty. Thoughts of "What if I'm not the right one?" Unsurprisingly it's not an original thought from either the bride and groom to be.

One-Shot

Word Count: 2379

Content Warning: Slight suggestive material/age gap

Jealous eyes saw it as a tragedy to look at the 38 year old as he slowly and deliberately acquainted his body with the fine and costly fabric of a tuxedo. It seemed almost strange to imagine him at the end of an aisle, waiting for a hand gloved in delicate white lace to then slip a costly golden band onto. Especially not a hand belonging to a much younger thing. Some scoffed a bit, hesitant to believe or accept the definite end to Leon’s never ending bachelorhood. A lot of blood, sweat and tears, later and it was all culminating in harps, violin strings and a piano as you made your way to him. He felt elated and undeserving. 

He could feel the wrinkles on his face, the crow’s feet when he smiled, and the grays which were slowly beginning to become more than noticeable. His age was making itself present more than ever. ‘You're handsome,’ you’d tell him, urging him to believe you. And he would, were you not so young, and at the thought he hesitated. Did he really have the gal to tie you down like this? But then he’d remember how you’d eagerly said yes to his proposal, kissing him and running your fingers through his hair while you pulled him closer to you. 

While scatterbrained he felt himself thrown back to a lonely moment with the comfort of brandy in his hand. He couldn’t really think straight at this point but he’d hoped, like on other nights, the drinks would keep coming and the bad stuff would be snuffed out slowly by each sip that reached his lips. He was aware of who he was, of what he wanted, and of the fact that he was alone was the best he could do for the world at that point. His neck on the line would mean lives saved, and the distance meant there was no one to mourn what would surely result in a tragic death, when he returned in a body bag, that is if he returned at all. Comforted by the grim thought and the money that kept the drinks flowing with ease into his system, he resigned himself to relish in the cycle of incompleteness the rest of his life was destined to be. 

Now, he was aware of the unfairness of his job plenty, but he wasn't ungrateful for everything. Not all nights were lonely. Sometimes the nights led to last call with the companionship of those who lived the same hell and lived to bathe in the light of another day. Others were much more foolish with the loneliness staved off by bewitching eyes met across the bar. Of course these things were never enough. Companionships were hard to maintain when missions were dangerous enough to take bodies in quantities higher than he could grieve in his lifetime. Meanwhile, drunken hands could only come to care so much in the darkness of his apartment. Hands touching and wandering, lips aching from sloppy kisses, these meant he could find peace for the night but come and go the witching hour and the slates were wiped clean for the future. 

Years were spent in the lonely cycle until the night when you drunkenly stumbled into his world with a laugh and a smile. His life now reconsidered when the curse was broken by the spell cast from your lips, the magic that hung in the air remained farther than the following morning when he rose from his bed to find you with a sleepy smile stirring from your resting space. 

Now there you were on the other side of the room, your wedding dress making him clutch at his chest. You were an angel, his angel. You were walking in slowly, bouquet in hand, your dreamy eyes looking up and meeting his lovesick ones. The tension and the insecurity washed away, your genuine smile a cure to the silly things that plagued his mind. The closer to him that you got the more he could stand there knowing that your voice called his name sweeter than sugar and that was enough for him to let go and welcome the moment as it was. If he was there it was because you wanted him above all others.

If anything, he was unaware of the clouds in your head raining and muddying the ground you stood on so that you'd begin to sink into a mess of uncertainty. What if this would be too much for him? What if he changed his mind? What if you were too much of a child? And you froze, thinking to the stares and glances he didn't clock. The jealousy and the comments and criticisms. Of course it was weird he was older and of course there were hotter women, hot women were everywhere, and looking is not a crime. But it was the worry of you, what made you so deserving of his gentle love? By the time that thought reached you, you had half a mind to get out of that bridal suite, burn everything with your name on it and start all over. 

While those thoughts were running through your head your best friend gave you a final congratulations before running out to continue with her maid of honor duties, completely unaware. You took a good long look in the mirror and found the specs and blemishes that you allowed yourself to believe tarnished your skin and made you undesirable. And yet underneath those insecurities you could feel the ghost of Leon's lips kissing every inch of your body all the way up to your ears to whisper of his adoration for you. He was always thankful, ‘I’m the luckiest man,’ he’d said, interlocking his hand with yours before resuming the work his mouth was desperate to conclude on your lips. 

Just that instance had you swimming in a river of memories that took you right back to the moment that lit the fireworks to high heaven. You were undeniably drunk and stumbling with the energy of a horse on a good day and willing to take more shots and more drinks to keep the energy of the night flowing into infinity because you'd met up with some friends after being stood up and a drink or many drinks would gently rid you of the humiliation with a good time. 

The night went on and calmly the energy had died down to a chatter and into a booth that you were making your way to with two fruity and very alcoholic drinks in your hand. Sure of your direction, loudly proclaiming about the douchebag who stood you up missing out on a great time to your friends you slid down to the booth and pushed the drink to who in your mind was the friend you got the drink for. However, it hit you that distracted by your own incompetence you'd intruded into a stranger's booth. The embarrassment was immediate, amplified to a million when taking notice of how unbelievably hot the man before you was. Your cheeks burned, the heat an open flame and you stuttered through the apology while your friends laughed and snickered. 

Still, to your surprise he smiled, cleared the air that he was waiting for no one else to join him, and invited you to stay. He asked for you to tell him about the fool who missed out and if maybe he could redeem the night for you instead. It was without a doubt an easy decision to make as your friends giggling left you to the impromptu date with the handsome stranger. 

Talking to him was smoother than cutting butter with a hot knife. He was wonderful and you were instantly hooked to his every word and flirt. Not to mention how many questions he asked you in return, his eyes caring for the answer you might give. When he asked you back to his place you nodded, sending a text to your friends as the butterflies in your tummy fluttered. At this point, whether his plan was to simply fool around or to keep chatting and possibly fall in love, you’d take it. This night was one for the books, but you couldn’t wait to see if there might be a second date. 

By the time you arrived at his building, it took getting into the elevator to truly feel alone for the first time as the exchange of words came to a natural stop. Standing close together, fingers ever so slightly grazing the other, the tension thick in the air, it was insanity. He considered it, to lean down and kiss you softly, because you seemed like someone who fell in love after a gentle kiss. But you beat him to the punch, in your chest you felt the boost of liquid courage. Drink after drink had you emboldened with confidence, feeding into the delusion that if you jumped you'd reach the stars, and if you kissed him he'd fall in love. Simply put, his hand was already next to yours and the chance was just right for the taking. So you did, and in no time, standing on your tippy toes, and your other hand on his chest you went for the kiss. He closed his eyes and met your lips for a waltz while his arms wrapped themselves around you firmly to keep you close. 

As the elevator came to a halt he pulled away with a cheeky smile and the trace of a blush on his face. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest but he kept his composure taking your hand to lead you to his apartment. Meanwhile the kiss had left you dizzy, feverish, possibly on the brink of insanity. The night itself almost didn't feel real. That is until you reached the door to his place that a familiar yet unwelcoming feeling began to rise in your mouth. Suddenly you were very aware of your surroundings and the way that your tongue was starting to salivate like aloe vera. You swallowed gently and tried to calm the sensation rising in your throat when the shaky half desperate words for directions to his bathroom flew from your mouth upon him opening the door. 

Thankfully for you, the bathroom was right by the entrance. You bolted at the news, quickly dropping to your knees in front of the toilet, lifting the lid, and then unceremoniously spilling every last bit of you into the bowl. Immediately after the release, your mind clarified that you were a total disgrace and you blew it. He was never falling in love with you anymore. 

Yet, moments after hearing the click of the front door shutting behind you, footsteps made their way carefully to the bathroom to join you. Embarrassed you groaned a scratchy sorry the full weight of shame and embarrassment hitting you almost as hard as the sickening feeling of one too many drinks fighting for their way out of your system. Another sorry soon to leave your lips was interrupted by more vomit. But Leon was there and he held back your hair and rubbed your back. He left for a few seconds and brought back a toothbrush and a change of clothes. Later adding a glass of water with liquid IV to the hangover arsenal. Despite both your best efforts, you agonized for half an hour before you felt stable enough to stumble out of the bathroom with his help. Still embarrassed, you offered to help clean up the mess, and insisted on needing an Uber back to your place. He laughed at your suggestion, doubled down that he's done much worse and he led you to his bed. You climbed in, hardly any fight in you to debate him further and he turned to leave when you settled in. Needing to stop him, with no care left, life being lonely and no more shame left in you to give the world, you cracked out a pitiful whine begging for him to stay in bed with you. You'd sat up and looked at him puppy eyed, mumbled that it would suck to be alone, and held your breath hoping he'd come right back and make his way to you. 

And it worked. Almost flawlessly. 

You were hot, despite the mess, he found you so captivating, especially now that he could stare at you in his t-shirt and boxers. He nodded and made his way to you, slipping under the covers and lying on his side to face you on the bed. Another smile made its way back to his face and he leaned in, kissing you slowly. You kissed back, the butterflies in his stomach went wild. 

Only kisses and words were exchanged that night and it quickly turned to morning, while your intertwined bodies rested nestled in peaceful slumber. 

The doors to the church were opened as the final moment of that night passed your mind and you felt a little better. Your hands were still sweaty and something about your age came fluttering back to the front of your mind but you pushed it away when you met his gaze on the other side. Suddenly when you saw that look in his face, that look of utter adoration, it became clear why you were here. Maybe if you’d seen that look when your panic first set in you could’ve avoided the panic to begin with. 

You’d begun to make your way to him, aware of how the fabric clung to your skin, the temperature in the room, you were anxious to reach his side. Your heart beating so fast you felt it in your ears and then suddenly the smile he shot at you taking the breath from your lungs, almost like he was making you fall in love all over again. 

Unable to continue the slow rhythm of the walk, you sped up your pace and reached him eagerly. If it weren’t for the priest before you, you may have even kissed him as soon as you were in his arms. But at least now the jitters were gone, and with the way he held you, you knew he was all yours.

[imaginedreamwrite]

Imagine König going back to his omega’s little cabin and bein smitten for how big her bump has gotten

He remembers the conversation you’d had before his last mission. The mission itself was one that would take at least a month, if not more. The conversation he had with you before he left was about the future.

“Eventually we will be a bigger cabin, schmetterling.” König had drawn his fingers down your baby bump, still small and delicate, before he would leave. “When I get back we will expand, ja?”

Now he’s on the porch, studying the old wooden rocking chair that’s sitting near the left side. On the seat is a blanket, something his mutter had sent when he wrote about you. König feels a breath of fresh air fill his lungs as he drops his rucksack to the ground and takes one then two steps toward the door. The wood creaks under his weight, whether that was a sign of age or rot it hadn’t mattered—it was home.

Home. He was home.

He raises his fist, apprehension in his arm as he debates whether or not he should just walk in. The way his heart beats and his scent thickens is all a response to you, to his omega.

It burdens him with the knowledge that you are marked and mated by him—it makes his whole body buzz with need and want. He marked you before he left and every time he walks out that door it becomes harder to leave.

His pack was perfect.

His hand drops when the door opens and you stand on the other side with a surprised expression on your face. Your eyes grow a little wide, your lips part slightly and your hand rests against your baby belly.

The belly that grew and changed more since he was gone, now practically popped. It was beautiful, he had never seen something so beautiful before in his life.

“Kleiner hirsch,” König’s breath was painfully caught in his throat, his hand reaching out to rest against your hand, fingers slipping between yours, “and mein kleiner…”

“Look at big your baby belly had gotten, our perfect little one…” he steps forward again, his eyes searching yours as he becomes so mystified by the child. “Dein Vater ist hier, mein Licht, dein Vater ist hier.”

His pride only swells when your baby kicks at his hand, making themselves known to their omega mother and doting alpha father. There is no concept of another father, the biological seed that didn’t belong to König. This baby will know König as its father, as its papa.

“Mein kleines Reh,” König’s attention shifts to you now, and he cups your cheek with one hand to slate his lips against yours, “you are the Sonnenschein of my life.”

[pisoprano]

Thinking about the symmetry of Catwalker and Loveybug.

Yes, they’re both just a version of their civilian selves, but those versions have been pushed to extremes. For Catwalker, he’s the embodiment of perfection and doing what he’s told, but Adrien the civilian often pushes back against being controlled. For Loveybug, she the embodiment of daydreams and affection, but Marinette the civilian is often gets in her own way of fulfilling her romantic dreams.

But these two aren’t just mirroring their own civilian selves, they’re also mirroring their superhero partner. Like Ladybug, Catwalker is focused on the mission above all else and tries to be professional. Like Chat Noir, Loveybug wears her heart on her sleeve and indulges in grand romantic gestures at inappropriate moments.

And this new version of the heroes is simultaneously all their partner thinks they want, and yet not at all what they truly need. Catwalker can help her carry her burdens, but he can’t be the partner who knows Ladybug well enough to be her best friend. Loveybug can shower him with affection, but she can’t be the partner Chat Noir knows well enough to love him for the real him.

And even when you remove the partner they know from the equation and just have it be Catwalker and Loveybug, they still find themselves drawn to each other. Loveybug knows from prior experience that Catwalker is a total sweetheart and is exactly the sort of boy she’d drool over if she didn’t have Chat Noir and/or Adrien. Catwalker knows from prior experience that Loveybug is totally lovey-dovey and is exactly the sort of girl he’d want to have close to him if he didn’t have Ladybug and/or Marinette.

And both are internally screaming just being transformed like this. Catwalker is stressed over having to force himself to conform to a strict standard for Ladybug’s approval, but he thought that having this clean slate would let him be by her side after facing rejection. Loveybug is stressed that letting loose on her emotions so much will be lead to a mortifyingly embarrassing rejection, but she thought that having this clean slate would let her act on her feelings for once without having to worry about long term consequences.

And in our scenario where Catwalker and Loveybug have become partners, it’s only a matter of time before they both crack from pushing their identities to their limits (her from showing a boy more love than her comfort zone has ever allowed, him from restraining himself from reciprocating the love he desperately wants). And once those cracks finally show? Then they’ll be able to see—just a bit more fully—who their partner has been hiding under the mask all this time.