#so i apparently finished and/or bullshitted well enough for that to be the case?

[qqueenofhades]

Had a dream last night that I needed to write a paper for a presentation in twenty minutes, on a subject I didn't know, in a conference that wasn't in my field, while colleagues sent me anonymous judgy notes and an obnoxious omniscient British narrator type called me patronizing things and got my name completely wrong. We've done it lads. Ultimate Academic Nightmare.

[gay-dorito-dust]

Tag list: @sh-tposter2021 @casmosmoon @hoesindifferentshows @daffodildelight @stuckinaoaktree @this-is-music @good-so @farleyis @starksdaughter20

Part 1

It has been a couple of days since your confession and Hobie was conflicted on whether he should rip the preverbal bandaid off and tell you of his secret identity, and possibly putting you at risk for potentially dangerous circumstances in the future, or keep you in the dark for a little while longer until he felt brave enough with himself and his situation to come forward; After all personal relationships -whether platonic or romantic- and Spider-Man never went well together. It was a sacrifice placed upon the shoulders of all variations who were chosen to dawn the mask of Spider-Man.

For if the legacy of being Spider-Man was a death sentence to those who are close, Hobie doesn’t want you death to be treated as his ‘canon event’ or whatever hand fisted bullshit excuse Miguel was trying to ram down everyone’s throats in order to justify in allowing a loved one of theirs to die. Hobie refuses that being the case and due to his righteous mistrust of Miguel, he kept your name out of his mouth unless it was within the presence of the few he could trust; Miles, Pavitr and Gwen.

‘So they have a crush on you.’ Pavitr began.

‘Yeah.’

‘And you have a crush on them.’ Miles jumped in.

‘Ain’t no point in hiding it.’ Hobie cooly replied because why should he bother hiding the obvious.

‘So…what’re you going to do about it?’ Gwen finishes and Hobie only shrugs in response, ‘dunno.’

Pavitr made an face of exaggerated shock and looks over at Miles and Gwen, who were already expecting this reaction from him as they exchanged looks with him, before looking back at Hobie. ‘Dunno, the person you like has expressed that they like you too-‘ ‘-it wasn’t me they were talking to Pav, it was Spider-Man, clear difference. No need to rom-com it.’ Pavitr waved his comment away and continues on his tangent, ‘they like you, you like them and your response to all that is; Dunno?!’ Hobie -again- shrugs. He really didn’t know what to do, yes the feelings between you two were mutual but that didn’t mean he was going to risk your safety over them; no matter how deeply he feels them to the point where the mere idea of you being put at risk because of him acting out of his selfishness in having you, made him physically hurt.

Hobie would rather enact upon his selfishness in a way that meant letting you go and moving on to someone who wasn’t going to be putting your life in constant danger, whilst also getting to shamelessly cling onto some part of you in the process; even if that meant just being your friend, even though he already knew that wasn’t what you wanted. ‘What do you want me to do Pavitr?’ Hobie began, ‘Go up to them and be like ‘remember the talk you had with Spider-Man up on the roof? Yeah that was me and no I’m not having a laugh because I like you too.’ He made a face at this, ‘nah I’d rather them call me a nonce for the rest of my life, well that is if they still want me in their life afterwards for lying to them this entire time.’ He murmurs the last part to himself mostly and it was silent for a while as he, Pavitr, Gwen and Miles sat on what has been said.

The later three shared a look between them as Hobie looked at a picture of the two of you that he kept within the pockets of his vest, smiling softly to himself as the echos of your laughter ran in his head like a melody he could set his soul adrift to on his most sleepless of nights. It was obvious to Gwen, Pavitr and Miles that Hobie held you close to his chest, right where his heart is; Gwen in particular was aware of how much of an impact you had on Hobie from the times she spent at his place and it was obvious as to where it was that you touched as Hobie made it apparent to keep it that way. You’ve made a home for yourself within Hobie’s heart and she knew that he’d fight to keep you in his life.

‘Hobie,’ he lifted his eyes to meet theirs, ‘would you rather be afraid to tell them who you are for the rest of your life, or tell them while you still have the chance because from what you’ve already told us about y/n, they wouldn’t hate you or call you a nonce, whatever that is.’ Miles mumbled under his breath as Hobie raised his brows, ‘has it crossed your mind at all that you might just overthinking all this? Not to say the fear ain’t real, what I’m trying to get at is this; you should pursue what makes you happiest, regardless of the fears you may have because in the end isn’t it better to have love and lost then to have never have loved at all?’

Hobie mulled on Miles’ advice once he got back to his reality before finding himself standing on that very same rooftop where his conflict began, looking down as he clutched his mask between both hands in contempt, so much so that he didn’t even hear your voice call out to him until you were right next to him. ‘Hobie? Everything alright?’ He had told you prior to meet up on the rooftop of some abandoned apartment complex that you were more then camisole with at this point, but the way he said it made you feel as though there was something eating away at your best friend and you weren’t about to let him go through anything alone without you.

Upon realising how close you were to him, Hobie was slick enough to hide his mask behind his back when he addressed you, stuffing it into his back pocket so that you wouldn’t get overly curious as to his hand placement but then again you were always as observant as him when he noticed the way your eyes lingered, like you already knew what this was about; to which Hobie wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case for it would make this situation a lot easier for you to process what you already knew. ‘Yeah, everything’s cool, why is it that you think somethings up?’ The raise of your brows only told Hobie that you weren’t buying it, ‘oh I think there is but it looks to me that you need a little prompting.’ and without missing a beat your hand was halfway to reaching for his back pocket when he caught your wrist, holding it there as he looked at you incredulously. ‘The hell was that for knobhead.’

You shrugged, ‘like I said, you needed prompting otherwise you wouldn’t be defending whatever’s in your back pocket so adamantly as you are now.’ You were smart, Hobie had to give you that as he lets go of your wrist and decides to quit the unnecessary prolonging and pulled out the mask from his back pocket, chucking it into your awaiting hands as he then sat himself near to the edge with his back facing you so he couldn’t see the look upon your face when you say, ‘so this is what you were hiding from me…I knew Spider-Man felt too familiar and now I know why.’ He heard your footsteps get closer before stopping all together as you sat yourself next to him.

You were both silent but it was a silence loud enough to dampen out anything else in that moment and Hobie didn’t know where this silence would lead to, and neither did you as you were now realising that you had confessed your feelings to your best friend without knowing it; which was already enough to take in but for that friend to also be spider-man was a whole other thing to unpack. Where you mad that he didn’t tell you? No, not even in the slightest but you were more worried then you could ever be mad, after all you just found out your crush and best friend was spider-man for fuck sakes so of course you’d be more worried for his well being. ‘Here,’ you tell him, holding out his mask for him to take, ‘you can have it back.’ Hobie did as you asked and took his mask back, but before it was fully in his grasp you yanked it away from his reach, causing him to look at you.

‘Give it.’ He tells you straightforwardly but you stood your ground as you pressed a finger to your cheek, ‘not until you tell me something first; did you know I had a crush on you prior.’ Hobie shrugs. ‘No, honestly it wasn’t until but you admitted that you liked me that somethings started to make sense.’ You hummed, content with his answer but you weren’t through quite yet. ‘Do you…feel the same.’ You once again asked but this time your voice wasn’t as steady and strong, it was fearful and hesitant; something Hobie never wants you to be when near him.

‘Of course I do, I thought I made it obvious when I personally dealt with those who chatted shit about you behind you back, I thought it was obvious that when I let you into my heart, that there would be no way that I was letting you go but with this,’ he gestured to the mask in your outstretched hand, ‘made it all the more harder for me to do that without putting you in danger; I was hiding this other life from you to protect you but you were always too observant for your own good but it’s one of the many things I love about you.’ Hobie admits, happy he finally got it off of his chest. After hearing all that, you gave him back his mask and rested your head against his shoulder, murmuring, ‘your such a hassle.’

Hobie smiled for what felt like the first time in a long while throughout this whole situation and slugged his arm over your shoulder before resting his head on top of yours, ‘yeah but I’m your hassle.’ He says before pressing a kiss to your head, feeling you as you snuggle into his side, smiling to yourself, ‘how unfortunate.’ You say half heartedly as Hobie joins in, ‘yeah, poor you.’

[darklinaforever]

Daemon in love? Excuse me you can't be serious.

Grooming her

Trying to ruin her reputation

Abandoning her half naked in a brothel

Flirting with Laena in front of her salad

Leaving her again at the funeral cause the man was walking away if she wouldn't chase him, nothing would have happened. He didn't speak to her nor cared of doing that

Making up the excuse he spared her cause she was a child meanwhile married Laena, who was younger than Rhaenyra

Finishing as fast as possible the sex with her, he literally never looked at her once or kissed her again while fucking her. Rhaenyra was more tender cause she was holding him tight, he 0, nothing

Ignoring her feeling bad while baby was coming, ignoring her screams, calling his name during their child miscarriage

Looking at her with disgust during the funeral of Visenya (who knows what he was thinking)

Yelling at her during the council cause she doesn't want go war

Choking her out cause of the prophecy. Almost KILLING her cause she couldn't literally breathe anymore and if he didn't stop he would have killed her!

And this is nothing yet, wait for S2 and have fun on watching how Daemon damage Rhaenyra in the name of the so called love named by you

Yall saying he's in love by watching glances of flirting while grooming and kisses is out of your mind. Be for fucking real!

As I said before, this has all been covered many times, but you don't accept my answers and act like a parrot.

Daemon is a gray character and his actions are therefore generally complex, not meant to simply be boiled down to purely good or purely evil, like the brothel scene. But again all you care about is pushing your evil groomer Daemon agenda. Once again, Daemon is a gray character and this book and show grooming story is bullshit :

Over the centuries, House Targaryen has produced both great men & monsters. Prince Daemon was both. In his day there was not a man so admired, so beloved, & so reviled in all Westeros. He was made of light & darkness. To some he was a hero, to others the blackest of villains.

I've already literally said that this strangulation scene was stupid and incoherent and that, no, it's not because GRRM accepted this scene that it makes sense. GRRM also confirmed the last season of GOT with its ending and we often all talk about how stupid and incoherent it was and that GRRM himself said that its ending would be different from the show. Once again, books and show are not the same thing. Unless of course you are one of the imbeciles believing that Daenerys' behavior was consistent at the end of the series... In which case I would have enough information on your capacity for analysis. In fact, the simple fact that you repeat the grooming argument over and over proves it enough to me...

Also, once again you are complaining about me saying Daemon loves Rhaenyra, well then complain about the writers and directors who said that and also about Matt Smith. Are you planning to harass them too ?

Oh and for the :

"Finishing as fast as possible the sex with her, he literally never looked at her once or kissed her again while fucking her. Rhaenyra was more tender cause she was holding him tight he 0, nothing"

Here's what Daemon did during the love scene, even though he apparently didn't do anything or show any signs of tenderness...

Rhaenyra didn't try to kiss Daemon during their sex scene either ? As if that was proof of anything ? Like they hadn't kissed multiple times before with Daemon gently holding Rhaenyra's chin ? As if Daemon hadn't rested his forehead tenderly on hers ? As if he hadn't slowly loosened his dress ? As if he hadn't tenderly kissed and caressed her shoulders ? As if he hadn't held her face in his hands to look at her ? As if he hadn't squeezed her thigh in his hands ? As if he didn't caress her face again before resting his forehead on hers ? Oh and if you watch from 1 minute and 14 seconds to 1 minute and 17 seconds Daemon actually puts his arm under Rhaenyra to hug her too. Then as if the sex itself hadn't been slow and tender ? Saying that he's done with sex with her as soon as possible is the biggest bad joke I've seen. 😂

And then I repeat myself, but I don't care what happens to this already shitty and incoherent show. Even if Daemon cheat on Rhaenyra in the show, it will not impact the book because, small detail that you seem to ignore again and again, the book is not the show and the show is not the book, the canon of the book and the show canon are not the same thing. If Daemon cheats on Rhaenyra in the show, that won't be proof that he cheated on her in the book. It's you who seems to be in complete disillusionment repeating over and over again that you can't wait for the rest of the show to come out as if Daemon cheat Rhaenyra ever comes true was going to destroy me even though I don't fucking care basically. The book will still exist and from there, fuck you.

Also, no matter what happens, I will always have this magnificent musical composition for Daemyra :

And again, stop acting like you care about Rhaenyra's abuse. If that were the case you would be talking about Alicent and the Greens in general and above all, you would not proudly proclaim that you can't wait to see Daemon abuse Rhaenyra again and again in season 2. Seriously you are all completely sick...

Once again I recommend going to the tumblr of @la-pheacienne and of @horizon-verizon to educate you on what the character of Daemon and the Daemyra relationship really is. The posts of @stromuprisahat are also pretty good in general on Fire and Blood.

@aleksanderscult

[sailormoonandme]

Mamoru is NOT useless in the Anime Part Deux: Manga Comparisons

In my previous post I talked about what Mamoru actually does in the anime and debunked the persistent narrative that he is useless.

Ah, but perhaps the narrative shouldn't be taken so literally.

Maybe it isn't that he literally does nothing, or that what he does truly useless.

Ya see, 'Mamoru is useless' is actually a super secret spy code phrase that is actually intended to express the following sentiment:

"Mamoru's power is of such a low level that he is unworthy of Usagi'. But in the MANGA he has the Golden Crystal and a uber kewl finishing move and actual magical powers and isn't just some guy. He has a power and a destiny WORTHY of being Sailor Moon's lover."

Let us be charitable and accept that a shitton of fans are indeed expressing a sentiment along those lines when they claim 'Mamoru is useless in the anime'.

The problem is...this is bullshit...on multiple levels.

Manga and Anime Power Levels

Now to be clear, I like Manga Mamoru a whole lot. My intention is not to critque him as a character, neither to hold him up as superior or inferior to anime Mamoru. I am just trying to deconstruct this line of thinking. With that being said...

As originally written, Mamoru in the manga IS just 'some guy' (read: a normal human with no supernatural powers to speak of) until he 'dies' and is possessed by Queen Metalia.

It is only then that he gains any kind of abilities but these are obviously just Metalia's powers working through him. He is her glorified meat puppet during this part of the story. The situation changes at the end of the Dark Kingdom arc, when Mamoru displays psychogeometry powers.

Later in the consequent arc, the Black Moon arc, he is shown to have minimal healing powers too.

In addition he displays psychometry powers and later in the arc, prompted by how he feels useless and unable to help, his future self (King Endymion) helps him to unlock his one and only offensive technique, Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber.

In the Infinity arc (the scans of which currently escape me) I believe he (like his anime counterpart) acts as a magical life support system for Chibi-Usa, but this is owed to his own magical abilities, which isn't the case for anime Mamoru.

In the Dream arc he learns he possesses the Golden Crystal, an artefact that is connected to the all powerful Silver Crystal and serves to boost its power. It is here that Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi retcons that it was this artefact that was boosting Sailor Moon's powers during past battles.

Bear in mind, the Dark Kingdom arc was originally intended as the sum total of the Sailor Moon story, meaning the Golden Crystal was not in Takeuchi's mind at the time.

Following the Dream arc, Mamoru consequently dies.

So...how are things over in the anime?

Well, whilst we do not initially know this, over the course of the first season we discover that Mamoru as Tuxedo Mask has the following abilities:

He can magically transform into Tuxedo Mask, whereas his manga counter part is literally just wearing clothes

He can sense whenever Usagi transforms and is in danger, triggering him to automatically transform and travel (possibly by teleportation?) to wherever she is

He can generate a seemingly infinite number of roses the stems of which are as sharp as darts, and can throw them from significant distances with pin point accuracy

He has a cane that can magially extend itself and might be magically empowered to be tougher and more resilient than a normal cane, since he often uses it like a sword

He clearly has beyond human durability, streangth, speed and agility as he leaps from rooftops and is able to survive hits that would cripple a normal human. The same is true of the Senshi, implying they all possess similar vague enhancements

In addition, in season 2/Sailor Moon R, he reveals that he can fire a whole barrage of roses that are apparently powerful enough to diffuse an attack from Rubeus, one of the high ranking generals of the Black Moon Clan.* And, of course, as I mentioned above, through his emotional connection with Usagi he was able to generate the Spiral Moon Heart Rod, though this doesn't seem to be an ability he developed in season 3 so much as simply another application of the 'love energy' he and Usagi seem to share.

Beyond that, his magical abilities do not evolve throughout the anime. Meaning that Manga Mamo starts out as weaker than his Anime counterpart and only later develops magical powers of his own, all of which are...well...not overly useful in a combat situation. Not until he gets Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber roughly halfway through the Black Moon Arc anyway. It is only then that he surpasses his anime counterpart's power level.

Sure, psychometry and psychogeometry can be useful when it comes to gathering intelligence, locating allies, etc. But when a Youma or Droid or Daimon is seconds away from stabbing you or someone you care about its not THAT useful to know where everyone is at the time or how they are feeling about it. His healing abilities are also kinda cool...but also redundant when Usagi's own abilities can literally bring the dead back to life.

And then you have the Golden Crystal. Let me be clear, I personally wish Mamoru DID have the Golden Crystal in the anime. But, him not having it...doesn't really matter in terms of how useful or useless he might be.

In the anime, Mamoru's love and emotional support BOOSTS Usagi's power levels. In the manga the Golden Crystal ultimate is just a literalisation of that same concept. It is a solid tangible object that functions the exact same way and its magic is clearly activated through Mamoru's emotional connection to Usagi anyway. So, on a practical level, what's the difference really? Especially when you consider:

a) In the anime and the manga, Usagi's power levels are boosted via the love and support of her friends anyway. Takeuchi in the manga simply literalises this also in the form of the Holy Grail, which in the manga is formed from the connection the Senshi share. It amounts to the same thing though.

b) In the manga, Mamoru is dead, his Golden Crystal has melted into the Galaxy Cauldron, and yet, without the power boost it provided, Sailor Moon was still able to go head to head with Galaxia, the Senshi of Destruction. So, clearly Sailor Moon was mindblowingly powerful no matter what.

So, the idea that manga Mamoru is worthier because he is more powerful than his anime counterpart is simply nonsense. Until he got Tuxedo la Smoking Bomber he was catagoriclly less powerful. And by that point in the story, the narrative had already repeatedly emphasised how in love the pair were, to the point of possibly implying they had had sex and already introduced their daughter from the future.

Are we to take it that Mamoru wasn't actually worthy of her affection until he could reduce monsters to dust with his Kamehameha-esque energy attack?

If not, then anime Mamoru must also have been 'worthy' of Usagi too.

There is a lot more to say about the statement at the top of this post but I will save that for next time.

*He also displays some other abilites in the final episode of season 3, but he is charged up on evil energy at that point so I don't think its fair to count it.

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

divorce

Riven exhaled. Of all the things that weren't absolutely, positively, fucking needed at this point in time--Ishgardian political bullshit was at the top of the list. Mathye was still in the throes of recovery from two major surgeries--upgrades for his leg's socket having been the first surgery, and the second--the reattachment following one of his bi-yearly maintenance. The second was the worst--as he couldn't be given painkillers--which meant his curse would trigger. Augustine had just about had it with his brother being out of his mind in pain every time the maintenance happened--and Nero was also of the same mindset. With the Empire hesitantly opening up trade once again, there was a chance that there was a safer-and healthier option...

"Is it certain that the baby is his?" She asked acidly. "Look him up in the Ishgardian social directory and he's the definition of cuckold!" The 'him' being Arsène Seymour, Augustine's stepfather. The look that crossed Emmanellain's face made Riven narrow her eyes.

"Well..."

"I am not going to like this, am I?"

"The story is, when the father sought to confront him over his daughter's pregnancy, Arsène instead paid him to have her be sent to the family holdings outside of the city. She was kept in high luxury--and when the baby was born, he had the blood tested."

"Did she agree to being treated like chattel?" Riven snapped, and then stopped. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't--"

"You need to sleep." Emmanellain chided. "Things have improved with Zoissette, and Mathye's over the worst of it now, yes?"

"Hopefully. He hasn't fully reverted, though. With all the stress...the other Knight-Dragoon healers think that it might be another week." But for a mercy Mathye had at least shed some of his scales, which was a good sign.

"To answer your question, it seems the daughter was all for the plan. Apparently she'd set her cap for a lord, and as House Dzemael is known for overlooking indiscretions in certain cases..."

"Overlooking indiscretions." Riven repeated softly. "So...what? This had been in the planning for a while?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. The family is new money, but many of the old lords and ladies aren't willing to open any doors into high society. So one must carve their own path. And it helps matters that Lord Seymour is still a staunch traditionalist, which makes many in Dzemael very happy. By all accounts, he is completely over the moon with both his new wife and infant son."

"In the meanwhile, his now ex-wife and firstborn are out in the cold." Riven finished. She closed her eyes, rubbing at them.

"Not completely. The Lady Catherine's family has taken them both in, but it's said Yannick is...beside himself with fury." Emmanellain continued, naming the brother Augustine had grown up with. He watched as Riven opened her eyes.

"I'm assuming if you're telling me about this, there's a concern someplace." Emmanellain offered a wry smile.

"Not from Lord Seymour." He said. "Yannick and his lady mother? Yes. Hopefully they'll keep their ire directed at Seymour--but there's still that slim chance..." He trailed off. Riven exhaled, understanding.

"Right." From what Augustine had told them, Yannick and Catherine had contributed to the nightmare that had been his childhood. Both had been abusive, but as Augustine's martial and magical skill had grown--Yannick had gotten worse and worse, fearing that Augustine would supplant him as the Seymour heir.

"Father thinks everything should be alright, but it wouldn't hurt for you to keep a weather eye out."

"I'll do one better than that." Riven said. "I'm going to speak to Nero. If he feels Mathye's strong enough, we're going to Dravania tomorrow and waiting out his reversion."

[whilomm]

i work in a grocery store bakery and one of the things about this type of customer service is that you sorta need to make the assumption that customers will be grimy ass toddlers and if you dont watch them like a hawk they will pull some ridiculously uncommon sense bullshit

like of course i can handle the customers who just ask me where everything is instead of just Looking Down or walking 5 feet to the correct table, or people who ask questions that may seem a little silly, but god the people who just. assume. dont ask.

for instance we have to be very careful about leaving product on the counter, even though thats where stuff like damages/scan outs tend to go. when im here i always try and make sure damages are put BEHIND the counter, out of sight, but my coworkers (both in bakery and those from other departments dropping damages off) will just leave it on the counter sometimes.

which SOME customers will interpret as "free samples!!!". now personally i would think any reasonable person will know that free samples are generally clearly communicated (at a sample stand, has signs, has someone serving it/ways to serve yourself like tongs, etc), but apparently to some people "a closed box of product that happens to be sitting on the counter" is indication enough. such as the man who saw a box of brownie bites on the counter in a CLOSED BOX, and without asking he opened the box (by knocking the lid onto the floor), reached his dirty customer hands in and grabbed a brownie himself, and only asked "are these for customers?" when i was startled by the lid dropping and looked up to stare at him.

(i of course told him "NO, NO THEY ARE NOT, THOSE ARE DAMAGED" and moved them BEHIND the counter like they shoulda been in the first place,)

or! you know those self service cases lotsa places have? the ones that are usually clearly labeled with instructions on how to serve yourself, visible ways to open them, tissues/tongs, boxes to hold your stuff in, etc? we have one thats a donut case, fairly standard. well, we also have FULL SERVICE cases, which are. not self service. you (the customer) arent supposed to Fucking Touch Them. this is one of the reasons why the way you open it is not obvious and theres no handles, so that customers dont think its self service. ours is the cake display case :)

anyway sometimes customers will learn the Secret™ of how to open the cases from the outside (such as if they see one of us lift it open it to grab a cake), and they will think ah! the only thing that prevented me from serving myself was knowledge, now i know, i have the power to grab my OWN cake! and they then proceed to reach their DIRTY, GRIMY CUSTOMER HANDS into the CAKE CASE, and pull one out, before becoming confused because. oh, where are the boxes? (answer: behind the counter. BECAUSE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO GRAB CAKES. NOT YOU.)

sometimes you will catch a customer before they finish their deed, mayhaps because of the glint of the glass as its raised, and you can yell at them to stop (NOTE: i now pretty much always look up when i see the glint to make sure its someone who works here because of How Many Times this has happened :)

other times you will turn around to see a customer holding a fucking cake in their hand and theyre asking you "uhm excuse me where do i get a box :/", at which point you get the joy of trying to explain to a grown fucking adult that the reason why the way the case is opened is a "secret" and that theres no boxes is that THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GRAB CAKES OUT OF THE CAKE CASE.

oh or the other fun one when you turn around and there is a customer. in the bakery. INSIDE the bakery. well past the BIG SIGNS that say "EMPLOYEES ONLY NO HAIRNET NO ENTRY NO EXCEPTIONS" (they are also not wearing hairnets). and, once again, you need to explain to a grown ass adult what "EMPLOYEES ONLY" means.

...somehow, i have never seen actual toddlers do any of these! not one single toddler has ever run into the bakery!! MANY Grown Adults have though. grown adults who, when faced with a situation that they are unsure as to the proper etiquette, rather than asking a single question or reading a large sign, simply decide that obviously they are allowed. obviously :)

anyway point is if you dont watch customers like hawks and keep no touchy things out of reach sometimes they will commit healthcode violations and i hate them i hate them so much

[thegeminisage]

squeezing in a little korok hunting before i have to Do Stuff just kidding as soon as i finished typing that i had to get up. but NOW im back to hunting koroks

every day my map opens with everything on as default and i just caught sight of two more gloom spawn points and became Afraid. under one hand it kind of takes the fun out of it if i know Where they are under the other i become extremely terrified of even going NEAR where they are. so.

i did go ahead an enable lynels though because you have to be prepared for that shit and i was very surprised to see there are still quite a few on the surface! incheresting...

absolutely disgusted with my past self for doing SO many shrines without getting the chest. what was she thinking!!! girl you never leave the chest! and since i don't have any fans (i have 2 left but theyre for emergencies only), i can't go in and get them without losing my bike and having to spend zonaite to make a new one...after i finish this section, im tracking some fans down for sure. and THEN im gonna expand my energy wells

aw man the spring of power...i'll never forget the memory from here!!!! i can't go into the quarry tho bc Hands >:(

YOOOOOO this statue also wants to know about the mother statue........

oh shit she wants dinraal's claw........also, canonical dinraal she pronouns. hell yeah

oh um. just kidding! i totally do have to go into the quarry! my bike probably wouldn't be able to get out this tiny hole...

this (dragging the bike everywhere) wouldnt be an issue if i just had more FANS. i have like thirty steering sticks. why am i so short on fans!!

i am Extremely Close to the spawn point adn i am Very scared.

oh you know what i shouldve left a fast travel point at the spring of power...augh, but then i wouldn't have enough to do the other springs and still keep one at the temple of time...nevermind, i guess...

wisdom and courage both have one REALLY close by though...well, whatever. i only need to come back once, probably, and if it gives me more to do i'll lay one then. i don't want to go back near the quarry lol

i REALLY miss urbosa's fury. i don't know how to take out taluses that have a weak point on their back without it. this talus is super weak and yet it's taking forever bc i just can't hand a hit on it!

eventually got it with midiar bullet time bomb arrows. apparently this particular talus was a quest objective!

apparently the lynel in this forest is a normal one...maybe i'll try to fight it

oooh i'm v nervous. snapped a pic and saved just in case

GOT HIM!!!!! easy peasy. i'd hoped i was op for this and i am <3 nice to be op for SOMETHING

lost my bike ;_; i knew it would despawn...i mean i can make another but i'm trying to save my zonaite for batteries!!!

this one precise strike shrine is bullshit. i'm gonna have to get this particular chest later this is making me crazy

oooh using the bike to skip the long walk on the big sand spiral....n*ce

263 seeds!! not bad for just an hour or so

[tuiyla]

thank you for answering :) i wasnt sure if you were tired of this discussion hahaha

i think that it's a little strange how they wanted to make tatum the s1 leighton and tried to villainise her but then accidentally wrote her to be a little too nice to leighton earlier. had she been just a little bitchier or that they showed another scene of her not being too nice, it wouldve come across better and we wouldnt have this wtf? moment. im not sure if you're familiar with the show, but another tweet pointed out how accidentally likeable tatum is and compared the reactions to her (assumed) departure to how the reactions were to penelope from legacies (the tvd spinoff). and that kind of hit the nail on the head for me. i think it doesnt help that gracie dzienny pulls off that "mean top bitch you would root for" so well. maybe they shouldve watched her in first kill 😂

i just wonder how theyre gonna write leighton and alicia now since they sort of used up quite a bit of plot they couldve used for s3. and considering midori is on greys now, i wouldnt be surprised if they had to rip them apart just to accommodate any potential scheduling conflicts. it just feels like they shot themselves in the foot here a little. had they not write off tatum so quickly, they couldve given themselves space just in case that happens as well.

it all just feel like wasted opportunities. youre right in saying its easier for us to sit back, judge it and think we couldve done better after they already finished the job. especially considering how volatile the fate of hbo's projects are right now. but it just feels so wasted because the show already had a good chunk of people loving it and it also naturally grew this season. it couldve just been so much better, but of course we dont know what went on behind the scenes.

not that i dont deeply love the show, i really do and i get really excited every week. but if this happens again next season, then it'll just a little painful to watch subsequently because all i'll think of is how it couldve been better. and thats saying a lot considering its already quite a great show.

I’m really just missing the nuance from how Tatum was written. I mean, there is a way to have her be as supportive as she was and for her to still, ultimately, be someone who reminds Leighton too much of a version of herself she wants to change. But to pull that out of their asses and toss Tatum aside despite all the good qualities she’d been given, nah that ain’t it.

But in that sense I’m not sure Tatum was accidentally likeable. I think they cast Gracie for a reason, surely, a reason beyond that she kinda resembles Reneé Rapp. I do think the creators put enough thought into it to consider that Tatum would inevitably be likeable to many and I don’t think the intention ever was to completely villainize her. Nor would that be a good story. It’s just... there’s such a disconnect between her first three episodes and how easily she’s discarded. Once again I can only say that it was lazy writing and that’s what I find upsetting.

I’m just curious to see how Leighton’s journey continues, and I do hope they put more weight behind her social awakening in season 3. There is the question of how she can continue being with Alicia when Midori might not be available for as much as a love interest of a main character should be, but really I just care about Leighton. If they write Alicia out in episode one I am gonna be upset ngl lmao because then what was the reason? Ah well, we’ll see. I take comfort in the show’s apparently good numbers and that it was renewed for season 3 so quickly. But one can never know in today’s fragile streaming market and especially with HBO Max and their bullshit so I hope the show doesn’t alienate its audience in season 3. I fear the season 2 finale might have done some damage; valid or not is another matter, but yeah it’s tricky with audiences nowadays. But also, like you say, it is a great show and I enjoyed season 2 very much despite my criticisms, and I just wish for the pacing and other adjacent issues to improve in season 3. I feel like by the third season a series should be mature enough to have that stuff figured out.

[ourlordapollo]

Stumbled across this Fanfic Tag Game and nobody tagged me in it but I thought it looked fun, so here we are

As such, I will also not be tagging anyone. Be free! You can do whatever you want forever!

1: How many fics do you have on AO3?

31

2: What’s your total AO3 word count?

347,001 :0

3: What fandoms do you write for?

Pokémon (games), Ace Attorney, Sanders Sides, Black Butler, Welcome to Hell

4: What are your top five fics by kudos?

I Love You (Just in Case You Didn't Know) (Pkmn)

Seek, and Ye Shall Find (W2H)

Soft-Shoe Shuffle (TSS)

Intertwined (TSS)

A Place Where I Can Breathe (TSS)

5: Do you respond to comments?

I try to! If someone leaves a whole bunch on a multichap then I usually just reply to the last one.

The only comments I absolutely don't respond to are ones speculating on what will happen next. No hate, and I'm truly flattered people are invested enough to guess, but they make me uncomfortable because them I start to wonder "does my version not make sense? Will they be disappointed if the story doesn't go that way?? Am I gonna get a bad grade in fanfic??????"

I am very normal :)

6: What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Down Comes the Night. It's a W2H fic that ends with a break up so bad one of the parties literally invents Hell. (Yes it's Proveles lmao)

7: What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

ILY(JICYDK). I write a LOT of happy endings, but there's this concept in music theory where something loud sounds loud, but something equally loud preceeded by something quiet sounds REALLY LOUD. By that metric, many of my endings are roughly the same, but this one is preceded by something tragic.

8: Do you get hate on fics?

No lmao. I don't really write anything controversial.

9: Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nah. Maybe in the future, but it's not really the kind of thing I'm interested in on its own? I can see p0rn having a place in some future stories, but it's not something I'd prioritize.

10: Do you write crossovers?

Nah. Apparently what I write are called "fusions."

11: Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12: Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I have toyed with the idea of translating my own fics into German

13: Have you ever co-written a fic?

Good LORD, no. I'm too much of a control freak to ever consider that

14: What’s your all time favorite ship?

Apparently it's SnazzyShipping. Don't ask.

15: What’s a fic you’d like to finish but don’t think you ever will?

You never know with me. I could finish anything at any time.

16: What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, weird displays of love and intimacy that ride the line between platonic and romantic, dialogue, pastiche, and dialogue

17: What are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes I get a little caught up in adjectives so I'll use two (or more) redundant ones in a way that really doesn't serve the story, but frees me of having to choose lmao. Occasionally you'll get a sentence like "her voice was soft, gentle, crawling along his skin like a drop of water" or some bullshit. It purples up my prose needlessly.

18: Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

BUCKLE UP

I think it works best as little interjections; I think it can really humanize characters who learned English as a second language. For example, in all my years studying German, no one in my class EVER answered a question with "ja." It was ALWAYS "yeah" or "yes," even when we were doing total immersion. There are just always things that are gonna come out of your mouth in your native tongue unless you're being REALLY careful. So I think interjections, expressions of pain, yes and no answers, and swears/oaths do REALLY well when written out in the target language.

That being said, I don't think it works for most other scenarios. Maybe in a story with an omniscient narrator. Because in deep POV, if your character doesn't speak the target language, "he mumbled something in German" works better than "'küssen verboten,' he said, whatever that meant" because there's no reason the POV character would be able to identify those words without also understanding them.

There is one niche usage of the above that I've found works, and it's used in The Secret History, the OG dark academia novel by Donna Tartt. A character speaks Latin at the POV character. He understands enough Latin to pick out and identify the words that are being said to him, but he doesn't know what they mean.

*deep inhale*

HOWEVER you do have the problem of the POV character speaking the target language with someone else, and they both understand each other. There's no elegant solution to this. "'Kissing forbidden," he said in German. / "Strongly forbidden," I agreed in kind' can only do so much, especially if it's a long conversation. It's not strictly grammatically correct, but back in my Hetalia days, people used to use «guillemets» to indicate sentences spoken in the target language and I have borrowed that from time to time because I find it the most elegant solution, even if it necessitates explanation in the author's note

19: First fandom you wrote for?

Pokémon! But the anime; I used to almost exclusively read and write RocketShipping fanfic

20: Favorite fic you’ve written?

When I weed my garden, I don't pick out a favorite weed as I'm throwing them all in the compost lmao. For me, writing is like weeding my brain. I think my fics are good, and I re-read them, but I wouldn't use the words "like," "dislike," favorite," "least favorite," etc to describe my relationship with them

Wait no just kidding it's Hitsuzen.

Hitsuzen is my favorite work.

[cuntwrap--supreme]

Well, I may have gotten too fucked up last night. I don't drink, ever, but I'm hurting so much I thought, "Hey, I haven't had anything to drink in like 5 months, and then it was just a shot with the boys, I'll go get a 6 pack of some shit cider because I'm a pussy and can't handle liquor." And I did. And I only got through 4 of 6 before I was too fucked up to stand. Because, again, I'm a pussy and I don't ever drink. And I slept for like 6 hours and still feel drunk.

And I know. I know. Drinking to deal with issues is not good. It isn't healthy. BUT. It kept me from going to where he works at 2am and crying to him, asking why he would just ghost me like this. Guy's been my best friend for years, and now he won't even respond to me. I'm going to use whatever coping mechanism I damn well please to get through this.

I believe this is Day 4 of not hearing back from him. The dudes I work with think I should give him a few days of space then try again, if I feel like potentially tearing open the wound again. They seem to think that he's ghosting out of nervousness. Which, like, is not something a 34 year old grown ass man should do, but go off? But they've been men their whole lives, so I'll take their advice. I'm only Man Adjacent ™️ and sometimes don't fully grasp the ways in which mens think.

But guy had said he's had a thing for me for two years-ish. He'd said that even thinking about me while he's at work is dangerous. Like, I sent him a photo of me flexing my arm in the gym mirror because he asked why I was going to the gym so much, and his response was something about trying to hide a boner. He kept saying how excited he was to take me out on a date, but didn't know if I was serious about it or not. But then he would also ask that I not come by to see him after work, and constantly say he couldn't hang out, even just to talk for a few minutes, so I don't know. I genuinely do not know. And it's weird, because this man is essentially me, if I was a cishet bald guy. I've never not been able to tell what was going on in his head. And the only conclusion my brain can come up with is this was all a joke to him? Because everything he does is done in joke format so there's plausible deniability in whether he was serious or not. Know how I know that? Because I do the same fucking thing. Same exact. So I'm thinking maybe this was a way for him to feel out the situation before he pulled back and could just say it's all a joke.

Whatever the case, I'm fucking hurting. I've spent the past few days working long ass shifts and glad for it because it brings me a good distraction from my thoughts, even though the second I had any downtime I was back to forcing myself not to cry.

Like, I've been on this little sideblog talking about this man for years. I've never felt about anyone how I do about him, not even when I was a kid and had that "first love" feeling. I'd genuinely do anything for him, and I thought he'd do anything for me, too. But I never expected the ghosting. Like, I've written enough songs about him to fill an entire album, if I was ever not-sad enough to finish them. He's inspired art I've made, stories I've written, places I've gone and things I've done. For the years he's been in my life he's always been someone I could look to for help, and who I used as an inspiration for me to do better. I took a bullshit management position to try to impress him. I applied to college after college trying to get his attention. I bought so many stupid items just because it was part of an inside joke. And now he's apparently just.... gone.

And I'm left here, trying to pick up a bunch of pieces and put them together like a puzzle bought at Goodwill. I don't have all the pieces, and the ones I do are kinda warped and unusable. I'm more suicidal right now than I have been since I was literally being abused daily in my late childhood/early teens. And what's worse, is I'm manic, so I'm making all kinds of shit decisions. Like getting shitty drunk last night. Or driving to work going 110mph on the interstate in heavy traffic. Or not eating for the past two days. Hell, I might go blow all my money on something stupid that I can't afford, like a sword or a new tattoo. Just so I feel like I have some semblance of control.

And this is entirely too long now. I don't even think I'll read this over again if I ever look back on the stupid shit I've written. I just need to vent, because no one in my life understands this. The closest person I know who does get it can only imagine the pain. He's been with his wife since they were like 13, and they're 21 now, and he's like, "Yeah, if she left I think I'd be pretty fucking suicidal," because they are each other's everything, but she's never just left him so he only has the imaginary pain.

Anyway, this is why I shouldn't hold feelings in for over two years. This is why I should have just said something forever ago. I would have quit to be with him, because he was my boss and it's against company policy for him to have dated me. But I would have quit for him. I would have lived in my car if it meant meaning anything to him.

And now that's all fucked, all because I asked if he was serious about taking me out.

[murdockparker]

Ask Me Tomorrow

Matthew Murdock x Reader

Summary: Nelson, Murdock and (Y/L/N) doesn’t have the same ring as Nelson and Murdock, this was true. If only there were a way to keep it the same... perhaps changing a last name would help.

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: slightly suggestive if you squint, alcohol use 

__

“To Nelson and Murdock!”

“To Nelson and Murdock!” The trio cheered along, clinking the mis-matched glasses clumsily together. A sloppy collection of an old Columbia mug, some glass Foggy had borrowed from a diner and a mason jar all were clutched in hand, filled evenly with some cheap boxed wine that was far too fruity to even be considered as such. 

“You know,” (Y/N) swallowed, having had a rather large sip of wine. “We could probably afford an actual set of glasses for the office—”

“But it wouldn’t be as eclectic, no?” Foggy mused, mug barely staying hooked on his finger. “Come on, you know how hard I worked to get Matt’s glass?”

“Putting it in a takeout box isn’t really all that hard, Fog—”

“Okay Saint Matthew, didn’t realize I was on trial here.”

“You’re not,” Matt laughed, setting his cup down. “But you do have to agree, (Y/N) has a good point. Now that we won this case—and got paid this time—we can actually work on fixing this place up.”

“Karen’s been dying to change it up in here,” (Y/N) drawled, motioning to the beige walls surrounding them. “If she were here tonight, she’d be barking at you both to buy some cans of paint.” 

“With what the client paid us, we’d be lucky to afford half a can of paint,” Foggy mumbled into his mug.

“And with that half of a can, I was thinking forrest green,” (Y/N) smirked, only causing Foggy to groan. “Mr. Jacobsen should be sending us the final check this week, I’ll deposit it as soon as I can. The faster the money is in our account, the faster that we can cover our rents.”

“You say that as if you two don’t already split rent—seeing as you two lovebirds live together and all.” 

“Y’know, you could always move in with us Foggy,” Matt smiled, finally finishing his one glass of wine for the evening. “Couch is always open.”

“Hard pass,” Foggy shook his head. “I love you both, I do, but I already get enough of the Murdock-(Y/L/N) love fest at work, don’t need it with my morning cereal too,” he jokingly gagged.

“I pegged you as more of an egg man, Foggy,” (Y/N) smirked. 

“Oh fuck off,” Foggy laughed, pushing (Y/N) away playfully. “Seriously though, this case was just the thing this firm needed right now,” he took a gulp of wine, “something relatively normal—a paying normal. No pro-bono bullshit.”

“Hey, I thought you liked our pro-bono bullshit,” Matt said, feigning offense. 

“Yeah, well, as much as I love the cookies, cakes and chickens—and I do—I also enjoy keeping my lights on too.”

“I’m sorry, chickens?” (Y/N) nearly choked, a bit of wine dribbled from her lips. Matt handed her a napkin, his fingers grazing hers for a moment.

“Matt didn’t tell you?” (Y/N) shook her head, cleaning her face. “When you were out of town for that convention or whatever, someone tried to pay us with like—half a dozen live chickens.”

“What!?” (Y/N) practically yelled. “That’s—that’s hysterical! Surely you at least kept one—”

“What would we possibly do with a chicken?” Matt laughed, feeling his cheeks hurt ever so slightly—a good hurt for once. “Keep it as a pet?” “Feed it, nurture it,” (Y/N) shrugged, “have a fantastic Sunday dinner—”

“That’s dark, (Y/L/N).”

“Yet you’d be the first in line to get a taste, Fog,” (Y/N) smiled lightly.

“You…!” Foggy paused, briefly. “You’re probably right…”

The trio abruptly fell into an orchestra of laughter, a comfortable rhythm that they so desperately needed. With Matt’s nightly duties, abundance of cases coming through the door and the ever-so-apparent pressure of the media on their firm, it was hard to let loose like this.

“(Y/N),” Foggy said, breaking the fit of giggles, “are you upset?”

“Upset? About what?” (Y/N) asked, filling Foggy’s mug with the last of the wine. “Matt’s new haircut?”

“You said you liked it,” Matt quipped quietly, head tilting towards his girlfriend. (Y/N) playfully patted his lap, smooching lightly towards him—a comforting gesture.

“Upset about our firm’s name,” Foggy waved his hands, “Nelson and Murdock?”

“And I would be upset why…?”

“You’re just as much apart of this firm as Matt and I are, doing the lawyer thing and all,” Foggy said, bobbing his head, “hell, sometimes I think you may actually do more than Matty-boy over here.”    

“We all do our fair share, Fog,” (Y/N) said, patting Matt’s lap again in reassurance. 

“Exactly!” Foggy stood up from his chair abruptly, the wooden stool clamoring to the ground. “I propose we change our firm’s name— Nelson, Murdock and (Y/L/N)!”

“It’s a bit wordy,” Matt said, finally speaking up.

“Yeah, it doesn’t quite have the same cadence as Nelson and Murdock,” (Y/N) agreed. “Besides, everyone knows the firm with the name now, there’s really no need to change it.”

“Like one extra name tacked on would make people forget about our ugly mugs,” Foggy grinned. “Doesn’t it bother you, though? Being a partner here and not getting the fancy credit?”

“Oh I assure you, Mr. Nelson, I get plenty of the credit,” (Y/N) smiled, pointing her thumb to the wall behind her. The wall was covered in framed newspaper articles, all citing the various trial wins (Y/N) had brought to the firm. “I don’t need to have my last name be piggy-backed onto the firm to feel accomplished in the work I do.”

“I’m not saying that was even the case a little bit, (Y/N). It’s just, most lawyers dream about having their name attached to a firm—I know it was one of mine,” he paused.“Y’know,” Foggy set his mug down, the contents successfully emptied for the umpteenth time that evening. “If you and Matt got married, we wouldn’t even have to worry about changing it.”

Married.

The word made the couple freeze, if only for a moment. Sure, they’ve been together on and off for the last five or so years—steadily together for three—but marriage has never been a topic of conversation. The word seemed almost like an unspoken territory, one that the other never dared crossing. Until tonight, so it seemed. 

“Wouldn’t it be Nelson, Murdock and Murdock, then?” Matt smiled lightly, his face hard to read. Fuck, was the man hard to read. (Y/N) couldn’t make heads or tails of his reaction, sending her overthinking into a relentless frenzy. Nothing new.  

“Shit,” Foggy groaned. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He slid down the wall behind him, firmly planted to the ground. 

“We should probably call it a night,” (Y/N) said, her heart beating nearly out of her chest. Surely Matt could hear it. Of course he could. “Maybe take a half day tomorrow?”

“Good call,” Foggy said, fully laying on the ground, staring up at the off-white ceiling. 

“Need us to call you a cab?” Matt asked, handing (Y/N) her coat from the rack. She pulled it on quickly, wrapping the accompanied scarf around her neck. A quick walk over to Karen’s desk—hopefully she wouldn’t mind the mess—and (Y/N) swooped up Matt’s cane. As if he knew exactly what she has set out to do, his hand was wide open to receive the cane. With a swift motion, he pulled her in just enough to peck her cheek in thanks.  

“No,” Foggy shooed, waving his hand back and forth. “The floor is just so comfy—I have a gym shirt—could you actually…” he pointed to the trash bin near his office, urging (Y/N) to bring it closer.

“If you vomit in here, you better clean it good,” (Y/N) laughed, putting the small waste bin by his side, along with this coat. “Could probably use a pillow too.”

“You’re too good to me,” Foggy said, pushing the coat under his head, eyes closing. “Get home safe!” He called out, hearing the door open.

“Night, Fog.” Matt said, following behind (Y/N).

The air was cold—instantly freezing your nose hairs kind of cold, but that was just January in New York. Snow was falling lightly, dangerously close to stopping, flakes getting caught in their hair. Matt wordlessly laced his fingers with (Y/N)’s, putting his cane in his jacket pocket, the warmth of her hand all the more inviting.

“We should probably take a cab,” (Y/N) mumbled, eyes dancing along the falling snow. “It’s almost midnight.”

“It’s not that far of a walk,” Matt retorted, swinging their connected arms back and forth. “Besides, the cold air and exercise is exactly what we need after drinking that garbage—” 

“I knew it! I knew you didn’t like the wine!” (Y/N) said pointing a finger at Matt’s face, knowing full well he could sense it before him. 

“Not really a wine guy, sunshine,” Matt smiled, pushing her finger away. “Even if I was, that box was what? Fifteen dollars? Not really first class.”

“A bargain in a box,” (Y/N) nodded, “Foggy liked it.”

“Foggy also drank most of it,” Matt laughed. “We should bring him some Advil tomorrow,” he said mindlessly, “you only had a glass and a half.”

“Keeping track of how much I drink now?” (Y/N) said incredulously, a hint of teasing naturally accompanied. 

“Of course not, it’s just—considering your win today, I’d thought you’d celebrate a bit harder.”

“Who says I’m done celebrating?” (Y/N) whispered in his ear, breath hot against his cold skin. 

“Fair point,” Matt mumbled out, his cheeks growing warm. Even after five years, the woman beside him always found a way to get him giddy, surprise him at the best of times. “Five years…”

“Hm? What was that?”

“We’ve been together for five years.” Matt repeated, his voice firm.

“Did you finally decide to change careers? From lawyer to a much more fitting Captain Obvious?”

“Har-Har,” Matt smiled, bumping her hip to the side. She smiled back. “Seriously though, five years is a long time.”

“How I’ve put up with you is beyond me,” (Y/N) said, glancing towards Matt. “Should’ve bolted years ago.”

“You did, but somehow we found our way back to each other,” Matt nodded, recalling their brief breakup. “Seems you’re stuck with me now.”

“What a travesty,” (Y/N) teased, gripping his hand harder. “Does this have anything to do with what Foggy said?”

“What did Foggy say?” Matt asked, lying through his teeth. He wanted her to say it, to bring it up. 

“Y’know,” her voice faltered, afraid of continuing, “getting married or whatever…”

“Or whatever?”

“Matt—” 

“Alright, alright, you got me,” Matt flung his hand up in admission. “It may be what sparked this conversation, yes.”

“Why tonight?”

“Well, we’ve never really talked about it before,” Matt shrugged, stopping at the crosswalk before them. He expertly pressed the pedestrian button to his side. “Is it something that’s… out of the realm of what you want from this—us?”

“I can’t say I’ve never thought about it,” (Y/N) said, pulling Matt slightly as she began to cross the street. “You don’t exactly stay in a committed relationship this long and not think about it a little bit.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“Is it something you want, Matt?”

“Answering a question with a question, good move on your end counselor,” Matt smiled, trying to ease the tension he felt. He could sense it worked, even if it was just a little. “Of course… maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Marriage sort of involves a second party, love,” Matt smiled. “Can’t exactly go about it solo.” (Y/N) loosened her grip on his hand, dropping it entirely. “Hey, if this is too much, we can stop talking about it—”

“No it’s—I want to talk about it,” (Y/N) said firmly. “I’ve wanted to talk about it, I think,” (Y/N) nodded, “but I guess I just never thought of a good way to eloquently bring the topic up.” A lie. A small one, possibly a half-truth if Matt was really trying to dig into the details of how her heart skipped. He didn’t press her on it, he hardly ever did. 

“I suppose it’s not just something you mention over your morning coffee,” Matt nodded in agreement, a small laugh escaping his lips. “Would make for an excellent pillow talk topic, though,” (Y/N) felt her face warm, “not that we do much talking after—”

“You know you tire me out, Murdock,” (Y/N) playfully bumped against Matt, her hand intertwining back with his. “I don’t think we’d be in the best headspace for this conversation.”

“I don’t think we’re even having this conversation now,” Matt quipped, “we seem to be dancing around each other."

“Too bad you have two left feet,” (Y/N) hummed.

“(Y/N).”

“Alright, alright,” (Y/N) smiled, her anxiousness melting away like the morning snow. “If I’m going to be honest—”

“Oh I’d so love it if you were, darling,” Matt practically sang, urging her to continue.

“If you’d ask me to marry you tomorrow,” (Y/N) took a breath, perhaps for emphasis or dramatics, “I’d say yes.”

“Tomorrow?” Matt laughed—genuinely from the gut—laughed. “Something wrong with today?”

“The stars, they don’t align,” (Y/N) mused cryptically, tone playful, teasing.

“Oh bullshit,” Matt grinned, gripping her hand tighter. His cheeks screamed in pain, a feeling he seldom felt of late. Only with her, he realized, only with her he felt this pain. He pulled her into an alleyway—at least it doesn’t smell—and embraced her lightly, his hands resting atop her hips and beneath her coat. “So if I asked you—” 

“I’d like to see you try, Murdock,” she said, patting his chest, feeling his thumbs rub small circles. “I’m not one you can pin down.”

“Oh darling,” he practically growled, “we both know how untrue that is.”

“I suppose,” (Y/N) hummed, now playing with his tie absentmindedly. His head lowered to hers, foreheads touching. In this moment, in a random alleyway of Hell’s Kitchen, their world felt small—standing right before the other with warmth and love. 

Matt didn’t know exactly when the kiss began, but he was lost in the feeling nonetheless. The warmth of each other’s lips and breath was a welcoming feeling against the frigid cold air, a haven the other didn’t want to leave. (Y/N) moved her hands gingerly around Matt’s neck, pulling him closer into the embrace. His nose bumped against her cheek, causing (Y/N) to jump ever so slightly.

“(Y/N)?” Matt breathlessly pulled away, worried. His hand found its way to her jaw, holding it lightly.

“I’m fine,” she assured him, pressing back into the kiss. “Your nose is practically ice.”

“Yours is too,” he chuckled, his finger poking her nose in response. “We should hurry home,” he pulled away from the embrace, “take a hot shower…”

“I suppose we should conserve the hot water,” (Y/N) said thoughtfully, “wouldn’t want to run out, would we?”

“Well, we do have to finish our celebration at some point,” he said with his signature smirk, “love, what time is it?”

“Just a few past midnight,” she said, pulling her phone out of her pocket momentarily. “We really should get home—my head is starting to throb,” (Y/N) took a few steps back to the street, a hand catching her arm suddenly.

“Marry me,” Matt said as if those were the only words he needed to say, to convince her. A beat of silence passed, her heartbeat banging loudly in his ears. Perhaps his was, too. It was hard to make out. “(Y/N)…”

“I heard you,” (Y/N) quietly replied, breaking her silence. His face was stoney—serious as she’d ever seen it. Matt’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly in worry, furrowing together slightly. Her hesitation made him worry. “Of course I’ll marry you, Matt.”

“I-I don’t have a ring—”

“Don’t need a ring,” (Y/N) said plainly, grabbing his hand, “only need you.”

It was in that moment that Matt finally felt warm out in the tundra of the streets, the happiness—love, he presumed—practically bubbled from his chest. He felt like he was glowing. Given his gigantic grin, he practically was.

“Good,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. “Would’ve looked like a fool if you said no.”

“I would never have said no,” she mumbled, knowing full well he could hear her clearly. “Stars be damned.”

“Foggy’s gonna get a kick out of this,” Matt said, finally leading the way back to their apartment. Their home. 

“You really think Foggy’s gonna remember any of our conversation tonight?”

“Of course not,” Matt said, linking his arm with hers, “it’s hard to remember a conversation from the future.” He could feel her confused eyes staring at him, her gaze transfixed, mouth slightly agape. “Seeing as tonight is still,” he pulls his jacket sleeve up to ‘glance’ at his watch, “roughly nineteen hours from now.”

A beat.

“Oh you ass!” she nearly screamed, hitting Matt’s arm playfully. “You knew exactly what I meant by ‘tonight’.”

“Technicalities,” he shrugged, “they’ll get you.”

“This isn’t a courtroom, Murdock,” (Y/N) groaned lightly, “you can cut the lawyer bullshit.” 

“But if I can’t be a smart-ass with my fiancée, how would I know I’m not getting rusty? It would be a disservice to our clients.”

Fiancée.

“P-perhaps,” she fumbled, heart rate skyrocketing at the word. “Though, when Matthew Murdock comes to mind, the last word on my list would be rusty.”

“Oh? And the first word would be…?”

“Sexy,” (Y/N) admitted truthfully. Matt didn’t even need to listen to her heart to tell him that. He chuckled a bit at the honesty. “Thoughtful is a close second, though.”

“Thoughtful?”

“Of course,” (Y/N) said, pausing before the steps to their building. “You’re very considerate, deeply devoted to your friends, an extremely giving lover—”

“I try my best—”

“Wrap it all up with a bow and call yourself thoughtful, Matthew Murdock,” (Y/N) said, taking a step up. She now stood slightly over the man before her. It was a nice change of pace, to be above him. “Even if your thoughtfulness can make you an ass.”

“There it is,” Matt chided, patting her arm playfully. “Y’know, you’re marrying this ass, you sort of agreed to it a few minutes ago.”

“And what an ass I’ll be marrying,” (Y/N) chuckled, allowing Matt to pass her, “he even holds the door for me.” She walked through the door he was holding, the warmth of their building feeling euphoric. 

“Figured I should make up for the fact you don’t have a ring,” Matt said, pulling the door shut quickly, the cold air dissipating. He took a shaky breath, felt his face start to warm up. “I know you said you didn’t need one, but I’d like you to have one.” They made their way up the stairs with ease, a practiced path laid out before them.

“Why? Want everyone to know that I’m taken?” (Y/N) chided, a chuckle under her breath. She fumbled with the key just for a moment, her fingers still ice cold.

“Well, a ring is a little more appropriate than littering your neck with hickeys,” Matt hummed, placing his hands on her hips. He cautiously placed a kiss to her cheek, her neck seemingly out of reach—he hated when she wore scarves. 

“Careful, your possession kink is showing Mr. Murdock,” (Y/N) chuckled, patting his hand away. They walked into their apartment, discarding their winter wear on the hooks beside the door. The smell of their breakfast the morning before was still lingering in the air, coffee and burnt toast. They needed to get a new toaster, but that could wait another day. “We could pick them out together, y’know.”

“Matching rings?”

“You’re not the only one who wants people to know their fiancé is taken,” (Y/N) quirked her eyebrow, squeezing Matt’s behind playfully as she moved to walk past him.  

“I’m so glad you said yes,” Matt said, enveloping his lover in his arms, catching her before she fled. Without the extra layers of their winter attire, the warmth radiating off of one another was intoxicating, pulling him in closer. “You have no idea.”

“Well, I did say that if you asked me tomorrow I’d do just that,” (Y/N) mumbled, her words hushed. “Seeing as you asked just after midnight, you took my words just a bit too seriously.”

“I’m always serious about you, (Y/N),” Matt replied honestly. “Surprised you caught that, though.”

(Y/N) hummed in contentment, enjoying the warmth of Matt’s chest against her back. “You underestimate your fiancée sometimes, Murdock.”

“I really should stop doing that,” Matt chuckled, “I know better.”

“You do,” (Y/N) hummed again, swaying slightly, “we should probably get to bed, it’s late.”

“What? No shower?”

(Y/N) turned her head ever so slightly, her gaze catching Matt’s profile. It was highlighted with beautiful blues and pinks from the billboard outside, his cheeky grin plastered exactly how she knew it would be. She never got tired of looking at him, especially here, especially now. (Y/N) loved everything about Matthew Murdock, this moment almost overwhelming in that thought.

“Who said we weren’t going to shower?”

[tarosin]

the great adventures of y/n tommy tubbo jack and ranboo - how y/n made friends with everyone

this is an extra to the great adventures series

requested: yes/no

warnings: cursing

tommy

you were actually friends with tommy when he was streaming to a few viewers, and you even watched as his channel grew. eventually he asked you to mod for him, as he knew he could trust you and because had experience being a twitch mod. he was also the reason you began streaming. as for how you met, you were in the same classes as him in highschool, and since you were the ‘quiet’ person in the class, they sat tommy next to you. honestly, you hated him when you first met him and the feeling was mutual. you didn’t want to sit next to the rather loud teenager and he had no one to talk to anymore as his friends were on the other side of the room.

“do you ever talk?”

“heh?”

“i said do you ever talk...do you always do that”

“do what”

“that fucking HeH.”

“are you mocking me simons?”

“noooo why would i do that...”

“it’s y/n.”

“right, yeah, yeah, i totally knew that.”

“great now please leave me alone i’m trying to work.”

“loser.”

“the fuck did you just say?”

“nothing.”

it was that moment tommy decided he was going to make you just like him, and a few years later that’s exactly what he did. by year 11 you and tommy had grown extremely close. the last day of school arrived a lot earlier than expected, everyone was extremely stressed, no one knew what to expect or what was going to happen. you found yourself hanging around with tommy a lot more as you had no idea if you would both be going to the same college, in september you received a text message that made your night:

tommy: college sent out emails telling you if you were accepted go check

*2 minutes later*

tommy: well?

y/n: i got accepted

tommy: me too

y/n: call me right now

tommy: i’m about to stream..have you ever considered streaming?

y/n: absolutely not

tommy: make an account and stream after me i’ll raid you..make me mod you know how people can be

once college started up, you were slightly nervous the two of you would drift away from each other. however this was far from the case, although you both did different subjects and he was only in on wednesdays, the pair of you would hang out together a lot more. he would be in your streams and vice versa, you would either be in his tiktoks, or you would be the one filming them.

“y/n make a tiktok we can be mutuals.”

“please god no.”

you spent so much time at his house either talking about random things, playing whatever game you could find, or streaming. he dragged you to every meet up he went on, allowing you to meet people such as niki, phil, and, wilbur. you didn’t know this, but he would constantly bring you up in conversations with dream, which eventually lead to you joining the smp in october where you would later be able to meet the likes of jack, technoblade and jschlatt. the only person you didn’t seem to see on the server was his other friend tubbo.

ranboo

you had become friends with scott after being his first twitch mod and when he noticed you started streaming, he was extremely supportive, always raiding your stream once he ended his. today you found yourself bickering with scott because he wouldn’t let you in mcc despite the fact you were ‘the best minecraft player.’

“y/n, i watched you die in minecraft 7 times last night within 5 minutes.”

“oh i’m sorry mr perfect, let me in mcc.”

“no.”

“fine i’ll make my own.”

and that’s exactly what you did..well you tried your best.

you started your stream as soon as scott ended and had him call you on discord after explaining to your chat what you were about to do.

“scott final chance let me in mcc, i’ll settle for access to the practice server.”

“fine.”

“REALLY?!”

“absolutely not!”

“fuck you, ill be in it one day!”

you left the call telling chat you didn’t need that negative energy in your life.

you really have scott to thank for you making friends with ranboo, scott made a tweet explaining what you were doing on stream which caught ranboos eye.

Smajor1995: after not making it into mcc again my good friend @y/n has decided to take it upon themselves to make their own on stream!! ill also be in the stream (if they answer my calls) *twitch link*

ranboo joined your stream and was instantly met with you yelling at scott (again) to let you in mcc.

“IM YOUR TWITCH MOD!”

“i will ban you from mcc!”

“you don’t have the nerve... so he left the call this is bullshit watch me land this water bucket clutch down this ravine so we can find axolotls and build an army.”

*you died*

you pulled your hood over your face before sinking down your chair taking a deep breath.

“FUCK!”

you calmly got back up and looked into your camera.

“i was so close, so very close.. HEY CHAT SCOTT SENT ME A LINK TO THE SERVER!”

a few minutes later you were able to get onto the server, only to be kicked less than a minute later. the reason you were banned being ‘i watched you fail the water bucket clutch down a ravine.’

you continued your build on your server and just spent the rest of the stream talking about anything that crossed your mind, that was until you decided to copy ace race. once finished, you looked into your camera and pulled your microphone closer to you.

“so this is race ace, so scott doesn’t sue me, and basically it’s going to be this course, but i’m going to change a random section practice it every day, not tell anyone it changed. of course i’m going to tell my team we have to win, oh fuck i forgot scott was watching my stream..it’s okay he didn’t hear me he’s too busy planning how he can rig the next mcc.”

ranboo found himself enjoying your content and even noticed you in his chat multiple times.

“just a minute chat i’m just sending an important dm to my mods.”

that’s when you noticed chat paused for a minute after you sent a message, it confused you for a minute before realising ranboo made you a vip on his channel and you decided to do the same for him on your channel, from there you added each other on discord. the pair of you made friends extremely quickly, you were constantly part of his streams as you would call him on discord not realising that he was streaming.

“hi y/n, by the way i’m streaming”

“i just wanted to ask if you knew how to break into a house?”

“....why”

“i locked myself out by accident and my parents are asleep come help me.”

“you are in the uk.”

“okay? catch a flight.”

chat honestly loved you and your friendship with ranboo. the pair of you only met a few weeks ago and you were already acting as though you had known each other for years.

jack

you and jack met for the first time on the smp, which would have been fine, however you met during lore and your characters weren’t exactly the best of friends. once lore had ended, everyone said their goodbyes and left the call. a few moments later you received a discord message from jack asking if you were available to call any time soon. since you were back in lockdown, you had plenty of free time. you arranged a time and date a few days later you called jack, where you had your first proper interaction out of character.

“hello jack!!”

“oh hi y/n i just thought it may be a good idea to get to know each other, well you know considering we’re both on the dream smp.”

“yeah, yeah, i understand what you mean.”

the pair of you ended up getting along with each other, it was slightly awkward for the first 5 minutes of the call, but that was expected since you hadn’t really met jack before and were anxious to call him. however, after that the conversation started to flow and you found out the pair of you had a lot in common making it easy to come up with things to talk about. it ended up feeling as though you were catching up with a friend you hadn’t spoken to for a while.

“has anyone told you your accent is really strong.”

“so is yours, y/n, what the fuck is that supposed to mean.”

“it means your accent is strong, duh.”

jack asked if you’d like to stay in call and join him on the smp whilst he streamed, and you gladly accepted the offer as you really didn’t want to do your college work, and you were enjoying your time with him. a few minutes into the stream jack had killed you several times.

“JACK STOP KILLING ME!”

rather than answering you he just sat laughing. he then went on to attempt to mute him microphone, he failed. however he didn’t realise this, so you sat listening to his plan on how he was going to kill you again. this time you were prepared, you sent a message to tommy telling him to log on along with your location. few minutes later tommy was by your side and helped you kill jack several times for revenge.

“Y/N...TOMMY!!”

“you didn’t mute your mic, so i told tommy you were bullying me.”

“im gonna go...BYE JACK, BYE Y/N, ILL SEE YOU SOON!”

“i can’t believe you.”

“hey you’re the one who didn’t turn your mic off.”

“how did you know?”

“i had your stream on my other monitor.”

“ayeee you watch my streams?”

“...i’ve been a sub for 4 months.”

the two of you stayed chatting and playing for another hour. the pair of you were already so close and you had only met each other the other day. this was just the start of your friendship, soon enough you were in a laugh and the stream ends challenge on his stream, however due to lockdown rules this was done over discord leading to you accidentally leaving the call several times.

“and they’re gone again!”

*4 minutes later*

“SORRY JACK IM BACK!”

“stop leaving y/n!”

“oh i’m sorry, let me just go yell at my wifi to stop cutting out!”

a few seconds later you could be heard faintly in the background screaming at your wifi as it would continue to buffer. as soon as restrictions were over one of the first things you decided to do was go to jacks and stream a laugh you lose where there was a punishment if you were responsible for losing the last heart. however everything was apparently hilarious in person as you would constantly laugh, meaning you were responsible for losing the last heart.

“y/n give me your phone.”

“no.”

“you lost let me tweet from your account”

“fine..”

soon enough your fans and friends with your notifications on received this twitter notification

“y/n: jack is so cool and funny he is also really tall i am not”

tubbo

tubbo was actually the last person you met and made friends with, your community were convinced for some reason that you both didn’t like each other and that’s why the pair of you didn’t talk to each other. this was far from the case you were both waiting for the right time, tubbo was an extremely busy teenager and you didn’t want to interrupt him, and tubbo knew you were currently in a stressful position since you had recently joined the dream smp, also you were still meeting people so he didn’t want to stress you out. this doesn’t mean he didn’t want to be your friend, he actually asked tommy since he had been your friend for at least 4 years what would be the best way of getting to know you.

“mate they hated me when we first met, just talk to them or something. you could have met them the last time i went up to visit you, but they ended up not feeling too good and went back to the hotel room.”

“when are you next coming up?”

“how about next week, and i’ll bring y/n, i really don’t understand why you’re nervous tubbo, it’s y/n they wouldn’t hurt a fly..well hmm.”

“see you next week then!”

a week later tommy dragged you to the train station.

“uh tommy where are we going?”

“...on a train.”

“no way, really? oh my god!”

a few hours later you finally got off the train.

“ill go with my dad to check into the hotel room, do you want to come with us or?”

“i think i’ll go for a walk and stretch my legs.”

“right okay, meet you at the beach later”

you spent a few minutes walking around the beach picking up any rocks and shells that caught your eye, little did you know it would result in you meeting tubbo. once you finished putting your new collection in your pockets you noticed a small crowd of people walk up to someone asking for pictures assuming it was tommy you walked over to the boy, it wasn’t tommy it was in fact tubbo. at first you stayed silent not wanting to really cause attention to yourself. you only spoke up when some people started to make inappropriate comments towards him.

“oh sorry to be a pain guys me and tubbo have plans with tommy in a few minutes, we should go so we’re not late. bye guys.”

you smiled and waved as they walked away. you looked over to tubbo, you could tell he was still pretty anxious about what just happened and honestly if you was in his position, you would react the same way.

“we should probably move from here incase they come back and see you’re still here, are you okay?”

“im feeling better now it’s over..thank you”

“oh it’s no problem i’m, y/n btw.”

“wait you and tommy were still meant to be on the train.”

“the train was actually on time, tommy went to check into the hotel i wanted to stretch my legs, i also wanted to collect some rocks.”

“did you collect enough or did you want more?”

“im not going to say no if you wanna go collect some with me.”

the pair of you walked around keeping each other close incase the people from before returned. half an hour later, the pair of you sat on a bench close to the beach so you could show tubbo everything you decided to pick up, he ended up keeping a rock he liked to have as a memory. tubbo wrapped an arm around you as it was getting cold whilst you watched the sunset.

“tubbo i think tommy forgot about me.”

“you can spend the night at mine, i’ll send him a message to let him know.”

“are you sure?”

“of course!”

“this has to be the most unsafe thing either of us will ever do, we hardly know each other and now i’m staying at yours.”

tommy sent you a message explaining that he didn’t forget, there was a problem at the other hotel and they had to go find another one, but you’ll be fine to stay at tubbos for the night. the pair of you spent the entire night learning as much as you can about the other person. it had only been an evening but you already knew the pair of you would be great friends.

taglist:

@dumb-chaotic-bi-energy @uselesssapphickitten @l0ver0fj0y @etheriaaly @xx-smiley-xx @hawarun @kylobensgirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @reverse-iak @renleicrashed @c1loudee

[honeypiehotchner]

Don’t You (Hotch x Fem!Reader) -- part two of Bye Bye, Baby

I love how this mini-series was totally impromptu but happened so fast. Gotta love my brain!

Loosely based on “Don’t You” by Taylor Swift! xx.

Summary: Aaron wants to talk. Do you?

Warnings: ANGST

Word Count: 2k this time oop

Bye Bye, Baby (Part One) || That’s When (Part Three) || Hotch Masterlist

Hey/I knew I’d run into you somewhere/It’s been a while

The text message from Aaron has sat glaring at you on your phone screen for the past hour.

Hotch (BAU) Sorry for hitting you with my cart earlier.

You don’t know what to make of it. It’s obviously an attempt to start up a conversation after four years, but why? Why, after all this time, does he think this is okay?

It’s 1 a.m. when you call Dannie.

“I would tell you to go to sleep, but I just got in bed, so I can’t talk.”

You chuckle quietly. “Better than me. I’m still on the couch.”

Dannie exhales. “Did Jules stay up late again?”

“No, no, she… She passed out around nine.”

Dannie sighs. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I saw Aaron today,” you blurt, quietly, not wanting to risk Juliet hearing even a whisper of this.

“Aaron?” Dannie asks. “Like...Juliet’s dad, Aaron? That one?”

“Yep,” you mutter, rubbing your forehead. “The one and only.”

“Where?”

“The grocery store,” you say. “Our carts bumped into each other. I wasn’t watching where I was going, so it was definitely my fault, but he texted me a while ago apologizing for it.”

“Woah, he texted you?”

“Unfortunately,” you murmur, hating that you feel tears pricking at your eyes. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Have you texted him back?”

“I don’t know if I want to.”

“I understand,” Dannie sighs. “Maybe just say it’s okay? Leave it short.”

“Yeah,” you nod, sniffling, wiping a tear away. “God, I’ve been fine all evening and it just...hit me when I saw his text.”

“You had to keep it together for Jules,” Dannie reminds you. “What did she say about him?”

“Oh, nothing,” you say. “She really wanted cookies, so she was focused on getting vegetables for dinner so she could have them.”

Dannie laughs. “That sounds like her. Did she eat all her vegetables?”

“Even the broccoli,” you grin. “So she got an extra cookie.”

The two of you laugh lightly, letting the silence settle.

“What do I do if he wants to get to know her?” You break the silence with the one question that’s been on your mind all night. “I mean, he’s a profiler. There’s no way he doesn’t know she’s his.”

“Okay, first of all, she’s yours,” Dannie says firmly. “Second, it’s all up to you. And her. If she wants to get to know him, then ultimately it’s up to you to decide if that’s a good idea and where would be safest for it to happen, if you want it to.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t stress about it tonight,” she says quietly. “Text him back in the morning.”

“Okay.”

“Want to surprise Jules with brunch tomorrow?”

You smile almost immediately. “Of course.”

+++

You wake from a restless sleep to Juliet climbing into bed with you.

“Good morning, munchkin,” you whisper, kissing her forehead. She’s still sleepy and will probably sleep for another hour in your arms, but you wouldn’t trade it for the world.

As expected, Juliet falls fast asleep with her head on your chest. While she’s snoring softly, you grab your phone and text Dannie about brunch. And that’s when you’re reminded of Aaron’s text.

Quickly, before you can think twice, you reply. It’s okay.

And you move on to text Dannie, letting her know you’re awake and so is Juliet. After making plans to meet for brunch in an hour and a half, you lightly shake Juliet awake.

“Psst, munchkin,” you murmur. “Wanna have brunch with Dannie?”

Juliet pops her head up almost instantly. “Really?”

“Really really,” you nod.

She grins wide and your chest aches for a moment. She’s always had his smile, but you never realized how much it’s his smile until today.

Juliet scrambles off your bed to get dressed, and you take a deep breath before getting up, too.

+++

The entire day passes without a reply from Aaron. You don’t know what to make of it, but you do your best to ignore it.

Thoughts of him keep you awake almost all night, so by the next morning, you’re dying to get your coffee before you walk into work.

You drop Juliet off at daycare, then park your car at work, with somehow enough time to spare to walk to your favorite coffee shop before clocking in.

You spot Aaron as soon as you walk in.

“You better not be following me around,” you mutter as you stand in line behind him.

He spins around, his face softening when he recognizes you. “Hi. I’m not trying to, I promise.”

You nod slowly.

Don’t you/Don’t you smile at me and ask me how I’ve been

“How are you?” He asks hesitantly, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“Good,” you reply. “You?”

“Good,” he pauses. “Busy.”

“Me too.”

The awkward small talk is ended by the line moving forward, putting Aaron at the front. He orders his usual, and steps aside. You order your usual, with a pastry, too, as a sort of condolences gift to yourself for the bullshit you’re enduring.

When you step to the side to wait, Aaron tries again.

“Sorry again for hitting you in the store with my cart,” he says. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“It’s okay,” you say, keeping your eyes away from his. “In your defense, I wasn’t paying attention either.”

He chuckles quietly and the sound sends a dagger right to your heart.

When his coffee is ready, he grabs it, and you internally beg him to leave without another word. But he doesn’t.

Sometimes I really wish I could hate you/I’ve tried, but that’s just something I can’t do

“This is probably too forward of me, but—”

Your coffee is up.

You step forward to grab it, and damn you, you look at him to ask him to continue.

“Can we talk?” Aaron finishes.

“Right now?” You question, following him to the door. He holds it open for you and you hate that you almost smile. “I have to get to work.”

“Me too,” he says, stopping on the sidewalk with you. “We could get dinner tonight.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Okay,” he nods. “No pressure. Just text me if you want to.”

“Okay,” you exhale shakily. “See you.”

You turn on your heel and nearly sprint down the sidewalk, chest heaving and tears welling in your eyes.

+++

“What do you want to do?” Dannie asks.

You met her for lunch to discuss your encounter with Aaron this morning, and so far you still don’t know what the hell you’re going to do.

“I want to tell him to leave me alone and never come near me again,” you blurt, but then you sigh. “I don’t mean that.”

Dannie smiles sadly. “I know.”

You don’t/You don’t know how much I feel I still love you

“I think I want to talk to him, but...I don’t know, I’m scared. I don’t think I can do a dinner. I’m sick to my stomach just thinking about this and I mean...I hate that I still love him. After all this I can’t even hate him.”

“It’s hard to hate someone you love.”

“Yeah,” you sigh. “Wanna help me text him?”

“Of course.”

After some trial and error, you and Dannie settle on this message.

Hey. I’d like to talk, but not dinner. What about a walk instead?

Aaron replies quickly.

Hotch (BAU) That’s perfect. Where is best?

+++

The park you chose is, regrettably, the one where you and Aaron had your first date.

In your defense, it’s closest and safest. And quiet.

Aaron doesn’t seem to mind the location, though, when he walks toward you. You’re sitting on a park bench, one that must be new because you don’t remember it.

As he gets closer, you see he has two cups of coffee in hand.

“I got your usual,” he says softly. “If you want.”

“Thank you,” you murmur, taking it from him, careful not to let your fingers touch.

Hesitantly, he sits next to you.

The two of you sit in silence for a while. You can’t bring yourself to say anything, and apparently, neither can he.

After too long, though, you break the silence. “Ready to walk?”

“Sure,” he replies, standing with you.

You venture down the trail, grateful that you changed into your sneakers before coming. It takes another few moments before the silence is broken -- by Aaron this time.

“Is she mine?”

You sigh heavily. You should’ve known he’d ask that first.

“Technically, Juliet is mine,” you reply. “But you are the father, if that’s what you’re asking.” You pause. “You’re the only one I was with, so there’s no doubt.”

“I wasn’t worried about that,” he says quietly. You can tell he’s looking at you, but you don’t look at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried,” you admit. “I called three times. I got your voicemail.”

Once: When you decided officially to keep the baby. You were three months pregnant. You had almost thought he picked up when the line clicked, and then you heard his voicemail. You hung up and took a bath instead, phone forgotten in the living room.

Twice: Dannie was beside you. You were seven months then. You had caved and asked if it was a boy or girl. After hearing it was a girl, a part of you desperately wanted to tell Aaron. You remembered him saying he always wanted a baby girl. Your heart still ached from when he broke it, but you wanted to tell him. You got his voicemail.

The third time: You had just given birth. You named her Juliet. You wanted to tell Aaron. You wanted to know if he should be on the birth certificate. You wanted to tell him you had a baby girl. When he didn’t answer, the nurse gave you a sad smile, and left the line blank. Dannie held Juliet for a while so you could cry.

“You never left a message,” he replies, sounding offended.

“Did you really want me to break the news in a voicemail?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “But you could’ve said it was something important. I would’ve returned your call.”

“I called three times,” you remind him. “You’re a fucking profiler, Aaron. You think three calls meant it was unimportant?” You pause, grounding yourself. “I figured you were out on a case. I don’t blame you for that. I understand, I’ve been there. But after calling three times and not getting a single reply, I figured it was useless. I didn’t have the time or energy to worry about it anymore. I had a newborn to take care of.”

He’s silent for a while.

“How is she?”

“She’s fine. She’s with her Godmother. Probably watching Frozen.”

“That’s good.”

You can’t do this anymore. “If that’s all you wanted to ask, then I need to get going. No offense, but I really don’t have the time for small talk.”

“I understand, but…” He stops walking, staring down at his feet before locking eyes with you. “Would you— Would you be willing to give me a second chance?”

Don’t you/Don’t you say that you miss me if you don’t want me again

“Why are you doing this?” You ask, angry tears pricking your eyes. “Why?”

“I’d like to be a part of Juliet’s life. And yours. If you’ll let me.”

“I’ll ask her,” you reply. “But you can be a part of her life without being a part of mine.”

“You know that’s not true,” he says. “You chose this park for a reason today.”

“No, I chose it because it’s close,” you hiss. “Don’t you dare profile me. Don’t you dare.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, and for a second you think he might have tears in his eyes, too. “I’m sorry, you’re right, that was uncalled for.”

“Thank you,” you murmur. “I really do need to go.”

“Can I at least walk you to your car?”

After a moment of thought, you nod. “Sure.”

My heart knows what the truth is/I swore I wouldn’t do this

[allegra-writes]

"Upside Down Soy Iced Caramel Macchiato"

Aleksander Morozova x Reader

Coffee shop AU

Warnings: none, this is pure fluff.

I usually steer clear from physical descriptions, but this is a special little something for the Decaf Coven, @amayatheowl @cocoamoonmalfoy @seolaseoul and @chaoticpete @bleh-bleh-blehs just this once, this is a brown eyed, brunette!Reader. If you prefer, you can read the Darklina version on AO3

MY MASTERLIST | BUY ME A COFFEE

"Here, Ivan? Really??" Aleks raised an eyebrow, judgement clear in his voice as he glanced at the sign above their heads announcing the "Brewed Awakening" cafe, a new age, yoga friendly, law of attraction or some other hippie bullshit better suited for sunny, spiritual, hip Shu Han than for gloomy, cold, cynical, spartan Os Alta. And definitely not suited for the coldest and most cynical of Os Alta Business men, Aleksander Morozova.

Ivan shrugged, his stoic face carefully blank, as always.

"Fedya likes it. And they make a mean cold americano" 

Aleksander let out an sceptical scoff, but followed his friend inside, there was no time for arguing and no time to look for another coffee shop, their next deposition beginning in less than twenty minutes, so he would have to, as Fedyor would say, suck it up. He was under no delusions about the quality of the coffee offered at this place, in his experience, these kind of venues were far more concerned with decorations and ambience than with the grounds they used. 

Sure enough, the interior of the cafe looked like something out of a magazine, mismatched wooden chairs and tables artfully combined, royal blue couches on top of white plush rugs creating little cozy conversation spaces, empty cages hanging from the ceiling, candles in every available surface… 

There was a small queue in front of the mahogany counter. 

"Maybe we should leave, we'll be late"

"Non sense" Ivan replied, "if we have to sip our coffee on the way back, it will still be worth it, trust me"

Aleksander was about to protest, but the words died in his throat when a costumer stepped aside, and he saw her: Dark hair piled on a messy bun atop her head, warm coffee eyes and a smile that seemed lit up the entire shop, if not the entire city. 

His mother had told him legends when he was a little kid, fairy tales about the Grisha, seductive creatures of supernatural beauty that could control the elements at will, often leading men to their downfall with their bewitching wiles. As he watched her, shinning brighter than the golden Firebirds painted on the wall behind her, there was no doubt in Aleksander's mind that this girl was one of them, a sun witch, like Sankta Alina, who had bravely walked into the shadow fold and faced the Black Heretic, breaking the spell and turning him back into a man with a true love's kiss. 

The girl turned away from them to start making the drink for the guy in front of them. 

"Sorry!" She called back, "The other barista bailed on us, so it's just me today. If you can give me five minutes, I'll be right with you" 

Ivan made a face, opening his mouth to politely decline, but Aleksander beated him to it.

"No problem, take your time. We're not in a hurry"

Ivan frowned, but Aleksander was technically his superior, so he didn't say anything. 

"Really? Thank you-" The girls eyes' met Aleksander's over the pastry display case, and froze, doe eyes making her look pretty much like a deer in the headlights. Aleks' heart skipped a beat. 

The girl shook herself,

"Right. What- um… what would you like to order?"

"Just an espresso for me, and an iced americano for my friend" Aleksander announced.

"Zoya wants a soy latte" Ivan reminded him. 

"And a soy latte" Aleks repeated, obediently.

"Perfect. I mean, sure, right away. Just let me finish this Macchiato here and I'll… make them. For you." 

Aleksander felt bad for the obviously overwhelmed girl, but he would be lying if he said her flushed cheeks and nervous fumbling wasn't the cutest thing he had ever seen. 

The time seemed to fly as he watched her, dainty little hands dexterously turning nobs and levers and pressing buttons, until she finally stepped forward, presenting them with two drinks on the counter, but Aleksander only had eyes for her, and the way a single, rebel curl escaped her bun right under his attentive watch. His hand twitched with the urge to reach out and tuck it behind her ear. And maybe, just maybe, cup her face on the way back, stroke those adorable pink cheeks, bring her closer to him, lean in and-

"What is this?" Ivan's stern voice tore him out of his daydream.

"Um, an americano and an upside down iced soy caramel macchiato…" The girl replied, "That- that was your order, right?" 

Aleksander's heart twisted inside his chest at the uncertainty in her voice.

"Yes, that's exactly what we ordered" He reassured her quickly, closing his mouth around the straw of his designated cup for good measure. The girl gasped, eyes zeroing on his lips, making the butterflies inside his stomach take flight. 

"Delicious" he declared, blindly handing her a bill that the girl distractedly took and stuffed into the register, eyes never leaving his. 

Ivan wondered if either of them had realized his boss had just handed her a fifty. Gruffly, he grabbed his drink,

"Well, we should get going now. There's an important meeting and we're already late" 

Taking his boss' elbow, he practically dragged him away as the barista girl waved them goodbye.

"See you soon" It sounded like a question. Aleksander threw her a smile over his shoulder,

"Very" he promised. Ivan was starting to think he had made a terrible mistake showing him this place…

…

There was a tall, handsome dark skinned boy next to his barista when he walked into the cafe the next day, poking her in the ribs and telling her something apparently very witty if the way she threw her head back laughing was anything to go by. Aleksander felt the strange impulse to bite his hand off.

However, his unexpected desire for violence left as suddenly as it had arrived, when the sunshine girl spotted him, her face breaking into an impossibly bigger and brighter smile.

"Upside down iced soy caramel macchiato guy!"

Aleksander beamed: she remembered him. 

Well, kind of. She still had his order wrong, but to be honest, Aleksander was too happy to care. 

"That's me" He laughed, "or, you know, Aleksander, for short" 

"Aleksander" She repeated, and he could have died right there and then. His name was probably the most common name in the entire Ravka, but it sounded different from her lips. It sounded special. "I'm Y/N" she offered him her hand to shake. He took it, and swore he could feel sunlight fill his veins where his skin met hers. 

"Y/N" he tried it, loving the sweet taste it left in his mouth. Sweeter than yesterday's macchiato. A throat cleared somewhere beside them. 

"Right" She seemed to wake from the spell first, "Same as yesterday?"

Aleksander nodded,

"Of course! That was the best iced macchiato I've ever had" 

Y/N smiled again, positively glowing as she made her way to the espresso machine. 

Yeah, Aleksander could drink overly sweet coffee drinks until he got diabetes, as long as he could see that smile every day for the rest of his life… 

[starks-hero]

What He Doesn't Know Won't Hurt Him

Pairing: Loki x Stark!Reader

Summary: You and Loki had been doing a fairly decent job at keeping your relationship a secret from the other members of the team, specifically your father. But what happens when word finally gets out?

Word Count: 4,480

Warnings: fluff, implied smut, angst

a/n: This gif, that is all

You had your music playing at full volume as you worked your way around the lab, your latest suit laid out on the table. It was almost finished and you were more than impressed with how it had turned out.

Grabbing one of the many tools strewn out on the tabletop, you got to work assuring each circuit was in place.

It was fair to say that whilst you were in one of your zones, you could easily get lost in your work. Which was probably the reasons you hadn't noticed Loki make his way into the lab.

You jumped slightly when two slender arms wrapped around your middle. “Loki,” you scolded, not taking your eyes away from your work. “I'm busy.”

He chuckled. “I can see that, dove,” he purred. “But I'm bored.”

“You're welcome to stay here as long as you stay out of my way,” you offered, smirking when Loki rose his hands innocently.

“You won't even know I'm here.”

You managed to steal five minutes of peace. And then Loki's ability to sit still and not cause trouble seemed to reach its end. He started simply, standing ridiculously close, running his hand along your side. Your frustrated sigh and visible struggle to focus on your suit only egged him on. He re-positioned himself behind you, hands resting on your hips and lips finding your neck.

When one of his hands began to trace down your stomach and towards the waistband of your jeans you drew the line.

“Loki, stop.” you chided urgently. “Not here.”

“Why not?” he asked, nipping at the exposed skin of your neck. “It's as good a place as any.”

“Someone could see,” you pressed on.

Loki’s kissing ceased but he didn't remove his arms from around you. If anything he held you tighter.

“And would that be such a bad thing?” he asked after a beat of silence. You sighed and turned in his arms, now facing the god. His eyes said it all, he wasn't hurt, but he was tired of keeping up this charade.

He hated having to wait till you were both alone to show his affection, having to settle for stolen kisses and subtle glances all in an attempt to keep your relationship a secret from the rest of the team. Loki was growing sick of it. He wanted to hold you, kiss you, mark you, to show everyone you belonged to him. He hated having to hide his feelings as if they weren’t acceptable.

“Loki, we've talked about this. If the team finds out, especially my dad, it'll cause nothing but trouble.” You frowned at Loki's defeated expression. “I want to tell them, I do. I love you and I want everyone to know that. But only when the time is right.”

Loki nodded, a smile tugging at his lips. Slender fingers wrapping around your wrist and he placed a kiss to your hand. “As you wish, darling.”

Loki turned to leave but you gently grasped hold of his sleeve and tugged him back. “Where do you think you're going?”

Loki tilted his head. “You said-”

“I said I wasn't ready to tell them,” you clarified. “I never said anything about you leaving.”

A devilish smirked spread across Loki's lips as he stepped back towards you, hands grasping your waist. “Why of course, my dear.” He pushed you against the cool steel of the table. “How may I be of service to you?”

You pulled him into a hungry kiss and he practically moaned into your mouth. Grasping hold of your thighs, he hoisted you up onto the table and slotted himself snugly between your legs. Truth be told, this wasn't what you had in mind. You were serious when you said the lab wasn't a good place to start something but Loki was just too irresistible. His kisses trailed from your jaw down your neck and you couldn't help the whimper that left your lips as he sucked on the sweet spot just above your collar bone.

Your hand tangled in his raven hair and he laughed breathlessly against your skin as he pulled you closer to him. “That's it, pet.”

The sudden sound of someone clearing their throat caused both of you to almost jump out of your skin. You turned towards the lab door and found a rather unimpressed Natasha standing in the threshold, arms crossed and glare seething into a certain god.

Your heart jumped into your throat as you hurriedly pushed Loki away and scrambled to your feet.

“Oh, no. Don't stop on my account,” Nat snarled and the venom in her tone was enough to send shivers down even Loki's spine.

“Nat! We were just-”

“Don't bullshit me, Y/N. You know it doesn't work,” Nat stated plainly and you swallowed. She was right, it was near impossible to successfully lie to her. “Does your father know?”

“No, no, no. Nat, you can't tell him,” you begged. “He'll kill us.”

Natasha scoffed, pointing an accusing finger at Loki, who was still standing sheepishly behind you. “He's lucky I haven't killed him myself.”

Loki shifted uncomfortably. When it came down to it, he was a god and Nat was human. She probably couldn't do much damage to him. But she was certainly intimidating. Loki wasn't so much upset over the fact that you'd been caught, if anything Loki found it rather exciting. His only worry was how this situation would pan out for you. And your relationship.

“Natasha, please. You know how my dad overreacts.”

“I'm not sure I'd count ‘getting pissed that your daughter's dating a criminal’ as overreacting.”

You felt helpless. With Tony as your father, the team were the closest thing you had to family. Nat had always been important to you, she was an older sister, a cool aunt and in some cases, a understanding mother all rolled up into one. She wanted what was best for you, and you knew if that meant throwing Loki under the bus, she wouldn't hesitate.

Noticing your struggle, Loki decided to intervene.

“Agent Romanoff, if you'd allow us to explain. I-”

Nat turned to Loki with a glare that stopped the god mid-sentence. “I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Y/N.” She turned back to you. “Tell your dad.”

“What?!”

“Tell Tony about this.” She clarified, gesturing between you and Loki. “Or I will.”

“Nat,” you started but as she raised an eyebrow you knew she wasn't bluffing. She was dead serious.

“Okay, okay, fine. We'll tell him. But just not yet-” you hesitated. “Just give us a little more time to figure it all out.”

Natasha seemed unconvinced, to say the least, but when she noticed the genuine worry in your expression she backed off and her voice softened.

“Fine. But if he finds out beforehand, I had no idea about any of this,” she ordered. “And you,” Nat glanced at Loki who was still standing behind you. “Are on thin ice.”

Nat turned to leave, shooting one final glare Loki’s way. “Oh, and a bit of advice. Next time lock the goddamn door.”

You both sighed in temporary relief as the door slammed shut and you were left alone.

“Well, that went well,” Loki commented sarcastically, rubbing at his temple.

“And that was only Nat. How do you think the others are going to react?” You took a seat on the workbench and Loki joined you.

“Were you serious?” he asked. “About telling them? Telling him?”

You sighed, dropping your head into your hands. “I suppose we don't have much of a choice now, do we?” You murmured and Loki chuckled slightly.

“I suppose not.”

“You're enjoying this.” You growled as Loki’s mood seemed only slightly diminished by the situation you’d just been landed in.

“Yes, I find being threatened by a world-class assassin immensely enjoyable,” he noted nonchalantly. Loki sighed when the fear remained evident in your expression. He gently caught your wrist and pulled it away from your face, lacing your fingers as he did so. “Honestly, my dear. There's no need to worry. It will be fine.”

“You sound awfully sure.”

“That’s because I am,” Loki smirked, his tone reassuring and soft. He placed a harmless kiss against your cheek, but couldn’t resist the urge to continue down to your jaw.

His nose grazed your neck as his breath fanned out over your skin. His voice fell to a low whisper. “Now, what was it we were getting to before we were so rudely interrupted?”

You couldn’t help but laugh in slight disbelief. “You never learn, do you?”

Loki flicked his wrist as he began to plant kisses down your neck. “Do you take me for a fool?”

 You glanced at the labs' door to find the keypad had turned red. Locked. Smirking, Loki pushed you down and picked up where he'd left off.

It had been a little over a week since Natasha had found out about your relationship with Loki and thankfully, she hadn't said anything as of yet. She was giving you a generous amount of time to build up the courage to tell both your father and the rest of the team, but it was courage you were yet to find. The stress of the whole situation had been getting to you, something that was becoming more and more apparent to Loki.

In some desperate attempt to help you blow off a little steam, the god had dragged you down to the training hall. You and Loki often trained together, though since the beginning of your relationship, training seldom actually took place during your sessions.

But you needed it today, and after less than fifteen minutes of sparring, you could already feel some of the stress dissipating.

“Let's try that again,” Loki stated, helping you up from where you'd fallen back onto the training mat. He steadied you before pacing back a few steps as you both prepared for another round.

You made the first move, Loki easily blocking your strike. He caught your other arm as you tried to hit his shoulder and he only barely avoided a knee in the groin by spinning you around and catching you in a gentle headlock.

“Fighting dirty today are we, darling?” He purred in your ear and you smirked. Leaning forward, you used the momentum to throw Loki over your shoulder, straddling him to assure he stayed down.

“Problem with that?”

Loki chuckled, staring up at you. “Certainly not.” Throwing his leg over and shifting his weight, he threw you off of him and you landed on the floor beside him. He then took up his position on top of you. “Two can play at that game.”

He used his new vantage point to lean down and kiss your shoulder. “And I do enjoy it so very much.”

You turned your head to the side to grant Loki better access as he kissed up your neck, but your blood ran cold when you noticed a familiar figure standing dumbstruck at the halls entrance.

“Shit, Steve!” You pushed Loki off of you and for a moment he thought it was an attempted diversion until his own eyes locked with the captains. “Steve, wait!”

He was already turning to leave and you took off after him, Loki right behind you. You barely caught him before he reached the door. “Steve, hear us out, please.”

He turned to look at you with slight disappointment, his cheeks still tinted red with embarrassment given what he'd just walked in on. “Why didn't you tell us, Y/N?”

“I swear I was going to. I should have sooner and I'm sorry.” You rushed. “But please, Steve. You can't tell my dad, not yet.”

Steve hesitated. He'd taken you under his wing from day one and he'd be lying if he said he saw you as anything less than family. He didn't want to put you in a situation where he knew you'd face hardship. But he also didn't want to put his relationship with Tony on the line. He knew what that could lead to.

“I won't lie to Tony.”

“Then just don't say anything!” You tried. “Not saying anything technically isn't lying.”

Steve sighed, glancing between you both, his eyes lingering on Loki a moment longer. Loki seemed to have read the captains mind.

“Captain, I understand your concerns. But I can assure you my intentions are completely good-willed.”

Steve shook his head, questioning his sanity. “Does anyone else know?”

“Natasha, that's it.”

Steve seriously pondered the dilemma he was being faced with. Part of him wanted to march off and tell Tony, part of him wanted to strangle Loki for even putting his hands on you and the other part was still hung up on how upset you’d be if he chose either of the latter options.

“Alright,” Steve said after a moment of silence and relief flooded your expression. “But if your father asks-”

“I understand.” You nodded, still breathing a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Steve.”

You counted your lucky stars as Steve left the training hall, the whole conversation having gone way better than you could have possibly imagined.

“You know, my dear,” Loki stated from behind you. “We really must stop picking the worst possible places in the compound to make out.”

You'd been peacefully working away in the lab, adding the finishing touches to the suit you'd been working on. A few more final touch-ups and a test run and it would be ready for missions.

The door slamming opened behind you immediately caught your attention as a severely pissed off Loki stormed in. His jaw was set and his hands were balled into fists. This couldn't be good.

“Loki, what's wrong?” you asked, rounding the table and approaching him. He was already pacing.

“Thor knows,” he growled and your heart stopped. “He was asking ridiculous questions about you and I and he knew I was lying.”

You inhaled sharply and did your best to avoid groaning in frustration, unable to grasp how Loki of all people had gotten caught out lying. “Loki, you're the god of lies.”

“And Thor's a persistent bastard!” He bit back.

You grappled with the little composure you had left and sighed. Loki was still clearly fretting and at least one of you had to start thinking straight.

“Okay, well what did he say?”

“That he wouldn't tell anyone,” Loki murmured, running his index finger along his top lip, something he often did when nervous.

“Alright then, what are we worried about? He said he wouldn't tell.”

Loki scoffed. “It's Thor! He struggles to keep the simplest of secrets, he's going to let it slip!” Loki took a seat and wrung his hands. “Your father is going to kill me.”

You stepped towards him and ran a comforting hand through his raven hair. He sighed and wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his head against your stomach.

“You're a god, Loki. I don't think he could kill you even if he wanted to.”

“He'll find a way,” Loki moped, tightening his hold on you.

You huffed at Loki's dramatic antiques as you continued to run your hand through his hair. One thing was now painfully clear, you needed to tell your dad. Before anyone else found out.

It was all planned out perfectly. The team was set to have dinner together in an attempt to bring some normality to your crazy lives, and you figured it would be the best time to break the new. You'd wait until everyone had finished eating and you and your dad were alone and then you'd tell him.

Not only did you think it would be better to have the conversation one on one, but Loki not being there also lessened the likely hood of your father trying to kill him if he didn't take the news kindly.

The only major challenge now was making it through the dinner itself without losing your nerve. Loki assured you that he'd be by your side right up until the moment he had to leave, and he meant it. Your father sat at the head of the table, because of course he did, and you sat to his right. Loki was seated beside you.

Most of the dinner passed as they usually did when the team ate together. Clint complained about the take out choice, Nat downed an impressive amount of wine whilst somehow remaining sober and a philosophical debate had broken out despite their being no indication as to what had started it.

For once, you and Loki remained silent, too nervous to offer any input should your worrisome tone give you away. You had spent most of the dinner toying with the food on your plate with your fork.

Loki's hand gently held yours beneath the table. It was risky, but no one had noticed and it was currently the only thing keeping you sane.

“You alright, kiddo?”

You glanced up to find your dad staring at you. He motioned to your untouched plate of food.

“You haven't touched your take out. It's your favourite.”

“Oh yeah, I- uh,” you stumbled over your own words and cursed yourself for being caught off guard. Most of the team were still chatting amongst themselves, but Steve and Natasha were now watching the exchange between you and Tony attentively. “I guess I'm just not that hungry.”

He seemed entirely unconvinced and leaned in slightly, away from the prying ears of the table. “You sure everything's alright?”

You gulped. Your father was no idiot and he knew something was eating away at you. From the corner of your eye, you could see Nat nodding her head and Steve smiling supportively. This was the perfect opportunity to bring it up and you decided it was now or never. “Well, actually-”

“Nice going, Clint!”

Both your heads snapped up to see that a knocked over wine bottle had stained both the end of the table and Bruce's white shirt.

“Hey! It's not my fault. Who even drinks this stuff anyway?!”

“What the hell is that suppose to mean, bird brain?” Sam yelled, possessively grabbing what was left in the overturned bottle and dunking it into his glass. Bucky hid his smile behind his bottle of beer.

Everyone else's attention had turned to Bruce, who seemed to be doing an excellent job at not hulking out and sending Clint through the nearest wall.

You bit your lip.

“Dad, is it alright if I leave? I'm not feeling up to eating right now.” You asked. Now clearly wasn't the best time to bring something up and you decided waiting till after everyone had turned it in for the night was probably best.

“Sure thing, sweet pea,” he smiled as you stood and pushed in your chair behind you. Loki followed you, rising to his feet.

“I think it's time I also take my leave.” No one paid much attention as Loki mimicked your actions and prepared to leave the table.

“Leaving already?” Wanda asked politely and you smiled back, already prepared to answer with ‘Yeah, I'm just tired.’

“Of course they are! I'm sure my brother and Y/N have much to do and discuss,” Thor smirked, winking and raising his glass to the both of you in a not so subtle way.

Silence fell over the entire table and you and Loki grew rigid. Natasha and Steve turned to glare at Thor, who lowered his glass, realising what exactly he'd just said.

“What?” Tony said, turning to Thor with a shocked expression. Loki quickly stepped in.

“I think my brother may have had a tad too much Asgardian ale, I-

“No, what did you say?” He asked again, voice raising. All eyes were now either on Tony, Loki or you.

Thor seemed to shrink into his seat, taking interest in the bottom of his cup as he attempted to backtrack and fix his mistake. But it was too late.

Your father's gaze turned to you and then Loki, who was cautiously standing behind you. 

“One chance.” He was livid. “You get one chance to tell me the truth.”

“Dad, can we not do this now,” you asked quietly.

“The truth, Y/N.” You couldn’t recall the last time you’d seen your father so angry. And as terrified as you were, you knew lying would only dig you a deeper hole.

“I was going to tell you,” you started, wincing as he ran a hand down his face. “I just didn't know how and then Nat told me I should just-”

Your father's glare turned to Natasha who choked on her wine at your words. You mentally grimaced as you realized what you'd just said.

“Oh, so you knew!” Tony yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Nat. He turned back to you. “You told Thor and Natasha before you told me!”

“I didn't tell her! She just sort of found out...” you fumbled and Tony laughed humorlessly.

“Did anybody else know besides Nat and point break?” he asked, addressing the whole table. Steve fidgeted awkwardly in his seat and Tony immediately singled him out.

“Steve.” He crossed his arms as he glared at the captain. “Something on your mind?”

Steve sighed. “Look, Tony I-”

“Don't bullshit me, Rogers.”

Steve nodded wordlessly and Tony bit the inside of his cheek, looking as though he was prepared to rip into each member of the team. You cowered back slightly and Loki stepped infront of you, shielding you from your fathers rage the best he could.

“Great! Awesome! Did anyone else know my daughter was dating a psychopath and just decided to keep that information to themselves?”

Everyone awkwardly shifted in their seats, some clearing there throats and others offering you sympathetic glances. Natasha mouthed a ‘sorry’ and Thor seemed to still be beating himself up for letting it slip in the first place.

Loki stepped forward. “Stark, I can assure you-”

“Zip it, Reindeer Games,” he warned and for once, Loki did as he was told. Tony pointed to you as if he were scolding a child.

“You are grounded,” he stated. “No more missions, no more lab privileges, nothing.”

You scoffed. “I'm not a kid!”

“Yes, you are! You're my kid.”

“Dad, will you please just listen to me.” You begged as you stepped towards your father in hopes of reasoning with him. He rose from his seat to meet you.

“No. This,” he gestured between you and Loki. “Ends now. End of discussion.”

You took a step back, feeling as though an arrow had hit you in the chest. Tears were brimming your eyes and you couldn't find it in you to meet anyone's gaze. Seeing how upset you'd become, Loki refused to bite his tongue any longer.

“Stark, with all due respect, I won't allow that. I understand your disdain for me and it's more than warranted but do not take that anger out on Y/N. You have no reason to trust me but I can assure you that my feelings towards your daughter and nothing but sincere and genuine.”

Loki's sudden statement seemed to have surprised Tony. He opened his mouth to argue but Loki didn't give him the chance as he continued.

“She has given me a second chance and I love her dearly for doing so. And I would never do anything to harm her. I love her unconditionally and all I ask is for a chance. Allow me to prove myself.”

Loki's speech had left you teary-eyed with a warmth spreading in your chest. A smile pulled at your lips as Loki turned to you. The genuine and loving look in his eyes spoke volumes and it took every ounce of control you possessed not to launch yourself into his arms then and there.

“Tony, I don't know about you but that seemed pretty convincing to me.” Nat voiced from the table and Thor immediately agreed.

“My brother may be the god of lies but he has spoken nothing but the truth tonight.”

Steve, ever the diplomat, offered Tony an encouraging nod. “All he's asking for is a chance, Tony.”

“It's pretty sweet if you ask me,” Bucky murmured from beside the captain, Sam and Wanda nodding in agreement.

Tony watched as the table seemed to take Loki's side and he battled with himself until his eyes landed on you. You were standing side by side with Loki, whilst he smiled at you in adoration. The glances you shared were nothing short of loving and Tony couldn't help but notice how genuine and mutual it truly was. Loki's hand was brushing against yours, desperate to grasp hold and comfort you but not wanting to overstep the line the tension had drawn.

Tony sighed as he realized what he had to do. You were his daughter, his everything. And he just wanted you to be happy. Even if it was with someone he didn’t initially approve of. 

“You love him?” he asked nonchalantly and you nodded.

“And you, Frosty,” Tony motioned to Loki who tried not to frown at the nickname. “You love her?”

Loki glanced at you, smiling softly. “Wholeheartedly.”

Tony swallowed down the lump in his throat as he watched the both of you, not completely ready to accept that you weren't a kid anymore.

“Well then, I guess that's that.” He smiled at you softly. “Leave it to you to fall for the God of mischief. You always were a troublemaker.” 

Your father pulled you into a hug, muttering a quiet ‘love you, sweet pea’, before pulling back to look at Loki.

“You hurt her,” he started and Loki cut him off with an amused chuckle.

“You'll kill me?” He guessed.

“Oh no, not just me. They'll kill you.” Tony smirked, pointing to the table full of avengers.

Loki nodded. “Understood.”

Nat sent you a wink and Steve and Thor smiled whilst the rest of the team seemed to congratulate you with supportive, and in some cases embarrassing, comments.

You and Loki smirked at each other, slowly turning to leave the dining room when your father's voice called you back.

“Woah, where do you two think you're going?” he asked. “Cats out of the bag now so no need to run off and hide. Sit.”

Seeing no point in arguing, you both took your seats, Loki holding your hand atop the table for everyone to see. Things quickly settled back into a comfortable conversation, you and Loki feeling freer than you had in months. The domesticity of it all was enough to make your heart burst.

“So,” Clint, who was slightly tipsy at this point, yelled. “When's the wedding?”

Tony turned red. “Don't push their luck, Barton.” He partially joked, glaring daggers at his teammate as the rest of the team laughed. As for you and Loki, you couldn't help but smile at the possibility.

tag list: @leftperfectionmoon @doozywoozy @bakerstreethound @miraclesoflove​ @Kealohilani-tepise

[mammonshuman92]

- It Takes Two - Pt. 2

(Mammon x Gn!MC)

Genre: angst to fluff (the fluff is coming I promise lol)

Warnings: cheating, not proof read , if i missed any TW’s I apologize

“We’re a little busy right now.” A familiar voice, biting and arrogant, came from his lap. His eyes widened, whipping his head around to look at you in his lap. Except it wasn’t you. It was her. His heartbeat accelerated as panic began to set in.

“No, no, no, no, no.” He chanted, standing up in an instant, causing the succubus to fall to the floor with a thud and a few profanities. As events began to unfold and the puzzle pieces started fitting together; when it was already too late, he realized what he’d done. A hard lump instantaneously forming in his throat. He turned to you, eyes wide with terror, hands on either side of his head tangling in his hair.

“MC..I..I-It’s not wh- I thought-” He choked out.

He followed your line of sight, which was glued to his undone pants and obvious arousal. With shaky hands and fingers unwilling to cooperate, he fumbled with his zipper, struggling to get it up. Arms from behind snaked around his middle, gently clawing at his chest. 

“Shall we finish what we started?” She hummed seductively, staring daggers directly at you.

You shook your head, a sob escaping your lips as a fresh wave of tears streamed down your cheeks. You brushed past Asmo, disappearing out the doorway.

What’s goin’ on..? ...This can’t be happenin’..

He shoved the girl’s arms off of him without saying a word, a scowl spreading across her face. He made a beeline for the door, Asmo quickly stepping in front of him to block his way. “Don’t. You’ve done enough..” With venom lacing his tone, he looked the succubus up and down. He turned his glare on his brother for just a moment, the utter disgust they held was evident, before running out the door after you. As his figure disappeared, Mammon could feel the reality, the weight of the situation setting in.

His heart was pounding against his ribcage, breathing becoming erratic. The lump in his throat was unwavering, choking him as tears streamed down his cheeks. The gravity of it all bringing him to his knees.

“How moving.” The voice behind him scoffed, reminding him of her presence, “It almost seems like you love them.”

His head whipped around to see her, lounging casually on the sofa as if nothing had happened.

“You.” He growled, harshly wiping his face with the back of his hand as he stood up.

 “Stay the fuck away from me!” He snarled.

She laughed lightly as she stood from the couch, crossing the floor until she was right in front of him. “Don’t be like that. Ten minutes ago you were ready to nail me on that couch.” She purred, her finger trailing down his chest, quickly moving lower. Like a flash, he grabbed her wrists and held her hands up in the air in front of her.

“Let me make one thing very clear to you right now. I don’t want ya. I only made out with you and shit because I thought ya were MC. I would never willingly do anything to hurt them.” He glared at her, making sure she caught that emphasis, before dropping her hands. “Your jealousy bullshit, and making moves on me while I’m drunk just made me lose the one thing that has ever been good about me..” He trailed off, releasing his grip in her.

She rolled her eyes, “Why are you getting so worked up over a human? There’s nothing special about-”

“Excuse me?” He growled. 

Mammon has always been the level-headed one when it comes to altercations, believe it or not. He never usually lets his anger get the best of him. After thousands of years of being the scummy brother, the thief, the loser, he got used to just letting people’s words fall upon deaf ears, so to say. But, that was not the case this time. You see, anyone could say whatever they wanted to about him, he didn’t care. He could handle whatever was thrown at him. 

You, on the other hand? Well, you’re flawless. In every miniscule way, you were perfect. That’s not saying that you don’t make mistakes, or drive him crazy sometimes, but to him there was absolutely not a thing about you he would change. Everything you did, everything you were, was absolutely immaculate.

Rage bubbled in his gut.

Leaning in closely, he towered over her, radiating ire. “I’m not gonna sit here and discuss why you’re wrong, seein’ as how it’d take all day, but what I am gonna to say is for a lesser demon, ya might wanna reconsider who you’re talking to. He spat, “Say one more thing about MC, and it’ll be the last time ya speak..” He whispered, glaring at her for a moment before taking a step back.

“Stay away from me and MC.” He warned once more, daggers in his eyes as he turned and bolted through the door.

If he had any shred of hope left, it was that you would talk to him and let him explain everything. He knew it was shitty, after everything that just went down, to even consider the possibility of you forgiving him, but he held onto that little shred of hope. Had he been in the right state of mind, had she not taken advantage of the situation and the state he was in, he would’ve never even stayed in the same room with that girl, much less go as far as he had.

He felt awful. Whether he was so drunk he was convinced it was you on his lap or not, he felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. After seeing the horror, the heartbreak on your face; the tears that stained your cheeks because of something he’d done, he kinda didn’t want you to forgive him. He didn’t want to lose you, couldn’t imagine continuing on without you in his life, by his side. But if you hated him now, he wouldn’t blame you. He deserved it. And he would live with it for the rest of his existence, knowing that he messed up his only chance at true happiness; at spending his life with his soulmate.

-

You bobbed and weaved as quickly as you could through the crowd of club patrons, needing to get far away from here as fast as you could, as your impending breakdown was sure to be a sight to see.

You were already so out of it; physically present but mentally, your brain had already shut off. Not quite sure how to handle the current situation. All the faces in the club were just a blur; you could feel the bass of the music reverberating inside your chest, but you couldn’t hear anything. Kind of like when you’re somewhere so quiet, the absence of sound feels so heavy, deafening.

You had to get out of here. Heart hammering wildly, you felt as if you couldn’t breathe; like the walls were closing in on you. A panic attack was setting in. Finally free of the sea of people, you darted out the front door of the establishment, running as fast as your legs would take you back to the House of Lamentation. Hoping that no one else would be home to see you; becoming witness to your unraveling.

-

*bing*

*bing, bing* *bing*

Your D.D.D. continued going off with near constant notifications well into the night. You could’ve just put it on silent, but you just couldn’t seem to move, frozen by heartbreak. Apparently several pictures were going viral on Devilgram, leaking this rumor and that regarding the second born and the succubus. Further making you look and feel like a complete fool.

Mammon had also been blowing up your phone since you made it back to the HOL. He had even come by your room in an attempt to talk to you but once he realized the door was locked, which had never happened the entire time you’ve lived here, he sat outside the door begging you to open it as loud sobs escaped him. As much as you wanted to, you didn’t budge.

Of course you still love him. How could you not? Hearing his desperate pleas and heartbroken sobs was almost too much for you. Although you were the one who had been betrayed, you wanted nothing more than to fling the door open, latch yourself onto him and never let go. But you couldn’t. Cheating is a dealbreaker. It’d happened before, in previous relationships, but shit this one hurt so bad, worse than any other heartbreak you’d had.

He had his faults, much like everyone, but he was so perfect for you, and treated you like you’d always dreamed. This couldn’t really be the end could it? Over, just like that? Completely smitten and in love two days ago, to heartbroken, crying on the bathroom floor. 

How are you supposed to move on from this? He’s your best friend. Or, was. How are you supposed to pass him in the hall, or eat dinner, or have House movie nights in the common room? How are you supposed to act like you're not still in love with him..?

-

The next week was pretty rough, to say the least.

You stayed locked away in your room when you weren’t at RAD; replaying the moment you saw them together, crying until the tears no longer fell; effectively torturing yourself. They’d all come knocking at your door countless times, trying their best to make you feel better. And while you appreciated it wholly, it didn’t help.

Avoiding Mammon was probably one of the hardest things you’d ever done, seeing as how you kinda live together. While it was extremely hard not to just run up to him and latch onto him like you always did, it seemed harder to just avoid him in general. 

During the first few days, he left small presents outside your door, had a couple of his brothers slip you notes, and waited for you after class a few times. After using every ounce of your willpower to avoid him, he left you alone. He still messaged you several times a day though, apologizing profusely, begging you to talk to him.

But, it was better this way right? Like ripping off a band-aid? 

That’s what you’d always heard anyway. Instead of asking questions and demanding answers as to why someone else chose to hurt you, you just cut it off right there, ghosting them; removing yourself completely from their life. Because if they truly cared, really loved you, they wouldn’t make the conscious decision to do something that they know would hurt you, that stepped outside the boundaries of your relationship. Their reasoning doesn’t matter. Aside from living in the same house and attending the same school, you had pretty much ghosted him.

In public anyway. In the privacy of your room, where you could feel everything to its fullest, you’d spend hours going through pictures, skimming Devilgram for any new gossip about the two of them. Re-reading your old text messages, finger hovering over the send button of the text you’d typed out a hundred times before deleting it and tossing your phone, a new wave of tears pricking your eyes.

-

Unable to sleep, he’d tossed and turned in his bed so much that his body ached and one of the corners of his sheet had popped off the bed. With a heavy sigh, he rolled over and grabbed his D.D.D. off the nightstand. Squinting his eyes harshly when he unlocked the phone.

“3:41am” He groaned, tossing the phone back onto the nightstand. He turned back over, facing the empty side of his bed. Sure, he didn’t often share it before you, but once you started sleeping together, he wasn’t sure how he’d ever slept before you came along. It just felt right. Your body molded against his, sleeping peacefully in his arms.

His hand trailed down the cold, empty sheets; the slight disruption releasing your smell. A hard lump formed in his throat as tears pooled behind his lash line. He sat up quickly, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palms. With a heavy sigh, he stood up and grabbed a pair of pajama pants, making his way to the door. If he had any hope of being able to fall asleep again, he’d need some help drowning his thoughts.

He quietly made his way to the kitchen, fully intending to turn up the bottle of Demonus Lucifer kept hidden in the dark recesses of the pantry. As soon as he stepped foot in the kitchen, he froze.

It had only been seven days, but it felt like a lifetime. Seven days without being in the same room as you for more than just a moment before you ran in any direction as long as it was away from him. Not that he could blame you. He wanted to run away from himself..

Which is exactly what he was determined to do with Demonus, had he not stumbled upon you sitting with your back to the fridge, crying into a half eaten container of chocolate frosting. 

Immediately alerted to the figure in the doorway, you jumped up, attempting to wipe at your face as you muttered an apology, but paled when you saw who it was that disturbed you. You slowly sat the container on the counter, keeping your eyes fixed on the man in the doorway.

What was left of his heart, shattered at the sight of you. Your eyes were puffy and red with dark bags underneath them. The same eyes that looked at him with such deep burning love, were now dull and lifeless as you stared at him. You were visibly broken, anyone could see that. He was the reason you looked like this; like an abandoned puppy, beaten and abused. He hated it. Hated himself.

He moved out of the doorway and into the kitchen, freeing up the only way out in case you wanted to run. Not that he blamed you. If he could run from himself right now, he would.

But, now you were in the same room together for the first time in a week and he didn’t want to waste the opportunity. Maybe if he just started talking you would listen, even just a tiny bit to what he had to say.

“MC, I-”

“Don’t.” Your voice trembled slightly as your eyes began to sting.

“Please, just hear me-”

“And what are you going to say, hm? That you’re sorry? Sorry you did it, or sorry you got caught?” You hissed with tears in your eyes. Mammon slightly recoiled from the tone of your voice, a tone he’d never heard from you. You hated being this way; angry and bitter, wanting him to hurt like you did. It was surely petty, but you didn’t care.

“MC, listen, I swear I didn’t do anythin’, okay? I was still goin’ strong from an all night drinkin’ binge, an-and she just showed up in the VIP lounge. I told her to fuck off but she didn’t listen. I was already pretty out of it when things started happenin’ and I thought it was you. I thought it was you the whole time! I-I didn’t know it was her till I heard you and Asmo and realized what happened! She took advantage of the situation, of me bein’ way too drunk..” He was talking so fast, trying to get out the words he’d been wanting to say to you. 

Narrowing your eyes, you stared at him suspiciously.

What if he really didn’t do it on purpose..? If all of that is true, it would explain why he looks so rough..

Having barely stayed in the same room as one another for several days and not wanting to look at him, wanting to remain strong and now cry in front of everyone, you hadn’t noticed but how awful he looked as well. He clearly hasn’t been sleeping well, judging by the giant bags under his eyes. Not to mention that he is also currently awake at 4am, looking just as much like shit as you did.

“Then why is it all over Devilgram that it’s been an ongoing fling?” You questioned, a few tears escaping.

“I would never do anythin’ like that, MC! She’s just jealous or somethin’, I don’t know what her issue is.. But, I-I love ya, more than anythin’ in the three realms. Even Goldie!”

You could feel yourself caving in with every word he said. It made sense, judging by how she’d randomly confronted you after school that day after whispering about you with her friends all day, it seemed like jealousy could be plausible. But what proof did you have? It was his word against what you saw with your own eyes. Not to mention everything on Devilgram.

“Funny, from where I was standing, it sure looked like I was the last thing on your mind.” You hissed, causing him to flinch; but he wasn’t backing down yet.

“Just let me prove it to ya, okay? I-I’ll do whatever I gotta do. Please, MC?” His deep, sapphire blue eyes bore deep into yours; the sorrow, the agony they held was immense. The crack in your armour deepened.

He could see that you were wavering, but that you were hesitant, scared to believe him; to trust him. He couldn’t blame you. If he were on the other side of all this, he wouldn’t believe his words either. He didn’t expect you to just hear him out then jump into his arms and ride away into the sunset. He knew better. He knew he’d have to prove it. He was more than willing to do whatever it would take for you to trust him again, to believe that he’d never hurt you intentionally.

He took a step toward you, careful and anxious, as if you would bolt if he moved too suddenly. He reached out for your hand slowly, reluctant at first but upon realizing how much you’d missed his touch as his warm, much larger hand enveloped yours, you caved so easily.

He squeezed your hand lightly, looking down at your entwined fingers, gently rubbing the side of your thumb. You felt something wet hit your hand a couple times, realizing quickly that they were tears, you attempted to swallow the lump in your throat that was quickly forming.

“Please? I’m miserable without ya..” He asked, voice cracking slightly.

Even after everything that’s happened the last week, you couldn’t stand to see him in such pain; miserable and broken. Just like you.

Sure, he was always stand-offish about his feelings and the like before you got together, but once it was all official, that was it; the walls came down. There had never been a single time that he lied to you or went behind your back with anything. He lasted exactly twelve minutes after buying your birthday present before he couldn’t take it anymore and spilled the beans. 

He’s always a goofball, sometimes has bad timing and isn’t always the best with words, but he’s never given you a reason not to trust him before; he’s never been anything but an amazing boyfriend that genuinely tries his hardest to make you happy.

“One.” You whispered, barely audible. His head snapped up, deep blue eyes scanning yours. You closed your eyes, taking a deep, yet shaky breath.

“One chance. That’s it.”

No sooner than the words left your lips, Mammon was pulling you flush to his chest in a bone crushing hug. Had you not been utterly craving his touch, to be held by him, you would’ve pushed him away. That’s what you told yourself anyway.

“I won’t make ya regret it, MC.” He earnestly swore, squeezing you gently.

For the sake of your heart, you hoped he was right.

~ taglist ~

@ithinkimdekubutreallyimdenki

@maybe-nott

@bandaged-despair

@bokuto7stan

@aliackerman

- part three coming soon -