#surprise this is a hidden vent post

[softforbuck]

pairing: f!reader x john walker (post-thunderbolts*)

rating: nsfw

word count: 4,769

summary: you sneak into the avengerz tower. walker finds you. after some… complications, you fuck. enemies to lovers.

warnings: smut. walker calls reader a whore but it’s sexy.

notes: you might notice that i don’t love him. but he’s hot. what can i say?🤷‍♀️ cross-posted on ao3. requests are open! use my ask (anonymous option available!), dms or comments to request <3

"Who the hell are you?" You whirl around upon hearing your person being questioned. An innocent smile appears on your lips before you quickly pull your mask back down over your mouth. No way in hell are you going to let John Walker out of all people figure out your real identity. You'd prefer Bucky. Or Yelena. A proper... well, not superhero. But, you know, not a Captain America rip-off. "No one." 

You close the lid of the ice cream tub you were just wharfing down out of utter frustration of being broken up with by your partner. Not like they'd deserve the wonderful human being that is you, but still. Being dumped hurts. 

Walker takes a deep breath as he figures out who you are. Or, rather, whom he knows you as. One of the most annoying vigilantes of this town. You never steal anything, per sé, but cause a ruckus that him and his friends have to clean up afterwards. You've caused some grey hairs on his otherwise pretty luscious head of hair. 

He looks better like this, you notice, without that stupid helmet... beret... thing. Walker's still wearing his uniform though, not that you'd complain. The muted red and blue, the dirty white. It makes him look good. Not as good as Steve fucking Rogers - may he enjoy his retirement -, you tell yourself, but hot as hell nonetheless. This realisation is your cue to leave.

"Anyway, guess I gotta go. Nice chatting with ya, Johnnie." You turn to leave the way you came: Through the vents. To your surprise you'd found some stuff there before, like someone was actually living in there, but you paid it little mind. Instead you eavesdropped on Bob singing in the shower and Alexei beating Bucky at some weird old-school game you weren't able to understand after getting stuck and watching them for about an eternity. 

Before you actually get there, you feel a couple of rough fingers wrap around your upper arm in not necessarily the kindest manner. "Not so fast, young lady." Your shoulders slump, your head leans forward in defeat. Of course he wouldn't just let you go. 

"You want me to pay for the ice cream?" You reach for your wallet that is hidden in one of your boots, more or less leaning on Walker as to not fall over, but of course he misinterprets your action as a threatening one and in an instance you find yourself pressed against the wall. You gasp in feigned surprise. 

Walker's holds is pretty damn strong, having your arms crossed behind your back, forcing them to stay that way with just one hand. The other supports him against the wall, allowing him to lean in close. Actually, this is pretty fun. He smells kinda good. 

No. No, you tell yourself and ball your hands to fists. "Let me go, Walker," you growl, baring your teeth. You hear him chuckle. You hear him fucking chuckle. 

"Why would I?," he asks, his breath tickling the shell of your ear, his chest pressing lightly against your back, making you feel his weight, his presence. "Let me get this straight: You're a vigilante, wanted by the police, a fucking nuisance to my team and me, and to top it all off, you break into our home. Yet you demand me to let you go?"

You nod. "Yes, that is exactly it," you confirm, a little yet very confident smirk tugging at the corner of your lips. "Believe me. It'll make it easier for both, you and I," you insist. Pushing your cheek against the wall, you look behind your shoulder, right at him. He's close. John is so, so close to you.

His eyes have fixated you, they focus alternately on your right, then your left eye. Then your lips - or, well the part of your mask where your lips would be. Just for the tiniest fraction of a second, yet you catch it. And he catches you catching it. Seemingly, he does not like it, as his grip on your arms becomes harder. 

Seems like you are stuck. Both of you, though, since he makes no effort to call any of his teammates or actually make you immobile other than just holding you in place. Maybe he's just thinking about what to do next but you severely doubt he's able to do that. 

Then, you suddenly hear the sliding door to the kitchen open and feel Walker's hold on you loosen. Just a little, but enough for you to push yourself off the wall and use the momentum to pull your arms free and turn around.

John's surprised to find himself lying on the floor a second later; you've overpowered him, made him fall down onto his back. And now you're kneeling on top of him, your hips lightly pressed into his as you duck down as to not be seen behind the kitchen isle. You don't need another Avenger finding you. 

You feel Walker's hands move to your hips, try to lift you off but you hiss into his ear, "don't you fucking dare."

After the lights are turned on, you hear heavy footsteps on the ground, a certain gait you know comes from one of that person's sides being heavier because of a certain vibranium arm. Your hand his pressed to the mouth of the man under you, your hand placed next to his head and your own breathing slow, quiet.

John hasn't moved his hands away from your hips. In fact, he is rather enjoying all of this. He hates you, of course, but he doesn't mind how fiery you are. Banter with you is fun, fighting against you is fun. And you're hot. That's just the way it is and certainly not his fault.

Bucky, still oblivious to the two of you lying on the floor - though he has noticed and wondered about the tub of ice cream -, opens one of the many cupboards for a late night snack. The only cereal in this building are the Avengers Weetabix. Alexei throws out any other box and only buys these ones, of course. Either way, that's what Bucky will be having tonight. 

You notice a wee bit too late that the place where you've found a spoon literally twenty minutes earlier is on the side of the kitchen isle where you and your mortal enemy are having a cuddle. Before you can do anything about it, Bucky's already taken the corner. And then pauses.

A slow blink while he holds his cereal and milk filled bowl in his metal hand, as he seemingly analyses the situation. Then he grins. Chuckles, even. 

"Looking strong, John!"

Bucky opens the drawer, gets out a spoon, and winks at you. Walker's ego has surely taken a hit, no matter how John's gotten himself in this situation, and Bucky's not mad at the break-in whatsoever. He's simply visibly amused. 

Walker isn't. He lays the back of his head onto the marble floor as he sighs in defeat. This is fucking embarrassing. Super strength isn't even one of your superpowers. 

"Don't break him too bad, yea? I fear his ego can only take so many hits." With that, Bucky makes his way out of the kitchen. He leaves the light on, which will come in somewhat handy later.

You let a few more moments pass by before you try to lift yourself off Walker and finally leave the way you came. But John's hands on your hips make it impossible to do so. "What the fuck?" You look down at him, brows knit together tightly. 

The grin plastered across his face is nasty. Seems like he's gotten himself together and now you're the one in trouble yet again. A little noise leaves your lips as you feel yourself pressed into the floor a moment later, with him kneeling on top of you now. Different from him, you're not facing the other, but actually have your cheek squished against the floor, just like a few moments earlier when you had found your cheek pressed against the wall. 

Walker was a pest. Fucking annoying too, yet you - again - find yourself not particularly minding the close proximity. You could've really cursed yourself out for that. The two of you hated each other's guts, yet you weren't the only one doubting that.

When he had you pushed against the wall,  John had already very much questioned his morale. Then when you sat atop of him, it had only gotten worse. The pent-up frustration against you from all the more or less lost fights was turning into a very different kind of frustration. 

"You with someone?" Why the fuck would he ask that? You grunt in reply and squirm underneath him. "What does that matter to you, asshole?!," you hiss, moving your butt up to try and somehow get him off of you. All that does is make your ass push against his dick. This, in turn, lets a wave of heat wash through not only him but you as well. Fuck. 

A grin appears on the dirty blond's lips as he leans in close. His body presses more tightly against yours, his firm chest, once again, flush against your back. "Because," he begins, "if you're not with someone, I might not take your freedom but rather something else."

Ew, corny. Yet honestly? Kinda hot. And with the weird feelings swirling within you, it wouldn't be that bad nor weird to sleep with him, would it? Especially considering that you really have no one and can only hope to ever get lucky again. This Walmart version of Captain America has to have some stamina and knowledge, too, no? Doesn't he have a kid? 

"Well, what about you? Gotten back together with the mom of your kid yet?," you ask, half-knowingly, half-unknowingly rubbing some salt in an old wound that has never really healed. 

You immediately feel the consequences of your own actions. The air is pressed from your lungs as John pushes his elbow into the centre of your back, you wince in pain. "Okay, okay. One step too far, sorry!" You're not able to because he's holding onto your wrists with one of his big and strong, rough hands, but otherwise you would've have laid your hands next to your head defensively. 

"You better be sorry," he grunts, before lifting his elbow off your back. Next, he does something way worse though:

Walker leans forward. "If you want me to fuck you, you better let me see your face." You feel your mask being pulled off your face. Shit. Fuck. Shit shit fuck. "Pretty enough to look at," is all he says, with a certain teasing tone.

He actually finds you incredibly gorgeous but is hardly ready to admit that to himself. Not yet at least. Maybe once you've fucked each other's brains out, it'll be different though.

"You're such a fucking freak!" The new Avenger only chuckles. "Really? I think it would've been way freakier to fuck a woman who's wearing a mask. Wouldn't you agree?" 

He adjusts his position. You wonder whether he purposely rubs himself all against your ass, letting you really feel him. And damn, the more he does that, the more you realise that rip-off captain America is packing. 

It makes you nervous. Did you even really agree to this? Do you even really want this? 

John seems to realise the exact same thing, as is proven by him leaning forwards again. Without your mask, you can feel his hot breath fanning against your ear, hitting the side of your face as well. He smells like he's brushed his teeth before coming to the kitchen. You wonder why he's still wearing his suit when he's seemingly gotten ready for bed. Is he that much of a fanatic? 

"You haven't given me your reply yet. Do you want this or not?" Both of you know that this is most certainly not your only option to not be locked up. You could very, very easily slip away from him if you only wanted to. But that's the thing: You don't want to slip away. You want this. 

"Yes." The word slips from your lips in a way that almost makes it seem pathetic, which he quite obviously likes. The chuckle against your ear is mean, teasing: "Whore."

He's just as much of a whore as you are. But you know better than to tell him that, considering he's got the upper hand and all.

Even now that you've in a way shown him that you won't just up and run away, he still doesn't loosen his grasp around your wrists - "How are you gonna do anything like this?" A valid question. His other hand is holding him up, keeping him from resting his entire weight on you. And he's heavy. The super soldier serum might've not bulked him up quite like Steve Rogers's did, but he's still rather muscly. And also taller than you.

"Shut up, I'm thinking." How the hell did this guy get you to want to sleep with him? Your forehead hits the floor with a soft thud. You can't believe he's gotten you wet and himself hard from your prior endeavour and now he can't even figure out how to fuck you. How has this man managed to get someone pregnant?

You're just about to suggest you do it the old-fashioned way, go up to his room and do it in his bed when you hear heavy fabric moving. Then you feel his gun belt wrap around your wrists. Well, you didn't expect that. 

Experimentally, you try to free your wrists; you can't. This makes you gulp. Walker has never before gotten so close to actually tying you up, turning you in. He hasn't tricked you, has he?

He hasn't. Because the next thing you feel is his fingers in your hair, lifting up your head by it. The subtle pain is a nice sensation, one that forces a tiny little gasp from your lips. You'd expected him to be rougher, though. 

Either way, he uses this chance to actually have a proper look at your face now. The corner of his lips is pulled into a smirk. "What're you hiding this pretty face for?" Your gaze flickers to your discarded mask. "Don't want to distract you when you're supposed to be catching me, not gawking at me like you're doing right now," you reply as nonchalantly as possible when in reality, his intense gaze, his lustfilled eyes are making you nervous.

Your witty remark makes him roll his blue eyes. His hand travels from your hair to your jaw, squeezes your cheeks. John's silent. You can only guess what he's thinking. One of your most up there guesses is that he's thinking about a horse on a field as to not cum immediately. That's cause he's pretty damn hard.

How could ne not be? He's got a sexy lady under him, his hips pressing into hers and every movement makes him rub his dick against her soft, perfect ass. He wants to ravish you. 

But you seem like you need a little more foreplay, considering you're showing no signs of arousal. How wrong he is. All this is turning you on more than you'd ever admit, even with a gun to your head. 

You'll take it though, wonder what Walker is up to when he lets go of your face and sits up instead, on the backs of your thighs, to be precise. Then you feel his rough fingertips slip under the lower hem of your shirt and take ahold of your the waistband of your spandex pants. 

Shit's getting real. You take a deep breath and when you breathe out, you feel him pull the fabric down over your arse. 

John chuckles at the sight. "Really?" His ring finger wraps around the elastic of your panties, pulls it away from your body and lets it snap back against your skin. "You're wearing a thong to break into Avengers Tower?" Like he isn't totally getting off on it. He can feel his boner throbbing in his trousers, and he's salivating like a fucking dog. You look delicious.

"No, actually-!" You're interrupted when he pulls at your panties once more and rips them this time. You hear what you're pretty sure is the noise of him stuffing the fabric into his pocket. Pervert. 

A dissatisfied little noise leaves your lips. Not because he got you half-naked while he's still wearing all of his clothes minus his belt, but because he ripped one of your favourite pairs. "You're gonna replace that," you demand, which only makes John laugh. He figures he's going to rip a few more pairs of your panties if your reaction's always this sweet.

"Sorry, what were you gonna say? Why are you wearing thongs?" He really just brushed over the matter like pretty underwear isn't expensive. Asshole. You clear your throat, then choke on your spit when you feel Walker spread your cheeks. Curious one, isn't he?

This is nothing that hadn't happened before - except it is -, so you compose yourself. "I was going over to my boyf-... ex's place." You don't think he's actually listening. "I had a really, really nice evening planned for us. It'S our anniversary, you know? So I wanted to cook with him, play some games, cuddle, watch a movie, and then, well, sleep with him." Your voice sounds genuinely frustrated, sad, even, so Walker actually stops his admiring your ass and pussy. 

What is he supposed to say though? His blue eyes focus the half of your face that he can see, the other is laying on the floor after all. "You trust me to make you forget about the bastard for the night?" That's definitely not what you expected to hear. You rather figured he'd make fun of your for being broken up with but this almost seems like some form of empathy or sympathy or something along those lines. Which is nice. Really. It is nice. 

But you hate him. You have to remind yourself that you do. Can't mix work with private stuff, after all. 

All you manage is a little nod, which makes him almost scowl. "Do you want me to fuck you?," he becomes clearer and very vocal about wanting your consent and goddamn is that sexy. You feel heat and wetness pooling between your legs. 

"Yes." You can practically hear his satisfied smirk as he repeats his words from before: "Whore."

You're happy to live up to that title, wiggling your hips to direct his attention back to where it is required. He's happy to comply, of course. 

Walker scooches back a little further to grab your thighs hand push them under your body slightly, spreading them in the process and lifting your pelvis to give him access. You expect for his cock in your coose but that's not what happens. You don't hear him pulling down his pants, freeing his dick. Instead, you feel his hands wander to the back of your thighs once again, thumbs brushing softly over your inner thighs and travelling further and further up. 

You can't help it, a wanton whimper makes its way past your lips, your hands ball to fists in anticipation. You want him to touch you. So, so badly. 

"Don't be so impatient," the dirty blond hums teasingly, like he isn't getting impatient as well. It's starting to hurt but for some reason he wants to make you feel good first. And it's not because you were dumped today, he would've wanted to do this anyway. 

Maybe it's because your relationship has always been filled with teasing, never giving the other what they wanted. Do you even want his dick? Taking into account how surprisingly wet the anticipation has gotten you: probably. 

"It's like a fountain down here," he comments and final-fucking-ly brushes over where you need him most with the tips of his thumbs. Only barely though, only your swollen lips.

"Walker, I hate you," you grunt, squirming in his grasp. Wanting more. Needing more. 

You hear him laugh behind your, feel his thumbs drop from your pussy and rest against your thighs again instead. "Well, if you hate me..." And then his hands drop from your sensitive thighs as well. Squinting, you adjust your position until you can look back at him. 

His eyes are filled with lust, half-lidded as they seem undecided whether they want to focus on your eyes - your lips that are slightly swollen from you chewing on them - or on your pussy that is oozing its juices for him.

He settles on your cunt into which you feel his tongue dive barely a second later. You hum in enjoyment, press back against it and rest your cheeks against the marble floor. This is good. He really is surprisingly good at this. You would've expected the wannabe Captain America to be a selfish lover who cuts after barely two minutes and then leaves his woman dissatisfied.

Oh, how very wrong you were. 

Maybe it is because you're mad at your ex but John might even be better than them. An awful realisation, I know.

It's just that he doesn't only use his tongue, he also doesn't stick to the same pattern. His fingers are involved, two spreading your folds, a thumb applying pressure to your clit, and another digit curling against your g-spot while his tongue works fucking wonders. 

God fucking dammit. Who would've thought? 

"John." First time you didn't use his first name condescendingly. You can feel him smirk against your sensitive pussy. Your fingernails dig into your palms as little tears of pleasure spring to your eyes. 

You're certainly not the only one enjoying their time though. Walker could drown in you. You taste, smell, and feel divine. His focus long since hasn't solely been your pleasure but he has found his own in your desperate moans, pathetic pleas. But especially in the way you uncontrollably rock yourself back against his mouth and fingers. He knows you're close and he is not ging to stop until you cum. He has long since disregarded the slight ache in his jaw from not having done this in, well, quite a while. You're his first ever since the mother of his son has broken up with him. Honestly, he wouldn't want it any other way.

With every stroke of his tongue, every curl of his finger, every moment of harder pressure from his tongue, you feel yourself tripping closer to the edge. You can feel something coil within you, you can feel the noises from behind you becoming louder from how incredibly wet Walker's gotten you. You can tell he's enjoying himself, happily slurping every ounce you're giving him, relishing in the beauty that is your cunt. 

It gets you off. The man you hate so much, the man who hates you just as much - your mortal enemy -, eating you out like there's no tomorrow. 

Suddenly, without another warning, you cum. You don't even try to hide the moan that slips past your lips. You just allow it to be heard by him. Your thighs are shaking, your eyes are squeezed shut. Heat is rushing through you. And John still isn't stopping lapping at your red and swollen cunt. No way in hell is he letting one single drop go to waste.

He finally decides he's done and sits back on his heels, takes in the aftermath, the mess he has turned you into. And damn are you a hot mess.

“Still hate me?,” he asks with that damn smirk still plastered on his face. “Shut up.” You're breathless, but manage to punish him with a look that could kill. “I didn’t hear an answer.”

You're defeated. 

And still pretty fucking aroused. 

Luckily, John has a remedy for it: His cock.

Gently, he makes you lay back down properly on your stomach again before taking care of getting rid of his pants. Well, not entirely. He just barely pushed them and his underpants down enough to allow his dick free. But that's all he and you need. 

Out of half-lidded, lust-dazed yes, you look back at him and his... at least six inches. 

The view is fucking hot. You're thankful for Bucky having left on the lights. You can see him in all his glory, but also the colours of his uniform, the way his hair is slightly tousled, the tiny beads of sweat on his forehead. Walker's hand wraps around his dick to give it a few pumps like he isn't already rock hard and leaking pre-cum. His thumb brushes over his tip, spreads it for some lubrication, as he seems to realise: protection. You may be a bae, but he certainly doesn't want to get you pregnant.

"Can't get pregnant," you say. And he trusts you. 

John fills you to the hilt with one singles thrust and makes you yelp his name in pleasure-pain. "Oh lord!"

He feels so so good. 

And you also feel so so good. Walker's eyes squeeze shut a moment as he finds a proper position. Prone Bone is a tiny bit difficult, he finds, but offers such wonderfully deep thrust, he doesn't even mind the effort he has to put into thrusting.

This also allows him to get really fucking close to you, put his weight onto you, and allow you to feel his breath against your ear. 

Quickly, he finds a rhythm that is pleasurable to him and also to you. At least he assumes sp from your moans and whimpers that seem even more intense than when he'd eaten you out. With every finished thrust, he grinds against your ass, really makes you feel him, and its driving you nuts.

"Hey, baby, eyes on me," he demands suddenly. John's voice is a low growl, a tone that allows no disobeying. So you open your eyes you've previously screwed shut to really really feel the pleasure.

You've never seen a man this horny for you. The eye contact he forces upon you is intense, a little crazy, but so hot. It makes you clench around him, which in turn makes him moan. His rhythm after isn't quite so rhythmic anymore.

You can hardly blame him. He has been holding on for so long. It's respectable he hasn't cummed yet, actually. Still, he's keen on giving you even more before he does. 

One rough hand of his holds onto your hair close to the back of your head, ensuring you don't break eye contact, while the other holds him up and you down. Your hips are going to be bruised from being pushed into the floor tomorrow, but you don't mind whatsoever. It'll be a nice reminder. Perhaps something you'll be able to tease him for.

With every thrust, John can see your eyes becoming more glossy, glazed over with an insane amount of pleasure no one has given you before. And you can see his restraint, his holding on slip.

You can feel him pulse, throb within you. His chest vibrates against your back with every growl, every grunt, every occasional moan that he seems too embarrassed to let out. 

He moans your name, buries his face in the crook of your neck when it seems to get too much. His hips snap against yours. The room is filled with the noise of skin slapping against skin, your moans and whimpers and his muffled noises. It smells like sex, the air is stuffy.

It's like both of you are high on the other. John is inhaling the smell of you, you are getting drunk on the delicious feeling of his cock filling you out so irregularly. 

"Please, John, please make me cum!," you beg - and that drives him over the edge. You calling him John, the pathetic tone to your voice, your begging, the way you're squeezing him. 

You can feel him fill you up, the thought and feeling of it, his thrusts that have become lazy but still so powerful make you orgasm a second time, exhausting you like no fight against him has before. 

He stays within you for a while after both of your orgasms have subsided, still pushing your hips into the ground, still having his fingers wrapped into your hair. 

"I could do this again...," he says, finding a particularly sensitive spot on your neck with his lips. Your eyes widen but it's too late, he has marked you. How utterly embarrassing. Yet you don't regret sleeping with him. Not at all.

[exorcisemeplz]

Hi, since you have an ask option, I thought I might ask if you have any garnest headcanons? :)

Like I could see Gary being the one to start their relationship (maybe because he was bored & wanted to see if he could, for his own amusement you know?) only for him to be genuinely surprised at how territorial Earnest gets when he sees him flirt with someone else?

Sorry this was so random btw! I hope you don't mind!

I have been waiting for someone to ask this omg ily

_________________________

GARNEST

HEADCANONS

♡Gary Smith- The tyrant

Earnest Jones- The thinker♡

(In lore order, I will be doing general HC's later this evening)

__________________________________

Earnest was watching long before Gary noticed:

Earnest had been observing Gary from day one -- before Gary ever stepped foot in the Nerds’ domain. He knew Gary's class schedule, his fights, how he smiled right before saying something cruel.

He didn't even see it as stalking -- it was “gathering data.”

He watched from vents, through library stacks, and via hidden cameras he rigged around the school. Gary never noticed -- and Earnest liked it that way.

_______________________________________________

He knew the plan to take over the school would fail:

Earnest agreed to help Gary take over the school, not because he believed in the plan’s success, but because he knew it would fall apart.

And when it did? Gary would be desperate, paranoid, isolated --perfect conditions for Earnest to make himself the only person Gary could turn to.

It wasn’t manipulation, Earnest told himself -- it was “inevitable affection.”

_______________________________________________

The first time gary came to him for help:

Gary hated it --hated needing help, hated depending on someone.

But Earnest was the only one who had real tactical intelligence.

Gary asked something simple at first, like a surveillance angle on the Preps. Earnest delivered flawlessly. Gary came back. And back again.

Earnest acted modest, but inside, he was thrilled. He was becoming essential to Gary.

_______________________________________________

Gary started catching feelings --and it scared him:

Gary didn’t want to care. He told himself he was using Earnest. That he was just a tool. But it started to feel different.

He liked Earnest’s voice. His obsession. The way he looked at him like he was divine and dangerous.

Gary would catch himself lingering when Earnest handed him blueprints, brushing fingers too long.

It made him angry -- and that only made him come back harder.

_______________________________________________

Earnest was possessive the moment Gary let him in:

Once Gary started needing him, Earnest locked in. Subtly at first: glaring at anyone who got too close, “forgetting” to tell Gary about events that might distract him.

He’d speak softly but with underlying venom: “You know they dont understand you like I do.”

He kept files on everyone Gary interacted with -- and blackmailed or discredited anyone who made Gary smile too long.

______________________________________________

Gary trusted him -- But it was twisted:

Gary didn’t trust anyone. But Earnest... was predictable. Controlled. Obsessively loyal.

When he spiraled, Earnest was there. Cold hands. Calm voice. Calculating mind.

Sometimes, Gary would come to Earnest’s room at night, wordless, crawling under his covers and whispering things like, “Don’t leave me. Just…don’t."

And Earnest would hold him --silently triumphant, fiercely protective.

_______________________________________________

Earnest’s dominance wasn’t loud-- It was total:

Earnest didn’t need to raise his voice.

He spoke in facts. In precision. In promises that cut deeper than any insult.

And Gary, who tore others apart with a word, fell silent when Earnest looked at him a certain way.

Because Gary knew --if Earnest wanted to ruin him, he could. And somehow that made Gary want him more.

_______________________________________________

Earnest keeps gary’s meds, just in case:

After Gary’s breakdown post-ascension, Earnest took his medication into his own care.

Gary doesn’t know that Earnest sometimes gives him half-doses when he’s too “difficult.”

Not to harm him -- just to remind him who’s in control. Who knows him. Who can fix him.

And Gary, deep down, suspects it --but says nothing. Because he’d rather lose his mind with Earnest than be sane alone.

_______________________________________________

Gif by @bythaefloch 💚

______________________________________________

Inner circle:

@bythaefloch 💚

@aslanmanicz 💚

@iluvgaryandricky 💚

______________________________________________

@ilytomnlola 💚

There will be a part two!!

If you made it this far , you are a true garnest worshiper and will receive knighthood into our community 💚

If you want any requests lmk 💚

We love you 💚

Garnest mentioned 💚

[youspeakshit]

lestappen 2022 moments ~

I wrote this as a reblog to a different post when I saw people saying they barely interacted up until half of 2023. I wanted to share it as its own thing since it really confused me, I actually changed ships in 2022 bc lestappen were all over each other and I fell in love with them.

I'm gonna link some 2022 content so everyone can cheer up together abt the saudi gp podium weirdness, and make heart eyes at their cuteness.

Getting it outta the way first thing, press conference silliness: one two three four. And an extra twitter thread sharing stuff from each gp.

Max interrupting Charles' interview to say hi, and both forgetting about it to have a small chat.

Do I hear hot ass battles on track? And second link has as surprise this gay ass moment bellow.

And here from a different angle bc austria 2022 is everyone's roman empire.

Charles congratulating Max on his win; they also greeted each other from the cars.

The infamous Charles vlog with Max in the us gp: mysteriously hidden and then removed from his channel.

Them touching 166 times for no reason.

Spending too much time together and using the same phrases.

Behind the scenes of monaco gp by Ferrari and Red Bull are a good watch as well!

Charles got Max for the secret santa that year.

British gp had hidden camera silly debriefings, and also my personal favorite... Charles went after Max to vent about Ferrari fucking up his race and Max looked genuinely upset for him. Extra gifset.

This is just a short compilation of a long year fueled by lestappen that I hope ppl enjoy to learn about or revisit. That year they had 8 podiums together, that's 8 cool down rooms podcasts. And 14 qualis shared, plus 14 post-quali press conferences and waist-hugs. Countless sightings of them out and about with their personal debriefing after qualis and races. It sure was kinda awkward at first, they both seemed to wanna make small talk before getting the hang of their dynamic. But they were battling each other A LOT during this season and having so much fun racing together!

I'll end it linking to a twitter thread with some extra bits. Including this photo from when they got f1 married. Or whatever this was.

[nagichi-boop]

Why I Love Shadow the Hedgehog

So it seems a few of you actually wanted me to make this — thank you for encouraging me to express myself! Hopefully my thoughts are cohesive enough to follow. I don’t really have an order to this, so uhh…buckle up lol.

(In a way this is sort of a vent post, so if you’re here for good times, maybe this post isn’t for you. There’s a reason the PTSD hedgehog is my favourite.)

Spoilers for Dark Beginnings, Shadow Generations and Sonic 3 movie throughout the post

I suppose the overarching reason for why I love him so much is how much I relate to him. It’s a bit ironic that I love a character I relate to yet am so hard on myself, but maybe this is my brain’s weird way to compensate for my lack of self-love.

Shadow is a lonely, hurt person. Even before Maria’s death, he felt out of place and even saw himself as a monster. I feel that distance and emotional disconnect from others myself. I feel like no matter how hard I try to fit in, I am always an oddity. I wouldn’t say I prefer being alone, but it’s definitely easier. (I touch more on the idea here.)

Shadow lost his sense of purpose and his best friend in one fell swoop. I haven’t had something quite as intense happen to me as Shadow has, but when I was around 13 years old, I lost my friend group seemingly overnight because of a miscommunication. (TL;DR I opened up about being depressed/anxious and unbeknownst to me, my friend concluded I shouldn’t be invited out with the group for my benefit but didn't tell me she did this until much later, and by then I’d assumed they all got bored of me.) I spent the rest of my teenage years basically alone — I’d come home, go to my room and sleep, eat dinner and then retreat to my room again. At best I would be invited out once a year, but that was it. It really shattered my self-esteem and self-worth because I felt like I was unlovable. In hindsight, I think it was the side effect of being unknowingly AuDHD, so I had no support and was left with only myself to blame for not being able to maintain friendships.

As a result of what happened to Shadow (and also in part because of the autism I headcanon him with, but that’s for another post I intend to make), he became aloof and distant with others. Even with people he cares about deeply like Rouge, he would still prefer to keep his issues hidden. In Dark Beginnings, he only stops to think about Maria and have a panic attack when he is alone. And in Shadow Generations, he doesn’t talk Rouge after leaving Maria and she is only aware that he is upset because a tear of his hits her cheek. It’s clear he likes Rouge and trusts her, but he still feels the need to keep a distance. Part of that is probably his pride as the titleholder of Ultimate Lifeform, but part of it is probably a fear that history will repeat itself.

Again my situation isn’t the same, but I find myself having similar feelings. I have a few friends now and get invited out more than I did as a teenager (not that the bar was high), but I don’t feel close to anyone or really trust them. Unlike Shadow, I tend to mask by being bubbly (think Prime!Sonic), and if I bring up something that is important to or sensitive for me, I tend to say it with a tone that basically mocks it, almost as if I’m trying to minimise the hurt if someone tries to hurt me because of it? I prefer to just handle my problems on my own. I even stop myself from crying at a movie in front of people because I am scared of being mocked.

That’s not to say Shadow is always cold with people. In Sonic Prime, he helps Sonic, despite being frustrated at their predicament. And in The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow attends a party, despite it being clear that he doesn’t enjoy them (it’s shown in both the IDW comics and Dark Beginnings/Shadow Generations). Why? Because he cares about Amy. He even ends up looking suspicious because he was trying to hide the surprise present he got for Amy and ends up going to a concert with her. He also compliments Sonic and Tails in the game, even though he’s not necessarily friends with them. And if you take into consideration the Twitter Takeovers (I’m aware they’re not canon), he has done this multiple times since and has gone shopping with Amy, too. Despite his trauma and his difficulty socialising, he still makes an effort to be cordial with them at the very least, but in the case of characters like Amy and Rouge, he has a genuine concern and kindness for them.

Whether or not you believe Shadow is autistic, it is undeniable that he is disabled. I may develop this idea in another post, but I’ll briefly cover it here. For one, it’s heavily implied that he has PTSD. Not only did he watch his best friend die in front him, but he also had multiple people gaslight him (Gerald, Eggman, Black Doom) in his vulnerable mental state. In Dark Beginnings, it’s implied that he has nightmares and he even stops himself short of a panic attack in the last episode. I’ve also mentioned in a previous post, but Shadow is also implied to be physically disabled because of his chaos energy, with his inhibitor rings and air shoes or more-or-less outright stated to be mobility aids. I won’t go into my issues here cuz I already feel like I’ve yapped too much about myself, but having the Ultimate Lifeform be disabled like I am feels so refreshing as representation.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention Maria. In the games at least, Maria is disabled. More specifically, her condition is a dynamic invisible illness — that means it fluctuates and you can’t ‘see�� it. I mentioned it in the post I linked in the previous paragraph, but the way they talk about Maria’s disability in both Gerald’s journal and the game is such refreshing representation. Some days she can be more lively, some days she uses mobility aids like wheelchairs, and other days she is completely bedridden. Shadow loves her through all of this. He doesn’t see her as a sick girl, but as his dear friend. He doesn’t like it when she pushes herself, but his care for her is out of love, not pity. It’s just so refreshing to have a young disabled character in media spoken about in such a realistic way, especially in one I already love so dearly. And for the Ultimate Lifeform to view her as a best friend is just…chef’s kiss. (I know some people could argue Shadow is only friends with her because she is sick, but his purpose was to cure her — being her friend was not a requirement.)

Even if he shows himself as being cold and uninterested, ultimately Shadow deeply craves emotional connection. He may not be good at communicating it and he most certainly tries to push people away, but we have seen how deeply he misses Maria and the comfort she provided. He quite literally daydreams about her sitting with him and having her tuck him in with a blanket! She is one of the few people he felt comfortable being touched by and I think he misses that connection very deeply. I’ve never personally had that strong a connection with someone, but not a day goes by where I don’t imagine being held and comforted by someone I care about, albeit imaginary. I feel really uncomfortable being touched by basically everyone, but I so deeply crave that physical closeness with someone I love. I want to have a deep connection like the one Shadow and Maria had. I want to have someone important and to be important to them.

I don’t know if any of this makes sense. It was supposed to be a post about why I love Shadow, but it was mostly me blabbing about my own issues (even though comparative to Shadow I’ve lived luxuriously). I hope this wasn’t dreadfully boring to read. I did try not to go too expositional on my personal stuff.

Maybe I’ll delete this at some point, idk.

[bekaterrier]

Happy Audio Drama Sunday! I am requesting a group hug. Bring it in. Thank you. ❤️ Now allons-y.

This week I lost my grandma, and so spent a lot of my listening time re-visiting some of my favourite comfort shows. Those include @tellnotalespod and @storiesfromylelmore. The care and compassion of TNT, and how both silly and ernest SFY is bring me great joy and comfort. 🫂

@hinaypod Episode 56 - Dambuhala (Giant): Hearing Donner and Mari together post-Christmas episodes is everything. They are so cuuuute! I love that they went back to talk to the Waheela, and that she had so much to say about the ancient beings of the world. So much lore for us to try to make sense of! And it raised some interesting questions about Mari herself... ✨

@forgedbondspod - Chapter 16: Di and Ares' conversation was so funny from an outside perspective, knowing what Di knows. I was also internally screaming at some points Di. The surprise for Phae and Hera was so sweet! Their friends really care about them. Oof, another tense conversation between Hermes and Zeus. What could big Z possibly want with Circe (renowned for her knowledge of potions and ability to turn people into animals) and Hecate (associated with boundaries [of cities, borders, doorways, between worlds like the living/dead or mortal/immortal], witchcraft, herbalism and the moon)? I don't trust him one bit. 💍

@vestaclinicpod Episode 23 - Code Squeaky: Another one of my comfort shows, just when I needed it. I immediately listened this a second time, just to make sure I absorbed all of the Calyxy and Prof lore! Their relationship sounded so lovely. And all that with the squikir rustling around the vents in the background. As soon as Sec told Faye that the Prof used to adjust the vents above him, I just KNEW there would be something hidden away up there. Something with a weird shape...weren't Faye and Sec looking for something with a weird shape to connect to him? 🤔 Also very curious to see what was on that comms. ⚕️

@monkeymanproductions Waiting For October S1E7.5 - Yvonne: I absolutely love a monologue, especially when it's voiced by the talented Tina Case. We hear Yvonne struggling with her place in Karo's story, her own wants and needs, her own story, and whether they can all coexist. There are some big feelings that both Yvonne and Karo are dealing with, and I really hope they find a way through it all together. 🎃

[azaharinflames]

"Tim does love to mention Eddie and we've already seen he loves shipbaiting." - It really gets annoying, but I'm not surprised he isn't clear about it, like Aisha was. I think he still seems to think that the show would fall apart if he outright says Bvddie won't happen. I want to be like other BuckTommy fans, saying that it couldn't be more clear, but I just don't like that Eddie is once again a topic. I know lots of BuckTommy fans say it was necessary to put a stop to it, but somehow it just made me mad, because I don't trust Tim.

"I love Maddie Han (Buckley) but like… some of her scenes this season have me questioning my love for her. Like. She could do better. " - That's another thing. She always says this weird things to Buck, like she doesn't know her brother at all, like in 7x4, where she implied she wouldn't put it past him to hook up with a married woman.

Hi, Nonnie!

I do agree that it does feel like Tim is a bit too afraid to fully kill Buddie. Tbh I took this as 'have them write fanfiction' (paraphrasing) 2.0, but I can also see how frustrating it is, for everyone really. He doesn't want to lose that uncertainty, even tho he made sure to kill the possibility of Buddie in the show.

Here is what I think: he deliberately sent that message to Buddies to play with them and keep them engaged, even when he knows he doesn't have any intention of following through. Interviews are not something the GA reads - it is, however, something the Buddies do read to try to find 'hidden' messages and clues. Tim is aware of this and decided to play with them. But, at the end of the day? What is important is what we see on screen. And he was very clear with that.

I do understand you being mad at this, though, don't think I'm not. It is frustrating, and maddening. And I seriously hope that the show takes the chance, reconciles Bucktommy, and stops bringing Eddie as any point of contention between them. So the audience knows, ofc, but also to stop the baiting.

I've been saying it, but it does feel like the writers don't know how to write the dynamics of the 118 anymore. We haven't had a good-feel scene with them in a long time, they for some reason feel like co-workers and not family, and that extends to Maddie, too. Her scenes with Buck have been, at best, odd. Their sibling dynamic is there still, but different, and not necessarily in a good way.

My inbox is open for ranting, venting, giving your opinion (unpopular or popular, I'm happy to receive and discuss both), and even confessions! Though if you don't want yours posted, please make sure to say :)

Take care <3

[cozzzynook]

Drift and Ratchet coming back to the lost light surprised to find Rodimus holding a sparkling he'd recently had. Soundwave is next to him worried because he'd just been released from the hospital earlier that day and needed time to recover.

“Welcome back,” Rodimus smiled very, very exhausted.

The two had just come back to the lost light from their honeymoon and called to what was now Rodimus’s new room more hidden than his last.

They were completely surprised and shocked that Rodimus had gotten a new room and when they smelled more than one scent inside while standing at the door they were completely taken aback.

Drift’s digit print allowed him to enter inside and the scent of happiness and unbearable pain made the two rush towards the berth room where they practically busted the door open with their frames only to stop and see Soundwave fretting over Rodimus who was sitting up looking entirely too uncomfortable and in pain to be wearing the otherworldly smile that he did.

They took in the sight of wires attached to his spark, the IV just beneath his pouches and in his wrist port and the very huge painful looking tank that had yet to go down all but parading itself beneath the nesting blanket. As a tiny sparkling suckled the exposed pouch that Soundwave’s servo covered from their optics along with the tiny and extremely fresh sparkling that weakly pawed at it.

The new spark was but a carbon metallico copy of Soundwave, frame type and color included and the exhausted expression on Rodimus faceplates looked a nano vent away from giving in. But stubbornness and a need to see his bitty kept him awake.

“I’m so glad you guys are back. Come ere,” he struggled to speak. His optics dim, frame weak in a way Soundwave shifted to hold his weight entirely up allowing the two to see his pouches as he whispered in Rodimus’s audial.

That unnaturally deep and powerful vox snapped the two out of their stupor and Ratchet immediately went to work on Rodimus and the new spark with Soundwave careful optics watching. The mech had no accusations towards Ratchet but it was deep sire and conjunx coding keeping him from looking away as he relayed all the info to Ratchet through data sharing comms.

“Kid, you have one pit of a welcome home present for us, thats for sure,” Ratchet couldn’t help but smile. His optics were misty but he’ll argue it’s due to old age instead of what it really is. While Drift just out right cries as he carefully hugs his amica and primus sparkling.

“Roddy! You should’ve told us! We would’ve come back immediately!”

“That’s why I didn’t,” Rodimus was barely able to rely what those words and it was Soundwave’s careful movements along with Drif softly taking the now sleeping bundle and Ratchet helping Soundwave lower Rodimus to the berth. That Rodimus lost his battle to recharge.

“He’s fine. I want to stay to monitor his and the sparklings spark and vitals. Even if he gave emergence this morning, due to his health and the nature of his spark it’ll take longer than a normal post emergence period to heal.”

Ratchet kept his scanner on both Rodimus and the new spark as Rodimus slept with his servo intwined with Soundwave’s who kept a tentacle wrapped loosely on his bitty that Drift cried over.

“Ratty! A sparkling! Roddy had a whole sparkling! We have a sparkling Ratty!!”

Soundwave knew the moment he and his conjunx were sparked the swords mech and medic would have claim on their bitty as well. Just as Rodimus had claim on the two’s adult bitties such as First aid, Red Alert and Medwing.

Being conjunxed to Rodimus meant he had claim of their adult sparklings as well but he never commented or did anything beyond a curt hello and remained beside Rodimus.

So Soundwave expected the two to fawn over and proclaim parentage over their new spark and he was grateful in a way since the medic and swordsmech would do anything for their sparklings and now the new spark his conjunx brought into the galaxy mere hours ago.

It gave him time to take care of his conjunx who now thankfully lay asleep getting the rest he’s more than deserving of.

If Soundwave had his way, his bright spark would be letting him take care of their bitty while he laid in berth or rested until their little gigabyte could walk and he was rounding Rodimus out with the next little soundling.

“You did amazing, sweet spark,” he whispered in his souls audial, low enough only for him to hear and deep enough to make both their frame shift as their sparks begged to merge.

“I love you, i love you, i love you,” his spark sung through touch as he curled against Rodimus whose frame always responded in kind.

Drift and Ratchet were long familiar with the display having gone through the process with their own three bitties that Drift carried so long ago. It doesn’t phase them to experience the intimate display of affection Soundwave gifts Rodimus who more than deserves it.

They’re too busy enraptured in their own intimate moment as they welcome the very first new spark Rodimus has ever emerged into their family.

“They’re beautiful,” Drift keeps crying and Ratchet is reminded of all the times they held their sparklings who weren’t nearly as quiet as this one.

“Welcome home kid,” Ratchet can’t help but shed a few tears as he enjoys the warm welcome of life both old and new.

What a beautiful gift to come home to indeed.

[kayliraine]

🎸⭐️ EMA Band AU || character headcanons (pt. 2):

pt.1 pt.3

strap in, i accidentally made this kinda long loll

🗝️🥁 | Eren:

Eren gets a guitar for his birthday in late elementary school and doesn't really touch it much until one day when Mikasa comes over and tells him how cool it is. Then he starts teaching himself.

Eren plays a song in their middle school’s talent show because he secretly (but oh so obviously) wants to impress Mikasa, but his hands are so shaky and he’s so nervous that he kinda bombs it. Jean makes fun of him, and without hesitation, Eren goes swinging.

Heated, Jean makes a snarky comment about drums being a better instrument for Eren because it’d “help him vent his anger issues.”

Months later, Jean buys him drumsticks as a joke gift for a Secret Santa event. Eren takes this as a challenge.

Fast forward to "Mikasa and the Titans" as a band, Eren is their drummer and he’s amazing at it (though he will never, ever thank Jean for the inspiration).

He occasionally helps write songs too, but he’s not as good at expressing himself, and his writing is kind of juvenile.

Armin still encourages him to try, and together with Mikasa, he embellishes and translates Eren's verses.

Eren also knows how to sing but doesn't like to as much. It feels like more of a private thing to him.

Sometimes Armin will write songs for him though because he loves his voice. These songs are usually slower, more somber, and quite stripped back. Often it’s Eren singing with his guitar, Armin on keys, and Mikasa harmonizing with him.

During performances, Eren sings his one or two songs last and it’s always a surprise to the audience when he stands from his drum set. No one expects it, but he’s really good.

When he sings he goes off into another world and it’s almost as if he forgets he’s on stage.

He’s definitely the most mysterious of the group—he probably posts the least on social media, but he's still a fan favorite.

On the side, Eren posts some metal covers on youtube. He doesn’t advertise it at all—even Mikasa and Armin have to come across it themselves without him telling them. (Mikasa gets very upset he kept it a secret and he has to apologize profusely.)

He has an impressive metal growl akin to his canon titan roars.

🧣🎸 | Mikasa:

As a kid, Mikasa is by no means musically inclined. Her parents force her to do piano lessons for a while, but she quits out of frustration.

This all changes in elementary school when she sees Eren get a guitar, inspiring her desire to learn as well.

At first, she borrows Eren's guitar a lot and gets him to teach her chords and strumming patterns (and he likes to act all annoyed about it, but it's so clear he enjoys helping her).

Eventually, her parents buy Mikasa her own guitar for her birthday, and from then on, she starts learning more on her own. Sometimes she and Eren still play together though.

Mikasa is a fast learner and incredibly determined, so her skills progress quickly and she’s soon surpassing even Eren. (It makes him feel a little bad, but that feeling is almost immediately replaced with strong admiration.)

She starts learning how to sing too. She develops a silvery, sweet, and clear tone that grows more intense when she sings passionate songs.

At some point, Armin confides in Mikasa his hidden passion for writing poetry, and Mikasa creates melodies on her guitar inspired by his work—sometimes even singing his words aloud. (It makes him feel flustered at first, but it soon evolves into the two of them creating experimental acoustic songs together for fun.)

Mikasa has an undeniable stage presence. She is confident, and the way she plays the guitar as she sings seems almost effortless. She has a very devoted fanbase of people who simp over her and her cool energy.

Mikasa manages their group’s Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter accounts, (because Eren is too chronically offline to understand marketing, and Armin is a bit of a boomer with internet jargon and memes). so the fans get to interact with her the most.

She posts a lot of OOTDs and sneak peeks of upcoming songs on her Instagram story.

Many of their fans rely on her stories to get a glimpse of what Eren is actually like because he never posts and has a habit of blocking people on Twitter who say things about their band that annoy him (i.e. rumors about him having a thing for Mikasa because of the way he looked over at her during one of the recorded performances…).

Mikasa takes her musical career very seriously and is constantly on that grindset mindset.

She’s always coming up with new melodies on her guitar and sending voice recordings late at night in their group chat. It’s something fun for her to do and it comes so naturally.

🐚🎹 | Armin:

Armin takes piano lessons as a child and is literally a prodigy. He plays at all of their school’s holiday ceremonies and even participates in (and wins) competitions.

He is extremely talented: he has perfect pitch, starts learning to compose his own songs at an early age, and gets amazing grades on top of it all. He is a hardworking kid.

Along with his musical interest, Armin has also always been interested in literature and writing (He grows up to be an English or Linguistics major for sure).

He goes everywhere with a book in hand.

He enjoys telling Eren about the books he reads, and Eren listens diligently. It’s easy and comfortable to tell him things as he always seems genuinely interested in what Armin has to say, no matter the subject.

Armin develops an interest in poetry in middle school and even starts a journal where he writes his own.

He’s extremely shy about his writing at first, only really showing Mikasa because he's too embarrassed to show Eren (not because he thinks Eren will make fun of him—he just really looks up to Eren).

Mikasa inspires him to combine his two passions of music and writing by composing pieces to accompany his poetry.

It moves him how Mikasa is so captivated by his writing that she wants to help him with his music too.

In their band, Mikasa is the main singer, but Armin can also sing a little. He has a higher range and does harmonies for her in some of their songs.

It's not his thing though, so he doesn't sing otherwise.

Armin has to force Eren and Mikasa to study with him sometimes because they tend to neglect their schoolwork due to their extreme engrossment in their music.

Despite his devotion to school, Armin still does a lot of work for the band when he has time.

He’s the one who contacts venues in the area for them to perform at. He handles a lot of their social ventures despite his anxious and non-confrontational nature.

Armin really enjoys being in the band—he likes being around his friends more than anything in the world. And hearing his written words turning into beautifully layered noise makes him giddy to no end.

AAA THANK YOU FOR READING ASKNSJK EMA band inspired playlist :) :

also if you guys have any questions or thoughts about this au, don't hesitate to ask!!! I like to talk <33

[quill-firefly]

Did I Ever Really Know You? (SG TFOne Fanfic) - Chapter 5

Written right before Christmas Eve hehe, technically posted on Christmas Eve for me but ya know lmao

Anyway, since this chapter is completely in Dee's POV, this is what is going on in Starscream and Bee's POV. Optimus doesn't get a POV because this ain't about him.

Starscream: Pls just break up with this guy omg Bee: Pls just break up with this guy omg

prev | next

“Pax.”

“...I’ll allow it this time.”

There was an awkwardness in the air. Not hostility, they hadn’t reached that point yet. Dee hoped they wouldn’t but the lack of trust between both parties was quite clear. If he believed in the kindness of Primus, he may have prayed that everyone got out of this meeting unscathed.

“Is he necessary?” A sneer appeared on the Prime’s faceplate, and Dee didn’t need to turn his helm to know who Optimus was referring to. “You said you’d come alone.”

“I did.” And he had. After the stunt he had pulled by running away the first time, Starscream had been understandably more cautious that he couldn’t pull another one. Dee wouldn’t be surprised if the mech had intercepted Dee’s message to Optimus, even if Starscream was honorable. “You said the same.”

He turned his blue optics to the mech hidden in Optimus’ shadow. His gaze softened as he took in that familiar white and purple frame. They had only really known each other for a short amount of time - nothing like the bond he had with Pax - but Dee couldn’t help but be glad at the opportunity to see Bee again. He wished Elita was here, even if the femme might pummel him. He would have loved to see her again too.

“Hi, Bee.” He said softly, his vocoder cracking a little. The other mech must hold quite the grudge against him. Although the mech never showed it, Dee knew how lonely Bee must have been before they’d taken him with them. Cycles in Sub-Level 50 would have done that to any mech. Dee didn’t need to have met Bee’s “friends” - Steve and A-A-Tron - to see that.

He took Bee’s silent nod as confirmation that the mech was furious. He wouldn’t usually pass up an opportunity to talk.

“Dismiss him, and I’ll tell Bee to back down.” Optimus gritted out. Dee turned his gaze back to him, and the other mech quickly relaxed. Even now, he still demanded Dee’s attention. “We’ll talk. Just the two of us. The way it was meant to be.”

‘The way it should be,’ was left unsaid.

Dee turned his helm, pleading with his blue optics at the High Guard leader to leave - or at least to move away. There wasn’t any danger. Dee had insisted he and Optimus met at a good distance away from both the High Guard base and Iacon. They were on neutral ground. There wouldn’t be any opportunity for either of them to forcefully take the other hostage… At least, Dee hoped Optimus hadn’t lost himself enough to attempt that.

Starscream’s optics narrowed before transforming and flying a good distance away. Behind him, he could hear Bee’s tires scratch against the ground before turning faint.

Dee let out a small vent. He had prepared for this moment, but after many nights of uneasy recharge, a part of him almost wanted to run away. He turned his helm, meeting… yellow optics. His spark softened and he slowly approached Pax - and this was Pax. Even with the change in frame, even if the Prime towered over him, Dee knew his Pax. Dee knew those yellow optics.

“I always knew you were wasted as a miner. We both were.” Tentatively, they both sat down on the ground. If Dee closed his optics, he could pretend they were back in the mines or on the roof, sitting together. Pax raised a servo to the back of his helm, an almost sheepish look on his faceplate as his optics turned to Dee’s new arm. “If you want your old arm back…”

“No. Keep it.” The thought disturbed Dee but he had a strange feeling that Pax should probably have something of his to keep him company. Even if it was his old arm. He suppressed a shudder. “I cannot say being Prime suits you.”

Those optics flashed red, but calmed. Pax wouldn’t fall for his bait, and honestly Dee was surprised by his own bluntness. Then again, he had spent astroweeks with the High Guard. He must have picked up some habits.

“I cannot say the cannon suits you either, Dee. If you had proven yourself to me and to Primus, that cannon wouldn’t be a separate weapon from you.” The jab was expected, but it almost sounded forced. Pax was frustrated by the turn of the conversation. Those yellow optics barely even glanced at the cannon that Dee had brought with him (not that he had wanted to bring it, but Starscream and him made a deal). Pax was only reaching for an insult. “He granted Bee and Elita a T-cog. He blessed the mechs who pledged allegiance to me, the one and true Prime—”

“You had my allegiance the day we first met, Pax.” It was more than that. They both knew that. Dee felt more than a simple allegiance. 

After astroweeks without Pax, Dee had come to understand that Pax had known. He had always known what Dee felt. The fact that he had blinded himself about it nearly made him furious, but mostly he wanted to cry. Cry at how foolish he had been. Cry that Pax had understood Dee’s feelings and had strung him along. Cry that Pax had known and had encouraged it, out of a sick enjoyment. Dee understood that his friendship with Pax had been real but Pax had enjoyed playing with his feelings - the ones he couldn’t return.

“But you won’t have my submission,��Prime.”

He expected the other mech to turn furious now. Instead, the Prime surprised him by reaching out to hold his servo. For the first time in astroweeks, Dee could feel Pax’s warmth again.

“I don’t want your submission, Dee.” The other mech let out a weak and shaky vent. It surprised him. Dee had only ever seen Pax so vulnerable once. The day they were taught the truth.

“Then what do you want, Pax?” 

“You.”

Dee could feel his processor nearly overheat at the word. How many recharge periods had he spent hoping to get an inkling of this? 

Surprise quickly turned to indignation as he realized what was happening.

“Pax. I am tired of this sick joke. I am not the fool of a mech I once was. I know. I know.” The Prime was crazy if he thought Dee would fall for it again. Pax had a better chance (not that Dee would have ever agreed!) appealing to their old friendship than to the feelings that Dee held for him. “I have spent every rotational period after you banished me going through our relationship. I don’t doubt that we were friends, maybe one day we could have been Amica Endura, but do not pretend that you didn’t know that I felt more for you. Do not play me for a fool. Not again.”

The other mech’s optics were wide, intake agape as Dee finally let out the torrent of hurt he had felt. He had been in denial. He had even bargained to himself that Pax returned his feelings. He’d come to accept that he’d been nothing but foolish. Forgive him if this was perhaps the first time he’d snapped at Pax, but he was not about to let the other mech encourage feelings that would never be returned.

“Dee… what?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me, Pax.” Dee scoffed, before softening as his optics gazed into hurt yellow. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that he still loved this aft of a mech. “You have always sought knowledge. May it be through the archives, or through observation of other mechs. You love to learn. Everything and anything. When you were not in the archives, you were learning about those around you. You were learning about me too. I know you know that I loved you.”

Dee let out a choked laugh. “Why, Pax? Our friendship was real, so why did you have to play with my feelings? I would have taken the sparkbreak. It would have passed eventually. Our friendship would have remained as it was. That kind of love would have been enough—”

“You loved me?” There was shock in the other mech’s voice. “Loved?” 

Dee felt a tension in the air. A danger that he had stumbled into. His processor ran through what he had said. He didn’t see what was wrong. What threat was the Prime sensing that would cause him to act differently now?

He tried to untangle his digits from the other mech’s servo, but the grip had tightened - Dee could almost hear the metal of his own servo creak.

Ah, he was still pretending.

Dee didn’t understand why Pax was using this strategy. Was the Prime so eager to play with his feelings and then reject him?

“Yes, Pax. I loved you.” Dee gave the other mech a disappointed look. “Don’t pretend to be innocent, I won’t defend you from this. You—”

It surprised him when Pax let go of his servo, only to grab the back of his helm, preventing his escape as the other mech leaned forward.

“I’m sorry.” He felt Pax’s warmth all over his faceplate. His blue optics stared deep into the yellow. “But you know I never accept what I’m given.”

He didn’t even get the chance to feel the sparkbreak at the rejection (and here he thought he’d finally accepted that all he could have ever had with Pax was friendship) before he was being closer into—

Oh.

They were venting hard by the time Pax finally let go of his helm.

Dee was trying to process it despite how he could feel his entire faceplate and processor overheating.

Pax wouldn’t have kissed him just to prove a point, right?!

The other mech hadn’t moved away yet, their faceplates still close together that Dee was nearly scared that Pax would steal the limited air in his vents again.

“Would you still say ‘loved,’ Dee?” A cheeky grin crossed Pax’s faceplate, and Dee thought back to all those times he’d seen it - usually after Pax had done another stupid scheme of his.

“Why did you…?”

A servo reached up to caress the side of his helm, yellow optics closing.

“I admit it was only a game at the start. I wanted to see how far it would go until you realized. You were so foolishly easy to trick. Always so willing to follow. Always so willing to be mistreated.” There was a hint of anger in Pax’s voice at the word. “It was supposed to be a game, then I realized I cared for you - and how much I hated that you always accepted the way things are. I hated that you chose to be a miner. I hated that you believed in Sentinel despite everything he did. I hated that you never tried to pursue me even though you love me - because you do love me and you always will.”

Dee couldn’t find the right words to respond to that.

Then Pax let out a small smile, “Mostly, I hate that I only realized I love you when I lost you.”

Dee let out a sharp vent. This really wasn’t a sick joke.

Still, he felt sick.

“It doesn’t have to be that way, Dee. We could have everything we ever wanted.” 

He dreaded what was next.

“Come back to Iacon. Let us build the future. We would rule together.” Pax gave him another cheeky smile. No, not Pax. Prime gave him that smile. “I’ll even let you be a mathematics professor on the side. I always thought you’d be good at teaching sparklings and younglings—”

“No, Pax.” Dee leaned away. No, he pulled away, standing back on his pedes.

He knew his sudden retreat would make Starscream fly back. Optimus following after him would alert Bee into returning too.

“What? Don’t tell me you—”

“Maybe we loved—” A quick glare made Dee rephrase, “Maybe we love each other, but I won’t stand by and let you reinforce the suffering Sentinel caused.”

Those yellow optics turned red. The peace was gone. Despite himself, Dee could feel his servo tighten around the cannon he had brought with him.

“Pax, please. Listen to me. It doesn’t have to be this way. I know you were chosen to be Prime, and I… I understand that you were angry at what Sentinel had done… but you cannot perpetuate the pain he and the Primes have done. We could build the future together. We could still free every Cybertronian from the cycle of suffering. No more tyranny. No more ruling over every mech. Stand down. Let the people be free—”

“I freed us. I freed all of Iacon. Soon, I’ll free us from the threat of the Quintessons.” Optimus loomed over him, servos clenched by his side. “Under my rule, every mech is equal.”

“‘Under your rule, every mech is equal,’ do you hear yourself? Don’t you see what you’ve done? How much of Iacon have you left in shambles? How many dissenters have you killed, Prime? How many more would you kill to stay in power?” Dee could feel his own voice raising. 

The last time he had seen their home, Optimus’ followers were in the process of tearing down every remnant of Sentinel’s influence. How many innocent mechs had lost their lives because they refused to follow what Optimus had demanded of them? Optimus had killed Sentinel to secure power. He would kill to keep it. And Primus would reward him for it.

“The Primes are chosen to rule over every Cybertronian. We are chosen by Primus himself.” Optimus was daring him to challenge this statement. “I’m allowing you to rule by my side even if you are—”

“Even if I’m what, Prime?” Dee challenged him back.

Clearly the Prime had enough self-restraint not to bite the bait. Dee had to give him that. 

He shook his helm, “The Iacon you envision, it’s not what I want. You wish to rule over every mech. The sole decision maker, free to use your power to quell dissenters and heretics. You’re no better than Sentinel, no, you’re no better than the old Primes. Warmongers and murderers.”

“I know what is best.” The Prime growled out through gritted denta. “Primus chose me, you don’t know what is best for Iacon, Dee.”

“I know that I won’t go with you.” He began to back away, feeling assured that Starscream was behind him. The mech had been right to distrust the Prime. Dee was glad that the High Guard leader had followed him. He had been a fool to think that he could convince Pax. “Cybertronians should know the freedom which is their right!”

“Oh, Dee. I told you. We are free.” The Prime’s smile held such malice that Dee shuddered. “Under my rule, we are free.”

“Then we are at a disagreement.” 

There was a long silence. Dee didn’t know what else to say - wasn’t sure he trusted himself as he felt his spark break slowly. The Prime was staring at him, those red optics never leaving him. Though they had changed, Dee could still see Pax in them - somewhere in there.

“Do not be a fool, Dee. I am a Prime. You cannot go against what Primus himself has decided. I know what is best.” The other mech’s vocoder dropped to a low whisper, “You know I’ve always known what is best for us.”

Dee let out a small vent. The Prime wasn’t wrong. Pax, even if he went about it aggressively, had been right. Dee should never have had to give up his dream, and now he didn’t have to. He’d rebuilt himself a new arm. He’d created a cannon. He’d computed the probability of them forever parting. Pax had always said his processor deserved more than just the mines. Pax was right, but the Prime was wrong if he thought true freedom and dreams could be achieved underneath the oppressive rule of a tyrant.

“In the past. You knew what was best for us in the past.” Dee gave him a sad look. “I will miss the old us. I will miss what we could have been, but you know that from today we will be walking two different paths. Maybe it was always meant to be this way.”

The Prime scoffed, “I thought you didn’t believe in all that mystical nonsense.”

“I don’t.” Dee felt his optics softened. “I hope that one day we shall see through one another’s optics, that we will come to understand one another, the way we couldn’t before. That is a small probability. It was inevitable, I think, that we were meant to end this way. The probability of it… We always had conflicting views, Pax. The computations don’t lie, this was meant to be. There is one constant in the numbers…”

He stepped back, turning away. He needed to be the one to make the first move. He’d spent astroweeks without Pax. He’d had enough time to use his processor, to compute the probabilities, to go through the formula. He hadn’t believed it at first, but he’d come to accept it. What they were was gone. This whole meeting… had been merely closure on Dee’s part.

“There is one constant in the numbers.” Dee laughed a little, “In a better phrase for you, there is one constant in our fates, no matter the universe, I think we were always meant to part.”

He looked at Optimus Prime… He looked at his Orion Pax for the last time. 

Because he will no longer be his after this.

“Goodbye, Pax. Another constant, at least in this world, is that I will always love you.” His blue optics turned cold. He’d said his goodbye to the past.

Now, there was only the future. He stared up at the Prime. “Our fight… it’s only begun, Prime.”

He walked away.

He stopped when he heard laughter behind him.

“Brilliant as always. But tell me… did you calculate the probability of me ever letting you go?”

[doumadono]

Emergency request:

Hey I hope it's okay if I request some comfort with Hawks. I've had struggled for a long time now never really telling anyone even though I have had times where I got anxiety/panic attacks almost daily. Mostly because of some family issues and having to had been safe place and supporter for both my younger siblings and a mother. (there has happened a lot but I won't go to any specific details) It was both freeing and terrifying to have moved on my own since I felt like I had in a way less responsibility havig to just look after myself and do what I want. But I also felt anxious of not really knowing what's going at home and feeling like I wasn't really needed anymore. Not really getting many calls to ask how I was doing or if I do it quickly becomes a 'rant' of what's going on in their life, even though it's much better now than few years back.

I'm finally getting help and send a text to my school psychologist because I have been pretty exhausted about everything building up and not really attending to school either. But I'm proud for finally going to talk there and hopefully getting some more help. I'm just anxious of how no one really knows how much I have been struggling and thinks I'm doing well and I don't know how I'm going to face them telling them if I can't continue school at this moment.. Meaning I would have to break the illusion of how I really am.. I'm just used to keeping it inside but I'm trying to break out of that.. but it's scary xd

I'm sorry for the long explanation I don't mean to vent I'm bad at summarizing stuff. There's absolutely no pressure to write this and I wish you have an amazing day! I wanto say I really love your blog and all your amazing writings!❤️

A/N: I apologize for posting this after the 48-hour emergency request window; I've been quite busy recently. I want you to know that reaching out for help is a brave and significant step. You don't have to carry this burden alone, and it's okay to break the illusion. Your well-being matters, and I'm proud of you for taking care of yourself. It may be scary, but you're on the path to healing, and there's strength in vulnerability! Keep moving forward, and things will get better ♥

EMERGENCY REQS MASTERLIST

Hawks had always been known for his swiftness, both in the skies and in his hero duties. But today, as he received your message and read through the turmoil you'd been enduring, he realized that some things couldn't be rushed. He knew that your struggles had been hidden beneath a brave facade for far too long. As he flew toward your place, he used a few of his feathers to discreetly check in on you. They slipped through the slightly ajar window, silently sensing your distress and heavy sighs.

You sat alone, enveloped in the suffocating embrace of your inner demons; your apartment dimly lit, and your heart heavy with the weight of your struggles. The room was filled with a haunting silence, only broken by the occasional distant sirens of the city.

When he finally landed on your balcony, and knocked gently, you were startled, not expecting him to actualy show up. Opening the balcony door, his wings cast a shadow over you. His usually confident demeanor was replaced with an air of solemnity.

"What are you doing here?" you asked, both surprised and touched by his presence.

He gave you a soft, sympathetic smile and stepped inside. "I read your message, and I couldn't just ignore it. You really thought I won't check upon you, songbird? Can I come in?"

Nodding, you led him to your living room, where you both settled on the couch. The weight of your troubles hung heavy in the air, and Hawks knew he needed to tread carefully. "I know this might be difficult," Hawks began gently, "but you don't have to carry this alone anymore. You can talk to me, whatever it might be about."

Tears welled up in your eyes as you finally allowed yourself to speak, the words spilling out like a dam breaking. You shared your anxiety, panic attacks, and the overwhelming sense of responsibility for your family's well-being.

Hawks listened intently, his red wings folding around you protectively as you poured out your heart. "You don't have to hide your pain. It's okay to be vulnerable."

"But what if they see me differently now since I moved out?" you whispered, fear lacing your voice. "What if they think I don't care about them anymore? What if they'll consider me weak if I tell them about my school?"

Hawks leaned closer, his feather-light touch soothing. "Strength isn't about never feeling weak. It's about facing your vulnerabilities and seeking support when you need it, even if you're a pro hero. And believe me, there's nothing weak about that. About the situation with your family - I'm sure they'll finally accept your decision about moving out. Give them time and with small gestures show them that you still care."

As you continued to talk, Hawks offered reassuring words, his presence a comforting anchor in the storm of your emotions. He spoke of his own struggles, sharing stories of the pressure and loneliness that came with being a hero. Hawks gently brushed his feathers against your cheek, a gesture filled with tenderness. "You're not alone in this, okay? I'll be here for you whenever you need me, and I'll support you through the tough times."

Tears streamed down your face as you gazed at him, grateful for his understanding. "Thank you, Keigo. I don't know what I would've done without you today."

He smiled softly, his golden eyes reflecting genuine care. "Anytime, kid. Remember, you've got wings of your own, and you can soar through anything."

[abarbaricyalp]

I thought there was a Post-TFATWS space, but there's not, so have another Free Space fill! @sambuckylibrary

Based on a Daily Fluff Diary post! // cw: injury in the last section // AO3 Link

Knock Before Entering

It's not that Joaquin hasn't seen them make out before. It comes with the territory of spending long amounts of time with two people not only deeply horny for each other, but also just deeply in love. He tries not to think about it. Tries to forget that Barnes clearly needs an outlet for adrenaline after a fight. Tries not to pay attention when a closet door shuts on the jet. Tries to ignore the eyes Sam shoots Barnes that has them both vacating a shared space.

They're good about it. Don't get up in each other's space intentionally when he's around. Barely even touch if they're all sharing a room. One time, Barnes had even slept on the floor instead of sharing a bed with Sam. Though Joaquin had woken at some point in the night and found Sam's arm hanging off the bed and Barnes's arm reaching up so they could hold hands anyway. At least it was his prosthetic arm, so Joaquin assumed he didn't need to worry about a blood rush.

The point is, it's not a secret that Sam and Barnes are together. And they're usually pretty good at keeping to themselves.

Which is why it shouldn't be surprising but certainly is when Joaquin walks back into Sam's office from hunting down the new drone prototype he'd been reporting on and finds Sam half sprawled across his desk with Barnes crowded between his legs, following him down.

Joaquin smacks a hand over his eyes like a child. It means he drops the drone, but it's live, so it just hovers next to him. "Guys, gross!" he snaps, also like a child. It did kind of feel like seeing his parents making out for the first time.

_____

He can hear them spring apart, like it's a surprise that he's back. He'd literally been gone for five minutes tops. He just had to run to his room and get this. He'd told Sam where he was going. He hears a slight exchange of shoves and elbows before Barnes says, "Drop your hand, kid."

Joaquin does after several more seconds, when he's sure the coast is clear. Sam's behind his desk again, Bucky leaning a hip up against the side of it like he belongs here.

"Where did you even come from?" Joaquin asks finally when it seems like no one else is going to volunteer anything.

"World War II," Barnes answers like the smartass he is. "Brooklyn."

“I was gone for three minutes," Joaquin clarified through his teeth. He wants to sit down, thinks better of it, stays just inside the doorway. "What if I was someone else?"

Barnes's mouth quirks a little. It's as much a confirmation as Joaquin will ever get from the man that they are kind of their own little triumvirate. If it had happened under any other circumstance, Joaquin would be elated. Right now, he is not. “But you’re not, so relax, Tweety.”

Joaquin rolls his eyes and walks into the office, giving that side of the desk a wide berth. He sets the new drone down, along with a makeshift manual.

“Don’t go gettin’ attached to that side,” Barnes says.

“Don’t,” Sam warns.

But Barnes pushes on. “I’ve hauled him up on that side too.”

Joaquin doesn’t even both to groan. He just leaves the room again.

. . .

“Ready or not!” a small, but very loud, voice calls from somewhere else in the building.

Bucky ducks into Sam’s office because AJ is fast and if he doesn’t take cover now, he’s going to get caught. There’s a gorgeous wardrobe with a false back in the far corner, but Cass had hidden in there two rounds ago, so it’s likely to be one of the first places AJ looks. The desk is too much on AJ’s level for Bucky to hope to hide well under. By design, Bucky is too big to fit into the vents.

The curtains that hang from the windows don’t quite make it all the way to the floor, but Bucky figures his dark boots will blend into the shadows if he stands far enough to the corner. He can hear AJ’s sneakers on the tile, hurrying down the hallways and checking doors, so he jumps behind the curtain and tries to hold it still.

He jumps behind the curtain and directly onto Sam’s feet.

“Ow! Hey! I’m already here. Go find your own hiding place!” Sam hisses, shoving at Bucky’s shoulder futilely. Bucky intentionally digs his heels down into the ground. Sam glares at him, then takes a deliberate step closer. “If you don’t move, we’re both gonna get caught,” he threatens. “And you know AJ will go after you before he comes after me.”

Bucky raises an eyebrow in doubt. He was almost positive AJ and Cass were teaming up to find Sam, who had not been tagged ‘it’ yet in this game. Mostly because he kept cheating by using all his flight training to get up into the rafters where, even if he was seen, no one could climb up to tag him. Well, Bucky could, but it was too much work, honestly.

“I’m faster than you,” he points out. “And I’m not above tripping you.”

Sam rolls his eyes, leans in, kisses Bucky. It’s enough for Bucky to stop digging his heels in, but Sam gets just as distracted. Actually, instead of shoving Bucky out of the hiding spot, he halfway tries to climb up Bucky’s body. It sends Bucky stumbling back, the curtain getting tangled under his foot, and they both end up crashing against the window, curtain falling away in time for the office door to get pushed open.

“Ugh,” AJ says with so much disdain Bucky kind of can’t believe it. “I knew that’s what you two were doing instead of actually hiding. It’s no fun if you don’t try!”

“It’s all Sam’s fault.” Bucky accuses. The elbow into his ribs exacerbates the ache from falling into the window sill too. Still, he puts himself between Sam and AJ. “Go find your brother.”

“Nuh-uh,” AJ insists. “I found you two. I’m gonna tag you two.”

Sam snickers behind him, squirming away from the pinch Bucky’s trying to land on his hip. “You only need one of us,” he points out.

AJ’s mouth curls to one side with frustration. “I can’t find Cass,” he admits. “I need help.”

“Alright, alright,” Bucky concedes. He steps away from Sam, towards AJ. Waits for Sam to relax. Then he grabs Sam around the waist, holding him still so AJ can run forward and tag him as the next seeker, much to Sam’s loud protests.

“Cheaters!” he cries between laughter. “Betrayal!” But it is ineffective in the long run.

. . .

There should be no one else at the compound, so Bucky’s lazily making out with Sam in his desk chair, Sam across his lap. Joaquin is doing Air Force stuff, the other young heroes are out of state or busy, the older heroes don’t really hang out there. There are no meetings scheduled, no tours, no new introductions. It’s just him, Sam, and the sunshine streaming in from the window.

It’s been a while since they’d been able to do something like this. Cap duties had taken Sam away and Bucky had been pointedly kicked off of the jet. He was still piecing it together, but he thought it might’ve had to do with Hydra. Why he was kept out of the loop with those things, Bucky couldn’t begin to guess, but whatever. In the time Sam was gone, Bucky managed to get himself hurt (which is why he should’ve been allowed on the jet) and Sam had come back so exhausted that, even when they were alone, they mostly just took the security of each other’s company to pass out for hours at a time.

But a quiet weekend and a, so far, quiet week had done wonders and now Sam is getting handsy as Bucky absently pets his chest, over his shoulder, and back down his arm. Contrary to what Joaquin thinks, they haven’t ever actually desecrated the office, but Bucky’s willing to break the streak. Especially when Sam’s fingers fall to his waistband and begin to rub out the indentions of his jeans from his hips.

“Come on, let’s break in the desk,” Bucky cajoles, opening his mouth, deepening the kiss as he licks into Sam’s mouth with more intensity than the afternoon had called for.

Sam laughs unexpectedly, sits back, stares. Bucky can tell when the answer is going to be a straight no. This is not necessarily a straight no, which is almost hot enough to get the job done on its own. Sam’s a daredevil. An adrenaline junkie. People think Bucky’s the bad influence, but it’s not always his fault.

Sam’s just about to pass his judgment, is already moving off of Bucky’s lap to sit on the desk, when the door opens. There’s no one there, which has Bucky pulling Sam away, halfway tossing him towards the window for a fast escape. His mind is already racing with the potential threat–a smoke bomb, a grenade, some other small danger that he can’t see over the width of the desk. He hears Sam grab the shield, a sure, defiant presence behind him.

No bomb goes off. Instead, an orange cat jumps up onto the desk.

“Goose?” Sam asks, lowering the shield.

“Danvers’s cat?” Bucky clarifies. “Oh, shit. No, get down!” he shouts, lunging for the cat sitting on top of Bucky’s leather jacket. But it’s too late. The cat vomits tentacles and ray guns and a glove (or maybe a hand) and slime all across the desk.

“Argh!” Bucky shouts, yanking his jacket free, which makes Goose hiss and jump down. Too late for that, Bucky hisses back in his head.

It’s only a split second later that Danvers appears, just as Goose is running out. She watches her with surprise, then looks at Sam. “Cap, I need your help,” she says. Then her nose scrunches and she looks to Bucky and his jacket. “You need to get that cleaned.”

Bucky really considers throwing it at her.

. . .

The reporters are following Sam, who is trying to answer their questions but it’s weirdly difficult to when they’re walking on his heels. The smoke of the battle is still wafting off of him, which he can’t even smell because of the concrete dust in his nostrils. The cameras flashing in his face are doing nothing to help the migraine digging through his head. He needed a med crew to tell everyone he was probably concussed and to leave him alone.

“Captain Wilson,” someone calls. It still sounds weird to hear it. That’s not really his title, but he’d stopped fighting it after the first few months. “You saved more than a dozen people in midair. How did you react so quickly?”

Sam’s shoulders and back ache at the reminder. “It’s my job,” he says. “I’m supposed to save people. These wings aren’t just a fine accessory, y’know.”

“Captain, how did you figure this plane would be attacked?” someone else asks. His office is so close. The door locks now. He has a couch with a weighted pillow that he can put over his face and drown out the lights and the noise.

“When we realized the target wasn’t physical riches, but riches of the soul and mind, it was a quick hop to the plane carrying the summit awardees and delegations.”

“Mr. Wilson, you saved lives and hope tonight. How many future conflicts do you think you stopped tonight?”

“What?” Sam asks. The words just will not slot into a logical order in his mind. “I can’t tell you anything about the future. Very good people were targeted tonight to stoke division and fear. They were targeted by bad people to get back at other bad people. It was a wholly unfair situation. I am grateful for the lives we were able to save. The damage was still large and there’s yet more clean up to do that affects hundreds of other good people. Please turn your attention, time, and resources towards doing something productive too. You don’t need wings to make a difference.”

The reporters mutter amongst themselves and Sam uses the opportunity to get a hand on the door knob, a foot halfway into his office.

“Sir, is there any update on Sergeant Barnes?”

The image of the building coming down on Bucky as he evacuates civilians flashes through Sam’s mind like a hot sword. The crackle of his comm device as it went dead mid-sentence. The silence that followed. Sam’s heart begins to thrum uncomfortably in his chest, rising up to choke out his throat. He can’t cry on camera.

“As far as I’m aware, no one has made contact with Sergeant Barnes as yet,” he starts to say.

Then the door opens. Bucky’s standing there, looking like a sight. There are bandages wrapped around his head and half of his face is bruised into a sickly black and purple. He’s covered in gashes and scrapes. His right arm is wrapped in a sling. He’s hobbling with one boot on and the other foot and ankle wrapped in even more bandages. He’s clearly in so much pain that all Sam wants to do is shove him down on a bed and keep him asleep until the serum can repair everything.

“I was dug out by the same people I had just gotten out of the building,” Bucky chuckles at the camera, like this is a normal press conference. Actually, that’s not true. If this was a normal press conference, he would be in a back room somewhere, glowering at every reporter and cameraperson he saw. He did not like public speaking. But here he is, looking like it’s his natural calling. “They made quick work of it too. Dragged me off to a med-tent. Felt right at home, huh?” he says, directing the last bit at Sam, since it’s usually Sam dragging him to medical.

Sam can’t answer. Can’t breathe. Bucky’s alive. He’s moving. He’s swollen six ways to Sunday, but he’s making jokes. He was in Sam’s office. Waiting for him.

“Excuse me, guys and dolls,” Bucky says with a wry look at the media. Wry, even though the bruising. So unfair. “I gotta do something real quick.”

And then he’s kissing Sam. It’s awkward and too warm. Both of their faces are different landscapes after the fight. They both smell terrible. Sam keeps getting medicinal alcohol in his mouth and Bucky accidentally peels off two of the butterfly bandages on Sam’s cheek as he holds his face.

It’s one of the best kisses of Sam’s life.

This time, he doesn’t let anything interrupt them.

If you enjoyed this, please consider leaving a note or kudos on AO3

[dragonmarquise]

Super Indulgent Canon x OC Ship, Part 2: Cueball and Bō

Time for the second indulgent ship post!! Nerd x jock gay pairing, except the jock is also a nerd, lol

Before I get too deep in the weeds, shout out to @mechanical-magician’s ship of Pluto (one of their own Devil Theory OCs) with CUE.mp4 (their version of the cue ball DOT EXE guy). That was the inspiration for me to do the same with my own OCs, hence this post.

Admittedly at first I was like, “Yeah, that probably wouldn’t work with my guys,” but then I went down a thinking rabbit hole and realized, “Wait, this could work actually??”, and now here we are! \o/

Okay so first let’s start off with the setup of how they got together! This should be a lot shorter than what I have for Vinyl and Nunchaku. Though only because they don’t know of each other before the game happens, lol

So after the events of the game, there’s a meeting at the BRC hideout for Reasons (there’s a whole fic for that, but just assume it’s a bunch of the city’s crews meeting on friendly terms). By this point Sai had left/been kicked out of Devil Theory and joined BRC. The rest of DT are there for the meeting, but also to check on Sai and catch up with him (they’re still friends with him even after he joined a new crew).

At some point, Cueball and Bō get to talking, and they end up bonding over shared interests in computers. Bō has an IT job and likes to work with computers/programming as a hobby too, while Cueball used to have a software job before eventually quitting and then doing it as a hobby too. The stuff they talk about goes over everyone else’s heads, lol

Though admittedly Bō is surprised that Cueball is being so friendly with him. Given, y’know, he’s still in DT and what they did to earn their bad reputation. Cueball says that the way he sees it, DT already got their karma in the form of being almost killed by Faux. Not to mention FUTURISM and pretty much the rest of New Amsterdam’s writers are breathing down DT’s neck to keep out of major trouble from now on. So Cueball just doesn’t think there’s any need to pile on more animosity on top of that. Besides, he thinks Bō is a pretty nice guy when he’s not “in character” as a member of DT!

Bō doesn’t quite believe Cueball about that, but after hanging out at the BRC hideout until the end of the day, he ends up accepting that Cueball was being genuine. Not to mention, he really enjoys have someone to talk to about computer stuff in real life like this!

From then on, they’re friends! Well, neither of them say they’re friends out loud, but it’s pretty obvious to everyone else. They play games online sometimes, chat via text, Cueball lets Bō vent to him about Bō’s job every now and then, if Bō visits the hideout like before Cueball immediately zeroes in on him so they can hang out together, etc.

Obviously as writers they’re still competing against each other, but their friendship stuff is “off the clock”, so to speak. Everyone else is cool with it as long as they’re not like, talking about crew secrets or something. :P

After a while, Bō develops a crush on Cueball because of how well they’re getting along. That being said, he doesn’t want to make things awkward. Plus, Bō has had relationship/dating issues in the past, and hereallydoesn’t feel like trying his luck right now.

Meanwhile, Cueball is completely oblivious, though mostly because he can’t understand why anyone would want to genuinely date himself. That is to say, Cueball has also had problems with dating in the past. Mostly people not looking past him being full-cyber and treating him like a robot… or otherwise, they have a robot fetish and are only interested in Cueball because of that.

It got to the point where now he’s given up on finding love. If asked about it, he says it’d be nice but he’s not interested at all.

Bō has actually asked at one point, and finds the answer saddening but at the same time respecting Cueball’s feelings and keeping (or trying to keep) his own feelings hidden.

At one point, Cueball is sent to Pyramid Island to help with throwing up more graffiti for BRC’s rep. He actually tries to “friendly” fight Bō, like actual punches and kicks and stuff. Bō has been telling him about how he and the rest of DT learned to fight mostly from watching martial arts movies and wrestling shows, so that’s where Cueball got the idea to try it out. Bō refuses to engage, mostly because he’s worried that he might hurt Cueball badly. To which Cueball responds, “WTF dude! I’m made of tougher stuff than you think!!”

During this, Cueball starts to suspect Bō is hiding something and says as much. Bō assumes Cueball knows about his crush and freaks out, trying to outright run away!

They have a bit of a tumble, and after that they talk things out. It turns out Cueball just thinks Bō wants to officially be friends with him! Bō is kinda dumbfounded by this (especially since they’ve basically been acting like friends before now anyways??) but just rolls with it. Sure, officially friends!

Bō is still awful at actually hiding his crush, and Cueball eventually notices… but then is in denial about it for a long while until Mesh convinces him to just go for it.

Some context, I imagine Mesh as the type to end up being friends with everyone, and him and Cueball end up being particularly good friends. Mostly because Cueball is a painfully lonely guy outside of DOT EXE and BRC. He doesn’t even have any online/long-distance friends.

Anyways, Cueball still can’t imagine anyone having a crush on him, so he’s worried he’s just overthinking things despite Mesh’s encouragement. So then he decides to really overthink things by coming up with an elaborate(?) plan to see whether or not he and Bō are compatible!!

The plan is to have Bō help Cueball get upgraded so he can listen in on police signals without detection (i.e. to avoid what happened to Eight Ball). Bō agrees, and thus they work together on it. The focus is mainly on upgrading Cueball’s software, though eventually they also have to upgrade some of the internal hardware that Cueball uses.

Cueball himself keeps an eye on how Bō reacts to/handles the problems they run into, and also how well they get along during this project. Cueball is surprised to find himself having fun working with Bō on this. Especially since, upgrading himself like this was something Cueball had been meaning to do after the events of the game. He’s just been putting it off because he dreaded the idea of doing all this work by himself.

During their work, Bō still has a crush on Cueball, but he’s not up for confessing it. Meanwhile, Cueball is realizing he’s starting to fall for Bō too. This makes him paranoid that he’s going to screw things up and scare away Bō, but he’s doing his best to try and keep things under control (mainly, making sure he doesn’t panic externally).

At one point, Bō manages to sneak some full-cyber internal parts from his job. They’re for the upgrades they need for Cueball’s hardware I mentioned earlier. Essentially, they had hit a block where the software is doing the best it can, it’s just the hardware that’s limiting how well it can actually work.

Externally, Cueball says he’s impressed that Bō would go that far for “a friend”, and Bō tells him it’s nothing (Bō is blushing while saying this, but Cueball politely pretends not to notice, lol). Internally, Cueball thinks this might as well be a marriage proposal for Bō to risk his own job like this.

After further changes, they finish the upgrades! They proceed with field testing, making sure it’s actually working as intended. So far it does seem to be working fine, with Cueball even managing to change a signal or two without the cops even noticing (basically confusing the cops with garbled messages, Bō warns him not to push his luck too much).

However, Cueball eventually finds a signal he can’t read nor change. To Bō’s confusion, this mystery signal starts annoying Cueball enough to try and force his way to access the signal. Bō tries to stop him, but feedback from the weird signal causes Cueball to get knocked out (and some of the hardware in his head gets fried too; he later describes it as the signal somehow “fighting back” against him).

(The mystery signal will be resolved in a separate fan fic thingamajig, this is the Cueball x Bō post :P )

Anyways, Cueball is rushed back to the BRC hideout where Bō tries to fix him. Eventually Cueball wakes up, but Bō is pissed and demands to know why Cueball would push himself like that. Cueball starts off by saying that though they worked together, overall Bō did most of the work, especially with figuring out how to get past the problems they were having He didn’t want it to look like Bō’s work still had its flaws, even if they already made it pretty far.

Oh also Cueball admits he loves Bō, and didn’t want him to be disappointed that there was one more problem with what he was working on.

Bō thinks it over (with Cueball getting nervous from the silence) until he eventually says two things:

One, he makes Cueball promise to never try something like that again, especially since he thought Cueball had outright died from what happened.

Second, he finally confesses he loves Cueball back!!

Afterwards, they get Cueball fixed up, including replacing the hardware components that got fried. Cueball thanks Bō by helping him cause some at his workplace, basically hacking certain systems to cause havoc and allowing Bō to have a “good” reason to leave.

Long story short he was the only person in his department really doing any work, and he even got pulled around to work on other teams. The higher-ups were aware of how much Bō was being overworked, but instead of fixing things, they insisted on keeping Bō around as a “critical employee”. They wouldn’t even let him quit, refusing any reason Bō tried to come up with, especially since they asked for proof like signed doctor’s forms and stuff like that.

It wasn’t until the hacking that Bō finally had something that his bosses couldn’t ignore! Especially since he also warned them about security flaws in their systems (which is how he directed Cueball to attack them), so he quits on the grounds that the company is “clearly willing to put their employees in danger”.

So then Bō and Cueball start dating after that, huzzah!!

With all that establishment done, now it’s time for their lovey-dovey activities!~

The biggest hobby they share besides computer stuff is video games! Trying out both multiplayer stuff they can play together, as well as one person playing a game he hasn’t played before but the other has. For example, Bō playing through Super Mario 64 and Cueball helping him with it if he gets stuck.

On the note of SM64 in particular: Bō thought the murder piano was from a ROM hack. He freaked out once he learned that wasn’t the case after getting too close to it. It didn’t help that the level already has a creepy atmosphere before getting to the room with the piano! Anyways, he handed the controller back to Cueball and had him finish the rest of Big Boo’s Haunt, loool

Kinda like what happens with Nunchaku and Vinyl, Bō ends up getting Cueball into anime! Cueball enjoys the usual shonen/popular animes, but he also gets more invested in mech series than Bō did (since Bō mostly just collected the cool figures without watching their origin shows much). On the bright side, Cueball chatting with Bō about certain mech series, especially about their themes and story arcs, gets Bō more genuinely interested in them too!

In the opposite direction: Cueball gets Bō interested in Western sci-fi/fantasy stuff! Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the like. Most of the actual stories are kind of hit or miss with Bō, though he ends up at least interested in the worldbuilding and lore for a lot of them.

Eventually Bō gets invited to DOT EXE’s D&D nights alongside Cueball. The DOT EXE D&D games are another headcanon from @mechanical-magician, it’s such a fun idea!

Bō ends up saving Cueball a lot during these games. Which is a good thing, Cueball normally has lousy luck and has his character die within the first few sessions of a campaign. After a while of this, he starts referring to Bō as his good luck charm for D&D. :3

Cueball teases Bō and plays small pranks on him, very harmless silly stuff compared to the pranks he’d do for other people. Basically making sure they both have fun with it!

Bō also tries to do the same sort of thing back to Cueball. Not really in terms of pranks, but definitely the teasing. He’s found he can make Cueball pretty flustered with enough flirty compliments too, hee hee.

They are the boyfriends who can do maintenance on each other!~ Cueball helping repair/check Bō’s cybernetic legs when needed, and Bō making sure Cueball’s internals and code are running fine.

One time Cueball joked, while his torso was open because Bō was replacing some hardware components in there, “Y’know, I bet some people would find this super romantic.” Considering what was happening is more equivalent to a vivisection/surgery than anything else, Bō isn’t sure he wants to meet whoever thinks this type of thing is “romantic”, lol

Cueball can’t eat of course, but like I mentioned at the end of my big DOT EXE post, he does know how to cook! So then that means cooking for Bō a lot, including for date nights. He also quickly learns about Bō’s preferences: favorite foods and dishes, disliked flavors and textures, etc.

So once they start dating after the events of the game, the topic of their ages comes up at some point. Bō is 31 and Cueball is 43 (with Cueball having gone full-cyber at some point in his early 20s). Admittedly, Bō was expecting Cueball to be younger than himself by a few years.

Bō actually has a preference for older men anyways, but admits his relationship with Cueball is a bit different than what he’s used to. Which is, the older man being more experienced with relationships and stuff. Meanwhile this is Cueball’s first (genuine) romantic relationship and he has no idea what to do at the beginning. And a couple more times later on in their relationship too. :P

On that last note! Cueball sometimes ends up overthinking things in regards to his relationship with Bō, since he sometimes gets scared he might screw things up. Where to go for dates, how long is it appropriate to hold hands, how many compliments a day is too little or too much, etc.

Related to that, Cueball becomes afraid he might love Bō too much. Since he’s never fallen in love before, he had no idea what feelings/actions/statements/thoughts are normal, and which ones might be a sign of like, codependency, or otherwise being overly creepy/obsessed. Again, he sometimes gets terrified of the idea of messing up his relationship, especially to the point where Bō ends up hating him. Cueball’s worst nightmare right there!!

He gets a handle on it eventually. It helps that Bō will take time to reassure him that these kinds of feelings are normal. Not to mention Bō making it clear whenever something is genuinely weird/creepy, and talking it out with Cueball to make sure he understands.

Full-cyber bodies can still feel sensations (touch, temperature, texture, etc.) thanks to advanced sensors throughout their bodies. Cueball is really big on physical touch as a show of affection since it’s a big sensation he can still experience after going full-cyber. This is especially important to him since he’s touch-starved, something he realizes while dating Bō. He is thus incredibly cuddly and big on handholding and hugs!

Bō admits he’s never had a boyfriend who was this physically affectionate, but he also says he prefers it this way. It’s because of this that Bō finds out he is also touch-starved. This encourages Cueball to give Bō hugs and cuddles as much as possible. :D

Cueball loves the feeling of certain textures, and Bō’s hair and stubble gets added to that list. Running his fingers through Bō’s hair, rubbing his hands and even his head against Bō’s stubble, etc. Bō doesn’t mind, especially since most of the time it’s like a nice massage.

When sleeping, Cueball is the big spoon. Mostly for practicality, since Cueball’s charging cables come out of the backside of his body (specifically the base of his head, the base of his neck, and the base of his spine). Though even if that weren’t the case, the two of them would probably end up spooning this way out of comfort/their own preferences anyways.

Cueball tends to wrap both his arms and legs around Bō while sleeping too, lol

You might be wondering how kissing works between these two. Really it’s just Bō kissing him on his screen face. When Cueball kisses him back, he also plays a little “smooch.mp3” sound effect. :P

At some point once they’re living together, they adopt some cats because of Cueball’s love of cats. He wanted to get 5, but Bō talked him down to 3, lol

Their names are Pumpkin, Sapphire, and Clover! All of them black cats, and each of them named by the color of their eyes (orange, blue, and green respectively). They are very cute. :3

Because of why Cueball went full-cyber (long story short, he got severely sick, and the doctors he saw either insisted it wasn’t that bad, or just couldn’t do much to help him), he is distrustful of doctors. He worries for Bō’s health and makes sure he’s eating good food, checking his temperature and pulse regularly, etc. Also insists on accompanying Bō to any doctor appointments to make sure he’s safe!!

Bō appreciates the concern, but finds Cueball pretty overbearing with this. He eventually convinces Cueball to reign it back a bit and assures him he’ll be fine, and will let Cueball know if he starts to feel sick.

From my big DOT EXE post, I headcanon that the voice we hear in game for DOT EXE is actually a “default” voice to hide their identities. They can switch to other voices, and each member can of course switch back to a digitized version of their original voice from before going full-cyber. Bō is the only one who knows what Cueball’s real voice sounds like, and even then Cueball only uses it when they’re alone together in private.

Cueball finds Bō very physically attractive, which is something that Bō isn’t quite used to (i.e. doesn’t get a lot of compliments on being good-looking, even from past boyfriends). Not that he minds!

Bō in turn does find Cueball genuinely handsome. Cueball has a hard time believing it at first (“I mean, I don’t even have a face??”), but learns to accept the compliments later on.

It turns out that in private, Cueball is also a bit of a pervert. Just a bit! Not that Bō minds that either, as long as Cueball keeps it private. Cueball is grossed out by the idea of being “too affectionate” in public anyways, if you know what I mean :P

Okay I think that’s it for now!! I think I ended up writing about the same as what I did for Nunchaku and Vinyl. At least it feels like it. :u

One more big indulgent post left, hopefully I can get that done soon. ;o;

[piedpiperslists]

hi!! its my bday tmr, so do you have any bday fic recs with jk? it could be either jk or oc's bday, thanks again!!

Hi hi! This is not a lot of fics, but hopefully you enjoy these. Happy birthday and hope you have a great day!

Just note that those with angst don't have happy endings.

* s - contains smut

Reader's Birthday:

Afternoon Delight by joopiterjoon - one shot (s) / wc~4.4k / established relationship, PWP Summary: Your boyfriend has a surprise gift for you on your birthday beach trip.

Year After Year (After Tear After Tear) by ubemango - one shot / wc~3.4k / angst, unrequited love, college au Summary: Taehyung just wants you to have a good birthday.

Jungkook's Birthday:

10:46 PM by thekaykery - drabble (s) / established relationship, PWP

21 by here2bbtstrash - drabble / angst, exes au Summary: “I’m sorry I didn’t call. I feel really shitty about it.”

Early Riser by moni-logues - drabble (s) / established relationship, PWP Summary: It's JK's birthday and you want even his first waking moment to be a great one.

Sundae Best by cotccotc - drabble / established relationship Summary: A fancy restaurant is no match for your boyfriend’s appetite for dessert.

The Aftermath by koostarcandy - drabble / established relationship Summary: Post birthday celebrations are in order, the birthday boy thinks. Time for your head massages and a few rounds of his favourite game then!

Whatever You Want! by cheolhub - drabble (s) / established relationship, PWP Summary: Waking up next to you, breakfast in bed, a party with his friends— Jungkook swears his birthday can’t get any better, or can it?

"Big Tiddie Anime Bitches" by h0neypjm - one shot (s) / wc~3.5k / established relationship, PWP Summary: Jungkook, bless his heart, has an obsession. An obsession with big titty anime girls and the idea of you dressed as them. His birthday is coming up, what better time to fulfil his weeb fantasies than on Jungkook's special day. Alternatively... You hate the idea of dressing up as those stupid "big tiddie anime bitches" but your love for Jeon Jungkook is stronger. Besides Jungkook will have his turn next.

Happy Birthday Loser by jungk0oksthighs - one shot (s) / wc~8k / roommates au, PWP Summary: After three years of simping over your roommate, you give him one hell of a birthday celebration.

This one is not Jungkook x reader endgame, but I think this is the best birthday fic there is, and just overall one of the best fics on here.

The End. by jimlingss - one shot / wc~31k Summary: It’s been a habit of yours to vent in the form of love letters. There’s six in total. They’re kept secret, hidden in your closet. But on your 30th birthday, what you least expect is for each letter to become reality. All done by the whacky ghost of Christmas future trying to grant your birthday wish.

[lavender-teardroplettes]

You should do Miguel and Si hcs (Weathering Feelings VN)

Since idk how many people have played it I’ll suggest doing so before reading this post since it’ll contain spoilers!

Hcs under the cut!:

This one’s a little more interesting than most to me due to the nature of the game and Miguel looking at the PLAYER and less so the stand-in he has for you in game, gets a little meta in the best ways in my opinion. UwU

Si would find the general idea for the game really cute assuming the download page is a little different from the irl itch page and doesn't include any spoilers. It would be neat if the moment he downloads it the page is gone since it's meant for him and no one else. (though this is an open mc headcanon even if it wasn't Si, I just think it's a neat idea). While he knows games aren't the same as getting real therapy, sometimes it's nice to harmlessly vent to a game just to get it out.

I think he'd play a "normal" route where he wouldn't notice anything off about the game just yet, not hitting the right flags right away and putting the game down for a day or two before booting it up again to try and get a new route with one of the other Doctors before going back to try and do a better route with Dr. Nubloso....only to get him again even after picking different answers. Weird...but he thinks "maybe I have to hit a flag first and clear his route first." He does better the second time around, but now things are getting...weird, and he notices that the game sprite seems to be looking directly at him.

Once he gets to the part where things get really weird and Dr. Nubloso starts talking about going into the game files before the route ends, Si gets really spooked and closes the game again. He's surprised and a little shocked at the change of pace in the story, but he also can't help but be a little curious about what would happen if he did delete the file. It's also around 2-3 am at that point of time, so he also thinks that maybe he fell asleep or misread something in his sleepy state. He sleeps on it, opens the game again, and plays through one more time to make sure, once again giving different answers, and once more getting the Cloudy Day therapist.

Once he confirms the weird ending and the request of deleting the file, Si looks around in the game files before finding it. His curiosity gets the better of him after a little debate with himself, and he does. Now....When he boots up the game again he is NOT expecting to see Miguel at all, and he certainly wasn't expecting to be talked to directly. He almost yelps and turns off the game again, but something pulls his attention to the new development and tells him to stop and hear him out. Maybe he's overacting and this is just really good...specific writing? So he plays on, almost exhausting each available line of dialogue Miguel has for him, even replaying them a few times before Miguel acknowledges what he's doing and gives him the whole 'oh, you're testing me and my loyalty' speech. And...he has to admit, he does feel a little bad for the character by that time....that is until he hits the nsfw route and gets WAY MORE flustered than he should've been. And yes....he played both routes. ovo

By the end of it, he gets the ending where Miguel resolves to break out of the game for him, and he's left confused when all that loads after is a glitched screen. He does some more digging in the files and finds some "easter eggs" from Miguel, getting flustered at two of the special pictures hidden in the files. Curiouser, Si- seemingly out of a whim- decided to read the game's script...and his stomach drops when he notices little notes hidden in the game's files from Miguel- even down to the nsfw scenes. Before he can really react or fully process that this could be real, there's a knocking at his door..... Miguel came to find him just like he said he would. :)

That's all I really have for now since it's been a hot minute since I thought about how this would work given what we have with the current demo, but as you can see it's a really fun premise to play with!

[daisytarget]

Tell me about those time loop thoughts 👀

because you asked so nicely!! Like I said in my og post I haven't selected a single character whom I would like the loop to revolve around but I am particularly drawn to the "unlikely hero" group of maybe Pepper, Jane, Jarvis, Clint, or Bruce.

Idea #1

Character A slowly realizes a time loop is occurring and they're the only one "aware." They quickly realize "oh shit no one else can save me what do I DO?" and after many shenanigans and pranks and long-hidden desires (punching tony in the face, anyone?) they realize the loop is caused by a horrid event that happens each night that they have to unravel the cause of - perhaps someone commits a crime, or tries to kill themselves, or the tower is invaded, and Character A has to convince everyone something is wrong AND stop the horrid event from occurring to break the loop.

Idea #2

Character A wants to be the star for once. They get an opportunity to wish and have that wish granted - they're in the spotlight, the hero of their own tale. Time loop. Through the loop's repetition, Character A learns the dark side to everyone they've so envied - cap is depressed and impossibly lonely; bruce is terrified of human contact; tony doesn't know how to accept affection and genuine loyalty; natasha can't be vulnerable; the list goes on. Character A learns from the wish-granting source that they have to prevent a world-ending catastrophe and only have so many loops left to do it ("You wanted to be a hero, remember?") but as a gift for their perspective change, they're granted one more person into the loop to help. They think "okay, Gimme Cap or Thor maybe!" and the gift-granter laughs and gives them an unexpected character B - someone similarly NOT in the limelight. Characters A and B work together with surprising skillsets (think Elle Woods in Legally Blonde meets Clint's "Of Course I Know How To Weld Shit" random skills) to save the world and escape the loop with a great friendship and better relationships with the team.

Idea #3

Character A says "I would simply do everything right on the first time loop. Skill issue." and the others (or just one other person, haven't decided) put that to the test. Character A is inserted into a time loop with a counter of the loops completed on the fridge only they can see. The loop's "completion" requires a small but vital behavior change like listening to a grunt worker vent about something that turns out to be serious (boyfriend is actually a nazi hydra agent, or chemicals mixed in an explosion were mislabeled meaning it was an ATTACK, or that sort of thing); getting lunch with a lonely coworker and saving their life as they decide not to quit their job and join a criminal faction; it's a tiny choice that signifies a big character shift within Character A. The humor and bulk of the fic will stem from Character A trying wverything in their power to do something RIGHT, to get the loop fixed - all in ways that make them miss the change they need to make. It's when they give up that they realize what's missing.

[cruzrogue]

Catfished

Summary: Felicity/Oliver (olicity)

Catfishing is a deceptive activity in which a person creates a fictional persona or fake identity on a social networking service, usually targeting a specific victim.

Summary:

Felicity knows she’s being catfished as the guy behind the screen is using pictures of a guy who is known to be dead. Oliver finding himself using social media to connect to a girl who seems interesting while using his real image knowing everyone thinks him dead. She doesn’t call him out and he doesn’t own up to be the guy who really isn’t dead. Their online chats are innocent enough… that is until a close ally to Oliver calls him out when a picture of a spunky Felicity is found.

***Before posting to A03 Going to post first chapter here***

Chapter 1 Oliver’s secret

Oliver’s name is being called out. He’s in his own head and hasn’t heard the voice calling out for him. Instead…

A hidden photo that Oliver has had for a few years before his return to Starling City is clenched tightly. A photo of a girl that amazingly helped him in some tough times unlike the photo of his ex-girlfriend who brought guilt of things left undone.

Retrieving it from a page in his father’s book of names. He makes sure to hide Laurel’s image as Oliver doesn’t even glance at it placing it back within the pages. In purposely not glancing at that old image that brings a pull in his chest to think the sister of an old flame was lost like him. To find darkness and somehow return in different ways back home.

In the last few months since this lost sister of a woman he’s tried to make amends with is back. They’ve rekindled a relationship of sorts. Sara knows him enough. They have an understanding. Both seeking some comfort in each other. Otherwise, he feels like he isn’t worthy of any other companionship.

Oliver’s eyes scanning the simple photo from an array of pictures username SmokeNFox sent him it was this particular one he needed to print out. Glad he was able to find a printer back when he required it. A crack of a small smile graces his face as he recalls tiptoeing around the makeshift A.R.G.U.S. base to download from the social site to get this snapshot of an incredibly hot girl who texted some very outrageous things. Her pauses in conversation to vent how she can’t believe she wrote what she wrote. The sincerity not lost on him. He may have not heard her voice until his stint in Russia when they reconnected online again.

Oliver mentally documented her voice. Not in his wildest dreams would he think he’d hear it down eighteen flights of stairs from where Walter Steele mentioned Felicity Smoak would be someone to talk about electronics Oliver needed fixed.

SmokeNFox was at Queen Consolidated and to behold Felicity in person was… is the most incredible surprise the universe could ever throw at him. Reaching out to Ms. Smoak was no hardship at all. Her energetic personality ate him up alive. Trying to be aloof to her charm gets harder and harder and it irks him that John Diggle can read him out like that every single time.

At least John has no clue about his true first time he interacted with Felicity “SmokeNFox” Smoak.

Glimpsing at a face that brought a levity in his past journeys back to where he is now. After convincing Maseo in Hong Kong that he would not continue to jeopardize this man’s family. He got to sit down with a laptop which of course was being monitored but it was nice to have some technology at his fingertips. After the usual thing on checking up on his mother and sister and even Tommy. Since the whole ordeal of almost having his best friend killed it was good to know Tommy Merlyn was fine and alive back in Starling City.

Being lonely as evidently shown when Maseo and his wife Tatsu would leave him to the contraption that he is using to navigate the internet. A simple website of ambiguity. The thought of talking to someone outside the restrictive bubble seemed like a grand idea. It took a short bit to figure on a usable username. Kind of lame but doable. He logged in. Answering the site’s interests that he wants to partake in. Simple in fact. He is a male looking for a female. Basic stuff he thinks. Clicking buttons on what personality traits he seems to prefer.

His likes don’t always go hand in hand with what he accepts in real life but here he is in a world of make believe. He knows he wants to mingle with someone on par with what he always imagined would be the best thing ever. No strings attached. Just be raw as natural as he could be and know he couldn’t emotionally get hurt. A person on the other side of a keyboard could not elicit any deep feelings. Thus, Oliver decides to take a leap of faith and bare himself. What does he have to lose? He’s survived some dark shit so far.

And clicking the agree to terms. BeeMyQueen is now able to roam the site to find someone of interest to engage with. 

The voice calling out to him finally gets his attention.

He knows it is too late to hide what is in his grasp. It’s a wonderful picture he finds himself unable to tear away as it elicits a rare smile to form on his face. Glad this portrait of a girl has persisted the journey with him.  A spunky edgy college age girl is looking back at him. Those eyes always had him mesmerized.

Till finding Felicity in the flesh, he always wondered if that crazy stunt of talking to a random girl online was really of the girl, he’s had some far-out fantasies about in some darker times while trying to stay alive. 

“What do you have there, Ollie?”

Sighing at being unable to hide the picture as fast as he should have Sara is already snatching the picture from his now loosen grip.

Her gasp is all it takes to know he is in trouble.

“Hot damn! This can’t be the same girl.” Sara keeping Oliver from getting the photo back as she moves her body away from his, “Not our blondie.” She is making a whistling sound.

“Sara!”

His tone has her jest, “Does she know?”

“Know what?”

“You have a pretty exotic picture of her?”

“Nothing exotic about it.” He reaches over and lucky gets the picture of Felicity Smoak back into his possession.

“How did you come across getting that photo?”

“It’s a long story.”

“While we wait for the perpetrator on that list of yours, I think I can do with an over dramatic Queen story.”

“Fine, but you need to promise me you’ll never tell Felicity about this?”

“Oh, this is some deep…” Sara looking at his hand where a photo is clutched securely.

“Sara?”

“Ollie!” She replies while rolling her eyes.

“Felicity can’t know about this. It would make everything even more tense between us.”

“You have the hots for her.”

“It isn’t like that?”

Sara gives him a dire look as her hands plant themselves on her hips. Giving the illusion she knows more than he is admitting to.

“She deserves better.”

“Better than what?”

“Felicity is…” He takes a few extra seconds before adding, “She’s like sunshine on a darken day. I can’t hurt her. She’s special.”

“Special? And what? I’m chopped liver?”

He huffs, “You know what I mean.”

“Yep, I do. We’re comfort and we have an understanding. It is what makes us…us.”

“I won’t tell the story if you don’t promise to keep it to yourself.”

“Really… Ollie?” Seeing he isn’t budging. “Fine, Oli-ver.”

Oliver looks down at the picture of Felicity Smoak. One taken before she graduated M.I.T. in 2009.

“You promise?”

“My gosh, relax old man. I promise.”

It takes a dragged out look between them for Oliver to relax and begin a tale of how the picture of a Goth Felicity Smoak came into his possession.