#the best part about doing this drawing is that it only took 3 hours total to do. didn’t cost me an arm and a leg to finish 🙏

[getosugurusbangs]

watashi wa star

[slutt4ellie]

Hearts Over Hierarchy

Loser!Ellie x Popular!Reader

masterslist

PART 2 // PART 3 // PART 4

Do opposites really attract?

Summery : When you run into a girl who rarely makes acknowledgment she even exists, there’s something that undoubtedly draws you to her..and a spark is created.

Warnings -> / Weed usage / Reader is confused about her feelings? / Ellie’s also confused about her feelings (ig?) / Just full loser Ellie / Really brief Skater!Ellie / eventual smut (probably) / fluff / tension / Little bits of smau / Toxic friendship / (Lmk if I missed anything else!)

WC: 4.8k (longest fic i’ve ever wrote!)

(Not proofread!)

DAILY CLICK 🇵🇸 - (takes like 2 seconds 🩷)

(Ellie)

The loud buzzing of Ellie’s alarm shoots her eyes open and her body halfway up. “F-fuck” She grumbles under her muffled voice. Running her right hand down her face.

Ellie grabs the alarm rested on her left bedside table and she’s finally met with the time 9:36am. “Oh fuck” Ellie says quickly stands up out of her single bed, planted in the corner of her single bedroom dorm. Classes start at 9:45. She has a total of 9 minutes to get dressed, leave her dorm, and run onto campus. Which has her leading to the fact there’s almost 0 fucking way she’s making it on time.

Since Ellie’s already up and out of her bed she runs to her dresser to throw on a pair of boxers and a sports bra which is almost instantly covered by “clean” sweat pants and a nike hoodie. It didn’t smell bad so it was fine!

4 minutes, it only took Ellie 4 minutes to get changed and grabbed her skateboard. She also glances over at the time as it now reads now reads 9:40. So this means her time isn’t “horrible” I mean getting ready in 4 minutes is sorta impressive, at least in her mind? Plus campus shouldn’t take that long, as long as she’s fast.

Ellie grabs her skateboard and leaves her dorm quickly running down the stairs, having basically 0 time to wait around and sit there like a duck for the elevator. And as soon as she’s met with concrete she’s off.

The reason why Ellie being late is such a fucking hassle is because she’s already been late a fair share of times building a reputation for it, when she walks into class and shit it doesn’t go without dirty looks. But it’s a new school year, so she’s tryna live by the corny ass saying “new year new me!” and actually not miss half the classes like last term.

(You)

You’re up early, 8:00 to be exact. You quietly leave your bedroom trying not to wake up the rest of your sorority sisters as you tiptoe through the halls. And just as you thought you were clear, a pair of blue eyes are met with yours.

Emily your best friend since freshman year. You two were like glue through high school, nothing could separate the two of you, sure you had fights and disagreements but nothing seemed like it could break the bond between you two..

As you meet her blue eyes you quickly notice her lips turning into a light smirk. “Why the fuck are you tiptoeing like we’re in a fucking Tom and Jerry episode?” You let out a pity laugh and smile “Oh ha ha…! Maybe because i’m nice and I didn’t wanna wake up all you guys?”

Emily smiles right back at you. “Why are you up so fucking early, thought your class started at 9:45?” You nod your head agreeing with her statement. “It does. I just wanted to be on top of it you know!” Emily shakes her head. “No I don’t fucking know? I don’t wake up a full hour and 45 minutes before my classes.”

You smile, you could ask her why she’s up but you already know her class starts at 8:30 (ew.) so going through more questions seems unethical. “Well!” You trail off then pick back up where you ended. “I need to have a shower sooo” Emily nods and goes back to her room “Yeah yeah!”

꧁✵★✵꧂

The steam fills your bathroom and the air is still warm from your lingering shower.

It was weird today. You don’t usually feel nervous for school, I mean you knew people, people knew you. There was literally nothing for you to feel even the slightest bit of tenseness. Yet it was still just there.?

Your just blaming it on basic nerves, you’re not really “excited” to get back into the grove of school, get a ton of work in before due dates which are are way to fucking fast. But either way you knew you had to suck it up so you pushed yourself out those doors and into your car.

Right on time 9:30. It should only take 10 minutes to drive onto campus and that leaves you with about 5 minutes before the lecture starts. At least that’s what you fucking planned.

But just to your luck. There was an incident, nothing serious. Just ending up backing up the roads. And any fucking other day you wouldn’t have really cared. But you really could not afford to be late on your first day back. You wanted to make sure you’re on top of everything, and the walk of shame into the classroom is probably one of the worst things person could every fucking experience.

Once you make it on campus you speed walk through the halls cutting through people just trying to get to your door. Then everything will be fine and normal, you won’t have to worry about how stup-

A hard thud goes straight into your back

You heard about 3 things fall flat on the ground none of the things being yours. And as shitty as it seems, you were genuinely considering walking away just to get to fucking class..

You’re not a complete dick and you were raised better. So this leads you to reluctantly turn around and your met with? Well you don’t exactly know, she looks familiar but maybe she’s a year younger so you don’t often see her. She has brunet- no, auburn hair, green eyes, and freckles that go all around her face. She looks familiar but you can’t put your finger on it.

You look down and notice a binder, a now slightly cracked phone and skateboard which finally you make the decision to crouch down. The auburn hair girl is mumbling a bunch of sorry’s “F-fuck that’s on me. I-i’m like super late? So I was looking down and sh-“ You cut her off and shake your head picking up her phone and binder as she picks up her skateboard. “You’re good..Fuck I’m late too.” You chuckle looking at her as you stand up, quickly handing her the items she dropped on the ground.

You give out your hand to shake “I’m-“ and as your about to say your name, you’re cut off by her voice “N-no I know you, you sat in front of me last term” You don’t know what really led you to say the next part but what else were you going to say?? You didn’t notice her once, lying seemed like a better approach. “Right! Um what was it…A- no H?” You notices how her eyebrows furrow, the fact you definitely don’t know her name is becoming apparent.

“I-uh Ellie” She shakes your hand.

“Yeah! I was getting there!” You smile looking back at her before talking again.

“We’re you?” She tilts her head talking in a tone laced with a joking sound..just from her demeanour alone you can tell she was kidding.

“I was..” You shift your gaze down to her lips then back up. You weren’t trying to be weird or anything, you just did it on instinct which now on the contrary seems a tad bit creepy since this is literally your first time even talking to her.

Once you meet her eyes again you nervously cleared your throat and starting talking once again. “Well what room are you!”

Ellie notices the quick change of subject and she nervously shakes her head “U-uhh fuck 217 I think…?” You nod and look at her “Fuck, okay shit me too?” Your voice stops then picks back up “Want to walk?”

Ellie perks up and nods. It kept playing in the back of her mind why the fuck you were talking to her. Ellie wasn’t popular, not your level of popularity. Everyone knew you. So the fact you were standing in front of her, talking to her. She was almost confused. Yet she wasn’t complaining..

It only took a few minutes before you reached the classroom door, as you check your phone you see you’re a bit late. Nothing to complain about, it’s only 9:47 so who cares..?

When opening the doors your eyes lock with the seats in the back left corner, there open, and no one is sitting in them. You look at Ellie who seems nervous.

Little do you know in her mind she’s wondering where the fuck she’s going to sit.

The only single seats are in the middle of like 5 fucking people.

Once you notices her eyes are scanning the room and her whole face is plastered with a nervous expression you nudge her lightly.

“Wanna sit over there” You point your finger and her eyes quickly follow it.

She seems confused. Like her brain just did a 360 but she stutters over her words when talking back to you. “Y-you wanna s-sit together?”

“Yeah?” You smile and let out a chuckle.

“R-right! Yeah- Yeah we can sit over there.” She smiles and nods looking at you.

As you sit down your phone buzzes in your left pocket not wasting much time to pull it out. There’s one message Emily. Asking if you made it okay and stuff. Which leads to a mini conversation.

You couldn’t help but feel almost icked out? Emily’s not usually rude so her response was weird, and out of character. You wanted to believe maybe she was making a statement or something but you replied regardless.

She was being so strange, like not her usual self. Which lead your eyebrows to furrow and you were abo-

“You okay?” Ellie’s voice says softly probably noticing the fact your eyebrows are furrowed and your face now showing clear signs of annoyance.

“O-oh yeah!” you reply now embarrassed as you feel blood rush to your cheeks. “Just one of my friends, i’m good though!”

Ellie nods and smiles. “Okay, just wanted to make sure?”

You haven’t really met anyone like Ellie. I guess other then Emily? But it still took months to feel comfortable with her. With Ellie it seems almost easy? Like fast?

Your whole friend group is popular. Which wasn’t horrible? The benefits of being popular is nice? Sorta.. But unfortunately half of your “friend group” is fake.

Talking behind peoples back kinda fake.

You tried not to let it bug you though, you had people in your friend group you obviously loved, so you would just stick in that crowd.

But there was always some anxiety which came with it. Like you didn’t know if things you said would get passed around, so when talking to Ellie, knowing nothing had the chance of somehow going to anyone, else it was refreshing.

The class was finally fucking over and you packed up your laptop and papers.

As you were about to leave you said a quick bye to Ellie trying to be respectful. You didn’t wanna ask for her number because you didn’t want to come across as weird, you two just met? So that could wait?

As you turned around there was a quick “wait!” which was clearly from Ellie.

You just turned around trying to read her expression but as you were she cut off your train of thought. “C-can I uh get your number! I was thinking we could maybe study or something. This math s-shit is like kicking my ass” After her sentence there was a dry awkward chuckle. The fact you didn’t immediately respond worried her

Did she come off as weird?

To pushy?

You’re popular why the fuck-

“Yeah!” You smile walking back over to her.

“Are you busy right now? We can go back to my place and study if you want” You say not breaking eye contact.

Ellie quickly breaks the eye contact handing you her phone before she clears her throat. “W-no! no i’m not busy, right now is good actually” Her voice cracks in the middle of the sentence leading her to clear her throat once again.

You grab her slightly cracked phone and nod..

“K cool, it’s not a long drive and my cars out in the front lot.”

In a car

With you.

Great!

꧁✵★✵꧂

Saying the car ride is awkward is an understatement? Reason number one, you don’t know what to say because you literally just met Ellie.

I mean you’re alright on small talk but what the fuck do you say to someone you met a solid 2 hours ago?

And on the other hand Ellie is Ellie.

She can’t pick up on small talk for the life of her. So when you finally speak it almost feels like a blessing and a curse.

“Sorry about you phone?” You say, both hands still on the steering wheel as you drive.

“Huh?” Fuck this is awkward.

“Your phone, it’s cracked. Sorry?” You say a smile cracking.

“I ran head first into your bag I’m pretty sure that’s on me” Ellie chuckles looking at you as you drive.

“I guess, but maybe if I was walking faster it wouldn’t have happened!” You say glancing over at her before you turn your eyes back to the road.

Ellie’s face turns a light pink as soon as you made split eye contact with her. She’s silently now thanking ever fucking god in the universe that you turned your head before you could notice.

“Maybe but I think that was a sign I shouldn’t walk with my head down” Ellie let’s out a slight laugh.

The silence falls once again neither of you knowing what to says.

“D-“

“Sor-“

Both of speak at the same time a dry chuckle coming from both your lips.

“You go.” Ellie says nodding.

“I was just going to say sorry for not noticing you?” You say clearing your throat anxiously.

“What do you mean?” Ellie says tilting her head still looking at your side profile.

“Like- I sat in front of you for months you know?.. just the fact I didn’t noticed you makes me feel like an egotistical prick?” You say rubbing the back of your neck with your left hand.

Ellie shakes her head at your response. “No! Fuck I barley talked, trust me, you not noticing doesn’t make me have hard feelings” Ellie says quickly, she doesn’t want you to feel guilty for anything.

You just smile at her response and nod. “What we’re you going to say?” She quickly talks “Just gonna ask do you get what the fuck is going on in class”

You quickly laugh and shake your head “Fuck no! I’m actually so ass at math your gonna have to walk me through it.” Ellie smiles and nods. “What makes you think i’m gonna be good at it!” She says with a chuckle.

“Well you have to be good at it because we’re official study partners!” You say before nodding your head. “Official??” Ellie smiles

“Oh yeah, official” You nod and continue nervously. “We’re uh here!” You park the car in front of your sorority.

“I never been to a fucking sorority” Ellie says getting out of the car with her backpack in hand. “No?” You say looking at her. “Nah” She shakes her head “They feel cult-ish?” She laughs causing you to smile and look at her “So you’re joining my cult then?”

“Guess soo” She drags out her ‘so’ dramatically before walking to the two big white doors which leads into the sorority house.

You and Ellie studied for a few hours. Looking outside the sky was now dark. Rather then the bright blue it shined before.

You guys studying was basically just an excuse to talk, you got to know a lot about each other. Ellie opened up to you, you opened up to her.

You haven’t ever had a friendship where you got so comfortable so fast. It’s like the fact you guys met a solid few hours ago, it was completely disregarded. It’s like you connected so fucking fast.

You learned Ellie had two close friends Dina and Jesse. They didn’t go to the same school as you and her, instead they went to one about 30 minutes out. You “learned” she’s painfully shy, which you already got the message as soon as she ran into you.

She let it slip she actually debated talking to you last term but you seemed extremely intimidating which you laughed at. But she was standing her ground, saying like you gave off a bit of scary vibes.

“Okay scary?” You replied laughing

“Scary!” She says looking at you. Both of your guys studying papers are far from filled out, almost completely empty. But to be fair that’s the last thing on your mind.

“I need one fucking example from when I was being ‘scary’” You say defensively looking at her. The two of you are crisscrossed on your queen bed a bit to close considering how much space the both of you had. Both of your knees touching.

“K well- I don’t have a fucking time list of all the times I thought you seemed scary!” Ellie says shaking her head looking at you.

Your hand instinctively falls on her knee “I’m asking for ONE example!” You made sure to emphasize the word one. To point out it was really fucking easy.

Ellie’s whole face heats up and she feels like her body’s on fire causing her to stutter over almost ever other word “I-I d-don’t know l-like one t-time I heard you talking about h-how you were ‘gonna murder him’” She says chuckling to mask the nervousness that’s coursing through her veins.

You try to recall when you said this, it suddenly clicking “Okay wait! No there’s context!” You chuckle and now both of you are closer. It’s like each time a sentence is said, you’re moving further in.

“What fucking context could there be!” Ellie spits out laughing, which causes you to laugh harder.

“I was talking about some dick who used one of my friends!” You laugh your head falling onto Ellie’s shoulder.

“I guess that’s fair?” Ellie’s voice gets quieter. You can her heart beat which to say it’s fast. That’s would be an understatement.

You pull your head off her shoulder and look at her. Her face is pretty pink and you feel like you can ever little detail that revolves around her face. One thing about seeing ever detail, it had a result of your faces being mere inches from each others.

You don’t even know what the fuck led you to do this but you slowly guided your left hand to cuff Ellie’s cheek which now has the both of you to instinctively lean in.

Ellie does the same, manly following your lead as her hand also goes onto your cheek and now your noses brush against each other.

And just as your lips were about to touch a knock hits right against your door.

You and Ellie both quickly flinch back clearing your throat nervously.

You get up faster then her and the person behind the door is no other then Emily. You hadn’t texted her since the whole weird ass messages she sent a few hours ago.

Ellie’s thoughts are now going all over the place. Because you two almost just kissed, a knock breaks it up..and now there’s a girl who in her mind, is way better looking!

Ellie doesn’t wanna think it, but the fact you might have a girlfriend is lurking in the back of her mind. She wouldn’t be surprised to say the least.

“Hey” Emily says eyeing Ellie who is now putting her papers back into her backpack nervously, her hands fumbling over each sheet..

“Hi..?” You say looking at Emily. She’s eyeing Ellie with a look you haven’t noticed before. And as you were going to say something along the lines of “Do you need something” but Emily’s voice talks over your thoughts.

“Can we talk” She says now meeting your eyes.

“I mean I have someone ove-“ But before you can finish your sentence Ellie intervenes. “It’s- It’s fine i’m heading out anyway. You know it’s dark..? So?”

“I- uh, alright. You want me to drive you?” You say looking at Ellie which she almost instantly shakes her head “I’m not tryna be a burden i’ll just skate back, my dorms on campus…so i’ll uh, i’ll be chill..” Ellie says grabbing her skateboard which was planted in your room. Right after Ellie grabs her skateboard she already is almost out of the door. But you quickly talk.

“Just text me when you get to your dorm, so I know you got back safe and shit.” You say softly.

And just like that she’s gone, and your standing awkwardly in a room with Emily. When the front door finally shuts she got the sudden urge to talk. “Ellie?”

You nod confused. “Uh- yeah..? We were just studying…”

Emily nods looking at you. “Why though?”

“Sorry..?” You say now even more confused then you were previously.

“Like why hang out with her?” Emily says looking at you.

You think she’s joking so you laugh sarcastically “Fuck off?”

“I’m being for real, Williams, she’s like weird dude... That’s literally all anyone talked about when she was in my class.” Emily now chuckles and you shake your head.

“She’s not even weird?” You say defensively. “Have you talked to her?”

Emily shakes her head fast “I don’t wanna fucking talk to her?? Like I said she’s weird.”

You’ve never seen Emily act so blatantly rude, like she had her own opinions but she knew whether or not she should announce them. Plus! She’s never even met Ellie yet she’s judging her so easily with no second thought. You tried to push it behind you, trying to end the conversation with a quick “I gotta go to bed so. We can talk later.”

Emily scoffs “Great! Now you’re fucking being weird!”

“Im not even being weird! You’re just being rude, i’m not gonna listen you talk shit about someone you haven’t even had a conversation with!”

Emily just shakes her head “I’m hardly talking shit shit. I’m just saying what I heard, fuck.” The fact she’s trying to justify her shitty behaviour and actions just makes you more annoyed.

“K great talk Emily. I gotta get sleep” You say before shutting the door with a hard slam as Emily gets out of your room.

It’s been a few weeks since that whole situation, Emily’s been okay? She apologized and shit but everything is still a bit tense?.. Like she lets out mini sighs when you say your going to hang out with Ellie.

You assumed this was because maybe she felt left out, but every time you even attempted to ask her she always shook her head and replied with “Eh sorta busy with homework”

So you dropped in, she was clearly going through some weird ass phase with you new friendship and you just wanted her to push through with it. You didn’t feel like guiding Emily through it all.

And then on the other hand

Ellie

neither of you mentioned what happened in your room that night, or what almost happened? It wasn’t relevant, some friends almost kiss! You two almost kissed…? And it was nothing important.

Not something to jeopardize your new friendship. So you dropped it. And you internally prayed she would too.

Ellie on the other hand. She was thinking about the moment constantly, like it was a virus infiltrating every single free fucking thought she had. She doesn’t know if the blue eyed girl was your girlfriend, but at the end of the day she didn’t wanna push the subject. You hadn’t talked about it so it wasn’t something she was willing to bring up. Seemed better to drop it!

And here you are, laying down on your bed extremely bored with nothing to fucking do. Your mind was just wondering, thinking about class, school, Elli-

There’s buzzing coming from your bedside table and you quickly grab you phone.

Ellie.

You laughed at your phone. Ellie’s jokes were actually so bad it made them funny. You kept texting her no plan of stopping, but then she tells you she has a little something!

You smile at her messages quickly following up by closing your phone. You didn’t waste time to grab you car keys quickly leaving your sorority house.

꧁✵★✵꧂

The car ride wasn’t all that bad, it was nice knowing that you’ll get to be with Ellie again. Plus it was literally only 10 minutes so when you get there you quickly park and rush to the campus dorms.

As you go into the building you take the left to the elevators, shortly entering before you click floor 2.

As it stops and the doors open and you lead yourself to Ellie’s dorm which you’ve now been in a few times.

After knocking it literally doesn’t take long before she answers..her hairs messy, a few strands down her face and she gives you a quick smile. One thing you instantly noticed was the strong scent of weed that exits her room. “You’ve been busy” you say sarcastically giving her a quick smile.

Her eyes are red and she’s clearly faded. “Soooo busy!” She says sarcastically before it’s followed by yet another smile.

You go into her room and sit on her little single bed that’s planted right in the corner of her bedroom.

She passes you an already lit joint which you take a drag from.

“I wanna ask you something?” Ellie says as she takes the joint back.

You nod letting out a short “hm?”

“You obviously don’t have to say yes” she starts dragging her words a mix of nervousness and being high.

“Okay..?” You say nodding, you don’t know what she’s gonna ask but either way you’re nervous.

“Jesse and Dina, they rent cabin every year. And like my not tryna really third wheel so I was wondering…if maybe like-?” Ellie says shifting her gaze down into her lap.

“When is it?” You ask looking at her.

Ellie’s almost surprised you didn’t immediately turn it down so she quickly clears her throat. “Fuck sorry- It’s in a week. You don’t have to com-“

“Yeah I’ll come?” You say, the high now finally clicking in. Ellie’s heart is skipping right now but she quickly pushes it down.

You two are fucking friends. Just friends.

“Sick. O-okay cool. I’ll just like text you everything you’ll need and shit. And it’s like an hour drive so me, you, Jesse and Dina can all just like fucking drive together.”

“Okay cool!” You smile.

You and Ellie. Are going to a cabin together.

Nothing to be nervous about…!

———————————————————

A/N -> Hii! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I already have a full plot layout for the second one.

This might only be two parts simply because I might be able to fit everything I want with enough detail in just a singular part.

I plan on adding some angst in the next chapter ☹️ (so ig be ready for that!)

I also wanna really emphasize Emily is not homophobic! 😭

I was reading some of this chapter and it sorta seemed implied she was at least a little homophobic, calling Ellie “Weird” and shit, but it’s not because Ellie gay! I’m pretty sure most people might be able to clue on why she’s not to fond of Reader and Ellie’s ‘friendship’ but that’ll be for the next chapter.

I hope you enjoyed!

Taglist : @bready101 @onlinelesbo @amberputh @seraphicsentences @a-little-bit-of-everybody @zoehxnji @cyb3rd0nguh @graviewaviee

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

It is Done. I've finished embroidery on my blouse for the Laudna cosplay

Ever since I've seen the first episode of Campaign 3, and even before any announcement of cons, I was seized by an idea. I just had to do a Laudna cosplay, even though I've never done one before in my life. I was inspired by the wonderful official design (by @agarthanguide), bought a simple blouse, taught myself really quickly hand embroidery, and got to work. And I'm really happy about how it turned out !

(more photos and details under the cut)

I started in January 2022, with no pressure for a year, so I took it very slow. And then when the MCM London was announced, I finished almost half of the project in under 3 months ! Unfortunately, because I'm still new at this, I didn't exactly count the total time I spent on this, but it's more than 60 hours for sure, and probably around 140 hours in total (including initial drawings, trials on other materials, re-drawings on the final blouse, washing, etc.).

The little yellow square were my enemies for a time (some do not resemble squares... but I got the hang of it after a while). In general, I think the lines are not really straight, but when worn, no one will see !!

This project changed my life, in small ways (like everything you do in life). It was not only a part of my first cosplay ever, but especially the thing that made me do embroidery. I discovered a passion, and techniques, and resources (thanks Internet people everywhere !), and since then I've been working on other projects - not CR related, that I may show later if people are interested. Also it's been a constant companion of my intense watching of the later episodes of campaign 2 : picture me if you will with my needle and thread and my project watching the best team that no one in Exandria has ever heard of save an archfey, not-really-kill an archmage, and save the world while still being chucklefucks.

So yeah I'm excited to share it with the world, a little. London awaits !

[britt-kageryuu]

A bit of a content warning! Mentions of Blood, mentions of dismemberment(I think), not sure what else, but Mikey is wielding a knife. He's Cooking!

(I for a very silly reason want to say this ain't very Vegan Friendly, but that's just a weird part of my humor coming through. Let me know if I should get rid of this weird joke of a content warning!)

Mikey is doing another cooking show stream, though he switched somethings up. He's showing off some skills he learned from the high level cooking classes he took recently. And not just the new gadgets and tools he added to his kitchen.

Like he's butchering the skinned, blooded(drained the blood), body of a deer during the stream. He explained that there had been a bit of an accident when they went to visit a friend of theirs that lived out in the woods. "Todd is a total sweetheart! He runs a puppy sanctuary, makes some of the best lemonade, and he's an amazing blacksmith!"

Mikey had already removed the organs, legs and head by this point. And he was separating the main part of the rib area. All while telling random anecdotes.

"I remember hearing those jokes about people hiding weird stuff in their recipe stories, because most people never read that part. And it just made me think how weird it would be to just drop, 'My Dad was trapped in a highly toxic relationship for like 10 years, but during that time he learned the recipe for the best dumplings ever, and here it is!'." Mikey says this with such a upbeat tone, while holding the knife close to his face 'cutely', "But this could only work with like 3 recipes that my Dad taught me. Though I think one of those was from one of the assistants that worked for Barry. Who Dad meet briefly after escaping from his Ex-Fiance."

Mikey paused to chop harshly through a tough connection point.

"Hmm. I think I need to sharpen my knives, I should've been much farther in this than I am." He holds the knife at an angle to look at the blades edge. "Give me a sec, chat!"

Mikey puts the knife down, and goes to a draw, and searches for a moment before coming back with a stone.

"For those who don't know what this is. It's a whetstone, which is traditionally used in blade sharpening. Let me demonstrate by sharpening this knife!"

The audience is not very sure how to handle parts of this stream. Some are fascinated, others are confused, while some feel a bit concerned.

Mikey then demonstrates the now sharp knife by chopping right through a bone section.

"Well, that's more than I expected, but it will definitely get the job done!" Mikey chirps out, "I wonder what else this could cut through? Well I can't test that right now, especially if I want to get around to cooking something today."

He goes back to cutting apart the different sections that were still together.

"Also, I swear the most delicious thing I've ever had, was sadly also poisonous. Not really in a 'this will kill me' way, but a 'I felt boneless for 6 hours' kinda way. And I was forbidden from trying to get the recipe!" Mikey rants with a slight glare off to the side.

Now the audience is even more conflicted, and concerned.

Someone in the chat brings up that Mikey has a Psychology Degree, and some people start to wonder if Mikey is just messing with them or not.

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

Masterpost

I honestly wrote this because of that 'Hide dark stuff in the recipe story' joke. And the idea of Mikey telling one while cutting apart a carcass or something.

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 3

Episode 18: Live and Dangerous Part 2

"Ooo! Frankini is about to start a livestream!" Piper Hart squealed as she stood in her living room with Charlotte and Jasper. The teen girl was still on babysitting duty, whilst Jasper had just turned up out of the blue because without Henry or Junk-N-Stuff being open, things were pretty boring. 

All three of them were completely oblivious to the dire situation currently being forced upon Henry, Ray and (y/n), they were just excited to see that Frankini was about to make his big announcement. The world was waiting for the start, unaware of how Swellview's crimefighters were under that lycra-wearing weirdo's control, hours away from total disaster. 

"Interesting." Charlotte nodded, wondering why the celeb was starting one now at such short notice. He'd barely advertised it, which was unusual because he loved to draw it out and tease the hell out of his viewers.

"Yeah, wonder if Frankini is gonna have any special guests on the livestream," Jasper suggested, raising his eyebrows at Charlotte, who just shushed him with a smirk stretched across her face. They couldn't let Piper pick up on what they secretly knew, but they had to admit, it was fun to be in the know.

"Well, we're about to find out...You guys! Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger are with Frankini!" Piper squealed as the web page finally loaded, revealing that the guy was standing with Ray, Henry and (y/n) smiling brightly at the camera. On the inside, the three superheroes were dying, but outwardly, all but their eyes appeared normal. 

"Wow..." Jasper "gasped", pretending that he was just as shocked as she was, although on the inside he was smirking from how he'd known about the special appearance for a few days.

"Okay, welcome to a surprise livestream with my insanely special guests, Captain Man, Kid Danger and the lovely, Miss Danger!" Frankini grinned into the camera whilst Goomer raised two sliders on the control panel, causing the three heroes to shakily raise their hands and wave at the viewers. The viewer count was rocketing as the word spread about Ray, Henry and (y/n) being online, meaning it was only a matter of time before they reached ten million and Frankini carried out his terrible plan.

"Uh, what are Kid Danger, Captain Man, and Miss Danger wearing?" Charlotte asked the two sitting with her. She had no idea why they had agreed to put on such garish pants, especially (y/n) since she was usually so shy, but she assumed that Frankini must have really charmed them or something.

"I don't know." Piper shook her head and continued to focus on the livestream, watching as the viewer count went past one and a half million people and Frankini carried on doing what he did best.

"Now, to entertain you, my friend, Captain Man has asked if he, his girlfriend and Kid Danger can perform a scene from their favourite movie, A Swim To Forget." Frankini breathed out the movie dramatically, moving his arms around like he was actually swimming and it was clear that it was really his favourite movie. He stormed over the control panel and shoved Goomer away, swiping through the menu swiftly so the superheroes would bring the hands down in front of their faces. This guy took acting very seriously. 

"Wait! What is happening?!" Piper exclaimed, wondering what the hell she had just witnessed. She was a Captain man expert, she knew all the facts and all the trivia and was certain that he and his sidekicks would never agree to do something so strange and random for everyone to see. Her hero wasn't one for self-humiliation and she had learnt of how he'd do anything to keep Miss Danger safe too, both from bad guys and negative publicity.

"Why would they be doing a scene from that movie?" Charlotte asked, more to Jasper than Piper. The teens knew that (y/n) wasn't the biggest fan of A Swim To Forget, preferring one of her cheesy romcoms to a tragedy with a crap ending. They were also sure that Ray and Henry would never agree to do something like this, not on camera anyway and that inside knowledge made a bad feeling sit in their chests.

"And now, a scene from A Swim To Forget." An announcer said over the livestream as a title rolled, introducing the movie part professionally. Ray dramatically fell to the floor as if he was dying, pawing at the ground as Henry knelt in front of him and began to mourn whichever character his boss was playing. (y/n) too was pretending to be upset, throwing her hand to her forehead and painting an expression of heartache across her face. Well, this was humiliating.

"No! Tiffany, no! Come here! No! Come on!" Henry sobbed, pulling Ray onto the couch like he was fishing him out of the sea and the large man plonked his legs into the boy's lap as (y/n) immediately began to tap at his face, pretending to revive him. Tiffany was a goner. 

"I'm so...cold. Hold me, Eudora, you're my favourite sister." Ray spoke in a soft, country drawl, making (y/n) wrap her arms around his shoulders since she was "Eudora" apparently. This was a weird movie, but from the pure enrapture on Frankini's face, he was loving it.

"Oh, dear sister, why did you go swimming?" She whimpered back, leaning over the back of the couch as Henry cradled his boss, a sight that was extremely odd to the people watching back home, not just Piper, Charlotte and Jasper, the whole two million idiots who'd clicked on the video.

"You know you can't swim." Henry reminded "Tiffany", tearing up as Ray's body shook and (y/n) wiped his brow, acting like she was wiping a hot flannel across it. Next, Ray blinked furiously and began to madly feel for Henry's face since his character had gone blind in the water. Go figure.

"Lance?! Lance?! Are you there? And my sister, where is Eudora?" He asked in his southern accent, causing Henry and (y/n) to clutch onto his hand strongly and caress his cheek as if he was a dying family member. It was weird to see (y/n) do that, not for her since y'know, they were dating and stuff, but seeing Henry behave like that was downright disturbing and rather...suspicious.

"We're here, we're here." (y/n) soothed, smiling gently. She disregard the fat tears that fell from her eyes and fell onto Ray's cheeks and Frankini didn't bother to change the settings because he loved the drama behind it. Well, that and the water hid the fear and anger hiding beneath those (y/c/e) orbs.

"I feel myself slipping away..." Ray squeaked in a high tone, his wrist limply bridging over his forehead before flopping down to his side and for whatever reason, Lance wasn't too happy to hear her speak in such a defeatist manner. 

"No! No, don't, nooo!" Henry bawled, cupping Ray's cheek as he began to grieve for the character. Under Frankini's control, the three made for outstanding actors, but truth be told, there were three kids sat at home watching who couldn't be fooled, even as (y/n) laid it on thick.

"Oh, Lord have mercy, please! Let her live, dear God! It's not her fault she swum!" She sniffed, pressing her forehead to Ray's momentarily before Frankini decided that he didn't quite like the sight of the girl getting so close to her real boyfriend. She had to join his side and bring endless amounts of her fabulosity to his online presence; if he couldn't have her, then Captain Man definitely couldn't. He didn't deserve her.

"I just wanted to give you both a swim to remember." Ray crooned, smushing his fingers against Henry's lips because that's what the girl in the movie did, although she had a lot more grace than him.

"Instead, you've given us...a swim to forget." Henry was honoured with saying the famous line before the three began to cry like babies, the pants illuminating briefly as four million people joined to see what the hell was going on. They were all laughing and recording and being horrible, just what the mad celebrity needed to fuel his livestream, which was quickly going viral.

"Why are they doing that?" Jasper questioned as he, Piper and Charlotte watched his two bosses and his best friend make complete fools of themselves over some dumb, crappy movie. Their acting wasn't even that good and he could've sworn that parties don't normally include amateur theatre productions. Something was going on here and they didn't like it, not one bit.

~

"That's right! We already have six and a half million people watching right now. And when we get to ten million, guys, tell 'em what's gonna happen." Frankini smirked as he resumed the normal part of the livestream, standing behind the gold couch whilst the heroes sat on it awkwardly. He dashed off-camera so they could reveal his sneaky plan and resumed his position at the control panel, giggling at how well everything was going.

"We will take off our masks," Henry stated, causing Charlotte to gasp in horror as she heard the announcement. Okay, there was definitely something going on here, her friend would never do such a thing, not even for fame and glory. It was Ray's number one rule, not just for his livelihood, but for safety and secrecy. 

"And reveal our identities." Ray carried on, but one thing was amiss. His usually chirpy and lively voice was uncharacteristically flat, dull, so boringly unlike him that it stood out and spoke volumes.

"To the world!" (y/n) finished, the energy flowing through her making her arms widen as if it was a good thing. It wasn't good though, that's the thing, it was fucking ludicrous that they were even thinking about this and the news was quickly spreading, luring more and more people into Frankini's web.

"WHAT?!" Piper, Charlotte and Jasper screamed as they heard what they said and each kid had to take a moment to check if they heard them correctly. This had to be a wind-up or a prank, maybe some unfunny joke, it just couldn't be real

"Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid danger would never take off their masks!" Piper exclaimed, looking at Charlotte and Jasper. Frenemies be damned, she could put all that aside for now and focus on the problem at hand, she needed the teens to help her work this out.

"I know!" Charlotte agreed, thinking that her boss must've been tricked or entranced because he would never risk his sidekick's safety like that, not when one of them was a boy and the other was his precious girlfriend, no way. 

"What's happening?" Jasper asked Charlotte, knowing that she was normally good in a crisis and since she had worked for Ray a lot longer than he had, maybe she knew some about special protocol or training to help them.

"I don't know but, uh...just give me a sec!" She answered by grabbing the boy's wrist and dragging him away from Piper, leading him to the door instead. It was weird to just walk away in Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger's hour of need, but she really needed to discuss the shit with Jasper alone, as members of the Man Cave team, not as two normal kids. 

"Wait! Where are you going?" Piper asked incredulously, wondering why they were leaving when Swellview's crime fighters were on the verge of being dragged into disaster. Cowards, they could at least stay and help a bit.

"We'll be right back!" Charlotte promised her and chucked the curly-haired boy through the door, making him trip over his feet as she hurried to shut it behind her. At least they could get down to the nitty-gritty now.

"Why would Henry, (y/n) and Ray do something like—" He began, trying to communicate his complete disbelief, but Charlotte already had some answers and they had no time to waste. Frankini was getting close to seven million viewers.

"Just let me talk." The girl said simply, wanting to explain her theory without any interruptions, but Jasper being Jasper...

"But, if they take off their masks then everyone will know—" ~He butted in, stating the blindingly obvious, which really pissed Charlotte off. Again, they didn't have time for this.

"Just let me talk, okay?" She insisted, even though Jasper still wasn't taking her seriously. Why couldn't he say something real quick? "Yeah, but—"

"Don't talk. Just listen to me!" She snapped, giving her friend a stern glare that sent him into silence, the one thing she desperately desired. 

"Okay, you stay here with Piper. I'm going to go to the Man Cave, find Schwoz and try to figure out what's going on with Ray, (y/n) and Henry, okay?... Okay? Jasper!" She explained the plan, waiting for the boy to say something that would show his understanding, but he was too afraid to talk. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

"You told me not to talk!" He reminded her, making Charlotte lunge to strangle him before she decided against it. She'd kill him later, for now, she had to get to the Man Cave and see if its resident genius could figure something out. Jasper could handle Piper alone, after all, she was already forming a plan to help out Captain Man and it would involve beating Frankini at his own game.

~In the Man Cave~

Schwoz had watched everything. He'd seen the livestream, the announcement, the weird movie thing, the lot and was currently sitting at the supercomputer, polishing his head. He was deeply perturbed by what he'd seen, although looking at him, you'd never know it. He was surprisingly calm to say his boss was on the brink of revealing who he was under the mask.

"Wow! Almost eight million of you are watching Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger scrub these toilets, so! Just two more million and these boys and lovely girl are going to take off their masks. Right, fellas and girl?" Frankini giggled into the camera as the superheroes behind him knelt in front of three toilets and scrubbed them hard. On the inside, each one was dying and gagging at the demeaning task, wishing that they could strangle that bastard until he went blue.

"That's right." Ray's lips moved, but his eyes looked terrified at the prospect. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell and a sharp eye that they weren't enjoying it.

"Fella," Henry added, looking equally pale. Goomer could mess about with the controls all he liked, they weren't fooling Charlotte. She knew something was up.

"We want to do that." (y/n)'s voice was void of emotion or intonation as the teen girl burst into the Man Cave, looking for Schwoz with urgency.

"Shhhh! Wait, wait! I'm watching!" He shushed her, too invested in what Frankini was going to do next than whatever she wanted. Sure, he was worried about Ray, (y/n) and Henry, but he couldn't lie, the livestream was entertaining.

"Oooh! I know what might be fun to see. Boys, why don't you stop scrubbing those toilets and instead, let Miss Danger brush your teeth?!" Frankini squealed and Goomer flicked a few settings so the boys gave their brushes to (y/n), who in turn lifted it to them to their lips and begrudgingly began to brush their teeth. The young woman felt so bad, so mean and wanted to cry and apologise all at once, but the more Frankini laughed, the more Goomer dragged out their misery.

"Schwoz! That's not funny! How can you sit there, polishing your head and laughing?" Charlotte scolded the cackling genius, who couldn't help but find Ray and Henry's disgusted faces hilarious. The girl hated how her friends were being subjected to such cruelty and was determined to help them.

"Well, I'm polishing my head because I like to keep it soft and shiny. And I'm laughing because Ray, (y/n) and Henry are doing comedy like Saterda Night Loove." Schwoz replied, although his thick accent made it hard to understand what the hell he was saying. Luckily though, Charlotte was an expert on his way of speaking.

"You mean Saturday Night Live?" She asked, rolling her eyes at how he was so unfeeling. This wasn't like Saturday Night comedy, that was jokey and lighthearted, Frankini was psychotic and crazy.

"You say it better." He smiled at her, not realising that the more he sat there and made pleasantries, the more likely it became that soon, the world would know that Ray Manchester is Captain Man, Henry Hart is Kid Danger and (y/n) (y/l/n) is Miss Danger.

"Ugh, move." She shoved him from the chair and sat down, scanning the livestream for anything that could give them a clue. Nine million people were worrying but panic would slow them down and she worked much better with a cool head. "Okay, something's wrong. Henry, Ray and (y/n) would never willingly go online without their superhero pants or skirt. And...look at their eyes."

"Oh, yeah. Hmmm...now, you move." After taking a moment to think about what she was saying, Schwoz realised that the girl might be onto something, judging by how livid the heroes looked. It was true, Ray was a stickler for correct uniform and (y/n) spent way too long designing hers just to forgo half of it, in fact, the whole thing seemed a bit dodgy now he thought about it.

Flinging Charlotte from her seat, he began to rewind the footage, searching for something in particular and he gasped as he zoomed in and saw a device that was highly familiar to him. "Ah, yes! Look! Look at that thingamajiggy!"

"What is that?" Charlotte asked, squinting at the weird gadget flickering beneath Goomer's control panel. It looked like something Schwoz knew all about, maybe even (y/n), but that sort of technical wizardry was beyond her.

"It's called a Domitron. It's illegal in America and everywhere that's not America." He scowled, suddenly seeing that Frankini wasn't the happy, friendly, go-lucky guy he made himself out to be. Having an illegal device wasn't exactly a good show of character.

"Well, what does a Domitron do?" Charlotte questioned, prompting Schwoz to think. Those circuits were way beyond anything she'd understand, but perhaps he could skip the math and go for a few terms she understand.

"Well, ohhh, how can I dumb this down for you? You make a person wear special clothing that's been bombarded with atomic particle waves and then the Domitron connects to the clothing and sends electronic waves into a person's body. And then, you can control their brainwaves and the muscles, and make them do or say anything you want." He explained, his voice getting more and more panicked as he explained the science. 

"Whoa." She breathed out. That sounded a lot like what was happening to their friends.

"Yeah, whoa. Basically, it turns a person into a puppet." Schwoz went on, although once again, his poor pronunciation let him down, sounding more like "puppay".

"A what?" Charlotte frowned, wondering what he was on about. Maybe it was another science thing that she didn't completely understand, or maybe it was just another weird Schwoz thing.

"Puppet? You know, p-u-p-p-e-t? Puppet?" He even spelt it out for her, and that's when it clicked. It was a weird Schwoz thing.

"Puppet. You mean, it turns someone into a puppet." Charlotte hissed. It was fine, it's not like the clock was ticking and Frankini's viewer count was rocketing skywards. They definitely had time for Schwoz's shortcomings.

"Ooh, you say it better." Charlotte ignored how he was chirpy once again and sat back down at the computer, praying she could work out a way to help her friends. If they were under Frankini's control, then it was up to them to do something.

~

"Okay, livestreamers, we are so close to ten million people watching. So now, I say, it's time for a beauty pageant question." Frankini grinned at his viewers as he draped a 'Miss Tween America' sash across (y/n)s chest. Ray and Henry were already wearing theirs and were dreading the oncoming moment when they'd be forced to remove their masks just to give the celebrity a moment of fame in the history books. "Doesn't that sound like a hoo-haa?"

"Yes, it sure does." "Yes, a hoo-haa." "Yes, amazing." Henry, Ray and (y/n) replied shakily, making Charlotte panic as she paced the Man Cave's cold tiles. Only seven hundred thousand people to go and Frankini would get his wish, leaving Captain Man's super career in tatters.

"Will you hurry up and locate his club so we can go help them?!" She snapped at Schwoz, who was struggling to pinpoint the trackers in the super suits. For some reason, the signal was fuzzy and couldn't get a fix, leaving him stuck.

"I'm trying!" Schwoz whined, tapping a load of buttons in succession of each other as the computer monitored both the signal and the livestream. Frankini was getting weird again, hoping that something outrageous would draw in the crowds he needed, plus he could never resist a beauty pageant, not when one of his contestants was so pretty.

"Captain Man, Kid Danger and...Miss Danger, recent polls have shown that a fifth of the people who live here in Swellview cannot locate their own uvulas. Why do you think that is?" Was his first question, something very odd, but Goomer made them reply some bullshit anyway.

"Well, we personally believe that Swellview Americans are unable to do so, uh, because, uh—" Ray started in a funny voice like he was some pretty, whiny, teenage model trying to outdo all her rivals on stage. Who knew he'd sound so convincingly good as a beauty pageant queen?

"—Uh, because some people, here in Swellview, don't have uvulas—" Henry continued in exactly the same tone. No one knew why Kid Danger was going on about the gross, fleshy dangly thing at the back of your throat, but hearing him was funny, so they overlooked it.

"—We believe that our education, such as—and we should help South Africa—" (y/n) carried on, smiling brightly at the camera like she was on a stage, the one place she hated to be. She wasn't a model, just a mechanic in a superhero costume.

Whilst they were bullshitting an answer, Goomer glanced up at the viewer count on a TV and his stomach clenched as he saw something dreadful. He tapped Frankini worriedly on the shoulder, but the guy was too invested in his beauty pageant to care about whatever his stupid assistant had to say; probably something about pork and beans.

"What is it, Goomer? I'm in the middle of a livestream." He snapped, wondering what was so important that he had to be taken away from his interview. But what Goomer was about to show him needed his attention because it was so gloriously disastrous, depending on who you asked.

Goomer saw how his boss wasn't going to budge by his own will, so he chose for him and just picked him up, moved him across the room and forced him to look at the monitor, where the viewer count was...dropping? Y'see, Piper Hart is a determined little girl and even though she couldn't find Frankini and beat him up like she wanted to, she could still take away his viewers. By creating the world's best zit-popping livestream (with a little help from Oliver, Jasper and Sydney), people were switching off from Frankini's video and onto hers, because everyone can't help but love gross stuff. 

"Eight point nine million viewers? But we were at nine point two million! What happened?" Frankini gasped as the heroes kept ranting about uvulas behind him, although under the control, the news that their impending doom was being staled gave them a small glimmer of hope. 

"We lost some viewers," Goomer answered dumbly, prompting Frankini to glare at him. He wasn't stupid, obviously, they lost some viewers, he just wanted to know why.

"I realise that. Why are we losing viewers?! This is the worst thing that could happen to a Frankini." He whined like a child, stomping his feet and slapping the assistant's chest as he lamented falling short just before he reached success. 

"I think the problem's a pimple," Goomer told him, referring to Piper's livestream, which was becoming extremely popular as she hyped up a huge zit that Sydney had faked on Jasper's neck. All it was was just special makeup and a load of banana pudding, but to the people at home, it was gonna be epic.

"I have a pimple? Oh my god, where? Where? Pop it, pop it!" Frankini was mistaken and squished his cheek for the blemish that he thought was grossing people out.

"No! Look it!" Goomer dragged his boss over to the PearBook where he'd pulled up another person's livestream and sure as hell, there was Piper, working the crowd like an expert.

"I don't care what else is live-streaming right now, you wanna be right here, 'cause in just a few minutes, we are gonna pop this guy's neck pimple. Yeahhhhh, this zit's about to get real." Piper smirked, knowing that it was likely that Frankini had seen how she had already stolen three hundred thousand of his viewers and by bringing on Jasper's pimple, it was quickly going upwards.

"All right. If people wanna see something gross...get the worms." Frankini ordered. He could do gross, beauty pageant be damned, he wanted his ten million recorded and if he had to bring out the big guns then he would. 'just watch him.

"Oh, come on. You're not serious." Goomer gulped, not wanting to be party to such a revolting thing. Captain Man, Kid Danger and especially not the pretty lady didn't deserve that, no one did and he couldn't believe that Frankini would stoop so low.

"Get. The. Worms!" The guy growled at his insubordination, making Goomer scurry off to follow his orders. He didn't care how gross it was, or how the superheroes would be haunted forever by this, he was going to get his way. "Sorry, little girl, but you shouldn't bring a pimple to a worm fight." 

~

Everything had been set up and Frankini was once again ready to talk to his viewers as Ray, Henry and (y/n) sat dreading his next move. They heard something about worms and knew it wasn't good, but nothing could prepare them for what he had in store for them.

"Oh, hello, what have I been doing? Oh, I've been putting worms into a food processor." Frankini smirked as he sniffed the wriggling creatures and dumped them into the blender with the rest of their friends so they could all meet their fates. The heroes had been made to sit at a cute little table like they'd gone out to eat at a classy restaurant and it set alarm bells ringing in their heads. (y/n) longed to reach for Ray's hand, hoping to give and gain some comfort from the gesture, but try as she might, her muscles were stiff and unresponsive, leaving her to curse that stupid Frankfurter.

"And now, worm dip." Frankini turned on the machine, committing the murder of hundreds of poor little worms just to get a few viewers back. He laughed as they turned into a pinkish-brown paste, which looked revolting to the people at home and freaked Ray, Henry and (y/n) out to no end. He wasn't actually going to make them eat that, right?

Taking the lid off, Frankini tipped his "delicious" dip into a bowl, making Goomer gag and gip at how thick and sludge-like it was. He could smell it from the control panel, salty and musty, but also kinda sweet? It was just an awful all-round and seeing it placed in front of them made the superheroes scream inwardly.

"There! I think it's time for Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger to have a little snack!" Frankini grinned as Henry eyed the worm paste suspiciously and tried to do something to get his dumb body moving. Surely, this was healthy, surely, earthworms carried some kind of bacteria that would lead to them puking for the next three weeks, surely, this wasn't fucking legal. "Right, boys, sweetie?"

Goomer reluctantly tapped the controls, wishing he didn't have to do this but he also didn't want to be out of a job, so Ray, (y/n) and Henry picked up a piece of toast and slowly dipped them.

"Yes." "We want to eat worm...dip." "It looks delicious, mmmm." They said, one after the other, each sounding like they were trying their hardest to say nothing, do nothing and keep their lips firmly shut. The problem was, they couldn't just take a smidge of dip, they had to take a massive scoop and really get the chunks on that toast, y'know to really enhance the flavour. 

"Yeah, dip it, yay." (y/n) groaned with a smile as Ray shoved his piece into his mouth, followed by Henry and then her and let's just say it was a taste sensation, something they wouldn't wish even on their worst enemy. The toast had turned soggy, salty, with little bits of dirt and crunchy worm guts to go with the wholemeal bread, leaving Frankini cackling as he saw the tiny signs of disgust on their faces. They couldn't even puke despite their bodies telling them that they needed an emergency stomach pump and it was even worse as they were forced to go in for a second dunk.

"All right, boys and girls, have fun watching this little appeteaser but remember. When we hit ten million viewers, Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger are going to remove their masks and reveal their true identities." Frankini giggled and fell on the floor dramatically so everyone could see their favourite superheroes enjoying their worm dip.

"Yay, worm dip!" Ray exclaimed, holding up his second piece of bread to the camera so they could see how it was truly a smooth blend, it still had a few intact worm bodies in there to make it interesting. 

"I like these worms." Henry grimaced too at how he was saying the exact opposite of what was happening and he wanted to turn his head at the thought of another load going into his mouth.

"I'm glad this is happening to me." (y/n) whimpered, her fingers wobbling as she nibbled on her second piece of toast, her brain going into overload as the bittersweet dip assaulted her tastebuds. 

"I'm doing this because I want to," Henry told the camera, another one of Frankini's tricks to make the viewers think that they had volunteered for everything, or that it was one big joke. If Kid Danger said it was okay, then it must have been, right?

"Worms!" Ray cried as he chomped more dip, chewing slowly which made the taste sit in his mouth even longer. What had he done to deserve this? What had his sidekicks done to deserve this? When he got free his was going to kick Frankini's ass for even touching his girl, never mind making her so miserable.

~In the Man cave~

"What are we gonna do? We can't let Frankini make Henry, (y/n) and Ray take off their masks!" Charlotte exclaimed as the viewer count crept towards nine point five million. The worm thing had worked, people were coming back to his livestream and there wasn't long to go, only a few more minutes until it was too late.

"I know! Grab that cream and come polish my head!" Schwoz told the girl as he typed away on his little machine. It was a weird request, but Schwoz needed every one of his super brain cells working, meaning the polish was necessary.

"What? Why?" Charlotte, however, didn't see it. Why would Schwoz need a shiny head when they could all be out of a job and possibly in danger in a bit?

"Because it helps me concentrate! Hurry!" He told her and she urgently grabbed the tub of head wax and the cloth so she could get to working shining his bald scalp. 

"No! Rub in circles!" He snapped when she rubbed in harsh lines, something that irritated him greatly. It was too rough and didn't cover enough skin for his liking.

"Okay!" Charlotte listened to what he said and the minute she began to go round and round his bald head, he found fault again. Maybe the polish did help his little grey cells, but not when she went the wrong way

"Clockwise!" He ordered, still working away furiously as he tried to find their friends. Time was running out.

~

"Oh my god, we're almost at ten million!" Frankini gasped as his monitor showed how he was less than one thousand people away from the big number. Captain Man and his sidekicks were still loving their worm dip, which was making Goomer giggle now that he'd gotten over his initial gagging and disgust. It was the same for other people too, the counter was nearly complete.

"Nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight!... Nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine!..." Frankini cried as they reached their target, a nice round ten million, not that Goomer could read big numbers.

"Ten thousand!" He exclaimed, thinking he was celebrating with his boss, but he kind of killed the mood since he thought it was a much lower number than it really was. Back on the table, (y/n), her boyfriend and Henry were shitting themselves as they heard that it was time, the moment they'd been dreading.

"Million!" Frankini corrected him, upset that his big moment had been ruined, but he could look over it. Nothing could dampen his spirits, not when he had done it, he'd beaten every other sucker and now stood on top as the number one streamer in the world.

"Ten thousand million!" Well, maybe that could dampen the spirits. Poor Goomer, he had no idea how wrong he was or how much he pissed off Frankini.

"Ten million!...oh my god, I did it! I am the most popular livestreamer on the entire World Wide Web! I mean, you stream me, you really, really stream me! Thank you!" He cried into the camera. Even though he was being incredibly selfish by taking away the superheroes' most precious thing, he still took the time to appreciate his viewer's help before he shrugged Goomer away.

"And now...as promised, it's time for Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger to remove their masks." Frankini nodded at Goomer, who had retreated to the controls and was all too happy to make them shove back their chairs and stand up. He wanted Miss Danger on their side and if she stopped being a superhero, then hopefully she would.

"They're about to take off their masks!" Charlotte exclaimed as she and Schwoz struggled to do...anything. She had no idea what they were going to do, but from how much she'd been rubbing the genius' head, she hoped he'd thought of something clever.

"I'm almost ready!" Schwoz exclaimed, his plan on the brink of being a success. Just a few last-minute preparations and then he could save them, but he had to get everything ready, even if it was seconds before a disaster.

"To do what?" Charlotte questioned, wondering what was going on since all he'd been doing for the past half an hour was tapping away on all his little gadgets and ignoring her whilst she rubbed his head just the way he liked. Talk about taking things for granted, she just wanted to know what he was about to do.

"To turn off all the power in Swellview!" He answered, rushing around like a madman since it was taking all of his technical skill to kill the entire grid. If they couldn't get to Ray or Henry or (y/n), then they'd turn everything off and hope that they could help themselves.

"What?! Why?!" She gasped, thinking that it sounded, crazy, illegal, stupid, dangerous and difficult. Would he be able to pull it off?

"If there's no electricity, the Domitron will stop working!" He told her with a smirk all over his smug face. You had to admit that this was an ingenious plan, one of his finest and if it worked, then Frankini would be foiled. Way to go, Schwoz.

"But—ooooh, that's smart." Charlotte returned the smirk as she realised that he wasn't as stupid as he looked. Still, they had to do it now, Ray, Henry and (y/n) were reaching for their masks, fingers twitching and eyes full of fear as they tried to resist showing who they were, but their hands wouldn't stop. They groaned and grimaced at being so powerless, their discomfort being shared by Piper, Jasper, Sydney, Oliver and countless others, but just as their fingertips brushed the smooth material glued to their skin...

"And...now!" Schwoz shut off the power, plunging all of Swellview into darkness and everything turned black, including the Frankini Club. 

"What just happened?" The man asked as his place became dark in what should've been his greatest success. Ray, (y/n) and Henry were jerking, twitching and involuntarily moaning as they regained control of their own bodies, which was a shock to the system after having been locked away for so long.

"I don't know, the power went out," Goomer reported, squinting around the room as he tried to get the Domitron to work, but without a power supply, it was just another trinket. Perfect.

"What? What did you do?" Frankini growled as the superheroes leaned on the table, trying to work out what the fuck was going on. They could still taste the worm dip, but amazingly, their arms bent and their legs moved when they wanted them to, sweet cheese.

"I didn't do nothing! Uh...no punish." He insisted, but his bravery quivered when Frankini glowered and lunged for him, screaming bloody murder for how everything had done a one-eighty and he was now looking like an idiot.

"Kid, Miss Danger, y'alright?" Ray asked, marvelling at how when he wanted to put his arm around his girl, it actually did and how his lips moved how he wanted them to. God, it felt good to feel her skin again and even better to know that he could keep her safe once more.

"Yeah, I think so." Henry nodded as he wiggled around to stretch his exhausted muscles, whilst Ray dipped his head down to give his sweet girl a soft kiss, something he'd been dying to do all night, but upon gathering her senses, she quickly put a hand between their lips.

"Later, once we've brushed our teeth. All I can taste is worms." She chuckled, raking her eyes over him happily. It had been torture to sit next to him and not look at and dream about and admire everything about him, but now she had him, at last. Her boyfriend, her love, her Ray.

"Yeah, mine too." He agreed, wiping at his tongue whilst Henry bent over and gagged a little like he'd been wanting to do ever since he put the damn dip in his mouth. Yeah, he was going to be throwing up in his toilet until three in the morning.

"Oh, god, where's the plug?!" They heard Frankini panic as they shook off the Domitron's effects, but it was no use. No way were they gonna let him control them again; models? Yeah right, what a load of bullshit.

"Hey, I made myself say that." Henry pointed out to the couple as they held each other for support and comfort. They had been so caught up in each other and being able to just appreciate being together again that they hadn't realised that they were free.

"We're back in control of our own bodies!" Ray exclaimed, smiling at his girl when he saw that he wasn't being made to hold her (which was better than worms by a long shot), he was doing it because he loved her and it was his instinct to bring her into his arms where he could shield her from the humiliation and dangers.

"Quick! Let's get out of these Frankini Bottoms before the power comes back on!" (y/n) gasped, fumbling for her belt where her gum tube was clipped once she noticed how their torturer was quickly trying to get everything back online. Not so fast, they weren't about to become his marionettes again.

"Right. Let's blow a bubble and get back into our pants, slash skirt." Ray said, not caring about sounding cool, he was just eager to get back into his normal uniform. That and he wanted to see (y/n)'s ass in her cute, little, red satin number. 

"That didn't rhyme," Henry noted. He didn't see the hurry and was surprised to see his boss be uncool in front of his girlfriend, but after all that crap about appearing cool earlier, Ray was done with pretending he was someone he wasn't. For now.

"Just blow a bubble, we'll pitch on rhymes later." Ray snapped, popping a gumball from his tube, but just before he was about to throw it in his mouth, a terrible memory came flooding back to (y/n), something that brought back all her guilt.

"Wait!" She cried, putting her hands on their shoulders as she teared up a bit and looked at them both. Yeah, technically it wasn't her fault, but she wasn't the sort of person to just walk away without feeling a bit bad.

"What?" Henry asked, believing that she'd spotted or felt something awful. As always, now he was interested in her advice and gut feeling, but then again, anything bad she felt could've just been the worms.

"I brushed your teeth with toilet brushes, I'm so sorry!" She panicked, looking at the boy and then her boyfriend with an apologetic face, which made them both chuckle. Only (y/n) would feel bad for something she'd been forced to do by a psychotic criminal.

"Sweet girl..." Ray smiled and pressed a kiss to her nose, giggling at how silly and kind the girl he had chosen was. He'd make sure that she left this behind with no guilt, but for now, they just needed to blow their bubbles and get back into their normal gear.

"Oh my god, something's happening! Where'd my Frankini bottoms go?" Frankini gasped as he glanced up from whatever he was doing and saw that the superheroes were no longer wearing his pants, just their regular uniform as and that meant that he couldn't do shit to them. God, it felt good to feel that silkiness brush against her thighs and even better for (y/n) to see Frankini turn pale under his foundation.

"If I were you, I'd worry about your own Frankini bottom." (y/n) hissed, feeling so clever for having come up with the line, but when Frankini giggled at her mentioning his ass, it sort of ruined the quip. And it made Ray clench his jaw with how he still wanted to be flirtatious even with his ass on the line.

"Man Cave." Henry nudged Ray as his phone began to ring, the contact showing that it was the hideout trying to reach them, Charlotte probably. He guessed they were worried after watching the livestream and then the power outage.

"Take it, we'll wait for ya," Ray told his sidekick, curling a possessive arm around (y/n)'s waist and pulling her a little closer to his body so Frankini knew where he stood. Nowhere.

"Hey," Henry answered the call as Ray turned his darkest frowny face to Frankini, although his hold on (y/n) never faltered.

"Henry! Are you, (y/n) and Ray okay?" Charlotte answered as Schwoz listened in. She had been desperate to make the call but had to wait for the Man Cave's backup generators to kick in before she could and it had been an anxious wait. 

"Yeah, we're cool but, only 'cause the power went out." He told her, prompting Schwoz's heart to flutter with pride as he heard about how he'd saved their bacon. Maybe they'd be more appreciative of his skills in future.

"That was me! I did that!" He exclaimed proudly, but he was forgetting that he'd had an assistant in saving their bacon, even if she had only done one thing.

"Well, I rubbed cream on your head!" Charlotte added, frowning at how she'd been left out for Schwoz to take all the glory. What a cheek.

"Okay, okay, it worked, okay? And go ahead and turn the power back on now." Henry told them, glancing over to see that Ray had told Frankini that he and Goomer were going to jail (amongst other things, like how a certain girl only gave her love to him) and boy, they were not taking it well. 

"Aye!" Schwoz nodded and flipped his lever upwards, turning Swellview's grid ack on before the authorities started panicking too much and with everyone else getting signal, Henry was soon wanted elsewhere.

"Hey, it's Jasper, I'll hit you back," Henry told Charlotte before switching onto his other call. He was glad that he wasn't the one dealing with Frankini right now, 'cause he looked real upset, smearing his mascara and everything.

"Hen, are you, Miss Danger and Captain Man all right?" Jasper asked quietly as the call connected and the lights in the Hart's house came back on. He assumed that they were okay, but he had to make sure, despite Piper, Sydney and Oliver being so close in the kitchen.

"Yeah, listen, I'll meet you back at the Man Cave. Right after I take care of Frankini." The boy replied, looking over at the shrewd criminals and his words sparked a thought in Jasper, who underneath his curls, kept some rather sneaky ideas.

"Well, if you really wanna get Frankini, you should bring him to your house," Jasper told him, smirking as he stroked the fake pimple on his neck. Henry had no idea about how he and his sister had tried to help out, but Jasper was sure he'd love his plan, it was perfect. "Why?"

~Henry's House~

Yep, he loved it. Henry, (y/n) and hell, even Ray couldn't be prouder of Piper and Jasper, plus those other guys, for trying to help and they were more than happy to hand Frankini over for some well-deserved punishment. 

"Wow, I'm so pumped that over eleven million people are watching this livestream right now to see the eruption of the biggest pimple of all time." Piper grinned at the camera and she had several reasons to be happy. First, she was now the world record holder for the most viewers watching a livestream, second, Captain Man, Miss Danger and Kid Danger were standing behind her in her house and third, she got to humiliate Frankini like he'd done to her favourite superheroes. Everything was good.

"I'm Jasper." Well, he might as well have said it, it was his only chance of fame, but he soon shut up when Piper pulled down her goggles and got on her stool. It was time for some payback.

"Ready?" She looked at Oliver, who was in control of the pudding canisters. This had to look good and he was ready to open the hatch and let it come out. 

"Hey..." Ray glanced down at (y/n) who was smiling at the scene unfolding in front of her. Both of them had brushed their teeth after arriving at Henry's house, glad to scrub away the worm taste with a normal, clean toothbrush, which meant that what was denied earlier could now be given. 

"Hey..." She smirked up at him, instantly knowing what he wanted as an arm wrapped around her stomach and she looked over her shoulder and up at him. 

"I don't suppose that I could have that kiss now?" He asked, chuckling at how coy he was being and how even after quite a few months of dating, he was still able to add colour to her cheeks.

"You can, doofus." She smiled and stood on her tiptoes as best she could in her boots and welcomed the feel of the soft, familiar lips against hers. This was home, him just happy to share an innocent, worm-free moment with her, loving how she chased his movements until Piper was ready to start.

"Ready? One, two, three!" Piper squeezed the fake pimple in sync with Oliver turning on the pudding sprayer, resulting in a jet of pus-like pudding flying from the swollen lump across the room and onto Frankini. Ray had left him on the floor tied up, happy to let him get sprayed and humiliated because of how he and his sidekicks had suffered the same due to him.

"Why did you pop it? Payback is a zit!" Frankini whined, spluttering and squirming when the pudding got in his mouth and eyes. It tasted quite nice really, but he was just whiny because his makeup and outfit were ruined. There was no better sight than seeing him cry and it seemed like the viewers loved it too.

"I miss those Frankini Bottoms," Ray mentioned to his sidekicks, making (y/n) groan and Henry grin. Seriously, he liked wearing the ridiculous leggings? What about the pain and suffering that they'd caused?

"Yeah, they felt gooooood!" Henry nodded, smiling brightly as he thought about how snug the bottoms were they were so comfortable, a bit perilous, but so stretchy. Yeah, the pattern was a bit bright, but apart from that, they looked great.

"Why do you two never listen to my little danger radar? It's like I sense when shit's about to go wrong and then you ignore me until shit hits the fan and you need me to come in and save your asses." (y/n) fretted, making Ray chuckle as his mind drifted back to how those tight pants accentuated her hips and legs. He loved her figure and everything else about her, especially how hot she looked when so animated and full of energy.

"Your ass looked great in the Frankini Bottoms." He whispered back to her as Henry ignored her protests, preferring to watch Frankini sit in a puddle of banana pudding, sobbing for the internet to laugh at.

"Thanks, but I won't be wearing them again anytime soon." She rolled her eyes at how he always brought conversations back to her backside. He was an ass man and loved to talk about it, grab it, anything really.

"What will you wear instead then?" He asked, feigning ignorance despite them both knowing that he was anything but, even in someone else's house. Ray couldn't help but wiggle some innuendo into everything.

"Nothing, if you're lucky." (y/n) smirked when his body tensed and the arm around her got tighter. He was bad, but so was she, both of them giggling like idiots in love as Frankini whimpered on the floor because that's what they were.  Two idiots who lived a crazy, dangerous life full of surprises, but endured through the support of their little family and their golden love. It was magical and they wouldn't have it any other way.

[quibbs126]

I said I’d post the other piece I did for VASE, so might as well do it now

This character you see here isn’t a character I already had, she was entirely made up for the drawing. The entire thing is solely based on the song Papercut by Zedd. More specifically, the middle part of the song, where the music is starting to swell (around the 3 and a half minute mark is where it starts)

For some reason, this song, along with most of the songs I’ve heard by Zedd, just give me these visions in my head that comes from the song. Like, I hear the songs, and I see something from that in my mind. Some of them, this song in particular, gives me this…bursting feeling in my chest, like an explosion of colors, ideas, emotions, just everything. I don’t really know how to describe it, but do you get what I mean? I’m not sure, maybe I’m just weird. But anyways, at the time this was one of the only Zedd songs I’d listened to, so I did my art piece based on that

Also side note, but you should totally listen to that song, as well as the rest of the album, True Colors (if you’re a fan of electronic music that is). Two of the songs were on the radio some years ago, I Want You to Know and Beautiful Now, but honestly the entire album is full of absolute bangers, I love every song in the album, and they all feel distinct enough that I don’t get that burnout I usually do when listening to multiple songs by the same artist, where they all start to blend together and sound the same. Probably because every song has a different singer. Also you should check out the album Clarity. I know the song itself is really good, but there are other songs in that album that deserve love too, a particular favorite of mine being Hourglass. Though it came out a few years before True Colors, and I’d say True Colors is basically the improved version of Clarity, so maybe check out Clarity first. But yeah, check out the music, it’s so good

This piece took me in total, around 10 and a half hours, but that’s also because I redid the entire thing to change the hands all the way from the sketch. The original took about 6 hours, and the redo took 4 and a half. Unfortunately I probably won’t make any pieces as grand as this, given I don’t have that sort of time to spare (we were given time in class to do our art). I try, but usually I end up getting sidetracked before I can finish the sketch

I kind of consider this my best piece I’ve drawn, and I hope you like it too

Also I’ll show you the original picture too

[omardelgado]

Omar Delgado figure drawing portfolio

1)GESTURE ( FROM SECOND DAY OF CLASS)

2)CONTOUR ( SECOND DAY OF CLASS )

3) BLIND CONTOUR

4) 5MIN POSE (first weeks of class)

5) BLIND CONTOUR POSE

6) DRAWING EGGS

7) BLIND CONTOUR HANDS

8) STUDIES OF SKULLS

7) THORACIC CAVITY & *PELVIC STUDY (Spine in lieu of Pelvic study )

8) SKELETON STUDIES done IN CLASS

9) PEER PORTRAIT

10) SELF PORTRAIT /3 VIEWS

11) PERSPECTIVE STUDIES(3 fIGS color)

12) 3 FIGS COLOR ASSIGNMENT (LAST 2 WKS)

13) MIDTERM

14)MUSEUM INSPIRED (missing)

15) FINAL 2 PAINTINGS (one or two)

ARTIST STATEMENTS (3)

a) MIDTERM

When doing the midterm, having both drawing and figure drawing classes at the same time definitely helped as we had been working with graphite in both classes. The challenging part of the assignment was definitely putting in the time and effort into the piece itself. In total I ended up spending thirty plus hours with all the darkening of certain areas and overall paying attention to all the tiny details that had to go into the artwork. Overall I enjoyed the assignment as it definitely teaches you to trust the process and take your time to put in the effort into what you're creating.

b) FINAL

To start off the final assignment is nowhere near done as it definitely still needs improving and changes to elevate the piece. Starting the assignment off, I didn't know how to go about it mainly because I had slight experience in using paint. The human figure itself is hard to draw as it is and you add painting into it now, I was completely lost and didn't even know how to go about tackling the assignment. Once i figured what direction i wanted to go in I just took the assignment head on and what I have produced so far is coming along pretty decently. My main issue was that I didn't think I would be able to capture the likeness of a person and I think I did a good job of capturing my own likeness in the piece.

c) CLOSING STATMENT

Coming into this semester I had no idea what to except from a figure drawing class other then I was going to work with human figures. I had never taken any drawing classes previous to this one and it just so happened that I took both drawing and figure drawing this semester, which definitely helped as the semester went by. Out of all the materials we used i definitely gravitated towards the graphite drawing pencils and I think the reason for this was that its essentially the shape of a wooden pencil so i was more familiar with it. I also liked how more controllable graphite is compared to something like charcoal. With me favoring graphite out of all the materials, the midterm assignment ended up being my favorite assignment to work on and I can confidently say is the best piece of artwork I produced this semester. Yes it can definitely be improved but the hours spent working on the assignment was all worthwhile and definitely played a big part in better understanding have to draw the human figure accurately. Going forward I will defiantly take what I learned in the class and sharpen my skills to better produce higher quality work not only to make myself proud of what i can create, but also build a strong portfolio to use to transfer to another school as I'm graduating this semester.

[jeaniethewallflower]

3/22/24 - Goodnight Friend (TW: Suicide)

My friend is dead. Dying didn’t end our friendship, I really don’t know what did. I always blamed them, naturally. We stopped being friends in the eighth grade so it could have been anything. Middle school is a warzone; you lose comrades along the way, but I took this loss personally.

They were my first friend post-Catholic school. I had heard about them at my best friend's birthday party the summer before my transfer. Their friend/neighbor was there and while we sat on the top bunk of a log-based bunk bed looking through the hotel Bible for money (we had heard a rumor- sadly there was no cash, only verses and the occasional note) she looked up to me and told me that her friend was in my grade. I held onto that information like it was vital; my only key to making any friends.

It was in art class that I found them. They were at the table next to mine, the teacher did the attendance and I heard the name. Almost immediately after I slid over to that table and said, a little too loudly, “Are you Natalia’s friend?!” They were so embarrassed but they nodded. They were drawing on their folder (something anime, probably Attack on Titan) and that was so cool to me.

They were probably my best friend in sixth grade. I’ve never thought of it that way until now. We were both sick, life isn’t… wasn’t easy for us past and present. I now know that I’m bipolar, something that would’ve been nice to know when my friend and I clung to each other crying in Mrs. Ngs's classroom. We didn’t make it easy on ourselves though. God, every lunch hour like clockwork my friend would play Car Radio by the Twenty-One Pilots and have everyone sing along, I often sat out.

There was one night, I think it was for their birthday but I could be wrong. No, it was definitely for their birthday because two others were there, it was my first time meeting them but they were also close friends of mine in middle school. We met through this Friend. The night ended with just me and My Friend and at some point they suggested we sleep on the floor and cuddle. I didn’t know what I was doing, I had just turned thirteen, I threw an arm over them, and after a moment of palpable silence, they said, “Myles, dude… you just totally touched my nipple”. For some reason, that night reminds me of pandas.

There was another birthday sleepover, this time my now-best friend was there too. That one was questionable. I don’t remember why. Around this time My Friend started to make bad decisions. Adding random people on Snapchat and meeting up with them, hanging out with sketchy older kids, dating a sophomore. This was in seventh grade, I think this is when things started to end in our friendship. I started to disagree with them, I’d be the only one. We’d fight constantly but we always made up at the end of the day. Seventh grade was fine for us. We were in most classes together and we were in two clubs. We even both applied for an academic achievement school with the other two. I was the only one who didn’t get in.

I stopped getting invited to things that summer. Eighth grade is a blur. I mean I can see it and recall parts of it but it's not a picture. It’s like looking at an impressionist painting. I wasn’t ok. It was the lowest point in my life rivaled only by now. I think part of me blamed My Friend at the time. Petty resentment. The other two tried to play both sides but eventually, we fell off too. Two years straight is still the longest I’ve kept a group of friends in my life. But as those years keep fleeting away I don’t know how much of that I can hold onto without it seeming pathetic. I gave My Friend a bracelet. A stupid beaded thing that said “MEGAN” in big letters. We followed each other on some social media a couple of years back and every so often they would send me a picture of them wearing the bracelet.

The last time I saw them was on their birthday. I was with my best friend and they were with their boyfriend. It was our first time seeing each other face-to-face since we were kids. We still were kids. We stood, staring at each other like deer in headlights. Like it was only us in that entire target for thirty seconds. Then they raised their arm, pointed, and said, “I’m still wearing it” I laughed,

“Holy shit man! You weren’t kidding”

“It’s my birthday”

“Happy birthday” We stood, across the Target. The isles turned to fields. Foggy grassy knolls. It was beautiful. Then I waved and walked away, just like that. Reader, sweet Vouyer of mine, all I wish, all I want is to have hugged them. Something about them being dead has made me crave contact. Maybe it's my brain not connecting the dots, saying “No, no, they aren’t gone. Touch them. They’re there.”

Some sick part of me wonders if they wore the Megan bracelet when they did it. If they killed a piece of me with them. A sicker part of me wants that to be the case. I don’t know if I would feel better if I hadn’t seen them last month. I’m glad I did. I’m glad I got to see them grown up, even if it was just to nineteen.

Friend, I’m sorry you felt the need to leave us so soon. I know you are not alone in exploring life's greatest question and if you can somehow hear me, see me, feel me, I want to thank you. Thank you for helping me adapt from my quiet Catholic upbringing to the chaos that is the American Public School System. I want to thank you for introducing me to shitty fanfiction porn in poor, poor Mr. Greene's classroom. I want to thank you for the best fucking muffin I have ever eaten the morning after our first sleepover. I want to thank you for everything I could never thank you for while you were alive. You were beautiful, determined, kind, smart, an activist, and such a picky eater. Your funeral invitation said that your favorite pizza and cake would be served and I just want to let you know that I am not grateful for the cheese pizza and yellow cake I am about to eat. I feel selfish mourning your loss, you weren’t mine to lose. Friend, you were a gift to the world and will forever continue to be. For me, you’re going to be in every Golden Retriever, every Suicide Awareness post, and every woman named Meghan. I love you, rest well.

[randomprojectsbeforeidie]

Studying as much as I can (3/21)

Study time: 2 hours

Sleep: 8 hours

Magnesium: nope (fuen fuen fuen)

Therapy: did 2/3 of my homework

Exercise: nope (fuen fuen fuen)

Water: 4 full bottles (2L)

Vitamins: yay!

Yesterday I drew (drawed? English is hard) my "Big Mountain of Studies", based on some Tik Toks I saw:

The idea is that, everytime I complete a trail of studies, I color a part of the mountain. When I have colored everything, I will have scaled the whole mountain, and completed the whole material for the contest I'm aiming for. Cool, right?

I also stamped it, together with my flower from my previous post, on the wall, so I could have them constantly on my view, as motivation.

I got some more study tips on that Instagram I mentioned.

- It helps to have a social network of people who have the same objectives as you - in this case, study.

I don't have this in real life, so I searched the internet for some people and communities I could follow on social media. Here's what I found:

On Instagram:

motivatudy (study tips, more academic inclined)

andressabesteves_ (she is also studying for public contests, albeit in a different area than mine - public security)

On Reddit (yeah, I'm a filthy redditor):

r/concursospublicos (this is a Brazilian subbreddit focused on people who are studying for public contests. It's perfect for me!)

r/GetStudying (more motivation and comiseration than anything, but it serves as a community)

r/GetMotivated (also about motivation to change your life)

Cool, right?

Then I followed researching more study tips from "motivatudy"

- Constance of studies (studying regularly) is more important than volume of studies

- It is good to study everyday, but you gotta have balance of life. It won't be healthy to completely neglect your leisure time and your social life

- It helps to see your dreams as a ladder, with every step a small objective you can reach that will lead you to this big objective. This way, things seem less daunting. I guess that's what I'm doing with my flowers and mountains

- It helps with motivation along the day to take breakfast. Ugh. I'm guilty of this. Breakfast is my least favorite meal of the day (the best is dinner!). But I know it helps. I'll start tracking it too

- If you have some sort of mental health issue, studying won't solve it; you need therapy, friend

- What compliments I want to hear next year? I started making a list:

1. She's so smart!

2. She's so fit!

3. She's so beautiful!

4. She's so studious! She was approved on a public contest!

Yeah. So, about the studies, today was a great day, as I managed to reach 24 hours of total study time! Even with my study material trying to sabotage me, 'cause my study site was bugged.

I still studied, worked, enjoyed my analog hobbies (calisthenics and gentle walks). And even managed to paint one more petal of my study flower!

The only problem is that I realized that the tape I used to glue the flower and the mountain on the walls is... a bit stronger than I thought. Ops.

I guess this is a problem for future me.

And I think my routine is helping me! For the first time in months, I was actually sleepy by my sleep time, instead of agitated as fuck. Take that, insomnia!

And that's it for today! I'll leave you guys with a picture of the sky I took during my gentle walk. Bye!

[flwoie]

sending again cuz it didn’t go through~

ooh well if u need help with ateez, or the ateez research lmk cuz they’re my ult lol

and oml i know what u mean!!! i love daydreaming stories up and watching the movies roll in my head! and i also feel ya, i had a series in another fandom but i lost motivation so it now resides in the trenches of my drive lol

aww and friends are the best 💗 hmm as for me i love writing poems to ease my thoughts, listening to my comfort songs like “light” by ateez or energy-boosting songs like paradoxxx invasion + happy fools, and i also like watching YouTube vids of my faves (and soon-to-be faves too lol!)

qotd: what are some of ur favourite things to read? for me, i really like fantasy and protective main leads 😊

oh and one more question~ is this time good to send asks? or is my usual time better? i did it roughly 12 hours apart (e.g if i usually send my ask at 1pm, i’m sending this one at 1am in my timezone)

have the best day/night!

-3

thanks for offering help 🫶🫶 i’d love to learn more about ateez :)

daydreaming about stories is the best, it’s like watching a free movie even tho sometimes my attention span is low so i do get ads (if u get my joke LMAOOO) there’s this one story i wrote and it’s almost been a year since i wrote it and i only have less than 200 words written down 😭😭

u write poems?? i’d love to read them if u don’t mind and yess music and watching is so comforting, i haven’t heard of light so i’ll go listen to that rn !!

my answer to ur question: tbh i don’t read any genre outside of romance & fantasy, it’s an obsession atp 🤒 whenever i go to the library, i always try to find the really good romance books but sometimes i’m always left with the horrible ones 💔💔 i tried reading horror and sci-fi cause i heard my crush likes writing them (ahah my crush is also a writer 🤧🤧) and i could not even finish the first chapter 😭😭 anyways moving onto characters, i’m kinda picky about the trope between the main character and their love interest. i HATE HATE bully x victim and that does not equal to e2ls bc the bully x victim trope is so shitty, like there’s only one sided abuse 😭. i like any kind of trope that isn’t toxic and weird.. anyways, there’s a lot of details i love to find in books. for example, whenever im reading a book with one of the main character’s having a cast, there’s a part where the love interest would draw the two of them on the cast and there would be a little heart between them, it warms my heart sm 😭 oh and when it comes to exes to lovers (and this is specifically the kind where they had to break up for a sad reason so there’s still some mutual pining), they reunite in the most weirdest way and afterwards one of them is like “oh how are you” when they totally mean ‘how are you since our break up’ (yes i took this from a fic i read) I STARTED BURSTING INTO TEARS 😭😭😭

okay my turn to ask u a question !! what kind of tropes do u like and hate?

and i don’t mind what time u send ur asks, i’ll answer to them anyways :>

have a wonderful day/night as well my three <33

[an-evergreen-rose]

When Worlds Collide Part 5

Kate Bishop x Female Spiderwoman reader (basically has Miles powers; invisibility, electric webs)

Summary: Fury decides your fate

Warnings: a tiny bit of angst I guess

A/N: just to let you know, I have written kates and y/n first kiss, however, I'm gonna need to fill in some gaps timeline-wise before I can give it to you... soz

MASTERLIST

You were currently in his lab as the Fury thought it best that they got to know more about you before they decided on what to do with you. So far Tony had found out your DNA  was mutated with a lot of similarities to Peters, and a few extra add ons of course, you were a total of 5 feet and 3 inches tall and you did in fact like cheeseburgers. Maybe that last part was more of Tony's curiosity than Fury's list of questions. 

Kate, unfortunately, had to answer Fury's questions also, so while she was sitting in his office, Clint by her side, you were getting stabbed by tiny needles by Tony while Natasha stood guard.

“How’d you get these powers, kid?” Tony asked whilst drawing some of your blood.

“Went somewhere I shouldn’t have,” You answered vaguely, gaining an eye roll from the redhead.

Natasha lent forward in her seat, resting her elbows on the desk she and Tony were sitting on, opposite from your chair. “You’re gonna have to tell us a bit more than that if you want to see your friend again, Y/N.”

You frowned slightly at her tone, only now realising that this questioning may be more of a friendly interrogation, considering you are a high-powered, random person to them who apparently, came out of a giant portal in the sky. The last time they dealt with portals like that, was in 2012 and the aliens were not so friendly so no wonder they were slightly on edge.

 “Sorry,” You began, making sure to stay on her good side, not too sure how well it would end for you if you didn’t. “My friends and I were out tagging this new spot in the subway-”

“-What the hell is tagging?” Natasha interrupted, clearly not happy with my story already.

“Um, like spray cans and stuff, we found the spot so we put our artwork up first so other people would know we were there.”

“So… vandalism.”

“You could say that I guess.”

Natasha let out a sigh, “Carry on.” This wasn’t what she wanted to be doing on a Thursday morning.

“So, we tagged the spot, took some pictures-”

This time, it was Tony who interrupted, “Do you have the pictures?”

“They are on my phone, which I don’t bring out when I’m on patrol. Too many cracked screens and not enough money to fix them,” you tried to lighten the mood, not liking the shift in the atmosphere ever since they separated you and Kate.

“So you have no proof?”

“I guess not, no.” God, you desperately wanted to please these people but they were making it so hard to do so.

Tony scribbled something down on a piece of paper, “Carry on.”

“When we were cleaning up our stuff I felt this sting on my hand and I saw this weird-looking spider had bitten me.”

“Weird how? Can you describe it?” Tony asked.

“It kinda glowed an ominous, mutated-looking green colour.” I watched as Tony underlined his scribbles, obviously wanting to know more.

“Then what happened?” he asked.

“I got sick. Fevers, headaches, cramps. They lasted about 3 days, I was basically bedbound and then I just slept for like 2 days straight. My roommate had to wake me up to eat and drink and stuff and then I woke up and I just felt different.”

This time, Natasha asked the question, “different how?”

“Stronger, more aware, and just like I had the power inside me,” I spoke, unconsciously using my hands to elaborate, “Eventually I figured it out, and then my roommate and I decided we could use it to help. We don’t have the avengers where I’m from, so it was kinda up to me to save the city.”

You continued to answer their questions, hoping that if you just complied, you would get to see Kate again. After about an hour, you were finally let out of the room, finding your raven-haired archer sitting on the floor outside Tony’s lab, her back resting against the wall and an incredibly bored look on her face.

“Jeeze, how many questions did you ask her?” Kate huffed whilst standing up.

“Enough to know she's not a threat,” Natasha answered, standing beside you with her arms crossed, her eyebrow raised watching the archer get up. “I’ll go speak to Fury and see what he wants to do, don’t go too far.”

—

“So, Miss Y/N Y/LN, 19 years old, biologically enhanced with spider-like powers along with bio-electricity and invisibility, fell from the sky and landed in our universe,” Fury began, sitting in his chair whilst you and kate sat on the other side, Clint and Natasha stood behind you. “With no way home.”

You furrowed your eyebrows at his words. In all the chaos that has happened you only now just realised the severity of it all. Everyone you left behind. Everyone you didn’t get to say goodbye to. You don’t know how you got here and you sure as hell have no idea how to get back. Kate noticed your shift in the mood but her chair was too far away for her to lend a comforting hand. Instead, she watched with a heavy heart as your eyes glassed over at Fury’s words.

“Tony has run some tests regarding last night's portal and has surprisingly accepted defeat in his ability to create another one to get you back home… I’m afraid you’re stuck with us.”

“She can stay with me,” Kate began, a hint of eagerness in her voice which didn’t go unnoticed by the red-headed assassin and her friend.

“That's very kind of Miss Bishop, however, I would like to keep a close eye on our new spider-friend, so she will be staying in the compound until I say so. I would like to understand more of her capabilities before I let her roam around the streets of New York with a rookie avenger.”

“But, Natasha said I wasn’t a threat?” You interrupted.

Fury looked at you with his good eye, and you regretted speaking immediately, “I find that actions speak louder than words, Miss Y/LN. Just because you answered some questions does not mean I trust you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. Sorry.” Even Kate knew not to break the silence that had consumed the room, only Natasha dared to speak up.

“You will start training with Wanda and Peter tomorrow morning,” she began, walking over to Fury’s desk to stand by his chair, directing her words at you. “I will be supervising, and relaying daily reports back to Fury on your progress and abilities.”

“Once we know more about you, perhaps you could make yourself useful and join us?” Fury added, his eyebrows raised with hope.

“And if I don’t?”

Fury let out a small chuckle, “Let's just say the U.S government don’t like enhanced personnel living unsupervised.”

“You’ll be put behind bars, kid,” Clint spoke up from behind you, “If you’re not with us, you’re a potential threat to us. The big boys don’t take threats too lightly, not when it comes to the enhanced.”

You sat silently for a moment, life as an avenger, or life behind bars. Not really much to think about really.

“I guess I’ll join your band then.”

---------

almosttoogay2function luminaaz thelonewriter24 redkaddict angel09172000 kassies-take girlssnrosess mxrvellouspidey belltako wandaroman0ff tu-mama727 7smexy7diva justhereformemes12345-blog lammy07 eonrioromanova me-uglypretty pinneapplequeenn puathepig lenalesbian kacka84 urmultifandomfan sheneonromanoff maximuscofi mxrvellouspidey livinginafanfic rooooooe

[damiano-mylove]

The members of Måneskin with a pregnant S/O

Obvi dealings w pregnancy, so warning for dysphoria *Masterlist*

Vic

Look, Vic doesn't baby you often, but if you were pregnant, you'd better believe she'd be at your entire beck and call

She would do anything you suggested within the blink of an eye - and first, that irked you a little because you can do things yourself, but then it got to become a blessing when you got further along in the pregnancy

In the beginning, Vic would take you on walks around the neighbourhood and through some parks

Some of your cravings were a bit out of pocket, but Vic would still pull through with pickles and ice cream, or lettuce and chocolate (she would draw the line at Pica, however)

Foot massages would definitely be in order toward the end of the pregnancy, especially if you were more swollen than anticipated

Vic would suggest a nap or at least a sit down every two hours, which, again, was annoying at first, but got to be one of the brighter moments of your pregnancy

Polaroid pictures of your bump and Vic kissing it, saying that these were her first kisses with your baby

While you two would cuddle at night, Vic would put her hands on your growing bump, and she was actually the first person (other than you) to feel the baby kicking one early, early morning

There was no one who loved you in maternity clothes more than Vic, she thought you looked absolutely stunning in them

Thomas

The second you broke the news to Thomas, he lost his ever-loving marbles

Thomas was overjoyed by the news; that you two were to bring a child into the world together, and he immediately started pointing out his favourite parts of you and him that he hopes the baby would have

His ass would immediately be on Google, looking up the best ways to support and aid you in the journey that you two would be taking together as new parents

'Baby, I promise, Google says cabbage leaves help with sore boobs'

He was right, but it was still a pretty outlandish thing to hear at 3 am, after you'd just had to piss about 5 times in the course of a few hours

Thomas would dote on you mercilessly

It would get a bit embarrassing sometimes, but he would always secure you a spot to sit on the train, which was quite nice of him

In the nights, on those rare occasions where you would be asleep, Thomas would lie awake, talking to your stomach, to the baby - assuring them that they'd come into the world with ridiculously loving parents who would do anything for them

One night you heard Thomas telling the baby would much they would love you - though Thomas was never told that you knew

Ethan

Ethan took 'we're in this together' as literally as humanly possible

He was on the pregnancy diet with you the second you both found out (not your weird ass cravings, but he'd rarely stop you from fulfilling your cravings)

Over the course of the pregnancy, Ethan started to stay home more and more, strengthening your relationship to ensure that your child would come into the world with parents who loved each other as purely as the cleanest spring water

Ethan would massage bio-oils and lotions into your forming stretch marks every night before bed, which turned into one of the only ways you'd be able to get to sleep

The hospital bag was packed before you even hit 5 months along

And Ethan began stock piling diapers, formula, bottles, onesies even sooner - because he would see them at the store and just feel a pull to buy them

The assurance Ethan offered you was absolutely insane but greatly appreciated

If you two had gotten married and your wedding ring couldn't fit around your finger because it was too swollen, Ethan would buy you a chain to be able to wear your ring as a necklace instead

Ethan was the first kiss the baby ever received once they came out

Damiano

The baby shower Damiano would throw for you would be ridiculous

There would be a two story cake of your favourite flavour, and he hand wove you a crown of flowers to wear at the party

Every possible second of the pregnancy, Damiano's hands would be on your stomach from behind, because he used your bump like the same arm rest as you did

Damiano would dramatically cut down on smoking, but there would be no way he could totally quit - which you didn't mind, he wasn't the one pregnant and he tried to smoke away from you so you didn't get any cravings (or really intense ones)

It was a big announcement for your friends, but your families only found out because at a dinner one night, you opted out of wine for a water - somehow Damiano's mother immediately knew

By your side indefinitely, Damiano would go along with you to every single doctor's appointment

Baby names were in the works almost immediately - and they were all so beautiful that you could barely decide (a vote between the two of you was in order)

When the baby was out and came home, Damiano held them so often that people told you that they'd never learn to walk

[patt-writes-stuff]

Beach Days with The Genshin Characters!

Wc: 1.7k+

Type: Headcanons

CW: umm nothing except mentions of alcohol and maybe people being creeps? (None of the chars or you tho it’s very brief)

A/N: HI IM BACK FROM THE DEAD! These were supposed to be a lot shorter but I got too excited. If you by any chance wanna see some for your fav character lmk! I know it says request are closed in my bio but since it’s just hcs it’s a lot less (and I really enjoyed writing these so ajdhdhdk)

🔥Diluc:

This man cannot swim. Tell me otherwise, I dare you.

Kaeya tried to jokingly push him off a lil diving cliff area when they were kids.

He almost drowned. Kaeya was in a lot of trouble.

So, good luck getting this man to actually get in the water. The most he’ll do is sit on the shore where it’s very shallow.

He usually prefers to just stay under an umbrella on the sand and keep an eye on you.

Calls you every two hours in advance and helps you reapply sunscreen.

He’s very pale so I feel like he burns pretty easily, meaning he needs to reapply super frequently otherwise he will become a tomato. He brings like three bottles of the good shit. Tch, rich boy.

If you ask him to build a sandcastle, he will pretend to be annoyed but do it anyways. Ends up finding it kind of enjoyable.

He has the maids prepare a nice picnic basket for the two of you!! It’s got all your favorite foods plus grape juice cuz y’know.

If any creepy peeps approach you, don’t worry. He brought his vision and his claymore.

Of course, he won’t have to resort to such violent lengths. Everyone in Mondstadt knows who Diluc is and they probably know you’re his s/o, so they’re usually smart enough to mind their own business.

If they don’t, don’t worry. Diluc’s glare is more than enough to scare them away.

All in all I definitely recommend a beach day with him! I’ll give it a solid 8/10 (-2 for not wearing floaties and getting in the water with you or letting you teach him how to swim.

🖌Albedo:

You guys definitely 100% take Klee out with you on a beach day.

You guys bring snacks, beach toys like buckets and shovels for optimal sandcastle building, a picnic blanket, etc.

Jean definitely packs a lot more stuff for you guys to take with you than you actually need.

It’s only cuz she’s worried for Klee and is nervous about not being able to go with you guys though! It’s very sweet really.

Klee tries to bomb the fish and cause havoc at the beach 😭

I think Albedo is a good swimmer and gets in with you and Klee so that he can help her (which is very cute omfg)

He’s set total workaholic, as we know, so it took a lot of convincing to get him to put down his experiments and accompany you to the beach (however, he’s particularly weak to yours and klee’s puppy dog eyes so he caved eventually)

Though, looking at you and Klee happily building sandcastles and decorating them with pretty seashells of all shapes and colors, he can’t really find it in himself to complain.

He, of course, takes this opportunity to take out his sketchbook and draw the waves, seagulls, you… Of course he won’t let you see the sketch book no sir. He’s a bit embarrassed to be honest, but an artist such as himself recognizes beauty when he sees it so he simply had to draw you. (God I love him so much)

If a creepy person approaches you,- well don’t worry. The sight of a small arsonist child blowing up fish is enough to scare them away 🥰

At the end of the day, all three of you are all ticketed out. Albedo has to carry Klee back to Mondstadt because the poor baby fell asleep the moment you started drying her hair with the beach towel. You’re, of course, carrying back Dodoco and your bags. (You also manage to sneak a peak at Albedo’s sketchbook and find some very pretty drawings of you and Klee with your sandcastle)

At the end of the day, you guys tuck Klee in and read her a bedtime story (she woke up and insisted). Afterwards Albedo takes you back home and thanks you for coming with you and Klee (which you ofc say wasn’t a problem because how could you not???)

All in all? I’ll give it a solid 10/10. You’ve got tasty food, fun times, your boyfriend and his cute kid adoptive sister (yes I am very biased idc)

🦋Xiao:

I think it would take a lot of convincing to get Xiao to go out on a beach date with you.

He’ll probably see it as a distraction getting in the way of his slaying of monsters and demons.

However, he also worships the grounds you walk on (hehe, simp XD), so I don’t think it’ll take that much convincing on your part (especially because it’s is self appointed duty to keep you safe so if you insist on going with or without him, he supposes he’ll have to go)

Is definitely a bit tense at first. He doesn’t know how to let loose and chill so while you’re sun tanning on a beach chair he’s like 🧍‍♂️ahdgshjsjd

Eventually calms down a bit though! You get him to relax and eat some almond tofu you brought along with you. It definitely gets him to perk up.

I don’t think he would mind getting into the water but I do think he’d rather walk along the shore and collect pretty seashells and sea glass.

He later gives the ones he deems pretties to you (he hands them over to you with a blush on his face and pretends it’s not a big deal and he definitely gets all pouty and grouchy when you coo at how adorable he is)

As for creeps, Xiao is both intimidating and well known in Liyue. No one is brave enough (or, let’s be honest, dumb enough) to approach you with any bad intentions.

Sure, Xiao has sworn never to harm a human/citizen of Liyue but that doesn’t mean he can’t scare the absolute shit out of them.

I think Xiao would definitely enjoy a beach day 🥺🥺. He’d find it very relaxing to go out with you and just hear the sound of waves and feel the sand under his feet.

He’d definitely hint at wanting to do it again later. Of course, he won’t tell you. No, that’s a foolish mortal activity and he has much better things to do.

Wait no, don't turn around, yes he will go with you next month.

All in all, I give Xiao a 9/10. It’s a very relaxing day (which he deserves 😤). And you get to see a whole new side of him.

💎Ningguang:

OK SO ORIGINALLY I WASN'T GONNA WRITE ONE FOR HER (at least not in this post) BUT THEN I THOUGHT OF LADY NINGGUANG TAKING YOU TO A WHOLE ASS PRIVATE BEACH

She knows you don’t care about how exclusive the beach you go to is (in fact, the fact that you don’t care about where you are or what you do is one of the things that make her fall more and more madly in love with you) but you deserve the best so she’s gonna go all out.

She’s a busy lady so days like this where the two of you get to go somewhere and be together are few and far between.

She knows it’s hard to be in a relationship with someone who is busy 24/7, so she appreciates how you remain by her side despite all hardships. (Y’all are a whole ass power couple istg)

The two of you spend your day relaxing. Sun bathing, drinking piña coladas, maybe taking a dip in the ocean. It’s all very pleasant!

Ningguang doesn’t quite feel like the type of person who would sit in the sand and make sandcastle, however you’re more than welcome to make some yourself. She finds it endearing <3

If you insist on her helping, she’ll eventually comply. She loves you too much to say no. I feel like she’ll either be terrible at it or like a total architect.

Sand is technically like tiny rocks right? So maybe she can use her vision to help her? If that’s the case, she’s making a replica of the Jade chamber out of sand.

If any creepy person comes up to you don’t worry. Ningguang will buy the whole beach and then use her right of admission as owner to permanently ban them from the beach you’re at.

The only downside to a day at the beach with Ningguang might be that there’s a big chance she’ll be called to tend urgent matters, seeing as she is the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing and all.

If that does happen, she’ll be sure to make it up to you somehow, whether it be rescheduling or taking care of the matter as soon as possible so that the two of you can get back to your day of relaxation and fun.

All in all?? Lady Ningguang will treat you like total royalty and the two of you will have an amazing time! I give her an 11/10 (she would literally buy a whole beach for you to be comfortable I mean c’mon)

🍃Venti:

BEACH DAYS WITH HIM ARE SO FUN!!

Swimming? Yeah, he’d love to! Sunbathing? Sure! He’ll ever conjure up a light breeze for the two of you. Sandcastle building? WELL OF COURSE WHY DO YOU THING HE BROUGHT ALL THESE BUCKETS AND SHOVELS?

No but seriously, he might be the best person out of everyone here to go to the beach with. He’s fun, free spirited, and he’s a traveling bard who’s been alive long enough to know where all the best beaches in Teyvat are. (He also knows a guy- er, well, dragon I suppose- who is willing to fly them to any place).

He’ll play some soft tunes while you doze under the sun.

HE PICKS PRETTY SHELLS AND GIFTS THEM TO YOU!!!

He will bring booze. I’m pretty sure this is a necessity. If you’re a little upset about it, he’ll probably “eheh~” his way out of it. That slick bastard.

If you really insist on him not drinking, he won’t consume much alcohol.

If some creepy person approaches you and tries to ruin you your day of beach time fun, all of their stuff will suddenly be blown away, causing them to scramble back to their spot and (almost embarrassingly) flail around trying to catch everything. What a shame…

At the end of the day, he’d be a little sad to leave. Definitely makes plans about tbe two of you going back soon.

I gotta give him a 10/10 he’s just so fun omg.

[duuhrayliegh]

Hello, darling! I was wondering if you could right some Bucky x reader, where the reader worked along Sharon during Civil War and she meets Bucky. Then she runs always with Sharon and meets Bucky again in Madripoor and continue their story. I hope that makes sense. Thank yooouuuu✨✨✨

hey babes!! yes i absolutely can! i kind of gave more background than i meant to making it way longer, but i hope you enjoy it anyway! i do want to continue this story and most definitely will be so be on the lookout for the other parts of it lovie <3. i hope you still enjoy it even though it isn’t quite what you asked for yet :)

A Friend of Yours

FATWS SPOILERS

warnings: not much, canon lvl violence, some suggestive stuff closer towards to end, language, i think that’s it

word count: 6140 i went a bit overboard, it’s fine i’m totally fine

a/n: i got this request and then didn’t stop writing all day. i didn’t get anything else done all day. i got home at like seven-ish? and i’ve been sitting on the floor of my bedroom just writing this fic (for context it is now 12:47 pm where i’m at)

check out A Friend of Yours - pt. 2 and A Friend of Yours - pt. 3

p.s.: this is the first fic that i’m writing with an actual ‘x reader’ i’m so proud

xoxo ray

ray’s m.list

******************************

You grew up with Sharon, the two of you were best friends from birth it seemed. Honestly, Peggy raised you more than your own parents did. When Aunt Peggy got Sharon her first thigh holster, she got you one too. You enlisted together, moved up the ranks together, everything. So, it was of no shock to anyone that after the fall of SHIELD, you both moved together into the CIA’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

You were inside the hotel with Sharon, Steve and Sam when the bombing on the UN took place. The look of unbridled fear that fell over Steve’s face as they announced Barnes as the primary suspect was heart wrenching. You weren’t able to watch it for long because your phone was already ringing off the hook.

“Look, you need to get me more information, and now.” You gritted into your phone speaker before quickly hanging up the phone and turning to a crestfallen Steve who was still watching the news casting. Sharon ended her phone call and turned to you.

“We have to go to work.” A few short hours on a jet later, you and Sharon were coordinating the operation. Close by, Steve and Sam were awaiting new information. Steve had this insane plan to find Barnes before the whole rest of the world did. Like that’s going to happen, it took the world 70 years to find Barnes. Of course, Steve and Sam are going to find him in about half that time.

You followed the blonde woman into a busy coffee shop and up to the counter. She slid a manila folder over to a well disguised Captain America. “Tips have been pouring in since that footage went public. Everyone thinks the Winter Soldier goes to their gym. Most of it’s just noise, except this.” Sharon was talking quietly, trying to not draw attention to the fact that she was committing a serious offense.

“We have to give the briefing, like now Shar, so we have to go.” The two of you pushed off the counter and you turned quickly to say one last thing. “And you better hurry. They’ve given the order to shoot on site.”

You left the shop quickly and made your way back to the white tent, passing the redheaded spy who was watching you like a hawk. A look of understanding crossed her features as you kept a calm facade. She fucking knows, how the hell could she read you that easily?

*********************************

The next time you saw any of them, they were exiting the back of an armored prison van. It was no surprise that his eyes flitted over to his best friend from childhood. You glanced over at Barnes, who was strapped in all different ways, and your heart hurt for him. You tried not to pity him, you know you would’ve gotten a slap on the wrist from Aunt Peggy about it.

Bucky must’ve felt you looking at him because his steel blue eyes locked with your pair. This was the first time that you’ve ever actually seen the man in person. It was startling, in a good way. You grew up going to the Smithsonian and hearing Aunt Peggy’s stories about the great James Buchanan Barnes. You never thought that you’d get the chance to meet the man you did a history report on your freshman year of high school.

“Y/N?” Sharon’s voice cut through your thoughts, recalling you to reality and out of your past. “We have to go. We’ve been assigned to monitor Steve and Sam while they’re here.” Sharon was clearly not a fan of this, which made you laugh loudly.

“Oh, score! We get to babysit Captain America and the Falcon!” You spoke in an unnecessarily upbeat voice and then clapped your hands together. “Our dream job! Let’s go, Shar!” She stared at you for a millisecond before slapping a hand on your shoulder.

“Let’s go, you fucking dork.” You followed her through the office building into the control room where you observed Tony talking to Steve. Apparently, the conversation was not going well because both their faces held angry glares. Eventually, Tony left the room, leaving Steve alone with his thoughts and that can never be good.

“How you doing, Cap?” You asked as you less-than-gracefully plopped yourself into the chair across from him. He looked over at me and released a heavy sigh.

“Honestly, Y/N, not that great at the moment.” He looked at you with his iconic mom Steve stare. Wow, so that’s what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that. Sam walked in and sat next to you. You drowned out their conversation as your gaze focused on screens outside of the glass office.

The video feed of Barnes in his metal cage was displayed on a TV screen. How is this considered humane? Obviously you knew that the CIA had pushed boundaries in the past, but this was just insane. “Are those restraints really necessary?” Sam seemed to be just voicing his thoughts, not expecting a response back.

“Well, he is considered an international terrorist, so yeah, they’re kind of necessary.” You said quickly and then muttered under your breath, “No matter who thinks that it’s excessive.” Steve’s gaze met yours and he was about to speak when Sharon walked in and dropped a paper in front of Sam.

“The receipt for your gear.” A scoff sounded from Sam as he glared at Sharon.

“‘Bird costume’? Come on.” Always quick to defend your best friend.

“Hey, we didn’t write it up.” It came off snappier than you had meant it. Sharon shot you a look, signaling you to back off. You raised a brow at her as she leaned over the table to the intercom buttons.

The audio from Barnes’ evaluation echoed through the glass room. Everyone around you was unsuspecting the four of you listened in. The psychologist was talking to Barnes, who seemed incredibly closed off. Who could blame the guy though?

“I’m not here to judge you. I just want to ask a few questions. Do you know where you are, James?” The psychologist paused for a second, looking down and off to the side. “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me, James.” The caged man spoke for the first time.

“My name is Bucky.” His voice was rough from not being used. A look crossed Steve’s face and he turned to Sharon.

“Why would the Task Force release that photo to begin with?” Sharon’s body turned to face the man speaking to her. Her brows furrowed while she answered.

“Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?” Your head tilted, trying to follow Steve’s train of thought.

“Right. Good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier.” Oh shit.

“You’re saying someone framed him?” You wanted to believe it with every fiber in your being.

“Steve, we looked for the guy for two years and found nothing.” Sam reminded in a calm tone.

“Yeah, you didn’t bomb the UN though. That turns quite a few heads. Especially if prominent people like King T’Chaka end up dead because of it.” You made a good point, but there were still pieces missing.

“That doesn’t guarantee that they would find him. It guaranteed that we would.” Sharon and Steve began examining the room around them. Your attention returned to the audio emitting from the intercom.

“You fear that,“ the doctor paused, “if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop. Don’t worry.” He glanced down again and moved his hand to swipe something away.

“Guys?” You pointed to the screen as the doctor held up his pointer finger.

“We only have to talk about one.” All of the sudden, the screens went dark and the lights flickered off. Secretary Ross was yelling at technicians to get his video back. Tony was speaking to his AI, Friday, about locating the source of the outage. Steve and Sam tensed at the thought of what could be going on with Barnes.

“Sub-level five, east wing.” was all Sharon said as the pair ran off. You looked at her and threw your hands in the air.

“What the hell do we do now, Shar?” She glared at you as she started reasoning with you.

“They’re stronger than we are. If they can contain whatever the hell is happening down there then great. In the event that they can’t, we’ll be up here with Natasha and Tony to deal with it.” You nodded quickly as you both ran out of the room.

You quickly followed Natasha, Tony and Sharon to the main level of the building. Clearly Steve and Sam were unsuccessful in containing the situation because Barnes could be seen through the glass, fighting his way to his destination.

Tony stunned Barnes with a previously concealed Iron Man glove. Barnes started towards Tony and quickly attacked. After Barnes bested Tony, it wasn’t long before Natasha rushed the man alongside Sharon. It wasn’t hard for Barnes to throw Sharon across the room. Natasha took the opportunity to launch herself onto his shoulders, which caused Barnes to slam her into a table with his metal hand wrapped around her neck.

She mumbled something to him as you kicked his ribs, releasing his chokehold on her. He stumbled backwards, his hard gaze landed on yours as he approached. Your eyes locked on his as the two of you traded blows.

They weren’t the same eyes as before. Those eyes were soft and remorseful, these were hard and unattached. There was no emotion behind the pair staring at you. The fraction of a second that you were analyzing his eyes in your head was enough for him to catch you off guard. His metal fist landed in your rib cage. The opposite hand jabbed at your face, busting your lip and sending you flying backwards.

You hit your head on the concrete below, making your eyes roll back. The wind left your lungs and you gasped to get it back as Barnes and T’Challa fought in the background. It was a few minutes later that a concerned Sharon made her way over to you.

“Are you okay?” You looked her over as she did you, checking for any severe injuries. You offered a small nod, not wanting to shake your head too much in fear of a concussion. “Let’s go check in with Ross.”

******************

“And how the hell did Rogers and Wilson even know where to find Barnes?” Ross’ voice boomed through the office. No one said anything, not wanting to incur the wrath of Secretary Ross. “I’ve already allowed Stark 36 hours to find them and bring them back here.” Ross turned to you and Sharon standing in the corner of the room. “If they contact any of you, report it immediately.” Rounds of ‘yes, sirs’ bounced around the room, then chaos ensued as everyone got back to trying to clean up this mess.

“Carter. Y/L/N. Elevator now.” He raised two fingers to point toward the elevators before walking into one. It was just the three of you in the enclosed space. He clicked the button for the ground floor. “I know you have some kind of connection to Rogers but do not let that cloud your judgement. The both of you are CIA agents first.”

“We understand, Secretary.” The elevator doors opened again and you went to step out when Ross stopped you again.

“I mean it, girls. This is your job on the line here.” You and Sharon shared a look before continuing walking. Did he just call us girls?

“Do you think that was supposed to be intimidating?” You laughed under your breath as you went out to the parking lot. Sharon sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

“Probably.” She looked at you over the top of her car. “You don’t have to come with me.”

“Where do we start?”

****************************

Getting that fucking shield and bird suit wasn’t easy. They had moved it from the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre to the US Embassy to await transport back to the States. It made it easier but still damn near impossible to get. Thankfully, you and Sharon are good liars. Skills of a misspent youth.

The two of you walked in the front door and displayed your badges. “We’re here to pick up Captain America and the Falcon’s effects.” The man behind the counter didn’t even question it. Man, they need better people at the Embassy.

“You’ll have to sign some paperwork saying you picked it up.” There it is. You both flicked a brow and Sharon held her hand out for the clipboard. Small scratches from the pen in her hand were echoing throughout the empty building.

She handed the clipboard back to the man behind the counter. “Okie dokie, just pull your car around to the side of the building and we’ll get you loaded up.” He shot them a small smile and turned around to file the papers.

“That was easy enough.” You whispered to Sharon as you left, not wanting your voice to carry. You walked to your car that was parked in front of the iron wrought gate. Pulling your car around to the side of the building, you popped the trunk. The gear clad Embassy soldier carelessly tossed Sam’s suit inside before gently placing the shield on top of it.

“Hey, if there’s a scratch on that suit, it’s coming out of your paycheck buddy.” You held your pointer finger up to the man’s unimpressed face.

“Y/N, let’s go. We’ve got to get these to the jet or Ross will have our heads. Remember it’s our job on the line here.” What Sharon said made you laugh big while hauling yourself back into the driver’s seat of the car. As you pulled out into the street, Sharon was typing away on her phone and pushing it to her ear.

“This is a secure line but I don’t know for how long, so don’t talk just listen.” She took a deep breath and then continued. “We want to help. Meet us under the bridge on Route 6. We’ll be there in two hours.” She ended the call quickly and threw the phone outside the car. Glancing over at you, she nodded and sighed again.

“We’ve gotten this far.” You had one question burning in your throat that you were afraid to ask.

“Where do we go after they’ve gone?” She looked at you and she was biting her lip, something she only did when she was incredibly stressed.

“I don’t know yet. Do you have any ideas?” You smiled and thought of the one place that you wouldn’t be followed.

“Yeah, I’ve got one, but it’s rough.”

***************************

The drive to the underpass wasn’t a hard one. You had beat the boys there so you and Sharon were sitting in the car. You had the radio playing softly in the background.

“Who the hell do you know in Madripoor?” You laughed and shrugged.

“I’m supposed to tell you all my secrets for free?” You shook your head and shifted in your seat to face her fully. “I was tasked with tracking some artwork down there. One of my assignments when we went through initiation for the Agency.” You picked at the holes in your jeans. “I thought it was just all fake stuff, but I researched it more and more. Turns out, the underground artwork dealing is really lucrative over there.”

Sharon stared at you in amazement. “What did you do, Y/N?” You smirked.

“I haven’t done anything.” You held her gaze, “Yet.” She released a small laugh and her mouth hung open a bit. “I may have a warehouse out there.” You squinted one of your eyes, and leaned forward. “And the apartment above it.” She was going to say something when an old ass blue Beetle pulled up behind you.

“Now how the fuck did they all fit in that tiny ass car?” You both laughed as you stepped out of the car with big smiles on your faces.

“Not sure you understand the concept of a getaway car.” Steve walked up to Sharon and they began talking as she popped the trunk, revealing their gear. Your attention was on the men in the car behind them. Barnes was stuck in the back away from cameras and Sam was lounging in the passenger seat. Your eyes met Barnes’ again, they were back to the remorseful pair you saw the first time.

“You know he kind of tried to kill us.” You waved your hand in gesture to the man in the car.

“Sorry, I’ll put it on the list too.” He glanced back down at Sharon, who had migrated closer to him. “They’re going to come looking for you.”

She nodded, “I know.” Then the most awkward kiss in all of kissing history took place. Your brows shot up then furrowed quickly, a small wince overtaking your face. They pulled apart and traded more words. Sharon began walking back to the passenger side of the car.

Steve turned around and you looked back at the two men in the car. Both of them were wearing proud, smug grins. Steve threw his head back as if he was berating them.

“About damn time, Cap! She’s been pining over you for God knows how long now.” The windows were down in the Beetle so the other two heard you shouting at their friend.

“Y/N!” Sharon was a bit embarrassed.

“What? It’s the truth, Shar!” The two of you began bickering like an old married couple as you started the car again. Steve got all he needed from the trunk and shut it quickly, slapping it twice. You began driving off with Sharon giving you directions to an airport on the opposite side of the country.

***********************

That was the last time you saw Steve. Last time you saw anyone for a while. You had been dusted in the Blip. Sharon had followed you to your apartment in Madripoor. The two of you were able to figure the city out pretty quickly. Learning the ins and outs of the island, where to go, who to sell to. One afternoon, you and Sharon had been surveying a Van Gogh piece for your gallery when you flew away. In the middle of a fucking deal, what perfect timing.

Five years later, you were reunited with an even more successful Sharon. “I kept your room the way you left it.” She said as she led you through your shared home. “I figured that you’d be back and you’d be pissed off if I fucked with anything.”

You smiled at the woman gratefully and hugged her. Neither of you let go for a while. When you did, she started filling you in on everything. She had continued to split all her profits and had been depositing the money into your account. “Even if you didn’t come back, I could’ve used it if I needed to bug out. Win-win.” She explained with a smile.

The two of you had about six months of getting back into the groove of things. It was quickly cut off by a ping of your phones one day. A look of confusion and anger crossed her face, “Are you fucking kidding me?” She locked eyes with you and told you to get your gear.

“Where are we going?” She threw her phone at you and you looked at the screen. As soon as you read the notification at the top of it you understood. Repeating your question from before, you tied the knots on your Converse. You followed Sharon to the Low Town side of the island.

“Now what the fuck are they doing here, do you think?” The two of you camped outside of the Brass Monkey nightclub, ready for whatever came your way. Deciding that you were too visible to everyone else, you moved to the building across from the club. Something is bound to go wrong and the first place they're going to get ran to is this dead end alley.

Sure enough, not even ten minutes later, Sam, Barnes, and Zemo got cornered in the alleyway. Sharon had decided to stay on the ground floor next to the door. You shot two of the assassins following the group of three and Sharon took out the final one.

You made your way back down to Sharon, who was still holding her gun up. “You cost me everything.” She focused her gun on Zemo.

“Sharon, wait. Someone recreated the super soldier serum and Zemo had a lead.” Sam remarked calmly, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Explains why you guys are here and Selby’s dead.” Your brows shot up at that, must of been new information that she got while you were upstairs.

“Why are you here, Sharon?” Sam questioned.

“She was one of the ones who stole Steve’s shield, remember?” You stepped forward, raising your gun to gesture to the men in front of you. “And the wings, so your ass,” you waved at Sam, “could save his ass,” at Barnes, “from his ass.” You lowered your gun and stepped in front of Zemo, staring the man down. Your fist balled and you launched it at Zemo, landing a solid hit to his cheekbone.

Barnes grabbed your hand, twisting your body to slot against his with your arm bent behind your back. He leaned close to your ear, breath making shivers trickle down your spine. “I only let you do that because I’ve wanted to for a while now, so don’t get any more ideas.” Your breath hitched because of the proximity of the man behind you.

“Alright, give me my Y/N back.” Sharon said, lowering her gun to holster it. Bucky held onto you for a few more seconds than necessary and then pushed you towards Sharon as he released you. You scoffed, then shoved your gun into the waistband of your jeans. Sam and Sharon had already started their own conversation by the time you calmed down enough to face Barnes.

Sharon bobbed her head to you, an unspoken language between the two of you. After bringing them into your home, Sam began admiring the artwork in the first floor gallery. “Looks like breaking the law is treating you two well.”

“Before even graduating into the Agency, I had a place over here. Never had any intention on using it, but here we are.” You started, “Then, after having to flee Berlin, for you,” You shot a look at Bucky, “we figured if we had to hustle, might as well enjoy the good life. Do you know how much we can get for a real Monet?”

“Deactivate your hustle mode. You sell fake Monet’s.” Sharon shot him a look, about to defend us when Zemo cut in.

“No. She means real. This gallery is specialized in stolen artwork. Monet. Van Gogh. All the classics.” Sam made a face of disbelief.

“It’s true. You know, half the artwork in museums like the Louvre is fake. Real stuff sits in places like this.” Bucky gestured to the gallery. Sam pulled his phone out of his suit pocket.

“Okay, guys, I see what you’re doing. You’re more worldly than good old Sam.” He was typing furiously as he spoke. Bucky passed him, soundlessly following you and Sharon to the upstairs apartment.

“Yeah. What’s Google say?” Once the five of you got upstairs, Sharon began walking them into her office, telling them that they needed to change because we were hosting clients. It didn’t take long for the men to switch outfits. It was refreshing to see Barnes in something other than combat gear or a torn Henley. Sharon followed you in the office, making a remark at Sam while he apologised.

“Look, you know the whole hero thing is a joke, right? The way you gave up that shield, deep down, you must know it’s all hypocrisy.” She said as you plopped yourself on one of the plush chairs across from the couch, holding a clear glass full of whiskey.

“He knows. And not so deep down.” Zemo added quietly, since when is Zemo informed? Sharon glazed over his comment, opting for asking about the new Cap while filling a glass for herself.

“Don’t get me started.” Barnes spoke for the first time since being downstairs. You narrowed your eyes at the man.

“Please. You buy into all that stars and stripes bullshit.” You swung your glass to Zemo, “Before you were his pet psychopath, you were Mr. America! Cap’s best friend.” His gaze darted over to you, nose wrinkling at your comment.

“Do you know who I am?” He tried to be intimidating but it was just funny to you. You were taking a drink to moisten your throat to fire back a witty comeback, when Sharon spoke for you.

“Oh trust me, she knows. She did a report on you freshman year of high school.” You started choking on your drink as Sharon smirked from the couch next to Barnes. His brows raised and a smug smile graced his face.

“She did now?” Clearly he was a different man from the last time you saw him. Meeting his eyes for the fourth time ever, you were surprised with what you saw. There was almost a hunger lingering behind his eyes.

“Most definitely. I don’t even know how many times she went to the Smithsonian to see the exhibit about you.” You glared at Sharon, who continued to talk, unbothered by you. She raised her own glass to her lips, speaking into her cup, muffling her words.  “Honestly, think she developed a little crush.” Barnes’ eyes never left your face, his mind racing.

“Wait, so the entire time you were helping me and Steve, you had a crush on Tin Man?” Sam interjected, wanting to be included in the conversation. You rolled your eyes and gave a subtle nod to Sam. The action wasn’t missed by Bucky.

“Which is why I think it must’ve been really hard for you to ask him of all people for help. They comin’ down real hard on you out there?” You asked Barnes with a smirk and a head tilt towards Zemo. “I know he fucked you up real good, triggering the Soldier, Barnes.”

Sam laughed beside him. “Dude, that’s basically what you told Walker.” Barnes threw a glare at Sam, who had clapped a hand on his metal shoulder. The conversation dissipated after your comment, guess you killed the vibe.

Sam turned to a relaxed Sharon, “We need your help.” Her body tensed, neither one of you was ready to throw yourself back into enemy territory. “I can get your name cleared.” He dangled a huge bargaining chip in front of her face. You knew Sharon was eager to get back to the States. She misses her dad. It was unfair of Sam to use that as a way to gain her favor.

“Haggling with someone’s life like that isn’t okay, Sam.” You said quietly, focusing your gaze on the glass in your hand.

“It’s not like that, Y/N.”

“Yes, it is, Sam.” You said firmly. “You can’t just say something like that. I know you’re an Avenger. That’s great shit, but you need to realize that if you can’t deliver on your word, we go to jail or worse. You know that.”

“I don’t trust charity, Sam.” Sharon said from beside Barnes.

“All right, a deal then. You help us out, and I get your names cleared.” Your nostrils flared and you shook your head. Sharon agreed, blinded by the possibility of seeing her family again. You don’t doubt that she thought through all the outcomes, it just wasn’t the route you would’ve taken.

“We sell to some pretty connected people. Lay low, blend in, and enjoy the party.” She got up, exiting the office.

“Try to stay outta trouble, boys.” You said placing your glass on Sharon’s desk as you left. “We’ll see what we can find.”

*********************************

You were standing next to Sharon when the three men joined the party. Leaning over to Sharon, you told her you were going to get a drink from the bar. You pushed your way through the crowd, planting yourself on a stool in front of the countertop. Nodding your head at the bartender, they passed you a bottle of club soda.

“Not drinking tonight?” A raspy voice questioned over your shoulder. You turned to face the owner as you shrugged your shoulders.

“Already had my fill. And technically, I’m supposed to be working, Barnes.” Your eyes met with his again. You couldn’t tell if it was the light in the room or if it was just him, but they were a deeper shade of blue than before. He leaned his weight on his elbow that was resting on the bar top next to you. He was so close you could feel his body heat rolling off him in waves.

His eyes roamed your face, stopping on your lips as he spoke. “You know you can call me Bucky, right?” You made a face, bringing your bottle to your mouth. He watched intently as your lips wrapped around the opening.

“We’ve never had a single conversation before today. And the first time you actually met me, you twisted my arm behind my back because I punched the dickwad standing next to you.” You took another sip and his eyes drifted down to your throat. He watched as it bobbed when you swallowed.

“So, yeah. I’m going to call you Barnes.” You leaned closer, “I’ve never been given permission to call you anything else.” You could tell you struck something. Something that he didn’t even possibly know about. His face heated and he had to clear his throat before speaking.

“Um, okay. Well you can call me Bucky or if you want, James.” Your brow quirked and you pulled back to take him in fully.

“How many people have you let call you that since you got your free will back?” Your tone was serious, but your face held a smile.

“None, doll.” His eyes ran over your face again. “I just want to hear how it’ll sound coming from your mouth.” One of his metal fingers came up to rest on your bottom lip as your smile grew.

“James.” You whispered, just for him. What he was giving you was a privilege, one you were going to revel in. One corner of his mouth tugged upwards.

“Again.” He growled as his finger remained on your lip.

“James.”

“Again.”

“James.” The party around the two of you faded away. In your reality, it was just you and the man in front of you. A peaceful place, where nothing could change what was happening right at that moment.

Of course, reality is a bitch. And you never got what you wanted. Your jaw clenched as soon as your phone pinged. James dropped his hand from your face as he read the text with you.

Found Nagel. Meet us outside and if you find Bucky, tell him too.

You scrunched your nose and bit your lip. James’ hand was quick to pull your lip from your front teeth, before resting there for a second as he studied your face. He stepped back quickly, nodding his head for you to follow him.

**************************************

You don’t know how the hell Sharon managed to find him, but she did. You were in a shipping yard for storage cars. “Madripoor could give New York a run for its money.” Sam said as the five of you weaved your way through the containers.

“With a bounty on your head, the longer you’re in Madripoor, the less likely you’re ever leaving.” She glanced down at her phone in her hand. Nodding toward a red container, “Alright, he’s in there. Container 4621.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out five earpieces.

“We’ll keep watch while you guys talk to Nagel. But hurry. We’re on borrowed time.” You said as you watched everyone situate their pieces. Sharon turned around and began walking down an aisle not far from the container Nagel was in. You stopped James before he could go anywhere.

“Hey, be careful.” His eyes met yours and they were back to the normal steel blue. “Don’t forget who you are, James.” Something flashed behind his eyes, but his face showed no change.

“You too, Y/N. Don’t make me come out here and save your ass.” His eyes flicked down quickly and a smile spread quickly. “I mean, not that I would mind.” You rolled your eyes and shoved his shoulder, turning and walking down the aisle Sharon did.

“So,” She was leaned against a rusted container with a smug smile. “You and Bucky, huh?” You groaned and stood next to her.

“I don’t know, Shar. Neither one of us should be in a relationship. Especially since we’re both Enemies of the State, well one of us is, the other one was.” You turned your head to look at her. “What do you think about all of this?” She opened her mouth to speak when you both heard something ricochet off a metal wall.

She raised a finger to her mouth and crouched down before pressing that same finger to her earpiece. “Guys, we have company.” She took off down one end of the aisle and you down the opposite, ready to attack from both sides. There were three men walking towards Nagel’s container, you shot a look down to Sharon and she nodded.

She came from the back with a baton, whacking the last guy once in the knees and once in the head, disarming him. When the front man turned to help his comrade, you did the same move to him with your own baton. You both continued trading blows with the men. You had effectively taken out the first man, using his thigh to latch yourself to the third man’s shoulders. Situating yourself to use your body weight to flip him over, definitely knocking him out.

“Every bounty hunter in the city is here. We gotta go now, boys!” You yelled to your earpiece as you watched Sharon fight off another opponent.

It wasn’t until the gunfire started that Sharon said something else into the piece. “Guys, we’re seriously outta time here.” You both split off, out of each other’s view, battling your own demons. You were currently dealing with two of those said demons, when a third approached from behind. Locking you in a chokehold as the other two continued punching your ribs.

One of the hunters was suddenly ripped away from you. Punches were landing and groans were echoing through the alleyways. You threw all your body weight forward, throwing your assailant over your shoulder. Two gunshots rang out and then a third one, which landed a bullet hole between your aggressors eyes. Your head whipped around to face James, whose arm dropped back to his side.

He walked towards you, putting a hand on your back leading you to where Sharon and Sam were standing. Zemo pulled up in a blue convertible car, “Supercharged.” was all he said. Sam pointed his finger at the man in the driver’s seat.

“You’re going back to jail.”

“Do you want to find Karli or not?” James sighed heavily, his shoulder sinking with the action.

“He’s right. We need him. And there’s two of us, and at least twenty of them.” James got in the front seat, leaving the door open for Sam.

“Fine. But if you try that shit again--”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Zemo raised his hands in surrender. Sam turned to Sharon.

“Well, that was one hell of a reunion.” You leaned over the open door to talk to James. He looked at you with a sad face.

“Why don’t you come back to the States with us?” He tilted his head. “We could clearly use your help, doll.” You smiled at that and licked your lips before responding.

“You know we can’t. Not yet anyway.” He placed his finger back on your bottom lip, maintaining eye contact. “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me, James. That I can promise you.” He smiled and dropped his hand back to his lap.

Sam climbed into the seat behind James. “You’re not going to move your seat up, are you?” James smirked before replying.

“No.” You watched as they drove off, desperately wanting to see James again already.

You turned back to Sharon and the two of you began walking back towards High Town. “I think you should go for it.” 

[pepperonijem]

When He Sees Me || Peter Parker

MASTERLIST

Pairing:  Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: um peter might be a little ooc and that’s because i’m writing about my unfortunate crush but i basically just changed his name to peter parker any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental <3 

Word count: 2.5k

Summary: What if when he sees me, I like him and he knows it? What if he opens up a door and I can’t close it? Catching feelings for your best friend is never easy.

A/N: This fic is sponsored in part by @bitchassbucky, @spiderrpcrker, @shurisneakers, @midnightsunfae, and @blackberrybucky who instead of shutting down my feelings, hyped me up to turn my crush and some of the things that we’ve done into a fic <3 this goes out to anyone who has ever started crushing on their best friend.

Oh God, please don’t walk this way, please don’t wa-

“Oh, hey Peter!” The crack in your voice betrayed your attempt at a casual greeting, despite your efforts to disguise it with a cough. “How’s it-- how’s it hanging?”

“You good?” Peter smiled at you but his eyebrow quirked upwards in concern. “I just wanted to make sure we’re still on for tonight?” His concern faded into a wide grin as you nodded in response. Peter gave you a quick goodbye before walking away towards his next class.

As soon as you saw him turn into the classroom, you turned to face your closed locker, letting out a groan before setting your forehead against it. Peter had asked if you were good, and although you nodded, the butterflies in your stomach threatened to give you away. You were very much not good.

A tap on your shoulder snapped you out of your thoughts and you turned to see your friend MJ. “What did Peter do this time?” MJ asked. For the last month, every interaction with Peter -- there have been a lot -- ended this way: a groan of defeat and a few welted lines on your forehead from holding your head against your locker. You turned to give MJ a dirty look, annoyed by the amused smirk on her face.

“Absolutely nothing,” you sighed, finally lifting your head up to talk to her. You opened your locker as you talked, not wanting to make eye contact with MJ as you confessed your feelings. “He just… smiled… and everything went downhill from there.” You rolled your eyes as MJ laughed. “It’s getting worse, I have no idea how I’m going to get through tonight.”

MJ laid a hand on your shoulder. “Well we’ll all be there,” she offered. “And if it makes you feel better, no one’s even noticed. Just act normal and you’ll be fine.” She shrugged her shoulders as if that was the easiest thing to do. But you couldn’t act normal anymore, not with Peter. Not when normal means resting your head against his shoulder every time he makes you laugh. Not when normal means borrowing his clothes when his aunt May tells you to stay the night every time a study session runs too long. Not when normal means wearing the extra sweater he keeps for you because you always forget yours.

Normal was when you didn’t feel butterflies everytime he looked at you, before your curious heart got the better of you and you began to wonder what it might be like to hold his hand. Now, things were just weird. At least for you. Nothing on the surface had changed, no one noticed how your heart rate picked up every time Peter touched you, or how you suddenly felt hot whenever he winked at you. But inside your heart was navigating uncharted territory in your friendship, trying to traipse along the thin line that separated how things have always been and how you suddenly wish things could be.

Pulling your textbook out of your locker, you shut the locker door a just a little bit more aggressively than necessary. MJ gave you a small hug before linking her arm through yours as you walked to your next class.

For the rest of the day, you found it impossible to focus on anything. Instead of taking down notes on George Orwell in English, you found yourself absentmindedly doodling hearts. Everything just reminded you of Peter and your own confusing feelings. Thankfully, you didn’t share any classes with him today, leaving you enough solitude to think about just why you were so frustrated with yourself.

Logically, you knew there was nothing wrong with having a crush on someone. You’ve had plenty of crushes before, a few of which reflected a temporary lapse in judgement on your part. You remember telling Peter about each of them, gushing about the most basic acts of human decency as he rolled his eyes and told you that you deserve someone better, but nevertheless helping you pick up the pieces every time someone broke your heart. That, you realized, was what scared you the most.

If you were to date, and then break up… well who would be there with kind words and your favorite boba when everything fell apart? The thought of losing your best friend over emotions, feelings, left far too much to chance. Was the idea of holding his hand, of hearing him call you his enough to make you risk the friendship that has always been enough for you? It should be enough for you, you reminded yourself. There was too much on the line and not enough guarantee for you to risk it.

With that determination in mind, you steeled yourself for the rest of the day, determined to put your feelings to rest and go back to normal.

Unfortunately, that plan quickly fell through.

You got to the restaurant a half hour late with only a really good nap to blame. You felt bad that your friends were waiting for you, but when you got there, you found an empty spot next to Peter, where your usual order of ramen was waiting and against your will, the butterflies flew rampant. The noodle that hit Peter’s nose as he ate while waving you over made you laugh as you sat down beside him.

“I got you your usual,” Peter explained in between bites. You smiled and thanked him before digging in. Peter had done this for you many times, and you willed your body to fight against the flutter of your heart.

Thankfully, the rest of your dinner was going well, and everyone had plenty of stories to tell. MJ had begun doing more portraits of people in distress and revealed her latest piece -- a portrait of Peter slurping up a noodle only to get a rogue drop of soup in his eye. Ned and Betty were off again, but of course they tried to keep it civil (they were on again by the end of the night) so no one would have to pick sides. Flash teased Peter about the B that he made on his literature exam yesterday over poetry and Peter���s face turned beet red.

“Hey,” Peter began, attempting to defend himself. “I totally could’ve made a perfect score. I was just distracted.” He shrunk down in his seat a little bit, and the rest of you laughed teasingly.

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” Flash continued. “You’ve been drawing little hearts all over your notes, dude, it’s unsettling.” He rolled his eyes and took another bite of his food, swirling his fork around the bowl trying to grab as much noodle as possible.

Across the table, you and MJ made eye contact, a look of surprise between the both of you. You tried to signal her to say something before a weird silence fell on the table, but she was not reading your cues. Thankfully, Peter spoke again.

“H-hearts?” He repeated. “Why would I be drawing hearts on my notes?” Although he tried to play it off, the rise in pitch gave him away. He scrunched his face in exaggeration.

“Actually,” Betty began. “Now that I think about it, you were doing that in Spanish class too.” You glanced over at Peter who looked at you with panic in his eyes. You took a long sip of water, suddenly feeling a layer of sweat form at the back of your neck. “Wonder what that’s about.” She shrugged and turned to Ned asking if he wanted to split a slice of cheesecake with her.

Before Peter had a chance to try to defend himself once again, the waitress appeared. “Are you all ready for the check?” she asked.

“Yeah, but we’re splitting the check,” Flash replied. Betty rolled her eyes in response. “What? Just because I’m rich does not mean I have to share the wealth.”

The waitress nodded in response. As she was leaving Peter called her back. “Oh wait,” he called. “I’ll also be paying for this order,” he gestured to your bowl. She smiled at him and headed for the counter.

“Peter,” you smiled. “I have money, I can pay for myself.” Although Peter usually had to order for you, he didn’t usually pay for you, unless it was a special occasion.

“I know, I just wanted to be nice,” he responded, giving your shoulder a playful nudge. “Plus, you seem like you’ve had a rough week. Every time I see you, you seem to be lost in thought. What’s been on your mind?” The sentence came out casually, but the furrow in his brows revealed how concerned he actually has been. Peter was nothing if not observant, like he could sense things better than most people.

You let out a sigh, unsure of what to say. You didn’t want to lie to Peter, but you also didn’t want to tell him the truth, that you were thinking about him-- well, your feelings for him. Just when it seemed like he had backed you into a corner, however, the waitress had returned with the checks, and the question left unanswered.

After dinner, the six of you went to Flash’s house to watch a movie. He had a home theater and early access to new movies and he loved to remind everyone of that. Not that any of you minded, especially if it got you free popcorn and a movie out of it. Every week, a different person got to select the movie and today, unfortunately, was MJ’s turn.

You loved her, of course, but you absolutely detested her taste in movies. Mostly because she was a horror junkie, and you were absolutely not. Her last few turns however had been spent making sure you all had seen all of the Shrek movies. But today, she picked a horror film. Something about demons and the like. Peter and Betty cheered at her selection as Flash groaned. You settled into the couch in the back of the room and grabbed a blanket. Ned and Betty sat together on a smaller loveseat, and MJ sat on the floor in front of Flash’s seat, the perfect spot to be able to scare him with a single touch on his leg.

Peter sat down beside you, handing you a tub of popcorn and a soda. He pulled the blanket over his own lap as he sat criss-cross on the couch. You tried not to pay attention to how his leg was brushing against yours under the blanket, instead focusing on the screen as the room went dark.

The movie had just started, but you could already feel yourself tense up in expectation.The music was coming to a crescendo and you knew something was already going to happen. You didn’t realize just how tightly your fists had balled together in your lap till you jumped at the sound of Peter’s soft voice at the shell of your ear. “Are you okay?” He asked.

He tried to hold in a chuckle as you almost bounced the tub of popcorn off your lap. He grabbed it from you and set it to the side. “Look,” he pointed to the screen where the creature’s head had just rotated a full circle as it crawled up the wall in pursuit of the main character. “That thing kinda looks like the spider from that kid’s tv show, but not as creepy.” You let out a laugh, a little louder than you meant, and Ned turned to tell you to shut up.

The small joke was enough to dissipate the anxiety you felt towards the movie, but unfortunately only heightened your feelings about Peter. But he noticed how your fists unclenched and how your shoulders relaxed once you laughed, so he continued to tell you whispered jokes for the rest of the movie. Each time he noticed your body tensing, he tried his best to make you laugh, and god, how could you stop yourself from those butterflies anymore?

At the height of the movie, you found yourself with your hands over your ears, and eyes squeezed shut, unable to even look at the screen or hear a joke. When Peter realized a joke wouldn’t be enough, he slid closer to you and pulled you into his side and you buried your face into the crook of his neck. Before you had a chance to think about the spicy notes of his cologne or the softness of his skin, the sound of a high pitched scream in the movie caused you to jump with a gasp. In response, Peter wrapped his arms around you tight, with a gentle shush.

It was only after the music began to die down that you opened your eyes again, only to find Peter’s eyes fixed on the screen. Now that the worst was over, you no longer had an excuse to be in his embrace the way you were. You began to wiggle your way out of his arms, attracting his attention.

“What are you doing?” he whispered.

“Peter I’m a big kid,” you smiled, teasing. “You don’t have to hold me like a baby.” Peter let out a soft laugh before relaxing his hold on you just a bit.

“Okay,” he relented. “I’ll just hold you like this then.” He began to shift so that your head was on his shoulder, and one of his arms looped under yours, intertwining your fingers. The smile on his face was calm as if this was something the two of you did all the time, but his racing heartbeat reminded you this was something new.

The two of you remained that way for the rest of the movie. By the time the soft music began to play in the credits, you could hear light snoring from everyone else in the room. However, you and Peter made absolutely no efforts to untangle yourselves from each other. It was as if you were worried that once the lights came back on, you would never find yourself like this again, and what a sad idea that was. Normal, would never be enough for you again, not when you know now how much better life could be like this.

You weren’t sure if it was the adrenaline from the jump scares, or the sureness of his hand in yours, like it’s always belonged there, that gave you the courage to finally break the silence.

“Peter,” you breathed out, lifting your head from his shoulder, but not letting go of his hand.

He turned to you, with a look of concern, afraid of what you might say.

“Kiss me.” The words came out so softly and so quickly that you weren’t sure if you said it at all.

“Finally,” he whispered as his lips fell against yours, softly and slowly. He pulled away after what felt like hours and yet not nearly enough time. His hands reached up to cup your face. “I like you,” he admitted. “So much.”

Suddenly, you felt it. You felt exactly what it must feel like to fly, to let yourself go without worrying about gravity or anything else. The risks were still there, the numbers hadn’t changed, but you knew that no matter what happened next, just having the chance to fly would always be enough.

[broodybatboy]

warmth in winter

Read on AO3

Summary: There's only one bed! Azriel and Gwyn find themselves stranded on a cold winter night. Snow, stubbornness, and sweet moments are plenty.

About the series: a collection of moments, teasing, and tender nights that Azriel let Gwyn enter his heart. [AO3] Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Azriel was hurt.

Azriel and Gwyn trudge on foot at the edge of the Winter Court. The air howls all around them. Branches groan under the weight of the heavy snow. The winds lick their skins. Beside him, Gwyn’s hair whips and whirls under her hood. Flames dancing in the snow. His own shadows, weak and faint, look like black tendrils of smoke. Together, they resemble a feeble fire in the stark white of their landscape.

Azriel had been shot down from the skies with an arrow tipped in faebane. Together, they fought off an attack from the Autumn Court soldiers they had been spying on. His powers were totally weakened. The snowstorm and darkening sky guaranteed he wouldn’t make it far with his wings. They needed to find shelter for the night. They were freezing cold and exhausted. They needed food.

Gwyn was making the best of a bad situation. He knew she was trying to cheer him up. Even the snow couldn’t dim her blazing energy. He suspects that she’s equally worried but she doesn’t dare show it. Truthfully, he feels immensely glad for her company. He feels the corners of his lips tug up. Her sheer determination and cheerfulness is working. He isn't nearly as miserable as he ought to be. She's making sure of that.

They had been flying when the attack occurred. Gwyn tumbled down from his grasp in the sky and delivered a nasty blow to the Autumn Court soldier who shot him down. It was a sight to behold as she jumped on his back, trampled him to the ground, and knocked him out. Azriel took care of the other soldier with his free arm and a blade. Gwyn delivered a swift kick to the third soldier before Azriel dealt the lethal slit to his throat.

She had tended to his wound. He caught her concerned look and the slight tremble of her hands. "Just a scratch," he tried to assure her. Now, they had walked for what seemed like hours trying to find their way out the forest.

“You have your own personal Carynthian bodyguard. Very rare you know,” she chirps at his side.

He chuckles knowing just how to goad her. “A Carythian trained by one of the most powerful Carynthians in all the Seven Courts.”

“Cassian?” she says with utter smugness. Then, in the tone she learned could elicit eye-rolls from him she continues, “Oh, you mean yourself. Yes, the big scary Shadowsinger with seven gems and terrifying shadows.” She raises her palms in front of her in mock fear. A brave little shadow dares to meet fingertip as she giggles. "You worried that the student will surpass the master?”

“Getting a little cocky there, Berdara.”

“I’m not the one who got shot with an arrow,” she responds and struts off ahead to the top of a hill.

Only Gwyn could make an ambush and an attack humorous. He doesn't mind the assault to his ego. Rather, he feels a strange sense of pride. He may have helped in her training, but everything she accomplished was by her doing. A tiny ember inside him sparks and brings the faintest warmth to his freezing chest.

“Shadowsinger! Look!” she yells out and waves for him to join her.

As he meets her at the top, through the snowy haze, chimneys with puffs of smoke come into view. A village, not far off, with the promise of heat and food.

They quickly find their way towards the village inn. Inside it is packed and buzzing with activity. The common area is filled with tables full of food, drink, and people escaping the cold. Instinctively, he places his palm at the small of her back, drawing her closer. Her gloved hand reaches for his bicep. He feels her body tense up and her face scans their surroundings for any dangers.

A portly little woman, the innkeeper, greets them. She seems harmless but he keeps Gwyn close as he requests the room.

"You're in luck, darlings. You get our last room. Now, why don't you go sit down and I'll bring over a nice steaming bowl of stew and bread."

Food.

Gwyn squeezes his arm in eagerness as they make their way towards an empty table near the back. Both of them relax a little as they sit down and fully take in their surroundings. The inn is well-maintained and clean. The patrons seem harmless enough. They are mostly merchants and visitors from neighboring villages. A few have had too much to drink. They are more of a nuisance than a threat. Their real enemies are lying dead in the snow miles away.

The innkeeper returns with two steaming bowls of stew and a loaf of crusty bread. Gwyn thanks her with a bright smile. After taking a greedy spoonful of stew she lets out a series of praises to the delight of the innkeeper. Azriel just watches them chatter while eating his stew. Gwyn has a way of charming everyone she meets. He feels a pang of possessiveness at the thought. Suddenly, feeling very grateful that the innkeeper is not young and male.

"Do you have anything warm to drink?" Gwyn eagerly asks her.

"We got ale, sweetie. That’ll keep your belly warm." She walks off to bring them back two large pints of ale. Azriel sits contently as his body thaws with the steam of stew and the smile blazing across the table.

"Cheers, to not dying,” he says. Azriel lifts his chalice and clanks his cup with Gwyn's.

"Now, it may be the hunger and thirst talking but this is the best meal I've ever had," Gwyn says between spoonfuls and glugs. Azriel merely laughs as they enjoy their meal. Once they finish, they make their way up the stairs to their room.

He enters the room and freezes.

"There's only one bed!" Gwyn exclaims peering from behind him.

Indeed. The only room left in this place has one tiny bed. The rest of the space is cramped with a dresser and nightstands. The window is rusty and cracked. Any gust of strong wind sends cold throughout the room. Still, better than sleeping outside in the freezing snow.

“Right, I'll sleep on the floor," Azriel remarks dropping his cloak and pack on the dresser with a thud.

Gwyn moves towards him. Her hands propped on her hips as she stares him down. "You will most certainly not."

"I don't mind."

"You are not sleeping on the floor,” she repeats dropping each word like bricks. Her headstrong wall taking shape.

"It’s fine.” He meets her stance and crosses his arms.

“No,” she says stepping closer to him. He can see it in her eyes, that stubborn refusal to back down. But he’s stubborn too.

“Yes.”

"Azriel."

"Gwyneth."

They stare at each other in silence for some time before the knock on the door snaps them out of their stand-off. It's the innkeeper. Gwyn's charm has earned them a surprise. Gwyn moves to collect the massive bottle of the innkeeper's special reserve ale.

"She's so friendly. I can't believe she gave us this giant bottle." Gwyn chuckles and sits down on the floor leaning her head on the base of the bed.

"What are you doing?" he asks towering above her.

"Sitting, obviously."

"Oh, I hadn't noticed," he says dripping with sarcasm. He rolls his eyes in the way only Gwyn can provoke. "Why are you on the floor, Berdara?" he asks already anticipating her answer.

"Looks like you'll have to rest on the bed," she smirks and takes a long drink of the ale.

He narrows his eyes at her and sits his butt down beside her. "Try me.” She looks amused as he adjusts his sitting position in the tight space. Finally, he finds a way to sit with his wings tucked and knees pressed to his chest. He is extremely close to her but it doesn't matter. He is not letting her win.

"Try this," she says offering him the ale, a momentary truce. "It's really good,"

He can't resist. She's right. It is really good, and it does warm his belly.

A cold gust of air comes in from the cracks in the window. Gwyn shivers. They're sitting so close that he can feel her shake.

"Gwyn, come on. We can at least sit on the bed and away from the window."

"Az, I'm fine. I'm not even that cold," she says with her sweet stubbornness. When will she learn? He'd sooner freeze to death than let her sleep on the cold floor. Then, as if the Mother was on his side, another frigid blast comes straight towards them. She is practically trembling beside him. Even he feels colder as goosebumps prickle his skin.

"Okay fine. At least for now, we can both sit on the bed." She stands up and sits on the left side of the bed. Azriel gets up and sits on the right. She grabs the blankets and drapes them over their legs. Azriel tries to suppress the goofy grin building on his face. He wouldn't declare it a victory, not yet.

Soon, the bottle of ale is empty and discarded to the side. They are beyond tired and the ale settles warmly in their bellies. They are slightly drunk on exhaustion, ale, and each other. All their restraint is lost. They sit more comfortably. Azriel props up on an elbow and takes up almost the entirety of the bed. Gwyn is sitting outstretched with one leg and butt cheek precariously close to the edge. Their earlier stand-off is long forgotten. They talk about the day's events. They tease and take jabs at each other. Azriel feels hypnotized as Gwyn babbles on about the animals and traditions of the Winter Court.

"I read that the snow bears can weigh up to 1,500 pounds." Her eyes go wide. "They can grow up to 10 feet ta—" She stretches her arms high to demonstrate the height and totally loses her balance. Then, she's falling.

But Azriel is quick. He grabs her waist and pulls her up. "I got you," he says smiling as he settles her on the bed.

"Good catch," she says a bit flustered.

They stare at each other like that for a few moments. He realizes his hand has been on her waist for too long to be acceptable. He shyly retreats it back. They're laying so close to each other. He can't quite believe how beautiful she looks. So close, the shadows belong to both of them. They bounce between their bodies as if deciding who to favor. Azriel thinks his exhaustion is deceiving him. They look like they're leaning towards Gwyn. She begins to twirl her fingers around them. She looks at the bed space between them. There is almost no space and she is still precariously on the edge. He's keeping an eye on her. He won't let her fall again.

She keeps studying him and scanning him over without saying anything. He feels self-conscious and timid under her gaze.

"Az, you literally take up the entire bed. How are you so massive? Pure muscle and power. You're just like the snow bear."

He laughs so hard that he almost rolls off the bed. She laughs too.

She continues her interrogations. She's so unabashed and curious. She asks about his Illyrian markings, his wings, and the shadows. And because they are freezing cold and exhausted, they gravitate closer to each other. He can see the freckles sprinkled on her cheeks and the icy gleam of her eyes. He can't get enough of her smile.

She has a rebellious strand of hair. Azriel instinctively reaches over and tucks it behind her ear. He says something sweet without realizing it. She's the best mission partner. He's so proud of her.

Gwyn just stares at him. He can’t believe he just said that.

Then, she closes the space between them in an embrace. She's almost on top of him, holding his torso. His hands wrap around her, an innate impulse. It feels warm and bright. They fit so well together. He hugs her tighter.

Gwyn lets out a gasp. Her head pops up from his chest to look at him. She's had an epiphany.

“Az! Look! We both fit on the bed like this." There's the faintest echo of hesitation in her voice as she continues, "What if we just slept like this? Would you be okay with that?"

Would he mind sleeping on a bed instead of the cold floor? Would he mind practically cuddling with her? Would he mind having warm and soft Gwyn holding him all night? Gwyn once told him there was no such thing as silly questions. This feels like a silly question. No, he doesn’t mind. He doesn’t mind at all.

However, concern grips his rational mind. What about her? Would she mind? His stomach turns to knots.

“Gwyn, I wouldn't mind. But are you sure? Would you feel comfortable?”

His expression doesn't get the chance to worry because she immediately gives him an appreciative smile that pinches at his heart.

She says, “I don't mind at all. I always feel comfortable around you.”

A cold gust of wind washes over him like the sense of relief at her response. He feels her shiver down her spine. He gently runs his palm up and down her back. “Practically speaking, it would also increase our body heat since it's so cold in here."

She gapes at him as if he just said something wise and profound. “You're completely right. It won't do the mission any good if we freeze to death."

She lets go of him briefly to reach for the blankets. It's pathetic, he already misses her warmth. She grabs the edges of the blankets and leans over to wrap it around him. She is gentle, slow, and careful around his wings. No one has ever tucked him into bed. No one has ever been this careful with him.

She smiles as she leans away to do the same on her side. Then, cautiously, she outstretches her arms. She meets his eyes in a silent ask for permission.

Yes, please. He wants to beg. All he can do is nod.

She wraps her arms around his middle. Her head rest against his chest under his chin. His own arms circling around her holding her even closer than before. One hand returns to her back. His large palm moves in a comforting rhythm, stringing a melody down her spine.

“Gwyn, if you change your mind or feel uncomfortable. Please, tell me. I’ll sleep on the floor. I’m serious," he says in a firm voice.

“I won’t change my mind. You’re far too warm.” She turns to look up at him. “And I know you would. Thank you, Az.”

She nestles her head back on his chest, the ember inside him sparking in the same spot. Their bodies are practically molded for each other. He feels the rise and fall of her chest against his.

“Cheers to not freezing to death,” he whispers, a sleepy smile grazing her head.

“Cheers to not dying,” she whispers, her voice filled with relief. All her muscles relax into his. Her fingertips caress the spot where he was hurt. He understands, now, how much worry she was holding in. She's been so strong. Her hand moves down, laying flat on his heart. Her heartbeat matching the steady rhythm of his own. He feels totally relaxed and at peace. His eyelids go heavy and his limbs weigh down with each breath. The unreal warmth and magnetism of being together overpowering all his senses.

They are warm in bed. They are together. He will always protect her. He feels something change inside him. He now understands what it feels to be safe and at peace. He strokes her hair and places the faintest kiss on her forehead. It feels like this.

tagged! @gwynrielsupremacy | @onemorenightdreamer | @imwritingthesewords | @camreadsum | @hlizr50 [if you want to be added to my tags just lemme know]