#the dark knight headers

[eternalslover]

WHY IS THERE NO WRITING FOR HIM

GUYS, IT'S LITERALLY SUPERMAN HAS NO ONE EVER SEEN SMALLVILLE?! IM GOING CRAZY BECAUSE THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING, NOT EVEN CRUMBS

PLS SOMEONE WRITE FOR HIM I WILL TAKE ANYTHING, FLUFF, ANGST, SMUT, HEADCANONS, DRABBLES, FULL ON FICS ANYTHING PLS, HES SO POOKIE

[evacrstairs]

i've never been a natural, all i do is try, try, try...

god of wrath (cecily knight) headers. like or reblog if you save or use, please. 🩺

art by btzart_ commissioned by jeremyvolkovs

[visionsofmagic]

✡  ▶   • cillian murphy characters  ― header & icons [for tw, tumblr]  •  ◀  ✡

◤ character(s): scarecrow from the dark knight trilogy, thomas shelby from peaky blinders, raymond leon from in time & robert fischer from inception ◢

[thepurpleprince]

made a new header

[ohlovxr]

just being neighbourly

little note: these are in order however there are major gaps between these scenarios where others (yet to be written) would take place… also these are posted unedited, as per usual. it just wouldn’t be me if i edited it, now would it?

the one where they first see you (+ bonus: the one where the plan is made)

the one where they get to have you for the first time <3

the one where they knock you up (+ bonus: the one where you find out your pregnant)

the one where he fucks you in the kitchen

the one where steven gets a show

and more to come…

[warriorowan]

xanderkim headers. please like or reblog if you save.

[fell-court]

finally updated the blog header and icon to some fairly recent and generally hopefully nicer-looking Lorenza screenshots

I have So Many Screenshots

[gambitandrogues]

was the john pfp inevitable? discuss.

[tarta-de-limon]

Finally finished this!

He's watching you. Honestly? Everytime I do one of these is to use it as a header

I loved dark knights of steel. I started reading it because I got a spoiler on my fyp that Alfred wasn't Alfred and I was like: What???

And then Bruce is half Kryptonian and I'm like WHAAt?

SpeedPaint!

[windmaedchen-oceanhorn]

And the second collection of header tiles of my small fic "Knight of the Dark". Since they are part of the present, it's best to read the story. I've got it in sequence on A03, free to be read by all (user or not) (including the drawings!)

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

Hi friends! I know it's been a while (over a month, woof), since I published a fic. Summer is a busy time for me - birthdays, social occasions, festivals, etc. And now I am heading off on holiday for a week. I have been working hard on chapter one of Fire on the Mountain whenever I have a free moment, and wanted to have it finished before I went away today, however, between working and trying to get myself packed and ready to leave for the airport, I've not had time and I didn't want to publish something hurried and low quality. It is very close to being finished, and will be my first priority when I return from my holiday (I will still be around, can't resist a snoop at Tumblr while poolside, I just won't be able to write)

Anyway, to tide you over, I leave you with the following snippet!

Header by my beloved recipient of sour cream and onion dust fingers, @vampire-exgirlfriend

Lia props herself up on her elbow, lying on her side as she watches Alicent carefully stitch delicate powder blue flowers into the fabric suspended within her embroidery hoop. Her own lies discarded beside her, she had given up when the thread had become knotted, in no mood to attempt to fix it.

“Alicent…” she begins slowly, “do you ever think about why your father wanted to bring you to King’s Landing?”

Alicent keeps her eyes upon her needlepoint, her tone matter of fact as she continues her work. “To instruct me in what is expected of a highborn lady.”

Lia huffs, leaning across and tugging Alicent’s sleeve to get her full attention. “Yes, but why?”

Alicent sighs, lowering her embroidery hoop into her lap, fixing Lia with an exasperated stare. “To give me the best possible opportunities in life, so that an appropriate match may be made for me.”

“And that is enough for you, is it? To simply be married off to a man who is not of your choosing?”

She lowers her gaze, her voice soft. “My mother did not choose my father, and yet they were very happy.”

“But is that what you want?”

“What is it that you are trying to get at?”

Lia hums, flopping down onto her back against the plush rug that they sit upon in the solar, clasping her hands across her front as she stares up at the vaulted ceiling. “I am unsure of my own purpose, what it is that I want.”

Alicent nods in understanding. “Well, there will be plenty of eligible knights at the upcoming tourney. Gwayne is going to be there, he is competing in the jousting.”

She scoffs, recalling the gangly boy of ten, a mop of hair the colour of rust, that they had left behind in Oldtown all those years ago. “Ah, yes, how fares your older brother?” She asks, turning her head to the side to look at her friend.

“He is a knight now,” Alicent says proudly, “and quite handsome too.”

“Handsome?! How would you know?”

“He tells me so in his letters.”

The pair burst into peals of laughter, stopping abruptly as Otto sweeps into the room, casting a disapproving glance at both of them. “Do the pair of you not have lessons to attend this afternoon?”

“We were waiting for Rhaenyra, so that we might all go together,” Alicent says apologetically, scrambling to her feet and smoothing the skirts of her dress down.

Lia rolls her eyes, knowing their fun is over and rises to her feet too, running her fingers through her dark curls, rumpled from having laid upon the floor.

“Well, the Small Council has concluded its business for the day, and with it Rhaenyra’s duties as cupbearer, so run along. Do not keep your septa waiting.”

“Yes, Father,” Alicent says quietly, making her way out of the solar.

Lia is about to follow suit, when Otto reaches out, softly grasping her forearm and halting her movements. “I trust you are behaving yourselves?”

“Always,” she says with a saccharine smile, moving to pull away from him.

He tightens his grasp. “The Princess is…spirited. Do not allow her to lead you or Alicent astray.”

She slips away from him, pausing once in the corridor to look back over her shoulder at him. “You have raised a well mannered young woman, Ser Otto. She will heed your wishes, I cannot say the same for myself.”

Full fic coming the beginning of September, otherwise you are free to beat me with your shoes.

[jakegyllenbaalz]

the dark knight headers (2008)

[alicelufenia]

A Practical Review of A Practical Guide to Evil

or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Typos

"In the end, I was not above imposing what I thought was right and wrong on others at the edge of a sword." ~ Catherine Foundling, our protagonist

Having concluded my first reading of the entire series, I wanted to give my "as spoiler-free as possible but watch out anyway" thoughts. Combined with the upcoming rewrite novels, and the currently ongoing webtoon comic based on the same, I figure now'd be a good time to hype it up for potential new readers.

Before the cut I'll say this: if you like dark fantasy war stories that avoid getting too grimdark, coming of age tales with a thoroughly messy main character, a "fantasy super heroes" story that actually has something to say about the assumed "Great Man Theory" of history, or (since you're on tumblr) Women's Wrongs Done Right, then I suggest clicking either the link in the header above for the original webseries, or here for the more recent comic and just dive right in. For further consideration, I'll see you beneath the cut.

The feminine urge to become a collaborator.

In the world of the Guide, stories have power. Across the continent of Calernia, those whose stories carry the greatest weight are empowered by the Gods. These powers manifest in Names, and as their stories unfold, these "Named" will tend to become either Heroes (champions of the Heavens, of Order and Light) or Villains (seekers of power, Tyrants and Despots). While not all villains and heroes abide by the same rules, the history of the world has long been an endless struggle between the factions of Good and Evil.

And then there's Catherine Foundling, an orphan girl with noble dreams of defeating tyranny, but her means are... less than heroic.

Might wanna keep an eye on that knife.

While she carries immense national pride, the former Kingdom of Callow, now occupied by the Dread Empire, is no place for Heroes. She is determined to make peace in her homeland, but first she needs the power. And thus she will become a Villain, and do whatever is necessary. And probably a lot that isn't, but works out in the moment. She's not the most stable person, is what I'm saying.

Carrying out her education as a fresh new Villain is the Black Knight, the head of the empire's Legions of Terror who conquered Callow 20 years ago, and is looking for an apprentice. Thus does Catherine begin her training to become the Squire, and from there, begin her rise to greatness!

The first book in the series, being the shortest, is a swift introduction to the setting and main character, and serves to shift from the twist on the traditional fantasy heroic narrative, into the fantasy war story the series focuses on from book 2 onward. If you finished the first book, give the 2nd a shot, as it is where the narration and characterization really starts to solidify, and be indicative of what you can expect. It is also when we get to know the greater cast of characters, from the various soldiers and officers in the Legions, the Heroes our villain protagonist will face off against, and the other world leaders who have their fingers in the pie of the conflicts to come.

Fun Guide drinking game: every time you read "My fingers clenched, then unclenched," take a drink

As the story progresses, the passage of time really stands out. Every one of our young protagonists grow into adults, with all the complications that has on top of the horrors of war. Basically no one remains a static character, they all grow and change in their goals, their morals, and how they relate to each other. At the end you really feel like you've been on a journey with these characters, their simpler beginnings feeling so far away, yet relevant to who they become right up to the end.

The part from earlier about stories having power is also very literal in the Guideverse. Fiction tropes like villain monologues or heroes succeeding despite impossible odds, are a part of how the world works, and many characters display an intimate knowledge of these tropes, and how to use them to their advantage. Or in the case of villains, how to avoid their numerous disadvantages. Succeeding as a villain is a truly uphill battle as Cat quickly discovers, and as the lines between nations are redrawn and old enemies become allies, she must learn to use the power of both villainous AND heroic stories to make her way in the world.

The series began as a web serial, and that's the format I would most recommend for experiencing the entire story from beginning to end. It is, admittedly, a bit of an acquired taste, as it never went through much of an editing pass. As I said, there will be typos. There is also a series of rewrite novels, which were originally released on the now defunct Yonder app. Not only do they aim to clean up the editing, they also expand on the original story, especially in the early books, with whole new arcs being added to what was originally book 1.

Current plans are for the first of the rewrite novels to come out sometime late 2025, alongside an audiobook and ebook release. If you want to get a preview of what's in store for those, the webtoon comic follows the rewrite novels, and is currently at the Peren Woods arc from the rewritten book 1.

Also lookit this cutie!

[aftgficrec]

Hi! Thank you so much for your work. I'm looking for long finished fics, it can be canon or not AND I'm also looking for fics focused on Kevin and Neil friendship

Recs with Kevin and Neil friendship will follow in a separate post.

Now to get nerdy. 🤓 In a previous ask for longer andreil fics, we linked the official AO3 tutorial for honing searches to find what you’re looking for. The key for finding long complete fics is a combination of word count and completion status. 

“Complete Works Only” must be selected and the “Word Count” must be written as numerals with no commas. 

So, for complete aftg fics that are more than 200k words: 

Search AO3 for All For The Game - Nora Sakavic

Click Works

Go to the Sort and Filter menu on the right side of the screen

Look for the More Options header near the bottom

Click the arrow by Completion Status

Select Complete Works Only

Click the arrow by Word Count 

Enter 2000000 in the From field

Click Sort and Filter

Current yield: 19 complete aftg fics over 200k words

For complete aftg fics that are between 100k and 200k words:

Repeat steps 1-7

Enter 100000 in the From field

Enter 200000 in the To field

Click Sort and Filter

Current yield: 54 complete aftg fics between 100k-200k words

Etcetera, etcetera. The real fun begins when you select the pairings and types of stories you want to read! Below you will find some specific long complete previous asks, and a handful of previously featured fics. -A

previous asks

long complete parental andreil here 

long complete Raven!Neil here

long complete kandreil here (more of these sorted by length on ao3 here)

long complete post canon fics here

long andreil fics here (all completed)

staff top long post canon fics here

staff fave longer fics here and here

long fics for a return to fandom here (many are completed)

fluff

‘Pinch of Salt.’ here (51k)

canon universe

‘Dead Girl Walking’ (217k) here

‘A Falling Star’ series 245k here (updated)

dark/angsty

‘Armies’ 300k, ‘The Nameless Monster’ 118k, ‘I Spy a Broken Heart’ 205k (completed), ‘what it takes to survive’ 100k here 

‘Not Damsels, not Knights’ 93k here

‘Joseph’ series 119k here

‘Red Rabbits’ series 729k here

action/adventure/fantasy/scifi

‘The Foxhole Force’ 245k (completed), ‘In Reel and Rout’ 91k here 

‘Of Smoke & Bone’ 200k (completed) here 

‘The Wonders I've Seen’ 158k, ‘if you get lost (you can always be found)’ 68k, ‘F.O.X.E.S. Division’ 270k here

‘The Odds Are Never In Our Favor’ 258k here

[shehungers]

MASTERLIST

KEEP IN MIND...

→ you must be 18+ to engage with my work. that means: likes, reblogs, asks/submissions, interacting with my work whatsoever. non-negotiable.

→ if you are a blank blog trying to interact with my work, meaning: no header, no pfp—you will immediately be blocked. non-negotiable.

→ if I catch you mass liking my writing and not interacting and/or reblogging it, I'm going to block you. it takes two seconds to reblog. it takes thirty seconds to leave a nice comment. support authors, folks.

→ my writing is to never be reposted or to leave this blog for any reason. the only other place you should see my work is AO3 under the penname 2kmps.

→ I do not write fanfiction. I will not write fanfiction. I only read and reblog fanfiction if it is submitted to me for feedback.

→ this page will be periodically updated as pieces are posted. if you see something not linked below: 1) it hasn't been finished/posted yet 2) I just haven't gotten around to linking it.

→ ⚪ does not mean that there is not dark content, it only pertains to there not being smut.

CAPICHE?

key: 🔞 18+; 🕊️ dead dove; 🛑 dark content; ⚪ sfw; 🚬 concept piece

🛑⚪🚬bounty | gunslinging outlaw | 2.4k

🕊️🔞carnal | werewolf husband | 3k

🛑🔞dark pool | aquatic monster |

🛑🔞🚬imposter | possessed!scholar husband | 3.6k

🕊️🔞🚬 root rot | possessed!scholar husband | 3.8k

🛑🔞fathomless | eldritch detective | 2.1k

🛑🔞🚬faulty | android x reader | 2.4k

🛑🔞🚬lucid | sleep paralysis demon | 3k

🛑🔞of flesh sin | vampire priest | 2.6k

🕊️🔞simulacra | frankenstein creature | 2.6k

🛑⚪tincture of aconite | werewolf x reader | 2.4k

longer stories...

🛑🔞🚬ambrosia | dragon hybrid knight | 12k | ao3

🕊️🔞blood catalase | eldritch vampire | 16.1k | ao3

🕊️🔞opaque | android | 36.5k | ao3

upcoming...

🕊️🔞lazarus | eldritch octopus alien | est. 8-9k

🕊️🔞lord of Phantasm | possessed!scholar husband | est. 7-9 chapters; 8-10k ea

[thisisarcanereverie]

Cutting Ties (DARK! Moon Knight x Reader) Part 3

A/N: I know, I'm back from the dead (shocker) I'm so sorry about the lengthy delay but here it is! This is Part 3 of a 3 Part fic. (Here is Part 2!) This is also a dark fic so please DNI Minors and others.

Now if you can interact or want to, please do! Like, reblog, reply!

DISCLAIMERS/WARNINGS: kidnapping, angst (like a ridiculous amount of it), light cursing, slight suggestive content, I've never been to London or England in general so I'm going based off of what I've seen, I am also not responsible for your content consumption please be advised that this is a dark story with triggering elements, viewer discretion advised. English is my first language I just suck at it. No beta, we die like men! I do not own the picture above but i DO own the header below, it's something that I made. I might make a few others idk. Enjoy!

Summary: You're a former Widow on the run, only in London for a year you meet Steven Grant, a goofy gift shoppist. But is there more that meets the eye?

Weeks passed. 

You had begun to notice a pattern, similar to the one they had before, one day it would be Marc who woke you up with turkey bacon and eggs and slept by you with your hands in his hair and then Steven would take his place the next day with oatmeal with fruit in it in the morning and smothering you at night. The only difference was that Jake had yet to show himself since the night he brought you here. 

A small part of you was grateful for that but the larger (angrier) part of you wanted to see him again, if only to scream at him. However, you had to play this right, you had been working on both Marc and Steven on going to the doctor. You were careful, you knew if they said the wrong thing they wouldn’t go, so you played the part of loyal and dutiful girlfriend each day with a smile on your face and a calm, nurturing voice. Even your words were carefully thought out and rehearsed in advance, every time you mentioned the doctor you didn’t use isolating words like “you” and “me” or “I” instead using words that resembled unity and empathy (something they both had lacked in their childhood) such as “we” and “us”. With every sugared word you swallowed bile and chewed every insult into the insides of your cheeks. The Red Room was a vile place and you resent it with all that you are, but as you find yourself in this situation you couldn’t help but be thankful for their lessons in mental and emotional manipulation. Without them you don’t know what you would’ve done. 

However, as you lay there with Steven’s arm around your abdomen and your gaze fixed on the calendar that hung on the wall in front of you, you hope you can hang on another forty-eight hours, the day of the appointment. You purposely made it for a day. It would be Steven in charge of the body. He was easier swayed and manipulated than Marc. He would let you go with him to the appointment, he needs you at the appointment. You’re his angel, his love, you would hold his hand as he tells the doctor how badly he sleeps and as the doctor writes the prescription you’ll excuse yourself. It can’t be before the doctor writes the prescription, Steven will get nervous and start looking for you sooner rather than later, as the doctor writes the prescription however the appointment will essentially be over but not quite. He will have to sit there and get the prescription and go to check out where they will have him make another appointment for a check in with the doctor before finally having time to look for you in the stalls. It gives you thirty minutes give or take to escape the building without being detected and stealing a car to get to the next town over where you’ll call your ID guy. If the ID guy proves to be a bust you know Yelena was always on the lookout for ex-black widows and she might help you like Natasha did the last time you needed to disappear. The plan was complicated, sure, it required perfect timing and a shit ton of hope and luck, but it was all you had. You were no stranger to seducing, manipulating, and betraying. They were second nature to you, like a coat you’ve left in your closet for so long but it still fits like you've never abandoned it at all. Still though, you’ve never betrayed someone you had loved before, and the guilt at the thought of Steven’s confused and distraught face like the one he had at the apartment was almost enough to kill you. Steven was relatively innocent in all of this, this wasn’t his plan it was Jake’s. It wasn’t his fault that they shared a body. Still, freedom comes at a price and Steven, Marc, and Jake would never allow such a luxury. 

You find yourself slipping sometimes, finding yourself thinking it wouldn’t be so bad. That this life is exactly what you wanted to begin with, having your cake and eating it too. But you reminded yourself that this life was given to you without choice. That these men might love you in their own way, but all they want in the end is to possess you, to keep you whether it would be willingly or not, with chains or with vows. 

It was later than usual, you knew you needed to sleep. You need all the energy you can get, after escaping in a few days you will probably miss the bed seeing as you don’t know where you’ll be but in either case you doubt you’ll be sleeping with a quilt or a fluffy pillow for a while. You try to sleep, counting sheep proved fruitless and the warmth of Steven’s chest on your back caused your body temp to rise to an uncomfortable degree. But you tried to remain still, you’ve been under worse torture than restlessness and uncomfortable heat, you should be fine. 

…

You were wrong. 

Gently you tried to scoot away from him, hoping to catch some sort of reprieve to no avail. Tried extending your limbs to the cooler parts of your shared blanket in order to cool at least some part of you down but that only helped little, only one foot managed to break free from the too warm confines and that helped significantly but sleeping like that felt too weird (too many horror movies with Jake). You let out a little frustrated huff, your attempts to cool off were met with failure. You were so caught up in trying to cool off you failed to notice the slight stir in the man beside you until you felt his breath next to your ear. 

“Trying to escape again mi carissima?” 

Suddenly, you no longer felt the need to cool off. Instead chills ran down your spine as the urge to hurl crawled its way to your throat. Your body went stiff as you felt him move from your side to leave the bed. You avoided looking at him, the all too familiar feeling of fear and rage made you hesitant to gaze in his direction. You contemplated reaching towards the nearest object and throwing it in his direction. But you looked at the calendar instead, freedom was two days away, you can’t ruin it now by revealing your true feelings. So with a deep, shaking breath in you sat and mustered up all the love and tenderness you could as you gazed at him. 

“I haven’t seen you in a while lover,” you said affectionately as you imagined all sorts of violent, Taylor Swift worthy, things you would rather say to him, “I was beginning to think you were avoiding me.” you see him looking at you with apprehension, and what you could almost mistake for guilt. 

“I was giving you space,” he said as he changed out of his sweaty night shirt for a fresh one, your eyes lingered where his sleep pants hung on his hips. Damn, you had forgotten that while the man in front of you was certifiable, he was also hot as fuck, and that if he turned around you knew your eyes would follow south. You couldn’t help it, with hips and an ass like that how could you not look at it and go a little feral. 

“Well,” you cleared your throat a little, forcing your eyes to remain firmly on his face despite the almost magnetic force trying to pull your gaze downwards, “that was probably a wise idea.” 

“I thought I had to do this,” he says, Jake was never one to halfheartedly apologize when he doesn’t believe he should “for us.” 

“Still,” you said, hugging your knees to your chest, “don’t you think you should’ve brought it up with me? To give me a choice?”

“I’m giving you one now,” he said, eyes turning to you for the first time in weeks, “I wasn’t acting right before. I was angry and scared, you were going to abandon us like we didn’t matter. You weren’t even going to tell me the truth, you were going to leave that very night. I became rash, and crazy, and…” his eyes cast down towards the bunched up shirt in his hand, “I hurt you.” He tossed the soiled shirt into the laundry basket before turning his gaze back to you, “So I’ve been staying away, remaining a fly on the wall as I watched you with Steven and Marc. Punishing myself by seeing you but never touching you.” 

“If I didn’t know any better,” you said with anger rumbling in your chest, “I would almost call the tone in your voice remorse.”

“I apologize for hurting you,” he states moving to the side of the bed where he laid moments before, before sitting the mattress sinking with him slightly. “I regret that deeply but I don’t apologize or regret bringing you here.” 

“Then what the fuck are you doing?”

“I am giving you a choice,” he said, eyes bearing into you, “now that you’ve lived here for a while, seen what our life can be like. Will you stay?”

What? 

Your eyes dart between his as your mind struggles to come up with any alternative motives he has behind this. He could be luring you into a false security, be sadistically playing with your feelings as a way to punish you further for trying to leave them behind. 

“What would you do if I went?” 

“I’d follow you,” he says with no hesitance, “I’d follow you anywhere mi carissima, from desert to tundra I’d follow you faithfully and without complaint.” his hands hesitantly grab yours, “I can handle myself, and so can Marc and surprisingly so can Steven. You don’t need to worry about us in a fight, but I will not force us to stay here. The choice is yours.” 

There was a lot to think about, there were many contradictory feelings swirling inside of you. A mix of shock, anger, and the tiniest glimmer of hope were the most prominent. You see his eyes and know he’s being honest. He won't force you to remain in this house they’ve built just for you, but he won’t let you leave him. Though, looking back you guessed you never did want to leave them anyways. You were going to leave to protect them and now that you know they were more than capable of protecting themselves…you weren’t sure. You could always lie and manipulate them further, then leave like you had planned to do since you got here. But you could also stay…you don’t know. 

“Do I have to decide now?”

“No,” he assured, “I won’t force you to,” he grabbed the spare pillow and throw blanket at the end of the bed, “I don't want you to get overheated again so I’ll sleep on the couch. So, don’t worry about making any decisions right now and try to get some rest…goodnight.” and with that he left. Leaving the door open behind him and leaving you in a state of shock and disbelief. You knew eventually you would have to see him again, he was a part of them but you’d never imagine it would go like this. You kind of imagined he would have the same look in his eyes like he did when he stabbed a needle in your neck, to act insane and possessive and obsessive and hold you hostage with no choice in sight. Except he just gave you one, something to ponder the next two days about. 

Dread fills you as the decision lies in front of you. Waiting for you to make a choice. 

Needless to say, you didn’t get any sleep that night. 

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The past two days passed in a blur before you were finally seated next to Steven as he answered the doctors medical questions regarding his overall health. Marc and Steven seemed to have calmed down slightly in terms of spending every minute with you and never letting you out of their sight. It was odd, and now you were conflicted. After Jake’s sudden (and brief) visit your mind had been running a million miles trying to figure out what angle he could be playing. Was this psychological warfare? Was he testing you? 

You excused yourself to the bathroom as planned once the intake was over, mentally your mind began counting down from thirty minutes as you stepped into the bathroom. As expected there were no cameras here in the women’s restroom, which was to your benefit, along with a window. It was smaller than you had expected but it was large enough for you to crawl out of. You were quick to silently click the lock on the door leading to the bathroom before you went to one of the sinks to turn the faucet on. Opening the window and crawling through was bound to make some noise and the rushing water was going to mute some of the noise you would be making. As your hand reaches for the hot and cold knobs you pause. Time was ticking away by the second, every minute you stood there undecided was a minute you could’ve had to get away. Yet here you were. Were you actually considering staying with them? 

It’s horrible, what a few acts of kindness can do. Giving you space, giving you a choice…and you’re a mess. Wasn’t that what you wanted to begin with? A choice? There are only two ways that this plays out, you know this. On one hand you go, you turn the knobs and you run, like you’ve always done, alone. There was no guarantee that Yelena would pick up, there was no guarantee that you wouldn’t be thrusted right back into the life of a mercenary, there was no guarantee that doing this would grant you the freedom you’ve fought so hard and yearned for so long for. Was it freedom if all you did was hide and run? What would happen if you stayed? Jake, Marc, and Steven were an unpredictable risk. Jake could be lying, you wouldn’t put it past any of them to lie and act in order to keep you, even Steven…on the other hand, maybe this was a pattern of yours. Maybe all you ever do in any situation is run, run away from every complex thought and feeling and you never turn back. Maybe the reason you never felt free was because you weren’t meant to be.  You can’t recall the number of times you’ve spent countless night staring at the ceiling instead of sleeping, with gut wrenching guilt as you replay all the terrible things you’ve done as a widow; the people you’ve killed, countries you’ve lead into war that orphaned children, secrets you’ve both hidden and exploited. There were nights you’ve asked for some sort of punishment that would ease the guilt that was slowly killing you. Maybe this was it, maybe this was the punishment. 

Staying, knowing full well that this time there is no evil man behind you pulling your strings, that there was no one to blame but yourself for the outcome. Knowing that your last meaningful act of free will was to throw away the autonomy you had treasured as if it was something solid and tangible in exchange for a gilded cage with no means of escape and constantly wondering if you made the right choice. 

And never knowing if you did. 

Your shoulders slumped as the weight of it weighed heavily. What was it going to be? 

Freedom in exchange for redemption, or redemption in exchange for your freedom. 

You’re not as sly as you think you are–or–as you used to be. Jake had your plan figured out the moment you suggested Marc see the doctor for ‘sleeping medication’. He had to hand it to you, your manipulation tactics were impressive, the collective ‘we’ and ‘us’ and adoring looks and gentle touches were truly inspired. 

You silly, silly little spider…did you really think anything that Jake had told you was true?

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Yes, he admits he may have fucked it up a little by going a little bat-shit crazy and sticking a needle into your pretty neck and forcing you into a home that wasn’t finished quite yet. But he made up for it, he let you get this far with your little trick. It was the least he could do, along with offering a fake choice. You weren’t even going to make it to the nearest payphone (which is surprisingly still functional given its obsolete status) before he dragged you back home kicking and screaming if that’s what it took. 

Still, though, he doesn’t like you kicking but as for the screaming (well, given the right circumstances he loves to hear you scream, especially when it’s his name)

So instead of outwardly calling your little game out, he decides to play along, acting none the wiser and giving the biggest performance of his life. 

He knows you like to think yourself a master manipulator, but the truth was that without the constant threat of death and Dreykov’s mind control, your manipulation skills have gotten rusty. A once sharp and carefully polished tool now dull and worse for wear. Against easily manipulated fools like Steven and (sometimes) Marc, it’s effective. But he was the only one who was truly your equal. Jake was the only one who truly understood you. Steven had false memories to comfort him and while Marc and Jake lived with the unhappy ones, and while he wasn’t perfect, at least their dad never forgot Marc’s birthday. Jake had no one, had nothing–not even his own body! Much like you did as a widow. You were the only person who could possibly understand him and by extension he was the only one to understand you. 

There is a strange power in being understood, it’s terrifyingly intoxicating, especially to one who is never understood. Jake had never been particularly interested in salvation or redemption in general, but you became his religion, the altar where he worshiped and the light that baptized him. Worshiping you was as easy as breathing, like it was what he was made to do. So he listened devotedly to every syllable from your mouth and he made a list of all you said. 

Jake had wanted to marry you before showing you the home he had built, (well him, Marc, and Steven), he had it all planned out, the only thing he didn’t plan for was that night. Suddenly his light was taken from him, his comfort, his home, his life was stripped away from him before he could utter a word. 

That would drive any man insane. 

He made a few questionable choices, sure, but he paid for them and now here was his reward. Driving back from the doctors with a prescription he doesn’t intend on picking up with you in the passenger seat. Willingly and holding his hand. 

He smiles, ignoring the way your eyes shine with unshed tears and how your fingers tremble ever so slightly as he pulls your hand for a kiss. None of that matters, you’re with him now. 

With no chance of escape. 

Ever again.