#the not so covert ‘she is not like the other girls’ is so bad and boring and it needs to DIE

[dragonfoods]

I will have to read a romantasy book written by a straight man or a lesbian someday just to see if a certain tone is different because a lot of the romantasy books written by women that are attracted to men are just…sometimes…interesting in a bad way

“She was the strongest, most compassionate, most intelligent, kindest, most generous woman that ever existed. All the wise older characters like to pull her aside to tell her this. Unlike all the dumb evil cows that just wanted MMC for his hot body and deep pockets, FMC wanted MMC for his mind and his beautiful soul” just gives off a weird vibe

[vivwritesfics]

Set The World On Fire

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lando Norris had been incredibly angry when they met. Incredibly angry, but sweet enough to help her. Turns out he just needed somebody to talk to, somebody to be there for him.

He was easy to fall for, and that put her in a world of danger

Mafia AU

1.6K

Warnings: kidnapping, murder (like, quite a bit), smut

Series Masterlist

Lando sat outside of the warehouse. His chest was heaving as he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. She was in there. That was the location they'd sent.

Fucking idiots. If anybody was going to be good at a kidnapping, you think it would be the police. But they were useless. They'd told him exactly where to find her.

He checked for ammunition in his guns and climbed out of the car. A bitter, coppery taste entered his mouth as he started towards the warehouse. She was in there, and he was going to get her back.

Lando's finger was on the trigger before he walked into the warehouse. There were two men outside, guarding the door. He couldn't shoot them, not yet. Not without alerting everybody inside. And then he'd have no chance of saving her.

They weren't even properly guarding the door. One went to light his cigarette, distracting the both of them enough for Lando to slip past. Getting inside unnoticed was easy.

His girl was the first thing he saw. Tied to a chair, body slumped forward. Tears stained her cheeks and her body was shaking. Shit, he needed to get to her.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Lando hid himself behind some empty crates as the officer approached her. "Soon this will all be over, pretty," he said, voice echoing around the warehouse. Lando watched, jaw clenched as he grabbed her cheeks and forced her to look up.

Lando saw red.

Nobody touches his girl like that.

He looked around for the other officers in the warehouse. Some were in police uniform, some of them Lando recognised. He couldn't put a name to their faces, but he knew them. They'd been in his club before, arrested people, brought them for Lando to 'deal with'.

Weak, useless assholes, he knew. He readied his gun in his left hand, grabbed his handgun in his right hand. Clearing his throat, Lando stood up, alerting everybody to his presence.

"Ah, Norris," The police officer touching his girl called, a grin on her face. "You have my money?"

Lando shot him in the head.

His body dropped, and all hell broke loose. He ducked behind the crates as shots were fired at him.

Fuck, he should have been more covert, taking them out one by one. Instead he'd let rage blind him and he'd put his girl in danger. He spared her a glance.

She was okay, eyes squeezed shut, turned away from the men with the guns.

Lando stood and shot one of them, his bullet finding its home in a man's skull. He dropped, leaving two firing at Lando.

He ducked again, waited until they stopped. When he stood, he shot the second. But a bullet flew past his shoulder, just grazing it. A hiss left his lips as he fell down behind the crate.

Just one to go. Why hadn't the two guarding the warehouse come in? He checked the amount of bullets in his gun.

Another many left. But that was fine, he just had one more guy to kill. His shoulder throbbed, but he ignored it as he stood up and raised his gun. One shot, just one shot and it would all be over.

He stood, gun raised, and fired the final shot. The moment he pulled the trigger the gun dropped from his hand and he gripped his shoulder in pain. "Fuck!" He cried as the final bad guy dropped to the floor.

He could ignore it. Ignore the pain to get to his girl. He stopped holding his arm, hand coming away red, and strode across the warehouse towards her.

"Baby," he whispered as he dropped to his knees in front of her. He pulled the gag from her mouth and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Fuck, I'm so sorry," he cried as he untied her legs.

Walking behind her, he untied her hands and pulled her to her feet. His thumb moved over the red, painful marks on her wrists and she released a hiss.

Tears fell down her cheeks as Lando pulled her into his side. "How's Bruiser?" She mumbled against his shirt. She hadn't yet noticed the red on his other arm.

"He's fine," Lando replied as he walked with her out of the warehouse. "Max found him in the park and took him back to the house. He's there now," he explained.

The tears were still falling. Fuck, she hated him. He was the reason she got kidnapped and she hated him for it. Lando looked down as she still rubbed at her sore wrists.

When they left the warehouse, Lando moved her behind him. Nothing bad was ever going to happen to her again.

But the men outside of the warehouse were on the floor, out old. If Lando hadn't dropped his gun, he would have shot them both dead. He looked up, looked at the familiar car pulled up alongside his own.

"You're an ass," Max called as he pushed away from his car. "I should have known you were going to do something like this."

Lando scoffed. He was in no mood for this. Still holding her, he kept going towards his car. "Where do you want me to take you?" He asked, voice so gentle as squeezed her hand. "Your mums place?"

She stopped, hand still in Lando's. "Lan," she said, voice shaking as she touched his cheek. "Take me home. To our home."

"Our home?"

His chest was heaving as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The moment she touched his shoulder, body accidentally pressing against it, Lando hissed and she pulled away.

"Fuck, that's bad," he gasped and grabbed a hold of his shoulder, trying desperately to alleviate the pain. "Shit, that fucking hurts."

She stepped away, hands raised. "What's wrong? What's the matter?" She asked quickly, trying to check him over without touching him. "Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"Not the hospital," Max said quickly. "I'll drive him back to the house. You follow behind in his car."

"Max, no!" She insisted, but Lando shook his head.

He used his uninjured arm to fish his keys from his pocket. "He's right, baby. It's better if we go back to the house."

But she still looked panicked. "I..."

"Trust us," Max said as he opened his car door. Lando kissed her and climbed into Max's car, leaving her there with her fingers closed around his keys.

***

A bandage held his arm in place as he sat up in bed, flipping through channels. Retirement was hard, harder than his grandparents had made it seem.

Bruiser snored at the end of the bed. It was loud and comforting. Walking Bruiser was the only time Lando had left the house since his retirement. Things would get better once his arm was better, he told himself.

Maybe he should have kept his club, gone legit with it. He'd stopped sleeping with strippers before he'd met his girl, it could have been a proper business. Now, he had nothing to do. Retirement sucked but it was better than putting the love of his life in danger.

The front door opened. Lando's eyebrows raised and he looked towards the bedroom door, open just enough for Bruiser to come and go as he pleased. As soon as he heard the front door shut, he was up and out of bed, barking as he made his way to the front door.

"Hi baby," came the voice of the woman he loved more than anything. "Can you stay out here for me? I need to talk to your daddy."

Bruiser didn't understand her. Obviously he didn't. He was a dog. He followed her until she dropped her bag to the floor, which he immediately stuck his head in. She slipped into the bedroom and pushed the door shut.

"Lan," she said. His head wasn't turned as she unzipped her skirt and dropped her clothes to the floor by the door. And then she walked forward, stepping into his view.

Lando sucked in a breath. "Fuck, I missed you today,"

She pulled off her underwear and dropped it to the floor. Lando was still as she climbed on top of him, knees on either side of him as she freed him from his zipper.

There was no foreplay, no time for that today. She sank down onto him and threw her head back, releasing a groan. "That's better," she mumbled breathlessly.

Her hips rolled as she leaned forward, hand touching his cheek.

Lando squeezed her hips as she sat on him. "Hi my love," he whispered, smile front as he stroked over her hip. "How was work today?"

She kissed down his neck instead of answering. Lando released a breathy laugh and gently pushed her away. A pout graced her features as she bounced slightly. "I've been thinking," she started, voice shaking slightly.

"Thinking what?" He asked and bucked his hips up.

"We've been through some crazy shit, right?" She asked and Lando nodded. "Well, what's the next logical step?"

Lando raised his eyebrows. Where the hell was she going with this? But he stayed silent, let her continue.

"I think that the next logical step is to get married, right?" She bounced again, almost as if she was nervous. "Wanna get married, Lan?"

He sucked in a breath.

"Fuck yeah I do."

FIN

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[thezombieprostitute]

Tech Tuesday: Steve Rogers

Summary: It's only your first day on the job. That's way too soon to have an office crush. Right?

Warnings: Workplace stress and bullying. Please let me know if I missed any!

A/N: Reader is female. No physical descriptors used.

A/N2: Shorter chapter but it does move the story forward, I promise!

Part 2

Tech Tuesdays Masterlist

True to his word Steve refrained from overtly interfering with your boss again. Instead he switched to more covert tactics, building a case to take to Nat in HR. Not just the excess time Margaret spent on things other than work but also the emails and messages that could be construed as threatening or bullying.

He was relieved to see you had made a couple friends. Blossom and Spitfire definitely took good care of you. They were also a good excuse to not talk to you. He didn't want to disturb you and your friends. At least that's what he kept telling Bucky whenever you were brought up in discussion.

But Bucky wasn't having it. "Look, let me and Sweetie help you, okay? I'll ask her to come to the party and we can be your backup, okay?"

Steve's face is pink with embarrassment. "I shouldn't need help. And you should focus on having fun with Sweetie."

"And yet," Bucky shakes his head, "you clearly need the help. Just make sure to wear a better costume than last year, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Steve nods. "I'll wear my biker gear, okay?"

"Excellent choice! We'll have the two of you exchanging numbers in no time!"

The party couldn't be going worse. Steve had been maintaining his distance, just watching you have fun, while everyone except you tried to flirt with him. Then Bucky and Sweetie arrived but apparently Steve had misread their relationship and Sweetie had stormed out, Bucky chasing after her. And while he was distracted by that, you and Bubbles had gone missing!

In desperation he approached the Double G's asking if they'd seen where you'd gone to.

"She left with Walter," Geralt informs him. Steve's heart drops.

G smacks Geralt in the stomach, "bad trick." Turning to Steve he adds, "the Powerpuff Girls are escorting Walter to the security desk."

Steve almost faints from relief before he heads to the desk. He wants to run but restrains himself to a fast walk, he doesn't want to appear too desperate. Right? He won't lie, seeing Jake and his family really kicked Steve's heart into gear, reminding him that he does want such things for himself, but he'll never get them if he doesn't try. He doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself, though. He's just so scared because you're so lovely, so smart, so strong and seem to be everything he could ever want but he's likely to scare you away because he's not sure he'll be able to hold back. One step at a time, he chides himself.

He hears a bunch of giggling as he steps out the main entry and stops, caught completely off guard by the sight of Walter in a dunce cap. The two men lock eyes for a second before Walter quickly pulls off the cap and gives Steve a look that says "you saw nothing!" Steve nods in agreement as you and your friends turn to look at who got Walter's attention.

Your heart flutters a bit at seeing the big, tall, handsome blond in a biker getup. Rumor was he did have a motorcycle but you weren't sure this was confirmation. Still, the leather looked good on him. Bubbles pokes your ribs, startling you a bit, before Spitfire chimes in, "you need some help?"

All I can get, Steve thinks. "I, um..." he walks up to you, "I was worried you'd left the party already."

"You...you were looking for me?" Your voice quavers a bit.

"Yeah, um...I just..." Steve takes a deep breath. "Would you like to go out some time?" His words come out in a rush and it takes you a few seconds, and another poke in the ribs from Bubbles, to realize he's asking you out.

"I'd love to!" you almost yell out. You cringe at your overly-enthusiastic response and compose yourself before saying, "that sounds wonderful."

Behind you Spitfire and Bubbles high five, making Steve blush and smile in relief.

Tagging: @alicedopey; @darsynia; @delicatebarness; @ellethespaceunicorn; @icefrozendeadlyqueen;

@jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory; @late-to-the-party-81; @lokislady82; @ozwriterchick; @ronearoundblindly

[primeofprimes115]

A Long Awaited Dance - (Bombshell) Supergirl x Male Reader

Note: Fluff 🥰

Based from the DC Bombshells Universe - Earth-24

Second of September 1945... The War had officially ended on all fronts, while the war between Germany and Britain ended in May fourth of the same year... The war on the rest of the countries officially ended on the second of September.

The Bombshells played a big part on the front, starting from 1940 during the war, the Bombshells were created and put together by Amanda Waller, an expert pilot, leader and the best at military protocol.

The Bombshells went all around the world at each time, Wonder Woman went to Berlin to make the Reich surrender, with all the events that transpired before hand, the world being invaded by strange forces on that other hand, it was all stopped in the end.

Though it came with a cost of Power Girl's and Superman's life, cloned from Supergirl's DNA in 1942, their sacrifices brought a victory that brought peace finally after six years. A victory sweeter than strawberries.

Kara Starikov had lost a lot during this war, Kortni; her sister, her family, and deemed a traitor by her own country; Soviet Russia. She vowed to protect the Motherland regardless, a promise she still kept when it was attacked eventually, she was raised in Soviet Russia, she grieved the loss of Power Girl and Superman but their memory would live on through her, she vowed it so.

Her sister Kortni aka Stargirl had sacrificed herself in 1941 within London, Britain where the bombings were taking place, a creature of pure power had threatened the entire city and world, the Bombshells soon responded to this threat. Kara wanted to sacrifice herself after she thought she was a danger to the world were she still alive, now deemed a traitor to Soviet Russia, her homeland, the only home and country she grew up in.

She knew she was special, her parents told her she came from the stars one night, within a strange mechanism like vehicle, she was their biological daughter, but they were her parents, they raised her alongside Kortni.

Returning from Russia, she flew all the way back to the US, to meet someone she had fallen in love with back in 1942, a special unit soldier that took unprecedented risks in his missions against the Axis Powers, a young man who travelled far and wide to assist the Allies, his name was Y/N L/N, his father served in WWII as a Sergeant, who unfortunately died in 1944 during the Allied Retaking of France, months after D-Day.

Kara was there for him when he grieved for the loss of his father, as he did when she lost her parents in 1942, during a altercation which they sacrificed their lives with the help of Swamp Thing to contain a threat that is still contained to this day, the Bombshells would answer to this Doomsday aka Faora-Ul if she were to escape one day and finish what was started in Leningrad.

Y/N was injured in March 6th, 1945, when a covert mission went wrong, resulted in him getting caught and captured by the Reich.

When word got out of Y/N's mission gone wrong, Supergirl went out of jurisdiction to find and bring the love of her life back from the front, alive. Flying out with a blaze of fury and determination to rescue him from the Germans, before eventually finding him, dismantling the Germans that had captured and tortured him for information, Y/N had bruises, cuts and had dried up blood all over him. He was malnourished too.

He remembered being relieved when Kara came to rescue him, she hadn't killed the Germans holding him prisoner but he swore she might've, based on how in bad shape he was, it was surprising he hadn't broke just yet. All he heard was shouting, shooting and screaming, Germans being thrown and punched while bullets bounced off her.

He remembered looking into the dark, seeing a pair of red glowing eyes approaching him before shutting off, returning to normal once Supergirl came into view, her red cape-like-scarf bundled-in-two flowing behind her like her skirt as she rushed up to him. Her soothing worried voice soon cutting him free and flying him out that day... All the way back to the US where he could be treated for his injuries.

He mumbled one word that day during the flight back to his country for medical care. And again said it once he awoke on the date, eighth of July, 1945 after being in a coma for months. Kara would make frequent visits to check on him and tell him about everything that was going on.

"Printessa" a word in Russian which meant Princess to her, it was a word he'd usually call her, other than "Solnyshko" for when they first met. Y/N was fluent in Russian and a few other languages, useful for infiltration and so fourth. The moment was tear-jerking for her, hearing his first word after being in a coma for months, his eyes had began to open following this while she hugged and cried happily in his shoulder, all that happened next was her sleeping with her head resting on his chest in the medical bay.

As of currently however, Supergirl flown herself back to see Y/N, the young man she fell in love with back in 1942. It had been a day since the war ended, Y/N was almost back to full health but still recovering, he wasn't clear for field work during the final days of the war like he hoped he would, which was nothing but unfortunate for himself.

In the home he was driven back to, his mother's home, Y/N sat on the chair, writing a letter to his friends who were still in the army, a newspaper on the table beside him, the big obvious title claiming that "THE WAR IS OVER", published from the Daily Planet in Metropolis.

Kara Starikov, Supergirl, thought about potentially being Metropolis's protector, it was a mere mention that sprang across his mind once his eyes laid upon the newspaper that was labelled by the Daily Planet. She had been thinking very hard about it since then, knowing she can't ever fully return to Soviet Russia, to Moscow, but she'd protect it as a watchful angel.

Soon enough after placing down his fountain pen and finishing writing the letter, he looked out to his window to see Supergirl landing just a few steps away from the door, before her eyes drifted to the window itself.

A big toothy smile grew upon her face while his came out as a smirk, she soon approached the door and knocked on it, knowing Y/N's mother was inside.

Kara couldn't keep her eyes off him after knocking on the door gently, the wind picking up her long, wavy blonde hair, the double sided scarf that acted as a cape billowing behind her along with her skirt, her big teething smile teasing him through the window.

Y/N couldn't either, her smile always seemed to distract him, let alone her face and beauty, she was the prettiest girl he had ever met, he hadn't known how pretty Russian girls really were until his eyes fell upon her in 1942, when he was given orders by the British to eliminate Dr. Hugo Strange who was in Leningrad at the time.

He ran into a few misfits during his mission, most notably Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Reaper aka Andrea Gruenwald and a Newspaper Girl named Eloisa Lane aka Lois Lane for short, who worked for the Daily Planet.

It turned out that Reaper wanted revenge on Hugo Strange for what he's done to her and Y/N's covert mission was to kill Strange, so the two worked together, with Lois tagging along, though Y/N had tried to convince her not to come with, since she was a civilian, however... Lois was pretty helpful and smart, convincing him to allow her to tag along... For now,

Eventually, he'd meet Kara Starikov aka Supergirl after he sabotaged Strange's security with Reaper's help, with Kara convincing Power Girl to turn against Strange, rescuing Steve Trevor next who was also captured besides Kara.

At a moments notice? When Y/N made himself known with helping Lois Lane out of the hidden window within the wall they climbed through, mentioning they were responsible for the power shortage in Strange's security. 

He fell in love...

Butterflies went through his stomach at a moments notice of her making eye contact with him, he felt his face heat up in that moment, he had heard about the Soviet's having a 'Superweapon' to be used for the War... But he didn't expect it to be a person, let alone... A beautiful young woman.

Y/N solely remembered that day... Where his life soon changed forever afterwards.

______________________________________________________________

[Flashback |Soviet Russia, Leningrad, 1942 | Strange's Laboratory]

"I.. Wow... Uh" Y/N looked at her speechless, while helping Lois out of the hidden window in the wall, noticing him looking at the 'Superweapon'. "Well... Originally we weren't meant to rescue you, I had no idea the weapon would be... A you" he rubbed the back of his neck, Lois helped Andrea out from the window in response, smirking away at the covert soldier's awkwardness. "I suppose it was a change of plans".

Y/N soon applauded the young woman's words toward the clone she was fighting, the things she made her realize, the woman soon softly smiled in his direction as he approached her, standing just slightly taller than her

"I'm... Uh..." Y/N found himself hesitant to even say his own name, though he went under the alias; Cobra, his name was mostly classified amongst all military personnel, knowing this... 'Superweapon' came from the Soviet Union, he felt... Sick about the fact the Soviets were wanting to use this young woman as a weapon due to her power.

"Have you forgotten your name?" the young woman giggled softly, still keeping her eyes on him, a light tint of pink rushed across his cheeks as he laughed softly. Steve Trevor took notice of this and stayed back for now, watching as this went down.

"No, no. It's Y/N... Y/N L/N" he brought his hand out and soon... She took it to shake it.

"And my name is Kara Starikov" she announced to him in her Russian accent, smiling at him as she shook his hand gently and respectively.

"But they call her..." Steve Trevor stepped into the conversation. "'Supergirl'" he announced to him, Kara still couldn't keep her eyes off him as he did the same, her warm smile taking shape as she blinked softly and slowly.

"Supergirl?" he questioned, a tinted smile appearing on the young man's face towards Kara.

"The Motherland originally called me that" her Russian nature explained it all, making him nod at her answer.

Y/N soon thought to himself, liking the name they had for her, though she admitted she never came up with the name. It was Russia that named her that "So... You're apart of the Bombshells, right? I heard about that group making a lot of moves recently, helping out with the war effort".

"{Yes}, I'm apart of the Bombshells, I defected the Communist Party, along with..." pain arose in her voice, before Power Girl came crashing in, ending the conversation... For now that was.

________________________________________________________________________________

[Present Day | US, West Virginia, 1945 | L/N American Household]

Y/N daydreamed on that day of being carried out by Kara when they first met, after she was able to fly again, dealing with the fact she lost her sister and as much as it pained her, she pushed on... In Kortni's name and love. Eventually telling him of the loss she recently suffered, about the fact the Communist Party deemed her a traitor since she wouldn't kill innocent lives in the name of the Soviet Union.

She felt her country was corrupt, she may love Russia as a country, but not the people in charge.

Soon enough, he could hear the front door opening with Kara joining her hands together in front of her.

"Hello Mrs. L/N, I... I'm here to see your son, Y/N" she hadn't met his mother yet, but he could see she was being awkward a little, not expecting to meet his mother without a proper introduction.

"Oh, you're the girl he told me about. Come in, come in!" his mother invited her in, happy to finally meet her. "Y/N!! Your woman is here!" the older woman shouted for her son in her London accent. As much as it felt embarrassing to hear her tell him about Kara's arrival. He felt his face heating up with embarrassment from the announcement alone.

His mother was told about Kara Starikov after he came home, though he was supposed to come back to check on her the year father was killed in the line of duty, they had grieved their loses after he came home to recover from being off the field.

"Might I say that you look absolutely gorgeous, young woman. My son must be lucky to have met you" Helen L/N's voice bloomed through the house, with the door in Y/N's room slightly opened, the music playing on his phonograph at a lower level as he was writing earlier.

"Oh, [thank you], but I thought I was lucky to have met him?" Kara replied, Helen looked at her funny however, not knowing what word she meant earlier as Kara realized what she said. "Oh, sorry! My mistake on that part, I-I said thank you in Russian. I'm sure he told you I was raised in the Motherland" her voice was closer to the door than it was earlier after being invited in.

"The Russian accent says it all, it's okay, Ms. Starikov" Helen nodded with a smile. "He's in there, writing. I'm sure he probably expected you".

"Oh, I'm sure he does" the Russian Bombshell smirked before Helen walked off back into the living room, to continue knitting. Kara on the other hand soon pushed the door open, seeing Y/N already stood up and his eyes falling on her.

"Kara, my Printessa" he smiled brightly, calling her by his many nicknames for her. the Bombshell that had rescued him on multiple occasions, especially the one where he was on the verge of death months back.

"Dorogoy!" a nickname (means Sweetheart in English) she'd call him time to time, she sped into his arms and planted her lips on his, with papers flying all about from his desk after she super sped up to him with a hug and kiss in mind.

Soon his arms wrapped around her waist as hers sprang around his upper back, her sleeve-gloved hands feeling and stroking the back of his head, her fingers running against his hair as he brings his arms up to her curly, long, blonde hair that drove down behind her and parted to the right hand side of her face, where his hands now felt the curls of her hair as their kiss continued.

"Mmm" a soft moan escaped Supergirl's throat after she felt Y/N tapped where her skin was showing from the shoulders and upper back twice, since she wore a corset for her overall attire as she's been wearing since 1940. "I missed you" her Russian accent whispered softly to him, an accent he missed hearing from the last few weeks since she last came to visit, now within the home where he mostly grew up in after moving her when he was young.

"So did I, Supergirl... So did I" he smiled as their foreheads gently collided, with their smiles brighter as the sun shining in the morning. "I heard the war is over, we won" Y/N soon brought up, Kara nodded with a hum before kissing him again for a few seconds, then both parties looked toward the newspaper lying on the floor, no thanks to Kara super speeding into the man's arms.

Kara unwrapped her arms from Y/N as he did the same, the Bombshell knelt down and picked up the newspaper with a 'oops' expression on her face, noticing the papers that had been flown around the place. Soon placing the newspaper on the table Y/N was working on earlier.

"I think I caused this?" she made it known to him as he chuckled about it, seeing the expression on her face.

"It's alright, Kara" he grabbed her by the hand gently with a consoling touch. "It's adorable when you... Do that fast speeding thing" he looked into her eyes, smiling right at her.

"If you say so" she batted her eyes toward him before floating off the ground to be a little taller than him, making him look up at her just a little which made him chuckle.

"For some reason my dear? I like it when you do that" he smiled right up at her before being pulled into a loving kiss that lasted for as long as he could take it, tapping her shoulder lightly when he needed some air after their lips continued to smack softly off each other for a minute.

"And for some reason, my Sakharok" the Bombshell pulled her lips back from his just slightly, whispering to him. "I knew you did, you would've said something already if you hadn't liked it" Kara's English sounded so surprisingly perfect still, for someone who was raised in Russia, she sure knew how to speak English fluently, even when she met him for the first time in 1942, though she's spoken English before hand, she was a quick learner.

Only Russian thing there when speaking English was her Russian accent, which Y/N found attractive at best. The two continued locking eyes as Y/N attentionally rocked side to side slightly to the sound of the music playing on the phonograph, the volume lowered down still. 

"I... Heard what happened, the invaders and all that" Y/N then brought up after the two exchanged looks and smiles. The Kryptonian woman's expression soon turned serious a little, knowing what he was going to ask.

"Did-"

"They died..." Kara interrupted abruptly, as Y/N's expression soon turned into shock.

"Kara..." he called her by name, as she looked away in a little bit of pain. "Power Girl and...".

"[Yes, they did]" she answered in Russian. "I brought their bodies back from space. Before she left, she told me not to grieve much, it was hers and Kal-El's choice, they did it for the Motherland" she then continued with her word, before thinking to herself, wanting to correct herself from what she said. "No, for the world, for Earth... For us".

"They were... A good bunch of people, great in the Circus as well" he noted, and Kara hummed in agreement.

"I'm going to miss their acts" Supergirl slightly smiled, looking into Y/N's eyes next before her boots made contact with the ground. "Their memory will live through me, as does Kortni's and my family's" she smiled at that fact.

"And mine? When my time eventually comes?" Y/N smirked as the Russian Bombshell looked at him with a frown.

"Don't say that you {Idiot!}" Supergirl pouted as Y/N smiled and laughed softly. "I don't get your humor sometimes, that's something very serious".

"Oh you're so pretty when you're all serious" he flirted. "It's such a gas" he smiled soon after again, making her roll her eyes and smiling back at him.

"And your mother said you were lucky to have me, I think I now see why" Kara soon replied, not thinking twice to break eye contact.

"I heard, and she's right in a way" Y/N nodded, agreeing with that statement. "I'm extremely lucky to have you, you've saved me plenty of times, helped me, rescued me months ago, and in return I've done the same. I'm lucky to have met a woman like you, and even luckier to be romantically involved with you for the last three years since we met. On that topic..." he stopped for a moment to smile at himself, it's been three years since they've been in a relationship. "I love you, Kara Starikov, Supergirl" 

"I love you too, Y/N L/N, {Cobra}" she said back to him with a teething smile, before the next song played on the Phonograph while the two kept their smiles toward each other and their hands intertwined. The fabric of Kara's sleeved-gloves caressing his hands gently and soothingly.

A jazz type of song, one that a dance worked best with, a song that felt perfect for the two of them, at least that's what Y/N thought soon as it came on. He began to rock side to side again slightly, with Kara taking notice again, laughing softly at his movements as Kara let go of his hands so he could walk over to the phonograph.

The young man decided to turn up the volume a little, so it's at a optimal sound, enough to hear it properly.

"Remember when I promised you a dance?" he asked her, turning around to face her while leaning on the table where the phonograph was. 

"Two years ago" she remembered. "I remember clear as day" she began to smile, she had the idea of dancing, the time she was dancing at the Ball Event in the train from Istanbul to Leningrad back in 1942 with Steve Trevor.

"Well... Since the war is over... And I'm able to move again..." he began to smirk. Hinting at the promise he gave her in 1943, which they never got the chance to do so. "May I have this dance?" he asked politely with Kara outstretching her arms and hands out to him.

"I'd be happy to dance with you!" she smiled, her hands out, reaching for his. She had waited so long to hear him ask the question. "I've been wondering when you'd ask" she exclaimed, laughing softly at him as he approached and took both her hands.

The next thing, she brought him toward her completely in a space where they could move more freely in his room, embracing one another with Kara's left arm wrapped around his back, the other holding his hand, his fingers intertwined with her sleeved-gloves that were fingerless.

Y/N's arm wrapped around her waist while the other was around her back, his fingers locked with her own other hand. The Supergirl and the Cobra slowly dancing to the rhythm of the music.

"How long I've waited for this" Y/N cooed to his lover, seeing a big smile grow on her face soon after he whispered to her, their eyes blinking slowly with a love behind it.

"All you had to do was ask, and I waited patiently... For you" she whispered back, her Russian thick Russian accent making her sound more attractive by the minute, every time he heard her speak, it was like he fell in love all over and over again, especially when she whispered.

Silence fell between them as they danced in the one spot slowly to the rhythm of the song, their eyes locked onto each other as they found themselves lost in their worlds together, a kiss soon followed up with it deepening like that one night back in 1944 when the two done the deed on a quiet night after seeing each other once again. Kara remembered that moment very well, the night she lost her virginity, and she felt good after it.

And so did Y/N...

"And who thought an American and a Russian couldn't go well together?" he whispered back to her, making her lightly giggle at his question. Her ocean like eyes not daring to look away from his eyes.

"That's such a stupid question" she giggled a little more as Y/N then twirled her around, spinning her in a slow, smooth moment. Kara began to delight herself in this dance with the woman in the song singing. Let alone... Delighting herself more with Y/N taking the lead. 

"Yeah, I guess it is" he rolled his eyes playfully, spinning her around again in the same smooth manner, slow and gentle, Kara's scarf-like-cape and skirt billowed around with the smooth turn as Y/N caught her next.

Supergirl then began to smirk, intertwining her hand with his free hand once again and pulled him close to her body with a little kiss on his lips. The little kiss ended with Y/N giving Kara a surprised look before he smiled. Impressed by the sudden move.

"Good move, very romantic".

"That was good?"

"Yeah, it was a good move, the kiss made it way better" he praised her again.

Kara's blue eyes glistened toward his, like the ocean on a beach, swaying and moving. Her smile bright as the sun, her face prettier than a garden of flowers, her hair that would wave like a golden cape, she was perfect in his eyes. Though she'd highly disagree on that.

The music had drawn the attention of Helen L/N, wondering why the sudden music being turned up earlier, only to see both her son and his woman, Kara Starikov, Supergirl, dancing slowly.

Helen soon smiled at the two through the gap in the door after Kara slightly closed it earlier after entering, Helen wished Y/N's dad were still here to see this, Y/N had his father's looks after all, him dancing with Kara.

The older woman soon left the two alone without interruption, letting them delight in the dance as Y/N thought of something to talk about while their dance continued.

"Y'know... I do wonder what's next in store for us, what's next for us in the future" he brought up to her attention. "I've always wondered about it".

"I don't know, but whatever it is... We'll face it together" she said with a smile.

"Aren't you... Kinda scared?" he asks her with a curious look.

"I mean, it's okay to be scared, you never know what's going to happen" she said wisely. "Steve told me that... Before he...".

Y/N nodded his head, knowing what happened to Steve Trevor, how he died a hero. It was a hard-struck blow to the Allies and Bombshells alike.

"Yeah... I get where you're coming from" he smiled through the pain of loss, Steve Trevor was a good soul, a wise man, one that would be honored as time goes by. "A lot of good people gone, price of war".

"How long do you think that will last?" Kara brought up. "The Great War was only... Twenty-seven years ago, I came to know about the Great War when I learned how the Motherland is today, how it was born" Kara expressed her worries, showing concern for the world itself. "How long until peace is no more?".

"I... Don't think we should worry about that right now" he expressed, freeing his hand from her to caress her face, feeling how soft it was. "Whatever happens, my dear Solnyshko, I will always stick by your side, no matter what happens, nothing is going to tear us apart from each other" he vowed, soon making her smile softly once again.

"{Good}" she said in Russian, before pulling her face closer to his. "As long as we're together" she whispered in his ear, giving him a little wink after pulling back. Their dancing continued slowly with the rhythm.

"On that note..." he spun her around slowly and smoothly again, catching her before spinning her around, she stepped in and lightly pressed herself against his body, dancing to the song slowly with a delighted demeanor. "You still thinking on returning to Moscow?" he asked a good question, one he's still waiting for her answer on as she thought about it.

"Yes... I think it could be for the best... For now at least, but... I don't know if..." she was about to mention the tension between the US and USSR that could happen, regarding the end of the war, she had overheard talks about it all with her super hearing.

A part of herself did not want to be propaganda again, or to be used as a weapon against anyone for that matter alone, she still hasn't forgotten what the Russian leadership tried to make her and Kortni do to innocent Russians back in 1940, leading to them fleeing the country with their mother but failed to rescue their father in time, since he got captured and placed into the Gulag afterwards, 

But again... Russia was her country, it was her homeland, perhaps she could be a watchful angel over Russia, protecting it from any form of criminals or something else entirely, to keep the citizens safe.

"If something were to happen... Then... They'd want to use me as a weapon like they tried to do to me and Kortni, they could even-".

"If it does happen, Kara? We can just... Leave" he interrupted her, trying to keep her from worrying too much. "We don't have to get involved... Unless it's a very, very serious matter, like another destructive war from happening" he then made a mental note to himself and her.

"Maybe..." she said with a worried look still. "But run or fly away again?" she asked.

"I know it sounds... Discreet and dumb, I get that. But... I want to build a life with you also, it's an idea to have backups if things turn... Sour, if you understand what I mean" Kara soon nodded her head, turning slowly and rocking side to side with him slowly as they danced in the one spot together.

The Supergirl then began to smile at one part she picked out from Y/N's wording. That he wants to build a life with her, and in her vision? So did she, she wanted this to happen, she was the first to kiss him after all back in December of 1942

"I also want to build a life with you too" she drew her face closer to his once more, batting her eyes toward him. "I remember Faora mentioning something about the crystal necklace I came to Earth with, mentioning it would do something incredible when it contacted ice, like the ice in the North Pole, the Arctic you called it" Kara brought up a previous encounter with Faora back in 1942 before she turned herself into Doomsday, a hybrid at least. "I've always wondered what it would do".

"Hmm" the Cobra hummed a thought, thinking of a potential idea what they could do together, to discover if what Faora said was true back in 42. "How about we discover that... Tomorrow? You and I" he offered as she smiled funnily.

"I thought you weren't cleared for duty?" she asked with a curious smile.

"Who says I need to be cleared for duty? It's not like we're going on a covert mission, right?" the pair still rocked side to side, slowly turning in the same spot still as Y/N's question repeated in Kara's head as she thought for the minute, her eyes off of him to think so she couldn't get too distracted.

"{You're right}" she smiles after thinking, taking up on his offer. "On one condition" she locked eyes with him next.

"What would that be, my dear?" he smirked.

"Can I stay over? It's... Been a while since I last awakened beside you... In a more comfortable spot" she eyed the bed for a moment's notice before looking back at him.

"I'm sure my mother would be fine with that, I'll ask her, highly doubt she'd say no, think she already likes you" he nodded in agreement with a smile still on his face. "But... Let's enjoy the dance, I've been wanting this for a long time".

"I agree" she nodded. Before kissing him softly, her lips were soft like a cushion, pressing against his gently, with Y/N deepening the kiss by melting into her lips, the soft, smacking sounds overlapped by the music still playing as they slowly danced.

"I love you, Kara Starikov" Y/N pulled back slightly to communicate, both smiling softly.

"I love you too, Y/N L/N".

🎵 It's Been a Long, Long Time...🎵

______________________________________________________________

Fin...

Word Count: 5434

[fancyfeathers]

lol I saw the pregnancy headcanons and immediate thought of all those victorian and regency movies where the labor process is bad and the doctors asking the husband who to save, the child or the wife. It's always fun to see period drama yans realize that their darling could just die due to their greed

Oh my gosh, the darling would be absolutely terrified and so would almost every single yandere, like not going to lie I could picture this happening with Albert and his darling when she had the twins because that would have been a high risk pregnancy at the time and I can just imagine the pure panic all around the house when it was happening. Besides Albert, I imagine Louis would be busy trying to keep the other children in the house distracted, especially Andrei because he does not to know that there is a possibility of him not having a mother tomorrow. Then Albert is holding his darling’s hand when the doctor asks him that question and it looks like he saw death himself and honestly it takes him a few minutes to recover from that question and when the doctor asks him again he nearly looses it, terrified to loose any of them.

“My Lord, you need to-“

“Save them both!”

“My Lord-”

“Save them both, do what you have to but neither my wife or child will die here.”

The doctor probably thought Albert was in hysterics due to the shock but when seeing the look on Albert’s face, dead emotionless and staring into the soul of the doctor. Honestly the doctor probably thought Albert was out of his mind requesting something like that, most would save the child because they were the heir but Albert already had his eldest, Albert was just terrified of loosing them…

Eventually morning did come and the house was at peace again, and when little Andrei peaked into his parents room he saw his mother asleep with one of the two little girls asleep in her arms with her mother and the other being cradled by her father who was running patterns on her skin with the covert tip of his fingers. Albert definitely notices his sun in the doorway and gestures for him to come here with his head.

“Meet you two little sisters, I am holding Hyacinth and your mother is holding Marguerite.”

“…May I hold her?”

“Not just yet, let everyone sleep a little while longer.”

[violetmuses]

Loose Ends - M. Lowrey 🚔🖤

Title: Loose Ends - M. Lowrey 🚔🖤

Fandom: “Bad Boys” Universe 

Character: Mike Lowrey 

Pairing: Mike Lowrey + Female Reader 

Main Storyline: When Detective Mike Lowrey needs a favor, who knows what could happen next?

@nelo0wesker @sofia-da-1st

====

1995

“I'll pay right under the table. No backup involved.” Detective Mike Lowrey wanted to enter this prison with you, one of the covert specialists. 

“Who are we visiting?” You whispered behind closed doors as officers and other staff members filed out. Marcus Burnett already drove home. 

“Isabel Aretas.” Mike revealed, almost nervous regardless.

“Benito’s wife?” Files detailed the Aretas Cartel for quite some time. 

“Yes.” Mike nodded, crawling through the proverbial abyss. 

“Don't you dare.” You pulled defense, angered and scared all at once. “She could kill us.”

You've heard too many stories, especially when Isabel turned lethal with dark magic. 

“Not now. She's incarcerated with a child.” Mike explained more and still leveled his voice. 

“What the hell?” You then stepped back, flabbergasted.

Benito Aretas stood infertile and this side of the family hadn't even adopted children, not based on your notes anyhow. 

“Everything will make sense when we get there, all right?” Mike grabbed his coat and you sprint toward Miami's heated night, just bewildered. 

______

The darkened hall grounded identical cells up and down every single wall. Metal clanked alongside vocal noise as you walked right near Lowrey. 

“Hola, mami!

“Hey, girl.” 

Bring her over here, man!” 

People kept shouting, but you ignored everyone and headed in the opposite direction. At least this facility volunteered guards around you and Mike. 

Another wing organized placements for children and mothers. Sleazy remarks would no longer echo from all corners of this large-scale building. 

Instead, your heart would break every time babies started crying.  

“Isabel?” Mike stepped toward the final placement and stood with you. 

Isabel, this drained yet beautiful and dangerous woman, glanced up while holding an infant. 

“Hola. ¿Quién es?” Isabel stands to greet Lowrey from this space and continues holding her child, but faces you as well. 

“One of my partners.” Mike cleared his throat and acknowledged you. 

“Hola, Señora. Este niño es muy lindo.” You offered Spanish with Isabel due to your profession. 

“Muchas gracias, su nombre es Armando." Isabel kissed the baby's cheek and told you his name. 

Moments later, the baby cooed regarding Mike and smiled without teeth. 

“Hey, man.” Mike waved toward the child and genuinely beamed, almost laughing

Within seconds, dots finally connected in your head. 

Badass Mike Lowrey had a son. 

“He's so adorable.” Despite the realization, you pulled together and still compliment this moment. 

“Not even a year old.” Isabel traded accented English, but visitation concluded before you really talked. 

“Gotta go, bye little man.” Mike's voice would echo in the distance as you left with security

And before time dwindled further, baby Armando wailed through tears. 

=====

2024 

“Gotta visit somebody. Wanna ride?” Detective Lowrey spoke up again. Almost two decades later, you remained loyal with the Miami precinct. 

“No other choice.” You jokingly rolled both eyes and reached the passenger seat of Mike's famous Porsche. Family time still kept Marcus Burnett home. 

_____

“Armando?” Mike questioned his son while standing in front of this prison cell with you. 

“Didn't think I'd see you again.” Armando faced Mike, but realized your presence just like his now late mother. “Who's that?”

“My old partner, she was there when you were really little.” Mike nodded toward you. 

“I hoped that you wouldn't move like the family, but it's wishful thinking at this point.” You shake your head, disappointed that such an adorable child walked this horrible path in adulthood. 

“My mother's choice.” Armando said. 

“I know, but we actually have an opportunity for you. Interested?” You continued. 

“Yeah.” Armando took this moment and you veiled the genuine smile that almost reached your face. 

Second chances made a difference. 

[zoobus]

for me, the bell that post rings is this post, which i read as the (cishet?) woman making out that (cishet) men are typically bad/incompetent at sex with women as proven by a situation where it seems like she wasn’t having fun (implied in the anecdote being an example of men being incompetent with women, right?) and the way to solve not having fun would have been to just tell the guy he didn’t make it in, at least if she was trying to do PiV. i can’t cite other examples off the top of my head but i think this is a genre of post, cishet women saying “see? this is how bad men are at sex” and it’s a situation where she does not seem to have like. attempted to solve the problem by saying “i don’t like that, do this thing i like instead”. i think this specific tweet got both a lot of “so real”s and a lot of “girl why”s so i guess opinion about this is split.

i personally do find (*some modes of*) guys failing at sex to be subby-hot but i would find it surprising if a large percentage of women not telling guys how to get them off were doing it on purpose as a covert power/denial thing. in this i think OP is also misdiagnosing the situation. i think most of the women who speak kind of smugly about “he was fucking my thigh and i didn’t tell him until he asked afterward” type situations don’t feel empowered or think it’s empowering, they’re just coping with situations where they felt disempowered/not comfortable or able to speak their desires by framing it as “he was bad at sex, i chose not to tell him” instead of, like, “i’m bad at picking sexual partners/articulating my desires/communicating during sex and it’s my fault”.

[wannab-urs]

Pedro Pascal Character Fic Recs | Vol 44

AO3 | Kofi | Main Masterlist | The Spreadsheet Masterlist

Howdy Folks!

Welcome to the 44th Spreadsheet Digest. It's quite short this week because I've been reading a book and doing last minute Christmas shopping.

As always, if you want to be on the digest, tag me in your work. I will try to read it. I am so behind on my TBR I'm actually scared to look at my mentions... but still tag me please.

Honey, You're Familiar a Dieter one shot by @murder-wife

Stella Stone moved from Hollywood a decade ago following her divorce to fellow actor, Dieter Bravo. She returns when she is nominated for an Oscar and is soon face to face with their contentious past.

angst, smut, unprotected PIV, oral sex, one face slap, no age gap, leaving one or two things untagged for spoiler reasons, you know how I do.

Shadows a Din one shot by @burntheedges

you were pretty sure the ship was haunted.

spooky vibes, flirting, feelings and smut, canon-typical violence (with a bounty), this is a tentacle monster fic and there is smut, so keep that in mind, it's exactly what you think it is, kissing, grinding, fingering, but not with fingers, p-in-v sex, creampie, cuddling, manhandling, except not with hands, if you get my drift, pet names (cyar'ika, mesh'la, good girl), no mention of details for reader other than wearing clothes and being a mechanic

Riduur in Training a Din one shot by @absurdthirst, @storiesofthefandomlovers

You arrive with the Armorer to take your place as Din Djarin's riduur, one that he had no warning of. Trained to be the spouse of the next leader of the covert - you will be dar'manda if he rejects you. And Din is horrified to learn that you have been trained for his pleasure.

Sexual training/grooming, mentions of creeds and honor, cults, playing fast and loose with Mandalorian traditions, removing helmets, forced weddings, nudity, masturbation, oral sex (male and female receiving), loss of virginity, fingering, vaginal sex, penetrative sex, unprotected sex, humiliation, dishonor, pregnancy

but he's the one I want a Joel one shot by @wheresarizona

All you needed was to see if your dad’s friend, Joel, had a spare key to your father’s house. Instead, you get railed within an inch of your life on Joel’s couch.

DBF!Joel Miller, slightly possessive Joel Miller, pre-Outbreak, age gap, explicit consent, unprotected p in v (wrap it up!), creampie, oral sex (f receiving), vaginal fingering, dirty talk, size kink, praise kink, spit as lube, overstimulation, sex on stairs, body worship, slight body insecurity, getting caught, misunderstandings, angst with a happy ending, Die Hard is a Christmas movie debate)

Luster a Joel one shot by moon_mint (AO3)

Just my humble contribution to the fine genre of Joel Miller stepdad AUs. Slaps fic like I'm a used car salesman. This baby has grief and trauma! Stepcest! People not knowing how to process their feelings! Messed up families! Teenage hormones! Adult hormones! All in the safety of fiction!

No Outbreak AU, Stepfather!Joel, stepcest, Parental Death, Masturbation, Vaginal Fingering, degradation kink, Angst, PIV Sex, Daddy Kink, Blowjobs, Bad Parenting, messed up and toxic family dynamics in general, Age Difference

how do you sleep? a Joel one shot by @thriftedtchotchkes

joel's always there to comfort you with his words and a warm bed after a nightmare, but tonight, you need a little more

jackson era, soft!joel, comfort, undefined relationship, getting together, mentions of nightmares & insomnia, smut, unprotected piv, slow/intimate sex, creampie

Crash a Marcus M series by @moonlitbirdie (ezrasbirdie on AO3)

Harboring a secret crush on her step-father would be enough to make any girl a little crazy. Years after your mother leaves him, however, Marcus Moreno is still the one you go to when you need saving.

Step-cest, Step-cest adjacent, Step-dad!Marcus Moreno, Age Difference, Missy does not exist, Mommy Issues, Daddy Issues, Manipulative Reader, manipulative marcus, Smut, Angst, Masturbation, Sex Toys, dead dove, Spanking, Dubious Consent

Ma meilleure ennemie an Oberyn one shot by @sanarsi

Your families hate each other but you are young and in love.

forbidden love, hurt/comfort, soft!Oberyn, so much feelings, arguing, young dumb and so much in love

The Graduate Pero one shot @absurdthirst, @storiesofthefandomlovers

From the very first day in his class, you manage to piss Professor Tovar off. Thinking him antiquated as the history class he teaches. Verbally sparring with him until things turn physical in his office, you start hate fucking your professor every chance you get.

Insults, rough sex, hate fucking, verbal sparring, power imbalance, age gap (everyone is legal), squirting, fingering, vaginal sex, oral sex (male receiving), slight exhibitionism, threat of being discovered, hurt feelings, angst

Happy Reading!

[bloody-cupcakes]

Okay okay, let me throw the idea out of just manipulative Yan!Veronica

Can be a fic or headcanons, whatever you want to do, but im willing to let this girl manipulate me idc!!!

-🐊

Yesss I love that idea so much!! Sorry this is a month late, I got distracted for a bit since I went on a trip to the beach with my friend and didn't get any writing done for a good couple of weeks lmao. I decided to go with both headcanons and a fic because I felt bad for making you wait for so long. Headcanons are below, the fic will be out later this week! 🥰

Tw: yandere/dark content, gender neutral reader, Veronica is extremely manipulative but we love her anyway, brief mentions of suicide (relevant to canon, yknow)

Veronica's one of the more covert yanderes tbh. She's not as domineering as Heather Chandler or straight up crazy like JD. At first, she just appears as your typical teenage girl who's worried about their partner. Sure, she's a little clingy, and possessive, and overly protective, but with people like Kurt and Ram out there who wouldn't be?

Her manipulation is also a lot more subtle than other people's. She's able to easily disguise it as worry, insisting that she's just trying to look out for you when it comes to parties you might want to attend or people you hang out with

She has absolutely no problem making up stories or coming up with lies in order to get you to leave certain people alone. Oh, you didn't hear that so-and-so slept with their best friend's boyfriend? Wow, I thought everybody knew that. She's so trustworthy and genuine, of course you believe her

If you ever manage to catch her in a lie, she's quick to turn it around on you or act as if she has no idea what you're talking about. She'll pretend that she got this information from a second hand source, so naturally it couldn't be all true, but at least some of it has to be, right? So it's still better for you not to hang out with this person, just in case

It's even harder to see what she's doing as manipulation given the fact that her worries aren't entirely baseless. There are plenty of awful people in the school, and it wouldn't be too far-fetched to believe that she truly does want to protect you. She may be a bit excessive, sure, but that's only because she doesn't want to see you get hurt

When I say she limits the people you're "allowed" to hang out with, I mean that. Heather McNamara is okay, and maybe Heather Duke, but Heather Chandler is off limits, and don't even think about going anywhere near Kurt and Ram (not that you'd want to, because ew)

Even Martha Dunstock is a perfect candidate for a friend, because she never hangs out with anyone else anyway, which means no one will bother you two. And by bother I of course mean give you any sort of attention

JD is a bit of a toss up. Veronica trusts that he'd never let anything happen to you, but she also knows that he always ends up finding trouble no matter where he goes, intentional or not, so you'll typically only hang out with him if Veronica is also there to keep an eye on him

Overall, she's a great girlfriend! If you don't mind only hanging out with people that she trusts to keep an eye on you or occasionally getting caught up in her and JD's passionate discussion about "ridding the world of popular filth" and all that. But that's nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Even if the eventual suicides of Heather Chandler and Kurt and Ram did seem a bit suspicious...

[creative-caramel-coffee]

A Disastrous First.

Pairings: Wanda x nat x R (platonic)

Word count: 4.6K

Summary: Reader is on a mission with the team and it’s the morning before they leave to go into the bush for a bunch of days to camp to stakeout a base and reader gets her first period. Bad timing.

TW: periods (idk if that needs a warning lol), blood, vomiting, exhaustion, cramps, embarrassment, swearing (very little tho)

A/n this is based partly off personal experience lol

“So are there any questions before we leave?” Steve asked. A chorus of mumbled no’s came from the group and Steve clapped his hands. “Alright everyone go to the bathroom and then we’ll head off. The campsite has already been setup.” He continued to talk but your weren’t really paying any attention. You felt odd.

After the meeting ended you stood and followed the team out of the room. Everyone went back to their rooms to finished packing and go to the bathroom before getting on the jet. Fury would be coming with to pilot the jet back to the compound as it drew too much attention for a week long stakeout in the woods.

Hydra had a new covert based and Steve posed all the avengers come with the camp out in the woods. It really only needed about two people for the mission but Steve insisted after all it had a been a long time since the group did anything as a team.

You finished packing a bag with basic supplies. You were the youngest on the team. About half a year younger than peter who was fifteen which left you at fourteen and a half. After all the team couldn’t not accept you after your past. Hydra had given you powers that couldn’t be ignored. Fire and magic made it hard to fit in at times but after you met Wanda you grew better control over them. Not as good as her yet but still impressive. She had much more time spent training hers than you.

You set the duffel bag on the edge of the bed and walked to the bathroom.

“Shit.” You swore. Internally panicking. You knew you were a bit late and most of the other girls in your year had gotten their first periods but you hadn’t expected it now. You had no supplies, and you were about to leave. You got lost in your own mind. Could you ask Wanda? A knock came from your bedroom door.

“Y/n? Steve needs us all at the jet now he sent me to get you.” Nat called through the door.

Dammit. You folded some toilet paper and placed it in your underwear. You could ask Wanda once you get to the camp ground.

“Y/n?” Nat called again.

“Coming.” You said. Quickly you washed you hands and finished up grabbing the duffel and slinging it over one shoulder. Nat studied you for a moment and then without a word the two of you walked down the hall.

When you got to the jet Wanda sensed you anxiety and once you were in the air she pulled you aside to ask if you were ok. You had made an agreement for her not to look into your mind as it brought back memories of not being in control like at hydra.

“Y/n? Are you ok?” Wanda said rubbing her thumb against your bicep from where she held it.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” You said and Wanda frowned unconvinced.

“Y/n you can tell me anything you know that right?” She said softly.

“Well actually there is something but. Its dumb.”

“Im sure if its bothering you its not dumb.” She said and ushered you to sit with her away from the group.

“I- i- i got m-my first p-period.” You said not looking at Wanda. She smiled at you with understanding in her eyes.

“That’s ok. Do you need anything? Pads? Have you got cramps or anything?” She asked.

“I do need some pads. I don’t have anything. And i don’t think I’ve had any cramps yet. Im just tired.” You said.

“Well i can give you some pads and you can go put one in before we land. Its a tough time to get it with camping and all. Steve said there would be no real bathrooms.” Your head whipped up at that.

“W-what?” You said eyes wide.

“Oh sweetheart were you not listening again. Its kinda a pee in the woods situation.” Wanda said. You simply opened and closed you mouth and Wanda pulled you in for a hug. You felt her slip something into your pocket and pat your back.

“Thanks wands.” You said. Quietly slipping away you put in the pad before coming back to sit next to her. You rested you head on her shoulder exhausted from everything.

“You can sleep now y/n/n we still have a couple hours till we get there.” Wanda said and you curled into her and drifted off.

You woke to hands running through your hair and soft whispers in your ear.

“Y/n/n time to wake up lovely girl.” Wanda said and you opened your eyes.

“There she is.” Wanda said and patted your cheek. “We have about five minutes till we land. I though you should change again before we get off and start setting up.”

“Ok.” You mumbled and stood sleepily. Once you entered the bathroom you found another pad in your pocket and silently thanked Wanda. After changed again you went back and curled up against her again. This time with you head in her lap. Wanda traced patterns on you leg and soon you felt someone sit down on your other side. Nat picked up your legs and swung them into her lap.

“You ok y/n/n?” Nat asked. She had been observing from the other side of the jet. You mumbled and hid your head in Wanda’s thigh.

“Do you want me to tell her?” Wanda said and felt you nod against her leg. Wanda lent closer to nat and whispered to her.

“Y/n/n got her first period. Shes a bit exhausted.” Wanda said and nat nodded.

“Does she need anything?” Nat asked.

“I think she’s ok. I’ll ask.” Wanda stroked your hair again and softly asked if you needed anything. You mumbled a small no and went back to dozing.

“Yeah she’s ok for now but do a favour and keep an eye on her if I’m not with her for some reason?”

“Sure.” Nat said.

After dozing for another few minutes Wanda’s hands found your hair again and you yawned, stretching in her arms.

“Welcome back sleepy head. We just touched down, nat said she can carry your bag if you want sweets.” Wanda said. You sat up slowly.

“No I’ll be fine don’t worry.” You waved her off and grabbed you bag following Steve off the jet with nat and Wanda following behind you.

“Alright we’ll be in tents of three.” Steve started once the team was all in the clearing. “Wanda, nat and Y/n in one tent. Bucky, sam and myself in another. Bruce, tony and peter in the third. And lastly Clint and Thor in the last one.” Steve said and for once there was minimal arguing as everyone was happy with their tent groups. The team dispersed and began putting bags in tents and claiming sleeping bags.

Nat, Wanda and you were sat in the canvas tent. You had opted for the middle spot with nat on your left and Wanda on your right. But the three of you knew you would all wake up in a cuddle pile each morning.

Wanda placed her hand on your knee where you had your legs crossed under you.

“Y/n/n are you still feeling ok sweets?” She asked from where she sat on her own sleeping bag. Nat sat on your other side folding her clothes and placing them at the foot of her bed but you knew she was listening as well.

“‘M fine.” You mumbled feeling your cheeks heat. “Um. I do have a question though.”

“What is it lovely?” Wanda asked.

“Um, what do i do with the dirty pads if there are no bathrooms?” You mumbled again. Wanda slapped her forehead.

“Oh damn how could i forget.” She began rooting around in her bag. Soon she pulled out a plastic bag with four brown paper bags inside and a small container of baking soda. You looked at her confused as she handed it to you.

“Basically you put the pad inside the bag and sprinkle a bit of baking soda on it to keep … bugs away from it.” She said.

“Ew.” You said making a face and shoving the bag into your backpack.

“Yeah. Pretty much.” Wanda said chuckling.

“Thanks wands your a life saver.” You said and hugged her. She hugged back loosely worried about if you had cramps or not yet. When the two of you broke apart nat silently hugged you.

“I know i don’t have much experience in this but in want to help so i bought you this.” She said and pulled a chocolate bar from her bag. You took it with tears in your eyes and nat silently panics worried she had done something wrong. Wanda simply chuckled as you threw yourself at nat for another hug.

“There are the hormones.” Wanda said grinning.

“Oh shut up and come here sparkly hands.” You said and she raised a brow and sandwiched you between her and nat. After a few moments you pulled them down and now you all laid cuddling on your sleeping bag. After a few moments Wanda noticed the slow rise and fall of your chest as you had fallen asleep. It was at this moment the flap of the tent lifted and Clint poked his head in.

“If i knew it was cuddle time i would have come earlier. Can i join?” He joked and nat rolled her eyes from where she laid with your arm over her chest snoring softly. She lazily flipped him off and Wanda stifled a chuckle.

“What do you want Clint?” She said feigning annoyance.

“Steve wants us all to gather so he can go over what we are going to be doing for the next few days.”

Nat sighed “give us a minute and tell him Y/n’s not coming and we’ll catch her up later.” Clint grinned shooting her a thumbs up before disappearing.

Carefully the two girls extracted themselves from your grasp and slipped in a pillow for you to cuddle. You rolled over burying you face in it and breathing in deep. Wanda cooed and nat laughed softly.

“She really is just a big teddy bear.”

“Shes a cute teddy bear.” Wanda agreed.

“Alright lets go see what capsicle wants before he comes in and wakes up y/n/n” nat said and the two quietly left the tent hoping you wouldn’t wake until they got back.

Steve sat around a small campfire in the middle of the tents and was poking it with a stick. He looked up and frowned.

“Is there any good reason Miss L/n is not joining us.” Steve asked.

“Shes sleeping.” Nat said

“Not good enough go get her up.” Steve said and nat was about to argue when Wanda left to go grab you knowing Steve wouldn’t change his mind.

When she returned you were trailing behind her exhausted and rubbing your eyes. The team was all there now and watched your curiously.

Steve began talking but you weren’t really listening as you rested you head on Wanda’s shoulder.

“Are you ok?” She asked softly “your looking a bit pale sweets.” She said.

“‘M fine wands.” You mumbled shifting a bit and poorly hiding a wince. Wanda noticed and decided to bring it up after whenever this impromptu meeting finished. She shot nat a look and Wanda silently told her what was going on with her powers. Nat nodded and went back to paying attention so she could fill you in later as she could see you were half asleep and not paying attention and Wanda was more focused on you than Steve. She placed a hand on your cheek holding your head from where it sat on her shoulder. Your whole body was leaned into hers as you blinked and fought sleep.

After the meeting was over Wanda carried you back to the tent as you were still exhausted. Nat followed behind. Wanda moved carefully not to jostle you and spark any uanessacry pain as she knew the cramps had started.

She placed you down on her bed so you were more out of the way. Nat followed her into the tent.

“Are you sure she should be sleeping this much?” Nat asked a little worried.

Wanda shrugged, “I was the same on my first, it’s all new and exhausting both physically and mentally. Im expecting her to get upset at some point. When your not used to it and your hormones are out of whack, seeing that much blood can be scary and gross. Plus not having real bathrooms or anything makes that ten times worse. I feel for the kid, timing just sucks. And from what i can tell with how often she’s changing her pad poor things not got it light, i just hope its a short number of days.”

They woke you once for lunch and gave you some pain meds before the three of you relaxed but not quiet slept in the tent for the afternoon. You did some lazy doodles in your sketchbook not really paying much attention to the art. You must have fallen asleep at some point because your woke in Nat’s lap with braided hair. The three of you got up and had dinner which you ate curled into Wanda’s side. After you went to bed while Nat and Wanda stayed up for a bit with the team. And despite being an avenger tony had given both you and peter a bed time of ten. So the two of you went to bed in your own tents.

You woke to a sticky feeling between the sheets, it was still dark. And you laid annoyed at being away, huffing softly before a cramp hit hard accompanied with nausea. Knowing the feeling a little too well you hastily crawled over the sleeping lump that was Wanda, accidentally jostling her in your hurry. She sat up slightly with you laid across her lap with your hands frantically unzipping the zip. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

“Y/n? What are you doing?” She asked and froze as instead of a response she heard you gag and start to dry heave. That woke her up quickly. She looked over at Nat who had propped herself up on her elbow with her eyebrows scrunched looking slightly tired. When they heard you whimper nat scurried out of her sleeping bag to beside you were you were now on all fours. Your back arched as Nat swept your hair up to hold it just in time as you began top throw up on the grass behind the tent. You breathed heavily coughing up the last of it while Wanda rubbed between your shoulder blades. You were panting and the two women held their breath in anticipation.

“You ok you gonna-“ nat was cut off as you brought up another round.

“Ok that answers it.” She said. “Shh bubs its alright. Its ok. We’re not mad just get it all up sweets.” She said. Wanda whispered similar things as she silently thanked Thor that nobody came to investigate the gross splashing sound of you being sick on the ground. When you finished you looked up with tears in your eyes. Wanda waved her hand the sick puddle disappeared as she pulled you into her lap where you curled up and cried. Wanda shushed you softly as nat dug around in her bag for a bottle of water, mouthwash and a cracker for you to nibble on as well as two ibuprofen.

“Shhh sweets it’ll be ok. Do you want me to come with so you can change you pad sweets i think you bleed a bit on the sheets. She said and your cried harder not having noticed.

You nodded into her stomach and Wanda used her magic to clean the sheets before nat handed you the things she grabbed. You used the mouthwash and drank some water opting to eat the cracker once you had changed and felt hopefully, less sick. Worried you couldn’t handle anything in your stomach at the moment. Nat nodded and Wanda led you by the hand to the patch of trees a little way off from the camp ground. She turned her back and used here magic to light the area for you with a soft red glow. After the rustling stopped and you told her you were done she walked you back to the tent where nat was sat patiently waiting for your return. She silently handed you the cracker and you curled up on your bed nibbling on it. Two strong pairs of arms wrapped around you from both sides and once you finished the cracker you drifted off again the pain medicine working wonders for your cramps which had settled to a dull ache.

The next morning Wanda and nat let you sleep in taking turns to sit in the tent for when you woke up. Not wanting you to be alone after last night knowing you would wake with more cramps. In the morning they wanted to give you the pain meds straight away to avoid another episode like last night.

Clint shot nat a look from where he sat making coffee on a pot above the fire.

“You look like shit. Did you even sleep last night?” He asked and nat rolled her eyes and flipped him off.

“Shut up Barton. Y/n kept me awake last night.” She said and Clint laughed.

“She kicking you again in her sleep.” He asked.

“No Shes sick.” Nat said and Clint’s laughing stopped and he stilled, looking worried.

“She ok?” He asked.

“Yeah she’s sleeping. Just… keep this between us, ok?” She said and Clint nodded knowing nat would have her reasons. He went back to stirring the coffee so it didn’t burn.

“You and Wanda can have the first cup.” He said and nat blew him a kiss.

“Life saver.” She winked and went to find Steve to tell him he needed to excuse you from activities and either her or Wanda for the day.

Nat soon swapped out for Wanda and moments after the young witch had left you began yo stir. Nat was by your side in an instance and you sleepily took the medicine she held out for you. What she wasn’t expecting was for you to curl back up as small sobs shook your body. Nat carefully placed a hand on your shoulder.

“There’s so much blood natty.” You whimpered with little tears rolling down your cheeks.

“Shh shh i know love its ok.” Nat said petting your hair.

“I wanna go home.” You cried and nat pulled you into her to give you a hug. You sat there a tangle of limbs while you cried into her shoulder while she stroked your head and whispered words of comfort.

“Its ok my sweet angel your alright.” She said before humming a soft Russian lullaby that sent you back to sleep. She sat back against her pillow with you laid on top of her. Which is where Wanda found her a half hour later.

“She doing ok nat? Did you give her the meds?” Wanda asked and Nat nodded. You were still clinging to her like a koala.

“Shes emotional and tired which is a hard combo for her.” Nat said and placed a kiss to the crown of your head from where it rested below Nat’s chin.

“Poor girl.” Wanda said. “At least Steve excused the three of us from activities. All it took was one mention of that time of the month for him to look sunburnt all of a sudden and turn into a stuttering mess.” Wanda chuckled.

“Yeah Steve’s sweet and he means well its just sex ed wasn’t really a thing in his time. He’s good at helping a girl out if she needs it but he’s still a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing. He’s trying though.” Nat said and you whined as you stirred before burning your face in Nat’s armpit. Wanda pulled a face and nat laughed.

“Im clean don’t worry she’s probably just looking for warmth.”

“I should take her and let you get so me breakfast before it’s all gone.” Wanda said as she carefully pried your sleepy form from nat. You curled into yourself before Wanda pulled you close and you immediately latched onto her and settled again. Nat chuckled slightly.

“She sure is clingy like this, that gonna have to be my new favourite time of the month then if we get this may cuddles.” Nat said and Wanda laughed slightly. Her chest vibrating against your cheek as she did. You hummed in sleeping content as she did and you smiled in your sleep.

“Now shoo, go get some food and maybe bring something back for the cuddle bear here.” Wanda said and nat gave a mock salute before hopping up and getting out of the tent. Nat smirked as Steve failed to meet her eyes and she quickly dished up some food before heading back to the tent.

When Wanda woke you for breakfast you looked confused which was adorable in your sleepy state with your messed up hair. That was something nat could fix for you later.

“I thought Steve said no food in tents? Something about animals?” You asked.

“I doubt Steve is in any state to say anything and what he doesn’t know cant hurt him.” You shrugged as Wanda laughed and you began to eat the bacon and toast. You didn’t like eggs.

Nat laughed as you pushed the eggs to one side. She knew you wouldn’t eat them and simply got them so her and Wanda could have more.

“Thank you guys. I know I haven’t been very easy to deal with” you smiled at them but it was more a half grimace. Wanda set her fork down.

“Absolutely not. You will not apologise for something you can’t control sweets. Nat and I are happy to help and not just this time. If you ever need us for anything especially this you can come to us no questions asked.” She said and you nodded swallowing back tears.

“I needed to hear that today. Thanks wands.” You whispered.

“Any time L/n” Nat said and you smiled before the three of you went back to eating.

“So what do u wanna do today?” Wanda asked and you frowned.

“I thought we had to do team activities.” You said.

“We did but we got us out of it. We are all your for the day.” Wanda smiled and you blinked.

“Is it ok if we just stay here and I can draw you don’t have to stay with me if you don’t want to.”

“Nonsense. You’re our get out of jail free card that’s too good to waste. Especially because I know Steve’s gonna want to go on a run at some point and will probably drag the whole team along. You have come in very useful my good friend.” Nat winked and you laughed.

That day was spent drawing the campground and anything interesting your could find in your sketchbook while Nat and Wanda relaxed. Chatting or reading. At one point Nat was sharpening her knives which she said she had been meaning to do for months and thanked you for getting them the time off.

“I didn’t really do much.” You smiled shrugging.

“That’s the idea.” Wanda laughed. “Can I see your sketches?” She asked

“Umm.. sure some aren’t finished yet.” You said handing her the book. She leafed through the pages in awe.

“Y/n these are amazing I never knew you could draw like this.” She said looking at the sketches of the campground there were even some portraits of the team which Wanda traced with careful fingers. “Nat come look at this.” She said and you blushed and she turned back to you. “If that’s ok?”

“Yeah that’s fine I’m just not used to the attention Peter caught me drawing on the roof once other than that not many people bother to look through my sketchbooks.” You shrugged.

“You have more of these?” Nat asked looking up from where she was studying the art. “They are very impressive y/n/n” she said.

“Yeah that’s my twelfth sketchbook.”

“I’d love to see the others when we get back to the tower. If that’s ok?” Wanda said.

“Yeah sure they’re not as good though.” You said. After a while the handed the book back along with a few more compliments which had you blushing unused to such honest praises.

The morning went quickly and soon you were having lunch with the team again who was sweaty and gross. You laughed as Clint chased Nat around with his arms wide threatening a sweaty hug. Her face has you in stitches as Wanda reminded you to breathe through her own laughter. Peter complained about never getting time off and tony playfully whacked him saying he shouldn’t ever wish for anything like girls anatomy. Stark shuddered thinking about pepper and her rage when on her period. Sometimes she was cuddles and joy and others she was threatening to give him the company back to manage. He still loved her though and held her hair back when the cramps made her throw up.

Later the team all went off with Steve again to do some survival training while you Nat and Wanda all went back to relaxing. Nat noticed you wincing later and silently gave you more meds and you thanked her.

“No problem kid you were due another dose to anyway.” She said and Wanda passed you a glass of water she had conjured.

The afternoon went off without a hitch and soon it was evening again. Wanda made sure to give you extra strength meds before bed this time so they would last the night and hopefully you wouldn’t wake up. You slept until late morning as Nat glared at anyone who tried to wake you up. Soon all the tents were pack down but yours and Nat pulled your sleepy form from the sleeping bag and placed you in Wanda’s lap. She packed down the tent and you snuggled into her stomach as you curled into a ball on her thighs.

Soon the quinjet landed and Wanda used her magic to block the noise for you so you stayed sleeping. The next time you woke you were in Wanda’s bed still on her lap. Nat was sat by Wanda’s side reading a book propped up on her bend knees.

“Morning sweets. Guess where we are?” Wanda said and you smiled recognising the room.

“We’re home.” You cheered and Wanda nodded.

“No go take a shower stinky.” She said and you grinned. “I left you some of my clothes on the sink and a new pad for you. We’ll have a hot water bottle, chocolate, snacks and a movie marathon waiting when you’re done.” She said and you gave her an appreciative thumbs up as you shut the door. As girls you didn’t mind sharing beds or bathrooms after all the three of you were very close.

That day was spent being pampered by your two favourite women and eating a boatload of chocolate. If this was what periods were like… maybe they weren’t all bad.

MASTERLIST

[thesoundofrainbirdwings]

POV you are a Rando Mando from the covert

You spend your days chilling in the covert and supervising foundlings. It's not as if you have anything better to do.

Din walks in fairly often but ONLY to talk to the armourer because he is ridiculously antisocial. You, on the other hand, chat with your fellow Mandos every day. He avoids everyone like he's going to catch Bothan Nether Rot just from making eye contact from you all.

One day he invites a girl to the covert and somehow she ends up being a Mandalorian princess with a fancy ship and fancy paint job. Din also brings an overwrought ship. Maker knows where he got it.

Naturally Din makes a beeline for the armourer because of course he does. The princess meets everyone and is surprisingly social for someone who Din brought over. You have no idea how Din brought a princess to meet the fam though. However, you assume they're together and will get married or something.

You notice next they, for some reason, do everything together. When the covert goes to rescue Ragnar, they go together. But it's a group situation so you think, "whatever". And don't even mention the weird "foundlings" that showed up too. They are easily the ugliest things you have seen in your life. You promise yourself you won't go near them.

But then that rando Blue shows up. For some reason Din knows who he is and goes to talk to him in private. And for some reason Bo-Katan goes to join him. You stay back with the rest of the covert where you feel safe.

You go to the gathering around the fire. She listens very closely to what he has to say. Then he goes and sits SUSPICIOUSLY close to her. This is where you decide they are actually married.

The next day you are going to Nevarro. It seems they just assumed they would go together. You admit they work well as a team and her ship is actually nice. You also realise the starfighter Din owns isn't a mid-life crisis purchase either.

She shows up with her helmet off and realise she is better looking than you expected. It doesn't hurt that she is quite friendly and more cheerful than dingy Din. You can see why Din likes her.

They then go off on some harebrained errand the armourer sent them on. They take the baby and it looks suspiciously like a family trip instead of a mission.

A few days later, a fleet shows up. You start to wonder what Din did for this to happen. They keep sticking to each other though. This seems to be the one constant, even with all the ridiculous things happening around you lately.

The princess announces a mission to retake Mandalore and wants volunteers. You mull it over in your head and do decide on it but before you say yes, Din volunteers himself. You assume this is a formality on his end.

They travel in the same fancy ship though you expected it to happen. You also expected them to disembark together, which also happens. Why are you even surprised anymore?

You end up on this weird ship looking thing. You start to get along with some of the Nite Owls and chat with them. They're not as bad as you initially thought and you think you can make friends with them. You notice Din and his princess talking quietly. You assume they're having an intimate conversation and mind your own business.

The very next day, Din gets captured and you see the princess is shocked and sad. You assume this is what losing a spouse looks like.

[paxesoterica]

What’s your favorite Sulemio moment?

Asking me to pick a favorite child, eh?

I think they're all great but I'll go into detail about a few:

>The initial meeting: I like that it was established right away that Suletta is a person who helps other people; it's her go-to instinct, a trait that informs her character, and it makes perfect sense with another trait: Suletta is a person who feels bad when she's *not* helpful to other people. Conversely, it establishes Miorine as an ornery person, a view which is soon complicated when she proceeds to go out of her way to save Suletta's life. All of this in a meet-cute that got off on the wrong foot due to miscommunication (foreshadowing!), but which *also* quickly asserted that, despite their flaws, these girls do care about each other (and thus we, the audience, have reason to care about them and their relationship).

>"I guess Mercury *is* rather conservative, that sort of thing's normal here." It's funny to me that I read in an interview (don't remember where unfortunately) that the audience is intended to share Suletta's view and be surprised at that statement, when I suspect that Miorine's view is very much a potshot at the lack of queer marriage rights in Japan. It's also funny how this scene is going to age with Mio's perspective increasingly regarded as the normal one. Finally, I like that it addresses the yuri trope of "But we're both girls!" and immediately cuts it off at the knees.

>Miorine knowing a girl who was honest and kind with her for all of a few hours, and almost immediately jettisoning her year-long plans to escape to Earth to protect her (I don't trust the opinions of anybody making the argument that Miorine was only ever using Suletta, because they clearly have no idea what they're talking about).

>"I'm not the wife, I'm the groom!" In addition to being very gender of Suletta, I feel like her quick acceptance of, and pride in, her role after the party indicates that Suletta *did* have some degree of attraction prior, but just, didn't know what to do about it until Mio made it obvious that she cared about her.

>The entire chase and confession sequence in Plant Quetta.

>Not from the show itself, but that time in the audio drama where Chuchu challenged Miorine to a goat-milking contest, and Suletta directly referred to Mio as a 'tsundere'.

>The mutual yearning as the two went through divorce despite not even having properly dated. Like yeah, it was painful, but what's a queer romance without some bittersweet pining?

>The reunion scene, who knew hand-holding could feel so tender yet intense? Plus, I dug the Utena/Amaterasu vibes.

>Miorine finding Suletta in space in an echo of their first meeting and, believing her dead, being so overcome with grief that she attempts to kiss her through their helmets *despite being in the void of space*. People talk a lot about liking queer couples with unhinged, over-the-top moments, and yet so few bring this up (and even have the gall to call their romance covert).

>Their epilogue scenes together. Yeah, the world isn't perfect, and I still wish we had more time with the cast, but gosh how can anyone call an ending where our leads have so clearly grown from their broken, younger selves into such a happy couple a bad one?

So, yeah those are a couple of Sulemio moments I enjoyed.

[nothing0fnothing]

When I was a preteen I lost my entire friend group because my mother catfished my classmate.

I always had trouble making friends as a girl because I was autistic and I had to worry about only befriending people my mother would approve of. When I was about nine I'd had a fairly solid friendship with two other girls in my class. That went by pretty uneventfully. Sure, there were some incidents of my parents doing weird shit, but nothing too wild.

This was until a new girl joined our school. She was cool and pretty and had all the trending stuff most of our parents wouldn't allow. She joined our friend group and my mother did not approve of her.

This girl had only been in our friend group for a few weeks when I found out my mother was using my MSN and social media passwords to log into my accounts and pretend to be me when I wasn't around.

When I was doing homework, she was on her laptop, pretending to be me and talking to this girl. When I was at my extra curriculars, she was logged in to my accounts, talking to this girl. When I was in bed, watching movies, on my own laptop playing Stardoll, my mother was in the kitchen, alone, in silence, sitting at the breakfast table, having conversations with a little girl while posing as her classmate.

I have shivers just thinking about it.

Before I realised what my mother was doing I was really open with her about my online behaviour. I would sit in the living room with her or have her reply for me if I was doing something else for a minute. When I found out, I was horrified. And too ashamed to tell my friends.

I reasoned with myself that she was just doing it to make sure the things we discussed at school were appropriate. She was just checking up on me. She was just being a bit too protective of her daughter. When I look back on it now, with adult eyes and a full history of context to put it into perspective, I don't think it was actually about me at all.

It all came to a head one day, where my mum booted me off my laptop because I was speaking to the girl on MSN, and she wanted a turn I didn't want to give her. My mum snatched the laptop away and sat messaging my friend as me.

My mum ended up joining a video call and the girl was, as you can imagine, horrified.

Her mum, as you can imagine, was also horrified.

My mum tried to defend it by claiming she got involved only with my permission and only to mitigate bulling. It's very possible the girl was quietly bullying me, treating me like shit in a way I never picked up on because I was autistic and assumed we were friends. It doesn't make it right though. I hope she doesn't remember it like I do.

This ended up being a whole issue, with the parents of the girl coming to our house to get to the bottom of why their daughter was in conversation with a grown adult for, to their knowledge, a couple of hours. My mum tried to coach me in preparation for this visit. Telling me a bunch of lies to keep track of that I couldn't get straight in my head.

She was peppering in the "just tell the truth" lines, while telling me a version of events that simply never happened. Confusing me even more in an attempt to rewrite history. She knew that this looked bad, but the truth was even worse.

When I was called to give my statement of events, I couldn't keep the story straight. I told more of the truth than I was supposed to and it didn't corroborate my mothers story, that she only talked to the girl for the few minutes leading up to the video call.

Well, the mums talked, and when it became common knowledge that their children befriending me meant they may be lured into covert conversations with my freaky mother, they forbid their daughters from befriending me.

So I remained friendless all of primary school. And then my mum insisted I go to the attached secondary school, so it continued there too.

I remember it with so much detail it could have happened yesterday. I really hope that girl doesn't remember it at all. That shit is traumatic.

[aerequets]

sugar, spice, and everything nice

ao3

rating: G

genre: fluff, humor

synopsis: After the fifth time Loid turned around to see Yuri feigning immense interest in their coffee table, he sighed, long-suffering and in disbelief of what he was about to say. “...do you want to come see what I’m making?”

a/n: this is the first fic i'm posting that was not written in one sitting past midnight :D milestones yall! also i think the first fic which isn't twiyor centric? anyways i know some people love yuri and many, many people loathe him. i'm more on the neutral end, where i acknowledge he's a funky guy and if i ignore the weirder aspects of his love for yor and pretend its just intense attachment issues due to trauma etc then i think he's swell. i didn't really know how to write him since in the series itself he's used more as a plot device than anything else, and loid's view on him reflects that, so hopefully this doesn't feel too weird. also ending fics is hard im sorry 🙏🙏

anyways i've talked enough, one last thank you for everyone who leaves reviews and kudos, i don't get to respond to them but i do read them all and appreciate the love <3 enjoy

...

“Yooor!” Yuri sang as he shoved the door to the Forger residence open, bouquet of flowers in hand. “I got off work early so I decided to come… and…”

His voice petered out as he took a better look inside the apartment he’d just forcibly entered. The chihuahua girl and her polar bear of a dog were in the living room with some noxious cartoon blaring on the TV set. That damned Forger was in the kitchen, messing around with something that definitely didn’t smell good whatsoever. Most importantly, there was a glaring, offensive lack of Yor!

“Where is Yor?” He asked, accusingly pointing a finger at Loid who finally looked up from his work. “What did you do to her?!”

Loid’s eye twitched. What made Yuri assume he could just barge in whenever he wanted and find Yor waiting for him? “She got called out for a late night shift.”

“Don’t lie to me, you—” Yuri’s other senses finally caught up and he begrudgingly confirmed that whatever Forger was messing around with did smell good. Really good. And vaguely familiar? He sniffed the air deeply, trying to figure it out.

Anya looked up from her cartoons. “Are you acting like a dog, Unkie?”

“I’m not the dog here!”

Loid debated with himself as Yuri stood in the doorway, neither coming in nor leaving. The polite, Loid-Forgerly thing to do would be to invite him inside to wait for Yor to come back. That was what upstanding gentlemen, good members of society—far from the blacklists of the SSS— acted like; gracious, affable.

The thing was, he didn’t really want to.

He watched Yuri argue with Anya about dogs (“there’s an actual dog, and then you, chihuahua girl. I am a normal person!”) and groaned. Come on. What would Yor think if she heard Yuri came by and I turned him away? It would be no good if he displeased her. He had to do this for the sake of Strix.

“Would you like to come in?” He called from his spot in the kitchen, none too welcomingly.

(Doing it for the mission didn’t mean he had to be happy about it.)

Yuri was torn from his impassioned argument with a literal first grader. “Tch… I guess since I’ve brought flowers, I might as well put them in water,” he muttered. “No other reason!”

He came in. He split the gargantuan bouquet up into six different vases. He made some comments about how Anya’s cartoon was impossible according to the laws of physics. Then he just stood in the living room, trying—and failing—to act like he wasn’t peering at Loid’s activity in the kitchen, still loudly sniffing the air. Really, even if Loid didn’t have senses sharpened to a knife’s point, it would be difficult not to notice Yuri. To make matters worse, every time he turned back, Yuri would suddenly whip around and act like he definitely wasn’t loitering, the way they did in bad sitcoms. Is this the way the SSS carry out their own covert operations? he wondered.

Aside from Anya’s cartoon playing in the background, it was painfully quiet, the only sounds coming from Loid's activity in the kitchen. It seemed like Yuri wasn’t going to strike up a conversation, and Loid wasn’t inclined to, either. But then why is he just standing there?

 After the fifth time Loid turned around to see Yuri feigning immense interest in their coffee table, he sighed, long-suffering and in disbelief of what he was about to say. “...do you want to come see what I’m making?” 

 Yuri squinted at him like he was affronted at the mere notion. “Hmph. I guess I could.” The speed with which he made his way to the kitchen offset his haughty tone. He glanced down into the various bowls Loid had set out on the counter, one filled with sliced apples, another with some uncracked eggs, and a third with flour, sugar, and spices laid out, but not yet combined. 

 “Apples,” Yuri said, almost dumbstruck. He forgot to keep the scowl on his face as he picked up an aniseed from the third bowl and brought it to his nose. It seemed like he finally found what he’d been sniffing around for. “You’re making apple cake?”  

 “Close,” Loid said, surprised by Yuri’s flip in demeanor. “Apple streusel pie. Do you make apple cake?”

 “Not me. But… this smell is…” Yuri mumbled, smelling the anise. “I don’t really remember, but this thingy smells familiar to me.”

 “It’s star anise. And people often say that smells are stronger links to memories than visuals,” Loid offered. “Maybe it’s something you used to have.” 

 Yuri’s eyes widened. “Oh. Now that I think about it…” He held the aniseed up to the light. “I think Mom put this in apple cake once, on Sis’ birthday.” He cut a glance to Loid. “Apples are her favorite.”

 Loid knew—that was why he was making apple streusel. But he was more astonished at the fact that Yuri brought up an old memory to him at all. Right now, with Yuri looking at the aniseed with an almost wondrous expression, it struck Loid how much of a kid Yuri was. 

 Yuri was only twenty years old. When Twilight was twenty years old, he was still new to WISE, training hard and getting his ego beaten down even harder. He’d thought he knew everything there was to know back then.  

 Could he blame Yuri for thinking the same way? 

 For the first time, Loid found himself regarding Yuri with something that wasn’t annoyance. Sure, the guy was more attached to Yor than superglue, but again, could he be blamed? He was a kid clinging onto the only thing left from his childhood. 

 Yuri turned to him with a grim expression. “I think I should take over this baking project of yours.”

 Any feelings of tenderness were dashed in an instant. “What?”

 “Apples are Yor’s favorite, and I know her best, so I should make the apple cake.”

“Apple streusel. ”

 “Whatever!”

 Loid resisted the urge to physically kick Yuri out of the kitchen. Don’t tussle with an SSS officer. Don’t tussle with your wife’s brother. Don’t tussle with a kid! “Are you forgetting the last time you came and destroyed the kitchen?”

 “You may have won then, but I won’t back down from this fight,” Yuri hissed. Loid gaped, a headache building in his temples. Since when was this a fight?

“Is this round two?!” Anya’s voice suddenly piped. The two of them turned to see her standing by the counter, looking strangely excited. She’d abandoned her cartoons to stretch up onto her tiptoes to see the counter. “Papa versus Unkie?”

“We aren’t doing that,” Loid said at the same time Yuri declared “I’m going to wipe the floor with him.” They turned and glared at each other.

Bond trotted up to Anya and nudged her with his nose. She paused, turned to the dog, and then brightened up.

“I just thought of a way better idea,” she announced. “Let’s all bake for Mama together!”

“What?!” The evening was spiraling way out of control. All Loid had wanted was to make some apple streusel for Yor since she was working late so often and deserved a treat (because if she got too tired or fed up, it would reflect badly on their fake marriage). Now he was meant to bake with her hyperactive brother and his equally hyperactive daughter—two people with an entire lack of abandon in the kitchen?

“No way,” Yuri sniffed, and for once Loid wholeheartedly agreed—until he continued, “I'm gonna make such a good apple streusel Yor will forget why she ever married you."

“This is not your kitchen,” Loid said, patience evaporated. “You aren't making anything, not here at least.”

“What, are you scared?”

“I'm not going to argue with you about this—”

Anya sighed loudly and tutted as if she were an exasperated adult. “Mama will be happiest,” she said slowly, “if we all make it.”

That got both men to pause. Well, thought Loid, I am making this to cheer her up in the first place. Anya's not wrong…

Agh. If it makes Sis happier, then shouldn't I…?

Anya smiled in satisfaction. In the snippet of the future she read from Bond's mind, it seemed like everyone was getting along and Mama was smiling really wide, so Papa and Unkie had to stop fighting in order for that to happen. As fun as round two sounded, that future seemed better.

(Also, in that version of the future, everyone was too distracted and happy to notice Anya sneaking extra dessert. Double win!)

“Yay! What do I do?” Anya asked, eagerly hopping up on a stool. “Can I put the crumblies on top?”

“It's not time for that yet,” Loid replied. “Though you can help me make the topping if you want. Er, Yuri, if you want to get started on the custard, you can crack the eggs…”

“Right, eggs,” Yuri repeated before picking one up and smashing it into the bowl, shell splintering. Loid and Anya jumped.

“Not like that!” Loid cried.

“Even I learned how to crack eggs,” Anya unhelpfully supplied, leading Yuri's face to glow red. Loid felt a tinge of pity (he knew how Anya's words could burn firsthand) and cautiously asked, “Did you ever learn to crack an egg, Yuri?”

“It was fine to do it this way before Yor ate your food,” he mumbled in response. Loid was silent for a few seconds before turning to the fridge and pulling a fresh egg out. “This is how you do it.” He demonstrated over the bowl, noting how Yuri carefully tracked the movement. “Tap gently enough to make a crack in the shell. Then pull it apart like you're opening it. Yor learned this way too.” He threw the empty shells away before adding, “Not everything has to stay the way it was before, you know.”

A muscle in Yuri's jaw jumped, but he said nothing and instead set to cracking the other eggs, a little clumsy but decidedly better. Loid then got Anya to whisk the powders together ( “Gently,” he insisted, since it seemed Anya had some sort of floury vendetta) and he cut the butter in for the streusel topping. Yuri began haltingly asking for instructions on what to do next, which Loid was glad to provide.

Time passed like this, with Loid and Yuri slowly warming up to each other via baking. During the process of whisking, mixing, pouring and arranging apples, it seemed like Yuri forgot to be thorny with Loid, and Loid forgot to be cross at Yuri's presence. Anya, too, quickly forgot why she was helping at all and went back to watching cartoons, in wait for when the streusel would be ready for her to eat.

It was when a warm, cinnamon-sugary smell was filling the apartment and Loid and Yuri were cleaning up that the front door opened. Yor trudged in, tired and sore from the night's assignment and ready to collapse into bed. She froze upon seeing six fresh vases and a very familiar pair of shoes in the doorway.

The TV was playing one of Anya's cartoons, but the living room was void. Yor, weary and blood still pumping, immediately assumed the worst. Oh, no. What if Yuri came and got in a fight with Loid? What if he found out we're fake married?! Where's Anya? And—

She, too, had to pause and finally breathe in the mouthwatering scent hanging in the air. There was just something about it…

Abandoning all caution, Yor slipped inside, keeping her steps light just in case something really was wrong. But it smelled too good for there to be any real damage—was that sound logic, or was she just hungry? In any case, she made sure not to draw attention to herself as she poked her head into the kitchen. 

“And for pots that have a lot of gunk in them, you can just boil a bit of water with soap and vinegar  and wait till it foams. Makes it easier to clean,” Loid was telling Yuri. “Yor taught me that, actually—oi, Anya, don't open the oven yet.”

“Makes sense.” Yuri was scribbling something down in a notepad, punching down on the dots and lines. “I'll triple-star that one since it's a tip from Sis.”

“Is it ready yet?” Anya was alternating between excitedly jumping in front of the oven and plastering her face up against the glass. Bond, too, was sat next to Anya with his tail furiously thumping on the ground. “It smells sooo good!”

“It'll be just a minute. Come on, back up from there, both of you.”

Yor was so shocked at what she was seeing that she dropped her purse, alerting everyone of her presence. They all gawked at each other; Anya and Bond were the first to react, scrambling up from their spots. 

“Mama! You're back!” Anya exclaimed, hugging her mother's knees. Bond barked and Yor pet his head absentmindedly, still trying to process what she was seeing. 

“I am,” she said faintly. “Yuri…? When did you get here?” 

“Sis!” Yuri said, also snapping out of his stupor. He sheepishly tucked his notepad away. “Um, a bit ago, I guess. I came to visit you, but you were out, and…"

“Did you guys bake together?” Yor asked, daring to hope. Yuri and Loid exchanged a glance before Loid smiled.

“He's a quick learner.”

"Loi-Loi is an okay teacher, I guess,” Yuri reluctantly added. “We made apple streusel. Do you remember Mom's apple cake?”

Yor inhaled, closing her eyes. The memory was fuzzy, but distinctly sweet, as if the taste of the cake remained. “Yeah. This smells really similar.”

“Yuri had the idea of adding cloves and cardamom,” Loid said. “It worked out quite nicely.”

“Yeah, it was my idea,” Yuri said proudly. Loid rolled his eyes but said nothing more on the subject. No wonder it smelled so familiar, Yor thought. She could hardly believe Yuri even remember the apple cake. Or that he'd shared enough about it with Loid that they were able to replicate some of it in the streusel.

Something warm and sweet  was filling up in Yor's chest. Was it the sugar in the air? She breathed it in, cheeks apple red and sore from how widely she was beaming, previous tiredness all but forgotten. She hadn't realized how much she'd subconsciously wanted Yuri to warm up to her family before. Her family. His family now, too. It didn't have to be just the two of them. 

“Ah—are you crying?!” Yor's eyes had gotten a little shiny, which naturally led to Yuri bursting out bawling. “I missed you toooo!”

The oven dinged and Loid pulled out the streusel as Yor joined them in the kitchen. As the adults got to chatting, Anya snuck around and victoriously stabbed a forkful of the piping dessert, blowing on it vigorously before chomping down. She grinned around her fork. 

 

Victory was sweet. 

[slytheryn-babe]

Here’s a sneak peak from chapter three of Cuckoo. Coming soon this weekend!

He’s in the garden with Narcissa, kneeling in a bed of flowers. She notices the scar because Malfoy has his sleeves rolled up. It’s a jagged semicircle under his dark mark. A bite.

She has to hold back her gloating smile.

She had tried raiding Malfoy Manor a day after Nott Manor. It was supposed to be covert. Just her and Lavender. If they could find the horcrux, the war was over.

But Hermione’s spells didn’t work. The Death Eaters had already updated their warding techniques. They couldn’t get through.

Hermione kept prodding at the wards with her wand, a low stream of curses flowing from her lips, as Lavender kept guard.

The deep night surrounded her, and she was lost in her head, praying to the wards to let her in. So she didn’t hear Lavender’s gasp as she was knocked out. Didn’t hear the footsteps behind her. Didn’t know Malfoy had his wand on her until she felt it digging into her back and her own wand was slipping out of her hand.

Shall we add ‘Cat Burglar’ to your list of accomplishments, Granger? It will go so well next to ‘Terrorist’ and ‘Insufferable Swot’.

Hermione froze.

Go on, turn around.

She turned, slowly, palms extended in a show of defeat. Lavender lay a stone’s throw away, unconscious.

Hermione’s mind whirred. How soon until he killed them? She had a marble portkey in her pocket, a knife strapped to her thigh. He might not have noticed, yet.

Although, he said, I don’t think we can honestly call you a cat burglar when you’re so obviously shit at it.

Malfoy towered over Hermione, smirking, like he did back in school. He had his wand trained on her. Was twirling hers in his other hand.

Give me ten more minutes and I’ll get in. Hermione spat. I’ve done it before.

His eyebrow twitched. So you’re the one behind the attack on Nott Manor.

The one and only. She twisted her mouth into a viscous smile. Gave a little bow, like she was a performer. When she straightened, she took the smallest step forward, trying to get close enough to grab at his wand. Surprised a mudblood bested your precious, thousand-year old pureblooded wards?

Not at all. Fortunately for us, you’re the only one in your little Order that has any amount of brains. His eyes flashed. What will they do without you, do you think?

Crickets chirped around them. His wand was still poised at her temple. She could feel the magic humming there by her ear.

They’ll survive. My life is just one drop in a sea of people ready to die for freedom.

Such a pretty speech —he ran the tip of his wand across her skin, down her cheek, down the soft expanse of her neck— for a pretty girl. Too bad none of it’s true. His eyes flicked down, lingering on her lips and then her breasts. I wonder what else you’d do for your freedom.

Hermione’s stomach tightened. You’re disgusting.

One side of his mouth pushed up. Hermione felt sick with fear and confusion, and in that moment, her occlumency walls faltered and Malfoy pushed himself in.

Hermione shoved up her walls and dove at him, hoping he would be preoccupied enough with the legilimency attack to be unprepared for a physical counterattack. They fell to the ground, Hermione’s knife at his throat. He pushed her off. She tore for her wand as they rolled. Now she was beneath him, his knee pushing against her chest. He tried to shake her off as she wrestled still for her wand. A spell. She dodged, and a flash of red light hit hard next to her head. The smell of her burning hair filled her nose. He planted his hand on her sternum. He was breathing hard.

That’s when she bit him.

Blood filled her mouth. He shouted, flinched back involuntarily. Hermione wrenched her wand out of his hand and scrambled backwards.

It was the advantage she needed in order to get to Lavender. The air was alive with reflected red light, as Hermione fought back against Malfoy’s onslaught of spells. His skin shone red. Red reflected in his eyes, on his shock of white hair.

Red dripped from her lips.

Sparks of light—fireflies—flashed between them. His eyes met hers one more time, they burned into her. His jaw was slack, he was panting. A sheen of sweat covered his forehead. He saw the portkey in her hand—realised what it was a moment before she disappeared with Lavender.

Till we meet again, Granger, he said, and the world faded around her.

[fantastic-nonsense]

This is a bit arbitrary, but is Oracle’s existence public knowledge pre-Flashpoint? As in, does the average citizen know of Oracle? I’m reading up on Barbara because I’ve only read her pre-Crisis Batgirl stuff so far, but I’m kind of… iffy about the BOP book because of the writers.

No, Oracle's existence wasn't public knowledge. Babs' identity was completely secret until halfway through Ostrander and Yale's Suicide Squad run and even after that most of the heroing community didn't know who she was, much less the general public. Birds of Prey as a book largely functions on the reality that the team is, essentially, a covert ops team led by a figure whose existence isn't public knowledge and whose identity is somewhat unknown even to the larger heroing community. As we move through the post-Crisis timeline, Oracle's existence largely stays secret from the public but most of the heroing community knows that she exists and works with her. She even had a stint where she worked closely with the JLA during the Watchtower era.

In terms of her secret identity: the Bats know that Babs is Oracle, and the Birds know that she's Oracle, and various individual heroes (like Ted Kord and certain members of the Justice League that she regularly works with) know that she's Oracle, but there's still several people who have no idea that Barbara Gordon and Oracle are the same person (much less that she used to be Batgirl).

By the time we get to Blackest Night/Brightest Day in 2010, Babs decided that too many people knew about her existence as Oracle and way too many people out of that group knew that Oracle was Barbara Gordon. So she faked Oracle's death to the larger superheroing community in a very mid and weird BOP plotline called 'The Death of Oracle', leaving only a select number of people (most of the Bats and the BOP) aware that she was still alive. This canonically had major consequences for several heroes who were relying on her intel and were in the middle of dangerous assignments when she went dark, but also wasn't properly explored as much as it could have been since a) The Black Mirror, which Babs co-starred in, was also happening at the time and b) the reboot happened shortly afterwards.

In terms of Birds of Prey the book, Vol. 1 (1999-2009) is pretty solid the entire way through:

Funnily enough I consider Dixon's Birds of Prey run to be one of his Top 3 comics. There's a reason an all-female team title written in the early 2000s survived long enough to be handed over to another writer and it's because Dixon made it work. Babs (and her relationships with other characters) is his one exception when writing women and I still don't know why 20 years later. There are definitely still significant amounts of Dixon Flaws™ that shine through in that run, but he's one of Babs' best writers and is still probably the best Dick/Babs writer we've ever had–largely because he's one of the few writers who actually gives a fuck about Babs as a character separate from her relationship with Dick. Which is weird because it's Dixon, but it's still true.

Gail Simone's run is well-written with good plotlines and has better treatment of the characters overall. It's also extremely racist at times (specifically anti-Asian) and occasionally veers into weirdly immature "high school mean girl bickering" interations. She writes an excellent Babs, but I think she was also dealing with a lot of external and internalized misogyny as one of the only major female writers at DC and as someone who got to where she was because she played somewhat nice with the "good old boys' club." Her work on BOP is not without significant flaws, but it's also a really fun read and I recommend it.

I wouldn't really bother reading BOP Vol. 2 (2010-2011) unless you're a completionist and every post-Flashpoint iteration of the team has been either "decent concept, bad execution" (the New 52 book) or "this is just bad, pull it now" (every version of the book since). If you remove Oracle from the equation and pretend like post-Flashpoint's watered-down Batgirl!Babs is a suitable replacement, you've already lost a fundamental aspect of what made the book work in the first place.