#they can debate about history for hours while I take a people-break

[cesium-sheep]

-n- my brother says he might stay for the whole weekend when he comes up for the concert which on the one hand it's good for him to get away from mom's house, but on the other I think I am too tired to have Company for that long. I did warn him he may be kind of on his own for chunks of the weekend since I've been so tired.

[lassieposting]

Serpine in therapy for the asks :)

Okay so my headcanon is actually that Nef doesn't get a choice about going to therapy. It's part of the parole agreement he makes with the Sanctuary when he immigrates to Roarhaven. Whether or not he is answerable for our Serpine's war crimes, and whether the Sanctuary here can try him for his war crimes back in Leibniz, is still up for debate by legal professionals and he'd rather not risk it, so in exchange for his freedom he agrees to comply with weekly check-ins with a parole officer (which ends up being Skug, because China is spiteful), regular therapy, and location monitoring.

And like. Honestly, he thinks the whole thing is a massive waste of time - the Sanctuary flexing its power over him to make a point. He shows up, he's charming and personable, he flirts with the therapist and the girl on reception and anyone else he happens to bump into - but he thinks that before long, he'll have them convinced that he's psychologically normal and doesn't need their services, and they'll discharge him.

But like. The thing about Nef, aside from having a sadistic streak a mile wide and Chronic Backstabbing Bitch Disease, is that he's spent the vast majority of (at least) his adult life surrounded by people who would turn on him in a heartbeat if it suited them to do so. He comes from a world where abuse, manipulation and betrayal are not only common, they're the norm. That's the only way to relate to the world and to others that he understands. The Faceless worshippers are a nasty bunch who all encourage each other's worst impulses and learn to care only for themselves, and on the rare occasion that they break those habits, they tend to get hurt by those who haven't. So like, Nef's normal meter is completely and utterly broken. In his Handbook backstory, his childhood was unstable and emotionally damaging. As an adult, he has nothing to do with his family - all he had was Mevolent and the Church. His relationship history is littered with violent psychopaths like Christophe Nocturnal and Jaron Gallow, people who approved of and supported Serpine's own sadistic tendencies, but also tended to vent theirs on him when it suited them. This. Man. Is. A mess.

The therapist suspects complex trauma - although, that's not as unusual a diagnosis as it is for mortals: it's a given for millions of sorcerers who survived the 500 Year War - narcissistic tendencies, though not to the point of a full blown personality disorder, and an obsessive focus on/one-sided rivalry with Skulduggery.

Honestly, I think Nef would mostly use it as an opportunity to annoy Skug. He pays attention, but mostly so he can take what the therapist tells him and put it to use while Skulduggery is stuck in the car with him for an eight hour stakeout. Psychoanalyse him. Armchair-diagnose him. Treat him to a three hour monologue of "My therapist said..."

But like. You know that thing where you start saying hewwo to mock other people who say hewwo, and it's kind of a mean-spirited joke at first, but suddenly you've unironically adopted hewwo into your daily vocabulary and can't stop saying it? Yeah.

Some of it starts to get in via osmosis and sheer habit. He spends so long mockingly telling Skug about all the problems that he (Nef) thinks he (Skug) has, that he actually starts to notice things for real. He can tell when Skug is dissociating. He can point out to Val that she has a tendency to pull away from and lash out at the people who want to help her, because she's terrified to be seen as anything other than competent and capable, and then he'll think, hold on, I do that too.

A lot of therapy goes in one ear and out the other because it doesn't work for him - complex trauma is just Like That. The standard practices - like CBT - seem like platitudinous drivel to you, and the fact that everyone else seems to think they work often feels like a great big joke everyone is playing on you. But he takes in enough to start making some small changes to how he interacts with others and how he behaves. He starts learning how to react appropriately to distress signals in the people who are becoming his friends, rather than seeing those signals as something to take advantage of, a soft spot to sink a knife into and twist. He's developing basic empathy, which actually helps him, because for once in his life he's in a situation where bonding with others is The Way To Get Ahead, rather than something that would get him killed.

And he's getting a better grade in therapy than Skug, by virtue of actually agreeing to go, so he gets to be smug about that.

[tobiasdrake]

While I have some beef with the motive, I really like 2-2 right up until the Sparkling Justice stuff enters the conversation.

Like, sure, there's a bit of magical mystery bullshit to how the killer escaped the building. But it's in the same vein as the magical mystery bullshit to how the killer in 1-1 disposed of his bloody clothes. Sometimes cases will feature a great feat of ability that is acceptable only because it's performed by someone who's the supreme master of a relevant skill.

That's fun. It's fun when Ultimate Talents play into the murder mystery. Danganronpa is extremely character-focused and their Talents are a key element of their characters.

Sparkling Justice is where things start to fall apart. It's meant to do two things: First, it's to take the piss out of Toko. They're making a joke about the first game's DID serial killer reveal by turning that into a ridiculous nonsense explanation that's obviously fake in the second.

And. Well. Yeah. It's funny. It's super funny. Especially when she breaks out the stupid mask. Absolutely hilarious. 10/10 great joke.

Where it loses me is why she's doing it.

We've basically solved the crime at this point. We know who the killer is. We aren't clear on the motive, but it's pretty obvious that it's Peko. There's no mistaking it. And. Then. She starts in with this to fill in the motive.

To convict herself.

For the murder she committed.

Peko is framing herself for murder. But unlike when Aoi framed herself for murder, Peko is actually guilty of murder. Out of nowhere, she begins framing herself for the murder she committed and that we've already pretty much agreed that we committed.

*heavy sigh* This adds nothing. This adds absolutely nothing to the case. Except to lead in to one of the dumbest claims in Class Trial history. (And that gulf is vast. We once had to spend actual debate time disproving the death of a participant in the debate.)

Peko is framing herself for a murder that she committed because she has somehow managed to convince herself that Peko beating Mahiru to death with a baseball bat makes Fuyuhiko the Blackened.

Peko. Peko. That's not how it works. That's never been how it works. If you've played the first game then this moment is truly baffling because Monokuma laid out the accomplice rules there: The one who does the killing is the Blackened. Period. Regardless of how many people conspired to make it happen or in what capacity, the person who hit Mahiru with the bat is the Blackened. There is no wiggle room here.

Honestly, this would make more sense if Fuyuhiko actually was the Blackened. Then, Peko going to so much trouble to self-incriminate, trying to shield him with her life, would actually make sense. This could be an amazing false lead. But. It's not.

It's just her. The Blackened. Over-theatrically pretending to be the Blackened, then boasting about how she wasn't really the Blackened even though she's the Blackened. For like an hour. The falsehood of her Sparkling Justice persona doesn't actually affect the outcome of the case in any way so it feels like a waste of time.

She tries to argue a poetic case to Monokuma based on her own assumed lack of personhood, which is why she was framing herself for her own crime to begin with. But what it basically amounts to is an hour of listening to Peko rant about how clever she is only for Monokuma to go, "Uh, nope, not how the game works," and execute her. It's aggravating.

This seems like a conversation she probably should have had with Monokuma before the Trial. Hell, it probably should have been a conversation she had with him on Day 1 of being here. How it never occurred to her to check with Monokuma to verify whether she, "Fuyuhiko's Tool", can murder someone on Fuyuhiko's behalf and make him the Blackened is beyond me.

Most killers who are going to do something fancy take a moment to talk to Monokuma and make sure they aren't going to shoot themselves right in the face first. He's more than happy to clarify things.

Peko steamrolls straight ahead and shoots herself right in the face. It completely kills the momentum of the case.

[jodjuya]

I'm dismayed by the referendum outcome but completely unsurprised by it.

I voted "YES" while angry about it.

Angry about it being the most pathetically milquetoast paper tiger possible,

angry that such a piddling insignificant thing was enough to further unify the cookers and the racists (not that there's much of a meaningful division between the two to begin with),

angry that those dropkicks got to freely whitewash their reprehensible nonsense by latching onto the many legitimate concerns about how fucking dodgy the proposal was,

angry that I felt obliged to vote "YES"—despite fully believing the proposal was fucking terrible—out of sheer irrational spite and wrathful indignation toward the very thought of being aligned in the slightest with Australia's broad spectrum fascism-would-be-good-actually crowd,

angry that no matter how pathetic, vague, and incoherent the YES-campaign was, the NO-campaign would be even worse AND that Australia would fall for it hook, line, and sinker; because Australians are an uptight, boorish, and fearfully conservative people with contemptible predictability,

angry that all of this hoopla and utterly deranged dogwhistling became the culture war's hot topic of the month, and Indigenous Australians were subjected to the indignity of a national public debate over whether or not we should say we're thinking about bullying them less,

[Like, "sorry mate, we held a public vote, AND you voted too don't forget! You had your fair say just like the rest of us did! You can't get rid of democracy just because you don't like that you didn't win. Now stop struggling and let the four of us flush your head down the toilet or we'll break your nose first, nerd" (🤮)]

angry that this whole bullshit fucking referendum was lose-lose with extra lose on the side,

angry that I have to attempt to explain the nuances of this lose-lose with extra lose to my child—which I'm thankfully inept at doing so before she loses interest, and so her innocent perception of the world is maintained for the time being—those nuances being:

if YES:

We get constitutional embodiment of "The Voice", an ineffable body as politically significant as the winner of Australian Idol, thanks to coming with so many point-of-failure loopholes that literally what the fuck is even the fucking point of doing this; this is so embarrassingly incompetent, are you for real this stupid at your job that you submitted the first draft minimal effort as your final essay, or can we all just reasonably assume this is merely some bit of insincere virtue-signalling chicanery?

(big "it took me an hour to write those two pages of dialogue, so I thought it would take you an hour to read them!" energy. Funny when Matt Groening does it, but much less so when it's from your so called nation's so called leaders. 😒)

if NO:

(1) holy fucking shit, we can't even collectively bring ourselves to go through the motions of beginning to unfuck our relationship with Indigenous Australians! I have so many negative feelings about that, but right this sec it's mostly shame. If the world was a kindergarten classroom, Australia is the child eating glue.

(2) relief that such a malformed stillbirth of a proposal didn't come into being; with additional relief that its existence now can't be used to justify future heel-dragging.

(3) visceral disgust at knowing there will be many cookers and other assorted far-right degenerates out there being overjoyed with celebration that this mere feint of national movement towards progressivism was shot down

(4) existential horror and Cassandran anguish over knowing that this failure WILL be used to block and forestall progress on all relevant progressivist movements. Like, losing a referendum is the death knell of a movement. Pattern clearly observable throughout history. Recently in New Zealand's attempt at cannabis reform, then further back with Australia's attempts to become a republic, and so on and so forth.

(5) frustration that how could the people doing this not foresee this extremely detrimental outcome and how obviously they were setting themselves up for this failure?? How are our leaders such incompetent and/or conniving bastards?!

(6) irritated frustration that fascism-would-be-good-actually's garbage rhetoric for garbage brains, and the far-right grifters peddling it, have had their whitewashing attempts legitimised and gotten the Overton window ratcheted one step further to the right

with extra lose:

👎🏻 aforementioned indignity of a national public debate over whether or not we should say we're thinking about bullying the Indigenous less

👎🏻 we had to sincerely engage with the incoherent codswallop put forth by the cockwombles of the 'reactionary NO' campaign and their delusional insistence that we "can't make such a divisive change to the constitution" as if the constitution wasn't inherently divisive in every sense of the word since before the ink had even dried on the page, given that it was predicted upon Terra Nullis?

Like, what the entire fuck could be more divisive than "we declare that our country is allowed to exist because we declare that you don't exist! Finders keepers, bitches!!"??

👎🏻 having to wade through the army of well-intentioned muppets volunteering at every polling location to hand out "How To Vote" pamphlets as if filling in this referendum's single yes/no question were anywhere near as complicated as the one-metre-wide ballots for the big state/federal elections

********

Just yuck feelings all around. There was no possibility of a good outcome, and this wasn't the least-bad outcome.

[bobbobfred]

I in no way want to say you shouldn't try, or excuse those who wouldn't, but let's all be aware that educating yourself is dam hard, and quite time consuming.

A lot of people have mentioned the prevalence of misinformation, to which the counter argument tends to be that by checking sources and using academic materials you can (mostly) avoid bias and prejudice. Whilst this is true, it adds to the fact that research takes time. I am dyslexic, which means I read about 60/70% the speed of other people, and I can't really skim read properly or I don't take in any of the information. I have tools to help, but it is still a problem, particularly with academic sources which can be quite dense. Again, it's tough but still possible.

Recently I was doing some research for a presentation (in college) about AIDS for LGBTQ+ history month, specifically focusing on the art and artists of the period, but I wanted to make sure I had a good understanding of all the surrounding context. For about two weeks, I spent an hour a day researching and I feel like I didn't even scratch the surface. I had great resources and help too, and I learned so much about something I was passionate about and think is important, but there is still so much to learn, researching and understanding topics like this is some people's full time job.

Multiply that by all the range of topics, social issues, history, and keeping on top of constantly changing modern topics and conflicts and that's a lot of commitment, particularly for people who may have had a more sheltered upbringing or lacking education on school, and are learning about all of these topics for the first time and it might take a while. You have to be patient near the beginning, people just can't do everything at once and will get things wrong. It's not your responsibility to teach them (although you can and having support can be really helpful) and if their misunderstandings and lack of knowledge are harmful then you don't have to interact, but just distance yourself, don't treat them like they're bad people, especially if there trying.

You can't forget the emotional effect of learning about injustice and tragedy. There is only so many times you can read about a young, talented queer artist/musician/person and then learn they died in there 30s before you need to take a break. I was writing a debate about why Britain should invest more in the north of England (for those of you who don't know due to a range of factors there is a massive economic divide between the north and south of the UK, the largest geographic decide if any western European country, even Italy) and it got to the point where I would just make up any systemic inequality that would be good for the speech and without fail when i looked it up it would be real, well documented and worse than i had imagined, and that really effected me. I can get why you wouldn't want to sign up for that.

In conclusions, it's hard and people need time, and (in my opinion) the best way you can learn is together. If you have people on your friend group then it's really helpful to be able to talk about the things you don't know, that your learning about and to learn together, spread your knowledge and just be there for support.

(other misc thoughts: this isn't an excuse for the education system either, it is shit both in the UK and the USA and needs to be better. Some people have more serious learning disabilities and resources need to be made more accessible, and they may need more help/support. I didn't mention it because the post was about adults, but I know a lot of teenagers (including 15-18 year olds) who have restricted internet access, either by time or by restricted topics, and so for some people 'you have the internet' isn't valid. The only actually controversial thought which is why it's at the end, I am really in two minds as to if it is actually fair to ask everyone to do that amount of labour, both in terms of time, energy and emotions. Sure some people have the free time and should absolutely, but for people working hard jobs or long hours, or raising young children, that's a lot of work. But as said, I don't know)

[bruhstories]

Dazed and Confused

Summary: You and Connie have been friends for ten years, crushing on each other like a bunch of idiots who can't confess their feelings for one another. Until you go on a trip with your friends. Pairing: Connie Springer x Fem!Reader Warnings & Content: 18+, language, oral sex (female & male receiving), unprotected sex, weed smoking, alcohol consumption, f l u f f Word Count: 4.2 k

A/N: I got so pissed at that last anon that I finished this oneshot quicker lol. @fiaficsxo here it is!

You loved parties. Not the loud music and thick smoke, not the booze and smell of vomit, but your friends. Every time they gathered at someone's place, your heart fluttered, filled with happiness and content and long-lasting memories.

Connie had the brilliant idea of spending a week in the mountains during your spring break, and you wasted an entire night searching for the perfect cottage to rent. Luckily everyone was down with his suggestion, the only problem was how you'd sleep. Historia obviously wanted to share a room with Ymir. Mikasa and Eren were an item now, so they'd have to sleep together. Armin wanted to try his luck with Annie, so no one objected to that. Jean declared that he wanted to bunk with Connie, like the two eligible bachelors they were, and that left you and Sasha to share a room together. You didn't mind it, in all honesty you loved Sasha with all your heart — but you secretly hoped someone would pick up on your feelings for Connie and let you sleep with him. You weren't that lucky.

You packed your bag the night before the trip, obsessively ticking everything on your list and double checking every item and pocket. It was ready, with one item missing — the white lace babydoll smoothed on your dorm bed. You chewed the pen cap, debating whether to bring it with you or not. You bought it for special occasions, but you haven't had a dick appointment in a long time, and you doubted you'd have one this week. With a shrug, you decided to bring it — you never know what might happen. Nighttime passed quickly and you soon found yourself all dolled up, albeit still sleepy from all the tossing and turning, excited to make more memories with your friends.

The train station was packed with people, especially students who went back to their hometowns for the break, and you were relieved to find Armin and Mikasa there. You three were always punctual, followed by Jean and Annie. Eren, Sasha and Connie were always late, which is why you told them the train leaves at 7 am instead of 7:30. It was a dirty strategy, but no one wanted to miss such a fun opportunity because of those lazy fuckers. And lo and behold, they decided to appear at 7:15.

"That was some good thinking." Jean shook his head, hand sympathetically placed on your shoulder.

"I'm only glad you guys rolled with it." You laughed without noticing the way Connie stared at you, and even he didn't understand exactly what he felt. Was he grumpy because he hated morning, or was it Jean's hand on you that irked him?

"It's not polite to stare." Sasha pulled Connie out of his thoughts.

"I wasn't staring, I was looking." Connie rolled his eyes, gripping the handle of his suitcase a bit too tightly.

"I just don't get it why you don't tell her you like her." The girl popped a bubblegum baloon, proceeding to chew it very loudly.

"Are you kidding me? She obviously likes Jean. Look how she's laughing!"

Sasha placed an arm on his shoulder, a sheepish smile on her face. "You, my friend, are a dumbass."

"Takes one to know one."

To say that your friends were loud during the train ride was an understatement. They didn't really care about the nasty glares other passengers shot at them, opting to talk, sing, eat and practically embarrass themselves. But two hours later you arrived, and the fresh, crisp air of the mountains was a blessing. You didn't regret coming, all of you deserved a break after all the exams, studying and all-nighters you guys pulled.

"We could visit the military museum!" Armin suggested, but Connie scrunched his nose.

"We came here to get high, drink and spend time together, why the fuck would we visit some old ass building?"

"I'd like to go to the museum." You awkwardly smiled, earning a 'see?' from the blond. Mikasa, Eren and Annie backed you up, and since it was a democracy, you ended up leaving your bags at the cottage and touring the small town to find the military museum. The building wasn't massive, and inside it was dark, with crimson carpets and dim lights. It was actually quite a romantic atmosphere, had it not been for the weapons and armours displayed in glass cases. Connie watched you intently, taking in every movement, every flinch, every hair tucking, every scrunch of your cute nose. You absorbed the information, hungry for knowledge. This was something you and Connie didn't share — yes, you were down to drinking and smoking, but you were also eager to learn and study, while he always preached how 'you can always retake an exam but you can't relive a party.' He wasn't stupid by any means, but unlike you, Jean, Armin and Mikasa — who alwaysstudied and never skipped lectures — Connie would wing it and somehow end up getting better grades. His strategy didn't always work, and sometimes, when you were in college, he'd ask you to tutor him. Now you were second year undergraduates, and while you were studying different subjects, you still made time for each other.

"That's a nice, uhh..." Connie squinted, "...shotgun."

"It's a musket." You chuckled, your fingers accidentally brushing his as you turned around to face him.

"Shotgun, musket, same thing."

"Actually, muskets are muzzle-loaded and fire a single bullet, but shotguns pack multiple pellets in one shell." You explained. "I'm sorry, you're probably not interested in my ramblings."

"No, no, it's... interesting. I just wasn't expecting you to know so much about guns." He rubbed his nape and smiled at you.

"Well, I do study history, in case you forgot."

"How could I forget that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" You awkwardly elbowed Connie. Why was it so hard for you to just tell him your feelings? Oh, right, because you've been friends for ten years and if he didn't like you back, it would only ruin a great friendship.

"It means you brag about it so much it's kind of hard to forget." He told you, quickly realising just how insulting that sounded.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that's how you felt..." You sighed, eyes darting back to the weapons.

"No, I didn't- forget it." Connie shook his head. Well played.

Back at the cottage, with enough food and booze to last the group a month, you decided to stay in your room for the rest of the day. It wasn't the first time you had embarrassing moments with Connie, but this particular one made you anxious to be around him. Did he really dislike you that much, or was it just friendly banter? If you were to ask him, you could find out, but every scenario in your head had a bad outcome, so avoiding him for now was the smartest choice. Sasha pleaded with you to spend the evening in the living room with everyone else, but you brushed her off, telling her you weren't feeling quite well.

"Text me if you need anything." She told you before leaving. It was immature to act this way, you knew that all too well, but it wasn't like Connie cared, right? You eventually decided to go downstairs after finishing a long episode of your favourite tv show, your stomach begging for nourishment. As silently as possible, you tiptoed behind the couch. The hallway was dim, the sun had already set, and the only lights were the ones from the wide TV screen in the living room where your friends were watching some corny horror movie. You could cut the suspense and tension with a knife, and when you dropped a teaspoon, everyone jumped.

"Sorry, sorry! It's just me!"

"Jesus Christ, Y/N, you almost gave me a heart attack." Jean got up from the floor and walked behind the couch. "How are you feeling? Sasha said you're ill."

"I'm fine, don't worry." You picked the spoon up and threw it in the sink. "It's just a headache, I'll sleep it off."

"Good, we need you here." The man wrapped an arm around you. "You're missing how Connie's crapping his pants at this shitty movie."

From the outside it would seem like you and Jean were a couple, but the truth was far from it. You two grew up together, his family was friends with your family, and what you had was nothing more than a brother-sister relationship. Jean's little remark earned a disgruntled look from Connie, you quickly picked up on that, and so you playfully jabbed him in the stomach.

"Connie's crapping his pants? You're the one who almost had a heart attack." You grinned.

"Oi, that was only because you dropped your stupid spoon. I was invested in the movie."

"Mhm, sure you were."

"Hey, you sure you don't want to join us?" Mikasa waved at you from the living room. You pondered over her question. Perhaps it wouldn't be too awkward to sit with them.

"Alright, sure, why not?"

"Come, sit next to me." Sasha shuffled to the side, but what she really meant by that was 'sit next to Connie', because she shuffled to the otherside.

The following two nights were surprisingly quiet, all you did was play board games, watch movies and walk around the town taking pictures. The tension between Connie and you seemed to dissipate, and you both forgot the unpleasant interaction you had on the first day. But on the fourth night, that's when shit hit the fan. Annie and Armin left for a date, and Eren and Mikasa wanted to spend the night alone in their room, leaving you, Sasha, Jean and Connie unsupervised, bored and tipsy. There was absolutely nothing good to watch on the TV, and you almost wanted to scream when your friends wanted to play truth or dare. It was one of those games you despised, because the whole point of it was to put the players in uncomfortable situations. And you didn't like being uncomfortable, unlike your friends.

"Jean, truth or dare?" Sasha beamed.

"Dare, duh."

"Alright, I dare you to switch roommates for the rest of the week." She sipped her blackberry cider.

"Okay? So, I'll stay with Y/N, then."

Good lord, if looks could kill, Connie's would annihilate Jean and Sasha off the face of the Earth.

"No, no, you'll stay with me. Y/N will stay with Connie."

"Eh? Why does your dare involve us?" You asked, confused and curious of your friend's proposal.

"Because." She shrugged. "Don't pussy out."

"I'm not pussying out. A dare's a dare." Jean scoffed. "I'm gonna go take my shit in your room and shower."

"Y-yeah, I'll go bring mine, too." You got up, using this time to hyperventilate alone. What the fuck was Sasha even thinking? Was this some stupid joke? But your friends wouldn't harm you, so why would she suggest such a stupid thing?

You took a quick shower before curling up in the bed, blankets covering you from neck to toe. Connie wasn't back yet, and you didn't want to go after him, that would just be odd. You were hoping you'd fall asleep before he returned, to avoid any unnecessary fuss, but just as you closed your eyes, the door opened. Maybe you could pretend you were asleep? He struggled to find his pyjamas in the dark, stumbling over furniture and knocking things down, and you turned the bedside lamp on to ease his search.

"Did I wake you up?" Connie bit his lower lip, and through the dim light you watched the way his grey eyes glistened, the way his short brown hair was ruffled, and how the sage green t-shirt hugged his toned abdomen.

"No, no, 's alright. I wasn't sleeping. I can't exactly fall asleep." You clutched the blanket at your chest as you shook the intrusive thoughts away. Connie was your friend, damn it, there was no room for romance between you.

"I can sleep on the floor if you want."

"Oh, God, no, it's... stiff."

"Um, yeah, it kinda is. Alright then, I'll jump in the shower real quick before going to bed." He stumbled into the bathroom and you really wanted to fall asleep now.

But you couldn't. Every time you closed your eyes, Connie's face popped in your head. So much for resting. You tossed and turned on the mattress, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in, but nothing helped. It didn't take long for him to finish his shower, and you mentally chastised yourself for not falling asleep when you felt him shuffle under the same blanket that was covering you. For a minute, you didn't utter a word, you barely breathed, afraid to disturb the silence in the room.

"Are you asleep?"

"Nope." You heard the click of Connie's phone and turned around. You couldn't see him, but you could hear him.

"Do you wanna talk about something? Until we fall asleep, I mean." You suggested.

"Hmm, sure." He turned on his side and you felt his breath fanning over your cheeks. You were too close to him. "Actually, d'you wanna smoke?"

"Aren't the others gonna be mad if we smoke without them?"

"They don't have to know. Besides, you and I never smoked together." Connie was already up, rummaging through his backpack with the flashlight of his phone. "And then we can talk as much as you want."

"Alright, I'm down."

You laid on the floor, your head next to Connie's as you looked at the ceiling, smoke leaving your lips. He took the joint from you, fingers touching yours and you blushed, the haze of the weed melting your worries away.

"Do you want me to skip the song?" Connie asked, and for a moment you forgot there was a song playing.

"No, I like it." You confessed. "I didn't know you liked Led Zeppelin."

"There's lots of things you don't know about me, Y/N." He passed you the joint.

"Okay, tell me something else I don't know."

"I like it when you randomly say historical or scientific facts."

"Didn't you say I brag too much about it?" You took one final drag before you stubbed the joint out in a makeshift ashtray filled with a bit of water. By this point you were high as a kite, every trace of rationality gone.

"That doesn't mean I don't like it." Connie smiled and you could feel it in his voice. "Now you tell me something I don't know about you."

"I can't sleep with open doors. It freaks me out." You sat up, a breeze blowing through the window sending shivers down your spine. "It's a bit cold, do you mind if I close the window?"

"Go ahead."

You got up and picked the ashtray up but before you could close the window, you stumbled over a chest of drawers, the ashes mixed with water spilling over your t-shirt.

"You okay?" He quickly crawled to you, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, I'm just clumsy." You laughed it off and waved your free hand. "I'll go get changed, I should have a spare shirt."

But you didn't have a spare shirt. All you had was that stupid white babydoll, and anxiety seeped through your veins. You couldn't exactly show up in that in front of your crush. And you didn't want to ask him for a shirt either. Fuck it, what else could you do?

You peeked out the bathroom door and saw Connie back in bed, lazily scrolling through his phone. God, this was embarrassing.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." He laughed, but when your facial expression didn't change, he frowned. "Y/N?"

"Um, so, I didn't have a spare shirt and- Jesus, this is awkward." You opened the door and his eyes widened. "Is it alright if I sleep in this?"

"Oh, I get it now." Connie scoffed.

"Get what?"

"You were hoping you'd share a room with Jean, right?" He sounded almost disgusted.

"Excuse you? Where did you even get that idea?" You slammed the bathroom door shut, arms folded across your chest.

"I'm not stupid, Y/N. I've seen the way you two act. Do yourselves a favour and just fuck already."

You were speechless. Completely reactionless. The weed amplified your anger, but his words brought tears to your eyes.

"You... you fucking asshole! You think I brought this for Jean? I brought it for you!"

"Eh? M-me?" Connie was confused, and you were pissed.

"Yes, you. Jean's like a brother to me, oh my God! Ew!"

"Wait, so you and Jean are not in love with each other?"

"In love?? Connie, how high are you exactly?" You walked closer to the bed, arms still crossed.

"But- Fuck, I am stupid." He shook his head, the memories of you flirting with him flashing before his eyes. "I fucked up, didn't I?"

"A bit..." Your muscles relaxed and you sat on the mattress. "Really, Connie, I... I like you. A lot. But you're always giving me mixed signals."

"That's because I always thought you liked Jean!" He threw his hands in the air in exasperation.

"No, you're the only one."

"Huh, guess I've really been dazed and confused."

Calloused fingertips ran across your hips leaving goosebumps in their trail. Your hands roamed his back and the way Connie kissed you was better than any high you've ever experienced. He was touch-starved, and you were just as needy. His knee found its place between your thighs and you moaned when it barely brushed your cunt.

"I've been dreaming for this moment for as long as I can remember." Connie breathed into your neck, the hot breath tickling your skin.

"Me too, you blind bat." You laughed and he turned you over, hovering over you.

"'M sorry I didn't notice quicker." He kissed you again. One hand travelled lower, pushing your underwear to the side before he pushed two fingers between your folds. "Fuck, you're so wet."

"Well, at least now I don't have to finger myself thinking about you." You whimpered with a grin.

"Oh?" Connie arched a brow. "Is that what you've been doing?" He curled up his fingers and you threw your head back with a moan. "I thought you were a prude."

"T-there's lots of things you d-don't know about m-me!" You replied back between oh’sand ah’s, imitating his words from an hour ago. That only earned a sneer from Connie, his head dipping between your thighs. "Wait, what are you do- ooh fuck!"

His tongue lapped at your cunt, fingers pumping in and out of you, and you completely sunk into the mattress, moaning his name over and over again. You gripped the sheets, flexing the muscles in your legs as you squirmed and thrashed. Connie stopped and you almost crushed his skull with your thighs at the empty feeling. He pulled your underwear down and shoved the cotton panties in your mouth.

"Don't wake everyone up, Y/N. You don't want them knowing what a little slut you are, do you?"

You shook your head and Connie went back to circling your clit with his tongue, adrenaline rushing through your entire body with each lick, each suck. Tears of pleasure pooled at your eyes, nose and cheeks red from the thrill of your incoming orgasm. The way he was sloppily eating your pussy and moaning while doing it drove you insane, and within seconds you came undone, thighs trembling with delight. In fact, you were so sore you had to push his head back, begging him to stop so you could return the favour.

"You taste so sweet." Connie licked his lips. You don't know what possessed you to pull him into a kiss after you removed the makeshift gag, but he was right, you were sweet.

"Can I...?" Your eyes drifted down to his twitching cock, your voice soft and quiet.

"You wanna suck it?"

"Yes."

"Later. Right now, I wanna fuck you."

Connie gave you no time to protest, his elbow pushed one of your things to the side, the blushing tip of his cock grazing over your overstimulated clit, up and down your slit. Inch by inch it disappeared into your cunt and he let out a satisfied sigh. You bucked your hips, manicured nails digging into his shoulders with each thrust.

"Shit, you're so fucking tight!" Connie growled, head lowering to kiss you. You could still taste yourself on his lips and that only made you clench your spongy walls around his cock. That seemed to please him, because he rocked his hips harder and faster. "You like it?"

"Oh, God, yes!" You gasped, beads of sweat forming on your forehead as you clawed his back.

"Fuck, I want you to ride me." He gripped your hips tighter and turned you over. You tried your best to get in the new position without letting his cock slip out of you, and when you finally adjusted yourself, it was a whole new challenge. Gravity pulled you down, and his tip brushed your cervix, your eyes squinting at the slight pain. "If it hurts, stop-"

"No!" You cried out, your hands resting on his chest. You bounced up and down, the uncomfortable feeling slowly replaced with pleasure. Connie's hands traced your thighs as you rode him, another wave of heat flushing through your core. His palm met your cunt, thumb circling over your clit. "I can't c-come again!"

"Yes, you can. And you will cream on my cock."

The disgust words worked like magic and you flexed your thighs, bouncing faster, head thrown back, hair cascading down your back. "You're so beautiful, Y/N."

"Connie, I-" The words stopped in your throat, the pressure too much for you to handle.

"You what?"

"I'm- oh, God!"

"Atta girl!" He praised you when he felt your silken walls relaxing and your thighs quaking. The second orgasm was so intense you let yourself fall over his chest, dizzy and tired. You thought he'd give you a break, but Connie wrapped an arm around your back, holding you in place before giving your oversensitive cunt a few more thrusts. "Now you can return the favour."

You mustered up some strength to get up and kneel in front of the bed, between his legs.

"Please don't come in my mouth." You asked him before wrapping your pretty lips around his cock.

"Gotchaah-" Connie choked on his words when he felt himself in your hot mouth. You bobbed your head up and down, cheeks hollowed and eyes on him. You didn't break eye contact when you pulled away and spat on the tip, hand pumping his cock to smear the spit. "Hot." He mumbled before you went back to sucking. You felt the throbbing, tightening your lips around him and picking up the pace. "Y/N-"

It all happened in a flash — Connie yanked your hair and pulled your head back, thick ropes of milky white cum shooting all over your face and neck.

"Eew!" You scrunched your nose, hand under your chin to stop it from dripping down the floor.

"What do you mean ew? That's, like, a billion kids!"

"Actually, a fertile man produces around-"

"Don't start. Do not." He pressed his index finger over your lips. "Let's get you cleaned up."

You woke up sore, especially between your thighs, but damn, was it worth it. Connie wrapped an arm around your waist, mumbling something about how pretty you are, but you assumed he was still sleeping — or still high. The sun shone through the blinds and you squinted, annoyed by the brightness, and so you turned around, watching the way your crush snored peacefully.

"Cute." You smiled and planted a kiss on his forehead, waking him up. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

"Why?" Connie rubbed his eyes. "Waking up to you is a blessing."

You couldn't hide the tinting of your cheeks and the grin on your lips. "I didn't think you were the romantic type."

"There's lots of things-"

"I don't know about you. But I'd like to know those things. If you let me, of course." You bit your lower lip, eyes filled with hope.

"Can I be your boyfriend?" He sat up, his eyes serious.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Okay, so maybe Sasha knew a thing or two when she dared Jean to switch roommates.

You walked into the kitchen after getting ready for the day, with Connie following behind you. Everyone was eating their breakfast, and Jean instantly dashed to you.

"Connie, bro, take me back. Sasha's leaving crumbs all over the bed! I can't sleep like that!"

"I can't, man, I wanna spend the rest of the week with my girlfriend." He sneered and you elbowed him.

"I forgot to mention Jean's overprotecti-"

"Your what? Hands off my sister from another mister, you creep!"

"Creep? You're the one who was sexting someone's sister last night." Sasha chimed in, mouth full of cereal.

"Thanks, Sash." Jean rolled his eyes. "For real, how did this happen?"

"You see, mate, when a man and a woman love each other-"

"Nope. I will not hear this."

[onthesandsofdreams]

In Dreams [6/?]

Pairing: SanSan Summary:  Arya grinned and pulled a book, the title? Old Houses and their Histories. Words: 1146 Notes:  I debated with the ending of this chapter, but, I have a good reason why I picked that will be explained in the next chapter, promise.

Read @ AO3

After making that promise, Sansa pulled her phone and texted Arya, ‘I got ghostly news. Meet me at the dog park in half an hour?’

Arya’s text came a few moments later, ‘Will do, have news!!!’

She smiled. That was one of the things that she loved about her sister, Arya was an endless bundle of enthusiasm and thirst for adventures. Arya had always been bolder than her, something that had been a source of conflict when they were younger, but now, as adults, they realized how well they worked in teams.

She washed her dishes, grabbed Lady’s things and said, “Come on, Lady. Dog park time!”

Lady’s enthusiasm was visible and she laughed, Arya liked to say that one day Lady would break because of the way she moved when she was excited. But Lady was also well mannered, when she approached with her leash, Lady sat and waited until it was done. They made their way to the car and after making sure that Lady would be safe, off they went.

They met Arya at the entrance, hugged and as they made their way into a bench to sit, Arya said, “You will not believe what I found, Sans!”

She arched a brow, “Oh?”

Arya grinned and pulled a book, the title? Old Houses and their Histories. Her eyes grew wide and she was sure that her mouth would hit the ground, “How?” She gasped.

“Jon’s friend, Sam Tarly know books better than anyone I know. And he somehow managed to find this.”

She took the book in her hands, it was clearly old and well loved. “My goodness,” she whispered.

“There’s a whole chapter on your house, Sans.” Arya gave her a smug look. Then, her eyes searched her face. “And how does it go, having a ghost as a guest?”

Still distracted by the book, she spoke without thinking. “His name is Sandor Clegane. I met him in my dreams.”

A beat of silence and then, the book was yanked out of her hands, when she looked up in annoyance, she found Arya gaping at her. She blinked, that was not an expression she saw often in her sister. When she realized what she had said, her own eyes grew wide. “Um, I can talk to him in my dreams?”

Arya leaned forward, a glint in her eye. “I swear if you don’t tell me everything, I will move with you and try to talk to him. Sans, that’s so cool! Oh my Gods, you can talk to a ghost!” Arya hissed in excitement, remembering where they were. “Wait, you’re not scared?”

She shook her head, “Nope. He has been nothing but polite. In fact, he woke me up when an intruder came.”

“Woah,” Arya’s eyes were wide.

She sighed and told Arya everything that she had spoken with Sandor. And about her promise about doing what she could to find what had happened with his sister. Arya listened without interrupting once, an odd thing for her, but she was thankful.

“Well, Sans, I guess you have your work cut out for you. Wait! Is he related to someone named Gregor Clegane? I was once doing research on fighters and he came up, ‘The Mountain’, they called him. By all the accounts, an animal.”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I will ask him next time I see him.”

Arya nodded, then looked at her watch, “Shit, I gotta meet Gendry soon. Keep me posted okay? Call me whenever, I’m so excited about this!”

She laughed, “Will do. Thanks for the book Arya. Love you.”

“Love you too,” And with that, Arya left.

***

She remained in the dog park a while longer, taking her time to read about her house in the book. Her eyes grew wide when she read, ‘And Lord Jaime, knowing the madness of Aerys, did what he could to ensure those who were in danger from him could flee. Going so far as to hide them in a hidden room in the carriage house. Lady Brienne, steadfast did her part by sewing letters into clothing so they could be smuggled out.

‘Both of them are remembered as truly honorable people who did their best to survive and help others do so. Lord Jaime, a friend of Sandor Clegane, offered him aid when the latter was badly wounded in battle. Going so far as to oversee his funeral when Clegane passed away in his house, in the Green Bedroom. However, where a warrior of the mettle of Clegane is buried is something that, unfortunately, been lost to time.’

She closed her book and called Lady. She had too many ideas spinning in her head. Somewhat dazzled, she made her way back home. Made herself a late lunch, did some more research about Sandor, and she felt sick at finding that, indeed, Gregor Clegane was related to Sandor. His elder brother, it horrified her to learn what that monster did. But all the records said that he had died around the same time as Sandor. But so far, not as much luck about Sandor’s sister.

She frowned, she would have to go back to the library and do her best to find the genealogical tree. But at least, knowing that Gregor was Sandor’s brother, should make things easier.

To try and take her mind off gruesome things, she did more online shopping. Happy to find a small treasure in eBay in the form of an old desk that would go fantastic in one of her guest bedrooms. She also managed to find lamps that she liked, and in Etsy, she got herself some art prints.

She had a light dinner when the time came. She watched a movie with Lady to unwind and then, she fell asleep.

***

When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in the clearing with Sandor. When he spotted her, he bowed to her, “Miss Stark.”

“Please, call me Sansa,” she told him with a smile.

Sandor nodded once, “As you wish, mi– Sansa.”

She smiled at him. “I have not found anything about your sister yet.” She told him apologetically. “I got a book that said that you died in the green bedroom, can you tell me which one it is?”

“Two doors down from yours,” Sandor spoke. “And do not worry about not finding anything yet. I am just thankful that you are trying to find her. It eases my mind somewhat.”

She bit her lip, hesitating, but then she realized, that only he could tell her more information. Not only about the house, but about himself and his death. “I saw that you had a brother,” she spoke quietly. “He sounded awful, I read he died around the same time as you did. Did you know?”

Sandor scowled, “Aye, I did know. I beheaded him, after all.”

Her eyes grew wide.

[333sth]

dove. (frankie morales)

chapter i. previous.

pairing: frankie morales x ofc (’dove’) no use of y/n.

warnings: mention of ptsd/military service, language, violence, brief mention of torture/kidnapping, injury detail, fighting.

summary: frankie was going to propose, until dove found the ring and ghosted. even santi can’t track her down.

rating: mature. wc: 1.6k

next

Dove was a nickname coined by an old general during her training. He was a traditional man, though not disrespectful. It was a term of endearment that probably softened the influx of powerful women breaching into the male territory. He’d drawled, ‘I ought to call you Dove – I ain’t never seen a girl so swift, yet so fuckin’ lethal.’ She kept the boys in line too, he’d noted. When Benny got too reckless, or Tom’s temper ran away with him, she was the first to snap them out of it. In environments where peace was a very distant concept, she played the peacekeeper.

One time, during a two-month deployment in Nigeria, the group was shoved in the back of an ancient pick-up truck for six hours. Dove was wedged between Will and Frankie, sweltering in the humid air. The stale smell of sweat mixed with blood and diesel was permeating the air, and they were three hours from the nearest checkpoint. To pass the time, she asked them what they’d do if they weren’t special forces.

That was easy for Will – he’d be a teacher of some kind. Benny waffled about sports, making some brash comment about how he’s got to channel all his aggression somewhere. Tom and Santi couldn’t come up with anything that suited them more than the forces, which was not surprising. Frankie would still be a pilot somehow. Dove had never seen him more comfortable than in the pilot’s chair.

Dove dreamed of owning her own bar or café, somewhere relaxed and laid-back. A beach perhaps, somewhere quaint and peaceful, where the air is warm well into the late evening and the waves are gentle, collapsing onto the sand like white noise. She imagined the hum of conversation meeting tinkling music, beach lanterns dotted around the decking to cast an ambient glow beneath the stars. Maybe a chef on weekends could make bar snacks. Tom had snorted at that, throwing a jab about how she can burn the water they use to make their dried food sachets.

The men had recalled this conversation, desperately trying to fathom where Dove might have taken off to. It was met with an aching nostalgia for the type of teammate she was too. That conversation had been a tactic, a peaceful one, to prevent the terrible concoction of adrenaline, exhaustion and heat forming an argument in that truck. She was a natural tactician as well as a good friend.

Frankie had recounted each country they had been stationed and exactly how Dove had felt about them. She had loved Argentina, even when she got shot and Will spent three hours with his finger crammed in the wound to stop the bleeding. But she also liked Jamaica, Brazil and Hawaii. None of their contacts in the forces had any trace of her, not even Santi’s in South America. Her family were none the wiser – they brushed it off, her dad mumbling something about it sounding like her usual antics. 

All he had was a scribbled note that read, ‘I need space. I’m safe. I love you.’ It was folded neatly in his wallet, like he was carrying the last piece of her that he had. 

*

Mexico. That was where she was. A small town on the West coast that had enough life to keep her occupied, and the guarantee of anonymity.

If people asked, she was a retired nurse, which wasn’t entirely untrue. She told them she spent a lot of her career in humanitarian aid, to explain the occasional jitters on a rowdy Friday night and the nasty scars. There was a particularly gruesome one leading from the base of her throat up to her bottom lip from a knife fight. She told them it was shrapnel, flung from a collapsing building, and she was lucky it didn’t catch her jugular. The locals had gasped in awe at her heroism. She’d flinched against the memory of how her own knife buried into her attacker’s throat instead. 

A few days into her move, Dove had found what could only be considered a derelict shed on the beachfront. It was probably the remains of an old boathouse. With some help from the locals, she had restored the ageing planks of wood. What was spare formed the bar and some rustic furniture. She pieced together a jumble of second-hand bar stools, chairs and lanterns that made for an eclectic combination. It had character and history in its walls, rather than some swanky, expensive build devoid of any personality. It was exactly what she had dreamed of, huddled in hypothermic temperatures or insomniac in her cot at base, sleep beyond her reach.

It didn’t change the fact that every time she entered her bedroom, the old polaroid of Frankie pinned to the wall hits her like a ton of bricks. Frankie knows she took it – it was pinned to the fridge at their home before she left. It’s quintessential Frankie, sat with his arms folded to his chest, biceps straining slightly against an old denim shirt that was getting a little too snug post-retirement. It was at a barbecue, his skin tanned and flushed from a day in the sun drinking, tousled hair peeking out from the sides of a dog-eared cap. Every time Dove glances at it, she wonders if he still has that hat. 

‘Of course he has,’ the voice in her head snaps back. Any piece of clothing she’d suggest replacing would be countered with, ‘over my dead body’. The man was sentimental, a little too attached to his home comforts. She’d also bought it him in a seedy gift shop in the middle of nowhere as a joke. 

“To add some variety,” she’d said. He would never let it go now.

Once, Veronica had eyed the photograph on her mirror and asked, “Who is he then? An ex?”

Veronica, or Roni for short, had lived in the town her whole life until university. When she graduated and moved home to save money, she needed a job. Dove needed a friend, so she took her on as a bartender. She was young and giddy, but harmless. More importantly, she was too self-absorbed to notice or even care that her thirty-something year old boss had bullet holes in her back.

“Something like that.” Dove had replied, rifling through her sorry excuse for a makeup bag. She’d closed the bar early to have a rare night off in the next town over, which had considerably livelier nightlife. 

“You never talk about relationships. Or men.’ Roni observed, peering over Dove’s shoulder to eye another photograph. It was a group picture of the boys, huddled in the same fraying booth in their favourite bar back in Florida. “Looks like you were spoilt for choice.”

Dove scoffed, meeting her friend’s twinkling gaze in the mirror. “Shut your mouth. They were friends from work.”

“Were? Does that mean you can’t set me up now?” 

“They’re almost twice your age. You’d tire ‘em out.” Dove set down the lip-gloss she dragged out for special occasions. “Come on, I’m not getting any younger either. It’s already passed my bedtime.”

Thankfully, that was enough to amuse the younger girl into linking her arm and hauling her out the door to the taxi, no more questions asked.

*

The hollering of spectators and thudding of skin slapping against the mat was reduced to a distant buzzing in Frankie’s ears. It was dimmed by the incessant ramblings of Santiago and Tom, discussing the files Santi had put together on Lorea. He could feel the reawakening of his rusty military senses as he follows the familiar tactics, mentally registering his agreement or noting what he might do differently. He doesn’t vocalise it though, because he hasn’t even agreed yet. Joining the debate would inadvertently signal his agreement. He didn’t want that.

There was a shadow lingering in the space on the bench beside him. It was an empty presence, not Will, who was hooked on the cage of the ring yelling encouragement to his brother. Not Benny, thumping his leather gloves together with his teeth pulled harshly over his mouthguard, judging his competitor with a predatory glint in his eye. 

The opponent was a monster, but he lumbered like his limbs were filled with lead. Frankie notes that Benny, nimble and tall, will have a breeze tiring him out. Dove would have joked that it wasn’t worth coming, that they’ll be sat here until their asses are numb watching Benny play cat and mouse. His chest twinges. Sometimes it’s too easy to remember what she’d do, what she’d say. He wished he knew what she’d make of Santiago’s proposition. She always saw through Pope’s glamourisation and Tom’s greed. 

What Frankie misses while he observes his pitiful surroundings is Tom and Santi descending into a hushed conversation. Tom nudges Santi, “You got anything on Dove?”

Santi sighs, long and solemn, “Maybe.” As Tom’s face quirks in interest, he holds up his finger, “It’s just a hunch.”

“A hunch is better than what we’ve had in the last year.”

Santi takes a sip of his beer, casting a glance at Fish, whose eyes are trained on the floor and the swirling contents of his cup. He knows him well enough to know his thoughts are the only thing that have his attention.

“I worry about him. We all do.” Tom whispers. “Getting busted just made things worse.”

“Don’t get his hopes up, man. It’s nothing solid. It’ll crush him if I’m wrong.” Tom nods solemnly before Santi continues, “A friend of mine saw an ex-Delta in a bar, a woman. He knew ‘cause of a tattoo she had on the nape of her neck.”

Tom’s eyes widen. In front of them, Benny lands a sickening punch on his opponent’s nose, complimented by an audible crack. He’s barely breaking a sweat, dancing around as the guy heaves and stumbles forward. 

Santi’s gaze doesn’t break from the ring. “Mexico. I think she’s in Mexico.”

[appleflavoredkitkats]

Who Are the Four Horsemen of the Dream SMP Apocalypse?

Art by: Viktor Vasnetsov

[TW’s: torture, death, murder, manipulation, alcohol, substance abuse, discussions about the end of the world, religion, starvation, violence, implied gambling, blood, alcoholism]

Word Count: 3.5k

INTRODUCTION

Hopefully I finish this before I feel too sleep-deprived, but I’ve been thinking about the presence of horsemen in Quackity’s “My Enemies” stream. These mysterious, hooded figures are quite odd to say the least, and their involvement with Las Nevadas still remains unknown. There has been a debate on whether there were three horsemen or four, and in my opinion, I believe that there are four horsemen present.

Why four? In the first scene, three horsemen arrive at the Dream SMP on a dark and stormy night. They seem to have come from the south, entering Eret’s castle from the back. As they stop to pull their Netherite swords out, air raid sirens are heard from the distance.

Similarly, in the last scene, Quackity is seen placing a book in Wilbur’s memorial before leaving, riding his skeleton horse, Ossium. The scene cuts from first person POV to third, and we see a hooded figure, presumably Quackity because of how both came from the same direction. Additionally, air raid sirens are also heard from a distance.

[MORE UNDER THE CUT!]

I theorize that these two scenes take place at the same time. The prequel scenes only began after we see the sequence of Quackity torturing Dream, and it ends after the flashbacks of Wilbur. We can synthesize that both these scenes are set at the same time, and that these horsemen are going to meet at a certain point on the prime path.

What may suggest that these four horsemen are supposed to be parallels to the biblical four horsemen?

Firstly, seeing the bits they do, Quackity and Schlatt do know a lot of biblical references. Schlatt has compared Tubbo to Jesus once, and Quackity has said many prayers as jokes in the Dream SMP. It’s just… easy to take inspiration from biblical symbols and references, and also, the four horsemen are just very popular figures in history, so you know, why not?

Also, this may also sound RIDICULOUS, but the fact that this stream establishes that Tommy got resurrected three days after he got killed is actually very reminiscent of, well, you guessed it, Jesus Christ. 72 hours is oddly specific, and I don’t think the cc’s made it that way for no reason. Tommy’s parallels to Jesus—which is a VERY funny phrase—could imply that the Dream SMP might draw more parallels to Christianity, and the four horsemen could be another one of these references.

Also, Quackity mentioned how in Las Nevadas, he made four casinos for him and the rest of El Rapids. So, we know four is a number we can associate with Las Nevadas, and there’s a chance Quackity gave these casinos to three other people. Four casinos, four horsemen.

What is the purpose of the four horsemen in the Dream SMP? When the air raid sirens went off, we can think of these four horsemen as the bringer of chaos or danger into the Dream SMP, very reminiscent of the purpose of the original four horsemen in Christianity. We can also connect it to the end of the world, as these four only appear when the world begins to end. This can imply that these four, who are most likely allies of Quackity in Las Nevadas, are somewhat connected to how the Dream SMP will end.

Now, who is who? Admittedly, it is difficult to find a definitive answer on which member represents what horseman, so I’ll try my best considering all the possibilities for each. I’ll add my own ranks on how probable I think they are, but I have to specify that these are subjective- I am not a beacon of truth, y’all.

So let’s get started.

Firstly, I want to discuss who might NOT be a horseman to narrow it down a bit:

Any minors might not be involved. In Sam’s face reveal stream, aka the first stream mentioning Las Nevadas, Quackity and Sam agree they don’t want Tubbo and Tommy to participate in underage gambling. Don’t know if this applies to Ranboo and Fundy (since he might be canonically a child? Who knows), so they get more of a pass, but the clingy duo might not.

The Syndicate. I’d like to think that the Syndicate, as well as Dream, are Quackity’s main foils of the server. As they are the richest and also the most skilled in PVP, Quackity stands no chance against them even with his sharp tongue. As these people are foils against Quackity, and also probably hate his guts, Quackity might not hire them at Las Nevadas. I theorize he’d probably use Dream as a watchdog against the Syndicate, but that’s a theory for another time. 

Additional point about Dream: he’s in prison.

Anyone from Kinoko Kingdom because it’s clear Quackity severed all ties with them.

The Eggpire is half-half. They can possibly join, but also can’t, Quackity can manipulate them into joining only for their inevitable demise, or Quackity wouldn’t wanna associate with them after the explosion incident. They’ll at least get a few passes in some categories, but again, not entirely sure.

CONQUEST

Also known as Plague, Pestilence, and in some occasions, both Jesus Christ and the Antichrist, Conquest is shown to be riding on a white horse, donning a victor’s crown and a bow. There are many interpretations of Conquest, especially with their ambiguous morality. Some people can perceive them as bad, representing the origin of many wars. Some people claim that they represent pestilence and plague as their arrows are slathered with the infections they want to spread. In some cases, they can also be interpreted as good, as their description is heavily reminiscent of Jesus Christ himself. Others would rebut that there is also a possibility that they might be a fake replica of Jesus created by Satan, thus making them the antichrist.

Sam (8/10)

Sam is my first choice when it comes to Conquest because, firstly, he fits the appearance. He is one of the only people in the Dream SMP who dons a crown, and they also possess a bow which they frequently use. I’d say that Sam as Conquest matches with his ambitions as a member of the Badlands, Pestilence or Plague match with his possible crimson infection, and Antichrist matches with his inability to keep Tommy, the possible Jesus figure on the SMP, alive or safe. 

My only issue is: would Sam be one of the three who arrived at the Dream SMP in the beginning? Sam is very strict with his job as warden, so it is unlikely that he would be seen far from it.

Any of the Eggpire (7/10)

As Conquest is heavily depicted with pestilence or plague, any of the Eggpire may fit under this category. As their goal as the Eggpire is meant to conquer the Dream SMP, this also matches with the goal of Conquest. Additionally, one of the Egg’s weaknesses is Church Prime, something heavily resembling Christianity, so if the Egg is its opposite, we can view the Egg as somewhat of an antichrist. 

I say Punz, Bad, Ponk, and Hannah have a higher chance of being Conquest, while Ant is a solid ‘maybe’. Punz could’ve been the one who blew up the Egg, Bad can be easily persuaded by Quackity, Ponk is one of the only capitalists of the server that may participate in Las Nevadas, and Hannah’s character heavily fits the theme of pestilence when it comes to nature. Additionally, I like to believe that Conquest was the horseman on the skeleton horse (that isn’t Quackity’s), especially since they were holding a dandelion in one shot, something that could be attributed to “pestilence” because a dandelion is a weed. This may imply that Hannah could be part, but because they haven’t interacted much beforehand, we wouldn’t be sure. More insight on Punz: he once mentioned he upholds his duties as mercenary more than he might love the Egg, so there’s a chance Quackity bribed him to join Las Nevadas.

The main con to this is that: why would the Eggpire willingly join Quackity, or why would the Egg allow them to join Quackity? I can see that Quackity might break their brainwashed states because he has a good way with words, but people like Bad, Ant, and Punz have stated that they’ve been fully controlled by the Egg. Also, Quackity makes it clear he wants to eradicate his enemies, so he might not want any members of the Eggpire to join Las Nevadas… unless there’s a traitor?

Schlatt, Mexican Dream, or Wilbur (6/10)

Heavily connected with winning if you take Manberg, Mexican L’Manberg, or L’Manberg into mind.

Wilbur also has a memorable crossbow, but I don’t know if that counts as a bow.

Any dead characters have a high chance of joining Las Nevadas because of its possible connections to death and the revival system of the SMP.

Other possibilities with short explanations and low but possible odds:

Eret: Has a crown, his betrayal can be seen as a “win”, has Tommy’s bow from the duel. Can be seen as an antichrist figure.

Jack: As he is against Tommy, he can be seen as an antichrist figure. Might be working with Las Nevadas because of his deal with Quackity.

Ranboo: He’s a minor, but he also has a crown and a bow so, maybe? He’s not much of a conqueror or winner, though.

Connor: Didn’t really conquer much, didn’t really win much, he’s just here because of Schlatt, honestly.

WAR

War is depicted to be holding a raised sword as they ride atop a red horse. After conquest, war is expected to follow, and War is tasked to break any type of peace on earth. He is tasked to kill, or make humans kill each other. The prominence of red symbolizes bloodshed or immense anger, something very present in war. Multiple depictions of War show him with his sword raised upwards, signifying the start of a battle.

Schlatt (9/10)

The man’s literally torn the Dream SMP apart (/lh). This man is always keen on fulfilling his goals, and if it means he’ll have to fulfill them in the most twisted of ways, he will do it. Him winning the Election brought immense conflict in the Dream SMP, and many people were torn apart on which side was the right or wrong side. One of Schlatt’s prominent colors besides blue would be red, as it is the color of his tie and the color of his ghost form’s horns. Red could represent the bloodshed of those who died during the Manberg-Pogtopia conflict, or red can signify the anger Schlatt had for his own cabinet.

Schlatt was also gifted a sword by Dream called “Shclatt”. The sword only holds heavy significance because of how Fundy treasured it like an heirloom.

Wilbur (8/10)

Another good possibility too as Ghostbur was recently seen to admire red a lot more than blue in one of Tommy’s streams. We can also view the creation of L’Manberg as a place that broke the peace in the Dream SMP as they didn’t really NEED to create L’Manberg and declare war, yet, he did. Red can also resemble his anger for what has been done to L’Manberg- everything is pretty self-explanatory, honestly.

My only qualm with Wilbur being one of the horsemen is how we can’t really… tell if he’s in the Dream SMP? He seems to be very clear on the fact that he does NOT want to return, so he might not even be there when the four horsemen became a thing.

Any of the Eggpire (7/10)

Honestly? Same reasoning as the first explanation for the Eggpire. This also applies for why they might not be one of the horsemen.

Do I even need to explain the red part, or do we just all understand that red is literally their brand.

The Eggpire practically breaks peace in the server and is keen on taking control of the entirety of the Dream SMP. The Egg is shown to be ruthless towards anyone, and will even let some of its followers kill people if needed. 

I see Bad as someone who might qualify for this position more because he initiates a lot of the activity in the Eggpire. Same goes for Ant, Punz, and Ponk, but they don’t really take initiative most of the time.

Jack Manifold (4/10)

The only reason I kind of added him here was that he wanted to kill Tommy, but Jack isn’t entirely selfish or peace-breaking. I do think he might play a role in Las Nevadas, especially since if Quackity has access to the nukes, only Jack and Ranboo might be the only two who helped him gain access.

Jack is also… very angry at Tommy. Rightfully so, because he basically surrounded a good portion of his life trying to kill Tommy only for him to realize that that might not be his purpose in life. He blames Tommy for a lot of the loss in the server, so he has a lot of anger, but he has no one to vent it all out to.

Other possibilities with short explanations and low but possible odds:

Eret: Did the first betrayal, but that’s about it. He’s also participated in several wars against others who disagreed with him being the king.

Ranboo: Participated in wars, but is a peacemaker so, y’know.

Fundy: While he does possess Schlatt’s sword, he isn’t much of an initiator of wars as much as he is merely a follower. He has shown that he is quite angry at those who have used him, but the anger has dissipated lately into some sort of sadness/denial.

Connor: He’s mournful that Schlatt, a close friend, has died, but he isn’t really one to be angry. He tried living far away to make his own independent nation, but it didn’t impact much of the story. He also one possessed “Ghostbur’s Stabbing Knife”, which could represent the sword.

FAMINE 

Famine is seen to be holding a scale (presumably for food) as they ride atop a horse. Famine is also denoted to be the only one speaking, saying “A quart of wheat for a denarius! And three quarts of barley for a denarius! But don’t ruin the oil and the wine!”. This statement basically means that we have to pay a full day’s worth of earnings for a bit of wheat and barley but oil and the wine, something not considered human necessities, can have the same prices. This shows an unfairness when it comes to acquiring basic human necessities. This is especially damaging to the poor as Famine’s statement can possibly make the poor poorer, while the rich remain the same. It is implied that the wider the gap between the poor and the rich, the closer we are to the end of the world.

Fundy (9/10)

This may be a long answer because I am biased towards Fundy, but Niki once stated that Manberg was in some sort of a famine because of the destruction of farms. Because of this, certain citizens have resorted into eating spider eyes from the EXP farm, but it was notable that she was practically calling out Fundy, someone who literally advertised spider eyes to any person he talked to in the Dream SMP.

Fundy is also hinted to be heavily connected to these hooded figures somehow. In his dream, he was chased by one until he slept in a black bed, the color of Famine.

Additionally, in his dream, he held baked potatoes (food) which could be related…? He’s also a libra so… scales…?

He is also a notorious prankster in the Dream SMP and will bargain for anything as long as he profits from it. He’s not the richest by any means, but he loves doing pranks that involve stealing belongings from other people.

Schlatt (8/10)

Similar reason to Fundy as he was the president of Manberg responsible for these famines. Additional note for this is that he also taxed Niki, one of their only food sources in Manberg. 

Schlatt also likes to joke around about being rich, earning money, or being a businessman often, especially with the entire Schlatt coin joke. Connected to Famine’s trait of making the rich richer, possibly?

Famine’s statement can also apply here as it is implied that if humanity doesn’t possess the basic of necessities, they might at least have wine which won’t provide any solutions to humanity’s starvation at all, but it will distract you from your starvation by making you heavily drunk until you finally die. This is very reminiscent of how Schlatt died.

Sam (6/10)

Sam is one of the richest people on the server, matching Famine’s want to keep the rich rich. Only problem here is that Sam is at least very generous and provides a lot of people with resources when needed.

Sam could possibly be connected to Famine because of how he treats Dream in prison. In an attempt to torture Dream, he starves him, cutting his food supply.

Same problem remains with Sam not being able to join whatever the hell the four horsemen are because of his duties as warden.

Any of the Syndicate (1/10)

Only giving an exception here because the Syndicate is exceptionally rich and is more selfish about it than others. Low chances, but Ranboo… might? But it’s still a bit iffy for me. Niki might as well because of her connections to the Manbergian famine, but still on the fence with this one too.

DEATH

Death is often depicted riding a pale horse, but some variations have called the horse light green. Death does not don a weapon themselves, but they are always accompanied by Hades. Hades in Christianity is the place or state of the departed spirits, meaning Death has contact with those who have died. Sometimes, Death is depicted with a scythe similar to the Grim Reaper, but some say Death has no weapon at all as Death themself is the weapon. Death is not only meant to collect souls and end lives, but they can also represent the end of an era of humanity.

Quackity (10/10)

I would say Quackity can fit any other category, but I am so sure that Quackity is death because of how death and toying with death seems to be one of Quackity’s main themes in the Dream SMP. Quackity, once hesitant about killing others, has been shown to now impulsively want to kill others: first with Techno, then Ranboo, then Dream. 

Quackity will also most likely acquire information about revival on the Dream SMP, so he is in close proximity with Hades, or in the Dream SMP, the Void. This also heavily ties in with the idea that he will make others gamble away their canon lives only for him to resurrect or return their canon lives if they ever successfully gamble it back. 

Quackity is also known to be very powerless in terms of PVP and battle, but you know what he succeeds in? His own words. He is his own weapon that can get him whatever he wants as long as the person he’s up against is in a vulnerable position. 

He is also confirmed to be one to have a skeleton horse, and some depictions of Death’s horse show that it is very corpse-like.

A bloody scythe can also be seen in Quackity’s first lore teaser, and that can be attributed to Death.

Other possibilities with short explanations and low but possible odds:

Schlatt: First owned the revival book but he literally does not know its contents. Fits the “they are their own weapon” trait.

Dream: The only exception I can give. But again, he is literally in prison…?

Wilbur & Mexican Dream: Only putting these two here because they have experienced death. These two fit the “they are their own weapon” category too.

Connor: Wants to revive Schlatt, but that’s it.

CONCLUSION

Honestly, my first conclusion for the four horsemen were Sam/Conquest, Schlatt/War, Fundy/Famine, and Quackity/Death, but I only see Quackity as Death to be something that is HIGHLY possible. For Conquest, I shift between Sam and one of the Eggpire, for War, I shift between Wilbur and Schlatt, and for Famine, I shift between Fundy and Schlatt. Again, no definitive answer, but I’d love to hear your own thoughts on this.

I am very tired, but also remember to reblog if you do enjoy this! Again, would love to hear your own insights, and would appreciate any type of discussion! :D

[iamwhoami]

Sister Oh Sister (Grey’s Anatomy)

Grey’s Anatomy

   When Amelia has brain surgery to remove her tumor, her sister Y/N is with her the entire time, worried that she might lose her.

Warnings: None

Requested = Yes

Haha...finally got one done...

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the episode where Amelia gets her tumor removed so the facts might be a lil iffy.

You were the first person she told.

   When she paged you to the scan room, you definitely were not expecting this bombshell.

“Oh...Amelia...” You whispered and immediately pulled her into your arms.

“It’s okay...” Amelia said, almost as if she was trying to convince herself to, “It’s benign.”

   You choked back a sob at those words. It was a relief of course, but it was a tumor nonetheless and would definitely have to be removed.

That meant brain surgery.

   Over the next while, you were constantly at Amelia’s side. Yes, it was partially because you knew you had to be there for her, but in a way, you were also there because you were scared.

Scared that history might repeat itself.

   The few months before Derek died, you hadn’t really been around him much. Now looking back, you regretted not visiting him, Meredith and the kids more. You regretted now inviting them over for dinner more. 

You didn’t want to have those regrets with Amelia.

   Despite all your fear and worries though, you did you best to hide it from Amelia, putting a brave face on instead.

   The day of Amelia’s surgery, you had worked yourself up so much that you spent the first half hour of the day throwing up in the bathroom at home.

   You knew you were worried about her, but there really weren’t any words that would truly describe just how great that worry was.

   Pulling yourself together though, you forced yourself to eat some breakfast before heading to the hospital. It was a surprise that Meredith had even managed to get you to go home since you spent all your time at the hospital since Amelia was checked in.

   Parking your car, you killed the engine and was going to walk in when you realized that you couldn’t. You were so overwhelmed by everything that you just needed one moment by yourself so that you could break down without Amelia knowing.

   You didn’t realize how much you had been holding back until you finally let it all out. You were sobbing so hard, you didn’t even hear the first few knocks on the window to your car.

   Sniffling, you wiped your nose with the side of your hand before taking a deep breath and getting out of the car.

“You good?”

   You looked over at Meredith, debating what you should tell her. Should you lie even though you knew she would see right through it?

“I will be,” You whispered, “But that doesn’t really matter right now.”

“Of course it matters,” Meredith responded, “Y/N, you’ve been driving yourself insane with worry about Amelia and I know you have your reasons but how would Amelia react if she knew what you’ve been doing?”

“What am I doing?” You asked numbly as you and Meredith headed into the building.

   Meredith grabbed your arm, making you stop, “You’re not taking care of yourself Y/N. Your running yourself to the ground, you’re not eating, you’re not sleeping.”

“It’s going to be okay,” You whispered back, biting your lip as you felt the tears threaten to spill from your eyes again, “Right? She’s going to be okay.”

“Oh...Y/N,” Meredith reached out her other arm and pulled you into a hug.

   You choked back a sob, “She has to be okay Mer because I swear I can’t do it again. Not after Derek...”

“I know,” Meredith mumbled and put her hand on the back of your head, rubbing it up and down.

   With that, you nodded and Meredith looped her arm through yours before making your way up to Amelia’s room.

“I’ll go through the a sub frontal craniotomy, real clean, small incision,” Tom was saying as you and Meredith arrived.

   Amelia saw you and gave you a weak smile which you just barely were able to return.

“So I imagine you have questions,” Tom looked at everyone expectantly.

“Yeah uh...how many of these have you done?” Dr. Bailey pointed her finger at Tom.

   Tom shook his head slightly, “So...so many.”

“What’s the recovery time?” Richard added.

   You tried to listen. You tried to pay attention, stay engaged, but your mind just kept wandering, going through each of the possible scenarios. 

“See you at the afterparty,” Tom was saying when you zoned back in and without another word he walked out of the room.

“He’s arrogant and a showboat so DeLuca, make sure you ask him questions during surgery,” Amelia ordered, “Make him show off.”

   DeLuca nodded in response and you knew that he would do that.

“And if I make it through,” Amelia started to say but Owen cut her off.

“When you make it through,” He corrected.

“Early ambulation protocol,” DeLuca finished and Amelia thanked him.

   Amelia then turned to Meredith, “Meredith...if I die.”

“You are not going to die,” Meredith said.

“But if I do,” Amelia went on, “You call my mom...I’m sorry but she likes you.”

“True that,” You snorted, knowing fully that Amelia was very correct on that.

   Amelia then looked over at Maggie, “And you...take my room! I totally scammed you on that.”

“Don’t be ridiculous-” Maggie started to say but Alex cut in.

“She’s right on that, it’s way better,” Alex mumbled to Maggie.

“If I’m gorked after this,” Amelia took a deep breath, “Unplug me. Don’t think about it. Go on with your lives. If I need unplugging, April has been named my power of attorney.”

   At those words, everyone, including you, slowly looked over at April who had a very awkward expression on her face.

“What...was I supposed to say no?”

“I uh...I don’t know what’s me and what’s tumor talking,” Amelia looked you straight in the eyes before continuing, “But uh...in this moment, I love you people tremendously.”

~~~

   You were sitting in between Meredith and Maggie, watching through the gallery at the scene below. Amelia standing...leading the superhero pose.

   You watched as Amelia got onto the table and as she was preparing to lay down, she gave you a wave.

   Forcing a smile, you waved back.

~~~

   The entire time Amelia was in surgery, it felt like you were underwater. Not drowning, but just underwater. The sounds around you were fuzzy and even though you could see perfectly well, your eyes stung as if salt was irritating them. You were subconsciously holding your breath too, breathing only when Maggie or Meredith reminded you to.

   When the surgery ended, you were slightly relieved but now you were tasked with one of the hardest things.

Waiting.

   You refused to leave Amelia’s side, even though she was still unconscious. Meredith and Maggie tried to get you to leave for food, but you brushed them off, only leaving to use the bathroom.

   You talked a lot to Amelia while you waited for her to wake up, knowing that she couldn’t hear you. It brought you some sort of comfort though, speaking to her as if she were awake.

“I know you’d tell me that I’m being stupid,” You laughed, holding Amelia’s hand in yours, watching her face carefully for any signs that she might be waking up.

   You smiled painfully, “But I can’t leave you Amy...not after what happened with Derek. You can’t leave me...because I really need you Amy. Even though I’ve been annoying and you’ve been a pain in my ass at times, I love you so much more than I’ve ever told you.”

   You reached your hand out and gently stroked your sister’s face.

“Please Amy...” You swallowed hard, “Please don’t leave me.”

~~~

   Needless to say, when Amy woke up speaking French, you thought you were going to have a heart attack. When Meredith explained what was going on though...you quickly understood and calmed down.

A little bit.

   It was hard watching Amelia be in pain while she recovered from brain surgery but you always put on a brave face and made sure to be there beside her every step of the way.

   It took a while, and since you were with Amelia every day it was hard to see the tiny steps of progress, but you did. It felt like forever, but you knew it wasn’t, before Amelia was finally allowed to be discharged and head home.

“I’ll put the bags in the car first,” Owen said and looked over at you

   You smiled and Owen gave you a knowing look before walking out of the room, a few bags in his hand.

“You look like crap,” Amelia joked as you rubbed your bloodshot eyes.

“Right back at you,” You mumbled back but Amelia could tell it didn’t have your usual spunk.

“What’s wrong?” Amelia asked, clearly concerned.

   You shook your head, “It’s stupid...”

“Oh come on Y/N,” Amelia said, “It’s me, you know you can tell me anything.”

   You sighed and shook your head again but you didn’t stay quiet this time and told Amelia what was bothering you.

“It’s just...especially after Derek,” You felt yourself start to choke up and quickly swallowed hard, “I couldn’t lose you. I was so scared I would lose you too Amelia.”

   Amelia’s gaze softened as she realized what you meant.

“Come here...” Amelia whispered and opened her arms so that you could lean into her embrace, “It’s okay...I’m okay now. You’re not going to lose me.”

   You nodded and closed your eyes, “I know...but it was just hard...”

“I don’t even know how hard that must have been for you,” Amelia said and you felt her sigh, “But you know...you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

   You couldn’t help but shake your head at your sister’s attempts of trying to make a joke.

“I know, you’re like a barnacle,” You went along with Amelia’s attempts.

“Seriously though,” Amelia whispered, “I’m always going to be with you no matter what.”

   You nodded, “I know...I love you Amelia.”

“Love you too.”

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

More Headcanon Stuff

Since everyone likes my post about Permits and shit: Here’s more BNHA World Building I use for fics!

Hero School: The Actual Hardest School to Get Into

UA is not, as mentioned previously, that hard to get into. It’s based on a statistic taken out of context, and also because almost the entire country applies but doesn’t get into the hero course.

The hardest school to get into is actually called Shīrudo Academy and is an intelligence-based heroics school. 

 The exam is twelve hours long and you must get a ninety percent to be allowed in. 

 The graduates of this school go on to enter the intelligence-based heroics field. They train for years, learning undercover tactics, code work, information gathering and interrogation techniques. 

 Shīrudo Academy is one of five hero-based programs that do not just include high school but also university. Meaning, you enter the Academy and then leave Shīrudo Institute before you are considered finished.

Second Chance High School-University

Okay not translated because I can’t find like a good translation for this.

Anyway, SC is a high school/university geared towards potential heroes who have black marks on their records, or have criminal records.

SC does NOT accept those who have: Sold drugs, committed Sexual Assault or committed First Degree Murder.

SC is meant to help those who have potential as heroes but have things holding them back. Like Shirudo they are a combination high school and university program. They operate on a ‘Ten Strike’ program in which you have ten attempts to change your ways before they expel you.

 They take extreme cases, or on occasion get transfers due to the Red Flag Protocol.

Red Flag Protocol

I fully believe while most hero schools are allowed to run how they want- UA a prime example- there are some general policies or rules.

One of them I call the ‘Entitled Brat’ rule or as it’s called officially ‘Red Flag Protocol’.

Red Flag Protocol is when a student…

-displays signs of extreme violent behaviour

-acts shocked upon being reprimanded

-refuses to listen to teachers or ignores reprimands, acting like it’s a jok when walking into detention

-being shocked to be actually punished and attempting to argue

-displays Quirkist behaviour to Quirkless individuals or those with ‘weaker Quirks’.

-attempts to establish a hierarchy with them at the top and enable them to bully others.

-displays illegal behaviour

-displays sexual harassment to others

The Red Flag Protocol is used in hero courses as there are multiple cases a year when problematic, disturbing or illegal behaviour is noticed in students who had entered the school. 

 This is due to the status that is given to middle schools that comes from having someone from their school become a hero. As well, there is a monetary fund given to middle schools when they have a student make it a year in a hero course program for high school. 

 With an emphasis on strong Quirks and brash personalities, it’s no schock that these have become a protocol to watch out for these behaviours.

 The student operates on a five-strike program when placed into the protocol. Five strikes, they’re either removed from the hero course or transferred to SC.

Anti-Cheating Board

The ACB is a board sent out when allegations of cheating are made on any test, or when a complaint is lodged that someone is accused of cheating without proof. It is not just for Hero Schools but also for any schools. 

 The ACB is made up mostly of people who are able to either detect lies or force people to tell the truth. All possess Job Specific Permits for their Quirks. 

 The ACB is always working because there are a lot of cheating allegations. In recent history, the Aldera school came under fire for accusing a student of cheating fifteen times and had the ACB called in. Now, they have a member of ACB come in to oversee all testing done to prove no cheating is occuring. The school was fined for their Quirkist views due to the student in question being Quirkless. 

Homeschooling Program 

According to my research, Japan doesn’t allow homeschooling, however, with Quirks I propose that there are some Quirks that could pose a risk to other students. Such as: Quirks that require equipment that if damaged could cause death, injury or other. Or sentient Quirks that are near impossible to control.

 Children with dangerous Quirks as well are allowed to be homeschooled. However once control to a reasonable level has been reached, the child is required to enter regular school.

 A small scandal came about when Endeavour, Number Two Hero, attempted to have his youngest classified as someone with a dangerous Quirk that required more training. It was proven to be false and Endeavour fined for false filing.

Dangerous Quirk Regulation Bureau

The DC is responsible for tracking those whose Quirks are regarded as a Class 9 on the Quirk Scale. Any Quirk that can cause death or injury or cannot be turned off that influences others is under their view and they monitor them. They provide funds if needed to help control their Quirk.

 Often these people enter into Heroics or Military service due to the fact they are regulated. 

Quirk Scale

The Quirk Scale is a scale meant to measure how dangerous a Quirk is. (A lot of this is kinda vague so I use examples)

Class 1: Minor Quirk that only affects the person using it. Does not affect anyone or anything else. Example: Colour Changing Eyes. 

-Exceptions are caused for those who while their Quirk does not affect anyone else, it can make them unnoticable. Example: Shapeshifting. Spinner resides here. Nezu resides here to only on a technicality that he loves to debate with the Bureau on. They gave up and just slap him with a ‘Class 1 but Class 9 danger’ label.

Class 2: A Quirk that affects other people or things outside the body. However is low-powered and does not negatively affect others without it being on purpose. Example: a low level teleckentic or someone can make a small flame but barely enough to roast a marshmallow.

-Note: Ojiro actually technically is in this category as his Quirk can affect others but requires it being on purpose. 

Class 3: Quirks that affect others or things with greater power. A telekentic able to lift larger weights or a fire user able to produce more fire.

-Hagakure is here because while her Quirk only affects her, it can also enable her to spy on others. Sato is here to, along with Sero, Jiro, Asui, and Shouji. Kirishima and Iida are in this category due to a technicality on the fact they can harm others by using their Quirk in negative ways. Otherwise they would be level 1. Similar with Twice.

Class 4: A quirk that only affects others and not themselves but isn’t considered very powerful.

-Note: Kouda actually is here as Anivoice affects animals. Technically he should be a level 6 but as it is animals he was ranked 4. (This changes when they get older though) Mr. Compress and Magne are here to.

Class 5: A quirk that can affect others or cause harm in a way that is more harmful than a class 4.

-Toga is here. Stain as well. Ochako is to. Bakugou resides here to.

Class 6: A Quirk that affects others in ways that are considered to be removing part of their autonomy.

-Aizawa is here. As is Shinsou.

Class 7: A Quirk that can cause damage to an extreme level to others or can affect someone in a way that is regarded as high level.

-Recovery Girl is here. As is All Might, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Endeavour.

Class 8: A Quirk that can cause extreme damage to others or themselves, or a sentient Quirk that does in fact have a downside.

-Kaminari and Dark Shadow are here. Dabi is to. Overhaul and Eri also are here.

Class 9: A Quirk that either can cause death or grievous bodily harm that either cannot be controlled at all, or requires specialized equipment.

-Present Mic and Thirteen are here along with Shigaraki.

Random Laws

Just a few random laws.

Hero School Law of Custody: A Law that states a hero school is awarded partial custody of any student accepted into the school. This law is in place to prevent a parent from pulling a student from the school recklessly or to prevent any contracts being signed without permission from the student. The Hero School may also pull any student from their parents if it is believed to be in their best interest.

Sidekick Law of Emancipation: If anyone under the age of majority earns a sidekick license they are automatically emancipated.

Law of Accidental Death by Quirk: A law that prevents anyone from being charge with murder if they have accidently caused death by their Quirk. For an example, I have an OC called Gas Attack who breathes out deadly gas. She would be protected under this law if her breathing support item that lets her breath the gas into a container that neutralizes it breaks. Or, if Bakugou as a toddler accidentally killed someone with an explosion. Shigaraki would have also been covered under this law when he killed his family.

[shima-draws]

So... Can we get that Monster Law AU tea???? 👀👀👀

*cracks knuckles* Okay kiddies it’s time to angst get ready for tears

So for anybody who doesn’t know, in my Monster Law AU Izuku contracts a rare sickness. It’s unnamed and doesn’t really have a cure--it’s just something designed to slowly destroy his body over time and make it harder and harder to move around until all of his internal organs fail. Yeah. Pretty bad

It’s easily tolerable at first, but it worsens over the years, and by the time Izuku’s close to adult age it’s taken its toll. He starts wearing longer sleeves and pants to cover the dark bruises and blemishes the sickness leaves on his body in order not to worry Shouto. Ofc it takes a while but Shouto does eventually find out--and when he does he panics because firstly, Izuku’s been hiding this from him for YEARS, secondly, it’s basically a death sentence and Shouto knows that from how bad it looks, and thirdly, Izuku’s obviously in a lot of pain and Shouto can’t stand seeing him that way which is why Izuku hid it from him in the first place.

Several more weeks pass in this manner after Shouto finds out. It takes Izuku longer and longer to travel to their meeting place, and Shouto becomes so heartbreakingly gentle with him that Izuku eventually snaps at him and tells him this is why he kept it a secret, bc he didn’t want Shouto to pity him and treat him as if he were made of glass. Shouto apologizes and things sorta go back to normal between them for a while

One day it takes Izuku two hours to make it to their spot even tho it used to only take him fifteen, twenty minutes tops. Izuku looks at Shouto and he’s like “I think this is it...my last day” so Shouto breaks down in tears bc he cares about Izuku so much and is pretty much in love with him, and Izuku’s the only genuine friend he’s had all these years and the one solace he’s had from his father’s tyranny and the pressure of being his heir. Shouto races back into his village, gets down on his knees in front of his father, and resorts to literally begging him for the best medicine they have. Ofc at this point Enji’s already caught on to Shouto’s little adventures near the human border and has been debating on how to deal with it--but seeing how desperate his son is, Enji relents and gives Shouto a concoction that’s said to miraculously cure almost anything. Shouto races off with it back to Izuku’s side.

Shouto feeds Izuku the medicine and it seems to be working--until it’s not, until black veins and patches spread everywhere and Izuku starts coughing up blood. Shouto realizes with absolute dread that the medicine he gave Izuku only works on monsterkind--it’s deadly poisonous to humans. Shouto essentially just poisoned his best friend. And Enji probably gave him the medicine knowing that’s exactly what would happen.

Shouto starts sobbing--apologizing over and over, and begging Izuku not to leave him. Izuku smiles and says that it’s alright, he was going to die anyway, and he’s glad that he gets to be in Shouto’s arms. He then says that even tho it might be kind of dark and depressing to say, dying because of Shouto rather than the sickness he’s been fighting for years is almost comforting, and that he isn’t afraid of death anymore. Shouto holds him until he stops breathing, and then he cries for hours.

When he finally calms down, Shouto sneaks into the human village to find Inko and Toshinori, and then he gets down on his knees (again, wow, a record) and pleads for their forgiveness. Inko bursts into tears and Toshi gets teary-eyed as well, saying that they both knew about Izuku’s illness and that his life was fading--but Shouto was the one person that gave him strength. They have a really long talk about Shouto’s history with Izuku (seeing as it had been smth Izuku hid from them for both parties’ safety) and Shouto is comforted by the fact that Izuku still had people at home that loved him so much. 

Right after that, Shouto storms back to his village and gets into a brawl with Enji, accusing him of knowing that Shouto was going to bring the medicine to a human. Enji said it was his intention and Shouto DESTROYS his ass, and Enji banishes him. Shouto says fine I don’t want to stay here with a murderer anymore anyway, and leaves.

Oh but wait, there's MORE!! Several days pass and Shouto’s sitting by Izuku’s grave between the human and monster borders, reflecting on everything and crying again about how he essentially assisted in Izuku’s death (even tho Inko and Toshi told him otherwise).

And then...

Well, somebody shows up 👀

[nugnthopkns]

dance me to the end of love (ii)

word count: 3.3k

warnings: fem!oc, alcohol consumption, cursing

series masterpost: here

a/n: part two baby! thanks for all the love on part one, it means the absolute world. i have so much love for this story and i hope people are enjoying it :))

Life is settling into a comfortable rhythm.

After spending a good chunk of her young adult life being incredibly studious, Magdalene can finally have the social life of someone in their mid-twenties. Though she’s still spending a fair amount of time by herself in the basements of the University of Denver’s library, Bette convinces her to go out more. Magdalene tries to fight, citing extra work or a good book as an excuse to stay home, but it doesn’t work very often. The pleas of her friend are how Magdalene finds herself currently lounging poolside at Erik Johnson’s house on a Sunday afternoon.

“How’s the new career treating you?” Tyson asks. “I feel like we haven’t seen you in a while.”

Magdalene laughs. “I’ve seen Bette plenty,” she says, “She thinks I won’t take a lunch break unless she shows up.”

“Would you?” the blonde girl questions with a quirked brow.

“Probably not.”

“I rest my case.”

A small crowd gathers around as Magdalene begins to detail the specifics of her job, but she doesn’t feel as uncomfortable as she once would have. In the month or so since graduating school she’s found herself slowly being incorporated into the Avalanche family. It’s almost certainly because Bette and Tyson championed her case, explaining that she doesn’t have much of a support system beyond the two of them, but she doesn’t mind. A few of the guys ask her questions about her work, curious as to why someone would want to spend their life combing through piles of old things. Everyone stays engaged in the conversation until there’s a shout from the kitchen that dinner is ready.

Magdalene shuffles in line behind André, filling her plate with various pasta salads and a hamburger. Once situated with enough food for two meals she returns to the pool deck, sitting on the edge and dipping her toes into the cool water. Bette comes and finds her a minute later and the two of them begin to eat.

She’s still relatively new to the group’s dynamic, but Magdalene can’t help but notice that Ryan is never around. In fact, Magdalene hasn’t seen him since her graduation party. Taking a casual sip of her wine cooler, she asks her friend about the man’s absence.

“Why is Ryan never at these sorts of things?”

Bette shrugs. “Isn’t a huge one for parties. He was supposed to come today, but I guess something came up.”

“I’m not huge on parties,” Magdalene huffs, “But that doesn’t stop you from dragging me to every single one.”

“Unlike you, Gravy gets enough regular social interaction that his absence is permissible. If Tyson and I didn’t take you out you’d talk to your cat more than normal.”

She wants to fight back, but knows it’s pointless. Bette has a point – if it weren’t for her the only people Magdalene would interact with are her boss and her cat. Instead, she grumbles under her breath and changes the subject to the trip Bette is in the middle of planning. It’s coming up in a few weeks, and Magdalene wants to hear a bit more about it before she commits. Despite what she thought about taking time off so close to starting work, it was encouraged by June, but she's refraining from telling Bette that. If it doesn’t sound like she'll enjoy it, Magdalene is banking on being able to use the excuse.

Bette explains that she’s renting a large lake house that is perfect for a relaxing week away from adult responsibilities. The property has kayaks and a hot tub, which pretty much ensures that Magdalene will want to be in attendance. She’ll hold onto that information for a little while longer though, if for no other reason to make Bette squirm a little. At some point Tyson comes to sweep his girlfriend away and leaves Magdalene at the party alone. She makes polite conversation with some other players for a while before heading home herself. Ryan never shows up, despite how much Magdalene hopes he will. At the very least she wants to properly thank him for doing her a favour, though her hoping to see him is much more selfish. He intrigues her and she wants to know more about the tall man with the dazzling smile and a proclivity for wearing all black.

☼☼☼☼

Barn Owl Book Company is filled to the brim when Magdalene approaches the store from the side street it annexes. She should’ve expected it – it’s the first of the month and their newest books are hitting the shelves. However, Magdalene doesn’t exactly have time to wait in line. June gave her only fifteen minutes to run and grab them coffee before they continue the massive task of digitizing a private collection that has just been donated to the university. She estimates it will take almost a month of extended hours to get everything done, and Magdalene believes it. There’s so much to wade through but she knows the end result will be satisfying.

Luckily the café line is fairly short, and Magdalene reaches the counter in a timely manner. “Hey,” she greets the barista warmly, “Could I just grab two medium iced cappuccinos?”

“Anything else?”

“No, that's everything. It’ll be on debit,” she smiles. Magdalene reaches into her backpack to grab her wallet only to find that it’s missing. Shit. The barista has already left to make the drinks, completely unaware that her customer is unable to pay.

Magdalene hears a voice from behind her say, “I’ve got it, don’t worry.” She turns around to find Ryan Graves standing there with a book tucked under his right arm.

“You’re a lifesaver,” she mumbles appreciatively. “I don’t know how my boss would take it if I showed up empty handed.”

Ryan laughs shyly as he pulls his card away from the machine. “I get it, everyone needs a little caffeine this time of year.” The barista comes back with Magdalene’s drinks, which she takes with a smile and a wish for a good day. The two of them head towards the exit, and Ryan pauses once they’re on the sidewalk. “Which way are you headed?”

“Back to work,” Magdalene says, nodding her head in the direction of campus. “I’ve got approximately five minutes to get there before June rips me a new one.”

“June?”

“She’s my boss,” she explains.

Ryan nods in understanding. “I’ll see you around Magdalene,” he smiles, turning on his heel and heading the opposite direction.

In a moment of bravery, Magdalene yells at his retreating figure. “Will you? We never seem to cross paths.”

“I’ll be at Bette and Tyson’s this weekend, and I’m counting on your company.”

Magdalene finds it incredibly hard to focus the rest of the afternoon. She keeps thinking about what Ryan said, which makes her a rather lousy archivist. June sends her home just after seven even though they had plans to stay until ten, citing the fact that she’s scanned the same photo three times before noticing. Caligula’s meowing for pets when she gets home isn’t even enough to distract her from the comment. The absentmindedness continues for another day or so, and it’s becoming so bad Magdalene is worried that June is going to fire her for incompetence.

It’s only when Bette calls to invite her over for dinner and drinks that her mind levels out. “I was wondering when I was going to get the call,” she chuckles absentmindedly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” is the response Magdalene receives.

“Well,” she explains, “I ran into Ryan at Barn Owl the other day and he paid for my drinks because I left my wallet on the table at work, and he said he expected to see me at your place this weekend. So if you never invited me I was just going to show up.”

Bette is smiling, that much Magdalene can infer by the lull in conversation. “I haven’t got the time to call you yet,” she concedes, “But consider this the official invitation to our house for a small party.”

“Anything we’re celebrating?”

“Nope. Have you ever needed a reason to party?”

Magdalene laughs. “Yes. Need one almost every time actually.”

The rest of the week passes fairly quickly. To make up for her blundering earlier in the week Magdalene offers to work a full day on Saturday, by herself, to get the project back on track. June accepts the proposition eagerly, and Magdalene lets Bette know she’ll be coming directly from work. Saturday rolls around and she spends most of her time getting lost in the past lives of the artefacts she’s dealing with. If someone were to ask Magdalene what her favourite part of archiving is, that’s the answer she’d give. There’s nothing more satisfying to her than holding a piece of history in her hands and imagining all the stories it would be able to tell if it could speak.

By the time she’s put in a full work day and finishes locking up the basement floor her department occupies, Magdalene is pretty sure they’re ahead of schedule on the project. She genuinely feels terrible about her misperformance and hopes June will be able to forgive her. On the way to Bette and Tyson’s Magdalene listens to the Leonard Cohen greatest hits cd that came with her car. The previous owner was presumably a big fan, and over the years Magdalene has come to appreciate the folk singer. She never got to see him in concert before his death but turns to his music when she needs to relax. Right now is the perfect time to listen to ‘Hallelujah’ on repeat because she’s seriously freaking out about the idea of spending the night talking to Ryan. Though she still wants to properly thank him and possibly become friends, something about him makes Magdalene nervous.

There’s no way for her to tell if Ryan is there when she parks in front of the house. She doesn’t know what kind of car he drives, or if he caught a ride with someone. Magdalene debates texting Bette to see if he’s there already but decides against it, knowing she’s an adult who is more than capable of pushing down nerves.

She doesn’t bother knocking and just steps into the respectably sized home. The music is loud enough that no one would have heard her anyways. It’s much more of a party than Magdalene was expecting – Bette invited her for dinner and drinks, not a gathering that could pass as a frat party. There are bodies everywhere, and she isn’t sure if she’ll ever catch a glimpse of her friend.

“You seem to be dressed for the wrong kind of party,” a voice chuckles from behind her.

Magdalene turns to see Ryan leaning against the wall, eyeing her business casual attire. “I came from work,” she explains, “And didn’t know it was this kind of party to begin with. I would’ve at least brought a change of clothes.”

“You look terribly out of place,” he agrees. “Can I grab you a drink? The hosts are too busy playing beer pong to, you know, be hosts.”

A giggle escapes Magdalene’s lips at the comment. Ryan seems to have a similar sense of humor to her, which will be beneficial for passing the time if Bette is already on her way to being wasted. “A glass of red wine would be nice.”

Ryan pushes off from his perch and heads towards the kitchen. The crowd parts for the six-foot-five hockey player, and Magdalene follows in his wake quite easily. Knowing the space as well as her, Ryan grabs a wine glass from the cupboard Bette keeps them in and pours the dark red liquid into it. He waits until Magdalene has situated herself on the island before handing her the cup. She takes it with an appreciative hum and waits until he’s grabbed a beer for himself before raising her glass in toast. Ryan does the same, and their glasses clink before each of them take a sip.

“What exactly is it that you do? I bet it’s something super cool and studious, but I seriously don’t know what the hell being an archivist means.”

Magdalene explains her job to Ryan, who is extremely interested. He asks nearly a hundred follow-up questions that she answers sincerely, throwing in a few jokes that luckily crack him up. Conversation moves to his career and then life. Magdalene learns that he’s from Nova Scotia, though he stays around Denver these days, and that if he wasn’t playing professional hockey he’d like to have a career in publishing. Ryan doesn’t press too hard when Magdalene refuses to open up about her family, which she appreciates. It’s a delicate subject that she keeps guarded close to her chest, and a friend’s kitchen in the middle of a party isn’t the place for her to divulge her deepest secrets.

The two of them get refills before exiting the room. Even more people seemed to arrive since Magdalene walked through the door, and the kitchen is no longer an empty safe haven. The music is so loud she can feel the bass thumping in her chest, giving the living room a club-like atmosphere, and it’s too much. Magdalene tugs at the hem of Ryan’s sweater to catch his attention. “Want to go somewhere quiet?”

“I doubt there is such a place,” he yells over the crowd going crazy over some early 2000s hip-hop track.

“Follow me,” she says with a smile, pointing over her shoulder in the direction of the staircase to the second floor.

It takes a minute for them to wade through the throngs of people, but it goes much faster once Ryan takes Magdalene’s hand and splits the crowd. A few boys, who don’t look older than twenty-one and almost certainly snuck into the party, notice where the pair are going and shout congratulations. Ryan shoots them a glare so sharp it could cut stone but doesn’t drop Magdalene’s hand. Once safely on the much quieter second floor, Magdalene makes a beeline for the bathroom.

“Are you coming or what?” she asks when there doesn’t seem to be footsteps following her.

Ryan hesitates. “I, uh, can just wait out here while you’re in there,” he stammers.

Magdalene’s laugh rings out through the empty hallway. “I’m not going to the bathroom. We’re going out the window.”

He isn’t sure how that’s any better, but Ryan follows the brown-haired girl into the room. It takes considerably more work for him to fit through the frame, but after some directions from Magdalene he makes it onto the roof. She sits down and pats the space beside her, encouraging Ryan to do the same. They stay out there, discussing anything that comes to their heads, until the party’s numbers dwindle drastically. Magdalene makes sure to properly thank him for both attending her graduation and spotting her coffee money, and she thinks Ryan might blush a little when she offers to get the next round. He asks about her love of The West Wing, and they launch into a long conversation about the show and cast. The sun fades to black and the cold sets in, and Magdalene finds herself wrapped in Ryan’s sweater without asking. It’s only when she notices it’s approaching midnight that Magdalene clues into how tired she is.

“I think I’m going to head out,” she yawns. Ryan nods in agreement and holds the window open for her to slip in through. Once downstairs, Magdalene goes to lift the sweater from her frame but Ryan stops her.

“Keep it for drive home. I’ll get it back next time we see each other.”

Still feeling bold from the alcohol that left her system hours ago, she reaches out to poke him in the chest. “And when will that be, hm? You seem to enjoy leaving our meetings up to chance.”

It’s Ryan’s turn to laugh. “Think you can swing an extended lunch break on Wednesday? I’ll be at Barn Owl all afternoon. Maybe you can join me for a coffee.”

Magdalene likes the sound of that and agrees. She leaves without seeing Bette or Tyson once, but she doesn’t mind. They’d be happy for her blooming friendship – or at least she’s pretty sure they will be once she calls to fill them in on the details.

☼☼☼☼

Wednesday rolls around without incident, and Magdalene is given a full hour to eat instead of thirty minutes. Walking time has to be accounted for, of course, but she should have nearly forty-five minutes to spend with Ryan if she plays her cards right. There’s no crowd this time, and it’s incredibly easy to spot Ryan sitting in the window she loves to claim as her own.

“Hey,” Magdalene greets, “Did Bette tell you to sit here?”

He shakes his head, perplexed at the question. “No, why?”

“It’s just my favourite seat in the store, that’s all. I thought she told you how to gain some extra brownie points.”

“Should I be concerned about the amount of points I have?” Ryan teases, sliding a cup and pastry bag across the table and into her hands.

Magdalene shakes her head, smiling widely. “You’re doing alright so far. Keep up the good work.”

They eat at a comfortable pace, taking breaks to engage in interesting topics of conversation or take sips of their drinks. Ryan insists his life is boring, but Magdalene is enthralled by the stories he tells. It’s completely different from hers and she feels as though she can live vicariously through the tales of walking through the historic downs of the east coast and swimming in the Pacific Ocean on days off in California. After squeezing every story possible from the man Magdalene shifts gears slightly.

“So, are you going on the trip in a couple of weeks?”

“It’s looking that way,” Ryan shrugs with relative indifference, “Nate doesn’t think he’ll be able to come back, something about a development camp he’s running having the dates switched. He’s asked me to take his spot.”

His neutral mood confuses her. When Bette mentioned his probable attendance months ago, it sounded like he was enthusiastic about spending a week with friends doing nothing to swimming and drinking. “You don’t want to go?” Magdalene probes.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but sometimes the group parties a little harder than I like to,” he sighs, raising a hand and running it through his hair. That’s something she understands completely, having spent a few too many nights being the sober one out.

“I’ll be there.” It’s Magdalene’s turn to shrug, but the comment holds an incredible amount of hope.

“Well then, that changes everything.”

Was Ryan flirting with her? She spends the rest of lunch thinking about the possibility, and truthfully, it occupies her brain for the rest of the day. However, she keeps her focus and June is none the wiser to the butterflies in her stomach. Work finishes without much fanfare, and her dinner is silent save for the few meows of conversation Caligula offers. It’s late by the time Magdalene falls into bed, cat snuggled into the pillow beside her. On a whim she decides to check Instagram and sees a message request from none other than the man who’s smile has been replaying in her mind. A follow request accompanies it.

Thought that maybe we could quit leaving our meetings to chance and plan something next time :)

He has to be flirting. There’s no other explanation for the witty banter they’ve shared this week, or why he’s reaching out to her on social media. The butterflies in her stomach multiply tenfold as Magdalene types out a reply.

I don’t know, it’s kind of fun being shrouded in mystery. However, I now have the opportunity to stalk your profile ;)

Before she can overthink her use of the emoji, Magdalene shoves her phone in the drawer of her nightstand and rolls over. A slight smile can’t help but appear on her features as she falls asleep, already curious about what his reply will be.

☼☼☼☼

taglist: @scrunchmakar @marcoscandellas @toplinetommy @samsteel @lovethepreds (add yourself to the taglist!)

[bartletforamerica]

How the Bartlet Administration Reacts to COVID-19

Abbey: is not taking any chances. After losing the fight to get the President to retreat to the farm or Camp David, she gets him to agree to limit himself to the oval office and the residence, with as few in person meetings as possible. Even before they’ve pulled together a White House task force, she’s made sure that everything is being disinfected and that her entire schedule is either canceled or made virtual. Her staff is the first to be working from home (and oh boy does she scold if she finds out any of them did something she thinks is foolish), with most of the rest of the White House staff following shortly after. She makes it her mission to do PSAs on what people should be doing and even does a virtual Sesame Street collaboration to teach kids how to wash their hands.

Zoey: Is not super pleased to be stuck in the Residence 24/7. She’s doing classes from her bedroom, so yay to not having to get out of bed early, but she can tell people are super disappointed that her camera is set up so that she has only a blank wall behind her [it turns out the secret service is very touchy about where you take video calls]. She also gets officially hired and given a security clearance for the sole fact that she’s one of the only people allowed to be near her dad who is tech-literate. She ends up doing some of her reading on the couch in his office so that she's on hand for when he's supposed to be skyping with the senior staff and can't figure out what link to click. She spends a lot of time worrying about Ellie, who helping do research about the virus, and texting her friends.

The President: is not happy to be closed up away from people. He also thinks that Abbey is overreacting where he's concerned. He misses actually getting to be around the younger staff. He and Zoey do a cooking from home video at C.J.'s suggestion, so that the country can see he's alive and to encourage people to not go out. They make chili and fight over whether it needs more cumin or oregano while Abbey records it and pipes in from behind the camera. The country is treated to a history of chili and a diplomatic incident nearly happens because apparently Mexicans deny having any association with it, even though most food historians say it has Mexican roots. The flaming debate doesn't stop a second episode at Thanksgiving where the country is treated to the history of the yam and all the secret spices that go into the President's stuffing. A large portion of the country gives him flack for putting Oysters in his stuffing. [In a small bedroom in an Illinois apartment a woman finally figures out why Joe Bethersonsen sounded so familiar.]

Leo: moved into the Residence because there was no way he was going to talk the President off ledges via skype for however long this lasted. He can only do so much. Zoey helps him learn to use Skype and he finds himself missing Margaret desperately even when he spends most of the day with a computer dedicated to having her on Skype so he can turn to it and ask her questions. She insists he get exercise and eat healthy (something he thinks she’s collaborating with the first lady on behind his back—they say very similar things much of the time). He skypes with Mallory on Sunday mornings over breakfast in his room and they pretend they’re at a hotel having a fancy brunch.

Charlie: is not particularly happy. He got sent home with everyone else because he’s not particularly necessary to have on hand if the president isn’t going anywhere. He’s still getting paid and he does do some work (the most important bit being hanging out on the phone with the president so he can ramble about history so Zoey can get her own reading done, Leo can browbeat the staff, and the first lady can do her own job) but he’s been ordered by the president and first lady to focus on getting extra school done while he can.

Donna: started freaking out the first day there was a rumor of a new disease in China. Then the White House shut down and even senior staff got sent home unless they absolutely needed to be in the building (basically just C.J. and some of her staff). And her roommate (not the one she'd really liked, who had a cat, but one she hopes is only temporary) works for a GOP congressman who thinks the whole thing is a hoax and bans masks in his office, so Donna is not at all happy and spends time she should be working cleaning things her roommate touches and that's sixty percent of how she ends up living with Josh.

Josh: is struggling with not being allowed to leave the house on pain of the first lady taking him to task (something about his lungs and the bullet). Even when he was putting his nose to the grindstone to make it through college and law school, he liked being around people while he studied, so he was usually in the library or a cafe rather than his room. He works best when he can bounce ideas off people and take in new ideas. When he was grounded after surgery it absolutely sucked and that was why he drove everyone crazy calling them all the time. Yeah he was bored, but he was also lonely. Plus he's not the best with technology. He very nearly went on national tv with his boxers showing, if not for Donna skyping him beforehand and making sure he fixed the camera. Between needing not to be alone and needing his assistant to be able to actually help him, the invite for Donna to stay with him slips out when she's complaining about her roommate. She shows up two hours later with two suitcases of clothes and two suitcases with pasta, toilet paper, and flour.

Donna and Josh: are handling the pandemic much better now that they're together. Josh can bounce ideas off Donna without it tying up his phone line. And she can listen in on his calls to the various members of congress about the stimulus package that they're working on. It's an even better look at Josh's job than she had before, and while it makes some of her work harder to focus on, she feels like she understands some things better than she ever has before. Josh even starts listening to her about how to sway certain congressmembers to their side. When they're not working, Donna forces Josh to cook with her so they're not entirely subsisting on delivery. They tried making bread and managed to spill half a bag of flour on the floor in the process but they ate all of it, even though it tasted pretty bland. Josh finally got Donna into baseball when it came back. Toby spit out his beer when he was on speakerphone with them and he heard Donna accurately yelling at the Mets for screwing up. Donna wears Josh's clothes more than her own, since she doesn't have to be on camera most of the time. They're platonically sharing a bed because they haven't found a convertible sofa for his living room that they like, they say, and it doesn't make sense for one of them to sleep on the couch, which they say has a spring that makes it uncomfortable to sleep on, even though Donna lounges on it all day with no problem. They are absolutely not dating and so they tell all their friends.

C.J.: spends five minutes laughing every time she gets off the phone with Josh or Donna. She loves her friends but god they're so completely in denial. It does, however, give her a much needed break. Her job has always involved a lot of people and knowing what venue to meet them in to ensure that she gets or passes on the information she needs. COVID protocols mean no more one-on-one meetings with journalists in her office, no more gaggles following her through the halls. The press corps were not happy when they moved all briefings outside and insisted on face masks and shields in addition to everyone sitting six feet apart. She gets asked about the president's health at least once a day and they start doing weekly waving from the balconies just so the press corps can get footage of him, healthy and shouting down to Danny and some of the others. Someone makes a cartoon of the president in the tower, with Abbey as his dragon keeper and though no one is willing to justify a cartoon with a comment, privately C.J. thinks it's accurate. She's always admired Abbey's fierce protectiveness of her family, even when she doesn't agree with every way it expresses itself or when it interferes with C.J.'s job. She has to come up with new ways to push the White House agenda (keep the economy afloat, stay home, no, don't listen to the GOP governors or those running for the primary, those ideas are not good, go the fuck home and stop having parties) and while some work, others bomb. It would help if everyone would stay on message and not screw up.

Sam: would like to make it clear that he did not know how many people would be at that gathering. He thought he was going for an outdoor meal with just a few old friends who could help raise money for the democratic party, not a fifty-person birthday party. The media fallout nearly gets him fired. Instead he gets yelled at by C.J., then by the First Lady. Mallory even sends him a card about how stupid he was. He's pretty sure that having Donna around is the only reason that Josh hasn't made the same mistake by now. It had to have been a toss up as to which of the two of them would screw up. Sam just isn't lucky enough to have a Donna (Sam is very happy that Josh has a Donna, Sam just wants Josh to realize that he talks about Donna the same way most men talk about their wives, because it's really hard not to respond to "why do I put up with finding her hair clogging the shower drain" with "because you love her and can't live without her, stupid"). He instead has adopted a cat for company. It tries to scratch him every time he tries to pet it. Sam spends his days trying to find a way to say "fuck the economy until we've beaten the virus" in a way that is palatable to the American people while trying to remind Toby that they can't actually say that outright. This is not an easy task.

Toby: would like to tell most of the American public to shut up, stay indoors for two months, pretty much nobody excepted, and if you don't, then you get tossed out to sea. He's come within an inch of telling anti-mask people they deserve to get sick on the record and is strongly advocating that the federal government figure out a way to mandate that every person in the country, minus those with legitimate medical exceptions, get the vaccine as soon as possible. He is also about to get evicted because it turns out his neighbors do not appreciate having rubber balls bounced against the walls for hours on end. Apparently, the thud is rather annoying. He worries about everyone, though this is delivered brusquely. Out of everyone he's taking the new work from home situation the best. No one can pop in to distract him, or comment on his eating habits. And if he doesn't want to talk to someone, he can always turn his phone to silent and pretend not to have seen they called. He's not pleased the Yankees lost to the Rays (necessitating rooting for either the Dodgers or the Rays, one of which beat his team and the other which betrayed New York), but he can at least take solace in the fact that the Mets didn't even make the playoffs.

[whiskery-louis]

Game Night

** Hi everyone here is my first imagine in a while and it is pretty long and there will be a part 2!

Synopsis: Luke and you broke up 6 months ago. Ashton invites you over for game night.

Luke Hemmings x reader

Warnings: None

Please enjoy and let me know what you think!!

*not my photo*

“Come on Y/N you have to come see us! We’re traveling across the country just to see you!” Ashton whined through the phone.

“Well I didn’t ask you too Ash. I can’t risk seeing him-”

“He’s not coming, he’s staying here with her. Hell I don’t even think he knows we left.”

You sighed, “Who exactly is ‘we’?”

“Me and Mikey,” you could hear the smile in his voice. You had always been the closest to him and Michael. Not that you and Calum weren’t close, it was just different.

“What about Cal?” you asked.

“He’s staying back so you know who doesn’t get suspicious about the three of us all leaving for a weekend.”

“I don’t know Ash,” you sighed again. “I have work and stuff. Plus I was supposed to see the twins this weekend, and I wanted to go to Target…” you trailed off as you rattled on with excuses.

“Oh please, you know you miss us just as much as we miss you. It’s been six months Y/N, just come hangout for the night. I promise it’s not gonna be anything big. Just you, me, Mike and Crystal. We’ll just do pizza and play some games. Please Y/N, we’re already at the airport and if you don’t come willingly we got your new address from Lacey.”

You mentally cursed your best friend, she knew you specifically didn’t give any of them your new address for this very reason. You were out of excuses and you could hear Ashton’s smirk through the phone. He had you cornered and he knew it.

“Fine. Text me your Airbnb info and I’ll come over tomorrow when I’m done work. But you better be getting the good pizza, and there better be drinks.”

“Yes she’s in!” you heard Mikey yell in the background. You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help the smile that spread over your face.

“Bye boys, safe flight.”

You hung up the phone and put your head in your hands. While part of you was very excited to see Ashton and Michael again there was still a part of you that was worried. There was too much history between you and him so of course they all knew about it. They tried not to take sides during the break up but everyone knew he had Calum and you had the other two. It was part of the reason that you had moved back home instead of trying to find a place to stay in L.A.. You could feel the tension that was building between the four of them and the last thing you wanted to do was ruin their friendships or their band. It was all way more important than you. 

You hadn’t really spoken to any of them much other than the casual ‘how are you’ texts here and there. But from him it had been radio silence for six months. Now here you were, five minute after speaking with Ashton and you were already more stressed than you’d be in week. What did you get yourself into?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was nearing 6:15 and you couldn’t bring yourself to pull up to the house, you had been circling the block for almost 20 minutes and every time you were about to stop you told yourself one more lap. You weren’t sure what was wrong with you, you knew it was only Ash, Mike and Crystal and yet just the thought of being around his friends was enough to make you sick. 

“Fuck it,” you muttered, finally pulling into the drive. You grabbed your bag, and although you hated to admit it, you were excited to see your old friends.

You walked up to the door and hesitantly knocked on it. As soon as your knuckles hit the wood you could hear yelling and footsteps running up to the door.

“Y/N!!!” Ashton yelled engulfing you in a massive hug.

“Can’t breathe…”

“Oi sorry, I’ve just missed you lots.” 

“I missed you too.” you grinned at him, wondering what you had been worried about all day. It felt like no time had passed.

“Well let her in the door man,” Michael spoke up from behind.

You smiled as you entered the house and walked over to Mikey hugging him hard.

“It’s been too long,” he muttered as he let you back.

“Well yeah, that kinda happens when there’s a global pandemic and I move across the county.”

You could tell Michael was going to tell you off for moving but Crystal came in the room then and thankfully saved you from talking about him.

She wrapped her arms around you giving you a quick hug, “It’s so good to see you, I’m glad you made it!”

“Me too, though if I didn’t come willingly I knew you’d show up on my doorstep.”

“You got that right,” she laughed, “It took all my energy to keep them in the house all day.”

“Well I appreciate it, I had a lot of work to get through today figuring I’ll still be hungover on Monday from this weekend.”

It was fitting that as soon as I mentioned being hungover we walked into the kitchen to a full stocked bar.

“Man I forgot you guys really go all out for game nights,” you couldn’t help but laugh at some of the fond memories.

“Okay so what game are we playing first?” Ashton asked as he handed you a drink.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later and you really didn’t understand why you were so nervous to come. It was one of the best feelings catching up with your old friends and thankfully they didn’t bring him up once. You were in the middle of an intense game of charades, Crystal and you were kicking the boys asses.

“Alright do you guys want to give up yet? You’re never going to beat us so why not save yourselves the embarrassment.”

They both looked annoyed at how the game was progressing, “Well maybe if Mike could draw anything other than stick figures we would’ve stood a chance.” Ashton grumbled.

“And now you see why I always make sure someone else gets stuck with him,” Crystal laughed as she dodged the pen Michael threw at her.

You all laughed as you cleaned up and you went over to the stack of games, contemplating what you wanted to play next. You guys had made your way through a few different games and a few rounds of drinks and honestly you were exhausted. Since moving back home you didn’t hang out with many people other than Lacey and you forgot how much energy it took to be around people. You were tired but it was the best kind of tired. 

“Can we just watch a movie now? I’m tired of losing,” MIchael whined from the couch.

“That’s exactly what a sore loser would say,” you shot back.

Michael just smiled and shrugged his shoulders looking at you, “At least I know it, but I so call picking the movie.” He picked up the remote and started searching through Netflix looking for a good comedy that everyone would watch.

“Anyone up for another round?” Ashton asked and you nodded following him into the kitchen to help. It was silent as he rummaged through the alcohol looking for something new to drink. You hopped up on the counter waiting to see what he would make.

“So how have you really been?” he asked, breaking the silence.

You looked up at him, startly by his question and you could see him looking at you intently and knew exactly what he was talking about, or more so who he was talking about.

You chewed on your bottom lip as you contemplated what to tell him. “I’ve been fine.” you answered shortly.

He scoffed at your answer, “Come on Y/N, I know you better than that and as relaxed as you seem, there is still a part of you that is on edge. You ghosted us all when you left and it was like we lost a member of our family. So tell me the truth, how are you really?”

His answer startled you, and you blinked to keep the tears at bay. “Ash I really don’t wanna ruin the night and talk about him. Can we just table it for now and go back in there with Mike and Crystal. I really don't wanna bring the mood down.” You stared back at him and there must’ve been something in your eyes because he dropped it. He handed you a drink and the two of you went back into the other room. 

“Hey what were you two talking about?” Crystal asked as you sat next to her on the couch, a knowing look in her eye.

You elbowed her subtly, “Debating if Mikey was gonna pick a shitty movie or not,” you laughed.

“Don’t hate until you see it, it’s a good one you all like.” He pointed to the TV and you saw Shrek was on. “Also you could say thank you I ordered a pizza and it should be here in about 30 minutes.”

“Didn’t you just eat a plate of buffalo chicken dip and mac’n’cheese?”

He shrugged, “If it’s a problem Y/N then you can’t have any.” He stuck his tongue out at you.

You held your hands up in defense “No, no. Just asking, I’m for sure eating that pizza.”

“That’s what I thought,” Michael replied smugly.

You just rolled your eyes at him and sat back to begin the movie. Not even 10 minutes later and there was a knock on the door.

“Y/N since you were so judgy you can go answer the door.”

“Fine, fine. Though you suck at telling time Mikey, this was way less than 30 minutes.”

You got up from the couch and made your way to the door excited that the pizza was here much earlier than anticipated. There was another knock on the door as you were opening it. You froze when you saw who was there. 

Luke.

He must not have been expecting you either because he had a dumbfounded look on his face, and his fist was frozen in mid knock.

“Y/N?” he breathed, his eyes boring into yours.

It was silent and you both just stood there and stared at each other. It had been six months since you had seen him and although there were some noticeable changes he was still the same Luke who broke your heart all those months ago. His arms were larger and his shoulders slightly broader. His hair was longer, his roots growing out which somehow suited him more. He had shaved his quarantine beard but the stubble was growing back. His eyes were the same blue that you fell in love with, but they were missing the usual mischievous glint.

“Luke why are you just-” Calum was caught off walking up behind Luke, his face lighting up when he saw you. “Y/N?! What are you doing here? It’s so good to see you!” He squeezed past Luke and pulled you into a tight embrace.

You had no words as you hugged Cal back, you were still in shock at them being here and you couldn’t take your eyes off Luke,

“What the hell is taking so long?” Ashton came around the corner and froze when he saw the new additions to the party. “Oh you guys are early…” he trailed off.

At his statement you felt the rage building in your veins, you pushed Calum off of you turning to Ashton the anger seeping out of you. “I’m sorry what? They’re what Ashton?”

He looked sheepishly at you, “Surprise?” he shrugged his shoulders, with a slight smile on his face.

You couldn’t believe this. It was all a setup. The whole night was a trick for you to see him again when Ashton knew more than anything that it was the last thing you wanted. You were at a loss for words, as much as you wanted to yell, you didn’t have the energy anymore.

“Look we can explain…”

You held your hand up cutting him off, “Don’t Ashton, just don’t. I don’t want to hear it. I’m leaving.”

You stormed into the other room, to get you things. MIchael was trying to look busy but the guilt was written all over his face. Crystal was sitting next to him with her arms crossed glaring at her fiance, she looked up when you walked in.

“I am so sorry Y/N, I had no idea or I would’ve never let them pull this stunt.”

You gave her a weak smile, “I’m just going to get my things and go.”

Michael turned and looked like he was going to say something, but one look from Crystal silenced him.

“Thanks for the fun while it lasted, but please don’t reach out again,” you heard footsteps behind you and knew the others had followed you into the room. “I thought maybe I could be friends with some of you,” you pointedly looked at Luke, “But if this is the shit you are going to pull them I am out. I’m sorry but I cannot go through this again. I just can’t.”

With that you grabbed your bag and all but ran out of the house. As you sat in your car you were thankful that you didn’t have too much to drink and were able to drive yourself home. The thirty minute drive seemed to take forever. All you wanted was your bed and to be distracted by Netflix. After what felt like an eternity you pulled into your driveway and walked into your house. You threw your bag on the table and couldn't believe the night you had. You knew Ashton and Michael had wanted you to talk to Luke when you first broke up, but that was six months ago. You never thought that they would pull this shit tonight. It was almost more painful this time as you realized you had to cut all of them out of your life and not just Luke. 

You hadn’t expected to see him tonight and it really messed you up. You had spent the last six month erasing him from your life, as much as you could. You put everything he gave you into a box that was hidden in your basement. You tried to throw it away but it felt wrong somehow. He was too big a part of your life to completely get rid of. Lacey once asked you why you didn’t get rid of it all and you knew she thought it meant you still loved him but that wasn’t it. You just couldn’t bear to part with everything that had once brought you so much happiness. You hadn’t opened the box since you moved back home, as you went downstairs to bring it to the kitchen, you knew it was going to hurt more after seeing him tonight, but you couldn’t stop yourself.

You spent over an hour looking through all the memories the two of you had made during your time together and you were a mess sitting on the floor with tears rolling down your face. Maybe it was from the exhaustion that raked your body or the alcohol that was still in your system but you left the contents of the box sprawled over the island and slipped on his old Nirvana shirt before going to your bed and finally falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next thing you knew you were being jolted awake by a banging on your door. You looked at the clock and groaned when you saw it was only 8:00am. Who the hell would be here so early. Hoping it was just a package you rolled back over and tried to fall back asleep, when the person knocked again.

You signed as you rolled out of bed and trudged downstairs in nothing but the old shirt you fell asleep in. Rubbing your eyes as they adjusted to the brightness, you opened the door and had to squint to see who was there.

“Y/N, you uh forgot your phone and I wanted to make sure it got back to you safely.”

You hated that your heart skipped a beat as your name rolled off his lips, your eyes focused on him and the events of last night came back to you instantly.

“Luke.”

[mayraki]

✧ chapter five: a single promise - b. barnes x oc series ✧

-> captain-james’ gif

‘let’s play fire with fire’ masterlist

my masterlist

summary: trying to recover from the last fight, the team takes angela to sarah wilson’s place back in louisiana. meanwhile, sera and bucky struggle with their feelings towards each other.

“Ouch. That fucking burns.” Angela complained the second Sera touched her skin with a wet piece of cotton. “Do you know how that feels like?”

Sera let out a tiny laugh before slowly shaking her head. “Not really. I mean, I do. But it doesn’t hurt me.”

“Lucky you.”

After leaving that burning forest, Sam decided that it was best for the team to have a break at his sister’s house back in Louisiana. After all, Angela needed to recover and there wasn’t a place where she could and be safe. So without giving her sister a warning, he started to drive the car away ready to leave the fight behind and enter the best place for them right on that moment.

Sarah Wilson was indeed surprised to see her brother drive in with two complete strangers, one of them scratched in most of her body. But didn’t even hesitate on giving Angela a place to sit before quickly grabbing the things necessary to patch her up.

Even if Sera had a history with Sam, she never got the change to meet his family so seeing that part of his life was definitely new and weird for her. She of course knew that he had a family, everyone does, but she never actually stopped and thought about it. The moment she sat down on the couch next to her friend to take a breathe out, she heard some steps walking down the stairs. Looking up she found two strange boys looking at her confused and then at Angela. The little one waved at Sera with a little smile on his face while the older one just walked back to look for his mother or uncle, but soon joined the living room once again when Sarah walked in with more than three things on her hands.

Sera grabbed them and repeatedly said that she had to help her friend out and giving her a place to be and comfortable clothes to change into was more than enough from Sarah’s part, so taking the piece of cotton and the alcohol, she carefully started to clean her friend’s wounds as Angela was still trying to process what just happened and who her friend was.

“I feel like I’m in a movie.” Angela said while Sera kept touching with the cotton her skin. “I mean, being captured by a bad guy because they want to get closer to a person I know... I could write a book about it!”

Sera let out a tiny laugh before tossing the piece of cotton away to pick another one. “You’re certainly looking the positive thing to this.”

“Hell yeah! I mean it would’ve been better if I had a sexy super hero to save me so we can fall in love later and m have a happily after, but you know, you’re fine.” She said joking gaining an fake offended look from Sera. “What? Oh c’mon, like you wouldn’t mind to be saved by a super strong man who’s also a cutie and a gentleman.” Sera kept her mouth shut while shaking her head surprised at her friends positive but crazy mind. Angela, looked at the kitchen and let out a tiny smile once her eyes caught something out. “But I guess you’re more than capable of saving yourself.”

“Damn right.” Sera nodded tossing the last piece of cotton and locked eyes at Angela who seemed to have something to say. But before she could let anything out, Sera opened her mouth ready to say what her brain wanted to say since she found her. “Hey, look... I’m sorry. It was my fault that you went through this and I- I don’t think I will ever forgive myself for taking you down with me-”

“Hey, don’t be stupid.” Angela shook her head as her hand touched Sera’s. “The only one to blame is that asshole. I’m fine, don’t worry about me. Besides, I’ve dated a thousand of dickheads in my past, what’s one more than failed?” They both let out tiny laughs as their eyes were still locked to each other.

“I’m gonna kill that guy, the one who lied to you. Count on that.” Sera said with a joking tone even if her insides where burning with just the thought of it.

Angela smiled and slowly nodded. “I’m sure you will.”

“But seriously,” Sera took a deep breath as her brain was trying to look for the courage to say the next words. She knew she had to and it was the right thing to do, she had to let her know, even if it filled her chest with pain “if you want to leave after you’re alright, I’m good with that. If you feel like you want to stop being my friend, I’m gonna understand. You know? Being my friend before doesn’t mean that you have to... stick around.”

As Sera was waiting for Angela’s answer, she could feel her heart beating faster and her hands to get sweaty. She was afraid of her next words or even what she was thinking, she knew that there was a big possibility of her not wanting to be around her anymore, since being around Sera wasn’t the biggest party of them all and just like everyone else, she would leave in the end. But instead, Angela just shook her head and let out the loudest laugh ever. “Are you kidding me!? Having a best friend that has super powers is the coolest shit ever!”

As soon as Angela said those words Sera’s chest filled with relief and with a hot warmth, but not the kind she was used to feeling, something even better. “Best friends?” She asked softly and Angela quickly nodded excited.

“Fuck yeah. Wait- I thought we were best friends before. Are we gonna have the talk about what are we?”

Sera let out a tiny laugh. “Best friends.”

“Oh, thank god, otherwise that would’ve been awkward!” Their laughs surrounded the living room but then when Angela stopped and got closer to Sera’s face, she furrowed her eyebrows confused while waiting for her friend to talk. “Besides, I think you need to have the talk with someone else.”

“What do you mean?” Sera asked confused as Angela looked behind her and let out a tiny cheeky smile. Curious of what her friend was seeing, she was ready to turn around but then her friend spoke again.

“Because Bucky hasn’t been able to take his eyes off of you since we got inside the house.”

Sera’s heart dropped to her stomach the second those words hit her ears. She unintentionally bit the corner of her lower lip as she turned around to see the people moving around in the kitchen. And as soon as she did, she locked eyes with him.

Bucky was laying against the counter on the other side of the kitchen, making them a couple of meters away. Sam and his family were talking but he didn’t seem to catch a word they were saying since all his focus was on her, even if he didn’t want to. All those memories about what happened a couple of hours ago were flying around his head. Sera knew that and she knew that she would have to explain what it was and what happened at some point. While their eyes where still glued to each other, they suddenly felt like their muscle memories where bringing back their bodies becoming one. The electricity, their bloods mixing as well as the air coming out of their mouths. But Bucky was remembering something else: Sera managed to take the fire that had went inside his body like it was nothing. She managed to take full control of it and leave no marks of being there in the first place. It was so strange to him and he caught himself imagining it over and over again while his body was remembering every feeling and thought he had while on that moment.

All of that was cut short by Sam walking between them and pointing with his head to the front door, letting them know it was time for them to talk.

“So, what now?” Sam asked the second they were all standing outside with the wind hitting their skins and moving their hairs along with it.

“Now that I know that Jackson is involved I want to be a part of this more than ever.” Sera said softly while crossing her arms around her chest. “I need to end this.”

Remembering Jackson’s words, Sera let out a long sigh and looked to the ocean moving from a far. Those old memories coming to her head bringing back every bad feeling she ever had, those bad decisions, those regrets and everything that came after. Every second of pain she felt when she realised what she had done, but it was all said and done for her to fix it. The years that it took her to forget it, and yet here she was, coming back to it but ready to end it all for the last time.

“What is it that he wants with you anyway?” Bucky asked noticing the silence surrounding Sera. But not knowing if she should say the truth or not, she stayed quiet until her brain debated what her next words should be. But before she could decide the better choice, her body and mouth decided for her by shrugging her shoulders and just letting a single “I don’t know” softly.

She didn’t know why she did that. Maybe because deep down she feared that if they knew the truth they wouldn’t look at her the same way. It took her years to finally trust Sam, but even then, she still didn’t tell him her entire story and everything she did.

“Well,” Sam said “we’re not stuck. We have the address Jackson told us way back at the beginning. Street 719, remember?”

“Yes, but how we know he didn’t just told us a random street to get away from us?” Bucky asked but Sera quickly shook her head, making both Sam and Bucky to turn to her.

“No, he panicked that day. He didn’t know we were coming so he clearly didn’t know he was going to end up running away. It’s worth the shot.”

Sam and Bucky nodded agreeing. “Is better if we stay here until Angela is alright, or until she can take care of herself.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to leave her alone.” Sera said. “Besides, we need backup.”

“Wait-” Sam cut her off. “I said we needed backup back then... are you agreeing with me?” Sera realised what Sam just said and was about deny it, but the loud laugh coming out of Sam’s mouth made her stay silent. “That’s new! Oh Lord, may this day bless us and be our new holiday. I call it, the day Sera finally realised that Sam is right and didn’t even have a comeback.”

“Oh, I have a comeback-”

“Just let him have this, ok?” Bucky said seeing how happy and excited Sam was while still laughing until his breathing cut short. “I better tell Sarah about this, this is one of the best days of my life!” As he was walking away all they could hear was Sam’s laugh and his happy feet walking up the stairs. But then, when he went inside the house his laugh faded away and there was nothing but the sound of the ocean and the crickets surrounding Bucky and Sera, who stayed put watching Sam walk away.

“He’s not going to let it go.” Sera said and Bucky quickly shook his head.

“Oh, no, never.”

They both bursted out laughing realising how stupid and childish the whole situation was, but for some reason, they didn’t mind. Anything that would bring them peace in those crazy wild times, it was good enough for them.

Seconds later, they found themselves enjoying the silence of the night as the only thing illuminating them was the poor street light of the house. They ocean was barely moving so it let out relaxing and soft noises of the water.

Sera felt a chilly wind against her skin but soon erased it by unintentionally moving her fingers and soon feeling the burning flames inside her body. But even though she didn’t feel cold anymore, she still moved her hands against her skin trying to find more natural warmth rather than the one her body was making.

“Are you cold?” Bucky asked softly by her side making her lock eyes with him and let out a tiny smile.

“What? Are you gonna give me your jacket like the oldest trick on the book says?” Sera said jokingly which lead to Bucky shaking his head with an inevitable smile forming on his lips.

“Right, I forgot you’re part torch so you don’t get cold.”

“And you screwdriver? Do you get cold?”

Bucky shook his head. “Not really-”

“Oh, Bucky! Do you want me to give you my jacket? Or do you want me to get closer so I can put my arm around and fill you with warmth?”

Bucky turned to her and furrowed his eyebrows confused. “How many romantic movies have you watched in your life?”

“What? You’re the one who wanted to give a girl flowers and take her to a festival.” Sera shrugged her shoulders and unintentionally taking a step to the side, to be more closer to Bucky.

“I still don’t know what is wrong with that.”

“Nothing! Is cute. I just mean that the festivals now aren’t the same as they used to be... grandpa.” As soon as Sera let out that word Bucky turned to her with his eyebrows lifted and his mouth slightly opened as a smile was forming on his lips.

“I’m not that old.” He said offended but that just made Sera to let out a loud laugh and playfully punch Bucky’s arm. “Oh, c’mon!”

“I’m sorry but that was funny!”

While Sera was trying to calm herself down and stop with her laughter, even if it was taken her longer than intended, Bucky found himself staring at her with a smile on his lips. The way that her eyes would become smaller the bigger her smile would get, her wrinkles forming around her skin and her hair moving alongside the wind. But what caught his eyes the longest where her lips. Her dark pink lips and the way she would move them as her laughter continued, how she would press them together to calm herself down or how she would lick them once she took deep breath in once she was done. All of those things would unintentionally make Bucky’s stomach to go crazy. The memory of him wanting to kiss her at the club while she was staring at her drink came back to his mind like a fast train, making him feel those exact same things right on that moment. His ears stopped hearing her laugh so he came to her eyes noticing them staring at him.

Suddenly, like she wasn’t just laughing his heart out, Sera’s butterflies inside her stomach started to move as fast as they could as she felt Bucky’s eyes on her. They felt the tension grow as their desire to grab the other was becoming bigger and bigger. Taking a step closer to Sera, touching her shoulder in the process they both felt some electricity hitting their bodies the second their skins touched bringing them back to what happened hours ago in the forest.

Still confused about that, Bucky kept staring at her eyes like he was looking for an answer in them. But ending up with nothing, he moved closer to her with the intention to feel her warmth once again against his body. Sera felt like she was glued to the floor, frozen under Bucky’s eyes wanting with excitement his next movement.

Their lips wanted to taste each other, that was known for the two of them, but before Bucky could move his hand towards her cheek a loud noise coming from the house followed by Sarah calling out the kids, made them both realise what they were doing.

“I better go check on Angela.” Sera said softly shaking her wild thoughts in her mind as Bucky looked down and took in a long breath.

“Yeah, and I better go- check on... Sam. Make sure everything is going fine.”

They both nodded and before both of them could do anything else that they might regret, they walked inside the house to make their separate ways and forget what just happened, saving it inside a box and leaving it with the others.

>>>

“I’m telling you!” Sarah said with a smile while her, Sam and Sera were drying the wet dishes after dinner. “When Sam was younger he liked to be wearing nothing but his underwear and sing the greatest love of all by Whitney Houston all the time.”

“No he didn’t!” Sera said surprised after opening her mouth shook.

“Yes he did!”

“On my defence Whitney was huge when I was a kid and that song was amazing. You can’t blame me.” Sam said lifting his hands into the air.

“I’m never going to let that go.” Sera said. “When you least expect it I’m gonna bring it and tell everyone we meet.”

Sam shook his head while grabbing another plate. ��I’m sure you will.”

As soon as Sera was done with the plate on her hands she left it on the side and got ready to grab another one, but the laughs of Sarah’s kids hit her ears she slowly turn around to see both of them play around with Bucky while Angela was happily watching the fake fight on the couch with laughs coming out of her mouth.

The oldest of them, AJ, was trying to bring Bucky’s metal arm down while the youngest, Cass was fake punching Bucky on his face. Bucky fell to the floor but then quickly got up by carefully grabbing AJ and pulling him to the ground and soon take his time with Cass.

“You’re going down Bucky Barnes!” Cass yelled as he was fake fighting, making Sarah and Sam turn towards them.

“AJ! Be careful!” Sarah said firmly once she saw how her oldest son wrapped his arms around Bucky’s neck trying to pull him down.

“Don’t stop him.” Sam said while watching the fight with a cheeky smile “I wanna see where this goes.”

“C’mon Sam!” Bucky yelled from the living room. “Join the fight!”

“Yes, uncle Sam, join the fight!” Cass added as he was still fake punching and making fight noises with his mouth.

“I’m good just watching!”

“What? You don’t think you can beat us? C’mon!” Bucky said as he fell to the ground once again but soon got up to his feet and grabbed both of the kids and lifted them up into the air.

“Bucky Barnes vs The falcon!” Cass yelled which lead to Sam quickly shaking his head.

“Already been there, don’t wanna see it again. Thank you very much!”

“What?” Sera joined the conversation. “You can beat him.”

“Alright.” Sam said after letting out a tiny sigh. “But I’m winning, no matter what.” He left the towel and started walking towards the fake fight not before his sister warned him about not breaking anything.

Sera grabbed another plate without taking her eyes from the fake fight now with Sam too. As she was carefully drying the dish with the towel on her hand an unintentionally smile came out of her lips as she noticed Bucky pretending that his arm was hurting once AJ punched him.

Seeing him play with those two kids made the butterflies inside Sera’s stomach to go wild like they just seen the cutest thing ever. Her eyes and mind were so concentrated on the fight that she didn’t notice her teeth gently biting her lower lip as her eyes were slowly following Bucky, and carefully watching every move he was doing.

“Now, I’m pretty sure you’re not into my brother because I know you two have a complicated story and he loves you like a sister, so” Sarah said taking Sera out of her thoughts and gaining her eyes on her “I’m guessing the one that’s making you have those love eyes and biting your lip is Bucky, am I right?”

Sera stayed silent surprised at Sarah’s words making her tongue get twisted. She opened her mouth but no words were coming out of it, making Sera look more guilty than before. Sarah let out a tiny laugh and then added, after leaving the wet towel on the counter and turning around to rest her waist against the corner. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell anyone.”

“There’s nothing to tell, Sarah.” Sera shook her head as she was repeating Sarah’s movements to end up by her side while the both of them were facing the boys play around.

“Sera, I might not have super powers but I know when someone’s into a specific person.” Sera turned to her to notice that she was already looking at her. Making a quick look to Bucky, Sarah let out a tiny smile before going back to Sera who her confused emotions and feelings made her furrow her eyebrows confuse. “The eyes never lie, honey.”

No, they don’t. Sera thought looking back at Bucky. Seeing him playing with Sam and the kids made her stomach turned and to feel her chest fill with warmth. She wanted to smile again but tried her hardest to not let it out. Maybe Sarah was right, maybe she did felt something for Bucky. After all, the things that he made her feel by just playing around with some kids weren’t something that you feel by looking at a stranger.

“Well, if I do” Sera said after letting out a little sigh “I know it’s gonna be complicated.”

“Life is already complicated-”

“Tell me about it.” Sera added while a laugh escaped her lips.

“But you don’t have to let it control what you do, Sera.”

Those soft words hit Sera differently.

Her whole life she spent avoiding things because she knew that they were going to be complicated. Not wanting to break the walls she build for herself over the years, she would mostly run away from every other relationship she had built. She knew that life by its own was complicated, so to that adding someone like her... she didn’t want anyone to deal with her. The weight that she felt when she wanted to ask for help, the burden sensation that her chest would get filled with making her turn around and make her own path, writing her own rules and actions. That was her whole life. Complicated thing after complicated thing, but... what if Bucky wasn’t complimented at all?

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Cass yelling in excitement after winning the fake fight made Sera go back to reality and notice Bucky and Sam on the ground pretending to be hurt and not being able to get up.

“We won!” AJ gave Cass a high five before running towards Sarah to give her a tight hug. “Did you see that?”

“Yes, I loved seeing how you two kicked Sam’s ass.”

“Hey!”

“But now it’s time for bed, c’mon. Up to your room.” The kids were about to complain but soon shut their mouths as soon as Sarah gave them that ‘mom’ look. “C’mon, brush your teeth first!”

“Yeah, yeah.” AJ and Cass made their way upstairs but not before giving Bucky a high five. A very tired Sam walked closer to Sarah and gave his sister a little tight hug before turning to Sera and saying: “We need to sort out the beds.”

After deciding that Angela should take the bed since she was till recovering, there was nothing left for Bucky and Sera to take the floor. Of course, Sam tried multiple times to give Sera his bed but quicklt refusing it, she said that she wanted to be next to Angela in case she needed something.

As soon as everything was in order, Sarah said goodnight to everyone and left upstairs ready to head towards her bed. Sam helped Bucky and Sera to sort everything out but then, followed Sarah upstairs wanting to fall asleep as fast as possible since it had been a long day.

Even if it was for everyone, Sera felt that falling asleep wasn’t going to be as easy as she wanted it to be since the man that had her mind go wild everytime he was in the room was going to be there right by her side.

They both definitely knew that it was going to be a very long night.

>>>

Since the moment Sera’s body felt the coldness of the sheet on the floor hit her skin she couldn’t close her eyes not even for a second. All that surrounded her and her ears where Angela’s snores on the couch and the tiny breathing coming out of Bucky’s body. She tried her hardest to take him out of her head but the more she heard him and the fact that his body was laying by her side on the floor weren’t helping. He seemed to enjoy being on Sera’s mind since all she thought about was that smile on him while playing with AJ and Cass. He wasn’t the old grumpy man Sera was used to seeing and teasing, he was happy and enjoying himself. Something that Sera found herself wanting to see more.

As her eyes were wondering around the dark while her body was facing the other way, she was trying too hard to keep herself from wanting to turn around and face Bucky. She wanted to know is he was asleep or awake trying to take Sera out his mind. All she could hear about him was his slight breathing, no muscle moving against the floor. Just him and his relaxing breathing filling the air with hot air.

It was like Sera’s body was asking her to stop overthinking and give her mind a break, but her brain couldn’t listen. Bucky was going around over and over again on her thoughts like it was broken record and there was no way of escaping it.

Maybe if I see if Bucky is asleep I’m gonna be able to rest my mind and finally get some sleep. Sera thought as she was carefully biting her lower lip and before she could decide if it was a good idea or not, her body was already moving to the other side to face Bucky.

Like she suspected, his eyes were closed but he didn’t seem asleep. His eyelashes could be seen from her point of view making them look even longer. His lips were relaxed, so relaxed that it gave Sera the desire to feel them against hers. The imagine of her getting closer ready to taste his lips appeared on her mind making her close her eyes not wanting to have that. But that made it even worse. It made her mind go wild as her and Bucky were now closer to the other, his hand touching her thigh while slowly caressing it with his thumb. Her hand against his chest slowly tracing it with her index finger, feeling his fit torso against her skin.

She didn’t want to think of that, she couldn’t. After all, it was just... Bucky. What could she do about her strange feelings for him? Tell him? And if he feels the same thing, date him? Go on dates? Be normal?

Having anything romantic didn’t seem normal for her. It was so far off from her life that even her own feelings looked like a movie for her. But even if that was weird enough, her next thought made her even more weirded out... what if Bucky felt the same thing?

She opened her eyes after letting out silent sigh to find a Bucky now facing her way and looking directly into her eyes. He let out a tiny smile before giving Angela a quick look before going back to Sera. “Can’t sleep?” He asked softly which lead to Sera slowly shaking her head.

Their eyes were glued to the other as they felt the warmth or their bodies were giving now facing each other. Sera’s eyes noticed how his eyes slowly traced her face until they arrived her lips. He stayed there for a couple of seconds making the butterflies in her stomach to wake up until he went back to her eyes. Even if the desire to end the space between them was in both of them, their eyes stayed put staring at the other like they were looking for answers in them.

For the way they were staring into each other, they both felt like they, somehow, managed to know everything that there was to know about the other. Their eyes were so focused on the other that Bucky’s actions didn’t seem to face neither of them, he took his hand and gently pushed a hair that was over Sera’s face back and tugged it behind her ear. After that, instead of taking his hand away, he stayed there and gently caress her cheek with his thumb. But soon going towards her lips to trace them slowly as his eyes went to them. Without thinking about it, Sera got closer to his body as his hand grabbed her cheek with strength ready to end the space between them and unite his lips with hers, like his body was screaming at him to do. But before they could end it, a loud snore coming out of Angela’s mouth made them both jump and separate their bodies once again.

“I didn’t know someone so small could snore so loud.” Bucky said in a whisper by Sera’s side gaining a laugh coming out from her lips. Not wanting to wake up Angela on the couch Sera covered her mouth as the laughter seemed to want to become louder. “Wanna take off to the big chair on the other room?” Bucky asked and Sera quickly nodded before getting up from the floor to walk directly to the other side of the living room, far away from Angela and her loud snores.

Bucky sat down soon followed by Sera who placed her body next to his, almost with their shoulders touching since the chair wasn’t that big for the both of them. Once they both comfortably sat down, their knees automatically touched but neither of them moved it, they kept it as they were silently enjoying it.

“And you had to deal with that everyday?” Bucky asked referring to Angela and Sera just let out a tiny laugh while shaking her head.

“I could heard her from my room but I didn’t know they were that loud.”

As they both let out laughs Sera felt how the cold air that was coming trough the window hit her skin, making her cross her arms around her chest looking for natural warmth. Bucky noticing this grabbed the blanket by their side and quickly opened it to spread it around his and Sera’s legs.

“Before you say anything, I know you can turn into a torch but, c’mon, this is better.”

Not wanting to argue with Bucky, and secretly knowing that he was right, Sera let out a tiny smile and got closer to Bucky since the blanket wasn’t wide enough. As far as she could, she moved her body against his and immediately feeling the coldness fading away from her body.

For the first time in her life, Sera realised how different was the warmth of her body from the warmth of having a body by her side was. Bucky, without giving her a chance to do something else, he took his arm and placed it around her shoulder making her head to go towards his chest, wanting to feel that new yet surprisingly amazing and relaxing warm feeling she was experiencing.

Bucky started to gently caress her hair to make her feel even more relaxed than before. She wasn’t understanding why he was doing this, but of course she was enjoying. Feeling him close, feeling his body warm hers, his hands touching her, it made her feel things she had never felt before for someone. And it made her wonder even more... maybe Sarah was right.

“Thank you for saving my life today, Sera.” Bucky said softly making her to look up to lock eyes with him. He gently stared at her while his hand wasn’t stopping, but instead of being against her hair, his fingers slowly moved to her cheek. “I have no idea what you did, but thank you.”

“You saved my body from being hit by a hundred of bullets, Bucky, it was the least I could do. Right?” She asked jokingly gaining a little laugh from Bucky. “I guess you’re wondering what the hell was that.”

“Kinda.”

“Kinda? Then I’m not explaining shit to you, then.” Sera went back to facing downwards which lead to Bucky gently grabbing her chin to make her look back at him. He stared at her with a big smile when his eyes unintentionally went over her lips but then gaining his train of process about what happened back, he went back to her eyes.

“I’m dying to know.” He said softly and Sera let out a tiny smile, before taking her back against the back of the chair, to be face to face with Bucky more comfortably.

She let out a tiny sigh while thinking her every word carefully. “When someone get hits with fire, I can- in a way, enter their body and take full control of the fire inside of them. It allows me to make imaginable things. I can save them by taking the fire out, I can even turn the water inside into fire and control the person-”

“Control?”

“Yeah. I can make them do whatever- I would ask them to do. Full control... or, I could turn everything inside their bodies into flames and- and... just, end them.”

“Burning them?” Bucky asked but Sera slowly shook her head.

“It’s more than that, but- I think is a conversation to have another day.”

Sera always felt afraid of saying what she was actually capable of doing. Like she was embarrassed of it, specially after using it against poeple in the wrong way... making her feel terrified of it.

Seeing the strange look on Bucky’s face, Sera let out a tiny laugh and nodded. “I know it felt weird. Someone did it to me once.”

“I thought you couldn’t get burnt?”

“I can’t- but, that time was necessary.” Bucky’s eyes were asking for more, so realising this, Sera took a deep breath said: “When a was a little kid, controlling.... this, was harder than anything I’ve ever done. Learning how to fully manipulate as a three year old, something so powerful and dangerous as fire, it wasn’t something that I would call a party. So, one day- I felt like I couldn’t take it anymore. I was... tired. I remember my eyes turning black and a horrible burning growing inside of me. I’ve never felt something like that before because, like you said, fire can’t hurt me. But that time- it did and it made me feel terrified. I was sad and, broken. Growing up I wasn’t the- uhm, the happiest kid. I guess, I was just keeping it all inside of me and that day just, exploded and I started to create this strong fire that I couldn’t control. It was all too much for me. So, the- the person that was there with me did the exact same thing I did to... you.”

“They took the fire out of you?” Bucky asked after his brain was trying to process everything. Sera nodded looking down remembering every single moment of that memory. It still hurt to think about it, and Bucky noticed. He took the hand that was touching Sera’s should and gently pushed her to be more closer to him. Following his hand, Sera took her head and rested it on his chest once again. “How old were you?” He asked in a whisper that was almost covered by the wind entering the room.

“Ten.” Sera said in the same tone. The way that Bucky was slowly caressing her cheek with his thumb made her close her eyes enjoying the feeling against her skin.

Both Sera and Bucky went completely silent after that. They didn’t know why, but for some reason they felt extremely comfortable with the each other. Usually, they were the type of person to prefer to be alone and just deal with their lives lonely. But when the other was around, specially on that moment as their bodies were close, the didn’t want the other to leave.

“I know you’re still a little bit confused.” Sera said jokingly gaining a little laugh from Bucky’s mouth. “I was too. The way your body acts it’s just-”

“Weird?”

“I was gonna say differently, but yeah, weird works.” Their little laughs surrounded the room but then Sera took in a little breath and added: “It’s like; the person who takes control of the fire has to put their mind into a deep connection with the other person. Every feeling and every little energy that they felt has to be thought right into that second. They need to enter your body- in a way, so, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to learn. And what comes after-”

“Is there an after?”

“Well- yeah. After one has been inside your body every energy surrounding you and that person becomes... stronger. It’s deeper than it was before, it makes an invisible red string between those two people. When that person did it to me, everytime that we were together we would just... click and work better. It was like our bodies were one-” Realising her words Sera stopped and shut her mouth. She didn’t want to confuse Bucky even more by telling him how deep and dangerous it was. So instead of saying more about the subject, she slightly shrugged her shoulders and ended with: “But it’s different for every person that you do it with.”

Wishing that Bucky didn’t ask more, Sera let out a silent breath to feel the hot air coming out her mount and to relax his now beating faster heart. She heard the silence coming his way that at one point, she thought that maybe he had fallen asleep when Sera finished telling him that story. But proving her wrong, Bucky kept moving his thumb against her skin and with his deep and soft voice, asked: “And what does it mean for us, Sera?”

As soon as those words left his mouth, Sera felt how his heart dropped to her stomach as her fingers were tracing each other. She didn’t know what to respond to that because in reality... she didn’t know. Bucky was the second person that she did it to and it was completely different. She felt different. Their bodies connected way more deeper, even before that, Sera noticed how her connected towards Bucky didn’t took her a long time. Instead, as soon as her eyes locked with him, it all came easier. Like there was something stronger connecting them together.

“I don’t know, Bucky.” Sera finally said softly. She felt how his chest was being filled with a big portion of air before hearing the hot air coming out of his mouth. It was like he was preparing himself to do or say something. But before Sera could make her mind go into deep thought, Bucky took his metal arm and grabbed her chin to make her look up while his other hand was still placed on her cheek. Locking eyes with him, Sera felt the hotness growing inside her body as she felt his eyes staring at her soul. He slowly stared to stare at every detail that was on Sera’s face but then stop at her lips while his cold metal arm started to gently trace them once again.

So shook and surprised, Sera stayed still enjoying every single thing Bucky was doing on that moment. His hot air against her skin, her fingers on her, her eyes still glued to her lips like they were just screaming at her to end the space between them.

“Sera?” Bucky asked in a whisper which lead to her feeling her skin shiver under his voice. “What are you doing to me?”

His words hit her ears and soon felt how her body melted. His tone was deep and soft, making the question enter her body and make everything inside to shut down. He looked up at her eyes as her thumb was still caressing her cheek. With strength, he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer without taking his eyes away from her, but once closer, he took them down towards her lips. It was desire and lust was filled both of their eyes, wanting to taste each other’s lips right on that second was the only thing they had on their minds. His free hand grabbing her waist with strength while his cold metal arm was gently grabbing her cheek, like he was ready to make the next step.

But the moment he got closer, Sera touched his chest and stopped him from making another move. “Bucky, we can’t.” She said softly.

“Why not?” He asked against her lips.

“I can’t.” Her voice cracked when she let out those words. Noticing this, Bucky gently pushed her head towards his chest to let her rest against it. Hearing the sound of his heart beating Sera let out a tiny sigh and closed her eyes enjoying the feeling Bucky gave her. That sensation of warmth and happiness, like nothing could go wrong after that. Like the were just normal, two people enjoying each other’s presence... but just like always, reality brought Sera back, making her open her eyes once again to meet the poor light of the moonlight illuminating the room. “I’m scared Bucky.” She said in the lowest whisper. “That everyone around me will always get hurt because of me.”

“What about you getting hurt?” Bucky said in the same tone, while his thumb was still caressing her cheek.

She just let out a tiny laugh and added: “I’m used to that.”

Gently grabbing her chin, Bucky made her look up and lock eyes with his. He looked down at her lips but soon joined her eyes, as they were waiting to Bucky to say something. “I’ll keep you safe, Sera. I promise.” He said in a whisper making her feel the hot air against her skin.

Unintentionally, she grabbed his cheek with her right hand and let out a tiny yet sad smile. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Barnes.”

She said with the intention to turn her head and look down, to close her eyes and finally feel her body slowly falling asleep while wrapped around Bucky’s arms. Enjoy that feeling for one last time, before she knew she had to let it behind and move on like she always did.

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