#this became very steve centric

[hotluncheddie]

mmmphhh just…

steve using eddie’s body as a stress ball. when the two are lounging around the house, steve usually has at least one hand pawing at eddie’s tummy, thighs, chest, you name it. he likes to jiggle the new layer of fat and sink his fingers in, it just feels so nice to be close to eddie and feel just how cared for his boyfriend is. it’s not sexual (even though it definitely ends that way sometimes) so sometimes the two forgetting just how intimate the act is. steve constantly has to stop himself from reaching under eddie’s arms and squeezing eddie’s perky tits whenever the grocery store is stressful or grabbing a handful of eddie’s ass (usually dangerously close to his taint) when he feels drowsy towards the end of the annual educator celebration (steve works at a school in my brain).

one day, it’s particularly bad at work. the kids mouthed off, the other staff forgot to mention an important (and long) afterschool training, and he left his lunch on the counter. by the time steve gets home, he just wants to relax in his bed with eddie and make out before going to bed at 8:30. when he turns the lock on their house, eddie rushes to greet him (not unusual), and before even taking off his coat steve gets a huge handful of eddie’s ass and starts kissing his neck between complaining about his day. he knows something is wrong when eddie pushes him off quickly, and that’s when he notices that joyce and hopper are seated at their coffee table with cups of tea, staring at the two men.

shit. steve had totally forgotten that eddie had invited them over to talk about the kitchen remodel. both couples are furiously red and hopper coughs before greeting steve (who might just sink into the floor), but after steve takes off his shoes and grabs a cup of tea (furiously texting eddie from the kitchen while he does so), the conversation continues mostly normally with just a hint of awkwardness.

the older two finally leave after a painstaking conversation about different oven models, and as soon as the door swings shut, steve has eddie pinned to the wall. he bites eddie’s soft jawline and growls his frustration, while eddie guides his hands to pull down his boxers. when it’s discovered that eddie was secretly plugged and ready the whole time joyce and hopper were there, ready for steve’s inevitable grabbiness, eddie spends the evening getting folded in half, fat jiggling and rippling as steve fucks him so hard he forgets his name.

SHORT BECAUSE I HAVE A COMMITMENT BUT UGHHH -🦂

🦂 !!!!! U ARE SEND ME THIS AND CALL IT SHORT?? NAY!! ITS WONDERFUL AND SO SO JUICY!!!

its all sooooo cute though. eddie steve’s lovely chubby stress ball

steve coming home like: :( tits pls? 👉👈

and eddie says: of course! a belly too for u my love

steve: :)

*the ending with the plug 👹😈🥴 so gooooooood but i went a little soft with them hehe hope u like…

but they are just such a cute like touchy couple and it’s all so mindless at this point but they just always want to be touching eachother in some way if they can.

it being a stress reduction this for steve tho, there’s something so cute about that, so lovely and innocent. like eddie is really steve’s biggest comfort and support. just there as his safe space and his person, to notice how he feels and draw it out of him and let him seek comfort. until he doesn’t have to draw it out at all, steve’s just comfortably enough to let it out, ask for what he needs and take it, because eddie has made it clear that it’s okay.

like maybe steve sometimes has to kinda drop into sub space but it’s not always in a sexual way. it’s just the need to intimacy and care and turning his brain off for a while when he needs it and feels safe. so like after that really long week steve was dying to get home to eddie, to his safe space, and could feel that he needed to drop, needed that extra. so hopper and joyce being there kinda sends him spiralling, he forgot and he’s off kilter and it’s hard to get through the conversation. eddie really taking over and helping to organise - not really making decisions but mapping it out so they could talk again when steve was more there. they leave after about an hour, understanding steve is tired, caring and telling him that he should rest. not annoyed but a little part of steve wonders if they are, if they were offended seeing him squeeze eddie like he did then barely able to follow the conversation. but he also knows he needs it, and he was on his best behaviour the rest of the time they were there, only daring to hold eddie’s hand for a stretch.

and then eddie’s coming back from waving them away, hands on steve’s shoulders in the kitchen, manouvering steve back to how he was when he first came in. hands back on eddie’s ass, face back in his neck. prompting steve to take what he needs, to settle finally. whispering in his ear about how good it feels to be in his arms, how he missed him today, how he’s so good and they’ll sort the remodelling and itll be so lovely, ‘but let’s not think about that tonight hm? let’s make you something to eat and get some sleep yeah?’ and steve is so do relieved, he melts into eddie. reassured and able to finally let go.

and that leaves them on the couch, steve’s head on eddie’s thigh, curled up under a blanket, feeling eddie’s soft pyjama pants against his cheek. face tucked up agains eddie’s belly, mouthing at it or rubbing his forehead against it. eddie had tucked his t-shirt up for him so steve could get lost in the skin on skin, feeling how warm eddie’s is, loving how his belly sits in his lap and steve can sink so far into it he can’t breathe, if he wanted. he leaves absent kisses every so often, breathing deep and listening to the sound of eddie finishing his third helping of dinner. sinking further into the comfort and warmth, mind foggy and syrupy and just repeating to himself that he’s eddie’s and he’s safe and he’s a good boy.

eddie’s running his fingers absently through steve’s hair, engrossed in the movie he put on. steve grunts and rolls up to go to the bathroom, keeping the blanket tucked around himself so it’s less painful to be away from eddie. he heads back but stops at the kitchen to get water. he gets eddie the cookies joyce brought over with her, knowing eddie likes something sweet in the evening. steve hands the cookies over feeling a little shy, but eddie smiles at him; ‘sweet boy, thank you baby.’ and steve tingles all over at the praise, eyes going glassy and he tucks himself up even closer into eddie, sleepy and happy and so so in love.

[raeofgayshine]

Me: I’m going to do a quick silly analysis of why I relate Long Story Short to Steddie, but especially Steve

Me, an hour later and maybe halfway through the song: So this is neither quick nor silly because I forgot I have so many music feelings

[themculibrary]

Natasha Romanoff-Centric Masterlist 2

part one

although it's so romantic on the borderline tonight (ao3) - paperclipbitch bruce/natasha T, 6k

Summary: Post-movie. “You shouldn’t google yourself,” Natasha tells Bruce.

american pie (ao3) - ashlearose13 G, 4k

Summary: Here's the thing about Natasha Romanoff: before she was theirs, she was her own.

Common Ground (ao3) - Writegirl natasha/nick T, 4k

Summary: Natalia Romanova was many things: a killer by thirteen, a Black Widow at fifteen, on the run from the Red Room by sixteen and captured by SHIELD at seventeen.

“You have a simple choice in front of you. Either you want to live, in which case you give us your total cooperation. Or you want to die, in which case the kill order will be carried out within the next ten minutes.” The agent stood and went to the door. “You have five minutes to make a decision.”

counterfeit and counterpart (ao3) - Frea_O maria/steve T, 28k

Summary: Five times Maria Hill doesn’t understand Natasha Romanoff, and why she might be better off that way.

four times somebody trusted Natasha Romanoff (and one time Natasha trusted somebody) (ao3) - zauberer_sirin bruce/natasha T, 2k

Summary: Natasha is not used to being treated as something other than a threat.

I'll build a house inside of you (ao3) - magdaliny T, 19k

Summary: Natalia is stacking blocks very carefully when the adults come into the room. None of them look at her, because they're all looking at her father. He's wearing combat gear, and the hair on the left side of his head is slicked back with blood. He smells like smoke and something unnameable, sweet and dark and a little sickly in her nose.

Father is saying, “Don't be ridiculous. The only thing children are good at is disobeying.”

i'm so tired (of being afraid) (ao3) - himynameisv natasha/matt T, 35k

Summary: Steve glances at her with what she can only describe as a small, fond smirk. "You're not alone in this," he murmurs.

She breathes in, gathers up the courage to grasp him on the shoulder. "Neither are you," she says.

They stand there, mourning together in the silence, because that's how the two of them have always been.

(Or: Natasha Romanoff had three families. She's going to get them back and/or die trying.)

i'm staying at my parents’ house and the road not taken looks real good now (ao3) - hannaenomia maria/natasha N/R, 22k

Summary: Natasha takes The Avengers to her family's farm to recover after their first run-in with the Scarlet Witch and promptly flirts with Maria Hill in front of everyone, whether she admits it or not. (Black Widow comes before Age of Ultron in this storyline)

In Your Hand (ao3) - SpideySense777 natasha/tony M, 32k

Summary: Major Spoilers for Black Widow if you haven't seen it.

Tony and Natasha overcoming her betrayal after Civil War and finding peace in the fact they are screwed up people.

i see things that nobody else sees (ao3) - burnthatbridgewhenwegetthere T, 1k

Summary: before she was the Black Widow, she was just a black widow. Natasha, Natalia, Natalie- it's hard to be a person when you have specifically been taught to not be one.

the struggle is silent.

Mama Bear (ao3) - Dira Sudis (dsudis) clint/laura T, 2k

Summary: How the Black Widow became Auntie Nat.

melt (ao3) - romanovasquinn T, 5k

Summary: Perhaps she did not have a heavier hand in the transaction, Natasha thought, perhaps she loved me when she first saw me open my eyes.

She found herself living on perhapses so that she would never land on anything definitive. Perhapses were the thing that kept her from thinking about how unloved she was from the day she was born. It’s a dirty secret she kept hidden in the crux of her heart.

Cold, Natasha thought. She must feel very cold."

---

Melina attempts to reconcile with Natasha by taking her to her biological mother's unmarked grave. It goes as well as you'd expect.

music save your mortal soul (ao3) - nunya_bznz_babes G, 3k

Summary: The girls leave behind little things that never last long - an empty bed with the slight indent of their small body on the mattress, drops of blood in the training room, hair follicles and bits of dead skin that would become the dust that settled in barren corners or coated the lungs of the survivors, the instructors. Clothes to be handed down to the next set of potential Widows.

Natalia won't let herself become one of the dead girls, the ghost girls, the tiny bones rotting under layers of soil. But she remembers their names.

Or: Natasha Romanoff

My Unshaped Form (ao3) - atrata bruce/natasha E, 26k

Summary: Of all the people they could have sent, they send Bruce Banner. In his defense, he seems to realize he has no chance of finding her.

No Place In The World (ao3) - Mtabby2260 clint/laura T, 3k

Summary: "The ceremony is necessary for you to take your place in the world."

"I have no place in the world."

"Exactly."

off to the races (ao3) - Elekat G, 11k

Summary: Elementary School was torture. The kids didn't take it seriously, everything was useless information she would never need, oh, and Natasha hated gym class.

one of us will break it (ao3) - zauberer_sirin nick/natasha T, 1k

Summary: Natasha is not in the business of soft.

(Spoilers for Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

September (ao3) - enigma731 pepper/tony, natasha/tony T, 12k

Summary: Natasha studies him for a long moment, trying to decide whether she believes this last assertion. “So basically you’re trying to make an invention to cure PTSD? Why not just go to therapy?”

Tony gives her a look. “You want to go to therapy?” Tony scoffs. “Besides. Like some doctor is going to know what to do about the fact that I have nightmares about aliens and wormholes.”

“Okay,” says Natasha. “So you’re inventing the world’s next great therapy contraption. What did you want from me?”

“Well." Tony turns back to the computer monitor in a movement that may or may not be to avoid her gaze. “It’s not working. Normally I’d ask Banner, but, well.” He huffs out a bitter laugh. “Besides, I hear you’re the one to ask about coding.”

Some Assembly Required (ao3) - AlphaFlyer clint/natasha T, 4k

Summary: "They say that when you go to the seven circles of Hell, IKEA has taken over the suburbs and parts of the ring road.” Natasha and Clint enter an alien universe.

Some Summers They Drop Like Flys (ao3) - kvikindi T, 5k

Summary: Natasha blew all her covers. It's a brave new world.

Training Wheels (ao3) - thetbone G, 13k

Summary: Natasha doesn’t know how to ride a bike, doesn’t know how to be part of a family, doesn’t know how to be free.

But she’s learning.

you taught me the courage of stars (before you left) (ao3) - wcndanat T, 5k

Summary: Madame B waits, waits, and waits, until she doesn’t anymore. She walks to the table in the corner of the room, picking up the gun sitting over it, and Melina’s breath falters (no, please, not Natasha, not her Natasha, not yet).

The glock slips in Sonja’s hands and Melina closes her eyes, just to open them a second later — she doesn’t want to see this, but she has to, — and that’s when it happens, so suddenly that the woman almost starts sobbing right there on the spot.

Natasha gets up.

or

five times someone witnessed Natasha saving herself, and the one time someone saw her giving up.

[araivallejo]

Back when season 3 had yet to begin filming, someone on Twitter posted a Tedbecca centric post and as per usual, an anti swooped in with his unrequested opinion. In this instance, his response was a gif of Steve Harvey saying, “OH HELL NAW!”

I saw the response and just shrugged because antis be antis. But the original poster recognized the name of the person as a crew member on Ted Lasso – 2nd Assistant Director Paul Morris. When a few others caught on he responded, clearly a little embarrassed, that he only wanted everyone to be happy, but that he wasn’t a Tedbecca fan.

I remember thinking at that time that was very strange. To see a member of the crew, no matter how high up the food chain they may be, post something either negative or positive towards this ship. Obviously this guy isn’t writing the scripts, but it seemed wildly unprofessional.

I think now the MO around the Ted Lasso team was Jason drilled into their heads since day 1 that Ted and Rebecca were platonic and that was it. They never saw it any other way. They messed around with the fakeouts because Jason Sudeikis is a fucking troll and you can see that in various interviews he’s done.

I’ve been clinging to the image of Brett Goldstein raising his eyebrows at a columnist’s smug dismissal of Ted and Rebecca’s romantic possibilities. Most likely that was an act too. I should have paid more attention to Jane “they are like brother and sister” Becker. Clearly that was what they were going for, but they couldn’t resist sticking that needle in and giving it a little twist at our expense.

There was a recent article posted that stated this has made some of us cower in shame for ever believing in love. I don’t disagree; it’s certainly made me think twice about starting another show that might feature any sense of romance, even though as mentioned that hasn’t really been an issue with me in the past. Still, I will not EVER apologize for believing in love for these two. There was nothing lazy about it. It would have been beautiful and if you never saw it that is fine. But don’t take it away from me. Something I also read in the past few days that I think has helped me tremendously is the fact that as of this past Wednesday (technically 12:15am for me) this show became OURS. It isn’t Jason’s or Brendan’s or anyone else’s on that staff. It is mine and yours and we can do with it whatever we want. I like that.

[iamashippinggod]

So Tell Me, Was It You, Or Me, Or Something in Between Us?

Part four of my mini-fic series is here! @julybreakbingo

Bingo Prompt: Break Up Fandom: My Hero Academia Ships: Jirou Kyouka/Kaminari Denki (centric), Kaminari Denki/Shinsou Hitoshi, Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi Content Warning: Explicit Language, Jealousy, Miscommunication, Breaking Up (crying toward the end) Tags: Shinsou Hitoshi is an Insomniac, Adopted Shinsou Hitoshi, Adopted Eri, Married Aizawa Shouta/Yamada Hizashi, Class 1-A, Established Relationships, Shinsou Hitoshi replaces Mineta Minoru, Shinsou Hitoshi has Social Anxiety, Kaminari Denki has ADHD, Pansexual Kaminari Denki, Bisexual Jirou Kyouka, Gay Shinsou Hitoshi, Break Ups, Kaminari Denki Centric, Jealously, Miscommunication. Side Note: Final post for JBB, but I did promise myself that I would finish my bingo card even if it's after the month has ended. This is cross-platformed on AO3, I hope you all enjoy. P.S: I would like to give a shout out to @mrs-steve-harrington on tumblr, she doesn't watch MHA and still read this over for me cause I was having trouble with working on this chapter. Thank you again for helping me out <3 || Title from "Reason" by Stanaj ||

Masterlist

Summary:

            Denki did try to put all of his focus on paying attention to just Midnight during her lesson, but he wound up pulling out his phone and started texting Hitoshi instead, taking another win when he saw the sliver of a smile on Hitoshi’s lips before he went back to ignoring Denki. 

            When he shuts off his screen, he feels eyes on him. At first, he thought it was Midnight, and thought she had caught him texting and was about to give him detention. But he was wrong. 

            When their teacher wasn’t looking, he looked over his shoulder, seeing Kyouka staring at him. That look she had in her eyes this morning was back, only it looked stronger than before. She doesn’t make gestures or anything to acknowledge him, but shifts her gaze to give Hitoshi that very same look.

            A look so sharp, it felt like daggers from afar. She was angry.

Back when Denki had met Kyouka, he thought she was one of the coolest people in their class. She always seemed so calm and collected, and didn’t care about the opinions of others, only that she tried her best. And even after they became friends, he thought that of her. He admired her for being able to stay calm in any situation. 

            At one point, he wanted to be like that. Not this hyperactive loud blond that everyone saw him for. 

            Don’t get him wrong, there were (and still are) times where he wished she didn’t make comments about his intellect. He’s smart, and he knows it. He just has a hard time showing that to other people. Then again, he can’t really tell them that, after all, he’s never told them about his ADHD or that he was diagnosed with dyscalculia at the beginning of the semester. 

            Maybe he should have. 

            But that’s not why we’re here. 

            When Denki finally worked up the courage to ask Kyouka out, he was a nervous wreck, to the point where he would accidentally short circuit himself and would need one of his classmates (or Aizawa) to take him to Recovery Girl. He wanted to impress her cause at that moment, her opinion of him was the only one that mattered. That didn’t mean when he asked her out for the first time, she immediately said yes. It took him three tries before she agreed to go on a single date.

            Then they started studying more together outside of their squad, going on study dates at a cafe off campus, or in one of their rooms. Those study dates would turn into just them hanging out, talking about various music genres, songs, bands, you name it. At one point, he was able to get her to laugh without making a complete fool of himself.

            Things seemed perfect between them. And maybe he should have taken that as a sign that it wouldn’t last. That they just weren’t meant to happen.

             When Shinsou– Hitoshi, walked into Class 1-A the day he joined, he was stunned. He had seen the boy at the Sports Festival, and he had to admit that when watching him, he thought he was smart, cunning even. He knew how to provoke Midoriya, and he succeeded in trapping him under his Quirk. Even if he didn’t win that match, he made his point and got the attention of everyone, including him. 

            Not to mention, he thought Hitoshi was very attractive (which aside from the match, is what caught his attention the most), and still does. He’s not blind to that. But he wouldn’t make a move on him for those who are concerned about learning this fact, given that he’s in a relationship. 

            But he was more stunned, and perhaps, relieved to know that Mineta had been expelled. Truth be told, he only hung around him because no else would, and he didn’t want Mineta to feel left out. Even after learning just how perverted his ex-classmate could be, he had hoped it was just a regular teenage-phase like his was. Now he wished he had helped him get expelled sooner.

            That didn’t matter anymore though, because he was gone and Hitoshi had replaced him.

            The first thing Denki notices is that Hitoshi is a quiet person, and private too. He doesn’t socialize with everyone like the others did, he sticks to himself and he doesn’t actively seek out conversations unless he has too. The first thought Denki has when he realizes this is to wonder if he was lonely.

            Which is why the day after Hitoshi had joined their class, he set out on a mission to make sure the insomniac had at least one friend, even if he was his only one. 

            He didn’t tell anyone what he was planning, but everyone was quick to catch onto his schemes. Mina and Kirishima had even suggested inviting him to their study group so he could talk to more people, but Denki wasn’t surprised when Hitoshi declined that offer.

            However, Kyouka was the first to speak up about his goal.

            “Maybe you should let him talk to people on his own.” They were studying up in her room that day, working on mathematics for their next class with Ectoplasm. 

            Denki looked up from the papers in his lap (the equations being all over the place as he tried to show his work), brows furrowed as he looked at her. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

            Kyouka moved her notebook to the side and moved closer to peak at his work, a small frown on her face. “Hitoshi.” She told him, picking up a pen before sliding the current paper he was working on over to her so she could fix some of the messy explanation he was trying to give. “He’s not the social type. And he’s already stated before that he doesn't want friends.”

            Denki scoffs, watching her work. “What people say and how they act are two different things, babe.” Still, he frowns. “I don’t think he means it. Even Heroes have friends.”

            “Okay, but we’re not Heroes.”

            “Yet.” 

            Kyouka rolled her eyes, sliding the paper back to him. “I’m serious, Denki. Leave it. Don't be an idiot.”

Ignoring the slight pain in his chest when he hears that word, Denki shrugs, eyeing the red-inked notes she had left. “You weren’t very social when we met, now look at us.” He flashes her a grin. “Relax, I’ll have him chatting up a storm in no time.”

            He wished he could say that he kept his happy persona up after that night, but as they were leaving homeroom Friday afternoon to head back to the dorms, Aizawa had asked him to stay behind. Which didn’t surprise anyone, or him at this point. And unfortunately, he had a feeling as to what he was being held back for.

            “Is everything okay, Aizawa Sensei?” The older man had reached over his desk and handed him some papers, and within a red circle at the top of the page was the percentage score of 31% at the top. 

            So with a sigh, he realizes that his suspicions were right. He looked past the paper in his hands and stared at the wooden desk. “Which class?” He asked. He already knows the answer though.

            “Mathematics.” Denki sighs again, raising a hand to rub the side of his face tiredly. “You’ve been maintaining a steady score between fifty and sixty percent, which is still under a passing grade, but lately your grade has been dropping.” 

            “Yep, I see that.” He looks up, seeing the bored expression on his teacher's face, realizing he had said that out loud. He straightens his posture, “Sorry.”

            Aizawa sighs, leaning back in his chair. “I noticed that it’s not just Ectoplasm’s class you’ve been failing in, but Modern Art too. Is everything okay?”

            “Yeah. And I’ve been studying with Bakugou and our friends almost every other day.”

            “So what happened?”

            Denki shrugs, looking down at his score again. “I just can’t get it. Modern Art doesn’t stick to me like other subjects do. And numbers…” He trails off. “I’ll try harder.”

            Aizawa didn’t say anything at first, mostly observing his student. He sighs again though, “Look. I also hold tutoring sessions over the weekend in the morning.” He told him, “If you want some extra help, swing by the classroom tomorrow morning and we can start working on stuff you’re having trouble with. Sound good?” 

            Denki didn’t hesitate to agree to that.

            

That was during week one. 

            Week two was more difficult but at the same time easier. Wednesday afternoon, during Cementoss’ class, he noticed the insomniac looked more tired than usual. He can’t say he blames him, Cementoss’ class wasn’t exactly boring, but it also didn’t hold as much of Denki’s attention like English did. But he could at least maintain a decent grade in Modern Literature when compared to Modern Art. 

            Surprisingly, he managed to get him to talk a little during that class. Which in his books, was a win in itself.

            That night, he was going over some of the extra homework Ectoplasm had given him in the common room when he overheard Mina and Midoriya talking. Midoriya was working on his English homework with Iida on the opposite couch from where he was sitting, and Mina was originally talking to Hagakure. 

            “Crap.” 

            “Language.” Iida didn’t miss a beat, but stopped writing to look up at the green-haired boy, Denki couldn’t help but to do the same curiously, noting that Midoriya was looking frantically through his back. “Is everything okay?”

            Midoriya looked like he was about to say something panicky, but deflated with a look of realization. “Yeah, sorry. I forgot.” He breathes out, learning back. “I thought I lost my notes for Literature, but I just remembered that Hitoshi had asked if he could borrow them.” 

            “If you need your notes, why don’t you go ask if you can get them back for a minute?”

            Denki shook his head, “No.” This gains the attention of the two, “He’s babysitting his sister for his parents tonight, so he’s not at the dorms.” He explains, “But can’t you just text him and see if he’ll text you what notes you need for tonight?”

            “I don’t have his number.”

            “I do!” Mina jumps in, jumping over the couch and plopping down next to Denki, and judging by the pressure on Denki’s right, Hagakure had also sat down next to him.

            But Denki turns to look at Mina, looking shocked. “What? How?”

            Mina scoffs lightly, pulling out her phone. “I have my resources.”

            “She got it from a Gen Studies kid.” Hagakure informs them, making Mina frown.

            “Hey! Let me be mysterious!” She complains, shaking her head before looking toward Midoriya. “But I can give you his number so you can text him, he might not be bothered if it’s you texting him anyway.”

            Iida looked confused. “Huh? Why do you say that?”

            “I’m pretty sure that aside from his dad, the only one he’s willing to have a conversation with and enjoy it is Midoriya.” Denki couldn’t help but to agree with that.

            “Hey, can you give me his number as well?” Denki asked. Mina gave him his number with no hesitation. 

            That night, he was meant to be finishing his assignment and instead, he worked up the balls to text Hitoshi, taking his replies as another win.

Thursday of week two was when he noticed how things began to rock with his and Kyouka’s relationship. 

            It started off as something small, he almost didn’t notice it. Despite being tired from staying up late to study (and to talk to Hitoshi), Denki was smiling at his phone during breakfast, fingers tapping away at his screen whenever he replied to Hitoshi. He was aware of his friends talking with each other, but wasn’t paying attention as to what they were talking about.

            Do you have any pets?

           When’s your birthday? 

            Favorite season?

            Each question was back to back. In hindsight, he knows how that could annoy people, but he was curious about him. A part of him wanted to know everything he could about him. Isn’t that weird?

            It wasn’t until he felt someone tap (more like smacked) his arm that he jerked his head up to see what was happening, noting that everyone had already finished eating and were getting up to finish getting ready for the day.  Kyouka was sitting on his right, looking at him with an expression he couldn’t read. 

            “Mm?” He looked toward her, confused, “Are we leaving already?”             “You’ve been on your phone for the past twenty minutes,” Kyouka told him. He noticed how her jaw seemed clenched as she spoke. She sighed, reaching in front of him to pick up their dishes before getting up from her seat. “Come on, we’re gonna be late for class.”

              He couldn’t help but to frown when she walked away, but he gets up and brings over their cups to put in the dishwasher. He doesn’t miss how the moment he walked in, she left. Normally, they cleaned up together.

            His phone chimed in his hand, and he looked down to see that Hitoshi had replied. Three cats. July 1rst. And winter. But only one of the cats is actually mine, the other two technically belong to my Dad and Eri.

            So would you say you’re more of a cat person than a dog person? 

          Yeah, but I don’t mind dogs much. As long as they don’t slobber on me.

            Denki laughed, shaking his head before looking up from his phone to leave. But he sees Kyouka standing in the doorway, their backpacks in her hands, with an unreadable look in her eyes.

            The next time he noticed was in Art History.

            Kyouka hadn’t said a word to him during homeroom, but he shrugged it off thinking that she was just tired. He would later regret shrugging it off and realize that it was a mistake to have done so. 

            But during class, the first thing he noticed wasn’t Kyouka, but Hitoshi. Specifically how awake he looked. At least he wasn’t on the verge of passing out again like yesterday.

            Denki did try to put all of his focus on paying attention to just Midnight during her lesson, but he wound up pulling out his phone and started texting Hitoshi instead, taking another win when he saw the sliver of a smile on Hitoshi’s lips before he went back to ignoring Denki. 

            When he shuts off his screen, he feels eyes on him. At first, he thought it was Midnight, and thought she had caught him texting and was about to give him detention. But he was wrong. 

            When their teacher wasn’t looking, he looked over his shoulder, seeing Kyouka staring at him. That look she had in her eyes this morning was back, only it looked stronger than before. She doesn’t make gestures or anything to acknowledge him, but shifts her gaze to give Hitoshi that very same look.

            A look so sharp, it felt like daggers from afar. She was angry.

            The third time he noticed something was off was during and after training. 

            Kyouka had practically avoided him during lunch, and looking back on it now, that was on him. Though it wasn’t because of Hitoshi that time, Sero had pulled him into a conversation between the two of them and Kirishima. But for most of the day, she hadn’t spoken to him really.

            And training…

            It was a game of Heroes and Villains, and guess who was his opponent for his match. You guessed it, his angry girlfriend.

            To make it worse, his partner for the round was Hitoshi. Their goal was to save the hostages (Bakugou had a lot to say about being shoved into that role with Uraraka, but his complaints went ignored). Things started off smoothly, they had managed to move closer undetected by Asui and Kyouka for the first portion of the round. 

            Denki should have remembered that Kyouka would find them because of her Quirk, but all logic went out the window the moment he opened his mouth.

            “Sunset or sunrise?”

            “Sunset.”

            “Favorite game?”             “Right now? Genshin Impact.”             “What’s your type?”

            Denki watched Hitoshi freeze, most likely processing his question, before turning to look at him. “What?”

            All Denki could respond with was a shrug and continued. “Like, romantically. What’s your type?”

            Hitoshi scoffs, shaking his head to look back at Asui. “That shit is so stupid.”

            “Come on,” He drags out, stepping closer. “Who's your dream girl?”

            “Bold of you to assume I’m into girls.” They both fall silent.

            Denki saw the slight twinge of panic in his tired eyes, and he felt a twinge of guilt in his stomach for asking now. The look Hitoshi gave him brought him back to middle school, a time in which was not the best for him.

            But Denki swallowed and smiled, “My question still stands,” He steps closer, peaking around Hitoshi to look at the situation before looking up at him. His smile softens when he asks, “Who’s your dream guy?”

            He doesn’t get a response because Kyouka had found them.

            The rest of that round was a blur.

            The next thing he knew, he was snapping out of his short-circuited state and was becoming aware of where he was, which was Recovery Girl’s office. 

            Denki doesn’t make it aware that he was “awake” now and instead, observes. Sitting in a chair against the wall opposite of the bed was Kyouka, who sat there scrolling on her phone. He eyes the clock and notes that he’s probably been there for a little over half an hour. 

            That’s longer than normal. He frowns. He had gotten the amount of time it takes him to snap out of his short-circuited state down to thirty minutes, twenty-five on a good day. 

            He watched at the minute and ticked over to the next until five minutes had passed. He looks away and notes that Kyouka hadn’t looked up from her phone in that time.

            “... You went hard during practice.”

            Her fingers stop moving, her eyes look up from the screen to see him staring at her before looking back down. Kyouka shrugged, leaning forward in her seat. “I got carried away acting like a Villain.” 

            She lied. They both know she lied. And he called her out on it without missing a beat.

            “You’re mad.”

            She scoffs, “No I’m not.”

            “Bullshit.”

            She locks her phone and sets it aside. The purple-haired girl stood from her seat and took two steps forward until she was standing at the end of the bed. “Why would I be mad?” She asked.

            “That’s the problem, I don’t know.”

            "Of course you don't." Again, Kyouka scoffs. “And yet you think you can call me out for being upset?”

            “So you are upset then.” She looked at him with furrowed brows, “I said you were mad, not upset. Implying that your upset could mean something else.”

            And again, he notices how her jaw clenched. That look of daggers returned to her eyes. “So what if I am? It’s not like you care.”

            “Wha- Where the hell did that come from?” Denki sat up, moving closer toward the end of the bed. “Why would I not care? You’re my girlfriend.”

            “Oh really?” She snaps, “Cause lately I don’t feel like I am, you’re too busy prioritizing everyone else over me.”

            Before any more words could be said, the door opens and in comes Recovery Girl and Aizawa. The couple shut their mouths, and Kyouka stepped back from the bed while Denki shook his head at her, tearing his eyes away from her and toward the adults.

            And Denki wished that was the end of their quarrels, but that was only the start.

"Hey, Ji?" They were in homeroom one morning. She looks up from her desk and looks at him, "Do you have a pen I could borrow."

Kyouka scoffs, shaking her head. "Why don't you ask Hitoshi." She muttered it, but he still heard it.

After that day, the smallest of things would start a fight between them. From forgetting an extra pen for when one of them forgot theirs to the smallest of slip-ups during training would provoke a fight, a couple of which have almost borderline a shouting match between them.

            Each argument would end the same way, with them walking away from each other, and Denki being left confused about what the fuck just happened and him questioning what he could have done to either deescalate the situation, or if he was responsible for the situation to begin with.

            But the one thing he would not ask himself is if their relationship was going to fall through or not.

            He knew the fights were getting worse, that they were on rocky ground. But he was convinced that it would work out, that this was just some miscommunication issue that Kyouka didn’t want to talk about. They could work things out.

            It’s been a couple of weeks since that day in Recovery Girl’s office, and he could officially say that he has gotten Hitoshi to be a little more social. And by that, he means that he’s no longer immediately hiding out in his room the moment they get back to the dorms after classes. He’s also witnessed him talking to Todoroki and Midoriya for longer than five minutes. 

            He counts that as another win.

            It was a Friday night, and a good majority of the class wanted to go out to eat. So after a little bit of convincing (and by that, they totally asked/begged Hitoshi to talk to his dad), the entire class ended up going to a ramen shop at the bottom of the hill. 

            Everyone was separated into their own groups, the Bakusquad (god, Bakugou still gets annoyed at that name) and Hitoshi took up one table, Midoriya and his group (that being Todoroki, Iida, Uraraka and Asui) sat on the opposite side of the restaurant. Tokoyami and Shoji sat together at a two-person table, the same could be said about Ojiro and Hagakure, and Momo and Kyouka. Sato, Aoyama and Koda took one of the window booths.

            But the Bakusquad’s table is what we’re focused on tonight. Mina, Sero and Denki took up the left side of the table, both boys being on either side of her, while Kirishima, Bakugou and Hitoshi sat across from them.

            “So…” Mina drawls out, eyes locked on the purple-haired boy. “Hitoshi, do you have a girlfriend?” 

            The blunt question makes Hitoshi nearly choke on his food. His eyes widen slightly at her and dart to Denki, who shrugs. Swallowing, Hitoshi looks back at Mina, “I’m gay.”

            The blunt response causes Sero and Denki to laugh. Mina rolled her eyes playfully. “My question stands. Are you in a relationship right now?”

            “Oi, Pinkie, leave him be.” Bakugou grumbles, bringing his chopsticks up to his mouth. “It’s his business.”

            Mina’s frown only lasts a second before Hitoshi replies. “No, and I don’t plan on being in one any time soon.”

            This time, Bakugou is the one to respond to him. “What? Are we not good enough for you?” 

            “Huh? No! That’s not-” Hitoshi shuts up when he notices the smirk on the angry blond’s lips, Kirishima laughs from beside him, and Hitoshi shakes his head. “Oh fuck off.”

            Mina shrugs, “Well, if you change your mind, I can think of a couple of people who would be interested.”

            Denki pauses mid slurp of his noodles, looking toward his pink-haired friend. On her right, he sees Sero sharing the same look, and out of the corner of his eye, sees Hitoshi raising a brow at her. “Huh? Like who?” Sero asked. 

            “Monoma.”

            “What the fu-” Kirishima reaches across Hitoshi’s back to smack Bakugou on the back of his head, cutting him off mid-sentence, but looks at her shocked.

            Hitoshi stares at her like she grew a second head. “Mina, I like you. I do.” She smiles, “But what in the every-loving hell?”

            To her right, Sero is laughing. Denki, however, is quiet. looking between Hitoshi and Mina.

            “Oh come on, he’s not that bad-”

            “Bullshit!”

            Kirishima reaches across Hitoshi's back again, “Bakugou, that’s so not manly.” The blond catches his hand with an eye roll.

            “Shut up, Shitty Hair.”

            “Wait-” Sero sets his chopsticks down, turning his body to face Mina. “You said a couple of people. Who’s the other guy?”

            The pink-haired girl struggles to not laugh, attempting to keep a serious look on her face. “Aoyama.”

            Hitoshi stares at her. Blink, blink. Before he smirks, pointing his chopsticks at her accusingly. “Now I know you’re bullshitting.” She breaks, laughing loudly. “What makes you think blondes are my type, anyway?” 

            “Your dad.”

            “Pfft-” Bakugou fails to bite back a snicker, Denki shakes his head with a smile. "I'm sorry-?" Hitoshi cuts himself off.

            “No no no, hear me out. You basically are a miniature version of Aizawa Sensei physically, and the only one you’ve willingly hung out with so far is Kami,” She nods her head toward Denki. “So I assumed taste runs in the family.”

            “That is the worst excuse in existence, Pinkie!” Bakugou calls her out, provoking a rather playful argument between the two of them.

            Meanwhile, Denki shakes his head. Hitoshi eyes her curiously, but the blond shrugs, a smile tattooed on his face. But that smile only lasts for a few seconds until he looks past Hitoshi. A few tables down, Kyouka sat with Momo, and she was looking over at them. 

            She looks frustrated. 

            His smile falls when she gets up from her seat and storms out, Momo calling after her before following. The table falls silent, and all eyes go to Denki, who looks to be at a loss. 

            Surprisingly, it’s Bakugou who asks. “What the hell’s been up with you two lately?” Mina nodded, also curious. 

            Unfortunately, all he can do is shrug and shake his head. He notices the frown on Hitoshi’s face when he does. He’s more confused now than ever. The only thing that felt right at the time was to get up and follow after her.

Denki could sense another fight on the rise, but he was hopeful for the opposite. He and Kyouka were in her room, his text book open on his left, a pad of paper in his lap and a pen in his hand, revising a portion of the extra homework Ectoplasm had given him; he was hoping to get this done tonight for his tutoring session with Aizawa the next day. Meanwhile, she sat at her desk, hunched over when writing something down, occasionally tapping her pen against the top of her desk. They worked in silence, but it wasn’t the peaceful silence he had gotten used to.             Last night at the ramen shop felt intense. And as expected, she refused to speak to him when he went after her. Momo had told him to go back inside, and at first he had refused. But given that Kyouka wouldn’t even look at him (she didn’t have to look at him, he knew there were tears in her eyes, most likely caused by him), he felt as if he had no choice but to follow Momo’s orders.             Whatever was going on between him and Kyouka was not going to end well, he was coming to terms with that. And that realization has been making him anxious. He doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong. And he doesn’t want to lose her.

            Kyouka’s tapping comes to a halt, and he can hear her spin her chair around to look at him. He looks over, noting how she was twirling her earjacks with her fingers. “So…” She trails off.

            Denki sits up straight, setting aside his notepad before turning his body to face her completely. “So?”

            “Uh… You and Hitoshi.”

            He looks confused. “Yeah?”

            “What’s going on there? You’re spending an awful lot of time with him lately… It’s kind of weird.”

            “Weird how?” He tries to keep his voice even, hoping that if he does, he won’t start a fight based on the tone of his voice alone. “We’re just friends.”

            She scoffs, and he bites back a wince. “Just friends, huh? Friends don’t spend that much time together.” She tells him, standing up from her seat. 

            “He’s new, Kyouka-”

            “He’s been in our class for weeks now.”

            “So?”

            “So he doesn’t need you to baby him. To hold his hand when he’s talking to people.” 

            Something in him clicked. He doesn’t know what made it click, her voice, her words, the look of daggers in her eyes whenever she spoke about their classmate, which he now noticed was there whenever someone brought up Hitoshi’s name. 

            “You… You’re jealous.” It wasn’t a question. But when she doesn’t open her mouth to tell him he’s wrong, something snaps. “That’s what this has been about? Because I’ve been hanging out with my friend? How is that different than when I’m around Sero or Mina?”

            “Friends don’t act the way you two do-”

            “What way?”

            “Like it’s just the two of you in the room.” Denki goes quiet. But doesn’t stop himself from staring at her in disbelief. “And I’m not the only one who’s seen it. Hagakure-”

            “Are you fucking kidding me?” Denki rarely swore when he was being serious. The times he does swear are mostly playful. The times where it’s not is when he’s really upset. “Don’t get me wrong, Hagakure is a nice girl, but she is a gossip, Kyouka.”

            “She may be a gossip, but she doesn’t lie, Denki.”

            “Well then allow me to put the gossip and rumors to rest. There’s nothing going on between me and Hitoshi.” He stands up from the bed, arms crossed her his chest. “He’s my friend. That’s it.”

            Kyouka mimics him, arms crossing over her chest while shaking her head. “I don’t believe you.”

            “Then can I ask you something?” She’s hesitant, but nods, “Do you think I’m cheating on you?”

            “Of course not!” Her eyes widened with horror, shaking her head again. “No, I know you wouldn’t do that. You’re not like that-”

            “Then why are you jealous of how much time I spend with him?”

            “I don’t know, alright?” She shouts, and the room falls silent.

            And all he can do is stare. There are tears in her eyes again, just like the other night. Kyouka is frustrated, and he can’t tell if that frustration is toward him or herself. He hopes it’s neither.

            “I… I can’t do this anymore.” 

            Her voice was so quiet, Denki almost didn’t hear her. But he felt his heart stop when he did. “What?”

            Kyouka breathes out, her breath is shaky and her eyes are trained on everything else but him. “I- I know in the back of my mind that there’s nothing going on between the two of you. I do. And I know he’s your friend, Denki. But I can’t shake this feeling I get whenever I see you talking to him, and last night at the restaurant only proved that.”

            Denki’s arms feel heavy, and they drop to his sides. “Kyouka-”

            She finally looks at him with teary eyes, and he feels his heart clench in his chest. “I care about you, Denki. And I don’t want you to feel like you have to choose me over everyone, and right now that’s how I feel like I’m coming off as. And I don’t know why I’m thinking like this or what’s wrong with me-”

            “Nothing is wrong with you, Kyouka.” He steps forward. “I… I don’t think there could ever be something wrong with you.” 

            “Considering how I’ve been acting these past few weeks, I’d say otherwise.” She lets out a breathy laugh. "It just doesn't feel the same as when I see you with the others. I'm used to Mina and Sero being flirty with you because they're like that with everyone. Kirishima clearly likes Bakugou, and Bakugou is... Well, Bakugou." She pauses for a minute, and he sees more tears collecting in her eyes. “I’m sorry-” 

He cuts her off, pulling her into a hug. His lanky limbs wrap around her to

            He cuts her off, pulling her into a hug. His lanky limbs wrap around her torso and pull her closer to him, his head buried into the crook of her neck. He can feel her forehead laying against his shoulder, the vibration of her body as she cries quietly. 

            Denki’s arms tightened around her, feeling tears sting in his eyes. “I’m sorry too.”

            They don’t let go of each other right away. Because they know that once he walks out of her room tonight, they will be over. That the next time they see each other, they’ll be exes. 

            This wasn’t supposed to happen.

[heavencasteel420]

Find the Word

Find the words from the list in your WIPs and post the paragraphs they belong to.

I was tagged by @musicalchaos07 to find the following words: choose, shy, think, glance, night.

Choose

(from Tomorrow's a Long Way Off)

“No,” Robin admitted. Who wouldn’t choose Gail's warm embrace over being called a freakishly long-fingered sex murderer? “Hey, what are your five favorite movies?”

Shy

(from Tomorrow's a Long Way Off)

It was such a small thing to find out: that Jonathan’s younger brother—a person she’d already heard of—was a shy little kid with a favorite candy and nice (if loud) friends. Most kids had friends and liked candy, and not all of them were pains in the ass. Yet the picture she had of Jonathan in her head was shifting. The easy affection in his voice when he spoke about his brother—the fact that he cared about something as small as the kid getting to pick out the kind of candy he wanted. And they both lived in a house where the police sometimes had to be called, in a town that talked about them for sport. 

Think

(from Tomorrow's a Long Way Off)

But the next song was “Let’s Dance.” And, all right, Jonathan would fully admit to being shocked when an actually good song became very, very popular, given the general preference for annoying arena rock and cheesy love ballads by washed-up pop stars from the sixties, but he wasn’t so pretentious that he’d stop liking the song. The bass line was just way too good, and David Bowie’s voice was way too—there was no other way he could think to put it—sexy. 

Glance

(from Tonight, Tonight, the Highway's Bright)

Nancy glanced out the window. Another figure had joined Lucas outside: a redheaded girl on a skateboard, wearing jeans and a yellow hooded sweatshirt. Lucas was making lazy circles around her, and she was laughing. She looked like Billy Hargrove’s little sister, although from a distance it was hard to say for sure. Then again, not many girls in Hawkins skateboarded. 

Night

(from Save the Last Dance for Me, my Lucas-centric one-shot)

He wondered if she had nightmares, too, and then turned over his pillow. He couldn’t think about that tonight. Erica was fine and Steve’s face had healed and Billy Hargrove was dead in the ground. And he, Lucas Sinclair, was alive.

[irondadfics]

I have looked and looked for a fic with Peter on the raft and the entire rogue team is there- apart from MAYBE Bucky- but it gets real dark with like them collecting ‘samples’ of stuff from Peter and the team is very protecc over the bean.

Thank you to those who contributed to our Follower Outreach Program for helping to locate this story!

Two options for you:

Peter and the Jailbirds by beautifullights

“If you did play chess," Ross said, "you’d remember that a pawn can become a queen. The most powerful piece on the board, Parker, remember that? But—” Ross smiled— “only if it obeys.” He adjusted his tie, stood, and looked down at Peter. “I’ll ask you again,” he said. “Eventually. You may feel differently after you’ve been living in a six-by-six cube without sunlight or fresh air for a few years.” “What pawns do,” Peter said, voice shaking slightly, “is sacrifice themselves for the greater good. I have no regrets.” He had a lot of regrets. Like, a lot. A crapton. A shitload. An overloaded dumpsterful. “When I visit you on the Raft,” Ross said, “you’ll be old enough to grow a beard.” The cell door clicked shut behind him. [Rated mature for graphic violence.]

To Kill a Songbird by thequeenofwhump

“He was completely, one-hundred percent screwed. No one was looking for him. He was in the most secure prison in the world, which was filled to the brim with armed personnel. He was wearing a shock collar. And if he somehow figured all that out, he still couldn’t swim. Yep. Screwed.” ——— Peter Parker died six months ago in a fire after a horrible chemical accident. ...or did he? At least, that’s what Tony believes when an unemployed Ross illegally imprisons the Avengers on the Raft, which was supposed to have been destroyed. ——— AU where the Accords were declared stupid, Ross was fired, Tony and Steve became friends again, and they all live together in Avengers tower. Peter Parker-Centric. Trigger warning for suicidal themes.

[maroonmusings]

Before We Go [s.r]

Fandom: Marvel (Endgame-centric) Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader Word count: 1,698 Warnings: nope :)

A/N: this is a repost/touch-up from an account I don't post fics on (it's literally the only one I'd posted on there lmao). just a cute little romp before all hell breaks loose in endgame 🙃

Cold water trickles down your face, a refreshing intoxication to your system. It does wonders for the nerves you’re going to expertly conceal when you’re surrounded by the team. Authority doesn’t work without confidence and a solid game plan. That’s how you always felt about it, that is.

After drying your face and cutting off the faucet’s water flow, you take in the new suit adorning your body. Primarily white with black accents and red trim. A smirk crosses your lips. While your knowledge of quantum physics was as limited as the percent of malevolence in Scott Lang’s psyche, you knew its kinetic fibers would protect you in your attempt at time travel. The concept had always frightened you, as you harbored a genuine fear for the unknown, but those stones have to be located if it means bringing back your friends. Your family. 

Besides, you looked good. Who would have thought that red and white complimented each other so perfectly?

Exiting the bathroom, you nearly run into the aforementioned Ant-Man. Not because you weren’t looking properly, but because Scott looked to be light-years away. It’s as if he had already traveled to another dimension without you.

“Lang,” you greeted with a tilt of your chin, thinking the sound of your voice would be enough to break him from his mental reverie. Based on the way he continues to wring his hands and paw at the back of his neck, legs carrying him from one end of the hallway to the other, and back again, you’d say you failed. You press further. “Scott.”

Startled green eyes meet yours, jaw popping open for a fraction of a second before he composed himself. You rose a brow in disinterest as he straightened his posture, puffing up his chest to appear more self-assured. “Hello, fellow Earth’s mightiest hero. Yep. It is I, Scott Lang: an emotionally stable who could definitely defeat Thanos in his sleep. I deemed it selfish of myself to go it alone, hence, I came to you for help. I’m very strong.”

“Scott—”

“Like, embarrassingly so.” He continues. Oh my God, he’s broken. “As in, I went to pick up my coffee mug this morning, and the whole thing just shattered.”

“Hold on—”

“Like, a million pieces.” Laughing nervously, he throws in a passive, “My muscles are so big.”

“Dude, cut the crap.” You demanded half-heartedly, gaze softening. “This will work, okay? You’ll get to see Hope again, and we can get rid of that purple bastard for good.”

“I know, I know.” He returned, almost sounding defeated before the battle had even begun. “I guess I’m overwhelmed by, just, everything. So much is happening all at once with so much at risk. One wrong step, and I could ruin this for not only myself but everyone.”

“Scott Lang, you are the toughest Ant-Man I know—”

“There are other Ant-Mans?!”

“—and you’re not gonna screw up anything, because we’re all gonna be covering each others’ asses out there. We’re a team. A family. We’re all in this thing together.”

“She’s right, Scott.”

Ignoring the tremor that ran through your body at the sound of his voice, the corner of your lip curled upwards as Steve Rogers, Captain America, joined the two of you. He met your eyes briefly before focusing on Scott, his cheeks now carrying a faint pink hue. “We are a family, and families stick together. It won’t be any different for us. We’re gonna go back in time, get to those gems before Thanos, and bring back our friends.”

“God, you guys are good together.” Scott uttered before giving much thought to his words. The compliment caught you off guard, as you choked on your breath while Steve’s face became a deep shade of red. Scott’s eyes widened as he attempted to save himself. “Oh, I didn’t mean it in that way, of course! I was just trying to say that you’re really good at those motivational speech things. You knew that, right? God, maybe my superpower should be ‘knowing when to shut up.’”

“Yeah, why would we—”

“How about we just get back to the others?” You suggested, sending a tight-lipped smile to convey your need to evade this conversation topic.

“Great idea!” Steve agreed a little too enthusiastically, the excitement in his tone making you jolt in surprise. 

Shaking off what may have been the worst interaction in your life, you led the two men back to the rest of your friends.

“We ready to do this?” Natasha wasted no time for pleasantries as she lifted an eyebrow in question. “I know I am.”

“Sure, why not?” Scott returned, nervously, but you could tell from the newfound determination on his face that he was ready.

“Let’s do this.” Bruce said.

“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.” Clint stated, a hard look in his eyes from all the pain he had endured due to Thanos.

“Hell yeah!” Rocket cheered. “Let’s get this dirtbag, once and for all.”

Thor tipped his head back to chug the soda in his hand before crushing the can and releasing a belch that caused even you to crack a smile. “I’m with the Rabbit.”

“Well, majority rules.” Tony pointed out, an edge to his tone that hid his true levels of excitement to be working with the team again. “Let’s go save our friends, and, hopefully, the world.”

Natasha guided the temporary remaining members of the Avengers to the Quantum Portal. Your friends followed her, but you couldn’t bring yourself to do the same. Something was holding you back. Or someone.

“Actually, Steve,” There was a waiver to your voice, and you silently cursed yourself for waiting so late to do what you were about to do. The man stopped in his tracks and looked back at you, brows furrowed in question. You sighed shakily, suddenly hating the way feelings made you feel. You spoke quietly so as to not alert the other seven people who will definitely tease you about this once everything is back in order. “Can I talk to you about something for a second?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Everything alright back there, you two?” Tony shouted, but the dryness in your throat made you unable to speak above anything more than a whisper. 

Steve took note of this, probably because he’s never seen you in such an emotional state before, and answered for you. “Yeah, we’ll be over there in a minute.”

“Fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven, fi—ow! What the hell, Iron Moron?!”

“Stuff it, Build-a-Bear, or I’ll stuff it for you.”

“Yes!” Thor says jovially. “Because Build-a-Bears are made with—”

Steve shuffled into your line of sight, his calm and reassuring baby blues giving you the motivation to catch your breath. His voice is soft and gentle, matching the grasp he has on your forearms. “Hey, what is it?”

In a terrifyingly accurate Lang-like fashion, an avalanche of words tumbled from your mouth before you could organize your thoughts. But first, you try to back out. Naturally. “Um, well, it’s a lot, so if you’d rather just talk about it later, actually, I wouldn’t mind.”

“No,” he assures, timbre more soothing, if that was even possible. “You can tell me. We have time.”

Nice try, you guess. Cue the Lang ramble. “Okay, well, there’s this thing that has kind of been bothering me. Well, a lot of things bother me, as you know. But, um, this thing revolves around the two of us. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it for a long time. As in, practically since the day we met. Obviously that never happened. Probably because of these stupid walls I put up to block out anyone who I find myself the sligh—”

Hands sliding up to your jaw, Steve pulls you closer. Your eyes find his, clouded with something that made them sparkle. Like glitter sprinkled in the sky. His words are quiet, insistent, and only meant for you. “I love you, too.”

Steve’s lips were soft and warm, like a field of flowers on an enchanting summer day. His touch was gentle yet persistent. Kind yet urgent. Loving yet determined. His hands held your face in such a way that anchored you to him. The two of you became one as he drew your body in closer, your hands finding a place to rest on his chest. Every emotion running through your bodies could be felt within the embrace. 

The urgency of the mission.

Fear for its outcome.

Hidden doubts, tucked away to appear strong.

Ambition to bring back your lost friends.

All while keeping the found ones safe. 

Love stored in a deep heart department that only he could reach.

As you parted for air, your eyes remained closed. After pushing back the desire for any chance of happiness for yourself, you had finally fought those inner demons to find love. You finally had him. You wanted to bask in this moment of self-glory in his arms for eternity, but even a couple more seconds would suffice. 

Rowdy cheers and applause were what forced you to open your eyes to the genuine smiles on the faces of those you loved. Seeing them celebrating in a time such as this lightened the weight on your shoulders, as living a life like yours required you to seize every moment of laughter that you could. 

Steve’s smile widened upon seeing your happy expression. He brushed a loose strand of hair behind your ear, before slightly shaking his head in bewilderment at the sight before him. His eyes had never been clearer. “You ready to go restore humanity, doll?”

“Always,” You kissed his pink cheek, your smile falling the slightest bit as you said your next words. “Just don’t die on me, Rogers.”

“And you be careful.”

“When am I not?” You winked, poking his nose.

The two of you rejoined the team in the Quantum Portal where you would be sent back to the past. You locked eyes with Tony across the way, who flashed you a quick thumbs up and a wink.

From that point forward, you all began the mission to save your friends, and, hopefully, the world.

[self-proclaimed-chaotic-good]

Freaks Stick Together | Hawkins Crew

Prompt: Forest

Words: 4429

Fandom: Stranger Things

A/N: Will-centric. He needs a hug and to know that he has a strong support system that he can lean on. This became longer than I intended just to fit in the prompt, so this is very late for Writer’s Month.

Summary: School is back in session, allowing students to make up for lost time due to the recovery from the “earthquakes”. While Will is glad to be back where his friends are, the town also brought back unpleasant memories. This time, he has more people to help him feel less alone.

-

Will stared at the entrance of Hawkins High with trepidation, clutching at the straps of his backpack tightly. His brother ruffled his hair, a familiar and soothing feel that eased the nerves only slightly. They spoke about this day any chance they could ever since they decided to stay in Hawkins for school. Jonathan promised to be there for Will and they could hang out if he wanted. 

Will didn’t want to bother him, knowing that his older brother was considering helping the school’s newspaper under Nancy’s encouragement. El was going to be dropped off by Hopper later after they got a last minute meeting with Dr. Owens in the morning, but Will was sure that she would most likely be hanging out with Max and Lucas.

Jonathan sighed when Will didn’t react to him, leaning back in his chair. He looked at the familiar high school, then around the parking lot, picking at pieces from his memory of the last time he was there. He never thought that he’d be able to finish high school back in their hometown, a small place with a bittersweet mixture in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Now that the Upside Down was dealt with, for good, knock on wood, he felt more confident that by graduating here, he’d finally close a chapter of that story and start something new.

A knock on the window jolted the Byers brothers out of their deep thoughts, swiveling their heads over to Nancy who gave them an apologetic smile. Jonathan grinned, looking back at his brother who rolled his eyes and jerked his head over as if giving his permission to go. He hesitated, stopping to ruffle his hair again with more vigor before getting out to greet her. 

Will grunted to himself, climbing out the car and continued to stare at the building. It didn’t last long as a familiar BMW rolled in with Dustin and Steve finding things to nag each other about. Dustin’s ankle had healed, but he still asked Steve for a ride and no matter how much he complained, Steve would always give it to him. Back to the usual, then. 

Right behind was an old black van playing metal music parking right next to the BMW. Lucas and Erica jumped out, the former quickly going around to help Max climb out and handed her crutches.

“You’re lucky I didn’t puke from your driving, you crazy ass –”

“Erica!” Lucas scolded.

His little sister rolled her eyes. “Bye, losers! Bye, Max!” With that, she marched over to Hawkins Middle School with purpose, leaving the older kids shaking their heads fondly after her.

“Why are we losers and you’re just Max?” Lucas asked the red-head.

Max snorted. “Seriously? You had to ask?”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the ride, Eddie!”

“Don’t mention it, my young padawans,” Eddie said with a grin, hopping out of the van. He eyed the BMW where Steve and Dustin were still sitting inside arguing about a movie. “Now, go on in. I’m gonna talk to your mom over there.”

Lucas grimaced. “Just don’t be late. Principal Higgins might crack down on your attendance record.”

Eddie waved him off. “Nah, he wouldn’t. Well, maybe. Well… it’s fine. It won’t take long.”

Lucas nodded, his eyes landing on Will who was watching the whole interaction. His face brightened as he waved him over. “Will! Come on, man, get over here!”

Will smiled, looking back at Jonathan who paused his conversation with Nancy to give him an encouraging nod. Nancy smiled. Will wasn’t that close to her at first, only exchanging pleasantries out of courtesy and not knowing how to interact. Lately, they’ve been making the effort with Nancy staying for breakfast when she slept over instead of sneaking out the window and Will testing his ideas for dungeon puzzles with her. 

It felt very normal and domestic with Jonathan and his mom cooking breakfast together in the kitchen, Hopper heading out early and grabbing his breakfast and lunch packed in tupperware from his mom, and El digging into her eggos. Every other day, Jonathan would make a different version of eggos, whether he added banana and chocolate syrup, assorted berries and a mountain of whip cream, or even cutting it up and building it like a house. El liked covering that one in syrup and knocking down the walls one at a time.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he heard Dustin shouting to Steve, stopping his older friend mid rant. “Will’s here!” He clambered out of the car before Steve could finish, leaving him huffing about how he never listens.

Will felt an overwhelming flood of happiness as Dustin ran over to him, dragging him over to meet Lucas halfway. Max nodded over at him in her usual cool greeting, but her grin showed how glad she was that he was here.

“Dude, there’s so much to catch up on, but the most important one is Hellfire Club,” Dustin started as the group slowly made their way into the building to match Max’s pace. “So, after what happened, Principal Higgins isn’t allowing us to host Hellfire on campus, so we’re planning to alternate between Eddie’s place and Steve’s. You’re going to love Eddie, he’s amazing. You saw him, right? He’s over there talking to Steve.”

Will twisted his head to see said metalhead bending down with his forearm leaning on the roof of the car while he spoke to Steve. There was a weird feeling in his stomach watching them talk, so he quickly looked away. He couldn’t tell what that feeling was.

Maybe it was that bitterness of finding out that they were crazy about DnD again, and was obsessed with their new DM, Eddie, when he had been trying to get them to play with him for the entire summer. He shook that thought immediately, knowing that he had gotten over that when he first found out about it and was happy that they were playing again. He just missed playing with them.

If it’s not that, then maybe it was because Eddie was smiling sweetly at Steve while the latter was leaning in closely, the distance between their faces, or lack thereof, being something that would be completely shunned or mocked if anyone else in this narrow minded town saw. 

Will remembered the road trip to LA over the weekend, how overwhelming it was being in the city. Then, hanging out by the skateparks that reminded him and El of Max, he saw two couples on a double date. What surprised him was that the two men ended up being a couple as well as the two women. And they were holding hands. In public.

“Where’s Mike?” Will found himself asking.

They all shrugged, or what was close to a shrug in Max’s case. “Nancy’s here, so I assume Mike is here somewhere,” Lucas said.

“Let's go over our schedules again so we can figure out where to meet up before lunch and after school,” Dustin said, “Do you have a copy of El’s schedule? This is going to be the first time that we’ll be at school with her. Like, actually taking classes at the same time and not sneaking her around and stuff. This is exciting!”

-

Lunch was interesting to say the least. As he figured, Will saw Jonathan leave campus with Nancy to take pictures around town for her article, so he went to Dustin’s locker that was assigned as the meeting spot before they headed to the cafeteria. Will had been working on his new character sheet in between classes and was sketching out a character design when someone stopped in front of him. Part of him wanted it to be Mike, who he had only seen in passing so far, or even El to check on how she’s doing so far. Instead, it was Eddie Munson himself, appraising his work.

“Uh, hi,” Will said, shifting his binder around to have a better grip on it. “You must be Eddie.”

He grinned, baring his bright white teeth and flashing his dimples. “And you must be the great Will the Wise,” he said, bowing dramatically with a wave of his hand. “Tis a pleasure to finally meet.”

Okay, Will thought, I can kind of see the charm of him. “You know about me?”

“Of course. The boys talked about you in almost every session, especially in the beginning of the school year. ‘Our friend Will used to do this’, ‘Will, our other DM, had made a campaign with that’. I knew your brother from before, but even Steve spoke about you.”

Will’s eyes widened, feeling his cheeks heat up when he mentioned the Party’s de facto babysitter and chaperone. “Really? What would Steve even say? He’s closer to Dustin than he is with the rest of us.”

“Oh, you know, I really shouldn’t be telling anyone this, in case this information gets into the wrong hands, but…,: Eddie said, leaning in to whisper, “Steve said that you’re one of his favorite kids.”

“No way,” Will said in disbelief, shaking his head.

Eddie nodded excitedly. “Totally. You should see how he looks when he talks about –”

His body slammed onto the lockers hard, knocking the breath out of him as one of the jocks twisted a fist around his worned out Iron Maiden shirt. Principal Higgins had not only banned Hellfire on campus, but also prohibited the club from wearing their t-shirts. Although the band shirt wasn’t breaking any dress code, Eddie was still met with disapproving looks.

“Why am I not surprised,” Andy growled, eyeing Eddie before grabbing Will’s collar as well. “The satanic worshiper and the zombie boy hanging out. Thought we chased you two out of our town a long time ago.”

“Knew you’d miss me too much,” Eddie retorted with a smirk.

“You –” Andy felt his jeans violently yanking down his legs, the force making him stumble back and almost fall on his ass. He quickly pulled them up and spun around, looking for the culprit.“Who… what the fuck?”

“Leave my brother alone, mouthbreather!” El called out, glaring at him. Will smiled, seeing his knight in floral sweater standing in the middle of the hallway with their friends behind her watching in awe and glee.

“What did you call me, you –” He tripped over as his pants fell again, making him face plant the floor. The students all burst into shocked gasps and laughter, drawing the attention of nearby teachers. Andy pulled himself up and strode over to El. “You bitch!”

“Mr. Cooper!” Ms. O’Donnell scolded with her arms crossed, pursing her lips. “This is only the first day back at school, Mr. Cooper. I do not want to give you detention, or worse, for not only public indecency, but also harassing and attempted assault on a few students.”

Andy’s jaw dropped as he stepped away from El. “But –”

“No. You’re lucky I’m feeling gracious today. Do this again and it won’t be just detention that you’ll be worried about. As for everyone else, move along. There’s nothing to see here.” With that, Ms. O’Donnell sent a nod at Eddie before walking back to her classroom.

Andy stomped away, shoving people in his path. The moment he left, the Party felt like they could finally breathe again. El ran over to Will and hugged him tightly.

“Are you okay?” El asked him.

He nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks, El.”

“Yeah, that was pretty metal staring him down like that, young Skywalker,” Eddie added, patting her shoulder.

She frowned. “Skywalker?”

Eddie blinked, mirroring her frown. “You know, Luke Skywalker? Star Wars?”

“Oh.” She nodded in understanding. “The others spoke about this, but I have not watched it yet.”

He gasped, clutching a hand over his heart as he began to make his way towards the cafeteria, the group following without a second thought. “We need to fix that, don’t we?” El grinned and Will could see that she had also slipped under his spell. 

“I’m sure Steve can get us the tapes with his employee discount,” Dustin said, then gave a cheeky grin, “Or probably pay for us if Eddie asks nicely.”

Mike snorted. “He has been paying for his rentals.”

“What? No, he hasn’t. I’m a respectful paying customer,” Eddie defended himself.

“No, you flirt with him then leave without paying. Robin can vouch on this.”

“Absurd.”

Mike shook his head, then nudged Will with his elbow. “Hey, you okay? Sorry, I wasn’t here this morning. I had a habit of wearing the Hellfire Club shirt and got caught wearing it this morning. Higgins made me change my shirt, so… I’m stuck with this sweaty one from the gym’s lost and found box.”

Will wrinkled his nose, not even daring to sniff his shirt. “No, I can tell. I could smell you from the other end of the hall,” he said.

“Shut up,” Mike said, nudging him again with a smile. “I have an extra Hellfire Club shirt if you want one.”

Will smiled back. “Cool… sure.”

Lucas and Max had taken to eating at the back of the school, so they promised to meet up after school at the front. The rest of the former Hellfire Club members had distanced themselves from Eddie even after his name was cleared, much to Eddie’s dismay. He hoped that they could at least continue as Corroded Coffin, but with the Satanic Panic still ongoing and the town still thinking that he was a devil worshiper, their parents did not want them to associate with him. Gareth still acknowledged Eddie in the halls, but Frank and Jeff were close to graduating and they didn’t want to mess anything up.

Eddie took his usual spot at the head of the table, Will on his right and Dustin on his left. Mike took his usual spot next to Dustin while El sat across from him next to Will. The older boy let them talk amongst themselves as he sat deep in thought. Usually it was about his campaign, retracing the character arcs of his main NPCs and how they come into play in the main storyline, the types of challenges that the party will face, the mini bosses leading up to the big bad. Now, he was thinking about how Mike kept looking at Will as he spoke and how the latter would look towards him whenever he laughed.

“What do you think, Eddie?” Dustin asked.

Eddie blinked. “Huh?”

Dustin let out an exasperated sigh. “I knew it. Stop daydreaming about Steve –”

“I wasn’t… this time.”

“Gross.”

“Hey, dude, you said it.”

“I know, but, it’s like, you guys are like my big brothers, so…”

“Anyways,” Eddie interrupted, flicking a pretzel at him. “What were you guys talking about?”

“We were talking about how Will could redesign the t-shirt,” Mike said excitedly, “He’s really good. You should see all the drawings he did for our previous campaigns and this poster he painted and –”

“Okay, little Wheeler, cool your jets. I know how good Will is, I’ve seen his character design.” Eddie leaned an elbow on the table and tilted his head to look at Will with wide curious eyes. “Got some ideas already, little Byers?”

“Uh,” Will leaned back, flustered at his sudden undivided attention. “I have some. I can have some drafts down by this weekend, if you want.”

A grin spread across his face, showing off his dimples. “No rush, little Byers. I look forward to seeing it.” 

He patted Will’s back affectionately before asking what other movies that El had yet to watch. Will smiled to himself, thinking that maybe the rest of the semester won’t be so bad after all. He could see why his friends praised the older boy so much. Eddie was loud and obnoxious, but he was also kind and affectionate. Dramatic and attentive. Chaotic and intelligent. He’d been through the trenches with the Party and their bond had become stronger than ever. Will hoped that he could build anything remotely close to that kind of bond with Eddie now that he was back.

-

The rest of the day came and went, Will’s steps feeling lighter as he made his way to the front entrance of the school. Halfway down the hall, he spotted a group of jocks, one of them being an angry Andy looking for someone. He turned his head just as Will came into view and he narrowed his eyes. Will was all too familiar with that look and his feet shifted to run in an instant. So much for the rest of the semester being good.

His feet carried him to the back of the school past the bleachers and towards the forest. He could still hear their heavy footfalls and shouting close behind him. His muscles were already screaming at him to stop, but he wouldn’t. This wasn’t something he could just stop in the middle of the field and shout at it to leave him alone. He needed to pick and choose his battles while he had the luxury of choice.

He collapsed against a tree, sucking in air into his lungs as he tried to steady himself. Will didn’t hear anyone behind him, so he took the time to close his eyes, but couldn’t bring himself to fully relax.

“Little Byers?” Eddie asked calmly. Will’s head whipped around, almost making him dizzy. Eddie held his hands out in surrender before tentatively reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. “You good, Will?”

Will looked around at his surroundings, seeing an old picnic table in a clearing that looked to still be in good condition. Eddie’s backpack was thrown on top with a binder and DnD monster manual wide open. The younger boy blinked his eyes into focus before remembering that he was asked a question.

“I… they were… and I just…” Will shook his head, leaning his shoulder on the tree.

Eddie nodded in understanding. “Sit with me. Those losers don’t dare to venture out here into the woods after what happened, so we’re safe as far as I know. You can tell me all about your character while I write up some things for the campaign.”

Will joined him on the picnic table, having the sense to pull out his walkie and turn it on in case his friends wondered where he was. They fell into a nice flow with Will talking animatedly about his character and Eddie asking him questions every now and then to get a feel of where the character would fit in the world he created for the campaign and what he could add to it.

After a while, Eddie looked up from his writing at Will. “Uh, so I’m going to ask a question and you don’t have to answer this, but… is there something going on between you and Mike?” Eddie asked as gently as he could.

Will sat in shock, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as his cheeks reddened. His body was itching to jump up and run again, but there was something telling him that Eddie was safe. “Is there something going on between you and Steve,” he countered.

Eddie smirked. “Yeah. It’s still new, but it’s been a long time coming. Nancy threatened to send us to Murray if we didn’t get our shit together. Nothing official, since we’re still trying to figure things out. I just wanted to let you know that if you need someone to talk to, someone besides your brother, then I’m here. Though, I would like to add my two cents and say, why Wheeler out of all people?”

“Mike’s my best friend,” Will said, relieved that his suspicions were right about Eddie but also wanting to defend his crush. “He’s always been there for me. Not like there were many guys that I would feel safe to crush on anyways.”

“True. I lucked out with Harrington, though, didn’t I?”

Eddie wrapped up the finishing touches to his worldbuilding notes sooner than Will wanted. He fell into step with him after they packed up their things and headed back to the school. Will stuck close by, eyes scanning the remaining students and every corner warily. From what Dustin and Lucas told him, those jocks could be very persistent when they wanted to.

Jonathan was by the bleachers when they walked back, frowning in concern. His arm reached out before Will got to him, drawing him in as soon as his fingers gained purchase on his shirt. Will sighed into his brother’s shirt, hugging him back. Jonathan nodded over to Eddie to show his gratitude for looking out for him. Eddie waved a dismissive hand, patting his back.

Jonathan pulled away, his hands still on Will’s shoulders. “You okay?”

Will nodded. “I’m good. Just never thought that there were people still hung up about the whole Zombie Boy thing,” he said tiredly.

“They’ve got nothing better to do and they want someone to take their anger and boredom out on,” Jonathan said as they continued to walk. “Someone told on Andy and his friends, so you don’t have to worry about them now.” 

Will sighed in relief. “I hope so. Good thing I found Eddie, though.”

“Hey, us freaks gotta stick together,” Eddie piped up. “Besides, Zombie Boy sounds kinda cool if you think about it.” He slung an arm around Will’s shoulders. “Kind of like a superhero or a rock band name. Zombie Boy! Playing at the Hideout at 10 with special guest Corroded Coffin!”

“Well, hearing it in the same sentence of Corroded Coffin, Zombie Boy doesn’t sound that bad,” Will admitted.

“See? You know, I tried recruiting your brother for the band a few years back,” Eddie said, nodding over to his brother who was avoiding Will’s shocked expression.

“Really? You never told me! As what?”

“Drummer,” Jonathan mumbled, “I… I didn’t want to be on stage in front of people. I would take pictures for them, though. They used to use them for their flyers around town.”

“Whoa, you could have been much cooler.” That remark earned Will a playful smack upside his head.

When they reached the parking lot, their friends were already crowded around Jonathan’s car and Eddie’s van, Steve’s BMW parked not too far. Max and El were perched on the hood of Jonathan’s car, watching with amusement as Lucas tried a trick on his new skateboard. Dustin and Mike, having no interest in anything sports related, were pouring over a map and a few open magazines next to them. Steve was leaning against his car, talking to Robin and Nancy who looked to be teasing him about something. Jonathan came over, bumping his hip with Nancy who entwined their fingers without a second thought.

“Hey, Will!” Dustin said, waving him over. “Where do you want to go for the road trip?”

“What road trip?” Will bent over at the map, seeing a few destinations circled and scribbled on.

“Steve’s gonna get an RV for our summer road trip.”

“Did we ever return the one from the trailer park?” Lucas asked, trying to kick the skateboard up but hit his shin instead.

“Yeah. That got sorted out and they were compensated for their troubles,” Max said nonchalantly. “That’s cool of Steve to get a new van for us, though.”

“Hey, hey, whoa. Steve,” Steve stressed, waving a finger at them. 

Robin rolled her eyes. “He’s talking about himself in third person again,” she muttered to Nancy who tried to hold back a smile.

“Did not say anything about a van or anything. I simply said that it would be cool if we did something for the summer. You guys volunteered me to do this road trip.”

“So, no road trip?” El asked softly, looking at him with puppy eyes that Max taught her to utilize. As if it’d take much to convince Steve to do anything for them.

Steve deflated instantly, putting his hands on his hips. Eddie snorted, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Thanks for letting me drive Stevie,” he said, blinking his doe eyes at him.

“Fine,” he sighed. “We’re going to have a set of rules, though, and if any of your parents say no, then we won’t do it.”

Dustin raised his hand. “Can I try to drive the RV? My mom said that if I start learning on a big vehicle, then I’m able to drive any car.”

“Sure,” Eddie said at the same time as Steve’s firm, “No.”

“We’ll talk about it when the time comes,” Steve said.

“Cool, now that that’s settled, movie night at Steve’s this weekend! We’re watching the Star Wars trilogy, since Supergirl hasn’t seen it yet. Thanks for renting it out for us, big boy.”

Steve shook his head fondly at him, leaning closer with a smirk on his face. “Jokes on you, I bought those tapes already.”

“You're a romantic.”

“I feel like I’m getting used to their sappy display of affection,” Dustin said, packing up the map and magazines and shoving his backpack in Steve’s car. “I gotta go, though. My mom wants to run errands together today.”

“Right, we’ve got things to do,” Jonathan said, ruffling Will’s hair. “We still got that cabin project to work on, then I’m going to help Nancy with something. You kids hanging out over at the Wheelers?”

Everyone except Dustin nodded, splitting between Jonathan’s and Nancy’s cars. Dustin took his spot in Steve’s car and rolled his eyes when Steve and Eddie were taking too long to say bye to each other. Robin left, catching a ride with Vickie and promising to see them tomorrow. Will caught Vickie smiling widely at Robin as she climbed in, her face turning red under her gaze.

Growing up with his small group of misfits, he still felt alone, different, wrong. From disaster after disaster, he had pushed his feelings aside because they weren’t as important as saving the world and his friend’s and his new sister’s happiness. It seemed to be a Byers thing, from what he had seen from his mom and his brother. They just needed to surround themselves with the right people to feel that their wants and feelings mattered. This also meant that he had to let them in as well. 

After opening up to his brother and to Eddie, he was gradually feeling comfortable expressing himself more. Gradually, he’ll tell the others, too. Now he knew that this evolved group of misfits and weirdos and freaks would love and accept him no matter what. Like Eddies said, freaks stick together.

[bulkyphrase]

Long Non-Stony Action/Adventure Podfics

I put together a Stony version of this list last year, and finally got around to a non-Stony version. This is mostly Stucky, but there's a delightful gen fic and a lovely Steve-centric multiship story in here too.

[Podfic] Assets Out of Containment

read by seleneaurora (@seleneaurora80) (Gen, Teen, 6.5 hours)

Summary: After CA:TWS, Bucky Barnes suspects HYDRA is running a project in a little place called Jurassic World, and decides to go poke it with a stick.

Based on Assets Out of Containment by follow_the_sun (@lasrina)

(podfic) When You Wake

read by secondalto (Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers, Explicit, 2.5 hours)

Note: I found this fic to be kind of emotionally devastating, so maybe save it for a day where you feel like crying for while.

Summary: Live. Die. Repeat. Steve learns to navigate a life where his death resets time, robbing memories from those around him, changing the course of his constantly rewriting history.

Based on when you wake by sevenfoxes

The rest is under the cut!

[Podfic] Memory

read by quietnight (@quietnighty) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Teen, 2.5 hours)

Summary: He remembered nothing. After the first few weeks, he asked to be called James.

Based on Memory by orphan_account

[Podfic] On a Pale Horse | written by leveragehunters

read by Tipsy_Kitty (@tipsyxkitty) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Teen, 2.5 hours)

Summary: Fast and fierce, the Horse Guard protect the Kingdom and its people, and they welcome anyone into their ranks-noble, commoner, or peasant-so long as they can ride a horse like they were born to it. Guard Barnes—Bucky—has come to the Kingdom's largest horse fair to find a new horse. He's supposed to choose from one of the approved horses; instead he finds himself buying a tall, skinny, angry stallion with the ridiculous name of Steve. Bucky can't leave him behind, but he's nothing like what Bucky's looking for and everything Bucky doesn't want. But Bucky's more right than even he knows because Steve's not a horse at all. He's a man under a curse, victim of a powerful sorcerer's temper and magic, and he's bound to never, by action or deed, reveal what he truly is. It's gonna be one hell of a ride.

Based on On a Pale Horse by leveragehunters

[Podfic] If Wishing Made It So

read by seleneaurora (@seleneaurora80) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Teen, 3.5 hours)

Summary: Modern Winter Soldier AU where Bucky is a genie who became HYDRA's Asset. When HYDRA found the Tesseract they also found a genie in a bottle. Knowing a genie's wishes are a trap that will turn and bite you, they used the power of the Tesseract to enslave the genie. It cost them three wishes but it bought them an Asset with power greater than any human and for 70 years they used him to work HYDRA's will on the world. Until they lost him. His bottle washes up on a beach and he's found by a new Master, Steve Rogers. Steve, horrified at having absolute power over someone, has a very different approach to being in control of a genie. While Bucky waits for his new Master to show his true colours they're trying to work out how to live with each other. Bucky doesn't trust Steve, Steve's friends don't trust Bucky, and no one realises HYDRA has not let their Asset go so easily.

Based on If Wishing Made It So by leveragehunters

[Podfic] [2021 Re-Pod] Closed Book

read by quietnight (@quietnighty) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Explicit, 4 hours)

Summary: Bucky woke up with a headache, a mouth that tasted like something had died in it, and hands-down, swear-to-god, the most beautiful man he had ever seen asleep in his lap. Bucky was also, he realized after a moment, strapped down to a hospital bed with about six different monitors making unsynced, equally piercing, beeps. Beyond that he couldn’t quite see—there was a hideous floral curtain pulled around the bed, and while he could just make out figures moving in the room beyond it, the pattern made his head pound even worse the longer he looked at it. So. That was concerning.

Based on Closed Book by AggressiveWhenStartled

[Podfic] Fourth Floor

read by Tipsy_Kitty (@tipsyxkitty) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Teen, 4 hours)

Summary: Steve has his life in order, okay. He goes to wizard college, even if he can't technically do magic. He has his own apartment, even though it's small and dinky and kind of gross, and forgets to exist sometimes, and might also be alive? Plus, he has a crush on the hot cyborg in unit 404 who cooks fiendishly good breakfast foods, and may or may not have some kind of weird connection to the sentient building they live in. He's not sure. He's dealing, all right, his life is in tip-top condition, or it was until an eldritch monstrosity called the Hydra started posing as a real estate company to try and buy over his new home. He's really pissed about that. (The one where Steve is an angry millennial wizard, Sam is a Disney prince, Natasha is a shapeshifter, and Bucky is a spoiler.)

Based on Fourth Floor by dirtybinary

[Podfic] The Necrofloranomicon

read by Tipsy_Kitty (@tipsyxkitty) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Teen, 5 hours)

Summary: Bucky didn't want much. Just to keep his head down, to sell his scavenged flowers in peace, and to stay off Shield's radar. His life would have been a lot easier if his flowers weren't dead and if being a necromancer wasn't illegal, but easy or not, he was getting by. Steve didn't want much, either. He was happy working for Shield, he had good friends, and overall his life was going just about the way he wanted it. Problem was, being happy with your life was generally an invitation for fate to throw a spanner in the works—and in Steve's specific case, it was going to be a spanner named Bucky. (A love story about flowers, trust, and magic and the choices we make about doing what's right.)

Based on The Necrofloranomicon by leveragehunters

[Podfic] Out of the Dead Land

read by quietnight (@quietnighty) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Explicit, 8 hours)

Summary: Someone is building machines that look and act like people. Meanwhile, the Winter Soldier tries to be Bucky Barnes.

Based on Out of the Dead Land by orphan_account

[Podfic] cascades.

read by quietnight (@quietnighty) (Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Mature, 15 hours)

Summary: “Holy shit,” Howard says, crackling through the speakers. “You alive in there?” Lying is a sin, of course, but Steve’s not sure what else he can do. He’s already lied to the government and Bucky and God Almighty; and himself, himself most of all. He ought to tell the truth. That he’s not quite what they hoped for. That perhaps they should put him back into the ocean. “Probably,” he says, instead, listening to Howard’s tinny laughter; and waits for the blast doors to unlock.

Based on cascades. by orange_crushed

[egyptian-sun-god]

Never Have I Ever (mildly critical lens)

1. BIG THING. NHIE is not a show that was made directed at me. Yes it has similarities with my heritage as Indian but I am not American. Not born there nor raised. I am a diaspora Tamilian though, and my schools throughout most of my life have had very little Indians and even fewer Tamilians in them. Usually its just me.  So while there is overlap, Devi and I would have innately different experiences and worldviews.

2. Why is her last name Vishwakumar and her Dad’s name Mohan? Where that coming from. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most to all Tamil people use patronymic's right? Like am I right or am I tripping? Someone correct me. I checked Mindy Kaling’s bio and she took her father’s last name so I might be tripping? 

3. Okay straight off the bat, Devi annoyed the hell outta me. Like no joke...I really dislked Devi. But she’s a traumatized teenager who has no common sense and too much hormones. I’ve seen ppl like her so I’m fairly happy we have a flawed and messed up portrayal of a POC and doesn’t feed into the idea of perfection. But also Devi’s mom is suprisingly lenient to Devi’s disrespect man. like I see why but woowowowowo....she’s uncharacteristically tolerant sometimes. 

Now even though I get that Devi is supposed to be flawed and unlikeable. Because she is immensely selfish and bitchy with shitty communication skills. Devi’s friends forgive her waaay to fast. Like ladies, what are you aiming for? SAINTHOOD? Like at least let her grovel a little bit for being such a bitch. 

4. Love interest. Y’all heard me. WHY THE FUCK IS BOTH OF HER INTERESTS WHITE or at least definitely white passing. Like they did Paxton dirty man. Like was it too much? Was it too much to wish for Devi to have more Indian friends or like an Indian/POC love interest? I feel personally that it is such a weird precedent that has been set with POC centric love stories. And this definitely should be a critic that has come up before. 

You know which love stories resonated with me? Nalini and Mohan. Because it represented the possibility of like marrying someone (going off the assumption they were arranged to be married) and falling in love after marriage. A very real scenario for many many couples. Kamala’s entire shenanigan with Steve and Prasanth and having to choose between the uncertain boyfriend situation but losing family but keeping family and going with an arranged marriage. Also props to Kaling for not demonizing arranged marriages. Please please let season 2 explore Kamala’s struggle more. Hell even that one off thing with Eleanor and the tech crew boy was funny. 

5. Kamala’s whole character was many vibes. Because counting down and stressing about marriage is such a goddamn relatable feeling. I ain’t that much younger than Kamala and let me tell you the anticipation/fear is REAL. And like her talking in Ganesh puja and like weighting the options of being a social outcast or going with the arranged marriage and with the hope that like you’ll find someone cool.

6. I don’t like how Devi tries to reject her Indian culture and I really really hope they develop that next season or something and get her to find a balance. Because at the end of that season she did get a good talking to about trying to be Indian enough or too Indian and finding that balance but it doesn’t feel like she’s finding that balance and her being jealous of the other Indian girl does not bode well for me. 

ALSO THEY FUCKING MISSED OUT SO BAD. You make a series about a Tamil American girl and you don’t name drop any famous stars. Thala Thalapathy, Superstar??? VJS?? Surya? Dhanush? Nobody? Why? Like Devi doesn’t know them...makes sense. But like Kamala is from town right? She has to have carried some of that. Like that scene when she called them for a movie right? Why not name drop some famous ass classic like Baasha or Sachein or Roja? Like a cool nod to the Tamil kids out there watching this series to see parts of their culture and language included. Like even the soundtrack and songs have no Tamil songs? Like not even one for the heck of it?? WHY? IS THAT NOT SO SO MUCH MISSED REPRESENTATION? Like typical Tamil things like making a beat out of random shit, Tamil kuthu songs, Typical Tamil mega serials, food and enjoying food together. Like why wasn’t the food stated or name dropped. 

Personally, NHIE was really really really white palatable and it didn’t really get it into any roots of our culture especially for a girl struggling to find roots as in where she fits. Like you gotta show both cultures and let the audience and Devi figure out where she fits. If you show long Netflix shows like Pretty little liars, show alternatives like mega serials such as Chitti or Mudiyaathu Karuppu or Mettioli? Or if you wanna be more modern name drop Tamil webseries’s? If you wanna show English pop hits, show Tamil album songs and kuthu beats. IF YOU WANNA REPRESENT, THEN ACTUALLY REPRESENT. Don’t pull this generic ass BS on me!

5. I hope the lack of tamil culture in the series gets corrected next season somehow. I don’t have ANY ANY faith that it will. But I can be hopeful. Also I lowkey like that Devi has like a “rival” of another Indian girl. I don’t like that is is rivalry cause brown sisters gotta support each other and that’s sort of been the general motto from where I’m from. But like I get why and it would make complete sense. 

I really really hope that Aneesha is like super super Indian. Proud of her culture and brings a lot of her culture and its facets to discussions and not afraid to make her culture a focal point of herself.  It would be a really good foil to Devi and it might spark some thought into her and accepting or at least recognizing the cool shit about being Tamil. I wanna see that mainly cause I used to be lowkey ashamed for having a strong accent when I speak cause I was made fun of and I didn’t like having different lunches or listening to different music and not being part of the more Western culture. But I learnt to ignore that and became like 3000 times more proud of being Tamil and wore like traditional clothes to school, ranging from kurti tops over jeans at first and eventually wearing full on chudidaars and saris (saris to proms at least, I couldn’t wear a sari on a daily, half sari probably, sari would be hard). Bringing traditional sweets and food and distributing them to anyone who would ask and trading lunches.  Please let me see a brown kid who is proud to be brown and straight up in your face about it at times. 

(Unrelated but to Tamil/Indian ppl who had other Indian/Tamil kids in your school like was trading lunches or like sharing lunches common? Like its a pretty common Tamil thing to do and I brought that culture of taking some of everybody’s lunch and giving everybody a part of mine everywhere I went. But like was that a thing? )

[uppastthejelliclemoon]

Ao3 Fic Masterpost

alright, this is going to be a bit of a long post, but i have been meaning to make this for a while!

so my Ao3 is hearth_goddess, in case some of you didn’t know!

i know i post most of my updates for my fics on this blog, but i thought i’d just do a whole masterpost of all the fics i have on my Ao3, with a bit of a summary on the series and why they’re organized the way they are!

check out my fics if you haven’t already, and feel free to send me prompts and/or suggestions!

Non-Cats Stories: these are stories I’ve written that aren’t in the Cats category at all, but I still love them! 

back then was when we touched the starlight: my first Starlight Express story! I loved writing this, and I’d love to write more StEx in the future!

Soldier, Poet, King: a Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus songfic I wrote concerning my favorite trio of demigods. After listening to the song over and over again, I realized how well it fit, and I had to write something, and this is what came of that!

Choices: My first fic published on Ao3, and a Carlos-centric Disney Descendants story that doubles as a tribute to the late, amazing Cameron Boyce.

after the strike: a 1992 Newsies fic that I rewrote after posting it years ago on ff.net! I’m a sucker for protective!Jack Kelly, so this fic is purely self-indulgent!

and they lived happily ever after: literally pure Belle and Adam fluff for the 30th Anniversary of my favorite Disney movie!!

Chronicles of Narnia: i'm planning on adding more fics to this section, because CoN is so important to me

oh, brother of mine: a peter-centric story that focuses around peter's thought process as he finds edmund on the battlefield after jadis is killed

Stranger Things: the growing list of fics I've written that focus around the Stranger things characters

show no fear, for he may fade away: a stranger things fic focusing on Dustin getting Vecna'd and Steve being the best big brother bc i think they deserve some hugs <3

to the boy i wish was my brother: What Max wrote in her letter to Steve, plus Steve getting to cuddle with his two favorite kids

if you only hold me tight, we'll be holding on forever: the most angsty platonic soulmates Stobin fic that takes place during s5

come back to me, please: more Stobin s5 scenarios, except this one is soft and full of emotional reunions between my beloved dinguses

The Madrigal Triplets and their Mirabel: some sweet, short fics about Julieta, Pepa, and Bruno and their daughter/niece, Mirabel

green glasses: a sweet, fluffy, slightly angsty fic focusing on Bruno and Mirabel Madrigal from “Encanto”! I love their relationship, and couldn’t resist writing something for them!

little cloud: a short fic that focuses on Pepa and Mirabel Madrigal, and their relationship prior to the events of the movie and during the movie.

quiet smiles: a short focusing on Julieta and Mirabel Madrigal, and Julieta's inner monologue about the changes that she sees in her daughters prior to, during, and after the events of the movie.

we see how brave you've been: Pepa, Julieta, and Bruno's perspectives during Antonio's Gift ceremony and Mirabel's ceremony at the end of the movie.

visions: A brief glimpse into Bruno's visions, and how Mirabel became his favorite sobrina, even before she was born.

Aboard the Havoc Marauder: a collection of shorts about the Bad Batch, Omega, and their adventures around the galaxy!

is there an echo?: my first Star Wars fic featuring my favorite group of boys, the Domino Squad from Clone Wars, and the Bad Batch! (but specifically feat. Echo, because I love him.)

bigger than any of us: the Echo and Rex hug we should have gotten at the end of episode 7 of The Bad Batch, complete with some emotional heart to heart between the boys!

no one cares who your father was, only the father you will be: just Omega and her five dads being the softest family in the galaxy. They get all the hugs they very much deserve in this fic!

guilty conscience: Echo’s reaction after Hunter orders the Batch to leave him behind, and the overwhelming guilt that follows.

shadows: Echo being the best ori’vod to Crosshair, and Crosshair finally getting the hugs he deserves from his two older siblings (hint, the other older sibling isn’t Hunter)

a vod's hug: Echo's hugs, and how there is definitely something a little magical going on

plan 88: how season 2 should have ended, aka my determination in my delusions about Fives being alive and him and Echo reuniting

Standalone: these stories are part of the Cats category, but don’t fit in with any of my series!

Hearth’s Writing Corner: a collection of all the shorts I’ve written here on Tumblr, mostly Cats. Categories vary and updates are random.

tomorrow they’ll see what we are: my Cats/Newsies AU!! I’m so proud of this fic, and getting to write a story for two of my favorite musicals has been so much fun.

the magi-coolest cat: my forbidden Tuggoffelees fic that was 100% supposed to be written as a joke but i took it a little too seriously and now it’s one of my favorite stories.

The Alley Cat: my Thomas O'Malley is a Jellicle fic that focuses around him, Skimbleshanks, and his reunion with his family in the Junkyard.

Jellicle Prompts and Jellicle Shorts: these are the fics I’ve written that take place within the “canon” Cats Universe, though aren’t canon within each other

A Cursed Dream: Munkustrap-centric

The Adventures of Plato, Alonzo, and Etcetera: just a couple little snippets about some underrated kitties!

A Jellicle Through and Through: George-centric

Mr. Vague and Aloof and his Terrible Bore: Tuggoffelees-centric

His Precious Flower: Munkustrap and Jemima-centric

Terms of Endearment: Tuggoffelees-centric

The Story of Seven Kittens: Mistoffelees-centric

Until the Jellicle Moon Appears: Munkustrap tells the kittens about how the Jellicles came to be

hush my darling, don’t fear my darling: Deut Bros-centric

hold on tight, we shall never let go: Alonzo-centric

thrill of the chase: Tuggoffelees-centric

We’re A Family, We Stick Together: a human AU feat. OCs created by myself and my mutuals!

***please pay attention to the tags/warnings in some of these fics

Serafina’s Story: OC-centric

Jubilee’s Story: OC-centric

Athena’s Story: OC-centric

making the choice: Tuggoffelees and OC-centric

settling in: Tuggoffelees and OC-centric

ornaments and family: Jellicles-centric

don’t take the girl: Deuteronomy Bros+their girls-centric

i keep your memory, you visit me in my sleep: Seruggoffelees-centric

the long way home: Macavity-centric

missed opportunities: Seruggoffelees-centric

twitterpated: CanonxOC pairings-centric

1998/2019 Switch: the full versions of the blurbs and brief plots i mapped out here on tumblr under the same tag!

The Magicians: Mistoffelees-centric

Hearth and Home: stories concerning my OC, Hestia the Hearth Cat, and everything within her “canon”! these fics often feature the OCs of some of my mutuals, and i always list whose OCs are whose!

heart of stone: Serafina's backstory and how she left Macavity

Hearth and Home: How Hestia came to live with Tugger and Mistoffelees

The Hearth Cat and the Library Cat: Hestia and Jubilee meet

The Jellicle Ball: Hestia’s first Ball (aka the Musical Ball)

Ghosts: Hestia meets a stranger who seem oddly familiar

Family Photo: Tuggoffelees + their kids take a picture together!

Halloween: Some unexpected visitors come to the Junkyard

the pocket watch: Tumblebrutus gives Hestia a very special gift

i thought i'd never see your sweet face again: a 5+1 Tumbletta story within the Henchcat!Tumble AU

Tuggoffelees Week 2020: all the prompts from Tuggoffeelees Week 2020, including a prompt that launched the inspiration for my Newsies AU!

curls and coffee: First Meeting, Human AU

kisses and coffee: Kisses, Human AU

buttons and maybe: Fight/Reconciliation, 2019-verse

sure as a star: Favorite AU, Newsies

dyin’ ain’t so bad: Kidnapping, 1998, warning for character death

terribly aloof, vaguely boring: Personality Switch, 1998

i think i wanna marry you: Wedding/Engagement

Macavity's Victims: these are “canon” compliant stories that focus on the Deuteronomy brothers and Demeter and Bombalurina’s relationship

The Tale of Two Sisters and Three Brothers: how Demeter and Bombalurina ended up with Macavity, and what happened when they returned to the Junkyard.

A Strange Sense of Peace: After the Ball, and another semi-analysis of the Deuteronomy Brothers

[ilikemcdanno]

Hi! So I recently, late last year, became a H50 fan. I'm not really a TV person but I kept seeing one of my mutual blogs posting a lot of McDanno centric posts. So I became interested in their (B)romance thru her.

I've never watched every episode. Especially after finding out how the producer/writers fumbled the finale.

My question is, do Tani and Junior (not even bringing up Quinn or Lincoln since I don't know how long they were on the show or in what capacity i.e. regulars or not) bring substance to the show? Not their romance, but their characters.

This is in no way bashing Meghan or Beulah as actors, but were they basically Kono and Chin 2.0?

Maybe it's because I am so heavily invested in Kono and Chin as original H50 ohana. But I even tend to avoid fics that have Tani and Junior in them.

I'm still not even sure my feelings towards Lou.

Perhaps I'm just being too narrow-minded. And resentful of how Grace and DDK were treated in the end. Don't even get me started about how Scott was downgraded towards the final seasons. (I do know he started spending more time in LA with his family, but is that the only reason how character was treated so poorly. Who knows. I guess it's a "Did the chicken come first or the egg?!" scenario. )

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my ask.

Hi. I’m so glad that you got into the show! To be honest, I'm not much of a TV person either, but this is the one show I do really love. And before you read all this, I am very honored that you came and asked me about this.

(Disclaimer: I’m sorry if people disagree, and you’re welcome to reply or reblog with your opinion because I would love to hear ‘em! But this is my personal thoughts and what I could type out.)

To answer your question, Anon. I do like Tani and Junior, and I like what they bring to the show. They are not Kono and Chin 2.0 and I’m glad. In simple terms, I wouldn’t trade them for anyone else. I think they did well. Both with the casting and character writing. (I'm forgetting the word for that.) So if you’re wondering whether or not to watch s8 onwards with them, I do suggest at least giving it a shot. And then you could decide for yourself.

Now, you could stop reading this post right here and that’ll be fine. You’ve got your answer but I shall go more in-depth. Because... why not. (I apologize if I get a little rambly.)

(edit: I realized you didn't ask about the romance, but since I typed this out already, I'll keep it in.) I do wanna say I appreciate the sorta ‘young romance’ they kinda had. Acting like teenagers in their flirting, even when they barely knew each other. It’s almost refreshing in my opinion. Since I feel like other couples in the show were never like that? Not they never had a chance to be. Since this show likes to keep people apart somewhat. (Especially when it came to Kono and Adam for example.) Now if you ask some people about Tani and Junior’s romance, they might be happy for them. But it does often get brought up that Tani and Junior are basically Steve and Danny but straight. And even the show itself has made parallels. But that’s a whole other conversation.

Now In all honesty, I do find myself caring more for subplots/episodes that were about Chin and Kono. I do love the core four more if I’m being completely transparent. I miss Steve and Danny having the cousins by their side. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love Tani and Junior.

However, as a whole, I think the entire show suffered as the seasons went on. Even (as you mentioned) Danny’s characterization suffered. And to answer your question about Danny/Scott: I do believe that Scott spent more time in LA (which I don’t blame him for) but I think the show was already losing some of the 'charm' it originally had. So it’s not so much that Danny’s character suffered, but other aspects did too. And even Steve somewhat suffered with his character as well.

Another person came and asked if season 2 was worth watching, and I told them yes. Seasons 1-3 are prime h50. Even season 4 was, debatably. But it’s hard to keep a show - especially one that has ran for so long - good.

But nothing is perfect either. No piece of media is going to stay good forever. And I’m thankful for all 10 seasons of h50. But of course, as time went on things changed for better and for worse. And Grace and Daniel realized they deserved more pay (or as much pay as Alex and Scott) and they do! But unfortunately, a big company is a big company. And they’re not always fair.

So once they left, Thus Tani and Junior came in. They aren’t Chin and Kono replacements in characterization. They’re their own people, and they’re interesting and they have their own backstory and as much depth as the show could muster. So does Lou, and Chi McBride is such a great actor, he’s made cry a few times already. Then as Quinn came in for the tenth season, even Lincoln. They were good as well. Everyone did their jobs.

However, adding all these characters still doesn’t change the fact that Chin and Kono are very much still missed. I wish we could have kept them. But unfortunately, Hollywood is the way it is, and actors deserve to get what they're owed. So I don’t blame them for leaving.

Anon, if you’re still reading then, feel free to ask more questions. I apologize if this was confusing to anyone, but I had run writing it. Thank you all for reading. ❤️

[sweetsoursugarcube]

8 stucky fic recs

I promised to do some stucky fic recs so that's what I'll do. I still haven't found that ideal *chef's kiss* 👌 BAMF Bucky angst fic, but it's a work in progress, aka, I'm wading through the Bucky fic sea looking for it, so stay tuned. In the mean time, some other good stuff:

Have Sunlight, Too, and Clover by yamyamyam (with soap art!)

This is a sort of crack treated seriously where Steve wakes up to everyone in the world being part wolf and a/b/o. Bucky is an alpha, werewolf-shifter and the Winter Soldier in recovery, but the fic is Steve-centric. Absolutely hilarious!

Kiss, Marry, Kill by Starshot

An even crackier fic treated seriously where the Winter Soldier understands his order as kiss Captain America and not kill. The famous CA:WS fight scene ends very differently, as you can imagine.

Debridement by KathrynShadow

Bucky is still in the Winter Soldier mindset, suffers from PTSD and the general hurt/angst from his time with Hydra, but he's drawn to Steve. This could be read as either platonic or romantic love.

Easy for You by Crave

BDSM!AU with dom!Bucky and sub!Steve being on the opposite ends of the spectrum. The first chapter is about their first time as kids and the second chapter is about when Bucky is recovering from his Hydra time. There's a lot of angst potential that is part explored, but could be even more so.

But words can wait (until some other day) by Liyah_Ayerst

Another a/b/o fic with a feral alpha!Bucky who is still in his Winter Soldier mindset. He flees from Hydra in order to be with omega!Steve again, who he recognizes as his mate. The ending is abrupt and Bucky doesn't really recover during the story. Trigger warning: more dub con than the average a/b/o fic due to Bucky being feral.

Here's two fics with the Winter Soldier angst factor cranked up:

no matter the distance, I’m holding your hand by suzukiblu

Yet another a/b/o fic with alpha!Bucky in the Winter Soldier mindset. This fic has so much angst potential, but it ends quite abruptly and without any proper comfort or closure. As a warning though: omega!Steve has/had sexual relations with both Natasha and Peggy.

The Winter Soldier and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Mission Parameters by Lasgalendil

Bucky is still deep in his Winter Soldier mindset in this fic and he doesn't get out of there. This fic is just pure angst and hurt. Trigger warning: Bucky was raped by his handlers as the Winter Soldier, but it's not dwelt upon.

I'll also mention this one because it's a cool af concept BUT it comes with the same trigger warning as above: Bucky was raped during his time in the military. I'm not personally too crazy about the 'Bucky got raped´ trope so I'm trying to work around those fics.

Something like belonging by DarkCaustic

An a/b/o with modern!Bucky and Captain America!Steve where both of them are alphas, but Steve has always felt more like an omega. He finds dom!Bucky's BDSM club where he gets to be the sub he's always wanted to be. It's an interesting story with an alpha/alpha pairing, but the backstory here is that Bucky used to be versatile before he was raped in the army and as a result became a dom/top only.

If you got fics that you feel got similar vibes as these, feel free to rec them to me :)

[finitepeace]

fics i read this week:

 I read some bucky x natasha fics: 

Head Is Not My Home by taralkariel

Summary: The Black Widow is a legend. Legends aren't made cheap.

Shaken by the events of Civil War, Natasha Romanoff goes back to familiar ground to hide. To hide and remember how she became the Black Widow. How Natalia Romanova would do anything to save her father-figure. How she was one of 28 ballerinas with the Bolshoi - no, one of 28 Black Widow agents with the Red Room. How the only thing that made her feel human was a man with a metal arm.

(A story to show what really happened in the comics Red Room and how it could fit into the MCU)

19k words in 12 chapters, not rated (maybe T&up?), bucky nat up to IW, i think.  it’s not very dark themed <3,

tell me baby, do you recognize me? by xocean

Summary: "You're a liar." Natasha is shaking. "You're a heartless, lonely, lying murderer."

He doesn't even blink. "We both are."

The Winter Soldier's game is up, and Steve's not letting him go this time. Enter the only person who doesn't want a part in this shitfest: Natasha Romanov.

Or, as James Buchanan Barnes remembers her: Natalia Romanova.

63k words in 10 chapters (from 11), angst.

 and an IronDad x SpiderSon fic: 

This B.S. Better Be Worth It by losingmymindtonight 💙

Summary: Originally, Tony's plan had been to just surprise Peter with the fact that he would be on campus for a semester.

He’d never actually expected Peter to sign up for his class.

7k words in 4 chapters, tony acting like a dad (and awesome professor)

 as usual, the rest are Stony fics:  

American Dream by NobodysBloodyPrincess

Summary: Tony is trying, but try as he might he just can’t find the silver lining of this particular disaster.

After all, what happiness could possibly be derived from the knowledge that the perfect little girl in his arms is now motherless? What relief could be drawn, when his boyfriend of ten years, the love of his life really, is probably, currently, right at this moment in the arms of ‘Peggy’ his new fiancé?

13k words, no powers au, tony-centric, stevetony has broken up and tony adopts a kid, steve is depicted a bit insensitive (idk what the word, like unable to read the room?) here. 

Where Our Restless Monsters Sleep by Mizzy 💙

Summary: Years after Tony Stark saved the universe, the Avengers realize there’s a major problem: his body has gone missing. And he isn’t the only one. Fallen heroes all over the galaxy have had their graves pillaged.

An old foe is stealing the bodies of fallen warriors, but for what nefarious reason? There’s only one solution. To find out why it’s happening, Steve’s gotta die.

He probably shouldn’t be so eager to do that.

233k words in 12 chapters, post endgame resurrections (?), gladiator trope, lots of action scenes, and THERE’S MORGAN x STEVE INTERACTIONS!!!!! 

The Culling of the Stars by dirigibleplumbing

Summary: Tony dies saving Steve's life on the courthouse steps. Now Steve is left with the fallout of their Civil War, expected to take charge and preserve Tony's legacy. He doesn't know how he can do it alone—not when he can't stop thinking about Tony, or keep track of the days, or even feel.

9k words, comic book’s civil war not MCU’s, angst but gnidne yppah 

Together, Always by Sapphic_Futurist 💙

Summary: He swallows hard, a prickle of tears in his eyes because this is his husband.

This is Tony Stark and Steve’s husband, and Steve gets to have this. He gets to have this for the rest of his goddamn life.

30k words in 3 chapters, embodiment of stony’s “together” T_T, read the tags if you want to be spoiled lol if not then enjoy! (and I don’t regret not reading the tags tbh) 

And I'd Buy A Big House Where We Both Could Live by shinkonokokoro

Summary: Missing: Tony Stark, billionaire businessman, heir to Stark Industries, reward: none

Only Steve didn't know that when he picked up the waterlogged unconscious man from the bank of a river.

59k words in 29 chapters, non-power au, kid clint and peter as steve’s brothers

i stole the keys to this guy by kellifer_fic

Summary: Where it was Nick Fury's idea, but he didn't mean it like that

6k words, fake dating into real dating 

Home Is Where the Time Machine Is by Wordsplat 💙

Summary:Steve and Tony's daughter accidentally falls back in time, and learns that impossible time travel phone calls can and will be made just to ground you, big brothers are awful snitches, and parents used to date other people. The past blows.

23k words in 5 chapters, domestic, stony being married 

don't know why it took me so long to see by goodmorningbeloved (3799steps)

Summary: “Oh, watch this,” Natasha says, propping her chin against her knuckles and turning a sweet gaze on him. “Tony, what’s it like dating a superhero?”

Tony bristles in irritation. “We’re not dating,” he snaps. “Captain America probably thinks he can get into anyone’s pants just ‘cause he’s got a mask, costume, and reputation, but not me, buddy. That shield? Gotta be overcompensating for something.” He adds, a bit petulantly, “Oh, and all that blue? Definitely more Steve’s color than his.”

- In which Tony is a genius in all matters except recognizing his boyfriend past a mask.

11k words, tony being peacefully oblivious while the whole world isn’t. 

I Started a Joke by Naferty

Summary "Tony?"

"Who the hell is Tony?"

102k words in 11 chapters, tony is the winter soldier 

Take Two  by Wordsplat 💙

Summary: Steve loses his memory but he gets the feeling he's lost a lot more. Who exactly is Tony Stark to him and why won't he come out of the basement?

24k words, i just love it. 

Sunrise Over the End of the World by Sapphic_Futurist

Summary: When Dr. Strange arrives at an Accords Committee Meeting and warns of the coming of an alien megalomaniac set on destroying the world, the Rogues are pardoned and Tony finds himself exactly where he never wanted to be. Back at the Compound with Steve, who still can't take a hint and won't leave him alone.

--

In which Tony is broken and Steve finds redemption.

35k in 11 chapters, explicit, civil war fix-it up to infinity war 

Far Away And Long Ago by Ragdoll (Keshka) 💙

Summary: Steve steps into the past and discovers that hope held on a pedestal is as insubstantial as smoke. Then he sees Tony. And that's when things get complicated.

Full summary contained within.

18k in 4 chapters, mature, seems like abandoned WIP :( endgame fix-it au when steve returns the stones... 

Something More Than What They Are series by  Sapphic_Futurist

An exploration of love, denial and propensity for change.

38k in 4 works, explicit, Steve and Tony are married during the civil war madness but seems like their love is not enough to stop it from happening or reconciling T_T 

the marks you choose to leave behind by masterlokisev159

Summary: The Stane faction has been around for many years, long before Tony was bitten. And since he was forced, his life has been nothing short of misery and pain; a prison he will never escape. As a low member of the faction, his only hope at survival is to remain a loyal pet to Ezekiel. So when Ezekiel mentions the growing threat of the Avengers of the Undead, and the dreaded Captain, Tony is adamant to step up and do what he can. It’s also his last chance to see the outside world before he’s bonded to Whitney forever.

But what he finds instead is an unlikely companion with golden eyes. A strange werewolf by the name of Steve.

35k, general, vampire tony/werewolf steve, based on earth-666 

La La Love by Wordsplat

Summary: "To be perfectly clear, Tony always knew that Stephanie Rogers was the best thing that would ever happen to him."

4k words, teen up and audiences, female Steve, highschool au, awkward tony

Meet Your Heroes by Wordsplat

Summary:Tony gets rescued by a highly concerned, very handsy Captain America. This is confusing for a number of reasons.

4k words, identity porn AU, 

Hashtag Finally by Wordsplat 💙

Summary: Tony doesn't ever actually ask the Avengers to move into his house, steal his wifi, eat all his food, and become the best family he's ever known. They do it anyway.

15k, teen&up, domestic avengers a.k.a. tower life, hyperactive Clint lol, super cute, everyone are stony supporters

Thanks For the Memories by Wordsplat

Summary: When Tony is sent crashing-all too literally-into the 1940's by an alternate-universe Loki's spell, neither Tony nor Steve are prepared for the consequences.

9k words, time travel au, secret pining 

[sarcasticfina]

Fic Writer Tag Game

How many works do you have on AO3? 263

What’s your total AO3 word count? 4,901,188

How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they? including the fandoms on FFnet, that haven't yet been moved over to ao3, that'd be a total of 37. separating the larger fandoms (marvel, dcu) into their individual parts: Thor; Arrow; Smallville; The Vampire Diaries; Glee; Captain America; Supernatural; Teen Wolf; Iron Man; Life with Derek; Firefly; Friday Night Lights; X-Men; Fantastic Four; Harry Potter; Sons of Anarchy; Girl Meets World; Batman; Daredevil; From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series; Transformers; Lost Girl; Game of Thrones; Banshee; High School Musical; The OC; One Tree Hill; CSI: New York; Degrassi; Gossip Girl; NCIS; The Unusuals; Criminal Minds; iCarly; Secret Life of the American Teenager; Twilight; and The Listener

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. and I wonder (if everything could ever feel this real forever) - darcy/bucky - Steve tells him that Darcy's harmless. Bucky imagines, on paper, Darcy is harmless. HYDRA wouldn't give her a second glance. But he does. He can barely keep his eyes off her. He's not sure he wants to. | Kudos: 5576

2. I Climbed The Tree To See The World (When The Gusts Came Around To Blow Me Down, I Held On As Tightly As You Held On To Me) - darcy centric | darcy/steve - The path to self-discovery, including becoming Coulson's assistant-slash-liaison-slash-bff, Captain America's lady love, and rating fourth on the SHIELD BAMF scale, was like the yellow brick road; it was chaos and confusion around every bend. | Kudos: 3973

3. Take a little piece of my heart (and keep it for yourself) - oliver/felicity - A collection of Olicity prompts on Tumblr posted here for easier access/reading. | Kudos: 3498

4. You put your arms around me (and I'm home) - darcy/bucky - A collection of Darcy/Bucky oneshots, drabbles, and prompt fills. | Kudos: 3293

5. you (anchor me back down) - darcy/bucky - "I'll be right back." Famous last words. | Kudos: 2747

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? not all of them. i do try to keep up on them, especially on longer stories when there's been significant wait times in between chapters, or when a reader is asking a question or is unclear on something. and especially when someone writes a really indepth comment/review, i like to respond to those and talk about motivations and character growth.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? I've written a number of fics that either had suicide or major character death, so i'm not sure if one outranks the other in terms of most angsty... hmm... i remember "be still and know that I'm with you (be still and know that I am here)" and "light a match, burn the world to ash (I will watch it die, and hold your hand as I fly)" both got some pretty intense reactions when they were posted. And "It's Your Song That Sets Me Free (I Sing It While I Feel I Can't Go On)" was basically just angst from beginning to end. buuuuut, i think i'll say "so you think you can tell (heaven from hell" was, only because there's a build up of everything going so right, only to pivot at the end, so it feels very bittersweet.

Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? i loooooove crossovers. i find writing in the marvel fandom makes things quite easy, but also smallville. as long as i can find a common thread, i enjoy finding a way to overlap two shows. i'll say the hardest one to write was "ruby red slippers (unavailable in her size)." I'm not sure why, but i found writing each personality together just felt strange. i liked the idea behind the story, but i definitely remember feeling like i was really forcing myself to keep going, like something just didn't fit right.

Have you ever received hate on a fic? oh, definitely. you cannot please everyone, it's impossible. for the most part, hate comes and i either argue back, take the criticism for what it's worth, or just ignore it when it's baseless. i think the hate that bothered me the most was a homophobic PM someone sent me re: "you know I will adore you ('til eternity)," on FFnet. i actually went and searched it up. they've since blocked me so i can't read our whole thread back and forth. but i did put part of it on tumblr so i could rant on it a bit, so you can see that here.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? ha. yes. depending on the story, it can be really detailed or really flowery. it depends on the ship, the plot, and how graphic i feel like being. i've definitely become more comfortable over the years with my writing. that said, i think everybody likes something different. i once had a reviewer tell me a sex scene was too much, just too intense. it was a stefan/caroline story and to be fair, that entire oneshot was just them fucking, lol, but it is what it is. to each their own.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Multiple times.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! for the record, i am always happy to have my stories translated and shared. i just like having a link sent to me and to be credited.

What’s your all time favorite ship? i have a list of OTPs, because interests change and as shows come and go, my love for a ship can be shelved for a while before it pops back up at random. currently, i can't get enough of buck/eddie from 9-1-1. and, historically, chloe/oliver (smallville) and felicity/oliver (arrow) have been two of my top OTPs. but i think i'd have to go with bonnie/damon. they had all the potential and the show dropped the ball by not exploring it. at the same time, that's kind of a blessing, because i don't trust those writers to properly explore what they had without eventually destroying it for the likes of de/ena. it means a treasure trove for writing where it could have gone and all the what if's.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will? the intention is always to finish. but given how i feel about allison mack and how that impacts my feelings re: chloe sullivan, pretty much anything with her as a main character is not something i see myself returning to.

What are your writing strengths? What are your writing weaknesses? i'm putting these together because my strength is my weakness. i love to write. when i get an idea, i go all in and i will skip eating and sleeping to just write write write. but i also eventually hit a wall and i get so many ideas that i hyperfocus on one until the steam is gone and then i hyperfocus on the next one to maintain that need to keep writing, accidentally leaving the last story in the dust for entirely too long. i also have clinical depression that comes and goes, which hasn't been super great mixed with covid and isolation, so more often recently, i find myself overly exhausted and despite wanting to write, can rarely get motivated to do so. so, pre-covid, wrote so much i left entirely too many stories dangling. during covid, i've just been reading and struggling to get myself focused enough to do what i love.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? i appreciate the authenticity when possible, but i've recently been reading more about how native speakers of other languages feel when a) their language is butchered by google translate, or b) it's just not genuine in terms of how bilingual speakers act or speak.

What was the first fandom you’ve written for? it was smallville, but i remember adopting it out to someone else because i wasn't going to finish it. so if you look at my ffnet, the first fandom i wrote for appears to be x-men: the movie, but i remember writing a chloe/oliver story prior to that.

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written? i have a lot. i mean, on ffnet, i have 576 stories, many of which were transferred over to ao3, with a lot of oneshots and drabbles getting joined together into collections. so there's a ton to pick from that span a 14-ish year timeline.

"you know I will adore you ('til eternity)" and "let me break (the walls that surround me)" hold a special place in my heart.

honestly, each story is important in its own way. there are bits and pieces of each that i love. every time i write something new it feels like my favorite. my best. and then a new idea comes along. there are scenes i've written that i loved more than the whole of what they became. lines that stand out that are almost too good to be a part of the larger picture.

one of my all time favorite passages i've written was bonnie's thoughts on damon and herself in 'if you love me (let me go)":

He is far from perfect. He is a novel of red, corrective ink. He is frayed pages and torn binding. His life, his choices, his mistakes leave lasting effects on everyone he meets.

She is a lifeboat with a hole in it. An anchor that drowns in the sea while everyone else remains steady above. She is both the calm and the storm, and while she screams that she will not be tamed, she cries. Bittersweet tears that go unnoticed and uncared about.

there are other stories, other pieces of dialogue, that i've been proud of. that make me laugh when i re-read them. that make me cry. and i love them. there are others that make me wilt and cringe and regret. it's a process. love and pride and growth, all bound together.

Tagging: @absentlyabbie, @anonymous033, and anyone else who'd like to fill this all out, haha