#unbeknownst to him i was literally in the middle of a nightmare

[kiddokori]

my sweet beautiful boy has woken me up at 2am by crying incessantly on my floor to show off his mousie that he caught to me. his stuffed toy mousie. we’re all very proud

[drunkenkissesatdusk]

LABYRINTH - gr63

pairing . . . george russell x fem!reader summary . . . you never actually meant to wish your bother away, but if you wanted him back, you'd have to travel to the goblin king's castle and retrieve him. But maybe you don't go back, maybe the goblin king entices you, and you have to make a decision. warnings . . . literally a labyrinth!au because I watched the movie last night and I watch it consistently every summer, other than that, nothing else. notes . . . i don't remember where this idea came from, I just had the idea of it and decided to make it. also, this is only part 1!! be patient for any other parts. <3

━━━━━━━ YOU HELD YOUR crying younger brother; he was relentless as you pleaded with him to stop. Unbeknownst to you, after you had started your spiel about the goblin king taking him away, you were under watch. Goblins sat around the room in the cover of darkness as you finally laid Toby to rest.

"I wish the goblins would take you away, right now." You spat, flipping off the light and walking away into your room. You paused mere seconds later, silence filled the hall and your father and stepmother's room. Unusual.

The room was the same as before, Toby's crib sat in the middle of the carpet, close to your stepmother's side of the bed. Reaching into the crib whilst expecting the worst, your nightmare came true - Toby was missing.

Suddenly, a flash of lighting elicited an owl to bang against the window of the room you were in. Snarls and weird noises filled the silent air, it left you scared and spinning around in horror. Once the owl broke open the window, it became he.

"You're him, right? You're the Goblin King." Your eyes widened; he stood in all his glory before you. He was different than you expected, a slightly scrawnier man with light blue eyes and fluffy (albeit messy,) brown hair. He was gorgeous.

"I want my brother back, please." You pleaded with him once you regained your composure. Staring into his eyes was hard, seeing as he was more beautiful than you could've ever imagined.

"What's said is said." He had a British accent as he spoke, staring you down from where he stood on the windowsill of your father and stepmothers bay window.

"But I didn't mean it!" You exclaimed, tears filling your eyes. Had George not been the Goblin King who was madly in love with you, after years of watching you, he would've taken pity and returned Toby. How was he supposed to convince you to be his Goblin Queen if you could leave with your brother and be okay with it?

"Oh, you didn't?" He grinned as you stood motionlessly. He was rather intimidating.

"Where is he?" You pleaded with him, trying to drag the answer from his gorgeous lips - why were you staring at his lips?

"You know that very well." He spoke effortlessly, as if he'd done this thousands of times before. He hadn't, but he had dreamt of this moment with you.

"Please, bring him back." A tear slipped from your eye, and George had fought everything in himself to reach forwards and wipe the tear from your face. He had a plan to conduct, making any mistake would be costly.

"Go back to your room, play with your toys and costumes. Forget about the baby." He stepped even slightly closer to you, but you hadn't noticed. Distraught raced over you, Toby could be in danger!

"I cannot." You sighed. It was a quiet understanding you had reached as he spoke; you needed your brother back and you needed him back now.

"I've brought you a gift." George grinned slightly, this was going well, and he knew that. It would lead to an ultimatum you would make in the end, but you didn't know that this was all nearly scripted. You were playing right into his trap.

"What is it?" You were interested, your eyes sparkling with some sort of wonder.

"It is a crystal, nothing more. But, if you turn it this way," he rolled it in his hands again and again, "and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But this is no gift for a girl who takes care of a screaming baby." he was still messing around with the crystal ball, moving it around in a near hypnotizing way.

"Do you want it?" He asked her, she sheepishly nodded, "Then forget the baby." He added. You, however, were stubborn. Toby was still your brother, and you still needed him back.

"I cannot." You sighed, "I do appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but I want my brother back." your eyebrows furrowed instantly, thinking about what he might be going through. "He must be so scared." you worried aloud. George watched, a small grin formulating along his lips.

"Do not defy me, you are no match for me." He stepped forwards, but you stood your ground.

"But I must have my brother back." You felt another tear leave your eye. This time, George was close enough to wipe it off, an intimate gesture that left you flustered and weak in the knees. You shook off the feeling, scolding yourself instantly.

"He's there, in my castle. Do you still want to look for him?" George pointed through the window. The landscape changed instantly, switching from the rainy darkness that once was, to a barren wasteland esque area, filled with an intricate design of twists and turns - the labyrinth.

"Is that the castle beyond the Goblin City?" Your voice shook slightly as you stepped up to the platform, George was not far behind you.

"Turn back, dove." The small nickname sent an unwanted rush of butterflies through your stomach, and you kept your face forwards. "Turn back before it is too late." He added, acting as if he had not just called you an intimate name.

"I cannot. Do you not understand?" You felt like breaking down and sobbing. How selfish of you to say that, to say that and get Toby - oh, the poor baby! He must be horrified! - sent away to a place both of you were unfamiliar with.

"What a pity." George was grinning.

"It doesn't look that far." You noted, scanning the area before you.

"It's further than you think, and time is short. You have thirteen hours to solve the labyrinth before your baby brother becomes one of us forever." His voiced echoed out a "such a pity" before fading out into the distance.

"It doesn't look that hard, c'mon feet." And you were off on the worst mistake of your life, you should have stayed home and accepted defeat, you could've run away and changed everything about you, but you got yourself into this mess, which means you'll have to get yourself out.

━━━━━━━ NEXT PART! - MASTERLIST!

is this too niche I feel like no one really knows this movie anymore

rip David Bowie though </3

[marimeeko]

After the war, and after the recovery effort in Japan is started, Katsuki's family decides to take him away to recover. Maybe to some family who lives in another part of the country, somewhere quiet.

He is reluctant, especially when he and Izuku have kind of established some sort of talk about what had happened the past year, what they were feeling, about the war, and about each other... and part of their healing was done with them being inseparable.

Things are starting to go really well between them, and a lot of the air is even more cleared. They're kind of on the same page about some very strong feelings being mutual, but they haven't committed to doing anything about them, or making something official.

They just are now aware just how much they mean to each other. Even if they don't know what to call it.

So Katsuki is kind of annoyed to be taken away from that at this juncture. There's a lot of rebuilding to be done with UA as well and he kind of wants to be part of that. His parents promise that he can take part, but they want him to have at least a couple of weeks kind of removed from the whole area, the campus(where he was literally killed) away from hero work, to refresh and focus entirely on healing himself.

He obliges because he doesn't have the energy to fight his parents on it, let alone participate in the rebuilding efforts just yet as his body readjusts...but he is MOST bothered by the idea of leaving Izuku.

Izuku, at the same time, is asked by a sympathetic Inko, to stay home in Mustafu while his father is finally allowed to return home for a reunion with his wife and kid. He is disappointed that he can't at least take leave with Katsuki to make it easier for him.

So, they compromise by getting themselves connected by FaceTime/Zoom like programs, and they talk every night, and text everyday. They will drop everything to take a quick call from the other and they will use their nightly video chats to talk about everything that they have done in the day, though Katsuki is loudly frustrated that he is "doing nothing out in the middle of nowhere" but Izuku gently laughing, telling him that that's exactly what he is supposed to be doing and it's OK. But then a sad smile and a "I wish I could be out there with you..."

Katsuki staring at him deeply thru the monitor, and softly asking "What about your old man? Everything good?"

Countless times, they will just fall asleep together with their laptops next to them, still on call, wrapped in their blankets.

Their parents turned the computers off for them in the night ONCE but after the boys having horrible nightmares and waking up to a blank screen, they learned to just leave the boys to it. Their energy bill is a small price to pay for their boys having less anxiety attacks from not sensing the other on the other side of the line.

Unbeknownst to the boys, Inko and Mitsuki talk too, about how their kids are doing. And start talking about perhaps taking BOTH families on a combined vacation at some point in the coming months. They'll plan that as things pan out and as UAs continued curriculum schedule for 1-a becomes more concrete.

Once the few weeks away are finished, and Katsuki admittedly feels, physically, a lot better, Katsuki tells Izuku the second he is 5 minutes from the Bakugou home. Izuku drops what he is doing, barely says a rushed, blurred sentence to his parents as he gets out the door, and races across the neighborhood to Katsukis house to be there precisely when the Bakugous pull up to their home.

Katsuki gets out of the back of the car and immediately catches Izuku as he careenes into him. Scoffs and calls him a big, overly affectionate nerd even as he returns the embrace with a look that anyone else would describe as contradictory; prickly, angry and annoyed.

But it's distinctly "kacchan" and Izuku can pull back and see the furious shade of pink on his cheeks, and his eyes cast defiantly away, both lovely and crimson, the right one healed and only the skin of his cheek still marred with soft scarring.

"Welcome home, Kacchan!" He cheerfully laughs, and Katsuki playfully pushes his freckled face away, but smiles the most real smile he has in weeks.

[tokkiwrites]

FAWN HEART PART THREE : love in death.

dark!joel x f!reader

part three | part one | part two | more coming soon.

summary: After a few months of being together, you move in with your boyfriend, 'Adam'. The landlord, Joel Miller, takes a special liking to you.

tags: dark!joel !!!!! , mention of murder, violence, blood, stalking, spying, mention of abuse, kidnapping, age gap, vulnerable reader, stalker joel, mentions of abusive relationship, literally insane joel, restraints, unrequited love, f reader w she/her pronouns. (lmk if i missed anything!!!)

ㅤ↪ㅤtokki's ۫ 𐑺 𝚜𝚞ׂ𝚐𝚊𝚛 ࣭ note ˑ ⌕ ࣭ ּ ➭ i have returned with the next part!! with just 1.5k words, this is more so exposition to set in where the next events will take place. remember guys, THIS IS NOT CUTE. This is crazy stalking behavior, but it is fiction. so stay safe out there. not proofread.

【commencing】: In the twilight of existence, there wandered a figure cloaked in the deepest midnight. She was Death, a woman of otherworldly beauty and a heart that beat with an emotion long thought foreign to her kind. Death had fallen in love.

「july 4th ㅡ unknown time」

A constant trickle sound bounces off the walls and all around you, you can't make out what it is quite yet, but as the fog clears from you vision you find yourself in a dimly lit room, the constant trickle being the rain outside, hitting the roof. Or maybe it was something elseㅡ You couldn't see. There were no windows. You look down and find yourself covered in blood that has blackened, and you want to get up, but you can't. Shaking your limbs, you find you've been cuffed to the frame of the bed you'd been sleeping in. The bed was white, and little fake-flower details plastered in corners where rust started to settle in. There were no sheets, just a splotchy mattress. This is a bed you've surely had nightmares about, or seen in horror movies. Yet, the walls around you told another story, pristine brick walls painted white, a large mural on the farthest one from you: a lush forest with critters all around and in the middle of it allㅡ a deer. one staring right back at you, eyes large as if it, too, was locked in this place alongside you.

you try to remember all that you can, snippets of last night's happening flowing back and over, transforming into tears that threaten to spill out again. You swallow in a sharp breath before screaming a short 'hello', the little echo in the room being the only answer. So you scream again and again until you're out of breath and resort to pulling on your restraints. It seems as if you can't even cry. The tears once there are now completely gone as it dawned on you: will i die today?

you're quickly pulled out from your self inquiry as rapid and heavy steps are heard closer to the door. then it opens revealingㅡ him. You stumble upon your words. " Please, I- What do you want? I'll do anything, just dontㅡ don't kill me please." Joel's brows quirk up, the wrinkles on his forehead hidden under his graying hair. "Why would I kill you, fawn?" it sounded like he was more confused than you at this moment. "Why would I kill the most precious thing to me right now..?" he looks down as he takes each step closer to the bed at the back of the room, where you were. You shudder, unbeknownst to what he might do. "I'm- I.. Why, why me?" You ask, that familiar feeling in your throat. "You? You are...everything." He huffs out the last part with a smile, head crooked as he now stands over you, knees at the edge of the bed. "Everything I've ever dreamed of, baby. I didn't wanna hurt you last night, really... And I'm sorry for this- mess." He says, waving his hands around. "It's not ready, but I didn't expect you to move in so soon. Last night wasn't...planned."

"Why did you do it then?" you find the courage to bite back. "Why'd you murder Adam?" You whisper, the air in the room settling freezing around you two. "Had to be done. I saved you." Joel points down at you, before kneeling down next to your head, as if ready to pray. "Saved you, fawn baby." He traces one of his roughed up finger along your neck, a big smile gracing his features. "I know it's hard for you to understand. But thisㅡ it's all for you. This-!" he exclaims whilst clutching his own chest, circling his heart. "It's all for you."

You're left speechless. This has to be a dream, or a sick twisted prank. You want to laugh but are afraid of Joel's reaction. "Is this... a joke?" and his gaze is clouded by darkness. "A joke? You take my love f'you as a-a joke?" he pulls back from you, still on his knees. "You don't understand, do you?" Joel repeats, his voice lowering to a menacing whisper, cold as steel. You swallow hard, trying to keep your voice steady. "I don'tㅡ I don't understand why I'm here.. why you killed Adam, why you think this is love?" The words tumble out, each one feeling like a step closer to an abyss you're terrified to fall into. Joel sighs, shaking his head slowly, almost as if he's disappointed. "Fawn, my sweet fawn, you don't see it yet, but you will. Adam... Adam was a threat. He was going to take you away from me. He was going to ruin everything we've built together."

You feel a surge of anger. "Built together? I don't even know you! This isn't some romantic gesture, Joel. This is kidnapping. This is madness." He stands up abruptly, his face a mix of frustration and something darker. "Madness?" He paces back and forth at the foot of the bed. "Madness is letting you slip through my fingers, letting someone else have you. Madness is living without you when I know we're meant to be together."

You pull at the cuffs again, your wrists aching. "Joel, please, just let me go. We can talk about this outside, somewhere safe. You don't have to do this..." He stops pacing and looks at you, a strange glint in his eyes. "Safe? You think out there is safe for you? No, no, my fawn. Here is where you're safe. With me. Always with me." Tears prick at your eyes again, but you blink them away, trying to stay strong. "What about my family? My friends? They're going to look for me. They're going to find out what you've done."

He smiles, but it's not a comforting smile. It's a smile that speaks of plans and secrets. "Let them look. By the time they figure out where you are, you'll have accepted our love. You'll understand why this had to happen." He leans in close, his breath warm against your face. "You will. In time, you will. And until then, I'll do whatever it takes to make you see. To make you love me." You turn your head away, refusing to look at him, refusing to acknowledge the twisted reality he's trying to force upon you. "I won't," you whisper, though the words feel feeble and unconvincing even to yourself.

Joel stands up straight, his demeanor shifting from affectionate to stern. "We'll see about that, my fawn. We'll see." He walks to the door and opens it, pausing before he steps out. "I'll give you some time to think. But don't worry, I'll be back soon. And maybe then, you'll start to understand."

The door closes behind him with a heavy thud, and you're left alone, the sound of the rain outside a constant reminder of your confinement. You take a shaky breath, trying to calm your racing heart, but the terror grips you tighter with each passing second. Your wrists ache from the cuffs, and the dried blood on your skin feels like a cruel, suffocating reminder of last night's horrors.

You try to piece together the fragments of your memory, but they come in disjointed flashes, each more terrifying than the last. Adam's face, twisted in pain, Joel's maniacal grin, the sharp, blinding pain that brought you here. A sob escapes your lips, and you bite down hard to stifle it, afraid that he might hear and come back too soon. The wind outside pick up and you make eye contact with the deer on the wall again. Gaze empty, devoid of any fear, acceptanceㅡ andtears finally spill over. you let them fall silently, the only sound in the room the faint trickle of rain and the occasional creak of the old bed frame. You pull at the cuffs, but they don't budge, the metal biting into your skin. Panic swells in your chest, making it hard to breathe.

in the ghostly stillness of the room you shudder and you lie there, exhausted and terrified, a bitter realization creeps in: you have no control over this. No way to fight back, no plan, no hope. You're utterly at Joel's mercy, and the thought is enough to make the darkness of the room a little less unsettling than your reality.

[alexisaflop]

On my mind - Steve Harrington x Reader

Been reading fanfiction, wanted to write something :) not what i normally do on this account but it's fun and I've missed it. anyway im a basic bitch who loves Steve Harrington so I guess that's what's coming first??

Set after the events of Season 2, after the reader saves Steve from a demo-dog. The reader is Dustin's sibling and chats with Steve whilst they wait for him to get ready.

Warnings: brief canon-typical violence, nightmares, literally just pure fluff

Henderson! reader, gnc! reader

2222 words

Had a lot of fun writing this, so let me know if you want anything else from this show :)

You watched as your little brother Dustin frustratedly styled his hair, rerunning the comb through and then inevitably changing his mind moments later.

"Stop watching me, Y/N, this is very delicate work," he exclaimed, closing the bathroom door behind him.

You receded into the living room, trying not to laugh at the antics of your brother. His crush on Max was cringy to watch, but it was classic middle school. Just as you had coaxed Mews 2 to sit with you, you hear a car outside, and shortly after the door goes.

"That'll be Steve, I'll delay him for you," you half-shout to Dustin, as you go to the door. He makes a disgruntled shout of gratitude in response.

"Hey," you say, opening the door.

Steve looked the same as ever, as if the recent events of demodogs and alternate dimensions never happened. He wore a simple red jumper that comfortably complemented his brown hair, that was - as always - impossibly perfect.

"Hey, Y/N. How's it going?"

"He's just getting ready, the suit looks good, but he's just, uh, perfecting the look. Do you want to come in and wait?"

He nodded, stepping inside, the wind from outside danced round him, his hair joining in sync, he was effortlessly handsome this way. Mews 2, seemingly instantly, appeared, purring and rubbing against Steve's ankles.

"Traitor," you commented, smiling slightly, "I spent ages getting her to like me, of course she loves you straight away."

"Oh, is that how it is?" Steve asked, leaning down, lifting the cat, who, much to your surprise, did not protest, "You would have thought that me saving your life and everything would have put us on the same team."

"You saved my life? Come on, Harrington, you know that's not how it happened. If it weren't for me, you would have been demo-dog food."

"Yeah, but that's only because I was only in that position to protect you anyway."

"Whatever, Harrington, I saved your life," you said half-jokingly, slowly approaching him.

It was silent for a while as you reached up and played with the cat, you couldn't believe how much nicer she was being to him. Up this close, you could smell a mixture of his hair product mixed with a seemingly natural scent of pine trees.

Unbeknownst to you, Steve was also watching you, the way your currently messy hair framed your face, and the slight vacancy of your eyes as you seemingly absent-mindedly petted the cat.

"So, how have you been doing, y'know, after everything?" Steve asked eventually.

You slowly looked up at him, calculating how serious an answer he wanted. His eyes looked into yours earnestly, almost intimidatingly so. Noticing you pause, he sat down on the sofa, just waiting for your response.

"I, I mean I'm alright, we all made it out alive - despite your multitudes of protest," you said, smirking at him, "but even though I know it's over, I keep wondering what if it isn't, y'know?"

He smiled sympathetically, it struck you again how pretty he was. "Hey," he said, you wondered vaguely how long it had just been silent, "El closed the gate, you know that, everything's okay now," his voice impossibly soft.

"I know," you nodded, "but sometimes, at night, I just see -"

"Alright, how do I look?" Dustin said, appearing from the bathroom. He paused slightly, noticing the intensity of the eye-contact between the two of you.

You smiled, "You look amazing Dusty, you know Mom promised me I'd get a picture."

Steve watched as you smiled and said this, noticing the easy switch to cheerful and supportive, all for the sake of Dustin. He tore his eyes off of you and turned to look at Dustin. His hair was teased into a curly copy of Steve's own.

"You look great, kid," he said, standing up with a grin.

He stood behind you, pulling faces to force Dustin to smile for a photo, before you insisted him being in one. After all, he was Dustin's chauffeur, and self-proclaimed best friend.

"Alright, have fun okay, and keep an eye on Will, yeah?" you said, dusting off Dustin's shoulder.

He nodded excitedly, already half out of the door, "See you tomorrow, Y/N!"

Steve followed, before turning back to you, "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

You just nodded, but something on your face must have been giving you away, because Steve tilted his head slightly, and those soft eyes of worry made a return.

"Yeah, Harrington, I'm all good, I'll see you around, alright?"

He looked like he was about to say something else. Right on cue, your brother called for Steve, insisting they were going to be late.

Steve muttered something about Dustin being a little shit, before half jogging down to his car.

You waved them off, before closing the door and sinking back into the sofa where he had sat moments before.

*****

In the car, Dustin asked, "Hey, what was all that with them?"

Not looking up from the road, Steve said, "what was all what?"

"With Y/N, you kept staring at them whenever you thought they weren't looking. I'm not blind, Steve."

"It was nothing, really, I just care about them that's all"

"So do I, so don't lie to me Steve, come on. I thought we talked about this type of stuff, now, since I love Max and all."

Steve could have sworn he sounded slightly genuinely put-out. He smiled slightly, "I just meant that ever since in the tunnels, when they saved me. They got hurt for me, and I feel kinda guilty about it, and then I couldn't get them out of my head. And they are beautiful, which doesn't make it any easier to forget."

"Hey, that's a blood relative of mine you're talking about there," he exclaimed.

"You did ask, and beautiful is hardly graphic, come on."

"You should tell them", Dustin said, "they'd prefer you were just straight with them. Plus, I hate having to watch you staring at each other, it's gross and distracting."

Each other? Steve thought, were they doing the same, and he hadn't even noticed?

"Fine, fine, maybe I will. But enough about that, here we are" Steve announced as he pulled into the school.

"So remember, once you get in there..."

"I don't care," finished Dustin.

Steve nodded, hyping him up, "That's right, you don't care."

Still unconvinced, Dustin checked his reflection, which Steve did not allow, as he closed the mirror he said, "hey, you look great."

"uh-huh," mumbled, Dustin doubtedly.

"You look great, you look great, okay?" Steve questioned insistently.

"Yeah".

"You're gonna go in there, look like a million bucks"

"YEAH"

"And you're gonna slam dunk"

"Like a lion," agreed Dustin, before making a weird noise with his teeth.

"Uh, yeah, don't do that."

Dustin nodded, defeated, and got out of the car.

"Go get 'em tiger!"

Steve smiled slightly, as he watched Dustin go, shaking his head, wondering how he became friends with some random kid. All because of Nancy - speaking of whom. He saw her through the window, talking to Jonathon. Steve leant back in his chair, and decided he was glad she was happy with someone else, as he pulled out of the car park, turning back towards the Henderson household.

****

You were still on the sofa, now curled into a ball as you read a book.

And then there was a knock at the door.

"Hey, Y/N, can I come in?"

You nodded, letting him in, he was holding a VHS and a plastic bag of snacks.

"I thought, if you can't sleep, I might as well get you to relax... if that's okay."

"Steve," you said, starting to say that he didn't need or have to.

But he shook his head, gently pushing you back into the sofa, he was warm, and even after he had removed his hands, you could feel a sparky outline of them.

"No Y/N, I owe you, you did, after all, save my life."

That got you to smile slightly.

Steve settled next to you on the sofa, a respectable distance, but close enough to reach out to him. You could almost hear his breathing, and you could smell him again. It was comforting, he was really here, unlike all the things you relived in the dark, and he was grounding. As the film ended, you realised how tired you actually were, and tried, but failed, to hide your yawning.

"So, when was the last time you slept, like properly?" asked Steve.

You just shrugged.

"Come on," he said, having switched off the TV, he pulled you gently out of the sofa and you both meandered to your room.

"What if you stayed?" you mumbled, you were almost embarrassed to ask him, but his presence was keeping you calm in a way you hadn't felt before, which wasn't something you were ready to lose.

"If you're sure, that's okay," was all he said.

You vaguely wondered if that was something he actually wanted, but you were too tired from your shift at work earlier, and then getting Dustin ready, that you didn't really want to start questioning that.

Steve went to the bathroom whilst you got ready for bed. As he washed his hands, he looked at himself in the mirror, pausing in slight disbelief that you were letting him stay around. The truth was, he loved your company too, like he had told Dustin, you hadn't left his mind since that night when you had fought that demo-dog away from him.

When he returned to your room, you were already curled up under the covers. So, he laid down opposite you, on top of the covers, but under a blanket. You were staring in front of you, your eyes vacant, as if looking at something that wasn't really there. But when he settled next to you, you smiled slightly in recognition.

"Hey," you said softly.

"Hey," Steve responded.

You really did look beautiful wrapped up like that. So, he reached out, brushing your hair from your face, when you didn't protest, he carried on. Slowly, he played with your hair, letting it run through his fingers. The entire time, he made sure to be gentle with you, just trying to distract you, as slowly, but surely you fell asleep.

For a while, Steve carried on, just looking at you, but slowly he fell asleep too.

****

Suddenly, you were back in the tunnels, you had reached the hub, and there was one stalking the group. It was staring you down. You were all alone and as it charged, you could do nothing. Your feet were stuck to the ground, it opened up its mouth about to -

You lashed out, swinging your arms in a last minute attempt to protect yourself, before realising it wasn't real.

Steve caught your badly formed fist in his hand.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said softly. He didn't wait for a response, just pulling you into him until your head was buried in his chest. He wrapped his arms around you, one hand resting on the back of your head, starting to play with your hair. The other hand slowly drew circles in your back.

You leant into him, letting him know he was okay to keep going, and eventually returning the hug, with one arm settling over his shoulders.

"You're okay, I promise, I'm right here," he said softly.

You nodded into his chest.

****

In the morning, you were both still entangled. He was watching you with an absent-minded smile on his face.

"Morning, beautiful," he said.

You hit him playfully, "oh shut up," you said, barely daring to believe this was real.

He was still looking at you. "I meant it."

"What?"

"I meant it. I think you're beautiful, I haven't stopped thinking about you since everything that happened. You're brave and kind, and maybe too good to your shithead brother."

You just stared in shock, you couldn't really believe it. Until you had seen him getting his ass handed to him by Billy Hargrove, had you really started to like him. But he had always been gorgeous himself.

You realised he was waiting for you to say something.

"Me too," you admitted, finally looking back up at him.

His hair was falling into his face, so you reached up to fix it for him. It was only then you realised just how close together the two of you really were. His eyes were on you, following your every move. As you fixed his hair, he leant into your hand. Neither of you could break eye contact, until his betrayed him, slipping down to look at your lips before flickering back up.

You smiled slightly, only drawing his attention back to them, as you leaned in, and gently pulled him most of the way.

It started off slowly, his lips unbelievably soft. And then he was pulling you close, one hand coming up to hold your head, the other sliding up your back. You wrapped one leg around him, each of you keeping the other close.

When your faces pulled apart, the rest of you stayed wrapped together. Safe.

You rested your forehead against his.

"Okay, Harrington, we're even now."

He laughed gently, before kissing you again.

[sukunasweetheart]

Lullaby for the Past

Office AU Sukuna x fem!reader

Synopsis; Reincarnated as a human, Ryomen Sukuna - the former king of curses - is now just a perpetually tired office worker living in a world free of curses. His dreams are haunted by visions of his past life, despite not actually retaining any of these memories himself. These nightmares have surrounded him since childhood and nothing he does seems to do any help, so he’s given up and has learned to live with the restless nights, the lack of sleep and the moodiness. That is, until a series of unexpected incidents occur with the newly transferred employee - Y/N.

05. Uncertainty

Word count: 2.6k+

Pain. There was nothing but pain spreading throughout her back and stomach. She was completely fine this morning, so why was this hitting her now, in the middle of work? It was like a fire spreading within her, its fumes choking her up - the ache was so prominent it quite literally was making it hard for her to even breathe. The need to lie down was growing, but of course, she was unable to do that in front of all her coworkers. An iron grip on the edge of her desk, she leaned her forehead against her arm that hung off of its surface, bits of sweat beading on the sides of her head.

Sukuna had stopped his own typing to take another sip of his coffee, when he realised the usual keyboard sounds that emanated from Y/N’s area were oddly absent. He shrugged it off as her doing another one of her habitual phone checks, but his concern only grew deeper when this silence began to stretch out further. A few more minutes passed before he decided that he’d finally check up on her. Wheeling himself back a bit, he was about to say something along the lines of “you slackin’ off?” but instead, held his tongue when he caught sight of her hunched over her desk, taking deep breaths in an agonising way.

“Oi, what’s wrong?” he asked with alarm, a gentle hand on her shoulder. She jumped in the slightest bit, and looked at him with eyes that grew in caution. “It’s, uh…that time of the month,” she spoke as quietly as she could, “the cramps are unusually worse today.” Y/N attempted to straighten herself up a bit but her position was still looking quite uncomfortable. This was bad. She needed to suck it up and finish the rest of the day.

Somehow, Y/N had managed to grit her teeth and endure the suffocating pain whilst she finished up her schedule for the day, and was now closely anticipating the end of her working hours. Unbeknownst to her, there had been somebody else beside her who couldn’t help but feel extra mindful, so much so that he kept having to go back a few times, in order to correct his own typing mistakes. He wanted to ask if she needed any water, another cup of coffee, snacks - only for him to stop himself due to how he didn’t wish to make her talk more than she needed to. Being in agony was one thing, having someone pestering you with questions during it was another.

“Anything I can do to help?” he said with a bit of hesitation.

“I’ll be fine, I took some painkillers, so I’m just waiting for its effects to start hitting,” she told him. Sukuna figured she needed some space, so he responded with an ‘alright’ and wheeled himself back to concentrate on his own work. After a bit, her typing seemed to start up once again, relieving him of his concerns, for now.

At the carpark, he got to the door and opened it up before her. As she walked over to him with a slight hobble, she once again thanked him with a quiet, amused laugh and got into the passenger's seat. There wasn’t any form of conversation between them during the ride, just Sukuna’s stealthy glances towards Y/N, who had her attention turned away from him and was staring outside the window. Without saying a word, he connected his phone to his car with the bluetooth feature, and played whatever relaxing song he could find from one of her created playlists.

“I can give you a ride home,” Sukuna offered under a casual facade, in hopes that she would accept.

“That would be...very helpful actually. Thanks,” she said with a weak tone. He silently nodded and when the time came to leave, he did his best to match her slow pace towards the elevator. Y/N didn’t say so explicitly, but she noticed and appreciated his peculiar demonstration of thoughtfulness.

After around thirty minutes had gone by, Y/N was resting at home with a heat pack draped over her stomach. She was lying on her sofa bed, TV turned on in front of her - it was just a shame how she lacked things to snack on to help ebb her pain and sulky mood away. Just then, her phone gave a vibration to indicate the arrival of a text message. Wondering who it could be, she picked it up, only for her expressionless face to change into one of surprise to see that it was Sukuna.

Having arrived at the apartment's underground parking lot, Sukuna turned around in his seat to face her before she could get out of the vehicle.

“Do you need help getting home?” he asked.

“Uhh, no, I think I’ll be okay,” she responded. “Appreciate the offer though.” “Cool. I’ll see you later, then.”

“You’re not going up?” she questioned with a puzzled face.

“Yeah, I have somewhere to drop by.”

“Oh, alright. Have a safe trip.” He watched from his car as she made her way towards the elevator doors, and only began driving once he’d witnessed her walking inside of it.

Sukuna: Check your entrance door.

Y/N sat up, heat pack tumbling from her stomach to her thighs, and gave a look of perplexity at the rather ominous text. She really didn’t feel like getting up at the moment, but her curiosity of what he had prepared for her at the door was stronger. So she got up, did a quick check of herself in the mirror (just in case - you know - he was standing out there or something) and opened up the door. She didn’t know if it was relief or disappointment, or both, but an odd feeling coursed through her mind when Y/N saw that there was nobody standing beyond it, or down the hallway. Instead, she found a plastic bag hung on her doorknob that was filled to the brim with a bunch of things.

The dense bag was taken in by her and placed on her dining table. Opening it up, she realised how the majority of the objects inside were just snacks and chocolate. A helpless giggle escaped her lips as she dug through the rest of the remaining packets, feeling charmed by Sukuna’s rare adorable side. When she got to the bottom of the bag however - she was able to find something that perhaps made her heart skip a little beat. The same snack that she recommended to him on a whim, back when they coincidentally met at the convenience store. Her mouth might’ve shyly curved up in response, exhilarated by the fact that he remembered.

She took the packet and one of the bars of chocolates with her, and sat back down on the sofa bed, immediately pulling her phone up again to text him back. Minutes of severe contemplation later, Y/N could only think of one thing to send him in response.

Sukuna was gradually pacing back and forth along one of his bookshelves, pretending to be in deep musing over which book he’d like to read, or reread, for the night. In reality, his focus was all gathered onto his phone that he’d purposefully left on sound, to watch out for any replies from Y/N. What am I doing? He thought to himself with an annoyed sigh, snapping the book in his hand shut. He was a busy man, no time to be waiting around for a single text-

When the noise for a notification erupted from his phone, he darted towards it within mere seconds. What he saw was a single emoticon, one of a cute character saying ‘thank you!’ on his screen. Desperately fighting off the grin that tried to make an appearance on his face with a hand over his mouth, he put his phone down and sauntered back to his little library.

-

Weekends were usually meant for catching up on lost sleep (well, trying to) and relaxation for Sukuna, but today, duty called for him at the bookstore that he went to regularly - as they were having a rare sale. He frowned with distaste as there were more people than usual, something he’d expected, but still got him rolling his eyes at. He opted for a quieter area of the store, and along the way, he bumped into someone of familiar frame.

“Sorry, my bad-” Y/N started, her gaze flitting up to look at his face. Upon realising who it was though, her expression went from remorseful to one of friendliness.

“Oh, hey. Fancy seeing you here,” she mimicked. The additional wink made him feel a little giddy, a little weak in the knees.

“Hey,” he repeated, his smirk acting as some form of a defence mechanism. She was holding a bunch of books, around three or four, splayed out across her chest.

“You also here for the sale?” she asked.

“Uh huh,” he responded mindlessly, eyes wandering towards the blurbs of the erotica novels she held in her arms.

Staring at her in awe, he watched as she got them scanned and was out the door in a flash. Turning back around, he eyed the section that Y/N had pointed at and merely frowned with disagreement. Nah, there was no way he’d be into that kind of stuff. Rather, he was feeling slightly dejected about how she’d left him in such a hurry. It wouldn’t hurt to stay behind for a few couple of minutes just to talk, no? He left the area to look for his usual section.

“That’s an interesting taste you’ve got there,” he commented, meaning to tease her.

“Right? You should try one out - they get surprisingly good.” Unfazed, she pointed behind her with a thumb.

“The erotica section is right there.”

“Huh? No, I-”

“Welp, I gotta get going. Want to unpack these treasures ASAP. See you next week!” Y/N then zoomed past him and went through a bunch of other people to get to the register.

He picked the novel up and flipped to a random page in the middle.

When he was finished looking through the non-fiction section, Sukuna was about to head on over to the register when that same area they had met in, caught his attention again somehow.

I guess it doesn’t hurt to be curious… He reassured himself, as he slowly made his way towards it. In search for one of the exact same ones Y/N had been holding, it took him a few minutes of strolling down the aisle to finally find one that he recognised. A few of the women that were in the same section began glancing at Sukuna with curiosity, a subtle thrill rising within them at the thought of such an attractive man enjoying this type of content.

He growls and comes down, kissing and biting my lips. I slide my hands down, gripping his ass, keeping him close, and he thrusts his di-

He closed the book up, immediately. Sukuna stared into space for a moment in bewilderment, only to eventually open it again. Only when he noticed the gazes of the various people around in the area, did he take it with him to get it scanned, in order to continue his reading at home.

-

“A blind date?” Y/N reiterated those words with uncertainty. In the background, Sukuna was sitting at his desk pretending to be uninterested, despite the twitch in his ears.

“Yeah! You mentioned you were looking for somebody, last time. The guy is a friend of a friend of my boyfriend,” Yui chirped up.

Geez, that’s a mouthful, Y/N thought to herself. She guessed it wouldn’t hurt to try it out.

Sukuna clicked his tongue as a dull ache ran through his chest at the sound of them laughing together, as Yui went through a few pictures on her phone. Unable to understand why he was feeling so annoyed, he simply sped up the bouncing of his leg underneath the desk.

“The girl who was supposed to be there suddenly cancelled, saying she couldn’t come.”

“I see… Well, I wouldn’t mind taking her place,” Y/N told her.

“Are you sure? I thought you and Sukuna...you know...were having a little thing together,” she asked cheekily, in a hushed whisper.

“Oh- uh...no. We’re just friends.” Y/N looked away from her and began to play with her own fingers nervously.

“If you say so. I’ll show you a picture of him right now and send you the details later,” Yui grinned at her.

This went unnoticed by him, but Y/N’s eyes were in fact, darting towards Sukuna every now and then, with subtle hope ringing within her mind. Hope for what? She didn’t know. But she was almost sure that he had definitely heard their conversation, if not part of it.

It had become a common occurrence for Sukuna to give Y/N a ride home after work nowadays, since they lived in the same place anyway. He’d always offer, and she’d always accept it, with the excuse of being able to save money from the bus fare. Casual conversation would arise between them, keeping any awkward silences at bay. Today, nothing had changed from this routine.

The date was to be tomorrow, on Saturday. It was on a bit of a short notice, but Y/N doubted there would be any major issues with it. Figuring out what to wear would be a hassle, but she reckoned she’d make it through somehow.

The usual ding echoed as the elevator stopped at her level.

“See you on Monday. Thanks for the ride, as usual,” she said, turning to face him.

“Welcome,” he replied calmly. She walked out and waved at him as the entrance began to slide shut. Watching as she did this, something within him seemed to snap, provoking him to dart his hand out, between the closing doors. Startled by the sudden action, she remained still as she observed them open up again, and he stepped not quite out of the elevator, but also not really inside of it either. His hand was still pressed up against its side, preventing it from sliding shut on his body.

“...What’s wrong?” she said, eyes wide with confusion.

“Hey. About the blind date…” Sukuna started. He had no idea where he was going with this. The words that were meant to come out after that disappeared when he met eyes with her perplexed ones. He wanted to tell her to not go. But for what reason? Was he crossing a line here?

“Yeah? What about it?” Y/N questioned, heart rate speeding up with the feeling of something similar to anticipation. So he had been listening.

Sukuna let out a loud sigh and leaned the back of his head against the wall of the elevator after the entrance was now closed up. Fucking great. Probably just weirded her out now.

Any further dialogue was now lodged in his throat as he hesitated, dragging out the heavy silence between them further. In the end, he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and clicked his tongue.

“No, ’s nothing. Sorry for holding you back,” he spoke with a low voice, withdrawing himself away from the doors.

“O-Oh. Okay. Bye,” she said. The tension was lifted, but her heart was still beating erratically.

The rest of Y/N’s evening was spent restlessly, as she had her worries for tomorrow’s date, muddled up along with what Sukuna could have possibly wanted from her during that moment.

Masterlist

The tiny snippet in the bookstore scene is from an actual erotica novel - Punk 57 by Penelope Douglas

[dateamonster]

✨oc masterpost ✨

a list of various characters and a short summary of their.. whole deal, grouped according to the stories they share. i have no idea how long this is gonna get so i just put down a handful ive been thinking/posting abt recently. ill update as i go. (last updated 8/16/23)

🎀🫀

eden (she/her): cringefail californian superhero fangirl. unemployed and pissing away her limited savings when she comes into contact with an alien entity who possesses her body and gives her powers beyond her wildest dreams. unfortunately, said alien is totally Not Cute, so eden has dedicated herself to rehabilitating their shared image. not the magical girl she wanted to be, but the magical girl the world needs.

scabby (it/she): eden’s alien counterpart. together they are scabigail, a baddy beating babe, nevermind the fact their shared hero form looks like a fleshy pink bodyhorror nightmare. she came to earth seeking the glory of bloodshed. what it got was significantly cutesier and sparklier than it had been hoping for, but it makes do.

😈😇

desdemona “des” deville (she/her): teenage demon girly. kicked out of her fancy private demon academy for various acts of mischief and mayhem to the point that even a school for literal demons couldn’t take it anymore, she now attends a public school with a mix of fellow monstrous, supernatural, or otherwise abnormal students. she takes pride in her rebellious nature but is starting to sweat under the disapproval of her father and “perfect” big sister.

angelique harmony (she/her): teenage angel girly. kicked out of her fancy private angel academy after taking the fall for another students misdeeds. she is sweet and kind and more than a little (unintentionally) condescending in her self righteousness. she befriended des on her first day of her new school in hopes that redeeming the seemingly irredeemable demon would get her reinstated at the academy. unbeknownst to her, des was thinking the same thing. theyre best frenemies 5evr!

hellena deville (she/her): des’ older sister, an ambitious absolute monster of a demon. destined from birth to inherit the family business, hellena embodies an air of cold professionalism in every aspect of her life. gucci to the core. shes in her senior year at the academiae infernalis and has an on-again off-again relationship with an underachieving demon boy from an equally influential family.

sadisme “sadie” deville (she/her): des’ younger sister, a middle schooler with an infatuation in all things cute and sparkly. despite having little interest in the usual demonic pursuits of torment and vice, she is already a skilled manipulator. her cutesy appearance disarms and endears (almost) everyone she encounters and as a result shes used to being doted on. absolutely does numbers of monster tiktok.

⭐🚙

adam kiddrick (he/him) is the impulsive, rebellious, heart-driven defacto leader of his friendgroup, consisting of several suburban teenagers on the verge of adulthood brought together by the bonds of extreme boredom. hes the guy who makes plans, a mover and shaker, even if the plans are often either very poorly thought out or consist of “hey lets go smash bottles with a tennis racket in the 7/11 parking lot”. a scheme gone wrong leads to his expulsion and him and his friends being separated and scattered, which leads to enact one last master plan to spend the summer bringing everyone back together one last time. by stealing his uncles van and going on an impromptu road trip.

perseus/percy nine (he/him) is an alien starkind from the depths of space, who came to earth after picking up radio transmissions from its surface and becoming enamored with humankind. even with a form which appears human he is notably bad at fitting in or laying low, and hes constantly toeing the line between friendly and dangerously naive. the rest of his species seems to have little interest in any planet-bound life at large and consider him bizarre for his interests. but when percy descends to earth, his elder “siblings” are willing to do anything to bring him back, even if it means (unfortunately for all parties involved) tearing the world apart.

conway seung-saintgermaine (she/her) is adams right hand arm. man. his silly rabbit. etc. growing up tomboyish and feeling alien in her surroundings, conway gravitated towards a male-majority friendgroup early on. she was raised torn between the sensibilities of a humorless academic dad and her “anything goes” hippie mom to the point where she cant stand the idea of either and instead hides behind faux apathy to avoid the embarrassment of taking a passionate stance on anything. the aforementioned scheme gone wrong gets her transferred to a very traditional all girl school on her dads behest which forces her to reckon with why she cant seem to feel Normal around other girls. very mysterious.

denise/dee/dent basil (they/he/she) is the youngest of the group and doesnt really share their easy camaraderie, but is either too stubborn or too dense to feel out of place. they are confident to the point of foolishness and quick to joke in a way that makes people fail to take them seriously when they should sometimes. despite a sheltered upbringing, theyve adopted a surface level punk aesthetic which is enhanced by the fact that theyre frequently bruised and bandaged from eating shit while trying to show everyone a cool skateboard trick they saw on tiktok. the nickname dent comes from the time they tried to impress their way into the group by jumping their bike off a diy ramp in the school parking lot and managed to put a dent in both the roof of the principal’s car and their skull.

sylvester loyd (he/him) is by all appearances the picture of the stereotypical juvenile delinquent. he is incredibly easy to anger, but also quick to realize when hes fucked up and tries his best to make things right in the aftermath. hes prone to bad luck and being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, something which once caused him to consider adam his nemesis after he was inadvertently punished for something him and his friends did. in time though they come to understand each other and be.. sorta friends, largely due to percys intervention on adams behalf. he sells adderall and vitamins disguised as prescription drugs to underclassmen and rides a motor scooter because his mom thinks motorcycles are too dangerous. thinks his name gives him a “stallone” vibe but its really more of a “the cat” vibe.

peyton jones (he/him) was adams first friend and perhaps his best friend, but time has put some distance between them despite the fact that they have been physically near inseparable for years. he is dependable, if a bit quiet, and easily the most mature of the group. peyton has always been big for his age as well as shy, which made him a target for bullying when he was younger. he started sticking with adam because he was always willing to go to bat for him, but over time that dynamic warped into a sort of codependency. after the infamous scheme gone wrong leaves peyton with a broken arm and ruins his chances with the college of his choice, he forcibly severs their friendship.

cassiopeia (she/her) is one of the starkind percy regards as something of an older sibling. their species only numbers in the hundreds, due to the fact that they dont really reproduce so much as Happen, so they regard each other vaguely as one large extended family, but not an especially warm one. cass and the other “siblings” are outliers in the sense that they are slightly closer to an actual family dynamic, mostly due to percy acting as a central point who prompts them to interact in ways they wouldnt normally. cass is perhaps the most protective of percy, even though she doesnt understand him a bit. she is smart and serious and very particular, easy to frazzle by small changes in plan. she doesnt particularly like humankind, but she finds them interesting in a distant sort of way.

hercules (he/her) is the eldest of percys immediate “family”. hes been around far longer than humans as a species and doesnt really know what to make of them. like cass, he doesnt dislike humans but he also doesnt really want to be anywhere near them if he doesnt have to be. he is soft spoken but has a firm presence that makes him hard to argue with. “im not mad just disappointed” energy. though he might not understand the youngests infatuation with earth he is content to indulge him from time to time.

andromeda (he/him) is a lot less solemn and more excitable than many of the other starkind. his moods are intense and quick to bounce from high to low at a moments notice. he has a tendency towards playful bullying and is bad at recognizing when the jokes gone too far. he cares about his siblings, but in the way where he kind of always wants to give them the astral equivalent of a noogie.

zeta (she/her) is sharp-tongued and generally about as pleasant as a wet cat. she likes her family, in her own way, but finds them unbearable in any kind of close proximity. its not that shes without any compassion towards other people, she just likes her space. lots and lots of space. shes arguably most fond of percy because he understands that of her and doesnt think any worse of her for it, and because his presence, annoyingly saccharine and cheery as it can sometimes be, seems to mellow out the others and prevents any extra infighting. unfortunately, a lot of times the way percy prevents that infighting is by being a convenient punching bag. she sees this too, in a way the others do not.

camelopardalis (they/them) is the youngest save for percy and as such is guilty of using him as a buffer to avoid any unwanted attention from the older ones. they have a quiet, sleepy vibe. real “dont look at me im not a part of this” energy. its served them well overall but also makes it so on the rare occasion that they do speak up on something, theyre disregarded out of hand. if they had a little more self awareness, they might realize that this way of existing has been pretty lonely for them.

🎤⚡

lucy (any pronouns) is an undead monster of ambiguous origins made up of assorted corpse bits a la frankensteins monster. shes kind of an edgy emo bitch but shes also literally dead and like has no memory going further back than a few months ago so she gets a pass. shes the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of “the friendly fears”. shes still working out what she likes and how she sees herself and how to like navigate this newfound personhood considering What she is.

wolfgirl (she/they) is a wolfgirl, but not strictly speaking a wolf nor a girl. theyre the bands drummer and the grounded, slightly grumpy voice of reason of their friendgroup. they habitually bingewatch anime and vtuber streams “in an ironic way” and have a (not that secret) secret cosplay hobby. they Do Not want to talk about their feelings or their past or their birthday or their favorite color thank you very much.

wilhelm screem (he/him) is a ~200 yr old vampire thotty who has spent the majority of that time picking up as many instruments as possible. hes quirky, very social, a little manic, knows intimately the difference between hyperpop and weirdcore and Will elaborate on that. the band was naturally his idea, after having tried to warm wg up to the idea for years before lucy came around and made it two against one. lost a nipple to botched top surgery in 1912 and impulse-bleaches his hair more than is ideal for someone with two roommates and one small bathroom.

georgina “georgie” weaver (she/her) is the owner, manager, and occasional bartender at “georgie’s”, a bar that serves mainly fellow monsters, conveniently located downstairs from the main trio’s apartment. no one actually knows What she is but they also know better than to ask. classically beautiful and very fucking deadly. she has a deeply romantic heart and a soft spot for hopeless cases.

yasmine yadviga (she/her) is a “doctor” (its unclear what her doctorate is actually in, or if it even exists) and a freelance witch, specializing in doing the shit that the others wont touch, for the right price. shes a frequent patron at georgie’s. as in she is there like every night. severely in need of a life and maybe some friends she hasnt managed to piss off (intentionally or unintentionally) yet but is incapable of stomaching any kind of vulnerability or intimacy when shes not drunk or stoned.

👽🌃

wendy phillips (she/her) is the teenage daughter of the now deceased leader of a “fringe religious movement” (read: doomsday cult). growing up under the thumb of her father and his loyal acolytes, wendy became sharp and resentful. the only upside of her dads morbid prophecies seemed to be that it would all be over soon. her worldview was flipped on its head when an invading alien monster on a godzilla style rampage descended upon her childhood home like an avenging angel of kickassery and wiped out the cult in one fell swoop. in helping her new alien friend, wendy gradually finds herself feeling, to her surprise, happy to be alive again.

auree (she/her) is a shapeshifting alien with an emotional self-regulation problem. after a mission to claim a supposedly deserted planet goes awry, auree ends up separated from the rest of her species, captured and isolated, and promptly freaks the fuck out. while her species’ transformational abilities make her a force to be reckoned with, they also make her unstable without the empathetic bond that runs through her kind. her bond with wendy provides a similar balancing influence, but its new and fragile and hampered by the species gap, and may not be enough for her to hold out until she can find her missing family.

haddie muhammdi (she/her) is an anxious, well meaning young woman who owns a comic book shop, and happens to be wendys former neighbor who used to babysit her regularly as a kid. she cares a lot about wendy, and even her weird new friend who eats all her snacks and touches all her pristine limited edition figurines, and is trying to earn her way back into her very small circle of trust, but theres a bit of not-great history between them that makes it rough sometimes. she finds a lot of comfort in fictional stories of heroism, but doesnt see herself as someone who could fulfil that role herself.

scarlett laroux (she/her) is an alien of auree’s kind who came to earth to colonize it for her homeworld, a mission she justifies to herself by refusing to think of humans and fully thinking, compassionate creatures. shes taken the form of celebrity, finding that humans will basically let you get away with anything if youre rich or famous enough. her sense of obligation towards auree as one of her own, as well as her still being a kid, causes her to bend the rules of her assignment to try and reach out and help her, but soon finds there are others in their ranks who wont extend the same courtesy. she is haughty and snide as her false-identity would lead one to believe, but smarter and more resilient than anyone expects.

henry peck (he/him) is a middle aged janitor who works at a hospital. after discovering an abandoned lil goo baby at work, he is unceremoniously thrust into the role of fatherhood, something he never thought himself capable of. he is absolutely flying by the seat of his pants but he loves his weird mass-of-tentacles looking baby and thats what matters. he also happens to live in an apartment which shares a building with haddie’s comic shop. small world!

bud (whatever) is an alien baby. hes too young to have settled on a semi-regular form so he just kinda looks like a wiggling black slime pile. at this age hes also technically blind but he aint bothered. thats what the unbeatable perceptive power of putting stuff in your mouth is for.

🎸🤡

tanis lahey (she/her) is a traveling musician vibing her way thru the eldritch goopocalypse. after leaving her family home in search of fame and fortune, she ran into some hard times and ended up making a deal with the devil that cost her her soul. now, shes on a journey to hunt down that devil and make him give it back. unfortunately her conspicuous lack of soul is making that journey a little difficult, draining her of her human emotions and instincts bit by bit. the first to go was her fear, so she struggles to accurately evaluate the danger of a given situation, which gets her into a fair bit of trouble.

caroline the dancing doll (she/her) is a lifesize wooden clown puppet who was designed as an attraction at a traveling circus before, you know, the end of the world as we know it. after being exposed to some nasty ichor she came to life, which was pretty scary for the rest of the folks at the circus, and they quickly bailed. her sole purpose in life is to entertain, to make people laugh and smile, but its hard when most humans find a sentient monsterdoll more terrifying than delightful. tanis was the first person not to be afraid of her, and now theyre bestest friends forever!!

🧪🥽

dr crescher (they/them) is an alchemist rocking that classic “mad scientist who experimented on themself and now occasionally undergoes a monstrous transformation” lifestyle. specifically, they turn into some kinda non euclidean lizard beast whenever their stress levels get too high. and they dont have the best history of coping with stress to begin with. goggles wearing nerd, bit of a bastard. mildly germophobic and deeply in need of a nap.

dr sinta sillica (she/her) is a researcher, crescher’s assistant at the start, partner in lab and life later on. she is both smart and lowkey crazy enough to match dr c beat for beat, but isnt quite as obvious about it. she has a hard time expressing herself and tends to come off as unremarkable at best, cold and distant at worst. she admires crescher for the passion and brilliance she sees behind the persona, and crescher in turn sees her for who she is, for the feelings she struggles to show. sinta is reliable to the point of neglecting her own needs, and terribly, unfortunately attracted to anyone whose Issues help her forget about her own.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Do you know of any fics that have John at the Surgery in them? It wasn't really explored in the show so... it can be just like one scene within a larger fic, but I haven't been able to find any fics with this. TIA

Hey Lovely!

Ahhhh you know, I have a lot of fics where he’s at the surgery, but I’ll be damned if I can remember them all!!! Here’re the ones I do remember! <3 Please add your own fics, my friends, if your fic is in the Surgery!

JOHN AT THE SURGERY

See Also: 

Hospital Fics

Hospitals Pt 2

Doctor / Caretaker John 

Doctor / Caretaker John Pt. 2 

Doctor / Caretaker John Pt. 3 

Doctor / Caretaker John Pt. 4

Excerpts from Purgatory by reapersun, what_alchemy (E, 5,829 w., 1 Ch. || Post-TRF, Doctor John, Reunion Fic, Rough Sex, Angry Sex, Bottomlock, Fic with Pics)  – John serves community service in homeless shelters for chinning the superintendent. Unbeknownst to him, the Homeless Network has his back.

The doctor is in by PlainJane (E, 7,581 w., 1 Ch. || Omegaverse || Sex Therapist, Anal, Hand Jobs, Frottage, Virgin Sherlock) – Sherlock is a young alpha with an aversion to his cycle. John is a gender medicine specialist. Nothing could possibly go wrong... Part 1 of Doctors and detectives

The Acronym by DancingGrimm (T, 15,057 w., 12 Ch. || Humour) – "'Bee Ay Em Eff'. Hm, that's a new one on me. Do you know what it means, Sherlock?" John might not know what it means, but there are many little ways in which he proves the acronym suits him.

The Midas Touch by flawedamythyst (E, 32,231 w., 1 Ch. || Magical Realism, John has a Magical Cock, Dub Con, Healer John) – John Watson has a medical condition that means everyone he sleeps with is instantly healed of all illness and injury. This causes complications when Sherlock breaks his arm, and even more complications when Sherlock falls in love with him. Yes, this is a story where John has a literal magic healing cock. It's a lot less cracky than you're probably imagining. Warning: Contains complex issues of sexual consent, although not between Sherlock and John.

A Week is Just Seven Days Isn't It? by scifigrl47 (T, 39,906 w., 4 Ch. || Humour, Friendship/Bromance, Stroppy/Bored Sherlock, Undercover/Army John, Texting, Pining-ish Sherlock, John Whump) – When John heads overseas for a week, Sherlock's forced to fend for himself. It goes about as well as anyone could have anticipated. Which is to say, very, very poorly. Don't worry, things'll be fine in just seven days.

The Hollow Woman by ScopesMonkey (M, 51,335 w., 22 Ch. || Post-TRF, Major Character Death, Mystery, Romance, Friendship, Family, Angst, Crime, Reunion, First Kiss / Time, Nightmares, Doctor John, Jealous Sherlock, Jealous John, BAMF John, Angry John, Dub-Con, Rough Sex, Bottomlock, Possessive John, Villain Mary, Open Ending) – Forced to return to London sooner than expected, Sherlock falls into a case too close to home. Part 1 of the Hollowverse series

Gold Rush by ShirleyCarlton (E, 71,783 w., 17 Ch. || Post S3 / No Mary, Friends to Lovers, Mentions of Past Sexual Abuse, First Kiss, Case Fic, Slow Burn, Alternating POV, Switchlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Marriage Proposal, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Abduction, Anxious/Insecure Sherlock, Miscommunication, Emotional Lovemaking) – John has divorced Mary and pops round to 221B one evening to find Sherlock in the middle of a case. As Sherlock tries to find the identity of a young woman’s stalker, John realises he can no longer deny his feelings for Sherlock – which then, to their befuddlement, turn out to be mutual. Shy kisses and tentative embraces ensue. But will Sherlock be able to cast off a shadow from his past that he thinks might prevent John from wanting to stay?

Kintsukuroi by sussexbound (E, 91,823 w., 20 Ch. || S4 Compliant / Post-TLD, Grief / Mourning, PTSD, Internalized Homophobia, Therapy, Past Abuse, Alcohol Abuse, Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Depression, Anxiety, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, Cuddling, Suicidal Ideation, Masturbation, Minor Character Death, Sexting, Frottage, Inexperienced Sherlock, Rimming / Anal / BJ’s, Emotional Turmoil, Finding Each Other) – “I love you.” Sherlock sees the words hit John with almost physical force. He reels back a little, jaw twitching and eyes filling. “I love you,” he repeats, a little softer, a little more gentle, as earnest as he possibly can. Because they’ve been teetering on the brink of this thing for years, and it had become painfully obvious over the last few months that they were at a tipping point. This had to happen. Now it has. Now they can see where they end up. The tears in John’s eyes spill over, and he wipes at them angrily. “Do you even know what that means?”  

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

The Quiet Man by ivyblossom (E, 157,369 w., 58 Ch. || Post-TRF, John First POV, Grief/Mourning, Angst, Present Tense, Imaginary Sherlock) – "Do you just carry on talking when I'm away?"

MARKED FOR LATER (tagged with “Surgery”)

Milk, the Flu, and Harry by Inactive Account (sassybleu) (M, 1,609 w., 1 Ch. || Insecure Sherlock, Understanding John, Angst with Happy Ending, Sherlock’s Called ‘Freak’) – John leaves Sherlock for a few days (angsty) John says things he doesn’t mean (“you’re a freak”) Sherlock thinks he deserves it (he’s insecure) and packs John’s bags for him while he’s gone. John is to blame (bad day at surgery-Sherlock being Sherlock; he’s frustrated and snaps)

Inhale With Ease by Vulpesmellifera (E, 25,989 w., 8 Ch. || S4 Divergence, Covid-19/Quarantine, Jealous John, Love Letters, Victor Trevor, Divorce, Angst with Happy Ending) – In the years after Vivian Norbury's capture, life seems to work out just as John planned. He's got that respectable job at the surgery and goes home to his wife and child. He joins Sherlock on cases a couple times per week. It's a rhythm he can live with - just enough adrenaline highs to balance out the drudgery of a normal bloke's life. Until a pandemic, and Victor Trevor, arrive in London.

Turned - Part I : Queen and Country by saintscully (E, 76,008 w., 20 Ch. || HLV Divergence / No TAB, Graphic Sherlock/OC, Spy Sherlock, PTSD, Internalized Homophobia, Army Homophobia, Emotional Infidelity, Physical Infidelity, Slow Burn, Emotional Manipulation, Eventual Johnlock) – Moriarty’s message never gets broadcasted. The airplane taking Sherlock away never returns.As rumours begin to swirl about a British POW found alive in Gaza ten months later, Mycroft shows up at John’s surgery with some good news: Sherlock is alive, and he’s coming back. In this story, inspired by ‘Homeland’ and ‘Prisoners of War’, John and Sherlock are left with no choice but to re-examine everything about their relationship since Sherlock’s fall. Part 1 of the Turned series

You Go To My Head Series by 7PercentSolution and J_Baillier (E, 937,347+ w. across 22 Stories || Series WiP || Surgeon AU || Medical Realism, Autism Spectrum, Anaesthetist John / Neurosurgeon Sherlock, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Addiction, Angst, Slow Burn, PTSD, Pining, Insecurity, Additional Tags Under Link) – This series is an alternate universe one, featuring the exciting medical and romantic adventures of doctors Watson and Holmes. (I haven’t read this one, but JUDGING by the topic of these stories, I imagine there’s a lot of surgery scenes lol)

[keanureevesisbae]

Protection - Chapter 2

Summary: August might’ve made a pretty bad impression on Mia, however, will she help him when he has a slight problem?  

August Walker x Mia Makaruku (ofc)

Wordcount: 3.5k

Warnings: None

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

The next morning I finally decide to do the smart thing: I get up at seven in the morning, to clean my apartment, start prepping some meals and work through the piles of laundry I have neglected these past few days.

Okay, I didn’t necessarily do that because I decided to be a productive woman for once and try to get most out of my day, but it is mostly because I couldn’t sleep anymore. I have been having nightmares since I can remember, which is probably since the fatal car crash that killed not only my parents, but also my brothers.

At least, that is what I’m told.

I remember crashing, I remember being out of the car and waiting for the emergency services, but I don’t remember my family maybe running away, their bodies being dragged away from me. They could be anywhere, really.

Dead or alive.

But ever since that crash, I have nightmares. Sometimes there is a loud crash or a fire I can’t escape or I’m drowning.

Usually I wake up at least once—but mostly twice—in the middle of the night, but last night I slept through. That seems nice, but I was woken up abruptly, since it felt like I was falling off a building.

While I’m putting the salad in the containers and I place them neatly in the fridge, I hear someone knocking on my door. This early? What idiot is up already and wants to bother me? I walk to the door and once I open it, a nasty surprise awaits me.

‘What do you want?’ I ask the one and only August Walker. After yesterday, I have decided that I don’t want to be his friendly neighbor. He hurt me feelings and doesn’t deserve anymore of my kindness.

‘My heater is broken,’ he simply announces.

And for that he knocks on my door? ‘Sucks to be you,’ I tell him.

‘I only have one blanket and my other clothes are coming in later this morning, just as the mechanic.’

I’m flabbergasted to say the least. ‘And you are sharing this information with me, because…?’ I know damn well why he is sharing this with me, but I’m not that easy.

August sighs, visibly annoyed. ‘Because I was hoping I could stay here with you for a while.’

I bark out a laugh. ‘Are you kidding me? After what you said to me yesterday, you honestly think I would let you in my apartment? I would be bat shit crazy if I did that. You insulted me, August.’

‘I barely insulted you.’

He has some nerves. ‘You said you hated women’s soccer to a professional female soccer player.’ I give him a do I need to explain any further-look.

‘You told me my moustache made me look like a pedophile.’

I cock an eyebrow. ‘That was only after you insulted me. Had you never been mean to me, I would’ve kept it to myself. But that is beyond the point, really. The real question is: why are you bothering me?’

He clenches his jaw. He probably thought that with his brooding look and broad build, he could intimidate me into letting him in my house. Well, he thought wrong. ‘I just want to stay here for a few hours, till eleven. I won’t bother you, I promise, but I’m really cold.’

I lean against the doorframe, as I check my watch. ‘That is three hours,’ I tell him. ‘I can barely deal with you for three minutes, let alone three hours. The answer is no. Just fuck off, will you?’

August wants to hold back a laugh, but fails miserably. ‘You sure mean that,’ he chuckles. I know I shouldn’t think like this, but he looks actually very friendly when he laughs, even if he is laughing at me. ‘Listen, I might’ve made a bad impression on you yesterday.’

‘You might’ve? Goodness gracious, do you have any self reflection? You definitely made a bad impression.’

He sighs, but almost has something from a growl. ‘It’s a few hours, Mia. What’s the big deal?’

What’s the big deal? This man has got quite some guts, it’s almost admirable. ‘Well,’ I say, incapable of saying no to him, ‘if I can get an apology, you can stay here. Saying sorry is not that hard, even you can do it.’

‘I don’t do apologies.’

Of course he doesn’t. I’m not even surprised. ‘And I don’t give shelter to my shitty neighbors, even if it’s only for three hours. Goodbye August. Please, freeze to death.’

I want to close the door, but he simply places his hand on the flat surface. Fuck, he is strong, those arms certainly are not lying. The battle August Walker vs Mia Makaruku is a quick one and not in my favor, I can tell you that. ‘I don’t want to freeze to death, so I’m gonna say this one time and one time only, so you better listen carefully: I’m sorry I was rude.’

I smile. ‘See, it wasn’t that hard. I also liked it that you really sincerely apologized, meaning in from the bottom of your heart.’

I know I’m pushing the limits here. August glares at me, but even through the death glare he is sending me, I can actually see some humanity in his light orbs. I actually feel a bit sorry for him. I know, that surprises me too.

‘Come on. Just don’t bother me too much and the second the mechanic is here, I want you out of my apartment.’

‘Doable.’ I have barely stepped aside, when he barges into my apartment. He has the audacity to plop on my couch, grab the remote and turn on the television.

‘Yes August, please make yourself at home. Do you want a coffee with that? Some homemade chocolate croissants? A fucking massage?’ I slam the door shut and when I look at him, I notice the smug smile on his face because of my offers. I let out a growl. ‘Don’t even think about it.’

Unbeknownst of the company, Bobo trots into the room. When his eyes land on the stranger on the couch, he arches his back with his hackles raised and hisses. I’m glad to know my furry companion thinks just as lowly of the—sort of—uninvited guest as I do. ‘I’m not a big fan of cates,’ August notes.

‘I’m almost assuming this is your first time you’re over at someones place,’ I say. ‘You sure know how to not behave yourself. If you don’t like him, go back to your own place.’

‘Okay, okay, I’ll stop. What do I do if he comes near me?’ August looks up at me. ‘Do I just hiss back?’

Thankfully I can manage to keep a straight face. ‘That’s an option,’ I tell him, as I walk back to my kitchen. Do I hiss back? It’s nearly endearing, especially since it’s coming from a tough looking guy like August Walker. I prepare my coffee machine and ask: ‘Do you want some coffee?’ While I don’t necessarily want him here, I might make most out of it. Besides, I can’t possibly imagine someone is as rude as him without a reason.

Maybe he had a shitty youth. I mean, I encountered my fair share of foster siblings and some of them were rude as hell, but when I learned about their family situation, prior to this foster home, I realized they had every reason to act like they did. While my coping mechanism is to charm my ass off and make a good impression on everyone (and I mean literally everyone), August’s way to dealing with his trauma’s can be to push people away. However, I do think he desperately wants to make a connection. Despite not totally getting it, he did come to me when his heater broke, so that must mean I’m maybe the only one who is trying to be nice to him? Give him a chance, while he might not deserve it?

Right?

‘Sure,’ August says, while keeping a close eye on Bobo, who stares at him with his back still arched. ‘What’s the cat’s name?’

‘Bobo,’ I answer him. ‘I got him from the shelter. Fun story: I was actually looking to adopt a dog, but when I walked passed Bobo’s cage, I couldn’t say no to him. Like it was an instant click between us.’

August doesn’t say anything, so apparently he doesn’t agree on this being a fun story. While the coffee is running, I walk back to the living room, but as I pass a mirror, I manage to hold in my gasp.

I look like crap! I’m still wearing my flannel pajamas that are actually three sizes too large for me and I actually don’t think I can call this frizzy mess on my head, hair. I also have not put on any moisturizer yet and it shows.

To kind of make myself a bit more presentable, I twist my hair in a bun, to sort of contain it.

Yesterday I looked pretty put together. Today I look like an utter mess. I can barely blame August for not taking me seriously. I plop on the seat and Bobo jumps on the armrest. The orange cat sits down, but continues to take August in.

‘The staring is making me uncomfortable,’ August mentions.

‘You seem so tough, but looks can be very deceiving,’ I chuckle.

‘That’s not funny.’

‘It’s hilarious, you should grow a sense of humor,’ I retort. ‘Okay, tell me something fun about yourself.’

August frowns. ‘Why on earth would I do that?’

‘Because I’m providing you shelter,’ I say. ‘Honestly, it’s the least you can do. Tell me something fun. There must be something fun about you.’

‘You have to give me more than that,’ he mutters. ‘I don’t like talking about myself and I certainly can’t do it on the spot.’

Okay, that’s fair, I can’t do that either. ‘From where did you move here?’

August lets out a deep breath, as I watch him caressing his own thigh. It almost looks like he is soothing himself. Is this question making him uncomfortable? ‘Montana,’ he says, but it’s not very convincing. Hearing from his tone, he doesn’t want to talk about it.

‘You want a pet?’ I continue trying to strike up a conversation. I don’t want to stare at him for three hours (not that I would complain about it, because the view is pretty okay, it’s just slightly weird) and I need him to talk, because otherwise I have to kick him out.

‘I’m not a big fan of animals. As a matter of fact, I don’t even like animals.’

‘That’s really sad,’ I say, as I scratch Bobo behind his ears, earning me some load purring. ‘Animals are very nice and you always have someone to cuddle with. Or doesn’t August Walker like cuddles either?’

He looks over at me, not amused. ‘Do we have to talk?’ he asks, expertly avoiding my question, sarcastic or not.

‘Yes, we do. If you don’t want to talk, ask me something and at least pretend to listen when I do so.’

August cocks an eyebrow, before he thinks about it for a while. ‘Are you ever afraid of life?’

‘Geez,’ I exclaim, ‘way to make it this depressing in the morning!’

He simply shrugs. ‘You wanted me to ask you something.’

I sink deeper into the backrest of my soft one person sofa. The question does make me think. I’d like to surround myself with positivity, ignoring the bad things happening in the world and not think about the darker aspects in life. I know that is not very healthy and you should be aware of the things happening around you, but it has helped me through tough times in life.

But when I think about it, about the uglier side of life, I realize one thing. ‘I am afraid of life,’ I say.

‘Why?’ he asks.

‘Because it can be scary sometimes. Unpredictable.’ The sounds of screeching tires, a loud crash and the car tumbling over all flashes through my mind. ‘It can be painful.’ Realizing how upsetting this all sounds, I grab a pillow from behind me and throw it to August. ‘Why are you so damn miserable?’ I ask him. ‘We should start the day on a happy note, not make it this depressing.’

August breaks out in a smile and when he does so, he looks approachable. Not like my shitty and rude neighbor, but like a nice guy. ‘Well, your questions were too generic.’

‘Yours are too depressing.’

For a few seconds we simply look at each other, before we both burst out in laughter. It’s nice to see August Walker like this. He doesn’t look stuffy anymore and he lost the arrogant glow. ‘Well, while you think of more lighter questions, I’ll get the coffee. You want milk or sugar in it?’

‘No, just black will do.’

I walk to the kitchen, pour in the coffee in two bright red mugs and hand him one. ‘There you go,’ I say to him.

He simply takes it out of my hand, but I continue to hold it. ‘What are you doing?’

‘One usually says thank you when he or she receives something from someone.’ I remember it clearly, when one of my first foster parents taught me some lessons in being polite. Back then it was said in a loving way. Now I recreate the entire scene in more of a mocking tone.

August rolls his eyes, exactly as I expected him to do. ‘Thank you,’ he grumbles. ‘You happy now?’

‘Absolutely delighted.’

◎ ◎ ◎

At eleven ‘o clock sharp, August left because the mechanic arrived. Not long after that, I had to go to practice. Because of the presence of my neighbor the entire morning, I actually forgot about having to train with Tristan on the side of the field. I wondered what on earth I did to displease coach Riley. Okay, I know she does this because it is for my own good, but for fuck’s sake, I have never felt so humiliated in my time I’ve trained with the Red Stars.

Thankfully the awful training finally ended and at around five in the late afternoon, I’m back at my apartment building. When the doors slid open, I see Harold standing behind the reception as usual. I glide through the hallway and manage to stop right in front of him on the other side of the desk. ‘Hello Harold,’ I say to him.

‘Hello miss Mia,’ he says to me, as he places his under arms on the flat surface of his desk. ‘You seem awfully cheery today. I thought you had to take it easy today during training.’

Am I cheery? My teammates said this to me as well today, before I remembered I had to train on the side of the field and now Harold mentions it too? I don’t really know why I would be— Oh no! Does this mean what I think it means?

Did I enjoy August’s company this morning?

Well, to be honest, it was actually quite nice from time to time. I have been spending most of my time alone in my apartment (actually all the time). I mean, I love my teammates and we hang out after practice sometimes, but they have their own lives, their own families.

I don’t want to intrude, though they invite me from time to time. It’s more that I’m scared to join them. What if they only ask me to join them, because they want to be nice and polite?

After we talked for a while this morning, August and I, we spend some time watching television. It was almost as if we were alone together and that felt quite nice.

‘Just woke up in a cheery mode,’ I say, though it’s not exactly the truth. ‘Is there any mail for me?’

He shakes his head. ‘No, miss.’

‘For my new neighbor then?’

Harold shakes his head again. ‘How is he anyways? Heard about his heater being broken.’

I smile. ‘Well, he quite nice actually. Bit stuffy, like you said, but once you get to know him, he can be nice from time to time.’

‘Is that why you are cheery?’ he asks.

‘What?’ I exclaim. How did Harold guess that right away? Yes! ‘No, what on earth would give you that impression?’

Harold tries to keep a straight face, but he fails and I realize I’ve been caught red handed. ‘Well, miss Mia,’ he says, thankfully not adding any fuel to this disastrous situation, ‘I’m glad to know that you manage to make even him likable. You are a very special lady.’

‘Right,’ I say, after I cleared my throat. ‘I’m gonna go. See you later, Harold.’

He chuckles. ‘Later, miss.’

When I step out on the right floor, I let out a deep sigh. Is it true? Am I cheery because of August Walker? Who would’ve guessed. When I pass his door and I fumble with my keys, I hear a door open. I look to my side and see August stepping into the hallway.

‘Good afternoon, neighbor,’ I say to him. ‘How are you?’

He doesn’t smile and the nice August I saw every so often this morning, has disappeared into thin air. While I want to be annoyed by it, I can’t help but notice to see the slight pain in his eyes. I saw it this morning and I see it now. From the looks of it, he is hurting and I relate. I know how it feels.

But what I also know is that deep down there is a lovely soul, it’s just protected by a very thick wall.

‘Good afternoon,’ he hums. ‘I realized I took this from you.’ He holds out the red mug I handed to him three times this morning. This man gulps down coffee as if it is water and for a second I was genuinely concerned he would have a caffeine overdose.

He seems to have managed just fine.

‘Oh, thank you,’ I say as I take it from him when he stepped closer to me. ‘I probably wouldn’t have missed it. I have way too many mugs, but thanks anyways.’

The way August is hot and cold within a matter of seconds, is something I should put up with from now on. I have decided to give this man with some pretty poor social skills the benefit of the doubt. Besides, I actually quite enjoy having him around.

No wonder I was cheery today.

August buries his hands in his pockets and is probably waiting for me to say something.

‘Your heater fixed?’ I ask.

He simply nods. ‘Yes, all good now.’

Is he waiting again for me to say something? This man… Before I can even think about the pros and cons of my very impulsive idea, I ask him: ‘Do you have plans tomorrow night?’

‘I don’t,’ he says, before he frowns. 'Why?’

‘I have two tickets for a Bulls game.’

He looks confused. ‘A what game?’

‘Bulls game. Chicago Bulls. Basketball,’ I clarify. ‘I mean, you can go with me if you want.’

‘And why would I want to do that?’

‘Because I’m the loveliest neighbor and human being for that matter, you have ever encountered in your life and you desperately want to spend more time with me.’

August doesn’t smile. Maybe he is conflicted, because he occasionally let his guard down this morning.

And maybe this question is way too much. I don’t really understand I was questioning his social skills this morning, while I’m out here overstepping all sorts of boundaries.

‘Sure,’ he however says to my surprise. ‘I can’t really think of worse things to do tomorrow.’

‘You’re such an asshole,’ I tell him. ‘You were quite nice this morning in my apartment.  What changed?’ I don’t give him time to answer. ‘Oh wait, I think I get it. It’s this hallway that turns you into a complete asshole.’

‘You can still un-invite me,’ he says, with an amused glimmer in his eyes.

‘I can do that of course, however believe it or not, I barely have friends and the few I have, all have their own social circles and don’t like to go to Bulls games.’

‘Then why did you purchase two tickets?’

‘Because it was cheaper to buy two tickets and I’d like to live up to the stereotype that the Dutch are stingy cheapskates.’

‘I can tell you, Mia, it’s working,’ he says. ‘Someone without friends who want to go to Bulls games with her, purchases two tickets, simply because it’s cheaper.’

I stick out my tongue. ‘Well, whatever. It starts tomorrow at six and it’s within walking distance from here. You have time?’

‘I sure do.’

‘And you still want to go with me?’

He nods.

‘Well, see you tomorrow then, August.’

He looks at me, a long and intense stare, before he says: ‘See you tomorrow, Mia.’

[redstarwriting]

Freedom

Avengers x Platonic!GN!Reader

Request: “Avengers x gn! The Avengers learn about the Reader escaping from a metahuman teen detention center (a place where metahuman teens who got kidnapped at a young age) by staging a prison riot. They also learn the r is a powerful magician, so they decide to take their powers away. They soon find the r loves to eat at a one specific restaurant. They soon decide to go in undercover to catch the r but the plan fails and a fight happens. In the end the r loses but joins the Avengers with their powers.”

Word Count: 1,434

Genre: Platonic | Kind of Angsty | The Tiniest Bit of Fluff

Warnings: swearing, kidnapping, fighting, mistreatment, a gun is mentioned

A/N: I hope this is okay! This concept really reminded me of Wanda’s son in the comics Tommy Shepherd (Speed) so along with the powers the reader has in it I decided it only made sense to have Wanda be like a whole mother. I really do love that woman, lol. This was fun to write! I’m sorry it took so long I’ve been Going Through It (that’s the best way I can describe it) but I hope you enjoy it!!

──────────��────────────────────────

You smile to yourself the minute you hear the screams. Not long after, the power went out, causing the back-up generators to cast an eerie light in your cell. Then, you heard the click of your door unlocking. “Tch, dumbasses,” you mumble, standing up from your bed and stretching. You walk over to your cell door, gently pushing it open. You were never more grateful for your powers than you were in this moment. Your illusions worked exactly as you had hoped, causing one of your fellow inmates to lose her shit. You knew she had a weak mind and got scared easily, and you also knew that when that happened, her powers went haywire. Her control over electricity was quite the perk.

You look around, seeing all of your peers making their way out of their rooms. “Hey! Get back in your cells!” you hear one of the guards scream at all of you, beginning to aim his gun. That’s when you look at his weapon, using your magic to cause it to explode in his hands. You make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone except him, before screaming, and falling to the ground. You feign that he shot you, and that immediately causes all of the enhanced people around you to jump into action. You snicker. Perfect.

In the chaos, you stand up again, beginning to maneuver your way through everyone. You grin, seeing everyone use their powers to finally stand up and fuck with these guards was quite literally the best thing you’ve ever witnessed. You knew it wouldn’t last forever, though, sadly. Which meant you had to get out immediately. You put your hand against the wall, focusing on manipulating the matter around you. Your powers were… interesting, to say the least. The best way you could describe your powers was the word manipulation. You knew it was more of a sorcery, a kind of magic, but the magic you possessed gave you the ability to manipulate. Whether it be someone’s mind or solid matter. Manipulating is what you did best. With that being said, the wall began to part down the middle, leading you to the next wall which you performed the same trick on. You performed it once more, before light began seeping in.

You immediately ran, not looking back. The brightness of outside hurt your eyes at first, but you didn’t care. You wanted to get as far away from that hell hole as possible. You knew they’d know you got out, and they sure as hell were going to try to get you back in.

Sure enough, the next day on the news your face was plastered everywhere.

You were angry, to put it lightly. You never did anything to be put in that place. You were taken and put in there. All because you had powers. How dare they act like you’re a wanted fugitive for escaping the place that caused you nightmares. You did nothing. Well, nothing outside of those walls. You were quite the troublemaker while you were detained. But that’s because people would try to mess with you, and you’re not one to be messed with. Ever.

Unbeknownst to you, your “bad behavior” was noted, and brought to the attention of the Avengers. They were told you were unpredictable. Too powerful for your own good, the guards said. They made it a point to let the Avengers know that you started this riot and it was a violent plan so only you could escape. Of course, they had no idea how you were treated in there. When Steve asked why you were in there in the first place, the only response he got was, “Their power is too much. If they weren’t contained, they would destroy everything around them.”

“So you want s to return them to you? Keep them contained?” Wanda asks. Your powers fascinated her, after all the same things that were being said about you were similar to what’s been said about her. “Not exactly,” the officer from where you grew up says, causing a questioning look from the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. “We believe Ms. Maximoff can take their powers away. For good. Then we’d never have to worry about the danger they could inflict upon us.”

“Take their powers away? Because they escaped?”

“No because of how they escaped and how they acted,” the officer throws your file on the table in front of the Avengers. It was thick, and none of what was said about you was good. Although you had a reason to act out the way you did, being kidnapped at an early age and forced into imprisonment, not one of the heroes knew that. They saw you as a threat. A powerful and dangerous one at that, and they agreed to stop you.

And that’s what lead you to where you were now. Sporting a brand-new haircut and color, glasses covering your eyes, and quietly eating at your favorite restaurant. Breaking out seemed so long ago, when it reality it was only around two weeks. As soon as you were certain you weren’t followed, you altered your appearance and found someone to help you change your identity completely. That wasn’t enough to disguise yourself from the Avengers, though. You were already on edge. You felt someone’s eyes on you all day, and when you got to this restaurant, you noticed none of the regulars were here. In fact, there were only about three tables seated. This was odd, it was lunch time, and this was a popular place. Then you noticed everyone there was wearing hats and sunglasses. They were disguising themselves. They found you.

You motion your waitress over, prepared to get the bill early and leave. You didn’t want trouble. You just wanted to be free. Before she gets there, though, you sense someone running up behind you, ready to knock you out most likely. Not today. You whip around, kicking the syringe out of the hand of none other than the Black Widow. That’s when the fight begins. You begin using your powers, manipulating anything and everything you could think of. You even go up against Wanda, one on one. Hers and your power being somewhat similar caused both of you to know what the other was going to attempt to do next. Lucky for her, she had back-up, unlucky for you, you didn’t. She kept you at bay while the others managed to pin you down, defeating you immediately.

You didn’t even realize that you started crying, but you did. These guys were supposed to be heroes! Why were they going after you?! The people in charge of that corrupt facility should have been the ones getting beaten up in a restaurant, not you! You didn’t even know how to properly use your powers because of that place, the fight wasn’t even fair. “Crying? Bad people don’t usually cry after they get defeated,” Iron Man says, his mask popping up. “They’re just a kid, Tony. Of course, they’re going to cry,” Captain America says, and you roll your eyes. “Anyone would cry if they knew their freedom was about to be taken away again,” you say, utter defeat in your tone. “Freedom?”

“Yes! I’ve been in the fucking place all of my life! I didn’t even do anything to get there, they just abducted me because they knew I had powers!” you scream, struggling to get out of the grip of Captain America, but to no avail. You knew you could manipulate his mind to cause him to see something he didn’t want to, but at this point you’d be stupid to do that. Every Avenger was here. For a kid.

“They’re telling the truth,” you hear Wanda say, and the grip on you loosens. You stumble away and get ready to fight again before Wanda puts a hand on your shoulder. “Let us help you. If you tell us about what happened, we can get to the bottom of everything. I know you, believe me. Let me help,” she offers. You look at her hand, then relax. “Where do you want me to start?”

Not long after, the truth about the containment facility reached the public. Needless to say, no one was happy about young mutants being abducted from their families at a young age and locked away because they were gifted. The facility was terminated, everyone in it getting out and reuniting with their families. You were a similar case to them; the only difference is that you found a brand-new family as well. You were now an Avenger.

[phoebehalliwell]

So I LOVED your Sheridan and Warren fic!! The two of them are hilarious because that are just trying their best those poor boys! I had a hypothetical, so like in all those AU where Prue is wished alive in I Dream of Phoebe, what would happen in this situation? Would Prue go see her sisters or would she go find her kids? ALSO Prue as the boys magical (deceased) guide is Perf 👌🏻

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA tysm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love my boys so much i’m really trying to keep them like. like as removed from proper magic as possible bc i just think it’s really fucking funny to just follow two bimbos around as they try their best. i’ve also def like tinkered w canon a lil bit as explained in this post here only to keep them further away from aunts who could explain everything like they don’t even have a whitelighter bc paige was supposed to fill that role really the only person they have is prue who gave them a crash course when she unbound their powers as explained in this post and they will occasionally summon her but even then it’s less for advice and more bc like. they want 2 talk to their mom. and i do think prue will occasionally try to make like guest appearances on their birthday she’d def be a presence kinda like how grams was a presence for the girls if they had a book of shadows prue would do the flipping. but they don’t. she did guide their familiar to them!! the cat’s name is swizzlesticks and yes it is just kit again lmao. But. Ur Question. so basically in w&s’s origins jack raised them post prue death and like he kinda fucked off to japan for the rest of the show (sidenote both warren and sheridan are quasi fluent in japanese like jack the only difference is while jack uses his bilingual talents for business the twins almost exclusively use this ability to multitask while watching anime) so i think piper and phoebe had like Zero contact w their nephews and paige actually has never met them like she didn’t even really know they existed bc deadass just no one mentioned them. so like if prue is wished back to life in i dream of phoebe for starters she’s gonna know chris is piper and leo’s son bc she’s been keeping an ear to the ground and Heavily monitoring this chris situation before she assessed that he was good she spent a lot of time trying to figure out if a ghost should beat the shit out of an alive witch so idk who’s wishing prue alive in this specific au tbh u know what richard’s kinda off the shits this ep he’s probably wish prue back to life to try to prove to paige that she doesn’t have to be a charmed one she can just be paige :) and paige would lose her SHIT bc like oh my god that was not what she wanted and she’s so not ready to meet prue but here she is lmao and chris is freaking out bc now he really knows he’s altered the future in Major ways i think piper would see prue and immediately pass out and while i think prue would really really want to see her kids her first task would definitely be fixing the future and she would entirely dedicate herself to making sure wyatt doesn’t become evil but i think like she would pull chris aside and be like hi in your future where are my kids and chris would be like who? and prue would be like my sons?? warren & sheridan???? and chris would be like what?????? bc this whole time if wyatt was indeed not the eldest son like are you Fucking Kidding Me????? but no he’s never even heard of warren and sheridan bc in the dark future their powers were simply never unbound and they just continued to live as mortals and may or may not be dead depending on how good the witch finder bots are but like. i don’t think even if wyatt knew they existed he would want to find them bc that just draws attention to the fact they existed and he’s not the firstborn of the next gen so either they’re doing fine-ish all things considered or they just like died lowkey. but chris didn’t even was remotely aware of their existence. and i think this would kinda send prue into a bit of a tailspin bc her boys are so far removed from their legacy and their family (and they’re being raised by jack yikes!!) and she’s like no these are my kids but if she wants to get where they are she either needs to book a fight or find a whitelighter so i think this would specifically be a prue/paige adventure which is also nice bc paige is omnilingual and prue does not speak japanese so like. idk cute adventure. probably use some monster from japanese mythology to save either some smallish town or alternately a major city bc both of those r fun. i think if jack saw prue again he would start throwing things at her and stuff bc he’d be convinced this is some demon here to kill his kids just like they killed her bc haha that’s not a recurring nightmare lmao so i think prue would cast the truth spell right then and there to prove she’s really her which also leads to some good comedy and character development bc jack paige and prue are all under a truth spell and there is a lot unsaid between all of these characters with paige’s inferiority complex and prue and jack’s true feelings for each other and issues caused by prue’s death y’know blah blah blah but i think prue would really use this opportunity to bring warren & sheridan back into the fold so to speak and bring them to the manor and properly train them in the craft and tbh in this specific au i think prue and jack would actually end up together. bc in any other world i’m saying they literally just coparent like they’re fond of each other and will always love the other in like some way but it’s not like Love but i think here specifically it’s like. like the time spent apart where jack just like fucking wishes prue was there and realized what an absolute sap and hopeless romantic he is bc yeah he always like grand gestures and clowning around but like. warren and sheridan’s first steps? and jack was just fucking alone like ngl he almost cried bc he just wished. like prue should have been there. she would have been a great mom. she was a great mom. and his kids deserve their mom and like. he just wishes he could have shared that moment with her. completely unbeknownst to jack prue actually does like you know watch over them all and she’s just like. like blown away by jack. like never in a million years would she have thought he was capable of doing what he did. like. like wow man. and i think the combination of those two like actually having them together again and raising their kids i think romance would blossom again. and i think it would be this insane slowburn bc i think y’know like. like it only happened the first time bc jack pursued prue and was like stubborn and stupid and he like knew she was outta his league but it didn’t matter bc that relationship was just for funsies it was a fling it was never meant to be permanent but if jack were to pursue it know it’s be like. permanent. you know? and jack just doesn’t think prue feels the same way like jack’s a fuckin idiot he knows that and prue’s like a witch? like an insanely talented with and a successful photographer back from the dead don’t worry about it lmao and she just like. she takes the world by storm she balances her career and motherhood and saving the motherfucking world like how could she ever. she would never want to be with someone like jack like that’s just. it’s not in the cards. and prue on the other hand keeps waiting for the penny to drop she keeps waiting for like. jack to realize he doesn’t have to be here anymore. she’s convinced he’s gonna hop town and continue being the man she knew while she was alive now that he doesn’t have to keep watching over the kids now that he’s free in a way but that just never happens because jack doesn’t want to leave like those are his kids also he’s in love with prue lmao but she just can’t. she doesn’t get it. men leave. that’s what they do. that’s what they’ve literally always done she can’t like. she can’t open herself up to something serious only to have jack just ditch and leave her kids with the memory of his back walking out the door so she lowkey starts to push him away put her walls up which only furthers jack’s belief that this is never gonna happen but sometimes it’s like they’ll accidentally fall asleep on the couch together in the middle of the afternoon with the sunlight on them and they’ll wake up like Horribly Embarrassed like oh my god which they’re like this isnt weird okay like we have kids together they’re right there like. we have had sex multiples times before piper walking in on up taking a cat nap in the living room is literally it’s nothing!! oh but it so is something meanwhile phoebe the empath is about to lose her Fucking Shit like guys!!! guys!!!!!!!!! and piper’s just trying to reign her in like no don’t interfere bc piper knows prue’s fear of abandonment and she does not know this new iteration of jack she just remembers what he was like and she doesn’t want to see prue get hurt paige is on the opposite side bc she has literally never met any previous iteration of jack or prue and she’s like hello?? they’re in love?? and chris is like hi okay but like. the task at hand? and the girls are like no shh like trying to covertly spy on prue/jack/warren/sheridan/wyatt all playing in the solarium prue’s doing the telekinetic mobile thing again and jack’s expression of wonder is the same as his sons like !!!! and chris is like deadass i do not get it okay evil wyatt tho. but blah blah blah slow burn i think prue and jack would get married like s8. their wedding would replace paige and henry’s bc as mentioned before paige and henry having a wedding esp a wedding that early was like. dumb. but yeah. prue x jack brainrot. i’m mentally ill i love them so much.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 189

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 40 - “Seek Out the Principal’s Identity!” Date watched: 24 May 2020 Original air date: 18 November 2007 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/7GSsNLa Transformation Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/6k6SzS0 Project info and master list of posts: http://tinyurl.com/PCDabout

Why principal, what bright hair you have!

How do you follow up an episode in which the main antagonist of the show appears to challenge the heroes? If you’re not going to continue that plot thread, then I think the only good way to do it is to go in the complete opposite direction and have a lighthearted episode (see the dichotomy of episodes 24 and 25). This episode does neither, instead choosing just to go back to the status quo, which makes an average episode somehow mildly disappointing.

The Plot

In the latest edition of the Cinq Lumieres Times, Masuko Mika has chosen the mystery of the principal’s identity as her headlining article, and includes an interview with Karen where the student council president says she’s dissatisfied with never seeing the principal and believes that this leads to distrust by the students. She reiterates that she’d like to sit down with the principal to discuss school matters face-to-face.

Extra extra, read all about it! The producer said we needed to resolve this plot thread!

Otaka the lunch lady (and unbeknownst to the characters, the principal) passes by and comments that the principal probably has her reasons for staying hidden. Over at Nightmare HQ, Bunbee decides to ask Hadenya if she’s ever seen Despariah’s face, which she denies. Kawarino appears and confesses that he’s never seen his boss’s face, nor does he have any interest in it. Hadenya remarks that people in authority like to stay hidden because it makes them seem more dignified, and she heads off to try to get the Dream Collet.

Back at school, the girls are eating lunch and Rin remarks that the brick wall by the old school building (last seen in episode 27, the ghost hunt) is falling apart. Otaka overhears this. Two students named Kanako and Mayu approach Karen with a lost shoe that was apparently found in the rear garden. Once again, Otaka can’t help but to overhear. The girls and Coco go to investigate, only to find.... the vice principal, holding a dog which had apparently been stealing personal items and leaving them in the garden. He says the principal advised him to look into the matter.

The next day, the girls are wandering by the old school building and see that the worn-down wall is being repaired. The VP tells them that the dog apparently got in through a hole in the wall, and the principal decided to have it repaired right away. Karen asks if he’s met the principal, and what kind of person she is, to which he simply responds that she’s “a wonderful person.” Karen starts to feel guilty about her negative words in the interview. That afternoon, they’re all hanging out at Natts House, and her sadness doesn’t go unnoticed, so she explains her guilt to the others. Coco remarks that he’s never even met the principal himself, despite being a teacher, so Nozomi decides that this settles it and they should all go see the principal first thing tomorrow, so that Karen can apologize.

Sure enough the following morning, they go to the office, but Hadenya has made it there first, somehow wise to their plan but having waited a few days to lay her trap. (The timeline of this episode makes no sense.) They don’t recognize her at first until she starts insulting them, and then she turns the room into a ruin before turning the brick wall into a kowaina, which takes the shape of a centipede.

it’s so weird I can’t even make a witty caption

The girls transform into Precure and take on the nonsensical creature. Rouge and Aqua do a combo kick that separates it into bricks, but it quickly reassembles. It surrounds the quintet and tries to squeeze the life out of them, but Rouge, Lemonade, Mint, and Aqua keep Dream in the middle of them as they each push the sides just enough to give her room to escape, and then she frees the rest of them. Aqua Tornado and Crystal Shoot make quick work of the kowaina as Hadenya flees, and the girls find themselves back in the principal’s office.

They discover the vice principal and principal unconscious behind the VP’s desk and they recognize Otaka, but they don’t all manage to put two and two together. As they come to, Otaka realizes her ruse is up, thanking the girls for coming to her rescue (if she only knew...). She invites them into her office where it finally sinks in for Nozomi and Urara that Otaka-san the lunch lady is, in fact, the school’s mysterious principal.

She explains how she used to be a teacher and students would come to her with their concerns, but when she became the principal, she lost her opportunities to be around students, and she wanted to always be on top of any troubles at the school, so she took on the guise of Otaka the kindly old lunch lady so she could get close to students to hear their concerns. Karen apologizes for being dissatisfied when the principal actually does so much to help the school, and the principal turns it around and says she has a wonderful student council president, with a good group of friends. Then she asks them to keep her identity a secret from the rest of the student body.

Later that day, or perhaps another day, Mika comes up to the circle of friends, exasperated and exhausted as she hasn’t been able to uncover any information about the principal’s identity. Nozomi starts to spill the beans but Rin stops her, and Karen suggests they stop pursing this subject. Mika knows Karen is right, but she doesn’t have another topic to write about, but that’s when Otaka brings over a bowl of her new sweetbread for them to try out, and Nozomi suggests that Mika write about Otaka’s new menu.

The Analysis

The pacing of this episode is a bit unusual compared to a normal one. Due to the extended conclusion, the conversation in the principal’s office, the fight is abbreviated and everything else before it is a little rushed. The flow of time isn’t conveyed very well through editing, with scenes flowing together that are implied to take place on separate days. Hadenya in particular seems to just disappear for a few days between leaving Nightmare and posing as the principal. It adds up to a somewhat confusing mish-mash of scenes and that reduces investment in the story.

Additionally, one of Karen’s big regrets in this episode is that she said unkind things about the principal, but it’s not explicitly shown what she said. I had to pause the video and manually translate the newspaper article to get a sense of her comments, because all her spoken remarks are along the lines of “I wish I could meet the principal in person to discuss school and student matters, and thank her for all that she does,” and from that perspective it looks like she’s beating herself up a bit too much. Here is my painstaking edit of the newspaper that was on screen for 3 seconds.

I think they should have made Karen’s negative sentiment a bit more clear in the dialog of the episode, perhaps by having one of the girls read that section of the interview aloud for the audience, and then her internal conflict would have made MUCH more sense, because in the text of the episode she essentially transitions from “I’d like to meet the principal,” to “I’m so sorry for what I said, I’d like to meet the principal and apologize.” It just doesn’t track without reading the paper, which would be impossible in real time.

Hadenya’s plot also makes very little sense (not that that’s unusual). She knocks out the principal and vice principal, and then threatens the precures that she won’t tell them where they are unless they give her the Dream Collet. But, it turns out, they were just laying unconscious behind the VP’s desk the whole time, not a hard place to find. Also you’d think by this point the villains would realize that extortion doesn’t work on these girls, but I guess not. The kowaina she creates doesn’t really make much sense to me either. I would have expected a pretty literal wall monster, and we’ll see something similar to that in a few episodes, but no it takes the form of a centipede for some reason. The only benefit that being made of brick gave it was that it could rebuild when Rouge and Aqua kicked it. I did like how it tried to constrict the team, and the supporting cures each pushed on a side to give Dream enough wiggle room to squeeze out, though. That’s about the only interesting part of the battle. There is cross-talk about how Hadenya thinks the principal is useless and the girls are angry because of how much she does for the school but that’s par for the course, it doesn’t elevate this episode or anything.

I do appreciate the girls finally learning the principal’s true identity at least. It’s not really a mystery that they’ve focused on, but ever since they revealed her dual life in episode 14 it’s been fun for the audience to be in on the secret, and watch how she continues to offer sage advice from her seemingly humble station. Now the girls are implicitly rewarded for their efforts of helping out the school both as students and as heroines by learning its best-kept secret. Otaka’s reasons for being secretive are pretty much exactly as I speculated the first time around, trying to keep her ear to the ground but being somewhat prohibited by her position. Unfortunately I don’t believe she shows up much for the rest of this season, as they’re moving into Christmas time and then the endgame, so there’s not a lot of school shenanigans left to cover. We’ll see what GoGo has in store for us.

There’s some nice comedy moments and callbacks in this episode, aside from the implicit ones I’ve mentioned above. The biggest one is that the girls remember that the old school building is where they visited in episode 27, and Rin seems to fondly recall her meeting with Count Rosen.

Rin is a little embarrassed that she’s been figured out, which is cute.

Another fun gag is when they finally uncover the truth that Otaka is actually the principal, Nozomi takes a while to catch on, and she tells Otaka not to sit in the principal’s chair or she’ll get in trouble. Rin has to explain that Otaka IS the principal and both Nozomi AND Urara are surprised.

Rin is questioning her friendship real hard.

And another Rin-centric gag is her reaction to the puppy in the woods. She goes back and forth between trying to pet it and being afraid of it and this goes completely unacknowledged by the dialog of the episode, you have to actually be watching to see it.

She’s so cute when she’s nervous. (as always, better copies are in the gallery)

The sudden introduction of Kanako and Mayu, who we have never seen before and never see again, may seem jarring if you don’t get the joke. They seem a little over-designed for one-off characters, after all.

If you look at the credits, you’ll see that they are played by... themselves.

So yes, Kudou Mayu (right) and Miyamoto Kanako (left) are real people. Respectively, they are the singers of the opening and ending themes of this very show, and this is their cameo. Kudou Mayu will also do songs for GoGo, Heartcatch, Suite, and every All Stars movie from DX1 to New Stage 3, as well as voicing another cameo in Heartcatch and playing the Fairy Tones in Suite Precure. Kanako Miyamoto will do themes for GoGo, Kirakira, HUGtto, DX3, Super Stars, and Miracle Universe, as well as playing Makoto/Cure Sword in Dokidoki Precure. This is them in real life, from about this point in time.

source: Miaymoto Kanako’s blog https://miyamotokanako.exblog.jp/d2007-09-20/

I noticed they gave them different color crests on their uniforms: Mayu has a second year badge while Kanako has a first year badge, reflective of their real-life age difference of about a year, and I think that’s a clever detail they didn’t have to do.

The art in this episode is fine. It never gets above fine. There’s some bad art, but it’s mostly fine. Except this coloring error on Karen’s sleeve.

And really, that sums up the whole episode. It’s mostly fine, with some bad thrown in. It’s not a good episode, it’s just alright, kind of forgettable in the scheme of things. And that made it harder to write about than if it were actually good or bad, so if this is a bit nonsensical and rambling, that’s why.

Next episode, Komachi and Urara bond. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei!

[loki-hargreeves]

Loki x Reader - You’re a Monster! [PART 2]

Author’s Note: This was supposed to be a one-shot but it turned into a series. Woops! Also, I’m sorry if there are typos! Warnings: vulgar language, mentions of death, angst, mentions of sex Word Count: 3,1K Summary: Loki broke his heart to save you from himself after he was prisoned for life. You believe he never loved you and he believes you’ve moved on. Five years later, you meet at Sakaar again and his fate is in your hands. Somehow, you’re supposed to work together in order to save Asgard, which is easier said than done. You left things messy and you know exactly how to push each other’s buttons.

[PART 1] 

Third POV

It was the second time within a few years that the Asgardians thought Loki, the often forgotten about son of Odin, God of Mischief, was believed to be dead. The truth was, he was posing as Odin. Frankly, Odin had been a mess after Frigga’s passing and Thor was out of the picture. Loki saw that as his chance to rule Asgard, make the people thrive for once. But he also used the position for good, diving deep into things Odin or Thor never could.

Little did anyone know he had a plan. During his time as Asgard’s king, Loki attempted to find out as much as possible about Thanos and his evil plans. He knew the location of three infinity stones, and he wanted to keep them away from the mad titan. Now that Loki was ‘dead’, he could live a little easier. No one was after him. There was only one thing that bothered him, tearing his mind to shreds. And no, it wasn’t the prophecy of Ragnarok he had been hearing about, had nightmares about too.

It was Y/N.

Just the memory of her made his heart ache. No matter how many times he told himself he did the right thing, he knew he was lying to himself. He had somehow hoped that he could see her again. Maybe not as himself but just to spot her. He wanted to see the woman, know that she was well, at least healthy. But that didn’t happen. Months passed and no one had seen her after their breakup. Loki had found out that Y/N had left her engagement ring in their old chambers. She had taken a bag worth of personal belongings, attended Frigga’s funeral, stolen weapons and then disappeared. He never found the book she had made for him. She was gone and it broke Loki’s heart because he knew it was his fault.

Posing as Odin, Loki had tried to question Heimdall about her whereabouts but of course he saw threw the magic. Tragic, really. Loki understood that Heimdall was a threat to his plans – but he was also wise, so after some very messy mutual disagreement and mild agreement, Heimdall ‘disappeared’.

It was just Loki alone for the next few years, wondering if Y/N was even alive. Deep in his heart, he could almost feel that hers was beating somewhere out there.

                     Unbeknownst to anyone, Y/N was putting her nose deep in the same waters as Loki. She hadn’t believed that Loki never loved her. No, it just didn’t make sense in her head, so she had decided to search for answers. After thinking about old conversations with Loki, reading books, contacting creatures from beyond the nine realms, she got on the right path. She learned about Thanos and the so-called infinity stones. Even Thor knew about them, which was great. Somehow, she managed to make Thor keep it a secret that she was travelling with him.

A few years passed and Thor left, following a hunch that had something to do with Sultur. Y/N didn’t go, because she had more important things to do. Besides, she knew Thor would be returning to Asgard and she had sworn not to return ever again. It hurt too much.

Once she was alone, flying through space in a ship she ‘borrowed’, she found herself thinking about Loki. That asshole, she thought but couldn’t find the truth behind those words. After everything she had learned, she was sure he had loved her to some extent. It didn’t mean that what had happened before he died didn’t put her in agony. Their last conversation broke her heart and it would haunt her forever. Thanks to the massive pain that had followed and the torturous truth of what had happened to Loki before, Y/N put up a hard and cold exterior. She had changed, to say at least.

Shamelessly, Y/N had gone as far as sleeping with strangers to lure secrets out of their lips. Some dumb Kree had told Y/N about the elders of the universe, a tale as old as time. Apparently, they were the original bearers of the stones and one of them, the Grandmaster, just happened to have an address, a dumpster realm known as Sakaar. That’s where Y/N went, not really knowing what to expect -except answers.

She landed in the middle of trash, literally, and some funky looking creatures tried to capture her. Y/N had killed them all before they could really bat an eye. She left behind a pile of their bodies but before she could leave, someone else wanted to have a word with her. Y/N had watched as a beautiful woman walked out of her ship with a bottle in her hands. Beautiful leather outfit, black hair which Y/N liked. She was hot, but Y/N knew she could be dangerous.

“You’re coming with me, ‘right?” The woman asked but it sounded like she also answered for her.

Y/N already thought of some magic tricks that were nifty for self-defence, just in case it got to that point. “Are you trying to eat me as well?” Y/N wondered, glancing at the scavengers she had killed. The woman looked at the pile and raised her eyebrows.

“I’m impressed, but no, I won’t eat you. I’m looking for…a fighter, you seem eligible.”

Y/N was honoured but it didn’t mean she’d volunteer as a puppet for whatever fight they needed a fighter for. “Can I thank you no? I’m here to meet someone called the Grandmaster.”

“Ah! I could take you to him.” The woman suggested almost casually.

“Really?”

“Really.”

Y/N still didn’t trust her. So, she walked closer to her, noticing the white paint on her skin, creating a beautiful contrast. “You lead the way; I can follow you with my ship.”

Before Y/N could hardly finish her sentence, she noticed that the woman grabbed something small, probably a weapon. Y/N was quick to grab her dagger and point it at the woman. “Look, you’re pretty and I don’t want to fight-“

“You think I’m pretty?” She smirked, almost cockily, although Y/N had a dagger pointed at her. “Isn’t that sweet of you!”. Although Y/N felt like she should be annoyed, she found herself liking this woman. There was something about her.

“Lead the way, okay? I’m busy and I don’t want to play your stupid game.”

The woman rolled her eyes and put the little weapon back into her purse. “Fine. If you wish to go to him voluntarily, I won’t stop you. Let’s go!”

And just like that, Y/N was led to the Grandmaster by the woman who she learned went by the name Scrapper 142. Y/N decided that she liked her, although she was probably dangerous and plotting a trap for her. Good luck, Y/N thought, she had been with Loki long enough to avoid basic traps. The effort was cute. But then the memory of the Trickster god stabbed her heart and she remembered what she was here for, the infinity stones.

“Oh, you found a pretty one! You never cease to impress me!” The old man smiled happily once he laid his dark eyes on Y/N. He had a blue stripe on his lip and a very sparkly, golden robe. He definitely stood out, even on this planet where no one seemed to know of dark clothes.

Y/N ignored his low-key compliment and she tried to get straight to the point. “Are you the Grandmaster I’ve heard so much about?” Y/N put on a fake but very sweet smile, attempting to flatter the man who seemed to enjoy it. She learned quickly that this Grandmaster was like a powerful dog that had to be fed with compliments – that way they could become friends. Manipulating him shouldn’t be too hard, right?

Well she was both right and wrong. She didn’t end up being a fighter, instead, she got into his inner circle with her charming act and she picked up clues piece by piece. Y/N had to admit the parties could get extreme and waking up in stranger’s beds wasn’t ideal, but she genuinely had fun for once. Perhaps blowing off some steam by partying and mingling couldn’t hurt too much. After all, Y/N had spent the last five years in her shell, surrounded by hate, anger and misery.

Weeks passed by quickly, very quickly on Scrapper 142’s couch. Her actual name was Brunnhilde, she was a Valkyrie. Y/N and Brunnhilde were wasted one night and Y/N saw her tattoo. Sure, there wasn’t much they could hide when they were both naked. Against all odds, they became friends and it was very beneficial to Y/N who never forgot about her plan.

All was well until someone else from Asgard ended up on Sakaar.

Y/N had picked up Brunnhilde’s ways of Scrapping to earn some credits while staying on Sakaar. It was a usual day when she saw something entering Sakaar’s atmosphere and fast. It’s like a bolt of green lightning struck the trash land. Y/N had to check it out.

Her ship landed on the ground only minutes after she saw the green object, or person, she had no idea. No one else had arrived yet which was perfect, she could take her time. Y/N grabbed a weapon that shot out obedience disks. She only needed that and her magic as she walked outside. As usual, there was a horrible stank outside. Space junk and bodies were rotting all around them. Y/N saw a body on the ground, back faced towards her. Once she saw long, black locks and an emerald green cape, she almost turned away and left. That’s when she took a deep breath and reminded herself that Loki was dead. It couldn’t possibly be him, right?

But the closer she got, the more she saw. And sure as hell, it was him. She could recognize his face from thousands of miles away. Seeing him on the ground, completely helpless, covered in small cuts and fresh bruises was almost too much for her. For a moment, she could only stare at him in utter disbelief and shock. The heartache from half a decade ago was returning and it hurt just as much, but she’d be damned to show it.

Whatever the story was behind it, she had to know. But he was unconscious and other Scrappers would love to find him. Biting her teeth together and swallowing her tears, she dragged his weak body into her ship. His scent emerged into her nostrils and reminded her of so many shared nights.

“Get yourself together!” Y/N growled at herself and dumped Loki’s body on the floor of the ship. Perhaps it was a bit harsh, but she didn’t want to hold onto him longer than needed. She didn’t want to soften up for him after what he did.

She locked the entrance to the ship and sat down, resting her head against her hands as she attempted to think. She had no idea how he was alive, what she would do to him or if he was going to hurt her even more. After pondering for a while and feeling how her shock just increased, she had to get answers. Y/N stood up and walked to Loki who was still on the ground. He looked terrified even though he was passed out. It’s like shock was imprinted on his resting face. Y/N wondered what he saw before ending up on Sakaar. Could it be Thanos?

Y/N groaned and pushed those thoughts away. The only right answers would come from him. So, Y/N gently shook him by his shoulder with her foot until he opened his eyes. Loki looked right at her and it was dead quiet around them for a moment. Y/N’s heart yearned for him, she wanted to wrap him into her arms, but she refused to do that. Instead, she put on a stern mask and grabbed the weapon, having no intentions to use it though. She wanted him to know that she was not the woman she used to be.

“Am I dead?”

“Newsflash, Loki! You’re not, but you sure let everyone think so.”

Loki sat up, never taking his eyes off Y/N. He seemed dazed. Flashes of what had happened only a few minutes earlier were fresh on his mind. He remembered Odin’s death, Thor’s rage, Hela. But once he saw her after believing he never would see her again; his mouth went dry. She stood there, looking at him with anger burning in her E/C eyes. Loki could hardly believe his eyes. He didn’t even know what to do. Now, several years later, there was no use in pretending to be the monster he made out of himself, but he didn’t know if he could let go of his regret and beg for forgiveness. Could he put her through that?

He looked away from her judging gaze and he saw the small, odd weapon that was in her hand. It felt like a punch in his gut, she was furious! He had to be careful but at the same time, he almost wanted her to be mad at him.

It became obvious that Loki wasn’t going to break the silence and Y/N was impatient.

“How are you alive?”

Loki remembered the exact moment he almost died. No one would ever know but he actually sacrificed himself to Thor. He could’ve died when Thor left his body on Svartalfheim but something miraculous kept him alive. What it was, Loki wasn’t sure, but he told himself it was his mother from Valhalla. How could he possibly explain the past five years to her? From the moment he broke her heart by telling her that everything they had together, all the good and the bad, were lies. He told her she was amusement for him. Now he felt rotten just thinking back.

“Answer me!” Y/N demanded harshly, taking a step closer to Loki. She put the little disk shooter underneath Loki’s jaw so she could tilt his head up, forcing him to look at her. It was astonishing how he hadn’t gotten up yet to mock her and drag her down. Something terrible must’ve happened before he arrived.

It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to let herself care about that. What they had in the past should remain there.

Loki didn’t flinch when Y/N put the cold metal object against his neck. He didn’t know what it did, and he didn’t want to find it. Although he knew she probably hated his gut, he doubted she’d hurt him. “It’s a long story, Y/N.”

His voice made Y/N’s stomach twist. She hated herself for missing it. She hated that his voice still affected her but the was proud she had learnt to hide her feelings. To him, he looked like a whole new person. Loki looked her up and down and noticed how different she was, even her attire had changed. Y/N was wearing a skin-tight, white bodysuit that hugged her curves just right, long red boots and a dark red cape, much less elegant than Asgardian capes. It was short and rigged. Y/N’s arms were bare, and she wore golden jewellery that spiralled from her wrist all the way to her upper arm. He even saw scars that weren’t there before. They weren’t neat so he figured they came from battles. She had changed.

The biggest difference was her cold and harsh exterior. He looked at her and her face didn’t soften up like before. He knew that he had burnt her innocence and sweetness to ashes. It hurt, more than he wanted to admit.

“You’re not in a hurry, are you? Start talking.” Y/N was getting angry again. The silence was messing with her head. If he didn’t care, why couldn’t he speak? It bothered her that Loki looked at her so carefully. She felt vulnerable.

Loki looked at her neck. He knew they weren’t together anymore but nevertheless, seeing a dark purple, almost red hickey decorating her skin hurt. Seeing that someone else had gotten the pleasure of touching her was like a stab to the heart. She had moved on, hadn’t she? Loki’s throat felt tight. So much was going on and it was too much – even for him. Asgard was in danger but here he was, in Y/N’s ship, his fate in her hands. “Where shall I begin?” He put on a fake smile, putting up the act from five years ago. He was not going to hurt her any further by explaining how he lied. She had gone through enough because of him. Lying furthermore should be smooth, he was the god of lies after all.

“How about you explain how you’re alive and where you’ve been. Maybe, just maybe I won’t throw you in the lion’s den.” By that, Y/N meant the arena. She knew damn well the Grandmaster would pay her a huge sum for Loki, but she also knew Loki could have answers that she desperately needed. “You’re so great with words, aren’t you? You better use them.”

“Someone still cares,” Loki taunted her, putting his best effort into acting like the fool he was before. He was aware it was terrible, but he had no choice. He decided to push her buttons a little bit more, just to study her reaction. “I see you took some Asgardian goods with you.”

“You know I could electrocute you, right?” Y/N pressed the lips of the disc shooter against his neck, only to threaten him of course. Sure, he probably deserved it, but she didn’t actually want to hurt him. Only a few years ago she was the one who stitched up his wounds and washed off his blood. “Besides, Thor gave them to me. Turns out being in good terms with him is quite handy,” Y/N pushed Loki’s buttons as well, knowing damn well how Loki hated that.

Loki pulled his lips into a thin line. The hickey was almost right in front of his eyes now and he believed Y/N did it on purpose, to shove it in his face that she didn’t care at all. Did Thor make it? Loki wished it was anyone else but his brother. Was she over him? Loki believed it – at least to some extent. How could she still care, after everything he put her through? He didn’t just break her heart, he absolutely destroyed it!

But she would never know he did it for her. She was better off without him. Loki told that to himself to make himself feel better. He had to get away from her and fast but it wouldn’t be easy.

“I’ve been on Asgard. Thor broke me out of my cell, begging for my help. It was a perfect opportunity for me to slither out of that little cell. Then I had to get Odin out of the picture…”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Y/N almost yelled. Sure, Odin was a terrible person but she couldn’t imagine Loki killing him. He hadn’t gone that far, right?

Loki rolled his eyes. “I sent him away. He was on Midgard until Thor and I returned to him. He told us about our sister, Hela, who is currently set to destroy Asgard. Then he died-“

“Slow down!” Y/N stopped him. She put the disc shooter away and took a deep breath. She attempted to forget about her personal issues with Loki and tried to focus on Asgard. Were the people in danger? Who was this Hela? Their sister? She had never even heard of her. ”Odin’s dead?”

“I told you, it’s a long story, Y/N.”

[PART 3]

Author’s Note: I feel like this chapter is just building the plot but the next part will be a bit more fun (I hope). What are your thoughts? :) It’s kind of funny how this turned into a series.

Mobile Masterlist ☕ Buy me a coffee?

TAGS: @heather-destler @jessiejunebug @percyjackson886 @scorpionchild81 @snow-massacre (you asked me to fix your broken heart) @yes-honey-work @elliecapper @phluffyphantom

 if you want to be removed/added, just let me know! :)

[captainchrisfics]

My Writing Masterlist

About: A collection of some Chris Evans and Steve Rogers fics I’ve been working on for a while now, descending from oldest to newest trying to show something resembling progress. 

Last Updated: October 5, 2019

Total Works: 32

Chris Evans

Faster Than You Can Fall Asleep - Chris and the reader Skype while he’s away filming since they miss each other so much, but little does she know she won’t be missing him for long.

Not in Front of the Children - Chris and the (first person pov) reader spend the morning with their lovely little family.

“Just wait.”- A short and sweet little first person pov something about Chris returning home from wrapping filming on Endgame.

Before the Oscars - There’s a fight in this fic- a pretty big, blowout argument right before what is only one of the largest, most important awards shows in cinematic history. Don’t worry (spoiler alert) my sappy heart wins over.

Hanging Around - Mornings spent watching John Mulaney on Netflix and afternoons making out on the couch are always fun, right?

Jealousy - Chris Evans and a first person pov reader go to an awards show. The couple runs into her celebrity crush on the red carpet, causing Chris to develop a bit of a green-eyed monster.

The Leader of the Pack - Inspired by Leader of the Pack by the Shangri-Las, in which 1950′s greaser!Chris gets the hots for the local good girl and it’s all downhill from there.

Too Tired - Chris and the reader have a door-slamming, voice-raising, tear-filled kind of fight which ends with sleeping in separate rooms. Well, trying to until he realizes he can’t sleep without her.

La Vie En Rose - Chris and a (first person pov) reader reminiscing about everything that led them to the middle of the dance floor surrounded by their loved ones at their wedding as they sway to their first dance.

A Weekend Away -  Chris comes home to the (first person pov) reader who had a really rough day and suggests a long weekend away might do them some good.

“I’m yours.” - Chris’s (first person pov) girlfriend insists on coming to set when he films a pretty fervid scene from Gifted’s sequel with his ex, which leads to more than a little bit of jealousy, a fight, and (unsurprisingly) a makeup makeout.

At the Altar - Chris’s friend asks him to be the best man at his wedding, which is great…until he realizes he’d rather be the one meeting Ella at the end of the aisle.

Endgame Interviews and Special News - Chris Evans and the (first person pov) reader are married and going through a round of press interviews, although the plot of Endgame isn’t the only thing they’re worried about spoiling.

“I told you so.” - Chris has a thing for saying he told you so, specifically to the first person pov narrator he has a thing for, too. Between their close friendship, working together, and other relationships all standing in the way, pining after each other without realizing becomes commonplace. Full of angst, fluff, and some sexier scenes, but I wouldn’t call it nsfw personally. 

Oh, Baby - After finding out she’s pregnant with Chris Evans’s baby less than a year into their relationship, the first person pov narrator looks for comfort and advice from their fellow MCU cast members. Unbeknownst to her, Chris notices she’s shut him out and decides to confront her at the same time that she plans on letting him in.

Gaps Between Us - Chris Evans and a first person pov narrator have an age gap, sparking a controversy in the public eye, some tension among the MCU cast, and quite a bit of trouble in paradise. Thankfully, RDJ is always there to save the day.

Slipped - On a press run for Defending Jacob, Chris’s mind drifts to every other thing he’d rather be doing than answering questions, causing him to subconsciously reveal his relationship status which sparks a slew of probing questions and potential problems for the newly public couple

Out of Fenway Park - A SoCal born-and-raised reader relocated to Boston, where the very last thing she expects is to run into Chris Evans at a Red Sox game with beer dripping down her head and his hotdog plastered to her shirt. Literally, running into him, and then somehow still getting a date out of it.

Positive - Quite unexpectedly, Chris Evans finds out he’s going to be a father after a first-person pov narrator confesses she’s pregnant. They haven’t been dating for long, but they’ve known each other forever. The only problem is, the baby might not be his. 

Paps Meet Politics - While working on A Starting Point, Chris takes a liking to a particular Congresswoman. Amidst speculation that he’s dating his co-star, she tries not to think too much of it when he asks her to be his plus one to a gala, but a probing reporter clears the air in the end.

Good Stuff - Chris Evans comes home to find our narrator still buried in bed and dealing with a bout of anxiety. He offers love, support, and coping skills to boot in this short and sweet fic.

Why Not? - Loosely inspired by Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams,” in which Chris Evans and the first-person pov narrator try to escape L.A. in search of some ocean air, planning to spend the night snuggling up on a secluded beach somewhere.

Seahawks vs. Patriots - A first-person pov, Seahawks-supporting reader couldn’t just not show up when Chris Evans throws a Super Bowl party, even if it meant flying across the country to see her second family.

‘Always’ - Chris Evans and his girlfriend break up so he comes crawling back to his friend’s door, only they’re a little more. 

Sweet as Strawberries - First-person pov narrator and her husband, Chris Evans, go berry picking with their daughter and chat about having another. Probably the sweetest, sappiest thing I’ve ever written.

Call It Even - First-person pov narrator is one of those doctors that consults on medical shows/movies for the sake of accuracy but it happens to be a project starring the one and only Chris Evans. After a little sexist slip up, he spends the fic trying to make it up to her.

Steve Rogers

Stuck in Siberia - As a new Avenger, there are a lot of things our protagonist has to learn. Mostly, how to avoid getting herself and Steve kidnapped and held hostage in Siberia. 

“Home.” - First-person pov narrator accompanies *cough* third wheels *cough* Wanda and Vision to Scotland- just as the fight for the mind stone begins in IW, allowing Cap to save the day.

The Book - A first person pov narrator released a book about S.H.I.E.L.D. that struck a chord with Steve so he tries to confront the author, but ultimately she ends up comforting him instead.

Welcome Home - Steve is sent away on a solo mission, leaving his girlfriend aka our first person pov narrator alone and longing for him. His deep laugh that rumbled like thunder. Those eyes that somehow house the ocean and the stars. His touch… Some help breaking in her new mattress couldn’t hurt.

Nightmares to New Normals - After half of the universe returns following Thanos’s defeat, Steve Rogers and a first person pov narrator struggle to find their sense of normalcy again. Five years apart, her nightmares, his hero complex, and their lack of communication create quite the angst. But that always makes the happy endings better, right?

We Have Today - After he’s gunned down on a mission, a first-person pov narrator tries to take care of her super soldier boyfriend. Of course, being Captain America helps with the whole not dying thing, but Steve could never get away that easily without a good reprimanding. And I could never end a fic without a good kiss.

[ilovemygaydad]

part 5/? of punk!patton gets adopted by single parent logan

part one - part two - part three - part four - ao3 version - masterlist (includes asks and art!)

pairings: moxiety, eventual logince, background pining remceit, mentions of past thomas/female oc

warnings--these are very important this chapter: food mentions, stress, anxiety, kissing, flirting, divorce mentions, making out, mentions of murder (i’ll mark it out), attempted murder, guns, gunshots, gun wounds, head trauma, homophobic parents mention, homophobia, there’s so much swearing i am so sorry, maybe something else

a/n: no joke i’ve had this planned out since before the last part came out, but i literally just couldn’t write it all at once, and i’ve been having a really emotionally weird week. next chapter should start out pretty funny. idk. please enjoy this.

a/n 2: sorry that this took so long to get out. i don’t think it’s that great, but... yeah. whatever.

it’s friday night babey which means that it’s dinner time with the sanders, and logan and patton are freaking out

logan has been cooking/prepping food for the past day, and he immediately started finishing up as soon as he got home from work

patton, on the other hand, was feverishly cleaning the entire house 

it isn’t even messy, but he’s worried that virgil and/or roman are going to be upset

(which they aren’t????? but whatever)

and patton even cleaned himself up! he tried (and failed) to tame his wild curls into some sort of neat anything, and he wore his nicest pair of black jeans and a black sweater with floral designs that he’d bought at the mall with virgil a while back

it was a little out of his comfort zone, but virgil insisted that he get it because it looks very good on him

and, god damn it, you can’t say no to virgil’s puppy eyes

the doorbell rang just before five, and logan ran out of the kitchen to get it

patton literally vaulted over the couch, skidding to the door just behind logan

virgil is like

literally the cutest person on the planet

he’s wearing a white lace dress that has a flowy skirt, and he’s got a white flower crown on, and he looks like an angel

during the time that patton’s being a gay disaster, virgil holds out a bouquet of blue flowers and says, “dad made me get them for you”

patton smiles gently and takes them, pulling virgil in for a quick kiss before leading him inside

roman has, like, eight giant tupperware containers full of cookies and brownies and stuff in his arms, and logan’s like

what???? the fuck?????

“you didn’t need to bring desserts, roman. i have ice cream...”

and roman gives this cocky smile and says “my best friend, emi, loves to bake for us, but he doesn’t really know how to limit himself, so we have tons of baked goods lying around that we can’t eat. not to mention that i can’t keep up this fabulous figure if i only eat sweets!” wink wonk

and logan can feel his face heating up after that wink, but he pretends that it’s just the heat from inside

roman really does have a good figure...

logan chooses to not respond to roman, instead saying, “let’s go inside so you can put those containers down”

they turn to go, and they catch a glimpse of patton and virgil from down the hall

the kids are sitting on the couch, laughing and talking and exchanging the occasional kiss

the adults watch for a second because aw, but quickly move on to the kitchen

“you can set the containers down on the counter over there. i made a a couple of different things for dinner just in case you two didn’t like something that i made, so there’s spaghetti, pizza, and hamburgers. everything is absolutely gluten-free; i know because i triple checked with a list online and bought new utensils to reduce contamination. you’re free to have as much or as little as you like--i won’t be offended either way.”

roman kind of freezes because holy shit that’s so thoughtful and kind

“that’s... logan, that’s too much. you didn’t have to do all that for virgil.”

“what are you talking about? it’s only common courtesy to assure that your guest is able to eat without getting sick, especially when they have a disease that can cause irreparable damage to their body.”

“yeah, but a lot of people don’t care enough to ask or remember, so virgil often has to find something else to eat last minute... i brought an extra dinner just in case, which is very unfair to your person, but virgil has suffered too much for me to not be careful.”

“that’s...” logan starts, trying to express what he feels. “that’s just shitty.”

roman smiles and laughs a bit, replying, “yeah, it is, but at least you aren’t, you know, shitty”

and they have this little moment where they smile at each other, and both of them are like wow this man is... good looking but they snap out of it because

dumb gays

everyone in this au is a dumb gay

including yours truly but that is noT important

logan’s like “hey we should get the kids for dinner” and roman obvi agrees

but when they go to get them, they see the kiddos being all adorable and gay and logan turns to roman with this very serious expression like

we must spy on them. this is the cutest shit i’ve ever seen.

so they shuffle over to the edge of the doorway, just out of sight, and logan peeks his head in every now and then for visuals, and he’s repeating what he hears so that roman can understand what’s happening

logan’s in the middle of telling roman something when

dun dun dunnnn

a voice suddenly appears from behind them like

(the voice is virgil)

“what... are you two doing...?”

fucking busted

logan is like

aHa i can lie to these children!

and he says, “we were talking about work--”

but patton just cuts him off with this deadpan look and “you two are horrible liars”

cut to: roman gasping in offense that this emo nightmare of a child just called him a liar when he didn’t even say anything

so he says, “i didn’t even say anything”

patton, being... well, being the asshole that he is, says, “my point still stands”

roman splutters for a while longer, trying to look at virgil and logan for help, but virgil just shrugs and walks with patton to the table, and logan is still very embarrassed about getting caught

it takes a few seconds, but both adults recuperate and move on to what’s important

which is, obviously, dinner

logan walks virgil through what’s available and offers to cook something else if he isn’t feeling particularly happy with anything

virgil damn near cries at how nice logan is

dinner gets served, and they all start eating the (delicious--who would guess that calculator watch knew how to cook something that tasted like it was served in a fancy restaurant) food

after a few minutes of idle chatter and slight pda between the kids, logan offhandedly comments, “you know, i am extremely happy for the both of you that you didn’t cycle through numerous girlfriends before finding out that you’re queer like many of us do.”

and everyone at the table freezes because

logan’s gay????

“hold up,” roman says with a shocked expression. “you’re gay?”

and virgil sighs and shakes his head because “dad, you’re an idiot. he literally has a pride phone case, and there are multiple pictures of him at pride around the house--including one right behind you.”

he also elbows patton when the punk mutters out a very soft “what the fuck”

“i applaud your observational skills--”

“i assume neither of you knew that he was jewish, either”

and now it’s logan’s turn to be surprised because... who the hell is this kid

“you have a dreidel on the mantle that i assumed you forgot to put away after Hanukkah last year.” everyone stared at him. “oh, i’m sorry that i’m not as much of a dumb gay as my father.”

cue roman getting offended again

“excuse you! the role of ‘dumb gay’ is exclusively reserved for thomas f. sanders!”

poor patton hasn’t stopped being confused this whole time, but roman luckily jumps right back into his explanation

“my twin brother, thomas, didn’t realize that he was gay until he had been with a woman for six years and had a child with her. they amicably parted ways because, like him, she was also gay. i am not nearly as stupid as my brother, and i take great offense to virgil calling me a ‘dumb gay!’” he said matter-of-factly

virgil opens his mouth to say something, but roman cuts him off with a swift “if you so much as think about saying what you’re going to say, i will throw you into the ocean without a moment’s hesitation.” roman then very calmly turns to patton and says sweetly, “so, only good child at this table, tell me a bit about yourself so that i know what my devil child is getting himself into.”

unbeknownst to roman, virgil mutters “dumb gay,” under his breath, causing logan to crack a smile across the table

patton shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “my birthday is february nineteenth, my favorite color is blue, and i’m homoromantic asexual.”

roman waited for patton to say more, but the teen averted his gaze back on his food and took another bite

logan decided to pick up the slack after the few seconds of awkward silence “what about you, virgil?”

unlike patton’s less than enthusiastic reply, virgil perked up at the chance to speak

“oh, well, my birthday is june second, and i really like purple! i’m pretty sure that i’m pan, but i have a preference for guys. oooh! and i really want to be an elementary school teacher.”

that made logan perk up. “really? i currently teach first graders across town.”

“no way!” virgil gasped. “that’s awesome! i love little kids so much. they’ve got so much energy.”

“and their intelligence is unrivaled!”

“yes!”

roman and patton watched as the two excitedly conversed about kids and teaching

patton admired virgil’s enthusiasm, and was happy that he was getting along with logan.

and virgil looked really cute with his happy smile and the little glimmer in his eyes

patton may or may not have zoned out in favor of staring at his beautiful boyfriend

roman couldn’t really tell what logan and virgil were talking about (they were speaking far too quickly for him to follow), but he admired how excited logan looked when he was speaking

oh no

roman was falling for logan

time to not follow his own advice and pretend that his feelings don’t exist

after another half hour or so of chatting, the adults and kids split ways for a while

patton and virgil went up to patton’s room, and logan and roman stayed in the living room

the boys settled together at the end of patton’s bed, holding hands and leaning on each other

“you look paw-sitively purrfect, virgil” patton giggled

“is... are you saying that because i have cat-eye eyeliner on?”

“...maybe”

virgil smiled and pulled patton in for a kiss

they kissed for a little, but patton eventually pulled away

he looked worried, and he fidgeted with his hands as he said, “do you think that your dad likes me?”

“well...” virgil started. “he didn’t like you for a long time. after the first day of school, he kind of held a grudge on you.” patton winced, but he didn’t get the opportunity to say anything. “i think he’s forgiven you now.”

“really?”

“i promise. he just wanted to protect me because he’s my dad, but i think he’s realized that you’re not actively trying to hurt me, and you’re just a bit dumb at times”

“hEY”

virgil smiled and nudged patton “you know i love you”

“hnnnnnn i love you too”

“heLL YEAH!”

meaNwhiLE downstairs

logan led roman into the the living room and roman was

stunned

because logan had at least a thousand books meticulously organized around the room

“how many books do you have in here...?” roman asked, running his hand over an entire collection of encyclopedias 

“about one thousand two hundred on the shelves, but i have some children’s books in those baskets at the bottom as well as the books that are starting to fall apart like my copy of hamlet”

“how did you even get so many books? i’ve been collecting novels my whole life, and i only have a few bookshelves full”

“my mom is a librarian, and whenever they would get newer copies of books or get rid of unwanted books, she’d give them to me. i’ve bought a fair few of these myself, but there are only so many that i can buy on a teacher’s salary”

and roman’s like

????? hot

and logan keeps rambling on about books, and roman’s just having a gay crisis but it’s fine 

but then logan looks at roman expectantly, and roman hadn’t exactly been paying enough attention to read logan’s lips, so he played the “can you repeat yourself? i didn’t catch it” card

“sorry. i asked how you came to adopt virgil”

and roman obviously is like hey how about we spill a lot of sad life things with this almost stranger because he’s cute

~this is where the murder is mentioned~

“his mom was my best friend in high school. although we went our separate ways for college, she stayed supportive of me after i came out. she was... the only one from my old life who would even think to talk to me. even thomas hesitated to talk to me for fear of crossing our parents and their ridiculously catholic ideas.” roman sighed. “eventually, though, she got mixed up in some bad stuff, and she got with this drug addict who got her pregnant with virgil. when virgil was about a year old, the guy thought that my friend was cheating on him, and he shot her. the shot, luckily, didn’t kill her right away, and she was able to push him into the corner of a table and kill him before he could get to virgil. she called the police, but she died before they could get there. as soon as i found out, I went and started the adoption process. i had only been a year out of college at that point.”

~end of the murder mention~

logan was stunned. “that is... horrible, roman. i am so sorry for your loss.”

“it’s alright,” roman said with a shrug. “it was over a decade ago, and it led to me getting the best thing in my life. the circumstances were shit, but virgil has made me a better person, and i wouldn’t know what i’d do without him keeping my head on gay.”

“you mean straight...?”

“nothing about me is straight, logan. don’t be absurd”

eventually, it’s time for roman and virgil to leave

virgil and patton walk out to the car and leave the adults at the door because they wanna kiss each other goodbye without being spied on

on their way to the car, virgil whispers “how much do you want to bet that they’ll be flirting with each other by the time we leave”

“ten dollars. i mean, didn’t you see how your dad looked at logan? it was gross!”

meanwhile, at the door...

roman leans back on the doorframe and smiles. “this was a nice night, logan. virgil definitely had a lot of fun”

“that’s great; i’m glad”

“here--give me your phone. i’ll put my number in, and we can get together some other time to get to know each other better”

logan obliged, and roman sent himself a text using logan’s phone and set his contact name as “prince of your dreams”

they chatted for a minute or so longer, just to give the boys enough time to say their goodbyes, before parting ways

logan didn’t spend the rest of the night texting roman

don’t be ridiculous

to be continued

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[seawolvesanddragons]

Merlin Swan Princess AU

Ok, Merlin Swan Princess AU. So, in this AU Uther died instead of Ygraine when Arthur was very young (YAY) and Balinor, as a powerful Dragonlord, is one of Ygraine's closest supporters, and she becomes close with Hunith. About a two years after Arthur is born, Hunith dies in childbirth) and Merlin is born. Balinor is very upset, obviously, but does love his son. However, he and Ygraine are both concerned about the current political climate - Camelot is seen as weak because of its Queen Regent and two year old heir, and Ygraine fears that enemies will fall upon them or go after Arthur, or that Arthur will inherit a dying kingdom. Meanwhile, dragons and dragonlords are getting a bad rep in other kingdoms b/c kings mistrust their power and dragons are scary, and Balinor fears his kind will be hunted. So Ygraine and Balinor come up with a beneficial deal - they will help each other out. They dismiss the idea of them getting married b/c Ygraine still loves Uther and Balinor Hunith but Balinor pledges his support, his clan's support, and Kilgharrah's support to Camelot. In return, Ygraine declares Camelot a safe haven for dragonlords, druids, etc. To keep this arrangement fresh in the minds of the people/other kingdoms, Balinor decides that every summer, he and Merlin will stay in Camelot. If he had to travel on business, than Merlin would still stay with Gaius. 

The deal is great - it gives Ygraine some extra security, and Balinor is pleased that Merlin will have some semblance of a permanent home and a maternal figure at least 4 months of the year. Plus, they both privately hope that if the boys become friends, then the truce will continue. Well, private to each other. They stress to Arthur and Merlin that they really SHOULD get along, for the good of the kingdom/the dragonlord clan, etc. Except, well...Arthur and Merlin? Do NOT get along. Seriously. While Merlin adores Gaius and likes Ygraine and ok Camelot can be pretty cool, he still dreads the summers when he is forced to try and get along with Arthur, who only cares about knights and sword training and riding horses. Merlin doesn't get the big deal about riding horses, he can ride dragons and that is MUCH more exciting. Arthur, meanwhile, is frustrated that this kid (yes, Mother, KID, he is only 5 and I am SEVEN. I am old enough to be a page!) is his responsibility to entertain, especially when Ygraine lets on that it is so Arthur can have the support of the dragonlords in the future and yeah, Balinor is cool and all but Arthur is going to be the King of Camelot, what kind of King can't defend his own people. (Plus there's a jealousy thing b/c Arthur doesn't have a dad and Merlin doesn't have a mom but they are both too emotionally young to really understand that.) So they spend their summers trying to avoid each other, Arthur with the knights and Merlin by learning with Gaius and practicing magic. Morgana, when she arrives, splits her time between the two of them, but she always gives a little extra time to Merlin (she sees Arthur ALL YEAR) and Merlin makes Gwen less uncomfortable, so that also tips the scales. Arthur dislikes this because Morgana is HIS friend. When they both turn out to be magic, well, that's even more annoying. As they get older, more issues are cropping up among dragonlords and Balinor leaves Merlin in Camelot alone during the summer more and more, which Merlin does NOT like. And okay, they probably share and adventure or two, but they do NOT like each other at all, not friends, ok, so shut up Leon. And Gwen. And Morgana. Then one summer when Arthur is 17 and Merlin is 15 and Merlin wishes Arthur luck before a tourney and Arthur sees Merlin practicing magic for a few peasant children who came to Camelot during the famine and distracting them from their hunger, and okay, maybe they other isn't so bad. And they are both old enough to sit in on the Council meetings now and do so regularly, and find themselves working together to solve a crisis or something. So they are not friends - they snipe and everything at each other, but things are at least slightly more cordial to each other. So the end of the summer comes, and Balinor returns on Kilgharrah (who always is giving Arthur strange looks, no one understands it) in time to literally spend one day and then pick up Merlin. He and Ygraine watch the boys barely interact at the farewell feast and Arthur doesn't say goodbye to the next morning, he is already at training so the two sigh and give up on those two ever actually being friends, and Balinor mentions that they will be back next summer, but Merlin is also going to start accompanying him when he leaves to smooth things over. Unbeknownst to them Arthur is lurking behind the palace wall, trying to decide whether it would be awkward or not to say goodbye again, and doesn't know how he feels about that and boom then they are gone. And everything returns to normal in Camelot for about a day. Then Morgana wakes up SCREAMING from a nightmare and Arthur, as the only one who can calm her down besides Gwen, is trying to help when she gets out enough to say that Merlin and Balinor are in danger and woah who knew Arthur could run that fast? And within a half hour, Arthur, Leon, Elyan, Lancelot and Percival are out searching for the Dragonlord, the Dragon, and his son. Its past daybreak when they finally see Kilgharrah flying away in the distance, no riders, crying mournfully. They go to where they saw him take off of and find a dying Balinor. Merlin is nowhere to be seen. Balinor lives just long enough to tell Arthur "the beast..it has Merlin. It’s not what you expect." and then in true unhelpfully vague dying plot device fashion, dies. For a month, Camelot and the dragonclan search, Arthur and his knights leading the fray. But as time passes, and Kilgharrah fails to return, and Morgana sees nothing, they all assume Merlin is also dead. Except Arthur. Arthur is convinced that Merlin is still alive, that he is counting on their rescue. He goes to Gaius, who admits that it would be hard to kill a warlock of Merlin's abilities, but also hard to hold him captive. He goes to Morgana, who says yeah maybe something is blocking her Sight, something is off, but Arthur have you eaten anything today you need to slow down. And Leon and the Knights find themselves suddenly training WAY more than usual, and patrols increased and still going on search parties, which ok they are fine with, they liked Merlin, Lancelot was especially close, but let’s be realistic here. But Arthur refuses, because Merlin is a kind and decent kid and he swore to Balinor he would find him. Merlin, meanwhile, is being held captive by the Sidhe, who want Merlin to use his dragonlord/magic powers to help them conquer all of Albion, including Camelot and the dragonclans and the druids. Merlin said "hell no" , refused to summon any dragons and great,the sidhe have crazy powerful magic and now Merlin is cursed to be an actual merlin, like, the bird, during the day (Alvar thinks he's SOOO funny) and only be human at night, and they used some ancient Sidhe dark magic chain to keep his magic bound. At least he has Gwaine, the captured knight errant whose blood the Sidhe keep using for their "noble blood needed rituals"  and Mordred, a druid changeling who is SO not up for this Sidhe nonsense but is also 10 and scared to leave on his own, to keep him company. A whole year passes. Arthur is supposed to become king soon but is ignoring the coronation preparations because he has to find Merlin. Finally, FINALLY Kilgharrah answers Arthur's persistent call to COME HELP YOU GIANT LIZARD and gives him MORE vague instructions on Merlin and how to help. When Arthur is king he is outlawing vague statements. So Arthur and Leon go on a "hunting" trip where Arthur sees a merlin. Like, a really magnificent merlin. Leon is about to strike it down when Arthur is like wait MAYBE THIS IS THE SIGN KILGARRAH MEANT and follows the bird, Leon wandering behind him wondering wtf is going on. They follow the bird for fucking miles. Until they reach a really pretty looking lake with a convenient rowboat to get to the island in the middle and Arthur uses it and good lords above, the BIRD JUST TURNED INTO MERLIN. Arthur, who has spent a year trying to find Merlin, suddenly isn't sure what to do (do they hug? They never hugged before but Arthur really really REALLY wants to hug him right now) and Merlin doesn't know why Arthur has crossed his mind so much in the past year (its because its too painful to think about his father, and Kilgharrah, and Camelot was some of the best times of his life, and Arthur was undeniably part of Camelot. That’s all right? No other reasons...) but now they are both kinda awkward around each other. Leon is still recovering from the whole bird thing. So, Leon thinks, ok, found him, didn't even need to fight beast, weird that he was a bird but we can go now right? But Arthur feels this was too easy, and yep, now Merlin is talking about a curse, and this fellow Gwaine (...why does Arthur suddenly feel jealous) is backing it up, and now there's a ten year old staring at them while hiding behind a tree, and essentially Merlin is cursed and can't leave the island unless in bird form and according to Mordred the only way to break a Sidhe curse is with something so powerful and true even magic can't withstand it. "A Great Sacrifice" he calls it. Helpful kid, really. Arthur is determined to not leave without Merlin but now it is daylight and the Sidhe are coming and Arthur go NOW and Leon is dragging him off when a wild burst of magic transports them both to the other side of the lake right as the Sidhe arrive and Merlin is let wondering "wait was that my magic? Since when can I do that again? " The Sidhe aren't stupid, and figure out what is going on, and are going to go after Arthur when Merlin tells them to wait. Tells them he's changed his mind, he'll call Kilgharrah and give them use of his dragon and his warlock blood willingly but they can't go after Arthur. The Sidhe agree, and it is decided the ritual will take place at midnight. Gwaine and Mordred are NOT okay with this plan and Gwaine decides he has to escape to get Arthur to help. He is caught in doing so though and Mordred has to summon up his courage to escape and find Arthur. He gets to Camelot and after finding Arthur and being overwhelmed by all the people (Arthur's coronation is the next day) he tells Arthur what Merlin has done. Arthur leaves, essentially blowing off his coronation, with the help of Morgana and Gwen, who he leaves Mordred with. He also tells Morgana that if anything happens, he knows she will take care of Camelot. Arthur is halfway through the forest on horse when Kilgharrah shows up, asking Arthur why suddenly the future was going dark, and hey, apparently Arthur has a freaking DESTINY to unite Albion. Arthur would really like to be kept in the damn loop on these things. So Kilgharrah takes Arthur to the island, Gwaine helps him fight their way to the ritual, and they get there right before Merlin is about to call Kilgharrah already and be ritualistically sacrificed. So Arthur offers himself in Merlin's place. Blood of the once and future king, tempting right? Conceived of magic and the blood of kings and destiny running through his brain, that's way better than anything else. (somewhere above them, Kilgharrah is muttering "this is NOT why I told you about your destiny you idiotic prince"). Merlin is shouting that he can't DO that he has a kingdom to run, he had Camelot and his mother and Morgana and Arthur just responds that Morgana and Ygraine can take care of Camelot, but he made a promise to Merlin that he would save him and that was what he as going to do, because his life is not worth anything if he can't save Merlin.   The Sidhe are like, fine, whatever, blood of kings lets go, and prepare to ritual sacrifice. Arthur lies on the table, prepares to die, and ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Turns out, that whole "true sacrifice thing" needed to break the curse? Apparently, Arthur giving up his kingdom and his life to save the one he loved fits the bill. Merlin's magic is back. And Merlin? yeah, he's PISSED. There are not many Sidhe who escape his wrath alive, and those that do return straight to Avalon. Merlin, Gwaine, and Arthur return to Camelot on Kilgarrah, missing Arthur's coronation by hours, but hey, they can just reschedule it tonight right? (Ygraine is not amused but is also so happy at seeing Merlin she can't really be angry. Morgana is delighted as well, and when she sees how Arthur keeps looking over at him, whispers to him smugly "I saw this in my dreams, you know.") So Arthur is crowned King, and Merlin is right there to witness it, and the first thing Arthur does is knight Gwaine. Later, Merlin and Arthur escape the festivities to a balcony for some quiet, where Merlin pledges Arthur the loyalty of his dragonclan, but Arthur says he doesn't need any armies or dragonclans, as long as Merlin stays by his side. (Kilgharrah, Morgana, Gwen, and the knights all groan loudly from where they are hiding and eavesdropping.) Arthur and Merlin then go off to unite Albion and everything is happily ever after!