#when they both cried i was ready to go into my screen to fight everyone that hurt them!!!!!!!

[tobeseenthrough]

I like you. [...] I tried denying it and I tried to rationalize it but nothing worked. It's true. I like you.

[vicsnook]

Wildest Dreams | Bob Floyd x Reader x Jake Seresin

word count: 2701

warnings: break up, SMUT MINORS DNI 18+ , oral, fingering, sex

song pairing: Wildest Dreams - Taylor Swift

notes: Hi y'all! Hope all is well. I have been on a Hangman kick lately and also with 1989 probably being the next re-recording well this was inspired. Please forgive me for making our sweet Bob not so sweet but I promise we will get sweet Bob back soon. This will have more parts so stay tuned! Please if you don' t mind like and reblog!!! Also thank you for all the likes and reblogs on my previous works, it truly means the world to me.

The breakup was sudden. A string of arguments over phone calls that didn’t last more than 5 minutes were the cause. Bob’s deployment was extended but Nat was shipped back. He was Cobra’s new backseater and with that came new trust issues.

His short or missed phone calls, no texts, and lack of caring came as a surprise. The biggest slap in the face was when he missed your birthday. Everyone at the Hard Deck huddled around the laptop waiting on him to pop up any second yet he never did. That was the night it all was over for you.

You ran out of the Hard Deck trying to hide the tears from the rest of your teammates. Only Jake and Nat knew about the fights and were both surprised at how sweet Bob might have all been an act. You could hear footsteps behind you in the sand as you quickly dried your tears ready to pretend you were fine. 

“I’m okay, I just needed some air,” you said turning around to find Jake headed towards you. “Come on, let's get you out of here,” he said, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as he guided you to his car. You let the tears fall as he drove you home. Jake was one of the only people you trusted and who knew exactly how you felt.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked as he approached a stop sign in your neighborhood.

“It’s over. I’m going to break it off. Not that there’s anything left either way.” 

“Are you sure, Peach? I know things have been really rocky the past couple of months but maybe talk to him first?” he mumbled as he pulled into the driveway.

“There’s nothing to talk about Jake. He didn’t show. I’m done waiting for him when all he seems to care about is Cobra.” your tone was harsher than you expected but it was true. Bob assured you when he was assigned as Cobra’s backseater that it would be strictly professional. Yet the friendly outings blasted all over her social media and Bob’s exasperation whenever you asked were enough for you to come to the conclusion that your relationship was over. 

Jake followed you to your door knowing you shouldn’t be alone. Usually, you’d try to get him to leave but you were exhausted. He watched quietly as you started putting Bob’s things and gifts in a box. 

Nearly an hour later you were finished. The tears came and went but when you closed the top of the box the heartache seemed to worsen. You turned around and walked over to Jake who stood up and engulfed you in a hug as you started to sob.  “Let it all out, sweetheart. I’m here,” he whispered against your head as you cried.

—

Your phone ringing woke you up and as you reached for it the events of last night came reeling back in. The call ended as you stared at Bob’s face on your screen. 3 missed calls and 1 text. 

Clicking on the text you felt your stomach sink as you read it. “We need to talk and I’m so sorry about last night baby. Love you” you stifled back a sob. It was over. His face popped up again as his call came through. Hesitant you answered it anyway. Better to get it over with now.

“Hello?” he said quietly. 

“Hey” 

“Look Peach, I’m really sorry I missed last night” he sighed. “I’ll make it up to you. Work is just really stressful and-”

But you’d heard that before. He’d make it up to you and things would be fine for a while but it would be just a matter of time til it happened again. Cutting him off you ripped off the bandaid. “Stop, please. Bob, it’s over. I can't do this anymore.” 

“No! Peach talk to me please” he pleaded as you ended the call. 

He tried to call again but you didn’t answer this time. Instead, you headed for the shower not even bothering to take your sleep shirt off as you got in. Sitting on the tub letting the hot water soak you as you sobbed. You wanted to go back into your room and answer the phone but you knew it was better this way. He would’ve never broken up with you so it was up to you to take the hint and end it. 

A knock on your bathroom door startled you. “Peach, is everything okay?” said Jake from the other side. He never did leave last night. You figured he slept on the couch and stayed to check on you. “Yeah, I’ll be out in a sec,” you shouted back trying to hide the fact that you’d been crying. “Okay, I’ll be in the kitchen.” the uncertainty in his voice told you he knew you were lying.

You threw your clothes into the dryer that was thankfully in the bathroom then wrapped your towel around you and headed to your room to get dressed. Jake shouted breakfast was ready as you clasped your bra. “Coming!” you shouted back, throwing your Navy sweatshirt on.

“Hey stranger, made you some pancakes,” said Jake as he slid the plate in front of you. Chocolate chip, your favorite.

“You didn’t have to do that Jake,” you replied quietly as he shrugged in response. Your appetite was non-existent but you didn’t want to seem ungrateful so you scarfed down one of the pancakes.

“Bob called. He’s been calling me and Nat all morning.” 

“Did you answer?” you swallowed hard. Hoping he didn’t.

“No,  but have you talked to him?”

Staring down at your plate you mumbled back “Yeah. I ended it and hung up on him.” 

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” 

Jake pulled you into a hug before you could even reply. Sticking by you the rest of the day as you dropped off Bob’s things at Nat’s and then watching rom-coms with you that only managed to make you cry even more.

—

Bob tried calling the first week. An abundance of texts sat unanswered on your phone too. He even sent you roses which ended up at Nat’s since you didn’t want them but didn’t want to throw them out. But as the 2-month mark neared he finally stopped. According to Nat, he wasn't on Cobra’s social media anymore and he asked her about you every week but it was too late now. 

He said, "Let's get out of this town

Drive out of the city, away from the crowds”

The sound of Jake’s truck in your driveway snapped you out of your thoughts. He’d been there through it all for you. Making you get out of the house and not letting you drown in sorrow. Today he was taking you to a flea market you’d mentioned at work. It was a 2-hour drive and you tried to get him to reconsider but he just said he loved a good road trip and you knew you couldn’t fight him.

The drive-up was uneventful and you couldn’t deny Jake’s playlist was great. Singing along to Jolene as he pulled into the parking lot. “Wow this place is huge,” you mumbled. 

Jake smiled up at you as you walked the booths. His arms holding your new books. You turned around suddenly bumping into Jake when you realized you passed the records booth. He grabbed your waist to prevent you from falling.

He's so tall and handsome as hell

His green eyes were on yours as he towered over you. You couldn't help the butterflies in your stomach as you shook your head to snap yourself out of the trance and then quickly headed toward another booth. 

—

As you and Jake ate that afternoon at a little cafe on the side of the road you couldn't help but stare at his handsome features. A couple of times he made funny faces when he caught you staring and you tried to shake off the feeling you got when he did.

Standing in a nice dress

Staring at the sunset, babe

Walking back to the truck you stopped to take a picture of the sunset. The breeze ruffling your blue sundress. Jake ran ahead of you and opened the truck door for you. Standing in front of him, as he towered over you, your eyes flickered down to his lips.

Red lips and rosy cheeks

“I like your red lipstick,” he whispered. You looked down as your cheeks blushed but his fingers lifted your chin to look up at him. Before you could overthink it you pulled his shirt and pulled him down to you, pressing your lips to his as his hands reached for your waist. The kiss was slow and it felt natural as his tongue tangled up with yours. 

When you finally parted to breathe, he tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear. “I’m sorry if I overstepped” you mumbled to him as you turned to get into the truck. “I’m not sorry,” he replied as he rounded the truck and got in.

 Jake grabbed your hand as you got on the highway back to Miramar, a comfortable silence had settled between y’all. Only being interrupted when he pulled into your driveway and you asked if he wanted to come in.

Setting down your books on the coffee table, Jake excused himself to the bathroom. Your mind still reeling from the kiss. Your heart still ached for Bob but you couldn't deny the feelings that had recently come to the surface as you started to hang out more with Jake.

You turned on the tv and put on Game of Thrones which was Jake’s favorite then headed to the kitchen and poured two glasses of red wine. “That for me?”  he asked as he came and grabbed the glass for your hand and quickly pecked your lips. “Yes, I uh also put on Game of Thrones. We can watch something else though if you want.” you rambled as you followed him out of the kitchen and then settled on the couch.

“Nah, this is perfect” he replied as he stretched and placed his arm on your shoulders, pulling you closer to him. Jake was very into the show but you couldn't concentrate on anything other than the fact that he’d kissed you twice today and now it was nearly midnight and he was still here. On the one hand, you didn't want him to leave but you also didnt want whatever was happening to progress quickly and ruin your friendship.  “Hello? Earth to Peach?” he said breaking you out of your thoughts.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“I said it's getting late, maybe I should go,” he stared at you waiting on a response. You eyed the wine on the coffee table now empty. Not wanting him to drive home under the influence you responded “You’ve been drinking, it’s okay if you stay.” 

“Peach, I’m okay really. I don't want to overstay my welcome.”

“No, please. Stay.” your lips crashed into his before he could say anything else. The kiss started slow but it turned more passionate as you moved to straddle his lap. His hands were on your ass as your tongues fought for dominance. You pulled away and slowly got up, holding his hand as you guided him toward your room. 

I said, "No one has to know what we do"

His hands are in my hair, his clothes are in my room

“Are you sure about this, Peach?” he mumbled while kissing your neck. You nodded in response as a moan escaped your lips when he pulled your hair. “Use your words, Peach.”

“I’m sure” you whispered as he laid you down on the bed and climbed on top of you. You pulled his shirt up and ran your hands across his abs as he kissed you, only pulling away to take his shirt off. His right hand squeezed your breasts as you desperately kissed him. Your body jolted with every touch. There was no denying being touch starved from Bob’s long deployment might have influenced this to happen so quickly but as he kissed your thighs your mind went blank. 

And his voice is a familiar sound

Nothing lasts forever

But this is getting good now

“Can I eat you out?” Jake mumbled against your thigh. “Yes,” you panted as he slowly took off your underwear and threw it somewhere with the rest of his clothes. He sucks on your clit and your fingers grasp for his hair as your moans fill the room. He pulls away and licks a stripe from your entrance to your clit, his green eyes piercing through yours as you moan his name. “You like that, honey?” he says as he thrusts one finger in you and you feel your legs start to shake. 

He adds another finger and hits your g-spot as he sucks on your clit. Your legs tighten around his head as he starts to go faster. Your vision goes white with pleasure as your legs start to shake while you come in his mouth as he continues to finger you through your orgasm. “You taste so good baby” Jake mutters as you start to come down from your high. 

You taste yourself on his lips as he kisses you. He pulls away to take off his jeans as you take off the sundress and chuck it on the floor. Quickly his lips are back on yours as you grab his bulge and he groans in your mouth. Your fingers tug at the waistband of his boxers and as you pull them down you grab his cock. Slowly stroking it as he pulls the boxers all the way off.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Peach?” he asks once more as you kiss his neck. “Yes, Jake” you respond and so he reaches down to his pants on the floor and pulls a condom out of his wallet. He quickly puts it on and as he rubs his cock against your entrance you wrap your legs around him and pull him to you. Moaning his name loudly as he begins to thrust slowly into you.

 “Faster, Jake” you whine as he starts to quicken up the pace. He lowers his right hand down to rub your clit as he thrusts into you. You kiss him desperately as you feel yourself getting close. His left hand squeezing your breast. “I’m close” you moan and that sets something off in Jake and he begins to thrust faster and harder into you.

Screaming his name you feel yourself coming and he comes too as your cunt tightens around his cock. Holding on to you as you both come down from your highs. He slowly pulls out and chucks the condom into your bedside trashcan. Laying beside you he pulls you to his chest as you throw your leg over him. Both of you drifting off to sleep.

— 

You'll see me in hindsight

Tangled up with you all night

Burning it down

Monday rolls around too quickly and Jake has been at your apartment since Saturday night. He leaves early that morning to get to work before you and at work, you both act like nothing happened since you didnt want the team to know. Worried about what they might say.

Jake winks at you as you head for the showers and your mind wanders back to last nights steamy shower with him. You hurry while getting dressed and practically run to your car and when you pull into your street you see the familiar truck in the driveway. As you park next to him he gets out of the truck and rounds your car to open your door. Making you giggle as he throws you over his shoulder.

But before he can walk to your door a car door shuts behind you and when you lift your head to see who it is, it's the one person you were not prepared to see again.

Bob.

Say you'll see me again

Even if it's just in your wildest dreams

(click here to read pt 2)

[stark-ironman]

A/N: Hello everyone. This will be my first post on this account. I hope you enjoy because I spent days on this.

Word count: 4.5k

Warnings: talks of kidnapping, crying and proposal

Tony Stark has been taken hostage by enemy forces.

Those words have been on the TV screen all morning. You've been sitting there on the couch with Happy, using Tony's laptop and working tirelessly to try and find him. You called Rhodes earlier in the week to tell him where Tony's cell phone location last showed up but nothing was there except for wreckage.

Not one sign of your multi-billionaire boyfriend. 

"He's going to turn up. We both know it." Happy tries to reassure. "Until he's back in my arms, I'm not going to stop looking." You say standing up and walking down the steps to his work area.

"Jarvis, let me see the map of Mr. Starks last known location." You say. Jarvis brings it up and you make the scene bigger, looking for some sort of clue to help you. A deep huff falls from your lips, scratching at your eyebrow as you search. 

Hours pass for what feels like eternity, nothing comes up. You have looked all over the map several times and nothing has popped up yet but you haven't lost hope.

"Jarvis, is there any new updates on Mr. Stark?" You ask. "I'll turn on the TV,  ma'am. There's something going on that might be in relations to Mr. Stark." He says turning the TV on. You look at the TV confused, watching as you see a war base on fire.

"Captain Rhodes is trying to get in touch with you. Shall I let him through?" Jarvis asks. "Yes, thank you Jarvis." You say as you answer the phone.

"We found him and we're bringing him home as we speak."

------

Happy drove you to the airport as soon as he received word that the plane was fixing to land. You watch as the door opens, seeing Tony sitting there in a wheelchair. He stands up and walks towards you,  smiling softly when you run up and hug him.

"Miss me, sweetheart?" His smooth voice fills your ears, a small smirk on his face. You fight the urge to roll your eyes, kissing him softly. "Don't scare me like that again." You tell him with tears. "I don't plan on leaving you again." He whispers, kissing you again.

"Happy, take me to get a cheeseburger." Tony states as he opens the car door open for you. Once settled, Tony starts rubbing your thigh. "So, I heard my girl took charge of everything while I was gone. Must have been a sight to see." He smirks as his hand moves up on your thigh.

You smack his hand away and notice a little look on his face but he doesn't say anything. Instead, he looks out the window  as he grips your hand tighter.

The rest of the drive is sat in silence and you worry that you've upset Tony, noticing he's zoned out pretty bad. "Take the rest of the day off, Happy. We're not going anywhere and if we do then I'll call." Tony states as he grabs the bags of food and helps you out, leading you inside.

"Jarvis, lock the doors and turn off the phones. I don't want anybody to disturb us until I'm ready." He calls out. You help set the food on the coffee table, sitting down on the couch. Tony kneels on the floor in front of you, wrapping his arms around your waist as his head buries itself in your neck.

Soft whimpers fill the house and you feel your neck getting wet. "It's okay, baby." You whisper. "I was so scared, sweetheart. The whole way home I was scared shitlesss that someone was going to  attack again." He cries.

Your heart shatters hearing his confession and you start playing with his curls to try to calm him down. "Please don't ever leave me, sweetheart. I need you in my life for as long as I live." He whimpers. "Baby, you will never be able to get rid of me." You push him back, kissing him softly.

Tony stands up, grabbing your hand and leads you down to his workshop. "I was going to do this before I left but I didn't have the correct amount of time.." He trails while looking around and grabs a box off of one of the top shelves.

"I had to hide it so you wouldn't find it but I spent many months learning how to make this so you would have a perfect one." He continues and smiles when he sees your confused face. Tony gets on one knee in front of you and brings up a custom made box.

"I want to marry you, sweetheart. You have been my rock through everything in my life and I know I've taken you for granted at times but honey, I have always been all yours just like you've been all mine. Nobody can take that away from either of us. So please, marry me." He says, looking at you with hopeful eyes. 

"You know I will, Tone." You smile and he picks you up, kissing you deeply. "I love you until my last breath, sweetheart."

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom - S3E18

Chapter title: Co-op Mode

Summary: Nominatus returns, team-building ensues, and the author jams as many references into a single chapter as possible.

AO3 Link

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[Episode opens on our six heroes all gathered together in Tails’s house. Sonic and Amy are playing a fighting game, while the other four watch from various positions around the room.] 

“You’re up against a champion of Ultimate Smackdown Siblings, Amy, so get ready to get smacked down!” Sonic cried, pressing buttons on his controller as quickly as he could.

“Psh. Please!” Amy scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You’re just button-mashing! It takes a master of strategy to win this game.” With that, she dealt Sonic’s character a particularly brutal combo, prompting a chorus of “Ooh”s from Tails and Sticks. 

“Excellent move.” Shadow commented, currently leaning against the back of the couch. Sonic pouted in protest, somehow managing to direct his expression towards Shadow despite never allowing his eyes to leave the screen.

“Aw, come on, why’re you siding with Amy?” he protested, his voice pitching up into whining indignance. “I thought you said you were gonna be a neutral party!”

“I am,” Shadow maintained a tone somewhere between infuriatingly calm and effortlessly smug—somehow both an improvement from and yet also worse than the tone that had so easily aggravated Sonic back when they were rivals. “I’m just enjoying the entertainment, no matter whose side it comes from.”

Unfortunately for Sonic, he was just distracted enough by this opportunity for some of their usual banter that he didn’t see Amy’s Terminal Smack activating…and then was promptly forced to watch as his character got blown across the screen and disintegrated in a blast of light.

“No!” he wailed, sliding off the couch and onto his knees. “How could this be? Betrayed, by my very own friend!”

Shadow hid a far-too-fond smile at being called Sonic’s friend. Thankfully for his pride, the hedgehog was far too caught up in his own lamentations to notice…but both of them were soon interrupted when the TV screen began to crackle with static.

“Tails, what’s going on?” Amy leaned forward to eye the screen suspiciously, her hands opening and closing in preparation to summon her hammer.

Before the fox could speak up, the connection suddenly resolved, revealing a black-and-red demon with four horns and an arrow on his forehead. 

“Nominatus?!” Tails cried. “I thought you were trapped in Eggman’s lab!”

The demon folded his arms, scowling out from the screen. “What, you assumed I’d just stay there once my episode feature ended? As if! That man was far too busy with his robots to pay attention to us, so it was almost insultingly easy to escape.”

Shadow had been watching the entire scene with increasing confusion, and took this opportunity to speak up. “Who is this, exactly?”

“Oh, he’s just some sort of evil computer guy!” Knuckles explained.

“Just—wh—” Nominatus sputtered. “I am not ‘some sort of evil computer guy’! I am Nominatus! Viral sensation! Trending on every platform where there are trends to be had!”

Sonic and Tails shared an extremely skeptical Look, and that was the final straw. “You think you can mock me, hm? Well then! I’ve faced you twice in your own realm, but no more fooling around!” the demon barked. “This time…you’re coming to me.”

And with that, he snapped his fingers, causing everyone to vanish into thin air.

The controller that Amy had been holding clattered to the floor as the television shut off abruptly, its screen cutting to black. The house was eerily silent, every hint of life within its walls having been rudely blinked out of existence.

…and then the energetic music of the introduction kicked in, utterly shattering the mood.

[The intro sequence goes off without a hitch…but this time, the characters are drawn in pixel art for their signature poses, with an 8-bit version of the theme tune to boot. Otherwise, the individual character introductions and team shot all stay the same.]

[Nominatus takes the villain position this time, tossing various ‘like button’ symbols  back and forth between his hands in a manner reminiscent of a certain ‘bad ending’ from a specific game released back in 1991.]

[The intro then continues on, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

In a blinding flash of light, the six heroes appeared in a white shopping mall filled with neon store signs and decorations everywhere. Above, an unmistakably vaporwave—inspired purple sky, complete with pink-yellow sun, was visible through the glass ceiling. 

Each of them also carried their own personalized weapon, styled in silver with neon accents in their specific color. Amy had her usual hammer, while Sticks held a high-tech bow and arrow. Knuckles wore reinforcements for his hands (and a pair of angular blue sunglasses atop his head, for some reason), and Tails carried—of all the things—dual handguns. Sonic, of course, had a one-handed sword, which was currently attached to a white belt around his waist. Shadow, on the other hand, had an odd sort of pole with an octagon and the word “STOP” at one end strapped to his back, which he immediately removed and stared at with a distinct amount of bewilderment.

Just as the six of them had finished recovering from the shock of being in a totally new world, a projection of Nominatus appeared in front of them. “Welcome to the Mall of Metalloid Madness!” he announced, proudly spreading his arms wide. “This is the lobby for a new game I’ve invented called…the Labyrinth Zone!” 

(Curiously, while no one else reacted to this, Sonic shivered for reasons even he couldn’t quite explain.)

“Once you all declare you’re ready, you’ll be dropped in teams of two into my carefully constructed labyrinth! It’s your job to find your way out without using all three of your lives, or else…” The demon smiled wickedly. “You’ll lose a lot more than just the game.”

“And what if we don’t want to?” Tails gave him a look so flat it could’ve had a job as a cardboard cutout. “What if we just find you and blast you until you put us back?”

Nominatus frowned. “Well, you wouldn’t want to disappoint my millions of followers, would you?”

Nobody said even a single word of agreement. The crickets remained silent in solidarity.

The demon sighed. “Fine, then, if you don’t do it I’ll never let you go and your island will fall prey to my inevitable conquering forces, blah blah blah, you know the rest.”

Sonic sighed unhappily. “Okay, guys, I guess we gotta do this.”

Tails shrugged. “At least I’ll probably get to blow some stuff up.”

“Nice positive thinking…I suppose?” Amy said hesitantly, but with a faintly resigned smile. 

Nominatus perked up considerably at this, regaining his previous energy. “Well then, when you’re ready to proceed, press the button with your color.” Behind him, six pedestals rose from the ground, each with a lit-up button on top in blue, yellow, red, pink, orange, and black.

Before he could switch off his hologram, the team rushed directly through him, making him glitch out and yell after them, “Hey! Show some respect for the villain who’s holding you hostage, maybe?!”

Of course, none of them did this, instead opting to all hit their buttons (Knuckles even doing so with such force that the pedestal nearly crumpled). Instantly, they all vanished in a burst of light, teleporting into the referentially named Labyrinth Zone.

[We cut to Sonic and Amy, who are together in the maze.] 

“Huh.” Sonic muttered, taking in his surroundings. They largely consisted of tall, black-and-grey gradient walls, contrasting with a blinding white sky.

“It seems like we really do get to work in pairs—that’s nice, at least!” Amy said brightly. 

Sonic shot her a grin paired with a thumbs-up. “Sure is! You mind whacking me up high so I can get a good look at the layout, Ames?”

She pulled out her hammer, but then hesitated, squinting upwards. “Hold on a minute, let me try something first.” Abruptly, she hurled her hammer straight up…only for it to smash into a force field right above the walls and crash right back down.

“Ah.” Sonic stared upwards. “Thanks for saving me…a lot of broken bones, apparently.”

“I wouldn’t want to mess up your handsome face, now would I?” Amy asked, in a manner that was only half joking.

The hero abruptly choked on his spit and began coughing vigorously, before stumbling after Amy as she walked forward to enter the maze. “Hey hey hey, you’re not supposed to be the one who’s leaving me behind!”

The two of them rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a series of platforms and badniks (obviously just Nominatus-themed recolors of Eggman robots), an obstacle that was more than manageable. Sonic tore through the high route immediately, bouncing between badniks like the showboater he was. Meanwhile, Amy trawled the lower route at an admittedly slower speed, with the trade-off being that not a single robot escaped her wrath.

As she progressed onward, she found herself having to dodge several spike traps, before leaping onto a moving platform. Unlike her speedy friend, she preferred to handle these platforms with care, making sure she knew exactly when they’d be closest before using her hammer to launch herself into the air for a bit of extra leeway. 

Amy jumped to another platform, this one moving up and down instead of side to side. Carefully, she focused on the feeling of it climbing beneath her feet, until—“Hyah!”—she slammed her hammer down just as it stopped its ascent. 

Astoundingly, her hammer launched her into the air, complete with a spray of hearts where she had previously stood. So we get bonuses for perfect moves. Noted. she thought to herself, quite pleased, even as she stuck the landing.

The pink hedgehog scanned the sky for her friend, watching as he revved up a spindash and launched himself across a particularly massive gap ahead of her. She hesitated to say this too often, lest it become ego-stroking instead of a compliment, but his speed really was quite impressive—

—at which point she watched in horror as his jump fell just ever so slightly short—

—and he slammed into the edge of the other side, uncurling in shock just in time to plummet into the pit below.

Amy raced forward, heedless of the careful tactics she’d previously used as she skidded to a stop, throwing herself to her hands and knees by the void below. The darkness seemed endless, with no speck of blue to be found in sight.

“SONIC!!”

xxx

Tails and Knuckles blinked into existence next to each other, looking around themselves in surprise. “Hey Tails!” the echidna cheered, waving happily at his friend. “I’m glad we got put together.”

Tails beamed up at him. “I’m glad too! Between the two of us, we should be able to get through this place no problem!”

They fist-bumped lightly, Knuckles taking care not to break his friend’s hand in the process. “So, where do we start?”

Tails frowned, staring up at the sky. “I think I see a distortion up there…maybe there’s some kind of invisible ceiling keeping me from flying? Let me check…”

The fox flew carefully upwards to the top of the wall, reaching out a single finger to touch the force field above—

—and promptly exploded.

“Tails?!” Knuckles yelped, stumbling forward and staring upwards wildly, as though his friend would reappear at any moment.

As a matter of fact, Tails did reappear right next to Knuckles, with a sound straight out of a 16-bit game and several flashing invulnerability frames. A ring of repeating, glowing text surrounded his middle briefly, reading: TWO LIVES REMAINING.

“O-kay.” the engineer remarked. “No touching the weird barrier. Honestly, I probably should've used a wrench, but oh well. We get it now.”

Of course, the next room they entered then proved to contain platforms that would slowly rise towards the ceiling, before abruptly dropping back down once they had successfully crushed any occupants into the deadly force field. 

Tails instantly facepalmed, but then narrowed his eyes at the puzzle, thinking carefully. “So, we’re going to need to time this really carefully, Knuckles. It’ll be tough to get over these platforms, and we only have five lives between us. I know I’ve got my tails, but are you gonna be okay moving that quickly while also staying low so you don’t get zapped?”

“I could also stay even lower,” Knuckles remarked glibly, without any further elaboration.

“…what do you mean by that?” Tails tilted his head, his brow furrowed.

“What if we just went under the platforms?”

Tails turned to look back at the puzzle, and immediately facepalmed again.

xxx

Shadow and Sticks appeared together, in the third and final starting area of the labyrinth. 

“Fancy seeing you here.” Shadow remarked, half to himself.

“Huh?” Sticks blinked at him, clearly confused.

“It’s just a joke—obviously you were brought here with the rest of us and are now visibly partnered with me, so a comment that implies surprise is meant to be sarcastic.”

Sticks stared for another moment…and then actually snickered. “You’ve got a good sense of humor,” they said casually, as though they were discussing the weather instead of dropping a massive compliment bomb directly on Shadow’s head.

The android’s eyes immediately dropped to the floor. “Ah. Thank you.”

“Just telling the truth,” Sticks said, taking a couple of steps forward before glancing over their shoulder to see Shadow properly. “I don’t get why people bother with saying anything but what they mean.”

“I know why they do it, but I don’t necessarily enjoy it.” Shadow explained sympathetically.

While he had been speaking, Sticks had already peered suspiciously around the nearest corner to see what Nominatus had in store for them. Abruptly, their eyes widened, and they shot back around the corner as quickly as possible. “Shadow?” they said, looking over at him warily. “Can ya use this—” they held out a leather hair tie—“and tie up your quills real quick?”

“Certainly.” Shadow began to put up his quills without complaint. “I don’t doubt your judgment, but might I ask why?”

Sticks frowned. “I think you probably need to see for yourself, but I just have one other question first, while we wait for their backs to turn around again.” One of their ears twitched, signaling that they were listening to something. Indeed, when Shadow focused on his own auditory receptors, he could hear the slow, methodical pace of feet drawing nearer. Metal feet, to be exact.

“What is it?”

“The parts and schematics used to make you, they’re the only ones that exist in the world, right?” They rubbed their upper arm uncomfortably.

Shadow frowned, baring his fangs ever so slightly.“Yes. I have the only set of blueprints, and spares for almost everything. It’s enough to do patch jobs, but not enough to build another android.

“Sticks…what exactly did you see?” 

“Something that shouldn’t exist.” they muttered, their ears flicking back briefly against their head. They gestured to the corner, letting Shadow know that it was safe to take a look.

He walked up to the edge of the wall, looked around it, and saw…himself.

Copies of him.

Walking right there.

In the hallway.

xxx

Amy still knelt at the edge of the pit, staring down into the darkness. By now, she had begun to scan the interior of the abyss, searching for any type of foothold that could be used to scale its sheer sides. So far, she wasn’t having much luck, but if there was one thing that she made sure everyone knew about Amy Rose, it was that she did not quit.

Suddenly, she was startled out of her intense focus by a chiptuned sound behind her.

She whirled around, lunging forward and swinging her hammer as hard as she could at the threat—

—and blinked, wide-eyed, as it passed right through Sonic’s flashing body and the “TWO LIVES” message.

“Huh. Respawn invincibility, that’s helpful.” he remarked, before shaking his head (and rustling his quills in the process) as he came back to reality.

“Hey, wait, what was that for?! You were gonna hit me!” Sonic complained.

Amy huffed unhappily. “I thought you were down in that pit! I was just about to climb down there and look for you!”

Sonic grimaced. “Yeah, no, probably don’t do that one. I…don’t think it has a bottom.”

“…what.”

“I didn’t hit anything, I was just falling, and then all of a sudden I reappeared back here.” he explained, making Amy glance back over her shoulder and shudder.

“Alright, so how are we getting over it?” she asked.

Sonic shrugged. “I dunno, maybe you could just hit me over or something?”

“…how would I get over after doing that?” Amy gave him a decidedly unimpressed look.

“Ah. Yeah. Right.” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I could run along the wall and take you with me?”

Amy smiled confidently at him. “Now that sounds like a plan.”

“Alright, lemme just—” Sonic stretched out both of his arms, did a couple of quick side-lunges, and then shot her one of his trademark grins. “You ready?”

“Of course I am.” she said proudly, tossing her quills.

Moments later, a blue blur had grabbed her and was already racing across the wall, moving so quickly that gravity didn’t even have time to consider dragging them both down into the pit. (Gravity might have been tempted to post an incensed rant on the internet about this lack of respect for established institutions, namely laws of physics, were it capable of doing so.) Somehow, they even managed to tear back down the wall on the other side, before skidding to a stop safely on the other side of the pit.

It was at this point when Amy noticed that Sonic had taken her hand to pull her across. Coincidentally, it was also exactly this moment when Sonic realized just what he had done. He immediately pulled his hand away with such speed it’d have given her friction burn had she not worn gloves, and refused to meet her eyes.

Amy, meanwhile, smiled quietly to herself. She understood.

“So, how about we finally get out of this maze?” she asked, granting him freedom from his own internal embarrassment.

Sonic perked up immediately, his energy fully restored. “I thought you’d never ask!”

xxx

“Alright, Knuckles, are you ready for this?” Tails asked, once again. “We’ll need to move quickly under these platforms if we want to make it before they drop back down.”

“I was born ready!” the echidna insisted, cracking his knuckles and beaming confidently. “Literally—echidnas are meant to dig in enclosed spaces anyway, that’s why I’ve got these bad boys!” He dropped into a boxing stance easily, showing off the newly-reinforced spikes on his hands.

Tails smiled, shaking his head and running a hand through his bangs. “Okay, just promise me you won’t try to dig through solid steel.”

“Pinkie promise!” Knuckles replied cheerfully, holding out his hand with little finger stuck out and all.

The fox snickered, but held out his own hand and linked their fingers, as requested. Then, he turned to the platforms, flicking his tails a few times in an effort to warm them up somewhat. “All set?” he asked his friend.

Knuckles shifted into a stance that was even closer to the ground, letting more of his innate instincts take over as he prepared to power through the obstacle ahead. He flexed his fingers, curling them into fists once more, before giving Tails a thumbs-up.

Tails gave him one back (along with a smile that looked astonishingly like Sonic’s) and then, sucking in the biggest breath he could, yelled “GO!”

Immediately, Tails tore off, blasting forward and around obstacles with a speed cultivated from following his older brother around for years on end. Knuckles was no slouch himself, however, able to squeeze into unexpected places while the platforms were low from his lifetime of practice digging tunnels. His sense of direction was second to none as well, helping him avoid obstacles even when they didn’t register consciously in his mind.

He did almost try to dig once or twice in an effort to stay down, especially as the ceiling began to rise, but he thankfully remembered his promise to Tails each time and didn’t do more than push off a little awkwardly from the ground as a result. Meanwhile, the engineer had pulled out his dual pistols and was firing off shots at the platform mechanics ahead, trying to at least get one or two of them to slow down without actually compromising his own speed.

However, as they pushed themselves further along the course, the tangle of uneven machinery posed more of a threat than they would have liked. Tails struggled to maintain his top speed while dodging pistons, and Knuckles nearly got his spikes snagged on wiring a number of times.

Vaguely, out of the corner of his eye, the echidna registered some of the pistons beginning to extend to their fullest heights, even as the end was in sight, and so—

—launching himself off the ground with all fours, he hurled himself towards Tails and curled around the fox with just enough momentum to get them clear of the platforms right before they crashed down.

After a moment of silence, Knuckles uncurled, to reveal a perfectly unharmed and extremely delighted Tails. “We made it!” he cheered, holding up a hand that Knuckles had no hesitation in high-fiving right back.

[Camera gives a close shot of the high-five, before cutting to the next and final group.]

xxx

Shadow felt a prickle of cold run down his back and lodge itself right in what passed, in him, for a stomach. “Those…what are they?”

Sticks jumped on his shoulders, making him nearly overbalance and grip the corner of the wall in an effort to prevent them both attracting the attention of the things. “Fakes,” she said simply, distracting him from any ire he might have felt towards her. “They’re walking weirdly, nothing like how you do. They don’t even seem to know how to use those skates they’re wearing.”

Shadow tensed further. “They shouldn’t know much of anything, since they’re not made by the Ancients or the doctor.”

“Do ya wanna smash ‘em?” Sticks asked eagerly, but seemed to hesitate when he couldn’t think of a reply. Sure, he didn’t want them to continue existing, but it felt a little strange to smash things with his face on them…especially so soon after this little group had convinced him that maybe his face didn’t deserve to be smashed.

She hopped off his shoulders, pulling him back behind the wall. “…do you want me to smash ‘em while you wait here?”

Shadow shook his head. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I just don’t really like the thought of hitting a bunch of weird robots that someone’s made to look like me…” he muttered.

“Well, how about this? You go out there and Chaos Blast them, then just hang back and cover me!” Sticks offered, grinning in a distinctly feral manner and slamming one fist into an open palm.

“You’re okay with beating up a bunch of other Shadows?” he asked, frowning.

Sticks shook her head hard. “No, I’m okay with beating up a bunch of robot imposters trying to impersonate my friend! This is my dream!!”

[Camera shows a close-up shot of the lower part of Shadow’s face, as well as the top of his chest. His mouth has a small, yet very genuine smile.]

“Well then, let’s not waste any time, shall we?” he said, activating his skates and blazing around the corner.

“CHAOS BLAST!”

xxx

Not long after their scrape with the bottomless pit, Amy and Sonic found their way into the center of the labyrinth. Before either of them even had a chance to consider any of the other pathways, Knuckles and Tails came running out of one of them, seemingly in high spirits. It only took the two teams a second to register the sight in front of them, before the four were practically crashing into each other with excitement at finally being reunited.

They didn’t have long to wait before Shadow and Sticks arrived, moving at a much slower pace. Shadow’s legs, skates, and gloves were smeared with a strange black substance, but he was otherwise clean—in stark contrast to Sticks, who looked like they’d just been through about fifteen oil changes. There was hardly a body part that wasn’t splattered with the stuff, not to mention their bow and quiver, which were practically dripping.

“Are you alright?!” Amy cried, rushing over immediately and pulling out a spare glove in an effort to help Sticks tidy up somewhat. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you?”

Sticks, meanwhile, folded their arms triumphantly. “We fought a bunch of fake Shadows! I got most of them, but Shadow hit a lot with his Chaos Blast powers.”

Shadow sighed, nearly going to rub his face but then looking at his glove and reconsidering. “It certainly was an experience.” he muttered.

Sonic made a move towards him, but just as he did, the ground began to shake. The six heroes wobbled briefly, stabilizing each other just in time to register that the labyrinth’s center circle they stood on was actually a platform—one that was slowly rising towards the final level. But after the strangeness of the labyrinth, there was no real way for any of them to guess what might be coming next.

The platform delivered them into a dark room, marked only by a dome of red cross-hatching that gave off a faint glow. Automatically, they all grouped into a tight circle, watching each others’ backs carefully.

With a flash of light, the dome lit up around them, showing hundreds of thousands of message bubbles winking in and out of existence each moment. 

ohc nominatus streams never disappoint

stacicoot just subscribed!

GET THIS BREAD!!!

I mean, it’s not like we wanted to watch this, but nobody else could be bothered to spend any time with us…

Suddenly, Nominatus dropped from the ceiling, landing in a surprisingly striking pose as his cape billowed behind him. “Welcome…” he bellowed, “to the final boss!

“You’ve done very well so far, and I honestly do appreciate it.” he continued, striding towards the team. “It’s been a while since I had a big event, and I needed something like this to boost my ratings in the algorithm. You all definitely delivered! I haven’t had this many viewers in a while! But I’m afraid…these people certainly aren’t here to watch you win.”

He smirked. “They’re here for me. So while you may have survived this far—

“—I suspect you’re about to break that streak.”

“Oh, no way!” 

Sticks pushed to the front of the group, her teeth bared. “I just hit my personal best in ‘number of enemies defeated in solo combat’, and I plan on living to beat that another day, gamer boy!”

All five of her teammates burst into various degrees of laughter behind her at the name she’d chosen for Nominatus. Bolstered by their support, she continued: “Nobody else might want us to win, but we want us to win! And guess what? That’s enough for me!”

Around her, the others burst into cheers, drawing their cool cyber-weapons. And then, they charged.

[For the rest of the fight scene, the animation kicks up a notch. It starts with a fast circle pan around Nominatus as all of the heroes attack him in their own unique ways, from a whack that only a quick forearm block kept from hitting him in the face (complete with comical CLANG sound effect) from Shadow to an earth-shattering ground slam delivered by Knuckles. 

However, the camera then reveals that this has done absolutely nothing to significantly damage the digital demon…

Then, the team begins to work together in similar ways to what they did during their time in the labyrinth, and nearly every strike hits perfectly. Nominatus hits back with lasers and harsh swipes with his claws, now finding himself struggling to even the odds. It becomes clear quickly that teamwork, as it often proves to be, is what helps the heroes succeed in their battles.]

When he saw an opportunity left by a successful hit from Shadow and Sticks, Sonic raised his sword, dropping into a fighting stance. He shot a wink over at Amy, smirking. “Hey Ames, you ready to see my Terminal Smack?”

The hero revved up his legs, faster and faster, until they formed a figure eight—and then he shot forward, leaping into the air, and slashed his sword downwards. 

Nominatus went flying backwards, skidding across the ground. As he came to a stop, the various messages began to flicker out, one by one, becoming more sparse as time ticked by.

The demon struggled to push himself upright, his arms shaking. “No…no! Wait, chat! Chat, I can still win this! No!!”

Sonic grinned, pointing his sword down at Nominatus. “You want us to keep kicking your butt on livestream? Or are ya gonna let us go?”

“Ugh…fine!” the demon snapped. “Just go! I’ll find other ways to diversify my content!”

And with that, the world broke down around them, becoming more and more pixelated…

…until then they were back in Tails’s living room.

“Aw yeah!” Sonic cheered. “Did you guys see me with that sword? I was all like hah—hyah—” he continued, mimicking his movements from the fight moments prior.

“Yes, Sonic, we were all there. We definitely saw it.” Shadow replied, voice drier than a Meh Burger bun.

All of a sudden, the TV blinked on behind them, their game of Ultimate Sibling Smackdown still loaded. “Ready for another round?” the announcer asked, cycling through one of its preset voice lines.

All six heroes either screamed, jumped, or did some combination of the two. Tails even ended up in Knuckles’s arms.

“Uh…maybe we should hang out on the beach for a while. Far away from any video games.” the fox suggested, after an awkwardly silent moment.

The rest of the team, still in varying states of sheepishness, wholeheartedly agreed with that particular statement.

[roll credits]

[fortnite-rosso-and-company]

Vanquish An Old Foe

//Occ: Sorry about the wait and no post. This may be late for Halloween but, better late then never.

(Part 1)

As Catalyst, Kor, and there children head to Chonker’s Speedway to see if there’s a party going but, once there. They see that something is going on and the whole family is there with weapons ready. “Honey? What’s going?” Catalyst ask Rosso.

“It’s him. Belial is making an army of himself as it turns out he’s alive but, as from what gather as that he doesn’t have any powers to escape this time.” Rosso said as he let’s Catalyst know that there two kids are with Midas and Vaude (@fn-devilles) at the apartment along Blu and Nero kids.

They both agreed as Lupo joins with them along with Gatta, Vampa, and Musica. They head to Grim Gables and once they arrived to the old mansion. Argento, Turchino, and Blu head inside as the others waited if things happen outside. As three make there way as the fell through the floor and landed as they see the torches have been lighten up.

As a being had a rise as the screen had the Last Reality symbol on its visor which means. “Long time no see. I’m looking forward to finishing you all off.” It was the voice of Belial but, in a new body to a black goo. They all charge at him but, Belial summons his Inkquisitor’s which are a clone of him. They had to fight back as more when outside. The others saw as more of Belial clones came out and Rosso and his family charged into battle. Takara and Musica had fought off the Inkquisitor’s as the two made a clearing path to help the other’s as Shade dodges one of the clones rockets.

“Ha you miss me!” Shade Insulted one of the clones as Takara would help Shade as she took out a few when another throws a firefly at Takara but, Shade got her out of the way.

“Don’t worry. I got this Takara. Go help Blu!” Shade said as she takes on the clones. Shade is glad to kill Belial for good. “This one. Is for OUR HOME PLANET!” Shade shouted to avenge her people.

As the fire would catch as the tunnels wood are in a blaze. Takara then helps Blu fight the original Belial while his cousin Argento is handling himself against the clones.

“This is the end of you Belial! Your regin of terror ends now!” Argento slice and shots one of the clones. As Blu, Takara, and Musica came out of the tunnels as Belial came out as Blu has on a new weapon known as the Howler Claws and he got out a sniper out.

Belial took the bullet that is hitting him as he dodges and throw fireflies at him and Takara. Musica has on the same weapon that Blu has on and charges at Belial. “Leave my parents alone!” She shouted as jumps and strikes at him.

Musica has clash and slash at Belial for everything he did to her father Blu and including her mother Takara and uncle Rosso. She then push him toward Blu but, Belial quickly took his weapon and aim at Blu to land a strike.

As Belial is about to fire when his gun is jam and look back at Blu to see a wolf coming at him with fear and this is the only thing he see’s as his head is cut off. Blu had vanquish Belial once and for all as the clones began to shake as they felt there original have die and nothing left but, goo. Blu look at what remains of Belial and sat on the ground with Musica and Takara going to him and saw that Belial body is gone for good. They hug Blu as he cried of happiness that the nightmare is over. Rosso and the others came over to them and now that Belial is dead. Only thing left is for what comes for the future of the and everyone however Paradigm has the answers.

[baroquebucky]

touch

soulmate au where when you touch your soulmate you see glimpses of your future with them; the winter soldier touches you and realizes there’s so much more out there

series masterlist // next

part one

word count: 1.7k

masterlist

a/n: hi bffs !! hope u all enjoy this !! i am a sucker for soulmate au’s <3 let me know what u guys think and if u guys want a part 2 !!!

Bucky awoke to the sound of the guards unlocking the door, the metal creaking as Alexander Pierce walked in, waving the guards off to leave the two alone.

“you have another mission today” the man spoke smoothly, bucky getting up from his small bed and staring at the man infront of him, “you need to finish this before it gets out of hand” pierce spoke, eyeing the soldier as he stared blankly ahead.

“Do you understand?” He questioned, bucky looked at him, nodding his head silently as the guards took him out, taking him to get ready for his mission.

He had stopped resisting, he had nothing left, he couldn’t remember much and he had no idea who he even was. Bucky followed the motions, suiting up and grabbing his weapons alongside the other HYDRA agents.

You frowned at steve and natasha, grumbling to yourself as Sam let you into the house.

“im y/n, sorry about these two” you smiled at the man, extending your hand out and turning to your two friends.

“thank you for coming y/n, we really need you” Steve spoke, natasha nodding in agreement as she dried her hair slowly.

“yeah, yeah everyone always needs me” you joked, sitting next to them and rubbing your eyes, “woke me up from my nap so this better be good” you spoke, crossing your arms over your chest and leaning back.

Steve and natasha explained the situation, telling you what they knew about the winter soldier, you soaked in the information, attempting to google him but coming up with almost nothing.

“hm, so you want me to do what, exactly” you questioned, looking at the trio staring back at you.

“fight with us, help us, we have to stop HYDRA” Steve spoke, looking at natasha before continuing, “i don’t know who to trust and” he sighed, “we know we can trust you, are you in?”

You smiled, getting up and pulling the three in for a hug, sams eyes going wide.

“of course I’m in, i care about you guys too much to let you die alone” you chuckled, pulling away, looking at Sam before speaking up, “no ones dying by the way, right?”

The four of you were on the rooftop, getting information out of Sitwell, laughing when natasha kicked him off.

“What about that girl from accounting, Laura?” Natasha spoke, looking at Steve as he thought about the woman’s name.

“Lillian! Lip piercing right?” Natasha nodded and Steve shook his head.

“yeah I’m not ready for that” you laughed at the two lightly.

“you should get with the time have a little fun!” You teased, Natasha smiling as you sided with her, nodding her head excitedly.

As Sam brought Sitwell back you began the interrogation, threatening to throw the man off for good is he didn’t start talking. Your eyes were steely and they let you handle him, getting all the information you needed.

“i didn’t know you could be so-” sam stopped, trying to find the right words.

“evil?” Natasha offered.

“terrifying?” Steve chuckled and Sam nodded.

“Insight launched in 16 hours” you spoke up, checking your phone, Natasha nodded speaking up after you, “we’re cutting it kinda close here.”

Steve looked ahead with furrowed brows nodding his head, “well use him to bypass the DNA scans and bypass the helicarriers directly.”

Sitwell scoffed next to you, blabbering on about you something, you rolled your eyes, going to say something when someone reached through the window and threw him out, your eyes going wide.

“what the fuck!” You screeched, looking up and seeing who you assumed was the winter soldier.

Your eyes were wide as you stared out the windshield, a tug in your chest as you saw him sliding across the concrete, steadying himself with his metal arm.

Natasha pulled her gun out, aiming at the man. A car rear ended you, pushing you forward and knocking your wind out. The soldier jumped atop the car, holding on tight as the truck behind you pushed you all foward.

Sam pressed on the breaks, trying to steer away from the other cars. A metal hand reached through the windshield and tore the steering wheel out from his grasp.

“shit!” Sam yelled, eyes wide as the car drove into another, Natasha reaching her gun and shooting in hopes of hitting the masked man.

Steve grabbed onto the three in the front, looking back at you with wide eyes.

“go!” You yelled, scrambling to open the door before the car crashed into the wall.

“hang on!” Steve called, jumping out, with you bracing yourself for the impact seconds after, you flew out the door, hitting the ground with a thud.

You ran to join natasha and Sam, ducking behind cars to avoid the bullets, finally pulling out your pocket knife and hitting one of the men in the chest, running again as they shot at you three even more.

You and natasha jumped down, holding onto her as she shot something under the bridge to swing from.

The two of you landed safely, you pointed to the shadow of the solider, running alongside her to shoot at the man.

You both aimed and fired, hitting his giggled and causing him to turn back. You let out a sigh, hoping they would give you a minute to recover. You both ran for cover as he leaned back over, machine gun in hand and shooting wildly.

“fucks sake” you let out, breathless as you aimed to shoot back at him, running for cover once again, hiding behind the parked cars. Your eyes focusing on the bus steve had fallen into, relief flooding your body when you saw him jumping out and hiding behind the shield safely, eyes moving to the highway and seeing Sam shooting from above.

“I’m gonna leave this recording here, ill sneak up behind him and then you try and get him, we can double team him” Natasha spoke, you nodded, letting her record the memo before setting it down and running.

Your heart raced as you saw the soldier approach the vehicle, waiting for the right moment to strike. As Natasha ran to tackle him from behind you noticed the amount of people still around you, the explosion next to you sending people flying.

“shit” you mumbled, running to help them as Natasha held her own.

“get out of the way! Run! Get out of here” you yelled, pointing at those in frenzy to run in the opposite direction, you glanced over your shoulder, Natasha being thrown into a car.

As you turned to help her you noticed a little girl crying, alone. You debated for a second before running up to her, taking her in your arms and handing her off to some random adult who was fleeing.

Natasha had messed the man arm up, joining her in her sprint as you all yelled for people to move and to take cover. You heard the whirl of a bullet and natasha groan, doubling over next to a car.

“take of her!” Steve yelled, holding off the soldier. You let eyes were wide, putting pressure on Natasha wound and looking around.

“you’re gonna be fine” you told her, looking into the car and breaking the window with your elbow, opening the compartment in the passengers seat and smiling when you found a first aid kit.

“come on” you mumbled, moving her gently and cleaning the wound, doing your best with what little you had. You tried to bandage her, the sound of the bullets hitting Steve’s shield making your hands shake.

“go help them, I’ll be fine” Natasha groaned out, you hesitated before nodding, running to where Steve was.

You hid behind a car, watching as he shoved a knife into a van, barely missing Steve’s head.

You jumped from behind the car as Steve reached to grab his shield, hitting the metal armed man, you used your body weight to twist him back.

Visions flashed in your eyes, quick flashes of a man with a charming smile and beautiful blue eyes. The sound of laughter echoing in your ears as the mask fell besides you. You saw the two of you cuddled up on a couch, you saw two two of you watching a sunset while on a picnic, giggles falling from your mouth.

Bucky saw it too, his mind flashing with pictures of a life he didn’t recognize, seeing you, his mission in them. He saw you cuddled at his side, he saw you on a stage together singing with lyrics on a screen, he saw the two of you rescuing a white cat from the rain. Bucky saw you holding out a present for him, a bright smile on you face, he saw you throwing flour at him in a kitchen, cookies baking in an over.

He stayed on the ground, memories who he used to be flooding his mind, hope of who he could become clouding his judgement.

Tears brimmed in his eyes as he looked up at you, standing in front of Steve with an equally shocked look on your face.

“it’s you” you breathed out, your heart tugging in your chest as your eyes met his blue ones, they were cloudy and they were broken but god, you already loved them.

“it’s you” he whispered. A year rolling down his face before HYDRA agents surrounded you all.

“Bucky?” Steve spoke, finally getting a good look at the man.

The super soldier stayed quiet, panic in his eyes and he looked at you, setting his weapon down. You made a move to run to him, but Sam flew in, knocking him feet away from you, Natasha soon launching a grenade.

“no!” You screamed, running to where he was. He was gone.

“No! Please i just found him no!” You cried, sinking to you knees, Sam ran over to you, holding you tightly as you sobbed, agents surrounding the four of you and telling you all to get down on your knees.

You sobbed into sams chest, only leaving his embrace when the agents ripped you from him.

Buckys eyes were wide as he sat in the chair, his heart racing as he recalled your face, your hair. He recalled the flashes he saw, his future with you.

He had something to hold onto, he had something to fight for, someone to survive for. He thought about the man who was next to you, he was familiar, he was in his old memories.

Buckys mind raced, knowing they would wipe his memories, he soaked in every last detail, praying he could hold onto to what he had after they wiped him.

He could hold onto you, his hope.

[fanficimagery]

Five Years After

Imagine going to the feed store for your sister, only you come home with more than just feed for the animals.

Words: 5.1K Author’s Note: The ending of this imagine was definitely inspired by a TikTok video :)

When the Blip happened, you were in complete disbelief. Chaos erupted all around as planes fell from the sky and automobiles crashed because their drivers had vanished into thin air. Everyone was a complete mess as they attempted to call loved ones, their calls going straight to voicemail or being answered by another family member that were having to deliver the bad news of a disappearance.

Your only living relative was your sister Laura and her children she had with her husband Clint, so when one of your co-workers and a handful of your customers vanished into thin air, your first call had been to your ex-Avenger of a brother-in-law. Unfortunately Clint was just as clueless as you and the phone had nearly slipped from your hand when he gave you the news that Laura and the kids had vanished. You had nowhere to go and were so scared because of the looting that had started, so Clint told you to pack your things and get to the farm as soon as possible.

You'd only been on the farm for a full day before Clint's friends came looking for him. Natasha, who you had met after your sister had married Clint, greeted you with a rather solemn hug. It was Steve Rogers, however, who attempted to introduce himself with as much joy as he possibly could in order to be polite.

You had shaken his hand, smiling sadly. "You don't need to force a smile for me, Rogers. The circumstances suck. I get it."

That had surprisingly pulled a short laugh from Natasha. "See, Steve? Told you she wouldn't be expecting the Man with a Plan."

Steve and Natasha had proceeded to stay for the duration of the day, telling Clint all about a fight that had taken place in Wakanda and who out of their friends had vanished. It was a devastating blow and you had no idea how everyone was going to cope. Then soon after the two Avengers had left, Clint went into overdrive. He was making phone calls left and right, packing bags and weapons, and you were at a complete loss.

You had decided to leave him be and it was only the following morning when you woke to an empty house did you find the letter on the kitchen counter. In the letter he had apologized for leaving you after everything that had happened, but went on to explain that there were criminals still out there who had survived the Blip when others who were sin-free didn't. He couldn't leave them be while people like his wife and children were no longer alive, so to work through his aggression he was going to hunt those criminals down. Fortunately enough, he left you in possession of the farm-house and made it so you were able to access his bank accounts. He told you not to look for him or get the others involved, so you waited a whole day before contacting Natasha and telling her all about Clint's derailment.

Clint left no trail, leaving you all alone. Or so you thought.

With Clint's vanishing act, Natasha and Steve made you their responsibility. They made sure you knew they were only a call or email away, but only after Nat drove down to give you some technological devices since the regular power grid was fluctuating. Since Earth lost half its population, everything seemed to be falling apart.

Then Tony Stark was brought back home and the world seemed a little bit brighter.

For years you drifted, working at a grocery store in town to keep yourself busy. The Blip took a toll on everyone, but it was nice to have to talk to someone even if the other person moved on autopilot. Clint sent an email every other month from a burner email, so it was a dead end every time Natasha looked into it after you had forwarded it to her. And about the only news-worthy thing that had happened after the Blip was the announcement of Tony and Pepper Stark's baby girl Morgan. You didn't know the Stark's personally, but it didn't stop you from sending their little girl a present every year on her birthday for the next five years on behalf of yourself and the Barton family.

One morning you're sitting at the breakfast table when you hear the telltale sounds of a jet overheard. You figure it's just Natasha and Steve for their monthly check-in so you think nothing of it.

The screen door creaks open and you call out, "In the kitchen!"

The steps of what sounds like more than one person falter, but then they pick back up until they near your location. "Got enough for another plate?" That oh so familiar timber makes you spew orange juice across the table. You're up and out of your seat, staring at your brother-in-law who's a lot more tatted up than you remember him being. "Hey, sis."

Tony Stark stands just a couple feet to Clint's right, but his presence isn't enough to deter you from marching up to your brother-in-law and punching his shoulder. "You asshole!" You punch him again for good measure as tears sting your eyes. "You left me. You left me all alone! How could you-"

He dodges your continuous blows, wrapping his arms around you to keep you from attacking him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I'm here now. It's all going to be okay." The fight instantly drains out of you as you sag into his embrace, sob after sob leaving you as you clutch to him tightly.

Clint tightens his grip a little more around you until your cries turn into sniffles. "What- what are you doing here?"

"Lang came up with a plan to bring our people back." You tense in Clint's arms and pull back to look him in the eyes. "Banner and Stark made the machines necessary to make the plan work. We're going to bring 'em home. We're going to bring 'em all home, Y/N."

"Please tell me you aren't joking," you mumble.

"Nope. No joke," Tony says. "It's not a total guarantee, but we're going to try our best." You let go of Clint and turn to look at Tony who's standing by the stove and picking at the leftover scrambled eggs. "Mmm. These are good. What'd you put in them?"

"Uhh, just butter and cheese."

"Morgan would absolutely love these. She's on this whole cheese kick right now."

That earns a chuckle, and after gathering yourself you look back at Clint. "So what's going to happen now?"

"The team's getting ready for a test run," Clint says. "I just wanted to let you know I was home and that we had a really important mission coming up."

"How soon?"

"Today if the test run goes good," Tony says. He pours himself half a glass of juice before downing it in one go. "And speaking of, we need to go."

You look at Clint, a little let down that he's leaving so soon, but he grins and pulls you back into a hug. "It's going to be okay." You nod against him and he lets his arms drop before he steps back. He looks around the kitchen and his grin widens. "You've kept up good with the house. I'm impressed."

"I should hope so," you mumble. "I had to flirt with the hardware store boy so he'd help me keep the house from falling apart."

Clint laughs. "You did good, Y/N. Laura will be proud."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go bring my sister, niece, and nephews back."

"You got it, boss."

          - - - - - - - - - - 

You're grateful for the day off because it leaves you with time to clean the house from top to bottom. You need some way to burn off all your anxiousness and making sure the house looks good for your sister is one hell of a way to do just that.

You're not sure how long you'd been cleaning when you decide to take a break, and you head outside for some fresh air. You walk off the porch and onto the grass, tilting your face skyward as you inhale and exhale softly, your eyes closing. One moment all you can hear is the wind ruffling tree limbs and grass, and the next it's a cacophony of chirping birds.

Your eyes fly open and you're shocked to see the swarms of birds flying around in the sky. Sure there have been birds around after the Blip, but you've never seen so many together since then. You're too busy staring up into the sky that you don't see what appears to be ash take formation behind you.

"Aunt Y/N?" The timid voice makes your heart stop before you whirl around, your eyes widening at the sight of Lila glancing around in shock. "What's going on? Where's dad?"

"Lila?" You breathe out in awe. You stumble towards her, eyes glistening with tears. "They did it. They actually did it." You pull her into a hug, cries stuttering in your chest. As you hug her, you glance towards the open field where you see Laura appear, followed by Nathaniel and then Cooper. "Laura!"

You grip Lila's hand tight as the both of you break out into a run towards the rest of your family, you and Laura colliding with twin oomphs. The two of you are crying as Laura tries to work out what the hell happened and where Clint is, but before you can explain anything she's pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialing Clint's number. As she worries about getting her husband on the phone, you quickly hug Cooper and pick up Nathaniel to hold on your hip as you squeeze him in relief.

"Clint?" Laura sobs when he finally answers. "Clint, what's going on? I-" She stops talking all of a sudden and she looks at you, eyes wide.

"What happened?" You ask.

"I- I don't know. One second he was talking and then-" She cuts off, glancing at her children and shaking her head. "He just cut out."

You know all is not fine and that something terrible must have happened for Laura to trail off the way she did. But instead of worrying her kids, you offer a grin. "I'm sure it's fine. As clumsy as he is, he probably just dropped his phone." She forces a smile for her kids' benefit. "So why don't we go ahead and wait for him inside. I'll make something to eat while you guys relax and I'll catch you up on the five years you missed."

"Five years!?" Laura nearly shouts.

You wince. "Yeah. You guys missed a lot."

          - - - - - - - - - - 

For the next couple of hours you tell Laura all about the Blip and how half of Earth's population just disappeared- Avengers included. You tell her how Clint had you move in, and how you helped take care of the house and what few animals they had on the farm still while working at the local grocery store. You tell her all about Steve and Natasha, and how Tony Stark is now married with a daughter of his own.

"Wow." Laura chuckles. All the kids have fallen asleep around the living room, leaving Laura the time to finally ask, "And where was Clint this entire time? I noticed he brought you onto the farm, but then everything became about Steve and Nat."

You suck in a breath sharply. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice that."

"Y/N.."

"He went rogue." Her eyes widen and you wince. "He left me here with access to your bank account, which I only used to pay bills and buy groceries by the way, and not even Natasha could find him. He only came back when she tracked him down and told him there was a chance they could reverse the Blip."

"Oh Clint.." She sighs, shaking her head in disappointment.

The sound of a quinjet hovering makes you and Laura perk up, but you keep quiet so as to not wake the children. You and Laura meet each other's gazes before you carefully get up and tiptoe out of the living room, and then you're rushing out the front door and down onto the lawn.

The door drops down and then Laura is sprinting across the field to reach her husband. You joyously laugh, jogging over to catch up. But as Laura and Clint hug one another, sobbing, you turn your sights to Steve who's standing sheepishly off to the side. There are two others with him, but since you've yet to meet them you make your way towards the familiar.

"Hey Rogers. Good to see you in one piece."

He tiredly chuckles. "Y/N." You punch his arm and he opens them up so you can hug him. "How are you holding up?"

"Better now that I got my sister back," you muse. As you pull away, you glance behind him into the quinjet. "Hey, where's Natasha?" Steve's smile falls and your heart plummets into your stomach. You can practically read the answer in his eyes. "No.." You shake your head.

His breathing stutters before he clears his throat. "We, uh, we lost Tony too."

Your expression completely crumples then, but Steve is quick to pull you back into a hug. He lets you cry into his chest before Clint steals you away, and then you're crying into your brother-in-law's shoulder. Then once all the tears taper off, Steve introduces you and Laura to Wanda and Bucky.

"I'll be in contact with you about what Pepper decides to do," Steve tells Clint. "If you do anything for Nat, let me know."

Clint sniffles. "I will."

You, Clint, and Laura wave off Steve, Wanda, and Bucky as they return inside the quinjet and lift off.

"Come on," Clint then sighs. "I need to see the kids and then figure out a way to tell them all about auntie Nat's sacrifice."

"And plan a memorial," Laura says.

You frown. "This was not the homecoming I was hoping for."

After a few days of planning, Clint decides on a cookout with all the Avengers and close friends of Nat's invited. It was a couple of days before Tony's own memorial, so you were surprised when Pepper Stark showed up with Morgan in tow. You were happy to finally meet the young girl who you'd been sending gifts to and you gladly ended up on babysitting duty.

You had met more of Clint's ex-coworkers, but your attention always ended up back on the children. Then when it came time to say a few words on Natasha's behalf, you somehow ended up between Steve and Bucky as the children ran back to their respective parents with Steve tucking you into his side when the tears started.

Then when the day of Tony's memorial came, there were more guests than you had anticipated. So as Pepper and Morgan walked a small flower raft with an arc reactor replica on it and set it out on the water, you stood back with Laura and her family and waited in silence. And as the crowd dispersed, you mostly kept to yourself until you saw Steve walk out of Pepper's home in the oddest white and red suit you'd ever seen.

Walking up behind Steve, you nod at Bucky and Sam who grin at your presence. When Steve turns around, you chuckle. "Why do I got a feeling you're about to do something very stupid?"

He grins and adjusts his grip on the suitcase hanging by his side. "Someone's gotta return the stones to their original timeline."

"Mhm. Well be careful. Don't start any unnecessary fights."

"I'll try my best."

As he walks up onto the platform, you step back and nudge your arm against Bucky's. He smiles down on you and you stand by his side as you listen to Bruce who walks Steve through about what's going to happen. Bruce checks all his monitors, giving Steve the go-ahead when everything is fine. Steve nods, a mask of sorts opens up and wraps around his face, and he presses a button that had been in his hand. Bruce counts down the seconds before he flips a switch which is meant to bring Steve back, but nothing happens.

Bruce looks around his monitors and starts pressing some more buttons. "Where is he?" Sam asks.

"I don't know. He blew right by his time stamp. He should be here," Bruce says as he flips a few more switches.

Bucky sighs and you quickly glance at him, and he looks more resigned than anything as he turns to walk off.

Your attention goes to Bruce as your heart rate picks up. "Get him back."

"I'm trying."

"Get him the hell back!" Sam urges.

You and Sam are low-key panicking, but it's Bucky's calm voice that stops the both of you. "Y/N. Sam."

The two of you whirl around, gazes sliding towards where Bucky is staring off to. In the distance, on a stone bench by the water, there appears to be a man sitting there that wasn't there before. You and Sam stumble forward, and you squint your eyes, only to glance back at Bucky with wide eyes.

"Is that.."

"Go."

You share another look with Sam and he gestures for you to follow him. The two of you walk towards the man together and Sam stops just behind him as you walk around in front. When you get a good look at your friend who is way older than what he appeared to be a mere twenty seconds ago, your heart cracks just a little.

You try to force a smile, but it wobbles as an elderly Steve chuckles at you. "I'm really trying not to be so mad at you right now." Your voice cracks and he pats the spot next to him as you sniffle. You immediately sit next to him and take his left hand within your own two, a gleaming wedding band not going unnoticed. Your fingers trace it. "Was it at least a happy life?"

Steve pats your hand. "It was. It was the beautiful life I always dreamt of."

You take a moment for yourself, inhaling and exhaling deeply. "You know you were my complete impulse control, right? Who's going to stop me from trying to get into your best friend's pants now?"

There's a snort from behind you, but you don't bother giving Sam your attention. "Go easy on him," Steve tells you. "I'm not sure he even remembers how to flirt."

You grin as you lean your head on his shoulder. "I'm really going to miss you," you say after a beat. Another moment passes before you drop Steve's hand and sigh before you stand. "Well, um, I should get back my sister and Clint now." You meet his gaze and flash him a small smile. "It's going to suck not seeing you every month, but I'm really glad you found your happiness."

"Thank you, Y/N."

Your bottom lip wobbles again. "Goodbye, Steve."

As you walk away, you hold your head up high and nod to Sam when he looks at you to make sure you're okay. You continue walking, nodding at Bucky as you pass him up as well when you see Laura wave you over. "For the record, I still remember how to flirt." You stumble and and then hear Bucky chuckling quietly behind you.

"Goddamn super soldiers and your dog ears."

As the days turn into weeks, Clint and Laura offer you a permanent place on the farm now that everything seems to be going back to normal. He's promised to build you a small house on the property for all that you've done in the past five years, so in the meantime you've taken to bunking with Lila while Wanda took over the guest bedroom. Clint had also taken to bringing Bucky to the farm when he noticed the super soldier not coping as well as he was letting on, so you found yourself often sitting by the back pond with him as the two of you traded stories about Steve and yourselves.

Though you had originally joked about getting into Bucky's pants, you found yourself seeking friendship from him more than anything else and vice versa. So when you weren't working at the grocery store, you were watching the kids for Laura and Clint or hanging out with Bucky and Wanda. It was no surprise to anyone that the three of you latched on to one another after losing those that you did.

"Hey Y/N," Laura calls out. "Will you do me favor?"

You glance up as she walks out the front door, you and Wanda ceasing your conversation. You grin. "What do you need?"

"Lucky needs some dog food and we need a few bales of hay for the goats."

"Oh. Okay." You look towards Wanda. "Wanna go for the ride?"

She shrugs. "Sure."

"Thank you! You can just put it on the Barton tab at the store," Laura says. "Clint pays it monthly and I've already called ahead to let them know someone was going in to pick up some stuff we needed."

"Got it." Standing up, you pat down your pockets to make sure you have your keys, phone, and some cash. Realizing you have everything, you grin at your sister before walking down the porch steps. As you near your truck, you whistle at Bucky who was throwing knives at a target on the side of the barn. "Hey Buckaroo! We're heading into town. You wanna come?"

He throws the last knife in his hand before he turns to look at you. "Don't call me Buckaroo!" He shouts back as he makes his way towards you.

"Then stop lookin' so darn cute!"

Wanda snorts and you laugh as Bucky shakes his head at you. "One of these days he's going to flirt back and then what are you going to do?"

"Bend myself over the table and let him hit it from behind," you mumble. She snorts harder this time and your eyes widen when you see Bucky start to smirk.

As he nears the two of you, he says, "What did you say?"

"Nothing," you blurt. "Nothing at all. Wanda's just easily amused, is all."

His gaze slides to Wanda, but she shakes her head and doesn't tell him a word. You mentally sigh and praise her for being a good friend, and then you turn to walk towards your truck. Wanda readily heads for the back driver's side door while Bucky walks around to the passenger seat so he's seated next to you.

Once you're seated behind the wheel and the engine is turned on, you take a moment to find a decent song on the radio before driving. It's not too long of a drive and you find yourself pulling up to the local feed store not even three songs later.

Parking and cutting the engine right in front of the store, you turn towards Bucky. You know he's not a huge fan of being out in public, but you rather not have to flirt inside the store to get a helping hand. "Hey Buck, can you do me a favor and load up four of those large rectangular bales of hay and one bag of that dog food right next to it?" You see him tense. "I rather not have to flirt with the boy inside just so he'll help out."

He relaxes then and gives you a nod. "Yeah. Sure."

"Thanks. Just keep watch through the window. Wait 'til I give the signal for you to start loading up." He gives you another nod and you turn around to face Wanda. "Wanna head inside with me?"

Wanda grins and readily opens her door, you and Bucky following right after. But as you and Wanda head inside, Bucky remains by the tailgate of your truck and keeps watch through the large front window as you had said. Inside, Mr. Reeves is waiting by the cash register and keeping an eye on Bucky outside.

"Don't worry, Mr. Reeves. He's with me." Mr. Reeves glances at you, smiling in relief. "I need four large bales of hay and a fifty pound bag of dog food."

Mr. Reeves starts punching buttons on his register. "Alright, sweetheart. Is that going to be all for you?"

"Sure is. Um, Laura asked if you can put it on the tab? Clint will be by at the end of the week."

"Sure thing." You turn towards the window and give Bucky a thumbs up. He turns to open the tailgate and then move towards the bales of hay to start loading up. Mr. Reeves chuckles. "That's a strong fella you got there."

His words make you blush and Wanda giggle, but you can't even reprimand your friend because she is further away than you expected. She's leaning over what appears to be a warming box, hand inside as she smiles down at something you can't see. "Whatcha got there, Red?"

Her smile widens as you hear small chirps. "Ducklings."

You walk over to her, peering inside and your heart absolutely melts. Inside are the cutest ducklings you've ever seen and you know you're done for when you set your hand down inside and one particular little duckling runs onto your palm.

Mr. Reeves walks over, chuckling. "They were hatched a few days ago. All have been looking mighty strong and are ready to go to good homes."

"How much?"

"Y/N," Wanda laughs. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking this little sucker with me." You pick up your hand, duckling still happily nestled in your palm as you cradle him to your chest and look at Mr. Reeves. "Any chance you have those small plastic kiddie pools?"

"As a matter of fact I do," he muses.

Wanda is giggling the entire time Mr. Reeves gets exactly what you need, you nuzzling the yellow fuzzball to your face. You pay with your own money and sadly hand over the duckling when Mr. Reeves has to box her up. You then carefully take the box from him as Wanda takes the kiddie pool, and you walk behind her as you make your way to the truck.

You have absolutely no regrets about buying the duckling, but you still hide the box as you walk around the truck and open the driver's door. Wanda shoves the kiddie pool into the back with her and Bucky turns so his gaze darts between the both of you- Wanda looking far too amused and you looking a little sheepish as you continue to stand outside the truck.

"What did you do?" He sighs.

"Well we went in to just buy the food," Wanda says, "but-"

"I bought a duck." You blurt. You finally put the box in front of you, on the seat, and you open the lid. The duckling chirps and you beam down at her, picking her up and nuzzling her once more. "I'm gonna name her Flauta." Bucky snorts and Wanda laughs uncontrollably then. "No one tell Laura."

"Gonna be hard to hide her, doll."

Bucky reaches over to take the duckling from you and the sight of him cradling it, holding it up to his face and smiling makes you melt once more. Wanda is staring knowingly at you, but you don't even have the urge to flip her off because you know you're fucked. Instead, you take your phone out of your back pocket and snap a picture.

"That's my new wallpaper."

Bucky doesn't bother admonishing you for taking the picture, so after setting it as your wallpaper you put your phone away and climb into your truck. He holds onto the duckling as you make the drive back to the farm, Wanda giggling every now and then when you glance at Bucky and sigh longingly.

When you make it back to the farm, Clint and Laura are on the porch as the kids play out in the yard. They both stand as you park, their expressions turning suspicious as Wanda hops out of the back with the kiddie pool in tow. You grin as you hurriedly hop out as well, leaving Bucky to carry the incriminating evidence.

You can tell he expected as much as he watches you jog around to his side of the truck, already pointing at him through the opened window. "Bucky bought a duck!"

He shakes his head at you and you blow him a kiss, Clint and Laura then joining you by the truck. "Oh really?" Your brother-in-law muses.

"Yep."

"Mhm." Clint looks to Bucky as Laura bites back a grin. "Buck, what's the duck's name?"

Without missing a beat, he says, "Flauta."

Laura finally laughs. "Nice try, Y/N." As Bucky and Wanda guess how Laura knew, she says, "When we were younger, Y/N did the same thing but with a turtle. She named him Taquito."

"And Taquito lived a long and happy life until we went off to college," you say. "Flauta will live just long, if not longer, here on the farm."

Clint chuckles and then takes the duckling from Bucky. He looks to Wanda and gestures for her to follow him. "Lets go get this little lady all set up. The kids are gonna have a blast."

Laura follows after them, but not before winking at you, and you shake your head as you're left alone with Bucky. He finally climbs out of the truck, shutting the door and then leaning against it. You nervously laugh as he smirks. "You threw me under the bus."

"I couldn't take the chance that they'd make me return Flauta." You pout. "I couldn't send her back, Buckaroo. I'd already named her."

He pushes off the truck, turning you around and laying his arm around your shoulders. For a moment you forget how to breathe. "You're just as bad as Steve."

"Oh whatever." You roll your eyes, grinning as your arm wraps around the back of his waist and start walking towards where Clint went. "Steve got you shot at. I momentarily put you in momma bear's crosshairs." He quietly chuckles. "And besides, I didn't hear you deny it. Admit it, Barnes, I'm growing on you."

"Like a fungus."

You pinch his side. "Oh fuck off." He fully laughs then. "Just you wait, Buckaroo. The day we decide to put sex on the list of things we should definitely be doing, I'm gonna withhold just because you're being an ass."

"You sure about that?" The teasing lilt to his voice suddenly makes you feel at unease. "You sure you won't immediately bend over the table and let me hit it from behind?"

Your face flames, but you can't help but laugh at your earlier words. When you manage to calm down, you can't help but say, "I hate you," as you finish making your way towards your family.

"Nice try, doll, but I'm calling bullshit."

[dreamescapeswriting]

Stray Kids Reaction | Injured and Don’t Tell Them [Request]

Chan:

He was away on tour so when it happened you saw no reason to tell him about it, you never thought he would know since he was going to be on the tour longer than you were going to have the cast on your leg. It wasn't like he would see it in the video calls either so you were all set to hide it from him. There had only been one thing you hadn't taken into account and that was STAY finding out about your leg and telling Chan about it in Vlives and through twitter - you knew he was always on twitter despite telling you that he didn't have a fake twitter account.

"Baby!" You laughed as his face popped up onto your laptop screen but he wasn't the usual smiling and happy Chan he always was whenever he called you. He looked really angry and annoyed about something,

"One of the boys wake you up again?" You laughed nervously but he folded his arms across his chesr to let you know he was serious about this.

"Do you have something to tell me?" His tone of voice made you feel like you were in trouble with someone at school but you shook your head.

 "So your leg isn't in a bright blue cast right now?" You looked down at your leg which wasn't in a blue one,

 "No, it's in a pink one." You tried to joke with him but you could tell by the look on his face he wasn't impressed with you,

"Why didn't you tell me?" You sat back against the seat and shrugged your shoulders,

"I didn't think it was a big deal, the cast will be off before you're even home-"

"Not a big deal?! Y/n! You've hurt yourself! I'm your boyfriend I'm supposed to know these things," He didn't mean to yell at you but he wanted to be the one you called when anything ever went wrong,

"You're supposed to call me when something happens." You looked at the pout on his lips and felt bad,

"You were on the other side of the world what were you going to do? Fly home?" You laughed softly trying to lighten the mood and it worked but he still wasn't happy about it,

"I could have called you so you weren't alone in the hospital." He groaned looking at the cast as you angled the laptop for him to see it.

"I have another four weeks left, so you might just get to sign it before it comes off." You smiled at him and he shook his head at you questioning you on how you'd done it in the first place.

Minho:

It had been weeks since it happened and you hadn't told Minho about it because there was no reason to, you'd fallen over and grazed your knee up after chasing Jeongin around while playing hide and seek in one of the huge venues they were playing in. You'd both been bored and decided it would be fun, what was not fun was slipping over a wire and crash landing on the floor where you'd scraped all your leg.

"Do you remember your face when you fell?!" Jeongin laughed loudly recounting the story Chan who was wondering why all the plasters in the dorms were going missing all of the time.

"Hyung you should have seen their face, Y/n slipped but- Ugh I wish I'd had my phone-"

"Y/n slipped?" Minho came out of nowhere, he was supposed to be at the JYP building practising and you jumped a little as he rubbed your shoulders gently,

"A couple of weeks ago it was nothing." You whispered trying to pass it off but Jeongin began the story again and Minho just stared at you wondering why you hadn't told him any of it had happened.

"I didn't want you to laugh at me." You groaned as he sat down beside you, he rolled your trousers up to look at your leg. It wasn't anything bad, a couple of cuts and bruises nothing major.

"You're supposed to tell me these things." He whispered he was more hurt that you'd kept something from him than anything else and he just looked at you.

"I'm sorry, I just really didn't think it was that big a deal, it was just a small slip up." You laughed thinking about it and then you began to tell Minho about the way you slipped,

"I don't think it was funny, it hurt." You faked a groan and he shook his head at you wrapping his arms around your shoulders and pulling you close to him.

Changbin:

"PUT IT DOWN!" You screamed as Jisung began chasing you around the dorms with one of the sofa pillows, you'd accidentally thrown a pair of socks in his direction when you were aiming for Jeongin and from there it turned into a pillow fight.

"You come any closer and I will scream this building down." You cried out backing against the wall, you had nowhere to go since he'd cornered you next to the dorms bedrooms and the wall.

"Jisung please!" You pleaded, he lowered the pillow to lure you into a false sense of security,

"Thank you, now that-" The pillow flew upwards at a force Jisung had no control over and slapped you in the nose causing you to yell out in pain.

"Fuck!" You screamed hands clamping over your nose as you felt the pain shoot through your face and then a drop of blood hit the floor.

"Language," Felix joked coming out of his room to see what all of the yellings was about when he saw you nose bleeding pretty badly while Jisung began freaking out about hurting you.

"Tissues!" You tried to mumble out but got a mouthful of metal taste as the blood dripped onto your lips, Felix rushed over clutching a kitchen roll, roll in his hands as he ripped some off to hand to you.

(X)

Changbin came in later that night with a smile on his face, you and Jisung had decided it was better not to tell him about the incident. It would only make him worry about something that didn't need to be worried about, it was just an accident anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

"How was your day handsome?" You greeted as he wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed your lips softly,

"My day was good, how was yours?" He asked walking with you towards the sofa and sitting down beside you.

"It was good, me and the boys played video games most of the day and then I went to get us all some food." You looked at him while he began to tell you about his day at the studio with Chan and Seungmin.

"We were about to-"

"Y/n! Did your nose finally stop bleeding?!" You stared over at Felix who had just walked into the dorms holding up your favourite tub of ice cream - he'd gone to get it for you with Jisung to try and cheer you up.

"Your nose was bleeding?!" Changbin sounded panicked already and Felix groaned wanting the dorm wall to open up and suck him into it so he wouldn't have to be a part of this.

"It was an accident-"

"Who did it?" He stood up ready to defend you against whoever had been the one to make your nose bleed,

"Jisung but it was an accident! We were just having a pillow fight and it got out of hand." You placed your hands on his arms and he relaxed a little turning down to look at you.

"You okay though right?" You nodded our head at him, promising him it was nothing major and that you didn't want to tell him because you didn't want to worry him.

Hyunjin:

It was one of the smallest bumps ever, you'd been crossing the road and the car came out of nowhere hitting your leg and knocking you onto the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" Someone said as they came rushing out of their car and over to you, bending down to help you stand up asking for you to take their details but you reassured them that it was nothing and that you would be fine.

"It was just a bump." You laughed walking away from the scene and going up to see Hyunjin at the dorms. By the time you'd gotten into the apartment Chan had just seen the video of you getting hit by the car, there had been STAY watching the entire thing with a close look.

"Hyunjin," You breathed as he rushed over to you, you thought hr was going to hug you but he began checking you over trying to make sure you were okay.

"What are you doing?" You laughed when you heard the video playing, you looked up to see a phone in Chan's hand as he replayed the video for everyone to see, you groaned looking at Hyunjin who was mumbling something in Korean to you as he looked you over.

"Hyunjin I'm not that good at Korean, speak slowly." You begged him but he just stared at you and shook his head,

"It was a small bump!"

"You got hit by a car!" He yelled back in the same tone of voice that you had used and you rolled your eyes at him as he sat you down on the sofa,

"You'll feel it in the morning," Chan warned you wanted Hyunjin the ice he wanted for your leg,

"Hyunjin I'm fine-" He glared at you placing down the bag of ice on the side of your leg where the car had hit you, it was obvious you weren't going to get away with passing this off as if it wasn't a huge deal when to Hyunjin it was. Whether it was a small bump or not you still got hurt and he wanted to be the good boyfriend and look after you.

Jisung:

"Hey, you wanna come in?" You asked loudly while you were dancing around your apartment, you'd been cleaning all day getting ready for Jisung to come over for a movie night. It was the first time in weeks you would get to spend some alone time together and you were excited, you'd been dying to see him. As you were cutting up ingredients for the dinner you were making Back Door came on so you had to start dancing along to it but you hadn't taken into account that while doing the choreography you should have put the knife down as you ended up cutting your stomach as you tried to replicate one of the moves.

"Ah fuck," You hissed looking at your new shirt, you'd only bought it last week and now it had a hole on it as well as a little blood. You rolled your eyes at yourself putting the knife into the sink to clean it while you went to change and clean up the small graze along your stomach.

(X)

You weren't going to tell Jisung because it wasn't a big deal if you'd actually stabbed yourself then maybe you would have told him but it was no big deal. Just a small cut that everyone had done at some point in their lives.

"Food smells great baby," He chuckled coming up behind you and squeezing you, you closed your eyes tightly ignoring the pain it because on the small cut.

"Good I put my blood sweat and tears into it." He didn't understand why you were laughing so hard at the small joke but he sat down at the table,

"What happened to your shirt, by the way, I went to change and it was in the bin?" You sat down in front of him handing him the plate of food.

"I nicked myself when I was cutting up the vegetables for dinner, no big deal," He started laughing as he finally understood what you meant by ''blood sweat and tears.''

"You were dancing again, weren't you?" He knew you to well to know it wasn't just an accident, you had to have been doing something else while you were cutting up the vegetables.

"What?! No, don't be- Yes." You couldn't lie to him and he started laughing harder as he thought about you dancing around the kitchen with a knife in your hand.

"Carry on and I'll make sure you eat alone." You pouted but he continued to laugh harder.

Felix:

You were helping Chan in his new studio, he'd finally been given one of his own so he wouldn't have to carry everything around on one laptop anymore and he was installing some shelves up on the wall.

"Make sure the brackets are lined up at the holes." He warned you as you held up the shelve in front of you. Once everything was in place and you had a good grip on it he began drilling into the wallplugs that you'd put in.

"All done." You wiggled the shelve a little to make sure it was stable and then as you went to place your hand on the wall you brushed your skin over the freshly screwed screw and screamed out in shock. A burning sensation shocked you as you looked down at your hand to see a star-like shape on your hand where the screw had burn you.

"I forgot to warn you! Here!" Chan panicked looking around for something cold for you to press onto the skin, the only thing coming to hand was a can of ice-cold soda so he pressed it into your hand and began rushing you out of the studio and towards one of the bathrooms on that floor to run your skin under a hot tap.

"Don't tell Felix." You said in unison as the tap began running freezing cold water onto your skin cooling it instantly. If you told Felix he would have done nothing but worry and go into over-protective boyfriend mode/ nurse mode and he wouldn't focus on anything except for you.

(X)

"That's what I told him!" You laughed at Jisung as you reached out your chopsticks to take some more noodles from the centre of the table,

"What happened to your hand Y/n?" You drew your hand back as Felix questioned the bandage that was around your hand, Chan had taken you to see someone in the JYP building who advised you kept it covered for a couple of days,

"Nothing, it's a style." Your voice went up in pitch as you lied to him and he took your hand unwrapping it, you didn't even fight him because you knew it was useless too.

"How did-"

"I pressed my hand down against a hot screw when I was helping Chan in the studio," You hissed as he touched the small burn on your hand and then looked at Chan,

"Hyung why didn't you-"

"Because you would do nothing but worry about me." You laughed softly as his brows knitted together looking at the scar that was no doubt going to be there for a while,

"I do not-"

"Every time they get hurt Lix you're always there..." Jisung admitted making Felix look at you as you nodded slowly you found it cute but it wasn't what you needed or what he needed, he had to focus on himself especially with comeback season coming.

Seungmin:

The boys were all out for the day and you decided to stay at the dorms since you were feeling a little under the weather, you'd spent the last half of your day curled up in Seugmin's bed with movies and video games but you were starting to feel hungry so you wanted to venture into the kitchen. You went to get out of the bed but before you could even grasp what was happening to you, you slipped off the bed landing face-first on the floor, twisting your ankle and damaging your wrist in the process. You let out a loud groan as you tried to move your wrist but found it almost impossible without hurting yourself even more,

"No, no, don't be broken." You whimpered shifting on the floor so you were sitting up and looking at your wrist, you got up from the floor and limped into the kitchen to get a bag of frozen peas to put on your ankle and a bag of frozen sweetcorn for your wrist.

(X)

Laughter filled the dorms as everyone made their way inside,

"Hey boys!" You didn't get up from the sofa, your ankle was still in pain and your wrist was still hurting.

"How was your day?" Jisung jumped down onto the floor beside the sofa and you began talking to him when Felix sat down beside you landing on your ankle, you whimpered looking at him with tear-filled eyes.

"Why is there a bag full of defrosted peas in the sink?" Minho called out but Felix had uncovered your ankle showing off the bruise to everyone.

"I think I know why," You hissed out as Seungmin rushed over looking at the swollen ankle and then to your face as you let tears roll down your cheeks.

"What happened?!" He panicked looking at you and then to the ankle again, this was why you hadn't planned on telling him it had happened. Not only had it been embarrassing but he would do nothing but be over-protective with you now.

"I fell off the bed," Jisung laughed but soon stopped when he got glared at by both you and Seungmin,

"My leg got caught up in all of the blankets and I just sort of slipped and fell onto the floor." You had to admit it was a little funny now you were saying it out loud to someone else but Seungmin wasn't laughing, he was looking around for a first aid kit to get your ankle bandaged up.

IN:  

"I told you not to tell him." You said to Minho as he walked into the doctor's office, you'd passed out backstage and despite telling Minho it was no big deal, that you'd just gotten a little tired he dragged you along to see a doctor and called Jeongin after you begging for him not to.

"He was going to find out sooner or later," He defended his actions and you rolled your eyes holding your head. As you went down you'd smacked it onto one of the speakers and the doctor advised you to stay overnight while they could watch over you to make sure you didn't have a concussion.

"You weren't going to tell me you seriously hurt yourself?!" Minho dipped out of the room as your boyfriend sat down beside you on the bed and you sighed at him.

"It wasn't serious, it was a small bump and I am fine." You sat up ignoring the dizziness you were feeling and laid your head on his shoulder, he linked his hands with you and shook his head.

"Minho saw you go down and hit your head, what if someone wasn't there?!" You squeezed his hand to try and make him relax a little,

"He was there though, and I'm fine. I was just tired and too hot back there that's all." You reassured him kissing his cheek as you swung your legs over the edge of the bed. You wanted to go home but if the doctors and Jeongin were going to have their way you were going to have to stay there all night, even if you did feel fine.

"If I'm staying here you have to stay with me. I'm not being alone in this place." You mumbled looking around, doctors gave you the goosebumps and he nodded at you jumping down from the bed so you could lay down and get some rest.

A/N: I’m not even going to lie I have done Jisung’s, Seungmins, Hyunjin’s and Felix’s, I stabbed myself at college when I was cutting something and trying to dance, I fell off my bed the other day because my leg was caught in the trimming of the pillow and I burnt myself putting in my new Kpop shelve. Hyunjins was when I was walking to college, I got hit by a car and just kept walking to class

 Tagline: 

@snowy-meowl​ @jooniesdarlingdimples​ @yunhoesss​

[pastelracha]

Pregnancy with Jisung

☾ Title : Pregnancy with Jisung

☾ Pairing: Jisung x fem!reader

☾ Genre: fluff, established relationship, pregnangcy

☾ Prompt: just a head canon of pregnancy with Jisung. 

☾ A/N: request : Hiii! Love the pregnancy series😁 could you do one with Han if that's okay?? Lots of love💖 sorry I was bit long to post, but I didn’t feel like writing for the last couples of days, and I'll not be able to post request/ scenarios on the 9th for a week, but I'll still take request, only posting them when I'll back from holidays.

☾ Other : Chan’s version : ☾ Felix’s version : ☾ Hyunjin’s version : ☾

☾ Word Count: 0.565K

masterlist | ask or request

Is the most happy dad to be. Sending everyone texts : “I am going to be a daddy!1!!’’

Celebrate with you, going to the restaurant and threat you like the queen you are, carrying his baby. 

When your belly start showing, being the meme that shows with hands your belly like : THE LOVE OF MY LIFE IS PREGNANT WITH MY BABY!

Create a ballad for his unborn child and plays it to your belly. 

You are the center of his world, even before but now even more, he wonders if you’ll like a cake or anything just to bring it home after his day, to make you happy. 

Just find you ethereal the more your belly is growing. 

“Babe, you are creating life, don’t ever say you look bad right now’’ 

Once fell asleep on the studio couch and Chan laughed : “welcome to your future dad’s life bro’’ 

Ran all over the house after he learned it’s a baby girl, his mission protect and make her the most happy girl in the world. 

Cried during the ultrasound, seeing his baby on the screen, “it’s mine ? My baby ! Can I hear the heartbeat ?“

“The guys told me the speak to your belly, it’s the best for her to know my voice, hi baby it’s daddy’’ 

Just bought a lot of rose gold things for the baby room, cause she is a princess and rose gold is princess ok ! 

Yes your wedding day was the best day of his life, but the day his princess going to be born gonna top it. 

Thanks you everyday for this breath taking gift. 

“We should totally adopt a dog or a cat to grow up with her and being her bff’’ 

Announced it with something like : “we adopted this little fur baby, to grow up with our human baby and yes mini SKZ is coming lol’’ 

Just like chan even if she isn’t born yet, would have Jisung wrapped around her finger. (Just imagine skz as fathers .. my heart !!!!)

His smiles is getting bigger and bigger at each ultrasounds. 

Put his hands on your tummy, and just whispers things to the baby. 

Shopping for baby clothes with Jisung, is an olympic sport ! He just want to buy everything. 

Runs you baths and take photos of your bump, in pink water. 

Created a photo book of your whole pregnancy with polaroids. 

Text you to show him your bump cause he miss it. 

Is jealous of your pregnancy pillow, so sleep behind you and hug you every nights. Hands on your belly. 

Had your hospital bag ready, but you're just at your 5th month of pregnancy. 

Yes you now have stretch marks, but he loves them cause it shows you are pregnant and remind him of your love, creating a tiny mix of both of you. 

Calls you the most beautiful woman in the world, every minutes of your pregnancy. 

“Is she gonna do dance, football, we need to think about it !’’

“Baby isn’t even born, let me breath’’ 

Can’t wait to see her grows, but no boyfriend until she is at least 30 ! He is not even joking. 

“Or he gonna have to past tests, we already did it with Chan’s, she had a dude’’

“She is 3 what you guys did to this poor child ??’’

SKZ are scary uncles/dads to the girls, ready to fight 3years old for them.  

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Revelation

Breach Masterlist

Warnings: non/dubcon sex (series), general angst, some blood and anger this chapter.

This is dark!Winter Soldier/Bucky and explicit. 18+ only.

Note: SURPRISE! I somehow got this done this morning so voila!

I won’t demand but do ask for feedback; likes, reblogs, replies, comments, asks, especially on this series, but again, enjoy in your own way! <3 Love you!

A six-hour car ride and a brief flight saw you at a second safehouse; bigger and isolated from the world in a nest of trees. Steve accompanied you alone as Howard disappeared to ‘sort out business’. You watched and listened to it all, always keeping Luka close.

Your room was as big as one of the houses you’d lived in during your days in South America. Luka wanted to stay with you and you wouldn’t have let him sleep anywhere else. James, or Bucky, whoever he was those days, looked grim as he commented how nice it would be for you to have your privacy. You didn’t dare ask him to stay in the room though you wanted it. You had grown used to his presence.

You slept the first night soundly, waking only once or twice to look at the door. The usual shadow wasn’t there. That made you frown and run your fingers through Luka’s hair. You were safe now but that wouldn’t last, it never did.

You woke yawning, the hours of sleep reminding your body of its long-hewn fatigue. You could have slept for days. You peeked out into the hallway and Luka pushed past you, sprinting out the door. You followed him and called him back to you with a reprimand. He was excited about all the new places.

“Mishka, you stay close, we’re only going to get some breakfast,” you said as you took his hand.

“Mama, this place is so big! I wanna stay here forever,” he sang as he tugged on your arm.

“Why, so you can tear the walls down?” you tutted, “What has gotten into you?”

“Papa’s friend, Steve, he told me he fights the bad guys,” Luka swung your arm, “will he fight the ones who hurt you and Papa?”

You stopped just outside the kitchen. You turned Luka to you and bent to look him in his face. “What men, mishka?”

“The one’s we’re running from,” he said innocently.

You gulped and cradled his face in your hands, “don’t you worry about that, my love, me and your father will always keep you safe.”

The boy looked confused but didn’t ask more, he only nodded and you stood with a sigh. You took his hand again and pulled him into the kitchen. You sat him on one of the tall chairs along the island counter and searched the fridge. You poured each of you a bowl of Cheerios and pushed his across to him as you leaned on the other side of the counter and spooned up the cereal.

“You’re here,” James’ voice startled you as he came to a sharp stop just inside the doorway, “you weren’t in your room, I was--”

“You said we’re safe here,” you lowered your spoon, “Luka was hungry.”

“We are safe,” he exhaled and slowly crossed the room to stand at the end of the counter.

“You want some?” you shook the box at him.

“Eat,” he took it and grabbed a bowl of his own, “I’ll get it.”

He added milk and sat beside Luka. Your son smiled at him and received a goofy look in return. There were moments James wasn’t so guarded but those were always reserved for your son, never you. When he looked at you, you only saw his guilt and pain.

“Howard will be here at noon,” James said as he turned back to you and stirred his bowl, “I’ll talk to them first.”

“Talk?” you asked.

“They need to know… everything,” he said reluctantly, “you watch over Luka while I’m with them and try not to worry. We can trust Steve.”

You nodded and scooped another spoonful into your mouth. You chewed and stared at the counter. That wasn’t what you were worried about, how could you explain all that had happened?

✰

After you ate, you took Luka to the living room and Bucky left you again. After some giddy pleas from your son, you turned on the television. There were few times in his life, and yours, that you had the luxury of a screen. You sat and watched puppets spell and count for a while before you grew bored.

Luka tired of the wooden car he’d outgrown a while ago and jumped on the couch. You tried to get him to stop but only found yourself out of breath.

“Mishka! You will break it,” you caught him mid-leap and swung him down onto his feet, “why don’t we play a game?”

“Oooh, hide and seek!” he chimed.

“I don’t know, that might not--”

“Please, papa hates that game but it’s so fun,” he clapped, “please, mama.”

“It is fun when you can only hide in the broom closet. You will get lost in here.”

“Promise, mama, I will not go far, please?”

You sniffed and stared into his hopeful eyes, James’ eyes. “You stay on this floor and do not go past the stairs, understood?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” he squealed, “now mama, you have to close your eyes. No peeking.”

“I know how this game works,” you sat and covered your face with your hands, “thirty seconds, mishka.”

“Thirty?” he whined.

“Twenty-nine, twenty-eight…”

You heard his feet stamp away and you smiled, counting louder with each number. When you reached one you got up and went to the hall. You looked up and down for any telltale sign of him. Nothing was different.

You went to the kitchen and searched all the cupboards and the pantry. He wasn’t in there. As you checked the closets and still did not find him, you felt the panic rising in your throat. Your heart hammered as you ran around the stairs, he hadn’t listened!

You heard a voice, a high pitch you knew well. The front door was open just a crack and you ripped it open as you followed Luka’s sing-song. He sang a Russian tune you taught him as he was carried on the back of a dark-haired man. You ran across the porch and past the armored car in the lot.

You tore Luka from the stranger’s back and both cried out in surprise. You put your son down as the man turned to you. You grabbed the collar of his shirt and punched him as hard as you could, just as James taught you. You heard the crack of his nose as you pulled back again.

“You take my son!” you snarled as he put his arm up to block your next strike and your hand gleaned off his chin, “my son! I will kill you.”

“Mama, mama,” you felt Luka tugging at your pants.

“Go inside, Luka,” you barked ready to strangle the man.

“He’s wasn’t taking me, mama, we were playing,” Luka begged, “he’s just a kid, like me.”

You stopped and looked the man in the face. Luka was right, he was sixteen, maybe seventeen, familiar even. You growled and let him go hesitantly. You pulled Luka close to you.

“Who are you?”

“I should ask you the same,” the adolescent stemmed the blood leaking from his nostrils with the heel of his hand and tilted his head back, “you sure pack a punch, lady.”

“Who?” you stepped forward again and he backed away.

“Tony,” he snorted and turned to spit up blood onto the ground, “Tony Stark, Howard’s son.”

“Howard?” you blinked, “oh, I--” you looked down at Luka who looked terrified, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I-- let me help you clean up.”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” he chuckled and backed away from you, “I think I can handle this.”

“Mama,” Luka huffed.

“I’m sorry, mishka, I did not know,” you grimaced, “I so very sorry, I really--” you looked at Tony again.

“I’m fine,” he pulled his cuff up to his nose, “really, I shouldn’t have just taken the kid.”

“I couldn’t find him, I was so scared, I--”

“Luka,” James’ voice drew you around. He stood on the porch and descended the steps carefully as he took in the scene, “what’s going on? What are you doing out here?”

“Playing a game,” you said as Tony shook his head.

“What happened to the kid?” James asked as he pointed at the bloodied teen.

“Your wife, that’s what happened,” Tony spat.

“She’s not--

“I thought he was taking Luka,” you interrupted James, “I’m sorry, I--”

“It’s okay,” he took Luka’s hand and pulled the boy close, “you did what I showed you,” he turned to the younger Stark, “you should get that cleaned up or it’ll stay crooked.”

“Uh huh,” Tony dragged his feet through the dirt towards the house, “such a pleasant little family.”

You watched him go and hung your head. You felt awful and held up your shaky hand, your knuckles sore from the assault. Bucky took your hand and looked it over.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I hurt him,” you said, “I hurt a kid.”

“He’s fine,” James assured, “I’ll talk to Stark, it’s fine.”

“I’m sorry, papa, we were playing hide and seek and I didn’t tell mama I was going outside--”

“I told you not to play that game,” James looked down at Luka, “this is why, because you scare us.”

“I’m sorry,” Luka repeated.

“Well, everyone’s safe so…” he rubbed his forehead with his gloved hand as his eyes met yours, “it’s your turn, I’ll keep and eye on Luka.”

“My turn?”

“Upstairs, they’re waiting,” James said and raised his hand as if he would touch your shoulder but instead dropped it, “answer the question but you don’t need to talk about what you don’t want to.”

You nodded and swallowed as you looked past him to the front door. There were no questions they could ask that you didn’t dread.

✰

Howard and Steve sat on the other side of the table. It felt like a real interrogation, like you’d done something wrong. And yet, as you explained your time at Hydra, from employee to experiment, neither seemed to flinch, they listened and took notes but did not show the horror you felt.

“Do you know what they were doing to your son the day of your escape?” Stark asked.

“No, I was… sedated for much of it, they took him from me and--” you shook your head, “I was so angry, I never been so angry and when I woke I felt invincible and when the doctor came, I would’ve killed him, I think.”

“And I know it’s probably a moot question but you don’t know what they were giving you? The capsules, the drip?”

“I never seen the charts,” you shrugged and looked down. 

Your hands were trembling and you were overwhelmed. It was the first time you said any of it aloud and once you started, it streamed out like a river. Now that it was all out, the emotions began to flow too.

Then the realisation and the fear. It was, easy even for you, to guess what Hydra intended for your son. He was to be like his father, more efficient than his father. You lifted your head, terrified, and glanced between the men furtively.

“My son is not a weapon,” you said, “know that and do not make him one.”

“That is not our intent,” Steve assured softly, “that is not the type of weapon we use. That’s why we’re here, away from SHIELD, away from Hydra, we can’t let this happen to anyone else but given what we know, this experiment wasn’t just shelved. There are others out there and we need to get to them before another Winter Soldier appears.”

“But how… me and James hide for so long,” you said, “we cannot possibly know--”

Steve’s throat constricted and he looked at Howard. They weren’t telling you something.

“What you have told us today is all we need from you,” Stark said evenly, “It is a start for us to uncover the rest.”

“Uncover?” you blinked and frowned, “what do you mean uncover?”

“You and James have given us locations, details, security procedure,” Stark continued, “with that, we can gain access to the information we do need and find out where they’ve moved their new Soldat operation--”

“No,” you snapped as your chest squeezed, “you would send him back there?”

“We didn’t say--”

“You don’t tell me but you think I am stupid. I know James and I know he feels so bad he would go back to die,” you snarled, “he did nothing wrong. It was not him!”

“But… you, uh, he--” Howard began awkwardly.

“Hydra did that, Hydra made him that monster and he doesn’t not owe you anything. He killed the men who would take my child from me and he kept Luka safe, he is done.”

“Look, Bucky is my best friend and I understand, it wasn’t him, but he did those things, even if it wasn’t his choice and this is what we can do, this is the deal we can offer you. He gets us that intel and you get your safe haven.”

“And if he doesn’t come back?” you stood and slammed your hands on the table, “you would kill him all over again, Steven.”

Steve reeled as if you’d slapped him and Howard raised as brow as he looked at him from the corner of his eye.

“You friend? Really?” your English became more fractured as your rage rose and you hit the table again, this time leaving a dent in the metal, “you no friend to know what you send him back to. They not kill him, not his body, and they torture his mind.”

“Please, ma’am,” Howard said calmly, “it was his idea--”

“I don’t care, you let him!” you shouted, “You think him evil but I know he not. He save me and he has son. You would let a father die.”

“Just calm--” Steve intoned.

“No, no be calm,” you began to rant in Russian as you turned and stormed to the door.

“Where-- Wait!’ The men stood and followed after you.

“I go James!” you hollered as you strode out into the hall, “he trouble!”

[dreamteamspace]

They really went there huh

/rp (good lord I rly hyperfixated on this essay huh)

torture tw, abuse tw, manipulation tw, gaslighting tw

So the Dream SMP built a character, once maybe morally gray, who slipped straight into villany with little to no desire to change, and willing to cause a LOT of pain to get his way. Despite this, he doesn’t question what he does enough to stop, justifying his actions with a good intent that doesn’t come close to justifying what he’s done.

C!Dream is unremorseful of what he’s done, he’s quite literally manipulated and gaslit (like actually, not in the way everyone keeps throwing the word around) c!Tommy, almost drove him to take his last life- like, jesus christ. That’s not even to mention blowing up L’Manburg three times, encouraging c!Wilbur, wanting the discs JUST to have power over c!Tommy, etc.

SO, he gets thrown in a box for it so he doesn’t hurt anybody anymore, making his own hubris his downfall (narrative consequence my beloved). This leads us to a good finale - the bad guy, the person who’s caused objectively the most pain and destruction, is now unable to do so anymore, taken down by the person whom he tried to weaken. It is also revealed he was planning on blackmailing and threatening pretty much everyone, but now everyone gets their stuff back.

Good, right?

Especially for the finale, yeah! The message of the finale is good, c!Tommy manages to escape his abuser with nothing more but his clothes on his back and fights his way back to c!Tubbo and his home.

He doesn’t let his trauma (which is still very present!) let him become a terrible person (arguably the way that c!Dream DID let his frustrations make him a terrible person, c!Tommy, despite bearing quite a heavy weight, recognizes when he begins to turn that way and actively works against it).

It shows that while alone, c!Tubbo and c!Tommy were outfought by Dream, but because c!Tommy went the length to ask for help (which he didn’t even really seem to be relying on actually showing up), he wins! It truly is a good message.

C!Tommy escapes his abuser and manipulator, refuses and fights his trauma to not become someone he doesn’t want to be, and defeats his abuser by asking for help and receiving it, even more than he thought he’d get. He refuses to play c!Dream’s “game”, refuses till the very last moment to let c!Tubbo die, to surrender and say goodbye to him.

So, great! Good finale! C!Dream The Villain is boxed like a fish in a prison of, quite literally, his own making. It sent a good message to people. C!Tommy wasn’t expected to forgive him and did, in fact, axe him down twice, causing c!Dream to finally fall from his high horse.

Most media would stop at this point, say the villain is now defeated and never show them again, or have them come back another one or two seasons later, escaped and seemingly unharmed and worse than ever.

Alternatively, there’s a throwaway line, (or, in good media, a genuine, reasonable backstory, complete with remorse and bad role models and complicated situations), that allows the villain to be redeemed.

In GOOD redemption arcs (See: Zuko from avatar tbh), the villain was already never quite as heartless, or stressed their good intent, or felt remorse for what they felt they “had to do”. Then, ideally, the villain takes a looooong time adjusting their habits, regretting their actions and changing until they’re considered redeemed.

Not on the Dream SMP, though.

They don’t stop at c!Dream’s defeat.

He doesn’t dissapear off-screen and is never spoken of again. His life continues on, everyone’s does, just like it would in reality. He doesn’t magically want to become a better person, far from it. So no redemption. But he doesn’t dissapear, either.

They go on to, slowly, stress how awful the conditions in Pandora’s Vault are. c!Bad says c!Dream should be imprisoned, but at least at slightly better conditions. We’re in very VERY morally gray territorry here. Nobody says c!Dream is a good person, of course not, but even c!Bad - who knows Dream was planning on keeping c!Skeppy in a cage to control him with - goes, “yeah, he should stay boxed, but does he really need to like... suffer suffer?”

Still, c!Dream seems to be kindof inconsistent in his behavior. Is he faking his pain? Is he not? His actions don’t fully make sense for either take. He acts differently to each person, but at the same time some things he does don’t make sense if he were just fishing for pity.

Then c!Sam admits to trying (and thinking he succeeded) to “break Dream’s will”, to quite literally starving him for weeks.

Okay, so now we’re a step further. C!Dream is now suffering even more, although already boxed and unable to hurt anyone. Pandora’s Vault is one thing, but now c!Sam just seems to be out for revenge and nothing more. Instead of spending his time with c!Tommy, he spends his time pickaxing(?) c!Dream.

C!Sam isn’t an angel, and we should all know that by now. He does what he thinks is right, but he’s deeper than that, all characters on the DSMP are.

He cares deeply for the Badlands, and would always choose them above anybody else. He’s a capitalist. He built the prison because it would benefit the Badlands resource-wise, despite knowing Dream would probably use it on his enemies, and it was no secret that ALL members of L’Manburg, especially c!Tommy, are his enemies. C!Sam, undoubtedly, knew that. He still built it.

Arguably, he didn’t know about c!Dream’s attachment obsession at the time, but the point still stands.

People have already latched onto the untold story happening between c!Dream and c!Sam, and frankly, we barely know enough about it. Does c!Sam torture him regularly? Do they talk? Does c!Dream try to verbally fight back? CAN he fight back? We don’t know! We’ve gotten proof for both, between c!Sam saying that c!Dream is terrifying even in prison and c!Dream going silent to go on strike. We don’t have enough of an idea how bad or how good it truly is.

So the people who prefer to humanize c!Dream and explore morality imagine c!Sam to downright torture him, people that prefer to see c!Dream as nothing but evil due to his actions imagine prison on the DSMP to not be equivalent to real life prison, and thus nowhere near as torturous as people are making it out to be.

Now all that is thrown out the window as c!Quackity quite literally tortures him.

So now the internet is faced with a question that, judging by some of the impulsive reactions *cough cough* celebrating torture *cough*, it didn’t turn out to be ready for.

Tell me.

How far do we go?

C!Dream hurt a LOT of people. He did a lot of things that caused irreparable damage. Now what? Do we torture him forever? Why? Because he deserves it? How do we determine that without comparing one kind of pain to another?

It’s custom and kindof generally respectful not to compare people’s pain too accurately, because different things vary greatly in severity depending on the person that experiences them.

At what point do we say he’s suffered enough without comparing exile to the prison?

And if we DO compare, does that even make the question easier to answer?

And if he’s never suffered enough ever, killing them would be a mercy...

At what point has a person done enough damage that they “deserve” to die? What if someone only did half of the things c!Dream did. But if c!Dream gets infinite punishment, and half of infinity is still infinity, do they ALSO deserve endless suffering?

Do you think every person that did something you can’t emphasize with deserves to suffer for eternity and die?

I’m not saying we SHOULD emphasize with c!Dream. He did things we cannot justify, that NOTHING can justify. He did things that were, by their nature, unjustified.

I’m also not saying anybody should forgive him. I think it’s a GOOD thing that c!Tommy doesn’t want nor is narratively pushed to forgive c!Dream.

But c!Dream doesn’t need c!Tommy’s forgiveness to be... a person.

There’s a saying that I’m sure you know, that goes “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”, because there’s things you wouldn’t want any human being to experience. Not because you like them, not cause you think they’re right, but because they’re human.

And perhaps this is my personal opinion, but I don’t think c!Dream being a bad person justifies dehumanizing him, because then we get into an area where someone needs to meet criteria just to be human.

-

I met someone once, whom, because of outside circumstances I knew I probably wouldn’t meet again. We’d been getting along just fine for people who just met, and were both getting into an interesting discussion about morality. They kept insisting upon something I kept refuting, so they said they needed to get something off their chest.

They proceeded to tell me that they had, years ago, while a teen, manipulated someone in a relationship, pushed boundaries and tried to convince them to do things they didn’t really want to do to get what they wanted.

They cried, while telling me, too terrified to tell anybody they know, terrified nobody would ever speak to them again, insanely regretful of their actions. They didn’t know whether to go back and apologize or just stay as far away as humanly possible, didn’t know which one the right thing to do is.

It had been years, by then, and I talked them through it. I said that what they did was bad, and there’s no going around that. But I also said what I saw, which is someone who would never do something like that ever again. I saw a human being. Someone who regrets a mistake they did and now, after enough time has passed, would do anything to make it undone.

Someone who is too terrified to be close to anybody in fear that they would do it again. I don’t remember if they already went to therapy or not, but it was definitly on the table, or in the near future.

They asked me how I could possibly even keep talking to them after they told me all that. They implied they felt like some kind of monster despite literally chocking back tears, firmly convinced they don’t deserve to be close to anybody in their life ever again.

I never swerved from the fact that what they did was wrong, and harmful. But I also told them they’re human. The universe isn’t keeping score. They want to be a better person now, and they were never going to learn how if they never let themselves be close to anybody.

I told them to seek therapy, and to slowly, carefully, try. Assured them that the fact that they regret it so strongly will at least help them in not falling back into the same pattern, and if they do, they can learn to recognize that.

They thanked me after the conversation, genuinely, especially for the fact that I didn’t sugarcoat what happened, because I know otherwise it would’ve felt like I was lying, like I was just sparing their feelings. I wasn’t. I was thinking about how to make sure they get to live without hurting anybody.

As per the circumstances, we didn’t speak again after that, which we knew basicly from the very start.

-

I still think about that conversation a lot.

Do you think they should’ve been locked up for life after it happened, instead?

Do you think this real human being, that I spoke to, that took years to realize their mistake - and never would have realized it if they hadn’t had the time to, if they’d been killed right afterwards - deserves to suffer forever?

Let me tell you something, from someone who’s been in more than one abusive situation: People that hurt you are human.

That doesn’t mean you have to forgive them. That doesn’t mean you have to like them. That doesn’t mean you have to make an effort to understand them. That doesn’t mean you need to go anywhere near them ever again.

You can hate them. You can be angry at them. You can (and should) go as far away from them as possible, and/or defend yourself.

But that doesn’t mean you have to dehumanize them.

You’re allowed to hate and dislike people that are human, because you’re human, especially if they hurt you. That’s how life is.

And to go back to my original point - c!Quackity torturing c!Dream is not something that should be celebrated.

There’s a difference between necessary measures (locking c!Dream up so he doesn’t hurt anyone), and torturing people for fun.

It’s not right. It’s never going to be right, and do not justify literal torture on human beings, and do not make someone lower-than-human to justify torturing them.

Taking revenge on someone for what they did tenfold is romanticized, I know, but I promise you it’s not actually as cool as it sounds.

[girlwiththereapertattoo]

begin again - part three

Jax Teller x female!Reader

Summary: Y/N and Jax grow closer... I don't know what else to say without revealing spoilers haha

Word count: 4k words

Warnings: very bad language, mentions of blood, physical & verbal abuse, angsty & some fluff

Author's note: I appreciate all the positive feedback I've received this far! It's much appreciated :) also, I'm bad at writing these summaries

If you’re in an abusive relationship or you suspect that someone you know is being abused, speak up and reach out to the correct people!

Beta read by @crucifixedbitch

PART ONE | PART TWO

💀💀💀💀💀

He’s late. The thought brings about a familiar uneasiness and your mind conjures images of a bloodied Jax lying unconscious in some dingy ditch. Jesus Christ.

“Mommy, why did you stop reading?”

S/N’s soft voice draws you back to reality. You look over to his bed where he’s laying beside Abel. “Did I stop reading?”

He giggles, “Yep.”

Oh. You look down at the book in your hand then back up at the boys. “I’m sorry, ace. I guess Mommy’s a bit tired.” And apparently, she’s distracted. You look back down at the book, willing yourself to remember your place.

“Cooper the Cat was stuck in the tree,” he reminds you.

“Right, Cooper the Cat!” your eyes hastily skim through the short paragraphs until you land at the right sentence. “Got it. ‘Help!’ cried Cooper from the tree…”

And just like that, all thoughts of Jax and his safety are shoved to the back of your mind to deal with at a later time. It’s your lucky day today, the boys have had a long day and they’re out before you reach the end of the book.

“I love you, ace,” you whisper to your son after you’ve kissed him goodnight.

It’s because of your love for S/N that you left Jax and the endless bullshit that comes with him. Anxiety-filled nights like this one are a thing of your past and you know you can’t allow yourself to be consumed by thoughts of him. Once you start, there’s no stopping you. You know this, very well, so why is there a sick feeling twisting in your gut? Because a small part of you is still in love with your ex.

Hope blooms when your phone vibrates in your pocket but it’s only B/N. It’s not that you’re not happy to see your boyfriend’s name on your phone screen, but the anxiety’s gnawing at your mind, and you’re desperate for it to be put to sleep. Fortunately for you, B/N’s in high spirits. He’s been frustrated with you lately, and wants you back in Charlotte — his insecurities about Jax are beginning to show.

It’s for that reason that you don’t tell him about S/N’s friendship with Abel.

“This time next week, you and S/N will be back home,” he muses.

“Yeah, we both can’t wait.” You feel disappointed at the realization, “It feels like forever, doesn’t it?”

And S/N has been asking about B/N more and more these days but you don’t tell that to him, afraid that he’ll catch the earliest flight to California. Truthfully, you’re not exactly ready to let Jax out of your life which you’ll be forced to do if B/N’s in Charming. You see, he’s… protective and doesn’t like the idea of you hanging around men. Especially Jax. Hell, he almost stopped you from attending your own mother’s funeral.

Of course, it was under the guise of being the protective boyfriend. “Are you sure it’s safe for you to be in the same town as your violent biker ex?” He said all the right things and did everything in his power to talk you out of the decision but in the end, he failed to convince you to stay away.

“Goodnight, I love you.”

You hang up just in time to hear Jax’s motorcycle pull up out front. The relief is quickly overshadowed by concern when you open the door and are greeted by a bloody-faced Jax.

“I’m late.”

“I’m more concerned about that gash on your brow. Come in.” You open the door wider, “If you’re here to get Abel, he’s asleep. You can fetch him in the morning.”

“Shit.” You step aside to allow him access into the house, “I’m sorry, Y/N, I got caught up in Oakland.”

“It’s fine. S/N was happy to have Abel stay the night.”

He smiles, “Thank you.”

You return his smile, “We should clean that before it gets infected.” Before you can process your actions, you’re leaning closer to take a better look at the cut. “I can’t see much, you should rinse it with water. I’ll go grab the first aid kit.”

“It’s late, I’ll have Chibs take care of the cut.”

“Meet me in the kitchen,” you start for the bathroom, “rinse the cut.”

You grab the first aid kit from the bathroom and find Jax sitting at the breakfast table, pensively staring into space, a half-drunk bottle of water sitting in front of him.

“Here.”

Your voice pulls him from his reverie. His eyes drop to the pill container in your hand and he arches a brow.

“It’s for the pain.”

“Thanks.” He accepts the pills and pops the cap open, “I should’ve called.”

“It’s fine.” You do your best to keep a casualness in your voice when you ask, “What was happening in Oakland? Is everyone okay?”

He gazes at you for a long while before he responds, gauging where your head is at. “Yeah, we’re all fine.”

“Should I be worried?”

He slowly shakes his head, “No.”

You watch him take the pain medication, there are so many questions to ask, questions only Jax has answers to.

“Is it safe for you to be here?”

He swallows the pills and smiles, “I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t safe. Don’t worry, you and S/N are safe.”

Hesitantly, you nod as you pull a chair from the table. In a bid to lighten the mood, you tell him, “No offense, Jackie, but you look like shit.”

“I feel like shit,” he chuckles.

You take your seat in front of him and suppress the urge to smile, “Who punched your handsome mug?”

“I was pistol-whipped.”

“Ouch.” Scooting forward in your chair, you lean towards Jax to get a better look at the rinsed cut, and for a very brief moment, your eyes lock with his before they dart up to his cut. “It’s like the good ol’ days, isn’t it?”

“You playin’ nurse?”

“Yeah.”

Back in the day, nights like these were common. Jax would sit at this very table, at the very chair he’s sat on, whilst you tended to his cuts and bruises. Mother would be sitting in the living room, hurling insults at both you and Jax. She would take any chance to remind you that you were making a mistake you would regret for the rest of your life.

“Your mom hated me.”

Your eyes lock with his, “In her defense, you would always be finding ways to antagonize her.”

And in return, your mother would call Jax all kinds of names but even that wouldn’t keep him away. Nothing ever could keep him from you. Memories of Jax sneaking into your room late at night come to mind. “I had to come kiss my girl goodnight,” he’d tell you.

“We were pretty wild back then,” you reminisce.

And you were madly in love with each other, however, you keep that part to yourself. The situation’s complicated enough without the added layer. You’ve barely mustered the courage to mention B/N’s existence to Jax because, in all honesty, you’re not quite sure how he might react to another man raising his son. The thought of his reaction fills you with dread. Heaven knows he’ll give you a hard time about leaving next week.

Gah, it’s all too much! With a shake of your head, you dismiss all thoughts and grab the ointment from the kit. “Shall we?”

He nods and shuts his eye for you to apply it on the cut. A silence descends upon the kitchen and neither of you makes an effort to fill it.

“You’re good to go,” you announce once you’re done.

“Thanks.”

“I couldn’t risk it getting infected.”

More than anything, you don’t want S/N to see Mommy’s friend sporting cuts on his face. He’ll ask questions, probably mention it to B/N, and you’re not looking to have that drama in your life.

“Are you hungry? I’m assuming you haven’t had your dinner…”

“Nah, but I should get going.”

Your mood deflates at his announcement. The truth is you don’t want him to leave but how do you stop him without giving him the wrong idea? Why are you even stopping him from leaving?

“Stay,” you blurt out.

“Stay?”

“Yeah, there’s the guest bedroom. It’s late and you’re medicated and you shouldn’t be driving and–”

“I have nothing to wear.”

“Sure you do.” You take a breath to compose yourself, “I was cleaning out the closets the other day and I found some of your old stuff. They’re clean, I uh, washed them. Everything is oversized, they should still fit you.”

You had intended to take them to Goodwill and you will but right now, Jax needs them.

“Look, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

It isn’t a lie but it isn’t the full truth. Honestly? You just want him near you. It’s wrong, and you understand the implications and know that B/N won’t be happy should he find out, but one night wouldn’t be harmful to anyone, right? Besides, he’ll be sleeping in the guest bedroom.

He thoughtfully considers your proposition. After a stretched silence, he reluctantly accepts your offer.

“Great,” you perk up, “I’ll warm up your dinner.”

You make some conversation over dinner, none of the heavy shit, mostly catching up on all you’ve missed in the four years you’ve been away. He tells you about the club, and that Opie met someone and they’re now married.

“And how about you? Is there anyone special in your life?”

He doesn’t answer your question, not that you expect him to. You just can’t help but be curious. After dinner, he heads over to the bathroom to take his shower whilst you load the dishwasher and dig through the laundry to look for Jax’s old t-shirts and sweats. The guilt sets in and you fight the urge to call B/N to tell him about Jax.

You’re dialing his number when you stop yourself. “Geez, Y/N!” you toss your phone into the laundry basket and step back to create distance between you and the device. Think about this. The last thing you need is B/N bulldozing into Charming and starting shit with Jax and the M.C. — that could be fatal. No, Jax staying the night is you helping out an old friend, there’s nothing more to it.

Grabbing the folded pile of clothing, you make your way down the hall to the guest bedroom and find Jax waiting patiently on the bed for you. Nothing but a towel tied around his waist.

“I should’ve knocked, I’m sorry.”

He rises off the bed and that’s when you get a clear view of his torso, and the tattoo inscribed on his ribcage.

“You’ve proved your point, Jax, now let’s go.” “No, why?” You look over your shoulder to the big, tattooed man standing over by the counter, laughing at whatever joke he’s just been told. You’re at some grimy tattoo parlor, somewhere in Reno, and Jax’s about to get your name tattooed on his body. His ribcage to be exact. The sentiment is sweet, you admit, but it’s a permanent decision, and you’re only 17. You look back at Jax who’s now laying shirtless on the tattoo chair, “Do you realize how insane this is?” He smiles brightly as he shakes his head. “Do you have a death wish? Gemma’ll kill us both when she sees this.” Part of her rage will be due to the fact that it’s your name on his ribcage instead of hers. “And what if they find out we’ve lied about our age?” “Babe, will you relax? They won’t, this place is a dump.” Which is exactly why he shouldn’t get his first-ever tattoo done here. “There’s no talking you out of this, huh?” “No.” He laces his fingers with yours and raises your hand to press a kiss to its back, “This is what I want to do. I don’t care what my mom thinks.” “And the pain? You don’t care about that either?” He shakes his head, “No.” You glance at the stencil transfer on his ribcage and sigh. “I know you don’t have to do this–” “I want to do this.” “And there’s clearly no talking you out of this.” “Yeah.” You squeeze his hand and flash him a reassuring smile, “Do you want me to hold your hand?” His smile returns, brighter than ever, “I’d appreciate it, darlin’.” “You’re insane, you know that, right?” He nods. “Only because I love you.” You lean over to lock your lips in a kiss — you don’t doubt it for a second.

You pry your eyes from his torso, forcing yourself to face the now smirking Jax. Right, his clothes!

You hold out the pile to him, “Did you put your clothes in the hamper?”

He accepts them and murmurs ‘thanks’ before he responds to your question. “Yeah, just like you said.”

“Okay,” you fight off the urge to look down at his ribcage. He kept it. “I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight Jax.”

Spinning on your heels, you scurry out the room before you do something you’ll regret later.

💀💀💀💀💀

“Mommy! Come see!”

S/N and Abel’s laughter sounds from the living room. Saturday mornings have always been your favorite. Sleeping in is always a winner in your books, a vital part of any Saturday routine, and once you’re up, B/N takes S/N out of the house whilst you prepare breakfast. Last weekend was S/N’s first Saturday away from B/N and he was miserable. This Saturday is different.

“Mommy?” More laughter sounds, “You will miss it!”

Lowering the heat, you abandon your cooking and make your way over to the living room. A slouched Jax is taking up most of the three-seater with S/N and Abel on either side of him, all three pairs of eyes fixed on the television screen.

“What’s got you laughing so much, ace?” You take a seat on the armrest and press a kiss to the top of your son’s head. “Beaky Buzzard?”

“Yeah.” He looks up at you, “Are you coming to sit with us?”

“No, Mommy’s got to make breakfast.”

You’d like nothing more than to stick around and watch cartoons with them but there’s breakfast to prepare. When you walk back into the kitchen, you discover your phone vibrating on the counter and you just know it’s B/N. It’s his fifth attempt in the last half-hour, probably looking to speak to S/N, but that just isn’t a good idea. Not when Jax is in the house. You’re being deceitful to both parties, but the timing just isn’t right.

B/N would lose it if he found out about Jax’s regular visits, and you don’t know how Jax would react to B/N’s existence in your life and the role he plays in your son’s life. It would ruin a perfectly good morning. The day got off to a good start with the news of the sale of your childhood home, and your son’s mood is the best it’s been all week. Why would you even think to ruin it by starting trouble with B/N?

It’s not worth it. You’ll just have to come up with a story to tell him later.

“Breakfast is served!”

The boys come barreling in and take their places at the breakfast table. You assist the two youngest boys to plate up their food before you plate up for yourself. Everyone digs into the food, and the compliments you receive are a definite boost for the ego. You listen intently as S/N and Abel excitedly recount the Looney Tune episode they’d watched earlier and S/N’s beside himself with laughter.

The happy moment is disrupted by the unwelcomed vibration of your phone on the counter.

“Is that Daddy calling?”

Shit! You wince at the name ‘Daddy’. It’s what S/N always calls B/N but somehow, it doesn’t feel right when Jax’s sitting across the table from him.

“Mommy?”

“Yeah, ace?” you look over to him, very aware of Jax’s eyes burning into the back of your head.

“Is that Daddy calling?”

“No, it’s probably the estate agent.” It’s not a convincing lie, but you’re caught off guard and can’t come up with something better. “She’s calling about the house.”

“When is Daddy calling?”

“Probably later.” You hate that you’re being so dismissive. “We’ll call him after Abel and Jax leave, okay?”

He looks like he might ask another question, maybe press for a better answer, but he resumes eating his food. You avoid Jax’s eyes for the remainder of breakfast. He helps you clear the table and load the dishwasher in painful silence. Once Jax has helped you load the dishes, he leaves you alone in the kitchen. Can the morning get any worse? Apparently, it can. You unlock your phone to find multiple texts from an irate B/N.

He didn’t take kindly to you ignoring all ten of his calls. Shit. You’re on the verge of tears when Jax saunters into the kitchen.

“Abel and I are leaving.”

You nod, unsure of how to respond. “You’ll ride on your bike with Abel?”

“No. Ratboy’s waiting out front with the van.”

“Ratboy?”

“The new prospect.”

“And will we see Abel tomorrow?”

His impassive expression says it all. Your gut twists with anxiety at the thought of not seeing Jax again before you leave Charming. How do you make this right?

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He slowly shakes his head. Just then S/N and Abel sprint into the kitchen, bustling with energy. Abel hugs you goodbye before the boys run back out of the kitchen and out of the house onto the front yard.

“I’m leaving my bike here. I’ll come by to get it later.”

“Cool. Yeah, that’s fine.”

You walk Jax out, and just like he’d said, Ratboy is waiting out front in a black van. Together with S/N, you watch Jax and Abel climb into the van and drive off.

“Can we call Daddy now?”

“Yeah, let’s go,” you lift him up and carry him towards the house. “Did you have a good time with Abel?”

He nods his little human head, a bright grin plastered on his perfect face. Once inside the house, you dial B/N’s number but he doesn’t pick up, in fact, it seems his phone’s off. Strange.

“I think his phone’s off, ace.”

His face falls. In an effort to brighten his mood, you suggest driving over to the playground.

“When is Abel coming back to play?”

You inwardly sigh. It looks like today’ll be one long ass day.

💀💀💀💀💀

The last person you expect to find standing on the other side of your front door is B/N and yet here he is, and he looks anything but pleased with you. Oh, shit. Your heart sinks at the sight of him, the chill of fear coursing through your body, and your mouth dries.

“B/N?”

His unsettling smile causes the hairs on the back of your neck to raise. “Hi, Toots. Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

Your movement’s robot-like as you step away from the door to make way for him. He walks past you, and once inside, his eyes search around the small space.

“Are you home alone?”

You seem to have forgotten how to speak.

“Toots?”

“S/N… He’s, uh… He’s asleep.”

He murmurs a soft ‘good’ before he turns around to pull you into an embrace. For a moment, you stand frozen, your brain seized up and you feel like a foreigner in your own body.

“What’s the matter, Toots? You don’t look too happy to see me. Were you expecting someone else?”

Yes. “No.” Moving one arm at a time, you return B/N’s embrace and do your best to calm your nerves. You’ve done nothing wrong, he’s not going to hurt you, you repeat over and over until he releases you from his hold. “I just wasn’t expecting you to come all this way.”

“It’s only a five-hour flight.”

Why the fuck are you here?

As if he read your mind, he tells you. “I missed you guys so much, I thought I’d surprise you,” with a tight smile, he adds, “You’re not very good at answering my calls.”

“I’m sorry.”

B/N hauls his luggage from the porch and dumps it onto the floor before he makes his way over to the living room. You follow slowly behind him, watching as he settles onto the couch and searches for the television remote.

“C-can I get you anything?”

“Join me,” it’s an order.

You drag your feet over to the couch and take your place next to him. Casually, he slings an arm over your shoulder and forcefully pulls you into his side.

“There. Now you’re close.”

You can’t bring yourself to fake a smile. Too petrified. He presses a kiss to the side of your head and whispers into your ear to relax.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

He’s told you that lie far too many times in the past.

“Are you enjoying being back in Charming?”

You nod, the words caught in your throat.

“What are you? Mute? Use your fucking words, Toots.”

“It’s good to be back.” Your voice is shaky, barely recognizable. “I missed it here”

His fingers start stroking up and down your upper arm. “Good.”

Your eyes fix on the blank television screen in front of you.

“Is he here? Is he hiding in one of the rooms?”

“Who?”

“Your white trash biker ex!”

You jump up, surprised by him raising his voice so suddenly. “Jax? No! Why would he be here?”

“You lying piece of shit,” he spits out, shoving you away from him, the force sending you to the ground. “I saw his bike parked out front. I’ll ask you again, is he here?”

“No, B/N,” tears fill your eyes, you know exactly what’s to follow but still, you plead, “Don’t do this here. Not now, please, baby.”

“Shut up!” He raises to his feet, towering over you, and kicks at your trembling frame. “No one’s touched you, why the fuck are you crying?”

“I’m sorry.” You swipe the tears from your cheeks. “I’m so sorry, baby. I don’t… I don’t know whose bike that is.”

“Are you cheating on me, you whore?”

Frantically, you shake your head.

“I said use your fucking words.”

You bring a trembling hand to your mouth to muffle your sobs.

“I asked you a question, you dumb bitch!”

“No. No. No.” You crawl over to him, closing the distance between you. “I’d never, baby. Never ever.”

“That doesn’t explain why a bike’s parked outside your house.”

“B/N, please,” you plead softly. “S/N’s asleep, we can do this another–”

The words are lost when he harshly grabs your face and shoves you onto your back. Both hands cover your mouth to muffle your pained cries. He’s vicious, and tonight, he’s out for blood.

“Get up, you–”

Knock, knock, knock! You’ve never been more relieved in your life. B/N shoots you a warning glare, daring you to make a move. A few moments later, the knocks sound again, a little louder this time around.

“Y/N?”

It’s Jax. You are faced with two decisions: do you call for Jax to help you or do you take your deserved punishment?

“Y/N?” he knocks louder. “Are you in there?”

You’re sobbing so much, your body’s trembling. B/N kneels beside you, placing two additional hands over the ones already covering your mouth. His additional weight pushes your head further into the hard ground, causing your head to hurt. It’s sure to leave a bruise. With a final knock, Jax gives up and some moments later, you hear his motorcycle ride off. Once he’s certain Jax’s left, B/N removes his hands.

“Why is he here at this hour?”

“I don’t know.” You gasp when he wraps his hand around your neck and applies pressure, making it difficult for you to breathe. “B/N, please…”

“You’ll regret cheating on me,” he murmurs softly before his hand connects with your cheek in a hard slap.

💀💀💀💀💀

PART FOUR

tag list:

@princesssterek @derangedcupcake @furiouscopshepherduniversity @crucifixedbitch @holl2712 @sweet--catrastrophe @marvelsmylife @brittjulianne97

[junicai]

NCT being whipped for miyazu aria for seven minutes ;

325,078 views • 07 Feb 2021 • uploaded by [haechanieski]

[ NCT 127 Takes a Friendship Test ; Glamour 2020 ]

offscreen: “So, what was your first impression of Aria?” 

Aria pressed herself into Doyoung’s side briefly, muttering a translation of the question into his ear. They had been briefed on the questions beforehand anyway, but she wanted to make sure he understood before he began answering - just in case he had forgotten.

Doyoung tilted his head down to Aria, a mischievous grin making its way onto his face; and it was only then, that Aria remembered exactly how the two had met in the first place. 

Aria started to flush, shaking her head rapidly and burying her face into her hands. “Oh god no,” she whined. 

Doyoung laughed at her, pulling her into his side with an arm over her shoulder and holding her there while he began speaking. 

“Ah, Aria? We met for the first time when Aria was still tiny - well, tinier,” 

“Hey!” 

“And,” Doyoung continued on, laughing, “I had left my jacket in one of the practice rooms. It was a gift from my hyung, so I had gone back to get it even though it was really late. But when I went in to get it, I found Aria, sitting on the floor in the dark with it over her lap instead.” 

At this point, Aria had fully buried her face into Doyoung’s chest, in a futile attempt to hide her reddened cheeks. “I thought it belonged to one of my friends,” she weakly protested, embarrassed by the laughs of the staff members behind the camera. “You scared me when you came in!” 

“You stole my jacket!” 

Aria sent a withering look to the camera. 

“Czennie. Doyoung-oppa doesn’t care if I freeze, I want you to remember this.”

Doyoung gaped at her, yanking her back into his arms with an offended gasp, “Yah, you brat that’s a lie.”

Aria began sliding to the floor, letting her arms go boneless and limp. “You don’t love me!”

Doyoung started to stop with her, trying to hold her up in his arms. “Aria, Aria don’t sit on the floor it’s dirty, get up-”

The music of the other idol groups played quietly through the green room’s speakers, a small television setup in the upper right hand corner allowing the idols inside to monitor the performances outside. 

Renjun tossed a half full water bottle over to Jisung, who was sitting on the floor beside the sofa where Jaemin, Jeno and Aria were; all three of them looking elated yet exhausted. 

Ridin’ was a choreography heavy dance, and although Aria hadn’t many lines in this particular song, she was still struggling to push through the residual pain in her lower back. She had strained it earlier on in the month, pushing herself too far with too little preparation during rehearsals and was paying the price for it.

Most of Aria’s time in the greenroom before their performance was spent ensuring the other boys that yes, she was ok to perform and no, she wasn’t going to sit this one out.

The boys begrudgingly accepted her protests; but that hadnt stopped Jeno ever-so-carefully tugging her onto the sofa once they returned to the greenroom post-performance, gently pushing her to lie her head down on Jaemin’s lap and bringing her legs up into Jeno’s. 

Jisung had wandered over later, eyes stuck to his phone screen but he willingly sacrificed his left hand to hold onto Aria’s when she hissed at the knot Jeno was trying to knead out of her lower back.

Jaemin shushed her softly, running a hand through her hair and untangling strands with his fingers. When Aria’s eyes had clenched shut and a whimper broke out from between her lips, Jeno’s hands froze in their movements, instantly bending closer to whisper apologizes.

“No, no it’s okay,” Aria said, attempting to prop herself up. 

Jaemin pressed her back down, her head staying in his lap. “Stop it, let Nono help.”

She knew that there was something more to say, but having awknowledged that their current circumstances were not the best to have such a discussion, he settled for carding a hand through her hair again. 

Aria let her eyes drift closed, hand still curled in Jisung’s, and legs pillowed in Jeno’s lap. 

Who’s name do you think matches their appearance? 

Kun pressed his lips together, thinking. 

“Hm, all of the members put a lot of thought into their stage names, so they all fit very well,” he hummed, eyes flickering between the paper and the camera. 

He took in a breath, clearly torn. 

“Ah!” he exclaimed, looking up to the camera. “Aria, her name fits her really well; Akari is such a beautiful name and it compliments her personality perfectly. She’s really like a fruit sometimes - she’s always cheerful and energetic, like she’s on a constant sugar rush. Very sweet.” the smile that overtook Kun’s features was nothing sort of soft. 

He quickly scribbled down Aria’s name in Hangul, before rolling the pen into the middle of his palm and straightening up again.

“Yiyang, is her Chinese name - she asked me to give her one last year. And you shouldn’t listen to Winwin, her full name is Qian Qiuyue, ok?”

Kun was laughing at himself now, picking back up the pen and moving to read the next question.

a/n: i know mr qian kun did NOT just say aria was fruity. 

aria nct lgbt sub-unit confirmed

Renjun was sat beside Aria on a single piano stool, shoulders pressed together as she leaned forwards to try and make sense of the notes written on the pages in front of her. 

“You know the basics, right?” Renjun questioned, hand coming out to flip forward in the music book a few pages. The single crotchet notes quickly turned into more complex rhythms, and from the side of his vision he could see Aria paling slightly.

He turned his head to look at her, “Riri, c’mon I know you know more than Mary had a Little Lamb, you can’t stay at beginner level forever.”

“Yes I can.” Aria sulked. 

Renjun sighed. “You were the one who asked me to teach you.” 

“Yes! When I thought it would be easier than this, my fingers just don’t do what they’re meant to do!”

“That’s why I’m here!” Renjun cut off her tirade. “I’m not going to laugh at you if you make mistakes - you’re learning, and everyone makes mistakes when they’re learning.”

“Promise?”

He ruffled her hair slightly, “Promise. Now here, look, this one isn’t difficult you’ll manage this one fine.”

“Injunnie.”

“Mm?”

“-nevermind, okay just. How do I?”

Renjun lifted his hands onto the keys of the piano, showing her the placement of her fingers and getting her to copy him. Aria did so, and then he was running her slowly, step-by-step through the first few bars of the piece, catching her when she played dud notes and clapping softly when she played through without stuttering. 

Soon enough, Aria was playing a simplistic but solid melody line with her right hand, basic accompanying chords with her left, and Renjun was staring at the side of her face; head tilted slightly to the left and a small, barely-there proud glint in his eye. 

 [BUBBLE UPDATE 210205 ]

ARIA~~

czennie

i heard about the tiny horse

do u think they’d let me get one

if i asked nicely??

“Jae, Jae! Jaehyun!” Aria coughed out the older boy’s name, throwing a glare over her shoulder. “If you insist on leaning your entire bodyweight on me, please don’t throttle me in the process.”

The man only sent a weak apologetic grin her way before his feet slid out from underneath him and he was left grappling at the small girl yet again. 

“You know when you said you wanted me to teach you ice-skating I didn’t know this was how you were planning on murdering me. If I have to die, I’d rather go out with a bang - ya’know? Not death by groupmate, that’s borinG-” Aria’s voice wobbled as she was pulled yet again. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Jaehyun apologized, going so far as to take his hands off her shoulders. “I think I’ve got it now.”

He made it another few steps forward before he was tossed off balance by an eight year old boy rushing past, startling him to the point of jumping backwards.

When Jaehyun’s legs went from underneath him, he flailed his arms in a futile attempt to regain his balance - one of the windmilling arms catching Aria’s extended hands in the process. 

Aria let out a shriek as her skates went as well, tumbling backwards. Her head would have made a harsh impact onto the ice - no arms ready to catch her fall - if it wasn’t for Jaehyun’s hand catching the back of her neck and taking the brunt of the impact. 

Lying on the ground, Jaehyun coughed out a laugh, Aria staring him down. 

All too soon though, Aria joined him in the laughter, head still pillowed on Jaehyun’s arm and the pair of them still lying on their backs on the ice.

“Hello everyone, today I’m with my favourite baby, say hi baby!”

Ten’s grin was audible in his words as he spoke to Aria, who waved before opening her mouth. “Your favourite baby?” 

Ten cooed, “Yes, my favourite baby,” while crossing the floor of the practice room to throw his arms around Aria. 

He rocked her side to side, pressing kisses to the top of her head. 

“And what makes me your favourite? You know Yangie won’t be pleased if he hears he’s been replaced,” Aria lifted her head to look up at Ten. 

“You accept the title of my baby, and are therefore my favourite. You don’t fight my love.” Ten shakes her dramatically side to side, mourning the one-sided relationship. 

Aria only patted his head in solace. “It’s ok. If it’s any consolation the only reason I don’t fight your hugs is because you’re faster than I am.”

Ten let out a pained gasp. “Betrayed by both my babies. How ever will I survive!”

Aria tried to pry his arms away from her shoulders that were shaking with barely-suppressed laughter, worming her way out from his embrace. Ten only tightened his hold, going limp and dragging her onto the floor.

“No...” Ten cried, “I’m dying...”

Aria’s laughter turned to shrieks when he began to tickle her stomach on the skin that was showing from where her t-shirt had lifted up from the movement. 

“No no no no stop Ten, TEN stop I’m sorry I take it back I take it baaack-” 

“Say it!” Ten demanded, unrelenting. 

“I’m your baby! I’m your baby I’m sorry I’m sorry!” Aria was rolling away from his hands, trying to escape but Ten only turned to lie flat on top of her. 

“Exactly.”

a/n: nct world 2.0 gave us so much content of the boys loving aria im :’( smth in the water made aria super cuddly this time around i think she’s after all of their hearts 

- aria collecting nct members like pokemon cards

Immediately after Jungwoo’s defeat, Aria sidestepped to behind Lucas where she fisted her hands in his shirt. 

“Aria! You’re next!” The presenter called out, and soon all the members in OFN has turned to face her. 

She poked her head around to see Yuta standing at the arm wrestling table already, tongue between teeth and grinning at her partially hidden form. 

Aria squeaked and ducked back behind Lucas. “Noo,” she moaned, already knowing what was going to happen.

To their credit, Johnny and Jungwoo tried their best to bolster her spirits before she emerged, but Aria still shuffled up to the table with her head tucked down, paying no attention to the calls of support from the boys behind her. 

Yuta rolled his sweater sleeve up again, and Aria looked up to meet his eyes.

“Onii-chan~” she tried, biting her lip to stop the laughter from bursting out. 

Yuta brought a hand up to his mouth before turning away, eyes wide. Aria could hear the cheers of cute! from her teammates behind her; Yuta’s teammates doing their level best to convince him not to cave under Aria’s widened eyes. 

“Onii-chan, you know I’m not very strong,” Aria made sure to heighten her voice’s register a bit, and stuck out her bottom lip, “Can you go easy on me?” 

Aria could hear Mark calling out to Yuta to not fall for it.

“Yah!” Aria dropped her voice back to her normal register, yelling out to Mark. “Stop it this is all I have!” 

The laughter was heard from across the field from the members in the tents, and Aria was left to sadly shuffle her way closer to the table and interlink her hand with Yuta’s. 

He sent her a consoling smile, the referee blew the whistle and then Aria was pushing with all her might against Yuta. Her legs came up like Renjun’s did, face scrunched up with the effort before the back of her hand met the plastic-covered table and Yuta was announced the victor. 

He quickly made his way around the table, wrapping Aria in a hug and picking her up to spin her around. Aria only giggled at him, sticking her tongue out at Ten who called Yuta out for fraternizing with the enemy.

Aria knew that a springboard worked off of your downward momentum, so it seemed perfectly logical to assume that if she barreled her bodyweight into the jump, then she would make it high enough to get over the 200cm vault. 

She’d made it over the previous heights with varying degrees of success, but the new towering height was throwing her off a bit. Cheers came from both her teammates sitting down beside the mat as well as the other members sitting in the shade. 

“Aria! Challenge accepted!” she called out, pumping her fist into the air. 

From the corner of her eye, Aria could see Johnny leaning forward with his hands on his knees, watching carefully as she ran up to the springboard. Lucas was in a similar position, was it not for the wide grin he sported.

Beginning her run she tried to use up as much speed as possible, sprinting to the vault before jumping with her feet together onto the springboard and allowing it to propel her up and over the vault.

However what she had failed to account for; was the length of her arms. 

Aria made it over the 190cm vault, but her fingertips barely scraped the top and it left her with a choice of either trying to become Superman and face-planting into the mat on the other side, or bringing her legs together prematurely and hope she didn’t lose a leg. 

She couldn’t hear the gasps that left everyone’s mouth once her hands missed the top of the vault, missing the way Lucas moved closer to the mat with a jerk forward. 

Bringing her legs closed, Aria swung her bodyweight forward and grappled behind her for the vault in a panic. A yelp left her mouth as her hand caught on the rung and she tucked it back into her body when her feet met the edge of the mat.

Unstable, Aria toppled backwards with her hands stretching out behind her again to prevent herself from falling. Her back landed against the vault, and she knocked it over, falling on top of the now-split pieces. 

Despite it all, Aria was laughing hysterically, hands coming up to cover her face as she tried to hide her flaming red cheeks. An arm extended to her and she hoisted herself out of the middle of the vault, soon coming to rub at her back.

“Does that count?” Aria could hear the presenters asking should she be disqualified for knocking over the vault even after landing, but she was more concentrated on the hand on her back that was guiding her to her other teammates, all clapping wilding and cheering. 

“You okay?” Lucas’ voice came in her ear, laughter but also concern audible in his tone. His hand was still rubbing slowly along her back, soothing the reddened skin underneath the t-shirt she was wearing. 

“Yeah I’m fine,” Aria let her head fall forwards as she laughed at the thought of the picture she must have looked, flailing as she barely made it over the vault. “I don’t know if I’ll make it over the next one though.”

“Ah it’s okay. I’ll knock it over too and then I can join you.”

The gate at the back end of the tunnel swung closed with a clang, everyone inside letting out a shout. 

Aria, having been standing in front of Johnny, tucked inside his coat while he back hugged her (she wasn’t built for the cold weather, and the denim jacket she wore was doing nothing to save her from hypothermia) let out a yelp and turned her face into Johnny’s chest.

Johnny pushed her behind him slightly as he turned around to look what had happened, and Aria clung to his waist while the others around them furrowed their eyebrows in confusion. 

Trapped?

a/n: and a bonus clip bc shes was so CUTE during mtopia i couldnt not 

In the emptied dining room, the SuperM members scattered around the different table set ups, searching for the coloured pieces of paper. Taeyong had wandered over to the food counter, while Ten had migrated towards the opposite end of the hall.

Baekhyun could see the other members in various locations; all apart from one. 

“Oh? Aria, where did you go?” 

The youngest member was no where to be found, and Baekhyun’s question gathered the attention of Taemin and Mark who were standing nearby. Mark tilted his head in a question, eyebrows lifted and then furrowed when he too looked around for the girl and couldn’t find her.

“I’m here!”

Baekhyun let out a small scream, jumping back from the table he was standing beside.

Beneath the tablecloth poked out Aria’s head, a sheepish smile on her face when she realized she’d scared her leader. 

“I thought there might be some clues underneath, so I wanted to check.” she explained, slowly shuffling out from underneath the table. 

“Baekhyun hyung did she scare you?” Jongin teased, as Taemin cooed over the adorable picture Aria made as she straightened up and brushed off the dust from her skirt. 

Baekhyun floundered, spluttering “What? No! I don’t get scared.” 

He puffed out his chest theatrically.

“Sorry oppa, I didn’t mean to scare you~” Aria said through suppressed laughter, coming over to hug him around the waist.

Baekhyun deflated slighty, “Ah, it’s okay,” he grumbled, petting her hair. 

thank you for watching ! - haechanieski

[solalunar-eclipse]

Sonic Boom - S3E1

Episode title: Friendship 101

Word count: about 3000 words

Author’s Note: I’m trying a rather new format for this fic, since it’s based on a TV show with various songs and camera angles. If you have any comments about whether it works well or not, please let me know!

(Also, the theme song choice is all thanks to khinesthetic, who used it here and inspired me to put it in this fic.)

Next

[cue Mr. Blue Sky by ELO (0:00-3:45)]

[The show opens on a zoomed-out view of Hedgehog Village from above. Stone walls separate the village from the wilderness outside. There are large spaces at several points throughout the structure for entry and exit. A large patch of grass with benches scattered about sits at one end of the village, and a marketplace made up of wood-and-cloth stalls runs along one of the walls. Houses are grouped in seemingly random clusters throughout the town, and the (in)famous Meh Burger stand sits all on its own, with picnic tables spread across its wooden flooring. As the music progresses, the camera begins to zoom in on the village- then on one of the streets in particular- and rotates down to eye level to face…]

Sonic the Hedgehog walked through the streets of Hedgehog Village with a bounce in his step, occasionally dancing to the music playing through his earbuds. As he wandered throughout the town, he passed the usual people running their stores, arguing over botched orders at Meh Burger, and, at one point, Aqua the Rabbit absolutely freaking out over the loss of a single follower on Angstagram (the latest social media network for moody teens).

He did a 360-degree spin before winking and pointing finger guns at Amy Rose when he spotted her haggling with the local grocery store owner. She paused briefly to wave at him with a smile. “Hi, Sonic!” she called, completely ignoring the irritated fennec in the process.

Then, the music froze and changed to something extremely ominous as she turned around to face the shopkeeper once more. A dangerous gleam appeared in her eyes as she pulled out her signature hammer. “Now then, about those prices you’ve been setting lately…”

The song cut back in as the view switched back to Sonic, who was now moving away from the scene at a slightly faster pace.

Really, though, he was more than happy to see his other friends not long after. Knuckles and Sticks were currently busy rummaging through the town’s garbage together, excitedly chatting about the latest piece of interesting junk they’d found, while Tails was fixing someone’s broken rain gutter (and attempting to ‘improve’ it in the process, which meant that it could now measure the amount and intensity of rainfall in a storm- a very useful, though unfortunately unwanted improvement).

Surprisingly enough, as he continued on his way through Hedgehog Village, he managed to get people from a few different places to wave back at him when he said hello. Although perhaps it wasn’t quite so surprising when one considered that this was one of the most cliched opening sequences that could possibly happen in any movie or TV show. Ever.

And of course, the only logical outcome of this scene led to everyone beginning to stop their usual activities and gather in one of the few open spaces in the town, clearly prepared to break into a fantastic musical dance number straight out of Broadway. Incredibly, this was one of the few moments in which everyone in the village seemed to be able to get along…

...until Eggman’s latest giant robot slammed feet-first into the ground, sending everyone off-kilter and scrambling for cover. Shrieks of panic rose in place of the music as the villagers fled the scene to hide in their houses. The dramatic entrance didn’t just ruin the mood, it absolutely crushed it with the sheer force of its impact.

And that was, obviously, when the show really began.

[cue In Your Face by Shockwave Sound (0:00-1:04)] 

[Each of the five members of Team Sonic appears on a black screen with their name spelled out in their signature colors (blue, yellow, red, pink, and green) and does a couple of cool fighting moves, followed by snippets of scenes featuring them from previous episodes of the show for about eight seconds each. All five of them then appear together in their usual fighting stances, emphasizing their status as a team.

The Eggman logo then appears in an ominous, glowing red, backlighting the doctor himself and all his creations- before the lights flick on to reveal him alone in his evil lair with a green screen behind him, at which point he shrieks and covers the camera with a hand. Then, neon blue electronic lines begin to appear across the screen and the camera spirals to follow them, selecting one particular line to trace. Not long after, said line ends at a circle which, with a flash, turns into the words ‘Sonic Boom’. Beneath the title, it says ‘Ancient Secrets’ in neon blue.]

[Then the music ends, at which point the episode title- “Friendship 101”- appears for a few seconds in the same color before the show itself returns.]

Sonic scrambled to his feet and zipped over to Tails, pulling him up from where he’d fallen after the robot’s overdramatic arrival. Amy managed to do the same with both Knuckles and Sticks simultaneously, which let Sonic stare for a moment, startled, and then promptly resolve to remember not to get on her bad side anytime soon.

Soon enough, the team had scrambled into their usual positions, ready to fight. Amy and Sticks kicked the battle off by handling the various smaller robots that threatened to get too close to their team, never faltering (and in fact seeming a bit gleeful in the badger’s case) despite the sheer number of enemies. Knuckles, meanwhile, launched Sonic bodily into the air for Tails to catch, before picking up a boulder about the size of a house and lobbing it directly at the robot’s chest.

“Hey! Easy with the boulders- QuakeBot took a lot of effort to make, you know!” Eggman shrieked from above, hovering in the relative safety of his Eggmobile. 

(Relative, in this case, was of course in comparison to mixing absurdly volatile chemicals in a lab, bothering Shadow at any and/or all hours of the day, or being on Tails’s bad side when the fox had a glue gun. The doctor still remembered that situation all too well, and currently ranked it as far more terrifying than merely being punted into the stratosphere by kids under half his height and about a third his age.)

Sonic paused to stare at Eggman from where he was currently dangling in the air. A smirk began to spread slowly across his face. “…what did you just call it?”

“You heard me the first time!” the doctor roared, now incredibly embarrassed. “I named it that since it makes the ground shake when it moves, like an earthquake??”

General laughter came from the heroes assembled on the ground and in the sky.

“Argh! Nobody appreciates my genius around here! Now, QuakeBot, stop standing around and start attacking!”

“I suggested TerraBot, since it still has to do with earth and is a play on the word ‘terror’, but nobody ever listens to my ideas, now do they?” Orbot muttered irritably to himself, tucked inside the Eggmobile.

“I listen to all your ideas!” Cubot offered encouragingly.

Orbot’s mouth shifted into a small smile. “Thanks, Cubot.”

Meanwhile, Sonic had been pulled into a spin by Tails, who whirled the hedgehog around before letting him shoot downwards toward the robot in a spin dash- only for him to get caught and sent flying into the nearest house.

He shook off the surprise quickly (and apparently sustained absolutely zero damage despite having literally crashed through a house, because superpowered teenagers), darting back over to the group. “Well, uh, guess it’s time for Plan B then!”

Crickets chirped in the ensuing silence. Even the robot had stopped moving to hear what he had to say.

“And the plan is…?” Amy prompted.

Sonic folded his arms with a huff. “I dunno, I thought you guys would have one!?”

The pink hedgehog rolled her eyes at that. 

Tails piped up. “I have an idea! Sonic, you’re going to need to be curled up for this, okay?”

The hero promptly did just that, before emitting a muffled “mmhmm?” from inside his layers of quills.

“Alright then, Amy, I need you to hit Sonic with your hammer right at the side of this house.”

Sonic’s blood ran cold. “Whoa whoa whoa, wait a second can we maybe rethink thiaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

He ricocheted all over the palace like a pinball, slamming into several key points of the robot thanks to Tails’s rapid calculations. However, the robot was sadly unaffected by his screaming at a pitch that came dangerously close to shattering glass.

The robot was easily disabled and the attack overall quickly repelled after that. Thankfully, it took Sonic only a moment to recover from his impromptu stint as an out-of-control projectile and get back to fighting with the others…complete with a “Let’s do that AGAIN!” moment, which was met with a resounding no from both Amy and Tails. 

Their ears were both still rather sore from last time, after all.

After Eggman was punted all the way back to his island by a well-placed kick from Sticks, though, the crew was about to head over to Meh Burger for a post-battle meal when they discovered that they had an entirely different problem to take care of. The villagers, who were beginning to come out of hiding after the attack, were furious upon seeing the damage dealt to their homes and stores.

“How could you let this happen?” one shouted.

Before long, the villagers found themselves a more specific target when the owner of the house that Sonic had smashed into pointed her finger directly in his face. “This mess is awful!” she cried. “And it’s all his fault!”

Within seconds, a mob of people had descended upon the overtaxed teen.

“I’ve never known a hero so irresponsible.” one fumed.

“How dare you!” the fennec from earlier roared.

The elderly wolf of the village shook her cane at him. “Shame on you!”

Sonic could feel himself beginning to tense up as the villagers turned their ire on him. Whether or not he’d admit it to anyone, he needed two main things in order to be his usual heroic, cheerful self: open space and positive reinforcement. Right now, he was getting exactly the opposite of both of those.

And he was not feeling good about it.

He looked briefly over to his friends for help, but Sticks had already vanished, Knuckles and Tails looked more nervous than anything, and Amy was already walking towards him with that look in her eye…

“Sonic, next time you do need to work on making sure the robot doesn’t catch you, you know-”

A streak of blue shot out of the village, leaving nothing but a scorched trail of grass and the snap of a sonic boom behind.

Sonic didn’t slow down until he reached the mountains- which technically wasn’t very far from the town at all, so he ran quite a bit more after that until he ended up in the middle of the jungle. Then, he sat down with his back to a tree and his arms around his knees, feeling very unheroic and overall pretty lame.

The blue hedgehog frowned at the dirt. Honestly, some days it really did feel like nobody seemed to like him. The only person who ever even suggested he was important on a regular basis was Tails, and Sonic didn’t blame him at all for not jumping into the middle of that crowd. Tails was only thirteen to his seventeen and a half years old- not exactly an age when he should be expected to go toe-to-toe with a crowd of angry adults.

Still, though. When being a hero got him all risk (no matter how low) and no reward...it was difficult for him to keep hold of that core feeling of “I can make the world a better place to live in!”, which, despite all his other claims, was truly at the center of what had motivated him to start fighting against Eggman so long ago…

[The scene morphs in a manner which shows the lighting shifting so that the sun is overhead. A sound effect of birds chirping plays over the scene change. This implies that it’s been several hours since he first fled the village.]

Sonic was still lost in thought when the snap of a twig in the bushes made him jump to his feet in surprise. The surrounding vegetation rustled ominously for a moment...only to reveal the four members of his team in front of him. He watched them all cautiously, his expression tense. More than anything, he looked ready to run at a moment’s notice- something which only served to make his friends(?) seem a little more distressed. “Uh…hey, guys?” he began tentatively.

“Sonic, I…” Amy began forcefully, before stopping herself. At first, it looked like she was about to scold him again, but then suddenly her face fell. “Listen, Sonic, we’ve all been talking a lot about what happened back at the village…and there’s something I want to say.” She gave a slightly tired sigh. 

“I know we usually like to make jokes and witty commentary, but...sometimes, the world’s just a difficult place to be in.” she said. “...so we really do need to talk about serious stuff occasionally, even though I know it’s tough for you to even mention how you’re feeling. Unless, you know, it’s ‘great!’ or ‘cool!’ or something like that.”

Sonic cringed at the mere idea, looking more and more like he thought running away was the preferable option here.

“So what I wanted to say was that in a world where there are too many people trying to beat you down...what I was trying to do was tell you how to be more tolerant, because I thought that would help. I figured you can’t change how other people are going to be, just yourself, so I hoped that might make things better.

“But...I’m not actually a licensed therapist- yet, anyway. So I might have been wrong on how I went about that. Maybe...instead of telling you off for not being able to stop all those people...in the future I’ll pull out my hammer and tell them to knock it off already. Does that sound better to you?” she asked.

The blue hedgehog froze. “Ames…I...” he croaked, trying his best not to think about why exactly it felt like his throat was so tight all of a sudden.

Sticks folded her arms. “I like that plan! Those people are way too crazy sometimes…and you guys know I have a verrrrry high tolerance for crazy.”

“We can make the villagers quit bugging you together, just like how we fight Eggman!” Knuckles added encouragingly. “It’s always better that way, isn’t it?”

There was still one person who hadn’t spoken yet, though.

Suddenly, Tails crashed full-force into Sonic, squeezing him in a hug that for once he didn’t pretend to hate. “You know I’ve always, always, always got your back, right, Sonic? No matter what?” he asked, looking up at his older brother. “Even if I don’t always know how to do it right.”

The blue hedgehog simply nodded, not trusting his voice to help him maintain his ‘cool guy’ status.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel up to talking about it now, though.” the fox added understandingly, stepping back but still leaving a hand on his arm. 

“But!” Knuckles added. “We won’t tell anyone if you ever decide you do need to get some stress off your chest every once in a while!” He smacked his own chest with a fist for emphasis.

“Nobody needs to know.” Sticks growled, the camera suddenly showing a dramatic angle of her face as the lighting dropped noticeably.

“Uh…that’s kinda dark.” Sonic said, holding up a finger with a bit of a confused frown, which let the lighting and camera angle zip back to normal.

“Anyway!” The pink hedgehog clapped her hands together, turning to face the group as a whole. “What do you guys think about heading over to my house and watching some movies? I’ll even…” She sighed, her whole body slumping. “…make some messy, simple, unprofessional chili dogs. In my state-of-the art kitchen. I know Sonic probably could use a pick-me-up right now, after all.”

“Thanks, Ames! You’re the best!” the hedgehog in question said cheerfully, the promise of good food and great companionship boosting his mood significantly.

Then, his posture shifted once again into something a little more vulnerable. “And thanks to all you guys. For, y’know, everything.”

“Of course!” Amy chirped.

Tails smiled at him. “No problem, Sonic.”

Sticks folded her arms. “That’s what a team’s for, ain’t it?”

“Of course it is!” Knuckles said, in that rather confusing manner where nobody was actually sure if he understood anything about what had just happened.

The echidna actually walked over to Sonic after that particular declaration, though, placing a hand on his shoulder as his face became uncharacteristically serious for a second. “Really, Sonic, we can all help you out, alright? Nobody gets to yell at our leader without getting yelled at back!” he declared, punching a fist into his other hand.

The hedgehog blinked twice before looking up at his friend. “You…just called me the leader?”

“Well, duh! That’s why everyone calls it Team Sonic, right?” Knuckles asked with a smile, letting an awkward (but genuine) grin spread across Sonic’s face.

Within seconds, the hero found himself squeezed in a big hug from all sides by his friends- and then actually lifted off the floor through a joint effort from Knuckles and Amy. 

“Guys- come on! I can’t even move here!” he cried out, his legs flailing so quickly they made a vibrating noise in the air. “Guyyyyssss….” he whined, though nobody seemed to care much about his halfhearted complaints (judging by the happy expressions on their faces).

Then, the episode began to end, as evidenced by an iris out transition. The slowly shrinking circle paused for a moment on Sonic’s current expression, highlighting it against the otherwise black screen. He now sported a sheepish, if slightly pleased smile, complete with a faint pink blush on his face from all the positive attention. 

Clearly Sonic liked being, well, liked far more than he let on.

Then, the circle snapped closed with a pop, and the credits began to roll.

[Voice Actors: 

Roger Craig Smith

Colleen Villard

Travis Willingham

Cindy Robinson

Nika Futterman

Mike Pollock

Kirk Thornton

Wally Wingert

Bill Freiberger

Original creation by:

Evan Baily

Donna Friedman Meir 

Sandrine Nguyen

Bill Freiberger

Takashi Iizuka

Writer/editor:

Solalunar “Sol” Eclipse

Thank you for watching reading.]

[sif-the-tsunami]

When I Was His Wife

“Well I was looking forward to/ staying here forever/ ‘cause you asked me to/ Didn’t think I could do better/ So I settled down/ in this ten cent town/ it’s about to break me.” These are the Best Years of my Life- Pistol Annies

This is the follow up to “When You Fall Apart” Which is one of my favorites that I’ve written.

(there is Sy just carrying the weight of all of my own internal chaos)

A/N thank you for everyone who encouraged me to write this, I adore Sy as a character. He seemed like someone who could pull off the impossible. I made some choices in here that not everyone will agree with. Tell me I’m wrong in the comments an we can discuss it there.

Pairing: Sy and Josephine

Warnings: again all of them. discussion of infidelity, Discussion of child loss, discussion of unprotected sexual intercourse, headbutting, day drinking, self medicating, therapy, swearing fealty on ones hunting knife, discussion of knife play, I’m probably missing something

 Everything is going below the cut this time to save anyone who doesn’t like this kind of stuff from unpleasantness.

word count just shy of 7.5K

Thank you to @inlovewithhisblueeyes for letting me bounce ideas off of you, love you sweet girl

tagging: @oddsnendsfanfics @willkatfanfromasia @rocket44 @feralrunaway @littlewrenofrivia​  @summersong69​  @coffeebooksandfandom​ @klaine-92​ @nothingright​ @cavillsim​ @watery-lane​ @above-average-ass-bitch 

unbeta’d

I slept for the next two days, Mama only woke me up long enough to drink some water once she started worrying about me. She managed to wrangle my out of my clothes and into one of Daddy’s shirts we got him that she left in the drawer. My phone was dead, but thankfully Mama and I had the same kind so I could charge it today. What fresh hell was going to be waiting for me on my digital leash? I lay there for a while, the murmur of conversation in the other room was comforting. Mama left a fresh glass of water some time recently, it was still chilly with only a little condensation forming around the sides. The ache in my chest was almost unbearable. The hole in my heart was Syverson sized, being sober made the edges of that abyss feel even more raw and pronounced. I don’t know if my liver could handle me drowning my sorrow much more, but I would give anything to not feel it. I need to make this feeling of worthlessness go away.

When I finally decided to rejoin the land of the living, Mama and my brother Teddy were talking at the kitchen table, discussing about if they should come with me to go get my things or if I should call the sheriff’s office to be monitored. I stayed behind the corner long enough to let them finish what they were going on about.

“If I know Jo well enough, she’s going to need someone to keep her from burning the whole house down with him in it tied to a chair,” my brother chuckled. “She’s been taking care of herself for years. You should have seen how she handled one of these girls who came up to us once on Post.

“Jo was loading up the car when this prissy little thing came walking up, she must have thought she was some kind of hot shit. You would have been so proud of her Mama, the girl said to her that she had been sleeping with James during their deployment. All Jo said back to her was ‘You’ve both been back for something like three months, right, have you seen him since?’ Little Miss Hot Shit stuttered and said ‘Well not yet,’ like she had been really holding out that he was going to. ‘He doesn’t have my new phone number.’ Jo just tiled her head to the side. Smiled at her real sweetly and told her, ‘Baby girl, he’s not going to. He knows how to find you. You were just a rental car to him, sweetie bell. Ford Fiestas are fun as hell to ride but let’s be honest, you aren’t going to pick a Fiesta over the Mercedes Benz you have at home. You aren’t the first and you sure as hell won’t be the last, now go on and get out of here before I ruin the rest of your day like you tried to ruin mine.’ One of the other officer’s wives came up to her and said she was amazed that she handled her so well without breaking Miss Prissy Pant’s face. She just said ‘I’m too pretty to go to prison, Kathy.’ And we hoped in the car. You raised one tough lady, Mama.”

“How many times has that happened, Theodore, I need to know.”

“She has only told me about four women meeting her face to face. The two pregnant girls who got knocked up to get out of their deployments, Prissy Pants, and one who thought that James was in love with her. She evidently broke down in tears on the tarmac when Josie jumped into his arms and he swung her around. But she would get letters tucked into the windshield of her car for months whenever he returned from deployment.”

“You two kept this from me for years, why?”

“Jo said that this was her problem, don’t you remember how you handled it when her first boyfriend ran out on her on prom night? She cried to you and Dad, and you just told her that no one is worth weeping over. She’s just been trying to make you proud, Mama. Daddy might have known because I know they had a really nasty fight about a month before he died.”

I walked out after that. Mama’s eyes were red, “Good morning, baby, do you want pancakes? Bacon and eggs? What do you want, Darlin’?”

“Coffee would be a good start.” I rasped. “Can I use your charger?”

“It’s right here. Cream and sugar?”

“Black as my sense of humor, please Mama.” I said, Teddy chuckled again. I reached over and squeezed my brother’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m glad you’re here.”

“I got to look after my little sissy.” He replied using what he called me growing up. “So what are we doing to get over Jimmy?”

“I was thinking tattoos and day drinking?”

“Atta’ girl, Josie. Fuck that douche canoe.”

As soon as my phone was able to turn on, it sat on the counter vibrating for the next five minutes.  Six missed calls from James. And seventy text messages. A few from stores I shop at, but the majority were from my husband.

“Ugh, I just don’t feel like dealing with this right now.” I said as my mom put my coffee in front of me.

“Just leave him on read. I doubt he’s hurting for company.”  Mama said, in almost a snarl. I looked through a few messages. The last one was from this morning. Sweetheart, I’m worried sick about you, I miss you. Please talk to me?

“Ted, do you want to go with me to Walmart so I can get a couple day’s worth of clothes, I am just not ready to go back and I can’t live in Daddy’s old shirts.”

“Of course, we can get some booze while we are there.”

“Get yourself a bathing suit while you are there, honey, its going to be beautiful today and you can go for a swim.” Mama added.

I texted James back finally as I finished my coffee. I’m sorry I worried you, Sy, I have literally been asleep since I got here. I’m not ready.

I understand. I’m sorry, I should have seen how much I’ve been hurting you. I swear to God, I really do love you. Please, let me know what I can do for you.

Yeah, you should have, James. You should have seen how bad you’ve been treating me. You can drop off the face of the earth, that’s what you can do for me, I think spitefully. Thankfully, Mama washed my yoga pants and tank top. It would have to be alright for now. My brother let me wear one of his extra flannel shirts he kept in the back of his car. An hour later, Ted and I were at the store, picking up chips, dip, and cheap champagne. Mama loved mimosas, so I thought it was the least I could do. I grabbed a couple of sun dresses and a bikini, if I was going to be gone for a few days, I was going to come back home looking refreshed, radiant even, and not like the hot pile of garbage I was feeling like. I made a small detour to the cosmetics department, got myself a couple of face masks, hair dye, and sun screen.

“Really? Dark brown, Josie?”

“That’s as close to my natural color as I can, I’m tired of the blonde highlights. I think after this I might just let it come in. Grays and all. Who ever loves me next is going to have to just deal with me as nature intended.”

“I’m proud of you. Do you think you will leave him for good?” He said, Ted has always been very protective of me.

“Well, I certainly can’t leave him for evil, can I?” Making him laugh. One the way outside there was a truck near the front of the store with a sign that read “Puppies for sale.”

“Teddy, we need to see these puppies.” I gasped. Walking up to the truck bed I saw the sweetest little German Shepard puppies. I reached in and they all started flopping all over the place trying to get pets and love. Maybe a puppy was exactly what my hurting heart needed. We haven’t had a dog since Aika passed away. It was looking like I would never have a baby but maybe this was the kind I needed. Puppy snuggles would definitely make that Syverson shaped hole less painful.

“I’ll buy you a puppy if you divorce James.” Ted said to me, half joking.

“Shit, I can afford the puppy, pay for the divorce.” I jest back. “How much for one of the precious babies?”

“$500 a pup, mom has a pedigree, but daddy was the neighbor’s sneaky bastard.” The woman also petting the puppies said. “Mama is in the front if you want to meet her, daddy is very friendly as well.”

I start laughing uncontrollably. With tears in my eyes, I ask if any of the puppies are girls, and she pulls   out a beautiful little one with floppy ears and the biggest smile I had ever seen on a dog. Oh yeah, she was meant for me.

“I’ll take her, do you take checks?” I think I’m ready to start healing.

*****

“Josephine, that son of a bitch you call your husband is here to see you.” Mama shouts from the house. It’s Sunday afternoon now, Teddy and I have exhausted all the snacks and mimosas hours ago and now we were sobering up by the pool. My new baby girl is laying next to my sun chair, chewing on her bone, wearing a pretty pink collar.

“Well, might as well let him out here.” I shout back.

“Are you sure, I can kick his ass to the curb if you want me to, baby.”

“Its okay Mama, I can handle him myself.” Sy walks out in the back yard a couple minutes later. I’m guessing Mama threatened to stick him in a meat grinder.

“I deserved that.” He said, looking thoroughly admonished. “You changed your hair, it looks really good...

“Oh bless your heart, James. That’s not even half of what you deserve.” Ted spoke up before he could finish, not moving his face towards him. He lay there in his swim trunks and dark sunglasses.

“Oh great, all three of you have been drinking. I can tell this is going to go well...” James sighed. “Who is this cutie pie, did your Ma get a new dog?”

“She’s my dog, her name is Stella Rosa.”

“I don’t think anyone asked you to come, Colonel Sanders, what are you doing here?” Ted snapped.

“Hey, I got this, okay? I’m a big girl, please, go in the house. The fuck are you doing here James?” I lift my sun glasses up.

“She’s a very sweet pup. Yeah, you are a good girl for your mama, aren’t you? I came to see you. I want to bring you home, baby, I miss you.” He’s checking out my fresh tan in my new bikini. Subtly, but he does it.

“I’m not ready. I’m not even ready to talk to you. Why would you think that I even want to come home?”

“I don’t know, I asked myself that the entire drive here. I don’t know what I’m even going to do with myself when I go home alone. Pussycat, I can’t begin to think of life without you. I know I fucked up. And I know I can’t take that back. You asked me the other day what I kept that was special just between us. I should have answered you then. All those nights where you fell asleep with your head on my chest, the evenings laying in the back of the truck looking at the stars after driving around trying to find the best nachos in town. And, baby, no matter where we go, yours are always the best. No one else ever got moments like that. You are the only woman I want to slow dance with in the middle of the night.

“You are the only person in the world that I would wait four hours in the freezing cold to get the best brisket in Austin for because you were craving bbq when we were still, you know...” He paused. I don’t think he ever stopped blaming himself for what happened. His knees were never the same after that accident, and usually whenever he stood up from kneeling, they clicked and popped painfully. He leaned a little closer spreading his legs and reached down to pet Stella. She seemed a little leery of him. It is easy to be cynical given the circumstances, but there is something about the way he is talking to me, I haven’t heard him be this earnest in years.

“When was the last time you were with someone other than me?” I can’t bring myself to look at him. I keep my eyes anywhere but on him. My body aches so badly for him to just wrap his arms around me. I miss him.

“When I got held up in Kuwait for two weeks in December...”

“December? You mean when you missed my fucking birthday. Goddammit James...” And the ache is gone. My heart shattered again. He’s going to make me cry again.

“Hey, it was after your birthday, and it was a hate fuck because I was mad that I broke yet another promise to you.”

“That doesn’t make it better.” I snap. “How many that deployment?”

“Just the one. And she’s someone who I knew was more discreet because we had that arrangement before.”

“I swear on my Daddy’s grave that if you are lying to me right now, I will end you Syverson. You couldn’t have waited a few more days?”

“I had no idea when I was going home. We boarded that fucking plane three times and had to turn back because there was a problem with it. I was two seconds away from tearing apart the first Private that so much as looked at me sideways. It felt like, at the time, the less terrible choice.”

“They sound both pretty shitty to me. You are a fucking adult James, you have to be able to control yourself or at least be responsible for your actions. If this is what you think love is, I would rather you hate me.” I stand up. Stella wags her tail excited to get away.

“Josephine, please...” He grasps my wrist, not hard, but there wasn’t anyway I was going to be able to get out of his big hand.

“Please what? Please stay so you can keep treating me like this. There are some people in this world who have no problem playing second or third fiddle, they are just thankful they are in the band. But I deserve to be your first chair, or I don’t want to play at all.”

“Mama wants to know if the jackass is staying for dinner.” Ted shouts at us.

“He going!” “I’m staying!” we yell over each other. He’s not looking at me, he’s not even looking at the pup. His eyes are somewhere else, mentally for a second he is somewhere else also.

“Baby…  I… You have always been my first chair. There is no one else on earth like you. I have never done anything with these women as an act of love. It was always been, and I mean always, just a way to scratch an itch. Every time I was gone, every time things got bad, getting to come home to you was the thing that keep me going, Jo. You have been my safe harbor for the worst parts of my life.”

“James… That doesn’t excuse what you’ve done. You aren’t the man I fell for anymore. This isn’t healthy.” He let go of my wrist, and rubs his face. Those beautiful eyes of his have seen so much. For the first time I think he actually looks… broken. Is this the remorse I have been wanting to see? I try not to keep scores, especially when it comes to my loved ones. But for the first time since things went sour, he looks like I hurt him as much as he has hurt me.

Maybe there was love between us once. However there are just two broken hearts for now.

“Come on in the house, I can at least feed you before I send you back.”

“I think I will just go,” he says it quietly. “I don’t want to be a burden on you.”

“Don’t be like that, I am still cooking like I’m making dinner for you, so its way too much for the three of us. Come on in, I made carnitas.”

“I’ll be in, I just need a minute.” He refuses to let me see him cry if he’s not waking up screaming, even after all this time. Whenever we could have a healing moment, he pushes me out. I went inside, and started setting the table.

“Are we poisoning his tacos?” Teddy asked me.

“That’s not the worst idea I’ve heard today.” Mama interjected.

“No, and don’t start anything. He’s eating dinner with us, don’t either of you make him feel bad. I already did that.” Sy walked in at that moment, those blue eyes of his rimmed with red. He looked defeated. The four of us ate our dinner in silence. There was a time where he would have made some kind of comment about eating me out when we had tacos. He looked at me once during the meal, I think he remembered it too. He offered to clear the plates when were all done and sat in uncomfortable silence. The cockiness I had grown accustomed to over the years was gone.

He carried himself like this when we lost our baby, he can’t take that kind of humility. At least not with me.

“Sy...” I waited until the others were out of the room. “Do you still want me to come home with you?”

“Not if it means all we are going to do is get a divorce. I can’t see you every day knowing that I will never get to be yours again. I let them do a lot of terrible things to me over the years, but that… that I can’t handle.” His voice cracked. “If you want out, I will give you everything you ask for. I won’t fight you. But please, give me a chance to fight for you.”

“I don’t think you are exactly in a position to make that that request.” I lean against the counter across the room from him.

“No, I’m not.” he half smirked, “I don’t deserve you.”

“Look, I’m not saying that this can’t still all explode in our faces. But I miss my best friend and that has always been the best part of us. It will never be the same as it was before, it can’t be. However, if you are willing to work with me, I am willing to see if we there is any salvageable. If nothing else, we both need therapy very badly. We can’t just shrug this off. The second that it goes back to where we were, I’m gone.”

“Okay. I’ll do it.” He sniffs hard, and his breath is broken up, tucking his arms against himself. Usually its in authority, this time hes just trying to hug himself. I gesture him to come over and I hug him. He wraps his arms around then envelopes me. Leaning his head on mine, he whispers “I’ll do whatever you want, my darlin.”

I told my mom that I would be going home, she sighed at me. “Do you think this is the best idea?”

“I don’t know, Mama. I think I just want some closure. I told him if he so much as sneezes out of line that I’m gone. Forever. There will be no more chances.”

“Well, baby, I trust you. You are always welcome back here if you need to get away.”

While I’m packing my stuff into the shopping bags I had, I hear a sudden crack and Sy groans then swears. “yeah, I deserved that too.”

“What the fuck did you just do, Theodore?” I yell coming out. Ted was still holding my husband’s hand, and Sy was holding his face. “Did you… just headbutt him?”

“Yes, I did. My sister my might be willing to move past your mistakes, but I’m not. However, I’ve always been the petty one in the family. Hurt her again, they will have to dig your nuts out of your chest cavity, do we understand each other?”

“Yep, perfectly.” Sy grimaced. There were very few men that he would not retaliate against. Teddy, at 6’5, and years of horse wrangling, was one of them. Sy was build like a brick shit house, but so was my big brother. I thought we were old enough to not resort to violence, I have been wrong before.

My probably, potentially, soon to be ex-husband put mine and Stella’s things in the back bench of his truck. I held her in the crook of my arm as I climbed up in the cab. He gently shut the door for me, I noticed his shiner was going to be pretty gnarly in the morning.

He climbed into the other side as I set little Stella down on the floor. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was a cheap shot, I’ll be fine. At this point, I don’t want to rock the boat with your brother and Ma. She tore me a new asshole before I got outside today.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t changed your mind, say to hell with me and that I’m not worth the hassle.”

“Josephine, I might not have made the appropriate effort to show you how much you mean to me, but you are worth it.” The Syverson shaped hole in my heart roared. Why couldn’t he have been this way all along?

We talked about the girl at the movies, and how she was one of his new officers. She might have come on to him, but he never engaged with her outside of work related things. He told her several times that he wasn’t interested but she was persistent. I halfway apologized for trying to decapitate him with a tequila bottle. He acknowledged that this was a long time coming.  This was the most we had talked about anything deep for months. I don’t know if it was too little and too late though.

The rest of the drive home we made a plan of action. He would move into the office and would stay in there until I invited him back into my bed. We would start couple’s therapy as soon as we could. He would also start seeing a therapist individually. Before we got into town I also told him my final request for our reconciliation. I wanted to see other people. I had been with him since I was nineteen, I have never faltered in my devotion to him. I wanted to see if he was really the one for me.

When I got home, I poured out the rest of my alcohol, save for a bottle of champagne I was saving for our anniversary. He took Stella outside to go potty and came back singing her name “Stella bella, who is a good girl? Your Mama picks good puppies, yes she does. Good girl, Stella bella.”

Stella came prancing back to me with her tail wagging happily. He walked up behind me, and grazes the backs of my arms gently with his knuckles, leaning down to kiss my neck. “Not yet, Sy. I don’t want us to complicate things more than they already are.”

“Josie, what do you mean?”

“I don’t want to have sex with you until we start therapy.”

“So you want us to stop having sex, sleep in separate rooms and at some point you want to start seeing other men.” He starts nodding. He lets out a deep sigh and closes his eyes. “Okay, it that’s what you want to do. I was thinking about getting my stuff out of the bedroom so I can try to get some sleep. I love you, Pussycat. I’ll see you in the morning.” And with that, James went to bed. He was snoring on the couch in the office by the time I went to go lay down.      

****

It took us three weeks to get into see a couples therapist. It felt a little validating about my decision that we shouldn’t sleep together until we have really decided to try or not. She had me stay behind and talk with her for another half an hour the first time we met.  She asked me why I wanted to save my marriage with Sy if he’s hurt me for years.

“I don’t rightly know,” I told her. “Maybe its because when we are good we are so damn good. Before we were married, I was warned, I knew that things happened overseas and I shouldn’t take it personally, he’s just a man and not a saint. I never have had a doubt in my mind about if he’s been faithful when he’s been here until recently when a woman he knows started acting weird around me. The love we had was so passionate, like sometimes he thought that if he couldn’t put his hands on me I would disappear. I don’t think I will ever find someone who can love me like that again.”

The therapist suggested that he starts getting treated for PTSD and anger management while we all were working together. I would also have my own separate sessions to work on my own issues. It took a few months but I started seeing small differences in how he was handling things at work that pissed him off. He was able to defuse himself more easily. He became more open with his feelings. I think it helped that we both stopped drinking. We could be a little volatile when we had a pitcher (or three) of margaritas.

There were days with our sessions where we leave emotionally exhausted and not speak to each other the rest of the day, some of them ended in peals of laughter, others where I would cry for most of it. We discussed the infidelity at great lengths. I don’t want to rehash the details but it was definitely one of the bad days. But it seems that the root cause was him using the only the other women for comfort after fairly traumatic events. It’s why it only happened on deployments. He needed to feel something other than pain.

The lack sexual intimacy between the two of us made James start to get creative to initiate closeness between the two of us. He started helping me make dinner on the weekends, or he would bring me my coffee in the morning the way I like it. Mama and Teddy started coming over occasionally for suppers. It was nice to have the house filled with laughter. We started talking again like when we first started dating. He would take the time to go with me grocery shopping.

He started asking me out on dates again. Myself, him and Stella would drive out to the country, with a picnic basket that he would even prepare himself and we would go star gazing like we used to. I loved seeing the effort, but that hole still ached in my chest the whole time. The pieces should have all fit together, but here I was still not sure I could commit to him for the rest of my life.

On one of these dates, he asked me what I thought about him retiring. He had been in for almost nineteen years at this point and had far exceeded is expectations for being in the Army as an officer.

“I kind of just want to sell off all our extra shit and buy a really nice Air-stream. We can pull it with my truck. Just travel up and down the continent, I know you always have wanted to see the Northern Lights, we can just go anywhere. Me, you and Stella would visit where ever we could find a parking spot.”

“That sounds nice, Sy.” It came out a little half hearted.

“You don’t sound convinced, sweetheart.” He said, started sounding concerned.

“Hun, I don’t want to have a fight right now, so please just let me get this off my chest.” I sigh. And then I told him about the pain in my chest that I’ve had since my night in jail. That sometimes, like tonight, it was only a dull ache. That other times the edges are still so sharp that it feels like the pain was going to swallow me whole. He sits up, jaw dropped.

“Why haven’t you told me this before? I… Jo… son of a bitch.” He groans. He lays back down, the same defeated tone came back that I hadn’t heard since Mama’s house. “I’m trying my best, Josephine, but I feel like I have one hand tied behind my back… you will never love me again, will you?  I can grovel, and beg. I don’t know what else I need to do. I know what I want to do, but it will just hurt you more.”

“What do you want to do, Sy?”

“I want to kiss every part of your skin, remind your body that I worship it. I want to pin you to the wall of our hallway and make love to you. I want to go to sleep with my nose buried in in your hair, and wake up sliding inside of you. I have since you came home. Hell, I always want to do that with you. But that can’t be the only thing that keeps us together.” He looked over at Stella sprawl out.

“I didn’t say this to hurt you, hun. I just wanted to be honest with you.”

“I know, I… just don’t want to cause you more misery. I really thought we were, you know, heading back in the right direction.”

“We have been, and honestly, I think if we threw in the towel now, it would cause more harm than good.” I say as the tears well up in my eyes. For the first time since I was taken away, I straddle his hips. He sits up and I place my hands on either side of his face, then lean in to kiss him. He kisses me back with the same hunger. I missed him. The ache dulled a little until he pulled away.

“Let’s get going, Jo, I want you so fucking bad. I want to take you here and now, I want to make you scream my name and damn anyone who catches us. We need to stop this, the agreement was that we wouldn’t. Fuck I’ve missed how you taste.” He said before stealing one more kiss.

*****

The next week was awkward to say the least, the therapist was pleased about the kissing and that I opened up. She said that it was possible that the pain would go away, but that he and I needed to remember that it was like I was grieving. In the mean time, we should continue to take it slowly because we both needed to be sure. The following few days he was distant, and the ache returned in full force.

With his PTSD treatments, he was having less nightmares. It was the best thing I could ask for. There were still times where he would yell in his sleep but they had become farther and farther apart. It was a night after he had his individual treatment, he had come home talking about how he felt the night of my breakdown. He came home and told me a little bit, how he had never seen me so angry before, thrashing about like a caged animal. He hated himself for pushing me there. That night, in the darkness of the small hours, I woke up from being dead asleep hearing him say my name in a panic. He then repeated sounding more and more scared. “Josie, oh my god, Josie, no. I’m sorry Jo, I didn’t mean to. JoJo!”

I rushed into the office, he was jerking violently in his sleep about on the couch. I turned on the light near his head. When these dreams happen, his eyes were usually opened, it creeps my out every time. I start to gently wake him up, saying his name and touching him as gently as possible. It took a few moments but he came back to me.

“Jo, Jesus fuck, you’re alright?”

“Of course I am, sweetheart, what happened? I’m right here, I’m okay, you are okay, everything is okay.”

“I dreamed we were back in the kitchen, you were under me. Screaming and whipping about. I had to restrain you more then I accidentally broke your neck and you died in my arms. It felt real, baby, I was holding your body and then the sheriff came and that’s when you woke me up. Oh my god. I fucking can’t. I can’t anymore. I need you, Josie. If something happens to you, oh fuck.” I have never seen James sob like this. He pawed at me until I was wrapped in his arms. I slipped my arms around his neck and held his head to mine. His sobs were hard. We sat there until he let it all out.

“Come on, big man, let’s get you into bed. Come with me. I’ll stay with you all night.” He nodded at me and followed me to the bed we used to share. I wrapped him up in our fluffy blankets. He snuggled into me and was asleep in moments. I stayed there in his arms until he woke up. The Syverson shaped hole hurt less that night.

When he woke up he started crying again. He held me and started kissing my face. “Thank god. I thought you coming to me last night was another dream.”

“No baby, I’m here.” He sniffed hard and squeezed me closer to him. We went back to sleep for a few more hours and when we got up for the day he moved his things back into our bedroom. We might not have started other marital acts but we both started sleeping better having the other person in bed. It had been almost six months we started trying to reconcile.

*****

It had been an interesting couple of months while we started the transition for him to retire. Soon it was only a matter of days. The dates had continued, the kissing had continued, but something was keeping me back from being able to say that the next step was what I wanted. Therapy continued, and we would be seeing her for the next few months. Before I left my private session she asked me if I had given myself a deadline. She was concerned that I might keep dragging it out and that would just make both of us miserable. I told her I had an idea and that I planned on pulling the trigger soon.

Sy’s superiors were setting up a retirement ceremony for him, followed by a dinner with the upper chain of command. He wasn’t looking forward to it, Sy just wanted to be out and done. He came home one day while I was watching a show based on a book series I had read when we first were married. The redheaded Scot swore fealty to his wife, offering to pierce his own heart with a dagger if he should ever rebel against her again.  

“What’s this you’re watching?” He asked.

“Outlander, it just picked back up again from a season break. It’s pretty damn close to the book.”

“So is this what the ladies like these days, men in kilts offering to off themselves if they fuck up?”

“Women have liked men in kilts since I can remember. Why do you think we go to the Renn Faire every year.” I wink at him. “But yeah, I’m sure that does it for some people.”

“Well shit, Pussycat, it’s the only thing I haven’t done.” Sy walked out of the room and came back with his favorite hunting knife. It had been his dad’s once upon a time. The handle was made out of buck horn. In his warn and dusty uniform, he knelt in front of me on the living room floor. His beautiful blue eyes looking into mine, “Well, this isn’t iron, and it definitely isn’t holy. However, I will swear on it either way. Josephine, you are the only woman I have ever loved, you are my best friend, and I adore you. I will never do anything to make you doubt that love or loyalty again. If I ever do anything that makes you feel like you are less than the beautiful, smart, incredible, sexy creature that you are, you can sink this right in my heart. I will even hold it there for you so all you have to do is press it right in.” He finishes with a tongue click as an exclamation.      

“James, you didn’t need to do this. You know I am weird about grand gestures.”

“No, I think I do. I said my vows to you on our wedding rings and I wasn’t able to keep it. But, I will never break this one. If I can earn your love back, I will never do anything to make you regret giving me this chance to be your man.” He still held the knife against his chest with one hand, and placed my hand over his with the other. “So what do you think, baby girl? We still have a long way to go, but I can’t think of anyone else I would rather struggle with.”

“I think you just put yourself in a position that I could just end you now if I wanted to.” I say with my usual sass.

“Yes, you could. I don’t think you will though.” He said smiling, his voice was husky and deep as usual. I love that easy smile of his.

“Is it wrong that I want to get on your lap and make out with you while I hold this against you.” His eyebrow raised. “Maybe more than just make out with you.”

“Oh, don’t you tease me now, sweet thing. I don’t want to start anything you won’t finish.”

“Who said I won’t finish it, Colonel Syverson?” His eyes grew as big as dinner plates.  

“Wait, do you mean it?” He choked.

“Yeah, I do mean it.” I laughed. Before I could get up, he had hiked the skirt of the dress I was wearing up to my hips, pulling me to the edge of the sofa, revealing that I had skipped a certain garment that day. “I had an idea for after supper, but if you want we can do this now…. Oh fuck I’ve missed this.”

Before I can even finish my sentence, he was going to town with his tongue on his favorite part of my body. He remembered everything that made me squeal in delight. From the lack of sex on both of our ends, he was able to get me off easily. My body was desperate for his touch. He stopped once my body was trembling, kissing one of my thighs from my apex to my knee. He suddenly grunted and bit down on a tender part. He started panting and kissed the spot he bit.

“I’m sorry, sugar, I didn’t want to only last for two or three thrusts. Fuck, I have missed this pretty pussy. You taste so good.” He had a handful of his own cum and looked around for a tissue. Without a word, I grabbed his hand and licked it clean, keeping eye contact with him the entire time. He moaned out and then stood up. He took his shirt off, and lifted me up off the couch. I knew this hurt his back and knees but I wasn’t about to chastise him for wanting to be romantic. He carried me like we were on our honeymoon back to the bedroom. He lay me down as gently as possible then finished stripping himself. I took my dress off leaving myself exposed to him in a way that I haven’t in almost a year. Sy joined me on the bed, open and vulnerable to me. I loved those thick thighs and torso of his, he always eclipsed me.

“Hello ladies, nice to finally see you again.” He purred as he licked and sucked on my nipples. He leaned to one side and massaged my breasts with one of his hands. “Glad to see you that you missed me too.”

Before long, I could feel his erection pressing against my thigh. He spread my legs and rubbed himself against my opening. He leaned down and kissed my neck before sliding himself inside of me. I moan his name as he gently started making love to me. Bearing his weight on his elbows, he kissed and nipped at my neck.

Breathlessly, he told me how much he missed my body, how much he loved me, how lucky he was to have me. As his tempo increased, he started to whisper in me ear.

“Josephine, tell me what you are.” I looked at him confused. “You are my wife, I want you to tell me that you are my wife.”

“I’m your wife, James.” I tell him as lovingly as possible.

“Louder, baby.”

“I’m your wife.” I said loud and clearly. The Syverson shaped hole in my chest is gone, finally. Replaced with the warmth of knowing we were going to be able to survive this.

“Even louder, Jo.” I yell it out and he thrusts harder and deeper. “Keep going, beautiful, I want the whole neighborhood to know.”

I screamed it as he started pounding me harder, building his orgasm. As my own starts its crescendo, I screamed his name and arched my back as he pulls my hips down on himself and spilled into me. He lay down beside me, twitching and jerking a little. He kisses all the parts of my skin that is available to his reach.

“I think we should order a pizza for dinner tonight,” He says after a few minutes of catching his breath. “So we can stay in bed and make love again.”

“Or, and hear me out. I put my dress back on, you get dressed and we go out for sushi with your cum dripping down my thighs. What do you think about that?”

“Shit, I missed you being a damn freak like that. Do I we get to have more fun tonight if I say yes?” He chuckles, then kisses my hand, “I still want you to ride me with my knife pointed at me some time tonight.”  

“Aren’t you scared I’m going to cut off a nipple or something.”

“You, with a knife? To be honest, cutting off my nipple is the least of my concerns. How do I know if this just isn’t a whole plan to lure me into complacency with sex and sushi, then you just murder me in my sleep.” He rolled onto his back and whined for a second, but got up. He put on a pair of khaki shorts and a black Metallica t-shirt as I got into my dress again.

“God damn woman, you are so fucking sexy.” He tells me as he opens the door on my side of the truck and leans down to kiss me again. As I climb up he give my butt a little tap just like he used to and closes the door for me. The ache I’ve been feeling these long months has subsided. Sitting across the cab from me, holding my hand, he asks if we want to go look at travel trailers this weekend. For the first time in a while, I feel like everything is going to be alright.

[miyaniacs]

Hello I saw that you opened requests so I thought I would send something (if you don’t want to write this please don’t feel like you need to 🥺 you’re amazing okay?)

ANYWAYS! Could I request how the haikyu boys (you can choose who!) would react to their S/O feeling overwhelmed and accidentally blowing up on them/pushing them away?

Life has really pushed me to my limits and I could use some comfort 😪

A/N: goshhhh I feel that omg - but please try to relax a bit and take a few minutes for yourself to calm down a bit - Sorry if this is more on the shorter side tho:( i can make those more easily when I make them shorter and don’t feel pressured to write a whole page for each one - yes I put myself under way too much pressure and I’m also a perfectionist so I really feel the blowing up part here lol

characters: Iwaizumi, Kurro, Bokuto

form: headcanon 

masterlist

H/C : S/o blowing up on them 

Iwaizumi:

When he ate your last pudding and you snapped at him as if he lost the wedding ring of your grandma he just stares at you

Then he blinks

Then he takes a few breathes

And storms out of the room

He doesn’t want to raise his voice at you so he just leaves to calm down too

A few seconds after he left the room you broke down and started crying bc on top of all your stress you now also fear to also loos him too

But as soon as he hears your snobs

He storms back into the room and pulls you into a hug - rocking you back and forth

Pressing gentle kisses on your forehead

Pulling you even closer

He‘ll realize what’s wrong after you mutter a soft “I’m sorry it’s just all too much”

Now he’s apologizing

And telling you that it’s okay and that everyone has those moments

He’s constantly rubbing your back too

You two are literally sitting on the kitchen floor at 10pm telling each other how much you love them & that you’d never leave because of something this minor

After you calmed down he puts you - yes he’s dressing you as if you’re a child - in your favorite hoodie of his & puts on your jacket

Now you’re on a walk to the nearest grocery store to get some new pudding and whatever you crave and need to have a relaxing night - which for you will be spent in Iwaizumis tight embrace

Kuroo:

This boy oml

You painted your nails and he bumped into you wich causes you to ruin your almost dried nail polish

And dear lord

How you escalated

You screamed

And cried

And screamed

Hitted his chest

Cried again

And all over again

Until you stand in front of him panting, not tears left hands on your knees bend over

And he‘s still standing there, same expression as the Second you began this mess - which is his usual neutral, sassy look

“All good now?“ he simply asks

( that for me would lead to a new breakout bc how dare he?! How dare he be so calm now???)

but I assume you’re not me so you just nod exhausted

“Good“ he says and walkes away leaving you confused ??? Again HOW DARE HE????

What you didn’t know tho: he knew you’ll reach your breaking point soon and he’s prepared

But then you hear the water running and you walk to the bathroom just to find him lightening up some candles, in the bathtubs there’s already countless bubbles forming too

“Now strip baby and let me help you relax.”

Yes your mind is clearer after that night

Not only a cleaning the bathroom from all the spilled water is included also NO you also get a massage, chocolates, a marathon of your fav movies, an UNO match and ... bed time

And yes he offers you to let out all your frustration in another way the next time or for him to ... help you relax too

Bokuto:

Bby boy would be so sad when you pushed him away the second he wraps his arms around you

He thinks you don’t love him anymore :(

Emo mode actived

Which makes you even more pissed

You can’t deal with this shit rn

Soooo you leave to clear your mind

Bokuto will sink down on the bed, hugging his knees, eyes big and glassy, hair flat

But then !!! He gets an idea!

You’re the love of his life??! He won’t let you go without fighting

So his hair spikes up again and he hurries outside

Meanwhile you come back home, an apology ready to be told

You felt bad - yes. It wasn’t his fault - he didn’t knew since you haven’t told him that you’re stressed

But again - you didn’t want ti stress him / make him worry with your problems

So when you come back home to find the apartment empty you panick

Walking up and down the room you ruff up your hair, akaashi’s number already about to be called when you hear the door open again

“KOU?!” You screen and rush towards him

He immediately drops everything and opens his arms to wrap himself around you

“I’m so sorry kou! I’m just- it’s just all too much” you mutter into his chest and he pulls you closer into a bone crashing hug

“Nooo I’m sorry, I should have noticed that you aren’t feeling your best and -“

Well ... it’s a constant back and forth with countless I love yous and kisses

Until he remembers something

“THE FLOWERS!!!”

“The what?!”

Then he points to the beautiful bouquet laying on the floor

“You got them for me?” You look at him with big eyes

“YES! And this one too!!” He points to the other side - a big plushy owl lays on the floor

Bokuto scratch’s his head and picked both up - now it’s his face between flowers and a plushy owl

“For you my love!”