#whoever has a higher word count or page count wins

[gazeboarcade]

Hm :(

[instantzipperbailiffcalzone]

On the George Wetherby, Jr page:

IT IS LONG, BUT YOU'D BETTER READ ON!

So the SCOTUS said no. They won't hear the case. Cue crazy leftists and their inane celebrations. You're probably pissed off by now because you thought the SCOTUS was going to take this case.

Some of you on here can vouch for this, but I've stated a few times that the SCOTUS may throw this case out and that, if they did, Trump never needed them to begin with. This is an easy one to explain.

When it comes to elections there is no HIGHER or FINAL authority than the state legislatures. No, not even the Supreme Court has the final say in this, believe it or not. In all of this where is Trump? He's quiet. Where is Sidney Powell? Lin Wood? Rudy? Jenna?

An hour has passed and no one said anything on twitter about it. What if I told you Trump knew this case would get thrown out? He had to know this and I'll tell you why. One of Trump's lawyers is Mark Levin's wife. The Levin's are leading authorities on constitutional law.

Why is this important? Because the Texas filing was weak. Their argument was REALLY weak, so weak that both of the Levin's would have told Trump days ago that this case wasn't going to get heard. In fact...Mark Levin DID say it wasn't going to get heard on his radio show...all week long and he was right.

Justice Alito was right in his decision. He argued that the state of Texas wasn't, in so many words, as serious about a resolution as they pretended to be. He said there weren't "interested" in real resolution...and he was right.

He stated that just as in Arizona vs California 589 U.S. where they disputed over the distribution over the water from the colorado river, the actions of what state cannot disenfranchise the actions of another.

In other words Texas can't say they were wronged because they voted for Trump and PA voted for Biden, even if the laws were illegal. One state cannot dictate the actions of another state otherwise we would have precedence for no individuality of states.

They would all dispute over matters until EVERY state had the same laws...therefore simulating a federal regulation where it becomes national. The SCOTUS cannot set that precedence. What would be next? California suing Nevada for having more favorable tax breaks, drawing California businesses to register there instead of California, disenfranchising the other taxpayers and programs in California that need the tax dollars (for example)?

Do you have any idea how bad it would be to make that precedence? When there is no competition there is tyranny.

Moving right along...

The state of Texas produced a weak argument. Trump knew this but he still pushed it. Why? Legal strategy. Here's what I mean...

In the legal process, the accuser has the greatest amount of pressure in the case. The accused is innocent by default so all of the pressure of proving their side rides on the accuser. At the same time, if the Judge throws the accuser's case out with prejudice, the accuser can't bring that complaint up again.

What I'm saying is the GREATEST risk to a case is to become the prosecutor. As a matter of fact, it's easier to DEFEND yourself than it is to PROVE that the person you accused is guilty. Stay with me. It's long but I'm going somewhere...

So whoever brings the case first runs the highest risk of losing before they even have a chance to fight. Why is that important? Because Trump stands a better chance of winning this as a defendant than he does as an accuser.

Now comes the good part...

I've said this a thousand times and I'll say it again. Trump doesn't need the courts to win! He only needs for the state legislatures to do their jobs! And...if he gets a SCOTUS hearing that's just icing on the cake. Now let me tell you what is about to happen.

I thought for a while that one of two things would happen. 1, SCOTUS would hear this first cast. 2, SCOTUS would NOT hear the first case but they may or may not hear the second case. We're having this chat so option 1 didn't happen.

So here's what's going to happen. The state legislatures will be pissed. They will feel as if THEY have been disenfranchised, and either on Monday or January 6th (when Congress count the votes) the state legislatures will CHANGE their certifications to Trump, those 4 states (maybe even AZ and NV too).

This will cause an internal legal battle within the states. By article 2 second 2 of the constitution, the state legislatures have the final say on who they want to certify as the winner of their states. Well this will piss off the Governors who all have illegally certified the states and illegally passed state laws that strip the state legislatures of their article 2 second 2 powers.

The states will say "we have the right, we're not backing down" and the Governor's AG will say "see you in court." Now comes that second scenario I talked about. The SCOTUS is in a pickle. They don't have the authority to tell the state legislatures to ignore the constitution and follow federal law. Federal law is automatically overridden by the constitution. So they can do one of two things.

Take the case and no matter what they ruled, the state legislatures can ignore it since they have constitutional rights. Or the SCOTUS can do what I THINK they're going to do....throw the case out.

Now you can't say the SCOTUS was politicized since they threw out both cases. But in throwing OUT the case, they legitimize the state legislature's decisions. Trump wins.

But what if they take the case? Ok. Remember when I said that it's harder to win as an accuser than it is as a defendant? Well the AG of PA (for example) will have to explain why and how any federal law can override the constitution.

I'm betting 5 of those Justices will disagree with that and they can LITERALLY cite the constitution as precedence and final authority. Trump wins. I believe that the SCOTUS will keep out of this for sake of not showing partiality.

But if they DO get involved, it will be after January 6th where a constitutional crisis will exist and then they would need to step in and settle the matter in 3 possible ways.

1, Ignore the complaints, Trump wins...

2, Take the case, invalidate the elections, give it to the states to vote...Trump wins as we have a state majority of 26 or...

3, Take the case, order a nationwide audit and recertification. With all the fraud.....Trump wins.

In the end, Trump will win. You can roll these dice as many times as you want. The Constitution will win this election for Trump.

[zackcollins]

40 miles to canada || tyson jost

Author’s Note: I got struck by the inspiration bug after looking at more prompts online. This literally has nothing to do with the prompt I found but I’m still happy with the end result. This is my second self-insert/imagine, so be gentle again as I’m still learning. Once again, GIF credit goes to the original creator.

Warnings: I don’t mention it by name but there’s an allusion to the current world situation. If that’s not your cup of tea, I completely understand!! There’s also a few swear words if that bothers you.

Words: 1.8k+

Title: Alberta Bound by Paul Brandt

Additional: I know this story is a lot farther of a distance than 40 miles from Canada but just go with it. Once again, the language is gender-neutral, as to allow the reader to be any gender. <3

The sun was rising along the horizon, illuminating the mountains in wistful light. You were sitting on your balcony, sipping idly on a mug of tea. The temperature outside was somewhat nippy but you couldn’t stand sitting inside your apartment right now; you had been stuck inside the confines of its walls long enough to last you a lifetime. You needed to enjoy some fresh air before you went insane; the wonderful thing was you were on your own balcony so nobody could stop you.

Taking another sip of tea, you heard a wolf howl from somewhere in the distance. Your back splintered with lukewarm sensations from the howl. You weren’t scared; you knew you were safe because your apartment was on the seventh floor. No, what you were feeling was excitement from being surrounded by the wonders of nature.

Another howl sounded off in the distance making another lukewarm splintering sensation work down your back. You sipped from the mug once again, lips puckering when you realized the tea had started to cool. Cold tea wasn’t your favourite but you would drink it anyway; you didn’t like wasting food and drinks once you had already started consuming them.

A sudden vibration made you jostle in your seat making you spill some of the tea on your blanket. Cursing, you placed the mug on the patio table. As you were rubbing two pieces of the blanket together to reduce the stain, a more incessant vibration filled the air. Dropping the blanket, you glanced at the patio table. You noticed that the noise was being caused by your phone vibrating against the glass top of said table. Grabbing your phone, you smiled when it displayed a video chat request from your boyfriend; you accepted the request as fast as humanly possible.

“Tyson, baby, hi,” you said, waving at him.

Tyson smiled, waving back. “Hello, (Y/N). How’s my snocone doing?”

Blushing, you hid the lower half of your face under the blanket. Tyson had started calling you that as a joke because he had found out your first job in high school was working at a snocone stand at a summer carnival. The joke had been going on for your entire two-year relationship because you secretly liked being called a snocone but would never admit it to Tyson. The look he got on his face every time he thought you were flustered was too precious to chance destroying.

Chuckling, Tyson rolled onto his side on the screen. You felt your heartstrings pull taut in your chest. Uncovering your face, you looked at Tyson and quirked your lips awkwardly. Tyson’s own lips faltered from their confident smile. He sighed, lifting his arm up and resting his head on his hand.

“I know, (Y/N). I know,” he said, raking his other hand down his face. “I want to be with you as much as you want to be with me.”

“I still feel bad that I couldn’t go to Alberta with you,” you sighed, feeling the tears prickling the corners of your eyes. Taking the corner of the blanket, you wiped your eyes. “We both need each other right now. And I had to stay in Denver because of school and a job that laid me off two weeks into this whole shitshow.”

“Snocone, hey, it’s alright. Love doesn’t have to be up close and personal. What matters to me is that I still get to talk to you whenever we can.”

Before you could respond, your apartment intercom beeped.

“Tyson, hang on. Someone’s at the intercom.” You noticed a faint smile on Tyson’s face as you placed your phone on the patio table.

The intercom beeped a second time before you reached it. Rolling your eyes at the impatience of whoever it was, you pressed the button.

“Yes? Can I help you?” You asked, a little annoyed.

“I have a delivery for (Y/N). Is this the right address?” The lady that responded sounded annoyed as well. Two’s a company, you guessed.

“Yes, that’s me. I’ll buzz you in.” The lady hummed as you punched in your building code for the front gate. A loud buzz echoed in your apartment to signal that you had entered the correct code. “Alright. The gate should be open now.”

The lady’s response was cut off by you releasing your finger from the intercom button. You went to sit on the living room couch, your mind racing slightly. You hadn’t remembered ordering anything but you couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that you had; your mind was all over the place recently so you might have purchased something and forgotten.

You were counting the ceiling tiles when you heard someone knock on the door. Rushing to the door, you unlatched the deadbolt before swinging it open. As you were expecting, the delivery lady was standing there.

“(Y/N), right?” The lady asked. When you nodded, she handed you the gift basket she had been holding. She handed you a pen and turned her clipboard to face you; she motioned along the line on the bottom of the page. “Sign there and this is all yours.”

Crudely scribbling your signature, you smiled awkwardly at the delivery lady. She turned the clipboard back to herself and nodded. She didn’t say anything before she walked off. You blinked as you stood in your doorway holding the gift basket.

After a moment of shock, you backed into your apartment and closed the door. You shook your head to make sure this was real; when it was clear that it was, you returned to the patio, gift basket in hand, to resume your call with Tyson.

You placed the gift basket on the table, slid into your seat, and picked up your phone. Tyson quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head.

“Who was it?” He asked.

“A delivery lady,” you said, situating yourself under the blanket. “She had some kind of gift basket. Which is weird because I didn’t order anything.”

Tyson smiled, making a vague motion with his hand. “You should open it. I wanna see who had the balls to send something to my partner.”

Quirking your eyebrow, you propped the phone against the umbrella in the middle of the patio table.

“Is there a card?”

“Not that I see,” you said, crinkling the translucent, red wrapping in between your fingers. “I’m just going to open it. Alright?”

“Be my guest,” Tyson chuckled, grinning.

Not wanting the wrapping to blow away, you used your phone as a paperweight until you could go inside to the garbage can. The first thing you grabbed from the basket was a stuffed animal that looked like Bernie, the Avalanches’ mascot. You smiled as you squeezed it against your chest. You thought you heard Tyson’s breathing falter but you were just as sure it could’ve been the wind against your juniper bush. The next thing you grabbed was a coffee mug. It had Tyson’s name and number on it. You smiled, placing it on the patio table. The last thing in the basket was an Avalanche jersey. Carefully, you removed it from the basket. Looking at the back of the jersey, you nearly had a heart attack.

“T-Tyson,” you squeaked, dropping the jersey so Tyson could see your face. “Why does this jersey have my first name and your last name on it?”

You heard Tyson audibly swallow. He motioned to the stuffed animal. “Open the brandy barrel on Bernie.”

Dropping the jersey in your lap, you grabbed Bernie. It took you a moment but you eventually located the button that opened the brandy barrel around Bernie’s neck. When you pressed it, the barrel opened with a soft tck.

Something clattered to the ground and made you look toward your phone screen. Tyson was nervously staring at you, fidgeting with his hands. You smiled nervously at him before bending down to see what you had dropped.

The sun appeared a little higher on the horizon then; as it did, it cast a ray of light across something metallic that was next to the chair leg. Raising a confused eyebrow, you grabbed the metallic object. Your breath hitched and your heart rate doubled when you realized what it was.

Leaning back up to look at Tyson, you showed him what you had found.

“Tyson...” you trailed off, honestly unsure of what you had wanted to say in the first place.

“I know this isn’t ideal, (Y/N),” Tyson said, wringing his hands together. After a moment, he shifted his positioning so that he was on one knee. “I also know I’m half out of frame but this is what we’ve got right now, so hear me out.” Tyson’s voice was faltering. You felt the tears prickling your eyes as you squeezed Bernie close to you to simulate Tyson being there. “You’ve been the best partner in the last two years that any man could ask for. You’ve come to every one of my home hockey games. You’ve helped me through injuries; helped me through scoring droughts; helped me through losing streaks. You made the winning better; it made losing easier. The guys love you; my parents and sister love you. I love you. Will you marry me, (Y/N)?”

You had started crying when Tyson had said you helped him through his injuries; you were crying even harder now. “Yes, Tyson. Of fucking course, I’ll marry you.”

Tyson leaned back into the frame; your heart stuttered when you saw the tear streaks on his cheeks and the red tint to his eyes. He wiped his face with his shirt sleeves, chuckling happily the entire time. You matched his action, wiping your own face with your blanket.

“Hey, snocone,” Tyson said after wiping his eyes.

“Hm?” You replied, dropping the blanket into your lap.

“You actually have to put the ring on now that you said yes.”

“Oh... oh fuck,” you mumbled, sliding the ring on the correct finger. Hitting yourself in the forehead, you sheepishly looked at Tyson. “Sorry about that. I guess I was just so excited that I forgot.”

Tyson chuckled, wiping his face one more time. “It’s okay, snocone. We just made a great memory to share with our kids about how their parents got engaged.”

You felt that same lukewarm splintering sensation from the wolf howl make its way down your back.

“I’m so ready to start a family with you,” you whispered, hoping Tyson wouldn’t hear. Even though Tyson had brought up kids, you were still tentative about that part of yourself.

“Then we’ll start one as soon as possible,” Tyson replied, smiling endearingly.

You lit up, feeling more tears prickling the corners of your eyes. You wiped them away with your shirt sleeve before looking at Tyson fondly.

“I love you, Tyson Jost.”

“I love you too, (Y/N) Jost.”

You felt your heart swell.

(Y/N) Jost. (Y/N) Jost.

Yeah, you definitely liked the sound of that.

[kooksbliss]

– the bet (m) || myg

→ pairing: yoongi x reader

→ genre: friends to lovers / smut / kind of fluffy / college au!

→ word count: 3.0k

→ summary: it’s just a harmless bet between two friends, nothing will go wrong, right?

→ warnings: yoongi and oc are dumbasses / explicit language / mutual feelings for one another / surprise boner / oc lowkey (highkey) has a size kink and also a thing for yoongi’s hands but who doesn’t / pet names / teasing foreplay / dirty talk / begging, lots of begging / oral sex (male) / face fucking / unprotected sex wrap it before you tap it kids / yoongi’s dick rocked oc’s world / slight aftercare / basically oc is whipped for yoongi and his pretty dick.

a/n: hi! this is my first fanfic so pls be nice hehe, look forward to more stories in the future! <3 leave me suggestions or any ideas you would like me to write in my ask box! i’m down to do drabbles anytime but i have two stories in the works that will be released before i take story requests! that’s all, hope you enjoy!

— posted 04.3.2020 

— new masterlists

You’ve been in class listening to your professor drag on and on about - well whatever he was lecturing about, you couldn’t be bothered to listen. You had been wondering where Yoongi had been, you two always sat next to each other in class - maybe he wanted to keep the tension for the bet you two had. Your dumb ass best friend thought that it would be fun to make a bet, and of course you, being a dumb ass yourself and highly competitive, never back down from a bet. So, his “genius” idea was to make a bet that whoever had the highest score on the math exam would pick the movie for saturday night. So obviously you had been on edge all of friday’s class waiting for the results.

You then got a text from yoongi saying that he was going to be late. You rolled your eyes thinking how it was already 40 minutes into lecture, he might as well just have skipped. 20 minutes later you got another message from yoongi saying that he could see you. You chuckled but didn't turn around, you were in one of the front rows and who knows how many eyes would be on you if you did.

“Okay students-”

You tuned back into what your professor was talking about,

“Your exam scores have been graded and posted in the gradebook online, let me know if you have any questions over your grade. That concludes class, hope you all have a wonderful weekend.” Once the professor ended his sentence the sounds of rustling filled the room.

“Hey I told you to save me a seat!”

Yoongi whined as he caught up with you leaving the lecture hall.

“Well, if someone wasn’t so late to class I would have! Anyways - have you checked your grade yet?”

You asked as you both reached an outdoor table.

“I have, have you?”

He asked while sitting down and drinking his three hour old coffee.

“I haven’t yet - what did you get?”

You said as you unzipped your backpack to take out your laptop and check the gradebook. You heard him chuckle and so you looked up confused.

“Oh no no no, if I tell you what I got you can just say another score higher than mine.”

You scoffed.

“Wow you’re really confident that you'll win huh? But I wont say another score just tell me, you can even look at the score if you don't believe me.”

Yoongi seemed to think about it but it was obvious he was just trying to mess with you.

“Fine, fine okay. I got a 83.”

Okay - 83 that’s not too bad, you were sure you got a higher score than that. As you pulled up the page of your grades for that class your stomach fell.

“80.”

You said unconsciously. Yoongi perked up at the response.

“Oh would you look at that, looks like I won.”

He said with a smirk plastered on his face. You groaned,

“Can I back out of the bet?”

Closing your laptop and putting it back into your backpack - you knew that yoongi wasn’t going to let you off so easily.

“Sorry babygirl,” You now knew he wasn't going to let the bet go.

“A bet is a bet.”

You’re dreading tomorrow night.

It’s saturday night. You were laying on the couch while yoongi was scrolling through netflix on the tv seeing what movie to put on until he stopped and clicked on a movie.

“Yoongiiiii, you know I don’t like scary movies! I can’t believe you picked the Conjuring out of all movies.”

You said wailing your arms up in the air.

“I’m sorry babygirl, but you know that you lost the bet.”

He looked over to you amused by how you act so badass yet chicken out with scary things. “Hpmh.” You pouted, crossing your arms over your chest. He lightly smiled at your child-like response, “come on, don’t be like that y/n.”

He says moving closer to you on the couch. “You can cuddle with me, will that make you feel better?”

You quickly nodded. You would never miss an opportunity to cuddle especially if that person was yoongi. He gladly opened his arms as you leaned against his chest, between his legs as he wrapped his arms around you. Yes, you and yoongi are friends, but you’ve always felt some sort of tension, maybe it was just you that felt it? Yoongi was very attractive and it’s hard enough not to fall for his cold-like demeanor when you know that in reality, he’s just a sweetheart. Truth be told, you have a slight crush on him; you would never tell him of course. Your friendship is too important for that and you wouldn’t risk anything for it. You moved your hips back to find a comfortable position, when you heard yoongi groan.

“Yoongi? Are you okay? I’m not too heavy, am I?” You felt embarrassment wash over you, did he regret having you cuddle with him?

“No, that’s not it.” He mumbled.

About 30 minutes into the movie it started to get scarier. Suddenly, a jump scare scene came on and you, being surprised, moved back into yoongi. He then groaned again and grabbed your hips. Not understanding what was happening, you turned around to look at him.

“Are you oka-”

That sentence trailed off as you felt something poking from under you and your eyes went wide. “Y-yoongi?” You almost whispered, you could not believe that your best friend had a boner while you were basically sitting on his lap, your mouth went dry, you feel him. Gosh he’s so hard, you could actually feel him throbbing.

He bit his lip looking at you. “Yes, y/n?”

You became putty in his arms, what the fuck are you supposed to say? You felt your cheeks getting warm as you stuttered “Uh-um d-do you have um-”

“A boner?” He cut in - a deep chuckle escaped his lips seeing you clearly, not knowing how to handle the situation. “Yes, I do actually.” He places you off his lap and beside him on the couch. “I should probably go take care of that, huh?” He says pausing the movie. He’s actually been turned on since he got into your apartment, seeing you in those short-shorts just made him almost lose himself and having you sitting right on his crotch and moving everytime you would get scared just aggravated his dick even more. He always had some sort of attraction to you though, he would never admit it.

He slowly got up and made his way to the bathroom, before he could go any further you got up and grabbed his arm.

“I could- uh” not knowing what to say you held his arm feeling so small near him, but you wanted this - you wanted him.

“Help you…” you whispered lowly but still loud enough for him to hear you.

Yoongi was surprised to say the least, he’s always wanted something more with you but was too afraid to act on his feelings. You were so precious in his eyes, and now you were below him asking permission to help him with his dick made him not only made him feel butterflies in his stomach but also made his dick throb even more. “What?” Was all he could formulate while his mind was trying to keep up with what was happening right in front of him.

“I-I mean i-if you want… you know what - nevermind.”

You release your hand off his arm, feeling embarrassed. You felt so dumb - of course he didn’t want to. He sees you as a friend and now you've made things super awkward, all you could think about is how everytime you see him you’ll just think about the fact you were drooling over his dick and he rejected you.

“Y/n, could you… help me?”

He said, an octave deeper than usual. Wait what? Did you just hear that correctly? Did he just ask you to- before you could think anymore, yoongi grabbed your hand snapping you out of your daze and led you to your room - luckily he’s been here so many times that he knows where it is.

“Yoongi?” You asked in a small voice, closing the door to your room. “um ar- are you sure?” Yoongi answered almost immediately. “Yes, y/n. If I’m being honest this is something I’ve wanted for a while.” What? Is he being serious? He actually wanted this with you?

“Well, I’m glad that the feeling is mutual.” You said, never in a million years would you think the yoongi would feel the same way. Yoongi chuckled at your confession as well. Looking into your eyes his large hands find your waist.

“Oh, is it now?” He asked rhetorically while slowly sliding his hands up and down.

“Well actuall-”

Suddenly you were cut off.

Finally.

Finally, you felt his lips on yours. Oh how you’ve dreamt of this day, you can’t believe it’s actually happening.

His hands slid down your waist to pull you closer as you felt his tongue licking your bottom lip wanting more, but you refused wanting to tease him.

Big mistake.

He made a growl-like sound and nipped harshly at your lips, making you spill a light moan into his mouth, giving him access to what he wanted. Grabbing your waist he pushed you onto the wall as he made his hips be flush against yours. Now being flush against each other you can feel his suffocating cock pulsating against your core. Breaking the kiss you look up at him.

“Yoongi please, can we just-” He ignored you, dipping down to kiss down the side of your neck until reaching the juncture of your neck and collarbone and sucking harshly getting a whimper out of you, he then started licking the area of the bruise. “Fuck, yoongi just - please!” Yoongi started kissing back up your neck until reaching the shell of your ear.

“Just what hm? You want me to take you that fast after you've been teasing me all these years? Oh no babygirl. You’re going to have to wait, I want to take my time with you.”

You groaned out, “What? Yoongi, come on.” His hands reached under your shirt gripping the skin exposed.

“What is it? This pretty girl - my pretty girl is so eager for my cock, hm? Is that it?” You bucked your hips into his wanting to feel some pressure on your clit. “Please, please yoongi. I want you, I want to feel you please.” Yoongi groaned out at your begging and signaled you to put your arms up so that he could slip the shirt off you.

“You are so beautiful, y/n.” He said in the sincerest way as he traced his fingers up your stomach and stopped at your chest. “Can I?” He looked deep into your eyes as if you were the most fragile thing to him. “Yes yoongi, make me yours.” His eyes seemed to darken as he turned you around making you face the wall. He unclasped your bra as it hit the floor with a thud, immediately his hands found your breasts fondling them in the process causing you to gasp and lean your head back to his shoulder, arching against him.

He hummed, “does that feel good princess?” It felt better than good. His hands were so large and you felt so small compared to him, you loved it. He then pinched your left nipple causing you to cry out and grind against him. Yoongi suddenly stopped and spoke up,

“Look at my pretty girl grinding herself on my cock, you love this big cock don’t you baby?” He said moving his hands to your hips. “I bet you're dripping just thinking about me squeezing my cock into that small pussy of yours.” He said as he tapped your clothed clit.

“Yes, fuck please - c-can I suck you?” Yoongi felt himself throb just thinking about the sight of you, on your knees sucking him off.

“Babygirl wants to suck me off huh?”

Yoongi chuckled. “Turn around and get on your knees then.”

You quickly turn around, sinking your knees down on the floorboards, your hand reaches out to unbutton his pants and pull them to his ankles. You could already see how hard he was, you grab the top of his boxers and slowly pull them down. And oh was the sight absolutely blissful, you felt yourself drip being on your knees as he towers over you. Grabbing his shaft you slowly move your hand up and down, his precum already coating his dick. You place a kiss on his tip resulting in yoongi hissing. You finally stop with the teasing and take about him halfway when he bucks his hips making you choke.

“Oh I love that sound baby, can I do it again? Fuck myself in your mouth?”

You just nod trying to hollow your cheeks out to try and accommodate his girth. He held your head steady with his two large hands as he began moving his hips back and forth at a fast pace. This went on until you couldn't really breathe and your eyes became teary. His grunts got louder and you knew that he was getting close. Blinking your tears away you took him in further down your throat, sucking harder.

“Y-yes baby keep doing that, oh fuck you're gonna make me cum.”

He sight above was sinful, yoongi was above you with his head dipped back, sounds pouring out of his lips.

Yoongi was absolutely sinful.

And soon enough he pulled out of your throat cumming all over your chest. “Fuck babygirl what was-”

“Yoongi, please fuck me.” You say with a pout, rosey cheeks, and teary eyes, still kneeled on the floor.

“Well since my baby did such a good job-”

He picks you up bringing you to the bed, setting you down on the edge he makes his way to the middle of the bed removing his t-shirt in the process, leaning against the headboard he asks: “pretty girl, now what are you waiting for?”

You got the message: he wanted you to ride him.

You got up pulling your shorts down you went to straddle his waist, pulling your panties to the side you sink down on him. Oh did he fill you up deliciously.

“F-fuck” you murmured out, he felt so big inside you. It’s been a while since you have fucked anyone and the fact you didn’t prep yourself made you feel even tighter around him. Once you were used to his size you slowly got up about halfway and sunk back down, moaning out his name. “Shit babygirl, you’re fucking tight. Who fills up my pretty girl so good?” You began feeling your stomach twist and turn, “you yoongi, just you.” You gasp, moving faster on top of him feeling yourself gush around him. Yoongi hums, “that’s right baby. Hm? What pretty tits you have here baby.” Taking in one nipple in his mouth, sucking hard around it.” You moaned out, your legs began to burn making your pace slow down.

Yoongi noticing your change of pace, released your nipple and grabbed your shoulders pulling you towards him, his arms holding you as he lifted up his hips to pistol in and out of you. You were taken aback by his pace, you moaned loud, louder than you should have, you knew you were going to get a sound complaint but you could care less at this point. “Yoongi - oh my god.” You gasped in a high pitched voice, eyes rolling to the back of your head. “T-that feels so g-good, mm.” Your mouth hung open as you sat limp on top of him, you moved your hand to where your two bodies connect and rubbed circles around your clit almost falling over the edge.

“Aw, look at my baby using my cock to get off, are you going to cum pretty girl?” Yoongi asked in a teasing manner.

“Yes, fuck, fuck, I’m almost-” you were so close, he suddenly hit a spot inside you that made you cry out and clench around him. He groaned out as he felt you get tight around him, “I know baby just wait I’m almost there, hold it.” He kept hitting that soft spot inside you and you couldn't hold it anymore.

“Yoongi, yoongi! I c-can’t hold anymore - can I-I cum please.” Yoongi let go of your shoulders and grabbed your hips instead as he snapped his hips up into you, he used your hips to move down onto him.

“Yes, baby fuck-” He rang out as you clenched and unclenched around him, “you can cum, babygirl.” After a few more thrusts you came clenching hard, your head falling into the crook of his neck as you moaned into his ear. He kept going trying to find his climax, as you whined due to the oversensitivity.

He pulled out of you and came on the sheets and your lower half. You rolled off of him completely drained.

“Wow,” you breathe out, “I can't believe we just did that.”

There was silence before his voice was heard, “do you… regret it?” He says, sounding disappointed.

Your eyes nearly popped out.

“What? N-no I just- it wasn't what I expected for my Saturday night.” 

Where does that leave us? Friends with benefits? Friends that had a one-night stand? Does he want us to be more than friends? 

“But yoongi I don't regret any of it.” You say as you start to close your eyes.

“Hm, I was good wasn't I?”

Although your eyes were closed you can just imagine the smirk on his face.

“Oh my gosh.” You say, turning around away from him.

“Hey it was a joke!” He says pulling you to him so his chest was against your back. “Let me take you out on a date next time?” His breath tickling the backside of your neck. “Mm.” You mumble as you slowly begin to drift into sleep. He smiles at your state, getting up to your bathroom to grab a damp towel to clean you and himself up. He got the unclean sheets and put them in your laundry basket as he grabs his t-shirt that was discarded on the floor pulling it unto you as he wears his boxers and snuggles back into your body.

“We need to make bets more often.”

© kooksbliss - all rights reserved

[writer-k-pop]

ID Card - Part 3 (Final)

축하해요! Congratulations!” Description: Filming of the video with Ateez you were promised when you switched to YouTube full time under the management of KQ Entertainment. Warnings: None Genre: Fluff, Day in the Life Word Count: 3.2k

Ateez Masterlist | Masterlists

“Mingi! San!” Minhee yells as the two run around with lollipops in their hands. “Stop running!”

“Make me!” San screams back, laughing with glee.

I watch as Mingi almost runs into one of the camera stands. Jinho sticks out a hand and points him back towards where I’m setting up the chairs for our video. Four higher stools behind four regular chairs and my chair just off to the side.

“(y/n), what are we doing today?” Jongho sits down in one of the regular chairs like an innocent child.

“We,” I pause and think about how to phrase it, “Are doing hide and seek. And then, I think we’re getting snacks.” I peek over at Minhee who is nodding.

I take my seat and wait patiently for the rest of the members to join us.

“Are you nervous?” Wooyoung asks, taking the seat next to Jongho.

I shake my head, “Surprisingly no.”

As the rest file in, they take their desired seats. Yeosang is the last to arrive and Minhee rushes him to take the last seat. Jinho runs his hands through his hair and I stifle a laugh.

“What?” Jongho whispers, noticing my smile.

“Jinho’s probably wondering how he got here.” I explain the possible thoughts running through Jinho’s mind. “Something like ‘Do a video with Ateez, they said, it’ll be easy, they said.’”

Jongho glances at Jinho and breaks into a smile. “True.”

“Alright, are you ready, (y/n)?” Minhee asks, standing up from adjusting the camera.

I nod.

“Okay, you may start.” Minhee gestures us to move forward.

“Hello!” I begin happily, “Welcome to the first official contented video of my channel.” I throw my arms up. “KQ has graciously let me spend some time with Ateez today. Would you like to introduce yourselves?”

Hongjoong nods from the top row, “2, 3.”

“8 makes 1 team. Hi, we’re Ateez.” They all state in unison, hands waving and smiles present.

“Yes, welcome, welcome.” I turn slightly more towards them.

“(y/n),” San raises his hand from his seat in between Yunho and Wooyoung in the front row, “What are we going to do today?”

“Today, we’re going to play hide and seek.” I explain.

“In this room?” Wooyoung exclaims, “There’s not enough room!”

“I got permission to use essentially the first few floors of the building.” I finish explaining. “We will each have a camera so my team can keep track of us.”

“Can we do that?” Seonghwa asks, eyes wide.

“Do what?” I question.

“Can we use other floors?” Seonghwa clarifies.

“Hyung,” Jongho turns around, “We got permission and (y/n)’s a pro at hiding what needs to hidden.”

“Yeah, she had us fooled for at least a year.” Mingi further pushes. “If anyone would get permission from the company, it would be (y/n).”

“Thank you, Mingi.” I laugh.

“Who’s going to be it first?” Wooyoung asks the important question.

“How about rock, paper, scissors, and whoever loses is the tagger.” Yunho suggests.

“Yes!” San agrees and stands up, ready to play the game.

“Okay,” I stand up, fist already balled, “Rock, paper, scissors. Loser tags.”

Seonghwa, Mingi, Hongjoong, and Yeosang move to form a better semicircle so the cameras can see how the choosing plays out.

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.” I count off and play paper. Seonghwa, Mingi, and Jongho also play paper. Yeosang, Yunho, Wooyoung, Hongjoong, and San all play rock.

With shouts of glee, the paper players pull our hands out of the ring. Mingi and Jongho step away and are already discussing where they should hide. I stay near the group to see the outcome of the game. This is my video after all.

After an intense three rounds, San is finally defeated by a wall of scissors that are no match for his paper.

“San is the tagger!” Yunho exclaims with glee as San sinks to his knees.

“My hand betrayed me.” San whines and Seonghwa rubs his back.

“We’ll have a few more rounds.” I comfort San as Jinho hands out the cameras and walkie talkies.

“What do we do if we get found?” Wooyoung wonders, already fiddling with his camera.

“You can stay with the tagger or come back here.” I explain, “Just make sure you let us know if you’ve been found and if you’re going back here.”

They all nod and San follows Minhee’s instructions to sit down in the center of the room.

“San, count to 30 and then Minhee’s going to give you a question. When you get the correct answer, you can come find us.” Jinho explains as the rest of us near the door.

“I have to answer a question?” San repeats, turning towards me. “You never said that, (y/n).”

“I got tricks of my sleeve.” I shrug.

San turns around and begins to count, signaling to the rest of us that we need to move.

Mingi, Yunho, and Wooyoung go running down the halls, laughing and trying to be quiet but not succeeding very well.

“Remember to point your cameras correctly!” I remind them as they disappear around a corner.

Raising my camera, I quickly walk down the hall with Seonghwa next to me. Hongjoong, Jongho, and Yeosang disappeared in separate directions.

“Where are you going to hide?” I ask Seonghwa as we reach the top stair.

Seonghwa shrugs, “I don’t know yet. Do you know where you’re hiding?”

“I think I might hide somewhere in the vocal rooms.” I tell him.

“Shouldn’t we hurry up?” Seonghwa questions, peering over his shoulder.

I shake my head, “I made sure the question would take us a few minutes.”

“San’s really smart, though.” Seonghwa argues as he continues to follow me towards the vocal rooms.

“So is my manager.” I counter, “Took her five minutes.”

Seonghwa’s eyes widen and he nods in defeat.

“Are you going to hide with me?” I inquire when we’ve reached my predetermined spot.

“YA YUNHO!” San’s scream crackles through both of our walkie talkies, “I SAW YOU. STOP RUNNING.”

“You didn’t see me!” Yunho’s laughing voice answers.

“I told you San’s smart.” Seonghwa smirks.

Rolling my eyes, I push the door open, “Get in. He’s going to find us.”

Seonghwa obediently walks into the room and I close the door after him. A couch sits against the adjacent wall and I start to push the couch out to hide behind. Seonghwa assists me and when it’s a sufficient distance away from the wall, we both crouch behind it.

“Turn down your walkie talkie volume a little.” I whisper to him while turning my volume down.

Seonghwa nods and does the same.

“I got caught.” Yunho announces over the walkies. “I’m going back to the room. San chased me literally around the whole building.”

“If you didn’t run, I wouldn’t have had to chase you!” San retorts. “Also, (y/n), what kind of question was that?”

As I’m about to answer, I hear an echo of his voice in our hall. Seonghwa and I both move to turn our volumes all the way down.

“It wasn’t even one question, everybody.” San’s voice grows in volume, “It was a whole page! A whole quiz!”

“San,” Yunho’s sounds through San’s walkie talkie as he passes right by our door, “I’m looking at the sheet right now, it’s not that hard.”

“It’s not, but she said it was just one question.” San whines, his voice growing faint.

Hongjoong laughs as I turn up my volume slightly, “She’s trick-AH!” He screams as San finds him.

“I caught Hongjoong hyung!” San’s voice exudes happiness. I giggle at how close Hongjoong was to us.

“How long do you think until we’ll be found?” Seonghwa wonders.

“We could win.” I shrug, “San literally just passed our door.” I say to the camera, “There’s no way he’d come back.”

“I already checked over here.” San explains, right outside our door. Seonghwa and I immediately press our lips together.

Hongjoong mutters something, arguing with San.

“Look.” San swings the door open. Seonghwa and I reactively duck lower even though the couch already covers us. “No one’s in- who put that couch like that?”

A second of silence and the next, San pops over the top of the couch.

“Found you!” He smiles happily.

“We found Seonghwa and (y/n).” Hongjoong announces over the walkies.

“Hyung, why did you hide together?” San interrogates him.

Seonghwa shrugs, “You were already done with the quiz when we got here and I didn’t have any time to hide any where else.”

“I thought for sure we weren’t going to be found until later.” I high-five San.

“Next time, be quieter when you’re finding your hiding spot.” Hongjoong suggests with sass.

“You snitch.” I joke. “I’m going back to the room.” I announce over the walkie and walk out of the room.

“I’m going to.” Seonghwa announces as well.

“You’ll never find me, Choi San.” Mingi teases over the walkie and San is out of the room in two seconds with Hongjoong following him.

As we make our way back down to the practice room, I ask Seonghwa random questions.

“Who do you think is going to be found next?” I raise the camera to try and capture his face as well as mine.

“Mm, Mingi, most probably.” Seonghwa answers thoughtfully. “The boy is really clumsy. He’ll think he be doing a really cool thing and then get himself caught. But Yoesang, we may never see him again.” He finishes with his winner choice.

“Is he that good?” I ask, shocked.

Seonghwa nods, “I’m pretty sure if we left him unattended, we’d wouldn’t see him for days at a time. Yeosang knows how to hide.”

“Interesting.” I nod, “Well, I hope San can find him.”

We reach the practice room and are welcomed with the sight of Yunho spinning in a circle with the camera, repeatedly calling ATINY.

“You’re going to make me dizzy when I have to edit this.” I laugh at Yunho.

“I can’t believe you guys got found.” Yunho says incredibly. “We learned something today, everyone,” Yunho points to his camera, “(y/n) sucks at hiding.”

“She can hide everything but herself.” Seonghwa jokes, pulling a laugh out of us.

“I found Jongho.” San announces.

Minhee and Jinho are behind the monitors with each our camera feeds on it.

“Yeosang, you can’t go there.” Minhee watches the monitor closely.

“You can see me?” Yeosang questions immediately.

“Did you think we were going to let you roam completely free in the building?” I challenge.

“Touche.” Yeosang answers.

“I have been found.” Yeosang announces with the flattest voice not 30 seconds later. The room erupts in laughter and we can barely hear Yeosang’s voice informing us that he’s on his way back to the room.

Jongho enters the room followed by Yeosang.

“Where were you hiding Jongho?” I ask him.

“In the cafe.” Jongho answers, then explains further, “I was pretending to be a worker.”

I open my mouth in understanding.

“I wonder who’s going to be found last.” Yunho wonders excitedly.

“Well, Seonghwa thought it was going to Yeosang for sure.” I nod towards him, “But considering that fell through, it’s down to Wooyoung and Mingi.”

“My bets on Wooyoung.” Jongho raises his hand.

“I found Mingi.” San informs us, followed by Mingi’s voice.

“I had to sneeze!” He whines.

I laugh and Jongho raises his arms in victory.

“Wooyoung, it is!” Jongho exclaims happily.

“Wooyoung, you won.” Minhee announces over the walkie talkies, “Come back to the room please.”

“Okay.” San replies.

A few minutes later, San walks in with Hongjoong and a still pouting Mingi.

“I can’t believe I had to sneeze at that exact moment.” He mumbles.

“Where’s Wooyoung?” I look towards the door, expecting it to open again.

“I don’t know…” Hongjoong slowly realizes that Wooyoung is still missing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the pile of equipment bags begin to move and out pops Wooyoung.

“Right here!” Wooyoung yells happily. San’s jaw drops and nearly hits the floor.

“Ya, ya, ya. You were there?” San points at Wooyoung, “Right there? The whole time? Ya.”

I cover my mouth in shock but the giggles erupt along side my shock.

“It was good, wasn’t it?” Wooyoung proudly puffs out his chest, “I was smart, right (y/n)?”

I nod and high-five him, “Yeah that was really good.”

“I didn’t know you were that good.” Jongho laughs as San tries to tackle Wooyoung to the ground.

“You, you.” San mumbles, playfully hitting Wooyoung’s shoulder. “Wah, I can’t believe you were right there.”

“Alright,” I call the attention back to me, “Who’s ready for round two? This time, it’s timed and the winner or winners get cupcakes.”

“And (y/n)’s it!” Wooyoung quickly adds in.

I move my head in surprise, “Who said I was it?” I question.

Seonghwa shares a glance with Hongjoong before answering, “It is your channel after all.”

I sigh in defeat, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“How many minutes do we have?” Hongjoong asks, looking towards Minhee.

“20 minutes.” Minhee announces. “And it starts when (y/n) is done with counting and the quiz.

We all nod in understanding and the members pick up their cameras again.

I sit myself in the middle of the room, shut my eyes, and begin to count till 30. When I open my eyes, I immediately find Seonghwa sitting against the mirrored wall, patiently waiting for me.

“Seonghwa?” I question, “Aren’t you supposed to be hiding?”

Seonghwa shrugs shyly, “I liked being a team earlier.”

I nod and look to Minhee for the quiz.

“Just wait a few minutes.” Minhee bypasses the quiz.

“What’s your next video going to be?” Seonghwa asks, leaning forward.

I cock my head to side in thought, “Not sure yet. probably some ‘get to know me’ video or something.”

Seonghwa nods, “That’d be interesting.”

“Hey,” I remember something, “Thanks for the advice the other week. It really helped.”

Seonghwa gets shy and averts his gaze elsewhere, “No problem. I’m glad I could help you. Plus, now we get to this.” He gestures to the room.

I smile, “Yeah, we wouldn’t be running around the company looking for your members otherwise.” I joke and pull a chuckle from him.

“You can go find them now.” Minhee waves us out of the room,  then picks up the walkie. “Your 20 minutes starts now.”

“Come an get us, (y/n)!” Mingi taunts.

“You’ll never find me!” Yunho adds.

“Just watch me.” I answer them. Making my way out of the practice room, I wonder where I should start first.

“We should work top to bottom, right?” I wonder out loud.

Seonghwa nods, “That sounds like a sound plan to me.” I nod and we head for the elevator to take us up two floors.

Scouring the entire top floor, I’m left empty handed.

“Where are they?” I look behind another couch. “Did none of them come up here?”

“It’s possible.” Seonghwa shrugs, moving a pillow as if a member would be hiding under there.

“You know, you’re really not helping.” I sass him.

“I’m not ’it’.” He throws back.

I pout at him and move onto the next floor.

“Half time.” Minhee announces as we reach the second floor.

“Have you found anyone, (y/n)?” Jongho wonders.

“No, you guys are really good at hiding. What even.” I answer him.

Jongho giggles, “Good luck.”

I run a hand through my hair and continue to look through rooms and around corners.

As Seonghwa and I reach the bottom floor, Minhee informs us that the timer has run out.

I scratch my head as we head back to the practice room. “How did they all win? Where were they even hiding?”

I push open the door and jump back in surprise as streamers and kazoos bombard my senses. Seonghwa gently puts a hand on my back to keep me from falling backwards.

“Wh-what is this?” I ask, walking into the room, staring at the table covered in treats and a cake.

“It’s a celebration!” San smiles widely.

“For what?” I ask, walking to read the top of the cake.

“Congrats on your YouTube debut!” The icing on the cake reads.

I laugh when I realize they must’ve planned this. “It wasn’t a debut.”

“Technically it is.” Wooyoung argues, “You just switched to full time YouTube, so it’s a debut!”

I smile at their thoughtfulness. “Thank you guys.” i thank them and give San and Jongho a hug. “When did you guys plan this?”

“A week ago, when our manager told us.” Hongjoong smiles proudly as Seonghwa cuts into the cake.

“You guys are too sweet.” I smile and pass a piece of candy into San’s waiting hand.

“I mean, you did a lot for us and we really liked working with you.” Mingi states, “We wanted to do something special for you.”

I jut out my bottom lip, “Stop, you’re going to make me cry.” I look up to the ceiling.

“Don’t cry!” San rushes to my side, “You’re going to make me cry if you cry!”

I laugh and compose myself as Seonghwa begins plating pieces of cake.

As each member gets a piece, they head back to their original seats. I’m handed my piece last and Seonghwa and I take our seats.

“How was today?” I ask them, cutting off a piece.

San nods wildly.

“So much fun.” Wooyoung answers.

“Ya, we should do more stuff with her if we get to run around the company building.” Mingi suggests.

I laugh, “I think this was a one time thing.”

“Maybe if we ask the CEO really nicely.” Jongho suggests, emphasizing ‘really.’

“Maybe.” I repeat with a smile. “Well, it was really fun playing with you guys today and thank you again for the cake.”

I turn towards the main camera, “See you next time!”

“Bye!” The members wave and San goes running towards the camera.

“This cake is really good.” I compliment when Minhee gives the all good. “Where did you guys get it?”

“The new cake shop a couple streets over.” Yeosang answers. “It opened like a month ago, I think.”

“When will the video come out?” Wooyoung asks, “I really want to see where Yunho was hiding.”

“Or you just want to see yourself win.” Yunho laughs at Wooyoung.

“Uh, I think we’re putting it out next week sometime?” I look to Minhee and Jinho for a definite answer.

“Next week.” Minhee nods.

“Oh, I can’t wait!” San says happily.

Their manager then stands up and starts to pick up his things.

“Do we have to go already?” Hongjoong asks and their manager nods.

San pouts, “I don’t want to though.”

“Neither do I.” Seonghwa adds.

“We have a schedule to keep.” Their manager says apologetically. “I’ll see what I can do about maybe letting you guys do another video sometime soon.”

I nod, “That’d be fun.”

The members pack up their things with chatter about what to do in the next video. I give each of them a hug before they go.

Waving to them as they leave, I call out to Seonghwa, “Hey, text me later?” I ask.

Seonghwa’s cheeks instantly turn pink and the other members look confused between the two of us. Apparently, Seonghwa hadn’t told the members that we exchanged phone numbers… oops.

[malcolmwhitly-bright]

Yours, Mine...Ours

Chapter One: Uh-Oh

The cold blows harshly through New York City. It’s nipping temperature lowering steadily while the sun hides behind the thick clouds in the sky. A strong breeze sweeps through the city as Dani steps out of her apartment. It picks her thick curls off her shoulders. A single curl gets caught on her eyelash, a mild spike of painful itching distracting her from her mission. She’s frustrated, her nerves grated to their raw ends. She suspects that aggravation is not going to end soon.

“Detective,” Manuel greets from behind the counter. He spares her a hasty glance before looking back down at the textbook he has on the counter. She has known Manuel since the first week she moved into her apartment. Manuel’s father owns the convenience store as it was passed down from his father to him. Now, Manuel’s father hopes to pass it down to Manuel. Only, Manuel wants to be a teacher. Still, he spends every night, four p.m. to twelve a.m., working the shop. He hates it but his father means more to him than spending the weekend terrorizing the neighborhood with his friends.

Dani needs one thing. Masterfully, she glides along the aisles. She gets a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, brownie bits because it’s been a long and bad day. She deserves the brownie to ice cream ratio. That and, hopefully, Manuel will look over what she’s really here for. 

Pregnancy tests.

Manuel’s hand hovers over the box, his eyes glancing up at her. A silent, quick judgment on how far he can push her on the matter at hand. The matter <i>under</i> his hand. “You good,” he asks, placing both items in the same bag. He hadn’t seen Dani in some time but he knew well enough that she hadn’t been with anyone, seriously, since Estime. Unless, of course, the brownie bits Ben & Jerry’s counts. She’s always had a stable relationship there but it’s a bit one-sided.

Dani sighs heavily and wonders if she should unload her stresses on a seventeen-year-old with enough on his plate. She glances down at his textbook, math problems cover the waxy pages. Nodding, she retrieves the bag from the counter. “I’m good. Are you though? That looks pretty complex.” She motions to the textbook and Manuel’s eyes squint.

He nods, his mind no longer wrapped up on the pregnancy test. “It’s calculus,” he explains with a sigh. The low light of the shop enhancing the bags under their eyes, the tired bloodshot scleras. “It’s driving me crazy,” he adds, frowning down at the textbook. “I’ve got a test tomorrow.”

Dani hums, shaking her head. She doesn’t miss high school. “I’ll leave you to that.” He smiles at her and she feels his eyes on her as she leaves. As she climbs the stairs back to her apartment, she realizes she’s got a test too and for the first time in her life she’s not sure if she wants to pass it or not.

----------------

She locks her apartment door behind her. Stopping only at the refrigerator to collect a half-finished Gatorade. It had been in the fridge for… well, she’s not sure but she’s hoping it’ll speed this process on rather quickly. 

One line.

She holds the test in one hand, head tilted. “Oh,” she chuckles, but deep down this doesn’t feel right. It feels too easy. “That’s too good to be true.” So, in pajamas, she goes back down to the corner. She buys more tests and more Gatorade, Manuel doesn’t comment. 

“This better work.” She pees on her hand a little and it’s disgusting. Then she thinks about a baby. The amount of pee and poop she’s going to get all over her hands if she’s pregnant. Five minutes pass and two lines show up. She throws the test against the wall. It breaks in half with a satisfying crack.

With her knees drawn to her chest, she sobs into her knees. She loses track of time before she stands back up. Pulling her hair into a loose bun, she drinks another Gatorade, preparing for another test.

Just to be sure.

----------------

“These are probably better,”  Manuel holds up a bottle of prenatal vitamins. They’re pink, unlike the blue bottle Dani is reading the back of. “I did… some research.” The comment slips right past Dani, she’s caught up more in why there are so many options. She takes the bottle from Manuel and puts in her little basket. “Have you gone to the doctor yet,” he asks.

She frowns, she’d read some blogs. Mostly, she’s looked at corporate women in business breaking down how to hide a baby bump in each trimester. She hadn’t thought about the doctors yet, not once. She can’t help the blush that creeps up her cheeks,” uh no.”

Manuel frowns but doesn’t say anything. 

“So, how’d that test go?” He steps out of the way and allows her better access to the end of the aisle. She needs to pick up healthier snacks, things to keep the babu healthy and a few of the extra ‘baby pounds’ off. 

Manuel grins at her,” about as well as yours.” She ignores his comment and he fills her in. “I got an A- but considering the class is mostly self-taught, I’m counting it as a win.” His proud little smirk melts her heart and she wonders how she’s going to pass the next few months with raging hormones. “How are… your things?”

She elects to ignore his little in tone, the inclination that he’s talking about any one of the hundred problems she has right now. Especially, the ones she told him about while tipsy on box wine three months ago. More so, the one growing in her right now. “I’m fine, Manuel.” Except she’s not. She isn’t going to tell him that though. “Ring me up?”

He looks defeat, probably hoping those raging hormones would loosen her tongue a bit. No such luck.

“Be good,” she says as she leaves him. She rolls her eyes towards the sky, what a little shit.

----------------

“You okay?” The small tilt of Malcolm’s head gives away that he already knows the right answer. His eyes are stupidly blue and full of compassion and genuine interest. It makes her stomach tie itself into tight little knots. Her chest feeling cracked, nearly broken as her heart races. “You don’t look like you feel well,” he adds.

She doesn’t feel good. Her mother called last night and that call ended in mutual tears and a frustrated goodbye. There’s a box of positive pregnancy tests in her bathroom. Estime won’t pick up her calls and now Malcolm… Well, he’s looking at her with those stupidly, adorable blue eyes all concerned and caring and it’s not helping. “It’s been,” she considers lying. Then she remembers that little head tilt and knows there’s no point. “I’m exhausted and this case isn’t helping.”

He sighs in agreeance, settling himself on the edge of her desk. “Wanna talk about,” he offers but it’s like bait. He’s luring her in, even if he is genuinely interested. A part of her does want to tell him. To unload all this weight she’s carrying but she hasn’t even told her mother about the baby yet. If anything, her mother and JT should know before Malcolm does. 

Right?

She pulls herself to her feet, stuffing her paperwork back into its manilla folder. She glances at him only once, knowing her mouth will come unglued if she looks too long or spares a second glance. Those blue eyes will get to her. Remind her that he cares, that he’s more than willing to let her air her dirty laundry. Why does he have to be so damn charming?

“You okay?” He seems to be asking her that a lot lately. 

“I’ll be right back,” her tight smile doesn’t bid well with him. It… it isn’t right. Dani’s smile makes the skin around her eyes lift and crinkle. It’s contagious to everyone in the room. The corner of the right side of her face always lifts a little higher than the left, crooked. This smile was forced, it wasn’t real.

She comes back from the bathroom ten minutes later. Malcolm notices how ginger she is with her stomach, a hand half raised to protect it. His mind races to fill in the problem, the anxiety and concern eating his own stomach away. She’s not okay and she’s lying. Dani never lies, at least not to him. It’s like, around him, she says every thought that happens to cross her mind. She leans into him, his touches. Of late, she’s silent and avoidant. 

Has he done something?

“She was twenty-four,” Edrisa hands them the paperwork. The killer had brutally torn apart a young woman, defiling her in such a way that made her unrecognizable. Leaving Edrisa to put her back together and take hair follicles to give their young victim a name. “Her name was Samantha Hinegrad,” Edrisa hands Gil a picture so he can pin it to their board. “She was a mother of two.”

The sudden paleness of Dani’s features all makes sense. The wrist she keeps pressed to her lower stomach, the long bathroom breaks, and the near gag at lunch when JT reheated eggs. “You’re pregnant,” the words leave his mouth softly. It’s still an accusation and they all know who at. 

All eyes turn to Dani, her paler getting suddenly worse. “W-What?” 

They both stutter. JT’s face is a cloud of mixed emotion, aggravation and confusion. It makes Malcolm uneasy, suddenly thrown off. It does the same to Dani. She stands too quickly, her stomach hurting and she knows another bout of morning sickness is washing over her.

She’s hurt, too. Naive hope had left her to believe she could do this on her own. She could keep it her little secret. It would be easy, she coached herself each morning. Just as easy as getting knocked up in the first place. Then, she had to put up her tighter fitting t-shirts, a perfect little bump protruding from her favorite. Each week, was a little harder than the one before. 

Then there was the morning sickness. That was new to this week and whoever dubbed it ‘morning’ sickness was a cruel, mistaken bastard. 

Her chair falls over as she rushes to the bathroom. She falls to her knees, hard. Nothing comes up because she hasn’t eaten since this morning. She threw up what little of the bagel she could get down. Miserable, she leans against the toilet. Letting the cool porcelain touch the bare skin where her shirt has risen up.

“Here,” warmth. Something warm is pressed into her palm and she realizes its a heating pad. A hand eases it’s way around her torso, pressing it to her stomach. The room smells of Irish Spring and fruit. Malcolm. “Have you eaten?” She allows him to pull her away from the toilet, leaning back against his boney chest instead. She shakes her head. 

He hums thoughtfully. His sensitive stomach finally coming in handy for something. “Let’s get you off the floor, yeah?” He eases her up, bearing her weight as her knees tremble underneath her. “How about some Gatorade and saltines?”

She nods her head, resigning herself to being taken care of. 

“You okay?” Gil and JT are waiting just outside the doors. She wonders if they fought over who would come in to check on her. When neither step forward to peel her away from Malcolm’s side, she has her answer. 

Malcolm mumbles something but her attention is split. She only feels the deep rattle of his voice in his chest. “Alright,” he leads her to her chair not moving away until she’s completely settled. “Saltines and Gatorade, you need or want anything else?”

 As he looks at her, crouched down on his knees she has to force her tears at bay. She can’t do this alone, she realizes. She doesn’t have to either. Malcolm smiles at her as he rises back to his feet, heading for his coat to head out into the cold, for her. JT and Gil keep nearby too, sparing her glances and small smiles. 

She’s got a family. Her baby will have one too. 

(When you could have posted this nearly three hours ago but instead have a tiny meltdown because you retook the Myers Briggs and went from an ENTP to an ENFP)

[feelingsinwinter]

Priests and Demons

Asked by Anonymous:

WinterIron + 21- Priests and Demons

Tony was definitely not your usual priest. Hands deep into the guts of a car or covered in grease and motor oil, more used to subdue assholes in a boardroom rather than taking care of demons on a daily basis. His best weapons were his snark and his smarts, he also knew how to handle himself in a fight and thought he was quite good at it, actually.

Not so much used to deal with malicious spirits or face the bone deep chill that came with them. Package deal.

Apparently, pissing off his father and winning a dare from Rhodey by taking on a Master of Divinity degree just out of spite made you the closest priest available in this corner of the world. There were plenty of priests to bother around but trust his luck to fuck up with him at the slightest chance.

Honestly, he’d completely forgotten about it until things started to happen.

It wasn’t much at the beginning.

Some chills running down his spine as he was washing his hands from grease, trying to get what was under his nails all the while knowing it was hopeless. The hair on the back of his neck, standing up on end as he was mixing fruits for one of his smoothies. Goosebumps all over his body while taking a hot shower and trying to get his muscles to relax after spending too much time bent over a workbench. An uneasy feeling in his guts when talking with someone.

It was small things at first and not very often, each one of those reaction spaced by hours, sometimes days in between. Then it started to get closer and stronger.

The faint feeling of being watched increased until he could sometimes feel something ghosting over his skin. Fingers trailing lately down his cheek. Harmless touches but not less frightening.

The idea of going crazy and seeking out someone to make a diagnostic made his way to him despite his well known dislike for doctors.

But then he realized some things were actually… useful, in their own way. Sometimes the petting shifted into poking, fingers digging in his ribs and making him turn around and spot a paparazzo trailing after him, looking for the next story to put on the first page.

After that, Tony started paying attention.

The spooky feeling never left, his guts kept churning and his hair stood up on end still but the instinctive fear was easy to push aside. It always has been, would always be.

[beware the reading more]

***

“You don’t understand,” he said over his diner, looking at Rhodey with a frown. “There’s something following me around but it’s not… bad, per se, not really,” he trailed off, looking down at his dish without seeing it.

Feelings had kept creeping up on him, fear was always there, stinging and wrapping him in a sense of dread. The feather like touches, though, came along and Tony wasn’t sure he hated it. Not entirely. They stayed in somewhat innocent places. The back of his neck, his cheeks, his forehead, his hands or his arms. Nowhere else. Never. It always felt like a sweet gesture and always happened when Tony was doing something entirely banal. Making himself waffles or coffee, working in the workshop. It never happened when he was manipulating something dangerous, it only distracted him when he was trying to figure out something. In one occasion and as he was chilling in front of the TV, it felt like someone had sit down with him. Some line of heat and ghosted touch against his side, from his leg to his shoulder.

“You sure you’re not drinking too much coffee?” Rhodey asked, holding a fry and looking at his friend with a mix of concern and scepticism.

“Might be,” Tony admitted with a half shrug. Too much coffee could actually lead him down a dangerous slope of anxiety and jittery but Tony was sure he had kept his coffee consumption to an acceptable level. Well, by his standards anyway.

He was sure coffee wasn’t responsible for it though.

He stiffened as he reached for his glass of coke and  the hair on the back of his neck stood up on end. Tony felt himself blanched, the fear creeping up higher and his hand shook as he wrapped his fingers around the glass.

“What about,” Rhodey said, putting his hand over the rim of the glass, “I drink the coke and you take my glass of water?”

Tony nodded numbly, conscious of the ghost weight of hands settling down on his shoulders. There was an unusual feeling of resentment coming off of them but nothing directed at him.

For the first time, Tony felt a new kind of fear and this time, he wasn’t worried about himself. He was worried about his friends and what would happen to them if the thing took offense of whatever they might said.

The unending pit of violence he could feel, radiating heat right up against his back, made him reconsider his decisions.

***

The thought hadn’t left him.

Actually, the fear the Thing kept bringing up when it appeared started to have two faces. The first one was only the instinctual reaction to it, the one Tony had felt since it all started. The second one, however, came from the concern he felt about one of his friends being hurt, one way or another, because of the Thing.

It increased when the heat of anger knew new highs after Pepper had threatened him - good-heartedly - to lock him up in his office if it meant he actually signed the damn papers he was meant to sign. It was nothing out of the ordinary, Tony had stopped counting the times she threatened him of locking him up for that exact reason, but it was the first time she did it since the Thing had appeared.

The pit of violence grew in size, in darkness and in intensity. Along with the fear it brought up in Tony.

Pepper kissed him on the cheek and left and Tony stood in the middle of his living-room, facing a situation he had never faced. The Thing had disappeared as soon as Pepper had, although not before Tony felt a heat of a rarely felt intensity when she kissed him on the cheek.

“Alright,” he said, hoping it was still around despite not feeling it. “I think it’s time we have a talk. Are you even here?”

Usually, it didn’t need much prompting and any sign of any kind would get a reaction but, this time, Tony didn’t get any.

“Great, like anybody else - including myself - as soon as the “we need to talk” pops out, there’s nobody left to talk to.”

***

“Sir,” JARVIS said, pulling up a screen on the side of the workbench Tony was working on, showing a man standing at the fence and looking up at the camera. “I believe someone is asking permission to enter the premises.”

Tony frowned, staring intensely at the figure standing near the fence, awkwardly shuffling on their feet. He wasn’t the usual visitor, that much was obvious. Wearing a hoodie a size too big, shapeless jeans and the man had his hair pulled up on a messy bun and a few days old beard that did nothing to improve the hobo look. Although, to be fair, the messy bun made it better.

His finger hovered over the key to open a vocal channel with the stranger. Tony glanced at his half-finished project on which he had been working non-stop for the last hours. A bit of walk and some fresh air might do him some good, he thought with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you detect any trace of weapons?”

“Nothing metallic,” JARVIS answered after a beat.

“Very well, tell him to wait a minute, I’m coming up.”

JARVIS didn’t answer but the figure on the screen startled as JARVIS’ voice came through the speakers, advertising him to stay put. The man nodded numbly and Tony made his way out of the workshop.

He reached the fence while still holding a rag and cleaning his hands covered in grease, oil and some scraps where the metal had cut him with it. None of the cuts were too deep but they stills stung especially since Tony didn’t have his project to keep himself busy and thinking anymore, there was nothing to distract him from the pain and exhaustion.

Except, once he got closer, the actual man standing behind the fence. Whoever the man was, he rocked the hobo look like nobody else Tony had ever met. The camera also didn’t do justice to his eyes, making them a bland, faded grey. They were, however, the most interesting shade of grey and blue mixed together. Like a cloudy morning where the sky couldn’t choose between the bright and hopeful blue of a brand new day, and the threatening grey of a good raining.

Also, Tony had missed the dark circles under the man’s eyes that could rival with Tony’s, which was no small feat.

To be fair, aside from the wide eyes and awkward shifting, the man mostly looked exhausted. It went beyond words. His hands were shaking from time to time and he kept clenching and unclenching them, his thumbs rubbing the side of his index finger. That’s when Tony noticed the metal hand. The too big hoodie’s sleeves covered half of his hands, almost entirely hiding the shimmering fingers.

When he noticed his staring, the man blanched and quickly hid his hands behind his back, instinctively adopting the parade rest.

Military, Tony thought as he got closer, a greeting on the tip of his tongue. That’s when he felt it.

The feather like touch of a ghost along his arm, fingers feeling like they twined with his own as the Thing plastered itself against Tony’s back. The man startled, his head whipping toward him, eyes wide as plates and skin as white as a sheet.

“It’s you!”

A bone deep shiver ran along his skin as he felt himself go pale too.

“No! I mean, yes,” the man quickly said, giving up his parade rest posture to get closer to the fence, hands up in a calming gesture. “I came here to explain,” he rushed to explain, looking desperate, “took me time to figure out where he went. And to gather the courage to get here,” he mumbled with a frown and a forlorn glance toward Tony’s house.

Unable to help himself, Tony looked over his shoulder, up along the admittedly long path to his house. To be fair, the thing had been built despite everyone telling him it was a spot where nobody or nothing could be build. Tony had proved them wrong and his Malibu house was a wonder of modern architecture. The walk to the fence had taken him quite some time but it had given him the time to clear his thoughts and stretch his legs and back.

With an acknowledging tip of his head, accepting the point the man had just made, Tony turned back toward him. The Thing was still stuck on him and it felt like he was being huggled by a ice bucket ghost.

It felt weirdly nice, on a way.

The Thing had disappeared for the last three days and Tony had felt more alone that he had in a long time. Which was not nice.

“Alright,” he agreed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking straight at him. “Explain.”

“Here?” the man exclaimed, looking around as if seeing the premises for the first time and hadn’t been standing there for a while now.

“His name is James Buchanan Barnes,” JARVIS informed him in his com. “Former military, rank : Sergeant. Honorably discharged a year ago, following a severe injury to his left arm and the left side of his torso.”

“Well, you can’t expect of me to invite someone I don’t know inside and hope for the best, can you?” He hoped JARVIS would get the message through but he really shouldn’t have worried.

“Some records about violence in bars, mostly in someone else’s behalf. Rewarded sniper among other skills, including gathering of intelligence. Lieutenant Barnes doesn’t have the profile of a murderer but there is a sudden lack of informations from three months ago. Sergeant Barnes reappeared two months ago.”

Along with the ghost that had taken on pursuing Tony ever since Tony thought with a frown.

“Well, I guess you got a point,” Barnes conceded with a nod, his words covered by JARVIS’ dump of informations. He looked around again, shoulders rounded up to his shoulders and he got closer to the fence. He opened his mouth but found himself lost for words, his eyes trained to the ground.

Tony was the one with what might be a ghost plastered against his back but James Buchanan Barnes looked more haunted than Tony felt.

Tony sighed and lightly kicked the fence, effectively drawing Barnes’ gaze back up to him. He jerked his head toward the house :

“You can dump the kicked-puppy look, I’m surrendering, you have the right to came in.”

Barnes blinked, dumb-founded, his eyes going from Tony to the house, nestled in the background.

“JARVIS, open the gate if you please.”

“Very well, sir,” came from the gates’ speakers and Barnes startled.

Apparently all too aware of Tony’s games, the Thing pinched him in the side. Barnes looked at him, his eyes trailing down to where the faintest of pain kept pulsing ever so slightly. They traded a glance through the fence before the man finally made a move. He entered the premises slowly, taking his sweet time as if he was expecting someone or something to jump him as soon as he crossed the threshold.

“What happened to the “not letting strangers in”?” Barnes asked, eying him with a frown.

“I had JARVIS make some research, you came out clean.”

Holding himself carefully, Barnes raised his eyebrows at Tony before glancing toward the gates’ speakers. Tony smiled sweetly and gestured for Barnes to follow him.

***

James Buchanan Barnes called “Bucky” by his friends - what kind of friends were they exactly? - was in dire need of a hot cocoa, a blanket and then a bed to sleep for the next decade or so. He looked exhausted and, while he actually made the way up to the house without complaining, the way his shoulders were hunched and his steps dragged, he was bone deep exhausted. His eyes, circled with black, were of an amazing blue-grey color but they were dimmed by what Tony guessed were sleepless nights. And not of the nice kind.

Once they entered the house, Tony invited him to sit on the couch, which Bucky did with a deep sigh, and offered him something to eat or drink. James refused both, even though he looked tempted, probably too eager to be done with what seemed to be a difficult discussion.

That Tony had to be a part of said conversation wasn’t making him feel any better, to be entirely honest.

Once he had washed his hands and made himself some coffee, Tony pushed a mug of steaming hot cocoa into James and sat in front of him.

“Is there any way I can make it easier for you to talk?” He asked, cautious and watchful.

There wasn’t any ounce of something bad in the way Bucky held himself or in his eyes, his hands were shaking but it was hard to say if it was from nerves or tiredness. No maliciousness, like he could feel into the Thing that had disappeared as soon as they passed the threshold. Just weariness and… well, nervousness.

To answer Tony’s question, Bucky shook his head and sighed deeply.

“Lately you’ve been followed by something, haven’t you?” He asked without looking up at Tony, his voice lifeless and tired.

Tony blinked, disconcerted by the question but also by what it meant. He kept coming back to that very moment where the Thing had touched him - hugged him, really - and the frightened edge in Bucky’s eyes when his head had whipped up toward Tony. As he had felt what the Thing had done.

“What is it?” Tony asked faintly, dread coiling tight in his guts.

“A demon,” Bucky answered honestly, this time looking straight at Tony. He seemed desperate, frightened and pleading. “Did he hurt you?”

“It’s a “he”?” Tony asked, feeling as if his heart had climbed up in his throat.

“I think his name’s Winter,” Bucky answered quickly. “Did he hurt you?” He pressed, concern pushing fright and desperation away from his gaze as he looked Tony up, his eyes stopping momentarily on Tony’s scraped-up hands. Tony looked down at them, noticing the angry red around the cuts.

“No,” he said thoughtfully, still stuck on the “demon” part of the situation. It actually coincided with the pit of violence Tony could sometimes feel from “Winter”. The deep jealousy like a white hot brand on the back of Tony’s neck. The anger, to strong and deep, it felt like a black wall pressing on him.

But then, it felt off with the way “Winter” touched him, soft and gently. Feather-like caress on his arms, on his hands, on his neck or, more often, against his cheeks. The presence was comforting despite the fear it inevitably elicited. Tony wasn’t alone anymore when “Winter” was there and, still despite the fear, Tony also felt protected.

“He didn’t hurt me,” he added, lifting his eyes to meet Bucky’s with a soft smile. “Actually, I think he was pretty sweet if we sweep aside the anger, jealousy and violence issues.”

Bucky blinked, the concern shifting to something else. Something that looked a lot like astonishment.

“Are you for real? A demon’s been harassing you and you think he’s sweet?”

Tony grinned at him, unrepentant. Though the word “demon” still felt like a bell ringing in his mind. Echoing against his skull. Loudly.

Tony wasn’t much of a believer, even though he didn’t deny the existence of a superior entity. Maybe. He also didn’t thought there was a big red devil clanking its hooves on the ground and laughing evilly, holding a giant fork. But, the same way, he didn’t deny it.

Admitting that an actual demon was actually haunting him, though, was something else entirely and while the facts were all there, it was a step he couldn’t take. Yet.

Shaking his head and taking a sip of his coffee, Tony watched Bucky. “And how do you know that? I mean, you think I’m the crazy one but you’re the one telling me I’m being haunted by a demon.”

“Shouldn’t a priest be taking this more seriously? Or propose to exorcise me? Or kick me out of it? Or have recognized him for what Winter is?” Bucky countered with a frown.

There was a new kind of fire in Bucky’s eyes, burning the tiredness away. Not quite indignation but definitely some defensiveness. Tony liked it better than the weariness that had been weighing down on the former Sargent.

“I don’t know. Why not ask an actual priest?” He said, raising an eyebrow at him and leaning back in the couch.

Dammit, he felt tired too now. Except for the part where he was not, too curious and intrigued by the crazy story Bucky was telling him. Nothing made any sense and Tony was missing Winter’s presence. Well, maybe Winter wasn’t it’s name but it felt better calling it that way than keeping it up with “the Thing”.

Bucky stared at him, confused. “Aren’t you one?”

“Me?” He spluttered, spitting coffee out.

What the fuck was that clusterfuck of a conversation?

“I can’t exactly communicate with him. Sometimes it’s clear, sometimes it’s not but… “ Bucky pulled a face, grimacing when he realized what he was saying and how crazy it could sound for anyone. Including himself. “Anyway, at some point he explained that you were the hottest priest he’s ever found.” Bucky’s voice faltered and the tip of his ears colored to a sweet pink. “So, you’re a priest, right?”

“No, I’m no-… Oh goddammit,” Tony sighed, setting his mug of coffee on the table and hiding his face in his hands. “Rhodey was right. Of course he was. It was a bad, bad, bad idea.”

The memory of Howard’s wrath, though, was totally worth it. His father had been pissed for months and it lasted until Tony had obtained his Master of Divinity. With amazing grades, for that matter, which made it only worse in a way. Too happy to make the joke go as far as possible, Tony had made it until he actually obtained the rank of a priest. The paper was somewhere in his stuff, attesting of it.

Tony was a priest.

“I am,” he said, his voice muffled by his hands pressed against his face. He sighed deeply and rubbed his palm against his face before looking up at Bucky.

“What does he want?”

“Nothing, as far as I know. I think he… kinda likes you. But I was worried he was hurting you or making your life some kind of hell. So I made some research from what I gathered through…” Bucky stopped suddenly, sniffed, uncomfortable, and started again. “From what I gathered. It took me more time than I liked but I finally found you. I wasn’t sure about it because either being a priest pays way more than I thought or Winter lied to me, which ain’t impossible but it ain’t his style.”

“Lying’s not a demon’s style? How does that work?” Tony asked in disbelief.

Bucky snorted and smile, something crooked but genuine and Tony found himself staring at his lips a little too long. “Don’t know,” Barnes admitted with an awkward shrug, “but he’s not like that. Since I’ve been… “ Barnes frowned, his smile wavering before it died, leaving nothing but bad memories written across the veteran’s face, “since he’s stuck with me, he didn’t try anything. I mean, he’s a pain in the ass but not…” Bucky stopped himself, biting into his lower lip and wincing.

“Not dangerous?” Tony proposed, already knowing this was exactly Bucky was about to say but refused to when he recognised the lie it was.

“Well. I mean. He didn’t hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it,” Bucky edged, looking uncomfortable. “Look, can you do something for us?” He asked, brows pinched and eyes shining.

“What? You want me to exorcise him or something?”

“Yes. No.” Bucky cursed, rather inventively and dropped his head in his hands. “I don’t know.”

While Bucky’s last comment about Winter not “hurting anyone who doesn’t deserve it” was still lingering in Tony’s mind and making him uncomfortable, he was also very conscious about one thing. Winter had felt angry emotions at people around Tony but never attacked any, as far as Tony knew. The pit of violence deepened and grew but nothing had ever happened to the “responsibles” for those reactions. Now, maybe Tony didn’t know the whole thing and Winter had gone rogue, hurting and killing innocent people to take it out of his system.

“Listen, why don’t you tell me everything and we can go from there?” Tony proposed, voice even and calm.

Bucky looked up at him, shoulders tense but dropped in that tired slump Tony was starting to hate with his whole self.

***

Apparently, demons were actually a thing and demon cults actually existed too. Sacrificing ones, even. With humans as the sacrifices.

The story had some holes in it but Tony didn’t mind them. There were enough details as far as he was concerned.

A cult named “HYDRA” had caught Bucky, after he came back from Afghanistan, short an arm and looking for a job, desperate to find one, struggling to keep one despite his motivation. They first approached him but confronted to his refusal, they chose to take him. The rest of the story wasn’t any better, torture and attempts at brainwashing through the means of conditioning. They didn’t appear to have much time though because before their plans had worked, they were dragging him in the basement.

The ceremony was gruesome, at best, and at the end of it, Bucky got to share his mind and body with a demon named Winter and a new metal arm. Bucky told him, uneasy, how Winter had tore through the HYDRA cultists, tearing them apart with Bucky’s bare hands, one flesh and one metal.

“They’re the only ones he hurt since he was brought,” Bucky assured him. He had steady eyes, darkened by the bags underneath them. He was shaken, but more because of exhaustion than the blood bath he was currently narrating. Bucky was a soldier, Tony reminded himself, who knew what kind of horror he had seen on the battlefield. And those men had tortured him and tried to use him in order to get ahold of a demon. “When I came back, two months had gone by and I could barely remember half of it. I found a spot to stay, got a job as soon as I figured out how to conceal this,” he said, gesturing at his metal hand. “Then I realized you were starring in most of my dreams, if not all of them. Winter was making himself scarce, as much as a demon can, but I realized it only was because he was resting from visiting you. It takes a lot from him to cover that much distance and stay for long with you.”

“So it takes a lot from you too?”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, nodding as he took a sip from his coke and bit into a slice of pizza that might or might not be the half of said pizza. “Since he became my body roommate, I’ve been eating like crazy. I can’t put money on the side, everything goes into food or I start starving faster than you’d think. And when he’s paying you those little visits, it’s even worse.”

“I see.”

“You do?” Bucky asked around his slice of pizza he had just bitten into, blinking at Tony.

“No, I don’t. Not really. Anyway, you came here just to make sure I was alive and fine, right?”

Bucky hesitated then nodded, watching Tony carefully. Wariness had disappeared sometimes between the moment Tony had offered food and waved Bucky’s worries away when he mentioned his concerns about dirtying Tony’s couch.

“So now that your concerns are proving to be unfounded, what are your plans?”

Bucky shrugged after a few seconds, his shoulders dropping ever so slightly in the face of his hesitation. He swallowed his mouthful of pizza, drank some coke then said: “He doesn’t want to leave, I kinda get used to him and his assholery.” He shrugged again, as if unable to help himself. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do.”

Tony didn’t remember much from his divine studies or, rather, he remembered all too well but admitting it was above his will, but he was sure of one thing: “You got that splendid lady at the same time that you got Winter, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“This, my friend,” Tony said, pointing at the magnificent piece of machinery the man used with the casualty of someone who didn’t think of it as a foreign object attached to them anymore, “is your link with Winter. Or, rather, the material part of it. Removing Winter would remove this from you at the same time and I don’t know how they put it on you, with magic or not, but I can assure you one thing: it won’t be a walk in the park. Also, using that kind of means to invoke a demon can only means one thing: they expected to control him through it.” There wasn’t much about what Tony could have found interesting but demons, angels and spirits had an interesting way of working. There were as many rules and differences as with mathematics, it was probably why Tony had finished it and got great grades at it. There were unknowns and things that could go wrong despite everything going according to plan, but most of the time spirituality in its whole worked with specific rules. The case he had in front of him was a very specific one but one he could understand. There was nothing as scary as a demon in the flesh, impersonating him in a human’s body through the mean of a leash was smart… as long as the leash was effective. Which, in this case, wasn’t how they expected it to work. “You both have it. When Winter initiate contact with me,” goddammit it was weird and Tony had seen some weird shit before, “I felt that one of his hands was colder than the other. So I guess you’re both sharing this feature.”

Bucky was frowning at him, looking lost and unsure. He was holding the other half of the pizza, folded in two, in one hand and his coke in the other but he seemed to have forgotten them.

“I’m not sure I understand,” he said slowly. “I mean, ok, he’s got a metal arm too but why is it the way to control him? Me? Us?”

Interesting. The metal limb was not a hand, then, but the whole left arm. Tony played with a napkin to ease the need to grab Bucky by the arm and have a look at the beauty.

“Why don’t you stay around and we figure everything out?”

[feelingsinwinterold]

WinterIron + 21- Priests and Demons

I’m so sorry it took me so long to post this but, as you will see… it kinda got away from me TT. Anon, I hope you will like it !

Fair warning : this rolls a little under 5k.

Also, a huge thanks to @dracusfyre who helped me with it and corrected it. Any remaining errors are mine.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading it!

Tony was definitely not your usual priest. Hands deep into the guts of a car or covered in grease and motor oil, more used to subdue assholes in a boardroom rather than taking care of demons on a daily basis. His best weapons were his snark and his smarts, he also knew how to handle himself in a fight and thought he was quite good at it, actually.

Not so much used to deal with malicious spirits or face the bone deep chill that came with them. Package deal.

Apparently, pissing off his father and winning a dare from Rhodey by taking on a Master of Divinity degree just out of spite made you the closest priest available in this corner of the world. There were plenty of priests to bother around but trust his luck to fuck up with him at the slightest chance.

Honestly, he’d completely forgotten about it until things started to happen.

It wasn’t much at the beginning.

Some chills running down his spine as he was washing his hands from grease, trying to get what was under his nails all the while knowing it was hopeless. The hair on the back of his neck, standing up on end as he was mixing fruits for one of his smoothies. Goosebumps all over his body while taking a hot shower and trying to get his muscles to relax after spending too much time bent over a workbench. An uneasy feeling in his guts when talking with someone.

It was small things at first and not very often, each one of those reaction spaced by hours, sometimes days in between. Then it started to get closer and stronger.

The faint feeling of being watched increased until he could sometimes feel something ghosting over his skin. Fingers trailing lately down his cheek. Harmless touches but not less frightening.

The idea of going crazy and seeking out someone to make a diagnostic made his way to him despite his well known dislike for doctors.

But then he realized some things were actually… useful, in their own way. Sometimes the petting shifted into poking, fingers digging in his ribs and making him turn around and spot a paparazzo trailing after him, looking for the next story to put on the first page.

After that, Tony started paying attention.

The spooky feeling never left, his guts kept churning and his hair stood up on end still but the instinctive fear was easy to push aside. It always has been, would always be.

***

“You don’t understand,” he said over his diner, looking at Rhodey with a frown. “There’s something following me around but it’s not… bad, per se, not really,” he trailed off, looking down at his dish without seeing it.

Feelings had kept creeping up on him, fear was always there, stinging and wrapping him in a sense of dread. The feather like touches, though, came along and Tony wasn’t sure he hated it. Not entirely. They stayed in somewhat innocent places. The back of his neck, his cheeks, his forehead, his hands or his arms. Nowhere else. Never. It always felt like a sweet gesture and always happened when Tony was doing something entirely banal. Making himself waffles or coffee, working in the workshop. It never happened when he was manipulating something dangerous, it only distracted him when he was trying to figure out something. In one occasion and as he was chilling in front of the TV, it felt like someone had sit down with him. Some line of heat and ghosted touch against his side, from his leg to his shoulder.

“You sure you’re not drinking too much coffee?” Rhodey asked, holding a fry and looking at his friend with a mix of concern and scepticism.

“Might be,” Tony admitted with a half shrug. Too much coffee could actually lead him down a dangerous slope of anxiety and jittery but Tony was sure he had kept his coffee consumption to an acceptable level. Well, by his standards anyway.

He was sure coffee wasn’t responsible for it though.

He stiffened as he reached for his glass of coke and  the hair on the back of his neck stood up on end. Tony felt himself blanched, the fear creeping up higher and his hand shook as he wrapped his fingers around the glass.

“What about,” Rhodey said, putting his hand over the rim of the glass, “I drink the coke and you take my glass of water?”

Tony nodded numbly, conscious of the ghost weight of hands settling down on his shoulders. There was an unusual feeling of resentment coming off of them but nothing directed at him.

For the first time, Tony felt a new kind of fear and this time, he wasn’t worried about himself. He was worried about his friends and what would happen to them if the thing took offense of whatever they might said.

The unending pit of violence he could feel, radiating heat right up against his back, made him reconsider his decisions.

***

The thought hadn’t left him.

Actually, the fear the Thing kept bringing up when it appeared started to have two faces. The first one was only the instinctual reaction to it, the one Tony had felt since it all started. The second one, however, came from the concern he felt about one of his friends being hurt, one way or another, because of the Thing.

It increased when the heat of anger knew new highs after Pepper had threatened him - good-heartedly - to lock him up in his office if it meant he actually signed the damn papers he was meant to sign. It was nothing out of the ordinary, Tony had stopped counting the times she threatened him of locking him up for that exact reason, but it was the first time she did it since the Thing had appeared.

The pit of violence grew in size, in darkness and in intensity. Along with the fear it brought up in Tony.

Pepper kissed him on the cheek and left and Tony stood in the middle of his living-room, facing a situation he had never faced. The Thing had disappeared as soon as Pepper had, although not before Tony felt a heat of a rarely felt intensity when she kissed him on the cheek.

“Alright,” he said, hoping it was still around despite not feeling it. “I think it’s time we have a talk. Are you even here?”

Usually, it didn’t need much prompting and any sign of any kind would get a reaction but, this time, Tony didn’t get any.

“Great, like anybody else - including myself - as soon as the “we need to talk” pops out, there’s nobody left to talk to.”

***

“Sir,” JARVIS said, pulling up a screen on the side of the workbench Tony was working on, showing a man standing at the fence and looking up at the camera. “I believe someone is asking permission to enter the premises.”

Tony frowned, staring intensely at the figure standing near the fence, awkwardly shuffling on their feet. He wasn’t the usual visitor, that much was obvious. Wearing a hoodie a size too big, shapeless jeans and the man had his hair pulled up on a messy bun and a few days old beard that did nothing to improve the hobo look. Although, to be fair, the messy bun made it better.

His finger hovered over the key to open a vocal channel with the stranger. Tony glanced at his half-finished project on which he had been working non-stop for the last hours. A bit of walk and some fresh air might do him some good, he thought with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you detect any trace of weapons?”

“Nothing metallic,” JARVIS answered after a beat.

“Very well, tell him to wait a minute, I’m coming up.”

JARVIS didn’t answer but the figure on the screen startled as JARVIS’ voice came through the speakers, advertising him to stay put. The man nodded numbly and Tony made his way out of the workshop.

He reached the fence while still holding a rag and cleaning his hands covered in grease, oil and some scraps where the metal had cut him with it. None of the cuts were too deep but they stills stung especially since Tony didn’t have his project to keep himself busy and thinking anymore, there was nothing to distract him from the pain and exhaustion.

Except, once he got closer, the actual man standing behind the fence. Whoever the man was, he rocked the hobo look like nobody else Tony had ever met. The camera also didn’t do justice to his eyes, making them a bland, faded grey. They were, however, the most interesting shade of grey and blue mixed together. Like a cloudy morning where the sky couldn’t choose between the bright and hopeful blue of a brand new day, and the threatening grey of a good raining.

Also, Tony had missed the dark circles under the man’s eyes that could rival with Tony’s, which was no small feat.

To be fair, aside from the wide eyes and awkward shifting, the man mostly looked exhausted. It went beyond words. His hands were shaking from time to time and he kept clenching and unclenching them, his thumbs rubbing the side of his index finger. That’s when Tony noticed the metal hand. The too big hoodie’s sleeves covered half of his hands, almost entirely hiding the shimmering fingers.

When he noticed his staring, the man blanched and quickly hid his hands behind his back, instinctively adopting the parade rest.

Military, Tony thought as he got closer, a greeting on the tip of his tongue. That’s when he felt it.

The feather like touch of a ghost along his arm, fingers feeling like they twined with his own as the Thing plastered itself against Tony’s back. The man startled, his head whipping toward him, eyes wide as plates and skin as white as a sheet.

“It’s you!”

A bone deep shiver ran along his skin as he felt himself go pale too.

“No! I mean, yes,” the man quickly said, giving up his parade rest posture to get closer to the fence, hands up in a calming gesture. “I came here to explain,” he rushed to explain, looking desperate, “took me time to figure out where he went. And to gather the courage to get here,” he mumbled with a frown and a forlorn glance toward Tony’s house.

Unable to help himself, Tony looked over his shoulder, up along the admittedly long path to his house. To be fair, the thing had been built despite everyone telling him it was a spot where nobody or nothing could be build. Tony had proved them wrong and his Malibu house was a wonder of modern architecture. The walk to the fence had taken him quite some time but it had given him the time to clear his thoughts and stretch his legs and back.

With an acknowledging tip of his head, accepting the point the man had just made, Tony turned back toward him. The Thing was still stuck on him and it felt like he was being huggled by a ice bucket ghost.

It felt weirdly nice, on a way.

The Thing had disappeared for the last three days and Tony had felt more alone that he had in a long time. Which was not nice.

“Alright,” he agreed, crossing his arms over his chest and looking straight at him. “Explain.”

“Here?” the man exclaimed, looking around as if seeing the premises for the first time and hadn’t been standing there for a while now.

“His name is James Buchanan Barnes,” JARVIS informed him in his com. “Former military, rank : Sergeant. Honorably discharged a year ago, following a severe injury to his left arm and the left side of his torso.”

“Well, you can’t expect of me to invite someone I don’t know inside and hope for the best, can you?” He hoped JARVIS would get the message through but he really shouldn’t have worried.

“Some records about violence in bars, mostly in someone else’s behalf. Rewarded sniper among other skills, including gathering of intelligence. Lieutenant Barnes doesn’t have the profile of a murderer but there is a sudden lack of informations from three months ago. Sergeant Barnes reappeared two months ago.”

Along with the ghost that had taken on pursuing Tony ever since Tony thought with a frown.

“Well, I guess you got a point,” Barnes conceded with a nod, his words covered by JARVIS’ dump of informations. He looked around again, shoulders rounded up to his shoulders and he got closer to the fence. He opened his mouth but found himself lost for words, his eyes trained to the ground.

Tony was the one with what might be a ghost plastered against his back but James Buchanan Barnes looked more haunted than Tony felt.

Tony sighed and lightly kicked the fence, effectively drawing Barnes’ gaze back up to him. He jerked his head toward the house :

“You can dump the kicked-puppy look, I’m surrendering, you have the right to came in.”

Barnes blinked, dumb-founded, his eyes going from Tony to the house, nestled in the background.

“JARVIS, open the gate if you please.”

“Very well, sir,” came from the gates’ speakers and Barnes startled.

Apparently all too aware of Tony’s games, the Thing pinched him in the side. Barnes looked at him, his eyes trailing down to where the faintest of pain kept pulsing ever so slightly. They traded a glance through the fence before the man finally made a move. He entered the premises slowly, taking his sweet time as if he was expecting someone or something to jump him as soon as he crossed the threshold.

“What happened to the “not letting strangers in”?” Barnes asked, eying him with a frown.

“I had JARVIS make some research, you came out clean.”

Holding himself carefully, Barnes raised his eyebrows at Tony before glancing toward the gates’ speakers. Tony smiled sweetly and gestured for Barnes to follow him.

***

James Buchanan Barnes called “Bucky” by his friends - what kind of friends were they exactly? - was in dire need of a hot cocoa, a blanket and then a bed to sleep for the next decade or so. He looked exhausted and, while he actually made the way up to the house without complaining, the way his shoulders were hunched and his steps dragged, he was bone deep exhausted. His eyes, circled with black, were of an amazing blue-grey color but they were dimmed by what Tony guessed were sleepless nights. And not of the nice kind.

Once they entered the house, Tony invited him to sit on the couch, which Bucky did with a deep sigh, and offered him something to eat or drink. James refused both, even though he looked tempted, probably too eager to be done with what seemed to be a difficult discussion.

That Tony had to be a part of said conversation wasn’t making him feel any better, to be entirely honest.

Once he had washed his hands and made himself some coffee, Tony pushed a mug of steaming hot cocoa into James and sat in front of him.

“Is there any way I can make it easier for you to talk?” He asked, cautious and watchful.

There wasn’t any ounce of something bad in the way Bucky held himself or in his eyes, his hands were shaking but it was hard to say if it was from nerves or tiredness. No maliciousness, like he could feel into the Thing that had disappeared as soon as they passed the threshold. Just weariness and… well, nervousness.

To answer Tony’s question, Bucky shook his head and sighed deeply.

“Lately you’ve been followed by something, haven’t you?” He asked without looking up at Tony, his voice lifeless and tired.

Tony blinked, disconcerted by the question but also by what it meant. He kept coming back to that very moment where the Thing had touched him - hugged him, really - and the frightened edge in Bucky’s eyes when his head had whipped up toward Tony. As he had felt what the Thing had done.

“What is it?” Tony asked faintly, dread coiling tight in his guts.

“A demon,” Bucky answered honestly, this time looking straight at Tony. He seemed desperate, frightened and pleading. “Did he hurt you?”

“It’s a “he”?” Tony asked, feeling as if his heart had climbed up in his throat.

“I think his name’s Winter,” Bucky answered quickly. “Did he hurt you?” He pressed, concern pushing fright and desperation away from his gaze as he looked Tony up, his eyes stopping momentarily on Tony’s scraped-up hands. Tony looked down at them, noticing the angry red around the cuts.

“No,” he said thoughtfully, still stuck on the “demon” part of the situation. It actually coincided with the pit of violence Tony could sometimes feel from “Winter”. The deep jealousy like a white hot brand on the back of Tony’s neck. The anger, to strong and deep, it felt like a black wall pressing on him.

But then, it felt off with the way “Winter” touched him, soft and gently. Feather-like caress on his arms, on his hands, on his neck or, more often, against his cheeks. The presence was comforting despite the fear it inevitably elicited. Tony wasn’t alone anymore when “Winter” was there and, still despite the fear, Tony also felt protected.

“He didn’t hurt me,” he added, lifting his eyes to meet Bucky’s with a soft smile. “Actually, I think he was pretty sweet if we sweep aside the anger, jealousy and violence issues.”

Bucky blinked, the concern shifting to something else. Something that looked a lot like astonishment.

“Are you for real? A demon’s been harassing you and you think he’s sweet?”

Tony grinned at him, unrepentant. Though the word “demon” still felt like a bell ringing in his mind. Echoing against his skull. Loudly.

Tony wasn’t much of a believer, even though he didn’t deny the existence of a superior entity. Maybe. He also didn’t thought there was a big red devil clanking its hooves on the ground and laughing evilly, holding a giant fork. But, the same way, he didn’t deny it.

Admitting that an actual demon was actually haunting him, though, was something else entirely and while the facts were all there, it was a step he couldn’t take. Yet.

Shaking his head and taking a sip of his coffee, Tony watched Bucky. “And how do you know that? I mean, you think I’m the crazy one but you’re the one telling me I’m being haunted by a demon.”

“Shouldn’t a priest be taking this more seriously? Or propose to exorcise me? Or kick me out of it? Or have recognized him for what Winter is?” Bucky countered with a frown.

There was a new kind of fire in Bucky’s eyes, burning the tiredness away. Not quite indignation but definitely some defensiveness. Tony liked it better than the weariness that had been weighing down on the former Sargent.

“I don’t know. Why not ask an actual priest?” He said, raising an eyebrow at him and leaning back in the couch.

Dammit, he felt tired too now. Except for the part where he was not, too curious and intrigued by the crazy story Bucky was telling him. Nothing made any sense and Tony was missing Winter’s presence. Well, maybe Winter wasn’t it’s name but it felt better calling it that way than keeping it up with “the Thing”.

Bucky stared at him, confused. “Aren’t you one?”

“Me?” He spluttered, spitting coffee out.

What the fuck was that clusterfuck of a conversation?

“I can’t exactly communicate with him. Sometimes it’s clear, sometimes it’s not but… “ Bucky pulled a face, grimacing when he realized what he was saying and how crazy it could sound for anyone. Including himself. “Anyway, at some point he explained that you were the hottest priest he’s ever found.” Bucky’s voice faltered and the tip of his ears colored to a sweet pink. “So, you’re a priest, right?”

“No, I’m no-… Oh goddammit,” Tony sighed, setting his mug of coffee on the table and hiding his face in his hands. “Rhodey was right. Of course he was. It was a bad, bad, bad idea.”

The memory of Howard’s wrath, though, was totally worth it. His father had been pissed for months and it lasted until Tony had obtained his Master of Divinity. With amazing grades, for that matter, which made it only worse in a way. Too happy to make the joke go as far as possible, Tony had made it until he actually obtained the rank of a priest. The paper was somewhere in his stuff, attesting of it.

Tony was a priest.

“I am,” he said, his voice muffled by his hands pressed against his face. He sighed deeply and rubbed his palm against his face before looking up at Bucky.

“What does he want?”

“Nothing, as far as I know. I think he… kinda likes you. But I was worried he was hurting you or making your life some kind of hell. So I made some research from what I gathered through…” Bucky stopped suddenly, sniffed, uncomfortable, and started again. “From what I gathered. It took me more time than I liked but I finally found you. I wasn’t sure about it because either being a priest pays way more than I thought or Winter lied to me, which ain’t impossible but it ain’t his style.”

“Lying’s not a demon’s style? How does that work?” Tony asked in disbelief.

Bucky snorted and smile, something crooked but genuine and Tony found himself staring at his lips a little too long. “Don’t know,” Barnes admitted with an awkward shrug, “but he’s not like that. Since I’ve been… “ Barnes frowned, his smile wavering before it died, leaving nothing but bad memories written across the veteran’s face, “since he’s stuck with me, he didn’t try anything. I mean, he’s a pain in the ass but not…” Bucky stopped himself, biting into his lower lip and wincing.

“Not dangerous?” Tony proposed, already knowing this was exactly Bucky was about to say but refused to when he recognised the lie it was.

“Well. I mean. He didn’t hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it,” Bucky edged, looking uncomfortable. “Look, can you do something for us?” He asked, brows pinched and eyes shining.

“What? You want me to exorcise him or something?”

“Yes. No.” Bucky cursed, rather inventively and dropped his head in his hands. “I don’t know.”

While Bucky’s last comment about Winter not “hurting anyone who doesn’t deserve it” was still lingering in Tony’s mind and making him uncomfortable, he was also very conscious about one thing. Winter had felt angry emotions at people around Tony but never attacked any, as far as Tony knew. The pit of violence deepened and grew but nothing had ever happened to the “responsibles” for those reactions. Now, maybe Tony didn’t know the whole thing and Winter had gone rogue, hurting and killing innocent people to take it out of his system.

“Listen, why don’t you tell me everything and we can go from there?” Tony proposed, voice even and calm.

Bucky looked up at him, shoulders tense but dropped in that tired slump Tony was starting to hate with his whole self.

***

Apparently, demons were actually a thing and demon cults actually existed too. Sacrificing ones, even. With humans as the sacrifices.

The story had some holes in it but Tony didn’t mind them. There were enough details as far as he was concerned.

A cult named “HYDRA” had caught Bucky, after he came back from Afghanistan, short an arm and looking for a job, desperate to find one, struggling to keep one despite his motivation. They first approached him but confronted to his refusal, they chose to take him. The rest of the story wasn’t any better, torture and attempts at brainwashing through the means of conditioning. They didn’t appear to have much time though because before their plans had worked, they were dragging him in the basement.

The ceremony was gruesome, at best, and at the end of it, Bucky got to share his mind and body with a demon named Winter and a new metal arm. Bucky told him, uneasy, how Winter had tore through the HYDRA cultists, tearing them apart with Bucky’s bare hands, one flesh and one metal.

“They’re the only ones he hurt since he was brought,” Bucky assured him. He had steady eyes, darkened by the bags underneath them. He was shaken, but more because of exhaustion than the blood bath he was currently narrating. Bucky was a soldier, Tony reminded himself, who knew what kind of horror he had seen on the battlefield. And those men had tortured him and tried to use him in order to get ahold of a demon. “When I came back, two months had gone by and I could barely remember half of it. I found a spot to stay, got a job as soon as I figured out how to conceal this,” he said, gesturing at his metal hand. “Then I realized you were starring in most of my dreams, if not all of them. Winter was making himself scarce, as much as a demon can, but I realized it only was because he was resting from visiting you. It takes a lot from him to cover that much distance and stay for long with you.”

“So it takes a lot from you too?”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, nodding as he took a sip from his coke and bit into a slice of pizza that might or might not be the half of said pizza. “Since he became my body roommate, I’ve been eating like crazy. I can’t put money on the side, everything goes into food or I start starving faster than you’d think. And when he’s paying you those little visits, it’s even worse.”

“I see.”

“You do?” Bucky asked around his slice of pizza he had just bitten into, blinking at Tony.

“No, I don’t. Not really. Anyway, you came here just to make sure I was alive and fine, right?”

Bucky hesitated then nodded, watching Tony carefully. Wariness had disappeared sometimes between the moment Tony had offered food and waved Bucky’s worries away when he mentioned his concerns about dirtying Tony’s couch.

“So now that your concerns are proving to be unfounded, what are your plans?”

Bucky shrugged after a few seconds, his shoulders dropping ever so slightly in the face of his hesitation. He swallowed his mouthful of pizza, drank some coke then said: “He doesn’t want to leave, I kinda get used to him and his assholery.” He shrugged again, as if unable to help himself. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do.”

Tony didn’t remember much from his divine studies or, rather, he remembered all too well but admitting it was above his will, but he was sure of one thing: “You got that splendid lady at the same time that you got Winter, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“This, my friend,” Tony said, pointing at the magnificent piece of machinery the man used with the casualty of someone who didn’t think of it as a foreign object attached to them anymore, “is your link with Winter. Or, rather, the material part of it. Removing Winter would remove this from you at the same time and I don’t know how they put it on you, with magic or not, but I can assure you one thing: it won’t be a walk in the park. Also, using that kind of means to invoke a demon can only means one thing: they expected to control him through it.” There wasn’t much about what Tony could have found interesting but demons, angels and spirits had an interesting way of working. There were as many rules and differences as with mathematics, it was probably why Tony had finished it and got great grades at it. There were unknowns and things that could go wrong despite everything going according to plan, but most of the time spirituality in its whole worked with specific rules. The case he had in front of him was a very specific one but one he could understand. There was nothing as scary as a demon in the flesh, impersonating him in a human’s body through the mean of a leash was smart… as long as the leash was effective. Which, in this case, wasn’t how they expected it to work. “You both have it. When Winter initiate contact with me,” goddammit it was weird and Tony had seen some weird shit before, “I felt that one of his hands was colder than the other. So I guess you’re both sharing this feature.”

Bucky was frowning at him, looking lost and unsure. He was holding the other half of the pizza, folded in two, in one hand and his coke in the other but he seemed to have forgotten them.

“I’m not sure I understand,” he said slowly. “I mean, ok, he’s got a metal arm too but why is it the way to control him? Me? Us?”

Interesting. The metal limb was not a hand, then, but the whole left arm. Tony played with a napkin to ease the need to grab Bucky by the arm and have a look at the beauty.

“Why don’t you stay around and we figure everything out?”

[sparda3g]

One Piece Chapter 903 Review

One of the best part of One Piece is it has many things to be hyped for. Usually, it would be the action or drama of a character that will draw the fans’ attention, which is normal. However, One Piece could simply just say, “We are going to have a meeting just to chat and we call it Reverie,” and boom the hype skyrocketed than any other. Yes, it will be filled with the world’s greatest leaders, which is extraordinary itself, but it is because of the lore that got fans excited. That’s how phenomenal the world is built and Oda deserve all the credit. With that said the first chapter of the arc already shows great promises.

It is not without showing other promises of the Strawhats and their upgrades. For starter, Sanji has a container that is labeled “3” on it, given by Niji since he was the only one that came in contact. Once again, I am challenged on whether I should forgive the brothers as more of their small yet significant helpful works has me thinking otherwise. I don’t think it’s their way to taunt him further but a special gift for him to use, which already has hype written all over it.

I got a good laugh with Luffy and Chopper begging Sanji to not to throw the container away for they see great potential. Luffy is willing to go swimming to retrieve if Sanji dares to throw it to the ocean. Well, now I know how the series will conclude. Luffy is mirroring Senkuu from Dr. Stone as he tries to persuade him that science is amazing. Maybe it’s a shout out from Oda, but it’s likely to be a coincidence. The chance to shoot laser beams does sound amazing. I laughed more than I should with Luffy and Chopper legitimately cried over that possibility.

Nami on the other hand acquired Zeus, which is reassuring. It was one of the long running gags of the last arc and while it was fun, I thought it’s only for that arc and they will go separate ways in the end. Fortunately, Zeus is coming along, so not only she got a power-up but it continues to show how the last arc has plenty of aftermath effects. Now we have a battle of two slaves over the master. Whoever wins, she wins.

Onto the bigger news, as expected, there is a new update for the bounty posters. It’s actually one of the biggest hype of the series, which tells you everything about the strength of its world building. Sanji’s bounty has plenty of update. To begin with, his bounty is now listed as “dead or alive,” which pretty say all ties with him and the family are gone. I am aware that it was for a political reason, but it does portray that it can be manufactured with politics, even if one is a pirate by heart.

The funniest part of the scene is Sanji’s bounty has risen to 330 million berry. Sanji didn’t go out and celebrate until he gets an answer to his question: is his bounty worth higher than Zoro. Brook pretty much said yes, and then Sanji celebrates like he has finally outclassed his rival. The rivalry runs very deep. I would laugh that after Wano Country Arc, Zoro will be higher once again. If he takes down the Emperor, I look forward to Sanji’s reaction.

Speaking of reaction, the gag is how Sanji wants no ties with Vinsmoke yet any reference keeps popping up. The worst part of them all is his poster now listed him as “Vinsmoke Sanji.” That is practically being written in stone; he will live in infamy. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like for every poster he obtained, he always leaves in disappointment; from poor drawing of him to his family’s name in display. You just can’t please the guy.

The world is now preparing for Reverie; wow, that felt good saying out loud. Back in Fishman Island, they got the news of Jinbei joining Luffy’s crew, though it doesn’t report the aftermath of the last chapter. We are left hanging and it’s likely that we won’t get any answer for a long time. Well that sucks. It’s a good thing Shirahoshi is going to Reverie along with her family; best to adapt the environment of the World Government. Hopefully, the guys aren’t aware of her as a weapon.

The best part of the chapter is the narration of the big news reported to the world. Not only does the narrator give me chills in a good way, but the reactions from multiple characters including Big Mom reminded me how vast the world is. It’s incredible how Oda came this far and continue to deliver the sensation of a wonderful world. Everything from the report gives the feel of greatness awaits.

It’s interesting how Morgans already spread the word to the world about Luffy and his recent action while fabricating some of the words that aren’t exactly true. On the other hand, the news report does tend to exaggerate the truth, so much that it can be a fake. That said the report practically made Luffy as a megastar for taking out the commanders and “convinced” Germa and Sun Pirates to join him; thus ending with a victory. Again, it is somewhat true in some sense but it was addressed vaguely to put him over big time.

If you remember Morgans stating the obvious that Luffy will be a candidate of the next Pirate King, well there’s actually more to it. It was obvious, but it didn’t address the purpose of his words; now we know. Morgans just didn’t make Luffy a megastar; he made him a new Yonkou. We now have 5 Yonkou members. Holy crap, the hype is too real. Oda wasn’t kidding when he was making the Whole Cake Island Arc the beginning of Yonkou Saga. This saga is purely Yonkou’s base.

I’m probably alone on this but I found it intriguing that whenever it comes to Reverie, the Marines will go full force on the security measure; pretty much like in real life with United Nations. It makes sense since the princess from Lulushia Kingdom was kidnapped. It is the perfect time for pirates to eye on the prize when they are traveling. I don’t know; I like the details of how the world is treated presented by Oda.

Dressrosa Kingdom was targeted next by those pirates but before their torpedo hits its target, someone sinks in, dashes towards it, and kicks it in the air. It was a cool sequence, though not sure who it was until the next page. It’s none other than Captain “talk about amazing growth from the first chapter to now” Coby. If the world building isn’t pleasing enough, the nostalgia does help as well. Helmeppo took care of those pirates easily; no help required.  Wow, I really love this lore.

Coby is such a nice guy; almost like if he has the spin-off series, he fits the Shounen protagonist traits perfectly. I don’t know why but I was awed when Coby got a word that the news broke out that revolves with Luffy. He’s a marine but he can’t help but feel so damn happy for his accomplishment. Friendship is thicker than water; yeah, I said it. I would love to see their next encounter, though hopefully not like what happened at Marineford War Arc.

I should point out that Rebecca is going to Reverie as well. I still remember my disappointment, but if there’s any rebound coming from this, I will change my mind. However, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit intrigued with her and Coby. Imagine, two pink heads colliding. Anyway, it is funny how Coby trying to remain shut about Luffy since he is technically their enemy, but Rebecca would like talk about it and somewhat flirting with him. I don’t know if there will be more than that, but I remember what I said about Sanji and Pudding. Hm… Well, in due time.

The last reactions come from the Yonkous themselves. Kaido is happening next, so I can’t wait. Blackbeard laughs at Luffy since he is nowhere near to their level. I hate to say it but he’s right. Luffy barely escaped from Big Mom and the family; what makes you think he can take on Kaido. Luffy’s fleet better be amazing powerhouse in order to win. Big Mom reacted heavily, fueling her anger even more towards Luffy. So, that theory with her teaming up with Luffy is gone or not? Lastly and most importantly, Shanks is proud of him, an indication that they will meet very soon. It will be glorious when that time comes.

Don’t think I forget the real deal of the chapter outside of Luffy becoming an official Yonkou. I was only saving the best for last. It was hilarious for Luffy to be so sad about his bounty to go lower than his last one. That sounds mean but hell, his expression tends to make me laugh so much. He read it as 150 million berry, which somehow got lower than Sanji’s. On the bright side, he won’t be targeted as much since he’s not that worth it.

Or so did Nami wishes…

The ending left on a hilarious yet impressive note with the actual bounty count. That one zero can really make a huge difference; kind of ironic when I think about it. Luffy is now worth 1.5 billion berry. The reactions from Strawhat crew are priceless, though if my eyes could pop out like theirs, it would. So to recap, Morgans made Luffy a megastar, claimed that he won against Big Mom without addressing exactly on what, made him a Yonkou, and his bounty has exceeded over a billion berry worth.

Good to know…

It was a very pleasing and relaxing chapter with its showcase of its vast world. It demonstrated how wonderful the world building has done so far with its charms and fascinating characters. The narrator hyped it greatly with the magnitude of this “big news.” It’s only the beginning and I already can’t wait for the next chapter. No need to rely on action or drama; this alone makes you glad to be a fan.

[iteration-rp]

11. DILEMMA

After all the chaos of this floor, you could almost forget that the Cards were coming. After all, they didn’t seem to be hidden anywhere, and you had nothing but Dessie’s vague hinting to make you wonder how that was going down.

And now it seemed you would wait no longer. Dessie had you assemble in the main hall, and while no punishments were stated, the constant press of your collar made you think twice about skipping out. Not that she did so much as a head count before diving right in.

“All right, losers! It’s time to get your Main Game cards assigned!”

“Your cards last time were determined at random. On my floor, we have a much more exciting way of doing things. This time you'll be playing a whole other game! I call it the Alliance Dilemma.”

More games, huh? Maybe you shouldn’t have been surprised. That title didn’t give you much to go on, though.

“The Alliance Dilemma uses a point system to determine your fate. I know by now that half you dips are sh-t at math, so I’ll start with the no-numbers part. I’m soooo nice, huh?”

“The Alliance Dilemma consists of five—oops! That’s a number, I lied—rounds. In each round, half of the players will consist of pairs, and the other half will play alone. One pair and one loner will be pitted against each other in each round. After a round, the pairs and loners will be shuffled, and another round will begin. Every round will begin when the two sides each enterrrrr...”

Slipping her cane between two fingers, she clapped her hands twice. A rumble came from the floor, and something like black phone booths rose along the empty patches of wall. They reached nearly to the ceiling before settling into place. Considering how tall some of you were, or had been, it seemed like a reasonable precaution.

“...theeeese Blackout Boxes! Lovely, aren’t they? ‘No’ is not a valid answer. So! Once the players pitted against each other each enter a box, they‘ll be able to access the Alliance Dilemma app on their tablets. Well, you can access them now, but it won’t give you anything but the instructions. Because we all know you’re gonna need constant refreshers on anything with more than two steps.”

“Anyway, both sides will be locked inside their Blackout Boxes until they open the app and play the game. You’ll be presented with two options: Alliance and Opposition. Both sides have to pick one or the other, then they’ll be able to leave and go get food or play other games or just, like, breathe some fresh air or something, I don’t know.”

“At that time, everyone involved will have their point numbers adjusted according to those choices. There’s a nice little writeup in the rules, but I’ll at least say it all once for you. If both sides picked Alliance, all three people will receive one point. If both sides picked Opposition, all three people will lose one point. If only one side picked Alliance, each person on that side will lose two points. If only one side picked Opposition, each person on that side will receive two points.”

“So basically, you just need to convince everyone they can trust you and then stab them in the back. Should be easy by now, right? After all, you sure let the circus freak, beanpole, and fake-real ghost die to save yourselves! Nyohoho~ And of course, your lives will hinge on this game, too. Besides the fact that I can start activating collars if you decide to take a billion years to step into your boxes to vote...”

“At the end of the Alliance Dilemma, your Main Game cards will be distributed to your tablets—that’s right, you get nice, digital ones this time, so none of you cheaters can try to swap them out—according to your end point totals. The highest total gets Keymaster, the lowest Sacrifice, the second lowest Sage, and then Commoner for everybody else. Again, I know everyone will forget that, so it’s in the rules. On your app. On your tablet. If you can’t figure out how to find them from there, then even I can’t help you. Of course, ties will be possible—in that case, whoever picked Opposition more times will be considered to have the higher point total.” 

“Buuuut, if there’s still a tie, we don’t have a second tiebreaker. They’ll just count as the same. That’s right—you might get multiple copies of the Sacrifice, Sage, or Keymaster cards handed out if that happens. Wouldn’t that make things lively?”

With so much information coming in at once, the brief pause that followed didn’t give you nearly enough time to process it all. Points, alliances, shuffling teams around, the weird new boxes that sounded like they might be airtight? At least you could ask for clarification if you really needed it... Though if Dessie would deign to answer you was anyone’s guess.

“And one last catch! While I’ll be tracking your point totals throughout the Alliance Dilemma, you won’t have any clue what they are. So will you trust the word of the other players? Will you prepare for the worst-case scenario? How do you want to strategize? It should be reaaaal fun to watch~!”

She speared the ground with her cane and leaned on it, swaying slowly but deeply from side to side with a little snicker.

“Can’t wait to see what you losers get up to! The best of luck to everyone.” 

“The first round begins now.”

---

Part 2, and the Alliance Dilemma, has begun! You will receive the full lineups for your character on Discord. Your characters will receive their pair/loner assignments and matchups one at a time on their tablets—check the AD Rules page for more details.

Please figure out whether you will choose Alliance or Opposition for each round and send mods a preliminary list of decisions. You can change your answers if something in a thread would affect your character’s decisions, so try to get the preliminary list in as soon as possible. Failure to choose for any given round OOC will cause you to default to Alliance (though IC you would have to choose in order to leave the Blackout Box). You will be told if your pair partner chooses differently from you so you can discuss whose side wins. You will also be given some warning before we close decisions/decision changes.

You may now start normal interaction threads in the Part 2 subforum, or investigation threads in Discord.