#with everyone all the time but sometimes I use it more and sometimes I have to because I’m in a position where if I don’t we’ll get nowhere

[em1i2a3]

i don’t know if you take requests but some yearning or very obvious bob having a crush on reader… like full on fluff and everyone makes fun of him cause he’s just that obvious

Plainclothes Man

Pairing: Bob/Robert Reynolds/Sentry x Avengers!Fem!Reader

Summary: Everyone at the compound knows Bob has a massive crush on you–except you.

Warnings: Semi-Spoiler for Thunderbolts because of Bob’s involvement but other than that…None :)

Author's Note: Hey y’all! I do take requests! Just to make that clear! Nothing is really off limits! :) I love this idea! So I thought I would start with it. I kind of rushed it a bit because I have so many ideas going at once for Bob right now, but I wanted to please y’all so hopefully it’s good :)

Word Count: 1,775

Bob was a neon sign of romantic agony.

Everyone could see it.

He was about as subtle as a firework in a library when it came to you, and everyone–everyone but you–knew that he had very obvious feelings for you.

At first, it was just the little things. He would hold the door open for you, make your coffee in the morning, and sometimes he would walk you to your training sessions carrying all your weapons and gear. God forbid you mentioned needing help with something too, because it was like he teleported into the room instantly just to be your knight in shining armor.

It would’ve been sweet–it was sweet–except for the fact that he looked like he was going to pass out every time you smiled at him, or the fact that the first time you touched him he felt like he was having a heart attack.

Not only that, but at the Thunderbolts compound, privacy was a myth. Everyone noticed the way he put you first, and nobody had the emotional maturity to leave it alone, especially during down times when everyone was home with no missions or jobs to run off to.

Idle hands made for cruel commentary.

They started small. Little side-eyes, snorts, giggles, the occasional cough-covered ‘lover boy’ muttered under someone’s breath when Bob stood the moment you entered a room, like he was always on guard.

Then it escalated.

Yelena turned it into a sport, narrating his reactions like a nature documentary when you weren’t present.

”And here we see Bob Reynolds in his natural habitat–blushing violently, hands wringing in his lap, trying not to pass out because Y/N said his name. Observe how he avoids eye contact while trying to remember how to function.” This would make him even more flustered, and only add to his embarrassment of wearing his feelings on his sleeve.

“Please stop,” He would say, with his face on fire.

Ava took to mimicking Bob’s dreamy stares behind your back when the both of you would talk to one another, making sure there was grotesque exaggeration to every detail. How his eyes would widen, and his lips would part, oftentimes she would clutch her chest dramatically and sway from side to side, which only made his cheeks go a bright red as he was talking to you.

Even Alexei, who should’ve had better things to do, began to offer unsolicited advice.

”You must confess, Bob. Women like confidence. You must say, ‘I am man of strength and softness, let us be passionate together!’” Bob nearly choked on the air he breathed, blinking up at Alexei, who was nodding like he had just offered the secret to eternal happiness, and not a line from a Soviet soap opera.

”I…I’m not saying that,” Bob stammered, voice thin with embarrassment.

“Why not?” Alexei boomed, looking over at Walker and Yelena as if they were going to back him up, “You are soft man! Strong man! Women love this contradiction!” Walker sipped his protein shake without looking up from his phone.

”Honestly Bob…It’s not the worst idea he’s had.” Bob looked like someone had just pulled the emergency brake on his nervous system. He was stunned by the agreement the idea was receiving, then he rubbed his hands over his face, like he could scrub away the humiliation clinging to his skin.

”I can’t say that…I’ll die in the middle of it.” Bob muttered, his hands muffling his voice, before hearing a little chuckle coming from Yelena.

”You’re like watching a candle melt under a heat lamp…Take it easy on yourself Bob.” She said, leaning back in her chair.

”Seriously,” Ava added, leaning against the counter with a yogurt in her hand, “ Just say something. Anything at this point will be better than nothing. And please hurry up, because you’re starting to give us secondhand embarrassment with this mating dance you’re doing.” Bob was about to say something then the door creaked open, causing him to pause mid conversation.

Bucky walked in with a towel draped around his neck, drenched in sweat from the endurance run he had done on the treadmill just moments ago, with a look of vague concern on his face.

”What’s with all the noise? I heard Alexei yelling about passion through the vents.” He said, glancing over at everyone who was crowded in the kitchen.

”We’re trying to get Bob to confess his undying love for Y/N.” Yelena replied, watching as Bucky looked over at Bob who was hunched over the kitchen island and flushing a scarlet red.

”Oh,” He said, like it suddenly made perfect sense, “…Wait, he still hasn’t said anything?” He added, confused.

“Nope,” Walker responded, still scrolling through his phone, not bothering to look up, “Somehow he’s been able to keep the verbal diarrhea to a minimum with her.”

“Barely. Last week she complimented him on how strong he was for carrying six bags of groceries for her in one go and he stammered over a thank you for two whole minutes.” Bucky let out a little laugh.

”Pretty sure you’re describing a stroke, not a crush/“ He started, wiping his face off with his towel, “What exactly are you waiting for, Bob? A written invitation from the president or something?” Before Bob even had a chance to answer, the door creaked open again, and you appeared.

You were still damp from the shower you had taken a few minutes ago, with your hair pinned back, and your skin still flushed from the heat of the water. You had on a soft, oversized t-shirt and…Bob’s sweatpants. He had given them to you last week without prompt, saying that you would be warmer in them, and since then, you managed to forget to give them back–whether it was on purpose or by accident, nobody really knew for sure.

Yelena had caught it immediately though.

”Wow…Y/N, those are some nice sweatpants, where’d you get them from?” She drawled, grinning like a cat that had just spotted a mouse. You glanced down at them and pointed.

”These? They’re Bob’s actually, so I have no clue where they’re from, but they’re super comfy.” Bob made a noise that could only be described as a choked squeak, as everyone glanced over at him in their own small ways. Yelena grinned.

”Oh, Bob’s, huh?” You nodded cheerfully, completely missing the way Bob’s soul was visibly leaving his body.

“Yeah, I was freezing after that mission last week and he just gave them to me. I forgot to return them, but they’re just too good to give up.” You replied, looking down at them fondly, like they were a luxury item of sorts, before adjusting the waistband a little bit, “Hope you’re okay if I keep them a little longer before giving them back to you.” You added, with a little smirk.

Bob–already pink from neck to ears–opened his mouth but only managed a soft, and cracked, “Yeah…Yeah totally fine.”

You smiled at him–kind, and warm, and totally unaware of how he was going to spontaneously combust in a few moments if you didn’t stop looking at him the way you always did, with this admiration and care.

Yelena nudged Ava as you turned to the pantry to grab your tote bag.

”I was about to actually go on a grocery run, I figured it’s a good time to stock up for movie night tomorrow…Bob, do you wanna come?”

He lifted his head almost immediately, like he wasn’t sure if he’d heard you correctly–or like he was still rebooting from the sight of you wearing his sweatpants again and saying you might want to keep them longer.

You looked at him with your eyebrows raised, and everyone else looked at him like a firing squad waiting to shoot.

”I-uh…Grocery run?” Yelena pressed her lips together to hold back a grin, before glancing over at Bucky who was shaking his head, then Walker glanced up from his phone, staring at him with a look that basically screamed ‘don’t you dare blow this.’

“Yeah, “ You said with a casual smile, “I was actually going to go because they finally restocked those kettle chips you like, and that weird sparkling iced tea…The lemon honey one. But I thought I’d just kill two birds with one stone and just take the whole movie night snack order now and get it over with…Y’know what I mean?” Bob felt like his entire chest was going to cave in under your words. The fact you remembered such little details about him killed him, because it gave him those butterflies in his stomach–the ones that gave him hope. Dangerous, reckless hope.

”He’ll go.” Yelena replied, “He’s not doing anything anyways, he’s super available right now, aren’t you Bob?” All eyes turned to him.

“I–uh…”

“He lives for those late night grocery runs,” Ava chimed in, “You’ve made his week.” Bucky crossed his arms, clearly entertained.

”Oh yeah, didn’t you say twenty minutes ago that your dream night would be picking out snacks with a girl you–respect deeply as a teammate?” He piled on, causing Bob to swallow loudly.

“Well that’s perfect then! I’ll meet you in the garage in five minutes!” You said brightly, giving him one last smile that probably shaved three years off his life expectancy before you turned and strolled out of the kitchen, with your tote bag bouncing against your hip. Everyone waited until the front door clicked to interrupt the silence.

”Oh Jesus.” Bob said, sinking his face into his hands, hearing Yelena clap like a coach at halftime.

”Alright, let’s lock in–because if you mess this up, Bob, you’re probably never getting another invite like that again.” Ava pointed her spoon at him like a judge handing down a sentence, before saying.

”And it’s the first time she’s asked you to come with her somewhere instead of you tripping over your shoelaces to offer a hand, so that’s a good sign.”

“Yeah,” Bucky added dryly, “So don’t think yourself into a grave for the love of god, because you’ve done it all backwards. She’s supposed to be wearing your clothes when you’re dating, not before.” Bob groaned louder.

“I think I’m gonna throw up.”

[r3ynah]

DANNY NO—

Despite popular opinion, Danny and Paulina did become good friends after graduation, with Paulina not going to college but instead becoming a famous model and actor loved and adored by everyone in Metropolis, and Danny being able to study Aerospace engineering at Gotham passing with flying colors a real contrast when they were in junior high and while also interning at Wayne Enterprises, and it was working unbelievable well for the both of them.

They would try to meet up once a month, with being miles away from their hometown Danny was the only person she could rely on when something went downhill, they floated towards each other in search of any sort of comfort and normality—well what they consider normal that is.

They would pick between Gotham or Metropolis just to meet in a cafe and just chat about anything, Paulina asks about Sam and Tucker, but mostly Sam (the both of them had enemies to friends to lovers to enemies phase and no one can change my mind bout that, and the both of them are still yearning for each other).

after all these years she sees Danny more as a brother rather than a dorky weirdo who is uncharacteristically obsessed with space, but she loves him—but don't tell him that, and Danny also loves and sees Paulina as family, he knows that even when she complains about how he dresses she will always be there to accompany him shopping( with the excuse that'll she'll die if she's seen by anybody near him, in her words she said that he looked like he dressed himself in the dark, which is fair) and keeping him sane by forcing him to sleep when Tucker, Sam, and Jazz were too busy with their jobs and studies.

Most importantly Danny is there to protect her, sometimes she even offers to pay Danny to be her Bodyguard at galas which he refuses, this is also the reason why she sometimes gets protective of Danny, because if you won't let her pay then she'll just do the same but tenfold— she knows Danny can protect himself but the amount of time she gets emergency calls from the man when he gets injured by the GIW really puts her off.

And it certainly doesn't help when one of there meet ups at Gotham, vigilantes seemed to be around every corner and overly nosy 'civilians' who at first she thought they were there for her, well they did use her as an excuse to get close with the request of signing an autograph but she knew better.

with the way their gaze are fixed on Danny, and their stances always stiff like they're prepared to attack if the skinny man in front of her pick up a butter knife, this was the same in metropolis it bothered her that they were eyeing her friend with such skeptical stares, but at least she knew that the heroes that resides in metropolis won't do anything rash after all, she is famous and with one bad tweet of them from her on twitter she can definitely turn half of the population against them.

But in Gotham? she doesn't really know how the people and economy work, she has supporters there she knew that but they weren't so keen on turning their backs on their vigilantes which were the only ones that really tried protecting them, she's just an actress from another city she knew that she won't have the upper hand here, so she just keeps her head low and make sure that Danny is safe and doesn't get harmed.

It's not like Danny is some sort of rogue, yes his parents are mad scientist and all— but Danny knows better than to follow their steps, for Ancients sake Danny was the beloved vigilante of Amity Park he was there when it all went bad, when no one was there to save them he was there, he was the hope of their town—their god.

So she will rain hell upon earth if ever one of the people that named themselves 'heroes' try to lay a finger on Danny— Fuck her reputation she couldn't care less.

So why? Just Why did he get the attention of vigilantes? and the bats nonetheless, she couldn't keep her curiosity at bay, so she asks.

"Oh them? well, I kinda made my way to their watchlist when I decided to pass my half-assed research all about: 'travelling different alternate universes with the usage of Lazarus waters' " he causally uttered as he picked off the cherry tomatoes out of his plate and onto Paulina's

"did you know ectoplasm here is more commonly known as Lazarus waters? cause I didn't, and when I tried to research more about it online I was stopped by a fire wall, which was embarrassingly easy to get through, and you know what was more embarrassing? it wasn't even worth it, the collected data I gathered was not even 1/4 of the things my parents researched, and I'm speaking about the scientifically correct things"

WHat. Paulina looked at him speechless, "Danny no…"

"Danny, yes.." he cheekily answered, amused by Paulina's stunned face "Boy— you better be joking because I will actually call Jazz"

"Please don't—" poor Danny he looked like he was one second away from passing out and sleeping on the table, who knew being watched by vigilantes has a much bigger toll on his body than when he died.

A/N: Oh noo… Danny being seen as a god by overprotective and devoted Amity Parkers, Oh no…. Guys— I didn't know what happened i was just listening to random things and then Hozier started playing, and now we have this.

[thebestpartofwakingup]

Not to mention how rude, inconsiderate, dishonest, disrespectful, and potentially harmful (to both you and others) to navigate the world and your life and public spaces — presenting as a competent adult (yes I am aware that visibly disabled adults are often not treated in the same manner) without respecting the responsibility of agency that being an adult carries.

Yes, there are plenty of 20 somethings who do look like teenagers and may be treated as such, in public, by older adults. It happens, it’s sometimes awkward, but it is not a universal script for how you — an adult who knows they are an adult, should present themselves and expect to be treated by others in return.

People make mistakes! Its ok to ask for help, or take up a bit more time or space than is situationally ideal (say, fumbling with your wallet at the cashier) these are not like “you are bad and evil and stupid” everyone has fluctuations in like, overall competence and awareness, everyone gets caught off guard.

I live in a large city, there are lots of places and people I visit regularly, people I see around my usual spots often, people who see me around commonly, and also lots of people I may never see again in the mix.

Ive given my bus seat up to other people before, let families go ahead of me for the bathroom, ive dealt with men making unwanted comments towards me — on a whole range of ‘ew what a creep’ and ‘he means well’ — and had homeless people sit down at my table at various libraries, cafes, malls, etc.

Uncomfortable, inconvenient things happen all the time! Things happen all the time that require, and easily allow, us to provide grace and help to strangers (especially to parents/kids and the homeless, since they are often/commonly the people most visibly in need of grace and extra patience than we would maybe expect or require from strangers ourselves)

Now I’m leftist/progressive (never been one for like, grand political strategy, so more specific labels aren’t really my thing) and so are the majority of my friends, or some other related political identity. People who value inclusion and diversity and accommodating and accepting other people.

And I cannot count the number of times a planned social outing has spiraled out of control because someone in attendance did not communicate with anyone else, prior to the event, that this activity is well outside their comfort zone and may become too much for them, or that they’ll require additional supervision, or do not have *transportation/ a plan for getting home*

And this has even extended to social gatherings planned AROUND supporting someone else’s communicated needs. “My grandma died and I don’t want to be alone right now” “my partner dumped me and I wanna go out and feel good about myself” “work has been killing me lately and I really need a relaxing night with my best friends” etc.

It’s ok, good even, to push yourself outside your comfort zone! But it’s unbelievably rude to do so in a way where your plan for doing so directly interrupts or diminishes the needs and experiences of the people around you because you did not communicate your needs.

I think mostly what young fandom types (and I guess younger people in general) who are very very invested in the idea that “20 is still basically a minor” need to understand is that the feeling of “I’m just a child pretending to be an adult, and everyone else around me is a REAL adult” is DEEPLY universal (and won’t stop, ever, by the way, sorry!) and also is not, like, praxis.

Believe me, I get it, but the self-infantilization needs to stop, especially when you’re trying to engage in conversations about actual children and the harms they can face. Yes, it is scary to wake up and realize you’re 22 and you still feel like you’re 15, but it happens to all of us. You’re an adult. You have to deal with it.

[imaginestuffs]

leave the door open- Bob Reynolds x F! Reader

word count: 2,086

warnings: slight angst, some fluff, and I believe that's it! Also, Bob may be a bit OOC. This is my first time writing for him!

Summary: The reader feels as if Bob is slipping through her fingers, so she decides to try to save her heart.

So many things have changed since what happened in New York all those months ago. It seemed that you and Bob had become even closer than you ever thought. You went to each other for most things. If you wanted company, or even if you just needed a hand to hold. It was obvious to everyone that you needed each other. 

The scary thing is, you had begun to feel your heart warm when you saw him glance your way. Your thoughts raced when he sat next to you at team meetings. Your head began to spin when he held your hand when you both needed each other most. 

There seemed to be something so different about him, not in his obvious differences. But small things he did:

Moving his hand closer to yours when he was nervous.

The way his shoulders relaxed when stepping out on a sunny day

Noticing whenever your mood was different and trying to help.

Leaning into you when you kissed his head before separating for the night.

Nothing went unnoticed by you. It all meant more to you than you’d ever let on.

Most of the time, you felt as if you were the only one he saw.

But sometimes things change.

You started to notice how much closer he was getting to Yelena. He would go to her room instead of yours after a nightmare. The door to your room always stayed slightly open. Enough to let him know he was more than welcome to come in when he needed you. Yet each night he would pass your door and knock on the one across the hall. She’d always let him in.

During the day, he was about the same as usual. Ever-sweet and a quiet comfort.

You’d ask him to go on walks with you, but he had plans with Yelena. Or he had somewhere else, somewhere better to be.

There were moments of normalcy, but those moments began to hurt.

You felt like your heart was burned and your soul stretched thin. It didn’t feel right, at least not to you. In your mind, you assumed it was the same for him, he felt like it was necessary in order to protect you. To shield you from the fact that he stopped needing you.

Naturally, you began to distance yourself, thinking that if you did this, it wouldn’t hurt as badly. Keeping the door closed at night, calling goodnight over your shoulder as you walked away. 

Sitting with one seat between you both. Folding your hands in your lap, playing with your rings instead of intertwining your fingers with his. 

Ignoring the odd stares you get from the team. Forcing yourself to avoid looking at him like you used to. 

Pretending not to notice the concern on John’s face as you pass by him. Oddly enough, he was the one you were closest to besides Bob. He was a friend to you. He would check in with you when Bob had begun his slow and painful detachment from you. 

John could see how hurt you were, unlike the others who couldn’t seem to tell.

He’d give you a friendly squeeze when you seemed more down than usual, he did his best to support you. You were grateful for him, you really were, but he couldn’t fix it, and you’d never blame him for that; it was something that only time could fix. Either by bringing you together again, or completely cutting your bonds to him.

Bob had gone from being essential to living life normally to being someone who didn’t seem to care anymore.

You slid past him in the hallways, you nodded polite greetings, but you couldn’t handle a conversation like you used to have.

Not wanting him to feel forced to talk to you, if he didn’t want to. 

Seeing him sitting next to Yelena made you want to cry. But you didn’t, you held it in because that’s what you believe will make it all go away. Convincing yourself you have no emotion was harder than it seemed, seeing as you tended to wear your heart on your sleeve.

You never noticed, but Bob was confused. He didn’t seem to understand why you had closed yourself off. Things didn’t click for him, he thought it was something he had done wrong. Something that had scared you away.

He went to Yelena as a friend seeking advice. Trying to understand the feelings he was having. Wondering why all he could think of was you.

All the little things you would do kept him awake at night:

The way you kissed his head before going to sleep at night.

Leaving the door open for him.

The way you’d reach the rest of the way to grab his hand, rubbing your thumb across the back of his hand.

When you’d offer to go on walks because you could tell when he needed fresh air.

It was as if a switch flipped, and you decided you didn’t need him anymore. Didn’t want him anymore, didn’t like him anymore. It was as if his world was shattering again.

He did his best to keep to tradition, holding your hand, letting you kiss his head before bed. 

One day, you had all together avoided him, and since then, he didn’t know what else to do. He fell back into Yelena, he fell back into her support, just as you had done with John.

You walked into the main room one afternoon to read a book by the window, when you saw them.

Bob and Yelen wrapped up together in a blanket. They had fallen asleep on each other, his head rested on hers, and the credits of a movie rolled on the TV. 

Your heart dropped through the floor, and everything that was a strong suspicion for you came to fruition. 

You felt a lump form in your throat, and you did your best not to let a cry slip out of your mouth. 

With your luck, Bob woke up at the sound of your sharp intake of breath. His eyes widened at the look on your face. He had never seen you like this. It was a new kind of broken, it wasn’t fear or anxiety. It wasn’t something old. This feeling was new. Your aura had somehow cracked; he could almost hear your heart hit the floor. The look in your eyes was incomparable to anything he’s ever seen.

Almost like you just lost the one you loved the most, like a brutal realization that you’d have to learn to live without someone. 

“(y/n), what’s wrong?” Bob hesitantly asked. His voice seemed to knock you from your daze.

Quickly, you tried to pull it together. “Nothing’s wrong at all. I, um, I just remembered I had somewhere else to be.” The tremble in your voice seemed to betray you. You wanted to leave, but your feet seemed stuck to the floor.

By this time, Yelena woke up. “Bob, is everything ok?” Her voice was sleepy.

Bob said nothing, just continued to look at you. She followed his gaze and immediately perked up. 

Her brows furrowed at the sight of you. “(y/n), are you ok? Has something happened?” 

Bob stood from the couch and walked closer to you. You tightly shut your eyes, you could feel how close he was, and you didn’t know what to do. You so desperately wanted to collapse into his arms, but after what you’d seen, you weren’t sure if that would be appropriate. 

You wanted him back, you wanted him to be yours only. But that just wasn’t how it worked. 

“No, no, nothing’s happened. I think I’m a bit tired, so I’ll go to my room and read.

Didn’t mean to interrupt you or anything, I’m going, I promise,” you spit out in a semblance of a sentence.

“Hey, you don’t have to leave. You weren’t interrupting anything at all. Why don’t you stay?” Bob tried to coax you into staying.

“I’m ok, I’m just going to go to my room now, you guys can stay in here, I don’t mind.” you said and began to walk away.

“Please stop avoiding me. I’m right here, you know, I’ve been here waiting for you to see me again,” he called out to you.

You could hear the pain in his voice, and didn’t understand how he could say that when he pulled away first. 

You turned around and looked at him with hurt written on your face. 

“How could you say that? What do you mean you’ve been waiting for me to see you?” you questioned and stepped closer.

“You pass me in the hallway with nothing but a nod, you act like I’m a stranger. Like you don’t need me anymore,” his voice shook. 

You had to do your best to stay calm for his sake. Despite how much you wanted to yell and show him how much he hurt you, you couldn’t do that to him. The sweet and empathetic man you loved so much.

You let out a deep breath. “I thought that’s what you wanted.” Your voice wavered.

His shoulders fell. “Why would I ever want that?” he took another step closer.

“ You didn’t want me, you want Yelena instead. I’m not sure what I did, but I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I made you not love me anymore.”  Your eyes widened at your last words. That wasn’t what you meant to come out. 

You didn’t even admit it to yourself until now, your brain finally comprehended that you were in love with him.

His eyes matched yours, and he ran a hand through his hair. Yelena had at this point stepped out of the room. 

“I thought you didn’t want me, I wondered what I did to scare you away. I stayed awake, asking myself what I had done to earn your hatred.” It seemed things were finally being said.

You were both being honest without having the intention to reveal true feelings and thoughts.

“I could never want anyone but you, you’re all I have ever wanted since the day we met. Yelena is my friend. Since we’ve been apart, she’s all I’ve had. You’re all I talk about, you’re the only one I want to love for as long as you’d let me,” he let out a breath he had been holding. 

Your heart seemed to stutter at his words, and you didn’t know what to say.

“You could never scare me away. I don’t fear you, I don’t think I ever could. There has never been and never will be any fiber of my being that could hate you. Everything you are is what I want, everything you are is what I love.” You finally let the words come out. 

Each of you had poured your feelings out. You stood there in front of each other for mere seconds before crashing together. 

His arms wrapped around your waist, and yours around his neck. He buried his face in your shoulder, and you placed a kiss on his temple. 

You let out a watery giggle, and he pulled away a bit. He looked at you to see a smile on your face, the smile he had missed for what seemed like a lifetime. 

“What are you laughing about?” his voice slightly teasing. 

“It all seems a bit unreal, We could’ve had this so much sooner if I didn’t act so childishly. I’m sorry, Bob,” your voice was sincere as you looked at him shyly.

“Well, now we know to communicate before assuming anything,” he responded with a soft smile. 

“Can I ask you something?” Your voice was quiet as you looked up at him. 

“You can ask me anything you want to,” his fingers traced your jaw and came to hold your cheek.

“Is it ok to kiss you now?” A smile took over your lips.

Bob smiled shyly but nodded his head before leaning in to close the space between you.

His lips hovered over yours for a moment before he kissed you fully. He cradled your face in his hand. In that moment, he seemed more sure than you’d ever seen him be. 

Your fingers tugged lightly at his hair, and he sighed against your lips. You gave him one last kiss and pulled away, just enough to speak to him. 

“You don’t have to ask next time, ok?” he spoke softly.

Instead of answering, you smiled and pulled him back in. 

--

A big thank you to

@gaylorbiftarcreactor

@i-want-to-be-your-dreamgirl

You gave me the courage to write for Bob, and I really hope you'll like it!

[melwnst]

────── ⋆⋅☆ MARRIED LIFE WITH DEAN HEADCANONS

⭑.ᐟ so I lied…. Just got inspired so quickly wrote this! I’ll really be back tomorrow or Sunday but here’s a cute one<3 please interact and send requests if u have any!! (Here’s dad!dean headcanons, and dating Dean headcanons!)

supernatural masterlist/full masterlist

──────────୨ৎ──────────

⭑.ᐟ He’s so touch starved like he’s never been touched before…. It’s like something’s different the moment your status changes because now he’s a husband and he wants to spoil you even more but he needs your touch EVERY TIME like he’s actually almost annoying in a cute way.

⭑.ᐟdean’s the type of guy who puts everyone above himself, he’ll never prioritize himself over the people he loves. So sometimes he’ll skip entire nights of sleeping so he can watch you, make sure you’re safe next to him, and just be on the verge of tears cuz he can’t believe how lucky he is. Impostor syndrome at its finest he feels like he doesn’t deserve you/this no matter how many times you tell him that he does.

⭑.ᐟ The moment you’ve settled down and promise each other to never go back to that hell of a life, deans never been happier. You’ll catch him cooking breakfast fully singing, dancing or whistling. He’s genuinely happy. His smile doesn’t feel forced, he wants to be here, with you, and you know he misses it sometimes but he’ll never go back because now he has you.

⭑.ᐟlong mornings tangled up in bed together, just the sound of your breathing, not talking, because you’re with each other and you don’t need to talk. You need to take the moment in, and that happens so often at some point that’s just what every morning looks like. Then he’ll cook breakfast, which he’s surprisingly great at, you’ll get ready together and get on with work etc.. whenever you’re together again at night, falling asleep will be the same. Silence, enjoying the moment together without even sleeping until eventually you doze off.

⭑.ᐟhe never falls asleep first. He always finds a way of knowing if you’re asleep or not, and when he gets confirmation he’ll either stay up all night looking out for you even if he doesn’t have to, or he’ll be at peace knowing you’re safe next to him, he’ll fall asleep. Even though he still gets nightmares most nights, they’re not as bad as they used to be because you’re here so he feels better, more grounded, safer.

⭑.ᐟmovie night every Friday, you never miss one. It’s just you and him, either the movie is in the background and you’re having a hot make out session, or you’re wrapped up together on the couch enjoying a shitty movie with snacks all around. Sometimes he’ll take you to dinner before or cook your favorite food. Or sometimes you’ll just go to the movies period. Maybe Dean will fall asleep, and you tease him about it all the time so he’d rather stay home with you.

⭑.ᐟ he sings in the shower… if you’re both in the shower together he’ll go full concert mode and it’s so hilarious that’s almost your favorite time of the day.

⭑.ᐟhe’s such a shit talker…. When he comes home from work he’ll gossip for hours if he has too many things to say, you’ll sit back and laugh in silence because he’s sooooooo annoyingly funny!

⭑.ᐟDean gets hotter with age, so do you. So the passion grows even hotter, day by day. He’s always been hot but his charisma and charm is just so unmatched. AHHHHHHHHHH

⭑.ᐟhe’s always loved making you feel good in bed. But ever since getting married, he’s more careful, softer but also rougher when he needs to be, or when you ask for it. He’ll just do whatever you ask of him. HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hes lowkey a sub sometimes. He’ll whine, he’ll beg. YOU LOVE IT.

⭑.ᐟhe’s so worried all the time he’ll snap his fingers and you’ll be gone. He’s always worried too much about everything and anything, but with you he just doesn’t know why you’re still with him. You make him feel like the best husband ever but there’s still this bit of doubt in the back of his mind that worries you’ll leave. He knows that’s not you- but he’s scared if you don’t leave, you’ll be taken away from him because eventually everyone does in his life. Everyone leaves, or dies.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

taglist: @tinas111 @blossomingorchids @bluemerakis @mostlymarvelgirl @that-stanford-girlie @sunnyteume @bohoooitsme @beelzebzb @l0v33-rey (comment to be added!)

[darlington-v]

(this post is like 4 years old, but op deleted it so i feel comfortable reblogging and adding onto it when it's being reblogged on its own still)

yeah I think this post lacks nuance and conflates the current western culture surrounding beauty very generally with natural makeup.

like there is definitely a culture of perfection and correcting things that are natural to us, and hiding normal ass things about ourselves, and shaming us for having these normal things like wrinkles or pimples, and there is a trend of heavy foundation and heavy concealer to hide things like this for sure? like there is no doubt that there is a beauty culture that encourages us to be ashamed of ourselves and hide these things.

that also encourages women (or people, but women especially) that they need to wear makeup everyday, or that yeah, they need to wear makeup to feel pretty when that's just not healthy for us.

but like... "creative makeup" can also be... natural makeup. like not all of us are putting on muted, nude tones because we want to hide anything? sometimes people just genuinely like a natural look on themselves whenever they put on make up. i am someone who used to wear like really eccentric makeup, and there's still a place in my heart for it, i still do it whenever i feel up to it, but most of the time if I wear makeup, it's a bit more natural and warm.

like... i just don't feel like wearing some really eccentric makeup unless there is an occasion for it, personally? i like the way i look with warm nude tones. and i am not someone who puts makeup on regularly, nor do i necessarily put it on heavily. like that is a case where natural makeup and the culture of like "you have to look perfect, you must conceal these ugly features on you" don't coincide?

and similarly, to the reblog, which i also really liked that added on some needed nuance to this is like... sometimes people still don't like parts of themselves even after they have deconstructed concepts pushed by western beauty. like... not everyone is a trailblazer, and that is okay. not everyone is going to be able to accept every part of themself in this life, and that needs to be okay, because it is the only way to actually even possibly get to accepting something you may have to live with forever. and that's why it has to be okay if they never accept it.

and then going back around to like but makeup can also do different things for you like accentuate parts of yourself or things on your face that you like? like, literally every bit of what the reblog said on like sometimes contour can just make features you already have and you already like look even more noticable. it can also be gender affirming, like i do think there is an aspect within contour, that isn't necessarily campy contour or theatrical contour, that is queer. there is beauty in knowing what you want to look like and using your own artistry to achieve that.

that's sick.

like there needs to be nuance around makeup because there are things that coincide with a toxic culture that aren't actually toxic themselves. like, it is okay to want to be pretty when you already know you are pretty without the makeup, or that you still like yourself without the makeup.

like i think that is what we should focus on and talk about most when talking about the culture of makeup and surrounding makeup right now? like, i definitely don't think we should perpetuate like... that we SHOULD hide things we don't like? especially that we've been told we shouldn't like?

and i think more people should be conscious of like... where do they get their beauty standards from? do they hate certain parts of themselves because that's what they've been told to be ashamed of all of their life, or is it that there is a specific way you want to look because that's how you identify and you don't look that way?

like, i think becoming aware of internalized ideals of beauty and then choosing to figure out what you actually consider to be "beautiful" and what features you actually like, and being open to different forms of beauty can really help us unravel insecurities that have been planted within us from cultural beauty standards (especially western beauty standards)

n.. so. simultaneously, i do not think it is wise to moralize the action of hiding things you don't like about yourself because it's just going to end in more shame. and like, i'm not going to lie, hiding things you don't like about yourself is... pretty normal? not in solely a makeup/beauty context, but just generally.

it's just like... healthier and kind of more empowering to be aware of why you may not like something about yourself, cause then you can at least be more neutral to that dislike. like you can dislike it, but it doesn't have to have so much weight in your head. so that you're not putting on makeup everyday to hide from yourself, when you could just be okay with looking the way you do most of the time and maybe covering things up when you feel like getting dolled up.

face makeup is evil. i don’t care. like eyeshadow can be a fun and creative thing and it’s not like anybody is going to think you genuinely have purple eyelids but face makeup that’s made to look “natural” just ends up making you think your normal skin is something to be covered up and distorts your perception of your face. the whole “it makes ppl more confident!” thing is a lie because it’s not that the makeup itself is making you feel confident it’s that it creates an association with confidence and the results of that is you end up hating your face which is the opposite of building your self-confidence.

[beartitled]

HIVE belongs to @braisedhoney

Canon HIVE blog 👉 @talesaboardthehive

‼️ATTENTION HIVE CREW‼️

I BRING U

✨HIVE megadrawing✨

Bc tumblr cannot comprehend the glory of our ship/silly image size and pixel limit >:(

You can view the quality version of the art with all the numbers 👉here👈

The quality of the og art gotten eaten a bit too, so here’s close ups :D

And of course 🐝CREDIT LIST(s)🐝

Thank u to everyone who participated in choosing the art style for it >:D

@blackkatdraws2 @insomniphic @demonicrhythms @mhokino @writtengalaxies @myhandshurts @bucketfullofstrawberries @stingraystray-ing @kuzann @aetermorte @otterlyinluv @atlantis-whale @4thwallbreakerdraws @fudgemallowmaniac @crimsomcrystal @tumbling-turmoil @dafry-shenanigans @xandyprojects @technologyvoid @idunnowhattowriteheretbh @ejsuperstar @bananatemilkshake @masky-the-mask @cj-is-causing-chaos-again @whatsupwithjinx @oswinunknown @twolitwicksinatrenchcoat @bootleg-behindthescenes @junebug-dot-com @notmefoina @derrangedhemlock

‼️Important note

If you recognise your number and would like to be credited (tumblr, name, etc.), please let me know!

This art contains numbers from old HIVE discord server (which was deleted), so some ppl’s @ might’ve been lost

🐻‍❄️< silly gathered all hivesona art she saw before server deletion, but forgor to screenshot the list of server members

You also free to stay anonymous of course 👍

I will wait some time before posting it on others socials to make sure the credits are alright 🫡

Also little reminder that the drawing is non canon, so we have a lil uniform fashion show in the corner there 💅 (all uniforms have to be grey colour)

Nöw

Lemme me do my usual rambling >:D

The giant took about 3 months +- (hard to count bc I worked on other projects in the same time💥)

Lemme tell u the planning was an actual investigation

(and chaos ofc)

(fun type of chaos :D)

Shoot out to Amari who helped me gather evidence🕵️ and Crimsom who helped me accidentally find a number I didn’t know about before❗️

Thank u guys you’re awesome ❤️

As I said before there are identified numbers, where I either only had a name/somebody’s vague pfp/a discord status 💥

I used standard anonymous crewmate design for ppl with no info

But tried to gather at least some info from old server screenshots for cues, like CR6548 Kura had different red emojis in their bio, so I gave them a rose strawberry crown and earrings 🌹🍓

For anonymous people with asks I added lil visual identifiers ✨

Part of me kinda wants to write a whole guide, but I think it’s more fun to discover things by yourself >:) *whisper* go reread #ney’s chatter

Fascinatingly enough, this drawing really enhanced HIVE as an eldritch abomination

This thing shifted and changed so many times

Constant edits 😭💥

When I planned out the composition I added the balcony as an extra space reserve for crewmembers

Ironically balcony stayed empty, bc I didn’t have enough ppl to fill it up with

Decided to put fandom characters that are associated with Captain’s blog and some alter egos

🗣️ HOWEVER 🗣️

When I finished lineart and posted Bumblebeedog comics

Ppl started creating new Hivesonas 🥺

Nobody can resist the Bumblebeedoggo 🐝

So had to improvise to put more and more ppl into different empty parts of the art 💥

🎶gotta add em all 🎶

This is actually my biggest work so far

Like literally

I usually draw on A3, but decided to go bigger and drew on A2 format instead

A2 is like 420 x 594 mm/ 16.5 x 23.4 inches (big boi)

Which was an absolute nightmare to scan 💥

But honestly really enjoyed the process, bc bigger format allows for more details

Also technical fun facts x2

Drawing program froze sometimes during colouring 💀

cue the anxious saves lmao

Anyway 👏

Hope you guys enjoyed the art and reading some of the backstage ❤️

Hey Ney >:)

Hope u like

Hit me up if u would like the link to 4K version of the megadrawing™️

[subtextdecoder]

TBHX: What do the doves represent? Or any of it, really?

I was rewatching TBHX and omg I saw things I hadn't seen or considered before. There are just so many details that it's hard not to miss things.

The click came to me while I was watching the scene where Nice kills himself. Notice the white doves flying around and then X's image on the screen facing them right at the moment Nice jumps. It made me think: 'So does X really have power over the other heroes, or is he just observing them... or neither?'

But then I remembered both the OP and ED being heavy on the dove metaphor.

Let's start with the OP:

First, we see X throwing each of the heroes' cards.

2. Then, they all turn into pigeons and fly toward him.

3. Finally, we see X in a breach, looking like he's above and below everything at the same time. Then red strings appear, with him at the center.

There are 9 red strings in the scene, with him in the middle, making 10. Of course, that's not a coincidence. It made me think: maybe the strings represent all the heroes' fates being intertwined and tied to X. The strings being red could symbolize not just the 'red string of fate,' but also blood ties—or maybe that they can only be broken by death.

There’s a lot more going on in the OP, but let’s go back to the doves.

They appear again, and even more, in the ED:

First, there’s a black-and-white scene with all the heroes sitting on the throne. The last one shown is X, who gets up and walks toward us—maybe tired of watching all this?

2. As X gets closer to the camera, a dove takes flight. More doves join it, flying above the city.

3. We see them looking at the heroes from above—9 doves total.

4. When X takes his hands out of his pockets, the doves seem startled, like a breach in the system happens. They take flight, X snaps his fingers, and they all start falling through (maybe the breach from the OP?), surrounded by feathers. The sequence switches to color.

Note that here we have an aspect ratio change, the colorful scenes are closer.

5. We see the same places as before, but now: no posters of Loli, her name is gone from the wall, the city looks empty, screens are off, no ads. An ocean of feathers keeps falling.

6. A feather lands on the palm of a hand that looks dead or unconscious. The trust count on the wrist starts twitching and eventually disappears. The hand moves and grabs the feather. So, did they regain consciousness after being freed from the trust's shackles?

7. It ends with a feather landing on the empty throne—now in color—and the light goes out.

We can’t be sure what it all means just yet, but I think the OP, the episodes, and the ED are beautifully connected. Everything feels intentional. For example, in the ED, the aspect ratio changes when the transition from black and white to color happens. It's a clever cinematic device that makes us feel drawn into the new 'world' they've just entered.

I think the meaning of the doves changes throughout. Sometimes they represent those controlling everything, other times the heroes, and sometimes (through the feathers) maybe even every person in the world.

X could be so many things—maybe the first person to awaken as a hero, or the one chosen to lead... or maybe not even a real person at all, but an entity. Though we do see him working in an office and doing daily things. Is he observing them all the time? If so, why?

There are also lots of gambling references—cards, coins, roulette—which I think inspired the black-and-red color scheme in the logo. Is X the one gambling with reality? Or against it? Or against whoever’s really in control?

X’s ability, the breach, and the red strings make me think of a ton of scenarios: death as the only way back to reality... which would imply multiple realities. Maybe he can access parallel universes? The three main art styles might reflect three different timelines. And when X snaps his fingers, can he choose who goes where? If not, and if the feathers represent people, maybe everyone was teleported—along with the heroes. This metaphor makes perfect sense considering how the feathers fall and one reaches a hand, bringing it 'back to life.' Interpreting it as a phoenix metaphor, people are reawakened by the feather — which represents themselves — meaning they didn’t die, but were teleported and are now waking up in a new timeline. It’s as if the feather symbolizes their consciousness traveling through the breach that connects different timelines. The fact that the hand originally seemed to belong to an unresponsive body, combined with the colored scenes showing an empty city while feathers fall from the sky, could suggest that everyone is put 'to sleep' — their bodies remain, but their minds shift to a parallel reality. Or perhaps, the parallel reality isn’t a physical world at all, but their dreams while dormant. While writing this, I also started thinking it's kind of interesting that there are three distinct main art styles. If each one does represent a different 'universe,' then the name Treeman, aside from the logo being an actual tree, could be a wordplay—Three Man—with each version belonging to one of those universes. That leads to yet more questions: is their consciousness compartmentalized into three separate blocks, making it impossible for the person to realize they’re switching realities? or is it not split at all and that's why it appears to happen seamlessly? Some red strings in the OP intersect, others don’t. That might reflect which heroes influence each other—like E-Soul being a fan of Lucky Cyan, or X saving Ahu. But none of the strings connect to X directly; he stands alone in the center. Maybe that’s because all of them are tied to him whether they know it or not. It's also a nice way to show us that X could be the one pulling the strings, in a literal sense. The cards he throws in the OP remind me a lot of Tarot Cards, which could also imply handling with fate somehow.

There are also a lot of references to a stage. So maybe when the light goes out at the end of the ED, it means the play is over. They’re no longer heroes—they’re just ordinary people again.

Maybe everything was in their heads. Maybe they were never heroes—just ordinary people daydreaming about being more. The story videos only show a few characters in the 3D style. Maybe some don’t have a 3D version. If 3D represents reality, were they never real? Or maybe the 3D characters were never supposed to become heroes—but did anyway—starting a revolution that will break the system?

It could be that X’s power — or X himself — is a manifestation of people’s desire for change, to become something more, even to the point of altering reality entirely. You know that theory that says, 'for every choice we make, a new timeline is created'? X might be the means through which people can travel across these alternate realities they’ve shaped.

Thank you @steelenspots for opening my eyes to yet another meaning for the doves: "I'm also thinking about how X strongly has a magician aesthetic, and how doves tie into that — magicians 'free' doves in their performances. Nice gains freedom through death, and so far we've seen Lin Ling gain the freedom to be himself. We know X is the only one who can’t be controlled by the Commission, so maybe he’s observing and helping the heroes find their own freedom. If not freedom, then perhaps the doves symbolize peace in a more traditional sense — each character finding their own inner peace."

Well, it's al too crazy and I’ve got so much on my mind, I’m sure I forgot something here and there. But this is just me writing as I think, sharing my questions with y’all. I’ll post more when it comes to me. Edit: Part 2, but no longer about doves! It's really just me writing what comes to mind.

[narcjsistx]

— 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐏𝐈𝐃 𝐆𝐔𝐘𝐒!

✶ characters: sakura haruka, suo hayato, hajime umemiya

✶ 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ; take a look, trust me!

— SAKURA HARUKA

✶ we all know about his tendency to blush when it comes to something particularly tender or kind, perhaps even embarrassing. it's a habit that many members of the bofurin know by now, especially suo or nirei. but when is he with you? blushing is not so annoying anymore. haruka knows how to communicate, but often gets embarrassed doing so, especially when he has to express something to his girlfriend. talking then becomes difficult, but blushing is the solution to make you understand that he is enjoying the moment but simply does not know how to express it without seeming desperate (he is, you know it too, but it's better to make him believe that he's a strong and unbeatable boy) when he's with you he doesn't worry about having to justify his blushing, so forget about the usual justifying reactions he has with his bofurin friends! maybe it could happen sometimes with you too, but it's only because he loves you

✶ sakura's idea of love has always been quite twisted: he's never had anyone who genuinely cared about him, only people who found his behavior and especially his appearance strange. when he first met you and you complimented his eyes, he had no problem not hiding his annoyance from you. even the people in his past did the same, making him believe he was appreciated just to make the stab more painful when they turned their backs on him. but only with time, seeing your genuineness, he understood that maybe falling in love wouldn't be so painful, not this time. admitting he loved you wasn't complicated, the hard part was accepting and believing that there was finally someone who didn't disgust him. when he realize that you were interested in him too? he can call that moment the most intimate of his life

✶ the words "sakura haruka" and "relationship" have never gone together, he started having this thought as a child and as a teenager the situation certainly hasn't changed, maybe even worsened. when he met you he didn't even understand how the two words suddenly went good together, with you loving him and refusing to let go of his hand even to simply eat. sakura has never had a girlfriend and never really understood how it works with one, but with you he learned everything so quickly that already after the first month together you wondered how a boy like that had never had anyone before you. being a boyfriend, possibly the best in the world, has become so easy if it was about making you happy. even though he's a relatively closed person, he's understood that he can be calm, lovely and without barriers with you, even if breaking them is still difficult. seeing you're okay with letting him have his time only makes him fall in love even more

— SUO HAYATO

✶ although not everyone can say it, he particularly loves everything that concerns fabrics and matching clothes. even before becoming a couple you already knew how much he loved everything related to the chinese world, starting from tea and ending with the way of dressing, defined by him as particularly interesting. when you became an official cup one of the first "couple experiences" was to let you try on some of his clothes of chinese origin, choosing the ones that you considered the most beautiful or the most comfortable. spending the whole afternoon with his implied compliments is defined by both as probably the best moment you have had in the first weeks of the relationship

✶ i read somewhere that he doesn't particularly like using his phone in front of others, perhaps out of politeness or for some other unexplained reason. as friends you knew about this habit of his, but unexpectedly with you he never had problems opening his private chats, his photos gallery, even some of the few social media he has. when one afternoon you happened to be closer to his phone, he simply asked you to reply to a message that nirei had sent him asking to set a date for a training session. it surprised you a lot, but when he noticed your expression he simply explained that since you are his girlfriend he has nothing to hide or be worried about, so why forbid you from touching it?. from that moment you swore that your entire trust in the male gender was based on your boyfriend. to your boyfriend's misfortune, or maybe fortune, from that day you started taking his phone just to fill his gallery with stupid photos. he loves all of them, so is a win

✶ since you've been with him, you have no problem admitting that you think you're the safest girl in the city. hayato is so strong that sometimes you wonder if he really has a monster in his eye, because you can't explain how he can turn the tables in his favor in fights so easily. he doesn't particularly like that you've seen him fight, but it happened once when you accidentally met while you were shopping and he was on patrol with sakura. it was a pretty quick fight, but you were so surprised to see him so calm even though surrounded by so many people, some of them very cruel. he fought with sakura with his usual precision, but he can't hide the fact that he threw his punches a little harder at the boy who only tried to go towards you. a few days later you talked about this and he simply justified his actions by saying that they were natural, and that knowing you were there made him a little worried for the simple fact that he knows how bastards the guys from other gangs can be. he added that he did not doubt the fact that he knew he would not even allow you to pull out a hair

— HAJIME UMEMIYA

✶ this sweet guy has absolutely no problem showing you affection in public. what is there to hide from the world, the fact that he loves you so much? no no, the world needs to know how perfect he thinks you are. since the first day as an official couple it has been normal to have his hand intertwined with yours, his arm around your shoulders, even just his pinky on your body. no one in town asked anything about you, let's say you made your love visible even when you were just friends, so no one was surprised to see umemiya kissing you in front of the shops in town. even when he introduced you to the other bofurin as his official girlfriend, no one really reacted: hiragi's sigh was enough and he simply babbled something about how it took you so long to give each other a stupid kiss

✶ even though he's a very strong guy, even on a sentimental level, talking about his past, his family and the bofurin before becoming president was not easy. these are subjects that he considers deeply intimate, topics that only people so close to him that he could die for them know. when one evening he simply asked you if you wanted to talk about something important to him, you didn't expect to find yourself an hour later shaken by sobs, deeply sorry for everything he had gone through. you know how strong your boyfriend is, but thinking about him as a child hurt you, especially knowing now everything that was going through his mind in those moments. even though you spent the rest of the evening hugging each other and completely silent, umemiya vowed to make you his wife one day. he thought this while thinking about how much his mother would like you

✶ in bofurin many see their president as a bit of a role model, someone they know loves and protects them, a bit like a father. umemiya loves to talk about the guys in school, how he likes to see them all so united and jokingly bragging that it's thanks to him that they are like this. when he talks about it he really does sound like a father explaining his children's successes, and you sound like a married couple with children when you also comment on the things he tells you. when everyone started to understand the true bond that tied you to umemiya, in the way his gaze softened when you spoke to him, some automatically thought of taking you as a point of reference too. if umemiya trusted you, evidently you were also a kind and caring person like him. if before the boys of the bofurin had only a father, now suddenly they also had a mother: worrying about the little ones has suddenly become normal for you too, even scolding them when they did wrong actions. no one ever thought that you behaved in a wrong way, even though you were not someone with an official role in the school you protected it as if it were your home, protecting the other boys as if they were your children, even though they probably had three times your strength. if it was important to your boyfriend, it automatically was important to you too

[thelonelyraven]

Alternatively, I guess especially if you’re more of an auditory learner, speak. Maybe to yourself, first. That was me around age 12 with English. I was probably speaking beyond broken English in my head and the few recordings I have at the time attest to that, but it helped start a shift in my brain. I must have been between A1 and A2 by then but this prompted me on the path to the edge of B1 I think. I was there before the end of French middle school, which is when this is expected (in part thanks to basically only watching TV in original language subtitled and the overwhelming majority of said TV was English speaking) but slowly I learned.

I wrote a movie script that called for some lines / dialogues in English. It was… bad, but a start.

But, most crucially, I was able to spend 2 months in Australia having to speak English all day. I mean, I guess you need a certain level in your target language to get by. I know my 10 days in Germany were fucking useless but it’s also because it was short and I was too scared to speak German and spoke English most of the time as by then I was basically fluent in English (and basically everyone in Germany speaks it very well, dear god).

But yeah. 2 months in a country where you maybe have a couple other exchange students or something from your own country you see for lunch and chat with sometimes? That definitely forces you to adapt. They shaped my accent, especially as they corrected me on some pronunciation (which I think was sometimes maybe not *wrong* but not necessarily Australian idk) and there were times I had to ask for a sentence to be repeated, even a couple times as some words didn’t register (sometimes I’d even give up and just vaguely nod or apologise that I was having trouble understanding) but all in all I managed to get around most situations and only ended up with a moderate Australian accent, that, incidentally, was picked up on by an Australian student in my high school back in France. A high school full of English people as it was one of those schools where they taught us history and geography in English and we had English literature classes instead of English language classes and beyond the fact that I was incomprehensible to my friends at the start (though perhaps less so to the Australian girl so maybe it was in part an accent thing? Idk) I was told by my dad to keep trying to speak English to my friends so I’d get practice. And that really paid out because by the end of my first year is when I was basically fluent.

Well. Fluent-ish, I still got a C on my Cambridge Proficiency 2 years later, but you know.

I guess 3 years of dorms with people I mostly spoke English to helped. By the end when I moved to Scotland for uni people were genuinely surprised when I told them I was French, assumed I had at least on English parent and told me I sounded “very English”. Guess my roommate of three years with what I think was pretty much a RP “accent” (despite her father being from Manchester…) had its influence on me and uh… yeah. English accent. Though it got tamer as time went on but dear god around my second year I have recordings where I sound like I’m putting on an act of trying to sound English it’s so weird.

Anyways. Practicing a language is invaluable and I advise it to anyone who can do it to try. I’m sure there’s plenty of ways to do it that don’t imply moving to a foreign country for 3 months. Like chatting online on forums or discord servers or whatever and then you can maybe be on calls with people maybe playing games like Among Us (Alice no, it’s not 2020 anymore) R.E.P.O. or Lethal Company or whatever the latest trend is idfk. Maybe Dead by Daylight, join us

Just… practicing. Forming sentences is a skill you have to learn. Just like you can be expected to spit out a 20,000 word fanfiction just because you listened to a lot of podcasts, it doesn’t work quite that way.

I very much agree with these suggestions. Forcing myself to write was the way I could finally start to become an active rather than a passive user of the target language.

[mmochammoss]

Fan behavior

Izuku Midoriya had burner accounts. Plural.

Some were obvious, like the ones he used to scroll through hero discourse on Twitter or reply to fans anonymously. But some were…

more specific.

A private Instagram that followed pro-hero fanpages, analysis pages, and even a few shipping accounts. A Reddit username dedicated to lurking in threads like r/heroranks and r/candidproheroes. A TikTok profile with zero posts but a very suspiciously curated ‘likes’ tab.

He had always been like this. Always online. Always watching. Not in a creepy way, just in a lifelong fanboy kind of way. Most people assumed he didn’t have time for any of that anymore now that he was the number-four hero. But Deku made time.

Especially when it came to you.

You had taken the hero world by storm. All strength, grace, and confidence, with a quirk that could split pavement and a smile that could break the internet.

He remembered watching your first solo billboard debut while eating convenience store snacks on the rooftop of a building at two in the morning, freezing mid-bite because you looked that good.

You were always beautiful. Always capable. Always you. And he was always… just a little bit obsessed.

Not in a weird way, of course.

You were old classmates. Friends. You had trained together, cried together, fought alongside one another back in the U.A. days. You’d even defended him online after his first public interview when his voice cracked halfway through a sentence.

You’d always been sweet to him. Gentle. Supportive.

He used to chalk up his crush on you to proximity. Just another harmless high school thing. Everyone had one, right?

But his thoughts of you didn’t fade the way most high school crushes were supposed to.

They only grew.

And now, years later, every time your face popped up on the side of a building or in his timeline, he remembered just how thoroughly and hopelessly he had not grown out of it.

Especially when he saw the fan content. And there was always so, so, so much of it.

It made total sense to him though. You were internet gold.

There were memes. There were fancams. There were reaction edits, deep-dives, lore threads, shipping compilations, whole Discord servers dedicated to analyzing your every move and wondering which pro hero you might be dating (if any).

Izuku tried not to pay too much attention.

Until one night, curled up in bed after patrol, scrolling on one of his private burner accounts, when he saw it. A fan edit titled simply:

“She looks at him like that’s her favorite person alive.”

It was under some viral TikTok audio, something soft and emotional.

The clips were nothing special on their own. Moments pulled from interviews, red carpet footage, post-battle recaps.

But they were all of you and him.

You glancing at him across a press panel. Smiling at something he’d said in an old agency interview. A photo someone had taken where you had your hand on his shoulder after a tough mission, face full of quiet pride.

And his favorite:

A short clip where you’d been asked about what hero inspired you most these days.

You had smiled, eyes soft, and answered,

“Ouuuuu? Who inspires me the most?… Probably Deku! I look at all he’s done and all he’s gone through and it reminds me that I can always push harder, do more, be better, y’know?”

He watched it three times.

Then a fourth.

Smiling through every rewatch, until…

“Shit.”

He threw his phone onto the bed, face hot, heart racing. He stared up at the ceiling and groaned.

Because he knew. He finally, finally knew. This wasn’t just some crush anymore.

He’d liked you once, of course.

Back in school, it was simple. You were warm, kind, devastatingly beautiful, and you always treated him like he mattered, even when he barely believed it himself.

But this? This was different. It wasn’t admiration. It wasn’t innocent. It was full-body want.

The kind that lived in his soul, tight and aching, every time your name lit up his feed. And God, he felt so guilty for it sometimes.

Because you were more than beautiful.

You were brilliant. Respected. One of the top heroes in the country. And a good person. And he admired you for that. He did.

But sometimes…

Sometimes he just wanted to imagine you whispering his name.

Not “Deku.” Not “Midoriya.” Izuku.

He wanted to hate himself for how his mind wandered. For how badly he wanted to touch you. To kiss you. To pull you into his lap and feel your fingers drag through his hair as he got drunk on your lips.

He wanted your body wrapped around him after long missions. Your thighs warm against his sides. Your mouth against his skin. Your voice soft with pleasure, telling him just how much you’d missed him.

And worse than all of that? He wanted you to want him back. Not as a coworker. Not as a friend. But as something real.

He rolled over onto his stomach, face burning as he buried it in the pillow and groaned. He shouldn’t think like this. He knew better. But it was too late.

Because it wasn’t just about how badly he wanted to kiss you anymore. It was about how deeply, desperately, helplessly he was in love with you. Not some idealized version of you. Not the you from glossy spreads or high-res fan edits.

You.

The way your nose scrunched when you laughed. The way you chewed on pen caps when thinking. The way you’d always text him congratulations after a good mission, even when he hadn’t spoken to you in weeks.

You were real.

And he wanted you in every way a person could be wanted. He felt ashamed of it. Guilty. Like he was crossing some unspoken line just for thinking it. But how could he not?

How could he not dream of kissing you until your knees gave out? Of holding you so close he’d feel your heartbeat match his? Of letting you ride the high of your shared victories straight into his arms, or his bed, into something so perfect it made his brain short-circuit?

He wanted you. He was so far gone.

Maybe, someday, if he could stop hiding behind burner accounts and start being brave again he’d tell you.

And if you let him, he’d love you for real. Not from a distance. Not through a screen. Not like a fan.

Like a man who wanted to be completely, hopelessly, and totally yours.

[teruthecreator]

gimme 1 and 17 dialtown ☎️

hiiiii griffin i hope you're having a good time at graduation. probably not since u sent this ask but hey man i get i too was on my phone during graduation. anyway

1. the character everyone gets wrong

oh boy where do i start with this. i mean like. tee bee aych i feel like most people have a fundamental misunderstanding of randy. like he's not pathetic for pathetics sake he kind of intentionally puts himself in the worst situations imaginable to feed his worldview of everything being bad for Him specifically and no one else. the fandom kind of babygirls him? like treats him softer and generally makes him more of a shy uwu guy rather than a person stuck deeply in his own fractured worldview that is intentionally letting himself get worse. like randy's whole route is about making him realize his happiness is His Choice, His Decision and not a work of fate/luck/unseen outside force that he has to relinquish control to, and everyone just goes "yeah but what if we make him sopping wet uwu yaoibait guy with oliver".

speaking of oliver i feel like EEEEEEEEEVERYBODY makes him way too wacky and not actually grounded. like, despite his many odd mannerisms and such, he is still one of the few characters who has a job and is able to Maintain That throughout his route (though, of course, in the good route it changes). oliver is a pretty stable guy, all things considered. sure he talks funny and has a general inclination for the ridiculous, but a lot of people kinda coke him up and let him run loose like he's a wild animal. and i think it's more fun if you ground him in a place of reality and then let him play. instead of being the guy to drag people into stuff, let him be a part of a scenario and see what his reactions are. much more fun. also i feel like a lot of people forget how, like, awkward he is? like he tends to apologize when he says really outlandish/forward shit and seems to view Himself as a "freak" in a way that would suggest he's aware of how he stands in comparison to most people. like dude knows he's weird, and that's not Always a good thing.

and yknow what while im talking about the main dateables i would be remiss to bring up karen because like. WOW. i mean this is a problem with most fandom spaces unfortunately but the way people straightman her is so fucking sad. like people forget she literally quit her job on a Whim because someone vaguely suggested leaving and she went full throttle. karen is impulsive and karen makes bad decisions based on rash judgments and she is generally not that hard to goad into doing something stupid. i mean, she agreed to a date with gingi. twice! that takes some real loose grips on impulse control to just go along with that. like sure she is a bit more deadpan than, say, oliver, but she does have a sense of humor. she likes to use sarcasm! she has wit she has sass. also she is like. INSANELY jealous and i feel like a lot of people dont hone in on that aspect of her being the reason why she is sometimes so rash. she is fiercely protective of those she considers "hers". she wanted to Kill A Giraffe because gingi liked it. she is jealous she is rash she is impulsive PLAY IN THE SPACE STOP MAKING HER THE DEADPAN STRAIGHTMAN ITS SO BORINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

okay that's enough of that but just know i could've done it for every character

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

maybe i am insanely ridiculously biased but there should more content of mingus and norm. or just mingus. or norm. those two are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fascinating and i feel like people kinda gloss over that. like they're similar beasts in their rampant paranoia and flawed perspective on callum/the world and they butt heads about it like crazy. generally their dynamic is one of the most interesting parts of chapter 3 to me and i feel like there really isn't enough chapter 3-focused content out there. we should talk about these guys more. and if i have to stand on a podium and take a stand there should be more content of MINGUS. girl is the driving antagonist of AN ENTIRE ARC. BASICALLY THE WHOLE GAME IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT. AND NOOOOOO I DON'T SEE HER ANYWHERE. IS IT BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T FIT IN YOUR FOUND FAMILY DYNAMIC? IS IT BECAUSE SHE'S A WOMAN? I DON'T KNOW I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DIRECT YOU PEOPLE TOWARDS HER BUT I WANT TO. if my brain was functioning at the capacity it was last july i would've written ten million fics about her i have so many days. alas, i don't know if they'll ever happen... (but if people were curious i would gladly share)

but in a slightly more biased take, i think there needs to be more normingus in the world. how we were the chosen few to proclaim the good word of normingus is beyond me. like don't get me wrong i'm happy tryt had its impact but JESUS CHRIST I SHOULD NOT BE THE MOST POPULAR. SOMEONE ELSE COME TRY AND PLAY IN THE SPACE WITH ME. I CAN GIVE YOU IDEAS. I CAN GIVE YOU SO MANY IDEAS.

[dissociativewriter]

Unnatural Affinity- Part 2

Isekai!Reader x Love and Deepspace

wc: 2.8k

cw: angst but not too heavy this time, allusions to self harm, questioning of worth i guess?, reader wonders if she’s supposed to be there and what’s going on, kinda awkward interactions tbh, lots of confusion; not proofread

Synopsis: You soon find yourself filling in the role of Em’s friend and roommate, and try to fit into your new life and new (?) job at the Hunter’s Association. At lunch break, you and Em eat lunch with Xavier only to find some… odd behavior from him.

author’s note: I really need to be updating my Once Upon Another Time PoTo x LaDS series but this has taken all my inspiration :( i feel like this is kinda weak but it has some good lines. i don’t know how to write xavier so ill try to figure that out before i write more of him

tag list: @animegamerfox @ixloom819 @magennta09 @an-ever-angry-bi @corvid007

link to part 1

Em certainly knew how to hold a conversation, you quickly realized.

She was the exact opposite of you. Where you were quiet and reserved, she was loud and outgoing. She could talk to anyone, and it seemed as though she held all the energy in any room she entered.

That wasn’t a bad thing, of course. You almost envied her for it, the way she could so easily navigate social situations. She was charming and witty where you were shy and sarcastic. It was far from a bad thing, it was just something you weren’t used to.

And why would you be?

This is the life of the Main Character.

“So, anyways, I was trying to get him to switch with me so I could have a turn, but he insisted that he keep playing!” Em was complaining about one of the men wrapped around her finger, and you had honestly lost track of which one she was talking about now. For having five objectively attractive men practically at her feet, she certainly didn’t appreciate them all that much. “He said he’d use his Evol and it’d be fine, but then he still missed!” Her expression was exaggerated, her pitch rising as she kept talking. A small pout formed on her lips. “All that to say, we didn’t get a plushie,” she sighed.

“I’m sorry, who was this again?” You decided to just bite the bullet. You’d learned that Em was aware she could talk fast sometimes and skip out on details, so asking for clarification wasn’t that anxiety-inducing anymore.

“My friend Xavier. He’s a hunter, you might have seen him? Silver-white hair, big, blue eyes, tall, really quiet?” Em cocked her head.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve… seen him around.” You nodded. You couldn’t exactly explain he was a Love Interest in the only game you played daily.

“Yeah, it’s hard not to notice him. I think most people in the Association have at least heard his name, even if they haven’t seen him.” Em suddenly stopped, grabbing your arm and pointing to a small shop with her other hand. “That shop looks so cute! We have to go there.”

You didn’t argue, simply following her lead like a lamb as she guided you to the store. Another thing you’d realized: Em was used to getting what she wanted. But she was never rude or entitled about it. No, that’d be too negative for a Main Character. She could be a bit bratty at times, however, a trait often showed in memories with Sylus or Caleb. Clearly, though, this wasn’t something she only did with them. You’d fallen victim to her pouts, puppy-dog eyes, and guilt-tripping in the mere three hours you’d been together.

Despite all this, your differences, your slight annoyances, your envy, you’d managed to become somewhat comfortable around Em. Maybe it was her Evol helping her resonate with everyone, but it’s like she just knew how to make people like her and be comfortable. You weren’t sure how you felt about it. She couldn’t read you and your emotions, something you were thankful for, but she was clawing at the walls you’d put up defiantly, like the kitten Sylus so often compared her to.

After a few stops at a couple more shops, you two finally headed back to your apartment. You were filled with some kind of rotten eagerness. A person’s home can so easily show their secrets: their struggles, interests, and happiness. You wanted to see how you lived in this life. You wanted to see if it really was better than what you’d had before.

You wanted to see if what you were losing when you entered this world was really worth missing.

The apartment was… nice. Like the rest of Linkon, it was sleek and innovative. You recognized a lot of it from the screenshots in the back of the main storyline or memories, but there was something unnerving about the whole place. It reminded you of Em’s eyes. Pretty at the first glance but lacking substance when you look further.

There were a few things here and there that weren’t in the original art of her apartment. A stack of books here, an extra pair of shoes there; Your mark was evident. You weren’t just shoved to the side to make room for the main character. You were allowed to self-express in your own (new?) home.

“Why do you look so shocked? I mean, I know I straightened up, but it wasn’t that messy before,” Em laughed.

“Nothing… just thinking.” You shook your head. “It’s not important.” Em cocked her head but didn’t say anything more.

You hovered in the entryway for a moment after kicking your shoes off, taking it all in. Em stayed in the living room, scrolling her phone as she laid sprawled on the couch. Then, as if your body knew what your mind did not, you entered what you could only assume was your room, dropping your tote bag in the chair in the corner and shrugging off your jacket. You performed what felt like second-nature, like your body remembered this life where your mind didn’t. It seemed like force of habit, so you could only wonder if adapting to this new world would really be all that difficult.

“I’m going to sleep!” Em yelled outside your door. “You should soon. We’ve got to get back the Association tomorrow and I just know Jenna’s going to overload everyone with work after that whole issue in Skyhaven.”

Habit was a funny thing.

It was as if some things didn’t need a second thought, just something you did because your body knew to.

But how did your body know your exact routine in this life? There was nothing inexperienced about any of it. You didn’t bump into any furniture, didn’t look for where your shirts were kept for twenty minutes, didn’t question anything.

What was going on here?

You grabbed a bag you didn’t even know existed before and a travel mug from the counter before leaving with Em. This was routine, you realized, but whose?

As you were leaving the apartment building, Em turned around, zeroing in on a specific window. You curiously followed her gaze, only to find the curtains drawn.

“What’s going on?” you asked.

Em’s gaze suddenly snapped back to your own, as if she forgot you were there next to her. “Oh! I was just going to see if Xavier was leaving too and let him walk with us.” She laughed. “Of course, knowing him, he’s probably still asleep!”

I didn’t think Xavier usually went to the Association, you thought. Didn’t he just take missions without showing up?

What else is different?

You shrugged. “We can wait for him, if you want,” you offered. You didn’t know if you really should be interacting with any of the Love Interests, but if you both worked at the Hunter’s Association, you couldn’t really avoid Xavier.

You couldn’t change things that much anyway, right?

“No, it’s fine.” Em shook her head. “Let’s just go. I have a meeting with Jenna first thing and I do not need to be late again,” she groaned.

With bright lights and wide windows, the Hunter’s Association certainly left no stone unturned. There were no shadows to hide in, no darkened corners to find refuge, not even a closet to hide the skeletons you knew the Association had.

You subconsciously adjusted the tote bag on your shoulder, feeling the weight of your laptop and the folders containing God(Astra?)-knows-what. You’d tossed your copy of Frankenstein in before you left, too. You didn’t know why. It wasn’t even your favorite book, but it was something real. The annotations were fragments of another life. A life where you hadn’t been happy, so why did you find yourself missing it so much?

Your hands itched at your thighs again, feeling the healing cuts rub against the fabric of your pants.

“Well, I’m gonna go.” Em’s voice, bright like the Association, broke you from your thoughts. “Say hi to Nero for me!” You nodded and returned her wave as she walked away.

Wait.

Nero?

What did he do…? You wish you had the guide from the game giving you descriptions on everyone and everywhere. What did they say about him? He liked Wanderers… and didn’t he have social anxiety?

Your feet took your where your mind couldn’t and you saw Nero sitting at a slightly cluttered desk with an empty one directly across from him.

His little portrait in-game did not do him justice. He was honestly cute, especially with his slightly oversized glasses. He was shy, sure, giving you a weak wave of acknowledgement, but he was by no means lacking confidence. He dodged eye contact, but his shoulders were back and his posture straight. You could tell he was confident in himself, just not in others when it came to socializing.

“Hey.” His voice was soft, almost unsure. “I left a report on your desk for you to read over… just, whenever you have time!” he quickly clarified, as if he didn’t want to put unnecessary pressure on you.

“Alright, Nero,” you smiled, your grin only growing as he glanced away.

You quickly fell into a rhythm after getting settled at your desk. Nero was in data analysis, you finally remembered, which meant you were, too. At least, in the same department. You had a different job from Nero, compiling and proofreading all of the information from the reports. It could be confusing here and there, especially trying to decode any shorthand used or even just some messy scrawl, but it was overall easy work.

Now you understand why Em had mentioned you helping her by giving data. You had access to all the data that went through the Association. Even what they hid from the Hunters.

In a world where knowledge was the only thing you had, this realization held unimaginable power.

Between what you knew about a few characters from the game and what you could learn from all these reports, it didn’t seem like you’d be scrambling for some footing.

You and Nero fell into a rhythm, too. He would complete his reports, pass them over to your desk, where you would edit and transfer into the database. Not many words were exchanged, maybe a quick “here” or “thanks” muttered occasionally. With such a loud life next to Em, it was nice to find these quiet moments of reprieve with him.

A few hours passed quickly before the clock hit 1:30. You straightened up your pile of reports before rising from your chair. “Nero? Aren’t you going to lunch?” you asked.

He shook his head. “I’ll just stay here for my break. You have a fun time, though.” He gave a weak smile.

“Alright, if you insist…”

Em met you at the entrance to the Association, a tall blond in tow. “Hey!” she exclaimed as soon as she saw you. “I wanted to introduce you to Xavier since you said you’d never met, so I thought, why don’t we all get lunch so you two can properly meet!” She grinned widely, quickly glancing between both of you.

You gave a polite nod and introduction to Xavier, not expecting much from him. He never paid much attention to anyone beyond Em, you knew, and you didn’t want to incite any unnecessary jealousy if he thought you two were too close. You were roommates, after all, and you’d seen Xavier get jealous over only a neighbor.

You didn’t think his jealousy would stop at only men, either.

To your surprise, however, he grabbed your hand, giving you a chaste kiss on the top of it and a small smile. “Nice to meet you,” he murmured.

Okay, what?

You hadn’t expected him to be rude; he would never be rude to someone important to Em. But this was a bit kinder than you’d expected. Just a bit.

You, Xavier, and Em left the Association, walking down the street after Em proposed some hotpot. She was slightly ahead of you and Xavier, extremely enthusiastic compared to your relaxed pace. You thought it odd that Xavier had stayed back with you instead of hovering next to Em, but what was odder was the hand ghosting at the small of your back.

This was a comfortable motion, maybe not practiced, but definitely not awkward. You felt his eyes on you as you kept looking forward, his chin tilted up as he looked at you through his bottom lashes. He was searching for something. You could feel it, though his face betrayed nothing.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d say he was just as confused as you were with the amount of attention he was giving you compared to Em.

Hotpot was nice, if a little chaotic. Em and Xavier sat together in a booth, with you across from them in a chair. You were directly across from Xavier, and you noticed him watching you closely as the meats and vegetables cooked. There were even a few times when Em had to frantically tap him to get his attention and say it was done.

Conversation ended up flowing easily between the three of you, once you got settled. You and Xavier were putting in as much as Em, something extremely unusual for the both of you. Right now, Em was in the middle of telling of an interaction with a civilian during a mission, which was apparently so funny that she couldn’t breathe for a few minutes before beginning.

“He kept insisting that he be let past, like he knew what was going on!” She howled with laughter. “I said, sir, you don’t wanna be involved in that and he just held his hand up and said how can you know that, I’ll do as I please! Obviously, he took two steps, realized what was happening, and got out of there as fast as possible. Honestly, I don’t know what people are thinking sometimes.” Em wiped the stray tears from her eyes.

“Wait,” you chuckled. “So he was just like: ‘oh i can do this, i’m better than a trained hunter, step aside little girl’?” You raised your hand, the back of it facing you, just as Em had done to get your point across. Em didn’t say anything, merely laughing as she nodded. You laughed, too, keeping your hand raised although it faltered.

Xavier, who had completely dissociated for the entire story, snapped back into focus. He zeroed in on your outstretched hand, immediately drawing a conclusion you weren’t sure how he reached.

“Mind if you borrow my hand?” he asked, his brows slightly furrowed. He leaned forward a little, raising his own hand. “…Like this?” He tapped his hand against yours in a weak high-five.

Watching your hand falter, out of sheer confusion and shock for how this was playing out, a slight frown grew on his face. “It seems you had something else in mind.” He shook his head, his lips now curling up at the ends. He quickly entwined his fingers with your own, holding your hand tightly. “Can I borrow your hand, then?”

Your mouth was slightly agape. He was supposed to be acting all cute like this with Em, not with you!

“Is this what you call borrowing?” Xavier chuckled as he released your hand.

You stared at him, barely noticing Em glancing between you both. A frown was playing on her lips, and she shifted closer to Xavier. You watched him closely as he absentmindedly chewed his food. You were trying to figure out why he did that.

Why did it feel so familiar?

What was it so comfortable?

You figured it out later.

Finally, after a few more hours the Association and a quick dinner back at the apartment where Em was uncharacteristically quiet, you figured it out.

It was a Relax Time in the game. One of those little interactions you unlocked as Affinity increased. It was identical down to the dialogue. Except, those were always little couple-y moments shared between the MC and her Love Interest in Destiny Cafe, always adorable, always invoking your somber envy.

So why was Xavier doing it with you?

You didn’t think Em liked it much either. She wasn’t bitter about it, you could tell, just… confused. She isn’t officially dating any of the Love Interests as of now considering just the Main Story has happened, but it’s still odd for any of them to be doing something remotely romantic with anyone, man or woman.

You just hoped you wouldn’t run into any of the other men. Who knows what that could lead to?

You didn’t know what exactly was going on, or how you could deal with it, but you knew one thing: Something was wrong.

Maybe it’s your fault. Maybe you’re not supposed to be here. Maybe your very presence is throwing everything off-kilter.

In a game so based around Fate, unexpected events don’t seem very welcome.

And what were you, if not unexpected?

comments and reblogs appreciated! <3

masterlist

[asleepymonster]

Okay, I'm reblogging this again because I've now watched the film.

First of all, I want everyone to know that the entire movie is absolutely full of shots like this. Big sweeping shots done all in one take. Every single one of them is beautiful and they all tell a story all on their own. Not a single second of this movie is without amazing camera work. I don't even agree that this shot is the most impressive because I don't think any of the sweeping shots are more impressive then one another. However, the sweeping shot over the pool, then into the pool, before we enter the casino is honestly jaw dropping.

My personal favorite sweeping shots are the casino arch. We follow a singer for a while, we see Americans indulging in the opulence, we see crowds, at one point we go into a pov of one of the Americans and people make eye contact with the camera very deliberately. This same arch then has another sweeping shot through a shanty town following the same American. Again we get a pov of him, very deliberate eye contact, then a pull back to see his reactions. It's fucking beautiful and haunting.

I Am Cuba is two and a half hours long, and most of that runtime is voiceless, sometimes even silent, but it is never quiet. It is deliberate, it is letting us breathe and see, it has something to say.

I expected much more propaganda, mostly because of the time. It's true, this movie is propaganda, but none of it is unjustified. This is a movie celebrating an independence that was hard won, it is telling it's story and it is celebrating. Do not make the mistake of thinking this is a war movie, it is not. When people are shot there are no wounds, no blood, only the camera hanging on those people as they use their last moments to keep going. The wounds aren't important, the blood isn't important, it's the message that is important.

I am telling you, watch this movie. It has been restored to 4k with the original Spanish audio. It has English subtitles, it's very easy to find and watch. I have honestly never seen camera work quite like this. I can only compare it to Kurosawa. We just don't see movies with camera work like this anymore, I was blown away.

Please watch it, I'm begging you.

This 'impossible' crane shot from Mikhail Kalatozov's SOY CUBA (1964) ...

IS the greatest and quite remarkable one shot scene of them all.

[keepingitformyself]

but i am flesh and blood (and this flesh has needs) ii

synopsis: even with the snow finally melted you find yourself questioning whether it’s even possible to protect the girl you love from something that doesn’t bleed. or is she too far gone to come back?

pairings: lottie matthews x reader

genre: angst, violent themes, fluff.

warnings: blood, typical yellowjackets violence.

word count: 4.3k

read the first part here

please do not repost my work anywhere for any reason at all. if you do see this happen to any of my stories, please let me know. thank you x.

three months before the spring.

it doesn't feel as cold as it used to. but that doesn’t help much when you’ve spent the past few weeks crammed in some splintering wooden hut with everyone else. it doesn’t ease the weight of losing the cabin that still burns despite its ultimate collapse weeks ago.

the snow still bites at your skin when the wind gets harsher. your ribs still ache with the hunger you’ve grown accustomed to. but lottie still holds you close despite it all. she still whispers silent prayers with her arms wrapped around you. she lets you cry into the curve of her neck when you need to. she says, ‘i love you’ like it’s the only truth she’s never cracked. she looks at you like you’re the one thing that’s always felt real.

and you kiss her when you need to remember that she’s the only thing that doesn’t hurt for you out here.

you start to have dreams shortly after the cabin burns down. sometimes they’re pleasant. dreams of you living another life. a life where you still play soccer, where lottie is there loving you, like nothing bad has ever touched you both. like, there wasn’t some strange and unfortunate string of fate that brought you together.

other times, the dreams are cruel, scarier. the cabin is there, whole again, but nothing about it feels right. people who shouldn’t be there are alive. greying, blue corpses that talk. you smell the smoke, but there’s no fire. and you feel the heat despite feeling the harsh wind of the cold blowing through the hut.

when the flames finally do come, you shoot awake from your sleep. your breathing is laboured, and tears stain your cheeks. lottie is already there to hold your hand. like it’s some twisted routine you’ve both come up with. you never ask, she doesn’t either. she’s just always there, like maybe she was waiting for you to come back.

you think maybe she was. maybe she also has the same dreams.

one night, when the dreams seem more brutal, lottie is there again to hold you close. you wake in quiet sobs enough to wake the others up. lottie cradles you, holds you close to her chest, and you let the sound of her breathing ground you as you sob into her collarbone.

“you’re safe,” she repeats into your hair. you believe it. because god has never answered your prayers the way she did.

the others watch with worried expressions. natalie looks at you like she’s uncertain of something. tai looks like she wants to reach for you as well, but never does, once catching lottie’s gaze. and shauna doesn’t look at all.

later that day, when you’re supposed to be sourcing wood to build with, you catch lottie again. she’s crouched by a tree, looking distantly at it as if it were speaking to her. you don't announce yourself; instead, she’s already meeting your gaze before you call for her.

“lottie,” you say, but it sounds like a plea. you drop down beside her, her hands reaching for your face.

“what is it?” she asks, but it sounds like she’s barely even here. and you don’t notice how tears start streaming down your face until she’s trying to wipe them off with her thumbs.

“what’s wrong?” she asks again, this time more present. you feel the warmth of her breath hitting your face.

you shake your head, trying to move her hands off you. but she holds on tighter.

“no,” you manage to say.

“what?” she searches your face.

“you have to promise me something,” you say once finally clutching her hands in yours.

lottie looks at you, searching out of confusion, or nervousness, or both.

“look at me,” you say low, but pointedly. “please, look at me.”

“i’m here,” she whispers, “i’m looking.”

you move one of her hands to press against your chest, over your heart.

“do you feel this? the way it beats?”

she nods her head. eyebrows furrowed, “i feel it. i feel you.”

“it means i believe in you,” you whisper, “it means i love you.”

a beat.

“i need you to believe in us, too.”

there’s an agonizingly long pause in between. lottie stays still. like, she won’t answer. like, she can't. but you see the tremble in her lips, the wetness of her eyes starting to show. she gulps down the knot in her throat because, sometimes, she feels like she doesn’t know how to love you without letting this place eat her whole.

lottie knows exactly what you’re asking. understands exactly why you’re asking it. but, nevertheless, she knows. it’s the only thing she feels she’s ever known. the kind of thing that feels like it’s never slipped away. not like the trees she prays to. not like the voices that won’t speak to her.

because in the space between, out of all the fucked up madness that has happened, you’re still the only thing that feels tangible.

the only thing lottie can swear she will always believe in.

lottie releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding, a shudder leaving her mouth as she chokes out a sob.

“i do,” she nods. “i swear– i promise,” she chokes back a sob.

she lunges forward, hands immediately finding their place on your face as she presses against your lips. she tastes your tears, salty and warm. she doesn’t even try to wipe them away. instead, she drinks them up like they’re the only thing close to being ordained.

and in that, lottie promises to herself, reminds herself, that she’d choose better. because nothing good has ever lasted long in the wilderness. but maybe you can.

——

you made it to the spring, and for the first time in ages, you were no longer desperate or clinging to some hope that you’d live to see another day. you weren’t actively starving, and you’ve slowly found joy in the new way of things.

and, lottie, well, lottie was still lottie. even after surrendering the crown to natalie, after she survived the hunt, and after claiming the wilderness had chosen her. even after admitting she could no longer hear it. but even then, lottie still believed. she still believed there was a reason everyone was still here. and she still came back from her little solo walks with a fresh wound on her palm. an offering, she’d call it.

you’d just sigh and pull her down to the makeshift bed of your shared hut. you’d wash her palm with the lake water and wrap it in old scraps of cloth. muttering to her that if she was gonna offer something, she could at least try giving it something more convenient.

“could you try offering it a squirrel head or something next time?” you’d joke as you wrapped the fresh wound. lottie didn’t reply, not even a wince when you tightened the cloth around her hand.

“you should come with me,” she replied instead. you looked up at her expectantly. you hadn’t tried much to feel what lottie felt in the last months. but she still wanted you to believe, even if she couldn’t hear it as clearly as before. she tried with the others. she tried to keep them believing, and she tried with you. but people could only humor her for so long.

you hesitated for a moment. months ago, you would have followed her wordlessly. you would have reached for her. you would have let her pull you under until the cold didn’t bite at your skin anymore.

now, you still reached for her, but not for the same reasons. there was no hunger, no desperate need to cling to something that felt greater than you did. you changed; you had to. because you loved lottie, you loved her, and you knew that if you ended up like her, it’d end up destroying you both. you needed to be sane so that you could be there for when she needed to come back.

maybe you didn’t believe in the wilderness anymore. but you believed in her.

you smiled at lottie, holding her wounded hand in yours and bringing it to your lips. “yeah.” you nodded, agreeing with her. “i’ll go with you next time.” lottie smiled at that. you would go. even if you didn’t want to. even if it’s the last thing you’d want to do. you’d do it for her. you’d do it to keep her happy.

the days pass on as they always have. you have your weekly meetings with natalie as an advisor, along with taissa, gen, and van. you play ‘capture the bone’ along with the girls, and lottie always kisses you when you arrive back, whether in defeat or victory. and mari and shauna still bicker over their petty girl drama, and you always are thankful for having that entertainment around.

until mari goes missing.

it’s days of scavenging the surrounding woods. there isn’t any luck at all. even if you’ve tried every single trail you’ve covered in your months here. and just as you’re discussing with taissa and natalie what the next step should be. just as you’re about to decide that pronouncing mari dead as a possibility, she comes stumbling into the village, knee wrapped in a cloth as she limps across the yard.

the girls all rush towards her. helping her settle down, checking her for any injury besides her knee. you feel yourself let out the biggest sigh of relief that you didn’t have to lose someone else. at least not today.

but it all feels full circle once mari mentions being held captive by coach ben. a name you didn’t think you’d ever hear again. a man natalie had tried to convince everyone was dead. he should’ve been dead. but he isn’t. he’s holed up in some cave drinking hot chocolate.

everyone jumps at the idea of going off to find him once shauna mentions it.

“he tried to burn us alive.” you watch in shock as she spits the words out. natalie is the only one who protests against it before shauna storms off, inviting anyone to go with her in capturing him.

lottie doesn’t seem to be ecstatic about the whole ordeal. violence is usually the last thing she wants to partake in. she just nods encouragingly, understanding if it’s something that needs to be done.

you silently pack for the trip that evening before going off with the group to find him. a small part of you is hoping you won't have to bring ben back and make him face the wrath of a bunch of angry teenage girls.

“you’re scared,” lottie says from the entrance of the hut. you look up at her towering figure and huff out a laugh before turning back to what you were doing. “i’m not scared.” you don't know why you lie.

“don't lie,” she says softly, as she kneels beside you. “you don’t have to be scared,” she says it like it’s the simplest thing ever. like, this isn't ben you’re talking about. a man who you once trusted, a man you looked to for guidance. this was coach ben. coach ben, who let you sit out on practices when he saw you were too lost in your own head. he was the last piece of humanity left. the only reminder of wiskayok that wasn’t so fractured by what has become of all of you.

and you’re not sure what scares you more. the fact that he was still alive or that his capture may inevitably lead to his death.

“i just…i don’t think we should do this,” you confess. lottie all but stares at you. patient, waiting, listening, inviting you to say what you need to. like she always has.

“i mean he– he didn’t kill mari,” you start. “he let her go. he let her come back.” there’s more conviction to your words as you regain your confidence. “if he was so dangerous, wouldn’t he have left her to die?” you finish.

lottie hums, not in agreement or dismissal. she grabs your hand in hers and runs her fingers over the insides of your wrist. in some way grounding you. “he still left us.” she replies.

and that’s what it takes for you to understand fully. maybe it didn’t matter that he might’ve started the fire at the cabin, that he let mari go. maybe this was about the fact that he chose to abandon you all in search of his solitude. that he would have rather suffered alone than with all of you.

he could have chosen to stay. he could've chosen to believe. he could have survived with all of you. but he didn’t. maybe that’s why everyone was so angry. because he gave up on them.

lottie watches as the realization settles on your face. the way your mouth parts, the way you feel your throat tighten.

“don't be scared.” she says again, pulling your hand in to kiss your wrist. “we’re here. we’re here together.” you close your eyes as her words settle within you. when you open them again moments later, all you feel is that pull towards her. the one that’s always been there. only this time, it doesn’t feel like you need it to survive. you feel her. and you love her.

you love her more than the fear of what comes next.

she holds your hand in yours for a moment longer. then, with a final squeeze of her hand, you rise to your feet and sling your pack over your shoulder, ready to head off.

“i’ll be back,” you murmur, brushing a kiss against the arch of her brow before finding her lips.

"i know," she whispers, smiling.

you're gone until morning light. walking behind ben and natalie, you catch her gaze just before entering camp, a silent plea, a reminder to have her back for what comes next.

it all happens fast. shauna storms toward natalie the moment they set foot in camp, eyes blazing with the need for justice now that coach ben is in their grasp. but natalie is ready for her. she won’t let this end in blind violence.

“there has to be a trial,” she says, voice steady.

the anger in shauna’s face all but rises. her fists clenched at her sides. “after everything he’s done, you want this to be about fairness?” her voice accusatory, annoyed. melissa, from behind her speaks up in her defense, “he literally tried to burn our fucking home down!”

but you know what you’ve all become out here just as much as natalie does. what you’re trying your best not to continue to be. everything can’t be done in rage.

you step closer behind natalie, you let her feel you there. present. solid. understanding that you know she’s trying her best to do the right thing. even though she’s terrified. even if she doesn’t know what to name it.

a line has to be drawn, right? something no one should dare cross. this is that. like the thing lottie has always explained to you. some things are left out of your hands. some things happen because we aren’t meant to decide them.

and then, like you summoned her with a thought, lottie steps forward. “natalie is right. life and death has always been for it to decide.”

you see how her eyes find you as she says it, not seeking agreement but offering a reminder. of what you’ve once believed. of what she still believes.

you don’t always know what lottie hears anymore. she’s quieter than she used to be, her certainty less loud, but it’s still there, alive in the way she looks at the world and at you.

there’s a long silence. coach ben shifts between his feet.

“okay,” mari speaks up, warily. “how does a trial even look like out here?”

you glance back at lottie. she doesn’t say anything. she doesn't need to. this part is yours. this is up to the rest of you.

natalie shares a look between you and lottie before she steps forward. “we gather everyone. lay out what we know, and take a vote. it isn’t perfect…but it’s something.”

you hear shauna’s huff at her words. her nose flares in frustration, and you know she has something to say but decides against it. instead, she storms off into her hut, melissa trailing behind her.

natalie glances to you at her side, another silent plead. an agreement. you give her a nod. you have her back, no matter what. people disperse into their groups, you hear the mutterings, the doubts. some already taking sides. you don’t care.

you’re just glad there’s still some order to things around here.

you close your eyes for a moment and inhale. you don’t have to open your eyes to know that lottie has appeared next to you. her hand brushes yours, and it feels like coming down to earth. you exhale. when you open them again, you find her looking right at you. it’s there. a knowing. a stillness. how she knows exactly when you need her. you cling to that.

everyone gathers in the center of the village not long after. you sit quietly beside misty and ben, your knee bouncing, heart lodged somewhere between your chest and throat. you scan the faces around the table, searching for something. certainty, doubt, anything human.

your eyes catch on lottie when you glance behind you.

she’s across from you, expression unreadable as she shuffles the deck of cards with steady hands. when your eyes meet, she doesn’t say a word. but she doesn’t have to. you know her. and you know what silence like that means.

when van steps forward and announces natalie as the judge, your stomach twists. the weight of it hits you all at once. how real this is. how far you've come. how far you've fallen.

you turn to misty, voice low but certain. “misty.” she looks at you, wide-eyed.

“give it everything you’ve got.”

the whole trial is anything but easy. it’s stressful, terrifying, and relentless. mari shares her side. then shauna. you're almost ready to object when lottie steps up, until you realize where misty is steering the narrative. then natalie takes the stand, and it’s brutal watching her get shut down again and again once everyone learns she knew ben was alive. you want to speak up, to defend her, but she shoots you a look that says, not now. don’t risk it.

so you bite your tongue, even though it burns.

when ben takes the stand, you can barely look at him. he’s a shadow of the man you remember, broken and hollowed out by everything he’s endured.

he doesn’t even try to defend himself anymore, not really, but there’s still this heartbreaking honesty in the way he answers. like he knows it won’t save him, but he has to speak anyway. and then he starts talking about his life. all the things he hated, all the ways he felt stuck, but says it was all bearable because he got to coach you. the team. because he saw something in everyone that no one else ever bothered to look for.

you feel your throat close up, eyes burning. there’s no way, there’s just no way everyone in this room still wants to kill him. how can they? how can you? how can you all be about to vote him guilty? he’s not a monster. he’s not the villain of this story. he’s just a man who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. and now he’s going to die for it.

when it comes to voting, you have hope. it’s all you have for this. the one thing you’ve always held onto since being here. lottie looks teary-eyed, so does tai, and travis; they all do. but still, a part of you knows a few tears aren’t enough to save a man from death.

natalie glances at you as she approaches the table, jaw tight, like she doesn’t know whether to be hopeful or nervous.

“okay,” she looks around scanning everyone's faces. “we vote guilty or innocent with the raise of hands.” she gulps. “we vote until we get two-thirds.”

the first round. guilty, guilty, innocent, guilty, innocent, innocent, guilty, innocent, innocent, innocent. but it isn’t two-thirds.

“that’s not two-thirds,” natalie calls as she scans everyone's hands. “we have to vote again… until people change their vote.”

it’s silent. then again. people raise their hands. fall again. then raise. again. again. again.

it’s brutal, silent, and feels like crushing something soft. every. single. time. like you’re all operating some mechanical machine meant to press things closed until there’s no air left. you keep your hand steady. you never change your mind. but you feel it. you feel the pressure winning.

and then shauna disrupts. angry, upset, and nothing of what she says, nothing she does, is supposed to be allowed. natalie tries to disrupt her. to tell her this isn’t right. that she isn’t allowed to intercept the vote in any way. of course, shauna doesn't listen. all she has to do is give natalie some look before she cowers back.

and all shauna has to do to manipulate everyone is appeal to their emotions. to remind them that ben still left them, and so he must've burned the cabin down. in that, she also manages to make everyone question natalie’s leadership.

this time, van, shauna, melissa, gen, travis, akilah, and lottie all vote guilty.

when it’s over, the two-thirds is met. ben is found guilty. the sentence comes next.

you block the rest out. numbing all of it, as if ignoring it might make it less real. but it’s real. it’s all very real. and someone is going to die because of it.

you don’t even look at lottie. not right away, at least. too upset to even look her in the eyes. but you do glance up eventually, and you see the look in her eyes. like she knows what she’s just done, like maybe she’s hopeful you’ll understand. like she didn’t just let the fucking trees decide for her.

and the worst part is she thinks she did the right thing.

even if it hurt you in the end.

you huffed, walking off before you could say something cruel. lottie doesn’t try to follow you.

you tried to cool off. you walked laps around the edge of camp, hands stuffed into your pockets. you try to make sense of everything that’s just happened, but it never becomes clearer to you. and you decided it isn’t something you wanted to try and understand, especially if it isn’t something that felt right.

when you return to camp, it’s already the evening. you miss dinner, but you don’t find yourself caring.

lottie is there when you enter your shared hut—quickly rising to her feet as soon as she sees you, like she’s ready for whatever you’re about to give her.

but you don’t. you don’t give her anything.

you clench your jaw and brush past her, ready to head off to bed in the cot you share with her. you go through your motions of getting ready for bed and when you’re done you lay facing the wall of the hut, avoiding looking at lottie at all. she decides she’d break the silence instead.

“i know you’re mad,” she starts, stepping closer to the cot's edge. “but, you have to understand that i chose what it made me feel.”

her words make something in you snap, like all the anger you’ve held onto all day has finally reached its limit. you turn to face her, she doesn’t cower back when she notices the obvious anger on your face.

“well, i am mad,” you say with a silent venom. “i’m fucking upset, lot.”

“i just wanted to–”

“no!” you hiss, rising from the cot to look her eye to eye. “i told you how i felt, and you took that and didn’t think about what it would feel like for me when you chose something i was obviously against.”

lottie blinks slowly at you. she gives you that small, unadulterated smile as if she understands that you may not see it her way. and if she’s offended by your words, she doesn’t show it.

“i know it may seem unfair, but sometimes it knows more than we do. sometimes, it’ll show us things to push us towards a certain direction–”

“weren’t you the one who said some things aren’t for us to decide?” you counter.

“they aren’t.” she says, steadily.

“then why?” you demand. “you saw how broken he was! he’s innocent. hell, you even cried during his testimony, lottie.”

“we all voted,” she steps closer, trying to reach for your hand. “we all felt something and chose.”

“no,” you shake your head, stepping back. you feel the lump in your throat tighten. “don’t do that. don’t hide behind it.”

she calls your name, as if hearing her say it may bring you back to her. as if maybe it’d get you to understand. “i didn’t want it to end this way.”

you try to swallow down the tears, try to force yourself not to just yell at her for what will happen. part of you understands this isn't her fault. that it isn’t anything she can help. still, you can’t help but want to blame someone for the way things are. if it’s even something that can be protected from the kind of thing that doesn’t bleed, but continues to demand sacrifice.

you whisper, broken but clear. “don’t you remember what you promised?”

you see the glass start to break. her mouth parts, eyes turn glassy. you hear her small exhale at your words.

“i don’t want to lose you.” she whispers.

“then don’t.”

[starwovenkiss]

Snapshots: Kyle Garrick

a fake dating op that traumiatizes the rest of the 141, a phone call takes a turn, laundry mishaps, and the spiral that comes with being on medical leave.

content: suggestive content, mostly fluff, and a tiny bit of angst

a/n: sometimes i get little ideas for scenes, but i don't know how to turn them into full fics. here's some of my favorites :) to everyone who said something nice about sleep tight, soldier, please know i read and reread each comment a million times. thank you thank you thank you thank you! <3

─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ─── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ── ♡ ─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ─── 1. “Gaz, hold my hand. People are watching,” you murmur under a smile. He follows your lead, grabbing your hand before immediately pulling it back.

”Bloody hell, your hand’s sweaty,” he takes a beat to wipe his hand dramatically down the side of his tux pants, and you roll your eyes while subtly doing the same.

“I’m nervous, don’t be a dick, Kyle,” you admit before you realize what you’re saying. Kyle bites onto the confession, and grabs your hand again, giving it a slight swing.

“Aw, love, do I make you nervous?” he grins, grabbing a glass of champagne as a waiter walks past.

“Absolutely not,” you respond following his lead, and taking one for yourself. At this rate, you’d like to chug every last one.

“Then why is your heart beating so fast?”

“It is not!” Is it? You try to count the beats, but can only focus on his hand in yours and how great he looks in his tux.

“Then -”

“Will you two shut up and focus?” Price interjects into your comm, and you both flush at that. You roll your eyes at Soap dramatically gagging in the background as Ghost sighs heavily.

“Swear tae god,I’m gonna puke,” Soap whines, and you subtly flip off the camera you know he’s watching through.

“Thanks, cap’. Was tempted to ask Soap to toss a grenade and do us all a favor,” he says.

“Still time,” Soap responds.

“You were the one who said that we were the most believable couple for this op,” you snap, and Soap snickers.

“Aye, wouldn’t’ve picked you two if I knew it mean’t sufferin’ through this. Thought Kyle had more game than that,” he responds.

“We’re not flirting,” you say just as Kyle snaps “Speak for yourself, I pull just fine.” 

“Soap, you might be right that Kyle needs the practice,” Price murmurs, and you mutter a slight ‘kill me now’ under your breath. 

“I don’t need practice,” he grumbles, “And our target just exited the ballroom. Everyone needs to get into positions.”

2.

“What are you wearing?” his voice crackles through the speaker, and you giggle.

“Your shirt, the jersey you wear during football games and a pair of shorts,” he hums in response.

“Darling, aren’t you going to ask what i’m wearing?” He asks after a beat of silence.

“Are you trying to get me to have phone sex with right now?” you raise a brow, knowing he’d laugh at your expression

“Is it working?” he says and you laugh fully at that.

“C’mon love, it’s been weeks since I left and I miss you,” his voice turns gravely at the end and you feel a shiver run up your spine.

You bring the phone closer just as he murmurs, “Can’t get off on just my thoughts anymore. Need the real thing.”

“Fine,” and you play along, feeling a lot like a high schooler on the phone with her boyfriend. “What would you do if you were here right now?”

3.

“Do you and Soap have something you need to tell me?” You turn to where you’re folding t-shirts in your shared bedroom, and see him leaning up against the door, smirking.

“Why would we have anything to tell you?” you turn back to laundry, and he walks over to you, tugging slightly on the back of the hoodie that you’re wearing.

“Your hoodie says Mactavish on it,” he whispers, and you immediately try to turn your head 180 degrees to see what he’s talking about. 

“What the hell?” You finally manage to twist the hoodie around to find out he’s right — you’re baring the name of his teammate across his back. You move to take it off. “Swear, I just grabbed it out of the laundry. It looked like one of yours!”

He pouts, not even believable with the way he’s unable to contain his giggles.

“My own girl and teammate, conspiring behind my back. Oh, the betrayal” he sighs like some sort of shakespearean heroine, and you roll your eyes.

“Why is his hoodie even in our laundry?” you ask, throwing it at his chest, and he stops laughing, ears flushing red.

“I might’ve grabbed it during our last op. We’re on the go so much that I grab a fresh shirt without checking.” You stare at him for a long moment.

“And you’re judging me?” You begin to laugh and he laughs too.

“It’s different, darling.”

“It’s really not.” 4.

“Did the doctors say how long it’s going to be?” you fluff the pillow where he’s laying, and he closes his eyes.

“Six months, could be up to a year,” he groans as he tries to move his arm to grab the cup of tea next to him. Before he can lift it too much, you’re already there, holding it out to him. He murmurs a thanks, gripping the mug tightly.

“Well, that’s not too bad. With physio, you’ll be back to normal in no time.” You continue to adjust his blankets, and Kyle can feel his temper rising, tries to quell the anger building his chest. “We can get you on a schedule for showers and moving you. Soap and Ghost already said they would help out with dinners, and Price could-”

“Will you fucking shut up for two seconds?” He snaps, and you flinch. He’s never raised his voice at you in the two years of dating, and you recoil slightly, holding on to the blanket.

“I’m - I’m sorry, love. I didn’t mean it,” he whispers as you simply wave it off, trying to hide the tears welling in your eyes.

“It’s okay,” your voice wobbles, and he shuts his eyes tight. “I know this is stressful for you and all that. I’m going to go check on dinner.”

You disappear into the kitchen, and he sits, feeling useless as he can barely sit up from the couch you have him set up on. He hates feeling out of control from his own body, for so long feeling so in sync with the machine he’s built since joining the royal military.

All to be destroyed from a car wreck and a labral tear.

And here he was snapping at the one person who’s stuck by his side since he woke up in the hospital three days ago.

He tries not to make a noise, not to groan as he moves himself over to you, but he can’t help the flashing white pain he feels as he moves his body.

“Honey, I can help you,” and there you are. Back by his side in two seconds, trying to get him up from the couch.

“I’m so sorry,” he breaks. “I just, I feel so useless. What do I do if I’m not fighting?” 

You simply run a comforting hand over his, and sit next to him, “You’re not just a soldier, Kyle. You’re more than just a war.”