#you know. when he’s done you a solid. god handling best practices and all

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

oooh! several related thoughts

(1) this au is a blast, it’s a very non-obvious crossover that nonetheless works really, really well - i think it’s the underlying genre match that really sells it, the vibe of the silm clashes hard with most modern works but the trojan war is equally mythic, equally grand, equally tragic. it feels like these worlds speak enough of the same language they could have something real to say about each other, like they’re variations on the same theme interpreted by totally different authors who nevertheless both get it. match made in heaven, fëanorian au of the year

(2) like, on a human level, i get wanting maedhros’ ragtag band of refugees to settle in númenor, but on the other hand i have the mental image of academic papers three thousand years later/one fourth wall up on The Cult of Maedhros Prometheus’ Son in Western Anatolia. because of course that’s what they’d do; that’s how their societies conceptualise power, their gods aren’t so much totally beyond humanity as a super-amped-up version of people, boy’s getting regular goat sacrifices before the century is out. does his cult wither in obscurity, or spread across the region? what stories do they tell about him, and how do those change over the millennia? who does he get syncretised with? how does hesiod fit him into the theogony????

(3) and on the other side of the interdimensional portal, the idea of odysseus interacting with maglor… really, really tickles me. late-game, bitter, sarcastic bastard mags, who on top of all his canon self’s issues is now stressed to hell and back because his older brother’s absence has left him in a place he never wanted be again - in charge. the banter would be legendary, and of the sort where you can never quite be sure someone’s not about to draw a knife

and i think, if anyone (on this side of the sundering seas, anyway) has a chance of figuring out what actually happened, it’s maglor? he’s a legendary bard in a world made of music, he’s… familiar enough with the structure of things to work it out for himself. he spends a frankly unsettling amount of time just staring at odysseus, going from humming random notes as if trying to get a fix on a melody to chanting nonsense syllables under his breath in perfect dactylic hexameter, tapping the ground with the tip of his scabbard to the beat

4) [SCENE: some unremarkable cove near (but not too near) the mouths of sirion, currently playing host to a boat that, while obviously of falathrim design, has some rather unusual iconography and a name in a language no one can read)

random human sailor odysseus cajoled into helping him try to get to valinor: i don’t get it, why’d the boss tell us to ready the ship in the usual place before he even gets back

another random human sailor, ditto: let’s hope whatever he’s plotting doesn’t - wait, do you hear that

odysseus: :suddenly bursts through the treeline, riding a very large horse that’s only partially under his control, a faintly glowing ball of cloth stashed under one arm:

odysseus: :dismounts with the air of a man who knows he’ll get kicked in the face if he pushes his luck any further: we have to cast off RIGHT NOW

random human sailor #3: boss what kind of túrin turambar-level nonsense -

odysseus :already leaping onboard: no time to explain move MOVE

sounds of pounding hooves, clattering metal, and absolutely furious quenya: :echo through the forest:

odysseus’ boat: :is already being shoved far beyond the horizon by a very convenient storm by the time the fëanorians reach the shore:

(odysseus later successfully bullshits maedhros that he’s been loaned the silmaril for the express purpose of getting the aid of the valar long enough to jump through the portal to ithaca and seal it shut behind him)

Maedhros in Troy AU: Outcome

Okay, so with the Maedhros in Troy AU, I have spent way more time on Maedhros than Odysseus.

BUT.

I think Odysseus might be the key to how this whole situation gets resolved.

Consider:

Odysseus finds Elured and Elurin and tries to find a way out of the woods. In the process, he comes across some of the other refugees from Doriath, who are very relieved to see their princes and very grateful to the man who rescued them. For lack of better ideas, Odysseus stays with them.

(He doesn't recognize these stars. How is he supposed to get home if he can't even recognize the stars - )

The refugees head to Sirion. Eventually, they manage to get past the language barrier well enough to communicate.

None of the elves know where Ithaca is, sorry, or how he might have gotten here, they don't know anyone who would know - except the Valar, of course, ha-ha -

The who? Odysseus asks, very interested.

Oh, well, the Valar, these superpowered not quite all knowing beings who live across the ocean -

That ocean? he asks, pointing, just to be sure.

(This is the man who saw Aeolus's island and decided he was going to climb it. Who was told to go to the Underworld and didn't hesitate. He is absolutely going to try to sail west.)

This is a bad idea, the elves say hastily. Everyone who has tried to sail west has been forced to turn back or die.

Odysseus tries anyway.

He is forced to turn back.

He keeps trying.

In between attempts, he picks up some knowledge of the Silmaril. He doesn't care about it particularly; he just can't avoid picking up on some things about it.

Like the fact the Valar, at least at one time, badly wanted it.

Odysseus steals the Silmaril and makes another attempt.

The Valar have so many questions for him when he shows up.

He does get back to Ithaca, though.

In less than twenty years.

(The Valar, in fixing this situation, also get Maedhros back. There are many awkward things about this situation; the Valar have the Silmaril but don't really consider themselves to rightfully hold it given how Odysseus got it in the first place; Maedhros is an exile who is not supposed to be in Valinor and who does not want to be here, and now they have to decide what to do about that - )

(It does not help the awkwardness that Maedhros, who has had to deal with Zeus's tantrums over his refusal to kill a baby, Aphrodite's tantrums for reasons he's not sure he wants to understand, Athena's demands to know where Odyssues is, Hephaestus and Ares being what they thought was helpful, Apollo's curse on Cassandra, and everyone's general surprise when he didn't think human sacrifice was the best solution for placating the storms - )

(Maedhros looks at the Valar thoughtfully and decides that, for all his problems with the Valar, he respects the fact that they are not the Olympians.)

(The Valar are deeply concerned with what they hear about the Olympians.)

(This may influence their decision that while the Trojans can't stay here-here in Aman, they can stay in Middle Earth.)

(Maybe with the Edain on that island they were thinking of raising . . .)

[lilacliquors]

pairing: steve rogers x reader

word count: 848

inspo song: i saw mommy kissing santa claus

notes: on the third day of ficmas, lilacliquors gave to me ... kissing steve by the tree!

christmas was the best time of the year for the rogers children. they lived in a lively neighborhood that was lit up since thanksgiving, their house was decorated from top to bottom, their tree shimmered and glowed every night, and there was even a chance of snow that night, which was christmas eve. and to top it all off, their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were coming over on christmas day. everything was coming together to make this one of the best christmases of all. 

you and steve watched your young children practically bounce off of the walls that day, the excitement in the air all around you. it was one of your favorite things to see this time of year, and it warmed your hearts completely. christmas music was playing in your house, and dinner had been a fun one: piping hot pizza from your favorite local pizzeria. it was a family tradition, doing pizza on christmas eve, and the kids loved it. you and your husband did, too. it meant you didn’t have to cook for both christmas even and christmas, you both only had to focus on one christmas meal.

you and the kids set out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for santa, and then put out a few carrot sticks for the reindeer before you went to handle the dishes, and your husband cleared his throat to get their attention.

“all right, kiddos,” steve said, bracing himself against the counter, “time to get ready for bed. otherwise, santa might not reach us.”

you were at the sink, washing the plates and pizza cutter, nodding along in agreement.

“mhm, you remember the song. he knows when you’re awake. so listen to your father and hurry along to brush your teeth and get into those jammies,” you said.

your kids nodded, and they ran off to the upstairs bathroom, and in a few seconds, you heard the sink running.

“they’re so excited,” you said, smiling as he walked over to you and wrapped his arms around your waist.

“well, that’s the beauty of christmas, isn’t it? i’m just glad we’re in a position to make them this happy,” he murmured, kissing your hair.

“mhm, same. you wanna do story time, or should i?” you asked, and he gaze you a squeeze as he thought about it.

“can you handle it? that way, i can start getting some of the stuff out of its hiding spots.”

“sounds like a solid game plan.”

he gave you another kiss, then pulled away to let you finish cleaning up. once you were done, you went to go tuck the kids in and read them ‘the night before christmas’, just like you did every year. another age old tradition, one you’d adopted from your own parents when you were a child. seeing your little ones all snuggled up in bed, excitement in their eyes, it brought you so much joy. and once the story was done, and you’d kissed them goodnight, you turned off their lamps and made your way out of their room and into the hall. the door was mostly shut, the hall was dark, and you gave steve the signal to start making his way downstairs. you kept your back to him as he walked by, making sure the kids definitely couldn’t see anything, and then you went to the kitchen to make work of the cookies and milk.

when that was done, you went downstairs to join steve by the tree, setting up presents at the base of it. that had always been your favorite part, making sure everything looked warm and inviting for the kids when they came down the next morning. once everything looked the way you wanted it to, you both stood up, and you turned to look at him, and you saw just what he’d worn on his way down: a red sweater, and a santa hat. but the santa hat had mistletoe attached to it.

“oh my god,” you said, laughing a bit.

“what? can’t a man get a little christmas cheer?” he asked, wrapping an arm around your waist to pull you closer.

“i guess he can get a little bit,” you said, and he grinned before leaning down to press a soft kiss to your lips. you returned it, wrapping your arms around his neck as you did so. it was a blissful moment, with the tree glowing behind you and the house cozy and warm. 

you could have gotten lost in the moment if it hadn’t been for the sound of tiny feet hurrying down the stairs. you heard a little gasp, and it was your youngest.

“mommy’s kissing santa claus!” she whispered, and then you heard her go racing back up the stairs, no doubt to go wake her brother up and tell him.

“uh oh,” you muttered.

“busted,” he mumbled.

“we should probably sneak upstairs so they don’t come barreling down here,” you said, and he smiled, kissing your forehead.

“lead the way, mrs. claus,” he said, squeezing you again.

“yeah, yeah, yeah.”

[princeofgod-2021]

LIGHT OF LIFE 453

John 1:4

DIVINE ORDER 18: FROM BEGINNING OF CREATION 17

Exo 40:4 And THOU SHALT BRING IN THE TABLE, AND SET IN ORDER THE THINGS THAT ARE TO BE SET IN ORDER UPON IT; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light the lamps thereof. KJV

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE - JESUS’ 12 APOSTLES

I was going to move on to another issue under this subtopic but I was constrained by the Spirit to present examples of what we have been saying, especially last point made, as some may suppose these things are easier said than done.

So here we go.

Mar 3:13-15 And He went up into a mountain and called near those whom He would. And they came to Him. And HE ORDAINED TWELVE, THAT THEY SHOULD BE WITH HIM, AND THAT HE MIGHT SEND THEM OUT TO PROCLAIM, and to have authority to heal sicknesses, and to cast out demons. MKJV

You know, one can be tempted to think that as strong as Jesus was, why would He only seem to concentrate on just 12 Men when He could easily have handled a million?

You must remember that these 12 remained with Him even when everyone departed.

But Jesus could have kept all of them by the same Power of the WORD, couldn’t He?

Joh 6:66-68 Because of what Jesus said, MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES TURNED THEIR BACKS ON HIM AND STOPPED FOLLOWING HIM. JESUS THEN ASKED HIS TWELVE DISCIPLES IF THEY WERE GOING TO LEAVE HIM. Simon Peter answered, "Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. CEV

Well, you see, Jesus never really worried that most Men departed from Him because He knew He was going to connect with the rest of the World by making just 12 Solid Vessels who would project His work to all later.

So He invested everything [mostly] in those 12.

Luk 22:28-29 But YOU ARE THOSE WHO HAVE KEPT WITH ME THROUGH MY TROUBLES; And I will give you a kingdom as my Father has given one to me, BBE

He separated them from the “system” and drilled them with every experience close to His own, just to make the best out of them.

And whenever anything would harm any of them…

Luk 22:31-32 “Peter, my dear friend, listen to what I’m about to tell you. SATAN HAS DEMANDED TO COME AND SIFT YOU LIKE WHEAT and test your faith. BUT I HAVE PRAYED FOR YOU, PETER, THAT YOU WOULD STAY FAITHFUL TO ME NO MATTER WHAT COMES. Remember this: after you have turned back to me and have been restored, MAKE IT YOUR LIFE MISSION TO STRENGTHEN THE FAITH OF YOUR BROTHERS.” TPT

Jesus defended these 12 vehemently from corruption and evil, why?

These were His Investments for the Future Productivity and Sustenance of all.

These were the ones to preserve the Potency and Authenticity of His Work and connect with everyone, everywhere later.

Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you. Then YOU WILL BE MY WITNESSES TO TESTIFY ABOUT ME in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." GW

You must remember that these 12 were His FIRST set of Disciples, right?

Mat 4:18-19 As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon (called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen). He said to them, “Follow me, and I will turn you into fishers of people!” NET

So we see Jesus, taking his 1st main Products (just 12), Isolating them from society and Protecting them from evil and preparing them to Build the Church in the near Future.

Mat 16:18-19 So I will call you Peter, which means "a rock." ON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH, AND DEATH ITSELF WILL NOT HAVE ANY POWER OVER IT. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth. But he will not allow anything that you don't allow. CEV

I could give more examples if you want and if we had time.

These things apply in every field of profession.

I have seen many fake products in the market and they have no future. They only thrive at all because they seem New and many don’t know how to Test them.

True VALUE is marked by Longevity. Make your life overflow with Divine Everlasting Value.

Psa 139:14 I praise you because YOU MADE ME IN SUCH A WONDERFUL WAY. I know how amazing that was! ERV

The AROMA of the impact of your life shall remain throughout your Generation, IN JESUS NAME.

Come back on Friday, as we proceed in digging into this inspiring Subtopic.

Brother Prince

Wednesday, January 03, 2023

08055125517; 08023904307

[darling-i-read-it]

Hi!!! I hope you’re doing well 😃

Can I request for the RE boys x reader where the reader was studying for her exams but ended up failing them but the reader doesn’t tell them because she thinks they’ll be disappointed in her?

Thanks 🙏

Hi! I feel this lmao, I am a good student but every once in a while it happens and I'm like inconsolable. I also added Wesker because I wanted to and you didn't specify lmao. Now that I've played all the games I'm like 'who to add who not to add' lol. I hope you enjoy!

Chris Redfield

- Chris admired that you were still in school because it gave him some semblance of a normal life

- he tried to help you some but he was often too busy to really get involved so you were mostly on your own

- he came home and you were noticeably distraught and he was good at interrogations so he got it out of you quickly

- he was amazed you thought he would be disappointed

- he was always proud of you

- he was proud of you for even trying, God knows he hadn't been that great in school

- you did better than he probably would've that was for sure

- he isn't that great at making you feel better but he gives it his best go by making you soup and holding you in his big arms (after he showers the day away of course)

- he assures you theres always next time

Ethan Winters

- Ethan is just, always ready to help you at all times

- he will sit with you for countless nights and practice and study and come up with stupid games

- he's very good at that <3

- he went to school like a normal person so he knows and understands the pressure

- he had the exam date marked on his calendar and made sure you had a good breakfast and everything

- so when you got the results he wanted to know about what had gone down

- you were so worried he would be disappointed but he was quite the opposite

- you had put in so much work and done your best that he was just proud of you for being there and giving it your all

- he even got you ice cream because he knew you needed some cheering up

Leon Kennedy

- Leon was a really busy guy and he was constantly moving from fight to fight

- so if you were still in school and not working with him, you often missed each other

- so honestly, he didn't even know you were taking your exams

- he really was trying to be involved with you but he just got so distracted and he had to fight so many zombies dude

- life was hard

- so when he came home, excited to see you, and saw you moping around he was concerned

- you didn't want to tell him but he dug it out of you

- he was very quick to make you feel better

- Leon had a way about him and he knew exactly what to do to make you forget about it all for just a moment

- he promised you that everything was gonna be okay and that he could put on your favorite movie and you two could just spend the night in, forgetting about the problems of your school

Albert Wesker

- Wesker told you to drop out

- just like...the second he learned you were still in school

- if you were going to be with him there was going to be a lot of moving around, scheming, danger

- not exams

- but he knew how important it was to you and he tried to make sure that you had some sort of ability to work on it

- when you didn't come to him with your exam results he was suspicious and he totally just hacked in and looked himself

- he's never been great at making you feel better but when he saw you next he told you that it was probably because you had better things to worry about then exams

- you were still noticeably devastated but he had to assure you

- you could handle yourself in a fight <3 who cared how you did on some measly test <3

- did it help you much? no. did he throw you right back into the fight? yes :)

Carlos Oliveira

- Carlos had helped you study but to be honest, he had never been a school person

- when he was in school he wasn't that good at it and he never cared that much

- he had other things to worry about and he always kind of knew he wanted to be a type of solider so he figured school didn't matter that much in the long run

- but he tried his best to help you study which meant he held the flashcards and gave you cookies when you got things right

- so when you got your results he obviously was asking about them

- you didn't want to tell him because he had helped so much and nothing came of it

- but he was pestering and you just showed him the scores and his face fell

- he was much more worried about you than disappointed in you

- he knows how hard you had worked for this

- so he just put his arms around you and promised you would get them next time that he would be more hands on and that you were going to be okay

Karl Heisenberg

- Karl knew how much your education matters to you which is why he got like a whole wifi thing for you to take your classes online at the factory

- he wasn't sure quite why you wanted to do it so bad but hey, he would help in anyway he could

- he didn't really talk to you about it

- but he noticed that your vibe was off and he mentally had to do what assignments he thought you might be doing

- it really is not his forte because he never really went to school so he isn't sure what the big deal is but he asks you about it anyway

- when you tell him that you thought he might be disappointed that you had failed he was flabbergasted

- he like .. didn't care about schooling at all

- he only got it together for you and it seemed to keep you occupied when he was busy

- he assured you that school was not as important as you thought (which didn't really help but whatever)

- he just wanted you to know that you could drop out and he could not care less. as long as you were happy

[mrsalwayswrite]

Sinners and Saints (Sihtric x reader)

Summary: One day you stumble upon your childhood friend, Osferth, whom you have not seen in years. Yet the more time you spend with him, the more you find yourself drawn to his companion, Sihtric….and the butterflies his dark eyes give you.

This is my contribution to @emilyhufflepufftlk 100 followers challenge! Congratulations again! I’m so happy for you! 

My prompt was - "Love doesn't discriminate, between the sinners and the saints." - Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton (in bold within the story)

Words: 5500

Warnings: A couple of swear words, fluff, my poor attempts at humor, Osferth being a good bro. 

Tag List: @deans-ch-ch-cherrypie @flowers-in-your-hayr​

This gorgeous moodboard was made by @flowers-in-your-hayr​. All credit goes to her! 

"...so there she was, aye, and next thing I know, she flips 'er dress up and I see the most perfect set of…."

 "I'm going to be sick." Osferth mumbled to himself, trying to block out Finan's retelling of his prior night. To the laughter of his companions, he started to push away from the outdoor table at the alehouse. He was no virgin anymore, Finan and Uhtred had seen to that, but he still felt squeamish when listening to their stories of recent conquests. His mother's voice whispered in the back of his mind, things she had told him before her passing, about respect and love. Plus, he could not help but think that this idea of conquests, of women's worth derived from what pleasure a man could take from their bodies, was what brought bastards into this world….like him. 

 "Alright, Finan, we get it. You saw the arse of a goat and couldn't help yourself." Uhtred teased, slinging an arm around Osferth so he could not escape them- most likely to find a church and pray for their souls. 

 "Oi, lord! Ya know that was one time!" Finan feigned mock-outrage, making Uhtred and Sihtric laugh. 

 Osferth put a hand over his eyes as if that would somehow block the image from his mind. Something he desperately did not want there. 

 "How much longer are we here, lord?" Sihtric asked, changing the subject, while twirling a dagger between his hands fluidly. 

 Although Osferth would never admit it aloud, and God forgive him, it was hard not to be jealous of how easily his companions handled their weapons like they had been born with weapons in hand. They continued to tell him it was practice. Recently though, he decided it was a gift that he clearly did not have. 

 "Until I feel satisfied with the training of Lord Godwin's fyrd and his defenses." Uhtred stated indifferently, as if it was something he had to repeat to himself often. 

 "Ya think King Alfred knew how much of a horse's arse Lord Godwin is?"

 Uhtred glanced up, a tiny smirk on his lips. "Probably."

 "But he knew you were the man for the job." Osferth commented. Not necessarily to defend his father but to hopefully bolster Uhtred's confidence. "The men respect you, even if their lord fails to acknowledge his own respect."

 "The baby monk is right." Finan said. "What else needs to be done for the town?"

 Uhtred and Finan began discussing ideas and strategies, Sihtric adding an occasional comment but mostly just listening. 

 Osferth found his attention wandering, since this was an area outside of his expertise. His gaze drifted to the town and its residents who moved about to complete their duties under the midday sun. Their group had only been in this large town for two days and already Osferth was keen to return to Coccham. 

 From amidst the crowd, a familiar face caught his attention. The world tilted off its axis as his entire body went rigid, all his focus zeroed in on her. His heart hammered in his chest and the air whooshed from his lungs painfully. 

 "Y/n?" He muttered to himself, disbelief and shock clearly painted in his tone and on his face. 

 "Baby monk, ya alright?"

 Finan's words did even register, so consumed by the ghost before him. Rapidly, he slid off the bench, almost losing his footing when he went to stand, but pressed on, hurrying towards her. 

 "Y/n!" He called, an almost desperate tone in his yell. 

 When she did not turn around, he shouted louder. "Y/N!" 

 That time she paused, then slowly turned to find him standing still amongst those walking around him, a solid rock in a stream of people. He held his breath as he intently watched her expression, suddenly worried seeing him would not be as meaningful as he hoped. He could see her utter his name silently, eyes wide. Then in the next moment, she dropped the basket on her hip and ran towards him. He opened his arms just in time for her to collide with him, and with her embrace, a painful wave of nostalgia and guilt crashed over him with the strength of a tempest. 

 "It's really you." She finally whispered, peering at him in awe. 

 "Hi." He smiled, his own shock clouding his mind from forming coherent sentences.  

 Then to his surprise, she reared back and punched him in the arm. 

 "Ouch! What was that for?" He whined, rubbing the offended limb. 

 Throwing her hands in the air, they landed on her hips as her voice rose in anger. "For disappearing in the middle of the night without telling me!"

 "I did tell you."

 "That you were THINKING about leaving, not that you WERE leaving!" She reared back and punched him in the arm again, ignoring his pained cry as she continued to berate him. "I spent an entire day running around the monastery trying to find you only for Father Harold to finally pull me aside and tell me you left for Wincheaster." 

 And there was the heaping of guilt he knew he deserved. "I'm sorry….I just….I just knew if I didn't leave that night, then I never would."

 Her face softened at his quiet admission, understanding passing in her eyes. "I know. I wasn't truly surprised…. Just wish you'd have told me before."

 "I'm sorry."

 She sighed, all anger and frustration disappearing, much to his relief. She was a force to be reckoned with when truly in her fury. "So, what are you doing here?"

 "Ah, traveled here with the Lord Uhtred to assist Lord Godwin in his defenses….or something."

 "Uhtred? That Uhtred?"

 He smiled at her, catching the reverence in her tone. "That very one."

 "How did you find him? How did you join him? Wait! Are you a warrior now? We have a lot to talk about and you better get started." There went the hands on her hips again, making his smile widen at the image. Even as a young girl, when her hands were on her hips, you knew she meant business. 

 "Would you like to meet him first?"

 A shy look passed over her face that he was unused to seeing. "I'm…. I'm not presentable to meet a lord."

 He scanned her, noting the dried mud on the hem of her dress and shoes, the small smear of what looked like flour on her left temple. What he noticed most was how the years had made her even more beautiful. She had always been a pretty girl but now, she truly looked like a beautiful woman. A fact he was unsure of how to feel about. 

 He chuckled lightly after a moment. "Well, you certainly smell better than Lord Uhtred so I think it's fine."

 That caused her to tip her head back and laugh loudly, the desired effect of his comment. She gathered up her basket and walked next to Osferth, back to the table where his companions were. It was impossible to ignore their curious stares as they approached. 

 "Lord Uhtred, may I introduce y/n. Y/n, this is Lord Uhtred of Bebbanburg." Osferth said, standing next to her at the end of the table.

 Uhtred nodded graciously, clearly wondering why this woman mattered and why Osferth was introducing her. 

 "Oh, it's an honor to meet you!" Y/n gushed, a bright smile on her face. "Uncle Leofric told us so much about you, but I never thought I'd ever meet you in person."

 "Leofric?" That caught his lord's attention, his gaze narrowing and eyeing her with renewed interest. "How did you know that turd?"

 "When he came to visit Osferth, he'd tell us stories."

 "Ah….all exaggerated, of course." Uhtred said with a cocky smirk. 

 "Wait. I think we're missin' the most important thing here." Finan leaned forward, dark eyes bouncing between Osferth and her, as he pointed a finger at them, hand still wrapped around his cup. "Ya said 'Uncle Leofric'....are ya related to Osferth?"

 Osferth answered quickly. "No, her family owned the farm next to the monastery, so we grew up together." Then he furrowed his brows as a thought hit him. He had been so amazed to see his childhood best friend (only friend really) that he had not realized that she should be back at the farm and not in this town. "Wait, y/n, why are you here and not at the farm?"

 Her face crumpled for a brief second before she was able to mask it into a neutral expression. She shrugged casually, but he could read the subtle tension in the action. "We lost the farm, so mother and I came here to look for work."

 "Ah." There were so many things he wanted to ask but could tell now was not the right time. If she lived here, he would have plenty of time to hear the full story later. Instead he decided to change the subject. "So, you know Lord Uhtred, the others are Finan and Sihtric…. And Sihtric is also a bastard." He added as an afterthought. 

 That made her face light up as she turned to look at the Dane. "Hey, another bastard! We really need to start a club. We can all rant about how awful our fathers are."

 "You're a bastard?" Uhtred asked, shock evident in his voice. 

 "Yes, my lord. My mother was a servant for a lord. Got pregnant. The lord's wife did not like that so sent my pregnant mother back to her family. Certainly, it was our Lord's Will because how else would I have been able to grow up with Osferth?" She asked, patting him on the cheek affectionately. He blushed and swatted her hand away, much to the other's amusement. 

 "I reckon you have quite a few amusin' stories of growin' up with Osferth, eh?" Finan smirked. 

 "I might….but I don't share secrets for free." She matched his smirk with her own crooked smile. 

 He slapped his hand on the table. "I'll owe ya a drink! I need to 'ear this."

 "No….oh no, no, no." Osferth said but knew it was a lost cause before he even tried to deter them. The rest were already deciding when and where to meet that night. "Lord help me."

 "It's not that bad." She teased, bumping his arm with hers. "The worst one is when we went streaking naked through the monastery."

 Osferth felt his face heat up like the flames of hell itself as everyone laughed. "It was your idea."

 "Yeah, yeah, so you like to remind me." She smiled fondly. "Now, if I don't get back home, my mother is going to think I've run off with some man or I've been kidnapped. Either way, she will raise the fyrd herself to find me. I will see you all tonight."

 The others said their goodbyes but before she could step too far away, Osferth gently touched her arm, halting her movement. 

 "Y/n….I'm….I'm glad our paths have crossed once again."

 She pulled him into a tight embrace. "I am too, Osferth. I've missed you." With that, she turned and walked away with her basket still on her hip; but not without glancing over her shoulder at the group before disappearing around some buildings. 

 Once out of sight, Osferth sighed and turned back to his companions, only to see them all still staring intently in the direction she disappeared. 

 "No….y/n is off-limits to you fornicators." He stated firmly, well as firmly as he could be. 

 "She's very pretty…." Uhtred declared, a playful grin on his face. 

 "Lord, no. All of you, keep your hands off of her."

 "Or what?" Finan chuckled, eyes alight with mischief. "You'll fight us, baby monk?"

 "I will if I must."

 "Alright. Her dignity won't be tarnished." Uhtred lifted his cup in Osferth's direction. "Your reputation might be tonight depending on what stories she shares." 

 Osferth groaned, sitting back down next to his lord. "I'm going to need a lot of ale."

 "That can certainly be arranged!" Finan laughed, jovial once more. 

 As discussion started back up again, they all missed the silent, longing glance Sihtric snuck one last time in the direction she walked away….

 *****

 Over the next several weeks Lord Uhtred helped increase the defenses of the town and instructed the guards and fyrd how to better defend against the Danes. 

 During those weeks, you found yourself frequently spending time with Osferth and his companions. First it started off with meeting them in the evenings for ale, laughter and good company. Within days, it became almost expected for one of them to purposefully seek you out. Most of the time it was Osferth and Sihtric coming to join you in whatever your tasks for the day because they were bored or unwanted in meetings. It was not difficult to tell that although they were certainly welcomed members of Uhtred's group, not everyone else saw them in such a positive light. 

 So the three of you often passed the hours away together, waiting until evening to rejoin Uhtred and Finan at the alehouse. Their presence became such a regular occurrence that your mother practically adopted them, they even had their assigned seats at your small kitchen table for meals. Somehow, they seamlessly slipped into your daily life in a way that seemed like they were meant to be there this whole time. 

 Even at the alehouse in the evenings, you usually found yourself nestled between Osferth and Sihtric on the bench. A place you certainly found yourself enjoying more and more….especially next to the Dane. 

 Over the weeks, there was something growing between you and the Dane. It gradually revealed itself with each passing day, growing like the roots of an oak tree. It was through the borderline flirtatious comments that you teased each other with. It was in the subtle touches that caused butterflies in your stomach to dance, from your fingers barely gracing each other when passing something, to the way you leaned your head on his shoulder when your eyelids threatened to close, to the way your thighs would touch under the table and away from view of the others. It was in the lingering looks when your gazes locked and you swore you never wanted to look away. It was in the consistency of being next to one another whenever you could, either sitting at a table or just walking down the street, almost like your bodies were magnetized to one another's. 

 Plus the more you talked to Sihtric, the more you desired to know about him. For he was like no other man you had ever met. 

 Almost a fortnight after you reunited with Osferth, there was one particular evening after staying out far too late with the four men and drinking a bit too much, Sihtric graciously offered to walk you back home. You knew propriety demanded Osferth should be the one to escort you but he was already passed out, head on the table and snores emitting from his mouth. Giggling at your childhood friend, you accepted Sihtric's offer and the two of you easily fell into step. 

 On the walk you learned more about his past, about going up in Dunholm and his cruel father. You had heard bits and pieces while with Osferth and the others. Maybe it was under the cover of darkness, maybe it was the extra ale flowing through both of your blood, but he confessed secrets to you he had never told another besides his mother. When you reached your home, before he could slip away, you clutched his arm and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. After, you bid him goodnight and slipped inside your humble home. 

 After that night, he always walked you home, sometimes alone and sometimes one of the others would join. But when it was just you two, when you were alone, you would bid him a goodnight with a kiss on the cheek or he would kiss your hand, locking eyes with you in a way that made a fire stir in your belly and your core clench. 

 There was definitely something between the two of you, but neither seemed able to verbalize it or take the next step. 

 *****

 "So, what is going on between you and Cedric?" 

 You turned your head to look at Osferth, who laid on the grass next to you, soaking in the heat of the early afternoon sun. "What?"

 "You know….that blacksmith. The one you were talking to the other day."

 "Oh." The memory hit you. You had stopped by to drop off your mother's damaged cooking pot for Cedric to attempt in fixing, although you personally thought it was a helpless cause. The dent in it was significant, but he offered to see what he could do. As you dropped it off at his workshop, the two of you began discussing an approaching saint's day and the celebration that would occur with it. 

 Several minutes later, you heard your name called and looked over to see Osferth and Sihtric walking towards you. You bid Cedric a farewell, promising to stop by the next day to come pick up the pot. After receiving his promise to try his best at fixing it, you headed off towards the stables with your fellow bastards. At the time, you had not thought the encounter significant but with it happening two days ago and Osferth now bringing it up, you wondered how long he had been ruminating on it. 

 Finally, you simply said, "he's a good man, and has been kind to my mother and I since we arrived here."

 "Is he….pursuing you?" Osferth turned his head to scrutinize you, his lips pursed slightly as if concerned about your answer. 

 You openly laughed at the notion. "No, that's silly. He is just a kind man."

 If anything, you had to fend off flirtatious advancements from some of the young men that worked under Cedric. Those same young men quickly learned to keep their eyes on their work and mouths shut. When one openly called out to you, and before you could offer a sharp retort, Cedric threw a hammer at him from across the shop. He bellowed that he did not allow heathens to work for him and if they chose to act godless then they needed to find a new place of work. Their blatant interest diminished after that and Cedric made a point to be the only one that conversed with you if you came to the shop. Although he was easily ten years your senior, you found him a likeable man with a quick wit and sarcastic comments that occasionally left you in stitches. 

 The idea of him pursuing you was an amusing idea. He was still a bachelor, never having married, claiming that his work and apprentices kept him far too busy for much else. 

 Your answer appeared to satisfy Osferth. A thoughtful look crossed his face and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but immediately slowly closed it and turned his head back to stare at the blue sky. 

 A stillness settled after your answer, only interrupted by the frequent bird song and the wind through the tall grass. You closed your eyes, enjoying the sun's warmth and just lying around relaxing on the hill outside of the town, away from the hustle and bustle and chores that demanded your attention.  

 "He was watching you like a man who wants a woman." Sihtric stated after a couple minutes of peaceful silence. 

 Startled by his sour tone, you shifted up to look over at the Dane. He sat on the other side of Osferth, one leg propped up and an arm casually slung over it, but his gaze was focused straight ahead, staring off into the distance. Now that you thought about it, over the past two days Sihtric had become more reserved and sullen than you had ever seen. Even his companions commented on it a few times to which he would shrug his shoulders or make an excuse and walk away. You had thought he just missed Coccham, the group having been away for so long, or something happened that made him introspective. It had also not escaped your notice how the prior closeness between you two had halted. Now you wondered if there was something more to his demeanor.  

 "Well, that is most unfortunate for him since I am not interested in him."

 "Does your mother not want you to marry?" Osferth asked, his voice deceptively neutral. 

 Sighing, you leaned back on your hands. Eventually you knew Osferth would bring up the topic, he was your friend after all and you were certainly of marriageable age. Actually far too old to not be married by some people's standards, but you ignored them. "She does but she has told me that she will not force it upon me. She said I should make my own choice….that if I am able, I should choose love."

 You knew your mother offered you that choice in hopes your life would turn out differently than her own. 

 "But if Cedric is a good, kind man….could you not love him….or someone like him?" Osferth pressed. 

 "Perhaps. There are plenty of men I have seen who the church would call a 'good' man but are cruel in their own home, and there are many men who are calloused but it's obvious they love their wife and children. My love doesn't discriminate, between the sinners and the saints. I would rather choose a man whom I know loves and cares for me than a man I know is 'good' but carries no love in his heart." You paused, the candid confession rolling off your tongue before you realized it. Sighing, you ran a hand over your hair before quietly saying. "I just….I just want someone that loves me….sinner or saint."

 Not a word was spoken as all three contemplated your statement, the silence hanging heavy like a brewing storm. Tilting your face to the sky, unable to meet the gazes of your companions, you chastised yourself for the candor with which you spoke. Osferth had asked a simple question initially and you chose to make it complicated. They did not need to know how you longed for love, how the hope for it in your potential future was what kept you going. It was foolish and you supposed after this, they would only see you as a silly girl with outlandish dreams of a storybook romance. 

 Finally, Osferth broke the silence. "Well, I shall be praying fervently for this man….hopefully he knows what he is getting into before he marries you."

 You laughed, appreciating his lighthearted comment. Reaching a hand out to smack Osferth's arm, you teased. "Keep that up and you won't be invited to my wedding."

 "Your mother will let me in."

 "Yeah, you're probably right." You glanced over in the direction of the town, regretting that your time away had to end. "I need to head back, those chores won't finish themselves."

 The three of you headed back to the town, quiet contemplation cloaking your group. Yet you feared that whatever spark lay between you and the Dane had been extinguished forever by your unexpected honesty. For still he refused to look your way, keeping his gaze focused forward. If your heart fissured within your chest, you swallowed down the pain. It was better for the spark to die out now then burn brightly only to be smothered later. 

 Or at least that was what you told yourself. 

 *****

 "What you said….about the sinners and the saints…."

 You whirled around, heart leaping into your throat with a silent scream on your tongue. In the small herb garden behind your house, you had thought you were alone. After the awkward conversation on the hill earlier that day, you sought solace in your chores. Thankfully Osferth and Sihtric headed back to meet with their companions on their own accord, leaving you to trudge through your muddled thoughts with all the grace of a newborn foal. 

 Now you found the very person who your thoughts centered on, standing just a few paces from you….and your heart began to race for a very different reason. 

 When his voice trailed off, those dark eyes that set fire licking through your veins dropped to the ground, you quietly stood up from where you had knelt, wiping the dirt from your hands, although you moved no closer. 

 "Sihtric?" You tried to prompt him. 

 "Is it true?" His piercing gaze lifted to meet yours, stealing the very breath from your lungs. "Your love doesn't discriminate?"

 "Yes." You breathed out. 

 He nodded silently before taking a step closer to you. "And what about….what about Danes?"

 Your chest pulled tight at his words, yet a coy smile grew on your lips. The flutter in your belly made your gaze drop for a moment as you tried to stifle the excitement making butterflies dance. Although this was no declaration, it was the closest the two of you had talked about what lay between you. Taking a steadying breath, you prayed this moment would not pass by without confessing the truth that you had harbored in your heart for weeks now. 

 "Not even towards Danes." You shook your head, the smile still on your lips. "And…. There is one I'm becoming quite fond of lately."

 "Yeah?" He took two steps closer, somehow moving cautiously but eating the ground with each determined step. 

 "But….do you think this Dane could be….fond of me?" You softly murmured, feeling as if your heart lay in the palms of your hands for all to see. 

 That last step separating you two disappeared almost before you finished asking your question. His hands ever so gently reached over to take yours, entwining your fingers together. The two of you stood so close, your chests almost touched with each breath you took. Your breathing seemed to cease under the intensity of his gaze and a shiver raced up your spine. Yet you had no desire to withdraw from him.

 "He would be a fool not to." He whispered, the barest hint of a tremble in his voice. "I'd bet you are constantly on this Dane's mind. That he cannot go a day without seeing your face and hearing your laugh. You are the first thought that he wakes to and the reason he falls asleep with a smile. That you have become the north star that it seems the gods have been guiding him towards for his whole life."

  As he spoke, everything faded to oblivion around you. The past and future vanished. Dane versus Saxon disappeared. The world narrowed down to this….this moment….this moment that you had dreamt of but never thought would come true. 

 The two of you continued to stand there, lost in one another's eyes with fingers intertwined. Your heart raced within your chest but a cooling breeze swept away the fears that plagued your mind. For staring at him, you knew he spoke no falsehoods. That he owned your heart just as much as you owned his. That very heart you could feel hammering away in his own chest. His eyes fervently held yours, a silent conversation, a confession, spoken only in looks but you both understood the language. His gaze dipped down to your lips, tracing them before slowly rising once again to your eyes. A curl of pleasure blossomed in your core as you witnessed the fire now in his eyes. 

 "If this Dane wanted to kiss me…. I wouldn't mind."

 A deliciously, sinful smirk teased his mouth. "As my lady commands."

 His head tilted, leaning towards yours. Unconsciously your eyelids fluttered closed. Then the briefest of touches made your knees weak and your mouth part open in a sigh. After a moment's hesitation, he continued to shower your jawline with kisses. Needing to touch him, your hands landed on his chest, feeling the tunic that covered his firm chest. Your hands moved upward to grasp the back of his neck, his pulse jumping for a second as your nails scraped his skin. His hands landed on the curve of your waist, bringing you even closer to him, erasing the unwanted space between your bodies. 

 As his lips began their ascent upward along the otherwise of your jaw, you moved. For the burning sparks in your body screamed if he did not kiss you, you would spontaneously combust. Shifting your face, you stole a kiss on his lips before he could place it on your skin. It was more of a gentle pressing of your mouths, but even then, you heard a sharp inhale from him. Before you could question him, his mouth returned to yours with soft, probing kisses that urged you to respond. Not that you would ever deny him. What started off as a gentle flame quickly became a roaring fire. Breathing became unnecessary, for how could air bring you life when your body craved Sihtric, when your lungs demanded to breathe him in instead. He led you in a drugging kiss that had you melting against him. Your lips drank from one another as if that alone could sustain you forevermore.  

 "THANK YA, GOD!!" 

 The passionate kiss abruptly ended as Sihtric and your gazes darted towards the side of your house. Only to be met with the sight of his three companions standing at the entrance in various states of smugness. 

 "Oh, for the love of Odin…." Sihtric mumbled. 

 You buried your face in Sihtric's chest, face heated in embarrassment but unable to stop the giggles that poured forth. So caught up in finally confessing your feelings and kissing the man who haunted your dreams, you forgot that anyone could walk by and see you. His arms tightened around you, keeping you within his protective, loving embrace….and you knew there was nowhere else you would rather be. 

 "Took the two of ya long enough." Finan continued, leaning against the side of your humble home with a shit-eating grin. 

 "Amen." Osferth had a small, teasing smile on his face. "Thought I would have to lock them in a room together before one of them finally confessed."

 Apparently, you and Sihtric were not as subtle as you previously thought. Now it made sense why Osferth was questioning you about Cedric and your thoughts on love and marriage earlier. Your heart flooded with gratitude towards your childhood friend, for without him you doubted neither Sihtric or you would have spoken up. Peering over, you caught Osferth's eye and mouthed a quick 'thank you'. He nodded, a simple joy radiating from his face. 

 "Lord?" Sihtric called over with a blank expression. "Permission to continue?"

 Uhtred chuckled. "I guess you've waited long enough. Go ahead." 

 Without waiting a moment longer, Sihtric tipped your face back up towards his and claimed your lips once more. You vaguely thought you heard laughter coming from the others but it all blurred away, like a faint sound while underwater. All you could see, all you could feel, all you could hear was Sihtric. 

 Just how you wanted it. 

 Suddenly you yanked your head back, your breathing labored and lips swollen. "My mother is helping at a nearby farm today. She won't be back until it's dark."

 He hummed against your skin trailing small kisses along your jawline and down your neck as if unable to keep his hands and mouth off you now that the dam had been released. 

 "I'm not as pure as Osferth thinks me to be."

 That statement made his actions stop. Carefully he raised his head to meet your gaze. "After dark?" He confirmed, voice rough in a way that sent a bolt of heat through you. 

 "Yes, she planned on having supper with them….so my home is currently empty….and I did just clean my blankets the other day…."

 He swooped in to give you a feverish, greedy kiss that left no doubt where his mind had gone. When he finally pulled back, you were surprised your legs could still hold you upright. Your whole body felt like puddy in his arms and he had only kissed you, albeit you doubted you would ever forget the way his mouth worshiped yours. 

 "You are certain? You want this?" He softly asked, staring into your eyes once more. "You want me?" 

 It was the last question, the vulnerable undertone, the hint of insecurity in it that sealed your decision. Letting your actions be your answer, you grabbed his hand and started pulling him in the direction of the door to your home. It did not take more than a second for him to come beside you, wrapping his arm around your waist. 

 With his taste on your lips, the future did not matter right now. It did not matter that he was Dane and you were not. All you knew was Sihtric was neither a saint nor a sinner, but simply a man deserving of love. The river of your love was pointing you directly towards him, and you silently vowed to never let it run dry. 

[clareguilty]

Coal Fires and Snowstorms

This was a request fic that was originally for the Overwatch cowboy but I changed to Arthur Morgan for... apparent reasons Arthur Morgan/F!Reader (reader also has big enby vibes) Rating: Mature | No Warnings Word Count: ~2,200

Arthur wakes with a wheeze, bolting upright and smacking his chest with his fist as he tries to pull in enough air.

He’s shirtless, but a woven blanket had been draped over him while he was unconscious. A ray of light cuts through a grimy window. The angle is harsh enough that it’s probably late in the evening.

The last thing Arthur can remember is the dark of the night and the clamoring of the law on his heels. So he’s been out for at least a day.

His lips are dry and cracked, and his muscles groan in protest with every movement. God, his head is pounding like he was hit by a damn train.

A door creaks open, and there’s a squeak of surprise. “Oh! You’re awake!”

Arthur blinks in the harsh sunlight that’s streaming into the small cabin. Whoever is there is bundled up in furs and a jacket with a bow over their shoulder. They’ve got two armfuls of game practically swallowing them.

“Who are you? Where am I?” He means for it to sound rough and demanding, but it’s more croaky and pathetic when the words pass his lips.

“I’m not really anybody, and this is my cabin up in Cumberland. The law chased you a long ways from Annesburg didn’t they? You must have done something real bad.” The hunter dumps all the game onto the table and rushes to the bedroll where Arthur lays. “You aren’t hurt too bad or nothing, but you’ve got a real nasty cough. I’ve got tea and herbs that should help. I bandaged up all the bleeding bits as best I could”

Arthur is bewildered. He knows there had been a fire in Annesburg -- the coal had gone up in a pyre in seconds. Somehow, he had gotten separated from Dutch and the others. The smoke had taken him like crows to a carcass, and he was lucky to make it across the ridge with the way his eyes and lungs were burning.

The last thing he remembered was the pinkertons still on his heels and the darkness of the trees as he tried to hide in the brush. He must have made it to cover before the smoke and the soot finally got him.

He flinches as the hunter sticks an open flask under his nose. “Tea. It’s bitter but you’ll need it.”

Arthur sniffs the mouth of the flask, but it sure does just smell like weeds and water. He takes a sip and wrinkles his nose. But the flavor is a small price to pay for the way the liquid soothes the burning in his mouth and throat.

“Thank you,” he says. “You could have left me in those woods to rot. I appreciate you dragging my sorry ass back here.”

You grin and pat the bandage on his arm. “It weren’t much trouble, but you sure are one large fella.” Arthur thinks you must be a young boy -- it’s hard to tell. Your hair is short under your cap but your voice isn’t all that low.

You turn to the game on the table and grab a knife from your belt. “I hunted enough for the both of us the next few days. It’s gonna be a while before you’ve got your strength back, and a snowstorm is rolling in off the Grizzlies anyways.”

Arthur frowns. “Bit early for snow, isn’t it?”

You shrug. “Winter never listens to me. At least the game was out. Everyone is trying to feed as much as they can before it gets too cold to hunt. That includes us.”

Arthur grunts and struggles to his feet. “I can help with those,” he offers.

You watch him with narrowed eyes, obviously skeptical of Arthur’s strength. “Take the small ones,” you offer up the rabbits and squirrels.

Arthur usually doesn’t have a problem skinning game, but the smoke must have gotten to him more than he thought because he finds himself having to take a rest after just a few minutes. He finishes off the flask of tea and sorts through his pack and weapons.

“My horse…” he asks after a while.

“She’s fine,” you say. “I found her not far from where you were unconscious and she helped me get you back here. She’s out back with my Old Girl.”

“Thank you,” Arthur sounds genuinely touched. “She really means a lot to me.”

You shoot him another smile. “You’re nothing but a big softie, ain’t ya? What could you have done to have the law chasing you all the way across the damn country?”

Arthur rubs the back of his neck, flushing in embarrassment. “My folks might have blown up Annesburg? I don’t actually know how much of it is left…”

“Ha!” you bark. “You’re with them van der Linde folks?”

Arthur’s silence is answer enough.

“I won’t judge,” you shrug. “You’re safe as long as you want to rest here.”

And rest Arthur does. He’s confined to the bedroll, rolled out on a warm pile of furs near the stove. You’re good company, witty and friendly and far too nosy for your own good. Arthur learns that you’ve has been living in these parts for a few years now, trapping and hunting and crafting to sell in town every few weeks. It’s more of a living than Arthur could ever ask for. Arthur thinks he might be sweet on you.

It’s another day before he’s got the strength to walk. He makes it outside to his horse, glad to see that she’s well taken care of. You had said you were going off to bathe in a nearby stream, and Arthur follows the sound of the water.

He’s not expecting what he finds. The water is shallow but fast moving, and he sees a familiar jacket hung on a branch by the bank.

You’re turned away, rinsing in the ice cold water, and Arthur can see the gooseflesh on your skin.

But when you turn slightly, it’s the swell of breasts and the curve of hips that catches Arthur’s attention. He averts his eyes quickly, darting back towards the cabin with his cheeks stained pink.

Now that he thinks about it, you had never said that you were a man. Arthur had simply figured it was most likely. The soft voice and gentle features make more sense now.

“You had better wash up if you want to,” you say when you return to the cabin. “The snow is coming in tonight. I can smell it. I stocked up on herbs for your cough and we’ve got plenty of provisions. I’m gonna split some more wood to bring inside.”

Arthur can’t help but find it attractive that you’re so knowledgeable and well prepared. He makes his way to the stream on his own and washes up in the frigid water, pushing through another coughing fit when the cold makes his muscles seize.

It’s already getting colder when he gets back inside. His weak breath fogs even inside the cabin and the little stove can’t do nearly enough to warm the small space.

“You’re going to freeze,” he tells you. He’s big enough to handle the cold -- spent a damn month up in the grizzlies without much of a problem -- but you surely won’t last the snowstorm.

“I’ve made it before,” you say with a huff and a glare. “I’ve got plenty of furs to keep me warm.”

“Put your bedroll beside mine,” Arthur insists. “We can share the blankets.”

The snow begins to fall, sticking to the ground in wet clumps, and you brace yourselves for the days to come. You’re practically strangers -- save for the fact that you had dragged Arthur out of the woods and saved his life. Now you have no choice but to rely on each other until the snow melts.

Arthur wakes in the night to your violent shivering under the blankets. He pulls you so that you’re pressed against his chest, tucking both of you under the quilts closer together. “I thought you said you’d made it through this before?”

You huff, teeth chattering. “I survived. I never said I kept warm.”

“Stay close to me. It’s my turn to keep you alive.” He drifts back to sleep to the howl of the winter winds.

The next morning he’s greeted by a bowl of piping stew that makes his sinuses burn. “I had some jarred peppers I keep for weather just like this. You’re in no condition for liquor so this is the best you’re gonna get.”

Arthur accepts the stew graciously. He’s not ready for the way you stand on your tippy toes to kiss him on the cheek when he offers to wash both of the bowls.

You pass the time snowed in with several rounds of cards. Arthur tells stories about him and the gang until his throat aches and he starts coughing again, and so the you regale Arthur with your life’s tale and a few stories you picked up over the years. You’re curled up next to each other in front of the stove, and you have no shame about burrowing against Arthur in a quest for body heat. He lets you steal as much as you want.

“I thought you were a boy when I first woke up,” Arthur says.

You shrug. “Most people do. I find it makes things easier a lot of the time. How’d you figure me out?” You don’t seem to feel too strongly one way or another about how Arthur and others see you.

Arthur hides his embarrassment behind a cough. “I, uh, caught you washing up in the stream.”

“Oh,” you laugh, “that’s pretty solid proof, ain’t it.” You’re smiling, not shy at all. “You’re not mad at me for lying, are you?”

“You never lied,” Arthur says. “I just came to my own conclusions. Doesn’t matter much to me anyways, whether you’re a man or a woman.”

You frown at that. “Doesn’t matter?”

“Nah,” Arthur ruffles your short hair. “You’re cute either way.”

It’s the right thing to say. The frown disappears and you settle back against him, humming contentedly.

He wakes in the night to the feeling of your breath on his neck. You shift and your lips brush against his skin. He can’t help the way his whole body tenses at the sensation. His arm is draped around your waist, holding you close because he knows you’ll freeze if he doesn’t.

He pulls you in closer. Every inch where your skin touches his feels oversensitive and hot. You’re still asleep -- he can tell from how slow you breath against his skin, but you reach an arm around his neck and burrow against him.

His heart begins to race. He’s flushed and half asleep and you fit against him so well in this tiny cabin that you’ve made your home. One of his hands slides down your back. You moan as his palm passes over the small of your back and the curve of your ass. His hand comes to the back of your thigh, but you shift again and rock your hips against him.

He gasps, then has to fight back a cough. He doesn’t want to wake you, but your quest for warmth has you plastered against him in a very compromising position. It’s starting to make his long johns downright painful, and he thinks he’ll combust in shame.

You rock against him once more, mumbling sleepily into his skin.

“Darlin’” he croaks. But the sound doesn’t wake you. He tries to wriggle an arm between you so he can push you off, but instead he winds up with a handful of your breast, and the most gorgeous sound he’s ever heard escapes your lips.

He freezes. He’s painfully hard now, and you’re still gently rocking against him in your sleep, perhaps even more so now that he’s got a hand on your chest.

“Arthur, please,” you whine.

He’s pretty sure you’re awake by now, so he readjusts his hand and rubs his thumb over the peak of your nipple. You let out another breathy moan against his skin. This time when he runs a hand over your ass he lets himself take a moment to appreciate how it feels under his palm, they way his fingers sink into the soft skin beneath your winter sleep clothes. He once again places his hand on the back of your thigh and pulls you so that your hips are lined up with his, straddling him under the blankets.

You whine against him once more and grind your hips downward. The friction does way more for him than he imagines it must for you, and his vision whites out momentarily at the heat and weight of you against him.

He loses himself in the motion of your hips for several long moments, but then your whines grow frustrated and unsatisfied and he knows exactly what your after.

Gripping both of your hips tightly, he flips you both so that you’re laying back on the bedroll and he’s kneeling over you.

Your eyes fly open.

“Arthur?”

“You were asleep?” he looks absolutely bewildered.

“I thought so? I was having the best dream.” Your eyes look past him as you remember.

“I don’t think you were dreaming, sweetheart,” he chuckles. He leans in to place an open mouthed kiss against your neck. You gasp and dig your nails into his shoulder.

“Then I think you had better keep going, cowboy.”

[dogbearinggifts]

What are your thoughts on tua S2? Did you feel like the characters grew? What did you like? What did you not? I’m interested in your perspective. Your analysis are super thoughtful and interesting!

Aw, thanks, Anon!

Overall, I really enjoyed S2 and thought it was a solid follow-up to S1. I do have my quibbles about it, so I think (for ease of reference and because my thoughts are a little scattered today) I’ll list some of my personal highlights (in no particular order) before getting into what I didn’t like as much.

Big spoilers ahead.

Allison. I thought they handled her storyline especially well. Of all the siblings, I think she had the most difficult obstacles placed in her way (not only is she a Black woman landing in 1961 Dallas, but she’s a Black woman landing in 1961 Dallas who can’t even speak in her own defense for a year) and they sugarcoated exactly none of it. The writers pulled no punches when showing what civil rights protesters went through, which just made their nonviolent response all the more breathtaking. Allison’s fear and anger during those scenes were palpable even as she kept them hidden. But along with that horror, we see the kindness and warmth of the Dallas Black community, the women who take her in simply because she needs their help, and her love for Ray, perhaps heretofore THE most thoughtful husband ever portrayed on screen. I loved him, and I loved him and Allison together. While I understand and respect his choice to stay in 1963, I wish they’d gotten more time together. They both deserved it.

Vanya. We got to see how much the baggage from her past affected her by glimpsing what she might be like if it were taken away. It’s an interesting philosophical question, and it was explored well, in my opinion. She finds it easier to love and be loved, and she stands up for herself more readily—but she also doesn’t hesitate to use powers she can’t quite control and threatens Five without fully realizing how dire her threat is (or how it might dredge up traumatic memories she doesn’t know exist). The moment where Ben finds her curled up, fully convinced she’s a monster, was heartbreaking. I loved watching her find happiness with Sissy, even if that was fleeting (and dear god, Sissy deserved her happy ending with Vanya, dammit, I don’t care if it would fuck up the timeline). Her patience and sweetness with Harlan were just beautiful. And the way she used the confidence she gained during her amnesia to fully come into her own not to exact revenge on her siblings, but to save them, was fucking phenomenal.

The humor. There was a lot more humor this season, and it was awesome. So many iconic scenes—Olga Foroga, Luther babysitting two homicidal Fives, Elliot awkwardly lecturing his guests on the history of Jello, “NEW TIMELINE NEW ME,” “Your vagina needs glasses,” AJ the fish gobbling up the cigarette bubbles, Five getting to say “fuck”….this season was a lot funnier than the previous one, and I think that was one of its strengths.

Klaus’ cult. It was played for laughs, which I both expected and thought was the best way to handle it. He didn’t want to start a new religion with himself at the center; he just wanted to not get thrown out of any more diners, but Destiny’s Children had other ideas. The “I too am a fraud!” scene was hilarious and tickled the question of whether or not a religion founded on false pretenses can still help those within it find meaning.

Luther. Getting him away from his dad, his siblings, and the Academy was exactly what he needed to become the pure of heart and dumb of ass genius we always knew he was, but his first major step in that direction was heartbreaking. We all knew he’d be rejected once he got to the Academy. We all knew Reginald would rip his heart out and stomp on it in his admittedly fashionable shoes. It gets Luther out on his own and forces him to become his own person apart from his dad, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch. He got the positive character development he needed, but the catalyst was tragic.

Diego. We see, for the first time, exactly how Reginald kept him in line—not with meds or with PTSD-inducing torture, but with words. Even when he knows Diego as little more than a stranger, Reginald is able to rip off his skin and fling it in his face with a single diatribe; and even at 30, with years away from his dad, Diego is left unable to speak, feeling as if all of his accomplishments up to that point were the work of a dumb kid who thought he was smarter and more capable than he actually was.

Luther and Diego sharing a braincell. Luther has bad ideas. Diego has bad ideas. When they put their bad ideas together, they get terrible ideas. I loved watching them work together as a team, rather than being at each others’ throats for most of the season, even if I’m left hoping Olga Foroga had a pleasant and quiet day after that phone call.

Reginald. At first glance, it may look like the writers were trying to make him likable so they could parade him around as your average abusive-parent-with-a-soft-side. But it’s more nuanced than that. Abusive parents (and abusers in general) often fly under the radar because they fool outsiders into thinking they’re good people. They’re active in their communities. They give to charity. They have friends who attest to their virtue, significant others who think they’re the greatest. And that’s what we see with Reginald. We see him as the rest of the world did: an intelligent, eccentric man with a sharp sense of humor who cared deeply about scientific advancement. That’s how he evaded suspicion—because there were stories from years past of lively parties at his mansion, of what a gentleman he was to Grace and of how he did everything he could to save little Pogo. But those stories would all have come from people he considered his equals. When he’s with people he considers his inferiors—aka, the Umbrella kids—he’s openly condescending and demeaning. We get to see how he fooled the world, and it is chilling.

Elliot. He deserved better, and you can ship him with any one of the Hargreeves kids and get the cutest thing ever. 

The Swedes. They said so much while speaking very little.

Ben. He got more personality and screen time, and it was glorious. His love of his family and resentment toward Klaus practically leapt off the screen. The way he says “I’ve missed you all…so much” once they’ve all left was one of those right-in-the-feels moments; and watching him get so much of what he’s wanted for years when he possesses Klaus was beautiful.

Now, as for things I took issue with….

Ben. I understand why they ended his arc the way they did. I get that they were probably afraid the Klaus/Ben dynamic would grow stale if they didn’t change it somehow and wanted to give him a larger role in S3. His death(???) was heartbreaking and extremely well-done. But it also wasn’t foreshadowed. We never got any sense of what ghosts in the TUA ‘verse are, so the fact they can be destroyed by a ton of sound-turned-energy or by going too far into someone’s psyche or whatever happened….it’s not that it doesn’t make sense so much as there’s not enough evidence to determine whether or not it makes sense. It feels like the writers just kinda made that up so they’d have a reason to change Ben’s relationship dynamics, but if that’s the case, couldn’t they have done it another way? Couldn’t they have made it so the immense energy or psychic woo-woo or whatever gave him a power-up instead of destroying him? Vanya transferred some of her energy into Harlan and brought him back to life. Couldn’t something similar have happened with Ben? And if it tied him to Vanya as well as to Klaus, great! More fodder for angst and humor! (��Vannyyyyyyyy, stop hogging Ben!” “You got him for 17 years, Klaus, you can part with him for 20 minutes.” “Guys, don’t I get a say in this?”) I’m glad they didn’t write him out of the series entirely, but I still wish they’d kept him and all the character development he’d gotten throughout S2.

Episode 10. It looks like they tried to cram half a season’s worth of developments into 45 minutes. Twenty minutes in, I’d already said “Wait what the fuck” half a dozen times. A lot of those moments were explained later on, and I was able to make enough inferences to fill in any lingering plot holes, but…still. Too much stuff, too little time. E9 was a perfectly satisfying ending to the season. Yes, it leaves the siblings stranded in 1963, but they could’ve tied up those loose ends in the S3 premiere.

Lila. She’s an incredibly fun character, but her arc is kind of a mess. Most of that is due to E10, and I do feel that more time to let her arc breathe would’ve worked wonders, but I’m left feeling like her turn from “Handler is the best mom ever and I lurve Diego too” to “KILL DIEGO AND HIS EVIL FAMILY” to “Handler is a bad mom and Diego is right” happened too quickly.

The Commission. Okay, so, the Handler announces the entire Board has been killed, and she’s stepping in as director even though everyone appears to know she’s been demoted (and demoted pretty severely—she went from having an office bigger than some apartments to being a case management drone). There’s suspicion and lots of it. But then, La Resistance is….ten or so people in a single room? And when she calls the temps agents to her side, thousands of them show up ready and willing to fight and die? I dunno. Just seems like there should’ve been more splintering going on there. Again, I think they needed more time to tie everything up.

Aside from those complaints, I loved the season. I set aside most of a day to binge it, and I do not regret that decision at all.

[broijuswannareadsmut]

Hidan the Jashinist: A Fem!Reader x Hidan Story (6)

Summary: Hidan was out on a mission to kidnap the kage of your hidden village with his partner Deidara, you were assigned to capture him and Deidara. Unfortunately that's not how things turned out, During the battle between you and Hidan he starts to realize that he has a strong liking towards you...

Series Masterlist

🚾 :2872

Hidan knew that he had to get work quickly. He gave Y/n a few gentle kisses on her neck and collarbone, before forcefully hoisting her thighs and ass up onto his shoulders. You let out a little whimper of surprise from the sudden movement. At this point you were firmly pressed up against the solid cold wall.

"Please Hidan.... Oh my god." You sighed.

Hidan's face was right up against your bare sex, his heavy breaths going straight to your pussy. It was a refreshing feeling, yet somehow it was torture, he hadn't even done anything yet and you were already putty on his shoulders.

"What princess you like it when I go like that huh?" Hidan panted into your pussy causing you to whimper, you grabbed his hair sort of roughly. You could feel the pre cum coming out slightly.

"Would you look at that? You're practically dripping for me already, just from my breaths." Hidan smirked. Without warning Hidan wondered what you tasted like just how you figured out what he tasted like. He sucked on your hole for a few seconds so he could slurp up your juices. You gasped out of the blue. You heard him smack his lips as though he had just had a refreshing beverage. "Wow princess, you taste so healthily." Hidan marveled, ha had tasted many women's cum before but he thought that by far, your had tasted the best and healthy like a vagina should.

"Huh? What do you mean by that purple eyes?" You asked, you didn't know whether it was a compliment or just pervy thing he said.

"Nothing, nothing at all baby. Now please let me mouth fuck your pussy." Hidan smirked. Your clit was right at his nose, so he inhaled through his mouth and then out through his nose. It sent a little chill up your body. Something hit you, what if I kill him on accident?!

"W-wait just a sec, what if you can't hold me up much longer, I don't wanna hurt you." Hidan sighed, before quickly answering your question.

"Don't worry about me princess, I can handle some weight on my shoulders. You worry about your pussy and how I'm going to destroy it." You were still skeptical but if anything were to happen you'd already blame it on him for not listening to your warning. Hidan lightly tapped your inner lips a few times with his tongue, causing your body to shudder. You could feel a grin against your pussy. Cocky bastard. You couldn't help that you were sensitive to his touches, normally you were very resistant but for some reason with this man, a rogue ninja of all things made you feel a different type of way. Suddenly Hidan began flicking your clit with his tongue, fucking bastard never gives me a warning what the fuck.

"Ahh- fuck... oh god." You muttered under your breath. Hidan then after a few flicks on your clit took his teeth and began to put light pressure on your clit, rolling it in between his teeth like you had done earlier with his nipples. Is this payback? Oh my god if it is then I'll have to do this more often. The pace started to pick up slightly, his teeth nawed a little harder on your clit, you were squirming trying to get out of his reach, so Hidan had to grasp at your thighs for a better grip, so as not to drop you on the hard cold ground. Once he got a better hold of you on his shoulders he had your clit in between his teeth and decided to also incorporate his tongue as well. As his teeth were rolling your clit in between them, he took his tongue and started licking it at its most sensitive point. You gasped from the pleasure. Suddenly Hidan bit down on your left inner thigh.

"Shut the fuck up you slut, you want everyone in this hideout to know that you're getting your fucking pussy is getting tongue fucked?" He nagged. You whimpered from the sudden bite he gave your thigh. You shook your head no. "Yeah I thought so." Hidan started sucking on your inner thighs, hard enough for you to know that by tomorrow there would be hickeys. Hidan slid his tongue across your right inner thigh, until he stopped right at your outer right lip. He began to lightly kiss around your sex, teasing you. You pushed his head towards your clit so he could work his magic. He didn't appreciate that.

"Fucking whore can't wait for me to eat you? Don't worry darling we'll get to it soon, but don't fucking touch me unless I tell you that it's okay." Snarled Hidan. You kept your hands on top of your head, not knowing where else to put them without him getting angry and fussy about it. It was becoming uncomfortable, his kisses were becoming more sloppy and you needed something to support that wasn't yourself. Hidan noticed your struggling, he looked up from your plush thighs. "I see you need some support, I'll let you put your hands on my hair, but you better behave like a good girl instead of a desperate little slut. Got it?" He alluded. You nodded frantically, you were becoming desperate for his tongue, his cock, anything. "Use your words Y/n, come on." Challenged Hidan. You didn't want to speak and it turn into a stuttering mess, so you gulped breathed in and out and then responded.

"Yes sir." You squeaked. Hidan liked when you were obedient, he felt more powerful then he already was. He groaned it was filled with lust, and then paid his attention to your pussy once again. He made vigorous circles around your clit, repeatedly, causing you to grip his hair tightly. You were moaning, but you quickly remembered how he got mad at your loud moans, so you took one of your hands and spread it across your mouth to muffle the sounds coming out past your lips. You squeezed your eyelids shut once he started licking your pussy up and down, at times he'd pump his tongue in and out of your hole. This made you more desperate for his cock to be inside you as soon as possible. You removed your hand from your mouth.

"Please Hidan fuck me, fuck me please, I'll be good I swear." Rasped Y/n.

"You're so impatient aren't you princess? No I want to see you cum just from my tongue and then, I'll fuck you until you beg me to stop, with tears rolling down your cheeks." He revealed.

You moaned at the thought of it happening. Despite being pressed up against a wall and having only his shoulders supporting you, you used all your might to grind your pussy in his face so he could finish the job quicker. Hidan didn't seem to mind this time, truth be told he was also desperate to fuck the whore out of you as soon as possible. He buried his head into your crotch area. He frantically began to slurp, suck and lick your clit and your pussy as a whole. Although his motions were becoming more sloppy, he was still maintaining the pleasure aspect for Y/n. Your breaths were becoming more laboured, you could feel yourself about to cum, you knew it would be a little embarrassing for you to cum all over Hidan's face but you think that he's into that kinda stuff. Plus he should be proud that he's done such a good job so far, not bad for an immortal akatsuki member. You thought before quickly coming back to reality, you were only a few more flicks on your clit away from cumming.

"Oh my god, Hidan don't stop please I'm so close." Y/n pleaded.

"Oh yeah, you fucking slut, you don't deserve to cum just yet." Declared Hidan.

"W-what?" You pondered. Before you knew it Hidan brought you forcefully back to the ground, your eyes were as wide as UFO's, and you were biting your bottom lip hard to stop the tears of frustration to come into fruition. Y/n was whimpering and sniffling, aww poor girl don't worry she'll get to cum soon enough, but not until I say so. Hidan thought as he smirked at you from satisfaction. You looked up at him with angry eyes.

"I hate you, I was about to cum and you know it, you bastard." Y/n retaliated.

Hidan's eyes darken, with a mix of lust and frustration. He swiftly put his right hand around your neck, forcing you against the cold wall once again.

"Don't be like that princess, or else I really won't let you cum, don't make me upset." Hidan whispered in Y/n's left ear, causing a shudder that went straight to your pussy. Hidan grazed your jawline, then inserted his tongue into your mouth. Your tongues were tangoing inside your mouth, swirling and twisting around. Hidan pulled away and licked his lips.

"See how good you taste baby?" Hidan giggled softly, before inserting his tongue into your mouth once again but this time more roughly. He took his freehand and positioned his tip on your clit to start edging your clit with his hard tip. Holy fuck I hadn't even noticed he had another boner, oh my god this feels so good. He was making circles around your clit with his tip, it was becoming harder for the both of you to continue with this makeout session, both of you were moaning in between breaths. Hidan took his tip away from your clit and instead took his middle and ring finger and started to do the same circular motions he had been doing since the start. You weren't able to keep yourself composed, you were a moaning and whimpering mess.

Suddenly Hidan thrusted his two finger inside of you, you could feel them curl up to hit right where your G-spot is. He then took his free hand and started making slow circles once again. The sensations on different parts of your sex were difficult to focus on. One of them was slow and steady, while the other was fast and rough. Oh my god don't get me wrong this feels so fucking good but I don't know how I'm going to keep up with this shit. You were becoming impatient, and you knew Hidan was doing this on purpose, fucking bastard who knew he could be smart enough to edge you this much? Or maybe he's too dumb to know how to get you off, who knows? Either way I'm so close to finishing it myself.

You took Hidan's face into your hands and started gently kissing him, with passion and lust. This took him by surprise this kiss had been different from all the others, like one you'd give a long lost lover, not one you'd give to a hook-up. He didn't reject it, instead he did it back, wanting for it to last for as long as possible. You were surprised that he hadn't quit doing the magic he was doing with his hands on your pussy. Wow great multitasker purple eyes. You took one of your hands that was on his cheek and wrapped your arm around his neck. You simultaneously wrapped one of your legs around Hidan's waist. This seemed to have done it. Your leg gave way to much more expansion and access to your pussy. Causing Hidan to have a fuller range of motion when it came to pleasuring your pussy.

You squirted all of Hidan's hand and palm. "AHHHH- fuckkkk... fuck, oh my god that felt so fucking good." Y/n gulped. You were whimpering, Hidan had kept rubbing your clit and hadn't stopped even after your orgasm. He was overstimulating a sensitive area. Oh so now he doesn't wanna stop, fucking bitch. Hidan was just stroking your insides with his fingers curled up, almost as though he was trying to scoop up the rest of your juices. Your cum had been pooling into his palm for some time now. He was looking down at the sight hungrily, you didn't know what he was thinking of doing.

"What are you... fuck... thinking about purple eyes?" You cursed softly. Hidan slowly took his hand that was on your pussy away gently. He then took the cum that hand been sitting in his palm and drank from it as though it was a refreshing drink. Hidan sucked in a breath through his teeth then exhaled.

"You taste so good baby, who knew a slut like you could taste so good?" Hidan questioned. You went to push him away by taking your hands and pushing him away from his chest. No one had ever done something like that before when you had sex with someone. You didn't know whether to be disgusted, amazed, proud, or all of the above. Your juices were running down your legs and quite frankly you just wanted to shower. Before you could get out of Hidan's reach he hooked both of his arms around your thighs and hoisted you up into the position you two were in earlier.

You let out a small gasp, surprised. Once again you were pressed up against the cold wall with your legs on Hidan's shoulders. His face was pressed up against your pussy. He inhaled a big breath through his nose, as though he was trying to get the full scent of something good. He exhaled and made a satisfied moan sound.

"I need to get all of your wonderful juices baby, we can't let any of it go to waste, my religion doesn't allow that remember?" Hidan winked at you. All you could do was stare at him. He then began to lick up the cum that had dripped down along your inner thighs. You threw your head back onto your shoulders, your mouth agape. Hidan's hands were snaking up to your ass. He started to kneed it like a stress ball. You've always loved when people played with your butt it was so arousing to you.

Once Hidan had finished with licking up all the juices from your thighs he without warning started slurping your pussy, like a slurpee. Your hands pressed down on your knees from the sudden pleasure. Hidan's mouth was a like a vacuum, sucking up everything in its path.

"Ahhhhh, fuck shit no, oh my god." You muttered under your breath. You felt as though you were close to another climax. That's not possible! I've never came twice in a row in such a short amount of time! Hidan began sucking on your clit, as though he was attempting to leave a hickey on it.

"Shit Hidan if you keep doing that I'm going to cum again." Shit why'd you tell him that? he's gonna go faster fuck. To your surprise he took his mouth away from your clit, only for a moment though. You sighed in relief catching your breath. Although your relief was short lived because he inside started to suck on your hole, the sensation was different, you had never felt it before, foreign but you weren't completely opposed to it either. Hidan sucked on it for a few more moments until he just started licking your pussy up and down. You were still a little sensitive to it so when he began doing that you immediately felt your high beginning to come on.

Hidan then came up with something else to do to your already wet pussy. He took his long tongue and started to pump it in and out of your hole. Y/n's thoughts began to cloud, she couldn't see straight, is this what happens when you cum more than once? Ahh fuck was Hidan's tongue always this long? Shit I can't imagine what his dick will feel like.

"I know you're enjoying this baby, just imagine what my dick will feel like soon." Hidan mouthed. Once he had said that, you were once again undone. You came all over Hidan's mouth and even some of it had gotten on his nose. Your legs were shaking uncontrollably you were once again a mess. Hidan took you in his arms bridal style and placed you on the bed. Your head laid on his slightly cold pillow. Your legs still hadn't stopped shaking, to the point where it was becoming uncomfortable and embarrassing. Hidan held your thighs down firmly, which helped.

"You look like you're having a seizure, you're drooling, you're shaking, and you're making such lewd noises." Explained Hidan. He was smirking at you as he was at your knees. He let go of your thighs and the shaking had subsided. You licked at your bottom lip and noticed that you actually were drooling, almost like an English Bulldog. You sat up on the bed by your forearms. You quickly licked it off before any could get on your breasts or on the bed.

"Sweetheart I'd love to fuck the shit out of you but, I have to go attend to a meeting with the rest of the akatsuki and before I do that we have to get ourselves cleaned up. How's that sound?" Hidan concluded.

"Okay. Where's the bathroom?" Breathed Y/n.

[kellbellsparkles]

A continuation/set in the same setting as Breathe (.https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/kellbellsparkles/689897379494789120?source=share) I call this one Burdened. Zack suffers from excessive hunger and is willing to do anything to get it under control, but it causes a rift between him and Cloud, so when Cloud falls ill from pneumonia and can't be seen by anyone, Zack sets out to prove he can take care of himself.

This is embarrassing to admit: I'm not allowed to be left alone anywhere anymore.

One morning, I got a call from Tifa that Cloud collapsed while out on a delivery five towns over. He had caught a bad bout of pneumonia that was going around and even taking lives. What was worse is that it was too contagious for the doctors to allow visitors. Not knowing whether he'd live or die... I thought we were past all that.

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Zack?" Tifa asked me. She made plans to book a hotel with Denzel so they could be there for his recovery.

"I think I'm better off holding down the fort," I said. "Working on self-care and all..."

"If you change your mind... If you're feeling off in any way, call us."

"Will do."

I put on a happy face and waved them good-bye. Best case scenario, standard pneumonia recovery takes a week. I could handle one week on my own no problem, I thought. I sat at the table, grabbed a pen and paper and went to town with what I could do and what needed to be done.

Meal prep.

A load of Cloud's laundry.

Plant decorating since I've heard they can be therapeutic.

Meal prep.

I wrote that twice, dammit. My stomach had taken over my writing for me. Fucking insatiable hunger. It's felt like I've been eating for two or three ever since I first woke up and saw Cloud again; a side effect from being subject to mako and Jenova cells again according to Tseng.

GRRRRURRRLLRR

"Okay, okay!" I shouted.

I stood up, clasping my hand over my monster of a black hole. It practically feels like an earthquake with each rumble. I rummaged through the fridge for my protein shake stash. Three of them do the trick for a solid hour and a half. Five for an extra thirty minutes. However, groceries weren't getting any cheaper. I try to stick with three and direct my attention elsewhere to distract my stomach until when people normally eat, but God damn, if I wait too long, my body will get tremors and scare Cloud.

It had to have been my fault his working so hard was catching up to him. Regular thyroid and insulin medication had no effect on me, so The Turks wanted to try a pill they just manufactured, but Cloud didn't like the idea of me undergoing any more experiments. We had a heated argument I prefer not to reflect on.

"We don't know what potential side effects there are. What if they make you worse?"

"Isn't it still my decision? If it saves our pantry, then it's worth it."

"No it's not!! Do you get a good look in the mirror?? The incisions and injection marks??"

"Thanks for the body-shaming. I really needed that..."

"Just listen and use your head for once! Don't go headlong on your own like this!"

"Great. Now I'm a freeloader AND an idiot."

"That's-- You're not-- I just can't. I just can't with you today."

He stormed off and went out about his delivery business; that was our last interaction. I chugged the protein shakes and made a b-line for the shower; I read that was another good way to calm down.

I ran the water and just stood under the nozzle, bowing my head to let the warmth trickle down my back. I couldn't stop thinking about him. What would I do with myself if he died and our last words to each other were filled with anger? Anger. I was just so angry. With myself. I should've been more aware and sensitive to Cloud's feelings. So stupid. Stupid body. What are you even doing? Stop being so selfish!

BAM

I had rammed my fist into my left eye without thinking about it. The knock back made the back of my head whack the wall pretty good. Then, gravity pulled me hard enough for my ass to sting upon impact. I just sat there; I couldn't believe I had done that. As the shower pierced my ear, I was taken back to when I was back flat on the ground just outside of Midgar. Cloud had woken up and made his way to me. Those sad, worried eyes... I needed to find a way to get my shit together and fast.

Since showering was a bust, I hobbled out of the tub. I could feel a head sized bump forming already, but nothing an ice pack couldn't fix. Yeowch, though, especially when getting into my clothes was a catalyst for my old wounds to show face.

My right knee in particular. While on the run with Cloud, a group of Tonberrys tried to rob us. One of them drove a knife deep clean into the kneecap, making it protrud to the other side. I probably didn't heal it right if it's still bothering me. I settled for sitting down to get dressed. Standing back up though, my knee felt ready to snap off, but hell, if I could survive Malboro breath, I could survive this. I opened that door and walked the mvp of the year walk.

Until my right foot touched the first stair.

It spun and flung me backward. All my weight went onto my right shoulder.

CRACK

I bit my tongue so hard to keep from crying out in pain, I drew blood. It sounded like a fracture for sure. As I sat up, my arm dangled in a way that it really looked like it shouldn't. Now what was I supposed to do for a whole week? Since getting up again would lead to more accident prone disaster, I figured the best thing to do was to nap on it.

So this is where things get confusing as hell: either my stomach turns into a pack of Hellhounds or it turns into battering rams ready to pound my meals out of me. My head ached and raced with the thoughts of the two possible realities: suffering here or suffering waiting in closer proximity to Cloud. I pressed my good hand against my mouth to keep the protein shakes down, but the taste of blood wasn't helping.

Water.

I SOLDIER crawled back to the kitchen. This was my last shot for today. All my training, all my fighting, all my devotion and survival into this one, final push. I let out a bellowing war cry, thrust my feet onto the floor, and rose triumphantly. Screw you, knee! But wow, was this what being high felt like? I felt great and all my pain disappeared at once. I opened my eyes and reached for the fridge handle.

"Huh?"

Something was DEFINITELY not right. Everything was in every possible shade of green. There were little light specks in the air, too. Suddenly, a little girl popped up next to me, putting dishes in the sink. She looked eerily similar to Marlene.

"Marlene? What are you doing here?"

She didn't answer me; she hummed and made her way to the dining room. I looked over and I saw the father and a mother with two other kids, one older and one just a baby.

"What...?"

They acted like I wasn't there at all, but that was the only thing unsettling. Their attire looked outdated by at least two hundred years.

"Wait..."

I ran to go outside. I opened the door and sure enough, not only was everything still green, but I had completely gone back in time: chocobos and chariots and colonial architecture.

"Where the heck am I?"

Any sensible person would stay put and wait to wake up from this pain and hunger induced dream, but I was not a sensible person. And besides, if the people were anything like the family inside the house, they wouldn't give a crap.

I walked around and realized that I had been to somewhere similar before: floating in and out of the lifestream with Aerith and Angeal as my guides. The lifestream: the planet's life force containing the memories of events and everyone who's ever lived. But why was I here again now? Was I dying again? How do I get back to the present?

"Hey Aerith?" I called out. "Angeal? I could really use your help again! What's going on?"

No answer.

"Yoohoooooo!"

I squatted to release my nervous energy; it's always done the trick before.

"If you can hear me, say Awooooooo!! Yeah! Like a puppy! Right, Angeal??"

Still nothing. I thought, maybe I'd have a better chance with a body of water. As though the planet answered my prayers, from the corner of my eye, there was an old well. My energy spurt compelled me to hop over.

"Hold on, Timmy. I'm comin' in to join ya."

I threw my legs over the hole and down I went in a streamline position.

SPLASH

I made it. I kept sinking and sinking. This well was more bottomless than my stomach, but my God, it was beautiful down there. The specks looked more like crystals and stars. Finally, I saw them. I swam as though the entire world depended on it.

"Aerith!! Angeal!! Hey!!"

They turned to greet me. I stopped and merrily waded in place; just to see and speak to them again would make this wild trip worth it.

However, their faces and bangs were the same as Jenova's. That red gleam in their eye. I suddenly felt cold, and my stomach clumped into knots that didn't even hurt. They were a weight that just sat there. I couldn't even move my limbs. Suddenly, something wetter than the water was touching me and spinning me around. It was the real Jenova, staring directly and even smiling at me. She or they... were never human. And Sephiroth called this thing his mother?

Clamp. Squish.

Something grabbed my feet and anchored them down. I looked down... Was that a heart? I looked back up and there were more Jenovas, enveloping the entire space in rows, all looking into my soul. There it all was: flashes of my mom feeding me sliced ham lathered in butter with fresh pomegranate juice, me riding on my dad's shoulders as we picked apples from the orchard, me promising to return home one day when I left to join SOLDIER...

"Ahh!!"

My arms tensed and moved behind my back on their own.

"What's--"

Jenova was smiling, her/their teeth were showing. My body became a freezer for my bones to turn into icicles. This was not normal; this was pure evil.

Crank

Above me. I looked up and saw a helmet descending towards me. I heard the same sound coming from below, too... A tube...Like an umbilical cord.

"No!! Get that thing away from me!!"

Click

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Everything went black, then white, then black again, the type of thing that needs a strobe light seizure warning. I must've been blinded because I couldn't seen anything after that. In fact, I couldn't feel my limbs, my anything at all. Was I floating or on a flat surface? All that was left was dread and regret. I had failed. I couldn't do the one thing that every human being should be able to do. I should never have fought with Cloud, then this never would've happened.

Rain.

My sense of hearing came back. I opened my eyes and I was there again; I could feel where I was, too, the Buster Sword in my hand. Something always pulled me back here. Perhaps this was a bridge between the living and the lifestream, where I was stuck for a long time. I wanted to let go as I had accepted my fate because Cloud was safe and on his way. I wanted to stay with Aerith when it was her time, but remnants of Shinra had other plans and had me deadlocked in limbo. Because Aerith had more power in the lifestream, she could send me back when I saw how bad Cloud wanted me back when I was found. Was it really okay though? Am I okay? The way I am? The way I was made?

Speak of the devil. There he was, having woken up and made his way to me.

"Zack..."

His voice was soft; his eyes were especially pleading. I know, bud. I screwed up big time. I wish I could make it up to you. I always have.

"Zack, wake up..."

"Nnnnn...?"

It had stopped raining; the sky became a ceiling. Cloud was in his present attire, looking relieved and smiling warmly.

"It's me, Zack," he said. "I'm right here."

I felt his thumbs press against my cheeks, stroking beneath my eyes. I guess I had been crying?

"Huh?" I croaked. "Cloud...? But aren't you sick?"

"Was sick," he corrected.

"But you had us worried sick for two whole weeks."

Barret was there, too.

"I should've made you come along."

And Tifa.

"I'm so sorry," she said sorrowfully.

"Why?" I mumbled, still kind of coming to. "What happened?"

"You were found blabbering and fish flopping like an overdosed drug addict."

And Yuffie. Did the whole gang really come for me?

"And your eyes turned into rave night lights," she added. "Your good eye, anyway. Your black eye emitted more like a laser."

"Do you remember who did this to you?" Cloud asked gently. Ah, geez.

"About that," I said hesitantly. "Could I talk to you alone?"

"Sure."

At the time, I didn't know if there were more people. My vision was skill kind of blah. I did hear footsteps and a door close. Cloud took my hands into his, cupping them carefully.

"So..." My voice trailed off. I had so much I wanted to say, but how to go about it without mouthing off? "I was kind of fighting... myself... My body... I hate that it's making me leech off you... That's why you got pneumonia in the first place, isn't it? You could've died..."

"You could have, too..." He sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped at you before I left. None of this is your fault. It breaks my heart when you put yourself down." He held my hands a bit tighter.

"I've had visions of you struggling to feed yourself while I was out; of you fending off the enemy all by yourself... Did you even sleep?"

"Hell," I huffed. "I don't even remember. Sure, I was hungry, but the mako and added Jenova cells kept me on my feet. I was a real beast." I let out a cackle. "Maybe I still am. I could eat everything and everyone for all we know."

Cloud shook his head.

"You would have already if that were true."

"You don't think I'll turn into a monster? That monster?"

"Absolutely not."

"You say that with such confidence."

"Because I believe in you and want to take care of you."

Did either of the party accidentally turn the heat on when they left? My cheeks were burning hot iron.

"Huh??"

Cloud chuckled and patted my head.

"You deserve to be cared for," he said.

I writhed and shuffled in the bed sheets.

"N-now wait just a minute!" I protested. "Any kind of relationship is supposed to be a two-way street!"

"I know, you dork," Cloud said playfully. "The best thing you can do for me is be careful and let us help you. Tseng, myself, and the others decided that you need at least one person nearby at all times."

"... At all times?" I repeated back. Cloud nodded, confirming I heard right.

"But falling in the shower and down the stairs weren't on purpose!"

Cloud blinked and stared dumbfoundedly.

"Wait, so that's how you hit your head and broke your elbow?"

Shit. I hid myself under the covers.

"Well, yeah... I have this old knee injury that acted up, too... It happened during that time... I used healing materia on it, but it wasn't strong enough."

Cloud moved his hands to that spot.

"Right here?"

"Yeah. On both sides. Right through the bone and skin."

"Hmmmm."

His gaze was so focused and serious. He brought his hands back to mine.

"I'll let the doctors know and I'll help you work on it when we get home," he told me.

"You really don't mind...?"

"It won't be just me; you've got an entire team behind you. If it'll really help, we can give the pill a try."

"Sweet," I said, getting some of my pep back. It looked like things were back on the upswing.

Or so I thought. After I was discharged, I wound up having an allergic reaction that made me look like I had chicken pox all over again after the first dose.

"Aw, rats," I moaned as Cloud was giving me an oatmeal back. "Back to square one."

"Even if we stay there," he said as he scrubbed my arms. "We'll make it work. Cid is working with Red XIII to ship over shares of his game. Yuffie is taking up bounty hunting on the side and sells some materia to pay for shipping and handling of groceries. She's found a crew, so she'll be okay."

"That's good..."

"Whatever Barret and Marlene don't finish, they're donating to you, and Tifa is collecting coupons for your protein drinks. Denzel is even taking up growing fruits and vegetables. Oh yeah, and the Turks package is arriving tomorrow morning including three more fridges."

Grrrrrrrglegrrrrrrrr

My stomach, ladies and gentlemen, right on cue. Cloud came prepared, popping a protein shake with a straw in my mouth.

"Exciting, isn't it, Raven?" he teased.

He even named it after 'ravenous'. An internal organ, a third wheel. Who was I? Mother Mary?

"But you'll have to be patient a while longer, for Zack's sake. You make it hard for him to sleep at night. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck together, so you have to learn to live with one another so you both can be happy."

He washed Raven next and gave it a pat. Cloud was oddly fond of giving belly rubs. I could hear Angeal laughing and cooing at me, Zack the puppy.

I'm not allowed to be left alone anywhere anymore; Cloud and I even share a bed for my safety. Granted, I kept him close by at night during the dark ages, but I never had to worry about him kicking me or punching me in his sleep. He promised me that chamomile would calm my nerves and knock me right out. After finishing, we'd laid on our sides facing each other. He'd pet me and sing me a lullaby he remembered from his mom.

Little moogle, look yonder

In the midst of the misty woods.

There be a party of Nibelungs

Offering a trade.

For your tuff of cotton,

They would part with a map and key

To trot through their gates

And bring them business gleefully.

And that was it. Lights out. Works every time. There was more to the cute little folk song of the first settlers of Nibelheim, but it was never needed. He had a lovely, velvety tenor voice.

[averytiredbitch]

MK OC Randomness part 8... I think. Fuck it! We're going with it!

Welcome back to the shit show. Let's go!

also some of these jokes are from lamas with hats

Qiao Fu is my name for the Lin Kuei Grandmaster

Also some of these jokes are based off skits done by Moonkitti on YouTube. Just re-worded a bit

Nozomi: Hey uncle Shinnok! Do your old man voice!

Shinnok, in his normal voice: What old man voice?

Nozomi: Yeah! That one!

------

Nozomi: ooh who's this?

Qiao Fu: That's my old wife.

Nozomi: The one who died long ago?

Qiao Fu: The very same

Nozomi: *eyeing the picture* That's too bad. She looks really cute.

Qiao Fu: I'm sorry, do you find my old wife attractive?

Nozomi: Do you not!?

------

Nozomi: I wanna see my little boy!

Shang Tsung: *helping Meat walk* Here he comes!

Nozomi: *scooping Meat up and hugging him* I wanna see my little boy!

------

"Revenant" Reiki: WHY WOULD YOU THINK ANY OF THIS IS A GOOD IDEA!?

"Revenant" Michiko: Probably because I'm a dangerous sociopath with a long history of violence.

"Rev" Reiki: Oh.

"Rev" Michiko: I don't understand how you keep forgetting that.

------

Shinnok: Shh, do you hear that?

Shinnok: That's the sound of forgiveness.

Melantha: That's the sound of people dying dad!

Shinnok: That is what forgiveness sounds like. Screaming and then silence.

------

Shariah: How did you even do this!?

Meat: A dollop of fairy dust!

Shariah: Meat!

Meat: I ripped the tag off a mattress.

Shariah: This isn't funny Meat!

Meat: Who's laughing? Clearly not all the people that just exploded.

Shariah: I'm leaving! I've had enough of this!

Meat: But thank of all the perfectly roasted faces we get to munch on now.

Shariah: What? Why?

Meat: Because we're friends. And friendship is two pals munching on well cooked faces together.

------

"The bar was so low it was practically a tripping hazard in Hell! And yet, here you are limbo dancing with the devil!"- Melantha to Hotaru at a family dinner.

------

"Oh no. There are consequences to your actions? Who would've thought?" Krow to Raiden and Flamus, still pissed at them for completely destroying a village that housed the remaining nymphs and nymphlims their husband made.

------

Nozomi: I'm just here to collect Michiko

Qiao Fu: *tries to stab her*

Nozomi: YOU'RE AN UNFIT FATHER FU! THAT'S NOT EVEN YOUR DAUGHTER! YOU HAVE A HUMAN CHILD! WHO THE FUCK'S DEMON CHILD IS THAT! WHO ARE YOU STEALING CHILDREN FROM!?

------

Michiko: You are not my father!

Qiao Fu: Bring proof you are not my daughter!

Meixiu's ghost in the background: Bitch! You literally murdered her birth father!

------

Nyx: Get out

Reiko: Aww come on. Can't I check in on my favorite little sister?

Nyx: If you don't leave me my room Reiko, I will stab you. And when I do it won't look pretty.

Reiko: there's a pretty way to stab people? Like with a butterfly knife or something?

Nyx: yup. Handle and all.

Reiko: oh... OH!

------

Nemos: Greetings Thunder God!

Raiden: Eh? Nemos what are you doing here?

Nemos: I'm taking advantage of your guilt-ridden personality to get a head start on being a better realm protector while no one is looking.

Raiden: Nope. New timeline, new Raiden. Go- Go play with your sisters.

Nemos: I'll have you know I've lived 15 lives in which I've played with my sisters, and none of them have been consequential!

Raiden: *sighs* I'm trying to take you seriously. Really. But it just feels like an even smaller Shinnok is yelling at me right now.

------

Hotaru: *busting into the Sky Temple and picking up Nemos* My beautiful son, I am back from my epic battle of driving out the rebels!

Nemos: Tell me, man who sired me!

Hotaru: We were fighting when suddenly Soldier B produced a substance that burned through their skin!

Nozomi: That sounds like my poison...

Hotaru: Oh no! We'd never poison anyone. Only ambush them in the middle of the night, kill them through physical violence, and intimidate them in other wise orderly court proceedings. Poison is bad.

Nozomi: Have you considered maybe, asking him if he poisoned them?

Hotaru: Oh no, I trust him completely.

Melantha: *holding Discordia and Harmonia* But, what if he did?

Hotaru: *small whimper before glaring and shouting* Solider B! Come here and apologize to my wife for making her think about things immediately!

Solider B: Hi, what?

Hotaru: I said apologize to Melantha!

Solider B: Uh yeah, sorry for poisoning the rebels or something..

Melantha: Hey, has anyone seen Nemos?

------

Darrius: It seems one of the soldiers has summoned Melantha to their side.

Hotaru: *spying on the rebels* Gonna go see Melantha. I'm gonna see Melantha at the meeting. Gonna see Melantha. Melantha.

------

OB: I made a perfectly good Titan

Fuyuka: You fucked up my daughter is what you did!

Fuyuka: Look at her! She's traumatized!

------

Amara: Don’t worry, I have a few knives up my sleeve.

Leila: I think you mean cards.

Amara, pulling knives out of her sleeves: No, I do not.

------

Ermac: Bad things keep happening to us, like we have bad luck or something.

Zyta: Ermac, you don't have bad luck. The reason bad things happen to you is because you're a dumbass.

------

Zyta: You love me, right, Ermac?

Ermac: Normally, we’d say yes without hesitation, but we feel like this is going somewhere and we don’t like it.

------

Kristy: *steps on her glasses by accident*

Kristy: *inhales* If I knew that this would be the fate that befalls me and these damned glasses, I would've just let the fire reach my left eye and burn it out completely!

------

Megumi: I turned out perfectly fine!

Ayeka: Megumi, this morning you thought a ghost made your toast

Megumi: I DIDN’T PUT THE BREAD IN! YOU DIDN’T PUT THE BREAD IN!!!

------

Zyta: Stop buying plastic skeletons for Halloween! It's terrible for the environment!

Philomela: Yeah! Locally sourced, all natural skeletons are much more environmentally friendly!

------

Discordia, holding a python: Guys I impulsively bought a snake, what do I name him

Harmonia: You did WHAT–

Nemos: William Snakepeare

------

Discordia: Hey Harmonia,

Harmonia: Yes?

Discordia: Can a person breathe inside a washing machine while it’s on?

Harmonia:

Harmonia: Where’s Nemos?

------

Discordia: Here’s a fun Christmas idea. We hang mistletoe, but instead of kissing, you have to FIGHT whoever else is under it.

Harmonia: Discordia no.

Nemos: Mistlefoe.

Harmonia: Please stop encouraging her.

------

Store Worker: Would a Ms. Philomela please come to the front desk?

Philomela, arriving at the desk: Hello, is there a problem?

Store Worker: *points to Amara and Zyta*

Store Worker: I believe they belong to you?

Amara and Zyta, simultaneously: We got lost :(

Philomela: I didn’t even bring you guys here with me-

------

Erron, driving Ash and Kamden: So how was your day?

Ash: We almost got surprise adopted!

Erron: What?

Kamden: We almost got kidnapped.

Erron: Oh, okay.

Erron: *slams on the breaks* WAIT WHAT?!

------

Nozomi: Welcome, fellow idiots

Kung Lao: Hello, Nozomi

Nozomi: No, no, not you, you're not an idiot

Kung Lao: You underestimate me

------

Nozomi: What are your goals?

Kung Lao: To pet all the dogs.

Nozomi: No, fitness goals.

Kung Lao: To be able to run fast enough to pet all the dogs.

------

Liu Kang: You know, not every problem can be solved with a sword.

Nozomi: That's why I carry two swords.

------

Sareena: Ok, maybe playing ‘whose family is most dysfunctional’ wasn’t the best idea we’ve had. Michiko's been crying in the bathroom for an hour. We can’t get her out...

------

Sareena: Do you have any skeletons in your closet?

Michiko: You mean literally or figuratively?

Sareena: Honestly, the fact that I have to specify...

------

Sareena: Michiko... Why did you draw a pentagram on the floor?

Michiko: Your text told me to Satanize the house before you returned.

Sareena:

Sareena: I wrote sanitize, Michiko.

------

Sareena: You kill people for money?!

Michiko: I can explain!

Sareena: And all this time I’ve been doing it for free like a chump!

@deepinthefog @merplderpl @yuvononik @dontunderestimatemypoison @feistyfandomthings @toomanyf4ndoms7 @daddydestrey @tora-lotus @calcium1790 @starneko123 @dinogoofy @bar10du @cyberbloodgoddess

[futurewriter2000]

Heartless - pt. 1

A/N: Lol. Another serie. Might post it later, not yet because I’m thinking of writing the second part right after this. I got this idea and I just had to write it down. 

XX

It’s not that you hated him. You just disliked him for no apparent reason.

Okay, maybe there was a reason. One or two... more piling up through the years he spent mostly with your brother and later on with your family. 

“You had no right, James! No right!” you stormed into the room with him, your eyes darting to the boy on the bed, who was looking up and grinning at him. “Oh, really, James?!” you scoffed, crossing your arms. “You said we are going to talk and he’s here. What is he, your lap dog?” 

“Knock it off, (y/n).” James rolled his eyes as he leaned on the back of his desk and crossed his arms as well. “He’s my best friend- you should know that by now.” 

“Well, I’d want to discuss this privately because it’s a private thing!”

“Don’t mind me. I can use the cloak-”

“HE KNOWS ABOUT THE CLOAK?!” you bellowed at James, making his eyes widen but quickly relax as he tried to keep his guilty mind out of this. 

“They all do.”

You felt your heart sunk, you voice get a bit weaker. “That cloak dad gave to the both of us!”

“No. He gave it to me and he told me to share and I’m sharing it with whoever I want.” he started to glare at you. 

“You fucking bastard!”

“Watch your mouth with me!” James scolded you, pointing his index finger at you as you let out an unbelievable laugh.

“What are you? My dad? I’ll talk however I bloody want.” 

“Oh, come off it, (y/n).” Sirius sat on the edge of the bed and grinning with his perpetual provoking devil-mouth. “He’s your brother-”

“Hey, Sirius.” you cut him off, giving him the resentful look you usually gave him. “Fuck off. This is family matter and as I remembered, you are not family.” you barked at him as his smile faded. 

“Somebody is on her period.” he started to goad, making your jaw clench and your hand squeeze your wand. 

“I am and my testosterone hormone is making me impulsively aggressive towards people who test my nerves.”

“Daaww.” he placed his hand over his heart, acting touched. “You flatter me. “

“I can’t wait for summer to come so I don’t bother myself looking at you for three months.” you gritted through your teeth, forcing a smile as his faded.

“Feeling is mutual, dear. At least then I won’t tolerate your sensitive girly mood swings. Poor James, having to deal with you alone for all those three months-” he stopped as he glanced at the movement of your hand. Sirius’ mouth stretched over his cheeks as he continuously provoked you. When you threw away the wand, he almost wanted to giggle. “I’m not, James, darling. You can curse me all you want.”

“Why when I have gotten so much better with my fists, you son of a bitch-” you started punching him just as you would if it was James. Sadly, it wasn’t only James you picked up sibling-like fights. Sirius practically became the brother you had never wanted and you hated this man. 

He came into your life like an innocent little boy and in the beginning you had liked him, you had managed to keep a steady, solid friendship going with him and the rest of James’ friend group but after the Third year, everything had started to change and suddenly, James, your brother that you had known all your life slowly became a stranger and no longer your brother. 

Now, James and you, twins that the two of you were, were always on good terms. Since day one. The two of you fought when you were kids over the smallest of things; TV, cookies, washing the dishes... but as you two had gotten into Hogwarts the bond became a bit more deeper. The two of you always understood each other but through the years, you and James started to distance just as much as the bond between the two of you deepened. At the beginning you thought it was just what was supposed to happen but as much you loved him, really loved him, you couldn’t even recognise him anymore. Drinking, partying, causing trouble, embarrassing himself and you, smoking,... it was all the influence of his friends that you weren’t a fan of.

“GER’ OFF HIM!” James tried to pull you off but you were gripping Sirius tightly around the neck as he tried to throw you away. 

“You been working out, Tiny?” he started to spin you around, throwing himself on the bed just for you to wrap your legs around his torso and keep the grip tighter. “Oh, fuck!” he cursed, losing his breath and becoming more red in the face.

“Bloody hell, (y/n)!” James went to go get his wand but Sirius had already beaten your arm and you let go.

“YOU FUCKING ARSE! THIS IS GONNA LEAVE A MARK!” you kicked him in the stomach but he had grabbed your hand and pulled you off the bed until you were laying on the floor with extreme back pain. 

He was laughing loudly, almost to the point the laugh infected James and they had both started laughing at you, resulting into jokes and embarrassment. 

Feeling the adrenalin kicked in, you hadn’t noticed how hard your back pain was until you had already left the room with sadness written all over your face. You grabbed your clothes from your room, containing everything in until you left for the Prefect bathroom where you could let everything out. 

Sometimes you wanted to scream for how you felt at the current moment; embarrassed and alone. Of course, James was popular and friendly- the best of all Gryffindors, even the teacher’s pets. And you weren’t much different. You had your group of friends and they were great but sometimes you felt you couldn’t tell them just exactly how you feel. 

“How could he choose him- them over me?” you shut your eyes so the tears could fall freely down your cheeks and into the warm, bubbly water. Questions started popping over your head; does James really not like having you around anymore? Are you really hard to handle- no! He’s hard to handle. James is. Him having the narcissistic personality disorder, thinking everything is about him- the whole world- “God.” you threw your head into your palms and then running your hands down your hair. 

All you could think was about this little boy, who you used to have deep conversations with after your parents made you turn off the lights and go to sleep. The two of you would goof off and have idiotic conversations, leading into a fit of uncontrolable giggles. 

“Just one more year...” you said as you dreamed of finally moving away, getting yourself a stable job, apartment, a life with no James and no Sirius. It sounded like a dream but at the same time, the thought without the James you had always known made your heart squeeze. He could still make you laugh with his goofy faces and his annoyance. He would say things that would just make you burst into laughter, despite how furious you were at him. He was protective of you, he still bought you things even if he didn’t have to. He’d bring you food if he ever went into the kitchen and the two of you would end up having deep and long conversations without his friends around. 

You missed that James. You missed having a brother. Now it was like having an obligation to talk to him just because you are related to him. 

But you were done. It’s either them or you and he had proven more than once that he had chosen them. 

[mymoonagedaydream]

Only the Good Die Young (Part 6)

Summary: It seemed like everyone in that godforsaken town was out to test your relationship

Pairing: Biker!Bucky x y/n

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: Language, anti-religious sentiment, harmful relationship with parents, creepy threatening behaviour

Author's Note: Temptation. I feel like I’ve put these two through so much but I just. cannot. stop. Eventually I may need medical intervention.

---

You just stood there for a little while. Eyes closed, head resting against his chest, savouring the contentment and safety you felt in his arms. These moments of peace were few and far between for the two of you, so when they came along you held on to them for as long as you could.

Your serenity faded after a few minutes, as you found yourself struggling to prevent his mother’s words bleeding into the front of your mind.

You wanted to look after him, you wanted to heal and care for him the best you could, but you knew there was nothing you could do to make up for his past. You couldn’t fix it.

But at least now, you were able to realise that everything he’d ever achieved, he’d done completely by himself. 

All his life he’d had no help, no support and no real reason to outgrow the life that people like your mother expected him to lead. At the very least, you were determined to change that.

After a while, he piped up. ‘You hungry? I thought we could order food, there’s a really good-’

You cut him off by throwing your arms around his neck and pressing your lips against his, apparently shocking him a little, because it took him a few seconds to respond. He eventually tightened his hold around you and tilted his head to the side, deepening the kiss while you moved your hands to cradle his face. Eventually, he pulled away.

‘-pizza place nearby.’

You laughed at his stupid grin, nodded and reached over to the drawer with the takeout menus.

The two of you ate in front of the TV, then curled up together on the sofa for the evening. You were still holding onto this moment of peace, savouring every second, knowing how fleeting it could be.  

---

As predicted, you only managed about an hour of relaxation before Bucky’s phone started buzzing. He picked it up and moved over to the kitchen when he saw that it was his mother calling.

You tried not to eavesdrop, but it wasn’t a big flat.

He didn’t say much, he was mainly listening to her, but as the conversation progressed you could tell he was getting more and more agitated. The only thing you could really gauge was that, at one point, she asked him for money. He told her he was pretty broke at the moment, so he didn’t have any to spare, but you had no idea if that was the truth.

It was heart-breaking to see the toxic side of their relationship in practice, especially after seeing all the love that his mother was capable of.  

Finally, he said a short goodbye and trudged back to the couch. You waited for a second to see if he’d share willingly, but he just huffed, heaved his boots up onto the table and necked the rest of his beer. You were going to have to do this the hard way.

‘Is everything alright?’

‘Yeah, fine.’ He gave you a short, tight smile and reached for the remote. You caught his arm.

‘Buck.’

‘It’s nothing, just...’ He gave an aggravated sigh and rubbed his eyes. ‘She’s not pressing charges.’

‘That’s not nothing. That’s a pretty valid reason to be upset.’

You were still very much testing the waters as far as talking Bucky down was concerned. You were sure that he’d calm down himself given enough time, but if you were going to move in here properly you’d prefer not to have walls full of holes.

He took a deep breath. ‘It’s not like I expected anything else, this is what always happens.’

‘Doesn’t mean it sucks any less.’ You shifted closer and interlaced your fingers with his, rubbing his forearm with your other hand, feeling some of the tension in his muscles settle under your touch. You were pretty pleased with that result, even if it was only small. ‘Y’know, for a guy who was so eager to find someone to talk to, you’re really not easy to get information out of.’

He let a reluctant smile spread across his face. ‘Good job you’re a ruthless interrogator then.’

---

The next few days were almost perfect. You were able to spend quality time together and unwind a little, just about managing to ignore the sixty-four missed calls from your parents and the texts begging for money from his. Bucky went out to work whenever repair jobs came up, but you quite enjoyed having free-reign of the flat while he was gone, making subtle changes that he barely noticed when he got back.

The decoration wasn’t bad per se, it just didn’t really… exist. It was your typical bare bones bachelor pad, you were convinced he hadn’t made any real changes since moving in- apart from a pile of magazines and a couple of suspicious stains on the carpet.

When your parents finally gave up, and when enough time had passed since the visit from Bucky’s mother, it felt for the first time like maybe everything could turn out alright. All the problems you’d faced seemed to be receding further and further, it seemed like they couldn’t penetrate the walls of this cosy little life you’d built.

So it was all the more disappointing when that turned out not to be the case.

---

You woke up to the sound of Bucky’s alarm. Stretching a little, you felt his body pressed up against the back of yours and his arms wrapped you. He reached over you to shut the sound off, groaned dramatically and buried his face in the crook of your neck.

‘Another morning I'll have trouble climbing out of bed.’

His words were muffled against your skin. You rolled onto your back and brushed a few strands of hair away from his forehead, smiling at the deep marks left on his cheek by the creases in the sheets. The two of you must’ve slept like logs, barely moving all night.

‘Stay then.’

‘I’ve got places to go.’ He placed a few soft kisses below your ear. ‘There’s a big job today, could be a few hundred bucks.’

You frowned and abruptly grabbed his head, lifting it away from you. ‘Hundreds? Christ, get out then.’

‘Wow, didn’t have you down as a gold digger.’ You laughed and tried to push him out of bed, relenting when he clawed his way back to you.

‘You could use some restraint, Barnes.’

‘I never said I was a saint.’

Ten or fifteen minutes later, Bucky finally got up and ready for work. You had a day of solid lounging around planned. Maybe you’d take a walk into town later, but only during the hours you knew your parents would be working. No way would you risk bumping into them.

---

He’d been gone for a few hours when the doorbell went. You couldn’t figure out who it was from the window, so you tiptoed downstairs and cautiously inched the door open. It was the blonde from the bar, the one who got Bucky thrown in jail.

‘What the hell do you want?’ The severity in your voice shocked you a little.

He gave a smug chuckle. ‘Calm down, suburbs. I wanna talk to Bucky.’

‘About what?’

He narrowed his eyes at you and stepped forward, stretching his arms out and bracing himself against the door frame. You instinctively moved back, tightening your grip on the open door, ready to slam it shut at a moment's notice.

‘I’d rather just speak to him, sweetheart.’

‘Look, he’s not here, but even if he was I’m sure he’d just tell you to fuck off.’

A sinister, calculating look spread over his face. ‘You’re here all on your own?’

The shift in his tone made your entire body tense up. You immediately defaulted into fight or flight mode, pushing the door closed as quickly as you could. Somehow he moved faster, shoving his foot into the gap and letting out an irritated grunt when the door slammed into it. You felt him pushing against the other side of the wood.

‘C’mon.’ You saw his fingers emerge through the gap and curl round the edge of the door. ‘I just wanna talk.’

Summoning strength from god-knows-where, you stomped down on his foot with all your weight. When it jerked out of the gap, you shoved your shoulder hard against the door, hearing the cracking of his fingers followed by loud yelp. He pulled his hand away and you swiftly turned the lock.

He was still shouting and banging on the door as you scrambled upstairs, your shaky knees finally causing you to collapse as you burst back into the flat. You crawled over to the window and peeked out, seeing him limping away down the street, cradling his injured hand against his chest. You breathed out for what felt like the first time in ten minutes, remnants of your adrenaline rush making your head spin.

Despite your overwhelming panic, you couldn’t help but feel a little pleased with yourself, cause damn that was pretty fucking badass.

You considered calling Bucky, but figured that as long as you didn’t answer the door again, you should be alright until he finishes. It’d be much easier to explain what’d happened after you’d had some time to think about it and to calm down a bit.

You made some tea and collapsed onto the couch, all the while making an effort to maintain deep, controlled breaths. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long before you managed to compose yourself.

When Bucky got back, you sat him down and reeled it all off, reassuring him throughout that you were fine. He seemed to take it surprisingly well, staying silent and still while you were explaining. You thought maybe he’d finally turned a corner with his anger.

That was, until you got to the end of your story.

‘He didn’t come back, right?’ You shook your head. He nodded to himself and clenched his hands together tight, dropping his head and taking a deep, shaky breath. ‘Fuckin asshole, man.’

You could see him ramping up to something, so you tried your best to diffuse. ‘It’s fine, I’m fine. I handled it.’

‘Nah.’ Bucky stood up suddenly and grabbed his jacket, storming towards the door. ‘He could’a hurt you.’

‘He didn’t.’ You followed him, managing to grab his arm before he made it out of the flat.

‘That’s not the point.’

You knew there was no fucking way were you going to stand back and let him do this again. His judgement was being clouded by anger, that much was obvious, so he needed a sharp reality check to ground him again.

‘Do you really think this is worth going back to jail for?’ He stopped tugging against you, turning his head slightly so you were in the corner of his vision. ‘Cause I guarantee I won’t be here when you get out.’

He was still for a second. You let go and took a couple steps back, waiting to see what he would do.

If he left, this was over.

He threw his jacket to the ground in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair, turning back towards you with a regretful grimace. You breathed a pretty big sigh of relief.

‘You’re right.’ He held his arms out in defeat. ‘Y’know, I try to be rational, but it all gets blown to pieces when I look at you.’

What a strange mix of accusation and romance.

‘If you don’t chill the fuck out soon you’ll only be looking at me through bulletproof glass.’

He rubbed his forehead exasperatedly. ‘God, I wish everyone would just leave us alone.’

You didn’t respond for a second, considering whether or not to tell him what you were thinking. It was something you’d been debating for a while, something you were going to bring up with him when it got closer to the end of summer.

Fuck it, now was as good a time as any.

‘We need to get out of this town. There’s nothing here for us Buck.’

He squinted at you in slight confusion. ‘You wanna move?’

‘Look I know it’s not been long, and I know there's a danger in wanting too much too soon, but I really think we could be happy somewhere else. Your parents, my parents, your weird creepy friends. We need to get away.’

He looked away, considering your proposal. You just shifted on the spot awkwardly for what felt like hours. Eventually he smiled, then grinned, and soon enough he was beaming at you.

‘Alright. Let’s get outta here.’

‘Yeah?’ Your head was spinning with possibility and optimism. ‘Where should we go?’

‘Wherever you want darlin.’

---

Part 7

---

@shawnie--jo @brilliantbellesoares @livingoffsavvyillusions @noiralei @bebeyeni @kingkassam @newyorkgoddess @sir-lili @im-squished @dancer3205 @thefallenbibliophilequote @supernaturalwintersoldier

---

[starlightsearches]

Kissing Practice

I think you can accurately chart my mental state based solely on how often I write College AUs. We’ve got some enemies (not pictured) to idiots/friends to lovers in the next part, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Let me know what you think, feedback is always appreciated 💖

Armitage Hux x GN Reader / College AU

Warnings: Language

“Have you ever . . . ?”

Armitage already knows he’s turning red, but his suspicions are confirmed when he catches his reflection in the small mirror sitting on the top of your desk. Unlike the rest of your room, which features a thin layer of clutter—picture frames, mugs full of pens, piles of hats and jewelry and accessories—on all flat surfaces, the desk is clear of everything but his computer and notebook, and the mirror. He wonders if you cleared everything else off for him before he arrived, but he pushes the thought away.

“No, I, uh-” he turns to you, searching for the least embarrassing words to finish the sentence, but his mind goes completely blank when he sees you, perched at the end of your bed. You sit casually, with one leg hanging over the edge, and you use the other to support your notebook as you tap your pen absentmindedly against your teeth. Your eyes, though, are completely and totally focused on him.

“It’s okay,” you say after a moment of waiting, saving him the embarrassment, “I haven’t either.”

That’s not what he expected. He can’t mask his surprise fast enough, so he leans into it instead, letting it show in his expression and bleed into his tone, “really?”

“I mean, once, but I don’t really count it. Spin the bottle, and I was, like, twelve or something—I don’t even remember.” You punctuate your sentence with a shrug before returning to your work.

Hux faces forward again—not that he’ll get any of his own work done—although he at least makes an attempt to look like he’s focused. He’s trying to figure out how you both arrived here—not just at this topic, but here. In your room. So . . . amiable. It’s not easy for him to forget how tenuous this friendship is. How long he had to wait for the biting, whispered remarks and glares from across the room to turn into something gentler—with less teeth. It took the two of you ages to learn to trust each other, but no time at all for him to forget why he was ever so wary of you in the first place.

“But still,” you break the silence, and Hux startles, “it would be nice to, you know, know what you’re doing . . . when the time comes.”

Hux furrows his brow. What did that have to do with your friendship?

You watch him closely as you wait for a response, chewing on your lip and he stiffens. Oh. You’re still talking about kissing.

His palms grow sweaty, and it’s getting harder and harder to keep his grip on his pen, but he hums in assent because it seems like the safest option; his mouth has gone dry.

“I just feel like most people have so much more, I don’t know, experience? I guess it’s stupid to stress out about it, but-” you heave a sigh, and he can feel your eyes on him, your gaze burning a hole in the side of his face, “-it’d be nice to figure it all out, you know, before it counts.”

Damn, now his mouth feels too wet—how did that happen?; he has to swallow before he speaks, “Are you suggesting . . . “

“I don’t know. Would you- I mean, we could . . .”

There’s a heavy silence as he thinks about how he should respond. Armitage knows, without any thinking at all, that he’d like to say yes. He’s not too proud to admit, to himself at least, that he’s thought about it before, on occasion. Or maybe a little more than that.

The rational part of him is louder than he’d like.

It’s the rational, or maybe self-deprecating is the better word, part of him—the one that shares his father’s voice—that reminds him that he couldn’t handle it. That he’ll always be a stupid, pining boy no matter what happens. And it feels . . . dishonest in a way, knowing that it would mean something different for him. A chance to have something he craves but hasn’t had the courage to ask for.

“Actually, you know what?” You’re speaking again before he gets the chance to, rushing to get all your words out “-It’s a really stupid idea. I don’t know why I even brought it up. You can just ignore me.” You close the textbook lying next to you with a harsh whomp, running a hand down the side of your face. He knows what you’ll say next (I’m feeling pretty tired, maybe you should go) and there’s an unexpected pang in his heart. He can’t let this slip through his fingers.

“No,” his tone is surprisingly assertive, and he adjusts it before he continues, unwilling to seem too eager,  “I mean, I think we should. Since, uh, since we’re friends.” He ignores the irritating thought at the back of his mind that reminds him he’s never kissed any of his other friends.

“Right, it’s just . . . good practice.”

“And it’s not like it means anything.”

“Yes, exactly,” you’re gesturing a little wildly—the way you always seem to do when you get excited—before folding your hands in your lap, caging your fingers together to keep them under control. “ . . . so, do you want to come over here?”

“Oh, right.” Hux’s heart hammers against his chest as he arranges himself at the end of the bed next to you, resting his hands at his sides, hoping he shows more confidence than he feels.

You shift a little closer, turning to face him, and his entire body thrums. He’s never been so aware of his proximity to someone. Never felt his nerves alight like this, waiting for the first brush. There’s none yet; it’s an awkward dance as you move into each other, neither sure of the best way to begin. Although it’s becoming increasingly clear that neither of you know what you’re doing, he finds that inexperience doesn’t temper his excitement at all.

“I guess I could just-” you bring one hand to rest lightly against the flat of his cheek, the smooth pad of your thumb tracing soft lines over his skin. Your hand pulls him closer, until the tips of your noses are brushing, and he can smell the mint on your breath.

There’s a heartbeat’s pause, but no length of time could settle the growing fire that sparks over him in waves. He wonders if you can feel it, rolling off him, if you know the kind of effect you have.

Before he can ponder the question any further, you press your lips gently to his.

Oh god. Fuck. Your lips meet his, and immediately he’s overcome. Does it always feel this good to be kissed? He hopes so, since it doesn’t seem like he’ll get the opportunity to do this with you again. Your lips are softer than he had previously imagined, fitting between his own so perfectly. His hands clench to fists at his sides, his body unsure how to react to such a glorious feeling. Do you feel as good as he does?

A dim flicker of doubt smothers his elation. Is he doing this right? Or are you just putting up with him, waiting for the moment it’s over? He’s hyper-aware of each point of contact, trying to read your reaction and coming up blank.

On instinct he presses his mouth to yours, hoping to yield some kind of reaction, but he’s not thinking straight. He crushes into you, much harder than necessary and regret pools in his lungs as you flinch away.

“I’m- I’m sorry,” he stumbles over his words, sure he’s ruined everything. Even though it pains him to say it, he knows he has to give you permission to get rid of him. “We can stop if-”

“No!” you interrupt him with wide eyes, placing a hand on his arm as if to hold him there. You both turn to stare, eyes lingering on the place where your hand meets his sweater. “I mean, it’s fine. I’m fine. That’s what practice is for, I guess,” you finally meet his eyes, leaning in again but he pulls back, pausing, not completely satisfied.

“Did I hurt you?”

“I was just startled, mostly, but I’m fine now. do you want to . . . keep going?”

Although he thinks you might be downplaying your pain for his sake, he leans closer, bridging the gap between the two of you with the gentlest pressure he can manage, allowing you to set the pace. You must have enjoyed it a little, he reasons, if you’re so willing to kiss him again.

He reads no hesitation in your body now—your fingers more solid against him as you run them gently over the hair at the back of his neck, and he lets out a shuddering breath in response.

“Is this alright?” you whisper the question against his lips and he nods, his nose brushing in lines over the skin of your cheek. You’ve pressed yourself closer to him, your chest against his, and he’s not sure if it’s your heartbeat he feels pounding against his skin or his own.

This is natural, meant to be, even. The two of you move like you spend all your time wrapped up in each other. You kiss him like you know him.

The thought emboldens him, and he holds you closer, his hand to your hip. The hem of your shirt slides away under his touch, your bare skin solid beneath his palm, warm and pliant and more than he could ever hope for. When your tongue drags gently against his bottom lip, when he feels the low moan that escapes your lungs, he’s sure there’s nothing in the world he wouldn’t trade to just stay like this.

The door slams open, loudly, but your roommate manages to spit out the words, “oh my god, I’m so sorry,” before either of you think to pull away.

He sits up off you, shielding you slightly as you readjust your clothing, your hair and he tries his best to surreptitiously wipe his mouth off on the back of his hand. Your roommate sways slightly in the doorway, squinting at you with unfocused eyes—she’s a little more than a little drunk.

“I’m so sorry, sweetie, I didn’t know that you had, uh, company,” she says again, much louder than necessary before shifting to a stage whisper that both of you have no trouble hearing, “do you need me to go somewhere while you-”

“I was actually just leaving,” Armitage jumps from the bed, feeling the blush begin to spread. He runs an errant hand through his hair before throwing his notebook and computer into his bag as quickly as he can manage, halfway out the door and past your roommate before he pauses to turn back. 

He can still taste you on his lips as he looks at you, crowds of words trying to force their way out of his mouth, but he lets them die there. He’s not going to be selfish. He’s not going to ruin this.

“I’ll . . . see you tomorrow in class?” Is what he says instead, and your shoulders sag—in relief, maybe—before you nod.

“Yeah, of course . . . I’ll see you tomorrow, Armitage.”

The door closes behind him with depressing finality, and he’s left alone in the dismal light of the hallway.

He’s at the staircase before he drops his bag off his shoulder, leaning back against the wall to catch his breath.

His fingers graze his lips without much thought, back and forth. It’s just skin against skin. He should feel something, even a small fragment of what he felt with you. But there’s nothing now—almost the absence of feeling in memory’s wake.

Armitage huffs, pushing himself away from the wall, down the stairs and out the door into the cold night air. There’s no use in thinking this way. Because, no matter how he feels, he’ll never get to kiss you again.

[panel-dreamer]

Well, how about that Moon Knight!

As a huge fan of the comics (especially the 2014 Ellis run which introduced Mr. Knight and the 2016 Lemire/Smallwood run which dealt with more of the mystical/psychological stuff) I enjoyed this tentative “first season” of Moon Knight more than I expected to. I know at one point there was talk of it being a one-and-done sort of thing but I would like a continuation of the story, especially after the reveal at the end of today’s finale. That being said, I have things to complain about:

 - What was Harrow’s plan exactly? and why did he have to release Ammit to achieve it? he seemed to be able to harvest souls on his own even before he smashed the shabti to release her, and then all she really did once she was released was punch Khonshu a few times

 - Similarly... how does binding Ammit to Harrow neutralize her? I understand it makes her vulnerable because she’s mortal but like... couldn’t Harrow just continue to harvest souls like he originally did?

 - why’d you do Jake Lockley like that. why relegate the answer to one of the show’s more intriguing mysteries for people unfamiliar with the character to a post-credits scene. that’s kinda dumb

 - I get that it’s Disney-fied and thus will always have less impact but Khonshu was not evil enough here. Like he was a manipulative bitch, sure, but that’s baseline Khonshu levels of dickishness instead of the full-on “I am going to make Marc Spector’s life a living hell bc I think it’s funny and what’s he gonna do about it” we see in the Lemire run

 - Circling back to Harrow there were bits in here where they went into his backstory with Khonshu that I think would’ve made for a genuinely compelling adversary for Marc and Steven... buuut since this is an MCU joint no truly sympathetic villains are allowed, except for the raisin man himself and maybe Killmonger

 - Layla becoming Tawaret’s avatar was pretty cool, and so was her costume! but her costume didn’t really make sense to me. I’m no Egyptologist but I think those wings would better suit Horus or Isis or another god or goddess... not Tawaret. just seemed like a generic Egyptian-themed outfit. why not make it fit the goddess she’s hosting?

 - Similarly, I laughed out loud when the girl asked “are you an Egyptian superhero?” I think Layla becoming a superhero is great, and a logical character progression! but having a character acknowledge it in dialogue feels very much like Disney patting itself on the back. just have Layla be a superhero! we know she’s cool no need to have a character practically look at the camera and say “she is the first Egyptian superhero. look how progressive we are!” to distract people as they throw more money at anti-queer legislation. god I hate Disney I want it to burn

 - Speaking of representation the representation of Marc’s Jewish heritage was about as sidelined as I expected it to be. While I don’t necessarily think it needed to be front-and-center since this wasn’t an origin story I think they could’ve handled it better. That being said, the idea of someone grappling with their faith and identity when confronted with the fact that an ancient pantheon of gods exists in their world is way more of an interesting and challenging concept than Disney would ever attempt in a show made to be appealing to as many people as possible.

 - oh yeah and for an action series the action was kinda bad. I don’t think there was a single standout fight from this whole season. I found it far more interesting when Steven or Marc blacked out and then came to with carnage around them. oops

Overall I think the show is a solid 7/10. Perfectly enjoyable. Episode 5 was the best in the season bc let’s face it the main plot is not nearly as interesting as seeing Marc and Steven interacting and grappling with their shared trauma

[roselen-mylady]

the game

"First one to kiss Thor wins." Wanda suggested. Y/n tried to hide her scoff but judging by Nat's elbow in her ribs, she hadn't been successful. "Come on, Y/n!" Wanda groaned, rubbing her forehead in frustration. 

"Oh, you come on! What? Are we going to play 'would you rather' after?" Y/n joked, earning yet another jab from Nat. The two red heads glared at her annoyed but Y/n didn't care as she took a sip of champagne.

Pepper had convinced Tony to hold another party in hopes of boosting the team's morale and while it wasn't the first time he'd done it, the parties were still enjoyable. Y/n couldn't help the enthusiasm and joy that came with drinking, dancing and mingling. Everyone came, at least everyone she knew, along with a hundred other people Tony knew. Even Peter had started to attend the last few parties, granted Tony only made him a frequent attendee once he'd reached 18.

The parties were fun, yes, but still being the drama and excitement addicts they were, Y/n and her closest friends craved the thrill of their little games. They played them at every party. The first was a simple game of truth or dare and the second had been the cliche spin the bottle. But with each gathering their dares and games grew more and more risky. And Y/n loved it. They all did.

But tonight was different.

Tonight was boring.

"You're just upset that Bucky didn't want to make out in the closet with you last time we played." Nat accused. A deep frown settled on Y/n's lips from the stab at her pride but she quickly waved off Nat's insult with a dismissing hand.

"That's because he knew I was drunk off my ass. I didn't really wanna make out with him either, he's my friend. You know what alcohol does to me." She argued, getting a short disbelieving nod from Wanda in return.

"Uh huh. Or maybe cause he knows you're into his best friend." Nat suggested, sipping her own drink with a smirk as she narrowly dodged Y/n's threatening hand. Wanda giggled at the interaction, knowing there was truth behind Nat's words. She had seen into Y/n's mind and her fondness toward Steve practically screamed back at her.

"I'm not into Steve. The man is too self righteous for his own good and you know I'm into bad boys." Y/n shrugged, her attempt at hiding her feelings becoming transparent in her friends' eyes.

Yet before either of them could argue further and perhaps bring up the kiss she almost shared with Steve during spin the bottle, Sam and Bucky arrived. "Who's into bad boys? You've come to the right place ladies, I'm the baddest of them all." Sam flashed a charming smile to which they all rolled their eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sam, but I think Bucky has you beat on bad boys." Y/n challenged, sending a playful wink toward the soldier. Sam gasped, mocking hurt while Bucky rolled his eyes rather unamused with the discussion.

"That's right, weren't you the second shooter in the JFK assassination? That's gotta be as bad as it gets." Nat commented causing a dark flush on Bucky's face. A short flash of guilt appeared on his face but he instantly brushed the comment off deciding not to dig into his cloudy memory for the truth. The second shooter was just a conspiracy theory anyways. But then again, so was the Winter Solider...

"What are you, a cop?" Bucky let out a strained chuckle, bringing his drink to his lips subtly trying to pull himself from the conversation. Y/n offered an apologetic smile and he returned it gratefully before she turned her gaze away.

Despite his closed off nature she'd actually become a sort of friend to Bucky and while at first it was rocky, she rather enjoyed her friendship with him. Through Bucky she heard stories about Steve when they were growing up and she saw another side of him that she wished she'd known.

"You ladies up to another game?" Sam questioned suddenly. Nat nodded sharing a look with Wanda but Y/n's focus had been drawn away. While lost in her thoughts about him, her gaze had drifted to the man of her fantasies and she shamelessly watched as he talked with Tony and another man she didn't care to remember.

He was smiling, a sight that she cherished even if he'd never notice. The blue of his eyes seemed to shine brighter than any fireworks she'd ever seen and her heart skipped a beat just looking at them. His blonde locks had grown out while she had been snapped away but not enough to make him appear drastically changed. In fact she wasn't sure if anyone else had really noticed. Maybe she was just a stalker.

"Well, we were going to play one but Y/n thinks it's not big enough." Wanda replied, giving Y/n a glare as she turned back to the group.

"Well, it wasn't. I feel like everyone's used to our shenanigans so there's no challenge." Y/n shrugged, peering at the others with a bored stare. Sam shook his head, refusing to let the tradition die.

"What did you guys have in mind?" He asked, looking over the three women as they glanced around the party.

"Wanda suggested a competition to see who could kiss Thor first." Nat explained. Bucky scrunched his nose in disdain at the dare, exchanging a exasperated look with Y/n.

"Thor would do anything, if you asked him." Sam sighed, drinking whatever liquor he had requested. Y/n remembered him saying something about woman being attracted to a man who can handle hard liquor but she had chosen to ignore him. Though she did have to admit it must've been hard for him to compete with both of his best friends being able to drink without the effects of the alcohol they consumed.

"That's what I thought! Thor would gladly abide anything if it made us happy. He's too kind for his own good." Y/n playfully rolled her eyes as they looked over to said god. He had slimmed down significantly during his time with the guardians and Y/n could almost swear that there wasn't an ounce of body fat left on the man. His hair had been cut as well, returning to his signature length and his beard had been trimmed down to a reasonable length. In other words, the Asgardian had almost every girl swooning once more.

But Y/n was swooning for another.

The same man she had for years.

"We could make it more of a challenge." Nat proposed. The group turned to her with interested eyes, the only one who hadn't seemed to match their intrigue being a very grumpy Bucky. "We could expand the dare to all Avengers. Unless you guys wanna be pussys and limit it only to men." Nat winked.

Wanda's face flushed at the suggestion and quickly shook her head. "I have a hard enough time kissing the people I've known for years let alone all the new Avengers." She squeaked. Sam chuckled nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, not that you guys are pussys I'm just saying that is a lot of people. That'll take forever. Let's just stick with Avengers pre-snap." Sam's laughter grew at Y/n and Nat's disappointed expressions, having reaped them of the extra challenge they'd been searching for.

"How about this?" He began realizing without a catch the game wouldn't be that much fun for any of them. "You have to get them to kiss you but only using cheesy ass pick up lines." Sam explained, looking rather proud of his game plan.

"What type of kiss?" Y/n questioned suspiciously.

"Any." A buzz of laughter and eagerness flooded over the girls and Y/n smirked knowing she'd been born for this challenge. "Are we all in agreement?" Sam asked looking to each for affirmations. Once everyone was on board they put their hands in the middle, a sort of ritual they had developed as a way to insure everyone's commitment.

But another presence had been added to their usual group and they turned to Bucky to see what he would do. He had never been on the scheming side of the games and usually was a victim but now he had a choice. Though he'd rather be removed from the plan all together he figured he'd might as well get it over with while he still knew what was happening.

"Yeah, alright but I'm not doing make outs. You guys do your lines or whatever, get your kiss, then I'm out." Bucky told them, putting his vibranium arm into the middle along with the rest. With childish grins on their faces they let their hands fall as Sam stepped forward.

"As per tradition, you all start off with a good luck kiss from moi." Sam explained, putting a dramatic hand over his chest as he turned to Wanda. She scoffed at his attempt at charm allowing him to peck her lips with a teasing smirk. Turning to Nat, he hesitated allowing her to quickly kiss him, learning the hard way that coming onto her was an easy way to get a black eye. The smack of her lipstick made Bucky shake his head, his 40s mindset unable to grasp how easily they'd all accepted the concept.

Sam then turned to Y/n, noticing the way she subtly glanced in the direction of Steve as his arm came around her waist. "Looking for someone? Cause your prince charming is right here." Sam flirted earning an eye roll from the woman before him.

"I thought we were supposed to do the crappy pick up lines." Y/n raised a brow, keeping a hand on his chest to get some distance.

"I said cheesy not crappy. I'm offended." He frowned playfully only to have it wiped off his face by the soft peck of her lips. She pulled away just as quick, slipping out of his hold and shaking her head.

"Oh, how will you ever recover?" She replied sarcastically, making the girls laugh quietly beside her. He smirked turning to Bucky.

"Alright, Buck. Let's get this show on the road." Sam announced patting Bucky's shoulder roughly as he urged him forward. Surprisingly Bucky seemed more nervous than he did annoyed so Y/n decided to take the lead this time, stepping closer to the brunette.

Deciding to keep it simple for Bucky's sake she trailed her fingers along his forearm, giving him a gentle smile. "Hey, can I borrow a kiss? I promise I'll give it back." She spoke smoothly. Sam cackled behind them but Y/n paid no mind instead smiling back at Bucky as he chuckled softly, grateful she hadn't used one of the dirty lines he was sure she had.

Shaking his head he leaned down, placing a gentle kiss to the corner of her lips. Though he made it seem like he was annoyed by the games he was forced into every party, he found Y/n made them more enjoyable, being one of his only friends.

"Go on. You better win since it's your fault I'm a part of this." He grumbled and Y/n laughed, nodding before running off to claim more lips.

On the other side of the room a certain blonde had caught sight of her, his eyes narrowing slightly in interest as Tony leaned closer to him. "I think Y/n's playing another one of those games. I swear that girl is going to be the death of me. Let's just hope Morgan stays innocent." Tony mumbled, bringing his glass to his lips as he surveyed Steve's expression.

"Yeah." Steve replied dully, his focus directed at the only girl in the room he couldn't keep his eyes off of. Tony smirked knowingly, deciding he'd allow Steve to ignore him just this once.

•••

Y/n had this in the bag.

Thanks to Sam she had a wide range of pick up lines to try out and she planned to use the right one with each.

The first person she recognized in the crowd was T'Challa and she made her way to him slyly, his gaze falling on her as the crowd parted. "Ah, Ms. Y/n. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He questioned, a bit of mistrust in his eyes when he recognized the smirk on her face.

"Just seeing how my favorite pussy cat is." Y/n replied with an innocent shrug. He squinted suspecting her ulterior motives. He'd been to enough of Tony's parties to know that she along with Nat and Wanda usually had some kind of game and while he was entertained by it he also knew he needed to maintain decency being a King.

"He is very happy you're here to make things interesting. He was just telling me about how boring this party was. Also he was telling me he should ask you when you're going to bring Peter to Wakanda, that boy won't get off my back." Shuri spoke up, stepping closer to the pair with a pleased smirk. T'Challa didn't seem to share her amusement but knew most of what she had said was true.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that I have to be in Wakanda next week, I'll see if he's free to tag along." Y/n replied, turning her gaze to the spider boy. He still seemed to follow Tony around like a lost puppy but Y/n hoped maybe their field trip to Wakanda would break him out of his shell.

"Would it be wishful thinking if I hoped your visit to our kingdom is the only reason for your presence now?" T'Challa questioned. Shuri and Y/n laughed answering his question. There was another game going on. "What's the challenge now? Let me guess, I should be expecting Ms. Romanoff and Ms. Maximoff next?"

"More than likely. But there's a twist this time." Y/n explained, noticing the bit of curiosity in his eye as she sipped her drink. "If you like my pick up line, you have to give me a kiss."

Shuri giggled next to them excited to hear whatever line Y/n had planned. The young princess was always up for some mischief especially if her brother was the victim and this was what made her adore Y/n so much.

"And what if I don't?"

"I'll just have to try again, I suppose. You know how persistent I am." Y/n winked. T'Challa shook his head, catching sight of Wanda across the room having already collected her kiss from Thor. With a silent sigh, he turned back to Y/n figuring he'd best not hold her up any longer.

"Fine." Y/n smiled, locking eyes with Shuri for a moment before turning back to T'Challa. She stepped forward, the soft click of her heels sending a chill down his spine as she put a hand on his upper arm. Her lips curved into a smile and he braced himself for the line that seemed to bring her so much pride.

"Meow you doin'?" Y/n smirked, her voice smooth as velvet as her eyes stared into his. Laughter erupted from his sister and he turned to her as Y/n burst out into her own fit of giggles.

"I don't get it." T'Challa told them, dumbly trying to use the little bit of context he was given to understand the joke.

"Oh, brother! As soon as we return home we are watching Friends! Now give her a kiss so that she may have a chance at winning!" Shuri spoke through laughs. T'Challa shook his head but lifted Y/n's hand nonetheless and placed a soft kiss to her knuckles.

"I feel cheated." He grumbled but the laughter from both girls was enough to take his mind off the pick up line that went straight over his head.

"Pleasure doing business with you, King T'Challa." Y/n curtsied before turning away to find her next victim, leaving T'Challa and Shuri with entertained smiles.

Next on her list was Bruce Banner, the most lost out of all of the men who had experienced the game. The first time they decided to target just one person, he had been the focus and while he enjoyed Nat's kiss, Y/n and Wanda following in the act seemed to put him in a daze for a week.

"You got T'Challa right off that bat? Sometimes I hate how good you are at this." Nat's voice cut into Y/n's thoughts as the two stood together surveying Bruce.

"There's nothing to it, my friend. Give a line, get a kiss. It's science. Did you already get Clint?" Y/n questioned, trying to see where she was at as far as the competition went.

Nat shook her head softly, glancing over at the other men they'd still needed to kiss. "No. He's not here. He says he wants us to take his retirement seriously so until then he won't be at the parties, I guess." She explained and Y/n nodded quietly. One less guy to convince, she reasoned.

"You know I'll never get used to his transformation thing." Y/n commented, gesturing toward Bruce with a nod. Nat followed her gaze, leaning into Y/n to see past the crowd of people in front of her.

"Yeah, me either." She replied. Y/n's eyes narrowed suspiciously as she glanced at Nat through the corner of her eye but ultimately decided it wasn't something she really desired to question further.

"You better save your best pick up line for Steve." Nat warned, the smile on her lips all too knowing for Y/n's liking. Her mouth ran dry and the familiar rush upon hearing his name coursed through her making her face burn.

"For the last time, I'm not into-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Too bad though. He's been watching you ever since the game started." Nat whispered, turning Y/n's head in his direction with a poke to her chin.

The red on Y/n's face grew darker at the sight of Steve looking back at her, his eyes locking with hers over the rim on his glass. A soft shade of pink settled on his cheeks to match her own and his gaze faltered before returning to the man he'd been talking to.

"Save the best for last." Nat teased softly as Y/n turned back to her. She tried to brush off Nat's words as she stalked off toward Bruce but she couldn't get the image of Steve out of her mind.

Had he ever looked at her like that before? Was she losing her mind?

A long sigh escaped her as she tried desperately to focus on racking her brain for any science puns she had.

"Y/n! Hey, long time no see!" He cheered, pulling her into a side hug. The laughter that bubbled out of her chest was involuntary as she practically disappeared under his good arm.

"It's nice to see you too, Bruce. How's the arm?" Y/n questioned gesturing to the cast that seemed to be permanent on the larger than life limb. Bruce offered a tentative shrug, looking down at it.

"Tony and I aren't sure if it's ever going to heal. He's been looking at the possibility of getting a prosthetic but I don't really mind it. We beat Thanos, that's all that really matters to me." He replied. Y/n smiled kindly at him, putting her hand on the cast as her fingers trailed Steve's signature. She couldn't help the racing of her heart when she realized he'd signed right below her own.

"So, Nat tells me you guys are doing another game. Why do you guys do that anyways? Don't you get embarrassed?" He asked, genuinely interested. Whatever Nat had told him seemed to make him more aware and Y/n found herself open to his questions.

"I don't know. I trust everyone on the team so kissing them isn't a big deal. If anything I think it makes us more open to one another. Not to mention half of us are touch starved and probably need a kiss every so often." She laughed thinking back to her poor Bucky.

Bruce laughed too, "Well, maybe next party you'll find a way to get everyone to play. That'll be a sight." He chuckled imagining everyone competing against one another in some intimate game. Y/n nodded perhaps taking the suggestion maybe a bit too seriously.

"Maybe...I've gotta win this game first though. I'm sure you know the rules." She raised a playful brow and crossed her arms. He nodded remembering Nat's line with a loving smile. "Good. Let's see."

Her hand rose to her chin, staring up at the ceiling for a moment as she thought. Bruce watched with a entertained smile as her eyes lit up before looking back at him.

"Hey, baby. If you were an enzyme I'd be a DNA synthase so I could unzip your genes." She nudged Bruce's side making him laugh.

"That was the worst." He chuckled and Y/n laughed as well, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, but you laughed so..." He nodded wrapping his free arm around her shoulders and leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head, the most accessible spot from his outrageous height.

"I'm gonna remember that one." Bruce told her, his head bobbing unconsciously as he already began practicing the line in his head. Y/n bowed proudly before disappearing into the crowd once more.

"Who's next?" She mumbled to herself, running her hands along her dress, absentmindedly flatting the bunching in the fabric. The dress had been her favorite, hugging her perfectly as many of the tailored clothes Pepper sent her did. But this one was different.

This one was blue. But not just any blue. It was the same dark navy Steve wore on every mission. A color she found herself buying more often, whether it be on a folder or on a dress. She was almost attracted to it as much as she was to Steve and while it seemed a little silly, it made her happy knowing she could express her hidden feelings through little things such as that. She truly was head over heels but she could never tell him that. She could never risk the rejection she feared she'd be met with if she dared make a move.

So she loved him from afar.

•••

"Oh no. Not pick up lines." Tony groaned next to Steve, his eyes nearly disappearing into the back of his head as he rolled them. Sam chuckled, nodding his head.

"It's true. Everyone is going to get hit on in the most undesired way possible tonight." He grinned, his lips still buzzing from the kisses he'd recieved.

"Yeah, you have bird brain here to thank for that." Bucky grumbled from Steve's left. Sam frowned, glaring at the semi stable hundred year old man.

"That's not what you said when you kissed Y/n." He retorted.

Steve tried to fight the jealousy that boiled in his gut but Bucky had already noticed the frown that reached his best friend's face.

"Only because I want her to win. She's my friend." Bucky explained, hoping his emphasize on 'friend' would put Steve at ease but the super soldier would never truly be at ease unless he had her in his arms.

He'd lost so much over the years including her and now that he had it all back-had her back, it felt wrong that they weren't together like he hoped. But he couldn't just tell her. What if she didn't feel the same way? What if he lost her in a way that no infinity stones could reverse?

"Personally I'm rooting for Wanda. That girl's smile would make you wanna kiss her. Not to mention her mind control stuff." Sam argued, using his hand to mimick Wanda's powers.

"Is this going to happen at every party?" Fury remarked from behind them making them turn to him, some with annoyed glances.

"You're not allowed to say anything about this, 'Mr. Off-Limits'." Sam proclaimed, feeling a tad responsible for keeping Fury out of the games. Especially after what happened last time.

"I won't be forced to partake in childish games like that. Y/n had it coming." Fury explained, any remorse he might've felt long gone.

Steve crossed his arms, his shirt tightening around his arms as he tried to bite his tongue. "You nearly broke her arm." He suddenly spoke up. Sam's suggestive smirk made him regret it instantly but thankfully Sam chose not to say anything.

"Gotta admit. Her resolve is pretty firm. It's actually pretty hot." Sam wiggled a brow at Steve. The poor blonde wanted to curl up and die in shame but Sam wasn't wrong.

Perhaps it was her determination and strong will that had attracted him. They were characteristics he was known for as Captain America but yet somehow her will was more powerful than his own.

It was one of the many things that he had loved her for. And one of the things that kept him going during the five years without her.

"Ugh. Can we please not talk about my niece like this?" Tony groaned, hating the idea of them sexualizing the girl he'd practically raised since she was a teen. Steve agreed, unsure how much longer he'd be able to stand them talking about her.

"Ooo, look. She's onto Thor now." Peter piped up pointing a finger toward Y/n as she made her way to the golden haired god. Yet the warning glare he received from Tony was enough to make him quiet again and he silently sunk back into the crowd behind them.

"I've got too many kids."

•••

"Thor!" Y/n cheered. Upon hearing his name, the Asgardian turned returning her smile with a brilliant grin. The flask in his hand was opened yet there was no flush to his face signaling he was either only mildly buzzed or close to it.

"Lady Y/n. I was beginning to wonder when you'd come around. I do cherish our time together." Thor's smile was kind and radiant but she couldn't help but think there was still one smile that could outshine even that of a god's.

"Oh, you know I'd never miss a kiss from you." Y/n returned the charm, allowing his arm to come around her waist, resting at a comfortable distance from her hips. Thor had been the most accepting of their games and never seemed to go through the confusion that the rest did. Or maybe that was just her.

"I was just telling Valkyrie of your little games. She finds them truly amusing. Perhaps I'll convince you to accept her into the tournament." Thor explained, gesturing the hand holding his flask toward Valkyrie.

"Well, it's not exactly a tournament, just a little fun to keep things interesting. You're welcome to join if you're up for it." Y/n smiled, offering a small nod of acceptance toward the warrior woman.

"A competition among women where men are the victims? Sounds like my kind of crowd." Valkyrie replied, an excited smile landing on her lips as the two woman shared a look of mutual approval.

"Wonderful." Thor praised, the joy in his tone seeming to radiate off of him, infecting Y/n with each passing second she was in his grasp. "Now Lady Wanda spoke of this night's challenge. I believe you have a suggestive comment in which to lift me yes?" He spoke, looking down at Y/n as she began to giggle uncontrollably.

"Yes, Thor. In return for the pick up line, I get a kiss. But only if you enjoy it." She recited the rules earning a heartfelt smile from him in return.

"If it is spoken by you I'm bound to enjoy it." He told her earnestly. There was something in the way he would speak that made a girl's knees weak and while Y/n was able to withstand it better than most, she wondered if he was striving for that reaction from her.

Y/n shook her head at him, giving him a half-hearted glare as she looked up at him. "Alright, here it goes." She warned him, taking his attentive gaze as a confirmation to continue.

"Hey, gorgeous. Was your father a thief? Cause someone stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes." Before Y/n could even offer a wink or a smirk, thunderous laughter sounded from the man beside her, drawing the attention of everyone around them.

A flush of pink bloomed on her face, slightly embarrassed under the eyes of so many, especially Steve, yet she wasn't able to dwell on it for long as she was swept up into the air. Ever the enthusiast, Thor had excitedly boosted her into the air and spun her before allowing her feet to reach the ground again, a little unsteadily from how fast he'd acted.

"You've certainly lifted me, Lady Y/n." Thor told her, bringing her smile back as she regained her balance. "Are you ready for your kiss now?" He inquired, his hand resting comfortably on her waist as he insured she was still willing to welcome a kiss.

With a small nod she leaned up accepting his lips in a teasing yet modest kiss not unlike the one they'd shared before. They pulled away a moment later, smiling at each other as Thor's hand easily slipped away from her waist.

"I'm afraid I must send you off in order for you to return victorious." Thor said, a hint of reluctance in his tone yet in a taunting way similar to friendly banter.

"And that I shall. I'm the best, you know." Y/n declared. Valkyrie laughed beside her, lifting her own glass toward Y/n in a sort of cheers.

"For now. We'll see next time who's the best." Y/n clinked her empty glass with Valkyrie's nodding respectfully as she made a note to get more champagne.

"May the best woman win." Y/n smirked, oblivious to the eyes on her as she walked off toward the bar.

Part Two

[backtothestart02]

Between the Speed Force and Me - 2/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Chapter 2 here we come!! I hope you enjoy!!

...

Chapter 2 -

12 hours earlier…

Practically glowing, Iris headed back down the hall and into her bedroom she shared with Barry. Lazily, she approached her vanity and started to unhook her hoop earrings, setting them down one by one. She was just reaching for the clasp of her necklace at the back of her neck when she felt a pair of masculine hands cover her own.

Barry’s thumb brushed the skin just beneath her clasp, making her shiver.

“Barry,” she gasped.

He smiled warmly.

“Allow me.”

She pulled her hands free from under his and set them down on her vanity. She lifted her eyes to meet his in the mirror and found, to her surprise, that he was without a shirt. Her gaze spread across his broad shoulders, solid chest, and the way his hair fell over his forehead on his bent head.

It was too late before their eyes met, and she was caught red-handed checking out her husband.

His smirk made her weak in the knees.

The clink of the necklace hitting the vanity snapped them out of the trance they’d fallen into. Iris wanted to thank him but found her tongue thick in her mouth and her voice stunted in her throat.

Behind her, Barry sifted his fingers through her hair and gently tilted her head to the side. Then he bent his head again and pressed a kiss to the crook of her neck. Iris tensed and then shivered, melting into his arms as he closed the remaining distance between the two of them.

Feather-soft, he grazed his hands down her arms until he reached her waist and untucked her shirt, pulling it up and over her head.

“There, now we’re even,” he said.

Her eyes glittered.

“Not quite.”

Turning around, she unhooked her bra and let it fall over her arms to the floor.

His eyes were incredibly deep and dark when she looked into them again.

“Now we are,” she whispered.

A beat later she raised her arms up and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him down so she could kiss him. The kiss was warm and passionate, and she completely lost herself in it, a gentle moan seeping out of her.

Barry ran his hands down her back, softly growling as he pressed his covered growing erection up against her and cupped her ass cheeks in both his hands.

Iris’ nails curled into his shoulders in response, and deliberately she tugged on his bottom lip with his teeth, making him chase hers after she’d released him.

He grinned and rubbed his nose against hers.

“Naughty girl.”

She bit her own bottom lip.

“Want me to do it again?”

He grunted, his erection growing harder.

As if she read his mind, she reached for his waistband and began unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, sneaking her hand inside his underwear to release his hot, hard, pulsing cock.

She shivered again.

“God, you’re hot.”

He groaned, then kissed the side of her face.

“Look who’s talking.”

She smiled, then started to lower to the floor.

“Uh-uh.”

He stopped her, and then swiftly stepped out of his pants and lifted her up into his arms, making his way to the bed. He dropped her softly onto the bed and pulled her pants off as swiftly as he’d done his own.

Iris giggled, then abruptly stopped.

“What?” he asked, mildly concerned.

“What about Nora?” she asked. “You don’t think she’ll-”

“She’s probably asleep by now,” he said. “And you can be quiet…right?” He winked.

Her breath caught in her throat.

She would certainly try.

Both completely nude, Barry climbed onto the bed and hovered over her, practically heaving. He lowered his head to hers and kissed her passionately again, pushing the two of them into the bed.

Iris’ hands wrapped around his strong arms and pulled him closer, her fingers creating an imprint into his pale skin. She stuck her tongue into his mouth then, and he responded by pulling one of her legs over his hip and securing it at the small of his back. With his other hand, he ran it up her straight leg and squeezed appreciatively. Iris curled it around his waist on her own.

Barry’s cock as hard as Iris’ pussy was wet, he flinched when he felt his tip brush her moist folds.

“Can’t handle it?” she teased.

He barked.

“Can I ever?”

Sweat dripped down his abs, depositing on her slick thighs.

“Fuck me, Barry.”

The words always made his head spin, but he didn’t have to be told twice. Aligning his cock with her opening, he slowly started to press into her and then…

“Ouch!”

His eyes widened, realizing the exclamation had come from Iris. He pulled out immediately.

“What was that?”

“I- I don’t know…”

She scooted back away from him.

“It felt like a shock. Like, a static shock from your…”

“Yes, I know. I swear I wasn’t trying to-”

“Obviously, but what then?”

Barry felt a presence behind them before he could answer.

The speed force was fast, but in that moment he was faster.

Plus, she left the door wide open.

“Oh, my God, Nora,” Iris breathed, horrified. “You don’t think she…?”

“Saw us? Yeah, I do.”

Barry ran his hand over his face, debating what to do.

“Should I go talk to her?” Iris asked, instantly reaching for one of her thicker, opaque robes.

“No, no, I’m sure she just…wants to forget it happened.”

“You don’t think that zap was because…?” Iris let the question hang between them. When their eyes met, she glared. “I’m not sending her away so you and I can have sex.”

His jaw dropped.

“I’m going to go check on her.”

She sashayed past him toward the door.

“You better have clothes on when I get back,” she ordered, and then she was gone.

Barry huffed, then sat on the bed in the nude, and seconds later grumbled while picking out his pajamas. He was clothed when Iris came back, but he made no secret of his disappointment.

How could she just turn off her desire for him? He couldn’t turn off his desire for her. His erection was still hard as a rock.

“Nora’s asleep,” she said on her return.

“She’s probably faking it,” Barry muttered.

“Maybe you should’ve been faking it.”

He scoffed.

“My erection would’ve given me away,” he said, pointing to the now covered bulge pointing in her direction.

Iris refused to be swayed.

“Take a cold shower,” she said, and promptly got in her pajamas and then went to sleep.

Barry sat in shock for a while, then did as he’d been told and tried in vain to fall asleep after. It was not easy. He woke up frequently, and he was sure muttered curses towards Speed Force in his sleep.

…

The knocks that came on their doorframe shortly after breakfast the following day alerted Barry to his wife’s presence, but really, he should’ve known she’d be coming. His weird-acting factor was through the roof.

“Knock, knock,” she said. “Can I come in?”

He smiled weakly then tried to shrug it off.

“Of course. It’s your room too.”

She looked at him strangely and passed him to go into their bedroom. When she turned around, she was eyeing him with distaste.

“What?”

“You’re clashing.”

He looked down at his clothes.

“Oh. Right. Actually, now that you’re here, I was wondering if-”

She closed the distance between the two of them and smacked his arm.

“Ow!”

He pulled his arm out of reach, belatedly realizing the smack hadn’t really hurt. He frowned.

“What was that for?”

“You!” she cried, holding her hands up like she wanted to throttle him. “Why are you acting so weird?”

“What?! I’m not acting weird. Am I- I don’t think I’m acting weird. Am I? I’m not.”

Iris raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, ever so slightly enhancing her cleavage and putting Barry in pain, though she didn’t realize it.

“Okay, fine, it’s just…” He huffed, then whimpered and whined. “I wanted to fuck you last night, Iris.”

Her eyes went wide, and she turned away.

“Oh, wow.”

“Being in the speed coma makes me horny, okay?”

She gave him a look that told him she didn’t believe a single thing he’d just said.

“Bullshit.”

Abandoning that argument, he went for pure facts and desperation.

“You wanted it too! Don’t act like you didn’t!”

“I’m not!” she cried. “I did. But you can’t hold that against Nora. We shouldn’t have been having sex with a guest over anyway. I don’t know what I was thinking letting you-”

“Letting me?” His jaw dropped, aghast. “You’re the one who took your bra off, Mrs. West-Allen.”

“Don’t-” He raised his eyebrows and waited. “Don’t do that.”

The tension was rising. And much of it was unresolved sexual tension. He could use this to his advantage. Or it could backfire drastically. He had to be careful.

“What?” he dared, starting to walk towards her. “Should I not do thi-” He started to reach out to touch her cleavage, but she slapped his hand away.

“Not that, especially not that,” she spat. “Can you not help yourself or what?”

“No,” he growled, “I can’t. Not when every night since you’ve come out of the mirror we’ve had sex, more than once. I’ve gotten used to it, Iris. It’s become comforting.”

“Comforting,” she repeated dubiously.

“It has! Knowing you are you and feeling you in such an…”

“Erotic way?” she asked dryly, rolling her eyes.

“Well, yeah.”

“Get un-used to it then, Allen! Because sometimes we will have to guests, and in this case, a guest who is being hunted and who means a lot to both of us.”

His brows furrowed in confusion.

“I don’t understand why you’re so defensive of her. What happened while I was gone?”

“We connected. She loves you so much, and she was unsure of your love for her, so I reassured her, and you’re undoing all my good work!”

“She’s not my mom! And she’s coming in between us!”

“The only one coming in between us now is you.”

“Iris.”

“Here.”

She quickly sorted through his clothes until she pulled out a suitable shirt and pants.

“Wear these and get your ass to work. Unlike the people in this house, you’re actually needed there.”

“Iris!”

But Iris didn’t listen. She turned and went down the stairs.

Barry overheard her reassuring Speed Force with a little too much positivity in her voice and knew it would be in his best interest if he flashed out of the house instead of walking down the stairs normally and being forced to meet his wife’s eyes without giving their argument away.

But damn it all to hell, he would not be held responsible if Speed Force actually followed him to work.

...

*will be posted on AO3 or FFnet when beta’d.