#I feel like as soon as I tag Russia this is gonna end up on political tumblr-

[myosotisa]

Dial Drunk - s.h.

Steve Harrington x Reader

ǁ  summary: Steve gets picked up drunk and taken to the sheriff's station. His emergency phone call goes unanswered.

ǁ  tags: major character death, angst, grief, very small amount of comfort at the end. mentions of driving intoxicated. reader uses she/her pronouns. its really, really fucking sad ok i don't know what else you want me to say. i was listening to Dial Drunk by Noah Kahan in a fast food drive through and had this idea and started crying in the drive through. so here.

ǁ  word count: 1.6k

When Steve got off work today, his intention was not to end up at a bar. It wasn’t to get drunk. It wasn’t to try to drive home anyway. And it certainly wasn’t to get pulled over, blow a 0.08, and end up handcuffed to a chair in the Hawkins Sheriff’s Office.

But what are intentions in the face of the consequences of your actions?

“Okay, Mr. Harrington,” the uniformed officer he didn’t recognize sighed as he slid into his office chair. “Do you have someone you can call to come pick you up? We’ve got a ticket written up – but because of your blood alcohol level, you might end up having to go to court.”

Fuck.

“Yeah…” Steve rubs at his face with his free hand, bringing it up to ruffle his hair, leaving it a total mess. He’s fucking exhausted, feels about ready to fall asleep sitting up. “Yeah, I got someone I can call.”

His vision blurs as the officer adjusts his desk phone to be within reach, the movement swimming like watercolor paint as he tries to blink back into focus. As soon as it’s set down, the officer pushes up out of his desk chair and disappears around a corner, leaving Steve alone with the phone.

The tremble of his fingers means nothing when he dials the number he knew by heart. Muscle memory he could probably follow in his sleep that would always lead him to the same place.

It rang once, twice, three times. Kept ringing. Then the voicemail recording kicked on.

“Hey! I’m not available right now,” your voice rang out, so familiar and comforting. He closed his eyes, trying to swallow down the sudden lump in his throat as he listened. “Sorry I missed you, but if you want to leave a message, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” Breathing in deeply for the first time all night, and exhaling just as hard. “Hope you have an awesome rest of your day!”

The recording clicked off and the beeping tone telling him it had started to record came before he was ready for it. “Hey honey,” his voice caught in his throat on that godforsaken lump that he desperately tried to clear. “I miss you, I’m sorry I haven’t called recently.”

He took a deep breath, gripping the receiver so hard that the plastic croaked beneath his fingers. “I’m in some trouble, baby. I drank a little too much and tried to drive home. I know – I know what you’re gonna say. ‘Steve, you know Eddie will come and pick you up no matter what. I want you to be safe.’ And you’re right. You’re always right.” His next inhale feels like it’s choking him, tears springing to his eyes. “Anyway, I’m, uh, I’m at the Sheriff’s office. So if you get this… I’m sorry. And I love you.”

His thumb punched into the cradle, ending the call. Looking over his shoulder to where the officer had disappeared to, he took the chance. Dialed the number again, just as easily as he had before.

It rang once, twice, three times. Kept ringing.

“Hey! I’m not available right now. Sorry I missed you, but if you want-”

The line clicked dead. Head spinning on its axis, he saw a finger on the hook. Following the arm up, he came to the harsh eye contact of Sheriff Hopper. His mouth was set in a firm line, bags under his eyes, and skin lacking color. Like he’d been through the ringer, never quite recovered from his time in Russia.

“Hey Harrington,” his voice was gruff, stern. It made Steve want to shrink, want to duck out of the way of his ire. But he pushed that feeling down, numbed with liquor, and kept that steady eye contact. “A 0.08? Really?”

“Didn’t…” His tongue felt like dry cotton in his mouth, swallowing hard to no avail. “Didn’t, uh, think I’d drank that much.”

“Uh-huh.” Was the simple reply. Not uncaring, but also not exactly sympathetic. “I called Munson, he’s on his way to come pick you up.”

“No.”

Hopper almost cringed at the way Steve’s voice cracked on the word, expression shifting to one he couldn’t recognize in his intoxicated state. “No, she’ll call back. I know she will.”

The silence after his declaration was deafening. The only sound being the hum of the air conditioner that still ran on this humid summer night. “Okay, kid. Why don’t you come sit in my office with me?”

Before he could reply, the handcuff was being undone, left to hang off the arm of the chair while Steve brought his wrist up to rub at it. Hopper motioned for him to follow and, not having much option otherwise, Steve followed after with a slight stumble to his step.

The office was dark beside the warm toned lamp on the desk. There were papers everywhere, boxes of evidence stacked in the corner, a well contained explosion of empty coffee cups overflowing the trash can beside the table. Hopper pointed at one of the wooden chairs across from his office chair, one worded order of, “Sit,” which the younger didn’t hesitate to follow. The short walk had made some nausea kick up and he was eager to get back on solid ground.

A paper cup of cold water dropped down in front of him and when he opened his eyes again, Hopper was in his desk chair. Leaning forward with his elbows braced on the desk before him and focused entirely on Steve.

“I don’t have a better way to ask this, so I’m just gonna ask it.” His tone was softer, gentler. It made Steve’s skin crawl – being faced with that familiar look. The one that followed him everywhere he went. Pity. “Son, are you a danger to yourself?”

“No,” he was quick to reply, but it wasn’t exactly reassuring how he choked on the word. “Just… Just let me call again,” he pleaded, shifting forward to sit on the edge of the chair. “I swear, she’ll call me back. Just let me try one more time.”

“Hey! I’m not available right now. Sorry I missed you...”

“Steve.”

The refreshed recording – remembering what it sounded like, what you sounded like, had made the weight a little bit lighter. Made it a little bit easier to breathe. But he just wanted to hear it again, just one more time.

“Steve, look at me.” It took a monumental amount of effort but he looked up, blinking away the tears that were once again blurring his vision. Hopper’s face twisted in pain, faced with the sight of a sorrow he knew well. One he’d battled for years and years. Sorrow he’d accepted as his reality, been best friends with at one point. Sorrow that still hung in the back of his closet like a coat that didn’t fit right anymore but had too many memories to get rid of.

“You've got to stop doing this to yourself, kid.” The denial kicking in, hands coming up to fist in the ends of his hair that had gotten too long as he shook his head. “I know what you’re going through – really, honest to god, I do. But you’ve gotta stop doing this shit. She wouldn’t want–”

“What the fuck do you know about what she would want?!” He snapped, teeth bared. A wounded animal trapped in a corner. “You don’t know shit, nothing. Fuck…” His upper body collapsed, face burying in his palms as he hissed in breaths that felt like ice.

“... but if you want to leave a message…”

“It’s all I have, Hop,” came the broken whisper, muffled by clammy hands. “It’s all I’ve got, that’s it, that’s all.”

“I know,” was the grave reply. Stable, damning. “I know, kid.”

The crash of grief broke through the numbness – forced its way right through to the center and dunked him under water. Trickled out through his cold sweat, through his tears, through his sobs. It hit harder than any punch to the gut, any knock to the head, any beating he’d ever taken – and he’d taken more than his fair share. It tore him apart from the inside out and set fire to the pieces.

Reality cut through like a knife. Left him bloody, stinging, torn. The weight of the world falling back into place on his fragile shoulders. “I miss her so much… So, so much.”

“You’re gonna get through this. I know you are.”

He was shaking his head again. There was no way – it was impossible. There was no way to get through this, no way to get past this. No way to keep going.

“... I'll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Hopper stood, eyes looking out over the rest of the police station. “Hey, in here!” He called out the slightly opened door, which quickly squeaked wide on rusted hinges.

“Harrington, buddy,” Eddie knelt down beside his chair, eyebrows drawn together in concern. “Are you okay?”

Half hysterical, half broken, half ruined, Steve gripped Eddie’s shoulder so tightly it hurt. “She’s gone, Ed. She’s… She’s not coming back.”

“No,” was the soft reply, and Steve couldn’t tell who it came from through tear-blurred eyes and his own blood rushing in his ears. “No, she’s not coming back.”

And then he was being hugged. Held together by a set of tattooed arms that knew the loss as he did. Held afloat as the grief tried to drag him under again.

You weren't coming back. But he was still here. And that had to be enough.

“Hope you have an awesome rest of your day!”

-

-

-

#steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington angst #steve harrington oneshot #steve harrington fic #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington blurb #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #myo4harrington #myos ideas #i had to hurt him like this and im sorry for it

[sonitavalentine]

I see a lot of foreign guys talk about how beautiful russian and ukrainian girls are? Tbh, I feel bad because I see women from these countries in my country for jobs and such and I hear about them getting sexually exploited and abused. No offence I know is Ukraine is going through a hard time now but is Russia economically suffering. why are the women going off to foreign lands in hope of security?

[I'll asterisk R**sia and Uk**ine to avoid appearing of this post in any tags and search, because I don't want to]

It's not in hope of security, at least not in the way you meant it, I believe. More like they do that because of this wrong picture in their heads that when you live abroad you live better as soon as it's abroad (talking about R**sian women of course, I can't take responsibility talking about others). Unfortunately, such way of thinking is still living in some heads, there're people who still don't understand that to make a really good living anywhere abroad you have to offer something that's super useful for the society of the country you're moving to, you have to be skilled and educated. Or it should be for education itself, or marriage with a person you already know and love - something reasonable. But fleeing anywhere just because you feel it's gonna be better than you have in your native country will end up in a bad way. I'm afraid, a lot of people you're talking about are of that type.

Not sure, if you were interested if R**sia's suffering economically? No, we don't. At least, "suffering" isn't the word to describe it and not how I personally feel it in my daily life. Of course, there're difficulties, but as the reality shows, nothing that cannot be solved or overcome.

And R**sian and Uk**inian women ARE truly beautiful. Sorry, I'm biased here and don't accept criticism.

I'm afraid I'm not willing to elaborate more on this topic, so I hope my answer is clear enough for you, and you understand my feelings. Thanks.

[buckybarnesdiaries]

white wolf: “the story of a first date”

first part — second part — third part — fourth part (soon)

© @capsgrantrogers

bucky barnes x reader. ⎢ masterlist.

Sam helps Bucky to ask you out for a date and it's a disaster, but he gets it.

word count: 3.147 words. (not sorry, it worth it, i promise!!!)

warnings/tags: none. bucky being the cutest gentleman in the whole wide world, and sam keeping an eye on him.

author notes: as it happened with the first part, i'm not really happy with the result but i had so much fun writing it and i think that that made this writing perfect, so i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed it. none of my stories contain reader’s body descriptions to be inclusive.

Join the tag list here.

The car stopped because of a red light, a moment where Sam took the advantage to turn at his copilot, glancing at Bucky from top to bottom in complete silence. Analyzing him. The soldier tilted his head raising an eyebrow, showing his curiosity about what the hell he was doing.

“What are you gonna wear, uh?” Sam asked then, maintaining a serious gesture on his face.

“Clothes”. Unworriedly, he put back his eyes to the front window.

“You probably look good naked, but that’s not what I’m talking ‘bout”.

“Just… some jeans, a shirt, and a jacket”.

“And shoes, I guess”.

Bucky turned on his seat towards his friend, squinting confused for the interrogatory. “Who cares?”

“About the shoe—”

“About the clothes”.

“Man, it’s a date! Do you wan’her to remember this night as the night Bucky Barnes shown up as a Russian bum?”

“I’m from Brookl—”.

“Yeah, but you look like mother Russia just spat you to the world”.

Sam rolled his eyes as a sigh escaped his mouth. Shaking his head, he took the next corner to the fifth avenue changing the planes they had in mind. A good outfit meant a good date. A good date meant happy soldier. Happy soldier meant no trouble. See the point? So the Falcon would take care of the Winter Soldier today. If only Steve could see them. He’d feel proud, that was for sure. They visited a couple of shops, finally letting Sam take control over the situation and pick the clothes he would wear for you. He had good taste, everybody knew that, and Bucky couldn’t complain about his choices.

Even less when the distinctive black suit dressed his anatomy to perfection. Spinning around in front of the mirror, he felt different. He looked different. He looked good, but not as he’d like. Holding the bucket of flowers once he was ready, Bucky left his apartment straight to the garage under the building. He was nervous, he couldn’t lie. But he had that sensation inside him that made him believe everything would be okay for the first time since he woke up.

The road didn’t take him more than ten minutes, not really worried about the time given that he had planned to arrive a little sooner than accorded. Life seemed like it was smiling at him, finding a parking lot in the same entrance. Landing his blue eyes on the rearview mirror, Bucky took a last view at his reflection, brushing back his hair as he used to do in the forties. He grabbed then the flowers he bought for you and stepped out of the car, trying to remember the advice Sam gave him. Resting his back against the copilot's door, he waited impatiently for you.

“Hey, you”.

His heart stopped for a second, raising his orbs to the man coming closer. Before he could react, the man in question tucked a hand beneath Bucky's jacket. Patting him down.

“What the hell are you doing, Sam?” He questioned irritatedly, slapping his hands and causing him to laugh.

“Just checking you didn't bring the notecards again”.

“Yeah, very funny…”

“Man, look at you! Should be illegal to look this good, uh?” Sam helped him to put on the jacket again, receiving another slap from his friend.

“Don't touch me”. Scowling, he fixed the flowers in his left hand, wanting them to be perfect. “Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“Watch you till (Y/N) comes. Lemme take a picture, I feel like a proud father on his son's prom day”.

“You're not m— Get the hell outta here, Sam”.

“Fighting again, kids? Should I call your mama?”

As Bucky heard you scoff, his soul abandoned. His pupils dilated. His legs trembled. And he could swear that everything disappeared around him when he watched you going downstairs, swinging your hips unconsciously sensual, with a black dress fitting you like a glove. If this morning Bucky wanted to marry you, now he wanted to spend the rest of his life by your side. Your makeup was on point, just like your hair, not being too formal but enough to run him out of words.

“Steve is off-duty, so, what 'you gonna do, soldier?” Sam mocked, an instant before noticing how pale Bucky was. He couldn't help but slap the back of his neck to bring him back to reality.

“I, uh… flowers… I bought you…”

“You're not Yoda”. Sam whispered as the other offered you the present.

“C'mon, stop messing with him”. You clicked your tongue, right before you drew an adorable smile on your lips, leaning to kiss Bucky's cheek. “Thank you”.

“You're welcome”. He just answered, responding to your same gesture while opening the door for you.

“Such a gentleman…” His playful murmur made Bucky frown and nudge him, trying to stop him from saying anything else and ruin the occasion.

“I'll bring him back at ten”. You joked palming his chest.

“The point is to not bring him back to me”. Sam cackled, shaking his head and taking a step back.

Once in the car turning on the engine, James joined the road after checking you were good. Never in his life he had driven with so much care as if he was carrying a bomb by his side. He set on the radio, not really knowing how to start a conversation, watching you through the corners of his eyes caressing the flowers over your lap. No one had bought you them before, thinking it was a thing that only happened in movies. But then, you met Bucky. An old-fashioned man, making yourself wonder how he was the same the news used to say he was a cold-blood assassin.

“What have you thought?”

“Uh?”

“About the date”.

“Sam told me about a rest—”.

“Okay, okay, Bucky. Pull over”. You couldn't help but burst into laughter, as his face was pale again thinking you were about to step out and end the date.

“Sorry, did I…?”

You swiveled at him on your seat, kissing your teeth and squinting inevitably. Studying his face you knew how afraid he was, and it was the most adorable reaction ever. You could have kissed at that precise instant, but it'd have been a little awkward.

“Where do you wanna go?”

The question didn't take him by surprise, actually. He was still getting used to doing the things he desired and not what other people asked him to do. The restaurant was a fancy place with a distinguished menu according to what his friend explained to him, but it wasn't the kind of site that he'd normally go, or that represented him.

“When I, uh… came back, I discovered that my favorite burger joint in Brooklyn was still standing”. Bucky told you, facing you after finishing the sentence. “They prepare the best burgers of the whole New York and you can decide what ingredients add, and the bread, and the kind of meat. And it still having the original decoration”.

You reclined on your seat, just staring at him talking with that kind of burning passion about something he loved. Puckering your lips, you nodded your chin. The fact that not only he wanted to take you to a different place, but a place that he used to go to when he was young made butterflies flutter within your belly. Bucky wanted to make you part of his future, but also his past. That made the difference.

“Sounds good to me”.

“Really?” He inquired funnily confused, wrinkling his nose and forehead.

“Really”.

The shine that appeared within his eyes made you place a hand on his cheek to urge him to turn his head and drive again. An innocent gesture that provoked him a lively giggle. If that man knew all the things he caused you, he'd have taken the step months ago.

As the night went on and Bucky was losing his shyness, he talked to you about the good old times. Before HYDRA, before the winter, before the war. When he was a kid with no worries more than keeping Steven safe from the bullies. It was nice to disconnect from the present, from the gazes around the two of you, from the back talks, only enjoying your dinner and your conversation. You talked to Bucky about how was to be raised on a farm, surrounded by open fields and animals, to join the army years later. Without going into details that could make him remember the old bad times, you told him about what you used to do, your missions, and how you were wounded in combat after being shot and fell from a helicopter.

Bucky felt confident enough to compare it with how everything started. Falling from a wagon to the snow. But as soon as his voice became lower, you couldn't help but hold his gloved left hand and intertwine your fingers with his. And you could swear you felt him shaking for a brief moment because of your touch.

“So, what, uh? It was a forties trend to jump into the void?” You tried to joke, wanting to feel relaxed.

“Yeah, seems like”. He mumbled curling up his lips. “Listen… I really want to… open up, and I know it’s easier with you because… y’know, you work doing this”.

“Hold on, Bucky”. You laughed waving your free hand, shaking your chin as you closed your eyes for a second. “That has sounded really bad”.

“Wait, wh— Oh, shit, no, no, no”.

For the first time since you walked into the small restaurant, his laughter was lively, unworriedly, honest.

“Take it easy, just kidding”. You grinned, nailing your elbow on the table to rest your cheek on your palm. “But… this isn’t work. We’re not doing therapy, we’re… knowing each other. And I don’t want to pressure you to talk about something you don’t feel prepared to, okay?”

“I know”.

Bucky couldn’t believe how much you seemed to empathize with him, not judging his acts nor his past, not deciding that the date wasn't a good idea nor running away. He couldn’t believe the less importance you were giving to his arm made of vibranium; usually, people used to freak out, to feel frightened somehow about the things it could do. But you were there, fingers playing with the others as if it was the most common and natural act in the world. And, for you, it was. That was you in all your best. Considerate, smart, patient, lovingly. The rainbow after a stormy life. Everything that Bucky needed in his life to start from scratch and be his better version. A shoulder to lean on and a reason to come back home.

“Was afraid of asking you out”. He confessed after some seconds admiring each other. Any person closer would say you had been dating for a long, long time by the way you had to keep silent and not feel uncomfortable.

“Why?”

“You came from war and made your world a place to live. I’m still stuck there”.

“I have my own red flags”. Clicking your tongue, you rolled your eyes.

“Oh, really? Please, surprise me”. Bucky teased you sitting up on his chair, not loosening the gentle grip around your left hand.

“I put the milk before cereals”.

“Oh… Oh, God”. He let out, pretending to be horrified and running a hand on his face. “Goddammit… you’re a monster, ma’am. I don’ think this is going to work”.

“Excuse me?” You chuckled, parting your lips in a breath while leaning over the table to palm his right shoulder. “It wasn’t me who added lettuce to the burger”.

“What? What’s the matter with that, uh?”

“Lettuce kills the savor!”

“Y’know what kills the savor? Ketchup. Today, people use ketchup literally with everything… And that’s disgusting”.

“Okay! Next time, no lettuce, and… no ketchup”.

“That’s a big challenge”. Bucky scoffed tenderly squeezing your hand between his cold fingers.

“I’ll live, Sergeant Barnes”. You narrowed your eyes and crinkled your nose at the same time.

“I was talking about a second date, not about your issue with ketchup”.

“So was I”.

A goofy smirk appeared on Bucky’s face, biting his inner cheek as he assented with his head. Seeing you again, knowing that you wanted it —that you wanted him—, made him trust Dr. Raynor’s words. He was having a second chance to do the right thing. To live and to be.

You wanted to add something else when the clock in his wrist started to beep. Curious, you raised an eyebrow. “We have to leave”.

“Why?”

“Sam told me you work tomorrow at eight, which means you’ll get up at six and a half… maybe seven. While I pay, take you home, all that stuff… I don’ want you to be tired in the morning”.

Bucky would never stop to amaze you, looking up to him in silence to contemplate how he called the bartender and beckoned his free hand to ask for the bill.

“What…? What are you doing?” He chuckled embarrassed, taking his beer to sip.

You cleared your throat when you realized how stupid you should look right now, shaking your head as you freed his cold hand from yours to find unlock your phone as soon as the guy brought the dataphone.

“Hey, no, no. I asked you out, I pay”. Bucky began to fight with you, provoking some laughs on the table as you tried to put your screen above the tpv.

“Well, welcome to the twenty-first century”. You hummed as the operation was confirmed.

“I’ll pay next time”. He declared licking his incisors, prior to his lips.

You wished the ride back home to last forever, not wanting to end the date. But the car reached your neighborhood in a blink of eyes. You couldn't help but sigh barely appreciably for your companion, gazing through the window until double parking in front of your apartment. You turned towards him, hearing the engine shut off. Bucky seemed disappointed like you, not being able to remember when was the last time he had a break, he had fun. The date was nicer than he expected but the idea of not knowing exactly when he was going to see you again was killing him from the inside.

“I'll accompany you”. He declared undoing his seat belt as you did to step out.

You reacted with a delicate smile, holding the bucket of flowers against your abdomen while walking to the front door of the building. That moment was a little uncomfortable, not being sure about how to say goodbye, just looking like two teens in love.

“Thank you for tonight, Bucky”. You uttered without thinking about it. “It's been the best night I've ever had”.

“Next will be better, I promise”.

“That's a big challenge”. You chuckled repeating his words a while ago in the restaurant.

“I'll live”. He nodded convinced, glancing at you bowing down your interest to the red roses between your hands.

How could you tell him that you were dying to be together again? That you wouldn't mind waking up sooner and having breakfast? You bit your inner upper lip, trying to find the correct words to say, without sounding like you were feeling something else to a physical attraction. Bucky was hot as hell, that wasn't up to debate, but he was the kindest and charmingest man you had known. He was sensible and strong at the same time. You both complemented the other like the pieces of a puzzle and you never thought something like that could happen to you. To find your other half and having it so clear you didn't want anyone else.

“I am, uh… free tomorrow”.

His words pushed you out of your thoughts, putting up your attention to a Bucky almost flushing, stroking the back of his head, and having the impression that he could scare you.

“Got a break for lunch, if you want”. You proposed without hesitation.

His eyes sparkled with happiness, holding your left hand with his to bring it to his mouth, placing a fond kiss on the back. Such a gentleman, like Sam said, inducing your cheeks to burn. And then, you saw him doubting about taking another step. You wanted it too to happen, tho, leaning forward to press your lips together. Your eyes snapped closed at that precise instant, not having any rush, tasting each other's and shortening the distance between both of you by his free arm getting wrapped around your waist. The kiss was innocent but passionate. It was warm, intimate, trying to transmit all the chemistry you woke up within the other with only one look, with only one smile. Breaking it —much to your regret— when you needed air to breathe. And even so, Bucky rested his forehead against yours freeing your hand to place it on the right side of his neck.

Neither of the two of you opened your eyes, extending the moment as much as you could. You felt he craved to spend the night with you, and you desired it too, but you also felt that he needed some time to get used to this new world he was living in. It wasn't easy. You thought back to the months after the war, the recovery, the loneliness you forced yourself to be in. You were in Afghanistan for three months. He had been fighting since nineteen forty. And he didn't want to ruin what you were building together.

“I should leave”. Bucky murmured against his wishes.

“See you tomorrow”.

At the moment you opened your eyes to meet the pale blue ones, your whole body felt weak. You saw the brightness in them after letting him know that the second date was going to happen and that it wasn't just a formality before disappearing, wiping out any minimal doubt by kissing him again. The last kiss. A good night, I'll dream with you kiss.

“I'm gonna play this on your wedding day, definitely”.

You screamed because of the unexpected metallic voice coming closer, clinging to Bucky's neck as his heart raced too. Redwing was suspended in the air some steps away from you, being controlled by Sam. Who else is not him, uh?

“I'm starting to think you have separation anxiety”. The soldier growled trying to hit the flying device with his flesh hand, hearing you laughing against his chest.

“Good night, kids”. You chuckled separating from Bucky.

“No kiss for me, soldier?”

“I'm not gonna kiss that thing, Samuel”.

“What about a howl, White wolf? Would be very appro—”.

“White wo—”.

“Please, don't. Don't ask”. Bucky begged you, licking his bottom lip while rubbing the back of his head, clearly ashamed.

“Hope you show me one day what it means…”

“Oh, he will… Just wait till the full moon”.

“Sam!” Bucky and you yelled in unison, you playfully, he annoyed.

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#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes #sebastian stan x reader #bucky barnes x female reader #james bucky barnes x reader #sebastian stan fluff #bucky x reader #bucky fluff #bucky x y/n #bucky x you

[enhyupn]

enhypen as characters inspired by animes ᯤ 

tagging @youreverydayzebra @ncityy04 @rheyom

ot7!enhypen x gn!reader, fluff, warnings: mentions of (jokingly) dying, swear words, reader’s in a maid outfit in jay’s one but no mentions of a certain gender, word count: 3.3k

a/n most of these aren’t the same as the animes mentioned but instead just inspired or loosely inspired by the plot! also some of these aren’t the same in word count and i apologise for that ]:

∷ heeseung — orange

heeseung as the new kid at school and he’s so pretty that everyone just. Stops in place and just stares at him as he introduces himself

funnily enough you already saw this coming, realising this was the same heeseung the letter you received that morning told you about

what was funnier was the fact that letter was coming from the future you

you didn’t believe it Then because like... it kinda sounds too stupid to be true

but then BOOM there heeseung is

your teacher makes him sit beside you and you’re just trying to wrap your head around how crazy all of this is

your letter even told you that he was going to sit beside you, why was all of this coming true????

you didn’t read on because you were in a rush to get to school but maybe if that letter warned you about how pretty he was, you wouldn’t of been that flustered when he started talking to you

“hey i’m heeseung!” “ummm yeah, i’m y/n... yeah”

when school ends you RACE home to get to that letter again

rest of heeseung + of the members under the cut!

your future self was gonna have a lot of explaining to do...

turns out the future you Let this same heeseung walk out of your life so now you have to fix this

“dear past me, i can’t believe i was this stupid to let him leave my life like this— how stupid am i??”

now you make it your mission to keep your barely started relationship not go rocky

and oh boy would that be a challenge for the years to come

not because heeseung’s a terrible bf, future you just gave terrible tips

everyday after that you and heeseung (like the letter said) turned into great friends

great friends as in friends that people think that are dating

soon that friendship became a relationship... and a very strong one to be honest

your letters were weirdly very accurate

a firework festival... how he confessed to you... all of it was in those letters

honestly you should scold them for letting heeseung get away!!

you secretly wanna tease them that YOU have heeseung by your side and they don’t but... you can’t really do that

you tell heeseung about the letters one day and he just. Stares at you in astonishment

because he also received letters on the same day you got them from future him too

turns out future you and heeseung both regret their decision

poor them but at least present you gets to kiss heeseung whenever you want 😇

not to spoil anything but heeseung didn’t end up walking out of your life <3 instead you two are now sickly in love

∷ jay — maid-sama

you work at a maid café mainly because you needed the money and honestly... it wasn’t even that bad of a job

i mean compared to your school president life — trying to keep teenage boys out of trouble — happily serving polite and friendly (most of the time) customers was definitely a steal

one boy in particular gave you a bit more trouble than the rest of them however

he wasn’t bad or anything, just... a serial heart breaker

jay park was always on your radar due to the fact so many people would go up to you asking you to tell him to be nicer with his rejections

he wasn’t complied to be nicer but 😍 what can you do

safe to say that you didn’t think you had the best relationship with him

you couldn’t understand him even more when you saw him prettily sitting at the tables at your work

may i add, with you in your very own maid outfit as well as a twitching eye

“y/n! looking great” “thanks m-ma-mas—” “your customer service is terrible”

and the fact he came every day after that day made you feel Terrified

and also a little excited to go to work but you’d never admit that!!!

having him stare at you while you cheerily wrote with ketchup on omelettes was... definitely not how you thought your relationship would be like

he would also make small talk too

and visit you after your shift!!! walking you home

now... his daily visits turned into genuine great conversations on the way home

you realised he wasn’t as bad as you made him out to be

he just had strong beliefs that he should only accept a confession if it’s from someone he loves

you didn’t know how... but now You Have Feelings For him.

and seeing him when smile at you every time you serve him at that little maid café... ARGGGG it drove you absolutely mad

the way he oozed out confidence... was sweet and quite literally the prettiest person you’ve ever seen... how could you not

and what other way to confess to him than at the very place your relationship blossomed at!

you wrote “i like you” with ketchup on fried rice for him... yeah

thankfully he was over the moon and Had to hold back kissing you in front of the customers

now you two were dating <3 with the help of a maid café

and that really only left you with one more question

“why did you start visiting this maid café in the first place?”

∷ jake — kimi no todoke

being the quiet student is never. a good thing

especially when you’re ostracised by your class because you never participate

you actually want to but you can’t build any confidence to do so

you never caught the attention of anyone

well... besides a certain popular boy by the name of jake sim

oh boy was this gonna be a culture shock to the girls that have a crush on him

he noticed you on the first day of school when you asked him for directions to your classroom

he won’t ever forget it, the way you had a huge excited smile on his face as the cherry blossoms fell softly around you

he quotes, it looked like you came straight out of heaven because it looked like you had wings on you

he didn’t know how to get your attention though.

every time he tried to do so you wouldn’t even look at him and would just look down at your desk

it hurt him to see you so isolated

that’s when he had the bright idea to ask you if you wanted to walk with him home

bad idea (kinda), because you did accept but you didn’t know what to do the whole time because you’ve never walked home with someone before

it was bad enough that jake was absolutely Stunning. like blindingly attractive

you didn’t know what to say at all

well until you came across a small puppy making it’s way up to the two of you

they were so cute that you just squealed out of excitement

jake was so surprised to hear Something from you that he just instantly put on this huge genuine grin

“there’s no tag on them!” your upsetting tone sent jake into haywire

he literally watched you pet that dog with literal heart eyes he wasn’t even being sutble

he takes a picture of you and he Stupidly leaves the ringer on so you hear him and everything

he was so embarrassed about it

“did you just take a picture of me?” “y-yeah” “oh... is that what people do?”

you literally had no idea how to interact with people so you thought what he did was Normal

somehow this caused jake’s crush on you to develop Quick

especially when you grabbed his hand to pull you closer to the dog

his heart was beating so fast he didn’t know what to do

he is self proclaimed the biggest dog lover but for some reason... he wasn’t even looking at the dog, not even trying to play with it

he was just staring at you with his doting eyes as you smiled and giggled while playing with the dog

he wasn’t gonna confess yet though because he still has to develop your relationship

in true shoujo romance anime fashion, he was gonna confess twelve episodes (probably a year) later <3

∷ sunghoon — ao haru ride

no i definitely did not put sunghoon for ao haru ride because i have a huge crush on kou and sunghoon... /s

you and sunghoon were in the same elementary class because... fate

you had the biggest crush on him and even your mom knew him because he was a well known figure skater

but who didn’t have a crush on him was the real question

being the young confident elementary student you were, you always talked to him

forever talking to him to the point where you two were Actually really good friends

you thought you were on cloud9

but. turns out figure skating takes a lot more training than you had thought so

you literally cried Buckets and Buckets when you found out he had to train in like russia for an unsure amount of time

there was no way on contacting him too since you had no phone, no nothing

so he left. and you didn’t know what to do with yourself

ok flash forward noises

now you’re in high school! still... gripping onto that crush you have on sunghoon

but you think it’s fine since you are Functioning without him i guess

well until you bump into someone with a very familiar voice...

“watch where you’re going” talk about passive Aggressive 🤨

and when you look up because obviously you were gonna start yelling at him

well. You just froze in shock when you were faced with sunghoon’s raised eyebrow smirking at you

and what was the logical thing to do apparently?

cry. right in front of him.

he just froze as he watched you sob while everyone stared at him

he was trying to explain himself while at the same time Dragging you Away because he couldn’t let you just cry in the middle of the hallway

now you two were at the top of some stairway as you sniffled recovering from your endless crying

“why were you crying? “how could i not when you’re here?”

turns out that sunghoon Knew you were at the same school as him but wanted you to figure it out yourself

it took you almost six months. to figure out sunghoon was in your grade.

but what next? do you rekindle your friendship or...

“i’ve changed” okay maybe that answered your question

and before he could even explain himself he just... Got up and left????? for no reason

and that’s when tsundere sunghoon started to come into play.

you constantly tried talking to him but it would end up with the two of you bickering

you walked home the same way too

weirdly enough He was very nice to you sometimes

letting you place your head on his shoulder, lovingly smiling at you, being very Oddly romantic

he was giving you mixed signals.

and there came that old elementary school crush... gearing back up for a second round

“what are we?” now you decided being bold was the right thing to do

he just stared at you and shrugged.

now here comes the water works

you started crying uncontrollably Again but this time sunghoon looked really guilty and comforted you

he even hugged you. (Wow... Development)

he then explained to you that he Likes you (omg) but he’s scared that he might have to pack up and leave you again and he doesn’t want you to get too attached

and you’re like “we have each other’s numbers this time though?”

sunghoon’s just like Ohhhh

that’s how you started dating

and rekindled that elementary crush (successfully)

∷ sunoo — toilet-bound hanako-kun

being the bold and adventurous person you are. You decided to call onto your school’s very own ghost

because you had the biggest crush on this upperclassman you needed the support of a Spirit to help you

“ummmm hey... school spirit, i’m kinda in love with someone and i heard—” “hi” and then you fall onto the ground because something scares you

turns out the spirit’s name is sunoo and you just summoned him

it also turns out this spirit was kinda cute 😟

he had offered you something like a book — telling you if you follow all the rules — you’ll end up dating your crush

turns out it was just a middle school romance book you could of bought at dollar tree.

you were rightfully mad at him Since all you did was end up embarrassing yourself

somehow during your argument, your eyes caught a glimpse of something in his pocket

you took it. because you deserved it

and ATE IT when sunoo told you that it grants you any wish when consumed

you didn’t even need to listen to any of the disclaimers because it was already in your stomach

one things turns into another and now you’re a spiritually bound fish to sunoo.

turns out what you ate was mermaid scales and he needed to eat one too so you could turn human (he told you he can’t explain it because it’s a long story!)

you two are now bonded together (4lyfe 🥺🤞) and you aren’t that happy due to the fact he was always teasing you and playing around with you!!!!

you were now his human assistant.

you helped him with cleaning the toilets and he helped you by saving you from the supernatural

very well balanced relationship

you grew very fond of sunoo as time went on

even though you almost died a few times... he was always there to save you from whatever the spiritual world had to offer

i won’t spoil anything but... school spirit sunoo seemed to have a soft spot for you too 😇

you showed him your passion for art and everything like that

you tried to dodge questions about the... y’know... why he was a spirit

knowing that it would probably hurt him

plus he didn’t have all those things coming after him for nothing

falling in love with a ghost wasn’t what... you were expecting when you first joined your school

but i guess you had no choice since he was spiritually bound to you!

∷ jungwon — whisper of the heart

you loved the library dearly, you loved reading and writing— just books in general

your favourite place was a really big cosy library a few minutes away from your house

you had always borrowed more than three books every visit

and every time you would look at who borrowed the book, the same exact name would show up each book you borrowed

“yang jungwon... he seems to have good taste in books”

you would dreamily sigh thinking about what this jungwon looked like

later on in the week you were writing a story at the park— y’know, normal things

your friend called you out of the blue for some reason rushing for you to help them

out of panic you forgot your book on the bench and didn’t realise when you had finally finished helping out your friend

to your surprise there was already someone sitting on the bench

and Reading Your Very Own Story

you literally just run up to him and snatch it from his hands because you’re embarrassed!!!

what didn’t help was the fact that the first thing he did was Laugh in your face about it .

he called your story stupid!!! and critiqued it!!!!

you just bicker with him and complain to your friend about it later that night

the next day you thought that... maybe if you went to the library again you might spot this yang jungwon

so you make it your mission to get to the library

funnily enough your plan had failed in an instant when your eyes caught a cat that you just became curious about

you followed it because it just wouldn’t stop getting away from you

it also looked like it was taking you somewhere but 😦

after a tiring ten minutes of following this cat from hell and back. It brought you to this old antique shop

you instantly fell in love with the store and everything in it

you were so distracted by everything that you hadn’t realised someone was behind you

you could feel your eyes widen when you realised it was the same boy from the park

holding that same cat you were following too????

“why are you here?” his eyes literally started Squinting at you

he then proceeded to tell you about how his vocal lessons were nearby and more importantly that the cat was His

he asks you if you want to go visit where he does his lessons and Obviously being as curious as you were, you accepted

when he brought you there you could see his eyes instantly sparkle from just being there cute... kinda

he even started to sing for you and that’s when you thought that he wasn’t that bad

some of his teachers started to join in too and before you knew it, the sun was already gone and you’ve spent the whole time with some boy that you were supposed to hate

“jungwon, who’s your friend” your body Froze in shock when you heard that name

jungwon thought you were stupid for not knowing your name and now you realise you’ve been crushing on him this whole time

(i refuse to continue on more with this because it’ll be too long unless some of you want a oneshot of this 😍)

∷ ni-ki — haikyuu

being forced by your teacher to sign up to be some volleyball team’s manager was Not that fun to experience

but there you were, managing a volleyball practice of that very own team

thankfully, it was safe to say you had a good relationship with all of them

and an even Better relationship with a certain volleyball player

nishimura riki and you were practically glued to the hip

you were so incredibly thankful that he was the first one to speak to you when you first started becoming their manager

the rest of them were tall and scary but riki was just tall and friendly

he was so energetic and just So bright that you couldn’t help but look forward to seeing him every day you had practice

he would even teach you how to play volleyball

like he’d be like “isn’t this move so cool? let me teach you it!”

at this point you could be a professional volleyball player with the help of riki

you were overjoyed watching them win their final match to compete in the spring interhigh

you were also incredibly happy to know that riki scored the winning point

he couldn’t stop telling you about it and you just kept excitedly praising him and not to play favourites but you weren’t this excited when heeseung scored the previous winning point

even though you and your team were excited, you could feel how nervous they were when they entered the huge gymnasium

they were surrounded by all the best high school volleyball teams in the country

the very first team they went up against gave them a very Tough time

you remember sweating so hard when the scores were almost the same, the other team leading in that set

you decided that. Maybe you could help

“riki! you can do it” your shouting somehow caused riki to instantly become energised

everything was a blur up until your team had Won the match

and all because you gave riki some encouragement

he literally ran to you the second they had won and almost knocked you down

you didn’t wanna tell him that he was sweaty so you just let him carry on hugging you tightly

the rest of the team was like “why didn’t you cheer us on like you did with riki?”

and when you tried to explain your face just started heating up like crazy

so you ignored the subject.

riki just took it as he was your favourite

but what you didn’t want to tell them was the fact that you had a crush on him

as if it wasn’t obvious enough 😟

#prism.nw #enhypenwriters #lsn.works #hybenet #enhypen scenarios #enhypen fluff #enhypen imagines #enhypen x reader #enhypen drabbles #enhypen timestamps #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop fluff #jungwon x reader #heeseung x reader #jay x reader #jake x reader #sunghoon x reader #sunoo x reader #riki x reader

[thatsamericano]

Take My Hand, Take My Whole Life Too

Pairings/Characters: America/Romano. Background Gerita, and Seborga and Prussia are there too. Very brief appearances from Denmark and Lithuania in the video, as well as a ton of other characters who don’t get lines.

Rating: Teen, but only for cursing. Very fluffy, and no warnings to speak of.

Word Count: 2518

Summary: America sends Romano a special video for his birthday. He isn’t Elvis Presley, but it’s the best rendition of the song Romano’s ever heard.

A/N: I wanted to post something fluffy for Romano’s birthday. This will be up on AO3 soon.

It had been a nice, quiet birthday for Romano so far. Feli’s macho potato had dropped by to spend the day with him, and Prussia had tagged along too. Savino was glad Gilbert and Marcello were here, because otherwise he would’ve been stuck third-wheeling the sappiest couple in the world on his own birthday. Spain and Belgium had said they would arrive in a couple hours, which Romano was looking forward to as well. Most of the people who had sent his little brother a happy birthday message had remembered to send one to him too. America had sent them both silly e-cards, and the gifts he’d sent had arrived a week early and would be unwrapped along with all the others after they frosted the cake.

Romano was not lonely, especially not for someone who would’ve had to fly across a whole ocean to see him. He only threw a spatula at Germany’s head when he leaned in to kiss Feli right after he put the cake in the oven because the sight of the potato bastard kissing his little brother grossed him out to no end.

Feliciano pouted at him. “Fratello, that wasn’t very nice of you.”

“I had to stop you two before I lost my appetite. I want to actually be able to eat a slice of cake later!”

Germany muttered something under his breath, and Seborga giggled while Prussia ruffled his hair. “Relax, Savi. It’s your birthday.”

Romano shoved Gilbert’s hand away. “I’m relaxing just fine, damn it.” He walked over to the counter to check his phone, which had received a few new messages since he and Feli had started making their joint birthday cake.

As he was reading a message from New Zealand (who seemed to be confused by the time difference and hoped their message had arrived on time), a new text popped up on his phone. From America.

“Huh, that’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” Marcello asked.

“America sent me a link to a Youtube video.” Alfred liked to upload a lot of strange things on Youtube, including cooking videos with his twin, recordings of him prank calling England, and the occasional stunt that would’ve turned Savino’s hair gray if he’d aged like a human. Seriously, what the fuck had possessed him to surf down a staircase on a fucking ironing board?

The message before the link was cryptic as hell. Happy bday. Here’s an extra present for you. 😉 Hope you enjoy.🎶 Knowing America, Romano wouldn’t have been too surprised if he’d opened up the link and seen that one Rick Astley song the idiota still thought was funny to send to people. But Feli immediately got excited about it.

“Oh, he finally sent you the video! I thought he’d do that a month ago!”

Prussia smirked as Feli rushed over to them. “Nah, Al had always planned to upload it today.”

Germany came over with a subtle hint of a smile on his face, like he knew what all this was about too. At least Marcello still looked baffled as he leaned over to get a look at Savino’s phone.

“What the fuck are you assholes up to?” Savino didn’t like this feeling. He didn’t like that everyone except his baby brother had been plotting something behind his back.

“It isn’t bad, Romano,” Germany promised. “Just open the link and you’ll see.”

Romano didn’t trust Germany further than he could throw him, and the guy was way too heavy for him to even lift. But if Germany thought it was okay, it probably wasn’t a video involving the kinds of ridiculous shenanigans America liked to film, and it certainly was nowhere near as heart-attack inducing as some of the videos he’d seen Fredo post (especially if Prussia or Denmark were egging him on). Savino squinted at Ludwig suspiciously before he clicked on the link.

It wasn’t Rick Astley. The video started with a black screen. “No, Gil, you’re supposed to press the red button!” The voice sounded like Denmark.

“Magnus, I pressed the red button!” That was Prussia.

“Guys, maybe we could use my iPhone instead?” America asked. His voice sounded uncharacteristically strained and nervous. “The quality won’t be as good, but at this point Vinny’s probably given up anyway.”

Suddenly, the image of a white dress shirt with a navy tie (and an inexplicable ukulele) appeared on the screen. The camera zoomed out a little, and he could see Alfred smiling at him in a crowded bar with many nations Romano knew well, and many who were only acquaintances. Denmark rushed past him, but Romano could scarcely take his eyes off America. He was wearing the same outfit he’d seen him in on the day of the last world meeting he’d attended a couple months ago in Berlin, and he was cradling a ukulele in his arms. His warm smile, as always, made Romano’s heart skip a beat. But there was a hint of anxiety in his crystal blue eyes, and that made Romano wish he was there to talk to America and help him with whatever seemed to be bothering him.

“Hey, Vinny! Right now it’s still January, but by the time I upload this video, it will be your birthday, so happy birthday, dude! I hope you’re having a good day with your brothers.” He chuckled. “You guys will probably need a huge cake if you’re gonna blow out all your birthday candles.”

Romano rolled his eyes. “That’s what numbered candles are for, idiota,” he murmured.

“Anyway, I know I’m not the best singer in the world—” Prussia snickered from behind the camera and America glared at him sharply before relaxing back into the smile he’d had on his face before. “But I’ve been practicing this song a lot, so hopefully you’ll like it.”

Romano wondered which song it was. If it was the Italian version of “Happy Birthday,” America wouldn’t need a ukulele, and this video would not be three and a half minutes in length.

America started strumming the ukulele, and it wasn’t the “Happy Birthday” song. Savino vaguely recognized the melody, and apparently Feliciano knew what the song was, because he was bouncing next to him and muffling squeals behind his hand. Savino was tempted to smack him, but that would involve looking away from his phone.

Then, America started to sing in a shaky but surprisingly clear voice, staring straight at the camera. “Wise men say, only fools rush in…”

Marcello gasped. “He didn’t!”

“Oh, he totally did,” Prussia replied smugly.

Savino was too emotional to talk. He teared up as Alfred continued with the next line. “But I can’t help falling in love with you.” Fredo’s voice was full of sincerity, like he actually meant it, like he actually loved him. For so long, Romano had assumed his feelings for America were completely one-sided, that he would have to ignore them as much as possible, vainly hope they might disappear, and move on with his life as best he could. But clearly, he had been wrong, and the proof was that America was serenading him with a love song. On his birthday.

America started walking backwards with his ukulele, and Prussia’s camera followed him. At the end of the first verse, he’d reached a booth with Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. They all held up signs wishing him a happy birthday in various languages as they sang the last line together. Spain waved and Belgium winked at the camera, and America grinned as he kept walking through the bar.

He briefly stopped by other groups of people to allow them to hold up signs wishing Romano a happy birthday as he sang. Russia, his sisters, and Canada. Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland. Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. China, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and South Korea. France, Monaco, all the UK countries, and Ireland. Australia, New Zealand, Seychelles, and Kenya. Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. All the Nordics too. It was the sweetest, most romantic thing anyone had ever done for Romano. America must have gone to so much effort to orchestrate something like this, to gather so many countries together in one bar in Berlin and convince them to go along with his plan. Savino smiled as he kept watching the video. Maybe Alfred wasn’t as good a singer as Elvis Presley or any of the many people who had covered this song, but his performance was heartfelt, and Savino loved every second of it.

Near the end, all of the countries sang the line “For I can’t help falling in love with you” together and held up their happy birthday signs. The bartender and some confused humans sang along with them. Savino laughed as Alfred chuckled sheepishly in the video, cheeks turning pink because this was an unusually public spectacle, even for him.

Alfred repeated the final chorus and sang with just him and the ukulele, as he had begun the song. “Take my hand, take my whole life too.” His eyes were shining with tears, and not the happy kind Savino had been shedding since the second line of the song. “For I can’t help falling in love with you.” He repeated the final line then took a deep breath.

“So, yeah. That uhh… wasn’t just a song.” America glanced off to the side. “I’ve kinda been hopelessly in love with you for a while.”

“About 90 years, give or take!” a tipsy voice shouted from off camera. It sounded just like Lithuania, the few times he’d had a little too much to drink at a speakeasy back when he, America, and Romano all lived together. Romano remembered those days fondly.

America hunched his shoulders with a pained look on his face. “Yeah. What Tolys said. You mean a lot to me, Vinny, both as a friend and possibly more, if you want that. If you just wanna stay friends, that’s cool. I hope you liked the song. Happy birthday.”

The screen abruptly cut to black, and the video ended. Savino wiped his eyes and looked up at Feliciano. “This is… this is why we had to fly back right away, isn’t it? Our boss didn’t call you.”

Feli shook his head. “I lied. America asked me to lie so he could surprise you with that video.”

“I can’t believe he did that for me.” Part of Savino felt like he didn’t deserve it, but a much bigger part of him was too selfish to care about what he did or didn’t deserve. He just wanted to be happy. “I wish he was here,” Romano confessed quietly. “I wish I could tell him I feel the same way.” And he wanted to kiss away every tear that idiota had ever cried over him, which was long overdue.

Savino ignored his little brothers cooing over what he had just said and tried not to bristle at the fact that even Germany seemed to think it was adorable. Prussia, weirdly enough, was too busy texting on his phone to join in on the overbearing fawning.

Gilbert chuckled at something on his phone. “Alfred’s a lot closer than you think. He decided to skip the Saint Paddy’s Day parade this year.” He grinned up at Romano, who instantly got the message. Alfred wasn’t celebrating with his Irish-American citizens. He was here in Italy, and it wouldn’t take much effort for Romano to find him.

He sprinted to his front door and flung it open. Alfred, who had been standing with his back to the front door, turned around to face him. “Vinny, I…”

Savino was too impatient to let him get another word out. He tugged on the collar of his emerald green t-shirt and sealed their mouths together. Alfred made a muffled sound of surprise and started kissing him a couple seconds later. He wrapped an arm around his waist, and Savino could feel that he was holding something wrapped in cellophane in his hand. He didn’t give a fuck what it was. He didn’t give a fuck about anything except the fact that Alfred was grinning against his mouth as he reluctantly pulled away for air.

Alfred’s face was flushed, and he had to reach up to fix his glasses. “Wow. This t-shirt never worked before.”

Savino glanced down at the shirt, which read “Kiss Me, I’m Irish!” (of course it did) and snorted. “I didn’t kiss you because of a fucking t-shirt logo. I kissed you because I watched that birthday video you sent me, which was the most adorable goddamn thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“So you liked the song, huh?”

“I loved the song. And I love you too, Fredo.”

He heard sniffling, and it couldn’t have been Alfred, who was beaming at him like every prayer he’d ever uttered had been answered just by Savino saying those words to him. And the sniffling noise was coming from behind him. At least one person had followed Romano to the front door, but Romano had been too focused on America to notice.

Romano tensed up as America laughed and put an arm around his shoulder. “Germany, are you crying, dude?”

“I… I’m verklempt. That was a beautiful moment.” Savino glanced over and saw that Germany wasn’t the only one. Veneziano, Seborga, and Prussia were all standing in the entryway, and they all looked misty-eyed.

Romano groaned and turned to bury his face in America’s ridiculous t-shirt. “Seriously, did you come out here to fucking spy on us?! What the hell is wrong with you?!” America squeezed his arm around him in a silent gesture of support. He could probably tell how embarrassed Romano was.

“Well, you were the one who decided to run out the front door suddenly,” Marcello said teasingly. “You can’t blame us for wanting to see what was going on.”

Veneziano piled on. “It’s nice of you to visit us on our birthday, America. You can come inside if you want, or you can stay out here and kiss Savi some more.”

Romano growled and turned to shoot vicious glares at both of his brothers, but America didn’t seem bothered at all. “As tempting as it sounds to stand here and kiss Vinny all day, I think I’ll come inside.” He dropped his arm from around Savino’s shoulders and presented him with the floral bouquet he somehow hadn’t noticed earlier in his mad dash to the door. “These are for you.”

“Grazie.” Savino smiled as he bent his head to sniff the bouquet of red roses mixed with white lilies. The symbolism wasn’t lost on him.

“Anything for you,” America whispered, too quietly for the others to hear. He pressed a kiss to Savino’s cheek, grabbed his wheeled suitcase, and dangled out his free hand as they headed into the house behind the others.

Romano grabbed America’s hand and laced their fingers together. This was the best birthday he’d ever had, and it was due in no small part to the fact America was holding his hand right now and smiling like he was the one who had received everything he ever wanted.

#hetalia #romerica #hws romano #hws south italy #hws america #hws veneziano #hws north italy #hws seborga #hws germany #hws prussia #italy bros #italy brothers #aph romano #aph south italy #aph america #aph veneziano #aph north italy #aph seborga #aph germany #aph prussia #hetalia fanfic #hetalia fanfiction #hws fanfic #hws fanfiction #aph fanfic #aph fanfiction #my writing #original post

[kchuarts]

Flowers in Blood

A/N: A new fanfic that I couldn't wait to jump on!! This one is very much different from the ones I normally write. I am also introducing a new OC. This takes place in 2018 going into 2019 

Summary: Angela Burr takes on a case that had been cold since the 70's as there is a sudden spark in activity relevant to the case. She calls a friend from across the pond and gets a hold of Katie O'Connor, a 24 soon to be 25 year old American woman for the job. The case is assigned to Katie and Jonathan for them to solve and bring down the leader of an unnamed group that was involved in the crimes back then. Unfortunately for Jonathan, Katie is connected to a friend of his time while in Iraq that did not end well.

Warnings: Cursing and mentions of assault

Taglist: @lucywrites02​ *(Let me know if you’d like to be on the tag list!!)*

Chapter 1: Poppy

A loud rapping at the door of Angela Burr’s special agency causes the Director to jump from her seat. “For fuck sake, can’t a mum have one minute of peace to ‘erself?” Angela huffed, getting up quickly and noticing Rob wasn’t at all around which irked the tired woman further. “Better have a good excuse for why he isn’t here.” She muttered under her breath before opening the door being met with a shorter, pale skinned woman. Angela’s brows knit together in confusion as she studied the young woman, “Green eyes, short brown hair, looks 157 centimeters in height-” She stopped as she noticed the woman give her an odd look. “What? I’m just trying to get a better look at ya. I dunno if you are who we sent for, you’re so short! Wait, wait. I got it, you’re American is that it? Your unit of measurements are-” She sighed and smacked her own forehead as her thoughts finally caught up to her. “Right! Dear, I am so terribly sorry. Come in, come in. You are exactly who we called for over from across the pond. I swear I must still have a pregnancy brain even after three bloody years. Katelyn O’Connor is it?” She waved her hand over to a seat. The American brunette woman grimaced at her full name and nodded, “I uh, sorry, I prefer Katie.” She cleared her throat and held her hand out, shaking Angela’s hand. “No, no! That was my mistake, dear. Oh for fuck sake Rob! It’s about damn time you got in here!! What’s your excuse for your lack of being here?” Her large brown eyes watched as her assistant, Rob Singhal walked in. The Indian man froze and looked from Angela to Katie in confusion then down at the tray of coffees he held. “Shite! Ang, you coulda said we were gonna have company!! Apologies, miss. Next time I’ll get you tea or coffee.” He practically slammed the hot beverage in front of Angela and sighed with great irritation. Katie waved her hand as a gesture of thanks and then looked down into her lap as she fiddled with her fingers. 

Angela looked up at Rob, raising her brows at his attitude. “There’s extra cream in it?” 

The assistant’s hands dropped to his sides and he let out a groan, “Not even a thank you or are you ok?! I stood in line for twenty god damn minutes for your bitter rubbish and some prick hit my new chaps with his fucking bicycle!” He pointed to his pants aggressively, a large stain apparent on the light khakis. Angela rolled her eyes, taking a test sip and nodding “Alright good, there’s cream. Last time the bastards didn’t. Sorry about your pants, sweetheart but you wasted twenty minutes of preparation for our new agent!” She turned to the younger woman seated in front of her. Katie looked up and gave a warm smile, smoothing her pencil skirt out. “It’s alright Mrs. Burr-”, 

“Angela, please. I had my first and last kid three years ago, I already feel old as is when I get the “Mrs.” added. Now, back to business.” Angela shuffled through documents and licked her finger to sift through properly. This was Katie’s first time out of America and she would definitely be lying if she said she hadn’t gotten a major culture shock. London was somewhat similar to New York in a manner of ways; for one thing, the people were always very loud and blunt. While London did feel more tame, it still had that familiar city smell and livelihood to it. This was certainly a new experience for a girl from a small village in Michigan, USA. “Sorry ‘bout that, Miss O’Connor. By the way, you got any relatives over in Ireland? Your last name is extremely Irish- Oh there I go again, getting off track. Sorry it’s nearly getting time for me to be checking in on the babysitter to see how my little one is doing.” Angela cleared her throat and handed Katie the files on a peculiar case that had gone cold. Katie frowned as she skimmed over the pages and gathered information on ten very high scale murders of wealthy families. Each page had a familiar theme of illegal trade, fraud, weapons, drugs, and prostitution. She noticed that there was a mysterious yet oddly recognizable symbol carved into the skin of the inner forearm of the husbands. Katie placed the photo evidence down and tapped on the sigils, “I’ve seen this before in my lessons. Mrs- Angela, why are you showing me such an old case? No one has been able to figure anything out about these crimes since the Seventies…” She leaned back and raised a brow. The older woman nodded and grabbed a stack of papers, plopping them in front of the young American. “Not until now.” 

As Katie skimmed over the pages, she noticed that the activity of this particular group had risen up again and even had a public support group. The sigil was much more clear now and shaped into something more recent. It was of a Poppy flower and now that Katie thought about it, she remembered that a single poppy flower was always left behind at the crime scene. A chill ran down her spine as awful memories of her ex boyfriend Travis resurfaced. She knew there was no correlation between the two, but Travis always seemed to love giving her that type of flower and he even had a tattoo on his neck of one. To make matters worse, during her older brother Cameron’s funeral, there were poppies in some of the bouquets before he was laid to rest. It was a closed casket ceremony as he had died courageously while serving. 

-flash-

“TRAVIS STOP!! GET AWAY FROM ME!” Katie screamed, kicking her legs as hard as she could to get the man off of her. Exhaustion was coming over the 20 year old girl as she had been struggling for an hour to get away from her abuser. 

-flash-

A gag was shoved into Katie’s mouth with her hands and legs bound. The sounds of a blade ripping her clothes off filled the room along with the sound of her whimpers. “No one is ever gonna want you, baby girl. Not after I’m done with you. There’s no one for you to turn to, not even your dead big brother.” 

“Katie?” 

The green eyed woman gasped, coming out of her trance and quickly wiping a stray tear away from her cheek. “I-I’m ok, Angela. I just… I really hate poppies.” She smiled sadly, handing the paper back to her boss and taking a deep breath. “I can tell… I know we’ve just met, but if you need to talk about it you can. I see that you’ve some past trouble of sorts, I do apologize for requiring your services specifically, but I don’t think anyone else here can speak Japanese, Korean or” Angela looked down at her papers and scratched her head “Russian. Dear god and you’re only twenty four.” She whistled and nodded at the woman, impressed by her choice of studying harder languages. Thankful that the woman chose to not press further into her trauma, Katie sniffled and smiled at Angela. “I’m still learning Russian, but I think I can manage making my way through.” She nodded and sighed, that memory now seared into her brain after she had tried to bury it for good 5 years ago. “Well good because you’re going to be taking a little trip to Russia and eventually, Japan.” Angela noticed the sudden excitement in the young woman’s eyes and chuckled a little “Don’t get too excited, this is not any vacation. I understand that you are a rookie and this being your first true traveling experience, but don’t get cocky.” The chair she sat in scraped across the floor and she hoisted her purse onto her shoulder. “We will be discussing travel arrangements and the like tomorrow, but I’d like you to meet your partner today first. You two will be spending quite a bit of time together so it’s better to get used to each other now. Come along.” Angela hustled over to the door, checking her watch and noticing the time. She looked back up and eyed Rob, “Thank you for the coffee and sorry about your trousers. Have a nice night, sweetheart.” She waved with Katie following shortly behind, also waving goodbye to the assistant. 

“Oh for the love of-” Angela huffed, scrambling to get her umbrella out of her purse and cursing under her breath as rain poured down on the two. “No one ever likes the rain here, it’s bloody awful.” She offered Katie to get under it. The green eyed woman obliged and rubbed her arms, the air hitting her with a bite. “I think I am used to it at least to some degree considering I grew up in Michigan. The weather there never knows what it wants to be!” Katie grimaced, continuing to rub her arms. Clearly, she had underestimated her choice in attire and was now suffering from it. She heard Angela give a little chortle and shake her head as they continued their journey to an apartment complex. The two women idly chatted on their walk to this strange building about Katie’s life as Angela wanted to get to know her better and genuinely seemed interested in her well being. “I cannot stand the thought of living in a country with a deranged clown for a leader. I mean, the mission at hand is not a pleasant one but at least you’re not having to deal with his bullshit. I reckon he’s more dangerous than this group we’re about to send you and Mr. Pine into.” The Director noticed her agent flinch and stumble for a moment. She placed a tender hand on her arm and stopped their walk, “Is something the matter dear?” Her voice softened. Katie nodded and sighed through her nose, “I wasn’t expecting to work with someone else let alone a man. I have issues with men, personal reasons I’d rather not get into.” She smiled wryly and felt the urge to cry build in her throat. “Oh. I’m sorry. Well, remember what I told you earlier, if you need to talk about it I will be more than happy to listen. Men are garbage.” She laughed, trying to lighten the mood and wrapping a comforting arm around the young woman’s shoulders. “However, Mr. Pine is not a part of the garbage I am referring to. I am hopeful that you will be comfortable around him. He is my pride and joy… And my kid too. Honestly, they’re both my kids even if one of them is 38 years old.” 

Katie hoped that Angela was right and wanted to trust the woman. Those two years she had spent with Travis practically ruined her and how she viewed men. Hopefully, this Mr. Pine would help her heal and reshape her opinion. 

Both women sighed as glorious heat hit their numb faces upon entering the building. “Your flat is going to be on the floor below Mr. Pine.” Angela looked at her watch and smiled with some hope, “I would perhaps suggest maybe grabbing a pint together seeing as it’s supper time. If you’re comfortable enough.” She added quickly, grabbing Katie’s arm as she noticed the slight shift of her body. Katie nodded and smiled back, shuddering the last remnants of the cold from outside. “I’m not a big drinker, but that does sound nice. I’d like to see a few of the older pubs before we go. I’ve always wanted to see the Tower of London and “haunted” locations.” She smiled more and chuckled at Angela’s unimpressed face. “Really? Oh you’re one of those spooky chasers or whatever they’re called. Well, I can assure you that London has plenty of that but for now we need to focus on the task at hand.” Angela pressed a button up to the 14th floor and walked in, holding the elevator door for Katie. The ride up had the American woman’s stomach in knots as each floor made a ding noise each time they advanced a level. “Uh, you said that Mr. Pine is 38 years old? H-How long has he been working for you?” Katie swallowed, trying to calm her nerves. “You know who Roper is? Richard Roper?” She raised her eyebrows at the girl. “I’ve heard about him and of his dealings, but other than that not much else.” Katie replied, shrugging. "Well Pine is the one who took him down. That case gave me the nerves it did. I'm just glad Pine got out and decided to stay with us instead of going back to being a night manager at hotels. Charming and handsome fellow he is. He even managed to snag Roper's girl for a while but it didn't last too long. Enough about him now, you're about to find out more on him soon." The elevator made the noise signaling they had reached their destination. Katie once again had to calm herself and shake any nerves off. She had to tell herself that things were going to be ok and that she had to act professional. 

The sound of their footsteps padding along the wooden floor mingled in with the raindrops hitting the window at the end of the hall. “Here we are-” Angela said under her breath and knocked on the door, “Oi! Pine, you in there?” She waited for a moment before knocking on the door again before finally hearing footsteps. Several latches were undone before the man known as “Pine” finally opened the door. Katie’s heart stopped for a moment as this man was absolutely drop dead gorgeous. Her green eyes were wide as she took his appearance in from his lithe form, piercing blue eyes, dark blonde hair, chiseled jawline, and prominent forehead. Angela was right when she said he was handsome, but handsome was not a strong enough word for him. “Angela? Is there something wrong?” His deep voice caused chills to run through Katie’s body. Dear lord, not only was he stunning but his voice was enough to make a woman’s panties vanish. “No, no. Not at all. I’ve just come to introduce you to your partner for the mission ahead.” Angela stepped back, holding her arm out and slightly nudging Katie forward. Jonathan’s attention turned to the shorter woman in front of him and his expression softened a little. Shyly, Katie extended her hand out and gave a small smile “I’m Katie O’Connor uh, I have an extremely Irish name. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Pine.” She blushed and chuckled nervously at her dumb joke. Katie felt like she was in high school all over again with how awkward she felt. The American woman flinched a little as Jonathan took her hand to shake it, her eyes quickly darting away before looking back at him. This man’s hand was incredibly warm and oddly comforting, which made Katie feel a little bad that she flinched. Pine noticed her flinch, but decided against questioning her on it as it was probably just a nervous tick. He flashed a smile and returned the chuckle at her dumb joke. “The pleasure is mine and yes it is extremely Irish.” He released her hand before turning to Angela, waiting for anything else for her to tell them so he could get back to packing. 

“Now that we are all settled with introductions, I will be taking Katie to show her to the flat and then making my way to pick up my little one. I expect the both of you to be at my office at 6 AM sharp with your belongings packed and ready to go. I’m just praying for the love of anything living that the train to Moscow isn’t stalled. I’ll see you tomorrow, Pine. Come on then love! Let’s get you tucked in.” Angela turned, waving to Katie. The short brunette gave a smile to Jonathan and waved shyly before hastily heading back to Angela. The man watched as the two women walked down to the elevator and was puzzled by his boss’s choice in a partner. It wasn’t that he had anything against her pick, he was more than happy to have an attractive young lady on his team. He had to wonder why Katelyn O’Connor of all people though. Pine was very much aware of who this girl was and he slid back inside of his flat, closing the door and covering his face. Flashbacks of his time serving in Iraq surge forth and the screams of his squad echoed in his brain. Tears stung his eyes as guilt crawled up into his throat from the memory of leaving Katie’s older brother behind, as he begged for help while a bomb strapped to his chest ticked away. Pine would forever blame himself for his friend’s death and wished that he had been the one to die instead of Cameron. 

Once Angela had bid her farewells after showing Katie to her new home, the young woman began to set up. She had not the faintest idea that she would be sharing a flat building with her partner let alone have it be someone intimidatingly handsome. Yet, there was something odd about Jonathan Pine that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “Hey Cam.” She sighed, pulling a picture of her late brother out, placing it at her bedside. “I’m here in London, can you believe it? I’m out of that house and traveling the world!” She sat on her bed and smiled to the frame. “I know you wouldn’t be too happy with me sort of following you in your footsteps, but I wanted to be just like you. Mom and Dad were really hesitant at first at letting me go but I convinced them this is a chance for me to explore the world.” She picked the picture up and licked her finger, smudging some dirt from the glass off. Katie smiled sadly as she set the picture down and felt her chest and throat warm up from the oncoming tears. “I wish you were still here to see how far I’ve come. Shit, I-I even managed to escape Travis, even if you were long gone before him. I know you still watch over me and I know you would have probably been locked up if you got a hold of him.” She chuckled through the beginning of a sob before sniffling and wiping her eyes. “I gotta get going now. I’m going to Moscow tomorrow for the beginning of my mission. I’m pretty much all set but, my boss Angela told me I should probably try to get to know my partner… H-He seems nice.” Her hands clenched together as fear now made its course through her small frame. “I don’t think h-he’ll hurt me. He’s not Travis or those nasty old men from my retail days. No he’s not.” Katie gasped suddenly, noticing that her anxiety was getting the better of her and causing her to hold her breath. She shook her head and let out a quiet sob, sitting on the bed completely before pulling her knees in on herself. Who was she kidding? She was absolutely terrified to be alone with a man taller and stronger than her. Ever since she had left her abuser, not once did Katie even consider to look for another chance at romance. This only made her fear of men worse and she even lost a few friends because of how terrified she was to go out. It was only a year ago in 2018 that she finally decided to grow a backbone and shake off whatever fear she had. She would not let the past repeat itself and uncurled herself, smacking her face with her hands and taking a deep breath in. “You’re gonna be fine little fox.” She muttered to herself, using the endearing term her brother used to call her. Katie hopped off the bed and took one last look at herself in the mirror, grimacing at her puffy eyes. She would wait before going up to ask Pine if he wanted to grab something to eat. 

After about 15 minutes later, Katie calmed down and fished her worry stone from her suitcase. Naturally, it was a Petoskey stone from a camping trip back home. She shoved it into her pocket before grabbing her jacket as she had underestimated London’s weather earlier. “Keys, phone, wallet, knife, spray, money, lock pick, ok I think I’m good.” She huffed, looking down at her attire she changed into as the skirt from earlier had proven to be a poor choice. Instead, she opted for a large hoodie, skinny jeans, sneakers, socks, jacket, and a tee shirt under her hoodie. She was cozy and felt that this was appropriate for the weather. Locking her door, she headed to the elevator and reached Pine’s floor. She felt less anxious than the first time she had walked down with Angela. Nervously, she raised her hand as she arrived at Pine’s flat and knocked on the wood door. “Uh, Pine?” her voice cracked and she shoved her hands into her pockets. Once again, several locks were unlatched before the door opened with Jonathan looking surprised to see her. “Oh, hey! Er, Katie yeah?” He gave a fake smile, trying to not think about her brother and his guilt over his death. “Y-Yeah! Uh you don’t have to but uh, Angela suggested that maybe uh… We go grab a pint? Maybe get to know each other a little before we buckle down? I-If not that’s totally cool, I get it.” The brunette held her hands up and gave an awkward grin. She low key hoped he would say no and save her the trouble of being a nervous wreck. 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea actually.” He replied. 

“What? Wait, you will? Great! Great… Do you need a sec?” She leaned back and forth on her heels, her stomach growling and also in knots from his answer. 

Jonathan shook his head and opened his door, offering her to come in. It would sincerely be rude and weird of her to decline his offer so she obliged. When she brushed past him, Katie almost froze as he smelled faintly of cigarettes and a delicious cologne. The scent made her cheeks turn a bright pink and her head spin slightly. “So what state are you from?” He already knew the answer, he just had to play it low as he searched for his keys. “Michigan. I’m from Metamora which issss… Here.” She held her right hand up and pointed to the spot. Sometimes Katie was rather lucky she lived in the mitten shaped state as it was easy to point out where she lived. Pine gave a smile and chuckled a little at her literal handy map, “You can also use your left hand for the Upper Peninsula, yeah?” He raised his brows at her and chuckled again as she immediately held her left hand over her right. A smile cracked across her face at his amusement. “It’s really pretty in the fall where I’m from. My folks actually own a place up in Tawas which is here,” She pointed it out “And my grandparents own a place in Caseville here.” She moved her finger down. Finally, Pine found his keys and looked at Katie, nodding his head to the door. "So I assume you spent summers on the lake then? Which one is that, lake huron?" It was hard for Pine not to just tell her he already knew everything about where she grew up. Cameron always talked about Katie during their down time and how he loved his little sister. In fact, she was the reason he joined the army in the first place so he could protect her. Jonathan had seen many pictures of Katie as a child and seeing her now was almost surreal as she looked nothing like the pictures anymore; aside from the brown hair and large green eyes. She had grown up beautifully and Jonathan couldn't deny that she was quite a catch. He shook his head thinking if Cameron were still here he would kick his ass for even thinking about Katie like that. 

"Yeah all the time. I was practically a fish and would come out a lobster from how burned I was." She laughed at a pleasant memory. "Anyways, I'll let you pick where to go since this is my first time outside of America." The shared feeling of discomfort eased out with the change of subject. After a few more minutes of walking, the pair finally made a decision and headed inside a cozy pub. 

The ambience of an English pub was unlike anything that an American pub ever hoped to compare to. Katie looked around in awe as they were given a table to sit at. "You were certainly right about it being your first time out of the country. You look like a Deer in headlights." Pine snorted, nodding at the younger woman. The brunette shook her head and blushed a little at her companion's jeer. "Don't be making fun of me the minute we just met!" She smiled at Jonathan and laughed a little, feeling at ease with the weirdly relaxing atmosphere. "Sorry, my mistake. I should have said you look like a tiny deer in headlights." Pine grinned and flipped the menu open, amused at the pout he was given as a reaction. "Oh now you're going after my height? I totally didn't ask to get the shit end of the stick when it came to how tall I would be." Katie rolled her eyes and snorted. The two thanked their waiter as waters were brought over and placed their orders. Jonathan leaned forward a little, smirking "You could have asked whoever was giving you the "shit end of the stick" to perhaps lower it a bit-" he gave a chuckle as Katie scoffed and playfully hit his shoulder. He didn't feel bad about his jokes at all as he had her giggling and amused. Much like Cameron, she fired back with insults of her own and seemed to even pick up on a bit of English humor despite never having been here. She must have been exposed to it when Cameron came home from duty. Pine took a swig of his beer and licked his lips, truly examining his soon to be partner. While she was short in height, she had a nice hour glass shaped body with curves to compliment her in the right areas. Naturally, his eyes lingered upon the ample bust of her chest causing a slight arousal to stir within him. Katie took a bite of her food before washing it down with her water. She decided against drinking that night as her excuse was "Moscow better serve if we get the chance to dip into the motherlands true Vodka" and she said it with a perfect accent. "So what did you do before all of this?" She bit into a pub fry and raised her brows, finding herself at ease with him. This was the first time in a long time she had felt truly comfortable with a man and she had to give herself an inward cheer for it. "I am going to assume that Angela told you I managed hotels?" He mimicked her expression and leaned back, taking another swig of his beer. Katie nodded and took another fry into her mouth, waiting for him to continue. Pine was a bit hesitant to tell her that he served as they were having a great night and started an understanding of each other. He certainly didn't want to ruin the evening with his own guilt and trying to come up with the excuse of not being able to help her brother and that it was his fault he died. "I… I served. Two tours in Iraq." He tested the waters and immediately should have known not to say anything as he noticed Katie's expression change. 

"Oh. Uh, I-I had a brother who served too. His name was Cameron." Her green eyes darted away and fingers tapped on the glass of her water. The brunette's heart sank as pieces began to fall together. She had seen Jonathan Pine before in pictures that her brother sent home. Albeit, he was younger and still very much handsome. Any chemistry that had built between the two was now gone and panic struck Jonathan. "Kate, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before." He noticed her shift uncomfortably and start to pack her belongings. She froze at the name he called her as only Cameron referred to her by that. "Do NOT call me Kate." Tears welled up in her eyes and she stood abruptly, pulling her money out and nervously shuffling over to where she had to pay. This was the friend who told her brother all of the jokes that he gave unto her. This was one of Cameron's best friends… And the very person who watched him die. She felt around her pockets and noticed her phone was gone. Quickly she head back over and gave Pine one last look, "See you tomorrow." She muttered before rushing out as fast as she could. The pub was relatively close to their flat so she didn't need any sort of guidance. Jonathan grit his teeth together and ran a hand through his short curly locks. Brilliant. Some spy he was. How in the world was he supposed to work with the little sister of the friend he killed while on duty? Only time would tell and Pine certainly hoped like hell that it would heal the wound too. 

#the night manager #flowers in blood #the night manager canon divergence #fanfic #jonathan pine x ofc #my writing #writing #angela burr #jonathan pine #rob singhal #ofc #spies in love

[cassiabaggins]

Where There’s A Will (There’s A Way) Part 4

A/N:  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish this in time, but I did some hardcore grinding and got this out! I hope you enjoy it. It’s more Kili focused near the end, because baby deserves love, too. Thorin shows up for the first time, too! And guys! Every like, comment and reblog means to much to me! I love to hear what you have to say about this AU! Feel free to send a dm or comment on this if you’d like to be tagged! Also, No one guessed, but Fili and Kili’s last name, O’Turner, is a mashup between Dean and Aiden’s...... I like to think I’m clever.....

Taglist: @legolaslovely @polliwogboi @d3-iseefire​ @strictlynofrills​ @i-am-still-bb @fridayfirefly @swagbearfishturkey @floralfi

Previous Chapters: one . two . three . 

Warnings: none! just fluff and cuteness!!!

Characters: Fili, Kili, Thorin, Tauriel, Dis (mentioned), Frerin (mentioned)

Pairings: Kiliel

"I've got a list of songs we can cover," Kili says, dropping down on one of the kitchen chairs. "I think you know them, but I'm not sure." He slides his phone across to his brother.

“We’ve played them before, right?” Fili says, scrolling through the songs, “You know we can’t just start on songs we don’t know.”

Kili rolls his eyes. “Yes, Fili, I’m absolutely stupid and have no idea how music works.”

Will, who’s sitting at the table beside him, giggles. His uncle reaches over and ruffles his hair. “Doing homework?” 

Will nods. “Yeah. Next week is my last week of school. But we still have homework. It’s stupid.”

“That is stupid.”

Kili stretches his arm behind his chair and leans over, peering at Will’s homework. “So, what torture are you learning today?”

“Money values,” Will says. 

“Ah,” Kili says, “Capitalism. The bane of our existence.”

“What?” Will asks, laughing. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t make my son a communist, Kili,” Fili says, passing his brother back his phone. 

“What’s a comminist?” “Communist, son.”

“Oh. What’s that?”

“Its…” Fili starts, then pauses, grappling with how to explain communism to a six year old. “Uh…”

“Do you not know, Dad? You can look it up.”

“I know what it means, I just don’t know how to explain it to you. Its… well, it’s a form of government made up by a guy called Karl Marx.”

“Oh, okay,” Will says, going back to his homework. 

“Isn’t it technically a form of economics?” Kili asks. Fili shrugs. 

“I dunno, man, either way, it killed something like a hundred million people.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, something like that. It was a lot. I think that’s why Grandma left Russia.”

“Which Grandma?”

“Dad’s mom.”

“Your Grandma or mine, Dad?” Will asks. “Mine and Kili’s, buddy. You almost done with your homework?”

“Yeah. Can I watch you and Kili practice?”

“Of course you can.”

Kili gets up. “I’m gonna go get my guitar. I left it in the living room.”

“Okay,” Fili says, leaning over the table to look over Will’s homework. Will slides it over to him so it can be read more easily. “You’re good, Will. Go put this in your backpack.”

.

Friday comes and sees Kili, Fili, and Will heading off to Bombur's cafe. The restaurant is a cafe until three PM, and after that it becomes a bar and grill with live music every week. Bombur runs it during the day, and his brother, Bofur, runs it during the night and evening, to give the former time with his wife and three kids.

After they pull in and park, Will clambers out of the car and dashes around to Fili's door. He drags it open and hops up and down. "Can you carry me, Dad?" He asks, flapping his hands excitedly. 

"Yeah," Fili says, stepping out and picking him up and putting him up on his shoulders. "Kili, can you bring my cajon? It's in the trunk."

"Why do I have to?" Kili splutters.

Fili grabs hold of Will's ankles. "My hands are full."

Kili grumbles, but grabs both instruments. 

The bar/cafe is teeming with people already, typical of a Friday evening. Bofur meets them at the door.

"You know," he says, looking up at Will. "Technically kids aren't allowed in here past 8:00 PM."

Will sticks his tongue out at Bofur.

"C'mon," Fili wheedles, "he's my emotional support son."

"Emotional support son?"

"Yes. I need him. He's here to cheer me on."

"Is someone gonna watch him? I like Will fine, but I'm gonna be bartending, I can't keep an eye on him."

"I know, my mom is coming. And Frerin. They'll watch him."

"Well, alright then, I guess. You guys can set up over there." He points toward a slightly raised platform with a microphone in the far corner. "Thanks for doing this."

Kili shoots him a thumbs up. "No problem, man. C'mon, Fee."

They weave through the crowd, setting down their instruments. 

"Dad!" Will cries, pointing. "Is that Uncle Thorin?"

Fili turns, scanning the crowd. He spots a familiar shock of gray-streaked black hair. "I think so, buddy. You wanna go say hi to him?"

"Yeah!"

"All right, let's go. You coming, Kili?"

"I'll be around in a bit," Kili says, focused on tuning his guitar.

"Okay."

Fili moves back through the crowd, stopping beside his uncle. "Hey," he says, "I didn't know you were in town."

Thorin turns and offers them a rare smile. "Just for a few days. I have a meeting in Paris on Monday that I have to fly out for. Your mother told me about your little gig and I had to come."

"Ah, so the whole family is gonna see Kili and I embarrass ourselves. Fantastic."

Thorin snorts. 

"Did you bring me a souvenir?" Will blurts, reaching down for his great uncle. Thorin lifts him down and sits him on his lap. 

"Will," Fili chides gently.

"What?"

Thorin chuckles lowly. "What sort of souvenir were you looking for?"

"I dunno. A cool one? I like it when you bring me museum guidebooks. I like to plan out trips for when I'm big."

"Hm. So that's what you do with them."

"Yup! Right, Dad?"

"Right."

"Well, I didn't bring you any museum guidebooks this time, but I'll make sure to pick you up one from the Louvre when I'm in Paris, how's that?"

Will makes the 'okay' symbol with his hand. "Fantabulous!"

"Where'd you learn that?"

"TV!"

"You're a bit of a strange one, Will," Thorin says fondly.

"You like me though, right?"

"Yep. Strange is good."

Will beams. 

"Now," Thorin says, "about that souvenir. There's something in the left pocket of my jacket with your name on it."

Will gasps delightedly and jumps down, circling around the back of Thorin's chair to dig in the pockets of the light jacket slung over the back of his chair.

"You're gonna spoil him," Fili says, leaning on his hands on the table before him. Thorin sips his drink, smile lines crinkling around his blue eyes.

"What are grandpa's for?"

"You aren't his grandpa, though."

"I'm close enough."

"Whoa!" Will shouts, having discovered his prize. "Dad, look!"

"What did you find, buddy?" Fili asks. His son hurries over to him, something clutched in his hands. 

"This is it, right Uncle?" Will holds up a small leather bound notebook, about the size of an adult man's hand. Thorin nods. 

"That's it."

The boy laughs excitedly, jumping up and down. 

"What do you say, kiddo?" Fili prompts gently. 

"Thank you!" Will blurts, hugging his great uncle, "thank you!"

"You're welcome, Will," Thorin says, ruffling his hair. 

Will scrambles back up into his lap, flipping through the notebook. "You know," he says, "this doesn't have my name on it, though."

"That was a figure of speech," Fili explains. 

"What's a figure of speech?" Kili asks, walking up. "Hi, Thorin."

"Hey, Kili."

"Thorin said the notebook had my name on it," Will says, "but it didn't really."

"I see. Fili, we should start soon."

"Okay,” Fili looks down at Will. “Buddy, do you remember what we talked about?”

Will looks up from admiring his new notebook. “Yeah.”

“Can you tell me? Just so I know?”

He nods. “I have to stay by Gran, and when she says we have to go I can’t whine about it.”

“Good. And what else?”

“If I feel overwhelmed and want to leave, I can tell Gran, but I have to be patient because I can’t expect her to drop everything, but she’ll do her best.”

“Good job. Thorin, can you keep an eye on him until Mom shows up?”

Thorin nods. “Gladly.”

"Okay. See you soon, Will."

"Good luck, Dad!"

"Thanks, buddy."

Fili ruffles Will's hair one last time. "Come on, Kili."

"Hi," Kili says, "we're Fili and Kili O'Turner, and we'll be playing for you tonight."

"What's your band name?!" Bofur calls from the back of the room. Kili leans in close to the mic.

"We don't have one. We didn't think we'd get this far."

"Fili and the Boys!" Fili shouts.

"Who's the other boy?" Someone calls.

Fili points to the boxlike instrument he's sitting on. "The cajon!"

That brings a ripple of laughter through the crowd. "Yeah, we're not naming ourselves Fili and the Boys," Kili says. 

"We're just two brothers and a cajon," Fili says.

"Okay, that's our name, Two Brothers and a Cajon," Kili says. "And we're covering a variety of songs! Thanks for listening and please don't laugh us out of town my brother has a kid to feed. Alright!"

.

It goes well. Really well. Fili keeps his head down so he doesn't have to look at the crowd (it's not like that many people are watching them, most are talking with friends or playing pool or drinking, and Fili is find with that). Once and a while he looks up and sees a few people consistently watching them: their family and a tall, pretty redhead in a gaggle of other friends. (The redhead is watching Kili, mainly). They play for an hour and a half before deciding to call it quits. Bofur comes over and thanks them as they pack up.

“You two really pulled us out of a bind,” He says. 

Kili grins. “If you want to book us again, we’re available.”

“Yeah, but give us more warning next time,” Fili adds.

“Why?” Bofur teases, “It’s not like you’re doing anything on a Friday night, Fili.”

Kili barks out a laugh. 

“Okay, damn,” Fili mumbles, “just scalp me next time. Holy shit.”

“‘Ey! Bofur!” Someone yells, “get back here and top me off!”

“Would you wait a moment, Nori? Geez!” Bofur turns back to Fili and Kili. “I’ve got to go. I’ll let you guys know if I need you again. You can have free drinks the rest of the night.” He waves and returns to the bar.

“Ooh, free drinks,” Kili says excitedly.

"I'm heading out," Fili says. 

"No, no you aren't," his brother replies, slinging his arm around his neck. "Come on, get a drink with me."

"I can't. I'm driving."

"One drink. Just one. C’mon.”

Fili caves. He does need to spend more time with his brother, anyway. "Okay, I need to be home by 10, though."

"Fine by me. We have half an hour." Kili drags him over to the bar and orders two beers on tap. 

It’s good to spend time with Kili over a drink, talking about life, about things they can’t talk about around others.

"When was the last time you got laid?" Kili asks. Fili frowns, scratching his chin. 

"Uhm… awhile. Half a year maybe?"

Kili chokes on his drink. "Seriously?"

"What? Having a kid really compromises my chances!"

"When was the last time you went on a date?"

"About the same time. I went out a few times with this chick who came in for an oil change."

"You asked out a customer?"

"No, she asked me out."

"And you went?"

"She was cute. We hooked up a few times. Then I found out she had a boyfriend."

Kili chokes again on his drink, and Fili thumps his back. "Don't die, man," he says.

"She used you… to cheat on her boyfriend?" He asks.

Fili tosses up a half-hearted peace sign. "Yup."

"Oh man, you have the worst trouble with girls," Kili sighs.

"Eh, if they don't like kids, they aren't worth my time. The only women I'm interested in are ones who are willing to be moms. Or at least are willing to consider the possibility. There aren't a lot of women… or people in general, who are willing to have a serious relationship with a single parent. We bring baggage."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Do you think Will needs a mom?"

"I'd like him to have one. And I'd like to have a wife. But like I said, it's hard to date with a kid."

"Yeah, I can imagine…" Kili trails off, his eyes fixed on something beyond Fili.

"What?" Fili asks.

"What?"

"What are you looking at?" Fili turns around to scan the crowd, following his line of sight. 

"Her." Kili says, gesturing towards the tall, leggy redhead Fili had noticed earlier. She’s standing beside the pool table, her head thrown back in laugh.

Fili raises an eyebrow. "Are you gonna go talk to her?"

Kili shrugs. "Should I?"

"I think you should. She was watching you, you know.

“Really?”

“Really. I have to head out, anyway. Go.”

"Okay," Kili says, slamming back the rest of his beer. "Alright."

"You need a ride?"

"Nah," he hops off his stool. "I'll catch an uber. See you."

Fili laughs at his brother's starstruck expression and turns back to his own drink. 

Kili weaves his way through the crowd and catches the red head's eye. She's tall. Taller than him by at least four inches, and he doesn't mind in the slightest, because up close she is even more beautiful. He grins at her.

"Hi."

"Hi!" She replies, "you guys played really well tonight! I really enjoyed it."

"You did?" He asks, his voice cracking just a little. He clears his throat. "You did? Cool! Cool. I'm glad. Yeah. That's awesome. Uh. I'm Kili."

She smiles. "I know."

"Oh. Heh. We introduced ourselves earlier, didn't we?"

"You did. I'm Tauriel."

"It's nice to meet you. Can I buy you a drink? Unless you're here with someone else, then I can fuck right off."

She laughs. Even her laugh is pretty. "I'm not here with anyone. I'd like that."

Kili can't help a little bounce of joy on the balls of his feet. "Cool!" 

He leads her over to the bar. She orders a cosmopolitan and he orders and old fashioned, and they sit on bar stools regarding each other for awhile, making small talk. Kili feels utterly tongue tied in her presence at first, but fights past it. She turns out to be surprisingly easy to talk to, quick-witted and sharp tongued, and he feels even more silly. But she's smiling at him and laughing at his jokes. So that's a bonus. She's wearing a very interesting necklace, a teardrop shaped pendant resting on her collarbone and Kili is trying to figure out how to ask her about it.

"I swear I'm not staring at your boobs," Kili blurts, realizing what he's doing, "I'm just trying to get a better look at your necklace. It's pretty."

Tauriel laughs softly, and takes it off, holding it out for him to inspect. Kili takes it gingerly, holding the white stone up to the light. It shimmers silver and blue. 

"Whoa," he breathes. "That's so cool. What kind of rock is this?"

"Crystal," she corrects gently. "It's moonstone."

"Crystal, huh?" He says, "do you believe in that stuff?"

She blushes. "Yeah."

"Don't be ashamed!" He says hurriedly. "There's nothing wrong with it! I'm just not a very spiritual person myself. So." He returns the necklace to her by draping it back over her head. "What's moonstone supposed to do for you? Open your third eye?"

Tauriel laughs softly again, playing idly with the pendant. "You aren't far off, exactly."

"Oh, so if I wear that I can like, see time or something? That'd be cool."

"No, nothing like that. It's just the chakra it's associated with. The third eye chakra and the solar plexus chakra."

"Oh! Chakras!" Kili says, "I know about chakras. From Avatar: The Last Airbender. Does this mean you're the avatar?"

"Yes," she giggles, "I'm on my quest to master the elements. I came here today searching for my water bending master."

"Ah, too bad, that. I can't help you with that I can barely swim."

"Really? That's not very safe!"

"I never got the hang of it. I hit the water and sink like a rock. Just glub glub glub. Hey? Where'd Kili go? Oh, he drowned."

"No!" She gasps, "don't say that! Don't drown!"

"I won't, luckily, I even avoid bathtubs, I am a shower only kind of guy."

"Oh, I love baths. They're the best. You can't go wrong with a good bubble bath. Some bathbombs maybe. A few scented candles. Classical music playing. Man. That's the dream. Perfect after a long day of work."

"I'd say the picture you painted sounded great if I wasn't so prone to death by drowning. What do you do for a job?"

"I'm a nurse. I work in the ER over at Central."

"Really. I haven't seen you there!"

"I just transferred out of school, so you wouldn't. Wait, the way you phrased that sounds like you spend a good amount of time in the emergency room. You don't, do you?"

Kili rubs the back of his head self-consciously. "I am not joking, unfortunately. I'm what people call accident prone."

"How accident prone?"

"Well, last month I dropped a toolbox on my foot and broke two toes. So, if you saw me limping, that's why."

"How often does stuff like that happen?"

Kili leans on his elbow. "You'd be surprised."

He doesn't notice the time passing as he tells her of the multiple stupid injuries hes gotten, both in childhood and more recently. She shares her own scrapes and childhood stories, and it turns out that they both have some similar interests. Archery being one of them. They're conversation is interrupted by Bofur leaning over the bar.

"You guys," he says, "it's late. I'm trying to close."

Kili jumps, looking around and realized the bar is pretty much empty. He rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Oops."

Tauriel laughs. "I guess we lost track of time, huh?"

"Yeah," he grins up at her. "Want to get out of here?"

"I'd like that," she says, "I'd really like that."

Kili's grin grows impossibly wide and he tosses a few crumpled bills on the counter as a tip and hops down, holding his hand out to Tauriel. She takes it. Her hand is slim and lightly calloused in his, warm and he decides he never wants to let go. He's a little tipsy (maybe a little more than a little, he's never been good at holding his alcohol) and so is she, leaning against him, all long limbs and soft melodious laughs.

"I'll call two ubers," he says as they step into the warm early summer night. The stars above them are shining valiantly through the city lights.

"You don't have to do that, Kili," she says, "I can call my own."

"Trust me," he says, "I don't mind." He keeps one arm around her slim waist as he pulls up the app. She rests her head on his, stroking her hand through his too long hair. 

"You're a real gentleman, you know that?" She says.

Kili blushes. "You think so?"

"Mhmm. Not a lot of decent guys around, let alone gentlemen."

"Yeah? Well, my mama raised me right."

She giggles, curling a lock of his hair around her finger. "Hey, are you busy tomorrow night?"

"I'm not. Why?"

"Because I'd like to take you out to dinner and drinks."

"Really?" He says.

"Really."

"I'd be happy to join you," he grins, "but I have to admit, you beat me to the punch on that."

"Were you gonna ask me out?"

"I was."

She laughs again, pulling back to take his face in her hands. "I like you a lot, Kili," she tells him, and his heart leaps.

"I really like you, too," he breathes. God, he hopes she kisses him. Before hes fully realized that thought, she bends and presses a kiss to his lips and his heart leaps. He kisses back enthusiastically,  his hands on her hips, and they stand there wrapped up in each other until the ubers show up.

"I'll see you tomorrow night," she murmurs, pulling back from him.

"Yeah," he says, feeling all dazed and tingly from her kiss (maybe part of it's the alcohol, but he's not thinking about semantics). 

"Oh!" She gasps, "you need my number!"

"That would be important," he laughs, pulling up the contacts on his phone. He takes hers when she hands it to him and puts his number in.

"I'll see you tomorrow then,"  she says.

"Yeah," he replies, "tomorrow."

She smiles at him and slides into the Uber. "Bye."

"Bye."

Kili watches the uber drive off for a moment, and then hops up and down, fistpumping enthusiastically. He lets out a loud whoop, feeling at the absolute top of the world. 

#where theres a will theres a way #where theres a will #wtawtaw #single dad!Fili #single parent au #single dad au #fili #kili #tauriel #dis #frerin #thorin oakenshield #durin fam #kiliel #kili x tauriel #fili friday

[artificialqueens]

learning to be silent (multi) — chapter one - Roza

[ summary ] : figure skating is a tough sport and the reality of the situation is beginning to hit the fan for all the skaters: old and new as grand prix qualifications begin and winter olympic prep is upon them, some crack under the pressure while some are simply happy to be living their passion in full throttle. ( figure skating au )

[ author's note ] : this is a figure skating au and not a yoi au btw!!! I think the show is great, this is just its own original thing and has nothing to do with the show, hope y'all enjoy and the world and tags will definitely grow as chapters progress, have to give a shout-out to @freykitten on tumblr who really helped me develop some good concepts !! enjoy xx — lily.

AO3 / My Tumblr / (*˘︶˘*).｡*♡

— ✧*。

"Again!"

Shea shook her head, feeling a deep sense of disbelief run through her veins as she adjusted the sleeves of her jacket as she pulled down her black leggings to her Edea skates, making sure to hit her leg and have it tightly fit, her and Trinity consistently argued on the ice, even in competition season, if pulling your leggings down to your skates really have you the look and attraction of longer legs.

Her skate's lifted off the ice as she circled around the center of the rink, unable to focus with Grand Prix qualifications starting soon, she had qualified her way through which with American skating being so overcrowded and packed with talent, wasn't easy.

"Don't get in your head girl, you have to be in France next week." Trinity spoke up from the sides of the rink, leaning against Detox who stood with her arms crossed, rubbing her partner's shoulders even though she wore Detox's own lavendar jacket with her initials engraved that Alaska had bought her when they made it to the senior team. "Shea, don't be so tense just wait until the Olympic qualifications in a few months for that, stop stressing!"

The Chicago native gave a thumbs up to indicate she was listening but truthfully, how could she? Internationaux de France this year was a complete madhouse and was considered the blood bath qualifying round of the season. That damn paper had so many suprisingly good rookies and seasoned professionals it physically made Shea sink into their break room couch when she found out on the livestream her and Trixie watched from their training rink.

Internationaux de France Entries (Ladies) :

—

Australia: Courtney Act

Canada: Brook Lynn Hytes

China: Yuhua Hamasaki

Norway: Thorgy Galligan

Russia: Jinkx Monsoon, Sasha Velour

Spain: Shuga Cain

USA: Shea Couleé, Aquaria Coady, Adore Delano

—

"Shea, get into position, please." Bob spoke up, her coach spoke up as she got back to her spot near the rink, watching closely though the frustration building on her skater's face was visible as can be and she bitterly groaned, "Yes, I know, got it!"

Bob frowned seeing Shea so abrasive, it wasn't like her to lash out even in small doses unless someone really was pissing her off and deserved it or she was stressed: Bob knew it was the latter and didn't take it too personal considering what an athletic ball of energy she was when she was still a competitive skater.

"Play!" She instructed to Detox who nodded and pressed play on the phone, already hooked up to the rink's speakers and ready to use.

Shea had begged, had pleaded, had absolutely driven Bob to madness since her junior years to finally use Moulin Rouge as her long program music, her short program was strong as is but they always stuck a bit more traditional in that route but the long program was completely and utterly her own choice of style and music, as long as her coach approved which she luckily, finally did.

"Bitch, I always wanted to do Sparkling Diamonds, this ain't fair!" Trinity moaned about as Detox snickered, holding her hand as they stood watching intently. Trinity trained with Bob since her junior years but Detox was simply here for support and a visit, the American skaters usually mixed and mingled with eachother's rinks, not too serious when competition was overwhelming.

Shea breathed in deeply, a cross across her chest before she felt the music in her, she knew the song for years and years, as if she didn't completely obsess over the musical when she was a teenager, it seemed to come truly full circle once her competition dress had been designed and sent to her: it was stunning, completely stoned with crystals as most dresses were and had impeccable craftsmanship, short sleeved and looked just like a reimagining of Madonna's iconic "Material Girl" outfit which is what Shea was going for.

Pink, White and Iridescent shimmers, it definitely helped her gain some momentum with the song.

Being a senior for over five years had taught her a lot, she had won two international competitions, won over ten national ones and somehow managed to beat Katya Zamolodchikova, Russia's IT girl for a silver medal in Worlds though it was now retiree and coach, Morgan McMichaels who took gold, her biggest achievement since she hadn't qualified for the Olympics yet.

Her main goal of the season was to finally get that damn quad down, all the Russian juniors could do it yet eighty percent of all Senior skaters couldn't, it was both incredible and terrifying.

Some of the girls she knew personally in good and in bad ways, she loved Adore and knew Bianca was always a coach to take in advice from, Aquaria was just entering her first season as a senior but everyone had known her for years, she was Sharon's daughter after all and Sharon Coady was the absolute beacon of hope when it came to coaches, she was the coach international girl's wanted.

Courtney and Brooke were all business and bustling with talent though Courtney had a reputation in the sport as someone who couldn't keep a secret or go one competition without complaining about bias judging, Brooke was simply serious and didn't like to speak too much in interviews and kept to herself which Shea could respect.

Sasha she knew of extremely well. She was stunning, Shea was jealous of how one girl could possibly be so damn beautiful and intelligent. She had been watching her in senior competition's since she became a part of the Russian senior team at 16, she could do just about every trick in the book but everyone watched her for her style and how beautifully she portrayed a story on ice. She was the one to beat along with Katya (who was always fiercely competition) and almost all the Russian girls.

Focusing on her triple axel she skated forward waiting for the cue of the music, attempting to stay completely engulfed in character before slamming her toe pick and jumping, rotating and landing backwards as she glided, arms open. Judging by Trinity's loud scream she either did incredible or underrotated it yet again.

She finished on a high note with claps from Detox and Trinity, Bob gesturing her over as she skated towards the wall of the ice rink, "So was it great or just good again?" She managed to ask before Bob snickered, nodding, "You were great in technique, which is good, but now I'm worried you aren't giving enough of yourself in the story, the character, I'm just surprised because that's usually what you do best."

It was very true and blunt, Shea wasn't known for the cleanest and prettiest lutz or axel jumps (hey, she still did them!) but she racked up presentation points like absolutely nobody's business.

"Well shit." The reply came before she apologized for cursing, it still felt weird even though she was an adult to curse in front of her coach, she truthfully felt like a junior again. "Take ten minutes and then I want to run both back to back, I need you to realize how different your music is and how to get into character." Bob walking off to go and get some hot tea, offering Detox who politely declined to jump onto the ice over the wall, yelling.

Trinity shook her head as she took of a sip of her iced tea bottle, walking over to Shea once she put her skate guards on, touching her friend's hands with their gloves still on, Shea only did it for costume purposes but Florida born and raised Trinity wasn't too keen yet on the cold, any costume she could wear gloves with she completely gushed over just because it was more warm.

"You're gonna do absolutely amazing, you know I'm coming to France already, I finished my competition and now I need you to beat my score and continue the journey to the Grand Prix."

Trinity had skated a week prior in Skate Canada, she placed fifth which wasn't what ideally she hoped for, the minimum score for qualification was 142.5 in Ladies Single skating and she had managed a 179.9 but she had taken a nasty fall in her short and did not recover too well after that but she still had a chance, a tiny, itty bitty chance though she simply moved on from it the day after once she cried into Alaska's shoulder for a straight hour knowing her chances were completely diminished.

"Focus on the Olympics, that's where it matters."

Detox skated around, aimlessly, doing a scratch spin in the center of the ice before letting herself sit completely wide open on the floor, the ice was nice and clean and private, the price you paid for that was worth it to have time without other skaters. "So, have you heard about Katya?"

"Heard what?"

"She quit on her coach, she's moving to Trixie's training camp over in Michigan, she got so aggravated finally that she literally up and left."

Shea gasped, impressed it took that long, she knew it was bound to happen she had heard multiple stories of how awful Russian skaters were treated by the large and in charge coaches, subjected to extremely harsh diets, training constantly, the media ate it up even if it was unfortunately true in some circumstances.

"So that means she's with Chad now?"

Detox nodded, Chad was a coach legend, he coached some of the best including Bob, Bianca and Morgan though their relationship got extremely tense and messy once the Scottish skater, now coach, blamed her career ending injury on Chad, who now would only beat herself up over the damn thing.

"That's good, I think he needs someone just as ambitious and witty as Morgan on her grounds again."

"We'll see, I think she'll crack under the new expectations and routine."

*.✧

Katya slammed the door of her St. Petersburg condo and cursed, wanting to burst into tears, unable to take any of it anymore. She had been living here for almost four years after Lobnya and opened her eyes and extra room to Sasha, a sweet and endearing girl who had since become her younger sister figure, she didn't have a wonderful support system so the older skater took it upon herself to make sure she was taken care of though she was soon to relocate alone and closer to the rink.

Sasha was never an issue, she was perfect, an angel, she was never ever yelled at in camp or at training, she was known as "Саша, дорогая" ( Sasha, darling ) for a damn reason, she did everything with no complaints yet was selfless and always stuck up for her fellow skaters who were ill, younger, struggling.

"What's wrong?" She asked with her nose in her textbooks, Sasha was still determined to finish her schooling one day though it probably wouldn't come soon with her fame and success.

"I quit."

Instantly her book was shut and the blonde looked up, her thick hair parting in front of her face as she nervously questioned what exactly that response exactly meant, "What— what, do you mean by that?" .

"I called him a fucking pig in front of the seniors, I threw my gold medal at him and then took my skates off and left, I called someone who had been interested in me for years to coach me and she immediately offered me a yes and it includes housing, I'm moving to America to train."

Sasha's entire face bleached white, she had no one else she was close to besides Jinkx who was always with another coach than she was and it was unsettling to think about the scene and commotion she must have caused and how it reflected on Sasha who they all called her darling "sister". Katya's hands anxiously ran down her arms, "I can't do this anymore Sasha, I'm turning to drugs again and I can't do that during competition season, I promised I'd be sober to and fuck!" She yelled, throwing her skates across the room as she stared at her own reflection in the large glass panel windows that adorned her comfortable living room, a view of the city perfectly placed.

The other blonde reached out to touch her shoulders and give her a soothing hug, knowing the extent of her history with issues like drugs and alcohol and knowing she was better than this, than to train in America. "Katya, Let's talk, please..." yet she was stopped with a firm slap on her wrist.

"Я не хочу с тобой разговаривать!" She screamed at Sasha, eyes completely ablaze with frustration, the younger skater quickly froze and closed her eyes, breathing slowly and took it in, she wasn't sensitive to someone screaming, she was just surprised Katya had finally reached such a breaking point she managed to yell at her own sister. Katya quickly snapped from her complete alternative reality and groaned at herself, "Sashi, I'm so sorry." She whispered before taking the younger girl in her arms who's eyes were puffing and red, sniffles once her face hit the Russian's national team jacket.

"I didn't mean to scream at you, I'm so sorry." Her apology soft as her fingers ran through the blonde's hair who cried on her chest, mumbling how awful it would be in Russia without her everyday which Katya responded with a firm, "But Sashi, we will always have camps and competitions and off seasons."

"Are you coming to France?"

What a stupid question.

"Of course I am, Sashi, nothing is going to change between us, I'm simply taking my training somewhere else and changing my coach. I still represent and compete for Russia!" She laughed while hugging her closest friend and roomie.

Sasha nodded and let go of her grasp before clearing her throat, "Good, I want to win extremely bad." Katya scoffed, "You act as if any of those other girls even have a chance against you." The younger girl felt her face light up as she clutched her phone close to her chest, "Well actually, there is one American skater who is really, really great and she's so beautiful to..." Katya nervously snapping at her face, "Don't let me lose you to a crush on an American skater, who even is it?"

"It's Shea, the same one who got second at World's three years ago."

The memory definitely stung hard, Katya had never wanted so badly to be top of the podium especially since it was Morgan's last skate before unexpected retirement. Shea was extremely hard working and talented but she was still competition and shouldn't pose Sasha a threat judging by their pure program components.

"Jesus Christ, out of every girl you're going to crush on it has to be her?"

Sasha moaned In disbelief at her response, "Crush?! She is simply competition and I admit her style, she's extremely beautiful and I will respect her from a distance." That sounded like a promise but something in the Russian's heart raced at the programs she had already done and that were uploaded to various social media's, she never took time to really know most other skaters but followed her on Instagram, not expecting much of a response back but instead she indeed returned the follow, there was at the very least a small respect for eachother hidden under all the competition.

"You keep on telling yourself that, now help me pack, I'm flying out in two days."

*.✧

Stress wasn't exactly the first word that Aquaria had hoped would come to mind when thinking about her first senior competition but how could it possibly not, now it was a completely ballgame and she had nothing but experienced and fierce competition, Adore being there with her made a bit less worried with press and interviews even if her own mother was coming since she was her coach, of course.

Her "mom" of over seven years had vied for her to finally become a senior and represent America after she permanently moved from Milan, passion blazing and talent endless. Sharon was beyond happy to have her newfound "daughter" with her at every corner though she still had other skater's to focus on but it was definitely difficult to not put blantant favoritism towards your own daughter, let's be completely honest.

"You ready for France?" Alaska asked the younger girl as she tightly pulled on her skate's laces, Aquaria shook her head, pulling her platinum hair into a high ponytail so the strands of hair would be away from her face while she trained, pulling her leggings over her skates as she responded with a nervously riddled, "Not really, I have some really huge competition and I don't know if I'm exactly up to the level yet, no matter what she has to say." Referring to Sharon who always placed her cards down for Aquaria to succeed and she dominated the junior level for a long time but now it was serious and where it counted, her entire career started here.

Alaska wrapped an arm around her shoulders and nodded, remembering the days of her first starting qualifications at the senior level, she had still an extremely controversial skating style and range of music, she never liked the classical music done over and over again. She'd rather skate to Stevie Nicks than to fucking Carmen for the fifth time straight like some of her competitors. Adore Delano was the same way and it made for them to become great friends, even if it felt as if they were intentionally underscored for their taste in genres.

"Well, your style is beautiful and the judges will appreciate it, make it to the damn Grand Prix girl!" Slapping her shoulders she helped the shorter and younger girl from the bench as she walked by Sharon, her black skate guards over the blade as she leaned into the crook of her neck, "Does it feel weird to see how far she's come?" The whisper making the coach jump a bit but she chuckled in response.

"It is, this is how life works though, I'm just hoping it's a good first impression for her, she deserves it."

Alaska took her hand and smiled, "You worry too fucking much." She mumbled, Sharon kissing her hand and tightly keeping the hold of her fingertips, interlocking them as she continued on with Aquaria who had been staring at them and smiling to herself, she always understood the extent of their "friendship" as Sharon put it though she wasn't an idiot: kissing her hand constantly, holding her waist, being extra touchy during training and ice time, showing up to practices and competitions with well covered bruises and hickey's.

"Alright, play!" She yelled to Latrice who gave a smile and nodded, letting the phone begin it's track as Aquaria molded into starting position, center of the ice as always.

Her program was a difficult one, in terms of components she had the most though Sasha Velour, her biggest competition, still had more quad's and bigger points to rack up though Aquaria was attempting a quad lutz finally out of the harness, if she was going to win she needed to atleast begin measuring up to her Russian competitors who always seemed an entire staircase above the rest of the skaters when it came to jumps and tricks though Aquaria wasn't sure she would ever sacrifice her sanity for a medal.

Sharon had brainstormed with her at home, on the counter nonetheless what the theme of her program should be, she said it was always the most important thing to consider because it helped with performance. Alaska had unsuprisingly chosen Rebellion and Aquaria went with Dreams, an odd choice but she liked the concepts and her songs.

Short program to Oh So Quiet by Björk, Long program was a medley they put together for Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, trying to make it cohesive and Aquaria certainly liked the mix. Her original plan was to do some songs from Chicago but Alaska begged her not to so they could do it for the exhibition gala's together claiming they'd look basic but amazing.

The key to a good performance truthfully was just embodying the song, the skating and skill would follow that but if you couldn't even get the message or portrayal of the song what was the point, certain skaters would utterly destroy the others in technical score and fall flat on performance, on the look and energy.

Sharon breathed deeply seeing Aquaria stumble just a bit on the opening jump, "Arms straight out!" She yelled as the blonde adjusted, performing a layback spin and turning on her skate with the back outside edge and slamming her toe pick into the ice before performing her quad lutz with success, smiling in pure delusional happiness hearing Alaska utterly scream in support before she tuned her out and continued the program, trying not to let it get to her head when she still had other elements to perform.

The end was always the hardest, to maintain momentum and wrap the program up in a gift wrapped present with the bow on top, this song luckily was a fun one and had a lot of indication in the beats placed on the music where to hit certain poses, positions and when to jump.

Finishing with a clean salchow and camel spin, ending in the center where she started though she finished on her knees, it wasn't the most pleasant but it got the feeling of the song she wanted so it was her artistic direction for this one and not Sharon's.

"Yes!" Sharon yelled laughing clapping, Alaska cheered on her teammate with pride and joy, "So fucking good." She groaned before attempting to run with skates on to choke Aquaria in a tight hug, Sharon joining in on the hug, feeling pride though she had her stumbles and her edges could definitely be improved but she had the charisma, the jumps, even got the quad she wanted.

"The edges are a bit rough but we can work on that, I'm so proud." Sharon breathed on her neck as they embraced as a mother and daughter pair did, Alaska rolled her eyes, she knew it was Sharon's damn job to nitpick every small thing in her programs however, especially since this was Aquaria and someone she took care of personally: she wanted to do the best she possibly could with the competition that laid ahead.

"Now get off, Alaska and I have to work since she's been a lazy bitch."

Aquaria didn't complain at the chance to take a break, get water and unlace her skates, quickly getting off the ice as Alaska hopped on, circling the ice rink as she hummed, running movements in her head. Alaska had drawn the Rostelecom Cup and was beyond glad that Detox had as well so she couldn't feel as alone propped in her hotel room.

"Latrice please!" Sharon yelled at the girl who gave a nod before pressing play again, this time Sharon was on the ice so she could help Alaska out more with tracking the number, she looked to be marking it constantly and that was worrysome enough.

"Are you following me because you're so in love with me you simply can't stay away?" A kiss pressed to her lips, hands on her cheeks while Aquaria was turned away, Sharon licked her lips and laughed, "Wish it was, you just aren't skating very great right now."

Alaska was taken back just a bit but shook it off, knowing how much belief Sharon had in her to succeed even with her odd music choices, she was a performer and she averaged a bronze medal almost every competition, it was still atleast some kind of money, achievement and medal. They had known eachother since their childhood in Pennsylvania. Sharon might have been about four years older and a coach now but that didn't mean Alaska still didn't mind on reminiscing the days they both skated together on Chad's team of established skaters.

"Wait until my costume, I'll be completely galvanized and in perfect character." She promised with a sly wink before stretching out her arms and going in the center, Aquaria watching with curiousity. She always enjoyed Alaska's blantant disregard for what the judges wanted in her music and skating, claiming she was too athletic which Alaska called out as bullshit, they just didn't like she wasn't a pretty ice princess doing Don Quixote or Schindler's List and actually had variety in genre.

The ISU still approved all her music programs for competitions which was all she cared about. Sharon fought diplomatically as she could when it came to Coaches and Media bashing Alaska's skating.

I'll win a medal and then you'll finally be proud of me.

#rpdr fanfiction #sashea #detox x trinity #shalaska #sasha velour #shea coulee #trinity taylor #sharon needles #alaska thunderfuck #bob the drag queen #aquaria #katya zamolodchikova #lesbian au #figure skating au #learning to be silent #roza #concrit welcome #detox icunt

[popculturebuffet]

Analysis of X: Maurader’s #1 “I’m on a Boat”

Ahoy Muties! I’m Jacob Mattingly and in moving to Tumblr and print, this is my first text review. As for this segment, welcome to Analysis of X, where I cover the dawn of x and onward as it happens. I will get to X-Men #1 as I wasn’t sure wether to review it late or not soon enough, but for now I felt it best to start with Dawn of X’s first non-hickman stab at greatness, Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli’s pirate themed Mauraders. Come aboard after the break. 

So Mauraders begins a few months back, with our book’s headliner Kitty Pryde, and her future teammates, close friend and surrogate mom Storm and ex-boyfriend and her best buddy, my faviorite X-Man and organizer for orgies on Krakoa: Nightcrawler, ready to head to Krakoa. For those two of you who didn’t read house of x or couldn’t afford it and powers, understandable the current status quo is simple: Mutantkind has formed it’s own nation on their former enemy Krakoa, the island that walks like a man but currently dosen’t because several people would fall off, and have planted gates globally so mutants can come to their new eden, finally done with all the racist genocidal bullshit mankind has put them through. Kitty tries to come along  But welll....

Instead of letting her in for some reason Krakoa instead says come on and SLAM and your not welcome to the JAM. Kitty takes it well. 

We get our character page, which is apparently NOT limited to Hickman’s work, but I find it a nice touch, and unlike the avengers books from other writers under his tenure not doing the same thing, unify’s things a bit. I also like this opening mystery a ton. Is it her powers? Or is it something else? And how will Doug Ramsey aka Cypher, her former best friend who had a crush on her in the mutant equivalent in high school and Krakoa’s translator factor into this. I hope he does because most Kitty Pryde centric stories kinda forgot he existed entirely, as did New Mutants and All-New X-Factor on the Doug side. Seriously it bugs me as they were incredibly close yet because him being single might get in the way of her and other ships the writers had planned, this was just ignored and hopefully with Doug being a bigger player Duggan won’t ignore him this time, and given how strong this book is I expect this to come up. 

Moving Right along after the intro page, with the wonderful welcome of ahoy muties and a cast page, showing this isn’t exclusive to Hickman’s book and something I like we get a captain’s log of sorts, with the reveal that, with no way to portal there, Kitty just stole a boat, said i’m the captain now (Because you can’t escape that refrence and why would you) and then .. muses a bit about how left behind she feels as seen above. And it’s an intresting dilema: without the portals, how can she ever REALLY feel at home on Krakoa when she’d basically be trapped there, alone amongst everyone else.. and not for the first time. 

Longtime fans or those who’ve binged Claremont’s run will recall this little scene: after taking the bullet for Rouge during Mutant Massacre Kitty was left basically a ghost. No tangeblity, no way to interact, just trapped in a world she could see. While it DID get better from here it was only marginally: she could speak, she could talk.. but for the early part of her days with Excalibur, basically the british X-Men and something i’ll save more for next week, her powers of phasing through objects had reversed. She had to concentrate to stay SOLID and it was hell for her. It eventually righted itself, somehow I haven’t read far enough into Excalibur to know, but it had to leave some scars. The fact it happened AGAIN after that time she made a bullet meant to destroy earth intangiable and was only saved about a year or so later in story, or month given the weird timescale for marvel but moving on, by Magneto.. and left like this AGAIN until right before Schism. So to me, wether intentional or not, and it feels intentional, Kitty’s been isolated and trapped, alone amongst those around her before.. and she probably dosen’t want that again but worse. So she sails to Krakoa unsure with logan’s grocery list in tow. Which gloriously, we get to see. 

And this also explains where the hell the beer used in the big party at the end of HOX and POX came from, though it’s equally likely Logan had magneto steal a beer truck for them and then spent a full day with him carting it all through the gate. But before this gloriousneess Kitty arrives and tries going through the other way. 

So before Kitty, or Kate as she prefers to be known now, gets down to a rousing round of killing a child, Bobby shows up. Kitty assures him her problem is be handled by top men, which your saved from the indiana jones refrence because I can’t find a picture for that, logan goes diving for booze.

Because let’s face it Logan without enough Booze to murder Bojack Horseman just isn’t Logan. Bobby heads into a gate to find out why it has no traffic, while Kitty.. gets a phone call from her good old buddy Emma Frost, white queen. As a refresher the two went from sniping at each other constantly to mutaual respect with still a good deal of pot shots during Joss Whedon’s run on the book. That has not really changed. For those of you just joining us Emma was, and now is again, the white queen of a hellfire club and the first evil mutant kitty ever met, so naturally, shit’s complicated. But the important takeaway is that Emma trusts kitty. And has a job opprotunity for her. Those who read HOX and POX probably know that the ruling council of krakoa has an open chair.. and Emma wants her to .  See these days Emma’s old running buddies in the hellfire club, which she’s now in charge of, are the Hellfire Trading company, a vital economic partner and thus were naturally courted by Xavier as a vital part of Krakoa and shipping the life giving plants Krakoa gives worldwide. Where Kitty Kitty Bang Bang comes in is that not everyone is happy about Krakoa or welcoming of their gates: HOX and POX outright showed some countries refused to partner with them, and even some that have agreed to soverignty have taken to some drastic measures to keep mutants from leaving. 

Yeah, and it makes sense. The Marvel universe was prejudiced against mutants on a GOOD day, and now they’ve outright declared superiority, strong armed their way into acceptance, and want to take all of the rest away to their eden. While they had every right to after multiple, and i’m not exagerating, attempted and two sucessful GENOCIDES, of course they have to play hard ball to get this and of course extremist anti-mutant groups wouldn’t stand for it. But it works because it makes sense: the portals are a big target and several assholes aren’t going to let mutantkind escape their service, or alive, without a fight. So that’s the mission Emma is offering: a seat at the table as Red Queen of Hellfire and a misson saving muties, getting drunk and fightin round the world. And she also, cleverly, juxtoposes her being a pirate with what pirates in the past did: the pirates and traders of old were slavers. Kitty and her crew would be liberators, saving mutants from Humankind, bringing the live saving drugs in even to countries who refused and the mutants out. Speaking of mutants who are out let’s check on Iceman. But first lockheed with a crab. 

Awww. So bobby heads to mother russia.. and finds a nice warm reception. 

Yeah naturally this dosen’t go well. Russia is , unsuprisingly, being a dick about the whole thing and it turns out the asshole’s armor can temporarily depower mutants, so bobby books it back and tells kitty.. who’s Mr. Lahey levels of plastered and gets Storm to tag along on her boat, with Storm likely doing so Kitty dosen’t start declaring that she is the liquor or something. 

We cut to china where a woman is claiming her husband disappeared.. but Bishop shows up looking into it, and claiming he never showed up. She refuses to talk to him and Bishop calls it a night, but like the audience can tell something’s not right, and given he’s on the cover but doesn't join the team this issue, we’ll likely find out soon enough. Meanwhile ON A BOAT. The future Mauraders are filled in that the people surrounding the portal aren’t with the goverment but an extremist group, and find they have a stowaway aboard. 

Yup it’s everyone’s faviorite aussie aronist Pyro, back from the dead after years of being dead, a quick ressurection that reset his character development, and then disappearing and being replaced by one of the very few intresting parts of X-Men gold. I wasn’t even aware he’d been ressurected which shows just how much they gave a shit. Duggan wisely gives him amnesia and reveals the tragic truth of how he came back. 

Yup, true to Xavier’s new regime being one part hope and compassion and another part cold detached dickery, which really isn’t that far from the old regime he’s just open about the last part now, Pyro was only brought back first so the “Important mutants” would be sure to be safe. Even with his actions post ressurection, going back to petty crimin.. even though his death, despite never having read the issue, is still a great moment in X-History. Pyro, having failed several desperate attempts to cheat death at the hands of the Legacy Virus, uses his last moments to save someone who fears and hates him: Senator Kelly.. and in the process until the man’s own death changed the man from Mutantkind’s greatest enemy to a great supporter. And after that great selfless sacrifice... all Xavier and Magneto think of him is a lab rat, an unimportant mutant to use first to make sure their plan works. A throwaway slab of mutant meat. Understandably he was about to slide right back into crime but is instead drafted by storm and likely thinks “Eh, what else am I gonna do. “ So with our roster complete for now, our heroes dive into battle with kitty suggesting they swarm the power suit asshole so she can take him out and it works, but leaves her with just herself, pyro and lockheed to fight back.. and we get one of the best marvel fight scenes in recent history as a result. I’m only showing what’s necessary, but I can’t resisit a few choice shots

The fight as you can see is fast paced, fun, and uses kitty’s powers in creative ways we haven’t seen in some time. It’s been a LONG time since her powers weren’t boiled down to “I can’t be hurt” and “I can disrupt tech by phasing through it” and it is GLORIOUS, with Lolli’s art utterly shining and promising more tasty action and creative fights to come. Also i’d be remiss if I left this out

KItty using lockheed to give pyro a boost and blow away the Calvary. Our heroes win the day, save the grateful mutants the group had been holding from the gulag, and send them home, with all three deciding to stick with her: Pyro because it’s fun and because as established he’s pissed at Xavier and Mags for using him as a lab animal, and Iceman  out of loyalty. With that Kitty has one of the mutants presence pull out her phone and gives one hell of a series, and team, tagline...

The issue closes out with a nice little scene where Kitty asks storm to join her. And while storm, understandably given the last mutant group of maurders caused aforementioned massacre, not crazy about the name, she affirms her loyalty to her old friend’s new cause.. and to her in this beautiful line of dialogue. 

And with that, Kate takes Emma up on her offer and we get a great group shot to close us out. 

Well okay not entirely. Like in powers of x we get some plot revant gossip from bar sinsiter. Mostly just foreshadowing for the future.. that emma may of asked someone before storm, a clan of racists in hoods, and some “red tides” at hellfire bay. nothing to dig into much.  Final Thoughts: An excellent start that I hope keeps going like this. Marauders is one of my faviorite kinds of comics: a quirky team, loads of laughs and great likeable characters. Pyro is an easy faviorite and the book took Kitty from creators pet for Benids and Guggenhiem into new territory while building on what Claremont, Ellis and Whedon started. It’s also a welcome breath of fresh air after the more plot based house and powers to have more character focused stories and reactions to Krakoa and see the world build as we see how the globe is taking the Mutants new status. An excellent addition to what hickman has built. If you liked this follow me for more as i’ll be reviewing X-Men #1 sometime soon, Excalibur #1 next week, and more fun stuff and if there’s something you’d like me to review you can slip me a fiver to commission me for it. Until we meet again my fair muties. 

#mauraders #x-men #kitty pryde #gerry duggan #matteo lolli #dawn of x #house of x #powers of x #iceman #storm #pyro #john allerdyce #bobby drake #ororo munroe #emma frost #white queen #hellfire trading company #wolverine #logan #lockheed #russia #krakoa #doug ramsey #cypher #mutant massacre #excalibur

[queer-crusader]

New tag game!

I was tagged by @residentofthedisc. Credit for this tag game to @humour-and-hyperfocus.

Rules: Post the first paragraph of each of your wips and pick your favourite! (I’m only gonna post paragraphs of wips that i haven’t uploaded anything of yet bc i have so goddamn many already asdkjl)

It really was a beautiful day, Tony thought miserably to herself. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was about eighty-five degrees and everything smelled of late summer. But Tony had never liked nature that much, now less than ever. Give her a city covered in the brown haze of smog any day over a fucking stretch of woods.

.

Russia was, to Tony’s surprise, warm.

.

Somewhere distant, where the shadows were saturated with gravity and time itself warped in strange twists and turns, three Shades resided. Nothing more than solid darkness they seemed; the only thing truly setting them apart from the cold, empty Space that stretched out around them, were their glowing, golden eyes.

.

It was a quiet day at the Avengers headquarters.

.

Tony let out a soft sigh. The sound of the rushing waves echoed softly in her ears, a light breeze disturbing the palm trees; only slightly disturbed by the sound of distant cannons, but those were so commonplace these days that they were easily tuned out. It was late in the afternoon; soon, the sky would start to tinge, the smell of cooking would drift over from the nearby harbour town, and the crickets would come out. It was a perfect stretch of beach she was on, just far enough from the main town to be left alone but not so far that she had to trek for ages to get here. She sighed again, soaking up the sun while she could. Her fingers dug into the silky, warm sand as she laid back and listened.

.

“Anyone gonna tend to me or fucking what?”

.

“Go, go, go!”

“Don’t shoot!”

“Scheiße, was machst du?!”

“POTTER-!”

.

“He’s Flooing to Hogsmeade, and that is the end of it, Orion!”

.

“Hey big boy, mind taking the next customer? I’m going for a smoke.” Renfri mimed bringing a cigarette to her lips as she walked away, not even waiting for Geralt to respond. He rolled his eyes before turning to the next person in line, some emo twink in black baggy clothes. “Sitting in or taking away?” His tone was bored and distant, but the guy didn’t seem too affronted.

.

He will be prosecuted, the voices whisper in James’ ear, the only clear sound reaching him as everything else is muffled by the water. Prosecuted and pursued. They will get to him. They will be the end of him. He beats out another stroke, diving deeper. His arms ache and his chest is cramping, small but precious bubbles of air escaping from his nostrils, but he holds on, keeps his breath. He will need air soon, or he will drown, but at this point, he has accepted that possibility as nothing but a shortcut.

.

And the one from my book:

The title of healer is not entirely an accurate one.

.

So um, yeah. I’ve got a LOT of WIPs, many of which may never see the light of day (which is very tragic). And if I have to pick my favourite? It’s actually the last one, from my book! Partly because of nostalgia, but also because of the mystery, the question it sets up, and how it leads into the story that is about to be told. Also because my book is my fucking baby and i have poured my blood, sweat and tears into it for over 10 years so. Ya know. (I really should try and finish it one of these days lmao)

Tagging: @thatnerdgirl7, @thatwanderingwriter, @rabentochter, and whoever sees this and feels like doing it really!

#my writing #anne speaks #tag game #i really like this one omg

[keener-esme]

the bones you’re made of

ft: zig novak & esme song description: after zig mistakes esme’s attitude for anger towards him, she proves him wrong in an unexpected way, revealing a huge part of her past.  date: march 12th location: the cemetery & esme’s favorite restaurant. tw: suicide, mentions of drug use/overdose

Esme had never liked treating this day like anything but just another twenty four hours. She didn’t want the sympathy from outsiders, and especially not the wayward glances from her own father who surely counted down to this day second by second, just to have another reason to resent his daughter. It had been three years since her mother’s passing and she still hadn’t been deemed worthy of forgiveness of the crime she didn’t know she committed. It didn’t sting as much as it did at first; Esme had come to terms with her own guilt over time, and while she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel faultless, it was a start. Knowing her father’s routine, he’d have already left her destination, leaving her to go it alone how she liked, so when the last bell rang, she headed straight for her car to get a good head start on the long drive ahead.

Zig While Zig felt as if he was slowly getting his game back after a night with Zoe a few days back, something about seeing Esme almost made him feel guilty for his actions— as if he did something wrong. Perhaps it was due to the fact that things between them ended in such a harsh manner, but reasons aside, he couldn’t help but call out upon seeing her walking his way.      ❝    Hey.    ”    His brief greeting was ignored though, and she continued on to her destination without a second look, seemingly distracted by whatever plagued her mind. but, he took it as a sign that her anger from that day had not subsided. He followed closely behind her, his own rage now rising in his chest.      ❝    Really ?  You’re gonna ignore me ?  Real mature.   ”      He rolled his eyes, grabbing hold of her wrist and cursing himself for even going out of his way to talk to her when he was the one who chose to end it.

Esme No. Not him, not today, she mentally begged, squeezing her eyes shut like he would dissipate into thin air when she opened them again. Instead she felt the fingers curling around her wrist, her entire body stiffening at the startling contact. It was too familiar and while he couldn’t have known the effects of the action on her, she still reacted in kind, ripping her hand away with wide eyes. “Don’t do that,” she faltered, slowly recuperating from the shock. She almost wanted to laugh at the audacity of his entitlement, staring blankly as if he would come to his own senses which was, of course, too much to ask. “I’m giving you what you wanted, and I’ve got somewhere to be.” She left him with, taking another step to reach her car door.

Zig held his hands up defensively as her wrist was pulled away, “Whoa, sorry.” He was almost taken aback by her coldness after he assumed things had been somewhat mended after their last conversation. “Yeah, but that was before...— I thought we were cool now.” If things changed again, he could only assume that she put two and two together about Zig’s Hastygram post and knew he hooked up with Zoe. He reached out to grab her again, only to pull back at the last moment, careful not to startle her like last time. “Are you mad about the post?”

Esme could feel herself flush at the retreat, quickly moving past it to avoid questioning . "We're fine, Zig." She sighed, both for the misunderstanding and for the mention of something she had diligently been trying to ignore, but even so, neither factor was the reason behind her dismissal. "I think you're an idiot for hanging out with someone like that, but don't flatter yourself. I'm not mad at you," she clarified, though her tone and overall demeanor could easily be construed as the opposite. "I just really have somewhere to be okay? We can talk about your mistakes later."

Zig still felt wary despite Esme insisting that she was not mad. “Do you actually have somewhere to be, or are you just blowing me off? Because it kinda feels like the latter right now.” He rubbed the nape of his neck, eyes cast downwards as he awaited a response. “If you don’t wanna talk you can just say so...”

Esme was easily growing tired of explaining herself. She knew the timing was strange, especially after they'd found such unexpectedly solid ground in the days prior. But her plans were time-sensitive and her priority in the moment, proven by the way she exclaimed in response. "I have somewhere to be and if you don't believe me, feel free to come along!" Guiltily, she left it at that, getting into the driver's side, assuming that was the end of things.

Zig sighed loudly before getting opening up the passenger door of the car and tossing his backpack in the backseat. “Fine, if it’s really that important...” It wasn’t as if he didn’t believe her at that point, he was more so curious as to what the pressing matter was. “So, where are we headed?”

Esme , though not terribly politely, had been kidding in her offer, eyes widening in surprise as she was taken up on it. "I was-" she trailed off, eyeing him curiously as he accompanied her inside the vehicle. "You'll see," she answered cautiously, hesitating a few more seconds before pulling out onto the road. "I hope you didn't have anything else going on today, we're going to be gone all night." She wasn't sure why she was allowing this but soon enough they were headed in the direction of her old city, the driver gnawing at her lip anxiously. She considered stopping somewhere neutral instead, throwing him off with a red herring and sparing them both awkward evening, but her foot stayed on the gas pedal until they were pulling into the tall gates of the cemetery, Esme expertly curving through the path and parking alongside the familiar row of stones.

Zig had an inching feeling that her offer was not meant to be taken seriously after entering the vehicle, but it was far too late to turn back at that point. "I love all night ragers as much as the next guy, but you know it's a school night, right?" Rather than questioning anything further, he let the topic go, knowing he'd find out what their destination was soon enough. It was difficult to read the mood of the car on the drive there, leaving Zig to sit in silence as he tapped away mindlessly on his thigh. He began to take note of his surroundings only after they started traveling into territory unknown to him, eventually leading into a cemetery. It was really one of the last places he expected them to arrive at, and he was far too startled over the current situation to say anything at the moment. Again, he chose silence, eagerly waiting for Esme to make the next move, or say something to ease the tension he felt throughout the car ride.

Esme could sense the shift in Zig's comfort, suddenly feeling the guilt creeping up on her for letting him tag along. It would have been easy enough just to explain her plans for the evening without dragging him down, but they were too far out to consider going back home now. Sitting in her car for a moment, she wondered if she was supposed to warn him of who they were there to see, not that it would lessen the awkward outing any. Undoing her seat belt, she slowly moved onto the grass, leading herself over to the stone in question and sitting on the grass facing it. "Kamusta mommy, ito ay Zig."

Zig followed Esme quietly until they stopped at a gravestone with a familiar looking last name on it. "Is this..." He was about to question the identity of the deceased, only to have it be confirmed by Esme's greeting. While he was fully aware that Esme was fluent in other languages, he'd never actually heard her speak anything besides English. "Uh... hi... Mrs. Song." Unsure of what to do, he gave an awkward wave to the tombstone before turning to Esme. "Should I... go?"

Esme wasn't sure if it was in poor taste to Snicker at Zig's greeting, but she found it endearing aside from the obvious shaky nature. "Good thing the first boy I introduced her to is so polite," she grinned softly, scooting aside as if it was a social event. "You don't have to. You can, I'm sure this wasn't exactly what you were expecting. Told you it wasn't about you."

Zig laughed uncomfortably at her own giggles, afraid that he was making a fool of himself in front of both Esme and her mother. “The first? Well now I’m starting to feel special.” He began to relax a bit after situating himself next to her and realizing that she was far more easygoing about everything than he was. “Yeah, but I go with the flow, y’know?” She hit the nail on the head with that one. This wasn’t what Zig was expecting at all, but despite that, he still wanted to be there for her. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have pushed you to tell me what was going on.”

Esme nodded, confirming this to be the maiden voyage so to speak. Part of her expected him to retreat back to the car and avoid the strange scenario he was forced into, but she could feel the strange relief wash over her when he decided to stick around. He didn't owe her this, especially with no warning, but she was grateful to feel his body beside her. "Good thing, I'm pretty full of surprises." Her shoulders pulled together in a small shrug, unbothered by his questioning now that she'd arrived on time. "I guess shock value is my thing. You are pretty pushy though," she added, smirking towards him.

Zig would be lying if he said he didn't feel the least bit out of place in a cemetery. As far as he could recall, this was the first time he ever actually visited one. He never had to deal with the passing of a relative, considering all of his were scattered across Russia and out of contact with him. "That you are," He agreed, returning her smirk with one of his own. Throughout his time of knowing Esme, he had often found himself to be astounded by whatever tricks she had up her sleeve that day. The girl knew how to keep it interesting, that was for certain. Perhaps that was one of the many reasons he found himself becoming attached to her. "Hey, I wouldn't have to be so pushy if you weren't so... you." He joked, his smile only fading when his gaze caught another glimpse of the grave and saw the date. He paused to confirm that the date on his phone matched the one etched into stone. "So it was today, huh... Do you always come here alone? What about your dad?" It probably was not the most appropriate time to bring the topic up, but Zig's curiosity got the best of him. For the most part though, it was the thought of Esme doing this alone every year that bothered him the most.

Esme, though surprised, was relieved in finding some of the tension dissipate between Zig and the situation. She wouldn't have blamed him for reacting less favorably or even waiting it out in the car but perhaps she didn't give him enough credit sometimes. "If you like me, you like all of me, right?" She trailed, unsure if she was asking him or herself. It was still a very fresh concept her, but admittedly she was getting used to the idea of his feelings. "Today is the day on the death certificate, but she'd been dead for a few weeks by then," she countered, feeling a brief frown forming. She didn't mean to but a bitter scoff left her at the mention of her dad, quickly shaking her head. "We have a routine, he sees her in the morning, I see her in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure the last time we were here together was at the funeral and if I was old enough to drive, that wouldn't have even been the case. He thinks it's my fault."

Zig took a moment to think before slowly nodding his head and coming to the same conclusion, "Yeah, so I guess that's what this is." This was his way of trying to learn about every aspect of her and accept all of them. "Oh..." Was all he managed to muster up at her words. He was unsure if he should question the details surrounding her death any further, aware that this could be a touchy subject for anyone. "What? That's insane. Why would he blame you for something like that?" His eyes widened at such a revelation, suddenly feeling anger towards a man he had never even met before, but to let his daughter visit her mother's grave alone every year with no support whatsoever...

Esme wasn't sure what she was going for in unloading some of the heaviest burdens of herself onto Zig so early, but she had to commend him for handling them well so far. "It's a long story," she dismissed, instantly feeling guilty for the usual refusal falling from her lips. "No it's not, actually. She had really bad depression after I was born and maybe she thought taking more pills would make her feel better, so she took them all," she shrugged, a little remorseful for speaking so bluntly in front of the grave. "So I guess the way he rationalizes it is that if I wasn't born, she would have never gotten depressed. I was the one that found her, so I'm sure it didn't help that I couldn't save her."

Zig accepted her dismissive answer at first as she had already shared more than enough today— probably more than she was comfortable with, even. The day surely did not turn out as Esme expected, and he was the one to blame for that. The least he could do was ease up a bit and tone down his pushiness for a moment. It came as an unexpected surprise when Esme was willing to go into more detail about her mother, but he listened intently nonetheless. "That's some really twisted logic..." Both from her mother and father. "But it's still not your fault. What were you supposed to do?— I mean, do you think it's your fault?"

Esme wasn't sure what it was possessing her to divulge such long buried information, but she would go down fighting thinking it was simply the feelings surrounding the day and not the boy. There was no reason for it to be so easy to open up for him, something that felt cathartic once the words were to his ears. The question caught her off-guard, being one nobody normally asked her. She'd certainly thought about it, letting it weigh on her for the past few years with or without her father's silent insistence. "Sometimes," she admitted softy, turning her face away in shame as if the confession would make him agree with the blame placed. "Most of the time, actually. You don't get postpartum until you have a kid and I'm an only child and definitely wasn't an easy one to deal with." Exhaling in defeat, she took a pause to distract herself with the minut speck of dirt along side the gravestone in an attempt to get out of her own head. "I probably shook her wrong or something, I don't know," she concluded, moving away to stand to her feet. "Anyway, as fun as I'm sure this has been for you, I can take you back now. I know this was kind of creepy of me, sorry."

Zig felt a sinking sensation as she delved further into her own emotions, knowing the weight of her own guilt must've been a heavy burden to bear. As she turned away, he reached out a hand to gently grab her chin and turn her head towards his gaze once more. "Hey, look at me. It's not your fault, okay? It was never you fault. Your mom... she decided to do that all on her own. It wasn't you, or your dad, or anyone else. Do you really think she wants to hear you blaming yourself for something she did?" His eyes quickly darted to the grave for a brief moment, perhaps silently hoping that her mother would somehow give a sign that he was right in what he was saying. "You know you don't have to do that around me, right? Blow off your own feelings like that. It's like you said, if I like you, I'm gonna like every part of you, even the ones you might not like yourself," He pointed out, becoming a bit more comfortable with his own feelings now. "If you wanna stay here for a little while longer and have some alone time, I can call an Uber to take me back, or something."

Esme was suddenly much more nervous than she had been with her own thoughts, Zig's words trudging up a slew of unknown worry. She let herself face him, making the eye contact that was enough to prove to her that his words were frighteningly sincere. He was the first person to absolve her of the blame, her heart sinking in a mix of emotion from the exoneration. His words were adamant, and she tried to ignore the voice in her head taunting her that she didn't deserve his kindness. "Probably not," she choked out, not daring to follow his gaze. For all the unexpected words he'd brandished that day, his next sentiment struck her most intensely, only able to stare at him for a few moments blankly. "I do with everyone else..." she allowed, wondering why it was so inherently different with him. "It's fine, I come here all the time," she insisted, shaking her head at the notion of dragging him all the way out here to leave him fending for himself. Running her hand along the top of the grave, she murmured a quiet "Paalam mommy, mahal kita," before leading them the few feet back to her car. "I'm starving, do you have to be back right away or do you want to get food or something?"

Zig shook his head, "But I'm not everyone else." Esme must've known the same at that point as well (or at least he hoped she did). He was relieved to hear that he wouldn't have to find his own ride home though, as he'd already have to pay for transportation to his new job later. After Esme said her goodbyes, Zig leaned down briefly before murmuring a small "I'll take care of her. I promise," and following her to the car. "Now that you mention it, I could go for some food." He situated himself on the passenger side and buckled his seat belt. "Where do you wanna go? Driver's choice."

Esme "I'm learning that," she murmured to herself, very much aware that he had a different effect on her than anyone else. She was still deciding if that was a positive thing. She didn't quite catch his goodbye, already opening the door to let herself in and away from the heaviness she'd earned herself. She nodded at him once he was back beside her, already reversing back towards the gate with one last glance down the row they'd been occupying. "We're pretty close to my old favorite restaurant. They have fried ice cream and I pretty much lived there before we moved," she suggested, taking the memorized roads up to the familiar bistro a few minutes away. Again she took the lead, pulling into a spot and heading towards the front door of the restaurant that luckily wasn't as packed as normally.

Zig "How do you even fry ice cream?" He'd heard of fried ice cream before, but never got the opportunity to try it, but there was no better time to do so than now, right? "But that sounds good to me, let's do it," He agreed, watching his surroundings blur as the car was set in motion. After a short drive, the two entered the bistro and found a cozy booth to inhabit. "Nice place," He commented settling down in the seat opposite to Esme and offering a grin to the cheery waitress who offered to take their drink orders immediately after arrival. "Yeah, just water. Thanks." Strapped for cash until his paychecks started coming in, he planned on going for the cheapest options possible.

Esme "You don't ask questions, you just live in its world," she smiled. Happy that Zig seemed satisfied with her choice, she bound into her seat, warmly greeting the familiar waitress who didn't even bother asking Esme for her drink order, scribbling it onto her pad without needing to be told. "I haven't been here in like a year, I don't know what it says about me that they still remember." Once they were left alone, Esme was all too aware of their surroundings, the ambient lighting, the candles, wondering if this was a wise venue to invite someone she still walked the line on. She fiddled with her menu as a distraction, but it hadn't changed since she'd been there last and she already knew what she wanted. " I don't know about any of the meat or anything but they have really good fajitas here," she noted lamely, desperate to quell the silence until they were saved with the return of their drinks.

Zig was almost impressed with how the waitress was able to remember Esme's order after so long, letting out a chuckle at her words. "Kinda reminds me of how I am at Little Miss Steaks. It was one of the first places my family went out to eat at, and I haven't stopped going there since." While his family arrived in Toronto when Zig was two, it was only a few years later did they go out to eat a meal for the very first time. He recalled claiming that it was the best meal he ever had, and the feelings from that day still lingered apparently. "I'll probably just get a burger, I'm not really a fajita guy," He shrugged, knowing very well that his palette was rather bland. After their drinks arrived, he politely placed his order with the waitress and waited for Esme to do the same, curious as to what her usual was.

Esme "Never been," she noted, though she'd heard plenty about the infamous eatery. "Didn't Holly J work there?" She kept her opinions to herself regarding his choice; she obviously couldn't expect him to share her dietary habits and this would at least give her some insight into things he liked, not that she was curious to know more about him, right? When it was her turn, she rattled off her specific order of the wilted spinach salad, lightly salted with extra lemon on the side, no bacon, before offering over their menus. Inspecting her drink, she hummed softly, pleasantly surprised that it was spot-on to the bubble tea she favored, with the usual Boba switched out for pineapple pearls. "Do you like bubble tea?" She questioned, prematurely sliding the glass over.

Zig narrowed his eyes at the revelation, “Really? I thought everyone from Degrassi’s been there at least once.” At the mention of Holly J working there, he groaned before shaking his head. “Ugh, yeah. I always tried to avoid her section though. It was kinda creepy seeing her smile and take orders from people when she was always the one making them at school, I guess.” In his defense, he started eating there long before Holly J started working there, but it became a hotspot for Degrassi students only after she did. He listened to Esme’s order, fighting back a grin that threatened to rear its head. “That’s an impressive order,” He joked. Zig was never one to get fancy with his orders, so it was a bit amusing to watch otherwise. “I didn’t even know what a bubble tea was until just now, so no.” He picked the cup up, shaking it as he inspected the contents. “Looks like a smoothie. And what are those little balls at the bottom?”

Esme laughed. "Steakhouses aren't really prime real estate when you don't eat meat. Leave it to me to be the anomaly I suppose." She didn't know much of the former classmate but she heard from enough sources that she was a bit of a tyrant, so she could take Zig's words as truth. "What a polite way to tell me I'm insane," she smiled, knowing that her choice was less than conventional. It was amusing if nothing else to watch as Zig tentatively checked the drink, Esme chuckling to herself. "Didn't your parents teach you not to play with your food? They're boba, they're kind of like fruit snacks but they explode when you bite into them. Try it," she prompted, spotting the tray of food approaching.

Zig was a bit surprised upon finding out she didn't eat meat. He knew nothing about her eating habits up until now, and after realizing this, he also took note of the fact that this was the first time they ever sat down for a meal together. Could this be a date? "So, I'm guessing you don't wanna try my burger when it comes out then?" He responded playfully. "I don't think you're insane. Crazy, maybe, but not insane." While the choice did seem a little odd to him, he had no intention of judging her for it. "Fine, fine," He put the straw to his lips and tested the goods, pleasantly surprised at how much he enjoyed it. "Hm, kinda weird, but not bad," was his verdict before taking one more sip and sliding it back over towards Esme's direction to make room for the food that was now arriving. "Awesome," He thanked the waitress, then took a bite of his burger, smiling with satisfaction as he downed the first bite. "It's not Little Miss Steaks, but... it's pretty damn good."

Esme "Hard pass, but thanks," she responded, shaking her head and smiling again. "Spinach has more iron anyway." She wasn't sure there was much of a difference between the two adjectives and they weren't words that she ever accepted when directed towards her from someone else's lips, but somehow they were okay being used in jest from him. "Good," she nodded, pleased that he didn't hate the drink. Picking a forkful of her own meal, she scoffed playfully, waving his claim off. " I bet they don't even carry spinach there, no contest." This part of the evening wasn't planned and she certainly hadn't seen herself sitting down to a dinner with Zig, but there was something undeniable about how nice it was. A part of her felt guilty for brushing him off so many times, not realizing that it would feel just as natural to be in his company in a public setting. Sometime towards the end of the meal, the waitress returned, brandishing an enormous dish of the ice cream she spoke of before they arrived. "We didn't-" she began, interrupted with the waitress pointing towards the back of the restaurant. "It's from Claudia," she informed, retreating back and leaving the ice cream between the two teens.

Zig "Your loss." He wasn't aware of it at first, but he was truly enjoying his time with Esme. Even at the cemetery, every part of him wanted to be there with her— to comfort her so that she'd never have to go through days like this alone again. As things began to wind down at the end of the meal, the waitress brought out a rather large bowl of ice cream with two spoons place perfectly on each side. "Ooh, who's Claudia?" He asked, turning to the direction of where the waitress pointed. "An old friend?" He asked, offering the girl a polite way in a weak attempt to thank her for the ice cream.

Esme thought it to be just her luck, the universe making a cosmic joke at her expense when she had managed to turn an otherwise somber day into something worthwhile. "We used to be best friends, I didn't know she still worked here," she answered quietly, her overall tone shifting in discomfort. Another test of Zig's feelings, she supposed, one more sliver of her sordid past she wasn't willing to express. "There's a good chance this has rat poison in it, sorry if you die," she muttered, digging her spoon into a scoop regardless. "I don't know why she would send this, last I checked we were about as friendly as Zoe and I."

Zig could sense the shift in tone after Esme explained their past relationship. "Maybe she wants to make amends... with ice cream?" He followed her lead and shoveled a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, giving the other a thumbs up in approval. "You were right. This stuff's good, even with the rat poison." Though, when Esme mentioned Zoe, Zig's mood also changed as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Uh... why are you bringing up Zoe?"

Esme had very little to say regarding the other girl, but she knew one thing for certain, she had no intentions to repair what they once had. "She doesn't," she murmured, eyes trained on the dessert. She offered a weak smile at his approval, a little too out of sorts to find joy in it. "Because she's also terrible? I would much rather be friends with Claudia again than ever have to deal with Zoe a day in my life. I know you're friends with her or whatever, but she's the worst. She told me my funeral would be a social occasion once."

Zig “Well, whatever it is, I always appreciate free food.” When Esme mentioned his friendship with Zoe, a wave of guilt washed over him after he recalled what happened with her days before. He really had no reason to be guilty though, right? “I... well... about that...” Maybe it wasn’t the most appropriate time to confess, but Esme never really cared about Zig’s other sexual encounters. It used to bother him, but now it may play in his favor. “Me and Zoe... we went to a party together... and stuff happened.”

Esme "Don't get used to it, we're never coming here again," she laughed tensely, her spoon dawdling across the ice cream she'd suddenly become disinterested. She had hope for a moment that his next words to her were that he'd ended the friendship, the one relief she'd receive that day, but those hopes were dashed just as soon. "Stuff?" She pressed, ignoring the way her heart was sinking to the floor. There was no reason for her to feel so nervous. "That makes it sound like you slept with her," she prompted, giving him the out to prove otherwise. "But you didn't, right?"

Zig‘s gaze was focused on anything but Esme when asked to confirm what he meant. “I... yeah. But— I mean, it’s not a big deal, right? It was after we broke things off and...” He scrambled to explain his actions to her, suddenly feeling as if she may not be as cool with it as he hoped. “It was a one time thing and it was stupid...”

Esme could only stare back at the face behind the confirmation. All at once, it was abundantly clear that she held issue with his actions, her breath hitching in her chest. Before she could answer, her spoon stabbed into the scoop, bringing a heaping spoonful to her lips. "Oh." She nodded, no longer willing -or able- to meet his gaze, and instead distracting herself with a few stagnant, silent moments of eating. "You and Zoe," she repeated, another mouthful on the way.

Zig would be a fool not to see that she was certainly unhappy with this newfound information. “There’s no me and Zoe!” Before he could say anything else, the waitress came back with the check. He briefly checked the price before handing his waitress a wad of crumbled cash. “Keep the change,” He insisted. After she thanked them for coming and disappeared to tend to other tables, Zig was left to face Esme once more. “I’m sorry...”

Esme didn't budge at Zig's exclamation. It was no easy task to change her mind, and right now, it was convinced that his affections were diverting. She'd taken too long realizing that she cared to some caliber, and now it was too late. "You and I started whatever this is after we had sex at a party," she reminded, her feverish eating coming to a halt. "Why did you do that?" She questioned, nodding to the check being whisked away. Swallowing, she wanted to hear the apology, but it didn't make her feel any less betrayed. "You're allowed to do whatever you want. We're not together." Trying to hide the trembling hand, she reached for her car keys, sliding out of the booth. "I'll take you home."

Zig groaned in frustration, following her closely behind as she walked towards the exit and back to the car. “Yeah, but I want to be together, Esme. I wanted to be with you for so long and— ... you never wanted to be with me. That’s why I did it. I didn’t know how else to get over you.” He hoped his explanation would suffice, as he was being far more open and honest than he was comfortable with. “Forget it. It’s already getting late. I’ll just Uber to my job.”

Esme had no comeback for his raw admission, the words completely foreign to her ears. She knew he had feelings, something she was still trying to wrap her head around, but somehow it never crossed her mind until now that he would want more from it. "Well I'm glad you found a way to get over me." The claim hurt to say, and it made her anything but glad to hear that she may have missed the opportunity she didn't know she wanted. "Just get in the car, Zig," she sighed, seating herself inside.

Zig couldn’t help but roll his eyes at her words, frustrated that he wasn’t able to reach her in the way he intended. “Fine, whatever. Just keep doing what you always do— push people away until they can’t stand it anymore.” He opened the backseat door to retrieve his backpack and slammed it shut. “You know, I was stupid enough to believe that we actually made progress today.” He thought being brought to the cemetery was Esme’s way of slowly opening up to him, but now he realized it was only done to shut him up and prove him wrong. “I don’t have time for this. I gotta go.” And with that, he walked away into unfamiliar land, taking out his phone and calling transportation to his destination a couple of towns over.

#para #p:zig #zigncvak #tw:suicide #tw: drugs

[prcmctheus]

beep beep y’all ur resident dumpster dweller kay here in action and ready 2 introduce u all to my Fave Boy misha who uhHHhh p much has rbf and a Thicc ukrainian accent. will this contain anything of substance other than immense rambling ?? whO KNOWS but we’ll go on this journey together but feel free to drop a like if u wanna plot and i’ll pop over to ur dm’s !!

potential triggers: death + mob activity

! ✰ ° — [ CHRIS PINE, CISMALE, HE/HIM ] mykhailo “misha” chernenko, aka agent prometheus is a thirty-five year old tactical agent that has been loyal to mercy twelve years. during that time they were injected with the gamma serum and earned regenerative healing they have a reputation of being the sagacious because they can be pragmatic & diligent. but let’s not forget they’re pretty acerbic & reticent. if you listen closely you can hear another one bites the dust by queen whenever they walk past.

okie to start off ya boy was brought into the world as михайло оландрович черненко ( aka mykhailo oleksandrovych chernenko ) but typically goes by the nickname of misha bc it’s easier and was born in kharkiv, ukraine ,,, he is a proud ukrainian and v much dislikes being deemed a russian ,, don’t do him dirty y’all . . it’s a struggle and one he will never forget n have u on his shit list ,, especially since his accent is still Thicc so any jokes will get u a side eye

his father oleksandr had strong nationalistic views , especially so when ukraine was still under soviet control and following the death of his first wife yulia ( they were visiting her family in moscow when she was caught in the crossfire of russian mob activity on her way home from the store and ultimately died from gunshot wounds ) he became heavily involved anti-russia groups back in ukraine

in 1983 when misha was born, he uHHhhHHhh wasn’t really wanted per say ?? like ,, his dad was hooking up with his mother kateryna and it was a surprise to them both that kateryna was pregnant ?? so oleksandr did the noble thing ( arguable bc he ain’t so noble ) and put a ring on her ,, mainly bc it was expected and kateryna gave him hell so u go kateryna

misha’s childhood wasn’t the best considering his parents argued more than they got along and kateryna really despised her husband from his life of crime ?? definitely didn’t agree with his ties to the ukrainian mob bc of the threat it brought to the family and especially the dirty money so she often put her sewing skills to use and made little of her own money ,, then wOP ,, four years down the line kateryna surprises oleksandr with the fact that she’s pregnant again but this time it ends up being a daughter that they name nadezhda but call nadia

it was an odd thing for misha bc for as harsh and distant as his father was to him, he had put him on this pedestal with a strong sense of idealism of what his father was like if he managed to do something to make him proud ,, despite not fully knowing in depth what his father did in the mob ( aka not good things like murder, drug trafficking and human trafficking ) so essentially that became misha’s goal in his v young life ,, he mimicked his father’s anti-russian views and showed interest in what he did for a living ,, rip 2 misha’s mom bc she nearly had a heart attack when she heard her son acting like everything she didn't want him to end up being

but with kateryna’s dismay came the affection from his father that misha had so desperately wanted and it became some weird take ur child to work day thing ,, this started when misha was around 6 years old and lasted up until he was 13 ( for reasons i’ll get into soon jndsjksd ) where oleksandr would often bring misha after school or even take him our during school ,, as some weird initiation thing of another generation of chernenko dedicating themselves to the cause of ukrainian independence

misha himself is an intelligent boy with a quick witted mind and ability to retain information and was quick to pick up on the russian language around him in kharkiv as well english ,, generally v good at learning languages and i just !!! get a lil emo thinking about the life misha could have had bc of his smarts if he didn’t get himself involved in this spy shit

his father finds it useful to start teaching misha how to properly fight bc #fambonding am i rite ,, also bc oleksandr is a shite dad who was gonna bring misha along to some  attack they were planning near the russian border from tensions between the ukrainian mob n the russian mob that was starting to infiltrate in ,, just dudes being dudes n getting territorial

let’s pray 4 kateryna when she finds out bc it’s when misha is 13 and tags along with his father to this smackdown which ?? ukraine is independent at this point by 5 years so oleksandr is trash n still chilling with the mob and when shit hits the fan and long story short, oleksandr ( along with many others ) gets killed, misha ends up severely hurt and it’s not a good time ,, but things shift bc when misha comes to he’s in a hospital bed and o shIT ,, he’s chilling with the security service of ukraine which deals with counterintelligence activity and terrorism

chilling ain’t really the term but yA KNOW ,, turns out they’ve been keeping eyes on the mob movements and misha attracted the attention of ukrainian intelligence “offered” him a role as a spy with the promise of training and serving his country proudly ,, u know ,, offered is in quotes bc hoe didn’t really have a choice but it wasn’t a hard choice bc misha was eager to help out his homeland

he didn’t officially go out into the field until he was 17 bc of extensive training in combat and espionage to help defend the still young foundation of the ukrainian government especially since it was rocky from the poor economic conditions ,, and after proving both his worth and abilities in several missions, he was activated as a sleeper agent in the russian government to get a hold of information regarding russian intelligence ,, more importantly such impacting ukraine

ya boy excelled in his position, given it wasn’t the most exciting bc it involved a lot of blending in and upholding this russian persona ,, gone was mykhailo chernenko for those three years up until he was 23 since he went by the alias of konstantin vasiliev ,, and he did well !! as someone who excelled in linguistics, his was v fluent in the russian language with a believable accent to match ( one of his best qualities in his ability to take on accents easily and rn he’s fluent in french, german, italian and spanish outside of his ukrainian, russian, and english )

things went well for the three years acting as a secretary for a high ranking russian government official and uh,, u know it helped that misha was attractive and knew how to use it to his advantage and successfully infiltrated into classified information since his superior viewed misha as just a pretty face with minimal understanding of how politics worked ,, meanwhile he was the one who spilled shit during sex so who was the real weenie

due to unfortunate events, misha’s cover was blown and barely made it out of russia alive and it was around his 23rd/24th that mercy got into contact with him and for as much as misha loved his country, he figured for his own safety it would be best to leave the area since lowkey the russian government still had it out for him ,, so he joined the mercy division as a field agent and AGENT PROMETHEUS was born ,, a couple of years into it he was convicted into taking the gamma serum which gave him regenerative healing which helps out v much when he gets shot at or generally hurt

so yeah p much ya boy has been chilling at mercy as a field agent for eleven years and generally enjoying his time here given things can’t ever really get normal as a spy ,, but it was last year that bc of numerous influences, misha decided to accept the offer of joining the tactical agents and retire his days as a field agent.

personality wise ,, misha is v devoted to his job and does this hoe ever genuinely laugh or smile ?? who knows ,, i think there’s a rumor somewhere that he’s actually a robot. def gives into the slavic stereotype where ukrainian’s never smile ,, not to mention his father ingrained into him the ukrainian saying of Сміх без причини є ознакою тупості aka “laughter without a reason is a sign of stupidity” soooOOoo he’s just a bit stoic and has resting bitch face

doesn’t really realize he’s v blunt and forthright in his speak so he can come off as an asshole ( which 67% of the time he doesn’t mean ) ,, has the patience of a saint but if u push hard enough he’ll crack ,, a bit dry on the humor but can def be an asshole when he wants to. doesn’t trust a lot of ppl and it’s hard to earn his trust ,, word the only major ppl he’s trusted was a) his dad b) the security service of ukraine and c) now mercy so kudos on getting on his good side

has no contact whatsoever with his mother kateryna or his sister nadia ,, partially bc couldn’t keep up for security n safety reasons but also bc misha is p much dead to kateryna after following his father’s footsteps, getting involved in the whole mess of ukrainian / russian political n governmental affairs and also dropping his v tiny attempt of college before becoming a sleeper agent for ukraine ,, so ya boy is on his own so u can expect wALLS around him ,, bc u know ,, he don’t do emotional vulnerability or relationships  

#mhq.intro #if all goes well and i am .. not dumb fjdnsj then this posts while im out to dinner #luv me and my goblin son

[smollandtoll]

HC: Open relationships are complicated when someone gets pregnant (OT3)

We like OT3 mostly because we can’t bear to just erase Nikita, also because Anna is smokin hot and we Get It. Even fic Geno would be so sad about it. We theorize a lot about THE PERFECT FIC where Sid and Geno’s relationship is always kind of wobbly and open because like We aren’t gay really so much as chronically monogamous and into each other and It would be career suicide to lock it down openly, and I’m so glad we’re on the same page.

(We fully acknowledge that it probably wouldn’t actually be career suicide now (...probably) but like back when they were little penguin babies before the days of You Can Play, it was; and those things are hard to unlearn or let go of)

So, anyway, Geno hangs out with Anna over the summers/they’ve been friends for a few years and when he goes back to Russia the open nebulous thing with Sid is really easy because they just have their separate lives and come back together in the season and everything is great.

Except Anna comes back with him to visit one fall and pregnancy just happens accidentally as it does (and did ...probably). There’s no real reason to panic, everyone is an adult with a (really well paying) job and time and money to spare. Most of all Anna and Geno sit down and both WANT that baby and that life together.

So Anna knows all about the on again off again relationship G has with Sid, because we firmly believe they are actually very good friends and have a healthy communicative relationship. So she definitely secretly thinks the two of them together are super hot.

Sid unfortunately does not speak Russian and doesn’t get 100% of this open communication so consequently gets all weird and irrationally jealous because Geno brings Anna to the states and sets her up in his house and goes to her doctors appointments, and talks about getting married because she needs a visa to stay in the states and being married makes hers a condition of his and it's ‘the right thing to do’, ‘babies parents should be married’ and he loves her he truly does etc etc.

But there is DEFINITELY some translation issues because Geno is probably too busy swinging wildly between OVERJOYED and TERRIFIED to explain (to both of them) that he fully expects Sid to co-parent with them.

Of course to make matters worse Anna is SUPER intimidated by Sid - he and Geno have so much history? And have this working relationship that she can never fully understand? - so her natural reaction to that is to act cool and collected and ABOVE IT ALL. In reality of course she's terrified.

She doesn't understand anything in this new backwards country and she can't even eat what she wants any more and Geno spends like 70% of his time with the most beautiful and talented and sweet man who shares his deep and unrivalled love for hockey so she is quietly freaking out.

Sid is freaking out quietly because Geno went and found everything that Sid Is Not and is now talking about putting a ring on it and he's like "Okay I guess I'm just yesterday's trash, that's cool, I always knew that, I guess my trophies will keep me warm." He probably gets VIGOROUSLY CANADIAN for a bit trying to comfort himself.

TL;DR: Everyone is quietly freaking out but acting like everything is Chill™.

Geno is the only one who is genuinely happy, if not puzzled. He keeps like trying to set up dinner dates and trying to getting the dating game going between them all and being confused about why Sid and Anna barely talk to each other when he's not in their immediate vicinity.

He knows that they'll end up best friends who gang up on him about everything. It’s so obviously to him that their personalities will be a good match and like they'll like each other and be scorching hot together ...and like throw a baby in there for them all to adore???

ENDLESS BLISS AHEAD the blinking exit ramp signs say, but for some reason he can't get anyone to take the exit with him.

It's only getting more complicated by the month, because Anna is getting like super visibly pregnant, and everyone knows she's staying with him indefinitely, and the word is spreading and pretty soon the media is going to catch on to what’s happening and by then keeping Sid on the same page is going to get slippery and awful.

He’s already just starting to get more and more intentionally distant, gracefully excusing himself and offering to babysit other teammates kids and having dinner at Mario's instead of with them and such. He's doing the Jon Snow Right Thing™ and manfully bowing out.

Leaving voicemails like : ...Sorry everything is really piling up. The season, eh? But you seem happy!! Keep it up, I’m so pleased for you, G!

Geno starting to really have had enough of it just like GET YOUR LUDICROUSLY PERFECT BUTT BACK HERE I WANNA SEE ANNA'S TEETH MARKS IN IT YESTERDAY.

Meanwhile Sid whenever even remotely cornered rambles like, I'll give you the best best-man speech, I promise, G. I'm really happy for you *FEELS HEART TEARING IN TWO WHILE SAYING IT*

Is silently pining Sid a thing for us? It is definitely a thing for us.

Anna gets on board with team OT3 with Geno first because she's the smart one obviously. Maybe Geno gets home drunk post-win one day and they’re on a couch with Geno’s head in her lap and he can hide his face in her belly and haltingly explain what he’s kind of been thinking. And once it starts making sense, some of the insecurities about Sid can start to dissolve. Also pregnancy has lowered her already fairly low threshold for dealing with Hockey-Player-flavoured Bullshit - she definitely knows she can only put up with Geno’s moods for so long, and him being so mopey about Sid is only making him even more annoying. She’s really starting to see the appeal of having another person she can tag off with, because Zhenya in a mood is a 6′4+ snappish thundercloud.

Anna: He's been dealing with your drama for a decade, Zhenya, we need him so my pregnant hormones don't force me to murder you. So, how are we gonna do this?

The only solution is basically one step short of tying Sid to a chair and forcibly explain the joys of polyamory to him. But like, you have to ease into things like that if you’re a normal person who wants a successful relationship (Anna). So she gets on board with them all mutually dating, and they start inviting Sid over to hang more. When Anna thaws Sid definitely starts to thaw as well, feeling like he’s welcome to hang out with them and Anna clearly knows he and Geno used to be a thing - they’re still familiar with each other all the time. Maybe a little more than Sid is strictly always comfortable with, with Anna watching them like that. But like, it seems like they want him around and he still does care a lot and Sid is a Good Friend™. So it continues like that for a few more months.

At some point Anna double checked with G like “...You did tell him he's supposed to be dating us right? It sometimes seems like he's trying to gently let you down?” and Geno replying indignantly with, “HE WOULD NEVER THINK THAT OF COURSE HE KNOWS US THREE ARE ENDGAME.” He somehow has completely lost the plot and didn't realize Sid didn't know he was part of the relationship at all.

We’re fairly certain it boils down to after the baby is born, Anna's like "I desperately need a bath and a nap and I don't trust either of you alone with my baby yet, so you must be together."

Sid: But I'm not-"

Geno: Hey is my baby too!

Anna just like SHUSHES them and hands them that lil teeny baby and then gives them both kisses and leaves.

Sid: I think your wife is actually losing it, she kissed both of us, not just you.

Geno would just turn to him with giant hands full of tiny baby, full of heartbroken confusion “You don't want to be WITH US ANY MORE????”

Then they devolve into whisper shouting to not disturb Anna/Nikita

Geno (paraphrased): OF COURSE SHE KISSED YOU. YOU ARE PART OF THIS FAMILY. YOU HELPED US MAKE THIS NURSERY SO BEAUTIFUL. YOU STILL HAVE A DRAWER OF CLOTHES, I WAS GONNA ASK YOU TO MOVE IN PERMANENTLY TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO BE WITH NIKITA MORE OFTEN.

So then Sid realizes he’s actually been completely enwrapped into their relationship for months. Like none of the other guys even think its weird any more that he and G ride to and from the rink together. He hasn’t seen the inside of his own house in weeks. Anna’s moans a fews weeks ago when he was rubbing her feet were pornographic and he wasn’t imagining it that she was disappointed when he pulled away (probably to hide a mild chub).

BONUS:

Also we kind of love the idea that G and Anna are low key high key worried that their beautiful baby boy isn't going to learn English right with just them around and struggle in American school, but also he’ll be American and struggle culturally in Russia. Like they are settled in Pittsburgh and have no immediate plans to leave, their kid is gonna go to kindergarten not speaking proper english and be bullied or something!

Which is ridiculous, but like the kind of absurd thing you think about when you have a squishy jelly bag that relies on you for everything and you are two individuals who cannot master grammar.

So they're like "If Sid isn't there, he's going to end up speaking English badly and STRUGGLE." which is unbearable to think about so they keep Sid around, they tease him, just for his English skills.

#sid/geno/anna #sidgenoanna #OT3 #hockey rpf #headcanons from the icy void

[stupidsexyseguin]

AND THE NOMINEES ARE...

okay guys! this is going to be a really long post, so here are the links for voting, and a full list of authors and works will be under the read more with links to go and read the nominated works or peruse all works of nominated authors.

this poll will be open all of the rest of january, with voting closing at 11pm AEST on the 31st, with the results going up as soon as i can put them together after that. congrats to everyone nominated! thanks everyone who sent in nominations!

Best Hockey RPF Author 2017

Best Hockey RPF Work/Series (Sid/Geno)

Best Hockey RPF Work/Series (Nicky/Ovi)

Best Hockey RPF Work/Series (Mitch/Auston)

Best Hockey RPF Work/Series (Other)

Author Nominees:

angularmomentum

sevenfists

theundiagnosable

LottieAnna

pukeandcry

crispierchip

itsacoup

stevenstamkos

Work Nominations:

(Further sorted into pairings) (if a work has no attached link i have not been given permission by the author to link it directly, but it can likely be found using the ao3 search function) (if you can’t find a work that you nominated in this list it is likely because it didn’t meet nomination guidelines)

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF INDIVIDUAL WORK WARNINGS AND TAGS AND USE YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT WHEN DECIDING TO READ THEM.

Sid/Geno

Shelter by 71tenseventeen

Sidney was five the first time he met Troy. Well, that he remembers, anyhow.

Thalassophile by Anonymous

Thalassophile- (n.) a lover of the sea, someone who loves the sea, ocean

Adventures with Vanya (series) by bumblybee

“I’d like to introduce our guest for today, Evgeni Malkin, author of Hockey with Vanya.” Sidney nails the pronunciation, and Malkin even glances up at him with a little smile. “Mr. Malkin is going to read us his book, and then you’ll all have the opportunity to talk to him. How does that sound?”

Sonatina by CoffeeStars

It had started at a promotional event for the Pens at a sporting goods store. A little boy with bright eyes had handed his new skates over to be autographed and said, very politely, “Will you please sign it? It’ll be super lucky if you do, and I can skate really fast and score a bunch of goals like you.”

Of Two Seas by itsacoup

“You are lucky, little sailor,” the man says once Evgeni has looked his fill, and his voice is melodious, with a high edge to it but also an odd, gravelly way of speaking. “Lucky and strong. Strong enough to be my champion.” He drops his arm as he speaks the last word, turning towards Evgeni with a half-smile.

Telemachy by itsacoup

Sidney steps back to survey his work; his eyes glisten as he looks at Zhenya, and from the moisture springs forth revelation: cold-hands blurring-vision gasping-for-air-that-isn’t-there. “Return to us an Oracle, or leave your life upon the mountain,” Sidney declares. His voice trembles, and it’s more a plea than a command. He grabs the back of Zhenya’s neck, tugging until he can reach Zhenya’s face and push an insistent kiss against Zhenya’s brow. Sidney pulls back to stare at Zhenya for a long moment, the soft hazel of his eyes gone dark with indescribable worry. Zhenya’s heart thumps as his entire body roils with sensation, burning cold and freezing heat and fear and exhilaration and confusion, and he cannot break Sidney’s gaze.

Catch a Glimpse of Gold Through His Skin by reginalds

The poster reads, from the top:

Times When it is Okay to Interrupt Mr. Malkin:

1.) Hitler invades Russia

2.) Fire

3.) German U-boat spotted in the Allegheny

4.) Sidney Crosby walks in the room

Motherland by sevenfists

The first Zhenya heard about it was an email from Sidney in the middle of August.

The Best-Looking Boys by sevenfists

He was just a kid, just like Sidney, and far away from home. When Sidney didn’t look away, Evgeni mimed swinging a baseball bat, and Gonch was right; it was clear he had no idea what he was doing.

That was the first time Sidney thought they could maybe be friends.

The Real Thing by sevenfists

Sitting at the table was Sid: Sid as Zhenya had first known him, almost a decade before: dorky, long-haired Sid, his cheeks round with baby fat. He couldn’t have been older than twenty, and even that was generous.

“Wow,” baby Sid said. “Are you Evgeni Malkin?”

All the Way Through by sevenfists

“I hope you’re going to tell me that you’re in a loving, committed, long-term relationship,” Jen said.

“Well. No,” Sidney said. “We’re—it’s a casual thing.”

“Not anymore,” Jen said. “Congratulations, you’re in love.”

The Biblical Sense by sevenfists

“Sid, I’m so—I’m sorry,” Geno said. “My stupid—I’m ruin everything, I—”

“Shut up, Geno,” Sidney said, already intensely weary of listening to Geno’s self-recrimination. “You’ve barely even done anything.”

Geno’s voice dropped what sounded like an entire octave. “But I want to.”

My Fingers Laced to Crown by Squidbittles

It’s been ten years since Canada’s Crown Prince Sidney Crosby married Prince Evgeni Malkin, and they’ve found a love they never expected. Despite their best efforts, however, they remain heirless.

Amid mounting frustration and pressure from the public, they escape to the north for a much-needed delayed honeymoon in the hopes of finding a solution to the problem of succession.

Nicky/Ovi

love on a deposit of frozen pleistocene carbon by angularmomentum

Sasha is the only person to have lasted more than a year at Wrest Island Arctic Research Station, except, of course, for Dr. Bäckström.

Or: Sasha’s head over heels, in a slightly more than figurative sense.

running from the weather by angularmomentum

Alex starts playing for Dynamo at sixteen.

kith by angularmomentum

Sasha makes prefect in his second to last year. It’s earlier than anyone but him expected, but right on track for his two year plan, which is: be head boy, get a contract to play Quidditch professionally, and beat Bäckström off in the baths.

Goldenrod by Ferritin4

“You’ve gotta be crazy to fly one of those things,” Dima says, looking up at the icy arcing contrails of the Swedish jets as they rocket overhead. You have to be crazy to fly, Sasha thinks, and you have to be good.

A More Fascinating Name by pukeandcry

Although Sasha had never made the younger Mr. Backstrom’s acquaintance, he was at least familiar enough with his reputation to know that chief amongst his qualities was the quite publicly known fact that Mr. Backstrom was as notoriously uninterested in achieving an advantageous marriage as Sasha himself.

Something, then, must have upset the order of things. What that was he could not say, but Lord Backstrom was now, it would seem, in active search of a husband for his son.

the washington royals by screamlet

Sasha doesn’t remember the very first time he met Nicky, but Michael Nylander is kind enough to remind them when he arrives to meet the team, carrying an honest to fuck laminated newspaper clipping of the first time Prince Alexander visited Sweden to meet his future husband, Prince Nicklas.

Wolfborn by waspabi

A wolfborn on an airplane was either unbearably reckless or a hockey player. Most of the time, both.

Mitch/Auston

the dreams i’ll dream instead by afterthefair

“So, when do you want to bond?” Marner asks without any preamble as soon as they’re within three feet of each other.

Auston hears Chucky’s whispered, “What the fuck?”

Strome cracks up. “Jesus, Marns, can you say hi before you ask someone to fuck you?“

Marner laughs. “Sorry. Hi, Auston. I’m Mitch. We’re gonna play together forever.”

as long as it’s about me by Anonymous

It takes about the length of their first practice for Toronto media to decide that him and Mitch are best friends. And, like, Auston’s been warned about the press in the city a million times, so he gets it. They want a story. He’d be fine with it, honestly, except for the small issue that Mitch Marner is the most annoying person on the entire planet.

They used to shout my name, now they whisper it by CheapLemonIceLolly

Being a star athlete changes you.

think we’re overthinking it by LottieAnna

The first time Mitch picks up a guy, Auston’s convinced he’s hallucinating.

(Or: Auston and Mitch eventually talk about their feelings, even if they keep putting it off. Whatever.)

turn the world gold by LottieAnna

Mitch: hey ill be in az 2morrow, what r u doing?

we belong to you and me by LottieAnna and theundiagnosable

“You’re not allowed to take the high ground while proposing we defraud your government, Marns.”

“Not with that attitude,” Mitch says. “Look, I’m not proposing we defraud anyone, I’m just-”

“Proposing?” Auston finishes, wry.

Three Loves by MycroftexMachina

Mitch Marner: secret genius.

torch this place we know by theundiagnosable

Sportsnet @sportsnet

BREAKING: LEAFS’ MITCH MARNER TRADED TO PITTSBURGH PENGUINS sportsnt.ca/news/2kT45f9Q …

bring it to the top by theundiagnosable

“What’s going on, Matts?”

“Maybe I just want to do something fun, I don’t know.” Auston says, defensive. “Maybe I’m being nice.”

“Okay,” Mitch says. He doesn’t sound convinced. “And…”

“And,” Auston winces, already regretting every decision he’s ever made, “I sort of need you to pretend to date me so I can win a bet with my sister.”

Other Pairings

take a sip of my secret potion by bluejayys (gallagher/galchenyuk)

Brendan’s gonna get to know Alex– maybe even work up the courage to ask him out on a date.

put it in the rearview mirror by thedeadparrot (gallagher/galchenyuk)

At the end of the season, the Gallys go on a road trip from Montreal to Florida. There are a lot of feelings involved.

and i’ve just let these little things slip out of my mouth by crispierchip (skjei/vesey)

Jimmy comes out to Brady in November.

Underneath the Charging Sky by pukeandcry (d. strome/latta)

Dylan hadn’t expected to be in Tucson this year. He hadn’t expected to still be so fucked up about Connor. He hadn’t expected a lot of shit, and Latts was definitely on that list.

we let our battles choose us by electrumqueen (gen-ish)

Auston straddles a lot of lines. He’s the sunbelt kid, you know? The trailblazer.

beginner’s guide to sex (and love) by viennajones (mcdavid/draisaitl)

“Uh, so when you said you could help me, did you mean…” Connor thinks that he understood Leon alright, but making sure is probably a good idea.

Leon looks a little sheepish. “Not to sound super cocky or whatever, but I’ve been told I’m pretty good in bed. I could show you a thing or two. If you want.”

I Lie Only For You by leyley09 (wilson/latta)

“So, instead of telling his mom the truth, Tom wants you to pretend to be his boyfriend. And you said yes to pretending, even though you want to be boyfriends for real.”

“When you say it out loud, it sounds stupid.”

“It is stupid.”

if this is the stars by theundiagnosable (marner/w nylander/matthews)

“Babe,” Mitch says, collapsing onto the couch. “Matts, I just got hit on by the hottest barista I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“Nice.” Auston high fives him.

through the woods we ran by stevenstamkos (hischier/patrick)

“Tell me about your faeries.”

Nico does not want to talk about faeries, not in the comfort of his bed with Nolan stretched out next to him, but he knows that Nolan is only trying to learn as much as he can about Nico. Nolan has asked him about everything, his likes and dislikes, his home in Naters and his family, his history. And now his faeries.

let’s just see what tomorrow brings by capebretons (hischier/patrick)

The first time Nolan sees Nico, it snows.

It’s the first snow of the winter, late November, cold enough to make Nolan’s cheeks pink, and his ears, and the tip of his nose. It’s the cold, that’s all. It’s got nothing to do with Hischier.

and dreams paled by antoineroussel (rinne/saros)

A young man sits up, facing away from Pekka, and rubs his eyes furiously. His skin is golden, left shoulder scarred lightly, and he wraps one of the red furs around his waist, apparently not wearing much else. Pekka, startled, makes a choked noise, and the man turns around. He gets to his feet with a boyish smile, and sits himself down on the chair opposite to Pekka.

triple the fun by allfleshisgrass (benn/seguin)

Tyler finds a three-headed dog, adopts it and tries to be the best doggy daddy in Dallas.

A Different Kind (series) by Nuanta (benn/seguin)

Set in a world where scents hold powerful magic, omegas are marginalized and despised, and are treated as slaves. Born into the noble Seguin family, Tyler was sold off to a life of captivity once he presented. Now, the defiant omega finds himself under the supervision of a soft-spoken Knight-Captain, alpha Jamie Benn, who doesn’t let any of his junior knights take advantage of omegas. Not only that, but Jamie seems to care about Tyler’s opinions, wants to change the world…if the system would only let him. When the world turns on its head, though, Tyler will do whatever it takes to prove he deserves his life and his freedom, and maybe a little more.

place your hand in mine, i’ll leave when i wanna (series) by jolt (benn/seguin, mcdavid/d strome, marner/matthews)

Tyler knows he looks like the kind of douchebag who listens to rap or, like, ska bands from the early 2000s, but he actually has a secret affinity for happy pop songs and, unabashedly, Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy and stuff. The music a lot of people pretend to have grown out of or be too cool for.

Tyler thinks Jamie looks like the kind of guy who loves songs about trucks, but mainly because he thinks he’s built like one.

Home at Last by crispierchip (barrie/landeskog)

This would be Tyson’s luck.

Have sex with the guy you’ve been hopelessly drooling over for the past year only to wake up bonded to him. Perfect.

(stronger than a) Bourbon Street Hand Grenade by dexsnursey (barrie/landeskog)

Nate grins and ducks his head, and Tyson is considering giving him a hug and maybe a big smooch too, when Gabe speaks up, because of course he does. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Oh no,” Nate groans, and really, that should have been his warning.

Instead, Tyson finds himself raising his eyebrows, puffing up his chest and declaring, “Oh it’s on like Donkey Kong, Gabriel.”

Nate sighs, this loud, chest deep thing, and Tyson really needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut.

10,000 Weight in Gold by oflights (barrie/landeskog)

“What’re some of your biggest pet peeves? Wanna know what mine is?”

“Uh, what’s yours?”

“When people say Tyson, and they’re talking to you instead of me.”

tell me if you love me or not by underwaternow (barrie/landeskog)

It starts in Sweden.

Stop Making Sense by Vidriana (w nylander/kapanen)

“Well, here’s how I see it,” Kappy starts. “You have two options.” He holds up a finger. “One: You just tell them the truth.” He shrugs.

“What’s option two?” Willy asks.

Kappy raises a second finger. “Option two: You get a fake boyfriend,” he says, with much more gravitas than this ridiculous statement could possibly warrant.

should have said (say it) by theundiagnosable (w nylander/hyman)

“Okay,” Zach says, slow. “You said- no food, isn’t the wedding in-”

“Five days,” Auston finishes, “yeah.” He sounds even more calm than usual, a little monotone, actually, which is how Zach knows he’s internally losing his shit.

#hockey rpf #hockey rpf poll #best hockey rpf of 2017 #bennguin #nicky/ovi #sidgeno #marnsthews #marnsthew #vote! #rec list #hockey rpf fic recs #fic recs

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Johnny Depp's 7 Biggest 'Rolling Stone' Revelations: From Depression to How Much He Really Spends on Wine

Johnny Depp is opening up in a big way in a candid new interview with  Rolling Stone magazine, in which the 55-year-old actor addresses his highly publicized legal battles over his finances and reports of his extravagant spending.

Writer Stephen Rodrick was invited to spend time with Depp at his rented mansion in London, England, where the conversation also turned to his complicated relationships with close family and friends, as well as a serious struggle with depression due to problems both in his personal and financial lives.

Here's a look at the biggest revelations from Depp's interview:

Multimillion-dollar lawsuits, a haze of booze and hash, a marriage gone very wrong and a lifestyle he can’t afford. In our exclusive new feature, we take you inside the trials of Johnny Depp. "I kept trying to figure out what I'd done to deserve this," he says. "I'd tried being kind to everyone, helping everyone, being truthful to everyone." Click the link in our bio to read the full story. Illustration by Matt Mahurin (@mattmahurin)

A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) on Jun 21, 2018 at 5:02am PDT

1. Depp is very much open about his drinking and smoking

Rodrick describes entering Depp's rented mansion and feeling his presence immediately.

“He is here in the stogie-size joint left by the sink in the guest bathroom. He is here in the never-ending reservoir of wine that is poured into goblets," he observes.

During their first meeting, Rodrick writes that "Depp sits at the head of the table and motions towards some rolling papers and two equal piles of tobacco and hash, and asks if I mind. I don't. He pauses for a second. 'Well, let's drink some wine first.' This goes on for 72 hours."

Depp also isn't shy about his history of using drugs. Later in the interview, when talking about one of his idols, writer Hunter S. Thompson, he regrets quaaludes no longer being around and recalls the bootleg quaaludes he used to take.

"They're made with just a little bit of arsenic or strychnine, so the high was far more immediate," he explains. 

Depp then recalls once asking a Florida bouncer to punch him while on quaaludes for no reason.

"You either wanted to smile and just be happy with your pals, or f**k, or fight," he says of being under the influence.

2. He has complicated relationships with his family

Depp talks extensively about his late mother, Betty Sue, in the interview, who died in 2016 after a long battle with cancer. The actor reveals the first thing he bought when he started making money was a small horse farm for his mom in Kentucky, where she was born.

"My mom was born in a f**king holler in eastern Kentucky," he says. "Her poor f**king a** was on phenobarbital at 12."

Though he clearly loved his mother, he also claims they moved 40 times growing up and that she would sometimes give him "irrational beatings."

"Maybe it's an ashtray coming your way. Maybe you're gonna get clunked with the phone," he says. "It was a ghost house -- no one talked. I don't think there was ever a way that I thought about people, especially women, other than 'I can fix them.'"

"Betty Sue, I worshiped her," he continues, before adding, "She could be a real b***h on wheels."

At her 2016 funeral, Depp recalls saying, "My mom was maybe the meanest human being I have ever met in my life."

As for his other siblings, Depp -- who's the youngest of four -- tells the magazine that one of his sisters and her husband and son moved to his mother's farm in Kentucky and were hired to manage the property, but their spending allegedly became out of control. After his mother died, the family still lives there.

"Their thinking is that I'm going to take care of them forever and that the farm is now theirs," he says. "I didn't make that promise."

The magazine also notes that Depp's close relationship with his sister, Christi, who was once a constant in his life and managed his day-to-day affairs, became strained when she was opposed to his 2015 marriage to Amber Heard. 

"Depp’s last constant connection with the real world was severed," Rodrick writes.

3. He actually spent more than $30,000 a month on wine

Depp's former business associates filed a countersuit against the actor last February, after the actor filed a lawsuit in mid-January against The Management Group (TMG) and its associates for allegedly defrauding him and mismanaging his money. Among Depp's alleged extravagant expenses they claimed they warned him about was spending $30,000 a month on wines flown to him from around the globe.

Depp proudly admits the number is actually higher.

“It’s insulting to say I spent $30,000 on wine,” Depp says. “Because it was far more."

Depp also addressed the claim that he paid a sound engineer so he could feed him lines through an earpiece while filming, explaining that it was actually sounds that were fed to him, which he says allowed him to be a better actor.

“I’ve got bagpipes, a baby crying and bombs going off,” Depp shares of the sounds. “It creates a truth. Some of my biggest heroes were in silent film. It had to be behind the eyes. And my feeling is, that if there’s no truth behind the eyes, doesn’t matter what the f**king words are.” 

As for the allegation that he spent $3 million to blast Thompson’s ashes out of a specially-made cannon?

"By the way, it was not $3 million to blast Hunter out of the f**king sky," he says. "It was $5 million."

And it appears that Depp's lawsuit against TMG isn't going to be resolved anytime soon.

"I have never, ever been in my life the bully kid," he notes. "I never went out of my way to hurt anybody. When I was a little kid, what I was taught was never start a f**king fight, but if somebody f**king tags you or starts invading your f**king world, finish the f**king fight. To my mom's exact words, 'lay them out with a f**king brick.'"

4. He became depressed over his financial issues and personal life

Depp says that after his divorce from Heard and his lawsuit, he became severly depressed. 

"I was as low as I believe I could have gotten,” he says. “The next step was, ‘You’re going to arrive somewhere with your eyes open and you’re going to leave with your eyes closed.’ I couldn’t take the pain every day.”

He says he then went on tour with his band, The Hollywood Vampires, and started writing a memoir on an old manual typewriter, like Thompson. 

“I poured myself a vodka in the morning and started writing until the tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see the pages anymore,” he tearfully says. “I kept trying to figure out what I’d done to deserve this. I tried being kind to everyone, helping everyone, being truthful to everyone.” 

“The truth is most important to me," he adds. "And all this still happened.” 

5. He was extremely close to Tom Petty

Depp reveals he had a close friendship with the late Tom Petty, who died in January of an accidental drug overdose.

The actor says they used to frequently speak on the phone, and has clearly been hit hard by his death. 

“We’d call each other and ask, ‘Hey, you still smoking [nicotine]?’ Depp recalls. “Tom would go, ‘Yeah, I’m still smoking.’ And I’d feel better: ‘Well, if Tom is still smoking, I’m OK.’” 

“I loved him,” he continues after a pause, shedding tears.

Later, he also laments the deaths of Thompson and Marlon Brando, and the loneliness he now feels.

"Marlon and Hunter. I needed my guys," he says.

6. He supported Penelope Cruz while they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Cruz reveals to the magazine she told Depp that she was pregnant right before shooting 2011's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and contemplated dropping out. She says Depp opposed. 

“He protected me every day, and by the end, I was six months pregnant,” Cruz says. “I’ll never forget that.” 

"I imagine Johnny doing a version of Jack Sparrow at 70, or 80,” Cruz also muses, referencing his iconic Pirates character. “It will be as charming and as great.”

7. He has plenty of thoughts on Harvey Weinstein

Depp recalls his interaction with the disgraced movie mogul, calling him an "a**hole" and a "bully" when he worked with him and director Jim Jarmusch on 1995's Dead Man. 

“Have you seen his wife? It’s not a wide range," he also comments. "It’s not like he went, ‘I must go to the Poconos to find some hairy-backed b***h.’”

Still, he recalls a more tender side to Weinstein, when he witnessed him picking up his daughter from school.

"The image that took my breath away was Harvey Weinstein, a goliath Shrek thing, bending down to put on his daughter's raincoat," he shares.

Earlier this month, some fans became concerned about Depp after photos of him in Russia were shared on social  media, in which they commented that he looked "thin." However, an insider told ET that Depp, who is currently on tour with The Hollywood Vampires, is doing fine.

“Johnny is healthy and is enjoying his time on the road with his band,” the source said.

ET spoke to Depp last May, when he gushed about his 19-year-old daughter, model Lily-Rose Depp. Watch below:

RELATED CONTENT:

Johnny Depp Is 'Healthy' Despite Fans' Recent Health Concerns

Johnny Depp Sued by Ex-Bodyguards for Unsafe Working Conditions and Unpaid Wages

Amber Heard Opens Up About Living 'Truthfully' Following Divorce From Johnny Depp

#_revsp:new_provider_with_logo_342 #_lmsid:a0VK0000001yfWcMAI #_uuid:854f1d82-2d25-306d-af66-b3ef671883ad

[blackwatchbastard]

Long Time No See

Rating: T Chapter(s): 1/1 Relationship(s): Gabriel Reyes/Jack Morrison Warnings: N/A Words: 3,335 Additional Tags: Sap and Fluff, Kissing, Established Relationship, Long Distance Pining, Soft Old Men

Summary: Neither of them ever really did enjoy the time apart. But it makes for some damn good reunions.

A/N: That good ol’ long distance pining and cute reunion shit I said I was going to do ages ago because of @mysadtwodads2

(ao3)

Another mission, another month apart. Jack felt the dread boiling in his gut the closer they got to the airport. Really, as far as Blackwatch assignments went this one was a cake walk. But he wasn’t worried about Gabriel being able to handle himself and his agents, he was more worried about what one would consider lesser issues.

“You’re going to be able to sleep alright, right?” he asked, one hand on the small of Gabriel’s back as they approached his gate.

Gabriel shrugged and leaned to kiss his temple, eyes on the message he was typing in his data pad. “No.” he replied casually, “You know how it is.”

Humming in agreement, Jack leaned against Gabriel’s side. When he finished his message Gabriel stuffed the pad in his hoodie pocket and turned his attention to the sulking man stuck to his side.

“You look how I feel.” he said, teasing, and ambled to a stop outside his gate to wrap his arms around Jack’s shoulders lazily. Jack pressed in and kissed the corner of his lips, feeling him smile under the gesture, and felt fingers winding into his hair.

“Must feel bad, then.”

“Terrible.” Gabriel confirmed. Then, “You have to remember how to smile while I’m gone, alright? No frightening the children with your moods.” Jack wrinkled his nose. “I mean it.”

“I’ll do my best.” Jack replied blandly.

Gabriel grinned and pressed a noisy kiss to his lips before heading for his plane. “All I ask.” he shot back playfully, “See you in October.”

Jack watched him go with a lump in his throat he couldn’t swallow and then headed home. He spent the next week or so wrapped up in a botched Overwatch mission, paperwork flying in and out of his office at breakneck paces, and by the time things slowed down he barely realized how little he and Gabriel had been able to speak. He managed to steal a rare day off and, after finagling around the time zone issue, set up a chance to talk properly that evening.

Gabriel looked exhausted on the feed. Thick bags under his eyes and laying in bed even though the international time clock told Jack it was near noon where he was. But he still smiled when he saw Jack; that sappy mellow thing he didn’t realize he was doing. If Jack’s desire for the ability to reach through the phone hadn’t been strong before it was then.

“You alright, babe?”

Gabriel bit back a yawn and said, “No,” because there was no sense in trying to fib his way out of it. The question was admittedly a bit of a trap.

“What do you need?”

“Sleep.” Another muffled yawn. “Jesse told me to lay down and do mission notes later because I was being quote ‘a cranky baby’ unquote.” He threw his voice a little to mimic McCree’s drawl and Jack snorted. “Haven’t made any progress yet.”

Jack watched him adjust his position irritably and hummed in consideration. When Gabriel settled down he asked, “Anything I can help with?”

“Come turn me into a human body pillow like you love to do and I’ll be asleep in minutes.”

“Second best option?” Jack ventured.

“You could try snoring?” Gabriel offered, “That helps.”

Jack snorted. “You make me sound like a wonderful bedmate, you know.”

Gabriel laughed and melted a little into his pillows. There was a moment of consideration, then he said, “Your voice helps.”

“So the sounds of gravel and smoker’s regrets is going to soothe you to sleep?” Jack teased. Gabriel just nodded and squeezed his eyes shut. “Alright, whatever floats your boat, sunshine.”

So he spent the next hour or so on the phone, chatting with Gabriel until he drifted off. Then a brief period after just watching him sleep (just to be sure he was out for good, of course, no sap there) before he finally forced himself to return to his evening.

The rest of the time apart drew on as slowly as one would expect. But they both did their best to stay busy between small chances to talk. And as soon as Jack had a time and date for Gabriel’s return flight he put in for the day off and glared down anyone who tried to argue against it. A few days later and he was headed for the airport.

The minute Jack rounded the corner and spotted Gabriel, lost in his data pad and dragging his luggage, his heart bloomed in his chest. Truthfully, he looked like a mess. Bags under his eyes, wrinkled old hoodie, sweats, ratty slip ons, and that ‘I slept on the window’ look to his beard.

Jack Morrison had never been more in love.

“Gabe!”

Gabriel dropped his arms and glanced around rapidly as soon as he registered his voice, eyes going wide. When his gaze fell on Jack’s he instantly broke into a grin. Like sunshine on flowers.

Jack stuck his arms out and Gabriel stuffed his data pad in his hoodie pocket before abandoning his suitcase and breaking into a run across the space between them. He dove into Jack’s arms and dissolved into laughter when Jack hoisted him off the ground and spun, face squished against his shoulder. His feet hadn’t even hit the floor before he was kissing Jack, one hand grabbing a handful of his hair to keep him in place.

They both sank as Jack set him on his feet again, Jack leaning into the kiss and grabbing handfuls of Gabriel’s hoodie. He pulled him as impossibly close as he could manage and hunched awkwardly as he tried to chase Gabriel’s mouth when he finally retreated for air.

“Easy, tiger,” Gabriel drawled when they finally broke apart, “act like you haven’t seen me in years.”

“Felt like years.” Jack mumbled, pressing his lips to Gabriel’s temple instead. Gabriel laughed and nudged his chest.

“Like that could happen. You’d die with me gone that long.”

“I would.” Jack didn’t even hesitate that reply. Instead, he ducked to press his face into the crook of Gabriel’s neck and breathed deeply. His shoulders went slack, tension leaving in waves, and he lingered a moment before he felt the other man shift with a faint chuckle.

“I can’t smell nice. Been hopping planes for the past 48 hours.”

“You hungry?” Jack asked, swapping subjects rapidly, “Tired?” Gabriel shrugged and Jack felt his fingers tease back into the hair on the nape of his neck. “Wanna go home?”

“Home sounds good.” Then, “Also, I’d go toe to toe with God for some good pad thai right now, if you can stop by the place we order from on the way.”

“I got it.” Jack said. He shifted, arms looping around Gabriel’s middle and hoisting him off the ground again–this time met with some protest. “I got it.”

Gabriel squirmed a bit but seemed to give in and swung his legs around Jack’s hips to keep from getting drug across the airport. Jack just did a quick loop to grab his suitcase, one hand squeezing at his thigh as they set off for the car.

“Clingy. Act like you missed me or something.” he teased when he felt Jack’s chin dig into his shoulder. But there wasn’t even a little bite to it–all pure adoration. Didn’t help that Gabriel was still combing absently at his air the whole time.

Jack just chuckled faintly and rolled his eyes. “Oh? What gave you that impression?” he asked.

He could feel Gabriel smiling when he pressed his lips to his cheek. Made the whole attempt at teasing hold even less water.

“Oh, just a hunch.”

They’d been apart for years. Years. The last thing either of them had in mind was splitting up when they finally got to be together again. Once they’d figured everything out and got to be in each other’s company it wasn’t on the radar.

But duty had a habit of calling when they wanted to hear it least. And as much as Gabriel had been annoyed about Sombra’s multiple messages that morning he couldn’t exactly deny her. He had promises to keep.

Jack saw him off at the helipad, toting one of his bags for him and wrapping a scarf around his neck while he tried to go over the details Sombra had sent and eat a bagel at the same time. They were both unhappy about it but it wasn’t expected to be that long.

“Sombra promised it’d be a week.” Gabriel reminded him when he caught Jack making those damn puppy eyes again. “One week, old man. You’ll survive.”

Jack tugged at the ends of his scarf and puffed out a sigh. Pointedly, he didn’t look at Gabriel this time when he asked, “You sure about that?”

“Yes, I am. You’ve survived worse.”

To punctuate his point, Gabriel took Jack’s chin in his hand and traced the scarring cutting through his lip. The response was a quick kiss to the pad of his thumb and another eyeful of those awful sad dog eyes.

“Not like I’m happy about this either, babe. She’s taking me to Russia again. Gonna freeze my damn ass off.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jack tugged at his scarf again, pulling him closer, and Gabriel got the message. He ducked in for a brief kiss and, based on the fact he probably tasted like cream cheese and the transport copter was starting up in the background and kicking up dust and his coat tails, it was best to keep it that way. Even if Jack pressed after him when they parted, kissing the corner of his mouth and his lower lip before finally slacking the hold on him.

“Be safe.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Call me when you can.”

“Of course, baby.”

“Don’t let Sombra get you into any trouble.”

Gabriel stole a glance over his shoulder. In the window, Sombra had smooshed her face up against the glass. When she caught him looking she mimed rubbing tears away with her fist and puckered her lower lip out dramatically. Gabriel briefly stashed his data pad inside Jack’s coat pocket to flip her off. Sombra responded by clutching her chest dramatically and dropping out of view in her seat.

“That’s my girl.” Gabriel hummed, turning his attention back to Jack with a grin plastered on his face. “We’ll be fine, promise. Just a little espionage. Just like old times. Cept this time instead of a cowboy and a ninja I’ve got little miss cyberpunk.”

“Not too late to invite the ninja or cowboy, you know.”

Gabriel scoffed and freed his tablet from Jack’s pocket (begrudgingly). “No thanks.” he said, taking his duffle bag from Jack and hiking it up high on his shoulder. “Those two, and everyone else, are all you guy’s job this week. Hope you and Ana got some sleep.”

“Winston helps sometimes.” Jack ventured, grinning faintly.

“He’s too soft on the punks.”

“One to talk.”

Gabriel held a finger up to his lips. “Hey, don’t give away my secret. I’m the fun dad.”

Jack laughed and leaned in, managing to steal one more kiss before Gabriel slumped his shoulders and headed for the transport. He made a point not to look back until he was already buckled in and stuck next to Sombra (who had already started blaring Selena through the speakers somehow). Because it was usually all he could do not to visibly sulk as badly as Jack did when they were together. He waved out the window, Jack wiggling his fingers after him, and sank back once they took off.

Once they were apart, however, it was all holds off. He tossed his scarf at Sombra halfway into the trip and kicked his seat back, arms folded over his chest and ear buds jammed in. Made it a bit hard to realize Sombra was talking to him until she leaned over his face and papped roughly at his chest.

“What?”

“You gonna pout the whole time, Gabo?”

“I’m not–”

“Were you and Morrison this joined at the hip when you were younger? Or is this a thing you grew into?”

“We–”

“Is my music not good enough for you, by the way? Gotta play your sad emo shit?”

Gabriel cut his eyes at her. “It’s 1980s rock…” The first full thought he’d managed to get out. Sombra scrunched up her nose.

“Older than grandpa music.”

“Selena is from literally almost the same time period.”

Sombra waved him off easily. “Yeah, but she’s a classic.” she countered.

They spent the rest of the flight making subtle snipes at each other’s music tastes and Gabriel almost managed to shove down that dull ache in his chest once they were to work on her little project. It was easy to focus elsewhere when they had things to do. But when they hit a safe house that night and Sombra passed out on the sleeper couch, leaving him alone with a pile of blankets and pillows but no too-warm super soldier to coil around him like the world’s weirdest starfish, it came back with a vengeance.

Gabriel didn’t know what time it was back with Jack. Probably late, or early. But it didn’t really matter, he knew he was going to call him anyway as soon as he opened his eyes after trying to squeeze them shut and force sleep. It was easier to just give in and roll over, grab his data pad and punch in a video call request for ‘call-sign: Soldier76’.

(Gabriel made a mental note to have Sombra hack it later and let him change the call-sign. Something more fitting like ‘Soldier Flatass’. But, knowing her, it’d end up being something like ‘Schnookums76’. Maybe he’d try his hand at it first.)

Jack answered on the third ring with a “Hey, sunshine.” He looked awake enough, coffee cup in the frame as he greeted Gabriel and fiddled with the pad a moment before propping it on something and sitting back slightly. Gabriel took in the background a little better; warm lighting, coffee cup, and wire furniture.

“You’re having breakfast?” he asked. Jack nodded and took a draw off his coffee.

“I made pancakes.” Jack drawled.

“Asshole.”

That summoned a laugh. Jack pressed two fingers to his lips and held them to the camera. Gabriel just stuck his tongue out and flopped back into his mess of bedding, tablet held above his head.

“Mission going well?” Jack asked.

Gabriel shrugged. “It’s been okay. Bit of a goose chase but eh. It’s Sombra.” Then, “I miss you.”

“That’s just because you’re cold.” Jack teased.

“Maybe. Take what you can get.”

The other man laughed and shook his head. He looked so warm and softened in the morning light. Gabriel felt his chest tighten some and tried to ignore it. Instead, he focused on the way Jack paused to take another sip of his coffee before speaking.

“I miss you too. Slept like shit.”

“Sombra says we’re too needy and that’s why we can’t sleep apart.” Gabriel offered, grinning faintly.

Jack scoffed loudly. “Don’t care. I’m too old to give a fuck about what it means when I can’t sleep without my partner.”

Gabriel muffled a laugh into his fist. “Same.”

Jack went to say something else but Gabriel accidentally cut him off with a loud yawn. Stretching, he flipped sideways and propped the data pad in his pillows. That whole display earned him a sympathetic little frown.

“Trouble sleeping, babe?”

“Mm.”

Jack hummed thoughtfully and propped his chin on his fist. After a moment of consideration, he asked, “What do you need me to do? Lullabies?” That one made Gabriel cringe and Jack chuckle. “Phone sex?”

“Nah.”

“Give it a few days and you’ll be harassing me at weird hours for it. I know you.” Gabriel rolled his eyes and Jack pushed on. “You can’t fool me. Just gotta hear it; I love you, Gabe, you feel so good, oh yeah, that’s–”

Gabriel flipped the tablet onto its face, hissing, and heard Jack let out a muffled laugh on the other end. When he finally flipped it back up he glared at the other man.

“No sex voice when Sombra is sleeping in the other room, asshole.”

Jack laughed again, fist stuffed against his mouth, but nodded. Took him a second to calm down before he could offer another suggestion.

“Want me to read for you?”

Gabriel hemmed and hawed and moment before finally nodding. So Jack grabbed a book off the shelf behind him (convenient for balcony relaxing) and set to work plugging through some trashy fantasy romance novel. Gabriel was asleep in no time. He woke up the next morning to a ‘good night’ text from Jack and Sombra cooking eggs in the tiny kitchenette.

By the time they headed back Gabriel felt like he was running on empty. He hadn’t slept half a shit the whole time, even with Jack’s dutiful reading, and every bit of him felt sore and tired and cold. It showed, clearly, considering Sombra even shoved his data pad at him on one occasion and told him to ‘have old man phone sex and stop being so pissy’ before leaving for the afternoon.

(They didn’t, though the thought crossed his mind. Instead, Gabriel listened to Jack go over repair reports while he fixed some tears in Sombra’s coat. Domestic bliss was all either of them ever really needed, it seemed.)

He spent the flight back bouncing his knee, much to Sombra’s loud annoyance, and staring out the window. The whole thing took too damn long. He couldn’t even really talk with Jack during the travel and it just made the whole focus even worse. If he could have at least bounced a few texts back and forth he might not have been so… insufferable.

Gabriel was out of his seat and onto the landing pad the second he could. His knee ached from the cold he’d been enduring, slowing him down a little, but the second he spotted Jack across the way he took off into a run anyway. Jack threw his arms out, grinning widely, and Gabriel collided with his chest a second later, legs swinging up to wrap around his waist in the embrace.

Unfortunately, the combination of momentum and Jack’s faulty joints made the approach a little more than either of them bargained for. Jack’s knees gave out and they dropped for the ground, both yelping and latching onto each other instinctively in their panic. There was a loud oof as Jack hit the ground and took most of Gabriel’s weight on top of him and Gabriel cringed as his knees banged against the hard asphalt ground but he sat up immediately to check Jack over. Dazed but unharmed, Jack blinked back up at him.

There was a pause, just briefly, then Jack said, “Act like you miss me or something.”

Gabriel blinked, then immediately dissolved into laughter and ducked down to squish his face against Jack’s chest. The other man laughed too, arms wrapping around Gabriel and pulling him down into a proper embrace, and for a while they just laid there laughing and hugging. Gabriel squirmed up enough to pepper Jack’s jaw line with kisses, still half crushed in his grasp, and felt all the angst and ice melting from his body with the warmth around him now.

Behind them, Gabriel heard Sombra snort loudly. “Saps.” she hissed, stepping past them headed for the base.

“Yeah, kinda,” Gabriel hummed, finally sitting up and awkwardly shuffling to his feet–pulling Jack along with him.

Jack leaned in and pressed a kiss to his temple, one arm swung around his shoulders. Gabriel tucked himself closer to Jack’s side and sighed contently.

“You missed me.” Jack said, teasingly sing-song in his tone.

Gabriel just rolled his eyes. “What ever gave you that idea?” he asked.

Jack bit back a laugh and shrugged. “Just a hunch.”

#reaper76 #morreyes #morreyeson #fly writes fics #positive feedback loop of soft r76 content #apologies if the coding breaks i had it set up so i could post on mobile but had to edit :v #so if there's no cut then like... shitty phone tumblr is why