#Like she didn’t assemble a rescue team for him

[shokuto]

Gwen didn’t not tell Miles about the canon event because she didn’t care, she didn’t tell him because she thought he’d die trying to stop it. It’s explicitly why she tried to stop him from changing Pav’s canon, why she freaked out when the rubble fell on him, and why she’s more dissident against Miguel after. Like the point with her is she buys into Miguel’s agenda of being powerless against the narrative until Miles averts it in front of her and inspires her to believe in the impossible

#But yall talk about her like she just didn’t give a fuck #Like she didn’t think about him after ITSV #Like she didn’t risk the multiverse to spend an afternoon with him #Like she didn’t assemble a rescue team for him #And like she wasn’t latching onto the only stability she’d get that came in the form of two grownups— #—who’d remind her she had nowhere to go if she didn’t do as they said #Yall miss out on some complex characters villainizing female ones who make mistakes #spiderman #atsv spoilers #across the spiderverse #spider gwen #gwen stacy #miles morales #pavitr prabhakar #miguel o’hara #spiderman 2099

[pianokantzart]

The Super Mario Bros. Redux (Pt. 6)

What would happen if, in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, after Mario and Luigi are separated, Mario was the one who ended up in the clutches of Luigi’s eventual arch nemesis, while Luigi teamed up with some of his own close allies to go rescue him? (This part of the story is in one shot format. Most other parts are written in bullet points.)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 ________

A short summary of the things Luigi had done in the past twenty four hours that he had never expected to do in his entire life:

Fall into an interdimensional wormhole. Fight a warrior princess in a crowded arena. Become a royally acclaimed ghost hunter. Enlist in an army assembled to ambush the territory ruled by The King of Ghosts in order to rescue hostages and bring balance to the afterlife. Adopt a dog.

... Though it was more accurate to say the dog adopted him. Normally Luigi had trouble with animals– he could never read their body language, and his clumsiness made for bad first impressions. The few animals he got along with in the past were old and quiet, wanting nothing more than a warm lap on which to lay their head. Polterpup was different; playful and energetic, mischievous yet patient. Luigi couldn’t help but wonder what was the reason behind the attachment– if he himself resembled an old master or friend from the dog’s past life before it became a ghost. It still wore a collar, though the little golden loop on the front had no tag. The collar was bright red, almost a perfect match to Mario’s favorite color. "Heh, you’re just as good at getting into trouble as Mario, too,” Luigi added with a somber smile, kneeling down to oblige the ghost dog’s less-than-subtle plea for belly rubs until it disappeared again, as was its habit. Polterpup tended to suddenly poof in and out of thin air with little warning, and though it seemed to be at random at first, Luigi began to realize the dog mostly came to him when he was feeling alone, which was more often than not as of late. Every new experience, every strange encounter, every unexpected victory made Luigi wish more and more that his brother was around to take part. Hardly a second passed without him wondering what he was doing at that moment, and if he was okay.

Unfortunately, his occupied mind made him a less-than-helpful assistant to E. Gadd. The professor had warned earlier that he had always preferred working alone. The result was a very low tolerance level for “tomfoolery,” as he described it, and it wasn’t long before Luigi’s shaky attempts to help attach upgrades to The Poltergust caused the scientist to lose his patience. One shoddy wire-soldering job later, Luigi found himself being forcibly pushed toward the exit by the surprisingly strong old man. “Go. Shoo. Distract yourself with something else.”

“Like what?” Luigi asked, digging his heels. “What do I do? Where do I go?”

“How about you see the princess?”

“Princess Daisy?”

Luigi lingered in the doorway. The professor adjusted his glasses, and pointed down one of the castle hallways. “Yep! She’s in the greenhouse. I’m sure she could use the company. You two seem to get along well enough.”

“We do?” Luigi placed his hand against his cheek, thinking over their last interactions. They had exchanged blows, but worked together in the end to defeat Boolossus. She had held his hand up as the victor, but she had also toyed with him in a way that made it clear that she knew how weak he truly was. He liked her, that much he knew, but that didn’t mean she wanted anything more to do with him, and furthermore she had a power and confidence to her that intimidated him beyond her status as the daughter of four kings. “I don’t know. I mean, we did make a pretty good team, but she’s royalty! I don’t know anything about how to approach royalty. Do I bow? Or–”

“You’ll be fine,” The Professor assured, only half paying attention as he returned to his work, burying himself back into the open hatch of a large machine.

In the end, Luigi did as he was told. The greenhouse was easy enough to find. As large as the Birabuto Palace was, its corridors were open and easy to navigate, and the guards were surprisingly helpful in giving directions despite their shaky first-encounters.

Finding the large doors to the greenhouse, marked by limestone imitations of crawling vines carved into the archway, Luigi gathered his determination and pushed them open. The first thing that struck him was a wall of glacial cold– a shocking surprise, and the opposite of what he expected from a greenhouse, but this discomfort was immediately undercut by the beauty of the surrounding foliage. The flowers, sparkling with a brilliant, incandescent blue, sprouted from planter boxes and large pots all around in blooms and buds. He thought for a moment that surely they were beautifully-crafted plastic or silicon, but pinching a large leaf between the fingers of his gloves he found they felt as real as any common dandelion. The second thing that struck him was the night sky, clearly visible through the glass walls and ceiling. He had never in his life seen so many stars, and for all his love of science and space he could not recognize a single constellation, which served as an unsettling, but ultimately breathtaking reminder of how far from home truly he was.

“Oh! Hey!”

Luigi jumped and let out a surprised squeak when Daisy emerged from behind a stack of pots to greet him. Her cheeks were tinted pink from the cold, and in her right arm she held a large sack of powdery-white fertilizer that she was distributing between the plants. She laughed at his reaction, but it carried no hint of condescension, just friendly amusement. “I was hoping I’d see you again before we invaded Evershade Valley!” she called, waving him over. “Luigi, was it?”

Luigi approached while holding his hat to his chest, shuddering a bit as the chill bit at the edges of his ears. “Yes, Your Highness.” Daisy once more laughed her friendly, good-natured laugh. “None of that. Just Daisy. No ‘Miss’ or ‘Ma’am’ either. If you’ve gotta be formal, call me Princess Daisy.” Luigi, feeling a little more at ease, put his hat back on his head. “Yes, Princess Daisy.” She gave a nod of approval, then went back to work fertilizing the long rows of plants. “So,” she asked, “What can I help you with, big guy?” “I, er…” Luigi suddenly realized he had failed to come up with a proper reason before arriving here. He couldn’t very well say the professor kicked him out of the lab for being inept, but before he could think of an excuse his attention was re-seized by the plants. Curiosity overcame him to the point that he forgot his worries, and he once more brushed his hand against the leaf of the nearest flower. “Are these where your ice powers came from? In The Battle Stadium?” “Of course! I’m pretty good with a powerup, huh?” Daisy said proudly, “Normally I favor the elephant fruit, but today I decided to switch things up.” “Elephant fruit? There’s other magical plants?” The princess stiffened. Luigi was worried for a moment that he had accidentally said something offensive, but she retained her genuine smile as she set the sack of fertilizer down and placed her hands on her hips. “Wow, you’re really not from around here, are you.” Before Luigi could answer, she walked up and wrapped a friendly arm around his shoulder. “Suppose I should’ve known. Humans aren’t native to this world. The professor is one of, like, two other humans I know. Do you know E. Gadd? Is he your uncle or something?” “I– uh, no. We just met yesterday.” “Let me guess: you're lost." "Well... yes..." "And he said he'd only get you home if you help him.” “What!?” “He’s the kind of guy to pull a stunt like that if he thinks it’s for the greater good.” Daisy explained, holding Luigi a bit closer in a show of sympathy. “You don’t have to do this, you know, you could go home anytime you like. I’ll vouch for you!” Despite the friendly intention behind these words, Luigi felt a lump form in his throat. He slipped out from under The Princess’ side-hug, and stared up at her with a troubled look. “Do you… want me to leave?” Daisy bristled. Her cheeks reddened as she shook her head and waved her hands in dismay. “No! No no no of course not! I think you’re great! It’s just…” She trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck.

Luigi, surprised by this rare show of nervousness, patiently waited with bated breath for her to gather her thoughts, and after a few seconds she continued, quieter than before. “It’s just that I keep thinking about what you said in the arena. You seemed like a guy who had a lot to lose. You weren’t in it for glory or the fun of the fight, you were just scared and… I don’t know… I felt bad for you. Still do.” At this, Luigi gained a slight smile, shyly burying his hands in his pockets and rocking on his heels. “Heh, don’t worry. I gotta learn how to not be scared all the time, y'know?” It didn’t take long before he realized what he said– whose words he was echoing. The gravity of the situation quickly crashed back down on him, robbing him of that small moment of comfort. It was evident by the look on Daisy’s face that she had seen the change in his expression, so Luigi went ahead and explained his predicament before she could ask: “It’s my brother, Mario. We both fell through a warp pipe. I ended up in your kingdom but he ended up in Evershade Valley.”

Daisy cocked her head, the gears turning behind her eyes as everything she had witnessed about the plumber's manner up until now came together in her mind. “Oh. I see.”

“It was my fault. I fell into the warp pipe, and he jumped in after me, and– I… I can’t just leave him.” Luigi heard his own voice crack and felt tears beginning to form in his eyes. Despite this he kept going, the pent up emotions of the past twenty four hours running rampant, unable to be reigned in. “It’s not that I don’t trust anyone else to save him, but I gotta make sure he’s okay! We’ve never been apart this long… and I-... I miss him.” Tears began streaming freely, the cold air burning them into long lines down Luigi’s cheeks. He turned away, struggling to wipe his eyes with the back of his glove. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be.”

Luigi saw a glimmer of white fabric in the corner of his vision. Turning, he saw the princess holding a flower-embroidered handkerchief out to him. He accepted, and dried his eyes. He tried to hand it back, but she was already returning to the flowers, plucking up a set of pruning shears as she went. “I’ve never known a good fighter that didn’t have big emotions brewing under the surface,” she assured. “But don’t you worry, after the way we saved my dads, saving you brother should be no sweat!...” Luigi, hearing a light snip of closing shears, saw Princess Daisy remove one of the ice flowers at its base between where the leaves connected to the soil. Despite being cut off from its roots the plant remained as lively as ever. It almost looked to be dancing happily in her hands as she delivered it back to Luigi.

“...and when you do save him, give him this.” She said, holding out the offering. “If Mario’s anything like you, he’s not going to want to be defenseless, and ice magic is the one of the few things that can combat boos besides your Poltergust.” Luigi smiled. He reached out and took the flower into his hands. He was surprised to find it wasn’t particularly chilly to the touch– clearly the coldness of the room was for the sake of cultivating the plants, not the effect of the flowers themselves. “You seem to really know a lot.” He mused aloud, pressing the gift to his chest. “But… you said humans aren’t native to this world. Where did you come from, then?” He stopped suddenly, realizing the personal nature of what he asked. He searched Daisy’s face for some sign of disapproval, but was relieved to see her smiling just as brightly as before. “Ha! I wish I had an answer to your question!” She laughed, “Dragonzamasu says I hatched from an orange egg that appeared suddenly in a field of flowers. Biokinton says he found me curled up in a bassinet hitched to a shooting star. Hiyoihoi says he found me locked in a gemstone at the center of the oldest mountain in Sarasaland. But I’m more inclined to buy Totomesu’s story.”

“What’s Totomesu’s story?” Daisy’s smile wavered. Luigi wondered once again if he misstepped, but this time easily brushed the thought aside, trusting by now that the princess would let him know if he had done something wrong. She turned away, staring up at the stars through the glass wall of the greenhouse, and Luigi placed himself at the her side, watching the stars in tandem until Daisy finally broke the silence and answered his question: “He found me at the mouth of a warp pipe, barely old enough to crawl and completely terrified. Sometimes I think I still remember that day… as much as I prefer to believe that I hatched from an egg.”

There was such an odd sadness to her voice that Luigi felt an impulse to reach out and reassuringly take her hand, though he had enough common sense to refrain from such an intimate gesture. All the same, he wanted to say something comforting. “I don’t mind that you didn’t hatch from an egg.” He heard himself blurt out.

Daisy shot him a confused look, and Luigi nervously scrambled to explain himself. “What I mean is… hey, you were a baby, y’know? Ain’t nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re already so cool, you can’t be cool every moment of your life, and most babies aren’t cool! And… uh…” Daisy started to laugh. Luigi turned red, but felt a little better now that she was smiling again, even more so when he felt the princess affectionately nudging his shoulder. “Haha! I get it big guy, I get what you're saying!”

Luigi laughed too, in spite of himself.

“Speaking of ‘cool,’” Daisy went on, “I'm freezing!” She rubbed at her arms in a display of discomfort. Luigi, too, was suddenly reminded of just how cold he was. By now the low temperature had seeped all the way through his clothes and skin, triggering a powerful shiver that ran through his core, which was soon soothed as the princess wrapped an arm around him, and pressed him close. “Tell me, Luigi, do you have hot chocolate in your world?”

“I love hot chocolate!”

“Perfect!” With her arm still tightly wrapped around the plumber, Daisy eagerly led him to the egress of the greenhouse. “Let’s get us some good old-fashioned creature comforts before we fight some ghosts!”

"Heh. Yeah. Let's-a-go!" Luigi said, forcing enthusiasm, thankful that he had the cold as an excuse for his uncontrollable shivering.

#my writing #super mario bros #super mario bros redux #super mario brothers #mario movie #mario movie au #Luigi #Polterpup #Princess Daisy #Professor E. Gadd #Luaisy #this got longer than I intended but what else is new

[traveler-at-heart]

What we were - Chapter 4

Posting because I’m fed up with the discussion of should Nat be forgiven blah blah, that’s the way the story is, it’s not that deep 🥹 I’m deleting all chapters at the end of the week so I’m just posting for the people who were curious about how the story ends.

The Avengers assembled.

Steve and Bucky haven’t aged, but as you look around, you notice some wrinkles around Wanda’s eyes. Tony has gray hair and a disgruntled look on his face.

Sam is the only one enjoying himself, apparently.

“Cheer up” you say, standing in front of the group.

“Sorry, last time we were all together was to put someone six feet under” Tony mutters. “Yes, well... We have some news about that. Nat?”

The redhead stands next to you, looking at the projected images.

“Helios is an international terrorist organization led by French mercenary Soizic Paire. They have targeted some major cities in the Middle East and Africa. Quickly expanding to Europe and North America”

“Eleanor Bishop has been working with them to cover their operations, setting up fake companies that look like legit businesses”

“So you think Kate was just following her mother?” Wanda says.

“Yes, and Clint tagged along as backup. They didn’t know about Helios until they found Eleanor”

“The Avengers are retired, though” Steve points out. “I’m trying to figure out what we could do about this”

“I spoke to Secretary Renfield” you announce. Tony smirks. “We have clearance to take care of this”

“Who is we?” Tony asks you to clarify.

“Everyone in this room. You’re free to go. Or not. I just thought you’d like to know that we’re doing this. I know we all have lives now and families, so there’s nothing wrong with sitting this one out”

“Well, I’m going,” Bucky says.

“I’m going too,” Wanda nods. Steve and Sam step forward as well.

“Stark?”

“Do you have an ugly beard convention or something on your schedule?” you push him, annoyed.

“Damn, when did she get so mean?” Sam mutters to Natasha.

“I think it’s hot”

Tony snickers and shrugs his shoulders.

“Oh, what the hell. For old time’s sake. But you’re explaining this to Pepper” --

Steve is leading an intense training for everyone. It’s been a while since you spar and the pain in your leg only reminds you that you’re not a 20 something agent on the field.

Still, Natasha is patient and knows how to get you back in shape. Everyone shares a sense of urgency to get on with this. Maybe it’s because Helios could go into hiding if they suspect someone is after them. Part of it is also because you all want to go back to your lives.

Yelena is happy to stay over while you focus entirely on this mission. She’s given herself the title of “cool aunt to the rescue”.

“I’m exhausted” you complain when the first week of training ends.

“Steve was a little pushy today,” Natasha agrees. You’re back home, laying on the couch while Natasha massages your feet.

“Want to relax for a bit?”

“Do we have time?” she smiles and you nod, moving to straddle her lap. You kiss her slowly, her hands cupping your ass as you run yours through her hair.

“We brought pizza-aaaah” Yelena screams. “No, Anya, don’t look!”

“You should knock,” Natasha complains.

“There” Yelena punches the door and you grimace. Bucky just replaced it. “Сучка”

“Aww, aunt Yelena, you should have let me walk in on them. That way I could guilt them into buying me a new laptop”

“Maybe next time, sweetheart” you pat Anya’s shoulder. --

The second week of training is coming to an end, and you think the team might be ready to execute the mission in a couple of days.

You’re reviewing floor plans with Natasha when a video call from Maria comes in. “Director Hill”

“Agent Romanoff... and Romanoff. I have some intel that you’ll want to review. Helios is planning an attack at Oslo”

“This is the first time they target an European city” Natasha looks at you, concerned. “How long do we have, Maria?”

“I’d say a day at most”

You sigh.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., call everyone. We leave in an hour”

“Good luck, Avengers” Maria disconnects the call. You walk away, thinking about getting changed and prepare the Quinjet.

“Hold on” Natasha asks, pulling you back to the room.

“Nat, can’t this wait?”

“I need... I need to apologize. For everything. I never did”

“You’ll do it when the mission is over” you try to get away from the conversation but she insists.

“I can’t let you leave without telling you that I love you. That you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And that... thing with Carol didn’t mean anything. It was just a fucked up way to deal with grief. But it’s still not an excuse. I’m sorry for hurting you”

“Thank you”

“You know, after I moved out I started therapy. For real. And I’m working on everything. I don’t want our family to be apart anymore”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now all you have to do is promise me that you’re not going to risk your life on this mission. Anya needs you and so do I”

“Promise” she nods, resting her forehead against yours.

“Chop, chop” Tony walks in, clapping excitedly. “We got butts to kick”

--

As everyone gathers around, you look at the empty seat on the Quinjet. Clint loved flying this thing.

Then you remember the archery lessons he gave Anya, the Christmases at the farm with all the kids. Maybe, worrying about Natasha was also a way of not facing your own loss.

A look around the room tells you everyone is thinking about Clint.

“We’ll divide in three” you begin, projecting a scan of the location where Helios is hiding. It’s an abandoned mansion on the border between Norway and Russia. “Tony will disable the communication between the guards on the gates and the towers. Once that happens, Wanda and Sam will disarm them”

“Natasha, Steve, Bucky and I will access via an old tunnel. We’ll wait for you to finish with the outside group. Then, Steve and Natasha will go to retrieve intelligence and locate Soizic while Buck and I deal with the second group of guards”

“We’re not splitting up” Natasha complains.

“Yes, we are. You and Steve work great together. And with my leg, I’m gonna need backup”

Bucky smiles at Natasha but you nudge him.

“Not now, children. By the time Steve and Natasha find Soizic, we should all be able to meet there and deal with him. Questions?”

Tony raises his hand.

“Would anyone like some shawarma after? Or is this more of a pizza type of mission?” “Shawarma’s for alien invasions. This will be a piece of cake” Sam winks at you.

--

Piece of cake, my ass.

You’ve been here for 10 minutes and everything’s going to shit.

Bucky and you had to split up when a group of Helios’ soldiers found you. You’ve been fighting for fifteen minutes, and although you’ve managed to knock down ten of their people, there are still three guards. One of them is swinging a chain, so you duck and he hits his partner.

This time, he swings to the ground, thinking you’ll go low again. Instead, you throw a punch to the other soldier, and by the time the chain man lifts his arms, it hits the other man in the balls.

“Ouch”

You almost feel sorry for him.

With only chain man left, you prepare your last widow bite. He swings the chain, distracting you from his other hand, and he throws a knife that lands straight to your stomach.

Well, shit.

Ignoring the sting, you push through the pain and wait for his attack to grab one of the guns from his fallen mates. You throw the widow bite to distract him and when he thinks he has you, you shoot him three times.

Down.

“We have a problem” Tony announces over the comms.

“Join the club” you take the knife out, grunting.

“Y/N?” Natasha speaks.

“I’m fine” you lie. “Tony?”

“There’s a record of a device that can launch a missile to Oslo, remotely. And it’s traveling, almost at the edge of the property, isn’t that right, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“Yes, Mr. Stark”

“Probably through the tunnel we came in. I’m the one closest to it. I’ll track it” you say. “Sending Red Wing to guide you” Sam announces.

As you run through the tunnel, the robot joins you, and stops next to a wall.

“Sam, you’re thing is broken” “That can’t be”

“Unless there’s a secret... door” you push the stone and sure enough, it gives in. You walk into a garage full of motorcycles, SUVs and sports cars. There’s a man loading up a small briefcase. You lock eyes and he raises his gun.

“Shit”

As you find cover, Red Wing shoots back.

“Guys, I found Soizic” you inform the team as he drives away. “He’s on a white BMW. I’m in pursuit” you instruct them, finding a motorcycle with the keys still attached.

“We cut their power, so he must be looking for a network to connect and launch the missile. You have to get to him before that” Tony instructs.

“No pressure, right?” you rev the engine, and a second later, the cold air hits you. It feels like tiny needles digging on the skin of your face and exposed knuckles.

Soizic is having trouble with the car, as the roads seem to be frozen. You increase the speed, knowing one wrong turn could be fatal.

“Can this thing knock down trees?” you ask Sam.

“Only once”

“Then make sure it gets it right. Block the road with a tree. That way I can intercept Soizic”

“Copy, Romanoff”

“Me?” Natasha jumps in.

“The other Romanoff” Sam clarifies. “Ten years and we still can’t come up with a system to avoid this”

Red Wing flies past you and Soizic. There’s a curve ahead, with a cliff on the other side. As the tree falls, he realizes there’s nowhere to go so he stops the car, swirling.

You are face to face with the man that killed Clint.

“He could still launch it from your position, Y/N. I’m working on blocking his signal”

“That looks bad” the mercenary points at the bleeding in your abdomen.

“You a doctor?”

“Just a killer. You want this? Is that why you’re here?” He pulls the briefcase close to him. “Are you done?” you make time, asking Tony.

“Not even a little” the man in front of you replies.

“I’m trying,” Tony says.

“We’re on our way as backup” Natasha announces.

It will be too late. You have to get to that briefcase now.

“Just like old times” you mutter, running towards the man. He throws a punch to your stab wound and you double in pain. Before he can make a run for the briefcase, you pull him by the shirt, and he falls to the ground. You bash his head against the car door.

This is your chance.

But the blood loss is making you dizzy.

Soizic laughs, still on the ground.

“You should have retired. Like your friend, Barton” “I’m going to kill you”

“That’s what he said”

Come on, move. Reach for it. Run.

Soizic sprints forward at the same time you do. Instead of racing him for the briefcase, you throw yourself at him. The man realizes a second too late what you’re doing, as you both fall over the cliff on the other side of the road.

The snow softens some of the blows, but you can still feel your ribs breaking and a shooting pain in your arm.

It feels like an eternity until you land, rolling to a frozen surface.

Come on. You can do it.

Detka

Is Nat here? You listen to her voice, she’s so close.

A cracking sound on your back wakes you up.

Natasha is on the comms, asking for your location.

“Down the cliff” you drag yourself, aware that the ice is breaking due to the force of your fall. You will not be able to swim like this.

She asks you something else, but you can’t focus on her words as you feel someone pulling you back.

Fuck, why won’t he die?

Soizic punches you, and you land on your back. His own face is covered in blood and the right arm is twisted in a weird angle.

With the left arm, he’s holding a knife. You stop him mid attack, each one struggling with one arm. The ice keeps cracking, so you begin to kick it. You’d rather risk your chances on the frozen water than let him stab you.

The surface finally gives in and you both fall.

Soizic lets go of the knife as he struggles to swim. Barely floating, you know this will only give you a second to get away.

“For f-fuck’s sake” you stutter as he peaks his head. Just when you think he’s going to drown you, an arrow goes through his head.

What?

You follow the direction of the shot. Natasha.

Smiling weakly, for a second you forget you’re on the brink of freezing to death. She looks at Bucky.

“Hurry up and bring her over”

“Ah, jeez” Bucky complains, diving.

A second later, Wanda lands next to Natasha and envelopes you with her magic, floating out of the water wrapped in red threads.

“Seriously, Romanoff?” Bucky barks, but sprints out of the lake and catches you in the air, carrying you over. “You’re bleeding”

“And freezing” Natasha moves some of the hair on your forehead. She feels so warm even though she’s probably cold as well.

“Let’s get you back to the Quinjet”

“Who taught you to shoot like that?” you ask Natasha. Sam is landing the Quinjet, Red Wing by his side.

“Clint,” she smiles. “They kept his bow and arrow stored away”

“Idiots” Bucky mutters and Natasha laughs. The corner of his mouth does a thing that kind of looks like a smile.

“Hey, the funniest thing happened, Miss Day asked about you” Natasha comments and his smile fades away.

“You told her” he accuses, looking at you. “I promise I didn’t”

“All the Romanoffs are a pain in my ass” “That we are”

--

“Knock knooock” Yelena calls softly, peeking around the hospital room.

“Now you knock” Natasha opens the door, hugging her daughter. You were rushed to the OR the minute the Quinjet landed and are waking up from the anesthesia, a dopey look in your eyes.

“How are you feeling, seestra?” Yelena approaches the side of the bed. “These drugs are top notch, Yel”

“I can see that. Anya’s here, though, so we might not call drugs a good thing”

“Pfff, it’s fine. Come here, sweetheart” you wave and Anya kisses your cheek. She’s never seen you like this, mainly because you retired from missions when she was six. “Your mom killed a bad guy, it was so cool”

“Hey, we’ll be right back, Anya” Yelena says, dragging Natasha out of the room.

“What’s wrong?” Natasha says.

“So, are you done? Can you move on with your life now?” Yelena scolds her. This is the first time in months that both sisters are alone. “Because you were pretty determined to screw up everything and you wouldn’t let us help, Natalia”

“I’m done. It won’t happen again”

“No, it won’t. Because next time I’m gonna kick your ass. And don’t forget how lucky you are because Y/N forgave everything”

“You knew about...?”

“Barnes told me. We made a group chat to call you mean names” Yelena shrugs her shoulders.

“It’s not a group chat if it’s only the two of you” Natasha grumbles.

“Whatever” the blonde waves, coming back inside.

Your eyes are closed, but you’re still talking, half asleep.

“The first night your Mom and I spent together, I thought she got me pregnant. That’s how good it was, Anya”

The redhead turns around and looks at Natasha with a smile.

“I’m so getting a new laptop now”

“Not so fast, we still have to tell them about the cat” Yelena scratches her neck.

“You adopted a cat?” Natasha yells whispers as you go back to sleep.

“Momma, she is so cute. She’s a black cat and Aunt Yelena named her Liho. Please, we have to keep her”

“A cat would be nice” you mumble, and then start to snore. Natasha can’t help but smile. “It would be nice”, she agrees.

--

Six months later

Flowers are blooming.

Time keeps passing.

There are days where grief takes over. Healing isn’t linear. But you’re getting there. Natasha looks happy, helping Laura set everything up for the barbecue.

It might seem strange to throw a party instead of a service after a year of Clint’s death. But Laura thought it would be better. To have all of their friends. It was his favorite thing to do once spring came in full swing.

“Hey” Bucky sits down next to you and you move over to make space on the bench. “Fancy meeting you here. Miss Day keeping you busy?”

“Yeah” he blushes, peeling the label off his beer bottle. “I’m meeting Melissa’s parents next week”

“Wow, I’m impressed”

“How’s the leg?” he changes the subject, nodding towards the scar on your thigh.

“Better than ever. What? Jealous you’re not the only one with vibranium in their body?”

“I’ll ask them to attach a machine gun to my arm and that will show you”

“Melissa’s parents will be delighted”

“So is that why you’ve been picking me up from school so much lately?” Anya appears behind you.

“Stop sneaking around” you both say at the same time.

“Hey, come on now” Natasha steps up, hugging Anya. You realize your daughter is getting taller. “She’s a natural”

“Wait until she starts sneaking around to go to parties and see if that’s still fun” you comment and Bucky chuckles.

“Your wife is right”

“She always is” Natasha agrees and you smile.

“Ugh, I’m gonna be sick” Anya walks away and Bucky is quick to follow. “I’ll race you to the house” he says, knowing she’ll never catch up.

“You ok?” you say, as Natasha sits by your side. Part of you has been dreading this day. Even if Natasha has been better and present in your lives, it’s still hard for her to deal with the absence of Clint.

It’s simply not something you get over in a day.

“I miss him” she admits in a shaky voice. You’re happy she’s honest with you.

“I miss him too”

“He’d kick my ass if he could. For all the mistakes I made. The pain I caused you”

“Yeah, he would. And then he’d ask you to make it right and appreciate what you have. And you’ve done that ”

“I love you” she rests her head against your shoulder and you kiss her temple.

“I love you too”

It wasn’t perfect, the life you had. But there was love. And that would be enough

[avvail-whumps]

‘guns for hire’ — unwanted rescue #34

previous · masterlist · next

content warnings: intimate whumper, conditioned whumpee, whumpee referred to as “kid” but they’re an adult, implied dub-con (not explicit), manhandling, handcuffs, stockholm syndrome

“Steven.”

The detective heard the rage dripping off that voice, but he didn’t bother to take his eyes off the board, even when he noticed the thumping footsteps approaching him from behind. His narrowed eyes were intently flickering over various pinned photos and pieces of important, information filled paper.

Summers’ hand dug into his shoulder, whirling him round with a force that almost had him staggering over his feet. A nasty scowl spread over his face, jerking himself out of her grip.

“Jesus, keep your hands to yourself, why don’t you?” He scoffed.

“We don’t have a warrant for Roy Gatlin’s arrest,” she seethed, her voice dripping with venom. “Why is there a SWAT team being assembled, huh? You don’t have the authority to do this.”

Sharpe folded his arms over his chest, his demeanour much calmer compared to his counterpart. A cheeky smirk even tugged at his lips, but it was gone in a second.

“It ain’t under my authority,” he shrugged. “I got support from the Captain.”

“The—?” Summers cut herself off. She turned, taking a few steps away from him, and inhaled three deep, measured breaths. She fixed her hair, before slowly turning back to him, her anger reigned in. “You’re gonna cost the Captain his job.”

“He’ll be fine.”

“Steven, Leo Whitlock’s case has been closed. He’s gone.”

Steven’s expression hardened inexplicably. A wave of something pungent stirred in his chest at those words. He still had this fiery determination in his gut; he didn’t care what anybody else told him, or the hopelessness of it all. He was going to find Leo.

“I know the kid’s out there,” he sneered, jabbing a finger at the board, where the pictures of potential suspects were strung up. Even though Summers was still working on following leads on each suspect, Sharpe had his reasons as to why he believed it was Roy Gatlin. His gut feeling always punched through. “And I know he had something to do with it.”

“So your answer is to swarm his house with an unauthorised SWAT team? Without a warrant, Steven. Jesus. This is insane.”

The detective reached into his pocket, pulling out another much needed cigerette and lighter. Summers glared at him, waving her hand.

“Don’t you dare. Go smoke outside. You’re giving me enough of a headache as is.”

“I’m positive, Summers,” he murmured, still intent on lighting the end of the stick. Her eyes softened slightly at the quietness in his voice. Her mouth closed, clenching slightly. “I just have a—”

“Gut feeling,” she groaned, rubbing the crease in her brow. “You and your gut feelings. Dammit—”

Her hands dropped in frustration, and she deflated with a defeated sigh. How could she refuse the notorious Detective Steven Sharpe’s gut feeling? There was a reason he was one of the best detectives around. He took a short drag, blowing the smoke to the side.

“I’m still arresting that bastard,” he murmured.

“We don’t have hard enough evidence on him to hold up in a court,” she countered, softer this time, as if desperately clinging onto the hope he might drop it. “Hence, the fact that you don’t have a warrant for his arrest. We can only hold him at the station for forty-eight hours.”

“That’s enough,” he shrugged, confidence spilling into his grin. “Because once we’ve found the kid, his testimony will be hard enough evidence to convict him.”

Summers grimaced. “And what happens if Leo isn’t there? If you storm the house illegally and it’s all for nothing?”

Sharpe pinched the cigerette between his fingers, patting his stomach. “Like I said. Gut feeling.”

There was a tense, almost awkward silence in the air. Summers’ eyes flickered over to the board in their office, lingering on the faces of the suspects. It quickly snapped towards the one of Leo, and a look of remorse flashed in her eyes.

“I’m not keeping this kid waiting for another year,” Sharpe huffed under his breath, and Summers turned to find a look of hardened regret shared in his eyes. “We let him down by waiting so long to do something. Legally or not.”

“Even if he’s there,” she sighed, her arms folded over her chest. “The Captain could still lose his job.”

The detective’s smile lingered for a moment, nodding his head. “That’s a risk he’s willing to take.”

Sharpe watched her expression morph through a multitude of different phases, before she finally scoffed, and waved her hand in dismissal. She shook her jacket off, reaching for a warmer one instead.

“Then fuck it,” she decided, tilting her head in his direction. “You coming or what? Commissioner is going to notice a missing SWAT team soon.”

The detective smirked, nudging her side playfully as he crossed the threshold of his office. He loaded his pistol and clicked it carefully onto the side of his belt, covered by his long coat. Summers did the same, closing the office door behind her.

“I knew there was something I liked about you,” he teased, ignoring her dark glare.

“Watch your mouth.”

They swiftly left the building, bickering quietly amongst themselves about who would be driving. The SWAT team was ready to go at exactly thirty seven minutes past four in the afternoon, loaded up into the police vans, and both the detectives followed closely behind as they made for the secluded house outside the city.

. . .

The shrill ringing of Roy’s phone on his desk suddenly erupted into the room, the obnoxious noise drawing them both from their entanglement in the sheets. Leo’s hips stuttered to a surprised stop, his lips peeling away from Roy’s own as his gaze slid over to the lit up screen. The mercenary did the same, and his lip curved into a somewhat annoyed smile. 

“Sorry, lion,” he hummed, the hands on his waist shifting to the bed so he could sit up. The secretary suddenly looked equally annoyed, his bottom lip jutting out slightly. “I’m gonna have to get that.” 

“Do you have to?” He murmured softly, his fingers tangling in his hair to play with it. The ringing was still going, but Leo didn’t budge from his lap. “They can wait.” 

Roy chuckled lightly under his breath, leaning forward to kiss him teasingly, but not enough to satisfy him. “Get up.” 

Leo frowned, but did as he was told. He clambered off his lap and tucked himself under the blanket with a miffed little frown, while Roy languidly slipped some pants on as he stood up, plucking the phone off the desk. His eyes lingered on the screen, and a scoff rose in his throat. 

“Joey,” he sighed, answering it with a roll of his eyes, before promptly leaving the room. Leo watched him go intently, his voice fading as the door was closed behind him. He let out a small huff, shifting onto his side so he could slip his arm under the pillow. Roy’s voice was too muffled to make out what he was saying, but that was a good thing. Leo wouldn’t dare eavesdrop, otherwise the mercenary would be angry with him. A good minute must have passed before the man came barging in. 

The door hit the wall a little too hard, enough to jolt Leo from his peaceful quietness, a shock of alarm passing through him. The mercenary tossed his phone on the bed, and even though it was subtle, Leo knew something was wrong. 

“Roy?” He croaked, alarmed. “What’s going on?” 

He answered smoothly. “Cops are coming.” 

The statement made his heart sink straight down to the pits of his stomach. He sprang up, holding the blanket close to him. 

“What?”

The man dipped down, pulling out his laptop, and switching it on. As he picked up his phone once more and began calling someone, he jerked open his closet and pulled out a plain shirt. He swiftly tossed it towards Leo, who got the message quickly enough. He scrambled to get off the bed, throwing the shirt over him with shaky haste. 

“Roy, what do you mean?” He blurted, his wide eyes pinned onto him. The mercenary tapped away at his laptop rapidly, the screen blaring to life with numerous different coded tabs, things that Leo couldn’t even begin to comprehend. 

“Lion, wait downstairs for me,” he ordered softly. Leo ground his teeth together, torn between grabbing the man and not letting go, or following his order. After a tough internal battle, he went with the latter. His bare feet padded down the stairs with buckling knees, his eyes frightfully dancing to the windows as he passed them, as if expecting a swarm of flashing police cars to be waiting for them. He bit down anxiously on his thumb as he lingered by the bottom of the stairs, unable to stop himself from pacing. 

The idea of the police brought him this horrible, crushing weight of despair on his chest. His mind stirred with the memories of Michael, the fact that he was the one who had got him killed. The thought of what might happen brought horrible, anxiety filled tears to his eyes. When he heard Roy coming down the stairs, he could feel them slipping down his cheeks. 

“What’s going on?” He softly whispered, his voice shaking as he scurried behind him, unwilling to leave his side. “Are they really coming? Roy, please, just…” 

The man began to descend down the steps to the basement, but Leo’s feet were securely glued in place. He nervously fiddled with the hem of the long, much too large shirt, where even the distinct scent of Roy clinging onto it didn’t seem to ease him right now. The man worked swiftly in clearing out anything he needed. Tools that didn’t seem so supicious were placed in their rightful places, and anything that was disappeared. The chair was slotted under the table, and Roy shut the door with a bang on the way out. 

Although he moved with such speed and urgency, he didn’t appear to have a slither of panic on his face. Even when he cupped Leo’s cheeks in his, and pressed a long, comforting kiss to his lips. He pulled away, keeping his warm hands where they were. His thumbs occasionally brushed away any fresh tears, making sure he had Leo’s eyes trapped within his own. 

“Listen to me very carefully,” he whispered quietly, and when Leo opened his mouth to speak, the man shushed him. It quickly closed. “There’s some things that I need you to say for me.” 

Leo hiccuped, his fingers grasping onto his wrists desperately. “Roy, please, I—” 

“I know it’s going to be scary, but they’re going to bother you with questions, lion,” he interrupted, keeping a firm grip on him so he couldn’t squirm away. “Questions that you have to answer very carefully.” 

Leo choked on a sob. It felt like the whole world was spinning, like everything he’d worked so hard for was about to come crashing down on top of him with no mercy. He burned the very image of the mercenary’s face into his mind, feeling as though he was going to throw up.  

“Please don’t leave me,” he pleaded, frantically shaking his head. “I love you. Please don’t go.” 

“I won’t. Not forever,” the mercenary smiled. “As long as you say exactly this.” 

Everything that Roy told him, Leo’s mind clung to like it was holy. He wrapped up each and every letter with desperate care, storing it in the front of his mind where it was always waiting. He desperately nodded his head, promising with the utmost sincerity that he would. Because what use was he if he couldn’t do what Roy wanted?

His stomach churned with nauseating pain when he was ushered upstairs and told to lock the bathroom door behind him. Leo wanted nothing more than rip it open and seek out the mercenary, hold him tight and stay as close to his side as he could, but when he heard the thunderous bangs and the terrifying hollering, he couldn’t find the courage to.

It felt like they were vibrating through the very walls, and a cold shock of terror stabbed through his heart. Leo pressed himself tight against the tiled corner of the bathroom, as far away from the door as he could manage, legs curled up to his chest. He tried to pinch his eyes shut and ignore all the booming voices, but it was growing too loud, too suffocating in his own ears.

A sudden pounding erupted on the other side of the door.

Leo yelped, slapping his hands over his mouth. He could see it practically shaking from the impact, the locks splintering with each measured, powerful push.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” he whispered frantically under his breath, fingers fisting in his hair. Each smack matched the heavy beat of his heart. He knew the exact moment the door was smashed open, and he had to bite his lip to stop himself from crying out. The shouting was coming from all over the house; upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen, above him. Heavy footsteps spilled into the bathroom, and he barely caught a glimpse of the black suited men surging on him.

He could only just make out a few clear voices, saying things like “we found him” or “use force if necessary”, and Leo’s heart dropped to his stomach when he felt a hand clamp on his arm. He was hurled from the corner of the bathroom effortlessly, unable to get his feet under him before a uniformed member was dragging him out of the room.

“No!” Leo screamed, seething through his teeth as he jerked and twisted away from the invading hands on his body. “Let go of me! Get—”

The blood rushed through his head, working himself into dizzying hysterics, no matter how many people he could just barely make out telling him calm down. The evening sun hit his face, but he hadn’t stopped thrashing like an animal for even a second.

The secretary managed to find Roy through the crowd. His arms had been twisted forcefully behind his back, making him grimace, locked with silver cuffs. Two men were flanking him, donned in their black helmets with their eyes covered by a deep visor, and they roughly shoved him forward towards a flashing car.

Leo’s chest felt like it was being ripped in two. He desperately tried clawing his way out of the grip on his arm, tears sliding down his cheeks as they caught him around the waist instead, tugging him in the opposite direction. It was almost painful, the idea of being separated. There was nothing he could do to stop it, no matter how much he screamed and thrashed against them.

There was a grunt, and then a muffled voice caught his ear. “Get the detective.”

Leo watched helplessly as Roy was forced into the police car, a rough hand on the back of his head shoving him in. He just barely caught his eyes as he went, making a horrible feeling punch through his gut. The panic of being torn away from him was too overwhelming, even when a new pair of arms found their way around him.

This time, they followed him to the ground, no longer held up by other hands.

“Hey, hey, kid,” a deep voice murmured, the least stern he’d encountered. “Look at me. Look here.”

Leo shook with pained sobs, but he managed to do as he was told. He found himself staring at the face of a middle aged man, dark hair and beard covering his features. His hands were firm on his shoulders, keeping him grounded as he spoke.

“There you go,” he nodded. “You’re safe now, kid. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

He frantically shook his head. That wasn’t true. He was safer with Roy, and he was being taken away, trying to separate them both. The very thought made it hard to even breathe, his chest constricting painfully. A hand rubbed at his back, easing the wheezy coughs choking in his throat.

“It’s alright,” Sharpe hummed, his eyes catching Summers. She looked relieved, her eyes glossy and a hand on her chest, tightly gripping the fabric there. The detective himself kept the shivering kid close, motioning towards her. “Get him some sweatpants from the boot of the car. And some water, quickly.”

Summers nodded.

Leo’s head fell against the detectives shoulder, screwing his eyes shut. A hand patted at the back of his head, but it wasn’t comforting. It wasn’t Roy.

tag list – @unorganisedalienrubbish @d-cs @rabidrabidme @sordayciega @burningkittypoet @whumpawink @mannerofwhump @suspicious-whumping-egg @welcome-to-the-whumpfest @whatwasmyprevioususername @crilex29 @firefly017 @dutifullykrispyland @wibbly-wobbly-whump @there-will-always-be-blood @anonintrovert @justawhumpjunkie @whumptastic-world @ha-ha-one @whatwhumpcomments @whumpterful-beeeeee @anonymous1235 @sonder35 @unforgiven235 @whumpasaurus101 @mj-or-say10 @professional-idiocy @seaweed-is-cool @theelvishcowgirl @atomicsandwichprince @sunshiline-writes @peasandpotatos @pirefyrelight @enigmawritesstuff

#guns for hire #whump series #whump writing #whumpblr #whump scenario #whump fic #whump community #whump #whumper #whumpee #leo and roy #rescue #caretaker #my writing #writing #don't worry they were just wrestling at the beginning #place your bets on if this is going to end well #:)

[winchesterandpie]

Lovin' Feelin': Asking you to be his girlfriend

Pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x wife!reader

Word Count: 1011

Warnings: highly self-indulgent, bad puns, fluff, and messing with Hangman and the other aviators

A/N: Good evening, aviators! This is your author speaking! We're back with another helping of Bradley and his wife messing with Hangman. I have three ideas for the eventual reveal and I think I'm going to write all of them. I also have several other ideas for this, so I'll probably keep revisiting this as inspiration strikes. Let me know if you have any ideas for fun bets, and I'll see about writing them! Enjoy!

Lovin' Feelin' Masterpost

“Thirty bucks says you won’t ask her to officially be your girlfriend.”

“By when?”

“End of tonight.”

“Tonight? Come on, Hangman, she isn’t even in town today. Give me a week,” Rooster bargained. He wasn’t technically lying, but you were returning tonight from visiting your friend. “She deserves something good.”

Hangman caved quickly. “Fine. But only because you two are so perfect together.” After three months of the two of you “dating,” even Hangman couldn’t help but notice how happy the two of you were together. It was fitting, then, that your unofficial callsign had become Sunshine.

That didn’t stop him from teasing Rooster for the amount of time he spent smiling at his phone.

“Alright, one week.”

“One week.”

“See you tomorrow, Bagman.” Rooster shook his head at the other pilot, turning away toward his car. He couldn’t wait to tell you about the newest bet. You had had a “first” kiss, a meet the team, and many smaller agreements. Hangman made most of the bets, seemingly trying to progress your relationship, but he was far from the only one. Bob had been surprisingly creative with some of his. All together, they had funded quite a few dates for the two of you.

The engine roared to life, but it didn’t cover the sound of his phone ringing. He grinned when he saw the caller ID.

“Your ears burning?” he asked when he answered the call.

“No,” you replied, and he could hear your smile in your voice. “Should they be?”

“Hangman made another bet.”

“Oh? What’s this one?”

“Asking you to be my girlfriend.”

“Wow, you’re planning on backing out of our marriage.”

He laughed, putting the Bronco in drive. “You caught me. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, sweetheart.” That pulled a laugh from you, and he drank in the sound. “Are you home yet?”

“Yeah, I just walked in the door.”

“How was your flight?”

“Not as fun as the flights you take me on, but everything went smoothly.”

“That’s good.” Bradley grinned at the memory of your most recent flight together in Maverick’s P-51 Mustang.

“How was your day?”

“It was good. We got to give some rookie pilots the runaround. I’ll have to tell you about it tonight.”

“Ooh, I can order takeout?”

“Perfect. I’ll be home in twenty.”

“See you in twenty. Love you!”

“Love you too.”

A week later, you were pulling up to the beach with Bradley and your face of surprise was ready. He slid his arm around your shoulders as you waved to his teammates. They greeted you like they didn’t know what was going down, but you knew better. Bradley hadn’t told you all the details, but he had told you that he had pulled the other pilots into whatever he was scheming.

You realized his plan was going into effect when the campfire burned low and the marshmallows came out. There were too many marshmallows being burnt. Hangman, you could believe as someone without the patience to brown a marshmallow properly, and a few of the others as well, but all of them? There was no way. There was the additional suspicion from no one letting you get ahold of a roasting stick, despite you reaching for one on more than one occasion.

“Here.” Bradley came to your rescue with a s’more already assembled.

“You are my new favorite person.” You grinned, reaching for the treat but he pulled it back.

“New? I wasn’t before?”

“Well, it’s not like you’re my boyfriend,” you teased, shrugging innocently. Alright, you may have done it intentionally to goad him into showing his hand.

“About that,” he trailed off, and despite your knowledge, you furrowed your brow in acted confusion.

“What? Are you…”

He stepped closer to you, offering the s’more again. “I’d like to see s’more of you.” You didn’t even let him finish before you were doubled over and cackling.

“That’s the best you’ve got?” Jake cried out, sounding like he was almost in pain on your husband’s behalf. "Sunshine deserves better!"

“You had a week and that’s it?” Tash chimed in.

You were leaning your weight into him now, still unable to stop laughing at the terrible line.

“Hold up, he hasn’t even asked her yet!” Reuben caught Jake’s hand before he could hold out the cash.

“And you would have robbed me blind?” Jake sounded even more offended as he gestured at Bradley’s hand outstretched for the money. You were already laughing, so you didn’t need to hide your snort at how little he really knew.

“Alright, alright, will the peanut gallery shut up?” Bradley shook his head, helping you back upright with a fond sigh. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I… I really like you.”

“I really like you too,” you replied earnestly, then took a bite of your s’more. “Mostly for the s’mores.” He chuckled, dropping his head as his neck reddened.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he finally got the question out, his free hand coming up to the side of your face.

“Yes,” you answered immediately, closing the distance to kiss him amid cheers from the other pilots.

“Now you’re stuck with the man with the worst line I’ve ever heard,” Javy teased when you broke apart. “And I’ve heard all of Hangman’s lines.”

“I still can’t believe you made me give you a week only to disappoint.” Jake slipped the money into your husband’s back pocket before smacking his butt.

“Mmm, you think you could’ve come up with something better?”

“Oh I know I could. But this just gives me more stories for when I’m inevitably the best man at your wedding.”

You just grinned, leaning into your husband’s shoulder as you wondered, not for the first time, how they would react when they found out you two were already married. Bradley looked over at you, the spark of mischief in his eyes overshadowed by a tenderness reserved for very few. Sure, you rolled your eyes at his sometimes terrible lines, but you wouldn’t trade him for anything.

Lovin' Feelin' Taglist (I think I got everyone, but if not, shoot me a message):

@red-ace-in-space @ohh-to-be-a-frog @alana4610 @mirandastuckinthe80s @partofmejustwantstosleep @rosiahills22 @alanadetigy @natasharomanoffisbaebby @havaneselover08 @jules-1999 @katiemcrae @lttlemer @hufflepufftruffle @heavanskitchen @roses-and-grasses @littlehippies-world

Let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from the taglist for this universe of fics!

#bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster x reader #rooster #jake hangman seresin #hangman #top gun #top gun maverick

[cacartoon]

How did the crew meet C.B?

While I haven’t actually illustrated much of their origins, aside from the doodles giving hints of what happened, I suppose I can try to explain how I imagine it happened.

It is canon that Circus Baby was the last one to join the team. Before the events of Game 6, she was back in her own universe. But after GlitchTrap found a way to enter other worlds and assembled his team, the villians needed all the power they could get to take over the universe (of course!) GlitchTrap told of a power source that could be very useful but only certain people have it. That power was the remnant magic thing that Marionette, Ennard, and CB all have. So some of the bad guys lent him reinforcements to go nab one of them to use their power. Metal sonic was a part of that group. He was gonna grab Marionette, but CB saved him. Unfortunately, this resulted in her getting kidnapped instead. GlitchTrap wasn’t too happy with his own daughter being taken at first, but being the psychopath he relented and accepted the outcome. He even thought he could persuade he to join. (Obviously that didn’t happen lol). Circus Baby was the least experienced in the magic she had so her power was unpredictable. So until they figured out how to extract it, she was kept locked up in their base somewhere in the universe.After some time though, the other members found their way to this mysterious place. After meeting Bendy, he told the others about something strange he saw; a robot girl being taken by a metal robot that looked like a blue hedgehog. So while Mario Cuphead and Frisk scouted around to investigate all this chaos, Sonic and Bendy went to rescue CB. CB though had other plans are was able to escape her prison, hoping to find her own way out. She ran into Sonic and kinda smacked him with a pipe since he looked like Metal Sonic. Before she could do any more damage, Bendy stopped her and explained that they were here to rescue her. CB was obviously scared out of her mind, which did not go unnoticed. Sonic got her to calm down and convince her to come with them, promising he’ll keep her safe and help her get home. And thus, CB became the final member of the team.

[ken-dala]

Just eat my love..

A/N: I just read my old works and I’m just breaking out of the cringe.. what did I smoke to write such works..

Oh Joon-Yeong x gn! reader

It was just another normal school day..at least I thought so..At one point everything just...became different...there were screams, blood, broken pieces around...it was no longer a normal school day..And some living corpses that are chasing any living creature... Half of our class and I almost survived... we lost many but we still don’t give up... we climbed onto the roof to give a sign of disaster..This is what On-Jo advised..she always helped us in such situations..All the survivors who are currently on the roof were all useful to us..On-Jo is smart and strong, she could always come up with something and it was her idea to make a distress sign due to the fact that her father is a fireman and he always taught her about rescue. Cheong-San also strong..he always worried about his best friends, especially he worried about On-Jo..he helped make the SOS sign on the roof with the help of stools, sticks and unnecessary tables..Nam-Ra is also a very independent girl..with the help of her abilities she helped us through many difficulties..her heightened hearing and her sensitivity to smell were very useful..All the boys and girls were very helpful...even though some were mischievous, we were still a team and did our best...but my attention was always drawn to our smart boy.. Oh Joon-Yeong..he always attracted me..his glasses and his intelligence and the way he logically thinks about situations..all this attracted me..I could listen to him say all these smart facts forever..I can’t even remember how at some point we became so close..?

My head rested on Joon-Yeong's shoulder and we waited for the rescuers..we made a fire on the roof of the school to keep warm and also to signal to the rescuers that there were still survivors in Hyesan..When we were sitting around the fire we began to tell secrets... I was most surprised by Cheong-San's secret..he liked On-Jo, it was obvious, but On-Jo’s reaction to the confession was strange... but I understand her, I would also be shocked that my childhood friend finds me attractive and loves me..We also shared our opinions about Nam-Ra.. Joon-Yeong and Nam-ra were literally our geniuses in the class but Joon-Yeong saw Nam-Ra as a rival and always felt in 2nd place..But without her he wouldn’t be in second place... it’s good that now we respect each other. We couldn't stay on the roof for long so we had to go to the assembly hall..Since it was raining, the zombies’ abilities can be said to have been “weakened”; their hearing is not so sharp, and their vision... their eyesight has always been poor... their sensitivity to smell has also “weakened” and this helped us a lot...on the way we met archers, or in simple words, Wu-Jin’s sister named Ha-Ri and Mi-Jin. When we arrived at the assembly hall, Nam-Ra ordered us to run away from here, but we did not understand why and why..until we saw zombies..literally a crowd of zombie athletes..We made a shield out of ball baskets, etc. While we were putting on the equipment (knee pads, arm guards, gloves), there was one interesting moment... when we were making the shield, Cheong-San found a candy bar, the problem was that there were many of us and only one chocolate bar it was also expired, but does that really matter? We are all almost dying of hunger..we did the math and we can say, according to Dae-Su, there is enough bar for everyone if we take a small bite..When it was Dae-Su’s turn, he ate the whole piece and after him there was Joon-Yeong who didn’t get anything.. poor thing.."Hey...don't feel bad about the candy bar okay? When they rescue us..I’ll buy you a box of candy bars..now let’s go, we need to get out of here,” I said to Joon-Yeong, taking his hand. He nodded silently and turned towards the supplies. Su-Hyeok approached the door, everything went according to plan.. we will push the cart to the door and we will get out of here..Joon-Yeong approached Su-Hyeok and together they opened the door... the door swung open and the zombies immediately attacked us... After a while we were already in the middle of the assembly hall until we heard Mi-Jin scream. She screamed in fear when she saw how the zombie was close to her part of the body.. I saw how Joon-Yeong immediately went to save but sacrificed himself.. he was bitten..? I walked up to him and looked at his hand “No no no..everything will be fine right?” These were my last words before I woke up.

I woke up in the camp and I realized that it was a stupid dream.. although it’s not even a dream.. it’s a nightmare.. 3 months and 17 days have passed since we lost our friends..Hyesan was literally blown to hell..this was the only solution to stop this epidemic but we are still in quarantine..

At night I escaped from this camp by climbing over a concrete fence... I climbed a mountain in which there was a tree and on the tree hung ribbons with our words on them... it was like a monument to our friends...We left various products knowing that they would not be taken away... I looked around and pulled out various goodies from my backpack that they would definitely like. I placed the goodies near the door and lastly took a chocolate bar...Ghana..I put the candy bar near the tree and tears welled up in my eyes.."I miss you, my love..forgive me." I said these words dedicated to Joon-Yeong, knowing that he would not answer..I turned away from the tree, not wanting the memories to start playing in my head again..I was about to leave until I noticed someone’s figure in my peripheral vision... I looked towards the figure and gasped...

"Missed me..?"

I know he's not alive but let me just imagine!! Our boy deserves better...

The performer of this song is of Kazakh nationality! Also the song is written in Kazakh!

#all of us are dead #all of us are dead netflix #joon yeong x reader #all of us are dead x reader #oh joon yeong x reader #Spotify

[fanfoolishness]

All right, we have like 20 minutes before the Mandalorian season finale episode goes up, so here’s my wild-assed hopes:

Din torture scene. Din HELMETLESS torture scene?? Like, how could Moff Gideon resist? Will we FINALLY get to get inside Din’s head for the first time since The Mines of Mandalore?

I want Din to get rescued, but I don’t want the entire episode to be “let’s assemble the team!” We kinda did that in The Rescue and we know we have a team already mostly assembled. I mean, if Boba Fett and Fennec wanna show up for shits and giggles, I’ll allow it, but we don’t need like 3 scenes on team assemblage. Just get in there and get our man!

Gideon needs his ass handed to him, but he’s also so fun I don’t know that I want to see him killed. He really does chew the shit out of the scenery and I kind of love that for him. Maybe he gets away again and meets up with Elia Kane so they can plot their next move and lick their wounds. Or maybe he tries to go to her but she’s like “nah, I got a promotion” and she hangs up on his holo and turns around and BOOM, she’s working for Thrawn?? But literally please only spend a minute or two on that…

Because I need my boy Grogu to SAVE HIS DAD and kick ass and take names! I wanna see Grogu missing Din. I wanna see Din missing Grogu. I wanna see them reunite and NOT have their reunion be around a bunch of other people where they don’t get a chance to actually talk to each other. The BoBF reunion was sweet but too rushed and it was criminal we didn’t see Din and Grogu get to say hello/goodbye alone in The Rescue, even if the final scene was still beautifully bittersweet.

I want the Armorer (as long as she’s not evil, natch) to bless Din or otherwise make it clear to her tribe that there will always be a place for Mandalorians who walk the Way, but that they are no longer apostates if they do remove their helmets, especially if Din’s helmet is forcibly removed. The man does not need to go drown his ass again! I still would love to see Din comfortable removing his helmet around Grogu on special occasions. They can work around Pedro’s schedule with that still!

Who’s gonna drink the space whiskey with Din? I mean, I’m 99.9% certain it’s gonna be Bo, but while I very much like her I have no strong interest in the ship. I dunno. Maybe just Din and Greef. Or we could do like one of my fics and have it be Din and Peli! Yeah! LOL

I really don’t want to see Bo finally get everything she’d ever wanted and then get killed by Gideon or some bullshit >:( If Mand’alor the Reluctant had been the storyline all season, I’d be fine with that, but I really don’t want Bo to make a heroic sacrifice and then revert it back to Din because that would just suck for both of them. So please don’t kill Bo? AND OBVIOUSLY DO NOT KILL DIN. DON’T DO THAT. BAD. NO.

I want Bo and the other Mandalorians to be part of the rescue team, but I do not want Bo to be the first one to find him. That honor should belong to Grogu!

Just need Din and Grogu being father and son alfuckingready. How Din is still refusing to call Grogu his son I do not know. Even Paz managed it!!!!

Someone’s gotta tell Ragnar :( Maybe Grogu can sit with him or something :(

Din and Grogu. Come on. Really that’s all I need.

Well, that, and the Din torture. 😈

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian season 3 spoilers #the mandalorian finale #din djarin #grogu #grogu djarin #clan mudhorn

[elendiliel]

Into the Future

Finally got round to the next bit of actual plot (or rather plot-like object) in the Healing AU. (More will probably follow very shortly.) I have such mixed feelings about this one that I’m almost afraid to ask for feedback - almost...

---

“So, who are these guys?,” Helli asked as she, Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex and three-quarters of the rest of her strike team, Lightning Squadron, waited for the squad that would be joining them for an assault on the Techno Union facility on Skako Minor. Officially, they were going to shut down a source of Separatist intel and strategic planning unit; unofficially, their other objective was to rescue the final member of Lightning Squadron, Echo, who had been presumed dead months before. The TU base would be heavily guarded, hence the reinforcements, but Helli hadn’t had time to stay up to date on the plan of attack. As well as her usual duties, she and her second-in-command Sergeant Torrent were getting married in a few weeks, and there was only so much organisation she could offload onto her equally busy friends. Some decisions only the bride and groom could make.

“Clone Force 99,” Rex replied. “I hadn’t heard of them before, but Cody’s worked with them.” Cody was Rex’s best friend, and had been since they were cadets. He was out on the front lines with his men and their general, Master Kenobi; otherwise, he’d surely have been there. “Clones who… differ from the standard template in useful ways.” He was avoiding the dreaded word “defective”; Helli silently cursed the perfectionist kaminiise yet again. “Apparently they’re also called the Bad Batch.”

“99?” The number seemed to bring back bittersweet memories for Fives, Echo’s twin. Helli realised why even as she reached out in sympathy to her vod’ika. 99 had been a maintenance clone on Kamino, a brave and kind man whose soldier’s heart hadn’t been matched by his body, and who had died fighting alongside Fives, Echo, Rex and Cody during the Separatist invasion of their homeworld. Helli wished she’d had the chance to meet him. “Nice touch.”

“That’s what I thought,” Rex said. The two men shared a sad smile, an aay’han from which the rest of the assembly was excluded. Helli managed not to mind. Rex had known, and served with, Fives even longer than she had.

“I’ve heard stories about them,” Torrent put in, scanning the skies above them. “If they’re even half-true, they make us look sane.”

“Quite an achievement,” commented Spark, Lightning Squadron’s technical expert and sarcasm provider. Their team could charitably be described as unconventional at the best of times. Anakin clearly wanted to agree, but given some of his past escapades, he knew Helli would respond with something like, “Look who’s talking,” and thus wisely stayed silent. The two young Jedi had been at least acquainted for the best part of a decade; he knew when not to start an argument with her.

Torrent seemed to have a point. A small ship, perhaps an attack shuttle, had detached from the stream of Coruscant air-traffic overhead and was careering towards the Bad Batch’s designated landing point with reckless speed. Even champion pod-racer Anakin and literally combat-trained Lightning Squadron didn’t fly that crazily. Helli was amazed the ship made it down in one piece, but she did, and the landing ramp was soon lowered to reveal four figures in heavily customised clone armour. Phase II, not katarn, but the four-man team still acted like commandos. Lightning Squadron had worked with a few RC squads before, notably Omega and Delta; such missions could generally be summarised as “crash, bang, wallop”, but they had given Helli a good sense for how commandos operated, and now let her identify the roles of the newcomers.

The one in the lead, removing a relatively plain helmet to reveal shoulder-length hair held back by a red bandanna and a skull tattoo over half his face, was clearly the commander. Helli recognised the way he moved, held himself, interacted with his surroundings; his difference probably had similar results to her affinity for Force-insight. Enhanced senses, perhaps. He introduced himself as Sergeant Hunter, and the big man behind him as Wrecker. Easy. The brawler, with enhanced strength. Quite possibly the demo man as well, looking at the scar on the left side of his head; there must be more inside that head than one might assume if that were the case. Demo is hard. The absent-minded-looking one who almost wandered off the side of the ramp, too focused on a datapad, his helmet modified to fit around yellow-tinted goggles, was called Tech; no prizes for guessing what he was. Enhanced intelligence and memory capacity, most likely. Helli liked him immediately, but knew they wouldn’t get a layperson-comprehensible word out of him and Spark for at least an hour. Finally, the tall silver-haired man who stalked down after his brothers, scowling around a toothpick, was Crosshair, a name that matched the tattoo over his right eye. Another easy one.

“Sniper, I take it?” Helli could tell Crosshair would be the hardest to befriend, and therefore started with him. “What’s your top range?”

“Ten klicks.” No pride, just a fact.

“Impressive.” Helli meant it. No other sharpshooter she knew, even in the GAR, had anywhere near that skill level. “Sniping’s a dark art to me. I’m more of a close-quarters lass.” Her hand tried to stray to her sgian dubh, her all-purpose knife, before remembering that she’d given it to Torrent in lieu of an engagement ring or a vambrace like the one he’d given her, which had barely left her arm since.

Hunter picked up on the motion, his eyes flicking between the orange-painted piece of clone armour clashing horribly with Helli’s blue trousers and the Jedi symbol engraved on the hilt of the knife tucked into Torrent’s right greave (badly engraved, but Helli had been seven when she did it). “I understand congratulations are in order. How long have you two been engaged?”

Torrent told him – just a couple of months – and added the newly chosen wedding date, his gaze irresistibly drawn to his fiancée, his smile so full of love and happiness that her heart melted yet again and she was rendered utterly speechless. She did her best to return the favour, and thought she’d hit the mark.

Crosshair clearly couldn’t bear to be outdone in that department. “So soon? I thought Jedi were meant to have more restraint.”

Helli almost didn’t react fast enough. Tor was usually gentle and even-tempered, but not where her safety or honour was concerned. He surged forward, obviously bent on forcing Crosshair to take back his comment; Crosshair was more than ready for him. A sniper he might be, but he could probably handle himself in hand-to-hand combat. Helli put herself between them just in time, a hand on each of their chests, looking from one to the other, her presence holding them back more effectively than brute force. “For your information, Crosshair, we’ve been in love for over two years, and if the Council hadn’t given us permission to marry we’d have been prepared to stay friends for the rest of our lives. And Tor,” her voice softened dramatically, “I appreciate your defending me and my honour, but I’ve been dealing with insults since you were a tubie. Please, don’t put yourself at risk if it’s not really necessary.” She snapped back into “commander” mode. “Now, if I let you go, do you promise not to melt each other?” She knew better than to ask them to apologise. Crosshair was too proud, and Tor hadn’t actually done anything wrong.

“I promise.” There was a flash of pain in Torrent’s voice and eyes, but Helli didn’t think it should be addressed in public. Crosshair just nodded – the best she would get, she knew – and turned away, pacing over to where the rest of his team was waiting to be led by Anakin and Rex to a briefing room. Helli let her hand trail slowly down Torrent’s chestplate, savouring every moment of contact even through his armour, before trying to take his hand. He pulled away, gently but firmly, walking beside her for a few paces as they followed the others, then dropping back to talk to Fives and Spark. His sudden coldness was a knife in her heart, but she had a hazy idea she should give him space. She’d never expected to have any romantic relationships, and had no real clue how to handle this situation.

Until Anakin spoke to her, making her jump. She’d been so caught up in her worries and pain that she hadn’t sensed or seen him by her side. “Talk to him. We’ll wait for you. If we’re going to pull this off, we all need to be on the same page.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “You’re his commander as well as his fiancée. Try to remember that.”

“Thank you.” Her own smile was much weaker, but it was definitely there. As the rest of the squad entered the briefing room, she hung back long enough to put a hand on her second-in-command’s shoulder. “Can I have a word in private, sergeant?”

“Of course, General.” He didn’t want to talk to her, but he was a soldier and she was his CO; he followed her dutifully to a deserted corridor where they wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Don’t listen to Crosshair,” she began. “I know his type. All mouth and no trousers.” She found herself using Alban expressions far more often and naturally around Tor. With him, she could just be her, not a Jedi or a general or anything else.

“That’s not the problem.” He took a deep breath, bracing himself. “You reminded me that you’re eight years older than I am, but for all practical purposes I’m five years older than you. As things stand, you’ll probably outlive me by decades.” Tears sprang to his eyes, and he dropped his gaze, automatically hiding them even from her. “I don’t want to put you through that.”

Oh. That. Foolishly, Helli had hoped it would never become a problem, but her hope was clearly in vain. Her own eyes stinging, she reached out and laid a hand under Torrent’s chin, guiding his head up so that he was looking into them again. “Tor,” she said softly, “ni kar’tayli gar darasuum.” In Mando’a, the phrase that means “I love you” literally translates to “I hold you in my heart eternally”; she stressed the last word, “eternally”. “However long we both live, a day or fifty years, I want to spend that time with you. If you still want to spend it with me.”

“Of course I do.” The tears gone as though by magic, reading permission in her eyes, he bent his head to kiss her.

Crosshair might have had a point. Torrent’s kiss set Helli’s whole being on fire, body and soul, and she was ready and willing to burn. As she kissed him back, she knew he felt the same. (Ironic, given that they both came from rain-soaked planets.) As her arms wrapped around his back, her fingers kept trying to stray to the catches of his armour; he was fighting to keep his hands above her waist. Theirs might be a partnership of hearts and minds, but they were also still young and vulnerable to the demands of biology. Breaking apart and stepping back from each other was the hardest thing either of them had ever done, but they did it. They had more important duties.

“That blasted wedding can’t come soon enough for me,” Torrent murmured as they walked back to the briefing room, hand in hand.

“Nor for me,” Helli agreed. “But don’t try to change the date. I for one would rather face a battalion of clankers than an angry Nhanta.” Nhanta Alloh was one of Helli’s oldest friends and chief planner of their wedding.

“Same here.” As they laughed together, Helli knew for certain that the crisis was over. The storm had passed; the fires were contained. She and her cyare would keep moving forward into the future – together.

---

Mando’a glossary (context-adjusted):

Kaminiise: Kaminoans.

Vod’ika: dear brother.

Aay’han: bittersweet moment of mourning and joy.

Cyare: beloved.

“Melt” is, or used to be, Glaswegian slang for “beat up”; “claim” and “banjo” are/were synonymous.

#star wars #The Clone Wars #jedi oc #rex #captain rex #fives #clone trooper fives #arc trooper fives #clone trooper oc #clone trooper spark #hunter #wrecker #tech #crosshair #Anakin #Anakin Skywalker #fanfic #healing au

[personalitynexus]

So lemme air out a few things that are irking me about 2045...

1: PURIN EZAKI - Her story is a little to conveniently told and easily swallowed. Her hero worship for Batou feels forced from the word ‘go’, and we learn now in S2 of what I call 4th GIG that she’s supposedly the lone survivor from the JUNGLE CRUISE episode, where she was rescued from the crime scene by an unusually cold and distant Batou, who was extremely emotional and close to the case since it involved a CIA spook running an op in the last war... And yet Batou didn’t recognize her because her hair color is now pink instead of brunette and using an assumed name. AND HER APARTMENT IS A HIGH END UNIT WITH NO FURNITURE OTHER THAN A FRIDGE/FREEZER COMBO THAT HOUSES ALL OF HER EXTERNAL MEMORY DEVICES?? Put it all together and she screams Post-human or NSA spook planted inside the team to garner leverage over them... And yet that never happens. BUT HEY! Let’s make a pass at the focus of our hero worship and ask him to shack up in a hotel room that were treating like a crime scene! And let’s not forget how she behaves like a post-human in some scenes... and then immediately returns to acting like normal in the next second, complete with how they are shown to overheat and hemorrhage when ‘overclocked’ for too long. It’s never said outright that she is a post-human... but it’s never cleared up that she isn’t one either. And yet somehow the Tachikoma have the beginnings of a ghost among themselves, but Purin doesn’t after being remade and revived with her own memories, but can emote more clearly and concisely than most humans do in a week, let alone the average posthuman ever does?

2: DOUBLE THINK - The ending of the season... A great chance to hit on the trademark philosophical speed bag that GitS is known for and go a few rounds with the Ship of Theseus thought experiment now that Purin has died and been resurrected in a fully artificial body using all of her earlier mentioned External Memory Devices... And yet, we don’t. We get a ham-fisted middle school students explanation of his do-or-die attempt to save the world by putting everyone into a dissociative state of mind, causing them to experience true reality and a virtual reality of their own making. The writers have to force feed us that this is supposedly the next big human singularity, and yet it can all be undone by removing the middle schooler from the source? How does that work exactly? Singularities are turning points in evolution from which there is no easy way of undoing it. Transhumanism, or the fusion of man and machine to the point where one is indistinguishable from the other, is our current Singularity threshold, the premise of which GitS and other Cyberpunk genres are set on. It’s not something that is easily undone in those settings, and doing so would greatly harm the species. But this? Pull the cable assembly from the ports in his neck and the dreaming ends, plunging everyone back to only the one reality? That’s not really a Singularity level event... The superstructure the kid is hosting all of these minds, which he now refers to as N’s btw, is closer to that singularity than his concept of Double Think.

3: TOGUSA - Here’s where shit really gets complicated. Finale of S1 of 2045 we have the least cyberized individual of the team get infected with a Nostalgia virus written by who we later classify as our main antagonist. He is then sent on a trip down the antagonists memory lane until he reaches a crucial turning point in his ideology, witnessing the execution of someone by mobsters and a dirty cop, which leads to his cousin getting shot and killed before help arrives in the form of a former paramilitary mountain recluse. Here the memory turns to fantasy and the antagonist saves his cousin with the help of the recluse and his former military team, and offers Togusa a ride in the back of their canvas covered transport, all while hacking Batou’s eyes in real time so he can’t see Togusa leave. Flash forward to S2, about 5 or 6 episodes in... and we learn Togusa’s been missing for 2 MONTHS, and hardly anyone seems concerned. In 1st or 2nd GIG (Laughing Man and Individual 11), the team would have tore the world apart to find a missing member of the squad, especially when they vanished mysteriously while on a case. Yet here in 4th gig (2045) they go about business as usual, only really caring about the missing agent after he phones in from...

4: THE TOBACCO SHOP - Oh yes, it has it’s own bullet point. The mysterious Tobacco shop that had a working pay phone and exactly enough change for one outgoing phone call for our agent that was MIA.... THAT LITERALLY DID NOT EXIST IN THE PREVIOUS WIDE ANGLE SHOT OF THE AREA. It’s been driving me crazy all damn week! But the only way it makes sense is if you take the earlier 3 points and this one, throw them in a pot, let them simmer for a few days and get...

5: AN INCOMPLETE MESS - The story felt rushed. I will be honest and say that right now. Purin was handled sloppily, and the team literally could not care that Togusa was missing until he phoned in with the Chekov’s Cell Phone. But looking at these 2 seasons, or 24 episodes, from the wide angle lens of a 36-40 episode series standard, and you see the plot threads that were left abandonded. Including was Togusa really gone for 2 months? Was the team infected with the Nostalgia Virus after he vanished infront of Batou, which then snowballed into the entire world getting infected (explained somewhat in finale)? Was Purin truly a childhood survivor of one of Batou’s old enemies, or was she planted as a double agent inside Section 9 by one of 2 conspiring forces? Was she even human to begin with, or an advanced AI that thought she was human as part of her cover? The story leaves more questions than answers, but a lot of them start with the 4 points above...

#Evil Laughter Ensues {OOC} #GitS:SAC_2045 spoilers

[atozphantomsquadron]

XVII - Sacred Heart

Before making our trip back to the States, we took a detour in order to return King Fahai to his throne.  Grateful to us for rescuing him, the king offered to allow us to rest and restore our strength for a few days, in addition to enough fuel for our plane to return to Langley. 

His offer was quite welcome, as all of us had particular wounds we needed to heal.  Kitty in particular needed the recovery time.  She told me later, once we had returned to Langley, that she had been put through the same treatment Jerzaan’s women had been forced to endure, which consisted of being paraded naked around the palace before the sovereign, who sat on his throne and watched as she was gang-raped by his royal guard.  She was denied clothes up until her escape from the palace’s holding dungeon with the king, when she stole clothes off of a knocked-out guard.  Although the physical traumas had healed, she was still in a bit of a mental state, not unlike PTSD, and was in need of a few days away from espionage and intelligence matters in order to clear her head.

Cyrus was also a bit shaken by the adventure, but for different reasons.  He was very uncomfortable with sharing an emotional moment with Kitty as he did in order to help defeat Azi-Dahaka, and as a result he wanted to have some privacy. With Kitty.  Cole and myself were willing to oblige him this, so we took our own path to recovery, finding places over the next couple of days to sightsee.  One of these places was Petra, which was breathtaking to behold: the workmanship that went into carving it into the side of the canyon boggles the mind.  We found quiet fields, bustling marketplaces, and in general had a good time together.

On our last night in the country, Cole took me to a moonlight picnic he had set up on a secluded bank of the Jordan River.  I was amazed that he had even found a section of the river without a shrine, or a city, or even a guard tower set up along it: the river acts as part of the border between Jordan and the West Bank, and I wasn’t quite sure where on the river we were, but Cole exuded confidence in our safety, laying out a beautiful spread of light food.  We ate in near silence, admiring the full moon and the gentle flow of this particular stretch of the river.

Finally, Cole was the one to break the silence.  “How are you feeling?  I know I haven’t had much of a chance to check on you after … well …”

I gently rubbed a wrist.  There were new scars forming on both of them, corresponding with the most recent cuts.  Combined with the past ones, they formed twin T shapes on each wrist.  “I’m doing okay.  Cyrus does very good work with his healing spells, they usually last a long time.  I think this is going to be all right.”

He smiled toward me.  “I’m glad.  You scared me when I found you in the tub, I didn’t really want you to go.”

I sighed gently.  “I suppose I was just feeling like everyone hated me at that point … with Kitty gone, I was feeling utterly useless and in the way.”

He reached across and stroked my cheek.  “Ariel, you are by no means ever in the way, nor are you useless.  You were the one who figured out King Fahai’s words, you were the one who held the beast at bay … you’ve been of great use to all of us.  I can see you are a vital asset to this team my dad assembled.”  His thumb lightly touched the side of my nose.  “If anything I’ve said or done has made you feel otherwise, then I am truly and sincerely sorry.”

His eyes reflected how much he meant his words.  I brought my hand up to his and held it against my face.  “Thank you, Cole.  I hope we have been up to your expectation, as far as teammates go.”

He reached his face across this time and kissed me gently.  “I had nothing to expect, but … I think I won’t really mind too much being a part of this team.  I think I might actually come to like it.”

I returned his kiss.  Again, the pounding of my heart demanded that I do more, pleaded with me to give more expression to these feelings that yet remained nameless.  The cacophony within my heart became too much to ignore.

I slowly stood up, looking back and forth between Cole and the river.  Listening entirely to my heart and nothing else, I turned my face back to him, smiled, motioned my head back toward the river, and slowly started unbuttoning my shirt.  He had an adorable expression on his face as he watched me, almost like he was paralyzed, his eyes continuing to follow my hands.  The buttons on my shirt seemed to loosen of themselves, finally opening the blouse entirely and allowing me to slide out of it and drop it to the ground.  The rest of my clothes followed behind in a similar fashion, and once I was fully undressed I made my way at a slow jog to the river, entering the water slowly.

I was very nervous when I did this.  It was my first time undressing before anyone willingly, which made my heart continue to pound.  Many thoughts shot through my mind as I walked further out into the water, up to my waist.  Why am I doing this?  What am I thinking?  What if he doesn’t like what he sees?  This was the first time, I think, that my face and body did not betray the thoughts that raced through me, continuing the seduction play and reaching out to this man … this amazing man …

When I looked next, he was on his feet minus his shirt and working on taking off his pants.  The night was only illuminated by the full moon, but the keen vision merging with 37A gave me allowed me to see, clear as day, every contour and line of Cole’s body.

I know it’s the wrong term to use for men, but on this first sight of Cole and only him, without anything to get in the way, he struck me as very beautiful.  More than just on a physical level, though, although his body was in excellent shape due to years of Navy and pilot training.  My heart’s pounding became simply a fact of my existence as he approached and entered the water along with me, his pace confident and measured as he approached.  It was all I could do to keep my eyes from following the water line as he came toward me, until he was at my side.

He took my hands in his.  “I hope I’m not being too forward, Ariel.  I couldn’t resist …”

I quieted him by kissing him, pressing my naked body to his.  The electricity returned, coupled with a passionate warmth, as the smooth human skin on Cole’s body touched my own dragon skin, so different and yet feeling so right.  I clutched tightly to him, standing waist-deep in the waters of the Jordan, convinced that my life, my torment, my pain, all of it had been leading to this moment of utter bliss.

The kiss lasted forever, and felt absolutely perfect.  When we finally, regretfully, let it go, my eyes caught Cole’s, seeing the same feelings of love and desire I had at that moment reflected back at me.

The words finally came, in a soft whisper against his chest.  “I love you, Cole.”

I felt his face in my hair as he clutched me tightly to him.  “I love you, Ariel.”

The moment was broken up, unfortunately, by Cole’s phone going off in his pants: the CIA Director was on the other end calling us back to Langley.  That moment, however, always remains in my heart and will always be there so long as I take to the skies of this world.  In my mind and in my heart, it was a rebaptism, a return to the world.  The language of my heart, urging me forward in such a historical, sacred place, led me to love at long last, a love that has sustained me, a love that has given me a daughter, and a love that would go on to stop the world’s end.

(Transcriber’s note: By the time Ariel had finished this part of the interview, I had tears in my eyes, and surprisingly it was me who needed a break.  While Ariel took some time to make us coffee, I placed a phone call to my wife just to let her know I loved her.  The intensity of Ariel’s feelings of love and devotion for Cole were socially contagious, so much so that I felt jealous of her for having found such an intense love.—DAM)

#phantom squadron #dinetah dragon

[party-gilmore]

Plotlines I Know They Won't Do But I Still Wanna See Anyway #37:

The Team gets a some kind of coded distress signal from Hardison. They are, obviously, freaking out but trying to hold it together so they can put together some kind of rescue plan. They come up with where he's being held, get an idea of by who, and start working on an extraction plan.

Eliot is trying to be his usual "I'm the strong one, I'm the support, I've gotta take care of everyone else" self but being the retrieval specialist this plan is going to rely on him a LOT so there's added stress and then also, if we're going by the conversation with Sophie at the end of the Double Edged Sword, still trying to keep his, Hardison's, and Parker's particular romantic entanglement on the downlow and ALLLL this extra stress has him struggling. Buckling, even.

We get a touching scene with him and Parker where she lays out for him what Hardison did for her back in the Queens Gambit - you had to be [the strong one] because that's what you had to do to survive when it was just you, but you have a team now, and we can take some of that burden from you. Let us. We can do this.

(It got long, continued below)

So it's very sweet and he gives up some of his control with being The Protector and learns to share that role with everyone going after Hardison, revealing the nature of their relationship in the process and it's all very sweet.

EXCEPT!!!!!

They start their exfil run, and it turns out? NO HARDISON!!! It was a trap!!!! Of course the bad guys didn't get Hardison, how could they?? The guilt weighs on Eliot and Parker - what did they miss? Was their judgement so clouded by love and fear for their partner that they made mistakes they normally wouldn't while planning the con? What went wrong? How could someone have fooled them so thoroughly??? Who could have mimicked Hardison's signature like that?? Who knows his algorithms enough to-

Then, the Big Bad Guys own hacker steps out from the shadows...

Cha0s.

The ep ends on that cliffhanger leading us into the season finale where:

[Title Card - "Three Days Ago"]

Hardison, noticing some funny business going on with some alerts he set up to keep him informed if The Team gets into any real bad trouble, does some digging and makes it into the surveillance feed of the Big Bad's HQ where he and Cha0s are working on their plan.

It's already too late to head The Team off - Cha0s has gotten some weird fucking buffer into the system while Hardison's been busy elsewhere (which, he's kicking himself a bit for that, but he knows that kind of danger comes with the job - as good as he is, he knows it only takes one lucky day for another hacker to become The Bigger Fish) so he can't reach out directly with The Team already entrenched in the Con. Any attempts would alert Cha0s to the fact that Hardison knew what was going on and honestly? He'd rather keep that element of surprise. Let Cha0s think he's winning for now, while Hardison works outside of the usual channels to assemble a very Last Dam Job -esque team of his own.

Some new faces from Lev. Int., Mr. Quinn (of course), maybe even some Russian mob connections they have (maybe they left a good impression after "catering" a wedding, or something like in the Real Fake Car job where they made an arrangement after a con one time with a local boss who actually protects the people in their territory).

They break into the facility at the same time the Leverage team does - we learn over the course of this episode that the "lucky breaks" the team caught on the way in last ep (before they were captured) - distracting the worst of the mercenaries or clearing the path faster - were actually the result of traps set up by Hardison's team.

The climax of the ep is right where we left off last time - the Team trapped in the center of the compound, the trick revealed, Cha0s stepping out of the shadows, taunting them with something like "oh I wish Hardison were really here, I truly do, just so he could see what we're about to do to his precious little team-"

"Anybody ever tell you be careful what you wish for?" Hardison's voice echoes all around the room from every computer, every PA system speaker, every cellphone, and as everyone looks around the dim room frantically all the lights snap on at once, half blinding them. The Big Bad Guy is flailing, covering his eyes with arms screaming, "WHO THE HELL IS THIS?"

The same omnipresent Hardisom voice comes again, "well, it's definitely not Eliot."

And Quinn slams into the guy outta nowhere, kicking off the exfiltration plan.

(Somewhere in the midst of course, Quinn FINALLY gets to hit Cha0s.)

#leverage ot3 #leverage redemption #alec hardison #eliot spencer #parker #look i know Cha0s working with the crew on the Last Dam Job was fun im not saying he wasnt #but he's still a little shit who's willing to sell out to the highest bidder AND has a killer superiority slash inferiority complex to boot #so it varies back and forth whether i make him a begruding good guy or a slimy little bad guy #today is slimy bad guy #its not that he hates the team or anything #he just wants to Beat Hardison so BAD #and was also paid a shit ton of money #so

[utilitycaster]

Wizard Breakdown Tracker, #135

Each week I think “man it would have been cool if I had thought of this idea, in which I make jokes about how stressed out the wizard NPCs are, during, you know, the Vergesson heist or something when we were interacting with more than one wizard NPC instead of during a dungeon crawl with only one wizard NPC, emphasis on crawl” but you know what, I persevere, because where else am I going to put song parodies about the death of Vess Derogna that are literally only funny to me? Twitter?

Anyway while I am personally team Jester, in that the faster Lucien is simultaneously disintegrated, run through in the chest with both a vestige and a holy avenger, shot through the heart (and Veth’s to blame), beheaded with a hand axe, banished, punched in the face, and sent into a black hole the better, the party has other plans. Thanks to the long rest though it has been about 12 hours, plus the 4-ish from last week, so I guess we’ll check in with a few of our other wizard friends as well.

As a reminder Caleb Widogast is a PC and thus excluded from this list.

Currently sidelined

Presumably having a good day: Pumat Sol (blissfully unaware of all of this); Allura Vyesoren (saint-like patience and a wealth of experience with disaster adventuring parties; at least this one has a cleric at more than 0.33 FTE, a wizard, and some lesbians), Ludinus Da’leth (this miserable pile of power plays wakes up every morning and is like Isn’t it Grand to be head of the evil wizard council and no one realizes I probably destroyed the first non-drow elven civilization on the continent to arise after the calamity! Fetch me more pastries!).

No idea but here’s hoping he found the cat portion of ScryTube: Oremid Hass

Lady DeRogna, taken off the scene, sorry that your murder happened while off-screen.

Trent Ikithon: I’ve established that I think the only real things that can damage Trent emotionally are Caleb paying too much attention to him so as to destroy his standing within the empire, or else Caleb ignoring him. Honestly if Trent would not continue to torture students and spread propaganda if left unchecked I think he could be slowly murdered solely through Caleb expressing apathy. So despite the amulets of nondetection I like to imagine that somehow, somewhere, Trent felt Caleb reaffirm to Essek that his top priority is still stopping the city from returning, not Trent, and it necrotized just a little bit more of his liver.

Conclusion: 7/10. I went to the OG evil mageocracy and no one knew who you were.

Essek Thelyss: Well on the one hand he’s still flirting but on the other imagine spending a literal century being like “what if we’re wrong about how we approach the fundamental basis for our society” and he just got proved right. I have to imagine he’s got that kind of stress where suddenly everything becomes dead calm and also this explains why he unnecessarily cast a 3rd level spell, which he knows could in theory cause him to lose all his hair, to impress a boy. I didn’t even get into the conversations he had with Caleb, the bad dreams and eyeballs, Fjord teasing him, Yasha being like “ALRIGHT ALREADY”, the horrible Aeorian creatures, the fact that robots might be back(?) or his ongoing terror that the Assembly is after him!

Conclusion: 8/10 but he’s like, kind of having a good time. Essek is in all ways but physical in a Hawaiian shirt right now drinking a Mai Tai and going Nothing Matters; I presume he will have a full breakdown following the boss battle and honestly he deserves it.

Astrid Beck: Others have already established the parallels between Essek and Astrid but honestly I want to highlight it because really, on the one hand we have Essek, whose world is crashing around him because he was right all along and is in terrible immediate danger but surrounded by friends, and on the other we have Astrid, whose world is crashing around her because she was wrong all along and she’s probably not in immediate danger but Eadwulf is the only person she can trust and we don’t know all the details about that either.

Conclusion: 8/10 but in the bad way, not Essek’s kind of fun way.

Wulfpupy:

Conclusion: 3/10. You know that tiktok with the blonde woman with glasses who has a lot of highlighter on her nose who talks about how sometimes if you have guy friends they will say something deeply fucked up and you’ll be like “oh my god do we unpack this right now” and then you look over at them and the only thing in their mind are the lyrics to Kokomo? That’s Wulf. He will activate the second Caleb comes back in town or Astrid actually falls apart but until then he is on Island Time.

Yussa Errenis: I wonder if there’s a small part of Yussa that is part of the city’s awareness and, moreover, can see what Beau and Caleb at least are doing, and he’s like “I’m so simultaneously proud and impatient, also we live in a world that does not have IV fluids so like, hopefully my body still exists in some kind of functioning state when I am rescued” (note: did I google “how were coma patients kept alive in olden times” for this? Perhaps.) Anyway if he is aware he’s also just like, watching all this like “I WILL GET YOU SO MUCH PAPER OH MY GOD CAN YOU JUST KISS THE OTHER WIZARD SAVE ME FROM THE EVIL HIVEMIND CITY.”

Conclusion: I mean still infinity/10, he is still trapped in the city of madness and also if he does have a small part of his mind that is sane and able to observe the material plane he also is aware that Trent and the Volstruckers broke into his tower.

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: I know, I know, weird that I brought him up. However consider: Yussa’s wizard tower now contains two wizards in suspended animation, their consciousnesses trapped in eldritch astral sea-related spaces. This is incredibly funny to me. We’re in a real Old Lady who swallowed a fly scenario except it’s centuries-old wizards getting sucked into traps because of their own hubris. The reason why mageocracies no longer exist isn’t the lack of magical knowledge or even because power corrupts absolutely, it’s because literally just put some lightly fried forbidden knowledge under a box with a stick propping it up, add your parody of Long-Term Nuclear Waste Warnings above it, and a wizard will be like “that sign won’t stop me because I CAN read and what’s more I’m better at reading than you are!” And then they get trapped in a box.

Conclusion: what is a breakdown tracker to a man whose mind has been stuck in a gem for, from his perspective, at minimum about 35 years?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #wizard breakdown tracker #shadowgast #honestly i want shenanigans that rival any post-dragon vm shenanigans after aeor and i want essek to have a starring role #sorry percy i want a BLACK HOLE in the hot tub #your music this week was lady madonna by the beatles and kokomo by the beach boys #i swear i am a millennial i just spent a lot of formative time in the car with my boomer parents listening to the oldies station

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Fathering a Phantom ch2

I just wanna Talk, I swear

Here we have the chapter 2 for that fic from earlier! Once again, here ya go @five-rivers @floralflowerpower and @uwuplasmiusuwu

“Cole I’m going to murder someone,” was the first thing that Toby said to his husband upon arriving once more in their temporary sanctuary. Cole paused mid throw of his javelin, electric sparks crackling up the polearm, and turned to look at his husband. Toby’s wings were ablaze, his nails sharpened into claws, and his eyes a colorful storm, as though he couldn’t decide what to turn into for maximum lethality. Cole set down his javelin and wrapped around Toby in a hug.

“Who are you planning to murder, sunshine? And should I join in? I haven’t gotten into a good fight since we got here, which is a shame.” Cole coalesced from a mass of clouds into something a bit closer to his original body when Toby relaxed in his embrace, running his fingers through shimmering feathers made of embers. “You really do look like a star like this, by the way.”

“There was, I think, a war forged around here who fired a bunch of rockets at a child! You know that liminal kid I told you about?”

“Oh right, we’re rare in this realm, huh?” Cole’s face scrunched up in confusion and he arched a brow. “I thought the liminal around here beat up the tyrant ruling the place when he woke up?”

“I didn’t exactly ask about what must’ve sucked when I half blew up the metalhead.” Toby flew over to the couch and flopped face first into it. “Now I gotta track him down.”

“Why only half? Sounds like someone you’d take out in one go if you had the drop on em.”

“Well, do you wanna traumatize a kid of unknown cultural origins? He’s so small, and his friends were clearly still living humans. I dunno if he’s seen someone die before, let alone a ghost getting Ended. If I recall, committing murder is a bad way to start a friendship with a child.”

Cole snorted and gave Toby a pat on the shoulder. “Alright, fair, Sildar didn’t like me much after that rescue. But hey, now you can put that on your to do list! Murder, the answer to most problems.” Toby laughed, phasing through the couch when Cole sat on him. “There he is, my giggly celestial chandelier.”

“Do you even remember what a chandelier is? I know you broke like three of them over someone’s head, but I forget whose head.” Toby put out the flames in his feathers and stretched, satisfied when his spine popped a few times. “It’s nice to still be able to do that.”

“I’ll be honest, being a cloud has made the sound of your joints popping kinda gross to me. It sounds like you’ve still got a flesh and blood body.” Cole sat up, scratching his head. “Do you still have a humanoid body? With like, meat and bones and stuff?”

“Probably, yeah. We’ll see, cause if so that’ll come in handy with helping out this liminal kid. Said his name is Danny Phantom.” Toby paused, the feeling of his feather being torn an odd and upsetting one. “Speaking of whom, I should go meet up with them. Think you can find this ‘Skulker’ guy while I educate some kids?”

Cole kissed Toby on the cheek and gave him a thumbs up. “Will do! I can’t promise there’ll be much left of him afterward though, I’m not a fan of idiots who attack kids.” Toby smiled and in a flash of light and beat of wings, he was gone. Cole nodded to himself and grabbed his maul, crackling with electric arcs, and opened up the door to their temporary Sanctuary. “Now then, who the fuck is Skulker?”

After having a small debate about where they couldn’t go and why, team Phantom finally ended up at the indoor roller rink that was partially destroyed by a giant ghost crab a while ago, and sat down at a table that Danny cleared of debris with an ectoblast or three. “Ok guys, I think this is a good enough place to call him up.”

“Are we sure it’s a good idea to call him at all?” Sam held up the feather she’d kept in her pocket, turning it about to watch the golden flame dance. “He took down Skulker pretty fast and it usually takes you a good half hour to do that, Danny.”

“Skulker specializes in attacking Danny is all, Sam. We’ve got the weapons to handle pretty much any ghost we normally deal with, and Danny took down the king of ghosts. I’m pretty sure he can handle anyone else.”

“Plus, Toby wrecked Skulker pretty bad. If he wanted to fight, I’m pretty sure he would’ve started a fight.” Danny condensed his ectoblasts into one ball of ectoplasma and stretched it out into a pole. “Imagine all the cool stuff he could show us!”

“Alright, if you say so.” Sam snapped the feather in half, surprised by how easy it was to do, and grabbed her ecto-pistol. For a moment, there was silence. Then the sound of wingbeats filled the room and Toby appeared above the rink as though landing from a long flight.

“That’s a spell I’m not used to casting frequently in a day. Heyo kids!” Toby waved, tucking his wings by his sides while walking closer. “Sorry for the delay, I was talking to my husband. So, names again just to be sure: Sam, Tucker, and Danny, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. What do you mean spell, exactly? Do ghosts have magic ontop of the other ghost powers now?” Tucker spun the lipstick laser around in his fingers, remembering Desiree’s magic and Freakshow’s staff.

“Anyone who can do magic keeps the ability in death, usually. I’m not dead though, I’m Deathless.” He spread his wings and spun around, thumbs pointing to his chest. “I was born awesome like this, and so was Cole. But, based on your faces you weren’t born like this?”

“No,” Sam said, gesturing at Danny. “This is a recent thing, it’s been since about…” Sam paused, her gaze landing on the wall behind Toby. “March of last year, so 14 months.”

“Yeah, god, we’ve been doing this for over a year now, haven’t we?” Tucker, who had held up a camera to record everything Toby was saying, slumped a bit in his seat and sighed. “Feels like it’s been like this forever and like it happened yesterday.”

Toby stared at them all like they’d each grown extra limbs in odd places – Danny even checked to make sure he hadn’t done that while feeling both old and young at the same time due to how little time had actually passed – before zipping over to Danny and holding his hands just over the teen’s face. “Oh my gods, you’re a baby.”

“I am a teenager, thank you.” Danny gently pulled Toby’s hands away from his face, a brow raised. “What, is 14 infantile to angels, feather man?”

“You’re only 14 months dead, Danny, that makes you a baby ghost.” Sam snorted and Tucker covered his mouth to try and hide his laughter. A snap of Toby’s fingers and flowers began growing in Tucker’s hat, and seeds appeared above Sam, growing into flowers as they fell all over her. “If you’ve had regular interactions with that metal head, no wonder your aura’s all aggro.”

“Skulker’s not exactly the worst of the ghosts we’ve had to fight over the months,” Danny said.

“Oh yeah, that’d have to be either Walker, Spectra, or Vlad. It’s really a toss up between Spectra and Vlad, if you ask me.”

“Vlad wants to kill Danny’s dad because he sees his mom as a trophy that was stolen from him, while Spectra tried to kill Jazz just to depress an entire school so she could feed on the misery to look young.” Sam brushed away the flowers and weighed two in her hands. “Yeah, those around the same level of grossly evil.”

Toby’s wings ignited at some point while Sam was talking, and the sunlight streaming in from the hole in the roof grew somewhat brighter. He reached into a bag he had strapped to his waist and pulled out a book and a pen, his smile all teeth. “Tell me, please, a list of all the adult ghosts who have attacked you children? I’d like to have a discussion with each of them.”

“If we give you their names,” Danny said before Tucker could answer, “do you promise not to go slaughtering them all? I don’t need to know ghostly body language at all to know that flaming wings come from a place of anger and imminent violence.”

“When did you read a thesaurus, Danny?”

“Sam, I’m insulted: I know tri-syllabic words. I can even say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”

“I promise not to slaughter all of the ghosts you inform me hurt you in the past few months, yes. Names?” When Tucker listed off names, Toby wrote them down with an inhuman speed, and Danny exchanged a look with Sam, worried about how exactly that deal might be loopholed around. “Right,” Toby chirped while slamming his book shut, “I’m here to answer some questions of yours, not just ramble about myself and assemble a… list of people to talk to. Got any?”

“So many that I don’t even know where to start.”

#Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Tucker Foley #Sam Manson #Tobias Lumano #Cole Lumano #OCs #Fanfction #fanfiction #fanfic #phanfic #phanfiction #phanphic #fanphic #fanphiction #Rexy Writes

[hozierandco]

Sam Fender x Reader / call me lover

Friends to lovers. Lots of fluff.

Plot: Y/N and Sam have been friends for as long as they can remember but growing up has led them to grow apart. There are many things they have to tell one another.

The thing with kids is that they grow up. Too quickly, with too much silence surrounding them.

Sam was a boy, Y/N was a girl but to one another, they were just friends. They had known each other for as long as they could recall and had not doubted one second that they were just friends. Of course, there were the subtle questions from their parents, the hesitation when Sam would spend the night at Y/N's but their parents too knew it was just friendship.

Although they agreed that with all the secrets and trust they shared, they would be the best of couples, they thought it to be too pure to be broken.

Their friends too believed that it would inevitably happen, that they would end up together. Of all people, Dru was the most persistent on the matter. He had known Y/N for a longer time than Sam since Y/N's mother was the doula and a close friend to Drew's. Therefore, the two of them considered each other as siblings.

He  liked to tease Sam to make him confess a crush he would have on Y/N. To no avail.

And then, there had been Y/N's first boyfriend when she was 15. At a time in his life when he was still playing Fifa in his room when he was not toying with his piano, he had to endure his best friend clung to her boyfriend's arm.

For the first time, he felt repulsed by the sight of Y/N but mostly by that of the Alex Turner wannabe her heart had fallen for. He began writing about love and deception though he had no reason to have known either.

Of course, the idyll was cut short with Alex Turner #2 coming back from summer camp without his virginity anymore, exploit he felt the need to share with the whole school.

Sam and Drew had come to Y/N's rescue the day at school and together, they had eaten pizza and waited for Y/N's tears to disappear. It was the world against them from now on, and nothing could change that.

Sam had worked his ass off to make Y/N proud and had done all he could for his A-levels. In spite of all the intensity and long hours of going over Horatio Nelson and the Boer War with Y/N, he gave up and started working in a pub. He was to be a musician, no matter what.

His fingers got crooked because of his guitar, his voice sore but at last, he was given a festival to play at. Drew would be there too of course.

As for Y/N, she had started working in an architect's office while studying at the local Uni.

Things got so fast. The kids grew and were soon overwhelmed with new responsibilities. Y/N had a new life for herself and Sam was about to tour before releasing his debut album. When he found out that a label had signed him up, the three friends along with Dean and Joe had screamed their lungs out.

It had come out of the blue that Joe fancied Y/N and it had also come out of the blue that Sam didn't like this turn of event.

The tour meant that they would not see each other for at least half a year as Sam's studio was in London. They had never been away from one another for so long so the day Sam left North Shields, it felt like the soil was crumbling under her feet.

Y/N informed herself of Sam's whereabouts through Dru as Sam didn't reply to her texts. Dru was regularly implying to his friend that he should call her every now and then, but he was always "too busy". Just like that, silent formed around them.

"Sam, call her", Dru begged one more time.

Sam sighed. He did not dare calling her, he felt as though he had let time rule his emotions. The more distance he put between them, the harder it was to think of something to say. Sure, he was busy but he always had been busy.

"You know what day it is today, don't you?"

Sam stared with round eyes at Dru.

"It's her bloody birthday, Sam. Just call her, okay?"

Dru had taken Sam's phone from his coat that was lying on the floor and forced Sam to take it.

Sam went to the room, right next to where he was and dialled Y/N's number, ending up on the voicemail "Hi! I hope that the voicemail just indicates that you're getting hammered somewhere and I also wish you a happy birthday. I'm sorry I didn't call earlier, I wish I could make it up to you. I miss you and I love you"

It was not until the message got sent that he realised what he had just said. Sam knew that opening up always led him to say too much and he couldn't take the risk to lose Y/N.

"What's wrong?" Dru asked when he saw Sam visibly agitated.

"I screwed up"

"You just had one call to make, how can you screw up a call?"

"I said something I shouldn't have. I told her that I loved her"

"As in I love you?"

"Yeah, I mean it's not something we say to each other"

"And do you? Love her?"

"Yes, Dru. I think I do. I think I always loved her"

"Well then, you haven't screwed up. You've just made things easier"

Days went by without a word from Y/N and Sam to pass time was playing with his phone a couple of times a day, not knowing what or if he should write to her. But then it got worrying, he feard that something had happened to her.

"D'you have news of Y/N?", he confronted Dru one night.

"She didn't say that she loves you back, huh?"

"She hasn't said anything at all, in fact. Is she alright?"

"That's odd. Yeah, she's fine, I just got a text from her, not even ten minutes ago. I can ask her to reach out for you if you want"

Dru is a magician as not only five minutes later, Sam's phone buzzed.

Y/N: Dru said you called on my birthday. My phone was off, you should have left a message... Sam: I did! You didn't listen to it? Y/N: I didn't get anything... Sam: Can I call you now? Y/N: No, not tonight. I'll call you tomorrow morning, good? Sam: Yes :)

Sam was not a morning person but he woke up as early as he could. He waited and finally she called. On FaceTime. She looked radiant, unlike him who severely lacked of sleep.

"Hey!"

Bring the tone down, Fender, Sam thought. You're gonna freak her out.

"Hi, sorry I couldn't call you yesterday. It's good to see you"

Just like that, one moving still of Sam was enough to have her mood lit up.

"So, can't make a voicemail work, huh?" Y/N joked around.

"I promise you, it worked. I don't know what happened but it's good I get to tell you like that"

"Tell me what?"

"Well, first that I'm sorry I've been an idiot lately. It's just that I've missed you so much and I wanted to see you and I couldn't stop thinking of you all the time"

An unfamiliar noise of a plate falling.

"Garlic's going on an adventure?" Sam referred to Y/N's cat that was known to be the clumsiest cat on Earth and that Sam had helped naming six years prior.

The distraction was much needed as Sam was blushing and it started showing on camera.

"Let me just go somewhere quieter"

As Y/N left her living room for her bedroom, Sam saw the silhouette of a man trying to assemble the splinters the plate had left behind.

"Sorry for that. What were you saying?"

"Nothing. I'm just sorry I didn't call you earlier and I hoped that you had a great birthday..."

"You sure there was nothing else"

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure"

The two of them chatted for another 5 minutes when the conversatio became awkward.

Y/N was certain when she hung up that Sam was about to reveal his feelings. And she would have let him. In fact, she would have revealed hers as well.

But Dan had to be in the way. Or was it Ian? Stan? Y/N had always done this. When she was thinking of Sam too much, she was collecting men to share the night with.

She never got attached to anybody but liked to wake up by a man's side.

A few weeks later, Dru called Y/N with good news.

"We've got some rest from the tour. We'll be at Shields for a month or so. I cannot wait to see you again, little sister!"

Y/N had set her mind to meet them at the train station from where she would get in the tour bus with them. Since Sam's aborted declaration, Y/N had not gotten any news from him and was not taking any.

When the van arrived and its doors opened, Dru ran to Y/N and hugged her "Ah, come here, you!"

There was a new face amongst the original team.

"Hi, I'm Lisa" the stranger introduced herself. By gazing that her hand was in Sam's, Y/N took a wild guess that the two of them were a thing.

"Nice to finally meet you. You're the 5th Beatle or so it seems. The boys could not shut up about you"

Y/N grinned at Dru and fainted a smile towards Sam. Unfortunately, she couldn't say as much for Lisa and blamed Dru to have kept it a secret.

Lisa was gorgeous, it was undeniable. Her posh accent had made the journey with her and contrasted with hers and the boys'. As long as Sam is happy, I'm happy, Y/N tried to convince herself as she got in the van.

"So, pub?" Dru asked. It was not even 5 pm but the idea seemed to everyone's taste.

"I'll join you later if that's alright. Joe, can you drop me off? I've got a few things to do before I join"

"You alright?" Dru whispered at her as he was seated next to her in the back of the van.

"Yeah, I'm fine" but as she answered, she stared a little too long at Lisa and her brown curls, her tanned skin and her perfect Julia Roberts smile.

"It's Lisa, huh? I don't like her either. Too posh for Sammy"

"I've never said I didn't like her"

"Then what?" Dru hesitated and then exclaimed "Oh!"

As he had nearly shouted, all of the boys and Lisa turned around to laugh at his looks of bewilderment.

Dru shushed himself down as his friends took the piss at him "Finally got the epiphany that you're ugly, Michael?" Dean mocked him.

As Dru brushed the joke and everything went back to normal, he went on with his whispering "You fancy Sam?"

Y/N simply nodded which got Dru leaning back in his seat, stirred by the confession.

"There, you go, princess" Joe stated as he had parked right in front of Y/N's flat.

They all greeted Y/N goodbye and agreed that they would see each other at 7. Sam did not dare looking at her in the eye. He knew he should have said something about Lisa but he had not come around it, why would he since she had her own life now?

As she opened the door, Y/N started tearing up a little, stunned by all the events. She seized her phone and sent a text.

By 6.15, the intercom rang. Y/N had changed into a wrap dress made of sequins and black heels.

"Hey!", she exclaimed to the man who was waiting by the door. This one was Chris, a chap she had seen some days prior. He reminded her of Alfred Enoch somehow with his chiseled jaw and round cheeks. Y/N didn't feel like being alone tonight and Chris was good company.

"Y/N, here!" Joe informed as he was in charge of getting a new round of drinks "By the table over there. Oh hi" he said to the stranger "I'm Joe"

Chris was by far the best-dressed man there as, clearly not familiar to pubs, he was wearing an open white shirt over brown chinos.

Dru and Tom made some space for Y/N and Chris to sit once Y/N had introduced everyone to her date.

The conversation was very much alive by 8 except for the fact that Lisa and Chris felt left out as it was all about childhood memories and family-related topics.

Sam was all eyes for Y/N. It was as though nothing awkward had ever happened between them and as though they were kids all over again.

In an effort to include Chris in the night's ambiance, Y/N asked him to dance with her. She hoped by that that she could get a reaction from Sam as dancing was THEIR thing.

At her birthday parties, they were always the two ones inventing silly dance moves on cheap Eurodance. As teens, they would always wiggle at gigs while the rest of the audience would look at them tenderly.

"I should get going. I've got a meeting in the morning" Chris let Y/N know as a song by Marvin Gaye ended. It was only 10 pm but Y/N didn't hold him back.

"C'mon, Sam. Invite her to dance, you're dreaming of it" Lisa rushed him. "She's your best friend after all"

What if he didn't want to be her best friend anymore?

Sam got up and joined Y/N. Tonight, he would tell her the truth. Not tomorrow, tonight.

"May I accompany you?"

"Yes, you may. Lisa's not into dancing?"

"I don't know but I'm into dancing with you"

"He's in love with her, isn't he?" Lisa asked Dru who had just ordered more drinks.

"Yeah, I think he is.. I'm sorry"

"Don't be, it's no big deal. Sam and I were just fooling around anyway. She's sweet, just what he needs"

"They just have to admit it now"

"So, Chris.. You two are together for long?" Sam asked.

"No, I mean technically we're not together. We've met twice with tonight"

"He seems nice"

"Yeah, I suppose. You and Lisa?"

"About the same: couple of weeks, nothing too serious"

"What did you mean to tell me last time?"

"Last time?"

"Yeah, you were saying that you missed me and all"

"Well, yeah. Touring without you sucked. I've missed you every fucking day. I want to be with you all the time. It's always been like that me and you"

"I missed you too, Sam"

The song had changed.

"What I'm about to say could ruin what we have but I just have to say it: I've always loved you, Y/N. It took me a whole ass tour to realise that. It's what I told you on the voicemail"

"I love you too, you idiot!"

Dru admired Lisa's ability to remain amicable even when she understood that Sam and Y/N had just confessed their feelings. He had judged her badly and saw what Sam had seen in her: a genuine goodness.

Sam was eager to kiss Y/N but had to make sure that Lisa was alright. He wanted more than anything else in the world Y/N and him to be together but he couldn't do it like that.

He turned around to Lisa only to see her kissing Dru. Sam shook his head and turned back on Y/N who was laughing at this sudden act of PDA.

Sam laughed along and then joined his lips to Y/N's.

#sam fender #imagines #fluff #friends to lovers

[willyoulovemeinthemorning]

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway (2/?)

Loki Laufeyson x Reader

Summary: You are a mutant with the powers of ice and cold and you have never been able to be touched or touch anyone without making them uncomfortable, or worse, hurting them. You’ve always desperately wished for physical affection, and it isn't until a new silver tongued Asgardian moves into the Avengers tower and takes an interest in you that anyone really dares to try to be physical with you.

Word Count: 1.5k

A/N: This is some drama to push them to the next level- no warnings yet, just some of Y/N getting hurt and Loki coming to the rescue! Warnings apply for the next chapter! Part 1 Ever since Loki showed you he was the only person in the universe that could truly touch you, life went on in blissful closeness with him. He started spending more time with you outside of the library, the two of you eating together and watching movies together, even hanging out with you while you were with Wanda and Nat. Wanda didn’t like it at first, (she was very untrustworthy of new people) but Nat just knew. She knew from the start and didn’t push at first because she knew things would develop over time. But even Wanda figured it out- it wasn’t hard, watching you become more and more at ease with touching him and him touching you. You had never let anyone do that, and the fact that he could meant a lot. So she stopped giving you a hard time about having him around, enjoying how his presence changed you for the better.

The rest of the team started to notice it too- and each time someone would start to give you a hard time, Nat shut it down very quickly. As weeks went by, you had both started falling asleep every night in the library, the living room, the hang out room- wherever had a big enough space for you both to fall asleep wrapped around each other. You were both too afraid to ask to go to sleep in one anothers room.

You were currently on the couch in the living room with Loki, practically in his lap with his arm wrapped around you while he read a book and you scrolled Tik Tok.

“Team, time to suit up. We have a situation in Georgia that needs our attention. We’ll debrief on the plane. All hands on deck for this one. Avengers- Assemble.” You heard Steve’s voice, and you groaned, grumpy that you had to not only leave the safety of your home, but mostly the safety of Loki’s embrace.

It was a gruesome mission- a high profile organization was trying to steal some very dangerous equipment from a location in Georgia, and a lot of people got hurt trying to stop them. Including you. The problem was that you had hit your head after getting shot, and you wouldn’t let anyone come too close, so you were attacking anyone and everyone who came to try to help you- Nat and Wanda included.

Nat was desperate. “Where’s Loki?” She screamed into her com- but Loki’s had fallen off in battle, and he was still in combat with some bad people. “Tony- get eyes on Loki and get him over here right now!” You were bleeding out, and no one could touch you to get you onto the plane.

“Friday, locate Reindeer Games- Elsa’s hurt and she needs true love to heal her-” Tony sing-songed, flying up and over the plant, and when he located Loki, he sent shots out to hit all the men circling the God, swooping in and picking him up by the back of the shirt.

“HEY!” Loki screamed, which Tony ignored, flying him to where Nat was with you. You were starting to lose consciousness, and Nat was trying to keep you awake without touching you. He dropped Loki unceremoniously on the ground beside you, the God’s anger rushing out of him at the treatment the moment he saw you. “Y/N? What happened?!” He yelled back at Nat, crawling over to you.

“They got her, she’s got wounds all over and she won’t let anyone touch her, and anyone who has gets one of these burns-” she showed him her arms, covered in icy patches. Loki basically threw magic her way to melt the ice off, putting all of his focus on you.

“Hey, popsicle, it’s me. I’m going to get you on the ship and we’re going to get you better, okay?” He went to pick you up, paused, and then looked around at the avengers surrounding him. “Please don’t look- please.” He asked, and Nat stared them all down until they turned around. He picked you up bridal style, and immediately felt a wave of ice shoot through him. His whole body changed as the onslaught came- so cold it affected him. The pain shot through his blue limbs, red eyes focused on getting you to the ship a few yards away. Nat was ahead of him, climbing in and turning the machine on. He could feel the eyes of the team on him, and he tried to ignore it. That was easy considering all he could focus on was the pain coursing through him, and getting you safe. Finally, he got you in, and Natasha was already flying the three of you away. He placed you down and cupped your face. “Darling, look at me, please keep your eyes open.” You looked up at him and groaned in pain.

“Please, Loki…” You cried, your voice strained in pain. “Please…”

He placed both of his hands on your wound, trying to ease the bleeding, the pain of ice slowing down as you started to lose consciousness. “I’m sorry, Loki…” was the last thing you said, and the last thing you saw was his beautiful blue face contorted in pain as you slipped away from him.

You woke up days later, confused and afraid, unsure of what happened or where you were. What you were sure of was a hand in yours... and when you opened your eyes you saw a messy head of black hair asleep by your hip, the hand holding yours under his head. You squeezed it, jostling him from his position enough to wake him.

“Y/N?” His sleepy voice croaked, blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

“Where am I?” you asked, trying to sit up.

“Hey, don’t move too much, you’re still healing.” He stopped you, hand on your chest to keep you down. “ You’re in the ICU at the Tower. You’ve been out for a week… we had to keep you out because you kept accidentally hurting the doctors. I had to do a lot of the physical touching because you couldn’t hurt me as easily…” His cheeks turned pink and he looked away from you, and you realized what that might have meant. Loki had seen you in a lot of unflattering, very intimate ways in the last few days, by your estimation.

“Did I… did-”

“No, popsicle. Everyone is fine. I was able to use my magic to heal their ice wounds- I would have healed you too, but your injury was a little too complex for me to trust myself.”

You breathed a sigh of relief. You couldn’t have forgiven yourself if… “Did I hurt you? Did the rest of the team see you- in my favorite form?” You asked, eyes worried for him. You knew how he felt about his Jotun form.

“I… asked them to look away. They all did, but once I wasn’t looking, they definitely looked. I’m pretty sure Natasha beat everyone up that did, since they all apologized after. Dr. Green didn’t, and I don’t think Spangles did either, because they’re the only ones that Natasha is currently speaking with.” He said, looking down in what you could only assume was shame.

“Loki, no one will judge you for it, it’s your base form, and you put yourself at risk of ridicule for my safety. They will all respect it.”

“I think you’re right, but it’s not my favorite thing to know that they’ve all… seen me like that. I liked that you were the only one. It was something special.”

You smiled at him, squeezing the hand still holding yours. “You’re still the only one able to touch me, Loki, I think that’s pretty special.”

His eyes found yours and the look in them lit something up inside of you, making you ache for him to be closer and touch you more than he had before. He took a deep breath, before breaking eye contact. “I’m going to go get the doctor so he can check you out, and maybe you can get out of here today and be back in your room tonight.”

After a thorough check up by the doctor, he deemed you healthy enough to sleep in your own bed that night. After giving you pain meds, Loki helped you there, and by the time you were in your bed, you were a little silly on the meds. “Loki?”

He had just put you to bed and was about to leave, but turned back around and sat down beside you. “Yes, popsicle?”

“Stay?” You reached forward and took his hand, tugging on him a little, trying to get him to lay down. Without saying anything, he did as asked, and climbed into bed beside you, pulling you to him. You fell asleep thinking about how perfectly you fit in the curve of his body as his little spoon.

#loki #loki laufeyson #loki x reader #loki fanfic #loki fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #reader insert #reader fanfiction #loki (marvel)