#Only for Melinda to find out her mom CAN see ghosts but that she was so freaked out by them/her family's gift that she blocked them out

[goldenstarprincesses]

There's this fanfiction I read some years ago (can't find it for the life of me. Think it was on fanfiction.net) that had the plotline that young Alfred was almost snatched by the vengeful ghost of Eleanor Dare since she was angered that her family/daughter died while Alfred -who had been Virginia Dare's playmate-lived on and would will continue live on for eternity

My headcanon is that prior to almost being led to his (likely temporary) death by a vengeful spirt, Alfred had no fears relating to the super natural. Even before Arthur showed up, America had long been visited by those who stayed behind after their death. And Arthur probably introduced him to quite a few friendly ghosts back in England. And even more ghosts started showing up as the colonists settled in. Baby America could often be found babbling at a seemingly empty room or to himself while playing out in the fields. Honestly, before Matthew moved in, the ghosts of New England were baby Alfred's closest companions

So not only was little Alfred naturally trusting of ghosts, but he knew Eleanor and saw nothing wrong with following her down to the icy cold river in the middle of the winter. When she attempted to drag him under the ice, not only did he develop a life-long fear of ghosts but the seeds of his dislike of the cold were planted.

He was so deeply traumatized by almost being offed by the pissed-off ghost of Eleanor that the chemistry of his brain was forever changed. But it's not that he can't still see ghosts. America totally can. Like, he sees them clear as day or as clear as Arthur or Matthew do. However, he refuses to acknowledge them. He could be standing in a room of 20 ghosts (some that he may have communicated with as a child) and he will stead-fast refuse to admit that he actually can.

#Has anyone seen the Ghost Whisper? Melinda's mom HATES ghosts and Melinda grew up thinking her mom was upset she could not see ghosts #like her mom and daughter could #Only for Melinda to find out her mom CAN see ghosts but that she was so freaked out by them/her family's gift that she blocked them out #which caused her to have horrible migraines #this is what i sorta have also based my thoughts on lol #Alfred 100% gets terrible headaches because he refuses to processes what his eyes and mind are seeing #hws america #nyo america #hws england #historical hetalia #hws #aph #alfred f jones #alfred jones #amelia jones #I saw Alfred but this also works for Amelia #aph england #arthur kirkland #hws canada #aph canada #matthew williams #headcanons #hetalia fanfiction

[last-night-is-a-blur]

A Charmed prequel.

We start with Melinda Warren as a young woman. She tries to fight even with guidance from other witches and has to learn things on her own through trial and error.

Her mother is her only ally and confidant.

Later she meets a young girl who is a witch, that grew up in a coven and teaches her a lot of things.

Melinda also has a friend (lets call her Patience), who is mortal, and she occasionally helps Melinda fight demons, but doesn't know that Melinda is a witch. She just knows that Melinda has a knack for finding mysterious things, and has a strong urge to help people. She keeps on getting herself involved as well, out of desire to help, and concern for Melinda's safety.

Patience doesn't tell anyone about their supernatural adventures, since she is afraid people won't believe that they are fighting demons and warlocks, not allying themselves with them.

Eventually Patience finds out, and struggles to accept this, but can't bring herself to turn Melinda in, and eventually they reconcile.

Meanwhile Melinda befriends and starts falling for a mortal man. For various reason (including Melinda's fear of him finding out she is a witch, and not wanting to marry someone she would be lying to about a big part of herself, and his family not wanting him to marry a woman born out of wedlock). Eventually Melinda reveals the truth to him. He accepts her, after first being angry she lied to him or something.

They get married, have Prudence. He dies.

At some point Melinda ends up in Salem and starts dating Tate.

We see the start of the Phoenix assasin witches.

The atmosphere of the show is filled with paranoia and spookiness. Especially as the Salem witch trials begins.

After Melinda's death, there is a flashforward to when Prudence is older.

Prudence lives with a mortal woman who took her in.

She can slow down time. Her foster mom knows she has powers, and forbids her to use them. Knowing what happened to her mother, and growing up believing witches are evil, she fears her powers, and hates herself.

Still, when she sees someone in trouble she uses them. But after that instance people become suspicious of her and she has to run away.

She ends up in Wellfleet where she meets Mary Hallet, who teaches her that witches aren't evil and to accept her magic.

Prudence also meets a male witch and the fall in love. They dislike each other at first, since she finds him cocky and promiscious, but they eventually become friends and fall in love. They get together after some initial troubles. Not sure if they should have kids, or if that would be weird, since if the Halliwell line was descendent from another witch line besides the Warren line it might raise question of why that wasn't brought up in canon? Though it might explain why two of the 20's cousins had different powers than the ones Melinda passed down.

Prudence crosses paths with pirates, slave trades, pirate hunters, sea monsters and ghosts.

While Melinda's story is all about spooky forests, and paranoia, Prudence's story is more of a pirate ghost story. The Flying Dutchman and such.

#charmed #melinda warren #salem witch trials #salem witches #warren witches #the warren line #halliwell family #power of three

[phoebehalliwell]

Ok ok ok ok I have a fun obscure brain teaser for you! What are some of the most OBSCURE ships that could come up with kids for…like the craziest crack ships you can think of (that could work lol)

okay we're crazy and i'll do four for each sister and we'll go with ships that i do basically ship

it's long so under the cut we're looking down the barrel of pruexdeath, pruexmicah, pruexvinceras, pruextom (+ a wild card). for piper: piperxmark, piperxbane, piperxcole, piperxzankou, phoebe we’ve got phoebexbrent, phoebexreece, phoebexleslie,  phoebexreznor, paige: paigexfinn, paigexrowan, paigexseamus, paigexjinny (+ a wild card)

prue

& death fucking love these lads i do kids who are half reaper hooooooo nelly three kids obvi one sec lemme find if there are any names that mean death oh well duh persephone "percy" - eldest daughter, powers includemolecular immobilization, combustion, intangibility, invisibility, then we're going samael "sam" - second born son, powers include premonition & mediumship and them um third child desdemona "dizzy" - telekinesis & death's touch <3 they can all death teleport.

& micah/mitch specifically in this darklighter au... we're once again doing three kids charlotte eva and anne, named for melinda warren's mother, the blonde gal who helped her out, and mitch's mom who happens to have the same first name as micah's mom. they can all orb, eldest can um. she has premonitions she can sense things she can astral project. then there's eva. cryokinesis and pyrokinesis. then anne: um fuck it shapeshifting. only into other humans at first, grows into animals. why you ask? well that darklighter alec could do vocal manipulation and witches can glamor, this is that weird intersection

& vinceras enemies to lovers au where he wants to curse prue w his empathy but when she comes to help him he feels how genuine she is and it drowns out all other emotions, he starts to see the beauty in emotions, they fall in love. all children are born with empathy. p names. ideally none i've used before. paloma peggy (eyy it's a margaret name uwu) and paulette "lettie". paloma has. uh. empathy and enhanced strength levitation telekinesis. peggy has empathy deflection mimicry and immunity. lettie has empathy molecular immobilization, combustion, pyrokinesis.

& tom peters, but they can't un-demon him. petra, perry, and paxton. eldest has pyrokinesis + cryokinesis. middle child has telekinesis that turns into advanced telekinesis. youngest has illusion casting and invisibilty (why? idk sounds dope)

WILD CARD

& the succubus it's canon! prue temporarily had a penis! so like....... you wanted crazy shit i got crazy shit disclaimer um i don't ship this But. would be kinda bonkers crazy if like you know the succubus has got prue and then when they killed her and prue turned back they found and egg like an egg egg and then it hatch and was like. prue's daughter. half witch half succubus. um. named amara. for love <3. powers include um. hmm. empathy (through that deflection) and suggestion

piper

& mark but he’s a ghost!! what??? how can a ghost get u pregnant??! idk!! either we somehow bring mark back to life but he still has ghost like qualities in which case: li mei, ming zhu, ai lan. and powers are. phasing + mediumship, then invisibility + telekinesis, and finally premonitions + astral projection. alt version She Fucked That Ghost (don’t ask me how!!) one daughter named marcy. powers are mediumship, intangibility, telekinesis, molecular immobilization

& bane listen listen listen bane is a hopeless romantic you know who else is a hopeless romantic?? that’s rite!! just one daughter pamela and her powers are. intuition (read: automatic lie detector, can tell if someone is magical and/or evil), molecular immobilization, and deflection

& cole if you don’t ship it what can i say other than you’ve got some reading to do. posie paulina and pepper. telekinesis + enhanced strength + apportation. then molecular combustion + energy balls + pyrokinesis. finally, sensing, premonitions, shimmering. all three girls have a quasi demon form w red skin, tats, + horns, but they don’t get any taller or buffer (or balder)

& zankou once again man i’m telling you iykyk like idk like okay look me in the eyes tell me zankou wouldn’t recite poetry to piper under the stars. it could happen!! three kids. yasmin, anwar, salim. powers idfk babe these kids would be stacked.... okay first. molecular combustion, energy balls, prescience, flaming. second: molecular immobilization, cryokinesis, sensing, portal creation. third: deviation, empathy, mimicry, power absorption.

phoebe

& brent it’s the guy from the grimlock episode! but psych, when the grimlocks died and returned brent’s sight, he got a few extra gifts as well... three daughters. pearl, pax, pisces. pearl has um. molecular immobilization, molecular combustion, reconstitution. pax has telekinesis, astral projection, enhanced strength. pisces has empathy, can see auras, portal creation.

& reece why? idk. bit of a wild card here. but like. if phoebe realized cole was evil and like was ready to take him down but had to beat reece to the punch idk maybe she saves him from the bitey drain your brain demons and she’s like fine clean slate demons are real and i’m a witch cole is a demon so let me finish this but no. reece is in. becomes a pi for magic cases. slowburn. not quite enemies to loves but like. ice slowly melting. realizing at some point you care for the other type thing. three kids once again, starting with patrik, who has um. premonition, astral projection, suggeston. then pollux, who has levitation, deflection, sensing. and finally, paxtun, empathy, molecular deceleration, and um. fuck it. hyperspeed.

& leslie they had kids!! granted it was in a freaky alternate universe but it happened! this kids are soooo gonna meddle in everyone’s love lives. porter. first son, empathy, sensing, lie detector. second son, um. charles. goes by charlie. telekinesis. levitation. third daughter, lj. (leslie junior!!) she has cryokinesis and astral projection <3

& reznor girl who tf is this? aint that that fuckin um nin guy? nope<3 it’s the pirate from the pirate episode where phoebe’s like kill ur boss and he’s like damn ur right and he kills him which saves her & then he’s like thanks<3 and dies. but what if he didn’t die?? what if since he was the first mate the curse passed to him so he’s immortal but he now has the option to free the crew so he does he wants to start off life as a new man and what if!! phoebe & him fall in love <3 twins. um. laura and brian. these r both ancestors brian riffing off brianna. laura has telekinesis molecular combustion and levitation. brian has premoniton molecular immobilization and deflection. 

paige

& finn he’s a golem! can he have kids? prolly not! but in this au he can!! (to jog your memory, he’s from the ep where they sister got shrunk down in early s4). um so kids. paige doesn’t seem like a boatload of kids gal so just one she’s a real artsy type fuck it terpsichore (kori for short). powers included um essentially invulnerability she’s not fully flesh and blood so if you cut her arm off she’s just be like hey >:( and either reattatch it later or make herself a new on and projection which is initially accessed through her art (i think like kaela in the reboot tho admittedly i did not watch s4)

& rowan he’s the sexy vampire who honesly was not That sexy but a girl can dream. we’ve got vamp witches!! three sisters, triplets, neither rowan nor paige were expecting that, both are like aaaaaa!! but are ready to commit to the bit. hey man um. laurel, willlow, and cherry. they all have essentially a “life link” to one another, they an all borrow one another’s strength and if one is mortally wounded the others can each take -50% hp to save her. beyond that, they each have telekinesis and shapeshifting. they also can drink blood to strengthen themselves. on top of that, if the drink the blood of a magical being, they can temporarily gain their powers. their blood heals others. they are unable to turn people into vampires

& seamus i’m hoping you wiped the terrible irish accent from your memory but it’s a leprechaun episode what did you expect! just one daughter. aoife i’m naming the baby after you. her name is aoife she’s a pisces. her powers def include rainbow colored orbing. she can grant luck. she has telekinetic rainbow-ing. <3

& jinny but how?? paige & jinny r gay? yeah but jinny’s a genie baby! she can do whatever the damn hell she pleases. so they have a daughter. pavaneh. conjuration. telekinesis. orbing. looking like a baddie 24/7.

WILD CARD:

evil enchantress & the prince what?? the evil enchantress had her evil spawn baby!! oh no!! surely the world will plunge into like 1,000 years of darkness. unless..... paige technically that’s ur body too. um. wanna be a mom? congrats! paige & co are raising the baby of the evil enchantress & the prince, and the baby gets some whitelightery elements from gestating in paige. it’s fuckin weird, but it 100% could have happened on charmed i promise. kid is named halli (pronounce like halle like halle berry) like the halli in halliwell. bc the kid will have the last name matthews. elemental conjuration for sure. we’ve got fire, air, water, ice, earth, plants, & lightning. the kid can also orb. bada bing bada boom!

#tada! #i don't think i'm going to tag these ships <3 #charmed #au #next gen #💌

[itspdameronthings]

mysterious house

Summary: Here is my entry for @autumnleaves1991-blog's writing challenge. combined with my favorite show charmed( original) with star wars. poe comes to visit a friend. then finds something mysterious about her. hope the fans of charmed like this. for the ones that never seen it? you will love it.

Losing a loved one is never easy for some. No matter if it was from cancer, accident or violent act. The Organa family has been through so much in the last few years. Melinda Organa lost her brother, Ben, her father,and uncle. Now her mother, leia.now she is the only one left not counting your baby sister Rey. Hard for her to shed any tears. All she did was smile through her pain.

After the funeral. Guests come to her Victorian house. Which belonged to her family. Full of history and mystery. Police have been hounding her for the cause of her familys' deaths. If she tells them the truth? They would put her in a padded cell.

Poe Dameron drives up to the house. Look at it. In his mind it hasn't changed since he used to come by to visit Melinda. Last time was when she went away to college. Found out she came back when there was a family situation that caused her to move back home. Forced to leave toher dream job. Working at an auction house. Now she works at a museum. All he wanted was comfort his friend. That is what she needs.

Going inside sees a few familiar faces. Finn for one. Even Rey. Went over to chat with them. Asked about Melinda. All they could say was that you were in no mood to talk. Just wanted to be left alone. Heeding their advice. Go to the dining room. Sees Melinda sitting alone. Staring off in space. Didn't acknowledge anyone being in the room. Or the feel of Poe's large hand on her shoulder caused her to freak out! Meaning she almost used her special gift on him. Instead she turned around," are you dumb or just plain stupid! Want to be alone! Did Fin and Rey tell you that! That includes you. " kneeling in front of her. Take her hand," look I'm sorry for not being able to come sooner. Was hard to find a pilot to switch flights with. I'm here as long as you need me. I know I haven't been a good friend to you mel. I'm here now. To help you." She sighs," what could you have done huh! Tell me what ! I'm crazy! Saying my mom died from something no one could ever explain to anyone else! Sorry dameron. I don't need your sympathy." Pushes him aside when she goes upstairs.

Watching her go. Then sits down in the chair she was sitting on. Moans," damn, how am I supposed to help her?" For a moment he felt like someone was there. Thought it was nothing. So he got up to get his bag from the car.

Rey goes upstairs to comfort her sister," mel,that was rude of you to yell at Poe! He is here for you! This is your chance to make amends. He loves you! You love him even though he doesn't know…" she finishes the sentence," that we are witches. Our family got killed by demons from the first order. Oh added that we are the charmed ones! Minus 1! Sorry, I'm not in a forgiving mood." She tried to tell her about Poe staying with them before she left the room.

Late that night. Poe woke up to the sounds of footsteps. Opening the door. No one was there. Closing the door. Heard it again. Thinking it was just the normal thing since the house is very old. Now he couldn't get back to sleep. He got up to explore the house. He was not alone. Rey got out of her room," why are up? " poe whispers," heard footsteps thought someone is in the house. This house gives me the heevy jeeves. " she laughs," come on scary cat.let's investigate."

Two of them walked down the hall then heard the footsteps behind them. Caused them to turn around.no one. Both of them start to freak out. Both of them went to wake Melinda. She moans," what? I need some sleep! Can't this wait till morning! " poe sighs," no it can't! Someone else might be in the house. Need to find out what is going on!" In a huff. She gets out of bed," oh you two fucking babies there is no one in this house. Let me say this. If we find out there is no one here. Two of you are to leave me alone till morning. Got it?" Both of them look at her,and nod three of them leave her room to track down the mysterious footsteps.

Melinda starts to believe Rey and Poe. Melinda hears them too. You are a more logical person than your sister. Trying to figure out where the sound is coming from. Suddenly hear a door creaking down stairs. Three of you reached the stairwell to see a light coming from the dining room. Funny there is no door. Quietly approaching the room. Trying to find the door. All off you feeling around the walls, and even the bookcase. Poe found a book that was leaning in a weird position. Pull the book. Bingo! It opens. Poe leads the girls down a series of stairs. Leads to what looks like a basement. Melinda froze. Rey felt her tense up," what is it? Looks like you just saw a ghost." Looking ahead is what they saw. Lost loves standing before them. Well one of them. Melinda froze," Ben? How? Thought you were dead! What is going on?" He laughs," my dear sisters had no clue what was going on. Powerful witches as yourselves couldn't figure out what was going on." Poe looks at the girls. Did he hear him right? Melinda and Rey are witches? Ben circles them," oh it was so much fun to watch you two grieve over our family. Being killed by my new family. Love the power I have! No one could stop me from killing you all.! Then I can take over the nexus!" Melinda flicked her hand. Caused Ben to hit the wall. Ben's hands glow like lightning. Ready to throw the lighting at Melinda is when Rey yells," energy ball!" Throws it at her brother. Which it almost weakens him. Poe wants to help. Rushed towards ben. Until he was pushed back into a wall knocking him out. Melinda rushed over to him. Sees he is knocked out. Reaching for Rey's hand. Both of them chant a spell that caused him to shake violently,and disappear. Both of them cried. Until orbs of light appeared to them. See, it was leia. Reaching for them," oh my daughters. Thank you for defeating kylo. Yes, he appears as your brother but he was gone before I knew it was going on. Melinda,it is time to let go over your anger for what Poe did. He cares about you so much.That is why he is here. Oh,my young rey. Time for you to do what you dream about. Bless it be my darlings" Leia disappears. Melinda tends to poe. He wakes up,``Mel,are you okay?" Helping him up. Melinda clears her throat," wanna tell you I'm sorry for being a bitch to you. You are too sweet to be treated like that. If you like? We could start over? Clean slate." Poe cups her cheeks,and kisses her lips.

Melinda told Poe not to tell anyone what he saw. Now he knows their secret and he wants to protect them, especially Melinda. Soon they leave the room. Orbs of light appeared to Poe. A man appears before him. He spoke," well done, now you know the truth, now it's time for you to fulfill your destiny as a witch. Leia knew of your secret,but soon the others would know as well. So go and be with Melinda. Bless it be" soon the man disappeared leaving poe by himself in front of the door. With a wave of his hand . The door shuts. Power of three is back.

#writer wednesday #poe dameron #charmed #oscar isaac

[coldbrewandfangirling]

Betrayal – A Bucky Barnes Fanfic Chapter 35

AU / BuckyxOC

Summary:

Ava is an aspiring journalist, working on her first big story. Her life gets confusing when she meets James Buchanan Barnes, a charming, good-looking man, that she can hardly stay away from. She finds herself falling for him, hard, all while being haunted from ghosts of her past. But she can't shake the feeling that he is hiding something from her.

chapter 35, in which James is keeping secrets from Ava.

TW: no major triggers

On Wattpad || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || Masterlist || Playlist

word count: 1263

Chapter 35

The rest of the day flew by. After everyone had eaten breakfast together and Ava's mum had restrained herself from commenting on past lovers, there was a board game session after lunch, where Nat seemed determined to do everything she could to beat James. Whenever he had to pay rent, she would start screaming cheerfully, even if she wasn't the one to get the money. James, on the other hand, tried to stay cool and not let on that Nat's constant cheering at his failure were incredibly annoying to him. Ava noticed, however, that at Nat's third cry of "You loser!" in his direction, James tightened his jaw and his body visibly stiffened. Pityingly, she had looked at him and gently stroked his leg, eliciting a smile.

After the game round, which James had lost hopelessly, Ava decided to help her mom with dinner. That way she could have some time alone with her, even though she feared Nat and James would slaughter each other in the garden when only Steve was around to de-escalate an argument.

"And so this James is ...," Melinda began as Ava started preparing the vegetables.

"My boyfriend," Ava finished the sentence without taking her eyes off the cucumber in front of her.

"He's a bit old, don't you think?" continued Melinda.

"He's in his mid-thirties, nothing dramatic." Ava really didn't want to talk about her age difference with James.

"I'm just worried about you," Melinda continued, coming to stand next to Ava.

"He treats me well. It's not like last time, it's different this time." Ava put the knife aside and took a deep breath, frustrated that her mom was comparing James to Loki. James was very different from Loki. Better. Protective. Attentive. Romantic. And he didn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Loki.

"I like him," Melinda said softly and only now did Ava lift her eyes. Her mom smiled at her and Ava couldn't help but smile back. But in Melinda's eyes, Ava could also see worry. Fear. Uncertainty.

"Mom, I'll take care of myself. Please don't worry about me."

"You know, your father would be so proud of you. Of all you've accomplished. You've grown up so much, his big girl, all alone in New York." Melinda was still smiling, but Ava could see the tears pushing their way out of the edges of her eyes.

"I'm not alone, I still have Nat," Ava said softly, taking her mom into a tight hug.

For a while they prepared dinner in silence. Ava enjoyed cooking with her mom without having to talk. As if they understood each other telepathically and as if it was clear that everything was fine now. That things could only go uphill from now on.

"I'll finish the rest, go and get your friends," Melinda said as Ava took the boiling pasta off the cooker.

Ava walked out of the kitchen into the living room where the patio door was wide open and the scent of the heavy summer air drifted in. Ava was still feeling cheerful from her conversation with her mom when she heard Nat's loud voice and stopped, rooted to the spot.

"I've had enough, you're such a fucking idiot, Bucky!" Ava immediately recognised Nat's heated voice and wondered why she was calling James Bucky. Until now she had thought only Steve, his childhood friend, called him that.

"It's none of your business, so stay out of it." Ava could tell just by the pitch of his voice that James had his poker face on, she hadn't needed to see his face for that.

"You have to tell her, otherwise I will." Nat stopped shouting, her voice sounding icy. Threatening. She was not to be trifled with now.

"Tell me what?" asked Ava, leaning into the frame of the patio door. Steve and James had sat down at the small garden table, Nat stood at the head of the table with her hands on her hips. Startled, she turned to face Ava.

Ava looked expectantly at Nat, who seemed to be struggling for words. An unusual sight of an otherwise outspoken Nat, Ava thought. Before Nat could reply, James took over the talking.

"I admit it, I cheated at Monopoly and I'm sorry for that," James said, standing up. He didn't look at her, Nat avoided her gaze as well. Ava wasn't stupid, she knew James was lying to her. She just didn't know why yet.

"You're forgiven, you've lost anyway," Ava said cheerfully, putting on a smile. "Dinner is ready," she added, walking ahead back into the living room. A tingle spread through her stomach, not the good kind of tingle. More the kind of tingle just before something terrible was about to happen. When you saw the car speeding towards you and couldn't help but stare into the headlights like a startled deer and let the inevitable happen, to look misfortune in the eye.

Dinner passed that evening without further incident, harmonious and light-hearted, even James and Nat joking with each other. The calm before the storm, Ava thought, laughing at Nat's jokes without batting an eye.

"You look worried," Melinda said as Ava helped her with the dishes in the kitchen. Lost in thought, she had spent what felt like an eternity scrubbing a plate that couldn't have gotten any cleaner. Melinda took the sponge from her hand and looked at her worriedly. From upstairs, Ava could hear muffled laughter, Steve and Nat light-heartedly enjoying their time together while James had gone for a walk for an important phone call.

„Everything is fine," Ava said, turning away from her mom.

"If this is still about my comment-"

"It's not," Ava cut her mom off. She was long past being upset that her mom had brought up the Loki thing in front of James.

"I just wanted to tell you that you deserve to be happy. Enjoy the happiness you have now. Enjoy the time you have together with James and try not to worry so much about the future." Melinda didn't wait for a reaction from Ava, but instead disappeared from the kitchen.

Ava was glad to have a moment just for herself. Finally she could sort out her thoughts in peace and maybe her mother was right. Maybe she was trying to sabotage her own happiness, unable to admit to herself a happy time with James. Her thoughts were interrupted by the front door closing.

"Hi," Ava said as she greeted James in the hallway.

"Hi," he replied with his unreadable expression.

"Everything okay at work?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," James replied, smiling at Ava. Then Ava resolutely closed her distance to James, confidently grabbed his jacket and pulled him down to her before giving him a passionate kiss.

"What have I done to deserve this?" James whispered, slightly out of breath, his lips barely separated from Ava's.

"Hold me and never let me go," Ava whispered back against his lips. She didn't care that she sounded desperate. She would make the most of every second she could spend with James. Find every moment precious and accept ending up with a broken heart that couldn't be mended.

For a moment, the hallway fell silent. The narrow hallway seemed to constrict Ava further, to press her more against James. Then James kissed Ava authoritatively and wrapped his arms tightly around her body, pressing her body against his as if he would never let her go ever again.

Ava was sure that she would never feel as safe as she did at that moment.

#betrayal #james buchanan barnes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x oc #bucky x original character #original character #wattpad #winter soldier #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #mcu #marvel #marvel cinematic universe #protective boyfriend #protective bucky

[jane-fucking-seymour]

Every Tudor Rose Has Its Thorns - CH 2 now live

AO3 Link here

“So… you think they’re alive?” Jim asks, tilting his head.

“At least one of them is a ghost, I think,” she explains, walking towards the alley next to the theatre. They had gotten their tickets refunded due to “technical difficulties,” despite knowing that the real issue was far beyond that. “But the visions I had when Catherine and Anne went up for their songs… it felt really powerful. It could be more than one. Maybe all of them, just based on the pure strength of it.”

“What, so you think the ghosts of the ex-wives of Henry VIII are… haunting the performers when they go on?” Jim asks. “One ghost doing that, sure, but all of them? Seems pretty unlikely.”

Melinda frowned and looked down at the programme, flipping to the page where the actors were shown. She tilts her head. “You know, they never say what the actor’s names are in here. They just say Anne and Catherine and the rest.”

“Maybe it’s an acting thing?” Jim asks, though he clearly sounds like he’s fishing for an answer. “Some actors do that, live as though they’re the characters they are.”

Melinda nods in consideration, but goes back to the original theory: that the ghosts are involved.

“I mean, it’s not surprising that they would be earthbound if it is actually them,” Melinda says. “Not after everything they got put through.”

“Do you think they caused the technical difficulties?” Jim asks.

“I didn’t sense anyone else around, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility,” Melinda replies. “Why would they want to ruin their own show, though? It’s about their story, their lives being told-”

“No, they’re not ruining their own show.”

Jim and Melinda jump a bit as they hear a voice behind them. When they turn, they spot…

“You’re Maria, right?” Melinda asks. “You’re the drummer.”

“I am,” Maria nods. “I was hoping you’d still be around. I… I don’t know how to explain this, but I really think you should come with me.”

Melinda watches her for a moment before tilting her head. She slowly walks more towards Maria, gently taking her hand. There’s a slight jolt before Melidna is once again pulled into a vision:

She’s managed to avoid the guards, sneak into the premises, and get to her door. With a running start, she bangs through it, immediately looking down at a woman in bed. She looks deathly ill, yet oddly familiar…

Melinda can hear herself speak Spanish to the woman, crying as she holds her. She can see her arm gently push back some hair, gently speak comforting words to the woman she held, crying out her name as the former queen’s eyes start to dim and close:

“Catalina!”

Suddenly, Melinda was back to the present. Maria looks terrified.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt her, is she-”

“It’s okay, she’s okay,” Jim says, nodding. He keeps an eye on Melinda, though, just in case.

Melinda took a moment to clear her thoughts before she continued. “That was… the other side of the vision I had when Catherine of Aragon’s song came up.”

“Vision?” Maria asks, taking a step back in surprise. “Are you a witch?”

“No,” Mel is quick to dispel the theory. “But I do… have a gift. I can see the dead.”

Maria pales. Melinda narrows her eyes.

“How?” Melinda asks. Maria is quiet, so Melinda clarifies: “How are you alive and dead at the same time?”

She looks down at her hands before she looks back up at the couple. “I… I need you to come inside. To come with me to see the others.” She looks from Melinda to Jim and back to Melinda. “I promise, we’re not… we’re not bad. And we didn’t do anything to cause those issues.” She takes a deep breath. “Oh, I can’t believe Jane’s going to be right on this.”

“Right on what?” Jim asks, stepping forward.

Maria makes a face.

“She said she felt someone else on stage with us tonight. Someone cold. She’s been off ever since.”

That was enough for Melinda to follow Maria into the backdoor.

As soon as they walk in, Maria takes Jim and Mel to the dressing rooms. Melinda recognized the queens: Jane was sitting next to Anne, quietly discussing something. Catherine and Cathy were getting their things together. Anna and Katherine were on their phones.

It’s the latter that speak up first.

“I mean, I’m seeing stuff where people say their electronics went haywire due to a ghost,” Katherine says. “Even as common as we’ve been having it lately.”

“It could also be some faulty wiring, though,” Anna points out, scrolling through some searches. “Or maybe the wind that’s been picking up knocked something loose.”

“I swear, I felt a cold wind, and I…” Jane starts, but she freezes up when she spots Maria and her guests. “Who’s this?”

Maria clears her throat and steps forward. “Everyone, this is Melinda Gordon and Jim Clancy.” She looks directly at Catherine for the next part. “Melinda can speak to the dead.”

They’re all quiet for a moment before Anne speaks up.

“Oh really?” She asks, a hint of joking in her voice. Melinda grimaces at that; people usually are in disbelief, but the mocking tone some can get reminded her of the high school and college bullies. It’s not easy doing her job, after all.

“Yes,” Maria continues. “Actual ghosts.”

“How do you think she can help?” Cathy asks.

“How do we know to trust her?” Jane asks.

“I think I know the answer to both of those things.”

Before Melinda or Jim can answer, someone else has jumped to their defense: Melinda recognized her as Joan, the pianist. Right behind her was Bessie and Maggie. All three of them were in normal clothes now, bags left at the side of the door as they move towards the group and stand nearby.

“Maria,” Joan says quietly. “I saw you stumble on Catherine’s song today. You were looking right at her in the front row.” Joan looks over at Melinda, almost pitying her. “And you looked incredibly pale. I thought it might be a trick of the light, but I’m assuming you being here makes it not the case.”

Melinda nods, stepping forward. “I had a vision. I was in a bed, hurting, and someone barged into the room and held me as I died. It felt like the person wasn’t supposed to be there, but I needed her to be there.” She looks over at Maria, who is looking at Catherine. “I think it was you. You called her name as she died, didn’t you? You called for Catalina. That was who you were holding, as she died.”

Maggie frowns. “Not that I don’t believe you, but anyone who knows our histories knows that Maria held Catherine at the end. How do we know this isn’t a trick?”

“Because,” Joan says, “when that… vision… of hers happened, Maria looked completely out of sorts.” She steps towards the woman in question. “What did you feel?”

“I felt… connected,” Maria explains, moving to gently hold Catherine’s hand for support. Catherine, of course, holds it firm. “I felt like someone was connecting with me. And I… I heard Catalina’s cries. I heard what I heard when she died. Then I looked up, and it was Melinda.”

“Did you… see something… during Don’t Lose Ur Head?” Maggie asks, frowning.

Melinda shivered at the thought. “Yes. I saw someone being taken to the block. A young, red headed girl called for her mom-”

Anne stands up quickly, like a reflex, but Maggie quickly grabs her arm. It calms the woman somewhat as she sits back down. Jim stands a bit closer to Melinda as she backed up at the sudden movement, but with things calmer, she relaxes a bit more.

“Not quite how that went,” Anne says quietly, “but if Catherine and Maria believe you, I’m inclined to as well.”

“Sometimes my visions aren’t exact to what happened,” Melinda replies. “Sometimes they’ve got more symbolism in them then actual events-”

Melinda stopped, though, when a sudden chill fell through the air. She felt her head reeling with no warning; she put a hand to it and tried to breathe through it. Jim was calling for her, she knew this, but the voice became less and less her husbands and more and more like someone else.

The lights suddenly turned off.

And he appeared.

What hit her first was a wave of emotions - fear, jealousy, panic.. But mostly anger. A lot of anger. She couldn’t tell who he was exactly, as the Shadows around them were so thick, but he pointed to her and spoke; it cut through her mind like glass.

“You should not be here,” he said, and Melinda winced every time he spoke. “You should not be here.”

“Who are you?” She asks, but he screamed, and the Shadows rushed her, and everything went dark…

… only for the lights to turn on a moment later.

Melinda blinked; somehow, she had ended up crouched on the floor, hands on her head as she looked around. Jim was immediately at her side, checking her over.

“Are you okay-?” He started, but someone else’s voice cut through his question. This time, it didn’t hurt Melinda at all.

“Jane?!?”

The couple looked over to find Jane Seymour collapsed to the ground, eyes unfocused and glassy, breathing rapidly as if panicked. With a nod from Mel, Jim rushed over to see if he could help.

“What’s happened, why is that happening again?” Katherine asks, clearly panicked.

Melinda picked up the clue. “Again? When did it happen before?”

“It happened yesterday, too,” Bessie says, stepping forward. “She’s been having these type of spells for a while now.”

“Anna had some to start with as well, Cathy too,” Joan points out. “But Jane’s been hit the hardest with them.”

Melinda nods, looking over at Jane just in time to see her gasp for air. She coughed, being helped to sit up by Jim.

“Are you alright?” Jim asks, looking the woman over.

“Jane?” Joan is right beside her queen in an instant; now Melinda knew what she meant by they took care of their queens; Joan was Jane’s Lady in Waiting in their previous life, after all.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Jane mumbles, a hand to her head as she collects her thoughts. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s the damned ghost, that’s what’s come over you,” Katherine says, clearly angry. “What does it want and why does it keep on messing with our productions?”

Anne looked over at Melinda before stepping towards her. “Alright, I don’t quite believe you, but… what did you see? Before, in the dark?” Melinda seemed to be confused, so Anne continued. “If you’re having those vision things, I’d assume you’d have one when things go bad.”

“That’s not how it works all the time,” Melinda says, “but I did see the ghost. He was…” she swallowed thickly at the next few words, looking over at Jim. “He was surrounded by Shadows.”

Jim’s jaw set with anger for a moment, before he corrected his expression. Melinda continued.

“He said I shouldn’t be here. He was tall, that’s all I got from it.”

The lights flickered again and Melinda once again felt a wave of nausea. She blinked, squeezing her eyes shut. Catherine frowned when Anna did the same.

“We should leave,” Melinda said through shaky breaths. “Whoever it is, they’re going to try again.”

Anna is unsteady, but she powers through it to get to the alley. As soon as they’re out of the theatre, Melinda feels her head clear up considerably. She breathes a sigh of relief as she looks at Anna; she seems far better, too.

Maria steps forward. “Do you mind if we go somewhere a bit more private?” she asks, looking at the couple. “Our flat’s nearby. Might be the best place to discuss this more.”

“Sure,” Melinda says. “We’ll follow you.”

Maggie leads the group as they walk down the street, Jim and Melinda in the middle of the pack. Maria and Bessie hang at the back. They’re silent, before Maria speaks:

“You’re on the fence for this, aren’t you, Bessie?”

She sighs. “I don’t know what to think,” she replies. “But if you think she’s the answer to what’s been happening lately I think it’s worth a shot.” She shrugs. “Not like we had any success with anything else, so…”

Maria looks back at the couple, who are quietly walking, Melinda’s arm in his. “Yeah. I really think they are.”

As they walk, Jim looks Melinda over some more. “You sure you’re feeling alright?” Jim asks quietly.

Melinda glanced over then shook her head. “A little woozy,” she admits. “The visions are strong, and I think it’s because of who they are.” she gives him a small smile. “I’ll be ok. I’ve got you here.”

Jim tries to smile back, but it doesn’t meet his eyes. Melinda understands this, but her focus right now is moreso on Jane.

“She looks about as good as I feel,” Mel mumbles.

Jane looked as pale as a ghost, stumbling occasionally as they moved towards the queen’s flat. Joan was right next to her, watching her closely as they moved.

“Yeah, and Anna doesn’t look too well either,” Jim observed. Anna was at the front of the pack with Katherine, answering her questions and smiling with her, but Jim’s EMT training allowed him to see the occasional stumble and wince in pain. “It took a lot out of them, too, I think.”

“When we get to the flat,” Catherine says, having heard their conversation, “We can all take a breather there.”

Cathy watches the couple very closely for a moment before she just continues on with Catherine in tow. Catherine narrows her eyes at Cathy for a moment before moving on.

The sound of a child’s laughter rings through the area; it makes Melinda smile as she and Jim are let into the flat. From there, everyone comes together in the living room.

“The weird stuff hasn’t followed us home before,” Cathy says. “So we should be safe here.”

Melinda breathes a sigh of relief; her head already feels like it’s clearing, and some of her energy’s returned. “This place feels a lot better than the theatre.”

“Please, sit down,” Anna says, offering them two spots on the couch. Melinda and Jim sit down next to each other while the others settle down on chairs around them.

Catherine, with a small smile, starts the conversation:

“If you don’t mind, Melinda, I think it’d be best if we just get into it, okay?”

Melinda nodded, and Catherine continued.

“Maria seems to be convinced that you’ve got special powers,” Catherine replies. “And you definitely saw something at the theatre multiple times.”

Melinda nods. “It’s more powerful than what I usually deal with, to be honest,” Melinda says. “I just feel… a lot of energy, coming from all of you.” She looks around the room. “It’s not bad. It’s better than when you were at the theatre. From personal experience, that means the Shadows aren’t able to affect you here.”

“Shadows?” Cathy asks.

“They’re dark energy,” Melinda continues. “Powerful, dark, negative energy. It’s sometimes leftover energy from bad souls, other times those souls are… converted, into the Shadows.” She shivers at the thought, remembering when they took her over, remembering when they made her think and almost do terrible things…

“What’s the Shadows have to do with us?” Jane asks quietly, looking down at her hands. “Why are we being tormented?”

“And some of us more than others,” Anne replies. “It seems to be tormenting Catherine, Anna, and Jane more-”

“Is it, though?” Katherine asks. “You almost died on stage. Again.”

Melinda sat up at that. “You said that it happened before at the theatre, too. Can you tell me what’s been going on?”

They all look at each other, uncertain. Jim speaks up then.

“We want to help,” he tries. “But we need all the information we can.”

“You have to at least believe that there’s truth to what I’m saying, don’t you?” Melinda asks. “You wouldn’t have invited me into your homes if you didn’t.”

Katherine narrows her eyes. “You said you got a vision every time you touched one of us, right?” When Melinda nods, Katherine stands up in front of her and offers a hand. “Well, prove it.”

Melinda looks at Jim and, with a nod his way, looks back at the hand. With some hesitation, she takes it, and-

-she’s suddenly not in the room.

She’s on stage, the exact one Melinda had been watching only an hour before. She’s singing something, on her knees, breathing heavily as she talks about being touched and enough being enough and people supposed to be different. Just as she finishes it, she hastily blows a kiss at the audience as she gasps for air and looks up, a single pink spotlight on her.

The crowd is silent for a moment, and it seems to save her life - she can hear something above her crack.

Her eyes go wide as the spotlight momentarily is blocked by something. Realizing what’s about to happen, she instantly backs up, straight back as a bar suddenly slams right where she just was.

She gasps, catching her breath, wincing as she feels something hit her hand as the bar makes impact with the ground. She ignores the pain as someone grabs her and rushes her off stage, the audience being evacuated…

… and Melinda gasps as she is brought back to the present.

“Holy crap,” Katherine says, eyes wide. “I… Maria was right.”

“What did you see?” Bessie asks.

Melinda catches her breath for a second. “She was singing, then she looked up at the spotlight, and a bar fell and hurt her hand,” Melinda says, pointing to the mark on Katherine’s hand.

“That’s what happened Thursday,” Katherine says. “That’s what happened when I was injured. And I never told anyone who I knew about it.” Katherine looks back at Catherine. “She’s legit, swear it.”

Catherine nods at the girl and then looks at Melinda. “I think it’s enough evidence to continue,” Catherine says quietly. “Now… what would this shadow want with us?”

“The Shadows work best through people,” Melinda says. “That’s how they became a threat to us back in Grandview, they influenced people to make their move.” She shivers at the thought, but doesn’t get too into detail; they’ve only just started to trust her, she didn’t want them to be scared.

Not yet, anyways.

Catherine nods. “So you think it’s possible whoever is doing this is trying to influence us?”

Melinda leans back on the couch. “Katherine was almost killed that time, and Anne was today… did anything else happen?”

“Yeah,” Anna says. “Catherine was almost electrocuted the other day.”

Catherine winces at the memory. “I was on stage and about to sit on the throne during No Way, and suddenly the damn thing broke apart. One of the legs splintered off and cut a nearby wire. If it wasn’t for Maria, I would have been shocked.”

Melinda nods. “Anything else?”

“There was that time Katherine tripped and knocked herself unconscious last week,” Anne points out.

“And the slip and fall Catherine had,” Cathy points out.

“And Anne’s phone literally blew up in her hand the week before on stage,” Maggie added.

Jim had been keeping count. “So it’s really only been physical ‘accidents’ for Anne, Katherine, and Catherine?” He asks, nodding towards the correct C/Katherines to clarify who he was talking about.

Cathy nods. “The rest of us… when those things happen, we start to feel weird.” She crosses her arms in front of her chest defensively. “It’s like something’s there. Something cold. Something not pleasant.”

“You feel an anger, right?” Melinda asks, looking directly at Cathy. “You feel like you’re helpless, and you feel cold and angry and not yourself, right? And you can’t let that feeling go because it’s taking you over?”

Jane nods, but looks wary. “They seem scary the more you talk about them.”

“They are, to be honest,” Melinda says, looking down. “But it’s beatable. It is.” She looks up again, a gentle smile on her face. “With some support from others, we can beat it here.”

Cathy seems hesitant to say something, but after a moment (and a deep breath) she steps forward. “The ghosts that you can see… can you see anyone else?”

Melinda tilts her head, confused. “I’m sorry?”

“Do you see any other ghosts,” Cathy repeats. “Can you see any other ghosts around us?”

Melinda frowns. “Who would I be looking for?”

“A young girl, probably,” Cathy says. “Or, uhm… maybe two women, or maybe a teenaged boy.”

Melinda considers Cathy for a moment before she nods quickly, looking around the room. She’s been at this long enough that she can filter out the queen’s and ladies in waiting’s presence well enough to find other people when she needs to, but right now…

“... there’s no one else here,” Melinda says, looking back at the woman. “I’m sorry, is it someone you know?”

Cathy sighs. “It’s nothing.” She gets up and leaves.

Catherine steps in. “I’m sorry about her.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Melinda says. “I just… who was she looking for?”

Catherine isn’t sure she should answer.

Anne cuts in.

“Well,” she says, getting up. “We should probably start preparing dinner.” She smiles to try to diffuse the tension in the room; it’s kind of working.

Melinda nods and goes to stand up with Jim when Katherine gives them a look.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Kat asks, raising an eyebrow.

Melinda blinks. “Uh… didn’t you say you were preparing dinner?” she asks. “We were headed to the door.”

“But then you’d miss dinner,” Katherine replies.

“Sorry, uh, we weren’t aware we were invited,” Jim replies.

“We’ve still got a bit to talk about, if you’re interested in hanging around,” Maria says. “It’s likely this’ll happen at the show tomorrow, too. It’s been like this for a while now. And if you’re our chance of stopping it… well, I think we can all agree we’d want to give you all the time in the world to figure it out.”

“Besides,” Maggie says, smiling widely. “We need an extra hand in the kitchen. Anne’s not allowed in there since the Knife Incident.”

Melinda looked alarmed. “The accidents have been happening here, too?”

“No,” Maggie replies. “We just can’t trust Anne, Katherine, and Cathy to be on their own with a bunch of knives and a dart board anymore.”

Jim looks concerned and Melinda’s very confused.

“Which K/Catherine-” Mel starts, but the queens laugh.

Catherine motions towards the kitchen. “Come on, Melinda, you can chop up some vegetables and we can keep on chatting.”

Melinda nods, then looks over at Jim. “Are you ok with this?”

“Free dinner? Yeah, sure,” he replies, smiling back at her. “I’ll get to work on some research while you guys are talking.”

“I’d like to help with that,” Anna says. “If you don’t mind.”

Mel nods appreciatively. “The more the merrier.”

Jim gives Melinda’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, and Melinda nods in his direction. It’s an unspoken conversation between them - if Mel needed anything, she can go to Jim, and Jim’ll be there. On the flip side, if he found anything out, he could come into the kitchen to let her know. All that exchanged in two movements and no words.

Honestly, Catherine thought as she led Melinda into the kitchen, it was rather adorable how the two interacted. A happy, healthy couple who had each other’s backs. She wouldn’t know what that felt like - not really - but she’s glad at least someone seemed to have a love story out of a storybook. It was a nice change of pace from the usual.

Anna was thinking something very similar as she replaced Melinda on the couch. “You two are something special, aren’t you?”

Jim chuckled. “We’ve been at this for years,” he said, unlocking his phone. “I’m not usually this involved in it, but I’m glad to be when she asks me to.”

“You guys are really adorable,” Bessie replies with a grin.

Jim’s about to reply when Anna sharply inhales some air, frowning as she looks down at her phone. Jim springs into action.

“Can I see?” Jim asks, offering Anna his hand. With some consideration, Anna puts her wrist in Jim’s hand, watching as he looks it over. “Bessie, do you guys have a first aid kit?”

“In the closet,” Bessie nods.

“Does it have an ace bandage?”

“Yeah.”

“Bring it over, please, and some ice in a bag from the freezer if you have any,” he says, and Bessie rushes to grab the requested materials. When she’s not in earshot, Jim speaks to Anna quietly so no one else can hear: “You know, if it was hurting this much, you shouldn’t have let Katherine grab it so often on the way here…”

Anna huffs.

“How’d you know?” Anna asks, tilting her head.

“When we were walking here,” Jim said, “I noticed that you were wincing, but it wasn’t in time with the walk. Then I saw Katherine take your arm and that’s when you winced.”

Anna is impressed. “All that from looking at me?”

“I’m an EMT back at home,” he explains, taking the first aid kit and pulling out the ace bandage. He wraps it and puts the ice on top.

“Amongst other things, I take it.” Anna replies. “More like us than them, right?”

Jim looks up at her, and Anna smirks a little bit. Jim tilts his head.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Anna smiles a bit wider and goes back to researching, leaving Jim confused.

Meanwhile, Melinda had been helping prep for dinner, watching as the other queens and ladies were preparing things as well.

“Are you sure it’s ok if we join you guys for dinner?” Melinda asks, cutting the vegetables as requested.

Catherine smiles. “It’s no problem at all. It’s been a while since we were able to cook for people, anyways.”

Melinda smiles politely back before looking around - she can hear some of the others talking in the other room, she can hear a child laughing again somewhere in the building, and she can already smell the dinner cooking. It seemed… peaceful.

“How many people know about you all?” Melinda asks, going back to preparing vegetables. “The truth, I mean.”

Catherine hums. “Not many. A handful.” She nods towards Cathy, who is putting something in the oven. “Cathy is the one to keep track of that.”

“It’s mainly need to know,” Cathy says. “We don’t exactly want everyone to know, it would scare quite a bit of people.”

“So do you have fake names for the board at the front of the lobby?” Melinda asks, genuinely curious.

Cathy nods. “Just there. It’s not in the programmes or anything. Just didn’t feel right.”

Melinda nods, wincing in pain for a moment before getting her bearings together.

Catherine tilts her head. “Are you ok? Here, eat something,” she says, putting an apple in front of the woman.

Mel shakes her head. “Not really that hungry, sorry,” she mumbles, a hand to her head. She sighs. “I was running a fever back in Grandview, too, when this all happened there.”

“What else happened while you were fighting these… Shadow, things?” Katherine asks, tilting her head curiously.

Melinda swallowed. “I… was consumed by it.”

Cathy tilts her head. “Consumed?”

Mel nods. “It wore me down. I couldn’t differentiate ghosts and visions from people and real life.” Her arms involuntarily cross as she remembers. “It was scary. I didn’t think I’d find my way back. I thought I was lost.”

“What got you back?” Catherine asks.

At that, Melinda smiles. “My son. And the memories of my family, my loved ones - it helped me break through.” She frowns. “We don’t have Aiden around this time, though. He was the reason why I could break through in the first place. He gave the opening. And he’s not here.” She frowns. “So… the big question is, what are we going to do if they try to take one of you?”

No one had an answer for that.

Meanwhile, Jim and Anna were sitting in the living room, looking through papers and websites to find leads. They had sat in relative silence for a while - a comfortable one, but silence nonetheless.

It’s broken when Jim makes a small noise of annoyance and puts down a piece of paper.

Anna raises an eyebrow and looks at him. “You alright, Jim?”

He looks over, a bit surprised by the question, but sighs and answers. “Look, Anna, the last time Melinda dealt with the Shadows… she almost didn’t make it out. It’s practically a miracle that she survived.” He sighs. “I know this is important, and I wouldn’t dream of stopping her from doing her work, but-”

“You don’t want her hurt in the process.” Anna finishes, a knowing nod.

Jim leans back a bit, slightly more relaxed. “Yeah.”

Anna thinks about it for a moment before she stands up and walks over to him. “Listen, Jim… I know we’ve only just met. But from what I can tell, you two have gone through much, much worse.” She points to his hair. “Your reflection is blonde, but you definitely aren’t. So, basically… this isn’t your first body, is it?” She looks him over. “It looks good, by the way, though I think I see what Melinda saw in your reflection, which I’m assuming is your second form? So I can see who you were but in reflections I see the body you’re in now?” She shrugs. “That’s what I’ve come to the conclusion to, anyways.”

Jim sits back, absolutely floored. “I’m extremely impressed that  you figure this out so quickly - I couldn’t even figure it out for a while.”

“It was more of theory than fact, but I’m glad I was right,” she says. “Maybe souls can see souls. And maybe you’re not so different from me and my family, and maybe you’ve been through something similar. I get supporting your wife and all, but you take it to an inhuman level.”

“I’m not…” He runs a hand through his hair; guess it’s time to come clean, he supposed. “This body was someone else’s before it was mine. He crossed over, and I took his place as soon as he did.” He looks her over. “Originally, Melinda was thinking you guys did something similar to the bodies you have now.”

“We didn’t,” she assures. “I know you can’t completely trust me, but we didn’t. We showed up in these bodies.”

“Have you tried sending off DNA or fingerprints or death records?” He suggests. “We’ve seen weird stuff, Anna, maybe you all happened to die at the same time and you jumped in after that. I didn’t remember doing that at first, either-”

“We didn’t.”

The two look over to find Katherine. She’s standing in the doorway, two plates in her hands, Melinda right behind her.

“Kat-” Anna starts, but Katherine moves into the room, offering Anna and Jim plates. They both take them. Jim moves over so Melinda can sit next to him as Katherine continues.

“We showed up with them,” she says firmly, looking over at Melinda.

Mel nods. “These bodies… they’re here, but they’re not,” she explains. She frowns as she looks at Katherine’s hand. “I get visions any time I touch them, and their energies are so strong… it’s like the Shadows, but not threatening. Not dangerous.”

“That’s… not something we’ve seen before,” Jim says. “Payne might know something about that. He said to call him if anything gets wild, didn’t he?”

“I left a message for him already,” Melinda explains. She sees Jim’s worried look next to her and gently squeezes his hand, letting him know she’s okay. “We’ll have an answer tomorrow.” She looks at the group. “He’s a professor of the occult. Used to work in Grandview, now he’s researching off in the Himalayas.”

“And you think he’ll be able to help us?” Anne asks.

“I think so,” Mel confirmed.

“That’s all we can do for now, right?” Jane asks, looking around. “Just wait until Professor Payne gives us some more information?”

“I think so,” Catherine replies with a nod. She looks at the couple with a soft smile. “You two should get some rest. Call time is fairly early.”

Melinda blinks. “Call time?”

“Well,” Anne says, smiling. “You want this solved as much as we do, right? Might as well give you the best access we can.”

“So you’ll be our VIP guests for as long as you need to be,” Jane continues. “Behind the scenes access before, during, and after the show.”

“We figured it would help with the investigation,” Anna replies. “Maybe help you catch whoever’s behind it, since we’re all in agreement it’s supernaturally aligned.”

“And besides,” Jane says with a teasing grin. “If someone gets injured again, Jim won’t have an excuse for being slow to help.”

Jim chuckles at that and looks over at Melinda. “Well, I guess we’ll reschedule the ghost tour of the Tower of London.”

“Why would you pay for that?” Anne jokes, waving her hand dismissively. “You’ve already met them.”

#ghost whisperer #gw #gw fanfic #gw fanfiction #gw ff #ghost whisperer fanfiction #ghost whisperer fanfic #six the musical #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fanfiction #six the musical ff #six fanfic #six ff #six fanfiction

[annelim]

Annie is buzzed.

When she’d ordered the first gin and tonic, the man taking her order had paid her no mind; now, a few in, he simply blinked at her momentarily, as if trying to gauge if she was a functioning alcoholic or simply having a bad day. When her dad, perched across from her at their table in Prune with his glasses resting on his nose as he surveyed the menu, ordered his usual “soda water, please”, the man at once seemed to have decided they were collectively a lost cause, and went about fetching their drinks and putting in their orders--too much food for either of them to consume in one sitting. All of her mom’s favorite things, for her birthday.

And so Annie is buzzed, now. 

Pressed into her knees are tiny shards of grass from the freshly-mown lawn of the cemetery Melinda Lim’s ashes lay at rest within. She can still feel the faint remnants of cool Earth against her skin, like a phantom limb. 

Annie takes a generous sip of her gin and tonic. 

…

She was newly-twelve when Melinda was diagnosed. She remembers this now, distinctly, because it was nearly Halloween, and Halloween, to Melinda and Annie Lim, was tantamount to Christmas for many other families. And while Annie was decidedly old enough at this point to find dressing up a bit overrated, she still planned to, even if she was simply to be sitting on the porch handing out candy to the children in their neighborhood with her mom. They would coordinate costumes. They would designate a theme. There would likely be glue guns and crafting supplies involved. Annie had ideas. 

She remembers walking into the sound of her dad’s murmurs in the living room. She remembers calling out. She remembers both of her parents sitting on the couch. She remembers being excited about that fact. Her dad home, her mom there. She remembers feeling, for one fleeting moment, that everything she could ever need was right here in front of her.

This is a very childish thing to think, of course, and Annie, at newly-twelve, should perhaps not have been thinking it. 

In the flurry of first appointments and the cataclysmic re-shifting of priorities, Annie never brought the upcoming holiday up. She’d simply decided what they would do, and went about procuring what was required. That morning, she informed her mom, and the pair suited up--cat ears and sunglasses and whiskers lovingly and tenderly drawn upon each other’s cheeks with Melinda’s eyeliner, worn the entire day. Cool cats. 

Now, she looks back and tries to remember that time of her life as anything other than the beginning of an end. 

… 

Annie is buzzed. 

Her dad is talking to her, but she feels like less of a receptive entity, less of a captive audience, and more of an amorphous blob that’s simply existing at the mercy of the universe. She had tried and failed to express those exact feelings to the counselor her dad had made her see for about three years after Melinda’s death, until he was satisfied with the idea that Annie felt okay. Okay enough that she wasn’t going to do anything. Okay enough that she was going to grow up relatively unscathed. And she is, largely. She is very happy. She is very lucky. Her life is unfolding before her, her future nearly-blindingly bright. There is a void, a chasm she sometimes carries, but largely, it is concealed even to her. Today it just so happens to not be. Today it is an open wound. 

Her dad is asking her about work. The waiter will be coming with the bill shortly. Between the two of them sits about eight plates of food, all largely untouched except for one or two bites. Ted will eat the leftovers for a week and a half, probably. Annie clears her throat, offers some anecdotes about a client she’s attempting to woo, about all the preliminary concepts she’s sketched. The Earth continues to turn. 

...

The entire process of Melinda Lim dying was really very clinical. It was by no means sudden; it felt torturously long to bear witness too, and sickly, it still wasn’t enough time. No one could say that she didn’t fight. There were a lot of medical professionals, of course. Strings of nurses and nurses aides and doctors, people who went to school to save people forced to watch this particular one die. Nobody was keen to admit that, despite “aggressive” being a term that was loosely thrown around quite a bit. Annie read a lot of books in waiting rooms or hospital hallways. There was a lot of crying. These were all normal things. Just big feelings.

But there were good things, too. Not every second of death is macabre, just as not every moment living is necessarily filled to its’ brim with vivacity. Making way too many pancakes every Sunday morning long after her mom could no longer stomach the sight of them, but pretended to for Annie and Ted’s benefit. Singing along to James Taylor on the way to treatment. The gentle way, even as Melinda Lim’s body weakened, crumpled inward on itself, betrayed the life that still clung to it, that Ted held her as they swayed in the living room to Ray Charles, Melinda’s feet resting on top of Ted’s, Annie sitting at the top of the stairs long after she was supposed to have been in bed, her arms wrapped around her knees. 

One day, Melinda insisted they go back to school shopping. It was the dead of winter. Annie acquiesced, of course, because to deny her mom this would be to deny the reality of the situation, and that’s not what they were doing. Things were scary, and mostly terrible. Melinda was sick more often than not. Even that day, their perfect day, she had to duck into a trash can outside of a boutique to discreetly puke, and Annie had realized that she’d learned at a certain point to pay it no mind, and she wasn’t sure what to make of that fact. They went to all the places they normally would, Annie trying on anything Melinda wanted, even the things she hated. They went out for ice cream after, the pair of them sitting in the window of the parlor devouring their cones, going over Annie’s list of necessary supplies for the upcoming school year, a now-uncertain time, a place she wasn’t sure she wanted to be. That night, Melinda tucked Annie into bed, though they both knew she was too old for it. She kissed her forehead. She thanked her.

Some time later, and a couple of weeks after her mom died, Annie got a package in the mail with her name on it from L.L. Bean. She assumed it was a grandparent gift from Ted’s parents, forever eager to ply her with belongings. This was always a point of contention between Annie’s parents--that Annie’s grandparents preferred material goods to time spent together--and so Annie nearly didn’t open in, existing in a well of grief, selfish and childish and wanting nothing but one thing she couldn’t have, feeling loyal, forever, to that ghost. She was thirteen, and her world was on fire. She set the box on the counter and sliced open the tape with her house key, heaving the tabs open with little delicacy. 

Inside sat a backpack. There was no note, and there didn’t need to be. This was Melinda Lim extending the future the courtesy of her consideration, and allowing it to proceed without her.

Annie slept with the backpack for a month. 

… 

Annie is buzzed. 

She is buzzed and she is listening desperately to her dad speak about an article he read on the Alaskan Viaduct in Seattle as she sits in the passenger seat of his car, the wind whipping her hair around her face haphazardly as they drive through town. She breathes deeply, trying to make sense of the details he’s offering her. They’re listening to NPR, and the sun is setting over Eureka. She watches as he gesticulates with his hand, the other planted firmly on the steering wheel, and his wedding ring catches her eye, and she thinks of him as a widower, and suddenly her throat is thick. This is the way Annie’s thoughts churn within her mind when she is like this, rapid fire and often unrelenting. She is remembering things she doesn’t want to remember. He asks her where she would like to go, and she says 'home,' but she isn't sure if that place exists anymore, really.

But for him, if she’s being honest. 

Her dad asks her where to turn, and she offers the directions easily, as taking the roads to Benji’s house--her house--by this point, is a form of muscle memory. And his car is in the driveway. He’s there. The very idea of this makes Annie want to cry. 

Ted asks her if she’s okay, and she isn’t, so she nods. Tells him to drive safe. Tells him she’ll call him tomorrow.

She no longer feels buzzed, hollowness assuming the place where warmth once laid, and there is, if she’s being honest, only one person that she wants.

#death tw #cancer tw #alcohol tw #i apologize so profusely about me #( self paras. )

[springmagpies]

My Uncle Reacts to AoS Season 4

So, instead of getting chores done this morning, my uncle and I finished Season 4 of Agents of Shield. Here are his reactions! Enjoy! Fair warning, it is a long post because Steve had a lot of feelings.

4x01

Before the episode: I’m guessing Coulson was like “I got too close to the situation and could no longer be impartial.” And then he passed over the title of director to May or that general guy. Talbot! That’s his name.

He’s like ghost rider is all. Holy crap he is ghost rider! I didn’t realize he was marvel.

Why’d they have to break up the band?

I am concerned about the robots.

Well, ghost rider is badass.

4x02

“You’re an engineer Mack. And a small tank.” Bwhahahahahaha, that’s so true.

The director is Talbot. Ooooh, not Talbot. Someone new.

Oh, Daisy has a picture of Lincoln. I miss him.

May is not okay. May needs a nap.

I still can’t get over Mack offering that maybe they’re just ghosts. Fitzsimmons faces were amazing.

Mace is such a politician.

4x03

*Lincoln is mentioned* Owwwwwww

I love the Phil, Mack, and Fitz team up.

Wow, Fitz is badass this episode.

Okay, so Elena is amazing. That shot with the light was awesome!

4x04

Fitzsimmons moving in together, count me in.

I see where Daisy is coming from, but not awesome that she’s using her friends and then leaving.

Come on Daisy! Come home.

Heylo? Hahahahaha

Radcliffe, I don’t think telling the android it’s okay to lie sometimes is a good idea.

What’s that face she’s giving? Oh shit, is she feeling things? Is she feeling things for Fitz. That’s not good.

I don’t trust James. *moments later* Called it.

Yes, Mack, two fire dudes just fell into fireworks.

Jemma for sure knows she’s an android.

“I prefer a classical beauty myself.” Awww, Fitz.

4x05

Oh, Fitz, a high five will not fix her being mad at you. Trust me.

“I’m sure they have it under control.” *cuts to chaos* Okay, that’s the best transition of the whole show.

Robbie, please don’t go after that guy. Just keep going please. Dammit. Why can no one just follow instructions in Shield.

Way to go Jemma! But what happened with Mace?? What did he do?

May had a heart to heart with her and she’s still leaving? Is Daisy really going to leave after all of this? She can’t, right?

Robbies uncle is going to get sucked into that book. Yeah, look at his expression. That’s not good at all is it.

Well that senator sucks.

4x06

*Mace mad at Coulson* Daaaang

Fitz is so smart. He would be a millionaire if he was an inventor or something. But he just wants to help people.

Wait, shit, Eli is bad!

*Fitz, Coulson, and Robbie disappear* Oh no!!!! Wait, that’s how the episode ends! Noooo!!

4x07

Shit, where are they.

Oh, so that’s where they are. That’s not good.

“I have to phone Simmons to tell her... I’m in another dimension.” Bwhahahahaha oh no.

That’s not Mack. Holy shit!

“Oh Mack’s the ghost rider no big deal. But you can’t hear us.” Oh my god, these lines are amazing.

The dialogue this episode is fantastic.

No!!!!! Don’t give the darkhold to Radcliffe. He’s already so morally grey!!!

Fitz is going to hit Mace

Aww, Fitzsimmons

There’s some flirtation with Phil and Melinda going on.

Have we seen who’s in that photo Mack is looking at? Hope?

Oh hey Robbie, how was hell.

Ummm, is Aida building a brain? Is she corrupted. Yep. She’s corrupted. We’ve got a corrupted android. Great.

4x08

Coulson’s comedic timing is everything.

Oof, Robbie is not having a good time.

“Oh yeah, Fitz solved that” Of course he did. He’s Fitz.

*Badass Fitzsimmons duo scene* They truly are a dynamic duo aren’t they. That shot was awesome!

*Daisy looking at Robbie’s car* well, you’ve got a sweet car.

*Mackelena finally kiss* gasps. There it is!

*Aida kills Nathanson* Oh dears.

*Reveal that May is an LMD* Wait wait wait. Holy shit. Oh shit. Damn.

4x09

Aida’s so sweet to May. And she sweetly killed Nathanson like it was nothing. Not creepy at all.

Once again Mack’s lines are amazing.

Yeah, don’t attack the android guys. Not a good idea.

“Why would you want to hurt me Leopold.” Aaaah haaaa, umm. No.

“Well, Simmons has only been kidnapped twice on this planet.” Hahahahahahaha that’s hilarious.

Smart people are stupid. That’s amazing.

*Aida freezes may* AAAH, she doesn’t even know she’s a robot!

*Radcliffe reveal* O. M. G. He’s corrupted. He played them. Asshole. Dammit he read it for just a second! No!

This is a good part of the show! I’m really enjoying this.

4x10

What the heck’s in that brief case?

And Radcliffe is now super creepy.

Poor Fitz, he doesn’t know his friend totally betrayed him.

“I did this to protect you.” Awww, Fitz. I mean, let’s not make robots, but that’s still really sweet. He just wanted to protect Simmons and everyone.

*May wakes up* Jesus, god May. She’s a badass. Imagine waking up like that! God! That’s terrifying.

“I can’t help feeling like somethings off.” Yeah, May, you aren’t real.

Mace isn’t an inhuman! Oh damn.

*Fitz analyzing Aida’s head* Uh oh Fitz.

“Is it weird that I found that attractive?” Hahahahahahahaha. Fantastic.

*Coulson back in charge* hell yeah!

*May finds out she’s an LMD* Aaaaaaah! Well, that’s an existential crisis.

4x11  

Does Radcliffe have more of them? Because he just happened to have May.

*May waking up over and over again* Feels like I’m watching The Good Place.  

*Aida breaks a glass* That’s concerning that a robot would make a mistake like that.

*Hope reveal* Oh that’s awful! Poor Mack.

Whose the other LMD?

*Radcliffe LMD reveal* Ohhhh noooo. Poor Fitz.

4x12

Hey! I was wondering where the lanyard guys were!

“You’re going all Gollumy again” bwhahahahaha that’s amazing

“I’ve lost too much already, I’m not losing you.” Awww, Phil.

*Robo Radcliffe talks about Fitz’s past* Oh my gosh, that explains so much. Oh Fitz! Screw Fitz’s dad.

How many Koenigs are there?

Awww, baby Fitz!—Maggie

I bet that’s his real mom too!—Steve

Fitz and Simmons are cute!

*Philinda kiss* Noooo! She’s a robot!

“Sorry, you weren’t meant to last” Radcliffe you ass. You evil ass.

4x13

*Agnes reveal* Eeeek, creepy. That’s who she’s based on!

Wait, is she really Australian? Damn, she does a great American accent.  

Mace really got the short end of the stick in a lot of this didn’t he.

*Shockley gets turned into an inhuman* Oooh shit.

Did they just put Shockley on the plane. The dude that blows up? Well, damn.

*Fitzsimmons realize Shockley is the bomb* Way to go dynamic duo. Now gooooo! Oh, they’re going. Simmons pushing Fitz is amazing.

Aaaaaah! Fitz! Fitz and Mace!

*Fitzsimmons hug* Awww. I know I’ve said it before but they’re cute.

Noooo! Mace! Shit they kidnapped Mace!

*Aida takes put on Agnes’s necklace* Ewwwww, creepy. Creepy creepy creepy! Aaah.

4x14

*The superior walking* He must have this ‘I’m so cool face’ on at all times.

Aww, is Radcliffe in there to be with Agnes. That’s so sad.

*Flashback with Phil and May* Aww, May is all playful. It’s before the sad times.

*Mace chained* that’s not great for your circulation.

They’re going to kill Mace. No, don’t kill Mace.

“Morales, you’re with me.” Uh oh, Morales. More redshirts with names making me nervous.

“You’ve enhanced yourself with alien technology.” Actually Fitz built his hand.

“Cool origin story, bro.” Okay, that’s incredible.

“Concern only slightly lessened.” Davis is just like ‘thanks dude.’ Fantastic.

Mack doesn’t need super powers to be a badass.

*LMD reveal* Holy shit. Holy shiiiit. They switched out all four of them??? All four??? Holy shiiiit. Fitzsimmons are all alone. Aaaahaaa.

“Even filth has a purpose.” Ewwww, and she’s leaning over him like that. So creeeeppyyy. Eewwww.

“He’s a shrink.” Oh awwww. It’s Andrew. She falls in love with him.

Well I guess Phil and Melinda’s robots can be together. Kind of weird but okay.

Oh my god, this is stressing me out!!!

‘Even filth has a purpose.” Gaaah, ewww. I’m still thinking about it.

So is Radcliffe even in control anymore? Or is he too preoccupied with the framework to care. Like, is Aida just doing whatever the heck she wants now because that’s unsettling.

4x15

Where are all of them? Oh they’re in the framework. Uh oh.

Ewwww, Aida is evil! He’s (Ivanov) alive and she’s cutting into him.

Aaah, they’ve got them surrounded. It’s so creepy.

This is some body snatchers shit.

*fitzsimmons LMD scene* *Steve biting his nails with wide eyes* oh my god that was awful.

*Steve rewinds to rewatch the LMD scene* they’re so good. And it hurt so much to see Fitz go so cold. Owwww. Because it was him and how he would act and then it just shuts off. Ugh, they’re so good.

*Jemma stabbing Fitz scene* Oh he’s thought about getting married. Oh my god, that’s so awful. So disturbing. That hurts. They’re so talented.

*Daisy LMDs* Ohhhh that’s so disturbing. This is all so disturbing. Oh my gosh.

*Daisy and Jemma scene* Awwww, they found the only other person to trust. That’s so sweet. Gosh, that was also a brilliantly acted scene.

They’re all such good actors. All of them.

God, this is all so disturbing.

*Aida kills Radcliffe* oh shit. Aaaaah. That’s so creepy.

“Because you and Fitz belong together.” Thats the truth.

“Their poor base” -Maggie

“And they just retiled the bathrooms.” -Steve

Ooh, quake jump, that’s so cool.

*Slow motion quake* That’s sooo badasssss!

*Davis flying the Zephyr* Aah, Davis. Careful. He just started training.

*LMD May blows up the base.* oooh ho.  Damn.

“Lincoln?” Oh noooo. That’s awful.

*Ward reveal* Whaaaaat?

*Coulson reveal* Whaaaaaat?

*Mack reveal* oh nooo, he’s got his daughter.

*Fitz reveal* Whaaaaaat? But, damn.

*Jemma reveal* Whaaaaaaaaat? She’s in a grave? Who’s in the car with Fitz?

*May reveal* is she an avenger? *Hydra logo appears* Waaaaait. Whaaaaaaaaat?

What the hell is going on. What the hell? What is this place. Are they all evil? Some of them evil? Mack isn’t evil right?

*Ivanov’s head* Ewwww creepy.

Whaaaat the helllll. As Fitz would say *does Fitz impression* what the hell?

Dammit why do I have to put the kids to bed!! I want to watch the next episode!! Gosh dang it.

That’s disturbing count: around 15

4x16

“Skye?” Skye??? Skye!!!

*Logo* ooooh, agents of hydra

“You’re on another planet this morning.” Yeah, she is. No shit Ward.

*Daisy looks up Lincoln* Awwww. Owwwww.

*Jemma jumps from the grave.* Lucky she was in a shallow grave.

They’re having a bad week.

Vijay isn’t real. He’s at the bottom of the ocean.

*Ward punches Vijay* wait, did he want him to stop talking? Hmmm.

*Coulson class scene* Aaaahhaa that’s not awful at all.

*May Bahrain reveal* oh shit, it changed that much! Shit.

“We’ve got him doctor” Radcliffe? *Fitz reveal*  Ooooh nooo! Noooo! Shit, noooo! Jemma died and he went all dark. Nooooo.

“It’s a magical place.” Oh damn!

“My father used to say...” Shit, does Fitz have his dad’s influence?????

*Ward double agent reveal* Ooooooh! Shiiit. That’s so interesting!!

“This isn’t the framework this is hell” Jemma’s so pissed.

“Drones, Dwarves. Whatever.” Awww, Jemma’s heart just broke right there.

Are they stuck in the framework! Well shit!

*Fitz and Aida kiss* Ewwww. I mean it makes sense in this world because of course she’s using Fitz but ewww.

She replaced Jemma with herself. That’s not creepy at all.

“Daisy?” Aaaah! He remembers!

This place is messed up! Interesting, but messed up!

4x17

“I make my own soap now.” Bwhahahahahaha. That’s amazing.

Aww, Mack has his daughter. And she’s adorable. Oh no!

Ophelia? Oooh, she’s got her own name.

“I’d cross the universe for you.” Ewwww! Noooo. He literally crossed the universe for Jemma.

*Fitz and Aida make out* *Maggie screams and Steve shivers* But why is Fitz so hot in the framework though—Maggie *Steve nods*

“The soap made me do it.” Bwhahahahaha

*Mace reveal* Aaaaah! Mace! He’s all gruff now and an inhuman! He got everything that he ever wanted.

“And we’ll make our society great again.” Ewwwwwwwhewe!

This is so interesting! I’m really liking it!

*Mack and hope get taken by Hydra* that’s so awful! That is so disturbing!

Coulson is so nerdy, I love it.

“You’re Daisy Johnson. We’re agents of shield.” Mack remembers.

*Revealed that Mack doesn’t remember* No! Shit.

*Fitz kills Agnes* *sharp intake of breath, Steve stays silent for a very long time.*

*Mack joins Shield* Good job Mack.

“How do you feel?”-Maggie.

Steve quietly: “sick.”

4x18

I love how Mace is all scruffy and his suits all scratched.

Aaah, evil Fitz makes me sad.

*Jemma seeing Mack and Hope* Yeah, it’s an oh shit moment.

“Tell your old man all about it.” *Steve gasps* Oh no.

“I don’t know the kind of man I’d be without you father.” “That’s why I’m here.” Yep, to brainwash him.

TRIP!

*Brainwash room* Oh no! It’s the other kid too! No!

MACE! Noooo! Why would Aida do that. She’s so evil.

That’s so messed up.

*May used Terrigen on Daisy* Yes. Good job May. And hopefully it’ll heal her in the process.

4x19

Ha, Bakshi has a tv show.

Aww, mace is dead. He was a good man.

*Daisy quakes Aida out a window* *Steve laughs* That took her by surprise didn’t it.

“It’s like sipping poison...” Mmm, Fox News.

“You’re the new head of hydra” Yikes.

*Ward throws remote* Umm, you guys have limited remotes!

*Steve pauses show* I don’t like any of this. It’s interesting but I hurt inside. It hurts that Fitz is evil. Mace is dead. Agnes is dead. Radcliffe is in prison. May was evil. I’m sad.

Aww, Coulson all of a sudden became that paternal leader.

Wait, so she totally used Fitz in like every way. What a jerk.

Trips the best.

Sorry Ward. She wants to feel bad for you but she can’t.

So much Scottishness this season. I love it.

*Radcliffe yells at Alistar* yep, because you’re a worthless asshole ya jerk. Oof, he just throat punched Radcliffe.

Aww, Coulson is coming into his own.

“When this is over-“ Do I get Skye! “Do I get my Skye back?” Called it!

I liked that scene with Grant. It was the redemption that the other Ward didn’t deserve but this one did. It was nice. Also really well acted.

“Hydra giving alternative facts.” Ooooh, they’re calling them out. They are so not fans of Trump and it’s amazing.

*Coulson on the news* This is Shield’s please vote! Please vote.

That was amazing.

4x20

Yeah, I hate all of this.

This all hurts.

*Fitz talks to Radcliffe* Come on Radcliffe, please don’t betray us. Please.

*Jemma kills Alistair* Well, that’s not going to help us.

“I’m sure everything is fine.” It is not. Simmons killed Fitz’s dad.

I hate this. It’s fascinating and I hate it. She’s just made him mad. God, no.

*Trip saying goodbye* Awww, this hurts. He’s goneeee in our world. Whyyyyy.

Is Aida trying to build her spine *body being built on the other side* Ohhh. Damn.

*Coulson gets shot* SHIT

*Coulson wakes up* You’re going to have to fight a killer robot, Phil.

*May wakes up* Awww she did it! She followed him!!

*Radcliffe redeems himself* Yes! Radcliffe! Yes! Thank you!

*Fitz falls through* Thank God!

Thank you Radcliffe.

*Mack not coming with* Maggie, I really don’t like this.

Oh gosh, Fitz is so freaked out. They’re all so freaked out. Aaah, Aida!

*Aida and Fitz teleport* Well that was unexpected.

I feel really ill. Like, this hurts a lot. I hurt a lot.

It’s like The Red Wedding but drawn out over 4 episodes and I hurt.

4x21

Before the episode: I came into the framework so optimistic and it crushed me. Like I thought May was an avenger and then it was like hahaha pain.

Oh yeah! And then she teleported with Fitz. JERK!

Fitz really got screwed by the framework didn’t he.

*Coulson kills Robo Ivanov with a shield* WOAHHH!!! That was amazing! ...and disturbing.

*Coulson recounts what happened with Robbie Reyes* BWHAHAHAHAHA. It sounds so ridiculous when you recount it but it’s so amazing watching it.

Will she stop teleporting Fitz! He already feels sick!

Yeaaaah, giving Fitz his abuser back and replacing the woman he loves with yourself is not what would make him happy Aida!

“If he wanted to kill us he could just flood the place. Why is he stalling.” TO FLOOD THE PLACE, PHIL!

“I drank the bottle of Haig” “you piece of—“ *Steve can’t stop laughing*

*Mack almost drowning* Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. OH SHIT.

*Fitz and Aida rescuing mack* THANK GOD.

*Jemma shoots Aida* well, yeah.

*Jemma shoots Fitz* Love ya Fitz, sorry man.

“What do we do with Fitz?” Talk to him!!

“I’m just like Ward.” Oh ho, that hurts.

“There’s only room in my heart for her.” YES! Oh shit, Aida’s not happy.

OH SHIT!

NO DAVIS! DAVIS!

*Toddler starts crying IRL over a toy* Now imagine if we gave her powers.That’s what’s happening with Aida.

*Fitzsimmons pod scene* oww

*Yoyo plugs herself into the framwork* This is a mess.

*Aida throws bottle in anger* His vodka!

*Aida and Ivanov scene* Aaah! Inhuman robot sex. Oh. Nope. Murder.

*Robbie comes back* Welcome back buddy! SHIELD shit has hit the fan.

4x22

“How do we kill Aida?” Hell chains? I’m thinking hell chains.

*Robbie waiting for Shield* Hello, back from another dimension? No way, us too!

Well Radcliffe is screwed if the framework is falling apart.

“I’ll talk to him. He’ll remember me.” No he won’t Elena. Wish he would though.

*Robo!Daisy shoots Talbot* *Steve sits with his mouth open* NO!! I mean, he could be annoying but he was a good man! And he’s been around since season 1!

“There’s a pulse.” How? Yay! But how?

“Once you say you can’t stop me. Well—“ it’s like when you say you feel safe on Survivor and then get voted off the island.

*Daisy & Robbie team up* Boom bitches!! That was super cool!

Mack’s not going to leave until Hope de-materializes. And that sucks ass.

“Robot May was much more supportive.” HA! That’s amazing.

EVERYTHING’S A MESS AND EVERYONE IS HURT AND DIE AND PAIN AND OWW AND THINGS.

Maggie: “What?”

Steve: “You heard me.”

*Aida kills LMD!Jemma* WHAT! What the hell? I feel so sick. Oh thank god she’s an LMD! But I feel ill.

Eeeewwwww the kiss Aida gave Fitz on the cheek is so disturbing.

*Jemma shoots Aida* YES! AWESOME!

*Coulson ghost rider reveal* HOLY SHIT THAT’S AMAZING! I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!

*Aida dies* Well that was awesome and terrible and poor everyone.

They really do a great job of making you feel sick don’t they.

*Mack and Hope scene*

Maggie: “you okay?”

Steve: *wipes away tear* no.

Wait, is there more to Coulson’s deal with the Ghost Rider?

“Gave me a glimpse of the life I could have here.” Oooh! Mack and Elena! She did almost die for him. They’re in love.

*Robbie having to leave* He and Daisy couldn’t like kiss before he left? No? Fine.

*Daisy speech to Fitz* someone hug him, please!

*Diner scene* Whaaaat?

We’re in space next season!!?? Whooo!!

They’re all so messed up after all of this. I feel messed up after all of this.

#steve reacts to aos #personal nonsense #agents of shield #season 4

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Little kitty on the roof who could see spirits- Adrien AUGreste Day 8

So I was gonna do this day but then couldn’t think of anything so I wasn’t going to, then when I was trying to think of an idea of what to do for day 9, I was thinking of, oh dinner for his mom’s birthday and then I thought of Ghost Whisper and when Melinda was thinking about his grandmother when her birthday was coming up and suddenly, I had to do this prompt, but with a much different twist. There is a minor mention of death. Hopefully you enjoy. @adrienaugust Little Kitty on the Roof

“Little kitty on the roof, all alone without his lady.” Adrien hummed to himself as he walked through campus of his university. He just got out of his Ancient Asian History class and he had time before he’d met with his friends for dinner and he didn’t want to go back to the mansion. He was sure his father found out about him moving out. He didn’t want to deal with that.

“What’s that song you’re singing?”

“Ahh!” he spun around to see a little girl staring up at him. There were a few factors that made something very clear to Adrien. One was that everyone passing looked at him, not her. Another was the clothes she was wearing. They suited the time period the university had first been built. The last one was the burst of emotions he was feeling. Ones that didn’t belong to him, but to the spirit of the little girl in front of him. He pulled out his phone and placed it on his ear before gesturing for the little girl to follow him.

“Oh, me?”

He nodded as quickly as possible before walking off, hoping she’d follow.

“So, what was that song? And why can you see me? I’ve been here a long time and no one’s been able to see me.”

“Let’s just say I’m different. I can see people like you. Come on.”

It was easy to find an out of the way bench so he wouldn’t have to have his phone pressed against his face the whole time.

“The song?” she asked again.

He let out a sigh. “It’s from a legend. My mom has been able to see ghosts or earthbound spirits since she was a child, same time I could see them. she did a lot of research and found a story about the first two people who claimed to see spirits. It’s said that they could do it with these artifacts. The little kitty refers to one who loved the other seer with all his heart. Unfortunately, his lady didn’t feel the same. She actually used the artifacts to bring back someone who died that she’d fallen for. The song is a warning about falling for someone.”

“Oh.” The little girl said. “That’s so sad.”

“Well,” he said thinking about Nathalie and his father’s change in relationship after his mother passed. He loved Nathalie, but it was always a sore spot that his father grew much closer to Nathalie not long after his mother’s passing. “It seems to be the truth. Now, how about you? why are you still here?”

As he listened to the girl explain his story, he thought about what she’d said. It was sad that the seer had one sided love. After seeing what his father had done after his wife’s passing and the extra struggles from just growing up with people thinking he was strange, not to mention the one time he trusted someone with his secret only for it to blow up in his face, it felt all too real. Who’d want to date a guy who saw the dead?

                                ____________________________

Getting woken up at 2 am to a fire wasn’t the best thing in the world. Though according to the fireman who came to corral him and others on his floor out of the building, the fire was taken care of but the interior had collapsed into the next building.

“Keep moving please.”

“Ah!” Adrien yelped as one of his slippers fell off. Before he could get it, the fireman directing them scooped it up and pushed him over to the other side of the caution tape. “Hey, I can walk myself.” The minute he was on the other side, his slipper was thrown on the ground with a tired ‘you’re welcome’ from the firefighter.

Adrien huffed and broke the rules by going on the opposite side of the tape to get his slipper. He’d dealt with rude spirits, but it was always the living that made his temper rise with their attitude. He moved to text Nino and the others when he heard his name being called.

“Adrien! Adrien!”

“Mme. Night? What’s wrong?” M. and Mme. Night were neighbours on his floor. While for the first couple weeks, people had been clamouring to see the former model, the Nights had easily beat the crowds back, all while offering him home cooked meals and checking up on him.

“My husband! He’s still inside!” the woman cried, her white hair seeming perfect for being woken up so early.

“Are you sure? Maybe he went around the corner?”

“No! he’s still in there! He’s at the bottom of the stairs!”

That’s when he felt it, the rush of emotions. Mme. Night was dead, but she wouldn’t move on until she knew her husband was safe. It was the least he could do to help the couple who looked after him.

He ducked underneath the tape again, heading toward a fireman who pulled his helmet off to reveal black hair with faded blue and aqua blue eyes. “Excuse me?”

“Sir, you’re supposed to be behind the barricade.” Adrien could tell from the voice it had been the rude one from earlier.

“There’s a man inside.”

“No there isn’t. everyone’s been cleared out.”

Using the same voice, he did with people who would be stubborn about the messages he had, he said, “Yes there is. Please believe me.”

It must have gotten through because the fireman stopped a passing co-worker and the two went back inside. He let out a breath and ducked back, going to the woman’s spirit.

“It’s on the first floor.” She kept moaning, clearly worried.

“They’re going to find him.”

Not long after, some announcement came through the radios as all the fireman stopped and even the hose was shut off. Everyone stood in tense silence before another announcement came through.

“We get 2, we found them!”

Before he knew it, the firemen came out supporting M. Night, sounding weak and coughing but alive. Mme. Night was fireman carried out and placed on a stretcher, confirming what Adrien knew. She was gone.

“I want you to check on him ok?” Mme. Night asked.

“I will, I promise. Thank you, for looking out for me. I won’t forget that.”

“I also hope you won’t forget how special you are. My husband isn’t going to keep trying to find you someone so you’d better keep looking ok?”

He wanted to roll his eyes, like he usually did when the question came up, but he couldn’t find it in himself to do that now. “I will.”

He watched as she passed where her husband was, passed the same rude fireman who was checking over him with such comfort, he didn’t think it was the same person. She walked into the building and when she walked into the light, the ripple of power caused one of the windows above to shatter. He had to be the only person who didn’t flinch and he noticed a pair of aqua blue eyes looking at him. He looked away, mostly to hide his tears.

Little kitty on the rooftop, all alone without his lady. Being alone seemed to be a theme for him.

                                               _________________

Nino and Alya and even Marinette insisted he stay at the DJ’s apartment longer. It was nice to talk to the only friends he had who knew about his ability and talk about Mme. Night. After the funeral though, with M. Night moving in with his daughter, Adrien knew he had to get back to life. Of course, all the snow and the week long sleepover left his refrigerator in shambles. He needed to go shopping, even if it happened to be pouring out. He was actually glad he didn’t take his mother’s umbrella as a sudden gust of wind turned his umbrella inside out, whacking someone he didn’t see until the last minute. One certain familiar fireman. With all the soot no longer on his face, he was able to see the piercings in his ears and the small holes on his bottom lip.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Please, let me. I can fix that. Remember me?”

“Yeah. You threw my slipper at me.”

At least he looked ashamed. “Tossed.” He looked even more ashamed as he broke one of the pegs, rendering the umbrella useless. He was glad he didn’t bring his mother’s own out even more. “Sorry. I’d be glad to buy you a new one.”

“Uh huh. I hope you’re better at putting out fires. It’s fine though.”

“I’m Luka. Luka Couffaine.”

“Adrien Agreste.” Other than a raised eyebrow, Luka blessedly didn’t ask any questions. “I should go.”

“Where to?” well, wasn’t someone Mr. Eager?

“An umbrella and groceries. I was at my friends’ place for a week and everything went bad, not to mention my place is covered in soot.”

“You know, I’m pretty starved. Let me take you out for something?”

“In this rain? Every place would be crowded.”

“Ever hear of the Umbrella Room?”

The Umbrella Room turned out to be Andre’s ice cream cart, but honestly, Adrien was fine with ice cream for dinner. Luka was turning out to be quite different than he thought. He was actually really nice and cute and he made Adrien feel comfortable.

“Ice cream for dinner, I can hear Nathalie crying.”

“I think she can forgive you.” Luka took Adrien’s wrist, making a circle around it with his fingers. “If my mom saw you, she’d try to stuff you full of food.”

“I’m always happy for a home cooked meal. But I have a feeling it might end up in a few fires?”

Luka laughed. “There’s a reason I joined the Fire Station. I want to be transferred to the Paramedics division though.”

When he was a sullen person, Adrien could easily see that.

“I have to ask though. You knew that old man was still inside. How?”

Adrien shrugged. “Lucky guess. I knew them and didn’t see them.”

Luka shook his head, keeping his gaze on Adrien. “No. You definitely knew they were there. Will you ever tell me?”

He wasn’t demanding an answer like most. He was waiting for Adrien to give him an answer.

“One day.”

                                        _______________________

“He sounds like a dream.” Alya teased as he joined his friends for the last bits of lunch before their shared English class. He’d already had lunch with Luka at the fire station.

“He’s…nice. Ok, more than nice. I haven’t felt this great since, you know.”

“Do you think you’d ever tell him?” Nino asked.

Adrien played with his ring. “I don’t know. I mean ‘little kitty on the roof’ and all that.”

“Please tell me you don’t still think that story is true? Just cause you see ghosts doesn’t mean you’ll be alone for the rest of your life. I know you’re are still upset about how quickly your dad moved on, but you know how in love with her he was. And that relationship with they-who-will-not-be-named doesn’t count. We never liked them and you said your mom didn’t either.” Alya said.

It was funny she mentioned his mom. It hurt that she was still Earthbound but he’d been so stuck on the song she’d taught him, she never thought he’d take it so seriously. She told him she wasn’t going anywhere until he saw he could be happy with someone. After his first official date with Luka, she appeared and wouldn’t stop talking about him like the sun rose and set on him. So far, there was nothing to dissuade her but still. It was kinda embarrassing.

“She’s right Adrien. You were so scared out of your mind to tell us and nothing we’ve heard so far says he would be worse than, you know. Plus, it sounds like he’s so gone for you. I don’t see him using any artifact to bring back a dead lover.”

“Well.” He started, remembering the long-haired guy he’d seen around Luka at times. “Not a dead lover. There’s definitely love when I see him, but it’s familial love.”

“Wonder what he thinks of you?” Alya said. “But seriously, forget how this kitty is lonely without his lady ok? You are happy with your lord. So, stop waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

He didn’t have to see his mother to know she agreed.

So, when Luka called him, telling him he had news one day and he saw that ghost hovering near him, he decided to take a chance.

“Luka, I’m so proud of you! you got the transfer you wanted.”

“Which means I’m a rookie all over again but it’s fine. Medical school was way too much for me but I still want to help people and now I can.” The ghost looked proud of him too. “Adrien, is something wrong?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just…this is gonna sound really random, but did you lose someone in your life?”

Luka looked confused. “Um, yeah. My older brother, Sass. Why?”

Adrien took a deep breath. The last time he did this, it blew up in his face and he didn’t know if he could live through that again. “He has long hair, same blue eyes as yours and snake bites. Wearing something an 80s child would be proud of.”

Luka looked really confused now. “How do you know that?”

“This is gonna sound really weird, so just bear with me here ok? I can see ghosts or Earthbound Spirits, as my mom called them. Always have been since I was a kid. The reason I knew M. Night was still inside the night we first met? The spirit of his wife came to me and told me so. That’s why they were both there. She had passed on and she couldn’t let her husband to pass on. I’ve seen your brother around you and…”

“tell him I still remember him stealing my violin. He broke a string and wouldn’t give it back until he figured out how to redo it.” Sass told him.

“You stole his violin and when a string broke, you wouldn’t give it back until you fixed it.”

Luka hadn’t pulled away from him, though he kept shaking his head. “How do you know that?”

“Tell him he actually looks better with snake bites than I thought. I kept poking at him that he wouldn’t wear them as well as I did.”

He told him what Sass said and it seemed to click for Luka. “You can see ghosts, spirits sorry. Mom hated Sass’s snake bites and Juleka wouldn’t even consider piercings until she found some pairs she loved from Mom’s collection. You’ve been doing it since you were a kid?” Adrien nodded, feeling the nerves starting to slip from him. “But wait. I guess you help them move on, right? Sass died when I was 10. Why is he still around?”

“I stayed to keep an eye on my family. Once I knew they were happy, I knew I could go. Luka was there when I died though. He still blames himself.”

Adrien felt for Luka. To hold on to those feelings and still be willing to give a smile. “He stayed to make sure you and your family was happy before he left.”

“He’s still waiting on me, isn’t he?” Adrien nodded, and Luka let out a wet sounding laugh. “God, he’s so stubborn. Please tell me he didn’t tell you to date me.”

“No! no, he didn’t. I’ve been so scared of dating people. Last person I dated and told about my, um, secret, threw it in my face and made me feel like I wasn’t worth it.”

“Then they’re an idiot.” He said like he was stating a pure fact. He couldn’t help but feel his heart warm that. “I’m not going to change my mind about how I feel about you, even if you didn’t see my brother. I haven’t felt as happy as I am now until I met you. I don’t think that’ll change anytime soon.”

Maybe this little kitty wouldn’t be so lonely after all.

#adrienaugust #adrienaugreste #adrien can see ghosts #sass is luka's older brother #mention of death #firefighter luka #emt luka #adrien has low self esteem #lukadrien

[nxtmyweird]

Septuple Solo Para: I’m Awake and I’m Alive

She finds Nancy sitting on top a table in the library.

Sylvia sighs and reaches out a hand to her closest friend, shivering slightly when she slips into her nightmare. Finding herself in the Jones family home. “Nance? Nancy.”

Hearing a soft whimper, her head turns and she sighs softly. Nancy had a lofted bed that she hung curtains off of to hide her computer and workspace from the world from. Usually, she kept them pulled back... unless she needed to cry.

Walking over, she pulls back the curtains, seeing Nancy curled up under her desk. “Hey. Hey, little one. What is it, what happened?”

Nancy sobs, peaking up from where her head was curled up against her knees and launching over, hugging her. “Dad and-- and Mama Daphne said-- said I wasn’t any good, that I was letting them down and letting my mom down and-- and-- and--”

Sylvia sighs and gently runs her fingers through Nancy’s hair, shaking her head. “Hey, hey, that’s not true, okay?”

“B-b-but, but--”

“Shh, no. No buts, Nancy Kate Jones. You’re one of the best in the business. People request you by name and for good reason. You know your stuff and you know what you’re doing. You know that, and I know that. And your dad and Daphne know that, too.”

“But they said, they said--”

“You’re dreaming, little one,” Sylvia brushes some of her hair back up, wiping her tears gently. “You’re just having a nightmare. There’s another evil takeover in Auradon, whoever started it cast a sleeping curse over everyone that’s been trapping them in their nightmares. It’s just a bad dream, and I’m here to help you wake up.”

Nancy sniffles, lip quivering. “How?”

“You just need to face your fears, little one. You’re just scared your dad and Daphne don’t think you’re enough but you know they do, they think you’re more than enough, and they’re so proud of you, aren’t they?”

Nancy sniffles, trembling against her, her lip quivering.

“Your dad helped you build those shelves you keep all your trophies from your cases on, right?”

Nancy sniffles and nods.

“He wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t proud of your accomplishments, little one. It’s okay, Nance, we all know how good you are.”

Nancy sniffles, but nods slowly...

And in a blink she’s in the library as Nancy sits up, rubbing her neck... turning to Sylvia and hugging her tightly with a sniffle. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We gotta find the others. Where would Sammy be?”

And that’s how they find themselves heading for Sammy’s room, and Sylvia tries the door. “It’s locked.”

“Not for long,” Nancy answers, getting into her bag and grabbing her lockpicking set.

In a moment, the two are in, finding Sammy asleep with part of her closet on her bed. Coordinating that week’s outfits, of course. Sylvia sighs, walking over and brushing Sammy’s hair from her face...

Finding herself... once again in Sammy’s room, but without the closet spread on her bed. Turning to Sammy’s makeshift vanity, Sylvia suppresses a laugh. Of course it’s something like this. “Hey, bug.”

Sammy whips around, tears rolling down her face and trying to cover her head. “No, no, don’t look at me, it’s awful!”

“Sammy,” Sylvia can’t help the chuckle that escapes her. “It’s not that bad.”

“It is!” Sammy whines. “Nothing is working on it!! Sylvia, it’s awful. I can’t do it!”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re just having a nightmare.” Walking over, Sylvia picks up a hair brush from Sammy’s vanity and pulls up a chair, brushing it for the sake of keeping her hands busy more than for the sake of trying to fix anything. “Someone cast a sleeping curse over Auradon. It’s just a bad dream, bug, not a real bad hair day. I promise.”

Sammy sniffles, peaking at her in the mirror. “...yeah?”

“Yeah,” Sylvia chuckles softly. “Your hair is fine. It’s just a bad dream. Everyone’s been trapped in their worst nightmares, from what I’ve seen. The only way to wake up has been to face them, or internalize that things aren’t as bad as they seem or you’ve imagined.”

“...how many of these have you seen?”

“A few. I woke up my friends Sam and Melinda, and Lillian of all people, then I got Nancy and we came to find you.”

“...this is just embarrassing for me, isn’t it?”

“A little,” Sylvia chuckles. “It’s okay, bug. I kinda had it figured your nightmare might be something along these lines.”

Reaching out, she boops Sammy’s nose, making her laugh weakly. Smiling, Sylvia sighs, getting the mess of red hair to lay flat at least. “So. Facing your nightmare.”

“...wait,” Sammy pouts, picking up a hat off her vanity and pulling it on, which only barely covers the damage. She frowns in the mirror... but sighs, nodding, grabbing her bag and forcing herself out the door...

Sylvia blinks and smiles, finishing brushing Sammy’s hair back from her face as the girl wakes up, mumbling, rubbing her eyes.

“Tell no one,” she warns, and Sylvia nods with a laugh, smiling.

“C’mon, bug. We’ve got some friends to find.”

In the garage, if it weren’t for the sleeping curse, Sylvia would have a hard time believing anyone was asleep. Lily had been blasting rock music and was sound asleep in front of her toolbox-- probably grabbing something when the curse hit.

Sylvia walks over and kneels down gently, reaching up and grabbing her shoulder...

She’s... in a park? Sylvia turns and finds Lily sitting blankly on the swings. Going over, she drops into the swing beside her. “Hiya.”

Lily looks up and looks at her, and that’s how Sylvia sees that the girl has definitely been crying, though she isn’t now, and just looks... angry, which is normal. “Mind telling me what’s going on? Where are we, peanut?”

There’s a pause as Lily eyeballs her before sighing. “Park near my house. No one really uses it at this hour.”

“Why are we here?” Sylvia cocks her head.

“My stepmother kicked me out of the house,” Lily looks away from her and chucks the pebble she’d picked up at the dirt. “I don’t know what’s going on. She just went off on me about how terrible and ungrateful I am and threw me out. Said I’ll never see my dad again.”

Sylvia nods. “Well, peanut, the good news is, this is a nightmare. It’s not real. You’re in a sleeping curse. The bad news is, I’m not sure which part you’re actually afraid of, because the way to wake up is to face your fears.”

Lily looks at her, raising an eyebrow. Sylvia nods. Lily sighs and shrugs. “Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s about Audrey being evil, how’m I supposed to face that?”

“Well, yes and no,” Sylvia shakes her head. “I know you pretty well, Lily, and I... don’t think you’re actually scared of Audrey being evil. I think you’d find that easier, because then hating her makes sense.”

“What else would it be?” Lily snarks.

“You’re afraid of losing your dad,” Sylvia answers simply. “He’s your entire life, anybody who knows you knows that. You’re... peanut, you wanna be scared of your stepmother being evil, but that’s not what bothers you about her. You just wanna know she’s not gonna take your dad from you.”

Lily sniffles, tearing up again. “Shut up-- no! No, it’s just her being evil, it’s just my stepmother being a real monster, it’s--”

“Aw, Lily,” Sylvia reaches out, pulling their swings together just to hug her. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Lily sniffles, burrowing into her. “I just don’t know where I’d be without him, I don’t know what I’d do, I-- I--”

“Shh, I know, I know. But listen to me. You know no one’s going to take him from you, right? Not even her. She’s been in your life for, what, 15 years now? Peanut, you have every right to choose not to like her, but I just need you to know she’s never gonna take him from you. Your dad wouldn’t let her. You’re as much his world as he is yours. He’ll never ever leave you. Okay? He’ll leave her before he leaves you.”

Lily sniffles, nodding, crying harder...

And Sylvia blinks, registering the loud rock music again and wincing, smiling as Lily wakes up, though.

Sammy skids over and hugs her best friend, and Lily sniffles, clearing her throat, laughing. “You don’t wanna do that, I was working before I passed out, I’m probably greasy.”

“I don’t care,” Sammy says, hugging her.

Sylvia smiles softly, and then addresses Lily. “Can you keep these two safe? I gotta find the others.

“Aye, I can do that,” Lily nods, motioning Nancy over. “Keep in touch, let us know if you’re in danger.”

“Will do,” Sylvia smiles and hurries out of the garage.

Sylvia finds Grayson in the cafeteria. Probably looking for a snack to get through his studying, knowing him. She sighs as she reaches out to him...

And is surprised to find herself in what she assumes must be his family home, heading for-- “WHAT are you DOING?”

Grayson yelps, looking back from the old portal to the ghost zone and blinking. “Sylvia? How did you find me?”

“You’re asleep, pumpkin, you’re having a nightmare, you’re still on campus at Auradon Pr-- no, you don’t get to distract me right now, what are you about to do?” Sylvia grabs his arm and pulls him away.

“Nightmare?” He bites his lip. “...promise?”

“I promise,” Sylvia squeezes his hands. “Did you see the sky go dark before whatever happened to you happened?”

He nods. She nods. “Someone cast a sleeping curse over Auradon. I opened my eyes and found myself at the kitchen counter of my family home like Auradon didn’t exist. You’re just having a nightmare, pumpkin, but I ask again, what the hell were you doing?”

Grayson sniffles and rubs his eyes, pulling uncomfortably at the suit his grandparents had made him to explore the ghost zone. “I... I thought my ghost side was... gone. I couldn’t go ghost and-- and you guys all left me, and my dad gave up on me and stopped spending time with me and my grandparents didn’t care about me anymore and--”

He sniffles, motioning to the ghost zone. “I thought if I stepped through I might... might end up like dad. More half-dead than quarter-dead but... but then everyone would... would come back...”

Sylvia sighs and hugs him tightly. “Aw, pumpkin. You know we don’t care about that, right? Not us, not the Clue Crew. You’re ours, we don’t care at all about that, you’re still our friend and a great detective even without being part-ghost.”

“...yeah?”

“Yeah,” Sylvia smiles at him. “And your parents don’t care. They don’t. You have to remember how much of a miracle it is that someone who’s half-dead could even conceive. There’s no way they would love you any less if you lost your ghost powers. Your mom’s not part-ghost, did she have any trouble helping your dad?”

He shakes his head. She nods with a smile. “Exactly. No one cares about the ghost aspect. We love you, pumpkin, as you are.”

He nods, hugging her tightly...

...and blinks slowly reaching back to the back of his head as he sits up. Sylvia pulls back and smiles. “You okay?”

“I think I hit my head,” he admits... before turning to his shadowy form and back again, smiling. “But I’m okay.”

Sylvia nods, helping him up. “Still gotta find Heather and Oliver.”

“I think I know where Heather is,” he says, and she nods, motioning for him to lead the way.

And, he’s right, they find Heather asleep by her locker with the door open. Thank god WOOHP hadn’t gone looking for her. Sylvia sighs and kneels down, gently brushing Heather’s hand out of her face...

...blinking in confusion as she looks around the unfamiliar bedroom. Hearing rustling in the closet, she steps over to it but it opens quickly before she has the chance to open it herself, finding Heather in a frenzy as she slings a bag over her shoulder. “Sylvia? Nevermind, we gotta go, like, now--” the blonde grabs her arm and drags her to the window.

“Heather, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on is I lost my clearance, and we gotta go before WOOHP catches up with me to erase my memories, Sylvia, please, c’mon!” Heather opens her window and half climbs out it.

Sylvia sighs as she follows after her. “Oh, baby, you’re okay--”

“Not for long!”

“No, I mean-- this isn’t real. Heather, you’re having a nightmare. Someone cast a sleeping curse over Auradon--”

“Explain on the run!” Heather grabs her arm and pulls her out the window, running over to her car. Sylvia sighs and follows after her.

As they’re heading down the road, Heather holds up a hand. “Okay, so like, you say this isn’t real?”

“About as real as me waking up at the kitchen counter at home and finding Auradon didn’t exist, yeah. You’re asleep, baby, this isn’t real.”

“Okay, but like-- but like, what if, like, you’re wrong? I can’t, I totally just, this is my life, I can’t just, like, let it go.”

“Heather, baby, I promise. I found you asleep in front of your locker with Grayson, and when I grabbed your arm, I found myself in your dream. You’re asleep, you really are,” she sighs. “You have to face your fears to wake up. So you’re afraid of losing your clearance, losing your memories of your spy work?”

“Yeah...” She sniffles. “I love being a spy, I love how things are, I know that’s stupid but it’s just-- it’s like, really fun and I just, like, if I’m not that then I’m just...”

“Another dumb blonde,” Sylvia realizes, and Heather nods, sniffling, crying. “Baby, pull over. I don’t wanna find out if we can get hurt in dreams like this.”

Heather sniffles but nods and complies, pulling off to the side of the road and sobbing. “Sylvia, I’m scared. I don’t wanna just be some ditz from Beverly Hills like everyone thinks. I’m so much more but like, if this happens...”

Sylvia sighs, reaching over and playing with her hair. “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. I know, you’re scared, but you know something? You are so much smarter than you realize, even without the spy stuff. You know what? That’s just like Sammy. She’s not a detective, she’s not some kickass badass fighter. She’s just a diva, and we love her, and we love you. You are more than a spy, Heather, you always have been, I promise.”

Heather sniffles, shaking her head. “But-- but-- but, I’m not, I’m--”

Sylvia sighs, rubbing her arm. “Shh, you are, you always have been. You haven’t always been a spy, but you’ve always been Heather, and you are loved just as Heather. You can still be so much even if you weren’t a spy. I know you could be, because I know you, Heather. I know you.”

Heather sniffles, sobbing leaning over to hug her...

And Sylvia smiles down at the girl as she wakes up in front of her locker, sitting up, blinking and rubbing her eyes. “Like, ow.”

“Yeah, figures,” Sylvia chuckles, helping her up.

“Ohmygod, like, Sammy--”

“Actually, she’s okay. I woke Sammy, Nancy, and Lily, and they’re in the garage. We’re gonna get Oliver and head to join them and come up with something, okay?” Sylvia smiles.

Heather sighs and nods as Grayson helps her up, taking deep breaths. “Okay. So, like, let’s do this.”

Oliver is shockingly difficult to find, but when they manage to locate them, Sylvia chuckles softly, seeing they’d fallen asleep replaying a certain song. Of course. Walking over, she gently sets a hand on their shoulder.

Oh. Oh this is... yeah, she’d call this one a nightmare. “What in the hell?”

Someone grabs her arm and pulls her down. Sylvia squeaks and looks over at... “Oliver? Jinkies, sunshine, you scared me. What’s going on?”

“You should be scared,” is all he mutters, looking up and watching the sky. “I don’t know what happened, but someone altered history again, and someone went against my grandpa’s wishes.”

“What do you mean?” Sylvia sighs. Easier to resolve a fear if she strikes at the core of it, unfortunately.

“It’s complicated--? Come on,” and Oliver pulls her along quickly to an alleyway. “So, my grandfather, in one version of the timeline, created a robotic bowler hat that was supposed to help someone get ready in the mornings, but, the original variant became... sentient, and evil. DOR15 was supposed to be shut down and locked up as another failure, but... wasn’t off, and escaped. She planned to destroy my grandfather for abandoning her, humanity for existing and my family just to make my grandpa suffer, but... when he was a kid, my dad went back in time, found my grandpa as a kid, brought him back to fix things, and... eventually, my grandpa as a kid, vowed to never invent the hat and fixed the timeline entirely. DOR15′s evil plans never came to be, which meant my family was spared from her mind control based wrath. Except. Somehow. The timeline was altered again. And this is the result.”

He pulls her into a very abandoned looking building. Probably condemned, if she had to guess. “How did you escape? Are you okay?”

“Well... that’s just it,” Sylvia sighs. “This isn’t real. You’re asleep, you’re having a nightmare. Auradon’s under a sleeping curse, sunshine, I promise this isn’t real.”

Oliver blinks, looking at her, then at the door, shaking his head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Hey, sunshine, it’s me,” Sylvia takes his hand. “It’s me. I promise. You’re just asleep. Everything’s fine-- well, evil takeover, sleeping curse, everyone’s trapped in their nightmares-- but everything’s fine. This isn’t real.” She shakes her head softly as she says that, smiling at him.

They bite their lip and look at the door again. Reaching up, Sylvia turns their head away. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You just want your family to be okay, right? I know, I know. But I promise you it’s just a nightmare. It’s not real, your family is fine. You’re safe. You’re safe.”

They sniffle and hug her tightly. Sylvia smiles, hugging them back, rubbing their back. “Come on, realistically, who’s ever gonna look at your grandpa’s story and try to make that hat again? Who’s ever gonna take that story and go, ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine, I can do it and this won’t happen’? Nobody, sunshine, nobody is gonna do that, is gonna do this. I promise. I promise.”

Oliver sighs, nodding slowly, smiling weakly...

...Sylvia chuckles when they jolt awake. “Morning. Well, afternoon. If you can even believe that. C’mon, we’d better get back to the garage. Nancy, Sammy, and Lily are already there. We’ll work something out from th--”

“Eretria,” he interrupts, looking around between the three and shaking his head anxiously. “No, no, I gotta-- I gotta wake Eretria first. I’ll meet you, okay? The garage? I’ll meet you. Go on back, I’ll be there, just go.” He gets his stuff together quickly.

“Oliver--” Sylvia starts.

“Go! I’ll join you, it’ll be fine,” they smile at their friends before heading out abruptly.

Sylvia sighs, flinging a hand at the door, shaking her head. Heather rubs her shoulders. “He’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, it’s Oliver,” Grayson agrees. “They’ll probably come back with snacks and half a dozen unfinished plans they borrowed from their sister. C’mon, we should meet up with the girls.”

Sylvia sighs and nods, worried.

#never give up; never back down: sylvia #man! i feel like a woman: sammy #amateur detective: nancy #so totally fabulous: heather #like my father does: lily #and if you're looking for trouble then count me in: oliver #brotp: the clue crew #face of an angel; heart of a ghost: grayson #on assignment: solo para #event: nightmare / celena

[lightningcrown]

My top 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe couples. Trust me, there’s a lot more, because I pretty much ship anything; but these are the main ones I ship. Yeah...I was tied between Valki and Hulkyrie, and realized I liked both for Valkyrie. So Valki is now an Honorable Mention while #4 is now replaced by Fitzsimmons.

Yeah, I don’t regret a fucking thing.

A couple warnings though. Firstly, there are spoilers to the character's respective shows/films in the meme’s description, so just a heads up. Infinity War spoilers, too. Second, I have either not seen or not finished the shows The Defenders, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Iron Fist, also Cloak and Daggar isn’t finished, so I can’t put Ty/Tandy on the list just yet (Honestly, Tandy is just a bitch at this point in the show).  As I finish the shows, I’ll move the couples around or add/remove them. And third, but most important without a doubt, this is my list, as in my personal opinion. I will not trash you for your ships if you do not trash mine. Ship and let ship.

Okay, let’s begin.

~Honorable Mention~ Valki -  Not canon...I think...seriously, Tessa Thompson has hinted that these two are in a...somewhat relationship? Like the other couples, I think these two would be good for each other. I mean, come on, Loki needs a partner to smack some sense into him every once in a while. I think they’d work in a unique way. A real power couple. I seriously might change this to a better couple, but I’m not sure. All I know is that I like this ship….but I like #3 more.

Alright, now onto the top 10.

#10 - Victor “Chase” Stein and Gertrude Yorkes -  When I found out that the Runaways were going to be adapted into the MCU, I got super excited! I love the comics, and I couldn’t wait to see how the show was going to turn out. I was satisfied with most things, including the romance between Chase and Gert. Their romance in the comics was/is beautiful and sad, so I couldn’t wait to see it. Gert and Chase are polar opposites in a charming way, with Chase originally being shown as a stuck up jock and Gert as a tumblr fueled activist, but they seem to bring their true selves out by being love struck and oblivious dorks. It’s so cute when they finally wake up, like ‘Oh shit, the one I was looking for was right in front of me the whole time’ kinda wake up. They’re the kind of characters you just can’t picture with anyone else, the just work that well together. They’re the only couple in the show I love at the moment. Yes, I hate Deanoru. Come get me.

#9 - Robbie Reyes and Daisy Johnson -  While they’re not official, I can’t help but imagine how they’d look as a couple. By the time they meet in season 4, Daisy has lost too many people, and she has too many regrets and too much grief. She desperately wants to make it right, and is afraid to let people get close because it always ends with either her or them getting hurt. Her parents, the agents that died to save her as a child, the breakout of the inhumans due to her sending the terrigen crystals into the ocean, and finally, her boyfriend’s death. Going by the codename Quake, she uses her powers to try and make up for what she believes is all her fault. Robbie is a man trying to make up for getting into gang trouble, which resulted in his brother being paralyzed from the waist down in a deliberate crash meant to kill Robbie. After he is possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance and becomes known as Ghost Rider, he takes to the streets at night, killing gang members and slowly cleaning up the city of people that the Spirit of Vengeance deems guilty and unworthy of life. Their paths cross, and while they don’t start off on a good note, the two eventually team up to connect the dots in front of them. They’re so alike, and I believe that they would be good for one another. It’s her meeting Robbie that kinda snaps her out of the daze she’s in, and it’s ultimately each other that heals the other and gets them out of their rut. It’s a shame, because I know they’ll never be official, but I love them, and I will continue to ship them despite of that.

#8 - Peter Quill and Gamora -  If you’ve seen the films, I think you know why I don’t even need to explain these two…but I will a bit anyways. He’s goofy and carefree, but knows when to be mature, and she’s been trained her whole life to be a weapon, and is just now being able to finally have the family she’s always wanted, with Quill being someone who’s helping her realize she’s more than a monster. Avengers Infinity War broke my heart. When the two kissed, their relationship being established between Guardian’s Vol. 2 and Infinity War, I was so happy...until Gamora told Quill to kill her if Thanos ever got his hands on her. Sadly, it happened, but Thanos used the reality stone to keep it from happening. When Quill later learns that Thanos murdered Gamora to gain the Soul Stone...his cry of despair and grief as Tony tried to hold him back broke my heart. I think he was perfectly justified in flipping out like he did. They’re just another one of those couples that are a perfect example of soulmates, and I hope they are reunited.

#7 - Phillip Coulson and Melinda May -  These two are like FitzSimmons, always together. They have each other’s back, and they support each other in almost everything they do. They’re like the mom and dad of the group. And while they do fight, it’s in a very...married couple sort of way. I don’t think there’s ever been a better team up in S.H.I.E.L.D. history since them, and I’m glad their relationship isn’t rushed. Once they officially got together, it was easy to see that it was slowly building the whole time, even if it wasn’t too noticeable at first.

#6 - Vision and Wanda Maximoff -  Their relationship is so much like teenagers flirting, just in an...adult way? Maybe that was a bit confusing, but my point is, these two are adorable. Another couple that managed to stomp on my heart in Infinity War. Turns out, after Captain America Civil War, Wanda and Vision became an official couple and began to travel the world. Their relationship is pure and innocent love. Nothing dirty, no sex jokes, just...they’re so in love; you can see it whenever they’re in the presence of the other. Seriously, it’s like they’re looking at the whole world when they’re looking at the other. Cheesy, but it fits. In Infinity War, Wanda is the one who has to destroy the mind stone in Vision’s forehead, despite it still being a part of him. She doesn’t want to, but he tells her that she must “It shouldn’t be you, but it is.” And she’s, understandably, upset, so Vision comforts her with some of the most romantic words I’ve ever heard in the MCU “It's alright. You could never hurt me. I just feel you.” He knows that he’s about to die...yet he’s doing his damndest to make sure she’s comforted. And sadly, she uses her powers to destroy the stone and kill him…until Thanos uses the Time Stone to rewind time, revive Vision, then rip the Mind Stone out of his head, killing him in front of Wanda for a second time! I...I just want these two to be happy.

#5 - Tony Stark and Pepper Potts -  Just...watch any movie with these characters, and you’ll know exactly why I put them on this list. I can’t really anything else other than that they’re perfect for each other; and in my opinion, I don’t believe either character could ever work in a relationship with a different person. These two are the best canon couple in the MCU, hands down.

#4 - Leopold Fitz and Jemma Simmons -  These two are literally two halves of a whole. Where one struggles, the other supports and the two succeed. Hell, people in the show don't even refer to them as individuals, they're called FitzSimmons. Seriously, these two had a canon ship name from the beginning, the other characters thought they were a perfect match. If soul mates are a thing, these two are definitely it. These two characters have been through so much in the first 4 seasons, and when they finally got together in season 3 after the massive cliffhanger in season 2; I cheered. Ever since, the two have continued to be a model of relationship goals. Fitz has put his life on the line several times in order to protect and rescue Simmons, literally jumping through an alien portal to find her on the other side of the universe. Simmons is no different. She suffered through a computer world that showed her death and made Fitz hate her, yet she managed to get through to him and save him. I haven't seen season 5 yet, but I do know that the two of them get married, and let me just say....it's about damn time!

#3 - Bruce Banner/Hulk and Valkyrie -  These two...need to be canon. I’m sorry (Pfft, no I’m not), but I...I really despise Bruce/Natasha. Their interactions feel so forced...it’s just awful! But these two? It’s so natural and amazing! Hulk and Valkyrie have known each other for couple years by the time Thor Ragnarok rolls around, and they’re so playful! Hulk doesn’t hate her, he smiles at her, and whenever she’s called to his room, she becomes happy and the two playfully spar and even have nicknames for each other. And once Bruce returns from being Hulk, he and Valkyrie immediately go “Do I know you? I feel like I know you!” And they get along perfectly from there. Seriously, when Bruce sees Valkyrie for the first time, he’s in complete awe! He notices the markings around her eyes and asks Thor about them, describing them and her as “beautiful and strong”. Seriously, in this one movie, Hulk/Valkyrie was shown to be more natural and smooth than Bruce/Natasha. These two would be in the category of being friends first and then a couple later on. The Hulk likes her, Bruce likes her, and neither have a problem with her, and she doesn’t have the problem with either of them. It works out. Also, in the first few movies where Bruce is shown…he’s always forced to become the Hulk by someone, but in Thor: Ragnarok, Bruce changes into the Hulk willingly. I can’t help but think that Valkyrie’s acceptance of both personalities might have had a small hand in it. Oh well, I’m stupid, moving on.

#2 - Peter Parker and Molly Hernandez -  A crack ship I made, but a cute one. Peter is Spiderman in the MCU, obviously, while Molly is a character in Marvel’s Runaways, being Gert’s adopted sister with Hulk-like strength. Both of these characters are young people swept up in horrible situations, and learning to cope with powers, abilities, and responsibilities they didn’t have before. I think it would be cute and emotional for the two of them to bond over their shared experiences. I’ve got so many story ideas for this cute pair. Also, I just...don’t like Michelle that much. I don’t know why, she just seems so...ugh, I’m gonna get hate for this, but I don’t like how they dealt with her in the movie. Also, now that I think about it, I’ve never really liked MJ in any Spiderman film, so...yeah. Anyways, I think Peter and Molly would be adorable together. Moving on.

#1 - James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes and Princess Shuri - My OTP in the MCU...and I don’t regret a fucking thing for shipping it. Shuri is canonly the one who gets all of HYDRA’s programming out of his head, built him his new arm, and taught him about Wakanda in the MCU...and I can’t help but love that there’s finally another person for Bucky to be close with that isn’t Steve. I love their friendship, but I’m happy that Bucky is finally free from HYDRA and can finally depend on an befriend other people; expand a little. The little after credits scene at the end of Black Panther had me squealing and imagining all the scenarios for their relationship. I went back and saw it a second time to see that scene again (I also saw it a second time because that movie was fucking awesome, but seeing the scene again was good^^!). Shuri is officially my favorite female character in the MCU. Also, fun fact, me mentioning that I like this ship had given me so much shit on here. I’ve been called a pedophile, a pedophilic enabler, and a stucky fan once told me to kill myself...it’s fucking hilarious. I’ve never been in a fandom shipping war before, so it was an amazing anf funny experience XD I love these two so much, and no 12 year old on tumblr is going to change my mind. These two, I could see their relationship developing over time and it’s just...I would love to see these two develop together.

#winterprincess #strongspider #hulkyrie #valki #pepperony #scarlet vision #philinda #starmora #quakerider #gertchase #ship meme #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #fitzsimmons

[xtinaparade]

Four’s Company Part 11

So I am in total love with these four, and I want to add more dynamics into it, so I’m bringing in Katy’s family into this. Let’s see how all this is going to go. Don’t worry loves, there will still be plenty of Shield love going on. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

@sausagefest1996  @innocent-reid  @xsimplynaex  @theonelazywolf  @astilinski24  @bruiserw8 @sammi94jo @clevver-curls  @fioportella  @wrestlingbabe  @moonchildcorbin @lost-in-the-stories @florenceivy @wokehoe @imnotshannon @onemorefanblog @swedish-strong-style @calwitch @stylesgirluk  @lost-in-the-stories @loki-kaz2y5 @jmertzlol4life @theonelazywolf @miss-superstar15 @harleymoxley @vebner37  @omg-savannahlangdon @dolphinpink310 @bruiserweight1 @penguin-g-41 @klance-lover15 @hey-diddly-ho-neighborino @thejulietfarciertlove

Let me know if you want me to tag you in the updates!!!

Pairing - Seth Rollins x Roman Reigns x Dean Ambrose x OC (Katy)

Summary - Kathryn, or Katy as her friends called her, never felt comfortable in a normal relationship. She tried the whole dating scene in college, but she’d always get bored with the guy. She’d always move on and usually without even telling her current boyfriend. Coming from a particularly religious background, Katy didn’t exactly tell her mother her desire to be with more than one man at the same time. The trouble, she soon found out, was not many men felt the same way. Katy learned to keep that desire to herself, and resigned to living alone. Fast forward, Katy is the latest up and coming in ring announcer and interviewer in the WWE, a job that she loves. She gets to travel the world, see wrestling, and hang out with some of the hottest guys she’s ever seen. Arriving in 2013, Katy became fast friends with the three men of the Shield, and began to fantasize about not only having sex with all of them, but at the same time. Katy has long known how to keep her fantasies to herself, and never mention them aloud. That is until one night, she went to her friend’s birthday party, and a few games of shot roulette later, Katy admitted her fantasy to her good friend, who came to pick her up, Roman Reigns.  

Warnings - polyamours and gay relationships, angst, jealousy, smut, blow jobs, cumming, fluff, don’t like this kind of thing don’t read.

Stepping into the ring after the Shield won their match, Katy asked. "You three are back together, and after Smackdown invaded Raw, what do you intend to do about it?"

Seth smirked as he eyed his two shield brothers. "Oh, Katy. We're gonna show them why Raw is the Flag Ship show."

"We're gonna tear them apart and show those dumbass unicorns on Smackdown why they don't mess with us," Dean snarled, pacing between Katy and the ropes.  

Roman just smirked at his two brothers. "What they said, Katy." With that the three men stuck out their fists in the iconic fist pound.  

Even after two weeks of being together in whatever relationship they were in, Katy could not believe these three men were all hers.  

After Raw, Katy finished putting the microphones away before turning and seeing Roman standing a few feet away just watching her, sending shocks straight to her pussy. Damn he had the gaze that made her want to instantly submit to him.  

"Hey Big Dog," she smiled at him.  

Judging by his smirk, Roman knew exactly what he did to her. "Come to dinner with me tonight."

"Okay," she whispered, moving to lean against his larger frame. "Is there anything specific you want me to wear?"  

Running his large hands up her sides, his fingers ghosting over her body, leaving sparks of fire in their wake. "Something tight, that shows off your sexy body. I want everyone to want to fuck you but know only we can."

"You love getting all jealous," said Katy, standing on her tip toes, silently asking for a kiss. "And I love the savagery it brings out in you."

Pressing his lips against hers, Roman gripped her hips, and pulled her tight against his cock, showing her just how hard he already was. "You will take care of this later."  

Katy blinked wide eyed up at Roman. "As Daddy wishes," she whispered, so only he could hear.  

"Oh fuck, if I didn't have a meeting right now," he growled, kissing her hard on the lips.

"Meet me at the hotel when you're done," he commanded before letting her go, and walking away down the hall.  

Katy had to lean against the wall for support, and fan herself. She always needed to gather herself back together after Roman's dominate side encased her so solidly.  

"Katy," a PA came up to her. "There's a woman at the door saying she's your sister, Melinda."  

"What?" Katy instantly pulled herself back together and followed the PA to the side door. "Melinda? What are you doing here?"  

"Well I heard you were in town, and I wanted to see for myself," she said, her perfectly styled blonde hair every strand in place, makeup carving out her cheek bones, and her large diamond ring from her doctor husband blinding Katy even in the low light. "Here you are."

"Yeah, but I'm leaving tomorrow, or else I would've said something," Katy lied. She had no intention of reaching out to her family. Did she love them? Yes, but they also loved to tell her what a disappointment she turned out to be, and how her choices are sending her to hell.  

"Katy come home tomorrow for breakfast at least," insisted Melinda. I know Mom and Dad would be so happy to see you."  

"I don't know about that." Katy swallowed the growing lump in her throat. Memories of the last conversation she had with her father sprang to mind.  

"Katy, why did we find condoms in your room?" Her father demanded.  

Katy felt her heart stop, as her father held the box of clearly opened condoms that were supposed to be at the bottom of her underwear drawer. "Well..."

"Who is the boy?" He asked, his voice dropping to dangerous levels.  

"Well..." Words escaped her, as she stared at her father, her heart beating wildly in her chest.  

Eighty to ninety percent of the time, Katy's parents were the world's greatest. Doing nearly anything for their kids: taking them all over the state for cheerleading competitions, coming to all of their shows, etc. But the other ten to twenty percent, they turned into something else. Katy still had some scars from those times.  

"Katy? So, you'll co me then?" Melinda asked.  

"Sure," Katy said, not knowing why she just said yes.  

"Great!" Melinda hugged her sister tight. "Come to mom and dad's house tomorrow at eight am. They'll be so excited to see you."  

"I'm gonna bring some friends with me, three of them," said Katy, knowing if she was going to see her Father, then she needed her boyfriends at her back.  

"Totally fine. I'll let Mom and Dad know," Melinda squealed one more time, before nearly running to her car in excitement.  

"Oh, fuck what did I get myself into?" Katy asked herself, turning back into the arena.  

#roman reigns smut #roman reigns #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns fic #roman reigns sexy #seth rollins imagine #seth rollins #seth rollins sexy #seth rollins fan fiction #seth rollins smut #dean ambrose #dean ambrose fanfiction #dean ambrose smut #WWE #wwe fanfiction #wwe fan fiction

[stargazerdaisy]

11 Questions x 3

I was tagged by @kyliafanfiction, @trinitea-fics, and @skyeward-otp forever ago, but there’s no way I can come up with 33 questions.  So I’ll answer the 33 and come up with a new 11.  Theoretically.  We’ll see.

From Kylia:

1.) Favorite Trope To Subvert?

One of my favorites that I (think I) pulled off was in Please Don’t Make Me! , where Skye is all whispering in Ward’s ear about them sneaking off and finding a way to ~entertain~ themselves, and it certainly seems like sexy times are about to happen.  And then...it’s Mario Kart.  I love twisting people’s expectations for the sake of comedy and fun.

2.) Favorite Trope to ‘Play Straight’, as it were?

Bedsharing.  I am weeeeeeak for bedsharing.  GImme gimme gimme.  I want those  punks to wake up spooning and entwined and then the awkward to set in, but actually push them to deal with their feelings.  Yes please I need it now.  

3.) What is that one character that, no matter how much you might like to be open minded about other fans having their own opinions and whatnot, when you see people defending them, you just cannot stop rolling your eyes and being at the very least somewhat angry, if not raging?

Melinda May and Phil Coulson....

4.) Favorite Thing To Put Ketchup On?

The garbage can.

Haha, just kidding.  I’m not a huge ketchup fan.  I prefer bbq sauce or ranch for most things you’d use with ketchup.  But ketchup on a burger or hot dog works well (if bbq sauce isn’t an option).  

5.) Cake or Death?

Cake.  

6.) Is there a Spoon?

47 of them to be precise.

7.) What is the Average Airborne Velocity Of An Unladen Swallow?

African or European?

8.) Did you get the references in questions 5, 6, and 7 without having to look them up?

5 sounds familiar, but no.  6, not even in the slightest.  7, my answer should explain that one.

9.) Silliest name you’ve ever heard for a person/thing/group?

Oh, oh, oh, I know I have some doozies of nicknames, but I’m drawing a complete blank right now.

10.) What is a book series that is nominally completed that you’d like to see more installments of?

I’m a big fan of the Jack Ryan books by Tom Clancy, but well, Clancy died a few years ago, and none of the co-writers can match his original style and quality (honestly, neither can his own later books).  So while that verse could easily accommodate more stories, and I could love them, it’s not going to happen with the quality I want, so I wouldn’t want people to try and subsequently fail.

11.) Song you both hate but sometimes can’t stop listening too?

There was an *Nsync song back in the day that I hated.  But I listened to it enough times that I ended up learning all the lyrics and singing along with.  That’s happened with a few others too.  There are some One Direction songs that I like and it pisses me off that I like them.  

From Trini:

1. A song you are listening to on loop right now

Actually no, I’m not this week.  Which honestly is kinda rare.  Then again, I’ve been listening to a couple of playlists with The War on it and that song always gets to me, so it’s back in my mind again.

2. What is a popular show/book/movie/podcast could you not get into/have no interest in?

I’ve never gotten into Supernatural.  Just never had that much interest, despite having a big fondness for Jensen Ackles.  

3. What is the last movie you watched?

Thor: Ragnarok

4. Opinion of Valentine’s Day?

It’s nice to have a day where you make an extra effort to show your love for others.  It’s just as lovely to do so with family and friends as it is with a romantic partner.  And I definitely prefer, low-key, thoughtful gifts/activities.

5. A show, book or movie that you consider “Your childhood”

Inspector Gadget was one of my absolutely faves when I was a kid.  Also, totally loved Ghostwriter and wanted to start my own crime-solving group.  Alas, we did not have a ghost to aid us.  Magic School Bus was also watched a lot and I can still remember the ending bit with all the kids making phone calls.

6. Favourite Youtuber/what you do watch on Youtube?

I mostly listen to music on YouTube.  I don’t follow any particular person.  I’ve been enjoying mashup videos lately.  Imagine Dragons are great for mashups.  (There.  Happy Megan?)

7. What do you need to buy?

A new battery for my laptop.  It would be nice to use it when it wasn’t plugged in.  After all, that’s a big part of the whole laptop thing.

8. What merch are you close to impulse buying?

At this moment, nothing really.  But I had strongly considered buying Chloe Bennet’s Fight Like A Girl shirt.  If I had had the money at the time, I probably would have.

9. What’s the weather outside?

Right at this moment, overcast, grey, cool (low 40s), but happily, not raining.  Typical late March weather in this area.

10. A thing that you recently accomplished that you are proud of?

@mframe and I spent a good chunk of a day (or was it a couple days?) and built a form within the test environment of our database.  Built it from the ground up, adding groups, creating custom fields, making them calculated fields, setting up a bunch of codes in order to make them calculate correctly, etc.  And it works really well.  I really like it.  Now if only the assholes that I work with would shut the f*** up and get on board, we could actually use it.

11. Movie/book/Tv show/podcast coming out soon that you’re excited for

I NEED TO BUY MY TICKETS FOR INFINITY WAR.  Also, The Incredibles 2.

From Gilly:

1. If you won $1,000,000 dollars, what’s the first thing you’d do?

Pay off debt.  

2. A movie/tv show that you always go back to whenever you’re bored or don’t know what to watch?

Friends, Community, Brooklyn Nine Nine are all great standbys for when I can’t decide on what I’m in the mood for.

3. Most meaningful book you’ve ever read.

That’s an excellent question.  To Kill A Mockingbird is one of those books that’s always stuck with me.  I need to re-read it again, in fact.

4. Have you ever gotten anyone to get hooked on a tv show? How did they feel about it?

HAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAH.  Yes.  I mean, nothing on the scale of Megan getting me hooked on AoS.  But I’ve convinced a couple friends to try Doctor Who, I got @evieoh to watch Community, and then she and I ganged up on @airaze-blog and made him watch all of Alias.  There was a lot of screaming.  We won’t talk about Orphan Black.

5. Has anyone ever gotten you hooked on a tv show? How did you feel about it?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Yes.

As referenced above, Megan was the one that really pushed me to try AoS again.  (I’d watched the first 3 or 4 episodes when it first aired, but lost interest and was always having to watch it later b/c of committments those nights.) There was another friend of ours at work, who pushed along with her, and my bff watched it as well and encouraged me.  I was kind of hesitant, didn’t care a whole lot, but I was getting into the MCU as a whole, so I decided to give it a shot again.

Amazingly enough, while I knew Hydra comes out of the shadows and about Jiaying’s evil turn, Double Agent Ward wasn’t spoiled for me.  I was SHOCKED at that.  And I’m so glad, because it was SUCH A GOOD TWIST.  

But yeah.....that may have just slightly, dramatically changed the trajectory of my life.  I wouldn’t have had an Aussie live on my couch for the last 6 months and that would have truly been tragic.

6. Where’s your dream vacation?

Croatia.  I’ve been dying to go there for years and it gets more intense every day.

7. Favorite social media app/site.

Tumblr.  I get the most interaction and the widest range here.  

8. Dream job.

Stay at home mom would be my preferred occupation.  For a profession, lactation consultant is my dream.  We’ll see if I ever get there.

9. Favorite genre to read/write.

Uhhh.....in terms of fanfic genres/tropes, I love enemies to friends to lovers (on any scale).  

10. Favorite genre to watch.

I love spy shows.  Gimmes spies anyday.  

11. Favorite quote at the moment.

CHICKENS!  (just for you, Evie)

My questions - sorry dudes, only doing 11.

What is your favorite season?

What are your feeling on A.I. (the concept, not the movie)?

What is the oldest piece of technology in your home?  Do you use it?  Do you know how?

Hummus.  Thoughts?

Tell me about a favorite birthday or holiday present.

What pair of shoes do you wear the most?  Are they your favorite or just the most functional or something else?

What’s your dream fanfic?

How easy is it for you to unplug?

What is a hobby/activity/something that you have an absurd amount of supplies/tools for?

What is your guilty pleasure snack food?

Are you more a dialogue or song lyrics referencer?

I tag: @evieoh, @mframe, @agenthaywood, @airaze-blog, @helloimthedoctor, @agentsofsunnydale, @queermageddon, @livesindaydreams, @orlissa, @vesperass-anuna, and @in-the-moving-castle

#ask daisy #I'm always down for a good ask meme #kylia the egomaniac #trini is terrific #gilly is darling

[cateliot]

five star fic meme:  philinda

5 fanfictions you enjoy

“drive time” by @ddagent  

Former CIA Agent Melinda May is having trouble adjusting to the real world. But she finds help in the form of radio DJ Phil Coulson.

“he lied about death”  by  @paperclipbitch

She doesn’t say don’t, because May will take every single punch you want to land on her and then a few more that you can’t land because your hands are broken from the strain. - Grief, and other aphrodisiacs.

“the storm in his wake” by @daisyqiaolianmay

Even good men, and Rosalind truly believed Phil to be a good man, could have terrible secrets… and S.H.I.E.L.D, they’d kept enough terrible secrets from the world already. She just wasn't expecting this one.

“ i never know” by @axolotl7 

A fic set at the beginning of series three - May returns but not everything can be forgiven with a simple apology on either side.

“handkerchief” by @ussjellyfish 

May rushes in to grab Fitz, Phil deals with the consequences and the team helps. It's what they do.

5 headcanons that you have

phil’s crush began when they met their first day in hand to hand combat but knew for sure he would marry her when he saw may and her supervising officer (peggy carter!) together training in an empty classroom at the academy

phil and may’s rivalry ended when may graduated valedictorian at the academy, but Phil wrote her speech

phil told audrey that his partner died during a mission after may transferred to administration because had no way to explain the overwhelming guilt and sorrow he was dealing with

phil’s mom loves, I mean loves, may after they met on her first visit to DC

phil is the only one may told about the baby she miscarried in the tiny military hospital post-mission in bahrain

5 authors that you love

@ddagent

@ussjellyfish

@suallenparker

@nessnessquik

@axolotlz7

5 tropes that you adore

undercover lovers

au

geeky boy and the hot badass girl

angst...lots of angst

hurt and comfort

5 alternate universes that you live for

coffee shop au

cooking au

royalty au

civilian/agent au

war au

5 things you hate about fic

terrible grammar, poor spelling, lack of continuity in stylistic choices

original characters as main characters

fics where people don’t use double spacing

terribly out of character characters

lack of good story telling devices, plot, diction, etc

5 things you’d like to see written

rivial spies au

in-depth phil’s POV of may and andrew’s marriage

olympic athletes au

ptsd treatment of may after bahrain and phil’s support 

resolution to the may/coulson/daisy bahrain reveal

5 fics you wish happened in canon

"breaking the rules/saving melinda may” by @axolotl7

“ i never know” by @axolotl7

“ghosts that broke my heart before i met you” by @zauberer_sirin

“under the star light” by @oparu

“story gets bigger every year” by @aliassmith

i’m going to tag:   @suallenparker, @i-believe-in-melinda-may, and @crazymaryt

#masterpost #aosmasterpost #ficmasterpost #ficmeme #philindafanfiction #philindafanfictionlibrary #philindalibrary #thephilindalibrary #fuckyeahphilinda #hyperlinked #ao3 #supportwriters #melindamayedit #philcoulsonedit #philindaedit

[lentils-writes]

Day 24: Grew up and moved away AU

(this starts out kind of sad but c’mon it’s me, it won’t stay that way)

“What?” Kara asks, staring at Melinda.

Melinda doesn’t look her in the eye. “We’re moving in a month. Mom says it’s because we can’t afford the rent without Dad here. I said I’d get a job and help with the rent, but she said twelve-year-olds can’t get jobs.”

Kara feels cold all over suddenly. “Where?” she asks in a  very small voice.

“I don’t know yet. Pennsylvania, maybe? My aunt lives there, we might move in with her. Mom thinks she can get corporate to transfer her to their office in Philly.” Melinda draws patterns in the carpet with her finger. “Kara, I...I don’t want to go. I can’t leave you.”

Kara swallows. Her eyes feel hot all of a sudden. “Don’t,” she manages to gasp. “Maybe, maybe I can talk to my mom, maybe you can move in with us, maybe-”

“No,” says Melinda, shaking her head slowly and finally looking up to meet Kara’s eyes. She’s crying. Melinda never cries. Kara’s only seen her cry once, when they were seven and Melinda fell out of the tree in her front yard and broke her arm. “No, I tried thinking of everything. It won’t work, Kara. I have to leave.”

“No!” Kara shouts, standing up. “You can’t! There has to be another way!”

“Don’t shout,” pleads Melinda. “Your mom will come in and-”

“I don’t care!” Kara picks up the first thing within reach - an old chili can full of pens and pencils on top of her desk - and throws it. She doesn’t throw it at Melinda, but a couple of the pencils land at her friend’s feet.

Melinda looks at her sadly. “I’m sorry, Kara, I…”

“Leave me alone!” Kara yells, flinging herself onto her bed. Then she starts crying so loudly she doesn’t even hear the door shut behind Melinda.

Her mom tries to tell her she needs to talk to Melinda. “Honey, she’s been your best friend since kindergarten,” she says. “You have to say goodbye. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

“No!” says Kara. “If she was really my best friend she wouldn’t leave!”

“That’s not really how it works,” says her mom, reaching to rub her back gently. “I know it’s frustrating and sad, but-”

“I’m never speaking to her again!” snaps Kara. “Not ever!”

Her mother sighs. “Okay. Okay. I can’t make you.” She stands up. “I’m going to go start dinner.”

Kara’s careful to wait until her mother leaves the room before she starts sobbing again.

---

Six years later

Kara looks at the letter, written in near-perfect cursive, and raises her eyebrow at her mother. “Why are you giving me this?”

Her mother chuckles. “Well, to be honest, I meant to give it to you much sooner, but I just misplaced it. I just happened to find it the other day while I was sorting through some old files and thought, what the hell, you’re probably ready to have it now.”

“Why would I care about this?”

“Well, she was your best friend for six years. I thought it might be nice for you to revisit old memories now that it isn't so...raw.”

Kara snorts. “You mean, now that I’m not throwing a fit like a toddler?”

“You said it, not me.” Her mom winks at her. “Anyway, just something to read between all the packing, if you want.”

Kara nods and goes back to her room. She means to just tuck the letter away in a box and forget about it, but instead she lets her eyes skim over the first paragraph. Just out of curiosity.

I know you’re mad at me, and that means you probably won’t read this right away. You’re my best friend - that means I know pretty much everything about you. When you’re mad, you stay mad. I just hope you won’t stay mad at me forever.

Kara sits down on her bed. There’s still stuff she needs to pack - she leaves for UCSC in less than two weeks - but she’s curious about the rest of the letter now.

I get why you’re mad. I’m pretty mad too, I just didn't show it. I hate that Dad left. I hate that Mom’s job doesn't pay enough for us to stay here. I hate that I might never see you again. You’ve been my best friend since before I can remember. I don’t know what I’m gonna do without you.

Kara honestly tries not to think about Melinda too much. It makes her sad, but it also makes her angry - at the world, for separating them, but mostly at herself, for being such a selfish asshole and not saying goodbye.

Most of her queer friends have a Moment that they can point to and say, yes, this was when I should have realized I was queer. She thought about it for a long, long time before realizing, suddenly, that her Moment wasn’t a single moment but hundreds of moments, all of them involving Melinda. She hadn’t known at twelve - why would she? - but she’d had a crush on her best friend and not known how to say it.

She reads the rest of the letter, and once she reaches the end, where Melinda copied out an address and phone number for an address in Pennsylvania, Kara grabs her phone and dials the number. She gets an answering machine for someone named Roger and quickly hangs up. That was stupid. Why would a number from six years ago still be connected to Melinda?

She puts it out of her mind and keeps packing.

---

Orientation week is crazy, and by the third day Kara’s head is spinning. Luckily her roommate seems content to leave her to her own devices, barely coming into the room except to sleep. She barely even sees Bobbi until they all huddle for a floor meeting with their RA that night.

The RA, Anne, smiles at everyone before starting off introductions. “Say your name, your year, your major if you have one, and a fun fact about yourself.”

It’s a little bit middle school, but Kara’s pretty bad with names so she tries to pay attention. She’s so absorbed in trying to nail down everyone’s name that she almost misses when someone says “My name is Melinda May, I’m a freshman, business major, and I have two black belts.”

Kara’s mouth feels dry. She must have misheard that, right? She sneaks a look at the girl who spoke - Chinese, long dark hair, slightly amused smirk. There have to be a ton of East Asian girls with similar names, right?

She keeps an eye on the girl all the same, trying to be subtle, and there’s an unmistakable moment of shock that crosses her face when Kara introduces herself. There are still about half a dozen girls after her, but Kara’s stopped paying attention and is just trying to figure out what the fuck to do now.

When they all file out of the room, Kara hovers outside, waiting for the girl to come out. “Um,” she says, when she’s finally face-to-face with her. “Hi.”

“Kara?” Melinda asks. “It’s really you, isn’t it?”

“I guess so, yeah.” Kara laughs nervously. “I...I got your letter. I mean, like two weeks ago. My mom lost it and only just found it. I’m sorry I was such an asshole about everything.”

Melinda’s staring at her like she’s seeing a ghost. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she says quietly.”

“Yeah, same here.” Kara gives her a sheepish grin. “You, um. You look good.”

Melinda seems surprised by that, and she just laughs. “I’m not twelve anymore,” she says, a hint of the old teasing in her voice. “And neither are you.”

“Nope.” Kara glances around. “Listen...do you wanna come back to my room? We can talk more? It’s okay if you don’t, but I wanted to…”

Melinda’s nodding. “I want to,” she says. “This is...I never expected it.”

“Me neither.” Kara shrugs. “I guess maybe the universe is giving us a second chance?”

“Something like that,” Melinda says wryly.

#karamel #melinda may #Kara Lynn Palamas #fandom: agents of shield

[coldbrewandfangirling]

Betrayal – A Bucky Barnes Fanfic Chapter 30

AU / BuckyxOC

Summary:

Ava is an aspiring journalist, working on her first big story. Her life gets confusing when she meets James Buchanan Barnes, a charming, good-looking man, that she can hardly stay away from. She finds herself falling for him, hard, all while being haunted from ghosts of her past. But she can't shake the feeling that he is hiding something from her.

chapter 30, in which Ava and James take an important step into their relationship.

TW: no major triggers

On Wattpad || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || Masterlist || Playlist

word count: 1283

Chapter 30

All week Ava had felt like she was a popstar needing two bodyguards to get her home safely. When James wasn't picking her up from work, Natasha was waiting outside the editorial building, her car always parked in a side alley. "There are a hell of a lot of cars in New York!", Natasha had justified her offside parking after Ava had called her on it.

On Tuesday James came over as promised and Ava excitedly told him about her plans to go to Portland with Natasha and Steve to visit her mother again. To her surprise, he was absolutely thrilled with the idea. Ava almost felt like he was even more excited than she was, and she had never thought of James as a particularly enthusiastic person. Her astonishment was much greater when James simply decided that he should come along. "I'd love to meet your mother, you always seem so enthusiastic when you talk about her. Almost as enthusiastic as when you talk about your work," he had said to Ava.

Ava had been convinced she was dreaming at first, but then James had tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked at her determinedly. His blue eyes had drowned out all of her thoughts and she had no good argument ready to talk him out of the idea again. Following his announcement, she had stayed awake half the night worrying. She had a million questions running through her head – Would James like my mom? Would my mom even like James? What would he think of my old room? And, oh God, I still have posters hanging in my old room! Or has my mom ever bothered to take them down?

Thursday hadn't been much better when Ava finally mustered up the courage to calling her mom. Actually, she had wanted to get it done on Tuesday, but after James had invited himself on the trip, it felt like an almost impossible task for Ava to call her mom. First she only mentioned Natasha and herself planning to visit her and her mom was already beside herself. She was audibly happy to welcome Ava and Natasha back into her home. Then she carefully inched her way in with Steve's presence before dropping the James-bomb. "Oh Ava, you don't know how pleased I am that you and Natasha are bringing dates! And then they're such good friends as well, charming!" her mom had shouted into the receiver completely out of her mind. "And don't worry about space, you know the house is big enough for an extended family. There will be more than enough room for everyone!" she added quickly when she noticed Ava's reserved voice. And it was true, Ava's mom Melinda still lived in the house Ava had grown up in. It was actually far too big for a single person, but Melinda simply hadn't been able to part with it after Ava's father had died. Too many memories were attached to that house.

But all the anxiety Ava had felt over the week was nothing compared to what she felt now: it was finally Friday and Ava walked to the car that had just parked in front of her complex. James got out and immediately grabbed her travel bag before placing a kiss on her mouth.

"Hi," Ava said with a grin. No matter how nervous she was, seeing James caused a comforting feeling throughout her body.

"Hi," he replied, returning her grin.

James stowed her bag in the boot while Ava got into the car. She took one deep breath through her nose to inhale the smell of James.

"Are you excited?" asked James as he got into the car with her.

"No," Ava lied. She wasn't very good at lying and her body gave her away anyway. She had her hand clenched into a fist in her lap, her other hand having to stop her leg from bouncing nervously.

"You're a bad liar," James remarked dryly.

"Alright," Ava blurted out, her thoughts just bubbling out of her with no filter, "I'm really damn anxious. I've hardly slept the last three nights and I drank three cups of coffee this morning, which I'll regret at the latest when I have to beg you to stop at the next exit. Besides, you're going to meet my mother today. My mother, James!" Now Ava was on a roll. Her pent-up emotions and worries burst out of her like a bursting dam.

"I know I'm going to meet your mother," James said, amused. He didn't look at her, but kept his eyes on the road and all the traffic in front of him. Isn't he anxious at all?, thought Ava a little indignantly.

"That's crazy! Why do you even want to meet my mother? I can't get my head around it. I mean, what am I to you? What is this to you? Are we good friends? Fuck buddies? Are we in a relationship? Or are you one of those people who says 'I don't do relationships'?" Ava now fervently wished she had just shut up. Annoyed with herself, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Had she really just, on the verge of an hour-long car journey, sparked a discussion about what James and she were? She would have liked to crash her head against the window. Maybe she should just jump out of the moving car.

"Ava," James said in a composed and gentle voice. He turned to her and took her hands in his. Ava hadn't even noticed that they had already stopped in front of Steve's building.

"You are incredibly important to me. I'm surprised about that myself. I didn't think anyone would ever mean this much to me, but you do. I'm going to Portland with you because I want to meet your mother, who is obviously very important to you. But I also want to go to Portland with you for selfish reasons." Ava looked at him with wide eyes. She couldn't believe what he was saying.

"I couldn't bear to be away from you all weekend. Me in New York, you in Portland – I couldn't stand it. The distance is far too great and even though I know you can take care of yourself, I prefer to be within your reach. Just in case."

It took Ava a moment before she found her voice again. "So I'm introducing you as my boyfriend?" she asked incredulously. Her mouth was dry as dust.

"If that's what you want as well, yes," James replied with a smile. Ava leaned over the centre console, released her hands from James' and kissed him passionately. His hands immediately moved to her neck as his tongue invaded her mouth authoritatively. Ava buried her hands in his well-groomed hair and tugged lightly.

"Shall we come back later?" a voice asked and Ava broke away from James, startled.

"God, Nat! You scared me!", Ava groaned indignantly. Natasha had opened the back door of the car and stuck her head inside.

"I hope we didn't interrupt anything," Natasha provoked, glancing at James, who stubbornly kept his gaze on the windshield. Ava just rolled her eyes.

"Everyone ready to go?" asked Steve after he had stowed his and Natasha's luggage in the boot and joined Natasha in the back seat. Judging by Natasha and Jame's faces, this could be a very long car ride. Did Ava know any good car ride games? She had to think of something if she didn't want to spend the next few hours in uncomfortable silence.

#betrayal #james buchanan barnes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x oc #bucky x original character #original character #wattpad #fanfic #fanfiction #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #marvel #winter soldier #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #romance #romantic #protective boyfriend