#and here i am still working it! still compromising. when i know this shift doesn't fit into my schedule or my life or any goal that i have

[bibiopic]

.

#it's my first day back at work since it all happened. and um #i'm just haunted by the sadness and resentment i feel about how much time i lost away from our little family last year. #lost to scheduling errors and resting from this ONE 16 hour shift each week #how i had to go straight to my next shift afterward for months #idk man. it feels awful. why didn't i put my foot down? why did i sacrifice my health and my family? #i was going 40ish hours EVERY week without sleeping. then i would crash for 9 hours and go right back to work. for what? #2 days off that i have to spend playing catch up anyways? for that?? #and here i am still working it! still compromising. when i know this shift doesn't fit into my schedule or my life or any goal that i have #that it stresses out my partner and it might have killed my pet #like... why am i doing this!

[ivoncu]

𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗𝗡'𝗧 𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗣 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨. — Amagi Rinne x reader

⸻ your overtime had forced you to stay back away longer than you'd like. Coming home past midnight, you were sure Rinne would be asleep already, but he wasn't — he was thinking of you, perhaps.

xx. c : fluff — no pronouns are used to describe reader, completely gender neutral. Soft rinne moment like he's really soft & he likes you a lot. the beginning is bit suggestive?

note . this has been rotting in my drafts since december last year, so apologies if there's some grammatical mistakes here i am not proofreading this :3

There are sleepless nights with him — perhaps on on a rainy day you'll often stay up late together, huddling close to each other for warmth in silence or during nights where he doesn't feel like sleeping — he'll make it your problem too and keep you up all night with him. (interpret that however you like.)

Yet today was rather different. He feels a certain emptiness inside his heart, all alone in the bed with his own thoughts forced to be kept to himself while the clock ticks every second he's awake. It isn't like him to feel this sad or sentimental, is it? The Rinne Amagi, the crazed gambler of Crazy:B, all alone with nothing but thoughts left keeping him awake at night.

Luckily, you came by just at the right time. Work had forced you to overtime more than you'd even like — it's way past midnight; at this time of the hour, you were sure Rinne was in the room, snoring loudly but you heard not even a sound from your shared bedroom and that rose an eyebrow of suspicion from you.

You didn't waste time though. You quickly put your stuff on the table and walked towards the bedroom — without hesitation twisting the doorknob open as you gently push forward into the room.

"Rinne...?" You called out, unsure whether he's in here or not because of how quiet he is. From the dimly lit light of the living room entering the room, you see him motionlessly in bed without even moving a muscle; what's even concerning is that he's still wide awake.

"Rinne, are you okay?" You ask again, slowly walking towards the bed and kneeling down besides on the floor beside it while gently poking his cheek.

"Rinne." You called out again when he didn't respond. You don't know whether he's doing this intentionally or not, but you're really not enjoying it very much.

"Rinne!" You whisper yelled, and finally he seems to respond. A loud sigh escaped his lips as he slowly shifts to his side to turn and look at you.

You look straight into his eyes and your eyes narrowed; softening at the sadness you saw the beneath blue ones. You weren't sure exactly why he's this sad, but it made you feel guilty about it even if you've done nothing wrong. Seeing him who is usually so loud and annoying sad in the middle of the night makes you uncomfortably shitty.

"Took your sweet time comin' home, did you?" He asks, his hand reaching out to gently tuck a strand of hair behind your ear.

"Are you mad at me for coming home late...?" You ask, your body tenses up slightly at the uncertainty guilt you felt, but you swallowed it all, not wanting to make it seem like you're getting the wrong idea yet.

"Not really, 'm really glad I have someone reliable like ya to call my sweetheart." His frown then suddenly itched into a smirk as he wraps his arms around you in a surprise attack and dragged you into bed with him without even thinking about letting you at least change into your pajamas first.

"Rinne, come on...!" You giggled, trying to squirm away from his tight hug that kept you still with him on the bed.

"Ya kept your boyfriend waiting for so long and have the audacity to complain when he wants to spend time with you?" Rinne replied, squeezing you tighter in his affectionate tight hug while he presses soft kisses all over your face.

"At least let me change clothes first..." You tried to compromise while being suffocated with his overbearing kisses. On an occasion; on nights when he couldn't sleep — he'll give you all of the affection you could ever asked for that it becomes overbearing. But he is an overbearing person from the start; just as annoying as the first time you've fallen in love with him you can't help but let yourself melt into his affection. This is really what you needed after a long day at work.

"So, just stay with me for a while, 'kay? At least until I fall asleep. I couldn't sleep without ya by my side." His arms only tightened around your waist as he pulls you closer to his body and rests his head on your shoulder, inhaling your scent happily without complaints anymore.

Neither do you have any complaints left to speak of. It felt too nice, having him this affectionate towards you like this. Maybe... You'll stay with him for a while.

#𓏲🗒️ꜝֶָ֢ 𓈒᮫ 𝐈𝐕 𝑜𝑓 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 #ensemble stars x reader #enstars x reader #rinne amagi x reader

[painted-bees]

Weeeeeeee binge reading the Cortes blorbos to see if I missed anything (which I did lol, greatly enjoyed reading the new-to-me posts!) and I'm curious how Raf and Margie went from hey-come-crash-at-my-place to cool-I-live-here-now. also what was going through Margie's mind the first time she stayed at Raf's place? If he'd openly told her she could stay as long as she liked, how come she left before he came home from work? also did she talk about it at all at their next jam session?

(sorry for Wall of Text I didn't realize I had more questions until I started typing them out haha)

Yay!! I am so happy!! Thank you for going through all that Q vQ <3!!

In honesty once Raf realizes she's unhoused, and consequently invites her to crash at his place for the first time, he becomes kinda very "pspspsps🤌" to Magritte ever since, in effort to entice her to just--stay. Largely because he reads her as being very trusting, naive, and vulnerable, and really doesn't trust the world with someone like her. Magritte herself isn't as naive as she is in his imagination, and objectively, he does know that, but his brain naturally comes up with the worst-case scenarios for everything. Still, his paranoid nature also doesn't allow him to be wholly straightforward with her. He's unable to just tell her point blank "hey, make my place your own alright? I just want you to be safe." He can't, because if things ever go sideways and he suddenly wants her out, he wouldn't really be able to create that distance anymore without looking like kind of an asshole for doing so. So, he avoids making that commitment while trying to entice her to take it from him anyways.

It doesn't work lmao

Until this point, Raf has always been the 'skittish' one of the two of them, but when it comes to staying in once place for long, Magritte's own brand of protective skittishness emerges. And it's completely different from Raf's.

Magritte has become aware of the cycle that's repeated ever since she's started couch surfing and relying on the charity of friends + acquaintances. She's a fun, sweet, bubbly, cute person with a bit of a quirky vibe, and so things always start off fun and well enough. But inevitably, her presence becomes a strain. And her lack of contributions to the place she is staying at becomes a point of resentment. And justly so, she thinks. Try as she might, she's not a very clean or hygienic roommate--quite the opposite, to a degree that she knows should be more embarrassing to her than it for some reason is. Sporadic showering scheduel, forgotten plates of rotting food, unwashed clothing on the floor of her room for weeks...She leaves lights on, turns thermostats up too high, forgets to clean up after herself, when she does shower, she stays too long and uses up all the hot water. When asked to do favors, if she cannot preform them as soon as they are requested, there's a high likelihood she'll just forget to do them. None of these things on their own are a terrible deal-breaker...but when it's all of these things, often...and then the rent is due and the electricity and water bill is high, and Magritte's response is "Sorry, sorry! I can buy you lunch if that helps, I'm sorry!"--you know...it gets kind of...upsetting. And friends eventually come to resent her before they gather the courage to tell her that she's gotta find somewhere else to live for a while.

If she doesn't leave before things accumulate to that point, then she loses friends.

Raf has already proven that he's very protective/defensive about his space and his privacy. By the time Raf invites her to stay the night at his place, she's still trying to figure out his boundaries--and from her perspective, they seem to shift around a lot in unpredictable ways.

She likes the relationship she has with Raf. Their Thursday night jam sessions are the one thing she looks forward to the most every single week. She doesn't want to do anything to compromise that.

That first night Margie crashes in his guest bedroom, it's just really good timing and she's really happy to have a comfy, warm bed to sleep in. They get home some time around 1am, and both just...go to sleep almost as soon as they arrive at his apartment lmao. But she's awake as soon as she hears him up and about because she's worried that sleeping in will make her seem like a lazy, bad guest. Also, free coffee....... And they have a really nice, casual chat over breakfast about just...stuff haha.

Raf invites her to stay as long as she wants, but she leaves before he gets home because she doesn't...know when he'll be back, and what if she lost track of time and he comes home to a mess? What if she breaks something? What if she impulsively eats all the stuff in his fridge? What if the neighbors complain to him about the music?? She leaves his place shortly after he leaves for work, once the temperature warms up a bit outside. Because she not confident in her ability to take up only a 'polite' amount of space in his home. So she'd rather just--not.

And--she doesn't want to spend too many consecutive nights, because...then why wouldn't she just stay the whole day, too? How does she explain that she doesn't want him to dislike her for having the habits and manners of a gross little goblin creature? lmao

Raf's automatic assumption is that Margie doesn't like staying at his place cuz she just doesn't like his place. Maybe it's boring, maybe the smell of weed keeps her away lmao. But then he begins to realize how she literally won't do anything unless he's there to tell her she can. Like she's afraid to just make herself at home. And it's...fair. The few times she does attempt to own her space, his instinctive reaction is to point it out to her in one way or another, because the paranoia nips at his heels with "she's getting too comfortable". He's quick to correct himself or assure her it's fine, actually...but he gets annoyed at his own kneejerk responses.

Finally, after a few months of fruitlessly trying to encourage Magritte to treat his apartment as a place she can fall back on and stay in without worrying about imposing, Raf just...gives her a set of keys, "Here's your keys".

And Magritte slides them back over to him, "That's super sweet of you, but you'd get so sick of me, so fast haha."

Raf, a little stung by the outright rejection is just like, "Nah, I don't think so." and Magritte is like, "I know, but you gotta trust me."

She gives him the full lo-down on how this kinda thing has always gone in the past, her terrible domestic habits, her penchant for neglecting responsibilities and failing to deliver on favors. She can't even offer to contribute to rent in any reliable way, because her income and spending habits are so consistently inconsistent that she can't even promise herself that she'll eat two to three meals a day.

There are other people and facilities that she can lean on that would hurt her less if they decided they had enough of her.

She really, really, really doesn't want to screw things up with Raf. She likes hanging out with him. She doesn't want him to grow sick and resentful of her. In an effort to lighten the subject, she concludes it with "yanno, too much of a good thing, haha."

Raf has never wanted to scrunch someone up into a little ball and slam dunk them into a warm, cozy, protective little pillow fort so badly in his entire gd life lmao For someone who is so paranoid of being taken advantage of, he's really taken off guard by this kind of...idk, preserving refusal? On one hand, it's a really considerate gift, an expression of "I like you, not the favors and resources I can extract from you" he's never really had to navigate before. On the other hand, wrt the situation, it's extremely fucking frustrating lmao.

Raf admits that he worries about her probably more than he ought to, and he'd really appreciate it if she could just...oblige him on this. He promises to tell her if he ever feels like he'd prefer to have his space back, and that he'd do so well before it ever risks compromising their friendship. Because just as much as she likes hanging out and playing music with him, he enjoys it, too. It's not just her who's worried about ruining a good thing. "Just stay. One month, and and we can see how we're feeling about it after that. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out and we can still meet up to jam every week. But, if you stay here, we can play music any day we want."

She might have refused if he hadn't thrown in that last line.

#Hi-Note #rafael #magritte

[ritzy-reminiscence]

─♣️─ Lackadaisy : Lacka-Lacy² !

⸝⸝ tl;dr : a continuation of this post, and more headcanons for Lacy Hardt ! I always felt like the last post wasn't enough, so here I am with more ! :D

⸝⸝ note : it's a repost, actually ! i decided to change some things up a bit and make it cleaner overall, as the old one was me on like, two cups of coffee and a gummy candy T-T

Dog person Lacy? Dog person Lacy.

Lacy, despite what many thinks, is actually very energetic. Well, energetic when it comes to tennis, anyways. I feel like she'd love for a dog that matches her energy; preferably a big one too, like a border collie or a dalmatian.

I just know Lacy would love to play fetch with dogs. And if possible, she'd train them to play all sorts of sports (coughcoughtenniscoughcough) with her as well !

But alas, she couldn't get one, because of both her work schedule and the lack of space in her shared apartment, so she compromises by feeding and petting the nice stray dogs that hang out near the apartment building.

Oh, and speaking of apartment ! Lacy, while she earns a pretty good salary, preferred to live with someone else so that she can save money by splitting the rent.

Actually, a lot of things Lacy do are to save money !

Going to the supermarket to pick up groceries? She's either walking or riding a bike.

Buying groceries? Coupons, coupons, coupons. Remember to pick out the ones at the back, sure they're two days away from the expiration date, but you can finish that in less in a day, anyways- Ask for discounts. Ask for discounts.

Eating out? LMAOOO what's that ?? Lacy's never heard of it. Nothing beats homecooked food plus it's cheaper so ...

And Lacy doesn't do this because she's a penny-pincher; she does spend some good money from time to time, but it's mainly for quality shoes or coats, or hair styling products (Lacy didn't get her perfect curls by using bad products on them, after all). When you're Sedgewick Sable's personal secretary, appearances matter a lot.

And speaking of appearances, Lacy doesn't really wear much makeup. The most she wears is the tiniest bit of peach eyeshadow, the softest hint of a blush, and the most subtle touch of lipstick. All drugstore bought, of course! The heat in her workspace can be oppressive, and there's no use going the whole nine yards for makeup if it's all going to melt off halfway through the work shift-

I feel like Lacy does journaling .. ?? Like, she feels like the type of person that would keep a journal.

It's nothing too fancy -- just a notebook that she probably got as a freebie at some grocery store or other place, and a pen that she'd had for God knows how long. She doesn't write in it everyday, just when she feels like it.

And "when she feels like it" means that either something happened at work, or she got something new, or she experienced something she's never experienced before.

Honestly I feel like most of her entries are just something along the lines of "Wick got shitfaced drunk at work again. And I had to clean up his mess in every sense of the word again."

Without the cursing, of course - Lacy doesn't seem like the type of person that would curse in public nor private. Though she might utter a swear under her breath every now and then -

And don't get me wrong, Lacy likes Wick as a superior and she's aware that she's getting treated better than most people in her position,,, but sometimes she just has to wonder why she still sticks around -

And then she remembers that he pays a hell of a good salary and that she's be committing self-sabotage if she decides to quit 💀

We don't get a lot of information about her home life and her relatives, but to me Lacy always seemed like she would be the breadwinner of her family. I like to imagine that she frequently sends money to them, even after they told her that they're holding up just fine on their own.

To me, Lacy also seems like the oldest out of her siblings. She gives exasperated big sister vibes, especially when it comes to her panels with Wick in them😭

ALSO !! Lacy's family, in my headcanons, aren't that well off. Sure, they didn't get the shortest end of the stick, but they weren't living lavishly either. I imagine that Lacy, being the eldest, saw how difficult their home life is and decided to push her way to the top -- legally, of course. She's a smart girl, after all, and once she has a bee in her bonnet, she's doing anything to make it happen.

And I don't know what it is, but Lacy feels like she's not from St. Louis, like she's from a bigger city and only recently moved to St. Louis for a job.

That being said, Lacy gets homesick a lot. Her hometown is just a train ride from St. Louis, but given the nature of her work as Wick's personal secretary / coffee fairy / babysitter, she couldn't really find the time to squeeze in a visit.

So she compromises by keeping photos of her family near her -- on her workspace is a framed photograph of her, her two younger sisters, and their parents. It was a formal family picture, everyone's dolled up in their Sunday's best, their smiles oddly mechanical like most family photos.

On her bedside table is another framed photograph, but this time it was a lot more .. fun. It was taken when Lacy was in high school, and summer vacation had just started. They were in the beach, happily tanned in their bathing suits. Lacy had one hand holding a rapidly melting ice cream cone, the other clutching the brim of her hat (she never really took well to the sun). All of them were grinning broadly. After all, Dad had worked extra shifts and overtimes at his work to be able to afford this trip, and they were going to make every second count.

And in her wallet, a ton of small photographs of her home -- badly taken shots of the kitchen and living room, barely visible captures of their shared bedroom with it's three beds -- Lacy's the only one neatly made -- and candid shots of her family members.

She misses them an awful lot, so she calls home as often as she can. Sure, the bill gets bigger and bigger after the first two dozen minutes, but Lacy doesn't care how big the phone people charge her, as long as she's able to talk to her family.

In the rare occasion that Lacy visits home, she blows all of her savings on presents for her siblings ("Lacy, honey, your father and I are completely fine without any presents, so don't bother and treat yourself to something you want instead, alright?"). She brings home the sweetest candies and cakes from the sweetshop, the latest toys and dolls that all the kids are playing with, books with the most vividly illustrated pages, and, occasionally, a new dress for Mom and a new pair of leather shoes for Dad. What are they going to do about it, anyways? Lacy's already bought it >:)

She spends her visits at home playing with her siblings, getting as messy as she could before going back to the clean-as-a-whistle getup for work. She loves her family and knows them like the back of her own hand, and although it breaks her heart to wave goodbye from the windows of the train, she still does it anyway, waving wildly and shouting at the top of her lungs until the train rounds the corner and vanishes from sight.

This has nothing to do with my headcanons but I just love their exchange of dialogue here ; like, I can feel the Big Sister Lacy Energy™ from these panels so much

#୨୧ solari-writes ! ₊˚ #lackadaisy #lackadaisy cats #boozecats #lackadaisy lacy #lacy hardt #lacy hardt headcanons #lackadaisy lacy hardt #lacy hardt fanfiction #lacy hardt supremacy

[brw]

people often say hank’s (beast) descent into ‘dark scientist’ is a product of gradual development. do you agree there’s any merit to that or is it more like ‘past few years they’ve been building it up solely for the intention of bringing him here’ as opposed to an actual organic shift of his person. I know he had a bit of a self hating minority thing going on the beginning and he isn’t exactly famous for practicing safe experimentation but I can’t recall him ever doing anything in the past that would warrant this new extreme krakoa age hank. Anyway thoughts?

I am of a small minority of big Hank McCoy fans who does think Hank was always going to have an evil moment. I do think like... we have seen Hank become increasingly more comfortable with compromising himself morally as more and more has been expected of him to cure mutantkind's ails. Like he starts reaching out to supervillians during the Legacy Virus, he works with Dark Beast during Endangered Species and reaches out to various supervillains post House of M.

Like, the thing is that Hank doesn't like being a smart guy and being forced into this role repeatedly by the X-Men is part of the problem. Certainly Hank likes the attention being smart gets him--but there's a reason why he's so happy on the Avengers where he gets fawned over without having to be a genius. He was a star American football player and was top of his classes--he starts out in the first few issues of X-Men as fairly belligerent, but randomly becomes extremely verbose one day. What Hank wants is a very simple thing; positive attention, and praise.

And for a while, being smart, charming, well-read on the X-Men got him that, got him laughs and jokes, but as time went on and mutantkind faces more danger in the legacy virus, in House of M, he is suddenly expected to solve all these issues constantly. And he does want to help, but he also wants a social life but can't really have both. Like, once in the Avengers Hank mentions that enjoying himself feels morally wrong after having a weird moment with a homeless man getting struck by lightning (don't worry about it), and I imagine that feeling of guilt comes back when he's daydreaming of having a fun night on the town as a virus slowly kills the most disenfranchised mutants.

And that's the thing, is that I think Hank wants very badly to believe he's a good person, and that's where despite my belief that Hank was going to have a little supervillain arc and needed to get worse before he gets better, that Benjamin Percy does not understand this fundamental fact about Hank. Hank wants to be a good person and he wants to be liked. Even when he's evil, he should still be funny. He should still be well-read. He should still be charming and flirty and kind because Hank needs to be well-recieved. Yes, I think some people would see through that facade; Storm, for example, but I think fundamentally Hank should always still be a charming person to be around and that's where Percy fails.

Hank doesn't want to be the necessary bastard; Hank wants to be fun and kind and someone people consider a good friend. And while I do think Hank would probably force himself into the necessary bastard role for Charles (I think Hank is probably the most loyal of Charles' original students, despite being the first to walk out on him, because he's emotionally dependent on Charles), I don't think Hank would stop quoting Byron at Emma, stop trying to make his friends laugh, etc.

Like, at every point in time where Percy has had an opportunity to display he knows Hank and he knows why Hank would let himself get to a place where he can justify fucking torturing people in space, he's failed. Because he doesn't actually know Hank I don't think, he just needs someone to be shockingly evil so Wolverine can look more badass. And it's a shame because I think the current X-Force is a fantastic opportunity to explore Hank's weird dependence on Charles, the fact that he's the only member of the O5 who has never majorly broken away from Charles' politics, the fact that he wants to be liked and loved and of course Charles giving him something special and needed to do for the good of Krakoa would make Hank feel good and make him want to do whatever it took to keep his position as a good student. To explore Hank's deflection of his own feelings and his own self hatred with jokes, or memorised Shakespeare quotes, or using overly large words to make himself sound smarter than he is. Instead what we have is basically forced edge to shock insteaf of actually making a comment on what kind of person Hank is; because Hank almost cried in front of Logan 10 years ago when he learned his friend was going to die and it was likely he couldn't find a cure in time. There is zero reason why, even for an evil Hank, why he would use Logan's body like that against him. That doesn't track.

Anyway, tldr, I think you're right; Hank has been getting steadily more evil as time has gone on since the 90s, but he's always been able to justify himself because he wants to believe he's a good person and will go to any lengths including hypocrisy to justify himself. I do think Hank needs to have a genuine villain arc before we redeem him, but what we have now is not a desire to explore Hank McCoy as presented as a villain; it's to shock readers and also to probably pin everything bad with Krakoa on one or two figures; Hank and Sinister.

I'm just generally not into it. It's also annoying because the X Office seems to want there to be no way to handwave it via an alternate universe Hank or something by showing Dark Beast in a tube. Like, why would you write yourself out of stories! Now we're just going to have a comically different characterisation of the same character in 616 when some Avenger writer inevitably brings him up for an issue to Vibe with Simon or Wanda. Anyway, current era is dumb and I dislike it because it literally doesn't have to be. We have opportunities for a genuinely evil Hank in 616, but I don't think torturing people in space is the way to do it.

#asks #anonymous #hank mccoy #krakoa #krakoa beast #ch: oh my stars and garters!

[radarsteddybear]

Whumptober Day 22 - Who Among Us Doesn't Have a Scar or Two

Fandom: Original Fiction (H.O.U.N.D.S.) Prompt(s): scars, "Let me see." Rating: Teen Additional Tags: whump, hurt/comfort, friendship, found family, spy-fi, in which the author remembers her characters are werewolves

Minnow shivered in the cold night air. The fire didn’t seem to be giving off that much heat, though that may have been due to dampness that still clung to her clothes more so than anything about the fire itself.

She looked over at Cassandra, who was staring into the fire, holding her jacket tightly around her, her mind a million miles away. This was only their third mission together, and already, they worked as well together as the cogs in a well-oiled machine. But Minnow hadn’t seen this side of her partner before. Up until now, Cassandra had been cheerful, talkative, expressive. The only times she ever seemed to stop talking for more than ten minutes were when the mission called for quiet or when she was asleep. But Cassandra hadn’t said much of anything since they’d escaped the F.E.L.I.S. hideout, and that had been hours ago. That could mean any number of things. Cassandra could be hurt physically.  She could be hurt psychologically.  She could be feeling guilty about the way the mission had gone.  She could be having second thoughts about being a H.O.U.N.D.S. agent.

“You ok?” Minnow finally asked.

Cassandra blinked at her like she had forgotten she wasn’t alone. “Yeah,” she said. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Minnow said. “You’re awfully quiet.”

Cassandra shrugged. “It’s been a long couple of days.”

Normally, Minnow would have asked her if she wanted to talk about, but even in the dim light of the campfire, she’d caught the way Cassandra had winced when she’d moved.

Minnow’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

Cassandra shifted uncomfortably. “I told you. I’m fine.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Minnow carefully considered what she was about to say. “I’m sorry if I’m overstepping, but if we’re going to be partners, then we need to be able to trust each other, and we can’t trust each other if we’re hiding things from each other. I need to know if you’re hurt, just like you need to know if I am, and if something’s impacting you emotionally or psychologically—”

“Nothing’s impacting me emotionally or psychologically,” Cassandra interrupted.

“Are you sure? Because you look like you’re carrying the weight of the world,” Minnow said. “You don’t have to tell me specifics, but if you’re at all compromised—”

“I’m not compromised!” The words came out sharp, nearly as sharp as the wince that immediately followed.

“Ok,” Minnow said slowly, trying to keep her voice neutral. “But you look like you may be injured—”

“I said I’m fine!”

Suddenly, Minnow wasn’t so sure about this partnership. She started thinking about what she would say to Mr. Thaddeus when they returned to Arlington. While Miss Jacobson is a fine agent, I don’t think that we are a good fit, and it may be better that we are each paired with other agents—

Next to her, Cassandra took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Maybe—maybe I am compromised.”

Minnow took a moment before answering. “I see,” she said. “What do I need to know?”

“It’s just a minor injury,” Cassandra said. “It’s not much to worry about, really. I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

Minnow frowned. “Are you sure? Because typically—”

“This sort of thing has happened before,” Cassandra said. “This right here will be the worst of it. I’ll be right as rain after a good night’s sleep.”

“What do you mean, it’s happened before?” Minnow said, alarmed. “What kind of injury are you talking about?”

“I told you, it’s nothing! Just a scratch or two. That’s all.”

“Maybe I should take a look, just to be su—”

“No!”

Minnow sat back, startled. Maybe it was time to start thinking about what she’d say to Cassandra when she decided to cut the mission short and return to Headquarters without meeting the mission objective.

Cassandra buried her face in her hands. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice muffled by her fingers. “I just—it’s—it’s personal.”

“I should still probably take a look,” Minnow said gently. “Just so we know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

Cassandra pulled her jacket closer.

“It’ll be in the capacity of a medical professional, of course,” Minnow said. “Though calling myself a ‘medical professional’ just because I’ve had some additional training is a bit of a misnomer—”

Cassandra laughed in spite of herself.  “You always undersell yourself.”

Minnow blinked in surprise.  Did she?  “The point still stands.  The last thing we want is to wake up in the morning to find you’re completely critical.”

“I can think of worse things,” Cassandra said.

Minnow just gave her a Look.

Cassandra sighed.  “Ok,” she said.  She took off her jacket and slowly unbuttoned her shirt.  About halfway down, she hesitated.  “It’s just—I have—there are some scars—”

“Who among us doesn’t have a scar or two?” Minnow said. 

“I know, but—”

“Let me see,” Minnow said softly. 

Cassandra finished unbuttoning her shirt.  Minnow moved closer to her as she turned around so that her back was to her partner.  Cassandra shrugged off her shirt to reveal four jagged lines torn into her skin. Minnow knew that mark—it was a claw mark. A large claw mark.

One that had definitely come from a werewolf.

Minnow’s breath caught in her throat.  The scars were old.  Far older than Cassandra’s H.O.U.N.D.S. service record could possibly be, even counting her time at the Academy.  Sure, Minnow had meant it when she’d said that everyone had scars of some sort, but this wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind.  She found herself reaching out to touch them, but she quickly drew her hand back and reminded herself that that wasn’t what she was looking for.  No, that would be where the dried blood was.

“How’d you get this?” Minnow asked.

“What?” Cassandra asked, her voice tight with anxiety.

“This—is this from a belt?”  Minnow touched it lightly.  It was a fresh, swollen line across her shoulders, not quite as red and angry as the claw marks below.

Cassandra winced.  “It was a whip.”

“A—when the hell did that happen?”

“When they captured me.  Lord Leonid wanted to ‘teach me a lesson’ for snooping around places I shouldn’t be.  Lucky for me, he only had time to hit me twice before your diversion.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Cassandra was quiet a moment.  “I told you, it’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“It most certainly will not be!”  Minnow grabbed Cassandra’s discarded shirt and searched it for tears.

“He was kind enough to let me take it off first.  He said that ‘flesh heals, but fabric does not.’”

“And you said you’ve had injuries like this before?” 

Cassandra was silent. 

“When?”  The word spilled out of Minnow’s mouth before she could stop it.

Cassandra remained silent. 

Minnow scrubbed a hand over her face.  “Sorry, I shouldn’t have—you don’t have to answer that, of course.”  She pulled out her handkerchief and wet it with one of the canteens they kept in the sedan for emergencies, then carefully laid it on Cassandra’s back.  Cassandra hissed when it made contact with her skin.

“It’ll be fine tomorrow,” she said again.

“Yeah,” Minnow said as she carefully avoided the scars with her handkerchief.  Her head was swimming with questions she knew she couldn’t ask.  “And if it’s not, that’s ok, too.  We’ll deal with it as it comes.”

“Yeah,” Cassandra agreed.

“For tonight, you might want to sleep on your front,” Minnow said.  She considered their meager first aid kit.  “I’m not sure if we’ll have enough bandages for this.”

“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

“I guess we will.  And if we don’t, we can always use your shirt to make more,” Minnow teased.

“After Lord Leonid went to the trouble of not ripping it to shreds?”

“He should have thought about that before he tried to rip you to shreds.”

“Can you imagine, though?  He hands us a couple of rolls of bandages on our way out of there,” Cassandra snickered.

Minnow picked up the roll of bandages and started wrapping it around Cassandra’s shoulders.  “After some of the stories we heard at the Academy, I’m not sure that I’d be surprised.”

Cassandra hummed in agreement.  “Speaking of bandages, how are we doing on ours?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to cover the whole thing, but I should be able to get most of it.  And if you don’t move at all tonight, it might even stay that way.”

“I just hope that we don’t need any more before the end of this mission,” Cassandra said.  “Hey, do you think they’ve got a suggestion box back at headquarters?”

“I have yet to come across a suggestion box,” Minnow said, concentrating on positioning the bandage just so. 

“Maybe we could suggest a suggestion box.”

“Or we could put it in our report.”

Cassandra snorted.  “Does anyone actually read those reports?”

“We’ve got a whole division dedicated to it!”

“But are they going to notice a line in the middle of a report that we could use more bandages out in the field?”

“We could bring it up at the debriefing.  Then it’ll at least be on the record in two different places,” Minnow said.

“Yeah, so at some inquest years down the line after something terrible happens, someone can prove that H.O.U.N.D.S. was negligent.  But in the meantime, that’s not going to help.”

“You really don’t have a high opinion of H.O.U.N.D.S., do you?”

“I don’t have a high opinion of bureaucracy.  If I didn’t have a high opinion of H.O.U.N.D.S., I wouldn’t be here.”

“Well, that answers my next question.”  Minnow tied off the bandage and sat back.  “How does that feel?”

“Pretty good, all things considered.”

“Good.”  Minnow climbed into her makeshift sleeping bag.  “If you need anything in the night, let me know.”

“Will do.”  Cassandra slowly climbed into hers.

It wasn’t long before they were both fast asleep.

#whumptober2023 #no.27 #scars #let me see #H.O.U.N.D.S. #my Minnow #my Cass #fic #Teddy Bear writes #my OCs #whumptober #whump #hurt comfort #original post

[starlightsearches]

I am here to request a dark Kylo x reader fic 👀👀👀 could I request Kylo being completely OBSESSED with the reader? He doesn't want anyone but her, no one else turns him on but her, she's all he thinks about, but the problem is she doesn't know about his feelings until he gets caught stalking her?

Inclinations

Ahhhh of course! This is just something little as I'm still dipping my toes into the concept, but if you'd like a part two please let me know!

Kylo Ren x femme! reader (no pronouns)

Warnings: 18+ ONLY (minors will be blocked. Stalking, non-consensual voyeurism, canon-typical violence, force choking and real choking, mentions of masturbation (m and f), dead dove do not eat, etc. pls don't be mean to me if this is bad i'm sick

He needs focus.

It's a crucial ingredient, especially considering the number of variables in an act like this; his sphere of control is small, and must be tightly maintained.

It matters very little that the task is difficult, or that the skill required is so great—seeking you out is second nature.

The air in his chambers is chill and damp against the bare skin of his torso, nicked with scars and littered with freckles. His chest rises and falls with even breaths, dark lashes fluttering against pale cheeks.

He lets himself fall, the world around him shifting and fading as he attempts to tether himself to you across great distances, through these countless halls and locked doors.

What will you be doing, when he finds you? Where will you be? There has never been a bad outcome in his experience, but a few moments do stick out among all the others.

The first night he sought you out. Your body curled tightly against the world as you sunk into your mattress, streams of tears flowing from your eyes and soaking into the sheets, trembling gently with quiet sobs.

You were thinking of him.

Only hours before he'd seen you, held you, for the first time—the red embers of smoldering metal framing your face like a halo, the soft whites of your eyes visible beyond dark lashes as you struggled to bring air into your desperate lungs.

And just like that, all the anger inside him, the billowing rage and endless fear, it disappeared. There and then gone—laying his eyes on you had pulled the plug, found the switch inside him that made everything go quiet. He was left with a little curiosity, and the gentle give of your throat in his fist.

He left you there, crumpled on the durasteel, chest heaving with leaden gasps as he stomped out of the room.

There was something pleasant about the spike in adrenaline every time you sensed him nearby after that initial meeting, a reaction that stayed long after the bruising on your throat had faded. It never offended him; he liked knowing he still occupied space in your mind.

And you certainly occupied space in his.

It had been weeks since the initial incident when he found you in such a compromising position, your body splayed across your sheets like fine art, hand working madly at your core. He heard even the softest cries on your lips as you begged some unseen force for your release.

The electricity in the room coalesces against his skin, urging his hand closer to his cock. It craves release, too, hoping for a chance to burst free from its confines—shattering bulbs and crackling through air until the hairs on his arms stand at attention.

He'd give you what you asked for, if you were here with him. He'd keep you in his bed for days, never giving you a reason to leave—fuck the life out of you. You'd come for him, on him, because of him over and over and over again.

He's painfully hard now, the head of his cock pressing insistently beneath his sternum, and he ignores it more fully. It feels good to resist—saving that pleasure for a moment when he could give into it more fully. He'd never be able to keep a clear image of you, not with his hand wrapped around his cock.

His vision greys at the edges; you're close.

The scene fades into view, and not a familiar one—like the bridge, or your quarters. He takes in the scattered tables, a few officers behind you out of uniform, sipping on sweating bottles of ardees, their crass laughter swimming through the air.

Of course he didn't recognize it. It's an officer's lounge.

His chest grows tighter, shards of glass filling the empty spaces in his lungs as he considers why you'd spend your time off duty in a place like that.

The answer appears at the edges of his vision in the form of a hand. The thick fingers trace over the inside of your arm, traipsing over your bare skin—skin that, by all rights, belongs to him.

Ren recognizes the other man, an officer of little standing, notable only for his incredible mediocrity.

The glass shards threaten to pour from his mouth, shredding his throat, and the vision wavers until he manages to swallow them back down.

He's waiting for you to push the man away, to scream, to call for him to save you from this. If you spoke his name, right now, nothing in the galaxy could manage to keep him from your side.

You smile instead, bottom lip caught between your teeth. He has a hand around your neck, pulling you closer, and closer until his lips just barely brush your own. . .

And you don't pull away.

The image dissipates—Ren is thrown back to his quarters with a rush of nausea, vision hazy and smeared with red.

Chest heaving, livid blood coursing through his veins, Ren makes a verdict.

Something would have to be done about that.

18+ Kylo Ren Tag List: @thembohux, @direnightshade, @missmadwoman, @imafatassmess, @toasterking, @mad-girl-without-a-box, @isthisheaven5, @trash-queen-af, @generalthirst, @huxxoxo, @theoriginalannoyingbird, @mylifeisactuallyamess, @xxinvisiblexx, @fear-prism, @serenaisavillain, @bespectacledhuman (let me know if you'd like to be removed)

Join my tag list here!

#kylo ren x reader #kylo ren x you #kylo ren/reader #kylo ren/you #kylo ren fanfic #kylo ren fanfiction #kylo ren #adam driver #adcu #cw: stalking #cw: noncon #my writing #tw nsft #requests

[itsany62]

SteveTony - Alternate Universe

Here are some Alternate Universe fics that I love. Don't forget to leave kudos and nice comments in every fic!

Food for the Heart, by LagLemon, 14 k >, Cooking, No Powers.

After being introduced to a gourmet food on a budget blog by Pepper (a gift for her elderly, cheapskate mother) Tony starts cooking again. The recipes are good, but the blog owner is even better. Still, Tony isn't so sure Captain America, the guy who runs the blog, can compete with Hot Bagboy, the gorgeous blond who works at the grocery store.

"Free to Good Home" by Captain_Panda, 7 k > words, Alternate Universe - Animals.

"Oliver and Company" AU.

There's a great big world outside the box.

But it's a dog-eat-dog world, and Tony's just one cat. Then a stray dog comes along, looking for a friend.

A Day In Principal Stark's Office, by nannersmelo, 10 k > words, Steve Single Parent, Director Tony.

Tony Stark has his hands full with not only Stark Industries, but also his beloved mother's life project: The Maria Stark Academy, and as he enters his office in order to deal with a ferocious mother whose son was apparently assaulted by one of his brightest students, he was sure this day would culminate in nothing but a heinous headache. Little did he know - he was in for one hell of a surprise.

I Am the Night by gottalovev, 6 k > words, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Vampire Tony Stark, Wizard Steve Rogers.

That's it. Tony is doomed. He rolls on his back, crosses his wings over his belly and closes his eyes. He'll await death here, misunderstood by the world to the bitter end.

C is for Calculus and Compromise, by heydoeydoey, 11 k>, Gifted AU, Post-Divorce, Angts with a Happy Ending.

Steve's just trying to give his prodigy daughter a normal childhood. Enter a meddling school administrator, Tony Stark, and too many lawyers.

tell you my love for you by jelliebean, 22 k > words, Alternate Universe - Normal High School, Based on Love Simon.

A guy at Shield High comes out on tumblr, anonymously. Tony thought he was the only gay guy on campus--not out, because of Howard--and sends him an email.

“Hey, Flying. Same here. I’ve got a secret too, and it’s like I’m hiding who I am, every day. From everyone. All the closest people to me. But I just can’t tell them. I’m gay, too. It feels like I’m putting on this mask, this shell of who I think they want me to be. Even though I don’t think my friends would judge me. I don’t know why. I just. I’ve got a secret. –Shell”

The guy seems great--amazing, even, and then Hammer has to step in and ruin it all.

Mergers & Acquisitions by Robin_tCJ, 33 k > words, Angst, sex as currency.

Steve Rogers is the CEO of the Rogers Corporation, which he built from the ground up. When he learns that Hydra International is making a bid for a hostile takeover of Stark Industries, he decides he has to do what he can to stop Hydra from overtaking the market and becoming an unstoppable, unethical conglomerate. Tony Stark asks for something Steve isn’t sure he should give, but he does it anyway – and it completely changes everything. But when Hydra keeps coming, Steve and Tony realize there’s more to this than they’d realized.

Meeting the Monsters by itsallAvengers, 23 k > words, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters.

Tony's at public school with kids his age for the first time in seventeen years, and he is determined that this year is gonna be his year. He's going to make friends. He's going to be popular. People will like him.

Unsurprisngly, none of that actually happens.

He does sort-of-maybe fall in love with a vampire in his class that everyone is terrified of, though. So... there's that.

(I Want You To See) The Darkest Side Of Me by ann2who, 45 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Post-World War II.

In Monte Carlo, Steve meets the wealthy widower Anthony Stark. It’s love at first sight—at least for Steve—and he can’t believe his luck when Tony asks him to live at Stark Mansion, his large estate in Malibu. Never in his life had Steve thought something like this was possible… never had he been this happy. However, soon Steve realizes that Tony is still deeply troubled by the death of his first wife and haunted by the many ghosts she left behind. The longer Steve lives in her shadow, the more he understands that… He can never be what Tony’s wife had once been for him. And Tony might never truly love him.

Gift With Purchase Remix by sabrecmc, 43 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, hooker Steve, Sugar Daddy.

Gift With Purchase Remix wherein Steve actually is a hooker. But for a Really Sympathetic Reason.

The Little Glass Screwdriver by ann2who, 19 k > words, Cinderella AU.

When Prince Steven is forced to find himself a bride, true love gets in the way. As the night of the grand ball unfolds, the prince meets a mysterious knight who might just change his entire life in a way he could have never imagined.

**Cinderella AU**

Covered in Lines by royal_chandler, 3 k > words, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Alternate Universe - College/University, Age Difference.

He can’t lose sight of pale, deft hands that gesture on transitive verbs, an ink-stained thumb edging underneath Tony’s ribcage with an affection that can only be called dangerous.

half-wild and glimmering by deathsweetqueen , 15 k > words, Alternate Universe - Western, Prostitution.

“Give me a drink, Tasha,” Tony sighs as he lands in front of the bar. “I’ve had one hell of a day.”

Natasha raises an eyebrow. “Have you really?” she asks, loftily, sliding a tumbler of whiskey along the well-polished wood.

Tony lets his head hang, the sweat beading on the back of his neck. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve had to put myself through today,” he sighs, wearily.

“I would not know. You will not let me work the rooms,” Natasha retorts, her voice a little strained, busying her hands in a dirty glass.

“I don’t let you work the rooms ‘cause you’re liable to kill anyone who touches ya the wrong way and we can’t lose that much of our business,” Tony reminds her, wryly amused, sipping at his whiskey. He shakes his head at the burn. “We peddle flesh, darling, not death.”

peers, fears and holiday cheers by jacobby, 24 k > words, Parent Tony Stark.

“He’s only two years older than you,” Tony finally says when the silence becomes too much to bear.

“Dad, Teddy is turning twenty-seven next year.”

“I am not dating your husband—”

“I’m not implying you are. I just want you to be...aware that he’s practically the same age as my husband.”

AKA

Tony Stark's new boyfriend is only two years older than his adult sons. Telling them is one thing, introducing them is another. What Tony doesn't expect is that the past always has a way of catching up to him, of biting him in the ass when he least expects it. Well, at least they're all together for the Holidays. What more can he ask for?

A Higher Form of War by sabrecmc, 292 k > words, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Historical Romance.

Tony is a King with a surprising number of people out to kill him. Steve and the rest of the Avengers are fighting for Pierce's rebellion and end up with Tony as their prisoner. Oops.

you can call me babe for the weekend by complicationstoo, 10 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, actor Tony Stark.

Tony left his small town for Los Angeles after high school, leaving behind everything to pursue his dream. Ten years later, he comes back for the first time and finds that some things are impossible to let go of.

Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be by iam93percentstardust, 72 k > words, Alternate Universe - Theatre.

Famed director Phil Coulson brings Shakespeare’s beloved play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, to Broadway. This production though comes with a twist: a brief but passionate love affair between the faerie king, Oberon, and his attendant, Puck. In the roles of the two star-crossed lovers, Coulson casts America’s darling Steve Rogers, fresh off his third Academy Award, and Broadway royalty, Tony Stark. Steve quickly finds himself falling for the quick-witted and sarcastic actor but Tony is dating the stage manager. Unwilling to come between the seemingly happy couple, Steve steps back but all isn’t right behind the scenes and Tony may need him when everything falls apart.

and so we rebuild by raeldaza, 26 k > words, Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Soulmates, Mutual Pining.

Sometimes, a voice whispers: you will never atone for your mistakes.

Tony believes that, believes it so strongly some days he drowns in it, but he still tries. Tries through Starfleet, tries through inventions, tries through missions. Then, one day, he meets his new Captain, and things change.

and teach this heart (how to beat with light), by starklystar, 40 k >, AU Hospital, Single parent Steve.

Eight years ago, at a funeral with a baby's cries ringing in his ears, Tony Stark decided to turn his life around. He's a genius, billionaire, philanthropist. What's so hard to adding 'doctor' to that list? And after that, it can't be that hard to add 'husband' and 'father' too, right? But the past has a way of haunting even the very best of us, and in any universe, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers have never had an easy love.

Featuring: drama, chaos, Peter's scheming, meddling friends, and doctors learning again that the heart can never be as simple as four chambers and four valves.

Catching Lightning in a Bottle by sabrecmc, 120 k > words, Alternate Universe - Sweet Home Alabama Fusion.

College student Tony meets janitor Steve at MIT and they fall blissfully in love, until Howard happens and things fall apart. One divorce paperwork snafu courtesy of the ever-helpful Jarvis, and ten years later, Tony has to get re-divorced from Steve.

This does not go as he imagines.

Or, the Sweet Home Alabama AU that no one--well, okay, a few of you--asked for.

The Night Shift by weethreequarter , 16 k > words, Alternate Universe - Hospital.

Welcome to the Emergency Department of San Antonio General where Dr. Tony Stark joins the team fresh from his most recent tour in Afghanistan and - much to the consternation of the other staff - strikes up an instant rapport with Nurse Steve Rogers. Meanwhile, new resident Bruce Banner refuses to give up on his patient, and Dr. Sharon Carter learns something from her own patients. Throw in a pissed off hospital administrator, Clint using the coffee pot as a mug again, and a major car crash and you have, well, just another night shift.

Cake It Till You Make It by ChocolateCapCookie, 10 k > words, Kid Fic, Alternate Universe - Bakery.

Steve Rogers and Tony Stark have a lot in common. They're single parents, they own rival bakeries at the center of town... and they both hate each other's guts.

When a mix-up at Peter and Morgan's school has both fathers scrambling to prove they're the better baker, they do the mature, adult thing and compete in a bake-off. Between the mixing and the creaming, the baking and the icing, Steve and Tony find that hate is actually not that far from love.

Looking for Heaven by foxxcub, 31 k > words, Alternate Universe - Regency, Marriage of Convenience.

When young Lord Anthony Stark learns Steven Rogers has enlisted in the army, he thinks he's seen the last of his tiny, headstrong, haughty stable boy. But four years later, Lord Stark gets an unexpected visit from Steve, whose mother has fallen gravely ill and into financial ruin. Even more unexpected, Steve agrees to a shocking proposal: they will marry, giving Steve the necessary funds to save his mother, and Tony the much-needed reprieve from harassing would-be suitors. It is a business arrangement, nothing more. But as time goes on and circumstances arise, Tony begins to learn that keeping his heart away from his husband is easier said than done.

just a guy, standing in front of another guy by theappleppielifestyle, 12 k > words.

“It’s not real,” Tony says, still smiling, jaw twitching with effort. “The fame. It’s - I’m just a guy."

(Or, Notting Hill AU, with a twist.)

Mother of Exiles (A Titanic AU) by BladeoftheNebula, 21 k > words, Alternate Universe - Titanic Fusion.

“You’ll never guess what just happened!” Steve said, taking a deep breath to try and calm his breathing. “I met someone. A guy from first class.”

Dublin 1912: Steve Rogers is barely making ends meet, living in the tenement slums of Dublin. But a stroke of good luck gives him and his best friend the chance to change their fortune. Two tickets to America on board the RMS Titanic.

The Devil You Know by shetlandowl, 17 k > words, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Author/Novelist.

Best selling author Tony Stark revives the bodice ripper genre for a modern audience. From frisky gay cowboys to ravenous lesbian pirate queens, he consistently delivers riveting thrillers full of romance, drama, and the filthy, unapologetically kinky sex that has become his trademark specialty.

Tony has everything a man could dream of - horny, adoring fans, and boatloads of money. Or that's what he thought, until Detective Steve Rogers walks into his life and turns it all upside down.

Bears and Mountains and Lumberjacks Oh My! by justanotherrollingstony (adoctoraday), 24 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Lumberjack Steve Rogers.

It was supposed to be easy--go meet the reclusive artist and buy some art. And then came the broken down car. And the snowstorm. And the lumberjack with a face like a greek god. So yea, Tony is stuck in a cabin in the woods with a hot lumberjack till the storm clears. Could be worse.

Series: A Furious Vexation by Annie D (scaramouche), 18 k > words, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse.

A Steve/Tony post-apocalypse AU that exists pretty much just for the smut.

That Feline Beat by Tito11, 5 k > words, Alternate Universe - Animals.

Presenting Steve and Tony in the Aristocats!AU

Tony and his three kittens have been kidnapped from their fancy Upper East Side apartment while their owners are away and deposited on the mean streets of Harlem. Unsure of where they are or how to get back home, they'll have to rely on street cat Steve to guide them. Will they get home safely? Will Tony's fear of abandonment cause him to drive away the best tomcat he's ever known? Only time will tell.

do you fondue? by calciseptine, 16 k > words, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting.

Tony has done crazy things in the name of food, but falling in love with Steve Rogers really takes the cake.

a glimpse of heaven's love by parkrstark, 13 k> words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Terminal Illnesses.

The child begins to empty his pockets. He starts to count coins on the counter. Tony huffs a little impatiently as he realizes most of them are pennies.

The cashier actually humors the kid and counts along with him. They reach 3 dollars and 54 cents before he shakes his head sadly. "Sorry, kid. There's not enough here."

The kid sounds close to crying. "I need these paints for my Papa. It's Christmas Eve and these...he doesn't have any. The doctors said he doesn't have long. I want him to have these. In case he meets Jesus tonight, I want him to paint one more time. Please."

Tony takes a step forward, arms still full of toys he's buying just because. He can cover this child's gift for his dying father. Money. Money is what he's good for.

"I'll buy them."

--

Or, the Christmas Shoes AU no one but me asked for.

If you survive first impressions, you're good to go by itsallAvengers, 3 k > words, Parent Tony Stark, Alternate Universe - No Powers.

The first time Peter Parker-Stark sees Steve Rogers, he may or may not be standing in direct path of the man's motorcycle.

His daddy is really not going to be happy about that one.

A Rat-ional Conclusion by BladeoftheNebula, 6 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Veterinarians, Parent Tony Stark.

He had a strong flurry of patients throughout the morning and by the time it rolled around to noon, he was just about worn out.

He walked out into the reception, stretching until he felt a satisfying pop. “Are we done?”

Bucky checked the screen. “Just about. One more before lunch - a rat, singular.”

Steve breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully straight forward then. “Great, let me know when they-”

He was interrupted by the bell over the door and looked up to see a little girl cradling a small animal carrier, being shepherded through the door by easily one of the hottest men he’d ever seen in real life.

Oh wow.

Tidal Pull by sabrecmc, 97 k > words, Octopus Tony Stark, Alternate Universe - Shipwrecked.

After the American Civil War, Union soldier Steve Rogers takes a chance on an opportunity to sail with the Stark Trading Company down in the Caribbean. During a terrible storm, his ship is lost. To his surprise, he survives, and ends up stranded on an island that isn't quite as deserted as he first thinks.

Or, a reverse Little Mermaid tale where Steve has to fall for the fish-man.

Twelve Days by elysianprince, 22 k > words, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Ghosts.

In which Tony finds himself in a town that looks like it crawled out of a Hallmark Christmas movie, trying to sell an inn he didn't know he owned, all while dealing with Steve Rogers, the resident ghost who has returned to haunt the inn each December during the twelve days of Christmas for the past seventy years. Tony has only one logical solution that benefits them both: break the curse that binds him - but falling for a man almost a century old wasn't among his plans.

She kissed me by S_Horne, 1 k > words, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting.

“Your mom kissed me.”

Steve blinked awake and lifted his head from his pillow to look over at the silhouette in the doorway. “What?”

“Your mom,” Tony reiterated. “She kissed me.”

“Yeah,” Steve said simply, “she does that.”

#stevetony #stony #fic rec #tony stark #steve rogers #my recs

[silverwhittlingknife]

i had kind of thought that if dick had actually been killed in infinite crisis, that he probably would’ve been resurrected in blackest night/brightest day. maybe that’s just wishful thinking, but at least that way we would get some good ol batfam angst eventually followed up by a resurrection-gone-right. plus imagine bruce coming back from being lost in time to find that dick’s alive…

OH MY GOD zombie!Dick coming back from the dead and then Tim has to destroy him 😭 in the middle of the awful year where everybody's dead 😭

ooh but a resurrection-gone-right is interesting. Bruce dies at the start of the story when everything's going to hell, but then when he comes back at the end of the story Dick's back and everything has been fixed. There's something nice about the arc of that.

other brainstorming on Dick dying and possible fallout

@upswings look what you've done you've awakened the sadists in all of us

Jason and Tim fighting over Nightwing -- OW. You know, I would really like to imagine this with a happy ending, where ... like, Jason comes to understand Tim better, or vice versa, but also my first instinct is some kind of one-shot that ends in tragedy?

If it's Jason POV: Jason is generally sympathetic through the whole thing but his own grievances take more and more control of him and it ultimately builds to him killing Tim and striding away while his my-villain-turn-is-now-complete music plays, Dr. Horrible-style. Bonus points if the fic makes you think that it's gonna have a happy ending and then it doesn't.

If it's Tim POV: Trickier! But basically the tonal equivalent for Tim, except Tim wouldn't/physically can't kill Jason, so instead it would have to be a Boomerang-esque setup where ... hmmm ... Tim coolly sets Jason up to get imprisoned, or sacrifices him to save someone else, or something like that? I feel like "sacrifices Jason to save someone else" is a more plausible moral compromise for Tim, since this is Tim's "desperately try to resurrect everybody" stage. So maybe you shift genre a bit to make it more fantasy, and invent some kind of reason whereby Tim needs a human sacrifice to bring Conner back, and he knows he shouldn't at the beginning of the story but by the end of it he's convinced himself Jason is an acceptable sacrifice. *ominous doom music*

Does Tim take on the Dick Grayson legacy of putting everything on his shoulders to fix??? Does Tim “Gotham needs a Batman” Drake take on the cowl even though he fundamentally does not want it and does not think he can do it and hates the idea and is afraid he might go evil?? HOW does a Batman!Tim and Robin!Damian AU work because I think it goes absolutely TERRIBLE. (h/t @bitimdrake)

Bruce dying shortly thereafter leaving just Tim and just Damian and if Tim still leaves maybe that would switch the narrative from “drake can leave and stay gone idc” to “drake leaving is an act of betrayal to the family” (h/t @theflopwonder)

Then what happens to Damian when Bruce dies???? [...] now it would just be Alfred and Tim... if Tim is even still living there, he might not be if there’s a chance Bruce wouldn’t adopt him in this timeline and he runs away to Bludhaven or the Titans or something. So. Just Alfred, unless Cass stays this time. .....Actually. Cass might be the one to step up if Tim leaves. (h/t @forestlingincorporated)

okay i am really intrigued by this hypothetical AU where Dick is dead and we get a Tim-and-Damian teamup after Bruce dies

i don't have a coherent pitch but here is some brainstorming

so one option is obviously Batman!Tim and Robin!Damian, which would be great in a oh-god-they're-so-young-and-this-is-so-sad way, a la BatDamian and Robin!Steph

BUT ALSO CONSIDER:

Tim and Damian TOGETHER on Tim's Ra's-al-Ghul-inflected Brucequest

Tim has a fight with uhhhh Steph (?) or Cass (?) about his resurrection plan and storms off, still Robin; but Damian overhears and makes his own Robin costume and ambushes him in Madrid; what the hell, says Tim; I will bring Father back not you, says Damian.

(meanwhile the Batgirls are in Gotham fighting Pyg)

Robin!Tim and Robin!Damian team up and travel around the world looking for clues, and Tim does not care about Damian, okay, he doesn't, he doesn't even like Damian, but they're sleeping in hotel rooms together and sharing meals and so forth and they're with each other 24-7 and Damian will not leave and if he gets hurt then obviously Tim has to bandage him and they still Officially Hate Each Other but sheer proximity means enforced closeness because they can, like, hear each other's nightmares and so forth --

-- and Ra's is then trying to tempt somebody, but hmmmm I feel like this need to be a single-POV fic, so EITHER Tim's POV OR Damian's POV, not both. So whoever's POV it is has to be the person that's getting tempted to betray the other one, e.g. if it's Tim, then Ra's is determined to get Tim to betray Damian, and if it's Damian, Ra's wants him to betray Tim.

So for convenience's sake, let's say it's Tim POV. So maybe Ra's is mostly focused on Tim, and keeps contacting Tim, and he's dismissive of Damian and/or doesn't realize that Damian is with Tim -

(okay so in canon the body-snatching threat for Damian disappears post-Resurrection, because now Ra's has a new body, but if you wanted, maybe unknown to Tim the reason why Damian keeps hiding every time Ra's calls or talks to Tim or leaves a mysterious clue is because Ra's still wants to body-snatch him and/or kill him??)

but anyway I kinda like the idea of doing something where Tim's getting a similar recruitment-pitch to the League of Assassins -- here have this passport, we rented a hotel room for you, look these people have showed up to help out, etc. etc. So Tim's getting fêted and Damian's getting ..... actually never mind, I feel like this would be more fun if Damian can be actually interacting instead of hiding, so Damian's just kinda getting ignored, or at least that's what it looks like, but Damian's extra-tense.

So at first Tim's feeling kinda petty and smug because Damian talks a good game constantly about how special he is, but now that they're interacting with the actual League it's obvious that he was full of it, right? And yes, this is a petty feeling to be indulging when they have a Big Serious Quest to bring everybody back to life, but it's still kind of a guilty pleasure.

And something something things happen and THEN

Ra's gets Tim alone and Damian's out sulking in the anteroom or whatever, and Ra's is offering Tim exactly what he needs to bring everybody back there's just one tiny codicil

which is that Tim needs to get Damian to do something

(why does Ra's need Damian to do the thing willingly? I don't know, because magic)

and whatever the thing is sounds harmless, but of course this is Ra's, and Tim's got this creepy feeling, because of course as careless as Ra's is acting it can't actually be that simple,

(and of course it's not)

and then hmmmm

i think to make this satisfying Tim has to actually fall for the temptation initially, and then later realize it was wrong and have to run to help Damian

WAIT WAIT I KNOW

What if -- okay I haven't worked this out -- but what if Ra's and Tim made the deal near the beginning of the Brucequest, back when Tim didn't care about Damian at all (plus when Tim was under the impression that this was just a family squabble rather than any kind of actual danger to Damian), and that deal is the basis on which Ra's has been helping,

and then Ra's decides to take advantage of the deal right before the key moment when Tim's going to pull off his resurrection

so now Damian's been kidnapped or tricked or taken on the Night of the Full Moon or whatever

and Tim has to decide between going through with the resurrection plans or saving Damian, and obviously he has to realize that he has to save Damian

and then when he gets there, Damian's horrified because WHAT ABOUT THE RESURRECTION, and it turns out Damian knew about the deal the whole time but he's okay with it because he's sacrificing himself to bring his father back to life

so now Tim has his big REALIZATION and he's all "no Bruce wouldn't want that" and the two of them fight Ra's

and then they go back to Gotham and fight crime together <3

#extremely good ideas / extremely bad ideas #batfamily trashfire <3

[awkwardtickleetoo]

Tubbo's Cure for Boredom

ollie-is-badass said: tommy and tubbo are hanging out with eachother and tommy becomes bored so he annoys tubbo and tubbo gets fed up with it so he just goes and wrecks him

lee!tommy, ler!tubbo, 1.8k words

enjoy <3

--

Tommy let out a loud, obnoxious sigh from where he was laying on his bed, dropping his phone down onto his chest and looking over at Tubbo. Tubbo looked back at him, a fond smile on his face, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"Tubbooooo," Tommy whined, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I'm bored!"

"I know, you've said it at least 4 times in the past 9 minutes," Tubbo replied, turning back to the work he was doing on his laptop at Tommy's desk. 

"I knooowwww, but that doesn't make it any less true," Tommy complained further, dropping an arm over his face exasperatedly. 

Tubbo was spending a few days at Tommy's, and they had already streamed together earlier and planned to film a vlog the next day. Tubbo was busy planning out a stream with Ranboo and Wilbur to do once he got back to his own home, so Tommy was left to his own devices for about 20 minutes before he started getting restless. 

He scrolled through Twitter and Instagram, tapped out the beat to the music they had quietly playing in the background, even switched to watching TikToks a few times before getting antsy about that as well. That was around the time he started complaining about being bored.

"I'm almost done here, boss man, then we can watch a movie or something. Whatever you want," Tubbo attempted to compromise, earning another groan from his friend.

"But I'm bored now, Tubbo, I wanna do something now." Tubbo rolled his eyes and shook his head with a small chuckle at Tommy's antics, and then he had a mischievous idea.

"Oh, do you? You wanna do something right now?" He subtly shifted Tommys desk chair slightly closer to the bed so he could reach Tommy easier, able to hide the movement from his friend due to the arm still covering his eyes. 

"Yeah! Can we please just do something? You can even choose, anything is fine."

"Anything?"

"Yeah!"

"Whatever I want?"

"Yes, Tubbo, didn't think I'd have to explain it that many times."

"Hmm," Tubbo pretended to consider it, smiling at the way Tommy's face lit up as he pulled his arm away to look up at Tubbo. "Okay!"

And with that, Tubbo's hands immediately jumped to squeeze right above Tommy's knees, relishing in the loud squeal and sudden jerk of his legs he earned in response. Tubbo then moved onto the bed, pinning one of Tommy's legs down in the process and laughing to himself at the bewildered look on his friend's face.

"What the fuhuck, Tubbo?!" 

"What? You said anything I want!"

"Well I didn't mean thihis- Tubbo NOHO!" Tommy yelped as Tubbo squeezed at his captive knee, shooting up into a sitting position as his free leg bounced against the bed.

"Look, you said you were bored, and I'm trying to entertain you, so do you want my attention or not?" Tubbo asked, holding both hands around Tommy's knee and tapping his fingers as he awaited an answer. He fought back the urge to smile as Tommy's cheeks went slightly pink.

"Well, yes, but–" Tommy was cut off by a hand on his shoulder pushing him to lay back down against his pillow.

"Then sit back and relax and let me have my fun, I'm sure you can't be bored when I'm skittering my fingers against your ticklish little tummy!"

"T–! TUBBO! You can't just SAY things like that!" Tommy yelled, voice high pitched in embarrassment as his arms instinctively wrapped around his torso to hide his tummy.

"Why not? I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true, see?" Tubbo experimentally wiggled his fingers above Tommy's shielded torso, relishing in the squeaks and squirms he was given in response "See! I haven't even touched you and you're all squeaky and shit!"

"NO! No, I am not squeaky, that is ridiculous, I don't get fucking 'squeaky', ever, so shut the fuck up and don't- TUBBO!"  Tommy rambled on as if Tubbo had just said the most insulting thing in the world, but was cut off by (ironically) another loud squeak as Tubbo's thumbs dug into the space right above his hip bones. His back arched at the feeling as he let out some strangled noises in an attempt to hold in his laughter, but his plan was quickly foiled as he burst into loud cackles. "TUHUBBO PLEHEHEHEASE!"

"Please what? Are you not having a good time?" Tubbo asked with his head tilted to the side, pretending to be genuinely confused. Tommy shook his head, trying to curl up and push Tubbo's hands away without moving his arms from in front of his stomach. "No? But you're smiling an awful lot for someone who's not having fun." 

"IHI AM NOHOT!"

"But at least you're not bored anymore!"

"TUHUHUBBOHO!" Tommy finally cracked and unfolded his arms in favor of gripping Tubbo's wrists like his life depended on it, holding his hands up and out to the sides so they were as far away from him as possible.

"Alright, alright, fine. I'll leave you alone," Tubbo compromised, letting his arms go limp so Tommy knew he wasn't kidding. Tommy took the opportunity to catch his breath, small titters and giggles still flowing from his mouth as he slowly released Tubbo's wrists and let his own arms drop down to either side of him. After a moment of silence, Tommy ran a hand over his face and opened his eyes to look up at Tubbo again.

His stomach fluttered when he noticed the boy hadn't moved, and now he had an almost evil smirk on his face.

"Fuck off, don't fucking look at me like that, you bitch." Tommy couldn't already feel the laughter bubbling up in his chest and a few giggles escaped between his words, voice wavering with the stifled laughter. His squirming began again as well, palms already facing upwards towards his friend to prepare to defend himself.

"Like what?"

"Like-! Like you're gonna do something!"

"Not sure what you're talking about, boss man," Tubbo responded, feigning confusion once again. His fingers moved to rest on top of Tommy's stomach once again, following it as he gasped and sucked it in as a reflex.

"Fuck off, man! Yes you doho, you're doing it right now!" Tommy practically whined, closing his eyes and waiting for the inevitable. 

Only it didn't come right away.

"You're gonna make me lose my mind."

"Seriously, I don't know what you mean!"

"Tubbo, come on, I know you're gonna do it, for the love of god just go already."

"Oh, so you're asking for it now? You want me to tickle you?"

"Tubbo!"

"What's the magic word?"

"TUBBO!"

"Nope, that's not it." Tommy let out a groan in response, the tips of his ears starting to go red from how embarrassed he was. "Come on, I know you know it. All you have to do is say the magic word and I'll start, like you wanted."

"Tubbo, this is awful." He was met with silence, and a raised eyebrow. "Fuck, fine! Please, there, just get it over with." 

"Much better." And with that, Tubbo was digging all ten fingers into Tommy's torso, switching between squeezing his sides to poking at his ribs to scratching his nails up and down his tummy to wiggling into his underarms. Tommy felt like he was in absolute ticklish agony, and it almost felt like the feelings would never end, no matter how much he squirmed and laughed and pushed at Tubbo's knees that were still within reach from where he was straddling his one leg. Tubbo laughed along with him, ecstatic at the reactions. 

"Dude, you're so much fun to tickle, your laughs are so good," Tubbo complimented, digging into Tommy's bottom ribs.

"Whahat the FUHUHUCK?!" Tommy reached down to grapple at his friend's wrists again, but all the strength in his body seemed to escape the more he laughed, so he resorted to simply holding on. "Yohohou cahan't– yohou can't keep sahahaying thahat shihihit, mahan!"

"Why not? It's a good thing!" Tubbo explained, fingers squeezing up and down to each individual rib and each space in between. 

"Buhut ihit's ehembarassihing!"

"Not my fault you can't take a compliment." Tommy yelped and his laughter raised in volume as Tubbo hit a particularly sensitive spot on the back of his ribs, causing him to attempt to roll onto his sides to stop the sensations.

"TUHUBBO! Stohohop it, plehehehease! Ihihi cahan't take ihihit!" Tommy shook his head, laughter starting to become more breathy and silent, and Tubbo took that as his cue to finally stop. He slowed down the tickling, left a few more poked to his sides and tummy just to hear him squeak again, before fully stopping.

"Alright, I'm actually done this time, I promise," Tubbo explained, rubbing up and down Tommy's arm to offer him some comfort while he caught his breath. There were several minutes of silence, and when Tommy's breathing was back to normal, he broke it.

"I literally– I hate you so much. I cannot fucking believe you." His voice came out slightly raspy from the amount of laughing he'd just done, and he grabbed one of the pillows from above his head to bury his face into while he curled into a ball. Tubbo laughed and pushed himself off Tommy's captive leg, letting him pull that one in too, before laying down next to his friend as well.

"We both know that's not true, Toms."

"We'll see about that," Tommy shot back, words muffled by the pillow but still audible.

"Are you still bored?" Tommy pulled the pillow down so he could glare at Tubbo, earning him a laugh in response. There were a few seconds of silence before Tommy reluctantly answered.

"I guess not. Well done, you dick," he answered sarcastically, voice as flat as he could manage.

"Hey, the pleasure's all mine. Any time, man." Tubbo saw the corners of Tommy's eyes crinkle up and knew that he was smiling behind the pillow. He nuzzled into the pillow more and closed his eyes.

"I'm fucking exhausted now. And my throat hurts."

"Alright, you big baby, relax. I'll get you some water and then we can take a nap."

"I thought–" Tommy was interrupted by a yawn, words slurred together as he grew more tired. "I thought you were planning shit with Will and Ranboo?" 

"I'm sure they'll understand if I tell them I was busy tickling you to death." 

"NO, YOU WILL NOT TELL THEM! TUBBO! YOU CAN'T!" Tommy yelled to his friend, but he was already out the door in a mad dash to the kitchen.

Tommy could deal with him later. Right now, he was content to just relax, the animal crossing music they'd had playing since ending the stream about an hour ago still playing softly in the background. 

#when i said clingyduo fic tomorrow i was not lying #i like how this one came out too :)) i like the dialogue #lee!tommy #ler!tubbo #cals writing

[imagineredwood]

Your polyamorous HC for coco and angel hit me right in the feels and I was wondering if you could so another one about where coco is frustrated about the club and LO and all that and kinda snaps at the reader and she seeks comfort with angel worried that coco doesn't want her anymore. If not that's perfectly fine, love your work either way.

I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS CONCEPT LIKE FUCK I’M SOFT 😩 🥺 If only you knew what goes on behind the scenes with @awildcur @my-rosegold-soul @likedovesinthewnd @breanime @irrelevantwriter

Things are always kinda stressful when it comes to the MC 

Between the stress of dealing with Galindo and the worry of being compromised with Los Olvidados, both men are on edge 

But whereas Angel finds comfort in being with you, your love and attention being the one thing that can calm him down and help him settle 

Coco is the opposite 

He loves you and your affection too, of course 

But being home with you also reminds him of how much he has to lose 

How every day they are putting you in danger 

How someone could hurt you because of them

How you deserve someone better when he spends his day killing off rivals

It's those days when he isn’t the warm, loving man you have come to love, but the closed-off short-tempered one you had first met   

And while you still love him just the same 

You can’t help but admit that sometimes his distance or standoffishness hurts your feelings

But you try to be understanding 

You give him a day or so and he comes to apologize and make up 

But today was different 

He had been short with you all week but tonight he had boiled over 

You had asked him if he would watch a movie with you since he was home early and he had said no

You had prodded and pleaded, all in good fun of course, but he hadn’t seen the humor in it and lashed out 

“I got more important shit to be doing than sit around and watch some dumb ass movie with you. I came home to relax, not have you up my ass.” 

And that was all it had really taken

You couldn't help it as your eyes had slowly welled up with tears at both his words and the harshness of his voice

You could see he felt bad as soon as he realized but he didn’t apologize, instead slipping his shoes and kutte back on and leaving you alone in the house you all shared 

Now here you were, curled up in Angel’s lap, his fingers stroking your head and back comfortingly as he held you to his chest

“He didn’t mean it, baby. You know he’s a fuckin’ asshole when he’s stressed. He just has a lot of shit on his mind and he took it out on you.” 

Angel knew that wasn’t a good enough reason, nor did it justify how he had treated you 

But comforting you was his main concern

It was your voice, small and worried that made him see how serious this time was 

“Do you think maybe he doesn’t want me anymore? Like us, the way we work? Do you think...do you think he wants someone else. Maybe I pushed too hard and he’s done with me.” 

Angel’s pulling you to sit up then, cradling your face in his large hands as he forces you to look into his eyes

“That ain’t it, querida. Ok? He loves you just like I do. We both love you and only want you. He’s just having a shitty day and he went off on the people closed like he always does. He still loves you though, ok?”

You nod as best as you can in his grip, Angel tugging you back into his chest once more 

You’re both still like that when Coco comes back home, shoulders hunched in guilt 

He sees how you’re curled up and he winces, Angel’s glare telling him that he’s already well aware of what transpired 

“I was just stressed, homie.” 

“I don’t give a fuck. You don’t treat her like that. She’s your girl but she’s mine too; don’t forget that.” 

There’s a slightly veiled threat there and all Coco can do is nod 

Angel speaks quietly despite his anger so he doesn’t wake you up 

“She thinks you’re tired of her and don’t want her anymore.” 

Coco already felt like shit, but hearing that you thought he didn’t love you anymore? 

His heart clenched and Angel could read it on him 

With a sigh, Angel shifts you to wake you up, your eyes fluttering open and landing on him 

“Let’s get you to bed, mama.” 

You nod tiredly, climbing out of his lap and standing, your eyes zeroing in on Coco 

He reaches his hand out to you and you hesitate for a moment before slipping yours into his 

Bringing it up to his mouth, he kisses it gently as he apologizes to you 

“I’m sorry, chiquita. I was a dick. I love you more than anything though; ain’t nothing gonna change that. You’re ours forever.” 

Your smile is soft and you squeeze his hand as Angel ushers you to head to the room to get ready for bed 

Once your gone, he speaks to Coco quietly, the guilty one already expecting it 

“You do that shit again and I’m fuckin you up in the ring.” 

General taglist @piccasoe​ @ateliefloresdaprimavera​ @gemini0410​ @woahitslucyylu​ @my-rosegold-soul​ @that-chick212​ @everyhowlmarksthedead​ @glimmerglittergirl​​ @elcococruz​ @fanaticfangurl21​ @encounterthepast​ @iambabyharry​ @svintsandghosts​ @starrynite7114​ @saturnsaree @multiyfandomgirl40​ @destynelseclipsa​ @sadeyesgf​ @queenbeered

Mayans taglist @dazzledamazon​  @abunnykisses @briana-mishell24​ @angelreyesgirl​ @wrcn9fvlcver​ @peaches009 @capt-canadian @thesandbeneathmytoes​ @krysiewithak​ @bisexual-space-slut @appropriate-writers-name @cind-in-real-life

#mayans mc #angel reyes x reader #Angel Reyes #coco cruz #coco cruz x reader #angel x reader x coco #wouldinclude #headcanons #mayans fx #poly!angel x coco

[fayeimara]

Sakusa Kiyoomi || Small Moments

SUMMARY. You're looking forward to the first date you and Sakusa have had in a little while thanks to both of your busy schedules when Kiyo seems reluctant to go.

PAIRING. Sakusa Kiyoomi x you

GENRE. Pure Fluff

WARNINGS. Potentially suggestive

Sunlight filters through the sheer curtains of your bedroom's bay windows, casting a glow over your eyelids just before you completely rouse from your sleep. Eyes still closed, as your awareness slowly slips in, your hand curls back in towards you, seeking the warmth emanating from the arm wrapped tight around your waist.

The unmistakable heat of your boyfriend becomes more prevalent, urging you to wiggle backwards ever so slightly and close the remaining gap between your bodies. Sliding your hand from its landed spot on Kiyoomi's toned forearm down to his hand to twine your finger with his, your eyes finally open to the rays and land on the rainbow pattern splayed on the white silk of your pillow.

Today you and Sakusa will be spending a long awaited day together, out on a classic date that you have both been denied in recent weeks thanks, in part, to each of your demanding schedules. Just as a lazy but delighted smile stretches your lips, you feel him stir behind you only to giggle as he leans his head to nuzzle into your neck with a light groan.

His hand shifts against you when you turn to face him, sliding just to help his arm keep its position around you as you move, and then you're looking into shadowed eyes that study you in return. He doesn't say anything for a minute, long enough to make you feel uncharacteristically shy and duck your head down into his chest, burrowing into what has long become your favourite place to hide in these small moments.

But it seems that's the spark which finally compels Kiyo to move his arm from his coveted spot around you, but only for a moment, as his fingers find your cheek and feather down to follow the curve of your jaw before tilting your head back up to face him. You don't provide any resistance, already reaching up with your face and hands, the latter seeking purchase in his soft locks as he places the lightest kiss against your wanting lips.

Both of you pulling away, Kiyoomi with a small smile and you with a flirty smirk, you bid each other good morning. Another one of those small moments you cherish, to be able to enjoy the constant familiarity of your boyfriend waking up next to you but this time during a rare, slow morning where you both can indulge in its indolence.

The moment passes seemingly as quickly as it swept in as restlessness soaks into your skin, compelling movement as you once again begin to contemplate your planned activities for your date with Kiyo today. You're looking forward to spending the day with him in the sun, having planned a spot for a picnic lunch before taking a stroll through the sprawling park. You also have reservations for the night at a special, upscale restaurant that will meet both his standards and yours, with a stunning view of the city laid out beneath you.

You pull away from Sakusa with another chaste kiss, even as he gently tries to persuade you to stay a little longer, and pad into the washroom to brush your teeth and wash up for the day. Eyeing Sakusa's features in the mirror as he follows you in, you don't address his hesitant but prickly demeanor, smiling at him brightly instead as you finish up before heading out through the room and halls and into your kitchen.

A pot of French press is prepared without thought, the motions an ingrained habit by now, as you pull out ingredients from the fridge to prepare the smoked salmon eggs benedict for your brunch. Setting up the mise en place, Kiyo is soon beside you to help with the hollandaise and eggs, nudging you out of the way with his hip until you give in and retreat from the stove.

Perching on the bar stools lined up with the kitchen island, you pour out the coffee into two mugs, doctoring each to your respective tastes before pushing his across the counter towards him with the tips of your fingers at its base.

You've barely exchanged more than whispered words of good morning but you're so attuned to him, you know there's something waiting at the tip of his tongue, a reluctance that's tangible to you due to years of picking up on his tells.

Sakusa stares into the pale yellow swirl of the sauce he's stirring as he debates how to bring up the thought on his mind. You've been looking forward to this day for weeks, he has as well, it's just that now it's finally arrived... he'd like nothing better than to follow the pace that seemed fated from the very start of your day together.

His schedule has been grueling and he wants nothing more to curl up with you at home and enjoy a lazy day indoors, not head out into the crush of the weekend crowd in uncontrolled environments where he'll likely be on constant guard. Here, everything is safe and comfortable, clean and devoid of all distractions but the woman he loves.

Low on energy and conflicted at the thought of being selfish by voicing his own desires, he decides to keep quiet and follow the activities you have planned for the two of you today. If nothing else, the breathtaking smile of joy that lights your face will be worth the compromise.

Turning away to the island to place the poached eggs on the English muffins, he can't help but glance your way to study your expression. He doesn't expect to meet your eyes, finding you watching him with a small, wry smile as you stand and lean forward to add the smoked salmon atop the eggs, so he freezes momentarily before turning back to exchange the items in his hand for the pot of hollandaise.

"Omi." Your voice breaks the easy, thoughtful silence permeating the kitchen as he spoons the sauce over the salmon and sprinkles a dusting of chives to finish the brunch you'd started. You only call him by that nickname when you're neutral, likely coaxing for information that you're sure he's withholding.

After another beat, his deep voice finally filters at its usual calm, steady volume, "Yes, sweetheart?"

He still doesn't meet your eyes and you resort to your most cajoling tone, softly and sweetly asking, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Brunch is ready?" His eyes lift to yours then, with a teasing glint and a slight smirk to match curving his lips.

"Hm."

He takes your plate and his to the breakfast table in its spacious nook, surrounded by windows on three sides that allow the warm sunlight to caress your skin as you follow to your seat with the coffees and cutlery.

The first bite melts in your mouth with perfect heat, the mix of flavours prompting you to close your eyes and hum in appreciation. When you open them again, you catch Kiyo with his fork paused on its ascent to his mouth, staring at you with widened eyes before blinking as if to unfreeze.

You let out an amused laugh when his own hum follows shortly after. It's a nice moment but-

"Kiyo-"

"I don't know where you picked this up as a favourite, but I'm so glad you did." Cutting in, he compliments your choice of meal between bites.

You can't help it when another smirk slides over your lips, "Well, I am a loyalist. I hold on tight when I find something I love.

You and Kiyo connect eyes yet again and share a sweet smile at your words in yet another small moment that exists just for the two of you.

The third time's the charm, clearly, because his deflections work and you drop the subject for the rest of your brunch. Considering the scarcity of the time you were able to steal away together these past weeks, your morning meal is soon filled with funny anecdotes that slipped between the cracks and thoughtful insights regarding the events of your friends and family that you both continue to be looped in on.

It's not until early afternoon, as you've slipped into a breezy summer outfit - complete with a flowing thigh-length dress, floppy hat, and strappy sandals, you find Sakusa slowly packing your purse with his small trove of sanitary supplies.

You lean against the door frame to study him as he moves so fluidly, elegant even in the sweats and shirt he still hasn't changed out of since his morning shower. Your plans for your date flicker through your thoughts for a moment, pulling at you with an intense mix of longing and excitement.

It's not as powerful as your new desire though, as you want more than anything to continue seeing Kiyoomi's smiles today. That's what you had in mind when you planned your date, to have him find joy and contentment with you in the quiet, private corners of your world.

Sakusa looks up behind him when he hears the bathroom door shut. He didn't realize you'd stepped out and wonders if you'd forgotten something. Finished with packing your purse with both his and your supplies, he moves to the closet to prepare his clothes for the outing when the door opens again and you exit with a smile on your face. But instead of the expected outfit for your date, you're wearing your most comfortable lounge clothes.

"What's wrong, love?" He moves towards you without hesitation, concern deepening his tone.

You raise an eyebrow and ask him with a soft smile still curving your lips, "You tell me, Kiyo."

Stopping with his hand cupping your cheek as he looks down to meet your warm, inviting gaze, he breathes out a low, "How did you know?"

"Oh, baby... I've told you never to hold back your true feelings." You softly admonish.

What if you hadn't picked up on enough of the right cues? What if you enjoyed a date that only made Kiyo miserable because he sacrificed his urge to honour the plans you'd made together for the day even though what he wanted had changed?

Sakusa feels a mix of guilt and relief like a hit to the gut as he realizes he only just confirmed your suspicions. What could he have done differently so you wouldn't have realized his change of heart? So you wouldn't have to be the one making the sacrifice instead?

"Kiyo.." Your voice calls him out of his thoughts and he catches the loving smile that hasn't left your face once since you exited from the bathroom.

"Baby.. You know what I'm thinking?" Your eyes sparkle with a new excitement, no- with a mischievous, playful intent.

"What?"

"I'm thinking we have a certain season to binge watch and some new video games to try. I'm thinking of how good the takeout was from the sushi restaurant that delivered to us last month. And I'm thinking today would be a perfect day to cuddle on the couch like we have nowhere to be and time is infinite in our little bubble."

Sakusa still hesitates, even though there's no doubting your genuine tone he still can't help but ask, "Are you sure, love?" "I'm absolutely certain."

Using the hand still resting gently on your cheek, he tilts your head as he leans down to drop a soft kiss to your lips. The two of you don't pull away until you're both breathless and unable to stop your mutual smiles from spilling onto your lips. This was it. This smile of his that you so badly wanted to draw out.

That's how you both end up spending the rest of the afternoon painting exactly the picture you envisioned. You bring another round of coffees to the couch as he selects the show you mentioned and, pulling one of the plush throws over your legs, you snuggle into his side to watch.

Over the course of the next couple hours, you two easily push and pull like magnets every time you readjust your positions, from the upright one where you're tucked into him to you both stretching out for you to lie down on him, his chest pillowing your head as his arm returns to its favourite place. When hunger begins to intrude in the late afternoon, you put together plates of both his and your favourite snacks, sitting back up to consume them as the sun begins to peek in through the windows on the opposite side of your house.

When you take a break from the TV, sitting at the table with your respective beverages of choice, you play one of your favourite board games with music from your shared playlist filtering in the background. The lights in the house are slowly turned on as you both move about, from the kitchen, to the living room, to the dining table in between, over the course of your unhurried hours.

By evening, you've started a puzzle together but leave it on the table unfinished when Sakusa still hasn't returned from the kitchen, going in search of him instead. When you find him washing the dishes that have begin to neatly stack on one side of the divided sink, you have him drop everything and clean his hands before tugging him away.

"No chores, Kiyo!"

"They're dirty."

"It's a lazy day." You give him a pout that he can't refuse and he's the one to give in here.

Instead, he whips the towel on the counter and, as the song just changes into a slow one you would have usually skipped, he grabs your hand to pull you into him. You don't resist at all, reaching around him to return the hug you think he's giving, but his other hand comes to rest on your waist and it's soon joined by the first. You're the one to find yourself frozen this time, hands having risen to rest on his chest by pure coincidence even before you fully realized Sakusa Kiyoomi is slow dancing with you in the kitchen.

"Wha-" You stop the question ready to drop from your lips when you meet his eyes. The answer is as obvious as the mirth mixed with something softer in his replying gaze.

He would only ever do this for you. Step out of his comfort zones in ways that would have been completely inconceivable before he met you. Before he spent the years he has with you. Before you made him realize making these small choices for the ones you love, to be able to share these small moments that he could never have previously dreamed, aren't actually a sacrifice after all.

It's likely not a long time the two of you spend dancing between the kitchen, dining room, and living room, but at least three songs have passed before he gently tilts you back onto the couch just as the doorbell rings to indicate the arrival of your dinner.

Leaving you to clear the space on the coffee table, Kiyo arranges the food into various plates that are then loaded onto a tray to be brought into the living room. So begins round two of your TV binge, picking up mid-season to finish the latter half of the show while you enjoy feeding each other. Another feat that would be impossible for him with anyone else but a true joy to be able to share with you.

You clean up after the two of you finish, leaving him to pick the next game. When you return to the couch and see he's picked your favourite, you can't help but challenge him with a smirk.

"Oh, baby, you know I'm going to ruin you. Are you sure you want to play this?"

His dark eyes meet yours and even though his expression is almost unreadable, his eyes express the same teasing light that soaks his tone, "Sweetheart... you've already ruined me."

You don't know whether to laugh or not because as much as he intends to tease there's definitely truth there, but also a benediction that conveys what he truly means.

So you respond instead by adding your truth to his, "We've ruined each other, haven't we?"

"Only in the best ways, love."

Holding his warm gaze for another small moment, you bite your lip to hold back the wide delighted smile that threatens to spill out before he reaches for your wrist to finally tug you down to him. You end up sprawled on his lap but fix your position when he hands you the second controller.

Soon after the game starts, neither of you can say who poked whom first or nudged the other's elbow, or even who was the first to boldly tickle the other in order to gain advantage in the game. You're laughing as he pulls you onto his lap, arms coming around you to restrain your own movements as you call out to the unfairness of his tactic.

Throwing your weight back on him to push him deeper into the soft cushions of the couch, you strain to reach his neck with sloppy kisses and little love bites, your only counter to his cheating measures. Neither you nor Sakusa end up winning the game when your endeavour succeeds in pulling his attention from the screen to your sparkling eyes and that perfect smile he so desired to see.

This time, when you kiss, it's before either of you have even thought of or committed to the action, so naturally do your lips simply meet between you.

The remainder of the night is marked by these simple, lazy exchanges of your love. The TV eventually falling to rest and allowing the music still crooning in the background to create its hazy ambience yet again.

The last thing you remember as you lie entwined with Kiyo on your living room couch, exploring each other with kisses and caresses, intimate gazes and whispered words, is the final small moment of the day. A small kiss just behind your ear preceding the three little words that he faithfully declares every day since the first time they fell from his lips.

"I love you."

A/N: Sorry for kind of tricking you @yourstarvic! I know you requested either date or lazy day and I thought.. what if I wrote you and Sakusa on a date and then enjoying a lazy Sunday following? Then, I thought... what if you didn't get the date you expected but the lazy day was all the more special for it? Slightly inspired by mine and my bf's lazy days that we've never let each other regret therefore not completely original but they say write what you know lol so I hope you like it! And because you have a special place in my heart as my very first scenario request ever, I have a little surprise for you here :) <3

© 2021 fayeimara. All rights reserved. Please do not repost, modify, or claim as yours.

#sakusa kiyoomi #sakusa fluff #haikyuu sakusa #sakusa x you #sakusa x y/n #sakusa x reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu x you #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu x f!reader #haikyuu x female reader #haikyuu fic #hq #hq sakusa #ask.faye #reader request #haikyuu request #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu fanfiction #sakusa fic #sakusa scenario #haikyuu kiyoomi #sakusa x f!reader

[s1rcus]

The Road to Love and Truth (Blackhill)

Rating: Teen and up

Words: 2827

Chapter: 2/2

Fandoms: Marvel

Characters: Natasha Romanoff, Maria Hill, Steve Rogers, Nick Fury

Additional tags: -

Summary: Maria struggles after her night with Natasha. She gets some good advice from Steve.

Authors note: Blackhill Bingo square I3 "Steve Rogers"

Story below the cut or in AO3 here

Maria still has a huge headache. She's been debating taking another aspirin to ease it down for the past 10 minutes, but it hasn't been too long since she took the first one and it might just not be working yet. The situation with Romanoff might not be helping either.

Without thinking she's making her way towards Phil's office. She's not sure why, she knows she won't talk about something like this to him. He's a good friend but she just can't talk about her sex life with him, less about feelings. Maybe he'll have some work she can do to distract her from the night before. She can't use her key card on a day off, (Fury has made it very clear she's not supposed to be doing work during any type of leave) so she can't go to her own office to continue work.

Phil isn't in his office. Now that she actually thinks about it, he has been on a mission since yesterday. She still needs something to distract her though. Maybe Fury would let it slide this once if she'd go do work, but she'd rather not see him right now. She decides to just go for a walk. Hopefully that'll clear her head a little.

------

The fresh air does help her headache and clears her head just the tiniest bit as well. She stands outside of the Triskelion for a short time and decides to go for a short walk along the river.

She keeps her eyes mostly on the water as she walks hands in the pockets of her sweats. She probably should've changed if she's honest, but she didn't want to go back to her room. SHIELD agents weren't that rare sight around these parts, but they definitely didn't go out in their gym clothes. She kicks around some pebbles every once in a while that are lying around the sidewalk.

She loses track of time, trying to just focus on nothing but the movement of the water. And she might have let her guard down, because she gets startled, when a hand taps her on the shoulder.

"Maria, what are you doing out here?"

"Jesus, Steve. Warn a girl next time."

"I literally yelled your name when I saw you. You're not usually this distracted. Are you okay?"

There's concern on his face and Maria doesn't like it one bit. She's fine, and even if she wasn't, everyone else needs to think she is.

"Everything's fine," she lies.

Steve gives her a long look, not quite believing her.

"You can always talk to me, you know? Whatever it is that's bothering you, I'll listen."

Damn Steve, and his kind heart.

"I know," she says.

"Okay, well I'm gonna finish my run. Come and find me if you want to talk about whatever this is," he says as he runs past her.

Maria just waves him off. She continues along the river for a while longer until her headache becomes worse again. Deciding it's best to just go back and take another aspirin, she turns around and heads towards the Triskelion again.

------

Eventually Maria realises she needs to talk to someone so she heads towards Steve's quarters and knocks on his door. He opens the door with a smile. They're good friends but it's quite rare she actually ends up on his doorstep.

"Hey, Maria. What's up?"

"I slept with Natasha," she answers as she pushes past him into his room. She sits on his bed, head in her hands. She hears the door click shut as Steve closes it.

"Not what I was expecting. How are you feeling?"

Maria groans at the question, "I don't know. I find out she's queer and few days later I find her in my bed. That's not how that should go. And worst of all I want to do it again, but I don't think I can just keep it at that."

"So you want to ask her out?"

"I think so?" She says and lays down on the bed so she can stare at the ceiling. "But I'm her superior, it's unprofessional, not to mention way too complicated. How am I supposed to be able to send her out there, if I'm worried if she'll make it back? How is Fury supposed to trust in me, if I get compromised because of her? Or what if I make the wrong decision, because I can't--" Steve cuts her off. She feels the bed dip, as he sits next to her on the bed and places a hand on her knee.

"Maria, you're forgetting one important thing, she's the Black Widow, she knows how to handle herself. Do you know how many times she's saved me out there? Because I've lost count by now. And Fury won't see you any differently if you start showing normal people emotions. Also stop worrying about 'what if's. Those are situations you can't know the answers for before it's too late. And for the record, I think you're already compromised. You care more about her than you know. Have for a long time."

"Fuck", Maria breaths the word out.

"Language."

"No, I actually fucked up."

"What did you do?"

"I just left her. She wanted to talk, and I just left her. I wasn't thinking clearly. I told her it was a mistake. Well it technically was because that was definitely not how I wanted that to go, but… I let her believe I don't want her. Shit!" She gets up quickly and starts pacing around. "I gotta go find her. Tell her that I'm sorry for how I treated her. That last night was great. Not that I really remember anything. To hopefully ask her properly out." She freezes on her tracks and turns to face Steve. "What if she says no? How am I supposed to continue working with her then?"

"Maria", Steve warns her.

"Right, won't know the answers before it's too late." She takes a deep breath. "Okay, I'm gonna go to find her. I wonder where she could be."

"At the gym with Barton."

"How would you know that?"

"Just a hunch."

------

She does find Natasha at the gym. She's beating up Barton at the mats. Maria decides to just stay by the door and watch, she'll notice her eventually. Natasha seems more tense than normal, maybe even a little angry. She doesn't move around as smoothly as she usually does. Her movements are a little more jacked, more forced. Maria realises that she's not fighting with a clear head. She's trying to push her feelings out. Maria was the reason the Widow's usually flawlessly smooth fighting style looked harsh and broken. It makes her heart twinge.

Eventually Natasha pins Barton down and he taps out. She gets up and her gaze shifts to Maria's. Maria physically flinches under her gaze. She quickly straightens her back and neutralises her face, when Barton gets back onto his feet and notices her presence.

"Commander," he coughs, eyes moving from Maria to Natasha and back again. After a couple of beats of silence he starts backing towards the men's locker room. "I'll just go then."

Maria just looks at Natasha, not really sure what she's supposed to say. Before she's able to say anything, Natasha turns on her heels and heads towards the women's locker rooms. That gets Maria on the move as well. She runs after Natasha and grabs her from the upper arm.

"Natasha wait," Maria says and Natasha stops on her tracks. "I'm sorry about earlier. Can we talk?"

Natasha turns around and Maria tries to look as apologetic as she can. Natasha just stares at her for a while.

"Fine. My quarters in 10."

Maria nods and drops her hold of the other woman. She didn't even realise she had still been holding her upper arm. Natasha eyes her quickly once more before she turns around again and heads out of sight to the locker room. Maria just stands still for a while, looking after her, until she spins around as well and heads out of the gym and towards Natasha's quarters.

------

Natasha is punctual as ever, and appears exactly 10 minutes later. Maria follows her silently into her room. Natasha sits down on her bed, one leg under herself while the other hangs off the edge. Maria is reminded of the morning. She stays standing near the door, but is faced towards Natasha. She's trying to figure out her words, even though she's been trying to figure out what to say ever since she walked out of Steve's quarters.

"Well?" Natasha prompts her.

"I fucked up. I'm really sorry for how I treated you. I panicked and I fucked up. I try my best to keep my private life and work separate, and I mostly live at work so… I'm having a hard time, to put it lightly. I also have never done this before."

"What? Been with a woman?" Natasha asks with a serious tone. It takes Maria a beat to realise she's not actually seriously asking that.

"No, Romanoff. You know that's not what I meant. I mean sleeping with a co-worker. Actually kinda never slept with anyone without being on a date first. And especially never had someone in my bed in a SHIELD facility."

"So I was your first one night stand?"

"About that, I wouldn't mind doing it again."

"Was I that good?" Natasha asks with a smirk.

"Natasha! I'm not talking about the sex. I'm talking about all of it. Everything since the mission. Spending time together at that bar and during the mission and also everything that came after."

"Wow. Is Commander Hill getting soft?"

"No,” she says. Taking a breath she continues, “I'd just like to see if this could become something. You're one of the few people around here who I can stand, and I actually had a really nice time yesterday. And I'm not regretting what happened after, so that probably says a lot."

Natasha gives her a small smile.

"What changed?"

"What do you mean?"

"You left the room in such a hurry and now you're here saying you don't regret it."

"Yeah, that. I might've talked to Steve and he had some good advice."

"You went to Steve?" Natasha's voice sounds almost scandalous.

"Who else would I go to? Fury? Do you think I have many friends around here? People who I could talk to?"

"Fair enough."

"So, if I'd ask you out on a date what would you say?"

"I would love to, but do you really want to go on a date? Because I feel like we're not the dating kind of people."

That was actually fair, she did always hate going on dates.

"What do you suggest then?"

"How about this?" Maria is really unsure about how she should feel about the smirk that follows that one simple question.

Natasha gets up and walks towards Maria. She stops when their chests are basically touching. She grabs Maria's hands and wraps them around her waist. Then she wraps her own arms around Maria's neck and rises up on her toes to kiss her. Maria basically melts into it. Eventually she lifts Natasha up and they move on the bed. Natasha seems very impressed that Maria can lift her. Maria might be a bit hurt about that.

------

When they decide to leave for an early lunch (neither remembered to eat breakfast), they're barely 100 feet down the hallway from Natasha's room, when they're stopped by a junior agent.

"Commander, Agent Romanoff. Director Fury wants to speak to both of you."

Maria and Natasha exchange a look.

"Did he say what about?" Maria asks.

"Not really," the Agent answers but there's a look on his face Maria doesn't like. It's like he knows something he shouldn't.

Maria debates for a little bit, if she should push and get some answers from him but decides against it. She dismisses the agent and starts heading towards the Directors office with Natasha.

They get a couple weird looks and smiles on the way there. They walk the whole way in silence. Both clearly trying to figure out what Fury wants from them.

Fury sees them immediately, which tells Maria that it's something important. She's getting nervous. Natasha is here as well, so her mind goes only to a specific direction, but how would Fury know?

"Director Fury, you wanted to see us?" Maria greets him.

"Hill, Romanoff. Has either of you checked the news today or any social media?"

Natasha shakes her head. She's been awfully quiet after they ran into that agent.

"No, sir. I haven't checked my phone at all today. Pretty sure it's dead anyway. I've been a bit distracted," Maria answers truthfully. There's no point in lying.

"Well, you probably should stay out of social media for a little while but that's just a suggestion. Do you have anything else to report to me?" His eye shifts from Maria to Natasha and back.

He knows. Maria takes a deep breath. She feels Natasha's hand touch hers, a sign that it's okay.

"Yes, sir. We, uh... Natasha and I are involved."

"Will it be affecting your work?"

"No, sir."

"Then I'm happy for you," he says with the slightest hint of a smile.

Maria is surprised and she can sense that so is Natasha. She lets her posture get a little more relaxed.

"Now to the real reason I invited you in," Fury says as he pulls some tabloid articles up on the screen behind himself. They're all saying basically the same thing: Black Widow at a gay bar with a mystery woman . Some of them have clearly done a better job with trying to figure out who this "mystery woman" is because a couple of them have actual pictures of Maria along with her name. And there's pictures. Pictures of them kissing, the intense looks they changed during that night and pictures of them leaving together.

"We tried to get them down before they spread too far, but clearly we didn't manage that. Anything about the Avengers' personal life spreads like a fire. I'm sorry about the situation it puts you in."

Both of the women just nod. There wasn't anything to say. Fury takes this as his answer and turns off the screen.

"Well then, you're dismissed. Hill, if you could stay for just a little longer?"

Natasha squeezes her shoulder a little before she steps out of the room.

"Sir?"

"No reason to be that formal anymore. This is just me checking on you. How are you feeling?"

"Well, that's a lot, but I think I'm fine. It's not the way I wanted things to go, but I guess it's good that it's out. If we wish to go out, now we don't need to worry if someone sees us or not."

"Okay, still I wish the situation wasn't this. I strongly suggest that you don't check any social media for the next few days. I know you think you can handle it, but there's gonna be some bad stuff there and I'd prefer the dust settles a bit first. Also if anyone, and I mean anyone, in SHIELD gives either of you a hard time because of this, let me know. I will handle it. It's out there, so everyone knows. I wish you could've handled this on your own terms, but the situation is what it is."

Maria smiles at him.

"Thank you, Director. I know I said it won't affect my work, and I truly believe and hope so, but if it ever seems like I'm putting her before the mission; pull me out of it, if possible. I know I won't be happy about it, but I need to know that I won't be making mistakes because I'm compromised."

"Of course. But I have full belief that you'll do great even then."

Maria nods and heads towards the door but Fury's voice makes her turn around before she gets to open it.

"Also, before you go. I am truly happy for you, Maria."

Maria smiles at him and nods her thanks and joins Natasha on the other side of the door.

Natasha hugs her as she closes the door. Maria circles her arms around her and presses her cheek against Natasha's head.

"That went better than I expected." She hears Natasha mumble against her chest.

"It did," Maria agrees.

"I'm so sorry about the articles though. If I would've just realised--" Maria quiets her with a kiss.

"Natasha, there's nothing you could've done about it. The second we walked in there everyone was paying extra attention to us. Those articles would be there even if we hadn't kissed. I'm just glad we did. I don't think I would've ever dared to take this step otherwise," Maria says. She looks Natasha in the eye and they exchange smiles. "Now, how about that lunch?"

#bhb21 #blackhill #maria hill #natasha romanoff #Black Widow #marvel #MCU #My fic

[calebdumes]

Hera lives off of ration bars. Kanan doesn't really know how to cook, but is determined to learn in order to avoid eating a ration bar ever again.

Kanan would be a meal prepper.

fandom: star wars rebels

relationship: kanan jarrus/hera syndulla

rating: n/r

word count: 1.6k

~

One thing that Kanan learned quickly after joining the Ghost's crew was, Hera had no taste buds. That had to be the only explanation as to why she could exist on ration bars alone. Literally. There was no other source of food to be found on the freighter and Kanan had looked. He scoured every nook and cranny of the ship looking for something, anything, that wasn't those horrible processed bricks. After finding the third box of the food supplements in storage Kanan was starting to feel a little desperate. Surely, surely, Hera ate actual real food. She had to. 

"They cost less and keep longer than fresh food." Hera had explained. 

Kanan stared at her dumbly. "But what about taste?"

"What about it?"

"Don't you want your food to actually taste like something?"

Hera shrugged, nonplussed. "I think they taste fine." 

"You're kidding right?" he said in disbelief. "Please tell me you're kidding?"

"Why would I kid about this?" she bit down on a bar, the resounding crunch sounding like a rockfall. "It's just food. Besides, fuel for the Ghost isn't exactly cheap." she waved the bar in front of his face. "So we compromise." 

Kanan could compromise on a lot of things. 

Food wasn't one of them. 

Kanan's aversion to ration bars went beyond the lack of taste and the potential for losing a tooth. Oh he'd eat one if he was in a pinch but after the fifth or sixth ration bar exclusive meal, the air would start to smell faintly of blaster fire and the bitter taste of ash would be heavy on his tongue.  Life on the front lines wasn't easy and it was difficult to make real food when you were fighting off battle droids. 

No, Kanan would compromise on whatever he had to if it meant that he could have actual food. 

And if it was cost she was worried about, well Kanan had just the thing to ease her mind.

"This shouldn't take long." Hera said as she powered down the Ghost's engines, the walls of the spaceport surrounding them. "Just a simple intel exchange and we should be on our way."

"You want me to come with you?" Kanan asked, going through the post flight checklist. 

"I'll be fine." she said lightly. "I've met with this contact several times before."

"If you're sure."

Hera smiled. "I am. But thank you though. You could check out the market while you wait if you don't want to stay on the Ghost." she suggested before climbing down the latter into the hold. Kanan waited in the cockpit, watching as she disappeared into the station before moving. He grabbed a handful of credits and a bag before sliding down into the hold.  

The market was brimming with beings from all walks of life, the air thick with the smell of cooking meat and familiar spices. Kanan's stomach rumbled. He made his way through the throng of people looking for his ingredients, stopping momentarily to buy himself a ronto wrapper, savoring the spicy meat and warm fluffy bread - a far cry from the bricks he had been forced to eat the past week.  

Kanan wasn't the greatest of cooks in the galaxy but he was at least passable. He could make food that tasted reasonably good and only slightly burnt. Cooking wasn't really a skill the Order bothered to teach its students, there was a lot they didn't bother to teach, but it was one he had to learn out of necessity. And even before, in the quiet lulls between battles Master Billaba would show him how to make simple food with whatever planet they were on had to offer. In fact it was one of her recipes that he was using to show Hera that food could be cheap and taste good if you knew how to work it.

He was just putting on the final touches when Hera came back, the doors to the galley sliding open to reveal her curious face.

"What's that smell?" she asked, taking a seat at the small table bolted to the floor. 

"That," Kanan set a steaming bowl of stew down in front of her with flourish, "Is food. Real food."

Hera looked at it warily before taking the spoon he held out to her. She dragged the utensil through the creamy broth, picking through the chunks of tubers and nerf meat before bringing it to her lips. 

Kanan waited, watching as her eyes grew wide. "Kanan, what is it?" she asked, her cheeks punched out, full of stew.

"I don't actually know the name for it." he said sitting down across from her with his own bowl. "My Mast - someone I knew used to make it for me a lot. Or some version of it at least. She never did write it down."

"It's so good." she said between bites. Kanan could feel the heat rise in his cheeks and burn across the tips of his ears from the praise. Hera devoured her food making tiny little moans that had no place in a galley. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and tried to focus on his food.

Hera was a mystery to him. He still couldn't figure out what it was about her that made him want to give up his life as a drifter, bouncing from one planet to the next, one job to the other without caring about anyone but himself. She was beautiful, that wasn't a question, but there was more to it than that; she had some kind of spark that drew him in. 

She was like a puzzle, infinitely perplexing yet always managing to stump him just when he thought he had her figured out. Hera wasn't that much younger than him but had a confidence that someone her age rarely had. She knew who she was and what she wanted and wasn't about to let anything get her in way - including him. 

Oddly enough, Kanan found himself to be okay with that. His feelings for her would dim over time, he could adjust. Besides, the future was hardly set in stone and if she needed time, Kanan would gladly wait. 

She was worth it. 

"Kanan did you hear me?" Hera asked, rapping her spoon on her bowl. 

"What?" he blinked, pulling himself out of his thoughts. 

"I asked, where did you learn to cook like this?"

"Oh," He rubbed the back of his neck. "I picked some things up here and there. But the most important thing is," Kanan leveled her pointed look. "Everything I used to make that costs less than a container of ration bars."

Hera rolled her eyes ."You're just saying that to get me to stop buying them."

"I'm serious! You can find cheap, fresh food in just about every spaceport in the galaxy if you know where to look."

"And let me guess, you know?"

Kanan shrugged. "I do. I've been out on my own a lot longer than you have. I've picked up some things here and there." He repeated. "And with stuff like this, you can make a big batch and freeze it for later. Costs less to buy, lasts long, and most importantly, tastes better."

Hera arched a brow, unconvinced. 

Resisting a sigh, he tried a different approach and took her hands into his. "Let me prove it to you. Let me cook for the next few weeks and we'll compare costs. Sounds like a plan?"

Hera's silence dragged out and for one tense minute Kanan was afraid he was going to be stuck eating ration bars until he died. But Hera gave his fingers a little squeeze before withdrawing them from his grip. 

"Fine." she relented. " One week. And if it turns out to be less like you say, I'll lay off the ration bars."

Kanan gave her a blinding smile. "I won't let you down Captain."

A blush spread across her face, heat pooling in his belly at the sight. "I certainly hope not."

.

"Remember when you use to live off ration bars?" Kanan asked, his voice low. Hera was pressed into his side, resting her head against his shoulder while the kids were no doubt making a mess in the galley. 

She snorted, her chest rumbling with a hearty chuckle. "Don't remind me."

Kanan scratched at his scar on his face absentmindedly. “I still can’t believe that was your plan.” 

Hera  pinched his arm. “I was young, first time being out on my own. What else was I going to do?”

Kanan’s response was cut off by a loud clatter of dishes from the galley, followed by harsh whispers. 

“Do I want to know what’s going on?” He felt her lean forward. 

“No you do not but when you get stuck cleaning the galley  I just want you to remember, this was your idea.” 

Kanan shrugged. “Eh, it’ll be fine.” The kids had been in charge of weekly meal prep before, so he wasn’t too worried. Besides, no mess could possibly top the first Ezra had taken a stab of making the food for the week.

“You say that now.” 

Kanan hummed, listening to the clatter in the galley. He remembered the days when that room was mostly silent, when the only sounds echoing off the durasteel walls was the crunch of ration bar. 

“Ration bars.” he chucked fondly at the memory. 

Hera pushed at his shoulder with a tisk but he could hear her smile. “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up smart guy. See where that gets you tonight.”

His mouth snapped shut. Hera patted his cheek. “That’s what I thought.”

Kanan smiled and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m just glad you came to see things my way.”

Hera leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “I would have figured it out eventually.” 

“Of course dear.”

#kanera #kanan jarrus #hera syndulla #star wars rebels #star wars #star wars: rebels #look at me write #shleby writes #you could always see me #asks #anon #idk how i feel about this one #but thank you for sending it to me anon #i hope you like it! #Anonymous

[astoldbygingersnaps]

5, 7, 17, 18, 19

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

i don't think so? i've actually never heard of such a thing, tbh.

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

i love when i get comments from people and it's very clear that they've put a lot of time and effort into thinking about what i've written. like whenever people point out lines/scenes they found meaningful or talk about interpretations that even i never would have imagined it just Rules.

i also just. love characters. a lot a lot a lot. i love fleshing them out and giving them real hopes and dreams and flaws and struggles. I LOVE IT.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

i honestly can't think of anything that's important in my writing that doesn't make it into the fics themselves. idk i just don't write like that.

wait i lied. danzo and hiruzen Definitely did it back when they were starfleet cadets. next!

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. 

for the most part, i tend to be like. very specific and perhaps kind of dogmatic as a writer in that i have a ~*~vision~*~ which very quickly becomes The Only Way Anything Can Ever Go, Ever, which means that not a lot tends to change when i go from outlining a fic to producing the finished project.

that said, a HUGE change that came about recently was blue's injury in the third jurassic world au chapter, because that was straight up never supposed to happen. originally, fugaku was just going to roll up to be like 'quit being in love with this raptor weirdo' and itachi was going to be like >:( but go along with it bc logically he knows he really doesn't have a choice and then eventually he and shisui would start dating (an absolutely Terrible way to summarize things but yk)

but as i was working on the chapter (and hating it l o l) i realized that something was missing--something that was big and dramatic enough that it would actually force a change in their situation, and would demonstrate a) how much itachi had grown since the beginning of the story and b) how Not Okay such a shift was to fugaku, which would then justify him putting his foot down and essentially trying to job-reassign his son out of getting a boyfriend. and i'm very glad i added that bit in, because i think it ended bringing a lot more weight to itachi and shisui's relationship which just. would not have been there otherwise and very much needed to be.

of course, adding this MASSIVE plot point ended up absolutely ballooning the word count of the chapter, which quickly led me to realize that there was no way in hell i could have this be a three chapter fic without compromising the quality of story i wanted to tell, which is why jurassic world au is now a four-parter. whoops!

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

this is the worst question ever but here we go.

basically i started writing when i was twelve and i wrote a novel that was actually just rip-off inuyasha fanfiction, which then progressed into me eventually creating more OCs that were actually, y'know, Original. but then once i hit high school Death Note Happened (rip mellomatt gone but not forgotten <3) which caused me to pivot into fanfic exclusively and fifteen years later here i still am!

in terms of bumps, i've talked about it before but there was a period of, like, four/five-ish years where i just. stopped writing entirely and couldn't finish a fucking thing until Star Trek AU Happened and now i've written more in the last two and a half years than i probably have in the last decade so. go figure.

alas, i suspect that my fanfic/writing days are coming to a close once i've finished up my current projects for a variety of reasons. for one, i do feel like i'm starting to grow out of fandom as a whole. and honestly, i'm starting to get tired of the pressure to produce content and feeling like i'm not a fast enough or popular enough writer. so, it's probably time to think about bowing out while i still have positive feelings for the work i AM producing. but it's been a great journey and i've met a lot of really wonderful kind people along the way, so i definitely can't complain.

#asks and memes #nonbinarymerbabe

[star-anise]

I don't know if this is crossing boundaries to ask so feel free to ignore, but do you have any advice for someone with rejection-sensitive dysphoria, an intolerance for ambiguity and a history of social ostracization / access to the In-Group being dependent on Some Unsafe Shit for figuring out where one stands with an online social circle? Like, if one really feels like they're being neglected / put on a shelf, but doesn't know how to address it without receiving platitudes that it's not

(insecurity ask cont.) Really that bad / wasn't intentional / sure they still LIKE one they just kept happening to be busy at the time - etc. Basically figuring a way through the situation if one doesn't want to do what the Anxiety wants, which is cut run and self isolate, but doesn't find the allistic normative reassurance of "oh no we really do want you around sweaty : )" reassuring or helpful in the least.

This is a live topic of discussion in my friend-groups, since my close social circle is like 95% people with a history of being bullied, serious brainweasels* around social shit and rejection, ASD and/or ADHD, and seriously geeky social skills. So my response is not like, “We have a Method! It works! I’m patenting it!” nearly so much as “Um... this is what seems not to have exploded too badly so far.” And I’m answering this publicly rather than privately because other people have useful things to contribute too. 

*(Brainweasel = little nasty thing that eats your brain)

(Like seriously if anyone DOES have A Method I’m all ears because I still do the self-isolation self-destruct way too easily)

Anyway. THE GOOD STUFF (which got really long):

I’ve personally found that it helps to make it really clear to people that if something is wrong, I want to know. I literally say, “My personal definition of Hell is when I think I’m having a happy fun time with a friend who is enjoying themselves, but in reality, I’m annoying them and they secretly resent me for it. Please don’t put me in that situation.”  It’s kind of the opposite of asking for validation--it’s trying to reduce my own emotional hypervigilance, and also shifting the burden of dealing with the problem to the other person. Now, if they find me annoying, they have to do something about it--either spend less time with me, or let me know what’s up.

Asking for things and saying “No is an okay answer!”

Being open about my wants and needs while also letting people know how much I’m willing to compromise. “I don’t know what anybody else is feeling, but for dinner I have a mild preference for pizza,” or “I’m in the kind of mood where I basically want someone to talk to about this creative project for an hour in a really intense, informed, and interested way that also doesn’t step on my creative vision’s toes, or I don’t want to talk about it at all. So unless someone really wants to talk about it, how’s the weather?”

If you can find people who are geeks about feelings and have done a lot of introspection and can be very honest, and basically didn’t think that Twitter thread about asking friends for consent for emotional labour was a bad thing? That’s probably going to help, since when you’re all in the middle of dealing with moderate-to-severe brainweasels that is the kind of wrangling that needs to happen.

Hacking into Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, if you can do it. I’ve had to explain to several people now: DBT is fundamentally about trying to unlearn you from a system of If I Only Behave A Certain Way, Life Will Finally Work Out, to having a more flexible, more adaptive set of skills that you can see in a kind of pro/con fashion and decide which of life’s sucky parts you’d rather deal with because it gets you your preferred set of upsides. The problem is: DBT kind of presents itself as a system of If You Only Behave A Certain Way, Life Will Finally Work Out! So especially for my Autistic friends, doing DBT, while useful, involves considerable arguing with the system, deciding which of it works for you and which of it doesn’t, and hacking it apart and rearranging it in your own idiosyncratic way. This isn’t actually failing to do DBT, it’s using the methods DBT teaches you on DBT itself. 

Finding a therapist who can treat baseline-neurodivergent LGBTQ+ nerds with complex trauma IS difficult, but not impossible. Not every therapist can do it. (I personally am considering giving up finding one in my city, and making use of the temporary relaxation of restrictions on distance practice across jurisdictional boundaries thanks to COVID-19 and phoning up my old therapist a province over.) If you can’t get a personal recommendation, I recommend literally cold-emailing about a half-dozen likely suspects from Psychology Today or Theravive and asking them, “Do you have any training or experience in treating [geeks/adults with complex trauma/queer people/whatever has made therapists act like cats with boots on around you before]?”

To wildly veer back to your original question

Imagine something that someone could do for you that would make you feel warm and loved. Something that would take a minute or less to do. When you’re feeling unloved, say “I’m feeling down, could anyone do [this thing] for me?” That’s literally why I ask people to show me cat pictures--I have times when I feel sad and alone and like the entire world hates me, and that’s a VERY big feeling for anyone to step in and fill, so instead? I ask for cat pics.

This, I should add, required going back into my trauma memories and deprogramming the origin of my Nice Things Are Evil Poison If I Asked The Person To Be Nice To Me brainweasel. Which is part of why I’m so insistent on asking people not to put me in my personal Hell situation.

Like, sometimes with my clients, we literally create a restaurant menu of Things People Could Do If They Wanted To Be Nice To Me, ranging from cheap $5 items like cat pics and memes to $200 bottles of wine that would be getting married and taking out a mortgage together. Sometimes we talk Love Languages just to go through several different sensory modalities. Then, if creating that menu wasn’t scary enough, they start telling their friends what’s on the list. “I really like things with dragons on them” or "I love to know when somebody’s thinking of me even when I’m not there” or “I really wish I had someone to watch movies with”. This reduces the cognitive load if somebody wants to reach out to you but doesn’t know how.

Relatedly: If you’re in a bad mood and doing something to self-regulate, you might consider letting people know what’s going on. People who are merely being civil might interpret “I’m feeling terrible about myself today” as “You are now socially obligated to blow smoke up my ass”; moderating the statement with a positive attempt to make things better, like “I’m focusing on my shoes a lot today because I feel like crap but they make me happy” or “I’m going to go try to shake this awful mood with Netflix” removes that pressure because it’s a problem with a built-in solution, so they’re not socially impolite if they ignore it. If people want to be emotionally closer to you, it opens the door for them to either ask about your problem, or contribute to your solution (”Oooh, I do like those shoes”) (”Have you seen this new series?”).

Okay so

Here’s the other thing

When you’re used to the one being rejected, you can spend SO much energy trying to make relationships work, and when they don’t, you just kind of shut down and fall over

What if (if you scraped together enough spare Cope) you said to yourself, “Whatever is going on--whether it’s them, or me, or whatever--I am not getting my needs met, so I’m going to back away from them a bit and focus on finding something new? They may not be evil or bad, but I’m going to downgrade them on my priority list.”

Like I’m just saying: Think about it. Every once in a while it’s possible it isn’t your fault, but the other person... just isn’t up to being the kind of friend you need right now, and no effort of yours can improve them at this time, so you’re going to let them shape up if they can but start focusing your attention elsewhere.

I realize that’s like the social equivalent of asking a homeless person to dip into their savings and start a business. But, just... sometimes you just need better friends.

Okay, it’s 2am and I’ve run out of ideas. Anyone else?

#staranise original #trauma #brainweasels #bullying tw #tin-can-paladin