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miraculouscontent · 3 years

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Alright, so apparently certain love square shippers felt the need to go into the Lukanette tag to celebrate/mock that Lukanette is “over” (Marinette broke up with him to keep him safe but go off I guess) and that officially crosses all my lines of not dealing with the fandom’s garbage.

The sheer pettiness is astounding to me, to take joy in the end of what was a lot of people’s comfort ship (people don’t choose comfort ships, by the way) because of “toxic Luka/Lukanette stans,” essentially lumping chunks of the fandom together and letting the opinion of those fans shape their own opinion on a character/ship. The sheer sensitivity on display to have so much spite and disdain for a ship that appeared in less than 10% of all episodes in the show. The sheer vindictiveness to feel smug and self-righteous while also being panicked over a non-endgame ship that’s as temporary as their claim of positivity and condemning of salt until they’re presented with something they don’t like.

Goliath really be beating up on David over here because he's bigger and thinks his opinion is more valid. For the record, no, opinions are not more valid due to shipping an endgame ship or presenting oneself as a beacon of positivity.

And it just goes to show how ship-blind these people are, to care about nothing more than the fact that Lukanette has broken up. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve seen people who openly admit to caring more about the love square’s security than Marinette’s happiness, which is just part of the issue here.

These people did not care how Lukanette broke up, only that it happened. Marinette’s crush backpedaling (because of the show feeling the need to cater to these exact people, who are so worried about their obviously endgame ship being “in danger”) and Marinette ending the episode in literal tears because she wanted to date Luka but couldn’t are both things that didn’t matter to them because it’s all about their ship in the end. Marinette’s life has been made more and more miserable due to her crush on Adrien while straining her relationships with various characters (see: Alya’s claim of jealousy as a reason for why Marinette “must be lying” about Lila), but so long as these people feel secure in their endgame ship, that’s all that matters.

They didn’t care if it was a clean break where both sides came out satisfied (or at least content). If anything, they wanted Lukanette to end as shoddily/dirtily as possible with zero care into how it affected Marinette, whether because they just don’t like the ship or because they actively desire for the suffering of the people who found comfort/happiness in the ship. Adrien had literally nothing to do with the break-up itself and him being mentioned served nothing for the story, but it’ll be completely overlooked or outright praised because god forbid Marinette spend an episode not talking about Adrien since that would imply that her life doesn’t revolve around him and that would be an apparent detriment to the love square.

By the way, newsflash: Luka was not an obstacle to the love square. He sent Marinette away in “Frozer” to go talk to Adrien. He told her that there was no pressure and that he’d be happy for her no matter what. Had Luka not existed, the love square would still be as stagnant as it is now, and it’s pathetic to complain about Marinette liking/dating another boy when she’s not only allowed to do so, but when “Oblivio” and “Chat Blanc” both exist as little more than tools to hold the supposedly “starved” love square shippers over.

These are the same people who will say they dislike/hate Luka, then do a 180 and claim that they “just feel so bad for him” and how he “deserves better than Marinette” (the sudden sympathy of which conveniently serves to hate on a ship that interferes with their own, further proven by equally convenient and appreciation/liking of Luka when he’s not a “threat” to the love square) while simultaneously shipping her with their sunshine boy because Ladybug is who Adrien wants and what Adrien wants is what matters.

These are the same people who will say that Luka is unnecessary and unneeded, then use him as a prop and stepping stone for love square fanfics and fanart, or suggest that Kagami is fine because she makes Adrien feel good about himself (when Luka does the same for Marinette but sure).

These are the same people who say that “Marinette can’t date Luka because she’s busy with hero stuff” while making fics about the love square getting together mid-”hero stuff” and then giving complete radio silence during “Chat Blanc” outside of how good they thought the episode was.

These are the same people who will tell others not to denounce Adrien for “a few mistakes” and then preemptively denounce Luka’s behavior based on a written synopsis for an episode that hadn’t even come out yet (and also after complaining that Luka was “too perfect,” I might add).

These are the same people who will say that Luka/Lukanette makes them feel “uncomfortable” (usually without offering any tangible reasons or being vague about Luka giving off “bad vibes” when he’s done nothing less than support and respect Marinette's agency) while the show’s endgame ship features the “m’lady” hand kissing Chat Noir who Ladybug has pulled away from multiple times yet he keeps persisting (which is apparently considered okay because Adrien is Chat Noir as if that discredits her discomfort/disdain for the gestures).

These are the same people who will say that Luka is “barely there” or “hardly exists” and then complain about how much screentime is dedicated to Lukanette, the utter greed on display going right over their heads when they have the actual endgame ship.

These are the same people who will absolutely reach for anything about Luka to complain about (again, after saying that he’s “too perfect,” then claiming he “tricked” Marinette into kissing him, claiming that he tried to force her into telling him her secret, or criticizing him for teasing her for her stuttering despite him immediately apologizing) and then either defend or turn a blind eye to Chat Noir (who tried to kiss her mid-battle instead of helping, made Ladybug feel bad for keeping secrets that weren’t hers to tell plus threatening his kwami that he’d quit if he didn’t get let in on said secrets, and mocked her instead of apologizing when she told him to stop calling her by a nickname she doesn’t like and has told him before to stop calling her) at every opportunity.

These are the same people who will say that Lukanette is “forced,” then proceed to ship Luka (regardless of if they like him or not) with literally anyone else for the sake of taking him out of the romance equation (because he has to be taken out via already dating as they couldn’t come up with a legitimate reason for Marinette to not want him otherwise), and the only requirement for this person he’s shipped with is that they breathe and aren’t Marinette.

These are the same people who act bothered by Marinette “””treating Luka poorly””” because of her crush on Adrien (by the by, Adrien’s crush on Ladybug has hurt Kagami as well), inadvertently admitting that Marinette’s crush is a problem, then continue shipping her with Adrien in its canon form anyway.

These are the same people who will say that they hate salt fics (specifically ones that target Adrien) and how they “bash characters,” then write fanfics or draw fanart that intentionally make Luka out of character for the sake of having him look bad or giving Marinette an excuse to run to Adrien (because Luka apparently needs to be made worse so that Adrien can look good instead of Adrien being able to stand on his own merits as a good love interest for Marinette).

These are the same people who will slam Luka when he’s Marinette’s support, then go off and ship him with other characters so that he can support them instead (fun fact that this is usually either Adrien - thus leaving Marinette completely alone and miserable when Luka canonically likes her - or characters that Marinette is actively against, such as Chloe or Lila).

These are the same people who will complain about how salty the fandom is (even when the salt is for catharsis/getting out anger from an episode in a productive way) and then laugh when a simple side ship ends because they’ve been letting said ship live rent free in their heads and couldn’t stop anticipating the episode that declares them “over.”

These are the same people who tell or suggest that people should “just leave” if they don’t like the main ship, unapologetically implying that the main ship is either all the show is about, all that they personally care about (bringing us right back to that little “not caring how torn apart Marinette is about the break-up” thing), or that people aren’t allowed to watch/like the show for other reasons (like Marinette herself, the miraculouses, other characters who may appear intermittently but nevertheless bring them joy to see, etcetera).

These are the same people who get on other people’s case for being spiteful while they themselves ride their high horse into the sunset, playing victim when people call them out for intentionally provoking others or purposefully mistagging to avoid people’s blacklist (tagging is not for the comfort of the tagger so they can “””avoid the toxic stans,””” for the record; it’s for the comfort of the people who don’t want to see that content).

And these are the same people who will go on and on about the toxicity of the stans who ship something they don’t like and then either ignore or downplay the stans who ship what they do like because they personally don’t have to experience it. This isn’t even about ship wars, it’s about the hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness.

I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear about how cruel the Luka fans or Lukanette shippers are when these people are celebrating Marinette’s misery because it means the end of a ship that they don’t like and certain people find comfort in. I don’t want to hear about people cross-tagging/mistagging when the Luka/Lukanette tag has been flooded with people who talk trash about the ship without any additional tags to filter it away, getting so bad to the point where some Luka/Lukanette fans had to find workarounds and/or avoid the tag entirely. I don’t want to hear about how certain shippers are worse because [x] [y] [z] when everyone has different experiences, showing a severe case of close-mindedness or at least ignorance on these people’s parts.

And, with how this season is heading, if something bad happens to the love square by the end of Season 4, I most definitely do not want to hear these same people decry the people who will do the exact thing that they’re doing now.

#category: salt #category: fandom #category: long post #((Mind you--this doesn't apply ONLY to the people who cross-tagged to ''celebrate'' Lukanette ending or mock Luka/Lukanette))#((so... if the shoe fits.))#((I literally don't care if people want to salt.))#((I think the whole situation is gross but like--whatever.))#((But we shouldn't be forced to deal with it because salty clowns want to make sure the people they're salty over see it.))#((And I don't want to hear ''oh it'd be different if people cheered the love square getting a wedge driven in it because it's endgame!''))#((as if mockery is okay if done by endgame shippers.))

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fightxxmexxshiggy · 3 years

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People mentioned dnd to me and now I'm having thoughts so everyone can have a crisis with me about how hot this would be.

BAKUGOU the first one up is our sexy boom man and lord let me tell you I absolutely see him as a lvl 15 half elf artificer (really hope I spelled that right) he would come up with the most intricate bombs and weapons that he'd have a reputation for always being ready to level a kingdom if he needed to. He would literally find you doing some petty theft to survive and decide your interesting. He would take you on as an assistant teach you some profitable skills and when he felt you were gonna be ok without him talked to you about where you could go for a good job. He is not happy when you laugh in his face. That is until you explain that the only thing you wanna do for work is be his assistant and work his cock inside your hole every night if he'd let you. This was absolutely the perfect thing to say because the next thing you know he's gripping you by the neck and slowly walking you backwards to the bed. The moment is tense and you can feel the sex energy in the air so you make a joke about being ready to store his boom stick for him. He smirks and pulls out a long thiccc cock that has you both wary and wetter than a flood. He would crawl over you and slide it between your lips the hand on your throat still gentle but the command he has over you is unmistakable. As he gets a steady pace of face FUCKING you, he also gets into a little rythm of squeezing and caressing your throat in time with his cock head hitting sliding into it. Before long he's cuming down your throat and growling at you to drink every drop like a good girl so he can fuck your little full of his next load. He would literally say "only good girls get breed and good girls drink all the cum their given so keep swallow my pretty assistant."

SERO he is a shifter archer who was on the way to meet up with his party when he finds you wounded after a battle with a rude hobgoblin. He patches you up and takes you with him to the next town to get you to a proper doctor. After meeting with his party he goes back to visit you and make sure he didn't drag you here only for you to take a ground nap. He doesn't expect to find you up and fully healed. But at this point he's just gonna go with it. As a thank you you take him to a local inn for a meal. After talking and laughing together for a bit you start getting flirty and rubbing his leg underneath the table. He grins slow and cat like before hooking his leg around yours and jerking his head towards the back alley. Once outside he's got you against the wall and is finger FUCKING you WHILE he rolls your clit with his thumb. In minutes your squirting and squeezing his fingers. That's when you learn that shifters are long and strong. SERO'S teeth are gripping your shoulder while he holds you up against the wall finger tips digging into your ass and hard cock rearranging your guts like it's a damn sport. Your cuming again when he let's go and floods your womb with hot cum. Just as your ready for him to put you down he starts thrusting again hitting your deepest spot like he's guided by magic. The nonstop pounding has you breathless an unable to do more than grip his hair as you moan in his ear. A part of your mind is wondering if his party has space for one more until everything goes blank when you cum so hard you go limp.

KIRISHIMA he is a goliath barbarian with a surprising sense of humor. His party uses your town as a homebase of sorts and he comes to your shop often for supplies and even more often for the snacks and pastries you sell at the counter. He always buys enough for his friends and then sits down with the large portion he got just for his big ass self and has tea with you while he fills up. He regales you with tales of his dungeon raids and where he might be off to next. Usually he leaves you with a little charm he had carved while off on a quest except this time he leaves a wooden carved ring with the word mine engraved on it. The sly man has already headed back to the large home he shares with his party on the edge of town. Once the work day is done you march down to his home an knock on the door. It's answered by the ever grumpy half self that you push past and march up to your goliath. You drag him out by his ear and hand him the ring back with a growled if you don't put it on me the right way no more snacks. He puts it on your left hand and then throws you over his shoulder. He runs to his room and drops you on the bed much faster than you would have thought such a big man could. With your skirts thrown up around your waist you have a perfect view of the redhead slurping and feasting on your pussy. It's only after your 6th screaming orgasm that he frees his cock. You swear it's a war hammer made of flesh but that doesn't stop your pussy from clenching at the sight of it. Long minutes later you were impaled on half of his cock just whimpering and squirting while he worked you up and down like a fuck doll. His growls and snarls only made your pussy weep more juices down the length of his cock. On a particularly hard thrust you came so hard your pussy convulsed around his cock milking his cum from him so violently that even when he had shot every drop into your welcoming womb he was still twitching inside as if he had more to shoot.

DENKI he is a tabaxi rogue. He was doing some scouting for his party on a quest when he sees you. Your collecting herbs and fruits nothing strange except your scent hits his nose like mace to the face and he jumps from the tree's to land in front of you. Needless to say you are freaked out until he apologizes and explains that his species are drawn to the sent of their mate and your scent is making him want to both protect you like a precious treasure but also rail you like he's in rut. Yes he says this like it's not kinda nuts to say to a stranger. You weren't happy in your village and you had given up on finding a life partner so you took a leap and said you'll be his mate on the condition that he courts you like other races do first. He's over the moon and agrees but asks that you let him cover you in his scent before he goes back to his work just to keep him sane. He rubs and grinds all over you for about five minutes before running off to continue his work. From that point on he visits you at least twice a week and courts you, bringing gifts and having meals with you. One night after it had been two weeks since he last came he shows up with a few almost healed wounds and tells you that his last mission was difficult. You fuss over him for a while until you notice the clear bulge in his pants. Thinking about how much you had missed him you decided that you needed the closeness that only sex could bring. He's panting at the knowledge that he'll finally be able to claim the little pussy that's been giving off the most alluring scent he's ever smelled. A few minutes of tongue FUCKING you with your leg over his shoulder later, your sliding down his thicc cock and riding him like you used to ride your father's horse. He's FUCKING up into you with no mercy, absolutely abusing your gspot. The sensations are too much and you can't stop crying as you cum soaking his cock. He rolls you to your back still fucking you like a madman until he shoves deep and his cock swells locking him inside your pussy as he cums so much you can feel it escape your pussy.

Someone come take my internet away. @hipster-merchant-of-death @reinawritesbnha @sendhelpimstupid @cupcake-rogue

#bakugou headcanons #sero smut #denki x reader #kirishima headcanon #mha sero x reader #bakugou smut #kirishima x reader #kirishima smut #denki headcanons #denki smut #sero headcanons #katsuki bakugo x reader #bakusquad #bakusquad dnd characters

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kimberly-spirits13 · 4 years

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Dating Damian Wayne HC:

(imma do one for all of the guys I just had the writing idea for Dames first)

How You Met: Artist credit @axeeeee

. You went to Gotham Academy before him

. You were also making sure that you were top of the class and also maintaining class president

. Anyways, it was just something that you pushed yourself for

. Arts was another strength for you but that was something that you weren’t as inclined to maintain on an extreme level like everything else

. So it was your job to show the new people around the school before their first day which meant that you were showing Damian around

. Your parents already knew Bruce so you weren’t really freaked out at all

. It was just another day tbh

. That was until you met him

. It was weird since you were more of the person to not talk much about yourself

. No one really knew who you were and you were content to keep it that way

. Everyone’s friend but no one knew who you were really

. Damian was kind of the same way but not as friendly or open to people

. He was like the younger you

. Still, for some reason you were interested in him just as a person

. He was as well

. You didn’t immediately hit it off seeing as you are both reserved and closed off when it comes to personal things, but you hit it off faster than any one else

. A miracle in all honesty

. So you started hanging out and eating together in the lunchroom instead of either with a group or alone

. It was nice and then evolved over time

Friendship:

. So after a few months, you guys were getting closer and closer

. It was something that you just expected to happen and when it did you were ready

. You were starting to hang out outside of school whether that was at your place, the park, his house, maybe a café on a weekend

. Just anywhere

. If there were any galas, Damian would invite you and you him since you didn’t really feel great inviting anyone else

. Sometimes galas had this secret mandatory code to bring someone so it was nice to finally have someone to bring

. The media was all over it

. It was honestly really weird for a second and then you just accepted it

. Damian and yourself slowly started opening up to each other about everything

. Depending on how fast you pick up on things and possibly if you’re also a vigilante, this is where you figure out that he’s Robin

. He doesn’t call you by your last name anymore and instead by your first name which is fun

. It’s an honor lol

. If Damian is having an issue at the manor, you just have extra stuff for him to come over anytime

. It’s always there and you make sure to get more when you see something’s running low

. By the end of the friendship stage, you’re probably wearing each other’s clothes by now

. He gets flustered sometimes though

. That’s the first few signs

. Also very protective but we’ll get into that

Signs:

. So Damian now gets flustered?

. Not something that you ever thought you’d see

. Complimenting you too

. It was a mutual thing that you both started doing more and more

. Hanging around each other even more than before if that’s possible

. He introduces you to his pets

. All of them

. Even Goliath

. That was after watching random animal videos one night in the movie room of your house and seeing your reaction to them all

. You bout died meeting Goliath

. It was pretty awesome

. Damian was so proud

. Anyways, so you start getting more and more protective of each other

. Any stupid girls from the Academy were getting immediately shut down

. Same goes with the boys

. For Damian he was always making sure that no one was messing with you or making you feel uncomfy

. Death glares to all and smiles to none that tried it

. That was both ways

. Omg you guys have the death glare mastered

Confession/ Relationship:

. So now that his brothers have caught on, they’re hell bent on getting you two together

. So is Alfred and Bruce and that’s not typical at all

. Everyone ships you and you both know it just won’t accept it

. After some time though, you’re at this string of events and the press was just bombarding you for info on the relationship and whether or not you were dating

. You said no every time and then just moved on

. Damian noticed how much he missed you and loved seeing you thrive even from afar

. It was kind of like oh shit I’d better say something now cause they’ve got everyone wrapped around their finger

. So when you got back, he told you

. It was kind of informal and unexpected

. I mean finally but, out of the blue

. You were thrilled

. So basically from then on, it was wonderful

. Sometimes his brothers might tease you two and post really just dorky things about you guys

. Maybe one day it’s freaking out cause they found you in the movie room passed out on each other asleep with an older movie playing

. Picture of you not being apart at all

. The press loved it all

. You guys loved it all

. Now he’d spend the night all of the time but this time in your room, asleep, with you

. Not just in some guest bedroom or in the same room but apart

. Sleeping is actually a big thing since you both greatly lack it

. You’ll sleep everywhere

. The couch, a chair, the bed, in a car, on the floor sometimes, at a table just next to each other, anywhere

. It was something that like your friendship just evolved over time

. Eventually, you were taking vacations together during the holiday breaks and training together

. Your families loved the other

. Friend groups too

. Sometimes you’d fight but typically it got resolved quickly

. There was always this challenge of apologizing on Damian’s end even if it was really his fault since he just doesn’t know how to

. He got better with that real quick

. Basically, you just appreciate each other and see the other as your other half

. Nothing gets in the way of that

. Not even some stupid boy or girl hitting on the other or the media’s twisted perception of something taken out of proper context

. Those are typically what more serious talks are about but they’re solved quickly

Dates:

. You’re either going to a nice place or not staying in

. There’s no in between

. Either 5 star or the home theater at probably your place

. He loves taking you nice places even if you’ve already been

. Watching new movies

. Or really bad ones just to judge them

. Those are always really fun

. Sometimes you might go for a coffee date and those are typically just spur of the moment type things

. You might go to a gala and then go home and kick back

. Either way it’s the best

. Homemade treats and movies with a possible blanket fort and pillows everywhere over the couches in the movie room

. There’s always a chance that they might get cut short for heroics but that doesn’t typically happen since someone covers Damian’s or your shift

Hero:

. So if you’re a hero, it’s kind of an exhausting thing especially considering schooling and everything else

. Sometimes you find yourself not getting sleep for days

. There are times that you regret everything and Damian understands it all

. He’s just terribly impressed that you can do all of this like he does

. It’s great having someone like that

. Both of you are extremely well trained which sometimes Damian questions where you got your training since it’s so similar to his and his father’s

. Very calculated and precise every single time but also unpredictable which makes you dangerous

. It’s something that you always use to your advantage

. On nights that you patrol, you do it together and always tag team

. Damian knows that you put up one hell of a fight, but he’d rather be there incase something happens then not at all and have something bad happen

. Both of you are always stitching each other up and helping the other with nightmares

. It’s just inevitable at this point

. Staying over at each other’s places depending on how close you are or how badly injured

. You always go to the manor if there’s something really bad that happened

. That’s cause they have better medical equipment and Alfred who is a legend

. Alfred can fix anything and if he can’t it’s to the hospital but that pretty much never happens

Routine?:

. With everything, you have to have a routine

. It’s very exact and important

. In the morning, you both wake up together but not before hitting the snooze button three times

. You have the alarm set early enough to be able to do this

. Plus some time just to lay there for a second

. Damian is typically the cutest and most tired in the morning

. He hates them

. If you’re washing your face or doing whatever, he’ll just hug you from behind and lean against your shoulder

. Has fallen asleep before

. Then you both eat and head off to school

. After school, you go back to someone’s place to change into comfy clothes and complete homework which most is done at school since you wouldn’t have time otherwise

. If you have a meeting to go to, you’ll go to that and then head back

. After supper, it’s to patrol and then after two to three hours of that on average, you go back to one of your homes and shower typically together since you don’t have time to not

. It’s easier and more time efficient so you’ve said

. Also uses less hot water

. Then, you check your phones for any other emergencies and head to bed

. If you’re not a hero it’s basically the same thing but he comes into your room, locks the window again after he’s made sure everything is safe inside, creeps in your closet to get his nightclothes, looks at his phone for anything that might have happened since, goes to shower, and then gets into bed with you after making sure you’re okay without waking you up

. When sleeping, you’re either touching slightly or just on top of each other in some way

. Either way, you’re touching

. He can’t have you far from him incase something happens

. Never really sure what might happen, just that it could happen

. Since he’s a light sleeper, if you shift or move around, he opens his eyes for a second to make sure you’re okay

. That goes for hero or not

. It’s really nice and sometimes he’ll come in and you’ll still be awake

. Always asks why

. “Dami, I’m always awake at this hour.”

. “I know beloved, but you should sleep.”

. “Well then let’s go.”

. He’ll swing by for just a second during patrol to check in if you’re either grounded from patrol due to injury, sickness, just need a night off, or if you don’t do it

. Texts you updates every now and then since he knows you worry and it helps him when he’s home and you’re patrolling

. Basically keeps him from going insane so he does the same for you just incase

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karolinarodrigueswrites · 2 years

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These started as casual scenarios I made as prep for nano, and now they are casual scenarios as warm-ups for my nano wips.

Scenario 13: amnesia x we are engaged

Pairing: Aaron x Daniel

WIP: And David Became Goliath, set in And One Day Turned Into Forever AU

Summary: person A wakes up to learn they are engaged and loved by person B, but they cannot recall anything other than previous misery, so things take a turn between the exposition of how they met.

Note: this like, got wildly sad more at the end, but, well, I did write this as fragments; also, influence of the ADBG worldbuilding on how religion works here.

Tagging: @mikoala02

-------

He wakes up wildly disoriented, his surroundings blurring in and out of focus at a nauseating speed.

“Daniel?” Someone calls him, and a hand is touching his face. “Take it easy; no strength of heart makes you immune to being hit by a car.”

Sooner than later, things settle down, and he can see the white man leaning over him, caressing the side of his face.

It is a level of affection Daniel hasn’t experienced in a long time, but he has to ask: “Who are you?”

The man frowns, a journey of emotions screaming themselves out in his disconcertingly highly expressive eyes, and he pulls his hand away, stepping back, and leaving without replying.

⁂

Fiancé. The man, Aaron, is his fiancé, who has brought him a change of clothes, and…

Daniel breathes in when Aaron steps closer to give him the bag. “Is that my cologne?”

Aaron hunches his shoulders, though, at his height and size, he could not make himself small if his life depended on it.

“I… I can’t wear your clothes,” he explains, gesturing at the broadness of his shoulders. “It would stretch them out, so, I… I improvise when I miss you.”

“… I see.”

⁂

It is not that Daniel doesn’t find Aaron attractive; his last memories are of being done with marriage, once had been enough — or so he assumed.

And he can tell Aaron is younger than him, even if so was Daniel in comparison to his ex-wife.

“How did we meet?” Daniel brings up the matter when they enter the car.

Aaron’s eyes widen, loudly, looking at anything that is not Daniel.

“How, Aaron?”

“Well…”

“How.”

“… I stepped in when you got mugged on the way to my work. I was in uniform, so you thought I was a cop…”

“And what else are you that you were in a uniform?”

The silence extends itself, and Daniel thinks that will be the end of the conversation.

“A stripper,” Aaron says. “I’m a stripper.”

Daniel stares, blank expression, slowly going over Aaron’s body, stopping on the color spreading across his cheeks.

“How do you do your job when you fluster this easy?”

Aaron smiles. “It’s because I care what you think, I value when you show interest in me. The same can’t be said of my clients.”

⁂

They dated for four years, and have been engaged for three months.

“How does my family feel about this all?”

“Well…” Aaron fiddles with the bunch of keys a little too long. “I get along with everyone…”

“That not my stepson?”

Once upon a time, Tyron was a kid. Then a bully that evolved into a bastard with little to be redeemed.

“That’s half of the story…”

Daniel grabs Aaron’s hand before he can unlock the door to their apartment.

“And the other half?”

“A year before we met, I dated him for four months… It… It wasn’t good… I only learned you were his stepfather during a much later family event… I might have broken his nose too.”

Daniel knows what Tyron’s relationships look like, they were after all the final straw that made him and Jeanine kick him out. “Was it enough?”

“No, but your pastor gave me permission to be the one to drag Tyron out whenever he shows up, as he is always uninvited.”

That gets the first transparent reaction of the day out of Daniel, and it is shock — he always was a man to hold his emotions together, away from prying eyes hoping for something to hold against him… And with Aaron…

His reputation used to mean everything for him, more so in the eyes of the people who were there when he most needed.

“Pastor Marcus?”

“Yes.”

“How does he feel about it?”

“He’s glad you’re seeking out your own happiness. Could have done it less… Less this,” Aaron points at himself, “but you did it.”

⁂

Later, Jeanine, and Aurelia, their daughter, came to visit for a moment while Aaron went to do the grocery shopping he neglected during the days Daniel was stuck at the hospital.

Jeanine makes herself comfortable on the couch, amused. “Has he already broken the secret for you? Your one and only shining stripper in a velcro uniform?”

Daniel looks up from his phone, where he browses the pictures. “Yes, he has. How did we even get close? He said he works at The Champions, and I don’t have that kind of money.”

Aurelia answers. “Clarissa and Clement are classmates with his adopted sister, Lilly. Their school got some extra funding for the child’s day celebrations, and in the week of events that followed, you two were part of the chaperones.”

Daniel raises his brows. “And you were around to help?”

Aurelia smiles, and she no longer has braces. “Seeing you not knowing what to say to an eight-year-old asking if you were gay was very entertaining.”

“… What even brought that up?”

“Aaron kept blushing when you paid attention to him, and Lilly wanted to know if you meant business.”

“Alright… I need to confirm something else: is Marcus really fine with this?”

“Aaron is some things…” Jeanine starts. “Including a highly devoted member of his church, a cult for Misery. He is as popular in his community as you are in ours, so some exceptions were made about his career choice.”

“… Do I ask for further explanation?”

“They say that through his faith, he is the David who became Goliath.”

Jeanine waits for Daniel to process the statement.

“And then he made Goliath his stripper name.”

⁂

Alone, Daniel continues to browse the pictures — the gallery that used to be sparse is now full of photos taken by Aaron of their outings with other people, such as their families, their congregations, or simply acquaintances at some public events.

Eventually, he finds a password-locked folder, and though not advisable, he is glad he still uses the same passwords on rotation.

This time, there are only pictures taken by him, where the subject is Aaron.

He returns to the home screen, places the cellphone down on the dinner table, and takes a deep breath.

He isn’t fazed by the intimacy of them, it’s the trust the pictures require to exist that gets to him, the way Aaron looks at the camera when his face is present, where his profession would imply something coy or confident, there is only a tender gleam of joy in his eyes.

⁂

The harder he tries to think, the less he seems able to remember the present.

But he can remember the past, the yells, the fights, the disappearances. His family’s love couldn’t keep him safe from everything.

⁂

Aaron arrives home to an intoxicated Daniel at the dinner table, with a bottle of wine, making his cellphone spin on top of the wood.

Setting the groceries down at the entrance, Aaron closes the door and turns on the lights. “Daniel?”

Daniel’s eyes are red, enough tears still streaming down his face. “How did we get together?”

Aaron pulls a chair and sits in front of him. “What do you want to know?”

“How.”

“How what?”

Daniel wavers as he tries to articulate his words. “Why me?”

The corner of Aaron’s lips curls up in a small smile. “Why not you?”

He doesn’t wait for Daniel to answer, leaning forward and bringing Daniel’s hand to the side of his face, where it promptly cups his cheek, even if there is a tremble in its hold.

“Who we are is not limited to the facades we put up to survive the people around us.”

Daniel grimaces, more tears announcing themselves. “It… It’s not-“

They clearly had this conversation before. "The guise of calculated indifference they imposed on you as proof of competence, of being a man, doesn't negate that you do have a heart."

On one side, Daniel is aware the predicament is temporary, but why of all things he would wake up to learn he is loved, trusted, and yet cannot recall anything other than the miserable loneliness of being too cold, too distant, too insufficient as a lover?

“Do I love you back? Do I let you know?”

Aaron closes his eyes, nuzzling against Daniel’s hand. “You love me. You love me so much it’s breathtaking. You were hesitant at first, you didn’t want to let your guard down, and I had no hurry or need to tear you down, because your wariness never meant you neglected me.”

Daniel stays quiet, trying to regulate his breathing between the sobbing.

“You said it yourself,” Aaron continues. “There is joining someone in the sea, and there’s dragging them down and wondering why they drowned.”

⁂

Daniel’s voice is hoarse. “You love me.”

“I do.”

“You love me.”

“I do.”

“You love me.”

“I do. I’ll say it as many times as you want: I love you.”

⁂

When Daniel is back to full health and memory, they travel to a nearby city, to see the ocean.

Daniel is the first to go swimming, and Aaron watches for a while first before following him in — the impression he will sink like a stone never went away, but Daniel’s peace and happiness, as if he never had been more at home than when contemplating the tides, makes Aaron believe he won’t.

------

Note: I don't know how much more I'll write of this particular set up in another scenario, but the italicized sentences are things Daniel told Aaron, that Aaron is repeating to him.

#writeblr #nanowrimo #kr writes #kr tries nano #adbgwip #adbgauwip #kr scenarios

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slasher-sweetie · 3 years

Note

Can I requests Asa’s reaction to realizing he has feelings for uuuuh , maybe like one of the students at the school he works at , but not his direct student .

Of course! I hope you like it! ❤

Asa Emory x College Student!Reader

Asa sat at his desk, writing meticulously in his journal as he studied the insect in front of him. He had nearly finished his notes and was on his way to beginning his sketch when there was a knock on the door. With a sigh, Asa lowered his pencil. This had better be important, or whoever was standing on the other side of the door was getting skinned alive. He straightened his pencil and journal so that they were in an even line on his desk.

"Come in," he called clearly, his dark eyes waiting to pierce the form of the person who dared to interrupt his work.

The person who entered might have been one of the most attractive people he had ever seen in his life. Even complexion, stunning bone structure, and bright eyes.

You poked your head in shyly and asked, "Doctor Emory?"

Asa can't muster more than a single nod, "Can I help you?"

You give him a slow, unsure smile, "Uh yes," you walk further into the room, closing the door behind you. You look around momentarily at the thousands of preserved specimens that lined the walls, "I'm Y/n, the new office aide. Ms. Helker told me to bring you your mail."

Asa studied you as you reached out to hand him a few envelopes, waiting long enough for your smile to look forced, and a crinkle to form between your brows before he took them from you. You straightened and gave him a brighter smile, and then your eyes traveled down to the insect on his desk and a gasp left your lips.

"Is.. is that a Royal Goliath beetle?" you ask, subconsciously taking a step closer to the object of your attention.

Asa stifles his shock, he didn't remember you being in any of his classes, so how did you know about Royal Goliath beetles? Most people despised insects. Apparently not you.

You glance up to meet his eyes and give him another nervous smile, "They're my favorite, they're strength is incredible, did you know that they can lift 850 times their own body weight?" you giggle softly, "I mean, of course you do, you're the Professor."

Asa is blown away by your knowledge but doesn't reward you with more than the soft upturn of the corner of his mouth. "Yes, they're extraordinary creatures. If you have such an interest in Entomology, then why aren't you in any of my classes?"

A faint blush dusts over the apples of your cheeks, darkening them, "I was going to, but my schedule is full with my required classes, and as part of my scholarship, I have to help out in the office when I'm in between lectures," you glance over at the clock and gasp, "Excuse me, Dr. Emory, I've gotta run. I have to go and pick up lunch at noon. Have a nice day!"

With those words you were whirling around and exiting the classroom. Asa was taken aback by the abruptness of your departure. As he got back to work, he couldn't shake the lingering image of the way your lips peeled back from your teeth when you smiled. He quite liked the sight.

***

Asa was late. Very late. If he hadn't been up half the night dealing with a particularly stress-inducing new addition to his collection, he wouldn't be rushing through the halls like some sort of buffoon. He glanced at his watch as he quickened his steps, he would NOT be late to his lecture over something so ridiculous. That was his last thought before he walked solidly into another body. Papers went flying, falling to the floor like a January snow, and Asa could feel his temper rising.

His dark eyes focused on the idiot he had collided with, and he could've laughed when he saw it was you, just the person he couldn't get out of his head. He had imagined you as a part of his collection at least a thousand times since the last time you had met, and after this situation, he was fighting back the need to keep you in a cage. You always knew how to aggravate him when he was trying to attend to his business.

Your bright eyes met his, and you looked downright repentant, "Dr. Emory! I'm so sorry. I was rushing to class and I, uh, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," your lower lip trembled and you looked like you were on the verge of tears.

Asa sighed, and reached down to pull you to your feet, "No harm done, accidents happen." He then began to help you gather your papers that currently littered the hallway. One look at one of them told him it was an essay of some sort, it appeared to be about the impact of gerrymandering in urban areas. He handed you the papers and watched as you sorted through them carefully, putting them in some semblance of order.

You looked up at him again, "I'm so sorry again, Dr. Emory, I should've been paying attention to where I was going."

Asa waved his hand, physically waving off your apology, "No need to be sorry, no harm done."

Your eyes softened, and the smile you gave him caused his breath to hitch ever so slightly. With a small thank you, you left Asa staring after your retreating form in wonder.

The feeling in his stomach mimicked the fluttering of a thousand Painted Lady butterflies, and that was when Asa knew you were dangerous. You had to be a part of his collection, he had to have you, there were absolutely no arguments to be had about it.

As Asa watched you disappear around the corner, he wondered if he could artificially replicate the way your eyes shined.

***

Asa grumbled as he adjusted his tie for the sixth time. Why on earth did he ever agree to come to this boring party for the University's faculty members. The sooner he could leave, the sooner he could work on a new project involving a fascinating subject that he was turning into a Praying Mantis. Asa pivoted to the side, barely saving himself, as a writer walked by with a tray full of champagne glasses. Apparently the alumni had went all out for this soiree.

Asa looked around, taking tentative sips of his champagne. He saw a few of his colleagues from the science department huddled up, laughing. He was about to go and greet them when out of the corner of his eye, he saw you.

You stood there, dressed impeccably, your outfit flattering your figure, drawing Asa's eyes to all of your best assets. You were talking to the Political Science professor, an old man with a bushy white beard who was wearing an awful brown suit. Asa couldn't recall his name, Dr. Franklin maybe? It didn't matter because in that moment you had decided to throw your head back laughing at something the professor said. Your laughter was warm, and sweet, and it was better than the ticking of a Deathwatch beetle which, up until this point, had been Asa's favorite sound. His new favorite thing about you, you, who would be his newest addition to his collection.

Asa started as the record scratch of reality sounded in his head. If you became part of his collection, would you ever laugh like that again? Could you ever laugh like that again? There was no way to force such genuine delight. Asa sighed, draining the rest of his drink.

He'd have to take another path.

***

It was Monday, and Asa knew you'd be by with his mail any time now. He was impatiently waiting, the ticking of the clock grating against his already frayed nerves. He needed to see you. He needed this to work. He wanted to consume your every waking thought as much as you consumed his. He wanted to possess your very being.

As if answering his unspoken prayers, there was a gentle knocking at his door.

Quickly, almost too quickly, Asa jumped out of his seat, "Come in."

You poked your head in, and the mere sight of you was like ice on a burn. He could feel his muscles relaxing. His jaw was unclenching. All within moments of being in your presence.

"Hello, Dr. Emory!" you greeted cheerfully, making your way over to him, "I've got your mail. No beetles today?"

Asa forced a small smile, trying to fight through his obsessive compulsions to take you in his arms and never let you go. "No, not today. How are you?"

You blink at him in surprise, but quickly hide it with a smile, "I'm fine, a little sore from helping my friend move into their new apartment yesterday, but besides that great! How are you doing?"

"I'm well, thank you. Do you like Italian food?" quick, to the point, social interaction had never been Asa's strongest point. He just hoped you'd say yes.

Your smile falls slightly, you had never been more baffled by a person before. Asa rarely ever spoke to you, which hadn't stopped you from forming a crush on him, but now he was making an effort to hold a conversation. How strange.

"Yes, I love Italian food, it's one of my favorites. My grandmother makes the best ravioli."

Good. Good. Things were going according to plan. Asa glances over to the clock on the wall, nearly noon. Lunch time. Get it over with.

"Would you like to accompany me to lunch? Today," Asa clarifies quickly, not letting his inner turmoil show on his face.

Your answering smile was breath-taking, "Of course! I'd love to. Let me just finish delivering the mail, and I'll meet you in the courtyard?"

Asa couldn't help but smile, and nodded in agreement.

You turned to leave and stumbled over your own feet. A chuckle leaves you, and as you reach the door you turn back to look at Asa one more time, giving him another smile.

It's then that Asa realizes that you don't have to be a part of his collection in order to belong to him.

You were already on your way to being his.

#slasher x reader #slashers #slasher x you #asa emory #the collector

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good-rwbyaus · 3 years

Note

AU where instead of Jaune having a semblance that turns him into a harem protagonist, his semblance let’s him turn OTHER people into harem protagonists.

// Yes. Good. Time to suffer Blake. 8D - mod lilac

Title: JAUNE IM GOING TO KILL YOU

“You! You did this!”

Oh crap. The last person he wanted to see was here, and here he was still stuck in a hospital bed from the Battle of Beacon, unable to escape or run away. He couldn’t help sweating as the dark-haired faunus approached, hand pressed against her abdomen, and then leaned forward without doing anything.

For a moment, he hoped. And then the hands around his neck proved that hope was nothing more than a four letter word for lie. Immediately, the other girl started tightening her grip and shaking him against his bed, head banging against his pillow.

“When I said it might be interesting to become a Ninjas of Love protagonist, I didn’t mean you using your Semblance on me in real life,” Blake screamed angrily, “Do you know what sort of month I’ve had because of you?”

“Acck. Blake. I need to breath. Blake,” he said as he patted the other girls’ arms to mark his submission. He wasn’t actually getting hurt, but as he knew from living with seven older sisters, sometimes the feeling of getting revenge justice was enough.

Otherwise, if they don’t think you’ve suffered enough, that’s when your life gets miserable.

“I thought everyone around me was going crazy! Everyone proposing to me out of the blue,” Blake screamed, “And they were!” She loosened her grip on Jaune’s neck as she took deep breathes, “Then Pyrrha came to visit me, and since she still seemed sane, I told her what’s been happening to me. Guess what I found out. Apparently Jaune Arc has a semblance that turns people into harem protagonists!”

“What did I do to you to deserve this?!” Her hands twitched again as if ready to go for another round of strangle the blond.

His hands immediately went up to prevent such a thing from happening.

“Blake. If you choke me to death, this is going to keep happening.”

“Jaune. If you don’t stop it now, I will throttle you and then run home to Kuo Kuana.”

“It can’t be that bad. What, you got proposed to by three or four peopl-”

Blake’s eyebrow and ears began twitching.

“...I take it that’s not what happened.”

“Three or four?!”

“...Maybe you want to tell me what’s going on before you extend my hospital stay,” Jaune asked carefully. The girl glared at him before taking a deep breath.

"It all started with Sun...”

=================

Sun:

“Hey Blake. I was thinking about you, and I got you this,” Sun smiled, rubbing his head sheepishly. An amethyst necklace, beautifully displaced inside a red package, laid in his other hand, shining brilliantly.

The sparkle - the shine - they caught her eye immediately. It glittered and caught her attention in a way that really tickled her, but she couldn’t help but glance at the package the necklace was in. And that dropped cold water onto her appreciation. She frowned.

She lifted her gaze to meet Sun’s.

“Sun?”

“Yes?” Sun asked excitedly.

“Did you steal this?”

Sun averted his eyes as he continued speaking confidently.

“Why I’d nev-”

“The security tag is still on it.”

“-er think about giving you something I haven’t stolen myself.”

Blake just glared at the boy who quickly excused himself.

=================

“I didn’t think much of it at first,” Blake said, “But random people started - out of the blue might I add - propositioning me while the Vytal Festival was going on - especially Shade Academy. I just thought they were an overly forward bunch cause they were part of the whole “live hard, live free” crew. ”

Blake stared darkly at Jaune, who just slid lower into his hospital bed.

“But then my team got involved.”

=================

Ruby and Yang

“Blake~”

“Blake!”

“Ruby? Yang?” she turned around for just a moment, only to be immediately accosted by the two sisters. Ruby hung to her right arm, and Yang hung onto her left arm. They spoke at nearly the same time.

“You’re looking incredibly dashing today, Blake, “ Yang said with a wink.

“You’re so pretty today,” Ruby said in awe, “That is not to say you’re not prett-” The awkward girl trailed off before finding a way to quickly change the subject.

“Stop copying me, Yang,” Ruby said with a pout.

“I said it first,” the other girl grinned.

Uhhh. What was going on? First Sun, then the random people, and now Ruby and Yang.

“So what about going on a ride with me and Bumblebee through the town?”

“No, Blake’s going to go with me to Vytal’s Weapons Exhibit, not on a boring ride with you.”

“What’s so great about looking at a bunch of old weapons?”

“You take that back! Can’t be any worse than just driving around boring Vale.”

“Wel-”

Maybe she should stop this before things get worse.

“I already have plans - uh - to stay in Beacon and curl up near the fireplace and read an interesting book that I recently purchased,” Blake said carefully as she lightly twisted out of the sisters’ grips.

Ruby glanced over at Yang, and Yang at Ruby.

“Why does that sound really similar to the words you said to us on the first day we met?” Ruby said.

“Well, she was probably just saying that just to get rid of you.”

“No, she was telling you to go away. She liked me when we first met, “ Ruby said smugly as she pointed her thumb at herself.

“Let’s ask then. Hey, who were you telling to g- No. I thought of a better question. Who do you like more, Ruby or me?”

As a connoisseur of horrible romance novels, she knew that question was a horrible trap. She needed to use all her tactical skills to escape this situation.

Step 1. Stall.

“I-I-I like you both,” Blake stuttered out, already seeing the dissatisfaction on both girl’s faces.

“That’s a copou-”

“C’mon, Bla-”

Step 2. RUN.

She then created a clone to distract them as she crashed out of the nearby window. A pair of affronted screams could be heard as she ran for the treeline.

Sorry, clone.

=================

“I’ve been camping in the Emerald Forest to avoid them,” Blake said frazzled, “Do you know what it’s like to be the subject of sisters trying to compete for affection?”

“Uhhh yeah,” Jaune laughed, “I have seven older sisters, you know.”

“Why would you do this to me then?”

“Ahaha. Sorry, but you were the one who expressed interest in the life of a harem protagonist.”

Blake’s gaze moving between his pillow and his face probably wasn’t a good sign.

“Uhh. So that’s it?” Jaune said quickly.

“No! It affected my entire team!”

=================

Weiss:

“Uhhh Weiss. You didn’t have to prepare all this,” Blake said, not quite able to stop her drooling. In the middle of the Emerald Forest was a small seafood banquet, and to someone that had been living with her own subpar cooking skills for a week, it was a godsend.

“It was my pleasure. It’s been a long time since we could just sit together like this,” Weiss said daintily, sipping her tea on the table she prepared, complete with cloth drapings.

“Yeah, especially since Ruby and Yang seem to have gone insane.”

“How so?”

“The last time I went back to Beacon, Ruby tried feeding me her home cooking, and I nearly died from the taste. Yang taunted her because her own cooking was miles better, and now Ruby’s on a quest to improve her cooking and making me the taste tester.”

Weiss winced sympathetically before smiling. “Well, you’re here now. Just take a seat and just enjoy the food.”

“Thanks,” Blake said as she sat down, grabbing a couple dishes and devouring them as fast she could endure.

It was then she felt a peculiar feeling against her calf. Thinking it was just a bug, she just swung her leg, and the sensation went away.

But after a couple more seconds of dining, she felt it reappear - and it was now on her knee now.

Immediately, she lifted her head from the dishes to stare at Weiss, who had an innocent smile on her face as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

“Weiss?”

“Yes, Blake?”

“Is thaaaa...”

Warning bells started ringing in her head; that foot now on her thigh was reaching just a tad bit higher inch by inch. And immediately, she stood up, face burning like it’s been out of the sun.

“SorryWeissIrealizeIhavetogocatthefeedBye!” she spilled out in a panic as she ran like a Goliath was after her.

As she entered into the woods, her ears caught Weiss’s parting words.

“Wait Blak-. Does that mean Blake isn’t into this sort of stuff then?”

=================

“As it so happens,” Blake said rubbing the space between her brow, “a couple of my Ninjas of Love books have gone missing from underneath my bed mattress. The one with that dinner scene in particular.”

“Sounds like you read some really raunch-”

Blake slightly reddened and sent Jaune a glare.

“Uhh, sorry. So that’s gotta be it then.”

“No. Because guess who also has a sister?”

“Weiss has a sister?”

Blake sighed.

=================

Winter:

“I wanted to see the girl who had my sister’s affections,” the white-haired girl who looked a lot like Weiss said calmly. She had cornered her inside a cave, out-maneuvered her to the point where she had to hide - and still found her.

Winter’s hand lifted her chin. “You really....are pretty.”

Her face burned red at the affectionate gesture.

Shadow.

Run.

=================

“That doesn’t sound like a confession though, “ Jaune said skeptically.

“With the way my month’s been going,” Blake said dryly, “you really want to bet on that?”

Jaune shook his head laughing nervously.

“No bet. No bet,” Jaune waved his hand.

“Besides she was part of the cavalry during the Battle of Beacon.”

=================

Adam:

“Adam, I’ve never thought about you that way,” Blake choked out, the pain through her gut making her curl onto the ground.

“What! You can’t deny me. You’re mine. And you always will be. And if I can’t have you....”

Her once mentor’s blade shimmered in the flames, pointing towards her neck as she struggled to ready her Semblance.

“Hey! Someone’s trying to kill Blake!” someone screamed out. It sounded a lot like Yang.

A blur of fire and ice practically detonated the spot Adam was standing in, sending him to the wall opposite to her charred worse than Ruby’s cooking. Familiar figures dropped in through the roof, took one look at her, and then charged towards her assailer with unmatched ferocity.

Adam proceeded to get his ass beat by the rest of Team RWBY, Sun, Winter, and Cinder.

=================

“Wait wait wait. Cinder? How does she enter into the picture?” Jaune said incredulously.

“Apparently she’s the mastermind behind everything,” Blake shrugged, “According to her confession, she took one look at me and realized all the wrongs she’d done and wanted to work hard to atone.”

Jaune couldn’t help but stare disbelievingly at that.

“Winter’s boss couldn’t believe it either,” Blake pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I guess all’s well that ends well. You got saved, Vale’s still standing. All of us are alive,” Jaune laughed.

“Yeah, except for this little problem of me having a harem!” Blake growled.

“Wait. Where’s Blake?” said a voice outside the room.

“She’s awake?!” said another voice.

“She shouldn’t be walking around like that. Should be resting with the best medical care Vale could offer.” said a third.

“Crap. They’re here,” Blake said frantically, glancing over at a nearby window. “Fix this, Jaune, or you’re not going to like what happens next.”

Opening the sliding window, the girl dove through and quickly skedaddled towards the treeline of the forest that was becoming her home.

Meanwhile....

Jaune felt a foreboding feeling as his room door slid open, and the stares of three panicking members of team RWBY settled on him.

“Jaune, have you seen Bla-” Ruby said before her gaze locked onto something at his side.

Jaune glanced over to see what Ruby was looking at - the open window.

“So, Jaune, what do you think you were doing with Blake alll alone?” Yang said with a smile that wasn’t a smile.

“Ehehe. Nothing. I’ve just woken up. I didn’t even see her today.”

“Really? I don’t think you’re telling us the truth,” Weiss said calmly, “Ruby?”

“Yes?”

“Close the door.”

Sweating, Jaune clandestinely started pressing the nurse call button under his sheets, hoping someone would come before these three had their way with him.

#Anonymous #rwby au #rwby #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #ruby rose #yang xiao long #sun wukong #jaune arc #mod lilac #rwby fic #blacksun #ladybug #checkmate #bumbleby

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dramatic-squirrel · 3 years

Text

Daminette December Day 1- Inspiration

Here is my first attempt at writing for Damianette December. For my own sake, I have chosen to be liberal with the themes but (at least to me) they still fit, so fight me.

@daminette-december2019-2020

Her mind was blank. Even though she saved Paris on a daily basis, could create a new stage outfit for Jagged in 3 days and babysit for Manon, she couldn’t solve this problem. It was her first Christmas with Damian and she was spending it in Gotham, yet she couldn’t figure what to give him.

“Tikki, what am I supposed to do!? I don’t have any ideas. I want it to be perfect but I don’t know what to give him.” The park was empty except for them, everyone else was inside avoiding the cold.

“You don’t have to be so nervous Marinette. Damian will love whatever you give him.” Tikki patted her in comfort through the purse she was always in.

“Yes, but I want it to be perfect. It’ll mean more if I put a lot of thought into it, it’s just that I can’t even think about what to get in the first place,” her pacing left a long trail of footprints in the snow. “I don’t want it to be generic, but his family is rich. He literally could get anything he wanted, what do you get someone who could just buy it themselves anyway?” At that point, the only thing she knew for certain was that she was going to handmake the gift.

She didn’t want to mess it up either. She really liked Damian. Unlike her, he was always composed and calm and even though he came off as rude to most people she knew that he really cared about those he let into his life. She saw how gentle he could be, especially to his pets, and she saw how his pets trusted and loved him. She knew that, despite the fact that he claimed his friends and family annoyed him, that he cared about them. She even bet that he would do everything he could to protect them.

Damian was amazing, and the one final thing she knew about him was that Damian wasn’t really used to affection. He brushed off Dick’s constant care towards him, even though Damian relied on Dick the most out of everyone in his family.

So she wanted to make something special for him, that would show that she also cared about him. But no idea’s were coming to mind.

“Why don’t you try walking around Gotham a bit, Marinette?” Tikki’s voice was reassuring. “You always come up with great ideas when you look at the environment around you. I’m sure if you looked around Gotham, where he lives, you’ll come up with something.”

A sigh left her in resignation. “You’re right Tikki,” she tried to be positive about it all. She still had time, and she always managed to solve her problems in a pinch. Her confidence restored itself as she left the park to go wander around the city he called home for the past six years.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Things were not going so well for Damian either, although he had to admit, he hadn’t seen a problem until Grayson had brought up the issue.

“So, Babybird, want to tell me what you got Marinette for Christmas or am I going to have to guess on my own,” he barged into the room like he owned the place.

“What are you talking about, Grayson?” The complete confusion on his face clued Dick in to the fact that Damian was not in fact joking around.

“You are aware that Christmas is coming up soon right?”

“Yes?”

“Okay,” the utter despair on Dick’s face as he realized what this all meant. “I’d have expected this when you first came here but, you do know that it is usual to give gifts to people on Christmas, right? Bruce has celebrated Christmas with you, I think you’ve even given Jon a gift. So, you know that your supposed to give a gift to Marinette right?”

For the first time in his life, Dick saw Damian look uncertain about something. “Well, I assumed since we’ve only known each other for a few months at this point, that we didn’t know each other well enough to present appropriate gifts to each other. After all, I doubt she knows all of my interests or what i might need, and I certainly don’t know that much about Marinette. In fact, I doubt that she is getting something for me in the first place.”

Dick could only shake his head in dismay as he placed a hand on Damian shoulder. “I can tell you, without a shred of doubt, that Marinette is preparing a gift for you. She’s the kind of person that gives everything her all, including her relationships. Lucky for you, there is still time to get her something, so do you have any ideas?”

Shocking him further, Dick saw another emotion on Damian’s face that he’d never seen before, panic. Damian had no idea what to do, he never really had to think about getting gifts for others. He never cared about anyone enough to have to deal with this but, Marinette was different. She was sweet and understanding and badass, she could handle her own against some of the Gotham Rogues with no problem. And when she smiled it was so bright that it rivalled Grayson’s, it was like an angel smiling in front of him.

He never really cared before if people hated him but, Marinette was different. “What do I get her Grayson? I don’t know nearly enough about her to get her something she would like.”

“You know that she’s a fashion designer, you could give her something related to that.”

“That’s idiotic. I know nothing about what she would need or what would be the best present. She probably has most of the essentials and I have no clue what specific equipment or supplies would be most useful for her. Maybe I should do some research on Marinette to find out.”

“No no no. Wait a minute Damian. I’m here to stop you from doing stupid stuff like that. Before you invade her privacy and screw things up lets calm down and think this through a bit more.” He managed to stop Damian. “If you aren’t sure what she would like, or need, how about you make something for her. Marinette makes a lot of things by hand so she would know and appreciate the hard work you’d put into making a homemade gift.”

Damian nodded his head in understanding. “I am good enough at painting that I should be able to make something that she would like, but I still have to know what to paint. Thank you Grayson, I need to ponder over this for some time.”

He left the room without looking back at his brother. Grayson just committed to watching over his younger brother until he was sure that things were going to be all right.

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A few days before Christmas, Marinette and Damian met in a small hole-in-the-wall coffee shop that Tim recommended to Damian. Since Marinette had to go back to Paris soon to spend the holidays with her parents and helping out at the bakery. They decided to celebrate Christmas with each other a bit earlier.

They sat down and ordered their drinks, hot chocolate for her, and a cup of Assam tea for him. Their drinks arrived and before Damian could bring it up, Marinette spoke up first.

“So, I know we never really discussed this beforehand but, because it’s the holiday season, and I wanted to give you something nice, I got you a present. Of course, you might not like the gift and if you hate it I’d understand and I can get something else for you but, I hope you like it.” Her rambling cut off as she shoved the package she was carrying in his face.

The gift was long and rectangular. It was wrapped, in much to his secret embarrassment, in dark green wrapping paper with the Robin logo stamped all over it. Sometimes he wondered if Marinette actually knew his identity as Robin. He opened it up and stared in surprise at what she got him.

“I was having trouble deciding what to get you, when I was walking around Gotham and I saw a shop that sold old weapons, like swords and stuff,” she started to explain. “I remembered that you had this katana in your room that didn’t seem to have a sheath and I got inspired to make this for you.”

The katana sheath she made was a dark green, so dark that, unless under bright light, it looked black. In a black paint, that was almost obscured by the dark green, she added a subtly design to the sheath, a chinese-style dragon. Near the top of the katana was the only bit of bright color to the whole design, a bat painted in gold.

The words left his mouth before he could stop it, “A dragon bat,” he whispered. He couldn’t believe how well the sheath fit him. From his favorite color to the subtle design to the reference to Goliath that she didn’t even know about. “I love it Marinette. It’s the perfect gift. In fact, it makes me a bit nervous to give you my gift now but, it would be rude not to.”

When Marinette saw the painting and what he had painted, she was confused for a moment before tears started falling down her face. “Is that… me?” she had to ask because she couldn’t believe it.

When she started crying he freaked out for a moment and quickly explained. “Grayson recommended that I make something for you so I made this painting. I had to think for a while before I could figure out what to paint. Grayson suggested that I paint a portrait of you as I see you, so I felt inspired to make this. I apologize if your upset that I painted you without asking first, I assume that’s why your crying?” He wasn’t really sure.

She shook her head. “No, no, it’s just, the painting is just so… I never knew you thought of me that way. It’s so touching, I’m actually really happy. Thank you so much Damian!” She pulled him into a hug, and although he tensed a bit, he soon hugged her back.

Damian had chosen to paint Marinette from when they first met back in Paris. Except in the painting he had given her white angel wings and managed to make her look stunning. It was a painting that removed any doubts she may have had about his feelings her for, and it was a gift she was going to treasure for the rest of her life.

#damianette december 2020 #damianette #maribat

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wu-sisyphus-gang · 3 years

Text

Motion Sickness chapter 74

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(Ruby PoV)

"Spar with me," I ordered Cloud when I found him in the evening. He looked up at me in surprise from where he sat at the dining hall table. "Please. Like we used to?"

He sighed. "Can I at least finish digesting first?" He asked.

"Oh. Right." I suppose that was fair. I'd ambushed him a little.

"The doctors are insisting that I get three meals a day. Keeping my brain fed the proper nutrition," he said. "It's about repair and regrowth."

"But you're not sleeping well."

His eyes flicked away. "No. I suppose not."

"Penny said that's an important time for the brain to repair itself."

"Been talking with Penny about me?"

"She's my friend," I defended.

He raised his hands in surrender. "No judgement. Just curious."

"Yeah. I was talking to her during my mission today a little."

"I see. What was the mission?"

"Parts transfer for Amity." I slid into a seat at the table next to him. "Did you have a mission today?"

"Searching and destroying Grimm out in the tundra. Some bigass Goliaths were encroaching on Mantle. They needed somebody who can hit as hard as I can."

"Did anything interesting happen?"

"Nothing me and Limit Breaker couldn't handle."

"They usually have you deploy a landing strategy out there in the tundra."

"Limit Breaker. It's my go to for all my problem solving." He smiled. "I can glide pretty well when it's active. Not unlike you." He poked my side where he knew I was ticklish and I flinched to cover my ribs with my arms and let out a giggle.

"You should see some of the things I can do with Petal Burst now," I said with a smile.

"More of your usual bullshit, I suspect. You always did cheat."

"Hey, you and your semblance are in my ballpark now," I protested.

"My semblance doesn't make me invulnerable the way yours does. I have to work hard to give that impression."

"That why you always keep it almost charged? All the time?" I wondered.

"Maybe I'm a little paranoid," he agreed. "Sue me. I've got a lot to be paranoid about." He gave me a genuine smile that warmed my heart while I looked up at him. I reached out and stroked his hair and he leaned into my touch with a tired sigh.

I giggled up at him. Then I gave him a kiss that squashed out noses together. I really had missed him so much while he was gone. It was good to have him back. So good. I looked forward to the next chance I could get some genuine alone time with him. And Weiss if she wanted to be involved in that. I think she would.

I didn't mind sharing that kind of thing with her.

"Well alright. No sense delaying any longer." He slid off the bench and ruffled the part in my hair. I glowered at him with a smile and fixed my head dressing.

"You ready for a fight?" I asked. I slid off the bench and made to keep up with him.

"Are you? I'm going to knock you flat, Rubes."

"I'd like to see you try. We'll see if you can touch me." I used to beat him handily. Now… now I wasn't sure. He'd grown so much since even before Mistral.

I held his whole arm and skipped to the arena to keep up with his long gait.

It was late on a Monday so nobody else was using the room. Cloud strode in and spun his sword from the harness on his back in the broadsword form. I once demolished him with his weapon in that stance.

He carefully checked the tip of the weapon with his fingers. Drawing it back with his right hand and stretching out his left to brush off some Grimm ash that remained on the tip.

Crescent Rose unfolded from my back and I rolled it around hand over hand in his direction. I twisted the weapon behind my back and held it there until he looked over at me and gave me a firm nod.

He activated his semblance immediately because he was a cheater like that. And he dashed forward on a pocket of air with both hands on his weapon, holding it just before his shoulder. He had one leg bent at the knee and the other straightened out as he flew.

He swung in a low horizontal cut at me. I blocked with the blade of Crescent Rose but the attack sent uncomfortable vibrations all the way up my arm. He was truly unbelievably strong. If I was going to beat him it was going to be with my speed.

He flicked his blade out the other direction. I vanished in a blur of petals and popped back a step for a moment and leveled my weapon at him. I shot him once in the stomach and he grunted. He lowered his blade to block the next shot.

He was on me in a blue haze. He tried to hit me again but I met his strike. Then I expanded the blade of Crescent Rose backwards to make it longer. It forced him back an awkward half step.

I capitalized and slashed at him three times, spinning my blade up and around my body as I did.

He came back on me but I blew apart into three red caped swirls of red and nearly teleported behind him. I made to cut at him but he kicked me in rapid succession and brought his blade around down onto me.

I blocked high and pulled the trigger on my weapon to give us some horizontal momentum. I'd been ready for it and he hadn't and it pulled him off to the side.

I slashed at him twice with the blade and he knocked both attacks to the side fairly easily like he was still warming up.

I burst forward then back and caught him in the front then in the back. He grunted under the blows twice and though he stumbled he didn't look particularly hurt.

I twirled around in a circle and tried to catch him with the fully unfolded blade. He blocked alarmingly easily and riposted. He thrust his blade forward, then upwards in a massive flying leap.

Then he came back down on me from above with all the weight of his sword and armor and him. I burst into petals rather than take the hit. I reentered the same space I exited and kicked out with one of my legs. He blocked it on the side of his own.

He very rudely made to drive his elbow into my face. It snapped my head back. Then he brought his blade forward in slashing motion with the tip buried in the ground and slammed it into the whole of my body. His blade was taller than me, even held at an angle like it was.

He tried to open me up and combo me but I burst apart once more and flowed back together behind him. "Almost," I teased. I wrapped Crescent Rose around his waist and fired to jerk the blade backward against his body.

It caught him and made him stumble back, ripping into his golden aura. Then he whipped around and went for his Cross Slash. The first hit struck me in the stomach but I vanished out of the way of the following attacks.

He danced back a step. He was now in his limited state. He immediately flexed and started to charge the next round of his semblance and I took that as my cue to attack. His semblance forced you to approach him. To play his game. I pulled Crescent Rose over my shoulder. Then across my stomach, then around behind my back and in a twirling fashion over my head.

Cloud deftly blocked each one of my attacks and rather than riposte he stuttered back a step and went for his semblance again.

I whipped the barrel of my weapon up at him and fired at him three times in rapid succession. He dived into a hovering roll but not to the side or backwards. He dived towards me. His right hand held his weapon up behind his body easily enough and his left came up and forward to grab me. He snatched me by the neck of my cape and yanked me into the air like a brute. He made to slam me into the ground but I vanished again, I left him with only a palm full of petals.

Each time I disappeared it cost me something. I wasn't sure if that was his plan, to bleed me dry but it might just work.

He flirtatiously sniffed the petals for a moment in his hand before he blew them at me. I blushed a little but resolved to not let him distract me. Or to try not to. He was distracting enough without trying as it was.

He jumped and brought his weapon down in a massive overhead strike. I vanished rather than take that one either.

He guessed where I was going to reappear and trapped me in an attack that swung upwards and knocked me into the air. When I made to dodge in mid-air he read my dodge attempt and was waiting for me with a swing at the ready.

He hit me three times in the span of a tenth of a second. I yelped as I was flung into a pillar of cubes.

"You alright Rubes?" He called over to me. I was struggling to get up for a moment. I didn't have the most aura in the world. He had spades more than I did. That last attack did something like twenty five percent of my aura in one go of the mighty triple hit.

I picked myself up and blew my hair out of my face with a pfft upwards and to the side. I pointed the business end of my weapon at him in response and shot at him four times. The first one hit him in the chest and gave him his semblance. The next three went wide as he suddenly blurred to the side. My shots missed because of it and he started to close the gap on me incredibly quickly.

He flickered into my range and caught my whole body up in a massive upwards swing. He followed it up by juggling once. Then he let me down rather than spending the remainder of our match hammering me while I was in the air above him.

I quickly moved in on him and pulled Crescent Rose across my body and at him. Then from another side. Then I spun and tried to hammer him with the blade.

He reached out and caught the long handle of my weapon and picked me up into the air with it using one hand. I kicked him in the chest but he mostly looked bemused.

"This is serious," I protested. He wasn't taking me honestly!

"You're seriously cute." He countered. He had a wide grin on his face. "You're just not strong enough yet. We should do weights together."

I blushed at the thought of Cloud in tight workout clothes and doing exercises together. It sounded good to me.

He bent in and kissed my cheek before I could react.

I let go of my weapon and punched him in the chest. It did nothing.

He kicked me and made my aura collapse inwards with a crackle of red. He inhaled deeply, like he was enjoying the smell.

I rose with a tired sigh and he came up behind me and put his arms around my waist. I jerked back like I was going to resist but then he kissed my neck and I let out a little moan. He ran his lips over to my jawline.

"Your sweat tastes delicious," he whispered right into my ear.

I shuddered. I tried weakly to push away from him. "You're cheating."

"No. This is cheating." He poked my sides with fingers while I was tight in his grasp and without aura to spend to get away and I laughed hysterically as he tickled me. He spun me around and he kissed my lips full on. I dissolved into the kiss with a little sigh. My eyes fluttered closed.

"Cloud…" I mewled against his lips. "We should stop. We're in public." I pushed against his rock hard chest weakly.

"We don't have to be." He released me, twirling me away from him like we were dancing. "You tease."

"Me?" I asked, shocked.

"In that new outfit. Absolutely. You and Weiss both." He laughed. I turned as red as my cloak.

"You're the one looking all… all like that." I pointed up at him. With his piercings and hair done up. He gave me a brilliant smile.

"Whatcha gonna do about it, little Rose?"

"I'll show you. Seriously. You look all… so hot." He kicked a leg up as he leaned against the wall with his knee out. His foot was flat against the wall and he looked like the hottest thing I'd ever seen in a man.

"Prove it," he murmured. His voice was full of an electric current. I could remember the feel of his aura smothering mine. I shuddered again. I could feel my own heartbeat between my legs.

I would prove it, damn it. Or my name wasn't Ruby Rose.

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"I'm going to Cloud's room for sex tonight," I told Weiss as I stepped out of our shower. "Well, we'll actually be leaving campus and finding a hotel room. The beds here are too small."

Her eyes ran up and down my figure in the tight towel. She flushed at me. Whether it was about my state of undress or how directly I came out with my plans I wasn't sure.

"I-I see. And…?"

"And is that something you'd be interested in?" I asked. She was already in her nightwear.

"Maybe…"

"Clear and effective communication, Weiss. We won't hold anything against you if you're not ready."

"I want to be ready. I'm just nervous I suppose."

I walked up to her, sashaying my hips as I did. I relished the way she watched me. Oh yeah. Weiss was bi as hell. Poor girl. Let me take care of you…

"You have nothing to be nervous about. Cloud and I will take such good care of you. He's a really attentive lover. He listens. He explores." I shuddered a little as memories ran me over. I got goosebumps as I recalled being pressed firmly against the cold tile of a shower wall. The chill of the tile and heat of his body and the water had been a stark contrast.

Then that time I rode him out in Anima. The way his body flexed under mine while we held hands was etched into my mind. His hands falling to my hips to control the pace even though I whined to be in charge. It was so domineering as he thrust up into me. So good.

Weiss took in my hardening breasts. I'd need to be careful. I just got out of the shower. I didn't need to let these thoughts overwhelm me. It was hard though.

"Well I suppose. He and I did get awfully close the other night."

"You said nothing happened," I pointed out.

"Some kissing happened. Some dry-grinding happened. But I wanted you to be there for my first time and I told him so," she informed me.

"You're such a sweetheart." I kissed her lips. She groaned a little as I pushed her back. My wet hair fell on both of our faces in a tight curtain. She went for my bottom lip but if she thought I'd bottom that easily again she'd be… oh…

I whined. I really was just a bottom in her hands. At least with Cloud I could pretend I was a switch. Even if it was only because he let me. I tried to soak that in. It was only because he allowed it.

She placed her hands on my back just above my butt through the cloth of the towel and pulled me deeper into the kiss. She put her tongue in my mouth and I wrapped my lips around it, small and pink, and gave it a tiny suck.

Her breath hitched when I did it. I sucked very gently on the tip of her tongue and welcomed more of it wiggling into my mouth. The tips of both our breasts were hardening now against one another and it felt good to pull her close.

"So…" I panted when we separated. "So will you be there?" I asked.

She rapidly nodded. She breathed hard and tried to calm herself down again too. Ha. Take that. I could kiss like nobody's business. "Is Cloud a top or…?" She asked.

"Yes. But don't worry. He'll take care of you. Between the two of us we'll find a nice place for you."

"Then I'm looking forward to it."

I squealed a little. I was going to be having sex with my best friends. I walked away from Weiss and began to put on matching underwear for the night. A nice surprise for Cloud to enjoy later. Not that he would care that much but it was the principle of preparation that was the thing.

"I think I might be a switch," Weiss mumbled. "I always thought I'd be a top but when he picked me up in the air on our date night it was just too much, he made me melt."

"That's what happens when you run into a real top. Cloud at least lets me pretend a little. But he's always the one in control. I'm not sure what it is my deal."

"You melt is your problem. You can't be in control when you're all gooey," Weiss said.

"It just feels so good though." I whined. She gave me a dark and thirsty look when I did and a little of her own dominance showed. She had that same hunger Cloud had. "And if he says he feels like a dog we'll just remind him how much of a man he really is. I don't know how much it'll help but it'll feel good."

"For all we know we're about to cure him. A lot of chemical activity happens in the brain during sex."

"Science!" I exclaimed pointing at her. "Take that Salem." She laughed.

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-WG

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planetesastraea · 3 years

Text

On the tip of his fingers

Geraskier, Modern AU - Mature - 6 277 words - Warnings: none

First meetings, himbo Geralt, bisexual Geralt (even if he’s just finding out), bottom Geralt (that too), top Jaskier, first time, handjobs, banter, praise kink, consent kink

Betaed by Micaela Dawn: she’s a wonderful artist and beta, check out her work!

Read on AO3

The bar was oddly crowded for a Wednesday night and Geralt was trying his best to not look as out of place as he felt. He had to be there, were Yen's words. And once Triss and Sabrina heard he was trying to get out of the team’s celebratory night out, his fate had been sealed.

"You deserve this too," Yen had said. “You’ve been working your ass off as much as we’ve all been and you deserve to blow off some steam.”

“I can blow off some steam at home.”

“Playing Skittles-stake Gwent with our teenage daughter doesn’t count. Also you promised you’d spend more time with the team outside of work-”

“I actually never agreed to that,”

“-so you’re coming.”

And so here he was, wearing one of his black button down shirts and a comfortable pair of jeans with an empty beer bottle in his hand, making casual conversation over the slightly too-loud music and praying to the highest powers that the girls wouldn’t try to get him to dance. Triss and Yen had met him in front of the bar to make sure he wouldn’t turn away once he had a look inside the place. As soon as he had been close enough, Triss had reached a hand out to his collar, making a tsk sound.

“What are we going to do with you, hm?”, she had whispered to herself as she had opened the top two buttons of his shirt and pulled his collar a little wider.

“Hey, be gentle,” Yen had cut in softly. “At least he lost the tie.”

They had cackled in unison as he rolled his eyes, yet unable to fake annoyance as a smile drew itself on his lips. With one of the women clinging to each of his arms, the three of them comfortably slid together as they walked into the place.

He liked being around them. Over the years things had been several levels of complicated and then some, but the three of them had found their pace eventually. Triss and Yen liked to mock him and he liked to act dumber than he actually was- well, most of the time. His social skills still didn’t reach that high.

As it turned out, you could learn a lot about people by staying at the office several nights in a row working a gigantic case, taking turns on who would get to doze off for twelve minutes on the couch and who was to blame for the soy sauce on page 86 of the Claremont contract. And damn did Triss and Yen know him well. Which was why they had dutifully waited for him outside the bar. Claiming he looked for them but gave up because of how packed the place was would definitely have been among his top three excuses to go back home and relieve Eskel of his Uncle duties. (Both he and Ciri would have been terribly disappointed and that was about 75% of the reasons why he had made it to the party).

They had been here for a couple of hours now, had done a good amount of talking and heard some more-than-other alright bands take to the stage. One of the junior associates further away from him called “Hey, here’s Sabrina!!” and Geralt turned towards the sound of Sabrina’s voice going “You guys are not going to believe this!” when something, or, well, someone, slammed right into him.

“Owww, holy shit I’m so sorry, you alright?”

The man was carrying two pints that had probably been full to the brim before he collided with Geralt. Luckily most of what spilled had hit the floor (he didn't need a repeat of the 2017 "Wet-Shirt Contest Winner" from when a sink pipe had blown up in the men's room. Lambert had walked in, taken a thousand pictures and emailed memes to the whole floor for weeks).

Geralt’s shoes had been fairly sticky with booze already so it wasn't much trouble.

“I’m fine,” he said and that’s when he noticed the other man had come to a full stop, eyes locked on him intently, lips slightly parted. The eyeliner around his eyes was a bit smeared and Geralt recognized him as one of the singers from earlier.

“That you are,” he murmured in a low tone, almost to himself. Geralt blinked.

“Yes. I am,” he said back louder in hope to maybe clear out the odd look on the other man’s face. Just because he was tall, well-built and, well, apparently, somewhat broody, people expected him to get pissed at the slightest things.

“I’m Julian," the guy said and Geralt smiled politely, unsure why the stranger would introduce himself.

“Geralt,” he replied at the same time Julian went “But you can call me Jaskier!” and then “I’m sorry, what was that?”

It was like his words were running faster than his thoughts.

“Geralt. My name is Geralt,” he repeated.

“Oh. Nice to meet you, Geralt.” Jaskier’s lips rose to one side and he tilted his head slightly. Geralt was way more used to people trying to avoid looking at him, he had his unusual colored eyes to thank for that. They were easily disturbing and while people didn't always show discomfort, they at least showed restraint. Jaskier didn't have an ounce of it and Geralt had absolutely no idea what to do with that.

“Can I get you another drink?” Jaskier blurted out.

“Mine was already empty. That’s your drink on the floor,” Geralt replied as the other man chuckled, eyes looking down briefly.

“Right,” he raised his eyes and licked his lips. “Offer still stands. Can I get you another drink?”

“Hm,” Geralt said, his well-known wording skills kicking in. “My friends are-” he turned around thinking he’d find Anica and Tiff where he had left them only to realise they had disappeared among the crowd. In the far back he recognized Triss and Yen dancing on a table like nothing in the world could stop them and any back-up plan he was about to use evaporated.

Jaskier raised his eyebrows, eyes twinkling. Give other people a chance, Yen’s voice said in Geralt's head and the line of his shoulders softened. Jaskier’s eyes hadn’t moved from him for even a second. Maybe it wasn’t that bad.

“Sure,” Geralt aimed for a neutral tone but sounded nervous even to his own ears. The other man’s smile widened.

They found two empty stools that felt oddly closer than those in Geralt’s bars usually were - but then again most of Geralt’s bars were hotel lobbies on work trips or the kind where he could take a whole bottle for himself and sit in a corner where no one would dare bother him. (He hadn't been in one of those in a while. He didn’t miss it.)

Jaskier set an ale in front of him and Geralt faintly wondered who it was originally destined for.

“So what are you doing here tonight? I’ve never seen you around,” Jaskier started.

“Celebrating,” he said, in a voice that hardly sounded celebratory.

“Is it your birthday?”

“No,” he replied, vaguely gesturing to his group of friends who were lost to the crowd, “with colleagues. We closed in on a deal."

"What kind of business do you work in?" The other man seemed way more interested in learning about Geralt than actually drinking the ale. Geralt shrugged, a wordless version of his usual ‘hm’.

“All of them. We're a law firm.”

“Oh! Well, congrats by the way!" Jaskier said and then leaned in and using a secretive tone he added, "I mean, you didn’t help a dangerous criminal get away with it, did you?”

Geralt grimaced and prepared himself to lose Jaskier’s interest in his job entirely.

“Not that kind of lawyers.”

“What kind, then?”

“Corporate.”

To his surprise, Jaskier kept nodding.

“So what was the deal about? Please tell me you’re the kind of firm on David’s side and not on Goliath's.”

“It’s rarely as straightforward as that,” Geralt mused and took a drink of his ale.

Jaskier hummed softly.

“What was this one anyway?”

“I can’t disclose any details,” he hedged and Jaskier chuckled.

“Oh, you can’t disclose any details, can you?” he leaned again, this time his arm and shoulder pressing against Geralt's.

“No, I can’t,” Geralt articulated again to make sure Jaskier would hear him. Music rarely ever left anyone’s hearing intact after a few years, maybe that was why the man kept leaning closer.

“Anything I’ll hear about on the news?”

“The local ones, maybe.”

“Well aren't you a man of mystery.” Their shoulders bumped again. Geralt didn't remember at which point he had rolled up his sleeves but his forearms felt oddly comfortable being that close to someone else's skin. It had been a while since he had even given thought to someone else's skin.

There was still a band playing on the stage out of his sight, a crowd surrounding them, people all along the bar calling for the bartender’s attention, noises and lights everywhere and yet, somehow, in the ocean of stimuli, his attention was focused on Jaskier.

"Maybe I should take your number then?" Jaskier said, wriggling an eyebrow. "As legal counsel. For when law enforcement catches up with me."

“What would they catch you for?” he asked, willing to take the bait.

“Oh, there’s quite the list,” Jaskier said. “I’m afraid I have a rather criminal past. There’s the illegal bus riding, parking in client-only spots,” he counted on his fingers, adding each theatrically. “I once shook a vending machine to get my chocolate bar and got a second one I didn’t pay for.”

“Hmm. I think you might get away with those,” Geralt answered, taking a drink from his pint.

“Well I guess all is left is the case of indecent exposure.”

The man had a nonchalant demeanor about him but his eyes were focused on Geralt and definitely didn't miss the way he almost choked on the ale. Geralt only then realised how much of Jaskier’s chest was visible. He registered vaguely how he’d never had an interest in other people’s collar bones before and realised he had forgotten where they were going with this.

"Hmm,” he cleared his throat, trying to look unbothered. “Like I said, not my area of expertise."

He saw Jaskier lick his lips and something in his eyes reminded him of the decisive moment that came with all his negotiations.

"How about we get out of here and you show me your area of expertise?"

"What?" He couldn’t have heard that right. Jaskier’s eyes softened and his hand hovered over his bare forearm.

"I'm saying I want to take you home.” There was a beat and Geralt swallowed, the taste of ale still on his lips. His conversations with other people definitely didn’t go like that. The peak of panic might have been obvious on his face because Jaskier’s fingers touched his wrist and he spoke into his ear. "I'm making a move on you, Geralt,” he said kindly, “and I don’t know if you’re too polite to decline or if I’m being too subtle-” he pulled back to look at him and his face was so fucking close. “Which, honestly, would be a first! So... What do you think?”

What did he think? His mind was an uninhabited fish tank. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a light flicker. He blinked again, looking at Jaskier’s lips. His brain whispered pretty, and right then, because life always loved fucking with him, the lights and the music went out.

There was a deafening silence for a moment when everyone held their breath and then lights as bright as day came on. The crowd booed. "Oh for fuck's sake, it's the third time this month," Jaskier grumbled. “Sorry my dear but duty calls!”

He stepped down from his stool only to hoist himself up onto the bar. "Not to worry, gentlepeople!" he called out like he was standing on a stage rather than a drink-sticky counter. "The lights will go down and the music back on again as soon as our beloved Essi, Mistress of the house, puts that freaking generator back on! And in the meantime, if you would please allow this humble bard to entertain you,” he took a dramatic bow and rose up again. “Someone please toss me a folk guitar; drinks are on me!"

The crowd cheered and Jaskier got down behind the bar as one of the crew members passed over the guitar. He went off in a cheery song some people started singing along to, bathing in the crowd's energy like he breathed that very element.

Something funny and complicated was happening in Geralt's chest when a hand gently grabbed his arm.

"Come on, let's go!" Yen. "It was getting boring anyway!"

Geralt squinted at her.

"You were dancing on a table,"

"Yeah, exactly!"

It didn’t make the slightest sense but most of his conversations with Yen ended with her radiating with knowledge and him feeling stupid anyway.

"I was talking with someone," he said and instantly felt like a small child very proud to say he made a friend.

"You were what?" her voice pitched up and Geralt could tell she was a bit on the tipsy side. "Where are they?"

He looked around and back towards the other side of the bar where Jaskier was singing and playing among the crowd, flawlessly winking and flirting with every person around.

"You're right,” his voice sounded strained even to his own ears and he had to blame it on the sleepless nights. “Let's go."

It had been two weeks since they had secured the Jackdows contract and Geralt was still deep in paperwork. He'd taken yet another two-hour video call with Alveaenerle and he was starting to think that maybe Triss was right and the woman was mostly dealing with him for his looks rather than for the sake of legal liaison.

He heard the elevator doors open and checked the clock. It wouldn’t be the first time he had worked through the whole night, only noticing at 4am when the janitor came in that he had forgotten to go home. Since then, he had promised Ciri he would try to get decent amounts of sleep while she was away at Yen’s and he didn’t like breaking his promises.

When he looked through the glass wall of his shared office, however, he didn’t see the janitor. Instead, and he checked twice in case it might have been a case of insomnia-induced hallucination, Jaskier was standing in the hall. He seemed hesitant, looking right and left for any indication that he was in the right place until he saw Geralt through the office’s glass walls.

They blinked at each other, seemingly unable to move until Jaskier slowly raised a hand and waved. Geralt kicked himself and walked out of his office.

“Hey,” Jaskier said, looking a bit sheepish. "Remember me?"

“What are you doing here?” Geralt asked, straightforward as ever.

“Uh,” Jaskier said. “The security guy let me in. He must have thought I was a delivery boy or something. I uh, I got your favourite,” he raised a hand holding a paper bag that Geralt had been too distracted to notice. “From across the street? Oh! Your friend Tiff was at the bar. She said you were still at work so I thought you’d like to have dinner maybe? And like, not with me, necessarily, just, you gotta eat right?” His words were starting to run together, and Geralt didn’t see any end in sight. “And so I figured, the place across the street, they had to know your favourite. ‘Big lawyer man with long white hair’ doesn't fit many of their clients' profiles. Anyway, dinner. For you. I could stay too, if you want, I mean I am simply starving-” he emphasized the word and then looked panicked again. “Wait, was that a yes, by the way? You know who I am, right? Otherwise this is going to get so awkward-”

“Jaskier,” Geralt interrupted.

“Yes!" He beamed. "That's me. Jaskier."

“I’m still not sure what you’re doing here.”

Jaskier froze for a moment, losing his shine. “We didn’t get to finish that conversation the other night. I thought that maybe...” Balancing his weight from a feet to another, he looked younger in the office light. He didn't finish his sentence, and looked like he was waiting for Geralt to respond.

“I’m working.”

“Right.”

“I’m at work,” Geralt gestured back at his office.

“Yeah, I know, I just thought- I- You're right, this was a stupid idea. Invasive, even. God what am I doing-” he took a frantic step backwards, and then thrust out the paper bag in some sort of peace offering. “Well, you should have this anyway, I mean- you have to eat, right? I said that already. Did I say that already?” He put the paper bag down on the closest cubicle desk then started walking backwards. “Sorry for,” he gestured vaguely, “showing up like that. Uh. It won’t happen again.”

Jaskier turned around, starting towards the elevators with his hand rubbing the back of his neck, and Geralt thought he heard him swearing under his breath something that sounded very much like ‘such a fucking idiot’.

An uneasy feeling filled Geralt’s chest as he watched Jaskier walk away. He didn’t know what he was doing and he didn’t know what he wanted or why he wanted anything but he knew he didn't want this.

“Jaskier,” he called and felt so very glad no one else was working late on his floor.

“Yeah?” Jaskier turned back instantly, his face lit up by a beacon of hope.

“Do you… Do you do this often?” he asked hesitantly and felt stupid about it as soon as he heard himself. There was a beat of Jaskier looking around at the empty place before he walked back towards Geralt slowly.

“Chasing down a guy I talked to for thirty minutes because I just can’t fucking stop thinking about him? No. No, I don’t. First time, actually.”

Geralt watched the musician, noting the soft, hopeful smile forming at the corner of his lips, the closing and opening of his hands at his sides, and the way the office light was reflecting in Jaskier’s eyes.

“Twenty minutes? I need to wrap something up. Then I’m free. For dinner.” Geralt amended.

Jaskier let go of the breath he had been holding and a full smile slowly graced his face again.

“Sure. Take your time. We can heat up the food at my place.”

If twenty minutes had been a promise, Geralt would have broken it. Ten minutes later, he was done with work for the day and on his way to Jaskier’s.

“So which one are you?" Jaskier asked, leaning over his kitchen counter after discarding the take-away wrappings. "VGB or Morhen?”

“Neither,”

“Oh. I thought you were.”

“Disappointed?”

Jaskier chuckled. “No. Well, a bit, I mean," he raised a shoulder lazily and faked disappointment, "I thought you were one of those big-shot lawyers.”

“I am. I’m just not a name partner.”

"So you're a regular partner then?"

“Just barely."

"Is that a thing?"

"Hmm." Geralt took a whole second to think about it and found himself oddly relaxed with answering the question. “I have a daughter.”

“Oh.” Jaskier’s voice was oddly tight.

“Yen and I have a deal. She leads the boat on the job side, excels and enjoys herself in the career she’s always wanted and worked so hard for. I pull the hours she needs me to but our focus is our daughter.”

“You and Yen.”

“Yes.”

"Wait, like Triss's dancing on tables Yenna?" Jaskier’s eyes were widening in realisation.

"Yes."

"Is she Morhen?"

Geralt shook his head. "Vengerberg."

"And she’s your ex."

"Yes."

“Are you still-”

“Friends, yes.”

Jaskier nodded slowly and seemed to be thinking about something. He put his glass away and leaned against the counter, closer to Geralt. “Do you know what you’re doing here, Geralt?” he asked so low it was almost a whisper.

Geralt couldn’t help but cast a look at his lips. “Not really.”

Jaskier slowly slipped his hand up Geralt’s forearm and the hair at the back of his neck rose.

“I was thinking maybe I could kiss you. Can I kiss you?”

Geralt found himself suddenly very much too out of breath to answer.

"Geralt?"

"Yes."

"Yes, as in you're still with me or yes-"

"Both." Geralt interrupted before he had the chance to change his mind.

Jaskier looked surprised for a second then stood up on his toes to close the small space that was left between them. He pressed his lips against Geralt's; chaste and dry and sweet. When was the last time Geralt had been kissed like that? With care?

Jaskier's lips moved with his and Geralt felt the tip of the other man’s tongue against his lower lip, asking for permission. He granted it without question.

"Geralt?"

Geralt kissed him again and couldn't help the sigh that escaped when Jaskier's teeth grazed against his lips.

"Hmm?"

They shared another kiss.

"Couch?"

And another.

"Sure."

They parted only for the short time it took Jaskier to walk around the kitchen island. He led Geralt to the couch, pushing him slightly backwards to make the man sit so he could straddle his lap. Jaskier’s hips were thinner than those of Geralt’s usual partners. His shoulders were larger, his back more muscled, his arms- his whole body was fucking delightful and yet so very different, so very new.

"Jask?"

A kiss.

"Yeah?" It was more of a sigh of pleasure against his lips than a whisper.

"Remember when you asked-" Fuck, it was good. "About my-"

"Sorry, do you need me to stop?"

Something rumbled in Geralt’s chest, his voice almost a growl.

"No."

His hand found the back of Jaskier's neck and they sort of crashed again into each other. They kissed and kissed again and Geralt just didn't want to stop but things had to be said.

"Expertise," he finally managed.

"What?" Jaskier let go of his mouth and came back again for a peck before he sat back on his ankles to look at Geralt. His lips were red, his hair in disarray, his hand still hot on the side of Geralt’s neck. Geralt was fucked.

"Expertise," Geralt said, sitting up a bit straighter, settling his hands on Jaskier’s hips. "The other night. You asked about my area of expertise."

"Uh. Right."

Jaskier had a look on his face like someone had just interrupted his hot make-out session to talk about corporate law. Geralt would know, that had happened to him more times than he would admit.

"This isn't it."

"What?" Jaskier looked bewildered. His face was an open book of unguarded emotions and it made Geralt want to kiss him even more.

"My area of expertise. This isn’t it."

"Oh." Jaskier answered, distracted by a strand of hair that fell over Geralt's eyes. He plucked the strand up between deft fingers and tucked it behind Geralt’s ear. Then he blinked and backtracked. "Wait, kissing?"

"Men," Geralt said. "Men aren't my areas of expertise."

"Oh,” Jaskier said. His hand was suspended in the air behind Geralt’s ear. “Okay, you- Oh. Okay.” he whispered again, his hand dropping down to Geralt’s shoulder.

Geralt wasn't sure why Jaskier was the one blushing.

Sexual orientation had never really been a topic of conversation for Geralt growing up. Emotions were already a complex enough subject to tackle, anything that went further than caring for his brothers was not recommended. Exploration was limited. As a young man, he had gone for what society told him were the easiest ways to get sexual release when he needed it (women) and then his life tangled with Yen's and other partners faded out from the realm of his interests. When Ciri had entered their life, his very own life had taken a whole new meaning. There was little that mattered except making his daughter happy. His own personal relationships were more of an afterthought.

"Well," Jaskier started again. "We don't have to- I mean it's okay. It's good. It's all good, darling. Do you- Do you need a breather? Do you- do you even want to be here?"

"I followed you willingly, didn't I?" Geralt asked, raising an eyebrow. Jaskier chuckled.

“It’s just- What if I mess up and deter you from ever enjoying another penis ever again?" he exaggerated, the dramatic flair evident in every line of his body. Geralt snorted.

"Hey! I have a duty to the penis community and I take it very seriously," Jaskier continued as if Geralt hadn’t brushed the thought off.

"The penis community," Geralt repeated, fake awe dripping in his voice.

"The penis kingdom, actually."

"The penis continent." Geraly offered, helpfully.

"Oh, that reminds me, talking about dicks: Nilfgaard, yay or nay?"

"Argh, shut up," he grabbed Jaskier's face unceremoniously and Jaskier laughed in the kiss. His hand brushed Geralt’s cheek and everything about him seemed to slow down. Jaskier broke apart from him, a smile still on his lips, and looked at Geralt steadily like any doubt and hesitation were forgotten.

"Just tell me what you like, darling,” he said.

"I like kissing you.”

"That’s a good start," he replied and granted Geralt’s request.

Jaskier lay his hands on Geralt’s shoulders and the muscles melted under the soft weight of them. He raised onto his knees and pushed Geralt back into the couch. Jaskier was slightly taller kneeling over him, and Geralt found something delightful in having to look up at someone.

Jaskier leaned in and caught Geralt’s lips between his. His kisses were softer, slower, deeper than a minute before. Like he was taking his time to enjoy every second, to make Geralt enjoy every second. One of Geralt’s hands moved from his hip to his lower back, inviting him closer, and Jaskier slid his hands around Geralt’s neck, arching slightly into the touch. There was an intimacy about it that Geralt hadn’t expected nor experienced in a long time.

Jaskier pressed his forehead against his at every breath, his hands caressing Geralt’s cheeks, sliding into Geralt’s hair, slowly making him shiver.

Jaskier’s arms were distracting. The shirt he’d been wearing on that evening at the bar hadn't given away any clue as to the gems that were hidden underneath those sleeves. There was something feral lying deep in Geralt’s belly that was definitely ready to be manhandled.

Geralt found himself sliding his hand under Jaskier’s shirt, feeling the hot skin under his fingers, tracing the muscles along his spine.

Jaskier quickly got the message and took his shirt off between breathless kisses. He started tugging at the buttons of Geralt's shirt while Geralt’s hands made themselves at home on every inch of skin they could find. He felt goosebumps form on Jaskier’s skin and used the distraction to start laying kisses on his neck, licking and sucking the skin and taking note of the softest noises Jaskier made. The tip of his fingers slid down the hairs of Jaskier’s chest as he nibbled the man’s collarbone, and found one of his nipples on the way. Geralt caressed it tentatively and felt the shiver that went through Jaskier’s whole body when he did. Jaskier’s fingers pulled abruptly at his shirt.

“Oh god, take your goddamn shirt off, please!” The request was more of a thready gasp than an actual sentence. Geralt laughed at his enthusiasm and finished unbuttoning his shirt.

“Is this okay?” Jaskier asked as he slid the shirt off Geralt’s shoulders. Geralt hummed approvingly and raised his arms when Jaskier grabbed his undershirt. They kept kissing until he felt Jaskier’s hands slowing down, tensing slightly against his chest until they were barely just touching him. He saw the look on Jaskier’s face when he parted from him and realised why he had stopped. Jaskier’s eyes were fixated on his torso, fingers hovering over one of his many scars.

“I can put the shirt back on if you want,” he offered and Jaskier’s eyes jumped back to his face.

“What? No, darling, no,” he rushed and grabbed Geralt’s face kindly, kissing him again. “I was just surprised. Is this okay? Can I- can I touch you?”

“Yeah. Of course you can,” he kissed Jaskier softly. “They haven’t hurt in a long time.”

“Can I ask- I know this isn’t the best of times but-" he bit his lip with hesitation. "Did someone do this to you?”

“Not one person in particular,” Geralt shrugged it off.

“Geralt,” Jaskier’s brow furrowed.

“Don’t worry about it,” he brushed his nose against Jaskier’s. “It’s in the past.”

"Okay," Jaskier whispered and then, trying to lighten the mood he added, "was it, like, your secret service past?"

"I am not at liberty to say."

Jaskier snorted.

“Just tell me you’re not in a fight club.”

“In a what?” Geralt asked, frowning.

“A fight club.”

“I don’t know what that is,” he said, seemingly clueless.

“You know, a fi- oh, you ass!” Jaskier yelped, slapping him lightly on the pec and Geralt laughed, grabbing the back of Jaskier's thighs right below his bottom to make him slip even further into his lap.

“How would you like to take care of my ass?”

Jaskier almost choked on his own breath and turned an even deeper shade of red.

"Are you- do you mean literally?"

"I'm not a blushing virgin, Jaskier,” Geralt said matter-of-factly.

"I know, I just mean- well if you've never- I mean are you sure you want to? With me?"

It was a sensible question but Geralt didn't want to think about it for too long. Thinking would mean trying to make sense of things -feelings, desires. It would lead to labelling and wanting to belong and- he just hated words. Words had a tendency to make things real and unmovable. Actions were so, so much better.

"You're the one who knows what he's doing, here,” Geralt said. “I'd rather it be you doing the work."

"Uh," Jaskier said thoughtfully. He probably had a PhD in literature or something based on the improbable number of books and manuscripts lying around in his flat. Geralt had even seen a couple ones in the cereal cupboard which was apparently where Jaskier’s glasses went.

"Alright then. Just. Tell me if something is not working for you, alright?"

"I will. Now can we get back to business?"

"To defeat-"

"If you start singing right now I am getting out of here," he grabbed a handful of the musician’s ass.

"Oi!!" Jaskier complained in the fakest way possible. "Wait, hold on, does that mean you've seen Disney movies- what's your favourite one?"

Geralt raised yet another very serious eyebrow.

"Do you often discuss topics that make people think about their kids when they're trying to bed you-"

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry," Jaskier laughed and hid his face in Geralt's neck, full of shame. "How much do you hate me right now?" he muffled.

"Hmm," Geralt pondered, slowly sliding his fingers up Jaskier's spine. "You should probably find a way to make me forget about it."

"Hmm," Jaskier imitated, kissing the side of Geralt's neck and slowly making his way up to the man’s ear. "What if I took your pants off?" he whispered.

"Could be a start," Geralt admitted.

"What if we moved to my bed?"

"I was beginning to wonder if you had one of those."

"I can still fuck you over the kitchen counter if you're disappointed."

Geralt’s pupils dilated as he pictured himself bent over the piece of furniture, holding onto whatever he could while Jaskier pounded him restlessly.

"Bed. Now."

Geralt only got a quick look at the room (more books, more notebooks, cord instruments of all sorts and sizes) before Jaskier grabbed him by the belt and pushed him onto the bed. He followed quickly, straddling him and kissing him senseless until Geralt’s head hit the mattress.

"Can I t-" Jaskier started and Geralt tried to sit up, cutting him off with a kiss. He reached for his own belt, planning on taking his trousers off before Jaskier pressed against his shoulders and made him lie down again. He slid his fingers between Geralt’s, caressing his knuckles softly.

"Oh please, give me the honor."

Geralt almost growled with impatience and reached a hand out between Jaskier's legs, palming him through his jeans.

"Oh sweet Edith Eleanor Diana Poulton, you are not playing."

He got Geralt’s belt out of the way and undid his trousers. Geralt’s underwear followed halfway when Jaskier took the trousers off, leaving his ass bare on the sheets and the hem of his briefs so low on his hips it was practically at the base of his cock. He tried taking his briefs off entirely, feeling silly and oddly vulnerable being halfway undressed but Jaskier batted his hands off and kissed him again. He slid a hand through Geralt’s pubic hair and slowly, incredibly slowly, down, and after what felt like a thousand years, finally closed his hand around Geralt’s cock and pulled.

Geralt pushed the back of his head into the mattress and closed his eyes as if he was at risk of losing sight if he left them open. Jaskier kissed him through the first moan of pleasure and quickly was all over him. Jaskier was kissing and licking and touching and stroking and Geralt was having quite a hard time trying to do much more than let his hand grab onto Jaskier’s hair and do his best not to sound too desperate. He was absolutely failing.

“Is this good, darling?” Jaskier whispered, kissing his neck up to his jaw and softly biting the skin there as his hand kept stroking him.

"Hmm," was all Geralt could manage and he felt Jaskier smile against his skin.

"Tell me?"

"Ah,” Geralt’s hands were moving somewhat erratically, trying to hold onto any part of Jaskier that would make him feel anchored and not as if he was going to lose his mind before he got the man’s socks off. “Yes."

"You're so good darling,” Jaskier’s kindness, Geralt vaguely decided, was fucking obscene. “You're doing so good."

Geralt felt himself blush, having no idea how any blood could flow to his face since he was pretty sure all of it was rushing to his dick. He wasn't going to last long at this rate.

"I want- I want to touch you too."

Jaskier let him open his jeans and moaned into his mouth when Geralt finally got his hand into his underwear.

“Jaskier,” he warned and Jaskier slowed down the working of his own hands.

“You alright, love?” he whispered, voice broken with pleasure.

Instead of an answer, Geralt sat up and pulled Jaskier's trousers to get his point across. Jaskier took his hands off him - the loss was fucking unbearable - to finally get rid of all remaining items of clothing and pressed himself against Geralt again, his hand on his neck. Geralt immediately got his arms around his middle to cradle him closer. Jaskier rocked slightly against him, their cocks pressing against each other and Geralt couldn't help but get a hand on both of them.

"Show me?" he croaked hoarsely and silently prayed that Jaskier wouldn’t make him beg for it because he definitely would. Instead Jaskier joined their hands together and guided him, pressing on Geralt's fingers to make him hold his cock tighter, moaning when Geralt's wrist angled exactly how he liked it.

"Oh god, yes. You're so good to me, love," he moaned.

It felt like forever and it felt like a blink. They rocked and they kissed and they moaned and Jaskier kept breathing sweet nonsense into his neck, praises into his ear, about how good he was and how good he felt and how well Jaskier would take care of him and how much he wanted to make him moan through the night but in the end, what got him over the edge was Jaskier digging his fingers onto the soft flesh of his ass, sliding in to brush against Geralt’s hole, and absolutely, definitely had nothing to do with Jaskier crying out, “Oh love, you’re beautiful!”

Geralt lost a few seconds or maybe a minute or five over which Jaskier had apparently come all over his stomach too. Jaskier was catching his breath, lying with his forehead against Geralt’s chest, trying his best not to lay all his weight over him. Geralt found the back of Jaskier’s neck, his fingers going up through his hair and drawing a comfortable groan from him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, pushing on his arm to lie a few centimeters away, his head propped over Geralt’s shoulder, their legs still intertwined together. Jaskier’s arm stretched over Geralt’s middle and the tingly waves of left-over pleasure washed over them both with every breath, content tiredness slowly taking over.

A few minutes later Geralt extracted himself from Jaskier’s grasp, not without some difficulty, and convinced himself to clean up. Washing his hands in front of the bathroom mirror, Geralt looked back at Jaskier’s face hovering over his shoulder as Jaskier pressed his chest against his back. Eyes closed, Jaskier asked: “D’you want to stay?”

Vaguely wondering about the last time he felt as comfortable as this with someone and then pushing the thought away, Geralt’s eyes lowered, looking at Jaskier’s arms settled around his body.

He felt Jaskier’s lips move into a loopy smile against his skin when he answered:

“Hmm.”

#geraskier #geraskier fic #the witcher #geralt of rivia #jaskier #my writing #no warnings #geralt of rivia is a little dense and jaskier is very very pretty #mine: geraskier #mine: no warning #mine: himbo geralt #mine: modern au #mine: mature #mine: of fingers tongues and toes series

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 3 years

Text

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

by Rev. J.R. Miller

David and Goliath 1 Samuel 17

The story of David and Goliath is one with which every reader of the Bible is familiar. It is full of interest. It reveals much of David's character, and throws light on the training of the boy in his shepherd life. It is suggestive also for all of us, for we all have giants to fight, and we may learn from David, how to meet them and conquer them.

David had been chosen to be king. Now he was to be trained for the great task. All the incidents and events in his life - were lessons set by the great Teacher. The Philistines had gathered for battle with the Israelites, and Saul and his men were facing them. One day there stalked out from the Philistine lines - a great giant, named Goliath, and proposed that one from Saul's army should come out and fight him, and that the outcome of this duel should settle the conflict between the two armies. At first no one of Saul's men responded to the champion's defiance. The king and his men were dismayed and greatly humiliated .

Then David came to the camp. He did not belong to the army. He was only a boy, and his place was at home with the sheep. His older brothers were with Saul.

Jesse one day sent David to the camp with provisions for his brothers. For forty days, morning and evening, Goliath had been coming out and calling across the valley, demanding that someone from the Israelite army should accept his challenge. David had just found his brothers and was talking with them - when the giant made his appearance. The shepherd lad heard his haughty words. He learned also what had been promised by the king - to the man who would kill the evil champion. David became greatly interested in the matter - but the boy's inquiries irritated Eliab, David's oldest brother, who spoke scornfully to him.

The king heard of the lad's interest and sent for him. David proposed to the king - that he would fight the giant. Saul tried to dissuade him - but David persisted, and at length Saul consented. "Go, and the Lord shall be with you." "Then Saul put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head." David's simple shepherd's garb did not appear to the warrior king to be suited for the battle with the great giant - who was outfitted in all the armor of a man of war. Saul thought David could not fight a soldier, without a soldier's armor. He did not know that he was better armed as he was than if he had helmet and coat of armor and shoes of brass to protect his body. David was clad rather in the panoply of God .

The best protection anyone can have in time of danger - is the garment of truth, sincerity and holiness. Paul tells us of the Christian's armor, which, he says, every follower of Christ should wear, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Life is a constant warfare - if it is life really worth living. Not to fight - is not to try to get forward and struggle upward.

The king thought David should be armed before going out to meet Goliath, so he put on him his own helmet and coat of armor. But David told Saul he could not fight in armor. "I cannot go with these; because I am not used to them! So he took them off." He tried to move about in Saul's heavy armor - but staggered under the weight. In a contest of pure arms - sword and spear and helmet and coat of armor - David would have been no match for Goliath; but armed with his sling - the giant was no match for him. This was the one weapon which David had been trained to use to perfection.

Just so, stick to your little sling when you are fighting giants, and do not attempt to throw anything but choice stones out of the gospel brook. Too many of our modern Davids persist in fighting Goliaths in Saul's armor, and it is no wonder they are defeated. One who knows how to use the Word of God - is more than a match for any giant in the world. That was the weapon Jesus used when He met the great Goliath, Satan, and utterly vanquished him!

"Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine." We should remember that David's fine throwing that day was not accidental, nor was it by a miracle - that the stone went so straight to its mark. David had learned in his shepherd life - to do this thing easily and surely. He had practiced with his sling until he could strike a hair's breadth and never miss. He had spent his leisure to some purpose while watching the sheep. He did not know then what splendid use his skill would one day be to him - but unconsciously, in his pleasant pastime, he was preparing for the great crisis of that day. Wellington used to say he learned on the Eton playground, how to fight the battle of Waterloo .

This teaches young people the importance of improving every moment, and taking every opportunity to acquire knowledge and skill. Someone may say to them, that they will never find any use for this or that branch of study in the curriculum, and might as well omit it - but this is bad advice. Some day they will need all the knowledge and skill they can acquire. They will find need, too, for the particular bits of learning and knowledge they think they will never have occasion to use. David could not have met Goliath victoriously in that momentous hour - if he had not unconsciously prepared for such a conflict in the quiet hours of his shepherd life.

Many a man fails in important moments in the critical experiences of life - because he has failed to be diligent in his boyhood. If you would be ready for such occasions in your life - you must prepare for them in the quiet days of boyhood and youth. If David had not been an expert slinger before that morning - he could not then, in the hour before the giant came out, have prepared himself for the battle, nor could he have brought down the champion by any mere lucky stroke. Learn all you can in youth, omit no opportunity for acquiring skill in doing things, become skillful in whatever you do. You do not know what good service your experience, even in little, mundane things - may some day do you!

We should not neglect spiritual training. When Jesus met the tempter, He fell back on the preparation He had made in His silent years at Nazareth. To each assault He replied with a verse of Scripture. But He did not go to His Bible scroll to get His text. He had the Words of God in His heart, hidden away in the storehouse of memory.

Some people have to take their concordance and look up the Scripture text they want, when any need demands it, either for their own use or in helping others. A concordance is a good thing to have - but it is better if we become so familiar with our Bible and have it so in memory, that we can quote its words. It may seem to us that we do not need the Divine promises now - but some time we shall, and if we fail to learn them - we shall not have them ready in the day of distress.

When the Philistine "looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him." He saw only a boy, unarmed, and scorned to fight with him. So the world disdains the Christian. It asks with contempt: "What can he do? What strength has he in his feeble hands? Where are the weapons he is going to fight with?" The giant saw only a shepherd's staff in David's hands; what was that - against his own enormous spear? The world sees only a Bible in the Christian's hand; what is that - against all its philosophy and science and reason? Yet the Christian is not so defenseless and powerless as he seems. His weapons are not of the earthly kind and do not appear formidable - but are really powerful, and, like David, he is able with them to subdue giants !

David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty!" The giant blustered, boasting of his own power and disdaining David's littleness. He was angry that he had to fight with a mere boy. "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" Yet David was not scared by Goliath's pitiful scorn of him. It was the Lord's battle he was about to fight, and he knew the Lord would give victory.

The law of the heavenly kingdom is, "Not by might, nor by power - but by My Spirit, says the Lord." There are a great many things that human power can do - but when we turn to the really essential things in life - it is strengthless, and can do none of them. With all its boasted philosophy, science and wisdom - it cannot convert souls nor change hearts; it cannot lift up the fallen; it cannot overcome sin and Satan; it cannot comfort sorrow nor give peace to the dying. Not one of the really great things of life, can it do. The Christian comes in the name of the Lord, and that name has in it - the strength of omnipotence! Jesus said: "I have overcome the world." He is Master of all things, and therefore is able to subdue all things unto Himself.

David talked very confidently to the Philistine - but not boastfully. He gave God all the honor of the victory he was about to win. "I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty!" "This day will the Lord deliver you into my hand." "That all the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands." We can conquer - only as we fight in the name of Christ.

"As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd's bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it from his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face downward to the ground!" Just so, the believer in God may prevail over every Philistine that stalks out to meet him - if he goes against him as David went that day against Goliath. The battle that wins the victory is the Lord's. If we go in His name - we shall conquer. Paul said: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

There are giants in our own hearts, even after the most thorough conversion. Like the Philistines in Canaan, the Philistines of sin also are terribly hard to subjugate. Your besetting sin, whatever it is, is a Goliath. It may seem to you that it never can be vanquished, and it never can until David comes - our David - Jesus. Call for Him to come and slay the giant for you!

There are giants in the world outside. Intemperance is one. Unbelief is another. Worldliness is another. These giants stalk out and hurl their defiance at the army of God's people - and there seems to be no one who can overcome them. Now is the time for faith in God. We must go out against these giants in the name of the Lord, not with philosophy, science and education - but with the Cross, and then we shall prevail.

"And since he had no sword, he ran over and pulled Goliath's sword from its sheath. David used it to kill the giant and cut off his head!" We should not fail to get a lesson on the importance of thoroughness in the conquest of evil, from David's manner of dealing with Goliath. David was not satisfied with seeing the giant fall to the earth when the smooth stone struck him - but ran and drew Goliath's own sword from its scabbard - and with it cut off his head. If he had not done this - the old champion would probably have gotten up by-and-by, and walked away, for he was only stunned - not killed, by the stone. David made sure that his work was completed.

A great many of our attacks upon sin in our own hearts, and in the world - only stun and temporarily disable - but do not kill the evil. We walk away, thinking we have done a fine thing, won a splendid victory; and presently we meet the old giant again, stalking abroad as before! He soon recovers from our blow, and we have to fight the battle over again, and perhaps we fight it again in the same half way, and thus on and on - to the end of life.

Most of us have had just such experiences as these with our own lusts and passions. We overcome them often, and each time we think that we have entirely subdued them and that we shall have no further trouble with them; but they are soon active as ever again! We need to learn from David - to finish our victories by cutting off the head of every giant we strike down! There is no other way of destroying our sins. The life is in the head - and the head must come off - or the enemy will be facing us again in a day or two with only a scar on his forehead!

The only way to get a real victory over vices - is to decapitate them! Bruises and wounds are not enough. There must be thorough work done, in the name of the Lord. Half-way measures will not avail.

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry." Colossians 3:5

#Devotional Hours Within the Bible #Rev. J.R. Miller #David and Goliath #victory #sinful vices #putting to death your earthly nature #1 Samuel 17 #February 22 #2021

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peppersonironi · 4 years

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Batfam/Avengers Crossover Chapter Four: Growing Suspicions

Tagging (Let me know if you want to be tagged): @the-fair-maiden-of-fandom

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types

Relationships: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Natasha Romanov & Damian Wayne, Clint Barton & Cassandra Cain, Tim Drake & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tim Drake & Duke Thomas, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, Dick Grayson/Wally West, Roy Harper/Koriand'r/Jason Todd,

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Justice League (DCU), Alfred Pennyworth, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, Alfred the Cat (DCU), Bat-Cow (DCU), Goliath (DCU), Selina Kyle’s Cat Isis, Kate Kane (DCU), Duke Thomas,

Additional Tags: Batbrothers (DCU), Avengers Meet The Batfam, MCU/Batfam crossover, Crossover, no beta we die like robins, rated T for Jason’s language, I bleeped it out though. Just to be safe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, canon? What’s canon?, Deaf Clint Barton,Deaf Character, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Happy Batfamily (DCU), Birdflash and joyfire are implied/referenced,

Summary: After some questionable comments from Jason regarding murder, some of the Avengers are (understandably) freaked out and untrusting towards the bats. They decide to research their hosts.

Natasha stood to the side as Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown finished sparring. Everyone else was either watching or warming up. Natasha was part of the former.

Their skill was undeniable. She had no doubt that if it came to a real fight, she might not win. They had fought hard for almost five minutes, though Nat could tell it was all in good fun. Their looks of concentration did not hide the easy-going eyes and smiles.

Natasha was honestly unsure of who would win, but then Stephanie pulled out of a flip a split second early and delivered a kick to Tim’s chest. A moment later she had used his off-balance to bring him to the floor. He quickly surrendered when she sat on him with her forearm to his throat.

“That was an interesting kick,” Tim said as Stephanie helped him up. “I wonder who you learned it from.” He glanced over his shoulder to glare at a smirking Damian.

“I’m sorry Drake, is there a problem? Aren’t we all supposed to help each other improve our technique?” Damian was smirking even more at that point.

Tim snorted then walked off to get some water, grumbling as he went.

Stephanie laughed. “Sore loser!” She high fived Damian.

“Could I perhaps have a turn,” Natasha asked when no one seemed to be ready immediately to fight.

Steve stepped forward. “Shall we?”

Natasha groaned inside. Steve was a decent fighter, especially with his shield, but she had been looking forward to a challenge.

Natasha nodded. “Sure, I’d like a warm-up.” This got some chuckles from the teens.

They faced each other and started to circle for a few seconds. When Nat grew bored, she darted forward and struck his shoulder. He twisted and she used it to strike the back of his knee. She delivered a kick to the back of his head and he was on the ground a moment later.

There were several appreciative claps and laughs from the kids. The rest of the Avengers just nodded. They were used to Natasha beating them up.

“Someone needs a better opponent,” Bruce Wayne said. He didn’t smile, but there was a slight upturn on the corner of his mouth. “Damian, why don’t you take a turn. I know you’ve been itching for a fight.”

The boy smiled dangerously, and several of the Avengers laughed. They underestimated him - most likely due to his incredibly short stature - unlike Natasha. There was something strange about him, She had sensed it from the moment she’d laid eyes on him. And she hadn’t forgotten that he was dangerous.

Damian strolled forward and took his position. Natasha followed suit. A moment later Dick gave the mark to start.

Damian was fast . He sprinted forward in an instant and struck Nat’s gut. She barely managed to block, and wasn’t able to dodge the next blow, this time to her shin. She darted out with a counterblow, but he stepped out with his back leg, bringing his arm up to block. A split second later his back leg darted out to land a blow on the back of Natasha’s knee, bringing her down. He smoothly transitioned into bringing a knee up and jumping into a spinning kick landing at Natasha’s head.

Natasha was on the ground for a moment before she rose and resumed her atack. Damian flipped away before advancing once again. He unleashed a sequence of torso blows followed by a front handspring finished with a double kick. Natasha spun to the side and attacked him with multiple strikes across his shoulders and head.

She could tell his style easily. He stuck with torso and leg strikes due to his height, and only used roundabout kicks, which utilized his leg strength. But he was also holding back. Some of his blows were clearly designed to kill, but had been modified to be non life threatening. Perhaps what had been implied earlier was true: the kid had killed.

The fight dragged on, and Natasha couldn’t find an opening. Damian was ruthless in his attacks, and his form impeccable. There were times when Natasha was clearly losing, but she managed to pull back from the brink and keep going. She managed to get a decent combo in before Damian swiped at her head mid flip. She dodged to the side: a pivotal mistake. In the blink of an eye, Damian was at her. He brought her into a headlock, and Nat had no choice but to accept defeat.

They rose together, to the astonished faces of the Avengers. Tony was especially shocked. Apparently, none of them had ever considered that Natasha could be beaten. Let alone by an eleven year old.

“Great Job, both of you.” Dick said. “I haven’t seen anyone stand that long against Damian in a while.”

Damian smiled at her smugly.

Natasha smiled right back. The fight had been invigorating, and she hadn't had to work that hard before. But for the same reason, it was worrying. The kid taught with skill that would have taken years to develop. Damian had clearly been trained from a very young age, which brought a shiver down Natasha's spine. She had flashbacks to the Red Room. The bloody horror that has been her childhood.

No one should have to face that.

*****

They trained for a few more hours, and the mood gradually returned to whatever could be considered normal. The bats - Damian specifically - had declared the Avengers to be woefully under trained when it came to fighting. They did admit that Natasha was good, and Clint decent, however. They had everynight standards.

Everyone - even Banner, much to his dismay - had been roped into a basic hand to hand combat training routine, modified to fit each person's skill level. Natasha had enjoyed her's very much, but after three hard hours, she was grateful for the shower.

They had rejoined in the kitchen after everyone had a chance to bathe and chat for lunch. Natasha had found more clothes placed in her room, this time black ripped jeans and tank top. Nat wondered who they belonged to, they clearly didn't come from Cassandra, Barbara, or Stephanie.

Nat didn’t worry too much about it though. She just wanted food. Pretty much everyone was there, though Tony was behind her in the hallway. Natasha came and sat down on one of the stools, along with Tim and Cass.

Natasha had no doubt.

Wayne was wearing dressy casual slacks and a cashmere sweater, as was Damian. They truly looked identical. Everyone else was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, or some variation thereof.

“I have prepared a meal for you, do tell me if it is unsatisfactory,” Alfred the butler said as he set some food on the table. Everyone thanked the old man, who only smiled.

Natasha ate in peace, not ignoring anyone, but not partaking in conversation either. Then she heard Jason raise his voice.

“Come on Replacement, you know I’m about as dangerous as a butterfly.” He was speaking sarcastically, though Tim didn’t seem to notice.

“Tell that to Black Mask’s henchmen,” he muttered, taking a bite of salad.

Jason snorted. “That was a long time ago, and in my defense, it was his mother’s f***ing fault!”

Damian sat straight upright. “How dare you-”

“You know it's true Dami,” Dick said. “She is malicious, even for an assassin.”

“Can we not talk about Talia over lunch?” Wayne asked, his hands on his temples.

Damian made his t-t sound once again, and continued to eat. Jason shrugged and launched back into a conversation with Tim.

Nat glanced over at Tony and Steve, who were frowning, most likely due to the mention of Damian’s assassin mother. They would be talking about this later, no doubt.

*****

“Did you hear how casually they mentioned it?!” Steve was saying. He had gathered Tony, Nat and Clint with him in one of the libraries, desperate to talk about their hosts.

Tony was nodding while he replied. “This place seems more dangerous than we first thought. I’m not sure if we can trust these … bats .”

Clint frowned. “But they have not actually done anything to harm us. Sure, their methods are questionable, but they are our only way home.”

“The least we can do is gather information,” Tony said. “But be careful. If they really do kill, then they might harm us for questioning them.”

“But what behavior have we seen that would suggest they would do something like that?” Clint insisted. “Sure Jason swears a lot and carries guns, and Damian sharpened his katana quite threateningly, but that is not cause for mistrust!”

“They mentioned assassins! The kid’s mother is an assassin !” Steve said. “That in and of itself is cause for mistrust .”

Natasha chuckled lightly, and Steve’s eyes widened. The three men slowly turned to their resident ex-assassin.

“I’m sorry, Tash,” Steve said. “I didn’t mean you , of course. You’re plenty trustworthy!” Tony couldn’t help but chuckle.

“But that’s exactly what you said,” Cint snapped, growing defensive.

“Steve,” Nat said, sighing. “I understand your worry, I really do. But I’m honestly not worried about us.”

Steve blinked. “Why not?”

“Because when I fought with Damian I could tell his style. He had clearly been trained to kill,” This gained an outraged ‘ahah’ from both Steve and Tony, to which Natahsa shook her head. “He had been trained to kill, yes, but his style was adapted. It was like he was unlearning everything he’d been taught. And I know how that is.”

Clint nodded his head, remembering when he had found Nat, and the months afterward when she had been taken in.

“You’re worried about the kids.” Clint stated.

It wasn’t really a question, but Nat nodded anyway. “He would have had to have been trained for years to be that skilled. And he’s only eleven …” Natasha shook her head. “They mentioned the mother in a way that leads me to believe she isn’t really in his life anymore. If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say she’s the one that trained him, not Bruce Wayne.”

“So he probably isn't abusing the kid, that’s great,” Tony said sarcastically, though Natasha could still direct the relief in his voice. “But what about Jason and Cassandra? I wouldn’t put it past Jason to kill us, honestly. But Cassandra, I don’t know.”

“He mentioned something like manipulation while questioning Thor, so maybe he didn’t mean to?” Clint shook his head. “But he still talked about it so flippantly. I’m not sure about him.”

Natasha nodded. “I agree. Jason seems the most volatile. As for Cassandra, I am honestly not sure. I haven’t seen her fight, nor do anything violent. But the way she moves … in some ways I think she’s the most dangerous of them all.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking. Natasha sat back, having done her piece. After a while, Tony spoke.

“I think we should do our own research. With a team this large, surely there will be plenty of information.”

*****

There was not, in fact, plenty of information. Tony had found a free computer on one of the desks in the library that was most likely meant for public use - it had a sticky note with the password (IAmTheNight) on it - and quickly set up a search.

They had started with the basics: Batman, Gotham Vigilantes. But there really hadn’t been much. The most they could gather was that Batman had been an urban legend up until he joined the Justice League. There had been sightings going back almost 15 years, which Meant Bruce had started when he was in his early twenties.

Robin had come in a few years later, and was clearly not Damian Wayne. But beyond that, there wasn’t much. Sometimes Robin wore pants, sometimes not. Sometimes Robin was even a girl. Tony could never find anything defininite. There were countless vigilantes mentioned, some nameless, others not. Some showed up for a few weeks, then disappeared.

Finally they found something.

“Ahah!” Tony said as he clicked on an article about Red Hood. “This should be worth our

time.” Tony pulled up the first paragraph, and began reading.

“It is well known to everyone in Gotham that Crime Alley is one of the most dangerous places in our already dangerous city. What is also well known is its protector: The Red Hood. The Red Hood has had a somewhat rocky past with Gotham, but unlike the other vigilantes that haunt the rooftops, it is relatively easy to follow.

Red Hood first came on the scene a few years ago and quickly made a splash. Hood quickly took over most if not all of Gotham’s crime organizations, and began to make immediate changes.

It is reported that all the drug syndicates halted dealing near schools or children. All human trafficking sceeced. Crime was managed, to a point that not even Batman had achieved.

Red Hood enacted a strict law: he only killed rapists, murderers, abusers, and drug dealers - only those who sell to kids.

But we can’t forget about the dark knight. Batman was seriously against Red Hood in the beginning, and there are several documented fights to prove it. Red Hood became the only major criminal to stay active with the bat’s knowledge, and not be defeated.

After a while, though, Red Hood left Gotham. No one is quite sure why, as he had built himself quite an empire. Later on - no one is sure of the specifics - he returned. Details are foggy around this time, but Red Hood started to appear again, back to patrolling Crime Alley. One thing was different though. This time he wore a red bat on his armor, effectively announcing his allegiance.

According to many Gothamites, Red Hood has not killed anyone since his return, and has given up his crime lord status. Some say he protects Crime Alley, and occasionally teams up with the other vigilantes of Gotham. Many eye witness reports say that Hood has a somewhat amicable relationship with the bats, and is clearly one of them. There are also notes of him using rubber bullets, proving even more that he has sided with the bats. Though this is uncertain, as others report he still uses lead, and has even continued killing.

At this point Hood is considered a hero by most of Gotham, with the minority calling him a plague upon the city. The Police themselves have even stopped actively searching for the red helmeted hero - whether this is due to their inability to catch him, or as a sign of friendship, it is unclear. Police Commissioner Gordan has not commented on the matter beyond a vague statement of Hood appearing with the bats when the bat signal is deployed.”

“Bat signal?” Clint asked.

Tony typed furiously for a moment before retrieving the answer. “Apparently the police have an industrial spotlight on their roof with the silhouette of a bat on it which they shine when in need of the vigilantes.”

Natasha smirked. “Overkill much?”

Tony shrugged. “Hey, apparently it works.”

“That’s beside the point,” Steve interjected. “We found barely anything on Jason. Sure it says he doesn’t kill anymore, but that doesn’t mean they can be trusted.”

Clint groaned again. “Let me guess, you want us to investigate the family personally?”

Steve nodded. “Nat, I want you to start, you are the intelligence expert after all.”

Natasha nodded, though inside she was in turmoil. She wanted to trust these people. She didn’t know why, but she felt connected somehow. Like they were similar in some core way.

Steve nodded right back. “Good. Meet back here in a few hours. See what you can find.”

#Avengers meet batfam #dc/marvel crossover #batfam #avengers #batfamily shenanigans #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #duke thomas #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #steve rogers #tony stark #clint barton #natasha romonova

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boundinshallows · 4 years

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Peaky Rare Pair Bingo Mid-Fest Round-Up

We started the Peaky Blinders Rare Pair Bingo Challenge back in July and still have a few weeks left. However, I thought it would be a great time to do a mid-fest round-up to catch folks up on what’s been written so far.

Rare Pairs are tricky things. They’re rare because they don’t get a lot of fanworks produced about them. And in turn, sometimes the authors don’t get a lot of love on their fics because the audiences are limited. It becomes a vicious cycle, and in the end, fandom suffers because there's an overrepresentation of just a few pairings, but many amazing characters to love and explore.

I would like to invite you all to take a look at some truly incredible pieces of fic for some much undervalued pairings in Peaky Blinders. If you have a moment, please leave the authors a comment to keep fueling their creativity, even if it’s brief, especially if you like the ship. Kudos are wonderful too, but comments really help writers know there’s an audience out there looking for rare pair content.

Cheers!

++++++++++

Chester Campbell / Tommy Shelby

Shameless by AbusiveLittleBun || [ E ] Tommy has his usual meeting with Campbell in a café but decides to spice it a bit up.

Tatiana Petrovna / Alfie Solomons

Solnishko by Valkrist || [ E ] There was something lovely about all the movements, about kneading the dough, while listening to some radio shows, shaking one’s hand and laughing about the people and music the whole time. As stupid as it could be, Alfie didn’t like to be interrupted during this process. There was only one exception, only one person that could call him or come in without having to deal with his grumpiness.

Vivid by Strawberriez8800 || [ E ] In which Alfie dreams about getting fucked by Tatiana, and asks Tommy a question.

Dazzle Me Blind by Strawberriez8800 || [ T ] Tatiana glances back at Alfie over her shoulder. “Have you ever been fucked by a princess?” “Can’t say I have, no.” “Good,” she says, voice like molten gold. “I like to be the first at everything I do.”

Singular by Strawberriez8800 || [ E ] Alfie tugs on Tatiana's silver chain, pulls her down towards him. “Something you should know, princess,” he says, mouth brushing against the shell of her ear, “I’m not in the habit of sharing, am I now.” She grins a feral grin. “Not even with Tommy Shelby?”

Barney Thompson / Tommy Shelby

Play Pretend by Valkrist || [ T ] It shouldn’t feel this way, should it? He shouldn’t be that afraid, feel more comfortable. Enjoy all the moments, blossom and feel all this happiness, but he didn’t. Why was he sad? Why didn’t he experience the same things others were talking about?

Peaches, Roses, Sandalwood by Valkrist || [ E ] There was something fascinating about all the oils, vials and equipment standing on the table. Small glasses, various colors, paste, scrapers, everything one could imagine. Different scents filled the room - and in the middle of it all there was one filled, slightly violet flacon.

Always Landing on Their Feet by Valkrist || [ G ] Tommy had always been torn between doing business properly and giving Charlie enough love and attention. Never really knew how to do it well enough, how to make his childhood fulfilled enough, but he had thought that it was okay, that he did his best giving Charlie good education and lovely father-son evenings. Had even dared to think that his boy didn’t have any secrets and behaved nice when he had to go to London for some days. Well, this was until he got one particular fateful e-mail.

Indulge a Desire by Valkrist || [ E ] There were many things that helped Barney forget about all his duties for a while, but the low lighting was the best one, after all.

Been Reading Books of Old, the Legends and the Myths by Valkrist || [M] Remember the last time we wrote each other letters? I don’t, but well, maybe it’s a good idea. Kinda funny to send all this words, knowing that you won’t read them immediately. But I won’t write them too often, still gotta pay for my living, you know.

Tu as tué la peur qui là dans mes bras by Valkrist || [ T ] Tommy chuckled. It was always funny to listen to Barney, even if he couldn’t understand how the latter managed to stay that calm. It seemed as if Ollie made nothing but mistakes, but Barney was patient, so terribly patient. Repeated the words again and again, encouraged Ollie to go on and not to send it all to hell.

Thoughts of You Consume by Valkrist || [ E ] Barney had already known what was about to come at the races. Going there hadn’t really been his preferable option for the day, but there was no harm in doing it - just being on Tommy’s side, looking at the majestic horses and seeing the other man’s lips curling into a smile when everything went the way it should. Barney didn’t understand much of this sort of business, but it was alright as long as Tommy knew what he was doing.

May Carleton / Tommy Shelby

When You Walk in Smelling Like Her Perfume by Valkrist || [ T ] May had never thought this necklace would mean so much to her one day. It hadn’t been much more than a lovely gesture back then, a little present, a joke. Something that looked lovely and united them. Even the telepathy coming with it didn’t seem intimate back then, being a lovely side effect. Oh, how easy it had been back then…

Between This Heartbeat and the Next by Strawberriez8800 || [ G ] Tommy is looking at her like he’s finally living their moments rather than stealing them. What a sight it makes.

Off the Beaten Path by Strawberriez8800 || [ G ] Thomas is waiting for someone; May is not so conceited as to assume it is her, yet when she takes the seat beside him and orders herself a drink, with the way he looks at her, it would be asinine to conclude the case is anything else.

The One Who Got Away by Boundinshallows || [ M ] Tommy and May go on an overnight trip to purchase a horse.

James / Tommy Shelby

This was Nothing by AbusiveLittleBun || [ E ] Tommy is frustrated after another meeting with Alfie and he needs an outlet. Luckily it finds him first.

Salt and Mint by AbusiveLittleBun || [ E ] Tommy was forced to remain for dinner at Ada's, in fear of James revealing their little secret, and makes a deal with the boy for his good behavior... things escalate very quickly.

Like Thunder, Like Lightning by AbusiveLittleBun || [ E ] Tommy feels torn after his hasty departure from Ada's, and a surprising phone call might, or might not help him move forward...

R U Mine? by AbusiveLittleBun || [ E ] Tommy goes back to James, but it also comes with more consequences than he imagined... (Direct sequel to Like Thunder, Like Lightning!)

Jessie Eden / Ada Shelby

Dress by Keine_angst || [ G ] Now that she's made peace with her feelings towards Jessie Eden, there was only one obstacle left. The dress.

Hungry for (Your) Love by Keine_angst || [ G ] “Tommy, sweetheart, how can you expect me to agree to do something for you if you don’t explain what do you need from me?” she pointed out the obvious, because really, it wouldn’t be safe to just say yes and take the pot luck, not when Thomas Shelby was in charge. Ada agrees to help her brother out, but things get out of hand.

Billy Grade / Finn Shelby

Beyond Redemption (Just a Pawn) by Valkrist || [ M ] Finn was angry, fucking angry. Should’ve probably known that it all would come this way. Done something against it. Then again, what could he have done? Tommy hadn’t told him that much, trying to keep him away from this bad kind of business. Football bets were alright, but nothing more. Didn’t need to ship cocaine or opium or whatever this was about. Bets like in the good old times, having Billy to write everything down.

Gina Gray / Oswald Mosley

White Swan by Valkrist || [ M ] It was funny how they all hadn’t noticed it at all, Mosley thought. Such blind people. Didn’t see it, maybe simply didn’t want to, who was to say that. He hadn’t been truly interested in joining this dance - an evening with a bunch of fucking Gypsies wasn’t exactly his idea of a well spent time - but apparently there were some good things about occasions of that kind. Well, as long as he ignored the opium, cocaine and brandy. Really didn’t seem to know the rules, this silly people.

Lizzie Stark / Tommy Shelby

Again by Emjen_Enla || [ T ] Tommy rolled over. Again. Or Tommy and Lizzie mostly fail at this sharing a bed thing.

Bonnie Gold / Goliath

Raise the Boxing Gloves by Valkrist || [ M ] Poor boy didn’t know what dreamless nights were anymore. Always had something to think about, adventures happening, a combination of all the things he had experienced. Sometimes bad, sometimes good, sometimes it was simply unclear. But Goliath could beat it all out of him if he wasn’t careful enough. Made him forget with ease, his senses focussing on some little, often rather unimportant details. An impressive and talented young man.

Ollie / Alfie Solomons

Our Bones May Turn to Stone but Hearts like Ours Don’t Rust by Valkrist || [ T ] The dunes, the water, the sand, it was all calming. Ollie simply couldn’t get used to it after having spend so much time in London, knowing all the dirt of Camden. Muddy shoes, blood, he had seen it all, even though it was way better than Birmingham, if Alfie was to be believed.

Luca Changretta / Tommy Shelby

Now and Forever by AbusiveLittleBun || [ E ] Luca is enchanted with the beautiful blue-eyed boy that attends the school he helps his mother at, little does he know Tommy Shelby feels the same way towards him...

Boysenberry Tie, with Periwinkle Eyes by WTSL_Writer_of_Things || [ G ] The bow was strange and new, the colour hard to come by and find. It wasn't often people managed to dye a bow that colour, so he snatched it up and bright it home to his blue eyes doll. Years go by and he finds that colour again, this time as a tie, and he gets the tie for his new Periwinkle eyed lover, who he practically drops to the floor for. So he gets a boysenberry tie, for the Periwinkle eyes of his strange lover.

Oswald Mosley / Tommy Shelby

Coat Wrapped Around His Shoulders by Valkrist || [ M ] It was a miracle, a fucking miracle.Tommy still didn’t know how Barney had stayed alive, but he had. Could have shot Mosley marvelously if it weren’t for this horrible interruption. A life for a life, except both people had stayed alive this time. And this was the other side of the coin. Mosley was still alive. A wonderful plan, all for nothing. So much effort put into it, all for nothing. But at least they hadn’t caught them, so Tommy could still keep his cover. Could enter the hospital without people suspecting him, ready to figure it all out.

#peaky blinders #peaky blinders fanfic #tommy shelby #alfie solomons #ada thorne #lizzie stark #jessie eden #tatiana petrovna #may carleton #oswald mosley #gina gray #finn shelby #barney thompson #chester campbell #luca changretta #long post

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baka-monarch · 4 years

Note

Now that I understand G/t a bit better: For the prompt thing: "I AM THE DEMON WHO HAUNTS YOUR HOUSE IN THE NIGHT! AND I COMMAND THE TO NOT CHECK BEHIND THE TOASTER!" For Remus and Logan? (You were looking for Sanders Sides right?)

TRIGGER WARNING: CUSSING, GORY THOUGHTS, DEATH MENTION, DEMONS, MENTION OF THE ANTI CHRIST

It was 3 am. The witching hour. Remus was currently out borrowing alone, having left his brother behind so that they could rest and get better. It was risky to come out at night since this human usually stayed up to ungodly hours to do... whatever it is he does(maybe he plots murders, Remus thought to himself, or summon demons!), but tonight it was crucial since Roman had gotten sick and they were running low on supplies. Not to mention that it was becoming extremely apparent that Roman was going to need medicine.

So here Remus was. Climbing a kitchen counter to retreave food before he would go off to steal some medicine. Remus didn't really know where the food was though, since he usually stuck to borrowing things for them to use, or in his case, to use as a weapon. It was no secret that Remus practically had a death wish when it came to humans since even as a child he had a desire to fight one, it was his brother that always made sure he never acted on this, but that didn't stop him from imagining and telling his brother of the morbid things he could come up with.

Now was no time to ponder though as he finally reached the top of the counter. Now, for the food. As he scowered the area for where food may be, he spotted something that he had lots of experience with. The toaster. Now, Remus knew that he shouldn't dawdle, but, one trap to harm the human with wouldn't hurt, right?

So with that, the borrower got to work rigging up the toaster to, instead of shooting out toast, to shoot out needles(he always carried some, never know when there could be a rat to murder). He was almost done, when suddenly there was a soft click, and the room filled with light. Luckily Remus was already behind the toaster, unluckily it seemed the human was hungery(and unlike Remus) knew where the bread was kept.

Remus kept his back pressed against the toaster in wait. On any other day he wouldn't mind trying out his many fantasies of fighting a giant, but now was not one of those days. Remus couldn't afford to be seen because his stupid brother was sick.

Logan was unaware of the presence of someone in his kitchen when he entered. Except that was when he entered. After that it hadn't taken him long to find the string still attached to his counter by a small fish hook.

'Intresting.' Logan thought to himself as he pocketed the thread. He would have to examine it further later, right now he needed to eat some breakfast. Although he hadn't slept that night he knew the importance of keeping a healthy eating cycle. It was early and toast with Crofters would have to do (which he didn't mind).

You can imagine his surprise when as soon as his toaster was plugged in several sewing needles are shot out of it. Fortunatly, none of them hit Logan, but that doesn't mean that he still didn't jump back in initial fright at the occurence. "Intriguing." He leaned in closer to his appliance with curiosity.

Once Remus heard the human speak he knew there was no way out. That curiosity was the death of many borrowers before him. At least he would have a cool story to go with his death. Remus The Warrior, killed by a giant! Then he had a thot. And that THOT was Roman. Poor, sick, weak, Roman. Fuck he hated having moral standards.

"Shit..." Remus mumbled under his breath. Why did he have to care about his brother? Unfortunately the human seemed to hear him as a giant shadow began to loom over his hiding place and a large hand grasped the toaster to move it.

Well, at least this should be fun.

"I AM THE DEMON WHO HAUNTS YOUR HOUSE IN THE NIGHT! AND I COMMAND THE TO NOT CHECK BEHIND THE TOASTER!!" Remus shouted, glad that it was 3 am.

Logan pulled back his hand as if he'd been burned. Where had that voice come from? It couldn't truly be a demon... could it?

"Who... who said that?" Logan did his best to keep his composure. To keep those pesky emotions at bay.

"Why, I just told you! I am the demon!!" Remus screeched, both the sentence and in an unholy scream at the end of his sentance. Logan plugged his ears, but the voice was distinctly human as far as he could tell.

"Falsehood. Your voice holds no demonic undertones." He conceded.

"And how would YOU know what a demon sounds like Witchy Bitch!?" Remus argued. At first Logan was confused by their chose of wording until he realized it was a reference to how it was the witching hour.

"Although I may not have any personal experience with the anti christ, I highly doubt a demon would be in my house, nor would they have any interest in my toaster."

"That's just what they want you to beleive!"

"Perhaps, or maybe I should investigate the toaster?" Logan said, and Remus had no time as the wall of metal behind him suddenly disappeared.

Logan gasped. There was a multitude of things he might have expected to find, and this wasn't one of them. Before him was a tiny man, most likely no larger than four inches tall.

As the human ogled him, Remus took this opportunity to step forward to introduce himself. "It seems you have found me! May I introduce, me, Remus!" He said as he bowed.

"I-I-but you... it's impossible." Logan thought back the the square cube law, to the evolutionary process, to physics. How could this... this tiny human, or, Remus exists?

"Oh it's possible Goliath." Remus replied with a small shake of his hips. "Now, what's your name beanstalk or do I need to start calling you The Green Giant?"

"I...uhm-I am Logan." He stammered out.

"It's a pleasure Loo-gan. But I gots ta go! I have a brother who needs healing!" Remus knew that if Roman found out he was seen they're head would explode in anger...maybe litterally... and it just wasn't worth it at the moment.

As Remus was turning to leave, Logan spoke up. "Will-will you come back?"

Remus pretended to contemplate this before replying. "Of course I will! Who else is going to keep you up all night!?" And with that Remus was gone.

#sander sides #remus sanders #logic sanders #logan sanders #ts intrulogical #ts intrusive thoughts #intrulogical #g/t #giant/tiny #giant #tiny #borrower #the borrowers #tw cursing #tw cussing

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steve0discusses · 4 years

Text

Yugioh Ep 28: Valon Joins the Dead People Gang

So lately it’s been really freakin hot.

Like crazy freakin hot. I haven’t done anything productive because youknow--I live in a Covid hotspot and I’ve been quarantined for what feels like is 6 years, and then to continue the 10 plagues across America, now it’s just really freakin hot.

I was trying to go the hell to sleep when I heard this WIND outside my window at 2 AM. Just...WIND. It was like 5000 degrees outside, and then it started thundering, and then the lightning started hitting and I was like...wtf 2020, please calm down!

So I decided to check Twitter at 3 AM really fast just to make sure this wasn’t a freakin dream. Aaaaaaand Northern California had a Fire tornado warning.

3 words I never thought I’d see in conjunction. Fire tornado Warning.

and it hella dropped in Tahoe, y’all, it was freakin nuts. Meanwhile, Death Valley--the place where Yugi hella biffed it and died, if you don’t remember--hit 130 F (54.4 C, for the metric lovers in the back) so...it’s been a time for every part of California, and now we have some good ol fashioned rolling blackouts accompanied by 27 wildfires (yes, 27 fires) who have turned the sky into a yellow pea soup.

So because of the rolling blackouts (one of our power transformers exploded because of either the lightning or overuse, I dunno) at any point...my power might go out. Because of this, I didn’t feel like booting up Photoshop and so instead I’ll just...work on this.

...something about the Fire Tornado, the yellow shadow realm outside my window, and crazy lightning over San Fransisco reminded me that it’s been a HOT MINUTE since I’ve posted so lets get back to Yugioh. Somehow they knew that the doorway to hell was my back yard and you know what? They’re right. Completely believable and I wish someone would close the damn door.

Tristan read my mind that it’s been such a hot minute since I’ve checked in, that he mansplained a very quick summary of what the hell is currently happening to Tea Gardner.

A brave man, Tristan Taylor. A brave man to risk getting into a fight with Tea, who is the only Goliath on this show that exists without also being a paper card.

Which is when Pharaoh had some news.

I guess without Duke around, Pharaoh had to be the new Killjoy

(read more under the cut)

I exaggerate a little for the caps, but it’s kind of interesting that when Joey is usually on his own, it’s Yugi who’s certain that Joey is about to die and Pharaoh is the one that has to calm little Yugi down. But, when Yugi’s not there, I guess Pharaoh is just already in a Mood.

Mai is really weird this episode! I wish this season had gone into more detail about the extent of the Orichalcos’s mind control. Because Mai could very well be under it’s spell...or not...maybe it has no spell and they’re just falling for it like a placebo?

It’s not like the Orichalcos was ever put on anyone who was “good.” like if it were possessing someone nice like...

....

....(let me think about this, I’ll think of someone on this show who is a true lawful good.)

....

.................Dark Magician Girl, then I’d actually know if this Orichalcos actually IS different from how these characters actually are. But Mai was introduced in this series as a villain, and she’s always been around to bust balls, so it’s like...what part is Mai and what part is not?

Apparently a part that only shows up when Valon dies.

PS Valon turns a very quick 180 right before he died. I honestly thought I had skipped an episode or something because bro mentioned something about...Valon burning down a church or something...but I think that was a spicy headcanon where he mixed up this show with another anime.

I think. If I skipped an episode, y’all would tell me, right? I didn’t skip an episode?

I did skip the card games, however, so something about getting punched like 1000 times in the dick by Joey Wheeler taught Valon how to be human again, and the death that followed the 1000 dick punches inspired Mai to remember that Valon exists and that she Loves Him.

(just flat on his face)

I just...

I am going to give Yugioh this one. They have had so little in terms of relationships--I will give this to them. Good Job Yugioh, you did it. You had a relationship on your show. Sure, it was one where she...never seemed to like the guy at all, but hey--they actually did embrace...a corpse. Good on you, Yugioh.

Again, I have a really difficult time not cracking up about this very tragic moment a little bit because (and I have said this before about relationships on Yugioh), but I have never seen a TV show treat a straight relationship this way. I have never seen Straight Baiting before in my life and it is...WILD.

Also because Valon and Mai have both murdered I want to say hundreds of people at this point, it’s hard to feel too bad about them, although they are drawn as a very cute couple in how their outfits match. They got the finger less gloves, the belts hanging off their collar, the sleeveless outfit that is both too much clothes and too little clothes at the same time.

And like...I really like the idea behind Valon/Mai. I still think that was a good idea to build off of, I just wish that there was more of a sign from Mai that she had any idea that Valon existed prior to this. Because Valon had Orichalcos too, but he was fully able to love her--so what was happening on her end that prevented this? Was it just the amount that she hated Joey was so much more than her love for Valon? Was Valon actually more jealous of her hate of Wheeler and misinterpreted it as love?

Anyway it’s a billion degrees and I don’t have air conditioning so...I think we’ll have more time to think about this next episode. Maybe it’ll occur to me two weeks after this heat wave ends exactly what I am trying to grasp at when it comes to these two, but for now all I can say is...well it was nice.

Ah RIP Valon/tine (or at least I assume that’s the ship name). You lasted almost a whole season. You almost became a thing. I guess well find out if there’s redemption after he eventually gets resurrected.

And on this show we redeem resurrected people kind of a lot, so that seems reasonable. Sure it was a couple hundred people that he murdered but like...we redeemed Marik.

And then she goes back to wigging out like immediately. The flipping and the flopping of Mai Valentine in this episode is a lot.

And immediately after he says something along the lines of this, he follows with...doing this:

Joey! Valon just died so you wouldn’t have to duel Mai Valentine! He’s dead, Joey! Maybe try talking???

The thing about this show is that cards can both heal you and also destroy you, and the line between the two is just...rolling a dice and hoping you come out healed. Yugi played cards against Yami so that Yami could free himself from his guilt and move on--Valon was healed of Orichalcos control because Joey beat him at cards--Seto was “cured” of his more evil side because Yami mind wiped him in a card game--card magic is weird.

At the same time, Cards can take your soul in just So Many Ways--kind of one of the downsides. But, in a very round about way, maybe cards are kind of like therapy in this world. Maybe they don’t have therapy, and all these kids playing card games with eachother is metaphorical to how they all need eachother in order to push eachother to actually go through the steps of-

Ah, who am I kidding? They just really needed to have Mai lose at cards so they could write her off the show.

I do appreciate that the show never tells you that someone’s actions in the past mean they must rot for eternity. This show will never cancel anyone and say “burn that bridge, let’s go” but I feel like murder is...the line where you can just walk away?

But youknow if that were true of Joey wheeler he’d have no friends left.

During this time, The Yugioh crew was inexplicably lost while, for once in his entire life, Seto was going the correct direction.

Unfortunately, the lure to throw cards at thing was too much for him to go the right direction for very long. It is kind of funny to note that he is the smartest boy in Domino--so he knows you can drive through a hologram--but he just didn’t want to know if they were real or not, so he...didn’t.

Like I think that says a lot about Seto, and I’m sure the show-runners didn’t think about this at all, but he could have tested his theory right now. He could have just seen if these were real in order to know if he was crazy or not...but he’d rather be insane, than be involved with magic.

Anyways, Mai drops that Orichalcos.

Reminder that San Francisco is only 7-12 miles from one end to the other depending on what part of the peninsula you’re on.

But then again, they’re reading a map in Roman characters and these kids are school dropouts who only speak Japanese and maybe Spanish. Maybe they’re actually doing really, really well considering the language barrier?

Anyway that’s all for now I’m gonna go pass out and hopefully when I wake up it’ll be next week when it is no longer hot. If you just got here, this is a link to read these caps from the beginning!

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

#yugion #ygo #photo recap #episode recap #yami muto #tea gardner #joey wheeler #tristan taylor #Valon #Mai Valentine #So much punching #Seto Kaiba shows up for 5 seconds #Mokuba too I guess #S4 #Episode 28

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sineala · 4 years

Text

Civil War: Script Book

I finally read something and have a proper review for all of you! In case you're curious about the contents of the Civil War script book, I have some thoughts on it here as well as some excerpts of the bits that are probably most exciting and/or useful to 616 Steve/Tony fandom.

On the face of it, Civil War: Script Book is exactly what it sounds like -- a book collecting the final drafts of the scripts of the main Civil War comic book series. Issues one to seven. Yep. All of them. "But Sine," you might ask, "why would I want that when I have already read Civil War?" Well, there are a few reasons. One is that you might just be the kind of person who finds it interested to read comic scripts and compare them to the published material, to see what kind of directions and detail the artist is given, and so on. The other reason is that it is interesting from a fannish perspective -- there is a lot of behind-the-scenes commentary, as well as Mark Millar's original pitch for the series and his first draft for Civil War #1.

The book is laid out in a way that is about as visually exciting as you could hope for a collection of scripts to be. The script itself is on the verso pages. Occasional significant lines are highlighted in yellow, with red arrows drawn to the recto pages where they've reproduced the art that goes with those lines. The recto pages also contain commentary from Mark Millar (the author of Civil War) and Tom Brevoort (the editor at Marvel who, relevantly, was responsible for overseeing the entire Civil War event).

And there's a lot in the commentary that fandom might enjoy knowing about. Disclaimer: the commentary is not new; it was all culled from various promotional interviews, but this is the first time it has been collected in one place in this form. And, okay, to be fair, some of the commentary is Millar rhapsodizing about how much he enjoys splash pages with large numbers of superheroes on them, and also how much he likes fight scenes, but there's more than that. For example, we learn -- although you might already have heard this -- that in the very beginning stages of planning, they thought Steve would be pro-Registration, but ultimately decided against it because they didn't think Steve would be in favor of arresting his friends.

(And as another authorial-intent tidbit that may be of interest to a few of you, Brevoort says that Millar -- who is also the author of the original two Ultimates miniseries, as I'm sure you know -- says that, in his mind, if Civil War had happened in the Ultimate universe, Ults Steve would absolutely have been pro-Registration.)

(One more note on authorial intent: Millar says Steve would not have brought the shield down in the final fight.)

It's also interesting seeing both Brevoort's and Millar's opinion on issues that have since become controversial in fandom meta -- the smaller question of what the SHRA actually does, and the big big question, of course, of which side anyone is on. Which side the event is on. Whether it was intentionally slanted in any way.

There has been talk in fannish meta that it's hard to evaluate CW as an event because we aren't given a clear definition in canon of what restrictions the SHRA would actually impose on superhumans -- for example, everyone with powers is forced to register, but are they actually forced to work for SHIELD? Well, in case you were wondering, both Brevoort and Millar seem pretty clear that this is not the case. This is what Brevoort has to say:

The SHRA isn't an organization, it's a federal law. It requires anybody possessing superhuman abilities to register themselves and those abilities with duly appointed agents of the government. Additionally, if an individual intends to use those super-normal abilities as an independent peace officer, they must qualify on a training evaluation, be licensed and submit to some level of oversight in terms of their activities.

I hope that's helpful to someone in fandom, the next time you want to know what the SHRA does. So the answer looks like, yeah, SHIELD has to know about you even if you're the guy whose power is that you can barf up anything you can imagine (I am still not sure why this is the deus-ex-machina ending that Secret Empire went for but that's the subject of another post), but you don't have to join the Initiative unless you actually want to be a superhero.

And then there's the question of the balance of the event. While fandom as a whole generally seemed to perceive Tony as having been on the wrong side, Brevoort says he thinks that they came off as pretty equal in the main series, but that a lot of the tie-ins may have been slanted in favor of anti-Reg because he wanted to let the writers of the tie-ins "tell the truth as they saw it," and that furthermore a lot of the anti-Reg-favoring issues came out early in the event and helped solidify the opinion. He does say that if he were to do it again he would have rearranged the order of some of the tie-ins and asked some of the writers "to perhaps rein in their depictions of Tony a little bit."

So there. That's the word from Marvel, on both of those topics. On to the rest of this book!

The original pitch by Millar, plotting out the whole event, is also an interesting read, in terms of what changed and what stayed the same. They were originally throwing around a lot of ideas with the Hulk, which as far as I can tell mostly got recycled into Planet Hulk/World War Hulk slightly later on. The inciting event (the Stamford incident in the final version, obviously) hadn't been completely settled on, and they knew they'd have to kill someone (so as to make the event have an impact), but they weren't sure who; later on, they obviously decided on Goliath. What's more, it's clear from reading the rest of the commentary that Millar and Brevoort consider Goliath's death the turning point of the narrative, where the stakes are really raised. I find that interesting; in the parts of fandom I hang out with, the big turning points that come up in conversation tend to be pretty much (a) the EMP and (b) the final fight.

The other thing that's really weird is that... Steve doesn't die. What happens in the original pitch is that there's an evil senator with technology to depower all the superheroes, and Steve basically takes one for the team and stops the final fight by destroying the technology and in the process, losing the serum. There is then some discussion about who should be Cap after that -- whether it should be Bucky or Clint, for example. But skinny Steve basically heads off into the sunset at the end as Registration takes hold, and they plan to keep him deserumed for a year or two until the movie comes out, for that sweet sweet MCU synergy.

Is there anything in the pitch I would have loved to have seen? Hell, yeah. Check this out:

The whole situation is getting nuts and there's a clear war now going on between the super heroes, both equally convinced that they're doing the right thing. It all builds up to a big climax at the end of the fourth issue as Tony wakes up in bed to find Cap sitting on his chest and warning him to call off the dogs. He has to release these super-people from prison or Cap will have to take action. This is a last moment of sanity before all hell breaks loose in issue five and, since Tony believes with all his heart that they need licenses, he tells Cap to go [fuck] himself. Thus, the war is on and both sides are playing for keeps.

Would I pay CASH MONEYS for an emotionally-fraught conversation between Steve and Tony that takes place in Tony's bed with Steve sitting on Tony's chest? Boy howdy! I sure would!

So, you know, I'm sad that that didn't make it into the final draft. The rest of the pitch is pretty meh other than that.

The final bit of content exclusive to this book -- other than the pitch -- is the original draft of the script for Civil War #1 and, well, it would have been... slightly different. First off, there's no Stamford incident. There is an inciting event in which the New Warriors are in a fight for the purposes of reality TV and it gets out of control -- so that part is the same -- but it takes place in Bellport, Long Island, and the sole victim is Happy Hogan, who gets shot in the head and dies.

Naturally, you can see how this would bring Tony on board to the pro-Registration side. Also ardently pro-Registration in this draft is Simon Williams (yes, Wonder Man), who is running for political office and is leveraging this to boost his popularity. Being as Wonder Man isn't particularly popular, I have to say I'm glad that they took that out.

The big-impact scene of Steve's confrontation on the helicarrier -- you know, the one where he jumps out the window and rides a fighter jet down? -- is still there, but in this draft, Fury is still running SHIELD, though Hill is present. The commentary indicates that the role was switched to Hill for the final version because they felt that Fury would be too pro-superhero and specifically too pro-Cap to fill the position. I understand why they did this, but I think the first-draft showdown has a lot more impact coming from people who have been comrades as long as Nick and Steve have in 616:

CAPT AMERICA: I AM NOT RATTING OUT MY FRIENDS! FURY: Fingers on your triggers, boys. Any sudden moves and I want the captain tasered. CAPT AMERICA: Damn you to hell for this, Nick. FURY: Damn you for for making me do it.

See? So much more emotional!

The issue wraps up essentially the same way as the published version, with Tony in a Cabinet meeting with the president, explicitly endorsing Registration -- so, yeah, the main themes are mostly there, but a lot of the details are different.

Overall, I have to say that if you're interested in the details of the Civil War event, and you like behind-the-scenes information and extras, this book is worth a purchase, but not necessarily to the point where you should go hunting it down. I think I got mine for $5, which seems reasonable, and I have definitely gotten $5 worth of Civil War informational value out of it.

#posts i actually wrote #marvel #marvel 616 #stevetony

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