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#and like! it could have been cool to see him examine the flaws in his philosophy
sableflynn · 10 months
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haircut
In which Volkan cuts Felicia's bangs for her.
contents: references to/implications of noncon and torture
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He was drunk when he cut her bangs.
No, not drunk, he would insist: Volkan would never concede to such a flawed human state as inebriation. He prized his control of himself and others above all else; he did not lose that control to alcohol the way weaker men did. Regardless, he was several drinks in when he pulled Felicia into his lap and brushed aside her curtain of bangs.
“These are getting too long,” he murmured as the bangs fell to cover her eyes.
He wasn’t wrong. They’d grown long enough to obstruct her vision, longer than she’d ever let them grow. And that was what she was steadfastly refusing to acknowledge: she couldn’t allow herself to recognize that she’d been here long enough for her bangs to grow out so much. Her hair was a physical marker of the passage of time, a reminder that this wasn’t normal and she wasn’t safe.
“Your hair still looks good, at least.” He demonstrated his point by winding his hand through the long tangles of her hair, punctuating with a jerk of her head that forced her to arch back and grab his arms to stabilize herself. “I like this. But these bangs,” and his free hand brushed them again in vain before they fell back into place. “They cover half your face. You shouldn’t be able to hide your eyes like that.”
Her body tensed in unconscious recognition of his fucked-up sort of foreplay, the precursor to pain or to sex, which was just another sort of pain. He hadn’t hurt her yet, really—he wasn’t even hard—but every molecule of her being was attuned to him, and the animal part of her picked up on the cues of his pleasure at her discomfort, and the logical part of her knew this sort of attention always ended the same way.
He shifted, forcing her to grip his biceps tighter, and pulled a knife from his pocket. The lamplight glinted off the sharp blade as he flicked it open.
She tried to ignore the way her stomach dropped at the sight of it. “You’re going to cut my hair with a knife like that?”
“I can’t exactly bring you to a salon, can I?”
She hated him in these moments in particular, when he teased and joked with her like they were a normal couple, almost pretending that he saw her as a person. She hated herself even more for playing along with it, for almost yearning for it, because she was desperate for anything but the monotony of torture and degredation.
“Hold still.” The command was redundant when his knife was inches from her face. She held her breath as he gathered her bangs in his hand and sliced with deceptive gentleness. His face was close enough that she could smell the lingering mix of liquor and cigar smoke that clung to him like a perfume, could feel his hot breath on her skin as he cut away her bangs as easily as he’d cut away her strength, her self-worth, her sense of being. The past few weeks fell away in tufts of soft red hair that littered the hardwood floor.
When he was done, he took her face in both hands, pulling her back to examine his work. “Much better,” he said, thumbs pressing into her cheekbones a touch harder than necessary. She didn’t need to see her reflection to know she looked like shit. She could feel it like the absence of a limb: the cool air hitting her face, bangs irritating the very top of her forehead, cut higher than she’d ever choose to have them. Her eyes uncovered, unprotected from the lingering veil of her hair. Nothing to shield her as Volkan studied her. Nowhere for her to hide as his manner took the turn she’d known was coming, and he pushed her onto her back on the couch and climbed on top of her, the knife in his hand once again.
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chromantlks · 11 months
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Workin on art at 5:30am and watching Vendetta, so to procrastinate even longer, here is:
Resident Evil Vendetta: Why Leon and Rebecca’s Positions Should Have Been Swapped
• Rebecca is not a damsel in distress please stop doing this to RE women (female characters in general, hate to be that guy), let Rebecca be the prodigious badass tyrant slayer she has been since day fucking one
• Leon’s entire arc would be improved in the way Chris’ sort of was if he was kidnapped and had time to think about who he is and why he’s come as far as he has, as well as accepting that he can’t always be the dashing hero and that sometimes he needs help too
• We could FINALLY re-explore the dynamic between Chris and Rebecca!! Don’t get me wrong, I love the relationship between Chris and Leon I love the part where they said “it’s gay sex Thursday” and then started making out on the chopper, but cmon. These were the ORIGINAL guys, the goobers, the oomfies, they were partners then and they could have been again
• We might have had more of a chance to catch up with what Rebecca has been doing all this time, we haven’t seen her since 0, or the stage play if you’re insane like I am, and I feel like we deserved to see her in action. It’s totally in line with her character to take more of a backseat to the action, having more of an interest in the science and medical aspects, that’s all good, but she’s still trained in combat and marksmanship. Can you imagine a scene of Rebecca showing off her skills, especially to Leon? Dude that would rock so unbelievably hard cmon.
• Chris has this continued theme in his life of losing people close to him and it reflects in the way he treats his partners/teams. This is just a flaw with the movie in general (which I continue to enjoy despite its. Yknow. Everything~), but we never got to see much of that. Obviously that whole theme was generally resolved in 5 and then continued into 6, but I feel like whether it’s Leon or Rebecca, Chris should have been, like. Way more freaked about it? Staying professional and all, but Jesus Christ man, you’re gonna exchange one liners and cool gun slow-no scenes with MCR over here in the hallway while you have less than 20 minutes to both SAVE and CURE someone who has been by your side for upwards of 20 years whom you have befriended and relied on numerous times??? Whatever! Whatever!
• Arias should have had a MUCH higher interest in obtaining Leon if he wanted his revenge plan work out. He’s already a suuuuper iffy character, I too would be mad if the government dropped a bomb on my wedding and killed almost everyone I held dear, but also I didn’t do arms dealing and bioterrorism so. Maybe reflect on that man. But anyway, the A-Virus already has a lot in common with the Plaga. Arias ABSOLUTELY could improve this connection via a sample of Leon’s blood and an examination of whatever’s left in his nervous system; if done right, this could have handled the virus nearly unstoppable. But instead, he opted to, uh…steal a woman that looks like his wife? Yeah, her blood with the antibodies made the virus stronger, but he had NO IDEA OF THAT. He totally lucked out there. Now, information about the Plaga would be easily attainable for a man of Arias’ profession and status among the underworld of crime or whatever, all that shit, and Leon’s name would absolutely be among that information. It’s just so much more convenient? Makes so much more sense?? Literally aids his evil plan???
I’m sure there’s more reasons I’m forgetting because the amount of times I’ve ranted about this is ridiculous, but like. Cmon cmon cmon I beg
If someone makes art or like rewrites the story like this tag me in it I beg of you like idk if this will incite any inspiration this is just my special weird take on a my special weird movie
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animeyanderelover · 2 years
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8/25. I picked this character since he’s one of my favorites.
Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, stalking, manipulation, abduction, isolation, restriction, death
Yandere Ulquiorra Cifer Hc’s
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💚Ulquiorra does not believe in emotions and things his eye can't see. He is materialistic. This human there seemingly wants to test him though. Ulquiorra is extremely obsessive and a huge stalker. Even if his rather cold and cool exterior doesn't give it away, he is thinking about his darling every minute he doesn't have any work to do and he gets slightly annoyed by it. The Espade rejects those feelings, wants you out of his mind. His inital strategy is drowning himself in tasks and work only to keep you out of his thoughts. You're expendable and trash, it shouldn't be that hard to rid himself of thoughts about you. It doesn't unfold as he expects it to happen though because instead his mind seems to only circle around you more. Maybe it is because he doesn't tend to his curiosity about you. Something is bothering him in a way he can't explain and only someone who really takes a close examination realizes that there is something on Ulquiorra's mind.
💚With nowhere else to turn, Ulquiorra eventually caves in to this insatiable interest in you. It's in a way humiliating when he searches for you in your world, he might even play with the thought of killing you since you are in his way and don't have any worth for Aizen. Those thoughts vanish as soon as he starts stalking you. He experiences some rather strange effects that come with stalking you, positive outcomes nonetheless. His focus returns to him, you surprise him by being more interesting than he initially thought you to be and watching over you is something he finds himself quickly growing accustomed to. So much that it starts bugging him when he can't stalk you every once in a while and observe you. Stalking you becomes worringly fast something completely daily for the Espada, it feels weirdly good to see you. To be near you.
💚He would never refer to it as jealousy if someone would explain the concept of it to him. He does know that after some time there is something inevitably annoying him whenever someone gets too close to you or is very touchy with you. Ulquiorra has come up with his own solution why something seems to jab him in his chest whenever he has to witness affection and clinginess from others towards you. Because they are nuisances who stop you from evolving and perfecting yourself. You see, after a while Ulquiorra has noted down everything he could find out about you. The man even went as far as to break into your house and go through your room, he just wants to know everything. He knows your flaws, has even come up how to overcome them. Those people are stopping you from wanting to be better.
💚He's not particulary violent, even if he views those he sees as not interesting or important to Aizen as disposable. The more he becomes obsessed, the more their mere presence with you bothers him. He always stares at people you keep close to you with a hint of distaste in his eyes, pinpointing in mere minutes of observation down why they're a hindrance to you. Whilst normally not someone who prefers to dirty his hands, Ulquiorra is capable of committing crimes that involve killing. With more and more time where he grows used to stalking you he finds himself at the most ease if you are just by yourself. In a delusional way he believes those are yours and his moments together which is why he feels like his privacy hasn't been respected when someone constantly interferes. He feels provoked and wouldn't have much qualms about killing those close to you. When he reaches the peak of his obsessed infatuation, he's pretty much ready to slaughter everyone close to you.
💚Kidnapping his darling is an inevitable outcome as soon as he grows rather possessive. By now it is safe to say that he has gone down the rabbit hole of obsession. There is this desire inside of him to have you constantly with him because stalking you isn't enough. He wants to talk to you like every other trash constantly does with you, wants to help you become the more perfect version of you he has drawn in his mind. There is even a part of him that wants you to think only of him and not anyone else. What you humans call the heart, he wants to own. He wants to possess his s/o, their mind, their body, their heart. Ulquiorra thinks before he jumps into action, adjusts a few things in the place he plans to keep you in. The abduction is no big drama since he knocks you efficiently out. When you wake up, shackled, he is already waiting for you. It'll be the first time you'll hear someone talking about the whole kidnapping and owning you from now on in such a matter-of-fact way. Get used to seeing only him because Ulquiorra will isolate you.
💚He can be extremely creepy and unnerving, downright scary even, when he just stares at you or threatens to kill your family and friends whenever you miss them. He's demanding of your love, wants you to only think about him. At the same time he is also so incredibly boring that it's laughable. You can't have a good conversation with him since he hasn't been introduced yet to the concept of humor and fun. You'll just get the stare of very mild confusion. Confusion is another good word to describe him who is completely out of ideas when it comes to love. You sometimes wonder if he even knows why he kidnapped you and truthfully, Ulquiorra can't give you much of a valid answer either. You constantly end up having to explain things to him and worse is that as soon as you say something he doesn't get, you have to explain because if you don't, he'll insist until you cave in. He just seems to like listening to your voice. Ulquiorra expects you to just accept that you are his possession now and handles you being a brat with a punishment in his calm way, he even berates you. He treats you rather good most of the time, simply because he believes your body to be his so he won't tolerate you harming your body since it isn't yours anymore.
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kishimotomasashi · 1 year
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Madara for the ask game
Send me a character and I'll tell you
First impression:
I first heard his name back while I was really into DBZ and powerscaling and vs battles mattered a lot more to me, and so I saw some people talk about how some guy called "Madara" from Naruto could beat Goku and win or whatever and I was like damn, Naruto characters can blow up planets now? I thought this was the ninja show?
Later on I bought UNS4 and was introduced to Madara for the first time in the game's cool opening sequence with his fight with Hashirama and my first thoughts were: "Oh okay he's really powerful and can do cool shit but the dudebros are lying to me" and "I like his voice and his manner of speech" (I was watching the dub bc I have character flaws I refuse to examine 👍🏽).
So really I just thought he was cool. Cool anime villain. Didn't think of him much beyond that.
Impression now:
Tragic mess of an old man who has all of the issues at once simultaneously and has 5 different layers of both emotional and physical walls to prevent himself from dealing with them in any manner. We would fuck because of it if he weren't lines or also gay. Love of my life and bane of my existence.
Favorite moment:
As much as I do think Madara's cool when he's going apeshit or throwing meteors on people my favourite moments with him happen to be when he's more... human. When he's not being the most powerful thing in the room just to be the most powerful thing in the room.
So my fave moments are both times where he's confessing to Hashirama his guilt about not having been able to protect his siblings, and his wondering what that would mean of his abilities as a leader. Those are his most character defining moments, imo. And also makes me think of this post:
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Idea for a story:
I have a few story/oneshot ideas in my drafts for him actually. Current one taking priority is an AU I'm writing in which Madara is possessing Sasuke, Yu-Gi-Oh style, and they are both trying to deal with in the best way they can.
Otherwise I have some oneshot drafts that are just headcanons in writing: one on Izuna and Madara's relationship dynamic, one on what happened when Madara's last sibling before Izuna died, one that's a reimagining of how the susano'o works (divorcing it from the mangekyou sharingan entirely) and how he came to master it, etc.
Unpopular opinion:
I think as the war arc progressed he became more of an annoying obstacle than a genuinely good villain. His introduction lived up to the hype but as for keeping it... you can only do "this guy's the most powerful thing ever and he's unstoppable" so many times before it gets annoying.
Ofc I have my own personal interpretation that makes me enjoy his character progression in the war arc (something something turning himself into smth less and less human as he abandons and paternalizes humanity, something something becoming almost a caricature of his reputation and thus a shell of his former self) but looking at it objectively... he peaked at the susano'o unveiling and after that he just became annoying skfjskhfkshfs. I'm not even gonna mention Juubi!Madara. I try to forget he exists most of the time.
Favorite relationship:
With Hashirama, obviously, since that's the one we get to see develop meaningfully. I'd be a lot more invested in his relationship with Izuna if Izuna just had more screentime. I mean I have headcanons on what their relationship might've looked like but headcanons aren't what's actually written in the manga.
Favorite headcanon:
This isn't a Madara-specific headcanon but I've been obsessed with the Uchiha as songbirds headcanon for 2 days. It's just perfect to me. Anyways this is what I think Madara's singing voice sounds like approximately
youtube
Just probably deeper-sounding than this. But definitely powerful, and with a good growl to it.
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Rewatching MCU Spider-Man Trilogy
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As an avid superhero nerd, I’m here to watch and analyze materials that the average movie goer wouldn’t exactly look over with a microscope. Since it has been almost a year since No Way Home and I’ve finally recovered from my emotional spiral from the Spider-Man movies that sees a teenage superhero repeatedly crushed both physically and emotionally, I thought it would be a nice challenge to rewatch some of the Spider-Man MCU Trilogy. This isn’t a total review, but rather an examination of the story structure and characters.
Alright, so Spider-Man isn’t one of my favorite superheroes in general, but I do think he’s cool with his whole Spider-Sense and web shooters. So I have a generally unbiased opinion on “who’s the best Spider-Man” or “this Spider-Man isn’t faithful to the comics” because I just want to see a cool superhero do cool superhero stuff.
The Great
Tom Holland’s Peter Parker
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Tom Holland brings a great sense of charisma that makes him lovable and compelling to invest my attention in. This makes him one of my favorite MCU characters that vehemently root for, ironic that Peter Parker is meant to have a crappy time and then get back up again. It even makes me want him to essentially succeed in life, even though Peter Parker isn’t suppose to get everything he wants.
The Characters
All of the characters are memorably unique and charming in their own way, particularly supporting characters and even the villains.
The first two villains The Vulture and Mysterio are extremely memorable and charismatic in their own ways that bring out complexity or fun to their characters.
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The Vulture is a complicated character that does what he does because he felt that the world wasn’t exactly fair to him. He acts as the foil to Spider-Man as he feels people in lower classes are used and discarded by those in higher power much like with Tony using the suit as a tool for “control” over Peter.
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Mysterio is essentially the twist villain we all saw coming if you’re a comic book reader. Quentin Beck is another disgruntled Stark employee who wants revenge by tricking the world into making an Avenger level crisis.
The villains in No Way Home were from other franchises, but the Green Goblin was a major upgrade from his previous appearance.
The Emotional Beats
Despite the flaws, what makes these movies strong and memorable are the emotional scenes that bring out levels of humanity to every character. Almost all of Tom Holland’s scenes demonstrate that ability from him lifting rumble off himself to making the ultimate sacrifice.
The Not So Great
The Story Structure
What I noticed from the films is how the scenes don’t exactly flow together and just jump and skip along. The first portions of the first two movies seemed to be out of place from the rest of the movie, which isn’t bad but just somewhat weird in my opinion. Sure it gives us more insight into other characters, but I felt kind of out from the moment.
I also notice that they write Peter in various situations to make very dumb decisions. One major example is in No Way Home where he asked Doctor Strange to actually rewrite reality without even considering other less crazy options. You could argue that Peter’s a kid making reckless decisions, but he’s also supposed to be a genius akin to Tony Stark and even somewhat wiser with his level of responsibility he feels.
Another major example is how Peter gave Quentin Beck the EDITH glasses in Far from Home, which I still think was a weird plot device to include for Tony to leave Peter, a teenager, an entire armada of weaponized drones in space instead of just leaving behind just the glasses.
The “Tony Stark” Pedestal
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Tony Stark is the main face of the MCU at the beginning of the Infinity Saga, so he essentially has to appear in some way throughout the MCU, especially in the Spider-Man MCU films. This is a problem because the Spider-Man movies should be about Spider-Man, not Spider-Man featuring Iron Man. Even the villains are the result of Tony Stark’s actions and Peter has to deal with Tony’s fallout. What makes No Way Home stand out was that it focused on Peter’s problems alone without pulling in Tony Stark or the Avengers or any other superheroes aside from Doctor Strange, but you could argue is more of a neutral character in the film.
The Possibilities
The ending of No Way Home brings us a new, unexplored direction that opens a whole new set of options for the franchise to move through. I hope they don’t make the memory spell permanent or just remove it right away because it can make more complications in the future.
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actiaslunaris · 11 months
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Regina ‘live-watches’ Last Man: Zenmou no Sousakan S01E04.
This time, a man collapses -- apparent victim of a bee sting -- but examining the sting reveals something more sinister.
The preview for this one looked exciting and so far it's delivering.
I'm a simp for Fukuyama Masaharu so seeing his hair flopping on his forehead so attractively while he's running really does things for my good humor.
As is the way with a lot of J-dramas, we get more humor at the beginning, before dramatic events kick in. It's fun seeing Godo being teased by Izumi. It's less fun understanding that it's tit-for-tat on romantic relationships. Izumi has a thing for Agatsuma and he's been jealous about her since the first episode, which revealed that there was some pre-existing admiration on her part for Minami.
So Izumi being called on that by his uncle Shintaro and then giving as good as he got by asking when Godo will get married demonstrates the familial relatioship in an efficient way, but it also, in my opinion, points out that Godo doesn't seem interested in pursuing relationships at this particular point in time.
It's all very heteronormative! And a bit frustrating. I mean, if this show wanted to go the yaoi way, it's laying ground very well, but if not, I find the 'so why haven't you gotten married, why aren't you in a relationship, etc.' just a bit annoying.
The concept for the crime committed here is truly clever, as is the method of delivering poison. I'm impressed.
I love that this one is focusing on Agatsuma.  Of course, personal experience will tend to bias.
That's tv justice for you. That dude deserved being lied to by the police.
I noticed that! (The perpetrator printed off a piece of important information rather quickly.) Ah, finally, a clue based on something normal that can be overlooked, but is suspiciously off by a small amount.
Oh no, Agatsuma has been been poisoned. (She recovers, yay!)
This is the first time I've ever seen a police baton used in action on a police procedural from Japan, to the best of my recollection. Cool.
Vigilante action is bad when it turns you into a murderer could be the takeaway from this episode, but what I am enjoying about this show is that it does present its concepts in a way that allows the viewer to make their own judgments and also examine what their own principles might be in response to them.
Ah, my heart. A profile on Minami's work in the FBI inspired Agatsuma to send him a letter, and he remembered her.
This wins over Izumi, who had been told that by his father that he needed to monitor his uncle's relationship with Minami. Hilarious and wonderful. I gather that one of the goals of the show is having each of the team in opposition to Minami's involvement earn respect of him.
This is my favorite episode so far. Excellent in addressing a problem that exists in Japan's law, excellent for the character interactions, and excellent in delivering a message that provokes thought.
(This episode has its flaws, of course, one of which was leaning a bit hard on Minami's development of other senses to help solve the case. Sometimes it's fair, other times it tips into not being believable, but I'm a firm believer in handwaving away quibbles like that. They're doing a good job over all, I think.)
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jostenneil · 3 years
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i realize this line of thinking is more or less antithetical to everything that has made up his character for the last idk two decades but it is nonetheless something i have been thinking about
edit: honestly also how does no one ever confront jason about the fact that killing off drug lords does nothing to tangibly help the people being sold and becoming addicted to drugs. like does he (read: dc comics) realize that he’s effectively cutting off a market and as such completely blindsiding addicts who can’t handle withdrawal and are left in as debilitated a state as his own mother was. judd winick step up to the mic
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weepingvoidpenguin · 3 years
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One of Your Favorites
Jealous Bucky x Reader
Summary: You have an objective. Get Rumlow to confess. Simple enough, right? No. Aside from his usual condescending attitude towards you, Bucky has made it extremely apparent that he doesn’t think you’re capable of - well, anything, but especially not handling Rumlow. And yet, he is the biggest challenge of this entire ordeal.
Warning: T R I G G E R WARNING!! ATTEMPTED SA, DRUGS, language, light smut. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT READ IF SA WILL TRIGGER YOU. 
Word Count: 8.3k
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   “We have good intel stating he’s working as a double agent for HYDRA. Selling information, exploiting tactics, even going so far as to tell them where we’ll be and when.” Natasha scanned the room, making sure she had everyone’s attention during the briefing. 
   You slouched back in your swivel chair and twisted to-and-fro slightly with your hands gripping the arm rests on either side. It took all of your willpower to act engrossed in her words. And you meant every single drop. You’d been paying attention, sure, but the only issue was the dominating presence two seats to your right and directly in your line of sight to Natasha. You rolled your chair to the left to clear the path for the third time, only for him to block your way without missing a beat. The growl that left your mouth was nearly involuntary. Nearly.
   How long would this man act like a child? Despite his graceful and seemingly unsuspecting movements, you were fully aware his placement was intentional. This was not the first, nor did you doubt that it would be the last, time that Bucky acted impudently toward you. Frankly, you’d grown bored of his behavior. It was the same thing everyday. He would act a nuisance during the briefings, speak over you whenever he had the chance, steal the limelight from you and invalidate any concerns or thoughts you shared. The whole charade grew tiring and he had been dancing on thin ice for months now.
   You averted your gaze from burning holes through the freshly washed, brown locks and switched your attention back up to the redhead. Thankfully, too, because you managed to catch the end of her sentence just as she locked eyes with you.
   “And that’s why Y/N is going to be the one to extract the information from him,” she finished.
   You blinked, “Wait, what?” 
   Bucky straightened his posture and threw a quick glance your way, “Yeah, what? She’s got no heat, couldn’t toast marshmallows if we gave her all day. She shouldn’t lead this, she wouldn’t know how,”
   “Well, tonight might be a good time to start learning, then,” Steve chimed in, throwing a wink your way. You smiled and appreciated his aid, not because you needed it but because at this point, you were seething and if you opened your mouth to defend yourself this meeting would go south, quickly. Luckily, Steve always believed you were capable of a great deal of things and knew you strove for more experience so any opportunity to lead or expand was one he thought you should take. 
   “Besides,” Tony spoke up, twirling a platinum pen between his fingers from across the table, “our little double-agent has always had the hots for Y/N so unless you’re gonna be the one to bat your eyelashes at him and get him alone in a room, Mr. Barnes, we have to use his own flaws against him.” He turned to face you and held up a hand, “Not to say that liking you is a flaw, you’re great Hot-Stuff but exploiting him is our best option indefinitely,”
   “Do I have to seduce him?” You huffed, crossing your arms over your chest and raising a brow towards Nat, trying your damned hardest to avoid the unmistakable glare the brown-haired super soldier was sending your way. 
   “The only thing you have to do is extract any information on him that you can. Get him a little drunk, catch him in a slip-up or two, take note of any inconsistent stories and be on your merry way,” she reassured, “How you manage to do that is up to you,”
   “Ooh, extortion,” Clint chirped up from the far back corner, his hands rubbing together maliciously around an arrow he pulled from his sheathe, something you noticed he did a lot when he was uninterested; be it a person, mission, or conversation.
   “No. Not extortion,” Steve shut it down and you chuckled at how Clint’s countenance fell into one of disappointment. 
   “Not yet anyway,” Natasha mumbled and you sighed as she walked around the room and handed each of you a folder with your individual objectives inside.
   “But he’s such a pervert,” you grumbled.
   “All the easier,” 
~
   The rest of the day was drudged with Nat while she taught the pertinence of body language (both yours and theirs), verbal ruses, and overall ensnarement. You bat your eyelashes until you were certain you would catch enough wind to fly away, smirked enough that your cheeks began to ache and raised your eyebrows ‘til you felt the impending wrinkles on your forehead. By the end of the drill you weren’t sure you were even going to make it to the company party from the migraine creeping its way on.
   “How’s the bait coming along?” His voice alone caused you to roll your eyes but you paid no mind while you rubbed at your temples and stood up alongside Natasha.
   “She’s not gonna be able to lie to me any time soon but she can flirt her way to whatever she wants,”
   “Benefits of targeting a narcissistic misogynist, they don’t think anyone can fool them.” Tony belted as he sauntered into the room with strawberries, offering them out to you while he munched on one.
   “She’ll still mess it up,” Bucky countered, “Make someone else do it,”
   You plucked the fruit off Tony’s tray and examined it, trying to figure out whether you were going to consume it or use it as a weapon.
   “I really appreciate your words of encouragement, James. Unfortunately, they’re not wanted, nor are they needed.” You bit into the fruit and glided towards the door, looking over your shoulder at the super soldier, “So unless you actually have something to contribute, I suggest you stay the hell out of my way while I get the job done,”
   Nat walked out behind you and handed you a tiny, skin-colored device meant to conceal itself and you placed it in your ear. 
   “The conversation is gonna be recorded so we can catch any inconsistencies. We’ll all be able to hear what you’re saying so tread on delicate waters but don’t be afraid to shake mountains if you have to,”
   You nodded and opened your door for her to enter your room knowing she’d want to help you get ready for the event. Natasha, shocking as it turns out, enjoys company while preparing for events. She would much prefer to be surrounded by people than be alone. You never had gall to ask her why that is. Or maybe you respected her too much to ask.
   An hour had passed, maybe two, but you enjoyed the silence between you both. There was no need to fill the empty quiet when it was so comfortable and welcoming. You two spoke without words at times and that was probably your favorite personal skill. Eventually, there came a knock on your door and you opened to find Wanda with her flat iron and make-up bag in tow. It’d long since been decided that your room was the gathering center.
   Wanda helped you finish touching up your outfit and you waited on your bed while they finished getting ready. Nat occasionally quizzed you on certain situations and how you should act depending on the tones and moods of the conversation. You tried to explain that you didn’t have difficulty reading a room but Nat tested you all the same. 
   “And if he puts his hand on your thigh?” She called out from your bathroom.
   “Then he loses it,” you practically sang in response.
   You were met with a flying hairbrush and laughed at the onslaught.
   “You’re not the only one with that mentality,” Wanda called out as well, her iron glossing over thin strands of hair.
   “Nat knows I can handle myself.” You sat up on the bed and went over to your closet to collect your favorite pair of shoes to go along with the formal attire Nat selected for tonight. “What a coincidence that we happen to have a company party the same night we have to extract information,” you hollered over your shoulder, moving aside terribly worn shoes while you scoured for the pair you had in mind.
   “This objective has been in the works for weeks now,” Nat released the tendril of hair from around the barrel and pinned it to her head so it could cool.
   “Wow, thanks for the heads up, then.” You gripped the desired pair and placed them beside your nightstand for later.
   “The plan wasn’t solid until we knew for a fact that Rumlow was coming. It’s a company party so it’s not mandatory but once he heard you were making an appearance, it didn’t take very much persuading,”
   You rolled your eyes and plopped back down on your mattress, “He’s so annoying, I doubt I can hold much of a conversation with him,”
   “Take a shot or two to ease your nerves, if he sees you drinking it’ll put him at ease too. He’ll be more inclined to drink,” Natasha recommended. “But don’t act too out of character. If you were always curt and short with him and suddenly you start acting over-friendly, he may get suspicious. He’s an idiot but he’s a paranoid one,”
   You nodded, taking a mental note to have a half-empty bottle in your grasp when Rumlow arrives. If he thinks you’ve already been drinking, he might also consider catching up. 
   “Y/N? Not uptight for once?” Wanda sarcastically questioned. “I can’t picture it,”
   “Oh, fuck off,” you grumbled and in turn received laughter from the two girls. “Besides, of all of us I’m by far the least uptight. Barnes takes the cake for that one,”
   There was a beat of silence that you didn’t register before you were met with a response.
   “Ya know, he’s not as bad as you paint him out to be.” Nat unpinned the curl from her head and moved on to the next section, “He’s got some serious loyalty and always willing to volunteer first for everything,”
   You lifted your head to stare at her reflection through the mirror, “What are you talking about? He’s annoying and irate and lacks a filter,”
   “Mmm, irate isn’t the word I would use,” Wanda countered, looking over to Natasha.
   Nat shook her head in response, “I’d lean more towards . . . over-protective,” 
  “Much better,” Wanda agreed.
   You squinted your eyes at their image and felt the corners of your lips turn downwards, “Over-protective? Since when are you two defending Barnes?”
   “We’re not defending him, per say.” Wanda glanced over to Nat, “We’re just trying to give you a fresh perspective,” 
   “You could give me a brand new pair of eyes and I’d still see him the same,” you retorted, now leaning on your elbows due to the strain on your neck. 
   They ignored the comment, “And he’s only annoying to you,”
   “You’re telling me he doesn’t annoy you at all?” You asked, an eyebrow raised.
   “More like . . . he doesn’t go out of his way to mess with us.” Nat applied a nude color onto her lips.
   “So you agree that he goes out of his way to irritate me,” you stated rather than asked.
   “That’s been made very apparent,” Wanda responded. “But you have to wonder why,”
   You huffed a little and sprawled back out on the bed just to result in staring at the ceiling above. If you looked hard enough your mind would create pictures from the chaos of the cracks and shapes began to form. Sometimes, when the night lay still and life seemed to dwindle at the edges of your reality, you could swear a familiar face fashioned together and your imagination ran wild with the images you’d see. Some that brought a warmth to your cheeks even now. 
   You shot up out of bed and shook the memories from your vision. Ugh. He haunts you even when he’s not actively tormenting you. How he’s managed to crawl his way so deeply within your skin you had no idea but you fought for control of your thoughts whenever you caught them slipping into that hellhole.
   “Or slipping into euphoria,” Wanda chimed in.
   “Wanda!” You scolded, crossing your arms, “Euphoria my ass,”
   “Yeah, he thinks so too,” she continued and you chucked the abandoned hairbrush back their way. 
   “Stay out of my head,” you jokingly sniped at her but was met with a low chuckle.
   “I didn’t even have to be in your head to know what you were thinking of,” Nat defended and caught your weapon of choice.
   “Are you guys done yet?” You rolled your eyes and stretched yourself out before swiping up the pair of heels you’d chosen and sliding them onto your feet.
   “Why? Are you in a hurry to see a certain someone?” Natasha teased and Wanda let out an eruption of laughter.
   “All right, I’m done.” You made a beeline for the door and threw it open, “Lock up when you’re finished!” You bellowed over your shoulder and made your way to the top floor of the building where all the parties are typically held.
   You didn’t run into anyone on the way up and you used that time to calm yourself, prying inch by inch away from the invasive thoughts that called for you in the darkest hours of the night. But, then again, maybe those tormenting thoughts weren’t that bad? You mean, he certainly IS handsome, very much so actually. And he has the most knee-wobbling smirk you’d ever come to know, not to mention those little tricks he does with his knives always manage to entrance you. God, did he know how to use a knife. 
   On more than one occasion had you caught yourself staring at how his hands encapsulated the hilt of the blade. How they clenched and relaxed, drawing out some of the more prominent veins on one of the extremities; of course, you were even more so enticed by the hand he hid as well. You’d imagined what it felt like to have such strong hands grip onto your thighs and coax you into spreading them open with just a few teasing touches here and there. You couldn’t fathom the front you’d put up would last very long, he was stellar at pulling reactions from you. He’d see you break under his caresses and he’d degrade you like he always did but this time it’d emit a different response from you, one that made you whimper and shake. At that, he’d probably call you a good girl, he definitely seems the type to switch between degradation and praise, and would press his mouth up just where you wanted it the most. You’d try your hardest to be quiet but damn the way that tongue moved against you and the way he’d pull you harder against his face at each sound of pleasure you let slip past your lips. He’d enjoy it, too. Eyes closed as he devours you, he likes to put on a show for you to watch. Give you a memory that’ll slick your thighs later that night if he hadn’t fucked you into a coma by then. He’d make you watch him and if you dared to close your eyes you’d earn a firm, cold smack on your ass. He knows you like when he uses temperature play. He growls a little too, he can’t help his innate behavior. Then, just as the accumulation is coming to its apex he’d pull away abruptly and kiss you straight on your mouth so you can taste yourself and that’d earn him another whimper which would result in another smack that leads to that cold metal trailing its way to your core and just as he pushes the tip of his finger inside-
   You cough and straighten your posture as the elevator door opens. When had you leaned up against the back wall of the elevator? Oh Gods, you could feel the slick at the apex of your thighs and you squeezed them together as inconspicuously as you could in fear that you were producing a . . . scent that would be rather difficult to conceal. But the slick only grew worse when you locked eyes with the person stepping into the elevator.
   Fuck.
   “That’s what you chose to wear?” He asked, a certain venom in his tone that immediately calmed the ache in your heat.
   “And what would you have me wear instead, Barnes?” You quipped back, your body facing forward as he took his place beside you in the cramped space.
   There was a beat of silence. Then another. “Not that,” he responded.
   “Well I’ll make sure to ask you next time since you have such impeccable taste,” you retorted, your eyes yet to abandon the sight of the closing doors.
   You weren’t sure of all the effects of the Super Soldier Serum that had been injected into Bucky and all that it heightened but you prayed to any God that would listen that his hearing wasn’t one of those things. You were too preoccupied with attempting to settle the hot pulse beating between your legs to worry about how loud your discomfort came across.
   “What do you look so nervous about?” Bucky’s gruff voice prodded. “You can’t possibly be nervous about the mission considering how big-headed you are,”
   You took a deep, long breath and held it to soothe you. Had you not been so previously preoccupied, you’d have given him hell for the insult. “I’m not nervous about that,” you sniped and rested back against the cool wall to satiate your burning skin before lifting your gaze to him only to find him already examining you.
   “Of course not, I just said that,” he retorted, bringing a gloved hand to his face to rub along his jaw, “there’s obviously nothing for you to worry about,”
   You scoffed, “And why is that, Barnes?” Cue the dramatic crossing of your arms. 
   “You’re smarter than Rumlow and significantly better trained. Overall, he really doesn’t hold a candle to your ability,” He paused for a second, his whole frame tensing until he remembered to relax, “But that’s not really saying much considering it’s Rumlow,” 
   You hadn’t noticed you raised your eyebrows until you felt your face fall, “Ah, there he is. You had me worried there for a second, Barnes. Thought you might actually try something new and display common decency for once,”
   A corner of his mouth turned up subtly and he shook his head. You trailed your gaze down to his hidden hand and stared long enough to burn a hole through the fabric.
   “If something’s bothering you, Dollface, go ahead and speak up,” 
   You weren’t sure what possessed you to say anything, especially knowing how touchy the subject was for him but the words left your mouth anyway, “I don’t know why you insist on hiding yourself,”
   He lurched his head back, your statement seeming to have a physical affect on the man and you mentally slapped yourself for saying anything.
   “I’m not hiding myself,”
   “But you are,” you interrupted, your thoughts coming out in pools of candor, “you aren’t your hand. You aren’t your past. You are you. Presently. You’re not the Winter Soldier anymore. That’s not even the same hand you had back then. It’s not tainted and neither are you. I say drop the gloves,”
   “And why would I care about what you say?” He growled, his eyebrows furrowed together and his neck tight in potential restraint.
   The elevator dinged and you looked towards the opening doors, “You don’t have to but they don’t look right with your suit either.” You walked through the exit and sauntered over to the others who had already gotten the party started, leaving Bucky dumb-founded behind you. “I need a shot,”
   “Already ready,” Tony quipped up, holding the small glass in the air for everyone to behold before bringing his cheek to yours in mock welcoming, “This’ll up your tolerance for the next hour, try to get all your drinking done within that time-frame,”
   You pulled away with a warm smile after faux kissing his cheek, “Finally!” you displayed and threw the liquid back in one swift motion, your face scrunching together against your will.
   “Yeah, she’s got a kick to her,” he mumbled and handed you a fruity drink to chase it down with. 
   You went around and said hi to everyone as you recognized most of those present. You made small chatter with those lesser known and drank the liquid in your hand significantly quicker than you’d like to. You excused yourself after you finished the drink and walked over to the bar, scanning the room as you were handed another glass. No Rumlow in sight.
   You headed towards the foosball table and gripped the handles after setting the beverage down on the counter beside you. You flinched as a reflection of light caught your eye and at first you thought your glass was the source. Until your eyes fixated on the reflection’s actual origin. To your far right, and up a few steps you found Bucky conversing with Steve, a dull light emitting from his hand. Not a glove in sight.
   “So, where’s your boyfriend?” Sam inquired when he filled the opposing spot.
   You rolled your eyes, “Bucky’s not my boyfriend,”
   “Bucky?” Sam’s tone chirped up teasingly, a knowing look wearing on his face.
   Your grip tightened around the handles and you slowly pulled away to throw the little white ball through the circle, your hands immediately twisting the miniscule players around. Your eyes shot back and forth, your sight never leaving the darting sphere. Sam still managed to win the first point.
   “Ha!” He shouted in triumph, bringing his finger up as if to scold you, “Don’t think you got away with that comment either, Y/N,”
   “What comment?” you questioned and gulped most of your drink before slamming it back down on the table.
   You heard your earpiece come to life with quiet static and you tried to keep your face masked. Rumlow had entered. Not a surprise either, the party was finally starting to pick up now.
   Sam threw the ball in and you turned the players meticulously this time, brute strength hadn’t helped you earlier so maybe you should take it slow. Steve made his way over to the table and threw his drink back, the liquid trickling down the side of his face before he wiped it away. Sam won the second point.
   “I play winner,” Tony chimed, standing beside Steve.
   You made a point to catch up and now you two were tied at three each. 
   “Best out of five?” You proposed, quirking an eyebrow at Sam.
   “If you didn’t want to play anymore you could’ve just said that,” he teased and you smirked at him as Tony made a subtle show of handing you another drink and you finished your second. “Loser takes two shots?”
   “Deal.” You nodded, knowing you didn’t have much of a choice as a small crowd began to form around you two. Rumlow amongst them. 
   Your jaw dropped when Sam shot the ball directly into your goal as soon as he’d let the ball go.
   “What the fuck?” You shouted, “No fair! That doesn’t count!”
   Thor erupted in laughter to your right and you blinked slowly, staring at the gargantuan man. 
   “It most certainly does,” Sam shouted back, his grin practically touching his ears.
   “Sam, take it easy on her,” Bucky muttered from beside him, quickly averting his gaze from yours and his expression loosened, “The brat hates losing,”
   “Brat?” You snarled.
   Bucky took a swig of his beer, watching you the entire time and you reeled back the fire beginning to form in your chest just to bring your drink up to your lips and chug the entire thing down. You handed it over to Tony who left to replace it. 
   “Last point,” Sam stated, “It’s not too late to quit now,”
   You shook your head and blinked away the feign distortion you were supposed to have. “Just play the ball,”
   “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he teased and threw the ball in. 
   You wanted to win. Desperately. But you had a character to play tonight and she was supposed to be drunk. So you hit your hand against the corner of the table just as Sam happened to make the winning point. You grumbled and threw him a glare when Tony broke through the crowd.
   “Coming through,” he shouted, handing two small glasses to you while you gripped your knuckles in pain. “Noooo, you’re not getting out of taking these. C’mon, take your punishment,”
   ��Yes, Daddy,” you grumbled and cringed at your own words when the realization hit you. Whatever. You were supposed to be drunk, anyway. 
   “Daddy?” Tony quipped and pulled the drinks back towards himself, “Maybe you should be cut off,”
   “What?” You argued, leaning slightly on the table with your hand and snatching the drinks from Tony’s hold, effectively spilling some on yourself. “See?” You lifted up the half empty shot glass, “This barely counts as a shot,”
   “I’ll get her a new one,” Rumlow offered and disappeared before anyone could argue. 
   “She really doesn’t need another-” Bucky tried to interject and take the shots from you but you twisted around and chugged down the one full glass.
   Water.
   You looked up at Tony and his smirk was barely noticeable. But you could tell. Bucky nearly ripped the other drink from you but Tony blocked his path and you exaggerated your next drink as Rumlow broke back into the crowd, shot in tow.
   “Here.” Rumlow’s calloused hand held the drink up above you and you stared at him with a questioning look. “Open,” he ordered and the fire burning in your chest fought to destroy everything in its vicinity. You bit your lip in refrain but tossed your head back and opened your mouth.
   Static broke over your earpiece. Don’t drink that! Wanda’s voice erupted.
   Your eyes widened as the liquid made its way down but you coughed hard to stop whatever you could. 
   Why? Steve’s voice came through right after.
   You choked on the liquid and shut your eyes at the way it burned its way down. You reached your hand out to grab someone’s drink to ease the burning and grasped a tall glass and tossed it back. The burning didn’t ease up and you felt a hand rest on your back.
   “Are you okay?” Rumlow’s voice rang out and your skin nearly recoiled from the contact, “How about we get you some water?”
   You looked up at him when the burning subsided minimally and nodded your head, letting him lead the way to the bar. He parted the crowd and someone took step right behind you to follow when the presence suddenly died out abruptly. You turned around to check who it had been and found no one.
   Why? Steve asked again.
   Where’s Wanda? Bruce broke through.
   You lifted your head and flitted your gaze around the room until you found the familiar Sokovian on the couch, laying down with her eyes closed. You pulled away from Rumlow but his grip on your hand tightened and his steps grew in haste. You whirled your head to yell at him but the way the room swayed with the movement cause you to shut your mouth in surprise. 
   Didn’t Tony say you would have a higher tolerance?
   “Couch...” you muttered, pointing over your shoulder just in case your target was curious enough to ask but the message was delivered.
   Rumlow hoisted you up onto the bar stool and stood on your open side, using his body to keep you from falling over. Or to cage you in.
   “I don’t feel good,” You rested an elbow on the countertop and held your head up.
   “I can’t imagine you would. You’ve been chugging those drinks like they’re water.” Despite that, Rumlow motioned to the bartender and asked for two more.
   You giggled and your head lulled forward with the action. You let Rumlow catch you from tumbling over. Why did your body feel so heavy? Not to mention the way everything around you dazed about. You couldn’t catch a single action, let alone attempt to read Rumlow’s body language. But you did happen to notice the way his eyes searched the room before coming back to you.
   “You okay?” You rested your forearm against his chest and pushed slightly to allow yourself a better view of his face.
   A small smirk, “Am I okay? What about you?”
   You smacked your lips and brought the ice cold glass to your lips. That’s not water. “I’m doing reeaalllyy good,” you drawled.
   Rumlow chuckled and pushed you deeper into the chair, “I can tell.” He took a sip, his attention never faltering from your body, “Just be sure to pace yourself from here on out,”
   You made a show of cocking your head to the side and letting a smile sprawl onto your face as you studied him. 
   “What?” he questioned, a curious lift in his brow.
   You shook your head gently and kept your gaze on him over the brim of your glass, “You’re just . . . not what I was expecting,”
   “And what were you expecting?” 
   Don’t forget to bat your eyelashes. “Worse,”
   “Sorry to disappoint,” he jeered, his attention once again cast throughout the room before centering back on you.
   You followed his action but quickly came to the conclusion that moving any pace faster than a sloth was going to make you nauseous and you could barely keep a thought together. Your stomach began to rise in your chest and the fear seized your throat shut. Why couldn’t you hold onto a thought for longer than a second? It was like you were aware of your lack of consciousness but could do nothing about it because any thought or bout of panic phased through just as soon as it arrived.
   “What are you so tense for, Rumlow? You know you’re not currently on the clock, right?” You teased, your head leaning on your shoulder as you spoke.
   He brought his drink up to his lips and finished it off in three gulps, “I’m not tense. It’s just hard to turn it off sometimes,”
   You nodded slowly and pushed your drink towards him, “Relax. You know everyone here,”
   He shook his head and placed your drink back in front of you before asking for another beer.
   “And two shots!” You shouted to the bartender, throwing two of your fingers high up and instantly regretting how fast you’d done it.
   “Are you trying to get me drunk?” He asked you, a side smirk beginning to form.
   You placed your finger over your lips and hushed, “Shh, I won’t tell if you don’t.” You dragged your lower lip down and his eyes fixated to commit the scene to memory. “Besides, I always feel dumb if I’m the only one drunk,”
   He motioned to the rest of the party, “Believe me, Sugar, you’re not the only one enjoying yourself,”
   “But are you?” 
   “Am I what?” 
   “Enjoying yourself?” 
   Your skin crawled when he placed his rough hand on your barren thigh, “Absolutely,”
   Don’t forget what you’re here for. Don’t let the objective slip. Gods, how the fuck were you supposed to retain anything when you were so sleepy? And why was it so warm?
   “Hot,” you mumbled, fishing around in your glass for an ice cube to rub on your face.
   “Thank you,”
   You threw your head back in laughter and nearly earned yourself an up-close and personal view of the floor had Rumlow not wrapped an arm around your waist and held you steady. Once he was certain you weren’t going to toss yourself onto the ground, he parted your legs and stood between them to keep you rooted to your seat.
   All the movement had you spinning and you white-knuckled Rumlow’s cotton shirt to keep yourself grounded to something, anything. Red warning lights were firing up in your chest and you tensed with the way your body buckled to the panic coursing through you. Your heart pounded in your ears and danced across your skin, lighting it on fire and making the room too stuffy to bear. Please, no. Not now. Focus. Snap out of it. Come back, stay back. Your breathing hitched and you looked down at the sensation crawling its way up higher on your thigh. Too hot. Everything was too hot, if you didn’t get out of this now you would never-
   “Vision!” You cheered, happy to see your friend.
   The presence on your thigh recoiled slightly.
   “I’m taking Wanda to her room, seems she’s had a bit too much to drink,” Vision informed and you’d only just then noticed the body in his hold.
   “Wanda!” You smiled, admiring her peaceful features as she slept in his arms. You poked at her cheek then jerked your gaze back up to Vision. “What? Wanda doesn’t drink,”
   She’s not acting, Sam’s voice erupted in your ear and you flinched at the sound. 
   Vision’s eyes went from you to Rumlow then back to you slowly, “Y/N . . . are you okay?”
   You beamed at him and slowly brought up your thumb. “Good,” you responded.
   You followed Vision’s gaze back up to Rumlow and smiled at the agent beside you. You guess he’s kind of cute. In a strange, unsettling way.
   “She’s had a lot to drink, so we’re just trying to slow down the pace. Aren’t we, Y/N?” Rumlow looked down at you.
   You nodded fervently, “Yup!” 
   Vision hesitated but knew he didn’t pose much of a threat with Wanda in his arms unconscious, so he quirked a smile and walked towards the hall.
   Someone get to Y/N, something’s not right, Vision ordered and you lifted your head up to find him. You could have sworn he just left.
   “Here.” Rumlow handed you a glass, “Drink this, it’ll cool you down,” 
   You stared at the glass in his hold and looked up at him, “You drink it first,” you slurred, holding your finger up at him.
   He cocked his head to the side but took a swig of the drink and you watched it go down his throat. You shrugged and grabbed at it.
   Do not drink that, Nat ordered from somewhere and you looked around in wonder at who she was yelling to.
   Bucky, Sit down! Steve growled.
   Like hell, responded a voice you knew all too well.
   Your smile grew and you looked through the crowd, “Bucky!” You feverishly called, completely expecting to see him before you. Rumlow’s head lifted instantly, his eyes scouring the area.
   “I’ve got this, Pretty Boy,” Tony hastily spoke, “How ya doin’, Hot Stuff?” He interrogated and you reeled at the tone.
   “Quite well, thank you,” you responded tenaciously and attempted to take a swig of the drink in your grasp.
   Tony’s hand shot out and covered the top, slamming the cup back down on the counter and effectively getting the drink all over your dress.
   “What the fuck?” You tried to shout but the words came out heavy and required too much energy to speak.
   “You’ve had enough for tonight,”
   “It’s just water,” Rumlow defended but Tony paid him no mind.
   Your jaw dropped open and you glared at the older man. Who the hell did he think he was? Tony’s stare burned through your skull and despite your irritation, you couldn’t help but wonder why he was so pissed.
   “Are you mad at me?” You drawled, lulling your head to the side.
   “No,” he responded curtly. 
   “Am I being too loud or something?” You pushed. You couldn’t imagine you were any louder than any other drunken bastard at this party.
   “No,”
   Get her out of there or I swear to God I will, his voice hissed into your ear.
   Your eyebrows rose slightly in excitement, “Mmm, Bucky,” you smiled and Tony nodded.
   “’Mmm, Bucky’ is right. Wanna go see him?” Tony offered, sticking out his hand for you to take.
   You fell forward into Rumlow’s chest but shook your head furiously none the less, “For what? So he can tell me I’m horrendous at my-”
   Oh shit. Your job. The job.
   If only your body didn’t feel so heavy and your mind so light.
   You pushed off Rumlow’s chest and glared at Tony, “I can handle myself,” you insisted, a new sort of sober tone making its way through that caused him to do a once-over. “I know what I’m doing,”
   “How many drinks have you had?” Tony challenged and you fell silent.
   Then you felt a tap, and another and a few more.
   “Six,” You said, hoping you’d counted right.
   Tony, don’t you even fucking consider it, Bucky threatened.
   “You could at least change, recuperate and then come back,” Tony offered and you sighed a breath of relief before nodding.
   “Deal,” you agreed, “I’m hot anyway,”
   Tony gave you one last glance before turning around and blending into the crowd on the other end of the room.
   You looked up to Rumlow who’s gaze was still locked on the sea of people, “Don’t you wish you’d taken that shot now?” you tried to jeer, every last word bringing you deeper and deeper.
   “Are they always that intense?” He questioned, not turning his attention to you.
   “They can be over-bearing,” you admitted, hand grabbing the water from earlier and pressing it up against your forehead, “They consider me the baby so they’re always criticizing and suffocating until I just wished they’d disappear.” You took a gulp, “Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the family and I like that I have a cause but . . . they don’t let me do anything. It’s exhausting,”
   You let out a long breath and smeared the condensation from the glass onto your chest. Rumlow studied you then, not just your body but your reaction. He was watching how you dropped your shoulders at the confession and how you faced your back to them to block them out. 
   You plastered your torso on the countertop and tried to slow your heartrate down. You couldn’t be the only one here unfathomably hot.
   “Why is it so fucking hot?” You questioned, fanning yourself weakly.
   “There are a lot of people around,” Rumlow offered, “how about we go somewhere else? Tony did say you had to change,”
   You peered up at him through half-lidded eyes and meekly groaned in compliance. “Fine,”
   You lifted yourself away from the counter and gently placed your feet on the floor. You’d touched the ground faster than anticipated. Had the ground always been so close?
   “Don’t worry, I gotcha.” Rumlow threw an arm around your waist and helped you trudge towards the elevator.
   Where the hell are you going? Bucky yelled and the sound of shuffling could be heard from his end.
   We can’t let you leave with Rumlow, Y/N. We’re not even sure you’re acting anymore, Sam stated.
   Rumlow pressed the button when you couldn’t muster the strength to do it yourself. The level that your room was on lit up and the doors began closing. You thought you saw Rumlow wave at someone but the mock smile on his face didn’t make it seem like a warm good-bye.
   Your legs had all but given out by the time the elevator reached your shared floor. 
   “Heavy,” you muttered, letting Rumlow carry your weight fully.
   “I know, Sugar. We’re almost there,” he soothed and you conceded to the fatigue wearing you down.
   Your head hung low and your arm dangled uselessly at your side. The familiar sound of your door sliding open caught your attention but you did nothing. You couldn’t. 
   “How . . . know . . . my room?” You questioned, each word causing you to pull from an empty well of energy.
   “I’ve been here before.” Rumlow tossed you onto the bed and sprawled you out.
   “Oh. Ok.” You tried to turn on to your side but strong hands gripped down onto your ankles.
   Rumlow sighed and slipped the heels off your feet, examining the pair like he wanted to wear them. You extended your feet until you felt every muscle in your leg stretch to its capacity and let out a groan of pleasure at the release. Those shoes hurt so bad.
   “You seem . . . intelligent, Y/N.” Rumlow dropped your shoes onto the floor and slithered to the side of your bed, standing beside it with his hands tucked into his pockets.
   A bead of sweat trickled down your forehead, “Hot . . .” you croaked and he nodded.
   “You’re right. It is getting kind of hot.” He brought a hand up to his neck and ripped off the tie hanging around it.
   Get the fuck out of my way, a growl erupted in your ear.
   We’re going with you, Buck, Steve responded before knocking something over.
   “So, what I have a hard time understanding is. . . why you’re here?” 
   You groaned a weak ‘huh’ but even that didn’t sound right.
   “You’re good at what you do, you finish every mission successfully and yet you’re underappreciated.” He took a seat at the foot of your bed and placed one of your legs into his lap, “Why do you allow them to treat you like that? We wouldn’t,”
   The shuffling in your earpiece halted.
   “We?” 
   He began to massage your calf and brought your knee up to his lips, peppering light kisses on it. “We could use someone with your skillset, babe. We’d take real good care of you,”
   The shuffling started again.
   Rumlow had made his way onto your thigh at this point and you let out an involuntary moan when he skimmed over a delicate part on your inner knee.
   “Ya like that?” he questioned but didn’t wait for a response. He brought a hand up to his temple and grabbed the earpiece. You figured he just hadn’t taken it out from his earlier shift but when he pulled it apart, you understood why he always kept it on him.
   “Flash . . . drive earpiece?” Your weak tone tilted a little. “W-why tell . . .”
   “I figured I’d give you the option to leave since you seem so . . . suffocated. If you said yes tonight then I would remind you tomorrow. If you didn’t,” he chuckled, “well, you wouldn’t remember anyway.” His hands trailed to your mid-thigh and you squeaked. “I’m impressed though, I’ve never given anyone else as much as I’ve given you tonight. The drug usually works so quickly on others, but not you. It’s kind of hot, actually,”
   Sick fuck, Natasha growled through a ragged breath.
   The world around you was slow or maybe it was you that was slow? You couldn’t tell, honestly. But when Rumlow moved as if he could predict your actions before you could make them, you wondered whether you were moving at all.
   “Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon,” Rumlow sighed.
   You shook your head, or thought you did but despite the way your body was live-wired, it remained still against all desire. 
   Fight. Move. 
   You managed to push your legs shut but his hand slithered between and spread them open similar to opening a door, but this required much less force.
   “Kill,” You threatened and the sinister smile that crawled its way onto Rumlow’s face was vile enough to sink your heart into your stomach.
   “Kill is fucking right.” Someone snarled and your door was ripped from its hinges.
   Rumlow’s hand jerked away from your body and Bucky seized his open palm, intertwining their fingers and pushing Rumlow’s so far back that they touched the back of his own hand. The cracks were sickening onto themselves but had you not been so weak you would’ve turned from the sight altogether. You really couldn’t fathom how his fingers were still attached at all.
   “Lay another hand on her and you won’t be able to use it again.” Bucky spit.
   Despite Rumlow’s pain, the sinister smile remained sprawled on his face, “You should’ve heard the noises she made,”
   Bucky’s grip tightened and the bones in his palm broke next, “I did,”
   Natasha flew in right behind Barnes but completely dismissed the two and headed straight for you with a needle in hand. Your eyes shifted from the needle to Nat’s face and back again until she stabbed it into your upper arm. Ouch. 
   “Wha-”
   “Shh,” Natasha hastily hushed, “Keep your strength, you should be back to normal soon,”
   Steve came behind Nat and scooped you up to lead you out of the havoc going on in the room. Nat turned her focus to Bucky and reached over to grab the earpiece from Rumlow. Who knows if his nose will ever heal back normally. You held one finger in the air as Steve stepped over the splintered door.
   “Goddamit, Y/N,” Steve huffed, jogging towards the elevator and pressing the floor that led to the infirmary.
   “We won,” you croaked out, a small smile on your face and Steve shook his head.
   “I’m never going to hear the end of this,” 
   Steve looked you up and down for bruises but couldn’t find any and you promised you weren’t lying to him when you told him Rumlow did not get very far in his ‘advances’ at all. You had to swear the mid-thigh was the worst that it came to. 
   Bruce was the one that took a few blood samples and made sure everything was reversing back to normal. Apparently, as soon as Rumlow took you to the bar Tony handed Banner the shot glass that Rumlow gave you and Banner ran analysis on it. The cure was pretty easy to find.
   After being given strict orders to lie down for the next hour or so, it had been decided that Rumlow was to be turned in considering all the evidence required to make the arrest was in the flashdrive and everyone was to gather together for a ‘family night’. Whatever the hell that meant.
   You were in the middle of debating which movie to pick with Steve when the infirmary doors flew open.
   “Where is she?” Bucky nearly shouted upon seeing Bruce.
   “That’s my cue.” Steve stood up just as Bucky rounded the corner, “If you need anything me and Banner will be right over there,”
   You smiled and thanked him then turned your attention to the super-soldier who just arrived at the foot of your bed.
   He didn’t say anything for a while, just looked at you. No, not really. Not at you but through you. A few painstakingly slow seconds went by that way.
   “You owe me a new door,” you joked, a half-smile on your face.
   “Are you okay?” He asked, finally registering your presence.
   You nodded slowly, “I am,”
   Then a few more seconds.
   Bucky turned his gaze down to his hands, both of them barren and on display for the world to see, before shifting his weight between either foot, “Did he- did he touch you?”
   “Not really. Just really liked my legs for some reason,” your attempt at another quip didn’t reach Bucky. He stared back up at you waiting for an answer, an honest one. You sighed, “The damage is more mental,” you admitted, now you were the one not able to look up, “I didn’t like being in this altered state of mind. It’s invasive and . . . scary. He could’ve done things, much worse things but it never got that far or that bad. It was more realizing that I wasn’t completely conscious or present and having that state of mind be taken advantage of, that mostly frightened me. Ya know?”
   “More than anyone,” he answered immediately.
   You looked back up towards him, finally making eye contact, “But I’m fine now, really. Just a little spooked. Steve wants to do a movie night tonight and I would actually prefer that over being alone.” Your eyes fixated on the way his hands clenched and unclenched on the bar by your feet, “If I’m alone then I’ll get stuck in my head about it. Besides, I consider this a hard victory with a few bumps in the road,” 
   He chuckled, lulling his head a bit, “You’re too stubborn for your own good,”
   You shrugged, “Maybe. How’s Rumlow?”
   Bucky hissed and moved over to the side of the bed where he took a seat, “He’s unconscious. And has a hand that he’ll never be able to use again. But other than that, he’s fine,”
   You chuckled and Bucky watched how the laugh met your eyes. He liked that look on you. It was one of his favorites.
   “Why are you looking at me like that?” You questioned once it fell silent between you two again.
   “You called me Bucky earlier,” he remembered.
   You scoffed, “I call you Bucky all the time,”
   “Not to my face,”
   “Not to your face,” you agreed, a teasing smile dancing on your lips and Bucky had one that mirrored yours. 
   “It was nice. Hearing it, I mean,” he admitted and a wave of warmth made its way to your face.
   “I see your hands are exposed,”
   He looked down as though he weren’t aware that he’d taken off his own gloves, “These bad boys? A friend of mine reminded me that I’m not my past. I’m my present. Why hide my growth?”
   You twiddled your thumbs together, “She sounds smart,”
   Now he scoffed, “Oh, it wasn’t a girl, it was some old buddy of mine.” He quirked up a brow, “Unless the person being a girl would make you jealous because in that case it was most definitely a girl,”
   You fought against the natural tug at the corners of your mouth, “Is she at least pretty?”
   “Stunning,” 
   “Smart?”
   “Genius,”
   “Good at her job?”
   “Amongst the best,”
   “Then consider me jealous, Barnes,”
   Bucky chuckled and you watched how the laugh met his eyes. You liked that look on him. It was one of your favorites.
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wri0thesley · 3 years
Text
examination - overhaul x reader (2.5k)
warnings:  dark content. yandere/overly controlling overhaul. non-consensual drugging, medical kink, glove kink, examination, surgical setting kind of, reader is basically a prisoner, choking, mindbroken reader, needles, non-con implied. afab reader, fem pronouns. not sfw, minors dni!
me: might write that overhaul choking drabble today idk. also me: writes this 2.5k shameful bullshit instead
this is the first mha fic i’ve ever written pls be nice to me, i love this horrible horrible man
The leather of the operating table sticks to your bare thighs uncomfortably as you tug the gown down, despite knowing that the small gesture is useless. You will end the ‘examination’ on your back, gown pushed around your hips, feet in stirrups--
The door opening startles you, big doe eyes flying to the door to see him. Half of his face is still covered by the bird-mask that you always see in your nightmares, but the overall expression of his eyes is satisfied. You are exactly where he told you to be, exactly when he told you to be, exactly how he told you to be. It’s not a surprise – he’s aware of how much fear he commandeers – but it’s still pleasing to remember just how thoroughly broken you are.
He doesn’t greet you as he comes to stand by the operating table, his eyes instead roaming over all of the bare skin not covered by the medical gown. You’ve been careful. You know that you’re not bruised, or cut, or scratched – you’d looked at yourself in the mirror before you’d made your way here.
Bare-faced, hair brushed back, skin still looking a little uncomfortable and raw from the thorough scrubbing you’d given yourself. It’s better to pre-empt these things, you’ve learnt.
He lets out a sigh. Gloved fingers come to pinch at his mask and remove it – you lean back automatically, not wanting to breathe on him or anything that might set him off, and you win a light tilt of his lips that’s covered with a clinical black surgical mask a moment after you’ve seen it.
The gloves he’s wearing are tugged off with a furrow of displeasure, dropped onto the tray beside him as he snaps the new dark latex ones over his hands and wrists instead. Seeing his bare hands always makes a flash of fear go through you. He does not threaten, in so many words – but sometimes, if you displease him, he tugs at the wrist and you feel coldness drench your back.
“Open your mouth,” he says, detached. He always talks like that to you; still, you occasionally hear talk of what he’s like with those who have displeased him, and you think perhaps his cool detachment as he probes and pokes and prods at you is preferable to the other options. Two of his fingers push on your lower lip, forcing your jaw wider until you ache. “Stick out your tongue.”
You think actual doctors use some kind of tool for this; you don’t think they press two long fingers onto their patient’s tongues so that your eyes squeeze shut for a moment, the taste of rubbery latex flooding your senses. You just manage to stop yourself gagging; there’s no telling what he’ll do if you do that with his fingers still in your mouth.
“Hmm.” He says, golden eyes trailing over your tongue. You are not aware of the throb of heat that goes through him at the sight of you, docile and obedient, your mouth wide open for him. He is an expert in making sure his feelings do not project onto his face. “I’ll up your vitamin dose.” He pulls his fingers out, eyes narrowing in displeasure as he changes out the glove on the hand that was on your tongue.
You sometimes wonder how many pairs he goes through, and let yourself have a brief smile at the thought of how much of the Shie Hassaikai’s budget must be devoted to things like surgical masks and latex gloves and anti-bacterial hand gels. Certainly, your little room in the compound must have cost a pretty penny in all of the vitamins and supplements and other various medications that Overhaul tells you to take.
Another vitamin. Your face is falling before you can stop it, and school your features into a blank mask. He does not miss the change; you are usually so good for him.
(You don’t need to be taking half of the things that Overhaul makes sure are emptied into your too-large pillbox. But you’re easier, sweeter and more pliant when you’re so drugged up you can barely open your eyes.)
“Is there something wrong?”
There’s a knife edge to his voice. Your shoulders shrink in, fear evident in every inch of your expression. Thumb and forefinger come to grip your chin, jerking it harshly so you’re looking directly upwards into narrowed, golden eyes.
“I asked you a question. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
A knot of fear in your throat almost stops you from speaking; but that fear, you know, will be tenfold if you make him madder than you already seem to have. Overhaul doesn’t shout; but his cool, clinical tone and the dangerous glint of his iris is just as frightening as if he did.
“I already take so many,” you whisper, your voice very quiet, cracking. You don’t speak much anymore. His face twitches.
“Perhaps a throat spray, too,” he says, evenly. The fingers on your face trail down, and you bite back a whimper as suddenly both of his hands are on your neck, thumbs pressing directly into your windpipe. He doesn’t press, yet, but the danger lingers there as he keeps his gaze on you. “You sound scratchy.”
(He thinks of a throat numbing spray; of your sleepy, dazed eyes as he pushes himself further inside. He might make you bleed, or tear something, he supposes – but his quirk was made for quickly fixing such flaws, even if he was the one to have made them.)
He presses one thumb down, relishing in the soft wheeze that issues forth from your mouth; the terrified, deer-in-headlights shine of your eyes under fluorescent lighting.
“S-sorry, ‘m sorry--” You manage, voice sounding even drier than before. Overhaul tips his head to one side to consider you. You certainly look sorry, pathetic as you are. But . . . not good enough. Your neck feels good under his hands. He presses the other thumb.
Your hand flies up as if you’re going to grab his forearm, but flutters before it does. You force it back down, curling your fingers around the edge of the operating table – good. He doesn’t know how he’d have punished you if you’d been so bold as to touch him without permission or asking, but he knows you won’t have liked it.
You hate the feeling of the latex gloves on your bare skin; hate the squeaking sound they make when they rub against something, hate the cloying scent of them that lingers wherever Overhaul goes.
The fingers wrapped around the back of your neck dig in, too. He’s pressing too hard, restricting too much airflow – you try and take a hurried breath of air, but nothing can get through the blockage. Your lips suddenly feel very numb. Panic is flooding your senses, as well as a vague sense of . . . nothing.
If Overhaul chokes you out right now, and keeps going until you’re limp and your heart stops beating, nobody will do anything. Nobody will care. The thought is strangely comforting.
He releases the pressure, turning away in distaste as you let out a series of distressed little coughs. You manage to get your wrist in front of your mouth before you cough everywhere, but an antiseptic wipe is still pressed into your other hand forcefully before you’ve even stopped choking.
“What do you say?” He asks you, as he turns back to the medical trolley as if he didn’t just come seconds away from killing you. His gloved hand brushes various silvery medical tools, not all of which you recognise, and your heart misses a beat in fear at the sight of the surgical blades. He ignores those ones, thankfully, instead settling on a syringe.
You’re not sure what’s in this one, but you don’t ask. He’ll tell you as he does it; you no longer know how truthful he is, but it’s not like it matters.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” you manage, through the hazy mess that is your poor oxygen-deprived brain. “I-I’ll t-take whatever you tell me to take.”
“I do it for your own good,” he tells you, tapping the syringe with one gloved finger. He looks at it with that same bored, unreadable expression. You wonder if you could tell what he was thinking better if he didn’t wear the mask. “I just don’t want you to be sick.”
He stresses the word. He is always talking about how filthy and ill and diseased the rest of the world is. You swallow again. You should be grateful. You should. Should be grateful that, for all he tells you is wrong with you and plies you with medicines and drugs and vitamins, he doesn’t think you’re sick enough to just outright disassemble you and put you back together.
You hold your arm out, hoping your compliance will make some of his anger at your outburst fade. His eyes linger on the pinprick bruises of your inner elbow, the side he usually injects.
“Just a painkiller,” he says to you, but you don’t believe him.
He doesn’t give you a warning the way nurses used to when you had to be injected as a child. The needle presses into your skin immediately, almost too deep, and you’re immeasurably glad that Overhaul doesn’t see the flinch on your face because he’s too busy watching the liquid be injected directly into your bloodstream.
Needle out. Gauze. Medical tape. He is practised, clinical, careful as he bandages the site of the injection.
(It’ll kick in in about fifteen minutes, he thinks. By then, you’ll have your back flat and your feet in stirrups and you won’t say anything as he presses three gloved fingers inside of you. All you’ll do is let your breath catch, your hips jerk, your eyes hazy and unfocused as the tranquiliser works its magic.)
An alarm sounds from the device wrapped around your wrist.
“Ah,” he says. “I’ll give you the new vitamin now, then. Just a moment.”
He strides over to the other side of the room and you are well-trained enough to not let your eyes follow him, as perfectly organised cupboards are opened and the rattle of pills echoes in your ears.
You turn the bracelet around your wrist off. It’ll beep again once more, later on, for your third lot of medications. Once in the morning, to both wake you up and to tell you to take your first cocktail of pills. Overhaul never usually sees you until the afternoon unless he wants to check on something, but that doesn’t mean he’ll let you rot in bed hating your life all day.
(You are permitted some books, some hobbies that Overhaul does not think will be damaging to your poor health and that don’t make a mess. There is a half-finished embroidery in your desk drawer, a jigsaw puzzle you must have done twenty times spread out over the desk proper, origami animals in a neat line on your bedside table.)
The second alarm goes off at five fifteen. You are supposed to be in this room – you always consider it the surgery room, though it’s more of an examination room than anything else. You’re not permitted to wander the upstairs of the base at your leisure, much less the cavernous underground hallways, so you often wonder what else Overhaul is hiding down here. Overhaul gives you these drugs himself; sometimes this particular cocktail features some new tablet that you’ve never taken before. He watches you take them with the eyes of a hawk, checking underneath your tongue to make sure you’ve swallowed them all.
And the last lot are taken before you go to bed (half nine in the evening, always. Overhaul says a routine for you is integral to keeping you well).
He’s back. One small cup full of rattling pills and medication is given to you, and a half glass full of purified water from the water filter jug in the refrigerator.
He watches you tip the small cup back, watches the bob of your throat as you trustingly swallow them.
You don’t bother looking inside of it before you do this; you probably won’t recognise half of what it is, anyway. You’re going to take them no matter what, so you have decided perhaps it’s better the devil you do not know.
A gulp of cold water, too loud. You’re given a tissue to wipe your mouth.
You’re suddenly getting very tired. Your arms feel very heavy, your mouth dry, your head stuffed with cotton wool. You blink so slowly you feel like you’re wading through a marsh.
“Mouth open,” he’s saying, again, and you do it so he can check you’ve taken the medication, but it sounds and feels like he’s very far away. If you spoke aloud right now, you feel certain that your words would come out slurred and unrecognisable. “Good.”
Your brain attaches itself to the phrase. He so rarely praises you. You feel your mouth pull at the corners, your smile somnolent and pliant. You cannot see the way Overhaul smirks at your expression underneath his mask, but you can see the pleased light reflecting in his eyes.
“Last examination,” he tells you, brusquely. “Lean back. Feet up. You know what to do, don’t you?”
You do! You’ve done this one a hundred times. A soft giggle escapes from your lips as you swing your legs slowly onto the table and the back is readjusted by Overhaul’s own steady hands to make you comfortable. It is comfortable, despite the cold, sticky leather. You miss the stirrup the first time, and you hear Overhaul click his tongue as you’re forcibly pushed into them. It’s not your fault. You always feel drowsy after taking your medicine, but today is even worse than usual--
“Just relax,” he tells you. Latex-covered fingers rest on your outer thighs, pushing the thin medical gown up so that the hem is ruched up around your waist. “Close your eyes. This will be cold--”
You close your eyes and let out a soft sigh as slick, cold fingers (you suppose that he lubricated them, and you’re grateful – he’s not always so kind) gently prod at the space between your legs.
You could fall asleep, right here, you think – which is absurd. You shouldn’t be feeling so heavy and tired and comfortable whilst your . . . you never have quite the right words to describe what Overhaul is to you, but the fact remains that you shouldn’t be so trusting and naive as to fall asleep here with fingers that have killed probing your slit.
You can hear a clock ticking as if it’s somewhere very far away. You can hear Overhaul’s meticulous, even breathing – like even that has to be perfectly in time, perfectly meted out. You can feel your own erratic heartbeat, like a bird trapped in your chest.
You shouldn’t fall asleep, you shouldn’t fall asleep--
You watch fireworks and swirls and patterns on the inside of your eyelids like you’re at a festival; the kind you are no longer allowed to attend, lest somebody’s sickness rub off on you. Watching your own in your mind seems like the next best thing.
You drop into oblivion.
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youn9racha · 3 years
Text
I Know (Part II)
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Pairing: Changbinxfem!reader
Genre: smut
Warning: mild stalking, stripping, phone sex???, mutual masturbation, semi-exhibitionism, a tiny bit of corruption kink, and an even tinier praise kink, switch!changbin, switch!reader
Words: 2.8k
Extra Notes: like I’ve mentioned in the last part, everyone is above the age of 21 (think senior year of college age), so thats that. I’ve also noticed that the lyric is not that related to the story, but oh well :’) anyways, hope you enjoy this
And baby, I know, I know whatever city you’re in, you’re still the boy that I’d pick…
PLEASE READ PART 1 FIRST BEFORE THIS !!
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This is no way representative of the way Stray Kids act. They’re nothing but references of character, and in no shape or form is this how they act. And I am in no way romanticizing or glamorizing any toxic behavior exhibited, they’re just stories that is meant to be read. Readers discretion is advised.
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Changbin’s calling me…
What in the world does he want to talk to me about in this ungodly hour? It wasn’t late, but it certainly wasn’t early enough for a call like this. I looked back at the window and I still see the curtains still closed, assuming he was out or maybe in another room. I answered and put the phone in my ear.
”Hello?”
“Hey, (y/n)! I just wanted to call to check up on you,” he said, “how are you?”
Damn, he only called for innocent intentions... Why is he so damn cute?! (y/n), you got two choices to respond back; you either respond give him a nice sweet response, or you give a sly yet friendly comeback. It can work—
“(y/n)?” The voice out of the phone took me out of my inner self’s debate.
“Yes! Yes! I am fine,” I said, embarrassed and mentally facepalming myself. This is not doing well, he already thinks I am a creep and a loser. Or maybe not, since its seems like I heard a faint chuckle and the word “cute,” followed by, but that could just be a figment of my imagination. “How are you?”
”Oh, I am good, just came back from hanging out with Chan and Han,“ changbin responded, there were shuffling in the background so he could be doing something while on the phone, but what is it? I wouldn’t know. I heard him and Chris mentioning a ‘Han’ in our conversation we had while preparing for my apartment, so that name is familiar, however the owner’s not. “You should meet him one day, I think you both will be good friends.”
”Woah there, you better take me to dinner first before I meet your friend,” I teased. Keep it going, (y/n), you’re on the right track, you’ve definitely caught him off guard, like you always do.
“Give me a place, time, and date, you’ll get that dinner, or maybe I’ll let Chris take you.” Changbin nonchalantly said, oozing confidence just by his voice. That bitch… Always makes it harder for me than it already is. As if he saw my blushing reaction, he began laughing.
“What’s wrong, princess? Cat’s got your tongue?” He said it in a low voice. Usually, I would gag if anyone—let alone a man—calls me princess, but with him, it felt different. It felt… arousing? No! No! (y/n), get a grip!
I rolled my eyes and laid on my back to be more comfortable, “What is it, Changbin?” I said, changing the subject, “What is that you wanted to call me at 10 p.m?” Yes, pretend like he didn’t just call you princess in the sexiest tone of voice you’ve ever heard. Totally would work.
”I told you, I just want to check up on you,“ he confessed but he also paused to say something further, “and also I am bored and I kinda felt like talking to you. I’m not wasting your time, aren’t I?” Although I couldn’t see him, he does however sound really sincere with his words. I don’t want to sound naive, but he sounded truthful.
“No,” I shook my head, “you really didn’t, besides I just got out the shower and was just scrolling through instagram.” I said, looking down in my nails.
”Oh, really?” He said, “were you going to sleep?”
”No, I stay on social media for a long period of time, I don’t sleep that easily“
”I see,” he said, but then he stopped talking. As the awkward silence has erupted between us, I started to think more about the first time I saw him and how I felt. While I thought it would be better for me to tell him later on and on person, but this balloon inside of me was getting bigger and bigger as guilt is inflating it. I sighed and started to speak, “Hey Changbin.”
”Yeah?”
“Can I confess you to something?”
”Tell me anything, doll, I’m all ears.”
Dammit! You’re not making it easier.
I bit my lips, “uhh,” I am glad he wasn’t looking at me, grimacing and slapping my head.
”You know hitting yourself isn’t gonna help,” as soon as Changbin uttered these words, my heart sank. My eyes widened as I got up and looked out window. His curtains were open, and it showcase a very, very pleasant show.
I see Changbin, sitting at the edge of his bed, facing me as his black shirt was fitting his form really well, especially with the semi-flexed arm that has his phone near his ears meanwhile the other arm was holding the elbow of the occupied arm. He was look at me straight at my eyes when we made eye contact, and fuck, was that an image to look at. As I looked like a deer going through a headlight, Changbin tilted his head in confusion, but he still had a smirk, “what is it you wanted to me?” he said through the phone.
”I-I“ I stuttered. At this point, I’ve lost all sense of dignity and my self thought, I am about to get called a creep by a good looking man I met not too long. Here goes nothing.
”I may have invaded your privacy,” I said, which caused Changbin to furrow his eyebrows in even more confusion, still having a slight smile to it. “What are you talking about?”
”Ugh, Changbin, I saw you half naked when apartment touring numerous times!” I yelled in frustration, as he kept pushing my button. I looked away, not bearing to look at him, as I closed my eyes out of guilt. “I understand if you don’t want to be friend, even though we met for only a week, but I just couldn’t bear the guilt that I—“
As I confessed, I heard a laugh coming put of the phone, I opened my eyes and looked at Changbin looking down, with shoulders shaking up and down. Now, I have the confused look that he had, “What’s funny?”
“Oh, princess, you have no idea,” He said, still looking down. Me still being bemused, he noticed my silence and looked up at my frowned face.
”I know…” He smirked, while my eyes were widened. Son of a bitch.
”W-wh-“
“I thought you knew that I’m doing all this on purpose, I’ve been trying to catch your attention every single way.” He leaned forward, placing both elbows in his knees, “I thought you were smart, only to be a gullible baby.” He whispered the last part, as I gulped at the last part. God damn, he’s so intense with his gaze. His eyes wandering all over me meanwhile maintaining a very dark yet exciting aura, which typically puts me off but now, I’ve never wanted to pounce a man so badly.
I smirked at him, the guilt I had had fizzled away, only to replace with arousal.
“So you’re not mad?” I looked at him, with innocent eyes, now laying on my side, facing him, as my robe slipped and exposed a part of my shoulder and the upper of my chest. He breathed in, as he was examining me, “no, why would I be mad at you?” He leaned back, as his head was thrown back, neck exposed, placing his free hand on the back of his neck.
God, is he so fine…
”I could never be mad at my precious baby.” He smiled a seductive smile at me, which made me riled up by rolling my eyes and looking up. “You like getting called that, don’t you?” He may have said it in a question form, but it didn’t feel like one, it was rather a statement than a question. “Hm,” I said, looking back at him, eyes half opened out of hunger for him.
We had an intense eye contact, where if it weren’t for the distant and the glass that is placed in front of us, we’d probably be all over each other.
”Has your hang out with Han and Chris worn you out?” I asked, decievingly innocent. Man, the power this man has over me is no joke. He scoffed, “so you’re just going to mention other men like that?”
Ignoring him, I got up, letting the towel that was loosely in my head fall onto my bed, and went closer to the window, “let me relieve you of your stress, if you don’t mind.” I shyly fidgeted on my robe belt. He looked at me up and down, licking his lips, “I wouldn’t mind, if you don’t as well.”
There’s nothing more sexier than mutual consent. (y/n), shut up, don’t ruin the moment.
I smiled and backed away from the window. I put my phone on speaker and put it on the side. I looked back at him, as I held onto my robe belt, he looked at me with a smile. I turned around with a slight sway on my hips, as I slowly undid my belt, slowly exposing my back at him, smiling as I heard a shuddering breath coming out of the phone.
As the robe completely fell off my body, being just in my underwear, exposing whatever secret flaws that has been hidden from the public. I silently gasp at the cool breeze as I held onto my chest, sensing my nipples getting hard. “Turn around for me, baby,” Changbin’s breathy voice echoed all over the room.
We may not be in the same room, and we maybe exposing ourselves to whoever is above and under us as well, but neither of us care. In our eyes, we only got each other, and we’re the only ones in existence.
I turned to him, letting go of my breasts and letting myself be bare, only to see him palming himself through his tight pants, groaning at his lack of full on skin-to-skin touch. It’s like he was waiting for me to tell him touch himself, which proved correct when he said, “please, let me touch myself.”
I smiled sympathetically, and also slightly astonishingly. I have never met a man with such switch like that. His dominating demeanor has faded and been replaced to a submissive cutie, which I obviously seem to admire very much. Pretending to thinking, I sat down, and looked at him, putting my hands behind me, “only if you give me a show too.”
I smirked at his state. He was disheveled, and adorned a beet tint all across his cheeks and nose. He looked beaten, but I loved it, and he does too. He put his phone on speaker too, quickly got up, and rapidly got his shirt.
“Ah ah!” I said, which caused him to freeze, looking at me, desparation was seeping through his eyes. Menacingly smiling, “slowly.”
Which he obeyed, surprisingly patient and sensual, I jokingly remarked that “he got dancer hips,” with the way he took off clothes while his hips moved in a way not many who can control their bodies can. He chuckle, “you should see how it works wonder,” his cocky attitude has made a comeback, which should piss me off but it made the whole thing hotter than it already is.
We’re both in our underwear, looking up at our eyes and looking down at each other’s half-nude bodies. Changbin wasn’t the tallest man I have ever met—not that it matters—, but he got many aspects that makes up for it, and its not just looks or personality. Just by the outline, I can tell that his little guy wasn’t little.
I propped myself with my elbows as I spread my legs, for him to see the wet spot that is stained in my underwear. He grunted at the sight, while I chuckle, “you like what you see?” I faux-innocently asked as I trailed my hand from my neck, making my head fall back, down to the valley of my chest, onto the waistband of my underwear.
“Fuck…” Changbin cursed, admiring the sight in front of him. He didn’t realize how lucky he was to see me in a state like this, not many have the privilege, especially not with men I met in a short amount of time.
I tugged my panties, took it off and exposed a part that he was dying to see, which caused him to gulp. He sighed with a smile, “god damn, (y/n),“ he shook his head in disbelie, “I’ve always thought you were gorgeous, but now I’m convinced you’re a goddess“
I giggle at his words, “and you, sir, are a demon disguised as a greek god” I teased back, tracing my two fingers around my lips, I noticed that he still was in his underwea. He still waited for my permission. How adorable.
”You can take off your underwear, Binnie” I didn’t even mean to give him the nickname, but I was too excited to even think straight. I looked at him, and saw him reveal his friend, and I gasped loudly, which made Changbin alert. “What? Whats wrong?”
”Nothing, its just,” I chuckle, “you have a nice dick.”
”Thank you,” He smirked as he sat down and looked at me, with full attention. I put my two fingers into my mouth, while maintaining eye contact. I then trailed my finger down to clit, which resulted in me letting out a blissful gasp. Meanwhile, Changbin was repositioning to a comfortable position as he began to touch himself, which caused him to let out a choked out groan.
”Binnie, as you touching yourself?” I half-whispered, but it was still loud enough for him hear along with my fingers movements that moved from my clit onto my slit, which made me moan.
”Ah-y-yes” Changbin groaned and nodded, as he was stroking his dick following the pace that I was going at.
After hearing Changbin’s groans, I began inserting my fingers at my slit, making me whimper in the process, “oh, fuck” I cursed, as I started to thrust my fingers in and out, noises coming out of my mouth along with the wetness of my pussy were getting louder, which excited Changbin, as his stroking was audible through the phone along with his beautiful groans.
“god, (y/n), if only I could touch you,” Changbin spoke through groans when he saw me fondling my breast and going faster. I was getting louder with my noises, in contrast of Changbin’s quite yet beautiful and audible noises. So much so, it sounds like Changbin was watching porn, rather than getting fucked at a distance.
“Ah-are-fuck-are you close?” Changbin asked through whines, his speech was getting difficult as he was getting closer to climax with his strokes going as fast as I was.
I nodded, out of struggle of speech, whining out, “Ah! Binnie!”
“Fuck, (y/n), I’m—“ Changbin grunted, as his strokes was started to get sloppy, he began to thrust onto his hands. I began to feel like something burning up in my stomach, moaning at the sensation, “Chang—I’m cummin— I’m cumming”
“Me too…” He choked on his words, as his groans and moans were also getting louder. Our phone voices combined was dirty but erotic, topped with the scene of two people masturbating to each other, now thats even a hotter view.
“Binnie!”
“Go ahead, baby... cum”
And just like that, I let out a squeal as I reached my peak, still playing with myself until I sensed an overstimulation. Not too long after, I was hearing a lot of grunt from the call and then I looked at Changbin, who ended up cumming onto his stomach, his chest raising up and down, letting himself catch his breath. Still out of breath, we both looked at each other, we both laughed at our fucked out state.
“Holy fuck, was that hot?” Changbin commented, taking the phone, putting it out of his speaker and back to his ear. I laughed at his sudden remark, nodding, “oh yeah, can’t wait to feel what you feel like,” I bit my lip.
”At least buy me dinner first,” He teased, referring to the remark I had at the time, which made me roll my eyes and him to chuckle. “You’re a dick,” I said.
”A big one, and a pretty one according to you,” He teased again. I started to jokingly groan at his words, causing him to laugh, “alright, alright, I’ll stop.”
I got up and picked the phone, looking at him, “I had fun, we should do this again,” him and I started exchanging a smile, this time it was more pure than the smiles we had earlier. He nodded, “for sure, but the next time is going to be in one of our beds, I really need to touch you.”
”The feeling is mutual.”
We began to talk a little more, until we both have felt that slumber was starting to sneak up onto our eyes. We both ultimately had to hang up, since we don’t want to raise our phone bills with our already long call. While facing away from the window, I couldn’t help but started admire Changbin in my head.
I typically hate men, but Changbin wasn’t just like any man.
He was Changbin, and I highly doubt that you’ll ever find a man like him.
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mysterylover123 · 3 years
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Mysterylover watches MHA: “TDBKDK Family Dinner #2: Anime Version”
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So yes last episode we did cover the first half of the family dinner. Now we’re covering part 2. BTW this music is BIZARRE. Why are we recapping all this angst with triumphant music?
Anyway so let’s talk about this arc in general. Since I already posted about the manga chapter, I’m not sure what to add about the anime episode other than “hey, music choice” or “line delivery”, but I’ve reread this arc a lot so I feel like I wanna analyze it instead.
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3. Let’s talk about Bakugou. Bakugou’s arc throughout most of the series has been all about learning to care for other people. Learning the “save to win” part of things. He comes to the internship wanting to find “what he was missing”. In the climax, he rescues Natsuo from Ending. But the odd thing is, Bakugou already showed in the Joint Training arc that he was capable of saving people now. So it wasn’t that he needed to learn to save.
What Bakugou got from this arc, many fans believe, was the realization that he mistreated Deku and needed to make amends. All Might at the start of the arc points out that Bakugou is like Endeavor. This comparison was probably one Bakugou was making since the Sports Festival when he overheard Todo’s Backstory Confession to Deku. And here, Bakugou witnesses exactly what being an obsessive, violent asshole who pushes their loved ones away to become the top pro will end up with.
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Complete alienation. A family who will never forgive him.
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And Bakugou, I believe, wants Deku’s forgiveness and friendship back. He pushed Deku away - he admits to bullying him and hurting him in Chapter 284. And he’s trying to atone for his actions. From this arc, Bakugou learns that he needs to make things up to Deku. He doesn’t say so explicitly, but that’s what most fans take from it. 
Endeavor can never truly make it up to his family, it seems, for all he did. Natsuo will never forgive him, Shoto probably won’t either. Now, currently in the manga Endeavor’s actions have spiraled out to pretty much destroy hero society thanks to Touya, so he’s become even more of a cautionary tale for Bakugou.
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What makes that even more interesting, though, is that Bakugou and Midoriya are two halves of one whole. So the same person who is an interesting foil and cautionary tale for Bakugou has to be one for Midoriya too. Given Deku’s current arc in the manga - pushing everyone who loves him away in an obsessive quest to be the best - it’s clear that Deku could maybe have benefitted from comparing himself to Endeavor too.
This hard-hitting examination of his own flaws is what makes Bakugou so compelling, especially in recent times. Unlike Endeavor, who seems to keep floundering back into the same mistakes, Bakugou just keeps improving. 
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Shoto and Midoriya mostly got New Cool Moves out of this arc, and less on the Character Development scale. Deku’s conversation with Shoto about being a “nice person” was something a lot of the fandom eviscerated him for back in the day (before the arc had wrapped) since Natsuo overheard it and felt bad about it. 
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Deku is a very forgiving person, I’ve never seen him hold a genuine grudge (he’s currently on a quest to save the Supervillain who kidnapped his soulmate, which is about as forgiving as you get). But while holding grudges can be bad, Deku’s mindset may also be problematic. Being too forgiving of evil done to you and others can also cause problems. Deku’s advice to Shoto was well-intentioned, but it had the unintended side effect of guilt-tripping Natsuo and making him feel like a bad person.
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Interestingly, even though Deku is the unofficial Todoroki Family Counsellor, he’s never really been able to help Shoto and the fam get through their trauma all on his own. “It’s your Power” was a great moment, but in the aftermath Shoto wasn’t sure what to do with it. He needed to go work through his own problems afterwards. Deku can’t magically fix all the Todo family’s problems, even though he’d like to. To some degree, given the Sports Fest and this arc, it seems like Shoto may need the help of both Halves of the Wonder Duo.
Fighting Bakugou forced Shoto into the position where he had to face his past trauma. His fight with Inasa revealed that he still holds resentment against Endeavor, and that resentment wasn’t something he could - or should! - just be zen about. So what’s Bakugou’s approach to being harmed by someone?
Bakugou has channeled his anger over Shigaraki abducting him into productive motivation. Maybe I’m letting my recent FMA binge watch bias me as to how the story is going to go, but my guess is that the message may be something like Winry’s story there. No need to forgive people who’ve done something terrible for you; instead, learn to channel anger into motivation and power. That seems to be how Bakugou is handling Shigaraki, and maybe it’s how he can help Shoto handle Endeavor too.
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Well, that’s not so much clear in this arc, but anyway. Back to Deku and Kacchan’s story. So Deku pretty clearly holds nothing against Kacchan for mistreating him (look at how cheerfully he interacts with him in this arc! Very, very shippy stuff, they’re every bit the Old Married Couple here). So if Bakugou needs to make amends to Deku, and Todoroki needs to channel his anger, what does Deku need to do?
Given the most recent arc, it’s clear Deku needs to learn to rely on other people. That’s his overall arc. In this arc, we see him doing the Evacuation portion, using BlackWhip to save lives. But we also see Kacchan saving Natsuo and Shoto beating Ending. When the Trinity work together as a team, they surpass the #1 pro. That’s probably why they weren’t able to do so before Natsuo was taken.
Deku needs Kacchan’s strength and confidence. Shoto needs Kacchan’s ability to channel his anger. Kacchan and Shoto both need Deku’s kindness and compassion. Deku and Kacchan needed Shoto’s cautionary tale to mend things with each other. Together, of course, they are the best trio. Who win, rescue, and save together. 
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in other words, The trinity need each other. Duh. 
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quick little ficlet thing for @betweenlands Apocaholics au bc I have brainrot for people encountering the Joe Hills Difference for the first time
As soon as the lava comes down, the first thing Sam sees is a blue-shirted figure jumping right in. He checks his communicator, which he really needs to do more often.
[joehillssays tried to swim in lava]
Sam scrolls back through the notifications trying to see when the new person joined, but his entire screen is filled up with the same message. 
[joehillssays tried to swim in lava]
[Awesamdude: when did someone new join?]
[Tubbo_: no idea it’s been like this all morning no one can backread far enough]
Sam flicks the lever for the bridge, downs his fire res potion, and crosses the lava filled chasm to the main cell. He keeps his weapons in his inventory for now. Dream is sitting sullenly on the chest. 
“Don’t look at me,” he says before Sam can even open his mouth. “I didn’t whitelist anyone. He just kinda... showed up. And then started jumping into the lava a whole bunch.” 
A moment later, the blue-shirted man respawns and drops into the single water block. He’s average height with long green hair the same color as Dream’s hoodie used to be and strange, transparent glasses. There’s something off about those glasses, but Sam can’t quite put his finger on it.
“Howdy!” the stranger says, reaching a hand out for Sam to shake. “Joe Hills here, swimmin’ in lava as I always do in Nashville, Tennessee!” 
What’s a Nashville? Sam thinks but doesn’t ask. “How did you get in here?” 
Joe shrugs. “There was a whole-” he gestures vaguely “thing and this is where I respawned.” 
“You shouldn’t be here,” Sam says numbly. 
“Yeah, I kinda gathered.” 
Sam considers the man in front of him for a long moment. He’s definitely not putting Sam at ease for all he seems entirely relaxed himself. Probably better to keep him locked up until Sam has more information. On the other hand, probably better to not let Dream have unlimited access to a mysterious stranger with unknown abilities. 
“I’ll show you out of the cell,” he says. 
“That’s quite alright,” Joe brushes him off. “I can see myself out.” 
Sam blinks. “You can’t. The prison is impossible to escape.” 
“Oh! This is a prison. That makes a lot more sense.” 
“Look, just come with me–” 
“But I was starting to make progress!” Joe whines. “Tell you what. How about I come find you and let you know how I got out and then you can fix the security flaws–”  “There aren’t any.” 
“And then you can fix the security flaws and I can be on my merry way and everyone’s happy.”
From his corner, Dream scoffs. He’s made enough escape attempts of his own to know as well as Sam how futile the attempt is. “What are you, some kind of professional escape artist?” 
“I like to think of myself as a court jester but without the court,” Joe says as though it’s an explanation. “A jester of the masses, if you will. Point is-” he turns to Sam “I’m sure you got more important, wardenly things to be doing than escorting me out and I was just starting to get into the groove, so I’ll just keep trying if it’s all the same to you.” 
Sam pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m not letting you leave a path that the prisoner can follow to escape.” 
“I’ll message you when I get past the first room so you know to pick him up.” 
“That doesn’t–” Sam’s cut off by another ping from his communicator.
[ZombieCleo: you alright joe? getting bored already or are you actually making progress?]
[joehillssays: im making friends :D]
[joehillssays: where are you?]
[ZombieCleo: i found a casino. I'll send you the coords]
[joehillsays: cool i'll let you know when im on my way]
“I didn’t whitelist that one either,” Dream says tiredly. 
When the coords come through, Joe examines them carefully. “You think you could take me there?” he asks Sam. 
“Sure,” Sam sighs. He’s more than willing to make this guy someone else’s problem. He makes sure that Dream is still in the corner of his cell before tossing Joe a spare ender pearl. 
They walk in silence through the rest of the journey out of the prison, but Sam’s curiosity gets the better of him as they reach the exit. “So, did you manage to find any security flaws?” he asks.
Joe nods. “Uh, yeah, one pro tip real quick. It helps if your players don’t see the whole map before they go through it.” 
Before Sam can reply, he pulls out a bucket of lava and pours it out on the ground. 
[joehillsays tried to swim in lava]
[joehillssays: on my way]
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talatomaz · 3 years
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chased away by shadows | hailey upton x fem!reader
a/n: i didn’t include a love confession but i did reference it. after 8x11, we saw how hailey reacts to those words and honestly, i get it bc i’m kinda the same so i just changed it up a bit.
not a huge fan of this and there’s not as much hailey x r as i initially wanted but oh well, hope you still like it anon
(feedback/positive comments are appreciated)
requested by anon: “hi! can i please request a hailey upton x intelligence love interest reader please? it’s been a really rough case and reader is quite depressed and hailey comes over and reader ends up falling asleep safe and warm in hailey’s arms and in the morning there is a love confession maybe? hope that makes sense, thank you x ”
warnings: mentions of assault, death, murder. usual canon violence
word count: 1.6k
masterlist | navigation | request rules
i do not give you permission to repost or translate my fics on any platform - likes/reblogs are okay and are much appreciated
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“Upton and I will take the front. Burgess, Atwater, secure the back.”
You ordered, whispering into your comms.
It had been a rough couple of days.
The Intelligence Unit had caught a rape and murder case with seemingly no witnesses or leads to the sick bastard who’d done this.
Like the rest of your team, you were damn near losing the end of your rag at the lack of leads and it didn’t help that this brought up some unwanted memories from your past.
You shrugged them off, not wanting to get emotional at work but it was difficult. Especially when you had no idea who you were looking for.
But you’d managed to catch a break as one of your CIs had contacted you, telling you that they had heard about some gang member who’d been boasting about “having fun with a chick before popping her off”.
After some further investigation, you’d managed to identify the man. He had a rap sheet about as long as your arm, including prior battery and assault charges.
It was only when Halstead had found out that he was holed up in a supposedly vacant property that you’d all geared up, armed to the nines because you knew the kind of heat this gang carried.
“On my mark.” Halstead said into your comms.
He waited a few moments for you all to get into position. You were standing behind Hailey, your hand on her arm, alert and ready to conduct your search.
“Be careful.”
“You too.” You replied softy to your girlfriend.
You’d been dating for the past 6 months, having fallen into bed one night after a evening out at Molly’s. You’d both agreed to keep it a secret as it was a one-time thing but what you both didn’t realise at the time was just how much you liked one another.
It had soon become a habit. The two of you sleeping together after everyone gathered for a social call at Molly’s until one evening, Hailey told you that she liked you and wanted the two of you to be more than just sex.
You were surprised to say the least because there was never any indication that she liked you. In fact, you thought she was out of your league considering how beautiful and smart she was. But you decided to take the leap and you were so glad you did because you loved being with her.
Not that you’d told her those words yet, mind you.
It was a tough thing to say, for you anyway, especially after your past alongside the lack of any emotional attachments with your parents. And you knew Hailey had her fair share of trauma too, the majority of which you learned after you and Ruzek overheard her telling a suspect they had in interrogation.
And although your relationship wasn’t without its flaws, it had pretty much been smooth sailing since the moment you’d got together. No unnecessary drama or bullshit.
That was the last thing the both of you needed in this type of job.
“Now.” Halstead ordered so you gave a quick nod to the blonde before yelling “Chicago PD!” as Hailey kicked the door down.
There were a few offenders in the house who tried to run when you’d entered and as Hailey and the rest of the team went to secure them, you made your way up the stairs to see if there was anyone else hiding out.
Your arm was extended, gun clutched carefully in your hand, finger just next to the trigger, ready for any indication of movement. Reaching the landing at the top of the stairs, you entered one of the bedrooms. As you stepped through the door, someone jumped out and hit you in the head with a bottle. It shattered upon contact with your skull and the force threw you as you groaned in pain.
You began fighting the male, who weighed at least 100 pounds more than you, so it was no small feat. You wrestled with the gun he’d aimed at you before kicking him in between his legs and throat punching him.
As he coughed to catch his breath, you grabbed your gun that had fallen out of your hands and aimed it at the man crumbled on the floor. Ignoring the way blood seeped from your wound and down your face, you yelled, “Chicago PD. Stay down or I will drop you.”
Staring down at him, you realised that it was the man you’d been looking for and when he looked up at you with a sinister smirk on his face, you wanted nothing more than to shoot him where he lay.
But you had more self control than that so, instead, you kept your gun trained on him and called downstairs for back-up.
In less than a minute, Hailey and Jay were right beside you. Jay handcuffed the suspect and you re holstered your gun.
“Baby, are you okay?” Hailey asked frantically, her hand gently cupping your face as she examined the cut on your forehead.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” You said, releasing the breath you didn’t realise you’d been holding.
“Are you sure? You’re bleeding pretty badly.”
You winced when Hailey touched the wound.
“Shit, sorry.”
“It’s fine. Come on, let’s go.”
                ✧── ・ 。゚★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
After apprehending the suspect, Hailey had forced you to be checked out by one of the paramedics who’d arrived to take care of one of the offenders that Kevin had shot. They’d cleaned and stitched the wound and told you to take some paracetamol for the pain.
Now you were currently watching Voight and Halstead take lead on interrogating the man who’d attacked you at the house.
The man was so vile that you had to force yourself to not jump through the two-way glass and smack him silly. He’d copped to the murder but wouldn’t admit to the rape, sitting there with a smirk on his face.
“She wanted it rough. She was a slut. I just gave her what she wanted.”
The words continued to ring in your ear as they were words that you, yourself, had once been told. Forcing the bile back down your throat, you watched as Voight moved to stand behind the man, his hands on his shoulders.
“I’d watch your mouth if I were you.” Voight said, the threat lingering behind his words.
Your hands clenched into fists as he continued to speak.
“I ain’t gonna apologise for banging that whore. She got what she wanted.”
You could feel your anger boiling until it threatened to consume you so you left the viewing room and briskly walked to your desk.
You grabbed your coat that was hung on the back of your chair and ran out of the precinct; ignoring how your girlfriend’s eyes bore in your body as you hurried out of the building.
She decided to let you go, knowing that you needed space for a few hours.
                ✧── ・ 。゚★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
When you got back to your apartment, you fell down onto your couch, picked up one of the throw pillows and screamed into it, your frustrations coming to a blow.
You went from screaming to crying out of anger and old pain until you felt a hand on your shoulder that startled you. You hadn’t even realised Hailey had used her key to enter your apartment.
“Oh, baby.” Hailey murmured when she saw how red your eyes were.
She placed a soft kiss on your cheek and went to your freezer to grab an ice pack. She wrapped it in a table cloth and gently rested it over your eyes, the coolness soothing your swollen eyes immediately.
You tried to take the ice pack away from her but she simply tsked at you; too tired to fight, you instead relished in her taking care of you.
“Sorry.” You mumbled, finally gathering the courage to speak.
“It’s been a rough couple of days, honey. No one blames you for your reaction.”
“That’s not why I’m so...so angry and why I’m like this.” Your voice barely louder than a whisper but Hailey still heard you.
“What do you mean?” The blonde asked, furrowing her brows in concern. But her eyes told you that she already knew what you meant and that made your heart hurt.
“I just-I. It was a long time ago, back in high school. I’m over it but cases like these just bring it all back up, you know?” You sighed, deciding to remain ambiguous whilst knowing full well she knew exactly what you were referring to.
“Oh, baby,” Hailey repeated as she wrapped her free arm around you and pulled you close.
“The guy ended up confessing not long after you left. Voight stuck him in the cage and he ended up having a change of heart.” Hailey told you as she placed soft kisses on your forehead.
Your derived snort was muffled as your head was buried in Hailey’s chest but she heard you and chuckled in response.
“You’re safe now, y/n. You’re safe with me.” Hailey whispered, breaking the peaceful silence that had filled the room.
Her words brought a sense of calm to you as you sighed contently in her arms.
Gently removing the ice pack from your eyes, she put it on the table before lifting your chin up with her finger, bringing you in for a deep, reassuring kiss.
“I-I’m glad you’re in my life, Hailey” You said, catching yourself before you said those three words. You weren’t ready to say them aloud just yet and you had a feeling that your girlfriend felt the same way.
The blonde smiled knowingly, kissing your lips once more before hugging you close to her as you both got comfortable on the large couch you were still on.
“I’m glad to have you in my life too.”
198 notes · View notes
alwaysmychoices · 3 years
Text
Ski Resort
Synopsis: After declaring her intention to leave medicine forever, Charlie must join the Diagnostics Team for one more case before Ethan will let her retire. But once they’re trapped in the ski resort, Charlie gets tangled in the mystery, and she begins to wonder if she should really leave medicine or if it’s time to come back.
Chapter 26 of the “with and without” series
Previous Series: “a weekend with dr. ramsey”
Pairing: Dr. Ethan Ramsey x MC (Charlotte “Charlie” Greene)
Words: 5.5k (sorry, I tried so hard to cut it down)
Rating: Teen
Also available on AO3 & Wattpad (link in Masterlist)
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The drive to the ski resort was uncomfortably quiet. Ethan and Charlie didn't speak a word, not even when Baz tried to play car games or entertain the captive group with stories.
No, Ethan and Charlie weren't going to speak – or rather, Ethan wasn't going to speak until Charlie did, and Charlie wasn't going to say a thing.
The fight in Ethan's office had cooled to begrudging acceptance. Despite her objections, Charlie put on her coat, read the patient information, and piled in the car with the rest of the diagnostics team just as Ethan insisted. But her cooperation extended only that far.
Ethan was sure that she was furious in the back seat – so sure that he kept looking back to her in the rearview to see if her expression had soured any further.
But Ethan wasn't right about everything.
Charlie wasn't angry – or if she was, it was secondarily not primarily.
She was anxious.
Anxious to be back at work and interacting with critical patients when her confidence in herself and her skills had never been lower. Anxious to stand on the precipice of her entire future – for if she failed today, she wouldn't be a doctor, and if she didn't, she'd have to face fears buried deep in her soul.
It wasn't that she held her tongue because she would have hurled insults otherwise. She held her tongue because she simply couldn't bear to say anything at all.
June and Baz sensed the discomfort, though they were kind enough to not comment on it. Baz tried his best to lessen the uneasiness with music and diverting conversion, none of which stuck. June was more intrigued, maybe even suspicious.
They'd both been surprised when Charlie joined the expedition after her long absence, but Baz was much more willing to accept the sudden return and be thankful for it. June couldn't shake her curiosity.
After all, why had Charlie suddenly returned from leave for this one case? Why was the relationship between Charlie and Ethan, which had once been friendly, now so tense?
Being scrutinized only made Charlie feel worse.
It was a relief for all parties when they arrived at the ski resort.
Any other day, Charlie would have stopped and marveled at the sight.
Perfect, white snow coated the landscape and the resort. Smoke billowed from the central fireplace, promising warmth and comfort inside. Snow-capped trees climbed Mount Dagger and dotted the landscape. Even with layers and layers of footprints marring the snow and a large resort looming in the background, this place felt serene and untouched somehow.
It was so different from the heat and sunshine Charlie had grown up with.
Part of her wished she could have leaned into Ethan and marveled at the place, letting him tease her for her unfamiliarity and inexperience with snow. She realized that winter had only been pain and survival for them. She had the urge to change that somehow – to throw a snowball or challenge him to make snow angels.
But instead, Charlie just trudged along, keeping the urges to herself and remaining silent.
The owner, Rodney, was a friend of Ethan's. He greeted them all warmly and thanked them for their time. On the way to the patient's room, he offered charming anecdotes about Ethan's childhood and their friendship. Charlie wished she could have engaged more, but it was all becoming too real. In mere moments, she would be a working doctor again – a dream that had become a nightmare.
Paula and her son, Timothy, waited in their hotel room.
In the end, they weren't nearly as frightening as Charlie had imagined them. The entire drive, she morphed her patient experience into that of death and destruction, and she'd forgotten how mundane interactions could really be. Even Paula's defiance and complaints felt tame in the face of all Charlie had been through.
During the initial interview, Charlie didn't resume the active role she'd once had on the team. Instead, it was Ethan who drove the questioning, with June acting as his secondary. The team had found their new rhythm in her absence, and they seemed to know that Charlie was purposefully not stepping into her old shoes.
Ethan was disappointed.
To an outsider, she would have looked like a student rather than a member of the team. She stood in the back of the group, her mouth closed and ideas kept to herself. It could have read as disinterest, though Ethan highly doubted Charlie could confront a mystery and not be enthralled. No, it must have been something else. Anger maybe. Perhaps she wasn't ready, just as she'd warned him in the hospital.
During the interview, Ethan managed to look back at Charlie and examine her without anyone noticing.
And what he found prompted a sigh of relief.
She wasn't disinterested.
Charlie's eyes were bright and alive with curiosity. She was listening attentively, her expression changing slightly with each new piece of information. She must be cataloging it, saving it, and allowing it to simmer until it attached to a theory. Even if she wasn't speaking, she was here. She was part of the team, part of the future solution. He could see it in her now– the passion and empathy he'd recognized in her so early in her intern year.
He found himself hoping it would be enough to make her stay.
Enough to make her realize she wanted to stay.
It distracted him from the interview.
Not that he was missing much anyway. Paula, the patient, was particularly uncooperative. It took considerable prodding – and her son’s insistence – to get Paula to say anything at all.
But Ethan’s attention quickly returned when Paula's behavior suddenly shifted.
June and Baz talking to each other, quietly exposing the confusion amongst the team about Paula's bizarre symptoms. Nothing about the conversation was particularly unusual, but to a distrustful woman like Paula, it was enough to prove incompetence on the team's part.
With an eerie light in her eyes, Paula interrupted to say, "It sounds like you have no idea what you're talking about."
She said it with such airy mirth that the comment was unsettling.
Then, to the horror of everyone in the room, the formerly austere Paula's face split into a wild, frenzied laugh. Her posture had changed – so had her facial expressions. Ethan took a step closer and realized that the disturbing glimmer in her eyes was the dark of her pupil as it dilated.
The team looked at each other in horror and shock.
"Paula, are you feeling alright?" Charlie asked. These were the first unprompted words she'd spoken since the introductions.
"I feel great! Why the hell wouldn't I? I'm stuck on a mountain with a load of incompetent doctors!" Paula's voice dissolved into laughter. It was too loud. Too open. Too long.
The diagnostics team looked to each other, and in a silent consensus, they followed Ethan's lead to the hallway. Once the door closed behind them, they abandoned their polite, neutral expressions to show their true concern.
"It looks like a manic episode. If her brain trauma is extensive enough to cause that…." Ethan trailed off, only for Charlie to finish.
"We need to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. Can we call for a helicopter?"
“Doubtful,” Baz frowned, “During the interview, the storm was upgraded to a blizzard. We wouldn’t have time for a helicopter, and the roads are already being shut down.”
“But we just got here!” Charlie fought it, not that she was sure why she did. The entire drive up, the snow had gotten progressively worse. Even from inside Paula’s room, she could tell the weather was turning.
“Then we’re stuck here,” June announced, ignoring Charlie’s outburst, “We’ll have to monitor Paula all night in case her condition worsens.”
Charlie frowned.
This was not how she wanted her first case back to go.
The patient showed unusual symptoms and potential mania, all while they were trapped in a ski resort by a blizzard? This had death and destruction written all over it.
Had Ethan taken the time to consider it, he would have reached the same dim conclusion.
But fortunately for him, he was more distracted by managing the crisis. With little time before the snow made movement impossible to leave the lodge, Ethan decided to find the source of Paula’s rash on the mountain. Charlie objected on safety grounds, but Ethan went out anyway. In his absence, the team conducted a few tests and settled the room arrangements with Rodney. Ethan returned safely, just a bit cold and damp from the snow, and with the cause of the rash. It was poison sumac, he announced. Unrelated to the other symptoms, unfortunately, but at least they could rule other things out.
Only moments later, the blizzard captured the resort captured the resort and trapped the occupants inside.
To his surprise, Charlie wasn’t impressed by his discovery or his quick return. She was annoyed he’d gone out in the first place. And he suspected she was irritated to be here at all.
He wondered if he was pushing her too far, if his plan to show her the best parts of their job had been flawed. If he had been flawed.
If he was doing more harm than good.
Then June pulled out the hotel keys to present them to everyone.
There were four.
The extra room key stung.
It shouldn’t have.
Of course, they couldn’t stay in the same room on a work trip. He shouldn’t have expected anything different.
But something about it made him feel… distant from her.
Like he’d created a wall between them in this whole endeavor, a wall made physical by the separate rooms. Though he’d done it thousands of nights before, Ethan suddenly couldn’t imagine sleeping without her, her body warm beside him and her fragrant curls straying to his side of the bed. He wanted her to forgive him, though he wasn’t sure what for.
In an ideal world, they would have talked about it.
He would have checked on her.
But instead, in a whirlwind of arrangements and discussions, Ethan began his shift, and Charlie followed Baz and June to find their rooms.
Charlie hadn’t planned on staying, so she had nothing to unpack except for a phone charger from her purse and a laptop borrowed from Edenbrook. She didn’t relish the idea of sleeping in her bulky jeans or shivering in the cold night, but there was nothing she could do about that in a blizzard.
It was a relief to warm herself in a hot shower, but after, the room felt too lonely. Unsure what to do with herself, she searched for Baz and June. She found them both at the bar, which fortunately hadn’t been affected by the outside storm.
They sat by the fire with medical journals and drinks – and smores, in Baz’s case. When Charlie entered, they gave her their full attention.
They were genuinely happy to see her return.
They still believed in her, it seemed.
Not that she should be surprised, she reminded herself.
But she was a little.
She’d forgotten how it felt to be the prodigy, not the shattered impersonation of one.
Baz couldn’t contain his excitement and even went as far as to buy her bourbon in celebration, “I’m so happy you’re back! We’ve missed you, Charlie. It hasn’t been the same without you.”
“He tells the truth,” June confirmed, looking a little amused with her colleague’s enthusiasm.
Charlie didn’t know what to say, so she blushed and let Baz fill in the silence – not that he noticed. He had lots to say.
“To our star resident! You’ve been through hell and back, and we’re so proud of how far you’ve come. For you to have survived that and stand here ready to be a doctor again is brave, Charlie,” Baz emphasized in his toast, oblivious to the fact he was only making Charlie more nervous.
Charlie weakly raised her glass, tapping it against June’s and Baz’s.
June’s eyes settled on Charlie’s unsteady smile.
Which only made Charlie more unsteady.
“I can’t believe you’re really back and that Ethan didn’t even give us a warning! For weeks, he said you needed more time, and then, he surprised us. You two were probably in on it together,” Baz laughed good-naturedly, “So, are you back permanently now?”
I have no idea, she thought.
She didn’t know if she’d make it through this case, let alone if she’d take on another.
Her future was too uncertain, her confidence too shaken to answer.
“Um,” Charlie stammered, looking for an answer that didn’t expose her as a nervous wreck, “We’ll see how it works out with my remaining leave, I guess,” she answered noncommittally.
It was the wrong answer.
Too uncommitted. Not enough enthusiasm. Recognizable nerves.
It exposed something that Charlie wanted to hide. It showed how little she controlled this situation, how little she controlled everything. She didn’t know what would happen or what she wanted to happen. It was such a stark contrast from the determined, headstrong intern she’d once been.
If Baz noticed, he took it in stride and said he hoped she would be back full time soon. Then, he started telling her about all she’d missed – leaving out Levi, of course.
June noticed, though.
She sensed Charlie’s unease, and as a result, she stared. And studied.
Charlie became increasingly uncomfortable as the subject of June’s fascination. She felt like she might crack, like June would see through her if she was given enough time.
She began to feel like an imposter trying to fill her old role, and the deception of it all made her sick.
Charlie couldn’t stay for the rest of the evening, not if she was going to survive the night.
So, Charlie finished her bourbon a little too quickly, and to Baz’s disappointment, she excused herself to review online journals on her laptop. June wasn’t surprised she was leaving, though she politely said goodnight anyway.
Maybe June suspected Charlie’s weakness all along.
Maybe she was the smart one. Maybe she saw the truth that Ethan and Baz couldn’t – that Charlie was irreparably broken.
Even with the distance of a few floors separating them, Charlie felt haunted by the exchange – and maybe even still watched by June.
Charlie wanted to prove herself. She wanted to be the old star resident again, though she wondered if she had it in her.
The research proved fascinating, though research had never been a problem for Charlie. She loved learning, and she was always captivated by cases like this. Still, Paula’s case was an enigma, and Charlie went between journals, online textbooks, and her own observations over and over until her eyes burned. When she couldn’t focus anymore, she decided to take a walk and check on Paula. With any luck, she’d gain valuable information through questioning or observation. Even if learned nothing, it would be nice to see Ethan, someone who knew about her trauma and still believed in her enough to bring her here.
Charlie was halfway to Paula’s room when she spotted a familiar face.
“Timothy?” Charlie called out.
Timothy, the patient’s son, stopped mid-stride in shock. He probably didn’t think that anyone else in this hotel knew him.
“I’m one of your mom’s doctors,” Charlie explained quickly, hoping to put him at ease.
It worked. Timothy relaxed a bit, though he remained rigid enough to protect the cup of herbal tea he was carrying. Another mug for his mom, Charlie suspected. She worried that this meant her symptoms were getting worse.
“I’m on your way to your mother’s room. Do you mind if I walk with you?” Charlie asked. During the interview, Timothy had been more forthcoming than his mother, and if Paula became more uncooperative, he would be their only hope. And she worried for the boy. It had to be scary to watch something like this happen to your mother.
Timothy agreed, and they walked together quietly. After a few quiet moments, Charlie commented, “That’s very sweet of you to bring your mother some tea. You’ve been a very good caretaker, Timothy. That’s brave of you, and I want you to know you’re doing a good job, though you should also take care of yourself tonight.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m used to it,” Timothy said sheepishly, looking into the cup of tea with a shy smile.
Charlie’s interest was piqued.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just mom and me at home, so I take care of her.”
“What do you take care of, Timothy?”
Timothy frowned like he’d said something wrong.
“We’re here to help,” Charlie assured him, “So if she has a condition you’ve been helping her with, it’s okay. Just let us know. It may be interacting with or causing her current ailment.”
Timothy looked at Charlie thoughtfully. Almost too thoughtfully.
Charlie was sure there was something he wanted to tell her, or at least something he should tell her.
But all he said was, “It’s nothing really. We’re doing better now.”
Better from what? she thought.
Timothy suddenly looked down and frowned further.
“Is something wrong?”
“I forgot my bag in the lobby when I went to make the tea….”
“I can go get it for you.”
“No,” Timothy insisted too quickly.
Charlie was startled.
“Well, I can bring the tea if you want….” Charlie offered, her voice soft.
“She wouldn’t take it from you,” Timothy shook his head, his eyes softer now. Almost like he was apologetic for his mom’s violent dislike of doctors.
Charlie didn’t want to let Timothy go, especially when he was clearly hiding something, but he insisted she go ahead to the room without him. Not wanting to alienate him, Charlie reluctantly complied.
Once Charlie was in Paula’s room, she almost forgot about her strange encounter with Timothy. The change in Paula was drastic. Her boisterous laughter had faded into dreary silence. She laid in the bed silent and unmoving, her face blank and cold. Even the room felt darker, like all of the energy had been drained as depression gripped the primary occupant.
Ethan was stationed in the corner of the room, and he greeted Charlie with a silent nod.
“How long has this been going on?” Charlie whispered as she approached.
“About an hour,” Ethan frowned.
“I ran into the son in the hallway. I think there’s a preexisting condition they’re hiding from us,” Charlie lowered her voice even further to keep from being heard.
“Hmm,” Ethan raised his eyebrows with intrigue.
“I’m working on it,” she assured him.
Before they could talk any further, Timothy entered with a cup of tea and a bookbag in tow. He dropped the bag by the door, letting it slouch near Ethan and Charlie as he rushed to his mother’s side to deliver the tea. His bag’s zipper was half-undone, revealing some of the contents.
Charlie couldn’t help but look.
A notebook. Headphones. Pencils and pens. What looked like a few pages of math homework. Teabags, presumably from the herbal tea.
All normal stuff for a high schooler.
Still, she tilted her head just a bit more.
Some socks. A bag of –
A bag of pills.
Charlie’s head jerked to attention.
Why would he have a bag of pills? Was he abusing them?
Charlie was about to elbow Ethan and draw his attention to it when Timothy returned for the bag, zipping it back up and slinging it over his shoulder. If he noticed her stare, he didn’t let on.
Everything that was said after that was a blur. Charlie was wracking her brain trying to mentally identify the pill, but she didn’t recognize it. If only she knew what it was, maybe she could help.
When June arrived to take her shift, Charlie took it as her opportunity to return to her room to research medications commonly used or abused by teenagers.
Ethan, oblivious to her new mission, was disappointed by how quickly she ran away. He’d been excited when she came to check on Paula. He thought she was getting back into medicine, but now she was running away from it – and him.
He’d hoped to talk to her once he was off duty.
But Charlie didn’t even realize she’d slighted him.
She spent the next forty-five minutes trying to find a match for the pill.
Nothing jumped out at her. The pill she saw didn’t seem to be commonly abused, nor was it coming up in her research. Could it be a regular vitamin? If so, why would he have it in a bag? Or was it a street drug not listed in these databases?
Without interruption, she might have spent the whole night in this fruitless search.
She was lucky Ethan knocked on the door.
Knock. Knock.
Her train of thought was rudely interrupted, she thought, and she was reluctant to abandon her computer and greet the intruder. Had there not been a patient, she might have been annoyed enough to wait for a second knock.
When she saw Ethan, her mind went back to that room – to Paula.
She forgot that there was any other reason he might be coming to see her.
Like the fact that this was her first time back to work or that he was her boyfriend.
“Are Paula and Timothy alright?” Charlie blurted out, skipping introductions as she assumed the worst.
“Oh…” Ethan was a little knocked back, “Yes. They’re fine.”
“Oh,” Charlie was relieved but now a bit confused.
He stared at her.
Didn’t she understand why he was here? Why wasn’t she inviting him inside?
For a second, she’d gotten so into her job that she’d forgotten everything else – even how much her job terrified her.
“I came to check on you,” Ethan announced finally.
This jolted Charlie’s memory, and she quickly moved back from the door, letting him enter.
Her room was smaller than his, he noted. He found himself hoping she wouldn’t sleep in it tonight. He wanted her by his side. He wanted the assurance that he hadn’t lost her by pushing her too hard.
“How are you doing?” Ethan asked as he crossed the room, silently appraising her living arrangements. By the state of the crumbled comforter, it looked like she’d been researching on her laptop for most of the night.
“Alright, I guess” Charlie murmured, a little unsure of herself.
Their case was an enigma, and their patient was rapidly detreating in a blizzard. A teen had mystery pills in his backpack. June was now studying her. All day, Charlie had been teetering between genuine passion for her job and the feeling of insufficiently filling her old role.
How well could she really be doing?
But she also couldn’t say that she was miserable. She wasn’t as sure of her decision to leave as she had been this morning, nor was she convinced that medicine was all death and destruction.
The best way to describe Charlie was unsteady. Unsure, even.
She just had to survive this case.
Ethan, unsatisfied with her answer, awkwardly paced her small hotel room. She watched.
Finally, he turned to her, and finding the courage to say the words he’d prepared for the last hour, he said, “I’ve been thinking, and I wanted to apologize. I pushed you a lot today. At the time, I thought it was right. In fact, I still think it was right, but… it wasn’t fair.”
Charlie couldn’t believe Ethan was apologizing. Any other day, she might have even gloated. But today, she squirmed, equally unnerved by the situation. Maybe even more so.
Ethan waited for her response, trying so hard to be patient but failing miserably. He couldn’t fathom that he might have misjudged her limits and ruined everything.
It felt like an eternity before she spoke.
“It’s okay… I needed to come back before I decided. Maybe not so abruptly but…” Charlie trailed off, the edge of a smile on her lips. There was a glint in her eyes, and he realized she was poking fun at him.
He was relieved.
“You’ve done really well today,” Ethan ventured, “I’m proud of you.”
Charlie shook her head sheepishly, “I barely spoke.”
“But you were listening.”
“You can’t pretend I’m the same as I was.”
“You don’t have to be the same to be a good doctor, Charlie.”
Charlie bit her lower lip as she averted her gaze.
He took that as an invitation to be bolder, “I think you should come back permanently.”
“What?” Charlie’s eyes shot back to him, the shock in her eyes verging on indignation.
“The team agrees. It’s time, Charlie,” Ethan knew he was stuck now. He couldn’t take it back or soothe the storm that was brewing.
“You spoke to the team?” her gaze grew harder.
“I wanted you to know that you had full faith in you!” Ethan explained.
“June’s already watching me like there’s something wrong with me! Now you’ve just given her more reason to study me,” Charlie shook her head, frustration rising through her veins, “Why would you do that before talking to me?”
“You need to know that we believe in you, Charlotte,” Ethan said quite defensively, “We want you on the team.”
“I haven’t even made it through this case. What makes you think I’m ready to take on another?”
“Because you’re you. You’re not even out of residency yet, and you’re pulling your weight among experts. You’re discovering preexisting conditions none of us ever knew about-“
“Of which we have no proof!” Charlie interrupted.
“You’re still closer to an answer than any of us are,” Ethan said firmly, “And even when you’re scared, like you are now, you still care. You’re a good doctor. Great, even. You’ll be better than me one day. But you’re giving up-“
“Giving up?” Charlie repeated incredulously, “That’s what you think I’m doing?”
“You have a gift!”
“I almost died,” Charlie emphasized, “Every time a patient comes in with a mystery illness and no hope, I know what that feels like. I relive the worst day of my life through their eyes, and I know I can’t save them all. And you think I’m just giving up?”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Charlie,” Ethan said, suddenly ashamed, “I’m trying to help you. I love you, and I know you love medicine. I don’t want you to lose that because of a premature decision.”
“So, you think you’re helping me by making me do what I don’t want?”
Ethan frowned, “When it feels like it’s for the best, yes… But it’ll get better.”
Charlie paused.
And then something clicked.
And the fight – and Ethan’s dumb words – were forgotten.
“Wait,” she mumbled, “Making me do what I don’t want…”
“Yes, I know, and I’m sorry. But I really am trying to help,” Ethan tried, oblivious to the shift in Charlie’s mind.
She ignored him, rushing to her computer.
“What are you doing?” Ethan asked incredulously, watching as she frantically typed something into her computer. Again, she ignored him.
Her eyes the screen until they landed on the pill she’d seen in Timothy’s bag.
“I know what’s wrong with Paula.”
Ethan dropped his defensive stance and rushed to her side, hoping he’d understand by looking at her screen. But all he saw was a medication.
“There’s a bag of lithium in Timothy’s backpack. He said he’s been taking care of her for a long time but that she got better recently. I think he’s drugging her with this.”
“Her mood swings…” Ethan’s jaw almost dropped.
“He’s probably been trying to treat her for bipolar disorder on his own. You saw how she was with doctors. I doubt she would have gone in for treatment,” Charlie felt a knot form in her stomach. Even though she was sure of her hypothesis, she hoped it wasn’t true.
“And they gave her ibuprofen to treat her head injury,” Ethan swallowed heavily.
“We have to get her to a hospital.”
“And talk to Timothy.”
As if reading each other’s minds, they abandoned the laptop in Charlie’s room and raced to Paula’s room where they found Timothy waiting by his sleeping mother, looking exhausted but sleepless with worry.
Unfortunately, Charlie’s theory was correct.
Timothy confessed, and Charlie’s heart broke as they explained the repercussions of his actions as well as the severity of what he had done wrong. She felt for him, for what he must have gone through to think such action was necessary. But she couldn’t excuse his decision to medicate her without her consent, especially given the consequences. The lithium and ibuprofen combined to form a disastrous chain reaction, one that lasted even after they discovered the cause.
It took hours for the storm to clear enough for the helicopters to take Paula to the hospital.
While they waited, Charlie and Ethan sat in his room – a romantic suite with a view of the snowy mountains. It felt like a waste now. A romantic night they could have had, if Charlie hadn’t solved such a sad mystery. She was tired, though she wouldn’t admit it. At some point, she drifted to sleep, and Ethan held her, his fingers running through her hair as he kissed her temple and quietly congratulated her on her solve.
“I always knew you’d be the one to solve it,” he whispered.
“Why?” she murmured, “Were you holding back?”
“No, because you’re smarter than me,” he chuckled.
Charlie was smiling when she fell asleep.
When she woke up, the mood had shifted back to panic.
The helicopter on its way, and the team needed to follow. June and Baz took the helicopter with Paula and Timothy, and Ethan and Charlie drove the car back once the roads opened. The team called a few times to share updates and ask for advice.
But for most of the drive, Ethan held Charlie’s hand in silence.
The case was over.
She could back to her life in the apartment where she hid from the world and pushed herself just a little day by day, building her tolerance safely. She could tell Ethan he was wrong. Or she could stay.
And the truth was… she couldn’t imagine going back now.
Not now that she remembered what it was like on the good days – ones where she made the solve and saved the day. Ones where she realized she made a difference, that she solved things other people couldn’t.
It was okay to be scared.
Even as the words were on the tip of her tongue, she was terrified.
“My answer is yes.”
Ethan’s eyes momentarily drifted from the road to her, “What?”
“To your question last night. I want to come back permanently.”
Ethan felt like he could crash the car out of pure shock.
“Are you sure?”
“I mean… not really. I’m scared, but I think it’s time,” Charlie nodded her head, trying to project the confidence she wanted to once more possess.
“We can wait for you if you need more time,” Ethan assured her, struggling to keep his eyes on the highway and not right at her.
“I know,” Charlie confirmed, “But now is the time. I can’t retire, and I can’t wait forever to go back. I’ll never be 100% ready, so I just have to jump in.”
Ethan’s heart was beating so fast that Charlie felt it as she held his hand.
“Are you really, really sure?” Ethan clarified just one more time.
“Yes,” Charlie laughed, a smile lingering on her lips.
He looked at her. Briefly, of course. He was driving, after all.
And then his face broke out in a face-splitting grin.
“I’m so proud of you, Rookie,” he brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles, “You’re amazing! I love you! I love you so much.”
His happiness was infectious. So infectious that she forgot about the fear.
And she laughed.
“You haven’t called me Rookie in a long time,” she squeezed his hand softly, and he cast a sideways glance at her.
“Do you still like being called Rookie?”
“Yes,” she smiled so warmly it practically radiated off of her.
And he loved her. He really did.
“Well then, I love you, Rookie,” he smirked, “And I owe you a romantic ski vacation.”
“Bold of you to assume I know how to ski.”
“And I owe you ski lessons, I suppose,” he murmured affectionately.
“You also owe me a kiss when we stop this car,” Charlie added.
He looked over at her – and quite recklessly because they were doctors and knew what could happen when young lovers were stupid on highways – he kissed her. Quickly, of course. Softly. But lovingly.
And even if she regretted it tomorrow and the world caved again, she was glad she was back today.
74 notes · View notes
ouyangzizhensdad · 3 years
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The Mo Village arc and establishing the MC
MDZS is a sprawling book with many characters, but it seems that it was clearly important to MXTX to establish her MC’s characterisation very strongly from the start. Although the novel in its entirety leans toward providing a strong characterisation for WWX, I thought it’d be fun to look back at how it is conveyed to the readers in the first few chapters before the inciting incident at Dafan Mountain
(N.B. I’m using a composite translation made of different translations so the wording/format might be slightly different than the version you are using)
Framing
The prologue starts with a conversation between unnamed characters in an inn, discussing the news of WWX’s death. While it was a clever way to already introduce an important theme of the novel (the effects of public opinion and how easy it is to make someone into a irredeemable villain) and get the exposition out of the way, it also frames WWX as a character: as readers, we are introduced first to perceptions of him, a characterisation-from-hearsay we’ll be able to compare to his characterisation in the novel. WWX is a “scourge” whose death is celebrated, who “defected” and bit the hand that fed him, a “deranged” killer who took thousands of lives. But before he went on the crooked path, he was a promising youth--although others seem to think he was corrupted from the start.
“But it can’t all be blamed on the path he cultivated. Ultimately, it was still because this Wei Wuxian’s moral character was too flawed, angering the Heavens and man alike! By the heavenly law, everyone answers for their deeds in the end, good and evil……”
The rumours also suggest that if WWX comes back to the world of the living he will enact his revenge upon them all, and his unimaginable powers would allow him to rain fury upon both Heaven and Earth. We get told: this guys is an incredibly powerful villain, reviled and feared by many. 
But the Yiling Laozu had enough power to overturn the Heavens and smother the Earth, move mountains and drain seas—at least, that was the way the rumors went. If he wanted to resist the summoning of his soul, it wouldn’t exactly be outside of his abilities. If in coming days his spirit were restored, if he forcibly possessed a body and were thus reborn, then not only the cultivation world, but all of humanity would inevitably meet with an even greater frenzy of vengeance and curses, sinking into a chaotic age of foul winds and bloody rains.
Establishing WWX and how he reacts when he’s thrown into an unpleasant situation
When WWX is brought back by MXY, we already have something to contrast him against thanks to the hearsay and rumours, and from the get-go we get a sense that WWX is not this fearsome figure that people made him out to be.
I’ll never get over the fact that our first introduction to WWX’s is the equivalent of the “the audacity of this bitch”.
Hazily, he thought: that’s quite a lot of courage you must have to kick this Laozu. 
Our MC and POV character is thrown into a situation, and from his reactions we can rapidly tell that he is someone who is observant, resourceful, good at deductive reasoning and thereby apt at solving mysteries. This is something that is reinforced at many, many points in the first few chapters and helps us buy in into what happens later in the novel when they uncover many other mysteries. WWX is a guy who figures shit out.
When WWX figures out he was summoned as a “an unforgivably evil malicious spirit“, we  get his take on his public perception.  
Wei Wuxian reeled at the implications. How had he been classified as “an irredeemly evil, malicious spirit”?
Yes, his reputation was rather poor and his final moments, horrifying tragic—but he had neither haunted nor had he seeked revenge on the living since becoming a spirit. He would dare to swear upon the Heavens and the Earth that you would never find a more peaceful and well-behaved lonely soul of a wild ghost!
At the same time, readers get a sense that even when he’s dealt a bad hand, WWX does not wait in despair for his luck to turn. Even though WWX describes his situation as “hopeless” and keeps “repeating over and over How could this be! in his heart “, he immediately goes into problem-solving mode, trying to figure out the situation and the wishes MXY forgot to share. This also happens  later. 
There was not a single thing to help him find some joy in being reborn! He might as well sit and meditate for a time, and adjust to the new body.
That same passage gives us a sense that WWX is not rushing into situations without taking the time to take it in, make up his mind and prepare as much as he can: the fact that we see him do meditation twice during that day (before he goes to the East Hall and after he checks on the Lan juniors) also contributes to that idea.
The chapters convey as well that WWX is sympathetic to MXY’s situation and does not resent him even though he forced WWX to enact revenge in his stead. As readers, we thus receive the following message: WWX is not prone to being resentful, to hold grudges.
He had originally wanted to wash his face and pay a few respects to the owner of this body, but there was no water in the shack—neither for drinking nor for washing. 
WWX is also, for a lack of a better word, sassy. It’s clear that he has a flair for the dramatics and lots of attitude. Look at that dramatic entrance.... he just.... yeets the bowl he was holding....
He pondered for a moment. Then, rising to his feet, he kicked the door open.
The two servants, in the midst of making eyes at each other, screamed in horror as the double doors of the shack suddenly burst open. Wei Wuxian threw aside his bowl and chopsticks and walked outside without anyone’s leave [...]
We are also introduced to the fact that WWX does not seem to take himself seriously and loves to shock people. 
When it came to wild displays of misbehavior, Wei Wuxian was a master. In the past when he ran wild, he still had to mind appearances lest others accuse him of having not been raised right. But now that he was a lunatic anyways, what face did he need! He could go straight to making a scene, acting however it pleased him.
While WWX is clearly not the one-dimensional evil monster depicted in rumours, we do see that he can be cunning: he lies easily if he feels it motivated, he is very good at talking people into a corner, apt at making them do incriminating things by leading them on, which he does by humiliating the Mo family for their mistreatment of MXY in front of a crowd. But in a way, that is also a quality of his: he is not just silver-tongued; he’s good at assessing a situation and people’s characters, able to figure out what will set them off.
We further get proof that he is not a blood-thirsty monster who disregards others when he tries to figure out if he can satisfy MXY’s spirit without having to wipe out the Mo family (although it is clearly the obvious solution) and when he is shown to care for the well-being of others. This is illustrated by the way he double-checks (through ruse) that the zhaoyin flags are properly set up and will be used safely by the Lan juniors. 
During the conversation, Wei Wuxian had already finished making a rapid examination of the Yin Summoning Flag in his hand. It had been painted in the correct manner, and there were no missing sigils either. There was not a single error or omission, so they should worked as intended. That being said, the person who had painted the flag lacked experience, and the painted sigils could only attract the evil spirits and walking corpses within at most five li. That should however prove to be enough. (chapter 2)
[...]
Wei Wuxian’s first thought was that something had gone wrong with the flag arraw the youth had set up. His inventions needed to be used with extreme caution, or else risk disaster. This was also why he had gone to check earlier if there were anything wrong with the array. (Chapter 3)
As our POV character, WWX comes across as endearing through little details: it’s in the way he calls LSZ a “good little seedling (好苗子)” and calls the Lan juniors a group of “小朋友“ in his inner monologue, or when he defends the Lan juniors from Mo-furen’s accusations. Or the way he likes Xiao Pingguo because it looks at him with contempt:
A donkey was tied to the handle, chewing on it. When it saw Wei Wuxian run over rashly, it seemed like it was surprised, and eyed him sideways as if it were a real person. Wei Wuxian made eye contact with him for one second and was immediately touched by the minuscule amount of contempt in its eyes.
Establishing how WWX acts in high-pressure situations
Things escalate quite quickly into accusations of murder and death and resentful corpses. This first sequence is thus our introduction to how WWX acts under pressure and in high-risk situations (which will continue to happen to our MC until the end of the novel). 
WWX is shown to be cool under pressure and quick to think on his feet, constantly re-assessing the situation and the risks. He is also seen as expecting people to arrive to conclusions without him needing to explain them out loud, like when he takes out the zhaoyin flag that MZY stole from his corpse, letting the Lan juniors understand on their own what happened. When he needs to explain, he will not do it in a straight-forward manner, giving small hints first (this preludes many of WWX and LWJ interaction when they understand each other’s thought process with only one sentence being said, and preludes how WWX will continue to act with the Juniors later on, making them think through the situations instead of feeding them the answers).
We also get the proof that WWX does not privilege self-preservation over the fate of others.
If he wanted to avoid having the situation get out of hand, Wei Wuxian should retreat. If they people who came did not know him, then all would be well—but if they happened to be someone who had dealt with him or fought against him in the past, it would be hard to guess what would happen next.
But the curse meant he could not leave Mo Village yet. As well, the spirit that had been summoned had taken two lives in quick succession, meaning it was extremely vicious. If Wei Wuxian left now, once the reinforcement arrived, the streets of Mo Village might already be packed with corpses missing their left arm, of which some would be blood relations of the GusuLanShi. 
After a short deliberation, Wei Wuxian thought, fight a quick battle to force a swift resolution (速战速决). (Chapter 3)
[...]
Wei Wuxian was watching the battle attentively. His tongue was slightly curled, suppressing a sharp whistle inside of his lips, preparing it to be let out. The whistle would be able to evoke even more hostility in the cruel corpses, which might turn the tables. Then, however, it would be difficult to ensure that nobody knew that it was his doing. 
In the blink of an eye, the hand moved like lightning, ruthlessly and precisely breaking Madame Mo’s neck. Watching as the Mo family grew closer to defeat, Wei Wuxian prepared to blow the whistle that he suppressed under his tongue. At the same time, the echoes of two strums on a stringed instrument came from far away. (chapter 4)
As well, we are told something about WWX when he only leaves once LWJ arrives: certainly because he’s afraid that LWJ might recognize him but mostly because (as it will become clear later on) he trusts that LWJ will be able to handle the situation in his stead. In order words, although WWX is willing to risk himself to help others, he is not careless with his life and safety (for instance he makes sure to destroy the proof of the Offering ritual before fleeing to make sure no one can figure out the fact that he is back from the dead).
WWX will not hesitate to fool people or pretend in order to help his goals. In this case, he is trying to help and fight without appearing like a powerful cultivator who can do modao, balancing self-preservation with the incentive to protect the people present. This is why he pushes LJY in front of LSZ at one point in the battle, instead of blocking it himself, while pretending to just be a lunatic doing lunatic things.
Inside of the Lan clan’s uniform jacket, there were compact stitchings of incantations using thin threads of the same color, included for protection. However, against strong ones like this, it could only be used once before it became invalid. During the emergency, he could only kick Lan Jingyi and use his body to protect Lan Sizhui’s neck.
This sequence also allows the reader to know more about modao and WWX’s skills, and how he can control corpses, as well as how WWX perceives his own abilities. 
TLDR:
The Mo Village arc, in conjunction with the prologue, competently sets up a lot of the moving pieces for the novel. It also leans heavily toward establishing a strong sense of characterisation for our MC and POV character, which is neat! 
NB: I think it’s also very telling that the next chapter after the Mo Mansion arc begins with us learning that WWX has been, in the past few days since his retreat, lorded over by a capricious donkey. WWX is clearly not someone who takes himself very seriously (often mocking himself):
The donkey ran over there and nothing could make it leave. Wei Wuxian hopped down and slapped its honoured buttocks. “You’re definitely destined for wealth, even harder to please than I am.” The donkey spat at him.
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writethelifeyouwant · 3 years
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Alpha and Omega - Ch 2 / 2
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Pairing: Sam x Dean Rating: 18+ Tags: A/B/O, Darkness magic,  Alpha!Dean, Omega!Sam, Dub-Con (biological necessity), little bit of meta (cuz why not), Sam’s a needy mess, Dean is possessive af  Word Count: 4k Created for: @first-time-wincest-fest​ - 12x02 Mamma Mia | @spnabobingo​ - Male Omega | Summary: Amara wants to thank Dean by giving him the thing he needs most – Sam – but she knows the boys are stubborn, so she’s going to have to be creative. Problem is, she doesn’t tell Dean or Sam what she’s put in motion, and magic can be unpredictable.
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Despite the many apparent flaws of these British Men of Letters dicks, at least Mick has the good sense to let Dean and Sam go. He offers to try helping Sam, but he doesn’t have any more ideas about his condition than that blonde bitch does, so Dean declines and gets Sam the hell out of dodge.
The moment they make it over the property line and past the efficacy of the anti-angel warding Cas is by their sides, sliding under Sam’s other arm to help Dean carry him to the Impala.
“Don’t touch him,” Dean growls, startling Cas and himself. Cas raises his hands in a show of good faith.
“I am just trying to help, Dean,” he reassures the hunter, lowly.
“Yeah, um, sorry man,” Dean shakes his head to clear it. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t like the idea of anyone else touching Sam right now but he doesn’t want anyone’s hands on his baby brother. Begrudgingly, he lets Castiel grab Sam’s arm and help them to the car, where they gingerly lay a shivering, and for all intents and purposes unconscious, Sam on the back seat. “Cas, what’s wrong with him?” Dean tries to keep a grip on the panic in his voice but he doesn’t have much luck.
“It’s hard to be sure,” Castiel mutters, laying a hand against Sam’s forehead, which is burning hot. “We need to get him home immediately, this fever is dangerously high.”
Dean rounds the car to root through the first aid pack in the trunk, pulling out a few instant cold packs. “Here,” he cracks one up in his hands and passes it to Cas. “Get in back, try to keep him cool.” Cas slides into the back seat of the Impala, pulling Sam over his lap and pressing the cold pack against the young man’s forehead. Dean drops the spare cold packs beside him as he jumps in behind the wheel and peels out of the dirt road driveway in reverse, gunning them back home towards Kansas.
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The use of cold packs and bags of ice they picked up at gas stations along their way get the trio home without Sam’s condition worsening. Dean would send up a thank you to Chuck for that except that he’s nearly positive Chuck’s sister is the reason Sam is in this mess in the first place. I thought she wanted to do something to thank me, not destroy my life. They get Sam into bed without too much trouble, and Castiel suggests stripping Sam out of his clothes to help keep him cool.
“Get away from him,” Dean growls, baring his teeth at his friend. Castiel once again looks at him in confusion, his brow crinkling as he stares hard at Dean.
“I’m going to call Rowena, see if maybe she can help us determine what is wrong with Sam.” Cas backs up cautiously, and Dean is glad to see him go.
Once he’s alone with his brother, he does think that stripping Sam down is a decent idea – at the very least he should change him into some clean pyjamas instead of the bloodied tatters he’s dressed in now. Dean sits on the edge of the bed, gently brushing Sam’s hair away from his eyes. He has the sudden urge to lean down and kiss Sam, so he does – very carefully placing his lips against his little brother’s forehead. It seems to Dean like Sam presses back into the kiss, and when his lips retreat, Sam stretches his neck and turns his head into Dean’s side, almost like he’s burrowing there. The unconscious display of affection brings a surge of warmth to Dean’s chest, though he can’t find it in him to smile with Sam like this.
Gingerly, Dean unbuttons Sam’s shirt and eases it over his shoulders, his fingers tracing over Sam’s muscles on the way down each arm. He hadn’t spent too much time around Sam’s unclothed chest recently and he couldn’t help staring at the contours of his frame. Sometimes he spends so much time thinking about Sam as his little brother, he forgets how much he’d built himself up over the years, forgets about the strength that all those layers of shirts they wear everyday are hiding. Dean has to shake himself in chastisement for staring at Sam’s body and lusting after it like a creep when he’s supposed to be taking care of him. How could he be thinking with his dick, even now, when Sam is deathly ill? But he was thinking with his dick, because even seeing Sam half naked for a matter of thirty seconds seems to be enough to give him a semi. For fuck’s sake, Dean curses himself, and sets about the task of easing Sam out of his torn up jeans.
As he gets Sam’s abnormally long jeans off his abnormally long body, three things strike Dean as odd. The first, that the smell he’d overwhelmingly associated with Sam back at the farmhouse in Missouri all of the sudden permeates the air around him. Sure, he’d been smelling it this whole time – it had been almost unbearably strong on the 6 hour drive back to Kansas – but he figured he must have gotten used to it because it had sort of faded into the background until just now. Secondly, the way Sam’s legs were splayed out across the bed right now gave Dean a view of a dark wet patch on the light grey of Sam’s underwear – gross, Dean thinks to himself, until he realises that the stain isn’t on the front of Sam’s briefs like it would be if he’d pissed himself. That examination leads him to his third odd discovery, which is that Sam has a boner.
“Well, what have we here?” Dean spins to see Rowena standing in the doorway, smirking.
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“I’m sorry, Sam’s turned into a what?” Dean blinks incredulously at Rowena, who’s perching on the edge of the table in the kitchen. He turns his head to look at Castiel, who is sitting stoically behind Rowena. The angel shrugs unhelpfully.
“An Omega, dearie,” Rowena enunciates more clearly, like she imagines she’s talking to a four year old.
“Right,” Dean nods, although he doesn’t really understand. “And I’m a–”
“An Alpha, yes,” Rowena reiterates, clearly annoyed Dean isn’t getting this. “Well, Sam’s Alpha, more specifically,” she amends.
“And what exactly does all this mean?” Dean grunts, frustrated.
“It means that you and Samuel are mates,” Rowena elaborates.
“We know that, we saw our shared heaven, like a decade ago. What the hell does it have to do with him being sick?”
“Samuel is sick because he’s an Omega in heat, and he needs his mate.”
“Well if I’m his ‘mate’ and he ‘needs me’ – I’m right here! So why isn’t he better?” Dean growls.
“I believe,” Cas clears his throat, “from what I understand of the traditional elements of this condition, that what Rowena means is that Sam needs you, as his mate, physically.” Cas looks sheepishly at Rowena for confirmation.
“Precisely,” she smiles thankfully at Castiel.
“Physically?” Dean’s not any closer to understanding what’s happening. “So what, I need to go hold his hand until his fever breaks?”
“Well, I’m not surprised that you might want to hold his hand, but it’s going to take a wee bit more than that.”
“Will you just tell me how the hell to cure him?” Dean shouts, accidentally shattering the beer bottle he’s holding. He looks down, surprised at his own strength and at the end of his tether now.
“Sexual intercourse,” Cas answers shortly, his face carefully blank. “Though, again, from my understanding, that will only cure his heat. He will remain an Omega and you will remain an Alpha.”
“What the hell are you talking about ‘from what you understand’?” Dean makes indignant air quotes at Cas.
“When Metatron put all of popular culture into my head it included every story ever written. There are a large number of stories on the internet that incorporate the dynamics of the Alpha/Omega hierarchy. It’s a trope primarily found in something called ‘fanfiction’,” Cas explains. “In fact, there is some ‘fanfiction’ about yourself and Sam if it would help you to understand the mating requirements.” Dean feels like he’s going to be sick.
“Cas, listen to me very carefully: under no circumstances are you to ever tell anyone else that those exist,” Dean groans, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Why is this happening?”
“That’s the part I’ve not got the faintest idea about,” Rowena sighs. “It would take something more than a simple spell to alter your anatomies like this. Not even an angel,” she glances at Castiel quickly to check she’s right in her assumption. “I’ve never heard of something like this actually happening outside of fiction.”
“It was Amara,” Dean sighs. “When she left she told me she was going to give me what I ‘needed most’, but I don’t know why she thought this was it. It just seems like some sick joke.”
“Ah,” Rowena nods sagely like she understands now. “She was giving you Samuel.”
“How is this ‘giving me’ Sam?”
“A physically bonded Alpha and Omega are bonded for life, inseparable. Without the other, they won’t survive their heats – or ruts, in your case.”
“So every time Sam goes into a heat, we need to have sex, or he dies?” Dean can’t believe how fucked up this is.
“You’ll also need to knot him,” Cas adds gravely. Noticing Dean’s look of incredulity, he continues. “The base of your penis will inflate when you ejaculate and lock you and Sam together for a brief time. It’s the knot that Sam needs to relieve the symptoms of his heat.”
“What the fuck?” Dean blanches.
“Not to importune but I do believe Samuel was running out of time when I examined him. You really should get to it, Dean,” Rowena cuts in.
“And how am I supposed to do that, huh? The guy’s unconscious! I can’t just–” Dean’s stomach roiled. The thought of fucking Sam was tempting, amazingly so, but the thought of doing it to Sam, without his knowledge or participation, was sickening.
“I can make him a wee draft to revive him and stave off the fever,” Rowena moves towards one of the cupboards in the kitchen where Sam keeps the common spell ingredients. “Then Castiel and I can make ourselves scarce and leave you two to it,” she smiles.
“And you’re positive this is the only way?” Dean presses desperately.
“That Amara is a crafty woman, she knew what she was doing.” Rowena throws some herbs into a small dish. “She saw that you would never ‘put the moves on Sam’, as you say. This is her way of giving you both that little push.”
“Yeah, well, she’s a bitch,” Dean grumbles, dropping his head in his hands and waiting for Rowena to finish the potion to wake Sam up.
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Sam blinks awake wearily, vaguely aware that he’s safe and not being held captive anymore, but he can’t remember much more than snippets of sound and scent. The rumble of an engine, the smell of motor oil; the low tenor of Dean’s voice, and the scent of whiskey, apple pie, and old leather. He can make out all of those scents now, too, swirling around him and pulling him back into consciousness – like smelling salts.
“Hey, there he is,” Dean’s voice says nearby, he’s sitting on the side of Sam’s bed.
Sam nuzzles towards his older brother, inexplicably craving the closeness. “De,” Sam mumbles, still sleepy.
“Yeah, it’s me Sammy,” Dean smiles down at him gently, eyes soft. Sam feels an unusual rush of need wash over him like a heat wave and he presses himself as close to Dean as two bodies can possibly get with a blanket still in between them.
“Wha s’happening?” he grumbles into Dean’s chest, looping his long arms around his brother’s waist.
“Short version?” Dean scoffs, but not unkindly. “Listen man, I’ll explain everything, I promise but – right now I just need to make sure you get outta this in one piece,” Dean sighs, drawing his hand down Sam’s face and holding his cheek. Sam looks up at Dean quizzically, unused to the level of physical affection but finding he was in desperate want of more. He nods at his big brother – whatever’s wrong, he knows Dean will take care of him. “You trust me Sammy?” Dean’s voice is hoarse, and Sam realises he’s scared.
“Yeah, Dean,” Sam breathes quietly into the slowly decreasing space between them. “Course I do,” he confirms again.
“Alright then,” Dean gulps and nods, mostly to himself though, like he’s trying to psych himself up for something. Then without any further warning, Dean’s lips are covering Sam’s and pressing him down onto the bed.
The fire that had been smouldering inside Sam for days now leaps and dances, as if Dean’s kiss is gasoline being thrown across him. Sam clings to Dean as he’s laid back onto the bed, and lets Dean climb into his lap and bury his hands in Sam’s hair. Dean licks across the seam of his lips and Sam parts them willingly, drinking in every bit of Dean that is being offered to him. He can’t remember why he needs Dean like this so badly, or when he started needing him, but now that he has him he couldn’t care less. He knows with certainty that the only thing he needs to be happy for the rest of his life is Dean – Dean loving him, Dean kissing him, Dean inside him. Fuck, he needs Dean inside him right fucking now.
At this realisation, Sam starts tearing into Dean’s clothes, ripping through the thread keeping buttons in their places without a thought. He expects Dean to start doing the same to him, but then realises he’s not wearing anything but his underwear, which suits Sam just fine. Dean has to pull away from him to wriggle out of his jeans, and Sam groans involuntarily at the sight of the bulge Dean reveals when he strips down.
“Someone likes the view, huh?” Dean teases him, voice deep and throaty, but Sam’s too far gone to come up with a bratty retort. All he can focus on is that he wants Dean’s cock – now.
“Shit, you look so big De,” Sam groans, reaching out a hand to cup around Dean’s member, still hidden behind black cotton. The front of the material is wet with precum, Sam can feel it against his fingertips.
“Think you can handle me, little bro?” Dean grabs Sam’s wrist and drags his fingers along the outline of his cock, up to the elastic waist of his boxers, and then inside them. Sam’s fingers curl around Dean and stroke him gently beneath the fabric. “Think you can fit all that inside your tight little ass f’me?” he grunts, thrusting into Sam’s grip.
“Fuck yes,” Sam rasps, and his breath sounds like it’s raking over hot coals in his throat. He pulls back from Dean to shed his own underwear, staring at it puzzledly when it comes away from his body covered in slick. What is that, he wonders as he feels it on his fingers. It doesn't feel like lube… “Dean?” Sam looks to his brother for answers.
“S’okay,” Dean rushes to reassure him, joining his little brother on the bed, both of them now completely bared to the other. “I’ll explain later, yeah? Just let me take care of you right now, okay?” Dean’s eyes are wide and pleading as he looks to Sam, and Sam nods; he trusts Dean. “Just lemme take care a’you,” Dean whispers again as he brushes their lips together, and Sam pulls him in tight for another bruising kiss.
Their bodies twist and tangle easily, Sam just letting Dean put them together however he wanted. The heat of Dean against him is overwhelming, the sweat on their skin mingles and sticks them together, pulling at their nerves every time they part. Sam doesn’t want them to part. He reaches between them, grabbing Dean’s cock in his hand and thrusts his own into the same grip. Their moans ring through each others’ mouths as Sam jerks them against each other, and they take turns fucking into his fist. Before long Dean pulls away from Sam with a groan, probably to stop himself from finishing before he’s had a chance to see what the inside of his brother feels like. Sam is glad of his consideration in this case, because if he ends tonight without Dean locked firmly inside of him, he’s going to feel like he’s missing out. If he was more clear headed, he might question why the phrase ‘locked inside of him’ is the one that came to mind but he’s not thinking too deeply about what he wants right now — he just wants.
“Need you, Dean,” Sam pants, widely, grabbing at Dean, trying to bring their bodies back together. “Need… ne—” Sam’s vocabulary has become shockingly singular, and he doesn’t have the presence of mind to be irritated with his brother when Dean smiles down at him smugly, knowingly.
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“I know what you need, Sammy” Dean grins down at his little brother. Having Sam this strung out and desperate for him is like a drug. I could get used to this being a monthly thing, he smirks to himself, reaching his hand down between Sam’s legs and rubbing at his slick entrance. “Need me right here, dontcha Sammy? I can feel how much you need me,” Dean groans as the tip of his finger slips inside of Sam too easily, “fuck, you’re wet. So fucking wet for me, huh Sammy?”
Sam just nods blissfully down at Dean; it seems his vocabulary of one word has now receded to zero.
Cas had warned him about this, that as an Omega, Sam would start leaking like a fire hydrant, but at least it saved him having to hunt around for some kind of lube — he’d never needed to have that on hand before, and if he found any lying around the bunker there’s a decent chance it would be cursed or something. Plus, he bet this made the whole experience way better for Sam, so he was all for it. Dean moves between Sam’s legs and runs the head of his cock over Sam’s twitching entrance. Sammy lets out a weak moan and arches against the pressure, trying to get Dean to slip inside. Dean’s about to oblige when he remembers what Cas said about them getting locked together by the Alpha’s knot once he comes, and he thinks better of their position. It will be easier to roll on to their sides and rest if he does this with Sam on his hands and knees.
He manhandles Sam into position, rolling him over, and when Sam gets the idea and pushes himself onto his hands and knees, arching his back and presenting himself to Dean like some kind of trophy, Dean can’t hold himself back any longer. He pushes his cock inside Sam slowly, agonisingly and torturously slowly. Not because he’s concerned about hurting Sam, who is opening up beneath him like he was born for this — born to take Dean’s cock — but because he knows he wants to savour this moment for the rest of his life. He wants to remember every second of the first time he felt what it was like to truly possess Sam, to be joined so completely to one another that not even their bodies can keep them separate. So Dean goes slow, even though Sam is begging beneath him, asking him to just fuck him already, Dean ignores him, and he drinks the feelings in.
When he’s got himself bottomed out inside of Sam he leans down over his brother and presses a kiss to his shoulder, tenderly, thanking him for what he’s giving Dean right now. “You feel so good Sammy,” Dean moans, and he doesn’t mean for it to sound as sappy as it does but it’s hard to regulate things like that when you feel like you’ve just connected to your soulmate for the first time, so he gives himself a pass.
The next time Sam begs, Dean gives in, snapping his hips back and fucking into him as hard as he can manage. And once he’s started he can’t stop. Every instinct inside of Dean is shouting at him to take, to fuck Sam into the mattress and never let up, which Sam doesn’t seem to mind, because no matter how roughly Dean thrusts into him he keeps shouting for more, faster, harder, please. So Dean, ever the good big brother, gives Sammy what he needs — what they both need.
Dean can feel himself getting closer and closer to his release, and that’s when he notices that he can’t quite pull out as far as before. His knot has begun swelling at the base of his cock, getting ready to pop and bind him and Sam together. The fattening edges catching on Sam’s rim give Dean a kind of friction no sex ever has before and, fucking hell, it feels unbelievably good. He grinds himself harder against Sam, dropping over his back so they can be as close as possible, and bringing his hand up beneath Sam to grasp at his little brother’s dick. It’s the first time he’s properly touched it, felt it in his hand, and shit, it feels even bigger than it looks.
“Oh my god, Dean,” Sam groans, sounding absolutely wrecked, and Dean takes that as a compliment. “Fuck, don’t stop, don’t stop, fuck, please,” Sam is pleading with him so prettily, and Dean wants to cum just as badly as him.
“Not stopping Sammy,” Dean strokes him faster, grinds into him harder, “not stopping until you cum all over my hand baby boy, so c’mon, want you to cum f’me.” Dean thanks God that Sam starts to cum loudly when Dean tells him too, because the second he feels Sam start to convulse around him his knot pops and he’s cumming harder than he ever has in his life. The thought of his seed whitewashing Sam’s insides is sickeningly thrilling and he swears a second, small orgasm rocks through him — and hey, if that’s a perk of being an Alpha, I could get used to this.
When Dean comes back to himself, his breathing finally evening out, he notices Sam slumped beneath him, no longer holding himself up. He quickly checks for a pulse, and relaxes when he finds one – Sam’s just passed out. Fuck, he came so hard he passed out. Dean shudders, feeling another small blurt of cum force itself out of his cock at the thought that he’d fucked Sam so thoroughly. To be honest he was a little proud of himself.
Dean arranges himself on his side on the bed, so he can curl around Sam while he waits for his knot to deflate. He thought he’d be annoyed by having to stay still like this for so long but it’s surprisingly peaceful, laying here with Sam asleep in his arms. He hugs his little brother tighter to him, clasping his hands over Sam’s chest – over his heart – feels the rhythm and reassures himself that Sam is here, and alive, and safe. And his. The realisation hits Dean unexpectedly. Sam is finally his in the most permanent way he can think of, and his heart leaps at the thought. The last thing he thinks before he drops off to sleep too, is that he hopes Sam still wants to be his when he wakes up.
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