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simon-x-billy · 6 months

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Simon x Billy

Chapter 11: What is my hand doing?

[Gif not mine]

Prompt: Secret relationship reveal

Masterlist || ao3 || start || prev || next wip!

RECAP: When last we left our lovers, Simon was still stuck in Brooklyn for career purposes, but at least he got to tell his besties that he is A. on a panel at Comic Con for reasons; B. moving to Italy; and C. talking to someone there. That would be Billy, but the besties think it’s Billie — so that’s fun. Billy, on the other hand, has not been told about Simon’s decision to move. But at least he finally has been told when Simon is coming back to see him — in two days. Today is not that day. Tomorrow is. Until then, the pair are inventively and intuitively making use of technology to come together again. But before we can get to that, the plot thickens/deepens/moves forward. TW: Phone sex written by someone who has never had it. If this is a hideously awful embarrassment to phone sex-havers everywhere, please leave a comment, DM, whatever. Why should they have bad phone sex when they can have better phone sex? Seriously, I ask you.

Chapter 11: What is my hand doing?

———/Simon/———

Ugh, Brooklyn. (Blasphemer! I’m calling myself out and I am a-shamed.) But it's true. Brooklyn is ugh to me right now. At least the wait is almost over. Kelly finally arranged to have me sent back to Italy tomorrow night. Like a- Well, like whatever kinds of objects get sent back to Italy.

Wait.

I rewind that thought back to where I said ‘tomorrow night,’ and this time think it with a bullhorn. TOMORROW NIGHT! Hallefrickinlujah.

The fear is that she’s probably made all the arrangements necessary to have me air dropped from a moving helicopter to get back at me for announcing I’m abandoning Brooklyn. She is truly angry at me. It became particularly apparent when I asked for help with the real estate stuff. That might have been exactly the wrong thing to ask for her help with. This will require a fitting gesture of my undying admiration, and my amazement at her next level ability to put up with me. She levels up every time I breathe in her general direction.

I’m calling Billy without even realizing it.

“Hey, man,” Billy answers. “Howeyeh?” I can hear him smiling.

“Do you have plans tonight?” I ask. “Beyond sleeping, I mean.”

“Just sleepin,” Billy replies with curiosity. I can hear him yawn at the other end and it feels endearing in my stomach. Which is weird, but pleasant. “What did you have in mind?” I can hear his smile change to a sly smirk all the way from Italy.

“I want to fall asleep listening to you fall asleep,” I admit, and immediately die of cringe. Hello, creeper. It’s too late, and I can’t take it back.

“Now, see, yeh can’t just go round sayin beautiful stuff of that sort. It’s unfair, that’s what it is. Say it again.”

“I want us to fall asleep together,” I repeat. “Even if we can’t exactly be together when we do it.”

Billy makes a noncommittal sound. “Time difference is a heartless bitch, Simon. How early can yeh manage fallin asleep?”

“Well,” I pause in frustration cuz I hadn’t thought about that at all in my internal fantasy of hearing him sleep. (Creepy? Romantic? Romantically creepy? Don’t know, don’t care.)

I offer an alternative. “Wake up just for me, then go back to sleep?”

Billy snorts right about the time I realize that that’s actually kind of a tall ask. And again, possibly creepy. Or romantically creepy. “Am I creepy? Or romantically creepy?”

“It’s more romantically presumptuous, really. But I’m setting my alarm, nonetheless. Now let me alone so I can finish prepping the zeppole. Hot pillows of sweetness sent by the Lord himself.”

“Like my own hot pillows of sweetness?” I giggle. I’m giggling.

“Er,” Billy begins. After a moment’s consideration, he clears his throat. “You bake?”

———/Billy/———

“Will yeh be wantin a tour guide and a driver for Pompeii, then?” I ask the pair before me, tryin not to yawn into the late afternoon sun as I count out the change for their beach chair rental. No less than 70, if they’re a day.

“Why? You think we can’t find our way ourselves without them? We’re more than capable, young man,” says the missus. I can see she’s just windin up for a tongue lashing. Grumpy in the mornings, could be.

Grumpy.

I head her off at the pass, picking up the beach bar’s ancient phone with a finger poised to dial. “Not in the least, not in the least. But I guarantee you’ll get more out of it with a guide to show you all the secret corners, peek inside the archaeologists’ tents, tell yeh the local lore and the wisdom of the ages.”

She relaxes. Guaranteed it was the ‘wisdom of the ages’ bit what did it.

“Ah, go on. Let me call the front desk. They’ll arrange for everything.”

“I can arrange for everything my-” she begins, pugnacious as ever.

“Martha,” the man says softly with his hand on his wife’s back. “Let the boy do his job.”

Bright eyes, big smile, Delaney. Simon would be proud of my Guest Services face, and then demand I’m lying about never attending theatre school. I hmmm inaudibly to myself.

Shocked am I, the whole thing is managed entire without another objection, and the mulish Martha and her man are sat there happily installed on their beach loungers.

Oh, Lord. Here comes trouble. “It’s to be that sort of day, is it?” I grumble.

At the very least, I have fair warnin as I can hear the trouble comin. The soft tinkle of bells at her toes announces her arrival. “Well if it isn’t the lovely and mysterious Sabina. Docked the barge, have yeh.” Land ho.

“It’s Billy, isn’t it.” Not a question. Lovely.

“More a ‘he’ than an ‘it.’” Get your pronouns right, miss.

She doesn’t deign to acknowledge my comment. I’m to be ‘it,’ then. Is she offensive on purpose, or does it just come naturally? Perhaps she’s simply gifted that way.

“To what do I owe the honor, my dear?”

“Instructions,” she says with a coolness that verges on frostbite. “For a party next Saturday night. You will come out to the boat as my guest,” she informs me, and tips her head to the side as she gauges my reaction.

Is she- I mean, she wouldn’t be- askin me out? Never.

“Bring Simon as your +1.”

“He’s the +1?”

“You be the +1 if you like that position better.” Her monstrously oversized sun hat casts shadows across her tip to toe, straw letting through tiny, bright dots of light that shift as she shifts. Just as the day I made her cheerful acquaintance.

Has it really only been two weeks? Really? That can’t be right.

“Greta will text Kelly the details, technicalities, all that,” she informs me. Kelly is Simon’s PA, so I’m assumin Greta’s her own.

“Kelly? You know Kelly.”

“Of course. She’s Kelly. People know this about her.” She waves away the question as if it’s both beneath her and boring.

“Sabina, has anyone ever described you as a piece of work? I’m meaning a work of art, acourse.”

She lowers her sunglasses and without cracking the slightest smile, winks at me. Well fuck me sideways.

“How did you know?” I ask, takin my opportunity where I find it. “It’s been botherin me ever since your show. You well knew the party was at a pan club. Why us? Tellin the two of us to come. What did you see in Simon and me that told you somethin would happen?”

Ignoring my question, she floats onto a barstool and flips her curtain of glossy, black hair behind one tanned shoulder.

I put back on my Guest Services face. “Something to drink? Might enjoy an espresso, biscotti,” I offer.

“No. I will not eat,” she informs me.

“Then what can I do for yeh, my dear?”

“Come next weekend. Another birthday party. They happen every year,” she says, lackadaisically. “The house. The boat. You know how it is.”

“Do I?”

“Maybe you don’t.”

She never answered my question, and I’m of a mind to persist. “We’ll consider it, if yeh answer me. Why did you tell us about your show in Naples? What did you see in the pair of us? How could you have known, when even we didn’t?”

“Billy.” She places her hand over mine. I use wiping down the bar as a reason to casually free it again. Watching my reaction over her absurdly large sunglasses, she gloats almost imperceptibly. “Make me a bellini.”

Sabina taps her fingernails on the bar top and takes the opportunity to study me as I pull out the peach purée. I add the sparkling prosecco and place the drink in front of her, giving her an arched eye caterpillar.

She tips her head toward me and says, “All right. I’ll tell you. Simon, you know he’s from New York.”

I nod.

“We know the same people,” she says as if that explains anything.

“And?”

“And from the cafe I saw Simon Lewis sitting in my marina.”

“Your marina?”

She bats the question away. “Of all the times Simon and I have wound up at the same parties, I’ve never seen him look at anyone else the way he looked at you.”

Fuck me.

She continues, “He wanted me to go away, deeply. Who could make Simon want such a thing? So I thought I’d have a little experiment. Nothing outrageous.” She smirks. “You couldn’t take your eyes off him. But he practically pissed a circle around you.”

“Not at all. He spent the whole time dealin with you, my darlin. And if anything, it was me as was sat there doin the pissing. I didn’t much care for the way you spoke to him.”

She laughs low. “Your expression gave you away, you know. The kiss was a test; a simple one.”

“Then what if we hadn’t been, I don’t know, swept up in the whole thing that night?” I challenge her. “What would have happened then?”

“Does it matter? Were you? Swept away? The right music at the right moment can make anything happen.” She dismounts with the tinkling of tiny bells, bellini untouched.

Before she reaches the hotel elevator, Sabina calls back over her shoulder, “Oh and Billy. Dress for Capri.”

Ah. Understood. I take a deep breath. “I’ll do the best I can.”

She nods, and departs without a word.

“Lovely to see you, too,” I mutter.

———/-/———

It’s Wednesday? I thought yesterday was Wednesday. Fuck me, an extra day. Life drags on at a snail’s pace.

Opening photos, I realize Simon’s face was the last shot I took that wasn’t of my genitals. It’s of him in the tunnel, moments before we entered the club. All bold, confident, and full of excitement, with not a clue of the direction the night would take.

When I look at him, I’ve no idea who I am anymore. I’ve never really been that certain to begin with, in all honesty.

For a man without a rudder, I’ve never needed to know who I am. Just all the whos I’m not. Not a father, not a son, not a brother, not a bother.

Alfie tells me I’m the best of friends. Cheers, mate. Nice to hear, but I’m not sure I believe it overmuch. Not when I’ve never stuck round long enough to be a good friend to anyone.

I’m a nomad. And I hate it.

I’ve only just realized that I hate it. Before Italy, before this glorious place, I’d have described my life as Freedom. Carefree, exciting, mind-broadening, instructive, adventuresome, even a right good time. But as I feel all these words strung together in my mind, I realize they’re all empty and meaningless, when it’s clear I’m the one who’s strung together. Like stringing lights about a Christmas tree. Invariably there are big holes crying out to be filled. Gaps with nothin big enough to fill them. That’s me — gaps big enough for a man to fall through. Never to be heard from again.

For certain, not a sole Delaney has ever noticed I’ve gone. Isn’t that just grand. All the times I’ve lived under one roof or another, time done for what? Some stories told over a pint at Christmas. And not the funny kind.

“Remember that cousin Billy?”

“Oh sure’n let me see now. He was the one as had the curly hair, yeah? Nice fella.”

Or the older generation? They might say, “Oh that Billy, he always was such a helpful young man to have round the house when somethin needed seein to. So helpful. Can’t remember the sound of his voice or the colour of his eyes, but he sure was helpful. Cryin shame we never had a good place to put him when it was our turn.” Sure’n that’s what they’d say.

Oh, shit. Must remember to ring Shazza and wish her a happy birthday.

———/-/———

“Vittorio, buongiorno,” I say as I enter his office.

Rosalina has just been to fetch me from the kitchen, where I’d been losing myself in the mundanity of prep work.

Problem is, I’ve also been gettin lost in too many mental images from the weekend. Just couldn’t clear my head. All good, so good.

It was all so good until Simon’s phone lit up like a christmas tree, and everything hit a wall. Just bam! Face first. A wall. (Shaped like a woman named Kelly, presumably somewhere in New York.)

It’s his career, Delaney. Quit thinkin what yer thinkin. It’s just God punching us in the nads with fate, as Simon would surely say.

Thing is, I do feel as though I’ve been punched in the testicles. I do. And I’m not sure what’s makin me feel worse — the testicles or the fact that we said goodbye immediately after my life was rocked on its foundations.

Am I bi? Never figured I was before. Does that mean I’m not? I love makin love to a woman. So, not gay per se. But not entirely straight, neither. How could I be?

So, bi?

Bein bi would explain Simon’s sudden appearance on the short list of people who’ve ever made me come that hard. Does that make me bi?

“Beelee!” The hearty voice of Vittorio greeting me snaps me out of yet another reverie. With that big-loving smile, kisses to the cheeks, an arm round the shoulder, he makes me feel welcome, and he knows how to make me feel useful. Helpful. Good at what I do. And like I contribute to this little family he’s built in his kitchen.

My smile stretches wide. Not just because I feel like smilin, but more because he deserves all the smiles. “Vittorio, you are a gentleman and a scholar.”

He laughs with a boom. “Si, certo!” Yes, obviously.

“Certo,” I agree, and indeed it is obvious. He’s wise, and kind. I hate getting attached. But I’ll hate saying goodbye to Vittorio. Ah, fuck. I’m attached. It’s too late.

“Come, Beelee. You will sit with me,” he says, opening the doors out to his private garden patio, and motioning me past. He picks up a sweating pitcher of the homemade lemonade they call limonata, made and bottled here in one of the orchard’s outbuildings. If sunlight had a taste it would be Vittorio’s limonata.

“Beelee,” he begins, once we’ve settled in. He looks out at the view and sighs. “The year you are with us is coming near to end,” he says with the most marvelous Northern Italian accent. “You are considering this with much thought, yes?” He leans back comfortably and sips his limonata in a motion he’s likely developed over decades in that chair with this view. Quite a place to talk business and no mistake.

His words finally penetrate my addled brain. “Have I thought of movin on?”

“Si,” he nods.

Movin on.

No, I have not been considering with much thought. But maybe I should. He’s right. It’s only a couple months off, innit. I’ve barely kept an eye on the goings-on in the culinary world since I arrived in Sorrento. And that is curious.

It’s curious, as every other country I’ve been I've always seen as a gig. Workin to live, yes acourse, but livin to expand my ability, my craft, my creativity, along those veins. Finding the joy in learning the tempo of life in each place. I have loved almost all of my gigs, and enjoyed the environs as much as time allowed. And yet I’m always counting down the days, weeks, and months, months, weeks, and days, well before the end for each city. Until now.

I love Vittorio. Adore him. Both as a mentor and as a man. He is a good man. Solid. Steady. Fiercely loyal and protective of the hotel family he’s built. He may have been born in the North well away from the water, but after all this time he has come to be a man of the South. Its cliffs, the sea, the vertical living with stairs to get anywhere. This is his home. Yes, he was born in Siena, but he chose to live his life in Sorrento. He chose this place to plant his roots, and settled in to live his best life.

I long to live that dream somethin awful. Some sort of permanence in this temporary life of mine. A life I could build, myself. A place of choice. A family of choice. Finding my tribe. And holding on to them. Holdin on for as long as I’m allowed to keep ‘em.

Vittorio looks at me with those intuitive eyes of his. “Qua cosa? What thing is so bad to make your face is falling?” He pretends his face has fallen to his lap to illustrate. “You are having sadness?”

“I haven’t thought much about leaving, to be honest,” I admit.

“You fall in love with Italia, I think. In you I see this, each day a little more, a little more. I am thinking the thoughts that you I should send to Firenze. You learn to cook in the North. It is, come se dice, how you say, molto bene very good y diferente with the Campania kitchens of us here.”

“Si, si, I’d like to learn the northern cuisine.” I can barely get my mouth to shape my next words. “Before I leave Italy.”

“Si. O posso Venezia. Pero non sera ristauranti che va bene.”

I laugh at such a sweeping statement of negativity from this man. “There are no good restaurants in Venice?”

“If there was good ristaurante, I send you to there. But Roma.” He rolls his r with gusto and passion for the eternal city. RrrrrrrOmmmmma. “Roma? Si, son ristauranti with the goodness I demand for to send you to there.” He nods thoughtfully. “Stefano, si.”

“Stefano Rossi?” Jaysus, good enough?

“O in Toscana, to Rodolfo.”

“Rodo Molinaro?” For serious?

“Si.”

Before I can bleat about these two utter gods of Italian cuisine, he interrupts me. “Or we take you from Italia and make you in France. Parigi - what you are calling Paris? Provence? You stay on the Mediterraneo you try Nice, la Riviara Franca.”

At least the French Riviera is just down the coast. (And that’s my first thought? How close I’d be to here?)

I try to interject, but he continues. “O in Spagna. I am having the very strong thought of Barcellona. O Siviglia. O to where you are calling Switzerland — Lucerne. You like Lucerne?”

“I’ve never-“

“You think with deeply careful thought of these places. I have thought very strong and with time that is long and full of care. These are the places you consider.”

“Vittorio. You are a dear, dear man and I cannot think of a suitable way to show how very much gratitude I have for you.”

“But your face is not a face of a man is happy,” he observes. “You are disappointing with these choices I give you?”

“No! Never, Vittorio. Not ever. I would joyfully live in every one of these cities! Florence, Rome. Paris, Nice. Barcelona, Seville. Lucerne. All of them.” Or none.

————/Simon/————

“I’d be in the air already, but I have to fit in one last fake fight with Kelly before I go. I promised to take her to brunch so we could fake-fight in person.”

“Let me guess, ‘It’s kind of your thing.’ Seems to me I’ve heard that one before,” Billy snarks into the phone. He sighs in defeat. “I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I think I’m jealous.”

“Oh yeah? Why? Literally dying to know the answer.”

“How long do I have to wait?” he asks, sounding greedy.

“For what?”

“Before I can have you again,” Billy growls, in a tone he’d surely describe as naughty. Or at least I would describe it as naughty.

“With your moans in my ear, breath hot against my throat,” he continues. See? Naughty.

“Billy.”

“Simon.”

“Billy. What are you doing?”

“Hearing that sound you made when I licked a stripe up your neck, still salty with sweat from the club.” His voice is all gravel, low and rumbly.

“You don’t fight fair,” I whine. But in an appealing, sexy way.

————/Billy/————

I like that impatient sound. “I wish this was your hand,” I say, trying to keep the grin out my voice.

“What? W-what is my hand doing?” I hear Simon swallow at the other end.

“That twist you did — it’s like you read my mind: How to wank Billy Delaney.”

I don’t have my hand anywhere close to my cock. I just love gettin to hear him all flustered.

“Uh, um, Billy? Are you having solo phone sex right now? Is that what you’re doing? Cuz I gotta tell you-“ he breaks off.

“What do you have to tell me, Simon?”

Silence.

“And make it good,” I rumble.

“Jesus Christ, Billy.”

“No, just Billy.”

“Funny,” he responds dryly. Which acourse makes me smile. It’s the combination of exasperation, frustration, and libido all fighting for their turns to spring out his mouth.

“Is it? I thought we were gettin someplace, Simon.” I pitch my voice as low as it will go. “Someplace good.”

He lets out a whimper, then all I hear is rustling. Something clatters on a hard floor. Simon gasps, “Shit!” followed by, “Oh, thank God,” then somethin else falls with a thud. I hear shuffling in the background and angry muttering.

“Simon?”

“Wait, wait, hang on just a-“ I hear a jingling of bells, and then the sound of street traffic. People in conversation getting closer and fading away. Sirens. Loud sirens. I hear the tell-tale sound of his Converse slapping on pavement, accompanied by rapid breathing and some mumbled curses. “Come on come on come on!” I hear him whisper.

“Ey! I’m walkin here!” he says loudly, away from the phone. Followed swiftly by an angry, “Yeah, fuck you too, buddy,” under his breath. I feel as though I’m listening to every film about New York ever made.

“Hang on, just a sec,” he huffs faintly, as if the phone isn’t at his ear. I hear the jingling of keys. Everything he does is suddenly amplified, all with a strange, hollow ambience. A few loud, echoing footsteps later, and again I hear the sound of keys scraping into a lock.

“Where are you?” I ask.

“Closer to my bed than I was five minutes ago,” Simon answers. “Not there yet.”

“Where were you five minutes ago?” This is pure gold.

“The bodega on the corner.”

“Serious?” I laugh. “Why’d you turn round?”

“Fuck you, Billy.”

“Not yet.”

I hear him trip over something. The phone clearly just went thud on carpet, and I hear a distant voice, swearing, “Where are you, fucking bastard.” His voice gets closer and closer. “Oh thank fucking Christ. I thought I broke my phone. Oh my sweet baby, an angel at one ear, a devil at the other.” He pauses as he shuffles whatever’s in his hands. “Billy? You still there?”

“Oh, I’m here, Simon.”

“Ok, start talking dirty again.”

I blink.

And we’re both laughing. “I like that you make me laugh,” I tell him.

“I like that you talk dirty. Can we go back to that please?”

“You tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine?” I tease.

“What does that even mean?”

“Where are you, Simon?”

“Standing at the base of my bed.”

“Naked yet?”

He chokes, “What?”

“Just wonderin. Set the scene for me, Simon.”

“Theatre school, I’m telling you, theatre school.”

“You’re thinking about theatre school at a time like this.”

“Not even a little, when you sound like this. Jesus, Billy.”

“Where are you now?” I keep my voice fluid.

“Oh! Um, not where I was a minute ago the last time you asked. No, not still there,” he says.

“Naked yet?” It all started out as a gag, but I’ve become increasingly invested in his answers.

“Shoe-less. But I’m working on it.”

“Let me hear you take off your shirt.”

“Okaaay. How?” he asks in confusion. “Shirts aren’t loud. Am I supposed to rip it?”

“You like the shirt? Cos I want to hear all the buttons popping off.”

I didn’t think he’d do it, but I clearly hear the sound of buttons set free, pinging off every surface.

“Button fly again tonight?” I ask, thinking back to how easily his jeans came undone with just a flick of his hand.

“Not tonight.”

“Let me hear the zipper when you pull it down.” I hum as I hear the zzzzzz.

“Did you hear it?” he asks, voice turning gruff.

“I didn’t think I would, but that was hot.” I thought I was teasing, but now I know I’m not. “Let me hear the material slide down your legs. Slowly, Simon. Don’t rush it.”

His phone amplifies the rustle of fabric sliding over skin as though my ear is right there. My eyes slip shut. I can picture the material being pulled slowly over his hips, revealing the V of his muscles there, then catching on the swell of his arse. Sliding over that magnificent arse. Fuck, when he runs, I bet it bounces. And the image makes me groan.

“Mmm, that sounded good,” Simon nearly purrs. He’s gone from 1 to purring in under 3 seconds. “Did it feel good, Billy?”

“Yer man’s got game then, has he?” I challenge him.

“You haven’t answered my question, have you, Billy.”

“Is the secret just to work my name into every sentence? Cos I’ll be honest with yous. It’s doin it for me.” I need more than this. Without preamble I switch us to FaceTime.

“Rude!” he squawks.

“Are you offended, Simon?” I set up the angle for him to watch. He’s gone silent. Turns out I’m clothed enough for some suspenseful stripping of my own. His face is priceless.

————/Simon/————

Merp.

—————/Billy/—————

I watch as his eyes go dark, and his expression turns unselfconscious. Hungry.

I’m more’n likely to show him whatever he wants to see, though it can be hard to actually ask for it. “What and where, Simon?”

“Mmhm that sounds nice,” he says absently.

“Nice.” That’s not what I’ve been goin for. Seems his thoughts are a mite preoccupied. “Do you know what I want to do to you the minute I see you?” I challenge.

“Um. No?”

“I am going to strip you bare after Customs if you stop for any reason except to walk straight to me.”

“You’ll be there at the airport?”

“And I will strip you bare. Right there at Customs. Don’t test me, Simon. After you’ve landed? If I see yeh doing anything?” I prompt him.

“I’ll come straight to you,” he says on a whisper.

“That’s right you will. And the moment we reach the car, I’ll press you against it, undo your jeans, and wrap my hand round you, with just enough firm pressure.”

He whimpers.

“What do you like, Simon? Tell me and I’ll give it to you.”

“What I-“ His eyes go blank. “Merp.”

So I continue. “Then I’ll tell you what I want from you when I get you back to the hotel.”

He whimpers again.

“I want you to strip me slowly, make me impatient. Because I’ll be dying to have you fast. I’ll have been waiting for you, wantin to take you in that tiny car, wanting to feel all of you, and lay you down. But-“

“But she’s too small,” he whispers, getting into it a bit more.

“I’d bend you over the bonnet, but you won’t let me.”

“I won’t?”

“No Simon, you won’t. You’ll tell me the fuckin luggage can wait, and you’ll drag me to your room.”

“I’ll be dragging you?” he asks, sounding confused.

“Just go with it. You’re breaking my flow.”

“Sorry,” he whispers with a grimace.

“Shhh.”

“Ok.”

“Shhh. Hear me. I’ll want to drag you to bed instantly, but you won’t let me. You tell me to slow down. Take my time.”

“Take your time? We’ve gone a whole week without each other. How much more time will we need? Are we even naked yet?”

“Shhh, Simon. See it. See me in agony, desperate for every second I can have with you again. I’ll start at one end of your body and work my way to the other. Those runner’s legs, God. All that skin up, up, following my hands with my lips, lettin the hair slide across my mouth between kisses. Show me where my lips are, Simon.”

His breath catches. “Jesus, Billy.”

“Do you want to see how close my mouth will be? I’ll show you. Watch where I start, Simon, just here. See me.”

He lets out a high puff of air. His breath rate has picked up. So has mine.

“I’ll stop and kiss here.” I circle the spot. “I want my mouth on you, Simon. The soft, warm spot behind your knee you’ve never thought about until I became the first person to tongue you there. Or here,” I whisper, drawing my hand up my inner thigh. I have one thought and one thought only: get this next shot right.

I bring the camera round, laying back to give him the long view up my body.

“Mmmfm, you have a wet spot in your briefs,” he says in a huskier voice. He’s finally getting out of his own way.

“Do you know why, Simon?”

“Why?”

“Because all I can think about is running my lips over all of this skin,” and I draw my fingers slowly up to where my thighs meet. He lets out a high breath. “Show me, Simon. Show me where my lips are.”

The image on the screen swings wildly around, showing bits of lightly furred leg, the color of his sheets, confusing body hair, and the paint on the ceiling. He grunts as he repositions himself. Suddenly, the image is swinging around to show me the path up his knee and I get an eyeful of the long view he’s giving me.

“Mmmmm, do you know what I see, Simon?” All that flesh leadin to the sight of a cock and balls from below, snug in a pair of boxer briefs, lookin monstrous huge from this vantage point.

“Yes,” he breathes. “Yes, I know ex’ex’exactly what that l’looks like.”

“Draw your hand up the inside of your thigh for me. Let me watch it, your phone followin behind the whole way up.” I give him an example to inspire him. “Tell me when to stop, Simon.”

A high moan escapes him. “W’when do you want to stop?”

“Never.”

He groans. “Take off your briefs, Billy,” he instructs me, feeling bolder. “Now.”

I smile to myself. That’s the spirit.

“For you, anything, Simon.” And I realize I actually mean that. I probably would do just about anything he told me to.

“You liked that, didn’t you?” he asks me. “The wet spot just got bigger.” He sounds terribly proud of himself, and continues with more confidence. “Oh shit, your cock just got bigger, too. God, I can see the tip peeking out of your waistband.”

I steadily reveal every millimeter until he can see the full head. “Oh God. Billy.”

“I want you naked and fucking your hand, Simon, now. Let me watch.”

Simon whines.

“Naked, Simon. Then hand.”

Again, his high puffs of breath turn into a whine. But the moment I fist my cock, Simon’s voice drops two registers — as if he knows this is the moment we really get started. He’s saying, “I want to see the tip poke out of your fist, see you drawing the hood back as you stroke.”

“Fuck yes, Simon.”

“Closer,” he demands.

I moan at the thought that he wants to see it up closer. That an eyeful doesn’t send him runnin for covers. But no, he’s enjoying being in control.

“What does your other hand really want to be doing?” Simon rumbles. “When it’s not holding the phone, what’s it holding? Or fondling? Or sliding over. Show me, Billy. Show me what you do when you’re alone.” It’s a command, not a request.

I let out a long stuttering breath. “Simon, I think you might be quite good at this. Given some more practice,” I say, as I try in vain to get my phone under control. I need a place to prop it so I can use both hands. Finally, driven by the agony of frustration, I set the phone against a pillow at the right angle and kneel with knees spread wide.

“Oh fuck shit fuck,” comes straining out of him, and he’s fully stroking himself in earnest. “Nhhhh, Jesus Billy.”

What’s he on about? I look down at myself and visualize the view from that angle. Oh God. “You, too,” I grind out. “Want to see you too.”

He gives me what I want. Lord, that is a filthy fuckin sight from that angle. My hips punch my cock through my fist and I cradle my balls.

“Fuck yes,” he moans. I look down and find just how much precome I’m dripping. I hitch my hips closer to the camera and splay my legs wider. “Oh Jesus Billy fuck,” he gasps at the sight.

“Show me,” I tell him. He takes a screenshot and turns the phone round to show me. “Show me on you, Simon.”

“Oh, right,” he breathes.

“Faster,” I tell him. “Let me hear you.”

“What makes you come, Billy? Mmmmmfffwant to see it up close,” he groans.

I reframe the phone, but the sight from this distance has got to be brutal.

“Oh Jesus, Billy,” he huffs, then “Oh God,” comes out with an urgent tone. I’m flyin in and out my fist, yet somehow he can see it all.

“No, don’t stop,” I complain as his hand stutters to a stand still. He puts the phone down on the bed below him, and squats just over it. It’s an intense view. “Oh God, Simon. That is obscene.”

“Now you,” he instructs. “I want to see both hands better.”

I try to angle more carefully so he can see more cock and less balls.

“Oh fuck,” he says in surprise. “Right there, yes. No, too far, bring it back, bring it back - stop! Perfect. Show me.”

“That’s,” I grate out, “my line.” Oh God, I feel the sensation begin to build. “Simon- Si’ nhhhh, I’m- are you-“ I can’t think.

“Yes,” he grates out, followed by a strained, “Fuuuuuck!” I’m glad he’s as close as I am. I want to see him tip over the edge while he’s watchin me do the same.

I’m fucking panting, every breath I force out comes back in gasps. “Oh God yes,” I whisper. “Simon.”

“Me, too, me, too, oh fuck yes fuck. B’Billy?”

The look on his face is all shock and awe, then all I can see filling the screen is the head of his cock pulsing spurts of come landing somewhere outside the frame.

Ho shit. Fuck fuck fuck, the heat blooms throughout my body in warning. “Oh God, fuck Simon, fuuu, can you see? I want you- watch-“ I call out nonsense. I can only focus on the rush I feel throughout my body. I come in full view of the phone and my knees buckle.

Rolling to my back and still panting, I try to remember my name and country of origin. But “Simon,” is the only word I can find.

————/-/————

Masterlist || ao3 || start || prev || next wip!

————/-/————

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clay-cuttlefish · 9 months

Text

Finally we've arrived at 52, the series that turned me from a casual reader of a few comics into a full-on DC fan and Question enthusiast. This is the reason I set out on this project in the first place. I love it so much.

This is my fifth time reading this in full, I think, and I still get hyped at this opening issue. Look at my guys.

It's a miracle this came together as well as it did. The omnibus is great for giving some insight into that construction process.

There's just so much in 52 and I can't believe they pulled it off. Part of that is that it's thematically coherent, despite how different the plots are. Grief, reinvention, self-destruction as a means to cope with loss... it all feeds into itself.

In a slightly different timeline I came out of 52 fixated on Booster Gold and stumbled back into the Question later through Blue Beetle, instead of the other way around.

It took 416 issues but they're interacting! They're together! It's paying off!

Renee's heartbreaking spiral into self-destruction is interrupted by this massive dork. I love them.

I really need to read Steel. Captivated by these two.

Skeets nudging the gyro cart owner out of the way is a very good panel. Catlike behavior.

Booster and Bea's conversation is so. Hhh.

In the omnibus, Mark Waid calls Vic and Renee's scene "one of the high points of the entire series", and I'm with him.

Renee and Maggie...

The metahuman hospital's a really cool piece of worldbuilding.

The only plotline I don't care much about is the spaceguys. I still like them, but the bar's really high here and I want to see other characters more.

Wish this was less creepy about Starfire.

Kind of obsessed with Bob the theatre teacher and villain-for-hire, conceptually.

It takes a while for the Black Adam plot to pick up steam so this part isn't quite hitting yet.

Booster having a normal one.

Renee hasn't talked to her mom in three years by this point. Oof.

The exes of all time!

Booster... Ralph blaming him for Ted's death is brutal.

Oh cmon girl you're smarter than this. It's Lex Luthor, when has he ever had anyone's best interests at heart.

At least Ollie's still doing his thing.

Clark hating Booster is so good.

"Smart-ass." "Consistency is everything." He is so annoying!

The John and Natasha fight is great.

#10

Clark taking a page from Lois' book is so good. Ridiculous.

I like Will and Professor Morrow a lot, nice that they're back in focus.

Supernova time :)

#11

His anti-smoking rant...

"I don't owe you anything." Oof ouch my soul.

Big talk here from a guy who spent a decade hung up on Myra.

The one superheroine ass shot I respect is in the "that's a Batwoman" panel because Renee deserves to appreciate Kate's ass.

#12

Besties moment.

Black Adam's plotline is gaining speed.

Oh Ralph.

#13

Oh NO, Ralph.

#14

They both look so good here. Love his stubble.

Desperately want to hear Tot's side of their conversation, and also their previous phone calls, because I'm sure he'd have Opinions about Vic deciding to become a mentor.

Shaking him. You are so annoying!

"There's no such thing as crazy, just behaviour that society has deemed unacceptable." SO true bestie.

#15

BOOSTER...

#16

Oh god, Renee.

Billy officiating Black Adam's wedding is very sweet.

#17

Luthor's superteam is one of the series highlights.

Still very funny that there's just a guy named Hannibal on it. Zero subtlety here.

Oh Lobo. I do not care about you.

#18

He's so silly.

Renee is having truly awful time falling back into old coping measures and he's out here getting scooped and being made fun of for cockblocking.

Booster's shitty funeral still fucks me up. Choosing to believe Skeets intentionally didn't invite people for evil reasons because the idea nobody showed up is too much.

Once again, oh no Ralph.

#18/2

A backup with Vic's origins. It's about right, though I prefer him starting as the Question before moving back to Hub City.

It lists his "essential storylines" as Mysterious Suspense, The Question 1987, and Cry for Blood, which I mostly agree with. Mysterious Suspense is less important but reading a pre-DC story is useful background for the 87 run and it's his only solo option.

#clayposts #clayreads #the question #vic sage #renee montoya

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please-buckme · 3 years

Text

A Broken Heart.

Lee Bodecker x fem!reader

Chapter 2

Chapter warnings: 18+ mentions of death, mentions of sex, cursing, Lee being an ass, angst, meninist behaviors

Chapter summary: You move back home after three years to find your heart still in shambles.

Masterlist

Series Masterlist

Chapter 1 // Chapter 3

3 Years Later

After moving a whole county away, Highland Ohio to be exact, you stayed for quite some time. Your aunt was amazing and the sweetest woman you’d ever known, and living with her was a breeze. She’d even gotten you a job at the auto shop her recently deceased husband left to her, which you loved. Life was good, for a while. You never had a reason to come home until your momma got sick.

For the past year you watched as your momma slowly faded away until the last week of April when she finally passed in her sleep. You were devastated, of course, but not only because of her death. She didn’t have much to her name besides a couple thousand in the bank and the house you’d left so long ago, which she left all to you.

The house was old. White paneling a faint tint of brown, grey shutters that were almost all off their hinges and rust anywhere you looked. It was a fixer upper and there’s no way you could sell it in its current condition. So, you decided to move back to Knockemstiff, just for the time being.

In all honesty, you’d grown to hate that town. Nothing but bad memories and any good memories you’d had were tarnished completely. So, once the house was decent enough to sell, you were out of there and back to the life you’d created in Highland.

Your aunt and you drove together in her pick up truck back to the house after your momma passed. She helped you unload your stuff and take things to the necessary rooms.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? I can make my famous pancakes. I know you love’em.” She grinned.

“As tempting as that sounds, I’m fine. Please, I insist you go now before it gets dark.” You pull your aunt into a hug, a tight hug.

“I’m gonna miss havin’ you around, kiddo.” She sighed, her breath fanning over your neck.

“It’s only for a few months. I’ll be back to annoying you in no time, oldie.”

“Hey, I’m not old.” She laughed and pointed her finger at you sternly but still in a lighthearted way.

“And I’m not a kid.”

She laughed a little more then sighed, “Well, I guess I’ll head out. Call me if you need anything and don’t forget to go down to Billy’s tomorrow. He’s excited to bring you in.”

You smiled, “How could I forget? I need some sort of income to fix this craphole up.”

You walked your aunt to her car and waved her goodbye as she drove way. Your eyes welled up but you made sure not to cry in front of her or she’d never leave.

Once you went back in, you immediately got to work. Starting in the kitchen, you didn’t have much but a few coffee cups. The house was still occupied with your momma’s things and you were already dreading having to go through it all.

Things started to come together room by room as you worked most of the day away. You cleaned and rearranged things to your liking now that it was your house. It felt almost empowering to do what you want. You’d never lived alone so, in a way, this was an adventure as well.

You took your old room instead of the master, since that’s where your momma passed. It gave you goosebumps just thinking about and you knew you’d never get any sleep if you stayed in there. Your room wasn’t big but it was good enough for now and much better than sleeping in your momma’s death bed, hard pass.

You’d taken a seat on the couch with some tea you’d brewed up earlier that morning. This was the first time you sat down since arriving, and of course there’s a knock at the door.

“Whatever you’re selling, I promise you, I ain’t interested.” You shout, too exhausted to even attempt getting up.

The knocking continued, “Oh, for fucks sake.” You groaned under your breath and stood on your aching feet to tell them to fuck off in person. You opened the door, “did you not hear me the first time. I said-“

“Hi, Y/n” Lee greeted as he removed his hat.

You scoffed, “Can I help you with somethin’, Sheriff?”

Lee stood there, fiddling with the bill of his hat. His belly had gotten a little bigger and his cheeks had gotten a little chubbier, but you couldn’t help the hitch in your throat when his wedding ring caught your eye. Just a basic silver band, nothing special. But it still left a hollow pit in your stomach.

“I-“ he cleared his suddenly dry throat. “I heard you was back in town. Thought I’d come see for ma self if the rumors were true.”

“Welp, here I am. You can go now.”

“Y/n, I-“

“No, Lee, please. I’ve had a long day and I honestly don’t feel like talking to you right now. No, I take that back. I don’t feel like talking to you at all.”

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think, doll.” He grins.

“Goodbye, Sheriff.” You shut the door only to hear him holler at you from the other side.

“Still can’t say my name, huh, Doll? Boy, I really did a number on you, didn’t I?” Your heart sank at his words. It seemed your pain was a joke to him this whole time. You’d always pictured him crying alone like you were but clearly that was never the case. Y’all’s relationship didn’t seem one sided until you were the only one hurt by the fall out.

“Welcome home, Y/n.” He said before you heard his boots click against the porch as he left.

You took a deep breath as you backed away from the door. Tears rimmed your eyes and you scoffed aloud to yourself. After three years you still weren’t over him and you knew that. You didn’t know, however, that he’d still have such a hold on you. And by the way he reacted to how sensitive you were towards the situation still didn’t help the ever growing void that ran through your entire loveless body. The only man you ever loved looked at you as if you were a quick fuck and a punchline.

A tear burned against your cheek and you were quick to wipe it away. You swore to yourself that you’d never cry over that man again and you won’t, instead you decided it was time for a much needed bath.

The bath was scolding hot, just how you liked it, and you opened up a bottle of wine as a sort of reward for the work you’d done today. Once the water got cold and the wine ran out, you brushed your hand and teeth and went to bed.

The sun beamed down against your skin as you walked to the local auto shop where your aunt had set you up with another job. You were always good with numbers and they desperately needed someone on the books. Your job would be to look at their spending over the last few months and figure out some sort of budget. You did that for your aunt at her shop, so this didn’t worry you at all.

“Hi, you must be Billy.” You greet the owner, “I’m

y/n, Peggy’s niece.”

“Oh, yes. I’m glad you finally made it down.” He beamed, shaking your hand, “How long will you be here for?”

“I’m not sure, actually. Just until I get my house fixed up enough to sell.” You say, retracting your hand from his sweaty one.

“Ah, well as luck would have it, our secretary just quit on us last week, so there’s a position you’ll adjust to right fine.”

You scoffed, “Wait a minute. Did you say secretary?”

“Yeah. You need to get your hearing checked, Honey?” He grinned. What is it with the men in this town?!

“No, I heard you just fine. My problem is that I was supposed to be your Budget Holder, not a damn secretary.” Your face was turning a touch of pink as you became increasingly annoyed.

“That’s a man's job, sweetie. We don’t you blown a fuse tryin’ ta add up all them numbers, now do we?”

“You can’t be serious.” You say flatly.

“Look, it’s the only position we got. Take it or leave it.”

Everything in you wanted to March out of that shop and never go back again. A secretary's position is nothing to frown upon, but to only be offered it because you’re a woman was despicable. Sadly, you needed this job and it would only be for a few months. So, when you told him you’d take the job you swallowed every ounce of respect you had for yourself. Knockemstiff was truly the worst town in America.

“Sounds great. We’ll see you tomorrow for training. There’s no dress code but there are a few things you’ll need to know before starting. I’ll fill you in once we start your training tomorrow.” He shook your hand again, completely ignoring the furious grimace on your face.

“Great. See you tomorrow.” You mumbled, walking away so you didn’t ‘accidentally’ hit your new boss.

Before heading home you decided to stop and grab some things for the house. Being sick, your momma didn’t eat much besides soup, and there was an over abundance of vanilla flavored Ovaltine cans littering the kitchen counters, which you hated.

The second the doors opened, all eyes were on you. You even heard a faint gasp coming from the woman at the register. A smirk crept upon your face. These people's lives were so boring that they still aren’t over your breakup that happened so long ago. Rolling your eyes, you grabbed a cart and headed down the produce aisle.

Once you grabbed the vegetables you’d need for a stew, you headed towards the baking aisle. You need the ingredients for an upside down pineapple cake your momma used to make for you as a kid. Your aunt was coming into town on Saturday to lend a hand and celebrate her birthday. You told her to go have fun, but she insisted on spending her special day with you.

As you searched for the baking soda, you heard your name.

“Did you see Y/n’s back in town?” A lady with a high pitched voice whispered.

“I did. I just saw her. Poor thing. She’s probably still caught up on the sheriff. Prolly wish it was her that was on his arm instead of Laura-Jean.”

You rolled your eyes.

“I know it. Wouldn’t you, though? He’s so handsome.” The lady with the high patched voice giggled.

“Oh, hush! Don’t say things like that.” The other lady joined the high pitched one in whispered giggles. “Oh my goodness, here he comes.” She cleared her throat, “Afternoon, Sheriff.”

“Evenin’,Ladies. Y’all behavin’ yourselves?” You could hear the smirk in his voice.

They both giggled and in unison said, “Yes, Sheriff.”

“Oh give me a break.” You grimaced to yourself.

“Heard Y/n’s back in town.” The high pitched one spoke up. Your face burned. Why would they bring you up to him so bluntly like that? Everyone in this town was so unbelievably nosy.

“I- I heard. Actually just went to see her yesterday.” He said, clearing his throat.

“Uh-oh, the misses didn’t like that, I’m sure.” They giggled.

“Oh, no. She didn’t mind. I was just droppin’ by to give her my condolences about her momma dyin’. Then, she slammed the door in my face. I guess she’s still pretty upset with me.” He was pouting, trying to get some sort of sympathy. If you rolled your eyes any harder you thought they’d pop out of your head.

“Oh, you poor thing. Is there anything we can-“

Suddenly the baking soda slipped from your hand and scattered all other the floor in a puff of dust. “Shit, shit, shit.” You whispered to yourself.

“What was that?” One of the ladies asked.

“Excuse me, ladies.” Lee said. You could hear his boots clacking against the floor on there way over to you.

Shit.

You desperately wanted to run away but leaving this mess for someone to clean up wasn’t right, not even with the predicament you found yourself in. “Well, well, well,” Lee mocked as he rounded the corner. “Only here for less than a day and you’re already causin’ trouble.”

“Stay out of this, Bodecker.” You huff, trying to scoop the baking soda back into the card box it spilled from.

“Was you eavesdroppin’, girl?” He asked, kicking the soul of your shoe.

You scoffed, “Oh, please. I could give two shits what you say about me, Bodecker.”

He leaned in close, hovering over your left side. You heard him chuckle which startled you. He was so close. You could feel the familiar heat radiating from his body and smell that familiar cologne. His lips came down close to your ear. He licked them and then whispered, “If ya weren’t eavesdroppin’, how’d ya know I was talkin’ bout you, hm?”

Your eyes shuttered closed as he spoke, feeling his hot breath against your cheek. His deep southern drawl always made you weak. It took you back to those times in the back of the cruiser. He whispered such dirty praises in your ear when you would ride his cock. Those dirty words that could make you cum in seconds.

“You still with me, doll?” You felt him tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear.

You flitched and stood up, “I- don’t touch me and stop calling me doll, alright? I really don’t have time for your games today, sheriff, and I’m not even really sure what you’re playin’ at in the first place.”

He smirked, running a thumb across his lip, “Darlin, I think the only thing I ever played was you..”

“I-“ your breath hitched in the back of your throat, “I have to go.” You turned to walk away, leaving the mess you’d made and your cart behind. Your eyes welled up with tears again. You didn’t know the man that stood in front of you. Lee was nothing but good to you when you dated and now he’s the most hateful man you’d ever met. The man you loved had disappeared and there’s nothing you could do to bring him back, no matter how bad you wanted to. A tear stained your cheek as you sped through the aisle. You could hear Lee hollering for you to stop but you wouldn’t this time.

All the heartbreak and sorrow that you’d left behind was creeping its way back in. The sooner you sold the house and got the hell out of there, the better.

Dividers by: @firefly-in-darkness

Taglist: @haydens-moles , @c00lkidvibes , @tcc-gizmachine , @buckysm3talarm , @gogolucky13 , @cryptidcasanova , @heavenlyseb , @writersbuck , @teddy-bearbaby , @bbmommy0902 , @sweetllamaparadise , @thereblogcrusader , @aleemendoza2425-blog , @frostbytebaby , @jessyballet , @emotionallyandphysicallydone , @sarge-barnes-sir , @generalbagelcookieslime , @lady-loki-ren , @dime-piece-xo , @greeneyedblondie44

(Dm me to be added to taglist)

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itspufflehuff · 3 years

Text

Spidey - Sebastian Stan x Holland!Reader

Summary: Being Tom Holland’s twin sister isn't all that bad. You each live your own lives and have your own successes. You don’t get to visit Tom on set much but when you finally make it to Comic Con will there be a special someone there for you to meet?

Hi! This is my first post in here so please let me know what you think! If you ever have suggestions or you find a mistake in my writing feel free to message me. Thank you and enjoy!

MATERLIST // TAGLIST

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four |

Word Count: 2,840

~~~~

Being Tom's twin wasn't as intimidating as people expected.

Sure he was Spider-Man but you still had your own success. Tom went for the big screen but you went for the big stage, Broadway.

You started with local shows, then you went on to be ensemble on West End. Soon you became an understudy for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It wasn't too long until you got the lead as Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked. With the attention you got as Elphaba you were scouted to audition for Broadway.

Seemingly around the same time Tom's fame skyrocketed so did yours. You two were so proud and happy for the other.

You decided to move out to New York seeing as how you were performing eight times a week.

Tom was your best friend so after every show, he called to ask how it went and to update you on his Spider-Man shenanigans.

The years came and went. You were still going strong on Broadway taking up different roles and Tom was still Spider-Man. He always talked about how fun it was being apart of the Marvel cast. You had still yet to meet anyone besides his Spider-Man co-stars like Zendaya and Jacob. Whenever they were doing a press event with the entire Marvel cast you were busy doing a show. Then one day you got a call to play Spider-Gwen.

You were so shocked when you got the call. You happened to be in your dressing room getting ready for a rehearsal. You sat there shocked, "Spider-Gwen?"

"Yes! Sony is making an animated Spider-Man and they think you would be perfect as Spider-Gwen. You wouldn't have to leave New York too long, just for some auditions. If you get the part you can do your recordings there."

"I don't know what to say." You were shocked. This is amazing! Imagine Tom's face when he finds out you're Spider-Man, well kind of.

"Say yes!"

"Yes!!"

~~~~

This was your first time attending Comic-Con. You never had a purpose to go before or even time. Now that you're apart of the Into the Spider-Verse cast you were attending so many different types of events you never did before. It was quite fun.

"Tom!" You shouted as soon as you saw him. You were in the middle of an interview but you didn't care. You hadn't seen your brother in ages. Tom laughed and walked over to you.

You two hugged and the interviewer spoke, "Our two favorite Spideys! Tom, how are you? What do you think of Y/N being Spider-Gwen?"

He laughed, "I'm doing well, I think it's great we have another Spider-Man in the family! But just so everyone knows I am the better Spidey." Everyone laughed.

"Sure you are." You playfully rolled your eyes.

"You're just a cartoon, I actually have to do flips and stuff," Tom argued.

You let out a 'pfft' before you spoke, "I could do the same things you can, you're not that special Tom."

"Alright, let's see it then!" He challenged.

"What? Right now?"

"Yes right now, come on let's go."

"Tom, I'm in heels."

He playfully rolled his eyes, "Heels aren't even that hard to jump around in, Y/N."

You looked to the interviewer who watched you twins bicker, "He did one dance wearing heels and he thinks he's amazing," turning to your brother you continued, "Newsflash Tommy I do that eight times a week."

The interviewer let out an 'ooo' as if you got him good. Everyone laughed as the interview wrapped up, "Well thank you for your time Y/N and thank you for joining Tom."

"Come on I want you to finally meet everyone." Tom grabbed your arm and pulled you along.

He basically ran through the crowd dragging you along behind him. When you finally got to where the rest of the Marvel cast was you and Tom were immediately surrounded by interviewers before you got to meet anyone.

Knowing neither of you were going to get through without at least one interview you both gave up trying to get by and stopped for an interview, "The Holland twins it's so amazing to see you both here today! How are you both?"

You answered first, "Thank you, I'm so excited to be here this is my first time so I'm a little nervous."

"Don't be nervous sis, just watch the pro." He smugly adjusted the jacket he had on.

You laughed and rolled your eyes as the interviewer asked another question, "Has there been any sibling rivalry now that both of have taken on the role of Spider-Man?"

You both looked at each other then Tom spoke, "You know what I was never mad because I know she's trying to be like her big brother which is flattering really."

You didn't notice before but next to Tom a couple of his castmates were doing an interview as well. The only reason you noticed them was because one of them came up to Tom and said, "Seriously Tom keep it down! Man, dude can't even do an interview without being a diva." You recognized him right away Anthony Mackie and next to him Sebastian Stan. Both you and Sebastian laughed at Anthony's obvious joke.

Tom looked down slightly embarrassed as he was trying to act smug before your interview was interrupted. "Y/N were you intimidated to take on Spider-Gwen knowing your brother was Spider-Man?"

"Umm, not really." you laughed, "I was actually really excited and thought it would funny to take on the role. I'm sure the casting directors thought the same thing."

The interviewer nodded, "Has there been a time where you two fought to prove who the better Spider-Man is?"

Before Tom could answer you did, "Well just a few minutes ago Tom tried to have a competition between us to see who was better at doing flips."

The three of you laughed, "And did you?"

"No, of course not! It is way too crowded in here and I'm in heels. I'm used to dancing in them not doing stunts. Maybe we can have that competition another time." You suggested to Tom.

He smiled mischievously, "You're on. May the best Spidey win." He held his hand out which you took. You both shook hands in front of the camera closing the deal to have a competition soon.

You didn't know this at the time but Sebastian couldn't take his eyes off of you for the rest of his interview. He knew who you were but never got the chance to meet you in person. Now seeing you several feet ahead of him he couldn't look away. You were more beautiful in person and your smile was radiating. Even after his interview ended he stood to the side watching you.

His eyes followed you as you smiled and waved to the interviewer. You were headed his way, quickly he turned and engulfed himself into a conversation with Chris Hemsworth.

Tom began introducing you to everyone as his little sister. He was only seven minutes older and always treated you like a kid for it. You were most excited to meet Robert Downey Jr. seeing as how he and Tom were so close. You two hit it off right away, he treated you like you were apart of the family.

You made your way down the line, meeting each member of the Marvel cast. You finally made it to Chris Hemsworth, Anthony, and Sebastian, "Hey guys I want you to finally meet my little sister, Y/N."

They all looked to you at you, well more like down at you. They were all so tall towering over.

Thank God I wore heels today.

"Pleasure to meet you," Chris grabbed your hand.

"Finally the famous Y/N! Now tell me was Tom always such a diva or is it just because he's Spider-Man that he's acting like a big shot?" Anthony asked.

You and Tom laughed. He did tell you about how he and Sebastian always teased him.

"Yeah and what about that juice obsession? Like, come on man you're too old for that." Sebastian joined in.

You looked to him and laughed, "You know what I've been telling him the same thing like come on Tom we're in our 20s and you're still hooked on juice like it's you're only will to live." You joked along and turned to Anthony, "As for the diva attitude he's always been this way like we get it you were Billy Elliot get over it!" Everyone laughed as Tom stood there pretending to look offended.

"Well, at least I never went out on stage looking like the green goblin!" He fought back.

"Hey! Elphaba is a very complex and demanding character. You're just jealous you don't have half the talent I do."

"Oh puh-lease, I totally do. Tell me who was it that taught you to dance?"

"Ok fine you have that but acting and singing was all me! All you can do is act and dance. I'm a triple threat."

That shut him up as everyone laughed at him, "I like this one." Anthony said. He reached out to shake your hand which you gladly accepted. He moved to the side, Sebastian happily took over his spot in front of you.

He reached out to shake your hand and when you grabbed it he pulled you in closer, "Just so you know you're my favorite Spidey." He whispered into your ear. A smile arose onto your lips as you pulled away, "Thank you."

"May I also add I think you have a beautiful voice, I want to one of your shows but wasn't able to catch you after the show."

A blush crept up to your face, "Thank you, again." A nervous laugh escaped, "I would've loved to have met you then. Sometimes I escape through the side exits. I love my job but I don't always love the crowds."

"I know what you mean, sometimes after movie premieres, I sneak out through the employee exit just to get away from the crowds."

Neither of you noticed but you were still holding onto each other's hand. It wasn't until Hemsworth cleared his throat beside you two, "Sorry to interrupt but we're heading to the panel room."

You both looked at him and quickly let go of each other's hands. "I'll meet you guys over there." Sebastian nodded to him. Chris looked over to the both of you, "Ok, well once again it was nice to meet you Y/N. I hope to see you soon." He gave you one last smile and walked away. You turned back to Sebastian. He spoke before you did, "I'd love to see you again late."

"Yeah, I'd love that too. I have a panel in twenty minutes. I was going to meet my brother after and join you all for the rest of the day, maybe we can talk more then." You smiled at him.

"Great, I'll see you then." He grabbed your hand gently, pulled it up to his lips, and placed a kiss there. He walked away to where his castmates went leaving you standing there with your heart beating fast.

You meet up with your cast and took photos with fans. Sebastian took up all of the thoughts in your head. You tried to focus on what was happening but your mind wandered off the feel of his lips on your had and how his eyes looked so deeply into yours.

Surprisingly enough your panel flew by. You were able to get Sebastian out of your head and get lost in hanging out with your cast as you answered fan questions. By the end, you walked out the door to see Tom waiting for you talking to some fans.

"Excuse me, I've got to go. It was nice meeting you all!" Tom excused himself from the group and walked towards you. "Ready to go?" He put his arm around your shoulder.

"Let's go." You said with a bit of excitement and nervousness.

Tom didn't notice, however. "So how many of your questions were about me?"

You were lost in thought once again unable to get Sebastian out of your mind, "Huh?"

"I got so many questions about the new Spider-Man in the Holland household." He chuckled.

Finally understanding him you laughed along, "Oh, yeah, I lost count after five. Someone asked about our rivalry so I started a rumor that we haven't spoken in months and I am actively hiding from you during this event."

Tom laughed, "Lucky for you, Mackie and Sebastian started a rumor that I'm a diva at home, so you're scared to be near me."

You laughed louder than you expected, "What?"

"Yes! They asked me about you and Mackie joined in saying you met everyone earlier and told them I've always been a diva. And of course, Sebastian had to join in," He imitated their American accent, "Poor girl looked terrified to be around him."

You both laughed as you walked into the room where the rest of the Marvel cast was.

The moment you walked in Sebastian's stomach flipped, in a good way. You were laughing when you walked in. It was the most amazing laugh he heard, he wanted to able to keep making you laugh like that. He watched as you walked around the room greeting everyone. You stopped at RDJ and Chris Evans. You all talked, but you were too far for Sebastian to hear what about. He saw you smiling from where he was at and he loved it. He excused himself from his friends and made his way to you.

"So, Y/N, what's it like to perform on stage like that? I mean it's all live and you have so much to remember, lines, songs, choreography, blocking." Evans sighed as if the thought of it made him exhausted, "I mean it's incredible."

"It was hard at first but this is my life. I love going up there each night. Sometimes we make mistakes but as long as you don't let the audience know it was a mistake then it doesn't matter. Plus we get to improve sometimes or make scenes better each night by seeing how the audience reacts."

He watched you talk about your work. The way your eyes lit up he could tell you really did love your job. Of course, he already knew that though. When he saw your performance as Eurydice in Hadestown. You had just happened to be there that night as the understudy, but he was glad to see it was you. He recognized you from the pictures on Tom's phone. He knew you were an actress on broadway so when he saw you he knew it was you. He fell in love with your performance that night. Your voice was so beautiful and the emotions you gave were so raw. Your energy was incredible it was as if you fell into the character.

"You should see her perform," He chimed into the conversation making his presence known.

Everyone turned to him, "I never did ask, which show did you see?" You tilted your head.

"Hadestown."

You broke out into a smile, "I know exactly which performance. You know that was the only time I played Eurydice?"

"Really?" His head hung in disbelief. From that performance, he would've been fooled to think you played that character a million times over, "Well you were incredible if I'd known you would be playing the lead I would've told Tom to set us up to meet."

You both smiled at each other for a moment before Tom spoke, "Yeah, that's my sister. I don't like to admit it but she's an amazing actress. Maybe even better than me."

"Maybe? More like definitely." You challenged.

"What show were you working on before coming here?" RDJ asked.

"I was doing an off-broadway production of Mamma Mia. I let my understudy take my place so I could tour and do some promoting for Spider-Verse."

Tom excused himself so he could talk with some of his other castmates. Slowly RDJ and Evans left the conversation leaving you and Sebastian.

"You know I live out in New York as well," Sebastian said casually.

"Really? I just assumed all you movie stars lived out in LA."

"Heck no! I'm a New Yorker. I love it there" He smiled looking at you.

"Maybe we can meet up there someday, now that we're acquainted and all." You suggested nervously.

"Yeah, that would be great. Which part of New York are you in?"

"Ironically Midtown," you laughed. It took him a second but he got it, "Ah yes Spider-Man goes to Midtown." He dropped his head with a chuckle.

"38th and sixth." You clarified. He looked up with eyes wide, "You're kidding? I live on 43rd and ninth! That's like ten minutes away from me." You both stood there in disbelief.

"All of these coincidences, you would think we'd met by now."

He laughed, "Well, we have now. I'd like to keep meeting. If that's ok with you?"

You looked up at him smiling, "I'd love that."

#tom holland #sebastian stan #winter soilder #spiderman #into the spider verse #spider gwen #sebastian stan imagine #mcu #marvel #buck barnes

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chevrolangels · 4 years

Text

though the stars walk backward

#24: You’re my ex but I think I still have feelings for you, 4.1k

From this prompt list

For @princessjimmynovak This was requested approximately a million years ago and I finally finished it!! Happy belated birthday darling 💜

Feat. Space Ex-Boyfriends who are bad at talking to each other. So, canon. But in space. (Dean has always wanted to be an astronaut, lbr)

read on ao3

“New crop of cadets coming in today.”

“I know.”

Charlie bites into her apple, munching as she scans her screen.

“Hope they’re better than the last ones. Half of ‘em couldn’t tell the difference between a spectrometer and an ammeter.”

Castiel doesn’t comment. He’s too on edge to indulge Charlie today, so he just shrugs, swiveling his chair back in front of the control panel.

Everything’s on autopilot, like always, but he likes to check the nav-console by hand, every once in a while, if nothing but to prove his usefulness. Wouldn't do to have the computer shift a few degrees without anyone noticing and end up halfway to Alpha Centauri.

“I mean, what do they think we do up here? Run pretty tests for fun?” Charlie continues. “Like, one leak is the difference between life and death.”

Castiel makes a noncommittal noise and starts typing in the complicated sequence with his stylus, the starmap projected before him, their course pulsing with gentle blue light.

“I mean, they’re gone for all that time, least the Academy can do is make sure they’re prepared.”

Castiel bites his tongue, typing with perhaps a little more force than is necessary. He loves Charlie, but her ranting is really starting to get to him. Castiel might be the best pilot this side of the Pleiades, but hey. He’s only human.

“If they send me one more programmer who asks me how to do an abstraction, I’m going to―”

“Charlie, do you mind?” Castiel snaps. “I’m trying to concentrate here.”

He regrets it immediately. Charlie does go quiet, but makes a thoroughly overdramatic roll of her chair into Castiel’s eyeline. She raises an eyebrow.

“Somethin’ you wanna share with the class there, bud?”

Castiel exhales, rolling his shoulders.

“Sorry. I just...need to focus.”

“...Right.”

A decidedly sneaky look crosses her face, one that Castiel knows spells trouble.

She leans forward, propping her chin up on her hands.

“Is it because you gotta do the whole ‘Captain Thing’ later?” She asks. “Shake hands, greet the greets, that whole deal?”

Castiel acquiesces.

“Partly.”

He quickly finishes the rest of the code and enters it into the nav-console, sinking back in his seat. Charlie purses her lips.

“And I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the teaching staff is coming back, huh.”

Castiel keeps his face carefully neutral, even as he feels the back of his neck grow hot. He fiddles with the stylus in his hands, turning it over and over again.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh-huh.”

Charlie taps her chin, looking thoughtful.

“What’s it been, two years?” She whistles, drawing it out. “Long time.”

Castiel just grunts. He should be getting up, to change into his uniform for the new batch of arrivals, but he makes no attempt to move.

“Dean’s coming back, too, right?”

Castiel snaps the stylus in half.

Charlie grins.

Castiel looks down at his hand, shoving the broken stylus into his pocket.

“If he is, I haven’t heard anything about it,” he says loftily. “And whether he does or not certainly doesn’t affect me.”

Charlie tilts her head.

“Didn’t they send the transfer roster last week?”

Castiel glares at her. She smirks back, giving him a cheeky wink.

Castiel abruptly pushes back from the console, standing.

“I have to go change,” he says shortly.

Once he gets to his quarters and the door slides closed behind him, Castiel sinks back against it, dropping his head in his hands.

Two years. Two years since Castiel chose to stay, and he chose to leave. Two years, of long lonely nights in front of the computer, of avoiding the Observation Deck, of throwing himself into his work. Two years in which Castiel thought he’d successfully ridded every last trace of Dean Winchester from his life.

After that night, Castiel had thrown away everything he’d ever given him. Every trinket, every gift, every scrap of paper―pathetic trophies of infatuation that Castiel had saved like a fool, pressed between the pages of his books.

The rest of the ship noticed, of course, because how could they not―Charlie, especially, had been particularly persistent in trying to get Castiel to tell her what happened. But Castiel resolutely refused to talk about him, and glowered sufficiently at any mention of his name that eventually people just learned to stop bringing him up.

But time marches ever onward, and the training cycle at the Academy is complete. The institution that Dean fled to in the first place is now spitting him back out, thrusting him back into Castiel’s life.

Castiel presses the heels of his hands to his eyes. How is he going to stand in front of nearly three hundred people and shake his hand? Just the mention of his name made Castiel want to throw something, bringing back all those memories Castiel tried so hard to forget. It may have been two years, but everything that made the man named Dean Winchester the best part of his life is still imprinted in Castiel’s memory, like a brand.

It’s times like this when Castiel wishes he could be like one of Charlie’s computers, erasing all information at the touch of a button. There would be no pain, no memories―like he had never existed in the first place.

Castiel exhales, looking down at his hands.

He’ll just have to make it quick. It really wouldn’t do for the captain to start a fistfight in front of the entire crew.

Roughly thirty minutes later, Castiel finds himself standing stiffly at the end of the receiving line of officers, the collar of his uncomfortable dress uniform cutting into his neck. Something must be off with the temperature regulators in the receiving deck, because he’s sweating, a few locks of hair slipping loose from his hat. He attempts to comb them back into place until Naomi hisses at him to stop fidgeting.

Charlie is beside him as Chief Engineering Officer. She cranes her neck above the crowd, looking at the small group that’s just disembarked from the transport ship.

“Showtime,” she says, adjusting her gloves.

Castiel closes his eyes briefly, breathing in. He can do this.

The new ones pass through first, freshly graduated, young and starry-eyed. Castiel can appreciate their eager enthusiasm. It’s important work they do here on the ship, and they need the best crew to make it possible. They shake his hand vigorously, hopefully interpreting his tight-lipped stare as stoic strength.

Then, the officers.

Hannah, who Castiel has always liked, gives him a warm smile and clasps his hands, telling him how much they missed him. Castiel agrees with the sentiment, but he can barely focus during their conversation, continually darting his eyes towards the end of the line.

The procession inches forward, painfully slow. Cain, Chief Military Strategist, is next, then Billie, and Linda Tran. Crowley, a truly despicable human being, but perhaps the most brilliant Flight Engineer Castiel’s ever worked with, passes with a slimy smile―and then, a face Castiel hasn’t seen in a long time.

“Captain Novak,” Sam says warmly, reaching out to shake his hand. “It’s been a while.”

Castiel smiles back, unable to help himself.

“It has,” he agrees, taking his hand. Despite whatever may have happened between him and his brother, Castiel always liked Sam. “I can’t tell you how much we’ve missed you during your absence.”

Sam nods, dropping Castiel’s hand.

“Believe me, we missed it here, too,” he says, smiling. “You never know how good you have it until you have to spend time way out in the boonies.”

Castiel chuckles. He remembers. The time at the Academy might be necessary, but it certainly couldn’t be called comfortable.

Sam turns, indicating the cadets behind them.

“We’ve got a good group for you here, Cas,” he says, dropping the nickname with easy familiarity. “I think you’ll be happy with them.”

“Good to hear,” Castiel replies. “I’m sure they benefited from having you as a teacher.”

Sam shrugs, ever modest.

Naomi clears her throat from behind them, not-so-subtly encouraging him to move it along. Sam smiles and gives Castiel a small little salute, moving away.

Castiel sighs, tugging at his collar. To his left, he hears a low chuckle.

“Still hate that uniform, huh?”

Castiel stiffens.

He’d know that voice anywhere.

He slowly lowers his hand, looking up into the face he tried two years to forget.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean says softly, smiling.

His eyes are bright, shining, like he wants to be here. Funny. Castiel seems to remember he went halfway across the star system just to get away from him.

He extends a hand, holding it out for Castiel to shake.

Castiel clears his throat, but doesn’t move.

“Dr. Winchester,” he replies stiffly. “Welcome back.”

Dean chuckles.

“Oh, right,” he says sheepishly. “I gotta call you ‘Captain Novak’, now, huh? Sorry.”

He looks up, that soft smile returning.

“Old habits, I guess,” he murmurs.

His hand is still extended, in the distance between them. Naomi must be practically foaming at the mouth at such a lack of decorum. Castiel couldn’t care less.

Dean looks exactly the same, perhaps a few more lines around his eyes, still that perfect shade of green. Dean's eyes always reminded Castiel of Earth.

Dean seems to be thinking along the same lines. He looks Castiel up and down, gaze lingering for a moment on the few locks of hair Castiel knows must still be stubbornly escaping from beneath the brim of his hat.

“You haven’t changed at all,” Dean continues. “Even after two years.”

“And three months, six days,” Castiel says coolly.

Dean’s smile fades a little.

“Right.”

He pulls back his hand, awkwardly picking at the edge of the hat in his hands.

Castiel’s heart is beating wildly, but he keeps his face still as stone. Dean shifts uncomfortably, then seems to make a decision.

He leans in, lowering his voice.

“Look, Cas, you know I always hated this formal junk,” he murmurs. “Can we talk later, maybe?”

He sounds so cavalier, so oblivious, and Castiel hates it.

“Catch up?” Dean asks. “Away from all these people?”

Castiel gives him his coldest stare.

“I don’t think so, Dr. Winchester,” he says sharply. “Running this ship is a full time job.”

Dean blinks, and he stares at him, looking like he’s just been slapped across the face. The monster of heartache and pain inside Castiel roars with a vicious triumph.

“I have enough on my plate as it is,” he continues dismissively. “I simply don’t have time to indulge every junior officer who wants to waste my time.”

He straightens, looking away disinterestedly.

“You’d do best to remember that.”

For a moment, Dean doesn’t speak, merely staring at Castiel, his mouth open in disbelief.

Then he remembers himself, and with a glance at Naomi, he stands up straight, placing his officer’s hat back on his head.

“Yeah,” Dean mutters, lowering his eyes. “Well.”

There’s an awkward cough from Charlie to his left. Castiel ignores her.

“It’s good to see you, again, Cas,” Dean murmurs. “Really.”

Somehow, he makes it sound genuine.

He exits the platform, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

Castiel watches Dean go an uneasy curl in his throat. The brief flare of vengeful satisfaction is already leeching away, leaving him feeling brittle and hollow.

Naomi is already busy shooing the officers into the reception hall, for the welcome banquet. Charlie finds Castiel’s arm and squeezes it, her eyes sympathetic.

“Cas?” She asks quietly. “You okay?”

Castiel clenches his jaw.

“Think I might have to get back to you on that."

Later, after the banquet, after three hours of restless tossing and turning, Castiel slowly gets up, not bothering with shoes.

Wandering the hallways used to be his favorite pastime. The quiet, the stillness. He still does it, on occasion, when he finds sleep isn’t easy in coming. The lights that try to mimic some semblance of a day and night cycle are dimmed low, the halls empty, most retired to their chambers.

Castiel makes his way up to the Observation Deck, taking a brief look around. There’s no one there, no one to spy on the captain of their ship, stealing away in the night for some much needed solitude. He walks the ramp to the very top part of the observatory, leaning his arms on the handrail. Castiel used to spend hours here. He would sit and watch the stars turn, feeling at once very small and very infinite. He sits now, staring out at the vast darkness before him. It’s utterly quiet, the electric hum of the ship the only sound in the gloom.

Unbidden, his thoughts turn to the last conversation he had here.

Castiel had just learned he had been chosen to be the next Captain, a highly selective process that he had stressed about for weeks. The first person he wanted to tell was Dean.

But Dean had come with news of his own.

A teaching job at the Academy. Highly prestigious, second probably only to Castiel’s role―but that meant―

“Two years,” Dean said to his hands, his voice flat. “That’s how long I’d be gone.”

Castiel felt his brief taste of happiness deflate like a suit after a spacewalk.

“Two years?” He echoed, his tongue thick in his mouth. Dean nodded mutely.

“That’s…”

Castiel bit his lip.

“Wow,” is all he managed.

“Yeah,” Dean muttered.

There was a long moment where neither of them spoke.

“So…”

Castiel hardly dared to say it.

“I’m guessing you knew that when you applied,” he said flatly.

Dean nodded mutely.

“Didn’t really account for you becoming the Captain,” he muttered.

Anger flared within Castiel.

“What, because you think I wouldn’t get it?”

“No!” Dean said immediately, looking up. “God, no, Cas, of course not. Why would you think that?”

“I’m thinking a lot of things right now,” Castiel shot back.

Dean shut his mouth angrily.

“I guess...I guess it’s just hitting me how long two years really is,” he said finally.

Castiel sucked in a breath, stunned.

“You’re not serious,” he whispered. Dean dragged a hand down his face, avoiding his eyes.

“I don’t know, Cas!” He said, voice rising in the quiet. “I mean...you’ll have your job, Cas, I'll have mine...who knows if you’ll have any time for me―”

“Oh, I won’t have time for you?” Castiel repeated scathingly. God, he should have known, it’s just like Dean―shove the blame off himself and project it onto Castiel instead of owning his feelings like an adult.

“Just say you don’t want to be with me and get it over with,” he snapped.

“Cas…” Dean started.

Castiel couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

Dean sighed, breath shaky.

“I―”

Castiel looked up.

He saw the look in Dean’s eyes and he didn’t let him finish. He didn’t let him break his heart.

He ran like a coward.

Castiel wipes angrily at his eyes, banishing the memory. He can’t change the past, so he might as well not dwell on it.

He looks up, at the wilderness of the stars. They shimmer gently against the blank expanse, his constant companions. Castiel can tell you the distance between Betelguese and Rigel, can calculate the time it would take to travel to Sirius and back, but he could never navigate his own life so surely.

If only humans could be as constant as the Heavens.

Behind him, the floor creaks softly. Castiel goes still.

“Hey, Cas,” Dean murmurs.

Castiel turns, glancing over his shoulder.

Dean is standing at the end of the platform, in his sleep pants and shirt. He looks so different out of his uniform. Softer. More like himself.

“Dean,” Castiel says, unable to stop the name from coming to his lips.

Dean responds with a bashful smile, one hand twisting nervously into the hem of his shirt.

“Figured I'd find you here."

He glances out at the stars, then back to Castiel.

“You mind if I join you?”

Castiel swallows, but looks away, saying nothing.

Dean seems to take that as permission, and sits, legs hanging over the edge of the deck, next to Castiel.

There once was a time when they’d sit close enough for their knees to knock, their hands lacing over the railing as Dean told stories, weaving grand tales of the constellations and their histories, while Castiel listened, enraptured.

Now the distance of that memory feels vast, lightyears away. They’re both quiet, not speaking a word. The silence is thin, fragile as glass.

“Cas―”

So Dean will be the one to break it.

He pauses, brow furrowing as he searches for words. Castiel bristles, waiting for it.

“Look,” Dean says, turning to face him. “I get it. You don’t want anything to do with me. But―”

“You’re right,” Castiel interrupts fiercely. “I don’t.”

Dean goes silent beside him. When Castiel finally musters the courage to look up, Dean is staring at him, hopeless and broken.

“Can you at least let me explain?” His voice comes out low and hoarse.

Castiel is torn. Half of him melts, seeing Dean so desperate. But the other half, the rational part of him that remembers the danger of falling for Dean Winchester cautions him, telling him the smartest thing he can do right now is walk away, and never open his heart again.

He lowers his head, exhaling heavily.

“I can’t,” he mutters. “Dean, I just…can’t.”

“You’re angry,” Dean says softly. Castiel scoffs.

“You’re damn right I'm angry,” he mutters. “And I don’t care about any half-assed apology you have for me, not now. Too little, too late.”

He moves back from the railing, pushing himself up. Tears are starting to come to his eyes, hot and bitter, and he’ll be damned if he’ll let Dean see him cry.

“Cas, wait―”

He reaches out, grabbing his hand.

Castiel freezes, rooted to the spot. Dean is frozen too, looking down at their joined hands. He doesn’t let go, though.

“Just...slow down, will ya?” Dean says, and there’s a hint of a laugh there, the way he always sounded when he would talk Castiel off the ledge. But now, it only ignites the rage inside him, and Castiel rips his arm from Dean’s grasp, whirling on him.

“No!” Castiel yells, shattering the silence. “You left, and you don’t get to do this now, you don’t get to come waltzing back into my life like everything’s fine―”

Dean’s eyes widen, he holds up his hands.

“Cas―”

“You broke up with me, remember?”

“No, I didn’t, Cas, will you shut up for two seconds and listen?”

Surprisingly, Castiel does. He blinks, slightly stunned at Dean’s words.

What is he talking about?

“Look,” Dean says quickly, probably to prevent Castiel from shouting again. “I only applied to the stupid Academy because Sammy was too―he was freaking out about the process, so I did it with him, just to show him it was nothing. He’s the smart one, so never in a million years did I think they’d choose me, too.”

Castiel crosses his arms, huffing under his breath. Even if he does hate him right now, it always hurts to hear Dean undersell himself.

“The moment I found out, all I wanted to do was talk to my best friend about how fucking scared I was.” Dean sighs. “And then you said you were picked to be Captain, and it all just...seemed too much.”

He looks down, twisting his hands.

“I panicked. God—somehow had it in my mind that the minute I told you you wouldn’t want to be with me, that there wouldn’t be any room in your life for me anymore. And seeing your face in that moment, you were so excited, and then it just slid off your face…"

Castiel remembers. Shit, he had been so happy, so proud—and when Dean told him…

He’d never been good at hiding his feelings, not with Dean.

He turns over their last conversation in his mind and all at once it seems to click, now that he knows what Dean must have thought.

“I jumped to conclusions,” Dean admits quietly. “I was...so afraid you wouldn’t want to do the long distance thing for two years so I….kind of...let you break us up before I could.”

Castiel stares at him, a painful bubble of emotion rising in his throat. Oh.

Dean continues.

“If anything, I wanted you to ask me to stay.” He lowers his head, dragging a hand through his short hair. “Which was wrong. I get that now.”

He looks up, huffing out a feeble laugh.

“Believe me, Cas,” he says lowly. “It took me all of about an hour to realize how badly I fucked up. But by that time the solar flares were surging and we had to go.”

Dean bites at his lip.

“I looked for you. I tried. But you had locked yourself away in a meeting and I didn’t get to say goodbye. You didn’t let me,” he finishes, a sad bitter note in his voice.

Castiel cannot speak, in shock. He never knew. He’d always thought...after that conversation, that Dean had left without so much as a glance back.

“You…”

He eventually trails off. He has no words.

Dean takes a tentative step forward.

“And you know what it’s like out there. The distances are too far, so they restrict communication.” He shrugs, a slight smirk tugging at his lips. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t try, though.”

“What?” Castiel asks.

“I tried to send transmissions back,” Dean says, rushing out the words. “Every day for a month. They kept telling me personal messages weren’t allowed. I even tried to break into the control center after hours.”

“Dean,” Castiel breathes, awed and horrified all at once. “You didn’t.”

Dean chuckles.

“Nearly got myself tossed out of the airlock for that one.”

His teeth return to his lip again, his green eyes hesitant.

“Sam said I was crazy. I just told him he’d never been in love.”

Castiel's throat goes dry.

They’d never said, not even before Dean left. But Castiel knew he was. Only love leaves that big and jagged of a hole.

“That’s why,” he says softly. “Why I never heard from you the whole two years.”

“And three months, and six days,” Dean says quietly.

Castiel bites his lip.

“Yeah,” Dean says softly. “I was counting, too.”

He sighs, spreading his hands.

“So, yeah. I messed up. And I get it if you never want to talk to me again, I just―”

Dean never finishes his speech because he doesn't need to. In three swift steps, Castiel has reached him and pulled him in by the front of his shirt.

Dean makes a soft noise of surprise as Castiel presses their lips together, but he quickly gets on board, pulling Castiel in by his waist, kissing him back. And he no longer needs to dream about Dean’s warmth, his lips underneath his, the dry rough touch of his palm coming to cup Castiel’s cheek. He’s here, and he’s real, and he’s never going to let him get away again.

Dean pulls back slightly, pressing his forehead against Castiel’s

“Damn,” he breathes. “I missed that.”

Castiel tightens his grip.

“Dean, I’m so sorry,” he whispers.

“Yeah,” Dean chuckles. “So am I.”

He licks his lips, looking down at Castiel’s.

“I was an idiot,” he murmurs, and the sound rumbles through his chest. Castiel shivers.

“I should have just told you,” Dean finishes, shaking his head slightly.

“Yes,” Castiel says, bumping their noses together. “You should have.”

Dean laughs, and it’s possibly the most beautiful sound Castiel’s ever heard.

“There’s the asshole I remember.”

They both grin, just basking in their closeness, breathing quietly.

“So.”

Castiel clears his throat.

“So, this whole time, we wanted to be with each other and we just...weren’t.”

Dean chuckles.

“Sounds like it.”

“Wow.”

Castiel shakes his head.

“We’re a couple of dumbasses.”

Dean laughs again.

“Sums up the last fifteen years of us knowing each other.” He reaches out tentatively, fingers brushing Castiel’s. “Don’t you think?”

Castiel smiles, turning his hand up so Dean can thread their fingers together. He knows they so much they still have to say, so much to catch up on to fix everything that’s broken between them.

By a backdrop of stars, Dean kisses him once more, and well, that’s as good a start as any.

#requested approximately five million years ago #and it was your birthday yesterday ahhh!!!!#HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!#hope you like it!!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧#destiel #my writing #ficlet #yeah i made it a space au bc i can #fight me #au #destielficlets

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riisinaakka-draws · 3 years

Text

part 2/6

2nd part of my old Black Sails scraps and doodles from 2016–2021. Not in any particular order.

This time the drawings are short comics that were abandoned for a reason or another, mostly because I lost the interest or felt like there was too much to redraw compared to the satisfaction of finishing something else more interesting. There’s also some talk about rigid mindset and how overthinking can lead to stagnation.

Contains early silverflint moments, specks of dust, rackham's glasses are found, jealous-Billy spying, desk-Flint gets caught, "squint-squint", a quiet moment and its bird dilemma etc.

And please do not steal and repost elsewhere. But if you do get inspired, feel free to make your own interpretations!

Long-ish post under the cut!

“What are you thinking about?”

“Specks of dust.”

“Liar.”

The idea was to show how much they and their relationship had changed. This was around 2016 when the season 3 began and I was still re-learning to draw with a tablet. Another art from the same time period (and idea) is this art: The Dynamic Duet.

And for some reason I was really stuck up thinking that I’d have to first do the sketch, then the clean line art, then planes underneath, then shadows etc. and I have always struggled with that kind of approach! Mainly because I hate doing clean line work, lol. And I was a fool for trying to start with a white canvas! It’s so much harder to find values and plan things, or at least in my opinion..

“Rackham’s glasses are found”

To celebrate their new pirate alliance, they share the four lenses of Rackham’s sunglasses as they were also found at the time (because I wanted it to resurface and they could be made into jewellery you know...). This was right after the episode where Anne fights and hurts her hands (here wearing protecting mittens from Max even though she’s not trusted at the moment). Uh, this doesn’t spark joy interest me much and it’s quite stiff and would recuire a lot of redrawing faces, so - discarded!

I somewhat like the idea still (them having something to share, although it’s on Jack’s detriment). I tried to find a stylished comical easier doodlier? way to draw them and draw clean lines etc, but it just wasn’t for me. Also here too, the background is blank and too bright. Later I started to think things as scenes and draw everything at the same time instead of adding the bg later or trying to show everything (and everyone) at the same time.

Here’s also Billy in the same story:

He’s spying on them and since it’s so bright he’s wearing his diy “sunglasses” and being envious to the others. *cough* uhhh...Idk? Also people were shipping Ben Gunn (and cheese) with Billy, so that bled into this too... Charles’ spirit is riding the “big white bird” that was mentioned in Teach’ story and in this case it’s a pelican.

As you can see, I also wasn’t using the brushes that I use nowadays. A hard (or soft) round brushes with no change in opacity just aren’t for me. For example, in traditional art, I struggle with markers and copics, but really enjoy charcoals and watercolours. I prefer ragged edges, layering and thus blending things into each other (and leaving the viewer to fill in the gaps) instead of having stark or definite things. I also struggle with vector drawings, although I have decided to finally start learning to use them...somedayyyy.

Also, I wasn’t paying attention to anatomy, like, at all LMAO. I was just so happy to be able to put something on the canvas.

This is one of my first ink drawings, but I cannot find the original anymore. Again, I like the idea, but not how things look art-wise. And I was so adamant, that I have to get everything right in the traditional drawing and not fix anything later on on photoshop because then it would be cheating. And thus, I was never able to move on or finish this properly the way I liked it (idiot).

BUT! It was a good practise to just draw and test things on paper and gain confidense on drawing things in overall (as I was still getting back into art). To get over the fear of blank paper you know, and try to find my style whatever it would start to form into.

Oh, yeah, Desk Flint.

Desk Flint was a thing for a while (still is, lol). Another drawing from that time is this Slingshot Pirate (2016). And Desk Flint keeps repeating in many later works too. The point is mainly “Flint sitting behind his desk and people interrupt him and I don’t have to draw him fully”

Well, anyway... moving on.

Here’s a plan that has been stuck for years. It’s name is “Squint-squint.” Left is the sketch (with another sketch underneath because the expressions were clearer in the old one). On the right is the continued piece with colour scheme but I cropped the eyes panel and faces out (it was so ugly for some reason) but if I ever continue/finish this, it will be redrawn there in the middle.)

Left. “On that moment their eyes were literally open(ed).”

Right. “After squinting on the shore for days, they had actually forgotten how pretty the other idiot’s eyes were.”

I still like it, quite a lot, but my perfectionist ass only sees too much “boring” things to draw and get right, so it hasn’t been a priority for a long time and other works have kept me occupied and more interested in them.

--------------------

“Quiet Moment.” 2018 (a wordless comic happening after the events of Charles Town)

I’m going to explain after these pictures, but see how big the difference is when you start to look at references and plan things together (the space, “camera” movement, background etc). I also started to colour with coarser brushes:

I drew this around early 2018. A lot of improvement! Still quite a lot of negative space (empty white backgrounds), but it fits this work. A few things tell where we are (the ship’s cabin and the balcony). Changing distances and how things are cropped/framed make things more moving and focused (and less to draw, lol). Colours and brush strokes are softer, more layered and so on.

But guess why it’s still a wip!

I couldn’t decide what bird is flying over there.

Yeap! At first it was an albatross (doesn’t go to Bahamas?). Then a seagull (but which seagull? there’s so many subspecies! Is the ship at sea or at the harbour? what birds are there on the open water/ close to the shore?? oh noo...) So, yeah, wayyyy too much over-thinking.

At some point I ended up with white-tailed-tropic-bird which was a plus! because it sounds like the bosun’s whistle, but at that point I was so tangled and frustrated and still had so much to finish with this that I left it be. Also Flint’s face looks different in every frame so I would’ve had to change some parts, lol. And then I forgot it for a couple of years! And then I had learned to draw a bit differently and again saw too much things to do, so it’s quite hard to take on this again, especially when there are so many other interesting wips waiting...

But I still really like the feeling of it! And the colour scheme. So I might just limit the things I’m allowed to fix and then post it as it own someday. I mean, it’s 90% finished, but the last reach just feels like miles.

And that’s what usually happens with my wips. They reach a certain point and it suddenly becomes really hard to finish or get back into.

But every time I learn things and then use the information in another work! :D

Final note for this post (altough this has been said hundreds of times): use references and look how things go and try to see the structure and form beneath things. And think where it is happening and how the light and surroundings affects the characters and/or spaces. And maybe think what you’re trying to convey with the art, what idea? what emotions? what purpose? or like, what are you trying to learn with the piece? and so on...

Thanks for checking this out, I hope you had fun <3

#black sails doodle #long post #but not as long as the future ones heh #tag for Block Spoils doodles #<- if you want to black list these

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thephantomofthe-internet · 4 years

Text

Chapter 6: A Room with a View

Steve Harrington x Reader

CATCH UP ON THE SERIES HERE

Words: 3,359

Warnings: Swearing, slut shaming, death mention, crying

Author’s Note: So, I already answered this, but just in case anyone missed it: I update this series weekly and I am still editing the vast majority of chapters! Sorry if it’s coming out slower than expected!

Tags: @divinity-deos @wolfish-willow @scoopsohboi @thecaptainsgingersnap @herre-gud-nej @clockworkballerina @maddie1504 @i-am-trash-so-much-its-scary @buckysarge @wildcvltre @stanleyyelnatsiii @n3wtscaseofniffler5 @peterparxour @linkispink1995 @a-big-ball-of-idk @used-avocado @mochminnie @sledgy14 @the-creative-lie @yall-wildin-like-siriusly @ggclarissa @voidnarnia @anonymousonion23

Steve had no idea what he’d done wrong. Not a clue. But you were ignoring him. You sat farther away from him in English the past two days, and you’d been blowing off plans with him. You’d say that you had other plans, but he’d see you sat on the bleachers after school, watching the girls soccer practise or drawing in that book again. He still didn’t know what you were doing in that book and he was irritated by the fact that he could see you sat in your room some days, caught in a lie without knowing it, your nose caught in the pages in front of you, pencil in between your teeth, focused but unaware of an audience. Steve could see right into your room from his when your curtains were open and you often sat at your desk, working in your pads.

On the day that Mr. Lawrence announced the start for the final essay, Steve had had enough. It had been a week of this behaviour and he felt as though he deserved an answer. And he was sick of watching through the window. Tommy and Carol were busy every damn day chasing Billy Hargrove, Vicki had gone back after him too after their awful date, and Tina wasn’t his friend. Sure, he could bug Dustin, but that made him feel like such a loser. His only friends were a rag tag group of preteens and a weird girl who wouldn’t even talk to him! This was getting pathetic.

The bell rang before Steve could make his move and you were out the door before he could even open his mouth. Tina rolled her eyes as she passed him by, grabbing Tina’s arm to whisper loudly “God, how tragic.” making Vicki cackle loudly.

Steve booked it out the door, scanning the halls for you, but you’d already disappeared from sight. He spotted Samantha, but she was on the retreat. He chose not to chase her down, they’d never even had a conversation before and using her to try to get her to spill on her friend felt a bit shitty. So he decided to just take a walk, no harm in a walk, it was a nice day anyway, out by the field. He wandered out the gym doors by the car park. He shoved his hands into his blue workman’s jacket. The weather was still a bit too chilly to go without a coat, but the sunshine made it easier.

He spotted you and Samantha at the top of the bleachers. You had your hair up that day and your lavender bomber jacket draped around your shoulders. Carol had something similar, or maybe it was Tina, he couldn’t remember which one the pair blurred into one being in his mind.

Samantha caught Steve’s eye before you did. She leaned over to you with a smirk “Lover boy’s watching.” She whispered cheekily, pointing slyly at him.

You turned immediately. Steve was standing in the car park, a few smattering of folks on car hoods, eating packed lunches and watching the scene go down. He waved, taking a step towards you. You turned your attention away.

Samantha was baffled. A week ago, you were telling her all about the weird fun you were having with him, all smiles and laughter, and now you wouldn’t even look at him for more than a second. You wouldn’t admit it, but Samantha knew that he was something more than a friend to you. Nobody was this upset when someone cancelled plans.

Steve turned away without a word. He wanted to scream at you, his mind demanding to know what he had done wrong. He made a plan that afternoon, one he was certain might ruin everything for him.

As soon as the three o’clock bell rang, Steve made a mad dash for his car. He didn’t leave immediately; instead he waited to see an expected sight. Once he saw you huddled and headed for the bleachers, he was sure that the girl’s team was practising. Then he drove off towards home, parking in his own driveway. His mother was home, a shock to him, but he still headed upstairs. The next part was tricky. He’d time out that practise ended at four thirty, but that you usually left at four since the walk was so long. At four twenty, he headed across the street. As always, the yellow Volkswagen sat in the driveway. He’d rarely ever seen it leave the driveway, but it gave him hope that someone was inside the house. You couldn’t be living alone as a senior. He bounded up the front steps, knocking on the door twice. He was nervous, switching his weight from his toes to his heels in a rocking motion forward and back, forward and back.

An older man opened the door. He had to be in his eighties, with age spots speckling him around his eyes like a second pair of wide frames behind his tortoise shell glasses. He seemed suspicious of Steve, although that was probably because he was staring.

“Hello,” he stuck out his hand for the man to shake “I’m Steve Harrington, I’m a friend of Y/N.” the man didn’t take his hand, staying silent as he looked him over.

Steve pressed on “I was wondering if she was home, we were supposed to study together today and she said that she’d call when she got home but I haven’t heard from her.” He chuckled awkwardly.

From behind the old man, a woman’s voice called “Harold, who’s there?”

“One of Y/N’s friends, she home yet?” he called back, opening the door wider. Steve could see the pale yellow walls, sun stained from the large three panel window at the front of their house.

Steve watched as an older woman hobbled into the scene, back hunched and skin thin. She looked frail, her hair dyed to what Steve assumed was its original shade, her grey roots visible from the top of her head. She greeted Steve with a warm smile. Steve was quick to offer his hand to shake, which she took carefully. “Hi, Steve Harrington, it’s nice to meet you both.” He said quickly, smiling brightly at the pair.

“Well hello there, I’m Maude and this is Y/N’s grandfather Harold, it’s lovely to meet you.” She said sweetly. “Why don’t you come inside, Y/N should be home any minute.”

Maude hit Harold’s arm roughly and he let go of the door, letting Steve into the house. He quickly kicked off his shoes, noting the pair’s socked feet. He looked around the house. Every house on the street was one of three standard box deals, with specified details. His parents hadn’t paid for the window seat like your family had, but you didn’t have the open kitchen that his did; an extra yellow wall separated the space. He looked to the fireplace, an exact copy of his family’s before their renovation last august. He missed the grey brick they used to have. You had a large family portrait on the mantle. You were sat in the centre in your Sunday best, your grandparents flanking the outside, two other adults stood closest to you. Steve assumed they were your parents. You looked like your father.

“You have a lovely home,” he said, turning his attention to the pair who were watching him intently.

“Thank you.” Maude smiled “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Sure.” Steve wasn’t much for tea, but he was taught not to refuse something offered by his host. Maude hurried off, leaving him and grumpy old Harold alone.

“Y/N doesn’t bring boys around.” Harold announced when his wife was out of the room. Steve didn’t really know what to say to that, luckily he continued “So what’re you trying to do with my girl?”

“Study,” Steve said with a shrug. The man scoffed, but Steve pressed on. “She’s my partner for our English final, we’re supposed to be working on it today, it’s due soon.”

Harold nodded gruffly “Alright…” he took a seat on the couch, turning the volume back on. The Love Boat was on, a rerun of the episode with guest stars the Captain and Tennille, and Steve was certain that they’d both seen it before.

Maude came in with a tray, handing her husband a mug. It was hand painted, thick script reading ‘Happy Father’s Day’ on the front, the year 1974 written in smaller script underneath in blue paint. She handed him a plain white mug.

“Well, Steve, you’re free to go and wait for Y/N upstairs, her room is two doors to the right of the stairs, you can’t miss it.” She said, gesturing to the stairwell. Steve bid his thanks and headed up the wide carpeted stairwell.

Harold mumbled something to his wife that Steve couldn’t hear, only catching her response. “He’s young, he doesn’t want to sit with us old folks.” She laughed at her own joke and Steve smiled at their friendly banter. They reminded him of his aunt and uncle, they always joked in that sort of way, laughing at themselves before anyone else. It made him feel as if he were at home in the house; he was comforted by the casualness of existence.

Maude was right that the room was impossible to miss. The door was covered in childlike butterflies painted in purple puffy paint. When he opened the bedroom door, he was transported into a small, private art gallery. The room was covered wall to wall in fabric canvases, canvas boards, and paper sketches. Your desk was covered in paint splotches and doodles carved into the wood, there were glow in the dark stars and moons on the blades of your ceiling fan. You’d painted your ceiling into a buttery sunset. It was as if for the first time, Steve was seeing all of you. And you were absolutely incandescent.

His hands went to roam your shelves, filled with sketchbooks and art books and worn copies of the classics. Greedily, he grabbed the first black sketchbook he found its pages heavy and curled. A piece of masking tape on the cover read ‘Still Life, 1980’ in black Sharpie. He flipped over the cover. Every page was the same bowl of fruit, some plain sketches, some painted in acrylics or water colours, but the fruit changed in shape and structure with every flip, rotting more with each sketch until the image switched to a vase of sunflowers, a prim and proper version of the Van Gogh he’d seen a print of in his freshman year art class. He wondered if you’d been there, silently making your own master pieces. He wondered how many masterpieces you had hidden away in your big black book.

The door opened behind him before he could put the sketch book away. “What the fuck are you doing in my house?” you snapped, bounding towards him. When your grandmother told you that your friend from school was upstairs waiting for you, you had a sinking feeling that you knew who it was. And seeing him rifling through your things made your blood boil.

Steve turned slowly, unsure what to say. You snatched the pad out of his hands “And who the fuck gave you permission to look at my stuff, you pervert!” You knew that he hadn’t done anything actually perverted, but you still felt violated.

“I can’t get you to talk to me, I figured coming here would at least make you see me.” Steve laughed a bit, unable to even process what was happening. In the back of his mind, he thought that this would be an effortlessly cool way to go about a solution. Like you’d see him in your room and think ‘wow…what an effort that was…’ Instead, you were furious.

“So, you thought that coming into my house without telling me, lying to my grandparents, and touching my stuff would make it better.” You raised an eyebrow, shoving your sketchbook onto the shelf.

“What was I supposed to do? You won’t answer my calls, you won’t talk to me, I can’t get you to look at me for more than a second and all I want to know is what I did wrong so I can fix it!” Steve cried, words tumbling out of his mouth. You both stared at each other for a moment, surprised by each other, your mouth hanging silently ajar.

You closed it fast, swallowing before speaking “You…you hurt my feelings.” You said softly, pushing past him to put distance between you, standing next to your desk and the window.

“How did I hurt your feelings?” Steve asked quietly, watching you carefully even as you stared defiantly out the window.

You crossed your arms tightly over your chest “You cancelled our plans. For Vicki.”

“So?” Steve asked.

“So, I don’t cancel on you. I never cancel on you, especially not the day of. It hurt my feelings.” You explained, picking at a bit of lint on your sweater.

“Yeah, but I…” he tried to catch himself before he said something terrible, but you already knew what filled in the blank.

“What? You have more friends than me? Is that it?” you snapped. It was Steve’s turn to look away, but you pressed on. “You’re right, you do have more friends than me. But don’t act like I don’t have a social life without you. I do. Do you know how many games of Samantha’s I’ve skipped out on to help you study? How many practises she’s asked me to come and watch that I’ve said no to because I already had plans with you?”

“I don’t know…” Steve muttered. Embarrassment crept up his face. He felt like such a dick. In truth he had forgotten about your plans that day in the excitement of a date with Vicki. With hindsight in full effect he could see that he would’ve had twice as much fun with you eating greasy burgers then he did with Vicki driving around Hawkins.

“Well, it’s been a lot. And it’s not the fact that you went out with Vicki that upset me, you are free to date whoever you want. But can you please at least tell me if you’re cancelling a little sooner than mere minutes before?” you asked, your voice cracking on the end.

“Sure, yeah of course. I should’ve been doing that before.” Steve stumbled over his words to apologize.

“Okay.” You nodded “Now, why are you going through my shit?”

“I wanted to see more. This whole room is incredible.” Steve breathed, plopping down on your mattress.

“You think?” you asked quietly. In truth, you didn’t think that you were that good of an artist. You loved art, but you didn’t think you were exactly talented.

“It’s so cool!” you couldn’t help but laugh, or else you’d cry. Nobody ever talked about your art with such enthusiasm. Teachers only criticized mistakes and your mother and grandparents saw it as clutter. Samantha liked some stuff but she didn’t talk about it much. Even a simple compliment from Steve made you want to cry. You covered your mouth to avoid the tears.

Steve didn’t seem to notice, wandering the room to point out pieces he thought were interesting. He pointed to a canvas depicting the quarry. You’d camped out there one night in the summer; drawing until the sun fades out of the sky and then painting it out once you had it exactly right. “This one is just insane I mean it looks like it’s going to eat you whole, like it has teeth or something.” He exclaimed.

“You can have it.” You replied quickly.

Steve shook his head “No, I couldn’t I mean don’t you want it? For college apps or something?” he couldn’t take it, he’d feel too guilty.

You shrugged “I have enough stuff for at least three portfolios, you should have that one if you like it so much. It’ll make your room cooler.”

“Hey, my room is cool.” Steve pouted, making you laugh harder. He liked your laugh, it split your whole face open into a smile. And your smile looked as if it sat on a bed of clouds. He wanted to float along with it forever.

“Oh yeah, your pee wee t-ball participation trophy is real slick, it gets you all the chicks.” You drawling, bouncing on your mattress.

“Hey, you didn’t run when you saw it.” Steve shrugged, sitting down next to you.

“Eh, your baby sports escapades don’t frighten me. It adds character to know that you suck at something.” You replied. Steve thought briefly of the bat in his trunk and the weight of it mid-swing, connecting with a heavy skull. Better with a bat now then he was as an elementary schooler.

You both lay back on the mattress, staring up at the slowly turning fan. Steve turned to you “What’d you think of Vicki anyway?” he asked.

“Honestly?” Steve nodded “I think she’s a bitch.” Steve laughed loudly but you pressed on “She is! She’s so mean for no reason!”

“Yeah, she’s not cool. She spent our whole date bitching about people, saying a lot of shit about you.” Steve murmured.

“What’d you…” you didn’t know if you could ask how he responded. You bit your tongue before finishing the sentence.

Steve understood anyway “I told her the truth. That you’re a really cool chick and that she shouldn’t be such a bitch about people she doesn’t know.” He said simply, turning his attention back to the slowly moving stars.

You didn’t necessarily believe that he actually defended you. Still, you didn’t feel like arguing. Steve continued on in your silence. “So, do you live with your grandparents’ full time? Or do your parents just work?” he asked.

“Both,” you sighed softly “My mom’s not home very much so they take care of me. She’s a fashion photographer, travels all over the world for different magazines.”

“What about your dad?” Steve asked. He’d seen a younger man in the photo; he assumed that it was some kind of father figure.

“He died.” You muttered.

“Oh…” Steve didn’t know how to react to that. He wasn’t sure if he should apologize.

“She killed him.” You couldn’t help yourself from saying that. Anger still stewed into your bones whenever you thought about your parents.

“What?” Steve to fully look at you, flabbergasted.

“She worked him to death. She always wanted more and farther away from us. Trips to Europe, designer things, this stupid house. She killed him.” You wiped hard at your face, trying to keep the hot tears from streaming down your face. Steve didn’t say anything, he simply pulled you into his chest, holding you tightly into him and letting you cry. He patted your hair gently, trying to soothe you as best he could. He didn’t think he was very good at helping people in their pain. But you grabbed onto his middle and clung to him like a life raft.

“My parents aren’t that great either.” He muttered, unsure if he was helping at all. “They ignore me.”

“I-I’m sorry they do that…” you muttered, looking up at him with wide, wet eyes. Steve melted. He absolutely melted. He was filled with the sudden urge to kiss you, which surprised him. He didn’t follow through with the urge; he didn’t know how you’d take it.

“I’m sorry he’s not here for you…” he replied, petting your hair softly. He stayed with you like that for what felt like hours, letting you cling to him and ruin his shirt with tears. He didn’t care. He needed to be there for you. He promised himself that he wouldn’t hurt you again. That he’d be more careful and pay more attention. He couldn’t bear to see you in this much pain again. He knew that you weren’t crying because of him, but if he could keep you from feeling even an ounce of this sort of pain again, he would.

He cared about you too much to ever let you suffer alone again.

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spnsmile · 4 years

Text

Strike (My Heart)

SPNSTAYATHOME @pray4jensen @helianthus21 @bend-me-shape-me

Monday: Thunder

When Billie came to the Bunker, she found the couple pressed by the control panel in a messy tangle of heat skin, legs wrapped around naked waist and flushed faces— silence fell upon the earth.

Not a pin drop could be heard from the distracted couple who stares Death in the eyes. Death who didn’t bat an eyelid before pulling her eyes to survey the empty vicinity. When she looked back, Dean was making a face, certain now that Death wasn’t going anywhere. There’s a staring contest until Castiel nudges the hunter’s chin with his cheeks. They whisper at each other. Dean’s face contorting even more, then both stare at her again. When Billie didn’t disappear, a very annoyed hunter glares and says—

"Do you mind? Can't you see we're a little caught up here?"

Billie flickers impassive eyes to Castiel who quietly presses his lips and turns to hide his face on Dean's other shoulder, the tip of his ears red. Dean scowls at her. Next thing, the angel pushes Dean away and ducks to grab his discarded pants on the floor. Dean grumbles after him and follows suit.

Death ignores the sounds of belts and zippers around her until both are decent enough to face her untimely visit.

“I need to speak to Jack.” She says.

“Well, why don’t you pop up where he is and stop getting in other people’s way, how about that?” Dean says, clearly unforgiving. “There’s plenty of room in the house, right?”

“I told you this was not a proper place,” Castiel mutters, trying to pat away the wrinkles on his shirt where Dean’s hands had been. Dean moodily helps him with his tie while Billie’s eyes narrow at the two.

"I need you both to concentrate."

“No shit.” Dean arches an eyebrow. Castiel elbows him but too late. Billie transfixes Dean a cold stare and yes, when you’ve started two Deaths in the eyes it makes things a little cliché, so what makes this any different?

Except Death doesn’t discriminate. Wielding her scythe, she propels it to the floor with a flash and bang— a loud crack of thunder overhead and then she’s gone, leaving Dean taking steps back from Castiel, feeling the air around the angel zinging in a familiar way. He makes a move to approach Cas again but the angel, blue eyes striking and all, glares at him with jaws clenched.

“Don’t.”

Dean stares.

Shit. What did Billie do?

“What do you mean you can’t touch Cas?” Sam demands later when he and Castiel figure out what happened.

“I mean it in every literal way, Sammy.” Dean smiles despite it all. Sam wasn't amused. The brothers are sitting by the library table while across them, Castiel and Jack are listening quietly. Dean catches Cas’ eyes and they both grimace at the space apart.

“So you mean, if you touch Cas— fuck you , stop grinning!”

“Let me strike you an example.” Dean stands up and heads to where Castiel is sitting. The angel sits straight and frowns when he sees the hunter approach him.

“Dean.” He warns in his gravelly voice.

“Don’t worry, Cas, let’s just show em—”

“I don’t think it’s safe—”

“Just hold out your hand, or a finger, okay?”

Castiel is obviously very much against it but he did. Sam and Jack watch as Dean raises one finger to touch the pad of Castiel’s hand. The instant he did, thunder rumbled in the walls of the Bunker and a strike that doesn’t appear to be physical seems to hit the hunter.

Strike 1.

Dean grimaces with all the hair in his body standing on ends. Sam gapes, Jack’s eyes are round while the angel squints at his boyfriend with an I-told-you-so expression.

“She made Cas— untouchable?” Sam guesses but there’s Jack patting Castiel’s shoulder and nothing happens. The Winchesters exchange looks, then there’s Sam stepping close to Castiel.

“Sam.” Is the only thing Castiel said but then Sam is also patting his shoulder and nothing happens.

That’s when all three eyes fall on Dean whose frown deepens, finally understanding Death’s curse. Even Castiel looks lost for a moment.

“What exactly did you do?” Sam asks suspiciously, though there’s an edge in his tone that suggests he knows exactly what. “Dude, you’re an idiot. Do you really have to go piss off all the gods in this universe to make a point?”

“I didn’t know Billie was gonna make house-calls for her daily job. But more importantly, what are we gonna do now? How do we fix this?” he throws the question straight to Castiel. The two of them stare at each other, mutually trying to communicate how the hell they’re going to go around it.

“I think this is the part where they say, ‘save yourself’ .” Castiel offers in the silence, a feat which everyone knows Dean sucks at.

***

By supper all the research and summon come fruitless so Cas and Dean are forced to stay away on corners of the kitchen table. It didn’t bother Sam and Jack because they can still approach Dean and Castiel without literally getting hit by lightning. It didn’t seem to bother Castiel too because the angel is immune to any lightning strike, leaving Dean a pile of rejection because Castiel won’t let him any nearer until they find a way to ‘ not get Dean hurt,’ .

“That’s bullshit!”

Castiel lets Dean get struck by lightning three strikes in a row. The fourth strike he tells Dean to fuck off where the man sulks in one corner not talking to anyone.

Dean is left to admire Cas from the side, sulk even as Castiel has fun with Sam and Jack on the table where Dean chose not to sit. Castiel glances his way when he is not preoccupied and stares, he gives Dean is apologetic and sad. There was nothing they could do less Dean embrace all the lightning strikes and claps of thunder— something Castiel would never approve of so they separated. For Dean’s sake.

Dean hates every second of it. There are times he can’t control it. Be it an accident or simply on purpose because Dean likes trying his luck.

Castiel knows what Dean was doing. It didn’t take him long to guess when Dean yet again tried standing behind him from the sink or when Dean extended his hand on the table with Castiel at the other end, indicating that Cas reached out too. The angel ignores him.

“I’m leaving for an indefinite period of time,” Castiel tells Sam one evening when at the last straw he escapes Dean’s arms when Dean tries to tackle him in the kitchen again, leaving the hunter shutting himself off in his room in frustration. “I can’t take this, Sam. Your brother just keeps throwing himself at me, if I stay here, he’ll eventually gets toasted—”

“Is that smarter?” Sam asks with a pointed look at the angel, “Cas, Dean’s been… dying to hold your hand. You think running away will hold him back?”

“I’m not sure anything can hold him back.” Castiel gives a shaky laugh. “I just want to protect him, Sam… even if it means pulling away…”

“So is the same song we sing every time we care too much, Cas. But at the end of it, Dean will be hurt. You’re just choosing another way for him to feel it.”

Castiel stays silent, Sam lets him. After a moment, he turns a somber look over the entrance to the corridors where his ears can pick up Dean’s sharp intake of breath.

“Must be hard to have a pain in the ass lover?” Sam’s smile is teasing. Castiel bows his head with a chuckle, before glancing up to meet Sam’s eyes.

“I’ll take Dean in any way.”

“Thank you, Cas… for always looking after Dean.”

“You know I’d do anything for him…but… why do you think Dean thinks he’s the only one desperate to touch?” the question leaves his mouth before he can stop himself. Sam gives him a small smile and like a real sympathizer, Sam grips his shoulder in a friendly gesture.

“Hang in there, Cas. You and Dean can get through this too.”

Castiel nods, trusting Sam’s words of wisdom.

Three days later and still no solution, Dean has had enough. He is painfully aware of the time that he isn’t holding Castiel or kissing his back, his shoulders, his lips too soft and plush—

Enough.

He chances Castiel along the corridor where the angel’s blue eyes flicker in familiarity, a smile upon his lips that quickly disappears when Dean walks straight to him and embraces him tightly.

A rumble comes—another crack of thunder. Followed by Castiel shouting Dean’s name in both stricken and exasperated tone.

Sam and Jack glance at each other from across the table in the library. Light nights strike again and more shouting. Sam shakes his head, giving up as he looks back at his research, sighing.

“Idiot.”

Inside the Dean Cave is a lightning show. Dean traps Castiel in by standing in front of the doorway with a determined look, his arms wide open like a goal-keeper in some frenzy soccer ball. Castiel stands at the end of the room with the couch and table between them.

“Stop it, Dean!” Castiel grates, blue eyes flashing. “You’re only going to hurt yourself!”

“I don’t care! Three days is long enough! A man’s gotta feed!”

“Feed—?”

“You!” Dean takes a step forward and every time he draws closer, the air around Dean spins.

“You’re being ridiculous! You know we can’t!”

“Oh, yes can ! Give up, Cas! Just come here and gimme a nice little squish!”

“Forget it, Dean! Why don’t you find someone else to scratch your itch!” Color leaves Castiel’s face the moment he says it. Dean grins.

“You want me hitting on some hot girl outside?”

“If you’re that desperate!” Castiel growls. Dean’s eyes glints playfully.

“Fine.” He lowers his arms and stands straight. “I’m going then.”

Castiel falls silent with a flash of hurt in his eyes. Dean laughs and takes several steps to the distracted angel who finds himself immediately trapped with a wall behind him. Dean’s upon him the second he looks back. Damn hunter agility.

Still, his eyes are on Dean speaking volumes of uncertainties.

“You’re going, Dean?”

“Of course not, dummy. Come on, man! We’re not children to play who’s gonna be more mature, think we’ve done enough!”

Castiel bristles. “Stop it.”

“I want you!”

“You’ll hurt yourself!”

“It’s fine!”

“NO!”

“Cas— dammit, I’m already in pain—if I’m gonna die then at least let me kiss you one last time!”

“You’re not going to die, Dean, but I won’t let you get—"

They’re both being dramatic and silly but the cracking of thunder is unforgiving and lightning over Dean won’t stop striking. Castiel watches in horror as every bolt hits Dean solid—they haven’t figured out why the lightning seems both tolerable and painful for Dean at the same time The only truth Castiel knows is that every time Dean gets a strike, his whole body turns white to the point you don't need to be an angel to see through his body. Something about Dean burns.

It wasn’t a fun sight to see.

“Dean, let go!” Castiel shouts trying to pull away but won’t budge, “DEAN! LET GO!”

"No!" Dean's arms trembles.

"Why are you doing this!?" Castiel watches in terror.

"Don't play dumb, Cas! I know you want-- shit!"

"DEAN!"

Lightning dances in Castiel’s eyes and Dean gets toasted.

“NO!”

All the lightning bolts suddenly get siphoned by Jack who acts like a conductor. He draws all the lightning and rolls of thunder his way, consuming all the energy with hands clutching Dean’s shoulder until they go away.

Leaving Castiel with an unconscious Dean wrapped in his arms. He heals Dean at one embrace, keeps healing Dean just to make sure there was no damage on any of his organs or nerves. He kisses Dean too for good measure.

The warning roll of thunder never came. Dean remains safe in his arms so Castiel holds him closer, buries his fingers on Dean’s side. Jack helps him put Dean on the couch with the angel setting Dean’s head on his lap. There he strokes Dean’s soft hair quietly. Jack returns to tell Sam what happened and that everything’s okay.

Finally, Dean stirs. Castiel holds his breath as the familiar green eyes find his.

He strokes Dean’s cheeks and when the man opens his eyes, the angel beams from ear to ear.

“Hello, Dean.”

Dean takes Castiel’s face for a moment then smiles sleepily. He reaches for Castiel’s hand and pulls it to his lips. Castiel smiles warmly, butterflies in his stomach spinning like it’s been hit by a light bolt. That’s just it. They don’t need any thunder or lightning. They are enough.

“Can we kiss now?”

Castiel gives Dean the longest, sweetest kiss he can muster.

Dean Winchester yet again was able to strike home in the angel's little heart.

@verobatto-angelxhunter laaaatteeeee ;p

AO3

#spnstayathome #destiel crack #destiel ficlet #destiel fics #romance #fluff #dean is in pain #dont touch castiel's baby

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carnationcreation · 4 years

Text

We Are VR (Rocky DeSantos x VR Trooper!Reader)

Masterlist

TITLE: We Are VR (Rocky DeSantos x VR Trooper!Reader)

Prompt/summary: (MMPR season 2 episode 32, Rocky just wants to have fun) Reader moves to Angel Grove, her Trooper powers are revealed after the rangers need help freeing Rocky.

Word Count: 2,385 (exposition is a bitch)

Warnings: none

Authors note: I can’t exactly remember if these are in the same universe but for this imagine they are :)

Being a Trooper is not easy. Being a Trooper that has moved miles away from Cross World City is even harder. (Y/n) liked Angel Grove but hated being so far away from her friends. Ryan, Kaitlin, and JB were understanding over (Y/n)’s situation and tried their best to visit whenever they can.

(Y/n) made their way to the Youth Center of Angel Grove. The popular hangout spot had become a favorite for (Y/n) because of the smoothies. Their transformation virtualizer hung around their neck and (Y/n) always ran her finger over it when they got nervous. And (Y/n) was nervous a lot after the move.

Billy and Rocky had just sat down to study when they both noticed someone new sit down at the table next to them. Rocky looked up to see (Y/n) sitting quietly with a book and sipping on a smoothie. The red ranger blushed, that had to be the cutest person he had ever seen. (Y/n) looked up and locked eyes with Rocky and they both smiled.

Billy snapped his fingers in front of Rocky’s face. Rocky shook his head and turned back to the math equation in front of him.

The two boys decided to take a break from studying. Earnie had just finished setting up the new pachinko machine on the bar, “Hey guys check this out!”

“What is it?” Rocky asked.

“It’s a Pachinko machine. It’s really popular in Asia, you activate this handle and watch the ball bearing chart and unplanned trajectory course through the game area.”

“Yeah,” Earnie said, “the idea is to get more balls so you keep on playing. Try it!”

“Okay,” Rocky said. He began a round on the machine and suddenly he was hooked. “This is too fun!”

Little did they know that Lord Zed had casted a spell on the game, making Rocky become addicted to it. He couldn’t take his eyes off the silver balls falling through the glass.

Before he knew it 20 minutes had passed, Billy sighed and turned around, “Rocky we really need to hit the books again.”

“All right, just let me finish this game.”

BIlly nodded and turned back around to the books with a sigh. More time passed and Rocky was still playing, “Rocky come on man.”

“No way! I’m having too much fun!”

Hours passed and Rocky ordered smoothie after smoothie. (Y/n) watched the boy and his friends closely. They noticed the boy at the pachinko machine start to get more aggressive at the game as time went on.

“Hey is he okay?” They asked the boy at the table.

“I don’t know, he started acting weird once he started playing that game.”

(Y/n) stuck her hand out, “I’m (Y/n), want me to help you clean up your books?”

“Yeah thanks that would be great, I’m Billy by the way.”

Rocky whooped as more balls flooded into the bottom chamber, Billy stood up to confront his friend, “Rocky, we should really get back to our math.”

“Well go study then, brainiac,” Rocky snapped, “I’m having fun.”

Billy’s eyes widened at Rocky. Something was definitely wrong, Rocky would never say that to him. He turned back to (Y/n) and shook his head. They both began to pick up the books slowly hoping that Rocky would get a hint.

Soon a girl walked up to the red ranger, “I’m ready for my karate lessons Rocky.”

“Karate’s out. It’s too much work, why don’t you play a video game huh?”

“But I can’t,” the girl said, “My green belt test is coming up and I need to practice.”

Rocky scoffed, “Practice by yourself. I just want to have fun.”

(Y/n) and Billy shared a knowing look. They both could tell something was very wrong with Rocky. The girl walked sadly over to Billy, “What’s wrong with Rocky?”

“That’s a good question.”

Billy excused himself and ran to the park to get the other Rangers. (Y/n) followed closely behind him but stayed out of sight.

“Hey Billy, what’s up?” Aisha said.

“Guys, we got a real problem.”

“Oh no, Zed?” Kimberly sighed. (Y/n)’s ears perked up at that.

“No, it’s Rocky,” BIlly said. The other Rangers stared at him in shock.

“Rocky?” Tommy said.

“Yeah,” BIlly explained, “He seems to be obsessed with Earnie’s Pachinko machine. My new friend (Y/n) is there keeping an eye on him for now.”

The group began to walk away.

“We should go to the youth center and talk to him,” Adam suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” Tommy said, “Let’s go see what’s up with Rocky.”

“Yeah let’s check it out,” Aisha said.

Suddenly, Puddies appeared on the playground in front of them, “Puddies!” Kim yelled.

“Battle positions everyone,” Tommy ordered.

(Y/n) stepped out from behind the tree, running to the group as they began to take the mutants down.

“(Y/n)?” Billy yelled.

“Figured you’d need some help,” they yelled as they flipped a puddy over a seesaw.

Billy didn’t say anything and went back to fighting. (Y/n) learned quickly to hit them on their Z. Soon Rocky showed up and picked a frisbee off of the ground.

“Rocky’s out of it man,” Adam told Tommy.

“We’ll just have to defeat them without him.”

After a while all the puddies were taken out and the group formed a circle.

“Who are you?” Tommy asked the new person.

“My names (Y/n), I’m from Cross World City. I met BIlly earlier at Earnie’s.”

“Oh well welcome to Angel Grove, I’m Kim,” she introduced, “That’s Aisha, Tommy, and that’s Rocky over there.”

The group turned and saw Rocky swinging on the monkey bars.

“So who’s this Lord Zedd guy?” (Y/n) asked.

The group's eyes widened as they turned to Billy, “How do you know about that?”

“Well I heard you guys earlier and I remember Professor Hart saying something about it at our base one time.”

“Wait a minute, is that a virtualizer?” Billy said, pointing to the crystal on (Y/n)’s necklace.

“Yes?” (Y/n) said.

“So you are a trooper! Zordon told me about you guys.”

“What’s a trooper?” Aisha said.

“I am the fourth VR Trooper. Luckily I got to keep my powers after I moved to Angel Grove. I do get called back to help my team from time to time though. We get our powers from the reality barrier, It separates our world from the virtual world. We believe it might be connected to your morphing grid since our transformation virtualizers are similar to your morphers. They transform us into Troopers and help us to travel into Virtual Reality. A creature from a virtual dimension named Grimlord is trying to break through the reality barrier and into our dimension. ”

“That’s morphenomenal!” Billy said.

Before anyone else could say anything they heard an explosion and looked to see a monster forming in front of them.

“Rangers! Step right up and try your luck!” it yelled.

“Aw man,” Billy said, “it’s a big Pachinko head!”

“Right, it’s Morphin time!” Tommy yelled.

“Trooper Transform!” (Y/n) said, they held their virtualizer in the air and yelled “We are VR!”

After they had morphed the group stared in shock at their new friend. (Y/n) stood next to Tommy and summoned their weapon, a laser saber.

Rocky finally joined in on the fun when he realized how much ‘fun’ it would be. He ran around the team making strange noises.

The monster set off a blast, ”Look out!” (Y/n) yelled. Adam, Tommy and (Y/n) rolled away onto the grass. The blast caused Billy, Aisha, and Kim to turn into pachinko balls. Rocky just clapped the whole time. The monster and Rocky began to play soccer with the ranger balls

“We gotta get those balls,” Tommy said.

“Okay, I’ll do it!” Adam said as he charged forward.

“Adam wait!” Tommy yelled.

Adam flew through the air landing a kick on the monster's big eye.

“You’d make a shiny pachinko ball!” It yelled as it turned Adam into silver before turning and blasting Rocky as well.

Tommy turned to (Y/n), “Grab that frisbee!”

The Trooper grabbed the red disk off the ground, “Hey gizmo head! Catch this!”

The frisbee went off in the distance and the monster turned to follow it. Tommy ran forward and started picking up his friends, “Oh man, I just hope Zordon can help us.”

“Can I come with you? I might be able to help out.”

“Right, let’s go!”

___________

(Y/n) had not expected the command center to be so dark. As they de-morphed Tommy showed (Y/n) the control panel.

“Zordon, this is (Y/n). They’re a VR Trooper and helped me save the others.”

“Greeting (Y/n),” Zordon said, “I’m glad the Rangers got to meet you. You’ll be of great help to us in the battle against Lord Zed.”

“I’m happy to help,” (Y/n) smiled.

“Ay-yi-yi!” Alpha yelled, “He’s turned them all into giant Pachinko balls!”

“Not only that, but Rocky was fooling around,” Tommy explained.

“He wouldn’t even help us fight the monster, I’m sure that’s not like him,” (Y/n) said.

“It is not,” Zordon said, “Alpha, run a diagnostic scan on Rocky.”

The android grabbed a red wand and began to hover it over Rocky’s ball form.

“Rocky has been placed under Lord Zed’s powerful spell of irresponsibility. Anyone under this spell just wants to play.”

“Can we get the others back?” (Y/n) asked.

“Ay-yi-yi! Reversing Lord Zed’s spell won’t be easy,” Alpha said.

“Tommy, hurry to the amusement park. Pachinko head is on a rampage,” Zordon said.

Tommy nodded and turned to his new friend, “Are you gonna be alright here?”

“Yes, I’ll stay here and contact Professor Hart, he might be able to help us. Contact me if you need help.”

“I’ll insert (Y/n)’s virtualizer into the communicator’s system,” Alpha five said.

“Thanks Alpha,” Tommy said, “I’m out of here, keep working to free the others.”

“Be careful Tommy,” (Y/n) said.

“I will,” the ranger said as he teleported out of the Power Chamber.

___________

With the help of (Y/n), Professor Hart, and Alpha, they were successful in freeing Rocky from the pachinko ball chamber.

“Ugh, what happened?” Rocky said.

“You were placed under a spell by Lord Zedd which forced you to neglect what was important and desire only what was fun.”

“Pachinko head turned everyone but Tommy and I into pachinko balls,” (Y/n) explained

Rocky smiled shyly and turned to (Y/n), “Hey, I promise I’m not normally like that.”

“It’s alright I guessed that already,” the Trooper chuckled.

“Where’s Tommy now?” Rocky asked.

“He’s trying to stop the monster from anymore destruction while we work on getting the others back to normal,” Zordon explained.

“This is all my fault,” Rocky said.

“Stop blaming yourself,” Alpha said, “We’ll get the others back.”

“ Rocky go and help Tommy,” Zordon commanded.

“Alright,” Rocky said, he looked at (Y/n) and they both smiled shyly at each other.

“It’s morphin time!”

__________________

(Y/n) watched through the power globe as Rock’s zord fought the pachinko monster.

Alpha had finally gotten the others back into their human forms and they all sighed in relief.

“It’s sensational not to be spherical,” Billy said.

“Guys I’m so glad you’re back! Rocky left to help Tommy fight the pachinko monster,” (Y/n) said.

“Lord Zedd is about to take over the city. Zedd’s monster damaged Tommy’s zord, he is alright but the zord needs to be recharged. I have already sent Rocky to take his place but he needs your help.”

The group looked at their new friend, “Go, you don’t need me now. Help Rocky and Tommy.”

Kim nodded, “Alright we’ll be back soon. It’s morphin time!”

(Y/n) turned back to the power globe and watched their friends summon their zords.

________________

“You did it!” (Y/n) yelled as they ran up to the Rangers entering the power chamber, giving each of them a hug but lingering on Rocky. Billy chuckled when he noticed causing the two to pull back with a blush.

“Good job Rangers,” Zordon yelled.

“Let’s go get some smoothie’s, I’m so tired,” Kim said and the others agreed.

Rocky walked out of the locker rooms spotting Billy, Aisha, and (Y/n) studying at a table.

“Hey guys,” Rocky said. He put a hand on (Y/n)’s shoulder causing both of them to blush.

“Hey Rocky, gonna hit the books with us?” Aisha asked.

“Right after karate class,” Rocky said, (Y/n) felt something being slipped into their hand and they looked down to see a note.

‘Meet me outside afterwards?’ it read. (Y/n) smiled and nodded as rocky turned and walked over to his student.

________________

(Y/n) watched the red ranger practice with Kayla and they couldn’t help but smile everytime they met eyes. Aisha and BIlly slowly caught on to what was happening after seeing (Y/n) blush and look down.

Soon enough the practice came to an end and (Y/n) walked with Rocky outside of the Youth Center.

“So do you have to go back to Cross World anytime soon?”

“Not unless the team really really needs me,” (Y/n) smiled. They sat down on a bench outside and looked up at the sky. It had started to get late so the sky was a beautiful orange.

“That’s good,” Rocky said.

“Why?” (Y/n) looked over at him.

“Cause it gives me plenty of time to take you on a date,” he smirked.

(Y/n) smiled, “That sounds like a pretty good plan to me.”

Rocky put his arm around (Y/n)’s shoulder and they leaned onto his. He bent down to kiss the top of their head and sighed as they both stared at the setting sun.

Everything was perfect until they saw a flash. They turned around, ready to fight if it was a monster, to find the other rangers there. Kim held a polaroid camera with a new picture forming at the top.

“I ship it,” Kim smirked.

“Oh I’ll get you!” Rocky yelled.

(Y/n) laughed as the rangers began to pass the photo back and forth trying to keep it away from the red ranger. He finally had enough and trapped Kim, beginning to tickle her as the other rangers laughed. (Y/n) bent down to pick up the picture that had fallen from the camera. It showed both (Y/n) and Rocky on the bench with the setting sun in front of them.

“That’s a keeper.”

#power rangers #power rangers imagine #mighty morphin power rangers #rocky desantos #rocky desantos imagine #vr troopers #vr troopers imagine

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popwasabi · 5 years

Text

“They Called Us Enemy”: George Takei Recalls Interment and Its Cautionary History

Written by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott

Illustrated by Harmony Becker

This past weekend I got to make my annual pilgrimage to the nerd Mecca capital of the world; San Diego Comic-Con.

It’s a fun and often exhausting experience between panel hopping to see your favorite movie or TV show actors speak and standing in line often for hours just to see them or to buy merch in the Dealer’s hall.

(At least it wasn’t hot this year.)

Every year though, somehow or another, I always meet at least one celebrity be it intentionally or accidentally. Last year I got to run into Billy West, best known for his voice acting roles on Ren &Stimpy and Futurama, the year before that it was MMA legend Josh Barnett who is a huge comic book geek and before that I met my all-time favorite TV composer Bear McCreary. This year I got to not only meet, but cross a massive name off my bucket list, in George Takei.

(^It me...)

Takei needs no introduction of course; the outspoken OG Star Trek alum is now firmly an internet personality of sorts and hugely popular figure amongst my generation and nerdom alike. But he wasn’t there at Comic-Con to talk about Star Trek or any number of Science Fiction related items to his acting past. No, this time he was here to promote his new graphic novel “They Called Us Enemy” based on a much darker period in his life; the infamous internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps across the country during World War II.

Takei has never been shy about his opinions on politics and society and definitely very open about his time in those camps but this graphic novel helps not only shed a light on his own personal experience there and all the nuanced feelings that came from that but just how deplorable Executive Order 9066 was on American History.

Now, with the recreation of concentration camps this time along the southern border indefinitely imprisoning migrants seeking asylum in our country, Takei’s graphic novel reminds us all why this is so wrong and why we should not turn our backs again.

“They Called Us Enemy” is one-part history book detailing key events, people and often distressing quotes from our politicians on Japanese-American concentration camps but three-parts a visual and written history of Takei’s family journey from pre-WWII internment to the present. Through his parents, his father a first generation Japanese American, his mother second generation to how the events of Pearl Harbor unlawfully stripped them of their dignity, they try their best to make sense of the situation while keeping their children from baring the weight of this shameful period of history. What is an “extended vacation” for Takei and his siblings is a prolonged agonizing experience of doubt, humiliation and degradation for his parents and the toll it takes on his father especially is told through the panels of this graphic novel.

I think the most astounding thing about this graphic novel is that it isn’t especially bitter. It’s upsetting for sure, and bitter in parts, as Takei certainly wants his reader to feel how his family felt through this period in American history but he makes a point of showing how inevitably in all things in America, the wheels of justice may be slow but they do not stop moving forward as long as there are those willing to fight for it. How Takei’s family handles this humiliating and degrading experience is both brave and sad all at once. Takei, for his and his younger siblings, part are completely ignorant of the situation they’ve been forced into and his parents do their best to keep things as normal as possible for them through this ordeal treating it as a long “vacation” for them. They do this despite the fact they’ve been forcibly torn away from their homes, given no time to pack their things, given nametags like cattle and forced to sleep and live in conditions befitting of farm animals.

America may not have led anyone into death camps, during this period, as the Germans did with the Jews but as Takei points out it was still based on fear of a perceived “enemy” and still forced Japanese Americans into these horrid conditions and to do things that our constitution and Bill of Rights explicitly states against for its citizens.

But for Takei, as a child back then, it was an adventure of sorts for he and his siblings that was shielded by his parents to keep him from grasping the full scope of what was really going on. In this way, the graphic novel is somewhat bittersweet; sweet that George and his siblings through the tireless effort of their parents was able to enjoy some level of a childhood within the camps but bitter that as he grew older he finally understood why he was there.

Through Takei’s writings and Harmony becker’s wonderful illustrations we get a grasp of the simultaneous joy and pain that Takei associates with this period in his life; how his mom, when given little time to grab her own personal belongings when the soldiers came, grabbed only things for her children such as sweets and a sewing machine to fashion them new clothes in the camps as to keep their childhoods alive, and how his father helped organize camp leadership and helped lead these disillusioned Americans who had no idea what the future held or if there was a future there at all.

It was in these camps in fact that Takei discovered his love for acting and theater, as funny as that may sound, as camp members were able to show movies within its barb-wired fences. Takei would use this inspiration when his family returned to Los Angeles to become an actor down the line and eventually take up his famous role as Sulu in “Star Trek” and the reason largely was because of the camps. As the graphic novel states Gene Rodenberry (Star Trek’s original creator) wanted a show that envisioned a future where a diverse cast of people worked together for the benefit of all humanity and having an Asian American not only be present in this cast but be a resourceful, responsible lead was paramount. Takei understanding how taking on a role that could give Asian Americans agency in popular media wanted the part immediately as it could help show the country that people who looked like him weren’t the enemy.

Fifty plus years later and he is still advocating for that representation and need for diversity today.

(Being God damn fabulous at it too)

The graphic novel does lay out many things that most average Americans are probably not familiar with; the fact that much of these Japanese-Americans belongings were liquefied and sold off after they were taken from their homes, that many of them tried to join the fight against Japan after Pearl Harbor but were turned away because of their race, and of course after the US finally needed more troops they conscripted members of these very same camps, people they had openly vilified and wrongly detained, to enlist later to become the 442nd Battalion the most decorated group of its kind during World War II.

It’s again infuriating and uplifting all at once; as Takei points out the people who chose to enlist from the camps were as much patriots and heroes as those who chose not to and who could blame them? Many Japanese Americans saw it as an opportunity to prove they were indeed Americans and show the country that had wronged them that they were as patriotic as their white counterparts. For the others it was an act of civil disobedience showing that they didn’t need prove anything to the country that had turned their backs on them.

Takei’s family chose the latter in this regard and nearly lost everything in the process.

The path toward justice is often a long and degrading road for victims and the unjustly accused. For Japanese Americans during this time it took damn near half a century before reparations were made and by then many of its oldest prisoners had passed away not knowing that America had admitted their guilt.

Its sad and if reading about this part of history and seeing what’s happening now at the border doesn’t make your blood boil, I’m not sure what will.

“They Call Us Enemy” does a great job of not only informing Americans on what happened during this time period and Takei’s very personal story in between all that, but offers a stark warning about repeating the mistakes of the past as we are now at the border. We cannot keep going with this cycle of endlessly vilifying folks for simply looking the part of “the enemy” regardless of their legal status or us being at war with countries that happen to look like them.

I’m of the mind that people deserve inalienable rights regardless of citizenry. Locking up people and throwing away the key indefinitely and ripping children from the arms of their screaming mothers (Something we didn’t even do to Japanese Americans) without trial is FUCKING WRONG PERIOD and ill-befitting of country that self-labels itself as the “greatest” on Earth.

If we are to pretend we are the good guys in any of these types of conflicts we better start acting like it. FUCKING NAZIS in Nuremberg were given trials after World War II; you cannot tell me an “illegal” doesn’t deserve a chance at a hearing.

I’m often very angry and bitter about the state of the country these days and where we appear to be trending as a society but Takei’s book is not all doom in gloom when it comes to its warning on where we currently stand on justice. As the graphic novel states:

Our strength as a country is that we are capable of change, we are capable of becoming the pillars of democracy and justice that we profess to be through the valiant efforts of those who fight for it. Whether it was the Abolitionists of the Civil War period, Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights era or for these wrongly interred folks, Fred Korematsu, Yuri Kochiyama, Wayne Collins, or Daniel K. Inouye, we will always find a way to move forward as long as brave individuals come together to fight for what’s right.

We can be those brave individuals too, so long as we stand up, voice our disapproval and move the needle of our democracy. We still have all the power here to affect change. We cannot let the wrongs of the past continue on in our present, our democracy and the very fabric of decency, respect, and justice depend on it. Takei’s family and 120,000 plus Japanese Americans who suffered through this depend on us being better for the present and future.

Don’t turn your back on it. Not now, not ever.

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usual-day-dreamer · 4 years

Text

Let Me Touch Your Fire (Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader) Chapter Eight

MASTERLIST

Dustin grabbed your arm and harshly pulled you back inside closing the gate.

"Ouch!" You exclaimed touching your arm as you glared at your brother.

"Are you insane!?" He exclaimed "They could've barged in any moment!"

"Jeez! Sorry" you said, "It's just... they are gone" tears fell down again "And it's my fault! I could've done something! Helped them close the door, Steve, he pushed me and Robin, oh Robin I hope she's okay, what if they kill them before we get help? Oh god I don't know what do anymore I just-"

Dustin grabbed your shoulders tightly and shook "Calm down!" he exclaimed not letting go of your shoulders "No one's going to die, you hear me? We'll come up with something! You need to be calm so we can get the shit outta here"

You stared at him speechless "I know you are worried, I am too, but we need to stick together and come up with a plan to save them before it's too late"

You nodded and he finally let you go.

"For now, let's crawl around and find and exit" Dustin started, and Erica followed, with you behind both kids.

Footsteps above you echoed around the vents as you crawled around, trying to keep the tears and negative thoughts away. You could hear Erica and Dustin talking and you tried to listen to their conversation to keep you distracted but it was harder with every passing second.

You found yourselves stuck, Dustin was trying to open a panel to stop the moving fan so you could continue moving, you felt more relaxed now as you heard Dustin talking to Erica about what happened with the Demodogs.

"By 'we' you are including Lucas?" Erica sounded unconvinced and you smiled breathing a little loudly through your nose.

"Of course," Dustin looked at Erica for a moment and went back to the task at hand

"So, all that shit you told me, Lucas was there?"

Dustin nodded

"Really? My brother? Lucas Sinclair?"

"Yes!" Dustin's voice was louder now, your smile widened. You remembered how Lucas was always the most fearful of the group, you guessed that hadn't changed thanks to Erica's doubt, but you believed Dustin, if he said Lucas was there, then Lucas was there.

"I don't believe you" she finally said, and you giggled.

"Wait, so you believe everything about El and the gate, and the Demodogs and the Mind Flayer, but you question your brother's involvement?"

It was hilarious, really, how could Erica believe that sci-fi story and not his brother's involvement was beyond you, but at least it made you laugh while everything else around you seemed to fall apart in chaos.

"That's correct" she said with a nod.

"Makes total sense" to your surprise Dustin agreed, your suspicions were true after all, he was still the same fearful kid as all those years ago.

"Do you need help with that?" you asked, your voice barely audible and a little raspy.

"No" he said, and you shrugged, letting him continue. Erica was having none of that though.

"Well, it's taking a while so-" she said

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock" Dustin looked annoyed as hell.

"All right, so if we don't find a more efficient method to stop these fans, we are never gonna find help and your ice cream buddies are screwed"

Your breath hitched and you looked at Dustin, fear flooding your eyes, what if she was right? He noticed but said nothing turning his attention to Erica once again.

"Yeah, with that attitude, they are"

"I'm just being realistic. I mean, we've made it about point-three miles in nine hours. Then we had to walk three hours down that tunnel, so I'd estimate ten miles back to the elevator, which should take us approximately twelve-and-a-half days"

Dustin and you exchanged surprised looks and looked back at Erica.

"Did you just do all that in your head?" you said with an incredulous tone.

"I'm good with numbers" she answered.

"Holy shit" Dustin exclaimed "You are nerd"

"What?"

"You... are... a... nerd"

"Okay" Erica said "You better take that back nerd"

"Can't put the truth back in the box" you said with a shrug and a playful smile appeared on your face as she stared at you wide eyed.

"But it's not the truth" she argued.

"Let's examine the facts, shall we?" Dustin said "Fact one: you are a math whiz, apparently"

"That was a pretty straightforward equation"

"Fact number two" Dustin ignored her and continued "You're a political junkie"

You remembered her speech at Scoops, Dustin was right.

"Just because I do not agree with Communism as an ideology-"

"Fact number three: you love My Little Pony" Dustin grabbed Erica's backpack.

"And what does that have to do with this?" she grabbed her backpack and placed it beside her.

"Ah, let's go back to the ponies' last adventure, okay?" You kept silent, eager to see where this conversation was going "The evil centaur team and Tirek turns Applejack into a dragon at Midnight castle, and then Megan and the other ponies have to use Moochick's magic to defeat his rainbow of darkness, saving them from a lifetime of enslavement"

You snickered; Erica's face was priceless.

"All the pink of the world cannot disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and dragons and magic are all standard nerd tropes. So, My Little Pony, is, in fact, nerdy and you, Erica, are a nerd"

"And how do you know so much about My Little Pony?" she asked placing her hand under her chin.

"Because, I'm..." Dustin finally grabbed the panel's small door "A nerd" he finished and pulled at the cables making the fan stop completely.

"Let's go, nerd" you moved and looked back at Erica as she glared at Dustin for his comment. You smiled.

"Show off" you whispered at Dustin and he smirked at you, crawling ahead to lead the group once again.

Steve groaned as he received another punch. How come every time weird shit happened again, he always got beaten somehow? First Jonathan, then Billy and now some Russian soldier? Just when he thought he had finally won his first fight...

"That one stung" he gasped for air as he looked up again.

"Who do you work for?"

"For the millionth time, I work at Scoops Ahoy!" his voice sounded desperate as he gasped for air, repeating the name of the company that hired him. However, the officer did not seem to believe any word that left his lips.

Another punch, but this time on his stomach. He grunted in pain "What the hell?! Look at my outfit!" he exclaimed, he was out of ideas "Do you think I wear this for fun or something? You think I'm a spy in a sailor's uniform?" Maybe he shouldn't have said the last part, but he didn't care anymore, his head was spinning, and his body and face ached like hell. Another punch, same place, he closed his eyes and grunted.

"How did you get in?"

"I already told you" he said between gaps "My delivery didn't come and my friends and I thought that it was left at the loading dock, so we went in the room, and then it turned into an elevator, and then... and then we dropped and then, next thing we know, I open my eyes, and we're in this... wonderful facility. I swear to God, nobody knows about it, nobody saw us. You could just let us go, all right? We are not gonna tell anyone about this, we promise. Shit happens, life goes on. And, uh... ice- ice cream. Everyone loves ice cream, right? I don't if you have Russian ice cream or if that is considered gelato. But whatever you want, seriously. USS Butterscotch, you gotta try it"

The officer looked at him, he felt those eyes bury into his soul as he finished, almost trembling with fear.

The soldiers in the room laughed with the officer, Steve laughed nervously with them.

Maybe they finally believed him, and now, they were gonna let them go and they'd just forget about this and he'd be able to continue his normal life.

His hopes died when the officer asked again: "Who do you work for?"

He pleaded and the last thing he felt, were hard knuckles against his cheekbone before everything went black.

The soldiers dragged Steve to another room. Throwing him inside.

Two more soldiers were dragging Robin too. She was struggling and screaming, telling them to let her go, but they threw her inside anyway. She landed painfully on her back next to Steve. She quickly sat up, calling Steve's name only to find he was unconscious. She tried to wake him up as the door opened. She looked up; eyes full of anger.

"What did you do to him?" she said.

The officer slapped her across the face, and she fell back again with a grunt. She whimpered as the same soldiers that dragged her inside picked her up again. "Don't touch me!"

They sat her down harshly and she grunted again, her back pressed against Steve's.

"Steve, wake up" she tried again "Steve!"

They tied them up, Robin trashed around trying to break free.

The officer walked towards Steve and pulled his head up by his hair.

"Don't touch him!" she said.

He clicked his tongue and let Steve go; his head fell.

"Steve! Can you hear me?"

He walked around them, "I think your friend need a doctor" his voice thick with a Russian accent, Robin's stomach churned. He stopped in front of her, her angry stare never leaving his frame "Good thing we have the best ones here" The officer laughed and looked at the soldiers, they laughed with him and Robin snapped, spitting across his face.

He pulled out a handkerchief and washed the spit away, glaring daggers at Robin, she glared back.

"You are going to regret that little bitch"

Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let them down, breathing heavily as the officer said something in Russian and walked away, the soldiers behind him.

"Bastards" she followed them with her gaze "Let us out of here!" she kept screaming and the door closed loudly, leaving her alone with Steve unconscious against her back.

Dustin pulled aside the gate and you stood up looking around. You looked around the room, it was full of the green goo the elevator transported.

The three of you stepped outside and continued to look around. You watched Dustin walk away and walked behind him next to Erica, you smiled as you saw a small red car in front of you.

"Do you even know how to drive?" Erica asked as Dustin grabbed the steering wheel

"How hard can it be? Max did it" Dustin sat inside, ready to drive.

"What the hell Dustin? I'm driving" you said standing next to him, crossing your arms across your chest frowning.

Dustin ignored you completely "Aw, come on" you looked over his shoulder to see that the key was missing, obviously.

"You seriously thought they were going to leave the key there?" Erica said.

"There's gotta be a spare somewhere" Dustin answered looking around the car. Erica sighed and walked away. You watched her look around and decided to help Dustin with the missing key.

"Dustin?"

"Yeah?" he answered, not looking away, he stepped out to keep looking for a key.

"How big did you say the Demogorgon was?"

"Nine feet or so, why?" he turned to look at the table next to the car. Erica did not answer, and you kept looking, Dustin doing the same.

"Found them" Dustin said and you looked up with a smile.

"Great!" you said a frown replacing your smile as you noticed that Erica was missing.

"Erica?" Dustin and you said in unison and jumped when an electric sound answered you. You looked towards Dustin and found Erica holding weapon.

"What the hell is that?" Dustin asked and you tried to steady your heartbeat placing your hand on your chest and closing your eyes, taking deep breaths.

"A deadly weapon" she answered, "Could be useful" She turned it on again and Dustin jumped back in surprise.

Erica had a point.

"For what?" Dustin asked and looked at you.

"We could help our friends" she said.

"Thought you were more realistic than that, nerd"

She rolled her eyes and walked away "We don't even know where they are, and even if we knew, there are probably a million guards there with weapons way deadlier than that"

Erica got inside the car, Dustin followed her as he talked "The best we can do for them is to get out of here and find help"

Dustin had a point too, but what if something bad happens to them while you try to escape?

He sat on the driver’s seat, you cleared your throat and raised an eyebrow, he huffed and gave you keys, making more room for you "Just trust me on this one okay?" he said as you sat down and started the car.

You wanted to trust him, you really did, but your instinct was telling you something else.

Steve felt calm, it has been a while since he last felt like that before. He opened his eyes slowly, a hand softly playing with his hair and he hummed, he tried to sit up, but his body ached, he hissed.

"Easy there tiger" a voice said, and he met E/C eyes and a warm smile "Y/N?"

"Come on, dingus" her palm was against his cheek and he leaned into her touch, not really feeling anything. A scream echoed around, you looked away from him and pulled your hand away, standing up, his head fell against the blanket underneath him.

"You have to go" you said, the wind moving your hair around as he watched you.

"What?" he asked, trying to move again, his body didn't respond. You started walking away and he screamed your name.

"Open your eyes Steve" he heard you whisper, and you were gone, the screams got louder, and his head ached.

Robin could hear her screams echoing, her throat was sore, but she kept screaming, hoping someone would come in and saved them.

"Would you stop yelling?" she heard Steve's voice and relaxed immediately. She looked his way and then up at the ceiling.

"Steve! Oh my god" she panted and called his name again. "Are you okay?" she asked when he didn't reply.

"My ears are ringing, and I can't really breathe. My eye feels like it's about to pop out of my skull, but apart from that I'm doing pretty good" his voice was raspy, he really sounded like shit.

"Well, the good news is that they are calling you a doctor" she chuckled, trying to lighten up the somber mood. Steve looked up.

"Is this his workplace? Because I love the vibe" he answered and Robin chuckled again, glad Steve was conscious and joking around with her.

"You see that table over there to your right?" Steve looked at the wrong direction "Your other right" Robin corrected, and Steve looked "You see those scissors?"

"Uh-huh"

"Maybe if we move at the same time, we'll be able to get over there and maybe I can kick the table and knock them into your lap"

"And I could cut the binds" Steve said

"Yeah, and then we'll get out of here"

"Gotcha, we can do that"

"Yeah, I can't believe it! Those morons just left the scissors there" Steve's voice sounded more awake, and even a little happy.

"Total morons" Robin agreed with a laugh "Okay, on the count of three we are gonna hop"

"Okay, okay, I gotcha"

"One, two, three" they moved. Relief washed over them, Robin's plan started smoothly and hopefully will end just like that. They counted together and moved again.

"This is gonna work!" Robin exclaimed, a huge smile on her lips

"We're almost there. Ready?" They counted together again but when they moved the chair slipped and they fell on the floor, both groaned in pain. Robin laughed softly.

"It's okay, it's okay" Steve tried to look at her "Don't cry" Robin giggled louder and Steve frowned "Are you laughing?" he asked

"I'm sorry! I just, I can't believe I'm going to die in a secret Russian base with Steve 'The Hair' Harrington"

"We're not gonna die, we're gonna get out of here, okay?" Steve ignored the nickname and focused instead of thinking about a new plan.

"Do you remember, those school band concerts to gain extra points?" Robin's voice made him stop thinking.

"What?"

"The charity concerts, that's what us band dweebs called them" Robin looked towards Steve, a fond smile on her face as she remember her younger years at school "We organized them every year so the kids that needed extra points would have a chance to pass. You'd always go, with your friends"

Steve kept quiet.

"I played in the band; I'd always watch you take your usual seat every single year. Mister cool... the King of Hawkins himself. Do you even remember me? Or her?" her tone was sad when she finished the sentence and Steve wondered who the other girl was, she was talking about. He kept quiet, guilt spreading through his body.

She chuckled softly "Of course you don't. You were a real asshole, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know"

"But it didn't matter that you were an ass. I was still obsessed with you" she admitted "Us losers, we just wanted to feel accepted, normal..."

"If it makes you feel better, everything that everyone says, what you should or care about, Its total bullshit. But I guess you gotta mess up before to figure things out"

"I hope so" she said "I feel like my whole life has been one big error"

Steve laughed "Yep"

"At least it can't get any more messed up than this" she smiled, maybe if they got out, she'd have a second chance and she'd finally be able to make everything right.

They laughed.

"I wish I had known you before" He said "I'd have passed all my classes and maybe I'd be on my way to college instead of being trapped here"

"And I'd have no idea that a Russian base was underneath this and I'd be slinging ice cream with some other idiot" Both teens chuckled, Robin's eyes stung, and she blinked away the tears.

"It was fun while it lasted"

"It was"

Buzzing sounds filled the room and the door was open again. Steve and Robin looked towards the sound rapidly. The officer looked down at them

"Where were you two going?" his voice sounded almost playful and he clicked his tongue in a scolding manner. The other soldiers placed them up again.

"Try telling the truth this time. That'll make your visit with the doctor less painful" The officer moved the hair out of Steve's eyes and then grabbed his chin. He winced in pain and the officer chuckled, his gaze moved towards the doctor and he nodded. The doctor moved towards them and Steve panicked.

"Wait a second. Hold on" his pleas were ignored again, he looked at the syringe the doctor was holding, his heart racing "What the hell is that thing?"

"It will help you talk" the answer was simple; the doctor grabbed his hair and pulled his head, so his neck was exposed. Steve screamed when he felt the syringe pierce the skin on his neck.

The Russian guys were gone just as fast as they arrived. They have been alone for a few minutes.

"Honestly, I don't feel anything" Steve broke the silence, his tongue touching his lips "Do you?"

"I guess I... I feel fine" Robin answered

"I kinda feel good" Steve admitted, and they laughed.

"Wanna know a secret? I like it too" they continued laughing. The door opened again, and the officer stepped inside with the doctor trailing behind him. Steve's gaze moved between the doctor and the officer.

"Would now be a good time to say that I don't like doctors?" Robin said shaking her head, she watched the doctor place knifes and other materials that were obviously for torture.

"Let's try this again" Steve nodded, "Who do you work for?"

"Scoops" he chuckled "Scoops Ahoy" Robin chuckled too, the officer glared at them.

"How did you find us?"

"By accident"

The officer looked at the doctor and said something in Russian. Robin watched him grab some tweezers. He walked towards Steve and grabbed his fingers. Steve panicked again

"No! Wait!" he screamed.

"There was a code! We heard a code!" Robin's voice made them stop.

"What code?" The officer walked in front of her, she repeated the code and exclaimed how they found the signal with cerebro, a mocking tone and a smile.

"And now people know you are here"

"Who knows?" the officer was angry

"Uhm, Dustin knows and Y/N" Steve said.

"Hey, Steve" he ignored her

"Yeah, Dustin and Y/N Henderson"

"Ugh! Steve"

"Henderson" the officer repeated "Are they brothers? The curly haired boy and an older girl with H/C?"

"Curly haired. Great hair and his sister is just so beautiful" he answered

"Where are they?"

"They're long gone asshole. And they are probably calling Hopper and he's probably calling his cop friends" he laughed "They're gonna come in here and kick your asses back to Russia"

"Is that so?" he said with a smirk

"Yeah" Robin and Steve laughed, the officer and the doctor laughed darkly.

Alarms blared around the facility and everyone looked towards the door. Their laughing stop, the officer looked at Steve and he shrugged his shoulder with a triumphant smile.

Everyone was yelling in Russian outside as the officer walked away. Dustin opened the door and yelled, using the weapon against the doctor. He fell unconscious on the floor. You rushed towards Steve and Robin, starting to untie them.

"Hendersons!" they screamed happily at you. You kept untying them and Dustin quickly helped you "Crazy, I was just talking about you" tears blurred your vision as you met Steve's gaze, his face was a mess, you looked rapidly at Robin and calmed down a little as you noticed she was fine, not a single bruise or cut on her face. Dustin nudged you and you pushed your thoughts aside to help Dustin. You wanted to say something, but the lump in your throat made the task completely impossible, Dustin saw your struggle and talked.

"Get ready to run" he said and pulled the strain harder, breaking it. It fell to the ground and you held your bread.

It was time for step two.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #stranger things

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recentanimenews · 3 years

Text

FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with Maffew

I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

Welcome to the next article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

My next guest in this series is Maffew, creator of the popular pro wrestling web series Botchamania. For my chat with him, he chose the Alabasta Arc, in which Luffy and his crew not only have to save a desert kingdom but also topple Baroque Works and its powerful leader Crocodile.

A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Alabasta arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Alabasta arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

Dan Dockery: So I guess my first basic question is, let’s say for some reason, I got to the end of Drum Island and I said “Well, One Piece ends here for me. This seems like a good finale.” What would you tell me to keep me going into the Alabasta Arc in one sentence?

Maffew: Well, after Chopper has made all the kids cry, you’ll need pickin’ up.

That’s pretty good! What was the impetus for you getting into One Piece? What made you want to jump into an anime that’s nearly one thousand episodes long at this point?

I think I tried watching it on YouTube back in 2009, and I just couldn’t get into it. At that point in my life, I wasn’t ready for a character like Luffy and his adventures, and I couldn’t wait for the villains he fought to kill him. So I dropped it. A year later, I’m in Germany and this wrestler ACH was doing a Q&A panel for this German wrestling organization called WXW. And ACH is a REALLY big One Piece fan, and even dresses up as Luffy in New Japan and Ring of Honor. And I was like “Hey, you watching JoJo?” because that was my thing at the time, and he was like “No, no. Just One Piece.” I said, “What else are you watching?” “Just One Piece.” And I’m like “Wait, what? Just the one?” But he was sellin’ it to me like he was a One Piece ad on QVC. And guys like Steve Yurko are so passionate about it, and if one person tells ya to watch something, you’re like “Eh, whatever,” but if five people tell you, you start to pay attention. So I’m gonna blame ACH and my good friend Steve Yurko for this.

What do you like about this arc in particular?

You get so much wonderful worldbuilding. They go to Alabasta, meet up with Mr. 2, and it’s one of those cool interactions where they’re meeting, but they don’t know who they are meeting exactly, like when they meet Blackbeard in Jaya. So later on, they’re like “Oh, it’s THEM!” There’s a real sense of everything not being really pre-determined at this point. It’s building everything through a bunch of pirates just doing stuff. Ace shows up, knocks out some assassins so he can get his royalty checks.

That’s such a funny way to put it.

Then we get Kung-Fu Dugongs, and they’re a pretty pure expression of One Piece. They’re all synchronized, they’re adorable, they play their part amid all the serious stuff, and they’re completely ridiculous, but they work anyway. And it’s with Alabasta that Eiichiro Oda starts to perfect the tropes that he puts into place throughout, with the new islands, the new leader who everyone loves but is actually a bad person, the crew having to deal with him and the Navy, them having to help put someone back in their position, etc. And even though, on paper, it reads like “Well, he’s gotta beat this dude and this dude and this dude,” it’s so much more chaotic and less formulaic than you’d expect. It keeps things interesting.

I agree. I like how he takes all of these pieces and he’s consistent with them, but Oda always plays around with how he sets them up.

But it’s all a foot massage before the real reason to watch Alabasta: Sir Croc.

Are you a big fan of him? That dude is so cool, conniving and powerful. He’s kinda the perfect villain.

Back when I was being miserable and first watching One Piece, I really liked him. I like the design, the sand powers that could actually pose a threat. I always appreciate it when a villain provides actual tension. It’s like why I think Goldeneye is still the best James Bond film. Because Alec Trevelyan is constantly reminding Bond “Remember, I could kill you. I’m from the same place as you. I can take your exploding watch and just, eh, I’ll stop that then. Thank you.” And Luffy loses twice to him in the three-match structure that really works here as it did for wrestling in the 70s.

How so?

So you’d have somebody like champion Bruno Sammartino and someone like Ivan Koloff or one of the Wild Samoans or Stan Stasiak. They’d have one match where the hero would beat Bruno by disqualification. Bruno’s still around to fight, but he’s lost. Luffy survives being thrown in the sand, but he’s been beaten. Then they have the second match, where Bruno would win because the villain would just give up and leave and get counted out. Luffy attacks Crocodile with water, but it’s not enough, and Crocodile just kinda leaves Luffy thinking it’s all done. And then Bruno would be like “Oh no ya don’t. Next time, you won’t be able to escape, because we’re gonna be in a cage match.” And then Bruno wins, just like Luffy wins by punching Crocodile up through that giant enclosed space. He escapes the cage.

It’s just so satisfying and that’s a great way to describe it. So, villains in the series have had extensive crew members before, but they haven’t been as recognizable and colorful as Croc’s crew, Baroque Works. Do you have a favorite member?

They’re all good in their own way, but at this point, I’m gonna go with Mr. 2. Eh, that’s probably too obvious an answer…

Mr. 2 is a lot of people’s favorite member.

Oh, who cares. I’ll go with Mr. 2. I like how Mr. 2 interacts with everyone, having fun with the boys and fighting Sanji with kicks but respecting him.

So, in this arc, there’s a lot of government intrigue and a revolution is about to happen, and everyone’s dissatisfied with their perception of the monarchy. How did you react to all of this political drama in One Piece?

Well, it’s great because you have Vivi, and you get to learn her motivations and because she’s on the crew, it gives you a reason to care for the crew and how all of the political intrigue affects them. Without her, you’d just hear about a war and say “Oh, sorry about that. Hope it goes well.” And with all this lore being thrown at you because you have Vivi and that connection, it’s adding to the main conflict, rather than distracting.

Yeah, Vivi really grounds it all with a personal attachment. Because otherwise it’s just savin’ the kingdom, which is cool and they’re good for it, but it doesn’t have the same impact. So, they did this back in the Arlong Park arc, but what returns here is the kind of 1 vs 1 match structure, where a member or members of the enemy crew are matched up against a Straw Hat or Hats. Mr. 1 has knife body parts, so he’s obviously gonna fight Zoro. Mr. 2 kicks and Sanji kicks, etc. What do you think about that kind of matchmaking, because it’s also a little wrestling-esque.

Yeah, right, like if you have D-Generation X fighting the Nation of Domination, you can’t just have The Rock fighting Triple H. Ya gotta have D’Lo Brown vs X-Pac and The Godfather vs Billy Gunn. I like it because the characters feel like they have to prove themselves, like Zoro’s a swordsman, and he’s gotta test himself against another swordsman. And Usopp does it when he fights Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas with Chopper, because they have a weird dynamic and they’re fighting two people and they have no clue what they’re up against.

So, at the end of the arc, they do the iconic “We can’t let Vivi become associated with pirates so we’ll hold up the X symbols on our arms in solidarity” pose. What did you think about that? Because it’s one of the most famous images in One Piece, and it’s hard to avoid it, even if you’ve never watched the series. Was that your first time seeing it?

It actually was. And I’m glad you brought this up because I was watching it and I thought “Wait, they’re just going? They’re not even keeping the duck?” And then they do that with the X and the original opening starts playing and I get goosebumps just remembering it. That really hit me. Because it finally got me really emotionally invested in the series. Made me feel a bit cheeky.

ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

So, considering you’re such a huge pro wrestling fan, your lightning round is gonna be a bit different. I’m gonna say a Straw Hat that’s in the crew at this point and you tell me which wrestler they’re the most like. You can also tell me what time period they’d fit the most in, since wrestler personalities tend to change. So, Luffy?

Gotta be Cena. Specifically? With Luffy’s attitude? Probably 2015 defending-the-United States-Championship John Cena.

Zoro?

He’s all business, he likes to fight. So I gotta go with Cesaro.

Sanji?

Going with Eddie Guerrero.

Usopp?

That character is all over wrestling - the underdog who isn’t very good and uses every trick in the book to win. Gonna go with MJF. He had one of my favorite matches of this year against Cody Rhodes and he just had to use EVERYTHING to beat him - brass knuckles, distraction, chairs, everything he could to get that win. But he could be MJF, could be The Miz, could be Mikey Whipwreck from ECW, take your pick.

Nami?

Hmmm. Becky Lynch.

Chopper?

KeMonito

Robin?

Oh, she shows up after being booed for ages and you’re supposed to like her, so 2019 Charlotte Flair.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with One Piece's official English manga translator Stephen Paul on his favorite One Piece arc: Skypiea!!

Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Daniel Dockery

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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noidea-headempty · 5 years

Text

Dallascon 2019

Just got home from Dallas, time to talk about my weekend 😂 (Note: I’m just gonna be talking about stuff that happened to me during the con, not EVERYTHING because then this would take forever.)

FRIDAY: Briana’s panel, her photo op, Rachel’s panel, and her auto

Honestly I wasn’t that nervous to meet Briana. Just really excited. She looked fucking gorgeous (as usual). I asked if we could go back to back while flipping the camera off. Even though I shouldn’t have... I gave her a hug afterwards. At her panel, I asked for advice on how to gain more self-confidence. As she gave me her answer I started tearing up, by the end of her answer I was full on crying. So she came off the stage and gave me a hug 😭

I also met Rachel (since I last minute bought her auto) and she was the fucking sweetest. She and my sister needed out for a bit about Good Omens and my sister recommended Welcome to Nightvale to her. I asked a question at her panel which was what kind of advice would she give Meg if she ever met her. Aaaaand I I also last minute bought Briana and Rob autos and I got them (and Rachel) to sign Family Don’t End in Blood. I didn’t end up going to Karaoke because I was just emotionally exhausted

SATURDAY: Rob’s photo op, Rich’s photo op (Casa Erotica), R2M panel, Sam and Courtney panel, and SNS

So for Rob’s photo, I asked my sister to join and the pose was her and Rob playing tug of war with me in the middle. My pose for Rich’s photo was him lifting my leg while I held onto his shoulders (which was just ughhhh dude I’m pretty sure I was blushing for like an hour afterwards)

I asked a question for both panels. For R2M, I asked Rich what Gabriel would think about what God did at that season finale. He said that Gabe would be like “See? Dad’s a big bag of dicks, he left me to Asmodeus!” For Sam and Courtney’s I asked if they’ve ever cosplayed and if not what they would cosplay as.

SNS was fucking amazing! Briana sang Better Than That which nearly made me cry, and when Jensen came on stage he sang Heaven which also nearly made me cry. When Rob saw all the lights for Amazing, his face was just joyful surprise and it was just great to see. The last song was Mama’s Jam and during it, Billy and Rob literally got onto the chairs of one of the rows and walked across them while playing! It was just so full of energy and they were just amazing. Aaaaand I met @saxxxology and @peggingpadalecki and they were so beautiful!!

SUNDAY: Gold panel, Jensen photo, Jared photo, Alex photo, Misha as Cas photo, then J2 and Alex autos

All I can say about gold is... Jumbo Shrimp 😂

Jensen’s photo.... oh dear. So I was in line and I was so freakin nervous. There was a creation person (she had a pink Mohawk and was so nice and really pretty) and she was like take deep breathes, you’ll be fine. So I go up to him and y’all his hair looked so floofy and I just really wanted to run my fingers through it. I asked him to hug me around the shoulders and then I was like thanks and left. As I freaking left the photo op room I started tearing up and then as I was walking down the hallway, I was just crying. Fun fact: he smells just as good as everyone says he does and his hugs are amazing.

I wasn’t as nervous for Jared’s as I was for Jensen but I was still pretty fucking nervous. So I go up to him and the first thing I tell him is “Wow you’re so tall” 🤦🏽‍♀️ and he’s like I can like squat or something for the photo and I was like no no I just want a hug and he was like okay and hugged me. And.. I don’t know y’all his hug was just so warm and and... *dreamy sigh* his cologne also smelled really good and actually fucking lingered for a good while.

Soooo for Alex’s op my sister bought a blanket because it was really cold at the convention center and I was like can I use it for the photo op and she was like sure. So I go up to Alex and I’m like “Hey Alex can you wrap this around yourself” which he did and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders (because Jack must be wrapped up and be protected)

So I was waiting for autos to start and I actually got to meet @covered-byroses who was so beautiful and so sweet and I was so fucking awkward because I was so fucking nervous

Afterwards I was just chilling and then they’re like Jensen and Jared are here and I’m like awesome. Jensen goes to his area and as Jared goes to his I’m like wait wait wait wait IS THAT GENEVIEVE. AND LOW AND BEHOLD A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE FREAKING OUT BECAUSE GENEVIEVE PADALECKI WAS IN THE FUCKING BUILDING. I got a sneaky picture of her 😂 So I like ran to Saxxy and was like GEN IS HERE and she was like I KNOW and just fangirled over her and freaked out over “What if Danneel was here too” The entire time I was just silently fangirling over Gen because uh who wouldn’t? So Saxxy and I talked for a while and then my row was called for Jensen autos so I went and got in line. I get up to the front and then I’m like Hi and he’s like hi. And then I told him that I cried after his photo op 😂 and he’s like why is it because of something I said? I was just like “No no no this is just my first convention and I was just really emotional I guess” and he was like “Oh really that’s cool where are you from” and I told him and he’s like well thank you for coming and I said “Thanks for the weekend”

So I line up for Jared’s and I was so freaking nervous because GEN WAS HERE AND I COULD MEET HER. I could’ve like left the line and gone to see her but I was like not prepared. So then they call Cas photo ops and I’m like fuck I hope she’s still there by the time I get back. So I go and do my op with my sister and then I like sprint back to the theatre. On my way I run into a friend that I made and I’m like is Gen still there and she’s like no they took her away but I still kinda hoped. So I walk in and I don’t see Gen so I’m like hoping she’s behind the thing with Jared so I get back in line and when I get there she’s not there which made me sad but Jared’s there so it’s still cool. He signs my book and I say “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for this fandom. Like AFK and all the other things it means so much to me” and he just gets this look on his face and then he like glances down. And then I realize oh right I’m holding a bookmark with AFK and YANA on it that I made. And he’s like thank you. Before I leave though I was like “Can you please tell Gen that I love her” and he was like yeah sure.

Lastly, I’m in Alex’s line and I get to him and signs my book and I’m like “Say hi to the Lord Tyrion for me” and he’s like “I definitely will”

All in all this weekend has definitely been one of the best weekends of my life and I loved it so fucking much. I know they’re coming back to Dallas next year and I really hope that Ruth and Kim are going next year because I really really wanna get a photo op with them and maybe see an SPN Ladies panel. Idk if I’m gonna get gold again because jeez that shit’s expensive but either way I’m definitely gonna start saving up money again. I just hope I might be able to go

#supernatural #nixy goes to con #spndallas #dallascon 2019 #jensen ackles #jared padalecki #misha collins #alexander calvert #briana buckmaster #rob benedict #richard speight jr #rachel miner #samantha smith #courtney ford #personal

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septicbadger · 4 years

Text

The beginnings of a story I started to write a long time ago (probably sometime 2015) that I never got that far into but decided to share today as it’s Sean’s 30th birthday...

"Uh... This is fun," muttered Sean, it was a history lesson. His class had been learning all about Greece's philosophers and to be honest he was bored, he didn't care. He would rather be at home just playing Pokémon on his gameboy, his first console. Looking down at his right arm, he saw his fourteen year old hands, they were rough and his finger nails were dirty from playing outside in the woods by his house. Then he gazed at his sleeve, it was ruffled at the end and was green, the colour of Ireland, his home land.

Then the bell rang and Sean was smacked back to reality, finally the lesson had ended, it was breaktime! He rushed outside into the playground to play football with a few of his secondary school 'friends'.

Billy, Steve, Suzy and Betty were waiting and wanted to play while some of his other classmates mingled, among them, Larry, Bobby, Mike, Mary and Harry.

There were two teams but they were unfair. It was Billy Betty and Suzy vs. Sean and Steve and Sean was in goal. The game started well, Betty in her baggy school uniform had the ball first and was quite slow because of her weight but then Billy, the smaller of the group took the ball from her then turned to attack Sean and Steve. Steve whizzed past Sean, he was always been the best at this game, it was like he had a segway in defence. Suzy was minding her own business, her mind floating off into the air when she was running to attack with Billy. She, not concentrating and looking at Billy through her glasses, slammed into Sean whilst he was in the air and they banged heads and Sean got a gash above his left eye. Then Billy scored.

"Billy! I was on the floor you can't score a goal when I'm down!" complained Sean he was tearing up and his left eye stung like hell.

"Oh, ha sorry. Not! I bet you were glad to bump into Suzy anyway," Billy teased.

"Shut your mouth Billy or I'll close it for you!" shouted Sean through the pain.

"Is that a threat?" asked Billy, " how sweet, and while you're still on the floor."

"Billy just be quiet!" commanded Sean.

"No!" then Billy ran on ashamed but not regretting what he did, a smirk on his face.

"Screw...You....Billy!!"screamed Sean whilst his eye bled.

This grabbed the attention of Steve and Betty who were watching the spectacle while Suzy had gone to tell the teacher.

"Are you okay Buddy?" asked Steve, Sean's video gaming friend.

"Of course I'm... ," said Sean but he couldn't hide the pain.

"Oh My God! Sean. Oh no, oh no!" Betty panicked.

Sean had to say something to shut her up. "Calm your tits Betty. I'll be alright but Billy won't."

Sean was between emotions.

* * *

It had been two and a half weeks and Sean's eye had become infected. He had been acting normally, trying not to hit Billy, playing video games with Steve, playing at break and climbing and swinging from his favourite tree outside his house but today things would change.

He arrived at school, his normal cheerful self but with his mum. "Goodbye Jack," she called. Sean knew why he was called Jack because of Sean being like Irish John, "and remember honey the doctor said, don't touch your eye even if you think it looks cool and 'badass'."

"Goodbye," Sean cried when he saw Billy sniggering in the corner.

"Hey, look it's jacksepticeye!" Billy loudly mocked, "How are you Jacky?"

Sean bit his lip. Hopefully ma didn't hear, he thought, and hopefully she won't hear this. Sean deeply exhaled.

"Billy. You will get a beating you little ginger tw-"

Sean's mum ran to the scene, she had heard and Billy ran to class. "Sean William McLaughlin come here now!"

"But... Ma I was being a Boss," She looked directly at him. "Yes Ma," he unwillingly obeyed.

"Straight home with you!"

When they arrived back Sean ran away to hang in the forest. He hastily made his way to his favourite place but he tripped.

"Ouch!" He had tripped on a piece of jutting metal. He looked down at the design. It looked alien. He, being an adventurous young boy, dug out the top part of this. He saw what looked to be a pod. Sean with his +1 biceps pulled it out from the ground. It was so easy, it was like it had been buried and lightly covered over.

He gazed at the 90 centimetre tall pod. It was a dark metal oval with light gray fins and highlights, there was a deep ocean green button at its base. Sean felt the urge to push it, like he knew what to do and he had to do it. A pod door opened up to reveal the capsule inside. Sean was amazed at all the flashing lights, levers and buttons of all varying sizes and colours. He saw the leather backing of the pod, it was about the size to fit a baby.

Sean ran back to tell his mum about it.

"Ma...Ma, 's awesome!"

"Honey what's awesome?"

"I found an alien pod with all these amazing lights and controls, it could have been an escape pod or something! Come I'll show you!" Sean was so excited he could barely speak.

"No," his mother said," I have something to tell you, you might want to sit down. We're moving soon in two weeks exactly in fact to live closer to grandma in a huge forest, you'll have all the trees in the world to play in but you won't see your friends again."

"What? Ma you didn't tell me!" This had put a downer on things and Sean felt betrayed. "But..."

"I'm sorry honey but things have already been arranged. You can forget about that pod as well, you're not allowed in the forest again with that eye of yours."

But Sean would never forget, never tell anyone about it again. He would always remember, the pod and its existence. He even came up with some theories why his mother wouldn't acknowledge it existed and occasionally in the future he would joke about them like in his childhood:

That he was a Boss of the Bossatronios, an alien race that once ruled the Planet Bossatron.

He thought that he had come in that pod. That his parents and siblings took him in as Sean, a normal Irish lad.

He wasn't far off.

Chapter 1: The Message

"Well I'm going to leave this episode here! If you liked it, punch that like button in the face, LIKE A BOSS! Aaand, high fives all around!" Sean said with energy as he high fived his YouTube audience. "But thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see all of you... IN THE NEXT VIDEOOO!" He shouted as loud and almost as high as his voice could go, it had been a good episode of Reading Your Comments and was a long time in the making, episode one hundred.

Sean ended the recording at precisely 9:42, took off his headphones and stood up in his home. His green brown and slightly grey (never to be talked about) hair was ruffled as he stood. His manly short beard was the way it always was, just an extended stubble leading around his mouth. It was time for a snack.

When he got back he decided to open up a game a fan of his had said she had made when he had attended the recent PAX. It was a convention where he had his own panel and met so many of his fans. It all meant so much to Sean but he wondered whether the USB contained a virus.

He download the game called. S.E.A.N and a loading screen appeared once he ran it. There was no menu, just a pixelated green field, Sean wondered what the game could really be about. He used his mouse to look around at the game's surroundings. Then a message popped up.

Hello S.E.A.N, or maybe Sean or Jack. You probably remember meeting me don't you, a human meeting a human. Well neither of us were human. Press enter to continue...

Then the game crashed and his computer buzzed."What the hell?" asked Sean, "This shouldn't happen!"

A new window appeared. Sean sat back down trying to get his computer to respond. But it didn't. He couldn't close the window or minimize it. All that there was was a blank screen and he stared at it through beautiful blue eyes.

Then the screen of his computer went to a blue screen. Sean didn't know what to think. Should he press enter or not? Was his name just an acronym? He remembered that pod in the forest.

He hadn't seen it ever again. He had never spoken seriously of it since when he was a child.

He remembered the people from his secondary school. He had even named some of the characters after them in games that he had played.

He had become a big success since his teenage years. He had played many great games on his channel named jacksepticeye. He had become a popular YouTuber, 15 million strong and always growing.

You know what? thought Sean.

YOLO BITCHES!!!

He clicked enter and his world was turned upside down.

* * *

The first thing he saw was a blinding flash of sea foam green. His eyes squinted into his new surroundings. He felt different, inside and out. He wasn't quite himself anymore, he was just a character in a video game. But this video game felt and looked as real as life.

Sean touched his nose, it felt like plasticene. He checked for his hat, but all he touched was his green hair. He was still Sean but also not him. His mind, his looks belonged to his human body but his body felt looser. And through his pixel eyeballs was a new world.

Chapter 2: The Party

He was in a stone hall. He recognised the walls, the stairs, the floors, the arches and the pedestal where a body lay: he was in his favourite game, Shadow of the Colossus. He stepped towards the body, like Wander in the game. But from under the cloths came a skeleton.

"Hello, human! I m the great Papyrus! And you shall place me in the royal guard!"

This skeleton Jack knew from Undertale in his red, white and gold outfit and spoke in jack's voice for him. He was basically the best and deserved more recognition. Sean remembered having to kill him in the genocide run and he remembered their date. It all filled him with determination.

"I'm taking you to Undyne!" said Papyrus and suddenly an orange portal appeared which Jack knew was from the game Portal and he was whisked away. Papyrus didn't mind so much, he was thinking about spaghetti.

They arrived through the portal. Jack was stuck between two green blocks and in front of him were six people, an elf, a little girl, a baby boy, two men and a chubby woman, standing still on floating green platforms. Jack recognised these characters from Happy Wheels. He didn't recognise the level when in fact it was the first level he played that someone had made for him in the game.

"Wowie! I'm on a horse! There is a pile of swords in front of me!"

Jack turned his head and behind him surely enough was a pile of swords. This was a sword throw level. Papyrus was sure enough sitting on a horse, Agro, the black horse from Shadow of the Colossus. The question was- through his own eyes could Jack kill the people?

That question didn't need to be answered as from out of Sean's vision came a kid in an orange top, just like Billy's from school. He had remembered the kid when naming the character for Happy Wheels as they wore the same clothes and were both ginger and "Screw you Billy" became a known saying.

Billy leaped onto Papyrus, Agro spooked and fell forward. Jack pulled the swords away and they all fell on him, as they fell through another portal: this one was blue.

They were all falling through the clouds. Sean, Papyrus, Agro and Billy together. Suddenly, a god like figure appeared in the clouds. She was just a head and shoulders appearing to them as they fell. This figure had brown hair and greenish hazel eyes."Evie!" said Sean.

Immediately, CleverBot Evie that Jack had done many videos on, turned into a hologram and came up on Sean's face like Cortana from Halo. He remembered when she guessed his name.

"Oh God!" he said to both that video and the fact that she was on his HUD, ready to be talked to.

One last portal appeared, orange and they all ended up in a blank void. There was a lamppost in the centre. Sean remembered The Beginner's Guide. Suddenly, before he could react, Jack's character from Skate 3, Betty, came through the portal on Pink Lighting, a trike from Turbo Dismount.

Sean stood up. He couldn't help thinking, "OOOOOWWWWW PINK LIGHTING!" Papyrus and Billy sat on Agro.

"Now I have three humans in my custody!" exclaimed the skeleton.

"Help me! Where am I? There's a skeleton!" moaned Billy in his high pitched bitch voice. Jack didn't care, he was enjoying this.

Agro neighed, majestic and not bothered by the stupid people on him.

Betty stood up in her black t-shirt and jeans. "This isn't my skateboard!" she said as she jumped off Pink Lighting and towards Jack.

"Hi, Betty," began Sean.

"How do you know my name? Who are you? Where am I? Did you bring me here?" She was full of questions!

"Um... well." Sean didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say that she was from a game he had played and this was another game made for him.

"Hi, I'm Sean. I know your name from er... well, I've heard of your great skating. We have been sent here, I don't know where, to together take down a common enemy, the Yllib, threatening our lives. And... no I didn't bring you here."

Betty stepped closer, looking beyond Sean at a skeleton and a little kid, on top of a horse. "So, obviously I'm the leader of whatever you guys are."

"Um... ok. This is Billy, Papyrus and Agro," explained jacksepticeye, pointing at the three characters bickering. Papyrus grabbed Billy and took them both off the horse, walking towards them.

"Have you told them what we're here for?" Betty asked.

"No."

"Well maybe you could be my second in command, tell them the boring stuff and get them together."

Papyrus and Billy arrived next to videogame Sean. "You two humans come here. You are now my prisoners. This child knows nothing. Tell me how we get out of here, one with green hair, this is not the underground." And with his skeletal fingers Papyrus pointed at Sean.

"Help me you two. Uhhhng I want my daddy!"

"Shut up Billy!"shouted Sean and Billy went quiet. "Well, we are here to take down a common enemy, the Yllib who are threatening Snowdin, Skate Parks and Hap- BMX tracks. We have been sent here to find a way to stop them."

"But tell them how we get out, second in command," said Betty.

"How do we get out?" Sean muttered to Evie. He had been feeling quite cool debriefing people.

"By understanding everything is connected," Evie droned out in Jack's mind. Papyrus was getting impatient and was tapping his foot whilst Betty looked concerned. Billy was just a little bitch.

"No, we need a portal."

"Yes, you need a point," said Evie. Oh my god, how dumb can a CleverBot get? thought Sean, I need a portal!

Sure enough a portal opened far away in the distance behind Agro who was now smelling Pink Lighting. "Through that portal over there."

"Through that human tamed beast over there? Is that a portal?" Papyrus questioned.

"No not Agro! That blue portal in the distance. But we will need transportation. Papyrus, your greatness, and you, Commander Betty, will ride with me on Agro the horse. Billy you can have Pink Lighting and do try to keep up you little bitch," finished Jack.

The team galloped off towards the portal in the black void. And behind them Billy pedalled with his small legs. He hated Sean. To him, he was a big bitch. And this trike was Billy's least favourite shade of pink.

* * *

Sean, Betty, Papyrus and Agro arrived at the portal, looking amazing atop their steed. Jack wanted to leave Billy behind but Pink Lightning was too precious and Billy was put in the game for a reason. As they waited time ticked on...

TWO GAME HOURS LATER

"Go Billy, go, go, go!" screamed Sean at Billy, trying to motivate him. He was five metres away from arriving next to them.

"Next time, that skeleton can have this," panted Billy.

"Fine," agreed Betty.

"I agree, it is fair that I, the great Papyrus, get the best vehicle!"

"Right, everyone let's go!" said Betty. "Can you take the horse?" She beckoned at Sean and he followed, just having fun, playing the game.

They stepped towards the portal, Billy following Betty, Papyrus being a 'cool dude' on Pink Lightning and Sean guiding Agro's nose at the back. "Now the real game begins," said Evie in Jack's mind. She winked.

* * *

They all arrived on a realistic looking game graphic platform. It looked like it was from the Borderlands games and was all grey metal. Jack wished for Loader Bot to come out and say "Hi." in his robotic voice and do his thumb up pose. But nobody came...

"Where are we now, human?" asked Papyrus to Betty, getting off Pink Lightning.

"Sean!" she cried as him and Agro entered the conversation, "explain where we are!"

"Um..." Jack didn't know what to say. It didn't help that Billy was calling for his dad behind Betty and Papyrus. "I don't kno-"

Sean was cut short as suddenly something appeared, a big portal. From the huge purple rift in space came...

...that’s as far as younger me got, thanks for reading if you made it down here!

#jacksepticeye #jse #jsebirthday #jse fanfic #therealjacksepticeye

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ohhicas · 5 years

Note

I've only been into comics for a few years, but I've read enough of the old Flash stuff where I adore the classic incarnations of the Rogues. Honestly curious here: what's it like to be a fan of James Jesse back when he was retgonned around 10 years ago and see him brought back but now all mwahaha crazy evil? I'm way more used to Axel (and all that off-panel character development in Nu52, thanks DC) but even I find this kinda weird. Was James ever crazy evil in any arc?

^- me 90% of the time someone says James is coming back to recent media & it’s not a direct continuation of the comics prior to 2004

[ Warning: this is gonna get long and be full of a lot of assumptions. I can never form solid statements and things will get jumbled, because I suck at presenting things ]

[ this is my can of worms hill and you opened it so I’m dYING HERE ]

I mean, back in the earliest ages, no Rogue had a real personality to speak of? They were just “1960s Bad Guy in a different outfit” at the very start, with quirks! Like James having a thing for toys and nuclear powered flying tricycles. It wasn’t until that era ended that they started getting real distinct and into what a lot of ‘classic’ James fans loved and appreciated?

(I think at least, I’m just One Person here pretending like I even understand HALF of what the ‘classic’ fandom enjoyed. I’m wildly speculating just going off what fanworks I’ve seen produced.)

(I don’t have all my scans anymore but I’ll toss in scans when I have them)

But that’s when we started getting things like James actually having specified friendships with certain people

or clear distaste towards others, and when you could tell he was more of a wild card than the others. Or when he decided to fuck off and hang out in Hollywood with Blue Devil for a bit, even siding with Kid Devil to deck out Captain Boomerang.

Or when he decided to fuck off to Gotham, to mess with Catwoman by pretending he didn’t know who she was, but absolutely knew who she was because of how she walked and carried herself, but James being James was like “mmmmm long con, nope”

hey lil Cold, gimme all ur guns and don’t question why I’m in drag xoxo

Even then, he wasn’t shown to be vicious yet! He’d hopped around various places, was still considered A Rogue, A Criminal, and as far as any comic reader could tell by trying to count up how many civilians may have been crossfired at, he had no On Purpose deaths racked? Like, the only thing you could really argue was he may have made someone drive their car off a cliff once, but I’m like 98% sure they’re fine. He’s not a murderer, he’s just here for a laugh and a long-con for funsies because he know he can get away with it!

AND THEN WE GET A LITTLE OLDER, LITTLE DARKER

[ I’M PUTTING A CUT HERE CAUSE AFTER I THREW IT INTO DRAFTS, I REALIZED I GOT REALLY LONG, I’M SORRY IF MY LAYOUT SUCKS ASS FOR THIS. ]

little more 90s Hair. Little more 90s stereotypical “But what if EVERYONE WENT TO HELL” demon plots against Satanic Hockey Hair Neron. And James? still wasn’t evil? He was a little dismissive when everyone ELSE died sure but he still in the end turned around like “nghgng I’m THE ONLY ONE”, purposely got his ass down there, regretted it, and then beat Neron at his own game to save the entire fucking world. Because! He could! And he did it so well. STILL NOT EVIL, even when he had a chance right then and there to take over everything alongside Neron should he so desire. Like, two words, maybe some under the table BJs depending on how you feel about that pairing (I don’t), and bam. He would’ve bested nearly any other villain in the DCU save like, Satan himself. Or i guess one of those world destroyers. But we’ll get back around to those BOY HOWDY WE WILL GET AROUND TO THOSE.

So James! Saves! The world! Sorta! Later they fight Neron again and his kid he somehow had somewhere down the road (it sounds like I’m complaining, i’m not, I love Billy and Mindy both I just wish they showed up like… ever again?) and he sTILL SAVES EVERYONE.

Piper helps by their 90s ponytails combined.

Somewhere around here, because dates and timing aren’t my strong suit, he also goes and messes with Bart for a bit. It’s pretty much a Spy Vs Spy episode, but with less bloodshed.

ANYWAY IT’S AFTER THIS POINT THAT THINGS GET… where I think the majority of “James is a Low Rate Joker” comes from?

For some unknown goddamn reason, in between issues (James wasn’t a Super Frequent Rogue? He’d show up, sure, but in the huge run of the series he’d just kind of vanish for 20 issues at a time and you’d go “welp, guess he’s still alive”) James went super-cop? like, the FBI? For some reason? Hired James “I am a probably still wanted felon, a man who has escaped jail numerous times, probably never served a full sentence, known Trickster and liar” Jesse. to the FBI. And for so many issues it’s like he legit just. Did this. He threatens to shoot Piper who he was up until this very moment, considerably very close friends with (as far as comics would show Rogue/Rogue friendships), unwilling to help his friend clearly framed for murder of his parents and losing his mind by the day. Despite James talking Hart down a little on the whole ‘THE MAYOR IS ROSCOE ADN NOBODY BELIEVES MEEEEEEEE” thing.

Also he steals Digger’s dead ass corpse?

FBI James is a fucking enigma. Here he is standing up for Gay Rights even though Piper is like “mm maybe I should forgive my abuser??”

BUT. AFTER THIS? WE GET COUNTDOWN WHICH IS JUST. Countdown is. IT’s a problem. James’s personality is IMMEDIATELY HORRIBLY u-turned into “well we need SOMEONE to be the Bad Guy to Piper’s Good!” DESPITE. ALL THESE YEARS OF COMICS.This is the shit you’ll see people who don’t know better or just want a reason to hate the Trickster (despite being 100% okay for them to just say he’s annoying/they don’t like his tights/acrobats are stupid) reference. James is, suddenly, very abruptly, a homophobe. Like an “ew don’t touch me” level homophobe because I’m pretty sure DC snorts cocaine and threw a dart at a board for “how could they make these two fight” and landed on GAY RIGHTS IS TRENDING.

BUTSTILL IN THE FUCKING END OF ALL OF THIS?After so many issues of James being a complete fuckass prick?

springboards himself from his current job of being railroad face putty to catching bullets to make sure Piper wasn’t gonna die. Without knowing the proceedings of this entire plotline, James out of nowhere after so much gaybashing, still finds it in him to leap into the path of multiple bullets and save Piper. Because, yknow, he’s evil!

Later it’s shown he’s been working to take everyone down (y’know, like when he was in the FBI) and left Piper specific helpful notes to do it himself. Because Evil Bad Guy! Helping his gone-good friend! Take down bad guys!

DC I STILL HAVE SO MANY GODDMAN QUESTOINgsd

But yeah that’s. That’s where we last saw James. in 2007, dead, after saving Piper when he could have easily pulled a Joker and ripped HIM down to take hte bullets and etcetc, y’know. Something a Very Bad Person would’ve done, like the characterization we’ve seen now.

His ghost (easily argued as Piper’s own mental construction of James sassing him) sasses Hartley to even, in his mental state, saw off James’s hand so Piper doesn’t have to lug his weight around and has a fighting chance at living. And in the end, when Piper’s fighting the thing that can destroy the fucking world, it’s shown only Piper was the one who could save them? Because his flute, and his musical ability, and [enter DC comic science here]. You could argue this was James, once again, somehow knowing the long-con at play here, getting screwed over at EVERY turn, and sacrificing himself so they ‘good’ team had a fighting chance.You could also argue this is me losing my mind trying to make sense of the things they made James do. (my running argument is he was purposely a prick to push Piper away, so he could keep him safe)

Also Piper plays James a Swan Song of Queen as the final boss explodes and he’s fully prepared to die. So like. There’s that.

AND THATS BASICALLY THE COMICS? The main, ‘canon timeline’ comics. I’m missing a LOT of little things here and there, but I’m not missing anything like body counts, or murder attempts, beyond the old Silver Age “Bad guy of the week” things like trying to make Flash’s head explode, or you know. Other “nobody really has a personality, we just have quirks”.

MY NUMBER ONE GUESS TO WHERE THIS NEW PERSONALITY TREND COMES FROM?

Mark Hamil|’s OG run as him in the old live action show. That characterization was fun, for the time, and I even enjoyed it cause it was just that off the wall and you could tell it was what they used to decide he should be the Joker for the BATS Joker. Consider it a prototype (combined with all the previous comic jokers but that’s not for this long ass post)

And if it’d stayed there, that’d be it! That’s it! But then JLU came along, and they referenced the old show for their version of James with a sprinkling of early-era comics, and a lot of people loved and watched that show. That was their version of the Trickster, because it was their first meeting with him! And I can’t fault that! But that guy was clearly off his rocker and I’m sure if the JLU allowed a higher rating, it would’ve been even closer to the old TV show.

And both of THOSE were heavily, heavily referenced for the CW version, which as I’m at this point now means I need to slap my usual anti-CW tag onto things. I hate the CW James. There is so little comic in him it’s almost disgusting, and they ramped up so much of the Joker side of JLU & OGTV he might as well just be the Joker. It’s not a good representation of him at all. I have, also, only seen his first appearance episode, so maybe I’m wrong? But when you fuck up hard on the first run, why would I return for round 2?

So with ALL THIS–

REBOOT TIME. Whatever the newnew remake is calling itself.

At first! With how James was! In the first panel flash of him clearly behind the scenes tugging so many wires and lines, watching everything with a bucket of popcorn while pulling others to his side, sitting pretty in an old museum? warehouse? highlighted in purples and vintage toys, I was like “holy shit this it. This is My Boy, back from the goddamn limbo-dead. It’s him.” But then“taking over the city entirely” to do? What? Turn it into the world’s biggest Trickster themepark? Make everyone wear striped leggings and combat boots? Martial Law of murder if you don’t carry rubber chickens? This is already veering from anything major James has ever done. As it stands I can’t see the gag here. Its’ weirdly dark and edgy, and way too close to something we saw the 90s TV show Trickster do, in the episode where he basically took over the place. The previews show him being what I’m assuming a Judge, Jury, & Executioner joke– and unless this spins into a Clopin song and dance number and his little hand puppet crops up to slam the button on the guillotine, I’m not having it, DC.

They’re trying to tie him back into the CW, despite the writer saying he really enjoyed the Neron-era things with James (if I’m remembering the interview correctly). And it’s also why you may see me constantly saying “Well I sure as fuck hope Neron shows up” at anything new that’s released, to explain away all of… this.

This isn’t him. If they wanted a murderous Trickster, they should’ve just used Axel. The kid, canonly, tied explosives to stray dogs and homeless people. AXEL is the not-good Trickster, the murderous Trickster, the one you aren’t suppose to feel sorry for beyond being in way over his head due to his young age.

i think I somehow didn’t answer your question

TL;DR

it sucks? it’s also great because there’s a .5% chance that maybe they’ll do it right and won’t reference the fucking 90s noncomic media. But then they do. And all I can do is laugh and shrug like ‘welp I expected nothing’. But when they get it RIGHT it’s like christmas came early.

#anticwflash #james jesse #the trickster #god tumblr don't fuck this post up for me #Anonymous #remember when James made Mark and Digger BOTH run into a wall cause he looney tuned their asses with a black hole??

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